Our Second Chance (Dramione)

Chapter 23 Protective

  September 18th rolled around pretty quicky. Hermione stayed in the Gryffindor common room for the rest of the time. She was doing exactly what Draco had told her to do. Maybe giving him the satisfactory didn't feel very good, but she'd rather have this than him constantly screaming at her. She would study and finish her homework in the tower until it was time for bed. Then, she would return to her own common room to sleep. The goal was to avoid the cronies whenever they were around, but most of her time was spent wisely in the library.

  Draco seemed to take notice of this as she got more and more distant. It was almost as if Hermione wasn't Hermione anymore, and he didn't know how he felt about it. He wasn't sure if he liked it or not.

  Hermione was currently doing her Defense Against the Dark Arts homework, which happened to be an essay on Animagus in two feet of parchment. Hermione's essay had already reached two and a half feet, but she enjoyed being an overachiever. She took a glance at Ron's paper and saw the words 'do not mistake an animagus as a grim', and couldn't help but laugh. Another part of the paper read 'also, do not confuse them for a werewolf either', and her laughing only increased. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing", she said returning to her paper, but suddenly a shadow figure blocked her light. Ginny looked at her with an impatient glare that she was quite confused for receiving. "What's the problem?", Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow. Ginny looked at her like she had killed someone, and forgot to bury the body. Well, she did forget something, but that wasn't it. Ginny motioned toward her dress, and it finally donned on her that she forgot about Slughorn's party. "Oh no", she said to herself.

"What's the problem?", Ron said as he still didn't quite understand.

"Slughorn's party", she said grabbing the books off her lap and setting them on the couch cushion. "Blimey, my dormitory is on the other side of the school, opposite of Slughorn's room. There's no way I can make it all the way there and back." She sighed in frustration and pinched the bridge of her nose. "What am I going to do? I look like I just battled a dragon." Her statement was partially true because her hair was extra frizzy due to humidity, her clothes were torn in some areas since she grabbed the first thing she saw in her trunk, and she had a small scar on her left cheek from a mis-hap in Defense Against the Dark Arts class. They were learning how to summon objects around the room by using wand-less magic. Cormac McLaggen attempted to summon an hourglass, but it ended up hitting Hermione in the face and the wood did leave a few splinters. Luckily, she was able to get them all out, even though the injury bled for several hours.

Ginny pulled her up the staircase and toward the girl's dormitories. She started searching through her trunk, but by the time that Ginny's body was half inside her trunk, Hermione realized that she had put an Undetectable Extension charm on it. Eventually, Ginny was fully inside the trunk. "Found it!", she said pulling out her light blue dress. She climbed out of the trunk and passed it to her. "This should work for tonight."

Slughorn's party for tonight was a lot like his Christmas one. Tables were around his room and a lot of people were having conversations all around the room. Hermione was quite happy that Ginny grabbed a dress instead of jeans and a jumper. It would've been very embarrassing to show up in casual clothes while everyone else looks nice. She grabbed a Dragons Delight sandwich and looked at the different types of meals offered for tonight. "Hello, Granger." She turned her head slightly to see blonde hair fill her vision, and he was also getting some food as well.

"McLaggen", she said boldly.

"I'd like to apologize for the incident that occurred earlier today. I didn't mean for that to happen", said Cormac as he rubbed his thumb across the scar; which made her really uncomfortable.

"It's alright", she said moving his hand with her own.

Draco and Blaise were enjoying butterbeers while having a conversation of their own. Draco explained everything that happened the last week. "Well, no wonder she's ignoring you", said Blaise, putting his drink down. "I honestly don't blame her. You can sometimes be the foulest git on the planet, but this is what you wanted wasn't it? Look at the bright side. You did get the fastest broom in the world." Draco wasn't even listening to his best friend anymore. His focus was now on Hermione, and how McLaggen was being too touchy with her. He had a look that almost made him growl as Cormac's thumb rubbed against her cheek, but why was he feeling like his? He had no idea why he was feeling like this. He had no idea why he was suddenly so protective over the know-it-all Muggle born, but he wasn't fighting it.

"He's touching her, and I don't like it." Draco suddenly spoke up and interrupted Blaise in the middle of a sentence.

"Have you been listening to a single word I've been saying? No, of course not. You know, Pansy's on drugs. Muggle object, very deadly", he lied as he tried to get Draco's attention. Draco didn't even glance at him. "Theo's getting his tongue pierced." Still nothing. "Granger and Cormac are secretly hooking up in the library", was his next lie.

"What?", Draco stated in a startled manner.

"Oh my gosh. Have you lost it? Right now the only thing you're focused on is Granger. What is wrong with you? You're not turning into a blood traitor are you?" Suddenly Draco saw Hermione slap Cormac's hand which made Cormac very angry. Draco slammed his drink down on the table before heading over to the two arguing people.

Cormac was in the middle of saying something when Draco came over. He stepped in between the two of them as his back faced Hermione. "Excuse me, but I think the lady wants you to leave her alone", said Draco sternly, and Cormac only had a confused glare before heading off. As Draco turned around; showing his Malfoy smirk proudly, he got something he wasn't expecting. "You're welc..."

Smack.

"Alright, that's a weird way to say thank you. Has anyone ever told you that you're violent? Now I'm starting to understand your cat a little more. Honestly, what was that for?" Draco rubbed the area that she hit to soothe the pain.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?", she shouted at him. Draco looked at her in confusion.

"I was trying to help you out. McLaggen doesn't know how to keep his hands to himself. Isn't that why you slapped him?"

"I don't know why or what you saw, but I didn't slap him. Now will you stop acting like a crazy person and leave me alone? Don't think Blaise wants to see you becoming a blood traitor." She grabbed her drink before quickly heading over to Ginny.

The party soon came to an end as the clock reached eleven thirty. "Goodnight everyone." He gave everyone ice-cream to go before they left and ate it on the way to their dormitories.

She enjoyed the delicious chocolate taste as it ran down her throat. She was heading up the fourth floor staircase when her foot got stuck in the trick-step. She stumbled and chocolate spilled all over Ginny's dress that she borrowed. "Can this night get any worse?", she said to herself.

"Talking to yourself now, Granger? I see someone's having a rough night." A new voice entered the room. Hermione really didn't have any more patience left to deal with him.

"Not in the mood, Malfoy. If you're only here to make fun of me, then please just leave." She tried to get her foot out of the trick-step, but it wouldn't budge.

"Actually I'm here to get to my common room, and it looks like I got some entertainment on the way there." She groaned in frustration, and had to fight every urge to punch him in the face, or hex him to oblivion. Even though he deserved it to an extreme extent; now was clearly not the time. "Alright, fine. I'll help you." He grabbed her arm and attempted to pull her out of the situation she was stuck it.

After a few seconds she was finally free, but started to fall on top of Draco. "Oh, I'm sorry", she said as she pulled her hair away from his face. "Now your suit is covered in chocolate!" She got up off the ground and dusted off her dress.

"Don't worry about it. I can afford a million of them. Hey, isn't today your birthday?" She looked up at the clock to see that it was now midnight.

"It is now, and I can tell that the day will be filled with lots of surprises. Ones that aren't full of smiles and laughs." As they finally reached the common room, Hermione saw a pile of books stacked on top of the study desk. A whole bunch of homework before morning classes. "Happy Birthday to me."