Eye to Eye: A Dramione Fanfic

Chapter 41

Weeks past by in a flash.

Things were happening so fast and Draco was unable to keep up. It'd been almost a month since Hermione vanished from her room and McGonagall still had nothing new to report from the Ministry. And, to make matters worse, he and Blaise had began to argue more frequently. In fact, the arguments became so frequent that Blaise had decided to call quits. At this point in time, Draco had gone a month without Hermione, two weeks without Blaise and with every passing day he seemed to be becoming less and less like himself.

Most nights he would find himself lying in bed - Hermione's bed - realising that the only reason he'd held on for as long as he had was because of Harry. Granted, he wasn't Blaise, but Harry had been the only person over the last month to continuously remind Draco of why he had to remain positive.

Of course, remaining positive didn't work - but Harry's day-to-day encouragement slowly became the only reason Draco managed to drag himself out of bed in a morning. However, even if Blaise was determined to have nothing to do with Draco, the blonde boy still kept tabs on him - having Astoria check in on him every now and then.

"Draco."

The blonde boy turned his attention over to Astoria, who was sitting opposite him at the Slytherin table, watching as he pushed his food around his plate. While Draco was aware that he hadn't eaten any of his breakfast, he was also aware that - even if he did eat something - he'd struggle to keep it down.

"I'm not hungry," he sighed, dropping his fork onto the table. But, as soon as he'd said it, Draco realised that Astoria hadn't said what he thought she had.

Astoria gave a weak smile, "She'll turn up, Draco. You know she will."

"I wish people would stop saying that," Draco sighed again, sounding more and more irritable by the minute. "If Hermione was coming back they would've found her by now."

"Don't say it like that."

Draco shot Astoria a frustrated glare, "How else am I supposed to say it, Astoria? As far as I'm concerned, there is no other way of looking at this."

"There's still hope, Draco," Astoria argued, a desperate look in her eyes. "While Hermione remains missing there's still a fifty percent chance of her return."

Once again, Draco sighed, "And the longer she remains missing?"

Astoria's face fell, the hopeful gleam vanished from her eyes and was quickly replaced by an overwhelming amount of sadness. She sat for a few moments, unsure of what to say - fearing that she might say the wrong thing. However, after thinking it over, she realised that it didn't matter what she said; Draco's opinion wouldn't change until Hermione's safety could be proved.

"In all honesty, Draco," she said quietly, sounding mildly annoyed as she got up out of her seat. "If Hermione came back now, I think she'd be mortified by how quickly you've given up on her."

Upon hearing that, Draco attempted to respond - but it was too late; Astoria had already walked away. He sat forwards and rested his head on his hands, what in Merlin's name was happening to him?

Draco sat at the Slytherin table for a short while longer, trying to determine the exact moment when he seemed to lose all hope for the future. But, as he'd expected, he couldn't remember. He remembered that, in the beginning, he'd invested every inch of his being into remaining hopeful and now... Well, just look at what he'd become.

He fustratedly ran a hand through his blonde hair before standing up and leaving the Great Hall. He had no idea where the he was going, nevertheless he allowed his feet to take him where ever they wanted him to go - he was far too distracted by Astoria's previous lecture to care. However, after walking for five minutes or so, he arrived outside McGonagall's office.

Draco frowned, was this really the best idea that his subconscious self could come up with? However, moments later, the realisation hit him like a ton of bricks. McGonagall wasn't in her office - in fact, he'd seen her in the Great Hall less than five minutes ago.

Suddenly, Draco felt less disappointed in himself as he enacted the staircase and made his way up to the Headmaster's office. If the Ministry wasn't interested in bringing Hermione home, then - as Draco decided - he would have to do it himself.

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Hey Everyone!

I'm sorry you had to wait so long for this, really I am. I've just been so caught up in my other works that I forgot to update this one - I promise I'll do better. Also, I'm sorry if this chapter seems shorter in comparison to others; I have plans and this is the best way for me to put them into action - by dragging it out.

So, sorry in advance if this seems like a torturous end to a... rather long story.