The Dark Side (A Dramione Story)

Chapter 17

The days crept on, the next seeming even longer than the last. Draco acted as though she wasn't even there, which hurt her more than she ever thought possible. Malfoy ignoring her, wasn't that what she'd always wanted? 

Hermione tried to catch his eye during the classes they had together, but his gaze remained glued to his desk. She had spoken to Aberforth about their situation, and considering Hermione and Draco had had more than enough experience with spells of the sort, he had agreed to let both of them focus on the theory side of the Impedimenta jinx so that Draco didn't have to point a wand at anyone. While the professor was not completely unsympathetic towards Draco, Hermione could sense an element of hostility in the way he grunted at her explanation of why he was uncomfortable with performing the spell. Aberforth, like many others, had obviously not forgiven Draco.

She was dismayed, yet not surprised, when Draco didn't show himself at breakfasts, lunches or dinners in the Great Hall. The first day of their silence, she snuck down to the kitchens after dinner and brought some leftovers to their common room, leaving them in her and Draco's bathroom for him to find. When she woke the next morning the food had disappeared, making her smile. After that, she became quite close with the house elves in the kitchen.

Her break from Draco gave her a chance to focus on other matters, including the growing relationship between Ron and Lavender. Surprisingly, instead of rolling her eyes when she noticed their intertwined hands during lunch the other day, she smiled. They both deserved to be happy after everything they had endured, and it meant that Ron would get off her back about rekindling their brief summer romance.

Harry and Ginny seemed very much in love, with an intimacy that reminded her of an old married couple. She noticed the little things, like how Harry always saved the last piece of banana bread for Ginny because it was her favourite, and that Ginny always had a copy of his timetable because he was constantly forgetting what classes he had.

Sometimes, only when she had finished all her school work, she would sit on the grand-stand of the Quidditch pitch and watch Harry, Ron and Ginny race around the stadium, enjoying the sound of their laughter and playful banter. It reminded her of their early years at Hogwarts, the brief fragments of carefree childhood they had between fighting off Voldemort and all the other evil forces of the world.

Lavender would often join her, and Hermione was surprised at how easily they connected after what had happened between them in the past. The bumbling bimbo that she had once been had disappeared: Hermione noticed that on the rare occasions that she did smile, it never reached her eyes. It was funny how an embrace with death could change people.

"So Lavender, how's it going with Ron? You two seem very happy to have each other, I haven't seen him this happy since before the war," she said one day as they sat watching the others play a mini-version of Quidditch.

"I'm so grateful for him, Hermione, you have no idea. I thought no one would be able to love me after the...," a shadow crossed her face and she swallowed loudly before she could continue. "Well, after the accident. I mean, who would want to be with someone who turns into a monster every month?"

"You're not a monster Lavender, far from it. Everyone can see that, it's not your fault that Greyback did this to you." It seemed Draco wasn't the only one who had to live with the consequences of being judged based on circumstances out of their own control.

"I also find it hard to believe that he took me back after how I treated him the last time we were together. I'm sorry for the way I acted towards you too, I was such a whiny git, it's embarrassing to think about."

Hermione laughed, "Don't fret, we're all different to how we used to be. I used to be a snobby know-it-all who never got her nose out of a book."

"Used to be?" Lavender said with a cheeky smile. Hermione laughed again and playfully hit her on the arm, surprising herself with how genuine her grin was. She couldn't remember the last time she had truly laughed, it felt strange to have her lips move in that way again.

Talking to others was futile, however, as no matter how many other people she surrounded herself with, her thoughts always drifted to Draco.

On the seventh night of their silence, she awoke with a jolt as her nightmare came to a climax, shoving her fist into her mouth so that she wouldn't scream. After going through the same motions every night for over a year, it was second nature. She hugged herself tight and tried to focus on her breathing as her heart raced and her hands shook.

But a loud thump from outside her room made her heart stop beating completely.

She held her breath, straining her eyes to hear where the noise was coming from. She waited a couple of minutes, and after hearing nothing more she eventually figured that she must have imagined it and rolled over, trying to shake off her fright.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

This time she knew she knew it wasn't a fragment of her paranoid and hyperactive imagination. The sound was loud, but muffled, too far away to be coming from Draco's room or their bathroom. As advanced as the common room entrance security system seemed, Hermione couldn't bring herself to trust it.

So even though her heart was pounding so loud she thought it had jumped up into her throat, she swung her feet out from the covers and grabbed her wand from the bedside table. The thought of confronting the intruder scared her stiff, but the thought of lying helpless in her bed waiting for them to creep into her room terrified her even more.

Wand hand out in front, she crept towards her bedroom door and, when she reached it, slowly turned the handle. Down the hall she went, murmuring 'Lumos," when it became too dark. She was almost at the living room when she heard it again.

THUMP.

She could now tell where it was coming from: the hallway outside the common room. Someone was trying to get in.