Always Running (Dramione)

Chapter 8 - So Very Wrong

 Draco.

Draco, knowing that Hermione would spend a prolonged amount of time in that book store, decided he could to do whatever he pleased. After leaving Sugerplum’s sweet shop with loads of various sweets, mostly for Hermione but some were for himself. He had always had a sweet tooth; which he found to be extremely ironic considering nothing about his life was the slightest bit sweet.

He strolled along the bustling streets gazing in awe of all the shops, even though he had seen them countless times before, he couldn’t help feeling like an amazed little boy full of fascination.

As he began to pick at the sweets he had recently purchased, he was hit with a wave of surprise. Harry Potter and his crew were waltzing in his direction. Of course, they weren’t actually walking over to speak to him; they simply shot him deathly glares in disgust. He knew Potter had never fully let go of his school boy rivalry and still thought he was a complete git. But that didn’t matter to Draco, because he thought the exact same thing.

He eyed them curiously. Potter and his ginger girlfriend were striding in front hand in hand, laughing merrily without a care in the world. Behind them was Neville Longbottom, the useless, pathetic boy who was crap in Potions but he had proved himself in the final battle by standing up to Voldemort. Draco praised him for that and had a quiet respect for him. Stood by his side was Loony Lovegood, uncommonly dressed in a wild, colourful dress and radish earrings. Draco thought she was crazy but had never actually spoken to her.

Suddenly he noticed the person who was also with them, trailing behind with his hands in his pockets looking disgruntled unlike the rest of the group.

Ronald Weasley. The ginger twat who was Potter’s right hand guy. Draco didn’t exactly hate him but the way he walked around thinking he was something special just because he hung about with the boy-who-lived made him cringe slightly.  Draco knew exactly why Weasley looked so aggravated. He had been ditched by his girlfriend also known as Hermione, leaving him seeming like a right idiot and to be honest he was.

The group of Gryffindors and one Ravenclaw strolled towards him and as he had expected they all lifted their heads to give him an ugly look as though he was something that they had just stepped it.

This infuriated him. Why were they looking at him like that? Apart from his childish taunting when they were younger, he hadn’t done anything to them personally to make them look at him in such an awful way.

He had saved Potter’s life, for god’s sake. Back in his home at Malfoy Manor, he had not told his demented aunt Bellatrix Lestrange that the person who was knelt in front of them with a deformed face was actually Harry Potter.

Draco had recognised him instantly by his infamous scar and scruffy black hair, but had not said anything, meaning they were able to escape. He had had no idea why he had done it; he assumed that deep down he did not want Voldemort to win. He had never wanted to be a Death eater; he had never wanted to become evil.

No matter how much their looks maddened him, he remained in his calm and collected composure. Draco would not allow a bunch of pompous twats to get to him and cause him to lash out. No, he simply let them walk on by. Showing them he didn’t care what they thought and it was true, he didn’t.

The sky was darkening by the time Draco made the decision that he should probably go find Hermione. He had been in several shops after his sighting of the Potter gang, keeping himself mildly entertained. By now, it was getting late and he didn’t want her to be alone and worried.

So Draco paced quickly to the book store in which he had left Hermione so many hours ago, he knew she would most likely still be in there. But as he approached the shop, he noticed a very shocked looking Ronald Weasley standing over a flustered Hermione. He watched as she stood up and went to apologise. He guessed that they had bumped into each other and he had not in fact pushed her to the ground in anger for ditching him. That would be totally harsh. And that’s when Draco knew that things were going to take a sour turn very quickly…

Hermione.

“Hermione?” Ron said incredulously as though he had forgotten about her existence.

“R-Ron… What a-are you d-doing here?” Hermione stuttered, angry that she was making a fool of herself by her inability to speak properly. She watched as Ron’s face changed suddenly and he exploded with utter rage.

“WHAT AM I DOING HERE? HOW ABOUT WE START WITH WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?!” he shouted, not caring about Hermione’s shocked expression

Ron’s rage frightened her. She had never seen him so upset, not in the whole ten years she had known him.

“Well-” She began but was unable to finish her sentence,

“I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU IN WEEKS! YOU JUST LEFT… I WAKE UP AND ALL YOUR STUFF IS VANISHED, NO LETTER, NO NOTE, NOTHING!” His eyes were blazing with pure hatred. Hermione hated seeing him like this.

“R-Ron… Calm down…” she pleaded, as tears began to fill her eyes.

“CALM DOWN? DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVED YOU? YOU MADE ME LOOK LIKE A COMPLETE MUG!” he continued to yell. His words rang through her ears, making her head spin. She felt utterly rotten. She thought she had gotten over her guilt of leaving him, but this was so much worse than she had expected. Tears began to roll down her face and she covered her it with her cold hands in frustration. She had not wanted to cry. She did not want Ron to see her like this, but she didn’t have a choice. She was rubbish at controlling her emotions.

“I-I’m s-so sorry, R-Ron!” She choked, shaking her head in her hands. She was disgusted by herself, seeing Ron upset made her realise that she had been completely out of order in leaving him so brutally. She could have at least sat down and explained to him that it wasn’t working out. But Hermione had taken the easy way out or had she? Because this certainly wasn’t easy.

She lifted her face out of her hands after a few moments to see Ron looking defeated. His head was hanging and his shoulders drooped, this made Hermione’s entire stomach drop. To see him this way made her feel ten times worse. He was so lost, so hurt and it was her fault.

“Why would you do that to me?” He whispered, glancing up to stare directly into her eyes.

The tone of his voice made her heart throb, he sounded pained. Hermione had never wanted to hurt Ron, but it was too late and she knew that.

“B-because… I-I… I don’t know…” she mumbled, forcing herself not to cry again. She tore her eyes away from Ron’s in shame. He had cared for her. He had loved her.

"You don’t know?” he said, his voice had a menacing edge to it that made her shiver; “Did you ever even love me?”

Hermione nodded instantly, “Of course I did!”

“Then why not now? What have I ever done to hurt you?” His tone was hushed, making Hermione’s throat bubble as she gulped back the tears. He was right, he deserved none of this. He deserved to be happy, but then the thought struck her and she remembered the reason why she had first run away.

“Because you don’t love me… not really…” she muttered, once again lifting her head to gaze into his blue eyes, “You just think you do.”

“Hermione… I’ve always loved you… ever since we were eleven years old; I just knew that I loved you. I know I’m not good at showing it… but I have tried… haven’t I?”

That was it. She was done. Done with her dignity, her pride. Everything she once cared about was gone as she threw herself to the ground and began to sob helplessly. The emotions that ran through her physically pained her. She had never even thought that Ron might actually love her, she simply cast that aside and titled herself as his trophy girlfriend. And she knew that he was always shy about showing his true feelings but she had assumed that he just didn’t care.

She was wrong, so wrong. The feeling of knowing this made her weep harder, leaving Ron confused and unknowing what to do.

However that was when Draco Malfoy heroically came to her rescue…