Things Change

Chapter 37

Draco's POV

I didn't go to my next class and Hermione probably didn't either. I just wish she knew that I wasn't doing this to hurt her. I had to do it to protect her. The letter had said some crap about them finding a way in through the forest, who the hell knows how they managed that, but they planned to kill as many non-Slytherins as they possibly could. At the bottom a little note was scrawled especially to scare me into keeping quiet.

That witch is at the top of our list.

They didn't know who the girl from the restaurant was, but if they did find out, they would kill her. And if they recognized Hermione, they would probably torture her until she begged for death. Then they'd torture me until I couldn't move, that'd be my punishment.

I sat in the Slytherin common room. Just sat there. I hadn't been here since that day with Pansy. Once or twice I would check my cheek to discover they were wet. I was upset of course. I had just had to give up the only person I've ever really loved. I thought of something then. A story Hermione had told me a while back, before we were together.

It was about a dog she had had. She was telling me about how traumatic it was to have her Grandmother die. The last thing her Grandma had given to her, she had told me, was a little golden puppy. Hermione said it was like a link to her Grandma, how she could stay connected to her. The dog went with her everywhere. They grew up together. After a happy six years with the dog, they found out that Lulu - the dog - had cancer. Hermione, at ten years old, a common muggle, was devastated. They had the choice of keeping Lulu alive, but the dog would suffer some consequences. Even back then, Hermione wasn't stupid. She didn't want to have the dog suffer, so they put her down. When I had asked Hermione how she had done it, if she truly loved the dog, why didn't she keep it? She shook her head. "I couldn't do it," were her words. "That'd be like me being able to keep my Grandma alive, but she would always be in pain. Seeing her in pain wouldn't make me happy, so I had to say goodbye. Sometimes, when you love something, the best thing to do is let it go."

So that's what I did. Seeing Hermione in pain, or even worse - dead - wouldn't do me any good. It would kill me inside. So I set her free. Why can't she see that? Only if I could tell her...

Hermione's POV

How can he do this to me? I think I always knew this would end badly, from the moment it started. But that's why I had him promise. He promised he wouldn't hurt me. Did all of those nights together mean nothing to him? It's not like we did anything like that but still. Don't I mean anything to him?

I'm thinking that he was just fooling with me but at the same time, I'm thinking it's because of something else. How can some fake that look, the look in his eyes that was only there when we were together, all the passion. You can't fake that. But maybe he can. I just don't know anymore. My insides feel like they've been ripped out and put through a shredder. I never thought it would hurt so much; losing an arrogant, selfish, ex-death eater. But I loved that arrogant, selfish, ex-death eater.

Just thinking about it made things worse. How could I let my guard down that easily? How could I let myself fall for him that easily? I knew the answers to those questions, but that wasn't enough. I let my guard down because he changed. I could trust him, or at least that's what I thought. And who doesn't fall for Malfoy? He's this good-looking, selfish, bad boy. No one can deny that. Every good girl wants a bad boy

But now I know I was wrong. Wrong about everything.

No POV

McGonagall sat in her office that day, unaware of what just happened. She had known all along. Since that first day, when she heard him talking. She could tell he had some sort of attraction towards her, but he tried to cover it up by treating her awfully. It must have worked all those years, so when McGonagall decided that Hermione and Draco were the perfect people for Head Prefects, she wondered what would happen behind the closed doors. And didn't they know she knew about everything that went on inside of her castle?