Innocence That I Hold Dear

Innocence That I Hold Dear

Chapter 2

The students approached the castle and prepared to journey into the great hall where they would be greeted by their professors and be given a speech by Headmaster Dumbledore. Draco sat down at the Slytherin table away from empty chairs to remove any possibilities of having any anxious first years sitting next to him. While waiting for the Sorting Ceremony to be over, Draco glanced over at the Gryffindor table. He saw many familiar faces. Neville, Seamus, Ron, Harry...

"What the....?" Draco saw that Hermione was nowhere in sight. She usually sat by that stupid Potter, but that seat was empty. Where was she?

He continued to look down the Gryffindor table and noticed her sitting all by herself, reading a strange looking book. For a moment, he considered going over to see what was troubling her, hence putting an end to his curiosity. However, exchanging words with a mudblood in front of the whole school might not be the best thing for his image. He quickly looked away from Hermione and watched Dumbledore as he gave his speech. Something strange made him look back at her, though. She was struggling to get out of her seat. She looked so tired. She slowly walked to the front, trying to keep herself from falling. Students were starting to stare. Dumbledore paused when he sensed something was wrong with her.

"Miss Granger, are you not feeling well?"

She stopped and looked around as if she were trying to find someone. Her eyes opened slowly every time she blinked and it seemed as if she was going to fall over any second. She looked back at Dumbledore.

"I need... Madame Pomfrey," she managed to say before she collapsed on the cold floor of the great hall.

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Draco couldn't sleep a wink that night. All the commotion in the great hall that evening left his mind clouded with thoughts all night long. If he was curious before about what was wrong with Hermione, he was really bubbling over with curiosity now. What happened? He knew now that something was seriously wrong. The next day, he would find out what it was.

During lunch the following day, Draco decided to visit Hermione in the infirmary. He knew it was crazy, but he couldn't help it. He had to find out what was wrong. He left the Slytherin table as quietly as he could without arousing any suspicions from his fellow classmates and headed for the infirmary.

When he arrived, he found Hermione sleeping in a cot and Madame Pomfrey was nowhere to be found. He sat next to her and watched her sleep.

In all the years that he had known her, he had always thought of her as a dirty mudblood. He never really thought of her as a person. In a way, his horrible opinion of her made Draco think of the kind of person he was. Hermione had never really done anything wrong to him. Yet, he was always cruel to her and everyone else. Looking at Hermione and thinking of all the horrible things he had said and done to her in the past, made him swallow an imaginary reality pill he never wanted to take.

He really was an asshole and had absolutely no reason to be one other than for the sake of his silly pure-blood reputation. Nothing could help that now, however. He was a Malfoy, first and foremost, and no stupid mudblood was going to make him feel ashamed. He decided not to press on any further. Rumors would spread and he would certainly find out what her silly problem was then. He was crazy for coming here and visiting her, making it look like he was some kind of worried friend. He stood up and turned around to leave before hearing a faint voice coming from the cot.

"Malfoy, is that you?" Hermione sat up in her cot and gave him a puzzled look.

Draco panicked slightly, but turned back around slowly and gave her a firm reply. "Yeah, sorry I woke you, I'll be leaving now."

"Are you hurt," she asked, looking for any sign of physical harm or ailments.

"No," Draco said honestly.

"Why are you here, then? There is nobody here but me." She was searching his face for an answer and found an unlikely possibility.

"Are you here to see me?" Hermione sounded as if she were hoping for that possibility.

Draco tried to think of something insensitive to say in order to keep his true motives for seeking her out a secret. "I came to see if you were dead."

"Oh...okay," Hermione said while managing to look slightly disappointed, confused, but not surprised all at the same time. She shrugged her shoulders and said something else that shocked Malfoy.

"Oh well, it's more than anything else anybody has done so far."

"What do you mean? Nobody has come to see you? Not even Potter?"

She looked away from him the second he said Harry's name. She looked as if she was about to cry again, but she gave him a reassuring smile and changed the subject.

"I just fainted from exhaustion that's all. Pomfrey says I've been working too hard all summer to make this my best year. I'll be okay, though. Nothing to worry about."

Draco looked at her and noticed that a false smile was spreading on her face. A nervous smile. A worried smile. She was hiding something. Something that Potter and Weasley must have already known. He thought of asking her about it, but the question was too personal to ask. He just left it at that, told her goodbye in the most polite way that he could muster with his personality, and left.

Later on that evening while trying to go to sleep, Draco returned to his thoughts. Even though Draco didn't seem to Hermione like the kind of person that cared about what was ailing her, she truly seemed happy that he was there anyway. He was the only person that came to see her and he couldn't understand why no one else did. Especially why Potter and Weasley didn't. They were her best friends. What the hell was going on?

For the rest of the night, Draco questioned himself.

Were these feelings towards Hermione those of curiosity, or those of concern?

He didn't know anymore.

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