Heart in Agony

Chapter 10

"I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"I'm talking about the little secret they were all talking about, it clearly involved you."

"I don't know, they were probably just talking about the fact that I'm a muggleborn witch. They take great delight in reminding me all the time."

Steph stopped her questioning for a moment and appeared to be thinking about what she had been told. She was presumably trying to work out if it made sense or not. Hermione took the opportunity to start walking and headed off in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. She had barely gone a few steps when the other girl ran up beside her and started talking again.

"But it involved that boy, Draco. How would you being muggleborn be his business?"

"He makes that type of thing his business, they all do. Honestly, don't get yourself involved with them, the Slytherins take great delight in mocking everybody they can. They'll find something about you and they'll hold it above your head for the rest of time."

"Oh my God you've been involved with one of them? Which one?"

"I didn't mean involved in that way! I meant like, don't befriend any of them. They hate me purely for the fact that my parents are muggles. And they are all in league with Voldemort."

"Ooh, bad boys!"

"Ha, yes bad boys! I know a few of them are good looking but it's like I already told you, there's not much else to them."

"What about Draco? Which reminds me, you never answered my original question."

"I did you just didn't believe me. And Draco...well...he's just the same."

"No, he didn't make fun of you when the others did. He stood behind them all. Maybe he just needs a hug or something! I'd give him a lot more than a hug if you know what I mean!"

"I think a lot of girls in this school would! But I'm telling you, you don't want to be hanging around with boys like him."

"I like that kind of boy! Do you think maybe I should fool around with him for a while? I mean he was really good looking but I maybe preferred Blaise. No. I think Draco would be better. I bet you I could get him in bed in less than a week!"

"You would not."

"I will. And I'll tell you all about it afterwards if you want."

"Stay away from him or I swear..."

When she realised what she had said Hermione put her hand over her mouth to try and stop anything else from getting out. The look of shock on Steph's face told her that her comments hadn't gone unnoticed. She grew even more worried when a big grin appeared on Steph's face as she ran forward and hugged Hermione. When she let go she looked really excited and was bouncing up and down on the spot.

"You like him, don't you? Is that what the secret was? You like him and he's embarrassed about it."

She thought about that option for a minute and decided that it would shut Steph up and wasn't that awful a story. A lot of girls liked Draco so it would make some sense that she did too. Also...she did like him so it wouldn't be a total lie.

"Yes that's what it was. But...don't tell anyone...please."

"Ooh, Hermione! Don't you feel like we've bonded now? I won't try and seduce him any more, even though you clearly have no chance. I mean, I wouldn't do that to a friend. Oh my God, you're my first friend at this school."

And once again Hermione tried to block her out. She steered the small girl up towards their common room. It was quite late at night by that point and sleeping seemed like the best plan! They made their way through the empty corridors, up the stairs, through the deserted common room and up to their dorm room. Steph was still talking as Hermione got changed. And as she fell asleep in her bed there were thoughts of Draco in her head.

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Hermione awoke to Steph standing beside her bed, a huge grin on her face, and talking so fast that she could barely make out a word of what she was saying. All that Hermione could think was whether the girl ever shut up or not!

"Oh my God, it's my first morning here, what do we do in the mornings? Where do we get Breakfast? I'm starving! Aren't you starving?"

"I am kind of hungry I guess. Right, get changed then I'll take you to get something to eat."

The girls got changed quickly and were down in the common room before everyone else. Hermione had almost forgotten about the incident with Ron until that moment. Steph wanted to wait for him and Harry, and despite insisting that she had suddenly become starving as well Steph had managed to force Hermione into a chair to wait for them.

Ginny came down first and immediately began talking to Steph. They seemed to get along quite well and Hermione had no desire to join in the conversation no matter how much they tried to include her. About ten minutes later she heard two familiar voices coming down the stairs and stood up. She wanted to get down to the Great Hall as soon as possible.

"Hey Gin, how are you?"

"I'm fine Harry. Baby how are you?"

To Hermione's horror they began kissing and after a while they started giggling and tickling each other. Hermione was sufficiently disgusted that she turned away. She took hold of Steph's arm and announced, "Well, we're off for some Breakfast. You may join us if you wish."

She strode through the portrait hole dragging Steph behind her. Ron, Harry and Ginny followed shortly behind them and every time Ron tried to catch up with her, Hermione would speed up.

When they got to the Great Hall a few people turned to look at Steph in curiosity but most of them just carried on eating. Hermione's worst fears were realised when Ron sat beside her, but she wouldn't let him see that she was scared. She promised herself that. She tried to ignore him for a while by reading her potions book and not talking to anybody so that it didn't look suspicious. She glanced over at the Slytherin table and found that Draco was staring back. He was mouthing something to her that she couldn't quite make out so she tried to mouth, "What?" back.

"Who are you talking to Hermione?"

"Nobody Ron, now leave me alone I'm trying to read."

"But I want to talk to you about what happened."

Everybody around them was engaged in a separate conversation so they couldn't hear what he was saying. Hermione lowered her voice nonetheless and hissed, "You mean when you tried to force yourself on me?"

"You know it wasn't like that."

"Actually, I don't."

"Don't talk crap, you were well up for it!"

"I was not. I told you I didn't want you and I tried to push you off me."

"Shut your face."

"No I will not, I'm not scared of you Ron."

"I can see it in your eyes that you are. And for good reason too. You know what I could do to you."

"So you're admitting it now are you?"

"I didn't do anything to you. All I'm saying is that if you tell anyone about your little fantasies of what happened, I'll hurt you more than you ever thought possible."

"What's happened to you?"

"What do you mean? Nothing's happened to me. Don't be stupid."

"You've changed. You've gone crazy for God's sake."

"I am not. I'm just taking what's rightfully mine."

Before she could answer he grabbed her face and pulled it towards his, locking their lips in a kiss.

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Draco had been trying to tell Hermione to meet him after she finished eating, when he saw Ron start talking to her. It looked like they were fighting but he was too far away to really be able to tell. But when Ron had kissed Hermione, he couldn't hold himself back. He jumped over the table and ran as fast as he could towards the Gryffindors followed by Blaise and a few other Slytherin boys.

Hermione managed to get free just before he reached her but it didn't matter. By that point the whole school was watching him, several of the teachers screaming at him to stop, but hardly anybody had seen Ron kiss Hermione, and the ones who had, had no idea that was why Draco was about to attack him.

He jumped onto the Gryffindor table and grabbed Ron by his shoulders, pulling him out of his seat, and punched him in the face. Everyone gasped, then the whole hall was in uproar, but Draco paid no attention. He had Ron on the floor and he was hitting him as hard as he could. The other Slytherins had taken Draco's actions as a cue to start fighting with the other Gryffindors and were all engaged in fights of their own.

It took a while for Ron's shock to subside but when it did he began fighting back. He managed to punch Draco in the eye and burst his nose as well, but before he could do any more damage Professor Snape managed to pull Draco off and with the aid of a few others managed to restrain him.

"This isn't over Weasley, I'll fucking kill you, you hear me?"

"Now Draco, should you really be making such threats when I, your head of house, is here?"

"I don't care Sir. I swear I'll get him if it's the last thing I do."

"We will talk about this in my office. Oh and by the way," he lowered his voice so that nobody except Draco could hear him, "I saw Mr Weasley kissing your little girlfriend."