Draco Malfoy's First Love

Chapter Thirteen: Back to Madame Pomfrey

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, "I can explain..."

"No need to, Hermoine, I saw the whole thing," yelled Ron. Hermione had never seen his face so contorted with anger. "This stupid bastard was harassing you again!"

"Weasley," said Draco lazily, "let me explain..."

"I don't need you to tell me lies, Malfoy, and I hope this hurts you far more than you hurt Hermione!"

Even with his quick quidditch reflexes, Draco didn't see the punch coming.

Pow!

Maybe it was his horrific rage, or maybe because of his magical blood, Ron was able to sock Malfoy hard enough to send him flying through the air and hit the corridor wall. He then fell to the floor, unconscious. A small line of blood trickled down the side of his face where his head hit the stone wall. His nose looked broken and swollen as well.

"Draco!" Hermione screamed as she rushed to his side. "What have you done, Ron? Quickly, go get Madame Pomfrey, Dumbledore, or anybody!!!!"

Ron ran as fast as he could up down the hallway. Hermione lay by Draco's side and kissed his head. Two small tears rolled off her cheeks, and onto his face. What have I done? She thought.

* * *

Malfoy awoke in the hospital wing the next morning. His head hurt so much, and he couldn't seem to get his head off the pillow. He did manage to open his eyes, though, and when he did, he saw Hermione's face smiling back at him.

"Morning, sleepy head," she cooed.

"I must've gotten hit harder than I thought," he smirked, "I could swear that an angel was standing by my bedside."

Hermione giggled faintly, at least he's feeling good enough to try and hit on me, she thought.

"Where am I?"

"In the hospital wing. Ron hit you so hard that he broke your nose, but Madame Pomfrey fixed that instantly. You also have a concussion, but she couldn't fix that until you were awake."

"No wonder my bloody head hurts so bad. I feel like I got run over by a...what is it called? Dozebulder?"

Hermione smiled--Draco's knowledge of the muggle world was far worse than Ron's, and that was saying something. "You mean bulldozer?" she asked kindly.

"Yeah, those," he said as he tried to sit up. Hermione gently pushed him back down.

"Don't stress yourself," she said.

"But how are you?" he asked her with a concerned tone.

"I'm fine," she said with a smile, but Draco knew she was lying--she was fidgeting with her necklace again.

"But what about Ron and all that?"

"Oh," she exclaimed, "Well, I had a talk with him...about us, and he got very upset." Draco could see her beginning to cry. "And I told him I was sorry, and that I tried to love him, but I just didn't, and that then you came along and I felt so complete." Tears were streaming down her face now. "And he told me that sorry wasn't good enough, and that it was okay to break up with him, just not because of...you." She started full out sobbing by then and Draco sat up, wincing with pain, and put his arms around her in a tight embrace.

"Shhhh," he whispered soothingly, "It'll be alright. You're a wonderful person and did nothing wrong. This is all my fault," he added bitterly.

Hermione stopped crying. "You're fault?" she looked at him, "If anything it's my fault. I've hurt Ron beyond repair, and look at you! You could have been killed! That's my fault too." She sobbed again.

"No it's me."

"No, it's me!"

They both stopped and looked at each other. We must be in love, Hermione thought, look how much we want to comfort each other! Draco thought, she tries to defend me, maybe she does care as much about me as I do about her! They were seconds away from a kiss; Draco's lips barely brushed Hermione's when...

"Alright, that's enough!" Madame Pomfrey bustled over to the bed, "I don't need you exciting my patient anymore, Ms. Granger. Now please excuse me while I tend to Mister Malfoy." She said this in a bossy, but nice manner.

"Excuse me, Madame Pomfrey," Hermione knew how seriously she took her job, "See you soon, Draco." She told him, gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and skipped out of the Hospital Wing.

"I love you!" he called after her.

"I love you too!" she hollered back.

Draco leaned back on his bed with a wide grin on his face. He never had felt so good in his life!

Chapter Fourteen: An Airborne Chase

As Hermione hurried out of the hospital wing, she ran straight toward the quidditch pitch--she needed to talk to Ron before all hope for their friendship was lost. Even though there was no quidditch practice on Saturday mornings, Hermione knew Ron would be there, trying to rid of his problems while soaring through the air. Hermione shivered--it was a cold January morning, and she had once again forgotten her cloak. Every time I see Draco, she thought, I seem to loose a bit more common sense! But I need to get a grip on myself if I'm gonna talk to Ron. Hermione swallowed but there was still a large lump in her throat. Pull yourself together Granger!

Hermione's assumption had been correct. As she walked out on to the qudditch pitch, she saw one solitary figure flash across the cloudy sky at top speed. He must be on Harry's firebolt. No Comet two-sixty can pull that maneuver off. She felt the hot lump rising in her throat again. She had learned so much more about quidditch while dating Ron, and it pained her to think of it again. Ron still hadn't noticed her below, so as he came by about twenty feet above her, Hermione hesitantly called out to him.

"Ron!"

Ron looked down to see Hermione standing on the quidditch field. Any other day she would have been the best person to share his problems with. But now she was the problem, and Ron tried to ignore her as he brushed by.

Hermione looked hurt. Then suddenly inspiration came to her. She ran as fast as she could to the broom shed and brandished her wand. "Alohamora!" she bellowed.

The lock on the door clicked open and, without a moment's hesitation, Hermione grabbed the nearest broom. It was a Nimbus 2001 and it was custom made. Hermione looked at the sleek handle to find the golden initials.

Draco Malfoy--Seeker

Hermione smiled, what would Draco say if he saw her riding a broom? Then Hermione mounted it and pushed off from the damp ground.

Hermione soared through the air as she rounded the castle wall. Now just get to Ron, she told herself, trying to catch her balance. She was never very good at flying, and preferred to keep her feet on the ground. But when one of her best friends was trying to escape her by air, she would have to gather the courage to fly to him.

Ron saw Hermione speeding towards him. She looked deathly pale with a green tinge. Ron smirked--a smirk very much like the one found on Malfoy. Okay, he thought, if she wants to play, let the games begin. Ron leaned forward and accelerated, and Hermione fell instantly behind. No match for a firebolt!

Hermione couldn't catch up to Ron. Suddenly he spiraled into a deep turn, and before Hermione had started her descent, Ron had pulled out and was going in the opposite direction. Fine, she thought, if he wants to play dirty...

"Impedimenta!"

Ron's broom slowed to a crawl. Damn! Hermione had just used the Impediment Curse to slow his broom down. Now she was level with him and she leaned back to slow her broom down too. They traveled along at five miles per hour while Hermione talked. She spilled out everything that had happened to her and how she felt since last Halloween. That was when everything seemed to come crashing down on her, Ron thought sympathetically.

"...and then when you asked me to go out with you, I was just so angry at Malfoy and you were so kind to me that I said yes. Oh I'm so sorry, Ron, I know it was wrong and I feel absolutely awful!" she bawled.

"There, there Hermione," Ron couldn't help but feel sorry for his friend. He remembered all the times he had taunted her as his own way of releasing his feelings for her. He also remembered how many fights they seemed to have--always ending in forgivness. So what's so different about this time? He questioned himself, and in a split second he had edged his broom towards hers, let go of the handle, and hugged her.

Hermione stopped crying. Was Ron forgiving her? After all that she had put him through? Why, she asked herself, do I deserve to have a friend like him? "Ron," she croaked, "do you forgive me?"

"Yes, love, I do forgive you. I'm sorry for what you've gone through, and I'm sorry that I sort of...pushed you to be my girlfriend. I put you on the spot with that kiss on Christmas, and I'm sorry for being a bad boyfriend."

Hermione looked up from Ron's now damp robes. They were only hovering about five feet from the ground now. "You weren't a bad boyfriend," she whispered, "and I do love you, Ron, just not..."

"I know, I know, just not in a romantic way." Hermoine was surprised to see him grinning, "I had a feeling you might have felt that way--I mean, every time I kissed you, you went into this weird trance sort of thingy with your mouth half open and your eyes glazed over. It was like kissing a dead fish."

"Oh Ron!" Hermione cried, but then saw Ron was laughing. She drew herself away from him and gave him a playful punch in the arm.

"Ow, hey!" he laughed, and lost his balance. Before she knew it, Ron grabbed her robes and both of them tumbled off their broomsticks onto the dewy grass, laughing so hard their sides ached.

Hermione let out a sigh, "It's good to have a friend like you," she said.

"And it's so good to have a friend like you to...TICKLE!" Ron grabbed Hermione's waist and started to tickle her.

"Stop Ron, stop!" she giggled, but she was so happy that it didn't matter at all.