Manic Star

The door swung open and he was alone. He stood motionless, consumed in the atrociousness of what he had done. Oh my god, he thought unconsciously touching his lower lip with two fingers. He had just kissed her, no; he had just revealed his deepest darkest secret! Fuck! Damn it! He wasn't thinking!

No, he corrected himself, I was thinking, I was thinking under the effects of Veritaserum. It was a pathetic but consoling thought.

He looked at the open door and thought of his next move. His face displayed calmness but his eyes gave him away. They were for some reason, perturbed. He walked out of the girls' lavatory and headed towards the dungeons. He walked slow and silently.

Then he paused, noticing a figure leaning against a wall. He instantly recognized the figure. "It's her. " He took in a deep breath.

She heard soft footsteps and she immediately looked up, preparing herself with excuses just in case the footsteps belonged to any of her professors. She sucked her breath in.

A few feet away from her was none other than him." Oh god." Her hands trembled. "It's him." She forced herself to act calm, but the enormity of what had happened still overwhelmed her and she felt like she had lost part of her normal pattern of thought.

He took a deep breath and continued to walk towards her. She could feel the muscles in her palms contract. Then he paused in front of her. He opened his mouth.

"Good night, " he said quietly. Without another word or glance, he continued.

She couldn't reply. What else was there to say? How good was he in pretending that nothing ever happened? She watched as he strode towards the Slytherin dormitory, completely composed. His blond hair shone in every torch he passed by.

He isn't affected...at all? Why?! She was baffled...and yet...

He saw her eyes as he walked by. They had a mixture of fear and the leftovers of shock, and there was something else he couldn't define. He had by then gone down to the dungeons and he couldn't believe how cold his hands were and how they shook slightly.

"Get a grip! " he told himself. "She's just a good for nothing mud-" He paused. He couldn't even continue saying it. It was as if some drug controlled him. It was as if she now controlled him. He could even still smell her." Something like vanilla and...aargh! Stop it Draco Malfoy! "

Draco hurriedly made his way onto his bed. He had to get a good night's sleep and he hoped he would.

~*~

Draco did get sleep, only then were his dreams filled with her face, her voice, everything was her! It was at sunrise before Draco finally decided to get breakfast ahead of his snoring cronies. He knew that the Great Hall would still be sparsely populated. He quickly took a shower and dressed into his school robes. He looked into the mirror, as he arranged his collar.

"You'll stay away from her; you'll still keep annoying her best friends (he spat the word), you'll act like she's the ugliest girl in the world, you'll act like she doesn't exist!" he told himself firmly.

But the moment he saw her in the Great Hall, poring over another of her godforsaken books, he had forgotten what he had told himself minutes before. His heart began to pound as he passed in front of her, heading for the Slytherin table.

"Oh god," he thought. "Don't look at me, don't look at me!" He clenched his right fist. "No, wait! Look at me! Please look at me!"

She looked up. And saw him immediately. A small gasp escaped from her mouth.

He looked at her for a second. Then his mouth was drawn into a straight line and his eyes became stark frosty.

Her heart stopped. "His eyes are so cold," she thought. "Get a grip Hermione! He was just playing with you! Don't you understand? He was just using you for a good night's kiss!"

But a part of her didn't want to believe that she was just used for such short time pleasure.

"Damn it! Look at her! Why did she have to be so-" he couldn't continue his thought. He immediately took a seat with his back turned against her. He tried to occupy his mind with his cereal. "Wow, I never thought milk was this white," he told himself as he poured milk into his bowl. "Almost creamy looking too, like her skin when she's brushing her fingers against her neck...damn it! Stop!"

Hermione looked at his back. He was sitting straight. Engrossed in something she couldn't see. She wondered what he was doing. Hermione shook her head.

"Oy! Mione!" Ron's voice came into the area.

Hermione looked at her left and grinned. "Hey guys."

Harry give her a smile as he and Ron took seats opposite to her. "Had a good night's sleep?"

"Yes," Hermione lied. "Are you ready for our Potions exam?"

Ron choked a mouthful of pancakes. "What?! That's today?!"

An eyebrow rose. "I specifically remember I reminded you blokes last night about it."

Ron scrunched up his nose. "Whatever," he shrugged forking another pancake.

"You'll regret it later," Hermione told him.

"Regrets come later! Now let me eat!" Ron bellowed puffing his chest.

Draco overheard his comment. "You have no idea how true that is," he thought bitterly. For the first time in his life, he had agreed with the stinking redhead.

~*~

"Hermione, are you alright?"

"Huh?"

"I asked you if you were alright." Harry was looking at her with a frown.

She nodded. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something." She smiled. "Now what was that? "

"You're always thinking," Ron said laughing. Harry sniggered. "He was asking you if you'd finished you essay in Charms already so he could get an idea of what to write. "

"Oh, sure." Hermione handed Harry her parchment. "Sorry if it's only four inches long. I wasn't totally up to making an essay on the importance of Love charms."

Ron and Harry laughed. "Geez, four inches about stupid love charms? Sounds like you're up to it," Ron said hitting Hermione's head with a feather pen.

Hermione smiled a little. "Shut up Ron. " And Hermione proceeded with a string of defenses as Ron laughed at each one.

Harry looked at her and smiled to himself.

~*~

Draco just got into the library when he saw the Golden Trio laughing. "Ah, the perks of camaraderie at its finest," he muttered under his breath. He had left Crabbe and Goyle in the common room to finish his essay on ridiculous love charms. And the coincidence in the library was a tad too much.

Ron's eyebrows immediately knitted upon seeing their blond adversary. "Well, well, look what the devil dragged in. "

Hermione and Harry looked up. Harry's jaw tightened a little. Hermione's eyes looked down once more.

Draco gave an arsenic filled smile. "Ah, look what the cat dragged in. A bloody red head; excuse the pun," then he looked at Harry. "And Mr. scar face. "

Hermione bit her lower lip, waiting for her name to surface so she could face him even in an exchange of bitter words. Her name wasn't mentioned.

"Name calling then? Get a life ferret boy," Harry spat derisively. With that, Ron laughed out loud and Hermione smiled quietly.

Draco brushed past them and continued to the end of the library. "You do that yourself, boy-who-lived. "

"Just like him to ruin a perfectly good day," Ron said later on.

"Trust him to do that every time we're around," Harry added.

Hermione nodded. There was nothing she could say.

~*~

Hermione was on her bed while the rest of her roommates were in the common room. She liked the solitude once in awhile, since having squeamish roommates in the same room proved too annoying sometimes.

There was a tap on the window. Hermione didn't mind it. The taps grew louder and louder, until she got up to see what it was. There was a tawny owl perched on the windowsill, holding a letter.

She opened the window. "Who's it for?" she asked with a sigh, as if the owl would reply. The owl shoved the envelope to her hand. It was for her. She opened it.

It was from him.

" I'm sorry. "

D.M.

It was all it said.

"Should I reply?" Hermione asked herself. The owl seemed to nod, as if reading her thought. She quickly got some parchment and a pen and scribbled something fast. The owl hooted and nipped her finger affectionately as she tied it on the owl's leg. Then it flew away.

~~

Draco paced around the library, it was past seven-thirty and the library was going to close soon. He wondered if she would reply. It was okay if she wouldn't. "I mean who in their right mind would reply?" he contemplated. Suddenly an owl hooted. Draco's pulse raced seeing a letter tied up to the leg. "Atta girl, " he muttered to the owl as he gave her a tiny biscuit.

With a slightly trembling breath, he opened the rolled up parchment.

" It's alright. "

H.G.

He rolled it up again. "Yes, who in their right mind WOULD reply," Draco thought suppressing a smile.

~~

Harry lay on his bed as Ron and the rest of his roommates were doing their nightly hygiene obligations.

It wasn't his fault. At least not entirely. It was her fault too. Why she was so smart, why she was so discreetly caring, and why she had suddenly become more attractive than ever.

He sighed. It wasn't a bad thing was it?

To fall for his best friend?

To fall for Hermione Granger?