Too Far

Too Far

Chapter 1~The Hogwarts Express

Hermione sat by herself... again. For the last two years Hermione had ridden the train to Hogwarts alone. And no, she wasn't a loner. But Harry was dating Ginny, much to Ron's protests (and Hermione's secret hopes); Ron was dating Lavender, much to Harry's disgust (and Hermione's). Harry had spent the fifth year summer holidays at the Burrow, and he and Ginny had gotten together during this time . Harry and Ginny had been going out since then. Ron and Lavender had gone to the Halloween Ball together in fifth year, and had become "socially attached". By New Year's, they were an item, and commonly caught in the astronomy tower. Much to their disgust, Professor McGonagall had seen them in the stark on a regular basis (author winks suggestively ;)).

Yes, a lot had happened in fifth year. Hermione had left her bookworm status behind her, and dated Seamus Finnigan, a fellow Gryffindor. Harry and Ron however, still seemed to fail to notice that Hermione was in fact a member of the opposite sex. Hermione and Seamus broke up at the end of fifth year, each claiming that they did not like each other in that kind of way, which was fine, Hermione thought, she had only gone out with him to prove to Harry and Ron that she was just as capable of dating as Ginny or Lavender.

One year and two months after she had broken it off with Seamus, and she was still alone. No doubt, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Lavender (respectively) were all in a train compartment snogging away the afternoon while Hermione stared out the compartment window, wondering how much worse off she could be and feeling sorry for herself. Of course, you could say she had Parvati, but that girl had no brains, and would just giggle and nod if you ever tried to say anything to her that made even the slightest bit of sense. Now Parvati was going out with Seamus, and alas, they were both happy. Yep, to Hermione, it seemed as if everyone in this fucking world was happy, except her.

As the train for Hogwarts left at eleven o'clock, Draco showed up fashionably late, at eleven fifteen. Of course, having the rich and powerful parents he had, it didn't matter how late he was, the train would wait for him. Draco walked lazily up the stairs and onto the train. The moment the door closed behind him, the train started to roll away from the station.

Draco was pleased once again he had control. He was returning to Hogwarts for his seventh and final year, and of course, he was head boy. Sure, he hadn't worked for it, but it's hard being rich... ha, right. Draco knew he would never be able to find an empty compartment, due to all the couples snogging; he roamed the halls, listening in at certain doors to "check if any one was in them". Most compartments were full, and you could tell just by walking by them. He heard some interesting gossip regarding different couples, and other things you really would want to see on a regular basis regarding Snape. But when Draco came to one door in particular, he thought it might actually be empty. There was no noise coming from the door at all.

Draco knocked on the door. There was no answer, so Draco figured it safe to open the door and make himself at home and order everything off the snack trolley. He was pleased with his luck.

Hermione was awoken from her mourning by a knock at her compartment door. Her heart leapt for joy, figuring it was Ron and Harry coming to apologize for the way they had been acting for the past two years. ("Hermione, We're really sorry, and, well, just to prove to you how devoted we are to you, we dumped our mega-boobed girlfriends, and, Hermione, will you marry us?")

The door opened quickly and Hermione leaped into the arms of her visitor and started to pour her insides out, but shrieked and leapt back just as quickly when she realized whom she was hanging off of. Ew, it was Malfoy. Even in her head, she thought the name with disgust. No, it didn't even deserve a name. It was like a scorpion, evil, through the core. No, Malfoy was worse than that.

Hermione burst into a deep shape of red, that could give the Weasleys a run for their money, what little of it they had. Then in a second burst into tears.

Draco couldn't stand to see her like this, even if she was Mudblood Granger, no one deserved to be so embarrassed and upset at the same time. Who knows what possessed him, but Draco bent down and pulled Hermione into his lap and cradled her in his arms, all the while whispering words of comfort to her and softly kissing her forehead.

If anyone were to open the compartment door at that moment, they would have been frightened. For the last seven years, Draco and Hermione had been working to bring the other tumbling down while striving to push themselves higher. Yet here they were, wrapped in each other's arms, one crying, the other comforting. They were quite a sight.

When Hermione's tears had slowed, Draco tilted her chin up and gazed into her eyes. He had a knack for seeing people's emotions in their eyes, while disguising his own behind pools of grey-blue. When he looked into Hermione's eyes, he could see confusion, depression, and a bit of betrayal, and he wasn't going to leave until he found out why these emotions were there.

No words were necessary. Hermione knew Draco was looking through her soul and could read all of her emotions through her eyes. Like melted chocolate with cinnamon, everything penetrated through her eyes. When she looked up into his eyes, she could see no trace of emotion. It was like looking at the water on a foggy day, just still and solid. She wondered if he had learnt to disguise his emotions after being treated they way he was by his father. It was common knowledge that Lucius beat Draco almost daily over the summer holidays.

After a few minutes (which felt like hours to Draco and Hermione) of looking into each other's eyes and being completely lost in one another's features, Draco spoke. His voice was crisp and clear, and full of authority and power.

"Are you alright, Hermione?" both teens knew the answer.

"Uh-huh..." Hermione nodded.

"No, you are not, I can see it in your eyes, your confused, depressed, and you feel betrayed, all at once. I refuse to leave this compartment until you tell me why you feel like this." Hermione burst into tears again.

For some strange reason, Hermione felt entirely exposed in front of Draco, as if he had just read her diary, but she didn't keep one. She didn't know why she felt so safe with him; he had been her enemy for seven years why should all that change just because he had seen her cry? Yet somehow, she felt secure. More secure than she had ever felt with Harry and Ron after seven years of friendship, of course, I don't think you can really call it friendship, for the last two years she had been ignored, with the exception of the odd wave in the common room after dinner.

Hermione, come to think of it, wasn't actually fighting with Draco any more either. They had stopped shooting insults at each other in the halls between classes in that notorious fifth year. And sometimes they would smile or say hello as they passed during sixth year as well. Hey...she was friendlier with Draco Malfoy in sixth year than she was with Harry and Ron.

Hermione's thoughts were broken by the sound of Draco's voice.

"Granger, come on, just tell me why you're depressed, I can already guess why you're confused. You ran into me and leapt on my like a lost puppy who found its master. You thought I was someone else, and your confused as to why I'm comforting you right now. Its not is the Malfoy book of honour now is it? Comforting a Mudblood, I could be laughed out of the wizarding world for this. You are confused because you don't know why I'm doing it. I'll tell you why I'm doing it, if you tell me why you are depressed and betrayed, and if there is anything I left out of the confusion bit of it. So come on now Granger, spill the beans."

Hermione had never been more baffled in her entire life. This kid was like a walking, talking, and super-sexy mind reader--whoa, she did not just think that. EW. EW. EW. Ok.

Hermione sighed.

"You amaze me. You can tell all that about me just by looking at my eyes. I am impressed. Well, I'm depressed because my two fucking best friends have decided to completely ignore me for the last two fucking years. I have been a fucking loner. Sure, I had Parvati, but that flake doesn't under stand a word you say to her, seriously, I don't think she has a brain. And-"

"Whoa Granger! Calm down, someone will hear you, come barging in and want an explanation as to why we are in the same compartment..." Draco trailed off, not really knowing why he was still in the same compartment as this fucked up friendless Mudblood.

"All we have to say is we are doing Head-" Draco released a spurt of laughter, "I meant we are doing Head business, you know, Head Boy, Head Girl, anyone will buy that, I'm head girl, you're head boy, no problem!"

"Ok. So, you've been neglected for two whole years?" Draco asked, genuinely interested, for god knows why.

"Not really," she sighed again, "I went out with Seamus in fifth year, just to prove to Harry and Ron that I in fact, was a girl, who was equally as capable to date as Ginny or Lavender. But, we broke up in fifth year. I think he knew I was just using him to get back at Harry and Ron, and he had his eye on Parvati, the retarded-monkey-shit-eating-fucked-up-arse-frigger-bitch-pude-prick-dipshit-fucked-camel-cock-sucking-" Hermione went on for a while muttering obscene swearwords, while Draco twiddled his thumbs.

It was great for Hermione to get all this off her chest. She really had had no one to confide in for two years, so yeah, this was nice. If she was close to her parents, she would have talked to them, but there was like a link missing between her and her parents, they never really hit it off well. When she had become a witch, it had made the space bigger. Sure, they were there for her if she needed them, but she would never stay up late talking to her mom, or make funny jokes with her dad about strange looking people on the street. Nope, she was, well, on her own. It was fine with her, being seventeen, she would be living on her own, and it would be easy for her to detach from people she never really got to attach to.

"Why do you feel betrayed?" Draco interrupted her thoughts once again.

"Huh? Oh...well, I guess for the same reasons I feel depressed. Seriously, I thought you were either Harry or Ron coming to apologize for all your shit in the past two years, bit you weren't...maybe it was better this way, I mean, you and I need to make a truce or something. I was thinking about it, and in the last two years, you've been friendlier towards me. I don't know about Harry and Ron, but me. And we will have to work on a lot of projects together and plan things, so I think it would be great if we could actually get along for the most part, I mean we will be sharing a quarters, we will be doing our homework at the same table, so we should be familiar with each other's-"

But Hermione didn't get a chance to finish because she was silenced with a kiss. A quick kiss, but was filled with passion, yet it wasn't too demanding, but there was lust, yes, lots of lust. Hermione had completely forgotten what she was going to say, her thoughts had been lost in the kiss, and her eyes had fluttered shut.

She left her eyes shut as she felt Draco move away. She did not want to open them, or return to that world she called her own, it was horrible, compared to the one she had just been in. Slowly, Hermione fell asleep.