Chapter 6
Hermione rolled out of bed and looked out herself in the full-length mirror that she had asked the house elves to bring up. Guys say I’m cute. I get hit on all he time. Malfoy checked me out for Merlin’s sake! So why don’t I have a boyfriend? Sighing, she gathered up her shower stuff. She walked in the shower, feeling the water pour down her back and soak her hair. Once she was done she got out of the shower and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. Maybe it’s that pimple on my forehead? But you can’t see it! Argh! I’m going crazy!
She continued to look at her self in the mirror. She was looking so intently she didn’t hear the boy walking into the bathroom until he said “Hey there, babe.”
Screaming her head off in fear she turned and saw Malfoy. “Malfoy! What the hell?! Oh my Merlin! Why are you in here? Don’t you knock? Or respect other people’s privacy? ARGH! I can’t believe you barged in on me again! Do you have a problem? You can’t help but open doors without knocking? Draco Malfoy! You are the living scum of the earth! A jerk-off, ferret boy, Slytherin, evil, lazy, soon-to-be-Death-Eater, pureblood maniac! I cannot believe that I have to share the honor of being a Head with you! Ugh!”
Her fists were clenched in anger for the second time in twenty-four hours and her face was a bright cherry red. I cannot believe that he walked in here! He has NO concept of privacy at all!
“Merlin! Chill out Granger! It’s not like I caught you in the shower! What the hell is your PROBLEM?” He screamed at her, his voice escalating with every syllable. He couldn’t believe he was getting yelled at by the same girl for the third time in two days. Girls worshipped him, not yelled. He was not going to take this. If she has a problem she will just have to deal with it! Not take it out on me! He thought pompously.
“YOU!” she screamed exasperatedly. “Every year you have gotten increasingly more annoying. I try to put up with it! I do! Put I’m not going to put up with it anymore! I’m tired of trying to keep myself in line because you are out of line! And would you please stop calling me a Mudblood! If you don’t like me, that’s fine! But you don’t have to make my life a living hell just to get the point across!”
By the time she was done screaming tears were streaming down her face. During the silence that elapsed after she had finished telling Malfoy what she thought, she felt her knees shake and she collapsed crying to the floor. All she could think as her hot tears burned her face was, I’m crying in front of Malfoy. I’m crying in front of Malfoy. I’m crying in front of Malfoy.,/i> and she felt arms wrap around her shoulders and a warm hand pull her damp head to a chest.
Malfoy felt horrible. It was a new experience for him. Feeling horrible because of what somebody did to him was normal, he felt it all the time. But feeling bad for what he did to someone else . . . Granger’s words still echoed in his head. “Every year you have gotten increasingly more annoying. I try to put up with it! I do! Put I’m not going to put up with it anymore! I’m tired of trying to keep myself in line because you’re out of line! Would you please stop calling me a Mudblood! If you don’t like me, that’s fine! But you don’t have to make my life a living hell just to get the point across!” She had said that he was her problem. After she had collapsed to the floor crying he had wrapped his arms around her and put her head on his chest, surprising even himself. He didn’t know he could feel compassion, let alone comfort someone.
Once her crying had turned to dry hiccups, she turned to him saying “You’ve tormented me over the years, and now you’re comforting me for what you’ve done. Why?”
He couldn’t explain it to her. He didn’t even know himself. He guessed it was because he had never seen a woman cry. When he saw the tears running down her face he felt like wiping them away and holding her tight. So he did. He was never one for holding back. The weird thing is that Granger didn’t break away; she just buried her head in his chest.
He looked down at his hands. They were wet from patting her damp hair and hugging her close. He lifted his hands to his nose and sniffed lightly, smelling her vanilla scent. Sighing he walked over to his bed. After she had asked him why he held her, he just stared into her wide and innocent brown eyes with his ice blue eyes for a few minuets with his hands still delicately holding her arms. He could imagine what she was thinking. That jerk Malfoy will probably start trying to feel me up.
But he was just trying to sort out his thoughts. Why did he hold her instead of just laughing and hanging her breakdown over her head, like he usually would? He hates her. She’s a Mudblood, he has to hate her. Sighing loudly he set his alarm for forty-five minutes later and sat down on his bed, allowing his body to fall back and his eyes to close. The last thought he had before falling into unconsciousness was If I hate her, then why did it feel so good to hold Hermione?