Chương 35: Temper The Fire
"How'd they find us?" Hermione's eyes were wide as they appeared back in (now) their apartment. Draco shook his head.
"They might have been loitering around the restaurant because they know it's a place where many influential wizards and witches go." He grinned. "Such as myself."
Hermione elbowed him.
"Draco."
"You're a lucky woman." He winked, his silver eyes flashing into her bronze-caramel ones.
"If I do say so myself, you are a lucky man. And if you continue to have your head up your arse, you will be a very unlucky man." Hermione retorted, snarkiness and sarcasm rising to the surface as she fired back a response.
"Okay, okay. The first part of my response was the actual answer. I do think they were just waiting around."
Hermione sighed. "I hope you're right, for their sake."
"Am I going to get lucky and see some reporters hexed? They are honestly the bane of my existence sometimes."
"Maybe. If they keep bothering me, you might just be treated to a show." Hermione paced around, on the verge of fuming.
"Hey. It's okay. They don't know who you are, they don't know who I'm with."
"I know, it just.. it irritates me that they have found out, though. I didn't realize that it was that much a possibility, you know? I could have been found, Draco, and I really don't want to be found."
"It'll be okay." Draco did his best to temper the fire in her eyes, the dangerous one that made people recoil and back away.
Hermione sank down onto the couch, a strange look coming over her eyes. "I really hope so."
Draco was worried at her tone of voice.
***
The picture of Ginny may have been a tad bit crumpled from sitting at the bottom of a box for so long but that didn't obscure the familiar face that Hermione had trusted, once upon a time. The fiery hair, the spark in the eyes that Hermione knew like the back of her hand- it hurt. It hurt a lot, a sort of dull ache in her heart where she'd kept the trust of the people she'd loved.
" 'Mione. You okay?"
Hermione sighed, tossing the picture onto the bed, the color of it contrasting vividly with the dark sheets.
"Yeah. The whole thing just got me thinking about- about Ginny."
"Why Ginny?" Draco was curious as he looked at the picture.
"I dunno. I mean, she was always the one I trusted, you know? Like how you would trust Blaise with anything, she was that person for me."
Draco snorted. "Not sure if I'd trust him with ." Hermione ignored him and went on.
"I trusted her- a lot, especially since I'd never exactly been able to share the same opinions as Lavender or Pavarti, and everyone else in our year was already friends, right? And then Harry and Ron- well, I can't do girl talk with them. So Ginny was my only close confidante." She laughed bitterly.
"I guess I was wrong about her being my friend forever, although I can't blame her. It was her best friend or her brother, and the Weasleys are well known for their family loyalty. So really I shouldn't have been surprised."
"What'd she do?" Draco had always had enough sense- enough sense, at least, to not ask about what had happened before, trusting that Hermione would tell him whenever she was ready.
"She sent me a Howler."
"I'm assuming it wasn't one proclaiming her ever-undying love for you and how she would choose you any day over her brother?"
"It was one that screamed at me, telling me that what I'd done was a betrayal not only to her brother but to- to the entire family. That I was a liar."
"Oh, 'Mione..." Draco clambered across the bed to embrace her. "I-"
"It's okay, Draco. I've gotten over it." Her eyes spoke differently from her words, begging him to stay.
So he stayed.
He was silent, but just with him being there Hermione allowed herself to relax, hoping she'd be able to forget as Draco comforted her silently.
But forgetting- forgetting's never a choice. Wishing is one thing, but having it happen is another.
***
"Hermione. Hermione?" She shook her head, shaking herself out of it.
"Yeah? Sorry, just.. lost in my thoughts."
"Anyways, I was saying. Did you want to go to Tomes and Scrolls to buy some books for the library?" Hermione smiled faintly.
"Sounds good." Her eyes seemed duller than usual, having lost their spark, the small little fire that burned and stayed alive. Draco had concern written all over his face, but Disapparated away with her without a word.
The bookstore may have been usually fascinating, but for the first time in history Hermione's attention could not be held by the book-lined shelves, her mind still hanging in the past with Ginny and that dull ache that seemed to grow heavier. Today truly was the first day she'd thought about Ginny and the way she'd so blatantly chosen Ron without hearing Hermione out. She'd even known what had happened, because Hermione had told her over dinner the first night. Why it hadn't hit her until now she wasn't really sure, but had a vague suspicion it had something to do with nearly being discovered that morning.
Draco's eyes sparked with worry as he noted the way his girlfriend's eyes glazed over the bookshelves, as though she wasn't even looking through the shelves for something she wanted. He wondered why she even bothered. If she-weasel had decided to choose her brother instead of the wonderful woman in front of him that was her loss, not Hermione's, and the brunette shouldn't mourn it.
Still, though, he'd try to understand for her.
"Hey, 'Mione? They have some history books here, something about the wives of Henry VIII? And another one here on the American Revolution. Come take a look, see if you like anything."
Hermione wandered over to where Draco had gestured, fingertips sweeping over the spines of the books absent-mindedly, her thoughts still a world away.
"This one looks interesting." Draco picked up a volume at random- entitled Alexander Hamilton, Volume XVII in the Founding Fathers Series- and flicked through it as though he was actually invested in it, hoping to draw Hermione in. However she continued to pull books at the random, adding them to the ever-growing stack floating mid-air. Draco pulled a book from the middle of it and frowned.
"Hermione, this is a book on , for Salazar's sake. You don't even divination."
"Sorry, I- I just keep thinking about it. It's really bothering me right now." Hermione smiled a sad little smile. Draco snatched the stack out of the air, placing it on a nearby table, and slid his arm around her waist.
"If she chose her brother over you, that's her loss, not yours. She's the one that made that decision, and she's lost a great friend out of it." Hermione smiled mournfully again.
"You might have to remind me of that in the not-so-far-off future."
"Oh, I know."
***
By the sixth time that day, though, Draco had snapped.
"Hermione, for Merlin's sake, will you please snap out of it? I've been trying my best but this is getting really close to the limit. Ginny Weasley is brooding over if she wouldn't do the same for you."
Hermione whirled around, eyes flashing.
"Ginny was my best girl friend for nearly a bloody , alright? If it takes me a day to mourn the loss of her friendship, so be it! It wasn't necessarily an easy choice for her either, and it doesn't discredit her previous actions as my friend, which means I can't hate her for her decision. So excuse me if I take a day of living in my head to move on from everything she's done for me."
"It seems like it was pretty easy for her, considering she sent you a fucking Howler!"
"And what would you choose, if it was between, say, Blaise or me?"
"I'd- I'd-" For once, Draco was at a loss for words. Who would he choose? Not for the first time was he presented with a difficult decision- and this one was entirely hypothetical.
"Yeah, exactly! So I can't hate her, I can only respect her decision. And it may have been a loss for her but it's also a loss for me. So sorry if I can't 'snap out of it' for one day!" Hermione's face was furious. People always said that flames burn, red and gold and orange, but Draco saw something else entirely here. It was cold in her eyes, fury still dancing in the flecks of various shades of gold.
The brightest flames really do burn white-hot.
She pulled on her lilac coat, and slipped her feet into boots, her wand in hand.
"Where are you going?"
"Somewhere to diffuse."
"Hermione-"
But she was already gone.
***
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