Sure May as well PM ya now since I'm gonna post neways.
I like, woke up at 1pm today! I've only been up for two hours, it's crazy! Kept waking up and then I finally fell asleep til 1:00... if my parents were around they would've been so mad (kinda added an extra 1 when they asked when I got up )

ANyways, NEXT CHAPTER!

This one is kinda long... so ya! That's all I gotta say.
Enjoy
Sarah

Chapter 14
Hospital Visitors

Draco lay on the rocky ground in pain, praying he wouldn’t be stepped on by the Hungarian Horntail. He knew his Firebolt flew out of sight, and he had a feeling he’d never see it again.
The dragon-tamers, one of the Weasleys among them, came in and snared the Horntail. They led the fighting dragon out of the coliseum, and Mr. Lagerstorm and Professor McGonagall came into the centre of the ring. They helped Draco up silently and brought him to the hospital wing, egg still at hand.
“Oh dear, what happened to the Ministry’s ‘new and improved’ security?” Madam Pomfrey huffed as she wrapped Draco’s broken arm. (outta story: I’d like to point out the phrase ‘new and improved’ is an oxymoron )
Draco was silent as Madam Pomfrey finished wrapping his arm. She gave him a sling.
“I’m aware you know how these work,” she said curtly, referring to his 3rd year when he had his arm wrapped and put into a sling because of Buckbeak. He didn’t care that she made the comment, he was only half-listening anyways.
She poured a potion into a cup, and then picked it up.
“Drink this,” she said, handing it to Draco.
“What’ll it do?” he asked warily.
“Speeds up the healing, you’ll need it if you wish to continue in this Triwizard Tournament. It’s not going to kill you.” Madam Pomfrey then walked away, and Draco felt lousier than ever.
Ever since he had come back he had been getting non-stop reminders about Dumbledore’s death and how he was a cause. It wasn’t his fault, he didn’t have a choice. Dumbledore was trying to help him, but Snape got in the way. If Snape hadn’t shown up, if the Death Eaters hadn’t come, Draco would’ve run away with them, he thought being a Death Eater would be fun, he could prove himself to the world and finally be pulled out from the shadow of his father. Oh no, he was wrong. He had broken down throughout the year, found comfort in the mudblood ghost Moaning Myrtle, he still had the faint scars of his encounter with Harry in the bathroom, his constant reminder of how much more difficult it would be if he had become a real Death Eater.
Draco took down the potion and his face crumpled up at the taste, it was horrible! It had a bitter-sweet-sour taste, like strawberries mixed with lemons and grapefruit.
“What did you expect, pumpkin juice?” Madam Pomfrey fumed as she rushed by. He made a face beyond his still-crumpled face.
The taste took a long while to go away. By the time it had, he wished it replaced his visitor.
“Oh, what happened, love?”
Draco shuddered, hoping he was so hurt he was hallucinating. He would’ve pinched himself, but he couldn’t. Before he could even blink, Pansy Parkinson had made her way from the hospital wing entrance to his side with a handkerchief and was wiping away the sweat and dirt build-up on his face.
“I would’ve come earlier but I wasn’t allowed.”
“Thank Lord for that,” Draco said under his breath.
“I mean, they wouldn’t even let me in here, it was so stupid, and...”
Draco started to pull away from Pansy’s cleaning hand, but she kept cleaning off his face, which caused in more small cuts being opened again than cleaning. He started trying to think of ways to get rid of her, and the only way would be going against one of his morals; he would have to hit a girl.
“Ms. Parkinson, whatever are you doing?”
Draco dropped his rising hand. Pansy kept dabbing at his face.
“You’re opening more cuts then cleaning them! Be off, the boy needs rest.”
“But...”
“Go!”
Pansy grumbled under her breath momentarily.
“I’ll be back later, darling,” she breathed, her hand running along his broken arm.
Draco shivered. Pansy didn’t notice; she just stood up and left.
“That girl...” Madam Pomfrey muttered as she went to get a rag.
Draco sat up normally again and saw the nurse wetting the rag with water and something else. Madam Pomfrey came back, folding it in half.
“What’re you doing?” he asked warily, starting to recoil again.
“Oh, it’ll be quick,” Madam Pomfrey responded as she placed the rag on Draco’s cheek and chin. Within moments, such strong stinging broke into his face Draco had to pull the rag off and toss it across the room.
“Did you think it was just water? Vinegar helps close cuts.”
“Close or burn?”
“Both,” Madam Pomfrey responded as she got the rag back.
“That’s not going back on my face,” Draco said firmly.
“I think not, Mr. Malfoy.” Madam Pomfrey then put the rag back on his face and held it there with a strong push.
“Stop flinching, you’re only making this rag stay on longer by doing so.”
Draco whimpered as he tried to keep his expression normal. Within moments, the rag was gone from his face, and let out a thankful breath of air. Madam Pomfrey rushed away, and then came back with her wand. With the slightest wave, the cuts, grime and dirt on Draco’s face had disappeared.
“Oh stop it Ronald...”
Draco looked towards the door and saw Hermione. He sighed inwardly, and snorted when he saw I. He seemed to have a series of boils appearing on his face and his teeth were abnormally large.
“Oh, you silly boys,” Madam Pomfrey huffed when she saw I. She waved her wand, and the boils started disappearing. She flicked her wand and his teeth were sizing back to normal.
“The teeth might take a few hours to get back to normal fully...”
“Fanf ooh,” I said, his beaver teeth getting in the way. He walked away and out of the hospital wing. Hermione didn’t follow him, instead, she went to the end of the hospital wing and sat on the empty bed next to Malfoy.
“So you broke your arm yet got the egg?”
Draco nodded slowly.
“You amazed everyone, even some of the teachers, Mr. Lagerstorm included.”
Draco didn’t know what to say, which surprised him.
“So are you going to be able to participate in the second task?”
“I think so,” he responded. Hermione picked up the cup he had drunken the potion from. She looked inside.
“Ah... you’ll be out of here in no time then,” she said, putting the cup back down. “When you are, find me, I’ll help with the second task.”
“Really?”
Hermione nodded.
“I’m giving you a fair warning that I’m not in a good mood though.”
“What for?” he scoffed. “You’re the one with two working arms.”
“You’re lucky you have that cast to cover your Mark, Malfoy, yet that alone doesn’t prove your stupidity.”
She left him in the hospital wing alone, now feeling even worse. She just reminded him of the fact his father was in Azkaban, and his mother still recuperating from what his father had done to her, she might be out of St. Mungo’s, but she still isn’t the same anymore. The one that had helped guide him, despite how she was overprotective of him, she had helped, she had kept him alive, and she alone had been the only person he had cared a bit for than anyone else. Upon thinking of his mother, the words to her favourite song had slipped into his mind once more.
We all begin with good intent
Love was raw and young
We believed that we could change ourselves
The past could be undone
But we carry on our back the burden
Time always reveals
In the lonely light of morning
In the wound that would not heal
It's the bitter taste of losing everything
That I have held so dear...

Hewwo!
Yeeeash its mee! I found your fic..and read Choices...Well I have been gone for a while...but I didn't expect it to finish! But this story is great I love it so much! I hope you can post more!
<3 Elle

ya, Choices is now in the Finished Fan Fic section May as well try and get past this lump in the road on the sequel to Choices... all I know is that it's gonna be really short compared to the first two

ANyways, I feel like posting! Next chapter coming up!
It was better before my computer randomly restarted while it was on and I was out and I lost that chapter and half of the 16th.... (it took me days to get back into it cause I was to lazy to rewrite the whole chapter).

The title completely speaks for itself
For no apparent reason I felt like posting in pink, even if the chapter is in Draco's POV.
That's all really...
Of course, as I always say...
Enjoy!
Sarah

Chapter 15
The Cow Strikes Back

Draco stayed in the hospital wing overnight. He hadn’t had much sleep; he was lost in his thoughts. Thinking about when Hermione visited him, Draco realized he had felt something, something he had never believed to be real. He came to the conclusion that love really does exist, that it isn’t just in fairy tales. He had fallen in love with a mudblood, but he couldn’t care less about blood lines anymore.
“You’re free to go,” Madam Pomfrey said when he woke up.
“What about...?”
“You’ve got an hour until lunch,” she responded, knowing what he was going to say.
Slipping the sling on, Draco grumbled and rolled out of the hospital wing bed. He wandered out of the wing, holding onto the golden egg at the same time (he had kept it under his pillow), and through the hallways. It took him a few minutes to realize today was Saturday.
“When did you get out?”
Draco recognized the voice immediately. He just ignored her and kept going.
“Draco darling?”
He shivered at the way Pansy spoke, but kept going.
“Are you sure you’re ok? It’s me...”
“Pansy, I know!” he snapped, stopping in his tracks. He turned around and faced the startled cow of a girl. “If you have any problems on your thoughts upon my health, take them to Madam Pomfrey and leave me be.”
Pansy’s mouth dropped in a disbelieving stunned expression. In the blink of an eye, she recoiled her hand and with a strong arm, she slapped Draco square on his left cheek.
“How dare you speak to me like that!”
That was the last straw, Draco had put up with her for his entire life, she was always there, latching onto him like a leech (resembling one physically for that matter). He couldn’t believe that she had the guts to do such a thing to him, forcing him to go against his strongest moral. Pansy looked at him expectantly, and with all of his might, Draco kicked Pansy in the shin.
“Leave me be!” he yelled as he spun around and walked away. Pansy howled, both in anger and pain, yet didn’t run after him to retaliate.
Draco walked through the hallways, rubbing his left cheek lightly as he did so, not planning on going to the Slytherin common room for awhile. He went to the one place he had been wanting to go for awhile now, he had made his way to the library. People started at him, the Triwizard Champion with one red cheek as he looked at each table for the one he had been wanting to see.
“Granger!” he whispered form behind a bookshelf once he saw her. Hermione turned around, but she didn’t seem to see him. She went back to her work.
“Granger!” he said again with a bit more force. She spun around in her chair again, but still didn’t seem to see him.
Pulling a book off the shelf, Draco levitated it and sent it out towards Hermione, indicating where he was by doing so. She got up and came towards him, so he dropped the book.
“When’d you...?”
“A few minutes ago,” he responded automatically. “Now about this bloody egg...”
“Meet me in the fifth floor prefect’s bathroom, and be ready to have a bath.”
“Wha...?”
“You’ll see,” she cut him off. “I can get the password, if that’s also what you’re wondering. Tonight at seven, be there with the egg, ready for a bath.”
Before he could even respond, she walked away. He watched her for a few minutes, and then left the library, dazed.

great posts twinneh! and the last 1 was in pink, my favorite color!!! oh-my-gee Draco and Hermione in the bathroom!?? sick kids!! lol j/k PAMS!! PAMSOiD!!!

That's so sick!
Let's just say what happened in the tub stays in the tub... (jk! Nothing bad happened).

This is really really good! I love it! PAMSOID!!!

my poor Draco...don't worry, I'll get rid of Pansy :hack:
and don't worry about Hermione, she'll come to her senses!
PAMS!

Love it!!! Draco finally pitched Pansy!!! Sweet!!! I love how you call her a cow all the time...it makes me laugh!!! PAMS!!!

I hate Pansy enough to call her a cow constantly You'll see how my continual use of the term has a use...
Ya, I would post now but I gotta go! Such a busy day... spend 5 hours on the road! Crazy snow storm hit last night and now it's a crazy WIND storm! There's so much powdered snow it made those white areas on the road... makes seeing impossible or really hard. Having to drive on the HIGHWAY with that stuff and sice and other hard-packed snow is hard!
Anyways, I'll post tomorrow
Sarah

FOr some reason I was about to say that this is a short chapter! It so isn't.
I MIGHT have to break it into two parts... depends (eh, may as well not bother, just looked and it isn't all that long on here).
I'm up at 8:25am on a day off school... here's me thinking there would be school, wake up at 6am to shower and just find otu that there's AGAIN no school cause of the crazy snow and wind storm... for once I like Promontory Hill (it's this mountain-like place that a lot of people at my school live, including teachers. The road going up is really steep and kinda narrow for the lanes, and since it's so slippery with the ice and the plows here don't do their job as well as Langley, people can't get down the hill without killing themselves...). So ya, I'm wide awake at the early hours of morning on a day off! SOO unlike me...
But I get to post earlier!
The blue matches the... contents of the chapter I guess
Enjoy, I know you all will
Sarah
P.S: I figured out how to make a poll! *does a dance* So ya, VOTE!
I'll stop rambling now... (in this post at least)

Chapter 16
The Second Task

“What else was there?”
It had been a few weeks since Draco had been released from the hospital wing. His arm was healed fully, so he could participate in the second task, which was now only a few hours away. Hermione was checking what he had heard once more to see how much they could figure out. Draco recited part of the riddle.
“The Black lake, that’s for sure...”
“How’re you so sure of that?” Draco asked curiously, turning to look at Hermione (who was sitting next to him at a table behind one of the shelves of books).
“Is there any other form of water outside of the castle?”
“The baths?”
“I don’t recall bathrooms being outside the castle, Malfoy.”
“Granger?”
“Yeah?”
“I have a name.”
“As do I.”
“Granger?”
“Yeah?”
“Use it.”
“As long as you use mine.”
“Fine, Hermione.” The name slid off his tongue softly, it felt good to use her first name after nearly seven years. To Hermione, it seemed odd, but she couldn’t help but like it.
“Draco?” she asked quietly. It seemed weird to use his name, but again, she couldn’t help but like it.
“Yeah?” He loved the way she spoke his name.
“Isn’t it a bit late to be using names?”
“What makes you say that?”
“You said you only needed help with the first two tasks.”
“So?”
“So...” Hermione couldn’t explain her thought exactly. Before she could say another word though, the words were taken away from her, literally. To her shock, Draco, Draco Malfoy of all people, was kissing her. To her own surprise though, she enjoyed it, and before she knew it, she was kissing him back. She couldn’t resist, he was so soft and gentle.
“Ms. Granger?”
Hermione pulled away quickly and turned around. She saw Professor Kruliki looking rather bored, he had seemed to not notice what had just happened.
“Yes?” she asked, getting up quickly from her seat.
“Professor McGonagall wishes to see you,” he responded.
“But the task is only a few hours away...”
“Go,” he said firmly. Hermione rolled her eyes and started to walk away. “Mr. Malfoy should have long ago figured the riddle out.” Hermione scoffed and left the library.

The school had been called down to the Black Lake, where there were four landings on the water for all the students to stand and watch the second task.
“A few hours ago, something has been taken from the three champions, a treasure of sorts,” Professor McGonagall started, her voice booming with the effects of the voice-enhancement spell (o.o.s - to lazy to look up the spell name You know what spell I mean). “They have one hour to swim underwater and take back what is theirs. Champions at the ready...”
Nate, Avril and Draco stood at the edge of the middle landing on the platform closest to the water, ready to swim.
A large canon fire echoed over the lake.
They all dived in at once, and their spells for underwater breathing came into effect immediately. Draco had used the bubble-head charm, since when he tried the shark-head charm he failed and had to be sent to the hospital wing for a few hours, and he swam deeper into the abyss of the lake. He was a strong swimmer, having a lake by his manor he would swim every day to get out of the house, so he breezed past all the ‘challenges’ that awaited him, not even needing to pull out his wand from his trunks.
Seeing ropes floating ahead, beyond the kelp, he sped up. Seeing mermaids guarding the things on the ropes, it took Draco a moment to realize there were three people in front of him, two were two different Gryffindor girls, another a small girl he did not recognize. Draco was confused, what type of treasure was this?
Suddenly, he recognized a pyramid of hair. Looking at the face of one of the Gryffindor girls, he had realized who was set under a sleeping charm, it was Hermione. From out of no where, Nate swam past him and took the other Gryffindor girl by breaking the rope with his razor sharp shark teeth.
Draco swam to the rope holding Hermione and was stopped by one of the mermaids. They held a three-pointed knife (o.o.s: what’s the name of those things? You know, in GoF movie those mermaids that stop Harry and say ‘only one’, they have that thingy pointed at his throat. Ya, it’s that thing), up to his throat. The mermaid eyed him momentarily, and then left, swimming away and back to guard.
Shaking his head, Draco went up to the rope and shot a jinx at it. It cut the rope, and Hermione floated where she was. Grabbing her arm, Draco swam directly up, yet slowly so the air pressure wouldn’t build quickly, to the top of the lake.
Pushing over the last of the water, Draco met the cold December air. Beside him, Hermione caught her breath, confused for a few moments. Draco swam in front of her towards the platform, having to pull her halfway there. Climbing up the ladder, he was given a towel and he dried himself, as well as kept himself warm from the icy wind.
The students waited in anticipation for Avril to appear. As they begun wondering if anything had happened, the hand on the clock timing the champions started to move again, moving towards the end of the task. Just as it had hit the 11, Avril and the little girl’s heads both appeared above the water.
Curious to see if she was still in the tournament, Draco looked towards the platform the booth where McGonagall was. The silence mounted in anticipation.
“In first place, we have Nate Olivarez of Durmstrang!”
The platforms shook with the stomping and yelling of the Durmstrang students.
“In second place Draco Malfoy!”
The crowd screamed happily. Even if they all hated him, they at least got second place in the tournament so far.
“And with barely a moment left, Avril Levesque in third place!”
The Beauxbatons girls screamed happily, their shrill, loud screams penetrating everyone’s ears.
“Champions, you have a six month break. The final task will take place on Friday, May 29th!” Professor McGonagall announced. Draco sighed when he heard this, but he couldn’t help but wonder...
He said he only needed help with the first two tasks, and after that he would not bother Hermione again.
He couldn’t believe what he had done.

Geez, this F.F has gotten me stuck more than I've ever been stuck on any other F.Fs I've written put together! It's crazy... think I'll take a break from writing it for a bit, I'm stuck on chapter 26, so if I'm still on my shortish hiatus of writing this, you'll still be getting posts up to that chapter

And like I've been saying, this will be a LONG f.f... (this is why I like to get ahead If I get stuck, it doesn't bring all your guys' waiting down... that is if I'm stuck for so long we get up to that chapter... I'm gonna start making waitsm just a bit longer, mainly for the poll cause the chapter with that answer is like, fairly close. Not my fault I just figured out how to make a poll just now).

So ya, going on a shortish hiatus of writing No worries about posting unless I get chapter 25 up and I'm still on my hiatus...

I have another idea for another Dramione story, but again, still in the works so it hasn't even started.... if it will at all. I'll be spending my time away from this f.f working on that... and the sequel to Choices, I'm starting to wonder about that now...

And also, since I'm going on this short hiatus, I might try song-fics again... but I don't know many good songs... if any1 wants to suggest any, I can try writing another with that (and I wanna try making one that isn't so... dark, you know? Like I tried this one to this song from Shrek I love, it would've been a great romantic Dramione, but it just isn't working). So ya, any song suggestions you can throw my way I'l try doing a song-fic with (you don't have to suggest! Just saying )

Hmm... I can't think, of any! If I do, I'll let you know! It was awesome by the way!!! Pams!!!

Cool, I'll be waiting if you ever do get any Thanx

ok, I got a workable Dramione idea now! I'm working on the first chapter.... it's so cool, I've seriously never been so creative! (got the basic idea yesterday when I couldn't really update Fallen and I felt like writing a new Dramione... but I couldn't cause it was too broad at first).
So ya, I expect that F.F will be up... (once I think of a title... which I have tons of trouble with I find That's one reason why I like getting ahead before posting)

Yay!!! A new FF!!! Can you PM me when its up?

Sure

so ya... um... anyone wanna help me with my new F.F? I mean, title-wise... (I'd PM you what my F.F is about and if you have any title ideas, just send 'em my way The one I have in mind I just... don't seem to like that much... and the other idea is already taken...)
So if any1 wants to help, PM me and I'll respond with the info about the F.F and if you have ANY title ideas, send 'em my way!
Sarah

Wow, I'm hyper, I'm actually bouncing on the spot, which is rare (and no music is playing at ALL! And I don't even bounce in my seat with music either). And I'm like, never hyper!

I haven't been on here for awhile so I got to read like 2 or 3 chapters. This is
sooooooo good. That's cute how Draco and Hermy and the thing he most cared about or treasure of whatever... anywho, great posty and PAMS!!!!!

I hate IE... it's all 'take security measures!' for this site yet on Firefox it doesn't bu me... every few seconds that yellow balloney thingy shows up...
But ya, I felt like putting off their first kiss for some reason...
Oh ya, I love playing with the moment

And I still stand with ANYONE wanting to help me with my new F.F with the title...
Or any song suggestions for song-fics (I'll try any, I just wanna try a song-fic that isn't... well sad and dark )

-added an hourish later- Ya, I got a totally good song-fic idea, it mighta been used before, and I wouldn't be surprised Gonna use The Reason by Hoobastank (perfect Draco song I think, along with Beautiful Disaster but you know, that one I found difficult, along with She's... well with my story ideas, you know ).
Like I say, if you have ANY ideas for songs, post 'em
If you wanna help with my new F.F, PM me and I'll tell you what it's about and if you could sugest ANY titles that come to mind, that'd be great

Ok, I'd like to say something...
-cough cough, clear throat, announced by trumpets and a red carpet laid out for meh-
I have submitted the thread for the sequel to Choices!
It might be up before I get back online (8 hours, probably not but you never know), so if it's up and you don't get a PM with the link (if you asked for it!), that's probably why.
It is called Cause You're Watching Over Me (Sa13+, ya, ya). Got lucky and when I was searching for lyrics for my Song Fic, I found that song and was like, 'It's PERFECT!' (and it's a song by Alexz Johnson, the girl my aunt actually taught in kindgergarten... I always like to make that clear )

So ya, I got the sequel to Choices up! It'll be... up eventually, but ya, I'll PM you if you asked me to with the link when I see it.
It should be on the first page (I also picked the song title for that reason )
I'll post the next chapter later...
Sarah

that sounds soooo cool Sarah! and great post, sorry I haven't posted in while!

Guess who's back?
Back again?
Katie's back
Tell a friend!

Guess who's back
Guess who's back
Guess who's back
Guess who's back
Guess w-

ok, you get the point!

Katie ( is back )

Great to see ya back Katie!

Aw, 'Cause You're Watching Over Me' still not up yet (longest title for any F.F of mine actually... )

trying to find Fallen I came across my alternate ending for Secret Love Completely forgot about it...

Anyways, I'll post the next chapter now cause I feel like it

Ok, this chapter is... well in my opinion... kinda short...
Ya, anyways, Hermione's POV as you'll probably notice Not much to say about it really...
And I'm gonna like, totally slow down on posting now cause I wanna leave that poll up before the anwer is reveals, so ya Looking at that poll made me notice something...
Anyways, here's the next chapter!
Enjoy, as always
Sarah
P.S: Wow, so many italics in this chapter Next chapter I'm splitting up cause well you know, it'd probably help with not having to wait as long for posts yet keep the answer to the poll (which every1 can vote on... hint hint ), still secret And I can say right now chapter 21 will be a split, 2nd half being like, really short but I need that extra day.
Just warnings for split chapters there I might split up other chapters but I dunno yet

Chapter 17
Ron’s Realization

Hermione was dazed for the rest of the day. She got her things from the library and went back to Gryffindor Tower after the second task had finished. She had wondered if anyone noticed her in the water, but again, she wondered why she was there in the first place. Was she really that thought of by Draco? Draco Malfoy... she couldn’t believe it. The pureblood prat had snagged her now; somehow she had gone from hating him to having these odd feelings for him.
As she had hoped, no one seemed to notice it was her in the water, at least the one that was rescued by Draco. Of course, the other Gryffindor, a sixth year named Holly Briswalter, who had been the other girl underwater, knew, but she didn’t say anything about it, she didn’t care that much, which Hermione was grateful for. One other person noticed though, Ron.
“Who knew...” he breathed as he followed Hermione through the portrait hole, he had caught up with her as she was heading up the stairs.
“Knew what?” Hermione asked.
“That you and Malfoy were an item!”
“We’re not an ‘item’!” Hermione responded defensively as she dropped her things onto a desk.
“Then what are you two then? Friends?”
“Not exactly...”
“Well you can’t be that important to him if he hates you,” Ron pointed out, crossing his arms. “What’ve you been up to?”
“Nothing, I’ve just been...” Hermione cut herself off, hoping...
“Been what?”
Damn she thought (o.o.s - if the word shows up, wow, and if it does, I didn’t want to make it sound corny by saying ‘dang’).
“Been in the library reading up on the tournament regulations and such,” she lied, shrugging.
“With Malfoy?” Ron shot at her suspiciously.
“Malfoy? In the library?” Hermione laughed, wondering if it was really as fake as she thought it sounded.
“It’s happened before; it could easily happen again. So tell me, were you with Malfoy in the library? And tell the truth.”
“Once or twice...”
“Behind the shelves snogging by chance?”
“No! I was helping him with the first two tasks if you really must know.”
“Shelves aren’t walls, people can see through them,” Ron responded mysteriously.
“You were in the library?” Hermione asked, holding back laughter.
“Ginny was.”
“So she saw me making plans to help Malfoy before...”
“Not that,” Ron cut her off, arms still crossed in an angry way.
“How is taking books and helping him...”
“Not that.”
“What else is there?” Hermione asked, knowing full well what ‘the other thing’ was.
“Gin happened to be in the library when you were talking to Malfoy about that stupid egg, and looking through a few shelves, she saw you two ‘working out that problem’ just before Professor Icky-Licki came for you.”
“So...”
“Yeah, Mione, she saw you two snogging.”
“We weren’t snogging!”
“Then what was it? You just happened to bend down and grab something at the exact same moment as Malfoy and you two just happened to find each others’ mouths?” Ron asked sarcastically.
“He kissed me! Not the other way around, Ronald!”
“Right...”
“Honestly, Ronald, you’re such a child!” Hermione yelled angrily. To her surprise, a glimmer of hurt flashed in his eyes for a moment. His arms dropped to his sides, but he still looked angry.
“How am I being the child here? You’re the one yelling.”
“For a good reason, doubting Thomas.”
“Huh?”
Hermione forgot the phrase ‘doubting Thomas’ was only a muggle thing.
“What’s your problem? Malfoy doesn’t have any true friends, so obviously there’d be no one he’d really want to save,” Hermione said, trying to take a different approach.
“Why didn’t you just tell me you were helping him?” Ron snapped.
“Because I knew you’d be all overactive about it! I knew you would get in the way with your overprotective ways!”
“What?” Ron yelled. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You and your constant watch over me, just drop it already! You’ve already limited the things I like to do, quit doing it more!”
“You liked helping Malfoy?” Ron asked, stunned.
“I... uh... um...”
“You did, didn’t you?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” she mumbled.
“Oh really? Try me.”
“No,” she said venomously.
“Hermione...”
She just looked at him with sullen eyes. She wasn’t up to fighting over something she didn’t fully understand herself.
“Please?” he asked. He surprised her with his soft yet curious tone.
“It’s hard to explain...”
“Like I said, try me. I might not be as smart as you are, but that doesn’t mean I don’t always understand, specially something like this.”
Hermione just shook her head slowly. “I don’t fully understand it myself.”
“Well when you figure it out, please tell me,” he said, leaving to go to his dormitory. Hermione dropped onto a sofa and put her face in her hands, exasperated.