Author's Note: Please review, but no flames. I just got one for an x-men story i recently
posted and I've found out that i don't respond well to flames i.e. nasty email telling the
old git to shove off! wahahahahahahahahaha!!! *maniacal laughter*

Unrequited Love

by indigo
 
 

Chapter 6
 

For a few seconds Draco just stood there, not daring to breathe, not daring to believe what had just
happened. After months of liking her, he'd just lost Hermione only 24 hours after he'd finally confessed
his feelings! He was startled out of his reverie by an angry sniffle coming from behind him. "Pansy!
Why did you do that!?"

"Oh, sure, blame this on me you two-timing WRETCH!" Suddenly Draco felt anger as he'd never felt
it before, except perhaps for the time Professor Moody had turned him into a ferret in front of his peers.

"Two-timing?? Pansy, get over yourself! We were never together and we never WILL be!" With that,
he stomped off towards the castle to see if he could catch up to Hermione.

He didn't see her at the entrance hall, or anywhere in the corridors. But he had to find her. He had to talk
to her. But what if she had gone back to Gryffindor Tower? How would he get in?

Suddenly he spotted the answer to his question coming around a bend in the corridor. "Longbottom!
Come here!"

Neville gave him a fearful look but came closer nonetheless. "What...what do you want with me, Draco?"

"I want you to help me speak to Hermione. I think she's in your Common Room right now. But they'd
never let a Slytherin in, so you're going to have to get her to come out and meet me in the corridor. Can
you do that for me, Longbottom?" he attempted to look menacing, intimidating.

"I...I don't know if I'm supposed to let you..." he trailed off. Draco sneered. "Yes, okay. Follow me."
Neville led him up several flights of stairs, around many corners, finally stopping at a portrait of an
extremely fat lady in pink. "I, uhm, I..."

"Stop stammering, you prat, what is it?" Draco half-yelled.

"I forgot the...the password." He turned a bright red. Draco could have strangled him right then and there.

"Neville," he said patiently, as if speaking to a small child, "Think. HARD." Then he leaned in close.
"Because if you don't remember that password, I will leg-lock you and present you to Professor Snape!"
Neville whimpered and looked like he was about to cry.

It took him a few seconds, but he finally managed to stutter, "Fairy lights!" before disappearing into the
portrait hole, promising Draco he'd be back in a few minutes. Draco made a mental note of the exact
position of the entrance to the Tower. It might come in handy later, he thought with a snicker.

Neville did return, as he had promised, looking flustered and panicky. "I took her aside and told her what
you wanted but, Draco sir, she...she refuses to come. She said that, uhm, you had better n-not let P-Pansy
P-P-Pugface see you with h--her. Those were her exact words," he added, as if to assure Draco that he
would never dare say that.

Draco scowled his displeasure and thought for a moment. "Neville, how many people are in the common
room?"

"Just Hermione, Ron, and Harry, why?"

"I'm going in."

"What? Wha-- but you can't! You're Slytherin! You're--"

"Fairy Lights!" Draco said, as he strode towards the portrait. It swung open, and he stepped into the
Common Room. His immediate reaction was that it was much nicer than his own dungeon Common
Room. His second reaction was to duck as Weasley threw one of his Wizard chessmen at his head.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy!?!" Weasley raged, jumping up from his seat.

"Get out! Get out NOW!" Harry yelled. Hermione just stood there, startled, but she quickly came back
to her senses.

"Draco! What's the matter with you?! I told Neville I didn't want to talk to you! It's OVER!"

For a moment everyone stood there in stunned silence. Then Harry spoke. "What's...WHAT'S over,
Hermione?"

"Nothing."

"Uhm, Hermione, it's going to be a BIT hard to salvage the situation NOW. So you might as well tell us
before we try and extract it out of Malfoy...with TORTURE," he added, grinning evilly. He seemed to
have forgotten his anger in his own curiosity.

"Hermione, it's okay. Tell them. And then we'll let THEM decide who they want to spread it to."

Hermione's face showed conflicting emotions, but finally, she relented, motioning for all of them to sit
down. "You see, Harry, Ron..." she loooked pained, "Draco and I have been...together. For only about
a day, but..."

"WHAT!?!" Harry and Ron said at the same time, both of them jumping to their feet yet again. "Hermione!
That's...that's VILE!!"

"Well gee, thanks," Draco muttered sarcastically. Harry and Ron rounded on him.

"You...you vile...you evil....HOW DO YOU EVEN DARE!!!" Ron said, spluttering. "HERMIONE!!
How could you!! I just....auugghh!!!" Words seemed to have failed him, as he stomped towards the
door to what was presumably the boys' dormitories and started to ascend the spiral stairs.

Harry, on the other hand, just stood there, looking from Hermione to Draco, Draco to Hermione, as
if he couldn't believe it. "You two...together? That's...just...ugh," he let out an involuntary shudder and
followed Ron's footsteps towards his dormitory.

When they had left, Draco turned to Hermione and saw her glaring at him. "I still haven't forgiven you,
you know."

"Hermione, there's nothing to forgive! Pansy's delusional! She thought that she and I were together, but
I would NEVER do that to you...it was just a misunderstanding. Believe me, please?"

She sighed, and let out a small smile. "Okay. Okay, I believe you." Draco grinned and hugged her,
feeling even happier than he had the first time he'd told her in the Library.

"Now the problem is, what are we going to do with those two friends of yours?"

"They'll live, Draco. And one of these days, we WILL be able to have an open relationship. Not all the
Slytherin are THAT bad, you know." Draco seriously doubted this, but he nodded anyway.
 
 
 

Author's Note: I am really sorry to have to end this here, but the story's getting ridiculous!
Thanks to everyone who's been following the series! I'll be starting a new one soon! =)
 

Back to Chapter 5