Title: Firefly
Chapter Seventeen: Decisions Are Made
Author: Kitty Malfoy
A/N: Once again - sorry for waiting about a whole month to update! I apologize, but I only have a few chapters left with this and then I'm done! Yay!
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With a second cup of cappuccino in her hands, Hermione made her way slowly down to breakfast in the Great Hall. Even after wasting time in the kitchens and the library she was still rather early, but it didn't matter. She'd rather be by herself anyway.
Pushing open the large doors she saw that only people occupying the Gryffindor table were Harry and a second year she didn't know. The other three tables were equally close to empty. All four looked up as she walked in, and all but two people went back to their meal.
She gave Harry a weak smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and sat down in front of him; her back to the Slytherin table so that she wouldn't have to look at the other person who was still staring at her. She could feel Draco's eyes boring into her back and her hands shook as she set her Styrofoam cup on the white tablecloth.
"He's-" Harry started.
"Yes I know." Hermione whispered. She was fighting every second to keep herself from turning to look at him. Every muscle in her body protested, but she shoved everything to the back of her mind. Rifling through her school bag, she pulled out a clean piece of parchment, her quill, and a bottle of red ink.
She felt Harry watching her as she slowly pulled the stopper out of the tiny bottle and dipped the tip of her quill inside. Taking a deep breath she moved her hand so that it was poised over the left side of the parchment. She froze. Her eyes were staring so hard at the parchment, Harry thought any moment it'd burst into flames.
A drop of ink fell from the quill and dripped onto the parchment. Hermione watched, detached from reality, as the crimson ink bleed into the woven paper and spread outward in tiny, spidery trails.
"Hermoine?"
She blinked her hazel eyes. Swallowing her fear she took a long, shaky breath and started to write.
After ten minutes she had only managed to write down two sentences. She felt his gaze leave her and she gave an audible sigh of relief. Turning back to her writing she got back down to work.
She was barely aware of the other Gryffindors arriving one-by-one. She just stayed hunched over her parchment and her quill continued to scratch inky letters upon it. Harry must have said something she hadn't heard, because the chatter was at an extreme minimum -- a Gryffindor rarity -- and no one bothered her or tried to sneakily peer at whatever she was writing.
With fifteen minutes left in breakfast Hermione signed her name and folded up the parchment into an envelope. She quickly scrawled a name across the front. Pulling out her wand she tapped it twice and a few whispered words made it disappear in a swirl of glitter.
Without a word to the rest of the table she stuffed her things back into her bag and walked away. After the first few clicks of her Mary Janes on the stones she felt his gaze back on her. It was so sudden that she couldn't help but look over at him.
Her heart pounded and her body whirred into life. Her footsteps slowed as his gray eyes swept over her body and met her own swirling eyes. Pleasure swept over her -- she could just feel his hands on her body -- his kisses exploring every inch of her skin. She shivered.
...I made the right decision...
She whipped her head back around to face the hall doors and her footsteps sped back up. She ducked her head slightly so that her long tresses of hair fell off her shoulders and shielded her face from view. The door closed behind her with a BANG!
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Hermione sipped her cappuccino, thankful that Hagrid had chosen to ignore it. The heat in between her hands kept her cold thoughts from freezing her to death and the mild-bitterness kept her mind focused on the lesson.
Hagrid was animatedly talking about Lethifolds, but Hermione's mind was far from the lesson.
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Draco dutifully pulled out his notebook of parchment and prepared to take notes, but he couldn't even think about pretending to pay attention to Professor Binns' dull lecture. His mind was far from the goblin attack of 450 A.D.
Bending over sideways he dug through his bag and grabbed his History of Magic book. He pulled it out and something fell from between the pages.
Recognizing the handwriting that spelled out his name in red ink, he snatched it up impatiently. Tearing the seal on the envelope he opened it up and pulled the letter from inside. He unfolded it and laid it down in his notebook so as not to raise attention from his addlebrained professor.
Draco,
It's hard to find the words. You betrayed me, Draco. I should have seen it coming. Everyone said so -- but I convinced myself that you loved me. Did you ever say it? Ever tell me you loved me? I don't remember, but I guess it doesn't matter now, does it?
I read your journal last night. It made me so mad because I desperately wanted to hate you for the rest of my life. But what I read in those pages told me more about you than I think anyone else in the world knows. I think about it now, as I'm writing this letter to you, and I laugh. I laugh because, ironically, it made me love you even more.
Yes, I said it, didn't I? I love you. Probably even more than life itself. That's why I've come to my decision. I understand what did with your journal, but the effort was too little too late. You know as well as I that our relationship would never work. Fate is against us. So I've decided that it's over -- I'm sorry. Please stay away from me.
Goodbye,
Hermione
Draco would have cried if he hadn't forgotten how to do so long ago. Instead, he sat there with her letter clutched in his hand and stared off into space; shocked down to his very core.
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Sorry to just cut it off there, but I just love cliff-hangers. I might have the next chapter up today 'cuz it's like freaking hailing -- so hopefully soccer tryouts are going to be cancelled.
Review!
Kitty Malfoy