Chapter 22: One Last Question

I sat glaring at my half eaten oatmeal and toast waiting for the silence to end. My eyes unable to focus on anything else of significance as I glanced up at the Gryffindor table only to see Granger with her head down again, I glared at her lack of eye contact mentally challenging her to look up. I was disappointed however as she continued looking down at her plate as I had been doing mere seconds before and finally I looked away. I hadn't had any contact with Granger since our argument three days ago, I hadn't had contact with anyone really.

It had been silence for two days straight. Not absolute silence, Hogwarts was a school full of kids chattering away insistently not having a care in the world for the three Slytherins who had become mute.

This self-induced silence was more difficult than it sounds. To the point that I had contemplated on being the first to break it but one look at Pansy and Blaise and my mouth shut itself of its on accord. Our fellow Slytherins made no comment as to why the well-known Slytherin Trio had become mute. They could easily deduce that the silence was of a vengeful sort.

You see I refused to talk to Blaise Zabini as he had molested my sister in the library of all places, in public for my arch-nemesis, surprising not Harry Potter, to see. Pansy was not talking to me after hearing of my absolute and total humiliation of the only girl that could tolerate being around her, Hermione Granger, yes Granger, she will forever hold a mud blood's status in my mind after her little performance. Blaise on the other hand has never truly been the talkative type especially in the passing weeks and now that no one is nudging his communication skills forward, Blaise was as useless as Crabbe and Goyle.

I threw the toast into my mouth and stood up, and low and behold Daphne Greengrass broke the silence, "Where are you off to Malfoy?" I gave her an exasperated look, she had been keeping tabs on me for the past few days and I was pretty sure I knew why.

"The library, Greengrass, the place with all the books."

"I know what a library is, Malfoy."

Pansy looked up, "Your going to the library." I was almost certain that Pansy's lack of words had somehow caused her brain damage.

"Obviously." Blaise and Pansy traded looks. It seemed while the silence had ensued they had conveniently picked up Occlumency.

"You never go to the library." Goyle murmured between bites of a blueberry muffin, "Never."

I gave him an exasperated look before answering, " The only reason you think I don't go the library is because you haven't picked up a book since first year." Goyle turned back to his muffin not bothering to look insulted, " Unfortunately as Head Boy, I unlike you have a title to uphold which just happens to include the use of the printed word."

Blaise scoffed and I gave him an incredulous look, "Malfoy, cut the shit, the only reason your going to the bloody library is to see if you can corner Hermione." I saw Pansy smirk behind her juice.

"That's what you think then, guess you are denser than I thought." With those words I took my leave going exactly where I said I would if not just to prove my point.

"Denial is sad to see." Pansy called after me.

It seemed that silence was the lesser of two evils. I decided to ignore the idiotic comment and exited the Great Hall only to see my two least favorite people meandering on in front of me. I watched closely as they entered the library and against my better instincts followed them inside.

They took a seat in the farthest corners of the library obviously not spotting me from the of yells and glares I wasn't getting. I picked up random books in the bookshelves near their table and soon enough like I knew it would my name came up in the conversation.

"Can you believe what an oblivious wanker Malfoy is? Hermione has been fooling him all year long and it took him this long to finally tell her to move on, after she broke it off with him! I mean it's not like Hermione is a good liar or anything. I mean he fell for it so hard he thought she was in love with him. LOVE, Harry." Weasley pronounced and I instantly felt my face redden slightly, they were talking about how pathetic I was. I felt my hands clench at my side.

"You know exactly why she did it: for the Order, for her parents, for us. Hermione might not be a good liar but she'd do anything to protect her family. Including pretending to love," he cleared his throat here, "Malfoy."

"I still think she wouldn't have been able to do it without Dumbledore. The moment she got on the train she knew exactly what she had to do. As always Dumbledore was the one with the master plan. I mean Hermione's smart but when it comes to making a guy fall in love with her….well let's just say me and her aren't together, eh?"

My eyes burned a hole into Weasley's head as I glared at the two Gryffindors and before I knew it I had walked angrily over to their table, wand in hand, and pointed it at his stupid freckled face, "What the fuck, Weasley?"

Potter blanched upon seeing me, "How long have you been here, Malfoy?"

"Long enough, Potter." My voice was eerily calm as I pointed my wand between them and I was surprised to see Weasley give me a wide smile.

"Give it up Harry, he has a right to know." he turned toward me not looking the lest bit scared of the wand pointed at his face, "Alright, Malfoy you figured it out. Hermione never loved you, never will love you, and probably still hates you actually."

"Ron." Potter protested weakly but Weasley just waved him off.

"The Order needed to make sure you weren't a dangerous death eater and Hermione was there for the job. I mean it didn't take long to fake the betrothal and some memory charms on your parents done easily by Dumbledore. It was easy. It wasn't personal but these days we gotta take precautions." His voice sounded amused to the point of cheerfulness and I knew that he was enjoying my reaction to each word that came out of his mouth.

I silently put my wand back in my pocket and I saw Weasley give Potter that look that supposedly conveys what a coward I was for not cursing his freckles off. I, of course, didn't want to give him the wrong impression.

I crossed to the other side of the table and grabbed Weasley by his robes slinging him onto the floor, "So what did Granger say, Weasley, did she tell you what a dangerous death eater I am?"

Weasley looked up at me his face red with surprise and rage and I felt Potter's wand up against my neck before Weasley could sputter out a response, "Get off of him, Malfoy." I shoved Weasley back against the floor and gave Potter a seemingly friendly smile, friendly to anyone unwilling to take a second glance.

"Sorry, Potter, didn't want to hurt your boyfriend." Potter just glared at me as I headed out of the library hearing Weasley shouting obscenities after me but knowing that he would never try to raise his wand for fear he would end up on the floor again.

Which he would but with warts this time.

Suddenly all I could think of was finding Hermione. Finding her and cursing her to the innermost depths of Azkaban. Who the hell did she think she was, using me, Draco Malfoy? I clenched my hands at my side as I re-entered the Great Hall. She was no where in sight but I had stood there smoldering long enough to attract the attention of Blaise and Pansy.

"What's wrong, Draco?" she asked her voice suddenly worried, she never used that voice with me, it was unnerving to hear. But I was in no mood to explain and just exited the Great Hall again headed towards the Gryffindor dormitories. Pansy and Blaise rushed to keep up with me, Pansy cursing the heels that she had decided to wear today. By the time we reached the door I realized I had forgotten the password.

I cursed under my breath only to hear Blaise murmur the password and I was brought momentarily out of my rage to give him a look of surprise. But before I could question him, I was overtaken with the thought of Hermione's lying face and before I knew it the first year Gryffindors were staring scared into my enraged face.

"Where the fuck is Granger?" I asked in a low and dangerous tone and without a second thought the first years all pointed upwards into the girls dormitories.

Before Pansy and Blaise could decide whether or not to follow me I had walked up into the dormitories, my hands clenching at my sides, only to see Granger asleep on her bed. Her head lolling to the side.

I stalled for a second before grabbing my wand and spelling her awake, not wanting to actually have to physically touch her. I'd demeaned myself doing that too many times already.

She opened her eyes blearily and upon seeing me standing in her dormitory she narrowed her eyes, "How the hell did you get in here, Malfoy?' she growled her voice low and still heavy from sleep.

"I'm Head Boy, Granger, I can go anywhere." I shot back my tone dripping with disdain as she sat up, her hair frazzled as it obscured her face.

Granger eyed me angrily, her hand inching towards her wand in the process, and I made no move to stop her. If it came to that , the least I could do was be fair, she already had a disadvantage of being a disgusting muggleborn.

The silence continued as I glared at Granger trying to comprehend how she could have fooled me so fully and then, I exploded.

"Who the bloody hell do you think you are, Granger?" I started off my voice already reaching its peak, "Obviously you must think very highly of yourself to take on the job of trying to slander the name of Malfoy."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about, Malfoy, ' she interrupted me rudely, "I mean I thought this whole thing between us was over. You made that pretty clear. Is this some sick game of yours to torment me?" She slapped her hand angrily against the mattress.

"If only, if only, Granger." I answered my voice cooling as the logical side of my mind took over, the part not spurned by the emotional injustice Hermione Granger had committed, "But I'm referring to the fact that you're a lying, conniving, heart-less bitch." My eyes gleamed as I saw her gasp at the unveiled insult.

"Draco Malfoy who the hell do you think you are to call me heartless-"

"You agree that you're a conniving liar then?" I asked cruelly.

"Shut up!" she screamed her voice edged with oncoming tears, "I've put up with a lot of crap from you over the years, Draco Malfoy. I've put up with you insulting my family, my friends, my appearance, but never once have you ever insulted my morals if only to say I had too much of them." Her eyes hardened as she stared into mine and I gave out a brash laugh.

"Of course, who am I to accuse the almighty bookworm of being morally corrupt?" I asked the sarcasm heavy in my voice, "Of course, you can do no wrong. Except for the fact that you've been using me from the moment I saw you on the train. Except for the fact that our whole arranged marriage was ARRANGED in itself. Except for the fact that every kind word, every amusing comment, every tantalizing touch was all bullshit. The only reason you were with me was for your precious Order and of course your precious Potter!"

"What-"

"For all your morals you sure know how to screw a guy over." I seethed my eyes glaring, "I mean I might be considered a cold-hearted bastard but I have never in my whole existence ever pretended to love someone just to make sure they weren't a-what was the world Weasley used- 'dangerous death eater'?"

She stared at me mouth agape as I stepped closer to her, our faces almost touching, "The sad thing is, Granger..." my eyes narrowed in our hers and I heard her breath quicken at our close proximity, "Now you know what your missing." Then I kissed her.

I grabbed her face in my hand, as she let out of a breath of surprise, and unable to push me away, as I had already grasped her arms with my other free hand, I enveloped her lips in a full kiss long and hard. Her hands made no move to push me away now as I let go. Instead she quietly sighed and I pulled away as a smirk formed on my lips.

"You needed to know what you were missing." Before she could make a response or issue an explanation of her own I had walked out of the room. I exited the commons with Pansy and Blaise staring at me in confusion as they followed me, not knowing what I had done in that room, but knowing that it hadn't been good.

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I went a whole month without even looking at Hermione Granger, without speaking to her, or staring into her enraged eyes. After leaving her dormitory I had made sure that I wouldn't need to, asking Professor Snape if I could work alone on all Potions projects for the rest of the year. In the Great Hall I made sure not to even glance in the direction of the Gryffindor tables and during the hours I wasn't studying or in class I made sure I was surrounded by Pansy and Blaise who although they didn't agree with my decision to ignore my ex-fiancée made sure that I was never in the same room with her.

It worked for a whole month, longer than I had anticipated. The first time I talked to Hermione Granger was in our one class we shared together: Potions. I had become absent minded in the passing days for although I had kept her out of my sight I hadn't been able to keep her out of my mind. I hadn't been unable to stop her face from popping up in my thoughts as I wondered why so many days had gone by without her confronting me, denying that she had used me for the Order. Not only that but why she had stopped associating with Potter and Weasley, the whole school was abuzz with the fact that the Golden Trio had broken up once more. This time for good, the rumors promised.

It was a hard day for the advanced Potions class. Snape was in a particularly foul mood and I couldn't get my potion to turn the right shade of purple so realizing that scurvy-grass might brighten the color I had gone to the cabinet to get it, once I had turned around it was too late. Her body was blocking my only passage back to my desk and her eyes looked scared as she stared at my hopefully vacant expression. I stopped myself from saying anything crude and waited for her to move aside but it seemed that she had lost the use of her limbs.

I stared waiting for her to do something, say anything. She finally dropped her eyes to the ground and spoke, "That's not the right ingredient. Your potion isn't turning violet because you forgot to stir it counter-clockwise before you dropped in the sneezewort."

I put the ingredient back on the shelf and realizing that Granger was staring at me helplessly still I answered, "You would know." It was meant to hold a bit of sarcasm but the words were flat and came out as more of a fact than anything else. She nodded once and then I walked around her finally.

Despite the fact that she had told me exactly how to fix my potion it ended up turning blue when I dropped a dried nettle that had been left over from last period's class along with my lovage. Snape made no comment when I turned mine in instead deciding to yell at Neville for his having spilled all over the floor. Once class was over I exited the classroom hurriedly, not looking back again for fear that I might meet Granger eyes again.

When I relayed the meeting to Pansy and Blaise they both shook their heads at my lack of effort to talk to the Gryffindor again, "She used me." I reminded them again as Pansy traded glances with Blaise.

"I don't believe that." was her only answer as it had been the moment she had found out what Potthead and Weaslebee had told me in the library. The mere fact that they had been the ones to tell me had convinced her that it was false. The doubt that they had been lying entered my mind and stayed there for the next two months until the time when Pansy took it upon herself to end my new obsession: avoiding Granger.

It was March by this time, the seasons getting warmer and the school year looming closer to its June ending when none of us would be able to call ourselves Hogwarts students any longer. Pansy had cornered Ginny Weasley in the girls lavatory and forced her to tell her every last detail about exactly what Hermione had been doing agreeing to marry Draco Malfoy?

She hadn't been able to go to Hermione herself as the Gryffindor had been unwilling to speak to her, something that had been made clear a mere week after my accusation in the Gryffindor dorms. Granger had decided it would be for the best not to associate herself with anything that might in the end lead to "slander the name of Malfoy" she had quoted me, in only a slightly mocking way Pansy had assured me.

Of course Pansy came back with sunshine and rainbows radiating off of her. She interrupted me during Herbology just to tell me that "Weasley and Potter were lying wankers" and the whole reason that Granger had stopped talking to them was because they had lied to me. Yet still with the verification that Granger in fact hadn't been lying to me and the knowledge that our engagement had been real, I still couldn't bring myself to apologize or even look at her again.

The night I found out I flew around the Quidditch pitch until morning and had to take a Transfiguration exam which I obviously failed right after breakfast. It seemed that I had ran out of excuses to continue hating her besides the obvious reason of being too stubborn to stop. She might have not been a perfect fiancée and she could be infuriatingly annoying at times but still somehow during the time I had come to know Hermione D'jore, as I realized I now had to call her, I had grown a conscience one that was constantly reminding me that we had both wronged each other and it was time to make amends.

But I didn't, make amends I mean. I sat holed up in my room any time that I wasn't in my classes. Holed up and isolated as every time Pansy and Blaise came around they tried to convince me to go and talk to her, as if it was that simple. Which to them it really was.

But of course seeing as I shared a room with Blaise it was hard to ignore his constant pleas to see reason, like tonight for example. While I was trying to feign sleep he was babbling, "Malfoy, Malfoy." he muttered as he always did when he thought I was being an idiot, "don't you realize she's going to move on soon. She's not going to be waiting for her ex-fiancée forever, it's been months, MONTHS for Merlin's sake. Where is the old Malfoy who said he wasn't afraid of anything?"

I turned around in my bed to face him, an annoyed expression undoubtedly on my face, "I'm not afraid." I countered, "I just don't see the point. We didn't want to marry each other and now we don't have to, so why should I go talk to her for. We hated each other before and I think its best if we just-"

"Avoid each other like the plague."

I glared, "It would never work out between us, you know that. We're two extremely different people-she's a Gryffindor and I'm a Slytherin that mere fact would doom our marriage, or friendship, any relationship really."

"Malfoy." I rolled over, my back to him again, "Malfoy!" he pronounced louder this time meaning he was not going to let the subject drop easily.

I again turned to glare at him but stopped as my eyes met his which were vacant and focused on the poster on the wall, "You have a girl you really, really like. Don't deny it, I mean when have you ever deemed it necessary to tell a girl she was pathetic when you break up with her, you used to not even tell the girls you slept with it was over-you would just kick them out of your room. You actually tried with Hermione and it worked."

"I tried because that is what my family expected of me."

"They didn't expect you to propose." Blaise replied, "Or punch her ex-boyfriend or actually fall for her. You should have seen your face when you realized that the weeding was called off, when the ring fell out of that letter-you didn't look relieved, Draco."

I tried to block out his words but he kept going, "Just because she's a Gryffindor doesn't mean you love her any less…just be grateful there's nothing stopping you from being able to grab her and kiss her." here he stopped and took a breath, "Just be glad she doesn't have some boyfriend who treats her like crap but all you can do is tell her that she should be with you. Be glad for that at least."

Somehow this had went from trying to convince me to sweep Hermione off her feet to something completely different.

"Blaise. What I have- had-with Hermione is nothing like-"

"Your right." Blaise interrupted, "Because you still have a chance with her, Malfoy. And you better not be stupid enough to pass up that chance."

I stared at him blankly and he glared at my lack of emotion,

"Like I said she's not going to wait forever." Then he left the dormitory, going Merlin knows where seeing as it was ten o' clock at night. But that's just how Blaise was, he didn't care if there was no where to go as long as he was by himself he could stand in the rain all night as long as he didn't have to deal with people.

Of course, I didn't go to Hermione and envelop her in my arms and declare how I still wanted to marry her despite the lack of binding spells. I didn't go up to her the next day asking to talk, I didn't ask her if maybe she still had feelings for me.

I asked her for a quill. I sat next to her in Potions and I asked for a quill. Which in my opinion, is the same as declaring my undying love but from the glares I was getting from Pansy signaled that it did not mean the same thing to other people.

At first, she didn't realize it was me who asked for the quill so she just rummaged in her bag and didn't even look up to see who she was giving it to. So I sat down and started to write down the ingredients not bothering to point out that I was sitting next to her, making an effort.

She noticed eventually half-way through class when she finally took her eyes off her potion and looked up to see the progress of her fellow less intelligent classmates. She noticed and she grimaced. How did I notice this, well I was constantly aware of her every moment thanks to my peripheral vision. So when I realized she might not be happy for me to be sitting there, I did the logical thing. I moved down a chair.

"Didn't want to intrude upon your personal space." I muttered sarcastically. She looked at me, not like the way she had last time looking vulnerable and scared, but she looked at me like she thought I was a complete and total wanker for sitting next to her and she told me as much.

"Malfoy, not that I mind in the least where you chose to sit, but I was just wondering why you suddenly decided that it's not painful to sit next to me."

"Painful?" I asked surprised, first at the amount of words that had come out of her mouth and second what those words actually where.

"I know you aren't ignore me because you don't like me. You hated me for six years remember, but you never ignored me."

I grappled with a response, "Blaise told me to." I finally muttered deciding to blame it on the dimwit whose bright idea it was to try to be nice to a Gryffindor.

"Right." she replied adding another ingredient to her potion, "And you always listen to him." I sensed the sarcasm and my temper was increasing at each word that came out of her pursed lips.

"What's your problem?" I finally asked throwing in my own ingredients.

She turned to fully face me and when I looked into her face I was no longer doubtful that this was a bad idea, "My problem?" those two words showed the pent up anger she had obviously been holding in these past few months, "Other than the fact that you accused me of basically being a prostitute."

"Prostitutes sleep with their clients." I shot back annoyed, "I never actually got what I paid for if that was the case."

"Malfoy, don't talk to me."

We were suddenly back to square one. Hating each other. It was as if the school year hadn't happened. I looked down at my potion recalling Blaise's words and wondering if she had stopped waiting sooner than I had expected.

"Hermione?"

She didn't bother looking up instead opting to stare vacantly into the swirling liquid that was her potion, "Look I'm.." sorry? I couldn't seem to be able to let that word to pass my lips no matter how much I wanted to, "tired of fighting. I think we should, if you wanted, try to put the past behind us and be-"

"Friends." she interrupted sharply still staring intently at her potion, "Just friends." this time said slower and more thoughtful.

She looked up then, her eyes staring straight into mine before she asked me one last question, "That would be…possible. But only if you answer me this" she paused and I could just see the question in her eyes before she said it, "Why did you kiss me, Draco?"

The bell rang then and I stood up abruptly stalling for time as I walked to the front of the class and by the time that I went back to my seat, she was gone.