Stillness

Chapter 12

Draco began avoiding Hermione again, avoiding almost everyone actually. He still showed up at their games but he left immediately after and she never saw him speak to anyone anymore. He sat beside Blaise, Pansy, and Theo at meals barely reacting to anything they said. That is, until one day when Hermione walked into breakfast and she stopped short at seeing Malfoy leaning into a pretty blonde girl, his finger tracing patterns on her arm. Pansy was glaring at Astoria but she jumped up when she saw Hermione. Hermione tried to shake off the hurt that flashed through her as she took her seat with Harry, Ron, and Ginny. Pansy threw a copy of Witch Weekly down in front of Hermione as she fell onto the bench next to her.

"Have you seen this?" Pansy asked as Hermione began flipping through the magazine. "Page 6."

Hermione laughed as she saw the headline. 'Harry Potter Continues to Defeat the Dark!' A picture of Harry and Draco racing for the snitch accompanied the article.

"Gods, they're desperate." Hermione scoffed.

"Turn the page." Pansy insisted.

Hermione flipped the page and the smile fell off her face. A picture of Draco hovering in front of her at the game danced on the page. The picture had been taken from a low angle, but Hermione could see the smile light up his face every few seconds. 'Death Eater has His Sights Set on Golden Girl.' the caption read.

"Has Malfoy seen this?" Ron asked, skimming the article over her shoulder.

"Yeah, last night. Then this morning he decided to fake an interest in Astoria." Pansy replied, glaring over at the girl.

"Doesn't seem fake to me." Hermione muttered, watching as Draco tucked Astoria's hair behind her ear.

"Trust me, you heard him. He can't stand Astoria." Pansy said as Draco and Astoria stood from their table.

"He also lies." Hermione said bitterly as the pair brushed past them.

Draco paused, glancing down at the opened magazine on the table. His face was hard, unreadable, as his eyes drifted to Hermione. She looked up into the cold steel, his eyebrows twitching up before he turned away. Draco threw his arm across Astoria's shoulders as they left the hall.

"Perfect little pureblood princess for the perfect little pureblood prince." Ron commented without malice as he turned back to his food.

Hermione pushed the magazine away from her and Ginny reached out to grab it. Harry rolled his eyes, he never bothered with what the press wrote about him. If he did he would probably go crazy since he was such a hot topic these days. Hermione pushed the food around her plate, having lost her appetite, and was thankful when it was time for class. At least during lessons she had something to distract her.

With the school day finally over, Hermione fully intended to hide away in her dorm so she didn't have to see Astoria draping herself over Malfoy any more. It had lasted all day, Astoria's giggling, Malfoy murmuring to her, playing with her hair and holding her hand. Hermione wanted to gag. She had just dropped her bag when Ginny burst in.

"What's going on with you and Draco?" Ginny asked, without preamble.

"What?" Hermione asked, trying her best to act as if the question was absurd.

"I read that article, Hermione." Ginny pushed.

"Since when do you believe Witch Weekly?"

"Since it had photo proof." Ginny said, tossing the magazine on Hermione's bed.

Hermione looked down at the photo of her and Malfoy again. She watched his face light up with a smile while she clutched his sweater again and again until Ginny cleared her throat and snapped her out of it.