Broken

Chapter 21

"M-Malfoy?" Said Hermione in shock as Draco just looked at her without much emotion. He was simply standing there.

"Hey," he said quietly while waving slowly.

"Hey?" Said she. "Bloody hey!?"

Hermione was angry.

"You disappeared without an excuse for over a month and all you have to say is hey?!" She stood up from the ground. The tears stopped flowing. "Why do you shut everyone out? Continuously vanishing with vague excuses. This has got to stop, Malfoy. You are up to something, you have to be!"

Malfoy blinked.

"Is it something I should be worried about, though?" She asked to herself out loud. "A previous death eater that claims he cares about me repeatedly abandons me without any sort of explanation. Brilliant. Just brilliant!

"Everyone is worried about you. Or, well, most are suspicious of you, Malfoy. And, honestly, to some extent I am too," she took a deep breath and looked at his pale face. "Say something," she said slowly, "please."

"I'm sorry," he started. "Soon everything will make sense, I promise. We're on the same team, Hermione. I know it doesn't seem like it but I can assure you I'm not doing this to hurt you or anyone you care about."

"Then what is this all about? Where did you go? And with whom?"

"I can't tell you that."

Hermione chuckled. It was a slow, angry chuckle. Draco didn't know what else to say. Snape told him to keep it all a secret.

She looked up at him, "of course you can't," she said.

"Forget it. Just keep disappearing, Malfoy. It's pointless." She said and started walking away in defeat.

"What's pointless?" Said he from behind, grabbing her hand and forcing her to turn around.

"You"

She looked down at the floor. Why did this bother her so much? It didn't make sense to her. Malfoy had never meant anything to her before this year and suddenly, it appeared that most of her emotions revolved around him. She thought it was ridiculous.

So she looked at the ground, somewhat embarrassed with her own self. She felt weak and for some reason manipulated by him.

Draco put his hand on Hermione's cheek and walked closer to her. She looked up slowly. To feel his touch was so calming to her. She had missed it.

"Just trust me," said Malfoy, looking at her and moving her hair away from her face. "I'm not going to hurt you."

And even though Hermione found that hard to believe, she slowly nodded. As long as Malfoy didn't keep disappearing, she should be able to find out more about what he has been up to.

"You have to be honest with me." Said Hermione. "This will never work out if you don't trust me"

"I trust you, it's just, I have to be careful with what information I reveal. It might ruin everything," he replied.

"Alright, as you wish." Said she, but this time, she turned around and walked towards Hogwarts without looking at him again.

***

The next day at night

"You know, if we just tell her everything she might help us when the time comes," said Draco as he talked to Snape that night. "Hermione is a powerful wizard, Snape."

"Perhaps in a few days we can. But for now, just see if we can trust her." Replied Snape. "This is about protecting you. The rest of the school should be fine as long as they stay away."

"I'll try to get her to trust me again, then."

Snape nodded.

***

After that conversation, Draco left the room and started walking around Hogwarts. He is supposed to meet Hermione in exactly 10 minutes, and he felt somewhat nervous.

Those minutes flew by, and next thing he knew, he was with Hermione once again.

"You didn't eat dinner, right?" He asked. "Like I asked you to?"

"I didn't. Now, where are you taking me?" She asked and smiled. She was surprised at the fact that he planned to see her.

"Follow me," he said and started walking towards a tower.

They walked up the stairs, which took about 10 minutes, due to the fact that the tower was very high up. As soon as they were nearly there, Draco covered her eyes.

"I know you might be angry at me at the moment, but since my words aren't enough of an apology, I prepared this for you," he said and uncovered her eyes.

Draco had organized a picnic on the top of the tower. A white tablecloth was laid on the floor with a candle in the middle, some fruits, bread, and a soup he had cooked at Snape's hidden room.

As Hermione opened her eyes and looked around, she couldn't help but smile. Maybe he wasn't completely evil after all...

"Draco, this is beautiful!" She exclaimed and sat down.

"I cooked the soup, I hope you like it," said he and laughed as he served it.

As she ate, he could not help but wish he was a normal wizard. Why did everything in his life have to be so complicated?

Why did my family have to be evil?
He thought.

"I'm sorry for being an arsehole," he started slowly. "I'm under a lot of stress, and, trust me, I know you deserve an explanation."

She simply looked at him. At the very moment, she just wanted to forget that issue and enjoy her private time with Draco without thinking about it.

"We'll talk about it later," she said and gave him a crooked smile.

They finished eating, and after a while they picked the picnic up and decided to lay on the tablecloth while looking at the stars. Draco's stress had also diminished.

He turned to his side and made eye contact with her. Without saying much, they looked at each other, and once again, after all this time, their lips met.