Mixed Blood

Chapter 24

New Year's Eve....

Hermione's POV

"Malfoy! Malfoy, where are you? The party's about to start!" I yelled, walking down every single corridor in the castle. Malfoy had disappeared right after lunch yesterday and hasn't been seen since. It was 11 pm and I had no idea where to find him.

Honestly, I don't care what Ginny and Pansy have to say about it. I do not care for Malfoy in that way, nor does he for me. Despite what they thought they saw last week on Christmas Eve, Malfoy and I are just friends.

But right now, none of that really mattered. I needed to find Malfoy. He'd been giving us all a right good scare since he disappeared.

"Malfoy!" I continued to shout. I ran past the boys' bathroom on the fifth floor but came to a grinding halt when I heard a sound of someone struggling. Struggling to catch their breath.

I tried to open the door but it was locked. Granted, I could just unlock it with Alohomora, but that didn't feel right. So I knocked instead.

"Hello? You alright in there mate?" I said through the door. No reply. I softly whispered the spell and the door unlocked, allowing me to go forward.

As I went further in the bathroom, I saw a body huddled in a corner, head in hands. I took one step forward, then gasped and took two steps back. That platinum hair again. Malfoy.

"M-Malfoy? What's wrong?" I stuttered, my breath caught in my throat. He was silent, but his shoulders were shaking.

I walked cautiously towards him and sat down in front of him. "Malfoy?" I tried again, placing my hand gently on the side of his head.

He looked up. His eyes were bloodshot from crying and his expression was deeply pained.

"Hey," I whispered, moving my arm to his left shoulder. Suddenly, I realized that that side of his shirt was wet with blood. Trying to put the pieces together, I carefully grabbed his left arm.

For the second time, my breath caught in my throat so that I couldn't even bring myself to gasp. Malfoy's forearm was heavily coated with blood, originating from deep gashes along his Dark Mark.

Unable to stop myself, I whispered, "I-I never knew."

"Just because the pain is silent doesn't mean it's not there," he replied flatly, avoiding my gaze.

"Tell me why you did this. Please, I want to help," I pleaded.

He angrily stood up. "Yeah? Well I don't need your sympathy."

"You can't pretend this didn't happen. I can't pretend this didn't happen! Please tell me." I realized I had begun to seem pathetic, begging him to reveal information. But for Merlin's sake, he's my friend!

"Because I'm afraid! All right? Big, tough, emotionless Malfoy is afraid! I'm afraid he's going to come back and ruin my life again! I want it gone! I'd rather die than let him control me again! Because do you know what that feels like? Not being able to do anything about your pain? Not even having the nerve to try and stop it?"

"You have to know that you're not alone, Malfoy. There are people who understand what you've been through and would chop off their arm to help you, if you just let them. Malfoy, what you've been through...we've all been through it too."

Malfoy fell silent. I found this as the perfect opportunity to seize his arm. "Vulnera Sanentur," I firmly said, which healed the deep wounds.

I turned to exit but he pulled on my arm and swiveled. He then stared at my left forearm. "Let me fix yours," he said, quiet enough that I almost didn't hear him. I realized he'd been talking about my scar, my constant reminder.

I pulled my arm back and said, "Don't worry about it. Just remember: the new year starts in an hour. Don't be late." Once again, I swiveled on my heel and walked out of the bathroom.

Draco's POV

Once Granger left, I mustered up the will to clean myself up and look presentable. I wiped away the blood with water and conjured a new shirt to replace my bloodstained one.

I sauntered out of the bathroom and into the hallway. It was already pitch black out. Was I really in there for that long? Unluckily for me, I had to climb two sets of those death traps to get to the common room.

When I finally arrived what felt like an hour later (but turned out to be half an hour), the common room was immensely decorated, with streamers lining the walls and balloons everywhere you looked.

All my friends were sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, laughing and talking giddily. I couldn't help but smile myself.

Astoria saw me and cheerily said, "Draco! You're just in time!" She pulled on my arm, dragging me to the group. They continued to laugh about something they were talking about. I noticed no one asked me where I had been. Maybe I could thank Granger for that.

"10 MINUTES!" a very drunk Theo shouted fifteen minutes after I arrived. It was good to have him back. "EVERYONE FIND SOMEONE TO KISS IN 10 MINUTES!"

Granger stood up on the table. "All right listen up! We're going to have a few Gryffindor guests join us-" everyone groaned. "-so please behave!"

As if on cue, the Weasley portrait yelled, "Hermione! Dean and Seamus are here for the party!"

"Send 'em in Fred," Granger replied. Thomas and Finnegan walked in together, bottles of beer in their hands. Maybe they weren't so bad if they brought refreshments.

Granger gave us all one last look of warning as she and Weasley greeted their Gryffindor comrades.

I was observing everyone in the common room when Blaise sneaked up behind me and jumped on my back.

"What the bloody hell?!" I shouted, while Blaise, obviously drunk, spilled his drink all over me. I pushed him off.

"What's the matter mate? Nervous about making a move on Granger?" he slurred.

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up and go back to your drink, Blaise." He and Theo hadn't left me alone since they caught a glimpse of me and Granger last week, and I had a feeling it would be a lot worse now that both of them were drunk.

"I SHAN'T REST UNTIL YOU ARE UNITED!" Blaise shouted triumphantly, walking off and eventually stumbling into Pansy. She laughed while pushing him off, making him fall on to the couch in hysterics.

"TWO MINUTES!" Theo shouted. Again, I sat away from the group and smiled, sipping from one of the beer bottles that the Gryffindors brought. Surprisingly, they had a good taste in drinks.

Granger came and sat next to me. "Why aren't you sitting with everyone else?" she asked kindly.

I shrugged. "I'd rather observe, I guess."

" FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE, HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Theo shouted again while grabbing Astoria and kissing her senseless. Blaise and Pansy kissed each other quickly and awkwardly, while Weasley just made out with her beer bottle. Not really surprising anyone, Thomas and Finnegan kissed as well. Secretly, the entire school knew it would happen sooner or later.

Then, taking me completely off guard, Granger grabbed a fistful of my shirt in her hands and pulled me in, kissing me before I even had the chance to set my bottle down.

After a few seconds, she pushed me back and tousled my hair with a smile on her face. "Happy New Year, Malfoy," she said.

"Happy New Year, Granger," I replied. And just like that, everything went back to normal as we watched the others smile at each other in awe and confusion at what they'd just done.

A/N Happy New Year's Eve! This is my last chapter written in 2015 so I put as much effort into it as I could to satisfy my readers! Thank you guys so much for getting this story to 8K! I hope you guys have an amazing day. Be safe out there tonight!!