Promise

Chapter 9

Hermione stumbled into her room after a long evening in the library. Head girl duties had been taking up so much of her time that she was afraid she would fall behind in school. She had spent the entire evening catching up on her readings and assignments and even getting ahead in as many of them as she could. The library was a quiet place study and she appreciated its existence very much. She kicked off her shoes and fell back onto her bed. She wanted a shower, some tea, and sleep all at the same time. She decided she deserved all three and got up to shower. She undressed in her room, put on her bathrobe, grabbed her towel and made her way to the bathroom. Once there, she stripped of the robe and stepped into the shower. She turned the shower head on and put the temperature as high as she could reasonably bear. She felt the tension run out of her shoulders and back with the ministrations of the water.

Hermione took a deep breath and relaxed for the first time all day. She let her mind wander and eventually found herself thinking about the boy she lived with. She didn't understand what had happened with him a few nights prior. Everything from the kiss to her blacking out afterwards was a mystery to her. It didn't make sense that he would kiss her. He hated her, pure and simple. Even if the war had changed him and he was being civil now, it couldn't erase the years of animosity and tension between them. They were enemies, rivals. She rolled her neck and let out a deep sigh. The boy was an enigma. She contemplated that maybe it was just lust, living in such close quarters with each other was bound to have some effect. Still, he was Draco sodding Malfoy. He could have his pick of any number of females in the school, there was no need for him to have any pent up lust. It just didn't make sense. Her own reaction to the entire ordeal made even less sense. First of all, she hadn't hated it. She had actually responded to, even enjoyed, his kiss. She had felt comfortable with him, safe, like she was home. There was that word again. Home. She felt a faint throbbing at her temple when it came up. The word, no the idea that it applied to Malfoy was knocking at some door in her mind but she didn't know what. There was no reason why she should ever associate Malfoy of all people with that word but, strangely, she did. Hermione let out another deep sigh and rolled her neck slowly back and forth to avoid building up anymore tension there. Then she remembered waking up after the kiss. She didn't know why she had blacked out but she had. She didn't remember anything between that and waking up to find Malfoy at her bedside. She tried to remember but it just made the throbbing in her temple worse. She resolved to do some research later and turned off the shower head. She quickly put her bathrobe on and put the towel on her head, drying her hair as she returned to her room.

A few minutes later and clad in her pyjamas, Hermione trod into the little kitchen she shared with Draco. She immediately put the kettle on and sat down with a mug waiting for the water to boil. She thought about how to deal with the state of the Hogwarts houses. There needed to be a way to get rid of the growing animosity. She ran through ideas in her head but came up with nothing. A loud groan escaped her as she put her head in her hands.

"You okay there, Granger?" Draco walked cautiously into the kitchen. He still didn't quite know how to deal with the head girl since their incident.

"Fine. Just fine." She responded just as the kettle began to whistle. She hastily got up and went about preparing her tea. She just wanted to peacefully finish the cup and then head up to be bed. It was late, she was tired, and she really wasn't ready to deal with the Head boy quite yet. As she finished making her cup she heard Draco's voice.

"Hey, can we talk for a bit?" Hermione, turned to face her fellow head. He looked tired, exhausted really. She knew the being Head boy was hard on him but it really hit her sometimes exactly how much it affected him.

"Sure." She responded and took a seat in their shared living room. He soon joined her and at first they didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry." He finally blurted out.

"About what?" She asked him, taken slightly aback by his apology.

"The other night. Without your permission, I'm sorry for.....kissing you." He stumbled out. His pale face was tinged with a slight pink, the only sign of the embarrassment he felt. He didn't meet her eyes and stared dutifully at the floor. Hermione didn't know how to respond; she hadn't expected this from him. Snarky remarks? Yes. Endless teasing? Definitely. But not an apology. She felt almost offended but didn't know why. Of coarse he should apologize. He had kissed her. Not the other way around but she still felt a pang of pain at his words.

"Don't worry about it. It's fine." She mumbled quickly before standing up abruptly and scurrying to her room. She didn't know why but she didn't want to be in the same room with him anymore nor did she want to face him. His words had hurt her and she didn't want to think about why.

Back in the living room, Draco sat staring at Hermione's door, He didn't know what he had done wrong but she had looked heartbroken as she left the room. He had been trying to make peace but somehow, he had managed to make things worse. He groaned to himself before pulling out a bottle of firewhisky and pouring himself a generous helping. Women were difficult and Hermione was unpredictable at best.