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Linked by Philyra912
 Books » Harry Potter Rated: T, English, Romance, Draco M., Hermione G., Words: 61k+, Favs: 4k+, Follows: 920, Published: Jun 18, 2005 Updated: Jan 5, 2006
 2,542 Chapter 23: Crazy
A/N: Hello, my darlings! Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. Here is the new chappie, ahead of schedule and everything. Damn, I'm good.
Thanks goes out:
To for finally waking up and giving us a way to respond to our reviewers (not that I had time to do it this last round, but look for responses next time you review)
To everyone who reviewed, for your general awesomeness.
To Lorett, for being the world's best beta.
So here's the romance you've long been craving, my dears. I hope it meets up with your expectations. I quite enjoyed writing it.
Chapter 22: Crazy
It turned out that forgetting was much more easily said than done.
It wasn't that Hermione didn't try, because she did. She tried to forget the things she had felt in the abandoned classroom, the way his eyes has glittered and swirled as they'd stood talking in the hallway, the feel of his hand brushing her hair away from her face. She threw herself into her schoolwork with more fervor than even she would have ever thought possible in an attempt to banish the memories, but nothing helped ease the longing that plagued her in the days that followed.
When distraction failed to helped, she turned to rationalization instead. In her logical way of thinking, if you couldn't explain it away, you just weren't looking hard enough.
She began to slowly compile a list of the reasons that a relationship between Draco Malfoy and herself was possibly the worst idea ever conceived by muggle or wizard.
The first reason came to her as she watched him terrorize a young Hufflepuff second-year who had walked into him in the Great Hall.
#1: Draco is an arrogant, insufferable bully and all-around pain in the ass.
The next day, reason number two presented itself as she stared hopelessly down at her Transfiguration notes the night before the exam, not comprehending a word she read.
#2: If thinking about him NOW is detracting from my schoolwork, what would it be like if we were actually together?
Wednesday night, she came up with her third reason as she sat in the common room with Harry, Ron, and the other Gryffindor seventh-years and listened to them rail on and on about a nasty run-in they'd had with the Slytherins earlier in the day.
#3: Our lives are so different, our friends are so different, WE are so different. No one will ever understand.
Finally, on Friday morning as the students ate breakfast in the Great Hall and did a little last minute studying, a regal-looking owl with golden feathers landed gracefully on Draco's shoulder and offered him a letter bearing the Malfoy crest. As he read it, his eyes darkened and he sent Hermione an inscrutable and vaguely hopeless look. She did not know what the letter said, but she could guess, and it was enough to give her the fourth and final reason.
#4: No matter what has happened, no matter how he's changed, his family has not, and they would never allow him to be with someone like me. I could never ask him to turn his back on them . . . not that he ever would.
With this thought heavy on her heart and somehow failing to lessen the longing that already weighed it down, she headed to her final exam: Potions.
The dungeon was nearly full when Hermione arrived. The faces of her classmates were pale and tense, which was really to be expected considering the notorious difficulty of Snape's exams. Pansy looked positively ill (which, if Hermione were honest with herself, gave her a small thrill of vindictive delight) and a Ravenclaw girl with wild auburn curls was visibly shaking with nervous tension.
