Because of you

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Dear Draco,

I have something important to tell you. Meet me in the room of requirement before dinner.

Hermione

I re-read the letter as I sit in the room. Hermione has something important to tell me. I'm not sure what it is, but she seemed to be in a happy mood today. At least when she was with me. Something did seem to be bothering her today though. I wouldn't have noticed it in class, but the few times I watched her from the Slytherin table during lunch and breakfast made it seem like she was upset about something. Even her friends seemed worried about her. One thing I noticed was that Ginny seemed angry at someone, but not at Hermione. I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

I sit down in one of the chairs in front of the fireplace. I'm here early because I have a free period before dinner. It's nice because whenever Hermione wants to meet me, I can just come here right away. Besides, I like being in here. It's a lot more comforting than the common room and this is a place of both good and bad memories. Right now, I prefer to focus on the good ones.

I look up as Hermione enters the room. She smiles at me and sits down in the other chair. Something is definitely bothering her. Her eyes look sad and her demeanor has changed as well. Now she appears sad, not at all the girl I sat next to in potions this morning. She almost seems... heartbroken.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

She just looks at me before staring at the small fire. I take her silence to mean that she's not okay. Being the good friend I am, I want to go comfort her. I'm not sure if she'd be okay with that though. Being how I feel about her and all. It might be a little awkward... for both of us.

After a few minutes of internal debate, I decide that she needs me. I stand up and walk over to her. She glances at me, but doesn't acknowledge me otherwise. I wait until the chair turns into a couch. Once there's room for me to sit next to her, I sit and place my hand over both of hers. She looks directly into my eyes and it's then that I can tell that something awful must have happened. The sadness in her eyes is deep, deeper than I've ever seen. Someone did something absolutely awful to hurt her and I can't help but feel a bit sympathetic.

"What's wrong Hermione?" I ask.

"It's Ron." She whispers.

Her voice sounds like she's fighting back tears. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her into a right hug. She hugs me back, but I can tell that she's trying desperately not to cry. Whatever is wrong with Ron has her hurting. It makes me want to confront him for hurting her, but doing so would probably get me into a lot more trouble than I need to be in. After all, the ministry already tried to look me up in Azkaban for being a Death Eater. I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate to arrest me if they had a real reason to.

"What's wrong with Ron?" I ask.

I look up at Draco and I'm suddenly second guessing my plan. He's concerned about me. I already know that he loves me. My whole reason for telling him to meet me was to see how I feel about him. What if I don't love him? I can't exactly get his hopes up and then change my mind. That would be awful and I don't want to do that to him. He's already dealt with enough pain in his life. That much is obvious even though he refuses to talk about his past.

"He broke up with me." I whisper.

I watch Draco closely. I'm not sure how he's going to react. At first I think he's in shock, but then his eyebrows start moving and I can read the emotions in his eyes. He flashes between happy, angry, confused and concerned. After a few minutes he sighs and looks at the dying fire. Now seems as good a time as any.

I touch his cheek and turn his head so that he's forced to look at me. Before I can chicken out, I plant my lips on his. He hesitates for a moment. For a horrifying moment, I think that he's going to pull away. Instead, he wraps his arms around me tighter and hold me close. I deepen our kiss as I lean into him. He holds me tightly and I can't help but think that I was made to be wrapped up in his arms. We fit so perfectly together.

I tangle my fingers in his hair and try to get closer to him. He ends up falling backwards onto the couch cushions. Draco swings his legs up over the arm of the couch and I end up straddling him. Neither of us really mind though. It's a relatively comfortable position and we aren't really concentrating on much of anything anyway.

After a few more minutes of snogging, I pull away. I prop my elbows up on Draco's chest and smile down at him. He smiles back, a full and genuine smile. It's the most gorgeous smile I've ever seen. We just stare at each other for a little bit before I climb off of Draco and let him sit up.

"Are you feeling better?" He asks as he sits up.

I roll my eyes at him as I sit down and cuddle into his shoulder. My suspicions have been confirmed. At first I thought I might have just been happy that Draco was a nice person, but the more I though about it the more that didn't make sense. When Ginny jokingly suggested that I might be in love with him, I thought that was silly. Of course I thought about it more and more and the more I thought about it, the more plausible it became. There was only one way to prove that I love him though and I just did that. Snogging Draco was the most amazing feeling I've ever had. It was like a million butterflies were floating around in my stomach. It was perfect. He's perfect, at least to me.

"Hermione." Draco says.

"Yes?" I reply.

"It's almost curfew."

"Already?"

"Yes."

I look at him and pout. I'm not ready to leave him yet. It's been a wonderful night, even though I didn't eat dinner. Spending time with Draco is my new favorite thing to do. Although I don't want to get in trouble with Professor McGonagall over it. So, with a sigh, I reluctantly get off of the couch. Draco follows me out of the room. I kiss him on the cheek as we turn to head to our dorms.

"Hermione." Draco calls.

"Yes?" I reply.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

I'm so happy I can't speak, so I just nod my head. Draco smirks and turns to head towards the dungeons. I skip all the way up to Gryffindor tower. It's going to be awhile before Draco and I can be together in public, put getting to call him my boyfriend has me in a fantastic mood. My mood is drastically dampened when I get there though.

Standing in the common room is Professor McGonagall. She looks at me as I enter the room. The look on her face says everything I need to know. Without even waiting for her to speak, I run back out of the portrait hole. I sprint past Draco, who looks more than a little bit confused. He can wait though, I have to get to the Hospital Wing.

As I enter the Hospital Wing, I see Madam Pomfrey tending to the only person in the room. She looks up as I make my way over to her. I sit on the stool next to the bed and the tears start to escape. An arm wraps around my shoulder and I know who it is without looking. I turn into his chest and let all the tears out, I don't care who sees us together.

"I'm sure she'll be okay." Draco tries to comfort me, but he seems uncertain.

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to recognize the after effects of the Cruciatus Curse. He probably knows how bad Ginny's condition really is. I'm sure he's seen the spell performed several times. That's probably why he's uncertain if she'll really be okay. She's unconscious after all. It's a bit hard to ask her what happened.

"What happened Hermione. And what is he doing here?" Harry asks as he walks to my side.

"We don't know what happened as for why I'm here..." Draco trails off because he doesn't know what to say.

"He's my boyfriend." I whisper.

"WHAT!?!?" Ron shouts as he enters the room.