Heartchains

Chapter 12

***** I'm literally so sorry omg. I have school stuff. I'm gonna make it up to you guys with a grade A chapter. I'm so sorry.*****

Hermione was furious. How could she skip classes? Did she not care at all about her educational progress? Did she not care about anything? This her last year at Hogwarts, and she was gonna spend it slinking off? The fact that Pansy had only done this once did not even flit across Hermione's mind. How dare she had scared Hermione like that, making her mess up her Draught of Peace. It was all her fault for making her miscount the number of times she stirred. Hermione had rushed from her last class of the day to the common room, storming from Pansy's act. She was a bit more mad at Pansy scaring her than she'd like to admit but Hermione was going to stick to the reason of "Pansy skipping class". 

She walked into the common room, not at all surprised to find Pansy and Draco alone in the common room. When both Pansy and Draco didn't show to the second class of the day, Charms, she put two-and-two together that they were skipping. 

Draco and Pansy were on their way down the stairs to the couches when Hermione walked in. 

"I think not," Draco said, and Pansy stopped in her tracks as she saw Hermione enter. 

"I'll tell him after you tell her," Draco muttered into Pansy's ear. Hermione was obviously not supposed to hear that. Draco smirked and slid past Hermione, leaving a flaming Pansy in his wake. 

"I suppose you're going to lecture me?" Pansy said, flopping onto a sofa by the fireplace. 

As angry as Hermione was, she could tell that Pansy was not happy. 

"No," Hermione said, sighing. "Are you alright?"

Pansy looked up, seeming shocked. "You're not mad at me? You're not gonna yell at me for risking my grades? For skipping? Who are you?" 

"I'm furious, actually. But, I can see the tear streaks on your cheeks. What's wrong?"

Pansy wiped at here eyes, looking away.

"Hey," Hermione said, softening her voice. "You can tell me."

There was a silence as Pansy inspected her nails. Finally, she muttered: "My mom kicked me out."

"What?" 

"My mom," Pansy repeated, louder. "She kicked me out."

"No, I heard you. I just...don't believe it. I mean, I believe you, I just can't even fathom the idea that your mother would just..."

"Well, she did." Pansy said, sharply, tears spilling down her cheeks. This was obviously a touchy subject. 

"I didn't mean to upset you," Hermione got up from her chair and sat next to Pansy on the couch. She wrapped an arm around her, rubbing her shoulder, trying to comfort her. Pansy leaned into the touch and laid her head on Hermione's shoulder. Hermione took Pansy hand in her own. 

They sat like that for a while, in silence, enjoying each other's presence. It was relaxing and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. Her heart was pounding in her chest and there were butterflies in her stomach but she blew them off to be from the sensation of another person being in such close proximity, not due to the particular person.

Hermione played with Pansy's perfectly manicured fingers and wondered how she got them so nice. She looked at the perfectly shaped nails and the chip-less polish. Pansy had little snakes and flowers charmed onto her nails and they moved as if they were real. Was there a spell that made her nails so nice? Or did Pansy take the time to paint her nails and then charmed them. Hermione had never had any need or urges to charm her nails due to her studies but the sight of Pansy's beautiful nails intertwined with Hermione's average ones made her feel inadequate. Hermione was going to ask her but then she noticed the light snores emanating from Pansy. She was asleep. Hermione moved so that Pansy was lying down on her lap. She looked down at Pansy's face. She looked to calm and at peace, so unlike her usual walls of secrecy. Her skin was so flawless and her lips were so plump. Hermione was filled with the sudden urge to kiss them. The thought was so sudden and so strong that Hermione was taken aback. That wasn't right, Hermione thought, that couldn't have been a real thought, just a reminisce of her relationship with Ron, just a figment of her loneliness. 

She went back to admiring Pansy. She looked at her hair, the obsidian cloud that framed Pansy's face so perfectly was now ever-so-lightly crushed on Hermione's lap by Pansy's head.  Hermione carefully ran her fingers through Pansy's hair, making sure not to disturb her. Her hair was softer than anything she could imagine, it was thick but still light and so, so lovely.

She looked at her chest rising and falling with her steady breaths, she wouldn't admit it, but she looked at her skirt, which had ridden up a bit when she sat down. If anyone were to walk in right now, it would be hard to explain what exactly was going on. However, it didn't bother Hermione much, for her eyes were drooping as she listened to the calming sounds of the fireplace and Pansy's breathing. She almost wanted this moment to go on forever. She knew that this was impossible and a waste of her thoughts, but she couldn't help but imagine this being an everyday occurrence. That every day the two could relax after the day of classes and sleep. That there was no pressure between them to talk and make up, that they could just forgive and forget. Hermione knew, however, that this would be a one-time thing. She knew that Pansy would wake up and it would be over, or someone would walk in and ruin the moment. For now, though, Hermione was going to enjoy the moment and not worry about the future. What will be, will be, there's no changing it. At least that's what she thought. 

********1000 words. There ya go. That's my apology for not updating in forever. I'm going to update agian, I promise. It will most likely be on Sunday though. Thank you so much for stick through with me and I'm so sorry for the months of absence. *********