Merry Christmas Mr. Malfoy (Book 1)

Chapter 4 : For the Love of Snow...

For the Love of Snow...

She hadn't really been avoiding him. She'd just...been avoiding him.

Hanging her head, Hermione looked down at the discarded notebook beside her, reading the flowing script, wondering just why she was hiding.

It was true, his words had hurt her; he was telling her that she was an idiot and that her best friend was abusive. It took a toll on a girl when someone she'd come to befriend told her that she really didn't know the people she thought she did.

If that made any sense whatsoever.

Closing her eyes, she rubbed her face with her hands, knowing that her mother would scold her for rubbing her eyes. She could care less at this point in time; she was exhausted with everything and just wanted Ron to be gone.

She couldn't stand him glaring at her in class any longer, nor could she withstand Harry's inquisitorial and pitying gaze. Ginny, she'd been avoiding nonstop, to the point of not even going to the library anymore. She would sneak in, take out the books needed, and shy away in the Heads' Tower.

She couldn't even handle Draco right now; everything was just a mess and her plans for the perfect Christmas were already getting jumbled and screwed up. And she hadn't even initiated the beginning process.

Lying down on the bed, she stared up at the canopy as she thought for some way to reset her plans and make sure that everything went well. She didn't want anything else to get screwed up because of Ron's childish reactions. She didn't want to spend the entire Christmas vacation avoiding Draco at all costs.

She wanted to give him the best Christmas ever, and by Merlin, she would do it!

If only it were that easy to get over the words he'd said to her.

What hurt most, she admitted, was that the words were true. Ron and Harry had used her; she'd been nothing but a means to an end for the major part of their relationship. Ron, more so than Harry, had used and abused her in all of her years at Hogwarts.

It was true; Ron had been the first to make her cry. He'd been the first to upset her to the point that she had ached and yearned to go home. She had argued with Harry, that was true, but he had never said such hurtful things to her.

Maybe he was just a bit more in touch with other people's feelings than Ron.

Picking up her notebook, she lay on her side, reading the notes she had put all over the place.

Draco...Draco had never made her cry. He'd called her names, yes, but he had never said them with such malice and cruelty as Ron had said it. Besides, she had called Draco names in return.

Still, she couldn't find any reason to justify why Draco had called her names, just as she couldn't justify Ron's actions or words.

Boys were weird.

But...she still felt bad for ignoring and being rude to Draco. He'd just been trying to protect her, trying to tell her that it wasn't right for Ron to treat her like that. He was being kind to her and she had returned his kindness with rude words.

Merlin, she'd been rather mean, hadn't she? After all of this time, after having been the most open person to the idea of developing a relationship with Draco, she was the one to say such vile things.

She felt horrible.

Leaping to her feet, she rushed to the door, swinging it open, intending on rushing and apologizing to him. Maybe...maybe she could then try to get him to go outside with her. She could begin to set her plan in motion.