Chapter 9

7:00 PM

"Hey."

"Hi."

Hermione and Ron stood at least 4 feet apart from each other in the middle of Diagon Alley, where hundreds of people are currently roaming taking advantage of the winter sales.

"It's quite chilly isn't it?" Ron, wearing his Gryffindor beanie paired with his Gryffindor scarf, exhaled and rubbed his gloved hands trying to warm himself from the freezing weather.

"It is." The brunette, on the other hand, didn't mind the cold, in fact, she enjoyed it.

As she bent her head upward to stare at the falling snow, the very familiar jolt of pain struck her, causing her to lose her balance and fall flat on the snow-covered sidewalk.

"Mione!" Ron gasped in shock, and immediately kneeled down to check her.

"It won't go away." Hermione bit her lip trying to stop her from screaming in pain, the vibration in her head still present.

"Mione, hold on. I'll call the healer's." Ron held Hermione's hand tightly, and tried rubbing her hand in a circular motion in order to calm her down.

"It's snowing!" Hermione, standing on the sidewalk of Diagon Alley while holding another person's hand, exclaimed as flakes of white started pouring down.

"Well duh." The other person, Hermione couldn't make out whose face, grunted in reply.

Instead of provoking the other person with another sarcastic reply, Hermione decided to let go of the warm hand she was holding and follow the beautiful Christmas lights that surround each lamp post and doors of each store.

"Granger!" A voice yelled, catching up to Hermione.

Hermione ignored the person tugging at her sleeve trying to slow her pace and walk beside her.

"Ugh! My hand is cold."

"Well duh. It's snowing." Hermione smiled to herself as she replied this.

"Granger!" The figure immediately blocked Hermione in front of her.

"What?!"

It was Malfoy.

"STOP" Hermione finally snapped out of her vision as she took heavy breaths.

She was surrounded by a number of people, some looking down at her, some kneeling beside her.

"Mione, what happened? Are you okay?" Ron was holding her hand, kneeling directly in front of her.

Hermione wanted to cry there and then. That vision was one of the most intense and clear visions she's ever had. It took all her power to relax and hold the tears.

"I- I'm fine." The brunette, wearing a long beige winter coat paired with her black boots, tried pushing herself to stand up despite the heavy feeling whether it may come from her clothes or from her heart.

"Let's get you to the healer's alright." Ron guided her to stand up.

"No. No. I just want to go home." Hermione kept her face down, she didn't have the Gryffindor spirit to look at everyone who was staring at her in confusion.

"Mione this isn't something you can fix yourself. You need help." Ron stared at her straight in the eyes.

For some reason, Hermione didn't feel anything. She didn't feel anything staring back into his eyes. But despite this, she knew Ron was right. She couldn't fix it herself.

"I will. But I just- I need to go home first. Please." Hermione lowered her voice trying not to cause too much commotion and drama.

Ron paused, knowing he'll regret his next answer. But he couldn't resist. He owed it to her.

"Alright, lead the way." Ron sighed in defeat, making Hermione sigh in relief.

"This is where you live?" The red-haired scanned the large house which currently was pitch dark with no lights, possibly signifying that no one is home, which relieved Hermione in a way. She didn't really want to confront Malfoy right now nor did she want Ron and Malfoy to bump into each other.

"Temporarily." Hermione was exhausted, Ron could tell with her unusual slouched posture and her continuous heavy breaths.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay with us first? Mother would be furious if she knew I left you here with your condition."

Hermione internally flinched when Ron mentioned the word "condition" as if she is some sick patient. Although she knows Ron doesn't mean it like that.

"I can do it. Tell everyone back there that i'll be fine. First thing tomorrow morning, i'll head straight to the healer's." Hermione forced a smile.

It started to snow harder.

"You promise alright." Ron looked down.

"Don't worry. Hey, thank you. I'm sorry for cancelling the dinner thing, you up for a reschedule?"

Ron chuckled, "Of course. Better get some rest. Good night Hermione, we're always one call away."

Hermione smiled and Ron immediately apparated away.

The brunette, hugging her long coat tighter, looked around her surroundings, before inserting the key and entering the house.

It was dark, pitch black.

Hermione brought out her wand from her coat's pocket and casted "Lumos" to search for the light switch on the wall.

She finally spotted the switch, and switched in on expecting lights to open but instead, nothing happened. It was still pitch dark. Suspicion rose, and she continued to switch on and off the lights, but still, nothing.

Gladly, she had some source of light with her coming from her wand.

"Filthy mudblood!"

"Disgrace!"

"What have you become son?!"

Angry whispers started entering to Hermione's ears.

Hermione immediately perked up in alert, trying to scan her surroundings.

"That mudblood, out of all people?!"

"You disgust me."

Hermione started to scream, covering her ears.

"STOP STOP, Hermione, it's just your mind." The brunette tried to convince herself.

The angry whispers continued causing Hermione to shut her eyes and back away. This was unlike of her to stray away from battle, but the pain was coming from her mind, her brain.

"AH, STOP!" Hermione yelled, squeezing her head and closing her eyes.

"GRANGER! GRANGER!" Warm hands started holding both her arms, steadying her.

Hermione still kept her eyes shut. She already knew who was in front of her, she could tell from his scent, his voice, the feel of his hands.

"Granger, it's me." The calm and soothing voice spoke, still holding her.

She didn't know why she did what she did next, but she couldn't help it. She needed it.

Hermione immediately wrapped her arms around Malfoy, still keeping her eyes shut, and decided to let everything out. She cried as hard as she could.

This got Draco in complete shock. He couldn't react for a full minute. He hasn't felt her hug for two years. Two fucking years. For two years he's been nothing but empty, and this hug. Hermione's hug, just this one hug, made all life come back to him. Made him feel everything and anything. This was all he needed.

He didn't know how to react, the platinum blonde-haired wanted to wrap his arms around her so badly, but he feared how she'd react, so he decided to let her fall into him and continue to cry.

The next day, 10:30 AM

Draco slowly opened his eyes, trying to adjust to the bright warm sun. There were too many windows, he silently remarked to himself.

It took him a while to process and remember everything. Then, his eyes grew bigger. Hermione. He immediately looked around his surroundings and saw Hermione 's head rested on his shoulder, while her arms hugging Draco's white fluffy blanket. It finally recovered to him everything that happened last night, how she hugged him and cried, how she freaked and screamed. It was all his fault. This is all happening to her because of him.

This realisation caused Draco to slowly stand up, holding Hermione and gently laying her down on the long couch they were sleeping on, and wrapped her with the excess blanket.

He slowly walked away still staring at her calm, beautiful, resting face. How could she look so gorgeous without even trying, he asked herself.

"Where do you think you're going?" A disapproving voice came from behind Draco.

HI GUYS! Wow, it's been a year. I am such an ass. Gee, where do I even start. I would first like to apologise for the extremely delayed update on this story. I know I completely abandoned it, and i'm not even expecting anyone to come back here and read this story anymore. I dropped by here and remembered this story, I read your reviews and it really genuinely inspired me to continue on with this story despite not updating since forever. I cannot promise that I won't be having long updates, and trust me I know the irritating feeling of having to wait for an update, but coming from a writer's perspective, it isn't easy either. But again, i'll do my very best to keep this story going.

Anyways, I hope you guys like this chapter. Till next time!