c h a p t e r t e n

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"Oh come on Ron. Why do you even hate him so much? I mean, he's clearly moved on from hating you." Hermione huffed, twirling the end of her hair.

Ron stared at her, slightly bewildered, "Are you fraternising with the enemy?""The enemy? Are you kidding me?"

Hermione and Ron were sitting across from each other in Harry's dining room. Although Hermione told Draco that she was sure they weren't soulmates, she wasn't actually certain.

She had decided that even if there was no need for her best friends to get along with her potential soulmate, she would atleast try to end their feud with Draco (and someSlytherins whilst they were at it).

"Alright, tea for Ron and water for 'Mione!" Harry said, walking in and placing down the drinks on the table. He sat down next to the girl and looked between Hermione and Ron who were glaring at each other.

Ron was first to break his gaze and when he saw that Harry had sat next to Hermione, he wasn't impressed.

"Oh! So now fraternising with the enemy too!" Ron yelled, getting up from his seat."First Draco, now ? Merlin's beard Ron! It was just a suggestion!" retorted Hermione who also got up from her seat.

"You guys were talking about Draco?" Harry said, getting up merely out of confusion. Ron blinked at Harry and his mouth opened slightly. "Are you on a first name basis with him too?"

"First name bas...? Can someone just tell me what I missed?" he sighed. Hermione shot Ron a glare but he ignored her and kept his stare fixed on Harry, "Hermione suggested we try to get in touch with Malfoy so we can 'fix our broken amends' or some bollock!"

Harry didn't get a chance to reply because Hermione said, "Well excuse me for trying to move on from the past!" before she apparated somewhere.

She didn't know where, but she knew it was the right place to go.

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Hermione appeared in a room completely covered in books. It strangely reminded her of the Hogwarts library even though it looked barely anything like it.

She looked around and she saw many shelves stacked with books ordered in alphabetical order. Hermione wandered towards a desk which was pushed to the side. It was made out of dark wood and there were several ink pots and abandoned quills lying around.

She furrowed her eyebrows when she saw some Hogwarts textbooks. She knew she definitely wasn't in Hogwarts, so where was this place?

Grabbing the closest book to her (which happened to be Advanced Potion Making), Hermione flicked to the first page.

Written across the page in neat cursive letters were the words "." She immediately shut the book and grabbed a different one which was Hogwarts: A History.

Again, she opened the first page and the same words were written in the same handwriting.

Hermione sat down in a chair which was tucked under the desk and she flicked through the book. There wasn't anything too questionable until she reached the chapter all about the Room of Requirement

Hermione, for one, was very familiar with this room. The D.Ahad once used it to practise and train. She also knew it was where Draco had fixed the Vanishing Cabinet.

There were roughly drawn lines underlining certain sentences like the instructions on how to get into the room.

Hermione had held a lot of sympathy for Draco. She knew he was forced into becoming a death eater, never mind the fact he had to fix the Vanishing Cabinet in order to let the death eaters into Hogwarts in the first place.

She remembered Draco looking sick and noticeably thinner than usual. She even went as far as following him to find out why.

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Hermione was worried about Draco.

She couldn't understand why she even cared, but he looked so pale and he was always alone. Even Hermione knew that wasn't like him.

So what did she do? She followed him.

Hermione was too curious for her own good and she knew it could get her and Draco into trouble but she didn't seem to care.

She just wanted answers.

After dinner, she followed the blonde until he approached the room of requirement. Her ears burned as she watched him close his eyes and think of his desired location.

An ornate door showed up in front of him and he looked both ways before opening it and slipping inside.

She didn't realize she was holding her breath until she exhaled once he was out of sight. She knew she should just go back to the common room and tell Harry what she saw because after all, he was doing suspicious things. Hermione just somehow couldn't bring herself to leave.

She had to know exactly what he was doing.

The girl looked all around her before standing in front of the bare wall. She closed her eyes and thought to herself that she needed to be where Draco Malfoy was.

She didn't think it would work, but the same ornate door appeared and she quickly slipped inside like Draco did a few moments earlier.

The room he required was obviously old and had a ton of old Hogwarts furniture and supplies. Hermione furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she quietly wandered around the room.

She walked around for a few minutes but she couldn't find Draco anywhere until she heard his sobs. Hermione followed the sound and when she saw him, she tried to approach him quietly but she accidentally ran into a table. An old vase fell from the top of it and shattered.

Hermione grabbed her hip and groaned and was surprised when Draco did the same. He took a deep breath and stopped crying almost immediately when he realized someone had caused the vase to fall. When he looked up to see who it was, his facial expressions ranged from sadness, to fear, to hate.

Hermione gulped.

"Were you following me?" he questioned, "Can't you Gryffindors keep your abnormally large noses in your own businesses?"

Hermione nervously tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and apologized quietly, "I'm sorry, you just were looking so ill. I was curious."

Draco wiped a tear from his cheek and got up to approach her. They were face to face and this was the first time Hermione realized how stone grey and tired his eyes looked. They looked so alive but so dead at the same time. She felt her words stick in her throat as he looked down into her eyes.

"Stay out of my business, Granger," he told her solemnly, "It will only bring you pain." He attempted to walk away, but she grabbed his arm. She expected him to pull away from her grasp, but he stayed still.

"You're not your father's son, Draco," she told him calmly, "Even i can see that."

She watched his adam's apple bob as he gulped and avoided looking into her eyes. "You know nothing about me.""That's my point. You don't let people see the real you. You're afraid."

He turned around to look at her again, and she let his arm drop from her grasp. "Let me help you," she pushed again, "We can help you."

He hesitated, but all he said again was, "Stay out of my business. It will only bring you pain."

He pushed past her and attempted to leave the room but Hermione shouted at him as he neared the door, "Isn't that what you have always wanted? For me to feel pain?"

He stared at the floor for a few moments before looking back up at her, and then he whispered so quietly that she could barely hear him, "No Hermione, that's never what i've wanted."

And before she could muster up a reply, he was gone.

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do you hear me sobbingno?well, you need a hearing aid i suppose. bloody hell this made me sad. why do i do this to myself?

i highkey feel like english is my best subject atm because we recently got our exam results back and i scored higher than those stereotypical nerds that get top marks and all so likE

go me !

i hope you all had/have a great day