Finished: Revelation (K+) - Draco, Hermione
Notes: For Ashley oravannahka. As of 2 May 2009, this story has been revised.
Date: 29 December 2005
Author: vexia
Pairing(s): Draco, Hermione
Summary: She should never have asked.
It wasn't supposed to happen like this.
She rose from the chair in the early morning hours and surveyed her surroundings. Parchment and quills, crinkled and bent, were scattered around her, bleeding with black ink that never had a chance to dry; their books, pages clearly torn, were haphazardly tossed onto the floor. From the other side of the table, she could see Draco's eyes staring at her with a glaring intensity.
"If you want to prevent another accident from happening, I suggest you keep your filthy mouth shut."
Hermione clenched and unclenched her fists and regarded him with the deepest loathing she could muster in her eyes. Her own hatred was palpable, and she feared it. She wasn't sure how it started, but the topics built in reference to their sixth year and the inevitable questions that followed came to her with a renewed curiosity. Dumbledore this and Dumbledore that and why, why, why? He had to have had a reason, and she pressed on for an answer, even if she knew - she knew - that there were certain questions that shouldn't and couldn't be given any explanation. But that's what she did: she pestered others until she got what she wanted, and when her attempts were tried and failed over and over again, she would resort to verbal frustration and inadvertently say things that had merit, yes, but in retrospect would have never meant it.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she cursed Professor Binns for pairing them up in an assignment that required intense concentration and, logically, the ability to communicate without having to argue every other five minutes. It required that both parties have patience, given the extensive research that had to be done in the allotted time given to them, which was never much at the start. And she supposed that somewhere along the way, the tension between them had escalated and opened the gates to topics that weren't related to their essay.
And this was where they ended. His anger manifested itself in vengeance, grabbing anything within his reach and abusing them until there was nothing left. She was certain that their six-page research, of which both worked on three each, had been torn in the process without so much as a second thought. But that, surprisingly, hadn't upset or worried her. What did, however, prompted her to ask him the question that she was sure would ignite another argument of slurs and hatred.
"If - if there was nothing there, would you have killed me?"
Draco looked at her, minutes passing by before he stood up, his eyes focused on the mess that surrounded them. He looked everywhere else but at her.
"Threaten. I would have threatened you, Granger. I don't have it in me to kill." He paused and finally looked into her eyes, his grey ones burning with afterthoughts. "But don't presume to think that the desire isn't there."
She couldn't say what frightened her the most. Instead, she knelt down on the floor and began to collect the parchments, quills and textbooks, dismayed to learn that her eyes were burning with unshed tears. Her façade was slipping, her hands shaking, and she released a shriek of outrage, slamming the collected objects back down on the floor.
Hermione stood up to face him, defiant and angry and, most of all, hurt.
"Why?" she demanded, her voice catching in her throat. "Why do you hate me so much? What have I ever done to you?"
For the first time in her life, she saw a glimpse of shattered arrogance. With eyes softening around the edges, a sense of pity, his posture tense with the realisation that he would be giving her the heavy burden of truth, he replied:
"You exist."