A Game of Bluff

by All Mighty Me
 
 
 

The moon gushed its reflected light, like a mirror reflecting lights in a theatre, delicately
stroking the blue-green waves of the lake. Birds, exhausted by the day's heat calmly slept
on tree branches, dreaming; village dogs, unleashed from their daily prison stared at the
shiny surface, melodiously baying. The giant squid moved impatiently in the greenish
depths of the water, irritated by the silver glimmer that dared to perturb his slumber.

Hermione sat at the window of the Gryffindor common room, staring at the moon,
mesmerized. It was 3:30 a.m., and she should have been sleeping, but, being slightly
perturbed, she didn't consider sleep to be a very sensible thing to do.

'What did he say?' the thought flew somewhere at the peripheries of her mind. 'His father?
Stupid excuse.' she absent-mindedly brushed the hair from her face. Something must have
happened, is he was behaving in such a manner.

***

"Hermione?" someone hesitatingly patted her shoulder. "I waited for you to be alone. We
need to talk." she turned around and saw a pair of silver-gray eyes, that she was sure to see,
after all. It had already been a while since they didn't have a proper conversation. In fact,
when she thought harder, they almost never had had proper conversations at all.

She followed him out of the castle, until the greenhouses, where he abruptly stopped walking,
turned around, and said:

"We can't continue"

"Continue what?" she answered with a question, knowing what the answer would be.

"Our whole relationship, of course!" he snapped irritably, looking as if he was teaching
ABC's to a five year old.

"But, why?" she asked dully, yet again, not really caring about the answer.

They were an item for almost a year now, making out in secret broom sheds, meeting at
the Astronomy Tour at midnight, keeping the whole thing secret from everything alive. At
the beginning it was even quite exciting: the secrecy, the intimacy and all that. Sometimes
she used to feel like Julia or another beautiful Renaissance lady, waiting for her knight
errant; it was quite romantic.

But, as she knew, she was no lady in mid-Renaissance, Draco wasn't a knight, and they
surely couldn't continue their relationship in that way. During the day, she was the studious
know-it-all, the bookworm Hermione, while the night seemed to transform her into
someone remotely different. She considered it a lie, and most certainly didn't want to
live in a lie.

"Listen" he said solemnly, while Hermione giggled helplessly in her mind. Why didn't she
think about it before? She avoided Draco and all the places he could have been in for a
certain time; she didn't want to continue their relationship either. But she was curious what
sort of excuses could he find. "As much as I enjoy the time we spent together, I just can't
continue it that way...for many reasons. First of all: my father. He already considers me a
gay, which, needless to say, is an extreme pain for him." a small smile played on their
lips. They felt as if they were playing a theatre play of some sort, and it amused them both
greatly. She listened to his voice; it changed from an official and stiff one to a little bit more
friendly tone.

"Second of all, come on, I'm a Slytherin, you're a Gryffindor!" she scowled slightly at this
one. She did expect it, though, she just didn't want to hear it.

"You don't like us Slytherins, as much as I don't like you Gryffindor goody-two-shoes.
We're simply not meant to be together. And we're not sharing anything, you know? Just
a few kisses shared in secrecy, a sort of mutual attraction. But you can't build a while
relationship on that." there there there... who would have expected Malfoy to make such
speeches...curious how much time it took him to repeat his role.

He turned away, looking as though he couldn't bare looking her in the eye. She thought
that maybe he was sincere this time.

"And, I don't know why am I telling it to you, but I'll be a Death Eater. I already am one,
Hermione. It's my destiny, and I don't feel like changing it. Even if my choice will be
considered the 'easy' one by Dumbledore and his kind, it's what I am and what I'll be.
And I'm not going to change it just because of a few snog sessions in a cupboard with
you, you should have known." he searched her face, looking for a sign of reaction. He
spoke very urgently now, as if wanting to get rid of something. It was strange, really.
He talked and talked, not letting her say a word. In fact, she didn't as much as make a
single gesture. He continued:

"And, you know, it's time we got REAL partners. We're in our sixth year, Hermione,
and I don't think I could go through another year in that way. I want someone to love,
not to lust over. And even my very rich imagination can't see me being in love with
you. Yours neither, I guess. I know I'm talking a lot, and that you know what my point
is" here she felt a little bit surprised. She looked up, and saw him looking into her face
in an amused sort of manner. 'I know everything', his eyes said. It made her feel shivers
up and down her spine. 'Scary' she thought, before listening to the end.

He straightened up, looking hard into her eyes.

"In one word, I don't want to be with you anymore, Mudblood" he coldly said, walking
away, leaving a Pensive Hermione next to Greenhouse n°4. The sun reflected itself in its
windows, causing Hermione's hair to shimmer with the light.

"Lust over...huh" was all she said, before turning around and leaving for the Gryffindor
common room.

***

The moon shone brightly on her face, illuminating it, making her brown eyes sparkle in
the dim light of the fire.

"Her...miiioooneeee...?" she felt someone pulling on her sleeve. "Wha are you doin' 'ere
at this...*yawn*...time...?" It was Ron, standing next to her, sleepy-eyed.

""Huh? Umm...Nothing. Just thinking." she shot a last glance towards the moon and
repeated, for the first time seeing the world in another light "Yeah. Just thinking."
 
 
 

"Whole dating world is like a game of bluff[...]with men and women firing at each other
from opposite lines of sandbags. Is as if there is a set of rules that you are supposed to
stick to, but no one knows what they are so everyone just makes up their own. Then you
end up getting chucked because you didn't follow the rules correctly, but how could you
be expected to, when you didn't know what they were in the first place?"
- "Bridget Jones, The Edge of Reason" by Helen Fielding.

***

A/N: So, liked it, hated it? Let me know!!!

The (much ignored) disclaimer: I don't own any things related to Harry Potter. It belongs to
J.K.Rowling and WB. I don't own Bridget Jones either. Just wanted to make it clear ^_^
.
Review!!!
...or not.