I Surrender (A Dramione Story) *ON HOLD*

Chapter 24

First and foremost, I really thought I already uploaded this chapter a few weeks back, so I was surprised when I opened my email there were a lot of notifications about your comments for me to update in the last chapter. So I opened my account, and realized that I only just saved it and not publish it. So I'm sorry, but this should have been up a few weeks back.  :) Enjoy!

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“Now I have to kick my arse Granger, and it’s all your fault” Draco said as Hermione started wiping her own tears and eventually stopped crying.

“What? That doesn’t even make sense Malfoy” she scowled.

Draco huffed a laugh and hopped on the driver’s seat of the car. Hermione’s brows met at the middle as she watched what the guy was doing. She then sat at the passenger’s seat and looked at the blonde-haired guy,

“Do you even know how to drive?”

“I watched how you did it Granger, I bet I can even do it better, smoother perhaps.”

Hermione raised her brow and pursed her lips. She then buckled herself up and waved her hand towards the road. A challenging smirk plastered on her face, she crossed her arms over her chest. Draco saw Hermione’s attitude and shook his head. He wanted to erase that smirk off of her heart-shaped face. So he stepped on the pedal that he saw Hermione used to make the car move faster.

“What the?”

“Something wrong Malfoy?”

He scowled at the girl and looked at the steering wheel in front of him. He then looked at the stick beside him and remembered that Hermione was moving it in rhythm with how fast she was going so he pushed the odd-looking stick forward and then stepped fully on the gas pedal.

A giggle came out of the witch beside him and he glared at her not because she laughed at him but because he was getting frustrated of the car. Maybe it was magic after all, and Hermione just made it seem as though it was a muggle thing. He was just about to release his wand when Hermione clicked her tongue and sighed. She then got something out of her pockets and dangled it a few inches away from Draco’s face.

“What the hell is that Granger?” he spat.

“It’s the key Malfoy. You can’t start it unless you have this.” she then grabbed Malfoy’s hand and placed the key on it. “Now, put it inside that hole..no, the other side, good. Turn it forward, that’s it, more, until the engine starts up. There you go” she instructed.

“Alright, now what?” he said lowly.

“I thought you already know how?” Granger smirked.

“Just drop it beaver, and teach me how to do this thing.”

Hermione smiled and nodded. At least there’s one thing she knows that she has the upper hand over Malfoy, and she can brag that she had taught him how to do it. Her father was the one who taught her how to drive, and that was one of the many things he had taught her, it took her at least three days to get the car started and moving in a steady pace, of course it was because she read first about 5 books on driving, on the fifth day she was already driving on her own. And now, she can pass that on.

After about two hours of stop and go, Hermione had already taught Draco how to control the car in an uphill. The witch couldn’t believe what was happening, she had learned everything she needed to know in 5 days, whereas Draco only needed a few hours. He was really just a second behind her, she was a great teacher after all.

In half an hour, Draco was already hitting the 85 kilometer per hour and it made Hermione very proud of herself, and whether she admits to it or not, of Draco as well. A smug look was already on the guy’s face and Hermione couldn’t help but roll her eyes, Draco saw it and chuckled.

“Now, now, Granger, no need to compliment me. I already know I’m better than you”

“You are such an arrogant prat. If I haven’t given you that key, you wouldn’t even be able to start this car, if I haven’t taught you properly, we might have been in a car crash by now.”

“Seriously? You just can’t admit your defeat. I’m way better in controlling this muggle transportation thing than you are.”

Hermione groaned. “Just bring me home. I want...need to rest”

Draco parked the car at the side of the street with a silent sigh, he thought that he succeeded in making Hermione feel better, with the earlier crying and hugging. Yes,  he had planned all along this little driving lesson trip. He thought that maybe he could at least ease the pain that he saw in her face when her parents were driving away from her. But, of course, how could he? It’s not easy to comfort a girl who just lost her parents, found them, and still couldn’t be with them.

“Granger... I... my mother, saw Potter died.” he felt he should say this to her, but he didn’t know why. “She, uh, she was the one who checked if he was really dead and she knew that he was still alive at that time.” He then looked at her face to face. “She asked about me, if I was still alive as well, and apparently he said yes. So my mother lied for him, in exchange for me.”

“I didn’t know Malfoy, I, if I did...” Hermione rummaged her brain to think of something she would have done if she had known that day.

“I don’t know if I should be glad or mad at him...”

“Glad of course! He told your mother you’re alive” she argued

“That’s not it Granger, I have fought for a very long time, versus both sides, I was in the middle you know. I fought your side, to make Voldemort trust me, I fought his side secretly just to keep my mother safe, my father was a lost cause, he was already in too deep, but my mother had the chance to still live.” He leaned back on his chair and looked straight ahead, but it wasn’t at the road, it was a very far away look.

“I’m glad because he gave my mother a chance to say that she was one of the saviors of Harry Potter. That maybe if your side had win, my mother would have never lost her reputation.” he breathed deeply, Hermione noticed. “I’m mad at him because of two reasons, one, at that time, if Voldemort knew that my mother was lying he would have killed her right there, and all of what I did, my sacrifices, will be for nothing.  Second, he failed to do his job, his destiny” he bitterly laughed at the thought. “You all said that he will win. but he didn’t. Now that Voldemort knew my mother was really lying, he cursed her.”

“I...what kind of curse?”

“We still don’t know, but ever since then, she remained in her bedroom motionless, she doesn’t eat, doesn’t talk, doesn’t move. She just breathes and stare at her ceiling.”

“Like in a comatose” she muttered.

“a what?”

“a muggle, medical term for someone who is in deep unconsciousness.”

“Maybe,” he shrugged. “either way, I lost her.”

Hermione then could practically see Draco’s walls forming up, preventing anything from going in. A glared mask was already in place on his face, covering the real him, something that she had been so used to during sixth year. The sad and lonely boy inside was hidden from all the world and she wished she could pull up that boy and comfort him, but Draco’s walls were too high, too strongly built for her to climb or break through. Maybe in the future, but now that they were in the thin line of being friends, she couldn’t risk that yet.

Nevertheless, her hand then covered his and she gently squeezed it before letting go.