the_debt_of_time

hug. I mourned the loss of you years ago, Ronald. Something tells me that it won't hurt as
much this time around."
His face paled. "'Mione, you don't mean—?"
"Leave. Grow up. Don't speak to me again until you do," she said coolly. "If you
never do, I don't believe I'll find it in me to care very much. I've grown to have a strong
distaste for prejudice, but more than that, I greatly dislike cowardly Gryffindors who
enviously rely on the abilities of their friends and betray and abandon them when it seems
fitting."
His eyes widened, and he swallowed hard. "You don't mean... I'm nothing like―"
"Goodbye, Ron," she said and then turned to retake her seat at the table, reaching
for her notes and wand to get back to work on Draco's Dark Mark.
Slowly, in shock and shame, Ron turned and made his way back up the stairs, quietly
closing the door behind him.
"I'm not going to thank you for defending me," Draco insisted after several minutes
of silence had gone by.
"I know," she said. "I also appreciate you not interrupting me. I'm sure it took a lot
of effort not to be an absolute smartarse to him just now."
Draco shrugged. "It'll be more fun rubbing salt in his wounds later, once he thinks
he's gotten over it."
Mia shook her head in exasperation.
"You're really not Granger anymore, are you?" he asked curiously, his eyes focused
on her face as though he could see through the Polyjuice Potion if she had taken any.
"I used to be. A part of me still is. That life is like... like déjà vu. A dream I once
had, and now I'm seeing bits and pieces of it in real life."
Draco bobbed his head, and with not another word spoken between them, he put
his arm back on the table and stiffened as she strapped it down and raised her wand once
more.
It had taken another hour to make headway with Draco's Mark, and she had been
too exhausted afterward to meet with Narcissa and cancelled their appointment. Despite
emotionally closing herself off to Ron and essentially cutting him out of her personal life
until he decided to make changes for the better, she was tired from their encounter. By the