Fated Lovers

Hermione was at the library. She was sitting in her usual spot, a secluded place, far away from intruding eyes. She didn’t want anyone to meddle in her business. She seemed peaceful but deep inside, her body felt pure rage.
Six. For six bloody months she had been dating Ronald Weasley. He had been her first time, her first friend, her first everything. And now, he had blown everything up. It was clear that Ronald never saw her as something more than a friend. She was Harry without a dick, and Ron was clearly desperate to try and be with whoever he could.

God, she was ever sure he probably thought he was doing her a favour by being his boyfriend, but the truth is, he just ruined her life.
Now Hermione Granger was lonely. Harry was Ron’s best friend, as well as every Gryffindor boy, Ginny didn’t like her brother’s attitude but still, he was her brother. Luna dated Neville, who was another friend of Ron. In the end, she had no one to confide in. She was broken. 

Lavender Brown had always been there, she was a lovely friend of hers, even if she was sometimes a bit suspicious. Hermione never thought of her in a bad way, she always preferred to give people the benefit of the doubt. Things were weird, though. Lavender’s attitude would shift completely in Ronald’s presence, to the point of some sort of flirting. 

It was all in Hermione’s head. That’s what Ron, Harry, and Hermione herself believed. 

Until last week. She had been out with the girls, on her typical monthly visit to Hogsmeade. It was a great day, she felt proud of her purchases, new clothes, some ingredients for her potions class and a new beautiful re-edited tome of ‘Hogwarts: A History.’

Once she entered her dorm, she could smell sweat. Her bed was a mess, the sheets partly on the floor, her books and papers everywhere and the last drop that filled the glass of suspicion, used condoms inside the bin.

She never thought of Ron. In fact, her head went straight to the Slytherin’s girls, thinking that must’ve been a prank, Pansy Parkinson as the perpetrator. She told every girl in her group, all of them disgusted. Ginny was the one who shed some light into the case. 

“Lavender was the only dorm member who wasn’t at Hogsmeade.”, she theorised. 

It was right, Lavender was the only one who claimed she had things to do, so she’d miss her girls’ day out. But, if she was the girl… who was the boy?

There was no need to investigate further, because a few days later Hermione saw Lavender changing clothes, and she was wearing her knickers. The ones she liked the most. Things were even clearer when rumours began to spread, about Lavender and Ron making out in the broom shed. Two plus two, they had been fucking in her own bed.

So now Hermione Granger was thinking about doing something mischievous for the first time in her entire life, and she didn’t care about morals or rules. Sitting there, she was devouring the first tome of a popular book called ‘A hundred hexes to evil exes.’ She wasn’t proud, in fact, she felt cringe at the thought of someone seeing her reading that, but she couldn’t deny it had some interesting ideas.

Her bookworm peace was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. She managed to cover the book title with her robe before Draco Malfoy came right out of the corner. 

“Well… look who’s here…”, he said with an evil smile. 

Out of everyone out there, he was the one she didn’t want to see. She sighed, annoyed.

“Oh please, Granger. You could at least pretend you’re pleased to see me.”, he added.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’m utterly pleased. In fact, I’m almost dying because of the thrill.”

“You don’t look like it.”, he smiled. 

“It’s called sarcasm, you imbecile.”, she replied, annoyed.

“Ouch, that hurts.”, he faked a pain in his chest. “You’re not usually this feisty, Granger. Something happened?”

“Not in the mood, Malfoy.”, she replied without even looking at him. “If you could just leave me here in peace, I’d really appreciate it.”

That was enough to peak Draco’s curiosity. She was mad, I mean, she was always mad at him but not this mad. He knew something was off. He soon noticed the book she was hiding, and his curiosity couldn’t stand it any more. He applied all his acting skills to pretend he saw something horrible behind her, and when she turned around he took his wand and quickly accio’d the book.

He read the cover carefully, almost at the verge of laughter. He looked at her without understanding… “You’re reading a book called ‘A hundred hexes to evil exes?’... Granger?” 

“It's for entertainment.”, she lied. Her acting skills were not half as good as his. 

He laughed. “Entertainment? Oh, c’mon! I know you’re a rule follower. You don’t read these things for entertainment.”

“Why do you even care?”, she argued.
“You’re looking for revenge… to an ex. Is it for a friend? Or you’re preparing yourself for when you finally get tired of the weasel?”

Was he really playing dumb? Or did he have no idea of what happened…? Suddenly, Hermione felt the need to correct him. A need she usually felt inside a classroom, but this time, it was probably mixed with the need of talking to someone about it.

“None. Is it possible that you’re the only person in the whole castle who’s unaware of the current gossip?”, she asked.
His expression faltered and he crossed his arms. He didn’t like being out. “Spill the tea.”

Hermione sighed again, annoyed at his mere presence. “Me and Weasley’s tea? Are you sure you haven’t heard about it?”

Now he was the one who sighed. “I hate being told the same thing twice, I’m sure I'd never ask you if I knew about the gossip.”

“Remember we were a thing, right?”, she asked. He nodded. “Not anymore. That’s the tea.”

“So you DID finally realise he was an asshole..”, he said with a smile. She didn’t smile, in fact, she looked absorbed in her own thoughts. “Oh shit, he dumped YOU?”

Hermione shook her head. “No, I did that. But he cheated on me first.”

“He… what?” Malfoy's face was as confused as someone could be. He had always been mean to Granger, always arguing, always messing around with her. But he really didn’t hate her, he actually respected her as a witch. Same thing happened with Potter, he respected him, he saw him as a good rival in duels, but Granger was different. She was an all-rounder. Potions, transfigurations, DADA, even at bloody divination, which she hated, she excelled.
And Weasley… he despised him. It was not just family rivalry. He had accepted Fred and George’s humour and creativity, and he even recognised Ginny’s talent for Quidditch

Ron was different. He was a stupid, annoying, redheaded prick. And he hated him.

“Did he really cheat on you?”, he asked again. He needed to. “With who?”

“Lavender Brown.”, she replied, her voice trying to hide her annoyance. 

Malfoy’s face was confused, yet he laughed. “Brown? You’re telling me he cheated on you with fucking Lavender Brown?”

Hermione nodded. His smile faded away, “I’ve always thought he was an idiot but not to that extent. Always surprises me.”, he sighed.
She was fed up with the conversation and all she wanted was to keep reading the book.

“So now that you know, if you could let me finish my book…”

“Oh, sorry.”, he said. “I’d be glad to do so, but you’re in my spot and believe it or not, I came here to study for the potions exam, not to gossip around.”

“Your spot?”, she argued. “This is MY spot. I’ve always sat here.”

“It’s mine, actually.”, he argued back. “I always sit here, you can’t just sit here like you own it, Granger. It’s not nice.”

She stood up, her hands against the desk. “I’m the one who always sits here.”

He smiled. “You’re always stealing my spot. Always around me like a bushy haired bug.”

It was enough for today. Hermione wasn’t in the mood for arguing anymore.
“You’re obnoxious. Keep your fucking spot, I’ll go somewhere else.”, she stood up and left.

Draco watched her as she walked away. He glanced at the book, he still had it in his arms. His curiosity rising, he peeked through the pages, his eyes skimming over different hexes and jinxes listed in it. Was she really planning to do these? Was she really that mad?

He slipped the book into his robe pocket and decided he actually didn’t need to study for potions, he was damn good at it. So, he left the library.

Next morning, Hermione found him at the stairs. 

“Malfoy!”, she yelled. “Give me my book back.”

He feigned ignorance “Book? I don’t know which book you’re talking about..” 

“Quit playing and give it back.”

He smirked. “What do I get for it?”

“You can get to be the test subject for the hexes I read yesterday.”

Ouch. He knew what she was capable of, and he had read enough of that book yesterday to know what type of hexes she could perform. He didn’t want to risk his hair or tongue.

 “You little minx.” He sighed and handed her the book. “Take it. But be careful with those spells. You could end up hurting someone.”

She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Are you trying to tell me how to be evil, Malfoy?”
He laughed at her question. “I’m not telling you how to be evil, I’m just warning you. If you hurt him too much you might just end up killing him.”

“It would serve him right.”, she replied angrily. 

He laughed. He was amused at her dramatic behaviour, this side of Granger she usually didn’t even show. “It’s not the end of the world, relax.”

“Oh sorry, I didn’t realise I was talking to Ron’s lawyer.”, she replied.

“Wait. I didn’t..”, he stuttered. “What the hell does that even mean?”

“I thought out of everyone in this castle you’d be the one who cared less about Weasley being hexed to death," she replied. “And for your information, I have all the right to do whatever I want with him, because he ruined my bloody life, Malfoy.”

He stood there, not sure of what to answer. For him, being cheated was far away from having his life ruined, but, how would he know? He’d never been cheated on.

“Oh right.”, she continued. “I forgot you live inside a bubble. You haven’t even seen the article.”, she took a sheet of paper out of her robe pocket. It was an article of the Gossip Correspondent, by Rita Skeeter. The title read ‘Miss Granger’s fairytale ruined.’ and the article mentioned her being way too much of a slob in bed, as an explanation to Ron’s cheating on her with the lovely and seductive Miss Brown.

Malfoy’s jaw dropped in surprise. “Merlin’s beard, Granger.”

"She hates me. She’s always done this, yet this is outrageous. I know people see me as a prude, nerdy and boring witch, but there was no need to publish it.”

Draco doubted for a few seconds. A part of him wondered if it was okay to act so casual around Granger, like they weren’t lifetime rivals. Another part of him had already taken her side on this whole story and was willing to show her some support. After all, if the other side had Weasley in it, he wouldn’t even consider it. 

He stared at her. He noticed her face while she said those last words, she genuinely believed herself to be all that. He finally scoffed. “You’re anything but boring, Granger.”
She gave him the first smile so far. It was a shy smile. “Thanks.”, she mumbled.

There was an awkward silence. They were both feeling the same thing. For the first time they were talking, not arguing. Hermione thought it was weird, trusting Malfoy. He thought it was weird complimenting her without saying anything offensive in the middle. They were both taken aback from their own attitude, but still, they weren’t retreating.

“Listen, Granger.”, he tried to play it cool. “I know you’re the greatest witch of our time, and you know I’m the greatest hater on Weasley’s life.”, she laughed at the comment. “But if you try to do anything dangerous, out of pure vengeance, you could end up hurting him and getting yourself expelled, or at least, banned from taking your NEWTs.”

Malfoy was right. If she hurt Ron, there was a high chance of dealing with awful consequences, like being banned from the exams she expected to take since first year.
Not many students cared about those exams. Most of her friends were just interested in passing with the bare minimum, while others didn’t even worry about that. Ron, for example, was completely sure it was a waste of time studying for that. Harry didn’t care about it either, but he’d study a bit anyway. Draco, on the other hand, was as obsessed as she was. 

Malfoy had been talking about the NEWTs since first year, he even bullied her by saying they wouldn’t let her take them because she was a muggleborn, to which she would reply he would fail because he was just a rich and stupid prick. Even through all of that, there had always been some sort of complicity-rivalry between them, and it served both to challenge their own knowledge and pressure themselves, demanding more from their brains.

He stared at her with his best know-it-all look and she just sighed. “Say it, Granger.”“

"I won’t.”, she replied. She hated admitting he was right.

“C’mon, just once”, He pressed his palms together, like fake-praying. “Please?”

“You’re right.”, she finally said. His mouth showed a smirk and the proudest look in his eyes.

Completely fed up, she placed the book in her robe pocket and quickly walked away.