Fated Lovers

Flashback, December 17th.

Duelling Club, Great Hall | 2nd Year of School

Professor Gilderoy Lockhart called all students to his newly founded Duelling Club. 

It was supposed to work as a way to complement DADA lessons, and since the rumour of the Chamber of Secrets being opened, at least give second graders a way to defend themselves from any threat. 

“Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to teach you how to defend yourselves, as I have done on many occasions.”, explained Lockhart as he walked along a long runway. 

Students gathered around it, not only second graders were there, 3rd, 4th, 5th graders too.

Lockhart announced his ‘assistant’, Professor Snape, and mentioned they would do a demonstration of basic duel skills. They prepared themselves, counted to three and in just a blink, Snape threw an expelliarmus which left Lockhart on the floor. 

Everyone was thrilled with this whole duel thing, and Hermione was standing there in the front of the crowd, accompanied by Harry and Ron. She wasn’t really a fan of duels, yet a part of her was intrigued on how it would feel to be in one. 

She was abstracted in her own thoughts when Lockhart called Harry and Ron to duel. They were excited until Snape ordered Weasley to back up. “He can’t control his wand, he would end up killing Potter accidentally. May I suggest a student from my own house?”

Immediately, Hermione knew who that would be. “Malfoy”, called Snape.

She was almost entirely sure Professor Snape had a slight preference towards Draco Malfoy, and to be honest, not only was he the richest pureblood in Slytherin, but he was also the most qualified 2nd grader in the whole house. She hated him for it, she wanted to be top of every class, and he was there, excelling in DADA and Potions, a subject whose professor was none other than Severus Snape, by the way. 

Malfoy and Potter stood and counted to three. As soon as their duel began, their spells were the furthest from defensive. Hermione was worried about Harry, since Malfoy looked way too serious, throwing offensive spells. At one moment, Malfoy yelled ‘Serpensortia’ and a snake appeared in front of Harry. Everyone panicked, and the snake moved along the runway.

It stood in front of Hermione, and she felt like it was… watching her. 

She should’ve been scared, but she wasn’t. A part of her knew that the snake didn’t mean to attack her, and that, in any case, as long as she remained still, it wouldn’t.

Draco didn’t mean to spawn a snake just for the sake of attacking Potter’s friend, his intention was to scare Potter. In fact, he had never tried Serpensortia before, he wasn’t even sure a real snake would be summoned. Now, he was panicking. He didn’t like Granger, she was nothing more than a filthy mudblood, but if his snake poisoned her, it would be the end of his school year. His father would be pleased to know at least, he was kicked because he attacked a muggleborn, and his mother… well, she’d be destroyed if her son got expelled.

During this whole panicking, Draco noticed something. His snake wasn’t going to attack Granger and she wasn’t exactly scared of it. The bushy haired girl and the serpent were looking at each other, like measuring their intellect, as if they were both the same animal.

Professor Lockhart was scared of it, but he clearly tried (and failed) to pretend he wasn’t. He threw a spell at the animal, which didn’t do anything more than make it jump through the air and fall down. Lucky as he was, the snake fell just on top of Granger.

She didn’t yell, but her expression made it clear she wanted to do it. The animal tangled around her and Draco looked at Professor Snape, wondering why he didn’t do anything to vanish the fucking serpent now. Was it because of her blood status? Was that the reason why he wasn’t even trying to protect her?

Draco couldn’t get it. He was supposed to, since his parents had taught him not to care about muggleborns, but this… it was just too much. “Professor!”, he yelled at Snape. 

The tall, long haired man looked at Malfoy without much interest. He just shook his head in denial as he continued to watch the scene. Potter was detained by Lockhart, so he couldn’t help his friend. Weasley was way too stupid to know what to do. 

Draco knew the counter-spell but he had never tried it. What if he ended up hurting her badly? Well at least it would be in good faith, he tried to convince himself. He suddenly ran through the long runway up to the place where Granger was being held hostage by the serpent. He practised the words mentally, once, twice, three times. 

“Vipera Evanesca”, he yelled with his wand. Nothing. The snake seemed to understand his words, because it looked at him and hissed. “VIPERA EVANESCA”, he yelled again. 

This time, the serpent hissed louder, before disappearing into thin dust. Granger looked at him, a look of both confusion and gratitude in her eyes. Draco felt proud of himself, he looked back at Professor Snape, who was putting his wand in his robe pocket. 

Draco’s smile vanished, as he realised his accomplishment wasn’t his, but Snape’s work.

That evening, while he was about to enter the dinner hall, someone pulled Draco’s robe. He turned around to find Granger, carrying a book in her hands. He was expecting a complaint,

he expected her to yell at him, call him a bloody bastard as she would usually do when he bullied her group of friends. She stood there with the book and said “Thank you.”

Draco was confused. She was the most intelligent witch in second year, and maybe in third too, how could it be possible that she didn’t realise it wasn’t his spell the one who worked?

He was in a dichotomy, he could thank her and act proud of himself or he could recognise he wasn’t the one who did it and feel like he had done the right thing by being honest. He wasn’t a Hufflepuff, there was no need to be honest with someone he barely even knew.

Just before he was about to feel proud and say something cocky, Granger spoke again.
“I’ve already thanked professor snape, but you were the one who tried first. I should thank you too.”, she said. “I won’t stop thinking you’re a bloody bastard, but what you did today was actually a nice thing.”, she handed him the book. “Take this.”

He felt his cheeks flush, this girl… he smiled at her. Maybe in another situation, he would’ve bullied her for offering him a book, like he couldn’t buy it himself, but this time, he just felt no need to do so. There was no one around to pretend to be a tough Slytherin and be applauded either. He grabbed the book and read the tome: “The Muggle’s Guide to Potion Making.”, by Clarissa Aktwood. He was about to say something about the title but she just shut him up. “Don’t you dare say it… just take it.”

And just like that, she ran, entered the dinner hall and sat with her friends.

Draco found it difficult not to share his interest in this book, it was amazing to say the least. All his life he had thought muggles were useless in these kinds of fields, but they seemed to know more than wizards about the properties of each ingredient. The book mentioned Muggle things like biology, a whole subject dedicated to life, human and non-human. For just a moment he felt miniscule, just by thinking about everything Granger knew about the real world, he was just overpowered by her. He could be better at potions but she knew what biology was, she knew properties that were not in any magical book, and that scared him. 

Is this what his family wanted? To make him ignorant? He was sure they expected him to be the greatest wizard but by promoting his hatred towards muggles, they were cutting him short of an immense amount of knowledge. 

That book had been quite useful, Draco reflected on that memory as he opened it and read it again. If Granger had read ‘Hogwarts: A History’ an uncountable amount of times, this was his guilty pleasure. It was weird, they never talked about the book during the next years, it was like she had forgotten it was her gift. 

Hermione probably knew he read it, she had seen him many times at the library, devouring the book, his eyes focused on the pages. She had also probably noticed he actually practised some of those potions, bringing ingredients that were way too Muggle for a Hogwarts lesson. 

After their pact, they decided they would hang out in the library two times a week. They would study, nothing else, but every now and then (if there was someone present) they would show some bits of affection, a hand on the other’s thigh, a small caress to the other's hair, just small stuff, to show proximity. 

Today, he took the old dusty book to the library. He sat down on his usual chair and opened it. He felt Granger's gaze on the pages and his face while reading. 

After a few minutes she broke the silence, “Is that ‘The Muggle’s Guide to Potion Making’...?”, she asked with an interested look on her face.

He nodded. “Remember it?” 

She laughed. “You never gave it back to me, at first I regretted giving it to you.” 

“Are you kidding, Granger?”, he replied shocked “I'm offended, I might be an asshole sometimes but I'd never throw a book away like it's trash.”

She doubted him for a second, then continued. “So, you actually read it?” 

“More times than I can count.”

Hermione felt something she couldn't describe. It was a feeling of enthusiasm, like when you're a kid and you meet another kid who likes the same thing you like. The feeling you get when you can share something with someone special. 

“And?”, she inquired. She wanted to know his opinion on the book. No, she didn't want it, she needed his opinion. All this time she had been feeling like she had lost that book by giving it to Malfoy and now, she was finding out he took care of it, as if it was a treasure. 

He thought for a second, looking at the book. “It was eye-opening. That biology thing? Those ingredients, those properties, those very mundane ways to make potions and salves, it was incredible, Granger.” 

While he talked, his blue eyes sparkled with enthusiasm and for the first time, Hermione saw herself reflected, as if she was looking at a mirrored blond and pureblooded version of herself. 

“If you're pranking me, stop right now.”, she said very seriously. “It would break my heart if you were lying.” 

Draco looked at her with a confused yet disappointed expression. “You don't believe me, don't you?” 

She shrugged her shoulders. 

“Ask me anything about it.”, he said. “Test me, Granger.” 

She grabbed the book, trying to remember one difficult recipe. “Rosemary Ointment.”, she quickly said. 

He thought about it for a few seconds, then instantly remembered. “It's a soothing salve for muscle pain, used for inflammations and infections. To prepare this you need beeswax, rosemary oil and uhmm, rosemary-infused coconut oil…”

Hermione's surprise grew as Malfoy began telling her the whole procedure, with the quantities of each ingredient perfectly calculated. She even checked the recipe again to see if he was making it up. He wasn’t. Once he finished he looked at her, expecting her feedback. She was speechless. 

“That was… surprisingly accurate.”, she exclaimed. 

He had his cocky know-it-all look, but this time, it didn't bother her because that knowledge was Muggle knowledge and the one who had remembered it perfectly was the pureblooded Draco Malfoy.

“Did you really think it was a gift?”, she asked after a few minutes. He nodded. 

“Yeah, I was pretty sure it was a way to thank me for saving your ass from a snake.”, he replied. He sounded like the old Malfoy now, except she didn't find him as annoying as she used to. 

“First, it wasn't A snake, it was the snake YOU summoned.”, funny as it seems, he thought she sounded like the old know-it-all Granger, and it didn't bother him at all. She continued. “And second, Snape was the one who saved my ass.”, she corrected him once more. He pouted and acted half offended and half sad, so she added "Though you tried.” 

They talked a bit more about the book and he explained all the things he had to find out by other means. He asked her about biology and found himself extremely surprised that, according to Granger, Muggle kids learned biology at school. 

They were really absorbed in their own world of shared knowledge, so that they didn't even notice the people around them. Neville and Luna, who were sitting two tables away from them, were impressed with their ongoing conversation. A group of Slytherin boys wondered what was wrong with Draco Malfoy and a couple of Gryffindor girls gossiped that since Hermione broke up with Ron, she decided to go for the complete opposite. 

They didn't notice, but their genuine interest in engaging conversation was more than necessary to fill the castle with one huge rumour. Malfoy and Granger are into something.