Fated Lovers

Hermione was too dizzy, too confused and her head hurt like somebody had hit her. She had seen Draco and heard him say all those nice words, but she was almost entirely sure she was dreaming. She was also sure Ronald’s Cruciatus Curse was part of that dream, and her quick response too. She fainted again soon afterwards.

Ron had decided to run away after Hermione discovered him and Draco just stood there. He couldn’t move, he felt halfway rageful and halfway shocked. If it wasn’t for Granger, the weasel would have him on the floor, torturing him with an unforgivable curse. 

If Weasley was capable of throwing him a fucking Cruciatus curse, what else was he capable of? Now he wasn’t worried about Granger hearing his words, he was worried about her own safety. Ronald Weasley was an unstable person, and he had made clear his obsession with Granger was enough to commit an act of madness. Still, he was just as surprised as Draco with the muffin situation, so the perpetrator couldn’t be him.

Draco Malfoy was now standing between two paths. On one side, he could get as far away as possible from Hermione Granger, knowing that would probably save her from suffering the consequences of any of the ideas his obsessive ‘admirer’ could have, or he could stay by her side and try to protect her from a possessive and stupid Ron Weasley.

He knew the first one was the best option, he was almost entirely sure Granger could handle Weasley on her own, even if it meant hexing him. What actually scared him was that he wasn’t sure how long he would be able to survive without Hermione Granger in his life.

Sooner than he would’ve wanted, Malfoy realised that love from third year had not, in fact, disappeared. It had turned into something more mature, more realistic. He was okay with the idea of not having a romantic future with her, but he couldn’t stand the mere idea of not talking to her anymore. Granger had become, in some sort of way, the best companion he ever had. She wasn’t a follower friend, like Crabbe and Goyle. She wasn’t someone who’s only thing in common with him was his house, like Parkinson. She wasn’t just a friend for fun times, like Theodore Nott. She had suddenly become his favourite person.

It was more than clear when he faced Weasley. The things he said he had meant every single one of them, ‘you did the one thing no man would ever dare to do to a woman as precious as her’. A woman as precious as her. 

Angry Draco Malfoy knew no limits. He was known for saying the first thing that came to his mind and he hated being like that, because, as professor Snape once told him, feelings could kill you if you let them make decisions for you. If his mind wasn’t a huge mass of feelings right now, he would’ve probably foreseen Weasley’s curse. He would’ve probably protected himself instead of having a bedridden Granger to do so.

Malfoy was weak, he hated himself right now. There were few things that could get him down, and apparently, having Weasley surpassing him was one. Still, he didn’t leave the room, he faced the elephant in it, the idea of Hermione waking up and asking him what the fuck did he mean scared him, but he couldn’t leave her alone.

Once she woke up again, she acted as if nothing ever happened. “I’m alright.”, she said, “I need to return some books to the library.” Draco wasn’t sure whether she was pretending not to remember or she actually had forgotten, but in any case, he preferred that. 

“You can’t go.”, he said. “The library can wait.”
“No it can’t.”, argued Granger. “I’ve had a perfect performance in book-returning since first year. I won’t lose my streak in seventh year.”
“Granger, no.”, he firmly said. “Madame Pomfrey said you must stay for at least one night under care. It’s not safe.”
She pouted and sighed in response. “Ugh.”. 

Madame Pomfrey came to check on Granger a few times during the day, and they both argued about whether she could leave or not. Finally, a completely fed up Madame Pomfrey looked at Draco. “She can leave”, she said with a completely serious expression. “But, if and only if, you accompany her until tomorrow.”

“What!?”, Hermione exclaimed. “Malfoy is a busy person, he has a life outside, you can’t tie him up with me just because a crazy fan erroneously poisoned me.”
Madame Pomfrey ignored Hermione’s argument. She spoke directly to Malfoy. “I take you as the student responsible for Granger’s wellbeing.”, she was so serious she didn’t even look like her usual self. “As I told you before, the potion brewed for that muffin was not correctly quantified. I suggest you’d be more careful with the source of the things you both eat.”

Hermione didn’t like this whole Malfoy dependency she was being forced at, but she didn’t want to stay at the infirmary until the next day. They both left and as they walked out of the door, she murmured. “You can go, I’ll be alright. There’s no need to obey Pomfrey.”

Draco chuckled. “I’m sticking with you.”, he said with a mocking expression. “Contrary to you, Granger, I follow the rules. I am a man of words.”
She puffed in response. “Idiot.” 
He smiled. Back to normal Granger. 

He spent the rest of the day following her through the castle. There were a few extracurricular lessons she wanted to attend (so did he) and she also had to retrieve the book to the library. To get the book, she needed to get into Gryffindor’s Tower, passing through the Fat Lady. 

“There's no way you're coming with me!”, argued Hermione. “They'll kill me if I bring a Slytherin into my dorm.” 
“Oh come on!”, he complained, then smirked, noticing her comment. “Naughty little minx, no one mentioned anything about you bringing me into your dorm.”
“You get what I mean!”, she said. “Don't try to change the subject.”. She looked away for a few seconds, Malfoy could swear he saw her cheeks redden. 
“Besides…”, she added. “It's not like you're the most liked Slytherin out there. Quite the opposite, if you ask me.” 
“You like me.”, he said teasingly. 
She rolled her eyes in response. “Sadly.” 

They got to the entrance of Gryffindor's tower and the portrait of the Fat Lady looked with curious eyes. 
“Draco Malfoy!”, she exclaimed. 
Draco made a reverence with all elegance. “I'm pleased to meet you, my lady.” 

Hermione side eyed him, like wondering what the hell he had in mind. Was he trying to flirt his way in? 
“Hermione, you can enter without a password… but you, Mr. Malfoy. I'm afraid you're stuck at the entrance with me.”, she said giggling. 
“Oh, what a shame!”, he said in a sarcastic tone. “I didn't expect to exchange my study evening with Granger for a date with the most beautiful painting.” 

Hermione didn't know how to feel. There was something about Draco's flirting that made her feel butterflies in her stomach. Yet, the fact he was pretending to flirt with her house guardian triggered in her a bit of jealousy, and she didn't know why. Something inside her wished he had flirted with her that way, so she could give him the password. She got inside the tower and left both Draco and the Fat Lady absorbed in their conversation.

Once Granger was out of sight, the portrait changed her stance. “What's your deal with Hermione Granger?”, she asked rather defiantly. 
Draco was surprised, but he didn't back down. He didn't know what to say. “We're… just friends.” 
“Oh.”, said the Fat Lady with a disappointed look. “I hoped for something more interesting, like ‘we wanted to bang in Wesley’s room as revenge for what he did’ or something similar.” 

Draco couldn't help but laugh. Somehow, he became comfortable enough to open up with the painting. “I wouldn't be against that idea, I think.”, he said. “But both for your disappointment and my own, there's nothing more than friendship between us.” 
“Hmm…” mumbled the portrait. “Well see about that. In any case, if Ron Weasley asks me about it, I'll stick to the banging theory.” 

The Fat Lady opened up the passage to the Gryffindor Tower, and Draco Malfoy made his way in. There were some people inside, and they looked utterly confused with his mere presence. He heard some whispers, but didn’t pay much attention to understand them. He wasn’t sure where to actually go, he hadn’t been there before, until suddenly someone touched his shoulder. When he turned around, Ginerva Weasley was standing there. 

“Excuse me?”, she said with a raised eyebrow. “This is not Slytherin’s common room..”
“I can see that.”, replied Malfoy. “I’m looking for Gr-”
“Hermione. I know.”, she said. He thought the Weaslette hated him, and expected her to just kick him out of the common room. But she began walking and signalled him to go with her. 
“So… are you and Mione officially…?”, she asked. 
He chuckled. “No, I’m following her on Pomfrey’s orders.”
Ginevra paused. “Madame Pomfrey?”
“Oh, the Weasel didn’t tell you?” he asked, surprised. Ginny shook her head in denial. 
“We’re not on the best terms at the moment.”, she explained. “What happened?”

Malfoy took a deep breath and thought about how to summarise the whole thing. “Let’s see, I shared a muffin with Granger, and it turns out, whoever made it poisoned with Amortentia and a sleeping potion.”, Draco made a sign with his hand before Ginny could interrupt him, “I took her to see Madame Pomfrey, she slept for like two hours and woke up wanting to retrieve a book to the library. So, Pomfrey asked me to follow Granger until tomorrow.”

“And what does my brother have to do with all that?” Ginny asked intrigued.
“Oh, he blamed me for it and threw a Crucio at me.”

Ginevra Weasley stopped for a minute. She looked at Malfoy as if she had seen a ghost. She couldn’t get why he would say something so terrible as if it wasn’t anything.

“Are you… alright?”, she asked doubtfully. She was half worried, half scared.
“Yeah.”, he nodded in response. “It didn’t hit me, Granger woke up just in time to cast a Protego on me.”
“Right…”, Ginny’s face was white as marble. Her brother using an unforgivable curse on Draco wasn’t something she ever expected to hear. She wondered how psychologically insane her brother had to be to actually think of doing such a thing.

She also worried about Harry. She wanted to believe Ronald would never harm a friend, but this Ron was not the same as always. He was losing his mind.

They kept walking until Ginny pointed at a random door. “This is her dorm, you're welcome.. I guess?”, and she left hurriedly. As soon as Draco walked in, he found a particularly interesting sight. Hermione Granger was changing her clothes, and screamed at Draco’s sight. 
“What the hell are you doing here!?”, she yelled.
He immediately redirected his eyes towards the ceiling, “Looking for you.”
Hermione covered herself with a blanket and hurriedly tried to put on her clothes underneath it. Draco heard her struggle. “I’m not looking, Granger. Take your time.”
“How can I be sure? You bloody pervert!”, she exasperatedly argued back.
“The Weaslette showed me the way, I thought you’d be grabbing a book not changing your knickers.”, he explained. 
“I wasn’t changing my-”, she sighed. “That’s it, you can look.”
He didn’t. His sight was still fixed on the ceiling. “Sure?”
“Yes, Malfoy.”, he looked at her, and now she was wearing a pink cardigan and jeans. 
“How the hell did you get in?”, she demanded. 
“I don’t know, Granger.”, he smirked, “I guess Fat Lady fancies pureblooded blonds.”

She rolled her eyes and grabbed a book. Then she paused, “You said Ginny guided you in?”
He nodded. “Seems like I’m not that hated.”

Draco felt a bit curious. He wasn’t a ladies man, so it’s not like he was used to being inside girls’ dorms a lot. He walked around. Seventh grader dorms were not restricted by genre, because obviously Hogwarts’ staff knew it would be impossible to prevent them from breaking the rules, so no more slides while trying to get in. 

“Who do you share this room with?”, he asked. 
“Parvati and Padma. Lavender used to sleep here at the beginning of the year but then she exchanged places with Ginny.”, she commented while picking up some things. 
The room was supposed to be for five students each, but since some left in 6th grade, there were one or two empty beds in each dorm. Draco’s sight was fixed on a box, under Granger’s bed, “What’s that?”, he asked, “Your secret stash?”
Hermione looked at it, uninterested. “That? A box with old pictures and stuff.”

Draco curiously looked through the box, since Granger didn’t seem to mind it. There were many pictures with Ron and Harry, from early years. There were more recent pictures with other friends like Luna, Ginny and the Patil sisters. Draco’s sight fixed on two specific pictures. One was a picture of Granger and Krum at the ball, dancing and smiling. Behind it, in a horrible handwriting, it read ‘thank you for the wonderful memory. - V.K.’ and another picture was a small one, of Hermione in her beautiful pink dress, as precious as she was that night. Draco felt the urge to steal that picture, but he controlled himself. “Lovely.”, he whispered as he put it back. Hermione was away so she didn’t even hear him. She finished tidying up and she almost rushed him out of the bedroom. “Come on, I have to get to the library.”

They spent the next three hours hanging out inside the library, because Hermione Granger couldn’t just retrieve a book, she desperately needed to borrow another. This time, she grabbed a normal book.
“This is my entertainment.”, she said looking at a confused Draco. In her hands she had a copy of Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. “What?”
“I’m just surprised to see you reading something fictional.”, he replied with a small smile.
“It's one of my favourite fictional books.”, she explained. “And my favourite author, too.”, she showed him the book. “Every five books I read, I usually take a break by reading one of these.”

“And how many times have you read that one?” he asked, looking at the one in her hands. 
Granger thought for a few seconds, like trying to actually do the maths. “Sixteen times.”
Malfoy was shocked. “Sixteen times?”, he exclaimed. “It’s not that good.” There was a revealing silence. They looked at each other and Malfoy wasn’t sure if what he had just accidentally admitted was a good thing or his biggest mistake.

“You… Draco Lucius Malfoy, Prince of House Slytherin… read Pride and Prejudice?”, she said as if she couldn’t believe him. She was about to laugh.
“Yes, laugh if you want.”, he rolled his eyes. “At least I haven’t read it sixteen times.”
Instead of laughing or bullying him, Hermione’s eyes sparkled with interest. 

“So you’ve actually read it?”, she asked. He nodded in response, resting his back against a bookshelf. She smiled. “Just once?”
“Twice.”, he replied, avoiding eye contact. 
Hermione Granger was now almost jumping in excitement. “Did you like it?”
“It was, okay I guess.”, he replied. “It’s a romance novel about common people.”
“You read it twice.”, she emphasised, as if that helped her case.
“Yes, because it was a good romance novel about common but interesting people.”
“That’s better.”, she smiled, satisfied. It was not enough, she needed to keep talking about their newly found interest in common. “Have you read Mansfield Park?”
He shook his head, “Not yet, I’ve heard it’s a bit slow.”
She let out a sigh. “Who told you that? It’s not slow, it’s subtle. And Emma?”
He let out a chuckle. “That’s my guilty pleasure. Great book.”
“Yes!”, Hermione almost yelled from the excitement. “I’ve read it seven times!”
“I think you might have a problem, Granger.”, he said, completely serious. “It’s a great book indeed but you’re obsessed.”
“I probably am.”, she chuckled. 

They exchanged a few more thoughts on Austen’s books, getting to the conclusion that their top three were ‘Sense and Sensibility, Emma and Pride and Prejudice.’ and both of them got even more confused about their feelings about each other.