She raced to the back of the library, past a grumbling Madam Pince, to find solis and privacy from gossiping students. Who, she was sure of, we're going to have their fill after seeing Hermione Granger practically sprinting down the aisles with soaked cheeks.
She slowed when she came close to her favorite secluded table in the back, before just stopping short at the sight of Draco Malfoy, of all people.
Harry's suspicious of him have been growing and growing as their sixth year wore on. Hermione would like to believe that a sixteen year old boy would be safe from getting that horrible mark, but she knew better than to believe anyone on the dark side had any morals of any kind. Even if he did have the Dark Mark, Malfoy was just a harmless pawn who was just a means to an end for Voldemort.
But this was all just a quick thought as Hermione quickly turned around, hopefully before he noticed her. But her hope was fruitless, for she heard him call out to her.
She cringed and tried to continue walking the opposite way with some sense of dignity.
"Granger!"
She reluctantly turned around, because she still had manners, of course, and looked him dead in the eye. "Yes, Malfoy?"
He took in her face for a moment, before finally coming to a decision of why he called out her name in the first place. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"That's none of your business," she spat. She didn't owe him anything.
"I just want to know why the fuck you ran over here balling your fucking eyes out."
She aggressively wiped at her her tear sodden face from his words, like if she did than it would erase him seeing it in the first place. "And like I said, it's none of your business. Besides it's not like you would care anyway."
"You're the one who ran up to my table," he said with a roll of his eyes, before bringing them back down to the book he was reading, dismissing her.
It's not like she should care, but it just agitated her that he dismissed her like he would a maid, which she guessed, he has done a lot. It's not like she even wanted to have this conversation, but the other half of her mind that wanted to put him in his place won out. She scoffed. "Excuse me? I always sit at this table. Always. Since first year." That may or may not be true. "All I wanted to do was sit down and read. Because despite what you may think, you don't own everything. And I don't owe you anything either."
He looks bored, or perhaps tired, but she doesn't care. "All I wanted to know was why you raced back here crying."
"Fine." She slammed her book bag on the table, and sat down in the chair to his right. "You want to know why I've been crying my fucking eyes out?" He looks confused and slightly surprised by her choice of words, but she doesn't give him a chance to respond. "Fine. It's because Ronald Weasley is a bloody idiot who can't see what's right in front of him. Lavender Brown has latched onto him like a groupie with a muggle boy band, and he can't see through it. He took the first girl who ran into his arms like a damsel in distress because he has never been able to think for himself. I've spent night after night thinking why I'm not good enough, or why he doesn't see me. Maybe it's because I'm too plain, too ugly, too much of a bookworm. Or maybe he could only ever see me as a sister, and that he could never possibly date me. Or it's because I'll never good enough as Lavender who took what she wanted in the first place, like I never could. And how can I blame her for that?"
Hermione didn't even realize the tears that started screaming down her face, or how out of breath she was getting before she finally stopped abruptly and looked at Malfoy.
He was quiet for a long moment, seeming surprised that she confessed all these things to him, of all the people in Hogwarts, of all the people in the world, really. "You do realize you are way better than Brown, right?"
She stared at him blankly before his mind finally caught up with what he said.
"Well - I mean... I... you know-"
But she burst out laughing before he could try to fix his mistake. She has never seen Draco Malfoy look so flustered, and for some reason it made her laugh. He started to chuckle too, and she found that she liked the sound. It wasn't a laugh of malice or cruelty, but of common enjoyment between the both of them.
She found herself giving him a sweet smile, and he smirked back.
Before the awkward silence could set in she said, "yes, because I'm sure the frizzy head, buck toothed, bookworm could beat the Lavender Brown."
He looked at her oddly, and she could tell that he didn't know what to say. But he sat up in his chair and leaned forward onto the table. "I regret saying those things to you."
She didn't wait for those words to sink it before saying sarcastically, "wow, that is the greatest apology I have ever heard in my life, Draco Malfoy."
"Please, I can practically taste the sarcasm in your tone," he stated without taking his eye off hers.
"That will be the only thing you will ever be tasting out of my mouth," she chuckled.
He didn't miss a beat. "Is that a challenge, Granger?"
Is he flirting? "Do you accept?" Was she flirting back?
He looked at her mouth for a split second before flicking them back up to hers. She did the same. He was smirking. "I bet you ten galleons that I can get your tongue in my mouth by the end of the week."
She licked her lips. "Deal."