Chapter 1
After 3 long months of dealing with the torturous weight of his father's overbearing, Draco Malfoy could not wait to return to Hogwarts. If anything, his occlumency walls were thankful for the current quietness in the train cabin along with his fellow Slytherins, Theo Nott and Daphne Greengrass.
Theo was sitting adjacent to Draco, leaned forward onto his knees while twirling his wand in between his fingers. Daphne was sitting across from Theo tending to her nails, occasionally blowing on them.
Draco was staring out of the damp window.
It was a type of comfortable silence which Draco enjoyed, and his best friend loved to ruin the things he enjoyed.
"I spotted a certain curly haired brunette on board"
Theo waited for a response or even a slight reaction from his best friend, but to his disappointment, was reciprocated with nothing.
"She had her bloody ginger familiar with her, however, it might actually be good for something because I caught it trying to eat Weasel-Bee's face. She had to physically pull it off of him"
Still no response from the bleach-headed boy who is facing towards the window, staring across the Scottish green lands.
"It was actually quite brilliant," Theo had chuckled to himself, "I think I might have seen him tear up a little-"
"What's that got to do with me?" Draco said, sharply cutting Theo off from his annoying antics, finally turning away from the window to stare down the curly haired brunette.
"Oh, save me the bloody theatrics Draco" expressed the frustrated blonde that had been sitting silently up until that point, "I don't know what made you believe that we are daft, but your little obsession with Hermione Granger is quite obvious"
"She's right mate, ever since your hearing at the Wizengamot when she and Potter acted as defendants for your case, you have quite literally not stopped thinking about her"
How could he? He thought to himself.
The fact that she and Potter showed up was a mystery in of itself. He did not stop thinking why she had come to defend him at all. She understood why Potter would have saved his ass, because he quite literally did the same for him at his Manor when he lied to his aunt about who he was.
But for Granger, he did not help her at all.
Not when she was screaming on the floor of his house, writhing in pain, pleading with her eyes for him end the pain or even lessen it a little.
He didn't understand why she stood to speak about his behalf in front of the entire ministry.
He did not understand why she showed up every day of his hearing for an entire month, sitting through hours of accusations and evidence about reasons why he should be locked up in Azkaban for life and sentenced with the kiss.
He did not understand why every time he would look in her direction, she was already staring at him with a look in her eye that made him believe that he had hope.
That every time they made eye contact across the court room, it was as if she believed that he was a good person.
He did not understand why after his ruling was final, Granger had come up to him to thank him for what he did for her and her friends and even went as far as insinuating that he was the reason they were able to escape from the manor and be able to win the war.
And he most certainly did not understand why she stepped close to him to give him a hug with relief that he was indeed going to be freed.
Him, a death eater. The person that took the dark mark. The person that tortured many and stood along side the murderers.
The person that was instructed to kill the Headmaster of their school. The person that brought the death eaters into the school and was eventually responsible for that death. The person that responsible for poisoning Katie Bell and almost killing her.
The person that quite literally was the cause of the start of the second Wizarding war.
Hermione Granger had not only touched him, but she had even hugged him. He had held his breath with she stepped forwards towards him and reached out both her arms. He almost flinched when she wrapped both her arms around him, rested her head on his shoulder, and gently squeezed his body against hers.
Draco's arms remained stiffly at his sides, but damn him if his heartbeat did not being to race up to his ears. He remembered thinking one thought throughout the entire embrace.
Warmth.
She was warm. So warm.
Her hair had rested against his cheek and it was way softer than he imagined.
He almost wanted to reach up and run her hair through his fingers to obtain a better feeling of its texture. It didn't provide an uncomfortable sensation along his cheek. It was rather quite nice. And it smelt good, rather floral, but more fresh.
She smelt good.
When she had finally released him, she had smiled gently at him with a slight pinkness on her cheeks, as if the hug lasted a little longer than she intended.
Draco had wanted to tell her that he did not mind. He had wanted to apologize for what he did.
For what his aunt did. For what his family did to her at the manor and quite literally all her life.
Draco had wanted to hug her back and tell her that he felt sorry for all he did to her since their first year. He wanted to tell her that he did not believe in blood superiority anymore and all that. He wanted to hug her until she believed him and forgiven him.
He wanted to hug her until he was able to forgive himself.
His probation auror had come up to him at that point to take him up to the auror office to complete all the paperwork and go over his requirements before he was released home.
He had given Hermione one last look and nodded towards her in acknowledgement before he followed the officer. He would be damned if he said Hermione Granger left his thoughts for the rest of the day.
And his thoughts of her did not stop there, he began to seek her out in the Daily Prophet.
It all began one morning when him and his mother were sitting alongside each other drinking their morning tea, when Remmy, his mother's elf, placed the paper on the table in between them. He did not almost spit his tea out when he saw Hermione Granger's face plastered onto the front page starring back at him.
Were her eyes always this big?
He had never had the opportunity to see her face so close up before and for such a long time at that.
He requested a copy of that paper to be taken to his room later that day.
And so it begin. He would look towards the Daily Prophet every morning that summer to read up on what Granger had been up to that summer. From expanding her S.P.E.W. organization, to fighting for the rights of squibs, and muggle borns in the Wizarding World, to countless visits to St. Mungos. He could only hold himself back from requesting papers dated prior to the war for more information about the brunette.
She suddenly stopped showing up in the paper as if she had left the Wizarding World and even Britain all together. And if Draco had not caught sight of her on the platform prior to boarding the train, he would have believed that she did.
The sound of the door to the cabin opening and slamming shut had interrupted Draco from his thoughts. Pansy Parkinson had strolled in followed by Blaise Zabini.
"Good you all are here" Pansy noted while seating herself onto the bench next to Daphne, parallel from Draco. Pansy's black hair had gotten longer over the summer and she finally made the right decision of getting rid of her bangs. She looked over at Daphne who had been filing her nails while waiting for the train to arrive at the school.
"What in the bloody muggle contraption is that?" Pansy all but screeched at the nail filer in between Daphne's hands.
"What? It's quite entertaining, I learned how to polish and decorate my nails over the summer, I also practiced on Astoria" She said innocently "It was a great way to kill time, I'm quite good at it, I can do yours if you want" She said while showing off her green and silver nails to Pansy
"Obviously not, that is a muggle invention" Pansy said leaning away from Daphne's nails as if they were to burn her on accidental contact.
"I think its pretty cool" Blaise said showing off his emerald green nails
"Oh give up the prejudice Pansy" Theo had exclaimed, "Muggles have honestly come along way and advanced farther than we have without magic, you really should start to respect them"
"Oh brilliant Theo, who taught you that your probation auror?"
"Actually no, I did a ton of research on the internet this summer"
"Internet? What is that?"
"It's this electronic contraption that is able to look up unlimited information with a few button clicks" Theo said showing of his knowledge
"If you think that is cool, you should see the television" Blaise had exclaimed "They had these tapes that play movies, which are interesting plays with props and such, its kinda like portraits however, you can't interact with them"
"Ooo, I want to see that!" said Daphne, her eyes brightening up
"Ugh, who are you guys and what have you done with my friends" Pansy said slumping in her seat in defeat "At least I can still count on Draco to still be the same"
"Leave him be" defended Theo amusingly "He's thinking about the muggle born princess"
"Again?" exclaimed Pansy rolling her eyes
"Oh! I saw her orange kneazle almost bite off the Weasel's head!" Blaise said while Daphne began filing his nails from where she sat across from him in the cabin.
"I saw that too! Bloody brilliant" Theo laughed along
"I do not think about Granger" Draco had said authoritatively, to which the entire cabin turned towards him, to stare at him silently and unbelievingly
"Sure and I hate men" said Pansy scoffing at his obvious lie
"Good one mate" said Blaise while blowing away at his nail powder after Daphne finished filing his nails.
"You know what, I can't sit here right now" Draco said standing up, brushing his clothes from lint and Blaise's nail powder that had blown slightly onto him, So much for comfort and quietness. "I'm going to take a walk"
He walked out the door of their cabin and turned towards the hall of the train almost bumping into another student
"Oh, Malfoy, I was just about to come get you"
"Granger" Draco said, staring at Hermione
"Professor Flitwick wants to hold a prefect meeting before we get to the school and he wanted to speak with us first"
"Right" Draco had said, grimacing slightly and following her to wherever they were supposed to be meeting Flitwick.
A million thoughts had passed through Draco's head, he wanted to speak with her, thank her, apologize to her. He wanted to say something to her but he couldn't think of the right words to say. He stared at the back of her head while walking to the assigned cabin.
As they approached the door, Hermione let out a little huff and turned towards Draco as if she was also contemplating what exactly to say to him on their walk over.
"Look Malfoy I-"
"How was your summer?"
They both paused and looked at each other with their eyes wide, internally grimacing.
"Wait, what?" Hermione said bewildered, unbelieving that Draco Malfoy had just tried to make light conversation with her. She was going to tell him that they should make amends if they are going to work together all year long and even live together.
"Sorry, you can go first"
"Right" Hermione swallowed, nervous about how to go about this conversation, he obvious seemed civilized enough, "How are you?"
"Why?"
"What do you mean why?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Well, then why did you ask how my summer went?"
"I asked you first" Draco said crossing his arms
At that moment, the door to the cabin opened.
"Oh good, I was wondering when you two would get here, let's begin" Flitwick said interrupting them, leaving both Draco and Hermione to contemplate on their weird conversation.
-
"Welcome back students. I expect you all to be warm and welcoming to the newly sorted first years in your houses. I just wanted to inform you all of the new and slight changes to this years curriculum" McGonagall explained, standing behind the podium in front of the Great Hall. "This year with first-time returning 8th years students. Both 7th and 8th year students be studying to take their NEWTs at the end of the year as expected, however, there will be a new section added to the exam where all students must physically perform all kind of spells. There will be new spells learned outside of typical curriculum spells that you all previously learned. These spell requirements are to be learned for practical use, defense use, and even domestic use in preparation for your use after leaving Hogwarts"
Whispers and murmurs of excitement and disbelief spread through all students across the hall.
"That being said, I want you all to get comfortable with their wands as you will be using them a lot more this year" McGonagall said in a giddy voice "Enjoy your dinner and get a goodnight's rest for classes"
"I heard we will be learning the Patronus spell" Draco heard a 7th year say around his peers.
"The Patronus Charm?" Theo had whispered to Draco in bewilderment, "Don't you have to think about love or some shit like that?"
"Great, we already failed one of the lessons this year" Theo said exasperated
Draco did not know many Slytherins that were able to learn the patronus charm, he knew that many of the Gryffindors and those part of Dumbledore's Army learned during and in preparation for the war.
His mother had a Patronus, he was always in awe of it. It was a peacock. She used to use it to summon Draco from his room or when he was at Theo's or Blaise's house over the summer when the elves were busy.
His father also had a Patronus charm, an abraxas horse. Draco's childhood was filled with seeing the large and majestic creature, however, his father had been unable to cast his Patronus charm since the start of the second Wizarding war.
--
"Blimey 'Mione, you're dorming with the ferret?" Ron said with a mouthful of food after listening to her and Ginny discussion the prefect meeting, "You can't do that, surely McGonagell can't allow that"
"Who do you think chose head boy, Ron?" rebutted Ginny exasperated
"Yeah but he's a death eater 'Mione" Ron said while still looking at Hermione
"Ex-death eater" said Harry piping in, he is sitting next to Ron, eating his dinner as well.
"He was still adeath eater, not being one now does not erase the past" Ron said waving his arms around, trying to get his fellow Gryffindors to seek the same reasoning as him.
"Actually it kind of does, Ron, especially if they haven't been involved in anything since the war" Ginny said pointing her fork in the direction of the Slytherin table over Ron's shoulder.
"Yeah because their great lord Voldy is dead now, they have no one to bow down to or bare feet to lick clean" Ron said with a small snort at the end of the sentence, biting another mouthful of food.
"Ron, he was forced to be one of them" Hermione said speaking up.
"Yeah, well I would have let them kill me first"
The table between the four suddenly got quiet, no one looking up from their plates. In that moment, Hermione couldn't help but lift her head to look towards the Slytherin table between Harry and Ron's shoulders and make contact with a certain pair of silver eyes.
He looked different than he did in sixth year.
Happier? She thought. No, maybe healthier?
More like, he has life back into him.
His eyes are no longer sunk in. His hair grew longer than when she saw him at the Wizengamot, although it's not slicked back like he used to wear it and instead lets it rest around his face, its well kept and does not look at all messy.
It looks good this way. She had thought to herself. It looks soft.
His hair was always a pale blond like his fathers, his mother's hair had a slight yellow tone to it, which was barely noticeable, except in a certain light. She remembered noticed the difference while Narcissa hugged him after his trial ended.
And taller she had noticed on the train ride over. He was always taller than her, but he had surprised her when she faced him in front of his cabin. She had to tilt her head a good amount to look at his face.
He must have grown at least 5 cms. She read a muggle medical book about how on average, boys receive their latest growth spurts at the age of 16, but some cases showed some had theirs as late as the age of 18-19, mostly due to trauma or stress.
His shoulders were different as well, they look more fuller and wider. He had always had a very impressive physique, thanks to quidditch, but in sixth year it was as if Draco was slowly disappearing.
Draco's eyebrows slight furrowed, as if concerned why Hermione was looking at him for such a long moment. She always thought it was interesting how his eyebrows were a dark contrast to his hair. Usually blonds had light eyebrows that barely were noticeable from far, but Draco's eyebrows were his darkest facial feature, it made him look masculine. And handsome, she had thought to herself.
She shook herself off, breaking contact, and turning towards Ginny who had spoken up again about the prefect schedules for rounds and meetings.
-
Hermione walked out of the Great Hall, heading towards the head common rooms.
"Granger" Draco called, he was leaning against the wall of the halls, his arms crossed in front of his chest, and one leg slightly bent backwards.
"Malfoy" she acknowledged.
Draco had pushed himself off the walk and made it next to Hermione to be able to walk astride of her towards the Dormitory.
Hermione waited patiently for Draco to start saying whatever it is that he called her over to say, however, as they made it half way towards the head common rooms, he was yet to speak up. She slightly looked sideways towards him to see that he had both his hands in front of him, turning a ring over his right fourth finger, slowly twirling it around and sliding it through the adjacent finger. She wondering if that was the Malfoy House ring, she knew that most pure-bloods wore one if they were the heir of their house.
Suddenly, she saw Draco's arms snap up towards her and felt them grasp onto both sides of her shoulder and slightly push her towards him. Hermione looked up to see that she had almost walked into the archway of the staircase they were making their way towards.
Hermione turned back towards Draco to look up at him in disbelief. But found that he had already side stepped around her and began walking up the spiral staircase.
Her face flushed as she took a moment to composed herself. She then resumed route as she followed him up in the staircase with warm cheeks. They made their way towards the common room.
As they made their way onto flat surface, Hermione walked with her tilted downwards, looking at the back of Draco's feet. At this point it seemed that Draco waited for her after dinner and called out to her in order to walk back with her to their dormitory.
But why would he want to do that? She thought to herself. Surely, there was a purpose.
Maybe there was something Flitwick wanted her to pass onto her.
Or maybe he wanted to complain to her about Crookshanks being allowed in their tower. She always used to be yelled at by the Slytherins in previous years about how Crookshanks managed to get inside the Slytherin common rooms. Her familiar was always wandering about but she believed he was truly the smartest animal their was, with the best judge of character.
He knew that Peter Pettigrew was an animagus in her third year and tried to attack him the entire year.
Drawing her out of her thoughts, Draco suddenly stopped in his tracks and spun around to face her. Hermione who also stopped in tracks, not expecting him to do so abruptly, looked up at him with widening eyes, catching her breath and waiting anxiously to hear what she had been waiting for him to say since he called her over outside the Great Hall.
Draco opened his mouth slightly, lifting his right hand in her direction to help with his verbal expressions, however, he quickly shut his approach down and turning back to walk towards the common room again.
Hermione, completely confused by this entire encounter and wanting to know whatever it is that Draco wanted to say to her, wanted to get to the bottom of this.
"Malfoy-" Hermione started but what interrupted again when Draco spun around once again towards her.
"I don't have to dorm with you. I mean, I could go sleep in the dungeons." Draco said, flickering his eyes up at her face.
"What?" Hermione said, barely registering what he had said and meant.
"I mean, I know you will be uncomfortable having to live in such a confined space with me sleeping just next door," He continued explaining "I mean who bloody knows what I could do to you? Bloody hell I might even stab you in your sleep"
"Stop it" Hermione said sharply, walking closer to Draco after understanding what it is he had been worried about this entire time. "If you so bloody think that you're going to stab me in my sleep, then I'll be sure to keep my door unlocked to make it easier for you"
Draco's eyes opened up at her statement, "What? Granger-"
"Do you want to stab me in my sleep, Malfoy?" Granger asked cutting him off, she stood up straighter to look Draco in the eyes, challengingly.
"No! Merlin, Granger-" said Draco, eyebrows furrowed.
"Well then, I guess we have nothing to worry about, do we?" Hermione said cheerfully, clapping her hands together. She side stepped him, "Shall we?" she said, gesturing towards their common room.
"No, Granger, listen I'm trying to tell you that I am dangerous, you don't know what I might do-"
"Merlin, Malfoy" Hermione said exasperatedly turning back towards Draco "Dangerous people do not tell others that they are dangerous" She said in a matter of fact. "And frankly, I don't care that much"
"How can you be so sure that I will do nothing"
"Because it seems like you don't want to" Hermione said, "And honestly, you aren't as dangerous as you put off. And I'm not scared of you. I punched you before and got away with it, remember?" She said slightly managing to crack a smirk from Malfoy as he remembered the incident.
"That was in fourth year" He said finally looking at her to catch a glint in her eyes.
"Third actually" She correctly, smiling up at him.
This caused a tingling sensation to generalize throughout Draco. He stared at her, taken back a little. She had never looked at him like that before. He saw her smile countless of times throughout their years, but none was never directed towards him.
She looked quite pretty, he had thought.
It caused him to reciprocate a small smile without even noticing himself.
Over the summer, Draco realized that despite the past couple years of misery and despair, he felt better somehow, relieved. And not just because the war was over and the dark lord had been defeated. But because he had a purpose for healing.
At the Wizengoamot, when he didn't believe in himself, and felt the lowest he had ever felt. Hermione had given given him hope, and he held on to that. When she had hugged him, she had provided him with warmth, and now when he was drowning in the anguish that he might hurt her, or that maybe she would be disgusting from living with him, she was providing him with happiness. It felt nice. He hadn't felt this way in a while, and he was going to hold onto this feeling.
"Alright" Draco said, "Well in that case I hope I don't stab you, I can't suffer from another broken nose"
Was Draco Malfoy flirting with me? Hermione's thoughts screamed back at her. He was, and he's smiling at her. What the fuck?!
"You can't deny, I have a mean right hook" She smiled back at him again, What? Don't judge me, his smile is cute.
--
Hermione woke up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. She only hoped that Draco took her into consideration, she's going to need the caffeine with the long day ahead of her.
She walked out her room rubbing at her eyes and stopped dead in her tracks.
Draco was sitting on the island chair, sipping from his coffee mug with a book opened up in front of him, and softly petting Crookshanks who laid across of his lap.
"Morning Granger" Draco said hearing her walking out of her room.
"Morning" She said cautiously walking in the kitchen, still unbelieving of her eyes at the sight in front of her. Crookshanks rarely liked anybody, scratch that, he didn't like anybody at all, well except for her, and he oddly liked Remus while they were at Grimmauld, and she caught Snape petting him in the hallways once in fifth year when she was sneaking back from the library late at night, but that's it.
But here her familiar is, voluntarily laying across of the Slytherin's lap, eyes closed and in content, with his purrs filling up the space of the common room.
"Malfoy?" Hermione said, walking up closer to them to get a better look, Draco responded by lifting his eyebrows and slightly turning in her directions, eyes focused onto the words of his book, "I'm asking this with no offense, but did you imperio my cat?"
This caught Draco's attention, and he now fully turned towards Hermione, a smug look on his face at the assumption that the cat didn't seem to like many.
"No Granger, I like your cat, he reminds me of the Kneazle I had before Hogwarts" At that moment, Crookshanks did the craziest thing that Hermione had ever seen her cat do, her turned his head and licked at Malfoy's hand.
This caused Hermione to release a short hiccuped yelp, which startled Draco. The only person that Crookshanks had ever licked was, was herself. And he rarely even licked her too.
"You stole my cat!" Hermione exclaimed pointing at Draco accusingly with the other hand covering her mouth in shock.
"I did not steal your cat" Draco replied rolling his eyes.
Hermione moved closer outstretching her arms to pick up her familiar when Crookshanks jumped to the ground to avoid her and nuzzled into Draco's leg.
"You did absolutely steal my cat!" Hermione screeched, stomping one foot onto the ground.
"Granger" Malfoy said attempting to calm her down
Hermione ignored him and walked back into her room, only to walk out with her wand in her, wanded arm outstretched
Draco jumped up from his seat, hands out in a surrendered position seeing as his own wand was still resting at his bedside.
"whoa Granger, what are you doing-"
Hermione lowered her wand towards Crookshanks and muttered "Finite".
"You didn't imperio my cat?" Hermione asked in disbelief after nothing happened to her cat.
"of course I didn't imperio your cat Granger, that is an unforgivable" Malfoy said crossed his arms with a scowl.
"Then why was he acting like that?" Hermione asked
"Hmm, I don't know? Maybe because he might actually like me?" Draco stated
"But he doesn't like anyone" Hermione rasped
"Yeah, I might actually believe that quite well" He replied, eyeing her wand which was still in her grasp.
Crookshanks had suddenly, pranced over to Hermione as if sensing her in distress. Hermione bent down to pick him up and cuddles him to her chest.
"Merlin Granger, if you don't want me to touch your cat, then I won't go near him" Draco stated at the sight of her comfort and relaxation having the cat finally in her arms.
"No, its not that Malfoy, I was just shocked is all"
"Well remind me to warn you the next time your cat is within my meter radius" Draco turned to sit back down on the kitchen chair to resume reading, "I brewed you coffee, you might want to hurry before it gets cold"
--
"Well, congrats Malfoy, another night's sleep has past in which I have not been stabbed" Hermione announced coming out of her room, already dressed in her school robes. She found the common room to be empty. She was in the process of tying her hair back in a ponytail, when the elastic band snapped.
"Bollocks" she muttered to herself, disappointed that her hair will now stick to the back of her neck seeing as today was going to be a hot day. She's just going to have to use cooling charms throughout the day.
She walked back into her room to get a another elastic band when she noticed her makeup pouch resting in front of her vanity.
She bought a couple things with her mother in Australia as a mother-daughter bonding experience. Her parents memories took some time to return but they have completely healed, however, it took them a longer time to forgive her.
And when they finally did her mother treated her to a shopping trip. Her parents decided they were going to stay in Australia as they seemed to like it better.
She opened the pouch to very quickly brush mascara over her eyelashes, and rubbed the tinniest bit of pink glitter eye shadow over her eyelids. She even place lip balm over her lips.
She stared back at herself in the mirror.
Her summer spent in Australia under the sun made her freckles more prominent, and her darkened bronze skin, made her hazel eyes brighten.
She walked back out of her room to see Malfoy walking out of his own room with Crookshanks in his arms, dressed in his school robes as well. At the sight of them together Hermione rolled her eyes.
Crookshanks has rarely left Draco's side throughout the past week.
Yesterday, Hermione even found him scratching at Draco's door to be let in when she had return late at night from the library.
Hermione was still a little jealous, but she shamelessly began to fine them cute. Especially how gentle Draco is with her familiar.
"He's very clever, your cat" Draco commented, walking towards the cupboards, placing Crookshanks on the floor on his way over.
"Yes, I know" Hermione moved to fill Crookshanks food and replace his water bowl.
As Hermione turned to stand, she almost bumped into Malfoy who was trying to walk past her after grabbing the milk from the refrigerator.
"Oh!" Hermione yelped trying to steady herself.
"Oh" Draco muttered looking up at Hermione after steading the milk bottle in one hand and placing his other on her shoulder.
After composing herself, Hermione looked up at him to see that he was still staring at her.
"You look different" Draco finally commented.
Hermione's eyebrows burrowed, "Alright?" she dragged out.
"No, I mean did you do something different?" Draco asked after seeing her mixed reaction, he did not want her to think that he had meant anything bad by that, when Hermione's reaction remained the same, he tried to correct himself, "No, I mean it looks good"
"Malfoy-" Hermione started
"I mean, you look good"
Hermione's face flushed, she slightly lowered her gaze to avoid eye contact with Draco, suddenly feeling shy.
What is wrong with him, lately? This is not the same Draco Malfoy that she had always known.
He has been acting different ever since she met him on the train ride over.
Hermione's not gonna deny that she always saw Malfoy to be attractive, just like every other girl at Hogwarts, it is no secret that he is good looking, however, his personality always override her opinion about him.
He was her childhood bully, they were on opposites sides.
But with him acting nice towards her, complimenting her, and being a decent human being, she can't help but form a different opinion about him.
But she is not stupid, she's not going to let her guard down, she is waiting for him to slip. Like she said, she grew up with this man, she knows him, -or at least how he used to act towards her.
Draco cleared his throat, suddenly feeling embarrassed with the lack of response from Hermione and moved to turn away from her.
"What are you acting like this?" Hermione suddenly asked him
"Acting like what?" He said turning back to face her
"Nice"
Draco scoffed at that, "I can be nice, Granger"
"Yeah, but you aren't to me" She countered, "At least you never were"
"Well, what if I want to be now?" he stated looking her directly in her eyes.
"But why?" She exclaimed, confused about his motive.
"Why not?" He challenged, lifting one shoulder to slightly shrug
"Malfoy" Hermione whined, frustrated by his lack of response
"Granger" Malfoy mocked her, smirking a little. When Hermione caught his gaze, it caused her to smile a little back at him.
Damn him. She thought, his smile was so cute.
--
"Blimey Hermione, is that Draco Malfoy walking across the courtyard with Crookshanks in his arms?" Ron suddenly yelled, causing Harry, Ginny, and Neville to look over as well from where they were sitting around the tree on a conjured blanket immersed in their study books.
Well, Ginny, Hermione, and Neville were studying. Harry and Ron were playing with the frog they transfigured.
At the sight of Draco after looking up from her book, Hermione rolled her eyes, "Yeah, he's been doing that a lot"
Draco was wearing his quidditch gear, and Hermione would be lying if those tight pants did not effect her.
"Granger, your cat snuck into the boys changing room after practice" Draco said as he placed Crookshanks in her lap.
"Why would 'Mione's cat do that?" Ron challenged
"I don't know, Weasel-be, ask him, I'm sure he will tell you" Malfoy rolled his eyes at him and turned back towards Hermione, "Anyways, I also came here to tell you that McGonagell wanted to speak with us after dinner"
"Did she say what it was she wanted to discuss?"
"No, but I'm betting it has to do with something about house unity and all that, I heard her speaking something along the lines with Slughorn" He said brushing his robes from the fur and quidditch dirt, "Anyways, I'll wait for you outside the great hall so we can walk over together" He said starting to turn away but looked back one last time "You know, to express house unity and all think" He smirked a little and winked before turning away fully in the direction he came back from.
Hermione released the breath she hadn't noticed she had been holding and turned back to look at her friends who have all been jaw-widespread and eyes ajar looking at Draco's retreating figure.
It was Ginny who composed herself first to speak, "Hermione, was Draco Malfoy just flirting with you?"
"Yeah, he's been doing that a lot too" Hermione muttered to herself
"I am being serious, what the heck has been going on inside that dorm room?" Ginny exclaimed shoved Hermione on her shoulder
"Nothing, what do you mean?"
"Hermione, Draco Malfoy was holding your cat!" She yelled "He was flirting with you, he winked at you, and to be quite frankly I have never in my life heard that mean speak that many words without being insulting or letting out a snide remark"
Ron who finally composed himself to talk spoke up "What if this is just a cover up, that he is trying to get you to feel comfortable around him and trust him so it will be easier to hurt you"
"Why would he wait for her to trust him before hurting her when he has never done that before, what's stopping him from doing anything now?" piped in Harry
"Maybe we should drug him with Veritaserum and ask him about his intentions" Neville commented afterwards which caused the four to slowly turn towards his directions with a questioning expression.
"We are not drugging anybody with anything" Hermione said gathering her books up in the arm that is free from Crookshanks "Besides, Malfoy said he wanted to start being nice to me"
"When did he say that?" Ginny asked placing both her arms on Hermione's forearm in an exciting manner.
"A couple weeks ago, I confronted him after all the flirting"
"Hermione! Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because it didn't seem like a big deal?"
"The fact that Draco Malfoy has a crush on you seems like a pretty big deal to me!"
"He does not have a crush on 'Mione" Ron voiced, clearly unhappy with the direction this conversation has gone in
"Well, he was flirting with her, and holding her cat" Ginny stated, leaning her body into Harry's chest who was sitting next to her
"It's not a crush" Hermione denied said placing her books in her bag and shifting Crookshanks in her lap, "It's domestication, he is getting too comfortable with the whole living together"
"No, I don't think that's it" argued Ginny, "I mean Hermione" She sat up took face Hermione who tried to standup, "The ferret hasn't been known to be nice to anybody, not even for the mere heck of it"
Hermione has had enough of this conversation and stood up with crookshanks in her arm and tossed her book bag over the opposing shoulder.
--
"Good you both are here" said McGonagall at the sight of Draco and Hermione at the door to her office, "I want you both to organize a Halloween party in the great hall with the rest of the prefects and professors Sprout and Flitwick" she offered them both lemon drops as they sat down in the chairs in front of her desk.
"But professor, Halloween is only two weeks ago" Hermione complained already deliberating the work and planning ahead of her
"And I expect no less than perfection" McGonagall finalized.
"Yes professor"
"Also, there are too many prefects that hand out detentions to their opposing houses only, I want that rectified" McGonagall moved around the desk to sit in her chair, "There is still too much hatred between the houses, I do not like the site of it, hold a club to review spells together, or hold more inter-house common room meetings on Friday nights, do whatever must be done"
"Professor, are you suggesting we hold parties?" Draco asked shocked
"I'll even provide the alcohol" She said smiling
-
"Alright class, today we will be going over the Patronus charm" Professor Flitwick, the charms professor stated on the podium in the front of the class.
The class that only consisted of Slytherin and Ravenclaws gathered around.
"Now this charm, recited with the spinning of your charm is a little tricky as it requires you to think of a happy memory" Flitwick fiddled with his wand as his explained, "Now this happy memory can't be something as minuscule as pulling your favorite card from a chocolate frog, no, it has to be a strong memory, it can be of a loved one, or of you participating in something dear to you"
"Now, when you have achieved that memory, the charm will flow through you as simple as air" Flitwick raised his wand in front of his and spun his wand in an exaggerated motion, "Expecto Patronum"
A silver and white shadow extended from the tip of his wand and extended outwards until what appeared was a large toad which hopped onto around the students and tripped some over and eventually disappeared.
"Now, I'll leave you all to your practicing"
Draco subconsciously reached for his right forearm, remembering his father's inability to cast his Patronus charm. It was no use to practice, he will never be able to cast a patronus.
"Mate" Theo whispering, nudging Draco with his elbow and nodding his head towards Blaise who was practicing his own Patronus. Draco looked over to notice little white whisps forcing their way out of his wand.
Draco's breath caught and jealously tinged at his chest. He suddenly felt Theo squeeze his shoulder in comfort as if he knew how Draco felt and sympathized with him.
He shook his friend off to concentrate on his task, he will cast a Patronus and do whatever he must. He readied his stance and thought back to his professor's instructions.
Think of a strong happy memory. Nevermind, this is going to be harder than he thought.
Draco thought back to his childhood memories; spending time with his mother, his father teaching him how to fly on a broom, playing with his friends before Hogwarts, getting sorted in Slytherin, having his first kiss, winning the quidditch tournament, receiving his inheritance at the age of 17-
But suddenly his thoughts were overshadowed with the memories of receiving the dark mark, being forced to crucio muggles and blood traitors, receiving the imperius and crutiatus curse multiple times as punishment for failing to cast the killing curse, throwing up after torturing the third years at the castle and then getting tortured by the Avery twins after being caught, watching his old divination professor be eaten by Nagini on his dinner table, staring at Hermione on the floor of his drawing room and hearing her scream for help.
Suddenly Draco was overwhelmed with the memorizes of his part and turned to walk out of the classroom.
He could not do this.
He will never be able to do this.
The Patronus charm is not meant to be cast by people like him.
He does not get to feel happy. He does not deserve to experience happiness.
Not him.
He raced through the halls, his feet taking him back to his head dorm.
He muttered the password and rushed inside, he stopped at the sight of Granger in the kitchen.
She was facing away from him, however, she was slowly swaying her hips and dancing. Malfoy couldn't hear what she was listening to, it was probably a tune in her head.
"Granger" Draco called, however, Hermione did not turn around or even stop what she was doing.
Draco burrowed his brows and made his way towards the kitchen to call on her again but stopped shortly to find Hermione wearing an oversized jumper with no trousers and bare feet.
No trousers! Draco's eyes widened avoided his gaze to somewhere more appropriate.
"Granger" he affirmed, trying to get her attention again with no success, he reached out to tap onto her arm.
Hermione jumped and spun around towards Draco in a mix of fear and surprise. Draco watched her take two strings out of her ears and bundle them up in her hands quickly.
"Malfoy! You scared me, I thought you had class"
"I do, and I called out to you but you didn't answer"
"Sorry I had my earbuds in"
"What's that?" he said glanced towards the strings and a gray box now in her hands
"Its a muggle invention, it plays music of my choosing and only the listener can hear what is playing. Hear, listen"
Hermione stepped closer to Draco and placed a strings into Draco's ears.
Draco's eyes widened when he heard the music began playing. Hermione smiled at his reaction and then removed them from Draco's ears.
"Pretty neat right?"
"Muggles did that? Without magic?"
"Yup, I think its brilliant" Hermione placed the contraption onto the kitchen counter and turned back to her meal. She went to reach up into the cupboard to retrieve a plate when Draco suddenly remember her lack of clothing.
This time Draco did not look away, he stayed staring at her behind, watching her jumper slowly as it revealed her knickers, however, instead what was revealed to Draco was the smallest pair of shorts he ever had the opportunity of seeing.
"Granger" Draco called out, unable to remove his eyes from her long, smooth, tanned legs.
"Yes?" Hermione called back, turning around once she got a hold of a ceramic plate
"Where are the rest of your pants?"
Hermione, confused, found Draco staring at her legs, looked down herself to find that her jumper did make it look like she wasn't wearing anything underneath.
Suddenly feeling shy, she crossed her legs in an attempt to feel covered, had just the opposite effect to Draco. Hermione heard him suddenly clear his throat and move his gaze.
"Oh, its a muggle style, I was in Australia this summer so all my clothes are like basically like this" Hermione cleared her throat at the sudden awkwardness and moved around the counter to block her nakedness from Draco's sight
Australia? Draco had thought, so that is the reason why she was no longer mentioned in the Daily Prophet.
"So, why aren't you in class" She said at her attempt to change the subject.
Draco was taken back for a second. He had totally forgotten what had happened in class. His bad mood was gone, he didn't even remember when it went away. He had stormed in his dorm room to lash out, trash his room, scream in his pillow, throw something at his walls.
But that was all intercepted by the sight of the Gryffindor brunette that was currently sitting in front of his him with the slightest idea of what had happened.
She doesn't seem to care about who he is or what he has done. Rather she forgives him. She forgives him knowing what he had done and wants to be his friend despite everything.
Draco smiled.
"Flitwick was called over for a greenhouse emergency so class got ended early" he lied smoothly, staring down at Hermione's plate that she was nibbling at, "what you are eating?"
"Hash browns and ketchup"
Draco reached over to steal a triangle potato and popped it in his mouth.
"Excuse me, you are capable of making your own food" Hermione called out to Draco who was retreating to his room, bending down to pick up Crookshanks en route.
"I know" Draco shouted back before shutting the door
--
Hermione was anxiously starring at Draco's door this morning.
She was dressed and ready for potions, however, Draco was yet to make his presence known.
He was going to be late. She thought has she anxiously tapped her fingers across the counter.
Hermione continued to sip from her coffee, looking back and forth between the clock and Draco's door.
She finally huffed, and slammed her coffee cup onto the kitchen counter and walked in the direction of Draco's room.
"Malfoy?" She knocked on the door and waited for an answer.
"Malfoy!" Still no answer, she unlocked the door with her wand and walked inside.
"Malfoy-" She started but stopped at the site of Crookshanks in his arms and her walkman in both of Draco's ears.
"Unbelievable" She huffed and marched to his bed, pulling his pillow out from under his head and hitting him with it.
"First my cat, then my potatoes, now my music!" Hermione said hitting his head with her pillow.
Draco jostled awake and quickly turned around, grabbing ahold of her arm and yanking her onto the bed next to him, trapped both her arms in his with the pillow in between them.
"What are you doing?" Draco asked, his voice still deep with sleep, his hot breath fanned across her face.
"You're going to be late for class" Hermione whispered, sucking in her breath at their proximity.
Draco looked around at his surroundings and their position, fitting in the pieces of what had happened. He let go of Hermione and turned to cast a tempus charm on his wand to see that was in fact going to be late.
"I probably didn't hear my alarm" he explained turning to get out of bed.
Hermione that was still laying on the bed, was shaken out of her trance by his words, "Probably because you had the earbuds in your ears all night" she too moved to get out of his bed .
"Speaking of which" Draco called from his bathroom, "Your thing isn't working anymore"
Hermione moved to inspect the device, "Probably because you emptied out the battery!" She huffed back
"Mate!" called a voice from the common room, "Where you at?"
Blaise Zabini entered Draco's bedroom doorway to find Hermione at his bedside and Draco exiting his bathroom with trousers on a his shirt half buttoned,
"Oh! Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt" He raised his hands in surrender and turned to leave.
"What are you doing here?" Draco asked stopping him, "And how did you get in?"
"Relax, Theo gave me the password, and I just came to give you the assignment you missed from Flitwick's class when you left the other day"
Hermione whipped her head in Draco's direction but didn't say anything.
"Oh by the way, Daphne was able to cast her Patronus, it is a firefly, it's the smallest Patronus I've ever seen"
So the Slytherin's were practicing how to cast the Patronus charms and Malfoy had left class because of it. Hermione thought. But why?
"Alright thanks, you can leave the assignment here and see yourself out" Draco told his friend sharply
"Jeez, I'm sorry, I'll know to knock before I enter next time, no need to get your knickers in a twist" Blaise laughed in defense of being kicked out, Blaise placed the assignment onto the desk next to where Crookshanks was currently sitting, and reached over to pet the orange Kneazle when the cat hissed at him, causing him to retreat his arm away quickly.
"Goodbye Granger, it was lovely to meet you this fine morning" He told her wiggling his eyebrows between her and Draco before turning around to leave
Hermione waited until Blaise left the dorm before turning towards Draco
"You lied"
"Drop it Granger" Draco said slipping his backpack over his shoulder and walked out of his room
Hermione who is known to never drop anything decided to drop this, if she knew anything about Draco is that he does not like to be poked, prodded, or cornered. She had to earn his trust before he will tell her anything.
And she will get him to tell her everything.