Where I Found You

"I knew you'd get in Ron!" Hermione flung herself at Ron, giving him a bone-crushing hug. 

He hugged her back, chuckling slightly. "Thanks, Hermione."

When she let go of him, she realised why the other boys were snickering. Ron touched his reddened cheeks, ignoring their allusive stares. "Isn't it hot here? I haven't done that much exercise in months!"

"Are you sure mate?" Seamus looked around the room to grab everyone's attention. "You've been pretty hard on yourself lately training for the tryouts."

"I'd be hot too if Granger hugged me like that!" Someone said from the crowd and everyone else laughed along with them. Ron couldn't look at her in the slightest. She wouldn't mind such words but apparently, he did and she found it surprisingly sweet.

"I'd like to say a few words!" Harry raised his voice. Those who couldn't see him looked around to see who was disrupting their fun and shut their mouth upon seeing the Quidditch Captain. "I want to congratulate every single one of you here once again. Whether you got in or not, you all showed great effort and agility,"

The crowd cheered on and he continued. "We've not been having the greatest matches in the last two years. A lot has happened, but now I, as the captain, promise to do my best at playing and also guiding the team. This year we WILL have the Quidditch Cup!"

The common room was once again filled with the same cosy and boisterous ambience. The players had enough drive to fly the quidditch field a few times. Tiredness was no longer an issue for them; they only wanted to train and bring the cup home. And Hermione was confident they could. Harry had made wise judgments while selecting the players, and she could see he was already good at being a captain. 

Ginny drew Hermione to the side and away from the crowd before she realised what was happening. "That was a fifth year." 

Hermione shook her head. "Ginny, I'm not interested." When she spoke, it almost sounded like a complaint despite the fact that she had said it matter-of-factly.

Ginny thought for a second, considering what to say. "Alright, but tell me one thing, because I'm dying to know... how are things with my brother?"

"Your brother? Ginny..." Hermione sighed, her cheeks reddening with embarrassment. "Don't expect something to happen between us. We're friends."

"I was friends with Dean, too! And now look at us, it'll be our tenth month tomorrow, can you believe it?"

"How are you two, by the way?" Hermione asked, wanting to change the subject. "Is he treating you good?"

Ginny looked away. "I'm not sure if I can call it good, but it's okay,"

Hermione immediately frowned. She couldn't do anything about their relationship, but she was also protective of her friend. "Why is that?"

"Well," Ginny mumbled and sat down on a couch. Assuming it would be a long talk, Hermione followed right after her. "We have our fights, of course. We agreed to keep our relationship private when we first began dating. It was okay at first, but when other boys started flirting with me, he got pissed and jealous over it. Then, as you know, we started holding hands in front of people, but apparently, it wasn't enough to keep them away, so he started randomly kissing me," 

Hermione arched her brows in thought. "Exactly!" Ginny continued. "I don't feel comfortable kissing him in front of professors!" She quieted down after realising she might have been too loud. "But that's not the only thing. He doesn't want me to be in the team."

"What??" Hermione couldn't imagine Ginny not playing.

"I told him that I wouldn't quit playing simply because he didn't like it, no matter what he said or did. I have a life of my own!"

Instinctively, Hermione looked around the room for Dean. He was chatting with the boys. "But why does it bother him so much?"

"He thinks he will lose me to Harry, which is total nonsense, but he believes Harry likes me. I mean, if that were true..." she hid her smirk, "it's only because he knew about my obsession with Harry, he's just trying to test me and it's driving me nuts!"

"I don't want to intervene or anything, but this doesn't sound healthy. Even if Harry has feelings for you, Dean should just trust your word and forget it. How long will you two fight over things like that?"

Ginny played with the cuticles on her fingers. Of course Harry had feelings for her. Hermione  wasn't exactly sure when he started realising he did, but she could read it all over his face. He would stop and watch her when she made a cool aerial trick, or he would stare at her admiringly when she spoke. Dean was right; he could lose her to him, but only if he made a move. And that seemed pretty unlikely.

"I'm not even fighting with him anymore, I just nod. And that makes him angry, so he flirts with other girls to get back at me. But to be honest with you Hermione, I don't feel jealous at all. I don't know if it's because I'm worn out or not but I just don't care and he knows it. I like him, but how do you not get jealous over someone you like?"

"I'm... I'm not sure Ginny. It sounds to me like your issues are bigger than Quidditch, kissing in public or Harry. You should tell these to him or it won't be solved."

Ginny's shoulders moved up and down slowly. "I will, but not just yet. I want to focus on the team and my classes. However, if he ever says something like that again, I'll just hex him," she smirked victoriously.

Hermione laughed at her unexpected response. She definitely would hex him, but Hermione was hoping it wouldn't come to that. "You should teach me some so I can hex Malfoy."

"Malfoy?"

"Yeah, he still hasn't answered me back or did anything at all. I tried my best, if we screw up tomorrow, then we screw up. At least it won't be on me.“

Ginny shook her head. "That git... Do you really think Snape will understand you? Your partner Mr. Malfoy is from his house, you know.“ 

"He probably won't, but I'll try anyway."

The next day Hermione sat in the class, shaking her legs. She felt like she hadn't completed her homework and it was her turn to deliver any second. Malfoy on the other hand looked as calm as ever. How could he be so relaxed when she was on the verge of having a breakdown?

"Ms. Granger!" Snape yelled out.

"Y-yes?" She hadn't heard him and his face looked sulkier than usual.

"The class won't be waiting for you, so stop daydreaming and come here," he gestured to the empty area near him.

Hermione got to her feet and walked there holding her head high. She was not going to display any weakness, because she knew well that Snape would latch onto it in a second. She stood right in front of Malfoy. He was there before she was. Hermione lifted her wand up and flicked it down with a look of intense determination on her face. Malfoy sneered as though he understood the cause of her attitude. After bowing to each other, they turned around taking three steps, which would also equal three seconds, they both faced each other with Snape's signal and took position.

"Flipendo!" Hermione shouted.

"Impedimenta!" Malfoy responded the second she verbalised her spell. The impedimenta jinx slowed her attack for a few seconds, giving him the time to dodge and cast another spell. "Confundo,"

Hermione had no idea when the spell that caused her thoughts to freeze hit her. Shaking her head, she took a glance at her surroundings. She had a duel with Malfoy, yes. It had to be the confundus spell that, well, confused her. It wasn't a very strong one, but it was nonetheless overwhelming. He was unaware that she was now conscious, thus she could take advantage of this. She looked around the room in panic, breathing heavily. After seeing her reaction, Malfoy smirked and glanced at his friends with excessive confidence. Hermione took her chance in an instance. "Flipendo!"

A loud bang drew his attention but he was knocked back in the air before he could react. Malfoy clenched his fist, stared at the class, and then turned to Hermione as Gryffindors applauded the girl. How dare she could embarrass him in front of the class? He had the power to harm her considerably more than merely casting a confundus spell, but he decided to go easy on her. Alright then, if she didn't want easy, he would be pleased to oblige. "Expulso!"

The curse struck the wall behind her, causing an explosion strong enough to throw her to the ground. As the pieces of the wall flew at her, the entire class took a sharp breath. Hermione covered her head and her wand dropped to the floor and tumbled around. Snape cast a nonverbal spell and all the bricks and little stones went back to the wall, restoring it. He knelt down to see whether she was injured or not. She had a few minor wounds on her hands and arms. He instantly pulled out his wand and healed her. Snape gave Malfoy a warning stare as his nostrils flared. "My office, now!" He turned to Hermione. "You, too, Ms. Granger."

"Me?" She only whispered. She didn't deserve any detention.

Malfoy was the one that hurt her and Snape would only scold him. Hermione sighed slowly and went to grab her wand and followed Snape with Malfoy. Even though her wounds were all healed, she could still feel them. Maybe her mind wasn't quick enough to register what had happened to her body.

They entered his room and the door shut behind them, making her flinch. Snape pointed his finger at Malfoy, coming down on him like a ton of bricks. "Who told you that you could use an expulso curse in my class?!"

Malfoy blankly regarded him and said nothing the entire time. He wasn't afraid; rather, he merely appeared uninterested in everything, which made the professor even more pissed off. 

"Do not ever think for a second that you can practice your auntie's spells in my class!" Snape snarled and Malfoy's eyes widened even if he tried to look calm.

His aunt was Bellatrix Lestrange. 

The same Bellatrix who escaped Azkaban and killed Sirius. 

The same Bellatrix who was one of Voldemort's most fanatical followers. His most loyal follower even. The very witch that he trained himself.

Hermione glanced at Malfoy as if seeing him for the first time. The images of Bellatrix Lestrange teaching him curses flashed in her mind. Was that what they were doing? Could he actually be one of them?

"Did he use a spell like that in practices?" Snape turned his gaze at her, but she was still trying to process what Snape had said.

"What? Uhm, we've only practiced once,"

"In two weeks?!" Snape yelled so loud she thought a glass or two would break. He took a deep breath to calm himself down not for their sake, she thought, but for his. "I don't want to hear your little excuses, I know why you couldn't manage to practice for the second time and as I have already stated, I do not care about how you feel towards each other! Whether you want to hurt each other or not, you will obey my rules in my class." Even though he slowed down as he finished speaking, it wasn't quite as sluggish as how he normally spoke.

"But professor!" Hermione wanted to explain the situation.

"Enough!" He retorted. "I know how arrogant you can be Ms. Granger. You might have practiced a few spells with your friends in secret last year, but that doesn't mean you can protect yourself out there. You too, Mr. Malfoy."

Hermione's eyes darted back and forth between them while Malfoy resisted looking at him. It was well known that he favoured Slytherins and she had never seen Snape reprimand one of them before. However, now that they were both on an equal footing, she finally did. Still, Malfoy injuring her rather than the other way around didn't change the fact that he was still favouring him.

"I believe there's a lot you can learn from each other," both Hermione and Draco briefly glanced at each other. "For that reason, I am assigning you two to be academic partners as well. I had this idea in case one of you caused any trouble and asked Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn, which means you will also be partners in their classes as well."

"What?!" They both asked in shock.

Snape grinned at their response, clearly enjoying torturing them. "I want you to write down the spells you will use before the duel and give it to me. The other one doesn't need to know what you wrote, but if you use a different spell other than protecting yourselves, you'll have detention. I am certain there won't be any misunderstandings this time, right?"

"No, professor." Hermione lowered her eyes to avoid looking at him any more second.

"Good. Mr. Malfoy?" He approached Draco.

He bit his lower lip and closed his eyes. "No, professor."

Snape took a step back, folding his hands behind his back. He seemed much more relaxed now. "Alright, your first practice will be today after the class. I want you to send me a note signed by your wands so that I'll know you were together and not cheating. You can leave now, I have wasted my time enough with your rubbish."

Snape went back to his desk and they left his office. They both stood in silence before Hermione spoke. "It's your fault!"

A single muscle didn't move on his face. "Whatever, Granger. See you in the room at 8," he said. His eyes flickered to her arm for a second and he left.

Hermione spent the rest of the day dreading seeing him once again. Her friends kept asking about what had happened with Snape and she told them everything. She could feel Draco watching their table from afar but she didn't want to confirm herself for the sake of her ego. He was probably pissed, he always was. He used to be a bit more cheerful, at least when he was with his friends. He even laughed with Hermione too while they were patrolling last year, but it all changed when he joined the stupid Inquisitorial Team. 

"That's too harsh!" Ginny complained. Dean reached and held her hand. She immediately calmed, but Harry went still. Hermione could see what was happening right in front of her eyes but was unable to do a thing. 

"I told you he would lower your grades. Not only Snape but now McGonagall's and Slughorn's classes, too!"

Hermione put her elbow on the table, rubbing her forehead. "You're not really helping, Ron."

Ron mumbled, "I just wanted to warn you beforehand."

Hermione raised her head. "I know, but there wasn't much I could do, was there?" She sounded a bit louder than the chattering and she let out an exasperated sigh. "I should go, we have practice in 10 minutes."

When Hermione left them, Ginny was hitting Ron's arm. She knew he wasn't ill-intended, but he didn't have to say it once more!

She got inside the room, leaving the door ope and sat on one of the cushions, reading a book. For the first time, she couldn't concentrate in dead silence. Her nerves were kicking in and she couldn't help herself from looking at the door.

When she heard the footsteps, she put the book back in her bag and stood up. Malfoy came inside, walking slowly towards her. He didn't even look at her once while she was watching him from the first second. 

She accioed a piece of paper and signed it with her wand. She flew the paper at him and he signed it before sending it to Snape's office. "Alright, let's do it."

Hermione bit her tongue to stop herself from saying anything nasty. If one of them started insulting, there could be an actual duel between them. Hermione was already pissed and he was, too. They were ready to take their rage out of each other given the chance.

Hermione revealed her wand, lowering it from her sleeve and hit him with a spell. "Flipendo!"

Malfoy didn't see what was coming at him before he found himself on the ground. He chewed on his lip with irritation and stood up, dusting off his pants. "I thought you wanted to play fair," a tint of playfulness hidden in his voice. 

Although she could never admit that to anyone, she liked his playful attitude. It wasn't the same as when he mocked her or the others. This one would come and go in an instant; if it was anything, it was an innocent teasing and it piqued her interest each time.

"I did, but since you insist on keeping things real, I'm willing to try your way," she smirked.

Draco strolled towards a column. "Oh my,  Granger, you're becoming quite the rebel," he hid behind the column after sending a spell at her. "Expalliarmus!"

Hermione threw herself onto one of the cushions. The spell hit the wall behind her, not creating anything. "You won't get my wand that easily, Malfoy!"

She got up to her foot and looked around the room. He was hidden behind that column before he attacked, but he could've moved to a different one when she dodged. She took slow and steady steps, "You won't hide from me all day long, won't you?"

Malfoy stepped aside revealing himself and threw a nonverbal spell at her. With a protego, she dodged it once again and he gone out of sight. She could've been able to see him if she didn't imagine a room with LESS mirrors. She cursed at herself.

"I like the room better, Granger. Definitely an upgrade on my side," he chuckled from Merlin knew where.

Hermione hid behind a column like he did and waited for an attack. He would send little spells that sparked, but she managed to evade them all. Staying hidden wasn't going to help her, she had to face him. She moved aside and held her wand tightly, waiting for his attack. Her blood was flowing all over her body, but mainly to her hands.

He was awfully quiet. Was it another tactic of his?

Hermione turned around with the sound of a whistle and found Malfoy standing right in front of her. Before she could even comprehend it all, he flicked his wand and a rope tied her wrists. She wanted to use her hand but the ropes moved to her fingers, blocking her move. 

"What the hell?!" She tried to free her hands, but it was useless. 

"You said I wouldn't get your wand that easily but it wasn't that hard either," he shrugged and came closer. 

He moved his fingers on the ropes, watching her failed attempts. He chuckled slightly, this was indeed a victory for him. He didn't say anything but looked into her eyes when his hand moved to her wand. Her eyes panicked immediately and she tried to close her fingers tightly. Draco's lips curled as he watched her anxiety. 

He never thought he could have her wand at all and yet, there he was. He gripped the wand, yanking away from her. "No!" She yelled. "You cheated!"

He took a few steps back, weighing and observing the vine-like carvings on the wand. It was definitely vine wood, but he wasn't sure of its core. The wand wasn't heavy but firm. It was elegant. It suited her.

"What's its core?" He asked still observing it in his hands.

"Give it back! I'm not telling you anything!" She yelled again.

"I will give it back, Granger. Just relax a bit will you?" She looked between him and the wand and swallowed slowly, nodding her head. "Thank you," he said and started walking around her. "So, what's the core?"

Hermione sighed and bit her lip. "It's Dragon heartstring,"

Draco's eyebrows raised in thought. "Can't say I was surprised. Dragon heartstring learns quite fast and can cast the most brilliant spells."

"I already know my wand," Hermione replied.

He smiled and looked at her. "Then you must know it's the easiest to be tended to turn to Dark Arts?"

Her eyes widened. The Dark Arts? "I would never use my magic or wand for that," she sounded offended.

Draco looked at her thoughtfully and nodded. "If you say so.“ He flicked his wand and two cushions moved to them. He sat on one of them and gestured for her to do the same. She locked eyes with him as she sat on it, fearing he would do something.

Draco cleared his throat and rolled her wand around in his hand. "I didn't mean to harm you, you know.“

He didn't know whether to look at her or not, but when he did, the shock was written all over her face and she quickly looked away. "Why else would you use that spell? To a wall that was right behind me!" 

It was a rhetoric question but he was going to answer it anyway. "You pissed me off.“

Hermione scoffed. "You do that all the time. Have you seen me blasting something at you?"

Draco smirked, but he wasn't badly intended. This was just amusing to him. "You might be right on this one, Granger. But you have to give me some credit, I didn't use a powerful confundus on you. You steamed up suddenly.“

"I steamed up suddenly?? We never would've had any of these problems if you showed up to the practice!"

Draco took a deep breath and curled his lips. "I was busy, what can I say?"

"You could've told me! We would've arranged something," she plucked at her shirt as if it was the one irritating her. "I thought you didn't come because you were embarrassed."

A bark of laughter erupted from him after a long pause. She was angry a second ago, but she hadn't heard him laugh like this for a long time and couldn't help but smile, too. She hated this. She composed herself when he looked at her. "I said I was busy Granger, there's no other reason. Don't forget I'm a Malfoy, I duelled ever since I learned the basic spells," his eyes fell on her hands. "Oh shit, sorry." He said leaning over and started to untie the ropes. 

Hermione's breath hitched when he came closer. She watched his fingers run over her hands and felt a chill run down her spine when he so casually touched her skin. Suddenly a distant, familiar tingling came to her. It was the same tingling she felt when she kissed Viktor. The same tingling when Malfoy lifted her in the air when they danced together in fourth year. She was smart enough to put two and two together, but she wasn't brave enough to verbalise what her body was trying to say to her. She couldn't even admit that to herself. 

But it was all clear. The sound of his laughter. His playful teasing. His icy blue eyes she got to see up close once again. His hands taking their time around her wrists. His perfume.

Hermione swallowed and looked away. "I won't thank you for tying me in the first place.“

Draco sat back down and nodded. "I wasn't expecting one.“

Hermione wetted her suddenly dry lips and saw him catching her action. She had to get out of here. "I think it was enough practice for today," she extended her hand.

Malfoy gave back her wand. "Are you sure? I'm not sure if I want another note on my bed."

Hermione's cheeks suddenly reddened hearing him say it. She could've just gone up to him and asked back then. Why did she even bother with something like that? "Just be here on time and we'll be fine.“

Draco didn’t answer and stood up walking towards the door. Hermione stood there still and jumped to her feet when he almost reached the door. "Malfoy!"

He turned around, a slightly curious expression on his face. "Yes?"

Her mouth acted quicker than her mind this time and she didn't know what to do. What was she even going to say? Hermione gripped her wand and took in several breaths. "Don't forget your prefect duties, alright?"

Draco raised an eyebrow at her words but otherwise seemed to accept them. He nodded his head and opened the door, stepping through it and leaving Hermione alone with herself.