Chapter 4
The next morning they met in the common room ready to conquer the great hall.
“Right let’s get this over and done with” Hermione said as she saw Draco make his way towards her.
“If we walk the longer route more people will be in the hall. Weasley will definitely be there then.” Draco said, taking her bag from her and silently offering to take it.
The two walked down to the great hall, Hermione amicably explaining the novel she was ready the previous night to Draco.
Ron had never taken the time to listen to Hermione talk about the books she was reading, he would usually tell her that he wasn’t interested in that stuff and change the subject.
She liked that Draco listened to her and he seemed to be genuinely intrigued by what she was saying, she couldn’t help but smile, she silently scolded herself reminding herself that this is all an act.
“You sure you want to do this Granger? Absolutely no backing down now.” Draco said, looking over to her.
“Absolutely no backing down.” Hermione repeated to Draco taking a deep breath, Draco turned and pushed the door open.
The two walked into the hall together Hermione still talking about the book she was reading, she could feel all eyes on her.
Draco handed her book bag over to her and placed it on her shoulder letting his hand linger longer than would be considered friendly, Hermione then quickly made her way to her seat whilst Draco casually walked over to his friends.
“Why were you walking with Malfoy?” Harry asked immediately, he was very sceptical about Hermione sharing a dorm with him at the start of the year. Of course he would be concerned.
Draco and Harry had said their apologies and became civil, though they never really made it to friends. The occasional nod when Harry saw Draco in the dorm or if they were sitting together in class.
“Oh Malfoy and I were just coming down to the hall at the same time and he offered to carry my bag for me.” Hermione said, taking some toast and fruits.
“Well isn’t that lovely, Malfoy has been paying a lot of attention to you lately.” Ginny said, looking over at Hermione, then over to the Slytherin table.
Hermione didn't respond, she just took a bite out of her toast and started to read her book. Hermione could see Ron out of the corner of her eye flaring at Malfoy from across the table.
“He is quite lovely.” Hermione said absentmindedly. “I mean not always but sometimes, most of the time he’s a bit of git but he has his moments.”
Hermione looked down the table to Ron who was absolutely furious. Feeling anxious not wanting Ron to cause a scene in front of everyone in the great hall she decided to get to class early. “I’m going to head out early. I want to grab something from my dorm.”
Hermione left the table hastily walking towards the door, she didn’t feel like dealing with an outburst from Ron in public nor did she feel like dealing with one at all.
“Hermione what the fuck are you doing with Malfoy!” Hermione heard Ron yell from behind her, she picked her pace up and tried to make her the classroom.
“I’m serious Hermione what the fuck is Malfoy doing to you I’ll kill him!” Ron yelled again, his anger showing through his tone.
“Stop it Ron!” Hermione yelled back at him, spinning around to face him. “Malfoy isn’t doing anything to me! You have no right to control who I talk to! Not after what you did!”
Ron froze, his expression changing to one of regret. “Hermione please! I’m sorry.”
“No Ronald you aren’t! You're only sorry that you lost your chance!” Hermione yelled at him, her eyes filling up with tears.
Ron was left speechless, he stood in the middle of the hallway as Hermione walked away trying to stop herself from crying.
“You and Granger are getting close.” Blaise said quite loudly when he saw Draco approach the table.
Draco only rolled his eyes at Blaise and ignored Theo’s suggestive looks, going back to eating his breakfast.
“You might want to go check on Granger.” Theo said, grabbing Draco’s attention again.
“What?” Draco snapped looking up at Theo, his face adorned with a worried expression.
“Weasley practically chased after Granger out the hall, she looked fairly upset.” Theo said notioning towards the door. He stood up immediately and followed behind the two quietly.
He watched the whole thing unfold, he watched as Weasley yelled at her and he watched as she yelled back, he waited until Wealsey left muttering something incoherent to find Hermione.
“Ron please I can’t!” Hermione said tears swelling in her eyes turning around assuming the footsteps she heard were Ron’s.
“Oh Malfoy, I'm sorry.” Hermione said, realising she had yelled at Malfoy, her eyes filling with tears again. “I thought you were Ron and-”
“Granger, it's alright.” Draco said, walking alongside her, rubbing her back. “Let’s get you to class, I know you would hate it to only be on time.”
Hermione chuckled at the joke as the two walked long to class, she enjoyed the walk.
So did Draco.
Hermione’s day went pretty uneventfully besides the glares from Lavender and her friends, Ron’s constant glances at her from across the room and Ginny bringing up Malfoy any chance she got.
“You're blind if you can’t see that Malfoy has a thing for you.” Ginny said, walking alongside Hermione towards the green houses.
“Maybe you're blind Ginny, gosh why did Professor Sprout make us come out here at this house.” Hermione groaned. Her, Ginny, Zabini and Draco were all to meet at the green houses and water every plant in the two greenhouses.
“Well I’m not sure if Zabini or Malfoy are going to show. Do you want to start on one green house and I’ll start on the other?” Hermione suggested, Ginny agreed and the two girls got to work.
Draco and Blaise rushed down the hill to the greenhouse, they had got caught up in the common room and almost completely forgot about the detention.
“Fuck, they’ve already started. I’ll go help Granger, you go help Weasley!” Draco said to Blaise running towards the greenhouse Hermione was working without waiting for an answer from Blaise.
“Whipped.” Blaise muttered under his breath, walking over to find Weasley and help her.
“Granger.” Draco called out trying to find her in the large greenhouse, shit, they had a lot of watering to do.
“Malfoy.” Hermione said, peeking her head out of one the rows to look at him. “You're late.”
“Sorry professor.” Draco said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at her snide remark. “Alright, give me a watering can.”
Hermione handed him a watering can and went back to watering her portion of the green house, subsequently ignoring him.
“Granger, what’s wrong.” Draco asked, coming up behind her and leaving over her shoulder.
“Nothings wrong Malfoy.” Hermione told him ducking under his arm moving to water the next plant.
“Then why are you ignoring me?” Draco questioned, pushing her further.
“I’m upset about Ronald and I don’t fancy talking about it alright!” Hermione snapped turning around to him, giving him her best glare.
“Alright then we won’t talk about weasel-b.” Draco said laughing to himself about the nickname. “Well what do you want to talk about then?”
Hermione stood quietly contemplating about what they should talk about or if they should talk at all. “Hmph, what’s it like in the Slytherin Common Room.”
“Seriously Granger. That’s all you got?” Draco said chuckling, “Well it’s cold and darkish and green.”
“Wow really? I wouldn’t have guessed!” Hermione said sarcastically.
“How about I show you then.” Draco said. Hermione looked shocked at his suggestion.
“Seriously?” Hermione asked sceptically.
“Yes I’m serious come on let’s ditch this dirt house, don’t worry about Weasley and Blaise. I’m sure they’ll get along fine.” Draco said, guiding her towards the door gently.