The muffled cry of pain caught his attention. His head snapped up from his book and his glanced to where the noise had come from. A look of worry passed his grey eyes as he saw her nursing her finger and gingerly putting it under some running water. He suddenly felt the urge to move up and comfort her, but common sense eventually won. Just because they lived together and spent half their school days together didn't mean that they had to be friends. Instead, with his characteristic smirk, he casually commented, "I thought perfect Miss Granger would know how to handle an oven…obviously I was mistaken." With that hanging in the air, he picked up his book and sauntered up the stairs to his room.
"I thought perfect Miss Granger would know how to handle an oven…obviously I was mistaken." Those words hurt her but she wouldn't let them show, at least not while he was there. As soon as she heard the door closing, she leaned against the kitchen bench and stared out the window. Though there was a throbbing pain in her hand, her thoughts kept going back to a certain boy. They had known each other since the start of their years at school and they seemed to have had a mutual agreement to be sworn enemies. That went on for a few years…until the war.
The war had revealed many things to her and one of them had been his true identity. During school, she had always thought of him as arrogant, selfish and spoilt rotten to the core. As they fought side-by-side, she slowly came to realise there was more to him then his mask of arrogance. He had shown her that he had a humane heart and that if she searched deep enough, she would find the real Draco Malfoy.
They had returned to school after Voldemort had been defeated. Harry was hailed a hero for his bravery during the war. Hermione was acknowledged for her wisdom and courage. Everyone seemed to be getting some sort of credit for the downfall of the Dark Lord. Everyone…except for Draco. He was left out, in the shadows, gaunt and hollow faced. She had often tried to mention the role that he had played but it was always eventually drowned out. After a while, she had stopped trying and he slowly disappeared into the darkness. That was until Professor McGonagall announced that the Head Girl and Boy would be Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. They had politely exchanged glances as the school cheered them on. Nothing else had happened between the pair except for the occasional conversations and the seeming endless arguments. But why did his name refuse to leave her mind?
A low creak of the wooden door caused her to look up the stone staircase. There he stood, casually leaning against the frame of the door, running a hand through his blonde hair. She noticed that it had grown longer and that it fell just above his piercing grey eyes and framed his angular face. Mentally scolding herself for…noticing that, Hermione peered into the shadows to see why the Slytherine Prince, Head Boy Draco Malfoy 'graced her with his presence'. Almost as if he had read her mind, he made his way down the steps. She watched him from her position in the kitchen.
After thinking about what had happened, Draco decided to go down to Hermione and apologise. He knew that she had been hurt by his cruel words and he had instantly felt guilty as soon as the words left his mouth. Hermione…that name brought a tsunami of thoughts and emotions that it sometimes got too much to handle. Irritation, anger, guilt, shame and more recently friendship.
In the months when people seemed to forget about him, she was there offering to help him out with his work and Head Boy duties. He had bluntly refused her, saying that she already had enough to do and that she didn't need to stick her bushy head in other people's business. However, from that day on, he felt something that he had yearned for so much of his childhood. He felt that someone cared about him. She had seen through his unfeeling mask and found the real Draco. She didn't know it yet but those acts of kindness had sparked something in him. He was willing to try and become a better person and to get to know this bushy-haired, know-it-all, miss-goody-two-shoes Hermione Granger better.
When he stepped out of his room, he saw her, leaning against the kitchen bench, a wistful smile playing on her lips. She was still awkwardly holding her hand at her side, careful to keep it away from touching anything. Her warm hazel gaze was directed his way and he could see that her head was slightly tilted to the side, almost as if she was asking "What are you doing now?" He made his way down, careful to avoid the searching eyes of Granger. Walking up to her, he felt his hands beginning to sweat and thought to himself 'Why am I sweating? This is nothing special…'
He looked up at her face and saw a look of surprise. Her lips were slightly parted and her brown eyes were wide open. Looking at her hand, Draco winced as he saw a painful burn on one of her fingers. As he stood in front of her, he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. This was going to be difficult but he had to do it anyway. She deserved an apology, after all she had done to go out of the way and try to be considerate of him. "Uhhh…I'm sorry about what I said before…I didn't realise that you'd hurt yourself that badly," he mumbled. He could feel his normally pale face burning up. With that he turned around and briskly made his way up back to his room.
"Uhhh…I'm sorry about what I said before…I didn't realise that you'd hurt yourself that badly,"
Hermione gasped. Was THE Draco Malfoy actually voluntarily apologising to her? This could not be happening. He was the pureblood, good-for-nothing jerk who had always pushed her away for being a…muggle-born. Now he decide to apologise for saying something that he would normally say? Confused at what had just happened, she walked out of the Heads Tower and made her way to the Gryffindor Common Room. Maybe there she would be able to talk to Ginny about what had happened.
Draco locked the door and collapsed onto his luxuriously made bed. Calming himself down, he played the scene over and over again in his mind. As soon as he said the words, Hermione had let out a quiet gasp of surprise and seemed to be lost for words. She had brought her hand up to her mouth, realising what she had done. She had looked so innocent and young, far from the Hermione had had seen during the war. Suddenly, he felt a strong urge to hex the people who had taken her childhood away from her so fast. She deserved to be a normal teenager, a normal girl. She didn't deserve to wake up in the middle of the night, screaming from nightmares about what had happened during the war.
It pained him to realise that her most traumatic memory, the one she would always wake up screaming about was one that he could easily have prevented. During the night, he would her crying out "I didn't take it, I swear I didn't. I don't know what you're talking about!" These words chilled him right down to the core. He had heard those exact words being screamed over and over again and he felt ashamed because he could do nothing to take them away from her.
Malfoy Manor once echoed with those words, accompanied by a woman's maniacal laughter. He had watched the scene unfold, right before his very eyes but he was too cowardly, too afraid to have done anything about it. Hermione had glanced at him, begging him to help her, to save her from Bellatrix. Draco had avoided her looks and blocked out the pained cries and screams coming from her mouth. That night, he had cried himself to sleep, tears of shame running down his gaunt face, images of the girl writhing on the floor burned into his mind.
Now, he could feel the same tears burning down his cheeks and felt responsible for the pain and suffering that she had to go through. He vowed to never have anyone hurt her so much. With that, he walked out of the Heads Tower and headed outside, heading for the willow trees by the lake. He wanted some time to himself, to think about what he could do for a certain, brown-haired girl.
She wandered towards the Gryffindor Tower. She realised with a pang of guilt that she hadn't visited as often as she promised. Ever since she had become Head Girl, she had moved into the Heads Tower with Draco Malfoy. This had meant that she left behind her dear friends from Gryffindor. They had promised each other that they would visit, but with the mounds of homework given by the teachers, it was sometimes impossible to even find time to talk to her friends. Nevertheless, she was still close with Ginny and often consulted her about 'other dilemmas'. Ginny was a year younger than Hermione, but she had her fair share of boyfriends and seemed to know best when it came to guys.
As she passed the heavy oaks doors of the Entrance Hall, she felt the warm spring breeze, slipping in through the gap between the wood and the stone floor. Wanting to feel the warmth, she opened the doors and headed outside. "The lake looks rather peaceful and the willow trees are always the best to sit under…" Hermione muttered to herself as she strolled across the newly mown lawn.
"HERMIONE!"
The excited cry brought Hermione's mind back to reality. Recognising Ginny's voice, Hermione smiled and turned to the direction the voice had come from. A flash of ginger hair was the only warning she got, as Hermione was tackled by her best friend. They both collapsed onto the grass and Hermione playfully shoved the younger girl off her. Dusting themselves off, they got to their feet and walked off towards the willows by the lake as they chatted about everything, from the recent school gossip to the food at last night's dinner.
"HERMIONE!"
Draco opened his eyes at the sound of her name. He recognised Ginny Weasley's high pitched voice and groaned inwardly. He had never taken a liking to any of the Weasleys and Ginny Weasley only brought back memories of his second year at Hogwarts. He glanced up to where the voice had come from and saw the fiery red hair of Ginny Weasley streaming towards Hermione. From where he was sitting by the willows, Draco could see Hermione's face light up at the sight of her friend. He saw Ginny flying a tackle at her and they both collapsed onto the grass. Draco held in a chuckle as the two girls roll around on the school lawn. He had never known Hermione to be a 'roll-around-in-the-grass' person but he had come to realise that Hermione wasn't always uptight and 'McGonagall-like'.
"Hey Malfoy, what are you looking at?"
Ron Waesley's voice broke through his thoughts and Draco instinctively put on his emotionless mask. He turned to face Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, making his way towards him. Many people had decided to ignore Draco Malfoy after the war but these two had certainly not forgotten him. Ron especially hated him with a passion, something that Draco could not understand. He knew that Harry Potter might probably have a reason to hate him but he could not grasp why Ron absolutely detested him.
"What do you want Weasley?" Draco replied, sounding rather exasperated. He was not in a mood to argue with a stupid Weasel and the Boy-who-Lived. He wanted them to go away and ignore him like everyone else. The pair strolled their way right up to Draco. They stood towering over him, as he sat, leaning against the trunk of the tree. Ron spoke first, very much to Draco's surprise. He had always thought of Ron as the side-kick of the mighty Harry Potter…but maybe he was wrong…
"I said, what are you looking at ferret? I'm assuming that you were looking at my Hermione over there…or was it Ginny? I'm just going to tell you…bloody stay away from Hermione because she's mine and stay away from Ginny because she absolutely hates you!" Ron spat at Draco. The tips of his ears were turning a bright red and Draco after years of experience, had come to realise that it meant that Weasley was quite annoyed. He watched in amusement as Harry tugged him back. The Weasel wasn't finished yet…seeing Draco's composed expression, he seemed to lose his wits. He lunged at Draco unexpectedly, breaking out of Harry's grip. The fists came flying at Draco as he thought "This is a great day…"