Hermione woke up as the sunshine hits her face through the sheer curtains of her room. There was a smile on her face. Last night was unforgettable.
-Last Night
"Hello Beautiful." Draco said to her.
"Malfoy..." She blushed. Never in her life had she thought that The Draco Malfoy will ever call her beautiful. The same guy that had said that she's invisible, that she's nothing. The guy that she had a crush on since she first saw him on the train back to Hogwarts this year.
"May I have this dance, my lady?" He said as he offered his arms and bowed down.
"You are such a drama queen." She said slightly giggling.
"Uh-uh, Granger, King." He said smirking. "And I'll take that as a yes."
"It's not like there's someone else that's going to ask me to dance, now is there?" she said shaking her head.
"Let's go then."
And they did. They danced their last dance together, never leaving each other's eyes. Hermione didn't know what was really going on because she felt light headed. The dance didn't last long though. It ended fairly quickly.
They stood there for about a minute in silence but Draco decided to break it.
"Would you like to take a walk? You know, before we go back to our dorm?" He asked blushing, ever so slightly which made it so hard to notice.
"Hermione!" They heard a voice shouting and turned to see who it was.
It was Ginny who was holding Harry's hands.
"Gin. Harry." Hermione greeted them and Draco just stood there beside her
"Hey." Ginny greeted her back as she hugged her. "We just wanted to see if you wanted to walk with us."
"Oh." She said, she was going to be their third wheel again.
"Actually, Granger already agreed to walk with me." Draco said saving her on being a chaperone.
"I did?" She whispered so that only he can hear.
"Yep." He smiled at her.
"Oh." Ginny said "Well good night then. See you tomorrow." She added and kissed her on the cheek.
"You too Gin." Hermione replied and proceeded to hug harry to say good night. "Good night, Harry."
"Good night, Mione." Harry hugged her back. After that he held Ginny's hand and walked away from them.
"Thank you, for saving my butt from being their chaperone again." She said to Draco once Ginny and Harry were far from them.
"You're welcome, my lady." He said, once again bowing.
"You should stop calling me that, you know. I might get used to it." She said, playfully shoving his shoulder.
"Well, by all means, my lady, get used to it." He tilted his head and offered his arms. "Shall we walk?"
"Yes, yes we shall."
They were silent at first. Walking the halls of Hogwarts for the last time gave them this eerie feeling. They weren't the only ones taking a stroll around, there were other students too. They didn't mind each other since they were all seventh year. They all will be graduating tomorrow and wanted to reminisce their time there in Hogwarts.
"So..." Draco started. "Any plans after Hogwarts."
"I still haven't got to that." She replied shyly.
"Why not? I imagined that you have had this planned ever since the beginning of time." He said and she wasn't sure if it was a compliment or an insult. Maybe a little of both?
"You see, before the war, I have had this planned. I wanted to be a ministry worker. You know, I already had this organization..."
"Spew you mean?" He interrupted.
"It's not spew, it's S.P.E.W. and where did you hear that?"
"You? You talk about it every single time I ordered an elf around this past year that we've been living together."
"Oh." She blushed.
"Yeah. So, anyway, go on."
"And then, after the war. Things just got crazy, you know? Then I decided to take things slowly. One step at a time..." she trailed off.
"And?" He said catching on.
"And I still haven't written my speech for tomorrow yet. And I'm kind of nervous."
"Just speak from the heart."
"Well easy for you to say! You've got the confidence."
"And you've got the courage. Granger, you've help Potter defeat the dark lord. There's nothing you can't do."
"So, back to Granger now is it? What happened to 'my lady'?" she asked mocking him.
"Of all the things I said, that's what you get?" he said holding his heart faking a shocked expression.
"Oh, shove off, I heard you. And thanks, by the way."
"You're welcome once again, my lady." He said.
Hermione laughed at him. "So what about you? What are your plans after tomorrow?"
"Well, I wanted to be a healer."He said hopefully.
"That's nice." She said smiling, imagining Draco in a white lab coat.
"But I can't."
"Oh? Why not?"
"I'm going away." He said sadly.
"Oh." Was what all she can say.
"I need to travel for the family business."
She was speechless. There they were, finally getting along and Draco suddenly drops that bomb at her.
"Hey, don't be sad. I'll be back you know? And I promise I'll write?"
"Draco. Don't feel the need that you have to write to me."
"But isn't that what friends do, write to each other?"
"Yeah, but you don't have to promise me anything."
"I know. I just want to."
"Okay then, pinkie swear it." She said holding out her pinkie for him.
"Pinkie swear." He said slightly laughing at the girl in front of him. You know, she can be childish sometimes. But then again, they were robbed of their childhood. "Come on. Let's go back. It's getting late and you still have a speech to give tomorrow."
"UGH! Don't remind me." She said dreadfully.
-End
There was a slight knocking on her door and already knew who it was. Of course, since they are practically living with each other.
"I'm coming Draco!" She shouted and tried to get to the door before he knocks again.
She opened the door and found a smirking Draco Malfoy leaning at her door frame with his hands as support.
"I love it when you say my first name." He teased.
"UGH!"
"Is that a way to treat a friend?"
"Yes. When that friend disturbed your peaceful morning."
"Well then, I'm sorry. But you have got to move it, woman! The ceremony is about to begin in no less than an hour!"
"What?" She shouted as she noticed him fully dressed with his robes.
"I've been knocking at your door for about an hour or two."
"Why didn't you knock harder?"
"Ah, well remember the last time I did that? You hexed me. And that's not what scared me. It was the nest that you call hair." He said laughing at the memory.
"Why are you so infuriating?" She said slamming the door at his face and proceeded to get ready for their graduation.
After thirty minutes of waiting, Hermione went down form her room to their common room.
"Ready, my lady?" Draco said offering his arms at Hermione.
"Let's just get this over with."
They went to the ceremony together but sat down with their own houses and waited for Professor McGonagall to call her to give her speech which made her more nervous since Draco was not there beside her to cheer on her.
Hermione drifted off to her own little world
"And now, to give her speech, our Head Girl, Miss Hermione Granger." Professor McGonagall announced as the students and parents rose and applaud.
"Thank you, Professor." She said and smiled to Professor McGonagall as she took the podium. She was nervous but then saw Draco who was mouthing to her 'You can do it, say it form the heart.' While pointing at his heart. She nodded and carried on.
"Good day, fellow classmates. Today is the day that we have all we've been waiting for, our graduation day.
Classmates, thank you for the journey here, thank you for the experiences and the memories. Parents, thank you for letting us find ourselves, thank you for supporting our dreams and being behind us through all of our decisions. Teachers, thank you for all the guidance and the lessons that you have given and thought us. Hogwarts, thank you for being our second home for the past seven years, for everything.
Classmates, today, we mark not only the end of our years as student but the beginning of a new journey, the journey where we take hand in hand with friends that we have earned through the years here, in our beloved Alma matter. One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, right here, right now, in this single, solitary, monumental moment in your life – is to decide, without apology, to commit to the journey, and not to the outcome.
So, fellow classmates, I am delighted to say, we are now all Graduates. We did it!"
All of the individual who was there at the Great hall – Students, teachers, parents and guests alike, stood up and applaud.
They were graduates.
Draco waited for Hermione to go down the stage to congratulate her.
"Hey!" She greeted.
"Hey!" He said back.
She hugged him.
"Congrats. You did it."
"Thank you couldn't have done it without you."
"That was all you, Granger."
"Still, thank you."
"Yeah." He said ruffling his hair. "Listen, Hermione, I need to tell you something."
"Yes?"
"I'll be going away tonight."
"Tonight-tonight?"
"Yeah... I'll keep my promise though. I'll write."
"You better!" She said pointing her finger at him.
They then hugged it out and Draco said goodbye.