DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything that you may recognize below, this all belongs to the amazing J.K. Rowling.
Summary: Hermione and Draco become friends in first year because of their mutual love for academics. Draco at this time, does not care about his father's blood purity opinions. As the years progress, and Voldemort comes back into power, Draco realizes he is too far involved with Hermione to drop her for her blood status, and more than that, he doesn't care. Naturally, there is a romance between the two, and they grow close over the years, becoming more than just each other's lover. They become best friends. At the same time, Harry is facing the same challenges he always did, and Hermione remains close friends with him and Ron. She just has a secret lover on the side.
So this is the first Harry Potter fanfic I'm posting here. I'm not sure how often updates can be expected, or how long the chapters will be, and I have absolutely no idea how long this will be. I intend to follow the couple through their entire Hogwarts career, and probably not much after that. Each year should take a few chapters, but I think the later years will have more chapters. I have no idea. I'm just writing as it comes, and we shall see the finished product eventually.
I don't have a beta, so any grammar mistakes are my own, and ones I didn't catch in my own editing.
Enjoy, and leave a review if you did!
The blond boy from Slytherin was staring at Hermione again. Not that the twelve year old girl minded, she just didn't understand why. All she was doing was reading ahead in her transfiguration textbook, hoping to catch up to where her classmates were. That was a downfall to being muggle-born. Simple things that her pureblood and half-blood counterparts had known since birth, she was only now discovering. Sure she had spent her summer before Hogwarts reading everything she could, but she still felt like she was lacking. It must have made her seem very boring, the fact that she was always reading. Maybe that's why she had been having trouble making friends in the month since term began. Maybe they all just thought she was boring.
That didn't offer an explanation for why the blond boy was still watching her across the library though. She caught his eye, and raised an eyebrow, as if to ask "what?" He smirked and rose from his seat. Oh no, Hermione thought. I've drawn attention to myself. Hermione would be the first to admit she hated attention.
"What are you doing?" The boy asked, standing across the table from Hermione.
"Reading," she replied, refusing to make eye contact with the ice grey eyes she saw. They scared her a little bit.
"I can see that. But we aren't that far in class yet." He gestured to the page she was looking at. He was right. They weren't on chapter seven yet. They were on chapter two.
"I like to read ahead," she offered as her reply, looking up at the boy. She was glad to see that his gaze was still on her textbook.
"Is that how you know all the answers in class? Reading ahead?" He asked, raising his eyes to look at her.
She nodded. "I'm muggle-born. I need to prove that I belong here."
The blond boy sat down. He pulled the book across the table so that it was turned the proper way for him to read it. "You've done that. You know everything. Do you- Could you- I mean, I'm almost as smart as you, I just struggle with transfiguration. With good reason too; McGonagall hates me. Do you think you could help me?"
Hermione could tell he was embarrassed to ask. She knew he was a pureblood, and that it must not be acceptable for him to ask for help. But she also decided that she couldn't turn down the opportunity to help someone. It would be good review for her anyways.
"Sure. I'll help you. When do you want to start?" For the first time in the conversation, Hermione comfortably met the blond boy's eyes.
"Now?" He asked, seemingly unsure again.
"Alright. Have you started the essay on the properties of mammals yet? Oh, by the way, I'm Hermione Granger." She waited expectantly for his answer.
"No. I haven't. And," he smirked, "I'm Draco Malfoy."
Hermione soon realized that it wasn't that Draco Malfoy wasn't smart. No he was brilliant. More than that, he knew he was smart, but when it came to transfiguration, it seemed he lacked confidence, not knowledge. Hermione didn't blame him. In the same way that Professor Snape degraded all the Gryffindors, Professor McGonagall berated the Slytherins. She just didm it in more subtle ways. Through the month of October, Hermione noted that whenever they were working on something, and someone like Neville needed help with, for example, his wand motions, McGonagall would demonstrate to the individual slowly. But when it came to someone like Draco, she would say something about paying attention.
It was these subtle things that were slowly making poor Draco lose his mind. Nobody else seemed to notice the Slytherin bashing in that class. Hermione was disgusted that a teacher other than Snape would get involved in house rivalries. She didn't say anything to Draco though. She just encouraged him the best she could while they had their secret tutoring sessions.
Hermione very quickly realized that their sessions would have to be done without the knowledge of anyone else. She knew Draco had a reputation to uphold, and he couldn't have that tainted by the fact that he was being tutored by a muggle-born. On Hermione's end, she was already enough of an outcast without her only companion being in Slytherin, she didn't need other members of her house to find out. She would be labelled a traitor. So the pair of first years met secretly in the library, or down by the lake, or underneath the quid ditch pitch. Anywhere they could ensure they wouldn't be seen by anyone for a while.
Hermione was pleased at the progress Draco was making. As the month came to a close, their studying sessions became longer, but they spent less time tutoring Transfiguration and more time completing other homework together. They read over each others essays, checked homework answers and did some of the more challenging assignments alongside each other. They often found themselves in lighthearted debates over various topics. Draco too had begun to read ahead when he could, and they liked to quiz each other on information the day before it was set to be taught. Hermione's grades remained always just above Draco's, though he was reluctant to admit defeat. But the fact remained that there was only one class where Draco dominated: Flying. Hermione always argued that flying wasn't a real class, but Draco said that since they had to pass it, it was. That debate remained their most heated topic.
The day of Halloween, a Friday, there was to be a feast and then a dance for the older years. The first through third years were not welcome, and they had to be in their houses for the evening following the feast. Draco and Hermione had plans to meet by the quidditch pitch to revise for a practical test the next week, before parting ways and joining the feast. Hermione was excited, because this was the most complex series of Charms spells they had learned yet. But on her way to the pitch, she overheard two of her fellow Gryffindor first years talking.
"It's LeviOsa, not LeviosA," Ron Weasley was saying to Harry Potter. "She's a nightmare, honestly." Hermione knew they were talking about her. She had tried to help a struggling Ron with his charms earlier in class, when he had the pronunciation wrong. She didn't mean to sound pretentious, she just didn't want him to get hurt. Clearly her efforts were not appreciated.
Harry nodded as Ron kept talking. "It's no wonder she hasn't got any friends."
Hermione's eyes stung with tears that threatened to overflow. She pushed past the two of them, her plans with Draco forgotten and rushed to the first floor girl's bathroom. "I think she heard you," Harry said as she sped past them.
Hermione locked herself in the farthest stall from the door, closing the toilet seat and sitting on it. She pulled her legs up and rested her head on her knees. It wasn't like she was an emotionless encyclopaedia. She had feelings, and those two heartless boys had hurt them. She supposed they were right though. She didn't have any friends. Every time she tried to talk to any of them they ignored her. Even Neville, who she had helped with the search for the missing toad, caught on and copied the rest, ignoring her. The girls she roomed with were pleasant if she said good morning or good night to her, but they never said it to her first. Hermione knew they were different from her, and maybe that's why they weren't friends. They were very girly, and they liked to talk about fashion and boys as they did their hair. Hermione was more content to read a book or over achieve her homework. And she had no intentions of changing who she was. She just wanted someone to talk to. She just wanted a friend.
Hermione lost track of how long she was in the stall for, but she knew she was late for her meeting with Draco. That brought on a new round of sobbing, because she had blown off the only person who gave her the time of day, even if they were only friendly in secret. What if he got offended and realized she was just a good for nothing know it all? She cried over the loss that hadn't happened yet, though she was certain it would.
"Hermione?" A tentative voice called out from the doorway. When nobody answered, the door squeaked open all the way and footsteps entered the bathroom.
"Hermione? Are you in here?" Sniffles from one of the stalls gave him an answer. Hermione heard the footsteps coming closer. The person, Draco, she recognized, pushed on a few stalls until one didn't give in. He knocked once.
"Hermione? I got worried when you didn't show up. I figured you'd forgotten and was on my way back to see if I could find you when I overheard two Gryffindor girls saying they saw you in here." He knocked on the stall again. "Are you crying? Let me in please."
Hermione didn't know what made her do it, but slowly, she let her feet down onto the ground and stood. She timidly unlocked the stall and opened the door. She wiped at her eyes roughly keeping her head down as she tried to remove the tears that were still flowing.
"Why are you crying?"
"It's stupid," Hermione said with a raspy voice. She cleared her throat.
"No it's not. If it's got you this upset, then it must be important." Draco tilted her chin up, forcing her to look at him. Her wet, bloodshot eyes met his uncharacteristically warm grey ones.
"It's just that, Ron and Harry, they were saying things about me today. Hurtful things, after I tried to help them." Hermione cast her gaze back down, even if Draco's grip on her chin wouldn't let her hang her whole head. She was ashamed at herself for being so silly.
"What did they say?" Draco's other hand found its way onto Hermione's shoulder.
"They said I was a nightmare know-it-all, and that it's no wonder I haven't got any friends. They're right." Hermione tried to keep her voice from shaking, but she failed. She was able to keep from breaking down into sobs again though.
"That's not true. They're wrong. You're not a nightmare. You're brilliant. You're smart; smarter than them. You're helpful and you're not a know-it-all. I saw the scene in Charms class. You were helping so he didn't blow himself up like that git Finnegan. You were the first to get the spell right. And they're wrong about something else too, aren't they?" Hermione finally looked up, curious as to what else they were apparently wrong about.
"They were wrong about you not having friends. You've got me, haven't you?"
Hermione considered this. It was true; Draco was the only person she talked to. Was he her friend?
"You've got me, Hermione. I'm your friend," Draco clarified for her when she said nothing. "I thought you knew that?"
Hermione continued to say nothing.
"Don't doubt this for a second. You've become one of my best friends, even if we can't go in public like this. I don't like seeing my friends cry," Draco said.
Hermione blinked twice. He meant it, she could tell. "Thank you," she whispered.
"Come here you silly girl," Draco opened his arms and pulled the small girl into a comforting hug. She returned it, resting her chin on his shoulder. It wasn't hard, since they were almost the same height. He had less than an inch on her.
"Let's go to the feast. I'll go ahead of you, and you can take a few more minutes here if you want. I'll see you tomorrow. I still want that revision session." Draco gave her one final squeeze before releasing her and heading off. He looked back once, to see if she had moved. She had, and was slowly walking towards the sinks.
Hermione gazed at her sad reflection in the mirror, and tried to smile, thinking about what the boy had said. She met his eyes in the mirror. He was watching her, clearly worried. She felt bad that he had to worry about her like that, but not bad enough to say anything. It was kind of nice to have someone to care about her after being alone for so long.
Suddenly, something rather large and ugly appeared in the reflection, behind Draco. Hermione screamed.
"What?" Draco asked, eyes widening at her outburst. He didn't need an answer though, because he felt the floor shake under the weight of the beast behind him.
"Is that a…" Hermione didn't finish, not believing her eyes.
"Troll? Yeah." Draco and Hermione looked at each other with horror. "Run!"
They didn't get far before the troll had them cornered, stuck in the bathroom. They ducked under the sinks, hoping it hadn't seen their movements. No such luck. Draco shoved Hermione one way, and he dove the other as the troll's club bashed down right where they had been just a second earlier.
"Hermione!" A new voice called. Hermione looked up at the doorway to see Ron and Harry.
"Help!" She shrieked, racing towards a stall. She ducked into one, but the troll was adamant to get her. He swiped across the entire row with his club, and Hermione screamed again.
At this point, Hermione noted that neither Ron nor Harry had seen Draco. In the back of her mind, Hermione knew she would be thankful for this later, when the troll wasn't about to kill her. But at the moment, all she could think to say was "run, get out of here!" She made brief eye contact with Draco, and urged him to leave. After all, it was more important to her that her only friend escape the troll than the two boys who had been the catalyst for her crying in the first place.
Draco hesitated, but recognized the look on Hermione's face to be serious. He nodded once, giving her a hard stare, before fleeing to find a teacher. If he couldn't save her from the troll, he could at least find some authority figure to save her from her potential wounds.
He raced towards the great hall, seeing a trail of teachers racing down towards the dungeons.
"Professor!" He yelled, hoping any of them would turn around. "Professor McGonagall!" He recognized the last professor in line and shouted her name. She turned, looking impatient.
"The troll! It's in the girl's bathroom! And it's got three students trapped there!"
McGonagall's eyes widened and she called out to her colleagues. She sent Draco off to his common room, intending to deal with him later.
Meanwhile, Harry was taking a ride on the head of the troll, trying anything he could to strangle it, or behead it; Hermione couldn't tell which. He was unsuccessful either way, and it took Hermione coaching Ron through the very same spell that had caused so much grief just hours ago to make it finally collapse unconscious. The three children were staring at the lump of green when Professors McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell arrived moments later.
"Explain yourselves, all of you," McGonagall said, pointing between the three of them.
"It's my fault, Professor," Hermione spoke up first. "I wasn't feeling well, and I came here before going to the feast. I didn't know about the troll, and I guess these two came looking for it? Or for me, I don't know exactly."
"We knew she was here professor, and when she didn't come to the feast, we figured she was still here. We came to warn her and bring her to the common room." Harry spoke with a calmness Hermione had never heard before. Maybe it was because she was still shaken from her afternoon, but it sounded like Potter cared.
"And what was Mr. Malfoy's role in this scenario?"
Hermione felt the blood drain from her face. She tried to maintain a straight poker face, while Ron and Harry were completely confused.
"Malfoy?" Ron asked. "He wasn't here?" His statement sounded like a question, and he sounded honestly confused.
"Perhaps, professor, he was down the hall in the boys bathroom, and on his way back to the Great Hall he saw the troll?" Hermione offered an explanation, hoping she didn't sound like she was making an excuse. "He was never in here."
That seemed to satisfy McGonagall, though Snape looked doubtful. Hermione looked down. "Well, you'd better return to your dormitories before it wakes up. Do not leave for the remainder of the night." McGonagall gestured that the three of them should leave, and they did as she asked, Hermione silently trailing behind the two boys.
They were almost at the Fat Lady's portrait when Hermione was the first to speak. "Thank you," she said quietly. "For saving me. If you hadn't, I'd probably be dead."
Ron and Harry turned around and surprisingly, they both smiled at her. "It's what friends do," Harry said. Because there were some things that couldn't be done together, without achieving a sense of companionship from the memories. Apparently, conquering a fully grown mountain troll was one of these things.