I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE HARRY POTTER CHARACTERS. THEY ARE PROPERTY OF J.K. ROWLING AND THE HARRY POTTER SERIES.
Draco walked the empty streets looking for someone. He knew it was hopeless, it was 8:30 at night, but he looked anyway. He wished she didn't live in the Muggle world. He was a wreck. He had spent a week locked up in his room arguing with himself and his feelings. If his father found out he would surely be fired. You see, Lucius Malfoy decided to start a family company after Draco graduated from Hogwarts. It produced magical artifacts that were distributed across the world to torture shops. Torture shops are shops that carry Muggle torturing devices that are often sold to Muggle torturers, wizards that catch Muggles and torture them for sport. Draco was working there as Head Chairman of MaLucius, Inc. (the name is a play on words Malfoy and Lucius mixed together to sound like malicious as in bad, or evil). His father had deep hatred for Muggles and "Mudbloods". He believed pure was the only way to great wizards. Draco had once believed him, but over the years, his thoughts had begun to change. Hey, Voldemort, the greatest dark wizard of all time had been a Mudblood. Now, Draco was falling for one. A Mudblood by the name of Hermione Granger. She didn't know yet. Neither did his father. No one knew but him, and little by tiny little, the old Draco was dissolving inside. It would be years before he would leave completely, but his love for Hermione was a sign, a beginning, yet he didn't know, he didn't realize it. He thought that that would be the only thing that would ever change. Boy would he be wrong. It's not as if he would turn into a goody-goody, oh no, but he would come to realize the changes that will happen.
Draco suddenly had an idea. He was an adult know, he could make his own decisions, do what he wanted to do. If Hermione felt the same way about him as he did about her, they could runaway together. He could runaway from his father. His horrible father. Yes, all he needed to know was if Hermione felt the same. His heart sank. Who was he kidding? This was the same girl he had called a Mudblood all throughout school. This was the girl his spell had accidentally reflected on and her teeth had grown the size of a saber-tooth tiger's. He had insulted her best friends many a time, tried to get Hagrid fired. What was the point of even trying?
"Because it's worth a try," he told himself.
He started to pull a cigarette out, but stopped. Hermione would hate that. Even if she did happen to like him, his smoking habit would probably keep her from coming near. Since he obviously wouldn't find her here, and was wandering aimlessly, he decided to make something out of the night and headed to the 24-hour convenience store on the corner.
Up at the counter he asked the man for two boxes of Smoke-Free patches. He had decided if smoking put his chances of being with Hermione in danger, he would quit. Hermione was much more important than a harmful stick of tobacco. He purchased the patches and started his long walk home.