A/N I'm a big fan of the Draco/Hermione pairing but alas we all knew it was never meant to be…on the other hand that is what fan fiction is for!
It was the start of their 6th year at Hogwarts and it had taken only a mere day for the golden trio to get into trouble with the Slytherins. Harry, Ron and Hermione had just finished their dinner in the great hall and were slowly making their way back to the common room as they discussed their summer holidays. All three of them were in their school robes, although Ron's robes clearly needed to be ironed. Hermione was holding four rather large books, which Harry had graciously offered to carry for her but as usual Hermione declined. Ron had already mocked her for the fact that they'd barely been there for a day and she'd already been to her second home, the library, but she let the words just float over her head.
They were all so distracted with the conversation none of them noticed the three people sneaking up behind them until it was too late. The tallest one grabbed Hermione by the midsection forcing her to drop her books as her arms were trapped at her sides, she let out of a loud gasp of surprise and immediately struggled to reach for her wand but was stopped when she felt a wand at her throat. Harry and Ron jumped into action pulling out their wands and pointing it at the man who had just grabbed Hermione; it was then that they saw it was none other than Draco Malfoy. The two others who flanked Draco, who they recognised as Zabini and Goyle, had their wands trained on the two Gryffindor's.
"Let her go!" Harry demanded keeping his wand on Draco.
"Or what Potter?" Draco sneered as he pulled Hermione closer much to her dismay. She was visibly uncomfortable and attempting to struggle but the more she did the tighter his grip became. Ron's face became flushed and it was obvious he was getting angry. "What's the matter weasel? Jealous?"
Ron growled and moved to cast at him but was blocked by Harry who shook his head. "You may hit Hermione," Harry said in a low voice so that only Ron would hear. This was enough to stop him from acting rashly for the moment. Harry turned back to Draco who had taken to resting his chin on Hermione's shoulder and whispering in her ear. He still had his arm tightly around her middle and his wand still poking into the side of her neck. "What do you want Draco?" Harry asked not hiding the anger in his tone.
"Just to give you a friendly warning Potter," Harry scoffed wondering how this encounter was at all friendly but let him continue "Things are going to be different this year, for once I'm going to be the one that gets what he wants." He said coolly before smirking.
"Stupefy!" the sound echoed through the hallway and came from none other than Blaise Zabini; it was aimed at Harry and hit him square in the chest. Both him and Ron were intently staring at Malfoy as he spoke they didn't think to keep an eye on his two lackeys. Since Blaise had entered the picture it had been different, he didn't need orders to be given before he took action. Instead he actually had some initiative and independence, which vastly contrasted to Draco's former subordinate Crabbe.
Harry landed several meters away and groaned, it was all the confirmation of his wellbeing that Ron needed to turn his attention back to the Slytherins. "Expelliarmus!" Ron shouted pointing his wand at Zabini. Blaise had managed to conjure a wordless protego but it wasn't powerful enough to stop the full force of the spell. He stumbled back losing his balance slightly. Goyle lifted his wand to throw one of his own spells but was interrupted.
"WHAT is going on here?" the voice drawled out, their disdain obvious. It was professor Snape. Draco let go of Granger and pushed her to the floor, although she would normally be angry at such a thing Hermione was simply glad to no longer be in his clutches and for once relieved at the presence of Snape. As he approached the professor surveyed the scene before him. It was quite clear what had transpired and none of them particularly attempted to hide the glares they exchanged with each other. "Might I remind you that duelling in the hallway is against school rules and any further…transgressions will be severely punished," Snape said focusing his glare on Harry and Ron.
Draco allowed himself a smug look as he noted the professor pushing the blame towards the Gryffindors. But it quickly vanished when Snape turned and glowered at him. "You three, my office, now." He demanded of the Slytherins as he stormed in the direction of his officer, his robes billowing behind him. Draco and his two lackeys reluctantly followed leaving the Golden trio alone once again.
Harry by this point had picked himself up off the floor and made his way to Hermione. "Are you alright?" Harry asked as he helped her off the floor. Ron began to pick up her books.
Hermione let out a small chuckle and dusted off her robes, "I should be asking you that! I wasn't the one hit by a stupefy."
Harry blushed with slight embarrassment but continued anyway, "What do you think he meant by that warning?"
"I'll never bloody understand what's in that ferrets head," Ron called out as he passed the books over to Hermione. She took the books and shrugged at Harry's question. They once again started their journey back towards the common room, this time they refrained from chatting as they were all deep in thought about the encounter they had just gone through. Harry couldn't help but wonder what Draco had to gain from such an action but then he never seemed the smartest of people. He chanced a look at Hermione and was somewhat worried by what he saw, she too was deep in thought but the expression on her face was of deep concern. He assumed she was overthinking what he had said and shrugged the feeling off.
It didn't take too long to reach the Gryffindor common room, the portrait opened for them upon recital of the password. Inside was warm, the red and gold colouring making it feel that bit cosier. They all went to their respective dorms and changed into their casual clothes before making their way back down to the common room and sitting in front of the fire. Picking up the conversation from where it was interrupted earlier. Ron had opted to wear jeans and a bright red jumper knitted lovingly by his mother, while Harry had gone with a casual jeans and t-shirt look. Hermione had opted for black trousers, a pink t-shirt and a grey cardigan.
They had been casually talking for about an hour when Ron decided it was time to talk about the elephant in the room. "Do you think we should take Malfoy's warning seriously?" Ron asked wondering why he had used the word warning when it felt more like a threat.
Harry scrunched up his face in thought, "I don't think we should entirely dismiss it but it's only the second day. We can't around constantly worrying about he likes of Draco Malfoy, we have much bigger issues to worry about." He concluded.
Ron let out a small chuckle "Yeah I don't know why I was worried at all about ferret face. I suppose it just seemed at the time that he knew something we didn't."
"He's always been arrogant but you're right there was a bit more to it this time, maybe he just had a really good summer and is still living off that high." Harry replied with a slight shrug. It was then that he realised how uncharacteristically quiet Hermione was being. He turned to look at her and noticed her mind was miles away as she stared into the fire.
"Earth to Hermione," Ron said snapping his fingers in front of her face. She quickly came back to reality and looked at the two boys who now had rather concerned looks on their faces, it wasn't like her to just space out.
It was then that Harry remembered something about their earlier encounter, when he had stopped Ron from acting rashly he had seen Draco whisper something to her that he didn't hear. "Say Hermione…What exactly did Malfoy whisper to you earlier?" He asked curiously making sure to keep his gaze on her for a reaction.
"Oh nothing really, just the same thing he warned you two. Don't know why he thought the need to say it to me and then simply announce it anyway. Maybe he was hoping to scare me." Hermione answered as she stood up and made her way to the girl's dorms. "I'm going to go read before bed, see you tomorrow."
Harry frowned, Hermione was a terrible liar.