Out of the Mould by elix-j
Summary: DHr "Malfoys are capable of helping too, you know… even if it's without magic."
Disclaimer: The day I own Harry Potter is the day that global warming will cease.
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Hermione yawned widely, fighting the need to succumb to sleep. Rubbing her eyes, she closed her Transfiguration book and blinked several times. She stretched, letting out another yawn before falling back against the couch noisily.
At the far end of the room, her eyes lingered lazily to Draco Malfoy who was sitting upright with the many books scattered in neat piles on the table. Focused and not the least bit fatigued, he dilligently took down notes, his eyes showing a sense of determination behind his frameless reading glasses.
Hermione yawned widely again, throwing her arm across the sofa seats and emitting a loud smack.
Draco shifted his eyes towards her. Giving her a deathly look, he sneered.
"Don't disrupt the silence, Granger," he whispered at the girl in her candycane pajamas. Hermione rolled her eyes.
Her ink bottles clinked as she tidied up her stationery into a leather case. Piling her 15 or so books on top of each other, she gathered them up with her arms, hugging her prized possessions tightly to her chest as she struggled to walk to her room.
"I'm going to sleep. Bask in the silence, Malfoy," Hermione answered behind her books, her voice muffled as she staggered under the weight.
Draco eyed her behind his glasses as she swayed precariously like a swinging chandelier. Her petite frame, bushy clipped-up hair and reading glasses sitting askew on her face made her look like a frazzled little know-it-all-bookworm braving a tornado. Hermione staggered some more, while Draco passively observed the dangerous pile of swaying books in her arms.
The pile shifted slightly, triggering Draco to automatically stand up, stride over to her and lift half the books from the pile.
Hermione managed to regain her balance before meeting his eyes shortly to offer a silent form of gratitude. He smirked as he carried the pile all the way to her room, holding the door open as she walked in to set the books on the table. After setting them down, she turned around to take the remaining books from his arms, blushing intensely as his gaze held her eyes.
"Malfoys are capable of helping too, you know… even if it's without magic," Draco said quietly, his hands coming up to her face, adjusting her glasses to properly rest at the bridge of her nose. Giving her a curt nod, he closed her door before making his way down the cobblestone stairs.
As she laid in bed that night, with her glasses still on her face and doubts pervading every corner of her mind, she was eventually convinced that there was something civilized (maybe charming, even) about him afterall.