Author's Note: Just a little drabble to brighten your day!
Draco Malfoy watched from afar as Hermione stood on Platform 9 ¾, nimbly dodging the multitudes of anxious parents and eager students. Her windswept hair was flying in every direction but she had learned to ignore it long ago. He thought that she looked beautiful just as she was.
Her chocolate eyes were worriedly scanning the crowds for someone as she held the hands of a little girl who appeared to be starting Hogwarts. He thought that she was the exact replica of her mother, at least as far as appearances went.
A man joined them. Ronald Weasely. Still ever the Weasel, he thought. Hermione turned to him and flashed him one of her wonderful smiles that almost made his heart skip a beat. It was the smile she reserved for the Weasel. She wouldn't smile at him that way.
She would probably want to murder him.
The little girl screamed out in recognition. "Daddy's here!"
To his horror, he realised that while he was busy staring at them, he had unwittingly edged out of his hiding place.
"Draco Abraxas Malfoy, aren't you ashamed of being TEN minutes late! You're about to see off your daughter for her first year for God's sake! Can't you ever be punctual?" Hermione huffed out, her eyes narrowing in anger.
"I was…"
"Whatever excuse you have, you can toss it Malfoy, I'm not buying any of your rubbish", she declared in her no nonsense tone.
He knew he was in big trouble. If the scurrying figure of the Weasel, who had wisely chosen to decamp after he tossed him a hurried "Good luck mate!", was anything to go by, 'big trouble' would probably be an understatement.
Should have just kept watching from afar, you idiot, he told himself.