Ego – xVampirexBunnyx – One-shot – First in the Ego Series.
Draco and Hermione bond over his Ego.
Hermione smiled and sat down on one of the many benches in the courtyard. It was snowing, and therefore Christmas, and she was virtually alone in Gryffindor Tower. Harry had gone to visit Lupin and Sirius in Grimmauld Place and Ron was home at the Burrow, they'd be back tomorrow. On the plus side, Hermione thought to herself, it's quiet now.
"Miaow," the soft mewl made Hermione jump and she turned around suddenly only to find a small black cat with a dark green collar.
"Here kitty, kitty," she murmured, holding her hand out and rubbing her gloved fingers together. It looked apprehensively at her for a moment before jumping onto the bench and walking into her lap. "What kind of person lets a cat wander around in the snow?" Hermione asked herself while stroking the cats' glossy black fur.
A sound to her right made the cat's ears prick. "Ah, Granger," a drawling tone reached her ears. "I see you're stroking my Ego."
Hermione sighed. "I have no idea what you're on about Malfoy and honestly I don't care," she said huffily. The cat miaowed again and jumped off her lap, winding its small, black body around Draco's legs.
He smiled, picking the cat up and sitting down on the end of the bench Hermione was currently occupying, keeping himself as far away as possible, which as it turned out, wasn't very far at all. "You misunderstand Granger, this," he said, holding the cat up, "is Ego. And for some reason that I cannot fathom, he likes you," Draco told her as Ego settled down for a nap in the eight inches of space between their legs.
The Gryffindor nodded gently and rubbed one of the cat's ears, stopping when she saw Draco was absently doing the same. "I thought you had an owl?"
"Did, but he got a broken wing over the summer, he was attacked by a dog, not even magic could fix it. So my mother bought me Ego. Cute huh?" he asked. Something strange was going on, Draco Malfoy was being civil.
"Adorable," Hermione answered, not looking at him. It was silent for a while, and neither Hermione nor Draco seemed to want to speak.
Draco opened his mouth before quickly shutting it again. "It's all good and well now," she began, voicing the question on both of their lips. "But we'll be enemies again tomorrow, right?"
The Slytherin got up, bundled Ego in his cloak and was half-way across the courtyard before he spoke again. "I never said we were enemies Granger, you came to that conclusion yourself." A brief smile graced his features, not his usual Malfoy smirk, but a real smile. "See you around Granger," he called over his shoulder, throwing back a wave with the hand that wasn't holding Ego.
Maybe it was a good thing that her parents were in Chicago for the holidays…