WE ARE YOUNG
Draco was out. It was raining. He didn't care. He just needed to get wanted his usual place under the tree. His tree this year. Where he went to get away from his Head Boy duties, his loneliness...to brood.
But his spot was taken by a silhouette in the distance, blurred in the pouring rain. As he drew closer, he saw the outline was unmistakably...
"Granger?" The sobbing stopped, to Draco's relief. "
What do you want, Malfoy." She sounded broken and tired. She sounded like she had given up. She had never sounded like that. He exhaled slowly. "Is that you?" Stupid question. A bitter, humourless laugh rang in his ears. "No, it's the bloody President of America."
"What's...er...wrong?"
"You don't really want to know, do you?" He did, which surprised him.
"Honestly, I do. What's wrong?" Granger turned to look at him through the drizzling rain, sizing him up carefully. "What's wrong? You can talk to me, I mean...if you want."
She shook her head and patted the damp ground beside her. "Sit." Feeling nervous, a new feeling for him, he crossed his legs and sat, staring out at the lake like she was. Silence.
"He broke up with me." No need to mention who he was. Everyone knew about Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. He couldn't have heard her right. The Gryffindor Prince and Princess no longer together?
"What? Really?" Humorless laugh. "Yeah. Wanna know why?" Very much. "Yeah."
"Because he saw a hot pair of legs at a club he and a work buddy went to. They spent their time together and he wants to see if what they have is worth pursuing." He could hear the blatant sneer in her voice and shuddered at the emptiness of it all.
"That's why?"
"Stupid, isn't it?" Very. "A bit." More silence. Not awkward, mostly...companiable.
"His family hates him now. He blames me."
"Why do they hate him?"
"Because of what he did to me. Malfoy, you never had a family. You don't get it." He knew he never had. But this still took explaining.
"Explain?"
"Because a family's love is unconditional, regardless. And if one good family sees a child or two who has nowhere to go, they..adopt them. If not legally than by everything else."
"...Kidnapping?" Someone had to lighten the tension. She laughed and swatted him playfully.
"You always made fun of Harry. Because you thought he was a pampered little prince."
"Wasn't he?"
"Never."
Granger laid out Potter's life in graphic detail in the next hour. Even he had a tear or two running down his face, feeling like a bit of a cad right about then; he would've passed it off as the rain if anyone but this strange witch next to him was there.
"And me. The Weasleys saw two kids that needed somebody and made them part of their family. Mrs. Weasley said so many times that we were the Weasleys without red hair. And we loved that feeling, even if it wasn't as good as a birth family, or two Muggles who could never understand the world I wanted to live in. They're all mad at Ron because they raised him so well, they raised all their other children and us so well. And he goes, and he does that, an action they thought him above. They dislike being wrong about their kids. And family is everything to them, because for so long it was all they had. So if one member of the family gets hurt by another member, they generally pick the hurt one because the hurt one isn't the righteous one, and the righteous one is usually wrong."
It was amazing how a real family worked, he thought. It was love, not money or power. More reflective silence spent staring at the water yards away.
"Did you know I wasn't always meant to be with Ron?" That came out of the blue. Still, he answered. "Everyone always said there was something about the way you looked at each other, even if you two were too oblivious to see it." Granger laughed. Not the bitter one previously, but a real melodious one.
"Oblivious we were not, Malfoy. Anyone who knew us knew we knew what everyone else expected us to be. Ron was always expected to be a certain way by everyone, who said, 'You should be just like your brothers.' But he wanted to stand out from his brothers, be more than just another Weasley kid. The way to do that was avoid expectations and become his own person. He did that by avoiding dating me."
"How does that explain your obliviousness-or lack thereof?"
"I am the smartest witch of my age, Malfoy. I'm not blind. That...and..." She blushed. The cheeky devil blushed. Draco knew this was going to be good. He subconsciously leaned closer. "I kind of...was in a long-term relationship...with someone else," she squeaked. Draco grinned evilly. "Oh, Granger. Do tell." "Erm...Frudhwesoy." "Didn't quite catch that, Granger. Mind repeating?" "Fred. Fred Weasley." "Lover Boy's brother? No!"
"Yes. But he died. And no one was left for me but Ron. Ron knew that. He also knew that he wanted something normal for once. So we dated. I never expected it to get that far, because we both knew there was something better out there." Confusion. "Then why does this hurt you so bad?"
"Because I thought he respected me more than that, at least. I appreciate honesty, and good logic. And with him, he was honest, and I only wish him the best really, because he deserves to be happy with someone he wasn't forced to love...but it still hurts. His family never really understood that about us, that we didn't want to be together. They never knew about me and Fred. They never knew there was only one Weasley's name I'd want to take, and to take another's would just feel...wrong."
"No one knew?"
"Well, Harry and Ginny and Ron all did, and were completely supportive, George did, Neville and Luna did. But I think that's it. So Harry and Ginny are on Ron's side. So is George. But other than that, it's Weasleys vs. Ron, and he blames me because that's the same as blaming his expectant family, and that's who's in the wrong. Me even more, because if I had ever told them about Fred...and I never got to say goodbye...sometimes I think I see him around the castle, pulling a prank on some first year or just sitting in one of our spots, just smiling at me like he used to and saying, 'Hermione, just be happy. Forget me. Move on and live again.' And I want to so badly, but I can't, because he was Fred, and he's the only person I've ever been able to be happy with. Until now, I think."
She leaned into his chest and he hesitantly wrapped an arm around her, savoring the warmth while it lasted. "And now we're here at school again. And what are you thinking?" he murmured against her chocolate curls that had once been an untamable weed.
"I'm thinking that I must be the stupidest creature to walk this planet, because for some reason, I like this very much. I'm happy."
"Only second stupidest, Granger. Because I enjoy this too." She rested her head on his shoulder and started whispering a song he had never heard before.
Give me a second I, I need to get my story straight
My friends are in the bathroom getting higher than the Empire State
My lover, she's waiting for me, just across the bar
My seats been taking by some sunglasses asking 'bout a scar and
I know I gave it to you months ago,
I know you're trying to forget
But between the drinks and subtle things, the holes in my apologies,
I'm trying hard to take it back
So by the time the bar closes and you feel like falling down,
I'll carry you home
Tonight
We are young, so let's set the world on fire, we can burn brighter
Than the sun
Tonight
We are young, so let's set the world on fire, we can burn brighter
Than the sun
Now I know that I'm not all that you got
I guess that I, I just thought maybe we could find new ways to fall apart
But our friends our back, so let's raise a toast, cause I found someone to carry me home
Tonight
We are young, so let's set the world on fire, we can burn brighter
Than the sun
Tonight
We are young, so let's set the world on fire, we can burn brighter
Than the sun
So if by the time the bar closes and you feel like falling down,
I'll carry you home tonight.
"What was that, Granger?"
"Just a song."
"Good song."
"I rather like it. It keeps me up, you know? I have a life in front of me, the world's not ending. There's so much I could be doing, why stop at the first trace of trouble...you know?"
She stood after a moment and dusted off her jeans. "We should be getting back." I grabbed her hand and stood up, feeling the water in my hair drip down the back of my once-crisp white shirt. We headed back to the castle silently, waiting for something to be said. Nothing was, until the Entrance Hall was reached and Draco was rather reluctantly preparing to part ways. He was stopped in his tracks by that soft, melodious voice behind him.
"And Malfoy, thanks. I appreciate it."
"What?"
"Listening."
Silence.
"Anytime. Although, if you need anyone to talk to again, the least you can do is call me Draco." Silence again. And then she giggled. Just a bit, but enough. Quite a change in attitude from earlier.
"If you want me to talk to you again, Draco, you best start calling me Hermione."
It didn't end with calling her Hermione, not by a long shot.
Over Christmas holidays, when Ron, Harry, and Ginny came to the castle to stay with Hermione, Draco apologized to each of them for his actions all those years ago. He pulled Harry aside separately and told him he knew about Harry's childhood. He swore never to tell. With time, these three people accepted Draco into their group of friends.
When the Weasleys came for graduation, he helped Hermione tell them about Fred. Ron was officially part of the Weasleys again, and so was his girlfriend, the captain (and Keeper) of Ginny's Quidditch team, the Holyhead Harpies. Ron Weasley and Alicia Hawkins married a month later.
When school was finally over, Draco and Hermione started going out. Hermione became the Head of the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Draco was the number two Auror in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, partnered with his best friend, the youngest and best Head Auror the world had ever seen. Harry James Potter.
A/N: Yay for Dramione! Fun fact, Dramione was actually almost canon. No joke. As a matter of fact, so was Fremione, because she originally wanted Ron to die. When she changed her mind, Fred was out of the picture, and by the time Ron and Hermione finally started on the road to becoming a couple, Draco was out of the picture too.
Just think about it. Dramione or Fremione in real life.
I ship it.
Please review!
Got a really good question from a reviewer. Why is Draco so chill with talking to Hermione after seven years of HATE (more or less along those lines, eh? xD) This is what I was thinking when I wrote this.
One, Draco was the son of a major Death Eater. If anyone's in the mood to be nice to him, he's not turning it down. Two, he knew sometimes everyone needs a shoulder to lean on, a cry, and a friendly ear (remember Moaning Myrtle?) Giving that to someone who was essentially like him (smart, cool with logic, rational) would be easy. And better yet, because they had always been enemies, there would never be an obligation to explain any of it. A friend might not dig for more, but this was a no-strings-attached, no-awkward-feelings, get-it-off-your-chest session to a person who it didn't affect, and so they wouldn't really care. Three, he and Hermione talked for a long time. You can't spend time listening to someone talk about their innermost problems and others' problems and not get to understand those people better.
Of course, they were civil after this, which led to a friendship, which led to sweet sweet Dramione. :)
That's just my opinion, you can interpret however you like. That's just what I saw.