Corridor - beginning of third year
'You guys can go already, I'm gonna go visit the library first',
the 13-year-old witch smiled at her two best friends who rolled their eyes at each other, which earned them both a swat from the girl. Now you'd think that a swat from a 13-year-old girl wouldn't really hurt, but if that girl happens to be Hermione Granger, you thought wrong. Rubbing their heads, the two boys wandered back to the Gryffindor tower. The little girl hummed to herself as she made her way to the library feeling particularly well. After spending an hour re-reading Hogwarts: A History she decided to call it a night and make her way back to the common room. As she passed the window she couldn't help but stop and admire the sight in front of her, the sun was starting to set and Hermione had to admit that it had been a long while since she'd seen something this beautiful. For a second there, she was mesmerized, little did she know that wouldn't be the only time that day. She figured she'd be able to get an even better view of the incredible sunset from the astronomy tower, so that's exactly where she headed.
She had almost reached the top of the stairs when she thought she heard something. As she drew nearer to the door she vaguely distinguished sobs. Carefully she peered through the door to see who was there and to her immense surprise -and disbelieve, really- she saw no other than Draco Malfoy sitting on the cold, concrete floor, his arms wrapped around his knees, which supported his head. To her even greater disbelieve, Malfoy was crying, she never figured him to be the crying-type. Yet, there he was, merely 4 feet away from her, sobbing furiously. Hermione didn't know what to do, which rarely ever happened. She felt a bit sorry for him, but then again, he was sort of a pretentious little prat. Eventually her conscience won it over her loathing of the blonde.
'A-Are you okay?'
She suddenly found it quite hard to speak and caught herself to be quite anxious of his reaction, which didn't proof unfounded. As soon as Hermione opened her mouth, Draco's head shot up. He seemed almost... caught, in a way. His eyes were filled with panic and shock but as soon as they met Hermione's, they filled with anger. He got to his feet and hovered over the less-than-tall brunette, she, on the other hand, didn't give up just yet.
'Is there anything I can do to help?'
She asked in a voice remarkably smaller than usual but firm nonetheless.
'You can leave me alone'
the boy countered darkly, barely able to control his anger. The furious flicker in the tall boy's silver eyes actually scared the witch, not that she'd ever admit that, of course. She swallowed a tad too loudly but stood up straight and faced him.
'Look, Malfoy, I know we're not friends, but if you need to talk, I'm here, okay?'
She said, finally losing the quiver in her voice.
'I don't need your help!'
He spat, losing a bit of his self-control but restraining himself quickly
'And if you tell anyone about this,'
he stated calmly and leaned a little closer to the stunned witch
'I won't stand for the consequences'
The sternness of his voice sent a shiver down her spine and as she watched the still crying boy walk out of the tower she took in what had just happened. Draco Malfoy, bawling his eyes out on top of the astronomy tower, utterly strange was the least you could say!