"Send me an owl as soon as you get there!" Hermione called through the thick snow that was falling all around her.
"We will!" Ron yelled back as he and Harry boarded the red engine that would take him and Harry to the Burrow. Hermione felt a little sad that she would be staying at school over the winter holidays, but she would be able to do extra homework. She slowly walked back into the warm, comforting surroundings of her dormitory. She looked up, surprised to see Parvati, lying on her bed, reading a note. Hermione peered over curiously.
"Who's that from?" she said playfully. Parvati was so involved in the note that she had obviously not noticed Hermione standing there. Parvati gave a little jump, and then relaxed into a smile.
"It's from Neville..."
"And?" said Hermione, happy that Parvati had a boyfriend. Hermione fully believed in soul mates, and she would agree that Parvati and Neville were indeed meant for each other.
Parvati smiled again. "And he loves me!" she replied happily. "He's so sweet, so caring. Not many other boyfriends would write to you every day to remind you of their love..." Parvati trailed off because she noticed that Hermione was looking depressed.
"Hermione? Earth to Hermione...?"
Hermione's head snapped up. "O-oh yeah. Sorry, just a little preoccupied about something." Parvati gave her a reassuring smile. "About Harry? I know that your relationship has been kind of rocky...but it'll smooth out." Hermione nodded, trying to show Parvati that she was truly comforted. Hermione wasn't, however. Harry had barely paid any attention to her recently. He just gave her a casual peck on the cheek when they met in the corridors. What had happened to the passionate love they had shared only a few months before? Hermione couldn't help but feel that maybe, she and Harry had taken one step to far in their friendship. She tried to convince herself that it was not a mistake, but she couldn't.
Hermione sighed, and rose sharply from her four-poster bed. She wandered out of the Gryffindor towers, and before she knew it, she arrived at the library. Hermione had been to the library so many times that she had instinctively walked there. Making a slight mental note not to spend quite so much time in the Hogwarts library, she pulled open the heavy door. The handle clanked as she let the door slip closed behind her. She sat down in one of the velvet-embroidered seats, and pulled a book off the nearest shelf. The best way to forget your problems was to lose yourself in a good book. Hermione settled herself in the chair and opened the large gold book. A mirror popped out, and Hermione jumped in surprise. But her surprise slowly turned into anger as her eyes adjusted to the mirror. Standing a few rows behind her was a flash of green-silver robes. She turned around in her chair to face Draco Malfoy. Malfoy glanced down from the Charms-through-Frogs section, and his wide blue eyes narrowed at the sight of Hermione.
"Well, well, if it isn't Granger. What's wrong? Being the stupid head girl for the past two years wasn't enough? Now you need to invade my privacy?" Malfoy drawled, slow and deliberate. Hermione was completely taken aback.
"Invade your privacy? Since when do you own the library? Didn't Filch have to follow you in, cleaning up the dirt that seems to follow you?" Hermione sneered back.
Draco smirked. "My dirt? You're the only one who's dirty, you disgusting mudblood." Hermione didn't move for a moment. She fought the strong urge to take the "Mystical Mirrors" book and smash it down over his pale head. However, she was a Head Girl; she had to be mature and a good influence. Hermione stood up stiffly, and walked out in a straight path. Draco smirked as though he had won that little argument. He sat down with his "Dark Magic" book, and started to read. Draco's mind began to wander as his periwinkle eyes skimmed the curly text. He thought of how mad Hermione was, so mad that she couldn't even respond. She was so cute when her face flushed red and--- Draco stopped in mid thought. Did he really just think that Hermione was cute? Draco couldn't even fathom thinking such a thing of a mudblood...No, he said to himself, a muggle-born. He soon forgot all about it as he read the heavy book.
Hermione rushed out of the library. She walked out into the Quidditch field, brushing her bare toes through the morning-dewed grass. She sighed. There was something so peaceful and tranquil about walking about the vast, green meadow. She was forgetting all her troubles already, when...
CRASH!
A rather large thing was clambering towards Hermione. Confused, she squinted to see what was hurtling at her at such a fast rate. What she saw absolutely terrified her. She stopped dead in her tracks. Her heart and breathing rate increased rapidly as she stared as the young dragon swept closer to her, being chased by a hollering, waving Hagrid.
Draco finished his reading, and decided to get a little Quidditch practice while his rival Seeker, that stupid Potter, was on holiday. He slithered slowly towards the Slytherin broomshed, trying to kill as much time as possible. Draco was not expecting to find or do anything even remotely interesting during the vacation. His father, Lucius Malfoy, the wealthy, famous dark wizard, was on a "business trip" and Draco had to remain at Hogwarts over the break. On approaching the old, wooden shed, he opened the door with a dramatic creak. He snatched his gleaming Nimbus Two-Thousand-and-six, the very latest model, from its familiar shelf. Swinging one leg over the side, he kicked off the ground with such a force that he immediately rose high into the air. Just as he was beginning to relax, he heard a shriek. Draco was so startled that he almost toppled right off his broom! Grumbling, he lowered himself to see what was going on.
Hermione knew that Hagrid had permission from Dumbledore to work with dragons on the class project, but she was sure that Hagrid had forgotten to tell Dumbledore the size of the dragon. Hermione's mind went numb as she reached for her wand...but it was safely up in the dormitory. "So close, yet so far," her mind seemed to say. This particular dragon was a Himalayan Hedge Dragon, and it was outraged. Hagrid was running after it, wildly screaming at Hermione to get out of the way. Hermione's feet seemed to have grown roots and she was planted there, waiting for the dragon. She shut her eyes as tight as she could, and waited. Something grabbed her tightly, and it felt like they were crushing her ribs. She was certain that she was dead...but then how was she still thinking? Her eyes flew open at this thought, and she saw that someone in emerald robes had grabbed her and was flying over the clouds. She couldn't speak, because she was still traumatized by the terrifying experience with the dragon. She let herself relax until she and her rescuer landed with a thud on the hard, cement roof of one of the towers. She stood up, dizzy from the fast ride. She regained her balance and flung herself on the figure in the hooded, green robes.
"Thank you...I didn't see the dragon at first...I thought I was dead...until you..." Hermione said gratefully.
"Um, it's okay, really," said a drawling voice from behind the robes. Hermione immediately released Draco from her hug.
"You! How dare you..." she was really angry.
"...Save you?" Draco finished for her. He smiled, but Hermione gave him a bloodcurdling glare.
"Just sod off, Malfoy. Go hang out with some pure-bloods...and don't ever come near this 'mudblood' again!" Hermione mimicked his slow drawl on the word "mudblood." Draco looked at her with such an expression of hurt and pain as she turned on her heel and stormed away.
Later that night, Hermione flicked off her bedside lamp and snuggled into her covers. The moment she closed her eyes, she saw the look of hurt that she had caused Mal---, "No, Draco," she corrected herself. She felt a stab of guilt as she saw the sad expression over and over again, every time she closed her eyes. It was like a movie that you couldn't turn off. Hermione finally concluded that she would not get any sleep until she apologized to Draco. She sleepily pulled herself from the soft bed, threw on the nearest robe, and slipped out the door. She had cleverly remembered to grab Harry's invisibility cloak from his trunk. "He won't mind," Hermione thought as she swept down the dark, menacing corridors.
She made her way to the Slytherin common room. She knew the way from following Blaise Zabini up there once, because Blaise had borrowed one of Hermione's books before. Hermione knocked on the boy's dormitory door. She received no answer, so she opened the door and cautiously crept in. It was identical to the Gryffindor dormitory, only that Gryffindor's red and gold was replaced by Slytherin's green and silver. Hermione scanned the beds in the room. The room was completely empty, except for Draco in the last bed. His beautiful head was propped up against his pillows, slowly breathing in and out. His platinum blonde hair shone in the moonlight. A few stray wisps were in his eyes. Hermione stood there and invisibly admired his beauty for a few moments. She then tiptoed back to the door, shut it, and knocked very loudly. She did this because she was not sure as to how Draco would react if she awoke him by standing at the foot of his bed. Hermione heard a scuffling of covers, a squeak from the bed, and the door slowly creaked open.
Draco Malfoy peered out of his dormitory, wondering what had awoken him. He did a double-take as he came face to face with two almond-shaped, chocolate eyes. Hermione Granger seemed just as startled to see him as he was to see her.
"Yeah?" said Draco, not even half-awake. Hermione pushed the door open a little more so she could get past him. She walked directly across the little room and sat down on a bed.
"Draco, um....this is going to sound crazy...but I couldn't sleep, because I felt so bad about being so awful to you when you...when you saved me." Hermione forced the words out. Draco rubbed his eyes with a groan, then sat bolt upright like someone had submerged him in a bucket of ice-cold water. Hermione knew what had happened; Draco had finally fully woken up.
"What are you doing here?" he snapped. Hermione took a deep breath.
"I wanted to apologize for being so rude to you when you saved me this afternoon." Draco's eyes blinked at her, as if he was trying to understand what she had said.
"Don't mention it." he mumbled.
"Well, I was wondering...why did you do it? I mean, save me?" Hermione inquired. She was indeed curious as to why Malf-no, she thought. Draco (she was still having trouble with calling him by his first name) had saved her.
Draco leaned back on the warm bed and scratched his head. "Well, I was so upset at how you acted in the library, that I decided to let off a bit of steam by flying."
Hermione let out a suppressed laugh. "You? Upset by me? But you don't even care a fig about me."
Draco fixed her with a look of serious intensity. "I never liked you because you were always the best...the winner...you really are a prick, Granger."
Hermione replied quickly, "What do you mean? You're Draco Malfoy. Your family is famous and respected. Besides, being the top of everything is the only way I can make a name for myself," she sniffed. "I mean, you said it yourself! I'm a...a...mudblood." Hermione spat out the word in disgust. She burst into tears. Draco had no idea that Hermione Granger, Head Girl, top of their class, felt like this. Draco realized with a sharp pain that he had done this to her...he had made her feel this bad. Draco reached over and lifted her chin. Her tears shone brightly in the moonlight, streaming down her face like rivers. Before he knew what he was doing, Draco pulled her close, and his mouth found hers. They sat there, mouths tasting, tongues intertwining. Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's neck.
Hermione awoke, tucked in the Slytherin bed. Draco was gone, and Hermione had a horrible, sinking feeling that he had just left. She felt very relieved to see him as he appeared in the bathroom door. She stretched, smiling widely.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey," he said.
Draco came up and gracefully swept her out of the bed. She laughed as he twirled her around and kissed her.
After a moment, Hermione said, "Draco...when vacation's over...when everyone's back...what are we going to do?"
Draco entered an expression of consideration. "Well, it will be you...and me..." As he said the last words, he twirled her again. Then he stopped, looked deep into the murky depths of her amber eyes, and said, very seriously, "Yes, it will be you, me...and just everyone else, envying us!" They laughed together as he burst out of the empty room with her in his strong arms. He swiftly carried her to her own dormitory. Upon entering the girl's room in the Gryffindor tower, they heard a stifled shriek.
They had waked Parvati up. She looked at the two, rubbed her eyes, blinked, and looked again. What a spectacle they must have made! Hermione tapped Draco, signaling for him to let her down.
"Parvati...yes, yes, Draco and I are together," Hermione explained to the questions from the bewildered Parvati. Hermione continued, "No one can know about us...I mean, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin?" The two girls seemed to have forgotten the silver-blonde boy standing at the doorway.
"Hermione, you can't be serious! Look at him, he's a Malfoy! His name goes back a million generation of Dark Magic! He's horrible! You said so yourself!" At these last words, Draco felt cold and stinging all over. He turned and ran down the stairs, out of the corridor, running, running, hoping he could outrun the feeling he felt inside.
Hermione ran to the doorway, but Draco was gone...in more ways than one. She turned an angry face to Parvati.
"Look what you did...you really hurt his feelings!" Hermione snapped at Parvati. Hermione's best friend looked shocked and hurt at Hermione's outburst. Hermione put a hand to her head and flopped down next to Parvati.
"Look, I'm sorry. It's just that Draco is so, so much more than he seems. He..." Hermione looked for the right word. "He's different. And I love him. And now he thinks that I still hate him...his feelings are really hurt. I have to find him." Hermione declared. She leapt off the bed and threw on a robe and put the hood up to hide her messy hair.
"Wait," Parvati said. She yanked on a robe in the same fashion as Hermione. "Okay, let's go."
Hermione and Parvati searched the grounds, but no sign of Draco. Little did they know that he was hovering above the clouds on his Nimbus Two-Thousand-and-six.
The next day, the rest of Hogwarts came back from the winter vacation. Ron and Harry flew off the train to greet Hermione. She laughed as they jumped on her. She asked how the Weasleys were doing, and Ron chatted on about what he and Harry had done over the past week. However, when asked how she spent her week, she said, "I did nothing, really." As they made it over to the Gryffindor common room with their bundles, Hermione caught a glimpse of the silver-eyed and silver-haired boy that she loved. But Harry caught her by surprise with a kiss. She had practically forgotten their relationship! As Harry pulled away, Hermione saw her love...her soulmate...turn and walk away. Her heart felt as though it had been fed through a blender. The rest of the day was fairly chaotic because of all the students returning to the school, and Hermione disappeared into her room. There she slept in her dormitory, thinking only of how she longed to be with Draco in the Slytherin room.
The next day, Draco awoke, not to the familiar sound of his alarm clock, but to birds outside the window. He realized with a sickening feeling that he had forgotten to bewitch his alarm clock. It was ten o'clock. He would have to explain himself to Professor Flitwick later. Now, he might just make it to Transfiguration on time.
Draco rushed down the stairs and burst into Professor McGonagall's classroom. The entire class stopped to look up at him. Quills froze in mid-sentence as Professor McGonagall walked over to him, her black robes fluttering behind her.
"Mr. Malfoy--how nice of you to finally join us," she said in an icy voice. "I believe that this will result in a deduction of...Weasley! How many points do you think should be deducted from Slytherin for Malfoy's tardiness?"
Ron looked up and smiled at the rare opportunity. "Oh, I'd say about..." he paused, thinking. "Fifty points?" She turned to Draco.
"Fifty points it is." Every Slytherin groaned dramatically. Draco knew that he would be given bad looks from all the Slytherins for a good while. He knew that tardiness was a particular dislike of this professor, so he chose not to argue.
"Wait." A voice said firmly from the back row. Hermione stood up, glancing at Draco. Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow at Hermione, who took a deep breath.
"I just wanted to say that it seems unfair to let someone be punished by a person who dislikes them. It's biased." Professor McGonagall looked paler than ever. Her hand was gripping the back of her chair tightly, but she let go.
"Well, then, how many points do you suggest we take off, Miss Granger?" Hermione spoke from her seat.
"Well, the average amount of points taken for lateness is five...so I would say, er, five." she waited, and Professor McGonagall shook her head as she said, "Very well. Five points then. Now, if you would all kindly open your textbooks to page four-" Hermione turned to Draco, and he mouthed silently across the room "Thanks." Hermione nodded and began work.
The bell rang, signaling lunch in the Great Hall. Hermione let herself be pulled out of the room by the students rushing to get their usual seats. Someone took her gently by the shoulders and brought her to an alcove in the corridor.
Draco looked at her firmly in the eyes as if about to say something, but she cut him off.
"Draco," she began. "IÕm so sorry...I didn't know you before I said...I didn't mean...mmmfff!" Draco had interrupted her by bringing his mouth down upon hers.
"Hermione!" Ron yelled. Harry and Ron were standing there, shocked with disbelief.
"Hermione! But Harry...you..." Ron choked. Hermione calmly let go of Draco to turn to her friends.
"Ron, nothing is going to change. You're still my friend, I hope I am still yours, but I have fallen in love with Draco." she said quickly. Harry seemed strangely indifferent to this news, but still surprised. Ron continued.
"But...Harry! What about you and Harry?"
"I'll have you know that Harry...though my boyfriend...has been seeing your sister." Hermione said sternly. Ron's ears went pink. Hermione went on. "Harry, I love you as a brother, but I think we can both agree that this was a mistake. I still want you to be my friend." Harry considered this, and nodded his head in agreement. He was so ashamed that he couldn't speak. Ron eyed Draco uneasily.
Hermione noticed this, and said, "Ron, Harry, Draco is not what he seems to be. If you'll just give him a chance...get to know him, I know you could become friends." she pleaded. Draco gave a wavering smile and extended his hand towards Ron and Harry, who both shook it. This was a sort of truce, and Hermione smiled. Harry and Ron, suddenly realizing that they were missing their treacle tart and pumpkin juice, rushed over to the Great Hall. Hermione turned to Draco.
"I love you, Granger," he said in his old sneer.
"I love you too, Malfoy," she sneered back.