Harry knew he was supposed to keep his distance, things had been strange since he woke up in Madam Pomfrey's hospital wing but he couldn't help himself. What kind of world was he living in if Hermione was not only a Slytherin, but a pure-blood Slytherin dating Draco Malfoy. He'd nearly sputtered out his pumpkin juice when he casually asked Ron if he'd seen Hermione around.
"Hermione...Malfoy's serpent girlfriend?" Ron furrowed his eyebrows before chomping down on some weird colored licorice. "I guess I've seen her around in class, why?"
Things had only gotten stranger. Neville was a serious, straight-laced Ravenclaw and Luna was a fairly mild mannered Gryffindor.
Whatever was happening right now had to be more than a simple bump to the head, it was pure magical intervention. But why? He'd reasoned to himself that he would go with the flow until he found out more information but when he saw Malfoy moving towards Hermione's face as if he was going to kiss her across the grounds something in him snapped when she didn't immediately push him away. She had to be under an Imperious curse.
Within seconds he'd sprinted toward the couple and pulled Hermione away. " What are you doing?" He practically screamed tugging her away from Malfoy.
"What am I doing?" Hermione shrieked widening her maple colored eyes in disbelief and shoved Harry's over-protective hands off of her. "What are you doing? Draco's my boyfriend".
The last three words of her sentence threw him off, because for a split second he thought he heard his best-friend call Draco, the disgusting prat her boyfriend. That would be just physically impossible, maybe Hermione was the one that bumped her head a bit too hard.
"I saw him grab you", Harry defended. He may have only had a bird's eye view but he was certain he had just interrupted an argument. He could tell by Hermione's flushed cheeks, and furrowed brows.
"What I do with Granger doesn't concern you, why don't you run along and find the weasel? ", he retorted snarling his nose at the frumpy brunette and prepared to turn on his heel. "Let's go", Draco demanded not bothering to make sure his petite girlfriend was behind him.
Hermione rolled her eyes and adjusted her leather knapsack on her small rounded shoulder. A far cry for her ratty old knit bag. Slytherin fit her, Harry thought with a frown while bending down to hand over the discarded spell book off the ground.
"Thanks…Potter", Hermione blinked unsurely when Harry caught her gaze. Why was he being so kind towards her? In all her year's at Hogwarts he hadn't said more than a couple of words to her, but now he was hurtling across the grounds because he thought Draco was being rough with her?
She smiled politely at him.
"Harry", Harry shrugged one shoulder with a friendly grin and pushed up his rounded spectacles.
"Well, thank you Harry", Hermione corrected herself with a head nod and held her palm out for him to shake causing the gold dragons on her charm bracelet to jingle against her pale wrist.
"Granger, let's go", Draco hissed tugging on her wrist possessively.
Hermione frowned snatching her arm back. "I'm fine where I am, thanks", she responded coolly crossing her arms across her chest silently daring him to make her move.
Draco clenched his jaws together and resisted the urge to hex Harry, and shake some sense into his girlfriend altogether.
Harry chuckled a little to himself at how even Slytherin Hermione was still as head strong as ever.
"Something funny Potter?" Draco sneered tightening his grip around the wand in the pocket of his jumper.
Hermione stood in front of Harry shielding him from Draco's wand before he even had the chance to pull it out. Draco may have been cold, and calculating, but all those traits were useless when Hermione was concerned.
"Goodbye Draco".
"You have seriously lost your—".
"Good-bye Draco", she repeated as if she was dismissing an unruly child.
Draco stepped closer to Hermione and took hold of her chin. " I'll deal with you later", he hissed before forcefully planting a rough kiss on her lips. He trailed his eyes behind her and focused his silver eyes on Harry.
"Keep your distance Potter, my little girlfriend won't be there to protect you next time", Draco cautioned with a steely gaze before stalking off.
Now it was Harry's turn to scoff. "What could you possibly see in that prat?"
Hermione shrugged underneath her thick knitted green scarf looking out into the distance while the crisp wind blew a few strands out her face.
"He's not that bad, he can be sweet when he wants to be", She shrugged. Defending her relationship with Draco was tiring. People just couldn't understand what she could possibly see in someone so cold, and demanding.
How could she possibly tell them that she kind of liked being bossed around, and that nice guys just didn't do it for her? She would have loved nothing more than to fall in love with a Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw to spite her parents. But luck would have it that she fell head over heels for a Slytherin. The Prince of Slytherin to be exact.
Life just wasn't fair, she decided.
"I'm sure his idea of sweet is tying up a group of Hufflepuff's in your honor", Harry playfully teased earning him a soft, familiar laugh.
"You're funny Harry Potter, who would've thought it?"
"You dating a Slytherin, who would've thought it?" Harry spoke absent-mindedly.
Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean by that?"
"Harry, where the heck did you disappear to-oh", Ron breathed surprised when he saw Harry all chummy with Slytherin's princess.
Ron gulped. He'd seen her in passing, or standing disapprovingly next to Draco's cronies but never this close.
She was gorgeous.
Her striking honey-colored eyes, and her silky straight cognac colored hair dipped to the middle of her back and curled at the tips.
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked Ron seriously.
Ron opened his mouth to speak and closed it like a fish out of water. "Mhmm".
"I guess we'll see you around, yeah?" Harry asked turning to leave.
"Wait", Hermione interrupted. "You two have Herbology next don't you?"
Harry and Ron nodded affirmative.
Hermione looked over her shoulder at her fellow Slytherin's standing in a tight circle and whispering, she was sure they'd have a million stories to relay back to Draco before she saw him again.
"So do I, I'll join you", she said self-assuredly taking her spot in between the two and leading the way. Her boyfriend would just have to deal with it.