Author's Note: Hey there fanfiction readers! This is my very first fanfiction, so please put up with the occasional cheesy lines and what not. I could really use constructive critism, and I often get writer's block so some feedback would be greatly appreciated. Now, enough with the chit-chat get reading!
What had he gotten himself into? It just wasn't fair! Hadn't he been through enough with the anxiety and the stress and even worse…rehab?
How could his mother send him off to a place where drunken muggles spoke all day to overpaid perverts who would stare at your package all damn day as they told you about your mental insanities?
"Bloody Hell." He said to himself.
He'd gotten home only to find his bags all packed to go back to where everything started, Hogwarts.
As if that weren't bad enough, Pansy wouldn't leave him the hell alone! Why did her father have to think it would be a good idea to force his daughter upon him?
He needed air, or his body might just self destruct.
She couldn't believe this was how she was going to spend her extra year at Hogwarts. The board of directors had decided that everyone in her year must come back for a mandatory extra year in order to graduate. Granted, the events with the Dark Lord her seventh year had taken away from their studies.
She heard footsteps behind her. "Oh shit." came a familiar voice.
Hermione whipped around to find a tall attractive boy with platinum blonde hair and lonely, grey eyes. Draco Malfoy. She had barley seen him at all in the few months she'd been here. After the Dark Lord's death, Draco had returned to Hogwarts and reunited with his old friends, who now worshiped him like a god now that he'd served the Dark Lord personally, and his on-again girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson.
"Can I help you Malfoy?" She said flatly.
"Come here to think about how upset you are about Ron?" Draco smirked.
"No." Hermione answered.
"Then enlighten me, mudblood. Why would such a good witch like you come up to a bad place like this? You know what happens up here, don't you?" The pale wizard stared her down, his cool gaze fixed upon her russet eyes.
"I think I know very well about the drinking and the drugs you Slytherins do up here." She gestured to the broken bottle on the other side of the tower.
A few tense moments passed, neither student saying anything. Finally, Draco reached into his robe. Hermione's heart faltered. Why had she made the stupid choice to allow herself to be trapped at such a secluded place with a former Death Eater? "Relax Granger." Draco snickered. "Just a flask." He held up the platinum container, unscrewed it and took a swig. The liquid slid down his throat, leaving behind a burning sensation that had always comforted him.
"Malfoy!" She cried. "Are you fucking crazy? Drinking on school premises is highly illegal and you could be expelled if anyone found out you stupid git!" Her cheeks had become an angry shade of red and her eyebrows knit together like they always did when she yelled at him, causing the skin between them to wrinkle. He smirked in reply, sipping from the brimming flask just to piss her off more. How he loved that sour pout on her face that she'd get whenever he called her names, or when he did anything to tip her rocker.
"And I thought Gryffindor was supposed to house the brave ones?" He raised his own eye brows, looking down at her petite figure sitting twenty feet away from him. Her full chest rose slightly as she inhaled sharply.
"Excuse me?" She hissed, her eyes squinting behind her frizzy mess of hair.
The Prince of Slytherin flaunted his signature grin. "Well, seeing as I'm the one taking the risks here.."
Now angrier than ever, Hermione got up and reached for the flask, gripping the cool metal in her now prosperous palm. She looked down into it, at the amber liquid sloshing around. Her enemy had only two sips, so the container was three quarters full. She gulped uneasily. He silently took note of her body language, for she was defiantly out of her comfort zone here. "Let's go then Granger, down the hatch. I haven't poisoned it yet so it won't kill you." She glared at him. "Scouts honor." He saluted sarcastically, renewing her anger. She put the mouth of the flask to her lips, and tilted her head so that the Italian scotch flowed down her throat. The alcohol tasted vile and scorched her throat.
Thrusting the flask it back to Draco, she coughed until tears had sprung into her eyes. She swallowed a few times afterward, trying to ease the bitter taste from her mouth. Sitting back down, she picked up her book and began reading once again. The words spun before her eyes ,and she felt very tired all of a sudden. "Did you only come up here to piss me off and then get drunk?" She glared, confused as to why he wasn't gone by now.
"Not in the slightest." Draco sneered.
"Then why are you here?" She demanded.
"Why are you?" He fired back.
"Maybe I need some fresh air to think. Of course you wouldn't know about that, since you're such a hothead, and quite frankly, I'm pretty sure you can't think."
"Granger, as much as you'd like to think you're so smart, I can see right through that little act of yours." Malfoy tilted his head and smirked once again. "Your innocent little façade is quite transparent, and I can see exactly how you're feeling at the moment."
"Tell me how I feel Draco Malfoy." Hermione challenged, her voice slightly raised.
Much to her surprise, he sat down next to her on the cold marble. "You really want to know?" His eyes shifted to a stormy charcoal—a sad stormy charcoal.
She nodded.
"Alone," He turned to her, inspecting her face for signs of disgust, mockery, or anything of the sort. He found nothing. "Scared, unwanted, crushed…" Shall I go on?"
Hermione looked at him. Ron had never understood her like this. "Okay so maybe you do." She answered.
"Better not repeat that Granger." He warned.
"Is that really how you lived your entire life?" She blurted, then blushed. Why would her enemy ever tell her something so personal?
Taken aback, he posed, "What? How did I live my life? I love to know your opinion Granger."
"Bottled up?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "It's not good to keep everything inside, Draco. I can help you.
"That is the only safe way." He looked up, noticing their moment of understanding.
"Well then," She stood up. "I guess you'll have to learn new ways, Malfoy." She walked to the door. "So I'll see you here? Same time tomorrow." With that, she strode out before he even had the chance to object.
"There's my yummy boyfriend!" Draco winced at the high-pitched squeal of Pansy's. "I've been looking all over for you!"
Why did she have to be so damn annoying?
"Sorry…I was off in the er…library." Draco said.
"Fine with me hon, but you gotta pay late fees." She said in a voice that he guessed was trying to be seductive. She ran her black finger nails across his toned chest.
"Uhh…actually Pansy, I have a massive headache. The doctor in rehab told me I shouldn't stress myself when I get them." He lied. She pouted slightly, and her cropped bangs fell into her beady dark eyes.
"Oh…later than." Pansy winked through her mascara covered eyelashes before turning away and sauntering away.
Blaise snickered. "Probably off to tell her little friends about the wild night she's planned."
"Shut up." Draco groaned before heading off. "I need another drink."
She wasn't really sure why she said it in the first place. She didn't really expect him to come, which was why she was surprised to find Malfoy waiting for her at nine o'clock the next evening on the astronomy tower's roof.
"What are all those?" Draco pointed to the heavy looking books in Hermione's arms.
"Math work." She answered. "For Muggle School."
"Why do you do work for muggle school?" Draco asked, moving aside for her to sit down next to him.
"It is still an important skill to know." She answered matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, I'm sure algebraic equations are going to get you somewhere in life." He laughed, picking up the first of many textbooks.
"Those are almost as annoying as you." She said, stressed out already at the sight of the book. "I can't seem to get certain questions right.
"They're easy." He said, much to her surprise.
"You know about muggle mathematics?" She was completely flabbergasted.
"Yeah, they're simple." He shrugged.
He opened the book to the table of contents, and then quickly skimmed through the book. He then told her about combining terms, isolating the variables, and setting the sides of the equation equal to each other until the breeze got so strong they had to pack up.
"Granger?" He called before she disappeared towards Gryffindor. "Tomorrow? Same time?"
"I'll be there." She smiled.
"Alright…but let's keep this between us?"
"Whatever you say, Malfoy."
"Thanks, Granger."
Well this was new.
Author's Note: To those of you who have already read this chapter prior to the update, I hope you've noticed that I revised, making the beginning much more realistic to how their strange friendship forms. Give me your feedback! :)