She entered their common room. Crying. It was being quite a habit. Miss Hermione Know-It-All Granger was slowly turning into Miss Hermione Crying-Most-Of-The-Time Granger. She was annoying in a totally different way now. Not that he was complaining. Granger could suffered as much as she wanted, it was none of his business – furthermore, the fact that someone else than him does the dirty job, which means hurting Granger's feelings, leaved him with less work than he was used to. Brilliant.
Once in a while, she glared at him, and seeing that he did not care at all about her miserable state of mind made her cry even more. They should have been partners, as they were both prefects. They should have been. But he did not care.
To be honest, he was just being himself. All Draco's like. She had always known him like that ; arrogant, selfish... He was just teasing her nerves. He was being nonchalant because he wanted her to know that she could never find help in him. Of course, he had noticed everything ; the tears running down her face, falling from her eyes that were turning red as she was crying more and more every day, her jaw that was trembling each time she thought about what happened...
Since Weasley dumped her for that Lavender Girl, she was more likely fitting in the Rubbishes' House than in any House of Hogwarts. Granger once had every quality that could send her in every House. Now, she was not answering professors' questions anymore, was not telling anyone that "you-should-not-do-that" anymore... The most flagrant was that her bravery has vanished into thin air, as well as her ability to slap nasty words into Draco's face. She was boring.
Fact was, he missed her. He wanted the old Hermione back. He wanted the insufferable Know-It-All back. He did not know how he could manage to bring her back, though. She was so withdrawn. For the first time since they met, he was scared to death to insult her. It could break her in a million pieces and it was far from what he wanted. If he broke her, there will be no one left to play with. He was as much as desperate as her, in a way. It was just not the same desperation.
Draco bet she liked it, when they were fighting. She liked to be nasty with him because when it happened, it relieved her. He could see it. He was used to be mean with anyone whom the behavior did not please him. However, what he liked the most was arguing with her. Others were insignificant. They never tried to fight back. Granger was different. She could be nastier than him, from times to times. He enjoyed it, really.
Filthy little Mudblood, he thought. If she was not a stupid Gryffindor and Muggle-Born, he was practically sure he would have helped her. "Practically", because it was just so not him to help people. He would have helped her because he had to admit that she was rather pretty, and it was not his habit to let pretty girls stay on the bench. He could not lie to himself just because she was a Mudblood. Sometimes, he wanted so badly to hold her in his arms, be he just could not. What was the point, after all ? He did not wanted her to thought that he was touched by her sadness in any way. Perhaps he wanted to make her feel good for once since the Weasley Thing had happened. Not that he was thinking that his arms were a healing cure. He just wanted to make her feel that it was not the end of the world. That everything was eventually going to be alright.
As his thoughts were on the Granger's case, Draco heard a door slammed violently. Once again, she has locked herself up in the bathroom they were sharing. He could imagine her sitting on the toilet's pan, head in hands, crying and crying and crying again. This thought could have make him smile. It didn't. He was tired of all this shit. Yes, it was shit, obviously. He got up from the sofa, leaving the Daily Prophet on the coffee table, and went to the bathroom's door.
Alohomora, he whispered. The door unlocked, and she must have heard it because she suddenly stop crying. He got in, closed the door behind him, and then, looked at her. She was not on the toilet's pan. She was sitting on the floor, against the wall. He did not knew what to do. He did not even knew what he was doing in this bathroom, looking at Granger, both compassionate and annoyed. Hermione looked at him with anger.
"What are you doing here, Malfoy ?" She asked, aggressive.
Draco sighed. She could not be more stupid.
"Well. If it's how you welcome people when they're ready to offer you their help, no wonder why you're still crying," he said. "I'm going to leave you, then..."
He stepped back, and as he was opening the door, he felt fingers hanging on his arm. Draco looked at Granger – because, obviously, these were her fingers – silent.
"Please," she begged. "Stay. I'm sorry."
On that very moment, Draco realized how awkward the situation was going to be, and already was. She looked so fragile. Her eyes were still crying, but it seemed like she did not felt the need to cry. It seemed like her eyes wanted to show Draco how she needed someone she could hold on to. The Slytherin almost fainted from the overflow of disgusting feelings that were now filling up the entire room. And on what people usually called "instinct", he drew Hermione against his chest, and held her tight. He was sure she could hear his panicked heart that was beating faster than usual. Draco let one's hand gently caressing her bushy hair. He did not recognized himself, but strangely, he was feeling well. He felt... lighthearted.
"Don't tell anyone about this, Granger, or I'll have to kill you."
He felt the Gryffindor's smile against his chest. They stood there for several minutes. Hours, perhaps. They just stood there, in each other's embrace. Of course it felt awkward. They were enemies, weren't they ? But it just felt good to rely on someone, even if it was just for a day, even if someone was your childhood enemy.
Granger threw her hand up almost instantly after McGonagall asked some random question about Metamorphosis. Draco smiled at the sight. He couldn't help but notice every change that had occurred since their secret hug in the prefects' bathroom. His favorite one was that Granger royally ignored Weasley's presence now. And his second favorite was that they argued even more after that ; they were just incapable of not smiling while fighting. At least, when they were in the intimacy of their common room. In front of everyone, they just did not talked to one another. No one has even a tiny idea of what could have happened to threw her back so suddenly in the real world. Draco was proud to know that it was thanks to him. Granger was back, and it was all that mattered.