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Redemption
by LJCV of Z-4R
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"You spoiled everything, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed as she tried to hold back her tears. Ron left without saying a word.
She collapsed on the staircase and started sobbing. Her little red dress seemed to lose its vibrancy. This was too painful for her because the unbreakable connection they both shared vanished and Ron slipped away from her in one blink of an eye. It made her wonder if Ron really loved her.
As she was contemplating the things she had done earlier which made Ron furious, a tiddly Draco intentionally knocked himself off on Hermione.
"Dolt," Hermione uttered in a very shaky voice.
"Mudblood," Draco teased, "have you been blubbing since the start of the ball?"
It was him – the one Hermione never wanted to speak with especially in the state she was currently in.
"Bugger off, Malfoy," Hermione said as she tried to contain all her emotions so not to hit Draco Malfoy again.
"Did Weasley leave you all alone? Oh mud—," Draco paused when he realized that agitating Hermione more would be a waste of time and so he left her and went back to his lads without finishing the word Hermione did not want to hear.
"He left me all alone, alright? He left me," Hermione answered even though she knew that she was just directing it to herself. She stood up and looked for any sign of her best friend, Harry. He is nowhere to be found. Given that the ball was over, Hermione thought that he could be staying in Gryffindor's common room.
Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Blaise watched Hermione look so lost and broken. He had no idea of what happened to her but a part of him wanted to follow the girl but the idea made him laugh. He reassured himself that it was just the alcohol taking effect.
"I bet Malfoy fell in love with the mudblood when he tripped himself," Crabbe teased.
Malfoy did not respond for his gaze followed Hermione who, he thought, looked gorgeous in her little red dress if she wasn't too shattered. Blaise saw this and thought that Draco had taken in too much booze so he hit Draco's head and in an instant, Draco bluttered out, "I did!"
It confused Crabbe and Blaise even more.
Draco realized what he just said; he looked at his friends blankly and asked.
His friends returned the blank stares which pissed Draco off. He scooted and told them that he'd like to have a goodnight sleep. The moment his presence left the area, Crabbe and Blaise exchanged opinions on whether Draco developed feelings for Hermione, was it just the alcohol, or was he really planning something exciting and wicked.
As soon as Hermione arrived there, she called out for Harry's name but no one answered. She decided to wait for him but she fell fast asleep on the couch and the things that bother her still never left.
The next day, Hermione, the know-it-all, barely recited in class and every time Professor Snape asks her to answer or cast a spell, she spaces out and tells him she doesn't have any idea. Draco cannot stop noticing her being that way and it bothers him but he tries hard to shake the thought away because he must not care this much.
The bell rang and Draco, the one who was always first to step out of class, had his friends waiting for him outside the room. They needed to clarify things because Draco being in love with a mudblood is just unthinkable.
"What? Is there a party right now that I haven't heard of?" Draco asked coolly but he knows what their real purpose was.
"Bloody hell Malfoy, Crabbe and Blaise told us that you really are in lo—," Goyle stopped mid-sentence when Draco told them, "Come on mates, I was thinking of fooling around with the mudblood lately. Satisfied?"
He left his friends thinking that his excuse already made an impression – that his feelings were fake and intentional.
This cannot last much longer; he needed to talk to Hermione Granger and so he tried to search for her in the library.
She was there, staring at some blank pages of a potions book. He nervously went to her table and when Hermione noticed someone standing in front of her, she looked up and Draco noticed those puffy eyes.
"Hi," Draco said as he tried to sound cool but he knew that it sounded awkward and stupid.
"What do you want from me, Malfoy?" Hermione asked coldly. Instead of answering that question, Draco sat beside her and together, they stared at the blank pages of the book.
Draco knew this was very unusual for Hermione but he courageously asked her if everything's been going well for her lately.
Hermione did just as what he expected her to do; she looked at him as if her deepest and darkest secret has been discovered. Seconds later, Hermione began giggling – a forced and low giggle — and she asked Draco if he was under drugs which he took seriously and cried, "Granger, seeing you so glum last night really bothered me! I fucking care about you and this isn't something that the alcohol did to me! Now if you don't want anyone to care, then fine!"
The students looked at me him annoyingly. He immediately left the library even before the students transfigure him into a ferret.
A confused and shocked Hermione left the library, too. She had no intention to follow Malfoy but her conscience told her to do so.
In a pub, Draco's favourite place, Hermione tried to talk it out and she apologized even though doing this was also hard for her. Just the thought of Draco Malfoy makes her want to throw up. She considers him one of the most annoying pureblood in Hogwarts, he is just red in tooth and claw and both of them never got along with each other for the past four years and in that moment, Hermione tried to disregard all of it and sincerely told Draco everything that happened the night of the Yule Ball.
It was like all her guards let down and it was as if she was talking to a best friend. After hearing the story, Draco became really irritated with Ron but he is more pissed at himself for the things he had gotten himself into.
He had no idea why of all people; Hermione Granger would be the one who hits his soft spot. He doesn't know how it happened but somehow, he liked the way it made him feel. And then, something occurred to him – the reason why he liked teasing Hermione so much when they were in their lower wizard years and why he felt really bad when Harry, and not Hermione, was the one who would do the detention in the woods with him – it was because he secretly liked Hermione in spite of the fact that she is a mudblood, a know-it-all, and a friend of Harry Potter.
"Draco?" Hermione confusedly searched for him because he was spacing out.
When Draco snapped out of it, he looked at Hermione in the eyes and told her how he just found the answers he had been looking for. He told her everything. Hermione did not expect this but she smiled anyway. She wasn't even sure if he really liked him before but as she was seeing him now, someone who showed sincerity and care for her, she thought that it wouldn't be that bad to befriend him. They whiled away the day with pumpkin juice and beer.
Days passed, Hermione was still heart-broken and she still searches for answers to why all of these happened. Harry and her barely even talked about serious matters especially about Ron because he was too busy preparing for the Tri-Wizard Cup but she was lucky to have Draco who was willing to help her go through her troubles.
Draco already confessed his feelings to her because he wasn't confused anymore. He was sure of how he feels for her. He even told his friends about this and all of them were shocked and some even teased him of how being with a mudblood sucked so much. He didn't care anymore. He knew that Hermione wasn't ready yet but he was willing to wait even if it meant a lifelong kind of waiting.
It was the night after Yule Ball when Hermione Granger experienced her darkest moment and that was the same night when Draco Malfoy saw this pretty yet miserable woman in her little red dress and he found his way to enlightenment to the feelings he has towards Hermione Granger.
Now, Draco Malfoy unselfishly shares that light to Hermione Granger who slowly recovers from the black hole she was once into.
FIN