Mercy and sympathy were foreign concepts to anyone on the battlefield. They were not afraid to take away a life, and witness a person's light slowly fade from his eyes.
As Hermione Granger cursed and fought, the memories of her first weeks in Hogwarts flickered behind her eyes. It seemed like ages ago. It seemed so good, so peaceful, perfect. What Hermione would have done to feel that safety and tranquility again.
More memories flooded her thoughts, as she remembered her life-threatening adventures with Harry and Ron. She remembered the fear she felt, the thrill that went through her, and the concern she had for her friends. It all seemed so little now, compared to what she was facing.
Then came the year that drastically changed so many things. The year that she became a Prefect. The year she had truly met Draco Malfoy.
She cannot forget that little encounter she had with Malfoy in the Prefects' Common Room.
Malfoy was sitting on the sofa by the fireplace, reading a potion book that he held open with one hand. His free hand mindlessly brushed through his silvery hair in a way that makes Hermione's heart pump faster. Malfoy suddenly turned to look at Hermione.
"Granger. Hasn't anyone told you it was rude to stare?" He chortled.
Hermione opened her mouth in shock. "I was not staring! Why would I stare at you?" She paused, crossing her arms. "I have better things to do than to argue with you, Malfoy, if you'll excuse me.." Hermione then walked away, but was held still after a second or two by a cold hand on her elbow.
"Granger." Malfoy's voice grunted.
Hermione didn't turn, she merely daydreamed of the temptations of her books.. the comfort of her bed..
"Can we stop pretending now?"
At that, Hermione froze.
"Pretending?" She asked, her gaze fixed on the ceiling.
"Pretending that we hate each other." He answered seriously.
Hermione laughed and faced him, escaping his grip. "You think I'm pretending? I can't believe you're THAT thick, Malfoy! Because the last time I checked, you said pompous purebloods like you don't mingle with low-life mudbloods like me."
"I'm sorry." The blond quickly said, almost so quick that she barely understood it. "I'm sorry."
His gray eyes pierced into her hazel ones, sincerely looking at them as if he were trying to read her soul.
But it didn't last long. Malfoy broke the gaze and walked back to the sofa where he sat again. He propped up his feet on the other arm of the chair, taking up the whole space of the seat. He sighed and closed his eyes.
At that moment, Hermione knew that she'll never look at him the same way ever again.
"Stupefy!" Hermione yelled at a Death Eater that was about to curse Ginny. After a brief nod to thank Hermione, Ginny ran down a corridor to help the others. Meanwhile, Hermione was frantically looking for her battle companion. Where was he?
More often than not, Hermione & Malfoy were usually alone at the Prefect's Common Room. Malfoy took this opportunity to at least get on Hermione good side.
"How's your Transfiguration essay?" Malfoy asked Hermione, who seems to have been startled.
"Merlin.." She whispered in ire, picking up the quill she dropped. She glared at her dorm mate. "Don't bother me, Malfoy. I have no time for this!"
"I notice that you keep saying 'I have no time' in our little conversations." He stated coolly, caressing the surface of Hermione's parchment. "I'm positive that you do have time, you just do not wish to spend it with me." He smirked.
"You're right. Now stop being a pest." Hermione said, then resumed her work. Malfoy shrugged.
"What time will you sleep?"
Hermione glared again. Malfoy was almost sure that he already had holes in his head..
"When I finish this, which I won't, since you keep on pestering me!" Hermione exclaimed. Malfoy shrugged again.
"Alright. I can stay up with you if you like."
Hermione ignored the offer.
"I will, then." He said, pulling a chair beside Hermione, who was clearly irked.
Hermione just continued working, trying to ignore the persistently annoying Slytherin beside her.
"'Best way to Transfigure Butterflies into Rings'" Malfoy read aloud from her paper. "I like your penmanship." He commented.
Ignored.
Malfoy cleared his throat and remained quiet, eliciting a sigh of relief from the brunette. The blond then noticed another piece of parchment beside the essay. He picked it up with no permission.
"Japanese rice omelette.." He read aloud before Hermione yanked the parchment from his hands.
"Just go to sleep, you're really not helping me at all!" Hermione screamed.
Malfoy seemed to have a talent for ignoring others' misery. "What's with the omelette?" He asked.
"None of your arrogant business." She answered, taking a deep breath.
"Answer me and I'll leave you now." He said.
Hermione sighed. "I want to try to cook the omelette, that's all. So I listed down the ingredients & instructions from Mrs. Weasley's cookbook. Now go." She bluntly said.
To Hermione's surprise, he did, without another word.
It was also to her surprise the following morning when a plate of Japanese Rice Omelette sat on her bedside table.
After an unfortunate mishap where Greyback clawed Hermione's left arm which was now bleeding rather severely, the brunette finally found her battle companion. He was fighting his own aunt Bellatrix, alongside Ginny and Luna.
"Traitor!" Bellatrix screeched. "You're no better than a mudblood! You could've been great, Draco!" The psychopath hissed.
"I am no better than a muggleborn," Hermione took note of his choice of words, "because we're perfectly equal!"
Hermione wanted to help but she decided against it. There are others who would need more help. Like herself.
The days that followed that surprising morning where she found a lovely breakfast made by Malfoy were absolutely splendid. He did little things for Hermione every day, such as opening the door for her, staying up with her as she worked, and merely saying goodnight. They had become good friends, Hermione & Draco. He had won her over. She decided he was worth giving a chance.
Of course, Ron, the other Gryffindor Prefect, and Pansy, the other Slytherin Prefect, noticed this. Once, Ron confronted Hermione about it but he ended up yelling at her for being 'stupid' and 'insensitive towards my feelings'. It brought Hermione to tears, as she tried to defend why she had befriended their former enemy. When Draco knew what happened, he wasn't too pleased. He also had a private confrontation with Ron in the Astronomy Tower shortly after, where both came back bloody.
"Ignore Ron.. he's always like that." Hermione told Draco as she tended to his broken nose.
"I wasn't going to let him get away with making you cry." He growled, gripping his bedsheets.
"Don't ever get in a fight like that again." Hermione said, softly brushing his bruised cheek. "I don't want to worry." Then, she quietly stood up from the bed and walked out of his room.
After that, Hermione went to Ron's room.
"Ron?" She knocked.
Ron looked at her with disgust but merely ignored her.
"You have to promise me that you won't do anything rash like that. My relationship with Draco is none of your-"
"So it's Draco now? And you have a relationship?" He raised his tone, his face clearly showing the signs of furiousness.
"It's his name and a FRIENDSHIP is a RELATIONSHIP, Ronald! Don't be so daft!" She screamed back.
"You're mental, Hermione." Ron said angrily. "Draco." He said in a mocking voice. "I'm telling you Hermione, you'll regret it."
"Fine. Be immature about this." Hermione said before storming out of his room.
The next morning, a beautiful Sunday morning, Hermione found Draco sitting on his favorite couch in the common room again.
"Good morning." Hermione greeted then sat down beside him. He ignored her.
"Draco? Are you alright?"
"My father's dead." He said in a low voice.
"Merlin, I'm so sorry.." Hermione whispered. "How..? When..?"
"This morning.. I.. don't know if I can tell you." Draco replied. "But I can tell you that.. bad things, very bad things are happening. Things that even your side doesn't expect."
"Our side?" Hermione quirked an eyebrow. "So you're on their side?" She raised her voice.
Draco gravely looked at the brunette. "I.. don't know." Silence. "But please, I need to explain something. It's.. important. Top secret, if you may."
Using her able hand, Hermione fought as much Death Eaters as she could. But she couldn't deny that this loss of blood was indeed causing her much. Her eyesight grew blurry, her knees felt weak, she found it difficult to stand- in general, she was weakened.
"Incarcerous!"
The ropes that were magically strangling her were much more painful that it was supposed to be. Her open wound stung and she bled much more and she couldn't breathe properly. She thrashed on the floor, screaming, trying to help herself.
"Relashio!" "Sectumsempra!"
Hermione heard a sound that resembles cutting a paper before she could breathe normally again.
"Hermione! Salazar, what happened.." Draco said, whispering all the healing spells he knew.
"I tried, none would work." Hermione coughed.
"Stop fighting. Stay somewhere safe." He strictly said.
"I need to help."
"I don't want to worry."
"I can only reveal so much.. They.. The Death Eaters.. They're using all means to penetrate the castle." Draco quietly explained. "And they've already got allies inside."
Hermione's eyes slightly bulged.
"Also.. I fear that, since my father passed away.. I'm going to have to replace his place in Voldemort's circle." He paused, caressing the back of Hermione's hand. "I don't want to. But they'll.. they'll kill me for it." His eyes looked into her caramel ones pleadingly. Helplessly. "I hate the fact that.. my fate's been sealed since I was born.. If I try to change course, death surely awaits. I need help, Hermione.." He confessed, his face contorting in fear and worry. "I don't want to die."
"Only Professor Dumbledore can help you with your situation.." Hermione calmly replied, smoothening the creases of Draco's face. "But you know.. You can always choose, Draco. You have always been given that right."
"Then don't." Hermione answered weakly, wincing at the pain her open wound caused.
"Are you mental? I can't not worry about you." Draco screamed as he fought off two Death Eaters. "Recline on the pillar for support, I'll protect you. Just.. stay with me." Draco commanded, determinedly fighting, never leaving Hermione's side.
Hermione did as she was told. Still, with her able hand, she tightly gripped her wand and fired curses at the Death Eaters around her.
"Stay with me, Hermione!" Draco kept saying as he had a fist fight with a Death Eater.
"Traitor!" A voice screeched. "You traitor! Avada Kedavra!"
Bellatrix Lestrange.
Before Draco could avoid the spell, before Hermione could realize what happened, a jet of green light hit Draco's lower back and instantaneously stole his life.
The Death Eater Draco was battling, who Hermione realized was Scabior, punched Draco's face, kneed his stomach, and kicked him on the ground. "That's what you get." He spat.
Hermione couldn't even find tears to cry. Tears would not be able to show the anguish, the agony and the hurt she felt at that very moment when she saw Draco's limp and lifeless body on the floor. She could only scream. And fight.
With all her might and fury, she stood up and fired spells towards Scabior.
"Reducto!" She yelled, but Scabior skillfully avoided the spell which hit another Death Eater instead. Hermione continuously cast spells in Scabior's direction, determined to avenge her.. friend.
"Expelliarmus!"
Hermione's wand flew out of her hand as Scabior pointed his at her throat.
"Avada Kedav-"
"Stupefy!" A menacing voice screamed. The spell hit Scabior, sending him flying to Hermione's right. She looked to the left to see who it was that saved her.
"Ron.. You.." She whispered helplessly, the tears overwhelming her finally.
"Hermione! Merlin's beard.. stay still. Stay still." He held her up strongly but gently.
Then, Hermione gave in. She couldn't fight anymore. She let unconsciousness take over her.
"I admit, Hermione.. You're really bossy at times, did you know?" Draco said with a laugh as he closed the headmaster's door.
"I am not! I am just strongly voicing a command!"
"Which is, in short, bossing." He laughed as she playfully hit his shoulder.
"You will not be a Death Eater! You will stay!" Draco mocking said in Hermione's voice. Hermione couldn't help but laugh.
"Do I sound like that really?" She asked.
"Yes." He answered. "But I don't mind. You sound absolutely lovely."
Hermione stopped walking and looked at him.
"Did you just compliment me?"
Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, Hermione, I believe that's what I did. And they say you are the smartest witch of our age!"
The Gryffindor giggled. "Thank you, then. I think it's just polite to do so, but don't think I'm not suspicious. You could be not Draco Malfoy."
"You're right. I mean, who wouldn't love to be me? I'm absolutely handsome."
"I wouldn't want to be you. I wouldn't want to manage an awfully big ego. Felix Felicis." She said, and the door of the Prefects' common room opened. Pansy Parkinson was sleeping on Draco's favorite couch, snoring lightly, while the other Prefects seem to be in their quarters.
"Yeah, don't be me. You're too perfect already." Draco said, stopping on the doorframe. "I do hope you know that you're partially why I refuse to be a.. you know." He moved closer to Hermione who stood near the center of the room. "I admit, Granger. I fell in love with you and your odd habits the night that the prefects first came here. Ever since, I started observing you. Er, yes, observing." He chuckled. "I noticed your tendency to bite your lip and crease your forehead when you're frustrated. Your over-application of perfume, which you really don't need." Draco commented with a warm smile. Hermione blushed. "Your intelligence & wit amuses me, and I just adore your snarkiness. The way your eyes can suddenly become murderous after an insult. The way your hair becomes a mane in the morning.. You're beautiful." He tucked her hair behind her ear. "It is too odd to say that I love you, Hermione?"
Hermione woke with tears in her eyes, her chest heaving, She wept harder, clutching to her hurting chest as she remembered her nightmare.
She wiped her tear-stained face and checked her calendar. No wonder nightmares haunted her- it was May 2. Nineteen years ago, on this very day, Draco Malfoy was murdered in war. A hero he was to her. Hermione saw, with her very own eyes, how Draco had died. Killed by the Avada Kedavra curse, and physically abused right after. She couldn't bear to bring up the memory again..
She stood up on weak knees and tamed her mane with a black hair elastic. It was 9:24 in the morning, approximately an hour before her call time at the Ministry as an Auror. It was only then that she noticed that she was alone in the room, that the bed was unoccupied. Her husband had gone.
"Ron?" Hermione called out.
"Kitchen. Made you some breakfast!" He answered, followed by the familiar giggles of their children Rose and Hugo.
Hermione sighed. She loved Ron dearly. She loved her with all her heart. But she just loved Draco Malfoy much more than she could ever love anyone again.
"Coming. I hope the kitchen's not on fire." The brunette called out again before going to the kitchen to greet her husband.
A/N: I can't believe I just left this story lying around amid my other drafts. This is a personal favorite, I can't believe I actually forgot about this. Well, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. (I'd love a review!)
- Karyn