Comfort With the Enemy
Chapter One
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters unless an OC shows up. Then they belong to me and one or two of my friends. Other than that, the characters belong to the genius, J.K. Rowling.
A/n: Hello, everyone. I'm back with an all new Dramione. I was going to keep it a secret until it was 100 percent finished but I love the first chapter and the plot line too much to keep it all to myself and a few people for very long. So without further ado, I give you the first chapter of my new story, Comfort With the Enemy.
In the back of Flourish and Blotts a young witch with chocolate brown hair sat fighting off tears, hoping that one of her friends wouldn't come in to buy their school books and see her in her broken state. The young witch pulled her knees to her chest and tried concentrating on the book in her lap, but it was a fruitless effort. She continued thinking about losing her parents, about coming home to find the Dark Mark hovering over her house like a ghost. Every time she went to sleep the scene played through her mind like a song on repeat. No matter what she did she couldn't erase the images from her mind. The wrenching pain of loss and fear washed over her with renewed intensity until she wanted to scream. She closed the book and took a deep breath, still fighting the tears off. She clenched her eyes shut, hoping the tears would wait to fall until she was no longer in public. She was miserable enough without the embarrassment of crying in the middle of a store added on top. After a few moments the pricking stopped and she opened her eyes to see the one person she wanted to see the least: Draco Malfoy walking toward her with his permanent smug look. Standing in front of her he opened his mouth to say something that sure to be an insult but he stopped.
"What's wrong, Granger? Did the Weasel break up with you?" Draco asked. Hermione could tell something was missing from his voice, but couldn't pinpoint what it was. She glared up at him from beneath her eyelashes, vision blurred. She didn't know if she could handle his taunts in her state. Not when she was sure the father of the boy in front of her was a part of the group that took away her family.
"It's none of your damn business, ferret. Go away." Hermione retorted, not having the energy to come up with something witty. Draco looked Hermione over. She was still the same, save her hair. It was now thinned out, in layers, and straight. He smirked, knowing she'd always been a bit sensitive about her hair. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her and said,
"Oh, I get it. You're upset because someone wised up and cut that mop on top of your head." At the comment about her hair, Hermione closed her eyes and remembered why it was cut in the first place.
Hermione leaned against her dresser, staring at herself in the mirror. Her brown eyes were puffy and bloodshot from crying and her hair was a tangled mess.
My entire life is falling apart, she thought to herself. What am I going to do? She rubbed her face and took a deep breath, turning around to look at her room. She always knew she was different but from the moment she found out she was a witch she felt less of a connection with her parents. Their world suddenly become far too simple. She would miss her parents, of course, and their death would put an empty hole in her heart, of that she was sure. But where could she go from here? She looked once more at her reflection. Things would be hard but all she could do was return to those who still cared for her and supported her. She would need shoulders to lean on and she knew her friends would be there but for now, all she could do was put everything behind her. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. She had her mother's hair. The color, the curls, and the texture was exactly like her mother's. She could remember sitting in front of the dresser with her mother brushing the curls out after a bath and she would scream because they would tangle so severely. Hermione didn't want to look in the mirror only to see the mother that would never be there. Fresh tears trickled swiftly down her cheeks as she wondered how she'd handle looking at her own reflection. She rand her hands through her hair and laughed insanely to herself.
Suddenly, everything that had happened to her seemed funny. Why, she didn't know, but it was funny. She continued laughing insanely. Had someone known what had happened and had seen her they would have admitted her to an asylum. She grabbed a pair of scissor and began cutting at random intervals, destroying her thick brown curls, continuing to laugh. She cut several lengths on top off, letting the hair fall to the ground. Pausing for a moment to look in the mirror, Hermione stared at herself in horror.
Merlin, what have I done? She thought to herself, sinking to the ground in front of her dresser, sobbing.
Tears began to trickle down Hermione's cheek as she ran her fingers through her hair.
"Woah, Granger. I'm pretty sure this isn't about your hair. What's wrong?" Draco asked, his tone changing, sounding almost tender.
"What's wrong with me isn't really the business of Death Eater." Hermione snapped.
"A Death Eater? Let me tell you something, Granger. I am not and never will be a Death Eater. Get your facts straight next time you want to insult someone, mudblood!"
Furious, Hermione stood from her chair, grabbed her things, and stormed to the front of the store, ready to leave to buy the rest of her supplies for her sixth year at school. Before she was out of earshot she swore she heard Malfoy mutter a faint, 'sorry'.
A/n: So what do you guys think? I hope that you like it because I truly worked hard to get the dialogue just right and to keep the characters as in character as possible. Let me know what you think.