Hermione walked around the lake, hand in hand with Ron. She looked up in to his blue eyes and smiled at the exhilaration in them. He was hers, as she was his. Finally.
Draco seethed from his position under a ruined column. From here he could all to perfectly see the poor, ugly Weasley holding the hand of his love. Ugh. How pathetic he must seem, coming back to Hogwarts, only to fight on Voldemort's side then swap sides as soon as the Dark Lord had died. No one would understand that he only fought for Voldemort to protect his self and his mother. It was not his fault he had been placed in this situation. His stupid, stupid father had pledged his family to Voldemort, never considering that Voldemort didn't stand a chance. Draco suddenly found him self pacing in front of the broken, crumbling entrance to the school he had been attending for far too long, kicking pieces of statues that littered the ground. If only, if only! If only he had been able to run away, to escape Voldemort, perhaps people would understand, perhaps the beautiful mudblood would understand he had never supported Voldemort! He had never wanted evil to win out!
But now all that seemed forgotten. No one crossing the school grounds paid him any attention. They acted as if he no longer even existed! He, Draco Malfoy, no longer exist, no longer be of importance? Impossible! He was one of the richest wizards in all of England! That filthy little mudblood would kiss the dirt from his shoes one day, and that day would be soon. He would make her love him like he loved her.
Hermione looked up from where she and Ron stood skipping rocks and saw Draco Malfoy approaching them, fast. He had a look of determination on his thin face and his blond hair was damp and messy from the days fighting. She halfheartedly wondered how she looked as she anxiously patted her hair, checking to make sure the anti-frizzing spell she had put on it earlier was still in full effect. Ron looked at her, smiling, to see why she was no longer throwing the smooth, flat rocks they had gathered from around the edge of the lake. He grimaced at the fast approaching Malfoy, and turned back to the lake with Hermione. Plop. Hermione's rock skipping skills seemed to have disappeared after noticing Draco and her smooth rock sunk in to the lake, not skipping once.
Draco walked up to the two lovebirds, grimacing at their joined hands. "What do you want, Malfoy?" The Weasley boy didn't even look at him when he asked this. How rude. Why, if his father was still in good with the minister he could probably- "Malfoy! What do you want?"
Ron finally looked at him, scowling, as Hermione glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Don't talk to me like that,Weasley." He sneered. Oh shit, he thought, looking at Hermione's wide eyes. I had better play nice with Weasley to win her. "I was, erm, hoping that I could talk to Hermione." He glanced at her. "Alone."
"Like hell you will." Ron boldly declared, stepping in front of Hermione. Draco noticed that this act of dominance seemed to piss off the bushy haired beauty.
"Excuse me, Ronald, but I believe I can make my own decisions thank you." She stepped in front of Ron and looked Draco in the eye. "What is it, Draco?" Hermione came to the sudden realization that she did, in fact, still have feelings for Draco, feelings she thought she had buried her fourth year.
"Let's go somewhere a bit more, eh, private?" Draco could barely keep the grin off his face at her easy compliance.
"Erm, well, alright then." Hermione was horrified to feel her self blush at his suggestive tone.
"Hermione-!" Ron exclaimed, obviously dumbstruck by the fact that Hermione, his Mione, was about to just walk off to be alone with Malfoy, of all people. "Hermione-" Ron said, grabbing her arm, "Please. Don't go off with the bastard. What if he hurts you? I can't let Malfoy hurt my Mione. My beautiful," Here he stroked her face, feeling her lean in to his hand just a bit, "simple, Hermione." She abruptly pulled back, swatting his hand down like a fly.
"I'm not a toy, Ronald. I don't belong to you, and I'm not simple!" With that she turned angrily on her heel, and marched off, grabbing Draco's arm. Their pace was brisk, the pace of a very pissed off girl. A pace Draco knew well.
"Ah," He said, smiling at her as she continued to hold on to the crook of his arm, "Trouble in paradise already?"
"Oh, shut up, Malfoy!" She muttered quickly dropping his arm. They climbed a round staircase in silence and finally came to rest near a window on the fourth floor corridor. Hermione gazed out the window, observing the destruction caused to the grounds of the previously beautiful school by Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters and giants.
"Now," She said, turning to examine Draco's slender, pale face. "Is this private enough for whatever you need to talk about?" She pursed her lips in a way that was obviously supposed to signify that she was still angry, but with who he couldn't tell. Suddenly, in that moment, Draco couldn't wait any longer. He needed her, he needed her soft skin and her tender hair, and he needed her now. "Well," He said, smiling shyly-Shyly! He of all people wasn't shy!- "I didn't have much talking planned."
He suddenly grabbed Hermione around her thin, delicate waist and pressed his body against hers. Without giving her time to struggle or even gasp, he pressed his lips against hers.
Dear God. They were everything he had ever dreamed of. The curves, the light pink color that he had spent all of multiple potions classes analyzing were pure bliss, lightly touching his. He kept the kiss careful, waiting for some sort of signal from her. To his disbelief, Hermione responded positively. Suddenly, her mouth was moving against his and his lips easily moved in sync with them. In mere seconds she parted her lips, a light moan escaped her lips and traveled in to his mouth where it cascaded against his tongue sending waves of pleasure to his brain.
Suddenly Hermione pulled back, breaking the kiss. "Wait." She said, breathlessly. She took a few more seconds to catch her breath, her chest heaving. Draco couldn't help but notice that, somehow, during their few stolen seconds of pleasure, her jacket had become unzipped and the top button on her shirt had burst open. "We can't do this."
"Oh, I beg to differ." Draco murmured, moving his face back to hers, already lowering his eyelids.
"Draco! Stop." Hermione couldn't help but think how sexy he looked with his eyelids half lowered like that. "We really can not be doing this! I'm dating Ron now." She almost instantly felt guilty after saying his name. As if, somehow, he would be able to sense that she was still humming with pleasure from Draco's kiss in a way their one shared kiss hadn't done. Well, perhaps Draco was just a better kisser. God knows he'd had more practice than Ron.
"He doesn't have to know." At the look of hesitation on Hermione's face, Draco spontaneously confessed. "Listen, Hermione. I've sat back and watched him love you for years already. I've loved you for far too long to just let you be with Weasley, like I never existed, like this moment never happened. Please. I'll do anything to be with you, Hermione, even if all I can have is your friendship." She still looked worried. "Hermione. Please. I'll never tell anyone about this. I just need to have you in my life. I risked so much, coming back to this damned school under the pretense of fighting, when really all I cared about was you. And I'll accept you being with Ron as long as you're really happy with him. Just, please, Granger, give me another chance." What was it about this girl that had him begging and feeling shy? How did this girl turn everything he thought he knew about himself around?
Hermione knew from years of watching Draco bully other students that he was not the type to beg. The fact that he did so now amazed her. "Well," She said, biting her lip, "We'll be friends. And nothing more. But watch your boundaries, Draco. As much as I would like to keep you in my life-" Here she blushed a bit at her unintended confession. "-if Harry or Ron say you've got to go, you're going. If you ever hurt me in any way, you're out of my life. And I never want to hear about you hurting someone again. Do we have an understanding?" She lifted her head, sounding so business like she amazed herself.
"Yes. Yes, of course, we have a deal." Draco grinned. Sure, he had wanted more than Hermione's friendship but, for now, it was enough just to be in her life.
*Later in the Gryfinndor common room *
"Like hell we'll let the little slime ball be our friend!" Ron bellowed from his place in front of the fire. He looked animatedly between his girlfriend and his best friend. "Come on, Harry! Tell her she's being mental!"
"Well, honestly Ron, I think this is a bit of an over reaction." Harry held up his hands in a peace making motion. "Calm down, Ronald. Hermione, what exactly did Malfoy say again?" He turned towards Hermione who appeared to be sinking in to her over sized chair.
"Draco said that he had changed. He said that he wasn't really fighting for Voldemort-" Ron squeaked at her casual use of the name. "Oh shut up, Ronald, Voldemort's dead for goodness sake. He said that he wasn't actually fighting for Voldemort when he came back, he said he came back to- to check on us. I guess he's developed, erm, feelings for us. Feelings of friendship. And he seemed sincere." Hermione looked anxiously between Ron's alarmed look of pain and Harry's careful look of consideration. "Draco really did seem sincere."
"Well of course he seemed sincere, Hermione! He's probably planning some evil way of killing off Harry as we speak!" Ron strode to Harry's chair and stood behind him. "Come on,
Harry. Back me up on this."
"Are you implying that Draco is using me, Ronald?" Hermione suddenly sprang up from her chair.
"Well, Hermione, you never know. He could be. I mean, he was on Voldemort's side! He almost killed Dumbledore!" Ron shrank back at Hermione's rage. This was not the usual Hermione he had come to know and love, the innocent, delicate Hermione that only raised her voice when there was something to be upset about. This Hermione was a warrior. A fighter. And he couldn't help but admit that it kind of turned him on.
"I'm not stupid, Ron! I know he could be using me! And I know he's not. Look, let's stop the fighting. Just tell me. Are you two willing to give him a chance? Just one chance?"
Without looking up, Harry immediately replied "Yes. He deserves one chance. Ron?"
"Fine. He gets one chance. And if he screws it up, I never want to see him again. Clear?" Ron grimaced at the two of them while sliding down in to his favorite spot in front of the fire.
"Yes. Of course. I'll go get him now." Hermione sprung up from her chair and rushed out of the common room, hiding her blush. She burst out of the portrait hole and instantly smashed in to someone. "Oh, God, I'm so sorry, I'm such a klutz, please excuse me-" She hurriedly mumbled while feeling herself start to tilt to the left when, suddenly, she felt a pair of delicate hands reach out and grab her waist. Hands that felt familiar. She looked first down at the pale, thin hands that held her waist then up to see Draco's face inches away from hers.
"Oh, Hermione, I was just-" Draco hurriedly dropped his hands from around her waist. As much as he would've liked to hold them there for a bit longer, he had promised her he would only be her friend. "I was looking for you. How did the meeting with Harry and Ron go?" He couldn't help that his face betrayed his hopefulness at the prospect of being friends with the people he had admired from afar for so long. Except that damn Weasley boy. He may have confronted Harry a time or two, but that was more out of jealousy than anything else. Ron though, he really disliked. It had nothing to do with his family's blood status or the fact that his father was more muggle than wizard, which he really found endearing. The Weasley boy always somehow managed to throw himself a pity party for not being The Boy Who Lived while being overly proud for doing nothing more than being Harry's friend and occasionally assisting him in wild adventures.
"Oh, quite well actually. The boys have agreed to give you a chance." Hermione smiled. "I'm actually supposed to be looking for you to bring you back to the common room now."
"So, you're saying we've got time to spare before they start getting suspicious?" Draco tilted an eyebrow suggestively. He knew this would probably only anger his wild haired warrior princess, but it was fun to mess with her innocent mind.
"Draco!" She said, smacking his arm. Hermione couldn't help but feel a furious blush crawl up her cheeks. "I know I've already told you how I feel about cheating on Ron."
"Ah, that's right, the good heart-ed Granger would never hurt her new beau. Now, let's adjourn to the common room and see if we can't convince the boys to tolerate me, shall we?" Draco held his arm out to her like a gentleman to a lady. The last time a boy had been so chivalrous towards Hermione, it was Viktor Krum, and he was only barely tolerable because of his good manners and kind nature. Unsurprisingly, Ronald had hated him almost as much as he hated Draco.
They turned around, arm in arm, to see the fat lady sitting in her portrait, giggling with another witch. "Pass-*hic*-word?" She said, tipsily waving a bottle of wine towards them.
"Oh, um. Well. Let's see. I believe McGonagall said it was 'Unicorn hair'?"
"Correct, my dear, correct!" The fat lady giggled loudly, one chubby hand placed over her upturned mouth. The portrait swung open.
"Ladies first." Draco said, dropping Hermione's arm and making a large sweeping motion towards the entrance. Hermione smiled at him politely, aware that both Harry and Ron were standing now, obviously trying not to look towards them, but finding no where else to rest their eyes in the empty common room. She slipped in and crawled through the small hole, aware that Draco's long, soft fingers kept brushing her ankles.
"Harry, Ron. Draco." Hermione stepped out of their line of vision so the boys could observe each other. In the tense silence that followed her attempt at an introduction she could tell this was not her greatest plan. As she watched the boys size each other up, she started to wonder about something she had read about build ups of male testosterone leading to violent fights. What if they all of a sudden started throwing punches? As she watched, she noticed Harry start to move his hand. Oh dear God, she thought panicking, He's reaching for his wand! They're going to get in a fight!
"Hello, Draco. Harry Potter. Nice to meet you." Harry extended his hand towards Draco. That was his plan. Pretend they never knew each other. Start off new. Have a fresh beginning. Harry could only hope, for the sake of Hermione, that Draco was willing to go along with it.
"Hello Potter. I mean, Harry. It's nice to meet you, too." Draco reached his hand out, clasping Potter's palm. He pumped his arm for a second, gripping Harry's hand just hard enough to be friendly. Draco turned towards Ron. "Hello, Ron. It's a pleasure to meet you." He held his palm out to the one person he could ever despise more than his father. Play nice, Draco, he thought. It's only for a while. Then, perhaps, we can get the red headed nuisance out of his and Hermione's life.
Ron shook his hand. He wouldn't fall for the bull crap act he was putting up. He had no idea what Malfoy was trying to do, but he knew it wasn't good.