As he made his way down the stairs of the corridor across from the entrance to the dungeon, Draco sure enough heard Hermione's soft cries. He also heard the birds and deducted that the birds were emotionally charged.
"Ron, if that's you, go away," Hermione choked, not looked up from her hands.
"It's not Ron," Draco said, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice. While he had changed much over the years, it did give him some sort of sit satisfaction to see Hermione Granger, the wonder witch, so upset. She always presented herself as so stoic and unfazed by anything. See her so emotionally vulnerable was different than anything Draco had seen and he had been seeing it a lot lately. Hermione looked up at the sound of Draco's voice. Her eyes were red and puffy, a thin smudge of mascara sat under her eyes.
"Oh, it's you," she sighed glumly, looking back down at her hands.
"Try to contain your excitement, Granger," Draco teased, sitting down next to the crying girl. Hermione let out a dry laugh. Draco offered her a piece of fudge he had snagged from the treat table. Hermione took it and nibbled on it, apparently lost in thought.
"Pansy looked nice tonight…" she trailed, obviously hinting at something. Draco sighed and rolled his eyes.
"If you're trying to insinuate something, Granger, you're completely wrong." Annoyance was in Draco's voice. It was clear he had faced inquiry about him and Pansy many times.
"I've just always thought there was something there." Draco shook his head.
"There almost is. We've shagged a couple times, unfortunately, but there's nothing actually there." Hermione didn't say anything but Draco could feel her looking at him. He sighed. "She just wants me because of my inherited wealth. I'd prefer not to be with someone like that," he added simply. Hermione nodded and turned back around to face forward.
"Malfoy, why are you here," she asked. "I said I didn't care what you did after the ball." Hermione hadn't meant for her words to come out as harsh as they had. She waited for Draco to leave in a huff. But he didn't. He just looked at her and shrugged.
"Nothing else for me to do. I'm tired of all the Slytherin dorm parties where I just end up hungover and in some abandoned broom closet with a girl a hardly know. It's not productive in the grand scheme of things." Hermione nodded but didn't say anything.
"Ron's a sod," Hermione exclaimed. The birds around her started fluttering about restlessly and Draco was afraid they would dive bomb again. "I really did enjoy myself tonight and he has to go around being a jealous git. Well, it isn't my fault he didn't ask me to go with him."
"No offense, Granger, but you're looking at this all wrong." Hermione's confusion and anger filled eyes snapped to Draco. Draco held his hands up defensively. "I mean, you're right about Weasley being a sod, I'll give you that, but why don't you just make the move first? I mean, you are a Gryffindor. Where's that Gryffindor courage?" Hermione's mouth curled into a small smile.
"You're right. I am being stupid." With that Hermione got up and brushed off her periwinkle dress. She turned and walked up the stairs, leaving Draco with the slowly disappearing birds. He sighed and made his way back to the Slytherin common room, sure it would be extremely noisy.
Hermione raced up to the Gryffindor common room to apologize to Ron and make her move. As she neared the portrait, she could hear commotion from the other side. It sounded like the house was having a post ball party. Hermione started to prepare what she was going to say to Ron. She would pull him aside and say "Hey Ron. I'm sorry about tonight. I shouldn't have put all the pressure on you to ask me first? Want to grab a hot butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks at Hogsmeade this weekend?" Yes, that sounded good. It just might work. She took a deep breath and gave the Fat Lady the password and walked through the portrait hole. But what she saw made her freeze in her tracks. Everyone else was still in their dress robes (besides Ron who was humiliated by his and had changed into black slacks and a white button up) and dancing around, drinking butterbeer. However, Ron seemed to be preoccupied, his lips and arms seemingly attached to to Lavender Brown. Hermione was frozen in her place as she watched her best friend snog her roommate. Ginny Weasley appeared next to her.
"Come on, let's go up to the dormitories," she whispered into Hermione's ear. Hermione nodded numbly as she let Ginny lead her up to the girls dormitory, ignoring the confused calls of Harry behind them. Hermione silently undressed and changed into her pajamas while Ginny snuck through a secret passage to the kitchen to get some tea and biscuits. Shortly after, Ginny popped in again and set a steaming mug of tea on Hermione's bedside table and sat down next to Hermione, holding her while she cried.
When she stopped she looked up at Ginny with tear stained cheeks.
"How does it feel, Ginny, when you see the way that Harry looks at Cho? That's how it felt tonight when I saw Ron with Lavender." Ginny thought for a moment.
"But you and Malfoy…" she was stopped by Hermione shaking her head.
"It was all a ruse. Malfoy and I made an arrangement to make both Ron and Pansy Parkinson jealous." Hermione told Ginny the whole story over tea. To Hermione's surprise, Ginny didn't looked shocked at all. In fact, she looked rather bored by it.
"Are you not surprised at all," Hermione asked, bewilderment in her voice. Ginny shrugged.
"I didn't think you'd actually go for that sod." Hermione just shrugged. She had to admit that Ginny was right. Her and Draco were an unlikely pairing. "Did you at least have fun?" Hermione hesitated but nodded.
"Yes, but before you say anything, it had nothing to do with Malfoy. I'm sure I would've had fun with anyone I had chosen to go with." Ginny shrugged but still had the shit eating grin that her older brother, Fred and George, always had.
"Suit yourself. For the record, it worked. I heard Pansy is absolutely livid." Hermione smiled. At least Draco had gotten what he had wanted. Ginny patted Hermione's knee, took the two tea cups, and headed out of the girls dormitory. Hermione put a silencing charm around her bed so she couldn't hear the party still going full force outside her room and tried to fall asleep, although the image of Ron and Lavender kept her awake. When she finally did drift off, she found herself dreaming of the smell of pine cologne.
Hermione wasn't at breakfast that morning. She had peeked into the Great Hall and saw Lavender sitting at her usual spot next to Ron and decided to skip on breakfast in the Great Hall, walking to the kitchens instead. Draco couldn't help but take notice of her absence. He also took notice of Pansy's withering glares from across the room. She had decided to sit elsewhere for the time being. Can't imagine why, Draco thought, smirking to himself. He still couldn't manage to tear his eyes from Lavender Brown sitting where Hermione Granger should've been sitting. And her damn shampoo. That damn smell had filled his nose the entire night last night. It smelled like the rose water perfume his mother used to wear. Or maybe she still did? He hadn't been home in awhile.
Draco had stopped going home for the holidays when his father started trying to get him more and more involved in the dark side. Yes, he was a Slytherin and yes he hated Harry Potter and his stupid friends but Draco did not think mass genocide of all who weren't purebloods was the way to go. If it was up to him, he would stay away from all the Dark Lord nonsense for the rest of his life, maybe get a cottage somewhere secluded. But it wasn't up to him. At least not going home over breaks seemed to keep his father, and the Dark Lord, at bay for the time being. Dumbledore understood and let him stay at Hogwarts over summers and all other breaks, as Dumbledore didn't want to see Draco turned into a death eater.
Draco didn't see Hermione until potions class in the afternoon. Her eyes were red and puffy and she had gigantic dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept all night. He saw she had paired up with Neville Longbottom instead of sitting at the table with Ron and Harry, Obviously the night before hadn't gone as hoped.
Potions class went as normal, although Hermione seemed to be subjected to more of Snape's bullying and nasty comments than ever before. When class was dismissed, she quickly gathered her things and left in a hurry. However, she was followed by Ron and Harry.
"Oi! Hermione! Wait up!" Hermione tensed before slowly turning around and looking at Ron. He stopped, almost shocked at the tired state of her. "Did you not sleep at all last night? You look exhausted." Draco, watching from where he was leaning against the wall outside the potions classroom waiting for Zabini and Goyle, saw Hermione's fists clench and her jaw tighten.
"That's none of your business, Ronald," she replied coldly. Her lips were as thin as a wire.
"'Mione, how long are we going to be at this? I'm sorry I didn't ask you earlier it's just… you didn't ask me either." Hermione's ears turned a brilliant shade of ruby red.
"You think that's what this is about?" Ron furrowed his brows in confusion.
"Yes?" Hermione looked away and shook her head, her pissed off smile that Draco had seen many times before.
"God, you're so daft sometimes, Ronald Weasley." With that, Hermione stormed off to the Gryffindor dorms. As she was passing, she caught Draco's eyes. She gave him a look that only said 'this is none of your business, Malfoy'. He had seen that look thrown at him many times before though none of the times had been quite as withering as now. Suddenly he didn't even understand why he had even attempted to help her, why he had even considered standing up to his father for her (it's a good thing he hadn't). Anger washed through him as the snake watched the lioness walk away. Filthy mudblood, Draco thought to himself. He wanted to make himself feel better but the derogatory term just made him feel even worse. He trudged off to his dormitory, knowing full well that was the last time Hermione Granger would give him so much as a glance.