Ch. 4
Harry and Ron were waiting for her at their old table in the dungeons when Hermione swept in seconds before Professor Slughorn shut the door.
"Where have you been?" Ron whispered over to her, lowering his voice when Slughorn started to speak.
"Malfoy. I ran into him, literally, in the doorway of our common room and I had to pick up my books and he had my Ancient Runes one and wouldn't get out of my way –" She sighed. "Just being his generally obnoxious self." Ron snorted.
"That's no surprise then, is it? There's no changing some of them."
"No, I suppose not. Harry, have you spoken to Kingsley lately?"
"Yeah, he keeps getting tips of Death Eater hideouts everywhere but he just doesn't have the manpower to do anything about them and by the time he does, they've caught wind of the plans and they move. I was thinking of going to McGonagall and request a training area for the Order members that are still in school in case they wind up needing us."
"That's a good idea. We'd have to tell Ginny, Neville and Luna as well."
"Well yeah. And even if she doesn't give us permission, we could just use the Room of Requirement. We need to stay prepared."
"Do you think she'd let us?"
"Do you really think she could stop us?"
Hermione was about to reply when she saw Draco sidle in the room when Slughorn's back was to the class. He took a seat in the back, catching Hermione's eye for a moment before looking down at his book. She couldn't quite place the look on his face when he saw her. It wasn't hate or disgust like it used to be. It was something entirely different. Before she could fully analyze it, Harry poked her sharply in the ribs.
"Ow! What?"
"You weren't listening to Slughorn at all, were you?" She blushed slightly and looked up at the blackboard.
"I was slightly distracted. Care to let me in on what's gotten your knickers in a twist?"
"We've been paired off."
"What? Why?" Ron shrugged. He clearly was paying his usual amount of attention.
"Inter-house unity." Harry informed her. Groaning loudly and scanning the board, Hermione found her name right next to Draco Malfoy's. An exasperated sigh escaped from between her lips as she spun around and her eyes landed on Draco's face. He sat alone beside a cauldron, pulling out ingredients for that day's lesson – Felix Felices. Hermione grumbled indistinctly before gathering up her things and making her way over to Malfoy.
"Do you mind if I sit?" She gestured to a chair beside him. He shook his head minutely and she sat down. She busied herself with finding the correct page in her potions book that held the instructions for this particular concoction. She mentally checked off the ingredients that Draco had pulled out, double checking that he had everything.
"Right then. Shall we start?" She turned to Malfoy, making the mistake of looking him directly in the eyes. She couldn't help but feel compelled by him, drawn and distracted. Her words were lost on her tongue as she recognized a familiarity and openness in those soft grey eyes that she hadn't expected. At the sound of a throat clearing, she blinked and looked up to see Professor Slughorn eyeing them both with a puzzled expression.
"I said it's about time for you to start your potion. Are you alright, Miss Granger?" Professor Slughorn said. She was the cleverest witch in their year and had a habit of paying attention to everything that happened in class so to find her so distracted she hadn't heard him was mildly unsettling.
"Yes, sorry sir." Hermione mumbled, turning her full attention to the potion recipe in front of her. Slughorn wandered away as Hermione pulled the mandrake root toward her.
"Could you set the fire for just above a simmer, Malfoy?" Draco looked at her, leaning closer to her. He longed to ask her, to find out if the bad of the last year made her forget the good that happened or if somewhere, she remembered. Instead, he withdrew his wand from his pocket.
"Incendio!"
"Aguamenti!" She muttered. The silence fell again, this time almost tangible.
"So…" Draco started, shifting her eyes over to Hermione uncertainly.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" He looked back down at his desk, returning his attention to his ingredients.
"I was just—"
"Just what?"
"I was just making conversation, Granger. You know, being civil? I thought that you, of all people, would appreciate that kind of change in me." She heard the hurt lacing his cold words. His eyes remained fixed on his task falling into silence. She uncomfortably glanced at the book again before adding her mandrake into the now simmering pot, trying to ignore the twinges of guilt.
"So, Malfoy…"
"Can you please not call me that?" he snapped.
"Why?"
"That name doesn't exactly incite a positive reaction from the multitudes like it used to."
"So what would you prefer I call you? Ferret?"
"Would you rather I call you Mudblood?" She grimaced.
"No, I would rather you didn't. So, what am I to call you?" He sat quietly for a moment.
"Well you could call me by my first name." His eyes finally met hers; he wanted to see her reaction.
"Why do you want to be called Draco all of a sudden?"
"Do you really have to question every single thing I request of you?"
"Well, yes. I do as a matter of fact. You don't have a reputation of being the most honest person in the world."
"Well maybe I'm trying to be. Ever think of that?"
"Since when does a Malfoy care about honesty?"
"I just do, alright?" He exploded, cheeks flushed, his breath coming in slightly ragged gasps as he tried to regain his composure.
"Because I'm ashamed of what the reputation my name has procured with the wizarding world. If you could respect my desire to distance myself from it that would be greatly appreciated."
"Okay. I'll try to remember that Mal- Sorry! I'm sorry…Draco."
"Well I suppose if we're being fair, I would like it if you used my first name as well." She said quietly. She ducked her head down a little lower, trying to catch his eye. Smiling to one another, they returned their attentions to their potion book engrossed in amicable conversation.
"They're much too comfortable over there." Ron muttered, casting glances over at Draco and Hermione leaning together over their potions book between casting glares at his partner, Daphne Greengrass. Harry spared a second's glance at them before returning his attention to the recipe in front of him as his partner, Blaise Zabini, started crushing bezoars.
"They're reading a book, Ron. They have to be sitting that close."
"Would you start crushing those bezoars already? I'm going to need it pretty soon after I add the mandrake." Ron nodded without looking at Daphne, distractedly picking up the pestle and slamming it down into the empty mortar. Harry rolled his eyes, grabbed Ron's wrist and dropped two of the small stones into it before letting go again.
"She's supposed to be miserable being forced to work with Malfoy. She's not supposed to be enjoying it."
"What, do you want her to be miserable for the rest of class? Just shut it and pay attention." Ron frowned at them one more time before returning his immediate attention to Daphne.
Hey guys! I'm so, so, SO sorry for taking so long to update :( I've been off my nut the last couple of weeks between midterms for school and work having me pick up 3 extra shifts a week. I also had a massive editing overhaul of this story because there were bits in the plot that I just didn't like. SO. Here's what I've got so far. I do have a few chapters pre-written that are just awaiting my and my editor's fine-toothed-comb-trudging so hopefully I'll be able to update quicker.
Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments and favorites :) It really kicks my butt into gear to try to make it as good as it can be! I know I hate it when authors beg for reviews, so I'm just going to ask that if you have plot questions, comments, want to fawn over it or want to (not literally, of course) throw me in a bubbling cauldron of hate leave me a review. Your good and bad input will always help me.
Thanks for bearing with me this long. I promise the chapters are just going to get longer from here and they'll get more interesting.
Happy reading! ~WD