Chapter 4
Hermione and Draco quickly gathered themselves and scrambled to gather their bags as the spell that signaled it was the end of the first class of the day. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the portrait door.
"Come on, we're going to be late." She gave his hand a squeeze.
He looked at the mirror near the door and frowned at his disheveled appearance. He charmed his hair back into place and fixed his tie as he watched her in the mirror. His eyes met hers and she gave him an almost affectionate smile.
"I don't understand you."
"And I don't understand you." Her tone was light, almost sweet.
"Why are you even bothering with someone like me?"
She turned him around, tired of watching him fumble with his tie. "Because you deserve it. I see so much of myself in you and want to help you, Draco. I know where you stand right now all to well." She finished fixing his tie and looked him in the eyes.
He hated the way her eyes shone with worry. Unlike her, he was painfully aware of her proximity and she stood on her tip toes and gave him another almost sweet smile.
"We're going to be late."
She pulled away and led him into the hallway of students. She walked calmly next to him on their way to double potions with Slughorn. Hermione was glad to see him back. Draco just saw more deaths he had caused.
She found herself looking forward to this year. To her, Draco Malfoy was an enigma she wanted to study. She found him to be so like and unlike her at the same time and she truly felt that had it not for the profound presence of blood supremacy engrained into him, they actually could have been friends. From the brief look she got into his room, she saw similar titles to the ones she owned, so she determined they had similar interests in literature.
"Would you like to be my partner, Draco?"
Her light, honey voice shook him from his thoughts. "I-"
His response was interrupted by Neville and Ginny who were walking up to them. "Good morning, Hermione." Neville greeted.
"Good morning, Neville."
Ginny frowned at her, still very clearly angry with Hermione. Draco subtly stepped in front of Hermione, ready to protect her at a moment's notice.
"Hermione, we need to talk, now."
"Alright,"
"Privately."
Hermione stifled a frown. "Privately? When we tried to have this conversation yesterday you made it quite public. No, anything you have to say can be said here and now." She crossed her arms and nearly glared at her.
Ginny matched her stance and frowned at her. "Where have you been since the war ended?"
"I was with Kingsley, tracking down my parents." She replied simply. She saw no reason to rehash the story she knew Ginny already knew but was choosing to create a drama out of this. Hermione knew there was more to Ginny's anger than what she was showing. She wanted to roll her eyes at the younger girl. Her drama was beginning to become tiresome. "Ginny, why don't you just get to the real reason you're so angry with me?"
"What about Ron? How could you abandon him after everything?" Her body language was stiff and clearly angry. Ginny looked as though she were about to blow her top. Her face was contorted in near rage that made Hermione quirk her eyebrow in confusion. "He needed you after the war, you know. He still gets nightmares, you know. Or do you not care about him anymore now that you have a new boy toy?"
"Excuse me?" Hermione said stiffly.
Draco gripped his wand in anger. "Do not speak of her like that."
The two Gryffindors chose then to turn their attention to the Slytherin. "What do you even know about her? You've got no place here."
"He's got more of a place right now than you." Hermione was livid. She couldn't believe what had gotten into Ginny. "I didn't realise that you had turned into a spineless Gryffindor. What happened to the Ginny Weasley that fought off the enemy four months ago?"
"Hermione," His voice was soft. "It's fine. She's technically right-"
"Of course, I am." Ginny said smugly.
"But," He continued as though he weren't even interrupted. "I know far more than you do. I know that when she's nervous she bites her lower lip and plays with the ends of her hair. I know that despite being unable to restore her parent's memories, she found a father figure in Kingsley. I know that after the war, she's jumpier than she had been before. I know that she is terrified to lose her friends and would even toss her life away to give them the chance to keep living. I know her favorite color is periwinkle because that's the same color her notebook covers have been since our first year. I know that she hates the way house elves are treated. I know a hell of a lot more about her in the last twenty-four hours than you have in the last seven years. So," He pressed his index finger into her shoulder. "Maybe you need to pay more attention than worrying about other people's personal relationships."
"Don't you dare touch me, you filthy Death Eater."
He felt Hermione begin to respond before he raised his hand in front of her. "I wouldn't want to."
"Oh, so now you're above me?" She rose her wand and pointed it at him.
He closed his eyes as he heard Neville announce that he was going to get a professor. He wasn't going to retaliate. However, Hermione had other ideas.
"Ginny if you don't put your wand down this instant, I will personally hex you into next week and I'm a quicker caster than you."
"Why are you defending him?! Harry told me that he watched you being tortured by his mad aunt!"
"Because he's doing everything he can to atone and move forward! You're still stuck in the weeks after the war! It's been four months! We need to move forward and that's what Kingsley is going for." Wand still raised, Hermione glared at the younger Gryffindor. "You're being irrational, Ginny."
Draco opened his eyes, turning to look directly as her. "We're going to be late, Hermione. We should get going."
Ginny frowned. "Answer me."
"Ron and I decided to go our separate ways. It was mutual. And frankly, I don't think my relationships are any of your damn business, Ginny." Her tone softened at the next few words. "I know you're still grieving and that's okay. I'm here for you now. So, lower your wand."
Ginny's hand quivered.
"Ginny," She urged and took a step forward. She lounged forward and grabbed the girl and embraced her. "It's gonna be okay, now." Hermione calmed the girl and soothed her. Ginny had burst into tears at Hermione's hug.
"I'm so sorry,"
"Shh, it's okay, Gin," Hermione soothed. "You just needed someone to blame."
Draco politely coughed. "Hermione, we're going to be late."
"Right," She turned to Ginny. "Sit with me at lunch?"
"Sure," She smiled weakly.
Hermione hugged her again and scurried down the hall to seventh year potions. Since the eighth years were here to complete their seventh year, they were all taking seventh year classes with said seventh years. Draco stopped her when they reached the dungeons. "Hey,"
"We're going to be late, Draco."
"Hermione,"
"Draco, not now."
He pulled her arm, forcing her fast steps to come to a stop. "You're not ready to go into that classroom yet."
"And why not?" Her voice, her light, honey, soft voice was dripping with impatience and irritation.
"Hermione, it's clear you're upset about what happened with Weasley."
She waved him off and continued down the hallway. "We can talk about it later."
He conceded her request and followed her to the classroom where they barely made it and moved to sit next to each other near the back.
She ducked her head into her textbook and avoided looking at him. To her luck, Slughorn left her alone during class as they worked on pain relieving potions for Madam Pomfrey's stores. However, as they were finishing up, Slughorn came over to them singing praises on Hermione's work. He gently laid an envelope on the counter of the workstation and gave her a smile.
"If you have the time I would love to have you join me for dinner this evening. I'm sure you'll meet other suitors and make powerful alliances."
Hermione didn't even look up from stirring her potion. "I will have to pass, Professor. I have patrols this evening."
"Ah, that's right, with Mister Malfoy, correct? Would you like to request a different partner?"
She looked up at him with tired disdain. "With all due respect, Professor, I have no issue with Mister Malfoy, nor should you. We have settled our grievances." She cleared her throat. "He is no longer on trial and he was cleared of his charges. Let the past remain there. Also, you are not my head of house, so you should be more concerned with Draco's happiness than mine."
She held her head high with a powerful air around her. Did she know she commanded the room? He thought in awe. She's like a princess… He knew he should have kept still and at least tried to not draw any further attention to himself, but he just couldn't help but to smirk and lay his arm over her shoulders. He looked Slughorn in the eyes, wearing the trademark Malfoy smirk.
"That's right, Professor," His smirk grew. "I was declared innocent by all fifty of the Wizengamot, besides, me and Hermione here are friends now."
Hermione coughed lightly and swatted his arm away. "I believe we are to be on our way to our next class now, Professor. You surly wouldn't want us all to be late."
This had snapped Slughorn out of his stupor and he quickly dismissed the class, hastily preparing for his next one. Hermione shoved her textbook into her bag and hurried out the classroom, not even waiting for Draco.
He practically ran after her. When he caught up to her, she was walking quickly he nearly jogged to keep up with her. "Hermione, what's wrong?"
She ignored him and kept walking.
"Hermione?"
She stopped suddenly and turned to him.
"Why are you angry?"
"I refuse to be made a trophy, Malfoy." Her arms were folded, and a deep scowl marked her features.
He furrowed his brows at her words. "Hermione, I have no-"
"This morning, I offered up a piece of myself, a piece of my trust, to you. What you did in that classroom…" She ran a hand through her hair and let out an exasperated noise. "You reverted to your old pompous, annoying, bigoted self, Malfoy. You were not the Draco I had come to want to be around. In there was pre-war Malfoy. I would like to have post-war Draco, but I now realize that I was just a method to regain your family name some status. No thank you, Malfoy. I don't need that in my life. I absolutely refuse to be a tool for you." She turned without skipping a beat and left him standing in the corridor alone.
Hermione was hurt and angry and raw with emotion. I'm so stupid! She thought bitterly. He never changed! And I vouched for him too! I stood up for him! Stupid!
She had Defense Against the Dark Arts next with Headmistress McGonagall, though she didn't really see the point of going. The war was over and she was done defending. Against her better judgement, she found herself standing before the portrait of the embracing silohetted couple on a gradient purple background.
"Amor vincit omnia," She whispered. "Does it really though?" Hermione beelined for her room and quickly locked the door. She put up her silencing spells and let herself cry. If she were feeling honest with herself, she would say that she was crying over Draco Malfoy. But she decided to do the exact opposite and cry over the situation. She had desperately wanted this term to be different than all the ones prior. She didn't have Ron or Harry with her this year and she wanted nothing more than to have them on either side of her, telling her how much of a prat Malfoy was and that he wasn't worth her time. However, the bottom of her heart disagreed loudly. While the part of her heart that he had claimed in such a short amount of time was small, it had a rather loud voice in her head.
He's just as damaged as you. If you were given the chance to be fixed, so should he.
She had laid there staying in bed the rest of the morning. It didn't help that she kept hearing the rumors about her since the start of term.
"Day one can't even go as planned…"
Lunchtime came and went, and she remained in her room, feeling so exhausted and emotionally drained. She supposed that she couldn't keep the strong, bright, eager, and good witch façade up forever.
…
Draco stood outside her door for what seemed like an eternity, but in actuality was only twenty-three minutes. He had rushed here after the end of classes. He even took extra good notes to give to her because he knew should would be angry that she had missed a day of classes. One thing he knew about Hermione Granger was the fact that when she was mad at you she certainly let you know. He was just luck she hadn't sent a flock of angry birds after him like she had to Weasley. He raised his hand to knock, only to lay his palm flat against the door right next to her golden nameplate.
"Hermione, please…"
He knocked.
"Hermione?"
He paused.
"Hermione, open the, open the door please?"
He was met with silence.
"Hermione…"
He sank to his knees. He had, in a horrible, misguided way, made her into his entire reason for living any further. He admitted in this moment, that he needed her. That her approval, her friendship, her love, were the most important things to him. He had never allowed himself to look at her the way he had after his trial. He saw her for what she was. He saw the bright witch everyone else had saw, he always had, even as a prejeduced prat. No, he saw her as a beautiful, competent witch who would bring good to everything and everyone around her. He wanted to be a part of that goodness. He knew this desire to be in her presence was selfish, but it breathed new life in him.
"Hermione, I need you."
He knew this was an unhealthy obsession. He would admit that, but he also knew that he would die without it. She had become his sun in life, however unwarranted and out of the blue it was. She was his everything.
He felt the door click against his palm and begin to pull away. His head shot up to look at her face. Her eyes were puffy, and it was obvious from the redness that was had been crying for some time. It was a punch to his gut.
He swallowed hard before he opened his mouth to speak, only for her to beat him to it.
"I'm still quite upset with you."
"I made you cry."
She noted the genuine remorse in his voice and the pained look in his eyes.
He noted her expression soften a bit.
"Hermione, I need to correct something you said, but first I have a question."
She crossed her arms, her hand gripping her wand dangerously. "Really, now?"
"You said you refuse to be a trophy, but is it because you refuse to be my trophy?" He didn't even pause to let her answer. "Because to me, you wouldn't be a mere trophy. I don't know all the correct muggle terms. When the sun explodes, it will take out so much with it, but it also gives so much life to the Earth because it's in the right spot. The sun gives life to everything on this planet. You, Hermione, gave me new life. You're my sun."
Hermione let her arms fall to her sides and her cheeks flushed a bright red. "What?"
"I never let myself look at you the way the weasel looked at you,"
"Are you…?"
He gently approached her as though she was a confused animal. "Hermione…" He swallowed hard.
She let him take her hand into his and felt that tiny part of her heart he had claimed swell, for just in this moment.
"I-"
There was a banging on the portrait-door that had utterly destroyed the heightened air between them. Hermione's head snapped toward the door and Draco watched her eyes widen in fear. Her hands gripped his in fear. He recognized the signs all to well. She was on the verge of a panic attack. He slowly brought her into his arms and gently turned her face to look at him. He gave her a small reassuring smile and her muscles relaxed slightly.
He let go of her after she returned his smile, albeit a bit sheepishly but grateful. He opened the door to find two people he surely wasn't expecting.
Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley.
Hello all!
I'm going to try to start updating this story every two weeks or so, but please know that between my college courses and my job finding the time to write for pleasure is very hard. But definitely expect an update once a month. I know that's a long time to wait and I am so sorry for that. Thank you for being super patient with me.
-SnowFairyLove
Also because I'm feeling a bit vain, Thursday, March 8th, is my 20th birthday and I'm super excited. I'm going to try to give you guys another chapter then. Hopefully... fingers crossed?
