The scene in the Common Room that night was not pretty.
"What the hell do you think you're doing with him? He's a Malfoy for God's sake!" Ron yelled.
By this time, the entire school knew about Hermione and Draco, but she found that she didn't care. For one thing, she had had enough of sneaking around corridors and explaining away her constant dreamlike state with lies. That and the end of year was only a week away.
"He's changed! He's not what he was like anymore! You see that don't you? He hasn't picked a fight with either of you for the past year!" Hermione was in tears.
"That still doesn't stop him from being an evil, pathetic, malicious, little git!"
"Don't talk about him that way!"
"You're standing up for him? After all these years, you're defending the one person who has called you a Mudblood? I thought you had more brains than that Hermione!"
"He's not that person anymore!"
"Look" Harry interjected "we're just worried about you. We find it difficult to believe that Draco has completely changed after all these years just like that."
"Or did you think that he changed just because of you? Has it ever occurred to you in that giant brain of yours that he might be up to something?" Ron sneered nastily.
That was the final straw for Hermione. She turned and burst into tears, running up to her dormitory.
She didn't talk to her two best friends for the next week. Despite Ginny's best efforts for reconciliation, both sides were either too stubborn or proud to see the others' point of view. Even Harry, who often saw both sides of the argument and even spoke up for Hermione to Ron at times, completely stopped speaking to her. It seemed that Hermione had gone too far this time and that she had done something unforgivable to Ron and Harry. It wasn't so much that she was in a relationship with a Malfoy, Ginny explained painfully one evening, but that she didn't see fit to tell them or even plan to that annoyed the boys so much. Uncharacteristically for Hermione, she didn't feel obliged to tell them anything as this was her own private manner. Upon telling Ginny this, Ginny blanched and left her tearfully.
"Wow, you really have changed haven't you?" she said bitterly before leaving.
Introspection was something Hermione did more and more each day. It was true that she had changed and that before all of this, she would've told her two best friends about anything and everything. But this time, and she couldn't fully explain why, it was different. And anyway, hadn't she told Ginny all about it? Shared every moment with her? So it wasn't like there was something sinister at hand. Although now Ron wasn't speaking to Ginny either and now Harry was the mediator in that argument. Oh, why did everything have to be so complicated?
Hermione thought back at why she didn't tell Harry and Ron about Draco. It was simple really. They wouldn't understand and would probably beat the tar out of him before she would be able to do anything. And she wanted this to be their little secret. There was something terribly romantic about that.
And then it all came to this. Some part of her that she never knew existed, revolted at the idea of going back to her friends and begging forgiveness, apologising and explaining the matter to them to make them understand her plight and that she hadn't meant them any harm. Why should she be the guilty party? Why should she be the one apologising?
She wasn't sure she liked this new part of herself.
Hermione found, to her surprise, that she could bear this separation rather well. The small feeling of discomfort upon this realization was banished when she ran into Draco's waiting arms. He managed to say all the right things and comfort her in the best way possible. Why did there have to be other people in the world? Why couldn't it just be them, where it was perfect? Somehow, he managed to make Hermione see that her true friends would've stuck by her, no matter what and that she was definitely in the right in this situation. Her years of rationality and logic were swept away as easy as that and she ended up depending on Draco to get through that week as much as she'd ever depended on anyone in her life.
Has it ever occurred to you in that giant brain of yours that he might be up to something?
Unfortunately for her, Ron's malicious and careless remark never strayed far from her thoughts, no matter how hard she tried to quash it. Something about this comment seemed to resonate within her, making her see this relationship in another light. But whenever she caught a faint glimpse of that side by the sudden illumination, it seemed to be suddenly clouded as if someone quickly pulled the curtain on her view.
It was the morning of graduation. A ceremony dinner was to take place that night, afterwards which, the parents who came for the presentation would take their children home.
Hermione was to be found for the final time in the workroom that she and Draco had shared. She dug around the boxes confusedly.
"I'm sure I had left it here" she muttered to herself.
Ever since the night of the Ball, she had been having trouble keeping track of which Scrolls she had completed translating. Ones that she had half finished would disappear and appear days later in some unexpected corner.
"Looking for something?"
She spun around to find Draco leaning on the doorframe with his usual trademark smirk firmly in place. Hermione laughed and got up to greet him with a kiss.
"Oh it's nothing, just looking for one of Schott's Scrolls that mentioned the Fourth. It seemed really insistent upon a location, but I just couldn't get to it." She sighed in frustration as she looked around the room.
"Too bad none of this ever came to anything. Just the ramblings of a madman."
"Oh I wouldn't say it came to nothing. It brought me to you for one thing."
She turned back to him and smiled. "That's true."
And now my two best friends aren't talking to me and everyone else is talking about me.
Was it worth it?
Draco suddenly held Hermione tighter and gave her another one of his dizzying kisses.
Absolutely worth it.
"Potter and Weasley still aren't speaking to you?"
She shook her head sadly. Wanting to change the subject, Draco asked cheerfully. "So what do you plan on doing for your holidays?"
"Well, I'm going back to my parents' place tonight...and we'll see where it goes from there." She went back to the boxes and began tidying up the mess she'd made in rummaging through them.
"No you're not. You're coming home with me" Draco bent down to pick up a few stray Scrolls, throwing them haphazardly back into the boxes.
"You seem rather confident."
"It's all part of the charm."
"Haha" she laughed sarcastically.
"No I'm serious" he came up to her and fixed her with his intense gaze that still managed to make her breath catch in her throat.
"My parents will be abroad for a month and I want you to see Malfoy Manor. I want you to see it with me.
She stood, stunned at this offer. All this year, she had been curious as to where Draco had grown up. But was she ready to spend an entire month, alone, in his company?
"Please come with me" he asked with the perfect amount of hesitation and forcefulness in his voice.
Finally, she relented. "I'll ask my parents tonight."
Draco's smile was one of triumph.
The graduation ceremony was bittersweet, minus the sweetness, for Hermione. She was sorry to leave a place that she had grown to love along with her fellow students and professors. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes and down her face as she accepted the top award for her year and was met with a riotous applause. She turned to Harry and Ron and smiled at them. They clapped for her, but did not return the smile.
As promised, towards the end of the ceremony, both Hermione and Draco's names were called up for their 'Special Services to the School' awards for working on the ancient scrolls. As the two walked up there, Hermione was able to hear the mutterings of the students around them and chose to ignore it. When they both received their certificates and were left to stand to the side as the other awards were being presented, Hermione leant towards him and indicated the rest of the school.
"It's always going to be like this isn't it?"
He didn't answer her. She wasn't sure if he heard her or not.
Once the presentation was over, the parents were invited to have diner with their children. Hermione sat happily between her parents, but couldn't help looking over to the Slytherin table. Draco was there alone for his parents had not come to Hogwarts to attend the ceremony. She was confused at this, as Draco had never said that his parents weren't coming. And she didn't think that his parents would miss out on their only child's graduation ceremony.
They were nearing dessert when Hermione decided to break the news to her parents.
"So, do you remember about that boy that I wrote to you about? The one that I was working with?" she asked, slightly nervous.
"Yes honey", Mrs Granger replied. "Draco Malfoy right?"
"Yes. Well, um, he's invited me to stay over at his family's manor for a month this summer", she blurted the words out. Better to get it all out quickly, like ripping off a bandage.
Her parents stopped their actions and stared at their daughter.
"Hermione, are you dating this boy?"
"Um", she flushed. "Yes, I guess I am." These things were never comfortable to talk about. And the truth of the matter was, with all her years away at Hogwarts and belonging to a completely different world, Hermione had grown apart from her parents. She found it difficult to even talk to them about normal things.
"Oh Hermione. Isn't this the boy who gave you a lot of grief during your earlier years?"
Hermione took a deep breath and began to rattle off the arguments she had prepared for all afternoon.
As it was time for the parents to take their children home, Hermione noticed Draco wave to her from the Slytherin table. She understood his message and stayed put until he came over. She looked around her Gryffindor table. She saw Harry leave with the Weasleys and became slightly choked up. How was she ever going to make up for this? She was spared from her thoughts when Draco finally made his way over.
Hermione was apprehensive at how this meeting was to take place. She wasn't sure at how her parents would react to meeting her very first boyfriend, and how Draco was going to conduct himself in front of her Muggle parents.
Her fears were unfounded as Draco evidently turned his charm onto eleven and acted the part of caring boyfriend perfectly. Even Hermione raised her eyebrows in amusement as he showed an exquisite amount of decorum and flattery to the Grangers. He even managed to make them all laugh without the faintest trace of his previous haughtiness. Finally saying their goodbyes, Mrs Granger pulled her daughter aside and whispered in her ear
"I hope you have a wonderful time. Draco seems to be a lovely boy."
"Thanks Mum" Hermione blushed before getting a kiss goodbye from her father.
Watching them two leave, Draco reached out to hold Hermione's hand. She turned to smile at him and he pressed it firmly.
"So, we're done!"
"That we are", she answered.
"Shall we?" he led her to where their trunks were in the corner of the Entrance Room.
"We're not taking the train back?" Hermione asked confusedly.
Draco only replied with a condescending look.
"Only the best right?"
He led her outside where there was a horse and carriage waiting for them. Hermione gasped in wonder. The carriage was like something out of a fairytale. It was beautifully ornate and complete with horses and footmen. It was a rather pretentious mode of transportation, but Hermione didn't care. To say that she couldn't believe what was happening to her would be a large understatement. Her heart felt like it was going to burst from her happiness.
"We're going to be riding the whole way there?"
Draco smirked at her "No, flying there."
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