1994 - Third Year
The Hogwarts Express pulled in at Hogsmeade station, filled with students who were mostly reluctant to go back after Christmas. Draco on the other hand, had been most eager to get back to school, away from the doom and gloom that was Malfoy Manor.
He stepped off the train, his bag in hand, the harsh winter breeze scratching against his smooth complexion, staring up at the castle. From where he stood he felt as though he could see the room, his room - their room. It was impossible of course, but his mind was so focused he could imagine the fire light blazing through the window making it possible for him to see and imagine that Hermione was in there.
'She's probably with Saint Potter and Weasley' his bitter voice echoed inside his head.
"Already miserable that you're back?" Theo asked from beside him.
Draco internally flinched at the sudden appearance of his friend, his absence on the train had not gone unnoticed, to Draco at least. He led the way towards the castle, Theo beside him, slightly ahead of the rest of their Slytherin friends.
"So, any plans for tonight?" Theo asked smugly.
"The usual."
"Ah yes, you'll probably fancy a stroll around the castle in about an hour, give those legs of yours a stretch, maybe go up a few flights of stairs, end up on the seventh floor or something."
Draco never wavered his cool persona, no matter how off guard someone had caught him, continuing his steady pace, he chose not to respond to Theo's not so subtle mention of his family's secret room.
"Am I right, or am I right?" Thoe asked.
"You wouldn't be asking if you were wrong now would you, Theodore?"
"No sir, I would not." He grinned. Theo never required verbal or physical confirmation from anyone to know he was right, as what Draco had said was true, he never made a comment off a hearsay, only when he knew it to be a solid fact. Draco had learnt over the years that if Theo knew something, he would find a way to say it indirectly, that was one of the many reasons Draco liked him, with Theo, what you see is what you get.
"So, how was your Christmas?" He asked Draco, changing the subject.
Another thing he liked, Theo would never push a topic with him, it was moments like these were Draco realised that Theo was actually a better friend than he'd given him credit for.
"Same as always."
"Ah yes, well, the Malfoys always did know how to throw a party for hundreds of guests but more private events… not so much."
Draco chuckled and nodded in agreement, "And yours?"
"Oh mine was magnificent. Father treated me to a trip to the Netherlands so that we could have a snowy Christmas and we played games, ate together and he got me loads of presents," Theo's said over excitedly, clapping his hands with excitement, "it was impossible to open them all in one day, in fact, it took me two whole days, but it didn't bother either of us because we opened them together and spent time bonding as father and son."
"He got drunk and fell asleep before lunch then?"
"He got drunk and fell asleep before lunch."
"Ah to be a son of a Death Eater."
"It's a wonderful life, one to be envious of if not lived."
"Mmm, sure."
"Speaking of which. Any funky Death Eater news to report?"
"No, nothing exciting I'm afraid. Things are slow in comparison to last year."
"And yet, I feel like they're closer than ever to figuring it all out."
Draco turned to his friend and eyed him suspiciously, trying to figure out just how much of the Death Eaters plans he knew.
"Father talks in his sleep, probably a side effect from all of the alcohol he consumes."
He nodded at Theo before turning to face forward.
"I'm not Blaise y'know, I'm not going to have a hissy fit whenever you don't tell me something about what happens in those meetings, but I am here should you need someone to talk to about all of this, it's heavy shit, especially for someone our age."
Draco raised an eyebrow at his friend, a lopsided smile formed on his lips before he spoke.
"Do we hug now?"
"Shut up." Theo scoffed, shoving his friend slightly as they walked. "I guess you already have your person to talk to, unless… there's not much talking involved." Theo wriggled his eyebrows suggestively at Draco, it was his turn to do the shoving.
~X~
Theo had been right, within an hour of sitting in the Slytherin common room, Draco was becoming tired of listening to Pansy's dull voice drone on about how wonderful her Christmas was, watching Blaise pine over her and cling onto her every word.
"Pathetic." Theo mimed at Draco.
He smirked at Theo in response and mimed a noose tightening around his neck. His snigger nearly drew attention to their mockery, had Blaise not been so captivated by one self absorbed Pansy, alongside Crabb and Goyle who were falling asleep in their chairs and Daphne with her head in her book, they may have been noticed.
Draco quickly began to feel restless, standing up from his seat, he scanned the group to see who, if any, would have noticed him get up, besides Theo who stretched his legs out from where he sat and winked at his friend, nobody else seemed aware of his movement, Draco shook his head at Theo and headed towards the portrait, unbeknown to anybody else.
He knew as he made his way to the room that Hermione wasn't going to be there, it was the last day before lessons started up again, the last day for her to cram in as much studying as her body was capable of letting her do.
He smiled to himself as he reached the seventh floor, some people disliked that about her, that she was so obsessed with studying, but Draco loved it, almost envied it. He knew how her mind worked, he knew that she did it because she was always hungry for more knowledge, if there was something out there to learn, she needed to have access to it. It was a unique trait, he'd never met anyone like her.
As if on auto pilot, he walked through the veil into the room and spotted his bushy haired Gryfindor friend immediately. Her head snapped up from her book, and she took a fraction of a second to absorb his appearance.
Even out of uniform he dressed in a shirt and trousers, but on this occasion he looked more casual than usual. He wore a black fitted shirt that was untucked from his trousers, his sleeves were rolled up and his top button open. As each year passed, the older he became, the more Hermione could see the attractive young man he was becoming.
Both eyes locked onto each other and without hesitation, stepping over her books, she made her way over to him quickly.
As soon as she reached him, she threw her arms around his shoulders, pulling herself into him as tightly as she could and buried her head in the crook of his neck. Draco wrapped his arms around her waist and rested the side of his head on top of hers. He lifted her off the ground briefly, and squeezed her tightly. They had grown so used to each other, he wasn't sure how he would cope if things changed, if their friendship changed.
There was a part of him that knew that day could come, sooner if the Death Eaters succeeded with their efforts, but if they were unsuccessful, they just had to wait until they left school.
Finally, he lowered her to the ground, her feet touching the floor once more and only then did he hear the small sniffles that came from her.
Instantly, he pulled back from her, holding onto her upper arms to keep her in place, he noticed her mouth was twisted, the corner of her lips caught between her teeth and her chin trembled and her eyes welled up with tears.
"What's the matter? What's happened?" he asked quickly, reaching both hands up to cup her face, he used his thumbs to wipe away her tears and waited for her response, growing more and more concerned.
"Nothing, I've just missed you, that's all." she said quietly.
His shoulders relaxed and he smiled down at her before pulling her back in for another hug, this time, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, trapping her hands between their chests and rested his chin on top of her head.
Hermione knew why she was upset, she understood the overwhelming feeling she got when seeing him and knew that after a very lonely Christmas, the chances of her becoming upset when she finally saw him were very high, she had mentally prepared to have this response, she just wished her body wouldn't of betrayed her into crying in front of him.
"I've missed you too." They stood there for another few moments, completely content in their embrace.
"How was your Christmas." Draco asked, being the first to pull away, still not breaking contact as he held onto her hand and led her over to the sofa in front of the already lit fire.
Hermione followed absentmindedly, trying to think of a way to tell him about her Christmas without causing him to dislike her friends even more, but that was impossible without lying.
"I had a fight with Harry and Ron."
Draco grabbed a cushion before he sat down on the sofa, leading Hermione to lay down and rest her head on the cushion he placed on his lap, without thinking he began to thread his fingers through her hair. The whole thing had become a force of habit that neither one questioned.
"Harry received an anonymous gift."
"How odd."
"Exactly, that's what I thought."
"No, I meant how odd someone would want to buy him a gift."
"Draco!" Hermione said before jabbing her elbow into his thigh.
"Sorry, go on." He smiled down at her and continued to run his fingers through her thick curls.
"I've already told you Sirius Black apparently broke out of Azkaban to come after Harry, so once he received this gift, it seemed too good to be true…"
"So you told someone and now he's had it confiscated?"
"I did it for his own good! I was worried it might be cursed and he could hurt himself!"
"Hey, you know me, I'm a stickler for the rules." He winked before continuing, "I'm assuming he wasn't best pleased he had his new toy confiscated then, but why was Weasley pissed?"
"Well.. because the toy was a Firebolt."
"Harry Potter got a Firebolt for Christmas and you had it confiscated off of him." Draco choked in disbelief, "How many times did he get to have a go?"
"He didn't… He only had it for a few hours." Hermione said quietly, looking down at the strand of hair she had been twirling between her fingertips.
"He didn't even get to have a go!?" Draco began to laugh hysterically, which only made Hermione angry. She sat up, facing away from him and pulled her knees up, hugging them tightly to her chest as she frowned.
"Hey - I'm sorry, it's just, that was a pretty amazing gift for someone to get and the fact that he didn't even get to use it yet." He continued to laugh before Hermione huffed, "Ok. I'm sorry. So I take it Weasley is pissed because he also wanted a turn. So what did they say? It must've been a pretty big argument, Christmas was over a week ago."
"Harry told me I was out of order, that I was only thinking about myself and what I wanted."
"Yes, because how selfish of you to think he may have received a broom from a escapee murder that could be jinxed to explode on take off."
"Thank you, that's what I tried to say."
"Potter's supposed to be the calmer head of the two, so go on, what did Weasley have to say?"
Hermione paused for a moment, the last thing Draco needed was more ammunition to hate Ron.
"Can't be worse than anything I've ever said?" Draco tried to prompt her into answering and earned himself a scowl in the meantime.
"It wasn't that bad I guess… he basically said that just because all I do is study and don't know how to have fun doesn't mean I should spoil it for everyone else."
Draco raised one of his eyebrows and twisted his mouth to the side, "who made him the expert of fun? Ignore him Hermione, he's just pissed he didn't get to fly a broom he will never be able to afford."
"Draco…" she said softly.
"Don't Draco me, I'm allowed to bad mouth him, he's made you upset, you wouldn't say this if you'd told one of your other friends and they started saying mean things about him."
"No you're right I wouldn't, because they don't already hate him. You do and it makes it different."
"Fine. Well I hope those nitwits come to their senses soon and apologise so you can all kiss and make up."
"You don't really mean that."
"Of course I do. I know how much they mean to you Hermione, they're like family to you, so yes. I want to smash their heads together, for more reasons than one, but right now it would be so they can see that they would be lost without you, because I know I sure would be." he said casually.
Hermione stared at him, wide eyed as she bit her bottom lip to fight down the fresh set of tears that had started to build.
"What?"
"That was the sweetest thing you've ever said to me."
"I haven't just confessed my undying love for you Hermione." she moved her hand to swat him once more, but he anticipated it and grabbed her wrist.
"However." he said slowly, whilst holding onto her wrist that he used to turn her around so that she was sat on her knees on the sofa, facing towards him.
"I don't know what I would do without you and I hope I never have to find out. I've grown quite used to your bushy hair and bossiness." He teased, causing her to wriggle her arm in his grasp, but it only made him hold tighter.
"You're pretty spectacular Hermione, don't let anyone ever tell you or make you feel any different." He continued, noticing how her face turned red as he spoke and how she fidgeted with her top button, averting her gaze from his. "I know we said we weren't doing Christmas presents, but I didn't listen."
"You wouldn't be you if you did."
"Rude." He said before letting go of her arm and reached into his trouser pocket, pulling out a small bag that fit nicely into the palm of her hand.
"Why do I feel like you've bought me exactly what I told you not."
"Honestly, why do you hate Divination again, you're clearly very good at it."
Hermione scowled at him and looked down at the bag in her hand. With a hesitant sigh, she pulled the bag open and poured out the contents. A sleek silver chain came pouring out of the bag, unravelling on her palm until finally it stopped as the pendant attached to the chain hit her hand. Putting the bag to one side, she used her other hand to pick up the pendant between her fingers tips.
"You should recognise it. It's the same as the dragon outside." Draco said, her eyes flicked between him and the pendent.
The Dragon lay curled up, its body only half an inch with its tail stretched down to a point. The scales on the dragon were mat black and Hermione noticed the dragon was curled around something, upon closer inspection she could see a glimmer of blue beneath its claws that sparkled when the light hit it as she moved the pendant around in her hand.
"It's a Sapphire." Draco explained.
Hermione looked back down at the necklace, in complete awe of its beauty before unclasping the hooks and placed it around her neck, holding up the ends for Draco, which he took happily.
She lifted her hair out of the way and continued to stare at the dragon pendant, observing as it landed against her chest once fastened, the tip of the dragon's tail stopping half an inch above her cleavage.
She lay back down and rested her head once more on the pillow on Draco's lap, holding the pendant between her finger tips, never taking her eyes off of it.
"Do you like it?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yes, thank you - yes I love it. It's beautiful! You really shouldn't have though."
"Well I did, plus, I haven't even shown you the best bit yet."
She let the pendent fall back against her chest and gave him a puzzled look.
He reached beneath his shirt slightly and pulled a silver chain of his own out, it was much thicker than Hermione's and had no pendant, and yet the plainness of the necklace didn't make it any less beautiful than hers.
"The silver used to make your Dragon and my chain was forged in Dragon's blood, from the same dragon, making them linked. Don't worry, no Dragons were killed in the making of these pieces of jewelry, think of it as blood donation."
"From a poor defenceless animal that has no way of saying no?"
"Really Hermione… we are talking about a Dragon remember?"
"Ah, yes I suppose. Ok, continue."
"So the way they are made and the fact that they're linked means, we can communicate through them," He explained.
"I could send you a message? How?"
"Not a message as such. Whenever you want to come here and see me, your necklace will send a signal to mine, alerting me that you want me to meet you here, and vice versa."
He picked up his chain that hung just below his collar bone and held onto it, within a few short seconds, Hermione gasped as she felt her Dragon Pendant heat up against her chest. Both sets of eyes were on the dragon, soon enough Draco felt his eyes carry on wandering below where the necklace lay.
'This could be a problem.' He thought to himself.
"How did you do that?" Hermione asked, causing his eyes to flick back to hers.
"Just hold it and think about this place, me, how you want to see me."
Hermione picked up her pendent as Draco let go of his chain. She thought about their secret room and Draco, her favourite place with quite possibly her favourite person.
"Now mine's heating up." Draco grabbed her hand and placed it over his chest where she could feel the chain on her fingers heating up.
"That's amazing." She said excitedly.
"I thought you might like it. A beautiful and clever gift for a beautiful and clever girl." Draco said with a small smile, earning himself a grin from Hermione.
"I don't know why you pretend to be so cold, you're really quite charming."
Draco cleared his throat, propped his collar and attempted to smoulder before he turned back to Hermione, lowering his voice slightly when he spoke.
"I have a reputation to uphold."
She couldn't help but laugh as he tried to play cool in front of her, it was so alien to see him be that way around her.
"I'm only this way with you Hermione." He said, with a more serious tone in his voice.
"Well I'm glad you are, I don't think I could deal with Mr Cool all the time." She giggled before folding his collar back down.
"I should also point out that the heat these necklaces kick out intensifies the more one person wants to meet."
"So what you're saying is, if I urgently need to see you it'll be scorching?"
"Correct."
"Interesting. You know, you always manage to get me the best gifts, I'm yet to get you something."
"I don't want anything."
"Neither did I and yet here we are." Hermione shot him a disapproving look. Although she loved the gifts he had gotten her, she knew this one hadn't been cheap.
"Ok, if you want to give me something you can."
"Why does that sound like you're going to ask me to do something I don't want to do."
"I think you'd be lying if you said you didn't want to do this."
"Is that so. Then tell me Draco, what gift do you want me to give you?"
He paused for a moment, such an open ended question with hundreds of answers he could provide her with. A smile danced across his lips as he stared into her mahogany eyes, time slowed down for them while his heart raced.
"To go flying, that's what you want isn't it?" She asked, causing his concentration to falter slightly.
His moment of bravery, the brief time he had taken to psych himself up to ask for something else, something he truly desired, that moment quickly wilted as he stood up to retrieve his broom from beside the fireplace.
"Of course."
"I'm going to hide that broom one day, or at least make sure it never finds its way back to this room."
"Stop pretending you hate it, you love being in the sky. Any excuse to get my arms around you." His wink, his false confidence caused Hermione to blush furiously.
"I think you should go at the front this time." She huffed, her embarrassment clear.
"Oh I see, you want to put your arms around me this time." He teased her further.
Hermione sighed and threw her arms up in the air, the laugh Draco had been holding in escaped from his lips, eventually causing her to smile back at him.
"Are we doing this or what?"
"As you wish." He smirked once more at her and allowed for her to mount the broom, hopping on behind her.
He snaked his hand around her waist causing her breathing to hitch slightly. The internal battle he had to have with himself when they climbed on a broom together, just to keep his hormones in check, was almost enough to make him avoid the whole thing, but no matter how much he had to concentrate on controlling himself, no matter the struggle, it was always worth it to him.
~X~
"That flee bag is responsible!" Ron spat whilst throwing cushions around the Gryffindor common room.
"Come on mate, I don't think the cat would actually-"
"Harry! You've seen that - THING, the way he's being attacking Scabbers."
"Yes, but-"
"It's killed him, I just know it has." Ron whimpered before falling into the de-cushioned sofa.
"Maybe he's just lost, he used to wander off all the time, your mum's forever telling you not to lose him." Harry tried to comfort his friend, but the blank expression he received in response said enough, he wasn't interested in being comforted.
The portrait leading to the Gryffindor common room swung open, Harry flinched slightly as he saw Hermione walking further into the common room, her eyes facing towards the floor, something she had started to do once they had become distant with her in order for her to avoid eye contact. Every time she walked past, Harry wanted to say something, apologise, ask her how her Christmas was, anything.
For the first time since their fight, he found that he didn't want to notice that it was her, through fear of how Ron would react in his current state.
"What?" Ron asked, leaning forward on the sofa where he faced Harry, with his back towards the entrance to the common room.
Before Harry had a chance to respond and potentially distract him long enough to prevent another explosion, Ron twisted in his seat and followed his friend's line of sight.
"You!" Ron jumped from his seat, his rage burning brighter than before.
Hermione stood across the room from him, dumbfounded and speechless. She glanced at Harry who wore an apologetic look on his face, holding his hands in the air.
"Yes, Ronald?" She said slowly, clear disinterest in her voice.
"Scabber's is missing! Are you happy now! Your monster finally did it."
"I don't understand, did what?"
"KILLED HIM!" Ron snapped, causing Hermione to flinch and Harry to move forward slightly, still not enough to intervene completely Hermione noticed.
"And you know this how?"
"I just do." Ron stuttered.
"Oh well on that thesis, please let me offer you my sincere apologies." The sarcasm in her voice caused both Harry and Ron to raise their eyebrows in disbelief and look at one another.
Neither of the two had ever experienced sarcasm from Hermione, their expressions reminded her that she wasn't talking to Draco and perhaps his sarcastic tendencies were rubbing off on her.
"Aren't you going to at least pretend to care?"
"I do care Ronald. I just don't care for my CAT to be falsely accused."
"You can't tell me you've not noticed it attacking Scabbers over the past few weeks!"
"Yes, but-"
"Exactly! That says it all! It kill-"
"SHUT UP!" Hermione yelled, dropping her bag on the floor, her voice echoed through the common room and caused the few heads that were pretending not to be listening to turn completely, gawping faces watched as Hermione unraveled.
"You don't get to speak to me like that Ron!" Ron's face fell at the use of his informal name, he'd grown familiar with Hermione being the only person to use his full name, other than his parents when he was in trouble, something that had once bothered him that soon became normality.
"You haven't spoken to me in over a month, I had to spend Christmas break completely alone because my two best friend's decided not to speak to me over a broomstick. A BROOMSTICK!"
Harry winced at the reminder of their argument, a frown formed on his face as he looked down at the ground, unable to look at Hermione directly.
"Clearly our friendship didn't mean nearly half as much to you as it did to me because I would never stop speaking to you over a bloody stick, you would have to do something big, and I mean HUGE for me to have cut you off like you did me. As for Scabbers, I am truly sorry to hear that he is missing, I really am. But I promise you, Crookshanks had nothing to do with it and if I hear you accusing him once more, so help me Ron," Her threat was empty, they all knew it, but the simple fact that she had made it had the desired effect.
Her rant had left them both speechless, them and the rest of the common room sat in silence, the only noise came from Hermione's erratic breathing as she tried to calm herself. Realisation of what she had just done kicked in around 5 seconds after she had finished and embarrassment started to wave over her.
Before she let it consume her entirely, she picked up her bag and ran towards the stairs, climbing them as quickly as she could, each step echoed through the deadly silent common room until she reached her dorm and slammed the door behind her.
Harry stepped back into the table before leaning against it, still trying to process what Hermione had just said.
"I think we were too hard on her." Harry mumbled to himself.
"Too hard on her! Are you kidding! Are we just going to forget that Scabbers is missing and likely dead?" Ron huffed before heading up the stairs to the boys dormitory, leaving Harry behind.
"Drama drama drama." George sang whilst he made his way to Harry's side.
"My my Harry, what are you going to do?" Fred was on his other side before he'd finished his sentence.
George gave Harry a slight pat on the back before he wandered off upstairs, no doubt to torment his youngest brother further, Fred turned to Harry and shrugged his shoulders, making his way towards the stairs before stopping and turning to Harry once more.
"She's right y'know."
"When isn't she?" Harry sighed, causing both boys to laugh.
"She will remember this Christmas for a long time and if I were her, I wouldn't be so forgiving."
"Well, in that case, I'm glad you're not her." Harry pushed himself off the table he'd been leaning against and moved towards the sofa's, he knew going to bed now would mean having to listen to Ron for at least another hour, so he decided for the sake of his ears and perhaps his sanity, it was safer for him to stay downstairs a short while longer.
"Oh but it is my life long dream to wear dresses and have long bushy hair."
"Really? I thought it was to own a Joke shop?"
"Uniforms Harry, we need uniforms." He winked at Harry before turning on his heels and heading upstairs, leaving Harry by himself in the common room.
The noise of a door opening came from upstairs, causing Harry to tense slightly in anticipation to see who the noise was caused by. After a moment's silence had passed Hemrione emerged from the archway at the bottom of the stairs, looking flustered once she noticed Harry was still in the common room.
She turned quickly from his gaze and began to head out of the common room, when Harry rose from the sofa and stood in front of her. He'd been lying to himself over the past month, trying to convince himself he hadn't missed her nearly as much as he felt, he knew she had been right to do what she did, but his pride got the better of him.
"Can we talk?" His voice sounded so family to Hermione. It was no longer the harsh tones of a former friend, his sweet, raspy voice that she loved to listen to had returned and she felt warm once again, even before hearing whatever he had to say, she knew her friend was back.
Harry gestured towards the sofas by the now dimly lit fire where the two of them sat facing towards each other, Hermione remained silent, waiting for Harry to speak first.
"I'm going to make it quick because this is uncomfortable for the both of us - I'm sorry, I was a Jerk at Christmas and I've been an even bigger one since. I was annoyed yes, but even after a day or so, once I'd calmed down, I knew you were just looking out for me, but you were so difficult to even find to apologise to, a week had gone by and I just found it more and more difficult to say anything. I should have said something, I should have looked for you and said something and I'm sorry. Please tell me it's not too late to ask for your forgiveness?" Harry spoke quickly in one lengthy breath, panting once he finished the end of his speech.
Hermione stared at him, her face expressionless, something she had learnt from Draco in attempts to get her blushing under control, but in this instance she mostly did it to make Harry squirm a little, the silence was becoming unbearable for him until she found herself unable to sit there any longer and leave him without a response.
"Of course it isn't too late." She stated and noticed Harry physically relax, but it was short-lived once she started to continue.
"I won't lie to you though Harry, you really hurt me. You and Ronald are my family, you mean the world to me, so to see for my own eyes that feeling isn't mutual-"
"It is Hermione, believe me it is. You are the closest thing to a sister I have ever and will ever have. Which is probably why it pissed me off so much that you went to McGonagall, we're a team. You see it all the time with Ron and his siblings, they fight and fall out."
"They fall out for about 4 hours tops, not a month."
"I know Hermione, I'm sorry." Harry said once more, she noticed his apologetic look closely resembled 'puppy dog eyes' and she remembered now why she had never been able to stay mad at him for very long.
Hermione felt the corner of her mouth lifting up into a small smile, that was the non-verbal confirmation that Harry needed to know she wasn't mad at him anymore.
"Besides," He continued with an attempt to lighten the mood, "with those guys, all someone needs to do is bring food and all is forgotten."
It had worked, Hermione found herself laughing along with Harry and it continued for hours as they both discussed everything they had each missed out on over the Christmas holidays, without another mention of their fight.
Author Note:
I'm only 4 chapters away from heading into 4th year! I'm super excited to write about 4th year, but there's still a few key points in this year I have yet to cover. I hope you're all still enjoying this story, I know I'm dragging it out, keep the comments coming and thanks again for reading!