He hadn't let go of her tie. He refused to return it to the wretched girl beside him, so he shoved it in his back pocket.
Snape was drifting before them, leading them to Dumbledore's office. He wasn't scared of what was to come, best case scenario is if his father has to Floo over. Then, Draco would be incredibly praised for fighting with a mudblood. Perhaps he would be reprimanded for not killing her. He knew it didn't matter either way, he had just made a promise to finish the job.
Once they reached the large door and Snape whispered the password, they made their way to where Dumbledore was sitting.
"Severus! What a splendid surprise, I wasn't expecting you." Dumbledore's eyes were twinking underneath his half-moon glasses.
"Yes, well, these two-" Snape began but was cut short.
"Oh, what have I told you, Severus? If students are caught after curfew, no need to drag them here! Simply dock house points… although I do have to say, 50 points does seem absurd." He peeked around Snape to wink at Draco.
Draco's face scrunched in disgust. He would rather die at the claws of Granger's ugly cat than be caught sneaking around with Granger.
He glanced at Snape and noticed he was pulling a similar face. Granger seemed to be zoning out.
"No, that is why they are here, they were caught dueling in the Common Room." His voice was dry and cold.
"I see. Enlighten me, why were you dueling?" Dumbledore waved for them to sit in the chairs placed in front of his desk.
He felt Granger shooting daggers into the side of his head, she had begun paying attention, apparently.
"We had a bit of a disagreement." He leveled his voice, not willing to elaborate.
Dumbledore hummed and was seemingly pretending to understand. Perhaps his head was filled with moths. He always imagined the Headmaster that way.
"Ms. Granger?" Dumbledore asked gently.
"Yes, it was a disagreement. I informed Malfoy that I fully expect him to lose the quidditch game against Hufflepuff tomorrow evening." She shifted in her seat. It seemed lying to a Headmaster made her antsy. He kept his gaze trained at Dumbledore's shining glasses. He felt a coil of surprise in his stomach, he had fully expected her to spill everything that happened an hour before.
"And that touched a nerve, Mr. Malfoy?"
He was convinced Dumbledore was being a half-wit on purpose.
"Obviously." He rested his head on his fist.
"I see…" He trailed off with a distant look clouding his eyes. "the only option is for Ms. Granger to attend the game and see if her prediction was correct." Dumbledore nodded his head and clasped his hands together.
"Is that all?" Snape raised his eyebrow.
"Yes, it will be an important lesson to the both of them. They will handle it I am sure. Now, if you please, I must get back to my book." He gestured to a ginormous book on the floor beside his desk. It was nearly half the size of Draco.
"How generous of you, Headmaster, if it were up to me the both of you would be expelled. Head back to the dungeon and I implore you to refrain from having a squabble in the halls." Snape dismissed them with a warning glare.
Draco turned on his heel and marched out of the room that was pillied to the ceiling with books and other oddities. His legs felt like jelly. His body carried him to his room and into his bed. He ignored Blaise's incoherent questions on where he's been all night and turned over onto his side. He checked his watch and groaned.
It was nearly five in the morning, one hour before he rose each morning to jog around the lake. He'd been exercising all summer and planned to continue at Hogwarts for quidditch so he could demolish Potter and his unbelievable luck that struck each game. Luck can't help a team that's 200 points down.
His body was already sore from being thrown around the room below him. Nevertheless, he dragged himself out of bed and changed into his quidditch uniform. He grabbed his snitch and headed outside.
An early morning practice could never hurt.
--
Hermione's POV:
"Shit." She backed away from Potter and gripped her bag.
"What? Aren't you coming, Granger?" Potter tapped his foot, growing impatient.
She began racing away from him and shouted over her shoulder.
"Can't, Potter! I have a game to catch!"
Her lungs were burning and her footsteps made loud stomping noises as she sprinted across the grass, but she made it just before the game started.
Gripping her knees in her hands while gasping for air, she spotted Blaise sitting next to Theo and Pansy. Daphne was most likely finishing her potions paper in bed, so she had no sense of comfort at this shitty game.
She treaded up the winding staircase that led to the bleachers and sat in a mostly empty spot.
"Hello, Hermione," Luna tilted her head and smiled warmly. "I'm quite surprised to see you here."
She settled in next to Luna and chuckled.
"Yes, I don't think I've been to any quidditch games before."
"Oh no, that's not what I meant, the nargles seemed upset today." Luna shook her head. "You're always sick when they're upset, you know. They've taken quite a liking to you."
"Is it good that they like me?" She wrung her hands together in her lap. "I don't quite like being sick."
"Don't worry, it's absolutely lovely when nargles like someone. That means you have a wonderful soul, they're empathetic creatures, you know." The game began but the girls continued talking.
"Oh good, I feel much better now." She smiled weakly.
"Why are you here, Hermione?" Luna was watching the grass below the flying players very carefully.
"I had some free time and thought it would be nice to watch a game for once, it is my House's first game after all." She didn't like lying to Luna, there was no particular reason to not trust her, but sometimes a white lie doesn't hurt.
Luna hummed and nodded her head. She leaned closer to the edge of the bleachers, peering down at the field below. She was wearing her usual Ravenclaw garments but had little wooden figurines on her shoulders. One shoulder held a carefully painted snake that wiggled in its coil. The other shoulder had a badger with its arms sticking up in the air and it jumped up and down at every point the Hufflepuffs gained.
"Those are lovely, Luna, did you make them?" Hermione was greatly impressed by the spellwork poured into the little animals.
"Yes, but I kept getting the spell wrong and they would run all around the dorm and poke anyone who drew near. I had Professor McGonagall enchant them." She was dangerously teetering close to the edge now.
"What're you looking at?" Hermione leaned carefully next to her, but didn't feel keen towards falling off the edge.
"The Moon Frogs are out tonight." Luna smiled and pointed to the racing shadows.
"Moon Frogs are good luck, right?" She had read a few of the Quibbler's articles whenever Luna would mail her them over the summer. They were never close friends, but often found themselves mailing or passing clips and articles they found interesting to each other.
"Yes, Draco's Moon Frog is glowing exceptionally bright, I think he'll catch the snitch soon." Luna's smile was large, she was excited Hermione remembered the importance of the frog's presence.
"Wonderful…" Hermione glanced to the teacher's booth that was placed across the field. Dumbledore caught her gaze and pointed to where Malfoy was sitting in the air.
His hair was wild in the wind, silver strands gracefully fluttering around his head. The setting sun's light was shining across him, giving his pale moon skin a tinge of golden color. Today he was the sun. His sharp features and rigid posture had been softened and relaxed, he was…
"Absolutely beautiful! Draco Malfoy has snagged the snitch, ending this game with a 250 - 120 score!" Lee Jordan's voice carried across the field.
Luna clapped and cheered, her badger was holding its head in his little paws and the snake was wiggling in joy.
"Seems you were right," She wrapped her cloak tighter, the wind was growing cooler.
"It was the frogs." Luna beamed and gathered the mascots into a purple velvet pouch.
They walked back to the castle together chatting about classes.
"Looks like our 'disagreement' was settled, Granger. I was correct." Malfoy had a cocky smile carved into his features. His icy skin and sharp features had returned, his hair was in perfect placement as if it had never been free.
He was the moon again, machiavellian and silver.