Disclaimer: These characters and settings belong to JKR. Also, Dramione forever.
"I don't want to go tonight," Ron said as he adjusted the muggle tie around his neck. "We weren't even there for our last year. Having a Reunion of the year we didn't graduate seems⏤"
"I went back," Hermione reminded him with a huff.
"Yes. Four years ago. Not five. Five years ago we were starving to death and fighting an evil overlord." He picked up the invitation from McGonagall, which looked remarkably like the letters they received when they were 11. "I just don't see the point in returning, is all," he said before dropping it back to the table.
"We'll see our friends from school, Ronald," she said as she huffed and stepped in front of him to straighten his tie. She looked up into his eyes, wishing, like every time, to feel that flutter that she'd felt only once before, but when he met her gaze, she felt the same thing as always⏤calm, comfortable, and disappointed.
"We see Harry all the time. And Gin," he said, turning to examine her tie-tightening handiwork in the mirror. "And we see Neville from time to time."
Hermione looked over his shoulder at his reflection. "We'll see Luna," she said and Ron scowled. Ever since Luna had started dating Blaise Zabini, during that last bonus-year at Hogwarts, Ron had avoided seeing her.
"And her Slytherin boyfriend," he spat, a grimace on his face.
Hermione sighed and crossed her arms over the modest blue summer dress she wore for the occasion. "If you'd been there that last year, like I was, you would have seen how a lot of the Slytherin students had changed⏤"
"Yeah, yeah," he said, turning away from her. "You're all chummy with them now. I know." He sat on the small armchair in her flat to tie his shoes. "Like you'd ever let me forget," he muttered and she turned away from him and pinched the bridge of her nose. Four years of this same conversation and she wasn't sure how much more she could take.
During Hermione's last year at Hogwarts, during which Harry and Ron were off at Auror training, things had been different. Only about half of their class returned, many students having found jobs without their NEWTs, and the few that had come back were crammed into classrooms with the actual seventh years. During that year, which had been both strange and refreshing without Harry and Ron, Hermione had allowed herself to let go of past prejudices and angers in the spirit of a new, Voldemort-free world. The result had been that she'd broadened her friend-base quite a bit, which had been honestly really nice.
Luna had become one of her closest friends, despite her airy, half-there demeanor that still often irked Hermione. Theodore Nott⏤a quirky, erratic Slytherin boy⏤had befriended Hermione early on, and his friends, Blaise Zabini and a very sullen Draco Malfoy, had followed suit.
Becoming friends with Draco Malfoy had been bizarre, to say the least. Whenever Hermione would study in the library with Luna, Theo would join them. He always brought Blaise and Draco along. Blaise seemed intent upon Luna's affections, resulting in them disappearing into the stacks almost every evening, so Hermione was often left to study with Theo and Draco. Theo was a dreadful study partner. Draco, however, turned out to be as insightful as she always assumed he wasn't. Whenever the three of them would study together, he would sit and silently scowl until he couldn't stand Theo's prattling anymore. Ironically, his outburst was always around the same moment Hermione was seconds from doing the same. With his classic drawl, Draco would explain just how wrong Theo was. Hermione always thought it strange that Theo never got upset. Instead, he would just grin broadly and gesture toward the books as if to say to Draco, it's all yours.
After a while, their little group started to spend time together away from the library⏤though they continued to study together, too. Hogsmeade weekends were spent together, unless Harry and Ron visited. On those days, Hermione saw her oldest friends and watched from a far as her newest friends enjoyed their day off. She'd asked Harry and Ron to join the others a few times, but Ron had always adamantly refused. But on every other day, free time between classes was often spent together, either the five of them, or just Hermione, Draco and Theo. And that's how it was for the entirety of the school year. It was a fresh start for her, and for them, and she would forever be grateful that she returned to Hogwarts if for no other reason than that.
It was one of the main reasons she and Ron had never taken things to the next level, she knew. They'd been dating since her graduation⏤she'd wanted to wait until then to start a relationship so as to not be distracted in her studies⏤but they had never moved in together or talked about marriage. They were in a safe, calm sort of stasis, and even though Hermione didn't see her Slytherin friends often⏤or ever, in some cases⏤she knew the wedge between Ron had something to do with them.
"Are you going to force me to sit with those cretins you call friends?" he asked finally, looking up at her from where he sat, his nose wrinkled in distaste. "Or can we sit with Harry and Gin and Neville and try for normalcy?" His expression was so pained, she forced back her retort. For his sake.
"Of course we can sit with Harry and Neville," she said, plastering on a smile as something in her chest wilted. She had been looking forward to seeing the Slytherins again more than she was even willing to admit⏤one more than the rest.
Blaise she saw every few months when he and Luna came into town on a break from one of their creature-hunting adventures. Theo she saw a couple of times a year, but it was always in passing. After his father's death, he'd decided to attempt and blow all his family's fortune on travel and was rarely home⏤though when he was, he always made a point to stop by and see Hermione. Draco, though, she hadn't seen since their graduation. He'd left abruptly, and though she couldn't blame him for why he'd left, it had stung. They'd stayed in touch, though, in letters, and despite the fact she hadn't seen his face for four years, that final year and the letters that followed had proven him to be one of her closest friends, if not her very closest.
But Ron didn't understand that. He didn't understand any of it. Especially her friendship with Draco, which is why she hadn't mentioned more than a few letters over the years.
"Good," Ron said, standing and kissing her cheek. "I honestly don't think I could stand sitting with them."
Hermione scowled behind his back as Ron picked up his wand and stowed it haphazardly in his pocket. She tamped down her irritation. They were going. They were really going. With hands that shook, she slipped on a pair of leather sandals and followed him out the door to the nearest apparition point, her heart racing in a staccato rhythm.
Hermione's grip on Ron's arm was clawlike as they reappeared in Hogsmeade. Hermione hated the feeling of apparition, and dragging Ron along with her made it worse. It was like she was trying to fit them both through a half-sized hallway made for one. One look at his face told her he felt the same.
"Well, here we go," he groaned, offering her his hand. She took it, his hand warm and solid in hers, and tried to suppress her urge to tell him exactly how she felt about his attitude. Now wasn't the time.
Together they followed the path of the other attendees up toward the castle. Hermione saw a few others from their year⏤Hannah Abbott with a wizard she didn't recognize and the Patil sisters⏤along with others. She and Ron nodded to each as they passed, but she didn't see the few people she truly wanted to see.
They entered the front gates and headed toward the Great Hall and it felt as if no time had passed, save for Ron's hand in hers, which had never happened while they were here. As soon as they entered the Hall, Ron craned his neck toward the Gryffindor table, but Hermione's eyes immediately sought out Slytherin. It was nearly empty, and disappointment filled her up like water in a clogged drain. She didn't have long to think on it, though, as Ron tugged her toward the Gryffindor table, either unaware or uncaring of her split attention.
"Thank Merlin you lot are here," he said with a grin as he plopped down onto a bench looking very much like he had at every meal when they were children. "I was afraid 'Mione here was gonna drag us over to the snake pit." He rolled his eyes and Hermione gritted her teeth.
Harry smiled sheepishly up at her as she sat. "We can make rounds after the feast," Harry offered, as always more tolerant and reasonable than her boyfriend, "say hello to everyone, then."
Hermione felt some of her anger dissipate and nodded. "Good to see you, Harry," she said with a small smile. "And you, Ginny." She turned to the redhead who looked anything but happy. She'd been like that since, a few years earlier, she and Harry had ended things. It hadn't been a bad breakup, and they were friends now, but she'd been surly and unpleasant ever since, but whenever she was asked, she wouldn't explain why.
"You're not really going to go talk with them, are you?" she asked, never one to beat around the bush. "I know you got on with them alright our last year here, but surely you haven't kept up with them since then?" Her eyes were narrowed in an accusatory way.
Hermione's face heated as she was suddenly overcome with a wave of lightheadedness. She took a deep breath to combat the dizziness, then avoided looking at Ron as she answered. "Luna brings Blaise by from time to time, and Theodore has stopped in a few times when he's in country." She cleared her throat as Ginny watched her shrewdly. She could feel Ron's eyes on her and she steeled herself for his inevitable blow up. "And, well, Malfoy sends letters here and there. He's working in the States, you know." She sat up straight and sniffed.
Ron glowered silently, but Hermione held her composure.
"I just thought it would be nice to see them is all. That last year was a time when I was able to move past so much hurt," she said, finally looking at Ron, willing him with her soul to understand. "I always felt like I was on the outside here," she said as he watched her, his jaw clenched, "and then the one group of people who I thought hated my very existence made the effort to get to know me." She felt tears in her eyes and tried to wish them away. The dizzy, lightheaded feeling had intensified and now she felt strange, unwelcome emotions welling up. Emotions she hadn't experienced in so long, she'd thought the first time she'd imagined them. She focused on each breath, unsure of what was happening with her. "They made the effort to be my friend," she said, her voice coming out soft. "It was something special. I wish you could understand that."
Ron, to his credit, softened. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "I'm sorry," he said. "If they're here, I'll make the effort to say hello. Alright?" He smiled as if that was enough and a wave of anger washed over Hermione, but she pushed it back. He was trying, which was more than he'd ever done before. She smiled, tightly, and nodded. Ginny just watched, her eyes narrowed even more than before.
McGonagall entered the room then and made her way to the podium. Hermione was taken back to her time as a student. Warmth filled her chest and she felt fresh tears spring to her eyes and she let go of Ron's hand to wipe them. He looked at her with a funny expression that she couldn't quite read⏤which happened frequently⏤but before she could figure it out he turned to the front where Headmaster McGonagall had begun to speak.
As each moment wore on, Hermione felt something building inside of her. She glanced at the Slytherin table again, only to find it still empty. She felt like she'd chugged a large espresso. She was dizzy and jittery and her emotions were bubbling to the surface without reason. It was like electricity was racing through her veins. She was finding it hard to listen to the Headmaster's speech.
The jittery feeling increased until she could barely stand it. She looked to Slytherin⏤still empty⏤then turned toward the Great Hall doors as if her eyes were pulled there. a fraction of a second after her eyes landed on the wood, the door opened and it was like someone had given her a drink of cool water on a hot day. In walked Theo and Draco, both in muggle attired, looking devilishly handsome as they closed the door quietly behind them. She felt the smile spread across her face as she locked eyes with the person she'd most wanted to see tonight.
Draco Malfoy met her gaze, his lips parted slightly in an almost-smile, then he schooled his features as she'd seen him do a thousand times and nodded, hands in his trouser pockets. During their time in their eighth year, she'd learned to read him as easily as a book. From that look she knew he had hoped to see her too, and she felt something inside her bloom. Beside him, Theo grinned broadly and gave her a little waggled-finger wave.
The anxious feeling was gone, but the jittery feeling was back. She looked at Theo, then back at Draco, and that feeling⏤dizzy and tingly and disorienting⏤nearly overwhelmed her. She wanted to go to them, but McGonnagall was speaking. She wanted to invite them to sit with her, to sit with them and chat and rediscover their friendship, but before she could figure out how, they were walking, side-by-side, toward the Slytherin table.
A moment later, McGonnagal finished her speech and food appeared on the tables to an appreciative gasp from everyone. It seemed they'd all missed the lavish Hogwarts meals they'd eaten for seven years.
"Your friends are here," Ginny said, glaring at the Slytherin table over Hermione's shoulder. Hermione looked back toward them, her eyes meeting Draco's, then forced herself to look back at Ginny.
"They must have arrived late," she said, hating that her voice wavered.
"Alright, 'Mione?" Harry asked, a concerned expression on his face, as he pushed his glasses up his nose.
"Low blood sugar, I think," she said, reaching for her cup of water with a hand that trembled.
Ron was oblivious as he loaded his plate with food, but Harry kept his eyes on her. She smiled and shrugged then turned toward filling her own plate, fighting the urge to look over her shoulder once again. She would go say hello after they ate.
And so, she ate, barely tasting her food, as she resisted the almost undeniable urge to get up and go to the Slytherin table. What was wrong with her? She'd seen Theo only a few months before, and while she hadn't seen Draco in a long while, they'd written. She told the others they'd written a few times, but they actually wrote frequently. A few times a week. She knew all about his potions work in the states and he knew all about her research into magical laws that impacted muggles, muggleborns, and magical creatures. Of course, she hadn't talked to him about her private research into soul-bonding, mostly because she was embarrassed by such a romantic-notion, but she hadn't really told anyone about that. It was just a niggling little thing she'd been thinking about, and reading about, since graduation that she couldn't quite shake. Sort of like a puzzle she just needed to solve. But aside from that, he knew most everything about her life from their letters. She knew he wasn't seeing anyone, and that he missed her, and he knew that she and Ron were no closer to marriage than before. If anything, she was more up to date on his life than she was Harry or Ginny's. And yet, all she could think about was getting up and going over to see Draco, and Theo, in person.
"Mya!" a voice bellowed to her right, and she spun only to grin as she was pulled to standing and into a hug.
"Blaise," she said, cheeks warm as he crushed her to him. Luna smiled dreamily at his side and hugged Hermione when he pulled away. He was the only one who called her Mya⏤a nickname she liked only marginally more than the typical 'Mione. "Luna. It's so good to see you, both." She pulled back and smiled at them. "Want to sit?"
Blaise looked over at Slytherin, then back at Hermione. "Looks like Theo and Drake saved us some seats. Come say hello later, yeah?"
Hermione glanced, again, over toward the Slytherin table. Her heart stuttered a little when her eyes locked with Draco's before he quickly looked away.
"Yeah," she said, looking back to him with a falsely bright smile. "After dinner." She watched them walk away, Blaise's arm around Luna's shoulders and hers around his waist.
She sat back down, a pit in her stomach, and blatantly ignored Ron's scowl as she finished her food.
Hermione ate slowly, all the while feeling the imagined weight of Draco's gaze on her. She still felt lightheaded but the emotional upheaval she'd felt earlier had backed off a bit. What was wrong with her? Was it just the excitement of seeing her friends? She couldn't figure out why seeing them was effecting her so strongly, unless it was because of that last week⏤but no. She wouldn't think of that now.
When the meal ended, all of the tables vanished and were replaced with smaller round tables overflowing with desserts and champagne flutes. The bright dinner lighting dimmed as paper lanterns magically strung themselves surrounding the room along with fairy lights and sprigs of spring flowers. She was about to suggest that they get up and go say hello to Theo and Draco when, again, she felt her heart stutter and heat flush her cheeks without reason as the meal ended. She urned, knowing they were there as if they'd said her name aloud.
Hermione stood, cheeks blood red, and before she could say a word Theo had her wrapped up in a hug, feet off the floor. Laughter bubbled up as he squeezed her.
He put her down and held her at arms' length with a smile. "Good to see you, Hermione," he said, and her smile stretched across her face. "Couldn't let Blaise's hug be better than mine, you know." He winked and she laughed again.
"Four years later and still trying to outdo one another?" she asked as she looked up into his bright blue eyes.
"Not trying," Theo said, squeezing her arms before dropping his hands. "Succeeding." He winked again. Blaise and Luna were off talking to other people, so he wasn't there to defend himself.
Beside him, Draco stood, hands in his pockets. "They'll both always fall a bit short, though," he said, his voice quiet. He'd let his hair get a bit longer on top in a trendy American fashion and it fell over one eye, reminding her of their childhood in a strangely comforting way. Dizziness washed over her as she met his gaze and she felt a slow smile stretch across her face in spite of the daggers she felt Ron and Ginny shooting into her back with their eyes.
"Obviously," she said, cheeks hot. "Whoever could compete with the Draco Malfoy?" she asked, a smirk on her face. "Other than me, of course. First in our class."
He smirked back and she felt lightheaded all over again. Maybe she was coming down with something.
Before he could respond or she could so much as shake his hand Ron's arm slipped around her shoulders and gripped her shoulders tightly. She watched Draco's easy expression fall away to be replaced with the haughty mask he'd worn for most of their childhood.
"Weasley," Theo said, looking back and forth between Hermione and Ron. "Good to see you, mate." Theo held out his hand and Hermione scowled when Ron pointedly ignored it. She gritted her teeth and tried to shift away from Ron, but he held on even tighter.
The silence that stretched between them was awkward and tense.
"Care to join us?" Hermione asked into the void and Ron's hand spasmed on her shoulder. "We can pull two tables together and...and catch up," she said brightly, her eyes darting between Draco and Theo.
Draco caught her gaze and her heart stuttered again, causing her breath to catch.
"Actually⏤" Ron began, but then Harry was there, hair askew, glasses crooked.
"That's a great idea, 'Mione," he said before clearing his throat. He hesitated only a moment before he offered his hand to Draco, green eyes wide. "Malfoy, good to see you."
After Hermione's last year at Hogwarts, Draco had almost immediately left for the States. He and Harry had never had a chance to reconcile, or even speak on civil terms, but Harry had listened when Hermione told him about that last year, and once again, for the hundredth time in her life, she was thankful to him.
Draco took a shallow breath before gripping Harry's hand in his own. "You too, Potter."
Ron's fingers gripped Hermione's shoulder so tightly she was sure there'd be finger marks, so she gently disengaged herself from his grip and used her wand, which she kept in a pocket sewn into her sundress, to move two tables together.
Hermione sat, suddenly anxious, and was mildly disappointed when Ron sat beside her. She smiled at him, though, trying to will him be kind. Maybe if she could get him to try and be their friends, whatever it was that kept her from being all in with him would vanish. Maybe.
Harry sat on her other side⏤Ginny had disappeared into the crowd⏤and Draco and Theo took seats across the small circle from Hermione.
For a moment, they all just looked at each other at a loss for words. Hermine felt that awkward tension rising and she couldn't keep her eyes from landing on Draco's. She was once again overcome with dizziness as heat spread from her face down to her shoulders. It would have continued on like that if not for Theo who, in typical Theo fashion, broke the tension with something entirely inappropriate.
"Well, this is almost as awkward as the time I walked in on Blaise and Luna shagging like hippogriffs in the prefect's bathroom," he said just as the couple in question walked up.
"It was only awkward for you," Luna said, smiling as she sat in one of the empty seats beside Draco, her hand lightly touching his shoulder briefly. "We're very open with our sexuality." Blaise sat beside her, his own expression bemused.
Harry cleared his throat, eyes wide. Ron turned pale, then red. Hermione looked up at Theo, then at Draco, and after a beat, the three of them burst out laughing. Blaise shrugged as he draped his arm around Luna's shoulders. After that, the conversation was much less awkward. They chatted for a few minutes about being back at school, about who they'd seen and who was missing, all things you'd typically imagine at a reunion. The normalcy of it was a bit startling for a group used to strange occurrences.
"So, Hermione," Theo said, leaning forward as he plucked a chocolate-covered strawberry from their table and crunched into it with his very white teeth. "What's new in the illustrious world of Golden Princess Hermione Granger?"
She rolled her eyes before answer. "Well," she said, leaning forward to pick up a glass of champagne that she hoped would help cool her still-overheated cheeks, "I've recently begun researching some very old legislature that would help ensure equal rights for centaurs in business dealings within wizarding Britain. It's very exciting." Both Theo and Ron groaned. "What?" she asked, indignant.
"I've not seen you in months, and when I ask about your life, you tell me about work?" Theo picked up his own flute of champagne and downed it in one gulp. "Come on, now."
Draco chuckled, arms crossed over his chest where he sat back in his chair. "It's as if you're only just meeting her if that surprises you," he said, and Theo rolled his eyes.
Hermione was a moment from responding, enjoying this feeling of being back in school that final year, seated with the people who'd become her friends when Ron sat forward and spoiled it all.
"And you think you know her, Malfoy?" he asked, jaw tense. Ice settled in her stomach as she watched Draco's face harden and Theo's eyes widen. "After so many years of being an evil git, I suppose it would make sense you'd think you have a handle on her from a few study sessions. But you don't know her." He scooted his chair back and stood. "You don't."
Blaise and Luna looked at each other. Draco looked down at his crossed arms, jaw clenched. Theo looked at Hermione.
Ron held his hand out as if he expected her to take it and she was overcome with sudden anger toward him.
She'd told him, over and over, for four years what these people had come to mean to her. She'd told him again and again that they'd changed. And now here they were, for the first time all in the same place, and he was being awful. It was the main reason why, four years into their courtship, they hadn't moved in together, hadn't gotten engaged, hadn't taken things to the next level. No matter what they went through, he didn't seem to understand her needs. She looked up at him, at his blue eyes that were pleading with her, then back to her friends⏤the friends she'd longed to spend time with again, around a table just like this, for years.
"I'll catch up later," she said, her voice small as her heart pounded.
Ron's face fell, then grew hard. "Alright, then." The chair clattered as he pushed it back and disappeared into the crowd of Hogwarts alum around the low-lit room.
After a beat, Blaise sat forward and said, "Well now, you have to admit, that was far more awkward than when you walked in on Luna and me." After a beat, even Harry laughed a little, and without Ron there, they all settled into a companionable conversation.
After a bit, Blaise and Luna excused themselves. With only four, Theo and Draco moved to the table where Harry and Hermione sat. It was odd seeing Harry beside Draco, and they didn't look totally comfortable, but it did Hermione's heart good to see them both trying so hard. It was for her, she knew, but she thought that given time, they could easily develop their own friendship, they were so much alike.
Theo, of course, was totally in his element. He'd always loved a bit of tension. Hermione couldn't help but notice the way his eyes kept drifting to Harry and she wondered, with a sudden shock, if Theo might not have a bit of a crush. It wasn't news to her that he was gay, but it was surprising for her to note that Harry's cheeks flushed every time Theo addressed him directly. It surely would explain Ginny's sour attitude and their mostly amiable split a few years prior.
She met Draco's gaze and he lifted his eyebrows, barely looking at Theo, then at Harry. Even after four years, she could read him like a book, and he her.
It had been a strange discovery, realizing that the person she'd once thought of as her worst enemy was someone she could read and understand on an almost psychic level, but it was comforting for her to realize that even after four years of not seeing one another, that aspect of their friendship hadn't changed.
She shrugged, barely, and a slow smirk spread across the blonde's face.
"Potter," Draco said suddenly, eyes narrowed as he leaned his elbows on the table, "did you know that Theodore has never seen the Quidditch trophies? The ones you won," he paused here to scoff in an obvious fashion, "and the ones your father won. Isn't that right, Theo?" Draco turned to his friend who, for the first time that Hermione could remember, looked speechless.
"Well, no. I suppose I haven't, but⏤"
"I can show you," Harry said, cheeks crimson. "If you want to see them, that is." He pushed his glasses up his nose.
"Sure," Theo said, his voice squeaking. "I mean, that's fine. If you want."
Harry stood, his eyes wide as he looked down at Hermione. Another friend who could read her face, she smiled at him and gave him the smallest of nods. He seemed to relax then as if she'd given him permission for something.
Theo looked back at them both as he followed Harry from the room, his eyes narrowed, and Hermione laughed and waggled her fingers at him just as he waggled his at her earlier in the night.
"This is shaping up to be a rather productive evening," Draco said, picking up a tall glass of water as he sat back in his chair, ankles crossed in front of him. It was just the two of them now, and that dizzy-overwhelming feeling was back. "I'm glad I decided to come," he said.
Hermione felt her stomach flutter unpleasantly. "You almost didn't come?" she asked, hoping to keep her voice even. "Why?"
His gray eyes met hers and she flushed. She didn't even need him to answer, because she knew what he was thinking.
"You know why, Granger," he said, his voice low.
Unable to pull her gaze from his, she nodded, slowly, and let herself think back on the one memory of her time at Hogwarts that she'd tried her best to forget.
"Granger," Draco whined as he sat, forehead flat on the table, "it's so late. We aren't going to learn anymore tonight."
"And that's why I'm top of our class, and you're second," she said, opening what had to be the twentieth book of the night.
"No," he said, his voice tired. He sat up and stared at her. "No! This is ridiculous." With a flourish of his wand, the book in her hands snapped shut.
"What are you doing?" she whisper-yelled, as they were in the library, as he continued to move his wand and the books they'd been researching zoomed neatly back into their spots on their shelves. "Draco!"
When the last book was gone he smiled, his eyes tired, and his forehead dropped back to the table. "We can study more tomorrow," he said. "The others left hours ago." He sat up and stretched, his back popping as he arched it.
"You could have gone with them." She scowled as she begrudgingly packed up her bag.
"A gentleman doesn't leave a lady on her own," he said as he shouldered her bag before she could.
"Are you a gentleman?" she asked as he playfully stuck his nose up in the air. "I hadn't noticed," she said with a quiet laugh.
"I hide it well," he said as they walked, inches apart, out of the library. They'd been given special permission to use it later than was typical⏤a favor from McGonagall to Hermione⏤and it was as quiet as the grave as they walked out into the deserted hallway.
"Well, I do appreciate you staying with me," she said as they walked, suddenly feeling nervous. "Not that I can't take care of myself."
"Oh, I know you can," he said, smirking down at her as he adjusted her overly full bag on his shoulder. Then, he cleared his throat and the timbre of his voice changed from playful to serious. "But, given that we're out of school in only a week I figured I'd spend what time with you I could."
Hermione's steps slowed and he matched her pace.
"Who's to say we can't spend time together after we graduate?" she asked, looking up at him as moonlight poured in through the large hallway windows. "You'll need help with your potions research, I'm sure." She smiled, but felt her heart stutter when he looked away. "Draco?"
"I found an apprenticeship," he said, looking down at their feet. "It's in the States, on the East Coast." He cleared his throat lightly. "I leave the day after final exams."
Hermione, no longer in control of her body, stopped full out in the corridor. "When did you find out?" she asked as he stopped and turned toward her. "When did you find out you were leaving?"
He winced as he met her eyes. "About a month ago."
Her mouth fell open slightly as tears welled in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, hands shaking for a reason she couldn't name.
"I don't know, honestly." He shrugged and adjusted her bag on his shoulder again. "I suppose I was worried you⏤"
"Would try and talk you out of it?" she asked, taking a step toward him.
"No. Worried you wouldn't care at all, I suppose," he said, surprising them both with his vulnerable honesty.
She barked out a laugh. "Are you serious?" She took another step toward him, but he stayed rooted where he was. "For an entire year we've been friends. Do you realize that? Against all odds, you and I became friends. Real friends. And you thought I wouldn't care that you were leaving the country?" She rolled her eyes.
"Do you?" he asked, adjusting her bag yet again. "Care, that is?"
"Of course!" she said, throwing up her hands.
"Why?" he asked, stepping toward her. He pulled her back from his shoulder and sat it carefully on the ground. "Why do you care?"
"Because!" she said, her heart suddenly pounding.
Draco looked at her for a long moment. She thought he might be about to do something crazy, like kiss her, but after another beat of her heart, his expression fell away and he picked up her bag again.
"I'll walk you to your room," he said with an almost-sigh. He gestured with his chin and she followed, heart racing. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he said as they walked, a little further apart than before.
"I⏤" she felt words on the tip of her tongue that made her vulnerable, but she took a breath and said them anyway. "I'll miss you," she said, her voice small. She heard him exhale shakily.
"I'll miss you, too, Granger." His voice was low and gravelly and she had the sudden inexplicable urge to kiss him.
They walked the rest of the way to her dorm in silence that was neither companionable nor awkward, but it was tense as if there were unspoken words floating between them and taking up all the space. When they arrived, he offered her her bag and she took it.
She sat it down and stepped into him, wrapping her arms around his waist. They didn't touch often, and had never hugged, but in that moment she needed him to know that she cared. They stayed that way for a long moment, and he pulled away first.
As he stepped back, she looked up at him. Moonlight poured in from a nearby window and his hair shone silver. She caught his gaze and for a moment, her breath caught.
His eyes darted down to her lips and she didn't question his intent. When she didn't move to stop him, heart pounding, he dipped his head and barely brushed his lips against hers. A bare brush of his lips and she saw fireworks behind her eyelids.
But it was over as quickly as it started.
He stepped away, leaving her cold, and tucked his hands in his pockets. "See you in the morning, Granger."
They hadn't talked about it again, and after he left, he'd apologized in one of his first letters for kissing her. It was a memory she'd suppressed⏤not that she didn't remember it, only that she wasn't sure she wanted to. It was painful to remember, and she was tempted to compare how that one, small kiss had made her feel to the way Ron's kisses made her feel⏤or didn't feel, as it were.
"Afraid I'd try to kiss you?" she asked, her voice gravelly as she tried for levity.
He smiled, and laughed once, "No." He leaned forward and met her gaze. "Afraid I'd try to kiss you. Again." His blunt honesty left her reeling and her cheeks burned as her hands shook. "And afraid I'd say asinine things like that," he said, shaking his head.
"Draco." He looked up at her. "I'm with Ron⏤"
"I know," he said, his voice low. "I would never try to...to interfere." He sighed and dropped his head into his hands. His elbows rested on the table and his hair hung forward in a shining white-blonde curtain. "It's why I almost didn't come, though." He met her gaze and the raw pain she saw there sent her reeling.
Without thinking she was on her feet. She swayed a little and he reached out as if he might steady her, but didn't, his hand inches from hers.
"Let's go for a walk and clear our heads," she said, and he nodded immediately. She looked around for Ron, but didn't see him. "Some fresh air might do us good, right?"
"Right," he said as he cleared his throat.
Side by side, over a foot apart, they left the Great Hall. They didn't notice Ginny watching them and they didn't notice Ron, who'd had a bit too much to drink as he sulked away from them, hanging off of Padma Patil's shoulder as she laughed big and loud at one of his jokes.
In silence, Draco and Hermione walked toward the library, as if their muscle memory was in charge. When they reached the closed doors, they stopped, and Hermione laughed.
"Draco," she said, turning, intending to tell set things straight between them so he wouldn't get the wrong idea. "I've missed you." The words tumbled out against her will, but as soon as they were out in the aether she knew how true they were. She felt their weight and tears once again pooled in her eyes. "I've really missed you."
Hands in his pockets, he nodded, looking right into her eyes in a way that only he could. "I've missed you, too."
Hermione swayed on her feet then, that dizziness from before coming back with a vengeance, and Draco's hands shot out to steady her.
As soon as his hands came in contact with the skin of her arms, the worlds tilted on its axis. Like the moment he'd kissed her, stars exploded in her vision. Her blood hummed in her veins and her skin felt as if it might burst into a pleasant flame, like a phoenix, at any moment. She felt more tears well and fall as a sob escaped her lips. His fingers on her arm were warm, but light, and she realized he was clutching her and she was clutching him. Her hands had come up to his chest and she was clutching his pale blue shirt in rigid fingers.
Slowly, that explosion of feeling diminished. Normal feeling returned to her limbs and she opened her eyes, blurred with unshed tears. In front of her, Draco stood, eyes squeezed shut, muscles rigid. His eyes opened and met hers and it was as if she could feel what he felt.
"What was that?" she asked, stepping closer without meaning to. She could feel his breath fanning across her face and adjusted her grip on his button-down, but didn't let go.
"It was⏤" he swallowed heavily, "Do you know anything about soul bonds?"
As if someone had struck her with lightning, Hermione reeled. Draco's hands were already on her and he kept her upright, but it was as if someone had pulled a rug from beneath her feet.
"I've been researching them for⏤for years," she breathed, inching so that there was only a breath of space between them. "I've been obsessed with them since⏤"
"Since we graduated?" he asked, swallowing again. "Me too." He shrugged. "It's another reason I almost didn't come back."
"Are you saying that we⏤that you and I⏤have a soul bond?" she whispered, closing the distance between their torsos so that his body head sank into her.
"I think so," he said, his breath ghosting over her lips. Even that sensation, just the air from his lungs, caused her asking to tingle. It's what she'd been hoping for with Ron for years, but had never come close. "I'm so sorr⏤" he began.
As if some cosmic force had just given her permission, Hermione crashed her lips against his, interrupting him. Stars exploded again behind her eyes. The dizzy, lightheaded feeling from before vanished, and her body was slowly filled with liquid warmth. His hands slid from her arms up to her cheeks and he held her face as he kissed her. It was the sort of kiss that marked a person. The sort of kiss that filled you up in a way that you knew you'd carry it with you for a long time to come. It was slowly and intimate in a way Ron never had kissed her.
Ron. Like cold water being dumped on her head, she pulled away, gasping. He held her face, his eyes screwed up as if he were in pain.
"Ron," he said, and it was as if some missing piece of her heart had been clicked into place. Unlike Ron, Draco understood her. She didn't have to spell things out. He just knew.
"Until...until I tell him⏤" she let her hands slip from his now wrinkled shirt up to his face. His skin was warm and his face clean-shaven and she reveled in the way it felt beneath her fingers. "This feels⏤"
"Wrong," he said, brushing his thumbs over her cheeks. With a sigh he stepped back, leaving her wanting. She fought the urge to rush back into his arms. "I'm going to go," he said, and when panic flared in her chest he clarified. "I'll get a room in Hogsmeade," he said with a small, sad smile. "When you're ready, I'll be there."
"Draco," she said, pain filling her up as she looked at him, retreating into himself for her sake.
"Just don't take too long, alright?" His voice sounded strained, but he smirked and she felt some knot of pain loosen a little.
He picked up her hand, sending electric shocks through her body, and brushed his lips against her knuckles reminding her of that first, timid kiss.
She nodded at him, too afraid her voice would break if she spoke, and she watched as he walked away. In a matter of minutes her entire universe had changed, but rather than feel disturbed, she felt as if she had finally, for the first time in her life, found the proper path.
It was a few moments later that she was running through the castle, her flat sandals slapping the floor loudly, her sundress flying out behind her.
A noise she recognized in an alcove stopped her. She looked and there, leaning against a wall beside a large tapestry, was Ron, wrapped completely around Padma Patil. The logical part of her brain told her that she should be upset, even though she'd just been doing the same thing. They'd been together for four years. But she wasn't upset. She was relieved. This meant what she had to do ⏤ end things with him ⏤ might not break him like she'd thought it would.
Ron was OK. Now wasn't the time to tell him. She would leave a note, or send a Patronus. She turned, her heart racing at the thought of Draco waiting. She was moments from leaving when she ran into Theo and Harry, both of whom looked more than a little flustered with hair all askew, which was normal for Harry, but a definite shift in demeanor for Theo.
"Hermione," Theo said, before clearing his throat. "Where are you going?" Beside him, Harry stood tall and tried to straighten his wonky shirt.
She took a deep breath. "To find Draco," she said, looking directly at Harry. "Will you⏤will you tell Ron that I saw him with Padma, and that I'm so incredibly happy for him. Truly. I, well, I don't know how to explain really, except⏤"
"Bloody hell, the soul thing was real, wasn't it?" Theo asked, eyes alight.
"Soul thing?" Harry asked, looking between the two of them. "Padma?"
Hermione took a deep breath. "How long had Draco known about it?" she asked, eyes boring holes in Theo.
He shrugged and picked at his nails. "Since school, I think. I'm not sure."
"Hermione?" Harry asked when her face went white.
With another deep breath, Hermione tried to explain. "A soul bond," she said, heart racing. "Draco and I have a soul bond. And he's known since⏤since we left?"
When Theo nodded, Hermione wilted a little. "I have to go find him. Harry, take care of Ron, OK? Tell him⏤tell him I'm sorry." And before he could answer, she was off, flying down the castle steps toward Hogsmeade.
He hadn't told her where he was going to be staying, but it seemed he didn't need to. His presence was like a beacon calling to her. She followed that feeling, followed her heart, all the way to the door to his room at The Three Broomsticks.
She lifted her hand to knock and the door swung open. Draco stood there, shirtless, his cheeks red.
Soul bonded. Without an ounce of hesitation she stepped into him, tilting her head toward his. His lips met hers eagerly and she sighed as she sank into the feeling of contentment and safety that he radiated.
After a moment, she pulled away enough to close the door and talk to him.
"You should have told me then," she said and his face fell. "The night you kissed me. Or, whenever it was you found out." She held his cheeks. "You should have told me."
"I didn't know how." His voice was raw and vulnerable she stroked his cheeks with her thumbs. "I knew you and Weasley had planned to be together after graduation. I couldn't stand in the way of your happiness."
"But you did," she said, and he jerked as if she'd slapped him. "Things with Ron were⏤were fine, I suppose. But there was never any fire, never any⏤any sense of belonging. For four years, I've lived a tepid existence." She stepped into him and let her other hand cup the other side of his face. "You stood in the way of my happiness by not being here with me. Just this," she said, lightly stroking his cheek, "feels like more joy than I can bear."
He sighed and his breath moved the hairs that had come loose from her braid. "Then let me make up for it," he said stepping so that his chest was pressed against hers. His hands gripped her shoulders and hers fell to his chest. "Let me spend every moment from now until forever making up for it."
A grin split her face as she nodded and in less than a heartbeat his lips were against hers. As he kissed her she couldn't help but feel a sense of deep satisfaction. As her skin buzzed with his touch and her heart pounded in rhythm with his, she couldn't help but feel as if, after searching for her entire life, she'd finally found exactly where she belonged.