After hours of watching reality tv shows on Hermione's laptop, which Ginny thought was just a bloody brilliant object, and drinking hot chocolate in bed, Ginny fell asleep. Hermione could only imagine the sleepless night her friend had in the past few days and how exhausting all this situation truly was. Looking at her, Hermione felt very protective, probably triggered by her own selfish guilty of not being there for her when she needed it the most. Guilt was fuel and if you let it, it would burn you to the ground and Hermione was being fed of it. Maybe because she was a girl, she felt this situation echo deep into her, because it was relatable in some way even if it did not happen to her. Like her mom always said, there things that bound women to each other and that kind of bond is impossible to break. It was an inch of empathy, guilt, and rage that moved her to find Dean and demand an answer. Ginny was not in the right space of mind to do this, for the other hand, Hermione was more than motivated to find the truth about what he did to her friend.
It was late afternoon; the last class of the day and it was Potions. A part of her – a big part - also felt bad for skipping it and she could not help to wonder what she missed or how this time Harry manage to make the perfect potion. She was standing outside the doors, waiting for any sound that the class was about the end. She knew the first indication was Ron flying out of there, with his bag still open and books almost falling. Hermione smiled at that thought. She missed her friends and felt like ages since the last time they spend time together, just laughing, without all the conspiracies and death threats.
She heard the chairs bouncing back and a lot of noise coming from inside, in a matter of seconds, a wild and laughing crowd would pass through that doors. To her surprise, the first person to leave the room was Draco. He was even more surprised than her, to find her here. His face was a mix of confusion and surprise. For a few, but long, seconds he just stood there, with his bag hanging in his shoulder, looking at her like he never saw her before.
"Granger." He said, almost formally.
"Malfoy." She responded back. Hermione opened her mouth to say something else, anything to break this strange silence, but then his friends showed up behind him and he immediately lowers his face and she stepped back, pretending to look annoyed.
"Look who it is. The muddlebood." Pansy said, with her face frown and hatred in her voice.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Jesus, after eight years I thought you would become a lot more creative with your bullying, but I think you need to be smart to actually offend someone. I'm sorry Pansy." Hermione spat back, already done with this conversation.
"What did you say to me, you rigid bitch?" Pansy took a step forward in her direction.
"Oh fuck, I forgot you only understand small sentences," Hermione said proudly. "Do your friends know you are that thick in the head?"
"That's it. You are going to wish you were dead." Pansy said, fuming with anger. At her side, Blaise started laughing.
"Wonderful. This is just a great." Blaise said clapping. Draco glanced at him, with his typical I'm-going-to-murder-you. "Oh, what Drake? This is a catfight."
Hermione was not listening anymore to whatever Pansy was saying to her, she saw Dean's face and she bumped against Pansy's shoulder harshly, ignoring the witch raged protests or curses at her.
"Dean!" Hermione yelled at the crowd of people surrounding Dean. He slowly turned around, it only took a couple of seconds for his face to change and for the shoe to drop.
"Go on. I will catch up later." Dean said to Seamus.
"What's up Hermione?" Dean said, trying to look indifferent.
"Cut the bullshit. You know what I want to talk about. Ginny told me everything." Hermione said, glaring at his eyes.
Dean straight his back. "Look, I didn't know she is in love with Harry, okay?"
"What? This is not about Harry, for fuck sake." What is wrong with guys and their fucking need to mark territory. "She was bloody drunk, you idiot. She doesn't remember being with you!"
Dean finally understood where she was getting. "Hermione, I didn't do anything that she didn't want it. We were both drunk and she came to me at the party. She never talked with me until last Friday."
"She is a wreck, Dean. And I need to know the truth and she does too." Hermione said, folding her arms.
"I can't prove anything Hermione. You have to take my word; she didn't ask to stop." Dean said, simply.
"And did you ask her if she wanted this? Fuck, did she even look sober enough to answer?" Hermione started to get angrier. "Seriously, I thought you were decent Dean!"
"What did you want me to do?" Dean said. "Please don't tell Ron."
"There's something more important here than Ron's feelings! It's about Ginny and Friday night!" Hermione yelled back. Dean immediately took her arm, leading her to the next classroom that was open and closing the door.
"Hermione, I can't erase Friday night, neither can you." Dean said.
"You're right, I can't, but you will talk to Ginny when she wants to. And you will apologize for your stupid behavior." Hermione said. "And if I ever hear some other girl has the same fucking experience with you, I will talk to Dumbledore."
"You know me forever Hermione. I'm not one of those guys." Dean bumbled.
" Don't need to act that decent Dean. It is easy, next time, do not fuck someone if they can't even keep their eyes open or walk straight. You fucking asshole." Hermione said shoving him hard, against the desk and left the room.
The crowd around the corridors seemed to disappear but at some distance, she saw Ron and Harry walking side by side. Probably talking about Quidditch, by the way, Ron was moving and throwing something in the air. Harry was smiling, with his shoulders, like he always does. Hermione felt nostalgic looking in a distance to her best friends, she wanted to join them and even go to the Quidditch fields, watch them doing their thing but she felt awful, thinking about Ginny waking alone. Besides, she needed to get some work done before her meeting with Malfoy. The more she did alone, the faster they would get this done. Ron and Harry disappeared from her sight and she turned back feeling demotivated about everything.
"Running away from your boyfriend, Granger?" Blaise asked her, sneaking up on her.
"What do you want?" Hermione said, annoyed, moving past him. He followed her around, keeping up with her fast pace.
"Just wondering about some stuff." He said, mysteriously, only Hermione did not give a fuck. After she did not answer back, he added. "Fine. I tell you what's in my mind, little Granger."
"Please, don't. I have things to do. Don't any of your idiot friends are available to hear your bullshit?"
"Ohh!" Blaise said, almost yelling "You have some fire in you. I tell you that. I think I'm starting to understand him better."
"Who are you talking about Blaise?" Hermione was becoming more irritated.
"Draco, of course." He said like she was too slow to understand. "Look, all my friends are becoming very creep dudes. And if it feels better, I do not believe that muggleborns should all burn and besides, I don't want to marry my cousin, Lisa."
"What? Nothing you said is making sense to me." Hermione stopped. "We're not friends. A few minutes ago, your friend Pansy was about to chop my head off and you were laughing!".
"Because it was fucking hilarious. You two. You would get along."
Hermione laughed. "Only if I was dead after I killed her."
"You have some Slytherin on you." Blaise said smiling proudly. "I wanted to talk to you about two things. First, does Ginny is dating someone at the moment?"
Jesus Christ. "She's way too good for you. Are you tired of your sags?"
"Sags? I'm not Draco, love." Blaise said. To that, Hermione immediately blushed. And then she got angrier, remembering just a few days ago when she walked on him and Pansy. " I have to stop your thoughts there. Draco is not with anyone at the moment. He lost that glow of the party, right now he's just a depressed fuck."
"He's Pansy's boyfriend. I walked on them a few days ago." Hermione said, trying to hide her discomfort or anger.
Blaise started smiling like he just figured something out. "Don't tell anyone but Pansy was trying to get into his pants all night and he kept pushing her away. And then something happened."
"She fell into his dick?" Hermione said annoyed with this conversation.
"Actually, you and Potter started dancing, like two love birds. Quite lovely, but poor Draco did not saw that way and you know him, he's such a hot-headed sweet thing." Blaise said looking proud of his friend.
Hermione did not know what to say. "Why are you saying those things? Is this a stupid trap?"
"Because I'm bored. And I'm tired of seeing my best friends suffer." Blaise said, honestly. "I don't know what's going on between you and Draco, but I notice things. Like he started protecting you from Pansy rages. He even stopped talking to you in public, and a naïve person would think he didn't even notice you, but I saw the looks, miss Granger!" Blaise tried to pick on her cheeks, but she shoved him. "There's something growing in there."
"You're right. You are too bored, for making this kind of shit up! Malfoy hates me, he spent the past seven years making sure I know how he felt about me."
"Seven years huh? There's a lot of time for someone who hates you." He said smirking.
"Well, you know how bullying works. Those pricks never grow up."
"Until they face some bad shit and realize some things." Blaise said. "Not all bullies. Okay, some just stay bad but that's not Draco."
"I don't know what you want me to say or why you are saying all those things. I'm pretty sure Draco would kill you if he knew you were talking to me about him being a softy." Hermione tried to laugh but honestly, she was quite paralyzed by this conversation.
"I'm not painting Draco in beautiful colors and rainbows. He's an asshole, always going to be but I think you are changing him, and I like what I see."
"What I have to do for you to shut up?" Hermione said.
"Fair enough. I just want a chance with Ginny, and I know you're like her protector or whatever."
"She doesn't care about boys right now. So, get in line. Maybe next year or never."
"I'm already there. She didn't even notice me. She thinks I'm some Slytherin asshole." Hermione immediately looked at him. "Which I am but I have feelings."
"Look, maybe you are a sort of decent guy. I don't really know you but if I know something about Ginny is that she wants someone to fight for her, to listen to her and really see her." Hermione thought about Harry, wondering if he checked all these boxes for her best friend and she knew he did not. Sometimes she saw Harry looking at her, with a kind of sweetness but then sometimes he completely ignored her. He did not see her, not really and if Hermione was finally figured this out, Ginny already did, maybe a long time ago.
"I know she's in love with Potter." Blaise said, with a serious face. "But we also both know he treats her kind of like shit. He's a bloody hero, he has shit to do or whatever you guys do together." Hermione was about to protest, and he shushed with his finger. "If I'm being totally honest, I always thought he was in love with you since eleven, or whatever."
"Jesus. We are only friends, like brothers." Hermione explained what it felt like the hundred times. "What's wrong with all of you."
"Whatever, Granger. So, you are saying you are not going to help me with Ginny?" He claps his foot on the floor.
"I won't Blaise. Not until I know you meant well with her and even then, it's up to her." Hermione said, trying to sound as nice as she could, with the major headache she was feeling. "I'm not playing some kind of twisted cupid."
"Fine." He said looking like a bored child. "I hope you think about all the things I said to you. I meant what I said, I saw the way he looked at you, and I saw him with a lot of girls and he never looks at them, not like that." He said with a half-smile, enjoying himself.
Hermione stood there, looking like a ghost pass through her. She pondered going back, find her friends and feel normalcy in her life for a change but it was almost six o'clock and she promised to meet with Draco in half an hour. If things were not confusing enough, Blaise enters the scene, saying all those things that were messing her head. Was he jealous of her and Harry? Did he have some sort of feelings for her? What about that damn kiss? If she told Blaise about it, he would yell at the sky about how right he was.
But even if all those things were the truth, and even say, she had feelings for him as well, the underlying truth that was beneath was impossible to ignore. He was a death eater and she was a muggleborn. In every story, they were meant to hate each other – and they have, for so much time – not to like each other, nor to find comfort in each other presence. Not to kiss each other, like the world was about the end. Nor to feel like she changed forever after that damn kiss. It was only a kiss, only it was not. She had some kisses, to be precise, two kisses: one from a kid in her primary school, back in London, and then Victor. Surely, both did not take her breath away, did not left her wondering for one more kiss as Draco did. Maybe because she never wanted someone like she wanted him. Him, of all people. And she was done pretending she did not.
Hermione was smiling, without even noticing. She runs as fast as she could to their room, passing through a very confused Neville. She heard her footsteps echo behind her, her wild hair was flying everywhere – she looked like a mess, she bet, but did not mind-. Her heart was beating too fast, about to explode from her mouth and finally, she was standing at the door of their room and without looking back or thinking twice she opened the door, to find him sitting in the coach. He looked at her.