A/N: I am touched by all of the reviews, follows, and faves I've received with the last chapter. Thank you all so, so much.
Chapter 11
Her jaw dropped an obvious amount. She hadn't been expecting him to come right out and ask her like that. At all. They weren't mates. They weren't even what some would consider acquaintances, despite having known each other near half of their lives.
"Study? As in... together?" She asked, the awe obvious in her voice. He didn't have to answer, because his expression was enough for her to know that that was exactly what he had meant.
"Malfoy," she began, resting her left hand on her hip as she shifted her weight to the same side, readying herself for a spiel that she had felt coming on since the morning before, during their first tete-a-tete in the library. "I don't know why you're so keen to talk to me, or be around me, but it's starting to make me angry and very confused. I know that what I said in court made your freedom possible, but I never did so for your thanks, and I definitely didn't do it so that we could be friends afterward. If you are, in fact, trying to be honestly kind and grateful, I appreciate the notion, but you have to understand what you've done, to everyone and to me, will not be forgotten in one day."
He stayed still and quiet, and she went on.
"I'll admit that you were, quite literally, child's play when it came to the larger problems the Light side dealt with last year, but you were still a right arse, and you helped Voldemort kill hundreds of innocent wizards and muggles. This one day of niceties and not calling my "mudblood" is going to make me forget all of those years you were horrible. I know why you did it, but I can't forget it, and I won't forget it. Ever."
"I never expected you to," he interjected. Whether or not he knew she wasn't done was beyond her. "But I have to ask you what you stand to lose, considering I am being sincere?"
"That's a very Slytherin question," she stated, mostly out of surprise after his admitting he was being genuine. She hadn't expected that.
"Slytherin or not, it's a valid question. What could you stand to lose from the situation?" He asked.
She shrugged, offering seriously, "My mind?"
He smirked at this answer, amused by it despite her speech, but asked, "I'm sure we've both accomplished that before now, Granger, wouldn't you agree? I mean, you've sworn at me twice in less than twenty four hours, and I've made multiple attempts to speak to you."
"So you also consider yourself crazy for talking to me?" She asked, interested in hearing in answer.
"Don't you?" he responded. She didn't answer, because he made a fine point with his simple question. "I think we all lost our minds years back, so you shouldn't worry about it. Besides, haven't you been lonely being here by yourself for holiday?"
"Lonely enough to consider you for company?" she asked. He shrugged, but that was all the answer she got.
With a sigh, she weighed her options, and after a minute's internal debate, she gave him a slight frown as she moved to the opposite side of the table, setting her book and wand down on the surface as she sat.
"I'll give it a try. But I reserve all rights to either hex or curse you, as well as leave when I've had enough," she said.
He nodded at this. "I can live with that, I suppose. But I promise I will give you no reason to do any of those things."
"Don't make promises you can't keep," she said as she pulled volume two of their Charms text from her pack. "And, to answer your earlier question, book two is not needed for Advanced Charms. However, there is a version of a spell in book two that we'll be learning about in book one, and I already know how to cast it the one in book one."
"Which one?" he asked, curiosity on his features as he Summoned their textbook from where it sat in the Charms section of the library.
"It's like the advanced Mending Charm, but it's even stronger," she explained. "McGonagall used it to repair sections of the school over the summer. I was only able to do so in small sections. She did entire walls in seconds. I figured it would be useful to know someday, considering it does more than walls." She paused before adding, "It even works on memories."
"It may come into play one day, yes," he said. "But does that mean you know all of the spells in volume one?"
She shrugged lightly, saying, "Yes. Why? Are you… having a hard time with some of them?"
"No. So far so good. But I haven't tried them all like you have," he answered.
"I don't think you'll have much of a problem," she admitted, her mind going back to the cabinet for a split second.
"Was that a compliment?" He asked, one brow raised in amazement.
She bit her lip momentarily, and sighed before saying, "You mustn't be a complete dunce to have fixed the vanishing cabinet. It took an advanced charm to fix it, did it not?"
The air thickened between them while Draco paused, for him to finally say, "It did."
"Then I'm sure Mending and Protego charms will be easy for you," she admitted, their eyes locked onto each other with meaning
The bevy of emotions that moved between them was enough to bring the air of the library to palpability. Her brown eyes were, for lack of a better word, stuck to his grey ones as they read each other's mutual feelings of fear, regret and sadness. The years of prior pain and turmoil became evident on their faces, and if Draco hadn't displayed remorse so strong she couldn't deny what it was, she may have had to leave his company as it all flooded over her.
But, as it just so happened he looked contrite, sad even, and Hermione nodded a few small nods before breaking eye contact and reaching for her pack to pull out ink and a roll of parchment.
