Helloo! I think this is my first HP fic ever... it will be very short. max 3 chapters. And very lighthearted.
I hope you like it and give me your opinions please, they are 100% welcome :)
Aftershock.
Chapter 1.
It was strange being back at the castle without Harry and Ron, but she knew it would be this way.
To her surprise, most of her classmates returned to finish their last year. Among them was him. Draco Malfoy. Former supremacist. Voldemort's pet. His father's slave. No one knew this because they all thought she was in love with Ron, but she had paid a lot of attention to Draco in her last two years at Hogwarts, even during the war. She saw how he hated being on Voldemort's side. She had heard Harry's story about their encounter at the lavatory. Even Myrtle had regaled her with stories about Draco. Ironically, Myrtle had been the first girl to see a different side of him.
He still had a big road to walk, but she'd heard rumors of his and his father's fallout. Lucius Malfoy ended up in Azkaban for an indefinite period. His mother had served a few months, but her helping Harry fake his death in order to give the defeating blow was considered almost a heroic gesture; therefore, her sentence was reduced. Many didn't agree with the sentence, claiming that it was too generous and that that had been the first mistake when Voldemort tried to kill Harry eighteen years ago. She had mixed feelings about it. But it was clear that without Luciu's influence, Draco was a much nicer person and a less stressed one. There was no need to show off anymore; it seemed as if he didn't want to be noticed in the halls.
But she noticed him.
Ginny noticed her noticing him and laughed at her. Ginny was usually nicer, but her feelings about Draco were still negative. She loved Harry, and Draco had tormented Harry in many opportunities. It was Hermione's belief that Ginny didn't forgive Draco for his involvement in the dark side.
But the war was over. There were no sides anymore, just survivors, people wanting to move on. Why couldn't Draco do the same?
With this reflection in mind, she kept watching him during the following months.
What she didn't realize was that he was watching her as well. He had two missions when he came back to school. One, to show people that he wasn't a little prat that didn't take responsibility for his actions. He was proud, yes, but he also knew the wrongs he'd done. His second mission was to apologize to her. He had called her mudblood and many other stupid and immature names. Perhaps she didn't care about them, but perhaps she did. Regardless, he wanted to apologize to her and make amends even if they didn't become friends after that.
He bid his time. It took him a long time to gather the nerve to come near her. People didn't care about him anymore. The Slytherins that had come back to Hogwarts considered him just another student. It was a nice change, not being a leader again, not wanting to keep up with people's expectations.
It was in December, Christmas day, specifically, when he approached her. She was unusually alone. He wondered why she was in the castle at Christmas when she had Potter and Weasly out there to go to.
"Hermoine." He called her name softly so as not to startle her. She was watching intently one of the Christmas trees that decorated the great hall.
She passed her palms over her face, quickly cleaning any errant tears. She whirled around to face him. She stifled a gasp. Under the Christmas tree and the blue glow that seemed to dominate the castle during winter, he looked so handsome. She had never thought of him this way. It took her by surprise.
His thoughts were running down a similar road. But before he could act on that, he noticed her red eyes, and his brain disconnected from his mouth.
"Why are you crying?"
She snorted at his delicacy. "It's not important." She dismissed it. Her shoulders were tense, clearly showing that she was not ok and that it was indeed important.
"Who told you it's not important?" He demanded.
If there was something he learned about emotions during the war, was that they were always important, and it was never a good option to discard them or dismiss them.
She looked at him, surprised. Why did he care?
"I had a fight with Ron." He'd heard from the Slytherin common room that those two had fallen out. Apparently, that kiss didn't ignite the fire it was supposed to.
"Well, don't cry." He stated. "All friends fight." He didn't have many friends left, though. He distanced himself some from his friends, though Blaise and Theo welcomed his new self. At least he knew there were people out there he could still count on.
She nodded. "I feel like I all do with him is fight. It's like all our years as friends disappeared."
He wasn't an expert in friendship, not true ones, at least. He had been a crappy friend, something he was still working on remedying. But he did have some common sense (the fact that he didn't use it too often was another matter entirely). "It seems to me he needs some closure." Not that he knew if they had it already.
"Perhaps." She admitted defeatedly.
He didn't like seeing her that way. He decided to apologize right then. Stop trying to gain time. "I wanted to apologize for all the horrible things I've said to you over the years. I know I behaved horribly, and I understand if you don't forgive me, but I needed to say it." He blurted out. "I stopped believing all that shite a few years ago, but the situation I got myself in was very stressful, and I took it out on the wrong people."
Hermione smiled warmly at him. "I do accept your apologies, Draco. I may not excuse your behavior, but I certainly understand that it must have been horribly hard to be under the dark thumb." He smiled, amused at her nickname for Voldemort.
"Thank you. It means a lot to me." Impulsively, he leaned down and kissed her cheek. She closed her eyes, savoring the moment. It was gone too soon for her liking.
He stood straighter and after giving her a killing smile, he walked away, leaving her nursing the spot where she felt his lips.
