Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter because if I did, dramione would have been endgame.
Next day….
Hermione shifted on the bed as the rays of sunlight fell directly on her eyes but she found it was of no use as the rays were still falling on her face. She groaned in frustration and woke up from her sleep. She didn't know if she loved these sunrays or hated them. She rubbed her eyes and yawned before looking around. She found that everyone was still sleeping. 'Lucky them'.
She got up from the bed and went straight to the bathroom. She turned the knob of the shower and let the water gently fall on her.
While cleaning her body, she recalled the previous day's events. She never in a million times had thought that Draco Malfoy, the boy who mocked her his whole damn life, will comfort her someday. But as it is said that 'You will never know what's coming next'.
But it was still astonishing to see him so drastically changed. 'Maybe the war changed him? Just like it has changed all of us?' Hermione thought. 'Or maybe he had learnt that he wasn't on the right tracks earlier and wants to redeem himself?'
She came out of her thoughts and turned the knob of the shower, this time to close the shower. She wrapped a towel around her bare body and exited the bathroom. She took out her dress robes from the drawer and put it on.
She opened the topmost drawer to take out her 'Head Girl' badge but was surprised to find that it wasn't there. But it was impossible! That was the only place she kept her badge. How can it just disappear?
Hermione started going through all her drawers but all her effort went in vain. 'Crap' Hermione closed her eyes.
"Where did it go?" Hermione whispered to herself. "Professor McGonagall's going to eat me"
Then it struck her that maybe it could have fallen while patrolling the previous day. 'Oh boy, but there's Slytherin dormitory in that way'
Hermione shook her head. She had to do it anyway. Or she would end up losing her position as the Head Girl and she definitely didn't want it.
She took a long breath and headed towards the Slytherin dormitory.
Draco woke up to loud banging on the door. Draco groaned and put the pillow on his ears with the purpose of blocking the sound but it was simply useless because the sound was way too loud.
He got up and cursed the person banging the door. Who the fuck was dying outside?
He went to the door with a number of cuss words ready to fire at the person. He opened the door and slightly parted his mouth to speak but immediately closed it when he saw it was Pansy.
"Pansy?" Draco asked with narrowed eyes. "Did something happen?"
"Yes, Draco" Pansy said in a furious tone. "Something did happen"
Draco could not quite understand her.
He shook his head and said, "I can't get it what you are saying"
"That's the bloody problem, Draco!" Pansy said in a tone which was between fury and crying. "You can't get a damn thing!"
"Wha-" He still couldn't understand a single thing. "Why are you putting riddles, Pansy? Just spit out whatever you want to say for fuck's sake!"
Draco spoke a bit loudly than he had intended. Some Slytherins peeped out of their rooms to see what the matter was. Blaise came out of his room as well after hearing Draco's voice. Thankfully, Theo didn't.
"What's happening?" Blaise asked looking first at Pansy and then at Draco.
"I don't fucking know." Draco said to his friend. "Ask her!"
"Pansy?" Blaise said with the hope that she would tell them what the matter actually was.
But Pansy was too busy glaring at Draco that she didn't hear Blaise. And even if she did, she ignored him.
Finally she spoke.
"Don't you get it, Draco? I'm worried about you. I'm worried about us" She said gesturing between her and Draco.
Draco was now getting irritated. 'Why can't she just spit the damn thing clearly instead of beating round the bush?'
"I saw you with Granger yesterday" She finally said what she actually wanted to say.
Oh, now he understood. Seriously, she woke him up for this? Oh Salazar!
"And I saw her smiling with you."
"Exactly what are you implying at?"
"The dare, Draco! The stupid dare!"
Just then, someone gave a short laugh from the back. The trio turned back to see who was that git who was finding this situation funny.
Draco turned and saw it was no one other than Adrian Pucey, the one who was the reason this havoc started in the first place. 'That bastard!'
"Enjoying the show, Pucey?" It was Blaise who spoke who looked like he was just going to throw a punch at Adrian.
"Oh, totally loving it, Zabini" Adrian replied smirking. It was no surprise he was loving the show.
"You mother-" Draco lunged forward to throw a punch at Pucey but Blaise stopped him from doing so.
"Let go, Blaise!" Draco protested against Blaise, still glaring at Adrian. If stares could kill a person in reality, then Draco would have killed Adrian long back.
"Don't be a fool, Draco! You do not want to make this situation messier"
Draco stopped protesting and looked at Blaise. Well, he do was stating facts. He didn't want another show and put himself in more trouble.
"You don't have to do the dare, Draco"
Draco shifted his gaze from Blaise to Pansy, who had just spoken. He was still furious at her. But, it was true. He could just refuse to do the dare and everything would go back to normal.
"What happened, Malfoy? Feeling pussy, are you?" Adrian dared to speak again. "What will people say, Malfoy? Just think about it"
Draco glared yet again at Pucey. One day, he was going to murder him for sure. He looked around to see his housemates staring at him and even found that some were whispering among each other.
If he refuses to do the blasted dare, it was sure that everything would go back to rainbows and unicorns but what about his self-respect? His Dignity? His reputation…..at least the one left among the Slytherins? Fuck.
"Anyone who really knows me, surely knows that I, Draco Malfoy, is not afraid of anything" Draco spitted out marching towards Adrian.
He halted just a few inches away where Adrian was standing. Adrian didn't back off either. He stood facing Draco with same stubbornness.
Draco glared at him and said, "And when this stupid dare gets completed, it will be your funeral, Pucey. Mark my words"
With that he turned around, grabbed his robe and books and exited the dormitory.
Just then Theo came out of his room putting on his robe. He looked around to see his housemates were all in the common room. 'Strange'
"Hey, what was the sound I was hearing?" He targeted his question at Blaise.
"Uhh, nothing in particular" Blaise said not knowing how to answer. What lie to feed to Theo? He couldn't tell him about the dare. And he surely can't make up a story because Adrian was standing right there and he would tell him truth. 'Bloody fantastic'
"Pansy and Draco got into a fight" Finally, Blaise blurted out. At least it was true. They did fight.
"Oh then it's nothing uncommon or important to say" Theo said, nodding at his response.
Pansy turned to glare at Theo and looked like she was about to burst into tears. 'How dare he say it was common or unimportant?!'
"I hate you, Nott" She spitted out and turned around to walk in her room.
"What did I do exactly?" Theo asked looking dumbfounded at her actions.
"These people are going to make me fucking crazy" Draco said loudly after slamming the door shut behind him.
"Just fu-" His voice trailed off when he saw Hermione standing a few feet away, staring at him. 'Oh boy! This day is getting better and better'
Hermione had been looking for her badge earlier in that path and she had found it near the pillar where she and Draco were having a conversation the previous night. She had just started walking towards her class when the door opened and Malfoy came out.
"What the hell are you doing here, Granger?" Draco asked looking directly at her.
Hermione realized she had been staring at him for way too long, "I…uhh…well…I was looking for something"
Draco raised his eyebrows at her. 'What could she be looking for near his dorm?'
"Here? Near the Slytherin dormitory?"
"Yeah….I lost my badge and I thought that maybe it could have fallen here since I came here yesterday"
Draco nodded. Ok, now he understood the reason. He noticed she was standing there awkwardly. Well, couldn't blame her really. Suddenly it struck him, 'The dare'. It was a perfect opportunity to execute his plan.
"So..uhh, you are heading to the class?"
Hermione looked up at him moving her gaze from the ground, "Uhh…yeah"
"Perfect. Me too. So do you want to head to the class together?" Stupid, stupid, stupid Draco. 'Oh fuck this is lot harder than I imagined it to be'
"Huh?" Hermione was taken aback by his question. That was quite unmalfoy-ish.
"Granger I asked if you want to head to class together since we are having the class together?" This time he spoke a little confidently.
"Uhh…yeah sure" Hermione responded still stunned at his behavior.
With that, Hermione walked towards Draco and he nodded before they started walking towards their class.
A few seconds passed in silence as no one could figure out what to say to each other. It was rather awkward silence. Well it's not every day that two enemies walk together without killing each other.
Hermione didn't quite like the silence and her curiosity to know why Draco was mad earlier, was killing her from the inside. So she decided to break the silence, "Malfoy?"
Draco turned to look at Hermione when he heard his name.
"Can I ask you something?"
Oh boy…..
"Do I have a choice?"
"I guess not" Hermione smiled and replied. "Umm I couldn't just ignore that you were mad when you came out of the dorm. Why was that?"
Here we go to Hermione Granger's enquiry.
'I cannot possibly tell her about the dare but I have to tell her something!'
"I…I had a fight with Pansy"
"With Parkinson? Why?" Hermione found this more interesting than she should have.
"Being nosy, are you Granger?
"I'm just curious"
'Oh well your curiosity is killing me, woman!' Draco thought.
"She…uhh...she was mad at me because I said I didn't like her. Not more than a friend" Well at least this was not a lie.
"Oh" Hermione was rather surprised by this than anything. "So, you and Parkinson are not together?"
"Oh hell no"
Hermione nodded at that. Well that was a surprise and quite a news.
"But I thought…..heck the whole school thinks that you two are a thing"
Draco stopped in his tracks, "Why would you all think that?"
"Umm…maybe because she is always glued to you." She halted with him as well. "Literally everywhere. And you two snog in public! You went to the Yule Ball with her" Well wasn't that easy to guess? Duh.
"So, according to you all, two people who snog are a 'thing'?" Oh these Gryffindors, when will they learn? Guess, never.
"Of course" Hermione said keeping up with Draco.
"Well you should know we are Slytherins. Our ways are totally different from yours"
"So what, I mean how to tell two Slytherins are dating if not by noticing that they snog or are always sitting together?"
"I don't know. I haven't dated anyone you see and nor do most of Slytherins. Snogged? Yes. Shagged? Yes. Dated? Nope"
'Heartless assholes' Hermione felt disgust with his reply. "You people are pathetic"
Draco chuckled at her response. "So what Granger, are you telling me you have actually dated anyone?"
"As a matter of fact, yes I have!" How did he even think that she would not have dated anyone?
"Who? Weasley or Potter?"
"Oh no, Harry and me is not going to happen. Ever. We are more like siblings. And yes I have dated Ron"
Draco scoffed, "Of course, you did"
"Why, what's wrong with that?" Hermione raised her eyebrows.
"Honestly? Literally, everything" Draco said giving her a side glance. "Granger, even you can do better than that"
"What do you mean by 'even you'?" The audacity that boy had!
Draco put his hands up in surrender looked at her directly this time and asked, "Are you both still together?"
"Oh no" Hermione shook her head. "We figured we are better off friends"
Draco nodded at her reply and turned to look forward again.
They continued to walk in silence again. When they almost reached the class, Draco spoke, "Granger?"
"Hmm?" Hermione looked at him.
"Are you ok? I mean after what happened yesterday you know. Are you doing fine?"
This was the second time in a row that she was stunned by Malfoy's behavior. Why was he acting like this? Why being so friendly?
"Yeah… I am still processing it but I am in a better condition"
"Good to know" Draco gave her a small smile.
"Thank you for yesterday, Malfoy" She smiled back.
"Of course" He nodded with a small smile which was barely visible.
Seriously, he hadn't planned to ask her about this. This was not part of the plan. But something urged him to do so and he genuinely felt good after knowing she was doing better. And the worst part was he had no fucking idea why!
Draco heard two girls, who just passed by them, whispering something probably about him and Hermione. Of course, they had to make a big scene out of this.
"So I see we have arrived at our destination." Draco spoke turning to face Hermione. "I guess it's time to split."
"Why, Malfoy?" Hermione grinned at him. "Afraid to be seen with me?"
Draco laughed at this, "Granger, I have got nothing to lose. I think you should be the one worrying about your reputation. What will your friends say if they saw you with the former death eater?"
Hermione frowned when he mentioned 'death eater'. Not because she hated death eaters or anything. Sure it was true that she didn't like any of them but she was disappointed that Draco thought that she just thinks of himself as a death eater.
"Oh don't worry, I am Hermione Granger." She responded with a smirk on her face. "No one speaks ill about me. And if they do, I don't really care"
"Oh yeah, that does makes sense" Draco said, grinning and casually leaning on the nearby wall.
He noticed that she was smirking. It looked quite good on her. Shit! He realized he was staring at her. He quickly turned his face to look at anything but her.
Just then Draco caught the sight of Theo and Blaise coming from the other side of the corridor.
Theo looked at both Draco and Hermione with narrowed eyes but then his gaze fell solely on Hermione, who was not even looking in their direction. Of course, she was ignoring him because of what happened the other day!
"Oe, Malfoy" Blaise waved a hand at Draco. "You coming or what?"
"Will be there in a second" Draco shouted the answer from this side to his friend.
He took a step forward to walk towards his friends but turned again, "It was great talking to you, Granger" He gave her two fingers salute, winked and towards his friends.
Hermione was speechless by his sudden actions. Did he just wink at her? What the actual hell?! This year was going to be the death of her for sure.
She shook her head with the purpose to clear her minds of all the thoughts, took a deep breath and walked towards the class.
Author's notes: So, looks like I am alive. I am so sorry for abandoning this story but my mental health wasn't good so I was on a break but I won't leave this fanfiction again! (at least I hope I don't). Anyways, I hope you loved and enjoyed the chapter. And follow me on Instagram under the name malfoysaue and grangerglee ( I changed both my account's username lol).