Confessions of Secluded Diners
"So, where are you taking me?" Hermione asked as they strolled leisurely through Hogsmeade.
"Just a place of my friend's." Draco answered, smirking. He pulled her towards a quaint house on the grounds of Hogsmeade.
"Aww… that's such a cute house!" Hermione exclaimed upon catching sight of it.
Draco smirked down at her and pushed open the door to reveal a well-furnished house with many pictures on the walls. He left her standing in awe at the entrance hall as he went to check on his good friend, Pierre.
Hermione hadn't known how long she had been standing in that hallway, but the next thing she knew was that Draco wasn't there anymore. She began to freak out, half expecting a dozen Death-Eaters to jump her. Her heart began pummeling erratically as she began to wonder what had happened to Draco.
"Hermione?" Draco asked, startling her. She looked back at him and breathed out a sigh in relief as she ran into his arms.
"Oh my God, I thought you'd have left me. I was starting to think Death-Eaters were going to come out and jump me. I got so scared!" Hermione prattled nervously. Draco, surprised at their current situation, put his arm around her and led her into the dining room. Hermione gasped again for the second time in that house. This time, however, it was because of the romantically set candlelit table prepared for her and Draco.
Hermione smiled shyly at Draco as they ate their salmon wrapped in prosciutto. He grinned back and sipped some water.
"How do you like it?" Draco asked. Hermione swallowed a bite of her dish and responded.
"It's great; Pierre is a wonderful cook." Draco nodded in agreement.
"I'm glad you're enjoying it." Hermione let out a heavy breath and asked Draco the one anticipated question between them.
"Why, Draco? Why me? Why do you like me and not someone like Pansy or some other pureblood girl?" Hermione inquired. Draco knew it was coming and thought in the quickest way as to answer the questions directed to him.
"I like you, Hermione, if you haven't guessed already. I must say, and not ashamedly, that I've liked you for quite a while.
"I'd hated you for no real reason before. I always used a couple reasons that weren't exactly that valid, like you were one of the 'Golden Trio', you were the top of the class and a total know-it-all, but I had one that just scared me; I was scared of actually realizing that someone of a lower class was better than me. As we got older though, I realized that all that I'd hated you for were absolutely no good. Each night, I tried to convince myself that I did truly hate and that it was not possible for me, a Malfoy, to harbor feelings for anyone. But before each night, I saw you, saw you working your ass off to fit in. I came to a startling realization that not everything is black and white, not everything goes the way they should. You were just someone struggling to make it in a world so unlike the one you were raised in; you were looking for somewhere to belong.
"If you've noticed, I haven't referred to you as mudblood or anything else degrading for the past year, all out of respect of your struggles. In that time, I started to like you. I went crazy; I separated myself from the muggle-hating Slytherins, tried to be nicer to everyone, and slowly found myself dreaming about you and subconsciously staring at you… well, everywhere. God, I sound like a girl." Draco smirked, stealing a furtive look at Hermione. She grinned.
"My turn," Hermione told him. Draco lifted an eyebrow in question and allowed her to continue.
"Okay, I've strongly disliked you for so long, you know, for the mudblood thing. Then, after a while, I took to trying to find out how you were personally. So I went around watching you and your friends, trying not to seem so stalker-esque, if you get what I mean. I noticed that you weren't so… uh… malicious with your personal friends than with your 'acquaintances', you were very friendly and jokingly with them.
"So, I sort of asked around the Slytherin house and they told me all about how you were nice and that you've got a great sense of humor and that you're a loyal trustworthy friend. Well, that's what Blaise told me, but that's beside the point. With those words coming from someone who's known you for basically your entire life, I decided to lighten up a bit. Sure, you frustrated me quite a bit, but those occasional conversations we had during which we were able to be completely civil to each other amazed me. The fact that we could be so nice to each other about a small thing like homework or prefect duties made me wonder why we couldn't be nice to each other about everything else. Through it all, I saw a guy that I'd like and I do like you… a lot." Hermione nervously looked up at Draco, whose face beamed so bright in the dim room that he seemed to light it up. Hermione heaved a heavy sigh and smiled back.
Draco reached across the table and held Hermione's hands in his. "Thank you for sharing your feelings with me, Hermione." Hermione blushed.
"Well, thank you for sharing yours with me, Draco."