Disclaimer: Harry Potter and such belong to J.K. Rowling. The title of this chapter comes from the movie Ever After staring Drew Barrymore (which I highly suggest to anyone who likes fairy tales with a twist).
The months went by slowly for Draco and Hermione. Slytherin lost the Quidditch Cup. Hermione made a fair effort to help Harry with the D.A. She and Draco did nothing but homework together to avoid instances like their second night. It was almost Christmas break and they still met in the library.
"Hermione! Hermione!" Professor McGonagall came running into the library, interrupting Draco and Hermione's study session.
Hermione looked up from one of her books. "What is it Professor?"
"Come over here, dear. You don't mind, do you Mr. Malfoy?"
Draco shook his head no.
Professor McGonagall pulled Hermione behind one of the bookshelves. Draco crept to the other side.
"Hermione, Mr. Weasley has been hurt. The Weasleys and Harry are going to see him. I thought that you would like to know." Professor McGonagall gave Hermione a forced smile before she left the library.
Hermione walked back to her seat. Draco was smiling, waiting for her.
"Mr. Weasley, eh? What was he doing that hurt him so badly?"
"None of your business, Malfoy." Hermione's voice started to crack halfway through the sentence. A tear rolled down her cheek as her hair fell in her face.
The tone of her voice wiped the smirk off of his face. He looked around for something to work on. Finally, he gave into his urge to put a hand on her shoulder. "It's not that bad. Everything will be fine." Why was he so upset to see her crying?
"Why would you care?" Hermione asked as she wiped her tears off with a sleeve.
She missed one. Draco reached to wipe the tear away, but caught himself before he went any further. "I don't care. I just don't want to listen to your whining, is all."
Just then Draco heard stomping. He looked up and saw Pansy.
"I KNEW IT!"
"Knew what?" Draco asked, obviously irritated.
"You like Hermione Granger!"
"What would give you that idea?"
"You stare at her all of the time, and don't try to pretend like you don't. And you are always here with her, every night glued to her hip."
Hermione followed the conversation, looking back and forth between the two. At last her eyes rested on Draco.
"Well, I don't." Draco was not sure what else he could say with two emotionally unstable teenage girls surrounding him. He could feel the temperature rising. His shirt choked him. "I…uh…"
"If I can't have you, no one will!" Pansy took out her wand and pointed it at Hermione. "Crus—"
"Expelliarmus!" Draco hit Pansy so hard with the spell that Pansy flew backwards.
"I keep telling you! Now you chose a Mudblood over a Slytherin," Pansy cried.
Draco lost his temper completely. He started yelling at Pansy: "You know why I've been staring at Hermione? I've been trying to find a way to get rid of her. That's right! All this time you have been drawing attention to my plan and it's getting annoying!"
Pansy started to shake. She got on her feet and used a bookshelf for support.
"So these nights in the library were all to—"
"Snape and McGonagall are making us study like this every night!"
"That still doesn't explain why you chose her over me." Pansy cried silently. The tears only annoyed Draco more.
"I would always chose Hermione over you! At least she's quiet, and intelligent, and somewhat decent looking. You have so much make-up on that you look like you crawled out of a circus!"
Draco swallowed. Did I really just say that? He ran a shaking hand through his hair. Maybe this is why I get a knot in my stomach when I look at Hermione.
Hermione stared at Draco. "You…you said my name."
He blushed. "I what? Of course I did. Granger."
"No, you called me Hermione." Hermione smiled and started to get closer to Draco. His heart started to race. Had he never noticed how beautiful her eyes were?
Draco turned around with a start. "Oh no, I don't do this!" Draco ran and gathered his things. When he was at the door of the library, he turned around. "See you gals next year." He saluted and left.
Pansy and Hermione were both left speechless.
"Ron!" Hermione ran the rest of the way to him and threw her arms around him. "I was so scared. Please tell me that everything is all right."
Ron flashed her a smile as he held her in his arms. "My dad will be fine. My mum is with him at St. Mungo's right now."
Hermione let out a sigh of relief. She had been counting the seconds until she would see Ron and Harry again at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
"How was the end of term? And Draco?" The instant he said it, Ron knew he had hit a sore spot.
"Look, Hermione, you don't have to answer. It was a tough time for everyone. Why don't you come up stairs and talk to Harry and Sirius. Everyone's missed you."
Not to mention, I missed you, he thought.
Sirius had decorated Grimmauld Place for Christmas. Even the house-elf heads on the wall had on Santa hats and white beards. Hermione found herself enjoying the holidays immensely. Sirius was happy enough to be singing, Ron and Harry did not complain about schoolwork, and even Mrs. Weasley seemed to be in a permanently jolly mood. Despite their hardships, everyone was happy to be alive, well, and together.
After dinner on Christmas Eve, Ron led Hermione to Buckbeak's room. They both bowed to Buckbeak, who bowed in return. Knowing it was safe to approach, Ron held one of her hands and petted Buckbeak with the other.
"I couldn't think of anything to get you for Christmas, until just recently. I wanted to give it to you early."
Hermione smiled and poked Ron in the side playfully. "What is it, Weasley. Huh? Huh?"
Ron swallowed in anticipation of something. Hermione kept teasing him.
"Nervous? Ron, really you look kind of p—"
Before she could finish, Ron pulled her into her first kiss. He wrapped his arms around her lightly, caressing her back. Hermione's initial shock wore off. She opened her mouth to him and found he was a lot more experienced than she had thought.
"Ron, I—what is happening?"
"Hermione, I've loved you since I first saw. You are brilliant and talented. When my father got hurt, I realized that I had to do something before it was too late to tell you the truth."
"Ron, I don't know what to say." Hermione thought about her first kiss. It felt good to kiss someone, but it was not as special as the way Lavender described it. She was not weak in the knees or seeing fireworks. Just Ron.
"Say anything, or nothing, whatever you want. I will give you the world if you just say yes. Say that you'll be my girl."
Hermione tried to say that she did not feel the same way Ron did, but the look on his face stopped her. For the first time in a long while Ron looked truly happy.
"Yes," she whispered, hoping that her voice would not betray her feelings.
Ron picked her up and spun her around. Hermione faked a laugh.
"Well, if you two lovebirds are done, I think that there's a room full of people that would like you to come down." Harry smirked at the new couple.
Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and dragged her downstairs where his family was waiting. Luckily for Hermione, neither Harry nor Ron told the Weasleys of the new relationship.
After the party, Hermione cornered Harry. With one arm, she pinned him flat against a wall.
"When were you going to tell me that Ron was going to snog me?"
"Hermione, I didn't think that he was going to do something so bold."
"Well you could have warned me of his feelings!"
The smile vanished from Harry's face. "You don't feel the same way, do you?"
"Harry, it's Ron. Don't get me wrong, I love Ron, I would die for Ron, but I do not love Ron in a romantic sense." She let Harry go. Her anger released itself through tears.
"It's going to crush him."
"That is why we're not going to tell him. Surely he will grow out of this crush, and we will do all we can to help him out of it!"
Harry shifted around and looked for an exit. "What is all this 'we' you are talking about?"
"Harry, you kept this secret from me, and it might just hurt Ron. You are going to do everything in your power to get him over me."
Harry knew that he was in far too deep to even think about getting out. By the time he got to bed, he was dreading the rest of the school year.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SHE'S WITH THE WEASEL-BOY?" Draco threw down his Potions book. Crabbe and Goyle's confused looks brought him back down to earth. "That is disgusting. Now I will have to hear about Weasel-boy's exploits everyday!" Draco lied to keep them from questioning his reaction. His reaction to the news even surprised him. Over Christmas break, he had spent every day reassuring himself that he was not interested in a Mudblood.
That evening, he and Hermione sat in silence while they poured over books and charts.
I can't talk to her about it. She'd probably think I was jealous or something. His foot tapped in time with his racing thoughts.
Hermione looked up from her work. "Is something bothering you?"
"When were you going to tell me about Ron?" Draco demanded.
She slammed down her quill. "Now that's not fair!"
"Please be quiet!" she heard other students yell across the room.
Draco turned his chair to face hers. "Hmm…was it good Hermione?" he whispered.
"You're acting like a jealous creep."
"I'm not jealous." Draco turned to begin work again. Why am I acting like this? he thought.
"If I remember correctly, you were only interested in me so that you could get rid of me. I thought that this might be good news. You would use Ron to get me expelled or something."
"This is far from good news!" It's the worst news I've ever gotten in my life. He's not right for you.
"What I don't understand is one minute you are trying to kill me, the next you are jealous that I am with someone else."
"You…I…that's not who you should be with, that's all. Everyone can tell that you don't exactly return his ardour."
"If you're so smart, then tell me how to get out of the situation without breaking Ron's heart." She blushed, knowing she said too much.
"You can't do that. He is completely in love with you."
Hermione looked back at her books, but she could not concentrate. "So are we going by Draco and Hermione now? Or is it still Malfoy and Mudblood?"
Draco looked surprised at the question. "Do you want me to call you Hermione?" It felt good to say her name.
"Yes."
"Then it's Hermione and Draco."
Hermione laughed. "For such mortal enemies, we're on pretty friendly terms."
"This doesn't make anything different between us, Hermione."
"Of course it doesn't."