Close To You

By Cerulean Sapphire

Tactics


By the time that half of the first week of the holidays was done, I was pretty sure I could do something…anything, just to let her see I'm a changed man. Then again, I hadn't done anything yet. Yet…which meant I'd do something…perhaps later. But I was pretty sure I'd do something incredible to get her attention.

Boy, oh boy. I wasn't prepared for the thing I was about to do.

It was just one of those normal cold winter days so I decided to say inside the castle. I was pretty sure she'd do as well, since it was too chilly to be out. I walked 'round the castle corridors to see where she was. I tried the Great Hall, the library, the Astronomy Tower (although I knew only too well she wouldn't be found dead there). I even tried the old Divination classroom, although I heard Divination was her least favorite class (I researched her like my very own homework, and now I know almost everything to know about her).

In short, I couldn't find her anywhere.

Ah well, guess sometimes you just had to miss her instead.

But one thing that I didn't like about this infatuation thing was the fact that I go bonkers whenever I miss her. Every minute seemed too long and I needed to see her. Imagining her didn't count as seeing her. It was like I couldn't sit still and everything reminded me of her.

The ill feeling of missing her was absolutely killing me.

And then I remembered that I still had to concoct ways to make her notice…but, I had to admit, concocting things to make her notice me was one of the most difficult things I had ever planned to do, and that was saying something since I could easily think up devious plans to bully others before.

Anyways, back to subject: Hermione. I still hadn't seen her for the past four hours, thirty minutes and forty five seconds. Merlin, that's too long!

So after much boredom in walking here, there and pretty much everywhere inside the castle, I went outside.

Was I surprised in what I saw.

Hermione Granger, the apple of my gray eye, was there, outside.

Throwing snowballs with—who else but Ronald Weasley.

Surprise, surprise.

Then it hit me—snowball fight? Hermione? Weasel?

I tried to look harder. They were having so much fun together. They were laughing together. They were a perfect fit together.

Not.

He threw another snowball at her. It hit her right on her cheek.

I was boiling mad when I saw that. Only I could ever hit her with anything. A crumpled parchment, a quill, a book, a spell.

Even a snowball.

And she enjoyed it! I could see that—she was laughing like a hyena afterwards. I never thought she could laugh like that. I never saw her laugh before.

Hermione threw a snowball at Ron. She missed. Oh, it felt awful looking at them like this. From afar. Just from afar.

Always from afar.

But hey—I could go there and ruin their fun.

However…I never saw her so happy. It was the first time I saw that big smile on her face. It'd be an awful shame if I ruined that smile.

It hurt me, seeing as I could make her mad, angry, irritable, even bring her to tears. But I could never be the one to make her smile like that.

Yet he could do it. It was so unfair. She was the only thing I wanted in the world right then, but he had her.


By the end of the day, I still hadn't thought of a single thing to catch her attention, or make her closer to me. I never thought it'd be this hard. If this was what it felt like to be in love, then I never want to be in love again. Never.

She'd be the only girl I would love.

And that was a promise.


Morning came and I still hadn't thought of a single thing.

What in the world was happening to me? It was like I was morphing into someone I didn't know…someone different from my entire personality. Never before had I thought up words like 'love' or 'infatuation' or anything of the sort. Everything was new.

Little by little, she was changing me. And believe it or not, I liked it. I liked it very much.

But I still had to cook up ways for her to notice me in a way that would benefit me.

I just wished if I were to think up ways, it would be soon. Weasley was getting on my nerves more than the usual.

Since there were so few who stayed behind for the holidays, Dumbledore set up just one table for the staff and students altogether. When I entered the Great Hall, she was already there. Early, as usual.

Good news was there were no more seats left for me but the seat on her right.

Bad news was Weasley sat to her left. Argh. Were they a couple already? I couldn't take it if I lost to someone like Weasel-king.

When I was just inches from my seat, I hesitated a bit. Was I going to just ignore her, or was I going to drop a nice 'hi'?

I guess I had been taking too long since she looked back at me, confused and a bit irritated, I suppose. The bad part of me was about to say something with 'Mudblood' in it, but Dumbledore butted in.

"Why don't you take your seat now, Mr. Malfoy? The breakfast is very nice today."

I wanted so much to retort that breakfast was always good, but thought the better of it. I was in a so-so mood because I had the chance to sit beside my darling Hermione. Only…I never thought of what to do during this circumstance. Would I…say, just eat quietly? Or would I talk to her, even just a bit? I had to make a decision quickly—

"So I guess you find it very disgusting to sit beside me, huh, Malfoy?"

She. Spoke. To. Me. Well, it wasn't the words I was waiting to hear, but still. She started a conversation with me. Now all I needed to do was to keep the ball rolling. Heh. Easy.

"Not that much, Granger. Only I guess you've already noticed that."

Gah. Was that your best, Draco? Argh. Why in the world did I say that? Those words were dripping with utter dislike and sour sarcasm. It sounded to me as if I never changed one bit…like I was still the stuck-up, spoiled brat Draco Malfoy.

"I see. Well then, enjoy your meal, Malfoy."

With that, she stood up and walked away.


After much debate with myself, I made a list of 'tactics' I'd use to get Hermione's attention.

Draco Malfoy's To-Do List (Read everything first)

#1, Say 'hi' once in every three days.

#2, Try NOT to say one nasty remark every other day.

#3, During eating time, offer her something to eat.

#4, Do NOT smirk; instead, smile.

#5, Do NOT be arrogant EVERYDAY.

#6, Be nice to her friends ONLY when she's around.

#7, Saysomething sensible.

#8, Always do number two.

#9, Cook up evil ways to make Weasley look bad.

#10, Be nice to everyone.

#11, NEVER do number nine.

It took a LOT of hard work and effort, believe me. I tried my best not to write To Do number nine, but I still did. I didn't have enough good in me to erase it, either, so what I did was to put another To Do that contradicts it. Hah. I knew ever since that I was pure genius.

So there it was: my list. I wrote it on a piece of parchment and I posted it somewhere other Slytherins wouldn't see, but before doing so charmed it so that when others by chance saw it would not even bother reading it. After all, I charmed it so that it would contain the recipe for chicken soup. Who'd bother reading that?

I looked at the posted parchment. Somehow, I felt brilliantly proud of myself.

I went out of the Slytherin dungeons with the plan in my head. I'd definitely do all of that.

Even number nine.


I headed out towards the school grounds and looked for Hermione. I found her once more, only this time the scenario that met my eye was different. She and Weasley were there, huddled up in a corner. I could tell Hermione was holding something, and by the look of it, he was either holding onto it too or his paws were clamped tightly over Hermione's.

They walked around a bit, and this time, I quickly recognized what they had been holding. It was a bottle, and in it was a bright blue flame. So if they were trying to warm up, then why didn't just go inside the castle? It was warmer inside, after all.

Bet it was Weasley's idea to cuddle up with my Hermione.

My Hermione.

That was nice to hear. Nicer was to say it, although technically, Hermione wasn't mine.

But soon would be.

Anyways, back to the story. So there I was, looking at them cuddling each other when I noticed one bit I never noticed before.

Hermione was blushing.

Sure, it probably was the effect of the cold surroundings, but…it was visible from afar. She was blushing, and was getting redder and redder as he cuddled even closer.

Argh. I should've known.

Bloody Hell. She was in love with Weasley.

I could not believe it.

I went straight back to the dormitory, making a mental note to myself to cross out To Do number eleven.


Author's Note: How was it? Hehe. I gotta tell, I'm so happy to have written this since my Writer's Block has been horrible for the past months/year.

By the way, I have my site up – Scarred. It's a HP Fanfiction Recommendation Site archiving some of the best stories you can find in the Net! The link is scarred dot cjb dot net (without the spaces). Please do visit it sometime.

Up Next: Surprises—Draco gets a once-in-a-Christmas-holiday opportunity alone with Hermione! Find out what will happen in the next chapter!