Chapter 9 – Draco-Not Malfoy

A week and a half passed since the Halloween Dance and the weather outside was getting worse by the day. The chilly wind howled against the trees of the Forbidden Forest and the trees on the Hogwarts grounds had lost all of their leaves by now, giving it a very wintery atmosphere. The temperature was dropping gradually and was getting so cold that Hermione had to wear two layers of clothing under her robes. It was abnormal weather for mid-November.

Hermione still wasn't talking to Ron, and a several times Ginny and Harry had tried to make her talk to him but had failed. To her surprise, Ron wasn't coming to apologize to her anymore and now it seemed that he was mad at her for not forgiving him. Deep down inside she knew she was overreacting to the whole situation, but she couldn't admit it. She hoped that he would come just one more time and she would forgive him, but he didn't.

It was evening when Hermione attended to her Head Girl duties. She was half relieved and half dreading it. She was relieved that Ron wouldn't be there, but dreading it because she would have to spend two hours alone with Draco Malfoy. At this thought, she began walking slower than usual, hoping that her feet would take her in a different direction.

"You're late Granger." drawled Malfoy as Hermione entered Snape's classroom in the dungeons.

"Sorry." said Hermione dismissively, "what are we doing today?"

"Grading pathetic first-year Potions essays. Professor Snape told me to."

"And you couldn't start without me?" said Hermione in an annoying voice.

"Of course not. I need your expertise at this concept of grading."

"Sure you do."

"Now come on, so we can get this done with quickly." said Malfoy in his usual cold voice.

Hermione took a seat next to him, but far away that her hand could barely reach where he was sitting. Malfoy laughed.

"What Granger? Scared of me? But it's a good thing you distanced yourself, I don't want a Mudblood so close to me."

Hermione didn't even flinch at the word. Instead, she stared at him intensely. He stared back. It was like a stare contest, and they stared at each other for so long that her eyes began to water.

"Why do you do that?" said Hermione in a tone that she would normally use with her friends. It was more sympathetic and human.

"Do what?" Malfoy sneered at her.

"Insulting me every second like I'm not worth anything. Trying to curse me with some dangerous spell and attacking me from behind like a madman. And worse of all, calling me a Mudblood. It hurts, you know."

Malfoy seemed taken aback at Hermione's words, but then recovered his poise in an instant, "because I like insulting and hurting you. It's a hobby. And you are a Mudblood; you don't belong here."

Hermione pushed her chair closer to Malfoy deliberately to irritate him.

"What do you think you're doing." He said, looking at her nastily and backing away a little.

"Showing you that I'm not scared." Hermione smirked.

"Just remember what I said before."

"Uh-huh," said Hermione, "so are you going to tell me why you act all tough and cold hearted?"

Malfoy considered her for a moment and said, "Why do you care?"

"Just trying to get to know my partner, that's all. So, tell me. Why don't you just act like yourself around me? It would make things much easier."

Malfoy stared at her in disbelief, "Granger. You're scaring me."

Hermione laughed. She decided that she could finally through Draco Malfoy and see who he really is. After all, everyone has some good inside them. He just needs his to come out.

"First of all, stop calling me Granger. Call me Hermione, and I'll call you Draco. Draco. Hmm…sounds strange." said Hermione.

Draco raised his eyebrows, "Alright. Hermione." He gave in, looking confused and weird to say Hermione's first name.

"Finally. You agree on something."

"Are you sure you haven't drank one of Snape's potions by accident?" said Draco, still gawking at her.

Hermione snorted, "No. So tell me about yourself. Where were you born, when were you born, who do you live with, and things like that."

To her surprise, he told her about himself. It was the strangest conversation Hermione had even had with someone, and she never before dreamed the day that she would be having a civilized conversation with Draco Malfoy. But she knew that this situation had to be more peculiar to Draco since he had never really talked to anyone like that, or so Hermione thought.

She found out that Draco was seventeen years old just like her and was about to turn eighteen on December ninth. He was born in a little village in France, and all his life he had lived in the old Malfoy Mansion with his mother and father. He even told her that they used o have a house elf but he was dismissed. She laughed when he told her about Dobby.

"What?" said Draco, looking puzzled.

"Did you know that Dobby works here in Hogwarts?"

Draco looked stunned. "Really? Does he? Amazing. Mum has to do a lot more work around the house now that the house elf is gone. She's starting to get old. Now tell me about your life."

She told him she was born in England and how she was extremely smart in Muggle school and one day when she was eleven, she got a letter from Hogwarts that wanted her as a student. Her parents were so happy, and then she read all of the course books and memorized them by heart because she was scared she wouldn't know enough as the other students.

"Actually," Draco said, "You knew way more than me, or anyone in our year. But I can't believe you memorized your books. Who does that?"

Hermione looked down, embarrassed, "I don't know, I guess it's just a habit."

"A really bad one, I might add." said Draco, and smiled. This was the first smile she had ever seen on his face. She wanted to ask him another question, but decided it was too personal, and didn't ask it. Instead, she looked down at the pile of papers on the desk and gasped.

"Oh my! We haven't even started grading these!" And with that, they got to their work way more civilizing than before.

…

After a couple of hours, she left the dungeons with a smile on her face. She felt like she had accomplished something big. She had opened u to an enemy, and he had opened up to her. Hermione knew that there was some good inside Draco, and after tonight, she confirmed that she was right. Maybe by talking to our adversaries and trying to understand how they feel was the first step to uniting as a whole. Maybe this is what would diminish future evils like Death Eaters and Voldemort.

"Buterbeer." She muttered to the Fat Lady and the door opened. She yawned. It was really late, and the Common Room was empty except for one person.

"Where were you?" said Ron in a concerned voice.

"Prefect duties." said Hermione shortly.

"This late?"

"Yes. So what do you want?"

"For you to forgive me." He said, and to her astonishment, he got down on his knees and put his hands together and begged, "Please, please, please, please, please forgive me! What else do I have to do to make you-"

"Ron!" interrupted Hermione. She held out her hand to him and pulled him, "what in the blazes are you doing?"

"Begging. Did it work?" said Ron innocently.

"Yes. I forgive you. And I'm sorry I stopped talking to you. You didn't know what you were doing that night. You were drunk after all."

"It's okay, but I shouldn't have drank in the first place. Friends?" said Ron, holding out his hand.

"Of course! Oh Ronnie!" she flung herself at him in a tight embrace and let go after a long time.

"So what now?" said Ron, looking around the dim room.

"We talk. You won't believe what just happened in the Dungeons…" Hermione was fully awake now and told him about Draco.

For some reason, they were sitting on the floor closely together. It was a good feeling.

"Draco? You're calling him Draco?" said Ron, looking utterly baffled

"Well, yes, he'll call me Hermione from now on." Said Hermione.

"I don't know…" said Ron doubtfully, "you should still be careful around him. He did try to hex you after all, don't you remember?"

"Yeah."

They caught up on talking about their classes and Ron told Hermione how Quidditch was going and said that Harry was acting weird, well, more weird than usual. He told her that one day he had deliberately thrown the Beater at Kirke out of frustration that he knocked out most of his teeth. Hermione frowned. As far as she knew, Harry had been normal around her.

Then the conversation turned more personal.

"Hermione, can I ask you a question?" said Ron nervously.

"Hmm…what is it?"

"Did you mean it when you said a week back that you liked me?"

"Yeah. I meant it."

"I should've asked you weeks before the dance, but I guess I was too scared. I thought it would be weird to ask a friend to the dance as a date. But you've probably figured out that I like you from Harry and Ginny, I reckon."

"Yeah, I have, actually. They said you worship me."

Ron laughed, "I guess you could say that."

"I've know that you've liked me for a while, or ever since Viktor came here."

"Oh." said Ron, looking crestfallen.

"But don't worry! I never liked him that much, and we're just friends. But you should have seen your face at the Yule Ball. It was hilarious. You were so jealous, and from then on I knew you liked me."

Ron raised his eyebrows, "I was furious but I never realized I liked you then."

"Yeah. I thought I would just let you figure it out."

"So you don't like Krum anymore?"

"No, and remember that night when I was writing a letter? Well, it wasn't to him. It was to Lupin."

"Why where you writing to Lupin?" he said curiously.

"Because… of a horrible dream I had."

"What was in the dream?"

Hermione sighed, "I'm not sure if it was a dream, but I hope it was… Voldemort killed you in it."

Ron stared at her. "It was just a dream. You don't have visions like Harry, Hermione. Don't worry. Nothing's going to happen to me."

"I hope not." said Hermione, and laid her hand on his broad shoulders without realizing it. She closed her eyes. She wanted to stay like this forever, next to Ron.

"What's going to happen to us, Ron."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean with Voldemort and everything. How's Harry ever going to kill him? It's almost impossible."

"But it's still possible. We have to stay strong for him. We have to help him."

"I'll die helping him if I have to."

"Me too. And don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you."

She melted. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her. She felt like kissing him so badly…

"Nothing's going to happen to me. I can take care of myself, and I'll have you, of course."

Ron smiled at her, "So how does it feel to kiss someone?"

"Exhilarating, but you should know. You did kiss that Slytherin girl after all." She smirked.

"I don't even remember it. Maybe you could refresh my memory?"

Hermione put her delicate hand on the side of his face and closed in on him…She shut her eyes and slowly, their soft lips met. Hermione's heart was thudding, feeling like she had transcended to heaven…