As it turned out, when Draco arrived the following morning after breakfast, he seemed to be in better spirits than the previous evening. They were walking together towards her family library, when he turned towards her and asked, "How are you managing to find time to study for your NEWTS, along with all this additional reading you're doing?"
"Well, I'm only taking seven NEWTS."
"Only?" He quipped, and she glanced up at him, but his expression was openly amused.
"Are you making fun of me?"
"Not at all," he admitted, "I do seem to remember your penchant for running yourself ragged around exam time, is all."
She stopped in her tracks, right in the doorway of her family library and gaped at Malfoy, asking, "Why would you remember such a thing?"
Draco chuckled, but responded with, "Come on, Hermione—everyone talked about what a terror you were around exam time. You'd snap at Weasley more frequently, and would even do so to Potter from time to time. You practically lived in the library, too."
"True," she mused, "I'm pretty certain even after everything, my boggart would still likely be McGonagall telling me I failed all my classes."
Draco snickered, and then shook his head at that confession, "I don't know whether to be horrified or impressed."
She led him over to the center table, that had all the books and scrolls doled out that Master Flamel had given to her, and next to one of the larger tomes, was another set of four smaller paperback books.
Draco picked them up and scanned each one, before his grey eyes lifted with veiled curiosity.
"So, tell me a bit more about these books?"
She smiled softly, and reached for the one he'd just set down, noticing the title.
"This book, The Hobbit, is actually the first book of the series. It follows the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, who lives a rather simple life with his fellow hobbits in the Shire, until the wizard Gandalf arrives, and convinces him to join a group of dwarves on a quest to reclaim their kingdom of Erebor in the Lonely Mountain, which was lost to them many years prior. Bilbo's journey takes him along a path through treacherous lands swarming with orcs, goblins, spiders, dragons and other dark creatures. There's also a dark character called Gollum, whom at one time, had possession of the golden ring that was the horcrux of Sauron, the Dark Lord of Middle Earth. Bilbo finds the ring, but somehow, never becomes truly corrupted by the evil of it. Speaking from experience, having possession of Voldemort's horcrux for months on end, and wearing something so vile and dark, it takes a hard toll on your entire being."
Draco didn't reply, but he glanced down at the next book and decided to table that discussion for another time, so he just queried, "And the Fellowship of the Ring?"
"Takes place about sixty years or so after the Hobbit. Bilbo still has the ring, and as such doesn't age, at least physically. His cousin Frodo, whom he refers to as his nephew, does eventually take possession of the one ring, which happens after Gandalf discovers that Bilbo has it, and because of this, a fellowship is formed to return the one ring to Mount Doom, where it was created, and the only place where it can be destroyed."
"And these three books tell the story of this fellowship?"
"Pretty much. There's Aragorn, the Heir of Elendil. He's also called Strider in the books, and is known as a ranger from the north, but in reality he's the heir to the throne of Gondor, the Great White City. Boromir, is the eldest son of the steward of Gondor, and has a younger brother Faramir. Legolas, is a Prince of Mirkwood and an high elf, his Father is King Thranduil, who is introduced in the Hobbit. Gimli son of Gloin, is a dwarf. There's Gandalf the Grey wizard of course, and then there's three other hobbits besides Frodo: Samwise, Pippin and Merry."
"Interesting names," he smirked and then asked, "I'm assuming they eventually destroy this one ring?"
Hermione smiled at first and then shook her head, stating teasingly, "I'm not going to give the ending away, Draco. You'll just have to read the books for yourself, but I'm happy to discuss anything you find interesting."
He just nodded and set them aside, so they could get started on their studying time.
It was a while before they spoke again, and this time it was Hermione who broke the silence.
"Have you spoken with Astoria?"
Draco's head lifted, and his expression shuttered slightly, as he shook his head in the negative, "No, I haven't."
"Might I ask why?"
He thought about that question for a few moments before he offered, "I was thinking that I might speak with Daphne first, she's Astoria's older sister and was in our year."
"I vaguely remember her."
"Yeah, well..." he cleared his throat slightly, before continuing, "when I spoke with my parents about this, Mother speculated that perhaps Randolph, Astoria's father, might've not mentioned it to her yet, as she's not set to come of age until December."
"And do you think that's likely?"
"I don't know what to think," he admitted with a soft sigh, "I don't want to believe she would keep something that important from me."
"Maybe she believes it's not an issue."
Draco cocked an eyebrow and inquired evenly, "Why do you say that?"
"Well," she sat forward, giving Draco her full attention, "perhaps she's assumed since Daphne hasn't been afflicted, and I'm assuming she hasn't, and if that is the case, then it's possible Astoria thinks that it's highly unlikely she'll become afflicted as well. Why say something until you know for sure? It's not as if you two would've become betrothed before she'd reached her seventeenth birthday, correct?"
"No, that's true."
"Maybe she just didn't want to borrow trouble, Draco. She might be trying to protect you, or maybe she doesn't want to worry you needlessly."
He nodded slowly at that comment, as it did make sense from what he knew of Astoria, that she wouldn't burden him, at least not without good reason. She'd always been supportive of him, and he'd taken advantage of her sweet disposition and kind demeanor. It was an inherently Slytherin thing to do, but it didn't negate the fact that he cared for her. However, the last few years he'd spent wallowing in his own darkness and misfortune, (much of which he'd caused himself), but that didn't change the facts at hand.
But all he replied with was, "Could be." Deciding to change the subject he queried, "Where's Potter today?"
"He's at the Ministry. He was given a direct in to the Auror Department, and he's meeting with Kingsley and Gawain Robards, the new Head of the DMLE, to go over his training schedule."
"Why am I not surprised." He drawled out, but Hermione just scoffed lightly at him.
"Don't be a prat, Draco—Harry's earned that spot in the Auror Department. He might've not sat his NEWTS, but trust me when I tell you that what we survived this past year, more than prepared him to be an Auror."
Draco stiffened momentarily, before he responded with, "I wasn't trying to be a prat, and in spite of what you might wish to believe, I have no doubt that Potter will make a superlative Auror."
"Oh?"
"Yes, self-sacrificing git that he is." His lifted smirk took some of the sting out of his words, and Hermione just waggled her finger at him in warning, but there was a teasing glint in her eyes he didn't miss, then she sighed heavily and said, "For what it's worth, I know this can't be any easier for you, than it is for Harry and myself."
"No, it's not, but it seems as though it's our reality, regardless of what we might wish."
"How are we going to do this really, Draco? How do we go from our past, with all that it's entailed, to being married?"
Grey eyes glanced over her shoulder briefly, and she could see Draco's brow furrowing again in thought, as he was pondering her question earnestly. After a moment, his gaze fixated back to her's and he offered with more sincerity than she'd ever believed him capable of, "I suppose we just decide here and now, that the past is where it needs to stay, which is in the past. We can't change it, but we can learn from it. I'd like to say that the wizard before you is a better version of the one you knew in school. That he regrets his mistakes, and wishes he could've done things differently, but he also knows, that wishing for something like that is a fool's errand. I honestly don't think my past could've happened any differently than it did, given the set of circumstances I found myself in at the time. I'd like to believe that I could've been braver, kinder, or even less selfish—but that's not me, Hermione. I'm inherently Slytherin, and a self-preservationist at heart. I'll never be the one to share what's on my mind, at least not completely. I'll always be wary of other people's motives and intentions, no matter what I might feel. I'm never going to be demonstrative in public, but I can promise you, that my word means something and any vows I take, I will hold them sacred with all due seriousness. My Father for all of his faults, loves my Mother with a singular devotion. He has never in all the years they've been bonded, even looked at another witch the way he looks at my Mother. They've always been there for each other, through the good times and bad, so I suppose that's the kind of marriage I'd always aspired as having someday. I felt I was building towards something with Astoria, and now that's it's done, all I can ask is for you to be patient with me. What you might perceive as indifference is more..." his voice fell away, but Hermione finished for him with, "Protecting yourself?"
"Yes."
She reached for his hand and gripped it within her own, and was pleasantly surprised when Draco returned the affection.
"For what it's worth, Draco—the witch before you isn't quite the same one you knew in school either. Much of what you saw, especially early on, was due to how awkward I felt around people in general. Being raised alone, within the protective walls of my family estate, it was a terribly lonely existence. I was desperate for human connection when I got to Hogwarts, and I handled it so poorly. There were many times, I'd wished to come clean as it were, but I knew the second I did, that was it! I'd be called back home, and it became pretty evident early on that Harry needed me. Every choice I made from first year on, was to keep him alive, to help him defeat Voldemort and I don't regret it for a single second. I'd do it all again, if it meant having a world free from that lunatic."
He gazed into warm amber eyes, that looked almost burnished from where he was sitting, and he couldn't help but think that the witch across from him had grown into quite a beautiful woman.
"For what it's worth, Hermione—I'm glad he's gone too."
"I know you are, Draco. I could see how trapped you were when we were brought to your home last spring."
He shook his head, and swallowed uncomfortably, whispering lowly, "I'm so sorry for what my aunt did to you."
She squeezed his hand and tried her best to give him a tentative smile, before replying, "I don't blame you, I never did, Draco—and what's done is done, yes?"
He lifted her hand and placed a gentle kiss on the back of her knuckles in gratitude, and her cheeks blushed at the contact, but Draco's grey eyes were alight with an emotion she couldn't readily define.
For a few moments they just stared at each other, before she awkwardly cleared her throat and smiled a bit more genuinely, an expression which surprisingly, Draco returned.
"We should finish this." She offered after another minute, and he nodded silently, before returning his attention back to the book he'd been reading.
She just stared at the wizard across from her for a few fleeting seconds before her attention was pulled back towards her work, and she concluded in that moment that perhaps they'd finally turned a corner, and maybe finding common ground wouldn't be as difficult as she'd initially thought.
That thought was as sobering as it was scary.
But oddly, it wasn't unwelcome and that fact surprised her most of all.