CHAPTER 46
The two teens returned to Hogwarts, having agreed not to reveal their purchases to each other until they were warmly inside Draco's bedroom. They got out of the carriage and started walking, Draco staring at Hermione's bushy hair from a few steps behind.
"Keep up, will you Malfoy?" she waved him over. And like a little puppy, he jogged to catch up to her. "You're a really interesting person, you know?"
"Of course I know that. I'm Draco Malfoy, the know-it-all little Slytherin who puts his hand up in all his classes and sucks up to all his teachers," he teased her. She turned back to him with a flat expression, well aware that he was making a jab at her. He laughed and apologised. "So what were you saying?"
"I said, you're an interesting person," she repeater herself, looking ahead.
"Oh, really? So what is it about me that interests you, Miss Granger?" he kept pace with her. A little bit of teasing wouldn't hurt, right?
"Well, you're not the person you show yourself to be."
"I used to be that person," he replied, a hint of bitterness in his voice.
She sighed as they reached the entrance to the castle. Once the door closed behind them, she turned back to him. "The key words in that sentence are 'used to'."
He shrugged and led the way to the dungeons. They walked in silence.
Have you really changed though? He asked himself. Or are you still that same horrible person deep down?
He bit his bottom lip hard, the brief pain distracting him from the turn his thoughts were taking. All day, he had been with Hermione and they had had a wonderful time. But now that there was silence around him, his thoughts were back.
"Hey," he decided to start a conversation in hopes of dispelling the unwelcome thoughts. "What do you want to do after Hogwarts?"
Hermione jogged to make up for the few steps that separated them. "You'll laugh at me."
"No I won't. Try me. I mean, you've heard the worst from me. How bad can it be?" he cast her a sideways glance.
"I want to go into international relations, and hopefully one day become the Minister of Magic."
He grinned. It was pretty easy to imagine her in that role. She was so smart, so driven, so brilliant that there was no way she wouldn't achieve her dreams. She would probably be the best Minister of Magic they had ever had.
"I can definitely see you doing that," he told her.
"What about you?"
Her question was out of genuine curiosity, but it brought up a sense of dread and bitterness inside him that he really didn't want to remember. He barely had a life outside of Hogwarts. Throughout all his school years he spent his holidays alone in the manor, either holed up in his room or in some dark corner of the library. He had never really thought about his future, because it had all been planned out for him by his father. But now that things were changing, he would have to make those decisions for himself.
He released a harsh scoff that caught Hermione off guard. "Maybe not die for starters," he joked. It was a bit dark, but he didn't really have a better answer. While she was there planning out her whole life and all the amazing things she would accomplish, he was just trying to survive each day as it came.
"Draco-" he cut her off by shaking his head, some strands of blond hair falling in front of his eyes. He pushed them back up roughly, accidentally getting his fingers caught in some knots. Wincing involuntarily, he sighed and walked a little faster.
She sped up to keep pace with him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."
"You didn't do anything wrong," he started. It was true. She hadn't done anything to hurt him at all. He just couldn't explain why that question was making him so upset. Maybe it was because he didn't have much of a future ahead of him?
You'll probably end up in Azkaban.
After all you were about to become a Death Eater.
He led them into the Slytherin common room and up to his room in silence.