Veni Vidi Vici
Prompt: [Draco x Hermione] Veni Vidi Vici
for Anon
Didn't they always say that hindsight was a glorious thing?
Looking back at how it had all happened, Draco considered that no one could say that he hadn't tried to fight his feelings for Hermione Granger. He definitely had. Though, if he was honest, he had been refusing to acknowledge his feelings for a good deal longer than he cared to admit; maybe even as far back as when she had punched him in the face? Maybe. But all pretence - of ignorance or knowing resistance - fell apart on the last night of their trip together.
Pansy had organised a ridiculous weekend away ahead of her wedding to the Weasel (not that he was allowed to call him that anymore). Which meant a whole bunch of unwilling former Gryffindors and Slytherins were thrown together for 'team building activities'. Draco would rather have put pins in his eyes, but he had learned the hard way that you didn't just say no to Pansy, not if you wanted to live a quiet life. So he packed his expensive-looking trunk and resigned himself to bitching to Theo and Blaise whenever he had the chance.
Pansy could have won awards for 'organised fun' if such hellish things existed, and the first two days passed in a blur of sports and quizzes all underpinned with a fair amount of alcohol and sniggering at each other.
Draco discovered pretty quickly that Granger was the most competitive person he had ever met, especially when pitted against her closest friends, and even more so when the Weasel assumed - often loudly - that she couldn't do something.
On the last day, they arrived at a remote area of woodland, ready to take on a Muggle assault course. Granger was scared of heights, fast movement, wet equipment and most of all, failure, but she managed to put it all aside to win. Draco had never seen anymore more determined to prove someone wrong, and he was startled to realise that he was proud of her.
By the time they reached the final zip wire, Granger had mud smeared on her right cheek, and her hands were shaking, but her eyes were determined. So, Draco had kept his mouth shut to stop the comment he wanted to make about her ruined hair and instead he reached to attach the safety wire to her back securely. She would have had no hope of reaching it herself, and though she eyed him with a little mistrust, she didn't bat him away.
Draco tried to hide how his hands flexed afterwards, still feeling her slight waist against his palms. Theo had seen though. The bastard.
When Granger came into the bar after, by now totally dishevelled and yet somehow glowing, she slapped a hand on the table in front of the Weasel in a way that ensured she had the attention of the whole group.
"Veni Vidi Vici, Ronald," she shouted, with smug satisfaction seeping from every pore. "I came, I saw, and I bloody well conquered. Mine's a glass of prosecco."
Draco sighed as his head hit the wall behind him. He was totally fucked.