Hogsmeade

Darkness, pain. There was so much pain coursing through my body. A crying in the distance. My world going black.

I shot up in bed panting from yet another weird dream. Why were my dreams so dark?

Draco came running through the door a few seconds later his eyes wild.

"Are you ok? What happened? I heard you screaming." His face was panicked and his eyes were studying me carefully.

"It was just a bad dream." I said feeling groggy as he came closer and perched on the edge of my bed.

"What about?" He muttered softly pushing a piece of hair from my face. I could see the worry in his eyes, it was sweet of him to care so much.

"I never really place it, there's just always pain and crying and blood." I said slowly my words shakey as I spoke them, still trying to recover from how real that had felt. Draco sat forward and pulled me into a warm hug.

"I'm sorry, you shouldn't have dreams like that." He muttered softly into my shoulder.

"It's not your fault Draco. It's probably the war." I replied leaning back into my bed and taking a deep breath. It was far too early to get up, I had to try to get back to sleep. Slowly Draco got up to leave and gave me one more concerned look before making his way out of the room.

The rest of my sleep was unsettled as though my mind was searching for that face that it could never place. The face of my nightmares.

*****The Next morning*****

The dormitory was quiet as I dressed the next morning wiping the tired from my eyes as I picked what to wear. Today was the day Draco and I were going to Hogsmeade, our first date if you like. I picked a black pair of jeans and a white and black stripy Bardot top that went perfectly with my suede jacket. Waving my want my hair flicked into a sleek, straight ponytail with two Dutch braids connecting to it.

"Hermione?" I heard Blaise call up the stairs as he entered the dormitory.

"Hey Blaise I'm just coming down." I called pulling my shoes on and making my way down the stairs.

"Well you look lovely." He said softly giving me a quick hug before leaning against the back of the sofa.

"Have you seen Draco this morning? It's awfully quiet around here." I asked gesturing the silent room. Blaise smirked slightly.

"I have, he's just on a morning stroll with Scorpius. I thought I'd come and check on you. I heard you've not been sleeping well." Blaise said casually trying to mask his own concern. I rolled my eyes quickly as I grabbed an apple off the side. Draco always had apples about.

"I'm fine, Draco's panicking it was just a nightmare was all. We've all had them since the war haven't we?" I replied casually biting into the apple and watching as Blaise's eyes looked a little distant for a second.

"Can say that again." He muttered absentmindedly before he seemed to snap back into reality.

"Anyway I'm glad you're ok. I also wanted to check you were all date ready today, let's all remember how right I was about you two by the way." I rolled my eyes at him dramatically, to say he had been smug about the whole since his fight with Draco was an understatement. If anything he spent more time with us now than he did before but it was nice to have him around, there was not one thing I could fault with him if I was honest. It felt so good to have a light hearted friend who didn't have the war memories like the rest of them, not knowing Blaise during the war meant that he only looked at me as the girl he'd known since then, and that was refreshing. He put a lot of effort into our friendship and even offered to start doing more with Harry and Ginny too. Ron was barely around these days but there were murmurs beginning to spread around the school that the great Slythrin/Gryffindor rift might be over for the first time in history and everyone was now looking to us for confirmation of the fact.

Regardless of how comfortable we all had grown with one another we kept things fairly quiet. People stared enough as it was. I was sure that Harry and Draco got on better than I knew, I always saw them exchanging looks as though there was something they knew and understood. I knew I would figure it out eventually but for now we were all side stepping into this new weird reality.

"Yes yes, I know Blaise Zabini the great match make that took a beating to prove a point." I laughed as Blaise groaned while we made our way out of the portrait hole.

"I'm off to see Ginny quickly, I'll be in the entrance hall in an hour to meet Draco. Thanks by the way, for coming to check on me." I said casually trying not to make a big deal of it. Blaise never liked to make a big deal of all the things he did for people.

"I'll make sure your message makes its way to the ears of a certain platinum blondey. I'm glad you're all good. See you later." He said smirking before we both nodded and parted ways, me heading up the stairs towards the Gryffindor common room and him, heading down towards the grounds. It didn't take me long to find Ginny as she met me on the staircase of the fifth floor, she was just making her way down to breakfast, turning around we made our way together.

"Who would've guessed it… you and Malfoy 'hanging out'" Ginny commented looking at my outfit and putting air quotes around 'hanging out'. I couldn't help but laugh, out of everyone, Ginny was perhaps the most cautious around Draco. She wanted to check he really was a good guy. It was sweet of her really and funny to watch Draco in his attempts to gain her friendship.

"Trust me, it's weird for me too… sometimes it feels like a completely different person." I admitted quietly. It was true Draco didn't feel like the Malfoy I had loathed growing up. The battle had scarred him in ways I hadn't even fully discovered yet.

"Maybe he's not. Maybe whatever happened to him in the war actually changed him. I do have a question for you though." She said quickly flicking her long ginger hair over her shoulder.

"Ask away Gin." I said as we made it to the great hall and found a seat at the edge of the Gryffindor table. Ginny lowered her voice and leant in slightly just in case anyone was listening. Not that it mattered too much these days, most people had a hunch by now.

"Is it Scorpius keeping you close? If there was no Scorpius do you think you'd be as close as you are?" I pondered her question for a few moments, it was true that one thing that had drawn me to him had been watching him with Scorpius but there was more than that.

"I think it would've taken longer but inevitably we would've got to this point. He's changed a lot, he challenges me and somehow, I almost feel secure around him." I replied softly, thinking about everything that had transpired these past few months. True it had been hard in the beginning but Scorpius wasn't the only thing keeping us close. Scorpius was someone I loved so much but we became close despite his presence in our dormitory. I helped out with Scorpius more because I was getting closer to Draco.

"My my Miss Granger, you have got it bad." Ginny smirked as she bit into her toast laughing.

"Oh god you sound like Blaise." I mumbled grabbing myself a glass of orange juice.

"I still can't believe you told Blaise before you told me" Ginny grumbled staring at her toast defiantly.

"You know he figured it out. I didn't exactly tell him first. You also know he's a good person. I know you don't mind chatting to him every now and then." I said pointedly knowing that would stop Ginny from grumbling about being the last to know.

"Sure then you can tell us about your daaatee." She said giggling as I blushed. Admitting I was going on a date with Draco Malfoy would never feel normal. "Just promise you'll be happy and live for the now not the past." I gave her a funny look at what she added on but I couldn't deny she had a point. I had to stop living for things that had happened in the past.

"Ok ok I promise. Thanks Gin." I said quickly trying not to dwell too much on her words. We sat and enjoyed the rest of breakfast until finally it was time for me to meet Draco. Waving a quick goodbye to Ginny I slipped into the entrance hall and saw Draco leaning up against the wall smirking as he watched everyone pass.

His smirk turned into a smile when he saw me and he pushed away from the wall. He too was wearing dark jeans and a simple black hoodie, simple yet perfect at the same time. His hair fair loosely which gave him a far more relaxed face.

"He was right" Draco said as I joined him by the wall.

"Who was?" I said quickly confused. Draco chucked slightly as he made his way to the open doors of the great hall.

"Blaise, he said I'd be speechless." He said casually continuing to walk as I felt the heat in my cheeks rise. I didn't reply to him but couldn't help the smile that sat casually on my lips.

"You brush up well yourself. Especially since you stopped greasing your hair flat to your head." I smirked as his eyes flicked to me looking slightly embarrassed.

"I know I know, I made a few bad choices with my hair growing up." He said lightly as I giggled. I actually giggled. I felt like a young schoolgirl again unable to stop smiling at my crush.

We walked in a comfortable silence for a little way and just as we reached Hogsmeade Draco led us down a side alley and carefully took my hand before we slipped in through a little white door. Inside there was a roaring fire and a couple of tables, all empty today. Draco and I made our way to the leather seats sat right in front of the fire.

"Oh Draco it's beautiful in here." I said in awe as I looked around at the various pictures of Hogwarts and Hogwarts students through the years. It was so inviting I was shocked I'd never heard about it.

"This place nearly got destroyed by the war but I've been helping Madame Rosalee fix it up so she did me a favour and closed it for everyone but us today. In the back there's all the dresses you can think of for the ball. I thought you'd prefer a little bit of privacy today." I stared at him in shock as he pointed around. Tapping the menu two Hot chocolates appeared on the table beside us.

"This is perfect." I said still shocked by the amount of effort he'd put into this. He smiled, watching me carefully as I looked around.

"I wanted the perfect day… I never expected to feel like this for you but I have for a long time now Hermione. I tried to deny it saying you deserved better that the war didn't change who I am, or how the world would see me. I can't pretend anymore, something about you has had me entranced for longer than I'd ever admit." I looked in his silvery orbs and could see nothing but honesty and affection.

"I don't know everything that happened to you in the war… but I'm glad I got to know this you." I replied unable to pull myself away from his eyes.

"Truth be told, you're the biggest thing that's got me like this." I blushed at his words as we fell into an easy silence once more and the connection between us burned brighter by the minute.

*****Chapter end*****

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