Hermione started eating normally again for a few days, but after one missed meal she easily slipped back into her old habits. She barely even noticed.
Her interactions with Draco were limited and awkward. He refused to make eye contact with her. Imagine her surprise when he walked into the library towards her, holding his hand behind his back.
"You weren't at dinner. You haven't been in a while." He placed a take-out container and a fork in front of her. Hermione looked at it with confusion on her face.
"What's this?" She asked, putting down her pen.
"Food. Eat." Hermione had expected him to leave after that, but instead he pulled up a chair. "Granger, I don't want you to die. I'm sorry I made you feel like I did." Draco said genuinely. After their talk, he did a lot of thinking. All the memories that involved Hermione over the years flooded his mind. He realized she had never done anything to harm him, except punch him that one time, which he felt he deserved. He had hexed her time after time, said horrible things to her, and taunted her for years, but she hadn't done anything that compared to that. There were the occasional snarky comebacks, but that's what they were. Comebacks, retorts to what he said.
She even wouldn't let her friends, who defended her religiously, touch a hair on his head. She always claimed it was juvenile and pointless. If she didn't exist, Draco would at least have a few broken bones.
"Where is this coming from?" Hermione asked softly.
"You never did anything to me and I tortured you. And for what? Your blood? You have no control over that. I was just raised a certain way with certain views, but I was also taught to be kind. Well by my mother anyway. And not only have been unkind, I drove you to believe I wanted you dead. When I realized I felt like troll shit. My mother would be so disappointed if she knew." Hermione didn't expect such an honest conversation. It was so heartfelt and made her softly smile at him.
"Thank you, Draco." She said honestly. She felt like a weight was lifted off her chest. She put her hand on his and gave it a little squeeze. "I think it's sweet how you talk about your mom." She said, trying to shift the conversation to something lighter. Draco grinned.
"Yeah well, she's my mom." Draco brushed the normalcy of it off.
"You don't talk about your dad that way." Hermione noted. The shift on Draco's face was immediate. His jaw clenched, mouth frowned and face grimaced. It was quite obvious Hermione had opened a can of worms he wasn't ready to talk about. "I'm sorry. I'll shut up. I forget about privacy sometimes."
Draco didn't want the progress they just made in their shaky… friendship, to go down the drain. If it were any other day he would go off on her, using every bad word in the book, but it wasn't. He swallowed his pride. "Whatever. Are we okay?"
"Yes." Hermione said, noting his lack of anger towards her. She was expecting him to explode.
A couple days passed. An outsider wouldn't notice a real change between the two, but there was a complete shift in their dynamic. Hermione and Blaise were in the library working on their homework when Draco and a few of his other friends came in. They all greeted Blaise and ignored Hermione, except 2. Pansy whispered 'mudblood' before she left the pair to work, but it was not audible enough for anyone else to hear. Draco shot her a small, acknowledging nod. To anyone else this would mean nothing, but to Hermione it was the most civil thing he had done for her in years.
She bumped into him in the hallway. Hermione was always thinking, so much so that sometimes she forgot to think to look at her surroundings, causing her to often bump into people. In the past Draco would've made a comment about having to burn the mud off his clothes, but instead he grabbed the book she dropped and gave it to her. Then he proceeded to wordlessly walk away.
Overall, it was nice not to hear anything about her blood status for a few days. Draco had always been the ringleader of his group. If he wasn't saying anything, nobody else would bother. Hermione's days felt quiet and peaceful. Little did she know that wouldn't last.
Hermione was on her way to the astronomy tower. Even though it was quite late and she was breaking curfew, she and McGonagall had an understanding when it came to the astronomy tower. The only way Hermione could make good use of it was if it were nighttime, and Hermione loved to be ahead in her work and be very thorough. She asked the questions the textbooks didn't have answers for. McGonagall admired it and decided to waive Hermione's curfew when it concerned the tower.
As far as she knew, Hermione was the only one who had this privilege. Imagine her surprise when she heard someone rustling.
"Who's there?" She asked warily. She heard a grunt, but no coherent answer. Hermione raised her wand and stepped forward, preparing herself for danger. Instead, she dropped her hand and a frown appeared on her face at the sight. "Malfoy? Couldn't you have said something. You scared me half to death." Again, Draco didn't answer.
Hermione took a closer look and saw how disheveled the Slytherine prince was. His hair was a mess and shirt untucked and wrinkled. Her eyes traveled to his side where she saw a bottle. She picked it up. Draco didn't seem to protest. He barely seemed aware of her presence. The bottle was empty. Hermione read the label: fire whiskey. "Oh god. Are you drunk? Did you really drink this whole bottle all by yourself?" Hermione exclaimed. Fire whiskey was known for its strength. One shot could already make you tipsy, but a whole bottle? Hermione was surprised Draco was alive.
Then Hermione's instincts kicked in. Draco could have alcohol poisoning. The smart thing to do was bring him to madam Pomfrey, but Draco would hate her for it. He would get in trouble and then they would go back to hating each other. Hermione really didn't look forward to that. She groaned and knew she should just bring him back to his room, but it was proven quite difficult in Draco's drunken state. He wouldn't cooperate with Hermione's efforts whatsoever.
Hermione had a petite frame, clearly not built to drag a full grown teenage boy. The whole walk to the dungeons Hermione was muttering about Draco irresponsibility and the effects of alcohol on an underdeveloped brain, though she knew the information wouldn't resonate with him.
"Okay, Malfoy. We're here. Tell me the password." Hermione told him as they approached the Slytherin common room entrance. Draco didn't answer her and when she looked up at him she realized he was passed out, slung over her shoulder. She groaned and pleaded someone was still up past curfew. She banged on the door, outing her anger and frustration in her knock. A couple moments passed before the painting flung open.
"What the fuck?" A groggy Theodore Nott stood at the entrance. The boy had fallen asleep on the couch earlier.
"I found him drunk in the Astronomy tower." Hermione said as she moved past Theo into the common room. In his sleep-deprived state the boy didn't even protest a Gryffindor coming into the Slytherin common room. "Help me get him up to his room." She ordered.
Right away Theo grabbed Draco's other arm and slung it over his shoulder. "It's not even the weekend! Weekdays are my break from drunk Draco." He complained.
"Wait, he does this often?!" Hermione exclaimed. She knew Draco was no stranger to drinking. It was the whole Slytherin house really, but this drunk, almost every weekend? How has she never noticed this before? She spent every weekend with him. Never did he seem hungover.
"Yeah. Well, lately he's been doing it less. I reckon he's too busy with school. Once your project finishes I guess he'll go back to his old ways." Theo shrugged it off as if there was nothing alarming.
"That's bad. Really, really bad." Hermione noted.
"Yeah, well it's Draco. What did you expect."
"Just Draco? Not the whole house?"
Theo rolled his eyes to that. "We're not all cruel fuck ups, you know."
"That's not what I meant. It's just- why does he do it?" Hermione asked. She imagined drinking was more of a social thing. Peer pressure if you will.
"It's not my story to tell." Theo said. They reached Draco's door and went inside. The pair placed their friend on his bed. Theo went to one of the drawers and pulled out a potion. Hermione figured it was something for Draco's hangover. She was about to ask Theo about it, but before he could Draco threw up on Hermione's lap. Hermione screeched in disgust and Theo burst out laughing.
"Get him off me! Now!" Theo complied and dragged Malfoy off Hermione and to the bathroom, so he could empty the rest of his stomach's contents over a toilet seat.
"Hermione, you should grab one of his shirts out of his drawers. It'll fit you like a dress. And send him the bill for the cleaning of your clothes!" Theo yelled out from Draco's private bathroom. Hermione thought Draco might get angry the next morning for touching his things, but she also really didn't feel like walking around in his retch.
Hermione got out her wand to close the bathroom door so she can change in private. She undid the buttons on her shirt, careful not to touch the vomit. She silently gagged as she pulled her shirt off and threw it in the trash, not bothering to send it to a cleaners. Then she hopped out of her skirt and ripped off her tights, throwing them out too. She felt awkward being almost naked in Draco Malfoy's room. She quickly pulled out the first shirt she could find. It was a dress shirt that she drowned in. It reached her knees. It was so big she was surprised Draco even fit in it.
Then she noted how soft it felt, no doubt very expensive. Probably cost more than her whole closet. She scoffed at how recklessly Draco spent his money. The amount he spent on this one shirt, would be enough to feed a small family for a year.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Theo coming out of the bathroom, dragging Draco with him. Hermione was quick on her feet and went to his bed to pull the covers out. Theo plopped him on it and took off Draco's shoes. Hermione smiled in herself at the small act of kindness. Then she pulled his covers over the boy.
Theo sighed and opened up a cabinet. "You fucking wanker" He muttered to himself as he pulled out a potion and placed it on Draco's nightstand. Probably for his hangover, Hermione guessed. Draco was already fast asleep. Theo furrowed his brows and groaned "Another sleepless night for me!"
"It's sweet." Hermione said, earning a confused glance from Theo. "How you take care of him, even though you don't want to."
"You needed the help." Theo said defensively. "You could barely drag him to his room, and I doubt you know how to handle a drunk."
"You didn't help him for me, Theodore! I'm a mudblood you can't stand. You helped because you're a good friend and you care about him." Hermione scoffed. She scowled at the toxic masculinity most purebloods were raised with. There was no shame in kindness. Hermione thought it was rather noble.
"Hermione, when have I ever called you a mudblood? Or done anything against you? Not all Slytherins are like this, you know. I don't agree with the muggleborn prejudice." Theo changed the subject away from his kindness towards his friends.
Hermione cocked her brow and thought about it. She realized he was correct. She had generalized the house into one, hateful group. She cursed herself. She was always telling people not to generalize groups, but she was doing so herself. "I guess I misread you. Sorry." Hermione told him honestly.
Her genuinity made Theo slightly uncomfortable. He didn't really know how to react to kindness. The only one of his friends who was genuinely caring, was Blaise. "Well, you should probably get back to your room before anyone sees you in Malfoy's dress shirt."
"Yeah, that would be an uncomfortable situation to explain." Hermione chuckled.
"There are secret tunnels you-"
"Yes, I know." Hermione interrupted. "Draco showed them to me once."
This confused Theo. Had Draco been spending his precious free time with Granger? He thought to himself, but decided not to voice his concerns. "You're a good friend, Theodore." Hermione said softly with a small smile before heading out the door.