-1Kissing Draco Malfoy was perhaps not the most rational thing Hermione Granger had ever done. Ok, scratch that, it was the least rational thing she'd ever done, and probably the most enjoyable while still being slightly gross. After the kiss ended, she didn't know exactly how to react. Should she run away? No, that would make her look weak and vulnerable. Then, Malfoy would know he'd affected her. Wait… he'd affected her? Things weren't looking good.
Hermione was relieved when she didn't have to do anything at all. Draco backed away, his eyes still shut, then they popped open as if he'd just realized what he'd done. "Where the bloody hell did you learn to kiss like that, Granger?!" An awkward silence ensued, where Hermione debated whether or not it was meant to be a rhetorical question.
"Anyway," she began, attempting to pretend nothing had happened, "I just think that it's not the worst thing in the world that could happen, finding this out. Sometimes I wonder if unprejudiced Malfoy would be a good friend, or at least a good companion for witty banter. I quite enjoy our banter when it's not malicious. It makes me have to think."
Draco wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to respond. Of course this was the worst thing in the world that could happen! His parents would kill him if he didn't marry a pureblood! But then the thought dawned on him that they would probably kill him upon sight nowadays anyway. Perhaps it wasn't so bad… maybe Granger would let him get in some mudblood kissing practice? After all, it wasn't as bad as he had thought it would be. One might have even called it pleasurable.
Hermione snapped her fingers in front of Draco's face. "Hello? You in there?"
"Oh. Yeah. Um. Listen, Granger, don't expect this news to completely change my mind about everything. Even if I had to marry someone of a lower blood class than myself, certainly I would never degrade myself to doing things with a mudblood." Why did he say things like this? Seriously, he didn't mean that! It just came out! But from the look on Hermione's face, it wouldn't matter much even if Malfoys never apologized. She was pissed.
"You know what, Malfoy? I can't believe I tricked myself into feeling sorry for you. You're a waste of my time. Oh, and if you're going to believe in blood purity and all that stands for, maybe you should read this." She tossed a book about some muggle, Adolph Hitler, and something called the Holocaust. What would this possibly have to do with him?
Unfortunately for Draco, the book had everything to do with him. He sat in the library, intending at first to only glance over it so as to know how to properly mock Granger for giving it to him. The more he glanced, however, the more absorbed he became in the book, and the more horrified he was at this Hitler guy's similarities to Voldemort. Instead of thinking that only purebloods ought to remain, he had other qualifications. They involved the same things, parentage and blood, but somehow Draco had never envisioned muggles having the same sort of ideals that wizards had.
A nauseous feeling crept into his stomach as he read about concentration camps and all the awful ways muggles had killed one another during their second world war. He read all about Jews, what he considered to be the equivalent of his perception of muggles, and took in stories from their own perspectives about the atrocious things that happened to them. The resemblance to their own current predicament were horrifying.
After he had finished the book, he went to find Hermione in the sitting room downstairs. He cleared his throat to get her attention. She looked up, slightly startled, and then smiled. "So, Malfoy, read any good books lately?"