Draco had quite a bit of patience when it came to certain things. For example, when he would slide his hands over Hermione's restrained and melting body, until she was nothing but a withering, whimpering mess in his fingers. That, he certainly had patience for.
He did not, however, have the patience to tolerate Weasley's stares.
"You gonna fucking say something or keep drooling over me like some love struck schoolgirl?" he spat out.
"I have nothing to say to you Malfoy." He quickly retorted.
"Then don't fucking look at me. It's disgusting vermin like you are allowed in my presence to begin with."
"Vermin? Ha, look who's talking. The ferret himself-"
"Watch it, Weasley-"
"I'm going to figure out what's going on. Don't think for a minute we don't see what you're up to-"
"Oh here we go. For the last time Hermione isn't under any sort of spell-"
"What's going on here?" Hermione entered the classroom just then, setting her books down on the desk next to Draco.
"Hermione, please. You gotta admit you're acting bonkers."
Draco burst out laughing, wrapping his arm around Hermione's waist. Because he was sitting down and she was standing, her breast brushed against his cheek, making his smirk widen. "Did you really just use the word 'bonkers' in a sentence? How uneducated are you?"
Ron burned with fury, and Hermione silently hushed Draco, urging him not to provoke her friend.
"It's not my fault your friend is a compelte idiot-"
"Draco." Her tone was strict, and rather unforgiving, which bothered him. After everything, and she was still willing to defend her friends over him?
"Do you see? Hermione come on! Admit that this is ridiculous! Lavender says that maybe you're acting out for attention? The way a kid might. Is that what's happening? You know Harry and I-"
Draco smirked widely. Ronald Weasley had basically just dug is own grave. If there was someone Hermione hated, it was Lavender Brown.
"Ha. Is that her opinion of me? How very interesting."
Ron nodded. "Yeah. We can hang out more. The three of us, like we used to. You don't have to go through all this."
Draco felt really giddy all of a sudden, and he silently pleaded in his head for Ron to keep talking. Hermione hummed thoughtfully, running her fingers through Draco's hair. "Draco," she said, in a voice as sweet as honey. Oh, he knew that voice. This was about to get good.
"Yeah, Bambi?"
"Do you think I'm fishing for attention?"
"I can't say I do, babe." He watched as Ron noticeably ground his teeth when he called her 'babe.'
"Well that settles it then." She smiled a smile that was not at all friendly, and took her seat next to Draco. She pulled out her parchment before glancing back up at him, "You look confused, Ronald."
"I don't see how that settles anything." He grumbled.
"Oh?" Hermione's voice was sugar sweet again, "You value your girlfriend's words above all else it seems. Is there anything wrong with me doing the same?"
"That's not the point Mione-"
"That's exactly the point Ronald." She snapped sharply, in a tone that scared even Draco.
Draco watched as Ron shut his mouth in defeat, lowering his head and trying to recover from the sharp bite Hermione had dealt him. He seemed to get a confidence boost though, as Harry Potter walked through the door.
Goddamnit, he thought. Although he would never say it out loud, he preferred Potter to Weasley. He wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because he got the feeling Weasley still liked Hermione or something like that, but Potter could be pretty diplomatic when he wanted to be. So he was much easier to deal with than his hot-headed counterpart.
Harry cleared his throat awkwardly, before setting his bag down next to Ron. "I think we need to talk about this."
Draco noticed Hermione's penmanship darkening, as she applied more pressure to her quill. He figured he better take this one. "Talk about what, Potter?"
Harry sighed a bit angrily, as though it didn't need an explanation. He motioned to the two of them, "Whatever this is. It's clearly happening. We'll do our best to understand, if you can explain."
Draco could feel Hermione tensing next to him, and he quickly spoke up to beat her to it, "There's nothing to explain. We're together. End of story."
"If you don't mind, Malfoy," Harry sounded like he was being gripped at the throat, trying to speak to him in a formal way, "I think I'd like to hear what Hermione has to say."
She looked up from her parchment, looking exhausted. "It's just as he said. We're together. Can't you all just accept it and then we can move on with our lives?"
"Well, you see, this is where it gets difficult for us. The Hermione we know would never agree to something like this. Maybe if you can explain how you started talking-"
"Yeah, how'd it all start, anyway?" Ron interrupted, his curiosity getting the best of him.
Draco had to bite his tongue. More than anything he wanted to blurt out that they started as fuck buddies and she loved his dick so much that they decided to become a couple. Their faces would be priceless, he was sure. But Hermione would never forgive him for that.
"The same way any relationship starts," Hermione shrugged, "We started talking and then one thing led to another."
"Yeah but how did you start talking?" Ron said quickly, "It's not like you'd ever go talk to him on your own! Have you forgotten how many times this bastard has called you a mudblood?"
Hermione did, in fact, remember. It had quite nearly been the straw that broke their incredibly fragile relationship, not so long ago. But he had apologized, and she knew he had meant it. It was not often Draco apologized about anything, after all. Then again...
Perhaps the reason she remembered so clearly was because that word had somehow worked its way back into his vocabulary...
You like that don't you? My dirty mudblood. Come on, louder.
She didn't know why or how such a degrading term managed to turn her on as much as it did. Maybe it was just the huskiness in his voice that made it incredibly effective. Or maybe it was because he wanted her despite his original prejudices. Not that it exactly mattered anymore, but the fact that he was a pureblood and she wasn't added an incredibly thrilling sense of 'the forbidden' to their escapades.
Hermione had to physically shake her head in order to re-center her thoughts. To Ron and Harry though, it probably just looked like she was simply denying that fact.
"We've moved past that," she insisted, "I would appreciate you not calling him a bastard, Ron. Shouldn't you two be happy? We don't have to be enemies anymore-"
"In answer to your question, Potter. We were assigned together in Potions. No doubt that's where the rumors came from."
Hermione looked at him. She hadn't expected such a civilized and composed answer from Draco. Still, she was glad to see it. He could be rather mature, when he wanted to be.
Harry crossed his arms. "Hermione? Is this really what you want?"
She was shocked at his sudden question. "I…" she stole a quick glance at Draco, who also seemed to be rather curious of her answer, "I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't want to." She said.
"I still don't buy it." Ron grunted.
"That's not our problem." Draco snapped.
Hermione sighed. She was getting tired. How many times would they have to go through this until everyone left them alone?
"We just want what's best for Hermione." Harry said simply.
"Harry, I don't need any-"
"Look. You're all seriously starting to piss me off. So how about you shut the fuck up and leave us alone?"
"I know this might be hard for you to understand, but we're looking out for our friend." Harry insisted.
"Oh, piss off Potter."
"Oy! Don't think you can talk to us like that-"
"Draco-" she tugged at his sleeve, but he ignored her.
"I can talk to you however the fuck I want to. The hell is wrong with you? Coming in her running your mouth about how Hermione is seeking attention. Who do you think you are?"
"I didn't say that!" Ron screeched.
Draco chuckled darkly, "Oh right, it was your fat cow of a girlfriend."
"Draco!" Hermione interjected.
"Listen here Malfoy-" Ron started rolling up his sleeves.
"We got it." Harry said quickly and strongly, moving to stand between the two. "Other people are going to start coming in, so let's just leave this be for now."
"Nicely done, Potter. Always looking out for your image."
Harry scowled, but let it go. Hermione silently applauded his maturity, and breathed out a sigh of relief when all three boys fell silent.
Draco could tell Hermione wasn't feeling good. She scribbled her notes tensely and tersely, a small frown on her face throughout the entire lesson. Damn he wanted to punch those guys. He didn't like her getting all worked up over nothing. But then again, seeing her all frustrated was kind of cute, to a certain extent.
When class was over, Draco followed her out, carrying her books though she had insisted she could do it herself. He had, of course, taken them by force. The damn witch was too independent for her own good. As they walked down the halls, they didn't say much to each other, their footsteps echoing. Suddenly, though, Hermione started to giggle softly, and brought her fingers to her lips to try and stop herself. He couldn't help but smile at that. Maybe she was in a better mood after being away from those two dweebs.
"What is it?"
She bit her lip, her eyes shining up at him, "You called Lavender a cow."
He scoffed at that, shaking his head. "Well isn't she? You can practically hear her mooing."
She covered her mouth completely after hearing him say so, trying her best to scold him, "That's mean, you shouldn't say things like that."
He knew she was just putting on airs though. Trying to be that perfect little witch everyone saw her as. He lowered his lips to her ear, "Moooooo."
She burst out laughing, her hands no longer on her mouth as she held on to her stomach. Draco gave a short smile, his chest swelling with pride. He was glad she was in better spirits than before. It helped that she was laughing, no doubt. She looked really pretty, when she got to laughing like that.
Draco Malfoy didn't think he'd ever tell her, but Hermione Granger had a really nice laugh.
A/N: Happy update day! Please don't forget to review :D
Dragongirl2101: Yay thank you so much! Haha I know right they're the absolute worst. Luckily Draco saved the day hehe ^~^
