I know this chapter is a little short. I'll try to make up for it in the next few chapters.
Ch. 3 New Found Feelings
Hermione woke up groggy after having tossed and turned all night. Lately, she'd found it hard to sleep. Sometimes she'd have a dream of Voldemort killing her loved ones, slowly, and if she woke up in the middle of the night it was impossible to go back to sleep.
When she came out of her room she glanced at the door with the writhing snake wondering if the 'Prince of Darkness' himself had arisen yet.
In the Great Hall everyone else was already there and she yawned taking a seat next to Ron.
"Hey, sleepyhead. How is the Head dormitory? I heard they're spectacular," Ron beamed at her.
"They are, everything's so huge and grand," she frowned thinking about the Head Boy and glanced over at the Slytherin table to see if he was there, "It would be better if it weren't for a certain ferret."
Malfoy was sitting in his designated spot telling some joke that had everyone around him laughing. He obviously had slept well his face was clear and his eyes were humorous.
"What's the ferret have to do with anything?" Harry asked.
"Dumbledore thought it would be a good idea if we shared the same dormitory," she said tearing her gaze away from the object of her irritation.
Ron nearly choked on his food and she had to pat his back.
"Really, Ron, you should learn to chew before you eat," she chided.
Harry glanced at her incredulously.
"You and Malfoy have to share dorms?"
She nodded taking a bite of her food.
"Unfortunately."
Ron's face was beet red, "Dumbledore's really off his rocker this year. How could he do that to you Hermione?," he leaned in close to her, "Has he said or done anything.....?"
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Like what Ron? The only thing Malfoy could do is annoy me to death."
Harry shook his head his face grave.
"Don't think Malfoy is harmless just because we've had to put with him since first year. He's probably a death eater in training," he glanced at Malfoy then Dumbledore and back to her again, "I don't like the thought of you rooming with him either."
She sighed, now they were starting to sound like mother hens.
"I'll be fine. We'll probably barely see each other anyway. Besides, if Malfoy is as dangerous as we think he could be, I can take care of myself."
She thought that would end the conversation but Ron continued on not put off by her assertion of independence.
"If he does anything, I mean ANYTHING, you'll let us know, right?"
He stared at her intently, silently asking her to allow them to protect her. It was cute and all that they wanted her safe but it was also very, very annoying. She wasn't a male and she couldn't probably muggle fight as well as most but she was considered the brightest witch of her generation and if anything she could and would defend herself when the time came. There was absolutely no need for them to be this worried about her living in the vicinity of one intolerable Draco Malfoy.
"I couldn't very well report on every insult he throws my way and I certainly wouldn't want too. If Malfoy had some sinister plot to kill me I'm sure he would have done so by now," she said gruffly, "Quit fretting! I survived last night didn't I?"
Harry nor Ron look convinced but seemed okay with leaving the matter alone....for now.
Classes so far had gone on well enough. Everyone was shocked though when they entered their Defense Against the Dark Arts class to find Snape waiting for them all with a sneer on his face.
"Looks like Snape finally got what he wanted," Harry had said reluctantly walking into the classroom.
It was obvious that Snape seemed right at home, he was even more relaxed than they'd ever seen him, although still the leering condescending man he'd always been. When Neville had failed to recite a simple defense charm Snape had only taken five points from Gryffindor.
Potions had been taken over by a thin wiry man by the name of Dulcimer Rudma. He was nice enough and Hermione found that she didn't mind him at all. Potions would definitely be easier but Defense Against the Dark Arts would be a task with Snape head of it.
The new girl had shared only one class with them so far and Hermione had found her to be extremely quiet and shy. She hadn't had an opportunity yet to introduce herself and welcome the girl but planned to soon enough. With the way that Harry had been staring at Estrella in the Defense Against Dark Arts she'd probably end up being introduced through him.
So far though she'd shared every class with Malfoy and this year he seemed to be taking great pains to ignoring her. She wondered if it was because of their little exchange last night or maybe it was because he was opting to be civil for once, whatever the reason she found herself grateful and a bit irritated.
She'd noticed many of the girls mooning over him and giggling and blushing when he looked their way. She thought the behavior was nothing short of pathetic and wondered how any self-respecting female could act so giddy over a guy let alone Malfoy.
By late afternoon when classes were over she and Malfoy had to meet with McGonogall to discuss their head duties, all of which included; patrolling at night together, reprimanding students fairly (she doubted Malfoy would be able to follow that edict), and being an overall role model for their peers. Malfoy had of course lounged lazily in the chair opposite hers with a bored look, needless to say she was not looking forward to patrolling at night with him.
Later that night Harry and Ron had caught up with her and gave her the news of Ron becoming Quidditch Captain. They'd vowed to celebrate the first chance they were allowed to go to Hogsmeade. Hermione knew that this was a huge dream of Ron's and by way of his expression she could tell that nothing any time soon could deflate his spirits.
When dinner was over for the night Hermione told Harry and Ron good night before turning to leave when Harry stopped her looking a bit.....shy? He looked really sheepish and she wondered what was wrong with him and looked to Ron for help when she noticed he looked the exact same.
"Is something wrong?" she vaguely wondered if she had something in her teeth.
Harry seemed to gather his courage because he stepped forward and looked her in the eye.
"Me and Ron were wondering if we could walk you to your room," his cheeks slightly reddened, "If it's okay with you?"
Hermione looked back and forth between them realizing that they weren't going to budge and would probably follow her anyway. She sighed and motioned for them to follow her. When they entered her dorm they were both surprised at how nice it was as well and she could see that she'd help to alleviate some of their fears about her staying here.
"It's a bit far off from us," Ron said looking pointedly at Malfoy's door.
"I wonder where Malfoy is," Harry said looking in the same direction as Ron.
"Probably off torturing someone," Hermione ceded.
"The only people I'd like to torture are right here in this room."
They all turned at the silken drawl behind them. Draco Malfoy didn't look the least bit put out or concerned that his three mortal enemies were all facing him and he was alone.
"Is there a reason for this little reunion?" he asked snidely moving to the middle of the room, "Or are you and the Weasel pretending to be gallant for the bookworm?"
"Watch your mouth Malfoy," Harry warned.
"If anything happens to Hermione while she's here -" Ron started.
Malfoy scoffed.
"You'll what? Tell Dumbledore? Turn red? If anything happened I doubt you'd be prepared to do anything about it Weasley."
Ron did turn red and stepped towards Malfoy, Hermione grabbed his arm.
"Ron, don't," she looked to Harry for assistance, "I'll see you all in the morning, it's getting pretty late," she turned to Malfoy, "If anything happens, remember, that I can protect myself and I will. I'm not afraid of you Malfoy no matter how much you throw your weight around."
Malfoy glowered at her.
"We could stick around a bit longer," Harry offered.
She shook her head her eyes trained on Malfoy.
"No, we have to go patrolling so you two should probably be leaving now."
Harry, Ron, and Malfoy were like TNT ready to explode at a moments notice, she preferred they be far away from each other and soon. She and Malfoy were bad enough but even with how much she couldn't stand him she knew that three against one was not a fair fight.
"Maybe we could go with you," Ron said still looking angrily at Malfoy who just rolled his eyes.
"Only heads are allowed to patrol Ron and if you and Harry are not in your dorms in ten minutes I'll be forced to deduct points from our house."
They both looked at her incredulously and realizing she was serious quickly said good-bye before leaving reluctantly. She sighed and ran her hands through her thick hair almost forgetting the other occupant in the room. Almost.
"There are much more interesting things I'd rather do than patrol with the likes of you so lets make this short. Fifteen minutes tops," Malfoy said heading for the door.
She shrugged.
"Fine with me. I have no desire to patrol with you either but I'm not going to act like a petulant child about it either."
She followed Malfoy out the door and down the steps. They exited the portrait and fell into step beside one another. They walked for several minutes down several corridors. She had to walk doubly fast to keep up with him and she knew he was walking even faster just to annoy her. She wouldn't falter in her step though and stayed briskly by his side.
She noticed walking so close to him that his scent was very male and very intoxicating. For a split-second she understood the giggling acts that girls went under when he was near them.
It seemed like with every step his strides became longer so Hermione moved her legs faster and before she knew it she was tripping over her own two feet. Before she had time to hit the floor strong arms were reaching out to grab her.
The feel of Malfoy's arms around her and her current inertia sent her head spinning. The feeling she'd had at dinner the night before when looking at him across the table seemed to have magnified by ten. Her body seemed to come alive in places she didn't know she had and before she had time to process it she was being shoved roughly aside and standing upright again.
"Watch where you're going Granger!"
She breathed and blew the curls that had fallen into her face. He was angry. What did he have to be angry about? She was the one who had almost fallen all over herself.
"Maybe if you weren't trying to break speed records walking I wouldn't have tripped. You know you're taller than me, Malfoy."
"Yes, I know you're shorter than me. If you can't keep up maybe you should forgo patrolling duties."
She shook her head angrily.
"We are supposed to do this together whether we like it or not. The very least you could do is pretend to be pleasant, if only for fifteen minutes."
He took off walking again and much to her pleasant surprise it was at a normal pace. They finished patrolling soon after and headed back to their dorms without having said another word. She didn't know what or why but it seemed as if Malfoy was making a micro effort to be civil or at least as close to civil as he'd ever get.
All the while she'd kept thinking about him catching her and the feeling that came over her when he had. She didn't understand it didn't want to understand it. She wondered if he'd felt exactly what she had or if she hallucinated the whole occurrence. The fact that Draco Malfoy had rescued her from falling was something groundbreaking within itself. The boy she thought she knew would have watched her fall and laugh in her face about it.
The fact that he had caught her on instinct left many questions that she wasn't even sure she wanted the answer to.
Draco walked into their dorms, Granger right behind him. He headed toward his room fighting the urge to look back. When they'd been in the hall he could've kept their verbal sparring going but he was much too put off by the contact that had took place when she had clumsily almost fallen. He chided himself for catching her at all, he should've let her fall on her face then he wouldn't have even felt the emotions run through him when he touched her.
He'd never reacted so quickly to another girl's touch than he had hers. Her body hard against his had driven a truck load of lust into his gut. He had tried his best to convince himself otherwise while they'd finished patrolling but even he could not deny the strong emotions that overcame him.
He could hardly believe it. He, Draco Malfoy, wanted Hermione Granger in a way that a man wanted a woman. It was too much to process, too much to bear. He wondered how Blaise could so easily admit his attraction when Draco felt like the world was supposed to end even now that he'd accepted it.
All he could do now as he prepared for bed was think about how soft her wild mass of hair had felt against him. She smelled of honey and Jasmine, something he'd never noticed before and in those briefest of moments when he held her she'd seem so small and frail somehow. In that moment he'd understood why Harry and Ron had accompanied her to her room, if he was them he would have done the same thing.
But soon his thoughts hardened. Whether or not he found he was attracted to her or would have liked to experience her in his bed she was still not a pureblood and she was still part of the golden trio whom he hated. Feeling like his thoughts were back on track to a normality he slid into bed and dozed off.
His dreams were filled with bushy hair and brown eyes.