A Hundred Storms

Chapter Five: Some Nights

Some nights, I stay up cashing in my bad luck
Some nights, I call it a draw
-Some Nights, by Fun.

Hermione leaned back against the door. Her hands were shaking as she muttered a quick spell to clean her shirt, and she wondered what on earth had gotten into her. She harbored a little resentment toward Malfoy for sure, but it wasn't as though she hadn't heard that derogatory word aimed at her before. It was something different that made her go off on him like that.

He was so unchanged, as though the past couple years didn't do a thing to affect him in any way. For the first time Hermione wondered if maybe she was wrong in testifying on his behalf, but that didn't seem right either. She didn't imagine the look in his eyes that day at the Manor; he couldn't have faked that. How could he still be the cruel little boy that tormented her growing up while she did everything she could to keep from ripping apart at the seams?
She took a deep breath and went to her trunk to begin unpacking a few things. After ten minutes, her school bag was ready for class the next day, and she sat down at the desk to write Harry and Ron. She wrote them both separately and told them about the new developments with the eighth year students. She wrote that she was able to go to Hogsmeade on a whim and invited them to meet her on the coming weekend. It would be good to see them, and they could tell her about the Auror training that she passed up.
Hermione debated telling them about the small confrontation that just transpired with Malfoy, but in the end she decided against it. They would only worry, and then Ron would put on his I-told-you-so pants when they met up, and Hermione wasn't ready for that, not until she did some more digging into the matter.

She stopped and put her quill down. Did she want to do any digging into why Malfoy was still a little prick? What did it matter? Hermione could admit to herself that she felt marginally responsible for the actions and mindset of Draco Malfoy, after all, she did spill tears in front of half the wizarding world on his defense. They had shared something, Hermione was resigned to the fact that few people, if anyone, would ever be able to understand it.

Hermione glanced at the clock and groaned in frustration. It was barely nine o'clock, and yet it felt as though she had been awake for days. She wasn't ready to sleep yet, and she was too wound up to even try. She signed the letters in front of her and decided that a walk to the Owlery might help clear her head. She used to wait until morning when she wrote a letter at night, but thanks to no longer needing to worry about being back in her dorm by the ten o'clock curfew, she decided to take advantage of her newfound freedom.
She smiled to herself when she thought about how she would never need to swipe Harry's invisibility cloak if she fancied a nighttime session in the library. She threw her cloak back on and slipped into her shoes. After sealing her letters, she grabbed her wand from the dresser and opened her bedroom door…
…Only to walk directly into Draco Malfoy's raised fist, which was posed to knock on her door at that exact moment.
Hermione stumbled back in shock, rubbing the sore spot on her forehead. Malfoy was tall! She looked up, getting ready to fix him with a potent glare, but the wide-eyed expression on his face took her by such surprise that she simply burst out laughing.
"That was-" Hermione doubled over and held her sides as she tried to get the words out. "That was such ridiculously perfect timing! Could that even happen again if we tried?"
She laughed even harder as Draco's face went from shocked to bewildered to mildly concerned.
"Granger," he said slowly. "Have you been drinking?"
Hermione couldn't help it, she laughed even harder. Her tired mind and the overwhelming events of the day finally caught up with her, and she laughed until tears fell down her cheeks.
Draco looked completely alarmed now and started to look around for some assistance, but all the others had gone to bed.
After a few moments and some deep breaths, Hermione managed to calm down enough to fix Draco with a wary gaze.

"Come to apologize?" she finally asked when it was apparent he was not going to be the first to speak. Draco looked supremely startled at the idea.
"I do not apologize. Ever. It's a sign of weakness," he said in a voice thick with arrogance.

"Well, then," Hermione said and put a hand on her hip,"if you're quite done not apologizing for acting like a twelve-year-old, then get out of my doorway, I have things to do."

Draco lifted an eyebrow. "What could you possibly have to do at quarter after nine in the evening?"
"I fancied a walk, so I'm going to send off a letter at the Owlery," she told him.
"Alone?" A tone of slight incredulity crept into his voice.
"Of course, why wouldn't I?" she asked him.
Draco smirked. "I thought you were supposed to be smart, Granger. The only person who would stand a better chance at getting hexed in the back is me."
Hermione looked at him suspiciously. "Is that a threat, Malfoy?" she asked him sharply. "I'm one of the good guys, remember? Why should I be worried about being attacked now?"
"Because, Granger," Draco said slowly as though he were explaining something to a small child, "the one thing the good guys make better than anyone is enemies."

Hermione looked at him for another minute before making up her mind. "I think I can handle the big scary Hogwarts students," she said.

"Granger, seriously, don't tempt fate." Draco's tone was a cross between a command and a plea, and Hermione was baffled by it.

"Right then," she grabbed the sealed letters that had fallen to the ground when she walked into Draco's fist. "I'm going. I've been through this castle a hundred times, and I'll be fine."

She sidestepped Draco to go around him and through the doorway, but he roughly grabbed her shoulder and stopped her with strength that Hermione thought didn't quite match his lean physique.

"Granger," he growled, holding her in place.

"Let me go, Malfoy," Hermione said matching his tone.

"No, you're not going to go traipsing around the school by yourself. You don't even have your merry band of sidekicks to at least make sure no one is sneaking up on you."

"Why on earth do you care?" Hermione shook out of his grip and stepped back.

"I don't," he said impassively. "I just don't want to be blamed when the star Mud-Muggle-born of the wizarding world ends up cursed or killed in the dead of night."

Hermione studied him for a moment. It was not lost on her that he stopped himself before he called her that name again, opting for the politically correct term. That was interesting.

"All right then, come with me." She crossed her arms over her chest.

Draco smirked. "I'm not your bodyguard," he said.

"You said it yourself," she argued. I either need an escort or I'm going alone, and you're going to suffer if someone does think it prudent to attack me. Kill two birds, escort me, and keep my helpless, frail, Muggle-born self safe, or hex me when you get the chance."

Draco's impassive demeanor faltered for a moment when she alluded that he might be the one who would hex her. "I-"

Hermione waved him off. "I'm kidding. Do you have a letter to send? I'm not going to be able to fall asleep anytime soon, and you cannot keep me here, so what is it going to be?"

Draco faltered for the first time Hermione could ever remember, and then to her surprise, he gave her a curt nod. "It's your lucky evening, Granger, I just so happen to have a letter for my mother and one for Pansy."

"Parkinson?" Hermione wrinkled her nose. "You still talk to her?"

Draco chuckled. "How many Pansy's do you know?" Then he caught himself before Hermione could pounce on the opening. "Yes, yes, I still talk to her. We were in nappies together. Just because I came back here doesn't stop that."

"I didn't mean anything by it," Hermione said, putting her hands up in a surrendering fashion. "I was just surprised. She was always kind of clingy."

"You could say that again," Draco murmured. "Stay here, I'll be right back,"

He ducked into his room, and Hermione found herself wondering if Pansy and Draco were going to get married after he officially graduated. As far as she knew, the two of them had always been a couple, but she really didn't know much about their relationship or how serious it was.

"Ready?" he asked as he emerged from his room, carrying two sealed envelopes.

"After you," Hermione said, motioning to the framed doorway that led to the hallway outside their common room. With a backwards glance at her, Draco strode forward and disappeared into the dark corridor outside. Hermione, feeling the odd sensation of fight or flight gnaw at her stomach, followed close behind.