A/N: Beta'd by the lovely dtfbensolo! Any mistakes after are my own.
Hermione sighed as she made her way down to dinner that evening. She had spent the rest of the night avoiding Harry like the plague and she had been pretty successful, but she knew she would have to talk to him at dinner that night. She still couldn't believe that her letters were out. At least three of the five, Malfoy got his, Harry had his, and Cormac gave his back to her. Hermione was apprehensive about whether the recipients of the other two letters would get them. There was still a chance that Viktor didn't receive his as it was addressed to Durmstrang, the last thing she wanted was to have him send her an owl and ask to see her. She feared that Ron received his, if he didn't already, which meant even more awkward talks with him when she went home for the holidays.
As she was almost to the Great Hall, strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her into a broom closet. She couldn't help the little yelp that came out of her mouth. "Malfoy, what are you doing?" she hisses once she realized who had pulled her in.
"Quiet Granger, let me speak."
Hermione narrowed her eyes then and bit out,"Well, go on then."
"While I think that kiss from 6th year was nice and all, I just don't have feelings for you that way. I just got out of a relationship with Astoria, and…"
"Wait…Malfoy, are you rejecting me?"
Draco raised an eyebrow and nodded, "Yes, you see, I don't think you really understood what I said yesterday."
Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Ugh, no, that was because I needed to create a distraction. There was someone else who received a letter, and I couldn't have them thinking I liked them."
"Wait, I'm not the only one who received a letter?" Malfoy asked, confusion clear on his face.
Hermione was about to reply when she crossed her arms. "No, although things would be simpler if it was just you."
Draco rolled his eyes, "So who was the other person?"
Hermione looked down at the floor, "Harry."
"Wait….Saint Potter? Isn't he dating your best friend, the She-Weasel?"
"Don't call them that. And he was, they aren't together anymore."
"So, you have feelings for Potter?"
"DID, I did have feelings for him. Every time I have a crush, I write out my feelings in a letter, it helps me to understand what I'm feeling. Which is what you got."
Draco chuckled a little and nodded, "So how many letters, just me and Potter?"
Hermione shook her head. "There were five: one for Durmstrang, Cormac, Ron, Harry and you."
"You know Mclaggen is gay, right?" Draco asked with a smirk.
"Not the point," Hermione replied.
"Weasel as well? You really know how to make a guy feel special."
Hermione rolled her eyes "I didn't write them to make anyone feel special. I wrote them to get over my feelings."
"So, you don't have feelings for me?"
"No. I might have had a slight crush on you after that kiss in 6th year, but it was very fleeting," she replied feeling very uncomfortable. Why was she telling him everything? This was Draco Malfoy, the boy who tormented her since she was eleven. They mutually despised each other. Mostly. Until that one night in sixth year when they were very drunk at a party in the Slytherin common room. They shared a brief and unexpected, a sloppy drunk kiss, but it was nice. She couldn't remember much of that night, but she remembered feeling something for him as they talked together in the dimly lit room. . However, after that night Malfoy became more distant and even let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts, resulting in Dumbledore's death.
She hadn't seen him again until last year when she was taken to Malfoy Manor after a group of snatchers found her, Ron, and Harry while on the run looking for Horcruxes. Malfoy didn't tell his aunt, father or mother that he had recognized them. Then, although he watched as Hermione had her arm carved into by that crazy woman, Hermione could tell he didn't want to, by the way he would tense and look away every moment their eyes met. When the battle happened, he made his allegiances clear and helped on the light side.
It was Hermione and Harry's testimonies that kept Malfoy and Narcissa out of Azkaban. Narcissa received a sentence of house arrest and Draco was allowed to demonstrate his reform by returning to Hogwarts for his 8th year. Now looking at the boy across from her, those moments felt like a lifetime ago. Hermione began to feel uncomfortable after having confessed what she did.
"Okay, well if you've said all you needed to say, I'm going to dinner." She moved to get out of the closet.
"What are you going to do about Potter?"
Hermione sighed, "I guess I better go tell him the truth."
"What if you didn't need to? We could let him think we're dating. It would help with things with Astoria, and Potter would never need to know."
Hermione laughed a little as she turned around to see him coming out of the closet, having to bend down to get out. "So, what? You want to use me to make your on-again off-again girlfriend jealous?" she asked, tilting her head.
Draco shrugged, "To be fair, you used me earlier when you decided to jump on me for that kiss." Hermione glared at him. "You don't have to give me an answer now Granger, just think about it."
Hermione nodded as she walked away. "Don't count on it, Malfoy," she said over her shoulder as she turned toward the Gryffindor tower. With the stress of not wanting to see Harry, and now Malfoy asking her to fake date him, she just had no appetite. Sleep was needed, she just wanted this day to be over.
When she reached her dorm, she found a rolled up parchment with a blue ribbon tied around it. Her heart was beating loudly in her chest seeing it and she picked it up shakily. As she unrolled the paper, she saw her prediction was correct: Viktor Krum's letter had been returned, thankfully unread, as he no longer lived at Durmstrang. She felt relieved as she grabbed the letter and threw it in her trunk. Hermioned resolved to forget everything about today.
As she reached to pull the curtains around her, Parvati came into their shared dorm.
"Harry is looking for you, he asked where you were at dinner. I told him I'd pass the message along, I figured you were hiding up here," Pavarti simply nodded and pulled the curtains around her four-poster bed.
The next morning, Hermione groaned as the light spilled through her curtains. As it was Saturday she had no lessons, ideally she could do what she wanted. What she wanted to do was never come out from her bed. In actuality,he got ready for the day. She had made plans with Luna to spend time out by the Black Lake to look for another creature that Luna swears she had seen before. Hermione doubted Luna really saw it, but she never minded spending a warm day out by the lake.
As Hermione walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast, she immediately regretted it as Harry came into view. He watched her as she sat down across from him and started putting food onto her plate. She kept quiet until he finally said something.
"So, are we going to talk about this or what?"
"Talk about what exactly?" she asked, hoping she could stall to where she had enough food.
"The letter, you kissing Malfoy, you avoiding me. Take your pick," he said and she could hear an edge in his voice.
"I really don't think we should be talking about this here," Hermione replied, looking around for any prying ears.
"Then when? I tried to find you yesterday, but you avoided me and then kissed Malfoy which….what?"
Hermione sighed and shook her head. "Later, I'll talk with you later," she said as she rose from the table. She really hadn't had that much to eat, but maybe she could nip into the kitchen later and grab a snack. "Hermione, where are you going?"
"I told Luna I would help her search for some creature down at the Black Lake today. So, I should be going," she said, determined not to see the sadness in her best friend's face as she walked away. Hermione knew that she would eventually have to talk to Harry about all of this, but at the moment it was too hard. She didn't want to talk about this to anyone, let alone Harry. She wasn't even sure what she had to say to him, so she would have to think about how to approach the subject with him before sitting down with him. Maybe actually using Malfoy and 'date' could help avoid all this?
A few hours later, Luna and Hermione were still out by the shores of the lake. Hermione sat there lounging while Luna kept bobbing in and out of the water trying to find whatever creature was on her list today. Hermione kept forgetting the name.
"So what was all that with Draco yesterday?" Luna asked.
Hermione looked up to Luna coming out of the water holding some kind of weed that was soaking wet. "Nothing. Misunderstanding," she said dismissively.
"No, I meant about you kissing him. Are you dating now?"
Hermione could feel the blush on her cheeks and shook her head. "NO! I most certainly am not dating him."
Luna chuckled and spread the weed out to dry out. "Why not? I mean you could do so much worse than Draco."
Hermione sat up to watch her and pulled her knees to her chest. "Since when has he been Draco to you?"
Luna smiled her dreamy smile and shrugged. "He was very nice to me while I was stuck in his manor's dungeons. He and I talked."
Hermione raised her eyebrows at this news. "You talked? Like a civilized conversation with Draco Malfoy?"
"The war changed us all, Hermione. You, of all people, should know this. Draco Malfoy is not the same person he was, just as you are not the same person you were. He's actually pretty trustworthy once you get to know him."
Hermione let that sink in for a bit before just humming in response. Draco Malfoy was a trusting person? When she had written him that letter, she must have known he was different. From what she could remember of that night in 6th year, he was actually somewhat nice as they conversed. If it hadn't been for Blaise Zabini who had somehow spiked the punch with copious amounts of alcohol, Hermione never would have gotten that drunk. She definitely wouldn't have kissed Draco Malfoy that night, and she definitely wouldn't have enjoyed it.
As if the fates were intervening, she saw the familiar blonde walking across the grounds with his quidditch team. Before she could stop herself, her mouth betrayed her. "Hey, Malfoy."
Draco stopped and turned around at her shout. "Granger," he said with a raised eyebrow.
She stopped a few feet in front of him and she took a breath before speaking. "Let's do this." Hermione was not prepared for the smile that grew on his face. Before she could react, he closed the distance and swooped down to kiss her. She had to stand on her tippy toes to reach him. When had he gotten so tall?
She broke apart from him and nodded. "Right…well I'm going that way now," she muttered, as the red creeped up her neck.
"Yeah, I see, certainly nothing going on between you two." Luna said, as Hermione ran back to her friend, still immersed in the waters of Black Lake. Luna gave her a knowing smile and Hermione rolled her eyes.
