Hermione Granger had a lot of reasons to hate Draco Malfoy. She had to endure seven years of teasing, sarcasm and pranks from him while seeing him every day in her classes. A day didn't go by where he didn't take advantage of goading on her. She held him in the highest amount of contempt.
Sometimes the teasing would be about her physical appearance.
"Your hair looks like a rats nest Granger, do you not run a comb through it?"
"Are those freckles or did you sprinkle red pepper flakes all over your nose?"
Sometimes it would be about her clothing choices, which always came back to the fact that her family was poor and couldn't afford the same quality of threads that his family could.
"Your robe is completely thread barren Granger and too short for you, it should go straight in the bin, where it belongs".
"You really don't have any fashion sense, do you? That jacket went out of style a decade ago; you really should get with the times".
Most frequently he would pick on her about a topic that was school related; her use of magic, her grades and her friends relying on her with academic assistance.
"You know Weasley can think for himself Granger, wouldn't Professor Snape be highly interested to know who was the one who figured out that potion ratio that he put together".
"Sometimes I forget that you are smart because you certainly lose your head at the wrong times and end up screwing everything up. You are such an embarrassment to all Gryffindor's."
Sometimes verbal goading wasn't enough for Draco and he moved on to the physical. He would poke her in her ribs and laugh at her when she would recoil in pain as his nails dug into her skin. One time in physical education, she was running around the track and the moment she got near him, his foot shot out and Hermione tripped over him, sailing through the air and landing on her knees. She couldn't finish the race and received an incomplete for that day. She didn't hesitate to tell on him and he received a failing grade. She felt a little smug about that.
Hermione didn't want to be labeled as a tattle tale. She only told the teacher about the incidents if she was physically hurt and Draco knew this. This is why he usually picked on her verbally. He knew he wouldn't get in trouble.
Hermione learned that talking back to him would only egg him on more. She couldn't help herself most of the time. Her need to correct him when he was wrong and her own sense of self dignity over powered her common sense most of the time. Common sense told her that responding to him was only feeding the beast. By responding to him, she was giving him affirmation that what he was saying was getting to her.
Eventually he wore down her self-esteem. She felt broken. She didn't look directly into mirrors for a long time, afraid that what she would see was exactly what Draco had told her that he saw. She didn't share with anyone about her good grades in school or her offers to go into several prestigious Universities by the time she was in year five for fear of being called a braggart by Draco.
One day Hermione woke up and decided at the beginning of in year six that she wasn't going to let him have the power over her. She had enough of his mind games and manipulation. She was determined to start the school year on new ground. A ground in which Draco Malfoy was not going to push her around on any longer. She pushed aside all of the anger and rage that had felt whenever she saw him and pushed it to the side. She and her friends had endured enough, fought enough battles, some of those battles Draco had fought beside them that she wasn't going to let him feel like he won.
Hermione did what she rationalized most normal folks would do when confronted by a bully instead of what she had been doing, she ignored him. She made up her mind that she wasn't going to let what he thought about her and how he treated her determine how she felt about herself anymore. She was sick and tired of his mind games.
While Professor McGonagall lectured in spells class one day while some of her classmates completed a quiz that she had already finished at the beginning of the class, she felt a tap on her shoulder from a wand.
"Psst Granger", I need the answer for #10".
She shook her head and stared straight ahead, focusing on what was being said by her professor and not the annoyance behind her. In the past she had given in to him to stop the annoyance and provided him the answers. He somehow managed to maintain high grades and suspected he had cheated his way into most of those grades, rather than earning them.
"Oh come on you muggle born witch, I know that you can hear me". He tapped harder on her shoulder with the sharp point of his wand.
Hermione turned to Harry who was sitting beside her. "Harry, would you mind trading seats with me. There's a pest where I am sitting that is bothering me, something like a giant white haired rat with snarling teeth.".
Harry turned to look behind Hermione's should and glared at Draco, chuckling to himself.
"Sure, no problem. I hope that your pest issue goes away", Harry exclaimed winking at her as he switched seats with her.
She turned quickly to watch the expression on Draco's face. She gloated when she saw his pale face turn a bright shade of red. His eyes narrowed as they met hers and she heard him grinding his teeth together out of sheer frustration.
After that incident it became easier for her to act like he wasn't there. Every time he would try to talk to her, she would go find Harry, Ron or another friend. She pretended not to hear him. She knew that he didn't appreciate being ignored. He would show that in his facial expressions or blurt out choice phrases such as. "You will regret ignoring me Granger".
After he said that for the first time she turned to face him.
"My name is Hermione, Granger is my last name and no normal 16 year old wizard calls their classmates by their last names. Get with the times Draco", she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
She was too busy applying to Universities and picking what program she would study in her last year of school. She had gotten so good at ignoring Draco, that she rarely even saw him anymore. They only had one class together their last semester as the classes were now specialized based on the program that the student had chosen to study. She sat on the complete opposite side of the classroom and made sure she didn't make eye contact with him. No matter how many times she felt his eyes on her. She knew he watched her, was staring at her from a distance. She just didn't care anymore.
She ignored him in the hallways of the school, she ignored him at the dances, she ignored him at the parties that they both somehow ended getting invited to.
The one place she couldn't ignore him was at their graduation from Hogwarts. Her friends seemed to determine to include him in pictures together. Even their parents encouraged her to take pictures with Draco as somehow they determined that they were 'friends' even though Hermione protested when her parents told them to 'scootch closer together for the photo'.
Having his arm draped around her shoulder felt like sheer humiliation that she was not willing to relieve. She felt him looming over her in the group photos and his eyes shooting daggers into hers as she moved further away from him, hiding behind Ron most of the time, sometimes Harry.
She got into one of the most prestigious Universities in London. She knew that there she would be limited from practicing witchcraft but that was a sacrifice that she was willing to make. She choose International Business Management as her main focus. She figured she could easily pursue her dreams to open a shop of curiosities abroad eventually once she obtained her degree or immediately go into a leadership position at a brokerage firm. That was a respectable position.
Once she started her studies, she threw herself into University life. She never wanted to forget who she was though so she still kept in touch with her old friends from Hogwarts but distanced herself from her old wizarding life for her new life, living like her muggle parents did. She maintained her grades, got a fantastic internship at a brokerage firm in the heart of London's financial district and hung out with some of the best and brightest at the University.
She briefly reunited with Ron and they dated for a short time. She wanted so badly to feel something more than friendship in her heart for him but the more time she spent one on one with him and not in a group setting, she realized that she couldn't force feelings of love that just weren't there. They decided that it would be best if they remained friends. She was happy for him when he told her that he reunited with their classmate Luna and they had started to date.
After dating Ron, Hermione went on a few dates with other guys, both Wizards that Harry had mentioned would be perfect for her that had not gone to Hogwarts as well as muggles. He even set her up with Neville Longbottom but that date turned out to be quite a disaster as Neville was so nervous during the date that he threw up all over Hermione's lap and purse. She was polite to Neville the rest of the date but she could not get over the vomiting all over her and they agreed to remain as friends.
As for the muggles. She met some really nice guys. Guys who took her out on dates to nice restaurants or to the movie theaters. Guys who made her laugh or long for a normal life, with magic not involved. However she never felt like she was able to build a real connection either any of the muggles. It always felt as if something was missing. She always ended up giving up after the second or third date and never offered an explanation of why.
After she finished her bachelor's degree, she went on to finish graduate school with a Masters Degree in Business Administration.
She started working at Baker and Simon's which was known as a cut throat brokerage firm on the east side of London.
She rented a quaint townhouse on the outskirts of the city and adopted an energetic, fluffy Maltese puppy who became her shadow and followed her everywhere. Her dog provided her with companionship when she was lonely.
She frequently did get lonely living by herself, sometimes she wished she had a human companion to talk to, eat with, and go out places with. She wasn't really interested in just anyone becoming her roommate though and she was focusing on work and not dating.
She had a small corner table in her kitchen with two cane chairs. Sometimes she would pretend that someone else was sitting there across from her. Sometimes she wished that she had someone to share all of her accomplishments with.
It had been ten years after graduating from Hogwarts. She felt settled. She had grown quite fond of her neighborhood, especially the quant super market that was only three blocks from her house. It was nice to walk to get groceries rather than having to lug them onto a bus like she had to do before the super market opened up, about two months prior.
Hermione felt like someone was following her when she dragged her trolley down the aisles, grabbing the items that she needed to stock up on for the week. She felt like a dark shadow was following her. She had looked around several times and didn't see anyone walking behind her so she wasn't sure why she felt the presence of someone.
Hermione loved ice cream, especially strawberry ice cream. She bought a quart container each week, which she only indulged on Saturdays. That was her "ice cream day". Designating an ice cream day gave her something to look forward to at the end of a stressful work week.
She went into the back of the store to the freezer section and was reaching inside to grab the carton when she was positive this time someone was behind her. She even heard the shuffling of feet and the clink of the wheels of another trolley backed up behind hers.
"Hello Granger, funny to run into you again", she heard a familiar voice say. She couldn't mistake his voice for anyone else. He still had that mocking tone to his voice. It was a voice that made her whole body shudder.
Startled she quickly shut the refrigerator door, holding the carton of strawberry ice cream in her right hand and bringing it closer to her chest. She whipped around and faced her former tormentor.
"Hello Draco, she stuttered out. Shocked to see him here in Hammersmith when she hadn't heard anything about him or from him in over ten years. She couldn't fathom the odds of him ending up in the same area outside of London, shopping at the same super market as she did. It just seemed surreal that he was standing in front of her, the one person that she least expected or wanted to see again.
She bit on her bottom lip, took a deep , staggered breath and smiled at him nervously.