Merry Christmas everybody!
I hope you'll be spoilt for gifts! And for those of you who aren't celebrating or who are feeling a bit lonely, I'm sending you lots of love!
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Draco
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Dear Draco,
I'd like to wish you a very happy New Year. I hope you enjoyed the Christmas festivities at Hogwarts. Pansy must have loved the Ball, I know she's particularly fond of events like that. The photo you sent me of the two of you is beautiful. Pansy looks stunning in that dress and you two make a lovely couple. You remind me of your father, when he was at Hogwarts.
A year has passed. Snow has fallen around the Manor and the fountain you love so much has frozen overnight. The lake next to the estate is almost frozen too, maybe for a few more nights. Do you remember when you used to go skating with Blaise when you were little? I was worried sick that one of you would fall where the ice hadn't yet frozen. But Blaise always did well, a real figure skater.
Forgive my nostalgic mother moments. I suppose reading you gives me the impression that you've grown up without me noticing. Now you have a date to the Ball, and you're far away from me. I miss you very much. But I'm delighted to be able to read your letters every week, I read them with my coffee at breakfast and smile when I hear the latest news from Hogwarts.
I'm sending you a box of chocolates, new from Honeydukes. I don't know if you'll like the praline inside. Maybe you've outgrown chocolates now? In any case, I hope you'll enjoy them all the same. I've also sent you another owl, another box of dark chocolates. These are for Theodore.
All my love,
Mum.
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"Here, these are for you." Draco announced as he tossed the box of dark chocolates to Theo across the table in the Great Hall.
The box clattered against Theo's glass of milk and he gasped slightly. He looked warily at his present.
"It's from my mother." Draco explained, showing him the letter he had just received.
Theo took the parchment and read the letter, wincing at the comparison with Lucius when he was young, just as Draco had a few seconds earlier. When he reached the last line, his face lit up with joy.
"She didn't have to!" he exclaimed, hastily opening the box.
Inside were three compartments of small dark chocolates. Theo looked at them as if they were hundreds of pieces of Galleon.
"How did she know I liked it?" he asked, flabbergasted.
"Everyone knows you love chocolate." replied Blaise, who was reading his Daily Prophet next to them. "You can eat your weight in dark chocolate without batting an eyelid. It's almost scary."
Theo closed the box preciously and turned to Draco:
"I'll send your mum a letter to thank her."
He continued to eat his breakfast, taking furtive glances at the box Draco had just given him. Draco hadn't realised that such a small gesture, to which he had become accustomed over the years, could have such an effect on someone else. But he supposed that for Theo, all maternal gestures towards him must be appreciated.
Suddenly, Blaise put down his newspaper, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Hang on a sec... I got you a box of Honeydukes chocolates for Christmas. Don't tell me you've already finished it?"
Draco smiled in spite of himself, and Theo's ears suddenly reddened.
"Er... Yes... Maybe I have..." he replied evasively.
"Merlin, Theo! You've already finished the box?! In five days?"
"I get peckish when I read!" the boy defended himself.
"You're worse than Crabbe and Goyle!" decreed Blaise, flabbergasted.
Theo's eyes widened dramatically at this.
"Take that back, Blaise Zabini!"
They continued to bicker, and Draco shook his head in annoyance as he continued to eat his porridge. It was true that Theo could eat impressive quantities of chocolate these days. He'd got into the habit of always having a box next to him when he read, and he devoured them all without realising it. But he didn't think it was serious enough to make a big deal of it.
Pansy arrived at the breakfast table just then, opposite Draco. She had a hood over her head, proof that she hadn't combed her hair yet. Blaise and Theo didn't stop talking to greet her, but Blaise reflexively handed her the page of the horoscope newspaper without looking at her. Pansy thanked him in a small voice and began reading, avoiding meeting Draco's eyes.
Since New Year's Eve, Draco had no idea where he stood with Pansy. She didn't seem to hold a grudge against him, and they'd even slept together one last time to mark the end of their... "relationship." Yet, she still wasn't the same. She was distant, and even colder than usual. This situation made him uncomfortable, because he didn't know how to deal with her. He took advantage of the fact that Blaise had just suggested that Theo should buy thirty boxes of chocolates in Hogsmeade to jump on the subject:
"By the way, would you like to go to Hogsmeade this weekend?"
Blaise and Theo finally stopped arguing and turned to Draco, shrugging their shoulders in a synchronised gesture.
"Wasn't it already last week, before the Ball?" asked Theo.
"Yes, but as classes don't start again until next week, they've allowed the students to go back this weekend. And I didn't go last time, and I absolutely need new quills." insisted Draco. "Besides, we could go and have Butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks, couldn't we? Pans'?"
She raised her head and exchanged the briefest of glances with Draco, before turning away.
"Why not." she said limply. "Not until late, though. There's a party at the Common Room on Saturday night."
"There's a party every night, Pansy." Theo said a little dryly.
"Yes, but this one is special." she corrected, although she said that about every party. "It was Daphne and I who decided on the dress theme."
"There's a dress theme?!" asked Blaise.
"Yes, everyone will have to dress in black. And you too!" she said, pointing at the three boys with her fork.
Draco shrugged. He was always dressed in black anyway. Blaise and Theo agreed too, in dull voices. Draco had a hunch that Theo didn't approve at all of Pansy's recent drinking and dancing at parties. He didn't comment, though, and Pansy bit into her apple without making anything apparent.
"So, are we on for Hogsmeade?" asked Draco again, more to Pansy than to Theo and Blaise.
Please, he begged internally, stop being so distant. I need my best friend.
Pansy nodded and Draco heard himself let out a sigh of relief. He'd been afraid she'd refuse because she didn't want to see him any more, which would have really upset him.
"On one condition." Theo interjected.
"What's that?" asked Draco.
"No Crabbe and Goyle." he said, his tone resolute.
"What? Why?"
"I can't stand seeing them behind you all the time, like your shadow! They're like bodyguards!" Theo raged, digging into his omelette with a vengeance. "When you're messing around with the first years, or Potter and his gang, I don't say anything, but when it's just the four of us, I can't stand them following us around!"
Blaise nodded in support of Theo. Draco sighed.
"Okay, I'll tell them not to come."
"Thanks." grumbled Nott.
The rest of the meal was followed by a rather awkward silence. Pansy was as closed as a grave, still refusing to look at Draco. The latter avoided turning to the Gryffindors' table, and no one dared speak, and the tension grew and grew and grew, until Theo broke it by asking with a smile:
"So Blaise, you never told us you were a figure skater?"
Blaise gasped:
"What? How did you know that?"
They all burst out laughing, including Pansy.
"I'd have you say I was particularly good!" defended Blaise briskly, redoubling their laughter. "Draco's mother told me I had a skater's physique! I was flexible, and I'm sure that helped me with Quidditch! Stop laughing!"
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Despite what Draco might have thought, his life was not turned upside down. The inner realisation that he might have feelings for Hermione Granger, a Gryffindor, a Muggle-born, had been such a shock to him that he had expected everyone to be able to read it on his face. He thought everyone would understand his deepest, darkest secret. That he would be called a traitor, and that his father would be forced to collect him from school to punish him in person, send him to Durmstrang, or worse, wipe him out of the Malfoy family line.
But no. Life returned to normal at Hogwarts, all the students were enjoying the last days of the holidays, the snow was still falling, Theo was still reading as much as ever, Granger was still going to the Library, Potter was still unbearable, and nothing had changed.
Well, yes. Something had. Pansy. She was the only one who had understood, who had managed to see through his marble mask, to glimpse his weakness. Draco had expected to die of shame, or to be unable to look her in the eye. But surprisingly, Pansy acted as if she knew nothing. So well, in fact, that Draco even wondered if he hadn't been dreaming about this conversation. He had been so afraid of losing her that he hadn't thought about the likelihood of them becoming friends again, despite his secret.
Of course, it wasn't all that simple. Pansy was as distant as ever during the last week of the holidays. She was always careful never to be alone with Draco, and when she was, she found an excuse to leave. She no longer slept in his bed, and above all, she no longer warned him of probable danger in his horoscope, as she used to do. She was next to him, but seemed strangely far away.
So Draco looked forward to the last Saturday of the winter holidays, so he could spend some time in Hogsmeade with his friends. He hoped that being outside the stifling walls of the Castle would cheer up Pansy, who had seemed really down since the New Year.
So, on Saturday afternoon, Draco urged his friends to bundle up and join the carriages. Theo grumbled all the way because of the cold, even though he was covered with three layers of clothes, a hat and gloves. Pansy gazed dreamily at the landscape through the carriage window. Blaise was the only one as enthusiastic about going to Hogsmeade as Draco, although it wasn't for the same reason at all: he wanted to look at the new broom that had just come out in the window of the Quidditch shop.
"There's snow everywhere!" lamented Theo as soon as they reached the main street of the village.
"It's the principle of winter, Theo." said Blaise, rolling his eyes.
Pansy looked at the snow-covered roofs of the houses all along the street. Draco followed her gaze and enjoyed the magnificent view of the village, its winding street filled with people bundled up in snow and the distinctive Christmas smell emanating from Honeydukes.
They made their way along the road to Hogsmeade. The deep snow they had to walk on contrasted with Pansy's inky black hair. Draco bought himself three new quills, including one made from peacock feathers, at a very high price. Then, they went to look at the new broom that had just come out. Blaise and Draco drooled over it for a good ten minutes before Theo had to threaten them to freeze on the spot to get them to move.
As Theo was in a foul mood because of the cold, Blaise suggested they go to Honeydukes to buy some chocolate. Theo was delighted and bought not one, but three boxes of dark chocolate. Draco, Blaise and Pansy bought him one each, because Theo no longer had a safe at Gringotts, which seemed to make him terribly uncomfortable, although Draco didn't really understand why. They had money, why not spend it?
Draco also bought a toffee apple, his favourite Honeydukes confection. The caramel ran down his fingers and blended deliciously with the acidity of the apple he was biting into. They finished their shopping by finding a table at the Three Broomsticks, and ordered three Butterbeers, a drink Draco hadn't tasted for a very long time and which reminded him of Christmases at the Manor with Pansy.
All in all, it had been an excellent day. Pansy was looking much more cheerful, even laughing as she listened to Blaise miming Crabbe, who had fallen the day before when entering the Common Room. Draco sipped his beer with a chuckle, satisfied that he had brought all his friends together and was enjoying their company, as he had hoped. Blaise offered a second round of Butterbeers, and when he returned to the table, they were astonished to discover that he had also managed to bring back four glasses of Firewhisky. He refused to reveal how he had managed to persuade Madam Rosmerta to give him this.
The four of them drank the shot in one gulp, except for Theo who dramatically choked and spat out half of it. While Blaise patted him on the back and laughed, Draco glanced at the other tables in the pub.
He choked a little on his Butterbeer when he spotted Granger at the back of the room. He hadn't noticed she was there at all, and when he saw her, his heart made an abnormal little leap in his chest. She was with Weaslette and the Weasley twins, and she had a little film of foam above her lip, but she was too busy talking with big arm gestures to remove it.
Draco was, for a moment, mesmerised by her: her hair was tied back with a clip, she was wearing an oversized striped jumper, her cheeks were flushed from the cold, or from the Butterbeer she was drinking, and she was beautiful, without even realising it. He couldn't make out what she was saying over the din of the pub, but he tried desperately to read her lips to catch a few words.
He came back to reality quickly, as if someone had snapped their fingers next to his ear, and suddenly turned his head towards his friends. Blaise and Theo were talking. Draco tried to listen to what they were saying, and not to turn back to Granger, difficult though it was, as if his head was magically drawn to her now that he knew she was there.
Pansy had caught his change of mood and turned in the direction he had just been looking. When she saw Granger, her smile faded and her face closed completely. She didn't speak much after that.
By their third Butterbeer, the sky was getting darker and darker outside. Granger and the gang of Weasleys came out quite soon, and she showed no sign of having seen him. Her ignorance hurt. They hadn't spoken since the Ball, and he had no idea how she felt at that moment. But he deliberately didn't look at her so as not to upset Pansy.
They left the pub to go back to the Castle for dinner. Theo hastily tied his scarf, shivering excessively. They made their way up the path to find the carriages, using the lampposts that lit up the cobbles as a guide, although Draco nearly slipped once or twice because of the frost.
When they reached an inn at the end of the road, the door opened and a woman stepped out. She was wearing a green dress that was far too bright and clashed horribly with the outfits of the other passers-by. Pansy let out a strangled exclamation from the back of her throat and suddenly stopped.
"Mrs Skeeter?" she called in an overexcited squeak.
The woman who had just come out of the inn turned towards Pansy. Her hair was strangely coiffed, as if she'd made several buns that gathered on her head like a bird's nest. She wore green glasses encrusted with emeralds, which she had placed at the end of her nose, and which she used to gauge Pansy.
"Yes?" she asked, as snobbishly as possible.
"I... Mrs Skeeter, I'm a big fan!" exclaimed Pansy, almost tripping over herself. "I read your articles and your horoscopes every morning, and I've read all your books! I even have your book on the secrets of Pureblood families, which you dedicated to me at Flourish and Blotts!"
"Oh, but of course!" replied the woman, suddenly flashing a commercial smile.
Draco thought to himself that Skeeter had quickly changed her attitude when she realised that Pansy was a fan, but he preferred to remain silent. In any case, Pansy was far too moved to realise it: she had tears in her eyes. She shook Skeeter's hand fervently, looking at her as if she were Merlin himself.
"You're my idol!" she repeated without pausing. "My idol! I absolutely adore you!"
"Thank you, thank you. It's always a pleasure to meet fans." Skeeter replied proudly.
She reminded him of Gilderoy Lockhart. Draco turned to Theo and saw that he wasn't hiding his disgusted face behind his scarf.
Pansy then launched into a wild tirade about her various readings. She quoted all of Skeeter's works one by one, praising them far more than necessary, and the journalist received the compliments with smug smiles. Draco was about to suggest that the boys go home without Pansy (Theo was shaking like a leaf and letting out exasperated sighs every ten seconds to show that he was cold), when Skeeter suddenly said something that piqued his curiosity:
"I'm actually here to learn as much as I can about the Triwizard Tournament. Do you have any information to share with me on the subject? Are you familiar with any of the Champions?"
Pansy made a disappointed pout.
"Not really... But we hate Potter. We think he's an impostor!"
Rita Skeeter had opened her bag so quickly that Draco hadn't even noticed her movement. A green quill came out and levitated itself to the journalist's shoulder, along with a notepad. The quill immediately began to scribble on it.
"An impostor? Really?" repeated Skeeter.
Suddenly interested in the conversation, Draco stepped forward to join in. Seeing him approach, Skeeter watched him through her glasses.
"And you are?" she asked with relish.
"Draco Malfoy, madam. The only son of Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Malfoy, née Black. Slytherin."
Rita Skeeter's eyes shone with enchantment under the lamplight, and she unconsciously licked her lips. The quill scribbled with an even more frantic rhythm.
"Draco Malfoy! But of course, I already know all about you, and your family! Very influential, very noble... Extremely useful power within the wizarding world..."
Draco's chest swelled with pride at hearing this.
"Tell me, Draco, would you have any information about Potter? Or perhaps about his acquaintances? I heard he was dating that Granger girl? Do you know anything about that?"
Suddenly, the pride he'd been feeling seconds earlier burst and turned into a ball stuck in his throat. He couldn't talk about Granger, she'd never speak to him again if she read a quote from him in the Daily Prophet. He decided to steer the conversation onto another topic:
"I don't know about his girlfriend, but I can tell you he hangs out with some dodgy people." he said in his most contempt-tinged voice.
"Really? Who's that?"
"For a start, the Weasleys!"
The quill did not note the name. Skeeter waved her hand to get rid of the last sentence:
"Crispier, Draco, crispier... We're talking about the Boy-Who-Lived, I need something..."
Draco scrolled through the people Potter hung out with. Longbottom? Finnigan? That Muggle-born with a camera, following him around? Lupin?
He was about to open his mouth again when Pansy shouted:
"Hagrid! He's always in his hut!"
Rita Skeeter's eyes widened so much that they protruded from the lenses of her jewel-encrusted glasses. The green quill came to life again and furiously wrote long sentences at top speed.
"Hagrid? Really?" said the journalist cheerfully. "That's perfect, I was just going to write an article about him and his true nature! Do you have anything to add? Any interesting details? A special relationship with Potter, you were saying? In what way?"
Draco and Pansy were quick to spill everything they knew about the gamekeeper. It was rather disconcerting to talk to a quill, but the prospect of pissing Potter off was too pleasing. Draco even added a few not entirely true details, and Rita Skeeter looked on the verge of fainting so pleased was she.
"Thank you so much for all those details!" she said once they had finished. "It's going to help me a lot with my next article... It's coming out soon, and I've no doubt you'll be reading it the same day..." she said to Pansy, who immediately nodded eagerly:
"Of course, Mrs Skeeter!"
"Oh, please, call me Rita." said the journalist, reaching out again to shake Pansy's hand. "If I need any further information, I won't hesitate to reach out to you."
"With pleasure! " agreed Pansy, who couldn't believe her luck.
Rita Skeeter gave her one last smile and set off down the road to Hogsmeade. Pansy turned to the boys, her mouth open and her eyes wide.
"Oh. Merlin. Fuck. Fuck! I just met Rita Skeeter!" she shrieked, jumping up and down. "Rita Skeeter! The real one! Who asked me to call her by her first name!"
"Calm down Pans', you're going to faint." commented Blaise with an amused smile.
"And I'm going to faint from cold." replied Theo, although he himself was finding it hard to contain his own smile when he saw Pansy's joy.
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Draco, Blaise, Theo and Pansy hurried from dinner to get back to the Common Room as soon as possible, mainly because of Pansy's insistence that they had to change before coming to the party. Draco, who was already dressed all in black, rolled his eyes at this indication, but given that they were on a cold pass with Pansy, he obeyed.
The party was, as Pansy had predicted, grandiose. Draco didn't know how it was possible to organise such dizzying events and still surpass the previous one, but it had to be said that Pansy was an excellent organiser. The alcohol flowed freely, the music was perfectly suited to the frenzied rhythm of the dancers, and everyone had stuck to the dress code, resulting in a black crowd everywhere Draco looked.
Draco didn't really feel like dancing, he was too exhausted from his afternoon in Hogsmeade. He preferred to remain seated on his favourite sofa, with a goblet of apple liqueur in his hand. Theo was sitting next to him, and kept making remarks about how much he was drinking, but Draco wasn't really listening. He was watching Pansy dance with Tracey, laughing.
When she was like that, away from him and unaware of Draco's gaze on her, she could almost look happy.
As for Blaise, he was kissing Daphne full on the sofa next to him. Draco hadn't really understood when the two of them had gotten so close, but it looked like they were dating now. He didn't really know what to make of it, apart from the fact that seeing them snogging so close to him made him want to gag a little.
"She's going to regret this tomorrow." Theo grumbled beside him.
Draco followed his gaze and saw Pansy drink the last of her drink in one gulp, dancing.
"Yeah." said Draco. "I don't understand how she can drink that foul vanilla stuff."
Theo frowned with a reproving click of his tongue.
"Do you think that if her precious Skeeter wrote in her horoscope that she shouldn't drink so much, she'd listen to her?" asked Theo without taking his eyes off Pansy.
Draco shrugged and laughed.
I don't know." he said. You can send her an owl and ask her, Pansy must be the only person who reads those bloody horoscopes, anyway."
"Weird, that Skeeter, don't you think?" asked Theo, turning to Draco. "My dad hates her. Says she's an abomination, that she should stop writing."
Draco searched his memory trying to remember what his parents thought of this journalist. He had a hazy memory of his mother calling her a "harpy".
"I've no idea. Anyway, it's not like we said anything wrong. We just said the facts about stupid Hagrid, and he deserved to be expelled anyway."
Theo frowned, lost in thought. Draco knew that Theo didn't like Hagrid either, and that he'd be glad to know he was sent away, but he had an unfortunate tendency to feel sorry for people, like Muggles or house elves.
A bit like Granger.
He swallowed and took a sip of liquor to think of something else.
He searched the crowd for Pansy, but couldn't find her where she'd been a few seconds earlier.
"Where's Pans'?" asked Theo at the same time, scanning the room too.
"No idea."
"Oh. Oh... She's over there."
Theo pointed with a shake of his head to a corner of the room. Pansy was leaning against the wall, kissing a boy, who had his back to Draco. Pansy's pale hands were lost in the boy's curly hair, and their bodies were pressed together as if he wanted to press her into the wall.
"What the fuck?" asked Draco in a slightly hushed voice.
He wasn't talking specifically to Theo, it was more of a rhetorical question. The boy kissing Pansy shifted a little without stopping kissing her, and Draco then recognised Leo Hills, the one Pansy had kissed on a dare.
"Wow. Erm... Are you all right, Draco?" asked Theo quietly.
"Huh?"
"You're not... Jealous, or something?" continued Theo.
Draco turned to him. He was worried, his eyebrows furrowed and marking a slight crease on his forehead. He looked at Draco cautiously, as if expecting him to suddenly explode in anger.
"Oh. No." said Draco, fiddling with the rim of his cup absentmindedly. "We've... Pansy and I aren't... What we used to be."
"You broke up?" asked Theo, raising a puzzled eyebrow.
"Not really, because we weren't together, but we decided... She decided to stop. She said it was hurting her too much."
"Oh." replied Theo, probably because he didn't know what to say to that. "'Kay."
There was a silence, where Draco watched Pansy kiss Leo, trying to work out how he felt about seeing that.
"At least it means I won't run into you two having sex in the dorm." Theo summed up, a touch of satisfaction in his voice.
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On Sunday morning, the day before school started, Pansy and Leo officially announced that they were dating. Or rather, Leo announced it proudly in the Common Room, and Pansy just smiled shyly. Then, all day long, they clung to each other, kissing at regular intervals.
Everyone knew that this was Pansy's excuse to forget Draco. Blaise knew it, Draco knew it, Theo knew it, Daphne knew it, all the Slytherins knew it, except perhaps Leo, who had no idea of Pansy's true feelings and was simply enjoying having become the chosen one of her heart. In any case, no one raised the slightest objection; everyone acted as if it was perfectly ordinary news.
By Sunday afternoon, the whole Hogwarts had heard. As Pansy was the most well-informed person in the Castle about all the gossip, it was not difficult to spread the news using her usual sources. The announcement was repeated and multiplied, and the murmurs in the corridors as they passed grew louder each time. At dinner, Draco even suspected that Dumbledore himself knew.
Strangely, Draco felt no more than irritated. He felt a little sorry for poor Leo, who was being used by Pansy to divert attention, but seeing them kissing all over the place didn't make him jealous. Just a slight disgust, but that was the case for Blaise and Daphne too, so he didn't think it was related to his relationship with Pansy.
The only person who seemed genuinely bothered by it was Theo, but they were all so used to hearing him complain or get exasperated that no one paid him much attention. So, he just read in his armchair all day, sighing whenever Pansy and Leo kissed within forty inches of him.
But Draco quickly put aside his interest in the new couple and concentrated instead on the girl who intrigued him much more: Granger. On this particular Sunday, she was wearing a green knitted cardigan and white trousers, and despite the banality of her outfit, Draco kept coming back to it. She very rarely wore green. Draco knew this, because he loved the colour, and Granger now looked like a Slytherin, which was... disturbing.
Granger ate dinner with Weasley and Potter, as usual, but they must have been discussing something that didn't interest Granger, because she had put her History of Magic textbook on the carafe so she could read while eating. Draco wondered how it was possible to have such an uninteresting conversation to prefer reading a History of Magic textbook, or not be offended by her reading something while they talked. But Weasley and Potter didn't seem to notice that she was reading.
She must have been reading a difficult paragraph, because her eyebrows were furrowed, and she was only eating absent-mindedly, not even seeing what she was putting on her fork. This made Draco smile.
Finally, she put down her fork and said a word to Weasley and Potter, before leaving the table, her textbook tucked under her arm, before the dessert had even arrived. She strode off towards the doors of the Great Hall and disappeared. Draco was convinced she was going to the Library.
He quickly finished his meal and waited for Blaise and Theo to get up before following them. Pansy was sitting with Leo, and didn't pay much attention to the boys as they left. When they reached the stairs to the dungeons, Draco stopped.
"I'm going to go for a walk outside, okay?"
Theo and Blaise nodded and headed for the dungeons, while Draco turned back. He didn't go through the gates to the gardens, though, and headed for the Library corridor. It had been so long since he'd last been there that he gasped a little as he recognised the familiar smell of the Library entrance: an aggressive odour of old books, parchments and wood.
He entered and received a sharp look from Madam Pince, and observed the room in front of him. There was hardly anyone in it, apart from a few first years towards the entrance, and that bloody Viktor Krum, sitting in his usual place. Draco's heart skipped a beat at the thought of Granger sitting next to him, but fortunately Krum was alone at his table, immersed in a Bulgarian book.
Granger wasn't there. Draco frowned, sure that he would see her. Perhaps she'd gone back to the Gryffindors Common Room?
He shook his head at the thought. Granger spent every Sunday evening in the Library until closing time. It had been that way for years, so she was bound to be there. Draco moved between the tables and found himself at the back, towards the windows. He was just thinking about going through all the shelves to find her, starting with the Inferior Magical Creatures, when he suddenly had an idea. He turned back and ventured to the back of the room, to the secluded table they used to share before they quarrelled.
He almost jumped for joy when he saw her sitting there. She hadn't seen him yet, too focused on her History of Magic book. Even from here, he could smell her cinnamon tea.
He took a moment to observe her, just before she saw him, got angry and probably threw a book at his face. He felt as if he hadn't seen her for weeks. This was the real Granger: the one who was studying, with a forgotten tea, a thick book, her hair dishevelled and her eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
Then she looked up, and her eyes widened very slightly, before going dark:
"Go away, Malfoy."
"Good evening to you too, Granger." he said, not hiding an amused smile.
"There is no 'Good evening Granger'. You no longer belong at this table, and I never want to speak to you again." she assented.
Her voice was wispy, high-pitched, the kind she used when she was angry or scolding someone, the kind Draco loved and had been dying to hear for far too long.
"I'm allowed to sit here, you still don't own this Library, Granger." he said as he approached.
Granger jumped up from her chair and placed her bag on the vacant chair opposite her.
"No." she said, determined. "But I have every right to refuse your company. Besides, there are plenty of tables available, so all you have to do is choose another one."
She ended her sentence with a raised eyebrow that didn't invite discussion. Draco sighed:
"Look, Granger, I'm sorry, okay? I should never have spoken to you like that. I'm sorry."
Granger rolled her eyes:
"Blah, blah, blah. It's not the first time I've heard that. You sound like a broken record."
Draco had no idea what a record was, but decided not to ask.
"I know it's not the first time, but I've been a jerk. I'm sorry about that. Really."
Granger looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth forming a straight line. Draco wanted to tell her how hard it was to say the word 'sorry', which he'd only said about ten times to Pansy and which Granger had already received far too many times.
"That's not going to do it, Malfoy." she decided. "I'm tired of giving you second chances. You don't even deserve them."
This last sentence stung him enough for him to retort immediately:
"I told you I was sorry! What more do you want me to do, bow down and beg you to forgive me?"
"I don't even see why you'd want that, I thought you didn't want us to be friends anymore?" said Granger, her voice as high-pitched as ever. "That we weren't even friends, that you still hated me just as much, according to you!"
"We're not friends!" shot back Draco, taking a step forward towards the table. "We never were! We get on well, secretly, but the truth remains the same: you're a Gryffindor, I'm a Slytherin, you're a Muggle-born, I'm a Pureblood, we're not supposed to talk to each other!"
"So why do you come here?"
"And why are you sitting at our table?"
Granger was suddenly at a loss for words. She opened her mouth, closed it again, looked at the table and bit her lip when she saw she had no argument. Draco felt a rush of pride explode inside him at the thought that Granger had actually sat there hoping he'd come and talk to her.
"You said I was stubborn." Granger said after a moment, her voice suddenly less convincing than before.
"And you called me a coward. Which is worse." Draco retorted.
"You said I was a Mudblood." she said, more softly.
"I only said that to make you go away."
"And what do I have to call you to make you go away, now?"
"Can I offer you a deal, to make it up to you?"
Granger rolled her eyes, again.
"You honestly think a deal is going to change that? Aren't you tired of negotiating?"
"At least hear what it is!" impatient Draco crossed his arms.
She sighed loudly, clearly bored by this conversation. But Draco knew her well enough to know that it had piqued her unhealthy curiosity.
"I'm listening." she said after several seconds of thought.
"Am I at least allowed to sit down? My legs hurt from standing so much."
"Nonsense. You play Quidditch!" shouted Granger.
She leaned forward to move her bag regardless. Draco smiled proudly and took a seat in his chair of choice, right across from Granger, hidden by the shelves set up all around them, in his secret, cinnamon-scented bubble.
"I'll make you a deal: you get to ask me five questions." he offered. "About me, my life, my family, whatever, you name it, and I'll answer you honestly."
Granger's chocolate eyes suddenly sparkled with curiosity, and her face immediately came to life. Draco was still amazed at how easy it was to read her emotions on her features.
"How do I know you won't lie?" she asked.
"I promise I won't lie." he said, showing both palms, to prove his honesty. "Malfoy's word."
"Any question?" she asked.
"Any question at all." confirmed Draco. "You're finally allowed to let out your misguided curiosity, Granger, enjoy it. However, you have until tonight."
"Tonight?!"
"Yes, you have to ask your five questions tonight, before midnight." said Draco, consulting the time: 7.30pm.
"'Alright..." she said, already thinking about her first question.
"Until you figure out what you're going to ask, I'm going to work."
"Working on what?" she asked, glancing around him.
"I haven't made any progress on my homework, over the holidays."
Hearing this, Granger opened her mouth wide in disbelief, and her eyes widened considerably, as if she'd just heard the biggest outrage of her entire life.
"What?!" she choked out. "But we've got an essay due tomorrow! In History of Magic!"
"That's just what I'm about to do now." Draco said, trying to hide his smile as he saw Granger's face contorted in astonishment in front of him. "Will you help me?"
Immediately, her face closed.
"I certainly won't. You're not forgiven yet." she retorted dryly.
"Okay, fine. Would you at least be so kind as to hand me a roll of parchment? I don't have my stuff."
Granger hesitated for a moment, obviously tempted to make him go back and forth just to get his bag from his dormitory, but finally agreed to give him a quill, a roll of parchment, and her History of Magic textbook. Draco began to write the title "The Strategies Implemented by the Goblins in the Great Rebellion of 1612."
"You know you'll never have time to finish that before tonight?" said Granger, her lips pursed as she watched him write.
He had barely finished the "r" in "great", and she was already interrupting him.
"If you helped me, I'd get there even faster." Draco commented without looking up from his parchment.
Granger clicked her tongue and preferred to take a sip of tea.
Before long, the calm and relaxing atmosphere of the Library took possession of Draco, and he found himself in a state of tranquillity he hadn't felt for days. He wrote much faster than usual, suddenly inspired by the essay he hadn't been able to start since the beginning of the holidays. Granger kept reading sentences here and there, thinking that he hadn't noticed her.
When he began the third paragraph, Granger cleared her throat and waited for him to look up before speaking:
"I have my first question."
Draco put down his quill and waited patiently.
"Who do you love most in the world?" she asked, her cheeks flushed, but her eyes determined.
Draco thought seriously about the question. He was tempted to answer "myself", but he was sure Granger wouldn't believe it.
"My mother." he replied. "And Pansy."
"That's two people." she said, pointing at the obvious.
"The only two people I've ever said 'I love you' to." he explained earnestly.
"Oh."
"Maybe to Blaise too, but under the influence of alcohol, I can't remember." he added with a smile.
Granger smiled a tiny smile, and went back to her own thoughts. Draco continued to write his essay.
He was reading a passage about the truce of December 1913 in the textbook when Granger spoke up again:
"What is your greatest fear?"
Draco raised his head and his gaze wandered to the shelves behind Granger, just long enough to think. He hated bats, but that wasn't his greatest fear. He was always afraid of Mad-Eye when he saw him in the corridors. He was very afraid of the Dementors, but not as much as Theo. And above all, he was terrified of the Dark Lord, but he couldn't really answer that, because he was almost more of a legend than a real person.
He came up with an answer and struggled to formulate it without sounding like a wimp:
"I'd say... Disappointing my parents."
Granger raised her eyebrows:
"Why? Who cares what they think?"
She was so quick to answer a question that had bothered Draco for years.
"I do. They educated me in their own way, and not always well, but I'm grateful to them for making me what I am, for the most part. I appreciate the values they passed on to me. Especially those of my mother. I think if I disappointed her, I'd blame myself for the rest of my life."
Granger considered these words, then asked:
"Do you agree with everything they tell you?"
"Is that your third question?"
She nodded.
"No. Not any more. I've realised that some Pureblood traditions are a load of bollocks. My friends helped me see things differently. And... you, too."
"Me?!" she asked, surprised.
"Yes, with the S.P.E.W, and your origins. I've realised from being around you that Muggle-borns aren't the degenerate monsters my parents told me they were. Even if they can be frightfully curious," he added with a wink in her direction.
Granger's neck became streaked with little red spots as she heard this.
He continued his essay, and Granger finished her tea, puzzled. After a while, Madam Pince extinguished the Library's torches, a sign that it would soon be closing, so they both stood up in unison. Draco handed the quill and textbook back to Granger.
"How are you going to finish this?" she asked, concerned that his essay wasn't done.
"I'll get Theo to do it for me." he said, as a matter of course.
Granger rolled her eyes and put her things away. Then they left the Library. Krum was already gone, perhaps he hadn't noticed Granger at the far table, which made Draco very happy.
They walked through the empty corridors together, unconsciously distancing themselves in case anyone caught them. Without even saying it out loud, they both made their way to their bench. It was pitch black outside, but it wasn't snowing. Draco sat down, followed by Granger, who suppressed a cold shiver.
"I have my fourth question." she said, barely settled. "What is your biggest regret?"
Draco looked at the front of the Castle and answered without missing a beat.
"Casting the spell on your teeth."
She turned to him, shocked:
"What?"
He frowned as he heard the astonishment in her voice.
"In case you hadn't noticed, Granger, I'm not the type of person to apologize. My parents never taught me to, and it took me years before I did, even when I knew full well I'd done something wrong. When I asked you to forgive me after I cast that spell on you, I meant it."
"Your biggest regret is my teeth?" she repeated.
He turned his head towards her and plunged his gaze into hers, hoping it would show his honesty through :
"I never meant for that spell to rebound, I was aiming for Potter. I hated inflicting pain on you."
"Yet you have done so several times since." she said dryly.
"I regret every time I insult you, believe me. I do it impulsively, because I don't know how to express my anger other than in hurtful words. But the spell on your teeth, I felt really bad, for a long time." admitted Draco. "Besides, I liked it. The way your teeth used to look."
"Excuse me? Says the boy who called me a rabbit and a beaver all through school?" retorted Granger with a hollow laugh.
Draco shrugged.
"Proof that I was talking rubbish, wasn't it? I liked your teeth, I realised that when they changed. It was original, it defined you better."
Granger obviously didn't know what to say to that, and Draco couldn't blame her, because he didn't even know how he could have said that to her in the first place. She had this ability to make him talk, to confide in her, it was terrifying. He turned his attention back to the lit windows of the Castle.
Granger pulled her green cardigan tighter against her as she pondered her last question. He wondered if she had an empty jam jar in her bag, she seemed to carry one with her at all times.
"What's your favourite place in the world?" she finally asked.
That was easy. The easiest question since she'd started.
"There's this place, in the Manor..." he began. "It's in the gardens, in the back yard. After the gate, you have to walk for a few seconds to reach a fountain. Right next to it, there's a patch of grass, about this big (he pointed to a space at their feet, tracing it with his finger). Pansy and I lie there every evening and watch the stars. That's my favourite place."
"You look at the stars every night with Pansy, and you can't locate yours on a map?" taunted Granger.
He nudged her arm and flinched at the contact.
"Hey, we're not just stargazing. We talk, about anything and everything, we laugh, sometimes we even fall asleep."
Draco smiled a little as he recalled all the memories of this place. He couldn't wait to go back. He turned to Granger:
"No need to ask yours, anyway. I'll bet you a hundred Galleons it's the Hogwarts Library."
She chuckled:
"True, you win. But there's also a place I love at home. In my living room, there's a big bay window that looks out onto the street, and just below it, my parents have built a bench for me to read on it. I love that bench, I spent my whole childhood on it reading books over and over again."
Draco easily imagined a little Hermione, barely taller than the windowsill, immersed in a book and indifferent to the world around her.
"Sounds like a good place." he admitted with a smile.
They remained silent after that. The winter wind blew steadily through the branches of the trees around them, making a sort of calm, gentle melody in Draco's ears. If he rested his head on the edge of the bench, he could almost fall asleep there. Sometimes, when a gust of wind blew over them, Draco could smell the strawberry in Granger's hair.
"Draco?" Granger suddenly asked, and Draco's heart lifted sharply at hearing his first name from her mouth. He turned his head towards her.
"Hmm?"
"Do you really hate me?"
He almost retorted that that made six questions instead of five, but didn't. After all, if he wanted to be forgiven, he'd better not bother her. And, besides, he secretly loved it when she was interested enough in him to ask him questions, even if he pretended to be annoyed.
He turned completely on the bench to face Granger. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold, and she had slipped her wand into her hair to tie it into a knot, which made her look even more beautiful than she already was. She looked at him with wide, curious eyes, waiting cautiously for his answer.
He thought back to his own words, a few days earlier, on this very bench. "We were never friends, Granger. I still hate you just as much."
"No, I don't hate you." he said in a whisper.
Granger gave a low sigh. Then she lifted her gaze from him to the front of the Castle:
"Good, because I don't either." she admitted. "I don't know why. I should, though."
Draco felt an inner euphoria when he heard this, but he didn't put anything on his face so that Granger wouldn't notice. She turned to him again:
"I still don't forgive you." she warned, her voice suddenly firmer. "I don't fully trust you yet, because I'm afraid you'll reject me suddenly, like you did before. But I agree to talk to you again. On one condition."
"What's that?"
"You have to talk to me too. Really talk to me. Confide in me, and really tell me how you feel, like now. I'd like to have unlimited questions. I promise I won't repeat anything to anyone. But I want to be your friend, Draco, so you're going to have to make an effort there. Because yes, we're going to be friends, from now on. Do you understand?"
Draco held out his hand to show her that he agreed. Granger hastened to shake it. Their palms were icy cold.
"Deal."
.
.
Hermione
.
.
Hermione wished Malfoy a good night and made her way back up to the Common Room before curfew, her head full of questions. Hermione was clever, she knew that, but every time she spoke face to face with Draco Malfoy, she felt like she was losing her mind. He was the only person who managed to throw her off balance enough for her to run out of words. She knew that talking to him in the Library was not a good idea, that he was an arrogant, mean, disdainful boy, and that she was supposed to ignore him.
Yet she couldn't stop herself. When she'd seen him beside the hidden table in the Library, she hadn't been able to stop her heart from making a little leap of joy in her chest. And when he'd called her "our table", she'd suddenly lost the ability to speak.
It was stupid. If Ron had reacted the way he had when she'd danced with Krum, how would he react if he found out she was talking to Draco Malfoy in the Library every night? That she called him Draco? That she helped him with his work? That she was secretly becoming friends with him?
Hermione arrived in the Common Room, which smelt of wood fires and comfort. Ron and Seamus were playing chess on the small table opposite the fireplace, and when Hermione sat down on the sofa next to them, no one asked where she was. She took a book from her bag and opened it randomly, but it was more of an excuse not to be bothered.
Her heart was mixed. On the one hand, she still hated Malfoy, he was Harry's worst enemy, he had insulted Ron and his family many times, she hated his values, his parents, his wickedness, his insufferable arrogant smile. He was the one who had Buckbeak condemned without feeling the slightest compassion for him. He was the one who had put a curse on her teeth and taught her that her blood was "impure".
But on the other hand, she loved his personality when it was just the two of them. He was cultured, curious, almost kind, and sometimes even funny. He didn't spare her, he told her honestly what he thought, even if it led to deeper conversations, debates that she would never have with Harry or Ron. She liked it when he came, she liked discovering things behind his enigmatic persona.
But she was afraid, too. Because the two personalities often intermingled, he was impulsive, and sometimes his anger got the better of him, and he sent everything flying. He had hurt her. And even though he always apologised afterwards, Hermione kept wondering what would happen next time.
Reasonably, she knew she should stop talking to him. She had enough problems with Ron and Krum to inflict another one on herself. She knew it wasn't right. But the excitement of their reconciliation was too much for her to stop.
Hermione was reading the same sentence from her book for the hundredth time when Ginny sat down next to her.
"Hi Mione!" she greeted cheerfully. "What are you reading? Classes haven't even started yet!"
"Oh, just a novel I borrowed from the Library." said Hermione, setting the book down on the small table. "Would you like some tea?"
Ginny agreed and Hermione prepared two cups of herbal tea, which they both drank as they told each other their latest news. Ginny told her about her day, her secret Quidditch training sessions, her studies. Hermione listened attentively, eager to put Draco Malfoy in the back of her mind and think about something else.
"By the way, did you hear the scoop?" asked Ginny, her eyes twinkling, synonymous with new gossip.
"No, what?"
"You must have been really stuffed at the Library all day not to hear that!" exclaimed the redhead. "Pansy Parkinson and Leo Hills are dating!"
"Really?" asked Hermione, trying inwardly to put a face to Leo Hills' name.
"Yeah, they've been kissing all day. I was surprised, I was sure she was going out with Malfoy, but I guess not, or they split up over the holidays, and she's trying to make him jealous. Either way, it doesn't seem to be working."
"Oh... I see..." said Hermione, suddenly puzzled.
She distinctly remembered when Draco had told her that he wasn't dating Pansy, and that they were just very good friends. She wondered what he thought of this new couple, and if he was really jealous.
"What about you, then?" asked Ginny with a smile. "Any news from Krum?"
"Nothing in particular, we've chatted a few times, and he's offered to carry my books after the Library a time or two."
Ginny frowned.
"Are you no longer interested in him, or is it because of...?"
She moved her head discreetly towards Ron, who was still immersed in his chess game a little way off and couldn't hear anything of the conversation between the two girls.
"Yes, it's because of Ron." Hermione lied, hastening to seize the valid opportunity.
They eventually changed the subject, then Ginny finished her herbal tea and went to bed. At the end of their game, Ron and Seamus said good night to Hermione and went upstairs. Gradually, the whole Common Room emptied, and Hermione returned to her reading.
"Hermione? Hermione?"
She opened her eyes. She hadn't realised that she had fallen asleep in the Common Room. She was half lying on the sofa, facing the fire that was still crackling in the den of the fireplace and had warmed her face. She still held her book between her numb fingers.
"Hmm?"
She looked up and saw Harry in the half-light of the Common Room. He had hastily put on his glasses and his hair was more dishevelled than ever.
"Harry? What time is it?"
"Nearly four in the morning. You must have dozed off reading." he said, pointing at the book.
"Oh... yeah, probably. I should stop reading it, it's really not interesting."
Hermione stood up, running a hand over her face. Then she analysed the room, the windows that looked out on the black sky, and Harry, who was wearing his striped pyjamas.
"What are you doing here so late?" realised Hermione, her eyebrows furrowing.
"I couldn't sleep." he said instinctively.
And Hermione must have really known Harry by heart, because she saw straight away that he was lying. He sat down next to her on the sofa and Hermione pulled her legs her stomach.
"Harry..." she began softly. "What's the matter? Are you stressed, about the second Task? Is that it?"
"No... Well, yes, too, but I've..." Harry slid his glasses against his nose in a nervous gesture. "I had a nightmare."
He avoided looking at her as he said this. Hermione didn't ask him what it was about: she had no trouble imagining it was about his parents. She nodded and put her hand over his:
"Do you want to stay here for a bit?"
Harry nodded, staring at the fire in front of him.
Eventually they both fell asleep, across the sofa.
.
.
Draco
.
.
At breakfast on Monday morning, Blaise's Daily Prophet fell next to his bowl of porridge. On the cover was a small photo of Hagrid, his back to the camera in his vegetable garden, with the words "Dumbledore giant mistake."
Draco swallowed hard and glanced furtively at the Gryffindors' table: fortunately, Granger wasn't there, or even Potter and Weasley. He hadn't thought that the article would have appeared so quickly; he would have liked to have been able to explain to Granger beforehand. He picked up the paper and opened it to the correct page.
"Did the article come out?" asked Pansy excitedly as she tried to read backwards, facing Draco. "Does it mention me? Does it mention my name?"
"Merlin, Hagrid's a half-giant?!" exclaimed Theo, who was reading next to Draco.
There was a general outcry of scandal. Everyone looked for Hagrid at the teachers' table, but he wasn't there. Draco was shocked: he would never have thought that the gamekeeper could be half-giant. There had always been something odd about him, starting with his impressive size, but the idea that he could belong to such a terrifying race of monsters had never crossed his mind.
As Blaise and Theo continued to read the article, Draco wondered if Granger already knew, or if she was going to find out through this article. He hoped Potter would be furious, because he'd always had this strange bond with Hagrid that Draco had never understood.
The first class of the new term was Arithmancy. So Blaise, Pansy, Theo and Draco didn't have too much time to discuss the article, because they had to split up: Blaise and Pansy were off to Divination, and Theo and Draco to Arithmancy. They both walked into the classroom and sat down in their usual places: Granger was already there, taking out her quill, in her perfectly pressed Gryffindor uniform. She must not have read the article yet, because she didn't scowl at Draco as he sat across the aisle.
The teacher arrived and Draco had to concentrate on the lesson. It was hard to know that Granger was right next to him, and that he couldn't observe her. He could, however, smell her strawberry shampoo, and wondered again how he'd managed not to smell it before.
"I'm now going to hand in your assessments." Professor Vector announced to the class.
She went through the rows to return their scrolls. Draco received an Acceptable, Granger received an Outstanding and smiled proudly.
Draco jumped when Theo let out a terrified cry. He turned to him and looked at his mark, written in red ink at the top of his parchment. A single letter.
T.
Troll.