Flickering Hope

This is my first attempt writing Draco/Hermione content. I'm humbled by the extraordinary talent that is out there and inspired my love for this pairing.

I hope I have made my fellow Dramionites proud.

Enjoy x

Disclaimer: HP and characters are not mine.

"I know you're planning something," she said quietly, making herself known. She had escaped the suffocating Gryffindor tower in favour of her secluded spot within the library stacks. Ron's recent pass-time of sucking Lavender Brown's face apparently also sucked the air out of the room.

"What are you doing here?" Draco spat, hoping he had swallowed his surprise before she'd looked up from her book.

"I could ask you the same thing." She watched as he feigned nonchalance but didn't miss the way his shoulders straightened as if preparing to occlude. Hermione watched him before offering, "The concupiscent common room was feeling … cramped."

"Ginger's still weaselling around in the lavender bush then, eh?" Draco smirked. Hermione gaped at his crassness before blinking away the hurt in her eyes and looking back at the book in her lap. "Oh come on, Granger! Surely you're not pining after Weasley. You'd be bored in a week if the pair of you actually got together."

"I don't see how that's any of your business." She scowled at him, watching his too-thin frame lean against the shelves behind him. "So… why are you here?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business." He shot back at her.

There was silence between them but neither moved to leave. In the dim lights of the library, Hermione was struck by how dramatically Draco's frame had changed. Gone were the smooth sweeps of his face - now replaced with purple rings and hollowed cheeks. The athletic build she had once admired was reduced to sharp corners. He was gaunt; a fragment of his former self.

Something pulled at Hermione's chest. She reached into her trusted beaded bag and revealed the last of her liquorice wands. She placed one in her mouth before offering them to Draco. At first, he looked at the offing in disgust, but his stomach betrayed a loud grumble. Draco let out a small sigh before taking one of the wands and returning to his spot against the shelves.

"When was the last time you ate a full meal?" Hermione asked, watching as he savoured the candy like it was his last.

"Why so many questions?" Draco deflected.

Hermione took a patient breath. "In case no one else is asking."

Draco met her knowing eyes, lit by the dimming candlelight beside her. He didn't respond because he didn't need to, so he looked at the floor instead.

"I won't pretend to understand what you're going through, but I know you're up to something." She said, closing her book and gathering her things. She stood to leave, levelling a sad look at his shrunken form. "You will always have a place with us…should you want it."

She lightly squeezed his forearm, fingers draped over his mark. He shuddered as the comforting pressure lifted and she disappeared into the darkened stacks. For the first time in months his chest expanded and he released a breath. Draco stared at the spent candle on the table, burned to a stub but continuing to douse the space in flickering light. She had left him with a fragile, flickering hope. Hope, and half a bag of liquorice wands.