Wednesday, January 23rd, 1996
Draco paced the tower, anxious for Hermione to come. Every few minutes he would check the watch on his wrist. She should've been there by now. Had something happened to her? was she alright? Was she perfectly fine? Was he waiting for nothing? Was she standing him up?
Draco thought of the way that Hermione had been so upset about Ron. Perhaps she still had feelings for him, perhaps she was with him now. No, Hermione wasn't the type to do that, and if she had made up with him, she definitely wouldn't be all warm and fuzzy to him right away, that just wasn't a Hermione thing to do.
As if on cue to his watch, ticking her exactly 15 minutes late, Hermione stepped through the door.
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Her heart stopped when she saw him. He looked handsome in his black suit, but then again, he always looked handsome. He stared at her with a mischievous smirk on his mouth. She smirked back.
"You're late." He announced. She walked over to where he stood and sat down, looking innocently up at him. Draco felt his irritation melt away at the site of her like this. Draco watched her contently
"Sorry." She shrugged flirtatiously. "Weasley held me up."
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His breathe hitched at the way that she had called him Weasley, as if they were actually on the same side."Ronald?" He asked. All humor had left his face.
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"The one and only." She sighed. Hermione really didn't like telling peoples her problems, but there was something about Draco she felt she could trust. That's what Draco and Hermione did, they told each other their problems, comforted each other, and they trusted each other not to tell a soul.
"What did he have to say?" Draco asked in a voice that Hermione couldn't read. She didn't have to read his voice though, it was written in his eyes. He wanted to know if they were friends again, if she still needed him or not.
"We fought." She confirmed. A look flashed over Draco's face that confused Hermione, was it possibly anger, jealousy?
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, his voice filling with sincerity. It shocked her to now end. He hated Ron, and usually wanted to avoid the topic when he was talking to her. Hermione told him everything that had happened.
After she finished, Draco wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She hesitated, then leaned into his gesture.
This was the first time that they had ever touched. The first time that they comforting had taken a physical turn, and Hermione was terrified.
===========THE NEXT DAY===========
"We have been friends for years, and now that you are snogging that daft dimbo you don't want to talk to me!" Hermione screamed. Pink in the face. She was so angry that she didn't even know what to do with herself. She shook her hands angrily, willing them back down to her side, instead of reached out and punching him square in the jaw.
"You only care because you wish that it was you!" Ron yelled back. His ears were possibly even redder that her face. He was being cruel, and Hermione knew that he knew it. But he didn't care. It was in Ron's nature, when he was intimidated, he would stoop so low it was positively pathetic.
Although that was no longer true, the blow still hurt as much as it would have six weeks ago. Tears burned her eyes. Her and Ron stood facing off in a crowded hallway. A lot of people stood on Ron's side, including his sneering girlfriend who was repeating everything he said as if she were the first to say it. Hermione ignored her completely, not knowing how to handle the small blonde standing off to the side.
Hermione looked at Ron, giving him a look of utter betrayal, his face softened slightly, but before he could answer, she took off and locked herself in a near by classroom. As soon as the door shut she broke down. Why did he have to be so cruel? She thought about what he had said, and felt suddenly sick. A large number of people had heard it. The news would be all over Hogwarts by now. The last thing she needed was for everyone to think that she was still not over Ron.
She had forgotten about everything relevant, so she jumped when she heard a soft rap on the classroom door. She turned towards it, and scowled in disgust, god people are nosy.
"Let me be!" She begged, expecting it to be Harry.
"It's me" She was shocked to hear Draco's voice on the other side of the door. He sounded anxious, he probably didn't want anybody to see him standing outside of the door that she was just run through.
She got up and unlocked it. She let him in, then locked it again.
When he stepped in he walked over to a desk and sat on top of it, looking her in the eyes with a soft expression.
"That was quite a scene you two made back there." he said calmly. Hermione felt shame over take her. He had probably over heard everything. She hoped that he knew her well enough to realize that what Ron had said wasn't true, at least not anymore.
"You saw that?" She asked, sniffing her nose, and wiping the tears from her cheeks with her thumb
"All of it." He confirmed, leaning back on his palms.. "I have to admit, that was a low blow on his half."
"It's not even true!" She cried. "And everyone heard it." And with that, she started crying again.
Draco hopped off the desk, and walked up to her slowly and wrapped both of his arms around her body. She shuddered against him, but didn't protest.
She froze, suddenly realizing what was happening. He was hugging her. What is happening? She wasn't sure whether she liked it or not.
His embrace was warm. After a moment she let herself melt into his hold.
They stood there for a long time, his arms around her, her head on his chest, listening to his heart beat rapidly against his ribs. They finally split up when they heard a rush of footsteps heading down towards the great hall for supper. She sobbed, but eventually they subsided, and they stood in silence. She closed her eyes, loosing herself into the intoxicating feeling of comfort that she hadn't felt in a very, very long time.
"Are you hungry?" He asked, breaking her trance, he pushed her back far enough to look down into her face.
Hermione shook her head, she pealed her body away from his, and felt a coldness grip her. "I think that I will just go up to the common room for a few minutes of quiet, before everyone comes back"
Draco nodded. He looked as if he was about to say something, but thought better of it, and without a word, he turned around and walked out the door, he didn't even glance back.
Hermione left a few minutes later, finally having composed herself. As she said she would, she headed up to the common room for a few minutes of peace.
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As Draco walked down to supper, he thought about how close he had been to grabbing the back of her neck and kissing her. He thought about last night up in the astronomy tower, when she had said that Weasley had been the reason she had been so late. He recalled the selfish moment of dread for her and Weasley making up, for when it did happen, she would no longer need him to talk to, or their meetings up in the tower. He dreaded the moment when he would have to share her with the red headed oaf, and he dreaded whether or not they would still be friends when her and Ron made up.
He shook his head. If she reciprocated his feelings of friendship, she would still climb the steps up to the tower every third night, and she wouldn't end their relationship.
During supper he barely touched his food. He watched the empty spot where Hermione usually sat. Anger filled him, and it was directed towards Ron, how dare he have the nerve to say something so personal in front of all of those people. How was he ever supposed to gain back the trust that Hermione had once had in him.
Draco went to bed early that night, even though he had no intention of sleeping. As he lied awake in bed he dreamed about what he would do to Hermione next time that he got her alone again. He dreamed about her thin, pink lips meeting his. He dreamed about seeing all of the emotions flow across her face as he pulled her against him, and didn't let her go.
She had looked so impossibly beautiful then, when the tears had fallen down her cheeks, so vulnerable.
The thing that bothered Draco though was the painful loneliness in her eyes. He wanted to hurt Weasley for causing that pain. He remembered the way that he had seen red when Ron was yelling at her, cornering her in the hallway. He remembered how small and Fragile she had felt in his arms. Like she could have broke if he squeezed too hard. The scariest part was that Small and Fragile, just weren't things that Hermione Granger was. She was lonely, and Draco could relate to that.
He thought about what he would give to have Hermione wearing Green and white, rather than red and gold, to have her sitting at the slytherin common table tomorrow at breakfast, rather than alone at the Gryffindor table. Most of all he wished that she wasn't the thing that his father despised most...
His father...Voldemort...Dumbledore. Anxiety clamped Draco around the throat like a hot hand, he couldn't breathe. Tears welled up in Draco's eyes. he willed himself not to cry.
What would happen to his new friendship when he finished the dark lords task. What would she think of him. He would soon be loosing on of the brightest, purest things about his life, and he hadn't even got a taste of it yet.
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Hermione stayed up most of the night. Thinking about how things might be different if Draco had ended up in Gryffindor, rather than Slytherin. Hermione couldn't take lying around anymore, so she stole away to the only place that she found comfort. She found herself wishing for something that she had not wished for in a long time. That she could be halfblood, rather than muggleborn.
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I hope you like it so far! I have officially caught up to myself in my notebook so I have to get to writing the next Chapter! Comment what you think! Vote if you like! follow if you want more!