The Seventh Year (Dramione Fanfiction)

Chapter 11 - Light Reading

Don't own characters
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Draco lazed on one of the armchairs in front of the fire and scanned the page of a book that had been sitting nearby. Day two of the holidays was just as bad - if not worse, than the first day. Draco's mind was abuzz about what had happened the night before, he couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Hermione had hugged him, and he'd let her. Draco slowly turned the page and let out a yawn as he heard the door to the girls' dormitories open, causing him to look up. Hermione smiled lopsidedly at him and made her way over to the unoccupied armchair. Draco's mood was a lot brighter even though it would be just him and Hermione for the holidays - because he knew that when Blaise returned he'd have his friend back. For some odd reason, Draco also found himself thinking about how comfortable he was here. He'd talked to Hermione in these armchairs before, and it actually hadn't been a half-bad talk, maybe he was almost Hermione's friend. No, actually - he's certainly not her friend.

"Morning." Draco snapped, although he hadn't intended to, he was just trying to halt the path his thoughts were going down.

"Morning to you too..." Hermione replied, clearly confused about the tone he'd used.

"Sorry." Draco said awkwardly,  and then, after seeing Hermione's reaction, he added, "What? I really didn't mean to sound so annoyed."

"...Right. Well I'm glad to see you're a morning person." She concluded, and Draco saw a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Are you laughing at me, Granger?" He spluttered, feigning hurt.

"Maybe." She smiled, and Draco saw her lean back in her chair a little bit.

"You'll regret it! I'll hex you before you can blink. Just you-" He began, a scowl on his face but mischief in his eyes.

Hermione laughed as Draco's mouth sealed itself shut and stayed that way. His eyes darted around the room and finally came to rest on the wand in her hand as he stood up and walked over to her, an expression of annoyance on his face. Hermione's laughter eased off as Draco grew nearer and she too, stood.

"What do you have to say?" She asked fiercely, then chuckled again, "Oh wait."

Draco just rolled his eyes and pointed to his mouth and then her wand, clearly asking for Hermione to use the counter-spell.

"Sorry, I don't understand. You'll have to spell it out for me." Hermione laughed again, but this time she waved her wand and his mouth sprung open at once.

"You're lucky I'm hungry." He sneered at her, and then turned on his heel and strode out of the room, on his way to his secret passage - and then the great hall for breakfast.

~

You're lucky I'm hungry.

Hermione had to stop herself from visibly grimacing about how much that sentence reminded her of Ron. She reminded herself wordlessly that they were far from together anymore and breathed in. It was unlike her to think about Ron much anymore, but it still hurt a little when she did. Hermione slowly put her wand back into her pocket and tugged at a loose strand of hair on her head. Whatever hair gel Draco used, Hermione needed that, his hair wouldn't move in a hurricane. She rolled her eyes at the thought of Draco. She knew she was happy that they were somewhat becoming friends, but something about him being what amortentia smells like to her was slightly unnerving. She would kill to know what he smelt in the love potion, just out of curiosity.

Before she could think much longer, she decided to head off for breakfast too, then maybe head down to the library for a while.

Hermione walked quietly into the great hall, where Draco sat at a table with Professor Sprout, Slughorn, McGonagall and a few other students. She almost laughed aloud at the silence over the table and the look on Draco's face, but thought better of it. Hermione smiled at her professors as she too, sat down and began to pour cereal into the bowl infront of her.