The next time they had class together, Hermione made it a point to dilly dally around, hoping to say something to him but he slipped out before she could even catch his eye.
She tried it again and again, getting more frustrated each time but only having herself to blame. She must have crossed a line without meaning to. Did he take offense at her attempting to catch his attention in Professor Selgentar's class, or was he still insulted at their previous encounter in which she said she would choose Harry over him?
She glanced at the Slytherin table and noted that the few familiar faces that always hung around Draco were still packing up, with Draco nowhere to be found. Didn't he always travel in a pack of Slytherins? Where was he disappearing to without them?
An unwelcome thought crept into her mind. Maybe he'd gotten tired of her and has found someone else to spend time with. After all, she was sure he had shaken off his posse just as she had eluded Harry and Ron when they snuck minutes between classes and spent all that time in the library. Thinking about it made her ears burn while an icy finger slid down her throat, constricting her chest.
Determined to find out what he was up to, with a niggling feeling deep in her chest, she decided to patrol the grounds with the pretense of finding a study nook where she could go and be alone.
She found plenty of nice places that she could work undisturbed but she always managed to find something wrong with it. A room by the stairs of the divination tower was too small, although it could comfortably fit two. There's the carved stone benches tucked between the hospital wing and the quad, which she found too hard to sit on for extended periods of time.
A few times, she wandered down into the dungeons although knowing that there wasn't anything down there that could be remotely interesting to her, she had herself convinced that she mustn't be biased and that every corner of Hogwarts deserved to be explored. If anything this search has taught her, it's that she's such a brilliant liar she's almost got herself fooled.
All that was for nothing, though, as she found herself walking side by side with Draco, holding a stack of parchments to deliver to a professor's office – their duties as head boy and girl of their respective houses.
"I haven't seen you around for a bit," Hermione said, biting her lip while waiting for a reply.
"The library lost its appeal," came the curt reply.
"Well, er- Have you come across anywhere you liked?"
"Not particularly."
"Where have you been spending all your time, then?"
There was a notable silence as Hermione struggled to find the words to break this ice between them. It has been almost a month since the library incident, or had it been two? What was natural between them during their library days now felt forced and awkward.
"Alone."
They arrived at Professor Selgentar's office and Draco let himself in with an air of familiarity. Upon reaching her desk, he dumped the parchments on the table and left without another word.
Stung, Hermione watched his retreating back and wondered how she had ever bridged that gap. Draco seemed impossibly far, as though a chasm had opened between them.
It's been hard, avoiding Hermione, but Draco managed it by ducking into the girl's toilet on the second floor. Professor Selgentar has been pressing him for information at every opportunity and he felt it was best if he stayed away. It was disappointing that the stolen moments he had with the Gryffindor, which made life at school all the more bearable, had been stolen from him as well.
He spent free period tossing and turning in his bed, wondering if he should approach Snape after all and let him deal with the sneaky Selgentar – whom he distrusted deeply.
At one point he might have thought himself self-important when she revealed herself to him. But Draco was a lot humbler now than he was when his father was not behind bars.
Draco gave a little frustrated groan and threw a pillow straight into a wall. What about Dumbledore?
Was it possible for him to fix all of his problems by going to the one he had been commanded to kill? He almost giggled at the prospect but straightened up instead and put on his poker face because it was time for another dull class in this dull school that made up his dull and soon to be short life.
"Draco, a word." He was pulled aside yet again after a painfully boring day by his least favourite person in the world.
"Professor, I honestly haven't got anything for you – you are well aware that we haven't spoken in weeks? You've witnessed her little display during your class about how I was in league with the Dark Lord. What makes you think she's interested in being my friend?" He said through gritted teeth, patience wearing thin.
Selgentar's eyes narrowed, "And what brought on this sudden hostility?"
Draco decided to stick as closely to the truth as he could, "Potter happened. He saw us in the library and yelled at her. What little friendliness we had is dead now."
"Is that so? And you couldn't turn this to your advantage?"
"Potter hates me, I was hoping to get a little more time for Hermione to sweet talk him into seeing me as a friend, but..." He shrugged his slender shoulders, letting them sag with true disappointment.
"Very well, Draco. Thank you for sharing your insights with me." Her voice was colder than it has ever been and it sent a chill up the boy's spine.
"That's it, then?"
"Yes." Professor Selgentar breathed and swept Draco out of her office. His knees almost buckled at the immense relief that overtook him, but he managed to walk away with steady strides.
They say the calm before the storm is exceptionally loud – you can feel the energy in the air and so everything else falls away. When it finally hits, you will be uprooted by the chaos amplified by the peace that came before.
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The Lost Timeline | Dramione | ✔
Fanfiction"Do not make the mistake of thinking I care what you think of me." She looked down and saw her book in his other hand. The unexpected kindness in the midst of poison was more than she could bear and she took it from him quickly before breaking into...
