Promised Love ~ Dramione

Winter Break - Ch. 28

Hermione's face reddened as she raised her cup to her mouth, not confirming nor denying the question.

"You have!"Ginny accused.

"Why haven't you kissed yet?" Daphne demanded, her usual calm being thrown out the window.

"We almost did... a few times"Hermione mumbled, swirling her cup.

"And you didn't tell me!?" Ginny snapped. "I thought we were best friends!"

"He didn't tell me either!" Pansy scoffed. "How many times?"

"What?" Hermione had lost track of their conversation.

"How many times have you almost-kissed?"

"When was the last time you almost-kissed?" Lavender corrected.

Pansy spared her a glare but was still intrigued. Hermione went a deeper shade of red as she mumbled an answer.

"What?" They all sat up.

"Last week"

There was a silence. "When was the first?" Pansy asked slowly.

Hermione stayed silent, trying to remember when exactly it had started. "At my parents house" She muttered. Pansy cackled as Ginny's eyes widened.

"2 months ago"

"Yeah"

"you've been keeping 2 months worth of information from me!?" Ginny snapped.

"Nothing happened-"

"What about the next?" Pansy interrupted.

Hermione paused. "In the hall- after Viktor came"

"In plain sight?" Astoria asked.

Hermione gave a short nod. "And a few times before that... then last week, when he called Blaise to bring a bottle to our room" She gave an annoyed sigh and shot a glare at Daphne. "Your loverboy interrupted us"

Daphne smirked. "So you really do want to kiss him"

Hermione looked away. "I'm not sure he wants the same. He's kept a bit of distance this week. And if he wanted to, I'm sure he would've"

"You want to, don't you? Then why haven't you kissed him yet?" Ginny asked.

"I... I don't know" She mumbled.

Lavender cleared her throat, gaining their attention. "I don't want to be rude. But I really do have some questions. Other than his looks, I don't see how you- how anyone could like Draco Malfoy?"

The three Slytherins immediately opted into defence mode but Hermione spoke before they could.

"He isn't as bad as he makes himself seem" She said, her eyes on her cup. "For one, he's thoughtful, he'll take something into consideration and tell you nothing about it" She explained.

"Every Saturday, we go to his apartment- one we've been turning into a comfortable home. I didn't think we'd live in an apartment, I expected him to move into a manor, Malfoy manor. And I didn't think he'd give a shit if I cared or not. But no" She took a breath before continuing.

"He chose the apartment. The apartment where you guys are close to us. It's near Grimmauld place, and it's on a muggle street but the building itself is magical. He knew Blaise and you, Parkinson, he knew you'd be moving there as well and said that Luna and Neville will be around. He took my feelings into consideration and made sure I wouldn't be lonely"

The other 5 in the room were silent but Hermione knew they were staring. "Another thing, when he began buying me clothes, he didn't mention it. He just put them in my dresser and kept his mouth shut. He won't let me pay- he won't even tell me where he gets them" She let out a soft laugh. "It's cute and... I appreciate him for it. For thinking of my comfort after everything that's happened"