Prince of snakes | Dramione

Chapter 8

"𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒, 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒."

"You should come, 'Mione," Harry chimed in for the second time as they were all settled in the Hogwarts library.

Hermione was accustomed to accompanying her friends wherever they went. Not this time. Celebrating in the Gryffindor common room, drinking with abandon, laughing and dancing with an air of serenity? That was definitely not for her. So she took great care to contemplate the pages of her knowledge-heavy book with a misleading determination. Her best friend wasn't fooled; he could pierce her armor, and with his head tilted, he continued to analyze her. She sighed wearily, her gaze clouded with a veil of raw and unyielding emotion in their presence. Slapping her book shut with a sharp movement, the sound echoed through the fifty rows of the library.

"What exactly are you trying to do, Harry?" began the young Gryffindor, her eyes darting to the ceiling in a falsely annoyed gesture. "ou never come to study here, especially with Seamus."

The tall man winked back at her and pretended to focus on his work with haste, feeling the heat. His parchments were upside down, and Hermione could read them: How to Charm a Witch, Ten Unbeatable Solutions. She struggled to stifle a gasp of surprise. Meeting his gaze and realizing that his parchment was upside down, he flipped it over, scratching his eyebrow, his cheeks blazing crimson.

Hermione pinched her right thigh to prevent herself from laughing, while Harry remained oblivious.

"I came to finish my Divination homework, as I told you. I always leave it until the last minute, remember?"

Hermione summoned all her courage to prevent a shiver of disgust from creeping up her spine upon hearing the subject Harry supposedly had to revise. She hated this class, if not as much as the professor who taught it: Sybill Trelawney.

"Exactly, and that's why you shouldn't be here before nightfall, begging me to help you."

Seamus chuckled under his breath at her retort and buried his nose in his books when Harry shot him a dark look.

Seamus chuckled under his breath at her retort and buried his nose in his books when Harry glared at him.

"People change, don't they?" Harry muttered, a hint of outrage in his throat.

"Listen, Harry. You may have defeated Voldemort, but you really need to work on this lying skill, because honestly... it's not great. Now, spit it out. I don't have all day."

Running a shaky hand through his finely combed black hair, Harry sighed, then flashed a mocking smile. Merlin, of course she had nothing else to do and her idiot friend knew it! Except maybe think of a new tactic to piss off Draco Malfoy. That jester had dared to bring Zabini and Theodore back to their dormitory. They had partied so hard that the deafening walls of shrill music had almost burst Hermione's eardrums. And that wasn't all!

A horde of students had shown up in the living room in little skirts and completely tipsy. Theo had quickly been ridden by a blonde from Ravenclaw house, while Malfoy, with a joint in hand, had taken to watching her, biting his lower lip. She had felt her face flush under his more than lascivious gazes, and when the Slytherin turned away from her under Pansy Parkinson's touch, her hands gripping the waistband of his pants, Hermione had fled to her room, furious.

He was detestable to an unimaginable degree! He didn't even do his prefect duties. At night, she did her rounds alone, and exhausted upon returning to her dormitory, all she wanted was to lie in her bed with a good book in her hands. And that was impossible with Draco and his friends around.