Would You Still Love Me?

S e v e n

Draco held her tighter. Draco was secretly glad he had asked and also regretting doing so in the first place. They were both orphans. He let go of her and pulled her into a side hug and continued walking. She continued to cry quietly.

∆ ∆ ∆

They had stopped in a clearing probably about 35 miles from the last one. Hermione was playing with Lucida, tickling her whiskers and laughing when she shook her head. Draco smiled in relief. It was good to hear her laugh again. A big part of the afternoon had consisted of crying, which he understood but was hard.

He had Lyra out and was training her. Having her dig up objects he had buried. "Good girl" he praised as she brought back his golden watch. He looked over at Hermione and her necklace again. He didn't want her to cry again but he wanted to do something special. "Find anything pretty, some sort of string and a sharp rock" he instructed Lyra.

She nodded her head obidiently and left to gather these objects. He went and sat by Hermione. "Hi Draco"

"Hi Hermione" she smiled again. "I've basically told you my darkest secret what's yours?" She interrogated Draco. Draco recoiled for a second than leaned towards her. "I think you probably know....."

"Tell me something no one else knows" he looked up at her debating whether or not to tell her this. "You were my first real crush"

"What?"

"I had a crush on you at Hogwarts but I knew my family wouldn't take it well so I stayed away and was awful to you" he admitted. Hermione was stunned but she managed to regain her voice. "You liked me?"

"Yes I liked you"

"How do you feel now?" Draco looked away, at the spot where Lyra had been not long ago. He contemplated this than looked back at Hermione and gave her the most honest answer he could "I don't know Hermione, your different, I'm different. We definitely wouldn't have been this close in Hogwarts"

Instead of backing away, Hermione got closer. "Yeah we wouldn't have been and I'm glad that now we're friends" Hermione shouted. Draco smiled and backed away.

She just completely friend-zoned you! His brain yelled. He tried to tell himself this didn't matter, he only thought of her as a friend anyway but he reacted differently.

"Wait you thought we were friends" Draco asked. Hermione looked shocked but nodded weakly. "I would've never come looking for you if the world wasn't in danger! That's not friends that people who are forced to be in the same space" he spat.

"We call each other by our first names and I made you touch a unicorn" she mumbled. "That's not being friends I don't have friends! At least not ones like you. You actually thought I'd want to be friends with a bushy haired beaver! A m-" he denied. Hermione stood bolt upright and looked straight into his eyes. "Don't even finish that. Say that word and I hex you and leave" she threatened.

"I'm glad we have an understanding" Draco announced and walked back to where Lyra was now waiting for him. Hermione looked on, trying not to acknowledge the tears in her eyes. She sat back down and pet Lucida again, rarely stealing glances at the blonde haired Slytherin but of course he didn't look back.

As Draco sat by Lyra he took the objects from her. "Good girl" he praised again. She had managed to get a roll of thread, an incredibly sharp piece of broken glass and many different pieces of jewels and other objects.

He looked back at Hermione for a second than turned back around. Why had he said all that to her?

She's made it clear she could never think of you as anything more than a friend, this helps you keep your feelings at bay if she's not your friend you can go back to thinking of her as nothing