They found a compartment easily, their regular one always ready for them. As the went in, Hermione waited behind and caught Theo before he entered. "We're gonna go get food from the trolley"Hermione said to Pansy. Pansy smirked and shrugged, going into the compartment and closing the door behind her.
"Granger-"
"Shut up for a second" She demanded. She grabbed his arm and pushed him in an empty compartment. After Draco's little comment about the confundus charm, she had to know everything.
"I'm flattered, Granger, really, but I can't exactly-"
"Theo"She snapped. "I have questions, and according to Pansy, you have answers"She told. Theo raised an eyebrow, now even more confused.
She put a Muffliato charm around the compartment before turning to him. "Pansy noticed that Malfoy liked me in 6th year. But it was before wasn't it?" She questioned.
Theo smirked. He took his seat and gestured for her to do the same. She was clearly unamused, watching as he conjured a cup of tea.
"Shall I start at the beginning?"He asked. "Obviously"She rolled her eyes, sitting down across from him.
"I think it started with how much he hated you, to be honest, and that hate turned into an obsession. And I think this year, you turned his obsession into affection"Theo told.
"Why exactly did he hate me? I mean it was before I became friends with Harry and Ron"Hermione said.
"It was because of your blood, obviously. Granger, we were told our whole lives that people who came from muggles were stupid, useless, unreliable and a whole bunch of other things. Then we met you and you screwed it all up" He explained.
"I screwed it all up?" she repeated.
"We were all confused, you were against everything we were told but Draco was much more... annoyed by it then we were. He beat everyone in all our classes, everyone but you, the supposed stupid, useless, unreliable mud- muggleborn"
"Then he was determined to find out if you were actually a muggleborn, he went into deep research about Dagworth-Granger and found out practically everything about him. And I think that's where his hate turned into an obsession"
"And what year was that?"
Theo smirked, and leaned back in his chair. "Right after Christmas break in first year" He told, glancing down at his tea. "He doesn't know I know, you know. Me and Blaise were really curious on why he went to the library every other day"
Hermione looked out the window, thinking. "And... Pansy said..."Hermione couldn't bring herself to say it, now feeling a bit embarrassed.
"He kept an eye on you after that, and began picking on Weasley and Potter even more just to see you. He's not very subtle about these things"Theo shook his head disapprovingly.
"I think he realized that me and Blaise kinda knew about his obsession with you, so he distanced himself from us. In second year, he was only ever with Crabbe and Goyle. Those two nutters couldn't see his obsession if it were on a sign in red"
"Being with them caused him to be more harsh, he had his act back in place. You know, the whole calling you a mudb- you know"
Hermione gave him a faint smile. He hadn't said the word in a while, none of them had. It comforted her, knowing they were changing.
"Then he was a little bitch for that whole year. In year 3, we were friends again. We noticed he always had an eye on you, in class, in the library, even in the great hall. Merlin he hated you, he'd always be muttering something under his breath, how it wasn't fair. All that jealous bullshit"
"Year 4 came around and he began getting closer to Pansy. They dated for a bit and he took her to the Yule ball. I'm pretty sure I heard Pansy complaining that he didn't look at her once that evening, but I dealt with it" He sent Hermione a wink and she narrowed her eyes at him. "The good friend I am, I helped her trash Draco's things"He added, knowing what he has implied.
"But I got some news out of the durmstrang students that not a single person in the room could take his eyes off you. They were cheering for Krum and everything, like he wasn't the famous one. You stole all eyes that night, Ms.Granger" Theo said, raising his cup to her. Hermione blushed and avoided his eyes.
"They mentioned a certain blonde, who Krum kept found glaring at him"He added. "Blaise noticed before everyone really, I didn't believe him though"
"Noticed what?"Hermione questioned, sitting up in her seat. Theo smirked again, "that he's in love with you"
"4th year?" Hermione asked, feeling her face turn even redder. "3rd. After you so delicately punched him"He answered.
"He was furious, threw a little tantrum. Blaise was having a laughing seizure, and got hexed for it. And I was hiding in the corner because I knew he deserved it but I wasn't gonna join Blaise in the hospital wing"
"But I realized in 4th year. He seemed a bit too upset about all the attention you were getting after the Yule ball. Especially when you were being raided by guys in the corridors, i didn't realize it was jealousy till Blaise mentioned it" He told. "Then again, I spent more time with Pansy, so they were closer" He added.
"Jealous? Malfoy was jealous of me?"
"Jealous over you" Theo corrected. "Me and Blaise kind of began plotting. We would always drag him to places we knew you were. He noticed after a bit, hexed us for it"He shrugged.
"You two didn't care? That he liked a muggle born?" Hermione asked.
"We knew he wouldn't do anything about it. His pride would stop him, or so we thought. Turned out it didn't after that night in the library"He winked.
Hermione froze, her eyes finally meeting his. Theo was smirking smugly, his tea cup gone. "What- What're you talking about-"
"6th year, Granger. Don't even bother denying it, I saw it with my own two eyes"
"Nothing happened-"
"He almost kissed you" Theo scoffed.
"He didn't-"
"The only thing that stopped you two was Filch"
"Nott-"
"Tell me Granger, why were you two there alone? And what would've happened if Filch hadn't stopped you?"
Hermione glared at him. "I was studying and was putting my books back, if you were there, you would've seen. Malfoy was also there, and we ended up in the same section" Hermione snapped.
"After curfew though?"
"I lost track of time-"
"Mhm"
Hermione opened her mouth to argue but the compartment door slid open. Their heads snapped towards it and Hermione's heart sank as Draco stood in the doorway.
He was glaring at Theo and Theo quickly stood. He slipped out of the compartment without a word and Draco stepped in, closing the door behind him. He shifted his gaze and looked at Hermione.
"Going to the trolley, huh?" He said dryly.
"Draco-" Hermione began as she stood.
"You had the compartment silenced"He stepped forward as he raised an eyebrow. "You lied, and came into a compartment with Nott, and silenced it"
"We were just talking-"
"Talking. Hm, and you couldn't have done so with all of us?"
"No, we couldn't have-"
"Why exactly-"
"-Unless you want me to interrogate them all about you"
His glare fell, now replaced with confusion. "About me?" He repeated. "Yes, about you"Hermione snapped. "And why couldn't you just ask me?" He questioned.
"It's not something you'd be able to answer-"
"And why not?"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Because from what I've got so far, you were completely avoiding it" She said.
"You think Theo knows me better than I know myself?"
"Well-"
"And why Theo? Couldn't you have gone to Blaise? Or Pansy-"
"I did speak to Pansy, thank you. She told me to ask Theo. And no, I couldn't have gone to Blaise, as my brother, it would be embarrassing"
"What is your question, Granger?"
She looked away from him, "it's nothing important, I was curious-"
"What is your question, Granger?" He repeated hardly, taking another step forward. He watched her face turn red and it seemed to calm him. He raised his hand and turned her face toward him.
"It was embarrassing enough talking to Pansy and Theo-"
He stepped in and pressed her back against the window, interrupting her as he pressed his lips on hers. His other hand reached for his wand and he locked the door before pulling back an inch.
"If you ever do that again- lie, and drag him in here, I'll kill him" Draco told. "You're being dramatic"Hermione rolled her eyes. "You can't even ask me a question"Draco scoffed.
He leaned back in, not allowing her to answer. His hands dropped to her waist and pulled her against him. Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, about to pull him closer before he parted their lips.
"What's the question?"
Hermione swallowed, blushing once more. It shouldn't be that embarrassing. "Pansy- Pansy said something about you liking me for years, and she told me to ask Theo to find out more. I had to find out when it began"
Draco groaned and tilted his head, his forehead on hers. "And what did he say?"
Hermione closed her eyes and couldn't fight off a smile. The comfort of having him against her, wrapped around her, it was everything she wanted. "3rd year"Hermione told.
"Close"
Her eyes shot open and she raised her head to look at him. He pulled his head away and she saw him smirking. "What're you talking about?"She questioned.
"Second year. I tried to drown it out so I stopped talking to Blaise and Theo, I didn't need them knowing"He told.
"Then I was a bastard to you for that whole year, I was trying to convince myself I was delusional" He said. "It wouldn't go away, so I guess I actually realized it at the end of the year" He shrugged.
"But I think I can answer your question quite well"He smirked.
She blushed again and looked away from him. "I still got much more information from Theo"She told. He scoffed, and lowered his head down to her neck. "Like what exactly?"
"How much you struggled, Merlin, one would've thought you were dying"She rolled her eyes.
"I was" He chuckled, slowly kissing his way up to her jaw. "Me, a Malfoy, who's been taught his whole life about disgraceful muggles and their spawns, falling in love with everything I was supposed to hate"
She opened her mouth to speak when there was a knock on the door of the compartment. Draco groaned, but didn't move away from her. Hermione rolled her eyes again and brought her hands down to his chest, giving him a light push. She took down the charm, "What?" she called.
"Before you take your clothes off, I think I need to remind you that you have to get to the professors compartment for the prefect meeting"
Hermione unlocked the door and whipped the door open. "I'm gonna kill you"
Blaise smirked and quickly slid back into the group compartment, hiding away. "Your brother needs to be murdered" Draco snapped, leaning against the window and glaring at the door across the hall.
"Later, we have 10 minutes before the prefect meeting"Hermione said, glancing down at her watch. She turned to leave but he grabbed her arm and pulled her to him, the door magically closing.
He captured her lips before she could argue and flipped them, having her pinned against the window. She huffed and he smirked into the kiss, his hands on her waist as he pulled her closer.
5 minutes later they were sitting in the large compartment, again at another prefect meeting like they'd had 4 months prior. McGonagall had came in and checked in. She spent at least 10 minutes making sure Hermione was alright.
"Ms.Granger, I can have extra wards put up on the head dorm if you like? Whatever makes you comfortable. I've had Poppy make some dreamless potion, every night one will appear on your desk"
Hermione assured her everything was fine and thanked her for the options. McGonagall didn't seem sure at all, but left it at that. "And, Congratulations, to the both of you" She added as she left.
Hermione turned red and Draco looked away from the headmistress. "Fuck, she's known us since we were 11"Draco mumbled. Hermione groaned, no doubt all of their professors had seen the prophet. Most of them thought they were engaged.
They barely got time to recover from the embarrassment when there was a knock on the door. Hermione glanced at her watch, 3 minutes early. She heard the door slide open and looked over. Luckily it was the Slytherin prefects.
Blaise smirked as she walked in, proud of himself. They didn't know why till they saw Pansy and Theo cursing at her. "You didn't have to bloody scream it down the train" Theo hissed.
"What else would've I done?"Blaise asked innocently. "I told you to leave Lovegood alone"
"You told the whole bloody school that we're together!"Pansy barked.
"Don't be dramatic, I only said it in front of Parvati Patil"
"That's great comfort"Theo scoffed.
"Shut up and sit down"Draco told, glaring at Theo. "For Merlin's sake, I'm not in love with her!"Theo snapped.
"Who're we talking about?"Blaise asked, now interested as he sat down. "Your bloody sister!" Theo told.
"You like my sister?"Blaise question, standing up instantly. "I don't !" Theo repeated. "It's crossed your mind a billion times-" Draco began.
"Once! One time! And that was like 2 years ago!"
Hermione turned to Pansy who was wheezing as she held onto her seat. "You knew this would happen didn't you?"Hermione said. Pansy barely got to smirk before laughing again. "Come on, this is hilarious" Pansy told, watching the 3 argue.
There was more knocking on the door but it was barely heard. Hermione passed them and peaked out. She grinned, throwing her arms around the redhead.
"Hermione- shit, you're choking me"Ginny made out as hugged her back. "Merlin, you're the only sane person around here"Hermione said as she pulled back.
"I heard that!"Pansy snapped.
"Weaselette, move for a second" Hermione heard. Behind Ginny was Astoria. Astoria scooted past them and sighed as she found the 3 fighting.
"You came here with Astoria?"Hermione asked. "I ran into her on the way here. Harry's just finishing his match of chess with Ron and he'll be here"Ginny explained. Hermione stepped aside and let Ginny enter, seeing the mess of Slytherins, still arguing.
"What's this about?"
"Me"
Ginny raised an amused eyebrow as a grin lifted on her face, "You? What'd you do?"
"Pansy said something and I wanted to know more so i went to Theo and now they're all mad at each other because of the chance that he could've been in love with me"
"Interesting"Ginny walked over to Astoria and Pansy, sitting beside them as she watched the 3 Slytherins arguing.
"You didn't have to lie-"
"-SHE DRAGGED ME"
"WHY WAS THE COMPARTMENT LOCKED-"
"HONESTLY BLAISE, IF YOU'RE SO OBSESSED-"
"THATS MY SISTER"
Hermione barely closed the compartment door when there was more knocking. She took out her wand and silenced them. Their heads snapped toward her, and they glared at her. "Nothing. happened"Hermione growled, raising her wand at them. Each of them were shoved into a seat on each side of the compartment.
She opened the door and saw a grinning Harry. "Did you kill them?" He asked and Hermione rolled her eyes. She hugged him and let him enter the compartment. Draco and Blaise were now glaring at Harry, who knew how many close guy friends Hermione had?
Harry didn't sit, an amused smirk on his face as he leaned against the wall. Hermione sat down in her original spot, enjoying the bit of silence. Pansy and Astoria were silently laughing, the looks on their friends faces killing them.
"Why'd you ruin the fun?"Ginny questioned. "Fun?"Hermione repeated. "Come on, they were about to kill each other!"Astoria told. "The prefect meeting is in-"
The door opened and a few prefects entered, Luna Anthony Goldstein, Padma, Ernie Macmillan, and Hannah Abbott. They, except for Luna, glanced around the compartment, noting the tense glares being thrown around.
"How are you doing, Hermione?" Luna asked cheerfully as she went to sit beside Ginny. Hermione smiled, "Great, how was your break Luna?"
Luna told her all about the new creatures her and her father had found, about how they went to visit her aunt and cousins. She barely finished her story when something was thrown at Hermione's head.
Hermione glanced over at her brother and found him glaring at her. He pointed at his mouth and Hermione realized she hadn't lifted the charm. She looked over at Draco and Theo and they were glaring at her too. She smirked and ignored them, starting a new conversation with Harry, who was grinning from ear to ear.
Soon enough, all the prefects arrived. Now being forced to let them speak, Hermione lifted her wand and dropped the spell.
"That was rude-"
"Clearly I can't be a good brother-"
"You shouldn't be allowed a bloody wand-"
"-I can't believe you-"
"You're one to talk- you're barely friends-"
"Oh and what are you? She only speaks to you because you're related-"
"I will kill all of you and make sure no one finds your bodies"Hermione snapped.
"Oh really now-"
"I've learned some new tricks over the break, I promise your torture will be much more special"
They fell silent, staring at her with wide eyes. Not only them, every single person there. Pansy, who was sitting at the edge of her chair, almost fell out. Neville's eyes were popped out of his head, and Ginny was staring at her like she was examining something.
"Hermione..." Harry gaped at her.
"Your humour is so fucked up"Ginny shook her head.
"What is wrong with you?" Theo asked.
"May I start the meeting now?" Hermione questioned.
"You're mental"Blaise mumbled.
Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to look at the other prefects. They were still taken aback about what she had said, not paying attention to what she was telling them now. She told them which sections of the train to monitor, what time their shifts started and ended. When she noticed they were still in a shocked gaze, she sighed.
"Any questions?"
"Are you two actually engaged-?"
"Is Michael Zabini actually dead-?"
"What'd they do to you-?"
"-School related questions"Hermione snapped.
Not a word was uttered, but Hermione saw Parvati's hand raised. "Yes?"
"Since Lavender and Ron are back, are Neville and I still going to be prefects?" Parvati asked.
Hermione's heart sank. She had completely forgot about Lavender. "She's back?" Draco voiced her concerns.
"Yes, She's in compartment B35" Parvati answered. She turned back to Hermione, waiting.
"Lavender Brown and Ronald Weasley won't be returning as Prefects. You and Neville will continue to be Gryffindors Prefects till the end of the year" Hermione told.
Parvati gave a nod and another hand shot up. "Can I have a partner change?" Theo questioned before Hermione could say anything. "What?" Hermione said.
"I don't want Parkinson as my partner"
"You don't get to decide dickhead"
"Pansy-!" Hermione began.
"I do get to decide and I don't want you as a partner!"
"People would die to have me as a partner, what's your problem!"
"First of all, you're self obsessed-"
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU"
Theo dashed out of the compartment, Pansy's hex barely missing his head. Pansy ran out, chasing him down the train.
Hermione shook her head, looking past the shocked prefects at the two smirking prefects. "Make sure she doesn't actually kill him" Hermione told to Blaise and Astoria.
"That's the stupidest decision you've ever made"Ginny scoffed.
"Fine Ginevra, you can go pry them apart"
"That'll ruin all the fun-!"
"Ginevra"
Ginny huffed and stood, storming out of the compartment. With a small nod, Harry followed after her. The other prefects left, and Hermione was about to follow them when Draco stopped her.
"You have a fucked up sense of humour"He told her, echoing Ginny's words.
"Yours is any better? You hurt each other for fun"Hermione rolled her eyes, leaning back against the compartment wall. "That's different, we weren't dying"He snapped, raising his hands against the wall, on either side of her head.
"And I'm not dying anymore, am I?" She questioned. He narrowed his eyes at her, "you're mental"
She smirked, and leaned forward, pressing her lips against his. "You've made me mental"