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"Personality is everything in art and poetry."
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1 and a half years ago, a day after the incident in the Room of Requirement
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Draco didn't show up to breakfast.
At first, Hermione assumed it was because of the previous night, but she certainly started to worry when Draco didn't show up to lunch.
"Hey Harry, you haven't seen Draco today, have you?" she asked at lunch.
She agreed with herself that if she didn't see him at all until dinner, she would go looking for him. Harry looked up from his toast and shrugged, "He wasn't in potions."
Hermione nodded and looked past him to catch a glimpse at the great hall entrance. Draco could either enter through those doors at any moment, or not enter through them for Merlin knows how long.
"Why do you care where Malfoy is 'Mione?" Ron said through a mouthful of food.
"Oh honestly Ronald, don't eat like such a pig. It's very disgusting." she dismissed. Hermione sighed and put her head in her hands but she shot back up when Harry said, "Guys we better get going. We have potions with Snape in 5 minutes."
The trio picked up their bags, got up and made their way out of the hall.
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Rippppp
"Shoot me." Hermione groaned.
Harry, Ron and Hermione had been walking past the charms classrooms to get to the dungeons when Hermione's bag ripped open, spilling its contents.
"Why don't you just get a new bag?" Harry sighed.
"Because there's a very handy thing called magic, Harry." said Hermione.
She got her wand out of her robe pocket and cast a reparo spell on her bag.
Immediately, all the cloth started to join itself back together and Hermione turned to Harry to give him a smug look. "See?"
Harry just playfully rolled his eyes but he couldn't help but hide a small smile.
"You guys go along. We wouldn't want Snape to have a chance to hand out a whole dish of detentions today." she said.
Harry and Ron exchanged looks but nodded nevertheless and made their way down to the dungeons.
Hermione bent down and started picking up her books when she heard a sound that sounded awfully similar to muffled sobbing.
She stood up, leaving her stuff on the floor and aimlessly wandered towards an empty charms classrooms.
At least, she thought it was empty.
Hermione walked into the room and looked around. She couldn't see anyone at first, but then she spotted someone hunched by a bookshelf to her left, shaking somewhat uncontrollably.
"Draco?"
The figure stopped shaking immediately and stood up to face Hermione and she saw that it was indeed, none other than Draco Malfoy.
"H-hermione?" he stuttered..
Hermione gave a faint, relieved smile but Draco just blinked at her and ran a shaking hand through his hair, taking a deep breath. "Did you tell Harry and Ron about last night?"
Hermione stared at him, surprised that he used their first names.
"Did you just say Harry and R-"
"Hermione please, this is important." Draco said, completely ignoring Hermione's shocked look.
"I didn't." said Hermione.
Draco let out a trembling sigh and dropped his arms uselessly by his side.
"It's really important that no one finds out about what i'm doing."
"Why?"
"Please... No one must know - or else he'll kill me."
Hermione tilted her head slightly and gazed at Draco. Even she didn't think he deserved what he was getting.
"Don't worry Draco, everything will be fine." she smiled, but he didn't return the gesture.
"No it bloody won't! There's a war rising Granger. He's almost as strong as he was before his downfall and your little squad knows it!" he yelled.
Hermione scoffed and grabbed her wand out of her robes but Draco reached out to grasp her arm and stop her. She scowled at him but all she saw was his anger fade into fear and remorse.
"Sorry." he whispered. Draco dropped her arm and took a step back. He leaned on the bookshelf, tilting his head forward and covering his face with his hands.
The two stood in a tense silence until Draco broke it, "Please tell Potter to hurry up with saving the world. The sooner Voldemort is gone, the better. For all of us."
Hermione let out a bitter laugh and Draco looked up at her in confusion. "Why are you laughing?"
The girl just shook her head. Draco raised an eyebrow at her but didn't say anything.
"This whole war situation is ridiculous. We're fighting to lose, but at what cost? I mean, look at you! Look what they've done!"
"There's more than what your little trio knows. Just don't worry about me Hermione. Take a lot of numbing potions when the war begins though. It'll help." he told her quietly.
"Help what?"
"You're smart enough figure it out. Eventually. Now remember, don't tell Potter about what you saw or else it won't go down well for either one of us."
Hermione opened her mouth to ask him what she was supposed to figure out but before she could, Draco brushed past her and turned right towards the Room of Requirement.
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present day, Hermione is (still) standing in the library
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"Granger?"
Hermione turned around and pointed her wand at the stranger but she let out a breath when she realized it was only Draco.
"What are you doing here, Malfoy?"
Draco only smirked and leaned against one of the bookshelves.
"This happens to be my manor, sweetheart. Now what about you?" he paused for a moment to raise his eyebrow, "What might a little Granger be doing here?"
She stared at Draco and then looked around the room. There were several artifacts with the Malfoy family crest on them. How did she not see them?
"Me and Ron had a small... quarrel. I apparated from Harry's place to here but i didn't realize this was Malfoy Manor." Hermione said.
Draco opened his mouth to retort but Hermione interrupted him. "When did you find out i was your soulmate?"
Draco's smirk faded and his shoulders tensed. "Why do you want to know?"
"Because being here reminded me of that bloody warning you gave me. The one about numbing potions. You told me i would figure out why over time but i never did."
Draco stubbornly refused to speak but Hermione just glared at him. "Talk, Malfoy."
"I didn't figure it out when you were being put under the cruicatus curse like I had originally told you." he sighed. Hermione stared at him impatiently and crossed her arms.
"It was in a potions class with Snape in fifth year. When you were writing, i saw a bruise on your hand and it was the exact same as the one my father had given me a couple of nights prior."
He looked up. Hermione didn't say anything so he decided to continue. "That's when i started to suspect something. I thought it was something to do with magic at first, I didn't consider the fact it was soulmate-related until near the end of the year when i turned 16."
Hermione glanced up at Draco then back down to her feet. "I used to get a lot of random bruises around my body. I figured they were because i'm clumsy but were they from your-"
"My father? Some of them. Let's just say death-eaters enjoyed fresh meat, even if it was from one of their kind."
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a/n i feel like this is so badly written i'm so sorry lmao
am i the only one that thinks of tumblr as a blessing and a curse?
tumblr is like that bitchy friend we all have that can be amazingly nice sometimes and it just leaves you like what ?1/1/?!/!?
alSO - i'm so annoyed at myself. there's 5 weeks of school left, not 4. i'm triggered now. ☹️
anyways i hope you have/had a great day 💗