the cat cafe ✞ dramione

six; granger, you're so fucking cute.

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hermione woke up earlier than usual that morning. she knew malfoy had a tendency to arrive at breakfast within the last hour it was served (and no, it certainly wasn't because she's been watching him) so, really, there wasn't a point in it. however, she still got ready as fast as possible and then fell onto her bed with a sigh, the polaroid already in hand.

now, it wasn't an unusual hobby, but hermione loved collecting photos. after her grandmother died at a young age it hurt her so much that she didn't have any pictures of her - especially when she barely even remembered how the woman looked. then her mum bought a camera a few years before hogwarts and hermione had spent an embarrassingly long time taking photos of everything - every outing, every holiday with every single one of her family members. her distant cousins hated her for it. her granddad thought it was adorable. her mum was irritated with the amount of new film she'd have to buy constantly.

she had albums packed to the brim with photos she carefully cut and glued down. even now, with a muggle and magical camera in her side draw, she still couldn't give up taking photos of the school grounds or whatever she felt like. she had a whole album dedicated to her friends that was almost filled.

and now she has a photo of herself with draco malfoy.

hermione wasn't stupid. she knew the malfoy family's stance on blood purity - it wasn't like they'd ever hid it previously as there were multiple, credible sources claiming this fact or at the very least, supporting the idea. so it didn't bother her much when he spent the first few years of hogwarts completely blanking out anyone who wasn't a pureblood. halfbloods weren't entirely written off but there was something cold and pretentious in his eyes and voice during the conversations. muggleborns just didn't exist to him.

then, at some point during fourth year, he started to drop those walls. he spoke a little more freely and even acknowledged her existence in ways he didn't before. all of a sudden he was seen parading around school with justin finch-fletchley, a known muggleborn. through the hufflepuff, he became friendly with other muggleborns - dean thomas included. it was a gradual thing but his overall frostiness slowly ebbed away. it didn't go unnoticed - publishers like the daily prophet noted on malfoy's appearance with muggleborns during outings in diagon alley and the likes and a lot of questions arose.

hermione distinctly remembered talking to malfoy during fifth year. he'd recently started to become a bit less active in class debates and discussions and she almost hated it. he was the only other person that kept up with her intellectually and although she loathed to admit it, he really made sure their own arguments were stimulating. even fun in some instances. after questioning him relentlessly on why he didn't bother anymore, her curiosity bled into the trait where she talked before thinking, asked why he was suddenly - well, not racist.

"i know better now." that's what he said before walking right past her. she'd followed him as he walked away, head held high and hands stuffed in his pockets - and she believed him. he was as intelligent as her. it would shock her even more if he simply chose to ignore or justify the racism with stupid excuses.

however, that didn't mean she ever expected (or even wanted) to be his - friend, or whatever. he was too passive and cold. they seemed to like very different things. his type of friends weren't the same as hers. he was the tall, handsome rich boy who had everyone wrapped around his pinkie - they weren't the same at all. he was also annoying, sometimes rude and definitely too perverted for anyone to deal with. the amount of rumours that have been circulating since as early as fourth year were a testament to that.

yet here they were. he stalked her at work, avoided her at school and helped her whenever she asked for it (not that she did). he was kind. he can cook. he hasn't said a word about her job to anyone. he was the biggest enigma she had the displeasure of meeting and that only lead to one thing - an intense curiosity about him and his life. there was so much she wanted to know about him but refused to ask for a multitude of reasons - one of them being her own damned pride.