Sugar and Smoke Rings

A/N:

So I was listening to the Love, Simon soundtrack on repeat and I got inspired to turn Troye Sivan's "Strawberries & Cigarettes" into this cute little one-shot.

Beta love to december_noon. Literally a goddess and I don't know what I'd do without you.

Love you all,

sam

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Then

"Those things will kill you," Hermione Granger announced as she leans against the wall.

Draco Malfoy was just trying to enjoy his cigarette in peace. He looked up at her in her Hogwarts school uniform. It's Spring, so the girls have started wearing their skirts again. And that means that he's afforded a lovely view of her long, toned legs from his place in the grass. If he leans just right, he might catch a glimpse of something more interesting. As if she could read his mind, she crossed her ankles and adjusted the hem of her skirt.

He didn't know why she was here. They weren't friends. The two of them were occasionally partnered for projects and saw each other at Prefect meetings, so they weren't enemies either. Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were two people who hovered in one another's orbit and nothing more.

It was hard not to be in everyone's orbit at boarding school. Hogwarts was an old castle, but it was still a very small place.

At Hogwarts, people stuck to their social circles – social circles that were defined by which house you were in and how much money you had. Draco was a rich, blue-blooded Slytherin who ran with other members of the social elite. Granger was a moderately wealthy, bleeding heart Gryffindor who stuck to her group of boisterous rebels. While their friends were extremely different, they didn't hate each other much. They mainly avoided each other like the plague.

"We're all dying, Granger. Might as well enjoy the decline," he said on an exhale. The smoke drifted between them. Granger didn't look as disgusted as someone who was admonishing him for his habit should have. She didn't wrinkle her nose at the smell like Pansy did or start a fake coughing fit like Theo. She just... watched the smoke dissipate like it was leaves in the wind.

"Where are your boyfriends? I don't think I've ever seen you without them attached to your hip for this long," Draco said before he took another drag. It was Friday, and they had a long weekend. Most students were heading home, or at least taking off from campus for a few days.

"They left for Harry's. His parents are out of town for some old club reunion so they plan to take advantage of the well-stocked liquor cabinet and lack of supervision," Granger remarked and she moved to sit next to him in the grass. Well, this was strange – but somehow, not uncomfortable.

She pulled a bag of green Haribo gummies from her bag. Strawberry.

"Aren't your parents dentists? Shouldn't you be prohibited from that kind of teeth-rotting substance?" Draco teased as he reached over to pluck one from the bag. She quickly moved it out of his reach. He retaliated by blowing smoke rings in her direction.

"Consider this my act of rebellion," she remarked drily as she popped the candy into her mouth.

"Shitty act of rebellion." Draco stamped out the stub of his cigarette and leaned back on his hands. His friends had left for Pansy's country home to party, but he didn't see the point in fleeing to some old house to get blackout drunk for a weekend. Especially when they all told him he couldn't smoke if he came.