𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘛𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳~ 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦

Chapter 4: Good Night

"I admit I thought the last one, I don't get balls any more," Ron remarked. I rolled my eyes. Harry, Ron, and I were sitting on the couch in front of the fire in the common room. This morning, the first Quidditch practice of the new school year had taken place. It had been a particularly important practice where the Quidditch players were chosen for the home teams. Ron had become Keeper, but had fought fiercely with Cormac McLaggen for that spot. In the end he'd saved a goal more than Cormac, but only because I'd helped with a confusion spell, which nobody but Harry had noticed. Ron obviously didn't either, he was fully convinced of his own talent.
"I hope Cormac isn't too disappointed," Ron murmured now.
"By the way, he's into you, Hermione." He smirked at me arrogantly, sort of reminding me of Malfoy. I looked up from my book, Advanced Potions, and snorted angrily.
"Cormac is disgusting. Now stop rambling, I have to study." I heard a sigh and turned to a chair at the other end of the common room. Lavender Brown sat there and gaped at Ron. Ugh
"Ask Harry to help you, he is best in class. Even better than you, Hermione," Ron said.
"Enough, Ron! Shut up!" I yelled at him. "Hey, take it easy, Hermione," interjected Harry, who was flipping through his copy of the Potions textbook. He hasn't done anything else for two weeks. Ever since he got the vial of liquid happiness, he couldn't put the book down. I wondered why.
"Who actually owned the book before you, Harry?" I asked curiously. But Harry didn't answer, he was distracted by reading. Ginny came up to him and snatched the book from his hands.
"This book belongs to the Half-Blood Prince," she read.
"Who is the Half-Blood Prince?"
"I'll find out," I said firmly.

///

It was after midnight, and we weren't allowed to leave the dorms for a long time, but I didn't care. I had to go to the library. Admittedly, Granger's hint hadn't been bad, maybe there really was a recipe for making liquid happiness there. I slowly opened the door to the library and crept inside.
"Lumos," I whispered, and the tip of my wand began to glow. Shortly thereafter, a whispered Nox was heard. There was someone else here. I walked in the direction I heard the voice coming from, and was startled when my wand light suddenly lit up a face. Granger started laughing.
"Did the big Malfoy just startle?"
"Very funny. What are you doing here?" I wanted her gone, so I could look for the instructions at my leisure.
"I could ask you the same thing."
"None of your business," I replied.
"Mh, let me guess. The only reason YOU would stray into a library: you're looking for something. Does it happen to be a recipe for a certain potion?" "Maybe." She sighed.
For a Mudblood, she really was very smart, I had to give her that. 
"Are you just thinking how you became. Not so bad? Her parents are both muggles, don't forget that. I scrutinized Granger. It didn't seem to bother her that I was here, she was reading a thick book with concentration. I remembered something.
"Thanks for the help the other day." She looked up from her tome and met my eyes in surprise. I looked at hers too, they were a hazelnut brown and glistened in the light of my wand.

///

I stared into silver-gray eyes that studied me as well. Had Malfoy really just said thank you, again?
"Who are you and what have you done with Draco Malfoy?" The grin that had crept onto his face after my deliberately snippy reply widened yourself now.
"I'm not just an asshole, Granger." That was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. In fact, Malfoy was the most terrifying person I knew. And yet I was sitting here in the library, and he was standing in front of me and grinning at me. Maybe there really was a part of him that wasn't as terrible as the rest. And that part seemed to be showing itself more often lately, which surprised me.
"Are you speechless now?" Malfoy asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Stop staring at me, Granger."
Oh, God!. I quickly looked away from him and returned my attention to the book in front of me. I caught the glimpse of Malfoy taking the chair next to me. Suddenly, his knee touched my own under the table. I flinched but kept my leg where it was. I tried hard to put the letters in my book in a meaningful order, but I just couldn't concentrate. Furthermore, I sighed and looked up from my book again and at Malfoy. He must have been watching me the whole time, his eyes studying me, surprising me even more than the fact that he knew the word 'thank you'.
"Really? For the last five years, you always seemed to be very clear about what you think of me. You've given me your opinion on this often enough." "It..." Malfoy began, but stopped and swallowed. He then looked away from me and instead stared at the glowing tip of his wand that lay on the table in front of him. I kept my eyes on him and waited for him to speak again.
"Why did you warn me?" he asked after a while.
"I don't really know myself," I answered honestly. He nodded understandingly. The grin had long since disappeared from his face, now he frowned and looked kind of.. sad. I remembered that he had been sitting alone at the table in the great hall.
"Why are you distancing yourself in the last Time like that from everyone, even your friends?"
"I have no friends," he replied dry. "What about Crabbe and Goyle?"
"The two are idiots, nothing more."
"And Zabini and Parkinson?"
"Zabini is an arrogant one Mama's boy and Parkinson's a stupid goat."
"How nice," I remarked.
"It's the truth, " Malfoy replied. Now he looked really sad. I couldn't help it, I felt sorry for him. He had no one at Hogwarts, he was alone. There must have been times when he felt very lonely.
"May I give you a tip?" I asked.
"Is this a habit of yours now, Granger?" he asked, and I saw one corner of his mouth twitch. There it was again, Malfoy's not-so-terrible, fragile side.
"If you didn't go around insulting people all the time, but were like you are right now, then more people would like you, and maybe you would like them too." He seemed to be considering my words, knitting his brows together with effort. His next words were no more than a soft whisper,
"Could you ever like me, Granger?"
I might already be, a voice whispered in my head.
"The library is yours. I'm coming in some other time." He grabbed his wand and headed for the exit.

///

"Draco!" I called to stop him from leaving. He audibly gasped and turned to me. Only then did I realize that I had jumped out of my chair.
"Yes. Yes, I might like you," I said quietly, not sure if he could hear me. The twitch of the right corner of his mouth told me he could.

"Good night, Granger," he said, turning and leaving the library. I remained standing in the darkness of the room, my light having left me.