Enemy Seduction: Dramione

Realizations

About a week passed and Draco has distanced himself from Hermione, despite her multiple attempts to talk to him. She hoped that he would stop it eventually. In the meantime, Hermione and Zack had been spending more time together and Hermione was starting to realize what exactly was happening between them. 

"Hermione," Zack greeted her and she smiled, glad that she didn't have to think about it anymore. 

"How are you doing?" She asked and Zack's green eyes gleamed. 

"Just so you know, I talked to Draco today." 

"And?" Hermione asked a little too eagerly. If Zack was wondering why she cared so much, he didn't show it. 

"We, uh. Well, I'm going to take care of his job for him.."

"That's great, Zack!" She beamed up at him. Zack lightly smiled at her and took Hermione's hand. 

Most girls would not overthink a simple gesture like this . But Hermione was, well, Hermione and had to overthink it. Did he just want comfort? Or did he think that they had something together? Either way, Hermione held his hand knowing that his job was going to be hard. 

She couldn't wait to see how Draco was taking the news. Oh, wait. Draco was avoiding her for whatever reason. Hermione inwardly sighed and knew she had to take care of this. 

"Zack," Hermione broke the comfortable silence and his emerald eyes gazed into hers, "I need to go to the library. Save me a spot at dinner?"

He nodded. "Of course."

Hermione got up and could feel his eyes watching hers as she exited. Now, she had to think. Where would Draco be right now? It's not like she could walk in the Slytherin Common Room. Or could she? She smiled for a couple seconds before slipping on the Invisibility Cloak. 

'I really shouldn't be doing this..' Hermione thought while walking into the dungeons. 'Shut up you're doing this for a good reason,' Hemione thought again. 

She waited until a Third Year Slytherin walked into the Common Room and slipped inside behind him. Scanning the room, she looked for a white blond head. Where is he? 

In the corner of the room, she saw him sitting on the couch next to..Pansy. She swallowed. This was going to be harder than expected. Should she just leave? No. Hermione came all the way here, she wasn't just about to give up/

Quietly, she made her way over to the couch and decided it would be easier to stand than sit, in case anyone decided to sit down and then be on top of her. 

"What's wrong, Drakey?" She saw Pansy asked him and trail her hand over his shoulder. 

"Nothing," he replied in a dark voice. Hermione suddenly felt pleased for a second and didn't know why. She just really hated Pansy. 

"Oh, come on Drakey, don't be like that. Not with me," she said and continued to stroke him . 

Hermione knew that she shouldn't be eavesdropping like this, but she just couldn't help herself. She really wanted to know why Draco was being the way he was. She thought after everything they had been through in the past weeks, they were, er, friends. Or something like that. 

Draco gave Pansy a look and then said, "Do you wan to go somewhere..private?"

Pansy seemed thrilled and ran a hand through her dark hair. "Sure!"

Wait, what? Private? To do what? 'Who cares?' Hermione thought. But she realized that she did care what was going to happen, as much as she hated to admit that thought even to herself. 

The pair of them got up and went to the door to go into the hallway. 

Without thinking, Hermione got out and silently followed. 

Once the door closed behind them, Hermione leaned in and studied them. Pansy looked and eager and Draco looked bored and a little anxious. 

"Look, Pansy, I have to tell you something," Draco said in his deep voice and Pansy nodded her eagerly, clearly expecting something. 

"Okay...well. The reason I haven't had, you know, time to hang out with you, Crabbe, and Goyle a lot is because of family stuff. It sucks. And Zack has decided to help me out now, so that's good."

Draco paused and Pansy looked confused. "Is there anything else you would like to say now that we're alone?"

He examined his fingernails and looked at Pansy once more. "Not really. If you excuse me, I have to go talk to someone right now."

With that, he left. Pansy shouted, "Wait!" 

Draco kept walking and Hermione quietly followed him. 

Once the hallway turned, Hermione took off the Cloak and tapped Draco on the shoulder. 

"Malfoy."

Draco turned around and saw Hermione standing a couple feet away from him. 

"Granger."

She took a step closer and tried to read Draco's expression. 

"We're you listening to my..." he trailed off by Hermione knew exactly what he was implying. 

She nodded and a small smile appeared across his lips. 

"You know, you really shouldn't eavesdrop, Granger. It's rude."

Hermione scoffed. "Like you cared about that when you eavesdropped on all of my conversations with Zack."

"Still." He took a couple steps closer. "You're more Slytherin than you think you are."

He laughed at Hermione's expression. "You wish."

Out of nowhere, Draco went from playful to serious. "I have to tell you something, Hermione."

"Okay," Hermione was curious about his sudden mood changed and took a seat. Draco sat down next to her. "Tell me."

He looked stiff and Hermione wondered if she should say or do anything that would help him relax. She didn't want him to keep anything from her. 

"You've been a great..friend to me for that past few weeks," he started and looked at the wall while saying this. Hermione looked at him and didn't like where this was headed. 

"Thanks," she replied and continued to wait for him to continue. 

"But I don't think this can carry on." Draco said at last, still staring at the wall.

Hermione was silent for a moment. "We can't talk anymore?"

He clenched his fists. "It's better the way things were before."

"That's crazy Draco and you know it!" Hermione raised her voice a little. 

"Granger, I just think that someone like Zack is a better fit to be your, er, friend. I'm a Slytherin. You're a Gryffindor. You're friends with Potter. My family is messed up. It just doesn't make any sense." He spoke in an unconvinced voice himself. 

"It doesn't have to make sense. We both like to spend time with each other. Who cares about Houses and our family types?"

His face was utterly blank. "I wish it were that simple."

Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. "So that's it then, yeah?"

He nodded slightly. "Yeah."

Hermione stayed for a little, thinking. Then got up moments later. 

"Fine. Bye, Malfoy." She started to speed walk down the hallway. 

"Granger," Draco said in a normal voice, but Hermione heard it and stopped to listen nonetheless, "Just be careful about who you're with, ok?"

Hermione glared and walked away. She didn't even know why she was so upset. Because she spent hours with someone trying to help them and then got kicked in the teeth!

'Screw you, Draco,' Hermione thought as she walked into the Great Hall and took her seat next to Zack.