{ And he smiled } || Dramione

》THE SMILING SKELETON《

    It was in their seventh and final year of studies at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, when Hermione ntoiced something rather odd. She was almost all alone in there, neither Harry, nor Ron wanted to follow the path she had chosen for herself, and that equaled to her noticing things that would not have entirely mattered to her before. It was Draco Malfoy who was sitting there, not acompanied by any of his fellow big-boned bodyguards. He seemed soulless, almost like a skeleton who was curiously awaiting for flesh to be regrown to cover him.

    After the end of the Second Wizarding War, they both returned to finish their last year. Both were getting the glares as the walked on by, on the one hand was the famous Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's best friend, on the other hand was the Deatheater Malfoy who was partly blamed for the loss of all the loved ones. That was certainly not something that someone would want to be remembered by, but it's not like he could do anything to change things at this point.

    The not-so-young in the heart witch took a few hesitant steps towards him, hoping he wouldn't call her "Mudblood" again, which was still possible. With a few more moves, she was standing right behind him. Hermione sat beside him, gazing over at him with, a weak smile forming her lips. She could feel her heartbeat growing faster in the dead silence that filled the room.

    Draco's mind was elsewhere, not even he who was supposed to be in control knew towards what direction his thoughts travelled. He looked over his shoulder, watching her as she sat right next to him. Both speechless, until he decided to break the suffocating quiet. "Granger." The blonde greeted, nodding softly as a sign of acknowledgement to her presence. He wasn't feeling very comfortable being around her, in all honesty. She made him feel ingredible guilt and embarrassment, and that was surely something he wasn't ready to face.

    The word 'Granger' caused her mind to freeze for a moment. The only thought surrounding her mind was the fact that her name, Hermione, had never been used by him for any reason. She did call him Malfoy most of the time, but he had never called her by her very own first name. Taking a moment to re-think her response, her gaze dropped to her knees. " -- Draco." Hermione replied,  a more gentle, encouraging grin appearing across her face.

    Her reply took him by surprise for sure. What had he done to deserve being called Draco and not be marked as the son of the Malfoys, well-known Deatheaters? For the first time he felt genuine respect for that girl and he was not even trying to hide it. He wasn't acknowledged as one of the Malfoys, he was the one and only Draco. He felt a weird feeling in his stomach, these were no butterflies, it was satisfaction and happiness. Hearing his name come out of her mouth caused him to offer an uncontrollably wide smile.

    Little did she know that it would bring him such joy to be called that by her. What she believed couldn't be really that important to him, could it? She was simply glad that she had achieved to 'create' a smile that was neither evil, nor cocky to be adjusted to his measures.