The Dark Side (Unedited)

Chapter 21

He watched her sleep, her head would slowly rise up and down on his chest as the breathed. They had dozed off on the couch, and he couldn't care less as she was now sprawled all over him. He was delighted to have her back, he had felt isolated when she had left, even if it was for a weekend.

He couldn't believe how lucky he was to be able to have a second chance at life. He didn't want to think what would have happened to him if he hadn't returned to Hogwarts. Hermione had changed his life for the better, and he wouldn't have ever thought that possible. He thought he was destined for depression, a life of living alone and relishing in what he had done.

He hardly ever thought about his past when he was with her, that's why the weekend had been hard on him. His sunshine had left, so he had been left in the darkness. He knew she couldn't have helped it, and he didn't have any issues with her going to The Burrow. Ginny had needed her, and he was moving past his immature days in which he would get jealous. It had all been petty drama that nobody needed, and he was truly sorry for his past with Ron especially.

Hermione had been right, he had been forced by himself to only see the aspect of them he wanted to see. They actually were great people, and he could not say anything negative about them, because of his own past. They had been brave enough to run away and save the world, and would have sacrificed themselves without a second thought if it meant that other people could live in freedom. All the while he had been selfishly and cowardly stuck at home with... him. Their personalities were nothing like his, and that was obviously a good thing.

He wasn't exactly sure of why, but he could not possibly stomach the idea of becoming close friends with Harry. He found that all of the hate, all of the fighting was related to Harry. Like he had only hated them, because he had hated Harry. And he was still too much of a coward to come to terms with that, so for now he would keep his distance. However, he got along with Ron quite well. They had similar personalities he supposed, but there was something about them that just worked. He felt really guilty because he had Hermione, and he didn't want to know how hard it would be to lose someone like Hermione to his worst enemy.

Thinking about all of that made him notice himself for once how much he had changed. He never used to care about all this stuff. He didn't even know what he used to care about. Nothing, he supposed.

"What are you thinking about, handsome?" She mumbled dreamily. "Don't try too hard, you'll break your face."

He chuckled with a confused look on face. "I love your morning nonsense talk." He bent and kissed her on the forehead while she stretched.

"I'm just saying, you looked like a stone. You were looking into the distance and whatever, I thought you had gone all model-like on me." She rolled onto her stomach and looked up at him. "Look, this is what you looked like." She schmooshed her eyebrows together and pressed her lips into a straight line, trying to do a very bad imitation of him. He laughed and tickled her, causing her to scream and squirm. They rolled over, but overestimated the width of the lounge and rolled onto the floor, with Draco moving to allow her to land on top of him. She shrieked and giggled, and he smiled.

He sat up, situated her on his lap and kissed her gently. She pulled away quickly, her hair bouncing in her messy bun.

"Ooo, I just remembered! What do you want to be when you leave school?" She asked excitedly. "I've been wondering for ages but I always forget to ask you."

"Seriously? Oh wait, I think it's time for breakfast! We better hurry!" He hurriedly tried to pull her up with him but she pushed him back down and sat on him, preventing his escape.

"Draco Malfoy. Answer me right now."

"No. You'll laugh at me. It's embarrassing." She just looked at him pointedly, and he sighed heavily. "Fine! I've thought about being... I probably wouldn't be able to do it but if like to be a... a Healer." She smiled, absolutely speechless.

"That's beautiful, Draco." She pulled him to her and kissed him passionately. "I love you so much."

---

Hermione had forced Draco into agreeing to sit with them today, something Draco was sheepishly grateful for. He had sat by himself for the weekend because Blaise was 'busy' with Pansy. As they approached the table, nobody even looked up from their intense argument.

"Even if Volkov is injured, Bulgaria will still kick your arse Harry."

"No way! We beat you last time, and you had all of your players!"

"Yeah Ron, Bulgaria sucks!"

"Hey! No fair, Ginny! You used to support them!"

"That was because you brainwashed me before I could think for myself!"

Hermione cleared her throat loudly and all three heads popped up. Ron moved over for them both to sit next to them and they all cheerfully exchanged greetings, before returning to arguing again. Soon however, the food appeared and Ron was too busy stuffing his gob to pay close attention. It didn't stop him from adding his opinion every now and then though. Hermione constantly glanced at Draco but she had nothing to worry because she could tell that he was having fun and wasn't awkward at all.

She smiled and started on her own breakfast, happy that everything was finally working in her favour.