poison ✞ dramione

part twenty eight

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hermione woke to someone shaking her shoulders. she groaned, tried to swat away harry, but she completely missed his face and ended up dropping her hand on her pillow in annoyance.

"granger, get the fuck up. we have dinner in ten minutes."

hermione's eyes cracked open. at first she was met with a white blur but when her focus kicked in, she realised it was draco's pale hair. his face then came into view—boredom danced on it, really. hermione couldn't help the smile that broke out on her face. he was finally warming up to her!

"hey draco," she murmured, eyes fluttering in tiredness. she blinked then sat up slowly. her clothes had been magically altered to fit her—a pink, knee length floral dress, white socks with lace frills at the hem and a white cardigan. hermione blushed because she looked like a fucking doll in that.

he nodded at her. she was surprised when he didn't make a joke out of her outfit as he just said, "lunch in ten. get ready," then left.

hermione hid her embarrassment and leaped off the bed. she quickly changed into comfortable jeans and a oversized checkered shirt then threw her gryffindor robe on to, buttoning it up. she pulled her hair out of the pigtails—wincing as she did so as her hair did only get frizzier as time went on.

once she was presentable she left the room. harry was waiting for her but draco was no where to be seen.

"where's draco?" she asked, pushing her hair back.

harry shrugged. "he left ten minutes ago. probably doesn't want to face your incessant questioning," he joked, nudging her.

"oh," she murmured, shoving her hands in her robe pockets. "we'll probably see him at dinner, anyway. come on."

as they walked to dinner, harry caught hermione up with the gossip. apparently ginny and theo were now somewhat friends and it wasn't unusual for the two to be seen together. pansy parkinson was now considered as a tentative friend. luna and neville broke up but still remained friends. ron was getting better.

when they arrived at the hall, hermione looked pointedly at the slytherin table. draco was nowhere to be seen but daphne, theo and pansy were sitting huddled together. daphne noticed hermione looking and sent an almost unnoticeable nod and a small smile. hermione returned the sentiment but felt her heart drop. was draco really avoiding them again?

hermione sat next to ginny and began adding food to her plate. ginny turned to her. "everything okay, hermione? you look a little down."

hermione sighed and stabbed her potato. "it's draco. i think... i think he's ignoring me again. we were making progress, i know it! but now he just..."

seamus scoffed. "i don't see why you give a shit about that monster," he snarled, drinking his pumpkin juice quickly.

"why do you hate him so much?" hermione asked quickly, suddenly feeling defensive of draco. "it's not like you know him, anyway."

seamus slammed his goblet down, earning a few looks from those around, and glared harshly at hermione. "because i had a friend. a muggle friend, right, because i'm a half-blood. we were out together and i just left to go to go to the loo. when i got back there were death eaters—three of then, two of them masked. the one who wasn't? you guessed it. it was fucking malfoy.

"he stood by and watched the other two knock out my friend. he didn't do anything, nothing at all, and before he apparated away he looked over at me—he didn't even do anything—then he disappeared," seamus explained, his voice getting rougher the longer he spoke. "haven't seen my friend since."

they were all silent. hermione could understand where seamus' hate stemmed from but he didn't have any right to be so mad at draco. sure, it sucked, but it wasn't like draco could do anything. what if those masked death eaters were ones from voldemorts inner circle and were testing him?

seamus chuckled darkly. "i can hear those wheels spinning, hermione. are you really trying to reason up an excuse on his behalf? are you really that deep in the rabbit hole, alice?"

hermione bit her lip and held back her tears. he could have called her mental and she wouldn't bat an eyelash but—completely batshit crazy for being a compassionate human being?

"seamus," ginny hissed, jumping to hermione's defence. "how can you fucking say that? yeah, maybe you lost a friend to death eaters, but i lost a brother and do you see me blaming draco for it? no! come off your goddamn high horse and try to understand that maybe, just maybe, there may be a explanation for this."

"oh, you're defending that piece of shit too?" seamus sneered, pushing his plate away. "fine, trust the enemy over your friend. i'm leaving."

"don't bother," ginny huffed, turning to hermione. "i saw him go up the winding staircase. probably to the seventh floor, you know how deserted it is up there."

hermione nodded and stood shakily, taking a quick gulp of her pumpkin juice. "thanks," she said to ginny before turning to seamus. "i'm sorry you think this way, seamus. but i'll ask him even if you refuse to acknowledge that you're not the only one who went through a hard time."

she left before seamus could reply. she practically ran to the stairs and luck must've been on her side because the stairs were already in position for the seventh floor. once she reached the highest level she slowed down and cautiously made her way through the empty corridors. the only light that illuminated her way was the moon as she had—quite stupidly—left her wand back in her room.

hermione heard some shuffling to her right ant turned in that direction. it led her up another corridor but it seems to be the right one as she could spot draco sitting on a windowsill, his legs hanging on the other side. as she drew nearer she spotted the bottle of firewhiskey next to him and a cigarette in his hand.

hermione stopped until she was just off to the side of him. she gazed out into the night sky with him, ignoring how the smoke off the lit cigarette bothered her enough for her to be holding back coughs. draco, seemingly understanding, took a final drag then stubbed out out, throwing the remains to the ground below.

"figured you'd come and find me," he said, picking his bottle up. "weaselette did see me, anyway."

"are we back to square one?" she asked him, whispering. "are you avoiding me again?"

he didn't answer for what felt like forever, until he did. "just need to think, granger."

hermione contemplated asking him about seamus' friend but decided to ask another time. "i'm your friend," she reminded him, stepping forward so her crossed forearms were resting on the windowsill, next to draco's hips. "that won't change."

"i know that," he said, taking a gulp out of the bottle. "but that doesn't mean i like you. not by a long shot, granger. don't think i'm going to start smiling at you and sharing my deepest secrets."

she chuckled at that. "i don't expect you to, malfoy. i know you still think this world is cynical, i know you still think that i'm only doing this because there's something in it for me, although that's far from true."

he didn't answer. they just stayed there for a while, staring at the stars, when he suddenly blurted out, "you're completely mental, granger. no wonder you defeated voldemort."

she smiled. so far, it was the first complement he had given her, even if it was covered by an insult. they were making progress.

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[double update can i get a pat on the fucking back]

wow, what a start to a dysfunctional somewhat relationship(?)

so, from now on, there'll be more dramione. not dramione in the sense of 'i love you' and, well, romance. it's still build up but there'll be the moments as i will call them. you can count the end of this chapter a moment if you wish.

you are all probably getting tired of all them secrets i have yet to develop on and i can tell you that i will not spoil anything lmao carry on reading and you'll find out the truth.

-bee.