poison ✞ dramione

part thirty

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hermione went about her day as usual. she finished her overdue homework, she slid back into lessons as if she never left, she made friends with pansy parkinson and was even, quite impossibly, baking with the slytherin girl while draco played some old jazz on his piano.

"no—that's the salt, pansy," hermione scolded, quickly grabbing the jar of salt before pansy could dump it into the chocolate crunch they were trying to make. she pulled out a different jar from the cupboard. "this is the sugar."

pansy frowned, eyeing both jars. "how can you tell the difference? they look the fucking same."

hermione rolled her eyes, put the salt away then popped the sugar jar open. "i'm not sure if i'm surprised that you can't tell the difference between sugar and salt—but, then again, my dad always used to put salt in his tea thinking it was sugar—"

"granger," pansy said. "you're rambling."

hermione scoffed and added a generous amount of sugar to the other dry ingredients, magically making sure it was the correct amount. for a magical school that didn't usually use muggle contraptions to have a stove but not a weighing scale had her chuckling.

pansy eyed her carefully now. "you're batshit crazy, you know that granger?"

hermione hummed to the jazz playing, recognising it, but nodded nonetheless. "i'm sure my nonexistent boyfriends would agree with that statement."

"wait," pansy drawled, pushing her hair back. "is that your way of implying that you've never been in a relationship?"

hermione nodded slowly as she mixed the ingredients. "yes, that's exactly what i'm implying."

pansy blinked unbelievingly for a moment before shaking her head. "what about krum? weasley? hell, what about potter?"

hermione grimaced. "krum was just a friend, along with harry and ron. i've seen them as nothing more. never really had the time for boyfriends, you know?"

"too busy saving the fucking world," pansy muttered, smirking at hermione.

hermione laughed lightly and pulled out a tray. she lined it with nonstick oven paper, buttered it lightly then placed the chocolate mixture in it. "true. how about you?"

pansy shrugged. "boys, girls, who cares? it was mostly one night stands rather than actual relationships."

"oh," hermione said slowly. "cool."

pansy shrugged and pushed herself up onto the counter they didn't use, her long legs dangling just a few inches off the ground. "i did quite fancy blaise zabini, once upon a time ago. got over that pretty quickly, though. made me question if it was ever even real."

"if what was real?" hermione asked, closing the oven door. she pulled off her oven gloves, sat them next to the stove then sat herself on one of the bar stools.

"me and blaise..." pansy trailed off, thinking how to word it. "we had this thing, before he died. we'd mess with each other, you know? never slept together though. and then he died. i figured i was starting to like him but a week after his death i was shagging this girl i met at a 'pureblood function'."

"we all heal differently," hermione assured pansy, resting her arms on the tabletop.

pansy chuckled. "at least some of us heal," she whispered almost inaudibly but hermione heard her loud and clear. hermione even noticed the almost subtle glances pansy shot towards the door, where draco surely was, still playing the piano. however, it was no longer jazz. just a classical piece.

hermione frowned at that. she liked to think that after her talk with draco last night things were getting better, but after a quick run-through of their conversation in her head she realised, before the staircase moved once agin, that he was about to say something. maybe that's why he called her princess? to distract her from his moment of weakness?

hermione shook her head out of those thoughts. no, it wouldn't do well to dwell on that. instead, hermione conjured up a nail file and some light blue nail polish. she held them up. "hey, pans, want to do my terrible nails? it'll surely pass the time."

pansy grinned and hopped off the counter. she strutted over with the grace of a cat then slid onto the barstool directly opposite hermione, on the other side of the counter. "granger, why didn't you ask sooner? those nails are simply horrifying."

not long later hermione had perfectly filed nails painted a light sky blue, contrasting against her dark skin but pansy assured her it made her seem regal. hermione has even asked for draco's opinion and he had said that they 'look fine, granger, they've always looked fine'.

however, she could hear the amusement in his voice and the way his eyes kept flicking over to pansy. hermione rolled her eyes, punched his arm softly then ran back to the kitchen when she heard the 'ding' of the timer she had turned on go off.

hermione was about to slip on the oven gloves but pansy snatched them out her hand. "with your wet nails? i think the fuck not, sweetheart. leave this to me."

pansy slid on the oven gloves, pulled down the oven door and stepped away for a moment when a burst of hot air rushed out. the dark haired lady quickly pulled out the tray, carefully placing it on the countertop while riskily closing the oven door with her foot.

"hey, draco, the crunch is done!" hermione called out, flapping her hands wildly as an attempt for them to dry faster. she could always use magic, of course, but pansy said the best result always came out of natural air-dry.

when the chocolate crunch was plated and custard was pulled out, the three of them sat huddled around the countertop with hermione struggling to use her spoon without messing up her nails.

"princess, for being the brightest witch of our age, you sure can be quite dull at times," draco drawled jokingly, smirking around his spoon.

pansy agreed with her own smirk. "most likely the gryffindor in her, right?"

draco nodded. "what else would it be?"

"okay, mr and miss i-point-out-all-your-flaws, explain what i'm doing wrong," hermione challenged, dropping her spoon into the not so crunchy chocolate crunch, but the last time hermione made it she was fourteen and there was much less sugar in it.

draco just rolled his eyes and flicked his wrist. her spoon came to life and began shovelling up the chocolate crunch before flying up to hover in front of her mouth. hermione smiled sheepishly at the two slytherins and opened her mouth.

not long after harry joined and between the four of them they finished off the baked goods before draco, ever the party pooper, retired off to his room to 'complete some homework' while hermione just thought that was code word for 'i'm going to drink and smoke and ignore my problems' which, to be fair, seemed more likely.

"he was never always like this," pansy explained when they heard draco's door click shut. "everything sort of went downhill after the easter holidays in fifth year."

hermione frowned. "wasn't that when lucius malfoy killed himself?"

pansy nodded slowly. "it was also, apparently, the first time he who must not be named tried to reach out to him."

hermione eyed her blue nails and wondered how lucius' death could have had such an impact on draco's life. the old man was a monster, so why would draco be upset about it?

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hello, it's me. the hoe who finds it so hard to update. ah well, it was only a day.

anyway, lmao i'm such s procrastinating asshat i stayed home from school because i couldn't be fucked to finish my art homework (well, i went to the doctors too but i could have gone to school after that but........ who would want to) and well um where is this leading to?

anyway, not much dramione as it was more pansy and hermione development but pansy does become a larger part to the story as it progresses so, like, bare with these filler types of chapters because these fillers contain clues about what's to come next! (e.g, lucius malfoy)

-bee.