(Hermione and Draco take on the zombie apocalypse) It's been five years since Harry, Hermione and Ron left Hogwarts.
Hermione, now twenty-two and engaged to Ron, prides herself in her intelligence. All her life, Hermione has always needed to kno...
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The days started to blend into each other, one after the other. Draco and Hermione didn't spend as much time alone since that day down by the river. Though he often saw her go up to her hiding spot to watch out over the forest for more of the dead roaming around, he didn't follow. It wasn't because he didn't want to, he often found himself starting up the steep steps to go and join her. But something had felt different that day -- more intimate. After he had gotten back, he had found himself alarmed by how much that had changed between them.
But... he was still Draco Malfoy. And she would always be Hermione Granger. Hermione and Draco didn't end up together, regardless of the ways the story had twisted and changed. He had spent most of his youth terrorizing her, and old ways didn't just go away over night.
Hermione was beautiful, he admitted that, but it wasn't something he could pursue. His ideas about blood purity might have been much different from how they were at one point in time, but it only served to make his thoughts about Hermione even more confusing.
Draco wasn't so ignorant – at least not anymore, to think she was in anyway lesser than him or below him because of her status. Hermione had proved herself many times over during their time at Hogwarts and in the last month that he had spent with her. But when he had seen her in the water, well...
Draco would never admit it out loud, but he had really needed to cool himself off after he had glimpsed Hermione naked in the river.
He had seen enough to observe the tops of her breasts as she had tried to cover herself up, the distinct shape of her curves visible even through the water. He had been finding himself admiring her strength and perseverance, but in that moment, he had been abruptly reminded that she was very much a woman as well. Long gone was the girl from the first year with the buck teeth and frizzy hair. Had Draco known better, he might have mistaken her for a seductive water nymph for how she had looked with her long wavy hair dripping down her...
"Are you going to eat that?" Blaise asked beside him as they sat gathered yet again around the fire, bolting Draco back to reality.
Draco had scrounged up a can of beans from Luna's dwindling stores. Soon, they were going to have to go out and scavenge, and it seemed even Blaise had realized none of them were the hunter or gatherer types.
Well, except for Hermione of course.
Draco looked down at his uneaten food that he had warmed up over the fire. He had been distracted by his thoughts about a certain Gryffindor -- yet again. He looked up to see Hermione herself with her sharp brown eyes watching him from across the flames. Draco averted his gaze.
"Yes, sod off and find your own."
Blaise's nostrils flared as he looked down at the barely touched food. "You're just staring at the fire, wasting perfectly good beans."
