mudblood. (dramione fanfiction)

chapter three: salvus erit

Draco's eyes flung open, and he sat up quicker than you could shout Lumos. He turned to his bed to see Hermione sitting, wrapped in his duvet with a terrified moonlit expression on her face. She didn't see him. Instead, she swung her legs over the bed and scrambled for his door.

She felt more than anxious as her hands shook uncontrollably trying to turn the handles. Draco had cast a lock on the door and as she screamed again, banging her hands against the wooden door. "Where am I, where am I?" she repeated to herself in a state of frenzy.

Draco seemed highly interested all the while shocked at her anxious attitude. Using mind magic he flicked on his desk lamp, illuminating a warm and calm light on the walls of his room. Hermione turned her body around to face Draco, and as soon as she saw him, it had seemed that her angst had almost disappeared completely. Her mind whirled and memories flooded back to her brain. There was a fire, most likely caused by her; absent-mindedly leaving the gas on her shitty stove for too long. The flames had nearly engulfed her frail body. And then he was there, Malfoy, was by her side. She hadn't been dreaming. He had saved her.

Hermione felt her head throb for a moment, and she allowed herself to sink at the bedroom door. She pulled her knees to her chest and gasped at the slight pain in the area. She observed her clothing for a brief moment; she looked dressed in what seemed to be men's apparel. Her eyes lifted to meet Draco's, who looked utterly shocked and unknowing of what to do.

"Malfoy," she murmured, almost inaudibly. He nodded slowly, getting up even slower and walking to his bed. He sat at the edge of it, cupping his hands between his legs. 

Hermione studied his face. He was two years older, yet he still looked as youthful as he had when she had last seen him. Standing nearby the Dark Lord. Her heart thumped hard against her chest, "W-why did you save me?" She managed, staring directly at him.

"Not even a thank you?" Draco replied, trying to put on a cocky attitude. But his awe betrayed him, only making him sound like a genuine dick. He cleared his throat awkwardly, "I - I can't let good people die."

Hermione squinted her eyes at him slightly and played with the hem of her oversized sweatshirt. Or his. "Right. Because Draco Malfoy always has everyone's best interest in mind." She said sarcastically, muffling her words into the sweatshirt. Draco heard every word but wasn't the slightest bit offended. It was true. At least it was correct at the time Hermione had known him. He was an insufferable prick back then.

It was at around this moment that Hermione realised that this was the first interaction with another person of magic that she had had in around a year and a half. Something inside of her ignited, warming her with relief. But it was quickly frozen over when she thought about the fact that it was an interaction with Draco. She didn't like him all that much, but at the same time didn't feel any resentment or hate.

"How did you do it?" Draco interrupted her thoughts. She looked up from her forearm to see him walk around his bed, fixing the covers with his eyes. Mind magic. He had polished his skills since his time at Hogwarts. Hermione couldn't help but envy him a little for being able to use mind magic ahead of time before her. It was her competitive nature taking over.

She internally shook off her competitive thoughts, "How did I do what?" Hermione asked, sounding rather indifferent.

"Live in that shithole of a house," Draco drawled, "It looked highly unhygienic and unlivable for that matter."

Hermione just shrugged her shoulders, moving her hands from the sleeve of the sweatshirt to a lock of hair. She twirled it slowly, it felt clean, and she could smell a distant scent of flowers radiating off of it. Her hair was washed for the first time in what had felt like forever. "I made do. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get by. The only downside," she paused and noticed a glimmer in Draco's eyes. He was genuinely curious about how she had been. She continued anyway, "Well, there was no running water."