a buck tooth and a ferret

chapter 8.

HERMIONE POV

I turned towards Draco, who was still slouching on the tree bark, and went over to him. I didn't know what to say but some force seemed to pull my legs towards him.

I cleared my throat, and sure enough, it caught his attention. His head bobbed up almost immediately.

"Ah Granger, finally done with your little reunion? Am I allowed to talk to you now?"

"Draco, I'm sorry if you felt ignored, but I just wanted sometime alone with Harry. I needed to figure out what was happening."

He sneered, "Ah, everyone wants to get a piece of Wonder Boy, don't they? Are you done fraternizing with Scarface?"

I felt anger rush to my cheeks, and I raised my voice a bit as I shot back, "Real mature, Draco. Here I was trying to come to thank you for defending me against the ginger cuckoo, but you are just intent on being difficult, aren't you?" I crossed my arms against my chest as if to show how cross I was with him.

He sort of squirmed and there was an uncomfortable silence, which, thank my heavenly stars, I did not have endure for long, as he began, "Look, I understand you're just trying to express your gratitude because of your stuck-up Gryffindor morals," I rolled my eyes at this; typical rivalry, "but I tend to get sort of... apprehensive in these situations and I'd appreciate if you just let this swim past."

Normally, I would have questioned such a selfless motive from him, but I got the distinct feeling that it was not out of altruism. What was more likely was that he was not used to being thanked and did not know how to respond.

"Draco, I can discern between what you said and what you mean to say, but there is one question that I need an answer to. It has been bothering me and left me unsettled and I intend to clear everything out." I paused, anticipating for his approval to continue; not that I needed his permission or anything, but him and his feelings were a rather touchy subject, and I did not fancy another brawl.

With a show of his hand, he indicated I proceed, so I did.

Drawing a deep breath, I asked, "Why defend me?"

He looked at me with an expression of 'I-knew-this-was-coming-and-I-do-not-want-to-answer.' I fixed him with my best Death Stare. Nobody surpassed it.

And he was no exception.

"Granger, I think we have established the fact that you are not entirely worthless. I have to grudgingly admit that there is not complete nonsense filled inside that head of yours. So yeah, Weaselbee was undermining your wit, and I enjoy insulting him thoroughly, so that gave me an excuse to defame him; not that he had any fame, but yeah, you get the point."

By this time, I had already developed a built-in Malfoy translator inside me by some miracle, so whatever he said construed as "You're actually really smart, maybe even more than me, but it will hurt my ginormous ego to admit it, so I will just act as if I'm doing you a huge favour. I will also pretend that you aren't worth my time, but I do appreciate you."

Yet, there was something amiss. This was not the complete reason, and I was not liable to rest until I got at the bottom of this. To hell with respecting someone's private space, I needed to figure his antics out. Our encounter didn't fall into the conventional routine of politeness; manners be damned.

"Malfoy, you know you are lying. And you know I know it. So just spill."

He looked annoyed, but I knew he was cursing me inside because I caught on to his act; which by the way was really difficult to dissect through- him and his impenetrable wall will be the death of me someday, I swear to Godric.

He seemed conflicted, but continued. "Okay, this may sound weird and just plain stupid, but before you judge me and jump to conclusions-"

"I wouldn't-"

"This is what I was talking about," he paused for a moment out of uncertainty, before taking a deep breath, "Just hear me out okay? I think you have already garnered the fact that I did not exactly experience a glorious childhood. Father, as I mentioned earlier, was a complete nutter, and it comes as no surprise that his life's ambition was to tear me down. Not to brag, Granger, but I do have some intellect, devilishly good looks, and a rather good business sense. I may appear as arrogant, but then I was – still am, for your kind information - smart, and since a young age I received a lot of attention because I had a knack for entrepreneurship, and there were a lot of people who said that I would take the Malfoy name to new heights. But, instead of a normal father, who would feel extremely proud, the buffoon felt insecure that I would surpass his glory or whatever, so he employed this whole regime to systematically supress me, and toy with my cowardice."

He sighed loudly, like that of a man who had just conceded his defeat, with his eyes fixated on the ground, "I guess it worked."

Later, when I would proceed to overthink, I would specifically go over this moment, because I really did not what wave of emotion just washed over me, but I just put my finger under his chin, and looked him straight in the eye.

"You are anything but a coward, Draco Malfoy. You do realize that without all your help, we would have never won the battle. You helped us figure out the weaknesses of the death eaters and revealed valuable information that may have potentially saved half of the Order, formulated our battle plans, formations, you name it. Hell, you even helped us improve our duelling capacities, and kept replenishing our healing potions. All of this, to go against possibly the most evil nose less wizard of all time, required immense guts, okay? After the War, you never received any recognition for your actions, and people mocked you, abused you, bad-mouthed you, and in some cases even attacked you. Yet you waded through all of this, with your head held high. And if that's not courage, I don't know what is. Look at you now; you're turning the bloodthirsty corrupt Malfoy legacy into a legitimate one. You are slowly overcoming over your pureblood beliefs, and as for your hard-working nature; no one can doubt it. You work in one of the toughest and most demanding Departments, and you have never missed a single deadline. But somehow you also manage to not just look over your business, but expand it exponentially day-by-day! Draco, I understand you have been infused and ingrained with a huge inferiority complex, but try and give yourself some credit. You've changed for the better, and one look in the mirror will tell you that. The kind of perseverance you have is mind-blowing, and that's a quality that very few people attain mastery over. I will never ever admit I will say this, even if you feed me Veritaserum, but I do respect you. A lot."

I added the last line in a sort of light humour, but I meant what I said.

Draco just stood there, transfixed and rooted to his spot, slightly gaping at me.

Then, he just came closer and closer until I could even count the number of his long blond eyelashes when-

He hugged me so tightly, and almost lifted me off the ground. I even spun a little.

He uttered just two words, but it was enough.

"Thank you."

I was up suspended in his arms, my legs dangling in the air, and my hands were rested on his shoulders, his hands supporting my waist, and our eyes locked; brown orbs meeting grey. We just stood like that for a while; the world might have been reduced to rubble and we would not notice; we were so tied up in the moment. The atmosphere was crackling with fiery tension, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want it to end.

Eventually, he put me back, and I was sure I was blushing furiously, and he just stammered, "Uh, I-I'll se-see you around, I guess."

He disapparated, and I was left thinking about how the whole situation was sort of unreal...? to him too, because I have never seen him stutter around.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a cold breeze blew by, ruffling my hair.

I wrapped my arms around myself, rubbing my palms up and down; to relive the warmth Draco's embrace had left me with.

I smiled to myself.

Maybe Harry was right.

Maybe this was the start of something beautiful.