Simply fate.

Chapter fourteen

Time passed, and slowly Hermione and Draco grew closer. They started spending more time together and getting to know more about each other. They spent time talking in the Seventh year common room and turn's out that they both had a passion for books. Little by little, more of their friends joined in. First it was Ron and Blaise who simply sat one day next to Hermione, all snuggled up in an armchair.

"Looking cosy over here !" said Blaise with a side smile as he pulled Ron onto his lap. Ron who blushed furiously at that move.

"You're the one saying that Zabini ?" Hermione said referring to their position.

"Oh please ! I'm dating your bestfriend ! Maybe you can start calling me Blaise, can't you ? After all, my bestfriend over here quickly changed from Malfoy to Draco, didn't he ?" he said raising an eyebrow at the two of them.

"Well, you're right..."

"Blaise ! Did you hear that ? Hermione just said you were right ! You need to write it down, it is an historic moment that we are leaving now !" Ron joked.

Hermione smacked him on the arm while Draco and Blaise tried, but failed terribly, to hide their laughter.

The next friend who came along was Luna. It was by a rainy afternoon where Draco and Hermione were discussing about divination and how it was a "complete con" for Hermione. Luna simply joined in by saying that she believed in divination because once Professor Trawlawney told her that her feet will be flying and that she found the next morning her shoes flying above the Great Hall with the magical candles. Hermione told Luna that it must have been a coincidence but the blonde had already disppeared behind an edition of the Quibbler.

The days passed and one day Draco was surprised to found Pansy painting Hermione's nails with black nail polish. He smiled lightly at that and Hermione blushed a bit when she realised that he had been watching the whole time. When she walked to the settee and sat next to him, he simply said that it suited her. Pansy, who had seen the entire scene, raised an eyebrow and smile in realisation of what may happen between those two.

On a sunday morning, around 8:00 am, it was Hermione's turn to be surprised. She entered the common room and find Draco and Harry focused on playing chess. Apparently, both were incredibly dertermined to win because they didn't even process that someone was in the room. Hermione knew that the game could last forever since the two men had pride, so she sat by the fireplace and opened a book. By 10:30, Hermione shut her book and made her way towards the Great Hall and came back a few minutes later with a tray full of bread, eggs, tea, jam, porridge, bacon and all sort of food to provide her friend with. At that point, Ron, Blaise, Pansy, Luna, Ginny, Theodore, Dean, Seamus and Neville had all arrived and were ready to eat breakfast. Hermione put a cup of tea next to Draco and a glass of pumking juice next to Harry and that's when they eventually looked up from the chess board.

"Harry, Draco, no matter who win or lose. Come eat breakfast now, you've been here for two hours." she said soflty.

"How did you know we were here for that long ?" Harry asked, standing up and taking a sip from his juice.

"Because I've been here since 8 o'clock !" smiled Hermione.

All of their friends giggled at the scene as they enjoyed their food. Harry and Draco were still standing face to face. Slowly, Harry extended his hand and the blond grabbed it and shoke it. Hermione couldn't be happier, seeing all of her friends chatting pleasently with people who, a few months ago, she wouldn't have even considered them as approchable but who now were her friends. Her glance stopped on Draco. He was the one who most surprised her, in a good way. Today, Hermione could not imagine a day without speaking to him. He was so...nice and easy to talk to.

"You like him, don't you ?" Pansy said quietly to Hermione.

"What ? Who ?"

"Don't play this game with me. You clearly know who I'm talking about."

"If you are talking about Harry then you should know that he is a brother to me and besides he's with Ginny."

"Oh Granger ! You're smarter than that ! I'm talking about Draco." Pansy sighed.

"Draco ? I don't know what you're talk..."

"Oh stop denying Granger. You've got that look in your eyes when you're looking at him."

"Aren't you the one in love with him ? You two seem close."

"Yes, because I know him since I am 5 years old. He is a brother to me. I might have been in love with him during first and second year but he never reciprocated my feelings and now we are bestfriends. And all I want is to see him happy. You know, even if we were on the wrong side of the war, he had a tough time. The deatheaters took over his home and every moment of his day was threatening : will his mom still be alive when he'll wake up ? Or is Greyback going to bite him for fun ? I know we did bad things, but most of the time it was only to protect our family and ourselves... So now I want him to be happy." she sighed, " Wow, sorry. I completly killed the mood."

"No, it's okay. Thanks for telling me. I knew it may have been difficult for you but I was not expecting this. I am sorry. But you have us now, you know that, right ?"

Pansy nodded and Hermione gave her a soft smile.

At some point of the afternoon, the sun started to shine and some of them decided to go out and play Quiddich. Hermione chose a book and followed them of the field. She sat on the terraces and watched as the players warmed up. The first team was composed of Seamus, Blaise, Harry and Pansy. In the other there were Draco, Ginny, Dean and Theodore. Luna sat next to Hermione, watching things which were invisble with her special binoculars.

The game was going fine, each player focused on his or her task. The Quaffle was going right then left then up and down. Everything was great until the first drop of rain. Out of nowhere, the rain started to pour on the field and everyone was rushing to get back inside. Hermione started packing her things as quickly as she could when she felt a pair of arms circling her waist and lifting her up in the air. The next second she was on a broom, for only view Draco's blond hair soaking wet. She heard him say "hold on tight" before he tilted towards the ground and gained speed. Hermione hold on for dear life on his waist and screamed. They were in the locker room just a few seconds later, both soaked.

"You moron ! You gave the fright of my life ! I hate flying ! And you did not let me grab my things, now my book is going to be ruined by the rain." she cried out, hoping off the broom and walking far from him. Malfoy coulnd't believe his eyes. Hermione was so cute all pissed out like this. He let a small smile grow on his lips.

"What are smirking ab... Malfoy ? Where are you going ?"

But he had already dissapeared. Hermione was upset and a little flushed by all the emotions which came running into her mind, so she retreated back to the castle in order to dry and warm herself up. She headed towards her not-so-secret-anymore room to have a cup of tea and a good relaxing and reading time by the fire.

She sat down and as she started to pour some milk into her cup, the door of the room opened and let through a very wet Draco Malfoy. His face glistened with rain drop, his hair was a mess and his cloths hung to his body. Hermione flushed a bit at his state. He sat next to her on the couch and sighed from the warm temperature the fire was giving him.

"Where have you been ? You shouldn't stay wet like this you are going to catch a cold !" she scowled a bit.

Malfoy pulled out something from his inner pocket, it was a almost dry. Hermione gasped.

"You've got my book... That's why you went back in the rain. It's amazing Draco ! It's not even wet. How did you managed that ?" she smiled at him.

When she turned towards him, Draco had already fallen asleep and his head was resting on the armrest. Hermione cast a gentle drying spell and summoned a blanket to put over his body. She placed his head on her shoulder and, as he instinctively snuggled deeper into the touch, she opened her book and enjoyed the rest of the evening.