Sixth year:
There Hermione was doing her rounds for the last part of the night. It was past midnight by now.
Hermione walked down the last corridor she had to check, she was absolutely exhausted. She was about ready to head back to her common room when she heard a sound.
It sounded like someone was crying.
No not crying, sobbing. Hermione furrowed her eyebrows and followed the sound up to the astronomy tower. There she found someone sat huddled against the wall, head in their hands, sobbing heavily.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked softly as she inched closer. She was five feet away now.
The person looked up in shock that someone had found them and Hermione saw his face.
It was Draco Malfoy.
His eyes were red and glossy and underneath them were purple bags. His face had taken on a grey tone over the past few months and he looked paler than ever.
He was speechless and utterly embarrassed.
"Malfoy..." Hermione whispered. She inched even closer, two feet, and she lowered to his level.
Draco has no words, he'd never been this exposed to anyone, let alone to Hermione Granger.
"Are you okay?" Hermione was genuinely concerned. He looked sickly and unstable.
"Leave me alone Granger I'm fine." He said coldly with a death glare. It was his instincts and he couldn't help it.
This did not stop Hermione.
"I've never seen you like this- are you hurt?" Hermione asked, she was horrified at the sight.
He ignored the question.
"Draco-" Hermione reached her arm out and laid it on his shoulder. He looked down at her hand.
"I need to know if you're okay." Hermione said. He was starting to listen. No one had ever cared this much about his well being.
"I- I know we don't particularly like each other but, but you look sick. I need you to tell me what happened to you." Hermione looked right in his eyes. This nearly broke Draco, he was on such thin ice right now emotionally, physically, and mentally.
He started to sob again as he tried to explain to her.
"I-*sob*-I'm a failure. *sob* I'm such a bloody failure and I just wish I could throw myself off this *sob* bloody tower." Draco sobbed. Hermione looked absolutely horrified. She had no other response but to wrap Draco up in a hug instantly. She held him close and she held him tight, and Draco held her too.
"I can't do it. I can't kill him." Draco sobbed into her shoulder. Hermione had no clue what he was talking about, but she didn't particularly care right now. All she cared about was keeping Draco safe.
"Shhh." She whispered into his ear. He found this extremely comforting. Draco continued to cry into her shoulder for an hour or so. When he finally ran out of tears, he stayed in her warm embrace and soon fell asleep. They both did.
—
Draco woke up the next morning to find himself asleep on the cold, hard floor of the astronomy tower half on top of Hermione Granger. Last nights events came flashing back to him in an instant. His eyes went wide and his first instinct was to bolt. He quickly got up and was halfway down the stairs when he realized, what if she told anyone about what she saw him as last night? Draco quickly went back up to the tower to see Hermione was just waking up. He sat down next to her.
"Draco?" Hermione asked for him as she sat up.
"Yes." He was nervous to talk to her after what she had seen him like. No one had ever seen him that vulnerable.
"I hope you know I don't hate you." Hermione said.
Draco looked her in the eyes.
"You've bullied my friends and I for years, gotten us in trouble loads of times, your family is pure evil, you insult me multiple times a day, and I know you're a death eater but... I don't hate you." Hermione said.
Draco's eyes went wide, how did she know?
"How did you-" Draco asked.
"Oh please, look who you're talking to. Of course I figured it out." Hermione said. Draco eyed her suspiciously.
"I'm not going to ask you any further questions about last night because I am not going to invade your privacy. Just promise me one thing okay?" Hermione asked. Draco reluctantly nodded.
"Promise me that if you're hurt, or need help, or are sick, or ever have thoughts like that again, come get me. No matter what time it is. Please. " Hermione said.
Draco nodded, it was weird having someone actually care about him.
Hermione stood up and Draco followed suit.
"Now I must go get dressed for class. I hope you're okay Draco. Truly, I do." Hermione said and began to walk away.
"Wait Granger— I don't hate you either." Draco said.
"Just thought you should know." Draco added and blushed. Hermione smiled at him and walked away.
-
From then on Hermione and Draco had a mutual and immense respect for each other. Draco no longer would call her a mudblood and he kept the insults to a minimum. Hermione stopped as much jeering that Potter and Weasel did as possible.
After what happened that night with Hermione Draco realized even more so that he hated his life. But instead of just hating it, he wanted to change it. He stopped listening to his fathers orders and let him know he was through with his dirty work. He would no longer work to get the death eaters into the school or kill Dumbledore. Would this have consequences? Hell yeah. The entire dark side was against him now but, it didn't matter because he knew at least one person was on his team, and that's all Draco needed to turn his life around. One person supporting him was all that mattered, and that fact that it was Hermione made it ten times better.
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Dramione Short Stories
FanfictionDramione Short Stories - Some one-shots, some multi-part. Some cute, some heart-crushing. Some cliche, some unexpected. All Draco & Hermione. <3 - Rated Teen Cover art: upthehillart