radioactive

nine

Hermione Granger

"So what is happening?" Ginny Weasley prods as I mindlessly eat my breakfast. I glance up at my best friend curiously as I finish my previous forkful of scrambled eggs.

"What exactly do you mean?" I ask, confused on what she is attempting to ask me.

"With you and Draco," the redhead woman states as if it was glaringly obvious that it was what she was referring to in her initial question. I shrug and take a drink from my orange juice, unsure of how I will answer.

Draco and I have been spending more time together the past couple of weeks... a lot of time together actually. In fact I don't think he has held a single party since the night he dragged me to one. Instead, he spends the weekends with me, studying, lounging in my bed reading out of my box of archived books or getting me to watch movies with him. He has even opted to sit next to me in the couple classes that we have together, abandoning his regular group of friends.

"Well obviously something is happening, I've hardly seen you since you showed up at Draco's party last month, not to mention he hasn't held a single party since! I'm getting bored of the pubs!" Ginny lightly complains, "you have to give me something for entertainment!"

"Its really nothing, Ginny" I laugh, leaning back in the breakfast booth. "We have just been catching up and getting to know the new versions of each other," I admit, smiling as I recall our new memories. "He hasn't changed as much as I thought he did... hes just, hurt? I think." I think aloud, quickly regretting the words as soon as they came out of my mouth.

"Why would he be hurt?" Ginny questions, having found something that piqued her interest.

I shake my head, "I don't know, Gin," my lips press into a thin line, "it is just a feeling I get when we talk." Ginny makes a humming noise as her brows furrow lightly. I quickly stand from my seat before she can ask another question about Draco, knowing he does not like his personal life to be public knowledge.

For how often he is talked about on campus, you would think that he plastered his life on every social media platform and shared his life with everyone willing to listen but that couldn't be further from the truth. In reality Draco is quite guarded, even with me, which he never used to be before. Especially when I mention his family, he will quickly change the subject like it is painful to even think of them.

I know that nothing major like a death or illness has happened, as my mother occasionally updates me on Cissy and the interworking's of the Malfoys and their reality tv show like life so I wonder why it is he refuses to speak more than a few sentences about them.

"I have to get to class," I tell Ginny, smiling sweetly at her before bidding her a good day. The red haired girl slumped back into the booth, forever bored with life and needing consistent mental or social stimulation. I chuckle softly to myself as adoration for my best friend sweeps over me. Even when she can be pushy and nosey, I love her to the ends of the earth, which is technically forever because a sphere never ends.

As I approach my cultures classroom, I see Draco sitting outside of it on one of the cushioned benches, waiting for me just as he had the past few weeks. He has his legs spaced widely in a man spread as he leans forward, elbows on knees and phone in his face.

"Hey," I say softly, bumping my fist lightly on his shoulder to get his attention. Draco quickly perks up, giving me a cheeky smile.

"You're late," Draco raises his eyebrows at me after glancing at his watch.

"I am not," I reply, as I am actually five minutes early to the lecture.

"Usually you are here at 8:50," Draco informs me, a smug look coming across his face. I roll my eyes at my childhood best friend.

"Nice to know you're keeping track of my coming and goings," I sarcastically reply, turning to open the classroom door. Draco hops up from the bench as I do so, reaching for the doorhandle before I can.

"Ah-ah," Draco tuts, opening the door before gesturing for me to enter the room. I blush at the gesture and walk to my normal spot at the front of the lecture seating, Draco taking the seat directly next to mine on the right, which used to be a blonde girls who would copy my notes.

The hour long lecture goes by fairly quickly, Draco actually behaving himself today instead of distracting me from note taking. At the end of the lesson, our Professor introduces our end of the year project. I'm surprised as it is only the beginning of December but he explains that for this project we have to travel to another country to do our research. The school is going to cover the cost of traveling to and from wherever we are assigned but everything else falls on to the students pockets.

The balding professor in front of us begins to list off the different countries that we will be able to travel to, Italy, Greece, France, Poland, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Romania and Ukraine. After listing off the countries, we are informed that we will be able to pick our own partners for this project but each group must be 4-6 students and only two groups are allowed to go to each country.

Draco instantly stands from his seat when we are told to start picking partners, he waves at his group of friend who are seated in the back corner of the room. Blaise Zabini, Theo Nott and Luna Lovegood make their way down to where we are seated, each greeting me with a small smile as they circle around our seated positions.

"I reckon we go to Spain, the girls there are hot," Blaise smiles, a pleased looks resting across his face as he speaks.

Luna sighs and adds her thoughts in a quiet voice, "We could go to Portugal, they have legalized mushrooms," She smiles, eyes sparkling with excitement. Luna is one of the well known 'hippies' around campus although she never seems to be seen with any of the other "hippies". In reality Luna is only ever seen hanging out with Draco's friend group, as Draco and her are second cousins and he was the only person she knew when moving to London for university.

"I know someone who grows mushrooms in Sweden," I inform the group, which catches all of their interest, "they run this meditation-therapy center so it is technically legal since it is used for medicinal purposes."

"Do you think they would give us some?" Blaise asks me, the same excitement that was illuminating Lunas blue eyes, now shining in Blaise's chocolate ones.

I glance over at Draco, who also seems to be interested in the prospect, "Probably... but we would likely have to stay at the wellness center," I inform the group. They each look to each other and shrug and murmurs of agreement pass between them.

"So Sweden it is?" Draco asks the group, wishing to confirm before writing us down for the trip. We all agree and put our names under the sign up sheet for Sweden. At the top of the sheet is the trip date which is set for March 13th-23rd of this coming year.

Authors Note

HEYYYYY
I decided to revive this story :))
I hit a majorrrrr writes block that lasted on and off for literally like I can't even correctly recall. Probably like almost 2 years??
But I've seemed to have gotten through it! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thank you to any of my readers who have waited/requested for an update!