Thicker Than Blood | Drarry

Four.

Dedication to EmFelton101 ! Thanks so much for reading and supporting my story :)

*~*~*~*

Draco tapped his quill nervously on the table.

Dinner had ended at eight. It was not quarter past eight, and Granger had yet to show up.

Was she going to stand him up?

He felt stick to his stomach, his hands were sweaty, and he could not stop his knee from bouncing up and down. He had seen her in class earlier today, but hadn't seen her at dinner. Maybe she got sick between class and now, and was laying in a bed in the Hospital Wing, hurt and-

No. That would be ridiculous.

Maybe she didn't get his owl. Then she would never find him in the library, assuming that he had been the one to stand her up. That would make Potter just loathe him. The previous night, he had simply told her to meet him in the library, yet he hadn't specified where exactly to meet. He ended up reserving a private study room in the back of the library for them to study together. If they had sat together, in the middle of the library, he couldn't imagine the stares and whispers they'd get. He thought back to how Potter had reacted when they were seen together in the Gryffindor common room. About how the whole school blew up in rumors following Draco's outburst on the first-year student. If people saw them together, again, for the third time in just the first few days of school, he didn't know what they would think.

That was a lie. He knew exactly what people would say. The Slytherins would belittle him for befriending a muggle-born, just giving them another reason to shun him for all of eternity. Some people would be furious at Granger for ever trying to help such a pitiful person. Half the school would assume they began a relationship. That wouldn't have been so terrible, it might hurt him inside, but it would preserve his reputation. It was better than if they found out the truth about his sexuality. But worst of all, he feared that people would begin to dislike Granger for hanging out with him.

He shook the thoughts out of his head. It was now twenty past the hour, and she had still not shown up. She had to have got his owl to meet him in this room instead of the library, as his owl had returned to the owlery right before dinner.

Maybe she just didn't want to be with him.

That had to have been it. Potter must've talked to her before dinner, convincing her to never speak to him again. Or maybe she realized it of her own accord, that she didn't want to associate with such a-

Suddenly the door to the room banged open. "I'm so sorry I'm so late, Pince was just so annoyed with me and it took forever to get my books."

He looked at her in astonishment. He hurried in the room, closing the door with her foot. A stack of books at least seven tall sat in her arms, just covering her face. Her hair was frizzier than usual, sticking out in every which way. Her cheeks were flushed, a bright rosy red, and her forehead was the slightest bit shiny with sweat.

A small smile crept onto Draco's face. The fact that she was obviously stressed that she was so late and the multitude of arithmancy books she had brought clearly showed that she really wanted to help him. Someone wanted to help him.

"What are you smiling at, Malfoy?"

He broke from his train of thought, watching her sit across him, grabbing even more books from her bag and organizing them into near piles.

"Oh, uh-" he was flustered. "It was nothing."

She gave a skeptical nod. "Okay, sure. Now I wasn't exactly sure what you needed help on, so I prepared for everything." He fought to suppress a chuckle. "Obviously not everything, I know you scored higher than me on our exam last term. But this is just everything that I had read over the summer-"