Dramione- When You Don't See Me

2. The Talk

Song: Viva La Vida- Coldplay

Hermione made eye contact with Draco, "Malfoy,.. can we talk?" She offered him a genuine smile, the first she'd ever given him.

Draco looked up seeing a smiling girl with curly brown hair and deep chocolate colored eyes. He noted that her smile was beautiful and this was the first time it'd ever been directed at him. He tried to hide the surprise in his voice, "uh" he cleared his throat, "Yeah, we can talk. Come, follow me into the backyard. " He stood up from the chair he'd previously occupied and started walking towards the back door. "Come on now." He said as Hermione walked slowly. He took her hand and guided her to the benches outside. Draco sat in one of them and gestured for Hermione to do the same.

Hermione blushed as he grabbed her hand, she liked the way his hands engulfed hers in his grasp. She shook off this thought, she shouldn't be thinking of him that way.

She sat down and Draco immediately began to show off his high ego. "So what is it that you'd like to talk about? Come to confess that you think I'm totally hot and you dream of kissing me under the moonlight? Don't think I didn't notice the blush on your face after our greeting earlier. I know you fancy me, Granger." He smirked and winked at her. His prejudice and rudeness may have ended but he was still a man with an ego larger than him. If ego could be changed into coins Draco would have more money than the entirety of Europe.

"Well Malfoy, as much as you would love for me to say all those things, I'm sorry to say that'll never happen." She pulled her hand away from his and both his arms remained rested on the table between them.

Draco fake frowned at this. "Actually, I wanted to know why all of the sudden you're best friends with the Weasleys and how you're making them all love you." She looked at him with suspicion, "What are you playing at, Malfoy?"

"Can't a guy just want to be friends? I'm not playing at anything." His face showed that what she said hurt him, but only for a minute as he regained confidence. "You want to know the story, well here it is." He took a second to himself, his head in his hands then looked back at her, appearing to have calmed back into his usual cool self. "After the war, when everyone was in beds in the Great hall, I found Molly. She was crying her eyes out, as much as I didn't enjoy the Weasleys at
the time, I felt like I had to do something." He sighed and looked around to see if anyone inside was lurking. After looking around for a few seconds he started again. "I came up to her asking what was wrong. She didn't even look up at me and said her baby had died. I knew none of her children were infants, I looked near us and thats when I saw one twin lying down, the other twin crying over them. I knew she must be devastated. I watched as the other red heads gathered around the one on the floor, there wasn't a single dry eye. I looked back at Mrs. Weasley and tried to comfort her. I said, 'I'm sorry you lost him, is there anything I can do?' She finally looked
up at me, she smiled at first then looked horrified." he looked glum as he told this part of the story, he was remembering how it felt to be a Death Eater and for everyone to hate him just for a
dumb skull on his arm. He sniffed a little then looked back into Hermione's eyes. "I hated the look she gave me. It was one thing to get that look everyday from my peers, but seeing someone usually so bubbly and motherly look at you like you're a murder scene was something I could've never imagined. I tried to tell her it was fine and that I was forced into joining the dark
side and she did listen until someone else in the room noticed me. They shouted 'Death Eater' at the top of their lungs. A lot of me died inside, Mrs. Weasley ran back to her family and the whole
school seemed to be shouting at me. The barrier had been broken so I apparated out to Diagon Ally. At least there I would be safer. There less people knew me." He looked as though he might cry but he held it in and sniffled again. "A week or so afterwards I
saw Mrs. Weasley again, we were both wandering through the library. I didn't have the slightest clue what I was looking for. But she had a large book about grief. I walked up greeting her, this
time she didn't seem to know how to react. I asked if we could talk and we did. We discussed that Fred had passed away and I tried to comfort her about it. It worked well, I even got her to laugh by thanking her for killing my aunt. She asked me to join her for tea and eventually she
learned to trust me. She invited me for dinner at the burrow and from there I became good friends with them all. Though Ron still doesn't trust me. I actually ended up getting a job this year and as I haven't found the right place to live nor has my awful father moved out of the
maner, Mrs. Weasley invited me to stay here for a while. And as you can tell, I graciously excepted." He smiled at the end and sat waiting for Hermione to respond while also unconsciously pulling a non existent long sleeve over his dark mark.

Hermione stood frozen as
Draco told this story. Was
The Draco Malfoy tearing
up in front of her? Hermione
was mortified and did not
know if she should pretend
not to notice or to comfort
him. Hermione felt like a
complete jerk for reminding
Draco of these incidents. "I- I am sorry." she sputtered, “I had not realized any of this had happened. If I knew I would not have asked." she simply said. "If Mr and Mrs.Weasley can trust you... So can I. With time," she nodded her head. It was clear Hermione was fond of the two parents and deeply cared about what they thought.

He nodded and smiled to her. They left the table to go inside. Molly quickly dragged Hermione into the kitchen to help her. Draco wondered aimlessly around the house, asking a Weasley how they were every once in a while.

"Hermione dear," Mrs.
Weasley smiled, "Care to
help?" Hermione nodded
and began helping make the
salad.

"So what do you think of
Draco? Charming isn't
he?" the older witch smiled with delight. "I must say it
is nice to see you finally
speaking with other men, of
course I care for Ron... but
what he did was horrific."
Hermione smiled "Well it
was more like I wanted to know how he came here and well... he told me the whole story," she said embarrassed she asked
without Molly's permission. "Oh perfect. That's lovely
actually, now I don't need to
explain!" Molly said looking
relieved. Hermione looked confused but shrugged it off.

Mrs. Weasley continued on,
"I want you to get to know
him Hermione. I see a lot of
potential there."Hermione frowned, "Potential? Mrs. Weasley, I will always be the little know it all mudblood to him, I'm afraid your dreams of
him and I could never be true." she laughed Molly was quick to disagree... concerningly quick. "Oh Hermione don't be a fool." was all Mrs.Weasley said before giving Hermione a knife to cut the ham.

-1,320