Venom and Velvet

Grey

15. Grey

"Merlin, are you okay?" Hermione gasped, grabbing his chin and turning his face side to side to assess the damage. "He broke your nose!"

Draco pulled away, annoyed.

"I'm not a child, Hermione. I'm fine." He moved to leave, but Hermione grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Just because you're not a child doesn't mean you aren't allowed to let people take care of you sometimes," she said, pulling out her wand. "Now, sit back down and I'll fix it."

Draco sent her a dirty look, but sat down anyway.

With a flourish of her wand, Hermione said "Episkey." Draco felt his nose straighten and shuddered at the strange sensation.

After a moment, he looked around to see the entire pub staring at him, trying to figure out what had just happened. Then, seeing Potter, he spoke up.

"I'd like to apologize for breaking your nose in sixth year, because I now know it feels like shit."

This eased some of the tension in the air and even coaxed a chuckle out of Potter.

"I feel better now that I've seen it happen to you," he said.

Hermione put her hand on his arm and told him to wait while she said goodbye to Harry and then they could go back to the castle. He nodded and watched her walk around the table to her friend. Harry stood up and pulled her into a hug again.

Hermione whispered into his ear.

"Thank you for being nice."

Harry cringed, remembering his remark about his work, but didn't want to upset her more than Ron already had. He loved his best friend, but he was a git sometimes.

"I trust your judgement, 'Mione. If you want to be friends with him that's your call. I guess even if you want to be..." He winced. "More than friends... ugh. I'm not going to get in your way. Just don't expect me to like it, okay?"

"I understand. Thank you, Harry."

She pulled away and waved at the rest of the group before leading Draco out of the pub once more.

When they reached the grounds once more, Draco suggested they go sit by the Black Lake.

"I'm really sorry about Ron. He has no self-control, and he can be a bit... protective."

"S'okay. Nothing I didn't deserve, I'm sure."

"I wish you'd stop that."

"Stop what?" Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Talking about yourself the way you do. I don't know how to convince you that you're not evil."

"Can we not get all sappy and emotional again, Granger? You know you're single-handedly ruining my image," he teased, avoiding the subject.

"Fine, fine. I had a really nice time, today." She blushed. Draco couldn't help but think about how cute she looked when she blushed. He considered pushing the thought out of his mind but instead let it form more fully into how beautiful she looked all the time. She had held his hand, hadn't she? She had said she found him attractive. What's the harm?

"Me, too... at lunch at least. I'd say the low parts of the day were probably crying like a baby in front of a beautiful woman and getting my nose broken by Weaselbee." He watched happily as the blush deepened on her face when she realized he had been referring to her when he said 'beautiful woman.' "Speaking of Weasley, are you okay? You seemed upset. Did he say something to hurt you?"