Memories - Dramione story

Chapter 18

Hermione's POV

Three days had passed since our visit to the manor. According to my calculations, today would be the best day to start the procedure to become an animagus. Good thing I had taken so many arithmancy classes.

I stood up from my bed and headed towards the Great Hall. Because I and Draco would have to keep a mandrake leaf in our mouth for a complete month to become animgi and, therefore, sleep in a sitting position to prevent ourselves from swallowing it, McGonagall had allowed us to stay in the room she had let us stay in after we had been to Gringotts to avoid suspicions (even though other students would find it weird that we wouldn't sleep in the dormitories anymore anyway). 

Draco hadn't talked to me for the past days. He was stubborn; I knew very well that this was his way to convince me not to try becoming an animagus. He would know soon enough that I was stubborn too. 

As I entered the Great Hall, I saw him sitting at our usual table, sipping at his tea while listening to a conversation that Harry, Ron, and Blaise had. I sat down next to him. He didn't turn his head to look at me. It was his third day of ignoring me, but I could see right through him. It hurt him to do this at least as much as it hurt me to see him doing it. I started eating, waiting for the other boys to go away as they always did. It finally happened.

Then, I cleared my throat but didn't look at him and took out a sentence I hoped would work.

«You know you still have to go to the ball with me, right?», I said in the most relaxed manner I could. 

In the corner of my eye, I saw him lift his head to look at me. He looked at me for a long while. It had worked. 

«You won't give up, will you?», he asked, sighing.

«No», I answered, still keeping my eyes on my breakfast as I cut my pancakes.

We didn't talk for the rest of the breakfast, but I knew I had won, even though I didn't like winning that way. After we finished breakfast, we went to McGonagall's office to take the mandrake leaves we needed for the procedure to become animagi. After she gave them to us, we both started heading back towards our new dorm in silence. Draco stopped walking. I also stopped and turned around to look at him. 

He pinned me to the wall and looked in my eyes with this warning gaze that I have seen several times during the past days.

«I don't want you to do it. It will hurt and we don't know if it will work. Becoming an animagus is hard and dangerous. I don't want to lose you», he said, breaking the silence and keeping eye contact with me, his almost wolf-like eyes keeping warning me.

«As I said, I don't want you to do it either and I don't want to lose you either. We're both facing the same situation. Stop trying, Draco. I won't give up, just as you won't give up if I ask you to», I said, holding the eye contact. 

He leaned in and kissed me. I could feel that he was desperate through this kiss. It was his last attempt to convince me. I kissed back, cupping his face with my hands, trying to make him know that I wouldn't give up and to convince him that all was going to be all right. He ended the kiss and lowered his head, keeping his eyes closed. He knew he had lost. 

He took one of my hands in his hands and pressed it to his cheek in a caring way. He was still trying to convince me. He then opened his eyes, his gaze no longer warning, but pleading.

After standing in the corridor for several minutes, looking in each other's eyes, he finally gave up and we walked the rest of the way to the dorm hand in hand. Once we were inside, we took one mandrake leaf each and put it in our mouth. 

...

Draco's POV

Sleeping with a leaf in my mouth was a nightmare. Hermione looked like she hadn't slept well either. It didn't take us much time to find tricks to be able to eat and talk normally, like tucking the leaf in our cheek, but sleeping while trying not to swallow the leaf was incredibly hard. My back hurt every morning because I had to sleep in an armchair. I also had to prepare for the ball. At least, this wouldn't be too complicated. What bothered me was the fact that Hermione had to go through the process of becoming an animagus. I couldn't convince her not to try, and it made me feel sad and powerless. What if something went wrong? What if she wouldn't be able to transform back into a human again? And the pain... The pain that the procedure of becoming an animagus was famous for... I didn't want her to have to feel that pain, but she was so stubborn. 

At least, we had started talking normally again. It had hurt so much for me to have to ignore her. I couldn't stand it. We had started spending time together and going to class normally again, as if nothing had happened, except for the fact that we had to try our best to hide the leaf as we talked so that other students wouldn't notice. The idea of the upcoming ball made me feel very excited, even though I was quite nervous. It would surely be much more interesting than the yule ball.

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Author's note: 

Sorry, this chapter is short and it took me about 17 chapters to finally write something interesting in this fanfic. I wanted to make you know that it will be harder for me to write for the next three days because I will be in a place where there is no internet, which means that there are chances that I won't post for a couple of days (sorry). Also, it may be easier for you to understand the fanfiction if you do a little research on how one becomes an animagus.