promises // dramione

chapter ten

Three days had passed since her date, and now Hermione was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, working on her Potions homework when she heard the portrait open. Looking up, her heart dropped as she recognized the messy black hair that entered.

Harry walked in, eyebrows raising slightly as he realized who was sitting there.

"Oh...hey, Hermione."

"Hi."

The boy awkwardly moved closer, settling down on the armchair across from Hermione.

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. "I thought you weren't talking to me."

"Um...well I was hoping to apologize."

Hermione fell silent as she felt herself getting excited. It had been practically torture not being able to talk to her best friend. Could he really have come around?

Harry took a deep breath, staring at his hands. "I talked to Ron and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for flipping out like I did when you first told us about Malfoy. I shouldn't have said all of those things. I've really missed you."

Hermione's face broke out into a smile. "Thank you, Harry. I've missed you too."

Harry smiled back, but it didn't last long. Hermione grew confused. Was there something else?

"Harry, are you alright?"

Harry looked up at her for a moment, and Hermione could tell that he was feeling conflicted about something.

"Harry?"

He sighed, looking back down. "It's just...while I do want to be friends with you again...I just can't stand the idea of you and him together. I've tried to believe what you said about him, that he really has changed, but our rivalry has gone so deep I fear that I can never really trust him. Every time I see him, it just reminds me of everyone I've lost and it's just too painful."

Hermione's eyes teared up as she listened, heart dropping back down to her stomach.

"I want us to be on friendly terms, Hermione, because you mean a lot to me and I know that us not being friends will just cause problems with the other Gryffindors. I'm not stopping you from seeing Malfoy, but I was just hoping that you'd try to keep our friendship and your love life separate."

A tear rolled down Hermione's cheek as Harry spoke, which she quickly wiped away with her sleeve. As much as she wanted for her and Harry to be okay, she wasn't going to go through the stress of trying to separate her friends and her budding relationship, because she knew she'd lose one or the other in the process.

"If I meant a lot to you," Hermione replied in a quiet but firm voice, "You would at least try to be civil to Draco, because you'd know it'd make me happy. I know how much you've been through, and I'm not trying to say that it's not painful, but everyone's got their own problems with the Death Eaters, including Draco. Just because Draco was once one of them doesn't mean it's his fault for everything the Death Eaters did. You have no idea how much he blames himself for things he had no control over."

"Hermione—"

"I don't want to argue about this, Harry." Hermione interrupted, now getting increasingly more annoyed. "But I can't keep you two separate. You're both very important to me, so while I'm glad we're on speaking terms again, I'm not going to keep Draco hidden from the rest of my life. He's trying, as well as Ron and Ginny, so I see no reason for you to be acting so immature."

Harry simply stared guiltily at her while she gathered her things and headed up to her dorm, her mood completely soured from the talk.

She found Ginny in their dorm room, reading on her bed. The redhead looked up at Hermione, eyes worried as she noticed the frown on her friend's face.