Serpent in the Lion's Den

18. The Last Memory

"The last memory wasn't about you... it was about me" Hermione started but before she could continue Draco pushed himself upright and caught her face with both hands. His thumb ran over her lips and his fingers brushed along her jaw,

"Hermione, everything I said at Hogwarts I can't take back, if I could redo all my choices from the past few years and reverse everything, I've said to you I would in a heartbeat... I meant what I said back in the forest, I made mistakes, not choices."

Hermione managed a smile and toyed with the neckline of the wizard's jumper,

"I know you would Draco and I'd take back things I've said to and about you as well... but you deserved that punch Third Year so I won't take that back" she laughed, "but this memory wasn't bad, it was Fourth Year at the Yule Ball... you told your date you thought I was beautiful... I thought you hated me then?" To her surprise, Draco withdrew slightly to rest his back against the wall and sighed,

"I think I'd rather you have seen a memory of being pretending to bitch about you to Crabbe and Goyle." He raked a hand through is hair, "meant I wouldn't have to explain that particular memory, or others that you luckily didn't see."

Hermione brought one of the recently scourgified but still grey pillows to her lap, without Draco holding her hands there was little she could do to minimise their shaking.

"You see Granger, I never hated you, I tried... Salazar knows I tried to hate you for my family's sake but there was something about you that intrigued me, you were a muggle-born but could better my marks by one percent every single exam. I used to go home and talk about you for the whole of the summer holidays, my father was all too happy to listen, he thought I was letting off rage and hated you for it. I should've too, I used to get punished when I didn't come top of the year... which thanks to you was a lot" Draco's attempt at humour was short-lived when he saw Hermione's face fall

"Relax Granger it was barely anything and I'm fine, aren't I?"

Are you? Thought Hermione.

"In third year, I realised it wasn't simply your intelligence and blood that caught my attention, it was how you cared for others despite your feelings toward them. When that bloody chicken kicked out at me you were the only one to insist Hagrid took me to the hospital wing, no one else even spoke, not even my so-called friends... I tried to ignore you, but, how could I? Hermione Granger, Potter's bestfriend, top of the year... and the most beautiful witch I'd ever seen" He smiled, noting the blush that had crept into the witch's cheeks, how it accentuated her freckles and how even the small smile that escaped her lips seemed to light up their dingy and dark hotel room in the middle of Muggle London.

"I realised in the summer between third and fourth year that I had feelings for you. I have a House Elf back at the manor, Mopsie, she's cared for me since I've been in nappies and I used to sit, crossed legged on the floor of my bedroom talking to her about you. I tried to teach her to play cards when I thought she was getting bored, but after the first time she got scared my father would find out and she ironed her hands... after that we only spoke about you."

Draco looked wistfully off into the distance, imaging himself back at the manor, sat with the closest thing he had to a friend when he was in Malfoy Manor and talking for hours until Lucius or his mother would come upstairs to find him. He'd charmed the corridor that led to his room so when they walked down a small alarm would sound so when they came in, they'd always find him reading or writing at his desk alone, Mopsie apparated to another part of the manor until he called her back when it was safe.

Hermione smiled and leant over to plant a kiss on Draco's cheek, pulling him from his daydream.

"You had feelings for me in third year?" she teased as he huffed slightly.

"Technically fourth year Granger and don't go on about it"

"Is THE Draco Malfoy embarrassed that he had feelings for a muggleborn?" Hermione teased further, earning a smirk from Draco,

"Granger" Draco raised an eyebrow warningly at the witch who managed to flush an even darker shade of red before she mimicked his usual smirk with expertise,

"So, THE Draco Malfoy had feelings for a muggleborn and now he's embarrassed?" she teased as Draco's smirk turned into a dark smile and something flickered in his eyes.

"I'm warning you Granger. Shut. Up." He snarled in a deep whisper.

Hermione leant forward and whispered in his ear,

"Make me Malfoy."