Shattered | Hermione x Draco

Quidditch World Cup

PROLOGUE 

Falling in love with him was like falling asleep. Slowly and then all at once.

I remember sitting on the chair and the Sorting Hat stalling, it happens rarely, but something made him reconsider the choice he wanted to make for me. He listened to me and I begged him to put me into Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, anything but Slytherin.

"Gryffindor!" and that single word made a whole weight fall off my shoulders.

As I walked over to the table people were clapping and introducing themselves to me. They were all happy to have me and they would become my new home and family. Finally somewhere I fit in.

While it was better than living as a Muggle, it wasn't what I expected. Harry and Ron rather spend time by themselves and always asked me to do or help them with their homework. I couldn't say no, because I saw them as my friends or I tried to be their friend.

I spend hours in the library, researching, doing homework or simply reading a book for fun. There is so much I don't know as a Muggleborn and I am trying to fit in.

Luckily the friendship began to grow between Harry, Ron and I. They included me more and more and I started to truly feel at home at Gryffindor. The twins always tried to make me laugh. Neville would join me in the evening on the couch in front of the fire while I was reading. Life was good.

Of course there were the Slytherins, but I felt safe with my friends, they had my back.

We went through so much during the first year it made the friendship stronger and stronger, Harry, Ron and I were inseparable.

It wasn't until second year when I started to notice some small changes. I was still spending a lot of time in the library, but this time I noticed I was being watched. Malfoy and his friends, Crabbe and Goyle would sit in my line of sight. Luckily I am very good at ignoring them and focussing on my work or book.

After weeks of the same routine of them being in my line of sight, it changed. Malfoy was sitting at the table in front of mine, facing me. Crabbe and Goyle would join later and have their backs towards me. When I would look up, Malfoy would watch me, sometimes he was focussed on his own work and I would take that opportunity to watch him. He was probably keeping an eye out for Harry or Ron, thinking they would join me in the library to work on their own homework. They rarely would join.

It was just days after the confrontation where he joined the Slytherin Quidditch team and he called me a Mudblood. In the moment it had felt so good to put him in his place in front of all those people, but it really hurt when he called me that foul word. After that I would find a Sugar Quill at the table I always sat at the library, not every time, but almost once a week. I didn't realize who was leaving them for me, but it was my favorite kind of candy and one I often enjoyed during studying. I tried figuring out who it was, but there was never a note or any other clue. Still Malfoy was watching me from the moment he entered the library.

The day I saw the Basilisk through my mirror, there was a page of a book and a Sugar Quill waiting for me. I recognised the text of the page and wanted to look through the book for more information.

It wasn't until after I got revived from the Basilisk that things made sense. When I woke up in the infirmary there was one on my nightstand, but nobody saw who left it for me. I strayed away from my normal routine and came to the library early, Malfoy was at the table with a Sugar Quill.

He didn't see me, but I started looking at him more, searching him out in crowds and in the Great Hall. Sometimes I would catch him already looking at me, and he would quickly look away.