Dramione; A Battle Worth Fighting

A Change of Heart

On Saturday, Hermione translated further runes in The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Malfoy walked into the common room from the "Outside" door and sat down at the table with Hermione.

"What are you doing, Hermione?" he asked her politely.

"What did you just call me?" Hermione asked quite rudely, and looked up at him.

"I called you Hermione," he replied "I've changed over summer. Could you be as kind as to call me Draco? I'm awfully sorry for my actions on the train the other day. Could you forgive me?" he asked her. Hermione stopped and thought about this. She swallowed and nodded.

"Sorry for being rude when i asked you what you just said. It took me by surprise. Forgive me?"

"Happily. I'm not quite sure I understand this fairytale, Hermione. Could you explain it a bit?" he asked politely. Hermione put down her pen and picked up the fairytale book. It was open at the page of Cinderella, with a fantastic drawing of the Fairy Godmother turning a pumpkin into a carriage.

"She turns the pumpkin into a carriage and Cinderella uses it to go to the ball. What's confusing you?" she asked back, being as polite as Draco.

"But she says Bibbity Bobbity Boo! I'm not quite sure if that's a spell..." he said back, still being very kind.

"It's made up by muggles really. But if you ignore that, it's just transfiguration." Hermione replied.

"Thank you, Hermione, now I understand a bit more." He sat down in his armchair and continued to read the book of muggle fairytales. Hermione was in a great mood and her day just got better and better. Draco helped her translate some more of Beedle's Tales so she had completed the entire book by lunchtime. After lunch he told a fifth year Slytherin off and docked fifteen house points for knocking over two first years because they were running. They were so shocked that one of them fainted, so Draco and Hermione took him up to Madam Pomfrey. When they returned to the common room, Draco played with Hermione and Crookshanks, and let Hermione have a shower before him.

Whilst in the shower, Hermione thought about how much Draco had changed; it was hard not to call him Malfoy anymore, but she was getting there. He accidently called her Granger at lunch, but immediately corrected his mistake with an apology. She wondered over these thoughts so long, she nearly slipped in the shower whilst getting out when there was a knock at the door.

"What is it? I'm a little busy here!" Hermione called out to the Knocker.

"Hermione! I've left my book of fairytales in the bathroom and I need it!" he called out to her.

"I'm sorry, but it's going to have to wait a couple of minutes. I'll be as quick as I can!" he yelled back.

"No, I'm sorry, but you're not coming in!" she yelled as she reached for her hairbands.

"Well, I'm not waiting! Stand back!" he yelled back. Hermione knew what he was going to do, and hit the steam button, causing slightly transparent smoke to appear in huge clouds.

"BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"

The door was blown to pieces with an excellent spell from Draco. Hermione grabbed a towel and when the smoke cleared, she was wrapped in the towel she grabbed but looking very angry and slightly embarrassed.

"Draco! Couldn't it wait 5 minutes?" she yelled.

"Please don't yell Hermione. I was in the middle of Snow White and I really wanted to find out what happened. I'm sorry." he sighed.

"I guess I should've let you in myself." Hermione admitted.

"You look good in Slytherin green." he grinned at her. Hermione realised she was in a Slytherin green towel. She groaned.

"I don't think it's my colour" she said back.

"Well, I think it is. Anyway, I'll leave you to get dressed. Reparo" He flicked his wand and the door flew back together. Hermione closed it and muttered the locking charm.

Once she was out, dry and dressed, Draco and Hermione played with Crookshanks. Draco had never petted a cat before and touched Crookshanks chest, causing Crookshanks to scratch his arm with his long sharp claws. Hermione pulled out the first aid kit she had put ontop of a bookcase which contained all her schoolbooks; it was quite a large cut, so she used a stretching charm on a plaster to make it fit the cut. Draco thanked her, and decided to leave Crookshanks to himself to calm down.

"What did I do wrong?" he asked Hermione after she closed the door.

"You touched his sore on his chest. He's very protective there; the neighbour's dog bit him. It's OK, you weren't to know," she sighed. "Just keep it clean, and it'll fade in time." she advised him.

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That evening, Hermione was coming back from Professor Slughorn's office, after asking about the homework they had been set since herself and Draco found it equally challenging. She was walking down the corridor, lit only by a single torch, making the corridor very dark. The torch suddenly went out but she didn't panic - calmly, she pulled out her wand and muttered "Lumos". Something moved, and she turned around. Whatever it was, it looked human, at least. It couldn't be anything else.

Draco was walking along a corridor, going to see what was taking Hermione so long. Suddenly, there was a blood curdling scream. Draco broke into a run, trying to track down where the noise was coming from. He could hear spells being fired and rebounding off walls. As he turned the corner, a red spell narrowly missed his left ear after rebounding off the wall. Cho Chang was running towards him, screaming her head off for Professor Mcgonagall. Draco looked to see Hermione fighting off a Slytherin boy named Tristram Stobber, who was firing curses at her left, right and center. His friends began to fire more spells at Hermione, shouting "filthy mudblood" as well. Hermione's nose was bleeding and she had cuts on her neck and face. Draco ran in and joined the fight, stunning two of the three attackers. Tristram shrieked "CRUCIO!" and aimed to hit Hermione, but it rebounded off the wall and down the corridor; Draco stunned him. Seconds later, there was a bloodcurdling scream which sent Draco and Hermione rushing down the corridor. Hermione rushed ahead and found Cho Chang lying in her own blood after being hit by an Unforgivable Curse. She began to panic, wondering what to do. Draco quickly said "Accio first aid kit!", bringing Hermione's first aid kit straight to them. Hermione however, was sending her own Patronus with a message to Professor Mcgonagall.

"Draco, it was very thoughtful of you to get the first aid kit, but we need Madam Pomfrey for this amount of blood..." Hermione was weeping now. She knew Cho, and was terrified for her. She was urgently gripping Cho's wrist.

"There's a pulse at least, and she's breathing; she's alive, but we really do need to get her out of here quickly!" Hermione said. There was the sound of running footsteps and Professor Mcgonagall, accompanied by Madam Promfrey arrived at the scene. Madam Pomfrey looked as if she was about to faint.

"Well done Miss Granger, for sending a Patronus to me. I received it only a minute ago. Take 10 points for Gryffindor. Now, what happened?"

"Cruciatus curse, rebounded off the wall and hit Cho full in the chest. She's got a pulse and she's breathing, but she's been like this for two minutes..." Hermione explained, as Cho was taken away.

"Back to your dormitories, you two! And tomorrow you will come to my office and explain everything to me. 9am, don't be late. Now off to bed!"

Hermine and Draco walked down the corridor silently, the first aid kit swinging in Draco's hand.

"Sit in the common room and I'll patch you up?" he asked her.

"Do you know how to do it?" she asked him.

"Yes. Don't worry." he replied, as they entered the common room.

"Why are you being so kind to me? I thought you hated me." Hermione asked as Draco cleaned up her nosebleed.

"Well, you could say that I had a Change of Heart"