Where I Found You | Dramione

17. The Room of Requirement

"Hermione?" Ron asked hesitantly. They were having dinner in the great hall. "How will you manage DADA?"

She tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"Malfoy. He'll lower your grades, I'm tellin' you." He definitely could sabotage her, but Snape would be fair, or so she hoped.

"I don't think he will," Harry joined them. "He's actually good in class. If the two of you can last an hour without a fight —you'll be fine."

She was hesitant to speak about this, but couldn't help herself. "I don't think we'll fight," the two glanced at each other. "I'm serious. We've had a few chats before, and he's, he wasn't too bad," she sealed her mouth shut.

"What??" they spoke in unison.

"Hermione..."

"I know Ron, of course, he's not nice. What I'm trying to say is he's not as bad."

After realising that she was basically defending him to her friends, she stopped talking. She knew he was not a good person, but she just wanted to point out that he wasn't the same boy that called her a mudblood in second year. She noticed how he only continued to do that when he was with his friends, plus, he called her a muggleborn while they were watching the quidditch practices. He could be playing, but something was telling her to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"You should be careful, Hermione. I still think that he is-"

"Harry!" she warned him quietly. "Do not say such things in public."

"I wasn't going to, but you know what I mean," his eyes shifted to the space behind her shoulder and she didn't need to turn around to see where he was looking at.

"Okay," she sighed. "Apart from our prefect duties, I will be seeing him more often and personally observe him. I still think that's a groundless notion, but I will be careful, okay?"

Harry thought about it for a moment. "What if he hurts you during your duel?"

"What if I hurt him?" She arched her eyebrow.

"I don't have any doubt about your skills Hermione, but please be careful. He might know some spells that we don't."

She smirked playfully. "I also know some spells that most of our year doesn't, but I get your point, Harry. I'll be careful," she watched him relax. "How about Blaise?"

"Yeah, mate. I was the only one lucky, how will you two get along?" Ron asked.

"I don't know much about him, but we'll see." He was more anxious than he portrayed himself to be, but she believed they could get along.

"He's actually nice," Hermione spoke while playing with her beans.

"Seriously?" Ron's eyebrow darted up. "Why are you favouring those Slytherins today?"

"I'm not favouring anyone! I've had a chat with him once and he was quite respectful to me." Hermione simply replied.

Ron scoffed. "Once? You mean your visit to their table two years ago? You can't know someone's colours that easily,"

Hermione sighed. "Of course, not. That was a good first impression, that's all. If you give people a chance, you can find them to be not as bad as you thought they were."

"Ron's right, Hermione. You shouldn't trust them easily." Harry joined him. They were both looking at her, or just judging her now and she was obviously not on the same side as them.

No matter how often it would happen, she didn't like arguing with them. "Alright, Harry. Please tell me what you think of Blaise after your practice. You'll at least see that he's not like Malfoy," she held back a snort.