The Dragon and the Angel - [Draco/Hermione]

Chapter Three - Quidditch and Snogging

Chapter Three - Quidditch and Snogging

Hermione was furiously scribbling down notes as Professor Binns droned on about the Goblin Revolution. Professor Binns never varied his lessons, he always lectured them, and most students had stopped taking notes after the first day. Somehow, they all scraped passes.

"Ginny, can I borrow some ink, please?" Hermione asked, seeing that Ginny's was untouched while hers was almost empty.

"What? Oh. Yeah. Sure." Ginny said, yawning. "Sorry, I kind of zoned out there."

It was a long class, especially with Harry and Ron throwing spitballs at each other right behind her and laughing as it hit the other. Hermione constantly asked them to shut up, but they bluntly ignored her.

"Quidditch tryouts tonight!" Ron said excitedly as they left Binns' classroom.

"Oh, that's right!" Hermione said. She turned to Harry, who was captain of the Quidditch team. "Am I allowed to watch?"

"'Course you are." Harry rolled his eyes. "Why wouldn't you be?"

"I don't know." Hermione sighed. "Maybe because of what happened to Cormac..."

She hinted to Harry about the time she had Confunded Cormac McLaggen two years prior so that Ron would make the Quidditch team. Harry laughed, but Ron looked confused, since (luckily) he never found out.

"Yes, you're still allowed, though promise me you won't do that again."

"I promise."

The day went by unusually slowly. Especially Potions. Potions also went by slowly because of the hanging awkwardness in between the Golden Trio and Malfoy.

"I found it sweet what he told Dumbledore, don't you?" Hermione asked as they returned to the common room that evening after dinner.

"Yeah, sure." Ron grumbled.

"If you say so..." said Harry.

At seven o'clock sharp, at least twenty Gryffndor students were on the Quidditch pitch, waiting for the tryouts to start.

Hermione sat in the stands, her hat tucked over her hair to cut off the biting wind of the night.

"OKAY!" she heard Harry yell. "Ginny, you want Chaser? All right, you first."

Ginny had gotten better at Quidditch over the summer, making her almost as good at Chasing, then Harry at Seeking.

"Hi." someone said, awkardly sitting down next to Hermione. She was shocked to see it was Draco Malfoy.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Watching tryouts." Draco replied. "Montague won't let me watch the Slytherin one."

"What do you mean? You're not playing Quidditch?" Hermione asked, awed.

"No, not after everything." he muttered and Hermione noticed he traced the outline of his Dark Mark through his coat.

"Well, I think you should try out, Malfoy." Hermione insisted. "Harry says it always takes his mind off things he doesn't want to remember."

"Yeah, well.... I guess... You know what, I will." Draco smiled. "Thanks, Granger."

Draco stood up and left as quickly as he had came, obviously going to tell Montague that he would try out for Seeker again, after all.

When Hermione turned her attention back to the Quidditch pitch, it was Ron's turn.

"Go Ron!" she screamed enthusiastically.  "Wooh!"

Ron, too, had gotten better at Quidditch over the summer. Out of the fifteen Quaffles thrown at him, he only let two into the hoops, when he had let seven in the last time he tried out.

After tryouts, Hermione and wind-blown Harry and Ron all went back to the common room to celebrate. Ginny, Natalie Goldsteam and Raine Hirano had become Chasers; Ron had become Keeper; Harry was Seeker; Parvati Patil and Damien Clearwater had become Beaters.

Hermione went to change in her pajamas at about midnight, only to be dragged down again by Lavender Brown. But Lavender didn't pull her back into the party, but aside, near the fire.

"Hermione, I know you and Ron dated, and so did Ron and I, but I was wondering if you'd be okay if I asked him out." Lavender said in a rush, as if scared that if she paused or hesitated, she would lose the nerve to tell Hermione.

Hermione was a little taken aback.

"Well, yeah, go ahead; Ron and I are just friends now." she said calmly.

Of course, about ten minutes later, Ron and Lavender were snogging next to the portrait hole.

"They got together fast, didn't they?" Harry asked, motioning to the spot where Ron was sucking Lavender's face off. "You sure you're okay?"

"Of course I'm okay, Harry." Hermione said truthfully. "We broke up because we didn't want to risk our friendship. It's good to see he's moved on."

"Have you moved on?"

"Yes."

"Anyway," Harry said, changing the subject. "I saw you talking to Malfoy during the tryouts..." He raised his eyebrows.

"Harry, we aren't even friends, we just have to get along, so it's nice to see he was making an effort." Hermione said, stubbornly. "Now, I'm going to bed!"

Hermione walked back up the marble staircase in her shorts and one of Harry's old t-shirts, falling asleep after barely two minutes.