Begin Again - Dramione

Intruder

Draco's POV

We are addicted to our thoughts. We cannot change anything if we cannot change our thinking. - Santosh Kalwar

"You've been quiet all evening," Charlotte noted, while sipping on her butter beer. I rolled my eyes at her, choosing not to answer. To be fairly honest, I'd figured a trip to Hogsmeade would help get Granger out of my system, but instead, I'd been thinking about her stupid head of curly brown hair all evening.

Did she even get my message? Did she inform anyone? What was she doing right now? I really hoped she wouldn't go strolling into the Forest on her own. The thought made me really antsy, which further aggravated the shit out of me. She was a frikkin' war hero, Golden Girl of the Famous Trio, she could handle herself well enough.

But still..

I was tired of arguing with my own head. Merlin, I was really turning into a lunatic.

"Draaaakkkee.." Charlotte whined, scrunching her nose, while reaching for my hand which was resting on the top of the table. I snapped out of my own thoughts and tried to focus on her.

"What?" I growled, annoyed. She stared at me for a minute, batting her eyelashes before grinning all of a sudden.

Her index finger trailed up my hand, stopping on the inside of my wrist, circling the prominent veins before continuing up my arm. "Have you ever thought about how different it all would have been if you were engaged to me instead of Pans?"

My eyes snapped to her face, which was carefully composed and void of emotion. I raised my brow, sitting up slightly and leaning forward over the table still looking at her. I frowned. I was a little surprised by her question. It was more the way that she'd said it though.

"How, pray tell, would that be any different?" I asked, curiously.

She looked away, smirking slightly, her hand still trailing over my right arm. We were both leaning over the table, so close to each other. I wanted to know what was going on, in her head.

"Everything."

"Everything?" I frowned.

"Well, yes. You see, you wouldn't've  had to serve the Dark Lord. You'd have been saved from all the torture your father put you through. We could've had gone off into the muggle world and hid till the war was all over. You wouldn't've had been punished for the things you were forced to do. And most of all, you wouldn't be stuck right now, working with that Gryffindor bitch.." She trailed off. I felt my insides curl up, my fists clenching tightly at hearing her call Hermione a bitch. A wave of anger coursed through me and I had the sudden urge to wring her neck.

I closed my eyes, telling myself to calm down. Why the fuck did it matter what anyone called Granger? After all, a few months ago I was among these people hating on her too.

'Things have changed now, you absolute motherfucker. You don't hate her now, and you certainly don't want people calling her derogatory names in your presence.' That stupid voice in my head rebuked. I groaned internally. Not again, goddamnit!

"We would've been saved from so much trouble. I would have been saved from this ridiculous life." She continued, a faraway look in her eyes. I was taken aback by the amount of hatred that I could see flashing in her eyes. It was odd. I'd never seen her behave this way.

"There's no point thinking about the what ifs now," I told her in a low voice. Her eyes snapped back to my face, her forehead creasing as she shook her head.

"You think so?"

"I know so," I replied, retrieving my arm from her grip and sitting upright. The secretive mood changed, just like that and I found myself heaving a sigh.