The Girl Next Door (a DRAMIONE fan fiction)

Chapter 6

Draco stumbled backwards and tripped over his feet landing on his butt in the mud, his wand rolling just out of reach. He put up his hand to shield his face, turning his head and waiting for his death when all the sudden, he heard

"Petrificus totalus!"

The centaur stopped mid lunge and fell to the side. Draco cautiously looked up to see Hermione glaring at him.

"What the hell were you thinking? Trying to disarm a centaur? That has to be the stupidest thing I have ever had the misfortune to witness! Did you forget? Centaurs don't have WANDS!" Hermione let out an exasperated sighed and started pacing back and forth muttering to herself while Draco slowly sat up and dusted himself off.

"And what were you even doing out here?" Hermione asked, still glaring at him.

Draco looked down and muttered
something incomprehensible.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Hermione demanded

"I saw you coming out here and... Well... I naturally was curious so..."
He trailed off and looked up at Hermione guiltily.

She was silent for a moment, taking it in. "You FOLLOWED me?? You little creep! I mean who does that! It's none of you business what I was doing out here! That's between me and Hagrid! No one else!"

"So Hagrid has something to do with this?" Draco said, feeling like a detective "I'll bet he sent you to do something in here, something he was too scared to do himself."

Hermione looked flustered for a moment and it struck Draco how pretty she'd gotten. He'd spent so much time hating her, he never had a chance to actually look at her clearly. But that didn't last long, soon her face contorted with rage.

"Hagrid's no coward! Not like you Malfoy. I mean we had our differences in the past but you didn't have to just... to just block me out." Hermione was quiet for a second before saying, almost cautiously  "Remember how close we used to be?"

Both of them sat there for a moment, thinking about all that had happened and how their friendship had died.

Finally Draco took a deep breath, "What happened to us? We used to be the closest of friends and now here we are, practically hating each other." He took a breath and did something he should have done years ago "I'm really sorry Hermione. Your gender and heritage shouldn't have ever been an issue. You... well, you were the best friend I've ever had, and, well..." Draco paused, struggling to say this after all the years of denying it, "I, I really wish I had friends like you." He stopped, realizing he had just poured out his deepest secrets to someone he despised. But to his surprise, Hermione didn't laugh at him or scoff at his weakness, she looked, almost touched.