Draco and Hermione

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

As she made her way down to the dungeons, Hermione thought about the train ride and her encounters with Draco. She was still angry with him for the letter he'd sent over the summer, basically saying that she was too hard to be friends with and that they couldn't be together due to his parents. And now at Hogwarts, all five of them - Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Draco - had agreed to keep everything that happened over the summer a secret. Nobody knew that they'd spent four weeks together destroying horcruxes and defeating Voldemort, not even Ginny. And nobody knew that Draco had spent a few weeks at the Weasley's house and kissed Hermione Granger, before having his trial. While they'd agreed to keep this a secret to maintain Draco's reputation and Slytherin popularity, and also because Harry and Ron hated him, Hermione still wasn't happy with the situation. She knew that Draco would pretend to hate her because she was a Gryffindor mudblood, and she knew that all of Gryffindor would hate him for being a former Death Eater. And if they kept their friendship a secret, it wouldn't last forever. Well, that was her perspective on everything.

"I wouldn't go that way Granger, it leads to the Slytherin common room," said a voice suddenly. It was very familiar. Just as she assumed, when Hermione turned around she came face to face with Draco Malfoy. They were currently standing in a cold dungeon corridor which was faintly lit up with flaming torches. The dungeons were usually spooky at night, but neither of them noticed as they were focused entirely on each other.

"Well if you're so smart, which way is it?" asked Hermione in annoyance.

"Left," replied Draco. Instead of heading towards the left door to go to the eighth year dormitory where they were meant to be, they both simply stood there and stared at each other.

"Why did you stop owling me?" Hermione asked next.

"I had no choice."

"There's always a choice, Malfoy," said Hermione firmly, as she crossed her arms and glared at him.

"You know why I stopped. If my father found out about us he'd disown me and leave me with nothing. If anyone here at Hogwarts found out, we'd both be screwed," he explained, hoping that she would understand where he was coming from.

"Your mother didn't disown you."

"My mother is a bit more forgiving," said Draco.

"None of this even matters anyway. We'll never be friends because your parents would never accept me, and you are too afraid of losing your friends and reputation," said Hermione angrily.

"I can say exactly the same thing to you," Draco pointed out defensively.

"I'm not the one that ended all contact with you!" hissed Hermione, once again being reminded of how betrayed she felt when she'd received his letter weeks previously.

"That wasn't my fault and you know it!" argued Draco.

"Well that's the problem, isn't it? It doesn't matter who's fault it is, because this will never work," said Hermione exasperatedly.

"We don't have to go around telling everyone that we're in love with each other, but we can still be friends," said Draco, as he took a step closer to her.

"A secret friendship won't last forever. And besides, I want to be more than friends, and I know that you do too," said Hermione firmly, with a slight blush as she remembered kissing him and saying goodbye at Diagon Alley, which seemed like ages ago.

"We won't tell everyone immediately, and we won't keep it a secret forever. It'll happen gradually," said Draco, making it clear that he had given this quite a lot of thought as well. Hermione seemed to like this idea, and it made sense. Most couples didn't go around telling everyone who they were in love with each other anyway, they just let it happen.