The Other Side (Seamus/Hermione)

Purgatorio

II. PURGATORIO

One day she gathered the courage to ask the question she'd been pondering since the start of all this: Why her?

"Merlin, Hermione," Seamus said, biting his lip, "I mean, you're brilliant, witty, drop-dead gorgeous-,"

"Be real, Sea."

"I am!" Seamus said, looking offended that Hermione didn't believe him, "But when I think back to it, what started it...well, what drew you to me?"

"That you took notice, I suppose." Hermione shrugged awkwardly, "There's so much more to you now but I mean, we didn't ever really interact at Hogwarts..."

"No, I guess we didn't." Seamus agreed, as though he was just realizing it now. He bit his lip cautiously, "I'm going to sound totally ridiculous here, and let me just preface by saying my mum was a huge Pride and Prejudice fan and I heard it in the background enough that I likely know the whole script, I'm not just a guy that really likes it, but I think of a quote or something. That I was already in the middle before I had realized it had began, or whatever." He said, looking down to hide his blush that grew on his cheeks. Hermione's heart thudded.

"That's strangely romantic." Hermione mumbled, knitting her fingers into his.

"I dunno. I just woke up one day and saw you laughing with Hannah and Su and I thought 'damn, some guy will be lucky to get her one day' and before I knew it I starting wondering if maybe it could just be me. I guess I don't think about it much, don't want to analyze it. Why does anyone really get together? I'm just glad we did." He said and Hermione considered his words.

"It's a good enough answer for me." She declared. And they left it at that.

Another day, she asked when he became such good friends with Draco.

"It just happened," Seamus scoffed, "He's not a bad bloke, you know. Still a little arrogant, but really creative, really smart." Seamus shrugged, "I think you'd actually like him."

That's how Draco became the first person to find out about Seamus and Hermione's tryst, when Seamus had to find an explanation to why he was so intent with Hermione getting to know Draco. Either way, Hermione had a feeling Draco already half-knew. He seemed to know quite a lot more about what went on this camp, but he wasn't one to gossip.

And he wasn't a bad guy...once Hermione threw away everything she'd known about him, he was indeed, enjoyable. He could match her wit and he was a hard worker and didn't expect people to like him, even after a year of being here. He would wait until they were ready.

Draco was often working in the gardens when he wasn't out hunting and Hermione liked the feeling of soil on her hands and soon they started requesting their shifts together. For Hermione, it was good to have friends while she worked, not someone she constantly had to direct or correct. They could both finish their work while enjoying the company of someone else.

So perhaps she shouldn't have been quite so surprised when Ginny came up to her about six months into her and Seamus being together and got it all wrong.

"Hermione, I want to talk to you about something." She said with a smile, nudging up to Hermione while she went over the classlists in the dining hall.

"Sure, what is it?" Hermione was glad to have a break from it. Assigning about 100 kids to different courses and making sure no one overlapped was difficult; she didn't envy McGonagall's old job of overseeing it at Hogwarts. Thinking of McGonagall, or any other teacher for that matter, no longer felt like an arrow through her heart, but more like a fond memory.

"So...you and Draco?"

"Me and Draco...what?" Hermione said, scrutinizing Ginny. She figured Ginny had left out part of her question, possibly about the fact that Hermione had requested to go hunting with him soon. Draco had been showing her the basics, along with Seamus, in the main courtyards when they were on guard duty and she was itching to leave the base. She hadn't since she arrived, nor had Ron or Harry. Staying 'ghosts' was far too important, but Hermione was getting some serious cabin fever.