Between Us - Dramione/Blinny

Ch. 6

Another week had passed without much change. Draco was still avoiding Hermione in their mutual classes, which thankfully for him were only Charms and Potions. He didn't even really want to avoid her; he just knew it would probably be best for her if he did. He didn't want her to receive any sort of backlash from associating with him, and based on the reactions that he was getting from the other students, he knew they would not approve.

Blaise, of course, thought Draco was being ridiculous.

"Mate, avoiding her is not going to make things better," Blaise said at breakfast that Saturday.

"Talking didn't do me much good either," Draco said bitterly. "I told her too much too quickly."

"And from what you said, she responded well," Blaise pointed out. "She didn't retaliate or anything, and saw your side of things. Why are you being difficult about it?"

"She doesn't need to be affected by anything I've done, and you know everyone else would look down upon the two of us being friendly," Draco said quietly. "She's better off not being associated with me."

Blaise rolled his eyes, sighing. Before he could say anything, Pansy and Theo both sat down in front of them, looking between the two with interest.

"I sense some tension," Theo said curiously.

Blaise shook his head. "Draco's just being stubborn about something."

"You know," Theo started, dramatically leaning in towards Draco, "People are generally more welcoming if you are willing to talk to them."

Draco simply glared at the sandy-haired Slytherin and didn't respond. Theo grinned and Pansy shook her head at the two of them.

"He does have a point though, Draco," She said. "You can't really expect people to treat you different if you don't outwardly show that you are trying to change."

There was a sudden commotion from the Gryffindor table that caused everyone in the hall to turn and see what was happening. Draco looked up and saw Hermione being surrounded by her house mates, her face completely red with embarrassment as they all shouted the Happy Birthday song at the top of their lungs.

The rest of the Hall slowly joined in, and at the end there was cheering that had to be brought back down by Professor McGonagall tapping her knife against her glass. Everyone returned their attention back to their meals, and Blaise momentarily caught Draco grinning from ear to ear before the blond turned to hide his face from his friends.

Pansy saw it too, and she raised an eyebrow at Blaise, who simply grinned and shrugged. Shaking her head, Pansy couldn't help but smile, wondering if her suspicions were true.

Hermione left the Great Hall quickly after breakfast with Ginny fast on her heels. She was still bright red from all of the attention, but she was smiling.

"Merlin, Gin; that was embarrassing!" She exclaimed.

Ginny laughed as they slowed down. "Just be thankful that I didn't make you wear a hat!"

They slowly strolled through the corridors, laughing with each other. Ginny finally nudged her and asked, "So, what do you want to do for your birthday? I'm not allowing you to do any sort of homework or studying today!"

Hermione laughed. "But I need to complete an assignment!"

"Which can most likely wait until tomorrow, am I right?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow with a mischievous grin.

Sighing, Hermione finally relented and they continued throwing ideas back and forth as they walked to Gryffindor tower. Ginny nixed almost all of the ones that didn't include Hogsmeade, and Hermione was starting to get suspicious.