We Already Know Each Other, Believe Me | Drarry

Afraid

(A/N wow hey guys so I know that its been forever!!!!!! but i finally logged back on and i saw that this had such a great response so ive decided to actually write something. im really really sorry and i hope this doesnt disappoint but who am i kidding of course it will)

        "You haven't come to class in a week, and you expect me to just sit back and 'have patience'?" Hermione paced across the Slytherin common room and half-lectured half-yelled at Draco. "No. You need to stop and try. You're never going to pass anything if you aren't there to learn it."

        "I cant go back, Hermione. I cant focus." Draco shook his head. "I cant face-"

        "He's probably not as torn up about it as you are." Hermione smiled in a way that was probably supposed to be encouraging but really looked more like a serial killer waiting in the shadows. Maybe he was being a bit melodramtic, but it was the only thing he could rely on. An exaggerated, disproportionate reality, that is, not a murderer.

        "Have you talked to him?"

        Draco was sitting cross-legged on the floor, and Hermione sat down on a chair. He ran a hand through his pale hair nervously. He'd skipped all of his classes that he shared with Harry over the past week, and he had done nothing but run all of their conversations through his head a million times. He saw so many places he could have said or done something dfferently, but the past is in the past, right?

        "Well, not exactly. I've been busy. Kind of. I havent been able to get him alone." She sighed, and she shivered in the cold of December. "Look, it doesnt matter. You have to be brave and tell him how you feel."

        "Hermione, you dont understand. I know that... love... isnt the first thing on your mind, but I dont want to screw this up."

        "So what are you going to do? Avoid him for the rest of the year, and then all of next year? You have four classes with him. You sit either behind or next to him in three of them."

        "I dont know. I'll wait untill after break. By then I'll have figured out a way to never talk to him again."

        Hermione groaned. "Draco, you're so paralyzed by fear, for no reason. Just talk to him before break. You'll overthink it so much that if you dont you'll say all the wrong things."

        "I'm-I'm afraid." Draco admitted, and he felt ten times lighter, like the thing thats been holding him back has been taken off his shoulders.

        "Of what?"

        "Rejection. Look, being friends with you is great. I really lucked out. You're my only actual friend that I dont want to murder. But... if I dont screw it up, Harry and I could have something even better. With my other friends, theres no risk. I tolerate them, and they tolerate me. Theres no feelings, or emotions.  We dont put anything out there for everyone to see. This is uncharted territory for me, and I dont want to mess it up on my first go."

        Hermione sat quietly for a moment. "Yeah, I get it. But, what if you miss an opportunity, and you regret it? Yeah, youre risking a lot, but you could really, really luck out. Harry's great. I know, he's been my best friend for the past six years. But you cant just expect things to happen. Tomorrow is the last day of classes before break. Talk to him in Potions, or lunch, or go to the library. You have to do it though."

        "I know. Tell him at dinner that-"

        "Tell him yourself. I've already told him to meet me in the library to study for tomorrow's Potions test, but a study partner can easily be replaced." Hermione stood up to leave.

        "Hermione, I-"

        "I know. Be there at seven."