requirement | dramione

0.01

september 1st
almost 11 months earlier
first night of sixth year

Draco Malfoy had always been quite astonishingly beautiful. In a dark, ethereal sort of way. The kind that was meant to be photographed or drawn and hung in a museum, somewhere far from here.

On the first night of their sixth year, as every Hogwart's student sat in the Great Hall, Hermione Granger caught herself wondering if Malfoy knew how beautiful he was. Blonde, perfectly pale skin that lacked a single impurity, narrowed blue eyes. Just for a moment. 

Quickly, she decided that he must've known, otherwise, he probably wouldn't have been the arrogant arsehole whom all of Hogwarts had come to despise.

And yet, on the eve before the first day of the term, while all of Gryffindor awaited the arrival of Harry Potter– who was irresponsibly and unexplainably late– Hermione couldn't seem to keep her eyes off of that blonde haired boy.

It was a strange, unsettling sight, to see Draco Malfoy sitting there with his lips pressed together and his chin resting in his palm. His eyes seemed fixed to the floor on the opposite side of the table; a stare that was rather vacant and lost. His hair was perfectly combed, as it always was, gelled into immovable perfection. Beautiful and nearly white, highlighting the porcelain paleness of his skin. Perhaps a bit longer than it had been at the end of last year.

Slytherin boys around Malfoy laughed as they basked in their endlessly replenishing suppers. Hermione imagined they were taking turns making rude comments, seeing who could do the worst damage on tonight's target. But while she watched them, Malfoy didn't join in their laugher, whatever it was they were howling about. In fact, he didn't seem to hear them at all. On his opposite hand, Hermione noted the dark haired girl– Pansy Parkinson, as she too watched the blonde.

"Ron? Ginny?" Hermione cleared her throat, trying to return her focus to her own table. The young witch blinked twice, as if she was erasing what she'd just seen, and looked to Ginny in the seat across from her. Ginny, with that beautifully long straight hair and sweet dotted freckles, eyed her from across the table.

Ron sat a bit straighter in the spot next to her, staring at her as he finished another bite of his supper. His great blue eyes watched her for another moment before she spoke, taking just a glance back over at the Slytherin table.

"Did either of you happen to hear why Malfoy has given up his prefect duties this year?" Hermione asked, transfixed at the sight of him once again. There was something so uneasy about seeing Draco Malfoy with his eyes low and his mouth closed. Sitting there so quietly, wordlessly– not making cruel jokes or insulting remarks– he hardly even looked like Malfoy.

For the first time since the very day she had met him, Hermione was intrigued. The young witch was swept into the sneaking desire of understanding why he hadn't yet come over to intentionally offend a Gryffindor or mock a Hufflepuff. Swept into the punishable curiosity as to why Malfoy had given up his prefect duties before the term had even begun. Or why he looked so misplaced– perhaps even considerably sad? And why hadn't he opened his mouth to speak– not even once whilst she watched him.

She hardly heard Ginny and Ron as they exchanged curiosities, wondering if they'd find him on the Quidditch pitch this year.

"Seriously..." Hermione now intended to shake away the thought of that Slytherin, no matter how strange and unusual. There were bigger concerns to overanalyze, she reminded herself. "Of course Harry manages to get into trouble on the first night of school. No one else in the world would be so idiotic. He should be here by now, even if he did miss the carriages."

In the next few minutes, Harry did arrive to the Great Hall in a rush of disheveled glory. It was fitting, of course, for a boy prone to as much trouble as Harry had proven to be. He kept the tale of his bloodied nose to himself, even though Hermione was certain to have asked him twelve times before Professor Dumbledore finished another lengthy speech.