“Don’t even think about it, Hermione,” chuckled Jessie. “You don’t have a chance with him. Don’t you have a boyfriend?”
Hermione blushed furiously. Did she have to say that in front of all her friends? Not wanting to argue, Hermione got up and said, “Look, I…um…I have to go. I’ll see you guys.” She didn’t want Malfoy to spot her with them. She knew Laura would go and make him join their table and she didn’t want to sit on the same table as him.
“Hold on. Why are you in such a hurry?” said Jessie, folding her arms across her chest.
“It’s none of your business,” Hermione replied calmly. Jessie smirked.
“Oh come now, didn’t you enjoy their company?” Jessie motioned towards Roger, Violet and the guys.
Hermione looked at them and said, “You know I enjoyed your company but I really must go.” Violet smiled and nodded.
“Hermione! Don’t worry! We understand,” Roger said. “Don’t listen to Jessie, she likes joking around.” But apparently, Jessie wasn’t finished with Hermione yet.
“Is it because you don’t have a date? I can fix you up with someone if you like.”
Hermione’s insides boiled with anger and she would have slapped her across her face if it weren’t for the people standing around her. She didn’t want to make a scene. She looked at Jessie, giving her a glare which could have frightened Voldemort himself. Hermione had had enough. She started gathering her belongings to leave when a hand took hold of her shoulder.
Draco lazily looked around and took in his surrounding. Well…it does look…festive, I guess. His eyes wandered until suddenly, he spotted Hermione. He took a sharp intake of breath when he saw how different she looked; her brown curls bounced as she talked animatedly and her simple dress was really pretty. Draco shook his head. That was the second time he had been staring at Granger. What’s wrong with me! The muggle-born bookworm is clearly trying to draw some attention to herself. This won’t work with me. She was with a group of people, one of whom he had met at the pool the other day. He saw that her face was flushed and looked like she was in an argument with one of the girls. Curious, he edged his way closer to the table, although not too close. He didn’t want to be seen…yet. He made his way until he could hear what they were talking about.
“Hold on. Why are you in such a hurry?” said the girl.
“It’s none of your business,” Hermione replied.
“Oh come now, didn’t you enjoy their company?”
“You know I enjoyed your company but I really must go.” Malfoy saw her saying to a group of people next to her.
“Hermione! Don’t worry! We understand,” said one of he boys. “Don’t listen to Jessie, she likes joking around.”
“Is it because you don’t have a date? I can fix you up with someone if you like.”
Malfoy looked at Hermione, waiting to see her reactions. That was exactly what Malfoy would have done back in Hogwarts; try to embarrass Granger as much as he could. But he was a changed man after the war, and seeing her in an embarrassing moment didn’t bring as much joy to him anymore. In fact, he could almost feel her anger…her humiliation.
He saw her start to gather her things when an idea came into his head. Something that would either shock or annoy Granger but would also make her feel less embarrassed. At least, he thought it would. He couldn’t believe he was going to do it. It was not in his nature at all, especially since it was going to be Granger who he was going to help. But imagining her face when he would do it was too good to let it go. Oh, this is going to be loads of fun. Malfoy went over to Hermione and took hold of her shoulder. Hermione whipped around and gasped in surprise.
“Sit down. I’m here now,” he said, making her sit back down on her chair by pressing on her shoulder. Hermione, still in shock, sat down, staring at him in alarm. He sat next to her and looked around at the table.
“Are they your friends? Why don’t you introduce me?” he said, looking back at Hermione. He couldn’t help but smirk. Her face was priceless. She was looking at him with an expression of confusion, and she didn’t reply until Malfoy stamped on her feet to get her to say something.
Pain shot up her leg and she bit her lip to stop herself from screaming at Malfoy. But the gesture had worked; she tore her eyes away from him and looked at her new set of friends. She didn’t know what to say. Never in her lifetime had she expected such a surprise.
“Well…this…umm…this…this is…” she muttered, totally at a loss for words.
“Hermione, do you know him?” said Jessie, hate and astonishment radiating from her words. Laura and Terry’s mouth were agape and they looked at Hermione with pure loathing.
“Of course she knows me. My name is Draco Malfoy,” he said. Without thinking, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and roughly pulled her towards his side. Hermione squeaked as she was pulled next to him, his hands resting on the upper part of her arm. What in Merlin’s beard is he doing! But she kept her mouth shut; obviously he had something in his mind. Jessie’s eyes widened in horror and she looked at Hermione as if it was her fault that she knew Draco.
Hermione had to know why he was doing this; what his reasons were for suddenly acting this way. The Draco Malfoy she knew would never sit next to her or wrap his arms around her for that matter. When Jessie looked away from them to share her opinions with her friends, Hermione, trying not to move her lips as much as possible, whispered, “Malfoy…what are you doing?”
“Doing?”
“Yes! Why you’re doing this?”
“I’m saving you from humiliation, that’s what I’m doing,” he chuckled. Annoyed, Hermione tried to move away, but Draco was much more powerful and he tightened his grip on her arm. “Oh just calm down, Granger. Didn’t you see that girl’s smile wipe off her face as I came near you? This is a good thing for you,” he said, reasoning with her. “And tons of fun for me,” he added as an after thought. Hermione raised an eyebrow.
“And why, is it fun for you?”
“First of all I wanted to see your reactions and second, I know you hate it when I’m anywhere around you and everything you hate, I like.”
“You like being around me?”
“Oh don’t even go there, Granger. Only in your dreams will I ever like you. I meant because you hate being next to me, I’ll purposely come to annoy you. Get my drift?” he said, trying to cover his real thoughts.
“Oh, so to annoy me as much as possible, you’ll go to the extent of wrapping an arm over my shoulders? You would have never done that back in school. You had other ways.”
Malfoy chuckled. “What? Calling you a Mudblood and insulting your friends? I’m not a kid anymore.”
Hermione stayed silent for a while. She still couldn’t understand the sudden change in his behaviour and his reasons were not satisfying enough. She hated Malfoy being anywhere next to her and wanted to shove him away, but she was dying to get back at Jessie at the same time.
Typical Granger. She always has to analyze the situation. He wasn’t quite sure what made him do it now. Did he really do it just because he wanted to see her face turn into confusion… anger? To infuriate her? Or did he do it because he felt some sympathy for her? And why in the world did my bloody arm go around her shoulders! He wasn’t sure anymore but it was too late to back out.
“So, it’s Draco is it? My name is Roger,” said Roger, holding out his hand. Draco unwrapped his arm over Hermione’s shoulders and shook his hand. It was about time to meet new people. He didn’t want to talk to himself throughout the trip and this lot seemed like an interesting one, especially since most of the girls looked like they could murder Hermione in a minute.
Time flew by and Draco got to know the guys more. Jessie was continuously trying to get his attention and he tried to ignore her as much as possible without acting too rude. Jessie reminded him a lot of Pansy Parkinson, whom he started to dislike after his fifth year. They both had the same personality, which he hated.
Hermione and Violet got along extremely well. Hermione talked with her the whole time and she was glad that Malfoy hadn’t done anything else. This was unusual of him to do so, as was him sitting next to her. Dinner was quickly finished and Hermione danced twice with Roger and Alex. Jessie had asked Draco three times but he always made up an excuse. He enjoyed talking with the guys and he soon enjoyed Violet’s company too, she was like one of the guys. Thankfully, no one had noticed the peculiarity of Hermione and Draco not dancing together but since Draco didn’t dance with anybody else, one could assume that he just disliked this activity. After a fantastic display of fireworks, both Hermione and Draco bid goodnight to the others.
Jessie came up to him and said, “Goodnight, Draco. I’ll see you around then?”
A little taken back with her forwardness, he replied, “Yeah…sure.” Jessie smiled. She looked at Hermione and glared at her. With one last look at Draco, she took off with Laura.
Hermione and Draco made their way back to their rooms, not even talking once to each other along the way. When they were both outside their rooms doors, Hermione paused and said, “Thank you…um…for backing me up.”
For the second time in a day, Draco was taken aback by Hermione’s words. No one had ever thanked him with actually meaning it. Not ever. He didn’t even know how to say those words. ‘Sorry’ and ‘Thank you’ were meaningless to him. But hearing them from a person who meant it whole heartedly confused him a bit.
Quickly recovering from his moment of silence, he said, “Don’t expect more from me. Today was a ‘once in a life time’ thing.”
“Why did you do it though? What you said back there wasn’t enough.”
“None of your business.”
“I was caught in the middle of it! I think this is my business too! You suddenly come along and do THAT and think that I wouldn’t want to know what made you do it?”
“I don’t know, Granger! I didn’t have time to think things through that much; I had to act quickly.”
“You do realize that what you did was highly unlike the Malfoy I know, don’t you?”
“Why? Because I’m a Malfoy? Because I hate Mudbloods?”
“Yes!”
“God, Granger. You’re still living in the past aren’t you? If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t called you a Mudblood this whole time. I don’t care anymore about Purebloods and Mudbloods. I’m not the kid back in Hogwarts and I don’t have to prove myself to you.” Draco unlocked his room and slammed it shut.
Hermione stood still for a moment, taking in all what he had said. After a while, she slowly unlocked her room and went inside.