Harry Potter and the Eyes of the Dragon

Chapter IV: Just Friends

The Three Brooms was packed of Hogwarts’ students from third to senior year, creating a homey warmth that was the complete opposite to the outside. It was mid December and it was snowing forcefully; it almost seemed like a blizzard. The trio was sitting at a small round table in a corner, drinking Butterbeer and laughing at one of Ron’s impressions of Malfoy.

‘I would stop laughing if I were you, Granger. If you don’t I’ll tell Father how disrespectful you are and go cry to the dungeons’, Ron drawled, imitating his rival’s arrogant voice and looking at his best friends with air of superiority.

‘You got the voice right, Weasel, but it’s not likely for me to say such a thing. You should get yourself a new writer’, replied Harry lifting an eyebrow.

‘Touching! I never thought I was so important for the two of you to actually try and imitating me. Life is full of surprises, isn’t it?’, came a drawl from behind them, belonging to the authentic Draco Malfoy. Harry’s heart flipped.

‘What are you doing here, Malfoy?’, asked Harry harshly, turning around to face his nemesis.

‘Believe it or not, I was looking for Granger, but since I couldn’t see her among the crowd, I just followed the odour of stupidity the two of you are sending. Being who you are, Potter, I’d consider taking 10 showers a day. You’re too easy to track down.’ The blonde Slytherin grinned. He knew he had defeated him again at the game he was best at.

‘What the bloody hell do you want, Malfoy?’, said Ron, starting to lose both his patience and temper.
‘I told you, I was looking for Granger.’

Ron was about to open his mouth again, so Hermione got up from her seat and walked around the table toward Malfoy.

‘I’ll be right back’, she told them. ‘Come on, Malfoy.’

They stepped away from the table and quickly abandoned the two Gryffindors’ sight.

‘What was that all about?!’, shouted Ron. ‘Since when does Malfoy have things to talk about with Hermione?’

‘I don’t know, but if she went along with him it can only mean two things:’, said Harry calmly, ‘either they have to talk about school, or they went outside to snog.’

‘WHAT!’, screamed Ron, now fully red and almost made Harry spit his Butterbeer sip with laughter.

‘C’mon, Ron! I was kidding! Do you really think she’d… yuck!’

‘Harry, no matter how insane it sounds, there are things that you just don’t joke about. You just don’t.’

‘I’m… sorry?’, aimed Harry, still amused by his best friend’s reaction.

Hermione returned to the table and sat down nonchalantly, ignoring Harry and Ron’s questioning stares.

‘So?’, Harry asked impatiently.

‘What?’, she asked as if she didn’t know what Harry wanted her to say.

‘Malfoy! What did he want?’

‘Nothing. He just asked me if we could meet at the library when we get back’, she answered plainly.

‘Hey, it really was option number two’, laughed Harry. Ron was glaring at him hotly, his face completely red. ‘Ejem… sorry.’

‘Pardon?’, asked Hermione half amused and half angry for being left out of the joke.

‘Never mind, ‘Mione.’

‘Come on, Harry! Tell me!’, she insisted.

‘So, why did he ask to meet you, anyway?’, asked Ron.

‘We have to do this Muggle Studies’ assignment together, that’s all.’

‘I’m really sorry to hear that, Hermione’, said Harry commiserating, holding her hand across the table.

‘Since when did you know you had to do it?’, asked Ron looking away from his best fiends’ hands.

‘I don’t know, a while.’

‘And how come we’re finding out just now? Why didn’t you tell us?’, said Ron.

‘I don’t know, I forgot.’

‘You forgot?! This is Malfoy! How can you forget you’re going to spend hours alone with Malfoy?!’

‘What do you want me to say, Ron?! Do you want me to tell you that I’ve been hiding it from you? Is that what you want to hear?’

A group of forth-year Ravenclaws turned around to see what was going on. Ron and Hermione dropped the argument and avoided each other’s gaze the rest of the day.

***

Hermione was a second away from leaving the library when she spotted Malfoy walking in. There were two fifth-year Slytherin girls sitting at a table who instantly begun giggling when he passed by.

‘Hi, Draco’, they both said flirtatiously.

He just grinned at them and nodded. They kept giggling until he stopped in front of Hermione.

‘OK, let’s get this over with’, he said dropping his school bag on her table, which was in deed hers since she had arrived to Hogwarts. Territorial pissing, Ron always called it.

Hermione looked at the amount of parchments he had in his bag and cursed herself for only bringing what was strictly necessary. And even if she had brought every Muggle Studies parchment she had, it would only have been half of what he had there. Draco caught her looking inside his bag and raised an eyebrow.

‘What’s wrong, Granger? Are you planning to steal from me or something?’

‘What? Oh, no… I just didn’t know you took so many notes on Muggle Studies’, she said blankly.

‘How would you? You always sit at the front. I bet you’d sit near the blackboard if you could’, he replied sarcastically.

‘Why do you take it anyway? You are certainly not in friendly terms with muggles.’

‘You could say it’s for my future carrier, but the truth is, Granger, that as the enemy, I want to know as much as I can about them’, he said, leaning closer to her, their noses only inches away. Hermione instinctively retreated. ‘Don’t worry, Granger. You’re not my type.’

‘Of course I’m not’, she said folding her arms. ‘I’m a muggle-born, therefore, I am the enemy.’

‘Sure, that too.’

‘What is that supposed to mean?’, she asked with a boring tone.

‘If you don’t know, I’m not about to tell you’, he answered simply. ‘Quite a scandal you and the Weasel put up today at Hogsmeade.’

‘Stop calling him Weasel!’

‘Sorry, I can’t help it. It’s like a habit’, he said as he looked for a book on the bookshelves.

‘Did you just apologize to me, Malfoy?’, she asked in an amused-impressed tone.

‘So, what if I did? I may not like you, but I do have manners’, he said taking a book out and flipping its pages. Hermione decided to do the same. ‘So what’s between the two of you, anyhow?’

‘Between me and Ron?, she asked lifting her gaze from the book she had just taken. ‘Nothing, we’re just friends.’

‘Yeah, right. And I’m Queen Elizabeth’, he laughed.

‘If you say so…’

‘I’m just saying that I don’t get it. Everyone else seems to notice the sexual tension you two share, but you!’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Oh, you’re embarrassed! That’s understandable, at least’, he said grinning.

Hermione restrained herself from saying something she’d regret later. Why was he even asking her all of this? His intentions couldn’t be good, that was for sure.

“The Secrecy Pact was signed by all wizarding communities in Salem, to avoid the witch-hunting”, Draco read breaking the awkward silence. “Around the world, there are different laws, which have been dictated by the five hundred and nine Ministries of Magic, in order to protect both muggles and wizards from endangering themselves with the truth.” He closed the book and dropped it on the table. ‘What. A load. Of crap.’

‘I know. Talk about a big white lie’, said Hermione, agreeing with Malfoy for the first time in her life.

They begun scribbling in their parchments as much information they could find, only speaking to each other for work-related conversations. Hermione broke the silence while he was paging another book from the great pile they had made over the table.

‘What’s so funny?’, she asked, after noticing he was smirking.

‘Nothing, I was just picturing Weasley’s face when you told him you’d spent the day with me. He probably went red with jealousy.’

‘Again with that? He wasn’t jealous because he doesn’t see me that way… I think.’

‘Merlin! How can you be so bloody blind! He’s head over heels for you! I don’t know why, really, but it’s terribly obvious.’

‘You think so?’, she asked timidly.

‘Of course I do, why would I lie about it?’

‘To see me rejected and humiliated. To break our friendship…’ she counted with her fingers as she listed the possible wicked reasons.

‘Hum. I hadn’t seen it like that’, he said pensively. ‘I assure you, there’s no way you’re getting rejected. After all, you mudblood are the best thing he could ever get.’

‘And I was beginning to think we could actually go through a whole civil conversation.’

‘How naïve of you’, he grinned.

‘Can we please go on with our assignment?’

‘Excuse me, but if I’m not wrong, it was you the one who interrupted it. You know what? let’s finish it, once and for all, that way neither of will have to stand the other’s presence any longer.’

***

Neville was almost knocked down to the floor of the common room when Hermione opened the portrait hole brusquely.

‘Hey, be careful, will you?’, he said rubbing his side, where he had been hit.

‘Oh, sorry Neville’, she apologized and checked if he was fine.

‘Don’t worry about it, ‘Mione’, he blushed not being used to this sort of attention, specially coming from Hermione.

‘Hey, do you, by any chance, know where Ron is?’, she asked.

‘Er… yes, he’s in our room.’

‘Thanks, Nev.’

Neville watched her walk toward the boy’s dorm rooms and headed outside to join the others in their snow fight. She was about to open the door in the same way she had done when she knocked Neville, but to avoid such an incident or accidentally walking into a barely-clothed group of boys, she knocked first.

‘It’s open’, Ron’s voice came from the inside.

Hermione opened the door and found him lying on his bed, completely alone.

‘Hi, ‘Mione’, he said sitting up on his bed. ‘What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be with Malfoy?’

‘We just finished’, she told him, sitting on his bed. ‘How come you’re not outside? I heard there’s a big snow fight going on.’

‘I wasn’t feeling good, so I told them to go without me.’

‘What’s wrong? You’ve never missed a snow fight since I’ve known you’, she said worriedly.

She put a hand on his forehead to check for fever, but he seemed just fine.

‘You’re not hot.’

‘Gee, thanks’, he laughed.

‘That’s not what I meant’, she blushed.

‘Oh, so you do think I’m hot?’, he asked raising and eyebrow, knowing how uncomfortable he was making her feel, but in a funny way.

‘You know I do’, she said nervously. Ron suddenly stopped grinning and froze. ‘Ron?’, she asked, but he immediately planted a strong kiss on her lips, making it impossible for her to say anything else.

Hermione closed her eyes and put her arms around his neck. The kiss was soon becoming more passionate. Long repressed desire and need releasing itself in each unconscious gasp. He gently made her lay down, sliding on top of her.

‘Oh, Ron!’, she cried as he placed small kisses down to her neck.

Things were going too fast and too out of control for her, and even though she didn’t want Ron to ever stop stroking her hair and kissing her neck, she felt something on her thigh that freaked her out. She flipped him around and got up trembling from head to toe.

‘What’s wrong? Did I do something?’, Ron asked desperately.

‘No, no, Ron. You… gosh, I’m such and idiot!’, she yelled shaking her hands frantically.

Ron jumped up from the bed and held her hands trying to sooth her down. He put and arm on his back and held her close, caressing her face with his left hand.

‘Shh… calm down, ‘Mione’, he whispered in her ear. ‘It’s alright. We’ll take it slow, I promise. I just got a little carried away’, he said smiling and kissed her softly.

‘I know. And I get it, I do. I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long…’

‘We both have. I’m not sure why, really. We’ve wasted so much bloody time.’

They both felt silent, feeling each other’s warmth in their embrace. He was a lot taller than her, and yet they seemed to fit so perfectly. She had her arms around his neck and was resting her head on his shoulder as he stroked her hair.

Harry rushed in and witnessed the lovely scene before they could even react to his entry.

‘So… is this what I think it is? Finally?’, he asked beaming.

They both nodded happily and kissed. Harry started clapping and shouted ‘Alleluia!’

Neville, Dean and Seamus ran in, intrigued by Harry’s cheering.

‘Bloody hell, mate!’, exclaimed Dean, patting Ron on the shoulder. ‘You finally hit the jackpot, didn’t you?’

‘Hey, that’s my girl you’re talking about!’, he pushed Dean playfully, unable to stop smiling.

‘I’m so happy for you two’, said Seamus hugging them, and then whispered in Ron’s ear ‘Try not to bring her at night. I’d like to get some sleep around here.’

‘OK, that’s it!’, Ron shouted. ‘Everybody out.’

‘You can snog in front of us, mate. Don’t worry’, said Harry repressing a chuckle.

‘Out!’

Ron closed the door behind the four boys and turned around to find Hermione had cornered him.

‘Hi’, she said suggestively, running a finger down his cheek.

He pulled her close and their lips met once again. They only stopped when they heard the boys’ voices on the other side of the door shouting “Ron and Hermione, sitting on a tree! F-U-C-K-I-N-G!”