Chapter Text
Chapter 1.
A cool breeze tickled the back of Hermione’s neck as she pulled herself out of bed. She stood and winced as her bare feet touched the cold stone floor, stretching and gazing out of the stained glass window of the head-girl dorm. It’s too cold up here in the mornings. She sighed to herself. She hadn’t yet grown used to the altitude of the top floor dormitory, but was even more surprised when the cold weather persisted in the spring. It was nearly the end of her last term at Hogwarts. After the Battle, and namely the death of Voldemort and many associated death eaters, Hogwarts was never the same. For better and not for worse though, she always thought. McGonagall shaped up to be a great headmistress and pulled Hogwarts back into shape as quickly as it was torn apart by both Umbridge and Voldemort’s rule.
Hermione padded across the room and stared into the mirror of her vanity, raising her wand to lazily affix her curls into a tight plait. This had been her slow morning routine during the length of her 7th year; there was a lot less commotion in the school with the dark lord and his followers finally being taken care of, and namely without Harry or Ron there to get her into trouble. They had been whisked away on assignments as aurors for many of her months at school. She had always been slightly annoyed at their skipping the N.E.W.Ts and heading straight into the field, but she couldn’t deny that killing Voldemort was a fair excuse to have that shortcut. She, on the other hand, had worked too hard to skip out on finishing her schooling. And, of course, she enjoyed it.
Hermione’s robes were hung from the back of her bedroom door, affixed to the wood with a sticking charm as they were each morning. With a flick of her wand, they came bounding down and into her hands. She changed into her uniform and, robe in hand, made her way to the head dorm’s common room.
“Morning Granger.” a sleep deprived voice sounded from the sofa, its back facing towards her. Peeking over the backrest, Theo Knott nodded in greeting to her as she made her way to the kitchen.
“Morning Knott.” She nodded back politely. Theo was nice enough, they chatted fairly often and made friendly conversation during their head student assignments. Though, she couldn’t see herself becoming too friendly with him because of his close friendship with Draco Malfoy. The Malfoy family turned against Voldemort nearing the end of the Battle, Lucius and Narcissa helping to save Hogwarts when most thought that all hope had been lost. So, she didn’t hold any grudges towards him for being a former death eater. Just for his incessant taunting, which unsurprisingly did not stop when they reached their 7th and final year at Hogwarts. Her breath hitched at the thought of him, her heart skipping the slightest beat. Stop being such a girl, Hermione. A pretty face won’t make up for an ugly heart.
Hermione grabbed her books she had left on the kitchen table the night prior, stress of the N.E.W.Ts weighing over her more organized side.
“Are you just getting in?” Hermione tilted her head at Theo, noticing as she walked towards the door his disheveled state, still wearing his robes from the night before. Partying at Slytherin, no doubt. Hermione didn’t foresee how much debauchery takes place within the student body during their 6th and 7th years. Though, during her 6th she was dealing with more… pressing matters. Parties, drinking, falling asleep in the wrong dorm and waking up with your latest hook-up’s tie on. Of course, she wouldn’t partake. But it seemed even the most well adjusted students were, including the head boy.
“That obvious?” Theo laughed raspily, rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes as brown locks fell over them. Hermione rolled her eyes.
“How McGonagall elected you as head boy, I’ll never know.” She laughed and shook her head playfully.
“It was between me and Malfoy. And Merlin knows he gets up to way more than I do these days.” Theo’s eyebrow raised as he spoke, as if noticing the change in Hermione’s heartbeat at the mention of him. She gulped, ignoring the remark and saying her goodbyes to Knott as she made her way out of the dorm.
Classes went by like a blur. It was true that Hogwarts was less entertaining without her closest friends, but Hermione never felt lonely. A sense of adulthood washed over her at the beginning of the first term; school began to feel like less of a social excursion and more like preparation for her propulsion into becoming a professional practicing witch. It obviously wasn’t like that for the rest of her classmates. Many of her older peers were still burdened with the idea of popularity. Ginny, her closest friend, definitely had it the worst. She and Cho Chang were constantly in kahoots with girls from Slytherin, fighting over boys and status and a whole lot of other things that truly didn’t matter. Two Slytherin girls in particular, Pansy Parkinson and Cassia Carrow, seemed to believe they were celebrities at Hogwarts. With the amount of boys fawning over them and girls trying to replicate their effects, it wasn’t that hard to believe, which is probably why Ginny and Cho were always head to head with them. It was no doubt that this group of girls were the most desired by the aplenty number of Hogwarts boys that were now of courting age.
Hermione chuckled to herself at the thought. She had never understood what was so important about social status, or even boys for that matter. She knew that the right one would come along, and that would most likely happen after she finished school. She imagined meeting a handsome wizard at the ministry, getting to work alongside him and spend their lives together. As she walked down the corridor, books held tightly against her chest, a smile crept along her cheeks at the thought.
…Until they were rudely interrupted.
“What’re you smiling about, Granger?” a familiar, annoying voice sounded above her as she saw shiny black loafers before her feet. Looking up, Malfoy stood over her, blonde hair sweeping over his eyes as he gazed down on her. A wicked grin stretched across his face. Hermione backed away, eyeing him awkwardly as she fought the warm blush forming on her cheeks.
“What’s it to you, Malfoy?” She retorted, his eyes rolling back as if on cue. He stepped closer again.
“I dunno.” He snorted. “I guess I’m just curious as to what you of all people would have to be happy about. All alone this term, aren’t ‘ya?” He teased, an evil glint in his eye. Why was he so cruel? Even though his implied words weren’t true, what good did it do him to insult her? She didn’t respond, just clutched her books tighter and attempted to walk past him, eyes at her feet. Then another pair of shoes joined his. She turned her gaze upward, Pansy Parkinson in her rightful place: attached to Draco Malfoy at the hip.
“Move, mudblood.” She spat, shouldering her way around Hermione to catch up with Draco, who was already walking away from her. Hermione stifled a laugh as she noticed her desperation. Looking back, she watched her catch up and immediately start arguing with him. That’s usually how they had spent their time during her 7th year. On and off, hooking up and not hooking up. It was obvious that Draco didn’t want to court her, but he kept her around for his own entertainment. Bastard.
Obviously Pansy was a bitch to her, but she couldn’t help but feel pity. Hermione had seen too many times exactly what Pansy’s best friend and Draco got up to in the library when she wasn’t around. She felt less inclined to tell Pansy and more inclined to tell them to at least not hook up where others are trying to study.
Before she could look away from the arguing couple, she noticed Draco’s eyes on her. Not a mocking stare, or even one of annoyance that she was being nosey, just looking at her. Almost as if he was trying to read her mind. Turning away, she awkwardly shuffled down the corridor, climbing stairs upon stairs towards the head student dorm.
Approaching the dorm, before she could even twist the knob, Theo was already bounding out. Had quickly changed from his school robes into casual clothes. Already off to another social outing, Hermione did not envy him. He nodded to her and gestured to a figure behind her. Looking back, she spotted Draco again. Did he.. follow me the whole way here? She raised an eyebrow.
“Ready to fuck shit up?” Theo threw his coat over his shoulder and walked towards Draco, who was already eyeing Hermione.
“Merlin, it’s only half past five. Let’s at least make some waves at Ravenclaw first.” Draco spoke, not taking his eyes off of her for a second. Theo seemed to notice his gaze, and looked back at her with a smirk.
“What do you think, Granger? Up for a night out of the dorm for a change?” He snorted, as laughter erupted from Malfoy behind him. Hermione opened her mouth to respond, an obvious no, before Draco chimed in:
“Right. Like Granger wouldn’t report straight to the headmistress at the sight of what we get up to after hours.” She rolled her eyes. As if she cared enough to ruin his fun. She had always been a rule-follower, it’s true. But of course, she had also broken her fair share when she, Harry, and Ron got into trouble in their formative years. But for loud parties, random hookups, and recreational potions? She wouldn’t dare. At first she was surprised at Theo’s bravery at putting his head boy status at risk for a bit of fun, until realizing that he just didn’t care. She did. She had grown to be proud of her accomplishment and relished in the responsibilities that came with it.
“C’mon, Granger. Just one night won’t hurt your N.E.W.T studies.” Theo urged. Hermione, now standing in the doorway, just shook her head.
“Doesn’t sound like fun to me. But i do hope you’ll be safe. And you Malfoy.. be extra safe. Lucius wouldn’t want any little illegitimate Malfoys running around the manor, would he?” She almost laughed out loud at her retort, and fought the urge even harder when Draco blushed, clearly embarrassed by her jab at his promiscuity. He stepped closer, a smirk forming across his cheeks as his embarrassment suddenly faded.
“Right. Wouldn’t want to make you too jealous, Granger.” She backed into the doorway, taken aback. Does he know about my feelings? Her face, now hot and beet red, dropped. Draco laughed in response, Theo shoving him away from the doorway in annoyance. He closed the door behind him before they made their way down the corridor. Hermione froze. If Draco didn’t know about her crush on him, her reaction definitely just told him all he needed to know.
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hope you enjoyed the first chapter!! i have about 6 chapters completed now, but this is gonna be a long one. will release gradually! again, brand new fic!! so definitely open to suggestions and if you have any cool OCs you want me to cameo let me know in the comments.