Chapter Text
"... and the final group is Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy. You have a month to finish the project!" said Professor Snape, in his monotone tone as he finished pairing the students in groups of two. Hermione felt a bit shocked at first, but soon made herself overcome it. She quickly gathered her things, and unlike the other times, she didn't rush towards her next class to escape from the cold basement classroom and the frightening professor, but walked towards the calmly sitting blond Slytherin boy's desk instead.
She watched the Malfoy offspring with a patient look and waited for him to speak first. Draco suddenly stood up after looking at his godfather, waiting for the two to leave the classroom already to be able to close the door behind them. Hermione followed him in silence for about three minutes before finally speaking up.
"You do realize we have the same class next, right? You can't avoid me forever. Unless you decide to skip" The girl's calm and friendly voice surprised Draco. He thought maybe she would stop him and suggest a time to start the project in the library, all said in a slightly antipathetic tone. But the young woman's voice was not forced or even resentful -and what surprised him the most- she was faintly smiling at him as he turned to her. "We can talk later if you'd like, but I will do this with or without you. It's all up to you if you want your name to be left off the project or not." said Hermione, smiling kindly the whole time at him. It might be a faint smile, but it was there, and it freaked Draco out.
The girl, seemingly satisfied without an answer, started walking towards their next class. She left Draco stunned in confusion. Her actions were unfamiliar and strange. He couldn't figure out where the change came from. Sure, he has stopped messing with the trio for some months now and avoided being near Granger and her disapproving eyes at all costs. He might have started feeling just a bit guilty for harassing them for the past five years, as he noticed how Granger's eyes and face just screamed disappointment every time he started anything with them, which looked far too familiar to him to ignore, thanks to his lovely father. For a while, he hoped that he had just misread her expression, and she must have just worn a resentful, disgusted look. He could have handled that, but he soon realized it was not the case. She genuinely seemed disappointed in him, and that he couldn't handle. So he started avoiding them, especially Granger.
But what he just saw was entirely different. There wasn't anything but friendliness and a smile on her face, and that freaked him out even more. Like they had no past of hostility between them. He couldn't put his hands on it. He couldn't understand it. Why was she acting like this? After he overcame his shock, he quickly caught up with her, and started walking next to her-he ain't no one's pet, he won't follow anyone two steps behind- to Potions in silence. He glances at her uncharacteristically awkwardly as he pockets his hands so he won't start fidgeting with them. He doesn't know how to handle the situation; he didn't really have to small-talk with anyone before, and this is Granger. The girl whom he bullied for years, and now she seems to act like nothing happened before. After a while, he couldn't handle the silence, so he spoke up just to break it. "When would you be free to start the project...?" he tries the only theme given.
"I'll be free after Potions," she said, looking up at him. She wasn't smiling anymore; she looked tired, which was also an unfamiliar expression on her face. Draco felt the urge to ask if everything was okay, but he ignored it. It's none of his business anyway. He looked away from her face. "How about you?" she asked back.
"Yeah, I'm free after that too." He ran his fingers through his hair just to do something. Why does he feel so awkward? "I'll need some stuff though, so I'mma need to head back to the Dormitory if that's alright with you." He quickly glanced at her, and she was already looking at him. The eye contact made him feel uneasy, so he looked away just as fast.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at his awkward demeanor as she replied. "I don't mind. Then I'll go and drop off my stuff before going to the library. Let's meet there 30 minutes after class?"
"Yeah, sure." agreed Malfoy as he opened the classroom door, letting her go in first without really thinking about it. She seemed surprised at first, but a gentle smile crept to her face as she walked in.
***
They both arrived earlier than the agreed-upon time and settled into a desk at the end of the library, both avoiding the unwanted attention of others. They talked through how they imagine the project, brainstormed ideas, divided the tasks into two, and agreed upon who would do which part. " I think that's it for now. " said Hermione after she wrote down the divided parts in a list. Draco quickly finished writing down his parts of the project, and when he looked up to her, she was once again already looking at him. She seemed to be deep in her thoughts for a few seconds before speaking up again. "You've changed." she stated matter-of-factly. Draco blinks at her in confusion.
"Not really" he mumbled, but it was clear enough for Hermione to catch. "Well, you seem to have" she said while packing her stuff neatly, but not yet standing up. Instead, she looks at him waitingly. "Why do you think that, Granger?" he sighed, not wanting to talk about it. She thought for a second before answering, brushing her hair out of her face. "You stopped... being a jerk to us. I also feel like you have been avoiding me for some time now. Which is weird because I just can't find the logic behind it. Sure, it would be understandable if I were to avoid you; we both know that. But why would you avoid me? You also stopped hanging out with people overall. I haven't seen you have a conversation in weeks. And also -"
"Granger, you are rambling." Draco interrupted. "And what? Have you been stalking me or something? This sounds a bit creepy if you were to ask me." he looked uncomfortable having this conversation. She looked taken aback. A slight blush crept onto her face, realizing she had gone overboard. "Yeah, it does sound like that, huh?" she chuckled in embarrassment. She tucked her hair behind her ears before she continued. "It's just I noticed that you stopped bullying Harry and Ron, and I guess I just started to pay more attention to you because I didn't understand the change." she shrugged, Draco sighed as he massaged his forehead.
"Does it really matter?" he sounded defeated. His guilt crawling back slowly but surely. He felt like shit; he just wanted to leave already. " Not really, I guess..." she mumbles "But I'm still curious. And maybe a bit worried too..."
"Worried?" Draco said in disbelief. "Why would you be worried about me? You're supposed to hate me and not give a flying fuck about me." he scoffed. "Yeah, well, I don't hate you, never really did, to be honest. Sure, I highly disliked you for what you did and said to us, but I never hated you as a person, per se. And you seemed... so not yourself lately. And lonely to be honest." she said sheepishly. "I still don't understand why you'd care about my well-being."
"I'm not really sure either." she stated and looked at him curiously. "I shouldn't, right? It's silly" she laughed without any cheeriness to her voice. Draco felt more guilty at that. He can't even have a normal conversation with her without fucking up something. He sighed, and after a few seconds of silence, he replied. "You don't have to worry. It's not like anything happened. Not really." he shrugged dismissively without looking at her. "You sure?" Hermione asked back with searching eyes. She knows he won't tell her, even if something happened, they are not friends after all.
"I'm sure." Draco answered. After a few seconds of silence, he adds awkwardly "Are you doing alright? You seemed to be feeling down before Potions..." Hermione glances at him, slightly surprised. "Oh. Yeah. Maybe I'm just a bit tired. Haven't slept much yesterday." As she chuckles awkwardly, they both know she's lying. "You sure?" he asked back, like she did, a slight smile crawling to his face. She gives out a real chuckle this time. "I'm sure."