Chapter 10, Book 1, After a War

She didn't understand how, or why, but she ended up kissing him back, she was the first one to pull away. She was suddenly very aware of her boyfriend and the fact that she had just kissed someone who wasn't him. They sat and just stared at each other for a moment, she could still feel his breath of her lips and it was driving her insane because this wasn't ok. He dropped his hand from her jawline and backed away from her.

"You wouldn't shut up." He muttered. He ran his fingers through his hair.

"There are other ways to get me to stop talking Malfoy!" She yelled, she gathered up her things, ignoring the ten people that had shushed her at the same time. She didn't know what was eating away at her stomach, rage or butterflies. She assumed it was rage because she didn't have any feelings for Malfoy at all. They hated each other.

"Granger-"

"-No. Forget this. We aren't studying together. You don't get to talk to me. I have a boyfriend. And you aren't him. That wasn't ok Malfoy." She interrupted him as she walked towards the door, weaving through aisles of books. He grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him.

"Then why did you kiss me back? I kissed you to get you to shut up, you kissed me back for no good reason. And if it wasn't ok for me, then it definitely wasn't ok for you." His grey eyes were terrifying at that moment and she wished he didn't exist at all. She pulled her arm out of his grasp.

"Its instinct Malfoy; When someone kisses you, you kiss them back. It's the natural response." She wouldn't mention the fact that he was actually a good kisser but that was probably just because of all the girls he'd been with over the years. She knew the way he treated girls. Pansy was probably the only girl in Slytherin he hadn't kissed.

"And that makes it ok?"

"No, but its more ok then what you did."

"How so?"

"Uhm... I don't know. Malfoy stop asking me questions." She huffed. She turned on her heel and began walking again. He followed her.

"You don't tell anyone alright? I don't need the whole school knowing that I-"

"- Kissed a mudblood?"

"I was going to say an ex-Griffindor know-it-all. Stop calling yourself that."

"Why? You get to call me that all the time and now that I call myself that it's not ok? Well, maybe I finally realized what I was after people engraved it into my arm. Twice."

"Granger-" He started but she ignored him, she just kept walking. He took her arm again. "Granger stop walking and look at me!" He yelled at her, now that they weren't in the library, that was ok. She still winced through. It was late, the hall was empty, everyone else was at dinner. His yell echoed. She turned to face him, a strong look on her face. She wouldn't show him weakness. "I am never going to call you that again. And I'm not going to let anyone else call you that either. It's a horrible name and yes, it is technically what you are, but at the same time, it isn't. I almost went to jail over something I could have avoided. It was stupid, and so is this. You are an annoying, know-it-all bookworm, but only I get to call you that, but never again will anyone ever call yo that name. Its taken me years to finally get it in my head. But there's another word for what you are; Muggleborn. Brilliant. Determined. Stubborn. All words that describe you. You aren't a mudblood."

She had the strangest urge to kiss him again. Like normally this would be the perfect moment to kiss him and then hug him and tell him that he was so sweet. But she didn't. She had a boyfriend. His name was Ronald Weasley. Malfoy wasn't boyfriend material. She didn't have feelings for him in any way. She didn't even consider him a friend. "Thank you, Malfoy." She decided to say. And then she pulled away from him and made her way to the great hall for dinner. She sat next to Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table even though she wasn't supposed to and put her head on Ronald's shoulder. She wasn't hungry. She just wanted to be there with them.

She wanted to tell Ron what happened. He deserved to know. The truth was a big deal in their relationship. They weren't just boyfriend and girlfriend. They were friends. But she didn't want Ron to get upset with her, and she didn't want him to get himself killed trying to fight Malfoy. It wasn't worth it. But she still wanted to tell him.

"Hey 'Mione." Ronald greeted as he put his food to the side and wrapped an arm around her. She smiled a bit. She was more important to him than food. That was saying something since she believed he would marry chicken without hesitation.

"Hey, Ron." She has softly. She took a moment just to listen to people talk at the table. She missed listening to the Gryffindors talk. The Slytherins never had good topics or conversations. It was nice to just sit down and relax somewhere where she felt at home and wanted. She didn't have to think about anything, she could just sit and have a nice conversation with her friends. She took a deep breath and then relaxed in Ron's arms. No more thinking about Malfoy.