Three Weeks Later...
"And... done!" Hermione exclaimed as she finished the last sentence on their essay. Draco clapped and fake cheered.
"She's bloody brilliant this one!" He pretended to cheer. Hermione laughed which had recently begun to make Draco's heart soar every time he heard it.
"Thank you, thank you." Hermione fake bowed as Draco's clapping stopped.
  "I can't believe we're finally finished, that took forever." Hermione said.
  "Yeah and there's still two days left before it's even due." Draco said.
  "Well what now?" Hermione asked.
  "Hmm?" Draco asked.
  "What do we do now? I'm kind of tired of being in the library all the time and now that we're done with this project we could do something else." Hermione explained.
  "Hermione is tired of being in the library?? Never thought I would hear that one." Draco said.
  "Haha funny." Hermione said.
"Well how about we go get something to eat?" Hermione asked. Draco raised his eyebrows.
"Are you asking me on a date Granger?" Draco asked. Hermione's face turned bright red.
"No!" She said.
"Mhmm." Draco smirked.
"But sure let's go to the three broomsticks, I'll meet you in the courtyard in an hour." Draco said.
-
An hour later...
Hermione and Draco entered the Three Broomsticks and sat down at a table.
They ordered butterbeers and some food.
"I feel like we only ever get to talk about school, what do you like to do outside of class?" Hermione asked. Draco smiled at her.
"Not much, quidditch mostly, occasionally reading." Draco said.
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but Draco interrupted.
"Yes I know you like to read too Granger." He said.
"I wasn't going to say that thank you very much. I was going to ask about why you didn't play quidditch this year." Hermione said. Draco's mood changed.
"Family stuff." He said.
"Oh... is everything okay at home?" Hermione asked. Draco felt terrible not telling her, he wanted to so badly but he was afraid she would look at him differently.
  "Same as always I guess." Draco said. Hermione looked like she didn't believe him.
  "Well how are things with you?" Draco asked.
  "Good. Ron and Harry always seem to be busy these days though, it's a bit annoying really." Hermione explained.
  "Oh really? Why's that?" Draco asked as he sipped his drink.
  "Harry is-" Hermione paused. Should she tell Draco about any of this? She decided she trusted him enough.
  "He's working on things for Dumbledore, and Ron's always off with lavender or practicing quidditch." She explained.
   "Still jealous of Lavender are we?" Draco asked. Hermione was grateful he didn't ask anything else about Harry.
  "No actually. I don't really know what I was thinking, Ron and I could never work as more than friends." Hermione said. Draco almost spit out his drink.
  "Are you alright?" Hermione asked as Draco choked. She placed a hand on his shoulder.
  "Yeah." He coughed.
  "Anyways, back to what you were saying." Draco said. Hermione removed her hand.
  "Just that I'm over Ron." Hermione said.
  "Hmm, well that's excellent news." Draco said.
  "Why's that?" Hermione asked. Draco went red. He had thought about this moment for months, ok, if we're being real, years. He had never imagined having a chance to act on his feelings for Hermione though. He never thought there was even a 1% chance. But now, even if the chance of them working out was less than 1%, Draco was willing to take it.
  "Well it's just that, I've been meaning to tell you something..." Draco started. Hermione raised her eyebrows. Suddenly someone came in the door and walked over to their table.
  "Hermione?" They said.
   Hermione and Draco looked up to see Ron standing hand in hand with Lavender. Both with a disgusted looks on their faces.
  "Ron! What are you doing here?" Hermione asked.
  "What am I doing here? What are you doing here? With him?" Ron asked.
  "Having lunch." Hermione said.
  "Have you gone mad?" Ron asked.
  "What does that mean?" Hermione asked.
  "Mm because... he's a...you know." Lavender said. Hermione glared at her so intensely that Draco thought she might burn a hole through Lavender. While that would've been something Draco would like to see on a normal day, he didn't really want to ruin his chance of talking to Hermione right now.
   "How about we just leave..." Draco said as he got out of his seat and grabbed Hermione's hand to pull her away from the conversation.
  "Classic Malfoy. Leaving like a coward." Ron said as they gathered their stuff.
  "You know, at least I didn't screw over and ignore one of my only two friends in order to get with a girl who's as dumb as a pile of bricks and has looks to match. Leaving Hermione, who is the exact opposite of her, alone with me, who is 'evil' and a coward. But hey, that seems like a win win for me because now neither Hermione or I has to deal with you." Draco said and walked out, pulling Hermione along and leaving Ron and Lavender with jaws dropped. Once they were outside Draco stopped. Hermione still looked stunned and kind of confused.
  "I can't believe you just did that." Hermione said. Draco looked at her.
  "Why? Because you think I'm usually a coward like Weasel does?" Draco asked. Hermione looked at him confusedly. She looked down and took his hand.
  "I don't think you're a coward Draco." Hermione said.
  "Sometimes I think I am." Draco admitted.
  "You're not." Hermione said.
  "Hermione there's so much going on that I'm just too afraid to tell you." Draco said.
  "You can tell me." Hermione said. They looked into each other's eyes. Draco remembered the first time they met, on the train to Hogwarts when she was searching for Longbottom's toad. He had been so confident back then and he was only eleven years old. What changed? He didn't know. But he knew it needed to change back. He wanted his confidence back, but with out the self-absorbed act.
  "I think... it would be easier to show you." Draco said. Hermione has a split second to look at him before he reached out, placed his hands on her face, brought his face closer to hers and kissed her.
  At first Hermione was shocked, she took a deep breath in but soon exhaled and eased into the kiss. It felt right.
  After a minute they separated and began to smile at each other like fools.
  And to think, none of it would've happened if they hadn't been partners for a stupid project.

The End ❤️