Stormy Eyes (A Dramione Fanfiction)

"Together."

Naturally, the christmas holidays flew faster than Harry on his beloved firebolt; and it was soon time to go back to their second home: Hogwarts.

Narcissa had the Malfoy's personal chauffeur drive Draco and Hermione to King's Cross, and we they ran through the barrier together.

Hand in hand.

"Come on, Draco, or all the compartments will be full!" she moaned, tugging his hand.
"Moaning are we, darling? I haven't even done anything to you yet," he whispered huskily into her ear.
"Draco shush!" she furiously whispered back as she felt her face going red.
"Relax, love, we can all sit together," he laughed as he saw how red she had gone.
"Together?" she queried.
"Together." he confirmed.

So, they boarded the train (their heavy trunks already onboard) and she followed Draco to the Slytherin compartment he usually resided in on the train journey.

She had decided she would give his friends a chance: he insisted they had changed; and if his redemption arch since the war was anything to go by, she thought she could expect good things.

"Zabini, Parkinson, this is Hermione. Hermione, Blaise and Pansy," he introduced as if they had never met. Everyone was forgetting the war and their history: it was easier on their minds.

It kept them sane.

They all chatted and she found them not just tolerable but highly amusing, and, to her surprise, logical. Pansy wasn't quite the dumb bitch everyone had always taken her for, and Blaise was intelligent too. If she had met them in first year under better circumstances, she thought that they probably would have been friends.

The billowing grey smoke from the train slowed significantly, twirling in the also grey sky; as the train slowly rumbled to a halt. She got off, with her new-found Slytherin friends, and they walked up to the castle together; levitating their trunks as they went.

"Ron! Harry!" she exclaimed as she rushed forward to hug her best friends in the great hall.
"Hermione!" they chorused in return, giving her a bone-crushing bear hug.
"Well? How was christmas?" she asked as she sat inbetween them, reaching for a glass of pumpkin juice.
"Brilliant, actually. I wish you had come to the Burrow aswell tho 'mione," Harry answered.

Ron was already stuffing his face with chicken, as per usual.

"I didn't want to start any tension because of Lavender - besides, it was actually rather amazing at the manor with Draco and Narcissa," she smiled.

Ron seemed to gulp at the mention of Lavender's name.

"What's wrong?" she asked, feeling worried.
"Lavender and I um... broke up. She was using me for attention," Ron trailed off.
"Anyway, tell us about the manor!" he added to try and cheer up the conversation again.
She told them everything: apart from when Draco and her slept together twice.

"Ron?" she whispered as they sat comfortably in the common room, just the two of them, at midnight; watching the fire slowly burn out.
"Yes 'mione?" he replied in an equally hushed tone.
"About earlier, I'm sorry that happened. You deserve so much better Ronald," she said as she hugged him.
"Well thats life I guess," he sighed.
"Can you help me with the charms essay? I haven't started yet and its due in a few days?" he asked, taking advantage of her softness.
"Ronald!" she exclaimed as she tried not to laugh, but failed miserably.
"Please? I don't know what to write!" he whined.
"Fine, I'll do the introduction," she grinned uncontrollably as she laughed.
"Merlin, you're a life saver 'mione," he grinned back as he hugged her tightly; before they bade each other goodnight, and went to sleep in their respective dormitories.

"Hermione? Hermione get up," Ginny whispered as she shook the brown haired girl awake. Hermione was surprised to say the least: Ginny never normally whispered.

"Yes Gin?" she said as she sat up, bleary eyed, and pushed her hair out of her face.
"Breakfast starts in about ten minutes, get up!" she exclaimed.

So much for Ginny being quiet.

Hermione quickly got ready and they rushed down - five minutes late - and joined the boys.
"Jesus, Hermione being late?" Harry teased.
"Oh shush Harry, I overslept,"
"Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?" Ron replied.

They all burst into ecstatic laughter; like in a movie scene, and the world seemed to have yet another glimmer of hope in it. Hogwarts was their home, and laughing with her best friends brought Hermione back to being twelve again.

She missed when she was that age: nothing was simpler, in the aspect that she was helping Harry fight a dark wizard, but she didn't worry about her appearance then. She was just in school to study, and read, and help Harry defeat Voldemort.

She quickly wrote Ron's essay introduction as he drunk pumpkin juice ("Thank you 'mione,"); and checked her schedule: potions with the Slytherin's first.

She sat next to Draco at the back, with Pansy and Blaise next to them. Harry and Ron gave her some incredibly strange looks at the new seating arrangement but she just shrugged to suggest she would fill them in later on this bizarre friendship.

Draco and Blaise were incredibly good at potions; so they all worked well together. Pansy wasn't bad either; so her and Blaise's felix felicis turned out pretty well. Draco and Hermione's, however, was absolutely perfect.

Potions would be more than tolerable now, due to the fact that she got on well with most of the Slytherin's.

"Do you want to go on a walk with me after school?" Draco asked as they walked out the room.
"Of course I do," she laughed.
"See you later then, love," he replied sweetly as he put one hand on her chin, tilting it up, and planted a soft and delicate yet incredibly loving kiss on her lips.
"See you later," she repeated as he left with his friends.
"Ew, get a room!" Ron said jokingly, as Harry and Hermione erupted into fits of giggles.
"So are you going to tell us about your friendships with two certain Slytherins?" Harry asked.
"Alright," she sighed.

And then she told them everything.