Winners Keepers - Dramione || ✓

Morning Blues

It was a wonderful November morning and the sky was a clear grey canvas. It was a weekend. Hermione couldn't believe the week passed so quickly. On the good side, she could go to Hogsmeade; on the bad side, she had to go with the ferret.

Hermione groaned at the thought. She wondered if a nice bath with lavender essence would help calm her senses. And since she was the Head Girl and her bathroom had all the luxuries of the Prefect's bathroom, she decided to take the liberty and give it a go.

In the end, she ended up using her favourite cherry blossom shampoo with the lavender bath, and felt like she could take on anything.

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Draco woke up from another nightmare, to find Zabini hovering over him, looking worried.
"Draco, mate. You were screaming your lungs off", then added, "You know, usually, it's the ladies who do all the screaming in your bed, so I was starting to wonder. Not that I mind though. We're free men now, eh?" he said, winking playfully.

Draco smirked. Leave it to Blaise to turn a nightmare into a joke. He would probably end up becoming a poltergeist.

"Piss off, Zabini", he said pulling off the silken green sheets.

"So you bagged the Beaver-tooth after all, eh? Knew you were slave-driving us for that big catch."

"Blaise, I wonder if you'd rather lose to the Weasel and Pothead seeing as you have some serious issues with our win", he drawl.

"We've won before Draco, and not even worked half as much for it."

"By cheating?"

"Which is wrong?"

"Is it not?"

"Who are you and what have you done with my friend?" Blaise said dramatically, mocking a shocked expression.

Draco snorted. "I am not your friend you moron. One has to be an intellectual equal to be a friend."

"Like Granger. Oh wait she's not. 'Cause she always gets better grades than you, so that makes her..."

Draco shot him a deathly glare which signaled to him that he had reached the end of the rope. One simply did not push their limits with a Malfoy, so he trailed off mid-sentence looking sheepish.

"Zabini, if you think so highly of the insufferable know-it-all then, maybe, you could take her out on a date next time? Word is that she's single again", he said smugly.

"Oh, we know better than to try hitting on your ex-dates Draco... Wait, are you actually happy about it? Merlin's bālls, you are! I know that look. You are happy Beaver-tooth's single, aren't you?" he asked incredulously.

"Blaise, talk about Granger one more time.." said Draco, now livid.

"Yes, Blaise", said Pansy, storming in, "what's your obsession with the mudblood? Everyone knows Draco is with me. Aren't we Drakie poo?", she said, her chin so high up in the air, it was difficult to tell it from her nose.

"You'll see, Parkinson", muttered Blaise under his breath, and walked away.

"I'd rather be with Peeves. Parkinson, if you need to be wined and dined, just ask Zabini. I'm not your butler", he snubbed her, and then leaned in close threateningly, "and never use that word in front of me again", saying which he, walked away to the bathroom leaving her behind, wry faced.

Draco had been acting aloof ever since the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, but Pansy wasn't one to give up easily. She was a Slytherin and Slytherins always get what they want.

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Hermione was greeted at breakfast by Ginny.

"So what are you planning to wear?" she asked the brunette.

"I don't know. Honestly, I don't even think Malfoy is going to turn up. He'd probably be the happiest person to see Ron de.. What?" she asked noticing Ginny had a big grin on her face.

"Oh come off it, Hermione! You know what", replied Ginny grinning wider.

"No, I don't."

"You're secretly glad about this aren't you?" , she asked wiggling her eyebrows.

"Ginevra Weasley, have you gone completely insane?!! Thus is Malfoy we're talking about. Bouncing ferret? The enemy? Pureblood Supremacist? Highschool bully? Teenage ex-Death Eater? Ring any bells?" she asked incredulously.

"Oh come on Hermione, you know I didn't mean it that way. I mean it the way Ron gets a good payback for betting you out. Tell me I'm wrong" , she said threateningly, so that made her look like a replica of Mrs Weasley.

Hermione chuckled and managed to say in between fits of laughter, "You know when you put it that way, it doesn't sound so bad."

"Of course it isn't. That's Malfoy. Slytherin Prince? Winning Chaser? Hottest Hogwarts Quidditch Captain aka Creepy-Hottie? Ring any bells?"

At the mention of Luna's weird nickname, Hermione burst into a fit of laughter and Ginny joined her, when Malfoy showed up in the Great Hall. His stormy eyes swept over the Gryffindor table and found the Mahogany they were looking for. The eye contact lasted only for a moment, before he turned away and took his seat at the Slytherin table, but Hermione could swear she saw pain in those eyes.

Of course I did, she thought. Malfoy hates me after all.

The thought that Malfoy was as tormented as her about spending time together gave her a small sense of sadistic happiness. He had bullied her for years. It was payback from the universe, she thought, that she was the cause of his distress now.

What Hermione did not know what that she was the subject of more that just distress for the Malfoy heir. She was the subject of his nightmares.

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Author's Note: Stay tuned for the next chapter: The Date Night. Don't forget to SHARE this book with your friends, VOTE, and COMMENT!

Happy Reading!!!