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...After Happily Ever After	By : Lissa & snowblind12 Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 25739 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling. I make no money off of these stories. This is just fun for me.

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Chapter Ten
October 1998

Hermione Granger’s reprieve of mindless reviews evaporated within days after the first week of term. All of a sudden, she and her friends found themselves drowning in N.E.W.T. level work that was more intense then she remembered fifth year O.W.L.’s being.
She, Harry, Ron, and Lizzie hunkered down together most evenings and Saturday mornings in the library, fixedly completing their coursework for the classes they shared: Advanced Transfiguration, Advanced Potions, Advanced Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts (which they were breezing through, undoubtedly) and Herbology.
The addition of Lizzie to their group was natural and easy. While Hermione, Harry, and Ron were connected in a way that most people might find uncomfortable, Lizzie did not seem to mind. She never questioned their private looks or the way they could talk to each other without saying anything. If any of it made her feel unincluded, she never said and never acted like it. For the first time in her life, Hermione felt like she had a true best girlfriend. Not to belittle her friendship with Ginny, but for the most part Ginny had her own girlfriends at school. It had just always been easy for Hermione and Ginny to fall together when Harry was such a big part of both their lives; they got along well.
Hermione found the way Ron acted around Lizzie to be cute and endearing. He was kind to her, they didn’t fight like she and Ron always had (and still did, if she was being honest). They had a lot in common with Quidditch and family life, and viewed day to day existence with the same easy go-with-the-flow mentality. Hermione wondered, though, how deep their feelings ran. At least how deep Lizzie’s did. Most of the time they acted like a brother and sister who were close. They easily touched each other on the hand or the arm. Ron would plop his arm along the back of her chair and Lizzie would sit close enough that their hips were touching. They talked with and teased one another, but it seemed to Hermione something was missing. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
Her Arithmancy and Ancient Runes classes were beyond brutal, often having hundreds of pages a week to read between the two and multiple discussion topics to prepare for each class. She was grateful to have the brilliant Miss Williams in both of these classes – and as Lizzie was still involved with Draco Malfoy – he started to tentatively tag along with the girls to study a few weeks into term as he was also in these courses.
Hermione found herself pleasantly surprised with the personality changes in Malfoy. While he still had a sharp tongue, and she would never have affectionate feelings for him regarding friendship, his intelligence impressed her. It was something she had never witnessed in the past. One afternoon in his presence was remembered with chagrined pleasure. The three of them battled over their current Runes essay for over two hours. His opposite view to hers (while Lizzie played devil’s advocate and spurred them on) of the parallels of the Egyptian alchemy text they were translating and interpreting left her irritated and feeling a bit barmy – but in the end, she had to relent that he had made excellent points on his debate. The look on his face when she told him so was pricelessly comical. Lizzie’s secret smile of pleasure at the two of them getting along was not missed by the curly haired brunette.
The other thing that astonished Hermione about Malfoy was the fact he was good to her new friend. Even though she was of Muggle birth, the derogatory word he had so easily spat at her in their younger years were never uttered. The sincerity in his pursuit was obvious – to her anyway. He held open doors and pulled out chairs; they held intelligent conversations in her presence that occasionally crackled with an animalistic energy that made her feel like an imposing third wheel. She never saw them touch, though, and he never kissed her in Hermione’s presence.
Her abridgment of the situation was that while Lizzie was comfortable and relaxed with Ron, she and Malfoy always seemed to be on the edge of their seats while a rumble of thunder and shock of lightening sizzled under them both.
Hermione was unsure how to feel about this, and as the weeks started to blend together and the Indian summer of September gave way to the blustering winds of October’s fall, she was starting to get nervous for the girl. On the surface, Lizzie seemed to be unable to decide which of the boys she needed to let down. Hermione wished with all her heart the girl would choose Ron, she couldn’t help but feel Malfoy was the better match for her. Lizzie never did ask her opinion and she was reluctant to give it uninvited.
Lizzie William’s thought Ron Weasley was a gem. She was growing more and more fond of him as the weeks started to swirl by in a blur of essays, quizzes, and Quidditch and choir practices. He was funny and sweet and never tried to overstep the boundaries she had put in place to protect her reputation. He was attentive to her, but if she was being honest with herself, she realized she was coming to regard him as a lovely friend borderline brother figure. The way he, Harry, and Hermione acted as siblings seemed to envelop Lizzie as their relationships willingly and lovingly grew. When Ginny was with them, she and Ron fell in with Hermione as Harry always absorbed himself in the redhead’s presence.
They had a few stolen moments and innocent kisses. He made her feel valued and respected, but she wondered if the fact that she and Ron were very rarely alone was the culprit of the non-existent romantic feelings towards him, or if they didn’t seek out being alone because they both knew there was really no point in trying to develop a romance. The thing that worried Lizzie the most is how Hermione would react if she chose Draco over Ron. Her new friendship with the girl was more important to Lizzie then she had anticipated.
Lizzie was more than a little impressed with Hermione and she started to think of her as the big sister she had always wanted. The Gryffindor was an amazing confidant. She was supportive and encouraging without being over bearing or suffocating. She was accommodating and, if her acceptance of Draco was any indication, an all-around good-hearted person.
She was kind to Draco, which Lizzie hadn’t been hopeful for given their history. And yes, she knew their history. Both sides of it. Turns out once you got Draco Malfoy talking about the Golden Trio, he couldn’t seem to stop. He went through their interactions of their early years and Lizzie was quite horrified the boy she was growing more and more fond of used to be such a prick. Enough so that Lizzie was touched that Hermione gave him the time of day; she realized the brunette only did so out of friendship to Lizzie. Draco seemed to know his past misdeeds, though, and while he made no excuses for his previous behaviors, he was stiffly cordial with Hermione.
As his stories grew more intense, Lizzie began to feel bad for the very mislead Draco Malfoy. Even if he didn’t come outright and say it, he had been raised to believe one thing, observed and felt differently about it, but had been scared of disappointing his lineage. Eventually he was forced into a belief system he wasn’t sure about under extreme duress. But he was questioning it and analyzing it. Lizzie was fascinated with his desire to be his own person, and a better one.
And really – hadn’t they all been scared? Lizzie had only spent a few months in England while He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was alive, and she had been terrified! Draco had lived with the lunatic. She couldn’t wrap her head around it…he LIVED with You-Know-Who. He never would go into detail, skating over what she guessed was the darkest moments of his life. In the end, he had just tried to survive. He had done what he had to do. Fear was a terrible motivator.
Lizzie continued to keep her guard up around Draco, she wasn’t about to ignore all the warnings she received from Hermione and Ginny, and even a few words of caution from Harry Potter, himself.
However, she couldn’t deny her physical attraction to him was electrifying. She seemed to be hyper-aware of him whenever he was in her vicinity. They didn’t seem to have much in common outside of their love of flying and Quidditch, but this did not stop them from hours of heated discussions and debates. He pushed her intellectually and challenged who she was as a person. They had sweet moments, too. Sitting hidden in outskirts of the trees at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, tucked into a stand on the Quidditch pitch, or sprawled out at a table in a unseen corner of the library; he would hold her hand, or tuck her against him. While they shared more kisses, she forced herself to keep a level head and kept them chaste even though she craved more like the one he had bestowed upon her after her tryout.
He didn’t push her on this; sometimes she wondered if he was just respecting her earlier request of being a gentleman while she dated both boys and sometimes she wondered if he had decided he didn’t want her that way. Then she would tell herself she was being ridiculous, because why would he continue to see her if he didn’t want to? He had to feel the magnetism between them, too, right?

While she never sat with Draco for meals or classes, and they kept their relationship quiet and semi-private, she would feel him watching her and often found herself studying him when he wasn’t looking. He seemed to have two close friends – Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini. Both were fellow Slytherin’s. He didn’t deign to introduce her, tell her he would at a later time and warning her that both boys were set in what he called “the old ways.” Lizzie felt that this probably meant they wouldn’t approve of her parentage.
Lizzie was drawn to Draco on a level that dwarfed her feelings with Ron, but she continued to worry that choosing Draco over Ron would mean losing Hermione as a friend. She wasn’t sure she was willing to compromise a friendship she was coming to covet significantly.
Ron Weasley was in love. Head over heels, ass over teakettle in love. Lizzie was the epitome of perfection. She was kind, hilarious, liked to eat, loved Quidditch as much as he did, and was drop dead gorgeous. The best part of her was how easily she fit in with his friends. He didn’t have to sacrifice any time with them to be with her.
He was feeling confident that she was going to choose him, but it still made him a bit perturbed that she was still spending time with Malfoy. He’d never understand what she could see in him. He avoided the subject completely with her. He had tried to get Hermione to help him, but she had refused to discuss it with him, saying she would not come between two friends. If he wanted Lizzie to make a choice, he was going to have to be the one to ask for it. Maybe tell her she needed to decide by the Halloween feast?
Draco Malfoy was frustrated and tired of waiting. Lizzie Williams was the most beguiling witch he’d ever met in his life. He had done what he promised himself he wouldn’t – he had waited for her. Something he was getting piles of slack for from Zabini and Nott. And he had to be honest with himself, if it had been any other witch in this blasted school he would have told her sayonara weeks ago. As it was, she had him spending time with fucking Hermione fucking Granger. Bugger all if he wasn’t enjoying himself, either.
If he was truthful, he liked Granger. She was a total swot, but when it came down to it, he knew he had no right to even sit in the same room as the girl. Not after watching his crazy aunt torture her and doing nothing to try and help her.
He couldn’t believe Lizzie hadn’t walked away from him the second he had the nerve to tell her that particular tid-bit of information, but he was grateful she hadn’t. The American witch was a balm on his raw psyche. The more he got to know her, the better he felt about the world in general. She listened without judging; she was the only person he knew that was like that. She paid attention to him, evaluated what he told her, asked what he had learned from his experiences or their talks and pulled out of him what he wished he had done differently. Then she told him to forgive himself. He was slowly coming to terms with the evil path that had been forced on him and she was helping him move forward.
The only thing about their relationship that could have been better was getting rid of Weasley. Why she was still seeing the dolt when he was positive she felt the same pull he did was beyond him and his patience was running out. Perhaps it was time to outright ask her to choose.
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...After Happily Ever After