Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Change of Mind	By : hermyoneminusone Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 26841 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
The beginning of the Winter Holidays had began, and Hermione found herself in the library, starting her homework. Ron and Ginny had gone to the Burrow for Christmas, Harry tagging along. Richard was spending the Holidays at his family's chalet in France.
Hermione liked spending the Holidays in the castle; she could be in the library all day, and no one would scold her for doing so. And if she ever got lonely, she could always spend some quality time with Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, who had matured somewhat over the years. After a few productive hours, she decided to wrap up her Ancient Runes essay, and head to dinner.
The Great Hall was decorated splendidly, despite the fact that there were only about thirty students staying in the castle. There were six monstrous Christmas trees in the hall, each lavishly decorated with glowing trinkets and sparkling tinsel. Thousands of tiny candles were levitating in the air, basking the hall in a merry, twinkling glow. Snowflakes were charmed to leisurely drift down from the ceiling and disappeared right as they were about to touch any surface. There was a single table in the center of the hall, and after spotting Lavender and Parvati, Hermione took a seat next to them.
“Hey Hermione!” Parvati greeted her cheerfully.
“Oh, don't you just adore these decorations?” Lavender asked Hermione as she sat down. “They are so romantic!”
Hermione giggled. She used to find Lavender's girly comments quite annoying, but now she found that they were rather refreshing and entertaining.
“So Hermione, you and Richard?” Parvati asked, cheekily waggling her eyebrows as she began to fill her plate with food.
Hermione's face turned a slight pink color. “I guess so,” She said sheepishly, pouring herself some pumpkin juice.
“He seems sweet and all, and Merlin knows he's a good catch,” Lavender said through a mouthful of roast, “But I expected him to ask you to stay with him over the break.”
Hermione shrugged. “I've only known him for a few months. I didn't expect him to ask me anything of the sort.”
“Plus,” Parvati added, “You would have to meet his father.” She and Lavender shot each other identical looks. They giggled.
“What do you mean?” Hermione asked, smiling slightly.
“Haven't you seen what Donovan Praxley looks like?” Parvati questioned.
“No?” Hermione asked, a little confused.
Lavender burst into a fit of giggles. “He's hot!”
Hermione almost snorted into her juice. “Excuse me?”
“Hermione, the man's a FILF!” Lavender exclaimed, with Parvati nodding at her side. Hermione found herself at a loss.
"A FILF?..."
"A father I'd like to fu –"
"Oh for Merlin's sake Lavender!" Hermione interrupted her friend from elaborating any further and potentially spoiling her dinner.
Hermione looked around the table to make sure nobody else overheard their less than appropriate dinner conversation. She stifled a giggle, shaking her head. She would only hear something of the sort from Lavender and Parvati.
Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott entered the Great Hall just then, and they sat themselves across the trio of girls, a few seats down.
Hermione glanced at Draco. She would have thought that he would have gone on vacation with his parents, rather than stay in the castle.
A couple of minutes passed by quietly, when Parvati whispered something in Lavender's ear.
“No! You really think so?” Lavender asked delightedly, blushing slightly. Parvati nodded furiously at her side.
“Hermione,” Parvati said suddenly, “Is Theodore Nott staring at Lavender?”
Hermione was about to turn to look at Nott when Lavender fiercely grabbed her arm.
“Not now!” She whispered urgently. “Wait a while until you look at him!”
Hermione slowly turned back to her plate, and took a few bites of her food before looking up at Nott. Parvati was right; Nott kept glancing back at Lavender with a kind of longing in his eye.
“He is looking at you.” Hermione whispered. Lavender broke into a fit of giggles.
“Well, what should I do?” She asked breathlessly.
“He is rather good looking, I think you should go for it!” Parvati said enthusiastically.
Hermione turned back to the Slytherins sitting across from them, Nott still staring at Lavender with glazed eyes. She turned her attention to Draco. His normally cross features looked different that day, much softer and relaxed. There was no scowl or smirk on his face, and he seemed to be lost in thought. He snapped out of his trance, and looked up at Hermione. He looked into her eyes for a spilt second, face blank, and then turned back to his dinner.
Mildly disgruntled, Hermione turned back to her roast. That was the first time in her life that she didn't have some sort of hostile interaction with Malfoy.
~*~
Draco Malfoy sat in the dark Slytherin Common Room, lost in thought. He had never spent so much time thinking in his life. In the past week, his thoughts mainly revolved around Hermione Granger.
He had mixed feelings about her. Ever since he had met her in his first year, he had a place for her; a kind of rank. She was at the bottom, along with Potter and Weasley. He never found any interest in her, except to insult her, or rile her up. She was just a girl at school that he liked to bother.
But now, it was as though he was seeing her in a whole new light. He didn't see her as one of Potter's sidekicks anymore. She was a female. A girl. The opposite sex. She now interested him in a brand new way. Ever since he had seen what she really looked like, under those robes, under her bushy hair, he couldn't get his mind to focus on anything else. He told himself that it was purely lust; he had no real feelings for her. He got a taste of her, even though it wasn't really her, and he wanted more. The only way he would get over these feelings was to have her, he decided. At least one more time.
What have you gotten yourself into, Draco?
~*~
Hermione woke up, her eyes still heavy with the warmth of last night's sleep. She got out of bed, and shivered when the icy floor touched her bare feet. She looked outside; the school grounds were covered in a thick blanket of bright white snow. It looked like a Christmas card.
Lavender and Parvati were already up, opening the stack of gifts that lay in front of their beds.
“Happy Christmas, Hermione!” They said in unison, as Hermione put on her slippers.
“Happy Christmas, you two!” She said cheerily, rubbing her eyes. She went to join the girls in their gift opening ceremony. She had at least six gifts sitting at the base of her bed, and she sat down on the warm rug, grabbing the first one she could reach.
She had received a pair of lovely dangly earrings from Ginny, and a fancy bookmark from Ron. Harry had given her a new peacock quill with five different colors of ink, and her parents had sent her a card wishing her a Happy Christmas, and a small photo album from their most recent trip to Paraguay. Lavender and Parvati had also given her a gift; a subscription to the Hip Young Witch magazine. They told her that the magazine would help her become more in-touch with her feminine side. She was opening her last present, and it was the largest of the bunch. It was from Richard. She was about to unwrap the fancy paper surrounding it, when Lavender screamed.
“OH MY GOSH!” She shrieked, her eyes glued to the cover of a tabloid magazine.
Parvati looked at what Lavender was holding, and instantly put a hand over her mouth in an attempt to muffle the loud gasp that escaped.
“What is it?!” Hermione squealed in confused panic.
Lavender looked up at Hermione with sad eyes. She looked at Parvati, and they seemed to share some type of telepathic message with each other. Parvati nodded grimly.
“I think you need to see this,” Lavender said, handing the magazine over to Hermione.
Eligible English Bachelors: The Young Witch Edition was emblazoned on the title of the magazine in a neon pink color. It looked like one of those cheesy gossip magazines that young girls loved to gush about.
Richard Praxley was on the cover of the magazine, and he was in a passionate embrace with a girl. Their moving picture kissed for a while, then they broke their tight hold and Richard put his arm around the girl. He was smiling, and his white teeth gleamed. The headline read: Richard Praxley, Eligible Bachelor No More!
Hermione dropped the magazine. She looked at the print date. This magazine was not old; it had been published the previous day, on Christmas Eve. She felt sick to her stomach. Why would he do something like that to her? She tried to hold back tears, but she couldn't help it when they started streaming down her face.
“I'm so sorry Hermione!” Lavender said, rushing to assuage her. Parvati did the same, and they both comforted Hermione until she stopped crying.
“I just don't understand,” Hermione sniffed miserably, “I thought things were going so well! He even sent me a gift!” Hermione indicated the half-opened parcel lying on the floor.
“Well, I think that you're lucky that you found out about him before you really fell for him. I mean, what if he had been playing you this whole time?” Parvati asked, staring at Richard's picture in disgust.
“I suppose.” Hermione said quietly. She sat on the floor and thought about her bleak predicament.
Almost instantly, she had a severe mood swing.
“How dare he!” She exploded suddenly, jumping to her feet.
Parvati and Lavender flinched at her sudden outburst.
“What does he think I am? Some kind of toy he can just play around with?!” She began to pace her dorm, thinking to herself.
She would not become some kind of crying mess just because some boy did that to her. Oh, he did not know what he had gotten himself into.
“I'll teach that boy a lesson!” Hermione spat lethally.
Lavender grinned. “That's the fiery Hermione we know!”
“What are you going to do?” Parvati asked, holding the tabloid in her hands.
“I'm going to show him that he can't just use me like that. I don't need him to be happy.”
Parvati squealed. “Oh, Hermione, this is just like all those romance novels I've read!”
Hermione gave a small smile and abruptly changed the subject. “Who wants some breakfast? I'm famished.”
~*~
They seated themselves at the edge of the giant table, enjoying the Christmas spirit that floated contagiously throughout the air. Hermione was so caught up in it, that her situation with Richard was pushed to the back of her mind. After a few minutes, Parvati and Lavender excused themselves, and went to go flirt with some Ravenclaw boys that were conveniently standing beneath some mistletoe.
Hermione had brought one of the Tjaden Alexander books along with her in case such an event would occur. Just because she was upset with Richard, it didn't mean that she had to be upset with the books he had given her. She was about to begin reading where she left off when Malfoy sat in front of her. She looked up slowly, and when she saw that he was indeed sitting in front of her and it wasn't some trick her mind was playing on her, she stared.
“Happy Christmas, Granger.” Draco said, a sincere look on his face.
Hermione almost choked on her own saliva. She sputtered, then managed to wish him a Happy Christmas as well.
She stared at him suspiciously. Why was he doing this to her? Was this some sort of new torture he had come up with?
“What do you want, Malfoy?” She asked cautiously.
He shrugged. “I just wanted to wish you a Happy Christmas. Is there anything wrong with that?”
She briefly mulled over what he said. “Actually, yes. If you would've said Happy Christmas, Mudblood I would be considerably less worried than I am right now.”
Draco smirked. “I've recently been enlightened.”
“Enlightened?” Hermione repeated skeptically. “How so?”
“I'm just looking at things in a new way.” Malfoy said.
Hermione laughed. This was some kind of stupid joke. She decided to ignore him completely, and continue reading her book.
“Tjaden Alexander is quite the writer, don't you agree?” Draco said, looking at the title of her book.
Hermione looked up. “You read?” She asked in disbelief.
Draco smirked. “More than you know.”
Hermione shifted uncomfortably. Why was he speaking to her as though they were friends? She didn't like it.
“Malfoy, seriously. Cut to the chase. What do you want from me?”
Draco looked at her inquisitively. He was tempted to tell her that what he really wanted was her, but he restrained himself from saying so.
“I don't see why you're acting so paranoid Granger. I'm just trying to have a conversation with you.”
Hermione was about to respond when a nearby glint caught her eye. A student sitting a few seats across from her was deeply immersed in the new issue of Eligible English Bachelors: The Young Witch Edition. Richard was on the cover, and his lips were locked with that girl. Hermione's voice was stuck in her throat. Deep down, Richard really had hurt her. She had initially covered up her despair with a storm of rage, but the storm seemed to be waning. She couldn't help it when a tear fell from her eye.
Draco was shocked to see Hermione crying in front of him. What had he said to her? He then looked in her direction, and saw the magazine. His heart leapt. He could use this to his advantage.
“Granger, I – ” Draco said, but he was cut off by Hermione, who was crying harder than she had been earlier that morning.
“Don't, Malfoy! Just don't! I know that you already told me that he would dump me, and see, you're right! No need to rub it in!” And with that, she got up from her seat, and marched out of the Hall.
The few students who were in the Hall were now whispering about what they had just witnessed. Draco sat there for a few seconds in a mild shock. He had not expected Granger to say that. He didn't even remember saying such things to her, but quite frankly, he wouldn't put it past himself. Hermione had gotten up so quickly that she forgot her book on the table across from him. He picked it up, and quickly made his way out of the Great Hall, in search of Hermione.
- 3
- 4
- 5
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Change of Mind