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Beyond the Veil	By : Marionne25 Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 7962 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and am not making money from this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Author's Notes:
There are absolutely and should not be any excuses for me not to post. But unfortunately, I have a lot.
Summer is nearly ending at my end so the music students are now tamed down into their regular schedules.
I'm also half adjusted into my new apartment - though I still need a lot of things for it.
I have apparently scheduled permanently half my work and is well with all these sudden summer changes.
It's also my first time to move out and the adjustment is both exciting and difficult.

I have endured writer's block for all of my stories (yes I wanna cry now) and am just getting back at everything.
Now that my plate isn't as full as the summer that has passed, writing, editing and updates wil be a bit more regular than before.
Other than, stay tuned.
Thank you for all the love and reviewed.
My stories - all of them - are found here at:
A03
FF.NET
ADULT-FANFIC.ORG
feel free to message me or make comments.
Beta editor for this one "Beyond The Veil" is welcome as I've been looking for one for this fic.

Slow burn Dramione rules.
Lots of love for everyone =)

Chapter VII
The Walk

“Here you go. Fish and Chips.” Draco blurted out as he settled two large platters of the said meal in front of Hermione.
If there was any place Hermione had been thinking, it definitely wasn’t this diner right down a few streets from Melrose Garden.
The place was small but comfortable and it only had a few other customers in it although the dishes look scrumptious.
“The food is really good here.” Draco said as he grabbed a bottle of ketchup and another sauce from the tabletop counter near their chosen table by the window.
Hermione watched in silence as Draco, like a child, excitedly placed ketchup and settled himself across her from the table and excitedly looked down over his food.
A smile slowly came up at the sides of her lips that she quickly wiped away before Draco sees it.
“It’s good to go down here at the hours where it’s not peak.” Draco continued as he began his meal with such enthusiasm. “Like right now. I love these hours. Almost empty. Quiet and peaceful and you get the best seat.”

And then he suddenly looked up at her from his plate.
Hermione had been gaping at him and so she furiously blushed at the gesture and she immediately looked away from him, settling her eyes over the window near them and realizing that he was right.
Their spot in the diner was indeed the best one in the place.
They were at the corner part of the diner where it was both comfortable, quiet and yet they could see every part of the place including a good view from the window near them.
It was indeed the perfect spot.
“Did I not tell you?” Draco asked with a smirk as he stared at her before taking a large bite of his order.
Hermione only snottily nodded at him, not wanting him to know that he was right from the beginning of this whole date.
Shit. Hermione thought to herself with a look over her face that Draco almost saw.
Not date.
Not a motherfucking date.
Therapy session.

“You good, Granger?” he asked as he was halfway into mixing his mashed potato side dish with some special sauce when he stopped talking and he just looked up at her.
Hermione looked back at him with question in his eyes.
“I’m sorry.” Draco suddenly looked and sounded concerned “Did you not want to eat here?”
Hermione blinked and realized the disappointment in his eyes and tone.
He shifted uncomfortably in his chair and looked ready to leave his scrumptious meal.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you had a preference.” Draco said quickly grabbing the napkin across the table to wipe the side of his lips. “I can get the bill. Hold on, we can go somewhere-“
“Oh, no no.” Hermione quickly said stopping him. “It’s fine – it’s fine. We’re good here. I’m fine – I’m fine-“
“Are you sure?” Draco asked her, looking skeptical as he lowered his hand from halfway raising it to call the waiter for their bill.
“Yes. I’m sorry. I’m really good here.” Hermione said not wanting to admit that she was actually really enjoying herself at the place.

It reminded her of a Muggle diner she had once visited but that felt and seemed like a lifetime ago.
“Are you sure, Granger?”
“Yes, Malfoy.” Hermione mocked back at him as she tossed what looked like a leafy green across the table to Draco from her plate. “I don’t eat that.”
“I know.” Draco said laughing about it as he dodged it easily, picked it up from across the table and ate it.
“You know?” Hermione asked as the smile from her face faltered a little.
“Yeah.” Draco casually replied and confusion and fear quickly passed Hermione’s eyes.
“How do you know?” she asked him with a look over her face.
“Well, you’ve been picking it out of your plate.” Draco matter-of-factly answered her as he nodded over the small pile of greens at the side of her plate. “You’ve been doing it since it’s been served before you.”
A relief passed Hermione’s eyes and she quickly shook away the weird feeling that came upon her.
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.” Hermione muttered absentmindedly nodding at him and trying to get back to her meal.
“You’re overthinking.” Draco said again as he continued on his meal. “You’re overthinking. Did you know that overthinking is one main cause of insomnia?”
“Yes, I know that.” Hermione said as she swallowed a large portion of her meal. “How did you know that?”
“Common knowledge.” Draco said although something like doubt passed his face. “I mean, I’ve read that. Isn’t that what we do at school?”
“There were a lot of things you did at school. I’m not sure studying was one of it.” Hermione mocked him with a playful look over her face.
“Oh, really?” he smirked back at her. “Well, if you stayed a bit out of the library, you’d know and come to find me somewhere else where we could have enjoyed a little of other things that doesn’t concern studying at all.”
“Oh, bullocks.” Hermione threw back at him with another leafy green but Draco quickly dodged easily. “Cheating. Don’t dodge.”
“I’m a Quidditch played.” Draco reasoned back at her.
“It’s a vegetable. Not a Bludger.” Hermione laughed back at him.
For a moment, they had been joking and laughing and then Hermione suddenly felt that she was genuinely enjoying herself – in Draco’s company.

And that wasn’t something she was used to.

“I have to go.” she suddenly said.
The smile quickly faded from Draco’s face, his eyes faltered the gleam it was carrying.
“What’s wrong?” he quickly asked, eyes half in panic. “Are you not hungry? Do you want to go somewhere else?”
Hermione wasn’t sure how to tell him because she also didn’t understand what she was feeling.
But Draco looked like he was willing to let go of his food should she want to be somewhere else as long as they still spend time together.
“Do you have to be somewhere else?” he asked hoping it was the answer and not because she didn’t want to spend time with him.
Hermione looked back at him, studying his expression.
Since the day began, she’s been taken from a place to another that was nowhere her plan or at the least, met her expectations and right now, not meeting these thoughts in her head felt terrible for her.
She was nowhere hitting into the expectations she had for Draco and she felt that the more surprises came up for her, the least time she wanted to spend with Draco.
He had become incredibly unpredictable in many ways.
Unpredictable and yet, comfortable.

“Why did you bring me here?” she asked unable to stop the first thought that came to her. “Why here?”
Draco looked perplexed for a moment, but his face relaxed and he delved into truth.
“This has been here for ages. I just wondered maybe you’d like to see something different from a café or the usual spots that you go to.”
“That I go to?” Hermione asked wondering now if he had been using Legilimens on her since the day had began. “You don’t know where I go to.”
Draco slowly looked frustrated at her.
He lowered his utensils and sat back over his chair.

“We can go if you’re not up to this.” he said out of the corner of his lips. “I don’t know where you go to, Granger. I make good guesses but I don’t judge or stalk because I pretty much think that it’s what’s going on in that brilliant head of yours.”
The sweet diner suddenly felt uncomfortable for the both of them.
And Hermione couldn’t deny the last bit of what he said because it had been what she was thinking.
“I didn’t say that.” Hermione said in a hope that she wasn’t sounding so mean.
“You were thinking it.” Draco said folding his napkin and wiping his mouth with it.
He looked ready to leave as he pushed his chair gently and stood up and waved his hand for the bill.
“I’m not used to this.” Hermione spurted the words out of her mouth before she could stop herself.
She looked away from his gaze, her heart thumping fast.
Draco looked back down at her with a confused look over his expression.
“Not used to what?” he asked her, completely lost.
She looked up at him, looking exasperated at him and feeling it for herself.
“Never mind.” Hermione muttered shaking her hand back to the waiter that they weren’t leaving yet. “Let’s just eat the food will get cold.”
And before Draco could say something else, the other waiter came to their table and laid the rest of their orders including a pair of tall glasses of soda with icecream in them.
Draco slowly sat back over his chair, his eyes closely observing her as she quietly consumed her meal.
There was so much “America” in their food at that moment and Hermione was sure that this wasn’t at all what she was expecting to have for the day.
And despite that information, the moment the buttered fish touched her lips, she was lost in its taste and had completely forgotten all her reservations against Draco at that moment.
“How did you know this place?” Hermione said unable to stop speaking in her mouthful of fries half an hour later.
“It’s a great place isn’t it?” Draco said with a smile now as Hermione had finally find it in herself to enjoy the place.
“Yeah.” Hermione finally agreed to him. “It actually is comfortable and nice. Familiar.”
“Familiar?” Draco thoughtfully said as he swallowed a large chunk of his order.
“Yes.” Hermione answered with a smile. “Just feels that way. Anyway, how did you know about this place?”
He looked back at her, a thoughtful look over his face passed and for some reason, he looked uncomfortable.
“Draco?” Hermione concernedly asked noticing how he slowly lowered his utensils and pushed the plate a little away from him. “Are you alright?”
“I’m not sure.” Draco answered her. “I mean…”
There was a pause and Hermione stopped eating as well.
She waited as he looked down over his plate, trying very hard to recall something.
“I don’t know how I know of this place.” Draco suddenly answered her and when he looked back at her, Hermione was surprised to see the fear in them.

“Draco?”
“I don’t remember. I realize I don’t’ know how I know this place.”
His voice was low but the tone of
“I don’t know.” Draco thoughtfully said as he swallowed large chunks of the fillet and fresh vegetables. “I’m not so sure.”
“Are you alright?” she asked when she finally noticed him sitting back with a concerned look over his face. “Draco, is there-“
“I suddenly realized I don’t know how I know this place.” Draco said with a softer glow in his eyes. “I mean, now I think of it. I realized I just know of it.”
She stared back at him with an undeniable creepy look over his face.
“Malfoy, if you’re-“
“No, I’m honest.” Draco said. “I mean, I know how we got here and all..it’s just that.. “
“Draco, take it easy.” Hermione sighed reaching across him from the table and seeing the sudden fear and desperate look in his eyes. “You don’t need to remember-“
“But that’s the thing.” Draco interrupted her. “There are days.. times.. There are events I don’t remember from one moment to another and then suddenly I know, you know?”
“I..” Hermione ofcourse didn’t know that but reading through her previous studies, this does happen to traumatized patience and given this now, Draco was obviously a normal patient.
“I mean, one moment I’m very sure about something and there were suddenly be gaps of things, of information that I’m suddenly not sure of anymore and-“
“Relax.” Hermione firmly said and she closed her gentle fingers across the table around his wrist. “Draco, that’s what I’m here for. To help you.”
He looked up at her, his eyes from pure fear slowly relaxed at her voice, at the look over her face.
“I’m not crazy, Granger.” Draco said unable to stop the thought in his head. “Please don’t think I’m crazy.”
“I don’t think you are.” Hermione said firmly but not unkindly. “I don’t think you’re crazy. I think you’re enduring what a normal patient could possibly endure after some sort of trauma.”
“That’s why I wanted this done outside the hospital. You know? I don’t want people to think.. to talk that.. well, the young Malfoy, the Malfoy heir.. finally got what he deserves.”
“I don’t think that matters at the moment, Draco.” Hermione told him. “And everything we talk about is private. It’s a bond between a patient and a Healer.”
“We have a bond?” Draco said with a smirk over his face.
Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

“Don’t get comfortable.” Hermione said shifting straighter over her chair.
“I don’t what anyone, especially you - to think I’m crazy.” Draco bitterly said. “I’m not crazy.”
“I didn’t say you are and I don’t think either.” Hermione told him with a firm look over her face. “You’re enduring something normal from a trauma patient.”
“Normal?” Draco repeated not removing his hand away from her. “How would losing information in your head normal?”
“Traumatized patients tend to have suppressed emotions or rather memories out of the shock or fear that had been endured.” Hermione gently and patiently explained to him. “It’s nothing short of unnatural for you to feel or behave this way. I’ve read about it.”
“Ofcourse you’ve read about it.” Draco said with a mocking look over his face for which he quickly apologized for.
Hermione ignored him and shook her head at him.
“I’ve read it – it happens to both Muggle and Wizarding communities. It’s a natural effect and reaction after a trauma.” Hermione explained matter-of-factly. “Tell me when has this began?”
Draco’s eyes narrowed as he tried to recall in himself when did all of this began.
In truth, he wasn’t sure.
It had all been bizarre dreams and then sudden relapses of memories and at certain days, certain memories or rather flashbacks would come into his head that he never could remember doing at all.
He felt his head had been messed up for quite some time now and that was what had been stressing him out.
These were the factors that pushed him out of his usual and normal quiet stay at the manor – he had to be out, he had to be away, he had to be around an environment around certain people that were both familiar and not dangerous for his well-being.
Hermione Granger had been one of the good factors tending to those desperate needs that he didn’t realize until now or rather admit to himself.
“I’m not sure.” Draco earnestly told him. “You don’t think I’m mad?”
Hermione looked back at him and she could see the genuine fear in his eyes.
“Ofcourse not.” Hermione told him with a firm and snappy tone. “You’re not mad. You’re enduring what other trauma patient endures. I just need to know when this began and that’s what these sessions are for.”

“You don’t think I’m mad whether you are a Healer or not?” he asked and by this, Hermione knew that Draco was very reluctant and almost close to ashamed to share other details of what he was presently enduring to anyone.
“Ofcourse not.” Hermione indignantly said. “What do you think of me? Besides, I’m not that daft. We sort problems. We don’t judge them.”
“Thanks.” Draco muttered at her. “I couldn’t tell when this started but it has been going on for quite some time now. You think we can figure it out?”
“There are no problems without solutions. There are always answers. Though we need to run some tests.” Hermione told him with an uncertain look over her face. “Some of it needs to be done at St. Mungo’s though.”

A look of concern passed Draco’s eyes and Hermione knew that he was very much unwelcoming the thought of having this tests done publicly.

“We can have them done and run at night time if you’re concerned on certain things such as privacy matters.” Hermione suggested with a reluctant smile on her face. “I mean, if you want to have it done…”
“I’ll think about it.” Draco said in a tone that told her that he had his mind made up on the subject matter at hand. “I’ll think about it. I’ll let you know. Now, let’s just eat. I’m really still starving.”
And without another word on the subject, Hermione watched Draco resume over his meal for which she couldn’t have any further say anymore and had no other choice but to resume as well into her meal.

The full hours that Hermione had originally planned to spend with Draco and his so-called ‘therapy session’ in her own terms, turned out to be longer than she had expected.
She had let time pass and had overlooked the hours.
It had not been a therapy session at all but more like ‘catching up’ from the years they haven’t seen one another – as if they were friends, as if there was anything to catch up on.
Through the hours, she learned a few if not many things about the life Draco had lived after the battle and how he had coped with life with his father in Azkaban and with the passing of his own mother earlier on a later time after the battle.
As she had witnessed herself, Draco finished schooling at Hogwarts with difficulty in social terms and the adult life he lived after had been nothing but even more difficult for how the society had viewed him.
Acceptance of the society wasn’t something Draco was able to grasp after Hogwarts.
With a father at Azkaban, finance liabilities under his name, liabilities he has to amend and pay for due to his father’s faults and a lot more of other things that he and Madame Malfoy suffered for through the years – Hermione was surprised that he is still sane up at this point especially for a boy who had endured all the good thing early in life and suddenly being forced into a different kind of life – a far cry from what he was used to most of his early life.

She had listened and listened still, trying to figure out what could be causing the distress and presumably causing further disturbance in him and is becoming a present unwanted predicament.
Draco had been giving with information she needed but there were several times where he seemed still reluctant to fully tell her everything and Hermione, being the Healer as she was, didn’t push through the topic if Draco seemed uncomfortable.
The diner meal had taken roughly two hours and later, they both found themselves in a cozy café where they spent the rest of the hours.
Draco had ordered coffee for the two of them and later and they were both then sharing a platter of different sample sizes of sweets and another platter of chocolates.
“I don’t really eat sweets.” Hermione had said although she looked like very much enjoying herself. “My parents are dentists, Draco.”
“Muggle who tend to Muggle teeth, right?” Draco said as he raised his hand to the waiter for another cup of the coffee they had been having. “Isn’t that right?”
“That’s right.” Hermione said with a narrowed gaze. “How did you know that?”
“I’m a Malfoy and Pureblood, Hermione.” Draco said with a smirk. “But I’m not daft.”
“Very funny.” Hermione muttered back at him. “You really an arse at times, you know?”
“Well, better the devil you know than the devil you don’t, Granger.” Draco said with a kind smile as he thanked the waiter for the second cup and started exploring the chocolate platter in front of them.
“So, Hogwarts.” Draco began finding another topic to begin with. “I’ve pretty much told you a lot of things about my life after it but you haven’t really told me much about your side.”
“There’s nothing much to tell.” Hermione said with a sly smile. “You know what I was like.”
He looked up at her as if studying her, as if knowing that he wasn’t sure he knew her back then.
“I wasn’t always around and I didn’t spend time stalking you at school.” Draco pointed out. “It’ll be nice to know what you’re up to when you’re not trying to save the world with those two idiots.”
“Hey.” Hermione warningly said but with a smile. “So you want to talk about Hogwarts?”
She stared at him, unsure now if he really wanted that topic.
They had talked about Hogwarts and their days in it, but she’d come to notice that there wasn’t a topic they exchanged about those years that wasn’t really obvious or known to many.
“You want to talk about Hogwarts?” she slowly asked him knowing that it was an area that they’ve never actually explored in any of their meetings.
“Either or.” Draco replied in a mouthful of the chocolate with cherry inside it. “I mean, well, I supposed you had good memories there.”
“You also had a good memories there.” Hermione suggested knowing that the last bits of it, neither of them had good memories. “You may have bought your way through but you were fairly good at Quidditch.”
“Fairly good?” Draco repeated with a smirk. “Excuse me. I was a good player as well, I was second to Potter.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Draco affirmed. “But well, you won’t know and see that because you’re too busy looking only at either Krum or Potter at these games.”
Hermione flushed and she wasn’t sure if Draco was being sarcastic or serious with his comment.
He recovered first.
“But at at the least, I was really good with all my subjects – especially, Potions.”
“Excuse moi.” Hermione toned this time with a snotty look over her face. “Only second to me. And, second in all the subjects.”
“First in Divination, Granger.” Draco pointed out with a smirk.
“That’s because that woman is fake.” Hermione reasoned out. “Besides, I dropped that. We’re generally talking about the important subjects, especially when we were graduating.”
There was a broad smile over her face for which Draco couldn’t help but smile to.
“Whatever, Granger.” Draco said. “I was always better at Potions than you and we both know that.”
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but he raised his cup of coffee to her to let her know their understanding – Snape had always been biased on that so it wasn’t a case to be won by Hermione by any means.
They both laughed at the memory of it.
“So, why did Potter not pursue Quidditch International?” Draco curiously asked after a while. “I mean, he’s an arse but he’s pretty much good at it. No point denying that now.”
“Harry found Quidditch fun while it lasted.” Hermione said. “But he always wanted to be an Auror. Like his father. And please don’t call him an arse. He’s my bestfriend.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Draco said waving a hand in the air. “Wanted to be an Auror? Wanted to rid the world of all evil is more like it. Well, his plan seemed to have gone well for him. And Weasel-by?”
“Ron Weasley to you, Malfoy.” Hermione snapped at him with a roll of her eyes. “He was good and happy to do Quidditch. He’s the one who pursued it with Ginny after her schooling. They travelled a lot. He mostly coaches smaller groups while Ginny pursued professional training. They both did well and both loved what they do. We see them mostly on holidays when there are no tours.”
“Good strategy.” Draco said with a look over his face. “And I supposed you always wanted to save lives. The heroine if the story. You chose to be a Healer.”
“Many reason.” Hermione said taking a sip from her coffee. “That and some others. I just always wanted to learn more, to be challenged and to be able to help. And you?”
“Me?”
“How did you not end up with the Malfoy empire?”
“It works without me.” Draco pointed out. “I can and can do without it. I just usually need to sign documents or so. Make sure people aren’t stealing from me – which stopped happening when I took over the Malfoy businesses – turns out they only wanted a sort of – a little more kind of a boss to ride themselves of these hate in them.”
“So you have people running your business?”
“Some trust worthy people. Very scarce in the industry and most especially in my case but efficient enough to suffice what I only need.” Draco said with a content look over his face.
“And then you do all these charity on the side?” Hermione asked him curiously.
“Yes, kind of I think.” Draco said. “I mean, what’s there to do?”
“You can travel.” Hermione suggested but Draco shook his head.
“I’ve mostly seen Europe when I was younger.” Draco pointed out. “In our summer and Christmas vacations. Mother took me with her to places. She was never mostly at home when I was at school and so when we’re at vacation, she goes home, takes me away with her.”
“And your father?” Hermione asked unable to help herself.
“He had his..own pleasurable escapades of his own.” Draco said and Hermione noticed the bitterness in his voice.
“Draco?” Hermione softly whispered.
“Women.” Draco heavily sighed meeting her eyes deeply. “He had women – everywhere. And he relished at every bit of freedom my mother gave him.”
“She never knew?”
“Oh, she knew. She knew alright.” Draco answered with a sarcastic laugh over his voice. “She knew every bit of it. Their marriage is to keep the bloodline, to keep the empire altogether. Theirs was like any other Pureblood’s – arranged as any other businesses were.”
“There was.. uhm.. no lo-“
“There was love.” Draco interrupted her lightly. “There was love definitely. For a time mother loved father more than anything or anyone else. But when she deemed that his ‘career’ for the Dark Lord mattered more than her and me, she gave it all up and completely forgot all that love. This was around the time we were fourth year.”
“At Voldemort’s rise.”
“At Voldemort’s rise to power.” Draco stated with a nod. “By the time that father knew his mistake, all love mother had for him – all gone, all of it. It was too late for him to sway her back and she had been too tired, too pained through the years. She remained with us to keep the name of the family intact, to ensure my future. She stayed at the manor but at a different room. She never really stayed.”
“Did she ever… I mean, not that..”
“She never loved another.” Draco answered for her. “She thinks and felt it was another waste of time to invest into another, into more feelings. She told me she was happy for as long as she had me. And I always stayed with her. I gave in to whatever she asked of me because I knew I was the only one she had.”
“She had her sister.” Hermione bitterly said.
“My mother had lost all hope for aunt Bella the same time she had lost it for father. Mother knew that with him rising to power, she had lost both husband and sister. She kept her love for me and dedicated her life for me. It was only right I return it to her at every chance and moment I had. I loved her more than anything or anyone else.”
“I’m sure she lived a beautiful life with you despite it all.”
“I tried my best.” Draco said with a small smile as his eyes settled over his cup. “And am still trying my best.”
There came silence between them for which Hermione wasn’t sure how to open another conversation and for which Draco had been lost in his thoughts again.
“Well, you had a good life ahead of you, Draco.” Hermione said reaching across the table for him.
For some unknown reason, she had the feel that there was a need to touch Draco and so she did.
Her fingertips, ever so lightly, reached out across the table and remained over his hand.
He didn’t move but neither did he take his hand away from her.
At that very moment, he was quite content for whatever they were sharing together.
“I’m sure you can start over with Astoria.” Hermione’s voice suddenly came out of nowhere.
Draco’s eyes snapped up at her and there was a look of question in his eyes and a disappointed curve across his face passed.

“Astoria?” he slowly repeated. “What are you talking about, Granger?”
“Astoria Greengrass?” Hermione slowly answered him. “I mean, you were dating her before we graduated, did you not?”
For a moment, Draco stared back at her as if trying to recall whom she was referring to or the time in his life she was referring too.
And then a look passed his eyes and he nodded at her and he slowly withdrew his hand from her.
Hermione’s eyes quickly lit in panic.
“I’m sorry.” Hermione quickly said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean.. I mean.. if that was too personal, I wasn’t - it wasn’t right, I’m really sorry Draco-“
“I haven’t heard from her for as long as I can remember.” Draco said as he finished up his coffee.
Hermione watched as his took the last drop and settled the cup in front of them and he slowly looked her in the eye and she looked back, as apologetic as she could possibly be.
“Draco-“
“It was just the graduation dance, Granger.” Draco said with an utmost look over his face. “I wouldn’t have taken Pansy Parkinson if she was the last girl to be taken to the graduation ball.”
“Oh.” Hermione said as the information tried to settle in her head. “I just thought.. I mean.. you two looked really, really good at the graduation ball and people were talking and I heard and..”
“You hear a lot of things, Granger.” Draco said as he slowly stood up and suddenly ruffled her hair. “That’s why your hair is so big. It’s full of secrets you consume everywhere.”
“My hair?” Hermione irritably said as she moved away from Draco’s reach. “Excuse me, what does my hair –“
“Your hair that is like as wild as a lion’s untamed hair.” Draco poked fun on her as the waited neared their table and he paid for everything they’ve ordered tonight. “Come on, time to go.”
Before Hermione could even gather her thoughts and think of something to say against his semi-insult on her ever untamed hair, he gathered her things from the table and grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of her seat.
“Malfoy-“
“Come now. We’ll have a walk.” Draco said as he grabbed his blue scarf out of his neck and then without warning, pulled her to him and placed it securely around her neck.
They stood by the doorway of the café as Draco did this and Hermione could only feel her heart beating fast as Draco pulled her close while he gently secured the scarf around her neck.
“Draco.”
“We’re going for a walk before we go home.” Draco said as he placed it around her neck and then gently removed the strands off her face as he perfectly placed the scarf.
Hermione stared back at him and one thing she noticed, Draco did all of these without meeting her gaze.
He didn’t want her to see something in his eyes.
“Ready?” he asked her and finally, his eyes turned to her.
A smile spread across his face and Hermione found herself slowly smiling back at him.
“I didn’t mean to.. Draco.” Hermione whispered apologetically at him.
He smiled at her and took her hand into his.
“There are absolutely at lot of things we do that we don’t mean.” Draco said taking her hand closer to his and Hermione not even considering of taking her hand away from him.
She smiled back at him.
“A walk then?” she said with an encouraging smile.
“I’ll walk you home.” Draco said as he led her out of the café and before they ventured out into their walk he turned back at her with a genuine smile over his face.
“What?” Hermione asked unable to stop herself from blushing.
He looked at her for a moment as if considering what he was about to say.
“For the record..” Draco slowly began. “You looked really, really beautiful at the graduation ball. If there’s anything I regret, it was missing another chance to dance with you.”
“Another chance?” Hermione asked perplexed.
“I wanted to dance with you at the Yule Ball. It was a long shot.” Draco answered with a sly smile over his face and a kind of relief in them as if he had been harboring this information for such a long period of time.
“What do you mean?” Hermione asked completely clueless but Draco didn’t seem wiling to share anything further.
“It’s of the past, Granger.” Draco said as she smirked. “I mean, Hermione. And I mean – well, the graduation ball was as close to impossible. But I really wanted to, I really did.”
“Why didn’t you just ask?” Hermione asked him with a raised brow as if it was the most obvious thing in the world to do.
“Excuse me.” Draco said with a laugh. “I didn’t want to be punched in the face twice. Besides..”
He paused, thinking long and hard if he should continue but Hermione was obviously expectant.
“Besides what?” she asked him almost impatiently.
“Besides..” Draco heavily began with a look of utmost embarrassment over his face. “You looked.. you were so beautiful that night, Granger. Extremely happy.. I didn’t want to ruin any of it.”
Hermione had been struck by the words, the revelation and she wasn’t sure what she was feeling about all of it.
But before she could react to that, Draco turned from her and gently but surely, he pulled her close to him and walked her to the pavement and as they turned to the street, he gently envelope his arm around hers without any word.
And in Hermione’s head there wasn’t much to say.
Hell, there wasn’t anything to say after that because she felt she understood what he was trying to tell her.
Draco had been quiet then, his eyes focused on the street ahead of them as if forcing himself not to embrace the uneasy feeling now between them at that little fact from their past.
Hermione sighed heavily and thought better of all of it and knew that she was more than mature enough for this.
She wasn’t sure why but she moved closer to him and without any word or warning, she removed her hand from around his arm and instead, moved her and held his hand and pressed it firmly.
Draco didn’t look at her but an obvious nano-second halt and change in his pace for a very brief moment told Hermione that he had been surprised at the gesture.
But he didn’t stop walking nor did he look back at her.
He continued to walk with her only with his hand around Hermione’s.
Neither did Hermione do anything or say anything.
He didn’t stop looking at the street ahead of him despite the warm hand he slowly held firmly and the heavy budge in his throat that came out of nowhere and the feeling of being unable to breathe steadily now that she was closer, now that he was holding her hand in his.
Hermione decided that words weren’t needed at that very moment.
She wasn’t sure why it was happening but that familiar feeling was coming all over her again despite knowing in herself that never in her life, did she ever envision herself enjoying a long walk down the street in the hands of Draco Malfoy.
- 7
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- 9
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Beyond the Veil