Her head hurt. Her chest hurt. Her arms hurt. Her legs and hips and back hurt. Facing facts, Hermione was very sore after a very steamy night with Draco Malfoy. As his face popped into her thoughts, she winced, which in turn caused more pain. She let out a sigh. This was what she had wanted, right? To be with Draco. To give herself to him and show him she really enjoyed this time together. But if that was her intention, why did she suddenly feel like break was ending all too soon, and that reality would be harsh on their... well, whatever it was. Not quite relationship, definitely more than friendship. She groaned and rolled over. Breakfast was just not happening today. She did not go to the room of requirement after breakfast time, either. She instead used her time to pace across her dormitory, thinking of ways to show Draco that she wanted to keep this going into the next term, at least. An elaborate plan was written out, then thrown away. For once in her life, Hermione was perfectly content with just "winging it".
By the time she descended the stairs for lunch, she was confident that seeing Draco was a good thing, and that she could win him over entirely. He had, as usual, saved a place for her just next to him, and when she took it he smiled, but did not look at her. He did not immediately say anything, either, and the awkward silence between them spanned over too long of a time. After reaching for more food, Hermione was about to ask him how he was, before he spoke first.
"Thank You. For. That."
"For what?" She smirked. She wasn't going to make him say it, of course, but the fact that he wasn't avoiding her was a good sign.
"For... last night. That's probably the only gift I could have gotten that I would have liked."
"I see."
"And you... were fantastic."
She blushed. She hadn't expected him to say that at all. From her memory, she was awkward and inexperienced and nervous, she vaguely remembered injuring herself or Draco a few times each that night, and not knowing what to do a few times was more than embarrassing.
"Shut up. I had no idea what I was doing."
"You didn't really need to. It's a natural thing, I guess."
"And I guess you'd know all about that, then?"
"You'd be surprised..."
This stung quite a bit more than she'd expected. Tears were threatening to fall. He'd basically just told her that he'd slept with loads of girls just like he'd been with her only one night previous. She cleared her throat.
"Well. I'm not really all that hungry anymore, really. I'll just head up to the owlery, I'm sure I have something from Ron and Harry by now that I missed at breakfast."
Without giving him even a moment to convince her to stay, Hermione flew out of the Great Hall, and her tears betrayed her and ran down her face, a silent sign of defeat. Draco Malfoy was a player, a ladies man, he had no use for relationships and she should have seen that from the beginning. I don't know what I was thinking, honestly... it's Draco Malfoy after all, whatever has happened over this break is just another thing to him, another fling. And once term resumes, I'm sure he'll be right back to letting Pansy hang all over him, I wonder if he's slept with her too... this thought brought a new wave of tears as Hermione made her way to the Owlery.
There was indeed a letter waiting for her- two of them, actually. Over the past week or so since break had started, Ron had taken to writing his own separate letters to her, asking questions about her plans and making odd commentary on things going on at the Burrow. She smiled at least when she saw that Ron's letter this time was much longer than Harry's. This was so unlike Ron, to take this much time for something that wasn't eating, sleeping, or Quidditch. She laughed at the thought of Ron writing a letter, seated at the table in the kitchen, concentrating hard on writing neat enough to be legible. She allowed herself to smile, despite her current frustration. Even if Draco was what he was, she would always have Ron and Harry. First was Harry's letter.
Hermione,
Things have been well here, thanks for asking. Molly made a fantastic Christmas dinner, as she always makes the most amazing food, you know. Fred and George are here, staying for a few days in their old room to spend time with the family. It's been a riot with them here, as it always has been around those two. I'm wearing the traditional knitted sweater as I'm writing this to you, Molly got a picture of the group of us wearing them and I quite like it, and even though Ron thinks we all look ridiculous, he has to admit they are the warmest sweaters you can find anywhere. I can't believe there's still almost a week to go before we return to Hogwarts, but Hedwig's really been enjoying time here, so has Ron, he'll tell you all about that I'm sure. He's actually writing his own letters, I found it hard to believe at first. Alright, Molly's calling me downstairs, she probably needs us to peel sprouts or something... don't have too much fun without us, and thoroughly antagonize Malfoy for me if you haven't already.
Yours, Harry.
Hermione smiled at his letter. It was like hearing Harry talk right in front of her, his letters were always just like little messages from wherever. When she read the part about Malfoy, her face fell slightly, but after letters from Ron and Harry it was hard to keep her down. She waited until she got back to her dormitory to read Ron's, she could tell from the multiple pieces of parchment that it was quite long, and a cozy afternoon in bed with some tea would be wonderful after a disastrous morning.
Hermione,
I do love coming home, but I miss Hogwarts too. Mum's been nagging at me and Harry to do all these little odd jobs the whole time we've been here, stupid things that she could easily do by magic but that she makes us do the muggle way. Gives us some load about discipline and responsibility, she can forget all that if you ask me because as soon as I am 17, I will do everything by magic, all the time. How's Hogwarts? Malfoy being a prat? I figure I could tell him to eat slugs, but I probably shouldn't try that again, even with an alright wand. Christmas here went really well, it's just winding down now and everyone's exhausted already, Mum had everyone doing things all day after we opened presents, but I think we forgive her, the dinner was amazing. How was yours? I remember you saying you were going to cook it all in the room of Requirement. How did you get it set up so well? Can't wait to see it when we get back, but I can't believe there are still about seven days until we return. I never thought I would miss school so much. Well, it's not necessarily school that I miss, but you know. I don't know. Mum took this ridiculous picture of all of us in these sweaters, we look like some sort of deranged muggle tourist family in all sorts of different color sweaters, but it makes her happy so I don't mind I guess. Fred and George have been up to their usual bit, pranks and jokes and most of them on me. The best one though, was they made this potion for Mum to put on her plants, so that her garden would grow even bigger and brighter, and it worked really well. Of course, there was a problem, since they didn't test it, and every garden gnome in Ottery St. Catchpole was suddenly keen to get into our yard. We'll spend probably all day tomorrow getting them out. Throw the ruddy bastards right over the fence. Write back, right now! We've been waiting to hear from you and you've been taking ages to respond, Mum says I need to shut up and stop being impatient but I think I can be as impatient as I'd like, it doesn't really matter. And let me know how Christmas went at Hogwarts.
Yours Always,
Ron
Ron's letters were, if possible, even more like carrying a conversation than Harry's. His stubborn, silly attitude showed through on every line. She pulled out parchment and a quill and began writing back to each of them at once. If nothing else could make her feel better after that stupid conversation at Lunch, letters to and from Ron and Harry would be the perfect fix.
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