Chapter Text
Long Live
“Long live all the mountains we moved, I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you.”
Draco and Hermione run into each other in the Room of Requirement after Ron snogs Lavender in front of Hermione. They become allies, and Draco entrusts Hermione with his secrets. She wants to help him, but can enemies really ever become friends or lovers?
Chapter 1: Yellow Birds
November 1996
“Oppugno!!” Hermione Granger yelled as she watched the tiny yellow birds fly towards her target.
She waited briefly as the birds approached Ronald Weasley and began to attack. The girl beside him who had previously been giggling and twirling her hair around a finger started screaming. Hermione would have smirked had she not been so furious. She watched the birds get in a few decent pecks before turning on her heel and storming out of the classroom door.
She wrenched the classroom door shut as she began running through the halls of the castle. She could only think of getting far away from the classroom and isolating herself as quickly as possible, before her anger got the best of her and caused her to do more damage than some silly yellow birds.
It was bad enough she had been forced out of the common room because of Ron’s antics, and then he invaded the classroom she was taking refuge in.
As she ran down the halls of the seventh-floor corridor, she faintly heard Harry Potter calling “Hermione, wait!” as he tried to keep up with her. She knew she couldn’t run faster than Harry, but she figured she had a head start due to the shock that her friend would be in from what he just witnessed.
The corridor was mostly deserted, as the rest of Gryffindor house (and some students of the other houses besides Slytherin) were inside the common room of Gryffindor celebrating the win over Slytherin. The students of Slytherin were likely sulking the loss in the dungeons.
Hermione picked up her pace to outrun Harry. She knew her reaction to seeing Ron snogging Lavender Brown was wrong, but she couldn’t help the hurt she was feeling at having to witness the two all over each other in such a public setting. She didn’t want to see one of her best friends kissing someone who had made fun of her for years.
No, it wasn’t just about Ron being with Lavender, she thought to herself. The pain that she was feeling was more than that. Of course, it did hurt that Ron had chosen Lavender, but Hermione was more hurt by the fact that she thought he was starting to mature enough to admit the fact that he had feelings for her.
Hermione ran past the tapestry across from where she knew the Room of Requirement was. Slowing down and back tracking her steps, she thought the room might be the perfect place to hide out. She knew Harry would not be able to get in if she could think of somewhere specific enough for the room to help conceal her for a bit to process her thoughts and calm down.
I need a distraction. I need a distraction. I need a distraction, she thought quickly as she paced the hallway three times.
The door appeared on the wall. Hermione rushed in and slammed it shut, knowing that if Harry was still chasing her, he was bound to be right on her heels at this point.
She turned around to see what the room had manifested for her. She gasped as she saw where she was. She was in the most beautiful library she had ever seen. The room was massive, with high ceilings and dark grey marble floors. There were even a few faux windows at the very top of the ceiling, and quite like the Hogwarts ceiling, the room appeared to be mimicking the weather outside of the castle. The furniture was ornate, but at the same time cosy. The room had plush armchairs, desks, and several sofas placed around the room for the occupant to read or research at leisure. There were several spiral staircases and ladders to reach the books on the higher levels, and landings off a few of the staircases that held more desks.
Hermione stared in awe at the room that had been created for her. Knowing it was unlikely that anyone would be able to find her here, she slowly ran her hand down the spine of the books closest to her. But her appreciation of the immaculate room did not last long. She began to cry as the events of the day came crashing back on her. Picking a book up at random, she walked towards the far side of the room and prepared to dive into her book as a means of escaping her hurt feelings.
She approached a sofa on the opposite side of the entrance, and Hermione suddenly began to hear strange noises. It almost sounded like the noises of someone else occupying the room. Hermione was very confused and at first thought she was imagining things, as no one else could possibly be in the same room that she had manifested. Following the noises, she stumbled upon someone lying down on a sofa that was facing away from her. Since the sofa was so far from the entrance, she had been unable to see or hear the person at first. Mesmerised by curiosity that the room had opened for her while someone else was already inside, she walked closer to the person on the sofa.
As she got closer and closer, she realised that the sounds she was hearing were someone’s sobs. Unlike her own breathy tears, this person was sobbing devastatingly and seemingly uncontrollably. She looked over the sofa to see who it was, discovering white-blonde hair and Slytherin green robes.
NO! She thought. This was HER hideout. Was there nowhere in this castle that she could be alone? Why was he here?!?! And better yet why was he here sobbing?!?!
Draco Malfoy noticed her at the same second that she recognized who he was. He quickly sat up and tried to wipe his tears, although it was evident that both people had just been crying.
“Stupid mudblood,” Malfoy snarled, trying to recover from the embarrassment of Hermione finding him at such a weak moment. “What are you doing here? Get out!”
Malfoy tried and failed to sound vicious as he insulted and yelled at her, but with red-rimmed eyes and a puffy face, Hermione was no more scared of him than she was of Arnold, Ginny Weasley’s Pygmy Puff.
“ Malfoy…. I didn’t know anyone-” Hermione started to say.
“Granger, I won’t tell you again. Get out! This is MY space. I won’t share it with the likes of you. Go cry on the Weasley blood traitor,” Malfoy spoke harshly.
His words set Hermione off. She knew he didn’t know what had just happened with Ron, and it was Malfoy. Most days he seemed to exist to anger or upset her. But today was different, one of her best friends had rejected her for Lavender Brown, and Hermione was enraged and very short-tempered. Her usual emotional regulation was off from the events of the day and Hermione had had enough!
“No, Malfoy. This is not YOUR space. I have every right to be in the room, just as much right as you do! But if you want me to leave, I will. I’ll go right out and tell everyone that the precious prince of Slytherin was in the Room of Requirement sobbing his eyes out like an overgrown child! Is that what you want? I can even show everyone the memory,” Hermione yelled back.
This seemed to further infuriate Malfoy, as Hermione should have known it would. He began to draw his wand, but Hermione was quicker.
“Expelliarmus!” She cried. His wand flew into her waiting hand. She also conjured up more of her yellow birds, having them lie in wait beside her should he decide to try and physically attack.
“Give me back my wand, Granger. Now,” Malfoy said ferociously. All his tears had dried up and he was now fuming with anger. Hermione could feel his rage coming off him, in waves hot as a furnace from her place across the sofa.
The heat from his anger seemed to ground her as she realised she had been allowing others to have control over her emotions and reactions quite a bit over the course of the day. This isn’t me, she thought. Yes, she was prone to having bursts of anger and reacting without thinking at times (for instance when she punched Malfoy in 3rd year) but Hermione took pride in being logical to a fault and not allowing her emotions to take the best of her when she could help it.
She flicked her wand quickly, and her yellow birds disappeared. Besides, Malfoy had never been one to physically attack anyone, she thought to herself.
Malfoy’s eyes had widened briefly when she made the quick wand movement, but then returned to normal once he saw the birds disappear. His reaction happened so fast, Hermione thought she had imagined it. It was as if he was afraid of her, and she couldn’t imagine why. He always insulted her for her dirty blood, but now he was showing ever the slightest vulnerability in front of her. She may have had his wand, but Malfoy was always extraordinarily arrogant and entitled, even when he was at a disadvantage.
“Malfoy, I- I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I’ll give your wand back if you won’t hex me. I didn’t know anyone was in here and I can’t imagine why I was let in if the room was already occupied. I won’t tell anyone that you were here. I’d like it if you did the same for me,” Hermione stated quietly.
She handed Malfoy back his wand. He took it slowly, and she watched him as he deposited the wand back in his robes, neither one trusting the other wholeheartedly.
“Fine, Granger,” Malfoy said after several seconds of silence.
His angry resolve appeared to break just as fast as it had manifested. He threw himself back down on the couch and covered his face with his hands.
“You can stay. Just leave me alone.”
Hermione jolted awake in the makeshift library of the Room of Requirement. She found herself curled up on one of the plush sofas, hands gripping the book she had picked up off the shelves.
She knew she was alone in the room now, for it was eerily quiet and the emptiness had set in. Her head was still spinning from the emotional roller-coaster of a day, but she wondered when Malfoy had left the room and why he had not taken the chance to curse her while she was passed out on the sofa.
She also wondered how she had been able to fall asleep so easily in his presence; they had just fought for Godric’s sake! She didn’t understand how her body had felt comfortable enough to just go to sleep on one of the sofas with Malfoy in the same room. She had intended to decompress and simply lose herself into one of the books, until she felt better to leave and face Harry and Ron again.
And Lavender. She groaned. She would have to continue to share a dormitory with the girl. Maybe she could just move into the Room of Requirement library for the rest of her time at Hogwarts.
Hermione put her face into her hands. How had so many absurd things happened within only a few hours? The animosity between Hermione and Ron had escalated that morning when Harry played that trick on Ron with the Felix Felicis. And Harry had only won the luck-inducing potion due to that ridiculous book he was using to cheat in classes. But that was beside the point, Hermione reminded herself bitterly.
She supposed Ron was so high on his win for Gryffindor that he felt invincible now, regardless of how Harry had tricked him. She was just trying to protect Ron when she told him not to drink the spiked pumpkin juice, but he overreacted as usual and became angry with her for telling him what to do.
Then Harry revealed that he had indeed not spiked the juice and only pretended to so that he could give Ron a confidence boost for the game. But Ron was still upset with her and mocked her for trying to protect him. She supposed that he felt the need to get back at her for not believing in his natural abilities, therefore he allowed Lavender to practically attack him in the common room, knowing that Hermione would see.
But she may be giving Ron too much credit. She didn’t think he had the capacity to think that hard and plan devious actions that far in advance. Maybe he was just riding the high from winning the Quidditch game and he wanted to kiss Lavender, finally feeling brave enough to do so.
She didn’t know which scenario hurt more.
Then, there was how she reacted to the situation, likely only making everything worse. She had assaulted Ron with her canaries. Even though the birds probably only got a few pecks in before Ron remembered he was a wizard and banished them, she now felt guilty for using her magic against him.
She had finally felt that she, Harry, and Ron were becoming closer than ever, and now she felt that everything was ruined in the span of a day. She didn’t know if Ron would talk to her ever again, and she knew from experience of previous fights that Harry would probably pick Ron over her. Of course, she still had Ginny, who was always the first to admit how much of an arsehole her brother was, but Ginny was so wrapped up in her boyfriend that Hermione did not know how much support Ginny would be able to provide.
Hermione was back to being the strange know-it-all with no friends, just like her first year.
And then, there was the situation that had transpired with Malfoy. Hermione did not even know where to start to rationalise what happened there. The room had opened for her when he was already inside. How was that possible? They must have both approached the room with the same thought of wanting some place to provide as a distraction for something.
And the room had created the most beautiful library she had ever seen in her life.
So, Malfoy’s idea of a distraction was the same as hers? Hermione quickly squashed that thought; she didn’t have any desire to analyse what that fact meant.
They had fought, but both had given up the argument relatively easily compared to incidents in the past, and they had coexisted in the room for at least some amount of time, as she had observed Malfoy lie back down on the sofa before she fell asleep.
He also left quietly without harming her when he most definitely had the chance to curse her if he had wanted to. She had made herself extremely vulnerable by falling asleep in the same room with him. She was so confused.
Then there was the fact that he had been crying . What would make Draco Malfoy - spoiled, wealthy, perfect pureblood – cry like that? No, more than crying, he was sobbing . Of course, there was the fact that his father, Lucius, was locked away in Azkaban prison for associations with Death Eaters, but was that enough to make him sob like he had nothing left to live for in this world?
Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before his father wormed his way out of the prison, and the imprisonment did not seem to have done any damage at all to Malfoy’s family’s social status.
And why wasn’t he in the dungeons? Certainly, the prince of Slytherin house could feel free to have an emotional breakdown in his own dorm.
It was all so strange, and Hermione couldn’t make sense of it. The only rationalisation that kept roaming through her mind was Harry’s suspicion that Draco Malfoy had somehow been initiated into Voldemort’s group of supporters, known as the Death Eaters.
There was no way Harry was right about Malfoy becoming a Death Eater.
But what are the chances that Harry is right?! Hermione wondered. There seemed to be no other logical explanations for Malfoy’s behavior. Malfoy had an idyllic lifestyle – a doting mother and a father who bent to the boy’s every whim. He was quite possibly the richest person at Hogwarts. He had always been near Hermione with grades, if not right behind her as second in their class. What could be lacking?
If Malfoy was a Death Eater, and that was truly why he was upset, it did not seem like a choice he had made for himself.
More than feeling confused now, Hermione was lost in trying to analyse the events of the day. And Hermione Granger did NOT like not knowing the answer to something, as trivial as that something may be.
She stood up to return the book she was holding back on the shelf she got it from.
As frustrated as she felt, Hermione concluded that there would be no answers to her queries today, so she spent a few more hours browsing the wonders of her newfound library.
Eventually, she had to return to the Gryffindor common room and go to bed. She hoped she had waited late enough that Lavender was already fast asleep. Hermione did not think she had the strength to face Lavender’s giggles and stupidity tonight without hexing her. She also hoped Ron and Harry would be in bed as well; she didn’t want to deal with Ron’s half-arsed apologies and Harry’s awkward attempts at consolation tonight. If they hadn’t cut her completely out of their lives over the events of today.
Hermione took one last look around the library. She could do this. She was Hermione Granger, the brightest girl in the school. She had nothing to be afraid of, and she wasn’t going to let Lavender Brown and Ronald Weasley run her out of the tower. Even Draco bloody Malfoy had cowered (somewhat) to her today.
She set her jaw and walked out of the Room of Requirement, off to face her insecurities.
Hermione woke early the next morning to Crookshanks pawing at her head. It was just barely sunrise. She surmised that Crookshanks was upset with her, as she had forgotten to give him his favourite treats before bed the previous night. He gave her a patronising look as she whispered “Sorry, Crooks,” and reached for his treats from her trunk.
Unfortunately, it was Sunday, so Hermione didn’t have any classes to attend today to absorb herself in. But there was always some assignment she could work on. Professor Flitwick had given her a list of all the assignments he would be handing out for the entire term, and she had already finished most of the ones for the first term.
Hermione would finish up the rest of her end-of-the-term assignments today so that she could distract herself from the questions she still had about the events from yesterday. She also didn’t want to think about the fact that she was likely friendless. Her confidence that she had in the Room of Requirement had faded out.
She had no desire in going to the Great Hall for breakfast and reliving how she spent some of the first year at Hogwarts, with everyone pretending like she did not exist. Maybe she could skip breakfast today and brew some of her favourite muggle tea while she tied up the last of her assignments.
Just then, her stomach made a monstrous noise almost reminiscent of one of Hagrid’s pets from his Care of Magical Creatures class. It sounded like she would not be skipping breakfast for tea today.
When was the last time I ate? Did I even eat yesterday? She thought. She remembered going to the Great Hall before the Quidditch game yesterday, but she was reading a book during breakfast, and she often forgot to eat if she brought books with her to meals. Hermione also recalled being sidetracked by thinking that Harry spiked Ron’s drink.
After breakfast, she went to the Quidditch game to cheer Gryffindor on. She may not care about the sport, but she was always there for her friends. Once the game was over, she had found Ron and Lavender canoodling. The rest of the day had been spent in emotional turmoil. She was not sure if she had any food at all yesterday.
She sighed. Hopefully she could get in and out of the Great Hall before Ron and Lavender made it down for breakfast.
Hermione started to get up from her four-poster, disturbing Crookshanks who had gone back to sleep in the process. Lying there with her thoughts was not doing her any service.
She began to gather her things for a quick shower and then she planned to head down to the Great Hall. She hoped she did not run into Lavender in the lavatory, but it appeared that most of her dormmates were still fast asleep.
Upon entering the Great Hall after her shower, she noticed it was mostly empty except for a few students at each of the four house tables.
A white-blonde head caught her eye from the Slytherin table. He had his back turned to her, and he was sitting by himself with his head in his hand. He didn’t appear to be eating; instead picking at what was on the plate in front of him.
Great, she thought. With her mind consumed in fears of seeing Ron or Lavender, she had almost forgotten how the rest of the prior night had gone.
Why is he even in here if he’s not eating? She wondered.
But it didn’t matter; whatever was going on with him was none of her concern. She pulled out the book she had brought in her bag and began to read, trying to take bites of her blueberry scone in between flipping pages.
As more students began filing in the hall for breakfast, Hermione decided it was time for her to clear out.
She observed that Malfoy had somehow left the hall while she was reading. Perfect, maybe I can avoid any unwanted run-ins today, she thought to herself.
She packed up her book and prepared to go to the library. She knew it would be an obvious place for her to be found, but she was betting on the fact that Ron would be so wrapped up with Lavender that he wouldn’t bother caring where Hermione was. And Harry avoided awkward situations like he would avoid Spattergroit, so he would likely not seek her out either.
Even though the Hogwarts library was not nearly as stunning as the one she’d discovered last night, it would do for now. It was her most cherished place in the castle, after all.