t w e n t y - f i v e

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Hermione glanced at Draco for a split second out of the corner of her eye as she sat down by the window sill next to him. She played with the sharpie in her hand and blew a raspberry. A devious grin curled up on Draco’s lips as he looked up at Hermione. “Well, it seems to me like you’re having a bit of a trouble over there . . . you’ve been looking over at me for the last three minutes consecutively.”

“I want to know what happened between you two.” Hermione asked the minute she saw the opportunity. She straightened up her back as she cleared her throat, waiting impatiently for the story to unfold.

“I obliviated him and told him that he and I were best friends and he was your brother who was dating Weaslette, your close friend.” Draco replied with a straight face, looking at Hermione with honesty written all over his face. “That’s why he might be a bit . . . off.”

Hermione shot him a glare and let out a low growl. She smacked him on the arm and pushed a strand of her hair out of her fair, tucking it behind her ear. “Yes, and I’m really a hippogriff.” She sneered at him as lowered her gaze on him. “Tell me what really happened or I will use this weapon on you whether you fall asleep or not.” She threatened him as she shoved the sharpie into his face, making sure he understood her.

“I actually thought you would buy it, I mean, have you seen how happy Potter looks? If someone didn’t know any better, they would’ve thought he earned himself another bottle of Liquid Luck.” He stated with a snort, rolling his stormy grey eyes. “We talked after you left about . . . manly topics and we went out to play a round of Quidditch to . . . relieve stress and any frustrations we had about each other? I think it went fairly well. Truth is . . . Potter actually got hit in the head by the bat.” Draco said and nonchalantly laughed, recalling the event from earlier.

“He got hit with the bludger bat?” Hermione asked with shock, her jaw dropping wide open as concern spread across her face.

“I didn’t hit him with it, if that’s what you’re thinking. He hit himself, like the idiot he is. He claimed to be fine but I had him go check with Madam Pomfrey.” He explained to her as he shrugged his shoulder.

“I assume he’s alright, no broken bones?” She asked him matter-of-factly.

“Of course, well—he did break his nose but Madam Pomfrey fixed it right up. He’s fine, good as new.” Draco assured her as he reached for her hand, his hand gently and ever so slightly brushing against hers.

His tender touch on her hand brought a smile to her lips, the corner of her lips lifting upwards automatically. “I’m really glad you two are friends, it . . . it’s a relief one of my closest friends approves of my—of you.” She said and bit her tongue lightly at her dense error. She crinkled her nose as she closed her eyes.

“You’re glad your friends approve of your what?” He taunted her mischievously as he leaned in towards her, waiting for her answer. Although he left the impression as a joke, he yearned for her to say the two words any boy wanted to hear from her.

“You are a friend . . . that is a boy.” She told him with a cunning smile as she winked over at him, happy to see that she had the upper-hand.

Draco firmly kept his lips into a thin line, leaning back out with a skeptic expression plastered on his face. “You can’t keep avoiding that.”

“What’s there to avoid when I don’t even know what we are.” Hermione reasoned as she defended herself. “Unless you know what we are then by all means, do tell.” She said with a wide grin, staring at him with anticipation.

“We are whatever you want us to be.” He told her smoothly, looking up at her innocently.

“That’s very smooth of you, Draco Malfoy.” She said as she quirked up an eyebrow. “I’ll let it slide this time, but I won’t let it go the next time.” She said as she let out a small giggle.

“I promise I’ll tell you with honesty next time you bring it up. But, I did not bring you up here to have another round of bickering and nonsense with you.” He said as he intertwined their hands together, his warm hand heating up Hermione’s cold ones rapidly. He stood up and grabbed the blanket he brought with him, swiftly throwing it over his shoulder as he waited for her to follow him. Hermione rolled her eyes playfully, laughing as she got up, following Draco. Draco continued to smile at her as he walked backwards, making sure to keep his eyes hooked with hers. He finally came to a halt as he gently pulled her in towards him.

“What are we doing?” Hermione asked him with bright, shining eyes as she looked up at him with a grin.

“Why don’t you just find out right now?” He asked as placed his hands on her shoulders, twirling her to the side so that they were facing the window that showed them the whole map of the sky. He moved them up closer and placed the blanket over himself and wrapping Hermione in it, pulling her close to him. Hermione smiled at the warm embrace and naturally rested her head on his shoulder as if she belonged there. Draco grinned and started pointing out his favorite constellations, whispering everything into her ear in a low, soft voice. He gently planted a kiss on her temple as they enjoyed their beautiful view, sharing their thoughts together.

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Blaise checked his watch and sighed as he looked over at Madam Pince and nodded. “Sorry, we’ll be right out.” He told her apologetically as he quickly walked over to where Ginny was. “Ginny, we’re going to have to lea . . .” His voice trailed off as he saw her sleeping away, her cheek kissing the table. He lightly chuckled and walked up to her. A small smile spread across his face, seeing how peaceful she looked when sleeping. She didn’t look . . . guarded, she looked calm and vulnerable. He looked over his shoulder to feel Madam Pince’s eyes boring into the back of his head. He sighed and reluctantly shook Ginny’s shoulder lightly to wake her up. “Wake up, we need to go now.”

“5 more minutes . . .” Ginny mumbled under her breath quietly as she brushed Blaise’s hand off her shoulder, getting into a more comfortable position. She went back to sleeping instantaneously and didn’t seem to be moving anywhere anytime soon.

Blaise sighed and gathered all the books that surrounded Ginny like a barrier and set it aside neatly in a stack. He gently lifted Ginny’s head off the table and tilted it back. Softly, he placed a firm arm on her back as he used the other arm to hook behind her knees. He lifted her up and from her chair as lightly as he could without disturbing her slumber and started to walk out of the library. Blaise started to walk towards the door with a small sad grin on his face as he looked down at Ginny. He felt Ginny wrap an arm around his neck for support and felt his heart jump with joy. He wished that he could just freeze time and stay like that for a few more minutes. Although he knew he couldn’t have her . . . he wanted to be greedy just this once and stay like that forever. He stopped walking and closed his eyes, enjoying the moment having Ginny in his arms.