Drabble Reading #3: We Didn't Know Anything
Title: We Didn't Know Anything
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Word Count: 496
Written for Challenge #3 at dramione_ldws
Quills, parchment and ink pots, oh my!: must take place at Hogwarts, after Draco & Hermione have completed their education (no student-era drabbles)
Won Judge's Choice Award
We Didn't Know Anything
“Hermione Granger, you’re not hiding are you? That’s very un-Gryffindor of you,” he said teasingly over her shoulder.
If she was surprised to hear his voice again after all these years, she didn’t show it. She didn’t even turn around.
It was as if she was expecting him.
She sighed sadly. “This is the stupidest idea the Ministry has ever had. Nobody wants to be here. Not yet.”
In all of its brilliance, the Ministry decided that the seventh annual celebration of the end of the war should be held at Hogwarts. Bad move. Too many people had died here. It was still too soon.
Draco stepped in behind her to peer through the window she stood in front of.
It looked like a snapshot from someone else’s life. The people moving within were not real, just shuffling characters that resembled his memories. At the front of the Great Hall, the head table was like a roll call.
Potter. Present.
Weasley. Present.
Longbottom. Not present.
McGonagall. Present.
Snape. Not Present.
An empty chair waited between the two heroes.
Draco looked down at the wild curly head in front of him and thanked God some things hadn’t changed.
“Are you going in?” he asked.
“No. I don’t think so,” she said, finally turning to look up at him.
Draco’s heart leapt. “Would you like to walk down to the lake?”
-----
They were quiet then, walking side by side like old friends. Draco had waited for this moment for a long time. Now it was here and he didn’t know how to begin.
“Do you miss France?” she said at last.
“Yes,” and after a moment he turned his head to look at her. “But there’s something I need here.”
Her eyes locked with his and he thought that she understood him.
-----
For a while the only sound was the wind moving through the trees.
“I wrote to you once.”
“Twice,” she said.
“Yes. Twice.”
The first had been an apology. The second had been so much more.
-----
They stopped at the edge of the water, watching the sun set the lake on fire.
“I think about you,” he confessed at last.
And for a long time after they said nothing.
-----
When the sun began to disappear behind the trees, Draco spoke again.
“We didn’t know anything back then, did we?”
“We’ve wasted a lot of time.” She stopped and looked up, pinning him with her eyes. Draco’s breath caught in his throat.
A gust of wind blew her curls across her face. Draco reached out to tuck the strands behind her ear, dragging his fingers over her soft cheek and then around the shell of her ear. His heart pounded in his chest and her eyes were undoing him.
“I always hated your hair.” His hand stayed by her face, pulling on a wayward curl. “It’s soft.”
“Draco…” her voice was low and her face titled into his hand.
“I want to kiss you,” he whispered.
“Yes.”
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Word Count: 496
Written for Challenge #3 at dramione_ldws
Quills, parchment and ink pots, oh my!: must take place at Hogwarts, after Draco & Hermione have completed their education (no student-era drabbles)
Won Judge's Choice Award
We Didn't Know Anything
“Hermione Granger, you’re not hiding are you? That’s very un-Gryffindor of you,” he said teasingly over her shoulder.
If she was surprised to hear his voice again after all these years, she didn’t show it. She didn’t even turn around.
It was as if she was expecting him.
She sighed sadly. “This is the stupidest idea the Ministry has ever had. Nobody wants to be here. Not yet.”
In all of its brilliance, the Ministry decided that the seventh annual celebration of the end of the war should be held at Hogwarts. Bad move. Too many people had died here. It was still too soon.
Draco stepped in behind her to peer through the window she stood in front of.
It looked like a snapshot from someone else’s life. The people moving within were not real, just shuffling characters that resembled his memories. At the front of the Great Hall, the head table was like a roll call.
Potter. Present.
Weasley. Present.
Longbottom. Not present.
McGonagall. Present.
Snape. Not Present.
An empty chair waited between the two heroes.
Draco looked down at the wild curly head in front of him and thanked God some things hadn’t changed.
“Are you going in?” he asked.
“No. I don’t think so,” she said, finally turning to look up at him.
Draco’s heart leapt. “Would you like to walk down to the lake?”
-----
They were quiet then, walking side by side like old friends. Draco had waited for this moment for a long time. Now it was here and he didn’t know how to begin.
“Do you miss France?” she said at last.
“Yes,” and after a moment he turned his head to look at her. “But there’s something I need here.”
Her eyes locked with his and he thought that she understood him.
-----
For a while the only sound was the wind moving through the trees.
“I wrote to you once.”
“Twice,” she said.
“Yes. Twice.”
The first had been an apology. The second had been so much more.
-----
They stopped at the edge of the water, watching the sun set the lake on fire.
“I think about you,” he confessed at last.
And for a long time after they said nothing.
-----
When the sun began to disappear behind the trees, Draco spoke again.
“We didn’t know anything back then, did we?”
“We’ve wasted a lot of time.” She stopped and looked up, pinning him with her eyes. Draco’s breath caught in his throat.
A gust of wind blew her curls across her face. Draco reached out to tuck the strands behind her ear, dragging his fingers over her soft cheek and then around the shell of her ear. His heart pounded in his chest and her eyes were undoing him.
“I always hated your hair.” His hand stayed by her face, pulling on a wayward curl. “It’s soft.”
“Draco…” her voice was low and her face titled into his hand.
“I want to kiss you,” he whispered.
“Yes.”