Even Dragons Have Hearts

Harry sat down on the ledge of a windowsill in the quiet Transfiguration classroom, listening to the steady ticking of a golden clock on the wall. Leaning on his hand and staring blankly out of the window, his thoughts were with the girl who was now taking her exam in the small room just off of the main class.

In Harry's opinion there wasn't a prettier girl in the entire school, the whole of England for that matter. Slowly closing his eyes, he pictured her in his mind. She wasn't tall, she reached about five foot four in height, though she complained about her height often, Harry thought it was quite adorable that she was little nonetheless.

Her petite face was framed by chocolate brown curls, which went down to her waist. Then there were her eyes, the colour of deep dark chocolate that were always full of grace and wisdom. But her smile, her smile could light up a room. When Hermione smiled, she positively glowed.

A grin spread across Harry's face at the thought of her, not giving any acknowledgement to the gruelling exam he was about to sit. He, as always was the last to be called for a test, this being a half term exam, was quite important. At that moment he didn't really care much for school, Hermione was the only thing that mattered in the world.

Ten minutes later, Harry jumped with a start, the door to the room on his left had just opened and Hermione walked out, one of her amazing smiles plastered on her lips.

"It went well I'm guessing?" he asked her, standing and reaching for his wand.

"Sure did," said Hermione, "I'll meet you in the Common Room when you've finished. Don't worry, it's a breeze."

"Yeah right," Harry muttered as he slipped into the exam room and put his hand on the doorknob.

"Good luck!" said Hermione waving and heading out the classroom door.

Harry gave a weak smile, waved and closed the door quietly.

Hermione walked quickly through the corridors; they were empty as students were still in class. She looked around nervously, when walking in passages alone she felt a little uncertain. Besides this, she also had to keep an eye out for Draco Malfoy, who had just returned from being away an entire week.

This was odd but no one in the Slytherin house seemed to care or notice. Once he had returned however, he seemed to stalk Harry, Ron and Hermione, much more than before, wherever they went outside Gryffindor tower.

When they went into the Great Hall, so did Malfoy and his two goons. When they went to the library to study, so did Malfoy and his two goons, not that they did much of the studying part. Come to think of it, Hermione saw Malfoy a lot more often than was thought necessary, since he was in a totally different house. What was he up to and where did he go the other week? Hermione wasn't sure if she wanted to know or not.

Just as she was about to pass a particular fowl looking gargoyle statue, Hermione turned suddenly to face the corridor behind her. She was sure she heard footsteps.

Probably just Peeves playing jokes she thought to herself. When she turned back around, she gasped. Draco Malfoy was standing in front of her, arms crossed and with his usual smirk.

Tall and lean he was, looking down at Hermione with his eyes of silver, still as cold as ice. He stood at about six foot and had grown quite muscular, due to all the Quidditch practice. His blonde hair was no longer slicked back, but it hung loosely and naturally around his thin face, he would be quite handsome if his eyes weren't so cold.

"Granger, how nice to see you..." he drawled.

"Sod off Malfoy, I don't need to be insulted right now, or any time soon," she said, giving him a murderous glare and turned to leave. But she couldn't leave; a group of people wearing ties of silver and green and evil grins were blocking the hall.

"Very funny, Malfoy, but I don't have the time. So, could you please call off your creepy little friends?" Hermione asked, turning back to Draco.

"No need to be like that, Granger. All I want is a little chat... I haven't seen you in a while, what's been happening?" Draco said, taking a step closer to Hermione.

Automatically, she stepped back, "Yeah right, you haven't seen me. You've been practically stalking me."

"No, not stalking, Granger, just a case of being at the same place at the same time. Mere coincidence, I don't actually enjoy being in company of the likes of you."

"Then why are you blocking my way? Move, Malfoy!" Hermione said, taking a step forward, trying to get past him.

Draco stepped in front of her and spoke in a near whisper, "Like I said, Granger. Just want a chat."

"Alright, fine" Hermione put her wand in her robe pocket, which she had been using in her exam, and leant on the statue, "what do you want to 'chat' about?"

Draco looked up at the other Slytherins. They were still standing there, with their hands behind their backs, as though they were some sick army ready to strike at Draco's command. Hermione turned her head in their direction too.

He hissed at them, "Leave."

They all turned and walked up the corridor, turning left at the end of the passage, towards the dungeons.

"You too!" he yelled at a Ravenclaw second year that had just come out of a bathroom who had watched the Slytherins march away. Hermione had never seen someone run so fast. When it was quiet once again, Draco began to look quite nervous. Hermione raised an eyebrow and waited for him to speak.

"Since I saw you in our first year, I had found you very interesting, despite my Father's ideas he had planted in my head. The comments I have made towards you, your friends and your family were horrible."

Hermione looked at him with a quizzical expression, though allowed him to continue without interruption.

"I know that I have been a downright bastard towards you, Potter and Weasley. And I want you to know that I have never meant anything that I have said to you," he inhaled deeply, put his hand on the statue, and leant on it, "and, I want to say that I am sorry for all the pain I have ever caused you." Draco finished talking and looked down at the ground.

Hermione was downright shocked. She really wasn't expecting anything like this at all. Taking all this in, she naturally assumed it was a set up... or was Draco truly sincere? She doubted it, even if he said his speech with such emotion. It could have been false-emotion for all Hermione knew. Maybe he was a good actor? But why was he doing it?

"And what" she swallowed, "and what has brought on this sudden change of mind?"

"It's not a change of mind, Granger. I have always felt this way. It's just that everything my father taught me, every single bloody thing he told me was a lie. I know that now, I have known that but have never really realised it," Draco said, looking at Hermione again, "until lately..."

Draco took his hand off the statue and leant against it next to Hermione.

"Look, I don't expect you to forgive me, I know I don't deserve it. There is more I want to explain to you, but we can't talk here. Would you please have a drink with me in Hogsmeade on Saturday?"

Again, Hermione was surprised, but curious by now, she agreed to it.

"Alright. Just you though and no tricks... Meet me at the Three Broomsticks around 1 o'clock. I'll be at a table near the back corner, most probably," she said, pushing herself away from the statue and standing to face him.

"OK, thanks Granger," Draco said, "I'll see you there, and we'll talk."

Just then the bell rang, Draco went to walk away and touched Hermione's hand as he passed her, before disappearing into the mass of students spilling out of the rooms either side of the corridor, leaving Hermione staring after him, totally bewildered.

Had that just happened? Or was she just daydreaming... Draco Malfoy just said sorry to her! Sorry to her for causing her pain. Well what he had said in the past had absolutely shattered her at the time, come to think of it; it usually brought tears to her eyes when she thought about something he'd said. But he had just said sorry for being the bastard that he had always been.

And did he touch my hand on purpose?

She brought her hand up and held it with the other thinking about it. Still disturbed by the idea, she seriously considered that maybe he was human after all.

Just then Harry appeared, pushing his way through the groups of students standing around the hall, talking. His cheeks were flustered and he looked exhausted.

"Geez, what did McGonagall do to you?" Hermione asked him with a slight giggle, reaching up to straighten his glasses and tie for him. Hermione didn't notice that Harry trembled when her hand grazed his face.

"Bloody hell, I hope we don't have to go through that again, at least not until the main exams. Far out, I'm stuffed!"

Hermione took hold of Harry's arm, which made him shiver slightly, and they began walking towards Gryffindor Tower.

"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione asked with concern.

"Oh nothing, just pissed off about the exam," he said hastily brushing it off.

"It's OK Harry! I bet you did great!" she said, giving his arm an encouraging squeeze.

"Thanks Mione. So what were you up to, just standing in the middle of the hall like that?" Harry asked her.

"Oh... Nothing, I was just waiting for you," she said.

Hermione wasn't sure whether to tell Harry and Ron or not, and if she did, what would she say? Their archenemy of five years was sorry and wanted to explain something else to her over drinks in Hogsmeade? Well... she could just imagine their reactions.

Draco kept his eyes on the stone ground as he walked down the stairs to the dungeons. He had done it, successfully spoken to Hermione without a single insult, apologised and he may be able to make up for his mistakes. Now he had to think of how he would tell her the rest of the story... He needed a way to make her believe him, not just hear his story. Then he thought of an idea.

There's that settled.

The other thing on Draco's mind was his Father's offer... how was he going to tell his Father that his answer was no... He had to work it out soon; maybe he could get help from a certain Granger.