"I'm not going to try and make excuses," she said, doing her best to keep her voice level. "I know what you must think. But he's not the person you think he is. He felt like he had to do as he was told to protect his family. I... I know him." Ginny's eyes suddenly grew large and round. "Wait, wait..." Hermione did, her heart sinking, ready to be thrown under the bus. "... did you two have sex?" Whatever she had been steeling herself for, that particular question was not it. At once she felt her cheeks flooding with heat. She scrambled to speak, failed, closed her mouth tightly. Ginny's face dropped. "Oh my god... is he good?" "Ginny!"

"F-f-fate's…a cruel…b-bitch," he stuttered.

Hermione pursed her lips. "Why do you say that?"

Draco gave a tired, mirthless chuckle. "She gives…gives me what…what I've always wanted….shows me…what could've been…then…then kills me."

"You've always wanted to be stuck in a hole?" Hermione joked darkly. The question coaxed a real laugh out of the ailing blond.

"Daft," he said. "You…daft woman."

"I thought I was a know-it-all?" she teased.

"You," he repeated, "I've wanted you forever."

Five Days by RavieSnake 

From: Draco Malfoy Careful now. If I didn't know any better, I'd fool myself into thinking you actually are Hermione Granger.

From: Hermione Granger What if I am?

From: Draco Malfoy I would first ask why you swiped right on me.

From: Hermione Granger And I would say that I swiped right because I was curious … in a few different ways.

He felt it all sliding off his chest a bit. Relieving that pressure more with every word, until he was talking so quickly that the words were almost blending together. Just tripping over themselves to getoutgetout. Finally, shifting off of him and onto her. To weigh her down like he was with it.

“Alarm woke me up, and then, there it was. Blood on me. All over me, and I saw this man – I don't know this man, Granger. Never seen him before. Didn't even know I was seeing him when I was seeing him, but I saw him. Had to. Because I remember, right? Of all the things I forget, I remember. Just a few seconds. Six seconds exactly. Just my wand moving, and the blood, and then he fell. With his eyes open.” She was against the wall now, and he closed the space, her eyes as open as the man's had been. As wide as hers had been that night with the blanket. He could just fall into them. “Just staring up. Looking at me, with his blood pouring out into the alley and my clothes a mess. Then it's over. So what does that say?”

“Get--” she whispered, her voice trembling like her hands were.

“I killed him.” He trapped her between his arms for just a second, pushing his palms into the wall with his breath on her ear, taking in the fear she showed that matched the one boiling inside him. Then she shoved him back. Slammed her hands into him and threw her body forward. Stepped forward, shoved him back, stepped forward, shoved him back. “I. Killed. Him. Are you happy now? Is this what you wanted to know? Was it worth--”

“Stay away from me, Malfoy. You're so...you're so fucked up,” she yelled, her voice thick like she was close to tears, and then she took off down the stairs. Left him there with his words, his admittance, the mess he had made.

A Kingdom Beside the Sea by everythursday

She wondered, not for the first time, why he seemed to care so much that she wasn't able to go. He had been cold and sneering the day before when he thought she'd be able to go and he wouldn't. She would have expected his biggest concern was that he had been offered to take the lead on the trip.

He stared at her for a moment, shaking a chunk of hair out of his eyes as he leaned closer. When he spoke, his voice was quiet enough that no one else could hear. "I told you, Granger. It won't be the same if we aren't both working this case. We need to figure this out and get some actual, concrete results, don't we?"

"Yes," she breathed, her tone low to match his.

There was conflict in his face as he said, "Then we need you there." He brought the tumbler of firewhiskey to his lips and took a sip. "And I want to solve this case badly enough to admit that I can't do it without you."

➺Status: Complete ➺Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Romance ➺Length: 260K+ words, 24 chapters ➺Rating: M

➺Score: ❤❤❤❤❤  ➺Review: Revert is one of those beautiful fics that stay with you weeks after reading it. The premise was great - alternating between the present (6 months after the war) and the past (4th year and onwards). Draco and Hermione were lovers. They spent their 4th and 5th year together in relative bliss and youthful innocence. Despite their mutual liking, things became complicated with the impending war - making both of them unsure about where things stood between them. The rift between them grew exponentially. When they see each other again, six months after the war, they are practically strangers. However, with the fatal curse eating away at Draco's life, the unpredictable death eater attacks and having to live in close quarters with their Hogwarts class mates, their carefully guarded secrets come tumbling down. They also realise that what they'd felt for each other was still there and it was not going anywhere any time soon. 

Finders by everythursday

Summary: An alliance is formed when Hermione begins seeing things, as a dangerous magic threatens to overtake Hogwarts.

➺Status: Complete

➺Genre: Adventure, Angst, Humor, Mystery, Romance

➺Length: 18 chapters

➺Rating: MA

➺Score: ❤❤❤❤

➺Review: Spoiler Alert!

Finders follows Draco, Hermione, Justin Finch-Fletchy and Padma Patil on a terrifying and life-threatening journey inside Hogwarts. The story is from Hermione's POV. Everything starts out more or less okay in their 8th year, but Hermione soon starts seeing unexplainable things inside the walls of Hogwarts. The 'visions' start out innocent enough - like a bunny hopping about and disappearing into thin air after a moment. However, the visions start taking a sinister turn a while into the story, when she starts seeing corpses, Bellatrix, Voldemort and so on. She's not the only one seeing these visions - she finds out that Draco is seeing them too. They can't be going crazy if they're seeing the same things; someone must've hexed them, or slipped them a potion and they have to find out the counter-spell/antidote. As the story progresses, they start researching what may have caused this and what the possible solutions are. Soon Justin and Padma are added to the mix, and they find out that it's something to do with the magic inside Hogwarts' foundation. It is a problem they must solve themselves, with blood magic, in order to save Hogwarts.

First of all, this fic was very heavy on the plot. The romance was a secondary focus, but important nonetheless. The progress between Draco and Hermione was super slow and almost non-existent until perhaps chapter 8 (if I recall correctly). But once it started, it was great. I loved the tension between these two. And once Draco was comfortable around her, they bickered like an old couple. I love how Sage always manages to put in witty dialogue that makes conversations between these two - from tearing apart each other's theories on the visions to their thoughts on relationships, life, or anything at all. I loved the almost-footsie in the library with Padma and Justin right beside them, I loved how Hermione would just start babbling in order to hide her embarrassment in front of Draco, I loved their secret meetings behind tapestries where Draco would stick quill-feathers out for Hermione, I loved how Hermione cast the Cooling Charm on herself during Herbology because Draco was looking all sweaty and delectable and it was so loud that half the class turned her way... there were countless moments I loved between these two. At times, during chapters that had a bit too much inactivity, it was hard not to skip paragraphs to get to the good parts. But. The slow-burn quality of their story was worth it! Also, Justin deserves an award of his for being so damn funny. His scenes were gold. Especially how he just blurted out "WE'RE STUDYING FISH" to Ginny when she found Draco and Hermione in a compromising position in the library. Justin had me laughing out loud most of the time while reading this fic.

I would definitely recommend reading this if you're into slow but rewarding relationship progress. Also, if you're into plot-heavy fanfics.

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➺Status: Complete  ➺Genre: Adventure, Drama, Humor, Romance,  ➺Length: 225K+ words, 61 chapters ➺Rating: M