Can I be your Love?

Summary: Draco and Hermione have a conversation about Hermione's love life. Draco wonders if he could ever be the one that Hermione could love. Why does he want to be her love? Will he succeed? What will he have to do to get there?

AN: Started out as rambling on my first day at university. Might seem boring at the beginning. I don't know how far I'll be able to take the story. Depends on school work. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: If I owned anything, do you think I'll be writing on Not mine.

happy reading, LDB

"You never give up, do you?" Hermione Granger, Head Girl, Gryffindor Princess, and the smartest corner of the Golden Triangle, said to her room companion. Hermione was currently sitting on one of the couches in the common room looking at Draco Malfoy who was in the middle of calling her every evil name in the book.

"Nope. Where was I? Oh yes, lowlife, peddler," Draco was lounging with his feet dangling over the edge of the arm of the black chair as he ticked off on his fingers each insult.

"You know? I'm not a peddler." The teenaged girl cut off the boy again. "Just because my parents actually work doesn't mean that we're poor."

"Filty, disgusting… I'm not sorry, are you saying something?" Draco blinked his cold blue-grey eyes at the girl who was happily sitting on the couch beside his chair, content to not do anything other than sit.

"Oh, I was just saying that I'm probably not as poor as you wish I were. I just don't strut around boasting and belittling others to show off. I prefer to act equally to others around me." Hermione twisted some hair around her index finger and sighed. It was the middle of Easter break. Not much to do. Yes, yes, everyone thought that she would be studying up a storm by now, but she was really only interested in having a good last year at Hogwarts. Harry Potter was who knows where and Hermione figured that there were more things important than wasting time studying for a test that would mean little to her future when she could relax a little and still get just as good grades as if she studied her butt off.

"Are you comparing yourself to ME?" Draco laughed in disbelief at her statement.

"You'd be surprised. Money-wise. But your social status holds more power apparently, in comparison to mine." The brunette lapsed into silence. She had no idea why they were having that conversation, but no matter why, she didn't really enjoy the insults. "I thought that you were one of the only people remotely my age that I could have an intellectual conversation with, but yet again you amaze me."

"That's me. I'm just full of amazing things."

"Your ego is one of them. And I guess if it is your hot air, then it must be pretty amazing too." Hermione said almost lazily as she closed her eyes in order to bask in the warmth of the fire.

"You really know how to cut deep don't you?" Draco said thoughtfully as he turned to gaze at the relaxed girl near him. "Your words. Even though you might not use big vocabulary all the time, it's there."

"I have no idea what you mean by that, Malfoy." She replied after waiting a few beats. Cracking open an eye, she peered at her watch. "It's only 8:30? Time doesn't move very quickly when you do nothing, I guess."

"No. It doesn't. It will go by more quickly if you do something fun." He swung his feet around and placed them on the ground looking at her for some sort of response.

"Fun? I'm surprised you even know what that word is. Oh wait. You do. You think that torturing others and making them feel bad is fun. I'm sorry for my rudeness of your intelligence." Hermione's eye slipped back to swamp her sight in darkness again with disregard to any reaction Draco might give.

"That's not fun for me. That's entertainment. There's a difference, Granger." He said lightly as if they were just having a friendly chat over tea.

"Oh. My bad." Hermione murmured from where she sat.

"Would you like to hear what I call fun?"

"Not really… But if you must…" The Gryffindor girl sighed, silently hoping that he wouldn't say anything disgusting.

"I like watching you. Everything you do is mesmerizing. It's almost infuriating. And I almost want to make you stop. But I can't do that because I'd die if you weren't there doing those things." Draco stood up from where he was sitting and went to hover next to where Hermione was.

"Oh really?" Hermione opened her eyes and looked in brief surprise at where Draco was standing. She hadn't heard him move at all. "I'm flattered. Harry and Ron have never said something so touching. But I have to ask… is this all a joke?"

Draco blinked and stayed silent for a few heartbeats, which had picked up the pace, just because of how beautiful Hermione looked at that moment. The split between flattery and guarding herself was simply amazing.

"No."

Hermione nodded at his short answer. Sure it was a short response, but he was sincere she could tell. Patting the space beside her, she invited Draco to take a seat.

"I have a question."

Hovering above the seat cushion, Draco paused and looked at her. Depending on the question and the answer he gave would determine whether or not he really wanted to sit there. Not really wanting to look like an idiot, he perched himself on the edge of the seat so as to make it easy for a quick get away.

"Sure."

"Why do you insult me?"

He had to stop and think about that one. He didn't really know. Why? That was the hard question. He didn't know why. He just did. Sure it was the way he grew up. But he was at school more often than he was at home now-a-days. There was always the fear of his father, sure. And as true as it was, he never really wanted to hide behind fear. Maybe he insults her because---

"Because you threaten me."

Hermione blinked in surprise. Again. She didn't do it very often. Not a lot surprised Hermione Granger. But, like she admitted, Draco's ability to amaze her was only matched by how much he surprised her. It was almost the same in her book. Amazement and surprise.

"…How…?"

"How do you threaten me when you do nothing to me?" Draco asked for her as he shifted to a slightly more comfortable position. At her nod, he formulated his answer. "You go against everything I was brought up to believe. Not only that, but you don't fear me like everyone else does. You're more popular than I am, in all the houses, not just your own. And on top of it all, you're untouchable."

"What do you mean by that? Wait. Hooold it. First off, how do I go against everything you were brought up to believe?" Hermione sat up and leaned towards him in question.

"Well. I was always brought up that women were inferior to men. That women were not smart. Were only meant to look pretty and do nothing. Women were supposed to keep their tongues to themselves unless their husbands wanted it for some reason." At this, Draco gave a small wink to help the slightly confused girl. "Women were supposed to be weak. And that is just because of your gender. Do you want to hear what Muggleborns are supposed to be?"

Hermione looked slightly paler than usual and had a slightly pained look on her face.

"Well, how about I give you the simple version? They're trash. They know nothing and should be treated like nothing. But you… you change everything. You're important. People like you for who you are. Not what you are." He frowned at the fire like it was at fault.

"Oh. I'm sorry that I do all of that by just existing. But I must tell you I have no plan on stopping just to make you feel better." Hermione informed him.

"Good. I wouldn't like it if you just disappeared from our life like that." Draco gave her a small grin. "I believe you had another question as well?"

"Oh, yes. What do you mean by I'm untouchable?" Noticing that she was leaning towards him funny, Hermione moved back into her previous reclining position on the couch.

"Well. It's just… well," Draco took a breath and let it out as if to calm himself. "No guy can get you. I mean. There was Krum. But really. He's a hard catch himself. But…"

"You mean no guy can get near me in a relationship?" Hermione asked him, trying to help him out in the wording.

"Well…. Yeah… Most of the blokes in this school would love to have you on their arm for just a day even. But you always manage to stay out of their league. No one has enough courage just to ask you out." Draco shrugged as if to forgo any conversation that was sure to come up after he said that.

"Most of the blokes?" Hermione repeated in question, raising an eyebrow at Draco in disbelief.

"Yes. Even in Slytherin. Though I'm sure those guys have less than noble reasons as to wanting to be with you. I guess it's hard for the guys, all of them, to try and get close to you, because you're gorgeous without trying. So they think that if they have to try to be noticed, then you won't like them. Instead, they do nothing, in hope that you'll notice them for who they are." Draco kicked off his shoes and stretched out over the couch, letting his legs sit on Hermione's lap in the process.

"Well I do notice everyone. For who they are. But…" she trailed off as she straightened the hem of Draco's pants.

"But you notice that they're all just hormonal teens who aren't up to your standards?" Draco smirked as Hermione continued to play with the bottom of his pants.

"Are my standards really that bad that I can't find even one guy that I would look twice at?" Hermione wailed softly.

"Well, what are your standards? Maybe we can see if we can't change it a little?"

"Good personality, funny, smart, polite, caring, remembers important things…" Hermione trailed off.

"Has to be able to pronounce your name properly?" Draco made a jab at the way the famous Victor Krum said Hermione's name. He let out a small laugh as Hermione gave a snort of disgust.

"Yes. That too. But I guess that just narrows it down to people who know the English language." She released her fingers from Draco's pants and sighed. "So? What's wrong with my standards?"

"Nothing. I almost wish that all girls held standards like that. Then I don't have to fight them off with a bloody stick." Draco sighed. "It's so hard to be this good looking."

"I bet. You probably hurt yourself the first time you tried to make yourself dashing." Hermione hid a smile behind her hand.

"Oh, you admit that I'm dashing? I'm honored, my lady." He said, sarcasm dripping off his smirk. Hermione just shook her head at his over blown ego.

"I guess there's no one at this school for me. I'm sure some guy will show up for me sometime." The head girl said with optimism.

"No need to force the happy attitude, Hermione." Draco teased her as he closed his eyes.

"Oh, you're impossible to get along with." She huffed as she crossed her arms.

"What time is it?" Draco asked after a little while, his eyes staying decisively closed.

"9:10." Hermione blinked in surprise at her watch. She didn't notice how much time had gone by during their conversation.

"See what a little fun can do with time?" Draco smirked in happiness that he was right.

"Yeah, yeah." Hermione deadpanned. "You're getting heavy, move."

"Hey, don't shove me!" Draco yelped as Hermione pushed his legs off of her lap and onto the ground. Before she could do anything, he lifted his legs and put them right where they had been. "It's comfortable. Leave me alone."

"But you're so freaking heavy." Hermione complained.

"Come here." He ordered, lifting his left hand and beckoned her closer to him.

All he got in response was silence and a funny look.

"I don't bite. Well… unless you want me too, but I won't." Draco told her as he leaned forward and grabbed her arm and yanking her down to lie on top of him. Shifting his legs, he took them off of hers and he felt her move her feet to sit on the couch beside his. "See? Much more comfortable."

"Mm…" she answered with a hum of comfort. "Who would have thought that lying on top of someone else could even be thought as comfortable?"

Draco didn't answer and settled for letting go of her arm and moving it to wrap over her waist. In reality, he never thought that having someone resting all weight on him was going to be comfortable. That was why he never let any of the girls he had been with do that with him. All two of them.

He heard a sigh of happiness as Hermione closed her eyes. Draco knew that Hermione was stressed about various things. Most prominent was the fear of her best friends who were off doing who knew what out in the world. She was told to stay behind to find information on anything they would need for field work.

Unconsciously, Draco's hand that was resting on her back started to move in soothing circles, causing Hermione to become sleepy and fall asleep sprawled on top of Draco. He, of course, was oblivious to the fact that she was peacefully sleeping on top of him and didn't do anything other than fall asleep himself.

TBC.

AN: let me know if there's any grammar or missing word problems. I've noticed that when I uploaded somethings seem to be missing. Let me know if it is confusing and I need to look through it again. Please review for the SANITY of the AUTHOR!

-LDB