Soaking Wet in the Rain
A/N: This was a fun bit of fluff I wrote late at night to blow off some stress. Both characters (more Draco) are OOC. Just a warning. R&R!
Disclaimer: Not my characters, yet again. If they were mine, would I really be sitting here writing this?
Hermione sat in her dormitory, her hands drumming against the windowsill. It was raining hard out and every few minutes a bolt of lighting flashed through the sky, accompanied by a roll of thunder. She let her breath fog the windowpane and when the glass was entirely obscured she sketched a heart onto it with her fingers.
The door opened loudly with a thud and Ginny came into the room. Her hair was wet and her clothes were muddy. Despite her appearance, a large smile was spread across her face.
"Ginny," Hermione said, still recovering from the shock of the door opening, "What are you doing here? You better go back to your room and get changed out of those robes or you'll get sick."
"Hermione, please, not today. I just came to tell you that Malfoy's looking for you. Says he needs to tell you something about Heads or something." After seeing Hermione's withering glare at her outfit she continued, "And yes, I am going to go and change. No need to worry. I expect Harry's doing the same."
"You didn't go out with him in this weather! He took you out into the rain? Such a horrendous example." Hermione tutted. "Really. I would never go out in the rain like that. Now I expect you'll need to go to the hospital wing and get some of the Pepper Up Potion when you get the cold that I know is…."
"Relax Hermione. Harry's not that stupid, Ron maybe, but not Harry. We were having Quidditch practice. We do that you know."
"Oh, right," she said. She did remember now, how on Thursday nights Ron, Harry, Ginny, and the rest all disappeared for a few hours. But, she had been busy studying for her N.E.W.T. exams. They were only nine months away for heaven's sake! Well, at least she had been trying to study before she had gotten so distracted. It was hard to concentrate when all you could think of was a certain Slytherin boy.
"Anyway, go and find him, he seemed rather anxious to see you. Said he'd be in the library. I'll see you later Hermione, after I change out of these," she said motioning to her socking wet robes.
"Alright then. See you," she called out as the door closed. Quickly, she took a bit of Lavender's lipstick and put it on her lips. It was entirely the wrong shade and much too dark. She wiped it off on the back of her sleeve, distractedly, but then frowned at her robes in distaste. Deciding that it didn't matter what she wore anyway, she hurried off out of Gryffindor Tower, waving to a wet Ron and Harry as she passed.
She thought about the situation. It was probably just Malfoy telling her that he had changed his mind about one of the decisions they had made at the prefect's meeting yesterday. However, she hoped it might be more. Draco was being nicer towards her than he had ever been, but she was still Hermione and he was still Draco. Even if they had spent all that time together.
But that was beyond the point. She looked ridiculous then with the frizzy dampness affected her hair in ways not even a probability expert could have predicted. It was more of a poof ball than anything else. Ron had laughed at it earlier today to her great anger. Ron would never grow up. She had realized that over the summer, that even with her constant hints about her feelings towards him, he had never caught on.
Draco was different though. He was the first male who she had seen that year, Harry non-withstanding, who was actually a little mature. He was the opposite of Ron, the opposite of her years of disappointment at Ron's words, her feelings of inadequacy. Somehow, their Head positions had forged a bond between the former enemies. They had an understanding, a friendship. Perhaps even a friendship that was a little flirtatious.
She arrived at the library and opened the door quietly. There were fifty or so students hunched over tables, reading books, writing essays, or sharing whispered conversations. Hermione scanned the room until she saw a familiar pale face covered in almost white hair. Draco.
She walked over to him and put her hand on his arm to get his attention. He looked up at her, his eyes soft at first, but quickly returning to their usual grey hardness.
"You need to see me?" Hermione whispered to him quietly, but apparently not quietly enough as Madam Pince looked up at them.
'No talking in the library," she said in a bristling voice. "All conversations must be taken outside."
Hermione nodded and mouthed sorry silently as she waited for Draco to gather his books. She tried to see what he was writing, but he put away the parchment scroll before she could read it. They moved out of the library and once safely in the fourth floor corridor, Hermione spoke.
"Why did you want to see me? Please don't tell me you've already decided that booking the Weird Sisters again this year for the Halloween Dance isn't cool…" He cut her off.
'No, no, no. Nothing like that. I have something to show you."
"Alright. Where is it?"
"Follow me."
"No way. Not unless you tell me where we're going."
"You'll see." His eyes flashed mischievously at her, and she melted in his gaze, her resolve spent.
"Fine, but this better be good."
"Oh, it'll be good all right."
As they made their way through the castle, they talked and the conversation flowed fairly easily. He really had changed from the boy he had once been, unlike Ron. However as they walked, Hermione became suspicious as to where they were walking.
"Mal – I mean Draco," she asked, "we're not…well, we're not headed outside are we?" He laughed before replying.
"Granger, you're going wherever I say we're going and you're going to go see what I'm going to show you. Like it or not."
"Well what if I don't?"
"I'll stop hating Potter and the Weasel, alright?" It must be good if he was promising that much. So she followed him.
Finally, after pushing open a heavy set of doors, they arrived out in the grounds of Hogwarts, the frozen rain chilling them both. Rain fell on Hermione's puff ball of hair, flattening it considerably and Draco only looked better cast in the small shadow of moonlight peeking through a storm cloud.
"So Malfoy," she said, resorting back to her usual name for him. "Why are we here?"
"For this," he replied and brought her wet form close to his. He leaned in and allowed his lips to lightly brush against hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss. She had been waiting for this moment for over a month then.
Eventually they withdrew from the kiss. His lips parting slowly from hers, their wet bodies still sticking together.
"How did you know?" she asked him quietly.
"You're not the only know-it-all at this school," he answered, brining his lips back in to kiss her.
A/N: I know very OOC! But, I had fun.