Author's Notes: I hope you like this little piece of fluff. I want to thank Nikki (NeverNik), RZZMG, Kelsey (MrsRen) and Sarah (sshanholtzer49) for alpha and beta reading this fic.
Prompt: Something is wrong with the invisibility cloak. It hides everything but teeth. Hermione knew she wasn't imagining things - Harry and Ron's been following her on her meetings with Draco Malfoy.
Disclaimer: "Harry Potter" is the property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. This work of fiction/art was created entirely for fun, not for profit, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Enamel Eyes
If there was one thing Hermione Granger was well-versed in - other than books - it was teeth. After all, she was the fruit of two die-hard Muggle dentists.
The first thing she usually noticed with people was their teeth. Straight, crooked, chipped, sharp - she classified people based on them. Silly as that seemed, she'd always found that people's teeth revealed a lot of information about them.
For instance, Harry's teeth were straight and well-maintained. Harry once shared that he'd never missed the opportunity to make himself as clean as his meagre lifestyle allowed under the Dursleys' tutelage. Further, his childhood lacked the consumption of cavity-inducing sweets, so aside from Treacle Tart, he'd had the willpower to avoid overconsumption.
However, Ron, with Molly's cooking, had teeth built for a Sumo wrestler's appetite. He was constantly on the binge. He also had a chipped front tooth from a Quidditch injury which only added to his appeal; made him more rugged. She heard a few girls fantasize over it in the dorms.
So, imagine the multitude of emotion that ran through her when she glimpsed a familiar pair of floating dentures in a dark corridor - one with a familiar chipped incisor; the other a set of straight, even teeth.
Both gleamed in the moonlight…after curfew.
She growled under her breath. They were following her, like some annoying, invisible stalking cat straight out of Alice In Wonderland. Honestly, she wasn't a child and didn't need their constant protection. She was a perfectly capable witch.
Have they followed her before? Have they seen her with anyone?
The more pressing question, however, was what else did had they seen?
Fear had her heart pounding in her chest. Worry had her biting her bottom lip. Panic made her hands tremble.
Should she turn back? The dark hallway that loomed before her promised a delicious end goal...
She didn't want to turn tail now. He would already be there, waiting for her.
Cats and grins, be damned! A midnight tryst was long overdue.
"Why are you constantly checking out my mouth?"
"Hmm?" Hermione emerged from his kiss-induced haze to feel his fingers twirling a stray curl of her hair.
"You always look at my mouth, like you're inspecting it. It's not a fetish, is it?"
He said it in such a serious tone, but she knew him well enough by now to know he was teasing her. There it was, a quirk of his mouth producing that beloved, crooked smile. She didn't mind the quizzical brow that went with his charade.
"It might be." She shrugged, nonchalant, and her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "What do you want to hear, Mr. Malfoy? Do you want me to admit that I love that mouth of yours?" Hermione traced his bottom lip with her forefinger.
"Your words, not mine."
A small creaking of wood behind had her turning her head in , a few meters away, where the aisle between the bookshelves and desks were washed by the library's soft lamplight.
The unusually jumpy Hermione didn't escape Draco's notice. He never a missed a beat about this intriguing creature. Something was obviously bothering her.
And a bothered Hermione resulted in an equally-unsettled Draco.
Their clandestine evenings were always exciting, a rush of frantic push-and-pull fueled by a strong sexual attraction neither of them questioned. Hermione was made for these stolen moments, when they stripped off the expectations and just... existed.
What if they were on the brink of discovery? What if they had already been discovered?
"What's wrong?" he asked .
"Hmm?" She turned back to him, giving him her full attention once more. "Oh, nothing. Did you know I'm fascinated by your teeth?" she said, face heating in embarrassment. "You have sharp canines, like a vampire."
"Surely not that sharp? Those things extend like walrus tusks!" He fished a small, circular mirror from his robe pockets and inspected his teeth, trying not to look like some vain, pubescent girl anxious about a pimple.
Hermione laughed.
He glared.
The vanity of this boy astounded her. No - man, not boy. She inwardly snorted. As if that made it any better.
"I meant the Muggle version of vampires," she said. "Like Count Dracula and Lestat de Lioncourt."
His face was blank.
She laughed again, which he misconstrued as another slight to his vanity. Not his vanity, per se, just his adorable lack of recognition of muggle pop culture.
"If it's any consolation, I've always thought sharp canines make for a fierce character. Those who possess them have an edge that makes others quake in their boots, or-"
"Or?" Draco prodded.
"Seduce your pants off."
Draco stared at her, surprised by her brazenness. He loved her blunt honesty - sweet and sharp; it turned him on as nothing else could. He recovered, ready to spar with her.
Not quite.
He licked his lips. "And since when have you noticed my canines?"
"Sometime between being a little girl who was too observant for her own good and meeting her snobbish bully of a classmate."
"What an odd bird you are, Miss Granger."
His playful chuckle made her feel warm inside, and relaxed , and she backed away from that nervous edge she'd been teetering on all evening.
Hermione snorted. "Oh no, not when they're attached to that foul mouth of yours."
The words were out before Hermione could take them back.
Draco's face fell. It was only a subtle droop - not entirely sad, but the loss of that degree of mirth was a stark difference from the joking, flirting Malfoy she was used to. For a moment, she glimpsed the boy seated on the Wizengamot's Defendant's chair.
"I'm joking, Draco. You know that, right?"
"I know, but I still feel… I'm sorry, for all of it." He gazed into her eyes, conveying one of the most sincere looks of regret she'd ever seen. It made her ache.
"It's done and over with," she said softly. As she said it, she believed it. Forgiveness came with a gaze. A caress. A kiss.
Draco was quiet for a bit after that.
"I'd love to know what the fuss is about this Dracula and Lestat," he finally said, and gave her a pointed look. "If we all have something you find so alluring in common, I must know about it immediately."
The competitive set of his jaw should have prompted her to laugh. He was competing with the fictional,when she would always take reality.
His possessiveness wrapped a heady blanket of desire around her.
Hermione kissed him, and when he sighed - he wasn't usually the first to make a sound - she revelled in the power she had over him in at least this much.
Another floorboard creak reminded her that they weren't alone tonight, and that she and Draco had an audience, in fact.
Of course, neither Hermione nor Draco could resist.
Breathless, she pulled away. "After graduation, we'll have a movie marathon about 'fascinating' vampires."
"I assume there will also be a book discussion?"
Hermione kissed him again; just a quick peck. "You know me so well."
A chair scraped loudly against the floor on the other side of the bookshelf.
Hermione's heart thundered in her chest.
"If you don't reveal yourself now, I'll kill the both of you!" Draco's threatening growl was wracked with irritation, but he didn't waver. His eyes narrowed. His wand was trained on a spot just over her shoulder.
"Shit!"
"You're so bloody clumsy, Ron!"
With a sharp 'whoosh,' an Invisibility Cloak was stripped away, and two tall figures appeared in the exact spot where Draco's wand pointed.
Guiltily, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley merely grinned at her and Draco, knowing they'd been caught.
Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Hey, Hermione!" Ron had the gall to wave nervously.
"What are you two doing here?" She couldn't keep the irritation out of her voice, no matter how comically predictable the situation.
Draco stiffened. He crossed his arms, facing the intruders head-on.
Hermione gauged his reaction. It had just been them and their fantasy world. No-one else was involved. But the inevitable was bound to happen, sooner or later. They were crazy to think otherwise.
"The question is, what are you doing with him?" Harry retorted.
Hermione was in no mood to argue or explain. She suspected they'd been following her for weeks. Their distinctive teeth had given them away. "I would think, at this age, I don't have to explain the mechanics of a romantic relationship to you, do I?"
Draco tossed her a naughty wink.
"Explain what?" Ron asked.
"Snogging, Weasley," Draco dryly replied as he stood by her side, playing along. "You have done it before, haven't you?"
Harry and Ron blanched, their mouths gaping.
Hermione's lips curved into a dangerous smile - a vengeful grin that showed off her pearly whites. She loved how well Draco could read her mind.
"Poor things," she cooed. "They don't know what snogging is, Draco."
Draco wrapped his arm around her waist. "Shall we give them a demonstration, love?"
"No!" Harry and Ron vehemently protested.
"Merlin, Hermione. We're sorry, okay?" Ron's face looked like an elongated tomato.
Hermione stared at her boys, her troublesome best friends. She loved them, but sometimes the temptation to strangle them was very strong indeed. "How long have you two been following me?" she demanded.
"Just a few weeks." Harry rubbed the back of his neck. His unruly hair ruffled with the bashful movement. "You're always sneaking around. You barely have time to spend with us in the common room during our visits. So we followed you, and here we are."
Hermione's expression softened. She missed them, too. Every day. They were off training to save the wizarding world by becoming Aurors.
"I'm sorry," she apologized earnestly. What a terrible friend she must be to have driven them to sneaking around!
"Nah, don't worry about it." Ron hooked his arm on her shoulder. "We suspected you had a fellow, but we didn't expect it would be ferret-boy here."
Draco glared at the redhead. "Hands off, Weasley."
"Easy." Ron let go of her and spread his arms wide in a placating manner. "Seems he's territorial, too," he whispered to Hermione.
"So what are you going to do, now you know?" Hermione dared them with a cutting stare. She didn't expect them to accept this easily. They were Harry and Ron, and Draco had never been their cup of tea.
"What do you want us to do about it?" Harry asked.
"Accept us." It came as a desperate whisper.
Draco twined their hands, holding her, supporting her. His expression hardened as the silence stretched by the minute.
Finally, Harry smiled. "We already did. After stalking both of you, we've seen how mad you are for each other. To tell the truth, at first, we'd suspected he was some Polyjuice'd admirer−"
Draco let out an insulted grunt.
"Clearly not." Ron smirked.
"Really? Do you mean that?" Hermione's eyes sought theirs. She wasn't going to pretend she didn't care about their opinion. Too bad if they didn't; they'd just have to live with it. But life would be a lot easier if they did.
"Yeah," Harry said, in time with Ron's nod. "Don't worry about us. We'll keep out of your way."
Draco growled, "You'd better."
Before they turned away, Harry warned, "Just don't hurt her, Malfoy."
A meaningful look passed between the two. Threats, promises…and blessings.
"Beware the wrath of the Weasleys," Ron added in a low, ominous voice.
"And have Granger serve me my own balls on a platter?"
"Hear, hear," Ron agreed.
Hermione was taken aback by everyone's cooperation. It was surreal.
Her friends were about to don the Invisibility Cloak, when she stopped them "One last thing," Hermione called out,remembering something she thought useful to share. "Don't smile while you're wearing that."
"Why not?" Harry frowned.
She opened her mouth to tell them about their mouths not being covered by the cloak's magic, but then she thought better of it. The thought of these two being caught out by others because of their Cheshire Cat grins was utterly hilarious. It might even teach them a lesson about snooping.
"Nothing. Now go away."
"How did you know they were watching?" She asked Draco as they watched her spying best friends vanish.
The discovery of their relationship went better than she had expected.
"You're not the only one with a fascination for teeth," he smirked. His gaze hardened as they focused on the space where the two once stood. "Whenever I kissed you, they'd appear over your shoulder." He laughed low in his throat. "They're not very very good at reconnaissance."
"Oh, you'd be surprised." Hermione smiled to herself. There was a time Draco didn't know any better and those two duped him using Polyjuice Potion. But that's a story for another time. "Anyway, I'm surprised how well they took the news."
"I imagine they were seething the first few times they caught us kissing."
Hermione tipped her face up to his. "You know, no one's watching us now, Malfoy. I'd like to get back to kissing, if you don't mind."
He cupped her face, and mock-sighed. "Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint you."
"Let's try not to bang teeth this time," she teased as he lowered his head and claimed her lips in another scorching kiss.
Cats and grins, did he deliver!
End
