Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter why would I be writing fanfiction?
"Oh here, give me that" Fred snatched the wand from George's outstretched arm before pointing it towards Malfoy.
"Petrifius totalis" Draco's body tensed as he fell forward onto Hermione's protesting figure.
"Fred!" cried out the outraged teen. "Get him off me this instant!"
The twins threw a heavy, knowing glance to each other before grinning wickedly.
"Actually Hermione," Fred began handing George's wand back as he spoke. "I think we'll leave him."
"Yeah," George cut in, "You two may as well get acquainted seeing as you're going to be partners when you work for the Order."
"So," The twins spoke in unison "We'll just leave you two to it until the spell wears off." Both twins left the room, waiting until they could no longer be heard before laughing.
"What do you think Fred, Extendable Ears?" Fred's eyes brightened as he straightened from his doubled over position.
"Right you are, George, perfect opportunity." They pulled out a pair and carefully set up.
Inside the room
"I hate you." Hermione said flatly as she attempted to push Malfoy off of her. In return, she received a glare that spoke of his agreement in sentiments. After several unsuccessful minutes of pushing, Hermione sighed in defeat. Her wand lay useless on the floor, a good two feet out of reach.
She knew the hex would wear off soon enough, so she resigned herself to waiting. To keep her mind off the matter at hand, she began to babble off information.
Draco's mind was reeling. Here he was, frozen entirely, trapped atop Hermione Granger! Who is currently spouting nonsense he thought. He could hardly believe the "cleverest witch of the age" was quoting Gilderoy Lockhart. Honestly, the man is a total twat! He thought in outrage. If I have to listen to her say one more thing about how he won that bloody best smile award I will make her pay.
He ran his gaze over her the best he could, wishing he could see more. He'd probably always fancied her, from the moment she first tumbled into his life looking for the forgetful boy's toad. He had always been aware of her presence more than any other person he knew (or didn't know for that matter). But none of that had mattered until third year.
When she slapped him, he felt a bit of him break. He had been especially bitter to her in the next year- going so far as to hex her teeth in hopes of being repulsed by her. In the end, though, that had been an even worse slap than the one she gave him. Seeing her on Krum's arm had opened the floodgate. He couldn't hide his attraction to her, not from himself at least.
Since that moment, he had avoided her. Fifth year had been all about chasing Potter to gain recognition from the new Headmistress. Unfortunately, she was in on it as well. So distracted by the thought of her lying he had blindly allowed Weasley to distract him.
Sixth year. Oh dear Merlin, sixth year. A particularly difficult year for him to live through, he had been on the brink of losing it- until the evening when Potter had nearly put an end to his sad existence. He had awoken from that ordeal in the Hospital Wing; only to find her asleep in a chair by his bedside. He'd learned, later, that she had been nagging Potter about his Potions' text all year, and was probably only there to gloat about being right should he have died.
But still… he wanted to believe she'd been genuinely worried for him. He wanted to believe she cared whether or not he lived.
Then again, he had probably always hated her also. The fact that she was everything he was supposed to hate, everything he was supposed to be better than had meant nothing to him. And it infuriated him. She was better than he was at everything Except flying, of course. His father had continued to drill the inferiorities of "mudbloods," especially after his first year when seemingly all he could rant about was Granger.
He felt himself loosen. The spell wore off! He was careful not to move, lest he signal her that he was no longer frozen in place. He tuned back into what she was saying.
"You know, you really are a prat. All the times you've made me worry."
Draco had to resist a powerful urge to raise his eyebrows. He listened, controlling his breath carefully.
"Honestly, all the times I thought Harry, Ron, and myself would be expelled! When you tattled on us with Norbert -which was a terribly childish thing to do by the way- during the Buckbeak incident –which was horrible of you, seeing as you had it coming- of course when I had to convince Harry you weren't the heir of Slytherin, and when Harry hexed you and nearly killed you! I could hardly believe that really happened!"
Draco stared down at her, She was worried about me? He noticed her looking at him with a mixture of shock and confusion. Why is she looking at me like that? "Did I say that out loud?" Seeing her nod, he cursed.
Well, the game is up. He relaxed his body, just barely, and allowed his arms to fall from his sides, placing one on either side of the girl beneath him. He lowered himself, pressing his body closer to Hermione's. Her eyes filled with fear as he brought his face right above hers. He stared into her eyes, barely breathing, searching for something that could clue him in on her thoughts.
An evil grin formed on his face, "You were worried about me?" He watched her sigh and close her eyes before she nodded. Draco allowed his grin to morph into a smile before he closed that last, vital, distance between them.
Hermione's eyes shot open. Was he kissing her? Oh Lord, he was! Being a rational person, Hermione began listing reasons why this was happening, a very short list indeed for she managed to move quite quickly to the much longer "Why this shouldn't be happening" list.
Finally moving away, Draco tried to ignore the embarrassment and pain he felt at her refusal to respond to him. He gave her an apologetic look before pulling back. He stood and turned away, walking towards the door. Reaching his salvation, he tried to open the door. Unfortunately, the door was locked. Confused, he shook the door, hoping it would open. Those twins didn't lock the door on their way out.
"It won't open, not without a wand at least."
Disgruntled, Draco turned around and shot a peeved look at her. "Well then, perhaps you wouldn't mind…" He noticed her wand was in her hand- pointed at the door. He looked her with a raised eyebrow. "Why haven't you unlocked it if you had your wand the whole time?"
She shrugged. "I generally don't unlock things that I just locked."
Draco's eyes narrowed. He watched with horror as she moved closer. Her hand rose, grabbing onto the collar of his shirt and pulling him down to her eyelevel.
"I was worried about you. I was worried about what Harry would do to you when he thought you were Slytherin's heir. I was worried when he nearly killed you last year. And I was worried about what you would think of me when I punched you third year."
Smiling shyly, Draco responded to her confession. "I felt awful when I called you a mudblood second year, and was depressed the entire time you were petrified. I couldn't think during the entire Yule Ball because you looked so beautiful and I wanted to punch Krum for being the one to take you." He leaned his forehead against hers, "And I deserved that punch in third year."
She smiled slightly before kissing him quickly. Draco, determined not to waste more time, placed a hand behind her head and pulled her back to him.
When they finally pulled apart, Draco smiled and laughed. "I guess I owe those freakish twins a thanks. I don't think I've ever enjoyed being hexed so much."
Hermione laughed before kissing him again.
Outside the room
The twins stared at their Extendable Ear in horror. They were so distracted they didn't hear their brother come up behind them.
"What are you guys doing?"
They turned around, quickly hiding the ear, to see Ron standing there. Looking at each other they decided the perfect answer.
"Nothing."
Let's see...I should probably be sorry for this. But I'm really not. I love Draco and Hermione together, and this ridiculous situation made me laugh. I hope it made you laugh too...at least a little bit.
