Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything that you recognize.
A/N: This is something very new to me, so please be delicate with the reviews. This will hopefully, if enough of you decide it's alright, become a long (ish) chapter fic. I hope you enjoy!
Setting: Hogwarts, 5th year
Summary: "You of all should know that Malfoy's cannot love." Can one extra credit trip to the Forbidden Forest change Draco Malfoy's outlook on everything he grew to believe, or will he use his female nemesis for his own satisfaction?
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Rating: T
Lightning and Candlelight
Chapter One
One drop. That's all it took for Draco's mind to break free from his studies. One drop of endless rain spilled from the tainted window – darkness, shadows, loneliness, resentment…
"…and that's when I heard her say that I am the biggest flirt in the school. I mean, really Draco, It's not like I worship the ground you walk on. I'm glad we're seeing each other though. I mean, my mother said it would never happen. I always knew it would, always. We were just really meant to be, you know? Like, when I first saw you it was magic. Well, metaphorically speaking..."
Draco nodded every now and then, flipping a page in his textbook when really his brain was aching, and his heart heaved in treachery. Two drops. Three, four, five...
"Draco!" Pansy shattered his inner silence, giving his arm a good shake. Draco scowled and withdrew his arm from her grasp. "I have something really important to say." His neck snapped in her direction, almost giving him whiplash.
They were the only ones left in the Slytherin common room. Draco had a way of making the other Slytherin's vanish when he wanted. Sure, all Slytherin's had a sense of independence and menace, but Draco Malfoy had an air about him that was more dominant and definite than the rest. I guess you could say he was the Harry Potter of the Slytherin house. Not that Draco would ever admit it.
Images of his family; black coats, eerie masks and the Dark Lord filled his mind; his breath hitched. There were only a few reasons he decided to accept Pansy's offer to "go out" (when really all they did was stay in) and the most prevailing one was her gossip. Yes, he had to sit through a lot of girly Hogwarts jumble but when he needed news about their parents and staff members, she was the one you went to. She couldn't keep a secret if her life depended on it. In fact, he didn't see why anyone would trust her completely since even he could plainly see that she was backstabbing and cruel.
The other reasons were purely selfish; for one, every student bombarded him with asinine comments such as: "you and Pansy would make a great couple" and he simply did not wish to argue. They were without a doubt the most pure and intimidating couple on campus; and since Draco always wanted to be on top, he seemed it would be rather logical. (Even if he didn't care for her entirely.) And last, his teenage hormones got the best of him, just as every other average teen. Even the ominous Draco Malfoy cared for a good snog now and then and you couldn't deny that Pansy wasn't a beauty.
"Draco," She announced in a completely stern tone. His heart beat leapt. The significant threats of the Dark Lord raced with every pulse in his veins.
"I love you."
There was a silence. He sucked in his cheeks and glared up at the ceiling while he replied: "Pansy, you told me it was important."
He could practically hear her tears with every intake of breath. He looked at her again, his brows still furrowed in frustration and disappointment.
"Well, it's important to me. It should be important to you. There is more than just one person who makes the foundation of a relationship, you know!"
"No, Pansy, I don't know since it's not that important to me! You really want to know why it's not? Because I don't really care."
He could see her eyes glinting in the dim dungeon-like lighting.
She tore from the room as if flames were about to engulf them all. She hesitated, pausing at the top step, nearly out of view. Truthfully, Draco never really cared about relationships, but part of him didn't want to lose what little that he had.
"Pans – don't go," He cursed himself inertly for what was about to be said.
"I love you too." He hoped he sounded sincere as she turned from the stairs slowly and smiled.
"I knew you did, Draco, I just knew!" She raced back from the staircase and into Draco's firm hold. His grey eyes blazed and rolled toward the ceiling.
She kissed his cheek, his neck, and anything else she could find before he suggested that they both needed their rest. Basking in the glorious news, she didn't protest.
As he collapsed in his bed, Blaise spoke above the heavy snores of Draco's previous best friends Crabbe and Goyle. "So you told Pansy Parkinson you loved her?"
"You heard?"
"Yeah, I have a knack for eavesdropping."
Draco snorted, tugging the blanket over his stomach. "I must have forgotten. That's why I befriended you in the first place."
Blaise Zambini glowered mockingly and they both shared a haughty laugh.
"So you lied to Miss Parkinson, I assume."
The room could almost echo his breath as it fell in to an uneasy peace.
"Of course I did, you fool. You of all should know that Malfoy's cannot love."
His eyes closed and images filled his head. As he was on the verge of sleep, he thought he could hear Blaise's solemn response, contemptuously replaying all night long like the never-ending rain drops.
"Perhaps, or maybe you simply have not found the one."
"Draco Malfoy," A rather irritated set of eyes met his. His Potion's Master of five long and exceedingly dull years disrupted his group of "friends" and the conceited comments about their fellow mudblood classmate, Hermione Granger. Her best friends Harry Potter and Ron Weasley failed to make it to class.
"Settle down or you will be working on extra credit this following weekend."
Draco made a face of mock horror before he whispered behind the Professor's back: "Not that I don't already, the slimy old fool."
His group sniggered as the class, as well as Professor Snape, turned their direction toward the Slytherin cluster. He quickly quieted, each one of them now plastered with a smug smile.
"Very well," He drawled. "You will be exploring the Forbidden Forest for extra credit along with Miss Granger starting tomorrow evening, promptly at dusk." He turned his head back to the potion and his extended class. The whole mess with Umbridge made the classes elbow to elbow with extra students preparing for their exams.
"On with the Horned Roots —"
"Excuse me Professor. With all due respect, I must question this ridiculously unwise suggestion. Could I not just file for a detention?"
"Mr. Malfoy, now that you have disrupted class more than once – along with a rather pathetic remark about my disciplining techniques – you will receive both. If you speak out of term again, I will be forced to take immediate action, do I make myself clear?"
Draco grimaced, defiantly glaring back and forth from the mudblood Granger to his glory of a teacher. "Crystal."
"Good."
As he continued the day's lesson, he couldn't help but stare at the young, bushy haired girl who eagerly answered every question solicited – even if prompted by her to start with – deciding what level of unpleasant the weekend would be categorized.
Blaise followed Draco's eyes to the target. "Draco Malfoy staring at someone other than a pure blood? A mudblood no less! Should I be scared?" Blaise laughed in his self-aggrandizing way before he sustained his banter with the other Slytherin's. Particularly the females – Blaise was a natural at catching the ladies.
"I'm determining which way is the quickest to off myself." Draco replied, rolling his neck.
Blaise's lip twitched until it emerged in to a jaw breaking grin. "I wouldn't just yet, my friend. She may be a mudblood, but she wouldn't be bad to use for the weekend. It sure would bother Potter and that Weasel."
Draco chuckled in thought as he flipped his book open to page 149. For one second, he thought he could feel Hermione's analyzing eyes search for his, but when he looked up briefly they vanished.
He pursed his lips as he made his decision. Maybe he would have some fun afterall.