Disclaimer: Not J.K Rowling in disguise, I do not own Harry Potter, just using the interesting characters.
The Witching Hour
Chapter One
For weeks she couldn't sleep, lying restlessly in her 4 poster bed Hermione stared up at the canopy, willing with every fibre of her body for sleep to come. By the end of every night not only did her bones ache with tiredness but she felt frustrated that yet another night had gone by in which she neither rested or was productful. She worried most about how this strange occurrence was affecting her school work.
One night when lying uselessly on her bed was particularly frustrating, Hermione made a decision which would have been inconceivable to a more well rested version of herself, she quietly crept out of the girls dormitory and back down the staircase into the common room. After a few moments of wrestling with her conscience she opened the portrait hole and climbed out into the empty castle. Its resounding quietness reminded her of a Roald Dahl book she loved as a child, The BFG, when the witching hour of night fell, when all life was asleep, anything could happen...
With her wand lighting her way she let her feet wander, relentlessly walking without purpose, she found herself in an unfamiliar corridor. The moonlight was shining through the high windows and illuminating the castle. It glowed with a strange but beautiful eeriness, casting shadows that she thought would be characteristic of a movie, right before something important was about to happen. As if answering her thoughts she saw a distant figure running around the end of the corridor, as they moved into the moonlight she saw glowing white blond hair and a lean but well muscled body, especially apparent as he ran toward her. Before she had a chance to make out his face, he had levelled with her and in one movement he roughly seized her around her waist and with his other hand covering her mouth he pulled them both into a secret archway covered by a hanging cloth.
In the gap between the hanging and the stone wall Hermione saw Peeves rocket around the corner into the corridor they had been occupying seconds ago. The sensible part of Hermione scolded herself for being so careless, she had experienced running across Peeves at night before and it was not an experience she was anxious to repeat. However these thoughts were soon over powered by another part of her, thrilled and excited by the situation she felt herself shiver with adrenaline at the thought of narrowly missing being caught out of bed by being pulling into a hidden archway...
As these thoughts took hold of her mind she began to take in her physical situation, her body was pulled flush up against him, this beautiful stranger. She could feel his warm breath on her neck as he held her tightly, and as she breathed in she almost fainted with pleasure at his scent, a teasing hint of cologne that intermingled with that smell... that smell that all men have. Hermione was abruptly torn out of this wonderful reverie as the man in question suddenly let go of her and moved between her and the hanging, holding it back and letting the moonlight fall softly on Hermione's face. He looked angelic with the moonlight behind him, illuminating his hair where it touched him, turning it into a halo around his face. As Hermione enjoyed the view she had no idea how much he was enjoying his own.
Hermione had neglected to put on anything over her white cotton slip, coming down to mid-thigh with fine lace edging, it was fitted to reveal her slim figure and in the moonlight it glowed softly against her creamy skin. With her brown curls falling down around her face and luminous brown eyes shining up at him, he felt like there could be no more a beautiful creature in the world.
That was when Draco Malfoy realised who he had just called beautiful...
Taken a-back, Draco stumbled out into the Corridor, Hermione quickly following, anxious to find out who this boy was. When she saw his face in the moonlight the surprise showed on hers. "Granger, what are you doing out here?" said Draco in a poisonous whisper.
"I-I couldn't sleep." Said Hermione, still recovering from the shock of seeing Malfoy, "and who are you to be asking questions anyway, you're out here in the middle of the night as well!" she added indignantly.
"Yes but I wasn't the one who almost got us caught by Peeves now was I?" replied Draco smugly, a silence filled with tension followed as they stared each other down.
Not being able to stand staying under that piercing grey-eyed stare any longer, Hermione broke the silence, "So what is this thing behind the hanging anyway, some sort of archway?"
"Have to have your nose in everything don't you Granger?" said Draco icily, but nevertheless he moved forward to take a closer look as well... Pulling back the wall hanging they discovered a door rather than the stone archway they were expecting, Hermione attempted to open the door but without much success, even after pulling out her wand and trying Alohamora (Standard Book of spells, Chapter 7).
"Well, as much as I'd love to stay and break down a door, I'm going to bed before Peeves comes back this way, but feel free to stay Granger, detention would probably do you good." said Draco.
"And what's that's supposed to mean?" growled Hermione.
"You look like you could do with something bad, trade your halo for horns for once..." Draco said smirking, "You never know you might even like it." At that moment they both turned their heads to what sounded like Peeves dropping a suit of armour down a nearby staircase, they looked back at each other for the briefest of seconds before they both sprinted as fast as they could in the opposite direction. When they came to the end of the corridor Draco did something he would later wonder about, he turned and looked back at Hermione fleeing into the other end of the corridor. He had to pause in awe as he saw her beautifully curved body running, with the lace at her hem playing around her knee's and the cotton of her slip hugging her body. Her face looked just as beautiful as it turned back to look at him, a few of the curls that had been hanging loosely down her back fell across her face as she smiled...
Later that night when Draco was back in his own 4-poster he let his mind trail back over the events of the night, he remembering the look in her eyes when they had heard Peeves coming back toward the corridor, if he didn't know miss goody two shoes better he would have sworn that she almost looked excited...