Disclaimer: It's not mine. That's so sad.
Waiting
Music plays softly in the background. The common room is dark, except for the embers glowing softly in the hearth. She can't risk light waking one of her fellow Gryffindors up. This has to be kept a secret.
Hermione gets off the couch, unable to sit still. She takes to pacing in front of the fire, glancing at it when she passes.
She looks at her watch, it's almost two in the morning. He should be coming, any minute now.
But the minutes pass by, and she's still alone. She sits back down on the couch, only to get right back up again. She wishes she had a quill, some ink and a piece of parchment. Just something to make her mind concentrate on a task until he gets there…
Can she risk it? What if she's upstairs, and he comes? Would he wait? She has to. She's going to go crazy.
Quickly and quietly, Hermione runs up to her dormitory, and without waking the sleeping figures, rummages in her bag until she finds the materials she wanted. She creeps back down the stairs, hoping to see a head in the fire. She has no such luck.
Should she be the one to do it tonight? If he hadn't appeared by now…no. they couldn't risk it. They couldn't have another accident like when this had first started. She would not be the cause of worry again.
Ten minutes. In ten minutes it would be 2:30 and she would give up. He would be half an hour late…Hermione's head jerked toward the fireplace. She could have sworn she had just heard a tiny pop. But no. there was no head in the fireplace. It was just her anxious imagination toying with her.
She sat down at a table, unscrewed the jar of ink, and dipped her quill in it. But what to write? She had a thought, and smiled. Slowly and carefully she started printing in block letters. COD--she stopped. She had heard the pop again. But when she turned around, no one was there. Sighing, she set back to work. E NA--again, Hermione whirled around, and this time, her face broke into a smile.
There, in the Gryffindor common room fire, was the head of Draco Malfoy.
"Hey!" Hermione squealed, and jumping out of the chair, dropped down to all fours in front of the fire.
"Hey baby," Draco replied, a smile gracing his features.
"I'm glad I waited up, what kept you for so long?" she asked.
"Blaise and Pansy," he sighed, and when he saw Hermione's eyes darken, he added, "don't worry baby! I told her to get lost."
"I know…I don't know why I'm so jealous of that whore. Maybe…" she trailed off, not wanting to say what she was thinking.
"Nothing, just forget about it."
"Aww. Baby?" he questioned.
"No!" she giggled, looking at him pleading. "it's okay. So what did Blaise want?"
"Plans for something," he said dismissively. "sorry I kept you waiting."
"Me too, I was going stir-crazy," she teased.
"Stir-crazy?"
"Muggle expression. Sorry," she laughed at her expression on his face, quite forgetting that she was supposed to be quiet.
"Shh baby," Draco laughed. "You'll wake all of Hogwarts."
"Mmm, sorry." she sighed. "I love you."
Draco sighed happily. "I love you too," he chuckled.
"Is that someone on your end?" Hermione whispered. She had heard something.
"No, it's your end. Night baby, I love you." Draco whispered, and was gone.
"Hermione?"
Hermione gasped, and turned around. "Merlin Ginny, don't scare me like that!" she spluttered, hand to heart.
"Sorry. You might want to try being a little quieter with Draco, you woke me up."
Hermione grinned at her friend, catching the double meaning. "Yes ma'm. Sorry about that."
"No problem. Have you ever thought about using protection?" Ginny giggled.
"Ginny!" Hermione laughed. "I forgot tonight. He was late in coming, and I was worried something had gone wrong."
"Okay, stop!" Ginny was laughing now too. "Seriously, muffilato, and a couple of those other ones you know that I can't pronounce."
"Mmhmm. I'm coming up, you coming?"
"Yeah."
Hermione and Ginny climbed the stairs together.
When Hermione pulled open the hangings, she found a note on her bed.
Sleep tight baby. I love you.
-Draco
She smiled. Who would have ever thought Draco Malfoy could be that sweet and thoughtful? She hid the note and got undressed.
As she lay down to go to sleep, she thought again of Draco. Her boyfriend. The man she loved.
It didn't bother her all that much that their relationship was a secret. She could take talking to him in secret. It was the waiting that killed her.
