Under a Tree by the Lake
Hermione was rushing through the hall. It was the first day of her 7th year at Hogwarts. She was wearing a very worried look and was paying absolutely no attention to what was happening around her. She had already knocked about 12 people over as she stampeded towards the dungeons. Some how she had managed to lose track of time while explaining to Neville what had happened in charms that day while he was asleep.
"Snape is going to kill me!" she mumbled as she rounded the bend. "He is going to hang me by my toes from the ceiling and..........."
SMACK! Hermione was knocked over by a force that she had failed to see. Her first impulse was to pick up her books and as she was doing so she heard very deep and entrancing male voice ask "I'm so sorry. Are you ok?"
She looked up. Before she realized who she was talking to, she smiled very stupidly and she shyly said that she was fine.
Once she finally came to, she just stared in shock. Draco Malfoy was kneeling in front of her as he handed Hermione her book. Her stupid little girl smile quickly vanished and turned into a frown. She snatched the book out of his hand and gathered the rest of her things and stood up.
"God, Malfoy, why do you have to be such a jerk? Watch where you're going." She brushed against him the side of his arm as she rushed past him still towards the dungeons. Malfoy's eyes followed her down the hall until she disappeared behind the large wooden door that led to the Potions classroom. He ran his fingers through his platinum blonde hair. Wow. She got really hot over the summer.
Malfoy quickly got rid of his smile as he walked towards the grounds to meet Crabbe and Goyle.
Hermione slowly walked out of the Potions classroom, looking rather blank. She couldn't get the picture of Malfoy's handsome face out of her head. She hadn't paid attention to Professor Snape at all that day. She was glad that the school day was over because she needed some time to think without it affecting her grades. She hastened her pace a little because she wanted to get to the Gryffindor tower before Harry and Ron got there. She didn't want to talk to them right now. She had way too much on her mind.
She finally reached her dorm and changed into something a little more comfortable. Since it was hot outside, she decided to put on a white tank top and a pair of blue jean shorts. She pulled her hair up in a messy bun and grabbed her journal and pen. She walked out of her dorm and into the common room and saw Harry and Ginny making out on the sofa in front of the fireplace. Thank you, Ginny!
Harry and Ginny had been going out since the beginning of last year and had been a very happy couple since then. Ron didn't like the idea of his little sister going out with a guy who was like his brother but he had gotten used to it by now. Everyone had.
Hermione silently crept out of the common room and proceeded towards the grounds.
She stepped outside of the castle and took in a huge breath of air. She loved Hogwarts. She had always loved it. This was the place that she felt that she could belong. She knew that she had a purpose there. While at home, she was just shy little Hermione Granger who always had her nose stuck in a book. No one ever expected her to become anything. Fortunately for her, her bookie-ness had made her brilliant.
She searched the lawn for a nice place to sit. She selected a nice spot under a tree by the lake and quickly walked over before anyone could take it. She sat down and leaned against the tree. She took in her surroundings. People were gathered around the lake and a few people were swimming in the shallower part of it, safe from the giant squid.
She opened her journal and wrote about what had happened that day. She wrote about how she had almost gotten detention for letting Harry and Ron sleep in. Why it was her fault, she did not know. She wrote about how Ginny had gotten in trouble for eating Madam Hooch's last chocolate frog. She wrote about how she had to explain to Neville the levitating charm for the zillionth time. It had been 7 years today since they initially learned it. She chuckled to herself.
Then she wrote about bumping into Malfoy. She wrote about that for about an hour. She had secretly had a crush on him since forth year. She was never able to share her feelings because she feared that he would reject her. He hated her and she knew that. He had hated her since he met her 7 long years ago. He hated her because of her family, her stupid muggle family.
She hated him in return for a long time. When she met him, she hated him, too. She wished that she hadn't done that.
She looked up and gazed across the lake. She wasn't looking for anything. She was just staring into space. She thought about how much he hated her. She thought about how much she liked him.
She looked beside her. She imagined him sitting there on the ground under the tree. She imagined him being with her, not just then, but forever. She wanted to be with him. She wanted her torment to end.
A lot can happen to the way you feel about someone over the course of 3 years. If you like someone that long, they can become an obsession. She was obsessed, she just couldn't show it. She loved him but she knew that he would never love her back. A tear dropped onto the page in her journal and she quickly wiped the wetness from her eyes to avoid drawing attention to herself.
Malfoy sat on a rock overlooking the grounds. He was wearing a black Guns N' Roses tee shirt and a pair of khaki cargo shorts. His black converses were untied but he didn't care. He had abandoned Crabbe and Goyle while they were fighting over a cupcake. He couldn't stand how they were so obsessed over food but he still hung around him, though. He did it not because they worshipped him (because they didn't) but because they had all grown up together. They were like brothers. They were the only people that saw him as a friend instead of an enemy.
He didn't know why people saw him as the bad guy. He really wasn't. He just couldn't find a way to direct his anger towards something that didn't hurt other people. Over the summer, he had learned how to play drums and got pretty good at it. That way, he had an outlet for his anger and he didn't have to hurt people that he loved.
He pulled out a turkey sandwich and took a bite out of it. He took a swig of Coke and lay back on the rock. He saw owls flying above him-to and from the castle. His head was whirling. His encounter with Hermione was playing over and over inside his head. He thought about how good she looked. He thought about how she acted. He realized that that was probably the first time that he had actually been nice to her. He knew that she despised him. He knew that she was probably confused, too. He and she had always been on an "I hate you and you hate me" basis and that would probably never change for Hermione.
He wished he hadn't waited that long to let all of his anger out. He wished that it would have gone away sooner. Since he was angry for that long, all of his other feelings were pushed aside to be dealt with later. Well his feelings consisted of only one thing now: Hermione. He liked her before, he was just jealous because he knew that she liked Potter.
He longed to be loved. He needed someone who could see him as a normal guy who had normal feelings and did normal stuff. He didn't want someone who just liked him for his looks. He had always hated when Pansy had chased him around asking if he would kiss her. He wanted to be seen as Draco Malfoy: real person who cares about people and loves people instead of Draco Malfoy: bad-boy sex god. He didn't know why he was seen that way. He was still a virgin and only kissed one person before when he was 7 because someone dared him to.
He sat up and rubbed his temples. He felt too alone up on the rock and wanted to at least be around people. He looked around the grounds and saw a nice place to sit under a tree by the lake. He stuffed his CD's into his backpack and grabbed his hoodie before he made his way down the side of the hill
Hermione gave up on writing in her journal because her hand was getting tired. She pulled out her sweater rolled it up into a ball. She set it at the base of the tree and rested her head on it. She laughed as she saw Dean and Seamus push Ron into the lake. When he resurfaced again, his blazing red hair was stuck to his face. He needed a haircut badly.
The first and second years were heading back towards the castle. It was getting close to their curfew. 3rd and 4th years would be leaving in about 2 hours and then the rest of the school could had to be in by midnight. 7th years, however, could stay out as long as they wanted to if they didn't leave the campus. The sun was hanging low over the horizon but it wasn't setting yet. It was just hanging there, like someone had ordered it to stop.
Hermione realized that she was starving then. She had forgotten to go to dinner. She pulled a granola bar out of her pocket that she put in there before she left. She lay there and ate. She looked at the sky. It was turning a golden yellow. She loved this time of day. She just looked aimlessly into the sky. Her eyelids got heavy and she finally gave into sleep.
Malfoy walked over towards the tree that he chose earlier and as he walked towards it, he saw the squid slap its tentacle on the water, soaking a bunch of 4th years. He giggled in a weird, non-Malfoy way and then he set his eyes on his destination again. He kicked a few rocks out of his way. Just as he approached the tree, he stopped dead in his tracks. He saw Hermione sleeping on the ground. She looked so beautiful when she slept. He must have stood there for at least 10 minutes before he realized that he was doing so. Then, he walked over to the tree. It's now or never. He hesitated before he lay down beside Hermione.
She rolled over. He froze. He didn't want her to wake up- she looked to cute when she was asleep. When he was confident that she was sleeping, he settled himself down, and just looked at her for the longest time.
The sun was beginning to set. Malfoy had been sitting by Hermione for about an hour. The one girl that he loved for so long was actually beside him and wasn't fighting with him. The object of his affection was sleeping beside him under a tree by a glistening lake. The atmosphere could not be better. Malfoy gathered up all of his courage and gently nudged Hermione to wake her up.
Hermione stirred but wouldn't wake up. Malfoy nudged her again. She wouldn't wake up. Then he finally nudged her one last time and called her name, pleading her to wake up. Malfoy's heart skipped a beat as she opened her eyes.
She rubbed her eyes as she sat up. She stretched her arms out and then she looked over to get her backpack and instead of seeing her things, she saw Malfoy. She was stunned. The stupid little smile came back again but she then remembered that he hated her without realizing that he was actually sitting beside her smiling.
"Hey," he said in a very happy way. She started to get up in a hurried way. "No! Please don't go. I'm not going to insult you."
She slowly settled back down and set her hands in her lap. She had a very confused but shocked look on her face. Is he actually sitting beside me or am I still asleep? Am I still dreaming? She pinched herself out of his view. OH MY GOD. Draco is actually sitting beside me and he isn't being a jerk. Yea! God, he's hot.
Malfoy fumbled for words. He knew his face was turning pink. He looked up and saw Hermione grinning from ear to ear. He then looked down again to keep her from noticing that he saw. That was all the courage he needed. "So how are you, Hermione?"
He just called me Hermione. He has never called me that before.
"I'm great!" She looked away. She was so embarrassed. She had never been this way around him. After her face turned back to a shade not as noticeable, she replied. "How are you?"
"I'm good. I'm sorry that I woke you up. It's just that........" he looked up. Hermione was staring at him. He looked at her and they just gazed into each other's eyes for the longest time. Malfoy finally broke the silence.
"Look, Hermione. The reason that I woke you up is because I have to tell you something. I have wanted to tell you this since the day that I met you but I couldn't because I was scared. I was scared about what your response would be. I didn't want to tell you because I thought that you would push me away. I knew that you hated me. I knew that you didn't want to be near me." His eyes began watering. "I'm telling you now because I can't stand it any more. The truth is that I love you, Hermione Granger. I have loved you since the moment that I laid my eyes on you. I know that I acted like I hated you but it's because it was the only way I could act around you because I was nervous. I don't care if you don't want me. At least now you know how I feel about you. Just before you walked out of my life forever, I wanted to let you know that I love you." He was fighting back sobs.
Hermione was still staring at him. Her jaw was dropped. She was blinking very fast and her palms were sweating and she had gotten chill bumps. Malfoy looked up at her waiting for a response.
"Y-you do?" she said, still in disbelief.
"Yes, Hermione, believe it or not, I do. I love you."
Hermione was still shocked. Malfoy was sitting beside her looking at her. The sun was half-way set and the sky was a watercolor painting of pinks, purples, and oranges. They were still sitting under the tree by the lake. Malfoy then looked away out onto the lake with the feeling of rejection in his heart.
Hermione's mouth curled into a smile. She looked at him. She reached over, placed her hand on his cheek, and turned his head towards her. She made her smile evident before she leaned in to kiss him. He grinned hugely and returned her kiss. Hermione broke free and whispered in his ear, "I love you, too, Draco." Malfoy was so happy that he lifted her up off the ground and pulled her closer to him. They stood there kissing each other for what seemed like an eternity. Neither of them wanted to break free from the most magical moment that had ever experienced.
They had somehow ended up back on the ground and Hermione was on top of Draco before they stopped kissing but neither of them wanted to let go. She set her head down on his chest beaming with happiness. They lay there, holding onto each other. Draco leaned down and kissed her on her forehead. She lifted her head up and looked at him. She smiled as she pushed a strand of his hair out of his beautiful grey eyes. She kissed him again. She put her head back down on his chest.
The moon was out. They were the only people out on the grounds. Everyone had long returned to their dormitories. "It's getting late," Hermione said. "We should probably go."
"No." Draco said. "I don't want you to leave."
"People will start getting suspicious."
"Let them get suspicious. They're bound to find out sooner or later." She looked up at him dreamily. He kissed her again. Hermione was sitting on Draco's lap and his hands were wrapped around her waist. His chin rested on her shoulder.
Draco started crying. Hermione shifted on his lap so that she was facing him. "Draco, what's wrong?"
"I have been waiting for this day since I was 11 years old, Hermione. 7 long years have gone by and every day of those 7 years I've loved you. I can't go a day without thinking about you. I don't want this to end. I just wish that we could stay this way forever. I want you to stay in my arms forever. I want to sit here with you forever. I want to be with you forever."
"Hmm..... That could be arranged," she said, laughing. Draco flipped her over and started kissing her again.
They broke their kiss and curled up with each other again. They held each other. They were in love. There was no doubt about it. It was the happiest either of them had been in their lives. They lay there, holding each other, not wanting to let go. They lay there, loving each other with a warm glow in their hearts.
"I love you, Hermione Granger."
"I love you, too, Draco Malfoy."
They slowly drifted off to sleep under the tree by the lake.