A/N: Here is the first chapter on that story I was talking about in my last Authors Note on my other story "Left Outside". (That means "Go read it!"). I considered not posting this chapter since this story is not yet complete but I felt that there was really time for an update of some sort now. I hope I will have another chapter (the 7th) of "Left Outside" up in a few days but that evil thing called work is taking a lot of time away from writing. Anyways, on with the story!

HALF A YEAR FROM NOW

Chapter I

One second is enough to make a decision that will change your life forever.

She was drunk and she knew it. The logic part of her brain also told her she should be worried about that but was hushed down by the much larger, intoxicated part that just told her to relax and have a good time and that she didn't have to be Miss Perfect all the time. She knew her brown hair had already untangled itself from the bun on top of her head, strands framing her face and falling down her shoulders lightly touching the white frilly dress she was wearing. She had kicked of her high heeled shoes and pulled her legs up underneath herself to keep her feet a bit warmer.

Taking another sip of her drink she leaned back in the soft black armchair she positioned herself in earlier and took a look around the room. She was in the Great Hall, but it looked nothing like it used to do during the days. One half of the room was filled with the same kind of soft comfortable armchairs, in a mix of black and white, as the one she was sitting in and scattered among them was small tables to place drinks or plates of food on. Up along one wall was a long table filled with random assortments of food and drink and since it was past midnight and all the younger students had already left the normal drinks such as butterbeer and pumpkin juice had been joined by some alcohol as well. Hermione knew this very well since after some persuading, she spent half an hour idly sharing a bottle of Fire Whiskey with Ginny. Now she was alone, Ginny who still was somewhat steady on her legs had decided that she wanted to dance and had left for the other half of the room, where a dance floor had been set up. Some kind of invisible barrier kept the sound of the music from reaching to this side of the room and Hermione knew she would have been fascinated about it if she had been sober. As it was she sat with the bottle in her lap, just watching people move about and talk, taking a swig of it once in a while. She saw classmates dancing together, some couples snogging quite heavily on the dance floor itself and somewhere inside her was a ping of jealousy. She wondered if life was easier when you didn't spend so much time thinking about what other people thought about you. It probably was, but she concluded that the people holding that kind of freedom was probably not aware of it, they took it for granted.

Before she knew it the glass bottle was empty and she discarded it by simply dropping it onto the floor next to the armchair. It thudded softly against the carpet and rolled away a bit. She felt a bit ill at ease from too much to drink and decided to get out into the hall for some fresh air. With some effort she made a somewhat wobbly trip across the floor and managed to not collide with anyone. Leaning her weight against one of the big doors to the hall she made it creek open and went to sit down on the stairs, leaning against the banister for support. Out here it was silent and dark shades framing everything and making it softer. She realized she had forgotten her shoes inside the hall but it didn't really bother her at this point. There was a soft breeze coming from somewhere and she started to feel much better. She trailed the polished banister with her fingertips and followed the pattern made in the dark wood. She could make out a lot of different patterns in the old polished wood, there was something looking a bit like a cat, there was a tree and a butterfly… Through the mist in her head some part of her brain told her that there were footsteps approaching her but she didn't bother to look up until the person causing them was standing right in front of her. It was hard to see him in the dark and she didn't want to tilt her head back to much, since that meant she would risk falling over backwards. And on top of that his dark clothing made him blend in well with the shadows.

"Granger, Granger" he scolded her, a smirk gracing his features. "What would people think if they found out that the Head Girl of the school got herself drunk as a skunk?"

She focused her eyes on him again and tried to shrug while still leaning against the banister.

"They can think whatever they want" she exclaimed, grabbing the banister and hoisting herself up into a standing position. "I'm tired of being Miss Perfect all the time. It can't be that bad if I just act like a normal student for once."

"No need to get upset with me for asking. If you wanted to act like any other student you would have left that place ages ago" he said with a laugh. "If you haven't realized it yet a lot of people have left already. Most of them with someone else and I doubt their intentions are innocent. You are the first person to leave the Hall on their own in quite a while."

"I was waiting for Ginny" she said, not totally sure about If it was true. "She went dancing so I waited. What are you doing out here in the dark watching people anyways?"

"I doubt she would have shown up. The main reason being that seeing her sneak off with Blaise Zambini, about half an hour ago.

She couldn't help it and she blamed it all on the alcohol when the giggles erupted from her.

"Oh god" she managed to get out. "If Harry or Ron ever finds out they will be absolutely furious. Zambini is that black haired Italian Slytherin guy, yes?"

He nodded in response and she took a steadier grip around the banister to keep herself standing and concentrated her eyes on the man in front of her. He had positioned himself a couple of steps below her, but still his eyes where at the same level as hers. They glittered lightly in the gloom.

"Care to answer my question of why you are out here watching people leave then? Or is it above your honor to talk to a simple muggle-born like me?"

"If you haven't noticed I already spent quite some time talking to you. And to answer your question I left because I grew tired of all the random intoxicated girls trying to drag me off to some place or another. I have to admit that a lot of girls get a lot more forward when they had some alcohol. Anyway, you better get back to your dorm and sleep this off before you get into trouble."

Hermione gave him a glare.

"Why would I get into trouble? They gave us the booze this time, we didn't sneak it in. They should have expected us to end up wasted."

"I think that the professors of this school sometimes hold a somewhat innocent view of their students. They knew we'd drink, yes, but I doubt they would put things as a drunken Head Girl into the equation. Come now, I'll follow you back to the Head's room."

She felt an arm around her waist and to her own surprise she released her grip on the banister and leaned against his shoulder. Her head was spinning slightly but she didn't feel nauseous anymore, instead she felt light as a feather and all giddy. She wanted to laugh and jump around but the last coherent part of her mind told her that that would only end her face first in the carpet of the corridor.

"Why are you being nice to me?" she asked. "It's feels weird. I thought you liked me getting into trouble."

"Tsk, tsk, Granger. I'm only protecting my own interests. If the teachers ever found out what happen when their innocent little students are given big amounts of alcohol for free we can kiss this kind of party's good bye and that wouldn't be fun, now would it?"

"I thought you just said you didn't like drunken girls flinging themselves on you" she reminded him. "

"It all depends on the girl in question" he answered with a small smirk.

He got a steadier grip around her waist and started walking up the stairs. Hermione tried her best make her legs obey her and take one step at the time but the spirits where really kicking in now and when she missed a step for the fourth time he sighted, moved his arm underneath her arms and then proceeded to hoist her up bridal style. She made a half hearted protest and then slumped her head against his shoulder. It wasn't really uncomfortable being carried by him and that surprised her. He held her comfortably and his slow walk made her rock slowly back and forth in his arms. She tilted her head up a bit so she could watch his face.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"I told you already, I'm getting you back to your room so you can sober up and don't end up in trouble."

She nodded recalling the memory of their recent conversation through her blurry mind.

"I'm drunk" she stated, knowing it was obvious to someone who wasn't blind or deaf but somehow felt the need to mention it anyway.

"Yes you are. And I can tell you that you are quite heavy as well."

She made an attempt to smack him on the other shoulder which resulted in him almost dropping her on the floor. He increased his grip around her body and kept on walking.

"Be still" he muttered. "I can't carry you if you squirm around all the time.

Before she knew it they had made it past several floors and reached the door of the Head's common room and he muttered the password, waited for the painting to swing aside before stepping in. He walked over to the sofa and placed her on it, then reaching up behind his head trying to pry her hands from around his neck.

"You got to let go of me, Granger. Or do you plan on keeping on hugging me for the rest of the night?"

There was something in his voice that made her look up at him, his face mere inches from her own. She could almost feel his breath and there was a sparkle in his eyes that she never seen there before. It entranced her and pulled her in. And it was a decision made in the blink of any eye, fueled by too much alcohol and a deeply buried want to not have to care about being sensible for once.

She kissed him.

To her immense surprise he didn't pull away in disgust and before she knew it two arms where wrapped around her body and she felt herself being pulled closer to him.

The kiss was soft and undemanding to start with, she could taste Fire Whiskey and something spicy on his lips, but turned deeper and more urgent as it proceeded. She could feel his hands grabbing her harder around the waist, squeezing her hips to him. And the whole time she knew that this was stupid, this was wrong and she should snap out of it immediately before she did something she would regret. The reasoning part of her mind was completely overthrown by a larger part telling her that she didn't care if was stupid or wrong, she wanted it and she wouldn't regret it.

In a haze she knew that clothes where discarded, she felt warm skin against her own, hand roaming over her breast, stroking and foundling them, sometimes softly sometimes harsh and urgent. Her hands where equally occupied with touching his body, tangling in soft hair and tauntingly clawing him down his back. Somewhere along the lines she knew that there was not really any return now and that was her last coherent contemplation for a while.

It wasn't until they lay tangled on the floor, clothes completely discarded, him on top of her holding her face between her hands that reality came back knocking for a brief moment.

"You really sure this is what you want?" he asked. She lifted one hand and pulled him down to meet his lips with hers.

"I think it's too late to back down now, don't you?"

He growled into her lips but managed to keep his control somehow.

"I don't want to hurt you."

Suddenly she realized what he was worried about.

"Don't worry" she whispered, pulling him closer. "It's nothing I haven't done before…"

o

When he woke up the next morning he watched the petite brown-haired girl sleeping with her head resting on his chest, curls in a wild mess around her face and the make up from yesterdays party quite smudged out in the corners of her closed eyes. Even in that state he thought she was one of the pretties girls he seen. He couldn't really believe what had happened the previous evening.

Carefully stroking her hair, not to wake her up he remembered finding her on the stairs, visibly intoxicated and all alone. He didn't like that at all, knowing how easily someone bigger and stronger could take advantage of a girl in that state. He had seen too much of stuff like that on the Slytherin parties and didn't want something like that done to the girl he had found, sitting on the stairs last night.

He had made his way over when he saw her sit down and wondered if he had the courage just be civil to her for once. But as soon as she realized who she was speaking to he could almost see how she pulled her defenses up so he went for acting like he always did. She didn't quite respond the way he expected her to but since she was clearly not in her ordinary state of mind he blamed it on the alcohol. And when it became obvious that she could hardly walk up the stairs herself he did the only thing he considered appropriate. Hoisting her up in his arms, surprised at how little she seemed to weight he carried her up the different stairs, once in while giving an answer to something she said and reprimanding her for squirming in his grip since there was a risk of him dropping her. He really liked holding her close to his body like this. He didn't even let her down as the door to the heads common room swung open but carried her all the way over to the sofa and sat her down.

It was from here on things started to turn a bit out of normal. She refused to let her dead grip around his neck come lose and just looked up at him with those hazel eyes, asking him a dozen questions he didn't want to answer. He teased her of course, asking if she wanted to hug him all night and she just gave him another long look from those eyes.

What came next shocked him to his core. She just leaned up a bit and placed soft red lips, tasting of Fire Whiskey on his own lips, pulling him a bit closer. For a second he tried to pull back but those lips entranced him, made his mind whisper to him that this was all he had been asking about for a long time now.

Before he regretted it he wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her to him, not being able to comprehend how lucky he felt, holding the petite girl in his arms, kissing and touching her. From there he knew that their bodies took over the thinking, hands roaming, pulling clothes of, touching soft skin, grabbing and enjoying. A little part of him said he shouldn't be taking advantage of an intoxicated girl but looking into her eyes he knew she wasn't even close to being drunk enough to be really taken advantage of. Instead her brown eyes sparkled with want and she encouraged him to go on.

They tumbled down on the floor at some point when all clothes where gone, and all thoughts as well, except one. He didn't want to hurt her and he told her so. She whispered something back to him that he almost didn't comprehend since she dragged her nails down his back at the very same point. But a part of him felt an oddly discomforted at the fact that she done stuff like this before. Well, he was going to show her something she wouldn't forget for a long time.

o

Now as he lay there, slowly stroking the brown curls he knew that it wasn't she that would have a hard time forgetting about the previous night. He just wanted to lay her and watch her and remember. He knew she would never understand that this had meant much more to him then a one night stand, but knowing that she would never respond to his feelings for her, well of course she wouldn't, he did everything he could to hide them from her and everyone else, he decided to just get up since he doubted that she would want to wake up with him holding her like this, it would only lead to embarrassment and discomfort for both of them. So he pried her arms lose and lifted her light form onto the sofa, tucked her in with the blanked that had been draped across the back of it, gave her a soft kiss on her forehead and tiptoed back to his room.

A/N: Stones or cookies? I don't feel totally satisfied with this chapter but and it might seem a bit confusing at the start, but there is a goal with this story and I will get it there in time.

Don't forget to review or take a look at my other stories, please – it puts a big smile on my face to know people took their time reading what I wrote. Reviews = even bigger smile!

Until next time

/Miriam