Thanks for the follows and reviews! Here's chapter 2. This one is still perfectly PG, but I promise that won't always be the case;)
Chapter 2 - Proclamations
Hermione stood up from her chair, suddenly filled with resolve. How could she have been so selfish? She might be embarrassed over their encounter on the astronomy tower, but he'd been having to deal with half the school and the Daily Prophet gossiping openly about him and his family. And from what she could tell, he hadn't been hiding in his rooms like she was... She had to go to him. Tonight.
She swept over to her desk and quickly grabbed her wand, which she used to cast a disillusionment charm over herself. As a teacher, she was perfectly within her rights to wander the corridors as late as she wanted (and it was only half past seven now), but she didn't want to have to answer any questions, fearing it might lessen her resolve.
As she slid out of the portrait hole that served as the entrance to her office and apartments, the portrait of the Roman goddess Minerva swinging back onto the wall with a soft thud, Hermione heard a voice say, "Quis est?"
"It's just me, Minerva, I'll be back later," she responded.
"Vale, bonum nocte."
Hermione took her time heading to the teachers' lounge. Her disillusionment charm was powerful, especially effective in the darkness of the lantern-lit corridors of Hogwarts at night, but she could still be heard. As she tiptoed past the top of the grand staircase, she overheard two Gryffindor fifth-years conferring in a half-whisper.
"Yes, well, Rupert's father works for the Ministry, and he said Potter's been cooped up in his office for a week. Can't come out and say anything against the Malfoys, see?"
"What do you mean? He's head auror, he's supposed to say what's true."
"Yeah, but he can't, can he? Not without looking like he's nursing an old schoolboy grudge against Draco Malfoy."
"Why should that matter?"
"Because after the Malfoys came back over to the side of the Order, Draco gave a lot of money to the cause to get people on his side. Stop everyone asking questions about his loyalty, you know? Same as his dad did after the first wizarding war, old Lucius, rest his soul. So now Potter's tongue is tied, especially after Draco donated that new wing at St. Mungo's-"
"That's Professor Malfoy to you," Hermione rasped in her best impersonation of the Bloody Barron, the frightening Slytherin House ghost. The two fifth-years gave a start and quickened their pace, looking round for the source of the sound. Hermione laughed darkly, surprised at her own little prank, and continued on. She wasn't quite sure what had made her stand up for Draco Malfoy, only that in that moment she couldn't bear to hear him disrespected by his own students.
That knowledge unnerved her slightly, and her confidence began to crumble as she remembered, yet again, that moment one week ago atop the highest tower in the castle. It unnerved her that he had seen her at her most vulnerable. Though she wasn't certain exactly what had happened in the moments before she was staring up into Draco Malfoy's worried face, she felt sure that had he not been there to stop her, she would have wandered right off the edge of the tower.
She couldn't remember precisely what she'd been dreaming just before she awoke in his arms, but she had the strangest feeling he'd been present in her dreams. All week she'd had the nagging feeling that she'd shared something she shouldn't have-something private-in that surreal, hazy moment between sleep and awake. The moment between him catching her and her full consciousness returning. She wished she could remember, but she couldn't seem to unfog the memory at all. The whole event was extremely disconcerting, even now.
With all of these thoughts still swirling in her head, she stopped outside the teachers' lounge, removed the disillusionment charm she had placed on herself, and pushed open the door. It was dimly lit-only the crackling fire casting light over the room-but she could see Professors Bones and Finch-Fletchley playing a game of wizard chess at the table in the middle of the room and, in the corner, seated at a writing desk and hunched over a large book, Draco Malfoy.
He looked up as she came inside, but Justin Finch-Fletchley spoke first. "Good evening, Hermione."
"Evening, Justin. Who's winning?"
"Oh, I think Susan's about to force my king to surrender this one, but I won the last two games. Would you like to take my seat for the next game?"
"Oh, no Justin, that's really alright. I'm afraid I've never been much of a chess player. Just came to by to, erm, well, I think I've left a book lying round somewhere, so I'll just go and have a look."
"Right, cheers. And-"
"Checkmate," said Susan Bones.
Hermione laughed as Justin mimed being stabbed through with a sword while Susan's queen advanced on his nervous-looking king, then headed towards the bookcase near where Malfoy was reading. It was dark enough that Susan and Justin, absorbed in their game of chess, didn't notice how he looked up from reading to watch her as she feigned searching the shelves for her missing tome. Nor did they see the way she pushed her hair back from her face so she could see him in her periphery, feeling his eyes on the back of her and suddenly self-conscious of every movement.
"Evening, Professor Granger," he said in a low voice. Hermione turned around, slightly taken aback at the formality of his address, but he was smiling sportively.
"Evening, Draco. I-I didn't see you there."
"Looking for something?" he said, pushing back from the desk and rising from his chair.
"Oh, not really. I mean yes, a book. That is..." She took a steadying breath and stood a little taller. "That is, I was looking for you. Actually."
He didn't say a word but came to join her in front of the bookcase.
"I wanted to thank you," she continued quietly. "The other day... I'm sorry I ran off. If you hadn't been there... Well, thank you, Draco."
He seemed surprised to hear the sound of his name on her lips, but he nodded, if somewhat awkwardly, in acknowledgement of her gratitude. "I'm just pleased to know you're alright. Are you? I haven't seen you all week."
"Oh yes, fine. Just a bit shaken perhaps. My memory of that evening is a little hazy still. I mean, the thing about sleepwalking is while you may appear conscious, you have no awareness of anything happening around you. Which is, of course, how I ended up on the highest tower in the castle in the middle of the night, I can only assume. It's just-well, not remembering-I'm afraid I don't recall anything I might have said or done, you know, before I was fully awake. It's sort of a compromising position to be in, the not knowing. I suppose I feel a bit..."
"Vulnerable?"
"Yes."
"You needn't worry, Granger. I won't tell a soul."
"Won't-? So I did say something, then?"
He stared at her fixedly. "You really don't remember?"
"The first thing I remember is laying on the ground looking up at you. And then running away."
He paused a moment, as if he wanted to choose his words carefully. "You said... Well, it's really neither here nor there, as I assure you I won't speak of it to anyone. I'm very sorry to have put you in such a compromising position, Granger. I'm glad you're alright. I'm afraid I must excuse myself, this room is awfully hot." And then, "Shall I walk you back to your office?"
Hermione was at a loss for words at his abruptness followed by his change in tone. "Oh, yes, thank you."
They left the lounge in a confused silence and headed up the corridor back towards her apartments. The halls were emptier now, as most students were either in the library or in their common rooms after dinner. Still, neither of them said a word. The silence was agonizing in a way Hermione couldn't quite articulate to herself. Now quite convinced she had said something to be embarrassed about in her sleep and bothered over the fact that Malfoy was unwilling to enlighten her, she had fifty things she wanted to say and nothing she felt she could.
They had reached the portrait of Minerva that marked the entrance to her office. She paused, wondering what on earth to say before departing, but Malfoy saved her the trouble of deciding.
"Hermione, I'm sorry. I should have put you at your ease. You didn't say anything you ought to be embarrassed about. And rest assured that whatever did occur is between the two of us. I would never betray your trust."
"You-you wouldn't?"
"Of course not."
"But why?" she blurted out. Of all the ways she had imagined this conversation going, this was totally unexpected. Though it had been a while since they'd been enemies, she'd never considered Draco a friend exactly. Mostly, for the past three years while they'd both been teaching at Hogwarts, they had, by all appearances, had the sort of detached, cordial acquaintanceship where very little of consequence is ever shared. Their conversations until now had mostly pertained to the business of teaching-discussing what to do about an unruly student, asking each other what they thought about the last staff meeting, politely nodding at each other in the corridor between classes.
Of course, there were also those occasional nights when the two of them were the last two left in the teachers' lounge or in the library. Where no more than a few words were ever shared; where they simply shared the silence. There was always something calming about the routine of those nights, a sense of benign continuity. Knowing he was there as she sat and planned her lessons or graded exams... It was familiar, no matter how they had despised each other in their school days.
She couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when she stopped hating him. It certainly hadn't been when he and his family had come over to the good side in the war. Then she had mistrusted him, the memories of his nefarious activities in their sixth year still fresh in her memory. But somehow over time, without her notice, her anger and hatred had evaporated. He had become a familiar presence. And now here he was, standing in the empty corridor outside her office, looking at her with those piercing grey eyes, and telling her he would never betray her trust.
"Why is that?" she asked him, baffled by his sudden sincerity.
"Didn't you know? You're the reason I came back to the light. You're the one who makes me want to be better. I would never betray your trust because I know you could never betray mine. Goodnight, Granger. Sweet dreams."
He turned to leave and then paused, as if debating with himself a moment. "That night on the tower... Just before you woke up. You said, 'Save me, Draco.'"
And with that he disappeared down the dark corridor and into the night.