Chapter 2
That morning Hermione woke to sunshine streaming in through her bedroom window…and something else. Something she couldn't quite place. She sat up and looked around searching for whatever it was…that…that scent. Then she saw it; the mystery flower sitting on her desk beside her bed, the edges of the petals still lightly glowing. All of last night came flooding back into her memory and she smiled at the thought. Stretching, she got out of bed, and went to the bathroom to freshen up for the day.
About fifteen minutes later, she got dressed and decided to read for a bit before heading down to breakfast, after all, it was still fairly early. As she was heading to walk out of her door, she stopped, turned around, and went back to her bedside table and picked up the vase. The scent was so amazing, she thought, she was going to fill the whole dorm up with it.
It was perfect, she sat on the couch, with a pillow, a blanket, a nice big book, and her new flower to top it all off. She was just settling in when the other bedroom door opened and Malfoy stepped out, still in his sleep wear; which consisted of boxers, sleeping pants and nothing else. Hermione sat very still as Malfoy stumbled out of his room rubbing his eyes. He then ruffled up his hair, which made him look rather cute by the way, raised his arms above his head, scrunched up his eyes and did a huge stretch. As he was doing this, Hermione stared fixedly at his chest and stomach which were etched with muscle. His skin pale and so smooth, she almost just wanted to reach out and t-…no, no she didn't. What was she thinking?!
Just then Malfoy stopped in mid yawn and didn't move an inch. Hermione looked up to meet his eyes, which were as wide as hers. She felt herself begin to blush when he didn't look away from her. He slowly lowered his arms, mumbled a "Good morning", and made a bee line straight back for his bedroom closing the door behind him.
Half an hour later, Hermione got off the couch and went back to her bedroom, dropping off her book. As she headed back out to the main room, Malfoy stepped out of his room as well.
'Say something!' she thought to herself… "Morning Malfoy. Sleep well?" she said nonchalantly.
"Yes, I did," he replied, "and you?"
"Yes, thanks." She started to head out of the portrait hole to make her way to breakfast when he said, "Is that yours?"
She turned around and looked to see what he was talking about. He was staring at her mystery flower, with an expression on his face she couldn't quite place.
"Oh, um, yes, It's mine…someone, er, gave it to me." She could feel a slight blush creeping up her cheeks.
Then he looked at her, "Who gave it to you?"
"That's the thing…I don't know."
Was that a twinkle in his eye? No, it must be the light.
"You don't know? Well where did you receive it?" he asked.
"I got it last night, after patrol while I was up at the Astronomy tower. But they must have used a disillusionment charm because I didn't see them."
"The Astronomy tower, what were you doing up there so late?"
Her cheeks really burned now. "I…I just needed to get some air and clear my head before I came to bed, that's all." She said with a bit too much snap to her voice.
He continued to stare at her, and then looked back at the flower with a slight smile on his face, "Oh, I see. Well I hope you discover who gave it to you. It's very pretty… whoever it is must really like you."
Her eyes widened slightly, "What makes you say that?"
He raised his head and looked back at her, "Well if I was to give someone a flower like that, it would be to show them how beautiful I think they are."
Hermione didn't know what to say back to him.
Malfoy started to walk to her and she couldn't move, he looked like he was going to stop in front of her, but he took a step sideways and went to walk out of the portrait hole. She stared after him, and he said, "Well, guess I'll talk to you later." And he was off.
In an effort to get the students of each house to socialize more, McGonagall changed the Great Hall so there were no longer 4 long house tables, but about 15 smaller circular ones. Hermione knew it would be hard for Draco to adjust considering hardly any of his house had returned with him, so the first day, she went and sat with him. He was surprised at first, but didn't object. Throughout the week, Harry and Ron soon followed her lead, joined by Ginny, Luna, Cho, Neville, and even another Slytherin boy, who's family, like the Malfoy's, had changed views. Overall, it was a good first week. And getting a mystery flower didn't hurt either, Hermione thought.
The next week went just as well; Hermione was doing well in all her classes, though the work load was significantly larger since they would be working towards their NEWT's at the end of the year. Harry and Ron, even after everything they had done in fighting a war, still needed help on their homework, but she didn't mind, she would just laugh and then look over their essays, reminded of all the other times she had to do it for them.
By the end of the first month into the school year, it was beginning to get more difficult, McGonagall was loading on the homework along with all the other teachers, and even the infamous Hermione Granger was slightly frazzled. That afternoon she decided she would go back up to the Astronomy tower after her patrol duties to clear her head again. It was her favourite new 'secret-spot' to get away from it all, well secret apart from Malfoy knowing, but why would he care?
It was around 11:30 PM, Hermione had finished her patrols early that night and was taking in deep breaths at the top of the highest tower of the school. She loved the view, even at night, it was remarkable. There were hardly any lights so the stars seemed to go on for infinity. It was a bit cooler that evening and the wind had picked up making her shiver. She wrapped her cloak around her more tightly and leaned against the stone railing gazing over the grounds.
Just then she thought she heard a noise behind her, but when she turned to the door, she saw nothing. Thinking it was only the wind she faced the great expanse of land again and looked out into the darkness. Another gust came up and she cringed against the wind, shivering.
Before she could react, she felt a blanket being put over her shoulders and a voice spoke, "Are you cold?"
She whirled around to see a pair of silver grey eyes staring back at her.
She let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh my God Draco, you scared the hell out of me." Then she noticed he still had one hand on her shoulder, holding the blanket he had just put on her.
"But, um, thank you for the blanket, I was a little cold, yes." She finished with a small smile.
Although when she looked back up at him, he wasn't smiling, he had an expression of shock across his face…oh no, what had she said?
"What? What's wrong? What did I say?" she said quickly.
"You…you called me Draco…not Malfoy." he replied.
She blushed at that.
"Oh, well, sorry…I didn't mean to…" she stammered.
"No, its fine…I'd like you to call me by my first name…"
"Oh, alright then, I can do that." She said hesitantly.
"Good…may I call you, Hermione?" he finished with a smile.
She looked up at him; the way he said her name with his smooth voice, she liked it. It felt right, and when she said his name, it felt right too. What did that mean?
"Hermione, you're shivering."
She blinked and looked down, sure enough she could see herself shivering, and feel her teeth chattering.
Just then, Draco took a step towards her.
She froze and looked at him.
In the moonlight, his silver eyes almost seemed to glow. He really was quite handsome.
He was now so close to her, there were only a few inches left in between them.
She was about to take a step back when she smelled it. That scent; the scent of her flower. But she didn't have it with her, it was in their dorm. Then it hit her. It was Draco, he smelled like the flower. She gasped.
"You! You smell just- just like the flower that I received!"
And another realization hit her…the colours…emerald green and silver…Slytherin colours.
"But, but, you…you couldn't have given-, did you…?"
Smiling, he put both of his hands on her arms, "Yes, I gave you the flower."
"But…why?" she was perplexed. Why on earth would Draco Malfoy give her such a beautiful flower? Sure he was a lot nicer now, but to actually give her something? She didn't understand.
"Why? Because you were the one to sit with me the first day we all came back, when no one else did. Because even after all those years I was horrible to you, you befriended me when I didn't deserve it. You saw the change in me."
He looked down and sighed, then looked back up into her eyes. She felt like he was staring into her soul. He then raised his right hand and traced her cheek and jaw line with his finger, smiling at her flush. She closed her eyes at the contact.
"I gave you that flower Hermione, because of its beauty. To me, your eyes are like honey and can read right through me. Your skin is so creamy and soft and I long to touch it. You smell like vanilla and I can't think straight when I'm around you."
She didn't know what to say…it was like she didn't know how to speak, she tried, but nothing came out.
Not only could she not speak, but she couldn't move, she was a statue.
Then he wrapped his strong arms around her and hugged her, pulling her tight against him. And she melted. She loved how warm he was, how she could feel his steady heartbeat, his toned body through his clothes, and in the back of her mind, she wanted to run her fingers along every inch. Run them through his silk blonde hair.
He loosened his grip on her slightly, and it tickled as he brought his mouth near her ear, and spoke, "I gave you that flower because I think you're beautiful too."
Her legs felt like jelly and she never wanted him to let her go, it felt so good to be in his arms, him of all people, but it just felt so right, like it was meant to be all along.
But she could feel him sliding away, as he brushed his lips across her cheek; she ached for him to move just a little closer for him to kiss her. She ached to feel his lips on her own, but he did not. He stopped just short at the corner of her mouth and whispered, "Goodnight Hermione."
When she opened her eyes, he was gone. She stood there, she didn't know how long, maybe a few minutes, maybe more. But she didn't care. What had just happened? She was so close to kissing Draco Malfoy, her enemy for so many years…yet that wasn't the part that scared her. It was the fact that she wanted him to kiss her, and she wanted to kiss him in return.
She shivered. Already, she missed his touch, his warmth.
