The change in light from the barely-lit corridors of the castle to the blazing midday sun, in what Hermione assumed, as she took in the surroundings quickly calculating in that constant-overdrive mind of hers, to be about mid May was almost as blinding as the light that had propelled them to the moment in time they were now stuck in. For a moment, Hermione had dared to hope that the diary had activated once more in order to send them back, however her perceptive mind had already skilfully surmised that a series of events would have to play out before they would return. Just what those events would be she had yet to fathom.
Malfoy was skulking behind her, and she turned to urge him on.
"We are bound to these moments, you really have got to keep up" she huffed, grabbing hold of his sleeve. He yanked his arm away and she glared up at him, angered at the display of repulsion that, while characteristic of his behaviour towards her, she resented more each time she witnessed in their interactions.
Turning from him and picking up her own pace, she missed the momentary guilt that fluttered across his face, as his normally stoic features betrayed his hidden emotions. He knew how she had taken the gesture. Years of torment fuelled by the way he knew he was supposed to behave towards her for the sake of keeping up appearances combined with his own need to mask what he tried, often in vain, to suppress for his own sanity, biased her perception of his actions whenever they interacted. Why should here be any different?
Half way down the grassy embankment, she turned again, and glowered fiercely at him
"Come on!" she huffed, bounding after the laughing group as they made their way down towards the lake. Picking up his pace to a jog, he followed suit and smirked as he passed her
"Race you then Granger!" he called as she rolled her eyes at his back. She was looking at her feet, carefully picking out each step so as not not stumble as the slope increased. So focused was she on her own descent that she failed to notice Malfoy had come to a halt, crashing into him with enough force to make the taller boy stumble his step but she being shorter, faltered all the more and landed in a heap at his feet. A scowl across his face, he looked down her and she glared at his expression. Realising she had misconstrued the reason for his expression, he reached down to silence her as she opened her mouth in readiness, a verbal reprimand of his affectation already formulated.
With one hand gently pressed to her cherry lips, and the another reaching for her delicate hand, he righted her in one swift motion and pressing her back to his chest, forcing her to witness the true reason for his abrupt halt at the shore of the lake and the scowl she had seen marring his features. He closed his eyes and once more breathed in her heady scent as she watched the exchange between the group of boys, Lily a few paces back with short stocky boy who tagged along behind them, and the young boy with greasy black hair sat reading a book under the tree.
While she watched in angry silence, he allowed his mind to drift, suppressing a rage he knew he couldn't act on. He thought of the girl, who he clutched by her small biceps to his chest and thought back to the earlier exchange between Lily and James and a small part of him craved that intimacy with Granger. He didn't want to admit it, but here, stuck in this bubble, who would know if he gave in?