The Touch
When his hand touched mine, I felt and electrical surge run all through my body. I looked at Draco's face with a slightly open mouth in shock. Well, I couldn't see my own face, but I imagined that it looked exactly like his. Mouth hanging open, big, shocked eyes and eyebrows in the hair. So, he had definitely felt the same thing as I. He quickly released my hand and looked away, and so did I.
I had nothing to say, I was way too stunned at what had just happened. It had been months since I last had that feeling. It was when Ron first time kissed me during the Battle of Hogwarts. The kiss had sparked all kinds of feelings inside of me, which led to a three month long relationship. We had ended things on good terms, no hard feelings on either side. We just decided that our friendship was better than our relationship. Experiencing that feeling again should have been pleasant. If it hadn't been for Draco Malfoy. Why, oh why did I have to get that feeling when he touched me? It was beyond ridiculous!
"I wonder how long we have to stay here," I said just to say something and end the embarrassing and awkward silence. Draco turned his head a little and looked at me again. His look was quizzically as if he was trying to fathom something that wasn't supposed to be comprehended.
"I think it could take all day," he answered and moved his gaze to my hand. The hand he had just touched. "We'll have to wait and see."
And then he reached out and gently ran a finger over the back of my hand. The feeling made me tremble and I hated myself for that. He shouldn't have that power over me.
"Huh," was all he said and then removed his finger.
The silence continued and this time I didn't want to end it. It was his turn, my stubborn heart yelled at me. He didn't say anything. But I one noticed how he kept looking at my hand. One time he even moved his gaze from my hand and traced my arm all the way to my face. I stared back at him and he smiled wickedly. I have to say, it actually made me a little exited, but most of all I was mad. I was having a really hard time grasping this new feeling towards him and he just smiled!
"What?!" I snapped at him, making him smile even more.
"It's a shame you are too feisty," he commented. "You are actually quite hot."
I hit him. Hard. Unfortunately I missed his face because he moved his head before my fist hit it, but instead my hand made contact with his chest that made him curl up.
"What did you do that for?" he moaned in pain while he was holding both hands to his chest. Suddenly I realized that I was touching Draco Malfoys chest. So what if he had a shirt on, I was still touching his chest! And yet again electricity passed through me.
I ignored it and said, "You made fun of me!"
"When did I do that?" he asked stunned.
"Just before, when you said that about me!"
"What, that you are feisty?" his voice was confused, and that got to me a little.
"That too but what about the part where you called me hot?!" I tried very hard not to scream at him.
"Since when is giving a compliment teasing?" he sounded really sincere.
"It is when you don't mean it," I answered with my nose held high.
"You think I didn't mean that?"
"Of course you didn't mean it," I answered him, but I heard the uncertainty in my voice.
"Well, I meant it," he said softly, and I knew he wasn't lying. I saw the truth in his sparkling, gray eyes.
I didn't have a comeback for that one. How do you answer something like that? My enemy for life just gave me a compliment. There was only one thing I could say.
"Thank you," I whispered.
"Don't take it too seriously, Hermione," he said with a smug smile. "It was just a compliment."
"I know," I quickly said.
"Good," he said and we fell silent once more.
It was hard being civil with Draco. It was really hard to suddenly just trust him and believe him. And not hate him. On top of that he made my stomach fill up with butterflies, he made my mouth dry and my toes curl. Oh God, it was really bad.
"What are you going to do for Christmas?" he suddenly asked.
"I don't know yet," I answered. "I might just go home. See my parents."
"You aren't going to see Weasley?" he asked and sneered at the name.
"I might do that too for a day or two," I answered. "I could also just go to Harry's." I thoughtfully added.
"Potter has his own place?" Draco asked in surprise.
"Yes," I said. "He inherited it from his Godfather Sirius."
"That's right," Draco said. "His Godfather was Sirius Black."
"Sirius was really a good man," I always found myself defending Sirius when someone mentioned his name.
"I know, remember?" Draco said.
Of course I remembered what he was referring to. He was thinking about the night Ron, Harry and I were held captive in his mansion and I was being tortured by his aunt Bellatrix. Peter Pettigrew had been there, and he had killed himself there. But when Peter was allowed in that house with those people, then of course the Malfoy family knew about him and Sirius.
"Sorry," I apologized. "I always get so jumpy when people talk about Sirius. He was a wonderful man and I really miss him. But Harry misses him even more, and that hurts, you know? To see someone you love in pain. Still, Harry has Teddy now. And Ginny. He'll be alright."
I smiled when I remembered the little boy at home with Harry. Teddy Lupin had lost both his parents during the Battle of Hogwarts, parents that I had been proud to call my friends, but Harry was his Godfather and he took in the boy as if he was his son. I then decided on at least visiting Harry and Teddy.
"So Potter has this Teddy and the Weasley girl," Draco said. "Who do you have?"
I stared at him before answering in a whisper, "I have my parents."
I knew he didn't mean it like that. He was talking about a boyfriend and I didn't have one. But how twisted was this? I was ashamed of not having a boyfriend when Draco Malfoy asked me about it.
"Nobody else?" he asked and actually sounded surprised. I shook my head.
"What about you?" I asked, trying to turn away the attention from me.
"I also just have my parents," he answered without sounding even the slightest bit uncomfortable with it. "So, that's where I'm going for Christmas. I envy you, though."
Okay, that really almost made me choke! Draco Malfoy, the rich, spoiled kid, envied me, the Muggleborn nerd.
"Why would you do such a silly thing?" I asked him with big, non-believing eyes.
"Because you have friends," he answered me softly. "I mean, actual friends who care about you. The fact that you can visit them whenever you want and that you are actually welcome and wanted amazes me. And it makes me a little jealous. You have a pretty good life."
And… then I blushed. Because, let's face it, he was right. My life was actually quite good, and just before I was embarrassed at not having a boyfriend. But really, who needs that when they have friends and family like mine?
"I do," I said with both a blush and a smile.
"It's nice to see the two of you finally getting along," I heard Madam Pomfrey say as she walked towards us. "I have something else here." She put down a bottle of some sort of lotion on the little table next to our beds.
"What's that?" Draco sceptically asked.
"It's a Peeling Lotion," Madam Pomfrey asked. "I'm not sure if it will work. Normally I use it to peel of dead skin and such things. But perhaps it can work."
She took the cap of the bottle and took hold of our joined hands.
"You might feel a slight burn," she warned us before she poured the lotion over the place where our hands were glued together.
Oh, and it burned! The lotion was fiery red and it felt like it lit a fire on my skin. I balled my hand into a fist and dug my fingernails into my palm to switch the pain. I noticed Draco doing the same thing. Then she started to rub the lotion over our hands and the burning spread and intensified. Without thinking I grabbed Draco's free hand with my own and clutched on to it. When I remembered who the hand belonged to, I wanted to free myself, but it was impossible since Draco was squeezing my hand tightly. I looked at him and saw him looking at me. I tried to smile encouragingly at him, but the smile was shaky and fell apart because of the pain. He tried to do the same but with no better result than mine.
Then the burning finally ended as Madam Pomfrey wiped away the lotion. I tried to move my hand away from Draco's but nothing happened. We were still stuck together. I sighed heavily and heard Draco do the same thing.
"Guess we'll have to stay a little while longer," Draco said and smiled at me. I weakly returned the smile.
A part of me wanted to get the Hell out of there, to get as far away from him as possible. But another part of me, the noisy part of me, wanted me to stay put to explore the new feelings I was suddenly developing for Draco. Since I couldn't follow my first instinct and get away, the other half won. And I was secretly glad that it did.
"I guess so," I answered him. Then I remembered that we were holding hands even though the pain had subsided. Where it had felt comforting and suiting before it was now just plain awkward. Fast I pulled my hand back and felt my cheeks heat up.
"And, er," I stammered "sorry about that by the way."
"Don't worry about it," he calmed me. "It actually helped. Who would have thought that Hermione Granger was going to help me?"
I laughed.
"The same person that thought that we were going to be stuck together," I answered and he started laughing as well.
The third chapter, tell me you thoughts please.
