Hermione's eyes felt like they had never closed a day in her life. She barely realized the outside world was going on around her since drowning herself in the knowledge she was given. Unfortunately It had been two days since getting the books from Malfoy Manor and she hadn't found a single useful piece of information. There was a reference to a certain parchment that dated back to 990 A.D. Which was hopeful considering that was when Hogwarts was founded, but the hope faded quickly since, one, she had no idea where she would find said document and two, the whole text was written in Old Latin, she was just a touch rusty in. Ok completely rusty.
"Ugh…" She dropped her head in her hands. She was not one to give up but for Godric's sake this was frustrating.
She pushed herself to her feet to make some tea to hopefully relax when the door echoed with a thud.
Opening it, she expected to find Severus, maybe Minerva. Never did she fathom the gray eyes that belonged to Draco Malfoy. Hermione couldn't believe he would ever be caught dead making a visit to her.
"Are you just going to gawk at me or invite me in?" Draco teased.
He was teasing now...maybe she had fallen asleep on her books. Still a little shocked at his house call she regained her speaking ability.
"Come in. Any particular reason for this visit?"
"Other than to see your cheery face you mean?" The blonde smirked as he plopped down on her small sofa.
Not knowing what to respond with she just fiddled with the hem of her shirt. Draco noticed her uncomfortableness and just rolled his eyes as he waved his hand in mid air making a small rusty key appear, he plucked it quickly out of the air before it fell, holding it up to her.
"This." Her thin eyebrow rose, properly confused at why she would want an old key…
"It opens a safe which contains a majority of Hogwarts ancient texts. You see I can't just hand them over to you and not worry they won't get lost or stolen." Malfoy didn't have a shred of accusation in his voice, so she knew he didn't mean stolen by her.
"Plus Morher would have kittens if she even knew I was handing over any part of the Malfoy fourtune." He said as he held it out to her.
She took the offered key and before she could tuck it into her pocket a gold chain grew from the top and wrapped loosely around her neck, hanging just below her collarbone.
"It will extend when you need to use it, but...it will only work for you and I am the only one allowed to take it off."
She examined the little scrap of magic she just received, feeling the enchantment buzzing in her small fingers, vibrating off the key.
"Thank you." She looked at him, wondering if he was always this way or if it took work to achieve this new persona he was emanating. He had more sarcasm and quips than one person needed, but underneath the layer of arrogance he was actually nice, in his own Draco sort of way.
"Don't mention it." He extracted himself from the cushions and headed for the door.
"Wait!" Hermione turned toward his retreating figure. "Where is the safe at?" Meeting his steel gaze.
"In a room where you can find anything that you need." The blonde wizard winked at her and left without another word.
She stood there with the key still in her grasp. Her dwindling hope just flourished a little, knowing the answers she needed where in her reach. A thrill ran through her because she knew exactly where to look, there was only one place she knew of that held that description. The Room of Requirement.
"Was that Draco I saw leaving here?" Snape's vibrato cut through her bubbling excitement.
"Yes. He gave me what I needed to find out how to create the protections around the castle."
Severus tightly smiled as he came closer to envelop her in his arms. She looked like she had not been getting much sleep. They spent most every night together, but the little witch must of been getting up after he closed his eyes to dive into her research. He knew he couldn't demand her to ease up, and it held little interest for him to be controlling of her, he wanted her to be independent and one of the reasons he loved her was due to her fiery free willed spirit, but she had to slow down. It was interfering with her health.
"Hermione…" Severus said carefully as he pulled her away, looking into her eyes. "You should slow down love, it does little good to work yourself to death. Plus this batty old man would have to admit that he would miss you, and that does terrible things to my perfect reputation."
She giggled slightly at his joke but then the young witch sighed, she knew he was right, but she needed to do this especially before Harry arrived at the Castle in a couple days, that way she could put all her attention on fixing their friendship if it needed.
She wasn't good of letting go of her control, sometimes she desperately wanted to, but she didn't know how.
"I…I just don't know how to let go, especially when something needs to be done." He drew his arms around her waist and pulled her into his chest. "I want to, I know it is bad for me to barely eat because I'm so focused and to anxious to sleep because it is time wasted." He listened while stroking her hair. He knew how she felt, it took him a long time to find a semblance of balance in his life.
"If you're not opposed I do have a suggestion."
"What is it?" Her brown doe eyes looked up at him.
Severus trailed kisses along her jaw, making her skin hum with pleasure.
"Do you trust me?" He murmured against her neck, shooting pleasure to her chore as his silky voice seeped into her.
"Yes." Hermione gasped, sounding breathless. She did though. With her life, and if she gauged his feverish kisses correctly she definitively trusted that she liked where this was going.
A/N: Hope all you lovely people enjoyed! Thank you to those have reviewed! Constructive criticism is welcomed. Let me know what you think :) ~Enchanted21