Keeper

Chapter Nine

Much thanks to Keshet, rosie, LolLuna, MissGinervaPotter, kk1999, Jaja, Livi, Lady Padfoot21 and MadeNew for their reviews. They are much appreciated. You guys made my day.


With a small creak, the grand doors shut close behind them and they were finally outside. The moon shimmered of the dew covered grass and the leaves rustled as if there were somebody hiding in them – but Hermione knew no one was there, she felt protected. The wind blew eerily between her legs and she shivered, drawing closer to Draco.

"Remind me what we're doing again?" She murmured through chattering bones, before blowing warm air onto her pale hands, causing them to warm slightly.

Draco snapped out his daze and turned to her, his arm wrapping around her small shoulders. She gave him a strong glare but he remained there, and inwardly she was glad he didn't make an attempt to leave her side. He sucked in a breath before speaking, "I am trying to get you to be free." He began, his voice almost patronizing, and receiving another glare from the girl in front of him, only a few inches span away, "I want you, for once to break the rules and accept a night with me, even if all we do is just talk." He smirked mischievously.

She frowned and pulled back away from him, so that his arms were too far away to reach, "A night with you?" She paused, "Is this is what this is all about?"

Draco nodded and for a brief second, the wind tossed the blonde hair out of his silver eye's path. Hermione forced herself not to stare intently but it was difficult not to smile.

"Then why couldn't you just stay inside, at least that way-"

"But you wouldn't be breaking any rules then. Where would the thrill be if we just had a nice chat by the fire? When we could have a walk at midnight, which sounds more romantic to you?" He responded, almost seeming out of breath when he finished. His eyes looked somewhat embarrassed as he bit his lower lip and looked over to the distance. She knew that this boy was some sort of a womaniser, but she never knew it had bloomed into this extremity.

Hermione scoffed aloud, "Thrills? Romance? What happened to the Draco Malfoy I knew?" She asked, her eyebrow cocking up in surprise. She came back forwards and poked him in the chest, "Is he still in there?"

"I'm not sure…" He replied decidedly, looking a little serious. He faced his palms towards her, as if to show that he was perfectly innocent now, in comparison to his previous wicked ways.

Hermione giggled, "Well, that Draco would only think about picking on girls like me and making out with any other girl he took a fancy to. He would hate all Gryffindors and love everything evil!" She stifled a loud laugh when she saw Draco's horrified face expression.

"I'll have you know, that one – I now hate every Gryffindor except for one called Hermione Granger. And two – I still love everything evil… well, almost!" He smiled and pushed the blonde locks of face again, his smile proceeded to widen when he saw Hermione blush and fumble with the hems of her dress.

"But how am I to trust you? Evil, thrill-seeking boy who brews into romance with someone that he's supposed to hate; and probably forgetting that this is just the girl that he's completely traumatized over these past few years. Nevertheless for some reason I find that I'm falling far too deep-" Hermione began to say, her voice growing quieter and more heart-felt with each word she uttered.

Draco's eyes widened, afraid took her arms and pulled her towards him, so strongly that they collided into one another. Then, he leaned down to her height, and brushed his lips softly against hers - catching them both off guard, before he quickly pulled away.

"Just shut up." He said, smiling down at her, baring a sweet side of him. He wasn't ready to hear whatever thought she was just about to say, he didn't think he would be able to believe it – let alone utter it back to her.

Hermione nodded, her hands lingering on his waist, before he took them into his own and pulled her towards a rather large oak tree, near the side of the lake. Soon he let go of her and sat himself down on the earth, without caring about dirt or any such things. She stared blankly and he gestured for her to sit down.

He smiled again, except it was hardly visible in the dark, "I come here every break, and because I can't hang around with my old friends anymore, I stay here by myself and just hope it does me some good." She saw his smile fade slowly in the shadows.

She opened her mouth to say something, but was too shocked by his sudden declaration that no real words could come out. She had known that he was an independent sort of guy, but it hurt her that he had come to change himself so much. "Couldn't you just do work or anything of the such? I mean there's homework to do, right?" Was about all she managed to blurt out in the attempt to say something nice. Stab in the gut, that's for sure.

He looked up at her, still standing over him, and shook his head, "Finished it all at night, I'm not a dumb boy you know. I do have some brains up in this thick skull of mine, even if nobody actually knows it." He tapped his forehead with his finger and almost made it out to be completely hollow, but nobody laughed.

Hermione was surprised once more, that she was finding a deeper part of Draco that she had never known about, she sat close to him on a root that protruded from the ground, taking care to keep herself clean. She leaned in to make sure she could hear every word he said.

"You mean, you're, in actual fact… smart?" Hermione asked, her facial expression comical yet serious.

Draco chuckled, his hands grabbing his chest in mock pain, "Ouch Hermione! That hurt," He gave her a more solemn look after he was done laughing, "If you must know, from the strict family I'm from, I must be good at my studies, otherwise it will prove to be another disappointment to my parents – its not like the way it is for you, where it comes natural." He shrugged, in the way he does when he acts like his feelings aren't important. Anybody that knew Draco well, would know that it was a common gesture of his.

He saw Hermione's look of question and he answered, "I don't really show it in class, yeah yeah. I know."

Hermione nodded and gave him a short squeeze on the shoulder for comfort, but Draco acted otherwise, like it wasn't needed. He beamed and almost bounced in his soiled seat, with a sudden change in mood. Something brewing in his mind, like some sort of child's play.

"Lets heat this little night date we have here!" He said, rubbing his hands together in an evil sort of manner, and his eyes flashing something risky. Hermione almost snorted upon hearing the word "date" but held it in for the conversations sake; she wanted to know more about Draco's thinking.

"What do you mean? 'Heat'?" She asked, confused and felt something of fear too within her.

His gaze continued to follow a strange invisible path before him, and he carried on speaking, "Hermione, have you ever played a game of Truth…" He asked, half in a daze.

Her eyes widened and she thought of a quick retort, "Of course I have, why on earth do you ask?" Her heart skipped a beat, when she knew what was going on and immediately, she was uneasy.

Another shrug, followed by a casual smirk, "But you've never played with me."

She rolled her eyes and propped up her arm to rest her chin on it, "Fine, you little excited child." She hissed defeatedly, "What do we need to do?"

Draco sat still for a moment, "Just say the truth, and it goes around between the both of us – well, we are the only two playing…" Hermione cast him another overwhelmed look and he continued, "Simple as that!"

Her brows narrowed to focus on him, as she wondered how he could mood swing from spilling some guts, to back to his usual self. He was a never-ending battle that she would always need to fight – for a brief second, she realized that she would never get to know all of Draco Malfoy, but only just what he would be willing to tell, and that was not very much. She stifled a long sigh.

"Okay." She replied in so much words, going along with the situation and Draco instantly grinned. It was only fair that he move as far as he could from serious acts.

"Lets start easy!" He almost yelled, his face turning sombre as he racked his mind for a worthy "easy" secret, and it wouldn't be too difficult, he knew plenty of secrets. Most of which weren't his own. His fingers drummed against his right knee and temporarily, his eyes met with Hermione's. They looked nostalgic.

"I used to be in love with Pansy Parkinson." He finally said, his lips twitching into a crooked smile.

The both of them began into hysterical laughter, Hermione couldn't believe it and Draco couldn't either. It could have been the most obvious thing in the world, but Hermione never even second-guessed, it was too funny. Who would know, that the Prince of Slytherin was once in love – with a tramp. She wiped a tear from her eye, "Wow, you must have been deranged." She said, muffling her laughter with her hand, feeling sorry for him. To think he was so lonely, he fell in love with her – she erupted into another wave of new laughs. His face held no hurt or motion.

He smiled weakly, "I guess I was." He watched as Hermione began to look in thought, brushing a finger over her lip as she did so. His smile almost grew wider. If he only knew what girls thought of at times like these.

"I thought you were going to start easy," She sneered, thinking long and hard until she could find something good enough to say, but not so much of a secret. After all, who knew what would happen after she told him all her secrets, he was still a Slytherin, and if this… this thing they had here, didn't work out, what would happen then? Her heart ached, "I like books."

Draco nearly stood up, "What? Come on Granger that was pathetic." His eyes widened, "Here I am willing to pour my heart out to you and you're stating the clearly obvious!" He nudged her arm and pouted in false pretence until she gave in to his gestures. She shot him a nervous look, before thinking again.

She couldn't believe she was going to tell him this. Hermione hesitated for a minute or so.

"Fine, fine, I hmm – the only other person I have ever kissed is Ronald Weasley." She said shyly, to which Draco made a disgusted face, sticking out his tongue. It wasn't like he already knew that, because he knew everything about everyone, but it still made him writhe at the thought of it. That Weasley freaked him out – him and all the other orange tops in his ever-expanding family. He wasn't sure when another would just pop out to his surprise.

"That's revolting!" He cried tauntingly, "Are you trying to get me to puke up my dinner?" He added in a mocking tone of voice, but something in his mind made him jealous to think that somebody (especially that ginger cake) had been with Hermione before he had done. He wasn't her first kiss. Draco suddenly clenched his fists but relaxed at the sound her voice and snapped his head to face her.

"Come on!" She said, raising her voice to accompany the silence, "I told you something better didn't I? And it's not like I wanted to is it?" She stopped suddenly, and a deep blush coloured her cheeks. She diverted her eyes to the ground as she kicked at the dirt. Soon her shoes were covered in the thin layer of dust. As if they weren't dirty enough already…

Draco placed a hand on her leg gently, so that she stopped moving, fidgeting and he looked at her pale face, covered by a curtain of loosely curled, brown hair that kept a barrier between them, "You didn't want to?"

Hermione looked up, but only enough not to see his eyes burning holes in her skin, "I only love Ron as a friend, that's all and nothing more. How was I supposed to figure that one day, he was just going to go and kiss me when we where looking for books in the library." Draco smiled and she couldn't help but smiled back at the stupid memory, she let out a small giggle at his overly happy face.

"What?" She asked, snapping his daze. He widened his smile and hugged her tight around the waist, squeezing all of the air out of her. Being in his presence already made it hard for her to breathe, and now, all the air was gone.

"I'm happy you didn't actually want to kiss a loser like him!" Draco jeered and she slapped him on the arm, moving away from his hug, basically because sometimes he was an ass, "But you know you can't say love and Ron in the same sentence…" He chuckled again, baring his perfect set of teeth.

Hermione gagged before laughing at Draco's pathetic Ron-theories, her mouth wide open in shock.

"Yeah, whatever Draco. You're turn and better make it worth my while." She quickly said, to avert the conversation away from Ron, just in case it might come back to haunt the poor guy. She crossed her arms over her chest to ensure restriction from any more contact with this boy and his sudden hugs.

Draco looked up and thought, searching through his memory bank before finally thinking of a good thing to say. He laughed before leaning in close and cupping her face in his warm hands, laughing, "I think you're pretty…" He said and blushed.

Hermione gasped and proceeded to grow hot red, slapping his hands of her and wiping any traces of his touch away. It been her burn and shiver at the same time. Draco laughed at her reaction and put his hands up in surrender, begging her to calm down, resisting to recover his position in touching her soft skin.

"You're such a liar!" She screamed, her voice echoing in the dark. This boy was too much to handle. That smirk reappeared.

"Okay you got me! I was hoping to earn a kiss from all that trouble." He stated, his wicked smile still not disappearing from his face. He leant back into the dirt and his eyes strayed over to her, at an arms length away. They whisked from the ground and back, again, to her face. He repeated once more for good measure.

Hermione stopped her heavy breathing because for a second there, she actually believed him – but he just wanted a kiss. Dumb boys and their hormones. She constricted her need to start hyperventilating on the spot.

"Okay, I um – I used to dabble in black magic as a child. I was forced to." He said calmly, as if it was an everyday thing. He wittingly, avoided bringing up his previous statement again, for though he thought it was very much true. He turned around and lifted his shirt up a little bit; to reveal a faded scar on his lower back, "That's how I got this." He said, referring to the wound. Draco turned back around before Hermione could react and he plastered on a small smile. She was on the verge of reaching out to touch it, but it was quickly lost.

There he goes again, back to the serious Malfoy that only pops back once in a while. His mood swings were seriously attracted to her.

Hermione hesitated, trying her best to beat his troubled childhood secrets with her own, in the hopes of cheering them both up; "I almost blew up a boy, when he told me he wanted me to be his girlfriend at my muggle school. That's how I found out I could use magic, and my parents sent me here to Hogwarts. For safety reasons." She said, almost out of breathe once she finished. The image of her being uncomfortable at the sight of love almost made Draco cry with laughter in her face. But thank the Lord, that she was incapable of blowing anyone up now.

"Well, that's scarier than any black magic. Nevertheless, I have a darker secret! One that's darker that dark dark magic!" He laughed again and shook his head faintly, brushing a shaky hand through his fallen hair, "When I finish this damned school, I'm running away to somewhere far away, where I don't have to face this magic again! Or my family either. I don't care what leaving behind, I'll leave everything." His smile was still there, as if was a joke, but he was serious. Of course.

He faced the sky and the absence of stars saddened him. Hermione stared at his outlined figure and her heart sank when she knew that he was going to be nothing to her – and just gone. Without him, he would never have to think about her again. She felt stung, but smiled.

He smirked, but it fell into a sweet, small smile instead and his cheeks glowed a slight pink in the milky moonlight. He opened his eyes. Suddenly, Draco grew an unfathomable interest in the sunken girl beside him, who now held no awareness at the moment, but at her dirty sneakers. He turned towards her and leant in, placing his arm behind her so that they were barely even inches apart from each other.

She lifted her head; surprised and wide eyed, tilting so that she almost brushed into him. As if it was instinct, she would fit right into his arms, as if they were a key and a lock. But she gasped and drew back, too quick for Draco to actually react. She a hand to her warm, breathing mouth, and he swore he could smell her sweet breath from his distance.

"Draco…" She asked, frightened.

"Don't do anything." He said, pleading.

Her eyes quivered, studying him, and suddenly she didn't want to be here anymore. She couldn't tell what he was thinking and before long, thought that he was about to turn on her. Before she could get up, Draco pulled her hand away, with just enough strength to cause her to shiver at his soft touch. His fingers entwined with hers and they lingered by their side, Draco's brows narrowed, as if he was apologizing to go against her will. But his will wasn't strong enough.

"I'll leave everything but you." He murmured, his lips brushing faintly against her cheek. His breath was warm and he felt her stiffen at his words, surely if he moved away, she would fall face first into the dirt.

Then, without thinking, he pressed his lips frivolously onto her own, so all he could feel was her yielding, tepid mouth, and he pushed harder against her body - engulfing all open space between them. Hermione shoved against his Quidditch-toned body, but soon gave in to his open, welcoming mouth and his ridiculous amount of strength. Kissing him with all her heart and soul, though she was unsure of what she even felt for him. The light kiss become deeper, and Draco ran his fingers through her hair, fully aware of her jasmine-light scent in his nostrils, his other arm around her small waist.

He was overjoyed, and she was falling in love, with so much depth it was surreal and wrong. He was the enemy…

There was a loud cough, and Hermione shot her eyes open, for another long moment Draco thought it was nothing, and clung to her almost-limp body.

But Draco too opened his eyes, feeling her absence of passion - only to meet with the heart-wrenching sight of somebody watching them. He cursed as he tore his pounding lips away, and Hermione who had been leaning on him for precious support, almost fell. Though he had stopped, the sensation of her lips still washed over him several times before Snape spoke to them. His heart sung in his ears, from both the kiss and being caught, though he looked calm on the exterior; it was another few seconds before he could hear what anyone was saying.

Damn, Snape.

"Look what we have here," Another clearing of the throat, "Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger, out for a kiss in the dark…" He said, in his low, drone of a voice, his eyes hovering from each of their faces, piercing and painful nonetheless. Who figured that this night was Snape's patrol night, he just had to go and spoil the moment – as he does. Did this guy get any sleep? At all?

"Shit." Draco muttered, sitting up straight and for once, looking worried as he avoided the eye of his House Head. Hermione mirrored his expression after realizing what was going on, she gaped and couldn't help looking horrified. The girl who was never caught doing anything wrong, scratch that – the girl who did nothing wrong… was suddenly at the school criminal offence.

"That's right, Malfoy." Snape retorted coldly, probably still shocked to see these two people here at the least, an unlikely sight, "Swear all you want, you're still entitled to punishment for breaking the rules. Consider yourself lucky that you're in Slytherin, otherwise I would have taken much more privileges away from you boy! Like risk of getting expelled." He pointed a long, crooked finger at them and they flinched.

Draco stood up and Hermione felt like she had to too, she stumbled up and suddenly found herself hiding behind Draco for protection. But since when did she seek protection? She stood tall, and put on a brave face, though she felt otherwise. She shook and held her hands behind her back to hide them.

Snape cast her a brief look and said nothing, facing her companion again, "150 points from Slytherin, and both of you are in the hands of Filch for the rest of the holiday. I'm sure he'll be pleased to have some company this Christmas." Draco gave him an icy look and was about to give him a resounding answer but was cut off.

"Like I said, both of you, consider yourself lucky." He stated sternly, before grabbing a handful of Draco's shirt, forcing to escort him both to their quarters – he need no bother with Hermione, she was quick to follow close behind, he head hung in shame. It soon proved to be a very awkward trace of their travel to their rooms.

Getting caught never failed to be discomfited and tiring.

Kill Joy.


It was only at 3am that Hermione, who was sitting up in bed staring at the wall opposite her bed, that the guilt subsided and the thrill of the kiss finally hit her. Her eyes brightened, that they almost lit up the room, and she urged the feeling of just bursting into Draco's room to go for a third try.

But she wasn't sure if Snape was still waiting outside in the corridor, after he made sure they both went to their separate rooms - since he was there last time, when she heard Draco try to sneak out, only to meet face to face with Snape and get another loud mouthful from him. After a moment it was silent again, and she questioned what was to happen next. As she always did.

From the wall, opposite the windows behind her bed, she saw that it was growing the tiniest bit lighter. She wondered exactly how long she had been awake, but she didn't tired at the slightest. In fact, she had never felt more awake.

She traced her lower lip and smiled, he kissed her. Again. And again.

He must be interested, otherwise why would he bother, and for an instant, she thought he really did feel the same way about her as she did for him. There was a creak, and it took her a long time for her reflexes to kick in and realize that someone was in the room with her. Hermione moved her eyes over to the door, just in time to see Draco shut it behind him and lean on it in relief. He sighed deeply, before his eyes met hers and he flashed a cheerful smile.

Before there was time for her to move, he jumped into the bed to sit beside her, closer than her comfort zone let her believe. Where their arms brushed, electric was sent flying in all directions of her body. She took a sneak at his pale face, and looked away when he was staring at her too.

She smiled when all the feelings she had been thinking about in the past five hours, rushed and came tumbling back down. He smiled, and chuckled quietly at her face, he broke the silence and lit up the room. By now the sun, unlike the way it acted in winter, filtered warmly through the windows and gave an air of summer.

He turned his position so that he was facing her fully, and she did the same, not resisting her conscious for the while - for the time being.

"Can't sleep?" Draco's question ran out and they knew it was the same for both of them, he needed no answer – but she nodded anyway, "You always seem to leave me in sleepless nights."

He laughed quietly, but she knew he was, because the bed shook faintly in his movement. He reached out and brushed his fingertips on her face, moving them so the back of hand could trace her outlines too. It felt so good to finally do it without thinking about anybody else.

Her eyes flashed with a touch of reality, and he pulled back, though resting his hand on her waist, in a loose embrace, "What time is it?" It was her turn to ask the questions.

"Six." He said, "I've been waiting for Snape to finally leave and I wasn't sure when it was safe." His smile again, and not the usual mischievous smile, but the one somebody only saw when he was with her… that kind, loving, longing smile. The one that mirrored all her emotions, she wondered if he saw that in all her smiles too. It was unlikely – she thought.

As if he read her thoughts, he leaned in to press his forehead against mher own, so that their noses touched too. His smell was intoxicating and wondeful, Hermione leaned in to ensure it never left her, leaving her hands on his chest. For the first time in two days, she felt sleepy, like his presence was a lullaby alone – but she didn't want him to leave her sight. She felt free, and the sun's warm bath lit his sweet face up like a spotlight.

He smiled and shut his eyes, echoing her actions, and by the sound of simultaneous breathing, each one fell asleep in their own time.

In each other's thoughts and arms.


A/N : Here ye, here ye!! I finally updated. Haha, first story up after all the hectic exams, which were actually very vital for the rest of my education. Sorry, that makes me laugh a lot. Okay, here is chapter nineeeee. Wow. Its not good right, and bad time switchingish. But well, i worked pretty long on it. Ahh, my writing is rusty. But no fear, it shall prevail in the end. And as for my drill? Yeah, say it again with me... Read Read Review Review. And be honest, I need at the critic I can get in here. Aww I know somebody that looks a tad bit of what I imagine Draco to look like, sorry Tom Felton, but yeah. Wow.

Thanks a lot.

-Fallen11angel