Disclaimer:I don't own Harry Potter.
Soundtrack:First three quarters: In the house, in a heartbeat - John Murphy
Last quarter: Nothing :(
DAY NINE
A whole day and a half
That was how long she hadn't spoken to him.
He tried everything- apologising, (directly may he add) finishing that stupid Beauty and the Beast book, tried to make her laugh, tried to make her smile, but nothing worked. She was mute: always reading, sleeping, eating, or wandering off somewhere.
He didn't like it.
A while ago, it would've been the exact opposite. He would've told people, confidently, that he hated hearing Granger talk and that he wished she would shut the fuck up, but when it actually came down to it, it scared him much more that she was being so quiet. She was Granger- she was never quiet!
The only thing she'd said to him (at all) yesterday was: "I'm going this way," during the task. It was something totally stupid that he couldn't even concentrate on because his mind was preoccupied- something like getting parchment from a rock over the water. You couldn't levitate it, and you couldn't get wet. You had to be sneaky. In his opinion, the tasks were becoming feeble and stupid- or maybe that was what Dumbledore wanted him to think. Anyways, he didn't know, or care, about the stupid task. He hadn't understood it at first and the instructions hadn't even been clear.
He was beginning to get pissed with her, which made him feel slightly embarrassed. He'd admitted (only to himself) that he cared about her and the moment he did, she completely ignored him and they were back to square one. He was angry at himself too, though. He didn't quite know if he was angry for letting her in on the first place or if he was angry at not telling her sooner.
He'd spoke to her twice this morning, and she'd said nothing back to him.
He had no idea what else to do.
He had never cared enough to pay attention to girls when they were in their moods, so he was completely clueless. Did he have it wrong all this time? Should he just leave her alone until she gets over it? Should he continue to talk to her until he finally cracked her?
That was the problem: since she wasn't talking, he had absolutely no fucking idea what she wanted. She could've at least had the decency to tell him before she fucked off into a world of her own and left him out of it. God, he was getting so pissed. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
His foot tapped relentlessly, and his lack of power was also an annoyance. He couldn't control what she said, he couldn't control his tapping, he couldn't control anything in this stupid place and it was driving him nuts! Fucking hell, where had all his control gone?
But not just his control in general, his self-control had slackened also. He wished he'd caught himself sooner, so that whilst Granger was in this mood, he wouldn't feel so guilty and responsible about it.
"There's a scroll," Draco said suddenly, looking at the rolled up piece of parchment atop a rock just on the edge of the icy water. He looked at her expectantly- she was always the one to pick them up and read them.
But she merely glanced up once, and then went back to her book.
With a sigh and a twirl of his eyes, he pushed himself away from the tree and sauntered over to it, snatching it up immediately and not giving a damn if he rumpled the paper. He really couldn't give a shit about anything anymore, and the childish side of him was coming out. He wanted to destruct something, had to take his anger out somehow.
He read it over once and then threw it at her, battling the impulse to laugh when it socked her right in the nose and she made the funniest shocked face he'd ever seen.
"Pack your shit," He grumbled. "We're moving tonight,"
She read it over as well, wondering where they were off to, but didn't voice any of her concerns to Draco. She had a feeling that he was under the impression that she was angry, but that was far from the truth.
So what was the truth then?
She was embarrassed, so bloody embarrassed. She'd admitted that she cared about him, and in that terrible manner. Now, she didn't know what on earth to say to him. She couldn't tell him that she was embarrassed, because then he'd get the wrong idea, and think that she like-liked him. And she definitely didn't.
Plus, he had said, although he didn't really look like he'd meant it, that he didn't care about her. Even though there was a large possibility that it wasn't true, the words still hurt her.
So, she'd chosen to act angry at him. But, then once she'd decided she was angry at him, she had no idea how to act not angry at him. Good God, how did he do this? Control all of his feelings? Should she just start randomly talking to him again? It was like she had completely clamped up, and didn't even know how to respond to all of the things he was saying.
It was also giving her time to think.
He had apologised profusely and continued to speak to her all the time, even telling her pointless facts and stories. It was sweet, how he was trying to get her to talk, but she also had a feeling he just didn't want to be lonely, and she was his only choice.
She grabbed her bag and read the parchment again, not really reading it the first time due to her own thoughts.
You're going to be apparated to a house. It is not for luxury, though. It is declared haunted and you must complete the task when you get there with your partner. The task is not yet revealed, but will be once you arrive there.
"Haunted?" She murmured to herself. She severely doubted that it would be haunted. She knew for a fact that ghosts were real, for they lived inside of Hogwarts, but they were so nice (Peeves was a bit of an exception to that statement) and because of that, she wasn't sure that horrible ghosts existed.
"Finally decided to open your mouth then?" Draco asked smoothly, his eyes hard and his mouth in a firm line. He looked like he was challenging her, cocking his head to the side and raising his eyebrow like that.
She let her eyes trail up his form until they settled on his head, touching her upper lip with the tip of her tongue as she thought of how to reply. He actually looked a little angry at her.
"Yes," replied Hermione eventually, finding no other effective response. He glanced at her once and bit his inner lip, as if contemplating responding to her, but then looked away from her and focused on the lake.
She gave him another few minutes. "So now you're not going to talk?" She guessed, taking in his silence as a revenge technique. He probably wanted to get back at her for being so quiet.
He cleared his throat. "Nope," He confirmed her suspicions.
"Well, I assume this task will be another hard one, since we're being moved. Don't you think it's a good idea that we communicate?" asked Hermione in a completely professional tone. There was no warmth to it, no personality. It was as if she was working with someone she hated.
He took in a deep breath. "Fine, we'll 'communicate' as much as we need to," answered Draco.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing. Should she apologise to him for staying quiet? She had clearly pissed him off, and didn't want all of her progress with him to go to waste. But then again, he had said he didn't care about her. He'd looked guilty whilst saying it, but that was the truth- he didn't care. She didn't give a damn if she was being immature, why should she try with someone who didn't care for her?
"Which will practically be all the time," continued Draco. "Seeing as we are partners in this place,"
Even when he didn't want to speak to her, he still did. Why was that? He was acting as if he wanted to throttle her.
"Yes, we are," Hermione agreed quickly, keeping her response short and sweet. She didn't quite know who would crack first, but had a feeling it would be herself. She was stubborn, but so was he. In fact, he was incredibly stubborn. Yesterday he had refused to move just because he thought that things should come to him and that he shouldn't have to go looking for things.
He released a deep and annoyed sigh. "Can we just forget about it?" He sounded like he wanted to say more, so she was silent for a whole minute, inviting him to finish, but he didn't.
She swallowed thickly before answering. "Forget that you don't care about me? Alright," said Hermione in a nonchalant and sarcastic tone. She saw him roll his eyes.
"Obviously I was just angry," Draco replied. He didn't admit that it wasn't the truth.
"So I have to suffer every single time you're angry?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "That's a healthy friendship," She quipped.
Draco mirrored her actions and finally turned to her, raising his eyebrow as well. "Who said we were friends?"
That kind of shut her up.
She looked away from him with pursed lips and then gave a soft laugh through her nose. "I guess we're not then,"
"I didn't say we weren't. I just asked who labelled us as friends," Draco reminded quickly.
That got her thinking. If someone did decide to label them, what would they be called? Would they be called enemies or friends? Or perhaps something in between?
"Nobody labelled us as friends," She clarified. "I guess I just didn't think we were enemies anymore," She said, partly voicing her thoughts.
Draco tongued his cheek for a moment. "I suppose we-
His heart skipped a beat as he was taken off guard and he was apparated into a dark corridor. He looked around for Hermione, but she was nowhere near him. He even shouted out her second name twice, but by the lack of sounds, it was like he was completely alone.
He hiked the bag up against his back again and swallowed, taking in the dusty and dark surroundings. He was in front of a large stain glassed window which was, at the moment, his only source of light. He knew he'd have to look for Hermione, so he cast Lumos and started walking, steadying his balance so that he could make as little noise as possible.
He looked for a scroll, remembering being told that his task would be revealed to him when he arrived there, and found one sitting underneath a large skeleton hand. He didn't feel good about touching it, but did anyways; probing it with his wand to make sure it wasn't going to strangle him or something.
The task is simple: You must not only find your partner in one hour, but free them as well.
Free them? She was locked away somewhere? Was that some sort of riddle?
He swore under his breath and walked a little faster. He didn't have time to be fearful of what was inside this castle; he only had an hour to find her. He wasn't particularly thrilled about it, but tried to ignore their little dispute and think of the tournament first and foremost. That was most important right now.
He repeatedly looked behind him, making sure nothing silent was creeping up on him, and knocked on the first door that he came to. When nothing answered, he opened it and pushed it all the way, looking for some sort of light. There were nothing but candles, so he lit them quickly, not wanting to go into the room without some form of brightness.
The room looked ancient -even older than Hogwarts. There was a large grand piano in the middle of the room, but it was broken. There were cobwebs all over it and the seat was gone. The white curtains, so ghostly pale in comparison to the dark room, were ripped haggardly, as if someone had done it out of anger. Stepping closer into the room, but making sure he was still in front of the door so that it couldn't swing back on him and lock him in there, he took a closer look at the curtains. The slices were sharp and clean- it hadn't been done with fingers. Probably some sort of knife.
There was a massive painting in the room as well, sitting above a fireplace mantel. It was of a man who had deep, almost orange eyes and wore a sharp red jacket. He looked wealthy- his posture, clothes and hairstyle all gave that away.
He didn't like the look of the room, so he left after making sure there were no trap doors or trick bookcases. He closed the door over and looked both ways down the corridor. He was heading towards complete darkness, and the other side of the corridor was bright and illuminated due to the window, but if Hermione was hidden somewhere, why would it be in a light and easy place? It wouldn't be. She'd be kept in the creepiest, darkest pace of all.
So he logically continued towards the darkness, but held his lit up wand, thanking God that, in that moment, he was a wizard and able to easy conjure his own light.
He searched the floor and ceilings, checking that there were no dents or grooves that disturbed the flow of the creaking wood. That would probably be a clue, wouldn't it? If you were making a trap door, there would be hinges, wouldn't there be?
The air around him grew cold and he shivered, but didn't really feel it. He couldn't let himself get distracted- unlike the other tasks, this one was timed. At the thought of running out of time, he threw himself into it and walked faster, taking time to trail his eyes over every possible thing.
There was another door soon, right at the end of the corridor. There was nothing to his right except another window, that was open and he quickly looked outside. His insides chilled a little as he saw crooked stones- it was a graveyard.
How clichéd- a haunted house with a graveyard outside.
But it was scary nonetheless.
He turned the rusty golden knob and pushed the door open. It was a bedroom this time- in the same state that the other one was in: messy, torn, and dusty. Something black and hairy scuttled at his feet, but he paid it no attention. It was probably just a poor spider that had been trapped in this room for years.
The bed had a canopy, but one corner had fallen and was now stabbing the bed at an awkward angle. The duvet sheets were ripped, the same colour as the curtains in the previous room. He didn't pay attention to much- it was obvious that Hermione wouldn't be in the second room he'd checked. He couldn't run out of time.
As he turned to leave a noise caused him to look down. The scraping of metal against wood was loud in the silent… well, place. Something shiny and gold was stuck under his boot, so he leaned down and wedged it out, spinning it around his finger as he placed his pointer finger inside the hole.
It was a key- an old fashioned kind of key. Deeming it useful, he shoved it into his back pocket and left the room.
The next corridor was different, brighter almost. There was a red carpet at his feet and torches lined the walls, so he lit them, finally casting Nox. It was bright enough now, but he still held his wand.
The next door was a closet, so he quickly moved on until he came to a spiral of stairs. He was walking down them half-way when he realised that Dumbledore hadn't restricted any spells.
Casting a quick patronus, he told it to send her a message and walked around as he waited. Nothing came back, and after ten minutes, he docked fifteen minutes off of his time, meaning that he only had three quarters of an hour to find her.
He bounded all the way down the spiral steps, cursing when a piece of wood jabbed his calf through his jeans. Luckily, the fabric was thick enough that it didn't piece him, but it did hurt.
There were more doorways, but no more doors. Every room he passed now was wide open for him to look into, and although it was easier, he didn't like it. A bead of sweat rolled down his back and he trembled at the sensation, wishing to god that his body would stop responding when his mind couldn't. One room looked like a library and he spent a little more time and effort in there, wondering if Dumbledore would send her to her favourite place.
He stilled after a few more steps. All of the torches had gone out, but he didn't cast a Lumos yet. He relied on his ears, but could only hear the settling of the house. A few creeks here and there, but that was all.
His breathing became the only sound and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. After a few seconds of simply listening, he raised his wand and cast Lumos.
He let out a yelp and took a rapid step back, his heart missing a beat altogether. His hand quivered a little and he shook it, trying to get rid of the numbness. He would not give up just because some picture of a skeleton had given him a fright! He directed the angriest glare he could find to the portrait and carried on, trying to listen for her voice or… well… anything. It was completely silent, save for the wind outside sometimes, but even then, he couldn't hear that much.
He didn't try and light the torches again- he didn't want another unexpected fright like last time. Instead, he depended on his wand for light and hurried up. He estimated that he'd wasted around 5-10 minutes, leaving him with just over half an hour.
Goodness, where the hell was she?
Okay, he had to speed up. He had to get over his caution and just go for it.
"Ugh, fucking hell," He rubbed some spider webs off of his shoulder.
Before a second had even passed, Draco groaned in pain and his hand shot back up to his shoulder. A whizzing noise in front of him stole his focus and he looked up just in time to witness an arrow go smack-bang into the wood in front of him. The wood buckled and splintered underneath the force of the sharp angle and he turned around at the assortment of hisses behind him.
"You-missed! Give me it."
Draco ignored the pain in his shoulder, thankful that he had only been grazed. Before they had even noticed him, he stupefied them both and skidded around the corner and to peek. They grunted and stood up, and he wondered if he should kill one of them. He had no time to rifle his arrows out of his bag and he didn't want to use the killing curse again. He settled for casting Expelliarmus so that he owned their wands and then ran; putting a spell up against the empty doorway that would make them bounce off if they wanted in.
When he was sure he was safe, he examined his own wound. Blood seeped through his grey t-shirt, coating it crimson, and he lifted it, looking at the torn flesh. It was more serious than he'd thought and he was sure that a simple healing charm wouldn't do. He'd have to make a potion tonight as well, for goodness sakes.
A healing charm would also worsen his energy, and he needed as much as he could get. He winced at his injury, but left it anyways. It was his left arm and his right arm was stronger- it wouldn't make much of a difference, right? He placed a numbing charm on it so that the pain wouldn't distract him.
He bounded down several steps of stairs and came to a vacant hall that reminded him of the one at Hogwarts, only it was a lot smaller. There was a glass chandelier hanging from the roof and the walls were completely bare, a difference from the corridors that were lined with photographs and paintings.
There was a stage with some litter on it, as if someone had been there recently, but there were no other indications of anything living in the whole house. It was like it had been evacuated for centuries. Everything around him was old and… it felt religious. Perhaps they were in some sort of church. He didn't know, but he just didn't feel right in the place. It felt like it had a deeper meaning, like there was something behind it all.
But now he sounded like a loony.
He rolled his eyes at his thoughts and jogged across the hall, picturing ball gowns and people dancing. He was used to having balls… yes, both kind. His family hosted events regularly and he was always forced to go and "make a good impression." He wondered if the house belonged to a Wizarding family, and if they perhaps had a stubborn son who hated going to the parties.
At the end of the hall was another door, and since there was clearly nothing in the big room, he went through it, running smack-bang into someone. He held his wand up to their face and steadied them with the other hand. Her hair was-
"Finally, I found you!" Hermione said, panting. She looked behind her and then put her hands on his chest, pushing him out of her way. Relief flooded his body and he tingled at the pressure she'd put against him. He stumbled once and then turned to watch her walk the way he'd come in.
"Where're you going?" He asked, jogging to catch up with her. She looked back at the door almost worriedly.
"They had me in some sort of… basement, but I got out, they're probably coming after me now," explained the brunette.
Draco's eyes went wide. "Are you fucking mad? We could be disqualified for that!"
Her eyebrows furrowed. "We won't be. My task was to get out and come and look for you,"
"My task was just to look for you…" Draco said, his eyebrows narrowing as well. Could it be that they'd been played?
As he was thinking, Hermione's cinnamon eyes gazed to his shoulder. "You're hurt," She stated, bringing her hand up to touch his sleeve. His warm fingers gripped her wrist before she could touch it and she was startled, staring at him with her jaw slightly open.
"Don't. You might disturb the numbing charm I put on it,"
"Oh," She retracted her hand, trying to ignore that her wrist had gone cold the moment he'd taken his hand away. "That's what I was going to do. How did you get it?"
"An arrow, I'm lucky I wasn't standing a few inches to my left or it would've gone through me," He said, grabbing her elbow as she tripped down a step.
She smiled her thanks and then frowned. "Did you kill them?"
"Didn't have enough time, so I just took their wands," replied Draco, swallowing thickly. "How do we leave this place? Do we have to go outside?"
"I don't even know how to get outside," complained Hermione, rubbing her upper arms and looking around. She wasn't complying with her rule to ignore Draco anymore- he was right earlier. They needed to speak to each other as much as possible.
"We could go out a-
"Stupefy!" Hermione shouted, holding out her wand right above Draco's shoulder. Before he could turn around to see who she'd hexed, she was dragging him down a bunch of stairs quickly. He tried to ignore that her hand was tightly clasped around his. The intimate gesture made the ice inside him fizzle.
He heard rapid footsteps behind them and opened a door, shoving her into it and closing it as quickly and quietly as he could. The footsteps slowed and stopped right outside the door and although small and cramped, Hermione managed to bring her hand up to slap it across Draco's mouth. He hadn't noticed, but once the air wasn't filled with his panting, he realised he'd been rather loud. Hermione was pressed right against him, his chin against her forehead, just tickling her hairline. He was solid and it made her feel a little self-conscious of her squidgy parts.
The person outside lost interest and walked away, but only when she could no longer hear their footsteps did Hermione take her hand away from Draco.
"That was so close," He whispered. Hermione nodded, although they couldn't see each other very well. She braced her hands up against the door and tiptoed so that she could get her eye up to a crack in the wood that showed you all the way outside. She ducked briskly with a gasp, just in time for a sharp knife to be plunged into the wood. Draco grabbed her by the shoulders to pull her back, but she shoved him aside, booting the door as hard as she could with her foot. As she predicted, the culprit was sent sprawling backwards and she rounded the edge of the door quickly, her wand at the persons face.
"Rufus?" She asked disbelievingly, staring down at the dark-skinned boy. He snarled at her, baring his teeth, but before she could ask him what the hell he was up to, an arrow was dug straight into his chest from over her shoulder.
She stood up straight, ignoring the boy that had just threatened her life and then disappeared in a swirl of smoke, to glare at Draco. He glared back with harder eyes.
"Didn't I warn you about him?" He asked with a flick of his left eyebrow. Hermione's nostrils flared and she grabbed his wrist without a response, hauling him down the rest of the stairs. They creaked and groaned under their weight but didn't suggest snapping, so they moved quicker. When they got to the bottom, there was a hallway with a large door at the end.
Draco attempted to overlook the fact that she'd grabbed his wrist instead of his hand, but found that he couldn't. The feeling of her small palm in his was imprinted on his brain forever.
"This looks like the exit," the brunette said when they got to the end. She twisted the crystal doorknob and pushed the door. When it didn't budge, she pulled it towards her. When it didn't budge again, she gave an exhausted sigh and cast Bombarda, watching it explode.
"Where to now?" He asked her, frowning at their surroundings. They were in a small garden, right before the graveyard. Hermione continued to walk forward until she came to an iron gate, pushing it open and then stepping through into the cemetery. It was dark and foggy.
"Look, there's another scroll!" the blonde said, walking past her to get to it. She turned her head to see where he was pointing and watched him pick it up. He frowned whilst he read it her senses tingled. What was written on it?
"It's more coordination's," He explained, handing it to her. She quickly cast the spell that he'd performed the first time they'd got coordination's and blushed when he sent her a raise of his eyebrow. Okay, yes, once she'd found out that he knew a spell she didn't know, she'd learned it.
"What?" She asked defensively, her guard going up. He smirked and then turned, walking in the direction that the arrow on the parchment was pointing.
"So who was it that was coming after you?" Draco asked after they'd been walking for a bit. He assumed that they were back on good terms.
"I don't know, I couldn't see their faces, but when you sent me that patronus it distracted them and I managed to get away. I had to climb eight flights of stairs before I even got to you," She responded, stomping over marshy grass.
"Did they hurt you?" Draco asked to make sure, his mind going to his own injury. Hermione shook her head and then blinked.
"No," said Hermione, almost in surprise. "They just watched over me. They didn't even answer me,"
"What did you ask them?" Draco asked, imagining her answer.
"Where I was, where you were, who they were, all the did was hand me a scroll that told me I had find a way out of the room and come and find you. I thought you'd have been locked up as well… where were you?" asked Hermione, finally wondering where he had been left.
He shrugged. "In some corridor, I just started walking and found a scroll that told me I had to find you, so I tried," He turned right when the arrow did, bumping into her shoulder as he done so.
"Well, at least we're here now," Hermione said back.
He snorted. "As if out here is safer than in there," He nodded his head back to the large house. "For all we know, there's shit out here just waiting to kill us,"
Hermione nodded distractedly, her eyes flicking to the arrow when it turned to face them. "We're here… what is here?" She looked around her, but all that was there were gravestones, grass and an empty, dug up grave.
Draco looked around as well, his eyes going from gravestone to gravestone before he read the one that was sitting at the empty grave. The person hadn't even been buried yet, there was a gravestone?
"Your name is on that," He blurted, pointing to it.
Confusion took over her face as she read it and her eyes flicked everywhere, trying to find anything out of the ordinary. "Is that today's date?" She eventually asked, pushing her hair out of her face when the wind blew it.
"I don't know…" He confessed. "I haven't kept up with the dates. I assumed you had."
"I haven't… but I think it is todays date. It's only been like a week and two days right? And we left on the sixth, didn't we? So it's around… the fifteenth or sixteenth… and this says I," She swallowed. "Died on the fifteenth,"
Draco punched her lightly on the bicep, smiling inside when she glared at him. "You're not dead, don't worry, beaver," He ruffled her hair. Hermione wondered how he'd become so playful after seeing her gravestone. Didn't it affect him as well?
"But I am worried," She frowned. "It doesn't say what time I die at, what if I drop dead in like five minutes?"
Draco shrugged again. "Then we don't win. What's the big deal? Nothing is real here, remember?" He told her.
She truly did consider what Draco had said, but couldn't shake the feeling of seeing her own gravestone. Who put it there? And more importantly, why did they put it there? It was like the grave was just sitting waiting on her.
Draco gave an angry sigh. "We finished the task and found each other so I don't even know what we're doing here,"
She pointed to the parchment. "This is why we're here. There must be something here that we have to pick up… or maybe this is how we get home or something,"
"Seriously?" Draco snorted. "You're calling that place home?"
"What would you rather I called it?" asked Hermione, folding her arms over her chest. She went as close to the edge of the grave as she dared and then leaned over, looking to see if anything was inside.
"If you fall, I am not coming in there to catch you," Draco warned.
Hermione sent him a faux glare and then smiled. "You're right, because I'm going to levitate it, you moron," She growled.
Draco arched an eyebrow in question at her sudden anger and rolled his eyes, walking away as she crouched down and levitated whatever it was.
"It's a telescope!" She beamed, holding it out in front of her. It was a little heavy, but she managed. She noticed behind the telescope that her name dissipated from the gravestone and grimaced- why the hell had it even been there in the first place? If it was a joke, it wasn't a very nice one.
With a buzzing sound and a shift of their surroundings, they were back in the forest.
"Why'd we get a telescope?" asked Draco, frowning at the object and running his fingers over the cool metal.
"I'm not sure," Hermione admitted, sitting down against the tree. "Probably because we learned astronomy- d'you want me to heal that?" She asked, frowning at his arm.
Looking down at his arm to see what the hell she was talking about, he remembered the arrow that had grazed him and quickly took the numbing charm off, hissing and wincing when the pain shot through him. Hermione face twisted into sympathy as she watched him.
"No, it's too big to heal with a charm," He said, pushing himself up. He, without thinking, gripped the neckline of his t-shirt and pulled it up and over his head, bunching it into a ball beside him. He sat inspecting the wound, thankfully turned away from Hermione, whose cheeks burned.
Bloody hell, he was beautiful.
She always assumed Malfoy would have some sort of six pack with raw, bulging muscles that he'd brag about non-stop, but his body was quite the opposite. His stomach was slender, flat and pale- the only definition was two lines that went from his outer hips and travelled down further. The tone was all in his arms, actually, and she hadn't classed him as a muscular-arms kind of guy. Well, he was full of pleasant surprised, wasn't he?
"Bloody hell, Granger, would you like a picture?" He smirked, watching as she blatantly checked him out. She let out a breath and looked away, her gaze flicking everywhere but him.
"I uh… I'm gonna get started on the potion," She said, grabbing his bag and walking away. He watched her every move until she came back, his cauldron filled with water. She placed her wand inside the water, watching as it started to boil, and then grabbed ingredients from his bag.
"So, do you think I'm sexy or not?" He winked at her. She tried hard not to laugh, but ended up letting a small smile slip out.
"Oh, shut up, Malfoy," She shook her head and measured out some things. "If you want to make yourself useful then you can go and make sure that the protective enchantments are still up. If they aren't, then put them up," She ordered.
Draco was still grinning. "Should I put my shirt on to do it?" He asked her teasingly.
She rolled her eyes. "I don't care as long as the enchantments are up, but unless you want this spilled on your t-shirt then I advise you to keep it off," She mumbled, not realising what she'd just confessed until a minute after.
Draco's grin grew even larger and she scolded herself in her head, stuttering to try and explain herself. The blonde merely got up and ruffled her brunette hair.
"It's fine, Granger, just admit it," He replied, before walking away. Glad that he'd started off behind her, she could actually concentrate on the potion. She was still a little miffed about the gravestone, but tried not to be. It was probably just trying to warn them that their time was up or something, Plus, with Draco putting up the protective enchantments, she felt a little better.
She also kept thinking about yesterday. Every time she did though, her heart seemed to sink into her stomach and create a terribly upsetting and uncomfortable feeling. She heard his words echoing in her mind, but doubted he didn't care about her. If he didn't, he would've have trusted her and joked with her. He had to at least feel something.
She wasn't only upset because of his words though, it was his memories too. His words said one thing, but his thoughts said another. He cared about her enough to associate her with the positive emotions in his life- that had to be something, right? The only other people there were his mother, Blaise and Theodore.
The reminiscences of himself as well were actually awful. She kind of admired him (although she hated his attitude problem) for being able to laugh and joke even though he'd gone through all that. Then again, Harry had gone through… well, she couldn't say worse, but their problems were kind of on the same page. She also admitted that she was kind of glad Blaise had walked in at the right time.
She wished she'd known earlier. She could've helped him, even if they were enemies. She wouldn't turn a blind eye to someone in need, but well, they hadn't even been friends at that time, had they? So even if she'd offered him help, he probably wouldn't have accepted it. There was no point in her dwelling on the past; there was nothing she could do about it. She could only focus on the future, and the present.
And in the present, Draco Malfoy was topless and sitting back down in front of her.
She stirred the potion a little faster, trying to keep her eyes off him. It wasn't that she was attracted at him, it was more like… I mean, well, you didn't see Malfoy's body every day, did you? And besides… she hadn't gotten a very good look the other day, when they were in the water. Now, she could see him clearly, and… it wasn't her fault that she didn't want to look away! She was an adolescent girl, and from time to time, she would enjoy a second to admire a guy's body.
Even if it was Draco Malfoy's.
"You're drooling,"
She was an idiot for checking, throwing the back of her hand up to her mouth, and he howled with laughter, his nose scrunching up.
She tsked. "Don't be so immature, Malfoy," She kept on stirring.
"It's not my fault that you actually checked! That just means it was possible," She could just tell by the sound of his voice that he adopted a massive smirk.
"I was only drooling because half of my brain cells died just looking at you and my body needed some way to rid them from my body," Her lips tugged up into her own little smirk.
He looked highly affronted, but then wiggled his eyebrows a few times and licked his teeth beneath his lips. He rubbed his hands on his thighs. "God, these are tight. I think… I think I might take them off," He feigned discomfort.
"No, you bloody well won't!" She responded immediately, making him laugh even harder. He was tempted to take them off anyways, so see how she would respond then, but his arm actually hurt far too much. It had been an effort just to take off his shirt.
Her heart seemed to calm a little. "You're a pain, Malfoy," She complained.
"But you enjoy it," He said truthfully, and was glad when she didn't deny it. He cleared his throat and suddenly looked a little sheepish.
"Your name wasn't on that gravestone, by the way," He pursed his lips to keep in laughter.
She frowned, looking up to him. Did he know she'd been thinking about that a lot? "What?" She asked him to repeat.
He made a face that looked guilty. "I charmed it there for a laugh. It was blank, but you really looked like you believed it, so I decided to tell you,"
He ducked as a jar of moondew drops almost collided with his head and laughed at her annoyed face.
"You're an arse," She commented, calming down quickly. If she was honest, it was such a relief, but she was still angry at him. "What was the real reason you done that? That wasn't very nice, Malfoy,"
Draco looked a little uncomfortable suddenly, and shifted. "I wanted to see if the thrill was still there, y'know… when I decide to prank you,"
"And is it?" asked Hermione with raised eyebrows.
"No," He admitted, looking down.
Thank you: Ms Louis Cordice Zabini, XDramioneLoverx, Geuh, lovesick and breathless, Calimocho, ArcticPuppet, SlytherinGurrl, bicorn-tana, dramioneloverxox11, superstarem, roseberrygirl, Ash, Alice D, Rayne-Malfoy10, and fantasia-49!
XDramioneLoverx: Of course he will! I do admit that it will be a very slow process through. I'm trying to keep their relationship as realistic as possible :) Thank you for reviewing!
Lovesick and breathless: I thought he was! I'm glad you saw it too-hopefully he's a little better in this chapter. Since we never really got a romance-y view of Malfoy I always find it quite difficult to transfer him and Hermione from enemies to friends, but practice makes perfect I guess! Yeah, exactly- I want to show how strong he was, because a lot of people just see him as, ah the bully who regretted all his decisions and became a coward, but he gave up his childhood to save his family, and that's pretty strong to me :( Pennames are so hard to make up! I used to make like a different penname for every single account, and then I was like "oh, bugger this!" and now I just use "fallenforthedraco" everywhere haha! Thank you for reviewing lovely!
SlytherinGurrl: I followed you! My name is just the same on there :) thank you for taking the time to do that, you are incredibly sweet! Thank you for reviewing!
ArcticPuppet: Haha, I actually take that as a compliment! At least I can get Hermione's second/third year personality right :P Hermione is, obviously, my struggle in this story. I am trying, but I'm clearly getting something wrong. As I said above though, practice makes perfect ;) thanks for reviewing!
dramioneloverxox11: I don't know exactly how many chapters yet, but I feel like the progress will be slow, so at least over twenty! If I get a rougher idea then I'll, of course, let you know! It might even surpass thirty chapters... I'm glad you enjoy the angst (there will be lots of it... what Dramione story wouldn't have angst? haha) and thank you so much for your kind words lovely!
roseberrygirl: Definitely a first step towards healing! Sooner or later, Draco will have to take up Hermione's offer of talking to her about things ;) thank you for reviewing!
Ash: There will definitely be twists and things that the two have to conquer, but yes, they will eventually fall in love! Yay! I believe that trust should come before love, and usually when I write, I write that Hermione and Draco have this immediate attraction to each other, but I'm actually going to let them be friends in this story first, just to see how I can do with it! Do you think that's a good idea? Thank you for your review!
I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! I thought a little change in scenery might be nice! And how bad was the joke that Malfoy played on her?! He's a little brat... But at least he admitted that he doesn't feel the urge to make fun of her anymore! Progress!
FallenForTheDraco