A/N: Did I ever mention how happy it makes me to see how many people here read, review, follow or favourite this story? Totally! So, here's another chapter, and I don't exactly know when I get to write the next one as the rest of the week is loaded with work.
As always, the biggest thanks goes to my wonderful beta, MrBenzedrine, who lightens me up with her stories and forces me to be hopeful - I always be grateful for that! Harry's reaction has her handwriting as well as some other lines in here - she's simply brilliant!
By an unspoken agreement, Hermione and Draco decided to keep their changed relationship between them. A deadly glare in Blaise's direction commanded him to do the same. Having had his fair share of Malfoy-glares in his life, the wizard merely winked and gave a secret smile.
"Where have you been, Hermione? Hannah and Andromeda arrived quite some time ago," Harry wanted to know, taking in her slightly flushed appearance.
"Oh, there are some very interesting books related to our restoration project Draco wanted to show me in the library." Smooth, Hermione -two kisses with the blond wizard and the Slytherin cunning already sunk in.
"Are you certain that everything's okay? Or did Malfoy behave like a prat again? You seem to be agitated-" Her raven-haired friend raised his eyebrows questioningly. Now was not the time or place to explain exactly how she became so agitated. But what should she tell Harry that wasn't a blatant lie? Thankfully, Ron, with a knowing twinkle in his blue eyes, stepped in, probably for the first time ever being more insightful than the other male part of the Golden Trio.
"Oi, Harry, you know how she gets when there's a library around. She's probably a bit high on all the knowledge. Or she's hypoglycaemic." Hermione could kiss him right now (on the cheek, of course), as Ron using such a complicated word without stuttering caused a decent distraction from her person. "What has you all staring? I got a dictionary from Hermione for Christmas! Now, get the woman something to eat before she faints!"
Even if she only shared stolen glances with Draco, Hermione enjoyed the party very much. The food was excellent, the champagne even more so, and laughter and conversations rang loudly through the house. Neville was forced to repeat the imitation performance from Christmas and Pansy played the piano. When the clock struck twelve, everyone gathered outside to see the private fireworks the Malfoys had arranged – everyone, that is to say, except Hermione, who was pulled behind a tapestry to receive a silent and private New Year's kiss that made her forget everything around her.
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Hermione didn't meet Draco again until the first day of school after the holidays. However, the young man had been a very prominent actor in her dreams; dreams that left a certain anticipation between her legs afterwards – seriously, they deserved an M-rating! Moreover, the books from the library Draco had shown to her had magically appeared in her bedroom at Grimmauld Place.
When they met again, luckily, it was time for their research in the library again. And even when the transparent glass walls prohibited too close contact between them, Hermione was glad that they were alone, sparing her the embarrassment to explain her giddiness and permanent blushing. But, boy, could Draco play her. Currently, he was standing behind her, leaving only a barely decent distance between them.
"Do you wear a different perfume today?"
"Possibly." Of course she did. One that, conveniently, had been wrapped with an emerald silken ribbon and waited on her pillow when she arrived back at Hogwarts. It smelled expensive, shifting between a garden in the summer – warm and sweet – and one in the spring, when the flowers started budding and only the bravest had opened their buds yet. She loved it.
"It reminded me of you. A strong, yet sometimes, delicate flower, untouched by any peasant insect, still waiting for pollination."
Merlin, would anyone believe her Draco Malfoy had a sappy side? She couldn't help but giggle at his words.
"What?" he demanded, confused.
"That sounded like something Neville would say!"
"Are you making fun of me?" His tone was mock-serious. "No-one makes fun of a Malfoy, I will make you pay for that!" He used his proximity to run his fingers over her ticklish sides, eliciting a squeal from Hermione.
"Leave it! You can make me pay all you want later, but for now, let's concentrate on our task."
He ceased his tickling immediately, only to growl into her ear, "That I'm very much looking forward to." As if he hadn't bathed her brain in seduction, Draco dedicated himself to the stack of parchment resting on the table.
"Did the letter you sent to the archives in the ministry procure something useful?"
Hermione recollected her thoughts and answered, "Surprisingly, it did. There was a very old cadastral map, notifying the land where Hogwarts now stands to Reginald Hufflepuff, who was-"
-"Helga Hufflepuff's father. I was not asleep all the time like most of our dedicated peers in History of Magic, which is a fascinating subject –when it isn't taught by someone as old as history itself." If Hermione hadn't kissed him already, she would have started now. At the same time, she wanted to scold him for his arrogance. But, Hermione Granger was a pro in the know-it-all-game.
"The years the monks started educating children here coincide with the time Helga was about ten years old, I presume her father invited the monks to settle here with the perspective to have his daughter schooled in magic without being forced to marry her off before she was ready. After all, we know from other sources, he wanted his only heiress to be a strong woman that could stand her man in those times. And the monks from Ireland were known to be very emancipated for those times."
The blond was totally concentrated on her words, soaking up their meaning; she deduced this from his studious face and the curious spark in his now bright grey eyes.
"The question is, why did the Founders come back after finishing their education?" he murmured, shuffling through his notes in front of him, ruffling his hair from time to time, and giving it a pleasantly tousled look. Delicious was the first word that popped up in Hermione's mind. "Ah, here it is, I knew I read about something like this: this information comes from a letter from Slytherin to his mother, wherein he tells her he returned to his place of education with his closest friends, to 'reign a beast of unknown power and maliciousness in'. This means-"
Hermione's eyes widened at the revelation and she interrupted Draco mid-sentence "-The Founders returned to the monastery to help defeating a dragon! Most probably the one dragon-"
"-That now stirs beneath our feet," Draco finished. Hermione hastened to the mind map and the timeline, adding the new information on it. When she had nearly completed them, she stopped with the pen hovering above the paper. Two things suddenly connected in her brain. She pointed her wand in the rough direction of the Eighth Year's rooms, decisively summoning a book. Draco looked at her questioningly, but waited patiently, knowing Hermione would never withhold facts from him. Seconds later, a book came flying through the door of the cubicle.
"Do you recognise it? It's one of yours." She opened the 'Stories and Histories of Dragon Breeding'. "Severin Malfoy, the author, explains how he encountered his most dangerous adversary, a dragon, of course: 'It was on a quest with my friend and confidant, Salazar Slytherin. I nearly died among others, but I finally tied the beast down, hopefully for good.' This is nothing short of amazing, Draco! It was one of your ancestors who finally sent the dragon to sleep!" Hermione felt that this could be a breakthrough for them.
But Draco's eyes had settled on the emerald green wax seal on the bottom of the page the witch had opened.
"I've got to send an owl to Mother for confirmation, but this-" his fingertip tapped on the seal carefully, "-wasn't the usual Malfoy crest back then. It only consisted of an 'M' on green ground, much simpler than today. This one is special -it's the first time that there's a dragon in it. Apparently my family has a deeper connection to those beasts than I believed."
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After the Eighth Year team put the Ravenclaws to shame in a fast and joyful Quidditch game on a rainy Saturday afternoon, those of them who didn't play trailed back to the castle. The weather was too uncomfortable to wait for the players, though Hermione didn't mind, as Draco was walking beside Daphne only a short distance in front of her, putting her in the very comfortable position to ogle his delectable bum. In Quidditch gear, he'd look even better, but how to persuade him to play?
Hermione's thoughts were interrupted by the freshly showered and dressed players who caught up to them. After congratulating Ron, she pulled Harry into a fierce hug, finishing with a smacking peck on his cheek.
"Am I interrupting something? Maybe you're looking for another hookup? I don't believe there's any nearby tents for you to hole up in." Ginny's tone from behind Harry was venomous. The comment made Hermione's proverbial cauldron boil over. After an eye-roll that'd have made Mad-Eye proud, she decided to stop the girl's childish feud (seriously, even after all the sex she had, Ginny wasn't behaving like an adult yet) once and for all. Giving Harry the silent command not to interfere and pitying him somehow at the very moment, she detangled herself from her friend and turned towards Ginny. She noticed then that not only their group had stopped at the redhead's loud words, but other students as well. Great, she didn't really appreciate having a public argument with Harry Potter's girlfriend after keeping it all quiet in the summer.
"Of course we slept together, Ginny! In one bed! Because it was fucking cold and we were afraid to die!"
She heard Pansy gasp. Well, it wasn't an everyday occurrence one could hear Hermione Granger swear. She felt a slight tug on her robes – later she was informed that Ron had carefully removed her wand from her pocket, not to protect her sister, but to avoid her remorse afterwards if she couldn't control her temper and hexed Ginny.
"And you didn't see the opportunity that he could warm you a bit more? From the inside? He's quite talented at that as you know."
Oh, seriously? Hermione felt like she was in one of the early evening soap-operas her grandmother used to watch. Only the dramatic music in the background was missing -or an evil twin.
"Don't be daft! I told you a thousand times: There was nothing going on between Harry and myself when we were on the run!" The brunette kept her voice controlled, but it could have sliced paper.
The fangirling redhead probably deemed it a smart move to spit out the next sentence. "I always knew you were a prude. Every other girl would have tried to get him."
Hermione saw Daphne slap her forehead at the sheer dumbness.
"You're not even making sense, Gin. Either I'm a bitch for sleeping with your boyfriend, who wasn't even your boyfriend at the time; or I'm a prudish bint for not wanting him to shag me?"
"Well, yes!" the last words came a tad timidly; maybe she was finally realising how insane her annoying accusations were.
"Just because I can't stand lies. I'm not some asexual being, either, thank you very much! Ask your brother about that." Hermione added, and Ginny turned to Ron, who stared at the two girls with a reddened face and pointed to himself, as if asking, "Me?"
"Not him! Charlie!"
This time, Hannah's and Luna's sharp intake of breath could be heard. After all, both of them met Charlie over Christmas. Hey – one could appreciate other male bodies when in a relationship, couldn't one?
Hermione used the distraction to address Ginny a bit softer. "I understand that you had a hard time here at Hogwarts while we were hunting the horcruxes. And you're struggling with the aftermath of the war, as we all do, no matter which side we were supposed to belong to." Draco's inner struggles and misplaced insecurities came to her mind. "But that doesn't give you the right to behave like you do at the moment. You have to admit to yourself that sometimes you're simply envious because Harry took his best friends with him, but not his girlfriend -or, to be exact, his ex-girlfriend at that time." Now it was out, the ugly truth.
"I would have been of use. I could have filled your position as well!"
Hermione snorted at Ginny's words. "Sorry, Ginny, I'm not convinced. You wouldn't have known what hit you. What would you have done? Throw a bat-bogey hex at the Snatchers? Heavens, we prepared years for this fight for . Even then, I failed at some points. And have scars to prove it." In the soap-opera, she'd shown her scar to the crowd dramatically. But she had her share of drama in her life, thank you very much. Adventures, though, were another thing altogether.
Hermione's harsh words hit Ginny with the same efficiency as a stunning spell, and she blanched beneath her freckles.
"I'm drifting off-topic, sorry. Listen, and listen well: I miss being friends with you, and I'm not interested in Harry that way, and-"Hermione exchanged a short glance with the young Malfoy and saw him confirm her unspoken question with a slight nod. "And I'm with Draco!"
If a pink unicorn with McGonagall in a bikini on its back ran through the crowd now- nobody would have noticed them, because all eyes were on the brunette witch and the blond wizard now. His characteristic smirk showed on Draco's features, confirming to Hermione the flare of the dramatic that lay in his family.
Harry, clearly torn, spoke quietly to his girlfriend upon her pleading glance, "Oh, come on, Gin. Don't start crying...erm...you sort of had it coming-" His girlfriend sent him a death glare, reminding Hermione of Molly. Harry added promptly, "I love you, you know that. But she's right, you've overstepped some boundaries of friendship and good manners. That doesn't mean I love you less, but you should think about what Hermione said."
Even if she felt a certain satisfaction in winning the confrontation, the adrenaline rushing through her veins wasn't welcome at all. She excused herself and put some distance between her and the group, who had resumed the path to the castle again, with Harry holding a sobbing Ginny to his side.
That was when she felt herself being pushed against a big oak, closely followed by a pair of very welcomed lips slanting over hers in a heated kiss.
"Do you have any idea how sexy you are when you're angry? I bet even Longbottom has to adjust his pants now." One of Draco's hands held her head possessively, while the other braced himself against the tree, his body covering the whole length of hers. Hermione relished the feeling of him.
"What about you?" she asked, breathless from the kiss. A deliberate roll of his hips against hers answered her question – he was definitely sporting an erection. Hermione felt arousal washing over her like water, as if she was dying of thirst and hadn't realised it, shortly followed by a bout of female pride, because she was the one triggering this reaction. Did every woman feel like this whenever that happened?
After another slow, promise-filled clash of tongues, Draco let go of her. He, too, was breathing heavily, and if his fully blown pupils were any indication, it was his brain that told him to stop, not his body. This made her heart warm up to him even more.
"So- Charlie Weasley? Isn't he the one who works with dragons in Romania? You really have a thing for them, princess." He tried to start a decent conversation.
She winked at him, wondering where all the cockiness came from. "Only for a certain blond one!"
Thanks to those who reviewed: LadyChocolateLover (hope you liked the argument between Ginny and Hermione, you've been waiting for it so long!); BoredRavenclaw620 (if it makes you laugh, my goal is achieved!); Sam Wallflower (yes, Hermione still has a lot to learn in that department, but she has a great instructor, hasn't she?); MrBenzedrine (*hands towel after cold water incident and grins*); Sundaegirl99 (oh yes, he is, lol!); Grovek26 (hope this is to your liking); Myrddin Emrys The Third (you're welcome!); colao (Thank you!); pgoodrichboggs (about the fire - ask MrBenzedrine, she already felt it, lol!); clarkfan325 (Hermione didn't exactly have feelings for Charlie, it was just a summer flirt for her in which she saw some potential to explore - then along came Draco); Dramione shipper17 (oh yes, very edible, I kind of had Stephen Amell from Arrow in my mind...agreed?); Mistress DragonFlame (here comes Helga, hehe - okay for you?); Slytherinvillain7 (now that you read the chapter to the end *points to the books on the desk*); HarryPGinnyW4eva (yeah, Hermione isn't exactly subtle in her rejection of charlie, she's got no training in that, lol; and of course you made me laugh - that's what I love about reviews!); Guest (we will come back to the dragon, soon!); Dracosgirl007 (veeeery cool penname!); IrishPrincess (there are more smutty scenes to come, don't worry ;))!