"I'm sure he does not hate you, Miss Granger," he said, somehow by her side, his arm slung over her shoulders. "He saw something misleading, and it hurt him. Perhaps he will cool down in a day or two, and—"
"That won't happen," she sighed. She wiped furiously at her eyes, cursing herself silently for crying. "He knows I know the key and he wants to go back tomorrow. I blew it…"
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Chapter 10: Home
There was no use getting her things ready for classes. Hermione wasn't going to class today. She was going to Dumbledore's office, and from there she and Draco would return to their true reality.
Once returning to her dormitory the following night, Hermione sealed herself in her bed, putting a silencing charm on it so no one would hear her cry. She didn't even try to fall asleep. She knew it was impossible. But the worst part was that Draco would never know how she really felt about him. He wouldn't even look at her—let alone listen to a thing she said—and so her love went on unknown.
By the time Hermione had showered, got dressed, and trudged down to the common room, Draco was already there, sitting calmly by a raging fire.
If she attempted to talk to him he wouldn't listen. But if she didn't, she would go absolutely mad.
"I'm not taking another step until you listen to me for a minute." The statement surprised even her, but she decided to stick with it. Her subconscious seemed to know what it was doing.
He sneered up at her, then let out a huff of a laugh.
"I have a request."
"You?" he laughed. "You have a request…of ME?"
She nodded, trying not to look at him. He didn't look angry, so much as…normal. The Draco Malfoy she had known before their trip. She bit her lower lip and clenched her fists at her sides. He looked at her with a mixture of confusion and annoyance.
"I hate myself, Draco!" she yelled, as if he had tried to contradict her. "I hurt you in the worst way possible, and there is nothing I can do to change that! But…But…" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "If you give me one more chance, one more day, I will do all in my power to prove to you how much you mean to me."
"And if you fail?"
Her eyes snapped open and her heart quickened.
"If I fail, I will never even look at you again."
"Ok," he said with a cold finality. "Start proving."
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For the first time in her life, Hermione Granger, the most studious student in Hogwarts' History, was skipping her entire day of classes. On the spur of the moment, she had come to the conclusion that ditching her classes was one of many ways she could prove herself to Draco. She had no idea where to go from there, but at least it was a start; at least he was around her for more than thirty seconds, and, best of all, they were not going back until tomorrow.
"You still don't believe me about the Ron thing, do you?" Hermione asked boldly, watching him out of the corner of her eye as he ate his cotton candy. They were sitting outside of Honeydukes, on a cold stone bench. She hadn't the stomach to eat anything right now.
"I'm not a trusting person," he said, his voice flat and lifeless. "And I trusted you…Make your own assumptions."
"I don't love that Ron, Draco," she whispered, inching slightly closer. "I didn't want to kiss him. I was excited—"
"You still don't get it." He turned to face her, his voice displaying a glimpse of the emotion he must have been feeling. "I don't care about the damn kiss, alright? I know you were just excited, I believe you." Hermione's brow was knit in confusion. He wasn't making any sense. What was he so mad about if not the kiss?
"Draco, I don't understand. Why are you being so cold? Why do you want to go back now? I thought—"
"I thought a lot of things too, Granger, but this isn't the real world. This isn't where we belong."
"Why are you angry?"
"I'm more than angry," he laughed, shaking his head. He picked off a piece of cotton candy and offered it to her. Hesitantly she took it, but did not eat it. "I would have thought you'd have figured it out by now…You…" He paused, turning his head away, his voice having caught awkwardly in his throat. "You want to go back so bad. You said you wanted to stay here, but I knew that was a lie. I…" But there were never any words there, and so he shrugged and sighed.
Hermione stared at him for a moment, then gasped in realization, clamping her hand over her mouth.
"It's because of how excited I got, isn't it?"
He didn't respond.
"Draco, I really do wish I could stay here with you. I've had such a great time, and I've learned so much about you, and…I…I can't stand the idea of never having this with you again, but—"
"But we have to go back, I know," he grunted. "I've accepted that."
She reached out to embrace him, but he drew back so quickly it must have looked like she'd struck him.
"Don't touch me," he said harshly.
"Draco."
"Hermione," he mocked.
She nodded her head solemnly.
"What are you going to do when we get back?"
He sighed deeply, then looked up, catching her eyes.
"Pretend…"
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"I have unbelievable patience with you, Draco," Hermione said. She set down a tray of hot chocolate and cookies, then took a seat beside him on the couch.
"And just what are you getting at?" Over the course of the day he had become less harsh with her, but he was by no means friendly, and of course still very cold. But she was just happy that he was speaking to her, whether it was insults or not. Anything was better than silence.
"What I mean is that any other person would have given up on you by now."
"How noble of you."
She scoffed under her breath, then looked down at her shirt and sighed.
"Do I still need to wear this?"
"I rather like it on you," he chuckled. It was a pink t-shirt with enchanted blinking neon pink text that read: I Love Being A Know-It-All. True, it had been Hermione's idea, and she had worn it around all day, including to meals, but by now the blinking was starting to give her a headache and she felt utterly ridiculous in it. "Brings out your true colors."
"Draco," she said, her voice so low he almost didn't hear her. He turned, but wouldn't look directly at her. "I'm changing this shirt…I have one more thing to do to prove myself to you." She stood, unaware of the fact that he had noticed how shaky her hands were at her sides. "Meet me in your room in ten minutes."
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Draco sat in the virtually empty common room, his arm propped on the armrest and his cheek pressed against his palm. He couldn't imagine what she had in mind, though a few ideas—all equally unlikely—had popped into his head. Oh well, he thought. He would find out in a few minutes anyway.
As he waited, he tried not to think about the fact that they would be back in their true reality by this time tomorrow. They would go back to avoiding each other, with the occasional public display of mutual hatred. And while he still hadn't gotten over his heartache, he could not help but want to take her back. Then at least he could have the complete and unabashed warmth of her embrace, the lusciously sweet press of her lips to his one last time.
"Draco."
His head snapped up to the top of the boys' dormitory stairs. She wore only loose-fitting green pajama bottoms and a plain white t-shirt. Her hair was down and framed her face perfectly. She was gorgeous and he loved her.
"You can come up now. I'm ready."
He waited until he was to the top of the stairs to speak.
"What's this all about, Granger? What are you doing to me?"
She smiled shyly and nervously up at him. His hair was falling in his eyes at just the right places. In that moment, she couldn't understand how she hadn't fallen in love with him sooner. In the back of her mind, of course, she knew the answer, but everything about their "trip" had been irrational to this point; there was no use changing things now.
"I don't understand my own heart, Draco," she said simply. She motioned almost daintily with her hand for him to follow her into his room. "I don't know how I can love Ron so deeply, but still have such strong feelings for you." She stopped by the bed, but did not sit down. He noted absently that his roommates were not there, and the room held a certain abstract tone, though what it was he could not quite guess. "I'm more than confused, you know that, I've told you that. But right now, while we're still here, I am going to forget about my other life. I'm letting go, Draco." She made a small gesture with her arms; her eyes were hazy as if she meant to cry. "I'm letting myself go. I'm yours now, only yours, for what time we have left, and I…I…" She took a deep breath and sat down. Draco opted to stand. "I'm giving myself to you, Draco."
He opened his mouth to say something, but she held up her hand; she was not finished.
"Don't tell me not to. Don't tell me I don't want to, because I do. I always have, only I was scared before."
"And now?" he managed to squeeze out.
"I'm more afraid of losing you than I am of a little pain."
"That's not what you were afraid of Hermione."
She smiled and patted the place beside her; he called her Hermione.
"Why do you think this is what will prove yourself to me?" He sat down, but there was a considerable gap between them.
"Because," she sighed, "I was still holding onto Ron before, holding onto the idea of having my first time be special and with someone I…care about. And what I realized is that I care for you as much as I do Ron. And I want you for my first."
Draco sighed loudly, then, very slowly, he nodded. His face was still as rigid as it had ever been; she hadn't seen him truly smile since yesterday morning, and she missed it so.
He slid as close to her as possible and, almost mechanically, he put his arms around her and their lips came together in a rough kiss. It was not so much passionate as…sloppy. Her spine didn't tingle, her toes didn't curl. But she knew what she wanted, and she was determined to ignore her body signals. She could NOT come this far only to lose him in the end.
Her eyes fixed on the velvety green curtains of his bed as his lips and teeth and tongue assaulted her neck. Clumsily, he pulled at her shirt until she lifted her arms; he threw it across the room, immediately going for her bottoms. In mere seconds she was in only a skimpy pair of silky panties. So she did the only thing she could think of. She began to remove his clothing, having only a slightly more difficult time, seeing as he had been fully clothed and robed.
They hadn't said a single word the entire time. His eyes would drift over her, but never stop on her eyes. When they had been so close those times before, there had always been talking, it had been passionate and fumbling in their hurry, not careless and, well, boring.
By the time she was lying on her back, Draco's long fingers working her panties down her legs, she was so completely gone from the moment that she almost didn't notice they were both entirely naked. His hands roughly roamed her curves, his lips played with hers. They were so close, he was almost in her, he was touching her, any second it would happen.
But then it stopped. He sat up, not saying a thing.
"Draco?"
He didn't respond.
"Draco?" she repeated. She too sat up, ignoring their nakedness. There was something far more important going on. "What's wrong? Why did you stop?"
"Who are you trying to kid?" He shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "We were like corpses."
"I do want you, Draco. I wasn't lying. I swear on—"
"I know, Hermione." He turned to her, giving her a small, forced smile. "I know. But I could never let you do that. I was never going to let it go that far."
Hermione's brow narrowed in confusion. What was he saying?
"I wanted to see if you were serious, if you really meant to go through with it. But I can't do it, Hermione. You—" He grabbed her face suddenly, kissing her lips with the passion that had so obviously been missing moments before. When he pulled back, he still held her face with a lover's gentleness. He had tears in his eyes. "You are worth more to me than that, Hermione."
"Draco, I—"
But his lips silenced her. He grabbed his wand from the bedside table, mumbling, "Accio robe," into her lips. Without breaking their kiss, he pulled his robe over her naked form, wrapping it tightly around her.
"Please, Draco," she whispered. He pulled on his boxers and pulled her down to lie next to him. "I can't go back. Not yet. Not tomorrow. Please."
"If not tomorrow, then when? Hermione, if we don't get it over with we never will."
"But I don't—"
"You'll regret it," he said, placing his fingers over her lips. "You know I'm right."
"Now what?"
"Just what you said. Enjoy…"
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After much consideration, and a mild bit of arguing, it was decided that after lunch they would go to see Dumbledore about returning to their time. Needless to say, they were the last ones out of the Great Hall, their heads bowed and fingers tightly laced.
"This is it," Hermione said, taking a deep breath before then began the ascent to the Headmaster's office.
"Come in," came Dumbledore's perfectly aged voice; she hadn't needed to knock, he knew they were coming. "Good afternoon Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy."
"Hello Headmaster," Hermione said. Draco said nothing. In fact, he hadn't said a word since they left the Great Hall, and Hermione had only just noticed.
"You'll be happy to know that I have the Displacer in my possession, and, as soon as you are ready we can send you back where you belong."
"The Displacer," she repeated under her breath. So that's what it was called.
"Would you mind explaining to me just when your timelines separated?"
Hermione nodded, then proceeded to tell him exactly what Ron had said. Draco seemed unaffected, his jaw set firmly, and his swimming blue eyes fixed on an unseen point in the distance.
"Excuse me." Dumbledore stood from his desk and made for the door. "I'll be back in ten minutes." Without another word he left the room.
For a long while there was dead silence, and neither occupant would look at the other.
Surprisingly, Draco was the first to speak.
"Why does the damn thing have to exist in this world too?" he huffed, crossing him arms rigidly over his broad chest. Hermione laughed uneasily, her bottom lip curling in as she attempted to withhold her emotions.
"I can't believe we're going back already. There's so much more I still want to experience with you, Draco. I…I'm going to miss you so much."
Finally he pulled her into a hug, stroking the back of her head. She was not crying, however, but he knew the tears would eventually come. And, for some reason, he wished they would come for him too. Because how else was he supposed to let her know how he felt about her? There was no way he would just say it, just like that, just say, "I love you." What if—
"I never thought I'd miss a mudblood."
"Don't make jokes." She stood back, her face dry and contorted with pain. "I know I'll see you again, but this really is good-bye Draco. We can never have this again. We…We have to go back now," she whispered as a few tears managed to escaped her big brown eyes. "I want so badly to stay, but we don't belong here. My life—Our lives aren't meant to be…Oh Draco!" she cried, curling once again into his chest. He wrapped his arms protectively around her, kissing her forehead roughly. "We can't stay. We—"
"I know," he sighed into her sweet-smelling curly locks. "This isn't our place, and you're a Gryffindor."
"I can't believe I can never kiss you again," she said, kissing him all over his face. "I can never hold you and talk to you and—"
"Why do you think I don't want to go back? This is my reality…"
A soft knock at the door startled them. A moment later Dumbledore walked in, carrying the Displacer.
"Are we ready?" he asked. "The coordinates have already been set. Simply press the big yellow button and hold the handles."
"Thank you Headmaster," Hermione said, forcing a sad smile. This was the best and worst thing she could have imagined.
"Is there anything else I can do for you two before you depart?"
Hermione thought for a moment, then shook her head. She couldn't think of a thing.
"Mr. Malfoy?"
To her utter surprise, he stepped forward, taking Dumbledore just far enough away so she could not hear their brief conversation. A few moments later he returned to her side and the Headmaster disappeared into his closet.
"What was that about?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"My family," he said, and there was no further questioning.
"The trip back is sure to have some adverse effects on you," Dumbledore said as he walked back into view, carrying two small vials of blue liquid.
"What kind of effects?"
"Nothing serious," he assured her. "Only some nausea and a very bad headache. This serum will prevent that." He handed each of them a vial. Draco downed his immediately, while Hermione was hesitant. Of course she trust her superior, but something just did not seem right all of a sudden. She looked to Draco for reassurance, and when he smiled at her, she knew she was only being silly and nervous, and drank down the serum in one gulp. "Now the only thing left to do is activate the Displacer. I'll leave you two alone for that."
"You've been so great to us, Headmaster," Hermione said, deciding against hugging him. "Thank you."
"Your welcome, Miss Granger. And good luck."
"Are you ready?" she asked, turning to Draco. He held the Displacer loosely at his side.
"No," he admitted. "But I never could be."
"Draco—"
"Here." He held up the Displacer and she grabbed the other handle with a shaky hand.
"This doesn't seem right. I want to be with you."
"It is right," he said, almost sternly, and pulled her into their last embrace. Without consulting her, he pressed the only yellow button on the device, bracing himself. "I love you Hermione Granger," he whispered, just as they felt the inevitable tug at their bellybuttons.
The air swirled, their vision blurred, and for a moment there was absolute and serene silence.
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Well I can't just end it there! No, no, no! My next chapter will be my last, the epilogue. Let's see how that turns out, heeheehee:P
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