Vienna

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: Have I told you enough that I love you all? So I wanted to make a banner for this story, but after many failed attempts I gave up. But if anyone out there would like to make one, send me a message in either a PM or a review, I would appreciate it so much.

So sorry this is late, I wanted to have it out before I went away, but I couldn't get it done in time. But I'm back now, anyway, better late than never.

Chapter 10: Six Years Ago

Hermione Granger

I shivered.

But not from being cold. No, I was anything but cold. In fact, I was burning.

A strong hand came to wrap around my body and I snuggled closer to the muscular chest my head was resting on as it rose and fell in a slow and steady motion, almost lulling me back to sleep. I cracked one eye slightly as a sliver of bright sunshine poured in through the tiny window high on the wall, creating a small strip of light across the floor.

I had this weird feeling that there was something pulling at me now, like someone had hooked a piece of string through my stomach and was drawing me to them, only I didn't know who it was. It was an oddly comforting feeling, in a way; it made me feel like I wasn't so alone anymore.

I've heard the expression before that we are all connected by this invisible thread of some sort, infinite in its potential and fragile in its design. But what is it that connects us? Is it a master plan that drives us and leads us to those who we are meant to be connected to, or is it something that lies deep within ourselves, our souls, waiting to be awakened? What are we if not a collection of beliefs, an assortment of thoughts and memories of our own experiences? Can I be me without these, can you be you? And what would happen to all of us lonely souls if this connection were to break, would we even feel it?

Content in lying there, letting my mind wander, I took in the moment and the feel of the warm arms that encompassed my waist… wait just a second… since when did I wake up on the floor with arms around my waist?

I didn't.

Doing the only thing that came to mind at the moment, I screamed and jumped in the air, wrapping myself in the blanket that had been around my waist to cover my naked body.

Oh God, I was naked too.

Malfoy was startled awake by the sudden removal of my body and the noise I was making. "What in the bloody hell Granger…" He leaned up on his elbows, running a hand over his face and through his hair in an effort to wake himself up. I looked down at his completely naked body, and all the memories from last night came flooding back into me like I had been hit with a tidal wave. My hand twitched at my side, wanting to reach out and just run my hand across the smooth contours of his chest. A familiar sensation started to bubble in my lower abdomen again that only worsened under the intense scrutiny of his gaze–

No.

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I couldn't breathe; what had I done? I was not that type of girl. This is just a bad dream. Yea, that was it, a bad dream that I would wake up from any minute now. I snapped my eyes shut, maybe if I just willed it away, it would actually happen. Maybe Malfoy wouldn't be lying in front of me in his birthday suit, and I would be sitting in the comfort of my own home.

"Granger, what in God's name are you doing?" He asked, his voice slightly tinted with amusement.

I opened one eye to glare at him with, "Trying to wake up. This is all a very, very bad dream. None of this is real." I closed the eye again, "Bad dream, bad dream…" Now I was pretty sure I was just speaking for my own sanity, almost as if I was trying to convince myself that it was true.

Malfoy was laughing at me, so I gave up my own little mantra and looked at him. He had found his bathing suit and was walking freely around the shed, trying to locate his shirt. "You know," he started, "you didn't seem to think it was so bad last night." If I wasn't blushing before, I was positive that my face now resembled that of a cherry tomato, when he turned around and winked at me, eyes twinkling mischievously and his lips curving up into a sly smile.

No.

"I refuse to believe… It can't possibly… there is no way that we… we had-" I stumbled over my words. I was barely able to form a coherent thought much less a sentence.

"It's called sex, Granger. S. E. X. Sex. It's not a bad word, you know," he finished for me, that perpetually maddening smirk was still etched onto his face. At least someone was enjoying himself, I'm glad he found this amusing.

"Oh will you shut your damn trap, Malfoy! I don't need this right now." I snapped at him. "Do you think for once in your life you could think about someone else other then yourself? This is so wrong, and all you're doing is making it worse. Shouldn't you be disgusted right now, I am, as you so love to put it, a filthy mudblood, and you slept with me!" My voice had become hysterical, escalating to a pitch where I was afraid that soon only bats would hear me. I was trying desperately not to cry, but my eyes were starting to water already. Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I continued speaking, "Now, I'm going to leave. Once I walk out of that door, I will leave you alone, forever, and I expect you to do the same."

He stood, positively gobsmacked, for a brief moment before he snarled at me, a hint of anger flashing through his icy eyes. Slowly, I turned away from him, but the feeling of his eyes boring into the back of my head never left me. I went to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

So much for my graceful exit.

Three more pulls and a few choice swear words later and the goddamned door finally swung open, causing me to lose my balance as I stumbled backwards.

Malfoy cleared his throat behind me, but I just couldn't take anymore of his bullshit, so I spoke before he could get a word in, "What, in God's name, do you want now?"

He flattered for a second before grinning wickedly, "I was just going to suggest putting on your bathing suit, but I guess if you like walking around in only a blanket than my advice really isn't needed," he said, a hand gesturing to the blanket I was wearing.

I didn't say anything back, merely shooting a glare in his direction and scouring around the tiny shed for my clothes. I successfully located the top of my bikini in the mess of volley ball nets, though the bottoms were proving to be slightly more problematic. When I found them, flung carelessly in a corner, they didn't even resemble a bathing suit; instead, they looked more like a shredded rag.

Shit, since I didn't have my wand I was going to have to ask for Malfoy's help, though I detested the thought.

I turned to face him, cringing as I did. He noticed the raggedy piece of fabric in my hand, "Yes Granger?" he asked haughtily.

God how I loathed him and his self-righteous, smug ass… albeit, a very cute ass. "Yea, um… er… could you… uh," he raised one insufferable eyebrow as I stuttered. Just suck it up, Hermione, and spit it out already, it's not like I had any dignity left to throw away. "Could you – er – possibly conjuremesomenewclothing," I spoke quickly.

"I'm sorry, Granger, I didn't quite catch that."

I took a deep breath to relax myself, and looked straight into his piercing eyes mustering up as much courage as I could, "I said, could you possibly conjure me some new clothing." He waved his wand, and a plain white shirt and boxers appeared on the floor between us.

Hesitantly I reached out and lifted the clothing off the floor, never breaking eye contact, though suddenly, I didn't want to. Something in them caught and held my attention; they seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"Maybe you should – er – get changed now." He said absentmindedly.

"Oh, yea right," I answered, just as out of it as he was. "Well, you have to, um, turn around now, because you don't get to see this anymore."

Our eyes finally broke apart when he turned his back to me, running a pale hand through his messy-morning-after sex hair. A weird, empty-like feeling materialized in my chest when our gaze ripped apart. I dressed quickly, and crossed my arms across my upper body, but that nagging vacant feeling never went away.

"I- I guess I'll- I guess I'll just be going." I walked slowly towards the door, but I stopped when I was halfway through, my hand resting on the frame as I looked over my shoulder at him. He wasn't looking at me, instead his gaze was focused somewhere on the floor. "Goodbye," I whispered.

It took all my strength to walk away from him, there was something in the back of my head that told me not to, that I was supposed to stay with him, but I pushed it away and kept walking.

The beach was littered with debris that had been flung around from the storm; the choppy, unwelcoming waters pulled stray pieces of garbage back into it as the persisting winds ripped at my body and chilled me.

Now I was cold.

I kept my arms firmly wrapped around myself, but it did nothing to block the freezing winds. Not once did I look back, for fear that if I did I wouldn't be able to keep going forward. Even out of sight, he was never quite out of mind.

The house was quite when I reached it. With everything that had happened, I had completely forgotten about my parents, they must have been worried sick about me, but I wasn't in the mood to see them right now. All I wanted to do was crawl up in my bed and cry my eyes out.

But I had no such luck. My parents were waiting for me in the conservatory and my mother didn't waste a second once the door was closed to wrap me in a bone-crushing hug. They looked frazzled and exhausted, like they hadn't slept the entire night. My mother's eyes were blood-shot and red-rimmed, my father's hair was sticking up and disheveled like he had been pulling at it.

"Mum, I'm okay, really. See, I'm fine. Mum. Mum, I can't breathe."

"Jean", my father said, placing a comforting hand on my hysterical mother, "you're suffocating the poor girl."

Her hold on me loosened, and her hands came to cup my face, fingers gently stroking my cheeks, "Oh Hermione, we were so worried. We came back from town when the storm started, and when we got home you still weren't here. I looked outside; hoping to see you coming up the beach, but the only thing I saw was your chair, floating away in the water."

She chocked out a sob, and unable to continue, my father took over, "I went out to the water, praying that you were still there, just out of our sight, but I only found this, and I knew something was wrong." He walked into the kitchen, coming back in a few seconds later, "Here" From behind his back, he pulled out my wand.

I took it gingerly and placed it in the waistband of the boxers, "I think I need to sit down."

"Of course, sweetheart, here, sit on the couch and your father will bring you a cup of tea." Guiding me by my shoulders, my mother led me to the small loveseat, while my father went back into the kitchen to make some tea. She sat down on the coffee table in front of me, taking my hands in hers. "What really happened, Hermione?"

What could I really tell her? I couldn't tell her the truth, for obvious reasons. "While you guys were out, I had gone down to the beach to read, but you already know that. At some point I think I fell asleep, because the next think I knew I was being swept up by the waves, and carried down the shore." Now I had to lie, so I looked down at my hands, unable to look her in the eye, "One of the locals pulled me out of the water and let me stay in their house for the night. They even gave me these clothes to wear. That's it, really."

"I'm just glad you're okay, honey. Your father and I should thank those kind people, they must be angels."

Ha, I wouldn't exactly call him an angel.

I felt exhausted, all of a sudden, "Mum, can you tell Dad to hold off on the tea, I think I just want to lie down for a while."

"Sure Honey, you just go up to your room and have yourself a good nap. We'll be down here if you need us."

"I love you, Mum."

"I love you too, Honey," she said, giving me a kiss on the temple as I turned to go up the stairs. "Hermione, there's a festival in town tonight, and we were thinking – only if you were up for it –that we could go. As a family. What do you say?"

I nodded my acceptance and continued up the stairs. My bed was warm and inviting, but it did nothing to comfort me, as a rush of tears that I had been holding back for so long, spilled over.

I was so… confused.

Torn.

My mind knew that it was wrong to want him, we were two completely different people, and he hated people like me. He hated Harry, and Ron, he was the bloody son of a Death Eater, for crying out loud.

But my body, what I feared was becoming the stronger part of me, craved him. It needed him. In all the years that we despised each other, I had held on to the idea that whatever we were made of, I was as different from Malfoy as a moonbeam is from lightning, or frost from fire.

Oh, piss it, who was I trying to kid.

So I did the only thing that made any sense at the moment.

I cried.

I cried for the last innocent part of me that I had lost.

I cried because I was scared, scared of these new foreign and unwanted feelings.

Why had he saved me, why couldn't he have just let me die peacefully under those brutal waves? Surely it was less painful than this.

But through all these muddled thoughts racing around in my head and the sensation of being stabbed in the heart with a white hot poker– of one thing I was certain…

I was falling for Draco Malfoy.

Draco Malfoy

Why did I let her walk away?

"Damn it!" I yelled, kicking over a plastic chair.

It had been hours since she left, the sun rising to its high point in the sky and then, ever so slowly, starting its decent back down towards the horizon line.

I should have gone back ages ago, let my mother know I was fine, though I doubt she was worrying about me, I've been known to disappear for days at a time.

Especially when we first got here.

What she said this morning kept ringing in my ear, why did I sleep with her; she was a filthy mudblood, after all.

Mudblood.

Something about that word just seemed so dirty now, even though I had been saying it all my life. We might as well have been from the complete opposite sides of the world. But was she really all that inferior to me? Hell, she was probably was the better person.

And why did I sleep with her?

Was it in the heat of the moment, or was there something else that drove me to do it? She just looked so goddamn beautiful, so innocent, and I had taken that from her. This morning she looked broken and terrified. Was she terrified of me? She seemed to want it as much as I had.

When she was standing there this morning, in nothing but that thin blanket, it took every ounce of will-power I had not to ravish her right then and there on the floor again.

Somehow I didn't think she would have protested.

Last night I thought angels were calling out to me when she screamed my name in ecstasy. I remembered every contour of her perfect, goddess-like body, and the way it felt under my fingers. We had fit perfectly, molding together like we had been specifically designed for each other. Nothing had ever felt so natural.

"Get a hold of yourself, Draco."

Brilliant, now I was talking to myself, the first sign of insanity.

Sitting in the shed any longer wasn't healthy; I had spent enough time wallowing. But I didn't understand why this shag had gotten me so wound up. After all, it was just a onetime thing. It wasn't like anything was going to come out of it.

The wet sand was spongy, and sunk under my feet as I made my way back down to my house, still thinking in overdrive. Was I… no, it couldn't be.

Was I really so hung up Granger because… because I really did want her, more than just a usual shag? Come to think of it, I had never thought about a girl in my entire life than I thought about her.

But that was just preposterous.

I couldn't want her… right?

But I did.

I had feelings for Hermione Granger.

What the fuck was happening to me?

……………..

When I could see the house, I quickened my pace until I reached it. "Mum?" I called, sliding the glass door open and stepping inside. She was sitting on her couch, still in her green silk robe, reading the Prophet next to the fire.

"Draco, darling, I hadn't even realized you were gone." What a way to know she cared. I walked over to her, placing a light peck on her cheek before sitting down in the armchair next to her.

"You didn't notice that I've been gone for two whole days?"

She glanced briefly at me over the paper, "well it's not like you come out of your room anyway, how was I supposed to know you were out?"

"You could have looked," I snorted out.

"I could have," she said casually, not really paying much attention to me. When she finally took a good look at me, her eyes widened and she closed the paper quickly, throwing it off to the side, "Oh my, Draco, what happened?"

My shirt had been wrinkled, and I was pretty sure my bottoms were ripped. The wind had blown my hair around, causing it to stick up in odd places. I reached up to run a hand through it, and pulled out a twig; I probably looked like death warmed over. "I'm fine, Mum, I got caught up in the storm last night. No big deal. I hid in a shed until it passed. No need to fret."

Determining that I was okay, she smiled softly at me, "I'm your mother, it's my job to fret. Now you missed breakfast, but Berta's in the kitchen now, mumbling to herself about some man named Charlie who lives down the street with his brother and nephew. They sound like a really… interesting bunch, the boy sounds particularly delightful."

"Wait a second, you talk to Berta now?" When my mother and I first went into hiding, we hadn't been able to bring anything with us, including any of our house elves. Living in a muggle town we couldn't do magic either for fear that they could track it, instead we had to use muggle appliances.

That hadn't gone so well.

After her first initial attempt that resulted in the explosion of some gooey substance, my mother gave up on trying to cook anything until she found Berta to do all the housework around here. That night it had taken her at least an hour to figure out how to work the phone and call for takeout.

"Don't look so shocked, Draco, it's not like I have anyone else to talk to around here. Besides, I didn't exactly talk to her, more like listen while she cooks. She's quite amusing, believe it or not. Anyway, I'm sure she'd be more than happy to whip something up for you."

She picked up the paper again, curling its edge around her finger nervously. I went to take it, but she noticed and crumpled it up into a ball and throwing it into the fire before I could get to it. "What in the bloody hell was that for?" I exclaimed.

"Oh, It's all rubbish, nothing worth reading, mainly that vile Skeeter woman. I'm surprised that they're still keeping her on, I don't believe she ever wrote a single honest word."

"I still would have liked to read it," I grumbled solemnly to myself.

"Don't be such a baby, darling, it's not an attractive quality. If you must, I left the quidditch section on the table. You know, I heard from Mrs. Parkinson this morning…" Picking up the paper from the table, I tuned her out as she talked. It was nothing of any importance to me anyway.

About twenty minutes had passed when my stomach rumbled, reminding me that I hadn't eaten in almost a day. She was still talking when I went to cut her off, "… I went walking in town the other day and noticed a new muggle clothing store being built. They all look like tramps, now a day, what they wear – if you can even call it clothing – barley covers their backside. Where has all the class gone from the world? When I marri–"

"You know what, Mum," I said before she could continue talking, "I think I'm going to head on into the kitchen and see if Berta and get me something to eat." I really did love my mother, but sometimes there was only so much of her I could take.

"Oh, right, well then, see you later darling."

"Hello, Berta," I said walking into the kitchen, "how are you today?"

Berta was standing at the sink, a large dish in one hand, a soapy sponge in the other. "I'm just peachy considering I spend most of my day looking at dirty toilets and those Rorschach tests you call bed sheets. Hold up, what the hell happened to you," she said, taking one look at me, "it looks like you just lost a fight to the Juggernaut and the Tasmanian devil. I swear you go through more clothes in one day than octaves John Travolta can hit in a single song."

I let out a bark of laughter, "Not exactly, more like Mother Nature and Neptune. And who's John Travolta?"

She gave me an odd look, "Sometimes it's like you and your mother are from a different universe… Just leave those in the pile in your room and eat your sandwich. I have to get back to the drunken, jingle-writer and his fastidious parasite he calls a brother. Though I have to say, he cleans up after himself like a neurotic raccoon…"

The room was quite after Berta left, and I ate my dinner in silence, as I watched the sunset through the large bay windows. When I finished I took a shower, washing all the caked in salt and sand from my hair and but on clean clothes.

Needing to clear my head for a while, I left the house and wandered down the road in the direction of town. The sky was clear tonight, thousands of bright starts shined brightly in the inky sky. I didn't have a destination as I walked, so I followed my feet to wherever they took me.

It just so happened that they took me to her.

Hermione stood at the end of a dock that stretched out over the beach. Gentle waters lapped at the shore and at the beams that supported the dock. She was leaning on her elbows, overlooking the water and bathed in the light from the moon, and a faint breeze blew a few strands of her wavy hair around her head, and the loose skirt she was wearing out behind her.

My breath hitched; why had I never noticed how stunning she was before?

I stood at the end of the dock, and after taking a single step forward onto the weathered, old wood, she spoke, "It's strange, isn't it?" If she hadn't turned her head toward me then, I would have thought she was speaking to herself. "You're not as sneaky as you think, Draco Malfoy." She blushed slightly and smiled softly, "I saw your reflection in the water as you came up the beach."

For the second time in two days she had rendered me speechless and out of breath; two things that had never happened to me in the entirety of my life before.

Her entire body was facing me now, and she had stepped forward too and continued speaking, "I mean, up until yesterday, I hated you. You were cruel, vile, and just mean… hell, you still could be and then I'd really look like an idiot. But there's something about you now, I'm not sure what, that seems different. I don't believe – or I don't want to believe – that you're that person anymore." She was standing right in front of me now, our faces almost touching. Reaching up, she tenderly ran a single finger down my cheek, leaving a trail of warmth in its wake. My eyes fluttered shut, and I leaned into it. "This is all so ridiculous. I'm sorry, I – I don't know what I was thinking…"

When she went to walk away from me, I reached out and grabbed her hand, "No, wait. Hermione, you're doing something to me, I can feel it, and though I'm not quite sure what it is yet, I do know that I want you. And I have never wanted someone so much in my entire life before."

Our bodies were just barley touching, our faces but a mere few inches apart. No longer able to hold myself back, I closed the distance between our faces, capturing her lips in mine in the softest of kisses. Jolts of electricity sent tingles down my back when she weaved her fingers into my hair, my own hands wrapping around her back to bring her closer to me. We broke away only when we both absolutely couldn't go without air any longer, my body reeling from the loss of contact and my heart pounding.

Looking into my eyes, she whispered words that sent the heart I didn't know I had, soaring, and pulled my head back down for a much more passionate kiss.

"You have me."

AN: So… what did you think? Leave me a review and I'll send you a sneak peak. I love you all, but right now I'm not sure when my official update date will be, but I promise that it will be much, much, quicker.

Violingrl07, I also wanted to thank you for using the word "gobsmacked" in your review, it was brilliant, and I couldn't resist stealing it ;)

Until next time…

Next Chapter: Hermione Granger