A/N: I'm so happy. And, um, pretend Lupin x Tonks never happened, there's some Lupin x Hermione here, instead of the R x Herm or Har x Herm I thought I would do. ::shrugs:: lol.
"You?"
Hermione almost wished she hadn't seen the kiss between Draco and Rhea.
Almost.
As she stared at the sheepish girl, massaging her neck, she realized that if not for that they could've become friends. But that can't happen now.
'WHY do I care?' Hermione wondered as Rhea babbled some apologies.
'I mean, OK, he has one damn hot body. But…I love another.' she thought, thinking of the only man she'd ever loved.
But she knew it was hopeless trying to rally up her old feelings of anger and spite. They simply weren't available to her anymore.
She wouldn't be able to figure out what happened either, unless she confronted it, and that meant confronting Dr-Ma-Draco.
Realizing Rhea was staring at her to respond, Hermione muttered, "Don't worry about it. I got to go."
"OK, well, I'm still sorry all right? Um, if it still hurts tomorrow you can…I dunno…hit me or something…"
Hermione chuckled. "I don't think that'll be necessary. But goodnight Rhea."
"G'Night."
Taking back to the sky on her broom, Hermione wondered how she was gonna do this.
A sudden image of Draco and Hermione kissing passionately popped into said girl's head, and said girl promptly fell off of her broom.
Unfortunately for her, and the ground below her, said broom was already at least a hundred feet in the air.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!"
Her scream echoed over Hogwarts.
Hermione shut her eyes tight. 'THIS is why I don't…like…heights!' she thought as she rushed down ever faster.
'Oh, Goddess, I'm gonna die…I'll never have my first kiss, never fall in love and marry and have a family and be successful in a career… Never…'
Almost unbelievably it turns out that the Slytherin Quidditch Team was having practice just then. All of them heard the scream, and for some reason they all froze and stared bug-eyed.
Well, almost all except for one blonde Slytherin who raced to get under the falling girl. Hermione's eyes were squeezed shut, but she heard someone call her name.
"Hmm?" she moaned just as she hit the ground.
Or, she thought she did. But all of a sudden the ground seemed very warm and comfortable and smooth and loud.
Cracking her eyes open carefully, she realized what happened. 'Wow. Just like some fairy tale. I'm the princess who almost died, and here's my knight in shining armor, saving my arse.' she chuckled.
Concerned grey eyes met hers. It reminded her almost terribly of that day on the platform. "Uh, Granger, you ok? You're laughing, did the fall knock your sanity out?"
Just as she was about to thank him and tell him to put her down, please, and then snap something back for his comment, he screamed "AARGH! Bloody hell woman!"
Wondering if he was the one whom the hit jostled a tad up there, she realized, oopsies, her broom had been falling behind her, and had just clobbered her knight on the head.
"Heh. Sorry D-Malfoy. Um, can you put me down now?"
They were about ten feet above the ground, so she expected him to lower the broom about 4 feet and let her jump off.
But instead, he gave her one of his charming smirks, before "Be my guest" and Hermione promptly fell on her arse as Draco tilted the broom so she fell off.
"PRICK!" she yelled at the still-smirking Slytherin Prince, before glaring at his chortling teammates.
Huffing she stomped off to the Heads Room. Once she was inside of it, she flopped down on the comfy couch near the fire.
'So much for the plan of confronting Draco…' she mused.
She decided a hot steamy bath just then sounded good. As she ran the water, and placed a bathrobe on the sink for after the bath, Hermione wondered why he had caught her.
'It probably wouldn't look good for him if he was there and hadn't tried to save me.'
'But then again, his teammates just sat there.'
Slipping into the blissfully hot water like into a cloud, Hermione thought she heard the tapestry door open.
'He must be back from practice. Thank Goddess I locked the door.'
Which is when she heard a voice that definitely wasn't Draco's calling her name.
Groaning at the thought of it being a teacher or someone, she wrapped the robe around her still dripping body, and stepped out into the hall, the last person she ever expected to see in her dormitory.
"Professor Lupin!" she cried flustered. 'I wonder why he's here. Could he possibly…No. Impossible.'
The werewolf smiled at her. "Call me Remus, Hermione."
He looked a little tired, and paler than usual, but otherwise fine, (in fact very fine if you caught Hermione's drift), standing at the bottom of the staircase. "How has your year been so far?"
She shifted awkwardly, tying her bathrobe a little tighter. "Um, it's been all right. So, um, why exactly…"
"…Am I here?" he smiled at her, completing her question.
"Well, um, yes."
He smiled even more, and removed his cloak, folding it over his arm.
"I wanted to pay you a visit."
Hermione gulped. It had been raining outside, and it was windy, so the cloak had whipped around, not really doing anything to fight off the wetness, and now the Professor's shirt stuck to his torso.
"Oh."
"Well, I'll admit, there's something else as well."
"R-Really?" she asked as Lupin climbed up the stairs, stopping on the same step she was on.
"Yes." He said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
Hermione thought he must be able to feel her heartbeat even at her shoulder.
"You see…"He said, as Hermione gazed up at him, hoping against hope.
"…The Order requires you and Mr.Malfoy's help. Since you are both 17(1), Dumbledore said the decision was up to you two."
Hermione's heart plummeted, but she tried not to let it show.
"O-Oh. Right, I see. Well, Draco ought to be back from practice soon, so, um, why don't you sit down on one of the couches, I just need to change." she managed to mumble.
"Sure."
'Stupid Hermione.' she thought as she left behind the Professor whose gaze she could still feel upon her trembling body.
'He doesn't want you that way. And he's old enough to be your father!'
But this was a tired argument, and really, it wasn't that weird, plenty of muggle girls fall in love with movie stars old enough to be their fathers…
Just as she changed into black pants that made her legs look even longer and slim, and a red T-Shirt that said "Princess" in dark blue glitter, she heard the tapestry door swish open again.
'Hopefully this time it really IS Draco. Wait a second…that door's ONLY supposed to open for me and Draco!! Not that I'm complaining, but... How did Pr-Remus get in?????'
A/N: so, you guys likey? Leave me a review and tell. Maybe I'll give you a cookie…. lol. Don't worry about the Lupin x Hermione thing; this is after all a Draco x Hermione fic.