Note;

Yay, Dramione! I looked forward to writing this, it was a lot of fun doing so xD

Chapter eleven

Sins and skins

Hermione also said: 'Lumos', and, her wand still ready for battle, she started to walk through the little barn.

'So, we're staying here?' Draco asked from behind her, and she stopped.

'I think so, there may be Death Eaters still trying to interrogate the people living in that house, we cannot let them do that!'

'They're just Muggles,' Malfoy said under his breath, and luckily for him, Hermione did not hear him.

She looked around the shabby little place, seeing that there were several piles of square-formed, pressed-together pieces of hay.

Between some of the piles, there was a platform of hay; a space large enough for the two of them to lie upon. If they would hear any sounds, they could easily watch the environment from that place.

There was not much beside hay in the place; merely a Muggle machine to work the land which Draco thought was a torturing instrument.

Feeling childish and excited in the soothing of the Death Eaters being gone, Hermione dove into the hay.

'Hey,' she said to Draco, still in a low voice, but no longer worried of being overheard, and she spread her arms and legs as if she were trying to make an angel in the snow, 'if you want to get some rest, it's actually quite soft here!'

She changed her position. 'Despite the fact that hay has a way of poking into every ho – Hum. Yeah.'

'Okay,' Draco said, who had dimmed the light of his wand and was now sort of clueless, 'here I come!'

He gave her a little Ginny-flashback by jumping right on top of her, and unlike Ginny, he was heavy.

Feeling his every muscle, she didn't even attempt to throw him off; he was probably much stronger, and, well, it wasn't like he gave her unpleasant feelings.

Well, he should! An annoying little voice in her head said, but she shot it dead with her mere thoughts, however placing her hands against his chest; it was quite difficult to find some oxygen when her mouth was pressed against his body.

She breathed against his stomach until he finally climbed off of her.

'Were you trying to suffocate me?' she asked, and he gave her a smile so apologetically that she couldn't resist giggling herself.

'So I take it we're staying awake?' he asked, settling himself against the hay, again running a hand through his hair and Hermione swallowed when she felt the urge to do that for him.

For a minute she just lay silent in the hay, listening for uncommon sounds, but there was only a choir of crickets answering her silent call.

She then took off her coat, noticing it was quite warm in the little shack, perhaps due to the hay, perhaps because she ran for some twenty minutes a little earlier, throwing it aside carelessly.

Then Draco spoke.

'You and Weasley would probably be doing lots of other stuff in here, wouldn't you?'

He chuckled not very enthusiastically, and his voice died, leaving Hermione alone with her thoughts. Fortunately, Ron didn't stay in her mind for very long, her eyes were drawn towards Draco, who followed her example by taking off his coat, using it as a pillow.

'What do you mean?' she then asked, rolling over to her side in order to look him in the eyes.

The corner of his mouth twitched and he looked at her quite vigorously by bringing up this subject.

'Well, if I were in love with you, and all alone with you in the middle of nowhere, I'd probably take the risk and do…' he stopped.

'Well, you are,' she pointed out and they both opened their mouths, yet neither spoke.

'Er…' he said.

'I mean, not in love with me,' she then continued hastily, her heart pounding against her chest like mad, 'just… in the middle of nowhere.'

They were silent for a while again, though she noticed him moving a little closer, before whispering:

'But what if I were?'

She looked at him in astonishment and felt the need to lie nearer to him.

'W… You mean, in love with me? But you're not.'

'Oh, but what if I were?' he repeated in the same whisper.

'Then…' her voice trembled as she continued staring him in the eye.

'Then what would you… do?'

He sat up and she wondered if he was going to burst out into laughter now, but his pale, grey eyes looked at her in a way that meant no joke.

'I could do this,' he rustled, and he moved his face so close to her she could see the lights in his eyes twinkling, his lips moving apart a little, yet they did not touch his.

Unable to speak, she laid still, feeling his finger stroke her hair, then trailing along her face, down her neck and pausing at her chest, coming to a halt there.

'And… what if I…' she started, banishing all thoughts of Ron (and a very severe looking Harry) now, feeling nothing but his body lying so close to her she swore she could feel his hips pressing against hers. They did not, actually, but she couldn't wait for it to happen.

'What if you…?' he asked, and his eyes now stopped their wandering over her face and looked straight into hers.

'What if I were in love with… with you, too?'

There was no question to that anymore and she smiled at him, awaiting his next step.

'Then perhaps, if you let me…'

'Oh, I'm letting you,' she breathed, and his mouth curled as it came nearer.

'Then I could do this.'

He moved downwards and his lips touched her neck. She barely felt it, though her body reacted instantly by sending a slow, pleasant shiver down her spine.

She moaned softly in pure desire and his lips followed a determined trail upwards, up her chin and he placed his final puppy kiss next to her mouth.

Hermione felt it was time to speak again, and she sought for the right words for a few seconds, leaving between them a comfortable silence.

'So what if we were… lovers?'

He moved so suddenly that she again wondered if this all was a joke, but he cast that silly little demon of objection and wonder away by climbing over her, placing one knee on either side of her.

He bent forwards and his face was now inches from hers again, his hair falling forwards, like little curtains between them, as if their touch had to be censored.

'Then this would be the right thing to do.'

Again placing a loving little kiss next to her mouth, his lips wandered to the left, and were pressed against hers before she'd even noticed.

Her arms wrapped around his neck as she kissed him back, opening her mouth slightly to allow his tongue to seduce hers, allowing hers to play little games with him, and she lost herself in his touch, though for one moment enjoying the softness, tenderness that he exposed.

She had expected him to dominate her, making her his while kissing her, but she regretted even thinking about this when he broke apart, panting slightly, looking at her in a way she'd never seen him do.

'You're beautiful,' he said and she smiled and answered:

'Oh, the cliché.'

Rolling over in order to get on top of him, now, her arms still keeping him close, she took control, pouring all of her into another breathtaking kiss.

Her hands now loosened their grip and finally she placed one of them in his hair, the other chose a path down his face, his chest, opening her eyes to ask permission, but his eyes were closed and another shiver shot down her being as she unbuttoned his shirt…

There was nothing but Draco for her.

'Go on,' he groaned, pausing to have her take his shirt off, admiring the sight that was exposed to her.

'Like that, Granger?' he growled.

'How about hell yeah, Malfoy?'

His lips made contact with hers again and she felt him smile as their romantic battle continued, his fingers hovering above her shirt buttons before deciding to just rip it apart.

'Nice and naughty?' she said with a questioning look, and he didn't even bother to reply, his warm hands were all over her and she might as well have been a rag doll; he controlled her every move, took hold of her every motion, emotion…

'I'm yours,' she sighed in longing, yearning for more of his touch, and they rolled over once more…

She woke up in the sunlit barn, her head on Draco's chest and their legs entwined, her fingers tangled with his. She placed a little kiss right where his heart was and he woke up with a yawn. He opened his eyes, realizing who was on top of him and they both smiled in naughty delight.

'Good morning, stranger,' she said and he ran a hand through her hair, momentarily pausing to remove some hay.

'Good morning, hot stuff,' he replied and she giggled.

They lay together for some time, but Hermione's very realistic daydream was interrupted rudely when someone rattled the lock on the door.

'Oh, shit,' she said in fear, quickly releasing Draco from her loving clutch and searching for her wand. She muttered a hastily: 'Reparo,' to fix her shirt, pulled it over her head, grabbed both of their cloaks, then Draco's hand and Disapparated from her lying position.

'Where are we?' Draco asked surprised, looking around at the little farm and barn in front of them, where a man just disappeared into.

'What do you think?' Hermione said a little edgy, though feeling amused, too.

'Outside, of course!'

'Oh,' said Draco, now recognizing the farm and she took his hand again, no longer afraid of touching him (oh, that hand had seen more by this time) and turning on the spot, being swallowed by thin air.

Her lungs were at breaking point when they finally Apparated; they were in front of the hotel.

'Hermione!' a voice behind them shrieked and she quickly let go of Draco's hand, giving him a cold stare as if nothing had changed behind them.

'Harry!' she replied as if she was happy to see him, flinging her arms around him, and he looked at her in utter happiness.

'So glad to see you, how is he?' she asked, her stomach lurching at the thought of her boyfriend.

'He's all right!' Harry said, pausing and looking at her in slight suspicion. 'Why is there hay in your hair? Oh, hey, Malfoy,' he said. 'And where did you come from?'

She coughed.

'Oh, a little accident.'

Draco shot her an accusing look and she bit her lip, remembering with a jump of her senses that yesterday she was biting his. Oh, this didn't help.

'Were the Healers able to fix him up immediately?' she then said, and Harry, clearly forgetting about his suspicious feelings, nodded happily.

'Yeah, it didn't take them too long, and guess what!'

'Er, what?'

'He's forgiven you! He knew you aimed at Malfoy and that it's him you hate –'

Hermione's stomach gave a sign of protest again and she looked at the sky.

Like staring into the sun is going to cover up your sins, it'll just blind you, stupid.

'That's great! Oh, I was so worried,' she said convincingly, pulling him into another hug, almost Hagrid-like in her anger. The last thing she wanted was to face Ron.

'So I thought, you can come with me, pack your things and go visit him!'

'Sure!' she squealed in faked excitement, feeling as depressed as she had after she'd jinxed Ron.

The answer to the question 'what if her spell had hit Malfoy' now gave her a completely different insight.

'But er, actually, we still have to have some breakfast,' Draco interrupted, not looking forward to travelling on an empty stomach.

'You probably already stuffed yourself,' Harry said in a cool voice, but Hermione shook her head.

'No, it's true, we've been out all night, hiding from the Death Eaters,' she said in a low voice, feeling very guilty lying to her best friend.

Though there was a certain amount of truth in it…

Not compared with the amount of, er, other stuff they'd done that night, of course.

Harry stared at her. 'You found them? Did you capture them?'

He looked around her, as if expecting her to carry a bag of unconscious Death Eaters.

'Well, we did find them, but er – we kind of failed. I didn't even try to curse them; I guess there were an awful lot of them.'

'Yeah, there always have been too much of 'em. Hey, what about I join you for that breakfast, then? I'm actually kinda hungry, been in St. Mungo's all night and eat nothing but a banana I got from Lockhart.'

She giggled. 'You ran into Lockhart?'

'Yes, he's actually doing better, unfortunately. The nurses told me he remembered soaring out of a large pipe into something that looked like a toilet, with a boy that resembled me.'

'How did he know it was you?' she asked, aghast.

'Oh, nothing to worry about, he just shouted I looked like the boy from his memory when he ran into me in the hallway, and the nurses asked me to confirm all of it, but, well, obviously, I denied it all and said that he was still as weird as ever. They're all quite disappointed and now they're going to charge this guy who claimed he'd given Lockhart some of his memory back.'

About three of the words he spoke actually got to her; she was wondering what in hell's name she could tell Ron when she saw him.

He'd never believe she had merely been hiding from the Death Eaters, he would suspect Malfoy from being madly in love with her even if Draco just gave her an apple or something.

… Though she'd once read that apples were seen as an object of lust in medieval times. Maybe she could… She tried to stop her mind promptly, when Harry looked at her in a sort of interrogating way.

'Are you all right? I mean, you do agree, don't you?'

She stared at him.

'Of course I agree, what do you think? I'm just… hungry. Let's get inside.'

Harry and a relieved Draco followed her into the hotel, while she secretly cursed Harry and Ron and Ginny, too, though Ginny had nothing to do with this.

While they ate their breakfast in awkward silence, her thoughts returned to Ginny.

Of course, if she hadn't brought Ron to St. Mungo's so fast, they wouldn't have been able to fix him up so quickly…

She stopped eating at this in revulsion of herself. She still loved Ron, what was she thinking? If Ginny hadn't escorted Ron to Britain so quickly, he would probably be faceless forever. Disgusted, she shoved her plate away and tried to hide her watery eyes.

'What's wrong, Mione? Did scum face do anything to you?'

He and Harry stared at each other in the utmost hatred, and she quickly said:

'No, no, I'm just so, so relieved he's okay, I couldn't take my mind off him!'

Draco said in his most serious tone:

'Yeah, it was horrible being around her, trust me. All she could think about was Weasel, Weasel, and more Weasel. She taught me all of the stuff they do together; I nearly tried to kill myself.'

Harry turned his head so fast that he felt his neck with a painful look on his face at his comments.

'What did you teach him?' he said in a strange voice.

'What do you think, Harry? Oh, ew, not stuff like THAT!' she said, faking shock. 'He's talking about the stuff Ron taught me. I mean, trying to stay awake is a lot easier when you can talk about your boyfriend. I told him some stuff Ron had me learn about Quidditch and wizard's chess,' she made up quickly, and then added:

'I'm going to go upstairs and change, okay? I'll pack my things, and your things,' she said with a brief nod at Draco, 'oh, and the luggage you, Ron and Ginny brought along, too!'

Happy with so many things to do, she hurried towards the elevators that were now fixed, rammed the button in fury and jumped inside.

Half a minute later, she was at the top floor, running away from a freaky geezer that had tried to feel her butt in the elevator. If only she could use magic around him…

In her room, she changed into clothes showing as less skin as possible and remembering they were going back to the cold, wet English climate, she crammed an ugly hat on top of her head, one she'd once made for the house-elves.

Why had she even packed that?

Trying hard to focus on anything not involving Draco, Ron or Harry, or, well, any person in her normal life, she started packing and folding clothes neatly, brushed her teeth, ran from room to room in order to pack all their belongings together and about half an hour later, she stepped out of the elevator, holding more bags and suitcases than she could actually carry, and Draco and Harry, who were awaiting her, shot forward.

Her fingers tingled after Draco had touched them, taking over some of the bags, and they shared a quick look, in which she tried to put reassurance that they would talk later.

'I've made my decision,' she said, half to Harry, half to Draco.

'About what?' they asked together.

'The Death Eaters?' she said as if it were obvious and she saw Draco relax some muscles; if Hermione would blurt anything out to Harry, Draco would never leave Spain alive.

'We're gonna turn their hiding place over to the Ministry; you'll still get some credit, Draco, your name will be cleared anyway. And no protest, I'm NOT going back to that place!'

'Oh, I should've come with you,' Harry said regretful, and Draco shook his head like mad behind his back. Hermione snorted.

'What?' Harry asked.

'Nothing, just… I don't think it would've made much difference, they would outnumber us greatly even if you were there!' she improvised.

He seemed to accept this answer, and together, they Disapparated some three times to get back to Britain.

They stood before the store with the dumb dolls staring at them, and Harry turned to Hermione: 'Are you ready?' he asked brightly.

Hermione nodded, handing Draco his luggage; he felt no need to see Ron.

A lot of things left unsaid between them, he gave her a short stare, then Disapparated.

'Geez, glad he's gone,' Harry laughed. 'It was hell being alone with them in that restaurant, can't IMAGINE how you felt with him an entire night!'

She made a huge effort to laugh, but it didn't deserve the title 'laughter', the cold, high sound leaving her mouth could scarcely express joy.

'There we go!' said Harry, pushing her through the shop display, and she moaned.

'Yeah… there we go.'