"Hey, Hermione? Can we talk for a moment?"
"Oh, Ron, of course." Hermione replied, setting her book on the empty couch cushion next to her.
"Somewhere… private?" Ron asked, rubbing the back of his head with one hand, the other in his pocket.
Hermione stood and followed him out of the Gryffindor Common Room, down a few flights of stairs, through a few corridors before they finally stopped and entered a dark, unused, empty classroom. Ron turned towards her after she closed the door, but didn't immediately say anything. He stood, staring awkwardly at her, not quite sure where he should begin.
He walked forward and grabbed Hermione, pulling her into a tight embrace. Ron simply held her there for a while, his neck bent in an odd position to allow his head to rest in the crook of her neck.
"I'm sorry," he said, finally pulling away from her. "I've been a real jerk lately. You haven't deserved any of it, and I'm sorry."
"Oh, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, grabbing Ron and wrapping her arms around his neck once more. "Thank you."
Walking hand in hand, Hermione and Ron entered the Great Hall for Sunday breakfast. Hermione hadn't remembered when she had felt happier. Not only does she have a special task ahead of her, one asked by none other than her favorite Professor, but things between her and Ron were finally back to normal. She wasn't sure how things could possibly get any better for her and her life.
As they got to the Gryffindor table, Ron went off to talk to some of his Quidditch teammates, so Hermione picked a seat towards the end of the table. She hadn't been sitting there long when owls began flooding the Great Hall, bringing the day's mail. To her surprise, a large Tawney owl landed before her. She hadn't been expecting anything, so the letter tied to the owl's leg caught her off guard.
Classroom 11, Third Floor, 6 pm. Do not be late
Headmistress McGonagall
Hermione looked up after reading the short, simple note. Her eyes drifted across the Great Hall to the Slytherin table and found Draco looking back at her, note in hand as well. During their meeting the night before, McGonagall had told the two that they would soon begin making the potions. However, Hermione had never imagined they would begin the next day.
She folded the note and tucked it away into her robes, looking around to make sure none of her friends had noticed it. Thankfully everyone around her seemed to be into their own letters or into their meals that no one had noticed.
"Hey Hermione!"
"Hi, Ginny!" Hermione smiled as her friend sat down across from her.
The two girls sat chatting and giggling, while Harry and Ron came to join them. The four of them talked and laughed about nothing important, feeling more normal than ever before. Once they finished their meals, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Harry all left the Great Hall and headed outside, figuring they would pay Hagrid a visit. They hadn't seen him much since the beginning of the year, so it would be nice to say hi to him. As they left, Hermione glanced towards the Slytherin table quickly, finding Draco watching them as they left, a slight scowl on his face and hurt in his eyes.
Six o'clock snuck up on Hermione sooner than she had expected. Ron, Ginny, Harry, and herself were all in the common room together, Hermione on the couch watching Ron and Harry play Wizards Chess, Ginny attempting to give Harry pointers on how to beat her older brother. Standing up, she told them she had to leave for an important meeting.
"What do you mean an important meeting?" Ron asked.
"I can't explain, I'm sorry. But I do have to go."
Ron scowled at her lack of explanation, his ears beginning to turn red with anger.
"Ron, I'm sorry." Hermione said, attempting to subdue his anger. "You know I'd tell you if I could. This is just really important, okay?"
Ron returned his attention to their game of Wizards Chess, ignoring Hermione completely. Deciding it was best to just give up rather than turning this into a fight, she said goodbye to Harry and Ginny, then turned and left the common room. She looked down at her watch and saw she only had a few short minutes to make it from Gryffindor Tower to the third floor corridor.
Hermione broke into a run, taking the stairs two at a time. She sincerely hoped she wouldn't run into any students or teachers, figuratively or literally. She couldn't afford to be held up any more than she already had been. Thankfully, Hermione hadn't run into any interference on her way, so she had made it to the classroom with one minute to spare. Knocking quickly, she entered the room without waiting for an answer, ignoring the stitch she had in her side.
Hermione found both Draco and Professor McGonagall waiting for her when she entered the classroom. Between shallow breaths, she apologized for just barely making it on time, quickly explaining she had been held back by her friends. With a wave of her hand, McGonagall excused her almost-tardiness and motioned her to the empty seat next to Draco's.
"Before we begin I wanted to thank the both of you for coming on such short notice. I hadn't expected to need to begin so suddenly, but after our meeting last night I received and urgent owl from St. Mungo's. The owl stated we would need to begin on a few select potions as soon as possible, as their back stores were running low.
"Since this is the first time we are doing this, I wanted to initially go over my plans for how we will be executing this task. The time we will be taking out were, as I mentioned to Hermione and hopefully she passed it on to you, Draco, originally planned for your Double Potions classes and possibly running through dinner. However, due to unforeseen circumstances with which potions they needed, it appears you two will be working more than anticipated.
"Do not fret," McGonagall quickly said at the worried look both Hermione and Draco gave her. "The potions will still be worked on at night, none of your other lessons should be interrupted. As you two work, you may bring homework from your other lessons with you and work on them here.
"Now, the potions St. Mungo's desperately requires are both the Revive and Memory potions. While these two seem easily enough to create, they both do take some time and effort to complete. I just know that the time it takes to create these potions can be lengthy, which is why they requested them first.
"I trust you two are familiar with these potions?"
Hermione and Draco nodded.
"Good. They asked for three cauldrons full of each. I've written the instructions on the parchments in front of you. If you need me, simply call for me using the fireplace to your right."
With that, Professor McGonagall left them to do their work. For a few moments, the two of them sat in silence, not quite sure where to begin. Sighing, Draco stood and flicked his wand towards the fireplace, a fire springing to life almost instantly. Hermione stood as well and lit the remaining candles that were around the room. The fire in the fireplace and the small fires from the candles bathed them and the room in a soft orange glow.
Leaning over the table, looking down at the parchments on one of the only tables in the small room, Hermione quickly went over each potion.
"So," she said, looking over at Draco, who stood next to the fire, his back facing her. "Which one do you think we should start with?"
Draco sauntered over to the other side of the table and looked down at the potion instructions as well. He leaned down close to the parchments, turning them around so he could read them easier. The top of his head was inches away from Hermione's face, and she couldn't help but lean in just a little closer and breathe in. To her surprise, he smelled wonderfully to her. He had that unexplainable "clean" smell to him, but there was a hint of something else there as well. Something Hermione couldn't quite describe, but a scent that made her heart slightly flutter when she inhaled.
Hermione came to her senses and silently scolded herself, reminding herself she had a boyfriend waiting for her back in her common room. She moved herself away from the top of Draco's head and stood up, waiting for his decision. Only moments after she moved, Draco stood up as well and ran a hand through his hair.
Hermione admired the view she saw: Draco, his hair mussed from him running his hand through it, sleeves rolled up above his elbows, the firelight darkening his skin to a rich, golden color. To Hermione, in that moment, he looked gorgeous. Again, she silently scolded herself, wondering just what exactly was coming over her. Only a few hours earlier she was thinking things between her and Ron couldn't be any better, and now she was admiring someone else's looks? And this wasn't just a normal other guy, this was her boyfriend's arch enemy.
Shaking her head to get her thoughts back on track, Hermione chose to speak up. "I was thinking we could start with the Memory Potion. Of the two, it's the easiest to begin, and while it's brewing we can start on the Revive Potion."
Draco just looked at her, his arms crossed at his chest, his brow furrowed.
"What?"
"I was thinking the exact same thing."
"R-really?"
"Yeah," Draco replied, a slight laugh playing around the word.
Their decision made, the two began to work in silence, gathering ingredients and setting everything up before they began. Just like in their previous Double Potions lesson, the two worked seamlessly together, divvying up roles without having to say what each other should do.
Hermione and Draco didn't say much to each other as they worked, other than simple requests for ingredients or tools. The silence wasn't uncomfortable for either of them. On the contrary, they both preferred to work in silence, finding talking to be distracting. Adding the last ingredient they could for the time being, Hermione sighed and Draco leaned back in his chair, his arms in the air, hands behind his head.
"Well, that's all we can do for now," Draco said, stretching his back as he continued to lean back in his chair. "I suppose it's close to dinnertime now."
"Oh, yeah, it is. I wonder wh-"
Hermione was cut off by a slight POP to their left. Startled, Hermione jumped and Draco fell backwards, the POP making him lose his balance in the chair. Two silver platters had appeared on the only other table in the room, along with two goblets and a large pitcher full of what appeared to be pumpkin juice.
Hermione reached out her hand and helped Draco up off the floor, trying her hardest not to laugh. Draco scoffed at her failed attempts and brushed himself off. She went to the table to see what they had been given while Draco picked his chair off the floor and placed it back at the table. Still giggling, she looked at the two platters and found two different kinds of sandwiches, a note on top of one of the piles.
I know it isn't much, but I hope this will do
Hermione went back over to where their cauldron was and pulled her chair over to the other table. She poured herself and Draco some pumpkin juice and tucked in. She hadn't realized it while they were working, but Hermione was starving. Draco soon joined her, drinking from his goblet before grabbing a sandwich himself.
Hermione couldn't look at Draco without bursting into another fit of laughter, still because he fell from his chair. The hair on the back of his head was still messy and slightly dirty from the dust on the floor. Without thinking about it, Hermione reached out and brushed the dust from his hair, smoothing it down as she did.
Stunned, Draco didn't move or say anything. It wasn't long before Hermione realized what she had done and became stunned, too. She stuttered, trying to find the right words to say to apologize and explain what happened, but she couldn't find the words. Hermione looked down at the sandwich in her hand and began eating again, a very vibrant blush across her cheeks.
Author's note: Ack! I am so, so, SO sorry that this chapter is almost three weeks late! I've had so much going on lately that I just simply haven't had any time to do much of anything. I, quite honestly, haven't even been able to do my laundry for the last two weeks because of it. I went from 25-30 hours a week at work to 40-45 with my shortest shift being 8 hours long.
Anyway, in this chapter we see more of the task Hermione and Draco have been assigned, and is that just a small hint of Dramione in there? *giggles* I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! I can't wait for you guys to read the next two chapters coming up. :D
Again, I am so terribly sorry that it's taken me this long to get Chapter 11 up!