Chapter Twenty
Hermione pushed the flap of the tent open and stepped out, and nodded at the salesman. ''That one will be great, thanks.''
The salesman looked at her flushed cheeks and smiled lecherously. Draco followed Hermione unhurriedly out of the tent and noticed that the strange man's gaze kept dropping well below Hermione's eye level. Slinging his arm around Hermione's shoulders possessively, he glared at the assistant. ''Pack it up, we'll take it.''
''Of course sir.'' The man scurried around, cramming the tent into a small little bundle. ''May I recommend…''
''No, you may not. We don't need any extras.'' Hermione watched as before her eyes, the Draco Malfoy of earlier years came back to life. ''Just hurry up and get it packed.''
''All ready for you sir. That'll be…'' Before he could finish, Draco had contemptuously thrown the coins onto the desk and was packing the bundle into one of their trunks. Hermione flicked her wand as soon as he finished, and they left the shop, followed by their invisible luggage.
''So you can just turn that kind of behaviour on and off?'' Hermione looked at him, his head bowed against the wind.
''Of course. I was expected to act like that in public, but Merlin help me if I was like that at home.'' Hermione laughed, the wind whipping her hair across her face, rain pattering against her cheeks. Draco snaked out an arm and hooked it around her waist.
''I thought you said you were never going to do that.'' Hermione looked up at him, the top of her head level with his chin.
''Circumstances have changed slightly.'' Draco stopped, standing stock still in the middle of Diagon Alley and cupped her face delicately in his pale hands. Hermione felt the slight pressure on her cheeks and raised her face to his, like a sunflower raising its face towards the sun. She closed her eyes, feeling the rain striking her face gently as she and Draco breathed the same air for a split second. And then, regardless of everyone passing around them, Draco's lips met hers. Hermione couldn't believe that even after all the times she had kissed him that he was still able to make her feel this way through a simple kiss. She pressed her body against him, clinging as hard as she could, never wanting to let go. Draco, for his part, clutched her waist, stroking her back, forgetting everything but the tiny world that they alone inhabited.
But while they might have been lost in each other, someone else was busy watching them. Lucius Malfoy's eyes narrowed as he watched his son. It was no shock to him, of course he had been told the events that Blaise had brought about…but to actually see it, that was completely different. His fingers tightened around his wand, and he could feel a warmth coursing up his arm. The temptation to curse that Mudblood and his son to an early grave was unbelievably strong, and he almost drew his wand out, the words that would end their lives acrid on the end of his tongue. But he held his ire in check, swallowing the rage. His time would come.
His grey eyes watched coldly as Draco pulled back from Hermione's lips, gently kissed her nose, her forehead and then laughed as he stroked the wet strands of her hair off her face. He didn't see the infinite tenderness in the movements. All he saw was the way that Pureblood was allowing the slime of a Mudblood to touch him – inviting the caresses in fact! His mouth tightened as he watched their hands slip into each other's, and they walked away from where he was standing in the shadows. He pulled out his wand, and a sudden flash lit the murky alley. A bright light bobbed after the lovers, and then vanished into one of the small trunks following them. Lucius allowed his mouth one brief smirk. Now the Dark Lord would be able to trace their movements as they led him to Potter. And before long, he would be able to punish his errant son.
Hermione and Draco remained blissfully oblivious of the new turn of events, believing themselves completely alone at all times. That evening, Hermione stood outside the tent, her teeth chattering madly as she cast protection spells. Stepping inside, she saw with relief that Draco was poking his wand at something that looked warm and edible. He looked up at her and grinned.
''You look a little like a drowned rat. A pretty rat, but drowned nonetheless.''
''I reiterate my earlier point: romance, thy name is Draco Malfoy.'' Hermione pulled off her wet jumper and shook her head, sending drips of water flying. ''It's really tipping it down now.''
Draco listened briefly to the rain hammering down on the canvas of their tent and threw Hermione a towel that had been sitting on a clotheshorse near the fire. ''Dry off and have some of this.''
Hermione smiled slightly. ''You're like a housewife.''
''I've found my calling.'' Draco looked at her wryly. ''Now shut up and do what I've told you.''
''Yes boss.'' Hermione rubbed her head briefly with the towel, and took the bowl he was offering her. ''I was thinking.''
''About what?'' prompted Draco, when she failed to continue.
''I need to tell Harry and Ron.'' Hermione looked at him, chewing on her lower lip.
''Right.'' Draco's tone invited further elaboration, and Hermione leapt into the speech she had silently been preparing whilst she cast the spells.
''They need to hear this from me, not just because we've been friends for seven years, but because it's going to lead to all kinds of practical difficulties if I don't. People are going to be able to manipulate them easily if they don't know what's happening, they're going to panic about me if they don't know where I am, which is going to have negative effects on what they're doing at the moment, and they…''
''Hermione. That's fine, really. What did you think I was going to do, say no, you aren't allowed to write to them?'' Draco moved closer and ran his hands up and down her upper arms.
''You're ok with that?''
''Of course. I mean, I don't actually care what Potter and Weasley think of me, but I can see why you feel the need to tell them what's going on. I mean, something quite important has actually happened now, hasn't it?''
Hermione laughed quietly. ''I guess so.''
''I just think that you're going to find that a very difficult letter to write.'' Draco pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. ''Go for it.''
Hermione reached up, kissed him and then set the quill to the parchment. What to say?
Dear Harry and Ron,
I haven't been entirely truthful with you recently, when I was telling you about how irritating Malfoy was being. The thing is…
Hermione's quill slowed to a halt. That was too blunt, wasn't it? To just burst straight in and say it. But then, what else could she do? Ask them how they were, tell them how she was, and then – oh, by the way, I'm going out with Draco Malfoy. Yes, your sworn enemy, that Draco Malfoy. We're on the run together. Any help you can give us would be greatly appreciated.
Hermione dropped the quill on the table, and rested her head on her forearms. How the hell was she meant to tell her friends that she had been lying to them? That she was still on their side, but she was in love with a Deatheater? That she was on the run, and really needed their help?
Draco looked at her from where he was sitting and stepped towards her, rubbing her back. ''Don't worry about it. Look, we've had a really long day. Go to bed thinking about it, and you'll think up the solution while you're asleep.'' Kissing her neck and face, he guided her over to the bed, and slid her under the covers. ''I'll be in bed in about twenty minutes, ok?''
Hermione nodded, and turned over, trying not to dwell on the matter. Draco turned back to the table, and picked up the quill. Reading what Hermione had written, he paused for a minute, and then scrawled something beneath her unfinished sentence. Dropping the quill, he rolled up the parchment and pulled out his wand. Hoping that the charm would last long enough to get it to Hermione's friends, he waterproofed and charmed the parchment and watched as it fluttered out of the tent.
Moving Hermione gently to one side, he climbed into the bed. She turned into him immediately and began nuzzling his neck. ''Why do I forget everything else when I'm with you?'' she murmured, lost in his scent.
''The feeling's mutual.'' Draco held her close to him, where she could feel their heart beats synchronizing, beating faster and faster as they stared into each other's eyes, moving quickly against each other, forgetting everything but one another and an ultimate end.
Harry unfurled the scrap of parchment that had flown in through the letterbox of 12 Grimmauld Place, saw Hermione's neat script and smiled. His smile quickly turned to consternation as he noticed another, unfamiliar, blocky scrawl beneath her writing. Scanning his eyes over it, they widened. ''Ron, come here.''
Ron poked his head around the door, slightly unnerved by the tone in Harry's voice. ''What is it?''
''Read that.''
Draco had spared no words when writing down what he needed to. The letter said quite simply:
What Hermione's trying to tell you is that she's dating me. She couldn't write this letter. She had no idea how to tell you, she's worried that she's betrayed you in some manner. Believe what you want, but at the very least, have the decency to come and hear her out. Be at the Hog's Head at 12 tomorrow if you want to hear what we have to say.
Ron looked up from the letter at Harry. ''She's dating Malfoy?''
''That's what he would have us believe. There's no way I'm meeting him on his terms.''
''How else are we going to meet him? There's no way that we're going to be able to find them. They could be anywhere.''
Harry looked at his friend, momentarily perplexed. Then he smiled. ''Owls can always find who they're looking for, can't they?''
''Yeah…''
''Then we give Hedwig a letter, tell her to find Hermione, and then follow her on brooms.''
Ron looked at Harry, raised his eyebrows and then nodded. ''Good idea.''
Harry smiled proudly and ran to his room to get his owl. Ignoring the bird's repeated hoots of irritation as she noticed what the weather was like, the boys grabbed their wands and their brooms and prepared to launch themselves out into the rain.
And then, with a swirl of white feathers, they were gone. Buffeted by blasts of wind, barely able to see through the sheets of icy rain pouring on them. After hours of flight, the sky was becoming slightly lighter in the east, and Hedwig was flying lower and lower, finding her way in between the trees of a small forest. Harry and Ron followed her, small branches whipping at their faces and arms as they guided the brooms to the floor.
Finally, Hedwig pushed her way into thin air and disappeared. The boys shrugged, and made their way towards the space, knowing that there would definitely be protection spells on the area. All it took was a few words and the tent was visible again.
Pushing open the flap, they stepped into the tent. It took a moment for Harry's eyes to accustom themselves to the dim light, but the first thing he saw when they did so was so unusual that he doubted what they were telling him.
Hermione's slim shoulders were visible above the sheets and her face was turned to one side as she slept. But this was nothing at all. It was the fact that one of her hands was resting on Draco Malfoy's chest and even as Harry and Ron watched she moved closer to him and buried her nose in his neck.
''Hermione!'' Ron shouted, shocking both Draco and Hermione into a shocked state of alertness. ''What the hell are you doing?''
Hermione sat bolt upright, clutching the quilt to herself. ''What? What are you doing here?''
''We got your letter!'' Ron was now aiming his wand at Draco, his face furious. ''What have you done to her, you Deatheater scum?''
''But…I didn't send that letter! I was going to finish it this morning…'' Hermione looked in confusion at the desk where her letter had been the previous evening.
''That was me.'' Draco looked at her and shrugged apologetically. ''I added a note to it, telling your friends that they should come and talk to you. I wasn't expecting them to burst in on us like this though.'' Draco would never have admitted it, but he was not at all at ease. His wand was too far away for him to make a sudden lunge for it, and he was acutely aware of the fact that he was naked while Harry and Ron were both in control.
''He's not a Deatheater. They're probably hunting us.'' Hermione looked beseechingly at her friends, wrapping the quilt around herself more firmly as she did so, her cheeks flushing bright red. ''He's really not a Deatheater, I promise I'm not lying to you. Please, you need to believe me!''
Harry looked at her, her brow furrowed as she stared at him, willing him to believe her. ''Why, why are you sticking up for him?''
''I'm…I'm in love with him. I didn't mean to but I did, and now he's as special to me as you two are. Please, please don't hate me.''
''Hermione, you're shacking up with the enemy!'' Ron hadn't turned his wand from Draco at all.
''Please Ron, he's not our enemy! He's not a Deatheater – I've never lied to you before, please just believe me.''
Harry put his hand on Ron's wrist. ''Let him get up.''
''Harry are you serious?''
''I'm not letting him go. I want to talk to him away from Hermione and I'd quite like him to be wearing clothes when I do talk to him.'' Harry glared at the blonde boy and pulled his wand away from him. ''Get dressed and get outside the tent.''
''Harry, please!''
''I believe you Hermione.'' Harry looked at her, wondering if he could smile. ''It's him I want to talk to.''
Hermione looked at him, her eyes wide. ''Why do you have to be away from me?''
''Because we do.'' Ron looked at Harry. ''We just do.''
Draco kissed her cheek and sauntered out of the tent, still pulling down his t-shirt. Harry and Ron followed him.
The rain hit the three of them, instantly soaking their clothes and slicking their hair to their foreheads.
Harry gesticulated with his wand. ''Go on then Malfoy! What's the clever plan now? What the hell are you doing with her?'' They practically had to shout, the level of the rain having risen so much.
''Why do I have to have some ulterior motive?'' Draco glared at the pair of them, his eyes narrowed against the rain. ''I didn't want to feel this way – I made a bet that I could get her to feel this way. And I fell for her, I fell for my own bloody trap! And now I wouldn't change the way I feel for anything!''
Ron opened his mouth to pour scorn on Draco but he was shouted over.
''And you can believe what you want, I don't care what you think of me, I don't care whether you like me or not! All I know is that Hermione was practically in tears over trying to write a letter to you that would explain the fact that she still loves you two, but she loves me as well, and I don't want to see her that way. That's the only reason I invited you here, so that you could sort things out! Hermione is the most amazing girl I've ever known: sweet, smart, clever, funny, gorgeous, and if you can't appreciate that enough to get over the fact that we're together, then you damn well don't deserve her as a friend!''
His chest was heaving slightly as he finished shouting, the rain pouring through his hair. His grey eyes were clear as they stared at Harry and Ron, daring them to disagree with him.
Harry looked at him. ''I still hate you.''
''The feeling is entirely mutual Potter.''
''But I love Hermione.''
''Go in there and tell her that then, not me!'' Draco gestured at the tent entrance. ''There's no point in standing here telling me that you're going to put up with me, because I couldn't care less. I'm prepared to be civil to you, but only because of Hermione.''
Ron stepped forward, his eyes directly on a level with Draco's. ''If you hurt her, I swear to Merlin I will make you pay.''
''Fortunately for you, I have no intention of hurting her. Just as well really, I can't see what you could possibly do to me.''
Harry grabbed Ron's elbows and pulled him away from Draco's sneer, and dragged him into the tent.
Draco rolled his eyes and followed them, preparing to sit and sulk in a corner all evening. Grabbing his wand back off Harry, he set the protection spells again, and then threw himself into a chair.
He hadn't cast the spells a minute too soon. Two Deatheaters Apparated and looked around. One's eyes fell to the floor and noticed the three sets of male footprints left in the mud.
''Go to the Dark Lord,'' he rasped. ''They are here somewhere, and most likely so is Potter and his friend.''
One of them vanished and the other settled in under some trees. They would slip up sooner or later.
AN: hello my lovelies! Wasn't that a wonderfully long chapter? I honestly didn't mean for it to be that long, I just began writing and couldn't stop lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it enough to leave me a review, with any comments, praise, criticism, or suggestions for where you think this story should go. My lovely reviewers for Chapter Nineteen were: Bubbes, Xblackdragonx, Emerald27, Cali'sOwnCaliGrown, pApAw, Fnicks-Gurlz, Wolf Maid, year1989rocks, writerchick13, The Accountant's Daughter, keske, dracoshott28, iluv2dance, Dracogirl4evr, ILOVERWHPDM, Murgy31, No.angel90, HarryPGinnyW4eva, breezie, Chrystal Slara, IloveCheeseyMoments, and Dracrashed. Thank you very much everyone! Hope everyone's enjoying their last weeks of school or whatever, and good luck to all of you with exams etc. Much love Petitesorciere xxx