A/N: I wont even go into the hellacious time I've been having with Writers block and all that, not to mention life. I'm just happy I have another chapter for you guys. Once I got past my block I was relatively entertained by it. Hope you guys enjoy it too. Thanks so much to you all for sticking with me. It's weird to think of how long I've been writing FTA. You'll never know how much I appreciate you all and all of your encouragement. Thanks again to you and to my Beta Likeluna who helps me out a great deal. You guys are awesome.
Last Time:
She still looked shocked; sitting on the Board basically meant you got to decide what the program did. Granted it was a lot of responsibility but it was still an amazing opportunity. "Tell me again why you don't want to do it?"
"My personal projects are going to take up the better part of my time." He shrugged.
"Like?"
He gave her a speculative look before saying, "If I tell you this, you can't tell anyone. And I do mean anyone. Not even my father knows about this yet."
"You're being insulting." She said pointedly.
"No, just thorough. I don't think you would, but I want to make sure you understand how important it is that no one knows until it's finished."
"Consider me warned."
"Well you see, Minx, I am going to be purchasing the Falmouth Falcons."
"You want to buy a Quidditch team?!"
Chapter 26…Conviction…
"Ron"
Silence.
"Ron!"
Still no answer.
"RONALD!"
"Wha – huh?" Ron bolted upright in his chair; his eyes meeting those of the annoyed girl in front of him.
"If you insist on napping when you're supposed to be studying can you at least do so with out the moaning and muttering, it's distracting." Hermione groused, earning an amused snicker from Harry. Since classes had ended that day they'd been in the common room doing homework and studying; and for everyone but Hermione, that was torture like no other.
"Can ya blame me? We've been doing nothing but studying since we got back…do you realize just how many days of mindless work that is?" he asked sullenly.
"Seven." She answered matter-of-factly. "And you'd better dig in; we've got 15 more weeks of it too." She wasn't at all concerned about his lack of enthusiasm. "Besides, you barely did 2 hours yesterday"
"We had Quidditch practice." He retorted incredulously.
"Well there's your break. Why don't you start working on Transfiguration if you're so bored with Herbology." She shuffled through her notes and began reciting rune charts to herself.
"When's dinner? I'm starving" Ron moaned, choosing to ignore her idea altogether.
Hermione shrugged, "in a little bit I'd expect."
" Half an hour actually." Harry corrected. He'd been looking at his watch every ten minutes hoping the time would go faster.
"Good, 's not too long then…Well I think I'm done for the day. Fancy a walk then?" Ron asked, looking at Harry and Hermione expectantly.
"Sure." Harry jumped up; happy Ron was the one to suggest it and not him.
"Hermione?" Ron asked, although he already knew the answer.
"Why not," she smiled, earning a look of wide eyed surprise from each of them. "Really, don't look so shocked. You act like I've never agreed to go for a walk before."
"Not when you're supposed to be studying, you haven't." Harry answered, still looking at her like she was half crazy.
"Well it's not like I can't make up the time after dinner. Besides…I've been studying, not sleeping, so I've earned a bit of a break…Harry too." She gave Ron a pointed look, which he just shrugged at. She quickly organized her notes before picking the whole stack up. "Let me put these in my room, then we can go."
"Hey Guys." Ginny called as she stepped through the portrait hole. The white heart shaped necklace she refused to take off glittering in the sunlight.
"Hey Gin." Hermione and Ron said together as the red head hugged Harry.
"We're going to go walk for a bit before dinner if you wanna come." Harry asked.
"Sure, I don't have anything else to do anyway." The words had just finished leaving her mouth when a loud click sounded and Ginevra Weasley jumped ten feet in the air like her feet had been burned.
Ginny looked mutinous, Ron and Harry sniggered, and Hermione just looked confused; a state she didn't like. "What was that?"
"That's Fred and George's idea of joke. The gits" Ginny replied, her annoyance evident.
Harry and Ron laughed harder at her outrage before Harry took pity on Hermione and tried to explain. "As far as we can tell, right before they left the burrow the twins placed an anti-lying jinx on Gin here. Every time she does it you hear the click and then it shocks the daylights out of her. Rather convenient." Harry explained with no little humor, earning a glare from the annoyed red-head.
"Well…what were you lying about?" Hermione tried to hide her smile.
"Nothing important. I may have other things to do – but they can wait, at least until after dinner." She hurried through her explanation and then shut her eyes tight as if anticipating the next bout of electricity. When it didn't come right away, she opened one eye and then grinned triumphantly. "See, It can wait." she was smug.
"You know had you said that to begin with you wouldn't have these issues." Hermione was back into her no non-sense tone.
"That's what mum said." Ginny grumbled.
"Well she was right. Uh….just out of curiosity." Hermione started, looking at Ginny like one does a four year-old tangled in their mother's clothes. "Why don't you just take it off? I'm sure there has to be a counter jinx."
"Well so am I, but the only ones who are likely to know it are Fred and George now aren't they." She said bitterly.
"So owl them and ask for it." It was a fairly obvious solution, at least to Hermione.
"And give them the satisfaction!" Ginny looked aghast. "I'd rather eat Dragon dung. No. I'll figure it out myself, thank you very much."
Hermione shook her head "I'm going to go put these away." She mumbled along with something that sounded a lot like "stubborn the whole lot." She flounced up the stairs to the seventh year girls dorm, and walked into the room she shared with the other seventh year girls. She had expected to find the room empty, as most used the time before dinner to get their course work done. What she didn't expect was to see Lavender, Parvati, and two sixth year Gryffindors standing a few feet away from her bed, blocking whatever held their attention from her view.
"Ohhhh…he's so cute. Can we touch him?" One of the sixth years gushed, causing Hemrione's eyes to furrow in confusion. What about her bed was cute? It was the same bed as yesterday.
"You can if you want him to bite you." The drawling voice she could probably recognize in her sleep answered.
What was he doing in her dorm? How did he get in her dorm, to do whatever it was he was doing? Why was he doing things in her dorm to begin with? Questions fired through her mind. "DRACO MALFOY!"
The girls turned and broke apart, looks of shock duplicated on their faces. None of them had heard her enter the room. Through the new gap in bodies she could clearly see the exasperating git lounging on her bed. Her bed. The idea was beyond ludicrous. Steadfastly trying to ignore the fact that he looked positively decadent lounging with his green and silver tie undone, his hair carelessly falling into his face, and an amused smirk playing around his positively kissable lips, she locked her hands on her hips as she fixed him with her most severe glare. "What do you think your doing?"
"Relaxing."
"Oh Hermione…did you see the puppy?" the same excited sixth year asked.
"It's soooo adorable how he follows Draco around." The other girl, whose name she didn't care to remember intoned. Something about the way she said Draco's name, like she was purring or something, set Hermione's teeth on edge.
"He's not a puppy he's a cub, and of course I've seen him. I got him." she snapped before turning back to Draco, "And whose clever idea was it for you to 'relax' in here. Have you gone completely mad?"
"Oh Hermione don't be mad; It's terribly romantic." Parvati gushed. "He missed you so much. He risked breaking his neck just so he could be here with you." The dreamy look on her face was reminiscent of Gilderoy Lockhart whenever he saw a photo of himself. "He was pining for you, you can't be angry about that." she finished.
If looks could kill Parvati would be cold in her grave. Draco Malfoy could handle being called many things; a weak sniveling ponce who pines was not among them.
"How did you get in here anyway?" Her eyes swept the room for anything unfamiliar. They didn't have far to go. Leaning against her nightstand was the broom he had developed and was testing out for his soon-to-be quidditch team. "Tell me you didn't fly up to the window?" she shrieked "She's right you could have broken your neck!"
A slow predatory grin spread across his face, increasing his appeal by tenfold. "Concerned?"
"Well girls, I think that's our cue to leave. We'll leave you two love birds alone." Parvati winked covertly at Hermione as she ushered the others out of the dorm. A sappy "bye Dracooo" could be heard from their retreating forms earning another glare from the head girl before she refocused on the issue at hand.
"You flew up here."
He thought that was self-evident and therefore didn't need to answer. "Are you worried?"
"Of course, how would it look if you were splattered all over the sidewalk below?" She replied testily "why did you fly up here?"
"Because it's impossible to apparate." He replied dryly "And I don't fall or splat, as you as eloquently put it.
"Don't you start with me. Why are you in here to begin with?" She huffed, hands still on her hips.
His answer, whatever it was, seemed to fill him with no small amount of joy. Hermione was instantly worried.
"Well love, you said you wanted to share a room." His smile could have single handedly lit up the entire great hall. "I can't say I was fond of the idea to begin with…but now"
"You know very well that I wasn't talking about school." She rolled her eyes, as she made her way over to her bed.
"Nature of compromise…you want the manor, I want school…we do both."
"Your mental." She groused as she grabbed his ankle and tried to drag him off her bed.
He chuckled at her efforts. "If you wanted me to get undressed all you had to do was say so." He gestured to the shoe she had managed to pull off.
"Your being a prat and you're going to get me in trouble. Boys are NOT allowed up here. Now move!" She jammed his shoe back on before he got any ideas.
Sitting the unconcerned Silas beside him, he reached down to fix his shoe and before she could protest, lifted her up and deposited her on the bed beside him. "Careful now, I'm going to get the impression that you don't want me anymore, and then I would have to go and prove you wrong….a lot of trouble to go through, when we both know the truth." He reasoned, running a finger down the length of her neck.
"You…You're trying to distract me and it wont work" she said breathlessly.
"Care to make a wager on it?" He whispered into her ear as he nibbled on the lobe, satisfied with the moan it caused.
"mmm" she murmured, as her lips sought his and the familiar warmth infused her bloodstream
She had just found her prize when "HERMIONE!! WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?" Ron's booming voice reverberated off the walls and echoed in the corridor, causing Hermione to guiltily jump off the bed, and Draco to curse and growl in annoyance.
"ohhhh noo….I forgot about them." she rushed over and opened the door. "You go on without me, I'll see you at dinner!" she called down and hurriedly shut the door before they could question her. "And that's why you can't be in my room." She snapped, more out of frustration than anger.
"Because you have manner-less trolls for friends?" he asked with feigned innocence.
"Because we could get caught at any minute, And I for one don't want to be reprimanded for something as trivial and easily controlled as hormones."
"It's not the worst thing you could be reprimanded for." He said dryly. "Where did you get this?" he asked, completely changing the topic, showing her the image that had caught his attention. Thinking it was best to calm down and not shag his wife senseless, she wouldn't appreciate it at present, or murder the weasel; he'd been idly looking at the pictures on her desk. There were six total; one of her and her parents, another of her Harry and Ron (he hated that one), One of her, Harry and the entire Weasley clan (he wasn't too fond of that one either) one of her and her stupid cat, the latter who thankfully was no where and sight, and the picture that had caught his attention. It was a shot of their wedding, but not one of the professional shots. It was the group picture that annoying bloke with the camera had taken, Danny or Denny or whatever his name was.
"Dennis sent it to me ages ago." she replied off handedly, putting her books and notes away; something that she was supposed to have done earlier.
"He didn't send me one." He groused. He liked that picture; it was right after their first normal conversation.
"Don't pout, you'll give yourself wrinkles." She giggled from inside her trunk.
"What is it today…let's-say-stupid-things-to-make-Draco-angry-day…" he muttered. "I don't pout and I most certainly don't pine. I just wanted to know why I didn't get a copy of the picture."
"He probably didn't think you wanted one, it's not as if you ever talked to him…I'll make you a copy if you like, but later. Now you really need to go."
Ignoring her last bit he asked "He can just make another, he should be around here somewhere."
"Should be; yes. Is he? No. He didn't come back to school did he? And you still need to leave. Come on, I'll disillusion you and take you down stairs."
"So I can slide down the steps on my bum. Thanks but no thanks. Being invisible doesn't stop me from being a guy. I can prove it to you if you like." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Don't you think of anything else?"
Shrugging, "I'm 18." Like that was supposed to explain everything. "Besides, never shagged while disillusioned, could be fun. Bit awkward though, I would imagine."
"I'm not shagging you, invisible or not… How do you plan to get down cause you're not going out the window, it's not at all safe."
"So you are worried" he asked smugly.
"Focus please."
"Well I hate to disappoint you," he didn't seem to be too upset about the possibility. "But I'm going out the way I came in; much easier – not to mention quicker – all the way around." Draco stood up leisurely and stretched. He could feel her eyes on his back and once again cursed Weasel king for his untimely interruption. There was no way she was going to go near the bed again, but he was a patient man. He would wait. Besides, she was practically beside herself with worry, and the thought that she worried about him made him happier than he would have thought possible. Yes, he had to hand it to himself, she was well on her way to being completely besotted with him and he couldn't have been more pleased.
She did some pacing and muttering under her breath before stopping at the window and tentatively looking down. "Merlin, it's high." She whispered.
"Well it is a tower." He replied from the bed where he was unceremoniously putting Silas in his bag before tossing it over his shoulder. "Had you had the decency to be sorted into Slytherin, we wouldn't have this issue."
"Misfortune more like, I never did give you my condolences for that, you'll never know how truly sorry I am." she tried to keep her face straight, but she wasn't as good at it as he was, and the resulting laughter burst forth.
Draco turned to give her a witty retort, but got caught up in the sight she presented. He loved to watch her laugh. Her eyes lit up and her face softened and glowed.
"What?" She asked still smiling.
"Nothing," he said, forcing himself to stop staring. "Stay right there." He didn't give her time to protest; instead he picked up his broom and jumped from the window. He heard her shriek of protest as he free fell a few feet before he deftly swung the broom under him and soared back up to the window she was hanging out of.
"Was that really necessary?" she asked breathlessly.
"Yes."
"I'm glad you thought so." She huffed. "You've seriously lost your mind, do you know that. I can't imagine what would possess you to–" she suddenly found herself soaring out the window and her words became screams of protest. "DRACO MALFOY, YOU PUT ME BACK THIS INSTANT AHHH!!" she landed in front of him on the broom and wasted no time in telling him off. "You evil, arrogant, sneaky little – umphhh" His lips silenced any further protest.
It was meant to shut her up. Shrieking the way she was, he was afraid someone would hear and he couldn't even begin to think of a plausible explanation. Those thoughts went out the window when she started kissing him back. The adrenaline rush from his jump, coupled with the joy of flying only added to passion that she stirred within him. It was a heady mix that begged to be indulged.
Had any of the gryffindor's happened to look out a window at that moment, they wouldn't have believed their eyes. The Gryffindor head girl was currently seated in front of the Slytherin quidditch captain snogging on a broom in mid-air. Nope, no one would have believed it, but it was true.
Draco lifted his head and noted, with no small amount of pride, her swollen lips and glazed eyes, she had the look of a girl well and truly kissed. He fleetingly thought that this scene would truly be a picture worth having, but there was never a camera around when you needed one. "Quit yelling minx, you're going to get us caught." He whispered gruffly into her neck. Turning the broom around in one smooth motion, he directed them over the parapets and towers with relative ease.
It took Hermione a full minute to come back to herself, but come back she did, "Get us Caught! US! I shouldn't even be here! You're always putting me in places…places I shouldn't be I might add." She bit out. "Why is that?"
His amused voice sounded right by her ear. "Because you're probably the most stubborn person I know and unlike your little pets, I'm not going to waste my precious time arguing with you. It's much easier to just move you myself."
Hermione glowered but kept a firm lid on her temper. She wouldn't say anything, at least not until she was safely back on solid ground. She could just picture his face though, looking smug and cocky and utterly dashing. But dashing or not, at that moment she wanted to wring his neck. She hated flying. With a passion, did she hate flying. If people were meant to fly they'd have been born with wings, and it was as simple as that.
Draco loved flying. With a passion did he love flying. In the air he felt free. Nothing mattered in the air; not people, not expectations, and certainly not rules. Flying was freedom and it was as simple as that.
When he spotted the entrance courtyard, he angled the tip down earning a shriek from Hermione, and he suspected he'd have a bruise come morning. He'd had an arm around her waist, anchoring her to him and that was the arm she was squeezing like her life depended on it. He thought he heard something that sounded like "I hate flying," but with the noise from the wind he couldn't be sure.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, she hopped off and rounded on him. "Never again! Do you hear me!"
"Don't be so dramatic." He drawled, watching the fireworks go off in her eyes. She had very expressive eyes, he decided. She'd be shite at lying, but he didn't mind because they gave him good insight on what was going on in that over active head of hers. Not that he needed it at the moment. No, it didn't take an Auror to figure out that she was a bit peeved at the moment.
"Dramatic! Are you kidding me? You floated me through the air to land on a matchstick, with out so much as a by-your-leave, and you call me dramatic!"
He looked at her quizzically before giving into his curiosity. "What's a matchstick?"
"huh – oh, nothing its just a– you're missing the point here." She stomped her foot.
"Then it must not have been that important." He teased, enjoying her tantrum.
"Or maybe you're just not that clever." She snarled back, not at all happy that he seemed to be enjoying her anger. Deciding she didn't feel like dealing with him at the moment, she pivoted on her heel and marched towards the doors.
She didn't make it far before he appeared in front of her. "You're really mad at me." it was more of a question than a statement.
"No really! How ever did you guess?" she snarled, swatting away the hand that had started twirling her hair.
"You shouldn't be." he stated calmly, all teasing gone.
"I disagree and I think you'll find that my emotions tend to be what I want them to be."
"You want to be mad at me?"
"Of course not, But I DO want you to take me seriously. You show up in my room, hurl me out a window, fly around the castle, and then have the nerve to tell me my anger isn't important. I think I have every right to be angry." she tried to push past him, but he latched on to her waist.
He stared at her for a full minute before asking. "You really are afraid of heights, aren't you?"
"A little late to be asking that, don't you think?" she snapped. "But no, I'm just don't like flying. It's not natural."
He snorted but didn't correct her. "I wasn't intentionally trying to scare you."
"I didn't think you were, but you didn't listen to me either." Her anger deflated a bit.
"I thought you were teasing, slightly annoyed, but still teasing."
"Again – because you weren't listening."
"I suppose you want an apology."
He looked like the thought was seriously painful for him, and she couldn't help but soften a bit more. "It would be nice" she knew it was torture for him, but he'd earned it.
He took a deep steadying breath and studiously stared at a column over her left shoulder, "I'm sorry I scared you."
"Not so much angry about that, as the last part." she quipped.
His teeth clenched and he glared at her a bit before he grit out. "I'm sorry I scared you and didn't listen to you after."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed fast and hard. "Thank you."
If he was going to get kissed every time he apologized he would seriously consider doing it more often. "You're more than welcome." He tried to kiss her again, but she turned her head away and he wound up burying his face in her neck. Not that he minded having it there.
"Come on you, we need to go to dinner." She tried to back up, but he'd latched on.
Satisfied that there would be a fairly noticeable mark, he kissed her cheek and proceeded to pull her towards the castle entrance. "You've probably made us late" an exaggerated sigh followed his declaration.
"Me!"
"Yes you. You're always distracting me."
"Well then maybe you've learned your lesson." She replied dryly as she walked through the door he was holding open.
"Yeah, next time I want you on a broom I'll blindfold you." Draco ran into the great hall laughing before she could hex him into oblivion.
"Where've you been?" Blaise asked, as Draco took a seat next to him on the bench.
"What do you mean?" Draco was selecting food for his plate and therefore was paying Blaise the least amount of attention possible.
"I mean, where have you been? Haven't seen you since Divination, and I thought we were supposed to be studying for N.E.W.T.S"
"After dinner." He took a bite of his roll and his lips twitched a bit as he remembered his earlier mischief. "And since you were so worried Mum, I was in Gryffindor tower; the Head girl's dorm to be exact."
Blaise's fork clattered on his plate, his pasta forgotten. "No!! You wanker! You figured a way past the portraits and you didn't tell me."
"I didn't; I avoided the bloody pictures all together." Draco said smugly, not so secretly thrilled that he was the first one to think of it.
"How'd you manage that?" Nott asked skeptically, giving Achilles a look that clearly said he didn't believe him. The two had been discussing the next match, but were understandably drawn into Draco's much more interesting tale.
Draco fed pieces of bread into his bag as he took a minute to decide if he wanted Nott to know, but figured he wouldn't tell anyone, he was a Slytherin after all. "I flew." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Through the window!" Achilles said rather loudly.
"Shhh!!" the other three hushed him quickly.
"No through the floor you idiot…yes through the window." Draco snapped.
"That's bloody brilliant" Blaise grinned.
"I can't believe you got the Mudblood to let you stay," Nott snickered, "she was always such a prude I never would've thought she had it in her." He was so caught up in his amusement that he didn't realize he was the only one amused.
Draco's half smile instantly froze over and his eyes became glacial in his anger. The hand that was holding his fork slowly made its way back down to the table, depositing its burden before disappearing underneath.
Although Nott hadn't noticed the sudden change in the atmosphere, Achilles certainly had and was diligently studying his food as a result. Sometimes he didn't understand how people could be so thick. A fool could see Draco was attached to his wife. Blood status or not she was still a female and unfortunately that was all it took to interest a male. No, he would never understand how people could be so thick. It was a shame really; he liked Nott.
"It was nice knowing you Nott." Blaise chuckled as he moved down the bench.
"What are you on about Zabini?" Theodore looked a bit confused. A state that wasn't at all helped by Blaise's continued laughter. "Bloody hell man, you're like a soddin' clown. Don't you ever stop?" There was nothing that Theodore Nott hated more than being laughed at. He turned his questioning gaze to Draco, thinking that he could settle Zabini down, only to realize that Draco was in a less than accommodating mood. If he didn't know better then he would have even said Draco was a bit peeved at him. "And what's your problem." He immediately went on the offensive.
"Apologize." Draco spoke with cool detachment.
"Excuse me?"
"Apologize."
"Yeah, I heard that." Theodore snapped. "Why don't you explain what you're talking about or stop talking about it."
"Theo you called Hermione a mudblood, why don't you apologize so we can all get on with our dinner." Achilles muttered from his other side.
"Is that what this is about?" He looked aghast. "Well I'm sorry Lord Malfoy" speaking with as much sarcasm as he could muster. "I didn't realize being married to you changed one's blood status. Forgive me, but where I'm from we call a dog a dog." He sneered as he leaned over the table. "You're becoming quite pathetic, you know that Malfoy. Ever since that farce of a marriage its Hermione this and Granger that. It sickening that's what it is. Next you're going to tell me how she's changed you; How your good little boy now. How you're giving all your gold to riff-raff and gutter-trash and how she's convinced you it was your idea. How you're willing to let her control your family name and fortune. But why stop there; you can become a bloody paragon of virtue like pot-head and weasel. You can be another lackey to some fools idealistic dream, a moron that's just too stupid to live. " He affected a mock salute and stood up to leave. " Congrats Draco, you're so pathetic I've effectively lost my appetite."
