Chapter 14: In Hiding

O-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was mid-day on Sunday before the beginning of term started back up and Hermione had finally collected the few things that had found their way around Draco's room into a bag to bring back to her neglected side of the castle.

"You can leave a few things over here," he said, eyeing her bag.

"Just going to switch them out," she laughed, "Can't be wearing the same outfit under my robes every day."

She picked up her red sweater to throw into her bag before she turned to him. He grabbed her hand gently, pulling her to him, "I'll see you at dinner," he kissed her, moving his hand through her hair as she sighed into him.

"Yes and I'll sneak down after," she smiled up at him, hoping with everything in her that the return of the students and professors wouldn't change anything between them.

"Good, I'll be here in my boxers waiting for you," he whispered in her ear, letting her go.

"You tempt me so," she grabbed her wand from the coffee table and walked to the door, "See you, Draco."

She looked out into the empty hall before she stepped out, closing the door behind her and walking briskly to the main hallway of the dungeons before she tried to return to a normal pace, as though it were normal for her to be wandering in the dungeons on a Sunday afternoon. As she ascended the stairs to Gryffindor tower, she saw the group of sixth year boys leaning on the wall outside the portrait hole.

"Welcome back," she said brightly to them.

"Afternoon Professor Granger!" Gabriel waved.

"Are you coming back to the Dueling Club on Tuesday?" Asked Zachary.

"Yes, I'll be back for the remainder of the school year," she told them, "Needed to give you all some suspense for the monthly professor duels."

"Looking forward to it!" Marcus called after her.

Hermione turned down the professor hallway, noticing Harry and Ginny's door was open, meaning they were all likely back from the Burrow.

She tapped on her door with her password as it clicked and she pushed it open, setting her bag inside the doorway before walking to the kitchen for a glass of water, purposefully ignoring the still-packed boxes in the corners of the living room.

"Hermione!" Harry's voice called from the doorway, "Are you here?"

She walked around the corner of the kitchen with a smile, "Hi Harry, how were your holidays?"

"We missed you," he gave her a crooked smile as he walked in and hugged her, "But we had a nice break. What have you been up to?"

"Not much at all," she said nonchalantly, "Did a lot of thinking in the beginning and am in a great place. Just enjoyed a few quiet weeks to realign, really."

"I see your got your unpacking done," he grinned at her.

"I know. I swear I'm going to do it eventually."

Harry noticed the bag of clothes sitting by the door, "Are you going somewhere?"

"Oh… um, no, I — uh, just some more stuff to unpack."

He looked at her curiously, "Where'd you just come back from?"

"I was just out for a bit, wandered the grounds, went to the library, normal stuff."

Harry looked around for her work bag but didn't see it and gave her a knowing look that something was up, "Alright, well I'll let you get back to your day."

Hermione sat down on the couch with a groan, lying was a nightmare, "Can you close the door, Harry?"

He nodded slowly, "Mmhmm," closing it and walking over to sit down next to her on the couch and waiting until she was ready to explain.

"You see…" she started, but it was harder than she realized to put into words, "It's just that…," she sighed, "I took the time to do some thinking and came to the realization that I've been over my relationship with Ron for a long time. Years maybe. But it was hard to walk away and when I finally did… there just hasn't been a lot to get over."

"Not sure I'm understanding what this has to do with your bag of clothes by the door," Harry tilted his head at her.

"Over the last few weeks that you've all been gone, over the last couple months really since Ron and I came to an end… there's been… something between… Draco and myself."

Harry stared at her, his mouth opening slightly in shock as he started to see where this conversation was going, "How long," he finally said.

"Only two weeks really," she said quietly, "We finally talked two weeks ago. We hadn't talked in a month before that."

"Why not," he prompted her.

"Because we both felt something towards each other," the words held a lot of guilt, "Something that's been there since we reconnected that we were trying to pretend wasn't there. We put space between us so that I could decide what I needed to do. So that I could talk to Ron and acknowledge that my heart wasn't in it. So that I could clear my head of both of them and figure out what it all meant."

"Hermione… did you…" he didn't want to even ask the question because part of him didn't want to know, but he felt like something was being left out.

"I never cheated on Ron," she said definitively, "Draco finally told me out loud that he had feelings for me a couple of months ago and we stopped spending time together after that until I had time to decide on and resolve everything else in my life."

"Draco, that'll be something to get used to," he gave an ironic laugh, realizing she was calling him by his first name now, "And did you leave Ron because of Malfoy?"

"I left Ron because we haven't been in love in a long time and the fighting was unbearable. Neither of us were ever going to be happy. And my feelings for Malfoy were a pretty clear sign that my heart wasn't with Ron."

He nodded, "And you and Malfoy… you're together now?"

"Quietly, yes," she took a deep breath, "We weren't going to tell anyone for a while, until everything else smoothed out, but I can't lie to you, Harry."

"And what about Ginny and Ron?"

"I can't tell them yet," she shook her head, her chest tightening, "Please just keep this between you and me."

Harry was silent for a moment, "You know I wondered once or twice if there was more than met the eye," he said, "But I shrugged it off because I knew you'd never do anything to hurt Ron."

"And I didn't," she reiterated, "Draco and I didn't even speak again until a month after Ron and I broke up."

"I know," he said, "It's just a lot to take in. The thing is, if this isn't something serious, Hermione, it's really going to hurt Ron."

"I think it is serious," she said slowly, "It's early, I know, but I think it's headed in that direction. It feels very real."

He nodded, "Does he make you happy?"

"Incredibly," she gave a half smile, "Happier than I've been in so long. And I don't mean that against Ron, it's just been so long, Harry, since being with someone has felt easy and right."

"Okay," he said, his lip pulling up as he looked at his friend, "I can tell this is important to you and I'm really glad that he makes you happy because you deserve it. You know you'll always have my support. But I understnad why you want to keep it quiet until there's a little space from Ron. He'd freak if he knew."

"I know. Trust me I don't feel good about that, but I tried to ignore my feelings for Draco and I couldn't. There's so much more to him that I ever gave him credit for and the more I get to know him, the more I understand and want to know."

"He's changed," Harry agreed, "I don't deny that in the slightest. We've had some good talks the last couple of months."

"It's meant a lot to him that you've been reaching out," she told him. It was something Draco had said to her when they were talking about Harry one day, "He didn't think any of us would give him the time of day when he started here."

"Times do change, don't they," Harry moved closer to her and threw his arm around her shoulder, shaking her lightly with a small laugh.

"More than I ever thought possible," she agreed, leaning her head on his shoulder and letting out a long breath. Harry was one of the few who would be able to accept their relationship.

O-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was Tuesday evening after dinner as Hermione sat in the library finishing up some of her grading before her return to the Dueling Club. She dipped her quill into the ink pot and crossed out a sentence in her student's essay, writing a quick note in the margins to correct it.

Ron had approached her for the first time one-on-one that afternoon, and they had talked cordially for a few minutes before he made up an excuse to end their conversation. It had been a nice step to hopefully return to a friendship one day, but it made her feel guilty again for not being upfront about her relationship with Draco. It wouldn't be as easy as just getting over the awkwardness and figuring out how to support each other again as friends, there would be a lot more that went into whether or not they could ever even have that. And if he was her friend again, how would Draco feel about that? She knew she could be friends with whomever she wanted, she'd made that point to Ron, but she was sure it would be a point of contention at first if she ever was good friends with Ron again. But as of right now, she didn't want him out of her life forever, maybe at a distance for a while, but he'd surely move on as well. And then maybe him and Draco would find a way to coexist. Or maybe not, that was also a possibility.

She shook her head, rereading the same sentence again before she refocused on the task at hand, reading and correcting as the evening progressed.

"Fancy finding you in the library," came Draco's voice.

She looked up with a cheeky smile, "Good evening, Professor Malfoy," she finished her comment and set her quill aside, "And what brings you down here?"

"I just thought perhaps my girlfriend would like an escort to our Dueling Club meeting tonight."

"Draco," she whispered, "We're supposed to be keeping this quiet."

He laughed, "There's literally no one else in the library, Granger. It's the second day of classes after the holiday break."

She looked around, he was quite right, they were very alone and she relaxed, "All the same, someone could walk in at any time," she scolded him halfheartedly, the twinkle in her eye giving away her pleasure in seeing him there, "Come walk with me to put this away and we can head up." She grabbed the book she'd been referencing from the table and started walking to put it away, Draco following her.

"How were your lessons today?" He asked as they traversed the tables in the library.

"I can tell everyone is very uninterested in returning to homework and classes," she sighed, "Lots of talk of holiday breaks and Christmas gifts."

"Kids will be kids," he grinned, "Although I'm sure as a student you were always very excited to get back to learning."

"Always," she smiled, pushing open the door to the restricted section and moving inside.

"I kind of was too, if I'm being honest," he said, "Did you know I was number two in the class, behind you?"

"Of course I did," she looked at him incredulously, "I was always aware of where everyone stood in the top ten. Not that that's something I should be proud of."

She slipped the book back onto the shelf and turned to see Draco leaning on the table in the middle of the room. She looked over at the door, which was firmly closed and she walked up to him, placing her hands on his chest and leaning into him, "Since no one's here, this seems like a good opportunity to steal a kiss."

He grinned down at her, "Finding it hard to keep your hands off me already?"

"I could… I just don't want to right now," she said, tilting her head up, his arms closing around her as their lips met.

"Has this been a fantasy of yours for a long time?" He whispered against her lips as they hovered near his.

"What other fantasy would a bookworm have?!" She whispered back, kissing him again.

The room felt very warm and she knew it was because this was wrong, but it was kind of exhilarating.

The click of heels could be heard walking towards the restricted section and Hermione jumped back, turning back towards the bookshelf to appear as if she was looking for something as Madam Pince pushed the door open.

"Oh, Professor Granger… and Professor Malfoy," she said, looking between them, "I thought I'd heard someone come back here, didn't realize it was just a couple of professors."

"Sorry, Madam Pince, I was just putting back a book I was using and we were scanning some of the other book titles to see if there was anything we wanted to look at for the Dueling Club we run."

"No matter," the librarian waved at them, "Do what you need. Let me know if you need anything."

She walked back out and closed the door behind her, the sound of her heels against the floor becoming quieter with each step.

Hermione turned back to Draco and they both laughed, "I've never seen her be so nice to anyone snooping around her books," Draco said.

"Oh I've always been her favorite, I think," Hermione said earnestly, "Gosh that was…"

"Thrilling," he winked at her.

She thought about it for a second and shrugged with an embarrassed smile, "I guess that word fits."

"Shall we get to the Dueling Club before our members beat us there?"

She sighed, "I suppose we should."

They wandered up to the DADA classroom together from the library and entered the classroom to find a few students already milling about.

"Good evening!" Hermione said airily as they walked up to the front.

"Welcome back!" Patrick called.

"Hey Professor Granger!" Fiona waved, looking up from her conversation with Marielle, a girl from the sixth year Gryffindor class. Hermione had noticed the two had been spending a bit of time together since the Masquerade Ball and smiled to herself. House Unity events could work after all.

Draco and Hermione moved the desks aside and set up pillows at each station as more students trickled in. The group had grown to about eighty students since the beginning of the school year and they'd had to do some rearranging. The groups were now split into two groups and they'd added some seating "hang outs" to do a rotation of groups one and two during the evenings so that no one was standing in line for ten minutes in between spells.

This week they were practicing Levicorpus again so the students could get a better handle on the spell. There were far more students levitating in the air than there had been the first time around and Hermione couldn't help but feel some pride in the improvement, while also wishing she'd been present for the last few meetings. She and Draco stole glances at each other throughout the night, though they tried not to make it obvious.

As the students filed out of the room and the door shut behind them, Draco walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, "It's much more difficult not to touch you now that you're mine," he said in her ear.

"Adds to the fun of it, doesn't it?" She replied, leaning back into him as he squeezed her gently before loosening his grip as she turned around.

"Very much so," he grinned, kissing her softly, "Never thought I'd consider sleeping with a Hogwarts professor either, but that's kind of a fun thought too."

She felt chills pop up on her arm as she closed her eyes to think about it for a moment.

"But before I can do that, I was thinking I should take you out on a proper date."

She opened her eyes and looked at him curiously, "I mean we've gone to the three broomsticks," she said, "That was a nice date."

"That's hardly a date," he scoffed, "I couldn't even hold your hand and it's pub fare. I'd like to take you out to a nice dinner somewhere a bit fancier, and away from Hogwarts. Dinner, drinks, perhaps some dancing. A proper date."

She laughed, "I mean if you feel that's what you need to do, I won't object."

"Wonderful," he kissed her again, "Let's get back to my room then."

"I just need to grab my bag from my room," she told him, "I'll be down to the dungeons in a little bit."

They left the room together and split at the Entrance Hall, Hermione returning to grab a bag of clothes for the next day before she walked back out and shut her door.

"Evening, Hermione!" Dean said as he turned the corner from the stairs and walked down the hall towards his room.

"Hi Dean," she said, her heart beating a little faster like she'd been caught doing something inappropriate.

He walked by her and she opened up her own door and walked back in, shutting it behind her as though that was her destination all along. She waited another five minutes before opening the door and scanning the hallway, which was empty now. She stepped out and locked her door, walking briskly down the hallways towards the main staircase. She didn't slow her pace until she'd reached the Slytherin professor hallway, coming to a stop outside of Draco's door and running her fingers through her hair once or twice before she knocked.

"It's open!" He called as she heard it click.

She pushed the door open and was met with an underwear-clad Draco. Perhaps her favorite kind of Draco. Her lips split into a broad smile and she closed the door tightly behind her, dropping her bag at the door, throwing off her robes and stepping out of her pants to join him.

"Good evening, Professor," he said as she sauntered up to him and he pulled her in to kiss her deeply; like he'd wanted to for hours. She moaned softly and he smiled against her lips before stepping back from her and holding out his hand and they walked to the bedroom, chatting lightly about the day.

They crawled into bed and entangling themselves together in the sheets, their bodies warming immediately at the other's touch. They talked for a bit in between kisses until the kissing started overpowering the talking. It really did make it more exciting that they couldn't acknowledge their connection to each other during the day. They had to behave in public and then all of that suppressed passion could come out in the evenings. Their tongues massaged each other softly as her hands wandered down his body, from his chest, down his stomach, down his thigh and back up before coming to rest on exactly the part of his body he was hoping she would pause at.

Her hand moved slowly up and back down again and he looked at her with a devious grin, moving his hand down her neck and softly over her chest before kissing her hungrily again. She kissed him back the same way, loving the level of comfort she had in being intimate with him. This newly-found sexual confidence was enthralling. Something she'd never explored with Ron, who had always been a bit awkward when they'd tried to be intimate. This was far and large a different level of connection.

She nudged his shoulder slightly and he turned onto his back as she floated over him, her hair falling heavily over to the side. She kissed him again before moving her lips down his body in a similar route her hands had just taken, as she pushed his boxers off and to the side.

"Does this still count as taking things slow?" Her hands landed on his hip bones as she looked back up at him with a grin that would rival any Slytherin-worthy look.

He gave another laugh that hinted at shock and intrigue mixed with heavy lust, "Seems like a perfectly reasonable pace to me."

"Wonderful, just making sure," she said before returning her attention south.

Draco lay his head back with a very content sigh and his hand slipped into her hair as he closed his eyes. He would have been perfectly happy holding her and kissing her all night, but he certainly was not going to complain about taking this step forward. He moved her hair to the other side, holding it off of her shoulders before he let his breathing deepen as he let his mind go blank and he tuned into every sensation she was making him feel. He must have been the luckiest bloke alive.

O-o-o-o-o-o-o