Chapter Nineteen

Revealing secrets

Hermione gave her seatmate another sideways glance. Draco was way more serious than other days, if that was a real option, and he had barely looked at her during the thirty minutes they had been in class.

She put a little piece of parchment between the pages of her Arithmancy book and pretended to take notes, passing the paper to Draco when she was sure the professor was looking somewhere else.

Are you alright?

He pursed his lips and wrote an answer.

No

Hermione nudged him when she read that, silently asking for more words.

I know what happens with the bloody mermaid and there's not an easy way to solve it

She sighed and focused on the lesson again, thinking that maybe later she could talk to him about all of that and try to help him.

But, to Hermione's surprise, he stood up very quickly once the lesson was finished.

"See you this afternoon" Draco breathed close to her neck, and he followed his Slytherin mates to the corridor without another word.

She rolled her eyes and huffed as she gathered her things, leaving the classroom by herself. She went upstairs to the common room, there was still an hour left for lunch and she had a somewhat awkward conversation pending with Ron about her Christmas plans.

The holidays started in three days so Hermione couldn't put it off any longer. As she suspected, her best friend and her ex-boyfriend were at the table next to one of the huge windows in the Gryffindor common room, playing magic cards.

She dropped into the empty armchair next to Harry and they both looked up from the table to watch her.

"Tired?" Ron asked, lifting a brow.

"Yes, as always" she said in a low voice.

Harry smiled and Hermione felt guilty, she had been keeping a secret from him for more than three months and she didn't want to do it any longer.

"I have to tell you something" she muttered, pushing herself up with her elbows and leaning her arms on the table.

Her two friends carefully put the cards aside so they wouldn't activate, and gave her their full attention.

"Are you using a time turner again to take more classes than you can?" Ron asked with a mocking voice, making her laugh.

"No, I wish I could. I'd love to have more time to study."

They rolled their eyes and dropped their heads to the table in a dramatic gesture. Hermione laughed again and they joined in on her laughter.

"What I wanted to say is that I... well... I'm sort of seeing someone."

They both sat up again and looked at her in surprise.

"Do you have a boyfriend? There's no need to hide it, you know" Ron said, a smile on his lips.

Harry nodded, happy to see that his two friends were getting along as well as before being together in their short and disastrous relationship.

"Not exactly... he's not my boyfriend, he is... I don't really know what he is" she admitted with a sigh.

Harry arched an eyebrow and Ron frowned.

"Who is the lucky one?" the redhead asked.

Hermione bit her lower lip nervously and Harry stiffened.

"I knew it... though I didn't want to believe it" he whispered, furrowing his brow.

She gave him a hurt look.

"Why do you say that? Is it so bad that I like him?"

"Who are you talking about? Harry, do you know who he is?" Ron questioned, glaring at both of them.

Harry gave him a sideways glance.

"I know him, and you know him too."

Ron's brow furrowed more for a few seconds until his eyes widened in surprise.

"Malfoy" he mumbled, looking back at Hermione.

She dropped onto the back of the chair, folding her arms over her chest. She was not going to allow them to make her feel bad because she liked an old enemy, things had changed and they knew it.

She already had to endure enough complaints and reproaches when she was dating Victor Krum.

"Yes, Malfoy. I never judged you two with your disastrous love stories" she grunted, staring at him. "I still remember Won-Won, you know?" She looked to her other friend. "And I haven't forgotten about your date in Madame Puddifpoot's either."

The two boys wrinkled their noses at those horrible memories and Harry snorted.

"I suppose you're right... we have no right to judge you" he admitted, removing his glasses.

She gave him a small smile of appreciation.

"You know that, deep inside, he's a good guy."

"He's an idiot, but... yes, deep down... very very deep down... he's not a bad person. His parents are something else, though" Ron said with a dark face.

"He's not like that anymore, Ron. But he pretends to, I guess he wants to keep his cold and nonchalance mask on as long as he's at Hogwarts."

"He has changed if he's interested in you. The Malfoy I know would never touch you" Harry said with a deep voice.

She blushed faintly when she remembered that Draco had in fact touched her... a lot.

Ron grimaced and propped his chin on one of his hands.

"Marissa also says that Malfoy is not as bad as he seems... She has told me that, sometimes, she has heard him arguing with his friends in the Slytherin common room, telling them to stop criticising her for dating me" he confessed, his voice low.

Harry snorted angrily.

"Even so... I will never like him" he muttered.

Hermione couldn't help but giggle.

"He says the same thing about you" she admitted, smiling at him.

Harry smiled back.

"If this is what you want and he treats you right... I'm okay with it."

"Same here" Ron added with a nod.

Hermione felt something warm spreading inside her body and grabbed one hand from each of her friends.

"Thank you, guys."

They both smiled and gave her a loving squeeze.

"Promise me that you won't start cheering the Slytherin team when they play against us" Harry asked with a mocking voice.

She frowned and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Are you insane? I would do that even if he were my boyfriend. I will always support Gryffindor" she replied, pretending to be upset.

The three of them laughed and decided to go to the Great Hall to join the others.

As they descended the stairs, Hermione thought about how comfortable she felt. She had taken a great weight off her shoulders by telling her two friends about him, she would no longer have to keep hiding things from them and she could talk to them about Draco when she needed it.

Although, at least all this time she had had Luna by her side.

Draco spent the entire meal watching Hermione. She was sitting between Potter and Weasley and they didn't stop chatting and laughing with each other.

Seeing her so close to Weasley bothered him too much, though he wasn't about to admit it to himself.

When it was time to go to the library to continue the work he was doing with the Gryffindor girl, Draco walked over to the table where they always sat and left all his things on it.

Looking up, he saw that Hermione had just entered the front door and was walking in his direction, but she still hadn't seen him because she was engrossed in reading the book she had in her hands.

Hermione stopped when she reached the table and, after pointing to the page where she was, she dropped it and looked around. Her heart thundered in her chest and she couldn't help but step back when she saw those grey eyes so close to her.

Draco grinned and took another step, until he was just inches away.

"You scared me, I didn't know you were already here" she whispered.

"It's your fault, you shouldn't be reading as you walk" he answered, tilting his head and looking down at her with a smirk on his face.

She took a slow breath, trying to calm herself, and moved one of the chairs back to sit, but Draco's arm stopped her.

"Come with me" he murmured, taking one of her hands.

Hermione followed him through the shelves, not quite knowing what he was up to. They reached one of the last corridors, full of boring history books that hardly anyone bothered to read ... although Hermione had devoured more than half in previous years.

Draco stopped and circled her waist, causing her to back up until she was leaning against the piece of furniture filled with hundreds of books. He brought her face close to her and ran his nose down her neck, enjoying the fruity scent he liked so much.

What if he told her what he had under his pillow? How would she react?

"I really like your scent, Hermione... I'm not sure if you're aware that I have a vial of a potion that smells just like you" he breathed close to her ear.

She blushed when she heard such a revelation and her breathing quickened.

"You... Do you have a bottle of Amortentia? The one we brewed months ago in class?" she asked, her voice shaking.

He left a couple of kisses on her collarbone and smirked.

"Yes, it's well hidden."

"And do you want to use it? It's dangerous, Draco."

He raised his head and looked into her eyes.

"I just have it so I can smell you whenever I want."

Hermione didn't have time to think of an answer because his lips caught hers without warning. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the wet, pleasant sensation of the kisses she was receiving, reaching up to Draco's chest and grabbing him by the collar of his shirt to pull him closer to her.

She suddenly remembered that they were in the library and moved away.

"Not here" she whispered, breating heavily.

"No one comes around these corridors, they won't see us" he said, shrugging.

"And how exactly do you know that?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Draco's lips curved into a smile at the jealous tone in her voice.

"Because I've been investigating all the places where I can attack you without getting caught."

She nibbled at her own lip and, after shaking her head, used her arms to push him further away.

"I'm not having sex with you here."

"Who was talking about sex?"

Hermione couldn't answer because Draco's lips didn't let her speak for the second time.

They kissed for several minutes. He lifted her jumper a little and ran his hands over the skin of her waist, gently biting her lips and brushing her tongue in a slow kiss that was getting too hot and dangerous.

As they parted, they were both panting and Hermione's cheeks were very red. Perfect, just what Draco wanted ... to see if he could drive her crazy with just one kiss, and from the noises that had escaped from her throat it seemed so.

"We'll end this later, I'm not going to forget about it" he mumbled with a deep voice, staring at her.

He took her hand again to go back to the table where they had left their things. The two of them sat and looked at each other as they caught their breath.

"What will you do for Christmas? Are you leaving the castle?" he asked, trying to think of another thing so what he had between his legs calmed down.

Hermione sighed and picked up one of the arithmancy books, opening it and starting to search for the page they were on, though she was quite flustered to do the essay at that moment.

"I think I'll spend Christmas at Ron's house, with his family and Harry."

Draco clenched his jaw and looked away, grabbing one of the parchment so he could write on it.

That fucking Weasel...

"And you?"

He gave her a sideways glance. Her almond eyes were fixed on him.

"I'll go home. I need to talk with my parents, clarify some things with them."

She nodded and looked back at the book.

Draco frowned, annoyed at the idea of having to talk with his parents if he wanted the mermaid to stop trying to rip his heart out... but that was better than asking a professor for help and letting the entire school know what was happening.

The thing he hated the most was to look weak, and he wouldn't allow that.

Another chapter! I had enough time to write it today, hope you're enjoying this story :)