Chapter Twenty-three

Parallel reality

"Did he really do that?"

Laughter echoed throughout the bathroom.

"Not funny, Myrtle" Draco grunted.

Two days had passed, but he was still very pissed off by the 'little joke' that bloody Potter had played on him.

And the worst thing was the fear he had felt when he thought Hermione could die. He didn't remember having such a bad time since he was in front of the headmaster, surrounded by Death Eaters who were waiting for him to kill the man.

Draco never said anything to him, but he was so grateful to Snape. He did it for him, Draco knew he wouldn't have been able to kill Dumbledore in a thousand years. He could be many things, but he was not a murderer.

He scratched his left forearm unconsciously, every time he remembered Dumbledore's death the Dark Mark itched.

The ghost continued to float around him with a smile on her lips, but Myrtle stopped laughing when she saw the hateful look her only living friend gave her.

"Don't look at me like that, you know I'll always be on your side" she murmured, stopping a few inches from his face.

"I know, you were the only one I could talk to that year... only you knew what I was doing, and you didn't betray me" Draco admitted, huffing and leaning on one of the sinks.

His sixth year at Hogwarts had been a complete nightmare, but meeting the ghost and her words of comfort helped him a lot.

"And I'm still the only one who knows your darkest secrets... right?" Myrtle asked, smiling and raising an eyebrow.

His nod made her smile even more.

"Though I've told her some things too" Draco added in a whisper.

"You want my opinion of Granger?"

Draco looked up and frowned.

"If you're going to tell me the same shit as Pansy, I'd rather you save your words" he said in a harsh voice.

"You were never interested in anything more than a physical relationship with the other girls... but you like spending time with her, talking to her, even kissing her... that must mean something" the ghost said, watching his reaction.

She knew what was happening to her friend. After so many years in the castle, Myrtle had seen hundreds of students interact with each other... but she wanted him to accept it for himself.

Draco rolled his eyes and snorted.

"I know" he answered quietly.

"And do you think avoiding her is the solution?"

"I'm not avoiding anyone."

"Don't take me for a fool, you haven't been around her since the Potter incident. But tomorrow you are going to see her in class."

Draco muttered something under his breath that the ghost couldn't understand.

"The living are sometimes so complicated... you're dying to be with her, but instead of looking for her you are hiding in the girls' bathroom on the second floor, talking to your dead friend" Myrtle added, sighing and walking away until she was lost inside one of the cubicles.

He clenched his fists and got to his feet.

"I'm not hiding, Myrtle" he growled, leaving the bathroom.

It was Sunday. There were few people left in the castle, but he knew quite well where he could find her. It was too cold for her to be around the damn lake that he didn't want to go near again, so Draco climbed a flight of stairs to the third floor.

He entered the library and went straight to the table where the two of them always studied, so sure that she would be there. Draco almost didn't see anyone on the way, only the librarian who gave him a tired look.

And there she was, the girl who was always in his dreams and had been haunting him for months. He took several silent steps behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

Hermione jumped, she hadn't heard anyone approaching her. She recognised Draco's peculiar scent at once and her entire body calmed down.

He lowered his head a little until his lips were close to her ear.

"Stop that and come with me."

Her skin crawled at that whisper full of desire. Hermione turned her head slightly, until she met Draco's grey eyes.

"Where?" she asked quietly.

"Does that matter?" he replied, arching his eyebrows.

"I guess not" she admitted, closing the huge book she was reading about mythological beings.

Draco took her hand and pulled her up, walking with her quite fast.

"What are you reading that for?" he asked, frowning.

Hermione gave him a sideways glance and looked down, her cheeks a little red.

"I want to help you" she whispered, embarrassed because he had caught her looking for more information about merpeople.

He opened a wooden door, pushing Hermione into the room. He closed the door after him and grabbed her, trapping her between his arms and the stone wall.

"You've helped me enough" Draco murmured, pointing with his eyes to the bracelet he was wearing on one of his wrists.

He attacked her lips without saying anything more, pressing against her.

Hermione gasped in the middle of the kiss, surprised by the anxiety she sensed in Draco. His touch was much more intense than normal, and the kiss was full of something strange she couldn't identify but had never felt with him. She heard the noise of their robes falling to the floor and opened her eyes, pulling away just enough to speak.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked, searching his grey eyes for an answer.

He shook his head and brushed Hermione's hair back, running the tip of his nose down her neck as he enjoyed her sweet smell.

"Everyone thinks they know what I want, I'm fed up... I need you, I need to feel you and forget about everything" he whispered, continuing to kiss and suck her skin.

Hermione flinched when Draco's hands slipped under her clothes and she closed her eyes again, letting herself be engulfed in the passion of the moment. Before she knew it, the two of them were practically naked inside that little storage room.

Fearing she could forget doing it after, she held her wand and whispered those words she already knew by heart.

Draco smirked when he heard her voice, hugging her tightly again and biting her shoulder. Neither of them said anything when the wooden wand fell to the ground.

He grabbed one of Hermione's legs, lifting up until it was leveled with his waist, and groaned between her lips as he felt her fingers tangling in his hair and grabbing some blond strands.

Hermione ran her other hand up to his back. She was starting to feel too hot and having his body completely glued to hers didn't help. Draco got a better grip on her leg, lifting her hips a little, and slammed into her.

The two gasped as they were completely together and she broke the kiss, descending until she reached his collarbone.

Hermione left deep kisses in that sensitive spot, clinging closer to him as he thrust into her violently. Draco had never been so rough and she hadn't imagine she could like that so much. Her mind was totally clouded by desire and her self-control stopped working.

"Love you" Hermione whispered into his pale skin.

Draco stopped moving.

"What?" he asked. With the noise of their bodies rubbing against each other and their heavy breathing, he hadn't heard her words.

"Nothing" Hermione answered right away, mentally slapping herself for what she had accidentally admitted out loud.

Draco forced her head up so he could look into her eyes.

"Are you okay? Have I hurt you?"

Hermione shook her head.

"No, I like this so much" she replied, kissing him again.

Draco lost himself between her lips and moved again, entwining his tongue with hers to suppress involuntary gasps. The two of them were carried away by the heat of the moment until the very end.

He groaned and bit too hard on Hermione's lower lip as he felt his orgasm at the same time as her. They both stopped, panting and trying to catch their breath.

Draco stepped away from her a few inches and frowned when he saw a small cut on her lip.

"I'm sorry" he murmured, bringing one of his hands to Hermione's mouth and running his thumb over her injured lip.

"It doesn't matter" she breathed, burying both hands in his blond hair as she looked into his eyes.

She was completely in love with him and she knew it, but every day she was more and more sure that he felt the same way about her. The difficult thing was getting Draco to recognise it. Falling in love for the first time, and with the mudblood that he had criticised so much for years couldn't be easy to accept... but he had to, because Hermione wouldn't be able to continue like that much longer.

If Draco was afraid of people finding out how he felt about her, she didn't want to be with him... but Hermione had decided to give him a little more time, until the day that spring began. If that day came, and everything remained the same... if he kept saying that what they had was nothing serious, she would take care of finishing what was between them forever.

Hermione knew that most likely that would happen, she couldn't imagine Draco admitting that he loved her and facing anyone who didn't think they should be together. And, of course, she couldn't imagine him standing up to his parents for a muggle-born.

But the two weeks left until the deadline that she had set herself, she would enjoy him. Hermione adored his kisses, their furtive encounters, when they chatted for hours in some remote part of the castle where no one could hear them, their escapes to the tower in his broom... Those five months with him had been the best of her life and, even if it all ended badly, she would remember their time together fondly.

Hermione secretly wanted him to react in time so they could continue as they were, but not hiding from the others anymore.

She had already accepted that what she felt was real. All her friends suspected it and didn't judge her, and she was willing to endure the contemptuous stares of those stupid Gryffindors and Slytherins who wouldn't see with good eyes that Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were in a relationship. The only thing missing was that Draco was also willing to do the same.

He rested his forehead on hers and sighed.

"See you later in the same place as last week?" Draco asked quietly.

"I can't... I need to practise the Charms exam."

"Who are you going to practise with?"

"Harry and Ron."

Draco pursed his lips and fought back the urge to curse those two stupid gits.

"Okay... see you tomorrow in class, then."

He left a soft, tender kiss on her lips and opened the door, giving her a crooked smile before leaving. Hermione took a minute to follow his footsteps, she needed to calm down and organize her thoughts... like every time she had one of her passionate encounters with that boy.

"I hope you accept it soon, Draco" she murmured.

Hermione left out a sigh and she came out of the small room, checking that no one saw her do it.

Two chapters today :) 13 more to go!