She hummed the melody of her childhood lullaby, dangling her legs off the sink while watching Draco doing his magic. The deep crease in his forehead, the way his mouth twitched to right to left and then back as he concentrated on adding the perfect amount of the Antarctic Ice Dragon's crushed scales to each of the cauldrons. The way his jack-knife glinted in the lights as he measured the white, shiny powder, his fingers curling around the metal lest he dropped too much in Vindico Parea; he looked strong and stoic, ever the Greek marble statue.
He was like a magnet, attracting every of her pores to his direction. And really, she would have been disturbed if it wasn't for the fact that she had already accepted her liking to the blonde.
Yes, let's call it liking. Any word with more heavy meaning behind would have overthrown the fragile balance, living undisturbed in her head.
Truthfully since their episode just five days ago, they were closer than ever. Draco let her cry her eyes out until they were puffy and as red as her Gryffindor tie, and even offered her a tissue – that had his initials sewn into it – when clearly, he was just as much in need of one as she was.
So she took it, and didn't return it. It had rich chocolate scent and something that was just Draco – fresh and spicy – and she cherished the rag as if it was made from silk, with diamonds adoring it and had been signed by at least a thousand muggle stars. She felt quite silly, but not that she had regretted her actions.
Now he didn't flinch away from her touch, though he always had a slight pinkness to his cheekbones whenever she let her hand linger on his shoulder slightly longer than necessary or when she – intentionally – brushed their fingers together. Or when she was – that time unconsciously – leaning above him to hear Pansy babble about something, her breasts pressed against his back as he was sitting on a bench. He was painfully aware of the situation and was immediately as red as a tomato, and when noticing his discomfort realizing its cause, her complexion was the same in colour as his.
Pansy laughed of course. No one thought she would tone it down, no, she laughed so loudly that their entire class was soon aware of the dire interlude. Hermione would have loved to blend into the audience; it was a better option to be invisible for the eternity of her life than her awaiting death.
She sighed, and shifted lightly, the sink started to be quite uncomfortable for chair-substitute.
Just that moment, she looked up only to find her favourite blonde leaning towards her, his eyes narrowed and hard, studying her face like from two inches away.
"What?" she murmured, her embarrassment written all across her face.
But Draco didn't back away, his long, nearly translucent eyelashes dropped lower and lifting a hand, he pointed out, "Your tattoo," she quirked a brow, quite confused as there were numerous on her body, "The Serpent tattoo, it's different."
Hermione just shook her head, unable to believe that he had noticed the tiny change, "I researched with Luna. Turns out, she is a fan of tattoos and henna, and literally any kind of paints and inks, so we started—!" So he occasionally nodded along, well aware of Loony's weird fascination with body painting. To Hallowe'en in their third year she came in with one of her eyes painted harsh yellow and the other midnight blue, claiming she was the galaxy. She said her imaginary creatures suggested her this idea, but he remembered how he laughed himself sick that time with Blaise and Theo. Also, that was the time when she got her pet name of Loony.
He shook his head, banishing the memory far away.
"So we found and created some fun spells," Hermione ended a speech which during most part, Draco was zoning out. Not like she hadn't noticed that.
"Fun?" he asked for confirmation, cautiously poking the place where the Serpent's head was, just under her expressive, boiling coffee eyes. The tattoo glimmered when it encountered with his magic, a weird lighting raid going through the ink and in a second, it was back to its original form, shining like tiny, crushed jewels were implanted in her skin as the light caressed the ink's surface.
It was actually quite... exceeding. And fascinating really, as he was standing there, rooted while mesmerized by the her beauty, and really, it wasn't just the tattoo, but her hazel eyes shining up at him mischievously, the tiny freckles speckled on her nose and her cheekbones, the plump lips that were so enticing since nearly the beginning, and even though he was not a big fan of the uncontrollable locks, it gave her a childish aura that was the telltale sign of how fucking pure she actually was.
Maybe, that was the thing that allured Draco the most.
"Fun," she exhaled the words after a while, when their silence became really awkward, bordering on unbearable. He was in the middle of tucking an errant lock of melted chocolate behind her ear out of the numerous when their private bubble shattered around them.
Unconscious of his actions, Draco withdrew his hand. If they wouldn't kill each other, the embarrassment would take upon the opportunity for sure.
However, Hermione caught it, before he was able to succeed. She held his hand in her right, gently pulling it forward for a better look. Her slim fingers played with his as she slowly inched forward for the sleeve of his shirt. She started rolling it up, concentrating on her movement, as with only one available hand, it was not a simple task.
Just then did Draco realize which of his arms she was holding under custody. He frantically tried pulling it away, but an agitated look from Hermione was enough to stop him. Instead, his other hand reached out to help her with the procedure, slow and hesitant, the shame was latched in his weighty movements.
And Hermione grasped.
There it was, the scar he hated just as much as the one on his back: the Dark Mark glaring back up them with its full blackness, as if mocking them with its harsh presence. The contrast between the stigma and his pale complexion was slowly blurring, the skin around the tattoo bordering grey now. It seemed it started sinking in with his body, and it was no good sign, counting the terms of their agreement with Hermione.
Suddenly, he just wanted to punch something. Until it crumbled, broke, shattered. Destroying things was his shelter from reality, a way he could control the insanity taking place in his very own head.
But before he could have succeeded, Hermione squeezed on his wrist as if warning him. She asked with shaking lips, her voice making the words tremble in the air, "Why didn't you say something?"
He shook his head, "Granger, it can't be... removed at this point. It's...," he gulped down, feeling his Adam's apple bob.
She let out a breath so strained that it ricocheted in the silence of the bathroom, "Yes... the ink melting in with your cells, but Draco, I have some ideas, there must be solution," she stated with a firmer voice, her eyes full of hope and opportunities, "Tell me what you tried, in detail, and... and we'll sort this out. I swear!"
He was hardly able to hold back a really harsh bark of laughter, "Don't swear on things that you can't fulfil," he said and it was his turn to squeeze on her hand, passing around the hope between them as if it was just a plastic ball. "But alright... I'll first," he reached out for the jack knife, laying on the top of an empty cauldron just beside them, "Demonstrate," and he gripped it firmly.
Her eyes widened and her mouth snapped open for a mute scream as he struck in his own arm with sheer force, the undoubtedly sharp edge of the knife sinking in the tattoo, seemingly cutting through it, and for a moment, Hermione thought she would murder the idiot if he didn't manage to do so by himself. She saw the whole movement in slow motion, painfully aware of her helplessness.
Although she was utterly relieved when the blade sprang up with a swift movement. Like his skin was the plastic ball instead of their relished hope.
She knocked the knife out of his hand at that instant!
"Are you retarded?" she shouted with boiling rage, ready to throttle him at any moment as the Malfoy heir sent a brooding look at her, totally unfazed by her fit. "Draco, you could have killed yourself! I thought you are not suicidal!" she demanded the answers, even with stomping her leg just for better emphasis.
Draco rolled his eyes, flashing his uninjured forearm to her face, "Look, no harm done," he stated flatly, and even endured her check up.
She gestured wildly with her wand, muttering spells to make sure, she dabbed around the Dark Mark muttering obscenities and odes of his dumbness, nibbling on her lip whenever she had a breath of relief, while seeking for any evidence of the blade ever breaking the Dark Mark's surface form an inch distance. Her hot tears fell on his skin which made him shiver, but pretended he didn't notice.
"Come on Granger, you know just as well as I that you can't destroy this shit. Something like this couldn't harm it, Hermione," he said slowly with a small voice, private, as if afraid that anyone could overhear them. But his persuasion seemed ineffective, her common sense flew far away.
His lips were really close to her face and after a bit of silence, he breathed a kiss against the top of her forehead, intending to calm her down.
It did not help Hermione.
It was all about held back anger. Her limbs trembled and her cheeks were flushed and the tears in the corner of her eyes were ready to spill and she wanted to scream her throat dry and hoarse because of his idiocy.
"Just breathe, Granger, in and out, in and out...," he chanted, desperate and not knowing how to handle a panicking woman. Or a woman on the verge of utter hysterics he had caused.
It took three minutes when she was finally able to form words.
"Stop it Draco, I'm not in labour!" she barked and pushed him a step away just to get to more oxygen, "Warn me before you cut up your fucking veins, Draco, or I'll... I'll," she forced it out of her system, in the end kicking in her on bag to get rid of her frustration, never minding the twenty-three books in there. It was still more resourceful than threatening him.
She let a shaky sigh escape her lips, and leaned back to the sink, "Okay," she said, "Okay... Your demonstration was efficient for sure. What else's there?" she asked, now fearing his answer a lot more.
Draco, glad to be back at the topic, shrugged, "Spells... normal and then, well, some darks too," he confessed while studying her expression, the way her facial muscles tightened and her jaw twitched. The tears were still present in her eyes, giving them a glassy shine and her lips were now swollen from the lot of nibbling she did out of nervousness. The entire, messy picture was enticing and fuck, was she beautiful!
He shook his head, hoping that the blood, which started flowing downwards, would deter its route and come back to his brains, "There was the muggle tattoo, and it was like... burning. And knives, lot of magical knife, dipped in potions, and I even tried to... use the edge to cut down the skin under the Mark and... I looked into Herbiology too, but nothing seemed good enough."
Hermione measured him up and after a bit of contemplating said, "Maybe, we need to reach beyond magic. I have a few ideas, but the most likely will be fucking painful," In total contrast to her words, his eyes seemed to lit up and she needed to burst the rhetorical bubble before he took it for sure. Even if he was able to endure the pain, it was fifty-fifty the Mark would disappear.
Her voice was firm and cruel as she continued explaining, "Draco, it will be the hurts-like-bitch kind of painful... the kind of painful when you faint. It's not something to play with and I'll probably need my mum to get me some Chemistry text books and we could just do it after Christmas—"
This didn't seem to deter him as he eagerly questioned her, rudely cutting her rambling of, "So what's this wonder-medicine for my problem?"
Hermione looked away, already regretting her decision of telling him, "Acid." And the words had the kind of weight which made her shoulders slump, "We'll need to use acid."
He just nodded, probably not realizing what he had just signed up for.
Before starting this chapter the only note I'd written for this is: dark mark + acid the perf marriage of no conception. Just an unimportant detail I felt I needed to add this.
Besides I'm over myself because I just looked at the stats and realized that damn, 260 user followed TBB and more than 100 faved and I'm literally blown away so thank you so much! Although, that doesn't mean you should let down on the review numbers - so please, make me smile more widely and don't forget about the little box waiting to be filled under my rambling!