The Astronomy Tower was fraught with tense silence. Draco had attempted to hand over the books she'd left at the pub to no avail. Instead, he was met with an icy glare and an upturned nose.
It was Draco's turn at the telescope and as he made notes on the unsurprisingly consistent night sky the silence gnawed at his nerves. He'd become accustomed to the sound of her voice and when he was without it, the very air felt off.
Over the last few minutes, he'd been chewing on several possible conversation starters. Once he'd found one he thought was safe, he decided to test the waters. "We should be able to see Mars soon—"
"No."
Snapping his gaze from the starry sky and back to the ever petulant Granger, his jaw fell open. "How can you answer statements like that with a no? It's rude."
"Because you're wrong." Her tongue darted out, licking the nib of her quill before placing it back down on the parchment.
With a loud snort, Draco straightened his spine. "You can't possibly know that. Mars should be visib—"
"No," she breathed, cutting him off sharply. "Mars is only visible near dawn. You're probably mistaking it with the similar Arcturus. It looks similar and is in a similar location."
"Can you just stop icing me out?" Draco snapped, taking two hard steps towards her with a withering glare. "I don't know why you're so pissed that I got Zabini off your back. Trust me, he's not in it for the right reasons."
Her narrowed gaze finally shot up, locking on his. "In what for the right reasons?"
Pulling a face, Draco failed to think of proper thought. Outing Zabini would compromise himself. "Well…"
"See!" She said, scrambling to her feet and letting her parchments flutter to the ground. "That, right there! You're lying about something! I don't know where you got the idea that I'm stupid enough to fall for this ridiculous charade, but I assure you I'm not. I've been in this school for nine months out of every year since I was eleven. None of you slimy Slytherins so much as glanced my way and all of a sudden, you guys can't piss off! Just tell me what's going on!"
Despite the fact that he was indeed lying, he despised being called a liar. Indignant rage coursed through him as he defended himself. "Nothing is going on!"
"You're lying!"
"Is it that hard to believe that I might actually enjoy spending time with you? Merlin, this is why no one gets close to you," he scoffed, waving in general direction. "You want to push me away? Fine. But stop blaming it on anything other than that you don't like being around me."
Granger inhaled sharply, her brow wrinkling. The confession startled them both, clearly, but it was Draco who couldn't decipher where his lie had ended when the truth began. He did enjoy spending time with her when her hackles weren't raised and she was actually speaking to him.
The silence dragged on until finally the witch let go of a tired breath and her shoulders sagged. "You're right."
Maybe he'd misheard. Surely, he misheard, because there was no chance in hell that Hermione Granger was relenting that easily. "I'm—I'm what?"
Deflating, she tilted her face up towards the giant armillary hanging from the rafters and steadied herself. "You're right, okay? I just—I had a bad experience with someone. He'd never given me a lick of attention and then, remarkably, he did. I was stupid and naive and thought he actually liked me. We ended up—well, it doesn't matter. But I made a mistake I really wish I could take back and the sodding idiot boasted about to his entire year. Living in the Gryffindor Tower has been horrible and finally, he's gone and I just wanted some semblance of normal this year. And then you started coming around. It's hard for me to trust that not every wizard out there is going to do the same. I'm…sorry."
Guilt twisted nastily in his belly but he cleared his throat and nodded anyway. "It's okay. I'm sorry that happened to you. Sounds like a tosser."
With a watery laugh, she used the back of her hand to wipe away the tears tracking down her cheeks. "Yeah, he is. Are you ready for your game tomorrow?"
"Well," he paused to level her in his most charming smirk, "I would normally say yes, but since I'm only the second-best Seeker and I'm going up against Hogwart's most eligible bachelor and star seeker—"
Snorting, Granger took a few steps closer. "He's no such thing and he's only better because he's reckless."
Bending down to snag his house scarf, he hid his face as he closed the distance between them. When they were finally toe-to-toe, their gazes met. "You should wear this tomorrow." Without permission, he slung it over her shoulders and smirked down at her as she pulled a face.
"What kind of Gryffindor would I be if I wore this?"
"It looks good on you." The truth was dangerous, but he couldn't stop it from slipping out again and again when he was around her.
He tugged lightly on the ends of the Slytherin scarf draped around her neck and pulled her infinitesimally closer. In the quiet reprieve, he allowed himself to study the gentle curve of her cheek and the freckled constellations across her nose. Of its own volition, his hand reached up and caught a particularly buoyant curl and pulled on it lightly, letting it spring back into its position.
In the strangest turn of events, her gaze fell to his parted lips just as his hand came to curl around her jaw. He was so close, Merlin, he could almost taste the sugar quill on her lips.
Under them, a door slammed and they both jumped back, fussing with their clothing as if they'd been caught doing something truly salacious. Draco rushed to the telescope and bent to peer through the glass, though he saw nothing; the frantic thundering of his heart stole every morsel of attention he possessed.
"Hermione?" Fucking Potter.
"Yes, Harry?" Granger's voice took on a worried quality as she made for the stairs. Potter ambled up moments later, speaking in low hushed tones as he gestured back towards the came.
With a loud groan, she turned back for their workspace, lips downturned. "I have to go early. Head Girl business."
"At eleven at night?" Disbelief choked him as he narrowed his eyes at Potter for absolutely no reason at all.
"There's a first-year girl who needs my help. Will you be alright?" Her doe eyes stared back at him and he almost lied again—what was one more after all—and asked her to stay.
"Yeah, you go on. I'll clean up."
With a final remorseful frown, she grabbed her bag and disappeared down the stairs.
xXx
Kicking off the grass, Draco sat tall on his broom, pulling his gloves on as he scanned the Gryffindor section for a single flash of green.
"Malfoy!" Theo shouted from a few feet over. "Look sharp; it's time for the whistle."
Rolling his eyes, Draco gripped the stick of his broom and begrudgingly tore his gaze from the stands. Hooch was there, standing over the trunk and demanding a clean game. Across from him hovered Potter and while normally the sight of him on a Quidditch pitch would be enough to make Draco's blood boil, today he was nothing more than a passing annoyance.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a small disturbance in the stands and managed a glance over his shoulder. There, in a bright crimson cloak with a matching hat, was Hermione Granger, a Slytherin scarf hanging around her neck. A grin threatened to split his cheeks and when the whistle blew he pulled higher, making a quick dart for the Gryffindor stands.
Granger was already gaining quite a bit of attention on her own but when Draco flew just in front of her, tossing her a wink before tearing off in search of the snitch, the stands went positively wild.
xXx
Two bloody hours.
The cold bit at his skin as he hovered several yards over the top of the stands. Around him, sharp gusts of frigid November air rocked his broom back and forth as he stared out the vast openness of the sky.
It's not that matches were unknown to take two hours, but it was just so fucking cold. Below him, Theo launched the Quaffle through the hoop, right past Weasley. The announcer's voice bellowed through the air, "Nott strikes again! That's another for the Snakes leaving our score at a staggering one-hundred-eighty-five to sixty in favor of Slytherin!"
The cushion of points did little to calm the nerves rioting in his belly. It took just one inch, one second and the game was gone. His very last game against Gryffindor for the rest of his life.
Just then, a flash of gold in his peripheral. He didn't move, didn't dare flinch in case Potter was watching. With slow steady breaths, he waited; snitches were terribly obnoxious, fluttering about almost begging to be caught. And this one was no different, the soft buzzing of its wings sounded in his ear and then it was there, floating just out of arms reach.
With a showy little twirl, the snitch dove towards the ground. Draco followed, tipping his broom dangerously until he lost the sensation of flying and adopted the feeling of plummeting to the earth with no safety net. The announcer's voice echoed around him, but beyond hearing that Malfoy had caught sight of the snitch and Potter was on his way, he paid it no mind.
He could see it, careening towards the ground and this is exactly where he would pull up usually; this is when his fear of colliding violently with the earth at high speeds tended to get the best of him and he'd slow. But, not today. He was a foot away from victory and Potter would be close. Right before the snitch toppled to the grass, it changed course, darting forward horizontally.
Palms slick with sweat, he gripped his broomstick harder until the last possible minute. Throwing his right shoulder hard to the left, he began spiraling through the air just three feet off the ground. The world spun dangerously as he wound in a tight corkscrew, finally evening and locking on the snitch yet again.
Blurry and out of focus, Potter raced toward him. If neither of them conceded they would slam into each other; but Draco could almost feel the flap of his prey's wings and he fought for centimeters. Time slowed as they barreled towards each other and then, by some miracle, he gained another inch.
His fingers closed around the cold surface and it's wings stilling and retreating. He grinned just as Potter veered, missing him by a breath.
Pulling up, he was lost in the cacophony of sound coming from the stands. His team swarmed him, shouting their applause as their victory was announced to the stands. Draco nodded along but quickly broke away, making a long curl towards the Gryffindors and setting eyes on the Dragon Queen herself. Slowly clapping and beaming back at him; he got close enough to toss the snitch at her, which she barely caught on her mittened hands.
"Hold onto that for me?" He shouted, ignoring the sneers from her housemates.
He was answered by a playful roll of her eyes as she pocketed the snitch.
xXx
Fresh from the showers, Draco stepped from the locker room, ignoring the way his hair almost froze in the brittle air and cursing himself for not drying it properly.
At the end of the tunnel stood a witch in a red coat, wild curls spilling over her shoulders and a wry, almost nervous, smile on her face.
"Look who it is." Draco grinned stopping when he close enough that she had to tilt her face up to look at him.
"I brought your snitch," she said, arching her brow and lifting it from her pocket. "And your scarf."
As she held the laundered items out to him, something warm enveloped him. A warming charm, her magic. He lost all reasonable thought, forgetting that he was supposed to be seducing her for nefarious purposes and lost himself in the fact that he just genuinely liked Hermione Granger, hard edges and all.
His hand threaded through the curls not tucked away in her hat, curling until he could tilt her just a touch closer. Hovering his lips over hers, he waited; panic swelled in his chest when her eyes rounded in worry. But then, he was gone. Lost, as she lifted onto her toes and pressed her mouth against his.
If he were being honest, he wasn't used to kisses like this. Soft and tentative, without expectation of things to come after. But, Merlin, he liked it. At least, he liked it with Granger.
Slanting his lips over hers he took a single step, turning her so her back was pressed against the cold stone and dropped his bag at their feet. Both hands now cradled her jaw, his thumbs running course after course over the swell of her cheek.
Still holding the borrowed items, her hands came to rest on his hips as she arched into the kiss and fuck, Draco was done for. Positively gone.
"Ehem! Mister Malfoy!" Pulling away, he rested his forehead for the briefest moment against hers before turning to the soon to be hexed bint who interrupted the world's most perfect kiss. "Miss Granger!" Madame Hooch's tone turned incredulous as Granger chuckled into his chest.
"Sorry, Madame Hooch. We were just going." A laugh chased each word, as she buried her fingers in Draco's robes and tugged him forward.
Stumbling behind her, he sucked in a breath as the cold air hit his cheeks yet again. She was laughing, all pink-cheeked and bundled in red and he couldn't for the life of him remember a time when he wasn't crazy about her.
Reaching down, he pulled the scarf from her hands and wrapped it securely around her neck. "Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"
She bit down on her lip, hiding her grin as she nodded. "I suppose I would."
Slotting his fingers through hers, he tugged her back towards the castle. This year had taken the wildest turn and while he could never have foreseen it, he welcomed it. Things seemed to finally be going his way.
"Ginny will be ecstatic," she laughed, shaking her head.
The words sent a trill of guilt through him and inexplicably his throat felt tight. "Yeah? Why's that?"
"Oh, her dad is so strict. Wouldn't let her go unless I go too; it's silly really. But she was hoping I might change my mind and attend, and now I have."
Draco's mouth ran dry as his lips quirked in a weak smirk.
xXx
A/N: Thanks for all your wonderful feedback so far and for reading this little story of mine! I'm having way too much fun with it all lol
Alpha eyes and Beta heart to the one and only MCal. Thank you, my love!