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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ THE KEEPER OF MY HEART~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

by sexyme

CHAPTER 2

***

Draco immediately sensed the change in her. She suddenly went cold, rigid and unresponsive. He felt like a pale of icy cold water was dumped at him. It doused the desire inside him. He sat up but remained close to her. Hermione quickly moved away, she backed at the farthest corner away from him. She didn't trust him or even herself anymore. Not after she responded to his kisses, it terrified her. She felt naked, helpless and weak. Her breathing was fast and shallow, she was hyperventilating. She also felt an excruciating pain pounding inside her head, she shivered, feeling extremely cold. She trembled in fear, when Draco reached out to her moments later.

He could feel her shaking like a leaf, trembling from his touch. He grasp her arms firmly, allowing no escape. He looked at her brown eyes, now filled with naked fear. He wanted to erase that fear, he gritted his teeth. 'Why am I thinking this way?' he thought, cursing himself. 'She's just a mudblood to play with.' He tried to convince himself as he reach out his right hand to cup her face. But she quickly averted her face, so he kissed her cheek instead. He tasted the salty tears that were now streaming down her face. He used his finger tips to wipe away the tears, but the tears kept flowing, and she gave a horrendous heart-breaking sob. He automatically wound his arms around her, enveloping her in an embrace. She cried as she pounded her fist weakly against his chest. "Please, just let me go." she begged in a small voice, that was so unlike Hermione Granger.

The sobs went on for a long time . It was after a few moments before Draco realized she had already fallen asleep with her hands curled into tight fists. His shirt was wet with her tears. He placed her back to the bed. He was about to turn away, but he couldn't resist touching her cheek. To his surprise, her skin felt hot. He placed his hand on her forehead. 'She's running a fever.' he cursed loudly. 'No wonder she had acted so weak and so unlike her.'

Without even thinking, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her upstairs into his room. He lay her gently on his bed. Touching the wet garment she was wearing, he realized that he had to get her out of that wet clothing. He sighed then removed her dress. He took a sharp indrawn breath, upon seeing the perfection of her body. He gaze at the creamy smooth complexion of her skin, down to the long length of her legs. 'Damn!' he cursed silently. He looked away and removed the rest of her wet undergarments, then covered her with the blanket.

He went out of the room and returned a few minutes later with a damp towel and small basin with lukewarm water. He sponged her face gently with the towel. Then he did the same to her body. His eyes were averted, not wanting to look at her. He wasn't one to take advantage of a sick girl. He sighed deeply, 'This is going to be a long night." he said with irritation.

After that, he dressed her with his black robe then covered her with the blanket. He removed his wet shirt and took a shower. After twenty minutes, he was back in the living room, seating on the couch and staring again at the flickering flames, a glass of brandy in one hand, Draco was again deep in thought.

'Why the hell did this all happened to me? Damn you, Hermione Granger, for making me feel like this.' his train of thought was filled with anger and cursing her. After a few seconds, he made up his mind. 'Tomorrow, I'm going to put the memory charm on her and bring her back to wherever she came from.' he finally decided grimly. Satisfied with his decision, he went back to his room. Seeing her looking so vulnerable in her sleep, he touched her cheek gently. Then like he was burned, he quickly remove his hand away. He turn off the night lamp and went to sleep next to her.

***

"Hermione, you looked absolutely stunning!" exclaimed a shrill voice from behind.

Hermione, who was dressed in a shimmery green sexy pull over style tube gown with a form fitting bodice, turned around to see a blond girl walking towards her. She was wearing a red three piece gown, adorned with flame flower rhinestones with a sequined mask covering half of her face. Judging by girl's voice, Hermione immediately guessed who it was. "Brown, Lavender." she smiled to the girl. She and the rest of them were all invited at this once a year special masquerade ball held by the richest wizard in the Magical Community. It was nice to see some familiar faces among the huge crowd.

Lavender quickly hugged her. "Oh, it's so nice to see you again!" She turned to peer next to Hermione, "Who's your date?" she asked curiously.

Hermione shook her head, "I went stag." she said smiling ruefully, "I even forgot that this was a masked ball." She was amused that Lavender acts so much friendlier today than when they were both studying at Hogwarts. She remembered that Lavender used to be practically inseparable with Parvati Patil.

"Oh, but you looked great." Lavender cooed, "Besides, I hate this stupid mask anyway. I couldn't see a bloody thing!" she said, as she jerked the mask off her face. Lavender's pretty face shone with happiness. Hermione could see that she was obviously in love.

"Lavender!" shrieked several girls from a distance. Hermione and Lavender were quickly surrounded by a group of tall European ladies. One of them hugged Lavender excitedly, "Lavender! Ve missed you" to which she responded eagerly, "I missed you all too. Why are you here?" she asked. Hermione looked on with interest.

The blond who hugged Lavender answered, "Ve are invited for a tour here for a month."

Lavender turned to Hermione and introduced her to them. "Hermione, they are my friends in Europe when I stayed there for a year." she explained. She pointed to the blond, "This is Cat," then pointing to the next girl in line, "Taeria, Eyela, Melinda, Pippy, Eterna, Amber, Lishel, Amalia, Allyana and Widgen." They all nodded to Hermione and exchange a friendly greeting.

"I love your dress. It's very beautiful." said the brunette named Eyela to Hermione, who thanked her. Then all of them turned to ask Lavender, "Ver is your fiancee?"

She pointed towards the bar, where a young man wearing a turban stood. "That's my fiancee, Malcolm Baddock." her face was filled with pride. They oohed and ahhed upon seeing Baddock.

Hermione thought the name sounded familiar. She was about to say that when a burly man tapped her shoulder, brusquely. She and Lavender turned to look at the man. Since the man was wearing a mask as well, she couldn't see or recognize him. The man bowed to her, then said in a thick accented voice, "ve would like to dance ve you." She cringed, 'Uh-oh. This the reason why I hated going to masquerade balls.'

She was about to refuse him, when a voice came from behind them, "The lady is with me." Upon hearing this, the burly man glared with the intruder but upon seeing the steely glint in the other man's eyes, he quickly bowed to Hermione and excused himself.

Lavender and the rest of the girls looked at the man with curiosity. The man was tall, his body well-toned, blond hair and with an extremely sexy voice. Lavender wanted to ask why Hermione had told her that she had no date. 'Obviously, she's insecure that others would want to grab her date's attention.' she thought snidely. 'Oh, well, couldn't blame her. If my date looked that sexy, I'll probably be as well.' Then she saw her fiance waving at her, she turned to Hermione and said, "I have to go. Talk to you later." then she motioned at the European girls to follow her.

Hermione didn't even noticed Lavender and the rest had left. She was too caught up with the man in front of her. When she realized that she was rudely staring at his face for several seconds, she blushed. Feeling slightly nervous, she bit her lip, "uhm, thank you." she said in a voice that was almost a whisper. She was about to turn away, when he spoke, his voice sending chills to her spine, "May I have the pleasure of this dance?"

"Okay." she agreed softly. He gave his arm and she took it, feeling the masculine hardness of his arms. Once at the center of the dance floor, his right hand encircled her waist as she placed her left hand on his shoulder. They danced, along with the rythmn of the music. As he whirled around, she felt mesmerized by his eyes, it was icy gray and she felt drowning into it. She couldn't scrutinize his features since he was wearing a black mask. All she could see was his eyes and his mouth which was pressed into a thin line. She could feel the undercurrents coursing through him. 'He seemed very tense, I wonder why?' she thought, and as she looked closely at his clenched jaw, it was obvious that he was very angry at someone or something. 'Strange, why would he be angry? He's certainly not angry at me. Could he?' she wondered, feeling confused.

She didn't know why but she felt safe at that moment. As the music continued, she placed both hands on his neck and lay her head on his shoulder. She instantly felt him stiffened, but she didn't remove her head from where it was nestled comfortably on his shoulder. 'Who is this guy? Why does this feel so familiar? Why do I feel that I've been held like this before?' These thoughts swirled inside her head, but she pushed them at the back of her mind. All that matters was she was in his arms.

It had been six months, since he last saw her. He did place the memory charm on her. And the Weasley girl got married to Potter without a hitch. He went back to his life and forgot about the cursed mudblood. But tonight, he didn't expect to see her among the crowd. He was standing in a corner, leaning against the wall, bored out of his mind, when he suddenly saw her. She took his breath away. She was wearing a dress that fits her perfectly and she wasn't wearing a mask. He didn't have the slightest intention of coming near her, let alone dance with her, but when he saw someone about to ask her to dance, it immediately galvanized him into action. He gave the man the deadliest glare he could possibly give. It was all he could do from ripping into that man's throat. He was so shaken by what he felt that he didn't trust himself to speak to her. When she stared at him with those beautiful brown eyes, he had the strongest urge to scoop her in his arms and never let go of her. It was his iron will which held him back. And when she thanked him and turned to leave, he was relieved but to his horror, he heard himself asking her to dance.

It was the stupidest thing he did in his life. Once she was in his arms, it was both a delightful and agonizing sensation. He wanted so much to kiss her but he had promised himself not to touch her ever again. He held himself rigid, thinking 'this is only a stupid dance.' But when she nestled her head on his shoulders, it was pure hell. He wanted to push her away, with her being so near, his good sense gets clouded with the heady arousing scent of her hair, smelling of wildflowers and strawberry. 'Damn. This is a bloody stupid mistake.'

At that exact moment, the music ended. As she realized that the music had stopped and she was still clinging to her, she immediately took her arms away from his neck. Blushing, she looked at him. He merely nodded and walked away. Each step he took farther away from her, she felt pain. She doesn't understand why, but it pained her. 'Why do I feel so hurt? When I just danced with the guy for five minutes?' she wondered in confusion.

She turned away as her eyes dulled with pain. She couldn't for the life of her could understand why she suddenly felt a huge lump in her throat. To her horror, her eyes suddenly filled with tears and threatened to spill out. She quickly ran all the way to the hall and got her cloak and left the ball room. 'Oh, God. Why am I acting so pathetic? I must be going mental.' she thought with self-disgust. She flagged the Knight Bus with a shaking hand. Thankfully, the bus appeared in a flash.

Inside the bus, she had just flopped into one of the bed, when the tears finally spilled across her face unchecked. 'Why the hell do I feel so hurt?' she whispered sadly, as she covered her face with a pillow. A sob rose from her thoat, as a wave of fresh new tears flowed in her cheeks. 'I'm not really the emotional type. I mean, I just met the guy. It wasn't as if he had proposed or something. So, why do I feel like I lost my best friend?' she asked herself, as she gazed at the window.

Thankfully, she had stopped crying by the time the Knight Bus arrived at the doorstep of her flat. She wasn't aware of the shadow behind her, lost in her gloomy thoughts. It was only when she heard someone breathing at her neck that she turned around. She gasp, "It's you!" but before she could scream or do anything her mouth was clamped to stifle the screams and then everything went black. Her last thoughts were, 'Oh, God. No.'

**************

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Draco-Hermione Forever!!

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.