Chapter 9 - Time Flies.
Have you ever notice that? Say you waiting for a big exam, or you have to hand in an important parchment of homework in a few days. Before you know it the free days you have left has zipped past like a shooting star and the day you dread the most comes charging towards you like an out of control bull.
Well.
That's how it felt for Draco. Whilst most students couldn't wait for half term to start, Draco was terrified about this week coming up, it worse than waiting for Dragon Studies. And if Hermione was dreading it, then she was hiding it well. She seemed as cool as a cucumber.
"How can I worry about anything other than the exams after the half term?" She would say lightly, burying her nose into a book.
As the week flew by still no solution to removing the string came to hand. Draco remembered the story of the Chinese Witch. How the string fell of when she was nice. Maybe he had to be nicer to Hermione! It had to be worth a try. He offered her the comfiest seats in the common room, he always offered her the yummiest cake from the Slytherin's magical cake tray. He even offered her his robes when she was cold. But still the string remained. Hermione kept giving him funny looks every time he was overly nice, and if a Slytherin caught him showing affection to Hermione they would shout out 'Hey! Malfoy has a girlfriend!'. After this happened Draco stopped being so nice to Hermione and fell into a despairing mood. Why wouldn't the string fall off?
**
Time was up. It was the last morning of term. Draco lay in the gloom of early dawn, wide awake, with a thousand butterflies swarming in his stomach. Beside him Hermione slumbered softly. Draco listened to her breathing, and watched as she moved so slightly with each breath. In the soft dim light she looked so pale and flawless. Sleeping like she hadn't a care in the world. And for some reason Draco didn't resent her for it. He never slept as well as this, he always was plagued by nightmares. He reached out his hand and stroked her check, very lightly. She murmured in her sleep and her eyes flickered open. Draco quickly moved his hand and lay back to look up and the ceiling.
"Good Morning." Hermione yawned lazily, she rubbed her eye with her free hand and sat up in bed. Draco sat up too.
"Morning." He said dully. He clambered out of bed, and following the usual routine (which generally involved a lot of embarrassment, lots of peeking and a few angry cries of 'don't look!') they both got showered and dressed. Both of them packed their trunks in silence, too lost in their own thought for idle chit chat. Then they went down stairs for breakfast.
"Ohhh Draco deary!" Pansy seemed to be waiting for then at the breakfast table. Hermione growled to herself as they took seats opposite her. "Draco darling! What have you got planed for half term? Are you going to be practising Quidditch at all?"
"Um. No." He said sadly. He missed Quidditch so much, and hadn't been able to play since the magical accident. He hadn't even been able to fly his broom. Pansy knew this, she also knew Draco loved to fly.
"It's such a shame Draco my darling. This mudblood is hindering your athletic commitments, how awful not to be able to do the thing you love most of all." She smiled, knowing that this might drive a wedge between Draco and Hermione. She loved to stir trouble, and adding resentment to the brew helped even more. Pansy has always loved Draco, and to see him with the Mudblood all the time drove her wild with rage. She smiled as she saw his face fall at the mention of flying and Quidditch. Hermione saw it too and scowled at Pansy.
"Yeah. Quidditch season is next Term." Draco said gloomily, he absently stabbed at a loaf of bread with a knife."
Pansy eyed the knife and grinned at Draco. "Darling, have you tried the knife?" She asked.
"It's no use." Hermione said flatly. "It's a magical string, you cant cut it with a knife.
"Not the string!" Pansy spat at Hermione. She turned to Draco and said in a sly voice "The mudblood! Why haven't you severed her hand off yet?"
Hermione's eyes widened in horror. What was she saying? That Draco should cut her hand off? She looked quickly over to Draco. He was looking at his knife, a frown of deliberation on his face. He wasn't considering it was he? No way! Suddenly Draco stood up quickly and as fast as a flash he swung his arm down and buried the knife deep into the table in front of Pansy. She shrieked and the entire student body in the breakfast hall fell silent and turned about in their seats.
"You're sick." He whispered to her, and he and Hermione left the table. Pansy stared at the knife dumbly.
**
"Draco! Wait up!" Hermione jogged behind him, he walked so fast and she only had short legs. It was difficult to keep up. "Draco! Do you want to do something fun before Hogwarts closes for the week?"
"What?" Draco stopped and glared at her over his shoulder. Hermione grabbed his hand and they ran through the main hall and towards the vast doors. Pushing the door open together they squeezed out into the yard. "Where are we going?" Draco asked. Hermione only smiled and they ran on, through a stone archway and towards a battered looking storage shed. Without magic is was going to be difficult to open the lock, but Draco grinned and grabbed a stout looking stick.
"What's that for?" Hermione asked.
"Whomping Willow branch, as tough as steel." Draco jammed it behind the padlock and with all his might he jimmied the lock off and the door swung open. Hermione was very pleased (if not a little surprised Draco knew how to do such un-magical tricks) and she nipped inside the darkness, emerging with a broom clutched in her hand.
"Here," she passed it to Draco "let's go for a ride!"
Draco looked from the broom to Hermione, them he smiled for the first time all that week. He straddled the broom and patted the seat behind him, grinning at Hermione. She gulped a little (she thought it best no to tell Draco she couldn't stand heights or flying) and sat on the broom, her legs either side of Draco and her arms wrapped around his middle.
"Ready?" Draco called.
"...I think so." Hermione wavered. She yelped with surprise as suddenly Draco kicked off the broom and they shot into the air like a bullet. Draco yelled with joy as they sped upwards, but his voice was lost, snatched away on the wind. Hermione was glad the wind took their breath away, Draco couldn't hear her screaming in fright. Suddenly the broom stopped, and hovered in midair. Draco turned about and looked to Hermione, his eyes shining. Hermione looked a little paler than usual and her hair a little messier. She forced a confident smile and nodded at Draco to carry on. He smiled and kicked the broom on. He felt free up here! Slicing through the sky, nobody could catch him or hurt him up here! As he looped the loop he felt Hermione squeeze him so tightly it almost hurt. He had an idea she was afraid, but she was perfectly safe with him. Onwards they flew, two distant figures dancing with the heavens.
Down on the ground Pansy glowered at them. How dare Hermione hold Draco like that, how dare she make him so happy! Pansy was the one who should be on that broom! Not that Granger girl! She whipped her wand from her robes and muttered a curse. It fizzled silently and moved unseen towards the two.
"What's the matter?" Hermione called into Draco's ear. Draco shrugged, there seemed to be a problem with the broom. He decided it would be wise to lower their altitude and take the broom lower. As he glided down suddenly the broom just vanished, gone, disappeared right from under his grip. A look of utter confusion crossed his face as he and Hermione tumbled downwards. Hermione screamed, air forced its way into her mouth and stifled her yells, the wind whipped at them as they fell faster and faster. Draco panicked, not knowing what to do! He gabbed onto Hermione, covered her as much as possible with his body and rolled beneath her just as they collided with the lake.
Bang!
All went black.
Then coldness rushed over them and they where swallowed in the depths! Down and down they went. Struggling and kicking they fought towards the surface again. Draco grabbed her hand and he battled upwards. Water forced its way inside Hermione and it felt like she had inhaled pure ice. It burned with a dull coldness. She was aware of on overhead shadow, and looking up she was met with a pool of liquid mercury, her pale expression reflected in its surface. Draco looked down, and saw Hermione was stuck beneath an overhand of rock. He pulled himself towards her and wrenched her free. Slowly they drifted upwards, and finally broke the surface. Pansy had been watching from shore and when she saw Draco was alright she fled, terrified he would find her at the scene.
Draco dragged Hermione over the shore and onto grass. She looked dead! His heart lurched into his throat and he listened at her breast. He could feel no breathing, yet thank the Lord there was a heart beat. This was his fault! He was moody about not being able to fly. Leaning down he tilted her chin upwards and sealed his lips about her mouth and pinched her nose. He filled her with two slow breaths, and Hermione felt herself swim free from the darkness and her whole body seized up as she sat up rigid, bend double and coughed dirty water onto the ground. She looked about, and up at Draco. He stared at her in disbelief.
"D, Draco?" She said.
"Are you alright?"
"No. Well. Yes I guess." She sobbed. Draco sat next to her and they looked into the lake, both feeling lucky to be alive.
Their troubled thoughts (and even more confused thoughts about what happened to the broom) where disturbed by a bell tolling from the castle. It was now half term and time to leave. Draco looked to the string and wondered if he really was lucky to be alive.
**~** Ohhh, getting tense. Its time to go home for half term!! I'm soo sorry I took so long updating! I have been busy, but now I'm not, so Ill be updating regularly again ^_^ Chapter 10 will be with you wonderful people soon as possible :D Many thanks for the reviews, it makes me so happy to read them, and I'm so pleased for each and every comment! BTW, I just got a Chinese Dragon Tattoo on my hip, people keep asking if its Draco related, but it isn't I swear ^_^ Honest!**~**
Have you ever notice that? Say you waiting for a big exam, or you have to hand in an important parchment of homework in a few days. Before you know it the free days you have left has zipped past like a shooting star and the day you dread the most comes charging towards you like an out of control bull.
Well.
That's how it felt for Draco. Whilst most students couldn't wait for half term to start, Draco was terrified about this week coming up, it worse than waiting for Dragon Studies. And if Hermione was dreading it, then she was hiding it well. She seemed as cool as a cucumber.
"How can I worry about anything other than the exams after the half term?" She would say lightly, burying her nose into a book.
As the week flew by still no solution to removing the string came to hand. Draco remembered the story of the Chinese Witch. How the string fell of when she was nice. Maybe he had to be nicer to Hermione! It had to be worth a try. He offered her the comfiest seats in the common room, he always offered her the yummiest cake from the Slytherin's magical cake tray. He even offered her his robes when she was cold. But still the string remained. Hermione kept giving him funny looks every time he was overly nice, and if a Slytherin caught him showing affection to Hermione they would shout out 'Hey! Malfoy has a girlfriend!'. After this happened Draco stopped being so nice to Hermione and fell into a despairing mood. Why wouldn't the string fall off?
**
Time was up. It was the last morning of term. Draco lay in the gloom of early dawn, wide awake, with a thousand butterflies swarming in his stomach. Beside him Hermione slumbered softly. Draco listened to her breathing, and watched as she moved so slightly with each breath. In the soft dim light she looked so pale and flawless. Sleeping like she hadn't a care in the world. And for some reason Draco didn't resent her for it. He never slept as well as this, he always was plagued by nightmares. He reached out his hand and stroked her check, very lightly. She murmured in her sleep and her eyes flickered open. Draco quickly moved his hand and lay back to look up and the ceiling.
"Good Morning." Hermione yawned lazily, she rubbed her eye with her free hand and sat up in bed. Draco sat up too.
"Morning." He said dully. He clambered out of bed, and following the usual routine (which generally involved a lot of embarrassment, lots of peeking and a few angry cries of 'don't look!') they both got showered and dressed. Both of them packed their trunks in silence, too lost in their own thought for idle chit chat. Then they went down stairs for breakfast.
"Ohhh Draco deary!" Pansy seemed to be waiting for then at the breakfast table. Hermione growled to herself as they took seats opposite her. "Draco darling! What have you got planed for half term? Are you going to be practising Quidditch at all?"
"Um. No." He said sadly. He missed Quidditch so much, and hadn't been able to play since the magical accident. He hadn't even been able to fly his broom. Pansy knew this, she also knew Draco loved to fly.
"It's such a shame Draco my darling. This mudblood is hindering your athletic commitments, how awful not to be able to do the thing you love most of all." She smiled, knowing that this might drive a wedge between Draco and Hermione. She loved to stir trouble, and adding resentment to the brew helped even more. Pansy has always loved Draco, and to see him with the Mudblood all the time drove her wild with rage. She smiled as she saw his face fall at the mention of flying and Quidditch. Hermione saw it too and scowled at Pansy.
"Yeah. Quidditch season is next Term." Draco said gloomily, he absently stabbed at a loaf of bread with a knife."
Pansy eyed the knife and grinned at Draco. "Darling, have you tried the knife?" She asked.
"It's no use." Hermione said flatly. "It's a magical string, you cant cut it with a knife.
"Not the string!" Pansy spat at Hermione. She turned to Draco and said in a sly voice "The mudblood! Why haven't you severed her hand off yet?"
Hermione's eyes widened in horror. What was she saying? That Draco should cut her hand off? She looked quickly over to Draco. He was looking at his knife, a frown of deliberation on his face. He wasn't considering it was he? No way! Suddenly Draco stood up quickly and as fast as a flash he swung his arm down and buried the knife deep into the table in front of Pansy. She shrieked and the entire student body in the breakfast hall fell silent and turned about in their seats.
"You're sick." He whispered to her, and he and Hermione left the table. Pansy stared at the knife dumbly.
**
"Draco! Wait up!" Hermione jogged behind him, he walked so fast and she only had short legs. It was difficult to keep up. "Draco! Do you want to do something fun before Hogwarts closes for the week?"
"What?" Draco stopped and glared at her over his shoulder. Hermione grabbed his hand and they ran through the main hall and towards the vast doors. Pushing the door open together they squeezed out into the yard. "Where are we going?" Draco asked. Hermione only smiled and they ran on, through a stone archway and towards a battered looking storage shed. Without magic is was going to be difficult to open the lock, but Draco grinned and grabbed a stout looking stick.
"What's that for?" Hermione asked.
"Whomping Willow branch, as tough as steel." Draco jammed it behind the padlock and with all his might he jimmied the lock off and the door swung open. Hermione was very pleased (if not a little surprised Draco knew how to do such un-magical tricks) and she nipped inside the darkness, emerging with a broom clutched in her hand.
"Here," she passed it to Draco "let's go for a ride!"
Draco looked from the broom to Hermione, them he smiled for the first time all that week. He straddled the broom and patted the seat behind him, grinning at Hermione. She gulped a little (she thought it best no to tell Draco she couldn't stand heights or flying) and sat on the broom, her legs either side of Draco and her arms wrapped around his middle.
"Ready?" Draco called.
"...I think so." Hermione wavered. She yelped with surprise as suddenly Draco kicked off the broom and they shot into the air like a bullet. Draco yelled with joy as they sped upwards, but his voice was lost, snatched away on the wind. Hermione was glad the wind took their breath away, Draco couldn't hear her screaming in fright. Suddenly the broom stopped, and hovered in midair. Draco turned about and looked to Hermione, his eyes shining. Hermione looked a little paler than usual and her hair a little messier. She forced a confident smile and nodded at Draco to carry on. He smiled and kicked the broom on. He felt free up here! Slicing through the sky, nobody could catch him or hurt him up here! As he looped the loop he felt Hermione squeeze him so tightly it almost hurt. He had an idea she was afraid, but she was perfectly safe with him. Onwards they flew, two distant figures dancing with the heavens.
Down on the ground Pansy glowered at them. How dare Hermione hold Draco like that, how dare she make him so happy! Pansy was the one who should be on that broom! Not that Granger girl! She whipped her wand from her robes and muttered a curse. It fizzled silently and moved unseen towards the two.
"What's the matter?" Hermione called into Draco's ear. Draco shrugged, there seemed to be a problem with the broom. He decided it would be wise to lower their altitude and take the broom lower. As he glided down suddenly the broom just vanished, gone, disappeared right from under his grip. A look of utter confusion crossed his face as he and Hermione tumbled downwards. Hermione screamed, air forced its way into her mouth and stifled her yells, the wind whipped at them as they fell faster and faster. Draco panicked, not knowing what to do! He gabbed onto Hermione, covered her as much as possible with his body and rolled beneath her just as they collided with the lake.
Bang!
All went black.
Then coldness rushed over them and they where swallowed in the depths! Down and down they went. Struggling and kicking they fought towards the surface again. Draco grabbed her hand and he battled upwards. Water forced its way inside Hermione and it felt like she had inhaled pure ice. It burned with a dull coldness. She was aware of on overhead shadow, and looking up she was met with a pool of liquid mercury, her pale expression reflected in its surface. Draco looked down, and saw Hermione was stuck beneath an overhand of rock. He pulled himself towards her and wrenched her free. Slowly they drifted upwards, and finally broke the surface. Pansy had been watching from shore and when she saw Draco was alright she fled, terrified he would find her at the scene.
Draco dragged Hermione over the shore and onto grass. She looked dead! His heart lurched into his throat and he listened at her breast. He could feel no breathing, yet thank the Lord there was a heart beat. This was his fault! He was moody about not being able to fly. Leaning down he tilted her chin upwards and sealed his lips about her mouth and pinched her nose. He filled her with two slow breaths, and Hermione felt herself swim free from the darkness and her whole body seized up as she sat up rigid, bend double and coughed dirty water onto the ground. She looked about, and up at Draco. He stared at her in disbelief.
"D, Draco?" She said.
"Are you alright?"
"No. Well. Yes I guess." She sobbed. Draco sat next to her and they looked into the lake, both feeling lucky to be alive.
Their troubled thoughts (and even more confused thoughts about what happened to the broom) where disturbed by a bell tolling from the castle. It was now half term and time to leave. Draco looked to the string and wondered if he really was lucky to be alive.
**~** Ohhh, getting tense. Its time to go home for half term!! I'm soo sorry I took so long updating! I have been busy, but now I'm not, so Ill be updating regularly again ^_^ Chapter 10 will be with you wonderful people soon as possible :D Many thanks for the reviews, it makes me so happy to read them, and I'm so pleased for each and every comment! BTW, I just got a Chinese Dragon Tattoo on my hip, people keep asking if its Draco related, but it isn't I swear ^_^ Honest!**~**