DISCLAIMER:
I do not own the characters, unfortunately, that privelage belongs to J.K.
Rowling and Warner Bros. I do however own the story line and any ideas
going with it. Please don't sue because I am only a poor girl whose
imagination cannot come up with any original ideas for a world she could
write in.
Love and Other Passions - Chapter Two - And God Said, Let There Be Sparkage!
Christmas came quickly that year, the snow and cold making the process faster than usual. Hermione was feeling a little better now, seeing as though she hadn't had anymore strange run-ins with Draco. She felt like she was almost getting a hold of herself for the first time in six months.
Hermione woke up to the sounds of knocking at her door. So, she hopped out of bed and threw on her dressing gown taking the cold door handle with her right hand and slowly opening it.
"Merry Christmas!" cried Harry and Ginny.
It had become custom for them to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas, finding that they had more fun there, than being at home with their families. Hermione had been half expecting to see Ron standing in the background, smiling awkwardly and shuffling her feet, then she remembered.
"Merry Christmas yourself. Isn't it a bit early to be getting up?" Hermione smiled softly, leaning on the doorframe.
"No, the first and second years were up about two hours ago, the third, fourth, fifth and sixth years got up around an hour ago, and you are the only person, who until now has been asleep." Ginny smiled, wrapping her arm around Harry's waist and leaning her head on his shoulder.
Hermione smiled as the thoughts raced through her head. Harry and Ginny had been a couple for almost four years now, when Ginny finally gave into temptation and asked him out.
"Give me a minute to get dressed and I'll be down." Hermione sighed, closing the door and turning back to her room.
~~~~
Stumbling down the stairs, Hermione pulled the cloak around her shoulders and looked around. Harry and Ginny were sitting by the tree, about to pull a bonbon. Seamus and Neville sat at one of the tables playing a game of Wizard's Chess and a group of fourth years were sitting around the fire chatting away. Hermione walked up to the tree, picking up her presents and sitting on the rug by Harry and Ginny to open them.
"Open mine first." Ginny smiled, pointing out a book-sized parcel, "No, it's not a book. I think you have enough of them already."
Hermione smiled weakly to Ginny and picked up the present, carefully unwrapping it and pushed the paper back to reveal a muggle hair- straightening kit. She had once told Ginny that she would have liked to have straight hair, but never in a million years did Hermione think that Ginny would have remembered that conversation.
"Thankyou Ginny. We'll have to try this out today, before classes start again." Hermione grinned, hugging her tightly.
Harry had given her a book, no surprise, but it was a book on all the wizarding schools in the world, which surprised Hermione, because she didn't know that the book existed. Seamus and Neville had gone halves in a book of potions, and her parents had sent her a new eagle quill set and fancy parchment. 'So you can write us more letters.' Hermione's mother had said in her short letter. Mrs Weasley had sent her the usual Weasley jumper, with the large H on the front. There was one parcel left, no tag, no card, no name.
Hermione slowly opened the fist-sized packet and pulled away the paper. It was a muggle jewellry box, silver, with a twisting pattern engraved. Atop the lid, was engraved in delicate writing, 'Hermione'.
"Open it. Is there anything inside?" Ginny asked excitedly.
Hermione bit down on her lip, she didn't like surprises. The hinges creaked slightly as Hermione pushed back the lid and neatly displayed inside were a small note, a ring of white gold with a single emerald, and a pair of matching earrings. She pulled the note out, hoping it would give some idea as to who it was from.
Hermione,
I hope you like this. It took me a long time to chose, but I think I got the right ones. I do not want to keep myself secret, but as you will probably open it before the other Gryffindors, I will wait until later.
YSA.
"What is 'YSA'" Ginny asked.
"Your secret admirer. It's a muggle term used for someone who likes another but doesn't want to be known just yet." Harry replied.
"Ooo, Hermione has a secret admirer." Seamus laughed, "Who do you think it is?"
"Knowing my luck of late, Malfoy." Hermione smiled, joking.
"Or Snape, god knows he would be a hilarious secret admirer." Neville smiled as they joined the conversation.
"Don't jinx me." Hermione said, not really feeling what she said, "It could be a Slytherin due to the colours, but then, that might just be a coincident."
Packing up their presents and taking them back to their rooms, they met again in the bottom of the tower and headed down to the Hall for breakfast. It didn't matter to them that it was eleven by that time, they just wanted to eat.
Hermione had slipped the ring onto her finger before leaving her room, finding that it fit well on her right-index finger.
~~~~
The Hall was still busy, strangely enough, because most of the third year students hadn't gone out to play in the snow like the others. Hermione, Ginny, Harry, Neville and Seamus all sat together at the Gryffindor table, slowly eating the breakfast before them. As they were finishing, Draco and a group of younger Slytherin girls entered. The pain on his face obvious, all could see that Draco just wanted to be left alone. He walked straight up to Hermione, smiling forcably.
"Merry Christmas. By the way, nice ring." Draco said.
"Merry Christmas Malfoy. Nice fanclub." Hermione replied.
Draco flicked one of their wandering hands away from his shoulder before turning to Harry, who hadn't bothered to look up at the Slytherin, "I'll see you on the pitch this afternoon."
Harry grunted rudely and still didn't look up. Draco shook his head and strode away, the girls following him quickly.
"He noticed the ring Hermione." whispered Ginny, "I think it was from Draco. Mind you, if he wasn't a Malfoy, or a Slytherin, that wouldn't be such a bad thing."
Hermione looked Ginny straight in the eyes, finally catching her drift. She laughed, "No, I suppose not. He'd still be Draco fucking Malfoy though."
~~~~
After brunch, they all went outside to make snowmen before the Quidditch game. Almost all of the teams members had stayed at Hogwarts over the holiday, so Dumbledore and McGonagall had agreed that they would have a game to entertain them. Draco and Harry were both Captain and Seeker of their respective Houses, and still, Gryffindor wiped the pitch with the Slytherins.
Hermione was putting the final touches on her muggle snow-woman and her pet cat. Incidentally, the woman looked alot like her and the cat, Crookshanks, who was running around the grounds, chasing some birds who flew around the rafters of the outside corridors.
"Muggle-cloning ourselves are we?" Draco mused, happier now that he had lost his fanclub of girls.
"Only so there are two of me to kick your ass today, not that I need the help." Harry sneered.
"Well then." Draco smiled slyly, taking out his wand, which made them all respond threatened.
With a few simple words, the snow by Hermione's creation molded itself into an almost exact replica of Draco, right down to the last strand of hair and the scar beneath his left eye. He had been given that scar by his father, during the discussion that got him killed. The Draco Snowman smiled slyly, like the real thing, leaning on a walking stick.
Hermione looked at Draco, the frustration building quickly, "Draco, let's walk a moment. There are some things I wish to know."
Harry stared at Hermione with a blank expression. What was going through his mind at the time, only he knew, and Hermione didn't think that she really wanted to know.
"Of course." Draco nodded, offering her his arm.
Hermione took Draco's arm and they walked a little way away before she motioned him to sit on one of the stone seats in the courtyard. She however did not sit, not caring to take long with this conversation.
"From what you have told me Draco, you know where my room is, right?" Hermione asked.
Draco only nodded, his sly expression becoming confusion.
"Tonight, after everyone has gone to bed. Meet me there. I want to know everything, everything you have ever wished to tell me, but never could." Hermione said firmly, turning to walk away.
Draco caught her gloved hand in his, pulling her back and standing up, so when she caught her balance, their noses were tip to tip. He leaned to whisper in her ear, his breath warm down her neck as he spoke, "Are you sure you want to know everything? I don't think you are ready for the extent of what I know, like, that present you recieved this morning. It may not be from me, but I know who it is from and yes, it is one of the Slytherins... technically. Although, he is alot more soft-hearted than you think, and would understand if there was another who your heart belonged to."
Hermione pulled her hand from his, leaving her glove behind. 'Tonight', she mouthed, walking away to rejoin her friends.
~~~~
The Quidditch match was quite spectacular, the Slytherins on Firebolt 9's and the Gryffindors on the latest racing broom, the Speedmaster 97. Draco, for once, gave Harry a run for his money, darting off one way suddenly in an attempt to break his focus. The Slytherin Chasers, were fumbling the quaffle the whole match, their fingers frozen beneath their gloves, which gave Gryffindor an easy win. Draco might have caught the Snitch, due to Harry's glasses fogging up at the wrong time, but still, it wasn't enough. Gryffindor won the match, 460 - 270, slaughtering the Slytherin team by 190 points.
Afterwards, no matter where in the school you went, if there was a single Slytherin student around, there were Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students laughing and making fun of the fact that they had been wiped out at the game. Although some of the teachers didn't like the teasing, they let it slip, except of course Severus Snape, who was furious about the loss and could be found after the game screaming and swearing at Draco about how he should have done better and caught the Snitch sooner. If Professor Snape walked past a group of students who were making fun of the Slytherin team, he would hand them all detentions.
When he arrived at the Great Hall, he found Harry, Hermione and Ginny laughing about the fact that Slytherin got beaten. Promptly, he handed Harry and Ginny detentions, but walked away after that, not giving Hermione one of them.
"Wow. What's crawled up his arse and died?" Ginny asked, tearing up the detention slips and throwing them away.
"You know Snape, Ginny. If Slytherin are in trouble, he runs to their side, damn trecherous spy." Harry snarled.
"How come Hermione didn't get a slip?" Ginny asked.
Hermione shrugged, "Who knows. I really don't give a shit anymore. I'm sick of not knowing what the fuck is going on around here. I'm getting some answers tonight. I'll have to speak to Draco about all this nonsense, he seems like he's willing to talk to me at the moment."
"Don't throw your life away by talking to him." Harry urged, "You never know what he might try to get one over on you Hermione."
"Don't worry Harry, I have no emotions to be played with anymore. Why do you think when... oh hang on... I never told you about that did I?" Hermione thought aloud.
"About what? You and Draco? Doing something together?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowing angrily.
"No Harry, it's not bad. The night after the feast at the beginning of school this year, I couldn't sleep all night, and so, at dawn, I went down to the Prefect's bathroom to relax a little. Draco was there, and we started talking, but he started to get wierd on me, started saying there were things I should know, but I didn't want to hear them. I'm starting to think I need to know these things." Hermione tried to explain.
"When are you going to talk to Draco? I want to be there." Harry said flatly.
"No Harry, I can look after myself. It's not like he's the male version of a veela. And anyway, it's Draco, have I ever even hinted at being interested in him?" Hermione asked, knowing what Harry's answer would be.
"No you haven't. Sorry, I just..." Harry left it hanging.
"I know, you don't want anything to happen to me after last year. I know how to take care of myself." Hermione assured him, "I'll talk to Draco in my own time."
~~~~
Before everyone went to bed that night, Hermione was nervous, and quiet. She mulled situations over in her mind, what might happen when Draco appeared at her door later on.
"Merry Christmas guys, sweet dreams." Hermione said as they wandered off to bed.
The common room was silent, except for the faint crackling of wood burning in the fire. Hermione sat for only a moment before standing and moving up to her room. She closed and locked the door behind her as she entered and looked down at what she was wearing. It would do, she was only meeting Draco.
Hermione was at her desk, working on some particularly hard Potions homework when the knocking at her door came. It startled her, having not heard a sound for awhile, other than her quill scraping on the parchment. She stood from the high-backed chair, smoothed down her short skirt, fiddled with her straightened hair and unlocked the door, opening it quietly and letting Draco in. She made sure the door was locked behind him.
Draco was looking around the room, a slight, almost normal smile upon his pale lips as their eyes met, "Where do you want me to start?"
'On the bed, shirt off, those hungry eyes of yours on me alone.' Hermione thought, biting her lip as she silenced her thought, "Wherever you think is best."
Hermione sat on the edge of her bed, watching as Draco sat in the chair by her desk.
"Ok. The jewellry came from Severus, that I think is probably the most important thing for you to know. The most important thing for me to tell you is that I... I can't say it." Draco started, blushing as he went to reveal his secret.
"Take your time Draco, I have all night." Hermione said, inwardly shocked that Snape was interested in her that way, but not wanting to show Draco that.
"I'm not what you think I am. Lucius wasn't my real father, Severus was. He and my mother had an affair and I was born. Severus knows that, which is partly why Voldemort was intent on me being a Death Eater, because my biological father had failed him and become a spy for Dumbledore. I was told of my heritage just before Lucius tried to convince me, which is why I said no." Draco paused a moment to get his thoughts together, his cold eyes trained on Hermione, "I'm not the snide person you think I am, and neither is Severus. Severus is actually a very caring man, if you catch him at the right time. Not all Slytherins are pure evil."
"How many people have you told this?" Hermione asked.
"You are the first one, not including Dumbledore. Although, he already knew." Draco replied, "I think the emotions thing runs in my blood, because I feel the same was as Severus, about you that is. That's why I was following you that night. I wanted to ask you out, but I knew you would say no. I still had to ask you because I know you are a compassionate person and would understand that I have feelings too. Severus told me of his passion not long after Ron was killed, and that's when I regretted not saying anything to you when I had the chance. There I said it."
Hermione was speechless, how did she manage to get in this situation? She slipped off the bed and started to pace the room, her arms firmly crossed across her chest. She could feel Draco's eyes following her, watching her. She stopped pacing as she came to where he sat, having not thought a single thing and watched as he stood.
There was something there she couldn't explain going on in her head, something not even she could hear. She could feel the cloth of Draco's shirt pass her hand as she wrapped her arm around his waist, bringing them together so they could feel each other's breath on their skin. Hermione leant over to his ear and whispered, "Don't make me do this. I know what you are Draco, I know what your mother is."
Draco gasped audibly, stepping back from Hermione's loose grasp, "How do you know that? I have never told anyone what my mother is."
"There are certain things I saw that time in the Prefect's bathroom, that point straight to one thing." Hermione replied, turning away from him, and closing her eyes, the memory of Draco's bare chest flashing before her eyes.
"I was hoping you wouldn't see that." Draco sighed, moving back infront of her, "I do not do it intentionally, it's like the girls that hang around me. I know they only do it because of what I am, and I hate it. I have never tried to draw you in, knowing that you would respect me less than what you already did if you found out. Not even just now have I tried."
"I just don't know if I can handle knowing that you could lure me at any time. It makes me uncomfortable." Hermione said.
"You joked this afternoon about me being part veela, but I never realised that you might have actually known." Draco mused, a smile spreading across his lips.
"Why am I bothering to say these things? I know what I want, but it doesn't mean I'm able to handle what I feel." Hermione rhetorically asked, looking Draco straight in his steel eyes.
She stood before him, looking directly into his eyes and not thinking a single thing. She leant forwards, leaving a kiss upon his white cheek and turned away again.
The room was silent for a long time afterwards, Hermione standing only inches away from Draco, her back turned.
"Do you want me to stay?" Draco asked, sounding worried.
"Yes, please stay. I just don't exactly know what to do about what I'm feeling right now." Hermione smiled, moving to sit on her bed, her legs crossed awkwardly.
"Take all the time you need Hermione, I have nowhere else to be, and I'm sure one sleepless night won't help. It's not like it ever has before." Draco smiled, sitting beside her on the bed.
For reasons Hermione could not gather, a single action ran over and over in her head. She knew full well that she had strong, undeniable feelings for this young man, but her concience kept bringing her back to the fact that if she made anymore moves on him, that she would not be able to stop herself. After fighting in her head for atleast five minutes, which seemed to her, to be a lifetime, it happened.
In fear of never having the chance again, Hermione shifted her position sitting on the bed, to face Draco as well as possible, seeing as though her legs hung over the side. Without another hesitation, she pounced, doing what came first to mind. Slowly, she moved closer to him, shuffling along the bed, she was sure he was reciprocating the movement in her direction. The tips of their noses touched, almost playing with each other as Hermione's head tipped to the side slightly to accomodate this feature. And finally their lips kissed. Hermione had never kissed before, never anything, unless you counted on the cheek, which she certainly didn't. As their lips worked against each other and themselves, Draco felt the passion of Hermione's tongue, flicking delicately at his and gently moved against it, closing his eyes to react on senses rather than sight.
As they kissed, and it must have lasted atleast a few minutes, because Hermione was rather breathless, the tip of her tongue touched against something almost sharp, maybe a filling in one of his teeth, but Hermione knew better. She pulled away sharply, her tongue scraping against the foreign object in his mouth and stood up, moving away from him cautiously.
"How could you? Get out!" Hermione said, pointing at her door.
"Hermione, please, let me explain." Draco begged, standing and walking towards her.
"No Draco. I can understand if you wouldn't tell me about the veela in you, but this is something else all together. Get the hell out of here and don't ever speak to me again. I swear if I ever see you again, closer than ten metres to me, I will shoot you down where you stand." Hermione growled, the small wet tears starting to casscade from her eyes.
Draco hung his head, almost in shame as he went, unlocking the door and leaving straight away. Hermione locked the door behind him and slumped, what was she in for now? The tears continued to casscade down her face. The warm taste of blood had started to fill up her mouth, the tip of her tongue having been cut. Out of instinct, she swallowed the blood and looked in teh mirror at her tongue. It was a neat, yet fairly deep cut, straight as a pin and twice as wide. She knew what this meant. Draco really was more than he seemed, just like he had said.
Now she was even more confused about her feelings. What if this new side of Draco was the one that had drawn her to him? No, she would go with her second option. It seemed more viable now there was no first option. Not that Hermione had ever thought about it before, but she wouldn't, nay, couldn't date a vampire, not even one as alluring as Draco.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A/N: Please read and review, I'd love to hear what you think... if it's nice... maybe... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Love and Other Passions - Chapter Two - And God Said, Let There Be Sparkage!
Christmas came quickly that year, the snow and cold making the process faster than usual. Hermione was feeling a little better now, seeing as though she hadn't had anymore strange run-ins with Draco. She felt like she was almost getting a hold of herself for the first time in six months.
Hermione woke up to the sounds of knocking at her door. So, she hopped out of bed and threw on her dressing gown taking the cold door handle with her right hand and slowly opening it.
"Merry Christmas!" cried Harry and Ginny.
It had become custom for them to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas, finding that they had more fun there, than being at home with their families. Hermione had been half expecting to see Ron standing in the background, smiling awkwardly and shuffling her feet, then she remembered.
"Merry Christmas yourself. Isn't it a bit early to be getting up?" Hermione smiled softly, leaning on the doorframe.
"No, the first and second years were up about two hours ago, the third, fourth, fifth and sixth years got up around an hour ago, and you are the only person, who until now has been asleep." Ginny smiled, wrapping her arm around Harry's waist and leaning her head on his shoulder.
Hermione smiled as the thoughts raced through her head. Harry and Ginny had been a couple for almost four years now, when Ginny finally gave into temptation and asked him out.
"Give me a minute to get dressed and I'll be down." Hermione sighed, closing the door and turning back to her room.
~~~~
Stumbling down the stairs, Hermione pulled the cloak around her shoulders and looked around. Harry and Ginny were sitting by the tree, about to pull a bonbon. Seamus and Neville sat at one of the tables playing a game of Wizard's Chess and a group of fourth years were sitting around the fire chatting away. Hermione walked up to the tree, picking up her presents and sitting on the rug by Harry and Ginny to open them.
"Open mine first." Ginny smiled, pointing out a book-sized parcel, "No, it's not a book. I think you have enough of them already."
Hermione smiled weakly to Ginny and picked up the present, carefully unwrapping it and pushed the paper back to reveal a muggle hair- straightening kit. She had once told Ginny that she would have liked to have straight hair, but never in a million years did Hermione think that Ginny would have remembered that conversation.
"Thankyou Ginny. We'll have to try this out today, before classes start again." Hermione grinned, hugging her tightly.
Harry had given her a book, no surprise, but it was a book on all the wizarding schools in the world, which surprised Hermione, because she didn't know that the book existed. Seamus and Neville had gone halves in a book of potions, and her parents had sent her a new eagle quill set and fancy parchment. 'So you can write us more letters.' Hermione's mother had said in her short letter. Mrs Weasley had sent her the usual Weasley jumper, with the large H on the front. There was one parcel left, no tag, no card, no name.
Hermione slowly opened the fist-sized packet and pulled away the paper. It was a muggle jewellry box, silver, with a twisting pattern engraved. Atop the lid, was engraved in delicate writing, 'Hermione'.
"Open it. Is there anything inside?" Ginny asked excitedly.
Hermione bit down on her lip, she didn't like surprises. The hinges creaked slightly as Hermione pushed back the lid and neatly displayed inside were a small note, a ring of white gold with a single emerald, and a pair of matching earrings. She pulled the note out, hoping it would give some idea as to who it was from.
Hermione,
I hope you like this. It took me a long time to chose, but I think I got the right ones. I do not want to keep myself secret, but as you will probably open it before the other Gryffindors, I will wait until later.
YSA.
"What is 'YSA'" Ginny asked.
"Your secret admirer. It's a muggle term used for someone who likes another but doesn't want to be known just yet." Harry replied.
"Ooo, Hermione has a secret admirer." Seamus laughed, "Who do you think it is?"
"Knowing my luck of late, Malfoy." Hermione smiled, joking.
"Or Snape, god knows he would be a hilarious secret admirer." Neville smiled as they joined the conversation.
"Don't jinx me." Hermione said, not really feeling what she said, "It could be a Slytherin due to the colours, but then, that might just be a coincident."
Packing up their presents and taking them back to their rooms, they met again in the bottom of the tower and headed down to the Hall for breakfast. It didn't matter to them that it was eleven by that time, they just wanted to eat.
Hermione had slipped the ring onto her finger before leaving her room, finding that it fit well on her right-index finger.
~~~~
The Hall was still busy, strangely enough, because most of the third year students hadn't gone out to play in the snow like the others. Hermione, Ginny, Harry, Neville and Seamus all sat together at the Gryffindor table, slowly eating the breakfast before them. As they were finishing, Draco and a group of younger Slytherin girls entered. The pain on his face obvious, all could see that Draco just wanted to be left alone. He walked straight up to Hermione, smiling forcably.
"Merry Christmas. By the way, nice ring." Draco said.
"Merry Christmas Malfoy. Nice fanclub." Hermione replied.
Draco flicked one of their wandering hands away from his shoulder before turning to Harry, who hadn't bothered to look up at the Slytherin, "I'll see you on the pitch this afternoon."
Harry grunted rudely and still didn't look up. Draco shook his head and strode away, the girls following him quickly.
"He noticed the ring Hermione." whispered Ginny, "I think it was from Draco. Mind you, if he wasn't a Malfoy, or a Slytherin, that wouldn't be such a bad thing."
Hermione looked Ginny straight in the eyes, finally catching her drift. She laughed, "No, I suppose not. He'd still be Draco fucking Malfoy though."
~~~~
After brunch, they all went outside to make snowmen before the Quidditch game. Almost all of the teams members had stayed at Hogwarts over the holiday, so Dumbledore and McGonagall had agreed that they would have a game to entertain them. Draco and Harry were both Captain and Seeker of their respective Houses, and still, Gryffindor wiped the pitch with the Slytherins.
Hermione was putting the final touches on her muggle snow-woman and her pet cat. Incidentally, the woman looked alot like her and the cat, Crookshanks, who was running around the grounds, chasing some birds who flew around the rafters of the outside corridors.
"Muggle-cloning ourselves are we?" Draco mused, happier now that he had lost his fanclub of girls.
"Only so there are two of me to kick your ass today, not that I need the help." Harry sneered.
"Well then." Draco smiled slyly, taking out his wand, which made them all respond threatened.
With a few simple words, the snow by Hermione's creation molded itself into an almost exact replica of Draco, right down to the last strand of hair and the scar beneath his left eye. He had been given that scar by his father, during the discussion that got him killed. The Draco Snowman smiled slyly, like the real thing, leaning on a walking stick.
Hermione looked at Draco, the frustration building quickly, "Draco, let's walk a moment. There are some things I wish to know."
Harry stared at Hermione with a blank expression. What was going through his mind at the time, only he knew, and Hermione didn't think that she really wanted to know.
"Of course." Draco nodded, offering her his arm.
Hermione took Draco's arm and they walked a little way away before she motioned him to sit on one of the stone seats in the courtyard. She however did not sit, not caring to take long with this conversation.
"From what you have told me Draco, you know where my room is, right?" Hermione asked.
Draco only nodded, his sly expression becoming confusion.
"Tonight, after everyone has gone to bed. Meet me there. I want to know everything, everything you have ever wished to tell me, but never could." Hermione said firmly, turning to walk away.
Draco caught her gloved hand in his, pulling her back and standing up, so when she caught her balance, their noses were tip to tip. He leaned to whisper in her ear, his breath warm down her neck as he spoke, "Are you sure you want to know everything? I don't think you are ready for the extent of what I know, like, that present you recieved this morning. It may not be from me, but I know who it is from and yes, it is one of the Slytherins... technically. Although, he is alot more soft-hearted than you think, and would understand if there was another who your heart belonged to."
Hermione pulled her hand from his, leaving her glove behind. 'Tonight', she mouthed, walking away to rejoin her friends.
~~~~
The Quidditch match was quite spectacular, the Slytherins on Firebolt 9's and the Gryffindors on the latest racing broom, the Speedmaster 97. Draco, for once, gave Harry a run for his money, darting off one way suddenly in an attempt to break his focus. The Slytherin Chasers, were fumbling the quaffle the whole match, their fingers frozen beneath their gloves, which gave Gryffindor an easy win. Draco might have caught the Snitch, due to Harry's glasses fogging up at the wrong time, but still, it wasn't enough. Gryffindor won the match, 460 - 270, slaughtering the Slytherin team by 190 points.
Afterwards, no matter where in the school you went, if there was a single Slytherin student around, there were Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students laughing and making fun of the fact that they had been wiped out at the game. Although some of the teachers didn't like the teasing, they let it slip, except of course Severus Snape, who was furious about the loss and could be found after the game screaming and swearing at Draco about how he should have done better and caught the Snitch sooner. If Professor Snape walked past a group of students who were making fun of the Slytherin team, he would hand them all detentions.
When he arrived at the Great Hall, he found Harry, Hermione and Ginny laughing about the fact that Slytherin got beaten. Promptly, he handed Harry and Ginny detentions, but walked away after that, not giving Hermione one of them.
"Wow. What's crawled up his arse and died?" Ginny asked, tearing up the detention slips and throwing them away.
"You know Snape, Ginny. If Slytherin are in trouble, he runs to their side, damn trecherous spy." Harry snarled.
"How come Hermione didn't get a slip?" Ginny asked.
Hermione shrugged, "Who knows. I really don't give a shit anymore. I'm sick of not knowing what the fuck is going on around here. I'm getting some answers tonight. I'll have to speak to Draco about all this nonsense, he seems like he's willing to talk to me at the moment."
"Don't throw your life away by talking to him." Harry urged, "You never know what he might try to get one over on you Hermione."
"Don't worry Harry, I have no emotions to be played with anymore. Why do you think when... oh hang on... I never told you about that did I?" Hermione thought aloud.
"About what? You and Draco? Doing something together?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowing angrily.
"No Harry, it's not bad. The night after the feast at the beginning of school this year, I couldn't sleep all night, and so, at dawn, I went down to the Prefect's bathroom to relax a little. Draco was there, and we started talking, but he started to get wierd on me, started saying there were things I should know, but I didn't want to hear them. I'm starting to think I need to know these things." Hermione tried to explain.
"When are you going to talk to Draco? I want to be there." Harry said flatly.
"No Harry, I can look after myself. It's not like he's the male version of a veela. And anyway, it's Draco, have I ever even hinted at being interested in him?" Hermione asked, knowing what Harry's answer would be.
"No you haven't. Sorry, I just..." Harry left it hanging.
"I know, you don't want anything to happen to me after last year. I know how to take care of myself." Hermione assured him, "I'll talk to Draco in my own time."
~~~~
Before everyone went to bed that night, Hermione was nervous, and quiet. She mulled situations over in her mind, what might happen when Draco appeared at her door later on.
"Merry Christmas guys, sweet dreams." Hermione said as they wandered off to bed.
The common room was silent, except for the faint crackling of wood burning in the fire. Hermione sat for only a moment before standing and moving up to her room. She closed and locked the door behind her as she entered and looked down at what she was wearing. It would do, she was only meeting Draco.
Hermione was at her desk, working on some particularly hard Potions homework when the knocking at her door came. It startled her, having not heard a sound for awhile, other than her quill scraping on the parchment. She stood from the high-backed chair, smoothed down her short skirt, fiddled with her straightened hair and unlocked the door, opening it quietly and letting Draco in. She made sure the door was locked behind him.
Draco was looking around the room, a slight, almost normal smile upon his pale lips as their eyes met, "Where do you want me to start?"
'On the bed, shirt off, those hungry eyes of yours on me alone.' Hermione thought, biting her lip as she silenced her thought, "Wherever you think is best."
Hermione sat on the edge of her bed, watching as Draco sat in the chair by her desk.
"Ok. The jewellry came from Severus, that I think is probably the most important thing for you to know. The most important thing for me to tell you is that I... I can't say it." Draco started, blushing as he went to reveal his secret.
"Take your time Draco, I have all night." Hermione said, inwardly shocked that Snape was interested in her that way, but not wanting to show Draco that.
"I'm not what you think I am. Lucius wasn't my real father, Severus was. He and my mother had an affair and I was born. Severus knows that, which is partly why Voldemort was intent on me being a Death Eater, because my biological father had failed him and become a spy for Dumbledore. I was told of my heritage just before Lucius tried to convince me, which is why I said no." Draco paused a moment to get his thoughts together, his cold eyes trained on Hermione, "I'm not the snide person you think I am, and neither is Severus. Severus is actually a very caring man, if you catch him at the right time. Not all Slytherins are pure evil."
"How many people have you told this?" Hermione asked.
"You are the first one, not including Dumbledore. Although, he already knew." Draco replied, "I think the emotions thing runs in my blood, because I feel the same was as Severus, about you that is. That's why I was following you that night. I wanted to ask you out, but I knew you would say no. I still had to ask you because I know you are a compassionate person and would understand that I have feelings too. Severus told me of his passion not long after Ron was killed, and that's when I regretted not saying anything to you when I had the chance. There I said it."
Hermione was speechless, how did she manage to get in this situation? She slipped off the bed and started to pace the room, her arms firmly crossed across her chest. She could feel Draco's eyes following her, watching her. She stopped pacing as she came to where he sat, having not thought a single thing and watched as he stood.
There was something there she couldn't explain going on in her head, something not even she could hear. She could feel the cloth of Draco's shirt pass her hand as she wrapped her arm around his waist, bringing them together so they could feel each other's breath on their skin. Hermione leant over to his ear and whispered, "Don't make me do this. I know what you are Draco, I know what your mother is."
Draco gasped audibly, stepping back from Hermione's loose grasp, "How do you know that? I have never told anyone what my mother is."
"There are certain things I saw that time in the Prefect's bathroom, that point straight to one thing." Hermione replied, turning away from him, and closing her eyes, the memory of Draco's bare chest flashing before her eyes.
"I was hoping you wouldn't see that." Draco sighed, moving back infront of her, "I do not do it intentionally, it's like the girls that hang around me. I know they only do it because of what I am, and I hate it. I have never tried to draw you in, knowing that you would respect me less than what you already did if you found out. Not even just now have I tried."
"I just don't know if I can handle knowing that you could lure me at any time. It makes me uncomfortable." Hermione said.
"You joked this afternoon about me being part veela, but I never realised that you might have actually known." Draco mused, a smile spreading across his lips.
"Why am I bothering to say these things? I know what I want, but it doesn't mean I'm able to handle what I feel." Hermione rhetorically asked, looking Draco straight in his steel eyes.
She stood before him, looking directly into his eyes and not thinking a single thing. She leant forwards, leaving a kiss upon his white cheek and turned away again.
The room was silent for a long time afterwards, Hermione standing only inches away from Draco, her back turned.
"Do you want me to stay?" Draco asked, sounding worried.
"Yes, please stay. I just don't exactly know what to do about what I'm feeling right now." Hermione smiled, moving to sit on her bed, her legs crossed awkwardly.
"Take all the time you need Hermione, I have nowhere else to be, and I'm sure one sleepless night won't help. It's not like it ever has before." Draco smiled, sitting beside her on the bed.
For reasons Hermione could not gather, a single action ran over and over in her head. She knew full well that she had strong, undeniable feelings for this young man, but her concience kept bringing her back to the fact that if she made anymore moves on him, that she would not be able to stop herself. After fighting in her head for atleast five minutes, which seemed to her, to be a lifetime, it happened.
In fear of never having the chance again, Hermione shifted her position sitting on the bed, to face Draco as well as possible, seeing as though her legs hung over the side. Without another hesitation, she pounced, doing what came first to mind. Slowly, she moved closer to him, shuffling along the bed, she was sure he was reciprocating the movement in her direction. The tips of their noses touched, almost playing with each other as Hermione's head tipped to the side slightly to accomodate this feature. And finally their lips kissed. Hermione had never kissed before, never anything, unless you counted on the cheek, which she certainly didn't. As their lips worked against each other and themselves, Draco felt the passion of Hermione's tongue, flicking delicately at his and gently moved against it, closing his eyes to react on senses rather than sight.
As they kissed, and it must have lasted atleast a few minutes, because Hermione was rather breathless, the tip of her tongue touched against something almost sharp, maybe a filling in one of his teeth, but Hermione knew better. She pulled away sharply, her tongue scraping against the foreign object in his mouth and stood up, moving away from him cautiously.
"How could you? Get out!" Hermione said, pointing at her door.
"Hermione, please, let me explain." Draco begged, standing and walking towards her.
"No Draco. I can understand if you wouldn't tell me about the veela in you, but this is something else all together. Get the hell out of here and don't ever speak to me again. I swear if I ever see you again, closer than ten metres to me, I will shoot you down where you stand." Hermione growled, the small wet tears starting to casscade from her eyes.
Draco hung his head, almost in shame as he went, unlocking the door and leaving straight away. Hermione locked the door behind him and slumped, what was she in for now? The tears continued to casscade down her face. The warm taste of blood had started to fill up her mouth, the tip of her tongue having been cut. Out of instinct, she swallowed the blood and looked in teh mirror at her tongue. It was a neat, yet fairly deep cut, straight as a pin and twice as wide. She knew what this meant. Draco really was more than he seemed, just like he had said.
Now she was even more confused about her feelings. What if this new side of Draco was the one that had drawn her to him? No, she would go with her second option. It seemed more viable now there was no first option. Not that Hermione had ever thought about it before, but she wouldn't, nay, couldn't date a vampire, not even one as alluring as Draco.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A/N: Please read and review, I'd love to hear what you think... if it's nice... maybe... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
