Title: Firefly

Chapter 6: Detour En Route to Hogsmeade

Author: Kitty Malfoy

A/N: Hey! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm still open for ideas, but in a few chapters I won't be taking any suggestions, so hurry up! OMG! I personally liked the whole pajama/breakfast scene VERY much. I thought it was hilarious. If I was Harry I would probably be thinking the wrong thing when my girlfriend showed up semi-nude, with my worst enemy, and wearing my worst enemy's pajama garments, lol. It should be getting good. Read on.

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Hermione woke slowly, as a feathery kiss was placed on her forehead. Sliding into a sitting position she rubbed her sleep-filled eyes and yawned. The book that had been previously laying on her chest fell to her lap and then to the ground. Her large eyes blinked rapidly in the bright afternoon light and she waited for them to readjust. "Harry?" She asked looking around in confusion. Not only was Harry not in sight, but Draco had disappeared as well.

The sun was still high in the sky so she knew she hadn't slept long. Standing up, she brushed off the grass and flower petals and readjusted her hair. Bending over to pick up her book a sudden shout caused her to fall over in surprise. She rolled over several times and slid to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Looking up through the curtain of her hair she saw Harry running towards her. Letting out an exasperated sigh, that blew the hair out of her face, she rose to her feet and dusted herself off, once again.

"Herm! Are you okay?" he asked running up, with her fallen book in hand.

Hermione took back her book and kissed Harry lightly on the cheek. "What time is it?" she asked.

"12:23" Harry responded looking at his Muggle-like watch.

Hermione looked around again; searching for Malfoy. "This better not affect the bet." she grumbled.

Harry grabbed her shoulders; bringing her attention back to him.

"We need to talk."

Hermione looked up at him with a blank expression. His unruly hair was made even wilder by the strong wind that had blown down from the mountains in the east while Hermione had slept. Deep, fathom-less emerald eyes, uncovered by glasses since last year, looked back at her - holding her gaze. Hermione had once loved his boyish appearance; had once gotten lost in those emerald eyes.

Hermione back - tracked and chewed on her lower lip.

Once?

What was going on here?!

In another classic Hermione tactic she pushed the shaky discovery into the back of her mind.

"Oh Harry, it's just that Malfoy and I have a bet that I can't spend a whole day with him." She explained.

Harry still looked confused.

"And that whole thing at breakfast was NOT what you're thinking. Malfoy just-"

"I just what?"

Hermione jumped at least a foot in the air, and slowly turned around as Draco walked towards them.

He was definitely not helping in her case to Harry.

Water dripped off his blond locks, and the sun warmed his pale, muscular, and VERY bare chest. In fact, all he seemed to be wearing was a pair of green boxers.

Hermione smacked her hand to her forehead and groaned. Feeling Harry's anger rising behind her she turned and began whispering to him. Slowly he visibly calmed, but the anger still danced in his eyes like flames.

"I was explaining our bet to Harry," Hermione replied to Draco. "And that you pulled me into breakfast without allowing me to change!"

Draco smirked and started walking towards the castle - pulling on his clothes.

"Stop staring, Granger; it doesn't become you..."

Hermione's jaw dropped and her anger made her sputter with rage.

"As if!" She yelled back and ran after him.

Harry was left behind - even more confused than before.

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Hermione caught up with him just inside the main door. At the turn to the Great Hall Draco kept walking with a confused Hermione trailing behind. Draco tapped the statue of the hump-backed witch with his wand and jumped down into the passage that was revealed.

Still in a daze of confusion, Hermione slid in behind the statue and took the stairs rather than jumping down. Halfway down the stone stairway the rock began to shift and crumble. The stairs broke in two and collapsed. It happened too fast for Hermione to call out, and she fell towards the ground with not sound but the clatter of decayed rocks falling to the stone floor.

"Dammit Hermione!" Draco exclaimed.

Hermione opened her eyes - which she hadn't realized she'd closed, and found herself looking up at Draco's pale face that was barely illuminated by the light streaming in through the passage doorway. It was smudged with dirt and his silver eyes glared at her with a mixture of anger and concern.

Concern? A strange emotion for a Malfoy to be feeling.

Hermione felt like hugging him to death, but all she could muster was a weak and mumbled "Thank you."

Instead of putting her down, it seemed to Hermione that he was pulling her closer. Her mind shut down for tea, and Hermione felt herself like her lips in anticipation. Their eye contact never broke, nor did it lessen.

Closer...

Closer...

Closer...

Closer...

The small shaft of light grew smaller and smaller as the statue moved back into place. Soon they would be in complete darkness. Their faces were only centimeters apart, and Hermione felt something deep down inside of her yearning for a kiss - wanting to taste him.

With a final grating of stone, the statue resealed the secret tunnel and they were plunged into darkness and shadow. Hermione became suddenly aware of her other senses. His hand on the small of her back, the other beneath her knees. His warm breath tickled her cheeks and his nearness caused her cheeks to redden. He smelled of water and of autumn - so fresh and clean a smell it made her skin tingle and tremble. If she listened hard enough she could hear the faint patterns of his breathing that coincided with the feeling against her cheeks.

Even in the darkness their lips found each others'. Like magnets they were drawn together, not needing their sight or other senses to accomplish what the Powers-That-Be had decreed to naturally occur. His lips were velvety soft and full and feathery like the wings of a dove. His lips, like hands, caressed her own, and she felt herself becoming stronger; unlike Harry's kisses where she found herself drowning. She like this new feeling and bent her entire thought on prolonging the kiss. As the kiss wore on, and Hermione grew stronger, so did her desire for the kiss to never stop - to carry on throughout eternity.

And then it stopped.

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I thought this was a good place to stop - hehehe. Sorry so short, but I had a huge school project to work on, so I was hard-pressed for time, but I did want to get at least A chapter out for my loyal fans to read. The next one should be out in a bit, along with some ideas given to me by my buddy Kitty Felton.P.S. Read her stuff!

Kitty Malfoy (^ ^)