Never Say Never
Chapter 15 - First Love
Disclaimer: the usual
Hermione's POV
Tears streamed down my face as my suppressed anguish of how everything had turned out between Draco and I came bubbling to the surface and I could do nothing to stop the rivulets of water.
'Why?' I asked myself, 'Why him?'
'Because he is the only boy in Hogwarts who can match your wits.' Came the answering voice, which I grudgingly admitted, was right. 'And he's handsome, smart, wealthy..'
I burrowed deeper into the armchair and let myself settle comfortably into the warm fabric, willing myself to stop crying like a pathetic lovesick girl. I dried my cheeks gently and decided that it was time to go.
But all of a sudden I was sure that there was someone else in the common room as well. It was an eerie feeling, as though there was a ghost or something.
'Probably just Peeves.' I thought to myself reassuringly, but something else in my head told me that it couldn't be him. Then I heard footsteps and something prowling around the room and I began to feel a shadow of fear creep into my heart.
I prepared to get quietly out of the chair and confront whatever was sneaking around when a pale face peered around the armchair and uttered my name.
"Hermione?!" Familiar silvery-grey eyes came into view and I screamed shrilly in fright and shock, "Whoa, calm down!"
"Malfoy! What are you doing here?!" I cried in pure panic.
"That's what I'm meant to say!" he replied in frustration at probably seeing me here, I mean I was pretty surprised to see him here.. "Hey, what happened to calling me Draco?"
"I don't know, maybe because someone has been ignoring me for the past few days." I spat back sarcastically, inwardly groaning at my childish behaviour.
"God, Hermione! I didn't know that you were that bad-tempered. Just because I didn't say hello to you doesn't mean that our truce is off! I mean maybe it's even better that way, I'm not throwing insults at you anymore and neither are you!" he said irritatedly.
I was silent for a little while, lost for words for once and I just sat looking at him with an annoyed expression on my face. After a while he became a bit uncomfortable and he looked away ashamedly.
"I'm sorry. I've just been a bit preoccupied lately." He said softly.
"With who?" I replied sourly.
"Annika."
"So that's her name!" I exclaimed before realizing that I had made a very stupid mistake.
"You've noticed me with her?" asked Draco amusedly.
"Erm, hasn't everyone?" I replied quickly.
"Well I'm not too sure Crabbe and Goyle have even noticed that we're in sixth year, much less that I've been hanging around with her." He joked half-heartedly then looking at me seriously.
I felt his gaze travel over my probably still red eyes and tear-stained cheeks and suddenly felt extremely embarrassed. It was as though he could see through me and completely know what I was going through.
"Have you been crying, Hermione?" he asked softly.
"None of your business."
"It is my business!"
"Prove it."
He smiled mockingly at me and settled himself in the armchair next to me looking at me with his head cocked sideways.
"You know, you've definitely grown more beautiful in the past few years, even though I wouldn't like to admit it." He remarked gently. And before I could stop it, my cheeks began to flush.
"What are you talking about, Draco?!" I exclaimed incredulously, furiously trying to deny it.
"You of course! I mean Annika for some reason couldn't come through here with me.." He trailed off uncomfortably and squirmed in his seat.
"What were you going to do here anyway?" I asked curiously.
"I don't know. I wanted to ask her out, you know in a 'romantic' way." He replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Here? How did you find your way here anyhow?" I asked, voicing my thoughts.
"I just stumbled upon this place about a month back after the bathroom - so what about you?"
"Same. It was after that night in the Prefect's bathroom and I was trying to avoid Filch and his cat, then I slipped through the wall and found this place!" I giggled at the memory and I realized with a shock that it had been awhile since I had laughed genuinely.
"So we must've been in here at the same time." Draco suddenly said, and realization dawned on me as well.
"Funny, I never thought someone else was in here as well." I said slowly, then something caught my eye and I realized that something was glittering in the palm of Draco's hand, "Hey, what have you got in your hand?"
"Nothing, it was just something that I was going to give Annika." He opened his palm to illustrate his point and my breath caught in my throat. It was my necklace!
"How did you get that?!" I burst out, my eyes widening.
"Actually, now that I think back I found it in here!" he said after a moment's thought, "Why?"
"That's mine." Yes, the silver chain, the beautiful angel with the crystal set in the middle was all identical. A huge weight lifted from my heart as I set eyes upon it again and I nearly sighed out loud in relief. I had found it again.
"Really? Well, sorry about that. I had absolutely no idea! And to think I was going to give this to Annika.." Draco said with raised eyebrows. Then he handed it to me and I stretched out my hand to catch it but it slipped through my grasp and we both watched it slink to the floor.
"I'll get it." We both said in unison and together we reached down to pick it up. As I straightened up with the necklace securely held in my warm hand, my lips suddenly brushed against Draco's in a chaste kiss and a flicker of emotion went through me. I blushed a deep red and I began to apologize.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry I didn't mean -" But before I could finish my his lips captured mine again and I would never forget the lustful look in his eyes as he held me and continued to explore my mouth with his and the way that his tongue delved into my mouth itself and intertwined itself with mine.
By instinct I did some exploring myself, tracing the contours of his soft lips with my tongue, feeling a sharp sense of pleasure when he moaned into my mouth as my hand ran up and down the back of his robes. But when he let his hand rest on my hip, continuing to kiss me I was suddenly jolted back to reality.
"We shouldn't, god it's so wrong a Slytherin and a Gryffindor.." I stammered, struggling to regain my breath as I broke away from the kiss.
"It doesn't matter, no one needs to know." He replied, his voice husky once again, his eyes heavy with passion. He kissed me again deeply, this time actually taking my breath away with surprise and he pushed me down onto the carpet settling himself comfortably on top of me.
"How the hell did I ever stop liking you?" he breathed into my ear, planting butterfly kisses all along my neck, "How did I let Annika take your place?"
"What?!" I gasped, looking at him incredulously.
"You know, she's just got outer beauty. At least yours comes from within as well." He replied with a wink, "Don't be so surprised."
"No, I mean did you just say that you liked me?!" I choked out and his hand continued to run all along my body with a feather-light touch.
"Is it that unbelievable?"
"Yes." I replied softly, looking at him intently now. He stopped his massaging and looked at me as well, sensing that I was going to continue, "Because I liked you too."
"What?!" he spluttered, getting off me in shock, he sat down beside me instead looking at me with disbelief painted all over his face, "And you never told me?! All this time I was with Annika.." I shrugged, sitting up to face him defiantly,
"You seemed very taken with her; it's been three days already..anyway, its not as though we could ever be an item. A Slytherin and a Gryffindor just don't go together." I said nonchalantly.
"I was very taken with her, she's very attractive, haven't you noticed?" he replied pointedly.
"I haven't but obviously the rest of the school has." I replied bitterly, hearing that he moved closer to me and motioned for me to hug him. I obeyed, letting myself lean against his strong, broad chest, feeling how safe I felt with him.
"You know, as clichéd as this sounds I don't want this night to end, I guess I've come to my senses..and realized what I really want." He whispered in my ear, making me get a warm fuzzy feeling and want to hug him even more.
"Me either." I replied, with a definite tone to my voice, "But you understand that whatever happened just then cant go beyond these walls."
"I know." He sighed defeatedly and instead brought me closer to him. I really didn't understand him, one minute he was all over Annika and the next moment he was sincerely telling me about his feelings for me. I sighed myself and just reveled in this calm tranquility that I now associated with Draco.
He nudged my arm and gestured towards my palm, hinting that maybe I would like to open my palm up. I did, and he took the exquisite necklace from me and swept my hair off my shoulders, gently putting it on, everywhere he touched was literally on fire.
But with that feeling of joy also came guilt. Everyone would despise us, if we ever had a relationship, or if everyone ever found out that we harbored feelings for each other. I snapped back to reality.
"I don't know what I'm going to do about this. But you know what? I think that we should just get on with our lives and forget about this. I mean I honestly don't even believe that we could ever be together. It's just so damn inconceivable that it's extremely possible that it's not true!" I said getting out of his warm clutches.
Standing up, I looked back down at him where he sat looking at me with confused eyes, "What I mean is that we should just forget about all this, I mean I can tell that it's just lust. We're both going to get hurt in the end and it's just not worth it."
I turned around not wanting him to see me crying, and I choked out my last words, struggling to keep my voice neutral.
"Bye Draco. And good luck with your new girlfriend, I hope it all works out for you and Annika."
Draco's POV
"Hermione!" I began to protest but she was already gone, and I hung my head in self-disgust, not knowing what to do.
'Damn, Draco you just let her slip out of your reach again. She so obviously doesn't trust you, so why don't you try and gain her trust?!' said that annoying little voice in my head.
I sighed exasperatedly, knowing that at the rate that I was going at I would only land myself in more trouble, especially if father knew that I was associating with a Mudblood.
But god, the feeling of her writhing below me in pure pleasure was just so incredible. Now I couldn't get her out of my mind, and I was really cross with myself at the way that I had been acting for the past couple of days, acting as though Hermione never existed..giving everything up for Annika.
But Hermione was right, maybe what we felt for each other was only lust, nothing more. It was true that we would just both get hurt in the end, not just by each other but everyone else who would oppose our relationship. But at the same time I really didn't care about who didn't like us being together, all I wanted to do was to hold her in my arms and do whatever I pleased with her without criticism.
The memory of kissing her was already leaving me breathless and I remembered the exhilaration I felt when I had first felt her soft lips brushing against mine, making my pulse start racing.
I really needed to sort out my feelings, to identify what I felt for Annika and what I felt for Hermione, because honestly, someone's going to get hurt and I have a funny feeling that it's going to be Hermione..
And so I left the common room confused, frustrated and very lightheaded, wondering what the next day would bring.
Hey everyone!
I had a very hard time writing this chapter and I'm very sorry if some of you are just as confused as Draco and Hermione are. But hey, there was some action eh? =)
Ok, so just to clear things up, what I'm trying to say in this chapter [and the last one too] is that Draco is mesmerized by Annika but he feels something special for Hermione, and she feels it too.
And now that they both know that they both have feelings for each other they're completely lost about they're going to do about it, because they're afraid of the consequences and what people are going to think about them.
Also, I'm sorry about how long it took for these two clueless lovebirds to get to this stage, because I wanted to try to portray them as realistically as possible, and that didn't include falling head over heels in love in the space of one chapter, so yeah!
Thanks everyone [including the silent readers] for supporting me and waiting so patiently for the romance to begin!
So read on to see what happens on the "Next Episode of Never Say Never!"
Ciao folks! [please review]
psychohart
Chapter 15 - First Love
Disclaimer: the usual
Hermione's POV
Tears streamed down my face as my suppressed anguish of how everything had turned out between Draco and I came bubbling to the surface and I could do nothing to stop the rivulets of water.
'Why?' I asked myself, 'Why him?'
'Because he is the only boy in Hogwarts who can match your wits.' Came the answering voice, which I grudgingly admitted, was right. 'And he's handsome, smart, wealthy..'
I burrowed deeper into the armchair and let myself settle comfortably into the warm fabric, willing myself to stop crying like a pathetic lovesick girl. I dried my cheeks gently and decided that it was time to go.
But all of a sudden I was sure that there was someone else in the common room as well. It was an eerie feeling, as though there was a ghost or something.
'Probably just Peeves.' I thought to myself reassuringly, but something else in my head told me that it couldn't be him. Then I heard footsteps and something prowling around the room and I began to feel a shadow of fear creep into my heart.
I prepared to get quietly out of the chair and confront whatever was sneaking around when a pale face peered around the armchair and uttered my name.
"Hermione?!" Familiar silvery-grey eyes came into view and I screamed shrilly in fright and shock, "Whoa, calm down!"
"Malfoy! What are you doing here?!" I cried in pure panic.
"That's what I'm meant to say!" he replied in frustration at probably seeing me here, I mean I was pretty surprised to see him here.. "Hey, what happened to calling me Draco?"
"I don't know, maybe because someone has been ignoring me for the past few days." I spat back sarcastically, inwardly groaning at my childish behaviour.
"God, Hermione! I didn't know that you were that bad-tempered. Just because I didn't say hello to you doesn't mean that our truce is off! I mean maybe it's even better that way, I'm not throwing insults at you anymore and neither are you!" he said irritatedly.
I was silent for a little while, lost for words for once and I just sat looking at him with an annoyed expression on my face. After a while he became a bit uncomfortable and he looked away ashamedly.
"I'm sorry. I've just been a bit preoccupied lately." He said softly.
"With who?" I replied sourly.
"Annika."
"So that's her name!" I exclaimed before realizing that I had made a very stupid mistake.
"You've noticed me with her?" asked Draco amusedly.
"Erm, hasn't everyone?" I replied quickly.
"Well I'm not too sure Crabbe and Goyle have even noticed that we're in sixth year, much less that I've been hanging around with her." He joked half-heartedly then looking at me seriously.
I felt his gaze travel over my probably still red eyes and tear-stained cheeks and suddenly felt extremely embarrassed. It was as though he could see through me and completely know what I was going through.
"Have you been crying, Hermione?" he asked softly.
"None of your business."
"It is my business!"
"Prove it."
He smiled mockingly at me and settled himself in the armchair next to me looking at me with his head cocked sideways.
"You know, you've definitely grown more beautiful in the past few years, even though I wouldn't like to admit it." He remarked gently. And before I could stop it, my cheeks began to flush.
"What are you talking about, Draco?!" I exclaimed incredulously, furiously trying to deny it.
"You of course! I mean Annika for some reason couldn't come through here with me.." He trailed off uncomfortably and squirmed in his seat.
"What were you going to do here anyway?" I asked curiously.
"I don't know. I wanted to ask her out, you know in a 'romantic' way." He replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Here? How did you find your way here anyhow?" I asked, voicing my thoughts.
"I just stumbled upon this place about a month back after the bathroom - so what about you?"
"Same. It was after that night in the Prefect's bathroom and I was trying to avoid Filch and his cat, then I slipped through the wall and found this place!" I giggled at the memory and I realized with a shock that it had been awhile since I had laughed genuinely.
"So we must've been in here at the same time." Draco suddenly said, and realization dawned on me as well.
"Funny, I never thought someone else was in here as well." I said slowly, then something caught my eye and I realized that something was glittering in the palm of Draco's hand, "Hey, what have you got in your hand?"
"Nothing, it was just something that I was going to give Annika." He opened his palm to illustrate his point and my breath caught in my throat. It was my necklace!
"How did you get that?!" I burst out, my eyes widening.
"Actually, now that I think back I found it in here!" he said after a moment's thought, "Why?"
"That's mine." Yes, the silver chain, the beautiful angel with the crystal set in the middle was all identical. A huge weight lifted from my heart as I set eyes upon it again and I nearly sighed out loud in relief. I had found it again.
"Really? Well, sorry about that. I had absolutely no idea! And to think I was going to give this to Annika.." Draco said with raised eyebrows. Then he handed it to me and I stretched out my hand to catch it but it slipped through my grasp and we both watched it slink to the floor.
"I'll get it." We both said in unison and together we reached down to pick it up. As I straightened up with the necklace securely held in my warm hand, my lips suddenly brushed against Draco's in a chaste kiss and a flicker of emotion went through me. I blushed a deep red and I began to apologize.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry I didn't mean -" But before I could finish my his lips captured mine again and I would never forget the lustful look in his eyes as he held me and continued to explore my mouth with his and the way that his tongue delved into my mouth itself and intertwined itself with mine.
By instinct I did some exploring myself, tracing the contours of his soft lips with my tongue, feeling a sharp sense of pleasure when he moaned into my mouth as my hand ran up and down the back of his robes. But when he let his hand rest on my hip, continuing to kiss me I was suddenly jolted back to reality.
"We shouldn't, god it's so wrong a Slytherin and a Gryffindor.." I stammered, struggling to regain my breath as I broke away from the kiss.
"It doesn't matter, no one needs to know." He replied, his voice husky once again, his eyes heavy with passion. He kissed me again deeply, this time actually taking my breath away with surprise and he pushed me down onto the carpet settling himself comfortably on top of me.
"How the hell did I ever stop liking you?" he breathed into my ear, planting butterfly kisses all along my neck, "How did I let Annika take your place?"
"What?!" I gasped, looking at him incredulously.
"You know, she's just got outer beauty. At least yours comes from within as well." He replied with a wink, "Don't be so surprised."
"No, I mean did you just say that you liked me?!" I choked out and his hand continued to run all along my body with a feather-light touch.
"Is it that unbelievable?"
"Yes." I replied softly, looking at him intently now. He stopped his massaging and looked at me as well, sensing that I was going to continue, "Because I liked you too."
"What?!" he spluttered, getting off me in shock, he sat down beside me instead looking at me with disbelief painted all over his face, "And you never told me?! All this time I was with Annika.." I shrugged, sitting up to face him defiantly,
"You seemed very taken with her; it's been three days already..anyway, its not as though we could ever be an item. A Slytherin and a Gryffindor just don't go together." I said nonchalantly.
"I was very taken with her, she's very attractive, haven't you noticed?" he replied pointedly.
"I haven't but obviously the rest of the school has." I replied bitterly, hearing that he moved closer to me and motioned for me to hug him. I obeyed, letting myself lean against his strong, broad chest, feeling how safe I felt with him.
"You know, as clichéd as this sounds I don't want this night to end, I guess I've come to my senses..and realized what I really want." He whispered in my ear, making me get a warm fuzzy feeling and want to hug him even more.
"Me either." I replied, with a definite tone to my voice, "But you understand that whatever happened just then cant go beyond these walls."
"I know." He sighed defeatedly and instead brought me closer to him. I really didn't understand him, one minute he was all over Annika and the next moment he was sincerely telling me about his feelings for me. I sighed myself and just reveled in this calm tranquility that I now associated with Draco.
He nudged my arm and gestured towards my palm, hinting that maybe I would like to open my palm up. I did, and he took the exquisite necklace from me and swept my hair off my shoulders, gently putting it on, everywhere he touched was literally on fire.
But with that feeling of joy also came guilt. Everyone would despise us, if we ever had a relationship, or if everyone ever found out that we harbored feelings for each other. I snapped back to reality.
"I don't know what I'm going to do about this. But you know what? I think that we should just get on with our lives and forget about this. I mean I honestly don't even believe that we could ever be together. It's just so damn inconceivable that it's extremely possible that it's not true!" I said getting out of his warm clutches.
Standing up, I looked back down at him where he sat looking at me with confused eyes, "What I mean is that we should just forget about all this, I mean I can tell that it's just lust. We're both going to get hurt in the end and it's just not worth it."
I turned around not wanting him to see me crying, and I choked out my last words, struggling to keep my voice neutral.
"Bye Draco. And good luck with your new girlfriend, I hope it all works out for you and Annika."
Draco's POV
"Hermione!" I began to protest but she was already gone, and I hung my head in self-disgust, not knowing what to do.
'Damn, Draco you just let her slip out of your reach again. She so obviously doesn't trust you, so why don't you try and gain her trust?!' said that annoying little voice in my head.
I sighed exasperatedly, knowing that at the rate that I was going at I would only land myself in more trouble, especially if father knew that I was associating with a Mudblood.
But god, the feeling of her writhing below me in pure pleasure was just so incredible. Now I couldn't get her out of my mind, and I was really cross with myself at the way that I had been acting for the past couple of days, acting as though Hermione never existed..giving everything up for Annika.
But Hermione was right, maybe what we felt for each other was only lust, nothing more. It was true that we would just both get hurt in the end, not just by each other but everyone else who would oppose our relationship. But at the same time I really didn't care about who didn't like us being together, all I wanted to do was to hold her in my arms and do whatever I pleased with her without criticism.
The memory of kissing her was already leaving me breathless and I remembered the exhilaration I felt when I had first felt her soft lips brushing against mine, making my pulse start racing.
I really needed to sort out my feelings, to identify what I felt for Annika and what I felt for Hermione, because honestly, someone's going to get hurt and I have a funny feeling that it's going to be Hermione..
And so I left the common room confused, frustrated and very lightheaded, wondering what the next day would bring.
Hey everyone!
I had a very hard time writing this chapter and I'm very sorry if some of you are just as confused as Draco and Hermione are. But hey, there was some action eh? =)
Ok, so just to clear things up, what I'm trying to say in this chapter [and the last one too] is that Draco is mesmerized by Annika but he feels something special for Hermione, and she feels it too.
And now that they both know that they both have feelings for each other they're completely lost about they're going to do about it, because they're afraid of the consequences and what people are going to think about them.
Also, I'm sorry about how long it took for these two clueless lovebirds to get to this stage, because I wanted to try to portray them as realistically as possible, and that didn't include falling head over heels in love in the space of one chapter, so yeah!
Thanks everyone [including the silent readers] for supporting me and waiting so patiently for the romance to begin!
So read on to see what happens on the "Next Episode of Never Say Never!"
Ciao folks! [please review]
psychohart