Hermione opened her eyes slowly. They were lying in a tunnel just like before, but there were no death eaters to be seen. She starting to sit up but felt the same searing pain she'd felt before she'd blacked out. Moaning slightly she forced herself into a sitting position. Glancing around she saw Draco lying next to her. She reached over and touched his shoulder softly. His eyes flickered open and he smiled slightly seeing her. He eased himself up, blinking sleep out of his eyes, and by the way he winced, Hermione knew he'd felt the same pain.
"What did you do?" she asked him.
"I kissed you," Draco replied misinterpreting her question.
"No, I mean the spell," Hermione said.
"A spell for emergences, its not a very safe spell though," Draco said and groaned when he tried to stretch his arm.
"Why did you kiss me?" Hermione asked curiously.
"I love you," he replied simply amazed at his own bluntness. He'd worried about telling her anything, yet now, he'd kissed her, and he wasn't at all uncomfortable.
Hermione looked down confused, Draco Malfoy, a person she never thought she'd ever have even one civil conversation with.
"Since when?" she asked.
"Around when you got thrown into the cell with me," he explained then looked at her, "You're strong, and brave, not at all like I'd imagined, you're beautiful and smart, and nothing like the person I always imagined I'd fall in love with."
Hermione smiled and studied his face carefully. He no longer wore the scowl he almost always had as he prowled the hallways. He no longer had an air of mean arrogance. His eyes showed he looked at the world in a different light. He'd always been incredibly handsome, in every girl party she'd had with the other Gryfindor girls, his name had always come up, and always it was the same comment, "If only he wasn't a Slytherin."
Of course, it wasn't his being a Slytherin that was bad, it was that he was mean and a Slytherin, which, like everyone else, she'd always put together. Now though, he was still handsome, but not mean. Instead he was nice, and he didn't care about just himself. For one, he cared about her. He'd helped pull her through being tortured, just as she'd helped him too.
"Draco?" she asked.
"I'm here," he said. He was leaning against the wall breathing carefully. She could tell he was trying not to move too much. She too felt the sharp searing pain with every movement; she supposed it took a worse toll on him, as he was the one who actually cast the spell. Suddenly watching him, she felt incredibly light hearted. She felt herself smile slightly despite their situation.
"I think," she began, "I think, I love you too. I think I've loved you for a while now, except I didn't realize it."
Draco looked over at her surprise written on his face, all he could manage to say was "Really?"
Hermione nodded.
Draco pushed himself up into a position where he wasn't leaning against the wall, "May I kiss you?"
Hermione smiled and reached out to touch his face then said teasingly, "You didn't ask last time."
Draco smiled back and, taking her response as a yes, leaned over and kissed her. A moment later they pulled apart slightly breathless.
"I never thought I'd kiss a Slytherin," Hermione said jokingly.
Draco grinned, "As I never thought I'd kiss a Gryfindor."
"How exactly does that spell work anyway?" Hermione asked curiously.
"I don't know, but it'll keep us safe for a while," Draco said with a shrug, "My dad never fully explained it to me. Just that to only use it in a emergency."
"I'm glad he taught it to you," Hermione said, "Who knows where we'd be if he hadn't."
"Screaming in pain most likely," Draco said suddenly turning serious.
Hermione nodded frowning then asked, "What do we do now?"
"Continue with the plan and try to get out," Draco said shrugged.
"Can we walk at all?" Hermione asked tensing the muscles in her legs and wincing.
"I don't know," Draco said, "Shall we try?"
Hermione smiled slightly then pulled her legs underneath her so that she was in a crouching position, then leaning on the wall she slowly stood up. Her face was crunched up in pain but she stayed standing, "Merlin, what kind of spell is that anyway?"
Draco pulled himself up next to her and bit his lip to keep from moaning then said carefully, "One that should only be used in a life or death situation."
"At least its not as bad as torture," Hermione said leaning against the wall, "It hurts when I breathe even."
"According to the book human bodies weren't meant for spells like this. That's why you'll never learn it at school," Draco explained.
"You seem to know a lot of extra stuff," Hermione said.
"Well, with a library full of books on spells and the dark arts, you would," Draco said, "One of the benefits of having a rich and evil father."
"I thought you looked up to him," Hermione said tentatively.
"I thought I did too, all kids are like that, no matter what your parents are like you want to be like them, I kind of grew up like that, thinking of my dad as the greatest person in the world," Draco explained, "He brought me up giving me a death eaters view on the world, he was also mean and strict, he even hit me occasionally, but I still loved him, until he brought me here. That made me think. Hearing screams every night is something that sticks, it made me realize that the path I was taking was not quite the right one. I still think though that he was right on a lot of things, just mislead or something."
"Oh," Hermione said.
"The horrible thing is, I don't feel anything. He's my dad, and he died, and I don't feel anything," Draco said, "I know I should be sad, but I'm not. It makes me worry that I'm like him, I don't feel anything for people who die. That scares me."
"Its completely normal actually," Hermione said, "Right now, you're in a crisis, your brain is putting the less important emotions away so that you can deal with this first. Later it could suddenly all come crashing down and then you'll start to feel the pain."
"You really think that's it?" Draco asked giving her a curious look.
Hermione shook her head, "Not really."
"Then what?" he asked.
"I think that maybe when saw what death eaters were really like, and saw your dad just like them, that your subconsciously, I don't know, disowned yourself from him or something. To you he's not your father, he's just another death eater," Hermione explained then said quickly, "Of course, I could be wrong, I mean, he's not my father or anything…"
"No, I think that could be right," Draco said slowly, "Or maybe both of them are right. I don't know. Lets just get out here."
Hermione smiled, "Right."
A/N: I think I am drowning in cheese. Did this chapter feel cheesy to you? It did to me. Then again I'm the author and things like that get amplified. It's like when you do something very small that was embarrassing to you, but other people probably didn't even notice and if they did they forgot it the next day. I feel like this is some old-fashioned romance movie. This chapter was hard to write.
moonhowler- Hey Lindsay, I'm glad you came back to read more chapters of this story! I'll go read some of poetry, soon, next time I get the chance to go to fictionpress.com
nilla- Getting chapters up as quick as I can! Been busy with school supplies and cleaning and all that what not. Last day of summer vacation.
EclipseAzNGTX- Thank you, I'm glad you like this story! Been working on it a long time! There's still plenty of chapters to come, so please come back and read more!
Mara- When I write a story I kind of try to put myself in their place. Did I already say that? A lot of my own thoughts I put into this story, which I think you kind of have to do in order to make a story good, put yourself into it.
duochang97- Well, now you know what the spell was, but you still don't know about Ron and Harry. There will be lots more Ron and Harry in upcoming chapters, I promise!
Caitlin- This chapter is cheesier than the last I think. The next chapter isn't cheesy though, I don't think.
Miyukisetsu- Fluff and Cheese are good If you don't put too much, its hard to put in just the right amount, it always feels like too little or way too much. Ho hum.
Marrisa03- Thanks! I think I got this chapter up quicker, unless I didn't, but I think I did. Heh.
Skyler- Thanks! I can't believe it has this many reviews! All these faithful reviewers! I've never had faithful reviewers before!
Lady Lanet- Don't worry they'll all be okay in the end. Har har har. You know writing these responses to reveiws takes the longest time? Tee hee, its fun though.
Jaded4- This chapter is longer as are the upcoming ones, I think. This one might only be a page, but yeah..