((A.N. Hi! Sorry about the huge delay, as always, but that term paper I have to write has really been taking up too much writing time! I wrote two huge chapters, and really I've just been saving up writing so you guys wouldn't have to wait so long in between chapters! I wouldn't blame you if you had to o back and read the last chapter just to recap! The next one will be post very soon, since it's already written and typed. This chapter contains a lot of Draco's thoughts, and some set up for later chapters. ))
Disclaimer: J.K. Owns. Everything. Plot? No.
The next morning Draco woke up in a cold sweat. The moment he opened his eyes he jumped out of bed and flung open the shutters of his window. He leaned out and sucked in the gentle morning air, trying to slow the rapid pace of his heart. He had experienced the rose garden dream again, but this time things were clearer than they'd ever been.
He had been walking again in the rose garden. Hundreds of velvet red roses lined the pathway, reaching out to him. All of them were beautiful and promising, but the scarlet roses were not what Draco was looking for. He was looking for something that had eluded him for too long. When he began to get frustrated, he saw a golden light in the corner of his vision. He turned to it, knowing that whatever was encompassed in the golden light was exactly what he longed for. Draco moved toward the golden light, finally getting close enough to see what lay inside. A beautiful golden rose shimmered in the predawn light. It was as magical and intoxicating as the scarlet roses, and a thousand times more beautiful. This flower was as pure and powerful as the Northern Star, shimmering alone in the sky.
Then a sword descended upon the golden rose's stem, wielded by the man with no face. It was at that moment that pain exploded in Draco as if the sword had been plunged into his own heart. He awoke with only a fraction of the pain still writhing inside him, but terrible pain. Certainly not something caused by a dream. No, not a dream.
He hated being confused, and confused was indeed what Draco was. Whenever he was around Hermione, he seemed to subconsciously let his guard down. Not a good thing to, ever, he reminded himself harshly. He felt different today. There were strange emotions inside of him, emotions he did not want to feel. Like the warm sensation he got when he heard Hermione's voice, or the odd thrill of looking at her. His mind kept telling him that these were weak feelings to have, petty feelings that only weak people got, but something else told him differently. Perhaps it was his heart, though Draco mused that his heart had never told him anything before this. With girls, Draco was always smooth and calculated. He only wanted one thing from them, and he got that easily enough, but with Hermione this was again different. With her he constantly found himself tongue-tied, or else flushed in the face. This was not Draco Malfoy, at least not the one he knew. Is it that bad? Am I not myself anymore?
Going to see her won't make things any better, he told himself. Yet even as these words flew through his mind, Draco found his feet carrying him to the dungeons.
_** ** ** ** **_
Hermione felt a great sense of relief when it was Draco who entered. At the same time, her heart pounded painfully in her chest. Get a hold of yourself. She thought savagely. This is Draco Malfoy you're dealing with!
Draco shut the door and turned to stare at her. After a few moments, he said, "It would be a hell of a lot easier for me to hate you, Gran-Hermione, you know that?"
"That it would, Malfoy, that it would," she said, using his last name as an impact. "But I learned long ago that it is not in our power to choose whom we hate or love."
Draco looked her in the eye and saw beauty far beyond her simple features.
"My father is at work until five," Draco said, as much to himself as to her. Hermione regarded him carefully.
"You don't mean to . . . " she stated cautiously, but Draco cut her off.
"I have a great idea," h said suddenly, his eyes lighting up, but face never changing. "It involves us getting you out of here, of course." At Hermione's disapproving glance, he added, "C'mon, Hermione, do something risky for once."
Hermione noticed his eyes, the subtle change in them. "Oh, all right," she said heavily. "If Lucius sees us together again, it's your turn to make up the excuse."
"I made up the excuse last time!" Draco said. "I thought that you were supposed to be the witty one." Hermione laughed coyly at this, and held out her forearms. Draco came over and took her hands, muttering the spell that undid the shackles.
Quietly they opened the cell door and snuck out, their footsteps barely making a sound on the stone floor. When they reached the final corner, Draco turned around to face Hermione.
"If something goes wrong and we run into my father, let me do the talking. If you cross him twice, he'll really have it in for you. I'll tell him it was my fault this time, I promise."
Hermione was so dumbfounded that she could only nod, her eyes wide. Was this really the same boy she had always known? Last time I checked, this guy didn't even have a heart, Hermione thought. But now . . .
Abruptly Draco turned around and opened the door. Once again the sunlight that hit Hermione's eyes momentarily blinded her. She recovered quickly, however, and looked down the hall. It looked so much less menacing than it had the night before, although still blank and morbid. Hermione couldn't help feeling as the house itself was soiled and evil, just as much as its inhabitants. She looked up to see a skylight, but the light barely seemed to filter through the glass. When she looked back around, she found that Draco had disappeared.
"Draco?" she called, not more than a whisper. She didn't know who could be in the other rooms.
Suddenly she heard footsteps and had the sudden mental image of Lucius looming in the doorway. Not thinking, she shrank into the shadows of the dark hall way like a cat in the night. As soon as she was hidden she realized that the footsteps were most likely. However, Narcissa buzzed into the hall way, looking more relaxed than Hermione had ever seen her. It occurred to her that this was probably because Lucius was not home. Without a glance at Hermione she passed into the next room. Hermione stood up cautiously before hearing more rapid footsteps. This time Draco rushed in, out of breath. He gave her a half smirk, saying, "You look pale. I told you my father's not home. I checked." Hermione nodded, relieved. She noticed now that in his hands he held two broomsticks; a Nimbus 2001 and a shiny new Firebolt.
"What are the broomsticks for?" Hermione asked apprehensively.
Draco gave her one of his scrutinizing looks. "They're for sweeping the floor, what did you think?" he said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Hermione laughed, but nervously. "We're not going to use them to . . . fly, are we?"
"What else would we use them for?" Draco said tightly, trying not to grind his teeth in frustration. Sometimes girls could be so thickheaded.
"Follow me," Draco said with more ease. As he led the way through the humongous mansion (Hermione was quite sure that she would have gotten lost without him) she said, "Draco, I'm terrible with a broom. Absolutely dreadful. You know I couldn't fly to save my life." Hermione just knew that she was going to make a fool of herself in front of Draco. Her heart began pounding painfully.
"I'll teach you, then," Draco said slowly. Finally they came to a large white door and once through it found themselves on a field of bright green grass. A fresh morning wind blew, and it reminded Hermione of how long she'd been in stale air. Trees surrounded them on three sides, and the high turrets of the Malfoy Mansion on the fourth.
Draco turned to her, making a valiant effort not to be distracted by her huge, abashed brown eyes that sparkled so willingly in the fresh light.
"How many times have you tried flying, Granger?" draco said in a slightly interrogative tone.
Hermione paused. "Well, once when we tried flying brooms in first year. Harry let me try his once too, but I crashed before I got into the air." Hermione blushed bashfully. She didn't want Draco to think that she had no coordination.
Draco paused for a moment, his smirk slackening. When that smirk is off his face, Hermione thought, he's absolutely overpowering.
A hard case, Draco mused. But hell, I taught Crabbe and Goyle how to fly, and they looked like gorillas on ice skates to start off with. Still do, come to think of it, But I'll teach her. I'll make her better than Potter.
"The problem is," he started slowly, "that you've never been properly taught, you see. You need a one-on-one teacher to learn how to fly a broom."
Hermione blushed at his choice of words, but regarded him carefully. "And what makes you think that you can be the one to teach me?"
Draco was apparently unabashed by this question, as he said, "I don't know you, and I've never seen you fly, so I have no predisposition about you whatsoever. We'll start with mounting your broom. It's done like this."
In one fluid motion, Draco swung his leg over the broom, balanced perfectly on the slick handle.
Hermione looked at him uncertainly and clumsily swung her leg over the broom handle. Draco immediately sensed a number of errors, but didn't mention them.
"Well . . . sort of. Just straighten your back a bit . . . " he cut off by Hermione toppling over sideways and landing with a thunk on the ground. The scene was so pitiful that Draco could not hold back a bark of laughter.
"You really are clumsier than Longbottom, Granger," Draco drawled profusely. Hermione couldn't keep the laughter out of her voice as she said, "You'd be surprised."
"Okay, let's try that again, slower this time," Draco said patiently. He had truly never seen anyone worse on a broom. Silky, Draco mounted his Firebolt. Hermione followed, a little less clumsily this time. Draco stared openly at her poor posture and terrible stance. Sighing, Draco put down his own broom. He strode over to where she was unsuccessfully trying to stay straight on her broom.
"Granger," Draco said from right behind her, making her jump. She turned to look at him, but he took is eyes off hers quickly.
"It's more like this." Draco put a gentle arm on her shoulders and the other lightly on the small of her back. Hermione shivered inwardly at his gentle touch, as he straightened her posture, tilting her shoulders back gingerly.
"Much better," Draco said quietly, almost as if to himself. He tried to keep his outward appearance as calm as possible but he was smiling inwardly at her soft innocence. She's gorgeous. Why haven't I ever noticed it before?
"Now that you've managed to sit on the broom properly," Draco said, trying and failing to keep the humor out of his voice, "We will try to lift off the ground."
Hermione's face paled visibly as Draco picked up his own broom. He mounted again, feeling slightly apprehensive about letting her fly on her own.
"Watch me," Draco said. He pushed off lightly with the balls of his feet, and swished a few feet into the air. His every movement was controlled and calculated . He hovered in the air and said, "Just push off lightly."
Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Lightly, she pushed off on the balls of her feet, drifting up to where Draco was hovering. She hovered next to him and smiled in amazement. After a few moments, her broomstick vibrated and she slipped to the left.
"Whoa!" Draco said suddenly, reaching out to stop her from slipping. He clasped his hand around her slender waist and she was forced to lean against him as he steadied her. It felt so perfect, clinging to his toned chest, and she moved away, not wanting to be too obvious. Slowly she lowered to the ground.
"Wow," Hermione said breathlessly. Draco decided not to think about exactly what she was talking about.
"See? There you go. You were flying, Granger."
Hermione smiled a dazzling, priceless smile directly at him. "I can't believe it," she said, almost a whisper. Draco felt a strong sense of accomplishment. He had made her happy, and he would remember that smile forever.
((A.N. Well? Was it too fluffy, not fluffy enough, or just right? Please tell me in your review!!!!))