Thursday 7:50 am
Draco was waiting in one of the abandoned hallways, one that wasn't really near anything at all. He was leaning against a wall, staring out a window at the Hogwarts grounds, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Morning Draco," she said when she was right beside him. He hadn't heard her come up at all and jumped, whipping his head around. He laughed when he saw it was her, but she couldn't help but feel guilty, knowing he'd jumped so bad in reflex like they had down in the tunnels, hundreds of meters beneath the surface.
"Morning love," he said wrapping her up in a hug and spinning her around before kissing her softly on the lips. She felt the tingly, floaty, giddiness wash over her. She leaned closer to him, warmth followed the tingling making her aware of all the places they touched, as she felt hot sweet passion for this person who had once been her most hated enemy. When they pulled apart she laughed, feeling light-headed.
Sunlight poured through the window making Draco's pale blond hair seem almost gold, in contrast to his silvery eyes. She studied his eyes, feeling as though they were looking into each other's souls, all their emotions of pure love, trust, and caring, displayed so openly there. His strong face, defiant, yet somehow, so kind.
Hermione leaned her head against him hearing the steady rhythm of his heart, proving that though he was a Slytherin, he was human like anyone else, with a heart, feelings, and thoughts.
After several minutes of finding happiness solely in each other's presence, Draco spoke up again.
"How are you classes going?" he asked curiously.
"Good, they just started be off where I was, so I have 100% in all my classes seeing as I've taken no tests so far, and in most of them you don't have to get the homework right, you just have to do it. I can't help but feel they're being easy on the whole class so I can have some time to catch up," she told him.
"Hm, I had that feeling too, when I first started," Draco said then added with a teasing smile, "Nothing wrong though if they are. Of course, you being the person you are would not have anyone help you, you must go through life without leaning on everyone, proving you can do it."
"Don't be poetic, learning is important," she said laughingly then said, "And my parents are coming out again to stay for a week."
"They came for a few a week right after we got back, you'd already sunk into your coma then though, I don't know if you remember," Draco told her.
Hermione shrugged, "My father has work, so they probably couldn't have stayed longer, I think he get's a spring break though. We used to always go on vacation to somewhere different every break, and he'd always read all the manuals and stuff and spout off random information about the historic sights and animal and plants."
"I'll bet your one of those blood is thicker than water families," he said jokingly.
Hermione grinned mischievously then said, "Blood is thicker than water, and much tastier."
Draco grinned as well and laughed, "You have a wicked streak my love!"
Thursday 7:00 pm
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Sen sat quietly on the mossy floor of Firenze's classroom meditating, or attempting to meditate.
Draco felt rather excluded from the group ever since Hermione had woken up, but then he'd never been in their group in the first place. Harry and Ron apparently also decided to spend as much time as possible with Hermione, barely letting her out their site. When Draco was there, Harry and Ron seemed to try to exclude him. He was getting annoyed, especially since he was clearly showing sincere interest in being their friend and in being a nicer person.
He opened his eyes a crack to see everyone else apparently concentrating, or rather not concentrating at all, with their eyes closed. Draco opened his eyes all the way and glanced at Hermione, she was sitting between Harry and Ron, while Draco, Ginny and Sen sat on the other side of the circle. She was looking brilliant, a peaceful and happy expression on her face. Her beautiful hair-which, Draco almost laughed remembering this, he had once teased for being bushy- was as usual pulled back. Bushy wasn't the word he would use to describe it now though, it was bushy, but not really in a bad way, straight hair was worse, when curlier hair was pulled back it looked nice, when straight hair was pulled back it looked like you were bald.
Draco reached out and brushed one of the stray strands behind her ears. Hermione's eyes flickered open. He grinned and held a finger to lips telling her to stay silent, then glanced at Harry and Ron. Blowing a kiss to her, he mouthed I love you.
Hermione smiled and rolled her eyes at him, pretending to be annoyed, but obviously not. She mouthing the same words back, her eyes sparkling, then closed her eyes biting her lip to keep from chuckling. Draco glanced at Harry and Ron again to make sure neither of them had seen any of this, wondering what they would think if they had, before closing his own eyes again.
Half an hour later Sen called to a end of the meditating part of class. Hermione seemed to like Sen rather well, Sen had been cautious at first, knowing she'd kissed Hermione's lover. Hermione had also been uncomfortable having never met Sen before, of course neither had Draco before two weeks ago. Harry and Ron had the chance to get to know her since the school year started, but apparently either hadn't known of the new transferred student, or hadn't really bothered. Draco suspected Sen had confronted Hermione about that kiss as well, and guessed that all was well.
"You guys ever heard of a coven? As long as we're all still at Hogwarts, why don't we form one?" Sen asked with a smile.
"A coven?" Ron questioned curiously.
"It's a wiccan thing, wicca is a religion, mainly for witches and wizards, but muggles can be wiccan also. You invoke magic with your mind as well as spells, which is kind of what we've been doing hear, actually a lot of what I've been telling you about is wiccan, it has a lot to do with calling on magic, using symbols, nature and being a good person and stuff. Some of the soul stuff isn't really wiccan, but we believe in reincarnation and this place kind of like heaven where you kind of gather yourself together before moving on to the next life. Muggles can be wiccan also, doing magic with their mind, without actually being magical themselves. It isn't as accurate, and it's a lot harder, and its more like praying than doing magic, buts its all the same," Sen explained.
"Ah," Ron said, only some of that sinking in apparently, "But what's a coven?"
"A group of witches and wizards that form a group to practice magic," Sen told them, "It also makes us stronger, we can combine spells more easily if we're linked as a coven, probably find a way to get rid of You-Know-Who's soul even."
"So this is what it leads to," Draco said. He saw Harry and Ron glance at him, still unsure of what his role was in this group.
"I know where to find the spells," Hermione said brightly, obviously looking forward to research. Draco grinned and was about to make some comment, when he realized that would sound, way too, like he knew Hermione better than he was letting on.
"So we form a coven and combine our powers using some spells and invoking a gods magic?" Harry asked not quite sure what to make of all this.
Sen nodded, "You guys probably already believe in the Lord and Lady, am I correct? Most witches and wizards do, if they believe in any god at all, kind of like a race thing, like a lot of Indians being Hindus. Except its kind of like a default, the Lord and Lady."
Draco nodded, he had often referred to the lord and the lady, sometimes god though, except god was the lord.
"Why don't you guys go do some research of your own," Sen suggested, "I'm not trying to convert you, you don't have to be wiccan or whatever to form a coven, wiccan mixes in with witches and wizards in general, most of them just aren't practicing wiccans or whatever."
"So we'll talk again tomorrow, same time?" Ginny asked. Harry noticed, speaking up for the first time through the whole lesson. Ginny tended to be like that, shy in big groups, talkative when they were alone. Even though Ron was his best friend, it was Ginny with whom he got into long conversations with. They didn't always talk the whole time though.
A/N: A lot of talking in this chapter, about ah, wicca and stuff. I studied wiccan for a while, wouldn't say I ever really was one though. It's a interesting religion. The soul stuff though is my own theories that I made, like many humans do in seeking for the answers of life. :-P Thanks for all the reviews I got! They were all really great and inspiring!
Dedications To:
Princess Rinoa
Balsam
Marissa03
LiLbLueangeL1223
SkittlesStar25
Dreammergurl2007
shannon
CrazyPoet
Snowbear