Saturday 6:10 pm
Harry sat in the great hall across from Ginny, finishing up his food and shoving the plate away. He brushed his hair out of his eyes for the millionth time then looked at Ginny. She glanced up at him and grinned, she'd apparently finished eating before and was holding open a book, but she now closed it and put it in her bag.
"Hey Ginny, what do you think of Draco?" Harry asked, as his brain had been pondering this all day. Draco's change was stunning, and hard to accept. Harry kept finding himself starting to say nasty things to him, before remembering that as long as Draco was being nice, he could be nice as well.
"As in now?" Ginny asked and Harry nodded.
"He's changed a lot I suppose," Ginny said stating Harry's thoughts, "I didn't really know him as well as you guys did though."
"Well, what about how he and Hermione became friends," Harry said, wanting to know Ginny's thoughts on this. He couldn't help but wonder if the change had been sudden or if Hermione had worked the change on him. Hermione was very hesitant to say much about anything about what happened down there.
"They seem to know each other pretty well, Hermione disappear sometimes you know, I think she goes and talks to him," Ginny said.
Harry raised his eyebrows then thought back and realized that he hadn't really been spending that much time with her. He immediately felt guilty, realizing he'd been spending so much with Ginny that he'd rather abandoned Ron and Hermione. What was Ron doing through all this time?
11:56 pm
Hermione lay awake in bed staring into the darkness of the room. Finally not being able to take it anymore she stood up pulling on her robes and headed down into the common room. The fires were still lit, apparently someone was up, of course it was Saturday.
She padded softly down the stairs making no noise, hoping not to be noticed by whoever it was that was up. She was about to slip out of the common room when she thought she heard Harry's voice. She turned and realized it was Harry and Ginny sitting in front of the fire, talking softly. She paused, looking out into the dark hallways, and glanced back once more before stepping outside.
After walking a few steps down the hallway she thought back and realized that the second time she'd glanced back they hadn't been talking, in fact it'd looked like they were kissing. She stopping walking and turned around thinking of going back in there and asking them, but then realized, it was late at night, she'd probably imagined it.
Hearing a soft creak behind her she startled and nearly screamed then caught herself and stood still, her heart pounding. Then she bit her lip angrily, it had been nothing, the castle was old. She hated feeling so jumpy all the time, they used to into the forbidden forest at night, she could walk through the hallways! Then again, their wanderings in the forbidden forest had been what got her stuck down there in first place. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ears before she could start thinking about that and concentrated on where she was going. She realized she'd started heading for the lesser used part of the castle and soon found herself a door that had inconveniently been locked the last time she and Draco had walked by here. She pushed on it, and to her surprise it opened. Peering into the looming darkness she pulled out her wand and said lumos. In the soft light of her wand she saw stairs leading upwards, a tower probably. She was thinking of going back to the common room when she heard some footsteps and the grating voice of Filch. Without a second thought she slipped in and closed the door behind her heading up the stairs, hoping that Filch would not find the door unlocked and either come up the stairs and find her or lock the door trapping her in, unless he didn't magically lock it.
The stairs twisted around until she nearly bumped her head on a trap door, she pushed it open hesitantly to find herself at the top of a tower at the edge of the castle. The landscape unfolded before her, glowing white in the light of the moon. She walked to the edge and leaned on the wall closing her eyes softly and listening to the warm night breeze. The tower seemed abandoned and unused, luckily enough. Under the night sky she felt herself relaxing, her mind starting to drift, the tension easing out of it. And then, whether it was for happiness at being at Hogwarts again, at being in love, whether it was from sadness and stress, or both, she started crying. It felt good though, to let it all out, as though with her tears flowed memories, good ones and bad.
Sunday 12:20 am
Hermione stepped softly down the stairs pushing open the door, glad to find it unlocked after all. Filch was now no where in sight or sound, nor was Ms. Norris. She walked carefully down the hallways, keep her wand lit in front of her, making the hallways beyond the light seem even darker, but illuminating the area around her nicely.
After wandering a bit she realized she was in the deeper part of the school. The air cooler with a slightly wet smell of soft earth beyond the stones. The Slytherin dungeon was somewhere around here. As if in answer to her thoughts she heard the grating of stone against stone and felt her heart leap. If that was the dungeon door, it could be Draco or some Slytherin, if it wasn't, who knows what was wandering around down here?
She canceled the Lumos spell on her wand but kept it out in front of her as she edged quietly towards the sound of the door. When she came around the corner she saw a figure in a robe standing in the middle of the hallway. The wall behind him looked perfectly normal, probably the entrance though.
"Hello?" she asked softly. The person startled jerking his head around to look at her.
"Hermione?" he asked, and she immediately recognized the voice as Draco's. She grinned and ran up to him hugging him tightly.
"I take it your are Hermione then," he whispered softly in her ear with a soft chuckle. Then in the darkness of the unlit hallways he pressed his lips against hers, kissing her softly. Hermione kissed him back more firmly moving her arms up to wrap around his neck, feeling passion for him burn throughout her body. They finally broke apart gasping but a moment later Hermione pulled him back kissing him lightly this time.
"I love you," she whispered when they stopped, slightly out of breath.
"I love you too," Draco whispered bac, "You're perfect, the most amazing person I've ever known."
Hermione smiled feeling her heart lift in that time when she could forget everything except herself and Draco. She closed her eyes blissfully and leaned her head against his shoulder.
"There's always something good that comes out of the bad," he said thoughtfully. Hermione paused then glanced up at him, stopping to think.
"Yes, I suppose so," Hermione said, "I'd have never loved you if, if I hadn't got stuck down there."
"That doesn't matter though," Draco said reassuringly, seemingly reading her thoughts, knowing that what happened down there had been hard, "What matters is now, living life as it comes. Nothing will change that."
"Thank-you," Hermione told him, "for, helping me, through all this."
"I should thank-you," Draco said, "I don't know what would have happened to me without you either."
Hermione grinned then laughed, "Its so late. I need to sleep."
"Come on," Draco said turning back to the wall, "The slytherins always sleep til noon. We could use each other's comfort I think."
Hermione nodded and followed him into the Slytherin common room, smiling as she wondered how many Gryfindors ever saw the comfortable black leather sofa's and deep green rugs. Draco led her up the stairs into his dormitory where they slipped into his bed holding each other close as they let sleep drift over them.
A/N: I think I got this chapter up quicker than normal, unless I didn't. Only two more days of school left! Yay! Yeah, that was a random comment. I've had one person say they liked the idea of a third one.. what does everyone else think? Because if I don't write a third one, this one is going to be even longer than was going to be, well maybe just an extra chapter. Well, dedications to:
Balsam
Saiya-jin- Patricia
Snowbear
Dreammergurl2007
Crazy Poet
Marissa03
SkittlesStar25
Princess Rinoa