Alright, before you read, let me just clear up a few things. 1) I goofed. FluffyTheFlammableKitten pointed out that the Whomping Willow was planted at the Marauder's time at Hogwarts and wouldn't have been there 412 years ago. So please excuse that. 2) Yes, there is a wooden bridge...well...at least in the video game. And yes, there are a few things I've taken from the video games. Sorry bout that too. and 3) the page breaks are just like...a space. Cus not everything is simultaneous. Just look at the pagebreaks as passages of time. OK, if you have any more questions feel free to ask! Now! Onto the fourth installment!
Chapter 4
Hermione had given up touching anything after what happened with the plant life. With her luck she'd accidentally pull up a Mandrake and kill both herself and Draco. So currently she was in somewhat of a fetal position on the ground trying to retain body heat. Draco was sitting with his head tucked into his chest with his eyes closed, sitting on a table across the room.
Hermione rubbed her arms and tried to doze off. Right when she felt as though she was on the verge of sleep, or at least a daydream, she was alerted by a sound from across the room. Hermione peered through one eye to see that Draco had stood up and was pacing back and forth. He tested his cloak to see how dry it was.
'Judging by his reaction it mustn't be dry yet,' Hermione thought closing her eyes again. She soon became aware of someone's stare across her back.
'Must be staring at my bra or something. Everyone knows white under white plus water don't mix well,' Hermione thought, shifting slightly on the ground.
Even after she shifted she knew he hadn't looked away. She didn't really care about her shirt at this point, and her skirt wasn't revealing anything.
'So what the bloody hell is he staring at?' she thought angrily.
"Come here," he mumbled through his tremblingly cold lips.
"What?" Hermione said, shocked that he had said something.
"I said, come here," he repeated.
"Why?" Hermione said eyeing him suspiciously.
"Just come here!" Draco said impatiently. Hermione shrugged and stood up and walked over to him. She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to one side.
"Well?" Hermione asked.
In a flash of white and white, Draco was on top of Hermione.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?!" Hermione yelled, thinking Draco was trying to attack her.
"Hold still, Granger!" Draco said through gritted teeth. The girl relaxed when she felt two arms encircle her waist and stop moving.
"What?" Hermione squeaked into his chest.
"Body heat," he murmured.
"Oh..." she replied, her own arms encircling the blonde boy's waist.
"You're warm," Hermione commented. She felt his chest lurch with a snort.
"Thanks I guess," Draco smirked. Hermione cuddled deeper into his arms. The vibrations of his voice felt good.
"What do you we do now?" Hermione asked.
"Mmm...not sure," Draco replied.
"Should we try and make a fire?"
"How? We can't use magic, remember?" Draco reminded the girl in his arms. It was Hermione's turn to snort now.
"There are other ways to make fire besides magic," she said.
"How?"
"We'll need some wood, and two rocks, maybe some metal," Hermione said.
"Mmm, ok," Draco mumbled, closing his eyes.
"Umm...it might be better if we split up for a minute," she reminded Draco, who still held a firm hold around her waist. Draco instantly let go, and coughed a little as he blushed. Hermione smiled.
'He's cute when he blushes,' she thought warmly.
"Now let's see, are there any metal items, like tools?" Hermione said as she scanned the room.
"Oh! There's a trowel over there by those Mandrakes!" Malfoy said.
He walked across the room and picked it up, waving it in the air triumphantly before returning and setting it on the table.
"Now we need wood...and a lot of it," Hermione said. There was plenty of wood in the room, the problem was, it was all in furniture form; chairs, tables, etc.
"Should we break up the tables and chairs?" Draco said.
"I suppose we must. Let's start with that chair over there," Hermione directed.
Draco lifted the chair up and carried it over to where Hermione was. He set it down upside down and stood there for a moment, pondering on how to efficiently break it. Placing his foot on the seat of the chair, he pulled the pegs of the back of it out, one by one until the chair looked like a stool. Hermione picked up the pegs and assembled them in a pile.
"Keep breaking up stuff, I'll go try to find a rock or something," Hermione said.
"Be careful, don't get eaten by another Venus Fly trap!" Draco called after her. Hermione blushed at the joke, but puffed out her chest and kept looking.
Hermione walked by the tall growths growing on the center tables. They were huge and green and lush, but odorless as far as she could tell. A plastic flap hung from the ceiling, and Hermione lifted it and ducked under it, making sure not to touch the Abyssinian Shrivelfig. She raised her head and her eyes grew wide.
Umbrella sized flowers hung from the ceiling in an assortment of warm colors. Reds, pinks, oranges, yellows! Each flower petal must have been a half a foot in diameter! It was absolutely lovely! Remembering her mission, Hermione cleared her head and looked about for more tools. Maybe she would be able to find another trowel.
Hermione sifted through piles of fertilizer and empty pots, searching behind or inside each one, hoping for a lucky break. Everyone now and then she'd jump back in shock when she crossed paths with a spider, but it usually glared at her and scurried on its way. Hermione was just about to give up when she saw an old tool box out of the corner of her eye. Inside there was a hammer, some nails...and another trowel!
Hermione couldn't believe her luck as she happily skipped back towards the front of the greenhouse, trowel in hand. She ducked under the plastic canvas once more and smiled at the sight she saw. Draco had his sleeves rolled up, and he was pulling the leg off a chair. He had a very light sweat sheen across his forehead and Hermione watched with rapt attention as he mustered up one giant tug. He fell backwards a bit, but caught himself before he fell.
Draco wiped his brow with the back of his hand, throwing the chair leg on the growing stack of wood. He looked up and saw Hermione, then glanced at the other trowel in her hand.
"Alright, we have the tools, now what do we do?" Draco said.
"Now, we must strike the metal parts of the trowels together to try and form a spark," said Hermione as she picked up the two trowels and began to hit them together slowly. Draco sat down opposite her and watched.
Hermione's movements weren't slow, but they weren't quick enough to do any good. Draco decided to wait a few more minutes before he intervened. It was fascinating to watch the brunette beauty try so hard at something so physical. Draco blinked hard. No, he wouldn't think that right now.
Meanwhile, Hermione's arms and hands were getting tired from the monotonous movements. She paused and looked up at Draco and smiled sheepishly. Draco rolled his eyes and held out his hands, motioning for her to hand the instruments to him. Hermione grinned again and gladly handed the trowels over to him.
"It's not –strike- that –strike- hard!" Draco said in between hard thrusts.
"You just got to make the movements fast and hard," he said. His mind reacted and he looked up mischievously, seeing if Hermione had caught the innuendo. Obviously she had, for she started at her hands in her lap, blushing furiously. Draco wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing so it was no surprise what happened next.
"Ack!" Draco hissed, dropping the trowels and holding his left hand.
"Are you alright?!" Hermione asked automatically.
"Yeah, just cut myself," he said, revealing his hand, which was bleeding profusely from the gaping across his palm. Hermione winced at the sight. She looked around and saw some rags sitting behind a mandrake. She got up and carefully removed the cloth and shook the dirt off of it. Now what was she going to use to clean it?
'Of course you dimwit! The rain! I guess I've gotten so used to the sound I sort of tuned it out!' Hermione thought.
She walked over and pushed the door open a crack and stuck her arm out. She could feel the gigantic water droplets landed on her forearm, tickling it as they ran around it and dripped of the underside of her arm. She extended her left arm out further, waiting for it to get damp, as she modestly held her skirt down with her right hand.
When the rag was sufficiently damp, she removed her arm from the rain and closed the door. She kneeled down next to Draco who nursed her arm in his lap, and gently swabbed the blood off of it. She handed it to Draco to clean while she brought out the other rag. She nudged his hand a little and gave herself room to tie it. Folding it evenly she laid it out across the wound and tied it near the back of his hand.
"You really should be more careful," Hermione said as she double knotted it.
"Yeah I know," Draco conceded.
"I suppose that puts a damper on our plans," Hermione sighed dejectedly.
"No. I'll pay more attention this time. I just need a good clean strike and I should have it!"
"Fine, fine. Have it your way. But just be more careful," she said.
"I will, mom," he joked.
Draco picked up the trowels and spread them apart. He concentrated on one of them, reeling the other backwards. In one strong swoop the trowels collided and a spark leapt into the wood.
"Yes!" Hermione cried, clapping her hands together happily.
"Wait! Don't move!" Draco said, putting his hands out to signal her to keep her joviality to a minimum. He slowly got down on his hands and knees and knelt before the fire. Blowing ever so softly, Draco began to stoke the fire. After a couple of soft blows, the fire sprang from log to log, and soon a small blaze began to burn!
"Hah! Guess who just created a fire?" Draco said proudly. He stood up from where he was and paraded around. Hermione didn't readily join in.
"One problem, Einstein," Hermione said.
"Oh? And what's that?" Draco said, determined not to let the girl below him dash his pride.
"The smoke. Where's it going to go? We need to ventilate it otherwise we'll die of asphyxiation. We'll run out of oxygen in a little while!"
"Let's just crack open the door then,"
"It's not that simple. The wind would blow in and blow it out, or water could flood in and drown it," she said.
"Fine...Let's just crack open a window then!" Draco said. Hermione looked around. She hadn't thought of that.
"Oh, right then. Let's open the windows; but only a little!" Hermione warned.
"I know, I know," Draco rolled his eyes as he bent the windows out. As soon as a fair amount of windows had been opened, Draco and Hermione sat around the small fire.
"What now?" Draco asked.
"Now...we wait" Hermione said, rubbing her shoulders as she stared blankly into the fire.
Alright! That's it for chapter four! Please review. FYI for all my fantastic readers: I'll be going on vacation from 7/8 - 7/24. I'm not sure if I'll have internet access where I am, but you can bet your butt I'll have an assortment of stories to post when I return! Ok! Until the next chapter!
-Love, the English-Foxlette
Chapter 4
Hermione had given up touching anything after what happened with the plant life. With her luck she'd accidentally pull up a Mandrake and kill both herself and Draco. So currently she was in somewhat of a fetal position on the ground trying to retain body heat. Draco was sitting with his head tucked into his chest with his eyes closed, sitting on a table across the room.
Hermione rubbed her arms and tried to doze off. Right when she felt as though she was on the verge of sleep, or at least a daydream, she was alerted by a sound from across the room. Hermione peered through one eye to see that Draco had stood up and was pacing back and forth. He tested his cloak to see how dry it was.
'Judging by his reaction it mustn't be dry yet,' Hermione thought closing her eyes again. She soon became aware of someone's stare across her back.
'Must be staring at my bra or something. Everyone knows white under white plus water don't mix well,' Hermione thought, shifting slightly on the ground.
Even after she shifted she knew he hadn't looked away. She didn't really care about her shirt at this point, and her skirt wasn't revealing anything.
'So what the bloody hell is he staring at?' she thought angrily.
"Come here," he mumbled through his tremblingly cold lips.
"What?" Hermione said, shocked that he had said something.
"I said, come here," he repeated.
"Why?" Hermione said eyeing him suspiciously.
"Just come here!" Draco said impatiently. Hermione shrugged and stood up and walked over to him. She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to one side.
"Well?" Hermione asked.
In a flash of white and white, Draco was on top of Hermione.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?!" Hermione yelled, thinking Draco was trying to attack her.
"Hold still, Granger!" Draco said through gritted teeth. The girl relaxed when she felt two arms encircle her waist and stop moving.
"What?" Hermione squeaked into his chest.
"Body heat," he murmured.
"Oh..." she replied, her own arms encircling the blonde boy's waist.
"You're warm," Hermione commented. She felt his chest lurch with a snort.
"Thanks I guess," Draco smirked. Hermione cuddled deeper into his arms. The vibrations of his voice felt good.
"What do you we do now?" Hermione asked.
"Mmm...not sure," Draco replied.
"Should we try and make a fire?"
"How? We can't use magic, remember?" Draco reminded the girl in his arms. It was Hermione's turn to snort now.
"There are other ways to make fire besides magic," she said.
"How?"
"We'll need some wood, and two rocks, maybe some metal," Hermione said.
"Mmm, ok," Draco mumbled, closing his eyes.
"Umm...it might be better if we split up for a minute," she reminded Draco, who still held a firm hold around her waist. Draco instantly let go, and coughed a little as he blushed. Hermione smiled.
'He's cute when he blushes,' she thought warmly.
"Now let's see, are there any metal items, like tools?" Hermione said as she scanned the room.
"Oh! There's a trowel over there by those Mandrakes!" Malfoy said.
He walked across the room and picked it up, waving it in the air triumphantly before returning and setting it on the table.
"Now we need wood...and a lot of it," Hermione said. There was plenty of wood in the room, the problem was, it was all in furniture form; chairs, tables, etc.
"Should we break up the tables and chairs?" Draco said.
"I suppose we must. Let's start with that chair over there," Hermione directed.
Draco lifted the chair up and carried it over to where Hermione was. He set it down upside down and stood there for a moment, pondering on how to efficiently break it. Placing his foot on the seat of the chair, he pulled the pegs of the back of it out, one by one until the chair looked like a stool. Hermione picked up the pegs and assembled them in a pile.
"Keep breaking up stuff, I'll go try to find a rock or something," Hermione said.
"Be careful, don't get eaten by another Venus Fly trap!" Draco called after her. Hermione blushed at the joke, but puffed out her chest and kept looking.
Hermione walked by the tall growths growing on the center tables. They were huge and green and lush, but odorless as far as she could tell. A plastic flap hung from the ceiling, and Hermione lifted it and ducked under it, making sure not to touch the Abyssinian Shrivelfig. She raised her head and her eyes grew wide.
Umbrella sized flowers hung from the ceiling in an assortment of warm colors. Reds, pinks, oranges, yellows! Each flower petal must have been a half a foot in diameter! It was absolutely lovely! Remembering her mission, Hermione cleared her head and looked about for more tools. Maybe she would be able to find another trowel.
Hermione sifted through piles of fertilizer and empty pots, searching behind or inside each one, hoping for a lucky break. Everyone now and then she'd jump back in shock when she crossed paths with a spider, but it usually glared at her and scurried on its way. Hermione was just about to give up when she saw an old tool box out of the corner of her eye. Inside there was a hammer, some nails...and another trowel!
Hermione couldn't believe her luck as she happily skipped back towards the front of the greenhouse, trowel in hand. She ducked under the plastic canvas once more and smiled at the sight she saw. Draco had his sleeves rolled up, and he was pulling the leg off a chair. He had a very light sweat sheen across his forehead and Hermione watched with rapt attention as he mustered up one giant tug. He fell backwards a bit, but caught himself before he fell.
Draco wiped his brow with the back of his hand, throwing the chair leg on the growing stack of wood. He looked up and saw Hermione, then glanced at the other trowel in her hand.
"Alright, we have the tools, now what do we do?" Draco said.
"Now, we must strike the metal parts of the trowels together to try and form a spark," said Hermione as she picked up the two trowels and began to hit them together slowly. Draco sat down opposite her and watched.
Hermione's movements weren't slow, but they weren't quick enough to do any good. Draco decided to wait a few more minutes before he intervened. It was fascinating to watch the brunette beauty try so hard at something so physical. Draco blinked hard. No, he wouldn't think that right now.
Meanwhile, Hermione's arms and hands were getting tired from the monotonous movements. She paused and looked up at Draco and smiled sheepishly. Draco rolled his eyes and held out his hands, motioning for her to hand the instruments to him. Hermione grinned again and gladly handed the trowels over to him.
"It's not –strike- that –strike- hard!" Draco said in between hard thrusts.
"You just got to make the movements fast and hard," he said. His mind reacted and he looked up mischievously, seeing if Hermione had caught the innuendo. Obviously she had, for she started at her hands in her lap, blushing furiously. Draco wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing so it was no surprise what happened next.
"Ack!" Draco hissed, dropping the trowels and holding his left hand.
"Are you alright?!" Hermione asked automatically.
"Yeah, just cut myself," he said, revealing his hand, which was bleeding profusely from the gaping across his palm. Hermione winced at the sight. She looked around and saw some rags sitting behind a mandrake. She got up and carefully removed the cloth and shook the dirt off of it. Now what was she going to use to clean it?
'Of course you dimwit! The rain! I guess I've gotten so used to the sound I sort of tuned it out!' Hermione thought.
She walked over and pushed the door open a crack and stuck her arm out. She could feel the gigantic water droplets landed on her forearm, tickling it as they ran around it and dripped of the underside of her arm. She extended her left arm out further, waiting for it to get damp, as she modestly held her skirt down with her right hand.
When the rag was sufficiently damp, she removed her arm from the rain and closed the door. She kneeled down next to Draco who nursed her arm in his lap, and gently swabbed the blood off of it. She handed it to Draco to clean while she brought out the other rag. She nudged his hand a little and gave herself room to tie it. Folding it evenly she laid it out across the wound and tied it near the back of his hand.
"You really should be more careful," Hermione said as she double knotted it.
"Yeah I know," Draco conceded.
"I suppose that puts a damper on our plans," Hermione sighed dejectedly.
"No. I'll pay more attention this time. I just need a good clean strike and I should have it!"
"Fine, fine. Have it your way. But just be more careful," she said.
"I will, mom," he joked.
Draco picked up the trowels and spread them apart. He concentrated on one of them, reeling the other backwards. In one strong swoop the trowels collided and a spark leapt into the wood.
"Yes!" Hermione cried, clapping her hands together happily.
"Wait! Don't move!" Draco said, putting his hands out to signal her to keep her joviality to a minimum. He slowly got down on his hands and knees and knelt before the fire. Blowing ever so softly, Draco began to stoke the fire. After a couple of soft blows, the fire sprang from log to log, and soon a small blaze began to burn!
"Hah! Guess who just created a fire?" Draco said proudly. He stood up from where he was and paraded around. Hermione didn't readily join in.
"One problem, Einstein," Hermione said.
"Oh? And what's that?" Draco said, determined not to let the girl below him dash his pride.
"The smoke. Where's it going to go? We need to ventilate it otherwise we'll die of asphyxiation. We'll run out of oxygen in a little while!"
"Let's just crack open the door then,"
"It's not that simple. The wind would blow in and blow it out, or water could flood in and drown it," she said.
"Fine...Let's just crack open a window then!" Draco said. Hermione looked around. She hadn't thought of that.
"Oh, right then. Let's open the windows; but only a little!" Hermione warned.
"I know, I know," Draco rolled his eyes as he bent the windows out. As soon as a fair amount of windows had been opened, Draco and Hermione sat around the small fire.
"What now?" Draco asked.
"Now...we wait" Hermione said, rubbing her shoulders as she stared blankly into the fire.
Alright! That's it for chapter four! Please review. FYI for all my fantastic readers: I'll be going on vacation from 7/8 - 7/24. I'm not sure if I'll have internet access where I am, but you can bet your butt I'll have an assortment of stories to post when I return! Ok! Until the next chapter!
-Love, the English-Foxlette