A/N- Here's chapter 14, (I managed to get it on, replacing the original 14th chapter with mistakes) so I hope there aren't any more mistakes in here. Thanks for reading this far! But, I think it's time to give it a read…
CHAPTER FOURTEEN- The way they were.
The morning sun streamed in through the high window in Draco's dorm room and shone in his eyes. Groaning and blinking a few times, he sat up and yawned. Today he had classes, all of which Hermione was in.
It's not that he wanted to be with her or anything, but he enjoyed teasing her when only the two of them knew he didn't mean it. Seeing the looks of fury on Potter and Weasley's face's was always a Kodak moment, and the way Hermione acted as if it really bothered her (even though it didn't) always made him work to keep a smile off his face.
After breakfast, Draco collected the books he needed for Transfiguration and made his way to class with Crabbe and Pansy. Strutting by his side, she was wearing her 'I'm too cool' expression. Draco glanced at her and couldn't help but smirk himself. Pansy loved thinking that she ruled the school, all the while knowing that her apparent ignorance infuriated the other students.
"Where were you last night, Draco?" she asked him curiously
Draco cast her a sidelong glance. "I went out."
"Where?"
"To perform a disorientation spell on the Charms classroom, so when Professor Thickwit opened the doors this morning, nothing would be in it's right place. Chairs on the walls, Parchment covering the windows, that kind of thing."
"Uh-huh. Sure, sure." Pansy looked impressed at his well-prepared excuse. "Good one. I'll have to remember it. Now, where were you really?"
"None of your business." Draco said. He paused for a moment, then smiled at her. "Where were you two nights ago?"
Pansy giggled. "And that's none of your business."
"We're even then." Draco said smoothly. They continued through the halls of the school, eventually reaching the Transfiguration classroom moments before McGonagall arrived. As they filed into the room, Draco noticed Hermione, and 'accidentally' knocked her books out of her arms.
"Watch it." Hermione snapped, glaring at him as she retrieved her belongings from the floor. Draco smirked and gave her the slightest nudge with his knee. Hermione hadn't been very balanced as she knelt on the floor, and now she fell on to her backside.
"Now you're where you belong," Draco said simply, as if he had just helped her out. "have a nice day." Just before he turned to follow Pansy and Crabbe, he gave her a small wink. The corners of her mouth lifted very slightly, then the trace of a smile was gone as Weasley helped her to her feet.
"You should learn to back off, Malfoy." He warned.
"Come on students! To your seats now!" McGonagall shouted from the front of the class, before Draco could answer Weasley 'appropriately'. He shuffled to his seat next to Pansy and draped himself across it, sending Hermione a casual glance. She wasn't watching him though, but appeared to be busy laughing with Harry and Ron.
McGonagall taught the class with her usual strictness, not allowing Draco any time to chat or infuriate Hermione's friends. Once Transfiguration finished, Draco met up with Goyle as Crabbe and Pansy walked off to History class. "Hey Draco."
"Hi, Goyle. You've been neglecting your classes again." He chided with a smile. "Not that we did any thing interesting, but you did miss Hermione falling on her arse in front of the class."
"Bet Weasley wasn't too happy with that, assuming she fell due to a 'slip' of yours." Goyle chuckled.
Draco laughed. "Yep. He would have tried to pound me, like that's possible."
As they walked to their next class, Draco became aware of someone walking a few paces behind him. He stopped suddenly and was welcomed by the person colliding in to his back. Draco turned with a smirk, but removed it when he saw who it was.
"Chris? What are you doing?" The Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team stood unsteadily a few feet back, eyeing Draco nervously. He was a year younger than Draco, but was excellent at Quidditch and had received the Captain position.
"Just letting you know that the match against Ravenclaw is coming up really soon. So we've got training after school tomorrow. Is that ok?" Chris was shifting from foot to foot and not looking at Draco steadily.
"Sure, that's fine. Why didn't you just stop me and tell me before?"
"I didn't want to interrupt you." Chris looked behind him to where one of his friends was waiting. "I've got to get to class. Bye."
"See you tomorrow." Draco smiled slightly at Chris's urge to leave. As they continued on their way to Herbology, Goyle cast Draco a sidelong glance.
"Why is he so nervous around you?"
"He thinks I'm annoyed at him because he got the Captain position and I didn't. But to be honest, it's better to have someone else to blame if we lose." They reached the Herbology greenhouses as the rest of the class was filling in to the room. Professor Sprout set them up with weeding pots of fertilizer to ready them for the fourth years to plant seeds in.
"Why cant the fourth years do it themselves?" Draco shouted to Sprout, who was standing at the front of the greenhouse. Heads turned to look at him, but even the Gryffindor's seemed to agree with his question. They all looked at the professor.
"Um. Well, because they wont have enough time in their class to weed and to plant seeds."
"So they could do it the class before." Draco argued.
"Fine, Mr. Malfoy. You're doing this because I have been extremely preoccupied with something very important, so I unfortunately don't have anything planned for this lesson. This was all I could muster up on such short notice, unless you would prefer to do boring worksheets? I can always find some of those for you."
Draco shook his head. "No thanks. But I appreciate the offer." He turned back to his pot and pulled out a weed with stubborn roots.
"Nice try." Hermione's voice said softly from behind him when Goyle went up to professor Sprout because he'd cut his finger on a prickle. Draco turned to face her, smiling.
"It was worth a shot."
"So," she lowered her voice to a whisper. "You going to the cabin tonight? Perhaps start on your potion?"
"Yeah. Good idea. You going to be there too?"
"Uh-huh. Got to start on my spell. I suppose I'll see you there then." Hermione then turned and walked back over to Harry and Ron, who were watching her grumpily. Hermione had told Draco that they hadn't bothered her since he'd 'had a talk' with them, but obviously they didn't approve of her acquainting with Draco all the same. He gave them a small wave then turned back to his pot, feeling smug from the looks of irritation on their faces.
***
Running as fast and as non-suspiciously as he possibly could, Draco tucked a small bag under his arm and headed out the front doors of Hogwarts castle. He reached the forest and continued inside the shelter of the trees before grasping his amulet and appearing moments later in the middle of the clearing. He then walked to the cabin and went inside. Hermione sat at the table chewing unconsciously on the end of her quill while staring at a blank piece of parchment.
"Nearly finished, I assume." Draco said to her.
"Oh yeah." Hermione replied sarcastically. "Just got to think of the last line. And the first. And all the ones that go in the middle."
"Well, I've come to sidetrack you with my skill in potion making. I managed to score these ingredients from Snape."
"He actually gave them to you?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"In a way. He doesn't know he gave them to me. He'll just find his storeroom a slight bit emptier than usual."
"You know he'll blame that on the Gryffindor's?"
"So? Why would I care about that?" Draco asked, dumping the ingredients on the table and sorting them into their appropriate piles. Hermione didn't answer, just put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips.
"What?" Draco asked defensively. "We need the ingredients, and its not as if I'm going to leave a note saying 'love always, your friendly neighborhood Slytherin' just to protect a few measly Gryffindor's from getting yelled at by Snape."
Hermione smiled at that and decided to let it drop. "Well, as long as he doesn't blame it on me."
"No guarantees, I did leave your jumper in there. By accident of course." Draco said smirking. Hermione's head whipped up. She pulled the collar of the cloak out and peered down just to reassure herself that he was only joking. Her jumper was there just like it had been since that morning.
"Oh, shut up."
"Just had to check, did you?" Draco's smirk widened. "Incase you had somehow forgotten the few minutes where I cornered you and stripped you of it, huh? No need to worry Hermione, I wouldn't let you forget that."
Hermione rolled her eyes at him. Draco walked over to the bookshelf and retrieved the journal. Flipping to the correct page, he re-read the potion. "Okay. First step, add sliced walfroic root…jeez, do you want to slice it for me? I always get the blue goop in my eyes."
"I don't think so. You may need some goggles." Hermione laughed at his disappointed face.
They sat for the next half-hour or so in silence, each concentrating on their own task. But after a while, the smell of the simmering ingredients became very overpowering. Very, very overpowering.
"Freaking, bloody YUCK! Draco that is disgusting! What have you put in there?" Hermione said after she retched on a new wave of the putrid smell.
"Ugh! That is some nasty stuff. I've just added the shells of the speckling bugs, but I think one of them must have still had a bug in it. Gross!" Draco had to cover his mouth to stop from gagging on the stench.
"Will that have ruined the potion?"
"Nah, I wouldn't think so. Too similar to the shells substance for it to effect it." He replied. "How are you going on that spell of yours?"
"Alright. Do you want to hear what I've got so far?"
"Yeah, it'll take my mind off what I'm smelling."
"Ok, here goes:
'Make my intelligence form a Unicorn,
Have my beauty change to its,
Give me a pelt, four legs and a horn.
Let me run, canter and bolt,
Give me the life of a free creature,
Allow me to communicate with horse, Unicorn and colt.'"
Hermione stopped and looked up at Draco. "And that's all I've got so far. What do you think?"
"That's all you've got? In all this time you've written two verses? You haven't been getting sidetracked with my masculine attributes again have you? "
"Shut up. I got lots of other ones, but they didn't make sense."
"Like what?" Draco asked curiously.
"Like:
'Make me silver, or make me gold,
Just make me hold eternal powers
For those who are willing to have their souls sold.'"
"What are you talking about? That's pretty good." Draco told her.
"Yeah, but it makes me sound too rude. The spell might not work if I demand things. I prefer just asking." Hermione argued.
"So change the words 'make me' to 'allow me'. Stuff like that, then it'll work just as well." Draco shrugged.
"Oh. Well, okay." Hermione began scribbling on her paper again, making corrections and altering a few verses. All the while holding her left hand over her mouth to filter out some of the vile smell the potion was giving off.
After another hour or so, Draco had done all he was able to do on the potion for another 21 ½ hours. Hermione had also given up on her rhyming for the night and had packed away her quills and parchment in her pocket. "So, I have to be back here tomorrow night at 9:30 to add the next ingredient. Buckskin I think it is." Draco said slowly, figuring out when he was due back.
"Make sure you don't forget." Hermione told him. "Because it's going to take a few days before the smell ventilates out of here as it is, with out you having to start it again."
"I won't forget. I'll come as soon as classes are out. So don't stress." Draco promised.
"I wasn't going to stress, just make sure that I avoided this place until the stench has aired out. But I might come back tomorrow evening too…we'll see."
"Well…goodnight." Draco said quietly. He reached up and wrapped his fingers about his amulet, all the while watching Hermione who was standing a few feet away from him. She appeared to be staring absently at his mouth.
Hermione's eyes then traveled up his face and noted with a small jump of surprise that he was watching her. His eyes had lost all traces of cold steel and looked at her warmly, waiting to see what she would do. When she did nothing, he closed his eyes to picture the forest close to Hogwarts. Hermione hesitated, not knowing what to say, but wanting to say something.
"Draco, wait." She said at the exact moment that he disappeared from sight. "Damn." She cursed. Quickly she grasped her own amulet and drew the Astronomy tower in her mind, hoping that was where he had gone. When she opened her eyes, and stared around the balcony, Draco was no where in sight. She walked to the edge that looked over the grounds and spotted Draco walking slowly towards the doors to the castle.
Hermione slumped slightly. She couldn't go down to him, because appearing in an open space would be a bad idea. She sighed, and slowly made her way off to her dorm.
When she got there, Lavender and Parvarti were sitting on their beds, absently brushing their hair and talking quietly. They looked up and smiled as Hermione entered the room. "Hello Hermione." Parvarti greeted her.
"Hi girls." Hermione responded, unbuttoning her robe and pulling it off over her head.
"You been visiting Hagrid again, Hermione?" Lavender said, smiling mischievously.
"Yes. It's been an exciting night. He told me he loved me and wanted me to marry him."
"What did you tell him?" Lavender asked, playing along for the fun of it.
"I told him I'd think about it." Hermione said with a perfectly straight face, pulling her pajamas on and sitting on her bed. "What do you girls think I should do? I don't think I'm ready for that kind of commitment."
Lavender broke down in giggles, so Parvarti took over. "I don't know Hermione. It's not really my place to intrude, but since you asked…marry him. And have lots of babies." Then she couldn't hold a straight face anymore, and cracked up too.
Hermione laughed, and thought of how easy it was to avoid being questioned by her two roommates. Just pick up an old joke, carry it and they forget through their giggling. "Goodnight, you two. See you in the morning."
"G'night Hermione."
"Yeah, sleep tight. And have dreams filled with your future husband." Shutting out the two girl's giggles by drawing the curtain around her bed shut, Hermione fell asleep fairly quickly. She didn't dream of Hagrid however, but of Draco and the beautiful Unicorn.
***
Draco's classes went by in a haze the next day as his thought consisted mainly of the potion he was making. He couldn't ruin it. He knew he had to be very careful, and couldn't add anything at the wrong time or wrong quantity. Before he knew it, he was being swept out of the potions classroom along with the other students.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley and Miss. Granger, will you please remain behind." Snape's cold voice said from inside the classroom. Draco winced as Hermione sent him a glare before re-entering the dungeon. Whoops, he thought. So I did just get them in trouble for taking those ingredients. Oh well. It had to be done. It's not my fault Snape always jumps to conclusions.
Draco dropped his books off to his room, then began to leave as vaguely as he could manage. Walking through the Slytherin Common Room, he shuffled quickly through the portrait hole and began his walk to the cabin. He was halted half way across the grounds though, due to a voice calling from behind him.
"Draco! Where do you think you're going?" He groaned and turned to face a smiling Pansy. She was approaching with Draco's broom in her hand. "To play Quidditch, isn't a broom a necessity?"
"What?"
"Goyle told me you were heading off to Quidditch training, but I always thought Quidditch was played in the air. But you seem to be disagreeing by not bringing your broom. Unless you're headed somewhere else?"
"Of course not. I just forgot it, that's all." Draco took the broom from Pansy and began heading towards the Quidditch pitch as if that was where he had been headed the whole time.
"Draco." Pansy said firmly. "Where were you going? You were heading towards the forest. I've seen you come out of there a few times late at night too."
Draco remained silent for a few moments. "It's none of your business."
"I know. That's why I'm so interested."
"I've got things I need to do. Out of necessity, not choice." Draco replied.
"That told me absolutely nothing." Pansy said, slightly annoyed.
"I know. And I plan on keeping it that way." Draco quickened his pace, then yelled over his shoulder. "But don't worry Pansy, it's nothing important. Or anything that will ever concern you."
Pansy sighed and shook her head. Whatever he was up to, she didn't care. As long as he kept out of her business, she would try to stay out of his.
***
"Come on, Draco! You can catch it, I know you can!" Chris shouted from the ground as Draco streaked across the night sky, hot on the snitch's tail.
"Yeah! Come on, Malfoy! Catch the little gold bugger." Some one else from the team yelled.
The Slytherin Quidditch Team had trained hard all evening, and now that they had decided to go inside, Draco could hardly see the snitch in the darkness. He was straining his eyes to catch sight of the little ball beating its wings faster than his eyes could see. The rest of the team was on the pitch, looking up at him and shouting encouragement, but not bothering to fly up and help. "Lazy bastards." He muttered.
"Go Draco!" Chris shouted. "Give me a 'D!'"
"D!" The rest of the team shouted.
"Give me an 'R!'"
"R!"
"Give me an-"
"Shut the hell up, the lot of you's!" Draco shouted down, though he was smiling. The losers, he thought mildly as his fist closed over the snitch. Draco turned his broom and began flying quickly towards the ground where the team was gathered, looking blindly up into the sky. They couldn't see him coming down, because he was just one more dark shadow in the sky.
"Give me an 'A!'" Chris resumed, unaware of Draco's capture. Just then, Draco neared the ground and the team caught sight of him flying at them at top speed.
"AAAAhhhhh!" They all ducked and Draco banked sharply and skimmed over the tops of their heads.
"See you later guys!" he shouted over his shoulder as he flew to the Quidditch shed. Placing his broom there, until he could retrieve it later. Stepping into the dark corner of the shed, Draco grabbed his amulet and was following the river that led to the cabin a moment later.
"You bugger. Do you know how worried I've been? Thinking you weren't coming and thinking that I'd have to add these buckskin's by myself, and I've got no idea how to do it." Hermione's irritated voice came from the couch.
"Sorry. I forgot I had Quidditch training."
"You just forgot about it? Don't you play Hufflepuff in a couple weeks? I thought it'd be on the top of your mind."
"No, we play Ravenclaw. And I've been a bit sidetracked with other things to really think about something like Quidditch."
"If you win, you'll be in the finals against Gryffindor." Hermione said, her voice quiet.
"I know." Was all he said. No mean comment about how he'd kick Harry's arse, or fly Ron in to the ground.
Hermione then frowned at him, as if she just remembered something. "Snape did blame those missing ingredients on us. He yelled at Harry, Ron and myself for like half an hour after class. He still suspects us after second year."
"Why, what did you do in second year?" Draco asked.
"Oh. Nothing." Hermione said quickly. "At least he hasn't given us detentions because he couldn't prove his accusations correct."
"Well, that's something at least."
Hermione nodded and sat down on the couch. She pulled out her parchment again and began scribbling some lines. When 9:30 came, Draco added the buckskin to the potion and prepared a few other ingredients that needed to be dried out before they were added.
"I have to come back in a few days time." Draco said. "This potion has to sit at room temperature before I reheat it and add some more things."
"Alright. I think I'll try get this spell finished by the end of the week. How long does that potion take?"
"Usually a bloody long time, but somehow Derek shortened it so it will be completed in a month from it's day of commencement. So, a few weeks still to go."
"That's fine. It will give me time to prepare for the change mentally, you know?" Hermione said.
"Oh yeah. You definitely need to alter yourself mentally. While you're at it, could you get rid of that stupid sense of nobility you hold towards Gryffindor and your need to please your tight little friends," Draco's voice turned harsh. "And that fucking resistance towards anyone out of the ordinary who just might want you to accept them."
Hermione stared at him. She had no idea where that had come from, or whether he was kidding or not. She decided he wasn't.
Draco turned his back to her, apparently outraged with himself that he had just said what he had. Hermione swallowed hard then cleared her throat. " I have accepted you." She said quietly.
Draco shook his head, with his back still turned. "No you haven't. You look confused whenever I say something that could be considered as nice. When I kissed your hand, you seem to be doing all you could not to pull away."
Hermione walked over and stood a few paces behind him, unsure of what to say but knowing she had to deny what he had just said. "Draco, you prat. Is that seriously what you think? Maybe you're the one who needs to alter yourself mentally. I'm not trying to stop myself from pulling away. I'm struggling to not pull you to me and kiss you as much as I've wanted to these past few weeks."
"Why do you have to stop yourself from doing that?" Draco demanded, turning to face her.
"It would be wrong Draco. After all these years, we can't just think that we want to be together. We're too different. You know that."
"How do you know it wouldn't work? The Prophecy says we were made to be together. That's a little optimistic, but all the same. There'd be no harm in it."
"Are you sure? It'd damage my friends. Defy all I've ever believed in. And damage and defy me, when we finally realised that it was never going to work out."
"Your friends would get over it. Everybody's beliefs change after a while, and you can't be positive that we'd ever realise that." Draco argued.
Hermione kept silent for a while, then said, "I have accepted you though."
"Not as much as I would like." He spat unhappily.
Hermione was silent for another couple of heartbeats, then burst out laughing. That broke the tension that had managed to build a solid ten-foot wall between the two of them. "What?" Draco demanded.
"What are you?" Hermione asked him. "The sensitive new aged Slytherin?"
Draco hid the blush that tried to creep across his face. "Shut up, you stupid loser."
"That's better. More like the Draco we all know and love." Hermione said sarcastically, folding up her parchment and pocketing it. She grabbed her unicorn amulet, said "Bye Draco." And began picturing the small pocket of trees in the forest close to Hogwarts. Just before she vanished, she heard an unmistakable word come disdainfully out of Draco's mouth.
"See you around, mudblood."
***
A few days later, Hermione found herself outside the Potions dungeons within plenty of time. Snape wouldn't arrive for another ten minutes or so. Just when Hermione had lost herself in thought, a shout came from the end of the hall. She turned her head in irritation to see Pansy, the bodyguards and Draco walking slowly down the hall.
"Hey! Granger, why don't you go find somewhere else to daydream about Longbottom?" Pansy sneered.
"Piss off. I'm not going anywhere." She answered.
"Oh, yes you are." Draco said, through gritted teeth. "We want to talk in private. Now run along to your little friends who you care so much about."
Hermione pulled back in mild surprise. He'd never included an issue from one of their private conversations before in a pretend argument. "I told you, I'm not going anywhere."
"Fine, we'll just talk with you here." Draco said indifferently. He turned his back on Hermione and winked at his friends. They nodded very slightly. "So Pansy, where were you last night? When I came in to your room, you weren't there."
Pansy sent a sly gaze in Hermione's direction. She had no idea of how deep this topic of conversation would go with Hermione, only thinking that she, like heaps of other girls secretly wanted Draco. He was, after all, very attractive despite his ridiculously bad attitude.
"Well actually Draco, I had just left to go to your room. Usually when you come into my dorm, it's before midnight. We must have crossed paths without knowing it."
"We must have. Sorry about that. I had just had a rather bad night, and had just felt like releasing some tension, that's all."
"Of course. Anytime Draco, I'm always open." Pansy said silkily.
"That's disgusting!" Hermione shouted. Even though Draco and Pansy hadn't said anything in exact words, Hermione could only assume what they were talking about. She was unsure whether they were telling the truth or not. Surely Draco would only say this to get back at her for more or less rejecting him.
But why would Pansy go along with it?
Draco turned and looked at her in mock surprise. "You're still here, mudblood? I thought you would have skipped off by now, twirling your hair and holding a lollie pop."
Hermione glared at him. It didn't seem at all like he was kidding around, like he had been the last couple of weeks. Draco now seemed deadly serious in his verbal attacks, just like he used to.
"What do you mean?" she demanded.
"I mean, you act like such a little perfect princess most of the time. But anyway, now that's you've so rudely interrupted our conversation, would you mind leaving? Things are only going to get more private."
Hermione stood her ground, and stuck her middle finger up at him. "Fuck you. I have as much right to be here as you do. Even though you'd have more right to be connected to a rotting piece of fungus."
Draco slowly walked over to her and stared her in the eye. She lifted her chin defiantly. His face turned from stony to a sly evil and his eyes shone icily. "Who do you-" Hermione began, before she noticed Draco bending down and wrapping his arms around her waist.
"What are you doing?!" She demanded in shock, when he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.
"You wont move, so I'm moving you myself." Draco said. "Be back in a minute guys, I'm just taking out the rubbish." And with that, he began walking down the hall with Hermione pounding angrily on his back.
"Let me down! You can't do this to me!" She hissed through gritted teeth as they rounded a corner. "Draco, put me down now!"
"Fine." Draco dipped his shoulder and let go of her waist and Hermione slipped off and fell heavily to the ground. She groaned and rubbed her bum in pain.
"What did you do that for?"
"You told me to put you down."
"I mean, why did you make such a big scene? Ron and Harry weren't even there to annoy."
"But you were." Draco said gruffly, and spun on his heel and began walking back down the hall.
"Draco! What is wrong with you? Why did you make up that awful story with Pansy? And why are you acting like this? We were getting on so well."
"Yes, we were, weren't we?" Draco said. "But you went ahead and acted like I had no feelings. And how do you know that was a lie with Pansy? You think I would never be with anyone but you? You're wrong. I said I liked you, that's it."
"But it was a lie."
"Yes. But don't be so sure next time that it's not the truth." Draco said, turning his back on her once more and continuing to walk away from her even when she called out to him.
"Damn it." Hermione cursed. "How do I fix this one?" She asked herself. Then an idea struck her. It would take a few weeks, but in the end, Draco would have to forgive her. He would just have to.
***
"Do you think Hermione is feeling ok, Harry?" Ron asked Harry, one evening after Hermione had left the Common Room to go to bed. It had been a few weeks since Ron and Harry had discovered Hermione in the potions corridor calling after Malfoy. Harry lifted up his head and looked at Ron pensively.
"She has been slightly distracted recently, hasn't she?"
"Who are you talking about?" Ginny asked, coming up behind Harry. "Not me, I hope."
"Nah, not you Gin- Hermione." Ron said. "You noticed it too?"
Ginny frowned and sat down next to Harry on the couch. She looked in to the fire in thought, and Harry watched the reflection of the flames dance in her eyes. Sighing, Ginny answered, "Yes, I have. You don't think she's still doing something with Malfoy, do you?"
Ron snapped his head up. "Surely whatever they were doing would be finished now."
"Don't be too sure." Harry said. "She seems to be looking at him far too often. She also tries to start arguments, which she never used to do. She'd yell at him, but only when he started it."
Ginny said, "Where is Hermione now?"
"She went to bed." Ron stated. "Said she was tired."
Harry looked towards Ginny, aware of what she was thinking. "Did you want to go check if she's there?"
"Where else would she be?" Ron demanded. "It's not like Hermione's about to jump out the window."
"She might. If she knew Malfoy would be there to catch her." Ginny said cryptically, standing and walking up the staircase that leads to the girl's dorm. A few minutes later she came back down wearing an unreadable expression.
"What did she say, Gin?" Ron asked her.
"Nothing." She answered simply.
Ron nodded his head knowingly, his mouth forming a smile. "Ah. Asleep already, is she? Poor thing must have been really buggered."
Ginny stared at him incredulously. "Ron. You're my brother, therefore I'm praying I don't take after you in brains. No, Hermione isn't asleep. She isn't even bloody there."
"You checked the bathroom too?" Harry asked.
Ginny nodded. "I don't know where she is. Though it's probably the same place she goes every couple of nights."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I go in to her room every now and then. And more often than not, Hermione's not there."
"Why do you go into her dorm?" Ron asked her.
"Just to talk." Ginny answered vaguely.
For a few minutes, none of them said anything. Hermione was gone, and they had no idea where she was. None of them were worried about her though, because she had seemed to make her expeditions an almost nightly ritual. Harry sighed and stood up. "I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed- and don't worry, I'll stay there. Maybe we'll talk to Hermione tomorrow."
***
Laughing, Hermione stumbled into the Great Hall the next morning for breakfast. Ron was behind her smiling and prodding her in the sides with the tips of his fingers. He then grabbed her from behind and tickled her stomach with one hand, while holding her in a tight grip with the other.
"Ron!" Hermione managed to gasp between fits of giggles. "Stop it, I cant breath!" Ron held her from behind and laughed at her laughter. He let her go as they walked passed the Slytherin table, unaware of the death glares he had received from most of the students sitting there for disturbing their peace.
Hermione stopped for a fraction of a second when her smiling eyes met with a pair of stony ones. Her smile vanished and she frowned at Draco, until Ron nudged her from behind and she shook her head quickly and continued walking.
"Morning Hermione." Harry greeted her.
"Hi." Hermione said, sitting down.
Ron and Harry shared a glance over Hermione head. They had both noticed her stop momentarily, lost in a gaze with Draco. Obviously they were still working together on something, and perhaps that was where she had gone last night. Both dismissed it for the moment, because Hermione began talking to them cheerfully.
"What have we got today? Hmm, I think its Charms. That'll be fun, don't you think? We get to continue on changing our appearances. I think it's a fun topic, don't you?"
"Yep."
"Uh-huh."
Hermione smiled and went silent as they ate. A half-hour later they were seating themselves in the Charms classroom, waiting for Flitwick to begin the lesson.
"Today we will continue on changing small parts of our outward appearances. You may choose to work on your clothing, your hair or your eyes. Pick one and one only. I'd like to know who the majority of you are by the end of the lesson."
Hermione received pleading looks from most of the Gryffindor's. She sighed and mentally resigned herself to helping other students with their spells.
Just before she began trying the spell for herself, Professor Flitwick said, "I almost forgot! The counter charm is on the board, make sure you learn it now before you start. Only you can reverse the changes, and if you cant get the reversal spell working, you may be stuck with a bald head for the rest of your life."
The students quickly turned to the board and memorized the spell. Hermione said it over a few times, but didn't spend too much time on it because it was quite simple.
Hermione decided to change her eyes. Thinking about the color violet in her mind, she whispered the spell, "Transformate." Slowly Hermione felt a cool sensation sweeping over her eyes. It wasn't painful, just strange.
"Ron. Has it worked?" she asked Ron, as he attempted to change his hair. It wasn't working for him. Big surprise. He turned and his eyes widened in shock.
"Hermione, you look almost scary with eyes like that." He said, cringing away from her in a joking manner.
"Harry!" Ron yelled to where Harry was trying to remember the counter charm. He turned and looked at Hermione's bright violet eyes staring at him happily.
"Wow, you look kind of scary." Harry said loudly, coming over. "But can you help me now?"
"Miss. Granger! You've done it already! Well done." Flitwick said, causing the room of students to stare at her in jealousy. "Would you be able to help the other students with their charms?"
"Sure." Hermione faced Ron and Harry who were looking at her hopefully. "You two first."
Going through the pronunciation of the charm, then helping them picture the right images, Hermione managed to get more than half the room changed in appearance. Ron had chosen to alter his hair to a chestnut brown, Harry now had sapphire blue eyes and Neville wore a pair of red polka dot socks and matching mittens. Small changes were the first step to deceiving someone that you were not really you.
"Miss. Granger, we have a lost cause over here. Would you mind having a go, you've done so well with the Gryffindor's." Professor Flitwick pointed to a sullen looking Slytherin, who still had his blonde hair, gray eyes and school robes.
Hermione sighed. "Yes sir. I'll try, but I can't promise anything." She walked over to the corner of the room where Draco stood. She then muttered, "You need to have a small amount of brains to complete this charm, and this student doesn't even have that."
Draco glared at her. "I don't need your help."
"Obviously you do." Hermione snapped, her violet eyes flaring in irritation. "What do you want to change?"
" I was trying to change my robe." Draco answered.
"Maybe you should aim for something more simple than that. Change your eyes first, then try for your clothing next lesson."
"I can do it, I just don't know how." Draco responded through gritted teeth. "That's what you're for. I want to change my robes today. Now help me do it."
"Fine, but I can't guarantee that it'll work." Hermione said. Draco rolled his eyes, not really thinking about what she meant. If he hadn't been so focussed on insulting Hermione, he may have realised the implications of attempting to change your clothing, when you really didn't know how.
"If you're not going to help me, then just bloody well leave me alone." Draco sneered.
Hermione fought hard not to show how his rudeness effected her. Draco was still being an evil git to her, just because she had told him they shouldn't go out. They couldn't go out, she reminded herself. It wouldn't work, and it wasn't worth the pain. Or would it be?
"I'm waiting." Draco said impatiently. "Jeez, you'd make a ruddy awful Professor. Always zoning out in front of your students like that."
Hermione shook her head. "Sorry. Let's start by making sure you're pronouncing the word correctly. Say it 'trans-form-ate.' Emphasis is on the 'form.' Try it."
Draco held her bight purple with defiance. "Trans-formate." He attempted. Hermione told him to try it again. After a few minutes he had the pronunciation for both the charm and the counter charm.
"Now picture what you'll look like when you alter your robes. Got it? Good, now keep it there and say the charm with a small flick of your wand."
Draco did as she said, and as soon as he had said it his Slytherin robes disappeared and were replaced with a pair of black pants. A few seconds later, he noticed more than half the class staring at him. A smirk slid across his face. "Told you I could do it." He sneered to Hermione.
Hermione tried to keep her face straight. "Um…Draco?" She asked tentatively.
"What?"
"Uh, you kind of…you know…forgot your shirt." Hermione found herself staring at his bare chest for the second time that year. Hermione couldn't contain her laughter and burst out in giggles, giving the watching Gryffindor's the chance to join in. Draco controlled his blush and rounded in on Hermione.
"Get my robes back." He whispered fiercely.
Hermione took a steadying breath and whispered back, "Just use the counter charm, you stupid shirtless fool."
Draco quickly muttered, "Hide-transformate." and found his robes covering him once more.
"Half way there, Mr. Malfoy." Hermione said, imitating a Professor. "Only half way. Better luck next class." She gave him a fake smile and turned on her heal, leaving Draco to look angrily after her.
***
Hardly a week later, Hermione was walking around inside the cabin, running lines over and over again in her head. Tonight, the potion would be finished and Hermione would see if it would work. She hadn't been coming to the cabin all that often, leaving it to Draco so he would continue making the potion. She did come in to see if all the right ingredient had been added, but only when she thought Draco wouldn't be there.
Hermione jumped slightly when the door swung open and Draco walked in. He shot a look at her, then made his way over to the drawers in the kitchen and retrieved two small drawstring bags. He tipped out a pile of thin, gold hairs. They belonged to the unicorn they had seen in the forest. The other bag contained sap from the small pietylite trees.
Draco walked over to where the potion sat, and stirred in the sap slowly, making sure it liquefied fully. He then looked up at Hermione. His eyes were softer than they had been for the past three weeks. "You ready? You have to say the spell, add these," He pointed to the gold hairs. "Then drink it."
Hermione nodded. "I should be right."
"Last night, the journal informed me that you'd pass out for a while afterwards if it was going to work. So let's hope you do." Draco said, sitting down next to Hermione at the table. The potion bubbled in the center. Taking a deep breath, Hermione lay out the parchment with her spell on it in front of her.
"Ready?" Draco asked again.
"Yes."
"Then go…"
Taking another calming breath, Hermione began to read her spell, steadily and clearly.
"Let my intelligence form a Unicorn,
Have my beauty change to its,
Give me a pelt, four legs and a horn.
Let me run, canter and bolt,
Give me the life of a free creature,
Allow me to communicate with horse, Unicorn and colt.'"
Change me to silver, or make me gold,
Please allow me to hold eternal powers
For those who are willing to have their souls sold.'"
Give me the ability to change when I must,
For a purpose wholly good and pure
Accept my faith and know my trust.
Give me focus and concentration,
To make the change complete
That will help rid us of evil domination.
Do not reply to this plea with indifference or scorn,
I mean to help the world with this power
The power to become a Unicorn."
Hermione finished reading and dropped the tiny bundle of Unicorn hairs into the potion. Swirling it around a few times so they could dissolve, Hermione then held her nose with one hand and drank the potion as quickly as she could. Draco watched her intently and waited to see if it had worked.
Hermione set the vessel the potion had been in, down on the table and looked at Draco. Her face was screwed up slightly from the after taste of the potion. For a full minute, neither of them did anything except stare at each other.
"I don't think it worked." Hermione said sadly.
"No, I guess no-" Draco started, but broke off as Hermione's eyes rolled in to the back of her head and she collapsed on the floor in a pile of material, legs and hair. He smiled in relief and knelt down to look at Hermione closely. She was out cold; that much was for sure.
Draco wrapped his arms around her and hoisted her up in to his arms. Standing up, he walked her to the couch and lay her down with her head resting on his lap. He stroked her hair and gently kissed her forehead.
"Hermione." He whispered softly. "Why do you refuse to even try be with me?"
He looked at her peaceful face and sighed. She was so beautiful. When she wasn't making an angry comment or glaring at me, Draco added to himself as an afterthought. A short while later, Hermione's eyelids fluttered as she woke up. She stared up in to Draco's eyes and smiled.
"It worked?" She asked.
"I'd say so, unless you've resorted to fainting at the immensity of my sexiness."
"Um…I'd say it worked." Hermione said, not bothering to think up something to deflate his ego. She lifted her hands and rested them on Draco's thighs, and then she pushed against him to help sit her self up. When she looked back towards him after adjusting her robe, she noticed his eyebrows were raised.
"What?"
"You always wear a skirt that short under there?"
Hermione blushed slightly. "Not usually, no."
"Then why are you?"
"I must accidentally be wearing Lavender's or something." She lied.
"Sure, sure." Draco said with an eyebrow raised, not convinced. "You should ask her if you could swap permanently."
"Draco." Hermione reprimanded him.
He sighed and stood up. "You should try the journal. It'll probably have what to do next. Goodnight." And he vanished almost as soon as his fingers touched his amulet.
Hermione's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Draco had just acted similar to how he had been before she'd turned down any opportunity for them to be together a few weeks ago. She was sure that he'd be back to his arrogant self again tomorrow.
But now Hermione was sure she could fix that problem. She just needed to have the opportunity.
***
A/N- Thanks, hope it was to your satisfaction. But don't stop here! There's another chappie to read! Go soak it up, then let me know what you think!