The Passion of a Dragon
By: xKatx
Author's Notes: Wow! You guys like it a lot! lol I don't think I've ever gotten such a big response for one of my stories! :-D keep it coming!
Update on my NEW STORY: I've got fourteen pages of notes/plans/ideas for my new story! I've been researching it all—every little thing that could possibly be in my story. I've gotten my information from www.hp-lexicon.org It's a really nice site that has SOOOO much info your head will pop off if you try and remember it all! lol But I suggest it to any HP writers who want to be more thorough and correct in their descriptions/settings/etc. It's a very good site!
Anyway, the title of my new fic I'm planning is Substitute for Love—a D/Hr fic. After rereading the fifth book, this story really came together and I'll give you guys a summary and a rough-release date on it ASAP! Until then keep reading and keep reviewing! ::muah::
Disclaimer: I don't own HP stuff—I'd be in the mountains right now if I did—I own everything you don't recognize.
Characters You Will Meet In This Chapter:
no new characters
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That Saturday morning dawned overcast and dreary; and it just happened to be the day of the Slytherin versus Ravenclaw Quidditch match.
Draco stood in the Slytherin locker room down at the Quidditch field, pulling on his robes for the game. He felt a little bit relaxed, considering his father was on a business trip for two weeks in Egypt (and for once, it wasn't Dark Side business.) There wasn't as much pressure on him as there would be if Lucius were there. However, Draco knew there was still one other person who would be watching him; and he still needed to impress her.
"Come on, D," Blaise said, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder, "Let's go."
Draco nodded, moving away from the window where he was standing, and following his team to the gateways.
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"WELCOME EVERYONE, TO THE FOURTH QUIDDITCH MATCH OF THE SEASON!" Dean Thomas' voice echoed throughout the pitch, the cheers of the students rivaling his volume.
"JOIN ME IN WELCOMING THE RAVENCLAW CAPTAIN AND CHASER RINA LINNIGUS!"
The Ravenclaw stands exploded with cheers as their captain flew out onto the field, circled around, and landed. Hermione clapped along with the Gryffindors, albeit not quite as excitedly, considering she knew Slytherin was going to win.
"Not very enthusiastic, are we?" Ron asked with a wry grin.
"There's a good reason too," Seamus added, "We all know Ravenclaw's going to have their bums served to them on a silver platter."
Hermione and her friends couldn't help but laugh at Seamus' bluntness. But it was a fact that in the history of Hogwarts Quidditch, Ravenclaw had never beat Slytherin.
"AND NOW, THE RAVENCLAW TEAM: CHASER WALLS, CHASER JARSTONE, SEEKER VAUGHN, KEEPER BRAWSTRAW, BEATER JULIAN, AND BEATER WINGSTIN!"
One by one, royal blue specks flew out of the gateways that led to the Ravenclaw locker room. They circled around before landing behind their captain.
"NOW JOIN ME IN WELCOMING THE SLYTHERIN TEAM CAPTAIN AND SEEKER, DRACO MALFOY!"
Hermione felt something jump in her stomach, and had a weird feeling that Harry was watching her. She looked out of the corner of her eye, and saw that he was.
Wonder what that's about, she asked herself, but shook it off.
The beginning of the Quidditch match was slightly uneventful; Slytherin scored four times in the time span of ten minutes, Ravenclaw had yet to score.
Hermione was watching Malfoy carefully. His face was far more focused than it had been, and she wondered if he hadn't shrugged her off as "more trouble than she's worth."
Merlin, I really hope not, she told herself, having decided the night before to follow Harry's advice.
Draco, meanwhile, had his eyes peeled for nothing except the Golden Snitch. He had decided to push all of his troubles, including his love-life predicaments, out of his mind.
The rest of the Quidditch match passed by with Slytherin literally creaming Ravenclaw.
"SLYTHERIN SCORES, ONE HUNDRED AND TEN TO ZERO!"
Draco was looking around sharply for any sign of gold. He was getting impatient, knowing he should have caught it already.
At that moment, a flash of gold flew past him, and he shot after it.
"IT LOOKS LIKE SLYTHERIN SEEKER AND CAPTAIN DRACO MALFOY HAS SEEN THE SNITCH!"
Hermione, along with her friends, leaned forward just in time to—
"WATCH OUT, MALFOY!"
At the same second Malfoy caught the Snitch, both Bludgers slammed into him, throwing him to the ground, face up.
"SEEKER MALFOY HAS BEEN HIT BY BOTH BLUDGERS, AND HE'S DOWN!" Dean Thomas announced as Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, and Madame Pomfrey rushed down to the field, the Slytherin team doing the same. Everyone was on their feet to see Draco laying motionless on the ground.
Hermione watched with her heart in her throat as Blaise took the Snitch out of Malfoy's hand so Professor Snape could conjure up a stretcher. They continued to watch as Professors Snape and McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey made their way back to the school.
"SLYTHERIN WINS, TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY TO ZERO!"
The Slytherins cheered, despite their leader's injury. They cheered in honor of his work in the victory.
Hermione wanted nothing more than to go to the Hospital Wing and make sure he was okay. However, there was no way she could excuse herself from her friends without them becoming suspicious. She sighed, and made her way to the Great Hall for lunch with her friends.
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"You all right, Hermione?" Ron asked at lunch minutes later, as he watched Hermione push her food around on her plate.
Hermione looked up, "Yeah, just... the way those Bludgers hit Malfoy... if that had been either of you two..."
"No kidding," Ginny agreed, putting her hand in Harry's, "If that had been any of you guys—"
"Those things hit him hard," Seamus conceded, "Swear to God, if he ain't tough enough, they could've broken his back."
Hermione shivered, and Harry put an arm around her shoulder, "It wasn't us, 'Mione—no need to worry."
She nodded, giving him a weak smile. Sure, she really felt like had it been her friends, she would be completely distraught, but she was truly covering for the sick feeling she had in her stomach that Malfoy was laying in the Hospital Wing, and she didn't know how he was doing.
She made it through lunch well enough, and headed back out to the Quidditch pitch with her friends to spend the afternoon playing Quidditch with them (even though in reality, Hermione sat in the stands down on the field because of her terrible fear of heights.)
She sat with her legs crossed and her arms crossed in front of her, watching all of her friends fly around, tossing the Quaffle back and forth and into the goals (Ron practice by playing Keeper).
She was smiling as she saw Harry holding onto the tail of Ginny's broom when Xander walked up.
"'Allo, lass," he greeted her with a smile.
She looked at him, "Hey!" She greeted him, returning the hug he offered, "How have you been?"
"Just chipper," he replied, "And yourself?"
"I can't complain," she told him, "Did you see the match today?"
"Aye, I did," he muttered.
She gave him a sorrowful smile, "I'm sorry you lost."
He looked at her and shrugged it off with a good-natured grin, "Not a problem, lass," he said, "We all went into this knowing we'd lose."
She put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, "Well, don't feel bad; Gryffindor has lost it's fair share of Quidditch matches; to Slytherin and others alike."
He nodded as the Gryffindors descended to the ground and walked over to the two.
"Xander," Harry said, holding out his hand and shaking the Ravenclaw's.
"Harry," Xander greeted with a smile, standing up and shaking his hand.
Ron and Seamus all did the same, greeting him with a handshake and a smile.
Hermione grinned before standing up, "Oh, Xander, these are my other friends, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, and Ginny Weasley."
He smiled, "Well, I see you pick lovely friends," he stated, taking each of the girl's hands and pressing a kiss to the top of them, "It's a pleasure, ladies."
The three giggled and smiled, "Nice to meet you," they all greeted him.
He stepped back next to Hermione, "And all of you are close friends?" He questioned.
Hermione nodded, "Actually," she said, running her hand through her hair, "Ginny and Harry are dating, as are Ron and Lavender and Seamus and Parvati."
Xander's eyebrows went up, "Well, never would have guessed that. Guess I'm a wee bit late then, ay?"
They all laughed and continued talking for another ten minutes or so. Hermione hardly paid attention, however. Her mind was on a certain platinum blonde who at that moment lay motionless in the Hospital Wing.
After what seemed to Hermione like hours, Harry said, "Well, I guess dinner should be starting soon."
The others nodded, and Xander walked with them back to the castle.
When they reached the Entrance Hall, Hermione bid her goodbyes.
"You're not going to eat?" Harry questioned.
Hermione shook her head, "I'm not hungry, and besides, I haven't started on that essay for McGonagall yet."
"Oohh, Hermione's becoming a procrastinator," Ron said with a sneaky grin, quickly dodging a slap meant for him, "Just kidding, 'Mione, just kidding. We'll see you in the morning."
She nodded, bidding goodbye to Harry, Ron, Ginny, Lavender, Seamus, Parvati, and Xander.
She got to the common room, passing by the empty portrait of Elvira (Hermione figured she was off visiting another portrait). She made her way through the silent corridors until she reached the large double doors of the Hospital Wing.
Hermione looked through the windows at the top of the doors and saw that no one was in there except Madame Pomfrey.
Hermione opened the doors and walked in quietly, moving to Malfoy's bedside, where she saw that he was awake and talking to Madame Pomfrey.
Madame Pomfrey gave Hermione a withering look before turning her gaze to Malfoy.
He nodded, "It's all right."
Madame Pomfrey cocked an eyebrow before nodding, "Fifteen minutes, Miss Granger."
Hermione nodded as Madame Pomfrey bustled off and they heard the sharp sound of her office door shutting.
There was a moment of silence in which he watched her carefully, his sharp, cold gray eyes catching her every move.
Her eyes were downcast, and she turned all of her attention on a specific spot on the floor.
"Listen," she said, pausing to find the words she needed to say what she wanted to say, "Malfoy—"
"If you're going to apologize or anything of the sort, the least you could do is use my first name," he told her, his gray eyes piercing into hers.
She glared at him, "What should I apologize for?" She questioned.
"Anything you feel you've said or done that wasn't right," he told her, "Or maybe you came to make sure in my 'condition'-" He scoffed, clearly stating that everything Madame Pomfrey was doing was completely unecessary, "-I didn't start telling everyone about everything that's happened between us."
She looked up at his eyes again, and saw them sparking with anger and betrayal. She felt tears well up in her eyes, and felt one drop onto her cheek.
"Or maybe I came to make sure you hadn't died," she said her voice cracking with the pain this was causing her, "To make sure those Bludgers hadn't killed you."
"And what would you have cared?" He spat, "You've already told me you want nothing to do with me, and now you show up here to make sure I'm still alive? And then you have the audacity to tell me to make up my mind, when you can't even make up your own?"
"Will you shut up, Malfoy? I know what's going on," she insisted quietly, not wanting to yell and have Madame Pomfrey come out and insist she leave, "I've made up my mind already, if you'd be quiet long enough to hear it."
"I've heard it already," he told her coldly, "'I want you to just forget everything that's happened between us. It doesn't change anything.' Ring a bell, Hermione?"
"That was before I realized..." she trailed off, crossing her arms in front of her and wiping away some of the traitorous tears that had managed to escape.
"Realized what? That I wasn't just pretending? That I actually cared? I'm not going to play games with you, Hermione—you tell me right here and right now what you really want, and it will end with that," he told her, sitting up in the hospital bed, still clad in his Quidditch robes.
It was at that moment that Hermione Elisabeth Granger realized that Draco Trysten Malfoy had grown from the immature boy he'd been from first year to sixth. In that one second, when he sat forward in the hospital bed, the moonlight that was slowly rising up from the bottom of the window to the top illuminating his pale skin and his platinum blonde hair, his gray eyes like stars in the iridescent light, she realized that they were no longer young children dealing with trivial things. They were adults, dealing with things far more complex: human emotions.
More tears fell onto her cheeks, but she did not openly sob.
"That's just it," she told him, "I don't want it to end. Even twenty-four hours of knowing you hated me again was enough to make me come here and want to set things straight. I don't hate you, Malfoy; I haven't since the beginning of the year, and it wasn't even hate at that point..."
She moved to the window next to his bed, only about two feet separating his shoulder from her side, "Well?" He said, waiting for her to continue, amazed at how the moonlight made her look even more beautiful; the only thing marring the beauty was the tears on her face.
"I admit it, Malf--Draco," she corrected herself, her voice barely above a whisper, "I was immediately attracted to you the first day back. Especially considering you'd kissed me during the battle."
"So, why did you get all pissed off at me for trying to tell you how I felt?" He questioned, a little anger still welled up inside of him.
She turned angry, tear-filled eyes at him, "Because everything you said to me that night about my insecurities...damnit, Malfoy, they were true, all right?"
At this point, he could see she was getting angry because she knew what he'd said was right.
"So," he said, "The brave, lion-hearted Gryffindor is scared?"
She glared at him, "Don't you dare taunt me, Malfoy."
"So what exactly are you afraid of," he questioned, turning slightly to face her, "Me?"
She shook her head, "Not really you," she said, "the prospect that if I let myself fall for you, you'll have power."
"Over you," he finished for her.
She nodded sadly.
He suddenly, in that moment, began to understand the inner workings of Hermione Elisabeth Granger. She was scared of being caught in a corner with no way out. He could understand why she feared that; after all she'd been through in six years of her life, she'd always had someone there to save her; someone she trusted to protect her: Potter, or Weasley—but now she was going to put her trust in the one person she never thought she'd trust to save her; her worst enemy.
"Potter and Weasley have always been there to protect you," he told her, his voice low and deep, "And now someone else is asking for that; the chance to have you for his own."
"I'm no one's possession, Malfoy," she told him, turning to face him again.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her closer, his gray eyes staring deep into her brown ones...