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 accurate 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
WARNING: Quite a bit of fluff in this one! :)
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Hermione awoke at about five-thirty the next morning; the room was dark and she could see it was snowing outside, and yet the windows were shut when she was sure they'd been open last night. She, however, shrugged off the minor detail. She looked down and saw a sinewy, pale arm draped across her waist. The memories of the night before came flooding back to her, bringing a smile to her face as she closed her eyes. She remembered the look of him over her, the intense waves of pleasure he brought to her over and over again, the look on his face as he saw what he did to her; the way he whispered things in her ear...
She shook herself from her dream world as she felt him stir behind her. She didn't move, not wanting to fully wake him. After he settled again, she turned around carefully and lay for a moment, just looking on his face. He was like an angel; her angel. When everything seemed fine to her, he came in and changed it all. He gave her variety in her life; excitement; anxiety... everything she'd always wanted from someone else. The mere thought of him thinking Xander could do better for her made her want to laugh. Yes, Xander was a good person and always friendly towards her, but he wasn't Draco; he never would be.
She smiled as his light gray eyes opened and focused down on her. She ran a hand up and down his side, "Hey," she greeted him.
"Hey," he replied, pressing a kiss to her lips. She smiled against his lips, putting her arm over his side.
"Sleep well?" She asked when they'd broke apart.
He smirked, "Yeah, I suppose. How about you?"
She nodded, "Better than I have in a long time."
He smiled at her, tightening the grip his arm had around her waist. He slid his head along the pillow, letting his cheek rest on her head, inhaling the vanilla scent of her hair. She rested her head in the crook of his neck, holding him close to her.
The two young star-crossed lovers fell back to sleep for another three hours before they awoke for the day.
Hermione was the first to rise once again, realizing she had half an hour to get dressed, and get down to the Great Hall. Today was the day she had to work with the Gryffindor Chasers on teamwork and strategy, and she didn't want to be late.
She slid out from under his arm carefully and left his room, making her way to the bathroom where she took a quick shower, going to her room and quickly pulling on a pair of jeans, her Nikes, and her gray hooded Old Navy sweatshirt over a plain crimson tee. She didn't bother with extreme make-up—she just put on eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss. She pulled the towel off of her hair as she re-entered his room to see he was still in bed.
She ran her fingers through her hair, "Dray," she said, detangling her damp hair with her fingers, "Dray, get up," she repeated.
He groaned and turned over again, realizing she was no longer in the bed beside him.
"Come on," she said, banishing the towel so she could free both hands.
He groaned again, "Come on, 'Mione," he said, "It's not every day I can sleep this well!"
She smirked as she got on the bed on all fours, held her hair back with one hand, and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. His hand came to the back of her head, and his tongue quickly darted into her mouth before she pulled back, pressing a much quicker kiss to his mouth.
"If I have my way," she said with a smirk, "You'll be getting a lot more sleep due to much more strenuous activity," she told him.
He raised an eyebrow, "Direct, aren't we?"
"And there's a problem with that?" She asked, before getting up off the bed.
He caught her arm and pulled her back down, pressing a kiss to her lips, tangling his hand in her damp hair, "Going somewhere?" He asked with that deep, seductive voice of his.
She nodded, "I have to work with the Gryffindor Chasers today," she said.
He smirked at her, "You'd rather do that than spend the day with me?"
She looked at him, putting a hand on his face, "Dray, as much as I adore being here with you," she said, rolling free of his grasp and landing on her feet on the floor, "I have to get some work done."
He groaned, getting out of bed himself, clad in only his black pajama pants, his regal and masculine torso perfect with the exception of the black scar on his chest, "All right," he said, "But tonight, you're spending the night with me."
"Is that a request or a command?" She asked as he pulled her into his arms.
"Both," he whispered, giving her a kiss before she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a strong hug. He hugged her back, albeit somewhat confused.
"What was that for?" He asked.
She shrugged, pulling back, "Have a good day, Mr. Malfoy," she told him before leaving his room and entering hers.
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"Ready?" Harry asked as Ron finished eating. He and Hermione had been waiting fifteen minutes for the red-headed boy to finish eating.
He nodded, "Let's go."
Hermione stood with her friends, pulling on the black leather jacket she'd brought among her Muggle clothes. She pulled the hood of her sweatshirt out and let it lay over the collar of her jacket.
She followed Harry out of the Great Hall, Ron at her side as the two pulled on their gloves. As she donned the black gloves, she shot a look at the Slytherin table and saw Draco was talking to Blaise and Ivan. She bit back a smile as the previous night's activities swarmed through her head. She definitely had to talk to the Gryffindor girls sometime soon.
The Golden Trio arrived on the pitch a few minutes after the Quidditch team had assembled.
"Okay," Harry said, immediately taking command, "Since in the Wizard World we don't have a term for it, we're going to use a Muggle term. Hermione is going to be the "coach" for the Chasers. Riva, Natalie, Jade, I want you to go with her. The rest of you come with me," he said, walking toward the edge of the field, Ron and the others following.
"Hey you guys," Hermione greeted them, knowing Riva, Natalie and Jade very well.
"Hey, Hermione," they greeted her with smiles.
She felt very relaxed, considering she knew these girls and had seen them play, "Well, the reason Harry asked me to help you is not because you're bad players. It's because, while your teamwork has been successful against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, it needs to be much better when you guys play Slytherin, because their Chasers are practically attached at the hip."
The girls, including Hermione laughed at this, knowing full well that Damien Sutherland, Willem Neversen, and Devin Steele knew just how to work together on the field.
"So today we're just going to do some simply teamwork exercises to help you guys think as one, rather than as three."
The girls nodded in understanding.
"Okay, first, I want you guys to stand in a triangle," Hermione instructed, and watched as the girls did as they were told, "Good, now Riva, I want you to take Natalie's hand, and Jade's hand, Natalie, you do the same, Jade, you do the same."
Soon, all three girls' arms were tangle in the center of the triangle.
Hermione stepped back and smirked.
"What?" Natalie asked, somewhat confused as to what Hermione expected of them.
Hermione motioned to the tangle of arms, "Straighten yourself out without letting go of each other's hands."
Their eyes went wide, but they did as they were told. Unknown to them, Hermione was timing them.
After much discussion and "No, the other way!"'s, the girls managed to suceed.
"That took you guys fifteen minutes," Hermione said. She looked at the three, "That's all right for the first time, but we need to get it under a minute."
Jade's eyes went wide, "You can't be serious!"
"I couldn't be more serious," Hermione said, "We have to get you guys working as a team."
They spent the entire afternoon doing little things that slowly taught the three Gryffindor chasers how to work together and trust each other.
"Okay, let's call it a day!" Harry called.
Hermione was thankful that practice was over; her nose was cold and her cheeks were rosy and pink. She was happy she'd made some improvement in the girls' mindset.
The other team members jogged toward the warmth of the castle, but the Golden Trio walked at a leisurely pace, the fresh snow crunching underneath their feet.
Harry put a friendly arm around Hermione's shoulders, "I saw the change in them today," he said, "I don't know how I'll ever thank you, 'Mione."
She smiled up at her taller friend, enjoying looking into his emerald green eyes, "You don't have to thank me," she said, "I want the Quidditch Cup just as badly as you guys do."
"Yeah," Ron echoed, "Harry, did you hear her at the last couple of Quidditch matches? She was talking about some of the plays that were used!"
Harry's eyebrows went up, "You know some of the Quidditch plays?" He asked.
She shrugged, "A few. But it's no big deal."
Harry and Ron just smiled at her, "You know," Harry said, "I really hate to admit this," he said, "But I think you being with Malfoy has changed you."
Her brows furrowed, "How?"
Ron cleared his throat at the uncomfortable topic, "Well, I mean...you know Quidditch plays now..."
"Plus," Harry said, "The fact that you didn't let dating the Power House of Slytherin interfere with House loyalty—it proved a lot, Hermione."
She raised an eyebrow, "What—?"
"You could have easily helped Malfoy with any problems he had on his team, but you didn't. You're helping Gryffindor," Ron explained.
She nodded in understanding, "Well, I'm not about to be happy seeing Slytherin's name on the Cup just because I'm with Draco," she said, "It's our last year here—I want Gryffindor to have it."
The three smiled as they made their way up to the castle and into the Entrance Hall.
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Classes ended for the students at Hogwarts at the end of the second week in December. There were many festivities planned until after New Years, but yet the teachers had still loaded the students down--particularly the seventh years—with homework.
Hermione decided that afternoon that she would do all of her homework that evening so she would have nothing to worry about until after New Years. She was half-tempted to go to Gryffindor tower and work with the others, but she knew if she did it would be her working and them copying.
So after dinner she bid her friends goodnight and left the Great Hall. She was just leaving the doorway when she saw Xander.
"Hey!" She greeted him with a smile and a hug, "How have you been?"
He smiled as he embraced her back, "I've been quite well, lass, yourself?"
She nodded, "As best as can be expected. Are classes going all right for you?"
"Yes, they've given us a lot of homework though, so that's not an up point."
She nodded in agreement.
"Where are you headed this evening?" He questioned.
She pointed toward the stairway, "To the Heads Dorm. I'm going to get all of my homework done so I can enjoy the break."
He nodded, "Good idea. May I walk you?"
"Sure," she agreed, as the two walked side by side to the stairs.
"So I heard you and Mr.—Malfoy, is it? Have started seeing each other?"
She nodded with a grin, "Yeah," she confirmed.
"And I was under the impression you two hated each other," he informed her, sounding a little confused.
Hermione nodded, "See, that's the difficult part—we did hate each other, but now..."
He smiled at her, "Oh, I understand. No need to explain."
She nodded as they reached the portrait of Elvira, "Well, it was good to see you again," Hermione told Xander, hugging him, "I'll see you at Hogsmeade tomorrow?"
He nodded, "Absolutely. Have a good night, lass."
"You too, Xander."
She watched his retreating form until he went around the corner. She then turned to face Elvira, who had been watching Xander's back as well.
The portrait raised an eyebrow, "Two young men?" She questioned.
Hermione shook her head, "No way. Xander is just my friend."
"Looks like he thinks of you as more," Elvira commented.
Hermione shrugged, "Perhaps, but I'm only interested in Draco."
Elvira grinned, "Ah yes, I heard about you and Mr. Malfoy. Congratulations, Miss Hermione."
"Thank you, Miss Elvira. Infinigus."
The portrait swung open and Hermione entered an empty common room. She looked at the clock on the mantle, realizing it was only six-thirty; she must have eaten quickly.
She set her bag on one of the couches before entering her room. She went through her evening grooming rituals; washing off her make-up, washing her face with her cleanser, brushing her teeth, brushing her hair, and applying her vanilla chapstick to her lips.
She left the bathroom and re-entered her room. She quickly changed into her favorite pair of short black pajama shorts with a white stripe down the side of the legs and a black spaghetti-strap top. She knew Draco's favorite color was black, and she happened to like it as well.
Wow, she thought, suddenly I'm basing my outfits and stuff on his likes and dislikes? Could it be that I lo-
"No," she said outloud as she put her hair in French braids, "I don't love him..."
Stop lying to yourself, her mind said, you know you're head over heels in love with him!
She tried to deny it as she rubbed vanilla-scented lotion onto her arms and legs (A/N: Sorry to interrupt the flow of the story, but I noticed that Hermione uses an awful lot of vanilla scented/flavored stuff... didn you guys notice that? Sorry if it's boring that she does, but I bought a bottle of Bath and Body Works warm vanilla sugar lotion, AND VANILLA IS MY NEW FAVORITE SCENT! tee hee hee don't like it? Pretend her vanilla lotion is something else! Anyway, on with the story...).
The more she argued, the more it made sense. She was in love; she was in love with Draco Malfoy.
But now the thought of seeing him made her a little nervous. She'd seen a lot of girls go crazy over him—he was just hypnotizing like that. She did not want to fall into that trap... then again, she was dating him...
She shook her head free of those thoughts as she emerged from her room. She saw that Draco's door was shut, so she figured he was in there.
She settled on the couch, pulling her History of Magic book onto her lap. She set up her quill and ink on the coffee table, and pulled out a roll of parchment to start on her sixteen inch long essay on Merlin. She was suffering because of her shirking off of homework for Malfoy. She had homework in each subject, and each assignment was an essay of some sort.
She began scribbling away at her essay, writing slightly larger than she usually did, but working just as carefully as always. Half an hour went by with the only noises being heard was her scratching of the quill on the parchment, the crackle of the fire, and the sound of the shower turning on and off. She smiled, knowing for sure that he was there.
She finished her History of Magic essay, rolling up the parchment and starting a pile for books and essays. She moved on to her Charms essay just as Draco made his entrance.
He stood looking at her back for a moment, watching how the firelight flickered off the amber waves of hair that was pulled into intricate braids. He felt his breath catch in his throat momentarily.
"Hey," she greeted him without looking up from her almost-complete Charms essay.
He came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, pressing a kiss to her neck.
"Mmm," she said with a smile, tilting her head so it rested against his.
"I missed you today," he informed her, his deep voice resonating in her ears.
She smiled, putting a hand on his face, "I missed you too."
He pressed a kiss to her lips, her vanilla scent invading his senses, making his head swim.
"How do you do that?" He asked, looking at her with intent.
"Do what?" she questioned, her head still turned to look him in the eye as he leaned over the back of the couch.
"Make me lose concentration on everything else," he said smoothly, smiling at her.
She smiled, "I don't know," she admitted, putting a hand on his cheek again, her thumb caressing his pearly skin, "But you do the same to me."