And We Have Sinned
Chapter Two: His Dance of Trust
Written by: Dizzy
Disclaimer: I own exactly nothing."I once knew a man who would have trusted me with his life."
"What happened?"
"I killed him."

If she was expecting some grand apology for years of torment, some wonderful display of well-wished thank you's, she was disappointed, horribly so. What Hermione received, was not the gratitude of a boy who owed her his academic excellence, but the same indifference he showed anything and everyone.

He gave her a glare as she took the seat across from him, one booted foot propped on his knee.

"Good work today," she offered. There was only a grunt in reply. Sighing, she shook her head, wondering what she HAD expected to happen; surely not gruff indifference, surely not the usual glare. It was exactly what he was supposed to do being Draco, but for once she had wanted him to do something differently.

She began to take out her books, her quills, her pen, but his hand on hers stopped her from going further. It was firm, but gentle, and she lifted her head.

"What?"

"I don't want to study here." He said finally. It was then she noticed that he had nothing out, he had simply been waiting for her to arrive.

"Then you don't need a tutor anymore?"

She couldn't say she wasn't relieved. Working with him had been enjoyable for a brief period of time, but she chalked the enjoyment up to the utter lack of intelligent conversation anywhere else in the school. Working with him long-term was bound to be a horrible experience.

"I didn't say that." He stood. "I said I didn't want to study HERE." He motioned around the library. Hermione sat there for a moment confused.

Didn't want to study here? But it was the library, where studying was supposed to happen, where books were easily accessible and it was quiet and it smelled nice. How could he not want to study here?

"Wh-Why not?" She gave him the expression she had reserved especially for the criminally insane. Draco sighed.

"It's dirty, it's dusty, and that woman makes me nervous," he looked to Madame Pince who had fixed him with her customary glare at his apparent lack of purpose in her library.

"But where else do you study?" Hermione asked bewildered.

"Anywhere else really," Draco shrugged. "Usually outside." Hermione's eyes snapped to the window.

"But it's dark out," she said after a moment. Draco held up his wand, raising an eyebrow. "And it's cold." She said finally, her fingers gripping the desk as if she thought he was going to physically pull her from her sanctuary. Draco held up the fabric of his cloak.

"It's refreshing," he motioned for her to get up. "Come on."

"But...I like the library." Draco sighed at her stubbornness, reaching down and gently extracting her fingers from their death grip on the desk, and then all but yanked her to her feet.

"Live a bit Granger," he snapped, and grabbed her bag, shoving it at her chest, before grabbing her elbow. He started pulling her to the door.

Hermione did everything she could. She dug her heels in, she tried to get her arm away, she cast pleading looks to Madame Pince who sat, safe, behind her large oak desk and did nothing but stare in relief that her library was going to once again, be empty. All her pleading was to no avail, Draco Malfoy was stronger then her, he was scarier then her, and he was used to getting what he wanted and used to changing what he didn't want. And apparently he didn't want to study in the library.

"Where are we going?" she asked breathlessly as he pulled her along, blushing furiously at the looks people cast in her direction. She was trying desperately to get her arm out of that iron grip, and trying equally as hard to keep up with her long-legged guide.

"Outside." He said. "Where I usually study."

"You? Study?" She said after a moment, he cast her a look over his shoulder.

"You give me too much credit Granger," he smirked. "I didn't get to the top 3 by sitting around on my arse."

"So you study standing," she said in a lame attempt to make a joke, but it didn't make him lessen his pace and it didn't make him turn around and take her back to the one place she felt safe. He continued to pull her along, down the hallway, to the main entrance hall and out the front doors onto the expansive Hogwarts lawn.

It wasn't so cold out, the sky was clear, and there was a bit of a breeze but all in all it was fairly mild. He continued to drag her along for a little bit longer, finally stopping under a large willow tree that sat the edge of the lake.

"Here we are," he pushed aside the hanging green tendrils and motioned for her to go inside. Hermione wondered briefly if it would eat them before she stepped under the canopy of foliage.

"This is where you study?" Hermione took out her wand. "Lumos" she whispered. She saw Draco nod in the light and he plopped onto the ground, bringing his bag out from behind the trunk of the tree, leaning against it.

"It's...nice." And it was. The tree was fairly old, the long strings of leaves touched the ground and were wonderfully thick, forming a sort of natural tent around them. "Do you come here everyday?" She sat tentatively on the ground across from him, crossing her legs Indian style before pulling out her books, setting her lit wand on the ground beside her. Draco had stuck his in a knot on the tree and was already turning pages.

"Unless it rains." he said. "No one else comes out here."

"Oh." She began flipping pages absently. "Why were you in the library that day then?"

"What day?" He didn't look up, just started arranging his notes beside him, stretching out his legs.
"The day you stole my book," She looked up.

"It was probably raining," he shrugged. "How should I know?" He picked up his own book, propping it on his thigh before turning it to the Chapter the test dealt with. "Why does it matter?"

"It doesn't," Hermione said sighing. "It was just bugging me. I never see you in there."

"Because I'm here," he pointed to the ground. "It's more comfortable out here."

"So you're a fan of the outdoors?" She placed her own book in her lap.

"I'm not a fan of anything." He said shortly and sighed. "Can we start this already?"

"Sure." She looked at the page. "Where would you like to begin?" Draco shrugged and she sighed.

"Well the test is on Ministry Laws," she said scanning the page. "And there's heavy emphasis on the opposition groups dealing with them." She looked up.

"What kind of opposition groups?" His voice was actually interested now, perking up for the first time since their initial meeting. She turned the page and he did so as well.

"Well there's one against the Banning of Traditional Wizarding Practices, there's another on the Treatment of certain wizarding world minority groups." She scanned further.

"Why don't we start with-" his eyes were twinkling. "Censorship of the Dark Arts in wizard schools?" He raised an eyebrow in challenge. She glared at him. "I think we could come up with a few interesting view points." He was practically grinning. "Don't you think?"

It was two hours later and they were still arguing, rather loudly and forcefully; her red-faced and vehement, him the picture of calm, grinning as if he was having the time of his life. It only served to fuel her fire.
"That is RIDICULOUS, you can't teach that to a group of underaged wizards."
"And why not?"
"BECAUSE it's DANGEROUS."
"You certainly didn't have any objections to old Moody demonstrating the curses in 4th year," he pointed out.
"But he didn't teach them to us!" She said. "Could you just imagine what it would be like if a bunch of 3rd or 4th years knew how to do the Imperius Curse?" Draco chuckled at the image.

"I still think it's a necessary part of our education."

"Only if we wanted to teach potential Death Eaters." She spat. Draco raised an eyebrow at her.

"The best way," he started slowly. "too fight your enemy is to know how he's going to attack." His eyes caught hers and he stood up, crossing the short distance in a matter of seconds. She was frozen under his gaze, wary and unsure. He knelt down.

"Now if I were..let's say a snake." He said softly. "I would wait, tensed and coiled and then I would strike." He came at her, making her fall backwards into the grass, but he reared back, chuckling.

"Now if I was the intended target and I knew nothing of snakes I would probably get bitten." He was circling her now. Lecturing. "But if I were EDUCATED about snakes, if I had been taught how to handle them then I would know how fast and how far a snake can attack. I would know that most can only lunge to a certain height, can only sense certain things. Most of all I would know how to prevent it." He knelt down again, behind her now, his breath hot against her ear. "That is the reason for education." Hermione sat there frozen, unsure of what to do. She wasn't used to having him this close, wasn't used to feeling like, perhaps, she was actually wrong about something. Her eyes slid closed. Draco went on. "If you knew how to use the Imperius Curse, if you knew how it worked then you'd be on level playing ground with the enemy wouldn't you?" He was still there, she could feel the heat of his body against her back, the whispers in her ear, moving tiny strands of hair as he spoke. "That is why we should teach students not only how to defend themselves," he went on. "But how to AVENGE themselves." She could hear his footsteps on the grass, and she opened her eyes.

Draco started to gather his things

"Wh-Where are you going?" She closed her book.

"We're done here right?" He was smirking again the bastard. He put everything in his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "Be here tomorrow." He said. "But a bit later, I have Quidditch practice." Hermione nodded absently. She watched him push aside the curtain of green and he turned back to her.

"Don't worry," he said continuing that infuriating smirk. "I haven't learned how to do the Imperius Curse yet."

He found her asleep, propped against the tree, her book open in her lap. He stared at her for a moment, his stomach clenching. She looked so peaceful and innocent, certainly not deserving of the punishment she would soon receive. Draco swallowed, kneeling down.

"Hey," he said softly, nudging her. She opened her eyes blearily. "Don't you know you shouldn't fall asleep outside in the dark?" He said. She blinked. "There are bad men about."

"Aren't you one of them?" She murmured groggily. Draco said nothing, merely looked away.

"Sorry it took me so long," he set his broom onto the grass, sitting across from her. "Practice ran a bit later then I intended."

"It's okay," she yawned. "What time is it?"

"Only 9." He said.

"How did you do on your Transfiguration test?" Draco said nothing, merely reached into his bag and drew out the test scroll, which had a 97 circled on top of it.

"Very good," she stretched, and again he looked away.

"What did you want to go over today?" She yawned again, reaching for her bag.

"I don't know." He sighed.

"Well do you have tests in any of your other classes you need to prepare for?" Draco thought a moment.

"I don't think so."
Hermione was at a loss. She looked at her things.

"Well..." she sighed. "I don't know what we can do."
"How about we just go over things," he said finally. "Review and such." She nodded.

"Well there's a History of Magic test next Friday," she said taking out her book. Draco shrugged, following her lead.

"I don't really see the point of that class," he said after a moment. Hermione gave him the criminally insane look again.

"Don't see the point?" Her voice was a little hysterical, as if the thought of such a thing was inhibiting her breathing.

"Well yeah," he thumbed the pages a bit. "It's all just useless stuff that already happened anyway."

"Haven't you ever heard of learning from the past?" She said incredulously. "By knowing what has been done we keep from repeating the same mistakes."

"Works in theory," Draco argued. "But never in practice."

"What do you mean?"

"Well look at the Goblin Rebellions, the Revolutions and the Revolts. There's a new one every few hundred years or so about the same meaningless crap." He shrugged. "I'm not a Goblin so what do I have to learn from that? Obviously they've learned nothing." He had a point although she would never admit it.

"Even if it's not necessary it's interesting," Hermione said finally. Draco shrugged.

"Depends on the person."

"Well I happen to find them fascinating."

"Oh so that's why you yawn every five minutes or so during class." Draco drawled. "That's your interested expression?" She glared at him.

"I most certainly do not."

"Don't you?" Draco smirked. "The other day I thought you were going to fall over in your seat from sheer boredom."

"Well it's not taught in the best manner," Hermione muttered. "I can't help it if he just drones on and on and on."

"So you admit that it's boring."

"I admit that Professor is boring. Not the class." She said stubbornly.

"Fine. Fine," Draco shrugged. "But I know how you really feel." She gave him a glare before turning the page.

"Why don't we start with the establishment of the Ministry and work from there?" She said finally. Draco shrugged and finally nodded at her exasperated expression.

"Okay go ahead." He said. "Start us off then." And she did. Surprisingly she was right about one thing. The history itself was fraught with interesting snippets, snippets the Professor who taught it chose to leave out, but when Hermione Granger lectured it took on a whole new light entirely. Draco felt his stomach clench again as he watched her ramble on about the odd quirks of the establishing bodies, and wished desperately that he was someone else, anyone else, someone who wouldn't have to hurt this girl.

They met every night for a brief two or three hours at a time, when it rained they went inside, when it snowed they lit fires, but mostly they just enjoyed their time together, although neither would admit it.

For the first time in her life Hermione was discussing things that actually meant something to her. Things that she could ramble on about for hours at a time and know, know that he would never tell her to give it a rest, know that he would simply lean back and watch her with that look, propping his head on his hands offering a glib comment once in a while. For the first time in her life she was arguing, she was opening up to new viewpoints and ideas. And she was enjoying every minute of it. Too bad it had to be with Draco Malfoy.

Draco himself was enjoying it simply because he knew it wouldn't last. The day was drawing closer and closer as Christmas reared its ugly head, their break after exams was on the horizon and the day when he would have to act was closer and closer with each ticking of the clock.

As they sat under their tree he knew this companionship, this conversation that he had lacked through so much of his life was going to end, and very soon. And as he looked at the girl, on what would be their final study session here, he felt his heart clench. It had to be done though. So he pushed forward.

"Are you going home for Christmas?" Draco looked up and Hermione nodded.

"My parents wish to see me," she said.

"Would you-" he took a breath, almost gripping his chest as he tried to keep himself from saying the words. But he had to. "Meet me here on the final day? Right before we leave for the train?"

Hermione looked surprised. She blinked for a second.

"Why?"

"I-" he tried to look sheepish, embarrassed, two very un-Draco like emotions. "I have a gift for you." Hermione sucked in a breath, he could hear it whistle between her teeth, see the shock on her face. He waited, tense and nervous. She had to come. She had to or- he didn't even want to think about what would happen if she didn't. Time seemed to stretch out for an eternity as the girl debated with herself. He could see the conflicting emotions on her face as she went and then finally she opened her mouth to speak.

"Alright. I'll meet you." She whispered.

"Good." he stood. "Be here an hour before we leave for the train all right?" Hermione nodded and watched as his figure pushed through the curtain of leaves and disappeared into the night.

A present. He was giving her a present. She felt her heart beat a bit faster, a smile coming over her face. She would be here. She knew that much.