Hardest Thing
Chapter Seven
It wasn't until after classes on Monday afternoon that Draco and Hermione ran into each other again. Hermione was slaving dutifully away on her Transfiguration homework when a shadow fell across her parchment. Setting her quill aside, Hermione pushed her hair back from her face and looked up into the familiar silver eyes of Draco Malfoy standing over her.
"Hey," he said, sounding friendly. Hermione was surprised to see him wearing something other than his usual smirk. She returned his small smile with an amiable one of her own.
"Hey," she replied. "Thanks again for my lesson, yesterday evening."
"Anytime. You're feeling okay?"
"I can take a two-foot fall, you know," Hermione said dryly. Draco shrugged.
"Listen," he said, shifting uncomfortably. "Seeing as how we're sort of...not enemies anymore, do you think you could..." he trailed off. Hermione grinned knowingly.
"What do you need help with?"
"Er... Arithmancy?" Draco looked rather ashamed. Hermione's eyes twinkled impishly.
"Come on up to my room. All my stuff is up there." She gathered her things together and stood up.
"I don't want to disturb you, though," Draco said quickly.
"I need a break anyway. Come on." She led the way out of the library and back up to their rooms.
"Why don't you open the door," she suggested with a smirk. "My hands are full." Draco obliged without a hint of shame. Hermione felt immediately comfortable in her rooms, the late afternoon sky bright enough to light the entire room well through the windows. She set her books down carefully on her desk and pulled her Arithmancy book from the shelf.
"So what exactly are you having trouble with?" Hermione wanted to know.
"The last chapter, actually," Draco admitted sheepishly.
"Don't feel bad," Hermione said soothingly. "It's complicated. Even I had trouble at first."
"What a comfort," grumbled Draco. Hermione grinned.
"So, do you understand this part?" They sat down across from each other over a low table similar to the one in Draco's room, poring carefully over the textbook. Before long, Draco was doing each problem perfectly as Hermione looked on, feeling rather chuffed.
"You're a great teacher, Hermione," Draco said with feeling, examining his last problem. Hermione felt a warm glow building in the pit of her stomach. That was the first compliment he'd ever paid her.
"We ought to do this more often," Hermione suggested. "You're a good student!" She smiled warmly. Draco looked up and met her eyes.
"Are you sure you want to do that? I might get caught up in picking your brain and then we'll never get our homework done," he said, smirking.
Hermione chortled. "Not likely. I'm too one-track for derailment," she said confidently. She was silent for a moment, and then admitted, "I never thought I'd actually want to spend time with you."
"I fully reciprocate," Draco agreed, nodding. "In fact, I was highly opposed to the idea."
"But not anymore?"
"Well, you did just help me with my homework. Not that that will go any farther than this room."
"What, ashamed to be bested by a girl?" Hermione said teasingly.
"Not at all," Draco said amiably, "but to be bested by a Gryffindor, however..." He smirked when she hit his arm. "Why don't we go somewhere?" he offered.
"Go somewhere?" Hermione repeated blankly.
"Yeah. Come on." The boy stood up and headed for the door.
"What-?"
"Come on!" Draco doubled back and grabbed Hermione's arms, tugging her from her seat and out into the corridor. Once they reached the grounds of the castle, Draco looked back at Hermione's bewildered expression.
"Where are we going?" she wanted to know. Draco just laughed and led her around to the far side of the castle and down the path to Hogsmeade. Halfway down the path, Hermione forced him to slow down.
"We're just going to leave?" she demanded, pulling him around to face her. "We can't do that!"
"Why not?" Draco shrugged. He nearly lost it at Hermione's stunned expression.
"Don't we need permission?"
"Don't be such a Gryffindor," Draco smirked. "Of course you don't need permission. Besides, they've never told us that we can't go whenever we like," he said reasonably. He turned to keep going but Hermione held him back.
"They have too!" she exclaimed in exasperation.
"Have they really?" Draco said mildly. "I must have been in the loo." Hermione glared. "Don't worry, we won't get in trouble," the boy assured her.
"But how do you know?" Hermione moaned.
"I'm a Malfoy," Draco informed her. "It'll be all right." He reached for her hand. "Trust me." Hermione took a deep breath and put her hand in his. Draco smiled encouragingly and drew her down the path. "Why do you worry so much?" he asked later as they arrived in the wizarding village.
"I don't know," Hermione answered without thinking.
"Ooh, somebody call the Daily Prophet!" Draco joked. "I'm serious though, Hermione. Do you ever do anything without weighing the possibility of every single consequence?"
"Yes," Hermione said after a moment of reflection.
"Like what?" Draco asked curiously.
"I bought a new quill for no reason last time I was in Dervish and Bangees," she answered with a completely straight face.
"Is that all?" Draco laughed.
"Pretty much," Hermione said with a shrug.
"Recklessness is very empowering," Draco informed her. "You ought to try it sometime."
"Maybe I will," Hermione said speculatively. "Why are we here, anyway?"
"Reckless decision. Spur-of-the-moment idea."
"Really?"
"Yeah. And I wanted a butterbeer. Three Broomsticks all right?"
"Sure."
"Ladies first," Draco said, holding the door open for her.
"Thanks," Hermione smiled as she stepped inside the smoky pub.
"What can I get you?" the tall blond asked as they sat down at a table near the back of the room.
"A shot of Firewhisky, please," Hermione said primly. Draco arched a brow. "Joking! I'd like a butterbeer if you don't mind."
"Of course." He flagged Madam Rosmerta and ordered.
"How much do you do on impulse?" Hermione wanted to know as the barkeeper walked away.
Draco considered this. "Mostly unimportant things, or things that seem unimportant, like these little trips out. A new shirt sometimes, or a book. Sometimes things that turn out to be more important than I thought, flying lessons, for instance."
"Was that really important?"
"I think so."
"Good." Hermione caught his eyes and held them. "I'm glad we're friends, Draco." Madam Rosmerta returned with two steaming butterbeers and a roguish wink. Draco sipped his drink, revelling in the warmth that spread through his entire body.
"I'm glad, too," he said, and was not surprised to find that he meant it.
They returned to Hogwarts Castle without incident, and Hermione was relieved to find that none of the teachers had even noticed that the Head Boy and Girl were missing. She got the distinct impression that Draco was biting his tongue on the whole 'I told you so' issue, however, and told him so.
"You said it," he grinned, and she smacked him on the shoulder. The knowledge that she'd broken a rule and got away with it was a bit thrilling, she had to admit, but Hermione told herself firmly that it wouldn't be a regular thing. The last thing she could afford to do was be caught sneaking out of the castle, although perhaps sneaking wasn't the right word for it. After all, they'd marched off in plain sight of anyone who cared to look! The feeling must have shown on her face because Harry and Ron both looked curiously at her during dinner.
"Where've you been all day?" asked Harry from across the table.
"Oh, around," Hermione said airily, wrapping a piece of ham in a napkin for Crookshanks. "What did you two do?"
"Homework," Ron said glumly, taking a bite of potato.
"That's a first," Hermione said cheerfully. "Were you on a broomstick at the time?"
"No," growled the freckled boy. "We were in the bloody common room. Harry wouldn't let it go."
"Wouldn't he, now," Hermione said, looking impressed.
"He seemed to think that not failing Potions is more important than practising Moran's Dive."
"Can't say I disagree... what's Moron's Dive?" Hermione wanted to know.
"Mor-AN," Ron shouted, drawing stares. "Not mor-ON! Honestly." He rolled his eyes. "It's just like the Wronski Feint, except up instead of down."
Hermione nodded. "If you say so. Did you get your Potions essay finished?"
"Yes," Harry answered. "And transfiguration."
"Good for you," Hermione congratulated them. Ron grunted.
"I take it that whatever you did made you happy?" her dark-haired friend asked.
"Mm-hmm," Hermione replied, taking a sip from her goblet. "You can tell?"
"You're positively glowing," Harry informed her. Hermione smiled but said nothing. This was one secret she was going to keep.
After dinner, Hermione returned to the Gryffindor Common room with Harry and Ron, pausing to speak with Ginny and to admire Neville's newest vine. After checking her friends' essays, Hermione excused herself to her own room and slipped inside. The scent of Draco's cologne still lingered inside and she breathed deeply, enjoying it. With a dreamy smile spread across her face, Hermione put the ham from dinner in Crookshanks's dish. She crossed the room to her window and opened it, sitting comfortably on the window seat and looking out into the night. She couldn't have planned a more perfect day.
After classes on Tuesday, Harry and Ron departed for Quidditch practise. Hermione declined their invitation to watch, stating that she ought to study for her Arithmancy test the next day. To her surprise, Draco Malfoy was already in her room when she returned to it, frowning at a bit of parchment in his hand.
"Well, hello there," Hermione said, half-amused.
"Good afternoon," Draco said glumly.
"What's up?" Hermione wanted to know.
"I don't think I can memorise all of this before tomorrow," Draco told her seriously. "I mean it!"
"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked. "Of course you can!" She took the parchment from his hand and examined it. "Here. Try this." She picked up a spare quill and dipped it in ink. "Rearrange the diagrams like this.... and they look like a face. Practise drawing them like that and you'll be sure to get them straight." Draco was looking at her with something quite akin to admiration.
"Do you always do that?" he asked with a smile.
"Do what?"
"Come up with little drawings and things to memorise things like that."
"Well, yes," Hermione answered, colour tinting her cheeks.
"Brilliant," Draco told her. "I never would have thought about arranging them that way."
"It's not all that," she protested. "My dad taught me to do things like that years ago."
"Did he teach you much?" Draco asked with interest.
"Loads," Hermione answered with a grin. "He's the one who taught me how to read, and how to write. He taught me tricks for remembering my times tables and then for things like science and all. Funny little mnemonics and rhymes, techniques for arranging word problems and diagrams... It was my mum who taught me stories, though, about everything. Stars and mythology and things." She looked up to find Draco looking rather wistfully at her. "I'm talking too much. Go on and try the diagrams again," Hermione ordered the boy, handing him her quill. The boy sighed and took the pen, gracefully settling himself in a chair and doing as she instructed. Hermione bent over his shoulder to watch, inhaling deeply his unique scent. With a flourish, Draco finished the diagram and turned his head to look at her, their faces now inches apart. Hermione stood up quickly and smoothed the front of her robes.
"Very good," she said, suddenly businesslike. "Now do it again." In all, Hermione made the Slytherin do the entire thing three more times until she was satisfied. "You've got it now, I'm sure of it," Hermione said confidently as she saw him to the door. Draco smiled ruefully.
"I hope so," he said, and bid her good afternoon. Hermione leaned back against the door and shut her eyes. She so wanted to believe that he'd changed! She didn't want to feel guilty for spending afternoons with Draco. She wished that Harry and Ron wouldn't look at her so strangely when she walked into a room with a smile. Was it so strange for her to be happy? She didn't probe into their lives. Hermione sighed. Inwardly, she knew that they only cared about her, but sometimes it seemed that they cared too much about the wrong things.
In bed that night, Hermione gazed up at the scarlet hanging on her bed, thinking. She'd taken care of all her homework and attended the Prefects meeting. She'd spent some quality time with Crookshanks and she'd had a laugh or two with Harry and Ron. She'd written her parents the Friday before and she'd finished all her research for the next DA meeting, but something still tickled the back of her mind. Something was missing. Something big, and she couldn't place it. Hermione turned over and pulled the blankets up around her chin. Her room felt suddenly too big, too empty. Closing her eyes, Hermione concentrated on sleep until finally consciousness melted away, abandoning her to fitful sleep and confused, noisy dreams. In the morning, she felt tired and cranky, and the Head Girl wished fervently that she could simply roll over and doze off again.
Duty called, however, and Hermione being someone who never ignored the furtive cry of responsibility, rolled reluctantly out of bed and into her bathroom. One steamy shower later, Hermione felt moderately better and tugged on a clean set of robes. Plucking her Arithmancy textbook from the table where she'd left it, Hermione trotted down to a quiet breakfast for some last-minute (and unnecessary, she decided later) studying. Harry and Ron turned up late as usual, rolling their eyes in disgust when they caught sight of her empty plate and open book.
"You never stop, do you?" Ron said, half admiring. Hermione did not deign to respond, but turned another page of the textbook.
After Arithmancy, Hermione hurried off to the only class she had with Harry and Ron that day, which happened to be double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Ron complained bitterly about their Divination homework but cheered up considerably after awing Justin Finch-Fletchley with stories about ear-biting telephones that his father had encountered. Harry then bemoaned the fact that he'd be seeing Professor Snape that evening for continued Occlumency lessons.
"Tomorrow's DA, though," he remarked, and smiled thoughtfully.
Easy to please, those two, Hermione thought, and finished emptying her Lumproot pod.
With Ron occupied with homework and Harry at Occlumency lessons, Hermione felt she had little to do that night. She was just contemplating an early turn-in when a knock came at the door. Hermione answered it to find Draco leaning patiently on the doorframe, examining his long fingers.
"Hello," the Head Girl greeted him warmly. "I haven't seen you since Arithmancy this morning. How did the test go?"
"Perfectly," Draco answered, "But it wouldn't have if it weren't for you."
"You'd have figured it out," Hermione assured him.
Draco shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. Can I come in?"
"Um, sure," Hermione decided, stepping aside. The blond boy slipped inside her rooms and settled himself in 'his' chair. "Anything in particular you need?" Hermione wanted to know. The Slytherin shook his head.
"No," he answered, watching the fire. "Just wanted to be in here."
Now it was Hermione who shrugged. "Okay."
"Actually," Draco said after a moment. "Wait here." He stood up and Hermione heard him enter his own room. She was just beginning to wonder f he was coming back when something tapped on the window by the bookshelf. Hermione climbed onto the window seat and opened the window to find Draco's robed form hovering outside on his broomstick.
"Get on," he told her.
"You're mad," Hermione told him. "It won't hold us both."
"It will too," Draco argued. "Get on."
"Why should I?" Hermione demanded.
"Because I said so," the confident boy said firmly.
"It's a school night," she protested.
"So what?" the boy replied carelessly.
"You're an arse," Hermione informed him.
"Quite possibly," Draco agreed. "Get on."
He wasn't giving up. Setting the worst of her misgivings aside, Hermione stepped gingerly out onto the ledge beyond her window. Taking Draco's hand, Hermione swung herself onto the broom behind him, biting her lip hard in the process. Once she was firmly seated, Draco guided her hands about his waist and leaned forward, sending them out into the night sky. Hermione looked up into the sky. It seemed to encompass her entire body and that of the solid boy in front of her. She leaned into his back, feeling the warmth of his skin through her robes and the wind that brushed her hair back from her face. Looking back, Hermione saw Hogwarts castle falling away, becoming a mass of golden-lit windows and mismatched turrets. Draco flew them out over the road to Hogsmeade, then over the village until it, too had faded into the silent darkness around them.
What seemed like hours later, Hermione felt Draco turn the broom around and begin flying back to the castle. Feeling as though she could have stayed there forever. Hermione gazed up at the stars moving slowly past. It was strange, she decided, how quickly the ground seemed to flit past, yet the stars moved nearly not at all. A few wisps of silvery cloud here and there only made the night seem more magical, and Hermione sighed with regret when they finally reached her window once more. With expert handling, Draco guided the broomstick through the frame and into the centre of her room.
"What time is it?" Hermione asked with a yawn as she dismounted the gleaming broomstick.
"I don't know," Draco answered helpfully. "Late."
"Thank you for the ride," Hermione said sincerely, looking up into his silver-grey eyes.
"Anytime," the boy answered with a slow smile. "Get some rest, all right?"
Hermione nodded sleepily and let her head fall to the side. She reached up with one finger and brushed a stray hair from Draco's face. "Good night."
"Good night." He saw himself out, looking back once to wave before he shut the door. Hermione climbed into bed, exhausted, and had no time to think before sleep was upon her. Her dreams were sweet.
A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry it took so very long for this update. Chapter Eight'll be along soon, relatively speaking, and my other current fics will also be updated shortly. Was this chapter too long? Just wondering. Thanks to Keith UrbanFan, Rai Dorian, Evan M., Shaney of Goldenlake (like Raoul of Goldenlake?), Caren H., c-dog, and mionedracoshipper for reviewing, and of course, thanks to darkerthanlight and Grand Illusion for their continued love and support. Don't I sound like I'm accepting an award? :0) Aindel S Druida and Kerichi, thanks for editing! You guys are brilliant!