Chapter Eight:

Turbulence

After Hermione had revealed her feelings for Draco, the atmosphere seemed to change for the better. It seemed to her like they were officially in a relationship the first time they consciously decided to kiss. Now it was like their relationship had escalated to the next level. Classes had started again, and teachers were assigning more homework than ever. Hermione didn't even care. Not in the slightest. More homework meant more time with Draco. He had started scheduling Quidditch practices again every afternoon. By the time he came back, his cheeks were red and his hair dripped with a mixture of sweat and snow. It was the snowiest winter season Hogwarts had ever seen. Hermione saw it as a good omen. Since Draco came in just before dinner, he had to work on his homework afterwards and late into the night. Hermione, who spent all afternoon on her homework, assisted Draco with his homework. She wasn't going to let him copy her work, but he never asked her to anyway. Homework sessions ran late into the night mostly because they took frequent breaks to drink some hot chocolate or curl up in front of the fire. On a particularly late session, Hermione was lying in Draco's arms.

"Draco?"

"What?"

"You were sleeping again." She grinned up at him and he kissed her forehead.

"Come on, Mione. I'm exhausted."

"Then go to bed."

"I haven't finished my Charms essay."

"We can finish it tomorrow during breakfast. You don't have much more to do." Hermione replied easily. She was tired as well, but she knew Draco was about to faint from exhaustion.

"Oh all right."

"You're working yourself too hard, Draco."

"Am I?" He groaned, shifting so he could lie down on the couch. Hermione adjusted her own position to lie down next to him.

"Yes. Maybe you should lighten up on Quidditch practices."

"The team needs the practice. We'll be humiliated if I don't whip those pathetic Chasers into shape. The keeper needs some work too."

"Maybe you're working them too hard. At least shorten the practices."

"I'll tell you what, Hermione. Come to the practice tomorrow and see for yourself." Hermione paused at the invitation. What if Harry or Ron was to see her?

"I don't know, Draco."

"Just for a few minutes. That's how long it will take for you to see that the team is pathetic." Draco pressed. Hermione sighed. As long as she just stopped by for a few minutes she wouldn't have to worry about getting caught by Harry or Ron.

"Won't the team members get suspicious?"

"Breathe, Hermione. A lot of people come to watch us practice. They distract the team though. But it gives them all a mental boost."

"Don't you mean a lot of girls go to watch you practice?" Hermione asked in a slightly accusing tone. Draco sighed.

"Yes, but the rest of the team doesn't know that."

"How could they not?"

"Because they're idiots."

"And you're not?" She grinned at him. Draco was almost hurt by the insult, but her sparkling eyes reassured him that she was only joking.

"Of course I'm not!" He replied, pompously, making Hermione laugh. "So will you come?" Draco asked again, looking straight into her eyes. As always, Hermione melted.

"Oh fine. I'll bring some homework with me."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." He winked at her, subtly making fun of her dedication to her schoolwork. She picked up on it, but was too tired to care anymore. Yawning, she sat up on the couch.

"I'm going to bed. See you in the morning." She headed for her room, teetering slightly from exhaustion. Draco watched her disappear, warm contentment spreading over him. His icy personality was melting. Just yesterday, he had accidentally knocked into a Gryffindor and their books went everywhere. He had apologized, and even worse than the apology, he had helped the girl pick up her books. Hermione was changing him. More drastically than his father ever could. His father...if his father could see him now, there would be hell to pay. Not just for him, but for Hermione too. It was times like these when Draco was grateful that his father was gone.

Hermione stepped into the cold and pulled her cloak tightly around her. It was snowing hard, and the winds whipped through her hair and stung her face. Harry and Ron had looked at her like she had grown another head when she had told them that she was going outside to do some homework.

"Hermione, are you bloody mad? It's like a bloody blizzard out there!" Ron had exclaimed.

"I'll be fine, Ron. I like the snow."

"But it's bloody vicious out there!"

"Stop saying bloody. It's okay, Ron. I feel like I need some fresh air." She had expressed the thought with finality. She had rushed out of the Gryffindor common room quickly so neither of them would have the opportunity to stop her. Ron had been right. The weather was vicious. But she had promised Draco that she would come to the Quidditch practice. Shivering, she started towards the Quidditch pitch. Blurs of green shot across the sky. Teeth chattering, Hermione sheltered herself behind the bleachers. It blocked the wind and the snow, but gave her a poor view of the field. Glancing around, she noticed that Draco's fan club was missing. Moving underneath the bleachers, she finally found a place where she could see most of the Quidditch field. As she watched the team play, she understood what Draco meant. On the rare occasion that the Chasers successfully completed a pass, they missed all three hoops miserably. Hermione spotted Draco hovering near the Keeper, making grand gestures with his arms. She bit her numb lip and shivered violently. Flying away from the Keeper, Draco approached the Chasers and spoke to them for awhile. Finally, Draco blew a whistle and flew higher to watch from above. This time, the pass was completed and the throw towards the hoops was more accurate. The keeper managed to knock it away, but he almost fell off his broom in the process. Draco shouted out words of encouragement, then a different strategy. Hermione found it sort of fascinating to watch Draco work with his team. They did seem to get better by the time Draco had called everyone to the ground. He gave them a quick post-practice talk, then sent them towards the locker rooms. Draco lingered behind for a moment, glancing around the stadium. Hermione knew he was looking for her, and the look of disappointment that came over his face when he didn't see her, was devastating. Half-running underneath the bleachers, Hermione hurried towards the locker rooms. When she finally emerged from underneath the stands, Draco was a few steps ahead of her. Scooping up a handful of snow, Hermione beamed him in the back of the head with a firmly packed snowball. He turned around sharply, his stare murderous. When he saw Hermione, he grinned and tackled her to the ground.

"Where did you come from? I didn't see you in the bleachers."

"I was underneath the bleachers. It's bloody freezing out here." Hermione replied, her teeth chattering making it harder to speak. Draco's eyes filled with concern.

"Damn, Hermione, you shouldn't have stayed the entire practice. You'll get sick."

"No I won't."

"Yes you will. Now get back in the castle. I'll meet you in the common room." He directed, standing up and helping Hermione to her feet.

"That's all right. I'll wait for you."

"No you won't. Get inside the castle." His tone held no room for questioning or back talk. Sighing, Hermione turned and started back towards the castle. He grabbed her arm and spun her back around to give her a quick kiss on the lips. Feeling suddenly warmer, Hermione did as Draco asked, and went back inside the castle. The warmth that greeted her frozen body burned through her. Running her hands through her hair, she pulled out clumps of ice and snow. Rolling her eyes, she threw her hair up into a messy bun before continuing up to the common room. She changed out of her wet clothes, putting on navy blue sweat pants and a huge gray sweatshirt. After ordering a kettle of hot chocolate from Dobby, Hermione settled down in an armchair. There was a knock on the common room door, and Hermione frowned. Why would Draco knock? Opening the door, Hermione's good mood evaporated.

"What do you want?" Hermione glared at Evelyn.

"I want you to dump Draco."

"What?" Hermione thought she had heard wrong. But a sinking feeling inside of her knew that she hadn't.

"It doesn't work this way, mudblood. When I break up a tough guy, he's supposed to stay broken."

"I don't understand you, Evelyn. Why would you do that to someone who hasn't done anything to you?" Hermione demanded, her anger rising.

"It gives more sort of an odd pleasure. I get to watch men drool and get all soft over me. Then when I leave them, I get to watch their pitiful attempts to win me back. Some of them even commit suicide. Truth be told, I was expecting Draco to kill himself after I left him." A nasty sneer crossed her lips, and Hermione felt her fists clench.

"Bitch."

"No, mudblood. You're the bitch. You stopped him from jumping off of the North Tower. I saw you. I was there."

"What?"

"I knew you were going to stir up trouble when you came back the second time to make sure he was going to come back to the common room. He was about to jump you know."

"And you were just going to stand there and watch him kill himself?" Hermione exclaimed, infuriated. "You're bloody mad!" Evelyn grinned evilly.

"If I had a galleon for every time I've heard that. Well anyway, you need to dump Draco. Soon."

"Absolutely not!"

"I think you'll want to." Something dangerous flashed in the Slytherin's violet eyes. Hermione felt a surge of fear rush through her blood. What is she going to do to me? Blackmail? She certainly had enough shit on Hermione to blackmail her. Another thought occurred to her.

"Why do you want Draco dead?"

"I have my reasons."

"What can you possibly gather from his death?"

"More than you can even imagine, mudblood. Dump him, or I can guarantee that you will regret it." She gave Hermione one more penetrating glare before leaving. Hermione remained in the doorway, slightly shaken up. When Draco appeared, Hermione felt a rush of pain. He grinned at her.

"Just standing in the doorway waiting for me? You shouldn't have!" He leaned forward to kiss her, but she stopped him.

"Listen, Draco, we need to talk about something." His face went serious, and Hermione felt her chest tightening.

"What's wrong?" He asked, immediately.

"Evelyn wants me to dump you."

"Why?"

"I-I don't know." Hermione looked at the floor, not wanting to tell Draco that Evelyn wanted him dead.

"Are you going to?" He asked, softly. Hermione heard the pain and devastation in his voice, and she felt like crying.

"No." She replied firmly. Whatever Evelyn would do to her could not be worse than seeing Draco destroyed.

"Then why is it a problem?" Draco asked, blinking the tears away from his eyes. Hermione wanted to stop and hug him until the world ended.

"She said she was going to do something to me if I didn't." Draco looked speechless, and eventually he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. Hermione struggled to keep tears from falling. The only thing that scared her was that she didn't know what Evelyn was capable of.

"We'll get through it, Hermione. Whatever she does, we'll get through it." Draco whispered in her ear. Hermione tried to tell herself that everything would be all right, but she wasn't sure if she truly believed herself.

Hermione closed her eyes and opened them again. It was still there. Evelyn was flirting with Ron. And being the weakling that he was, Ron was practically drooling over her. Hermione fought the strong urge to go over and break them apart. She'd scream some sense into Ron, and beat the crap out of Evelyn for even daring to seduce her best friend. Her body tensed up when she sensed someone behind her.

"So this is her game." Draco muttered, followed Hermione's gaze.

"I thought that this was just between her and me. Ron has nothing to do with us."

"We need to stop her."

"How?"

"Ron has had a crush on Lavender for years, am I right?"

"How did you know that?" Draco grinned.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out. Anyway, get Lavender to ask Ron out."

"And then Ron won't be drooling over Evelyn anymore. Draco, you're brilliant." Hermione exclaimed, brushing a kiss across Draco's cheek before jumping up to go find Lavender. She found her sitting with Parvati.

"Lavender, could I have a word?" Lavender glanced up at Hermione in surprise.

"Sure." She replied, following Hermione to an empty table. "What's up?"

"Well, Ron has been asking about you lately."

"Really?" Lavender blushed slightly and a grin slid across her face.

"Yeah. He's wanted to ask you out, but he thinks you'll say no."

"Why? I'd definitely say yes!" Hermione bit her lip to keep from grinning too widely.

"Maybe you should ask him." Hermione suggested. Lavender paused.

"Maybe I will. I'll ask him today after Transfiguration." Hermione grinned and looked past Lavender to give Draco a thumbs up.

sorry it's really short. It wasn't really my best chapter, but I swear the next one will be better! Thanks for your reviews!