Chapter 21: Meaningful lesson in the Quiet Room
Yo yo yo! Wassup everyone!
Now unfortunately my internet doesn't really like me, so it's taking me a while to actually manage to post things.
Anyhow, many reviews, from this chapter and last (again, so sorry to the people who reviewed the chapter before last but didn't get their reviews replied. That isn't my fault. It's the Internet's.
iluvronweasley: ahh, no caps today? Hehe.. yes, I imagine Japanese would be a bit hard for one to learn if one lived in England. I, being Australian, do it as an elective. Here are a few words you might benefit from: kawaii = cute, baka = stupid, amai = sweet, tanoshii = fun, omoshiroi = interesting. And a basic sentence= kore wa omoshiroi desu. It means 'this is interesting. You can swap omoshiroi for any of those other words I gave you, though. Anyway, glad you're enjoying this.
Flutterling: Ahh, Hermione's just a confused being, you see. Anyway, yeah, I tend to repeat certain words. Depends on the kinda mood I'm in, I think.
SweetCheeksDracoLover: hiya. You reviewed Chapter 1 for some reason. Anyhow, thank you.
DISCLAIMER: I am actually kinda sort of borrowing a scene here that I read from a slash fanfic I read. The slash was truly disgusting, but this scene I thought was truly beautiful, but it belongs not to me. It belongs to the Author of Phoenix Song. I'll also be mentioning a song, entitled 'All I've Got To Do' sadly, this song doesn't belong to me either.. it belongs, most probably, to Michael Jackson, who, even more sadly, bought it off who previously owned most words written by the incomparable Lennon/McCartney duo.
Right, let's go right ahead.
Hermione was asked to stay in the hospital until Sunday evening. She wasn't thrilled about this, but she did it anyway. When she was about to be released, she hearde the door of the hospital wing burst open, and a lot of commotion outside. Madam Pomfrey, who had been helping Hermione pack, left her side abruptly to see what was happening. Hermione continued packing, and it was only when Madam Pomfrey told her that some people wanted to see her, that she saw what it was.
All seven players of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were being placed in beds, all able to walk just fine, but with massive amounts of burns, boils and scars all over their bodies. Hermione saw Harry and Ron, already in bed, and they both waved her over. She ran over to them and just stared.
'Hi Hermione!' said Harry, very cheerfully considering his current state. 'Seems as though the Slytherins thought they'd sus us all out the weekend before our match against Ravenclaw.'
'And you're not upset about this?' asked Hermione.
'No,' replied Ron, lying on his bed with an evidently casual air. Ravenclaw are really shocking, and these boils get us a day off school, because the potion Madam Pomfrey needs to get rid of them takes a day to stew. Such a shame. We won't be out of here until 7pm tomorrow.'
Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head. 'All right. Well, believe me, guys, I'd stay with you, but I am truly sick of the hospital wing, so I am instead going to get out of here, and get homework done. See you later.'
Hermione turned on her heel and left, while Harry and Ron shook their heads at her.
'Mind you,' said Harry, 'I'd probably wanna get out of here pretty quickly as well, if I had to come here approximately once every month.'
'We do though,' commented Ron. 'To visit her.'
The next day Hermione dressed fairly quickly and got herself down to breakfast, feeling very lonely, but all the same very eager to finish the chapter in her Arithmancy book on Numerologically figuring out where Nifflers had hidden gold from unsuspecting Muggles. She buried her nose so deeply in her book it took Edward about 5 minutes to get her attention. He finally managed it by pouring a few drops of pumpkin juice down the back of her robes.
'Ahh!'
'Finally, I got your attention,'
'Shut up,' Hermione said, marking her book and looking up at him. 'What's up? You OK?'
'Yeah I'm fine,' replied Edward. 'Only, um . . you don't know where Susie is, do you? I've looked everywhere for her.'
'Tried the hospital wing?'
'What? What's wrong with her?'
'Nothing major,' replied Hermione. 'Some Slytherins thought they'd try to sabotage the Gryffindor team a week before their match against Ravenclaw yesterday, and so they're all in the hospital wing today with scars and stuff on their faces.'
'Ahh, OK,' Edward breathed a sigh of relief. 'That's good to hear.' He took a seat next to Hermione and began tucking into some toast.
'How are you, anyway?' he asked her. 'I saw what happened on Friday night.'
'Who didn't?' replied Hermione grimly.
'It was scary, seeing you writhing like that. Everyone was terrified you were going to lose it. I'd never seen Susie look truly scared before. .' Edward trailed off, remembering it.
Hermione placed a hand on Edwards shoulder. 'There are dark times ahead Edward. I doubt this is the end of them. We're in the middle of a war, and I doubt I'll, for one, be better, until the war is over.'
Edward frowned at his plate. He was a smart kid, Edward, and he wasn't one to back down from a challenge, but he, along with everyone else in the school with an ounce of good blood in their bodies, was very scared about the war that seemed close to occurring, and was willing to hide completely.
The bell rang at that point, and Hermione smiled down at Edward. 'But I know that it will be over soon, and we'll all live happily ever after.' And she got up and left.
'Just liked the fairy tales say,' said Edward quietly, before moving off to Charms.
Malfoy, who hadn't seen Hermione since Friday night, was slightly nervous about seeing her again. Once Hermione entered the room, waved eagerly to him, and ran over to join him, all nervous feeling left him, and he was simply happy to see her.
'Hey,' he said to her, as she settled down. 'How are you feeling?'
'I'm actually a bit frustrated,' she said.
'Why?' he asked, eyeing her sceptically.
'Well, I was working on some Charms homework last night, and for some reason, I can't, for the life of me, properly do a sun-causing charm. I can't cause sunlight to happen in a room. You know that one?'
'Yes I do. I mastered it the day Flitwick taught it to us.'
'Gee you're modest.'
'Thank you. I can teach it to you if you like. Go to the Quiet Room tonight after lessons. What is your last lesson?'
'Arithmancy.'
'Ahh, right, well I don't take that, so I'll see you there at 4pm.'
'All right. Thanks for that.'
'No problem,' he replied, as Professor Snape walked in.
Snape proceeded to set them one of the most difficult potions both Hermione and Malfoy had ever seen. This potion, Hermione thought to herself, reading the instructions, seemed more difficult then trying to get a scungeweasel to eat lettuce. And that was truly one of the most difficult things she'd ever done. She leaned over to Malfoy and whispered 'What does this potion do?'
'It's a relaxant,' he said. 'One so intense that the person who takes it will appear dead for about 2 hours, unless revived by use of 'Enervate'. Only very very skilled potion makers can make true ones.'
'True ones?'
'Ones that cause the drinker to, despite ANY form of illness or condition they may have, such as your Kedua's, get a very good nights sleep.'
'Well,' Hermione replied, shrugging, 'I haven't had too bad a nights sleep ever since the incident on Friday.'
'That's good,' Malfoy replied encouragingly.
'Yeah,' replied Hermione. 'It's bizarre though. I can't figure out how my sleep's gotten good suddenly.'
Malfoys face tinged slightly pink, and he did his best to quickly hide it. He must have managed, because Hermione saw nothing.
Hermione went straight to the quiet room after Arithmancy, and began waving her wand around, trying to get the charm to work.
'Lumerosolem! LUMEROSOLEM!' (A/N: in the first movie, this is the incantation Hermione uses against Devils Snare. Unfortunately, the movies events contrast with the books, and because I treat the Harry Potter books pretty much like Bibles, I go by their bidding, and am thusly using this incantation because I thought it was a nice-sounding one.)
'Get yourself worked up there Granger,' replied Malfoy, having just entered the room. 'It will help.'
Hermione shook her head to herself. 'It's impossible. I'm doing the wand movements right and everything, but it just isn't working.'
'There's a lot of emotion involved in this charm,' he replied. He took out his own wand, pointed it at the ceiling and said 'Lumerosolem!' causing a great shower of sunlight to cascade down upon both of them.
' . . . bastard.' Hermione said.
Malfoy shrugged. 'It's easy once you get the right sort of emotion.'
'What sort of emotion is that then?' she asked.
Malfoy didn't reply straight away. Truth be told, what caused him to get the charm right was that he'd been thinking about Hermione at the time he'd cast it. He'd been thinking of how she made him feel, mainly during potions lessons, when they were joking and laughing together. It had made him feel good, and kind of strong, like he could do anything. Like he was, as the song said 'walking on sunshine'.
'It's a happy feeling. A feeling like your walking on sunshine,' Malfoy said.
Hermione grinned. 'Like the song?'
'Yeah.'
Hermione shut her eyes for a moment, and tried to corner that sort of emotion. She found herself thinking of Malfoy, and the times they spent together, planning various events for the school, and the fun they'd had. Also, just how thinking about him made her feel so warm and tender inside. She was so blatantly in love she disgusted herself. But at least it would help her with her spell. She then waved her wand, and said 'Lumerosolem!'
A small amount of light hit a spot about 6 feet to the left of where she was aiming.
'Wave your wand a little less, and more to the right, if you were aiming for the book shelf,' Malfoy said casually.
Hermione tried this, but forgot to think the same emotion, and the spell didn't work.
Malfoy stood up and walked behind her, taking hold of her wrist. 'It's more like this,' he said, waving her wand for her. Hermione's eyes followed her hand moving, but she was slightly distracting by the close proximity Malfoy had placed himself to her.
Malfoy wasn't moving, though. He said softly to her 'Try and think of that emotion again. It's what causes the sunlight, remember?'
Hermione nodded slowly, feeling ever more slightly uneasy about the position she was in. Malfoy waved the wand for her, and she said 'Lumerosolem!' and a dim sunlight appeared near the bookshelf, and stayed there for a few seconds, before vanishing.
'Excellent,' Malfoy breathed into her ear. He removed his hand from her wrist, and put it instead on her shoulder. 'Try again,' he pressed. 'Keep trying.'
Hermione tried to concentrate on the emotion she was suppose to be feeling, but it was very hard. 'Lumerosolem!' she said again, trying to ignore that the person she was in love with was in such close proximity to her, and she was feeling an almost insane desire to whip around and cover his face with kisses, and completely mess up his hair in the intensity of it all. She knew he wouldn't like that.
Malfoy, meanwhile, was beginning to play with Hermiones hair. He ran his fingers through it, and found it fascinating how it would bounce back to the stubborn curls that were in it. He amused himself by watching this.
'Lumerosolem!' Hermione said again, and Malfoy saw the charm out of the corner of his eye. 'Getting better,' Malfoy replied, somewhat carelessly, tucking Hermiones hair behind her ear. He liked doing this. It exposed her neck, where quite a few scars from previous Keduas-related scars were. He ran his fingers along them, and he could feel Hermione shiver slightly. But she, being Hermione, pushed on still.
'Lumerosolem!' she said again.
Malfoy didn't see where that one was. He was too busy tracing. He felt Hermione sigh slightly, and lower her wand.
'I can't do this with you doing that,' she said quietly.
'Then maybe,' whispered Malfoy quietly in Hermiones ear, 'Stop doing it.'
Hermiones wand fell slowly to the ground. She'd lost the battle of wits, and she didn't care at all. She felt her knees becoming weak, and she gripped the chair to the side of her, turning slightly so she was facing Malfoy more.
Malfoy didn't notice. He ran his fingers through her hair again, and breathed her in. She smelt of vanilla, slightly. It was wonderful, he decided.
Why am I doing this? He asked himself. Granted, it wasn't as if he was throwing her to the ground and basically raping her, but it was still exposing to her what he was feeling. And it was a forbidden thing to feel. Malfoys are never, ever suppose to love, particularly not muggle-borns. This went down in all kinds of books as a completely wrong thing to do.
And yet . . . somehow . . . what he was doing felt absolutely right. It felt as though it was the right thing to do, and had to be done. He leaned down slightly towards Hermione and began gently nuzzling her neck with his lips, softly kissing the scars. And he could swear he could feel her shivering slightly as he did this. He reached her cheek, and it felt as though she was inviting him to keep going. She slowly slid her arms around him and took a step back.
Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on whos side you're on), Hermiones leg caught the chair, and she tripped, falling onto the chair and unvoluntarily dragging Malfoy with her, so now he was on top of her. Hermione blushed like you wouldn't believe. Malfoy laughed at this.
'What's so funny?' she asked, not seeing the humour.
'You,' he replied, almost burying his nose in her hair 'You're so clumsy . . . but always at the right time.'
Hermione was having trouble breathing, for some reason. Not a lot of trouble . . . an almost comfortable amount, actually. 'Why are you doing this?' she asked.
She could feel, rather then see, Malfoy shaking his head slowly. 'I don't really know,' he said.
'Maybe you should stop,' Hermione suggested lamely.
'Maybe I should,' he replied, and he kept going. Hermione feigned annoyance at Malfoys failure to practise what he preached.
'Will you?'
'No.'
Hermione nodded slightly. 'Good.' She said.
Malfoy was slightly surprised at Hermiones reaction. He lifted himself up slightly, so he was looking down at her. She looked back at him with a questioning expression on her face. 'What?' she asked.
'Are you telling me,' he said mockingly 'That you want me to continue something that is a) distracting you from your homework, and b) showing that you have signs of weakness?'
He lowered himself slightly again.
'What weakness?' asked Hermione.
'This weakness,' Hermione said, gesturing at her. 'You falling over, as well as being the seemingly submissive one.'
'I am not submissive!'
Malfoy grinned. 'You're nervous.'
'How am I nervous? I'm not nervous.'
'Yeah you are' Malfoy felt completely in control of the situation.
'I'm not nervous. I don't get nervous.' The thing was, though, that Hermione always repeated herself, when she was nervous. 'You're not doing anything I—'
Malfoy cut her off then, by taking her face in his hands, leaning down again, and kissing Hermione full well on the lips.
Hermiones first reaction, as far as Malfoy could feel, was a tense one. She completely clammed up, as though trying to fight it. Trying to fight feeling any sort of pleasure or comfort out of it. Then she gave in, and began showing weakness, buried underneath all that strength she had shown during the months where she'd been sick. She gave in, slid her arms around him, and pulled him closer.
Hermione was feeling all the usual stuff that came with pashing some guy you were in love with. All the mushy-gushy, oh-I-can't-believe-this-is- really-happening type stuff. But there was something else as well. She could feel a strange but strong build up of hurtful emotions, the pain she felt from all her beatings and bruisings she received in her dreams, leaving her. Leaving her along with all rational thoughts of 'Harry and Ron are going to kill you' and 'He was raised by death eaters', as she did what she was going with Malfoy on this Monday afternoon.
They broke apart, and Malfoy looked at Hermione with certain smugness. Hermione, slightly out of breath, looked at him questioningly. 'What?' she asked again.
'Do you still say you show no signs of weakness?' Malfoy asked.
Hermione, despite her current relaxed state of mind, was still Hermione, and as witty as ever. 'Do you?' she asked, sitting up slightly, in order to make room for Malfoy to actually sit down.
'What do you mean?' he asked.
'Well you're the one who obviously couldn't resist. You started it. Raging hormones plaguing you I guess.'
'I couldn't resist? You fully relaxed after I started doing it. I could have stopped at any time.'
'Balls,' Hermione replied. 'You couldn't have stopped at all, you big bucket of testosterone.'
Malfoy feigned sadness and defeat. Then he said suddenly 'You know what? You're right.'
'I'm right?' Hermione asked quizzically. 'You're admitting the blatantly obvious. Are you sick?'
'Yeah, I admit it. I can't resist you. You're too amazing for me to try.'
Hermione widened her eyes, this time quite seriously. 'Really?'
Malfoy nodded. 'Really. And . . . also . . .' He couldn't believe he was admitting this. He was a Malfoy. They never felt this. But he just couldn't hide it any more. 'I think I'm falling in love with you.'
Hermione smiled, and pulled Malfoy closer to him, answering this statement with one he certainly didn't expect. 'I know I've fallen in love with you.'
Malfoy sighed with relievedness, and was about to start off another gale of a snog-storm, but Hermione pulled back.
'What?' Malfoy asked.
'Just assure me,' said Hermione, twirling a lock of her hair innocently with her finger. 'That I never have to call you Draco.'
Malfoy grinned. 'I'd rather admit you make me weak, Granger.'
Hermione grinned. It had been a fantastic day. She began playing a similar song her mother use to love in her head, before Malfoy took her for his own again.
The song went like this: Whenever I want you around, yeah, All I've got to do, If call you on the phone, And you'll come running home, Yeah that's all I've gotta go,
And when I, I wanna kiss you yeah, All I've got to do, Is whisper in your ear, The words you long to hear, And I'll be kissing you,
And the same goes for me, Whenever you want me at all, I'll be here yes I will, Whenever you call, You just gotta call on me, yeah, You just gotta call on me.
OK, I have achieved two impossible things within this chapter. I have a) managed to write a kissing scene without blushing and making it sound hurried and wrong, and b) written an entire chapter in less than a day. I am good . . . tell me I'm good, people. The best, easiest, and most fun way to do this, is by reviewing. See you 'round!
Yo yo yo! Wassup everyone!
Now unfortunately my internet doesn't really like me, so it's taking me a while to actually manage to post things.
Anyhow, many reviews, from this chapter and last (again, so sorry to the people who reviewed the chapter before last but didn't get their reviews replied. That isn't my fault. It's the Internet's.
iluvronweasley: ahh, no caps today? Hehe.. yes, I imagine Japanese would be a bit hard for one to learn if one lived in England. I, being Australian, do it as an elective. Here are a few words you might benefit from: kawaii = cute, baka = stupid, amai = sweet, tanoshii = fun, omoshiroi = interesting. And a basic sentence= kore wa omoshiroi desu. It means 'this is interesting. You can swap omoshiroi for any of those other words I gave you, though. Anyway, glad you're enjoying this.
Flutterling: Ahh, Hermione's just a confused being, you see. Anyway, yeah, I tend to repeat certain words. Depends on the kinda mood I'm in, I think.
SweetCheeksDracoLover: hiya. You reviewed Chapter 1 for some reason. Anyhow, thank you.
DISCLAIMER: I am actually kinda sort of borrowing a scene here that I read from a slash fanfic I read. The slash was truly disgusting, but this scene I thought was truly beautiful, but it belongs not to me. It belongs to the Author of Phoenix Song. I'll also be mentioning a song, entitled 'All I've Got To Do' sadly, this song doesn't belong to me either.. it belongs, most probably, to Michael Jackson, who, even more sadly, bought it off who previously owned most words written by the incomparable Lennon/McCartney duo.
Right, let's go right ahead.
Hermione was asked to stay in the hospital until Sunday evening. She wasn't thrilled about this, but she did it anyway. When she was about to be released, she hearde the door of the hospital wing burst open, and a lot of commotion outside. Madam Pomfrey, who had been helping Hermione pack, left her side abruptly to see what was happening. Hermione continued packing, and it was only when Madam Pomfrey told her that some people wanted to see her, that she saw what it was.
All seven players of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were being placed in beds, all able to walk just fine, but with massive amounts of burns, boils and scars all over their bodies. Hermione saw Harry and Ron, already in bed, and they both waved her over. She ran over to them and just stared.
'Hi Hermione!' said Harry, very cheerfully considering his current state. 'Seems as though the Slytherins thought they'd sus us all out the weekend before our match against Ravenclaw.'
'And you're not upset about this?' asked Hermione.
'No,' replied Ron, lying on his bed with an evidently casual air. Ravenclaw are really shocking, and these boils get us a day off school, because the potion Madam Pomfrey needs to get rid of them takes a day to stew. Such a shame. We won't be out of here until 7pm tomorrow.'
Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head. 'All right. Well, believe me, guys, I'd stay with you, but I am truly sick of the hospital wing, so I am instead going to get out of here, and get homework done. See you later.'
Hermione turned on her heel and left, while Harry and Ron shook their heads at her.
'Mind you,' said Harry, 'I'd probably wanna get out of here pretty quickly as well, if I had to come here approximately once every month.'
'We do though,' commented Ron. 'To visit her.'
The next day Hermione dressed fairly quickly and got herself down to breakfast, feeling very lonely, but all the same very eager to finish the chapter in her Arithmancy book on Numerologically figuring out where Nifflers had hidden gold from unsuspecting Muggles. She buried her nose so deeply in her book it took Edward about 5 minutes to get her attention. He finally managed it by pouring a few drops of pumpkin juice down the back of her robes.
'Ahh!'
'Finally, I got your attention,'
'Shut up,' Hermione said, marking her book and looking up at him. 'What's up? You OK?'
'Yeah I'm fine,' replied Edward. 'Only, um . . you don't know where Susie is, do you? I've looked everywhere for her.'
'Tried the hospital wing?'
'What? What's wrong with her?'
'Nothing major,' replied Hermione. 'Some Slytherins thought they'd try to sabotage the Gryffindor team a week before their match against Ravenclaw yesterday, and so they're all in the hospital wing today with scars and stuff on their faces.'
'Ahh, OK,' Edward breathed a sigh of relief. 'That's good to hear.' He took a seat next to Hermione and began tucking into some toast.
'How are you, anyway?' he asked her. 'I saw what happened on Friday night.'
'Who didn't?' replied Hermione grimly.
'It was scary, seeing you writhing like that. Everyone was terrified you were going to lose it. I'd never seen Susie look truly scared before. .' Edward trailed off, remembering it.
Hermione placed a hand on Edwards shoulder. 'There are dark times ahead Edward. I doubt this is the end of them. We're in the middle of a war, and I doubt I'll, for one, be better, until the war is over.'
Edward frowned at his plate. He was a smart kid, Edward, and he wasn't one to back down from a challenge, but he, along with everyone else in the school with an ounce of good blood in their bodies, was very scared about the war that seemed close to occurring, and was willing to hide completely.
The bell rang at that point, and Hermione smiled down at Edward. 'But I know that it will be over soon, and we'll all live happily ever after.' And she got up and left.
'Just liked the fairy tales say,' said Edward quietly, before moving off to Charms.
Malfoy, who hadn't seen Hermione since Friday night, was slightly nervous about seeing her again. Once Hermione entered the room, waved eagerly to him, and ran over to join him, all nervous feeling left him, and he was simply happy to see her.
'Hey,' he said to her, as she settled down. 'How are you feeling?'
'I'm actually a bit frustrated,' she said.
'Why?' he asked, eyeing her sceptically.
'Well, I was working on some Charms homework last night, and for some reason, I can't, for the life of me, properly do a sun-causing charm. I can't cause sunlight to happen in a room. You know that one?'
'Yes I do. I mastered it the day Flitwick taught it to us.'
'Gee you're modest.'
'Thank you. I can teach it to you if you like. Go to the Quiet Room tonight after lessons. What is your last lesson?'
'Arithmancy.'
'Ahh, right, well I don't take that, so I'll see you there at 4pm.'
'All right. Thanks for that.'
'No problem,' he replied, as Professor Snape walked in.
Snape proceeded to set them one of the most difficult potions both Hermione and Malfoy had ever seen. This potion, Hermione thought to herself, reading the instructions, seemed more difficult then trying to get a scungeweasel to eat lettuce. And that was truly one of the most difficult things she'd ever done. She leaned over to Malfoy and whispered 'What does this potion do?'
'It's a relaxant,' he said. 'One so intense that the person who takes it will appear dead for about 2 hours, unless revived by use of 'Enervate'. Only very very skilled potion makers can make true ones.'
'True ones?'
'Ones that cause the drinker to, despite ANY form of illness or condition they may have, such as your Kedua's, get a very good nights sleep.'
'Well,' Hermione replied, shrugging, 'I haven't had too bad a nights sleep ever since the incident on Friday.'
'That's good,' Malfoy replied encouragingly.
'Yeah,' replied Hermione. 'It's bizarre though. I can't figure out how my sleep's gotten good suddenly.'
Malfoys face tinged slightly pink, and he did his best to quickly hide it. He must have managed, because Hermione saw nothing.
Hermione went straight to the quiet room after Arithmancy, and began waving her wand around, trying to get the charm to work.
'Lumerosolem! LUMEROSOLEM!' (A/N: in the first movie, this is the incantation Hermione uses against Devils Snare. Unfortunately, the movies events contrast with the books, and because I treat the Harry Potter books pretty much like Bibles, I go by their bidding, and am thusly using this incantation because I thought it was a nice-sounding one.)
'Get yourself worked up there Granger,' replied Malfoy, having just entered the room. 'It will help.'
Hermione shook her head to herself. 'It's impossible. I'm doing the wand movements right and everything, but it just isn't working.'
'There's a lot of emotion involved in this charm,' he replied. He took out his own wand, pointed it at the ceiling and said 'Lumerosolem!' causing a great shower of sunlight to cascade down upon both of them.
' . . . bastard.' Hermione said.
Malfoy shrugged. 'It's easy once you get the right sort of emotion.'
'What sort of emotion is that then?' she asked.
Malfoy didn't reply straight away. Truth be told, what caused him to get the charm right was that he'd been thinking about Hermione at the time he'd cast it. He'd been thinking of how she made him feel, mainly during potions lessons, when they were joking and laughing together. It had made him feel good, and kind of strong, like he could do anything. Like he was, as the song said 'walking on sunshine'.
'It's a happy feeling. A feeling like your walking on sunshine,' Malfoy said.
Hermione grinned. 'Like the song?'
'Yeah.'
Hermione shut her eyes for a moment, and tried to corner that sort of emotion. She found herself thinking of Malfoy, and the times they spent together, planning various events for the school, and the fun they'd had. Also, just how thinking about him made her feel so warm and tender inside. She was so blatantly in love she disgusted herself. But at least it would help her with her spell. She then waved her wand, and said 'Lumerosolem!'
A small amount of light hit a spot about 6 feet to the left of where she was aiming.
'Wave your wand a little less, and more to the right, if you were aiming for the book shelf,' Malfoy said casually.
Hermione tried this, but forgot to think the same emotion, and the spell didn't work.
Malfoy stood up and walked behind her, taking hold of her wrist. 'It's more like this,' he said, waving her wand for her. Hermione's eyes followed her hand moving, but she was slightly distracting by the close proximity Malfoy had placed himself to her.
Malfoy wasn't moving, though. He said softly to her 'Try and think of that emotion again. It's what causes the sunlight, remember?'
Hermione nodded slowly, feeling ever more slightly uneasy about the position she was in. Malfoy waved the wand for her, and she said 'Lumerosolem!' and a dim sunlight appeared near the bookshelf, and stayed there for a few seconds, before vanishing.
'Excellent,' Malfoy breathed into her ear. He removed his hand from her wrist, and put it instead on her shoulder. 'Try again,' he pressed. 'Keep trying.'
Hermione tried to concentrate on the emotion she was suppose to be feeling, but it was very hard. 'Lumerosolem!' she said again, trying to ignore that the person she was in love with was in such close proximity to her, and she was feeling an almost insane desire to whip around and cover his face with kisses, and completely mess up his hair in the intensity of it all. She knew he wouldn't like that.
Malfoy, meanwhile, was beginning to play with Hermiones hair. He ran his fingers through it, and found it fascinating how it would bounce back to the stubborn curls that were in it. He amused himself by watching this.
'Lumerosolem!' Hermione said again, and Malfoy saw the charm out of the corner of his eye. 'Getting better,' Malfoy replied, somewhat carelessly, tucking Hermiones hair behind her ear. He liked doing this. It exposed her neck, where quite a few scars from previous Keduas-related scars were. He ran his fingers along them, and he could feel Hermione shiver slightly. But she, being Hermione, pushed on still.
'Lumerosolem!' she said again.
Malfoy didn't see where that one was. He was too busy tracing. He felt Hermione sigh slightly, and lower her wand.
'I can't do this with you doing that,' she said quietly.
'Then maybe,' whispered Malfoy quietly in Hermiones ear, 'Stop doing it.'
Hermiones wand fell slowly to the ground. She'd lost the battle of wits, and she didn't care at all. She felt her knees becoming weak, and she gripped the chair to the side of her, turning slightly so she was facing Malfoy more.
Malfoy didn't notice. He ran his fingers through her hair again, and breathed her in. She smelt of vanilla, slightly. It was wonderful, he decided.
Why am I doing this? He asked himself. Granted, it wasn't as if he was throwing her to the ground and basically raping her, but it was still exposing to her what he was feeling. And it was a forbidden thing to feel. Malfoys are never, ever suppose to love, particularly not muggle-borns. This went down in all kinds of books as a completely wrong thing to do.
And yet . . . somehow . . . what he was doing felt absolutely right. It felt as though it was the right thing to do, and had to be done. He leaned down slightly towards Hermione and began gently nuzzling her neck with his lips, softly kissing the scars. And he could swear he could feel her shivering slightly as he did this. He reached her cheek, and it felt as though she was inviting him to keep going. She slowly slid her arms around him and took a step back.
Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on whos side you're on), Hermiones leg caught the chair, and she tripped, falling onto the chair and unvoluntarily dragging Malfoy with her, so now he was on top of her. Hermione blushed like you wouldn't believe. Malfoy laughed at this.
'What's so funny?' she asked, not seeing the humour.
'You,' he replied, almost burying his nose in her hair 'You're so clumsy . . . but always at the right time.'
Hermione was having trouble breathing, for some reason. Not a lot of trouble . . . an almost comfortable amount, actually. 'Why are you doing this?' she asked.
She could feel, rather then see, Malfoy shaking his head slowly. 'I don't really know,' he said.
'Maybe you should stop,' Hermione suggested lamely.
'Maybe I should,' he replied, and he kept going. Hermione feigned annoyance at Malfoys failure to practise what he preached.
'Will you?'
'No.'
Hermione nodded slightly. 'Good.' She said.
Malfoy was slightly surprised at Hermiones reaction. He lifted himself up slightly, so he was looking down at her. She looked back at him with a questioning expression on her face. 'What?' she asked.
'Are you telling me,' he said mockingly 'That you want me to continue something that is a) distracting you from your homework, and b) showing that you have signs of weakness?'
He lowered himself slightly again.
'What weakness?' asked Hermione.
'This weakness,' Hermione said, gesturing at her. 'You falling over, as well as being the seemingly submissive one.'
'I am not submissive!'
Malfoy grinned. 'You're nervous.'
'How am I nervous? I'm not nervous.'
'Yeah you are' Malfoy felt completely in control of the situation.
'I'm not nervous. I don't get nervous.' The thing was, though, that Hermione always repeated herself, when she was nervous. 'You're not doing anything I—'
Malfoy cut her off then, by taking her face in his hands, leaning down again, and kissing Hermione full well on the lips.
Hermiones first reaction, as far as Malfoy could feel, was a tense one. She completely clammed up, as though trying to fight it. Trying to fight feeling any sort of pleasure or comfort out of it. Then she gave in, and began showing weakness, buried underneath all that strength she had shown during the months where she'd been sick. She gave in, slid her arms around him, and pulled him closer.
Hermione was feeling all the usual stuff that came with pashing some guy you were in love with. All the mushy-gushy, oh-I-can't-believe-this-is- really-happening type stuff. But there was something else as well. She could feel a strange but strong build up of hurtful emotions, the pain she felt from all her beatings and bruisings she received in her dreams, leaving her. Leaving her along with all rational thoughts of 'Harry and Ron are going to kill you' and 'He was raised by death eaters', as she did what she was going with Malfoy on this Monday afternoon.
They broke apart, and Malfoy looked at Hermione with certain smugness. Hermione, slightly out of breath, looked at him questioningly. 'What?' she asked again.
'Do you still say you show no signs of weakness?' Malfoy asked.
Hermione, despite her current relaxed state of mind, was still Hermione, and as witty as ever. 'Do you?' she asked, sitting up slightly, in order to make room for Malfoy to actually sit down.
'What do you mean?' he asked.
'Well you're the one who obviously couldn't resist. You started it. Raging hormones plaguing you I guess.'
'I couldn't resist? You fully relaxed after I started doing it. I could have stopped at any time.'
'Balls,' Hermione replied. 'You couldn't have stopped at all, you big bucket of testosterone.'
Malfoy feigned sadness and defeat. Then he said suddenly 'You know what? You're right.'
'I'm right?' Hermione asked quizzically. 'You're admitting the blatantly obvious. Are you sick?'
'Yeah, I admit it. I can't resist you. You're too amazing for me to try.'
Hermione widened her eyes, this time quite seriously. 'Really?'
Malfoy nodded. 'Really. And . . . also . . .' He couldn't believe he was admitting this. He was a Malfoy. They never felt this. But he just couldn't hide it any more. 'I think I'm falling in love with you.'
Hermione smiled, and pulled Malfoy closer to him, answering this statement with one he certainly didn't expect. 'I know I've fallen in love with you.'
Malfoy sighed with relievedness, and was about to start off another gale of a snog-storm, but Hermione pulled back.
'What?' Malfoy asked.
'Just assure me,' said Hermione, twirling a lock of her hair innocently with her finger. 'That I never have to call you Draco.'
Malfoy grinned. 'I'd rather admit you make me weak, Granger.'
Hermione grinned. It had been a fantastic day. She began playing a similar song her mother use to love in her head, before Malfoy took her for his own again.
The song went like this: Whenever I want you around, yeah, All I've got to do, If call you on the phone, And you'll come running home, Yeah that's all I've gotta go,
And when I, I wanna kiss you yeah, All I've got to do, Is whisper in your ear, The words you long to hear, And I'll be kissing you,
And the same goes for me, Whenever you want me at all, I'll be here yes I will, Whenever you call, You just gotta call on me, yeah, You just gotta call on me.
OK, I have achieved two impossible things within this chapter. I have a) managed to write a kissing scene without blushing and making it sound hurried and wrong, and b) written an entire chapter in less than a day. I am good . . . tell me I'm good, people. The best, easiest, and most fun way to do this, is by reviewing. See you 'round!