Title: Flight of the Dragon and Roar of the Lioness
Author: Ally May
Rating:PG-13
Summary: Hermione is not whom she thinks, but to become what she is destined to be she must wed the Dark Prince, who is unfortunatly Draco Malfoy.
Disclaimer: I will only say this once, all original characters and ideas belong to J.K Rowling. She retains all rights to all things related to Harry Potter.
"With all the things that you could be,
You never could learn how to be me.
And now you want to ask me "how"?
It's like - how does your heart beat, and why do you breathe?
How does your heart beat, and why do you breathe
how do you breathe.." - How by Lia Loeb
"My dear this is no lie. You are Hecatia Linghean, and I would never speak of that name lightly. I have waited to long to find you I am afraid. I wish beyond anything that you wouldn't have been with those, people, for so long. Well I must go I must not linger in one place for too long. Please make a decision, and I will see you at the end of school." He stood up and nodded at Draco then he disapparated.
She shook her head and stared at the floor. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up, it was Draco. He helped her up and said, "Come on I'll take you back to Hogwarts now."
She stared him in the eye and reached a hand up to brush a stray strand of hair from his face, "I don't want to go back yet. Take me somewhere where I can think, please?" He nodded at her and pulled her closer to him. She closed her eyes and breathed in his strong cologne, actually it smelled of cherries and coconuts. She smiled slightly as she felt her feet touch the ground again.
She opened her eyes and looked around, and there was the ocean. She looked quickly back at Draco and smiled before taking off at a run towards the water. She quickly slipped off her shoes and ran into the water. Her feet hit the water quickly and she could feel all her question's flutter away.
The soft whooshing of the ocean and clicking of the seagull's beaks calmed her deeply. Quickly she noticed she must have looked silly running like that, so she sharply turned around. She saw Draco sitting on the soft grass, watching her intently. He smiled at her and she turned away when she felt a flutter of something in her stomach.
A few minutes later, she made her way back towards Draco. The sand was soft beneath as she sat down beside him. The silence between them was awkward and strange, maybe things could change for the better.
Draco cleared his throat and fidgeted with his tie. "I know this is all going to take time to get used too, and I know you don't want to marry me but I really think this could work. All of your qualities would do wonders for the dark side. You could even change a few things if you wanted, maybe you could even change me. For the better of course."
For some reason she found his nervousness endearing and, even though she wouldn't admit it, kind of cute. The sun was setting and she looked out to the ocean and closed her eyes.
"Draco, I don't hate you. You've just never given a reason to like you. I admit there are certain things I admire about the dark side but ever since I've joined the wizarding world I have been on the good side, I guess that's what it is. For almost 7 years now, I thought I was just some stupid mudblood. I honestly don't know what to think about all of this." Through what she was saying Draco had remained quiet and distant. When she finished he looked at her with something akin to pity.
"Do you think we could ever love each other?" She bit her lip and looked him in the eye.
"I really don't know Draco, but I guess we could try. Trying never hurt anyone."
He smiled and leaned closer. "Would you mind if I tried to kiss you?"
She didn't answer him , instead she put one hand behind his neck and pulled him to her. At first the kiss was hesitant but soon they both let go of themselves and the kiss turned passionate. She pulled away breathless and stood up, "We need do go back to Hogwarts, they'll become suspicious."
He stood and put his arms around her before disapparating.
They arrived in hogsmeade and the walk back to Hogwarts was quiet and awkward. When they bother finally arrived together in the common room, Hermione sat down and laid her had in her hands. Ignoring Draco for the time being she silently began to cry, a girl could only handle so much in such a short period of time.
Only a few moments later she felt Draco's hand on her shoulder. She viciously wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at Draco. Something inside her head clicked and suddenly she saw flashes of her future, their future. She saw a little girl and a baby boy in her arms, she saw Draco running around outside with their little girl, and most of all she felt an overwhelming sense of love for him.
All of that happened within one second, because the next second she had Draco on top of her with their mouths firmly attached. They were a tangle of limbs and she was frantically trying to unbutton his shirt. Draco pulled away breathless and looked down at Hermione, and he thenlookedas ifhe was fighting a losing battle within himself.
He softly lay his head down on her shoulder and she sighed.
"Draco? Did I do something wrong? I know I'm new to this all but…"
"No! No, you didn't do anything wrong. Trust me you didn't, I'm not exactly all that informed in this area anyways. It's just we can't do anything until were married." He lifted his headand looked at her, he smiled, because somewhere along the way she had fallen asleep. He laid his head back down and fell asleep in a position he never thought he would ever be in, in the arms of Hermione Granger.
Hermione woke up and felt something odd. By odd, someone was sleeping on top of her. She lifted her head up slightly and noticed to her great amusement that Draco was fast asleep on her left shoulder.
She tried to push him off and said, "Draco you great lug get off me! I can't breathe!"
"What? Mum I swear I didn't steal your knickers!" Hermione took one look at him and began laughing hysterically. Draco had some sense to at least blush, he stood up and stormed up the stairs.
"Oh Draco, come on! Don't leave me in suspense, did you steal your mum's knickers?"
His door slammed closed and she laughed as she made her way to her bedroom. Dressing quickly she dashed to the great hall and got there just in time to walk to class with Harry and Ron.
"Hey Mione'." They both said at the same time.
"Hey."
The three of them walked quietly down to Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures. Class began and Hermione couldn't help but try to spot Draco. She saw him and smirked at him, he scowled and looked away.
"Today class we'll be workin' wit Gnome's. Now I know most ya's think's there nuttin special, but ta live in tha wizardin world ya gotta know's how ta deal wit em. Now, pick a partner and start pickin gnomes outta the ground and throw em into tha forest." Hagrid said before moving into the pen housing the gnomes.
Luckily in every class head girl and head boy were supposed to work together. She met Draco halfway and nudged him with her elbow. "Don't stay mad at me, I was just kidding with you."
"Fine, let's just get to work." She sighed and began picking up gnomes, but she couldn't help but sneak glances at Draco.
When classes were finally over she said the password to the common room and stepped inside. She was so exhausted that she wasn't really paying attention to anything. Halfway up the stairs she noticed Draco sitting at the top of the stairs.
"Draco." She sighed. "I'm exhausted, okay. I'm not in the mood for you to be all ,yourself with me." She continued walking up and when she went to pass him on the staircase he grabbed her hand softly and stilled her.
"Listen, I'm sorry. I'm not mad, it's just, I don't like people laughing at me."
"Draco, a lot of people laugh at you. At least I did it to your face. Now I'm tired and I'm going to bed." After passing him he decided to say a little more.
"I heard from Tom today, he wants your decision the day before graduation. After all there's going to be wedding plans to make." Sighing to herself she rubbed her eyes and yawned as she made her way into her room.
Classes went by surprisingly quick and before she knew it the day before graduation had arrived and she was walking with Draco to meet Tom. Before entering into the room Tom was in, she stopped Draco.
"Listen the decision I made had nothing to do with our pending relationship. I was wondering though, if I decided not to agree would you still want to be with me?"
"I don't know, I guess I'll deal with that when or if I have to." She couldn't help but wonder why did boys have to be so unclear.
The room was dark as always with just a fire burning and Tom sitting in the corner. Draco and Hermione sat down next to each other on the couch opposite of Tom.
Hermione looked directly at Tom and spoke, "I've made my decision."
"I see that, so?" Even though she couldn't see the smirk on his face she knew it was there. She couldn't contain the rolling of her eyes, she's still a teenager and it came naturally.
"Well I have come to the conclusion that I will become Dark Princess, if and only if, Draco and I will have a soul bond not a marriage."
"A soul bond? Why on earth would you suggest such a thing girl? Do you know what problems can occur if anything should happen to either of you."
"I'm willing to live with those issues. I just want to make sure if I come into this that in no way can I be fooled, because if we have a soul bond there's no way for him to be unfaithful or for me to be. I may be turning dark but I still have my morals intact."
"Draco will you agree to this?" Draco looked at Hermione then cleared his throat.
"I haven't told her yet…"
"Don't worry the soul bind can be completed without that uh, matter being solved yet." Tom said without a trace of hesitation.
"Then yes, I will agree. After all won't our powers be boosted?"
"Yes." Hermione said softly. "Since that's settled, when will we perform the ceremony."
Tom thought for a moment then said, "I think around the middle of July would be good. That would give you and Narcissa sufficient time to plan." He stood up and nodded towards the both of them.
So soon to be Dark Prince and Princess sat alone in the dark room pondering if they could love each other forever. Somehow though, Hermione knew her decision was correct, after all she had a dream of a soul bind ceremony in her and Draco's future.
Or maybe she was just being delusional.
