Author's Note: Hello there! Thank you first and foremost to all those who reviewed! You are the ones who motivate me to continue this story! As a token of my gratitude, here is chapter six of Of Pictures and Moments… Enjoy.
CHAPTER SIX
By Erythros
Draco lay down on the cold grass of the Quidditch field as he waited for the others to come. Tonight was Quidditch practice. He was always the earliest to arrive, being the Captain of the Team. Beside him was a rusting bronze chest that held the balls they were to use.
Little by little, as the minutes passed, it grew darker, and stars began to emerge. The moon peeked out of a cloud and at a leisurely pace made its way across the sky. He sighed as he watched, remembering a night that closely resembled this one.
He shook his head to forget and empty his head of that memory, and made himself recall that he was taken—that he, Draco Malfoy, was already in love with another girl. And yet, moments later, it came back, more vivid than before. He closed his eyes and succumbed to it, reliving it over again.
He remembered himself riding his broomstick, making his rounds around the field, and hearing Hermione's mirthful laughter. He saw her by the bleachers, her face red with excitement and happiness, and he recalled how bright it was that night; he recalled seeing her look like someone divine, and how it seemed that time was standing still.
And he recalled that time when he fell and she came to his side… He brought his fingers to his healing bruise, and tried imitating the way her fingers traced it. He remembered how nice she looked up close; he memorized her every feature in that one moment.
And his most favorite part of that memory was when he brought her up before the moon. Her arms were tightly around his waist in fear that she might fall, and he chuckled, remembering her frightened shrieks. He remembered taking her hand, entwining it with his firmly, and telling her that he promised he wouldn't let her fall.
If he were to promise that years ago, he thought, he knew he would break it. He smirked, and continued on recalling how she cautiously opened her eyes and gasped in awe at what she saw. Her brown eyes sparkled with bliss, and he smiled back at her, hoping that time indeed would freeze…
He sighed, and was filled with an odd feeling welling up in him. It spread like a virus, surging through his body, and as strange as it felt, it was peculiarly comforting. Seconds later, it disappeared; however, when his head was once again teeming with thoughts of his Gryffindor friend, the feeling came back. He wondered why it was so…
Draco opened his eyes at the sound of muffled voices in the distance, getting closer by the second. He groaned; he knew those were of his teammates and for once, he wished that they would have been late. He slowly got up, took his broom, and with one last glance at the moon above him, he turned and began to shout.
The roses fell onto her lap with a gentle thud as she looked back up at the owls gathering above her, one by one dropping one rose after another. She turned a dark crimson, avoiding the gazes of many who were with her at the Great Hall. She could hear the murmurs and jealous sighs from all the girls in each House, and she wondered how they could possibly think that she was lucky enough to be experiencing this embarrassment!
"Hermione," Ron uttered, dropping his toast on his plate, "You've got some kind of an admirer here." He took half the roses from her lap and lay them on the table. "You've got about… thirty of them here! And this is only half of it!"
Harry adjusted his glasses, saying, "That must have cost him money. Bet the bloke's filthy rich to afford this much just to impress a girl."
Hermione laughed tensely, still feeling extremely hot and uncomfortable. She was definitely not used to this kind of attention. She fanned herself with her hand, and excused herself from their table, muttering something about getting these roses back to her trunk. And so she gathered her things, scooped all the roses in her arms so quickly that some of them fell down to the floor, and sped out of the Great Hall.
How she wished that he wouldn't do such things—showing immense displays of affection towards her in front of the whole school population, even if they didn't know it was he who was behind all of it. Benjamin was overdoing it.
And as she made her way to the Gryffindor Tower, Draco popped into her head, and a warm, fuzzy feeling engulfed her. Now if he had been the one who had done all those things for her, then she wouldn't mind. She laughed at the thought and continued onto the Common Room.
Back at the Great Hall, two tables away from the Gryffindor table, someone was about to explode with frustration. People around him swore that he was getting redder by the minute, though he appeared to be cool and collected. Draco Malfoy watched the whole scene that had occurred just minutes past, from the time the owls flew in to the time when his Gryffindor friend hurried out of the Hall.
He shot his eyes towards the Hufflepuff table, discreetly searching for a certain raven-haired boy. And there he found him, giving his mates a triumphant high-five. He made a face, spite apparent in his expression.
What was his name again? He was certain it was something like Bob or Bert; he shrugged indifferently, not caring if that was his name or not. It didn't matter—he hated him anyway, although he didn't have a legitimate reason why. All he knew was that that boy was getting on his nerves, especially now that he sent his dearest friend flowers.
And such a clich idea—sending a girl flowers! And this was no ordinary girl; this was Hermione, his Hermione. She deserved so much more.
He shook his head in surprise, suddenly analyzing what he had just been thinking. Where in the world did that adjective come from?? Where had that his come from exactly? And why was he referring to Hermione as his in the first place?
So many things were just confusing him right now…
It was half past five. She was late—and that was not normal for her. Draco tapped his quill anxiously, wondering what could be taking her so long. He flipped his Arithmancy book open, trying to get started on the lesson they were to review that session, and yet, even if he bore his eyes into the page, he could not concentrate. He ran an impatient hand through his blonde hair and groaned.
Ten minutes later, she finally came in, her hair quite disheveled and her chest rising every other second. She made her way to his table, and dropped down her bag. Draco threw her a slightly foul look—one that he constantly wore that day.
"I'm so sorry, Draco—" Hermione uttered through her heavy breaths, "Benjamin kept me from arriving here on time—he was—"
"That's fine." He cut her off short, and looked down at his book.
He knew it. That Benjamin guy again. He was practically stealing her away from him again! A strong negative emotion spiraled through him in an instant.
Hermione sat down uneasily, opening her bag up and pulling out some books. Finally emptying the bag, she left it beside her and opened her Arithmancy reference, scanning the table of contents for the right chapter. Draco watched her as she did so.
However, something caught his eye; some paper was peeking out of Hermione's bag… It was beckoning to him, tempting him to pull it out when she wasn't looking. It was unusual for Hermione to leave a piece of paper astray…
And so, when Hermione stood up to get more books, Draco grabbed the opportunity to take it. He glanced around to see if anyone had seen him, and he placed his hands beneath the table to look at what it contained.
As he opened it slowly, he gasped at what he saw, his insides churning so suddenly with surprise.
It wasn't a piece of paper.
Rather, it was a picture of Hermione and the Hufflepuff, their hands entwined together in a rather romantic manner, with the boy bringing her hand to his lips and kissing it gently.
Draco's eyes burned with more of that negative emotion he continually felt for him and when he looked up, there was Hermione in front of him, her brown eyes wide with astonishment, her hands covering her mouth in shock.
Author's Note: This is one weird chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it! Anyway, I don't know when I'll be writing the next chapter and when precisely I will be posting it! Until then, I hope you read my other fics! Thanks!
