Wooooooooooot! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! The feedback is great:D
To catgurlfurreel: You are the MASTER REVIEWER! Wow, thanks for every comment, I'm glad your enjoying the story and everything. I'm lurvin the fluff too:D
TVrocks: Thanks for your comment too, I appreciate your advice and I'll try and write longer chapters. If I can't then I'll just do two chapters in one day. I don't know why I don't merge them but once you finish a chapter you can relax for a bit. Anywayz, I hope you keep reading.
Ronandhermione8492: Weee, I'm happy you like it so far, and I plan to continue. I'll make sure to read both your fics sometime soon and I'll leave a review to prove that I have;) See ya around, and thanks for the comment
Stay With Me
Chapter 7
(Flashback still, there's going to be a lot of flashback for a while you know… But we are under the tree asleep, right where we left off)
Hermione awoke when the first rays of sunlight pierced through the hanging branches of the tree. She shifted her head and stretched her neck, which ached. She pushed both hands down beside her and tried to lift her body but her backside was numb from the rough roots she was sitting on.
Next to her Draco began to groan as a result of the stiffness in his body too. He flung his arms out, stretching them, and dropping the book that was balanced in his hands. It tumbled to the floor. Upon seeing this, he reached out for it but it was too far to get to without moving. His hand fell to his side in vain, and he rolled his head back, banging it against the tree trunk. He closed his eyes, accepting the pain, and eventually decided to get up from the tangles of the trees spiralling roots.
Draco placed each arm out on each side to steady himself before he stood. Unexpectedly, his hand fell on someone else's hand; Hermione's. Draco looked over at her; her eyes were squinting in the sunlight. She still looked half asleep. Carefully he pulled his hand away, and pushed himself forwards to balance on bent knees. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before turning his attention towards Hermione again.
Hermione began to twist herself so that her face fell in the shade of the tree, shielded from the sun's glaring light. Draco watched her face relax in the safety of the shade. Her eyes softly closed, her lips slightly parted and she breathed through her mouth. Her bushy curls surrounded her face, matted down as it rustled against the tree bark.
Draco swallowed down a growing lump in his throat and looked down to his hands.
Hermione took a deep breath, smelling the earth around her. She fluttered her eyes open to see Draco gazing over the lake towards the forest. Behind him she saw her book carelessly thrown on the ground. She tutted inwardly before she leant over and picked it up to un-bend the pages. Draco had not noticed her awake yet, he was still concentrating his gaze on the deep thickets of the Forbidden Forest.
Hermione watched him for a moment as she kept on fixing her book to a decent state. Once the book was as good as it was going to get she lifted her foot from underneath her body and stretched it out until she touched Draco with it. She then gave him a light shove, sending him tumbling forward onto the sand.
Draco broke his fall just in time with his hands outstretched in front of him. He spun around and looked at Hermione in disbelief. A cheeky grin broke out on her face before she steadied herself against the tree and pulled herself up. Draco brushed the damp sand off his clothes, and then he too stood up. He noticed her book on the ground still, except she had moved it from where he dropped it. He leant down in front of her and picked it up, handed it to her and straightened himself.
Hermione watched Draco get down in front of her to pick her book up. He eyed her suspiciously as he did so, making sure her foot wasn't about to topple him over again. Once he had step back, he found a smile twitching at his lips.
Hermione blushed a little and looked down at her feet. Draco watched as her hair fell around her face. He stepped forward, closing in on her. Hermione notice his shadow fall on her and tucked her head under even further, scared at what he might do. Draco took her fear into account. He was unsure himself of what he was about to do, but dismissed the subject. It was better not to get involved with a muggleborn otherwise his father would be on his back again. Draco simply said,
"We should get back to the castle and get ready for the school day…" Hermione raised her head as Draco stepped back from her. Hermione nodded, looked around for anything she might have left behind, and began walking back towards the castle. Draco walked beside her, keeping his hands to himself in his pockets. He huffed out a sigh of cold morning air. Hermione fiddled with her fingers, her nerves getting the better of her. If she were caught outside with Malfoy then she would have her friends to face.
They walked in silence until they reached their common room. They climbed up the stair to the landing that divided off to his and her rooms. Draco paused before he continued through his door. He turned to Hermione who had stopped also. Draco brought his hand to the back of his neck and ruffled his hair thinking of what to say before he took off for the day.
"I- uh, hope you have a nice day…" The words seemed silly coming out of his mouth. Never had he ever wished anyone a good day. Hermione nodded, taking in his words. "I guess I'll see you around…" He turned towards his door thinking he wasn't going to get a word out of her mouth but she suddenly spoke up.
"Do you think you could… help me with my potions homework?" Hermione rushed the first part of her sentence but slowed down when she thought she had sounded too straightforward. She didn't really need any help from Draco, but already she felt lonely when he was only about to leave. Something about him made her want to spend time with him.
Draco raised his eyebrows slightly. 'Granger asking for my help?' It seemed unlikely she would need any assistance in any of her subjects, but he wasn't about to say no.
"Ummm… sure. I'm free tonight if you want to go over something…err…" Hermione nodded quickly before saying,
"If that's not too much trouble…"
Draco took his hand from the door handle and moved his body so it was facing her.
"No, not at all." The two remained in silence for a moment. Hermione thought enough had been said, so she nodded curtly before disappearing through her door. Draco stayed on the landing for a moment, and then decided to go up to his room to shower and dress before heading down to breakfast in the Great Hall.
Within half an hour Hermione had joined the Gryffindors for the first meal of the day, and Draco the Slytherins. She ate quietly, absorbed into her own thoughts until all of a sudden, there was a loud bang that came from the professors table, followed by another which echoed from the Slytherin table.
Hermione looked up startled, Harry and Ron sniggered loudly along with all the other students in the hall. A rotten stench filled her nostrils, and she watched as smoke rose from the potions master's plate in front of him. A few yells were heard above the clamour,
"It's a stink bomb!"
Remembering her friends' conversation from a couple of days ago, Hermione spun her head around quickly to look at the Slytherin table, picking out Draco from the crowd. His bowl set in front of him was steaming too, and residue had splattered across his face from the small explosion. Hermione could hear well above the roaring in the Hall Harry and Ron's bellowing. Draco stood and walked out of the Hall to go clean up. He showed no emotion on his face, but Hermione swore she saw his eyes flash dangerously towards the Gryffindors. Shamefully she turned back to her place at the table with a sudden loss in appetite.
After a few moments the noise died down and the Hall was filled with students gossiping over who was responsible for the prank. Snape was fuming in his seat while Professor Flitwick attempted to wipe his face clean with a napkin, but the potions master waved him away, spluttering and gagging on his words.
Hermione had had enough. She quickly stood and prepared her bag for the up coming lessons. Harry and Ron looked on curiously at her half eaten plate of food. They noticed she was slamming things around more than usual. Hesitantly, Harry spoke,
"So… we'll see you at the end of the day?"
Hermione scowled back at them and spat out,
"I'm busy."
Harry and Ron were taken aback by her retort.
"Doing what?" Ron asked quite rudely.
"The Head Boy is helping me out with a few problems I'm having in potions."
Harry immediately thought what problems Hermione would even have in any subject, the idea seems preposterous. Ron, however, thought the idea of spending time with a Slytherin was preposterous.
"Why would you want help from a Malfoy?" Hermione ignored the question and continued to rearrange books in her bag. Ron held back a chuckle before continuing. "Seriously Hermione, what are you doing with him?" Hermione swung her bag over her shoulder and left the two boys sitting there confused. "But… he smells!" More laughter burst out from the surrounding students. Hermione ignored the comment and headed towards the transfiguration classroom on the third floor.
Upon entering she closed the door behind her with a loud crack. Draco, who was sitting on a desk, snapped his head up in surprise. Hermione threw her bag on a desk at the front and begun unpacking her things for the class. Draco lowered his head to his hands and massaged his temples. In his lap he had the most recent letter from his father. He quickly tucked it away and slipped off the top of the desk, walked around the small table and sat in the chair. He leant back and watched the back of Hermione's head jerk around in what looked like anger or frustration.
Hermione had simply not seen Draco in the room. Thinking that she was alone, she indulged in throwing her books and equipment about messily releasing her fury. Finally she calmed down after spilling her ink accidentally over the desk. The thick black liquid dripped over the side of the desk onto the floor. Draco watched her, his eyes wide open in fear; he had never seen her so stressful.
Hermione groaned when she saw that she had shattered the inkbottle. She heavily pivoted around to face the desk next to hers and let herself fall forward onto her outstretched hands, sighing. She breathed deeply for a few moments before she stood up straight and covered her face with her hands. Draco was unsure whether she was crying or just terrible bitter towards something. Surely she wasn't fuming about the prank played on him by her own friends? He would have thought she would be laughing along like everyone else.
Hermione began rubbing her eyes. Draco rose out of his chair and walked over to her desk, bringing out his wand. Under his breath he muttered a few well-chosen words, which sucked the ink back into the shattered bottle that magically put itself back together like a jigsaw puzzle. Hermione had still not acknowledged his presence in the room. She dropped her hands from her face and swivelled around to sit in her seat. However, Draco caught sight of her foot caught up in the handle of her bag. Hermione stumbled backwards but Draco caught her elbow from behind, giving her a bit of a shock. His other hand was quickly placed on the small of her back to keep her from falling any further than into his chest.
Hermione's neck slid into his shoulder, and his head peered down into her eyes, his mouth gaping slightly at the closeness to each other. Hermione's eyes widened and she breathed in a sharp intake of air. For a moment, neither of them moved. They were stuck into each other's eyes, too frightened to go any further, or let go.
Without warning, the door to the classroom opened and Professor McGonagall swiftly entered. She stopped herself from coming in any further once she had caught sight of her two students tangled in each other. Both Draco and Hermione looked on at the aged Professor. Draco's eyes moved around to Hermione's bag, still caught up with her foot. He knelt down, releasing her elbow but keeping hold of her back, and lifted her foot to slip the handle out. He lifted the back and himself off the floor and handed the worn rucksack to Hermione. She took it in her own hands stiffly; her heart was pounding faster than ever.
The professor, astonished by the gesture, blinked and raised her eyebrows to herself before proceeding to her desk and taking out the days work. As she did so, Draco took one last look at Hermione before taking his hand away from behind her and slipping away to his desk. And he moved out from behind her, Hermione managed to mouth a short 'thank-you' to him. He nodded and turned away. Soon enough, students were filling the classroom, a clear division between the Gryffindor and Slytherin students.
Harry and Ron avoided sitting near Hermione, Instead they placed themselves in the same row of desks as Draco, but across the isle that ran down the middle of the classroom. The two boys eyes his suspiciously, Draco on the other hand completely ignored their stares. His eyes were transfixed on the girl a few rows in front, her head leaning over the parchment on her desk, her hand gliding across the thin paper recording everything that came out of the professors mouth. Every now and then she raised her head to admire her favourite teacher before going back to her notes.
Draco's own piece of parchment kept clean throughout the entire class, he wasn't in the right frame of mind to take in anything that McGonagall was saying. When the bell rang, he quickly cleared away his things and moved out of the chair towards the exit. Just before he could leave his desk, Harry and Ron pushed by, purposely knocking into him with their bags. Draco rolled his eyes as they left, adjusting the strap of his own rucksack, before he strode out of the room, briefly making eye contact with Hermione as he left. Hermione, in return, paused as he moved past, her quill lingering in the air.
The Gryffindors and Slytherins didn't have another class with each other until just before lunch where they joined in the grounds of the castle for their care of magical creatures lesson. The large group of students marched down towards the edge of the forest, chatting anxiously among themselves. Draco walked with Crabbe on one side and Goyle on his other. Pansy Parkison followed behind trying to hold a conversation with Draco, but his mind was elsewhere. Pansy eventually walked off in a huff much to Draco's happiness.
As the class commenced they were told to separate into partners. Crabbe and Goyle, who had always paired together, turned and walked right into each other on their way to search for the other. A couple of students sniggered at the stupidity of the two, Draco simply turned away to watch who was pairing up with who. Before he could hide behind anyone, he was approached by Pansy, who assumed they were partners as there were no other Slytherins left. Draco gave in unwillingly and began to listen to what Hagrid had to say. Firenze, the centaur who had become the professor's assistant, shouted out instructions to the pairs. They had been split into their groups of two for a mid-term project. The idea of the project was to look after a certain creature of no danger for a week according to its individual needs. Each pair had a different creature so each group could produce a different presentation by the end of the fortnight.
Draco looked on unhappily with a look of disgust on his face as Pansy pampered over their creature; something which looked like a bulldog that had been sat on. Draco curled his lip and grimaced at the sight of his partner and "pet"; the two looked very much alike to his surprise.
Meanwhile, Hermione was examining her new project with Neville Longbottom. Their creature was a golden coloured bat-like animal. Its spindly and bony wings reminded Hermione of a dragon's. Immediately her mind flew to Draco. She looked over the students until she spotted him keeping a distance from the remainder of his group. Her heart gave a leap as his own eyes came down on hers. She quickly turned away and busied herself with the bat-dragon creature. At the end of the class, the creatures were placed carefully in large enough crates and stored away in an un-used greenhouse. Later, the pairs would have to make observations and record them as the start of the project, as well as feed their animal.
Hermione stayed with Neville until the end of lunch when he went off with Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas to look at some new special edition wizard comic book his grandmother had sent him. For the rest of the lunch break she sat by a fountain in the courtyard, reading more on Hogsmeade's history. She tried her best to concentrate on the book but she found she couldn't stop thinking about waking up next to Draco. She let herself indulge in the day's memories throughout the rest of the day. Not soon enough, the school day ended, and Hermione found herself waiting in the common room for Draco to help her with her potions.
Well I'm going to leave it there. But there was a fluffy moment! Gah I wish I could have Draco Malfoy's arms around me… Anywayz, I'll update soon. Goodnight to y'all. Thanks again to the reviewees.