A/N: Okay admittedly this chapter is not that long however I have updated quite fast so I'm hoping you'll forgive me. Once again I would like to thank those who have reviewed because it always cheers me up when I get reviews: Natasha2014, Celebrean and Mariana.
I am not that great at writing the romance bits but I did try. I hope you enjoy it anyway. And please review.
Disclaimer: No change from last time folks, I still don't own Harry Potter. Which is a real shame on my behalf, I would have enjoyed being rich.
Hermione let the warmth of the fire surround her. Outside, a white blanket of snow covered the Hogwarts grounds, reminding her of the Christmas holidays fast approaching. Outside it was freezing, inside it was toasty warm; that was how she liked it.
It was Saturday morning and she had been up since seven doing homework in the empty common room. All that could be heard was the scratching of her quill against the paper and the occasional sigh, which escaped her lips.
"You know, it's not good to do so much work," came a voice from behind her making her jump.
"Oh good Madame Pomfrey let you out," Hermione smiled up at the blonde boy.
"I'm telling you, she was practically keeping me hostage… crazy old bat!" he said shaking his head and taking a step closer so as to take a seat next to Hermione. As he sat down his face grew more serious, "I've been meaning to say… well… thank you."
Her eyebrows knitted together for a moment in confusion, "What for?"
"For caring," he mumbled. The boy felt rather foolish, he sparsely thanked people, and her lack of response did nothing to console him. Neither spoke for a second after that but Hermione turned to face him; then, before she could contemplate her next move, she leaned closer and pressed her lips onto his. Draco who had not anticipated this move immediately tensed up and gently pushed her away.
"Sorry," she mumbled, not meeting his eyes, she couldn't believe she had just done that. She stood up to leave the room however he grabbed onto her arm at the last second and pulled her towards him. They stood only millimetres apart. Upon instinct Draco reached out and brushed her hair gently from her eyes, then he returned her kiss; gently at first, then more deeply. He liked the feeling of her lips pressing against his. For a split second the world around them stopped and they left all troubled behind.
Hermione could feel her heart doing little summersaults inside her chest. As they broke apart Draco smiled, and for the first time in a long time, the smile reached his eyes.
Snape sighed desolately as he marked page after page of homework handed in by students; most of the time he wondered why he even bothered reading it at all; just by looking at the name on the top left hand corner he could decipher which grade the work would amount to; and most of them did not amount to much.
He looked up as McGonagall walked in; the witch looked sad and tired, "I hope I'm not interrupting Severus but… there are things we need to discuss."
Snape shook his head and motioned for her to sit, as he expected she declined, and instead gently paced around the room until she found the right words. "They can't close the school," her usually hard complexion looked like it was about to crumble.
"We put it to the vote," Snape said regretfully, "it has been officially decided to close. We have no choice."
"Damn the vote!" cried the witch, her voice echoed for a moment around the dungeons before they returned to silence once more. Eventually she continued, "Dumbledore would not have wanted the school to close. This is not what was meant to happen; they were meant to vote for the school to remain open."
"They fear," reasoned the potions teacher, he stood up from his chair behind his desk and went over to the distressed woman, "they are neither as strong or confident as you, they fear what will happen without the head master. They know the Dark Lord is back."
"Me? Strong and confident?" she repeated sadly, "no, I am merely trying to do the right thing by the school. Think of the students, united they stand a chance, but alone…" she trailed off shaking her head in anger and despair, it seemed as though she had run out of both chances and ideas.
"We've tried our best there is nothing more we can do," replied Snape.
"I'm not giving up; I will do everything in my power to make sure Hogwarts School remains open!" She protested.
The greasy haired teacher shook his head sadly, trying not to get annoyed with the stubborn witch. "Minerva, the school cannot run without teachers and it was made clear in the last meeting that most of them wish for the school to close." He wished for the school to remain open as much as she did, but there was nothing either of them could do, they had put it to the vote, and it was clear that the majority wanted Hogwarts to shut until Dumbledore returned. Even if they kept it open despite the vote, it had been made clear that most of the teachers would leave regardless. The school could not run without teachers.
Lucius Malfoy glared at the young death eater in front of him, "Why have I not had any feedback?" he demanded, "the Dark Lord is growing increasingly irate with the lack of progress," Lucius took a step forward taking the teenager from the scruff of his neck, "and to tell the truth I'm getting pretty pissed off too." He slammed the boy into the wall opposite.
"I… I'm… sorry," the teenage death eater spluttered.
"Sorry?" Lucius mimicked, he lifted the boy up again and threw him on the wall opposite, "You will be if you fail me again!"
"Now, I asked you to find out who Draco is close to… you have twenty four hours… fail again, and they will we your last," the blonde man grinned sadistically at the horrified look on the boys face. He kicked him in the stomach, and then walked out of the room, leaving behind the boy death eater, a terrified pile on the floor.
Harry, Ron and Ginny sat in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room talking in hushed whispers, "he's back isn't he?" asked Ginny sadly watching Harry rub his scar in frustration.
"We don't know that for sure," mumbled Harry trying to console the Weasley girl.
"Come on Harry I know that your scar hurting is never a good thing, I'm not a child you know, you can tell me!" She said irritated.
"What do you want me to say?" he asked sadly.
"The truth," she demanded.
"Fine Voldemort is back in power, I can feel it and I have done for some time now," he said raising his voice slightly. Ron spluttered, choking on the chocolate he had been eating.
Ginny looked at Harry sadly, "You've beaten him before Harry, you'll do it again."
He shook his head sadly then said in a low whisper, "I can sense his power, he is stronger than he has ever been." Then he added, "I'm scared Ginny, I don't know what to do."
"Come on mate you'll be fine," said Ron attempting to sound positive.
"I don't know… I just don't know," he said in a barely audible whisper.
Hermione looked out of her window into the night; the contrast of the black sky against the white glowing moon made the girl enthralled by its beauty, however her thoughts were filled with a certain blonde Slytherin. She was being torn apart inside over what to do. On the one hand, they way she felt when their lips joined was a feeling entirely new to her and she liked it, however he was a Slytherin, they had been enemies for years not to mention that Slytherin/Gryffindor relationships were unheard of in the history of Hogwarts.
Although she did not know it much the same thoughts were going through Draco's mind. He was lying on his bed thinking. He had spent his whole life blocking such frivolous feelings; yet, now he had felt them he couldn't understand why. He liked the way Hermione made his heart race nonetheless he knew it would never work. She was a Gryffindor; her best friends were Potter and Weasley for goodness sake!
He looked up as there was a knock on the door, he jumped off his bed and opened it motioning for Hermione to come in.
"We need to talk," she smiled leaning against the now shut door.
"Yes, we do," he mumbled taking a step forward to stand in front of her.
"The kiss… it was just a spare of the moment thing," she said biting her lower lip absentmindedly.
"It will never work out," continued Draco reassuring the girl.
She nodded "Exactly. We just have to make sure it never happens again,"
"Never again" he repeated closing the gap between them.
They both remained silent, thinking over their mutual agreement. Hermione looked up at the boy and before she could change her mind she suggested, "Maybe we should start from tomorrow?"
Draco found himself grinning as the girl tiptoed up and kissed him gently on the lips, "how about we start next week?" he asked playfully.
They were both oblivious to the young death eater who was watching them from outside the window, a callous grin on his face. With one more look back at the two students he flew off to find Lucius to tell him what he had seen.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who read this and please review.