Author's Note: Hopefully, I can get this done soon… -goes ballistic-
Pranks Are So Siriusly Padfoot: You so need to update your 'I'm There For you!' story. I shan't continue this one until you do. Dx And you're right. I guess I forgot that Hermione's wand wasn't working. x3
DudettRin101, malfoyXgrangerXsnape, slytherinsess, Hazelocean, forbiddenlight, HermioneCharlotteGranger, xoKaSsIeox, iliketosleep, Wrinkles the Troll, and all the rest: Thank you for your reviews! I appreciate your support, and I'm glad to know that I have true fans!
Chapter Seven: First Kiss
Hermione felt her face grow warmer; her heart skipped a beat, and she refused to make eye contact with Draco after that. She secretly thought that it was cute of him, but a part of her thought that it was revolting. Pulling her hand away, she desperately tried to search for another subject to talk about. Draco relieved her of finding one, though. "So I guess your wand works now?" She was confused for a split second, but then grasped what he was talking about. "Oh, yeah, I suppose so." She gripped her wand from the inside of her pocket.
Her fingers clenched together tightly on her lap, making her knuckles almost white. She felt a rustle as Draco rose from his chair, but didn't bother to look up. "Shall we leave now?" He asked her while holding out his hand, palm upward. "Let's." Hermione took it and stood up as well. She reached into her pocket for her wand, but Draco held it. "I got it." He took out his own and with a swish, the furniture vanished.
He pocketed the wand and held both of the muggle-born's hands in his own. After a while, Draco unhurriedly bent forward as Hermione closed her auburn eyes. All of a sudden, there was a loud explosion in the air, and their moment was ruined. Looking up, they gazed back at the area they had come from. There was a large fire spreading through the grass. Swirls of smoke rose to the air as the forest, Hogwarts, and everything else began burning to the ground. "Time to go." Draco pushed her toward Affi, and then climbed onto Fluffy. The fire was closing in on them. Hermione scrambled onto Affi's back and the four sprinted away, beating the fire.
Frightened with what had happened to Hagrid and what would happen to them, she kept glancing behind them. She saw some black dots flying closer to them, which grew into the hood figures of the dementors. They glided through the sky, getting closer and closer. Hermione gasped and fell off of Affi, who with Fluffy and Draco did not notice her silent landing. "Draco!" She screamed as the fire and dementors grew closer. "Expecto—Expecto Patro—!" She was too afraid to speak, and her wand hand was wavering.
Just was the dementors along with the fire closed in on her, Hermione whimpered and crouched down. She covered her eyes as if that would make her troubles go away. Hermione felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist and pull her up. "Gotcha." With a small grunt, Draco pulled her onto Affi and got onto Fluffy. As if reading their minds, the dogs ran away from the fire and the dementors, but the dementors were getting fast. "Expecto Patronum!" A powerful dragon patronum charged out of his wand, which caused the dementors to stop following them.
"That should hold." He turned and faced Hermione. "Are you alright?" There was an emotion on his normally expressionless face, and it was in his eyes, too. It was concern. It was genuine concern for her. "Y-Yeah." Hermione smiled weakly, her voice still quivering a bit. She looked down at the white fur below her and gripped it tightly. With one glance backwards, she saw that the fire had burned out and the dementors were gone.
They approached another thick forest identical to the one near Hogwarts, and entered it. It was early afternoon, now, but the shadows that the trees cast made it dark. After getting about ten meters into the trees, it became clear that Fluffy and Affi were to large to fit through. "We'll leave them. They can go on their own, and Hagrid would probably be looking for them." Draco hopped off, as did Hermione. She nodded. They were both assuming that her half-giant friend was alive and well. They watched as the two three-headed dogs bounded away, and were left alone in the forest. "Shall we?" He placed a hand on her shoulder, and gestured ahead with the other.
Hermione smiled and started walking, Draco by her side. "Draco?" She asked, breaking the long silence that surrounded them after they had started. "Yes?" He didn't look at her. She stopped and took his hand so that their eyes met. "Thanks. For everything." Putting her arms around his neck, they both leaned forward and their lips met. This time with no interruptions. Draco's hands snaked around her waist as they kissed passionately. His left hand came up and cupped her cheek and they broke the kiss. Their faces still only centimeters apart, she gazed into his eyes. He did the same and he smiled for the first time in his life.
Blushing, Hermione turned her gaze and backed up a little. "Come on." She said quietly, "We'd better go." Somehow, her fingers found themselves linking with his and they walked together in silence for most of the day. It was a pleasant silence, unlike the awkward ones they had together before. Too bad Draco had to ruin it.
"Hermione?" His grey eyes stayed staring at the ground as he spoke. "Yes?" He kept walking for a little while longer. "Hermione, I'm sorry." He stopped her so that they stood facing each other. "Sorry about what?" She looked so confused. So innocent." Draco heaved a sigh and looked straight into her eyes. "I'm sorry about kissing you earlier." He frowned when he saw that she didn't react at all. Her face just froze in a smile. "What are you talking about?" Hermione gazed questioningly at him. "To tell you the truth… I have a girlfriend." He put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, but I shouldn't have done that. I just… I don't know. I just got caught up in the moment, I guess. I like you. I really do. But Lucius would go insane if he even knew that I was being at least nice. You know how it is. My father's always ranting on about me getting married to a rich pureblood." He shrugged and looked away.
She simply stared at him, unblinking, for several long minutes. "Um, oh…" She suddenly found interest in her shoes and nodded slowly. "Oh, I guess. Um, I like you too. It's fine." She forced herself to smile, to not show how she really felt about this. "So you're really okay?" He watched her suspiciously. Choking on her words, she nodded. "Yeah, really."
They started their walk again, the content air around them fading away. Now Hermione refused to even glance at Draco. She let her head droop a little and kept her distance from him. "So," Draco looked at her for a moment. "Where do you think we should be headed?" She just shrugged, being of less help than a housefly. "Alright, then… I think that we should go back to the Malfoy Manor. Just to get some stuff. Then we should leave because they already got in once, didn't they? They'll probably know that we're headed there. Is that okay with you?"
"Why should my opinion matter?" Hermione spoke for the first time in over an hour. She glared daggers at him as she spoke bitterly. "Well, because we're in this together." Draco tried to get her to soften up and moved nearer to her to speak with her. She didn't cooperate. Every time he took a step closer to her, she took a step farther. "Just… Stay away, Malfoy. I don't want to talk." He finally gave up and shoved his hands into his pockets and they continued their walking in silence.
There was the sound of a twig snapping in half. Possibly something accidentally stepping on one. Neither Draco nor Hermione paid any attention, thinking that it was the other that did it. There was a soft rustling noise. Hermione, trapped in her thoughts, did not look up. However, Draco became fully alert, and he inspected their surroundings every couple of minutes. He saw something black and human-like race past them. "Who's there?" He looked around frantically for the person. "Did you say something?" Hermione asked, apparently uninterested.
Draco stopped in his tracks and continued looking around. "Yeah. I thought I saw something over there." He pointed to some trees nearby. Drawing out his wand, he held it in front of him. "Take out your wand, Hermione. We might have some company." He spoke to her without making direct eye contact. In a matter of minutes, someone clad in black tackled Draco to the ground, knocking him out swiftly. He looked like a Japanese ninja because of his costume. Only his eyes were showing.
Gaping at them, she stared, frozen to the spot in terror. Now she instantly regretted ignoring Draco's orders. "Wh-What do you want?" She asked, finding her voice and fumbling through her pockets for her wand. Taking it out, she held it in front of her, her hand shaking slightly. "Expelliarmus." The person whispered, and her wand popped out of her hands. The pair just stood there, watching each other for a while. "I want you, Hermione." He said in the same voice that he had used earlier. It was no doubt Blaise Zabini again.
"Blaise, please just stay away from me." She took a step backwards, and a little to her left. Her wand had rolled off to her left and was lying on the dirt. "Just admit it, Hermione. You know what you want." He lowered his wand a little. "What do I want?" Hermione asked, trying to distract him so that she could get her wand. "Me." Blaise took several steps toward her, and she backed off. Now her wand was just in her reach if she bent down. He didn't seem to notice this.
"You know what, Blaise? You're right. I do want you…" Hermione smiled encouragingly to him. He looked taken aback by her suddenly giving in to him, but grinned knowingly. She hurriedly bent, picked up her wand and pointed it at him. "I do want you to leave me alone. Stupefy!" He immediately became stunned and fell back unconscious like Draco. She turned and fell down to Draco's side. "Oh my gosh. What was that spell?" She racked her brain for the spell that revived stunned people. "Oh, what is it?" Thinking rapidly, it finally came to her mind. "Ennervate!"
Eyes shooting open, Draco promptly sat up. "Hermione!" His heart beat rapidly as his silver eyes darted about, then resting upon her face. "Hermione, are you okay?" He wrapped her up in a warm hug, her head resting comfortably under his chin. She murmured yes and closed her eyes, smiling inwardly. "Oh, Draco. I'm so sorry about earlier!" Gazing up at him, she felt awful. "If I had taken my wand out like you said, this might not have happened." Draco smiled at her and embraced her in another hug. "It's alright. Everything's okay." He whispered softly, stroking her hair. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have told you about my girlfriend. But I didn't want you to get the wrong idea, either." Hermione sighed. "I guess I have to live with that. But Draco…" She pulled back at stared into his eyes. "I-I think I love you."
Author's Note: Soo… What do you think? Well, since I was too lazy to put up more than one chapter, I just made this one a bit longer than usual. Hope you like it and remember to give some feedback in your reviews, or just review. I love reviews! You should know that by now. Lol. And sorry for not updating for a week to those that didn't read my lookup. I got banned from updating because I put in a one-shot songfic. Apparently, songfics aren't allowed. I didn't know that. So once again, sorry!