Chapter Twenty Eight
That night after dinner, Draco walked slowly to the library and waited in a corner near the back where they would usually meet up. He glanced at his watch - she was a little bit late, but she was probably being held up by Potter or Weasley.
God, he wished that she would come soon - like he had said in his letter that morning, he missed her so much already and couldn't stop thinking about her all day. He hated having to see her and not being able to do anything with her in public. She was right, their relationship was definitely suffering by keeping it a secret.
He looked around and saw that there was hardly anybody in the library, which was perfect since he needed to draft his next love letter paper aeroplane to Hermione. He grimaced, he had never thought he'd fall to this level in a relationship considering he was a Malfoy but as people say, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Draco decided that morning that he needed to do something as Hermione's 'secret admirer' that would put everyone off his trail - and what better way to do that than to act like a romantic idiot, hopelessly in love with the Head Girl? Nobody would suspect that he, Draco Malfoy, the high and mighty Slytherin was the actual author of those cheesy letters.
It was quite an ingenious idea in fact.
Now to the matter at hand that he needed to discuss with her…this Yule Ball idea. He really did detest the event and usually tried to avoid going considering his only option for a date was Pansy and he had been there and done that and had definitely not enjoyed it. He vaguely remembered seeing Hermione at the first Yule Ball in her pretty periwinkle blue robes and being impressed at the fact that when she actually tried, she was gorgeous.
He smirked.
Who would've thought that three years down the track he'd be dating her?
As if on cue, the object of his thoughts came at him from behind and wrapped her arms around him.
"Guess who." She whispered into his ear.
"Pansy, perhaps?" Draco joked, turning around to face her.
Hermione groaned.
"Draco! I don't sound like her at all - how could you even think of confusing me with that high pitched pug?"
"Hey, don't get so worked up. I was just joking - Pansy is definitely in a league of her own when it comes to annoyingness." Draco assured her, putting his arms around her.
"Mmm indeed. So where do you want to go tonight?" Hermione asked quietly.
"I wouldn't mind taking another trip to your glorious room." he suggested, giving her a meaningful look. She rolled her eyes at him.
"Well like I said last night, you're welcome to go as long as you don't try anything. Actually I think my room would be the safest place for us to be together - Lavender and Parvati found out that I was seeing someone and you know how they are, half the school probably knows about it by now. So I don't want to risk being seen by anyone." Hermione told him.
"Excellent." Draco murmured.
"Draco, don't you care that we could be followed now that people know that I'm seeing someone? I want to keep this private until the Yule Ball…" said Hermione indignantly.
"No I don't really care, since it means that we'll be spending all our time in your room now." He grinned.
"Fine, I'll go now then. See you soon."
Hermione rolled her eyes and then looked around for possible spies before leaving the corner of the library. As always, Draco knew to leave ten minutes after her so as not to arouse anyone's suspicions and he made his way to his dormitory to pick up his broomstick so that he could fly to Hermione's room.
When he arrived, she was already lounging around on her bed reading a book called Hogwarts: Secrets Uncovered . She regarded him, hovering next to her window with her big chocolate brown eyes and smiled.
"What are you waiting for? Come in." she said coyly.
He obliged, setting his broomstick next to her wardrobe and taking off his Slytherin cloak and draping it on one of her hangers.
"Have you already locked everything?" He asked her softly.
Hermione nodded, leaning back on her bed.
He smirked.
"Great…"
He walked slowly towards her bed and lay himself down next to her. His eyes roamed her face before finally dipping his head and brushing his lips gently against hers. Hermione responded just as tenderly, her book dropping from out of her hands and she put them instead on his face, feeling his smooth skin and chiselled features. Draco smiled against her hands and pulled her closer to him, bringing their bodies into contact with each other as their kisses became more passionate and heated.
They lost themselves in exploring each other's bodies and senses, feeling at ease with the fact that behind closed doors - nothing could stop them being together.
Unfortunately for them, neither noticed the person who had been watching them with barely concealed anger and disgust from the shadows, fly away on a broomstick just as fine as Draco's - they continued on with their activities, blissfully unaware that even their sanctuary from the world had been violated and that come the next day, they were in for a rude surprise…
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When Hermione awoke the next morning, feeling refreshed and just happy in general, two unexpected things dawned on her. Firstly, as she glanced at her clock, she was surprised to find that she was actually not late for her classes this morning. The second thing was that she was alone in her toasty four poster bed - Draco had left early this time.
Instead, on her pillow there was a note from him, scrawled in that beautifully refined handwriting of his.
Hermione,
I thought it was best if I left earlier today so that Potter doesn't get suspicious of you again. Sorry for leaving you to wake up on your own - I'll make it up to you someday, I promise.
I really enjoyed being with you last night…we should definitely do that more often. Anyway, do you mind if I just come to your room straight away tonight instead of meeting up in the library?
Can't wait till I see you again.
Draco
Hermione smiled, blushing even though it was only a note. Draco had a way of making her feel embarrassed about the smallest things, even when he wasn't actually there. She got out of bed and put on her bathrobe and then walked over to her desk to write a reply to him.
Draco,
It's okay, I know you wouldn't leave me here to wake up on my own if you had a choice right? Anyway, yes it's a good idea for you to just come over straight away…so I'll see you tonight.
Hermione hesitated before signing off the letter with:
Love,
Hermione
Luckily for her, she knew that Harry had scheduled Quidditch practice for the Gryffindor team for early that morning since their match with Ravenclaw was coming up soon, so she felt no qualms about sneaking into his room to get Hedwig.
Once she was in Harry's room, she made a beeline for Hedwig's cage and tied the letter securely to the snowy owl's leg. But when she told it to take the letter to Draco, it gave her a reproachful look and clawed her hand as it took off.
Hermione looked at the shallow scratches on her hand and sighed.
It seemed that everyone, including their pets, was against her being with Draco.
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Hermione made her way down to the Great Hall and found that Harry, Ron and Draco hadn't turned up for breakfast yet.
"Morning Ginny." She greeted, sitting down next to the redhead.
"Morning, Hermione. How's everything going?" Ginny asked, sipping her pumpkin juice.
"Very well…everything's under control." Hermione replied with a smile and Ginny beamed back at her.
"That's great to hear then. I'm still really sorry about telling Lavender and Parvati about you and…him."
"It's okay, Ginny. Don't worry about it - like I said before, everything's under control." Hermione reassured her.
As soon as those words left her mouth, Hermione felt a sense of déjà vu as another paper aeroplane hit her on the back of her head.
"Oh, another one." Ginny remarked with a twinkle in her eye.
Hermione laughed, wondering how Draco had sent it since he wasn't down for breakfast yet. She opened the paper up quickly, wondering what he had to say this time…
Hermione,
I know your dirty little secret.
I know what you have been doing behind everybody else's backs and it makes me sick.
You had better watch out, because soon I'm going to make your life hell.
Love from,
Your other 'secret admirer'
Hermione's hands were shaking as she read the letter and she could swear she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she realised the implications - someone had been spying on her and Draco last night…
She dropped the letter onto the table and looked frantically around at the people who were in the Great Hall. It had to be one of them…
She didn't know whether or not to take the letter seriously…it could possibly just be someone playing a cruel prank on her or something. The world whirled around her as she struggled to get her thoughts straight - somebody else knew about them…
"Hermione…w-what is this?" Ginny stammered, after reading the letter for herself.
"I'd say that it's a threat." Hermione replied softly, her eyes anxiously scanning the packed Hall for possible authors of the letter.
"Are you scared?" asked Ginny quietly, taking her hand.
"A little. I'm just hoping that it's all just a joke." she replied with a nervous smile.
"Yeah I hope so too but Hermione, I have to admit that I don't think that this is just a joke…" Ginny muttered.
Hermione gulped and took a deep breath to calm herself down. She decided that she needed to find Draco. Now.
"Gin, I'm going to go and find him." She announced to her friend.
"Good idea. But please, be careful, Mione." Ginny replied.
Hermione nodded and left in search of Draco.
She didn't have to go far to find him, he was on his way to breakfast from the Slytherin dungeons and she was on her way to the dungeons from breakfast, so they found each other halfway. Fortunately for them, the corridors were deserted as all students were at the Great Hall having their breakfasts by this time.
"Draco! Oh god, I need to talk to you." She burst out as soon as she saw him, running towards him.
"Oh, whoa what's this about, Hermione." He responded as she put her arms him in a tight hug, "Aren't you worried that someone's going to see us?"
"It's a bit too late for that, Draco. Someone already has." Hermione said lowly, breathing heavily.
"What?"
"Someone was watching us last night." She repeated.
"WHAT!" Draco exclaimed, "How do you know?"
"Because someone sent me a letter. Here, read it." Hermione replied, shoving the letter into his hands.
He read it and his eyes widened in shock.
"W-what…who could it be?" Draco asked slowly.
"I don't know. But they've achieved their purpose - I'm scared as hell about this now, Draco. I'm so worried about what's going to happen." Hermione whispered, hugging him tighter.
"Hey, don't worry, you've still got me. I'm here to protect you, like Potty and the Weasel have done for you over the last six years." Draco assured her, kissing her on the forehead.
"Thank you. I-I really don't want anything to happen to us…I don't think I can bear to lose you now." Hermione stammered.
"You wont lose me. We're in this together now, and I promise you that I'll find out who wrote this. And I promise you that when I'm done with them, they'll wish that they had never spied on us in the first place." Draco stated firmly, "Everything's going to be okay."
Hermione looked up at him and tried to relax, hearing his reassuring words of comfort. But she remembered the chilling feeling that she had felt as she read the letter and somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice was telling her that this letter was a manifestation of something more complex and more dangerous than mere disgust…
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A/N: Okay, don't chuck rotten tomatoes at me for introducing this twist so late into the story! I only put it on because of your reviews - something along the lines of 'it would be so much more dramatic if the letters weren't from Draco' . So there you have it folks, a new dramatic twist to the story. Actually I originally planned for this chapter to be the Yule Ball chapter, but I suppose the twist kinda took over so yes please stay tuned for the upcoming chapter which will definitely feature the long-awaited YULE BALL!
Oh yeah and thank you all for your support and wonderful reviews!
Happy reading!