Tale of a Forbidden Love
Chapter Ten
Harry Potter
*starjade*
Revealing and Escaping Secrets
Hermione felt the wind rush through her hair and threaten to pull her off the dragon's back. She had never done such a thing alone before...the closest thing was when she had ridden that hippogriff in order to save Sirius...
But this was different. This was more dangerous. There wasn't any Harry Potter in front of her to save her if she fell. There was just Drake....and she knew that from the way he probably felt right now, if she fell, there was no reason to put any effort into saving her.
Then...why did he just save her from those....those creatures?
She didn't even try contemplating it. All she saw was the dark sky glimmering with shining stars and the full moon and then she did the thing one must never do when they are high in the air.
She looked down.
She let out a scream of pure fright and felt herself beginning to slip off the dragon's back. The dragon let out a puff and yelled, " Stay on, you stupid mud-girl! Stay on unless you want to fall! Then fall, for all I care!"
Hermione didn't have the strength the retort. She held on for all she was worth as the dragon finally began making its way down to the ground.
When finally, they had reached the oh sweet ground, Hermione calmed herself enough so she could breathe. Inhale, exhale, she reminded herself. But still that feeling of being so high in the air made her tremble and shake.
" Get off!"
Hermione jumped, startled. " Huh?"
The dragon growled, " Get off! Are you deaf??"
Hermione realised she was still on the dragon's back and muttered a hasty apology as she tried to contemplate which was the better way to get off the dragon's back. If she tried to get off of the scaly back like he was a horse, then she would get caught up in his wings. Horses don't have wings. Except unicorns. But unicorns had a horn and they were quite rare and-
" GET OFF!"
Hermione let out a squeak and she was falling, slipping off the side and fell with a huge oof! onto the dusty ground. The impact of the fall made her groan and she wasn't aware of the dragon's rather insulting laughter until she caught her bearings and started to pay attention to her surroundings.
" Shut up!" She said, ungraciously. Then in fear that she had hurt his feelings, she mumbled, " I didn't mean that-"
The dragon whipped around and his tail skimmed the trees as it swung around to settle around his side. He folded back his wings and settled down onto the ground. Hermione felt a huge gush of air from his movements and winced, remembering the flight that she had just taken.
" Who do you think you are??" The dragon asked, none to gently.
Hermione flinched. " Uh...your friend? Are you okay, Drake? I'm sorry I stumbled off the path, I was just so hurt by what you said-"
Drake let out a puff of smoke and Hermione coughed. He glared at her, his silver eyes shining with frustration and anger.
" Why are you always so cautious around me, like I'm some sensitive, huge puppy?" Drake sneered.
Hermione, startled by his words, stared at him. " I-I don't treat you like a sensi-"
" Don't try denying it, just answer!"
"God, is he rude!!" Hermione thought to herself, then realised that she had said it out loud. She gasped and turned to the dragon, fearing his reaction. Would he burn her to a crisp? Or maybe he would-
Instead he was laughing, that same rumble that in a way felt as if he was complimenting her and insulting her at the same time.
" See? You're such a loser, always fearing what people would say when they react to the truth. Look at you and that Scar-Potter boy there, you couldn't even tell him that you liked him! You're such a coward," Drake said, shaking his head.
Hermione flushed. " I am not a coward! And besides I don't like him so there wasn't any harm in not saying anything."
Drake blinked at her, his large silver eyes shining in the moonlight. " Uh huh. And that's why you're so afraid of what that Dra-Malfoy guy is doing. You still have feelings for Harry."
Hermione felt anger seep into her veins. " No! For god's sake, I thought that YOU would understand out of all people! I don't like Harry but I don't want Draco to jeopardize our friendship by telling Harry that I liked him!"
Silence stretched between them. Then Draco let out another fireball that slammed down a tree and made it crash through the forest like a bomb. Hermione flinched and crouched down to avoid the pieces of wood that flew her way. A howl of protest came from somewhere in the woods and Hermione shivered, remembering those creatures that had almost eaten her.
Drake, however, had turned to her and hissed, " First of all I'm not one of those PEOPLE. I'm a dragon!! And second of all, why the hell did you call Malfoy by his first name??"
Hermione opened her mouth to retort but then stopped at Drake's second sentence. She rose her eyebrows and placed her hands on her hips and stared at the dragon defiantly. " First of all you are a person!! Don't try to deny it!! And second of all, why do you care that I call Malfoy by his first name?
" What the fuck is wrong with you??" The dragon burst out. " I am NOT A PERSON! I am not a human! I'm a fucking dragon, get that through your bushy head!"
Hermione got a slight deja vu and she narrowed her eyes at the dragon. " I'm trying to help you and your treating me like shit. First of all, I saved your ass from being found by Harry and Ron and you're not even thankful!"
The dragon glared at her. " Why the hell do I need to be thankful??? Just get your nosy little head out of my business, got that?"
Hermione rose her eyebrows and snapped back, " Well, it's too late for both of us, I'm already in your business and I have no intention of getting out!"
Then she realised how close she was to the dragon. She was closer to his eyes than anytime before and the emotion in them were quite electrifying. He was angry, frustrated, pissed off. It all showed in those great silver eyes and she felt the anger slip away.
They stood there, staring at each other for what seemed like the whole night until he jerked away and said in a hiss, " Go back. It's two o'clock."
Hermione felt herself stumble and she fought to gain back her breath. She coughed a bit and then croaked out, " H-How do you know?"
The dragon settled back down into his sleeping position and said in a low voice, " Dragons know these things. Now go."
Hermione stumbled back and whispered, " I'll be back tomorrow."
As she was leaving, she heard him mutter, " I don't know why you bother.." Before she had left the clearing and was heading back to the castle, this time in the right direction.
*******
" Hermione, why are you so tired?" Ron asked, concerned as Hermione almost fell into her pumpkin juice.
Hermione smothered a yawn as she answered, " Didn't get enough sleep last night. I was studying."
Ron burst out, " Why are you studying? It's almost spring break!
Harry laughed. " You know Hermione, she's probably studying for some test that's coming in five weeks."
Hermione huffed. " Well, a little studying wouldn't hurt for you two! All you do is laze around and eat and then go play quidditch! What kind of school behaviour is that?"
Ron burst out, " That reminds me! Is there quidditch practice tomorrow morning?"
Harry nodded and Ron groaned. " I have never got used to waking up at six o'clock in the morning. Don't know how Hermione here does it."
Harry smiled as they started to discuss quidditch tactics. Before the breakfast was over, Harry leaned over to Hermione.
" Hermione, uh...can I talk to you alone after breakfast? It's just something I wanted to ask, to get off my back..." Harry said, his cheeks flushing and looked quite uncomfortable.
Hermione rose her eyebrows. " Alright.."
Suddenly, Lavender raced over to them and squealed, " Did you hear? Professor Dumbledore agreed to our petition."
Hermione, Harry and Ron stared at her in confusion. " What petition?" They all asked simultaneously.
Lavender huffed. " Honestly! You guys are all so wrapped up in your own problems you don't even pay attention to the social gossip around here! Us girls made a petition for a spring dance and Professor Dumbledore said the okay! The dance is next Friday! I can't wait!"
Ron groaned. " Damn. That means more stuttering and sputtering to get a date. Great."
Harry grinned. " You don't know how relieving it is to have a girlfriend."
Hermione laughed at the both of them as they collected their books to go on to their classes for the day. Harry came towards her to ask that important question of his but Hermione was running late and she had to race to the other end of the stairs to go to her class.
" Sorry, Harry can we talk at lunch? I'm kind of running late!" Hermione said hurriedly.
Harry smiled, looking a bit relieved. " Alright. No rush."
Hermione shot him a smile of gratitude as she raced off to her class. All through Arithmency she wondered what Harry wanted to ask her. If it had something to do with copying off her essay for Potions, he should know the answer to that!
Her mind then sifted to other things as she joined up with Ron and Harry to go to Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid told them to start working on their project for it was due the next class. Hermione sighed and made her way over to Neville and Malfoy.
Malfoy looked up at her and sneered, " Ha your hair gone bushier or am I imagining things? A rat could live in that head of hair."
Hermione glared at him. " Is that a subtle way of asking to live in my hair?"
Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed and Neville piped up, " Are we almost done the project?"
Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but Malfoy butted in, " It's not like you've done anything, freak-"
Hermione interrupted, " Look, Malfoy, can we go on? I've got the written part all done, all we need is some sort of a model or something. How about we get together today in the library, make some sort of a sculpture-"
Malfoy growled, " Look, mudblood, I don't want to spend any time with you that's more than necessary. Here."
Malfoy threw something between them and Neville gasped. Hermione picked it up slowly and squinted at it. It was a necklace, a simple black cord but around it was a gleaming white tooth.
" A dragon's tooth.." Hermione whispered. " This...this...this is so rare. How did you.."
Malfoy looked at her and spat out, " My father gives me whatever I want. I said I wanted a dragon's tooth, he gave it to me. Now you've got your damn model, so I don't need to see you ever again." He got up and stormed off to the Slytherin side of the class and Hermione stared after him, shocked.
He's different today, she mused. Something's setting him off, he didn't stay and insult her at every second sentence. He left...it was like he wanted to get rid of her. She looked at Neville, who was staring at the tooth with amazement.
" This is really rare, Hermione. It's not on sale in the market and to get one is really dangerous and expensive...how did Malfoy's father get it?" Neville wondered.
Hermione shrugged. " I have no idea. But you heard what he said. Whatever Draco Malfoy wants, Lucius Malfoy gets for him."
She stared at the tooth for some more time, and ran a finger down the long, white side. It was smooth and it sent a shiver down her spine. A dragon's tooth. Unbidden, a flash of what had happened last night tore through her. The experience of flying in the air, the feeling of the scales underneath her, the muscles of the dragon's back rippling back and forth...
Trembling, Hermione placed the tooth on the paper and put it in her bag. " Let's go talk to Harry and Ron, alright? There's no point in waiting around if we're already done."
Neville nodded, but hesitated as Hermione got up, brushing her robes off. " Hermione...are you alright? You looked really strange when you were touching the tooth."
Hermione gave him a reassuring smile. " I'm alright. Let's go, okay?"
************
" So...Have you found any information on the monster yet?" Harry asked, as Hermione leaned back to stretch. She had just started her homework after taking a quick nap after dinner. Going out and meeting the dragon in the middle of the night took her away from her sleep so she tried to catch up on it whenever she could.
She smiled at him, a bit wearily. " Well, I haven't seen the monster close up so I don't exactly know what kind it is, nor do I know anything about it. We're probably going to have to speak with Professor Dumbledore about this matter, see if he knows about this monster."
Harry nodded. " Yah, that's true...so...what are you doing?"
Hermione let out her breath. " Potions. Pansy left Malfoy and me with all the work and I really have no trust in Malfoy at all, so I'm doing his part as well. If his is half as good as mine, I'll see if we can combine it or something."
Harry rose his eyebrows. " God, why don't you just tell him you want to do the whole project by yourself? That would save a lot of time and effort."
Hermione grinned. " Malfoy says he won't let his project be soiled completely by the hands of a mudblood, but I know the real reason. He wants something to prove to his father and he'd probably make up some lie like he did the whole thing. Really, Malfoy is such a git..."
Harry coughed. " Yah, he is."
Silence stretched between them as Harry cleared his throat about five more times. Hermione tried to concentrate on her homework, but couldn't for she could feel Harry's eyes on her and she really felt uncomfortable.
" Okay, what is it?" Hermione finally burst out. " You clearly have something to say it to me, so spit it out!"
Harry turned a bit green. " Well, Hermione...haveyoueverhadacrushonme?"
Hermione's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. " Wha..? What did you say?"
Harry had now flushed completely and mumbled, " Well, I don't believe that you've ever had a crush on me or anything, but Ginny was saying that you might have a crush on me or something and I really don't believe it and I just wanted to clear it up. Was Malfoy taunting you about...me?"
Hermione felt all the blood rush out of her face and she turned away from him. " Look, Harry....I don't have a crush on you."
She heard him distinctly let out his breath in relief. " Thank god...I feel so embarrassed, I really did not want to ask, it was just that, and I'm really sorry-"
" But I used to."
Harry halted, his green eyes widening. " What??"
Hermione breathed in and out. " Harry, it was just a minor thing, I mean, I had a silly little crush on Ron too, but that's what I get for having two boys as my best friends.." She clutched her robes at the lies she was saying, but at least she admitted the crush. She felt as if a huge weight was being lifted off her shoulders at this.
Harry was simply shocked into silence. " God.."
Hermione repeated, " It was a minor thing!! Goodness, it's over! Honestly, don't give yourself so much credit! It wasn't like I was in love with you or anything!" Well, she had certainly thought she was in love with him, but she knew now it was just a heavy, heavy crush...she just loved him like a brother. So that wasn't another lie.
Harry let out a laugh. " Yah. Sorry about asking you like that, Hermione. At least there's no secrets between us now, right?"
Hermione turned a little pale but she let out a weak laugh. " Yah...no secrets."
********
Hermione grabbed her cloak, and went her way down the darkened corridors. Flashes of Hermione and Harry's conversation blew through her mind but she tried to clamp them down.
What happened...has happened, Hermione reminded herself. At least she knew that Harry didn't think that Hermione had a crush on him anymore.
Hermione often wondered herself, if she was actually in love with him, how had she gotten over him so quickly? Love to her, lasted for a lifetime. She had actually thought that she would love Harry until the end of time, even if he never noticed her.
But now, she didn't have any feelings for him besides a brotherly, sisterly connection. Hermione had thought she knew the meaning of love. Clearly, she didn't know...and still didn't know the true meaning of pure love.
As these thoughts raced through her mind, she turned a corner, and banged straight into someone.
She fell straight onto the floor and moaned, " Owww.." But then she remembered, she had run into someone!! At the middle of night!! Past curfew!
Fear gripped her heart and she looked at the person she had run into. They had fallen to the ground too and Hermione saw the familiar glint of blond hair.
" Malfoy?"
Malfoy growled, " Mudblood."
Hermione bristled at the comment, but she ignored it. " What are you doing up at the middle of the night?"
Malfoy glared at her and then smirked. " What do you think I'm doing? Where do you think a boy my age would be going at the middle of the night?"
Hermione stared at him then flushed. " Malfoy!! I should take points off of you, you little ferret-"
Malfoy growled, " And what are you doing up, little mudblood?"
Hermione felt ice trickle down her spine but she tried to keep a defiant look on her face and not give into the fear that Malfoy might reveal her to Dumbledore and then her prefect title would be taken away and-
" I'm going to the library, Malfoy! It's prefect business."
" Rigght.." Malfoy drawled, clearly not believing her.
She didn't even believe herself. Hermione got up slowly, and brushed off her cloak. " Well, Malfoy, I won't say anything if you-"
Suddenly, Malfoy jerked. His face contorted in pain and he folded into himself on the floor. " Malfoy?" She said, cautiously.
Malfoy got up and glared at her, pain still evident on his pale face. " Granger, go away. I won't say anything if you don't. Now, leave!!"
Hermione started, " Are you okay, because maybe you need to go to the hospital wing or something-"
Malfoy yelled, " LEAVE!"
Surprisingly, Hermione did what he told her. She turned her back and said over her shoulder, " Well, nobody better blame me if you pass out on the floor!"
The only sound that met her ears was running, as Draco Malfoy flew down the corridor, away from her. She turned back around and stared after him, his robes flying out from behind him as he disappeared from her view. Draco Malfoy sure was a mystery. He was probably a bit too excited for his 'date' tonight, that he didn't want his mood to be ruined by some Mudblood.
Hermione sighed and then looking both ways, walked after Malfoy, and through the secret passage out to the forbidden forest. The familiar jump in her heartbeat started to surface and her footsteps were more light-hearted as she forgot about Malfoy and his weird moods.
Tonight, it was only going to be Drake and her. No Harry, no Ron, no expectations , no Malfoy, no Slytherins and no Bookwork Granger. It was going to be Hermione Granger and Drake. That was it.
a/n: HELLO! Hey , everyone! How do you guys like the new chapter? I need suggestions, comments stuff like dat, aight? Tell me what you think of the story and what sort of things you'd like to see happen. I'm trying to fix up on my grammar and punctuation, lol. *shrugs* It doesn't exactly seem to be working!!
See ya latez,
*starjade*