Chapter 4: Silent Glances and Thoughts

Hermione sat in the Great Hall playing with her food, her fork mashing up her desert into crumbling pieces. She couldn't forget his face – his smile and his eyes. In the past six years, he had always been cold and so distant to the world around him. Hermione couldn't help but feel that something had changed. The boy she had been so familiar with before, so easily angered by before had become someone she could no longer figure out.

She managed to take a bite out of her apple pie and swallowed it hard. Everything seemed so hard to concentrate on now. Draco sat silently at the Slytherin table finishing up his dinner. Next to him sat Crabbe and Goyle gulfing down everything in their sight, oblivious to Draco's unusual silence. He sat there, once in awhile catching a glimpse of her. She seemed so poised and so calm. Her face showed no expression yet held a beauty he could not decipher.

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Eventually dinner had ended and the students clamored their way up to their dormitories. At the entrance of the Great Hall, Hermione glanced back at the Slytherin table – he wasn't there. She managed a weak smile and swiftly ran outside to the Quidditch fields attempting to avoid Draco in the common room. The air was crisp and cold and a slight wind blew her hair around her face. Hermione paced herself to the middle of the field and lied down in the soft grass gazing up at the stars, into the never-ending abyss.

She thought of Draco – his soft blonde hair that fell to the side, his startling blue eyes and his smile that he had hidden himself behind. Hermione let out a faint sigh. She enjoyed the silence of the night; it was so peaceful and calm. With everything that had happened, Hermione yearned for the times, before, when she was so carefree and so innocent. She closed her eyes and thought of the only thing that seemed to calm her mind – Draco.

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Draco followed by Crabbe and Goyle strode towards the Slytherin dungeons. He walked back into the cold and damp common room which differed so much from the warmth of his dormitory. The dungeon was adorned with green and silver and a slight draft came in through an open window. Coming down from the girl's dormitory, Pansy Parkinson squealed in excitement at the sight of the blonde boy.

"Draco!" she piped and ran to him. Just as she was about to throw her arms around his neck, Draco shoved her off, leaving her standing, dumbfounded. He didn't say a word nor make any facial expression. On looking Slytherins stared at their head boy in disbelief, frightened. Draco kept his calm expression and walked out of the common room heading outside the grounds – a place that always held some sort of comfort for him. Back in the dungeons, Pansy grew pale then flushed red in fury, whipped around and stormed up to her dormitory.

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Hermione opened up her eyes again and felt the wind pelt her face. A drop of water fell on her forehead and Hermione looked up at the sky and felt the rumble of thunder. Suddenly, the rain began to heavily pour on her. Finally getting up from the grass, Hermione walked back to the castle with slow steps and found herself crying with the sky. Upon reaching the entrance, she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and jumped in fright. She made no attempt to turn around and look at the person who had disrupted her thoughts; she knew who it was.

His arms enveloped around her body and brought her to his chest. She let her head rest on his chest so she could feel it rise up and down and hear the faint beat of his heart. Although both were drenched, she felt warm and safe for the first time in so long. Hermione couldn't fathom why she let herself to this but regardless, she didn't fight it. Hermione couldn't fight it anything anymore.

Draco slowly pushed Hermione away and turned her towards him. She was crying. Salty tears fell down from her eyelids and slid down her cheeks. Then, without any hesitation, without thinking, Draco leaned towards Hermione and they melted in each other's arms as they kissed for the first time. Hermione never had felt so much passion in him, so much intensity. Their lips parted slowly and they gazed in each other's eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Hermione leaned towards him again unable to leave this feeling and closed her eyes.

And almost inaudibly, Hermione softly whispered his name and collapsed in his arms.

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A/N Yay another chapter. Sorry it's short but it's more like a… err… yeah. Enjoy!