Chapter 5: The Wedding at the Burrow
The following morning, after the kiss, the two got up and got ready for their appartation to the Burrow. Hermione was still not speaking to Draco. After a couple hours of the silent treatment, Draco finally got fed up and decided to try and talk to her about what happened.
"Hermione, Hermione come on, you have to talk to me sometime." Draco said, knocking on her door. She'd been in there almost all morning, avoiding him. "Alright fine, if you wont open the door, I'm coming in anyway. We need to talk." Just as he was about to walk in, the door opened.
"Fine, you want to talk, Malfoy? Fine we'll talk.", she said. "How about we start with what a jerk you are? Lets talk about that, um, thing, that happened between us yesterday? Or what about how you decided to barge in on me while I was changing? Pick a topic."
"Can we go in the other room?", Draco asked, offering her his hand. She rolled her eyes at him and stormed passed, walking into the kitchen and sitting down at the table with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Alright, you wanted to talk so talk already. We don't have all day you know." Hermione said impatiently.
Draco took a deep breath, not really knowing where to start. This was all new to him.
"First of all, I'm sorry I walked into your room last night. You're right I should have knocked but I thought I heard someone crying and I just wanted to make sure everything was alright." His mind wandered off for a moment, picturing her standing in her room with no shirt on. Her smooth skin glistening in the fire light from the fireplace. He mentally slapped himself for thinking about her in that way and snapped himself back into reality, not wanting to show that he was thinking about that.
"And about me being a jerk, exactly how am I still a jerk? I've been bending over backwards trying to change myself and stay away from the way I was raised and not to mention kissing your ass and now, I show a moment of weakness and all of a sudden I'm back to being a jerk again? Explain that to me will you?" He asked, a slight tinge of anger in his voice.
"You want to know why you are a jerk? Well that should be easy enough. After all, it's been second nature to you for the past six years that I've known you. You come in here, trying to pretend that you have changed, and then you pull a stunt like last night. What in the hell possessed you to do that, Malfoy?" Hermione said, standing up, leaning on the table towards him.
He stood up, leaning towards her, refusing to let her win this battle.
"Well if you weren't trying to act so self-righteous for one fucking minute, Granger, then maybe you'd realize that it was a kiss. Or perhaps whatever you shared with Vicky was nothing compared to that so you were confused. " He said, with a slight smirk on his face, remembering the Yule Ball when she was dancing with Viktor Krum. Anger swelling up inside Hermione, she leaned closer to him, continuing to yell.
"Yeah well, at least Viktor was more of a man than you'll ever be, even in your wildest dreams. " She threw back at him, knowing that it would strike a nerve in his ego. This infuriated Draco, striking a nerve that he didn't think had ever been touched before. He was almost…jealous. He pushed back and stormed around the table.
"More of a man huh? Granger you have absolutely no idea how much of a man I am." And with that last snide remark, not really sure why he was doing it, he grabbed Hermione by the arm, pulled her closely into him, grabbed the back of her neck and kissed her again, very roughly. She bawled up her fists and started hitting him in the chest, trying to push him off. He just held the kiss, softening little by little, his tongue caressing her lips begging them to open. Her fists stopped hitting him and she found herself slowly running her hands up to his neck and his hair. Her lips parted slightly, allowing his tongue to explore her mouth. He loosened his grip on her neck and ran his hand down her arm and around her waist.
After what seemed like an eternity, the two broke apart. Hermione just stared into his beautiful silver-grey eyes. She wasn't really sure exactly what had just happened but she knew that she'd never ever felt that way before. Her knees felt weak and her heart was threatening to pound through her chest. Taking a step back, she remembered where she was.
"Um, I think we should get going. It's getting late." She said trying to avoid his eyes, feeling that if she looked into those mysterious grey eyes again, she'd be lost for good. She walked out of the room to go and gather her things, leaving Draco standing there not really sure what to think. She walked down the hall, her mind racing, shutting the door to her room behind her and sinking down onto the bed, still in shock.
'I just kissed Draco Malfoy. Oh my god what is wrong with me?' she thought to herself. This was DRACO MALFOY, her enemy. He had taunted and tormented her and her friends for the past six years and here she was, kissing him. And not only kissing him, but enjoying it. There was this very strange feeling running through her body, something that she'd never felt before. There was this fire between the two when their lips met. She just sat there, on the edge of the bed, unable to move. She couldn't believe what was happening to her…it felt like she was falling for Draco Malfoy. She shook her head, 'No, there's no way. I'll just have to forget about it and act like it never happened.' All she had to do was avoid those piercing silver eyes.
Back in the kitchen, Draco was fighting his own battle in his head. He wasn't really sure what possessed him to kiss her. This was Hermione Granger, best friend of his hated rival. Someone he was raised to hate and despise. But that kiss….that kiss was magic. That's the only word he could come up with for it. All the girls he'd kissed, all the girls he'd been with, and NEVER had he felt the fire that he felt when he kissed Hermione. He sulked down into the nearest chair and lost himself in his thoughts.
An hour later, Hermione finally emerged from the bedroom with her trunk. They were running very late, she was surprised that Harry or Ron hadn't shown up to find out what was wrong. She didn't know what she was going to do about this Draco thing but she didn't have time to figure it out now. She would just avoid looking at him, or at least those eyes of his, until she could figure out what to do.
"Ready to go?" she asked, walking into the kitchen to find Draco sitting pretty much in the same spot that she'd left him in an hour ago, except that he was sitting and not standing anymore.
"Um, yea lets go." he answered, still sort of disoriented about what happened.
Five minutes later, the duo was standing in the Weasley's front yard. They hadn't been there for more than 30 seconds when she heard a familiar voice.
"Hermione! There you are," Ron shouted, running across the yard and wrapping his arms around his best friend. "Malfoy." He said, hatred in his voice.
"Now Ron, come on we have to play nice remember. Malfoy is one of us now. You heard him, he's trying to change so just give a little please? This is supposed to be a great day so lets not ruin it." Hermione said, hugging her friend. The two of them walked joyfully towards the house. Hermione stopped and motioned for Draco to follow.
The wedding was beautiful. There was white and gold everywhere through the Weasley's backyard. Enchanted gold dust was floating in the air. It was a magical and beautiful setting. Fleur was dressed in a beautiful lacy white gown, not a dress robe but an actual gown, with a garland of white and gold flowers around her head and weaved through her hair. But Draco wasn't paying attention to the ceremony. He was standing near the house, his eyes were glued to a beautiful angel in a silky gold gown. Hermione was one of Fleur's bridesmaids. She was wearing a beautiful gold silk gown, hanging delicately off her smooth shoulders. Her hair was pulled into an intricate up do, adorned with small white flowers, delicate curls trailing onto her shoulders. She looked almost like she was glowing in the sunlight. She was crying slightly, smiling at the ceremony.
'Get a grip, Malfoy. It's just a girl…not even just a girl….it's only Granger for god's sake!' Draco thought to himself, mentally trying to get a grip on these strange feelings that he was having.
Hermione looked away from the ceremony for a moment and saw Draco standing back near the house, leaning lazily against the wall. He was looking right at her and they caught eyes. Hermione felt the heat rise inside her when their eyes locked. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks but she couldn't seem to pry her eyes away from him.
"May the holy goddesses and gods smile upon your marriage and your family.
You may kiss the bride."
The old wizard who was performing the ceremony concluded and Fleur and Bill kissed passionately. They looked so happy and so in love. It was such a beautiful sight to see considering the hell they were about to endure in the coming days and months until that final battle. But for that moment, none of that mattered.
Later that evening, the reception was in full swing. There was music filling the air and beautiful enchanted fireflies floating throughout the air. Everyone was dancing and laughing. Harry was dancing with Ginny. Ron had asked Hermione to dance and now he was twirling her around the dance floor, her flowing skirt making circles around her. Finally Hermione stopped dancing, saying that she was a little thirsty and needed a break for a minute. She walked over to the refreshment tables to get herself a drink.
"Care to join me for a walk?" asked a soft voice in her ear. She twirled around and found herself staring into those mystical grey eyes that she'd been trying to avoid. She nodded her head and allowed Draco to take her hand and lead her to the front of the house, away from everyone else. As they headed to the front of the house, rubbing her arms as it had gotten slightly chilly. Draco noticed this and removed his cloak, placing it gently around her shoulders.
"Thank you." she whispered. They stood there for a few moments, just staring up at the stars, neither of them saying a word. Finally Draco broke their silence.
"So, um how's it going? Having a good time ?" Draco asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable.
"Oh it's okay, I'm starting to get kind of tired though, my feet are killing me." she laughed.
There was another awkward silence. Draco looked at her and felt like he just had to kiss her again. He reached down and turned her face towards him. Looking deeply into her honey colored eyes, he gently kissed her soft lips. She felt his warm lips upon hers again. That fire that she had felt this morning was back and it was just aching to be released. She felt his strong arms wrap themselves around her protectively, as if to shield her from the outside world. Her arms, almost instinctively as if they belonged there, reached up and attached themselves to his neck. She felt herself falling deeper into their kiss, like it was consuming her soul.
"Get your bloody hands off her Malfoy!", a voice shouted through the night. Out of nowhere, Ron rushed the two of them, pushing Draco back and reached back about to punch him. Hermione grabbed his arm before he could strike.
"Ron, what are you doing? What the bloody hell has gotten into you?" She demanded, whirling him around to face her.
"I should be asking you that same question Hermione. What in the bloody hell are you doing with this asshole Hermione? Did he put some sort of spell on you or something? You actually looked like you were enjoying him touching you like that." Hermione felt her cheeks blush slightly. Unfortunately Ron noticed as well. "Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me." He looked at her disgustedly and stormed off into the house.
"Ron. Ron!" Hermione yelled after him.
"Oh just let him go. He'll get over it." Draco said snidely.
"No I've got to talk to him. He's got the wrong idea about us. I've got to tell him that there's nothing going on between you and me." Draco grabbed her arm and turned her around.
"Oh really? Absolutely nothing is it? Well it sure as hell didn't seem that way to me." Draco said, a hint of anger in his voice. Hermione pulled her arm away and ran into the house after Ron, leaving Draco staring after her.
She found Ron up in his room, angrily wiping away tears and punching his wall.
"Ron, you have the wrong idea. There's absolutely nothing going on between me and Draco."
"Draco? Since when are you on a first name basis with Malfoy? Did that happen before or after you started snogging him!" Ron yelled at her.
"I wasn't and I'm not 'snogging' anybody Ronald. It was just a kiss, I didn't plan it to happen it just did. It doesn't mean anything." Hermione told him, knowing full well that it did mean something, she just wasn't sure what yet. "Besides, I quite remember chasing after you all year and you basically telling me to get lost. So tell me, exactly how is any of your business what I do?"
Catching Hermione completely off guard, Ron walked over to her, took her face in his hands and kissed her. Shocked and surprised, she pushed him away. "What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to give you a choice, Hermione. I like you, you know that. I've liked you since second year. You're right, I did blow you off last year but that was a mistake."
"Well that's nice Ron, and I'll always have love for you as a friend, but you made your choice last year when you decided that Lavender would make better girlfriend material. Sorry but you lost your chance. Besides, I'd rather have you as my best friend anyway, it's much easier that way."
"It's because of HIM isn't it? This isn't because I chose Lavender last year, this is because you've fallen for the Slytherin Prince isn't it? He's still a Death Eater Hermione, it's only a matter of time before he betrays you, and the rest of us, it's what he does. It's who he is." Ron said, looking at her concernedly. "Don't get caught up in that, you'll just get burned Hermione and you know it."
"Rubbish. You don't know what you are talking about Ronald." Hermione said, then turned on her heels and walked out of the room.