Draceo and Hermionette

The Troubles of Night Crawling

Half an hour after curfew, Griffindor common room was still packed. Packed with people comforting Ginny, restraining Harry, and comforting poor, poor, Hermione.

Lavender Brown glanced anxiously between the clock face and her distraught sort-of friend, Hermione. "You look really tired," she said. And it was true, Hermione's eyes were drawn and wrinkles showed on her forehead. For the past fifteen minutes, she had been sitting bolt upright in her chair, looking at no one, staring blankly at the clock face. Lavender's voice brought her back for a moment.

"You're right," Hermione said softly. She stood, "I think everyone ought to go to bed," her powerful prefect voice commanded, "We've all had a long day. It would be best to get some rest." Surprisingly, the populous of the common room began to drift toward bed.

Lavender waited at Hermione's side for what seemed forever, until they were the last two in the common room, in fact. After waiting a moment too long to seem natural, Hermione finally edged toward the left staircase, Lavender close behind. Upon entering their shared dormitory, Hermione threw her spaghetti strap nightshirt on (not bothering to remove her bra or jeans) and collapsed dramatically into bed, pulling the curtains close. She waited ten minutes, listening to Lavender rustle and bustle; she even heard the swish of a makeup brush, but dismissed that as unlikely. Another five minutes. The silence of the room was broken only by the delicate breathing of sleeping girls.

Leaping out of bed, she hurried as quietly as possible out the door, down the stairs, and past the Fat Lady.

It was not difficult for Draco to leave his common room. No one hung out in Slytherine Common room. They weren't gregarious people. Not only was there no one in the common room, there was hardly anyone in the dungeon. After all, there was a party going on in Hogsmeade, a revel being held in Scotland, a funeral for somebody's Grandfather (which meant about ten people in the house were inheriting), and an enormous shipment of illegal goods coming into Swansea any time now. He was excused from all of these activities on account of his killing the Gryffindor. Nobody wanted to be seen with him and become guilty by association.

He didn't want to leave too early, as it wouldn't do to be wandering the halls if the door was locked. He didn't want to leave too late because, contrary to popular belief, Slytherin dungeons were on the opposite side of the school from Snape's classroom. Draco paced.

We'll name the first boy Bartholemue, Hermione decided. And the first girl Felicity. Hearing the sound of labored breathing, she stopped. Dear Lord, no one had found her…?

Draco burst from the common room, his shoes in his hand and his feet familiarly treading on shadows. Let's see, he thought. We'll live in the Veronian cottage, Father won't bother us there. Speaking of which…if I'm Draco, and he's Lucius, and Grandfather was Marcus, then the first boy will have to be Gustavus. I wonder if Hermione will mind not naming the girls after words. Or at least not English words, and especially not flowers.

"You look sexy in that tutu," came a heaving, breathless female voice, pitched low and tantalizing.

"I picked the pink because I knew it's your favourite colour," replied a male in husky tones. A giggle, Lavender Brown's giggle, answered him.

So that's why she wanted everyone to leave! Hermione realized, and couldn't resist turning the corner to have a peak. What she saw made her jaw drop open. She quickly retracted her head and pawed at her eyes to scrape away the image of Seamus doing whatever that was to Lavender. Hermione scurried in the opposite direction, fighting equal urges to laugh and gag.

Draco tapped his fingers upon opposite arms. Who would have thought ghosts have such active sex lives? This was the third time he had been forced to hide behind a curtain while they did their thing. Moaning Myrtle was moaning in a way not suited for girls her age, though the Bloody Baron was doing a good job of keeping the grunts to a minimum. Draco wondered if this counted as child molestation even though Myrtle would be quite old enough to handle herself had she been alive. He would have tried reportingit to the Ministry of Magic if he hadn't been technically on the run. (Like they didn't know where he was, anyway. Bored and worried about the time, Draco strolled from his hiding place, giving a playboy's salute to the Barron and walking on as though nothing had happened.

Three doors away from Snape's room, he saw Hermione approaching. Draco stopped to wait for her.

"You won't believe what I have to tell you!" She whispered in his ear.

A/N: I would like to make it very clear that it is ALL MY FAULT that this chapter has taken so long. First I had an enormous test, then finals, then I ran out of excuses and I still didn't update. The only reason it is here is because the Pointed Tooth Fairy would lynch me if it wasn't.

I would also like to address the couple readers who have commented "it's going too fast.":

YOU ILLITERATE FOOLS! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF THE STORY OF ROMEO AND JULIET? IT TAKES FIVE DAYS FOR THEM TO MEET, MARRY, AND DIE. So expect the same basic timeframe here.

Please review! (And of course feel free to flame me back)