Bon Appetite! - Chapter Ten
One Week Later
The remainder of the night of the full moon had been spent searching for the seven white stones. The kiss had been brushed aside as though it were a fleeting nothing, rather than a growing weight on the conscience of the two wizards.
In that following week, they had occupied themselves by stripping bark off willow trees, picking forget-me-nots, finding a total of three (previously dead) fireflies, and otherwise completely ignoring the other.
The seven white stones sat on the floor of the small cupboard. They were each spherical, about the size of a pea, and shone somewhat. They reminded Hermione of pearls. Hermione wished she could keep one, just as a memory, but she knew that they all had to be mixed into the potion.
She sat on a stool in a corner of the cabin, her eyes drooping and her mind hovering on the brink of sleep. She lifted her hand unconsciously to brush over her lips…unsurprisingly, her dream was the same as it had been for the past seven days.
A deep-toned bell rang out through her mind, breaking her from her reverie.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
Eleven.
Twelve.
Midnight. The full moon shone above her head as she looked up. The dead branches of trees around her mimicked groping skeletal limbs, reaching out to grasp the shimmering orb. She shivered. It was so cold.
She started as a branch broke off to her left and a man she knew, but could never quite place, stepped out of the trees and into the small clearing.
Both were silent. Hermione could not speak even if she wanted to – she felt as though her throat was constricted. She suspected the man's was as well, for he never spoke.
He stepped closer as Hermione shivered again, pulling her arms around her knees. Wordlessly, he closed his hands around her arms and lifted her gently from her spot in the dirt.
Just as had happened in the nights before, his lips began to trail down her neck, leaving a trace of heat.
Hermione tangled her hands into his hair, lifting his head.
And to Hermione's surprise, she did not wake up here as she had done before – the dream continued.
She arched her feet, rising up onto her tiptoes, covering his thin lips with her own. He tensed in surprise, his back going rigid, but only for a moment.
They became immersed in the kiss as it grew more heated, the feeling of cold forgotten completely.
He broke away, once again trailing his lips down her neck, his teeth occasionally nipping her pale flesh.
To Hermione's surprise, she had regained the power of speech. Unintentionally, she felt a moan snake out from between her lips...
"Draco…"
Hermione jolted awake, groaning in pain as she hit her head on the wall behind her. She looked up to see Malfoy staring at her, his mouth ajar. She tried hard not to blush as she remembered her dream.
"What?" She asked haughtily as he continued to stare. His mouth no longer hung open, either, he was smirking now.
"You just said my name."
"What?"
"In your sleep. You said my name."
Hermione understood now why he had that infuriating smirk plastered to his arrogant face.