Noise and Kisses

By Caiti and Court

Chapter 6: Underneath It All

-- -- --

Hermione stopped outside the doors of the Great Hall. She was furious. How dare he? She took a deep breath and then continued towards the common room. She had only been walking for a minute before she heard footsteps behind her. She spun around to see Draco Malfoy running up to her.

"Not the best time for insults, Malfoy," she turned and continued walking.

He paused for a moment to catch his breath, "Granger, wait…I just- What was that?"

She turned around again to face him, "Right, like you care."

He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again.

She shook her head, "It's none of your business."

He stared at her. He didn't know what to say, "But…I-"

"Just drop it, okay? You don't need to know."

"I…I already do," he spoke in barely a whisper. He bit his lip. He had no idea what possessed him to say it.

Her eyes widened, "What?"

He took a deep breath, "You…you told me last night, w-when you were drunk."

Her mouth was wide open. She didn't know what to say. Her eyes filled with tears, "How much did you-?"

"Everything…I'm so sorry, Hermione."

She shook her head, "N-no one else knows, right?"

"I didn't tell anyone, no."

Her eyes fluttered wildly. She could hardly breathe, "Draco…I…I don't..."

He nodded and stepped closer to her, allowing her to wrap her arms around his neck. He stood there, rubbing her back, while Hermione cried on his shoulder. He pulled away slightly, while still holding onto her, and looked into her glassy eyes. He pulled her towards him and gently brushed his lips against hers, moving one hand onto her cheek.

Hermione stood, trapped in the moment. She had kissed countless numbers of boys since that night with Ron, but this was different. She was quite sure that she had never had this feeling before; not even with Ron.

Hermione suddenly realized what she was doing and pulled away quickly, looking around, "No…Malfoy…I- we can't."

He grabbed her arm, "Hermione-"

She pulled her arm away from him, "No. It's wrong. I…Y-you're- a Malfoy!"

She turned away from him and bit her lip. She had wanted this since first year. She had played this exact moment in her head hundreds of times before. Why did it feel so wrong yet so right at the same time?

Draco hesitated, he knew she was right. What was he thinking? It could never work. But it felt so perfect; so meant-to-be.

Hermione took a few steps away from Draco as a crowd of people walked by. She made sure they were all gone before turning around and walking back over to him.

"Hermione, we don't have to-"

She cut him off, "I know that. I just can't…and I think it would be better, for the both of us, if we just- just pretend that that never happened."

He nodded. Again, she was right. She took a step back, "Draco…I'm sorry," she turned around and hurried off at a fast pace. She wiped away the tears that endlessly spilt from her eyes.

Draco stood, rooted in his place; he stared at her as she walked away from him. He bit the inside of his cheek, "So am I…so am I," he said in a whisper.

-- -- --

Hermione arrived at potions the next afternoon, on time. Her skirt was rolled back to its proper length, her blouse fully buttoned and her robes tightly fastened. She sat down by herself at an empty table in the corner and waited for class to begin. Ron and Harry both walked in together and took a seat at the farthest table from Hermione. She skimmed the classroom and she spotted Draco at the front. She stared at him and he suddenly turned around to look at her. Their eyes met and they held their gaze for a few seconds before Hermione quickly turned her head away. At that moment, Professor Snape walked into the classroom.

Snape stood at the front of the class and cleared his throat, "Today we will be mixing a complex and powerful potion, Benzoate. This potion causes the drinker to act upon anything that is commanded of them. It is a similar form of the Imperious curse. The ingredients are written on the board, if you would please seat yourself next to your assigned partners."

Hermione shot a look towards Ron. She raised her hand slowly, "Er…Professor, didn't you say we would be switching partners after the first term?" she looked hopefully up at Professor Snape.

Snape walked up to Hermione's table, "I don't remember asking you for tips on how to do my job, Ms. Granger. Five points from Gryffindor," he turned back to the class, "Sit with your partners. One of you get the ingredients from the cabinet, and the other one get the supplies. Make sure you all have gloves on while mixing your potions. When Benzoate comes into contact with your skin, the results can be extremely harmful. You have forty minutes. Begin."

Hermione looked grudgingly at Ron. She pushed out her chair and picked up her books. She made her way to Ron's table slowly and sat down. Ron had already gotten the supplies. She put her gloves on and began to mix the potion. Every once in awhile, Hermione would pick her head up to look at Malfoy, he seemed to be doing the same thing.

-- -- --

After about twenty minutes of silence between the two of them, Ron finally spoke, "So, tell me…how is life as a slut? Do you get paid or is it just a hobby?"

She ignored him and kept her eyes focused on the potion.

"I heard you've been shagging Slytherins too. What's that like?"

She continued to be silent.

"Oh, I know…who was better, me or Malfoy?"

She sharply turned her head to Ron, causing a slight pain in her neck. She ignored it, "Shut up!"

He chuckled to himself, glad that he had gotten a rise out of her. He continued on the potion when an idea suddenly struck him. He gazed at Hermione, sitting next to him. He smirked a bit and moved his hand to the small cauldron in front of him. With one swift movement of his hand, he knocked it over, spilling it on top of Hermione's lap.

She stood up quickly, turning the chair over on its side and knocking down all the other ingredients on the table, "OW, RON!" she screamed, trying to wipe off the potion that was burning her legs.

Draco turned around and stood up as abruptly as Hermione did. He walked quickly over to Ron who was laughing hysterically. He grabbed him by his collar and pushed him against the wall, "What the hell was-" he suddenly realized that everyone in the room was silent and all eyes were on him.

He let Ron go and turned around. He looked at Hermione; her eyes were so wide they appeared to be popping out of their sockets.

Snape looked up from his desk and glided over to the three of them, "What is going on over here?" his eyes fell on the steam that was omitting from Hermione's legs, "Mr. Longbottom, please escort Ms. Granger to the Hospital Wing immediately. Mr. Weasley, I would like to have a word with you after class. And Mr. Malfoy…go take your seat."

-- -- --

"C'mon, dear…drink. I know it tastes horrible, but it will make you feel so much better."

Hermione shut her eyes tightly and forced the thick, warm liquid down her throat. There was a knock on the door and Madam Pomfrey went quickly over to answer it. Soft voices were heard, although Hermione couldn't make them out. After quite sometime, Madam Pomfrey turned to Hermione, "You have a visitor."

Hermione looked over towards the door and saw Harry, his hands in his pockets, shuffling his feet over to her. She narrowed her eyes, "Oh."

He took a deep breath, "Hi," he said nervously, "H-how are you feeling?"

She turned her head in the opposite direction, "Oh, wonderful! Madam Pomfrey says I'll be able to walk again in no time!"

He nodded; he knew she was going to be acting this way, "Listen…Hermione…I-"

"I don't need your rubbish apology."

"'Mione, please, let me-"

"Don't you dare call me that," she trailed off, "Ron used to call me that."

Harry paused, "That's it, isn't it? That's the reason you've gone and-"

"Don't start, Harry!"

"I wasn't going to…Look, Hermione, I understand-"

"How could you possibly? How could you ever understand?"

"Hermione," he walked towards her and sat in the chair to the side of her hospital bed, "I don't want our relationship to end up like this. Please. What happened?"

She nervously strummed her fingers on the firm mattress and avoided his gaze. Choosing her words carefully she whispered, "We just- we just got into a fight and…Oh, Harry it was awful!" she started sobbing, "Ron he, he went mental and he called me a slut and we started arguing and going on about, about how he was jealous of other guys and their talking to me. Harry, it was terrible. And ever since…I- I just…haven't been the same…nothing has."

"How bad could the argument have been to make you, well, you know…"

"I just…I just never thought that he could do such a thing; be so foul," she said, attempting to gain her composure back.

"Well, I suppose I could understand...you loving him and all."

She winced at his words.

"Harry, I never meant for it-"

"I think that's quite enough for one night, Mr. Potter," Madame Pomfrey bustled into the room, "Ms. Granger needs her rest so we can have her back to classes as quickly as possible."

"Alright, see you later, Hermione. I'll come by tomorrow to see how you're feeling."

"Thanks, Harry…for everything," she leaned over and placed her arms around his torso.

"Go on, move along now, Mr. Potter," Madame Pomfrey interrupted.

"Bye, Harry," she said with a half smile.

-- -- --

"Morning, Sunshine."

Hermione's eyes fluttered open and lay upon none other than Draco Malfoy. Her tired smile immediately turned into a look of accusatory shock.

She shot up, "Did anyone see you? Draco-"

"Don't worry, Hermione, I won't be missed," he paused, "I told them I needed peace to sabotage the upcoming Quidditch match against Gryffindor," he smirked.

Hermione couldn't help but smile as he strode over to sit down on the side of her bed, "You really need to be more careful, Draco," she warned, "People are going to start suspecting-"

"Hermione-"

"Draco, you know I'm right! I don't want to hear anything more about it. We can't go on like this…we just…can't."

"But we can, Hermione," he leaned in closer to her and placed his hand on her forearm, "We can make this work."

"Even if we could, you'd have to stop being so obvious about it. You need to learn to control your emotions, Draco. Otherwise, someone's bound to find out."

"I know…I know," he murmured, stroking her arm.

Just then Harry stopped dead in his tracks at the doorway of the Hospital Wing, staring at the scene in front of him. For a few seconds he debated whether or not he was imagining things, whether or not he should attempt to find out. Considering him and Hermione had just recently reconciled their friendship, he decided against it. Turning away from them both he quickly walked away from the infirmary and back up to the Gryffindor common room.