"Long, Long, Long"
Chapter 7
A few days later, Draco tapped Hermione on the shoulder while she was eating lunch in the Great Hall. She turned around and smiled when she saw him. Harry and Ron glared at him with intense dislike, but Draco had learned to ignore this.
"I need to talk to you about the charms assignment, Granger," said Draco.
"Alright," Hermione gathered her things, apologizing to Harry and Ron and telling them that she would see them in class.
Careful to walk several feet from each other, Draco and Hermione left the Great Hall. They walked around a corner leading to a small hallway and Draco immediately pulled Hermione into an intense kiss. It had been all of about twenty-four hours since they had last been in a similar position, but that was too long in both of their opinions. Draco had Hermione up against a small wooden door that led to a classroom, which suddenly swung open due to a faulty latch. Hermione shrieked as they toppled into the classroom, but they both laughed after their initial shock was over and they realized what had happened.
Draco rolled off of Hermione and sat up facing her. Hermione propped herself up on her elbows and raised an eyebrow at him, "So is their actually anything you need to ask about the charms assignment, or was that your excuse to get me out here?"
Draco looked thoughtful. "I have to admit, I had no intention of asking you anything about the charms assignment, but now that you mention it, when's our presentation?"
"Today, Draco."
"Right…" Draco didn't seem too worried about it, but then asked, "Wasn't there a paper due or something, too?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, and it's done. No thanks to you, I might add."
Draco looked at her as if she were hardly doing him justice. "I spent just as much time in the library as you did, Granger. I even put some effort into reading those horrifically boring charms books. How much can you ask for?" He stood and pulled Hermione to her feet.
"You really are unbelievably hopeless sometimes," said Hermione pityingly.
Draco shrugged, "I do my best."
Hermione smiled and shook her head. She found it amazing that she had done almost all the work on this project, and yet she still felt no anger towards Draco for being so lazy. If they had been in a similar situation as little as three months ago, she would have tried to get him expelled out of pure frustration…but that was then.
"So what exactly do you plan on saying during our presentation?" she asked, crossing her arms and looking at him skeptically.
Draco thought for a moment, "Well, something along the lines of…The discoverer of both the niaperix and aperix charms was Helena Goldwick, a healer who lived in the 500's b.c.e. She was brewing a simple potion for wart removal and misspoke a charm, only to discover that all the ingredients she needed for the potion were suddenly before her. This was the aperix charm, though it wasn't widely used until the first century b.c.e., long after Goldwick's death. The niaperix charm she tried after discovering the first one, hoping that a reverse spell would also be possible. She was right; she found that she could make objects vanish into thin air as well as instantly summoning them. Both charms are commonly used in modern witchcraft."
Hermione found herself staring at Draco in shock, her mouth hanging slightly open. Draco smiled, clearly pleased with himself. "How…but…" Hermione found herself speaking nonsense in her wonder.
"And you thought I wasn't paying attention all that time in the library," said Draco, shaking his head and tsking at her.
Hermione couldn't help but stare at him in awe. She had spent all that time studying in the library, and was still pretty certain she couldn't rattle off all that information without notes or at least rehearsing. "Are you kidding me?" she asked, pushing him in the chest mock-angrily, "I spent hours writing that paper and all this time, you actually knew something about this subject?"
Draco feigned offense, "Hey, that was your own mistake. I'm really a more capable human being than you ever gave me credit for."
"So you are," said Hermione, standing on her toes and covering Draco's mouth with her own. Draco pulled her into him, sliding an arm around her waist. She wrapped both arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. It was then that her watch decided to beep loudly twice.
Hermione pulled out of the kiss and looked up at her watch. "Damnit!" she swore uncharacteristically, grabbing Draco's wrist and pulling him out of the classroom as quickly as she could.
Draco followed Hermione out of the room and asked confusedly, "What the hell was that? Where are we going?"
As Hermione sprinted up a staircase, she quickly replied, "That was a tardy alarm I charmed my watch to make; we're ten minutes late for charms!" She was horrified at the idea of being even a little late on a normal basis, and the fact that she was supposed to be presenting at that moment was not helping her panic.
Draco didn't go frantic at this news, as Hermione had, but tagged behind her anyway. "What? Never been late to a class before, Granger?" he asked with a slight smirk.
"Not often, no," Hermione replied, dragging him around a corner at top speed.
'Why am I not sur--"
Hermione suddenly came to complete stop outside the charms classroom and covered Draco's mouth with her hand. She paused a second to catch her breath, then released Draco's wrist and gestured for him to follow her inside. They snuck into the back row virtually unnoticed, taking seats in a corner close to the door.
Professor Flitwick turned from the blackboard and noticed their sudden presence. "Well, thank you for joining us, Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy. Do you have an excuse for being so tardy?"
"We were doing some last-minute preparation for our presentation," answered Hermione promptly.
"Oh, I see. Well, are you two ready to present, then?" squeaked Flitwick, marking something on an attendance sheet on his desk.
"Yes, I think so, Sir," said Hermione, and Draco snapped his head around to look at her. They had done absolutely nothing to prepare for this. Well, at least Draco hadn't.
"Excellent," said Flitwick, "please come up to the front of the class and start when you are ready."
Hermione nodded and reached down to her bag to collect her notes. Draco followed suit, pretending to search his own bag for his own fictitious ones. "What are you doing? We're not ready to present!" he whispered.
"Wrong," said Hermione, handing Draco a fair-sized stack of note cards, "read off one of these cards whenever I stop talking."
Draco looked down at the stack in his hand. Hermione was far too organized for her own good, but he wasn't about to complain now; she had just saved him from failing this class. Hermione stood and walked to the front of the classroom with Draco following several steps behind her.
Unbelievably enough, the presentation went extremely well. Though Draco did not know half of the stuff he told the class before he was speaking before them, his sentences came off practiced and thoroughly researched. He and Hermione traded off speaking near-perfectly; the one mess-up being once when they had started speaking at the same time. Hermione had glared at Draco, but he shrugged and the class laughed it off.
"Wonderful job, you two," said Professor Flitwick, resuming his place at the front of the classroom when it was over, "this just might make up for your tardiness today."
Hermione and Draco showed their appreciation by walking sulkily back to their desks at the back of the room. "Not bad, Malfoy," Hermione whispered in Draco's ear when their Professor started his lecture for the day, "but you seriously owe me." She smiled and leaned back to her own desk, pulling out her notebook and innocently taking notes on everything Flitwick said.
…
The following Friday, Hermione sat with her legs beneath her on a sofa in the common room. She was reading the last pages of a novel she'd started only earlier that week, and was extremely eager to know the ending. Harry was sleeping at the other end of the sofa, his head resting lazily on the cushioned back. Ron sat at a nearby table, trying desperately to figure out an astronomy chart that Professor Trelawny had given him as punishment for drifting off in her class. Hermione didn't really blame him; Trelawny's class was undeniably boring most of the time, but he did seem to get into trouble with her on a regular basis.
For the most part, the common room was still and quiet, the atmosphere lazy. Hermione turned a page, her eyes racing across the words at an amazing rate. She didn't even pause when she heard a scratching sound at the window. She continued reading, but had to look up when the scratching continued, deeply irritating her.
She looked out the window and saw a small, gray owl hovering outside. She glanced at her watch. It was nearly ten; why didn't the owl just wait until the following morning to deliver the letter? She got up and let the bird in. It hooted gratefully and landed on the table in front of her, sticking its leg out expectantly.
Hermione frowned; she wasn't expecting a letter anytime soon. At any rate, she untied the small parchment and watched the owl fly out into the dark, overcast night. She unrolled the parchment and smiled at the familiar handwriting:
It's time my debt was repaid. Meet me in the tower.
Hermione quickly rolled it up again and placed it in her pocket. She glanced over at Harry, who was still sleeping soundly, then over at Ron, who was still absorbed in his chart. She stepped over to him, "I left a book outside the library," she lied, the guilt already twisting a knot in her abdomen. "I'm just going to go get it. See you later."
Ron grunted at her, far too busy with his homework to listen. She crawled out through the portrait hole and started her cautious journey over to the tower. She got there without much incident, having to hide behind a suit of armor only once, when Snape suddenly appeared from around a corner. He didn't notice her, and she continued as quietly as possible.
Eventually, she reached the tapestry. She pulled out her wand and looked around quickly before tapping it three times against the ancient decoration. It, as usual, rolled itself up and Hermione ascended the steps, her wand lighting the way.
The top of the tower was darker than usual, due to the lack of natural star- and moonlight. Standing across the room was Draco, who leaned casually against the stone wall, clearly waiting for her.
"Tardy, tardy, Granger," he said, examining his watch, "I was beginning to think you'd never show up."
"I was held up," said Hermione defensively, lowering her lit wand, "I nearly collided with Snape on the way up here."
Draco gave a sharp intake of breath. "That would not have been good," he commented, stepping over to her.
Hermione raised her eyebrows, "I think that's an understatement." Draco laughed and she smiled. "Anyway…you mentioned repaying your debt…how exactly do you plan to do that?"
Draco smirked mischievously and said quietly, "Put out your wand and close your eyes." Hermione looked up at him curiously, but did as she was told. Draco stepped even closer, so that their faces were less than an inch apart. Hermione could feel his light breathing on her cheek and neck and she shivered involuntarily. Draco slowly pressed his lips to hers, initiating a very gentle but somehow very intense kiss. Hermione responded by opening her mouth and allowing him to deepen it.
It seemed as though time was passing at a slower rate; nothing the two of them did was rushed or frantic. Draco slowly undid the buttons on Hermione's uniform blouse and she didn't stop him. To the contrary, she found the bottom of Draco's shirt and pulled it off over his head, interrupting their kiss for only a second. Her blouse slipped off her shoulders and she shivered slightly against the sudden cold on her bare skin. Draco noticed and pulled away just long enough to make a blanket appear out of thin air and wrap it around Hermione's shoulders.
She whispered her thanks into his ear and commented, "Nice conjuring charm," with a small smile.
"I've done my research," he replied, trailing kisses down her neck to her shoulder. He pulled her down to the floor with him, careful that the large blanket was always between them and the cold stone.
The dark night and the quiet castle offered no disturbances. What would normally be an eerie silence now seemed a peaceful escape. Time slipped by without interruption, for which a certain two people would be eternally grateful.
…
Hermione awoke to what was mostly a grim and overcast morning, with the slight exception of a small ray of sunlight streaming through the gray clouds and the old windows of the tower. Draco's arm was around her waist and she felt his deep breaths softly on the back of her neck. Despite the coldness of the drafty tower, Hermione felt very warm and comfortable under the protection of the blanket Draco had conjured the previous night.
Perfectly content with the idea of staying where she was forever, Hermione looked out through the windows, watching as the sun disappeared and reappeared every so often. The clouds eventually won out over the sun and before long, rain splashed against the glass in a very soothing kind of rhythm. Hermione sighed and rolled over, seeing Draco sleeping peacefully beside her.
Hermione knew what she felt for Draco, but was no longer scared of it. No matter what happened with the war, whether or not the end of what they had shared would soon come, Hermione was certain that she would never regret the night before. She didn't bother dwelling on their parting, or when it would be, and drifted off once more in their temporary haven from the rest of the world and reality itself.
…
Draco stirred a little at the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance. He forced his eyes open and looked at his surroundings for a moment, confused. Realization hit when he saw the sleeping form of Hermione before him. Her face was half-covered by her curly hair and for once her pretty face held no signs of worry or frustration. Draco reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She slept on without noticing.
Draco sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He shivered at the brisk air and pulled his shirt on over his head. He got up and finished dressing, taking a moment to look at the storm outside. It was a somewhat cool experience; despite the cold of the tower, Draco felt nice and comfortable as he gazed at the chilly wetness on the other side of the window.
Draco glanced at his watch, wondering how long they'd been there. His eyes widened in surprise and he swore loudly. It was nearly two o'clock in the afternoon! He'd never slept so long in his entire life! Not that he actually knew how long they'd stayed up, but still…
Draco crept back over to Hermione and shook her shoulder gently. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up, startled, but smiled when she saw him. "I've got to go," he whispered, "Quidditch practice starts in about three minutes." He looked doubtfully out the window, "It's probably been cancelled, but if not, the team will have my head."
Hermione sleepily nodded her understanding and sat up. Draco kissed her on the cheek and stood, grabbing his cloak and leaving. Hermione watched him go and left a few minutes later, knowing that Harry and Ron were probably worried about her.