Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, they are the brilliant works of the marvelous J.K.Rowling. I also do not own Coldplay or To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.
CHAPTER 6
She opened up the Common Room door to find it empty. 'Must be in his room' she thought. She lay down on the couch. She was exhausted; not having much sleep last night for reading 'The Lord of The Rings Trilogy' and having been woken up at odd hours of the morning for the last week by Malfoy 'informing' her of his whereabouts until he saw her next. She took out her iPod and fell asleep listening to the soothing sounds of her favourite Muggle group, Coldplay.
Malfoy came out of his room on his way to the Slytherin Dungeons and couldn't see Hermione anywhere. 'That's funny, thought I heard her come in' When he got to the door he stopped, remembering he had left behind a book needing to be returned to the library. He turned around and found Hermione laying on the couch facing the cold fireplace. He approached her with caution, unsure whether she was asleep or awake. Upon finding her asleep, he rested his arm on the mantelpiece and took a moment to examine her, marvel at her beauty. Soon enough he had slipped into his own little dream world...
Hermione awoke to see Malfoy resting on the fireplace, eyes glazed over, staring at her. She waved her hand back and forth in the air to try and snap him out of it, but she reasoned he must have been pretty far away. She got up but amazingly, he did not stir. She crept up behind him, and got right in close to his ear.
"Draco..." she whispered. No response.
"Wake up!" she said quickly and louder than before. He instantly jolted into action. Swinging around, he grabbed her side as one would an attacker and looked utterly shocked at who was standing behind him. His left hand was in the air pending an assault on the 'intruder' but it looked more like he was just about to take her hand in a waltz. They stood frozen for a minute, unable to move, his hand still at her side.
"Draco..." she said. He took this in his head as 'oh Draco!'. He smiled and raised an eyebrow.
"You're squeezing me" His smile dropped and he let go, looking a little embarrassed.
"Sorry. Million Miles away." He looked at the floor as if remembering what he had been thinking about. Hermione decided to make light of the situation.
"Shall we?" she said, noticing his arms were still in mid air and raised hers in the same way. He lowered his arms, but she continued. She moved away, as if holding an imaginary partner and danced around the room with mocking grace. He scowled at her frolicking around like an idiot, circle after circle after circle. He went to leave to the library, book in hand, when her voice stopped him.
"Oh, and I really thought we had a moment there" she said sarcastically, trying to stifle the giggles. He paused only for a moment, then went on out the door annoyed at her childishness. She bent over in hysterics, and fell backwards onto the couch.
When she had stopped laughing, she lay there and thought for a moment. Had it been the same Draco Malfoy last year she would not have cared for making fun of him, but this year he was different, he really had changed. She wanted to find him and apologize, but he would likely get over it; after all, he'd had to put up with far worse from the three of them for the last 6 years. She got over her guilt and went to her room to read the rest of 'The Return of the King'.
About two hours later, she heard the door to the common room open and swift footsteps glide through the room.
"Malfoy" she called, and the footsteps stopped where they were.
"Come up" He thought for a moment before ascending the stairs to her room. The door was adjar, and from it he could smell perfume and hairspray. He tapped the door open and popped his head in through the doorway. She was laying on her bed with a book in front of her face. She looked up when she heard the door open.
"Sorry about before. I was just mucking around. I didn't mean to aggravate you as much as I did. Actually I thought you might come frolicking around the room with me" She mentally slapped herself at her last comment. She was supposed to be apologizing, not making more jokes and worsening the situation.
"Don't worry about it" He turned and walked back down the stairs. Hermione shrugged it off. She had not read a full paragraph when he reappeared in the door.
"I'm sorry for storming out like I did" Apologizing looked uncomfortable for him; she figured he didn't do it very often.
"To be honest, I got out into the corridor and once I'd stopped fuming, I kept imagining you circling around the room like a lunatic and it was actually pretty funny. I really hate you sometimes Granger, but I now realize you're pretty quick on your feet, and I don't mean the way you galloped around the place" He smiled and left again.
She lay there with a big cheesy grin on her face, marveling at the casual way he had complemented her on her fast wit. She finished the chapter and eventually went to go and find Ron and Harry to catch up with them before dinner.