Hey Guys, sorry about the lack in updates. I would have update almost a week ago but I had tooth problems. Ended up having to get a tooth pulled and will have to get another one out on Friday. Yuck!

Is anyone against future lemons? If so please comment.

Thank you for all your support. I love reading reviews and seeing follows/favorites. So keep them coming. Thanks.

-Madi

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor do I own any of the lyrics in each chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Five

A Million Miles an Hour

"Insanity is setting in,
Reality is getting thin,
The particles are dancing all around,
I can't deny the hardest thing for me,
Is finding time to finally breathe,
See no signs of ever coming down,
And suddenly we're traveling,
A million miles an hour…"

A Million miles an Hour by Nickelback

A quarter past ten at night, inside an old musky classroom

A somewhat familiar tingling sensation tugged at Draco's fingertips as he listened to his own even steady breaths. His head was tilted while his right cheek stuck to what felt like a tepid smooth surface as his eyes twitched faintly. Something then infringed upon his silence, something out of place and yet familiar, so much so it piqued his interest.

Slowly opening his eyes, he began illustrating his surroundings, detaching his cheek from the surface. The whole room presented before him was described with one word; melancholy, not only in color but in lack of personalization. It was neat, it was fragrant with dusted age, and to him it felt empty.

Draco couldn't fully recall how he'd gotten there. There was something off, something he couldn't quite place. He must have been needing space or something trivial like that because he did remember wandering around the castle for a bit. That was how he found this place, tucked in the far back where he had never been before. It looked like no one ever went into the rooms, so he sat down for a bit of peace and quiet.

Sighing, Draco adjusted in the seat; he then noted that it was in fact a limp and oddly comfortable leather chair, one that reminded him of his favorite chair back at the manor. Ignoring everything else, he looked downwards towards his lap to see a book opened, resting upon his legs with his thumb tucked between the pages near spine. Swallowing thickly, he placed the book onto the side table next to him as he looked to his right and out the window that sat beside him. Draco loved watching the faint pitter-pattering of the rain thrumming against the glass; it was honestly one of his favorite pass times.

Then out of nowhere that same sound that had pulled him from his unplanned nap began once more twisting softly into the air. He instantly knew that it was a piano. What confused him was the fact that that meant someone else other than him had wandered into these old classrooms. Quickly he stood up, closing his eyes for a second in order to clear his head of the hazy feeling, the one that made him feel like something was off. With a huff, he looked down to fix his robes as he then started following the rather familiar melody in hopes of finding out just who was back there.

Once he was out in the hallway, he walked closer to his destination, but then a clash of thunder boomed causing the music to stop. The scuffle of his shoe the only sound he could hear for a second. Two doors down a glowing blue light spilled from the room on his left followed by the piano picking up right where it left off. Making sure that he was quiet, he made his way towards the cracked door pushing it open slowly in order to keep it from creaking.

With a shaky exhale, he examined the enormous room packed with old boxes filled with miscellaneous things, so much so that it closely resembled the room of requirements. Draco listened to the soothing piano, the notes sashaying together flawlessly only making him more curious. That's when the pianist came into view, casually sitting in front of the piano.

'Typical …' he thought to himself as he watched the familiar mess of curls secured into a messy bun sway to the soft music. The way her fingers glided across the keys what looked like effortlessly actually impressed him while he stuck his hands in his pockets, slowly making his way for a closer look.

Sitting just above her, was a glowing sapphire ball of light, probably just enough for her to make out the sheet music and the whole piano. Silently, Draco wondered how often she came down here; it was closer to the dungeons than anything and furthest from the Gryffindor tower. He pursed his lips in thought as he then watched the room flash with lightening. The second that happened he watched her body language tense, the light slowly faded from the room and she stopped playing.

With a feminine gasp, yet another deafening crash of thunder filled the room entirely, which Draco found rather peculiar. The room was almost completely without light, well aside from the dim glow of the moon that shined lightly behind the stormy night sky. But once he heard her sniffle, it made sense.

"Lumos…" she whispered softly. Then yet another ball of light spilt from her wand floating above her as she placed her wand back in front of the sheet music before her.

"Scared of a bit of thunder Granger?" He asked. His voice making her jump more than the thunder had as he looked around the room once more before turning his undivided attention towards her.

"I see you've resorted to stalking me now," she muttered. Wiping her eyes dry with the back of her right hand before preceding to glare at him right on cue. "I thought I told you to leave me alone Malfoy."

Draco shrugged as he walked over to a vacant chair a few feet away from the piano and Granger. Wanting to avoid smelling cinnamon, Draco inhaled sharply, hoping that the musky fragrance of the old room would assist in masking her damned yet divine scent.

"Stalking?" he repeated. Looking upwards right into her doe like eyes, he felt his lips twitch. "Funny. Because last I recall, it was you who has made a habit of following me, I've just returned the favor once or twice. Seems I'm just better at it than you are…"

She rolled her eyes while shaking her head which made Draco smirk lightly. It was always entertaining when it came to getting under Granger's skin; it always seemed to bring a smile to his face. When he watched her look back towards him, her brows scrunched together lightly.

"Whatever you want to call it," she huffed. "I'd rather you went on your way so I could continue about my business, as you with yours. I'm sure you have places to be, people to torment. Me on the other hand, I would like to enjoy the rare peace and quiet. Thank, you."

Draco watched her closely as she turned around on the small wooden bench turning back towards the piano. She began to fiddle with the sheet music and he could tell it was only giving him a chance to leave. But then again, he knew if she really wanted him gone, she would have made it clear. It wasn't like Granger to beat around a bush, so to speak.

He stood up from the chair, he straightened his robes as if he were about to leave while Granger then started playing the piano once more. Her hands were lax; the notes were delicate sparkling sounds of music dancing before his ears. Draco wasn't sure why, but he loved every second of it and what fascinated him the most wasn't the music, it was her.

Before he could stop himself, he found himself sitting down to her right backwards upon the bench close enough to feel her warmth. He knew she tensed but continued to play, her face tied with concentration and it was amusingly charming to him. She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, nibbling in that specific way that she did, making breathing harder than normal.

When the notes trailed off, he watched her slowly turn her face towards him and the last thing to turn his way, were her eyes. He wanted to say that he never noticed how beautiful her eyes were but that wasn't the true. He noticed every single time he saw them.

"You play beautifully Granger," he mused. Looking over every inch of her face like so many times before, but this time, he didn't feel the need to stop.

Her lips twisted for a second into a small tangled smile while the rest of her expression mirrored her confusion. It was a pleasant reaction which was unsuspected but nice.

"Either you're mocking me," she replied. "Or that was a compliment and I'm not sure which is the correct answer here… Malfoy, you are becoming increasingly harder for me to read."

This time he smiled widely with a short laugh that stopped for a second to respond, "Neither. It's merely a fact…" he paused. "In all fairness it's not your fault that you're terrible at reading me, I'm just remarkably good at masking my inner thoughts. Either way Granger, maybe you should just stick to those books of yours'."

She laughed; it was the laugh he had seen across the room with Potter and that Weasel… It was genuine and because of him. He took in the feeling that overwhelmed him suddenly, the warmth he felt at that moment, never wanting it to fade.

Then there was a loud crash of thunder, stopping her laugh in its tracks making her eyes widen in what Draco knew was alarm. The bubbling threat of tears in her eyes made him want to make the rain go away or at least the thunder. 'If only she didn't have to hear it,' he thought.

"You know Granger," he started, "If you put up a silencing charm, I'm sure you wouldn't have to hear the thunder… Surprised you haven't done it yet, I mean you are supposedly the brightest witch of our age."

Draco smirked; pulling out his wand to cast the spell for her while she gave a small glare through her tears. But the glare stopped by a small smile as she leaned towards him after he said the spell. Once she was close enough he was swimming in cinnamon while she placed her warm soft lips against his cheek before backing away.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Draco…"

He watched his name leave her lips, sending shivers down his spine. Once he started moving forward to kiss her, wanting to feel feeling the warmth of her breath upon his lips, he was stopped by a sharp burning in his arm… His left, arm…

Yanking backwards away from her as if she caused his discomfort, Draco huffed. Her expression was muddled, and rightly so as she along with everything surrounding the two of them turned into wisps of smoke that began to fade.

Wednesday October 30th, 1996

Slytherin Dormitory, noon

Burning… Agony… Arm…

Draco shot upwards from his bed where he lay, doubling over, he clutched his arm tightly hoping that pressure would help suppress the pain. Ripping off his robes, he tore open his left sleeve to where his dark mark stained his forearm. The serpent slithered against his snowy skin while he then heard a familiar voice inside, currently invading his head.

'Bellatrix tells me Draco… that you failed to show up in mending the cabinet… Allow this to be your one and final warning… Should you fail to comply with her needs again, next time, I'll be far less forgiving...' the voice slithered, exaggerating the S's just like a snake would. It was the first time the Dark Lord had used the mark to talk directly to him and it was almost as painful as receiving the mark. 'I do hope that I won't have to think of a way to use your mother as a way to express any future disappointment Draco… So don't let it happen, again…'

When the Mark stopped burning, Draco flopped onto his back with a groan. He was once again inside the Slytherin dormitories upon his bed trying to recall what had happened. Then it came back to him. He remembered taking the potion, what he thought was liquid luck before he was about to go mend the cabinet which was also right before his potions midterm exam.

A surge of anger shot through him as he thought about the stupid potion and sat up. This was now the second time he had taken the wrong potion because of Ganger. There was the first he tried it and it ended up being the wit-sharpening potion that was fifteen minutes of over analyzing every single detail in his life. And now with this stupid dreaming potion that made him dream about… her.

It wasn't like this had been his first dream about her, far from it; she plagued his dreams far more than he would care to admit. Draco was rather thankful for that though. Because if it wasn't about her, it had to do with the Dark Lord or worse, that snake of his.

Shaking his head at that thought, he huffed. Whatever that potion was it had felt so damn real, he actually felt as if he could still smell her- feel her lips upon his cheek. It was indescribable to him, he had heard of some kind of potion that did that but thought it sounded silly to him. Closing his eyes, he ran his hand across his face in order to right himself.

'Forget the dream and focus. On things like getting your mother away from Voldemort… In order to do that, I have to do the damned task. No more day-dreaming about… anything let alone about her.' Draco scolded himself.

"A bit early for a kip, don't ya think mate?" someone peeled Draco from his thoughts. Once he sat up, no more than five feet away from him was Theo Nott smirking while leaning against a bed post.

Draco rolled his eyes while he attempted to slyly pulling his dress robes back on without exposing his mark. There was something that seemed off about Theo this year and whatever it was, it didn't make Draco feel easy.

"I hardly think what I do is any of your business Nott." Draco drawled with a sneer. He stood up from his bed, fixing his robes per usual and made his way towards the door, but was stopped by Theo moving in front of it so that Draco couldn't leave.

"I- well I hadn't pegged you for the dreamer type Malfoy," Nott jeered lightly. "Guess we all have our secrets… and then there are some who have more than one, if you know what I mean."

Draco narrowed his glare while he clenched his teeth together in irritation. Whatever his friend was hinting at, it seemed as if he knew things that he shouldn't know about.

"Don't waste my time Nott," Draco growled. "If you've got something to say, spit it out…"

Theo smirked throwing up his hands defensively while shaking his head and moved out of Draco's way.

"Hey now, there's no need to get all cross," He said. "All I was getting at was, everyone's got something they're hiding mate… whatever they're hiding says loads about who they really are, and that's a fact."

Theo then clapped his hands together loudly with a nod of his head. There was something that bothered Draco about the way he was saying things, but before he could respond, Nott continued talking.

"Now that that's settled, I'm off," Theo said. "Tell uh, Granger, that I say hi." The way he spat out her name oozed antipathy and it was not without a pool of burning ire.

And then, he was gone, leaving Draco alone to only speculate on the hidden meaning behind each statement. Whatever Theo meant, one thing was for sure. Draco knew that he had to stop thinking or doing anything that has to do with Granger. He had other things to worry about. Respectably, his task was priority one as was his mother…

Attempting to swallow the sudden concern that rose in his throat in the form of stomach acid, Draco felt like he was about to be sick. There was no longer room for error, his mother's life and his now depended upon perfection. That meant he was done with playing games, he needed the liquid luck and unfortunately for him, one way or another, that meant he needed to have a word with Granger.

"I'm tired of kidding myself,
Another pill no good for my health,

I wish I cared less,
But I'm afraid I don't,
You couldn't care less,
So I guess you won't…"

Careless by Royal Blood

Wednesday October 30th, 1996

In the Great Hall half past one in the afternoon

Hermione looked downwards at her cup of pumpkin juice, swishing the liquid back and forth while seamlessly tuning out the background chatter. Taking another generous sip, she downed the rest of her drink before turning her head towards the Slytherin table. What she couldn't figure out was where Malfoy was at or why he'd missed their potions midterm.

Huffing when she noted that he was still nowhere to be seen, Hermione looked back towards her friends. The way Ronald was scarfing down the chicken, she soundlessly wondered whether he was actually breathing or if he was taking turns. As a bit of food fell out of his mouth she grimaced looked towards Ginny who pulled out a small bag.

"Seeing as we've all agreed to go tomorrow," Ginny grinned. "Have heard anything from Seamus about this year's haunted corridor and are willing to spill? He has been the opposite of helpful with sharing even the smallest of details this year, which is rather annoying if you ask me…"

"You only have to wait until tomorrow," Luna smiled. "I'm sure he's just waiting for the right moment to surprise everyone. Harry, could you pass the pudding?"

"Oh, sure Luna…" Harry replied. Harry then grabbed the bowl of pudding as Hermione huffed, glancing back towards the Slytherin table yet again.

"I don't think he's coming to lunch today Hermione," Luna spoke once more. The sudden mention of her name nearly made her jump out of her seat while she looked towards her friends. Luna smiled softly while taking three huge scoops of pudding. "I saw him sitting near a window in the hallway just before lunch. On those days he usually skips …"

Hermione's eyes widened as she realized Luna knew exactly what she was doing and who she was looking for. With a small uneasy laugh and all eyes on her, she twitched her face downwards in an attempt to drop the conversation before it began.

"I wasn't looking for anybody Luna," she said. If she hoped enough maybe it would be convincing enough for no one else to care.

"Who would she be looking for anyways," Harry asked, pushing his glasses up a bit while taking a sip of his drink while giving her a confused look.

"Yeah… I mean no offence, 'Mione but it's, well, that you socialize the least out of all of us," Ron added, still chewing upon another mouthful of food and a chicken leg in one hand. "So we're just curious who you'd be looking for."

"I happen to socialize just fine, thank you." Hermione snapped. "but that is besides' the point. I wasn't looking for anybody. Alright?"

"Didn't seem that way," Ginny pointed out. "I saw it too. You were looking over there in that direction… who is it?"

"Draco Malfoy, of course," Luna said with a smile and then looked downwards towards her pudding as she took another spoonful.

The second Hermione heard the name, her stomach dropped and breathing was the last thing on her mind. She listened to Neville choke upon his drink while Ron stopped chewing. There was about three seconds to decide the best way to handle the situation. Continue to deny or admit to it possibly causing yet another fight between her and her friends.

"I- well, he just looks a bit different. Almost ill," She replied looking down at her half eaten plate. "He missed the potions midterms earlier… and I was curious as to why…Haven't any of you noticed?"

There was a long pause, the chatter around the Great hall echoed loudly while Hermione suddenly felt small under their gaze. 'Might have been better if I continued denying things…' she thought with a shaky sigh.

"Who could tell the difference?" Harry asked rhetorically. With a scowl, he fixed his glasses with a forced huff.

"Tell the difference," Ron repeated, "Who bloody cares? It's Malfoy…"

Hermione rolled her eyes at those two responses looking in the other direction wondering why she even bothered. Sometimes she wondered if those two hated Malfoy more than they hated Voldemort because at times like these it sure seemed like it.

"I noticed," Neville said. "Something seems different this year. He hasn't bothered picking on others as much, I found it odd. I thought it was just me who had noticed…"

"Well I'm glad to see some of us pay the well-being of others a bit of attention." Hermione stated sharply.

"I think maybe some of us, are paying too much attention to that foul git. He's pathetic and a waste of space at Hogwarts…" Harry growled. Then he abruptly stood up from the table causing dishes to clatter together before storming out of the Great Hall. Ginny followed him closely while Ron just continued eating along with Luna.

Sighing to herself, Hermione knew it had been a mistake bringing it up at all and wished that Luna hadn't said anything. Noting that she should try to make this the last time she even thought about Malfoy while with Harry. Even on top of everything, she was still worried (for reasons unknown) about Malfoy even though she wished she wasn't. Huffing aloud, she then decided to confront him about things the next time she saw him. Whether he wanted to speak to her or not, she was going to.