It was difficult to get away from Harry and Ron, but I had promised Draco I would do it. We got together for the better part of January and we were finally in spring now and Draco had asked me on a date to Hogsmede, citing that our rendezvous around the castle weren't romantic enough anymore. Enjoying the light breeze that tossed my now shoulder-length curls on the wind I strolled towards a small bookstore that was hidden away by the shrieking shack. When I stepped in I was greeted by the friendly face of the owner who directed me towards the back stairs where I knew I could find a private reading room.
When I entered I was plunged into semi darkness, the only light coming from a candle-lit table where my boyfriend sat with a smirk on his face.
"Took you long enough Granger," Draco drawled and I smirked back at him.
"I figured you wouldn't want Harry and Ron trying to follow me in here, so I had to give them a water-tight excuse for why I'd see them later," I answered as Draco moved towards me. He had all the grace of a mountain lion, confidence oozing from every pore and I wanted him. It had been a feeling that had been building for a while. The closer we got, the more confident he became and I found it ever so attractive. When I came back to the room Draco was stood directly in front of me, his long fingers toying with the clasp of my cloak as he smirked down at me and I couldn't help but remember how those long fingers had brought me to the edge over and over again when we'd commandeered the room of requirement. Biting my lip, I suppressed a shudder at my thoughts.
Draco's smirk turned into a full blow grin as something in my expression must have tipped him off to my thoughts but before I could speak, he'd captured my lips in a sweet, sultry kiss.
"If you don't stop biting your lip, I will be forced to have my way with you on this table Granger," Draco's voice rumbled in my ear and I felt my stomach flip as I suppressed a moan at his words. Draco removed my cloak from my shoulders and sent it to hang itself up before pulling my chair out for me to sit down.
Our date had been lovely. Draco had made me laugh, he'd made me thoughtful and for the first time in a long while I went 2 hours without craving a cigarette. When I was with him like this, I didn't want it. But all good things evidently had to come to an end because when Draco leaned down to catch my lips outside the bookstore, an angry shout filled the air and I was roughly pulled aside.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!" Ron's angry yell filled the silence of the street as he shoved Malfoy backwards against the wall.
"Ron!"
"Stay the hell out of this Death-Eater whore!" Ron snarled back and his words shocked me to the core, rooting me to the spot as if I'd been struck by lightning. Draco moved then, quickly grabbing the front of Ron's robes as his wand slipped into his left hand from its holster.
"Mind your fucking mouth Weasley," Draco's voice growled lowly, but Ron wasn't listening, and he pushed Draco away before drawing his wand.
"Ron!" Harry's voice yelled from the main street, but it was too late because suddenly spells were flying, and I pressed myself back against the bookshop wall as the flashbacks came hard.
My eyes stared unseeingly as my brain took me back to the battle of Hogwarts, took me back to the cold darkness of the night where so many students had died, and I struggled to breath. Ginny's face swam into view as she stepped in front of me and I shook myself, trying to regulate my breathing, trying to beat back the anxiety and fear that I felt.
"SECTUMSEMPRA!" Ron's voice cut right through my shock and for the second time in minutes I felt my heart thud into my throat as I looked up frantically searching for Draco. When I saw him lying on the ground, blood pooling around his body my mind snapped to focus quickly and my wand was in my hand with spells halfway out of my mouth before I'd even known what I was doing.
"STUPEFY, INCARCEROUS!" I screamed and Ron was thrown back several feet, unconscious and bound in ropes that were thicker than I'd ever managed.
Brushing Ginny aside I ran to where Harry was running his wand over Draco's body, his voice chanting the counter curse like a soft lullaby. Heedless of my clothes I fell next to Draco who's eyes were closed as his breath shuddered through ravaged lungs.
"Hermione send a Patronus," Harry ordered as the blood finally stopped flowing and Draco's breath evened out. With shaky hands I pulled a happy memory to the surface of my mind and whispered the charm, momentarily shocked from my thoughts when a dragon burst from my wands tip. When I'd sent it off with a message for McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey I found Harry's eyes watching me.
"That bad huh?" Harry questioned and I averted my eyes, choosing instead to let my eyes skim over the face of the man I evidently loved.