Uploaded: Jan. 7, 2011
Draco lifted his head to grin at her, she grinned deviously back and they both moved in for a hungry kiss.
Hermione opened her eyes, briefly looked about and grinned. She and Draco had spent the last several hours getting to know each other very intimately. They had dozed off, completely knackered, curled around each other on Draco's lush, queen sized bed.
Slipping from lithely-muscled arms that trapped her, Hermione quickly scribbled a note and dropped it onto the pillow before snatching up her clothes and departing for her room.
A short while later the Malfoy scion woke up and unconsciously frowned when he noticed the spot beside him was empty.
Blearily opening his eyes, the frown became more prominent when he noticed a distinct lack of Hermione Granger in the room.
A sharp tack of hurt flashed through Draco before he ruthlessly shoved it aside. He should not feel any hurt when someone, and a mudblood at that, left while he slept. If anything, it should have been the other way around.
Still, feelings Draco had never really experienced briefly came to the fore as he thought about the situation. He wasn't sure what they were, or why he felt them, but he didn't like it.
Blindly punching the nearest pillow, a sharp crackle of parchment made him pause in his anger. Unclenching his hand, he smoothed out the rumpled paper and read the short note scrawled across it.
A brilliant smile made its presence known before Draco frowned, wondering why the note would elicit such a response from him.
Turning to his bedside table, Draco snatched his wand and whipped it around, clothes and other items that littered the floor were magically picked up and folded, hung or put neatly away.
Pulling on a pair of sinfully tight dark jeans and a light colored sleeveless shirt, complete with a hood and pockets, he opened the door and made his way into the commons.
Hermione smiled as she entered her room, the afternoon sun lighting everything up with a delicious glow, despite the winter weather.
Thankful of her presence of mind to attached a stasis charm to her cauldron should it be inactive for a certain amount of time, she quickly realized that she couldn't go to Malfoy for answers.
'Can you honestly call him Malfoy after fucking each other senseless?'
Hermione ignored the small voice. Honestly, it was so crude! If she began to ask questions about old family guardians, he might get curious, or suspicious. Neither were very good moods to pair with Malfoy. He would start asking questions and snooping around her stuff.
And really, it wasn't that necessary to understand it, though undoubtedly Hermione would be in the library researching it at the next possible moment, the two things just had a few similarities.
Knowing that Malfoy would be up and about soon she magically locked her door and sat down to work. She still had a few more hours until dinner.
Taking the stasis charm off her cauldron Hermione was pleased to note that it was almost complete. She waited a few minutes before she re-filled her vial and gently poured it over the still hovering box.
Thinking about ways she would make this work, and the different things she wanted to do with it, Hermione spent the next two hours reading, jotting notes and pouring a vial of potion over the box every twenty minutes.
At long last she felt enough potion had been absorbed by the wood. Still hung in mid-air, Hermione placed the small lump of coal inside the box and activated the runes. Soft lights flickered in earthy reds, soft browns and luminescent violet.
Having finished that, Hermione began working on other pieces of her unfinished puzzle. Nothing but time could help the cube along faster.
Looking at her notes, and cross referencing her material, Hermione found that most pendants are given a set amount of magic at the beginning and are then focused, usually by adding a drop of the wearer's blood. But there was no mention of how the pendant retained its power.
She wanted something that would absorb excess magic from the wearer, a storehouse of some kind. Similar to the power crystals ancient warlocks used for battle. Hermione sighed. This kind of thing would only be in the Restricted Section of the library. She worried her lip. Which professor could she use to get a permission slip?
'Or you could just do what Harry did, and use his invisibility cloak.'
Hermione mentally slapped the voice. And once it was safely in a hidden corner where it couldn't hear her, she lauded the idea and the possibilities it presented. Shrugging the thoughts away she resolved to do exactly that within the next week.
She wasn't hard pressed for time, she was staying over the Christmas break, but Draco's birthday was in just under a month and a half. The coal should be refined enough in about two weeks, possibly earlier with all the runes she'd inscribed.
Looking at the materials strewn about her bed, around her person and on the floor, Hermione realized that she could do nothing more at this point and closed all her resources.
Stacking the texts in an organized pile on her desk, she gathered the remaining materials and safely enclosed them in a box and placed the box under the fake bottom in one of her desk drawers.
She would talk to Harry about borrowing his cloak at dinner time. Her actually asking him for it should arouse his surprise and curiosity enough to let her have it without giving away too much information. She smirked. Sometimes it paid to be book-ish and smart.
She paused and tapped a finger against her chin. Actually it always paid off. With a smile she threw on a regular black school cloak, locked her doors and made her way to the Gryffindor Common Room to be with her friends until dinner.
Draco gave the tiniest of huffs. He had been waiting for that idiotic Granger woman for almost an hour now! Surely she would be done whatever it was she doing that needed to be done so urgently.
Throwing his hands in the air, he grabbed a warm silk cloak and made his way to the dungeons. The idiots that lived down there should be able to cheer him up at the very least by being completely stupid.
"Harry, can I borrow your invisibility cloak for the next week? I need to search the Restricted Section."
The steamed beans that were just placed in Harry's mouth were suddenly sucked partway down his throat in the sudden intake of air at Hermione's words. Neville obligingly pounded Harry's back as he began to cough, splutter and choke, somehow managing all three at the same time.
Giving a weak nod to Neville in thanks, Harry turned to Hermione and croaked out a question. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I said, 'Harry, can I borrow your invisibility cloak for the next week? I need to search the Restricted Section.' Good enough for you?"
"Fine, thanks. Why do you need my cloak?"
Hermione raised her eyebrow. It conveyed her un-vocalized thoughts of him being completely retarded.
Harry noticed her look and nodded. "Right…You already said. And why can't you just get a pass from any of the teachers that absolutely adore you?"
"Because I'd have to give them a valid reason, and I doubt the one I do have will qualify. Thus, your invisibility cloak."
"Okay, who are you and what have to done to my friend?" Green eyes were ethereal behind silky black bangs that fell across his face. The overall look was one of glowing green eyes set in a face of preternatural beauty.
Hermione ignored the beautiful eyes that would entrance others and bore into their souls. She took a small sip of hot coffee, before placing a forkful of roast beef, lightly covered with gravy into her mouth.
Chewing politely until it was gone she took her time answering Harry, knowing that her actions plus her words would make him feel all the more stupid. She loved having friends.
The voice in her head snickered at the supposed goody-two-shoes of Gryffindor.
"Harry, darling, do you remember that conversation we had not too long ago? I realize you're a male, a magical one at that, but really, I thought you actually knew how to use the mass between your ears."
The glowing in his eyes lessened until it left entirely. Harry thought back to the conversations he'd had recently and came up blank. Moving his mind further into the past, Harry whizzed past meaningless day-to-day confrontations. He stopped at the dark enclosed room, heavy with warding spells.
Ah, that one! Now knowing which conversation his bookworm friend had been talking about, Harry knew exactly what she meant and began to think about that in the context in which Hermione had laid out before him.
Others had assumed the conversation ended and noticed nothing at all when Hermione gave the slightest of nods at the barest hint of a look given to her by Harry. She knew that her friend was not as dumb as he pretended to be. Living under the circumstances like those he'd grown up with, would force any being to develop a mind rather quickly and learn how to use it.
Hermione also knew that once they had both graduated they would most likely drop all facades they'd adapted throughout their schooling years. And it would most likely be in a place that was not England.
England's magical community was interesting and all that, but it was decrepit, old and impossibly stagnant. Nothing good would come of them staying there. Hermione would probably go to the south, southeastern parts of Europe and Harry would probably follow her lead.
At least in terms of studying areas. Harry was amazing at defensive magicks and in all honesty, would likely build his studies and eventual career around that.
And so dinner passed, small talk was made and gossip exchanged. Harry and Hermione had their own private conversation with their eyes and slight motions, while still involving themselves in the chatter around them.
"This has something to do with Malfoy's gift doesn't it?"
Harry knew that everything regarding schoolwork would be found with the main area of the library. The only new thing that had caught Hermione's attention in the past few weeks had been her bag of random objects.
Hermione nodded. Harry nodded to his own thoughts and reached into his trunk. They were the only ones in the dorm. Seamus and Dean had gone off somewhere with a couple girls and Neville was still chatting in the commons with Ginny.
For all intents and purposes, it looked like the two would eventually become a couple. Hermione knew better. Dropping a kiss on Harry's cheek, she folded the cloak into a small square and placed it into her book-bag. It was kind of like a purse, but far more practical.
"And where have you been Granger?"
Hermione started. She hadn't seen Malfoy in the dim light of the low fire. No other lamps were lit either.
"I was with my friends. Incidentally, I hadn't realized that as a to-be fiancé I had to follow the rules of wife-dom and therefore could not talk to any previous friends who were male."
"And why were you talking to Potter?"
Dead silence and a raised eyebrow answered him. He scowled in an attempt to not seem stupid. He doubted Hermione believed it.
"Right, well, fascinating as chatting with you is Dear, I think I'm feeling a bit sleepy and so off to bed go I."
Draco stared at her. "That was horribly phrased."
"Oh, most undoubtedly Draco-Dear, but sometimes it's nothing but fun to fuddle your worlds and mix them up, saying words which sound better even though the meaning is completely off or ass-backwards. Nighty-night."
And she flounced into her room. Draco stared incredulously at the place she had stood, and continued long after she had disappeared through her door. Heaving a sigh, he stood activated the fire-protection charms and departed for his own bed. He paused at the door and glanced at the other occupant's room entrance.
A mischievously evil smile made its way across Draco handsome face and he passed through the doorway, planning his evil plan.
At an hour past midnight Draco silently made his way from his room to Granger's. Creeping up to the bed, he paused for a few moments to admire the vision she made.
Unbridled curls fell across the pillows while the moonlight created beatific shadows of Hermione's face. The overall effect was one of a wild beauty, similar to the paintings of the old Celtic druids dancing, that Draco had seen as a child.
And yet, he tilted his head, her face was calm and peaceful, at odds with the wild moonlight but somehow adding to it at the same time.
Shaking his head, Draco pushed those thoughts aside and slowly slipped under the covers until he was flush against the petit girl and could wrap his arms around her slim waist.
Snuggling close, he got a few strands of rebellious hair in his face, tickling his lips and nose. Leaning back, he brushed her hair out of his way and moved back in. His body was curled around hers, arms snug against her torso, his mouth by her bare shoulder.
Draco pressed an open-mouthed kiss to her skin and nestled by her neck. Breathing in her warm scent he smiled and gave her another gentle kiss. Hearing her slight moan brought flashes of their morning/afternoon together and he gave a mild groan.
Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself against her womanly wiles, however unconscious they were. Hermione shifted closer to the source of heat behind her and gave a breathy moan at the feeling of being surrounded by warmth and security. Draco stifled a moan as her hips shifted against his. He could feel himself becoming aroused.
Grimly, he forced himself to think about undesirable things. Snape in a bikini; Dumbledore macking on McGonagall in the Great Hall; McGonagall in spandex; Potter is a speedo. Draco paused, wondering why the hell he was thinking of Potter and Snape in little all else.
But thinking of Potter connected his mind to Hermione. And with Potter in almost nothing, Hermione wearing no clothes, sprawled across his bed came to mind and he groaned once more, feeling the urge to go about bashing his head against the wall.
It would be worth all the trouble just to see her reaction when she woke up. All he had to was survive the night.
AN: So...being the idiot that I am, instead of being smart (like usual in this regard) I decided to bring an open can of ginger ale near my laptop. And promptly fried my laptop. Luckily for all you readers, this chapter was already online. However, this does mean an even longer wait should be expected as I need to get a new computer, see if I can salvage anything from my destroyed one and then begin re-writing if necessary.
On a happier note, I hope that all of your Christmas breaks were great and you all got at least one thing you wanted! Happy belated New Year too!
AM