Hermione found the tapestry with Barnabas, and was entertained for a moment by trolls twirling and tumbling over as Barnabas watched with pride at first then morphed into horror.
She returned to the party to see Ginny, Harry, Zabini, Pansy, Ron, Parvati all dancing in a raucous circle to the bass strumming intoxicatingly through the Great Hall. She glanced once more around the many heads for white blond hair, but didn't find him. Nor did she see Astoria.
With a ballpoint pen she had in her beaded purse, she wrote on her palm and hoped Ginny would see it despite her mirth.
Leaving for the night, see you and Harry soon?
The ink warmed in her palm and she knew the magic had worked. With one more glance at Ginny and Harry who spun in a circle with their heads thrown back laughing at the starlight ceiling and floating candles, she smiled, committed the image to memory before she returned home to her empty bedroom.
No letters, or owls tapping on her window pane, no dresses laid out, or beaded purse upended. No declarations of love or personalised encyclopaedia like journals.
For a couple of hours, Hermione tinkered with her latest project with Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes; fairy lights that danced like fireflies, inspired from Luna's wedding. She was surprised that George approved it, but he had claimed there was a demand that was never met in the way of decorations for events. People asked for odd things sometimes, and it wouldn't hurt to have an exclusive line. She considered having the lights actually morph into fireflies before disappearing to qualify it as a joke shop item.
When the magic kept turning the little lights into fireflies that immediately keeled over and died, Hermione shelved it and sighed as she rubbed her eyes. She was surprised to see the clock hands at five am and groaned when she rose from her chair to stretch her limbs. The clothes from the party last night still held the smell of spilled vodka and peaches, a smell she only noticed when her bedroom came back into focus as she breathed in and out to get oxygen to her starved legs. She flexed and winced as the tingles spiked sharply before spreading further out and dissipating slowly.
She shed the night stained clothes, placing them in the full basket of dirty laundry and made a mental note to wash them before slipping into a jumper to stave off the cold of the morning. She attached her beaded purse to her hip and quietly left the house, her parents she was sure, were both fast asleep by the gentle sounds of breathing she heard down her hallway outside her bedroom. It would be nearly two hours until they woke up.
The sky was a gentle blue colour, hues of purple speckled tiny clouds that skimmed the waves of air, and orange began to blur close to the horizon. Dewdrops hung in the air and clung to her skin, hair, and jumper in jewels of reflected sky and she closed her eyes for a moment as it touched her skin like a blanket of calm. It was fall. The countryside had begun to show bursts of colour as trees changed prematurely, some already bright red and hidden amongst their still green peers.
She would not think of Astoria, and her rudeness.
She thought instead of Draco, and all the things he had done. How she had seen him as his teenage self, insolent and disagreeable, cold and unkind. Uncaring and dismissive.
But he wasn't. He observed her, had seen Krum's unkindness and never brought it up or spread rumours. He comforted her in his own awkward ways, he indulged Blaise Zabini in his courtship of Ginny and even endured being in a room with the Weasely family. He genuinely cared for Ginny and Zabini's happiness, and in the end knew that Harry and Ginny would rekindle their relationship; provided he had to make that opportunity happen. He held so many responsibilities she would have never thought him capable of, with his friendship and care toward Luna, his unconditional support for Astoria.
Hermione wondered if he had spoken to Harry while in the Ministry, how often would they have crossed paths? Why hadn't she ever thought about asking Harry before?
She slipped on the dew coated grass as she climbed the gentle slope to her tree atop the hill. The yellows and oranges brightened in the sky as the sun began to peak through the horizon of trees and the mist drifted slightly in the morning breeze. Hermione blinked.
Someone was at her tree.
Blond, and in a white shirt, long dark trousers, lounging on the roots of the tree and facing the sunrise. Hermione paused to stare. Then she looked down and saw she was wearing her comfort jumper, bulky and discoloured from years of use. And leggings she would usually never wear outside of the house. She swallowed, thought about turning around, felt the tug in her stomach lurch to her chest and she continued.
When Draco saw her, she paused again, blushed and dipped her head. Draco rose to his feet as she neared him and his eyebrows were slightly furrowed as he contemplated her.
"I couldn't sleep." Draco finally settled upon. He smiled slightly as Hermione tucked her hair behind her ear, then it promptly fell away again. Hermione met his eyes and heat bloomed in her cheeks despite the coolness of the dew sitting in the air.
"I couldn't either." Hermione admitted.
"Astoria-"
"Astor-" Hermione smiled. "She had another chat with me last night."
"I heard." Draco was closer now, Hermione could see the silver flecks in his eyes as the sun began to peek brighter through the trees at them. "I mean, I-" Draco glanced at his hands before looking at her again, Hermione saw that he was pulling at his thumb. "I saw you leave, and I followed. But Astoria was there. Before I could interject, I must admit, I wanted to hear you say the words as well. And, when you didn't, when you refused to, it allowed me to hope in a way I had scarcely allowed myself to hope before."
Hermione swallowed, her heart thundering against her ribcage, she was sure he could hear it. When she didn't say anything he inhaled and continued.
"My feelings for you have not changed. You've been patient and kind in the face of all my bad behaviour over the past few months. If your feelings have changed, say so now. One word from you will silence me on the subject forever."
"I've been a fool." Hermione took his tightly balled fist in her hand and he immediately relaxed, his eyes opened wider at her touch before he smiled. "You've done so much for me, without even wanting me to know." His fingers flexed as they softly brushed hers and Hermione felt the warmth of him spread up her arm. She stepped toward him and brought his hand to her mouth, pressing her lips to his knuckles as he stilled in surprise.
"Your hands are cold." Draco gave a breathy chuckle before he pulled her to his chest and she fit against him snuggly, her head filling the space under his chin perfectly.
Draco held her and the emptiness she had tried to fill with solely occupying her time in creating spells and items for the joke shop, helping her parents at their front desk, applying to the Library and the Ministry was beginning to fill. It was like she had been a bowl filled with pebbles, and Draco was the water seeping into and occupying the empty pockets of air. She had thought she was fulfilled, satisfied and could almost convince herself that she could be happy, but realised now that this was what she had been chasing. The mutual satisfaction of having both.
Being so averse to marriages and couples in the few years since Ron and her had separated and the Ministry began fishing for gold had blinded her to the possibility of this.
"You helped Gin and Harry, you helped Gabrielle." Hermione laughed, happy tears blurring her vision as she sank against him, his arms forming a barrier against the chill and he hummed, his heart a fast steady beat against her own. The smell of parchment and oak swirled with dew and greenery around them and it was her new favourite.
"You weren't supposed to find out." Draco said into her hair, his voice was amused. Hermione pulled away to look at him, feigning shock.
"And why not?" she smiled up at him and was struck by the beauty of him in the morning dew, in her favourite place, under the yellowing morning sun.
"It wasn't about me." Draco dipped his forehead to hers. "And if I had taken the threat of Theo more seriously, I could have possibly avoided anyone getting hurt."
"No one could have proved what he was doing." Hermione liked how close they were. Her lips tingled. "No one would have believed it, he was too charming."
"We had proof, we just didn't have anyone brave enough." Draco smiled. "The Weasleys and Gabrielle, they're brave enough."
"Thank you." Hermione felt his thumb strumming along her back in a slow rhythm.
"You must know, I thought only of you." Draco's mouth was so close now. She felt his fingers gripped her back, pulling her closer so that they were flush against each other again and Hermione brought her arms up and around his shoulders, then carefully threaded her fingers through his hair.
It was soft and wrapped around her fingers like the stream of a river, smoothly sliding against her skin. She lifted to the balls of her feet slightly, and tilted her chin up and Draco inhaled slowly before their lips met and Hermione didn't know which way was up.
He leaned into her so that she tilted back, and she smiled against his mouth. He tasted of watermelon. He pulled away, pink in the cheeks and looking abashed.
"You're not a mint kind of man?" Hermione laughed. Draco looked at her curiously. "Your toothpaste." She clarified.
"Oh. I should have eaten a snack before coming here, huh?" Draco dropped his head to her shoulder and turned his face toward her neck, kissing her there. Relief had washed through her like the gradual rise of a tide and she hadn't recognised it until her heart had slowed and craved the feel of his forearms around her waist as he held her.
"How did you know to come here?" Hermione turned her head to his hair and inhaled. She didn't know what to expect from it, but it smelled of eucalyptus and she smiled into his white blond hair uncontrollably.
"I-" Draco hesitated, Hermione could tell he was a little embarrassed. "I asked Harry and Ginny. Harry knew you walked, Ginny knew you talked about a tree on a hilltop. You told her you go there to clear your mind sometimes, and you forage." Hermione laughed. Of course it was those two. "I couldn't sleep, and I couldn't wait. I didn't want to show up at your house. So I came here, hoping you would show up."
"What would you have done if I hadn't?" Hermione stroked his hair and he lifted his head to look at her, humour sparkling in his eyes.
"I'd have written you a letter." he said simply. "You like to read, right?"
Hermione laughed and Draco looked delighted at the sound.
"Do you want to come over for breakfast?" Hermione asked and Draco's expression warped into surprise then what Hermione thought looked like pleasure.
"At yours?" his hand was strumming her back through her jumper and Hermione never wanted him to let go.
"My mom and dad would be up in a half hour. I'd love it if you could join us." Hermione elaborated. "Unless, of course, you're an important, busy, busy man. I would understand if you have previous engagements." she teased.
Draco broke into a broad grin, one that lit his face in a different kind of handsome. He was boyish and charming, his hair falling into his eyes which were bright silver as the sun had finally risen above the horizon.
"I would love to." Draco pushed Hermione's hair behind her ear and strummed his thumb against her cheek, tracing her jaw. "I'm never leaving your side, as long as you'd have me."
Hermione flushed. He tilted her chin up again and she met his eyes where heat bored into her and she closed her eyes as his lips closed in on hers, soft and unhurried.
He teased her mouth open and slid his tongue against hers in a tender stroke before retreating and smiling mischievously at her. She wanted to sink against him and stop breathing in an attempt to consume him. Her body was thrumming in slowly building excitement, and she was a little embarrassed by her eagerness when Draco was being so tender. "You promised me breakfast, Granger."
Hermione held his hand carefully, half surprised he was standing there with her, reality hadn't caught up yet and her mind was drunk of sleep deprivation and him. "Don't let go, okay?" Hermione said, winded a little. She held his hands and slipped her fingers between his before they closed warmly with hers.
"Never."