CHAPTER 4
WANDERERS IN THE NIGHT
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The Wanderer
What is she like?
I was told—
she is a
melancholy soul.
She is like
the sun to the night;
a momentary gold.
A star when dimmed
by dawning light;
the flicker of
a candle blown.
A lonely kite
lost in flight—
someone once
had flown.
— Lang Leav,
Love and Misadventure
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Sleep was refusing to come to her due to her recurring thoughts about her strange afternoon.
The walk to the hospital wing was supposed to be short but it felt like years had passed when they finally found themselves at Madame Pomfrey's door. This was because Malfoy was abnormally quiet.
Madame Pomfrey had fixed her in about an hour. She had even made her teeth smaller than they originally were and for that, she was utterly happy.
What she couldn't comprehend was the fact that Malfoy had waited for her the entire time.
"Why?", she had asked him tentatively, as he had walked her back to her common room. "I can be good when I want to", he had said with a mischievous twinkle in his stormy eyes, "and we're partners too. So what's the point in going back alone again?"
She had remained silent. "You look even better now." he had said, shattering the pregnant silence. She had openly gaped at him as he had proceeded to wink at her, then smile and finally squeeze her hand gently as he walked away with a strange tune on his lips.
Her mouth remained ajar, even after a few minutes had passed by. She just couldn't digest the fact that Draco Malfoy, of all the people in the whole wide world had winked at her.
It was clear by now that sleep wouldn't come to her that night. Especially if his eyes and face kept popping in her face. And that smile. She just couldn't find a way through the many layers of Draco Malfoy.
I wonder what you are...
She desperately wanted to think about Ron, who she really liked. But his thoughts were just refusing to come to her comfort. Her grey matter was adamant on thinking about grey and not blue eyes. As a result she grew restless and tired. She immediately wanted to clear her head. The stuffiness of her dormitory must be playing with her head, she thought.
And so a risky decision was made. She would sneak out.
She let her hair free since it was a cold night, pulled over a jacket and stepped out in her muggle clothes— a shirt and jeans. Going out proved easy as no one was around. Not turning around, she began her midnight walk, the first of many that followed.
She went down and down the stairs, until she reached the ground floor. It was then that she heard the unmistakable sound of shoes tapping against the hard floor. Fearing that it was Filch and Mrs. Norris, she desperately tried to find a very shadowy spot, when she heard a voice.
"Don't worry, I am not Filch." It was a boy, taller than her, his slender silhouette faintly visible to her. However his face couldn't be seen due to the overpowering darkness.
"And who you might be?"
He seemed to regard her carefully before framing his answer. He knew exactly who she was from the faint whiff of lavender that wafted around him, tempted him till no end.
"That's for me to know and you to find out."
"Okay mystery man, then what shall I call you for the time being?", she asked with a confidence she didn't know she had.
He again thought for a while. He knew exactly what he was playing at. He knew he ought to give her some sort of hint regarding his identity. And so he simply answered, "Thuban".
A few silent seconds followed and in those few moments she knew exactly who was standing in front of her, the one and only Draco Malfoy. She knew why he had chosen the name Thuban; it was a star in the Draco constellation.
"What's your name?"
"Mercury" It was a strange name. But there was a reason behind it. She knew for a fact that many students were not interested in the Muggle sciences, especially purebloods like him and hence they wouldn't know that Mercury is represented by 'Hg', which was also short for Hermione Granger.
What she didn't know was that he already knew her...
"What an unusual name you've got there", he remarked.
"Well, so is yours."
He tried to watch her in the faint moonlight in the way a biologist watches his culture of bacteria— calmly, carefully and calculatingly.
"Say, Mercury what has brought you here?", he said at last.
"Some sleeping troubles mainly." and a pair of stormy eyes, your eyes, she added inwardly to herself. She found it extremely ironical that she had found the person that she wanted to get out of her mind at the moment.
"What about you?"
"Pretty much same." and your plump pink lips.
"Good thing it's Saturday tomorrow, isn't it?", he asked.
"Yeah...", her voice trailed off, "but I think it's Saturday already."
He couldn't take it any longer; the conversation kept running into brick walls. Somehow he had to see her face. "Shall I use Lumos?, I swear this darkness is maddening."
"No. Please, no. I think we would be better off if we remain strangers. Anyways, I know you wouldn't like it if I told my real identity."
"Why do you think that Mercury? I can be a good person when I want to be one. Wait, didn't I tell you that already this afternoon. I highly doubt that you're one of my enemies. My enemies don't have Lavender wafting from them."
It is was then she knew that he knew exactly who she was. But she chose to remain oblivious. "What are you talking about? I was in class at that time; unless you mean to say that you're one of my classmates...", her voice wavered more than it should have. In the darkness, she could just imagine him giving her one his signature cocky smirks.
He just moved closer. So close that she could feel his breath and his intoxicating spicy woody scent engulfing her, surrounding her, temptingher.
"Oh yes, we definitely share a class; Howtoattractyourarchnemesis." She gulped audibly. She truly had no idea what he was talking about. He continued leaning in closer and closer.
"I really have no idea what you are talking about Malfoy." , she said quietly.
"Now who's Malfoy? I am Thuban." Now his nose was touching her nose. She stood frozen.
She barely found her voice. All her confidence from earlier had flown out the window and all that while, he was enjoying himself. Nothing was more precious than having Hermione Granger wound around his little finger.
"You might be Thuban in the darkness but you really are Malfoy. I know that.", she spoke nervously.
"And you are Granger." He leant in closer and held her waist tenderly. Their lips were barely a centimeter away.
"What are you doing?", she whispered, not being able to deal with the things happening to her body with him being at such a close proximity.
"This", he said simply and barely a second later, his lips sought out hers...
The kiss they shared was full of eagerness, curiosity, wonderfulness and it was downright unbelievable for both of them.
He couldn't believe what was happening. Hermione Granger was letting him kiss her. The universe must love him, he thought. She hadn't been sour about it, in fact she was sweet. She hadn't pushed him away and he loved the feeling of his lips on her.
She couldn't believe that her first kiss was taken by Draco Malfoy of all the people, and then the second, third, fourth and fifth ones too. She couldn't understand why he was doing all this. So between the sixth and seventh kiss, she had asked him why.
"Isn't it obvious? I like you Hermione Jean Granger.", and then he kissed her yet again.
"Why?", she asked again, breathless.
"Because you're beautiful and the hardest to get.", he answered huskily.
"What happened to calling me a Mudblood?"
"All that façade was to attract your attention. I am not bigoted like my father. How could I let you slip away, Sweetness?"
After that she asked no more questions. They just stood there, in the dark silence, kissing each other like there was no tomorrow. Both of them knew that the morning was going to be extremely awkward.
But it was the dark that mattered for now. The light could be taken care of later.
They were theirs...
Author's note—
Was it believable? Like / dislike? Don't be afraid to speak out young ones.
~ Norma