CHAPTER 7

AS THEY SURRENDER

A/N:Looks like the story just gained some momentum.And looks like that I still haven't got over my Physics Exam. Whatever...Please continue reading (and favouriting and following) c:

":":":":":":":":"

Reason lost the battle,

and all I could do

was surrender and accept

I was in love.

-Paulo Coelho,
The Witch Of Portobello

":":":":":":":":"

As he walked back towards Hogwarts with her after spending a long, quiet but extremely eventful morning he came to realise that the girl walking beside him was much more than a mere infatuation. With others, he just craved the physical aspects of a relationship but with her? With her he wanted much more than that. He wanted to run his hands endlessly through her hair, he wanted to murmur sweet nothings in her ears, he wanted to hold hands with her, hewantedtoloveandbeloved.

But the question was, did she?

He was very sure that she didn't want any of that gibberish. In fact he was sure that she didn't want anything but enmity between them. But he wanted to make sure before he left her forever. After all being from a family of loyal pureblood death eaters wasn't going to help them much. But he wanted to try anyway.

She was worth everything...

What mattered was what she wanted. He very well knew that she was very much infatuated with Weasley. But he also knew that he was nearly in love with her for so long now that it was a matter of time before he drowned in her unfathomable depths for forever. He had to save his heart from being shattered; not that it was already broken. Seeing her run after the carrot everyday did that to him. He couldn't afford to fall further. A choice had to be made. He had to know her feelings regarding him. Now.

"Hermione?"

"Uh-huh?"

"What... What do you think about me?", he finished off uncertainly.

"Ah..."

"Go on, say something. Anything."

She awkwardly cleared her throat. "I don't know what to say Malfoy. For three years you tormented me and my friends and now you suddenly come in my life and say you like me and then kiss me and hug me. Then you show me your patronus, which oddly doesn't happen to be a ferret... or a snake." She stopped for a while but he didn't is say anything.

"What I mean to say is that I am confused. Highly. And the fact is that I still can't take my mind off what you did, I mean I can't even comprehend that. How did you even do that?"

She looked at him and found that he had an aura of his own but didn't they all have?

"I practised."

"No you're lying. Downright lying."

"Tell me, have you heard of naturae magicae?"

"I know about it. It's highly ancient magic and only magicians of those times knew how to do it and practised it. They did it wandlessly since wands had not been invented and silently because spells had not been finalised and that's what you just did..."

"Exactly."

"Surely, you didn't learn it yourself, did you?"

"Oh yes, I did."

"Malfoy, that's impossible."

"Everything's possible, only if you try."

"Will you teach me?"

"What?" He couldn't believe that she willingly wanted to spend time with him.

"I know you heard me correctly the first time. Friends? I am even willing to forgive you for what you did last night.", she held out her hand.

He looked straight into her doe eyes and only saw sincerity and respect? He wanted to save himself from being shattered because she obviously was after Weasley but damn his heart, he wanted it, only if it was her friendship. He couldn't have expected to get more and after all, something was better than nothing.

And so he tenderly took her hand in his and shook it gently. "You will do anything for knowledge, won't you? Friends it is. And I am glad you forgave me. I had gone a little loose.", he sighed. At least she didn't think bad of him now.

"But don't expect me to be polite to Potter and Weasley."

She chuckled. "Of course not. Heaven will turn into Hell before that happens."

They walked silently. Though this time the silence was a comfortable one. They walked until Hogwarts came into view and then parted their ways after making a promise to meet next Saturday, again by the lake.

She was worth everything,the hurt,the subsequent pain...

Hermione was in a daze as she walked back towards her common room. The fog had cleared now and the stairs that had been nasty in the morning were now rhyming with her steps. Indeed her mind was clear of problems at that moment.

The idea of being friends with Malfoy, still looked extremely surreal to her. But who was she to back out? It was her who had suggested it in the first place, she thought. She had been very careful with her words when he had asked what did she think of him. How was she supposed to tell him that she didn't feel anything except hate and a little respect.

So she had turned the subject of their uncomfortable conversation. Quite surprisingly, he hadn't remarked that she was running away from the topic. She couldn't understand why was he behaving so... So un-Malfoyish.She had to admit that he had been right, tooright, when he had remarked that she could do anything for knowledge. She wondered if he knew more about her than Harry and Ronald. Perhaps not...

Draco Malfoy,you're one confusing puzzle...

As she entered the common room, she was greeted by the sight of Harry and Ron playing Wizard's Chess. Don't they have anything better to do?, she thought.

"Hello Hermione."

"Hey, 'Mione."

She nodded at them. "Hello"

"Feeling better now?", asked Harry.

"Yes" How was she supposed to tell them that she had just found out that Draco Malfoy knew powerful ancient magic and now she was a kind of friend to him? Instead she did the thing she was best at, finding answers.

"Harry, I have question for you." Ron looked at her sullenly because she was interrupting their game but listened anyway.

Harry looked at her intently.

"How do you feel when you produce a patronus?"

"Well... It's not easy to describe it but it would be best to summarise it as a short burst of pure happiness."

"And do you think you could do it either without the incantation or without a wand?"

"Merlin, no! It's difficult enough to do it with both of them present. Why are you asking?"

"Just curious."

"Oh, okay."

"See you later." And with that she left them to their own devices and went towards her own dorm.

Pure happiness. Kissing me was pure happiness, eh Malfoy?. She smirked at that thought.

She reached her dorm only to be surrounded by Ginny (who was waiting for her, even though it was not her dorm), Lavender and Parvati, who had huddled around her.

"Are you fine now?" That was Ginny.

"Yes I am."

"What happened? We were really worried" Parvati.

"Nothing major, just a headache."

"You should have come to Hogsmeade today. We saw Krum." Lavender.

As if she cared for Krum. But not wanting to sound rude, she smiled weakly and said, "Next time."

The four girls sat down on a bed. Three of them were talking endlessly about their trip, the fourth one was barely listening to them, trying to solve a puzzle named Draco.

She was in a strange way, glad that she hadn't gone to Hogsmeade. If she had gone, she wouldn't have been able to see Malfoy's other side. Had he shown that side only to her? Since the events of last night, she wasn't very sure about his position on the grey scale. She remembered when he had called her a Mudblood back in second year. She had put him up on the black side in a heartbeat. But now, she wasn't sure. He was definitely not on the white side, perhaps moving towards it? In the end she decided he was lost in the grey in between. Neither evil nor good, but a mixture of both. Where he would head, it would depend upon the amount of white and black put in him by the people around him.

She was one of those people. And she definitely wanted him on the white side.

They had agreed to open the windows since it was too suffocating in there. Besides the afternoon wasn't as cold as the morning.

Suddenly the swallow she had seen that eventful morning flew in through the window and landed gently on her left shoulder. It didn't carry any message and for that she was grateful. Only Merlin knew what would happen if her friends recognised whose voice it was.

The girls around were no longer talking but were instead staring at the beautiful but translucent bird.

"It's beautiful.", Lavender and Parvati cooed.

"Yes it is. But whose?", asked Ginny.

"I don't know.", she lied.

"Maybe you've a secret admirer.", said Lavender as she winked.

"Or maybe just a friend." He was a friend after all.

"Well whoever he is, he must be a senior because in our year only Harry can produce a proper Patronus and his is a stag, not a swallow.", remarked Parvati.

"Yeah, I guess." You just don't know about Malfoy.

And then the bird vanished into thin air, leaving behind a faint milkiness.

"Will you tell us, if you find out?"

"Of course." Never.

The other three still continued their rambling, the fourth one still continued her thinking.

Draco Malfoy,you're one confusing but interesting puzzle...

A/N:What do feel about our Herms warming up to our Draco?

And please leave a REVIEW! I live for REVIEWS.

— laters, Norma x