A/n- Chapter 6, check it outtt. Reviews are sweet.
Sidenote. Just finished Deathly Hallows on july 21. It was a-fucking-mazing, excuse my French. : I read it in ten hours straight.
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Chapter 6- What's Wrong With That?
October 28th was the date written on the board in Snape's Potions classroom. Draco sighed, looking over towards Hermione. Things really hadn't gone anywhere whatsoever. If anything, they'd backtracked a little. She was still talking to Ron and Harry like everything was normal.
Hermione turned around and shot him a look, then a quick little smile, and the swiveled back around to face Harry, who was telling a story about some quidditch practice. Draco looked towards Pansy next to him, and she batted her eyelashes at him. Draco snorted and continued his potion.
"Hey Drakey," Pansy cooed into his ear, her hand playing with his locks of hair. He pushed her hands away and gave her a disgusted look.
"First of all, never call me Drakey. I thought we went over this. And second of all, my hair is off limits to you."
"Someone's grumpy," she pouted. Draco gazed over to Hermione, who was watching the argument intensely, Harry and Ron behind her sniggering.
"I'm fine, thanks for your concern though," he replied, and began to pour out a sample of his potion to be handed in.
"Maybe you aren't getting enough, if you know what I mean?" Pansy suggested, and Draco mocked throwing up into his hand. By now, Harry and Ron were doubled up in silent fits of laughter, and Hermione was smiling innocently towards him. He chucked her the finger.
"I'm getting enough Pansy, don't you worry."
By that time, Snape had discovered the Gryffindor boys laughing and was standing at the front of the room with an extremely unhappy look upon his face.
"Settle down," he said menacingly. "10 points from Gryffindor."
"Oh come on!" Harry exclaimed. "Those two other there are bickering like it's Jerry Springer!"
Snape gave him an odd look, and swooped upon him. "I'm not exactly sure what Jerry Springer is, Potter, but it has gotten you a detention. My office, tonight, at 7 please."
Harry said nothing and sat down in his seat quietly, and finished his potion in silence, giving Snape the occasional Potter stare.
Draco crossed the room and handed his vial to Snape, and turned on his heel and headed back to his seat. Hermione walked by him, and his fingers brushed past hers, and she turned to smile before looking away. Draco sat back in his seat, and Pansy gave him a strange look.
"Granger?" she whispered hurriedly in his ear, and Draco smirked before responding.
"Plan is in motion," he lied through his teeth. Grabbing his bag, he stood up, and just as he started heading towards the door, the bell rang, signaling the end of classes for the day. He heard Snape barking directions to the remaining students, but Draco put his head down and fought against the swarming crowd and up to his dorm.
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After dinner, Hermione was absent from the common room for most of the night, so Draco was left alone. He knew he should be working on his essay for Arithmancy, which was due the next day, and he hadn't even started, but he was too busy zoning out. He was positive Hermione was in the library working on it, unless she had escaped his presence for a night with the Gryffindor golden boys.
Packing up his things for Arithmancy, he headed towards the library. It was only 7 'o clock, plenty of time for him to finish this essay with the proper amount of concentration.
"Oy, get out of there!" Draco scolded two young Gryffindors, trying to force entry into a locked classroom.
"Why don't you-" one of the boys responded, but then stopped, eyeing his Head Boy badge. Both of them began to run in the opposite direction. Using a simple trip jinx, both of the boys fell to the ground with a thump.
"10 points from Gryffindor," he said proudly. "Each," he finished, leaving their mouths gaping. "Now, get off to your tower before I have to take 50."
The two boys got up and ran down the hallway, eyes bugged open and probably scared out of their wits. Draco smirked and took a shortcut through a few tapestries, and came out right in front of the library. Looking around quickly, he pushed open the doors and stepped in.
It was freezing in the library, more so than the rest of the school, and Draco was forced to wrap his robes around him closer. He peered around the obvious tables, searching for Hermione anywhere. After deciding she wasn't in the open, he began to prowl along the back shelves and tables, trying to seek her out.
"Damn it, where the hell is she!" he cursed under his breath, and Madam Pince dove out of nowhere, glancing at his reprovingly.
"Shhh!" she commanded, and stalked back into the shadows of musty old volumes of books. Draco gave her a shifty look that she couldn't see, and then continued to search for Hermione in the rows of books.
Finally, he spotted her, just when he was about to give up. Creeping up behind her, he put his hand over her eyes and pulled her slowly away from the bookshelf. She dropped a heavy book that she had been flipping through, and it made a thump. Not wanting to attract attention from Pince, he led her away quietly, her whispered complaints echoing in the shelves.
"Let me go, Ron!" she struggled, and Draco smirked, knowing her had her fooled.
"It's not Ron," he said quietly into her ear, and she finally got out of his grasp and rounded on him, an angry expression on her features. But, when she saw him, she softened and laughed.
"Very funny Draco," Hermione said, clearly quite annoyed but laughing all the same. She headed back to apparently what was her table, in the far corner of the library, and didn't bother to pick up the discarded volume on the floor.
After settling down in her seat, Hermione furiously began to scribble down sentences to complete her essay. Draco slowly lowered himself into an oak chair, and took out his own essay, which had barely a few sentences.
Grabbing his Arithmancy book out of his bag, he flipped it open to the appropriate page and scanned it for something at least half-useful. After jotting down some quick notes, he began to scratch out some decent sentences.
A half hour later, he smiled and pushed the essay away from him, capping his ink. He looked up at Hermione, who was furiously re-reading hers for about the seventeenth time. Every so often, she would mutter to herself, tap her parchment, and fix a mistake. After this proofread, however, she seemed to be satisfied, and rolled it up.
"Well, I'm done," she stated simply, throwing her stuff haphazardly into his bag. Draco slid his books and such across the table into his bag as well, and they both headed out of the library.
"That was lucky," Draco said, as they were ushered out of the library by an angry Madam Pince, who was attempting to lock the doors for the night when they went to exit. Knowing they couldn't get in trouble for being out of bed late, since they were the Head Boy and Girl, Draco steered her back to the dorms the longer route.
"So, something tells me you weren't going to the library just to finish your essay," Hermione said suddenly, eyeing him oddly. Draco continued to walk forward, and was silent for a moment.
"You might be right," he finally decided upon, and they walked the rest of the way to common room in silence, although he did see Hermione open her mouth to speak more than once. Hermione said the password when they arrived at the portrait, and they entered quickly.
"Oh! Look!" Hermione pointed out, and they both walked quickly towards the coffee table, where there was a small note laid there.
Hermione picked it up and read it to herself, and Draco peered over her shoulder to get a better look.
Dear Draco and Hermione,
I have set the first Hogmeade weekend for next weekend, November 2nd. Please make sure all prefects are informed by this date, and be sure to remember to help escort the third years down the correct path.
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster.
Hermione turned to Draco and smiled. "This is so exciting!"
"Uhm, right. And why's that?"
"First Hogsmeade weekend! And it's right after Halloween too!"
Draco swallowed slowly, realizing he still didn't have a date for the Halloween ball. He had always thought he could invite Hermione, but he was pretty sure she would say no. Ron and Harry would throw a fit. Which meant he needed to find a date.
"Halloween. And the ball. Right," he said finally, and Hermione put the note done and casually laid down on the couch, curling up into a ball with a content expression on her face.
"You have a date, I'm sure?" Hermione asked quietly, and it dawned on Draco that she must have been expecting him to ask her. He shifted uncomfortable from foot to foot for a moment, but before he could speak, Hermione continued. "I mean, that's fine. I pretty much knew you would."
"I don't," he said, practically cutting her off. "I don't think I'll go with anyone."
Hermione seemed taken aback, and then recovered immediately. "Oh, I see. Well if you didn't want to be alone then…well… I don't have a date either."
Draco stared at her and then replied, "Are you asking me to the ball?" Smirking, he stepped closer to the couch, and Hermione stood up and walked closer to him.
She leaned into his ear and whispered the word, "Yes." Draco nuzzled the side of her head and looked into his eyes before closing them as Draco's lips brushed onto hers. He placed his hand onto the small of her back and another hand into her hair as they kissed slowly.
Quite suddenly, Hermione pulled away and looked at him with an unreadable expression, one that Draco took to be passion. He smiled as her mouth neared his again. She grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him into her and he slowly led her back onto the couch.
Lying down on top of Hermione, Draco meshed his tongue with hers, brushing his thumb against the side of her face, admiring the quality of her baby soft skin. His other hand he ran up the side of her shirt, grabbing at the material and dragging his hand over her body.
Hermione's hands we locked into his hair, which thoroughly annoyed Draco to think his hair was being tangled. But nonetheless, he allowed this act to continue as his hand crept up her shirt slowly, caressing her stomach as he went.
Draco's expectations had not been high with Hermione, but he had been mistaken, as she bypassed them instantly. She was very good at kissing, he had to admit, intimate but not too much, and just the right amount of passion to keep Draco asking for more.
Just as Draco's hand had reached her breasts, Hermione slid onto top of him and then off. Draco gave her a look which clearly said he was angry.
"What?" she asked innocently and rushed, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder as she headed towards her room.
"Tease," he grumbled, getting up as well and following her up the stairs. When they got to the top, Hermione leaned over and gave him one kiss on the lips and had put her hand on the doorknob before Draco spoke.
"I'd like to go to the ball with you," he said slowly. "As long as you look…well…up to my standards."
Hermione scoffed and gave him a dirty look. "Up to your standards?" she spat at him, and Draco smirked. "Are you saying I'm not good enough?"
"No…well…I…" he stammered.
"Draco, if you're looking for a quick shag then-"
"What's wrong with that?" he exclaimed, and then quickly knew he had made a mistake. Hermione screeched, opening her door, and then slammed it in his face.
"Hermione! I didn't mean that!" he screamed through the door, pounding on it.
"Go away." He heard her say through the door, and he knew she was leaning against it.
"Fine!" he yelled, and stomped his way into his room, and not bothering to change, threw himself into his bed and fell asleep.
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"So, haven't seen you with Granger at all today," Todd commented, and Draco shot him a look that clearly told him not to mention it further. But Todd wasn't going to give in. "Did you two row?"
Draco simply nodded, trying to concentrate on his potion. Usually, he and Hermione worked together, but Hermione had suggested he and Harry switch partners, and Snape, in a seemingly bad mood, had agreed without much thought.
On the bright side, Harry had been paired with Todd, so it hadn't had been too much of a loss. Draco looked over to Hermione, who was laughing at something that Potter had said, Draco scowled and turned back to Todd.
"Not going the way you want?" Todd suggested, and Draco shook his head.
"I can't do this dare if she's being the world's biggest-"
"I didn't mean like that," Todd said, cutting Draco off in mid rant. Draco looked confused.
"Then what do you mean?"
"It's more than what meets the eye with Granger, isn't it? For you?" Todd explained, dropping his voice to a whisper.
"If you mean that I like her…" he stopped, looking at Todd for a reaction. His grin held a triumphant look, and Draco dropped his voice even lower. "That's crazy talk, she's a mudblood."
"Don't let her hear you say that, you'll lose your chance," he said sarcastically, grinning even wider while tipping roots into their cauldron. "And either way, mate, she's a nice catch."
Draco's hands were shaking, trying to stay in control. "It's not like that," he said slowly, taking a deep breath.
"Draco, look. I'm not going to tell anyone else. Call off the dare or something. But if you like her, well, you've got 7 months left before you'll probably never see her again."
Taking deep breaths, Draco grabbed his bag off the back of his chair, threw in his potions book, and stormed out of the dungeons without looking back. Having nowhere to go in particular, he ran up to his dorm, dropped off his bag, and headed out again.
Deciding it was best to stay out of teacher detection, Draco traced a path up to the Astronomy Tower. Ignoring the cloth barrier in front of it, he hopped up the stone steps. Up and up he went, still fuming from Todd's discovery and the row with her Hermione. Finally, upon reaching the top, he took big gulps of fresh mountain air.
He walked over to the battlements and looked out over the grounds. He could see the quidditch pitch, where he would have practice tonight, and beyond that, the lake. Draco sighed and settled against the wall of the castle, trying to collect his thoughts.
He pulled a scrap bit of parchment out of his robes pocket and a quill. Looking around, he noticed a spare pot of ink lying on the ground, probably from the previous night's lesson. He stretched out and grabbed it and opened it, spilling a little down the side.
Dipping in his quill, he began to scrawl out a design onto the crinkled parchment and using the stone ground as a hard surface. Slowly, a picture formed on the sheet, and Draco smiled as he applied the finishing touches. He was embarrassed by his feelings being on paper, but proud of the calligraphy.
Looking down, his eyes scanned over the H.G. written in slanted, fancy writing, a snitch in the background, showing it's path behind it, which was traced as a heart. Draco capped the ink pot and rolled it back over to the spot where it had been. He neatly folded the doodle and shoved it into his pocket with his quill.
Draco distantly heard the bell ring, signaling the end of classes for the day. His stomach was rumbling, and knew that he would need to go to dinner and face Todd and Hermione, but for now, he wasn't going to move. He twisted his wand in his fingers for a moment, contemplating what to do.
A noise disrupted his thoughts, and he glanced towards the entrance. He could he the distinct sound of shoes clicking onto stone, echoing down the staircase. He chose not to move, but watched the entrance intently.
He knew who it was before they even walked fully through the door. He noticed her smooth hands and pale skin, and could smell her perfume before her head even whipped into sight. She had a very cold look on her facial features, and Draco stood up instantly, ready for another row.
She stomped over to him, dropping her bag, and stood right up to him. This, however, wasn't too threatening, as he towered over her by a considerable amount. She looked angry, but Draco could see forgiveness reflected in the depth of her brown eyes.
"How did you know I was-"
"Here? I came here on a whim."
Draco gave her a confused look.
"I gave it a good guess. I figured if you weren't here, I could check the grounds at least from the view. Beyond that, I would have given up." She smirked at him, and Draco shrugged it off.
"So…do you need something?" Draco asked slowly, and Hermione smacked him on the arm.
"I came to see if you were alright Draco," she said quickly, avoiding his penetrating icy blue stare, choosing instead to look at clammy stone beneath her.
"I'm fine, thanks for your concern."
"You don't have to be snappy with me Draco. Please, I'm sorry for last night."
"Don't apologize, I was out of line."
"For being truthful?" she asked, and Draco could see hurt in her eyes.
"It wasn't true Hermione. It really isn't like that." For a second, he almost told her about the dare, but he knew it would ruin everything.
"Then why did you even say it if you hadn't thought about it?" she said matter-of-factly, and Draco smiled at her tone. He pulled her close to her and kissed her lightly, which she allowed him to do. Then she pushed him away, gathered her stuff, and headed towards the stairwell.
"Hermione, wait up."
She turned around to face him, books in her hand. She looked so much like she had years ago, and Draco could remember all the years he had tormented her. For a split second, he could see both of them, 11 years old again.
"Yes, Draco?" she asked calmly, and Draco could see there were tears forming in her eyes. He lifted up her chin gently and kissed her again, pulling her close to him.
"Go to the ball with me?"
"I thought I wasn't good enough for you."
"You're too good for me, Hermione. That's the problem."
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Done. Read and review! And read Deathly Hallows!