Charming

Chapter Seven – Patented Daydream Charms

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Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise; read on!

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The next week rolled past uneventfully for Hermione, so it was a welcome relief when Ginny approached her in the common room at the start of November.

"I've got something for you," said the redhead with a grin.

"Oh?"

"It's the solution to your History of Magic problems, remember?" Ginny reached into the pocket of her robes and pulled out a box only slightly bigger than her hand, tied with a golden ribbon. There was a large insignia on the side of the box, consisting of three embossed 'W's.

Hermione raised a sceptical eyebrow. "One of your brothers' products? Really? Are you sure it's safe?"

Ginny laughed and passed the box to Hermione. "Relax, it's plenty safe and besides, it works like a charm!" She giggled. "I'm just warning you though, make sure you only use one a lesson and only at the start of the lesson. You don't want to still be sitting there drooling when class is over." Giggling some more, she left with a flick of her long orange hair.

Hermione sighed in defeat and set about opening the seemingly innocuous parcel in her lap with no small sense of trepidation. Here's hoping it doesn't explode in my face or something. She let out an 'ahh' of comprehension as she pulled a slightly smaller box from the first one. It bore a familiar, highly coloured picture of a handsome boy and swooning girl standing on the deck of a pirate ship, along with the words 'Patented Daydream Charm'. I remember looking at these back at the start of sixth year, she thought. If it works, this truly is some extraordinary magic.

"Hey Hermione, are you coming or what? You don't want to be late for class, do you?" Harry mocked playfully from just inside the portrait hole.

"Coming, coming," she called back, slipping the little box into her schoolbag as she went.

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Hermione walked into History of Magic later with something like unease stirring in her stomach. She really felt almost guilty for planning to skip out on part of a class. Not five minutes after she sat down, however, the guilty feeling eased as she saw that about eighty percent of her classmates were already dozing off.

Watching Professor Binns out of the corner of her eye, she carefully removed the box from her schoolbag and reached inside it, pulling out two sheets of parchment. The first contained a brief disclaimer (side effects include vacant expression and minor drooling) and instructions, the second only the words to a spell. Reading the first quickly, Hermione glanced around the room once more before committing herself to this solution of Ginny's. Taking her wand out and holding it under the desk, she tapped the second piece of parchment and recited the incantation printed on it.

Nothing happened.

Sighing in disappointment, Hermione returned the parchment and her wand to their places. She wasn't going to try it a second time; one bout of attempted rule-breaking was enough for one day. Sighing again, she folded her arms on the desk and rested her head there. A moment later she sat up, resolving to take some parchment and a quill out of her bag and attempt to take notes after all, despite her boredom – before realising that something wasn't quite right.

Feeling slightly fuzzy somehow, she blinked a few times and looked around. The dingy old History of Magic classroom had disappeared, replaced by what seemed to be the pirate ship from the illustration on the Daydream Charm box. So it did work after all! Wow... Fred and George really outdid themselves with this one. Looking around some more, she found that she was sitting on what appeared to be a treasure chest. She snorted, thinking that the treasure would be much better hidden on a real pirate ship.

As she got to her feet, she realised that she was no longer wearing her school robes – instead she was clothed in a cream-coloured dress made of very light material. It was short-sleeved – in accordance with the balmy weather in the daydream, she supposed – and the skirt of it came almost to her ankles. Almost absent-mindedly, she wandered off to one side of the ship and leaned over the railing to gaze into the waters below, which were startlingly blue.

At that moment the ship seemed to pitch on a wave, and Hermione felt herself tipping uncomfortably far over the rail. Flailing, she felt her feet lose contact with the deck – and then a sudden sense of calm and safety washed over her as a pair of strong arms encircled her, grabbing her around the middle and pulling her away from danger.

Her assailant set her down lightly a metre or two back from the railing and said, "I'm sorry if I startled you. Are you alright?"

Slightly stunned, Hermione looked up at the young man. He was tall, lithe and pale, with blonde hair that fell almost in those familiar grey eyes... "Draco?" she said in surprise. He was dressed in a loose-fitting white dress shirt that hung rumpled and unbuttoned around his thin yet muscular frame, accompanied by long black pants fastened around his narrow hips by a black belt. The concern in his eyes seemed so real, and yet... "Draco, why are you in my daydream?"

Now those stormy grey pools showed only confusion. "What on earth do you mean?" he asked, not unkindly.

"I want to know what you – I mean, why – why you're..." Hermione spluttered. Of course the apparitions in her daydream wouldn't know they weren't real. They were figments of her imagination, parts of the spell. "Never mind," she amended.

"Are you sure you're okay?" the dream-Draco asked again. "You're not making a lot of sense... did I startle you that much?"

"No, no... like I said, never mind," said Hermione. "So, um, what now? Is there anyone else around?"

"It's just us," Draco said softly, and Hermione was surprised to see a quiet smile playing about his lips. "We could go and visit the bay if you'd like. It's very beautiful."

Feeling oddly at ease, Hermione acquiesced. "Sure, why not?"

He led her along the deck to the aft of the ship, where a wooden rowboat was stowed. Using what seemed to Hermione to be a very complex system of ropes and pulleys, he lowered the boat into the water before throwing a long rope ladder over the railing. Hermione made a move towards it but he stopped her, saying, "Allow me." And with that he swept her up in his arms and started carrying her toward the rail from which the ladder hung.

Alarmed at first, and then wondering at the strength of her dream-Draco in carrying her weight so effortlessly, she said, "Are you really sure this is a good idea? I think I can manage by myself... you might fall."

"It'll be fine, really," replied Draco, still smiling, "it would be my pleasure. Just hold on tightly, alright?"

Seeing the long drop from the side of the ship to the rowboat and the water below as they approached, she decided that he was probably right. Fastening her arms tightly around his neck, squeezing her eyes closed and hiding her face in his chest, she tried not to think about what would happen if Draco lost his one-handed grip on the ladder or slipped. She'd never had a head for heights, even in dreams.

But soon enough she felt him lower her gently onto one of the benches in the rowboat, and her fear disappeared. She revelled in the feel of the sea breeze blowing through her hair as Draco sent the rowboat sliding smoothly through the water, the muscles in his arms and back flexing as he worked the paddles – not that Hermione noticed that. She told herself she wasn't really paying attention.

It wasn't long before the little rowboat glided up to the crisp white sand of the beach. Draco stowed the paddles before jumping out and guiding it in the last few metres to shore, pulling the wooden boat – with Hermione still in it – several metres up the beach as though it weighed no more than a large sack of flour. He then held out his hand to her, gallantly helping her step out of the dingy.

Hermione, dimly surprised at how at ease she felt spending time with Draco like this, looked around happily. The little cove's beach stretched up from the sparkling blue-green seawater and soon gave way to palm trees and green tropical forest, presenting a perfect summery vista in every direction as far as the eye could see.

"Come with me," spoke the Slytherin. "There's something I'd like to show you."

He stretched out a hand and Hermione took it without thinking, following him complacently up the beach and into the jungle. They walked for about five minutes in comfortable silence before Hermione thought to ask, "So, where exactly are you taking me?"

Draco just smiled yet again and said, "Not much further now; we're almost there." Nearly as soon as he spoke, the trail they were following opened up into a sort of clearing at the top of a small hill. He led her to a shaded patch of grass under a couple of large palm trees, and sat down. "Look," he said, pointing, "you can see the whole bay from here. Isn't it beautiful?"

Hermione sat down close to him and leaned her head against his neck, resting a hand against his muscular chest. She could feel his heartbeat beneath her fingers, steady, rhythmic and reassuring. "It's lovely," she agreed, looking out at what was admittedly a spectacular view.

Draco curled one arm around her and rested his cheek against the top of her head, and Hermione sighed in contentment, closing her eyes. Everything felt right somehow.

But when she opened them again it wasn't the sparkling water and tropical beach of the bay that met her eyes, nor Draco Malfoy – it was the back of a slumbering Seamus Finnigan's head and the dank and dusty History of Magic classroom. She sat up, blinking and trying to make sense of her surroundings. At that moment the school bell rang, jolting most of the rest of the class from their stupor and Professor Binns from his droning.

Hermione felt mildly disorientated as she shouldered her bag and made her way out of the classroom behind Harry and Ron. Did I really just have a daydream about Draco? What am I supposed to make of that?

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Author's Note: Yep, I'm back and updating this story! Hope I didn't knock anyone off their chair in surprise. :P Just a note that I referenced page 114 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with regards to the Patented Daydream Charms, so if something in the description of those sounds like it's written by JK Rowling, it probably was, give or take a word or two. I tried to rephrase it as much as I could.

Anyway, I'll be trying to update much more frequently now I'm out of high school, so stay tuned. You guys got a slightly longer-than-usual chapter this time so I hope that can in some way make up for the shameful neglect this story has been suffering.

Reviews and feedback are always appreciated, and I reply to everything I get! Thanks for reading! :)