When Dawn left the common room that evening to go to her transfiguration tutorial, she found Draco hanging around outside. Dawn grinned
"You don't think someone will notice you hanging around Gryffindor tower?" she said. He smiled.
"Maybe I don't care." Dawn raised her eyebrows in a 'like hell' expression. "Seeing as my rep was pretty much trashed when a nameless Gryffindor embarrassed me earlier today." He smiled never the less. Dawn grinned again.
"Shouldn't'a' teased me." She shrugged. He advanced on her, pretending to be menacing. Dawn giggled a little, backing up until she hit the wall. Draco leant one arm against the wall, leaning over her.
"What if I wanted to?" he smiled
"Then you gotta be prepared for the consequences!" she giggled.
"Well maybe so should you."
"Oh really? And what are those consequences?"
"Finding out how much of a bad boy I really am." He cradled he cheek with his other hand, and kissed her. Dawn wrapped her arms around his neck, as he pushed her up against the wall. He moved the kiss from her mouth, to her cheek, and down her neck. In a flash that Dawn did not understand, she was reminded horribly of her Halloween experience, and her first ever kiss… Dawn freaked out.
"Sorry." She stuttered, pushing him away. "I have to go." She didn't look at him or say another word, but just hurried off down the corridor.
"Dawn?" he called after her. He felt awful, even though he wasn't really sure what he'd done. Knowing Dawn wouldn't be back 'til much later, Draco went back to his dorm, trying to work out what he'd done.
Through the whole tutorial, Dawn was barely listening. When McGonogall transformed herself into a cat, and Dawn didn't bat an eyelid, the professor realised something was really wrong.
"Miss Summers?" she said, changing back. Dawn didn't answer. "Dawn?" she asked more softly. Dawn jumped,
"Uh-huh?" she said quickly. McGonogall smiled.
"Are you alright dear?" she asked, sitting beside the girl.
"Yeah." Dawn said, not very convincingly. McGonogall raise her eyebrows. "I mean, yes. I will be." Dawn smiled.
"Would you prefer to call it a night?" the professor asked. Dawn smiled apologetically.
"If you wouldn't mind."
"Not at all, dear. We're ahead of schedule anyway. Don't worry about it. But if there is something you need to talk about…?"
"No. Thank you, but no, I'll be fine." Dawn gathered her books and apologised once more before heading back to Gryffindor tower. She hoped beyond hope that Draco wasn't waiting for her. She didn't feel she could face him yet.
The moment Dawn entered the common room, Hermione knew something was wrong. Dawn gave them all a quick smile and rushed up to the dorm, her books clutched tightly to her chest. Hermione followed her without a word to either of the boys. They exchanged glances, then decided it must just be girl stuff, and left them to it.
"Dawn?" Hermione said softly as she entered the room, which was empty except for the other girl. Dawn spun round quickly.
"Yeah?" she said, trying to keep her voice from cracking.
"You ok?" Hermione asked, genuine concern evident in her face. Dawn tried to say 'yes' but all that came out was a small sob. She'd been holding it in for nearly two hours, and couldn't take it any longer. Dawn sat down on the bed, and Hermione was soon beside her. "Dawn, what..?" she asked. Tears began to roll down Dawns cheeks, so Hermione just swept her into a hug and let the girl sob into her shoulder. When Dawn was able to stop, the two girls parted, and Hermione looked worried. "McGonogall wasn't that bad, was she?" Hermione said, trying to lighten the mood a little. Dawn smiled. It didn't reach her eyes, but it showed that she appreciated the thought.
"It wasn't that." Dawn was wracking her brains for a way to tell Hermione. She was so tired already that it made her head hurt, so she resolved to tell her the truth, or most of it. "It's sorta hard to explain… but do you know about vampires, and demons and stuff?" Hermione nodded.
"Vampires definitely, but only from books, of course; demons, not so much, but I've heard of them."
"Right." Dawn considered how to continue. "Well, before I came here, even though I didn't know about this kind of magic, I did know quite a bit about wicca, and demons and vampires, for various reasons. The town where I live is kinda a major vamp. hang out." Hermione just nodded, not really knowing where this was headed. "Well, last Halloween, I went out with a friend of mine, and we met up with some guys we'd seen at parties. This guy… he was really gorgeous… we split up, and I sat with him in his car… and we kissed… it was my first real kiss. It was a bit after that that he vamped out." Hermione gasped, and Dawn shrugged, "I got away. Staked him actually. But it hurt, a lot. I'd really liked him. I think he liked me too. He was gonna turn me." Dawn shivered slightly. Hermione frowned,
"So what happened tonight?" Dawn took a deep breath.
"When I left to see McGonogall, Draco was waiting for me…"
"If he did something!" Hermione flared up. Dawn was faintly pleased to see this on her part, but cut her off swiftly.
"No, he didn't. It's just… we kissed again. And that was good." She grinned a little, and Hermione couldn't help returning it, "But then he kissed my neck. It felt good, but I had this sorta flashback to Halloween… I freaked out."
"Oh Dawn…" Hermione laid a comforting hand on Dawn's shoulder.
"I just freaked! And now I feel so awful… I wanna see him so much, to apologise. But I keep seeing that vamp! I don't even know why, really. It's so ridiculous! Draco is nothing like that!" Hermione resisted the temptation to say she wasn't so sure about that, and comforted her friend,
"It'll be ok. It's totally understandable that you got freaked out. Think about it! He kissed your neck, and the first guy you ever kissed turned out to be a vampire! It's perfectly reasonable!" Dawn nodded slowly, and sniffed.
"Yeah."
"What I wanna know is how you could stake a vampire!? They're supposed to be way strong!" Dawn cracked a smile,
"They are. To tell the truth, I tricked him. I'd fallen over, and he was right on top of me. He said he liked me, and I said I liked him too, and pretended to give in. He went in to bite me, and I staked him. Got vamp dust all over me." Hermione respected Dawn's ability to deal with the pain this memory obviously bought her. Then she had a thought.
"You really wanna see Malfoy?" she asked. Dawn nodded. "How much?"
"A lot." Dawn frowned.
"Like, now?"
"If I could! I don't think I can sleep, god this sucks!" Hermione bit her lip.
"Wait here." She said, before disappearing down the common room stairs. When she came back, she had a dangerous glint in her eyes, and was holding a bundle of shiny material. "Come here." She said to Dawn. Dawn obliged, and Hermione threw the cloak over her. Dawn gasped as she disappeared.
"Wicked!" she cried. Hermione laughed,
"It's Harry's. We've used it hundreds of times to sneak around the castle when we shouldn't. You wanna see Malfoy, we go see Malfoy." Dawn head appeared again,
"What do you mean we?"
"There is no way I'm letting you go alone!" Hermione said. "You're inexperienced at navigating the castle in the dark, plus, you're not going alone!!" Dawn smiled at her new friend's protectiveness.
"Does Harry know the reason for this little loan?"
"Lord no. I said I'd explain later."
"Will you?" Dawn smiled. The glint returned to Hermione's eye
"No." then she too disappeared beneath the cloak. After an awkward journey through the castle, carefully dodging Filch, Mrs Norris, and Peeves the poltergeist, the two girls were standing outside the Slytherin common room. "Oh crap, the password." Hermione whispered. Dawn smiled,
"I know it, as long as it hasn't been changed since the summer." She turned to the painting, "Boomslang." Dawn said. It creaked open. Thankfully there weren't many people in the common room, and the brief opening of the door went un noticed. They spotted Draco on his own in one corner. They crept over, and Dawn was amused to find he was reading the muggle novel she'd leant him, hidden inside a textbook. She touched his shoulder gently. He jumped, looking around, but heard a soft 'sssh' in his ear. He reached out inconspicuously to the side, and felt the warm lump that was undoubtedly a person, especially since it giggled under his touch. 'Outside' he heard in his ear, and looking around to see if anyone would notice, he hid the novel under the seat cushion and left the common room. Outside, the girls briefly uncovered themselves.
"Dawn! …Granger!" he gasped. Dawn touched a finger to her lips, and threw the cloak over all three of them. Hermione led them to the roof door they'd used once in first year. Once on the enclosed staircase, then took off the cloak.
"I'll wait here. I'll warn you if someone's coming. Don't take too long, K?" Hermione said very swiftly and quietly. Dawn nodded. Then, as she led Draco up the stairs, Hermione covered herself and sat on the steps.
Once outside, Draco let it all out,
"What the hell are you doing! You're going to get in so much trouble if you're caught! And what's Granger doing in the Slytherin common room!?" Dawn pressed a finger to his lips.
"I just had to see you." Dawn admitted. "I felt so bad about before… I had to see you. Hermione got the cloak off Harry so that I could come, Draco."
"But… why would she…?"
"She knows about us." Dawn said quietly. "I didn't tell her, promise. She found a letter I'd written to my sister, in which I may have mentioned some stuff…" she grinned sheepishly. "Hermione's being really cool about it." Draco nodded,
"Ok. So then what happened this evening? Was it me? Cos I didn't mean to push you or anything…" he rambled apologetically.
"No, no." Dawn smiled, taking his hand. "It was me. I freaked out because of something that happened last year. It wasn't your fault at all."
"But what…?" Draco asked, confused. Dawn took a deep breath and told him the whole story. Slightly more than she'd told Hermione in fact, as she didn't have to hold back about Buffy being the slayer. When she'd finished, she looked at him nervously. "Dawn…" he gasped. "You don't need to apologise for that! That is so completely not your fault! Hell, I'd freak out if that had happened to me!" They both laughed softly as they thought about what he'd just said.
"You're not mad?" Dawn asked.
"No." he laughed slightly. "No way." He touched her cheek and she smiled. Then she made another big decision. She tilted her head to reveal the side of her neck. Draco looked at her in question, but soon understood. He nodded, and leant in slowly. He kissed her softly on the neck. First once, then again, and Dawn leant into it, wrapping her arms around him. When he stopped kissing her, they just hugged, and Dawn felt very warm despite the cold night air. They kissed once on the lips, then turned to the stairs in silent agreement. Hermione stood as they approached, and helped them both under the cloak. They walked quickly back to the dungeons, and just before he went back in, Draco turned to the empty space behind him.
"Granger?" Hermione stuck her head out. Draco hesitated, then said, "Thanks." And gave her the tiniest of smiles. It was small, miniscule even, but Hermione saw that it was real. Then he said, "Goodnight, Dawnie.", nodded to the shocked Hermione, and disappeared through the portrait hole.
N.B: I don't think the Halloween thing had happened by this time, I can't really remember, but I don't care either, I needed it, so I hope no one minds too much. Artistic license and all that…