Keeper
Chapter Five
Hermione sealed the envelop of her letter neatly, and attached it onto an owl's outstretched leg. She flinched as the small owl closed its sharp claws over the envelope, and crinkled the fragile parchment. But then she sighed to herself and waved it off on its way; she watched as it flew into the distance, and disappear through a mist of clouds, wondering what the reaction of her parents would be once they had received her message.
Hermione walked forward, towards the large open archway, and peered out into the sky beside the tower, it looked somewhat within reach but that was obviously only an illusion created by God, or whoever made this Earth. Well anyway, enough of that, now was not the time for thinking about theology, however, it seemed it was the only time in which Hermione had enough free time to reflect. The sky lay toiling in its gloom, and the clouds were ever growing dark; it was another winter Sunday morning.
Most people were still probably asleep, or so it appeared, due to the absence of life at Hogwarts, as it was so early, but Hermione just couldn't get to sleep herself. She had a restless night and not a single wink of sleep and, if she eventually did, she would constantly keep waking up the instant she had fallen asleep. So, with nothing better to do, she set off to write a letter to her parents, trying to sort out her life, so that she didn't have so much to think about.
It seems these problems were slowly building up inside her, even if she chose not to think about them.
In the letter, Hermione had explained that she would be staying at Hogwarts for the Christmas holiday - not that she hadn't done so before, but this time it was different. She had lied, for reasons unexplainable to herself; and she had told them that she would really need to catch up on homework, if she was to start properly the following term. She and Draco, on the other hand, knew very well otherwise.
She thought of him at that moment and knew inside, he was another one of her problems.
Hermione felt like if she went home, she would be letting Draco down and if she stayed, she would be letting everyone else down.
Nevertheless, she wanted to be with him. Wasn't that enough to keep her here at school?
Hermione shivered as she remembered that she was in the Owlery, the cold air seeping slowly through the open windows and arches. Pulling her jumper around herself and drawing back from the sleeping owls, she decided to make her way back to the Quarters. Hermione looked around cautiously, before quickening her step down the steep stairs of the Owlery.
The walk to the Head's Quarters was extremely long and lonely, there was absolutely no one in the hallways except for her only company of her very own shadow and footsteps.
She let out an exhale of relief, when she finally reached the familiar portrait on the fifth floor, glad to be in a place where there were other people, or in this case, just another person. Draco Malfoy, to be more precise.
Hermione halted in front of the picture, and her echoing footsteps came to a stop too, causing an engulfing silence to ring noisily through the empty hallways. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before she continued.
The portrait lay sleeping, snoring loudly and rattling the frame of the picture with each large breath, the combined raucous snores of both Sir Cadogon and his horse breaking away at the uneasy silence of morning.
Hermione wasn't sure how to get in, so she coughed loudly a few times, in the hopes of waking Sir Cadogon up.
After a few awkward moments of no reaction, the knight opened his drooping eyelids and yawned; he jumped at the sight of Hermione there in front of him. He immediately straightened up, and his horse did the same, they assumed their superior brave-looking positions of standing.
"Wha- Oh my, so early in the morning Miss Granger? I didn't even realize that you had left the quarters." The knight said, startled and sleepy alike.
"I'm ever so sorry, Sir Cadogon." She muttered, receiving a brief nod from him.
"It's fine Miss, no worries at all." He coughed loudly as he sat upright again.
"Password?" Sir Cadogon continued firmly, raising up a little toy sword and swinging it in a attacking, yet ridiculous manner.
"Adamo." She replied.
The small knight cheered.
"Well done Miss Granger. I certainly wouldn't have remembered that one." He said giddily and winking at her, causing Hermione to grace her lips with a smile.
Suddenly, an unanswered thought that had been long forgotten over time sprung back into mind, she thought maybe now was a good time to ask before it was lost again.
"Um, Sir Cadogon? Do you possibly know what our password 'Adamo' means?" She asked, poking the oil painted portrait, to catch the attention of the knight, as he began jumping around on his equally small horse.
He stopped abruptly and turned to her. Placing a hand under his helmet, and stroking at the metal.
After a while of vigorous thinking, Sir Cadogon lifted it off so that he could talk, his hair a large wave of mess from being inside the clammy helmet.
"I'm terribly sorry Miss Granger, but it appears I don't. I can tell you though, that it sounds Latin. If that is, of any help to you?" He replied, his face still looking puzzled to some extent.
"Oh alrigh-" She began to say.
"Just a second Miss Granger, someone is trying to come outside." Sir Cadogon interrupted.
And before Hermione could ask, or get a word in, the portrait swung open, revealing a rather drowsy looking Draco on the other side. He was pulling on his jacket hastily, despite his feeling of tiredness and his hair looked a right mess, "actually a very cute looking mess." So Hermione thought inwardly.
He stopped abruptly when he saw Hermione standing outside, staring at him open-mouthed. Caught slightly off guard, he took a small step toward her and blushed, much unlike himself, then he brushed a quick hand through his disorderly hair. Shortly afterwards, he flashed her a small smile.
"Hermione?" Draco asked almost immediately. He took a small hop as he tried to get a loose shoe on his foot, and then he was suddenly outside. Before long, the portrait closed again, Sir Cadogon was off and distracted by his shining sword, galloping in the space of his frame, sometimes entering the others during a slip, causing major wake-ups and arguments to occur. Now, it was just the two of them in the empty corridor.
"Where have you been?" He continued, ignoring the ever growing bickering from behind them, his hand sliding across the back of his neck and his gaze on the floor, obviously avoiding any eye contact.
Hermione almost gasped at the worried tone in his voice, she crossed her arms over her chest and tried to catch his eye, when she failed, she spoke up.
"Well, I was just at the Owlery. I was sending a letter to my parents to inform my stay at Hogwarts for the holidays." Hermione told him in a straightforward kind of way.
"Oh alright." Draco replied, leaning back and stretching, the concerned look on his face resolved.
An awkward silence drew by before Draco spoke again, "You see, I know this sounds strange but I came to check up on you and you weren't in your bedroom. So, I got a little worried… about you." The last part of his sentence was almost unheard, as it was so quietly said.
He focused his gaze on a nearby window, instead of on Hermione, trying desperately to hide his blushing cheeks from her.
"You check on me?" She asked, resisting a sarcastic snort.
His eyes snapped onto her and he explained, "I don't do it often, what I'm trying to say is, I don't mean to. Oh, I don't want to, I just do it-"
Draco slapped a hand on his forehead, knowing all to well that he had said too much, "Oh bugger!"
He opened his eyes when he heard Hermione laughing, rolling his eyes, he cast her a confused and helpless look.
"I suppose you have a reason now, we're friends right?" She said, as she placed a hand over her mouth and muffled her laugh.
"Yeah, 'suppose so." He sighed, relieved that she had saved him from utter humiliation, and he smiled thankfully at her.
Before another silence could erupt between them Hermione said in a more serious tone, "So, you were leaving to look for me?"
Draco nodded briefly, "Pretty much." He dug his hands into the depth of his pockets and took a step closer unknowingly.
Hermione felt her heart skip a few beats as he came toward her, she held back a deep sigh and though of a different subject to talk about. But none would surface in her mind, she tried to steer clear of looking at him, because if she did, their faces would touch and who knows what might happen then.
She felt his breath on her cheeks and immediately she knew that she must do something, otherwise she might do something a little too stupid. Hermione cleared her throat and placed her hands firmly on his shoulders, she felt his body tense a bit before he relaxed and she looked up at him, face to face. Their eyes met for a moment but then she tore them away.
From the corner of her eye she could see a frown play on his lips, before they parted slightly and she was sure, he was going to say something unnecessary.
"Um, Hermione…" He started.
Hermione took action, and gripping on to his shoulders, she gave him a small push backwards, so that there was a significant distance between them. Once he was at an arm's length, she let out a sigh of relief and Draco held an expression on his face that was a mixture of embarrassment and sadness.
Hermione began to regret pushing him away, mentally and physically, she now actually wanted to know what he was going to say.
She shook off the thought and let go of Draco, causing him to almost fall backwards without her stability, he steadied himself before giving Hermione a confused look with the extra Malfoy eyebrow raise. Letting her arms drop down by her sides again, Hermione took the time to smoothen down her clothes and once she had done so, she turned back to look at him.
"Listen to me Draco." Hermione began with a stern voice, "Do you know what our password means?"
"What? Adamo?" He asked, thinking to himself.
Hermione hoped that he knew, she threw him a pleading look, in the hopes that his knowledge would help her. But when she saw him shake his head in doubt, her curiosity for its meaning grew more.
"Sorry Hermione, I haven't got the slightest clue." He answered in a few words.
Hermione nodded in agreement, before turning away and walking off down the corridor, leaving Draco standing there feeling outstandingly perplexed.
Just when he thought of going back into the Quarters, Hermione spun around and called out, "Draco! Are you coming or not?"
Unable to disagree, he instantly ran after her, asking her and raising his voice so that she could hear him through her light-headed daze, "Where are we going?"
She turned her head to face him, all the while still walking in a quick pace.
"We're going to the library."
With that Draco let out a groan, and threw his hands up in the air in defeat as he continued to follow a rushing and a quite crazy Hermione. He smirked to himself, "What on Earth was she up to now?"
Draco slumped into a comfortable armchair in one darkened corner of the library, and stared up into the towering bookshelves above him. He squinted through the darkness, as he took note of each and every, shelf and book around him; he let out another heartfelt grumble, throwing his head in his hands. He was about to die of absolute boredom!
He heard a bodily thump, and looked up to find Hermione climbing an aged ladder, to get to a certain bookshelf labelled Latin Reference Books. He threw her an unknowing glare, trying to figure out what was going on.
He watched enthusiastically, as she got on her tip-toes and reached up to read a few of the book's names in front of her on the dusty shelves, she blew at some of the century old books, causing the air around her to look cloudy. Suddenly inside him, without even acknowledging its presence there before, he felt a joy of watching her, hence he propped up an arm and rested his chin on it, enchanted by her every movement.
Unconsciously he smiled, his eyes tracing her figure, and the way her hair waved around her shoulders. Over the years she had just managed to tame it, the curls that were once bushy and wild, now just fine and he could even call "attractive.".
"But this was Hermione Granger, not the slightest bit attractive, no way... never." Draco thought to himself. He sighed and a small frown met his lips, he knew he could never have her, even if he did wish for her that night at The Three Broomsticks.
It would not be permitted by anybody, and if his father knew about his feelings at the least, he knew Lucius would kill him himself, with his own bare hands. Who knows, Lucius might even enjoy killing his own son.
He reclined back and sunk into the chair, picking up a book from nearby and trying dreadfully to get his attention away from his dreadful father and a certain girl, but his eyes kept going back to her, watching .
Frustrated, he snapped the book shut with such force, that a loud bang could be heard throughout the entire library. He flinched, as Hermione turned to him looking frightened, placing a delicate finger over her lips and shushing him noisily. Draco gladly obliged and lay the book carefully on the floor next to him.
There was no escape from her.
What was he going to do now?
Hermione jumped down from the ladder, skipping a few steps, in order to get to the ground quick enough, once she was down she raced off to find someone that could help her find what she was looking for, gesturing for Draco to stay where he was before she left in a hurry.
She ran over to the librarian's desk and cursed under her breath when she found no one was there, causing a few heads to be turned in the library. She mumbled a few sorry's to them, as she looked around for help of any other sort.
Hermione, only saw a few heavy-eyed students finishing their homework, so she sighed and returned to where she knew Draco was sitting alone. When she returned into view, Draco looked up and cast her a hopeful look, but Hermione shook her head, causing him to groan again in such frantic misery.
"HERMIONE! CAN WE GO NOW?" He told her in a childish stage whisper.
Hermione gave him a guilty and apologetic look, which Draco knew from that instant, she was determined to find whatever it was she was looking for, however long that was going to take, he just did not know.
"Draco, I promise we can go as soon as I find that stupid Latin Dictionary!" She said, her voice rising with every word in her sentence until at last, it was a angry scream.
Draco knew that now, was certainly not the time to argue, otherwise she might bite off his head. He retreated into the seat cowardly, hoping to not get in the middle of Hermione's searching rampage.
They both simultaneously let out deep sighs of surrender, just as a girl popped up from behind the bookshelf in front of Hermione.
"Oh hello. I may have heard that you were looking for a Latin Dictionary." Charlotte said, causing Hermione to jump at the sudden extra company. Her face held such fear, of someone catching her with Draco, that he felt like bursting into hysterical laughter.
Charlotte didn't seem to notice this though, and she merely smiled, outstretching her arm thus handing the large, dusty book to Hermione. Who gladly smiled back and thanked her for it.
Charlotte nodded and was about to leave, when she suddenly said, "I'm awfully sorry I kept you searching for the book, I was using to find a few cool words and add them to my handy notebook." She took out a small green notebook from her pocket and waved it at Hermione, who looked like she was talking to such a strange odd girl; a distant sarcastic snort could be heard from Draco's direction.
With that she turned to leave again, but Hermione felt guilty, on the behalf of both Draco and herself.
"Excuse me. Um, what's your name? You've helped me a lot today." Asked Hermione.
She turned to Hermione, confused, but then she beamed and answered, "I'm Charlotte. I'm in the same year and house as you. Don't you remember?"
When Hermione had tried to recall ever seeing her before, she shook her head and tucked the book under her arm.
"Sorry, I don't know if I've ever seen you before. You say your in Gryffindor?" Hermione said, intrigued.
"Yup! But don't worry about it, not much people around here know me, it's like I'm new or something." She replied, laughing and Hermione considered that maybe she was new to Hogwarts, just as she was about to ask her, Charlotte said, as if reading her mind.
"And no, I'm not new." She said, giggling a little and Hermione nodded.
Hermione, was about to say something else, when Charlotte caught sight of someone, waved goodbye to Hermione and ran off so quick, that she never even got a chance to say a "see you later."
Feeling a tad bewildered, Hermione watched her race off before she turned back to Draco, who was sitting a few metres away, looking bored as hell itself had got to him, that she eventually remembered the book she held in her arms.
She gasped in surprise, running over to the chair Draco sat on, and pushing him aside so that she could sit next to him. The chair, being too small for the both of them, protested through a series of noisy creaks and squeaks, but they remained sitting, close together. Hermione placed the heavy book on her lap, and gave it a strong blow to get rid of most of the dust.
Draco, who was sitting next to her, got a face full of the dust, so began coughing and waving it away like some kind of lunatic. Once he had recovered, he felt just how uncomfortable the seat was with the two of them in it; he adjusted himself, so that he could breathe, twisting and putting an arm around her shoulders so that he could sit properly.
The contact was somewhat unnoticed by Hermione, as she flicked through the thick pages of the book and traced each word with her forefinger, skimming each paragraph that it touched. Draco leant back into the chair, as he heard Hermione mutter something to herself, before she finally exclaimed, "I found it!"
He remained behind her, as he said calmly, "Read it out, whatever it is." Gesturing and waving a hand.
She cleared her throat and placed her finger over what she was about to read.
"Adamo. Noun. Latin Word meaning..." She paused and turned slowly to Draco. Her eyes met his and he tried search for answers in them.
"What Hermione? What does it mean? Continue." He instructed when she stopped reading.
She took her eyes away from him, and he felt her leant back into the chair, his arm still placed around her shoulders. She shut the book and it slid onto the floor, Hermione turned her face to look at Draco, and for a moment he thought she was about to kiss him.
But she turned her head away from his again - feeling a little disappointed. And now, just realizing his arm was around her, Hermione tried not to make a big deal out of it, although, she knew inside that it was to her. Hermione did something that she thought she would never be capable of doing, making a move. She reached up and took his arm in her hands, so that she could feel his warmth and his skin. He felt him relax and from the corner of her eye, she saw him smile at her.
"Hermione? What does the password mean?" He asked encouragingly, whispering in her ear and breaking the deafening absence of words.
Her eyes looked up into his and she laughed a little, more at herself than at anything else.
"It means... to fall in love." She said, laughing again, yet louder this time, like the pieces had just begun to fit and it was wonderfully crazy.
Draco threw her a worried look, but then it subsided and he just let himself go. He wrapped his arms around her tighter, and she leaned into him, burying her face in his chest as she began to stop laughing, but to begin crying instead. It was inaudible, yet he knew exactly what was happening.
She was taking this too seriously and her problems had finally surfaced.
He smiled, engulfing Hermione into a hug.
Maybe if the password was that, it meant something, and if not, it probably told the past, maybe things like this had happened before; maybe just, maybe, it would work for the two of them too.
Draco felt something that he had never felt inside him before, it was hope.
A/N : Well, sorry for the wait, but there is the next chapter. I am actually aware that the chapters are getting longer each time.. hahaha! Its quite funny, maybe my writing is somewhat improving, so yay! Anyway I need to go, but read and review. Please, if you could, thanks to those who have already done so, you guys are the most awesome of awesomeness. Oh okay, my brother just literally told me to eat my dinner - which I have been stalling for hours just to finish this chapter, oh, and know he is really screaming for me. Well I can't argue with that, can I? Chao then. I'm actually quite starving now that I think about it. And I'm babbling again, shucks.
Enjoy the story!
-Fallen11angel