Keeper

Chapter Twelve

Thank you to xhellox, Freya-Rhianna and Jade2099.
The reviews were wonderful. (:

Things were getting stupid, out of hand and outright plain embarrassing, Hermione had just began to think to herself as she settled into a regular seat in the potions classroom in the front row. Since the room was empty, but for the handful of students who had milled into their seats without anything else to do, she too took her own seat and began to take out the books she'd need for the lesson ahead. Snape was rummaging in the ingredients cupboard at the back of the class, as she noticed the flicker of his silhouette through the thin drape of a curtain in the doorway, instead of an ancient wooden door as in most rooms.

What once was a complicated situation was becoming more and more… stupid and unthinkable. Simply because Draco Malfoy had that effect on her – he made her angry, crazy and love all at the same time; it was irritating to have all these emotions conflicting at the back of her mind. As if nothing would let this go right for once, every possible thing that she thought would never happen to her, did happen. Just to punish her for fraternising with the enemy of many years.

She flipped open her notebook onto the back pages where she made notes on occasion and dipped her quill into the deep black ink that appeared to swirl around the glass on its own accord, whilst she turned the pages of the potions text book to where she had last finished reading with her free hand. As she lifted her quill to begin copying a potion into her book, in the hopes that she would memorize it in that one go, she observed the random scribbles and unrelated words which had outlined the page. She had written these in the attempt to copy down complete statements of "genius" from the professors, when they spoke quickly and passionately about their given topics. However, her brain racked a little when she noticed a brief quotation in the bottom corner of the page that read, "…unbreakable, eternal, unconditional attachment that alone can be called Love" followed by a list of ingredients including rose thorns, peppermint and powdered moonstone, which yet she barely glanced over in a loss of attention and a shrug.

Hermione had heard another set of footsteps that echoed the large, dark and empty dungeon room, which was followed by the screeching of chairs against the floor and familiar voices in pleasant, colloquial conversation with one another. The conversation cut midway, as if the boy had realized that their friend had already been seated in front of them for a while, "Hey Hermione!" Harry called out from behind her, in an unusually cheerful tone which she had heard so scarcely of these days.

She was about to make an attempt to twist her body around to face her two friends and greet them, when she was interrupted halfway by the strong familiar grip of Draco on her upper arm in the effort to turn her back, all the while, taking a seat on the empty stool beside her, despite being uninvited there. Her heart skipped over a few beats, or perhaps was just beating too fast for her to be able to count.

"Good morning Granger." He whispered in a playful way that brought a mixture of distaste and excitement to her mouth, though yet immediately evoked a reaction of a frown and upturned brow towards his smug face. Nevertheless, she could picture Harry and Ron's equally disgusted faces at the scene in front of them and so she groaned aloud angrily, whilst rolling her eyes at his now teasing smirk, as he succeeded in provoking her temper yet another time.

With a forceful tug she regained ownership of her arm and shoved him slightly away in his chest, though she failed to notice the extra few seconds of her light fingers that lingered on his shirt that made his heart increase its speed by multiple triples. Hermione turned toward the predictable expressions of her two best friends and mumbled her greetings at them in mild embarrassment – she kept her head bowed down somewhat, whilst keeping the view of Draco smiling to himself as he opened his textbook in the corner of her eye.

"Contradictory of his previous attitude problem, it looks to me like Malfoy is stalking you." Harry said jokingly and in an attempt to insult the boy with his back now turned from him. Harry had leaned over the table a little and barely took account of Ron giving another repugnant glance at the two, then snorted before appearing to lose interest in the conversation. He too turned to his textbook, but he was only pretending to read, as Hermione could easily tell.

Provoking a reaction from Draco, Harry succeeded as his opponent forgot about the textbook and page in front of him that he was attempting to read, and began thinking of a comeback that became his new objective, "Don't think too much of it Potty, we just have work to do because of Head duties." Draco spat out his name as if repulsed by it, and thought inwardly to announce that perhaps the other was just jealous for Draco spending more time with his best friend than he did. Hermione caught a glimpse of Draco and Harry narrowing their eyes at one another in a stare down, and felt the faint blip of her disappointed heart at Draco's nonchalant response, or denial of their on-off awkward relationship… not that she wanted Harry to know, or simply want to hear it being said aloud for personal benefit.

"And don't worry; I'm sure that you stalking me would be much more fun than the attempts I make for you…" Draco whispered in a low toned voice that only she could hear, and her eyes turned immediately to Harry in the relief that he had not heard the words that had just been uttered from his enemy's mouth to his best friend. Draco chuckled quietly to himself at the expression of a slightly gaping mouth of Hermione before she regained herself, quickly giving his friend an apologetic look for her and Draco, as Snape marched into the room with a sweeping gesture of his robe. He looked like a strange, outlandish and unintentional drama queen…

As Hermione had turned back around completely to face the front and Snape had reached his front table with a concoction of various test tubes of potions, chopped ingredients and dirty pots, he took a fleeting and snide look at the pair at the front desk of the room, before a tight lipped curl of his lips signaled slight humor and vindictiveness on his often- unchanged face. Hermione responded in blushing bright pink and bowing her head so that a curtain of long hair hid her flushed face, whilst Draco looked back at him with immense pride and pleasure for the time. She was just about ready to expect him to announce the embarrassing secret of catching their kiss in the holiday, but was overwhelmed with severe liberation when instead, he had begun to discuss to the class that they were to turn to page 515 of the textbooks and choose to make a potion from the selection list on that page alone. Hermione had managed to release a deep sigh of gladness before she noticed that she now had to be paired with Draco, as he was seated beside her and that he was already talking away at the possibilities of potions they thought they should create. She regained herself yet another time over the past few minutes as Draco's soothing, yet mischievous voice came into her consciousness from the previous sliver of blurred sounds it was before.

"So what? A Veritaserum Truth Potion? Advanced Forgetfulness Potion?" He said finally, to which Hermione cocked up an eyebrow and leaned over him to stare at the extraordinary list in the textbook, and forgetting that her own textbook was lying open on her side of the desk.

"Are those seriously the potions they give us?" Hermione murmured with bemusement to the both of them, bewildered how she had instantly wanted to use them all on either Draco or herself in a fit of the new found insanity he had left her with. Was this another awful trick that the greater forces were playing on her? She could use the Truth Potion to her own will and forced answers out of Draco about every possible thing she wanted to ever know, or better still with the Forgetfulness Potion he would forget everything they would have experienced together, and they would return to being enemies – if that was considered a good thing…

"What the heck is this Polyjuice Potion?" Draco thought aloud as he flicked the pages over to a few chapters before, to which Hermione almost choked and looked mildly suspicious when she refused to look him in the eye. He gave her a questionable look and she stood up instantly, causing a loud racket and almost clumsily knocking over another student who was carrying a tray of glasses to their own table. She muttered her apology to the student who scuttled away in fear of her before turning to Draco. The irony that despite the both of them coming from different houses, they still evoked a sense of fear for their power, or positions.

"Never mind with that, let's just make the Forgetfulness Potion!" She interjected before he could question her awkward behaviour, slamming her hand onto the page to cover it up and threw back the pages to where it was originally.

Afterwards, when she had calmed down somewhat, she leaned over him again to read the page and list of ingredients, "Alright I'll get the ingredients and you can get all the other equipment." She instructed, as she turned to face him and was shocked when she almost knocked into him, as their faces were centimetres from each others, in the awkward position of Hermione leaning over to the textbook and Draco staring at her whilst remaining glued to his seat. Her gaze travelled down to his parted lips from where she felt the faint tickle of his warm breath on her cheek, however before she could do anything stupid and worthy enough of death to a Gryffindor, she heard that nasty, abrupt, throat clearing cough of Snape from behind them, causing her to straighten herself up with the most rapid speed and almost head butting Draco from underneath the chin in the process, before scurrying away wide eyed and blushing uncontrollably.

"Isn't it hot in here…?" She muttered to herself whilst fanning herself with one stiff hand and keeping the other propped on her hip to keep her balanced and upright. Her companion merely smirked to himself as he shook his head and he too got up to fetch the equipment.

Draco had arrived before his partner, reclaiming his position in his seat after placing the pots and test tubes noisily and messily onto the table, as well as setting down a cup of cold water – because he couldn't resist further teasing towards Hermione, as she escaped the scene flushing a cute shade of pink in her mortification and rage. Anyways, she was murmuring something about being hot, so she'd probably appreciate the drink willingly rather than notice it as being a gimmick to annoy her further, because he enjoyed playing around with that girl as a distraction for the other feelings he felt when she was near him.

Just as he broke off his gaze, he noticed her across the room, fumbling through the cupboard at the rear of the classroom, when another student passed through the drapes, causing them to billow slightly for no longer than a moment and expose Hermione in a fleeting glance before the curtains settled limply down again. Out of his consciousness was the irritating monotone of Snape's voice in the background angrily shouting and taking a faulty potion from a pair across the group, something about it being strictly forbidden and how they had made it anyway... but he thought nothing of it. Draco only acknowledged his proffessor's presence nearby when he heard his aggravated exhale and the sharp sound of a glass being settled on the edge of table, forgotten, before his unchanged expression became that of horror. Snape unexpectedly ran to the rear of the class, his robe flowing behind him in dramatic tides, to assist a pair with an erupting potion that spluttered its fizzing solution at firing speeds around the area, before he was to beat them with his wand for ever concocting such an awful attempt at a potion. He heard the students around that table screaming and making an effort to escape as the potion spewed and gurgled angrily at them, as if it had a life of its own.

Draco dared to peak and sneak a laugh at the ridiculous scene behind him along with the rest of the class that were safe from harm, then turned to face his bewildered companion just as she approached the table with a handful of items that would need to be peeled, chopped or some even sprinkled in the attempt of an advanced version of the Forgetfulness Potion they learned in the early years of potions – rather than just evoking a short spell of memory loss from time to time, this potion would erase any one memory of the person who received and drunk it, that is chosen by the giver. This effect usually has a permanent or long-lasting effect, depending on the drinker themselves and the importance of that memory. He liked that it sounded mildly beneficial and risky to use.

With a look of minor hilarity, he picked up a strange looking plant that resembled an extreme mutation of ginger or mandrake root, between his finger and thumb – and yet when he put it back down he stared with repulsion at where it touched his skin, as it had stained them a sickening green colour, like ink overexposed to a dry parchment. He stuck out his tongue and waved his fingers around in the effort to shake the stain or feeling of dirt from himself, despite his failure.

"What's this?" Hermione asked inquisitively whilst pointing a slender finger towards something out of Draco's awareness or attention, as he distractedly wiped his own finger across the table and watched with curiosity when all that he touched momentarily became stained itself, as if his touch was like that of a pen.

"Er, I got you a drink earlier. Just water." He stated blankly and keeping his gaze on the wild, chaotic experiment which Snape was beginning to handle and induce control over through mature repairing and organisation spells.

Hermione stared for a moment at Draco's unresponsive face to the cup she was pointing at, before hesitantly picking it up to swig down its contents, making a brief face of confusion as she was not met with the familiar taste of water, but of an unfamiliar solution. A bitter taste of dated and mishandled peppermint erupted on the taste buds of her tongue; she felt the greater control of manipulation take a hold of her, regardless of being able to witness herself under the potions influence. A potion? Before she was completely dazed, the scribbled quotation in the corner of the page reminded her in a succinct mortification of what was happening or the possibilities of what could happen. She collapsed onto the table top even though her weak, shaky arms attempted to hold her outright and if Draco had not snapped out of his daze and caught her in his arms, she might have been laying on the floor… again.

"Hermione?" Draco said, and adjusting her in his arms so that he could hold her standing with more ease. As she lay flaccidly backwards in a stun so unfathomable that her vacant eyes stared inquisitively at him and when she began to giggle to herself whilst she prodded his collar, and traced the line of his jaw with her thumb that he knew something was wrong. He leaned over to stare into the remaining cup on the table and swore aloud as he saw it was only water and saw a cup laying on the floor that spilled out its near empty contents of a brighter pink solution, whilst a crowd of people began to encircle around him and Snape shoved through them roaring.

"Where is that blasted potion? I put it down right…" He stopped midway through his sentence when he noticed the swarm of disorientated students and Draco standing there uncomfortably with an infatuated girl in his arms, who he both held up and fought as she tried to play with the loose strands of hair that fell over his eyes, "Malfoy, you did not let her drink that potion?"

"Sir, that couldn't have been our potion?" A girl called over from the depths of the crowd somewhere, and restrained from erupting in laughter with the rest of the students when Snape replied to her with a nod and the widen eyes of shock.

"What?" Draco yelled, and his voice almost broke in his desperation, as Hermione swung forwards in a fit of girlish giggles and latched onto him in a dreadfully recognizable way to that of Pansy in previous times, "This better not be the potion I think it is!"

The class erupted into another wave of hysterical laughter, but for Draco who was now fighting to keep her from squeezing him to death, rather than aiming to hold her still. Snape took a moment to calm himself before he spoke to Draco and apparently, to the rest of the class, as their noise died down just enough for them to listen with interest to his dispassionate speech.

"Love potion, Mr. Malfoy," Snape began in a matter of fact sort of way, now regaining the true extent of his impassive, nauseating tone of voice, "A deficient one which I confiscated from the two imbeciles over there with the intention of getting rid of it, but it appears you have already done that for me." He rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the class he was to teach.

"What? Well, what do I do? How long will this… this thing last?" He retorted in almost frantic nervousness. Draco held no attention for the members of his class that murmured and poked jokes towards him, and also for the fits of giggles that blew up the room from time to time, when Hermione proved to do something hilarious to them – like it wasn't already entertaining that she appeared to be in a daze of being smitten with Draco Malfoy. She muttered something sickeningly sweet towards him that made him want to hurl, because it was so terrible. At that moment, since Draco had also lost awareness of keeping her from touching him too much, she had then resorted to embracing him with her eyes shut tight as if with pure enchantment, as Draco eyed Snape impatiently for a response that would entitle his doom.

"I'm sure it will wear off temporarily, it wasn't made properly after all," Snape finally said, with a malicious curl of a smile from amusement and almost a silent grudge, "It appears to me that because the utmost care was taken when mixing the ingredients of this potion, a few traits have been distorted to others." He paused to look away from them before he continued.

"Like?" Draco prodded eagerly, because as much as he liked Hermione Granger, it seemed that he enjoyed her company more when she looked like she lacked a profound interest in him, rather than having her drool after him. He enjoyed the taste of secrecy and chasing after her when she tried not to want him, but having her want him too much was a different story entirely. Should he make the most of this, or spend it running away from the fangirl ghoul she had suddenly become?

"The potion suggests that instead of the drinker falling into an infatuation with the giver, she will fall in love with the first person she saw… otherwise she would have been all over those two over there, fortunately. But luckily for you, it was bad timing and Miss Granger, well you now know the rest," There were some stifled sniggers from the students once more as Snape smirked gawkily and continued, "A typical dose would last about a day, but I guess we'll have to find out later don't we? I'm sure the school will be looking out for this disaster waiting to happen, and you will be the entertainment for us all." With a great offensive look at the makers of the potion, whom Snape would be punishing for their lack of consideration of his ban against love potions… which nobody really cared for. He would probably lock them up in an empty dungeon with his sick sense of humour. Snape gave one last muffled throaty chortle as he turned and shooed away the rest of the students to their own tables – and now destroyed experiments, after they had been neglected for all this time.

"Oh no…" Draco murmured, now that he was alone and dared to look down at Hermione still embracing him and thought that she looked as if she was sleeping. As if she felt him staring at the top of her head, she too looked up at him and smiled sheepishly. Draco held back a facial expression of defeat before rolling his eyes. How unfortunate was it to have the girl that he harboured feelings for, to finally share them back – although not being themselves… exactly. Should he hide, or take up the opportunity for his urge to be mischievous? He poked the top of her head with his pointer finger while he contemplated a little to himself.

A/N : Keeping it brief, thanks for all the reviews and sticking with this story throughout all my inconsistencies! Keep reading and the reviews coming, as I promise to update AT LEAST once a week, hopefully because school and exams are a bore though they take up most of my time.

-Fallen11angel