Hi there :) Here is the longest chapter I have ever written and without doubt in the shortest time span! So enjoy. All that I promised is in here. And there are lots of exciting chapters coming up! Enjoy and review to keep them coming :) :)
Chapter 15
HERMIONE POV
The following morning brought with it both a clear, sunny day and some positive news. McGonagall had cracked under the incessant nagging and scheduled a "trial-run" quiditch class for the seventh years that afternoon much to the pleasure of (almost) everyone concerned.
"Finally! We've been waiting forever to hear back from her." Blaise complained to Hermione as they made their way from the Headmistresses office. Hermione rolled her eyes. A couple of days was hardly "forever".
"Yes," she agreed in a mockingly sad tone. "How unfortunate that you're now obviously too old and decrepit to participate in the classes." Blaise laughed appreciatively.
"Well I suppose I could always attach my wheel-chair to my broom."
"And charm your wig not to fly off."
"I don't know what to do about the fake teeth. I mean what if I pull a Potter and eat the snitch for lunch? Or they land on the head of some poor helpless spectator?"
"Well you could take them out before the match I suppose."
"True. Just remind me to put them back in before I make my acceptance speech."
"Oh? And just what award is this that you'll be accepting?"
"Excellent participation from the oldest member of the school."
"Oh of course. Congratulations."
Hermione was fighting a laugh now. Blaise grinned over at her and playfully bumped into her shoulder. Hermione also bumped into him -but not deliberately. She'd just slightly lost her footing and had more or less stumbled into him to avoid falling over. She blushed at her clumsiness, then blushed harder when she realized she blushed, making her blush more. Such a vicious circle. Trying to stop blushing about blushing, Hermione pulled the top of her jacket tighter around her and hoped Blaise would think she was merely cold. After all, it was still a frosty morning sunshine or no.
"Hey, a lot of kids were going down to Hogsmeade today." Blaise told her after a few moments silence.
"Well it is the 3rd years 1st weekend that they can go." Hermione replied obviously confused by his interest.
"Exactly. So there'll be a lot of immature teenagers running around town, annoying people, stealing sweets, getting lost, starting fights... being generally immature."
"Really? Is that how you spent your 1st day in Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked sweetly.
"Of course not." Blaise denied pretending to be hurt. "I was the perfect angel." Hermione scoffed. Blaise, an angel? Please.
"I find that hard to imagine." She replied dryly.
"Well I can imagine what you were doing." Blaise quipped.
"Oh can you really?" Hermione asked sarcastically.
"Well to start with you would have been bundled up in as many layers of clothes you could bury yourself under, that's for sure, and no doubt tutting about how Potter and Weasel-bee were acting in public."
"Well it had been a cold day." Hermione defended herself. "And also Harry wasn't there because his Aunt and Uncle didn't sign the form allowing him to go."
"Ah, yes I remember. Well no wonder. No unfortunate relative of his with any sense would let that weirdo out in public."
"Harry isn't a 'weirdo'!"
"No? Let me guess. He just has an individual way of expressing himself, am I right?" Hermione laughed.
"There is nothing weird about Harry." Blaise was about to argue about it further but he apparently decided to change tack.
"So it was just you and Weasel-bee huh? Strolling along the sweet, little streets, with the snow softly falling around you and the sun shining?" Hermione cringed. How could he have known? She thought weakly. After their failed attempted at a relationship Hermione felt almost sick thinking about the girlish crush she'd harbored for Ron for the better part of her school life. But what freaked her out was that Blaise had basically spoken her thoughts on how she'd hoped that day had gone. Not wanting Blaise to take her silence as admission Hermione tried to pull herself together.
"Actually," she began crisply "We went to the shrieking shack. I'd read so much about it and wanted to explore." Blaise looked a little surprised.
"Oh yeah? I never pictured you as little miss explorer. I figured reading about all this stuff was enough for you."
"Oh no. There's no substitute that would be 'enough' to replace experiencing the real thing." Blaise looked positively intrigued.
"So that's what you're going to do huh? Jet off and discover the world?"
"Yeah, well that's what I want to do anyway. I'd never have enough money to do it right away." Hermione felt slightly ashamed at having to admit this to someone who didn't have and would never have any financial problems. This was made even worse when Blaise looked genuinely sympathetic. She quickly re-launched the discussion.
"So why did you bring up the Hogsmeade weekend again?"
"Well I thought as Heads of the school we might want to check it out. Make sure everything's running smoothly."
"Oh," Now he mentioned it Hermione wondered why she hadn't thought to do it herself. "Okay, well sure let's go." Blaise smiled and offered her his arm gallantly. Hermione laughed softly, gladly accepting his arm as he led her towards the awaiting carriages. Just like a fairytale.
DRACO POV
Where is she? Draco thought frantically as he stormed through the hallways of Hogwarts. He'd woken up late that morning and by the time he'd gotten down to the common room she'd gone. When he went down to breakfast the Weaslette informed him that she was at a meeting with the Headmistress.
"You just missed her!" She exclaimed. When I did a double take at her tone she smirked at me. Smirked! Completely bemused by her tone and expression I quickly left hoping to catch her on her way. I knew I needed to talk to Hermione –and soon. She'd left last night confused and panicked. I needed to rectify this immediately, before she went running into Blaise's arms. I looked for her for the rest of the morning but with no luck. I even searched the library for most of lunch hoping to catch sight of her. For any other girl I would have given up after I didn't see her at breakfast- not that this would be necessary as no girl had even run from me before- but it was different with Hermione. It was more than needing to prove I could get her, more than wanting to get her; I was actually becoming quite attached to her- a feeling extremely foreign to me- and I felt almost worried about her. Not in terms of Blaise. An annoying git he could sometimes be but he wasn't dangerous. No, I was worried that I'd messed with her too much. I didn't want her to freak out every time she saw a guy with white blonde hair walking towards her or never be able to go to the library again.
It wasn't until much later that I gave up and returned frustrated to the common room. Theo caught up with me on the way and told me about the quiditch class that afternoon. It didn't enthuse me as much as it would have usually but the prospect of an afternoon of showing off my quiditch moves did cheer me up a bit. And Hermione will be there. Yes, it was definitely something to look forward to.
A few hours later I found myself in the changing rooms with the rest of the male population of the seventh year. Thank Merlin someone had thought to expand the rooms! Blaise was still deliberately ignoring me though he did seem more pleased with himself than usual. I wonder if he was with Hermione…I shook my head. Blaise was so full of himself anything could have happened to make him this smug.
Eventually we all started to file out into the quiditch grounds with broomsticks, private or borrowed, in hand. Professor Hooch met us in the middle of the Quiditch pitch where she waited till all of 7th year was assembled before she began instructing us on the class. Basically she just wanted to get everyone off the ground and flying fairy confidently for the first class. Those who played quiditch were to help direct and assist those who did not. Simple. I glanced up at Hermione as Hooch spoke. I could definitely lend a hand…
As soon as Hooch had finished speaking the chaos began. Basically all the quiditch players took off easily into the air –myself among them- whilst a few others managed to at least kick off from the ground. I caught sight of Hermione standing off to the side of the activity looking at her broom like it was a snake. I flew over to where she was standing and descended till I was only about a meter from the ground. She didn't seem to notice me.
"You know you won't get off the ground until you get on." I reminded her unable to keep the smirk off my face. She jumped slightly in surprise but quickly resumed her intense gaze on the broom refusing to acknowledge me further.
"Okay," I began landing gracefully beside her. "Let me help." She still said nothing, not even lifting her gaze. I rolled my eyes as I discarded my own Firebolt to the side and picked up her borrowed school broom. I gave it a quick once over. Of course it was nothing compared to mine but I wanted to make sure it was safe at least Oh Merlin now I'm sounding like her father. I offered it to her but she made no move to take it standing with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Well Hermione it would probably help if you mounted it first." Hermione bristled.
"I know that!" She snapped. I smirked again. Looks like she'd gotten her temper back.
"Good. Well do you need a demonstration or do you think you can manage?" I replied smoothly. She angrily grabbed her broom back from me and swung one leg over the side so she was straddling it. As soon as this was done I saw the fear creep back into her eyes. I moved to stand behind her and she immediately went rigid as I moved my arms around her.
"Place your hands, like this." I instructed grasping her own small delicate hands in my own and moving them to the end of the broomstick. I must admit I felt slightly breathless having her so close to me. Once I was sure she was actually holding on I relinquished my own grasp and moved away slightly.
"And then I just kick off from the ground?" She tried to sound confident but she was visibly shaking now. I nodded giving her a reassuring smile. She hesitated.
"You'll be fine." I promised. She looked at me unconvinced. "Trust me."
She held my eye contact for a moment, then took a deep breath and kicked off from the ground. I picked up my own broom and easily caught up to her. She was barely 5 meters off the ground.
"Breath Mione." I reminded her laughing. Inwardly I choked. I'd never called her 'Mione' before. She however seemed to have other things on her mind. Like flying 5 metres higher than she ever had before.
"Merlin I HATE this." She groaned. I flew up to hover beside her.
"Your doing fine." I encouraged. She looked at me with a pained expression. "Now before you jet off, remember to stop just pull back gently on the broom and try to sit completely upright." She smiled.
"How wise of you to teach me halting first." I smirked.
"Well we don't want you ending up like Longbottom do we?" Hermione grimaced.
"He broke his wrist." She recalled.
"Yeah, but that's because he's an uncoordinated wuss with no balance. And-" I grinned moving forward smoothly. "No one taught him how to stop." I saw her roll her eyes but she looked comforted. "Now just lean forward slightly to move." She did lean forward -but a little too quickly- and her broom jerked ahead almost causing her to topple off. She quickly sat up straight and pulled back on the broom bringing it to a smooth halt. She sighed in relief.
"You're a fast learner." I noted gliding up beside her.
"Oh yes I excel at stopping." She laughed shakily, "it's the moving that scares me." Well technically it's the height.
"You just need to get used to the feeling." I reassured her. "Try it again. Just lean forward a few inches really slowly. The smoother your actions, the smoother the ride."
She took another deep breath before following my instructions. I felt strange doing this. Patience had never been one of my strong points and I'd never attempted to teach anyone anything. Well I did briefly attempt to make Crabbe and Goyle eat like human beings in 2nd year -but that was a disaster from the start.
Hermione was moving more easily around. She still looked unsure and a little scared but hey she was flying. Theo started yelling at me like a hooligan. He had somehow managed to flip himself off his broom and was dangling off it like a chimpanzee. Shaking my head I swiftly went to his aid. By the time I'd managed to help him back on I'd lost where Hermione was.
There were after all nearly 200 people flying around. I glided swiftly through the air trying to find her but she was nowhere to be seen. I was beginning to panic when I finally caught sight of her. She and Blaise were flying through the air side by side talking animatedly about something. She seemed to have gotten the hang of flying at any rate. Now jealousy was definitely not a foreign feeling to me and now it consumed me. I hated how at ease she was with him. She was never as relaxed with me. I started to fly around the pitch at a dangerously fast pace. I almost knocked several people off their brooms. Eventually I did crash into someone.
"Woah watch it." Came a voice. *Groan: the Weaslette. I went to swerve round her but she blocked my way. "What's up with you Malfoy?"
"Just move." I snapped trying to move around her but she caught up with me. I glanced over at her broom. "How did you afford a Firebolt?" I asked snidely hoping it would drive her off. Inwardly I was cursing my luck that she'd be able to keep up with me.
"Oh how nice of you to ask." She smiled sweetly at me. "However its none of your business so too bad." I rolled my eyes and sped up. She matched my pace.
"Alright what do you want?" I asked coming to a sudden halt. The Weaslette grinned and pulled up in front of me.
"I want to know why your zooming around this arena looking like your want to kill someone."
"Well Weaslette," I began trying to think of an excuse. "That's none of your business." She glanced over my shoulder and when I looked back I saw Blaise and Hermione still flying together now laughing about something.
"I see…" Weaslette said smirking. Again with the smirk! I sighed and tried to fly past her once again. This time she let me.
"She like's you, you know." She called. I stopped abruptly. "She wont say but I know she does." I looked back at Blaise and Hermione.
"You think so?" I asked. After all she was best friends with Hermione so surely she'd know.
"I know so." Ginny smiled.
"Well, um, thanks." I replied awkwardly. She smiled and sped off in the opposite direction. I shook my head and continued doing laps -but without the brake neck pace.
A few moments later there was a scream. My head automatically snapped towards the sound. Some idiots had let out the bludgers and they were bolting through the air hitting people right left and center I saw one heading straight towards Hermione. She was frozen in place, terrified. I didn't think I just acted. I flew towards her at top speed, flattening myself to the broom to make sure I got there first. Agony shot through me as the bludger collided with my shoulder. I reached quickly to grasp at it but the action caused me to lose my balance and I was sent spiraling to the ground. I heard screams in the background but all I could think of was the pain shooting through me. The last thing I heard was an angels voice saying my name and warm, concerned brown eyes gazing at me.
HERMIONES POV
I couldn't believe what had happened. 1stly, one moment I was actually having a pleasant flight around the quiditch pitch with Blaise. The next moment I'm sitting next to Draco as he lays unconscious in the hospital wing. And 2nd, Draco took a bludger for me. He, Draco Malfoy, Prince of Slytherin, took a bludger for me, a lowly muggleborn.
I gently wound my fingers through his. He looked so pale and cold yet his hands felt so warm and strong. I thought back to last night. The way he'd looked at me when he leant into kiss me.
"Hey." I gasped as I felt Draco squeeze my hand.
"Hey." I smiled watching him carefully. He looked so weak, so vulnerable. "Your awake."
"Or I've died and gone to Heaven." I rolled my eyes.
"What were you thinking about just then?" He asked quietly. I blushed. I didn't especially want to reveal that I'd been day dreaming about our near kiss.
"Oh nothing, school, homework, stuff." Draco smiled and pulled himself up.
"No!" I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him gently back. "You need to rest!" Draco chuckled but reclined back on his bed.
"Not that I don't like you fussing over me but really I'm fine. I've just got a headache."
"Well you look awful."
"Thanks very much." I sighed. I need to ask him.
"Hey Draco,"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"You know."
"No I don't."
"You know, why did you, well, save me?"
"Save you?"
"You took a bludger for me."
"OMM is that why I'm here?"
"Draco!"
"Of course I know baby I just wanted to hear you scream my name."
"Argh!" I threw my hands up in the air. He was so aggravating!
"Come on Mione, you know I'm just teasing." Oh that smile. Whoa wait a minute! Did he just…
"Did you just call me Mione?" The question burst out of my mouth. Draco's smile turned mischievous.
"Did I?"
"Draco!"
"Twice in one afternoon, I am a lucky man."
"Why did you call me Mione?"
"I don't know. Isn't that what your friends call you?" He asked smoothly. I became wary. It was never a good thing when Slytherins talked smoothly.
"Yeah they do." I replied cautiously.
"Well there you are than." He replied as though everything he said made perfect sense.
"There I am where?" I asked completely puzzled. He just shook his head smiling.
"And why did you take the bludger for me?" He shrugged -and winced.
"Because you didn't look strong enough to take it."
"Excuse me? I don't look strong enough to take it? Who was it that got punched by a girl in 3rd year?"
"Exactly! I was strong enough to take the punch. If you'd been punched by a girl -or a boy for that matter- you'd probably have died of shock."
"Whatever." I muttered. Draco was smirking again and I couldn't help but laugh quietly. So many ridiculous conversations today.
DRACO POV
For the first time I felt warm inside. Really warm, like someone had cut a whole in my stomach and put in a hot pack or something. I refuse to describe the feeling as "warm and fuzzy"- I'm not a stuffed teddy! But it was extremely self-satisfying to wake up with Hermione by my side. Her small hand entwined with mine, the setting sun shining on her amplifying her angelic face.
She'd stayed by my side, worried for me. Waiting for me to wake to make sure I was OK. Sure I had expected her to be curious about my motives but I thought she'd ask me later when I once again forced my company on her. It was a nice change being sought. We talked, I teased her a bit, and she said my name, twice, or maybe 3 times. All in all a good discussion and then who should come waltzing in just as I'm enjoying the sound of her laugh but the competition.
I could practically feel the warmth leave me as Blaise entered through the open wooden doors. In fact I felt more like someone had stuck in a packet of ice cubes. Hermione beamed at him darkening my mood further.
"Hope I'm not interrupting anything." Blaise grinned walking over to my bed. I wanted to tell him that yes actually he was but I didn't think it'd exactly impress Hermione.
"Not at all." She answered brightly. I scowled.
"How you feeling mate?" Blaise inquired with fake sympathy.
"I was feeling better." I answered coldly. Blaise's eyes flashed with something I couldn't quite place. Whatever it was it wasn't friendly.
"Hermione, Ginny's looking for you. Wanted me to ask you to meet her in her dormitory." Hermione sighed standing up.
"I better go find her than." She smiled at me. "Thanks for saving me."
"Anytime." I promised. The second she left the room the atmosphere dropped about 100°c.
"So how long till you think your out?" Blaise asked casually.
"Soon I imagine." I replied equally casual.
"Pity." Okay lets get this out.
"Sorry if I'm getting in the way of your seduction plans."
"Stay out of this Draco." He snarled.
"Why don't you stay out of this?"
"I was after her first!"
"No you weren't!"
"I saw her first. And I was after her since I saw her!"
"Well I saw her on the platform."
"You did not!"
"Well we touched first!"
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah I was lying on her on the train."
"Couldn't find a chair?"
"And I've already seen her naked."
"Oh so that gives you precedence to seduce her."
"Do you have any idea how childish you sound?"
"I sound childish?"
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
There was silence for a moment as we stared each other down. At last Blaise sighed and looked away. I inwardly cheered.
"You only want her because I want her don't you?" Blaise asked. Well more accused.
"That's not true. And whatever my motives, I'm sure yours are less than honorable." Blaise scoffed.
"And yours aren't?"
"No."
Another mini staring contest passed and Blaise backed away slightly.
"Don't fight me on this Malfoy." He stated coldly. "You won't win." I glared at him. It hurt to hear him use my last name.
"We'll see Zabini." I replied equally cold. Blaise gave me one more defiant look and stalked out of the room.
As he slammed the door behind him I sank back onto my pillows.
Shit!
Until next time :)