Hermione waited in her usual compartment for the others to join her. They were on their way back to Hogwarts again. Her week had been wonderful. First she got to spend some time with Draco where they didn't have to hide, and then she got three more days with her parents. She hadn't realised just how much she had missed them until she spent some real time with them again. She was so glad that they were able to restore their memories, she doesn't know what she would have done if they hadn't been able to.
"Hermione!" Harry pushed the doors apart and walked in to give her a hug.
"Calm down Harry, it's only been a week." She laughed and he was followed by Ginny and Ron.
"You know, you're going to have to come and spend some time at the Burrow when we finish for the year. Mum is just dying to see you again." Ginny smiled.
"Of course I will, I just needed some time with my family is all."
"What did you do then? Some kind of muggle stuff?" Ron asked and Hermione laughed even harder.
"What exactly is it that you think we do Ronald?"
He shrugged, "I don't know, what do muggles do?"
Harry laughed along with her, having spent most of his years growing up with muggles he could relate.
"Well, basically it's the same thing that we do, just, without magic." Harry said very matter-of-factly.
"Well what's the point then?" Ron turned up his nose and Hermione heard the others laugh.
She had trailed away from the conversation as she looked out the window of the train, hoping maybe to see Draco walk past. She hadn't heard anything from him in the last few days so maybe his stay at home hadn't been too bad. She hadn't really expected him to say anything even if it had been bad, but she tried to think positively. She would see him later that night anyway.
"Hermione?" She turned around to see Ginny looking expectantly at her.
"Sorry, I was daydreaming or something." She smiled.
"Are you alright? You look a bit distant."
"Just thinking I suppose."
"About what?"
Hermione looked back at her and smiled a little sadly. "I just can't wrap my head around the fact that this is our last train ride to Hogwarts." Harry and Ron looked over, a misty look in their eyes that soon turned distant. "What are we going to do when it's all over?"
"I've still got a year." Ginny said, looking a little annoyed.
"Well make the most of it; I'm terrified of not knowing where to go next year. We'll actually have to work for a living." Hermione said.
They all sat in silence for a few seconds before the sliding door opened and Neville poked his head through with a crooked smile. "Hi all, you mind if we join you for a bit?" He pushed it back a little further and Luna smiled in.
"Yeah, come in." Harry scooted down the seat to make room for the other two.
"How was your break Luna?" Hermione asked as she sat down beside her.
"Not too bad, my father took Neville on a tour of his new garden; he's just gotten rid of a nargle problem." She smiled sweetly and Neville looked a little uncomfortable.
"Are you alright Neville?" Ginny asked.
"Tell her what happened at my grandmother's house." He said.
"It couldn't have been that bad, you look absolutely horrified." Ron chuckled a little and Neville looked like he was going to be sick.
"His grandmother wanted me to sleep in the garden." Everyone turned, almost in slow motion, to look at Luna, that docile little smile still plastered as always on her face.
After a few moments Hermione looked back to Neville who was nodding as if he almost didn't believe it himself.
"She… she what?" Ginny asked, her brow furrowed in disbelief.
"Well I was explaining to her about the nargles in the garden at home and she suggested I sleep outside so that I could make sure there were none in her garden." Luna was probably the only person who wouldn't get completely offended by this.
"So… what happened then?" Harry asked.
"I told her that it was unlikely, her garden has a very strong scent and it would probably keep them away. They don't like places like that." Luna shrugged, seemingly unfazed.
"She just kind of turned up her nose and said that she still thought it wouldn't be so terrible if she did sleep outside… it was horrible." Neville said, the look still on his face.
"I'm sure she just wants the best for you." Hermione offered.
"Who does? We're not talking about your bloody grandmother are we? She's absolutely mad." They turned to see Seamus walking into the compartment.
"She told Luna to sleep in the garden when they went back." Ginny said flatly.
"Blimey!" He sat down and sighed. "I'd a told her where to go… you know, if she wasn't such a scary old woman."
"Where's Dean?" Ron asked.
"Few doors down, he's stopped to mingle with some of the girls. You'd think he could get on a train without puttin' on the charm." Seamus slumped into a seat and shook his head about.
Hermione heard the train whistle blow, signalling a minute until it pulled out of the station. She had kept an eye on the platform but she didn't see Draco. He must be here somewhere; it wouldn't have been hard for him to slip through without her seeing.
"Hurry up!" Draco hissed angrily as he dragged his trunk through the crowded platforms at King's Cross.
"Don't you bark orders at me!" Pansy dragged her bags with her and stalked after him.
"It's your fault we're late." He saw the sign for platform 9 and headed towards it, soon seeing the brick wall where platforms 9 and 10 met. "If you don't hurry I'm not going to wait for you."
As he walked briskly through the barrier he heard the train whistle and shook his head.
"Boy that tonic really got you going didn't it?" Pansy looked up at him with dark eyes and he turned away with a distant look in his eye.
He walked briskly towards the doors and quickly loaded on his trunk with Pansy following. As he walked down the corridor he felt the train jolt forward, they had only just made it. He could feel the anger inside of him set to burst and he headed right down to the end of the train. His usual cabinet had a couple of third years in it and when he opened the door they were gathering their things and rushing out before he even said anything.
He was almost glad; he would have just yelled or growled had he needed to tell them to get out. He sat down roughly by the window and stared straight out it. Pansy sat opposite him and he scoffed with disgust.
"Are you still here?" He spat.
"You know I liked you better when you channelled your anger into better things." She grumbled.
He just ignored her. These past few days have been a nightmare for him.
"Here, have some more." Kresta held out another steaming cup of whatever it was that she has had him drinking and it was on the final day that he became sick of her.
"What the hell is this stuff? It better not be some silly little love potion you've concocted." He muttered, a little too loudly.
The others in the room looked over to them and Kresta started laughing.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she has slipped a little something in there. I hope you haven't been drinking it for long." Dalton laughed.
"Now why would I need a love potion?" She grinned down at him.
"Because clearly you need some help in that area?" Draco offered sarcastically.
The others laughed, even Pansy who loved the way Draco cut down Kresta.
"This is no love potion." She took a sip from the cup and sighed. "All this does is make you feel everything all the better, even more passionately, even more violently." She grinned with a fiendish delight that made Draco want to strangle her.
Or maybe that was the tonic.
He knew he shouldn't have accepted anything from her and now everything he felt was heightened. No wonder he had been dizzy every morning and night. His head was spinning with a mix of so many things that there was hardly room to breathe.
"And how long does it last?" He said through gritted teeth, a single bead of sweat forming along his brown line where he was struggling to control his anger.
"About a week or two. So don't worry, I'm sure your feelings for me will grow." She cackled to herself and the others seemed to find the situation amusing.
Draco on the other hand was livid.
Only one thing could calm his mind.
He pictured her face, her bright warm eyes glistening and that smile that gave her cheeks the slightest dimple. Her long wavy hair always felt so soft under his fingers, and the way her skin felt when his fingertips brushed against it was like a dream.
"Draco?" He was woken from his thoughts when Pansy kicked him in the ankles.
"What?!" He growled.
"You want anything?" She tilted her head to the sweets cart; the woman pushing it had a sour look on her face upon coming across the two of them.
"I'll take the sweetest thing you've got." He said.
They had agreed to meet on the first night back, the usual place of course. Draco was anxious to see her. What did he possibly have to say to her? He could tell her where he had actually been, but she would most likely never speak to him again, and he couldn't bear that. That would also mean telling her about staying with Pansy, sleeping in the same bed, albeit top to tail, and then there was the matter of their kiss.
His anxieties were getting the better of him on the train ride back. He could feel himself starting to breath faster and become nervous as to what would happen. He wished that the tonic from Kresta would just leave his system.
Even worse than feeling all of this would be to get angry when he was with Hermione, he didn't know what he would be capable of and he didn't want to risk hurting her, or worse, losing her.
By the time they were climbing into the carriages to get back up to the castle his stomach was churning and dinner just wasn't an option. As soon as they reached the castle he headed straight for the dormitories.
He pushed past all the other students on their way to the great hall and down the stairs towards the dungeons. He hated the walk to his dormitories, even more so today; it always made him feel like this was a punishment for the Slytherin students. Not that they had done anything wrong, more to the point it almost spurred them on to rebel against the rest of the school. It put more hate in their bellies than anything else, except maybe the prejudice against them.
He gave the password to the portrait and it swung open. He raced to the seat by the fire and collapsed. He stared up at the spinning ceiling and tried to switch it all off. This must be the reason that Kresta's so crazy, how could anyone feel this so extremely all at once?
Then he remembered; they had agreed to meet tonight. His anger started to dull and his anxieties seemed to fade in comparison to the relief that washed over him. For a second at least, he could forget about the rest of it and just be happy to see her.
He still wouldn't go down to dinner, one look at Pansy and the rest of them and he would slip straight back to feeling like he did before. Instead he closed his eyes and tried to focus on the only thing that seemed to work at calming him down.
For Hermione, the train ride was wonderful. There she was, laughing with her friends; she could almost forget that there had been a bump in the road only a year earlier. That was one good thing, at least they were moving on.
When they got back to the castle they waved goodbye to Luna as she headed off to the Ravenclaw table. Hermione watched as she sat by herself and pulled a book from her hand. She felt a little sorry for her, it must be so strange to have none of your friends in your house. Then again, Luna is one of the most resilient people she knew and if anyone could find something to do when they were alone it was Luna.
Hermione's gaze shifted past Luna to the Slytherin table. She saw Pansy Parkinson, but no Draco. She turned away and pretended to listen in on Ron and Harry's conversation. Maybe he was there, she just didn't see. She didn't want to make it too obvious that she was looking, someone might get suspicious. She smiled to herself. Funnily enough, no one would ever pick her and Draco to be sneaking around with one another so that alone made it so much easier.
They had even caught the two of them in a kiss and she had been able to talk her way out of it, with help from Luna of course. He had been so wonderful that day, trying to prove to her that he had made a mistake.
She sighed. She had done a lot of thinking in the last few days about her and Draco. She just hoped that he would meet her like they planned tonight. She needed to speak to him. She needed to sort everything out and set it straight.
That was a while away yet, first things first, dinner.
It wasn't too long before McGonagall gave a brief speech and dinner was served. Her stomach growled, she didn't realise how hungry she had been. Clearly Ron did, his appetite never seemed to fade.
Draco didn't come down to dinner at all; at least, Hermione didn't see him there. She was still going to the room of requirement to meet him. When dinner finished Hermione told the others that she was going to the library to check out a few books.
"Bit late isn't it?" Ron asked.
"Not really, I'd probably be up studying that late anyway so it's nothing out of the ordinary for me." She smiled and gave him a little shrug. "You know, I never see you with this mystery girl we've been hearing about." Ron's face grew pink and he looked away.
"I'll see you when you get back." He turned to walk with the others back to the common room.
She smiled a little, he didn't really want to let them know who his girl is, just the same as she didn't want to tell them about Draco. Well, if he was dating a Slytherin she would definitely be on his side. She just wondered if anyone would understand her side.
She walked through the castle until she got to the hallway with the room of requirement. The door was forming as she walked up to it. She waited for it to materialise before she took the handle and opened the door. There was a fireplace on one side and a couch in front of it with a table and two chairs on the other. She took a seat on the couch and flicked her wand to the fireplace, a flame jumping from the tip and landing in the dark. The room started to glow with the flickering firelight and she sat back, closing her eyes.
The fire crackled soothingly and the warmth slowly filled the small space, the time trickled by but Draco still didn't come.
She wasn't really surprised when an hour had passed. Sometimes he would do this kind of thing; maybe he was mad about something again. She went over her speech in her head. She would have to just come out and say it.
It was twenty minutes later that the door swang open and Draco stood panting in the doorway.
"I fell asleep, am I late?" He smiled weakly and she stood up.
He looked a little scruffy and he was still in his jeans.
"Weren't you hungry?" She asked.
"Not really…" He looked her up and down and he felt his heart begin to pound.
She was so beautiful, even in her robes and looking tired from the train ride. She was just so wonderful. He walked towards her quickly and she put her hands up to stop him.
"Wait… I… I need to say something." She said.
"What?" He stopped; his face so curious and vulnerable and she took a deep breath.
"Look I just need to tell you something, I've been thinking about it since you left last week." His heart pumped faster. "I know you don't like to talk when things are going wrong, and you push me away, sometimes it makes me crazy. I don't know how to take it."
"I-" He tried to start defending himself but she cut him off.
"Wait, please, just let me finish. I thought that I needed you to tell me how you feel but… I know that it's not the way you do things. I used to hate that you pushed me away but I know that you do it because you … you care, and you don't want to hurt me. If you need time alone to deal with whatever it is you're feeling I can accept that, I'm not going anywhere so don't push me.
"I just want you to know that I understand that you have things that you need to deal with and for a while I didn't think you were coming tonight. I thought that after being at home you might pull away. Well, you're going to have to push me pretty hard to get me to leave now. I get it, we're different. So if you need time, I just want you to tell me, and I'll leave you alone until you're ready." She smiled over at him and he nodded a little.
"Can I ask you something?" He said.
She gulped. "Yes, of course."
"Is it alright if I kiss you now?" Her cheeks flushed and she nodded.
He rushed forward and took her face in his hands and kissed her. His lips parted to take her in and she closed her eyes as her hands reached up to his sides.
Draco felt himself being completely engulfed by his emotions and he pulled his lips away. She gave him a smile and tried to lean in for another kiss but he held her back. He found it hard enough to control himself around her at the best of times, let alone when he was full of that damn tonic.
He pressed his forehead against hers and stroked her cheek with his thumb. "I… I missed you." He whispered.
"I missed you too." She leant up and stole a quick kiss.
He closed his eyes tightly and smiled. "Don't…"
She laughed and pulled him towards the couch for at least a little bit of fun before he goes back to everything else.