Vienna

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: I just wanted to thank all my lovely reviewers; you guys mean the world to me, and as always my amazingly talented beta, Anna.

Chapter 7: Six Years Ago

Draco Malfoy

A terrible feeling of helplessness was slowly descending upon me.

She was getting smaller in my vision each time I failed to counteract the shield she had cast around herself, and I was exhausting my options each time her shield refused to disappeared. She just had to be brightest witch of her age didn't she, casting a shield that was probably impossible for anyone but herself to undo.

The winds were picking up now, my hair blowing with it as it violently ripped across my face. Another wave started to swell, dark waters foaming as it rose higher into the heavens and loomed over her like a hand that was just waiting to reach down and grab her. It kept on growing, until I could no longer distinguish from it and the sky, a rippling curtain, black as the stormy plane above, as it cascaded down on top of her.

Her head sunk under the surface from the impact, and it didn't come back up this time.

Sheer fear overcame me, and it felt like someone had taken my chest and set a bag of bricks on it. I had to act fast, with a flourish of my wand I shouted the last counter-hex I knew. Thankfully the disruption in the air that had surrounded her disappeared and I let the breath I didn't know I had been holding out in relief.

The water was a malevolent pitch black, a reflection of the sky. "Lumos," I muttered, and a bright light erupted from the tip of my wand, illuminating the sky and casting an eerie glow across the water.

I stuck my wand in my mouth and dove in. The coldness of the water was as sharp as knives, and it stung my skin. My wand only provided a few feet of light as I swam, eyes desperately in search of her barley clothing clad body. If she didn't drown, she would surely die of hypothermia.

The rough waters pulled my body around, and I swam down deeper where I assumed she would have sunk to. Something pale and delicate flashed in front of my face for a split second, and I lunged for it. My hand came to wrap around a wrist, and it jerked at the sudden contact. I lowered myself, and came face to face with her, eyes still wide and cheeks puffed out in attempt to hold her breath. The fear that her eyes had held was replaced by relief and gratitude, and… something else, but before I could identify it, it was gone. I took her arms and wrapped them around my waist, locking her fingers together and she hung there for dear life, fingers digging into the skin of my side where my shirt had ridden up.

I swam up and over, and our heads broke the surface. She immediately opened her mouth, letting the air expel from her lungs that she had been keeping in and started gasping for new air. I looked around and noticed that we were close to the shore, but another wave was closing in. I pulled us back under the water as the wave crashed over our heads, and it aided in pushing us closer to the beach where the water was shallower.

Standing up, I grabbed her hand and dragged her through the water as she stumbled for her balance, wand still securely in my mouth before transferring it into my hand, leading our way. Something about her hand enclosed in mine, made my fingers burn like fire, dangerous but so mesmerizing that you just had to reach out and touch it, that I didn't want to let go.

My feet were touching the wet sand of the shoreline, we were so close. I turned around to check on her, and my breath caught in my throat. She stopped, a perplexed look etched on her face as a result of my sudden halt. In the light of my wand she looked… absolutely, breathtakingly, stunning, a goddess rising out of the waves of the water or a fallen angel that had just landed right at my feet. The wind blew her hair erratically around her head, covering half of her porcelain face. Her skin was a creamy pale white, and looked like it would be silk to the touch, and her black barley-there bikini blended into the night sky behind her. I wanted nothing more than to just reach out and brush my hand against the exposed skin of her flat stomach…

The pull of her hand reminded me to keep moving, and I snapped out of my thoughts, thankful that she had before I had gone and done something I would regret. What in the bloody hell had come over me just now? It was that strange feeling I had felt earlier today, the pulling and constricting of my chest that was accompanied by the pained ache from somewhere inside of me I didn't know I had. I knew that it was a dangerous feeling to be having, like it could only lead to trouble, but why, I didn't know.

Rain was pounding down on our backs in buckets as we finally made it out of harm's way of the waves and onto the soft, if not wet, sand of the beach. I signed with relief that she had made it out safely, thanking whatever Gods that actually existed. The realization of what had just happened must have finally hit her, for before I knew it, she had slammed herself into my chest, hands balled into fists and clinging desperately onto my shirt like I was going to disappear on her. She was sobbing, and her shoulders were shaking violently, racked with the weight of her sobs.

The heat I had felt when I was holding her hand was nothing compared to the intense burning feeling that coursed through my body when she was hugging me. She was like… having my own personal sun, she was the heat I had so desperately craved all those years but had never gotten.

I didn't know what to do, I had always tended to avoid any crying girls. Should I comfort her, hug her back or give her a reassuring pat on the shoulder? I did the first thing that came to mind, I wrapped my arms protectively around her, bringing her closer into me and relishing in her warmth against the bitter cold of the night's air. Mudblood Granger or not, she just looked so broken, so weak, and I couldn't bear to see her that frail.

Another flash of lightening and clap of thunder reminded me that, unless we wanted to get fried, we had to get into some kind of shelter. I looked over the top of her head, which my chin was resting on, to get a hold of my surroundings. The current had obviously pushed us down the beach, how far I wasn't sure of. There weren't many houses down at this end, but we couldn't be more than two miles away from our houses, but it would have taken too long in this weather to walk back quickly.

I spotted a small shed about fifty feet away. Perfect.

She wasn't crying as heavily anymore, and her head was now resting on my chest, my arms still around her waist. Not wanting to break our embrace, I leaned my head down to whisper into her ear, "Granger, come on, we have to get out of the storm." She lifted her head off my chest and looked up at my face. Stepping away from my body, she grabbed my hand and nodded her head feebly, a few lone tears still creeping out of the corners of her eyes and blending with the rain as they ran down her face. I had to fight the urge to reach out and wipe them away.

We walked hand in hand against the strong winds until we reached the shed. I gave the door a few hard pulls before it swung open on its hinges before she ran inside and I slammed it shut behind us, making sure it was secure before I turned to face her.

Standing in the middle of the shed, she looked shell socked and slightly confused, like she had just figured out who I was. "You saved me." It was more of a statement then a question.

I stood, leaning against the door for support and facing her, but I couldn't bear to look her in the eyes for fear of what I might have found there. "Yes I did."

"Why?" she breathed out quietly.

"I…" I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. Why did I save her, I didn't even know myself. It was like a reflect, or an instinct.

Only then did I choose to look her in the eyes. They were still filled with that same gratitude I had seen under the water. In all the years I had known her, I had never taken any time to look into her eyes, they were positively mesmerizing orbs of light honey brown. When you had been taught to hate somebody your entire life, you couldn't really look at them for who they were, or even see them clearly. Who really needed affection when you had blind hatred?

Whoa there, who the hell said anything about affection? It was instinct, just instinct.

This was getting a little too personal for my liking, so I did the only thing I knew how to do, I got mean. "You're not as vile as I thought you were." Instantly I regretted saying that as I saw hurt flash through her eyes before she removed all expression from them, blocking me out. Since when did I regret anything I had ever said to her, and I've said much worse things?

"What is it, Asshole Day?" she sneered.

I knew I had started this, but I was getting defensive, it was a second nature to me. "Well, someone has her knickers in a twist."

She snorted, a very unlady-like sound, "Don't, for one minute, think that you had any affect whatsoever on my knickers." Walking over to where a few volleyball nets were lying over the ground, she laid herself out across them.

I took a seat on the other side of the ten by ten shed, and decided to play along for a little bit, it's not like she had her wand, what was the worst she could do, "Oh yea, then what did I have an effect on?"

"Other than my upchuck reflex, nothing." She smiled up at me, but it wasn't a feel-good, warm your heart smile. It was forced and fake, and I knew I had caused it. Nice going there, Draco.

This was going to be a long night.

Hermione Granger

"Come on Granger, just take the damn blanket already."

"No, I'm fine without it," I tried to tell him, but my clattering teeth gave me away, and I shivered again. But instead of turning to him and accepting his help, I continued to ignore him.

"Well then don't come crying to me when you get pneumonia, and don't say I didn't try to help." He ran his hands through his hair, clearly frustrated.. "Look, I don't like being stuck in this God awful shit hole any more than you do, but this storm doesn't look like its planning on letting up any time tonight, so will you please, for the love of Merlin, just take this before you freeze and my reason for saving you, the reason we're stuck out here, becomes pointless."

I gave him a look that was supposed to be threatening, but it didn't come off nearly as terrifying as I had hoped, due to the fact that my shoulders were shaking uncontrollably. "I don't need your help."

"You looked like you needed it out in the water, and you looked pretty damn grateful on that beach when you refused to let go of me."

"My brain was oxygen starved, it doesn't count, and I didn't know what I was thinking. For all I know you could have been Harry or Ron." I tried to rationalize myself, but who was I kidding? I knew very well that it was Malfoy I had been clutching not too long ago.

"Ouch, comparing me to the two Witless-Wonders hurts. Now, either you take the blanket or we'll have to resort to body heat to keep each other warm. The choice is yours." He was smirking again, I swear that thing was permanently suck on his face as he winked at me. I snatched the offending piece of fabric out of his hands and retreated into another back corner as he took his place in his own, while we continued to glare at each other.

So far, the only thing we had accomplished was pretty much nothing, nothing would ever get done between the two of us if we kept sitting on our bums. And he seemed to be right, the storm didn't look to be clearing up anytime soon. If anything, it felt worse.

Out of the blue, he asked, "Why don't we play a game?" Holly hell, where had that come from? I didn't answer him, but he kept on talking away. "Well then, I guess I'll go first." Was he really taking this seriously, or was this just another way for him to get on my nerves? "Let's see… so many things to do, and… wait a minute, we have all the time in the world."

"Malfoy, I would rather be trapped inside the shrieking shack with a troll and three dementors then be here, playing games with you right now. All the time in the world is not going to change that."

He was smiling now, not his usual smirk, it looked so strange on his face, yet it made him look slightly angelic. "How bout we play matchmaker?" he joked, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

I made a choking sound, my voice taking on a sarcastic tone "Am I that transparent? I want you, I need you, oh baby, oh baby. Come off it, that's such a load of bullshit."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Granger."

There was something off about Malfoy, and the constant change in his attitude was so unexpected and random that it was making me dizzy. One minute we were at each other's throats, and the next he was risking his life to save me. And then there was something in his eyes I saw when he hugged me, it was new and unfamiliar and slightly unnerving, but it made his eyes sparkle without the aid of the sun.

When he had whispered into my ear I felt shivers of excitement dance throughout my body, feathery light in the pit of my stomach followed by an odd sensation like suddenly everything inside of me had become weightless and then just dropped.

I thought - I could have sworn - that he had changed, even the tiniest amount, I mean he was hugging me, comforting me. But who was I kidding, he probably only saved me because he felt he had to.

Once inside the shed, he started acting even more strange, he looked… pained… the entire time. Like there was something truly heinous about having to be in such close proximity with me. But then he would go and do something like giving me the only blanket here so that I could stay warm. I couldn't keep up with him.

I shivered and pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders. I could feel him looking every few minutes; he had been doing that a lot since we got in here. Sometimes he would open his mouth like he was going to say something, but then shut it tightly deciding against it.

He was doing it again.

"Oh for the love of Merlin, if you have something to say just say it!" He was now looking at me head on, mouth still open in surprise. I guess he hadn't expected me to say anything, or to even have noticed, "What, didn't your parents ever teach you that it's rude to stare?"

His eyes wanted to say something but it was lost the moment I blinked. Glaring at him, wrapped in his blanket, reminded me of when I gave him that right hook in third year. Now that was priceless! Hold up, rewind and back up Granger, get your mind off of that git. I had to come up with a way to pass the time in this shed until the storm broke.

He shut is mouth and narrowed his eyes at me, "Didn't your parents ever teach you to respect your superiors?"

"That's original ferret, couldn't come up with something better or do you think that those pathetic lines you used three years ago worked then too?"

"Nobody asked your opinion, mudblood." I turned around to face him, and our eyes locked in a silent battle of the wills, just daring each other to break contact. I had spent more time looking into his eyes in the past day then I had in my entire life.

"Call me that name one more time, Malfoy, and I'll…" I started to threaten but he cut me off.

"And you'll what?" He laughed. "And with what wand are you going to use? Now, do you really want to finish that sentence, Granger? Just keep that big bushy head down for the rest of the night and we won't be having anymore problems."

I shut my mouth when he finished speaking, and he smiled obviously thinking that he had been the one to get the last word in. Instead, my lips curved upward into a malicious little grin. "What are you smiling at, Granger?" He asked me.

"Oh, nothing," I answered. "Just thinking about a little something that happened a few years ago."

"And what might that be?" He smirked, quirking an eyebrow at me.

"Does Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret ring any bells for you?" His smirk dropped. "Twitchy little ferret, weren't you, Malfoy?" It seemed that we had both hit a spot.

"You shouldn't be talking, mudblood. If looks were gold, you'd be poorer then Weasly, and that's saying something."

Anger started to boil inside of me, "I told you not to say that!" I shrieked before I lunged myself at him, talking him by surprise, for the second time that day. Even if I didn't have my wand, I figured that brute force plus the element of surprise on my side would be enough to disarm him.

Of course it wasn't.

He may have been surprised, but after the initial shock wore off he was definitely stronger then I was. By the time my body had reached his, he had caught me by my wrists, spun me around so I was facing him, and slammed me against the wall with my arms pinned above my head.

His body was no more than a hair's breath away from me, and I could feel the sinewy cords of his muscles pressing against my stomach, eliciting the same weightless fluttering that I had felt before when he was hugging me. My heart started racing inside of my chest, the erratic beating mixing with my labored breaths that were coming out in short gasps, and I could feel the same irregular rising and falling of his chest against mine as well. The fluttering turned into a heated constriction in my core, causing a dull throbbing to appear.

Shit. This was wrong, so very, very wrong.

I couldn't look into his eyes. Was it for fear of what I would find there? Was I scared of what I might see? I was scared of what I was feeling, that was for sure, they were so new, and that made them all the more terrifying. I knew, that whatever… reactions… my body was going through was a fight or flight response, and I wasn't going anywhere.

Stupid, bloody, problem-causing hormones.

He released one raised arm, allowing it to fall to my side, but he didn't give any indication of moving away from me. One of his own hands raised, and a rough finger placed itself under my chin, forcing my head up and our eyes to lock. His radiant, ice-blue eyes had darkened with lust combined with hunger and longing in a silent plea. My other arm now fell to my side as the hand that had just been restraining it moved to cup my cheek. Without realizing it, my head was leaning into his touch, my eyes fighting to stay open.

I knew it was wrong, yet something about it seemed so natural, I felt safe, protected… loved. I shook my head at that last thought; this was nothing more than the heat of the moment.

Just when I thought that I wouldn't last much longer, his lips crashed down on top of mine in a frenzy of heated passion. Not a word was said between us, but we know in our most basic, primal level that we craved this. This animalistic act that defied all of society's constraints and limitations. It wasn't about what was right and what was wrong; it was all about what we needed.

And we so desperately needed each other.

His tongue flicked across my bottom lip, and I immediately opened my mouth to allow him access. Our tongues started to dance for dominance, weaving in and out in attempt to gain the upper hand.

My arms came to wrap around his neck, fingers settling in the silky strands of his hair, grabbing it and pulling him closer to me, needing to feel is body against mine, needing to feel him in me. It was like I wasn't complete without him, a part of me was dull and void and it needed to be filled. At the same time, his hand moved at torturously slow place down my side. Each place his fingers touched tingled with little sparks of energy that lingered on my bare skin. That hand continued to move, past my bottom and down my thigh, until my leg was being hoisted up and wrapped around his waist.

He let out a deep, guttural moan which caused shivers to travel up my spine and make my body shiver, but not with coldness, with excitement. I wasn't cold anymore, far from it. All I could feel was heat. The type of heat that existed only in the pits of hell guarded by Beelzebub himself.

Soul consuming.

Leaving his hair, my hands traveled to the hem of his shirt, slowly pulling it over his head before throwing it off to the side. I ran my fingers up his chest as he continued to kiss me, causing him to moan into my mouth with pleasure again. I paused when he went to the straps of my bathing suit, he was looking into my eyes for permission.

Was I really ready for this? Ready to give myself away to someone, especially when that someone was Draco Malfoy?

Yes, I was.

I nodded by head in approval, and his lips reclaimed mine before his hands worked on the strings that held my top up, until he had removed it and freed me of my constraints.

He picked me up and carried me, never once breaking our kiss, to the blanket that was lying on the floor.

And then, with every fiber of my being, I gave myself to Draco Malfoy.

Every last part of me.

*Runs and hides for cover while waving a white flag*

AN: Don't kill me! Think about it this way, if you do, you'll never get to know what happens next ;) I hope I don't make Hermione sound too repetitive, but remember that she is very confused at this point, and she's in the process of trying to sort out her thoughts and rationalize her actions. So… just click on that little review button (come on, you know you want to) and tell me what you think. Also tell me if you would like a real lemon or not. For future reference, I'm not big on lemons, but I'll write them if you guys want me to. So when you leave your review (hint hint ;) ) tell me if you would like lemons or not. I'll go by a majority vote, but I will have to up the rating if I do, so you'll know. Anyone who leaves a signed review will get a sneak peak.

Next Chapter: Hermione POV