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Chapter Eleven
"What... What am I doing here?" She knew she would have to explain to Narsissa but she didn't think she would have to explain to Draco. "Well, I thought that would be fairly obvious. I came to bring you back," she said in a voice she hoped would convey the fact that she missed him.
"Your boyfriend sent you to get his trainer back, how nice of him." Draco's tone was strong and confident.
"Harry is not my boyfriend. And he didn't send me, I came on my own." Her usually strong voice was weak and vulnerable.
"I only returned to the house to pack some things, the trial is in two months and we will probably lose the house. We want to save some family air looms. So go back and tell Potter I will be there to start his training in three days." Draco turned to leave but was stopped by a hand grabbing his arm.
Realizing that she needed to be bolder, she took a deep breath.
"Draco, I missed you. That's why I came. I wanted you to come back," she said, taking a step closer to him. She was looking deep into his grey eyes, trying hard to transfer all the feelings she had for him through their eyes. After a few seconds, his eyes softened a bit. She took this as a good sign and took another step closer. They were now standing toe to toe and she was still looking into his eyes.
"Did you miss me?" she said in as sweet a voice as she could muster.
She saw his lips turn up slightly as he rolled his eyes.
"Sure, Granger, I missed you," he said in a sing song voice as he leaned in to kiss her lightly on the lips.
He grabbed her hand and led her through a flowery path. She was looking at all the flowers but couldn't put a name to any of them, which was saying something because she had spent summer after summer in her mother's flower garden. She figured they must be magical breeds.
"Come on, I want to show you something." (Come sounds like he's commanding her in a really creepy way.)
She walked silently fully content to have her fingers twined through Draco's as he led her through the grounds to his favorite spot. She was drawn back into the present when he suddenly stopped. She looked around to see a beautiful flowing waterfall that dropped into a crystal clear pool of water. She could see that at the bottom of the pool were hundreds of Knuts and Sickles settled on the bottom of the lake. There were a few though that were hovering an inch or so above the water.
"This is the pool of dreams," he explained, "my great-great-grandfather also named Draco Malfoy created the pool and since then generation after generation of Malfoy's have thrown a coin into the pool and made a wish. Legend says that when the wish you make comes true, the coin floats to the top."
Hermione was staring at the pool. The water was so shallow and so clear you could almost make out the dates on the coins.
She absent mindedly sat on the bank of the water to get a closer look. He stood back and watched as she dipped a single finger into the water. He saw the ripples that expanded from the place her finger entered.
Hermione was still not used to magical households, and simple magical objects still amazed her sometimes, but this Pool of Dreams sounded like something out of a fairy tale.
She turned her face to Draco and, with a smile, he came to sit beside her on the plush grass. He handed her a coin. She closed her eyes tight and made a wish and threw the coin into the water. But almost as soon as the coin hit the surface of the water and began to sink it floated back to the top. She smiled a huge smile and ignored Draco's questioning looks.
For the rest of the day, they sat and talked about everything and nothing. He showed her most of the grounds, the stables, and the gardens. They only returned to the house when he knew Narcissa would be asleep.
As they walked through the halls of the house, he explained the portraits and introduced her to some of the friendly ones. As they made their way toward the hallway their rooms were in, she started to feel a little nervous. He hadn't kissed her since she told him she missed him. He hadn't been distant but not as affectionate as she would have liked and she just couldn't read his face.
When they came to their doors, his on the left and hers on the right he pulled her toward his door. She gave him a skeptical look as if to silently say 'don't even think about it'.
He laughed at the look he received. "You'll need something to sleep in, wont you Granger?" he said with a smirk on his face.
She nodded not knowing what to think of the smirk but followed him in. He released her hand, leaving her standing alone in the middle of his room while he made his way over to a closet in the middle of the room. He instantly grabbed a tee shirt and a pair of pajama pants. He walked over to her and handed her only the shirt.
She knew he meant for her to only sleep in the shirt and at home or in the girls' dorm that wouldn't have been a problem, but here she didn't want to show any more skin than necessary. She didn't want to give him any ideas. She looked at him with her signature look that usually told Harry or Ron to stop fooling around and held out her hand.
He made a pouty face and handed her the pants. She turned on the spot and walked directly to the door she thought was the door to the hallway, but as she entered, she realized she had found the bathroom. She walked in and closed the door. She took a minute to compose herself, changed her cloths and looked in the mirror. She was grateful once again as the mirror altered the cloths to fit her. She looked up at her reflection and fixed her hair, took a deep breath and walked out of the room. She saw Draco lying in bed already in matching pajama pants and no shirt, reading a book.
Draco glanced up at her over his book and looked her up and down. He noted the curves of her hips and the awkward way she was just standing there. He moved his eyes back down to the book.
It was only a matter of seconds that he heard a 'humph' sound coming from the girl in his room. It reminded him much of Professor Umbridge and he had to suppress a smile as Hermione spoke up.
"Well aren't you going to come say good night," she said with one hand on her hip and a bit of attitude in her voice.
He closed the book and scooted his legs so they were hanging off the bed and he sat up. He patted the bed next to him. When he saw her face go hard, he stopped playing around.
"Relax, I just want to talk," he said, looking into her eyes. Coming out of the bathroom, she told herself that she was just going to say good night and then go into the spare bedroom. She found herself standing there looking at him waiting for her to come sit and she found her resolve crumbling.
She walked over to the bed and determined that talking was all they would be doing. As she sat down, she heard the boy next to her laugh. She snapped her head around to glare at him with every intention of telling him off, but she saw that he was smiling at her.
"Granger I said relax I only want to talk okay, you have nothing to worry about. I won't even kiss you unless you beg for it," he said giving her a playful nudge to loosen her up.
"You know I won't beg, right?" she said with a smile on her face. It was at that moment that she realized that this boy had been nothing but nice, honest, and gentlemanly today and she had no reason not to trust him now. After all its not as if this is the first time they had been in the same bed. She suddenly blushed as she remembered that night. She snapped herself out of it as he lay back down. She grabbed one of the six plush pillows on his enormous bed and put it on the other side of the bed near his feet so they were looking at each other. He lifted a finger and traced it under the bottom of her foot. Hermione was extremely ticklish, so she yanked her foot back. He, in response, took one strong hand and wrapped it around her other ankle and began his assault on her other foot. By the end of their battle, they were both winded and panting. Her head was lying on his stomach and his head was on her pillow. They laid for a minute not looking at each other but content to lay in silence. It was a yawn protruding from Draco's mouth that snapped Hermione from her stupor. She lifted her head off his stomach, which made Draco look up.
"I think it's time I get to my own room," she said still lying with only her head off the bed.
"Why don't you sleep here, with me?" he had been hoping they would just fall asleep and he wouldn't have to ask.
When he saw the look on her face, he knew she had the wrong idea.
"Sleep Hermione. Just sleep I swear," he said in the voice that always made her melt. She smiled and moved to get under his blankets.
He scooted up to lay next to her and got under the covers. He saw her close her eyes. Hhe knew she couldn't possibly be asleep so he leaned over and whispered in her ear.
"Good night beautiful." She smiled and the smile stayed on her face as her breath evened out and she drifted off. He sat up and called for Doop and told him some things to get for Hermione and to place them in the bathroom. He took his pillow folded it under his head and laid there looking at the beautiful girl in his bed until he drifted off.
The next morning Hermione woke up around eight and, although they had gone to sleep on separate sides of the bed and not touching, she woke up with her head on his shoulder and one leg over his body. He had woven one of his legs through hers and was still sleeping soundly.
Hermione laid her head back down on his shoulder. She couldn't remember a time she had been more comfortable or better rested. She sat up again after a few minutes of trying to align her breathing with his.
She looked around his room and decided she needed a shower and she had been hoping she would get a chance to use his waterfall shower. She carefully made her way out of bed and over to the bathroom door. She opened it slowly, thinking it might creak, but it didn't, she was sure there was some magical solution to so simple a problem.
Walking into the bathroom, she smiled when she saw a note from Draco.
Good morning beautiful,
I wanted to show you around the house today. Mother is gone for the day so we don't have to worry about her. Enjoy my shower and get cleaned up. We have a busy day ahead of us. I was hoping you would help me pack a bit later after we have some fun. I have taken the liberty of having an outfit laid out for you on your bed. See you soon!!!
P.S. Try and let me sleep a bit, I am not a morning person.
She giggled as she took a look around his bathroom. There were a few noticeable changes about the room. For one, next to his green towel now hung a red one and, for another, next to his sink where one toothbrush hung from the wall was now two.
She smiled; he was making room for her here. She started taking off the tee shirt and pants he had given her. She made her way to the waterfall trickling in the far corner of the bathroom.
She made the shower, if you could even call it that, last as long as possible. The shampoo that came from a spigot in the wall smelled so good she washed her hair twice. She sat in the pool of warm water and shaved her legs with the magical razor that appeared and by the time she was ready to get out her finger tips and toes were pruned and she was sure she had never been so clean. She wrapped the scarlet towel around her twice, grabbed her cloths and peered out the door and into his bedroom. Draco was still asleep and she wanted to keep it that way, at least until she got on some decent cloths. She tiptoed the length of the room and if she had turned around she would have seen Draco's eye open just enough to get a good look at her in the towel before she left the room.
When she entered the room, she saw what he had laid out for her. He had to be joking. She looked down at the tiny bikini. It was a deep green, and she looked over and saw a little pair of white shorts and a tight looking green tank-top.
She glared but she knew she had nothing else to wear and she might as well play along with whatever it was he had planned for the day. She slipped on the bikini and looked in the mirror. As she peered at herself, she was grateful that the mirrors altered clothing for the bottoms were a little too large and the top was too tight. But now it fit perfectly. She slipped on the shorts and tank-top and once again turned to the mirror. They fit pretty well in the first place so not much altering was needed. That's when she looked down to see green flip-flops. She slipped them on and made her way back to Draco's room.
He was no longer in bed, but she could hear the shower going in the bathroom. She sat on his bed and ran her fingers through her hair. It was a matter of minutes before he came through the door with the emerald green towel around his waist. He was still dripping from head to toe and had a smile plastered on his face.
"We match," he said indicating his towel and her shirt.
She smirked and rolled her eyes.
"How did you sleep?"She wanted to know if he slept as good as she did.
He came to sit next to her on the bed and looked down at her.
"Eh, I would have slept better if this girl wasn't snoring all night."
She was mortified. No one had ever told her she snored. But at the look on her face Draco began to laugh.
"Relax beautiful I was just kidding you sleep like an angel." She blushed at his comment, but he just stood up and walked to a cabinet and grabbed his bathing suit and a tee shirt. He went into the bathroom without another word.
She felt her stomach growl; she realized she hadn't eaten a proper meal in two days.
He came out of the room, walked right up to her, slid his arms around her and kissed her. It wasn't a long kiss just a soft brushing of lips. It was the simplicity of the kiss that made Hermione melt. She didn't even hear her stomach grumble louder than the first time.
He chuckled, "Breakfast I think," he said, walking to the door.
They made their way down to the kitchen. It took much longer then she thought it would because each and every door they passed Draco took the time to show her what it contained. She saw two studies, an enormous library bigger than that of Hogwarts, and she also looked into five different spare bedrooms. She saw the nursery that Draco said he was raised in.
They made their way down a large staircase and took a sharp left into the kitchen. As soon as there foot crossed the threshold, Doop appeared. Draco ignored the elf and made his way to the small table in the kitchen. She could tell by the look of the kitchen that it was for the use of the elves and not many humans actually ever came down here. Coming up next to Draco, she took a seat to his right.
"I will take my eggs scrambled today and I would like bacon, not burnt this time," he said ordering around the elf as if here were a slave. "And bring pumpkin juice, tea and coffee to the table as well." Turning to Hermione, he motioned for her to make her order as well... she was appalled by the tone Draco had taken with the elf and if she was any less hungry she would have insisted on cooking both meals herself but in the interest of time and hunger she got off her chair and lowered herself to the elf's level.
"Do you make pancakes, Doop?" she said in a sweet voice that she would use if talking to a child. She saw Doop's eyes glance back at Draco and she heard him chuckle.
"Y-yes, Miss, I can make y-you anything you like, Miss." As Doop said this, she heard terror in his voice.
"That will be all Doop." Was all Draco said before the elf began speeding around the kitchen.
She stood and glared at him. He simply chuckled again.
"You are a strange bird Granger." As soon as she opened her mouth to recite her speech on elf rights from S.P.E.W, he interrupted her.
"Doop would you please give Mrs. Granger some bacon as well," he said in as nice a voice as he could muster.
She smiled. He was really trying to make her happy. They eat breakfast together, talking, and each time Draco talked to the elf he was as polite as any Malfoy could be. After breakfast, they spent hours exploring the house and going through secret passage ways.
Hermione was semi taken aback that he was happily showing her all the Malfoy secrets and taking her through passages that were password protected. Passages that she was sure his father would kill her if he knew she knew about them. She saw passages that led into and out of dungeon cells. Ones that opened up into Malfoy's office and even one that lead you right off the property.
It was around three that Draco lead her down to what would soon become her favorite place in the manor.
He led her through the dungeons.
"Draco please tell me why we're back down here, you know this creeps me out." She was having such a good day with him, she really didn't mind following him about but the dungeon was the only place that gave her the creeps.
All the way at the end of the corridor, he led her down a narrow stair well and strangely the further down she got the brighter it became. The rough black walls were becoming smoother black and white speckled ones until the black faded and they were white marble. She reached the bottom step. She looked around and saw the reason he had gotten her a baiting suit. She was standing in the grass of an enormous indoor courtyard. She looked at him and smiled.
There was a picnic basket set up on the sand. She looked around the beach. The water was crystal clear and she saw hundreds of tiny fish. She turned around to see Draco taking his shirt off. He gave her a wink and ran toward the water.
She in turn took off her shirt careful that the bikini was still in place, then her shorts and walked over to the water's edge. She bent down to feel the temperature only to be hit with a title wave from a laughing Draco. Now soaked in the cool water she began to swim toward him, determined to get him back for splashing her. She reached him, but he had swum to a depth that she could not stand at. He, being taller than she was, could stand on his toes. He grabbed her around the waist and picked her up high above his head and threw her like she was a beach ball.
This continued for quite a few minutes before Hermione gave up. Together they swam to shore to eat some lunch.
Hermione opened the picnic basket and pulled out a platter of sandwiches. They sat and talked on the beach for quite a long time. Hermione felt the sun beating down her. She knew it was just a ceiling like the one at Hogwarts. it wasn't real, but it sure felt real.
He laid back, claiming he was going to 'get some sun'. With Draco laying back with his eyes closed, it gave Hermione the chance she was waiting for to really admire his body. She looked once again at the maze of scars that circled his hard chest. She looked up at his face and for the thousandth time in the last two days wondered how they had ended up here. What series of circumstances brought the Slytherin prince and the bookish Gryffindor together?
Together, were they even together? What was this they were doing? And for a second she wondered how many girls he had brought down here.
"Draco?" she asked determined to have that conversation. But suddenly she realized that it was probably because of her and Harry that he hadn't made things official. So as he turned his head to answer her she came up with a back up question.
"Didn't you need me to help you pack?"
He smiled at her. "I asked Doop nicely if he would take care of it. But we should be getting back soon. I wouldn't want Potter to have a heart attack and send out the Order."
As she looked at his face and his smile, she thought about all the times she had seen him scowl. He had come so far. She took his hand as he led her back up the stairs and through the maze of hallways and eventually back to his room. When she entered his bedroom, she saw that indeed all of his belongings were packed up into trunks and cases.
One by one they passed them through the shimmering wall and into the room beyond. Once all were through Hermione spoke up.
"We should go find Harry," she said as they made their way to the opening to the Black house.
"Draco, Harry doesn't know about us," she said quietly as they entered the library.
"And I don't intend to tell him love." Truth be told Draco was torn, he didn't want to hide their relationship from anyone but even more than that he did not want to have to deal with Harry Potter, he was determined to make a life for himself among these people.
As she led him through the halls, he noticed almost immediately that the house was almost identical to Aunt Bella's.
She led him down the stairs and as she turned to go into the kitchen she felt a hand grab her.
Startled she turned to see Draco looking down at her.
"I don't know when the next chance I will get to do this will be." And with that he leaned down and kissed her. He took her arm and snaked it up around his neck. As the kiss deepened, she found herself pressed softly against the wall. She would have liked the kiss to go on forever but it was violently interrupted.
"Blood traitors!!!! Vile, disgusting vermin!!! Living in my house!!!" Draco giggled and took a step to stand in front of the portrait.
"Ah, Great Aunt Walburga, we haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting." He bowed curtly to her and Hermione looked on in horror.
"And who are you dear," she spoke in the same curt voice Draco had.
"Draco Malfoy, ma'am, the only son of Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black."
"Oh thank Merlin, someone respectable to carry on the Black name."
"Well, I, for one, know that my mother would be happy to see you if you would like to pay her a visit, I do believe you have a portrait at Malfoy manor."
"I do believe I do, but alas I must not leave my house unprotected from blood traitors and Mudbloods!"
"I can promise you, miss, that I will watch over your house. After all, I am a Black." Draco flashed his trade mark grin and Hermione saw Sirius' mother soften.
"Okay, a short visit then." She smiled at Draco then glared at Hermione and walked out of her frame.
Hermione looked at Draco in shock. "You… you made her leave. That is amazing! That crazy old bat has been threatening me for years."
Draco said nothing but leaned into continue their kiss. After a minute or so, she pulled away.
Someone must have heard her screaming why had no one come? She thought to herself.
"Let's go." They each took a deep breath and released each other's hands as they stepped into the kitchen.
Hermione almost had a heart attack. Harry was sitting on the floor with his eyes wide open and black. Clutching his Occlumency book in his hand.
She tried for several minutes to talk, shake, and prod him out of his trance, all the while ignoring Draco's shouts to leave him be.
All at once several things happened. Harry's closed his black eyes and opened them again. Hermione stepped back in horror because the eyes that opened were not black but the red slits of voldemort.
Hermione felt a shock run through her as Harry raised his hand and pointed his finger at her. She lost consciousness and fell to the floor
Draco pulled out his wand and stunned Harry.
Harry slumped and Draco ran to Hermione's side. Hermione was crying hysterically on the floor where Draco had seen her fall. He ran over to her and pulled her into a hug. She cried for several minutes.
"Is- is he s-safe," she said, trying to catch her breath.
"I think so, I stunned him." She crawled over to Harry's sleeping form as Draco muttered "Enervate".
"Harry wake up!! HARRY!!!!" she tried desperately to wake him up.
Suddenly, after a few seconds she saw Harry's green eyes open briefly before he fluttered back into unconsciousness
Earlier that day
Hogwarts classes would be starting soon, in three weeks. Harry was sitting in a creaky chair in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Hermione had been gone two days and he had to admit to himself that he missed her. Sitting alone in the kitchen, thoughts were flooding through his head. He was feeling conflicted. Ginny had spent the last week shamelessly flirting with him every chance she got. Ron and Sara had disappeared for most of the last week. He had only seen them for meals and because Hermione had been acting so odd and then run off to bring Malfoy back. Harry and Ginny had been spending all their time together. Until today. Today was the day that Ron, Ginny, and Sara were to go home and spend some time with the Weasleys at their newly improved and secured Burrow. He was now alone and finally had time to think.
Hermione and he were not together but every time he kissed her he felt a strange feeling overcome him. He wasn't quite sure what it was although it did not compare to the feelings that he used to feel for Ginny. He felt that he owed it to himself to explore his options. The year he had spent dating Ginny had been one of the happiest years of his life. But Ginny did not seem to see how dangerous life was for someone close to the Boy Who Lived. She was naive and stubborn and insisted on throwing herself in between Harry and any danger that he faced.
Hermione, however, seemed aware of all the danger Harry would face and was throwing herself into studies on how to make him more powerful. She had even gone to Malfoy manor to bring Draco back to train him.
Harry shook his head determined not to mope around like a lonely fool. He reached for the text he had received last year from Dumbledore 'Occlumency: Block Your Mind from Ann Un-Friendly Foe' andflipped to Chapter Three: Clearing Your Mind.
As he began rereading the text for the umpteenth time, he began to fall into a trance. What started out as flashes of images turned into voices. Harry only focused harder and after a minute things came into focus. He could barely see in the dark dismal chamber, but he could hear perfectly. It was his hearing that alerted him to the hissing sound coming from behind him. He pivoted and saw a familiar large snake slither past him toward a door leading into a room that was only slightly better lit than the first.
To an ordinary person, a few things would seem odd here. A person might be somewhat surprised that the snake did not acknowledge their presence. They might also find it strange that the snake's hissing was as understandable as any humans voice would be.
To Harry, who had traveled through the memories of Tom Riddles diary and spoken to snakes at the zoo, it was not as shocking as it would be for an ordinary person.
"On my way, Master." The snake hissed, passing Harry's legs and making her way into the second room.
Harry followed the snake known as Nagini through the stone archway and into what looked to be a medieval throne room. He looked around to see that a man was pacing in the corner, but as the snake approached he stopped and turned toward the snake.
"What is going on in there, Nagini? Why has no one come to me? Why has no one told me how she is?" The man barked at the snake. Harry was shocked to sense sadness in the voice of the man he recognized as a younger Voldemort.
"She, Master, is not doing well for her magical core has been dimmed by the child," the snake spoke clearly and without emotion.
Voldemort's face visibly hardened at the snakes words and tone. "And what of the child."
"The child has been born healthy and powerful, my Lord, and has been moved as you requested."
The man motioned his hand to dismiss the snake as Harry heard the snake speak again." My Lord, the Mistress has requested your presence."
Harry was looking intently at the man sitting in the throne. He noticed that he looked more human than he did today. His eyes were not the red snake like slits they are today but normal brown eyes that looked like he hadn't slept in a week.
He saw the man stand and make his way past Harry and through the door Harry had come through moments before. Harry turned to follow him but was shaken by two invisible hands on his shoulders. He heard his name being shouted as if it were being shouted from across a Quidditch field.
"Harry wake up!! HARRY!!!!" As the seconds wore on, the voice became clearer. He recognized it as Hermione. But as soon as the world of Voldemort blurred and the world of Hermione became clear, he was once again being thrown into unconsciousness.
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