((Props to my awesome beta LynZann!! You rock!!))

Chapter 4::
Just a Leaf

"Place your hands here, to start off with."

Hermione fought the urge to giggle as Draco straddled the broom behind her, his hands covering her own as he placed them in the right position on the handle. He was so close she could feel his warm torso pressing against her back. Her giggles caught in her throat as his scent filled her mind. In all of the years she had known him she had never noticed that he smelled so… tantalizing. Just the mere knowledge of that sent her off balance for a second. She really didn't need any form of attraction right now—especially to Malfoy of all people.

Sudden discomfort filled her and one of his hands lifted and pressed against her stomach. It was a pleasant tingling feeling that sent her senses into overdrive; hence, her discomfort. "Uh, Malfoy?"

"Hm?" He asked as he increased pressure on her stomach; his torso pushing against her back and causing her to bend forward.

"What, praytell, do you think you are doing?" Her voice was low, breathy; a fact that infuriated her to no end.

"What do you think I'm doing, Granger?" Draco asked his mouth next to her ear.

Hermione turned her head and raised her eyebrows at him questioningly.

She watched as his eyes rolled and a smirk lit his face. "Oh, please, Granger. This is not a seduction. I'm just trying to get you to bend forward. You know, so you can prepare to kick off?"

The disbelieving snort that came out of her nose would have embarrassed her if it hadn't been towards Malfoy. "Then why didn't you bloody well just tell me that?"

His body was no longer against hers and his hands disappeared from view. Turning her head, she saw that he had merely stepped back. "You asked for me to help, so I was helping. No need to get your knickers in a twist."

"Oh, trust me," she was proud of her voice; it was strong and full of confidence. "You would never have any effect on my knickers."

He raised his eyebrows, but didn't comment. Instead, he walked to stand in front of her, "Right, now just tilt forward and kick off from the ground hard."

Letting out the breath of air she hadn't known she'd been holding, she prepared herself to kick off. Her knees shook as she bent over. Closing her eyes, she kicked off from the ground as hard as she could. At first she wasn't sure anything had happened. It still felt as if her feet were on the ground. Sighing, she figured it just didn't work and opened her eyes to ask Malfoy what she did wrong. What she saw caused her heart to stop beating her mind to freeze.

Draco laughed as he saw her face contort and her mouth open up into an inaudible scream. She was only five feet off the ground and yet she looked beyond horrified. Shaking his head, he stepped forward, lifting his hand to rest it on her quivering knee. He might hate the muggleborn, but he couldn't stand to see a woman close to tears and scared out of her mind. If he was anything at all it was a gentleman when it was appropriate.

"Calm down, Granger."

She could hear the humor in his voice. "I'm going to fall, I'm going to fall, I'm going to fall."

"You're not going to fall." A sudden sensation pulled at his heart. It recognized it as concern, but brushed it off as a reflex. "Even if you did I'm standing right here. You wouldn't hit the ground."

Hermione froze, distracted by his words. "You'd catch me?"

"Sure." He shrugged. "Besides, it wouldn't look good for me if you fell from extreme heights to your death. They'd very well try and blame me."

She let out a nervous laugh, "Yes, and we certainly wouldn't want that."

Draco was about to retort, but stop when he noticed the look on her face. She was serious. At first he had thought she was kidding. How very odd that she would be concerned about him.

"Malfoy?"

What exactly did it mean, if she was concerned about him?

"Uh, Malfoy?"

Did he even care if she was?

"DRACO!"

Her scream snapped him out of his thoughts, snapping his head to her face. "What?"

"What now?" Her voice shook, making her sound younger then she was.

Chuckling, he grabbed his broom and flew up to meet her. Once his body was next to hers, he sat back, taking his hands off the broom. Hermione watched with disbelief. She could barely stand to sit on the broom while clutching it for dear life. Sitting on it while it's off of the ground without holding on didn't even seem logical! Adjusted her sweaty hands, she turned her head in his direction and waited.

"How high did you want to go?" He asked all business.

Looking to the ground, she tried to think. It would seem that being up in the air was not only scary, but mind numbing as well. She was already five feet in the air. Why go higher?

"Granger, sometime tonight would be nice." Draco put his hands behind his head in a reclining position.

She made a quick decision, knowing she'd probably regret it later. "I want to go higher."

Draco smirked, "How high?"

Hermione turned a wicked (and to Draco, an extremely sexy) smile his way, "As high as you can take me."

For a moment or two Draco was dazed by that smile. It played tricks on his mind and did something strange to his heart. Trying to collect himself, he looked away and counted down from ten. His heart began to slow and his muddled thoughts realigned themselves. Once he was sure he could think properly, he looked back up slowly. He wanted to be sure that smile was gone. Much to his relief, it was; a confused and concerned expression taking its place.

"Malfoy?" She looked into his clear, crystalline eyes, "Are you feeling all right?"

Draco nodded his head, possibly a little too erratically. "Of course I'm all right, Granger. Why wouldn't I be?"

She slightly recoiled from his venomous voice, not liking how he went from pleasant to rude so quickly. "You just looked wounded for a second."

Smirking, he lowered himself to the ground, "I think we should postpone the flying lesson for another sleepless night, Granger."

Still confused, she nodded her head. "Ok. But, I have just one request."

He feigned boredom, "What now, Granger?"

She smiled sheepishly, blushing slightly, "Can you please tell me how to get down?"

Caught off guard, Draco felt the dire urge to laugh at himself. How could he have been so bloody daft? Here she was, floating five feet off the ground and with no idea what she was doing. Of course she would need help. Instead of giving in to such a bizarre notion, however, he just smirked and told her how to lower herself to the ground. "Just lean forward more and you'll lower down. When you feel your toes touch the ground, dismount the broom."

Doing as she was told, she felt herself get closer to the ground. The minute her foot hit, she lifted her leg to hop off the broom. Unfortunately, she misjudged the distance and stumbled, falling backwards with nothing to grab onto to save herself from hitting the ground. A gasp flew out of her lungs and she felt all her weight falling back. Just as she registered the thought of her receiving yet another disgustingly large bruise, she closed her eyes for the pain.

Nothing happened.

Instead, she felt a pair of strong arms circle her waist from behind, catching her before she fell. Shocked, her eyes flew open and looked at the face above her. It appeared that she wasn't the only one who was shocked by his actions, for his face held the same surprise that she was sure hers did. Despite the fact that this was probably a very awkward looking embrace, Hermione couldn't bring herself to move. Draco couldn't seem to stop looking into her deep, soulful eyes. All he could think about as he stared into her chocolate orbs was how sad and disturbed they look .There was something painful and sad beneath those eyes and he wanted to know what it was. Nothing should be able to disturb such a pure soul like that.

Realizing the thoughts that just flew through his head, Draco snapped himself out of it and quickly lifted Hermione to her feet. Taking a step away from her, he looked everywhere except for at her face. Seconds passed, neither of them knowing what to say. It's not every day that you spend an hour in the middle of the night with your sworn enemy. It's even more abnormal that it would end in one person holding the other.

Clearing her throat, Hermione finally broke the awkward silence, "Well, uh, thanks for the help. You should probably get some sleep. Long day tomorrow with classes and all."

He frowned, "Me? What about you? You're the one with bags under your eyes. If either of us needs sleep it's you.

Sighing, she tried to think of a way to explain without giving anything away. "I haven't been sleeping well. Stress with this being our last year and all."

Draco could tell that she was lying. What he couldn't tell was whether or not she just didn't want him to know, or if it was something she was keeping from everybody. Deciding to not question her on it, he said, "Well then, what are you planning on doing through the night?"

Hermione smiled at his question, "Are you asking me because you care, or are you trying to weasel me out to filch?"

Draco just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "I'm not a snitch."

Hermione gave him a disbelieving look. She, in fact, knew that he was a snitch. After all, he had snitched on her, Harry, and Ron one more than one occasion.

He noticed her look and sighed. "Fine," he gave in with a huff, "I'm a snitch. But, I wasn't planning on giving you up to Filch tonight. Besides, I'd get in trouble too. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly out here with some form of permission. In fact," he decided to spill the fact he knew would convince her he was serious, "it's against my probation of sorts. I'm not allowed to break any rules. If I break rules, I'm out and off to Azkaban."

Hermione watched his eyes as he spoke. When people would say you can tell the truth about someone by looking into their eyes, Hermione never believed them. However, from the moment she was told she was going to die she paid closer attention to the little things in life. And it's true, if you know what to look for; it's really easy to see the real person beneath the mask. What was hiding behind Draco's mask? She wasn't sure yet, but it wasn't the act he was putting forth.

Though, despite all that, she could tell he was telling the truth. So, there wouldn't be any harm in him knowing what she was going to do through the night. "Well, I was just going to sit by the lake."

He couldn't keep the skepticism off of his face, "Sit by the lake? Why would you voluntarily do that?"

"Because it's one of the most peaceful things you can do at night," she responded honestly.

"I don't understand." And, he really didn't.

Sighing, she scrambled for the way to describe what she was trying to say. How does one put something so beautiful and calming into words? "You see," she scratched the back of her neck and looked around.

When she spotted a crumbling leaf on the ground, she bent over to pick it up. If she couldn't tell him, she would show him the best way she could. "It's like this leaf."

Draco wrinkled his forehead in confusion. He couldn't understand her analogies. "It's just a leaf."

Hermione let a small, sad smile lift up her lips. She couldn't blame him for not understanding. It took her receiving a death sentence to understand it herself. "It's only just a leaf if you let it be."

Frustrated, he shook his head, "You're not making any bloody sense."

Her eyes turned soft as she pulled her wand out from her jeans pocket. Closing her hand over the leaf, she felt it crumble within her palm, "Everything in the world is in transition. There's more than meets the eyes."

Lifting her wand, she waved it over the hand clutching the dry leaf. A white light shined within her palm, catching Draco's eyes as he watched bemused. As she opened up her hand, the leaf no longer sat in her palm. In its place was a rose; one that Draco had never seen before. It was a darker red than the regular roses his mother had scattered around the house. Those roses were meant to liven up the place; to make it homier. These seemed to be meant to darken up the mood. But, despite its darker petals and black center, it was beautiful in its own way, he supposed.

Hermione lifted the rose head with her finger tips and held it out in front of her, angled towards Draco. "Me sitting beneath the tree is like that leaf appeared. To normal eyes, it's just a quiet place that holds nothing but boredom. But, to different eyes," she grabbed his hand and sat the rose in his palm, "It can be the most beautiful and wonderful place in the world."

As he stared at the rose now sitting in his palm, Hermione smiled again and walked away. Making sure the map was in her back pocket and broom in her hand, she headed towards her tree. She knew he wouldn't get it. It's almost impossible for someone with everything ahead of them to see. If someone's world suddenly got cut away, it's easier to see. After all, the world seems so much smaller and so much more precious. Eventually, he would notice that she had walked away. Knowing him, he would just shrug and drop the rose before he went back to his common room. If he did, she would pick it up on her way back to her room. If he didn't he would notice that the rose head won't die. It would last forever; even after she died.

Draco continued to stare at the delicate rose in his hand, Granger's words repeating themselves in his head. No matter how many times he analyzed it he still couldn't understand. To him, it was all the same. Just a dumb leaf that crumbled easily. Sure, she transfigured it into a rose. Anyone could do that though! Snapping his head up, he had meant to ask her to explain herself. When he saw she was already clear across the grounds, he felt like an idiot. For all he knew she had said that to keep him thinking for days and days.

'Well, too bad for you, Granger!' He thought, his smirk returning. 'I won't think about this ever again!'

Turning around, he headed back to his common room, the rose still in his palm. He might not want to think about it again, but he also couldn't bring himself to drop the rose. It was dark and lonely; just like he was.

As Draco reached the doors without looking back, Hermione sat beneath her tree. Had anyone been looking, they would've noticed the tears falling from her eyes. During the day she had to keep it together; crying would show everyone that something was wrong. She just wasn't ready for explanations. Night time, beneath her tree by the lake, she didn't have to be so calm. She could cry without anyone seeing.

Pointing her eyes towards the starry sky, she couldn't stop herself from whispering into the wind, "Please," her voice caught, emotion thick in the sound, "Save me."

Deep down she knew… no one was listening.

((I'm trying something a little different with this story, so I hope you all like! Please review!))