Sorry for the lack of updates! The college process has been traumatically time-consuming. Incredibly so. Please enjoy & review (:
Take all the courage you have left
Wasted on fixing all the problems
That you made in your own head
But it was not your fault but mine
And it was your heart on the line
Hermione was exhausted. She wanted nothing more than a hot shower, the fluffy romance novel she borrowed from Harlow, and her bed. After climbing the stairs slowly, she gathered up her shower gear and headed to the bathroom. Draco saw Hermione leave before he flopped down on her bed. He let out a muffled sigh and felt his body relax into the soft fold of her sheets. It was a helluva a lot more comfortable than his own bed.
Draco lifted his head up an inch and looked at Hermione's bedside table. There was a book. Ruffling her damp hair, Hermione walked back into the bedroom. She felt so refreshed and happy, her body still warm from the hot shower. The first thing Hermione saw upon entering was Draco sitting in her bed. Then she noticed he was holding her romance novel.
"That's mine!" Hermione shouted and dropped her stuff, marching over to the Slytherin.
"Oh, this?" Draco nonchalantly asked and waved the book in the air. "It's quite good."
"Stop it! Give it back!" Hermione put her hands on her hips and glared at his smirk.
"C'mon Granger, I just got to a good part," Draco play-whined. He looked down at the page. "'Charity and Brock were trapped in the cabin for three months now. The amount of cold snow outside was so unbearable she feared staying trapped forever. Brock had announced his dislike of Charity from the start, and she didn't deny the feeling was mutual. She couldn't stand him. But after all this time, Charity couldn't ignore the attraction anymore — she wanted Brock, and she needed him now. Brock was in the kitchen, carving a turkey. Earlier in the day he shot it from the window, then stomped outside heroically to take his catch inside. Charity's mouth watered when she watched his firm muscles ripple with each movement. It was only seconds before she —'"
After a few second of reading, Hermione launched herself at Draco. She tackled him and grabbed at his arms, but he was too tall. Draco slid out from underneath her and rolled off the bed, walking around the room, reading and smirking widely. Hermione pushed him against the wall and wrestled it out of his hands as Draco continued to read and cackle.
"I said give it!" Hermione cried, and with one last effort, she grabbed the book from his hands.
"Aw Granger, no fair." Draco pouted and crossed his arms. "You don't like to share?"
"Don't touch my stuff again, Malfoy, or so help me." Her finger was centimeters from his nose. Hermione's wand was still by her bed, so she figured she didn't look as menacing as planned.
"Calm down, will you?" Draco growled. "Now do you mind walking away? You're standing on my bed."
Hermione looked down and realized beneath her feet were the sheets Draco used as his bed. She huffed and turned on her heel, book in hand, and plopped into her bed, and started to read.
"There's still a whole lot of the estate you didn't see yet." Harlow said when she took Hermione and Draco outside the next afternoon. In the morning the pair had slept in past breakfast, so Harlow burst into their room with her wand drawn. Draco heard her shout and jumped out his bed and nearly attacked her. Harlow blushed crimson and explained she was only worried about them.
"This place is enormous," Hermione breathed. She was walking behind Harlow on a path through the field of grapes. Clusters of violet grapes were budding from the vines and Hermione was tempted to reach out and touch one.
"What are we checking out now?" Draco asked, who was walking beside Harlow.
"The fermentation room," she replied. The trio reached the end of the field and looming above him Draco saw a huge open building, resembling a barn with wide open doors.
Harlow led them inside and started to point things out to them. Hermione saw a row of huge silver tanks, at least fifteen feet deep from the top opening. She followed Harlow up a flight of stairs that took them along a balcony overlooking the tanks.
"In these tanks the fermenting is done. Grape juice turns to alcohol when the yeast interacts with the sugars." Harlow explained, peering down into the tank.
"It looks like foam." Draco observed, staring into the stainless steel mass.
"It's the chemical reaction Malfoy," Hermione shot a look at him. "I thought you were decent at potions?"
"I am, thanks for wondering Granger," Draco gritted his teeth.
"Whoa there, calm down kids." Harlow's eyes were hard when she glanced at Hermione and Draco. "You can't fool around up here. If you fall in that's bad news."
"What happens?" Hermione asked timidly, peeking over the low railing.
"Carbon Dioxide is a byproduct of the reaction. You'd suffocate from a lack of oxygen." Harlow said, turning away from the tank. "Did you two hear that?"
"What?" Draco turned to look where Harlow was facing.
"That rustling …" Harlow whispered.
At that moment, three things happened in quick procession. A shadow passed in front of the door. Harlow and Draco whipped out their wands. Hermione wheeled around but the motion from Harlow's arm sent her tumbling into the tank.
"HERMIONE!" Harlow shrieked, dropping her wand. "Oh my God!"
Draco gripped the railing and looked down into the tank. Hermione was limp at the bottom of it, surrounded by the foam substance. "Granger, can you hear me?" His voice came hoarse.
Hermione stirred. She used her hands to help herself up to a sitting position. Then, Hermione took a deep breath. What she inhaled wasn't air. Hermione coughed and her hands flew to her throat. The carbon dioxide was too congested for her to breathe oxygen. Her eyes watered, and she croaked.
"Help!" Hermione's voice was cracked and pathetic. She looked up and saw equally pale Harlow and Draco staring down at her. Her vision wavered and a bright light popped in the left corner. More lights began dancing in front of her eyes.
"I need to go get Matt!" Harlow screamed and picked up her wand from the floor of the balcony. "Draco keep an eye on her!"
Draco felt his mouth go dry. He thought he heard Granger say something, but he looked down and she was still, slumped against a slopped wall of the tank. There was only one thing he could do now. He had to — wasn't it the only sensible thing to do? His took his wand from his pocket.
"Levicorpus." Draco said, his wand aimed at Hermione. She flew up in to the air as if someone strung a rope from her ankle to the ceiling. Draco tried angling his wand to get her out of the tank, but after his first attempts she would only bump the side of the tank. Draco let out a frustrated grunt and a shout of strung together curse words. He slowly levitated her out of the tank and felt something in the pit of his stomach lift clench as Hermione's feet skimmed the top of the tank.
Draco ran down the steps all the while keeping his eyes and wand trained on Hermione. She was hanging too far in the air for his reach. He angled his wand downward, and she came to the floor. Draco swore again under his breath and shoved his wand in his pocket, sliding two hands under Hermione. He pulled her against his chest and lifted her off the ground, carrying her outside.
Harlow was running faster than she ever had back to the fermentation room, Matt in tow. She saw Draco stumble out with Hermione in his arms and Harlow almost slammed to a stop.
"What happened? What's wrong with Hermione?" Matt rushed past Harlow to Draco. The younger blonde knelt in the grass and let Hermione roll out of his arms.
"Hermione, are you okay?" Harlow sank in the ground beside her and placed a hand on Hermione's forehead as Matt felt for her pulse.
"She needs oxygen," Matt said quickly, pushing a tablet into Hermione's mouth. Draco cringed when he saw Matt try to force it in her throat, knowing only that could help her now.
Three slow seconds passed before Hermione's brown eyes fluttered. She blinked a few times and Harlow and Matt sighed.
"Hermione, can you hear me?" Harlow murmured as she pushed Hermione's hair from her face.
Hermione nodded and tried to sit up.
"Draco, you got to her just in time. How did you—?" Matt turned and asked Malfoy. But all Matt saw of Draco was his form getting smaller in the distance before he disappeared in the fields.