Let Me Help You
DracoxHermione
Rated NC-17
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters from the franchise. That honor belongs to JK Rowling
Let Me Help You
Chapter 7
Lunch hour arrived and Hermione headed her way up to the Room of Requirement. However just as she passed by the portrait of the Fat Lady, it swung open and Harry stepped out. She was startled when she felt a hand come down on her shoulder and she gasped and spun around quickly.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed surprised, hand over her heart. "Don't do that, you scared me!"
Harry grinned and scratched the back of his head and said, "Sorry, Hermione. I just saw you and wanted to know where you were going. It's lunchtime, so let's go to the Great Hall and get something to eat."
Hermione thought of a quick excuse and said, "Actually I was just going to study for a bit. And I can't do that in the Great Hall."
"Oh, well will you be there for dinner?"
"Of course."
"Okay then," Harry said before reaching up and taking a strand of the brunette's less bushy hair. He twirled it in his fingers for a moment before saying, "I'll see you in Trelawny's class then?"
Hermione made a less than enthusiastic sound, making Harry laugh before he let go of her hair and walked off. The girl waited until Harry was out of sight before hurrying off to the Room of Requirement, happy to see the door appear as she walked up to the wall it would usually appear on. Opening the door she slipped inside and closed it, hearing it disappear behind her as she looked around.
Instead of the piles of clutter than was in the Room of Requirement the last time she was there, it looked like the inside of a French café. And in the middle the room was a simple round table with a rose sitting in a thin vase in the middle of it. There were two chairs and in one of them Draco sat waiting for her while reading a book. Walking up to the table Hermione cleared her throat and said, "Hello, Draco."
Draco looked up and gave Hermione a smile before saying, "Nice to see you made it here with no issues. I was certain the Weaslette would pester you relentlessly until lunch."
"Well as you can see, I made it. And can't you call Ginny something nicer?"
"That is as nice as I will get."
Hermione sighed and sat down across from Draco, before looking at the empty plate in front of her. Turning her brown eyes to grey she asked, "So what is for lunch? It is obviously French cuisine from what I could gather from the atmosphere."
The blond boy chuckled and waved his hand over their plates, food appearing on their dishes. With a smile he said, "This is the appetizer, Bruschetta de Flageolets."
She didn't know why, but hearing Draco say the name of the appetizer with a perfect French accent made her blush. Fighting it away she picked up her fork and knife to eat some of her bruschetta. Hermione knew that bruschetta could be picked up with one's hands, but this one looked like it could get messy, so she opted for using her utensils. Looking up at the boy sitting across from her, she saw he too was using his eating utensils. Putting a piece of the appetizer in her mouth, Hermione couldn't stop the moan of pleasure at the taste that erupted in her mouth. She had never tasted bruschetta this good before; it was simply divine for just a simple appetizer.
Unbeknownst to Hermione, as she had her eyes closed while savoring the taste, Draco was staring at her in shock. He had never thought that such a pleasurable sound could come from the goody two shoes Gryffindor's throat; it had completely caught him off guard. Blinking a few times he also began to eat, glad that Hermione hadn't made another sound as she continued eating. His body almost wanted to react to the sound and he didn't need that. They both continued to eat their appetizers in silence until their plates were clear of any food.
"That was delicious," Hermione said dabbing her mouth with the black cloth that she had placed on her lap earlier.
Draco smiled and said, "I'm glad you think so. Now it's time for the main dish for our lunch."
Waving his hand once again the dirty dishes cleared and was replaced by clean ones. Draco snapped his fingers and the plates were then filled with a delicious looking pasta dish. Grinning at how Hermione let out a gasp in awe he said, "This is Crevettes à la Provençale. It is one of my absolute favorites and I hope you like it."
The brunette grinned up at the blond before digging in, savoring the delicious taste of the food that Draco was treating her to. Wondering about the reason as to why Draco requested her presence in the Room of Requirement, she swallowed her bite of food and washed it down with a drink of sparkling cider before asking, "So what did you want me here for, Draco? Not that I mind or anything."
"Well I wanted to treat you to lunch as thanks for listening to me yesterday and not judging me," Draco started off, noticing how Hermione's cheeks had taken on a pink shade slightly darker than her natural blush. Raising his eyebrow he took a sip of his cider before finishing, "And I also wanted to let you know that even though you say that you want to help me, you don't have to. It's relief enough knowing that I confided with you and that you aren't telling anyone."
"Draco, I want to help. I want to be there for you. And I will continue to be here so long as you need a shoulder to lean and cry on."
"I don't cry."
"You boo-hooed like a baby yesterday and were crying that evening up in the Astronomy Tower."
Draco was about to deny that when he remembered that he indeed did cry like a baby on Hermione and was caught by her crying. Realizing he couldn't say anything to refute that he instead said, "Anyway, I'm also glad that you didn't tell the Weaslette that the letter was from me."
Hermione nodded and said, "No problem. She didn't recognize your handwriting. Honestly, I don't know if anyone other than the professors, and now me, know your handwriting. I must say that it is very elegant."
"We Malfoys were brought up writing elegantly; I couldn't write horribly if I wanted to."
"If that is the case, you should give Harry and Ron some lessons. Their penmanship is awful."
The two of them laughed softly and continued to talk, conversation not revolving around Draco's mission from the Dark Lord or how Draco is still under stress, despite the fact that he felt a bit better for telling someone outside of whom already knew about him becoming a Death Eater. Draco asked Hermione about her home life and wasn't surprised that she was an only child and had little to no friends back home because of how sheltered she was by her parents and how smart she was. In primary school, the other kids didn't like her because of how smart she was and believed her to be showing off and would call her a teacher's pet. He didn't say so, but Draco believed it from what he witnessed over the years in any class Slytherin had with Gryffindor. But he found himself completely enthralled with the brunette's tales from her Muggle life away from Hogwarts and believed completely (he had already been thinking and wavering) that his father and all of those other Death Eaters were wrong about Muggles and Muggleborns. And from what he could see from Hermione, she was smarter and probably magically stronger than some Pureblood supremacists. She even topped him in scores for almost all classes, except for Potions; he was still several points ahead of her in that subject.
The two of them continued to talk and enjoy each other's company. It wasn't until the sound of a bell ringing did they stop talking as they were both startled by the sound. When Hermione asked what the bell was for, Draco told her that he set that to let him know there was ten minutes left of lunch hour. The two of them finished eating and the wizard cleared the table, before standing up and helping the witch up as well. They walked towards the exit and continued to talk, not wanting to end their conversations but knew they had to.
Stopping in front of the door Draco said, "Uncle Sev that he was going to start teaching you Legilimency and Occlumency tonight after dinner."
"Yes, and I'm so excited!" Hermione said, bouncing a little on her toes as she grinned widely.
Draco chuckled and said, "Alright, then I will see you later then."
"You will?"
"Yes, I'm taking lessons as well to help with my work concerning the Dark Lord. And he said that he was going to help you now that you know what I am doing so no one will be able to penetrate your mind and find out the truth."
Hermione nodded once again told him she was excited to learn a new skill. Suddenly remembering a question she had been meaning to ask during lunch she asked, "When did you learn to do wandless magic?"
The blond looked at her as he was reaching for the door handle and said, "I've been practicing for a while on my own here, and had just mastered it about three weeks ago. And I've been getting pointers from Uncle Sev as well."
The brunette nodded and Draco opened the door, following Hermione out of the Room of Requirement. Draco once again walked Hermione to the portrait of the Fat Lady and bided her farewell before walking off. Hermione stared after her crush for a while before giving the password to the Fat Lady and walking through the passageway to the Gryffindor Common Room.
Hermione headed up to the Sixth Year Girls Dormitory and exchanged a few books and made sure she had her quills, ink pot, and spare parchment before leaving again. She walked back through the Common Room and exited Gryffindor Tower, only to run into Harry.
Harry smiled and placed the strap of his bag on his shoulder before saying, "Hey, Hermione. How did the studying go?"
"Oh, hello Harry. It went well, very educational," Hermione replied easily.
"That's good. I missed you at lunch," Harry said before stammering and saying, "I mean, we missed you at lunch. We did; Ron, Ginny, and I."
Brown eyes stared confused at her best friend for a moment before saying, "Alright then. Shall we be off to class, then?"
Harry nodded and he and Hermione began walking to class. Along the way Harry's hand brushed Hermione's, causing her to look at him in confusion. Harry blushed a bit and mumbled 'sorry' before suddenly walking ahead of her, suddenly determined to get to class and not embarrass himself. Hermione frowned in confusion a bit before walking after her friend. Halfway there she passed by Draco who was with Crabbe and Goyle. His goons hissed and jeered at her, but failed to see the nod Draco sent her before completely walking by him. Hermione couldn't help but smile softly to herself, suddenly not being able to wait for later after dinner that night.