The Two Musicians
Chapter 13: A Kiss
By Silver Chessboards
"You're two seconds late," her voice was soft, the only sound to the heard amongst the dusty silence of the library. He smiled at her words and took the seat across from her, pulling out his books and writing material. She had already set up her things on her side of her table and was staring at him expectantly, an eyebrow arched.
"Well, have you finished those notes?"
He nodded and past a fragile roll of parchment to her. She opened it and after a moment of scrutinization, nodded and handed it back to him.
"Page six-hundred-and-thirty-five, we have much to learn today."
After locating the exact page in his book, she began to explain the contents. Her voice was firm and bossy, something he had used to dislike but now found rather endearing. He thought she was lovely.
"Draco!" she snapped. His eyes moved to meet her glare and he noticed that she had used his first name. He smiled at her, pleased. She faltered, confused before her gaze hardened. "Pay attention."
And so he did. The rest of the day past by, immersed in books, parchment and the voice of Hermione Granger. She was diligent when it came to studying and when he spoke to explain something to her, she would listen with rapt attention. When the sun dipped past the mountains, they were both exhausted. They sat in silence, their books and parchment forgotten. His hands were sore and stained with ink and so were hers. Somewhere in the middle of the day, she had secured her unruly hair in a messily tied bun.
His eyes traced her cheekbones and over her cracked lips, moving to the pale skin of her neck and the hollows of her collarbone. She was a small thing in the oversized muggle shirt she wore, like she was trying to drown herself in a sea of cloth. She looked tired and had momentarily closed her eyes and leant back in her chair. At that moment, her eyes fluttered open and she stared right at him, as if daring him to say something.
Her breath hitched and she inhaled shakily, was she feeling alright?
"I think I understand what I saw in you," she said softly.
Although her eyes were closed and she was blind to the world, she could feel his gaze on her, she wondered why he liked doing that so much, looking at her. She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was him. Slowly, the corners of his mouth lifted as if he had witnessed the most loveliest thing. Her breath hitched and she stared unblinkingly at him. His whole face was lit up with a serene happiness, caused by such a small action.
He was the man she had loved, once upon a time. Her dreams were plagued by memories of him and golden evenings in a abandoned music room. She could remember the way he had looked at her, like she was the only thing that mattered to him. Their love had been gradual, slow and hesitant. But it was beautiful. She saw it in her dreams, in her brief touches and his admiring gaze. She saw it in the way two people loved each other but were too afraid to broach the subject of love. And she understood.
"I think I understand what I saw in you," she said softly.
She did not remember everything but she was halfway there. His face morphed into one of surprise and slowly, he grinned.
"You're remembering, aren't you?" he asked and she nodded, managing a weak smile in return.
"Yes, I am."
"You're...early by two minutes, how surprising," her words were clipped, almost sarcastic. He suppressed the urge to smirk and took the seat across from her. It had been the same everyday for the past week, they would meet in the library and she would be earlier by perhaps thirty minutes judging from the books and parchment arranged haphazardly on the table. Their study sessions were usually filled with long silences resulting in ink stained hands and intellectual conversations which sometimes led to disagreements that caused them to slightly raise their voices.
"Good morning to you too, love."
He gave her a tentative smile, he hadn't meant for that last part to come out but it just had. It was evident that she had noticed for her hand—which had been reaching for a book—froze in midair. She cleared her throat and resumed her activities, deciding to ignore that last bit. Draco relaxed in his chair and began pulling his things out of his satchel.
He had never been one for pet names so it was strange how the word had slipped out so easily. So casually. He longed to be able to share such an intimacy with her but it was impossible for she had forgotten.
In the past week, their study sessions had caused her to develop a sense of familiarity around him and she seemed to trust him slightly more. He liked that, very much so but he still yearned for something that he could not have—at least not yet. He constantly reminded himself that she would remember in time but he couldn't help but feel like time was being awfully slow.
Another two weeks went by in the same manner. Study sessions had improved his grades and each time he presented his test paper to Hermione, her smile grew wider and wider. It made him happy to see her smile and so he worked harder to the point where he was—once again—second to only his own tutor. It was a Tuesday when he found himself once again in the library. Hermione and he were searching the vast library for a certain book on wolfsbane and it had been ten minutes before they happened to bump into each other.
"Oh—I'm terribly sorry," she apologised but her eyes had a glazed look about them, like she was too busy with her thoughts to pay attention to the happenings around her. Draco frowned, and gently held her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him properly. She had been doing that a lot recently, thinking too much. About what, he didn't know.
"Are you all right?" he asked and her eyes snapped to him. She nodded vigorously, her curls rustling with the movements of her head. She began to speak and her eyes drifted to a spot behind him.
"Yes—of course I am—why would you ask that? It seems a silly thing to—"
"Hermione," he began impatiently and her eyes snapped to his.
"Kiss me," she blurted. She gasped at her words, horrified by what she had said. "I mean—it's been on my mind, I don't know why and I've seen it in those memories and I've been wondering what—"
Before she could utter another word, he gently pressed his lips to hers. His pulse immediately quickened and he could taste the chocolate she had eaten earlier. He felt a feeling of warmth spread through him when she began to hesitantly move his lips against his. A delicate hand moved to cup the stubbled skin of his cheek and he unconsciously leaned into her touch. He felt oddly content, a feeling he had not felt for a long time.
His tongue lightly grazed her bottom lip he caught it between his teeth and gently tugged. And as if the action had awoken something in her, she pulled away. She stared at him with wide eyes, shocked and at a loss for words. Her hair was mussed and her lips looked noticably darker, he noted with a sense of odd satisfaction. She looked—to put it simply—dishevelled but her eyes told him something else. She seemed to be confused, surprised and disconcerted. A lovely pink stained her cheeks and she refused to meet his gaze.
He did not regret it in the least, it was one of the best things to have happened to him in a long time.
Hermione Granger was well aware of the fact that she wasn't paying enough attention to her surroundings but she couldn't help it. Being around Malfoy must have affected her mind somehow, she suspected but dismissed the notion immediately. It seemed silly when she thought of it like that. Two nights ago she had experienced another memory however this time, it was unlike the others. In that dream she had kissed Draco Malfoy. Well, he had been the one who had initiated it.
She had actually...liked it even. And she understood why she had. Hermione had been spending a lot of time around Malfoy and was beginning to maybe even like him...just a little bit, or so she told herself. Malfoy was a genuinely changed person and he had proved himself in countless ways that he was no longer a prejudiced prat. He was also very pleasant towards her, chivalrous even. She'd be lying if she said that she did not like this reformed Malfoy, it was hard not to.
Study sessions with him had been extremely fruitful, their grades had improved immensely. His intellect matched hers evenly and he was a good pupil, eager to learn.
It was a Tuesday when Draco Malfoy kissed her.
They had been browsing the dusty shelves for a book on wolfsbane and went their separate ways to search, it had been a while before they happened to bump into each other. She had not been really searching for the book, she was too engrossed in her thoughts to pay attention. She thought about the memory she had relived and wondered what it would be like to kiss him.
Hermione had been noticing things about him recently that she never had before. Like how his lips had a pale pink tinge to them and how they looked almost feminine. She couldn't help it, experiencing that memory had caused her to be distracted whenever Malfoy talked. She was knocked out of her thoughts when she bumped into something very solid, Malfoy, just the person she had been thinking of. She vaguely registered the fact that she had just apologised to him.
"Are you all right?" she felt his hands come to rest on her shoulders and his words forced her to actually look at him. He looked concerned and she thought it odd that he would worry about her. That was when she realised that it was obvious why he'd worry about her, the bloke was in love with her. His eyes were grey, she noted, a silvery pale grey. She nodded in reply to his question and her eyes moved to a dusty book on the shelf behind him, still lost in her thoughts.
"Yes—of course I am—why would you ask that? It seems a silly thing to—"
"Hermione," he sounded impatient, like she had done something wrong and her eyes briefly flickered down to his lips. She said the first thing that came to mind. Later on she would reprimand herself for not thinking twice.
"Kiss me," the words slipped out of her mouth without her permission and she gasped. Her eyes widened and moved to meet his. "I mean—it's been on my mind, I don't know why and I've seen it in those memories and I've been wondering what—"
And without hesitation, he leaned down and his lips met hers.
It was better than she thought it would have been.
He tasted like mint, probably the peppermint tea he had had earlier on. She could smell his aftershave and a slight hint of something distinctively masculine, his cologne. His lips were just as soft as they looked, she thought. Her movements were hesitant when she begin to move her lips against his and he responded almost immediately. She cupped his cheek with her hand and caressed the skin with her thumb, feeling the bristles there.
His hands moved to rest on the small of her back and he began to trace nonsensical patterns there. Kissing him was entirely different from experiencing it through a memory, it felt real and so much better. She felt warm and safe in his arms, a feeling she had never had before. She actually liked kissing Draco Malfoy and the thought scared her.
He caught her bottom lip between his teeth and tugged gently, something she remembered him doing in her memory. She placed both hands on his chest and pushed him away, feeling flushed. Her heart was pounding erratically inside of her ribcage. She felt confused to the fact that she rather liked kissing him, did this mean that she fancied him. She met his gaze with wide eyes, feeling several things at once.
She kissed him. She had asked him to kiss her.
His eyes roamed her features and she noticed that he had a look of smug satisfaction, barely there but discernible. She bit her lip and eyed him nervously. Before she knew it she had turned around, about to walk away. She did not know how to broach the subject of their...kiss and did not want to. She needed time to herself to think. She felt uncomfortable around him already. She had not taken two steps when his voice rang out in the silence.
"I love you," his voice was so soft she almost did not hear it.
"I know."
Draco watched her retreating figure until she had completely disappeared from view. He sighed heavily and sat down. He unconsciously brushed his lips with his fingers, feeling it tingle from his touch. The empty seat across from him seemed to mock him, telling him that it was his fault that she had run away.
The silence rang in his ears and he pondered the recent events. She had asked him to kiss her, did this mean that she...fancied him? It was a possibility, with all the time they had been spending with each other. He, himself, felt like he had fallen for her even harder this time. It was impossible not to love her.
A week passed.
Their usual table at the back of the library began to collect dust as it sat forgotten. He was used to being ignored by now, she seemed to be doing that a lot. Lack of study sessions with her did not affect his grades for it seemed that he did not need them anymore. He missed spending time with her.
Draco no longer busied himself with books every night, instead turning to his composition. It was doing splendidly. It would only take a bit more before he finally finished it. And so time passed by and he watched her in silence. He kept to himself with only the company of his writing materials and on some evenings, if he felt like it, he would seat himself by the fire in the common room with Blaise. His Italian friend asked no questions, something he had always liked about his friend.
It was a windy morning when he had decided to go down to sit by the lake. Heavens knows why he did it but he had an urge that he could not suppress. And so he went, up the stairs, through the entrance hall and across the lawn. She was there, surprisingly, up in the tree. Her hair was a mess from the strong wind blowing and she looked flushed. He wasn't sure if the colour in her cheeks were because of the wind or his sudden appearance. He offered a tentative smile which she weakly returned.
He climbed up with the help of sturdy branches to sit beside her.
The wood underneath her felt firm and rough against her tender skin. She hummed a song under her breath as she looked down at the sheets on parchment on her lap. Her quill scratched the parchment, forming notes on the horizontal bars. She had decided that she would complete her composition after deeming that it would take too long for her to regain her memory. She was almost finished writing it, just a bit more of time would be needed.
Time, the word rang in her head.
How much time would it take until she regained her memories? She desperately wanted to. It was hard seeing Draco everyday and knowing that underneath his façade, he hurt because his lover had forgotten. There were ways of speeding the process of regaining her memory. It had been two months since her potions accident and there was roughly a month more. That month could be reduced if she had the guts to ask Draco to have his memories to view in a pensieve. But she didn't know how to ask him. She sighed, fingering an edge of the wrinkled parchment on her lap.
She squinted her eyes, she could make out a figure in the far distance approaching. It seemed to be a male, judging from his height and build. As he drew closer, she realised who it was. She knew nobody else at Hogwarts with hair that bright. Malfoy seemed to recognise her immediately for he smiled at her and her heart fluttered in her chest. She managed to return a weak one in return. His smile was breathtaking, it took her by surprise every time the corners of his mouth lifted.
He climbed up with the help of sturdy branches to sit beside her.
Author's Note
Don't you worry, I'll be posting the next chapter very soon to make up for the shortness of this one. It'd be great to know what you thought about this chapter, do review. Thank you for reading :)
- Silver Chessboards