The dinner that night was awkward, to say the least. The fourth year Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students sat in their predetermined seats, and yet not a word was spoken between them. Michael, Terry, and Anthony were waiting for Draco to verbally assault Michael, or at least broach the subject of earlier in the day, yet Draco refused to even make eye contact with Michael. Hermine kept getting glares from her three friends (plus Ron, but he always seemed to scowl) and she also refused to say anything.
The pregnant silence only got heavier as the meal wore on and it seemed that at the same time, Hermione and Draco had had enough and both stood at the same time.
Hermione and Draco exchanged a look, to which he quickly averted his eyes, causing her to make a disapproving hrmph sound and storm off. Draco first dropped into the lavatory, Hermione headed straight for the Library.
After his detour, Draco too went to the Library. Ancient Runes weren't going to translate themselves. When Draco crossed into the Library, he felt more than knew she was in the room with him. With a clenched jaw, Draco navigated himself to his favorite spot by the Restricted Section, where none seemed to flock. He groaned when he saw the back of her head. Of course. It was her favorite spot as well.
Draco rolled his lips over his teeth as he thought about this. He was sick of the weird tension, he was sick of being mad. He had asked her on a date and she denied him, but she went on one with Michael. So she didn't like him. He drew in a breath and looked down at his shoes. That realization hurt him more than her going on the date with him. Why didn't she like him? He wasn't that bad of a guy, was he?
She hadn't seen him yet, he could go hide...
But while his heart was screaming to go run and hide and perhaps cry (and throw things), his brain was telling him to not ruin their friendship and go apologize for his week of douchebaggery.
He sat down across from her and took out his Ancient Runes. Her eyes flicked up from her reading momentarily, her nostrils flared, and then she looked back down at her book. Draco opened his book and flipped to the runes they had learned in class, and then produced the parchment that he was supposed to translate. He got out his own bit of parchment and a quill and started to translate.
'The giant...no wait...large...' Draco scratched out the word 'giant' and grunted faintly in frustration. He kept translating, 'structure is positioned-no-located in...' Draco dropped his quill and flipped through his Ancient Runes textbook. All the runes looked the same to him! He ran his hand through his hair a couple of times, as he flipped through the text, searching for the Rune he needed to identify.
"What's the matter?" Her sudden voice brought his eyes up from his book-he hadn't been aware she had been watching him. Her hair was falling half in her face with the other half still tucked behind her ear—this was the sign that she was really interested in her book and had leaned in. She always did that, and always leaned faintly to the left. He—once again—found his thoughts becoming romantic and inappropriate. He looked down at the runes again.
"I can't find this rune," he said as he waved a hand at the words, "They are all starting to look the same." Before he realized what happened, she had risen and walked around the table to behind him. Instead of taking the book like someone less familiar, she leaned over behind him, her chin hovering just next to his ear, as she looked.
He counted three full breath cycles before she read to him, "the large rock structure located in Wiltshire England, known as Stone Henge has been a flocking point for Muggles since recorded wizard history. Even wizards are unsure of their beginning, though some speculate that they were of wizard design, yet the location is not magical, during the moon cycles, nothing changes, and most magic becomes weaker the closer in proximity to the relic. Wizards are encouraged to stay away." She trailed her finger after the runes as she read. Draco shook his head in exasperation, she laughed and it sounded like bells in his ear. He felt a flush creep up his cheeks. He snapped the book shut.
She straightened and scoffed, "What is your deal, Draco? You've been like this all week!" She shoved the back of his head, and even if the contact wasn't necessarily friendly, it still caused the hair on his arms to lift up, as if they were reaching for her. This wasn't fair!
"It's nothing!" He snapped too quickly as he stood up. He moved to storm away, but she planted herself in his way and put a hand on his shoulder, he looked at it, again with his skin coming alive with her touch.
"Draco, I am your best friend. Please don't shut me out. What is going on?" She looked from one eye to the next as she pleaded with him. He thought quickly and sighed, defeated.
"It's…Hermione it's you," he began. Her deliciously chocolate eyes widened and she took a small step back as her calculatory brain tried to process that. "You don't understand!" He began, knowing he was losing this conversation before it even began. He just couldn't think with her around!
"You don't understand what you're doing to me! We—we're best friends, but you grab my hand sometimes when we walk, you throw your feet in my lap when we sit, we eat all our meals together, your hugs—" He was getting off track. He rubbed his face in his hands, as she stared at him dumbfounded.
"I like you, Hermione!" He finally got out, and she still didn't get it.
"I like you too, Draco…." The way she said it proved she had no idea.
"Not like that—" He began, and on a split second whim he took her face in his hands and kissed her. Kissed her like Fred and George promised she would like—not too wet, not too dry; with pressure, but not enough to hurt her neck. She was absolutely frozen. Her hands were hovering a few inches from his elbows, and he could feel the heat radiating off of her.
She kissed him back.
She pulled away sharply, though. "Oh…" She said quietly. She looked down and walked away, robotically. Draco watched, stunned, as she walked away without looking at him. Draco was too…everything….to even move after her.
Ohmygod. Ohmygod.
She didn't know where she was going, just that her embarrassed feet were carrying her somewhere that was away from the Library. She faintly remembered she had left her bag, and mentally shouted a few curses.
But she could still feel his warm and soft lips on her own, and the alien feeling was all that she could focus on.
Michael had told her that Draco liked her, but up until the exact moment he had taken hold of her face, Hermione hadn't believed it.
"Well there is certainly no doubt now!" She snapped quietly to herself. She was alone in the hallway, so she did not fear being looked at strangely. Well, except for the portraits.
Hermione found herself in Gryffindor Tower, eventually. She curled up near the fire and stared into it, not sure how to think, or what to think.
"What's crackin'?" Someone asked her, causing her to jump out of her revere (well she wasn't really thinking anything, just remembering how warm and alive she felt when Draco kissed her.)
"Oh, hello Seamus," Hermione murmured. The Irish boy wasn't someone Hermione usually associated with-he was a disaster at most things magic and didn't seem to care either. "I'm just...distracted, how are you?"
He shrugged his shoulders, "just noticed you over here looking all forlorn. Need someone to vent to?" He seemed to be sincere, but Hermione didn't feel comfortable with 'unloading' on him, so she put on her best smile and shook her head.
"I'm quite alright. Would you like to play Wizard Chess?" She asked. She knew the boy enjoyed watching the figurines destroy each other. He smiled and nodded.
"Alright. I'll be red." Hermione stood from her spot by the fire and the two sat at the chess table next to one of the windows. With a tap of her wand, the game pieces set themselves up from their box under the table and the two launched into a very casual game of Wizard Chess.
Draco waited for a few moments, hopefully for Hermione to return with a red face, to get her bag, but she never did. He sighed dejectedly, gathered up his things, and then her own. He went to Ravenclaw Tower first, to drop of his bag and to check the Map, to see where she had gone. He saw her sitting in the Gryffindor Common room sitting next to Seamus Finnegan. Draco made a face. She really didn't have feelings for him at all...
Draco noticed that Harry was just about to the fourth floor going up the stairs. Draco cleared the Map and stowed it away in his trunk, took up Hermione's bag and left the common room.
Draco caught Potter on the sixth floor stairs, "Potter!" He called. The boy turned and looked at him with an arched eyebrow.
"Malfoy," he responded. Harry waited for Draco to catch up, and when he did, he noticed the bag that Draco was carrying, "isn't that Hermione's?" Harry asked, to which Draco rolled his eyes.
"Why yes, it is. She left it in the Library, and I wanted to make sure it got back to her. Can you hand it to her? She's in the common room." Harry seemed like he was going to ask how Draco knew where she was, but then passed that question up for a more pressing one.
"Why did she leave it in the Library? She takes that bag everywhere." Again, Draco rolled his eyes at the obvious.
"Because she ran out after I kissed her." The scowl that he wore made the Top Ten Scowls Ever Made list. (Others on the list include Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, and Salazar Slytherin.) Harry's eyebrows shot up.
"That somehow didn't go well." Harry surmised and Draco nodded his head. Suddenly the blond boy didn't want to be there anymore.
"No. It didn't. She doesn't like me. Whatever. Goodnight Potter." Draco turned with his hands shoved deep into his pockets and he returned to the Ravenclaw Tower. He took himself straight to bed, and pulled the curtains so the others couldn't bother him.
Harry, on the other hand, made his way up the stairs to Gryffindor. He spotted the brunette by the window, playing Wizard Chess. Harry went over and set her bag next to her chair.
She glanced down at it, as her Queen stabbed one of Seamus' Knights, "Oh, thanks Harry! I forgot it in the Library," she seemed to blush a bit.
"Yeah, Draco handed it off to me." Harry said the boy's name only to see her reaction. She seemed fine at first, but then Harry realized she had held her breath.
"Did he say anything to you?" She asked, her eyes slowly moved from the game board up to him. Harry ruffled his hair, what should he say? The truth? He glanced at Seamus and decided against it.
"He told me goodnight." It wasn't a lie! She seemed not to believe him, but then she decided to believe him, and didn't ask him. She watched as Seamus moved one of his pawns.
"Good night Hermione. I think you should talk to Draco in the morning. For returning your bag," Harry said and then turned and left. Hermione watched him go, but then focused on the game.
"Queen, attack bishop, diagonal." Hermione watched as her queen moved three spaces diagonally and stabbed the bishop. Seamus made a noise of disapproval.
"I didn't even see that." Hermione had to grin. The game went on for five more turns, ending in a checkmate. Seamus thanked her for a good game (even though he lost) and he excused himself up to bed.
Hermione took her bag and went to her own bed, but she was up very late thinking about the kiss.
Hermione wasn't a very...emotionally conscious person when it came to herself. She always had her nose in a book, so she didn't really have time to feel things. She knew how her friends were, and she would die defending them (if it ever came down to it) but she hadn't ever analyzed herself passed that point. Draco had been her friend since day one, and she couldn't imagine him not in her life. They were best friends, after all. They did everything possible together, held the top two marks in their classes (Hermione in a close lead), yet did she have feelings for him? Those kind of attraction feelings, where she wanted to constantly be wrapped around him, her lips on his?
The thought of not preparing for O.W.L.S next year caused her to shake her head nerviously. No, the O.W.L.s were more important than their juvenile feelings. She couldn't lose focus from that, even if Draco was her best friend. Hagrid was right. They were too young to be involved in things like that. Hermione sat up from her bed and scratched out a quick note on some spare parchment for Draco.
Meet me in the Room of Requirement before breakfast. - H.G.
She folded up the parchment like an airplane and went to the nearest Window. She charmed the note to find him and she sent it out the window.
Draco was roused from his angst-filled staring contest with the ceiling when something started tapping his window. He went to it, with a frown, and saw the airplane. He opened it and the little thing landed in his palm. He opened it and read the note, now nervous. What did she have to say.
Draco got his own bit of parchment out and wrote out: Why not now? We're both clearly awake.
He folded it up, sent it off and watched it disappear into the night.
His reply came shortly. Are you mad? We could get into trouble! Go to bed, I'll see you in the morning.
Draco grinned down at the note, and laughed faintly. She was anything if not consistent. Hermione had always refused to do anything that could result in her getting into trouble. Draco kept her two notes on his bedside and he laid down. He wasn't sure if he could manage sleep.
This chapter was ungodly short for me, but also difficult to write. As strange as it sounds...
Anyway, this could go two MAIN ways, and I am having trouble deciding which one follows the story better, this is where my lovely, wonderfully powerful readers come in.
Way one; Hermione takes Hagrid's advice and says NO BOIS, even though she likes his face.
Way Two; Hermione is like 'i lyk you but idk wat to do.' And he's like 'idk either gurl, butt ur faic is awesome.'
Well...maybe not exactly like THAT, but you get my drift right? Basically, way one would be Hermione closing herself off emotionally to Draco (and basically any boy right now) and keep them away from her for the rest of the year and probably summer, so she can focus on her O. . Remember, my test-anxiety ridden Hermione panicked about the exams in first year...
OR Hermione would realize that she liked him but have no idea what to do and it's them trying to by boy/girl friend.
I have an alterior plot going on the sidelines, involving Lockhart, but that can wait until this Dramione thing is settled...
I appreciate everyone's opinions and suggestions! PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!