Hermione steps into the unknown

Hermione stirred, feeling utterly relaxed and at peace. It took her a moment to realize where she was. The feeling of gentle stroking on her back brought her back to her senses and she realized she was lying cocooned in Draco Malfoy's arms on the loveseat in his rooms in the Faculty Tower. A sense of unreality washed over her. Was this really happening?

She stretched a little, her chest rubbing against his. The hand on her back stilled for a moment, then continued its stroking. It felt so nice.

"Good morning," he said. "Or should I say, good afternoon?"

Hermione raised her head to look out of the window behind them. Sure enough, the sun was already beginning to set. It set early this time of year in Scotland, which was so far north.

"Did I really sleep that long?" she wondered aloud.

"I confess I was also sleeping most of the time," he said. "I only just woke up a few minutes before you."

That made Hermione feel a little better. She would have felt strange about him being awake while she slept all day.

"I can't remember ever sleeping this well," she said. "Not for a long time anyway. I've been plagued by nightmares and strange dreams for so long, it seems."

His arm tightened around her. "Me too," he said. "Exactly what you said."

Hermione placed her hand on his chest, feeling his sturdiness there. "So what now?" she wondered aloud. "How should we move forward?"

Malfoy looked at her closely. "What do you want to do?" he asked.

"I'd like to see where this goes," she said. Then she sighed. "But it'll be complicated. You're a faculty member for one thing. For another, there's Ron and his family. But I guess that was a potential consequence of me breaking up with him. That I'd also lose his family." Her voice broke. "I think Ginny will understand at least. And Harry. Maybe."

"No one will understand," Malfoy said, continuing to stroke her back. "We have to be prepared for that. They may never understand."

Hermione nodded. "I hope that they will, but perhaps you're right."

"Are you willing to sacrifice the possibility of losing people you hold dear?" Malfoy asked.

Hermione thought about it. "I think," she said slowly. "If the people who care about me truly care about me, they would be honest with me about how my actions make them feel. And then they would also respect my decisions."

"We'll see," Malfoy said, seeming unconvinced.

"And I can't think of any way that this decision would hurt someone," she said. "Well, aside from Ron. And, unfortunately, that can't be helped."

"So, Hermione Granger," Malfoy said with a note of formality. "Would you like to be in a relationship with me?"

"Yes, Draco Malfoy," Hermione replied. "I would."

Malfoy smiled then and kissed her lightly on the lips. "As far as the issue of my being on the faculty," he said. "There's a few options. One, I could resign from my post."

"But you just told me how much you enjoy making your own money!" Hermione exclaimed.

He put a finger to her lips. "There are other ways I can make money," he said. "Two, we could keep it a secret and I continue working here."

"Hmm…" Hermione said. "I don't particularly like either of those options. I'd like for you to continue working here but keeping it a secret…I don't know. I feel weird about lying to Professor McGonagall about something like this after all the inconvenience I caused her."

"Well, we are the same age," Malfoy pointed out. "And were in the same year at Hogwarts. You just…delayed."

"Technically, I'm older than you," Hermione teased. "Even more reason why this shouldn't be a problem. The rule against faculty/student relationships was to protect underage students. At 19, I'm two years overage now."

"So what do you want to do?" Malfoy asked.

"I'd like to tell Professor McGonagall and see if we can get an exception," Hermione said. "I would feel a lot better about it all if we did that."

Malfoy studied her. "Well, I'll do whatever you want to do."

Hermione smiled at him. "Thank you…Draco," she said, using his first name.

He groaned a little. "I really like hearing you say that," he said, pulling her close. "Hermione."

She smiled into his chest. She quite like hearing her first name from his lips too.

"It's so strange," she said pulling away after a moment. "You can come and go so much more freely than I can just because you're faculty. You can leave the grounds whenever you want. I have to wait for Hogsmeade weekends."

"I've always thought that the older students should have more freedom," Draco said. "It's stifling."

"There are some secret passageways," Hermione said. "But as far as I know those have all been discovered now and are monitored. I don't have Harry's special map to know for sure though."

"Potter's map?" Draco said, raising his eyebrows.

"He has a map that's enchanted so that you can see where everyone is at Hogwarts," Hermione explained. "The map doesn't lie. It has a dot showing where everyone is."

"That explains so much," Draco said. "Could you make one yourself? Master spellcrafter that you are?"

"I hadn't thought about it," Hermione said. "I suppose I could. I don't know why I'd need to though."

"So you can come see me in Hogsmeade," Draco said, poking her in the back.

"Hah," she said. "Maybe I will. First, let's just see if we can get an exception granted to us."

"Otherwise," Draco said. "I might have to resign."

"Don't you dare," Hermione said. Her stomach growled. "Oh, I guess I'm hungry."

Draco looked at the clock on his wall. "It's just about dinner time," he said. "That's good. That means no one will be around here and we can sneak out undetected."

"It's a shame we can't eat together," Hermione said. "We'll have to find other ways to spend time together."

"There's always the library," Draco said, smirking at her.