Title: Further Every Time

Author: Avelynn Tame

Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: OoTP
Summary: An Order meeting has two purposes - first, as a council of war, and second, to serve as a platform for Draco and Hermione's unique relationship.
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author notes: Inspired by all the wonderful D/Hr fanfics that have kept me going for so long - remember, every time you think a D/Hr thought, a fic is born. This fic is set in Draco and Hermione's seventh year, but Head Boy/Head Girl stuff is completely glossed over.

EDIT 28/05/2008: Four years after I wrote this, I have now looked at it again and decided that it has certain flaws. Ideally I'd like to sit down at some point and re-write the whole thing to make it better, but I don't know if I'll have time. To anyone who has already read this, please come back soon and maybe I'll have worked on it. People who haven't read it yet - please do! And then tell me what you'd like to see in the new improved version.

Have made a few tiny edits to grammar, punctuation, etc.

Fifteen minutes and counting.

Several people glanced at Professor Dumbledore accusingly, as if the whole thing was his fault.

Which, admittedly, it probably was.

One girl in particular was not too fond of Dumbledore, but for a slightly different reason. She certainly wasn't glaring at him; if anything, she was deliberately avoiding his eye. No, the reason she herself was feeling unusually reproachful towards him was because he had one incredibly annoying habit...

"Miss Granger," the older wizard's voice cut into her burgeoning tirade.

Curses, she thought, and looked up. "Yes, Professor?" What is it now, you old fruit?

A spark of amusement flickered behind his eyes, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. In fact, he probably did. "Would you be so kind, Miss Granger, as to go and collect our little friend? I fear he has forgotten his watch again."

No! No, I won't go and collect him, you irritating prune, you can do it yourself; he's your project anyway, and why do I always have to go? As usual, she released nothing of this weary, bitter rant to the outside world. She simply smiled demurely, and replied, "Of course, Professor," adding under her breath, "and I'll even make sure he never forgets his watch again, I'll shove it so far up his-"

Remus Lupin coughed violently, casting a horrified look in her direction, and turning to Harry and Ron as if they would provide him with an explanation. They just grinned widely.

She stood up, and without any kind of ceremony or fuss, she transformed into her Animagus form - a pure white butterfly - and zipped out of the window.

It was a good ten minutes before she returned, and when she had flown back in through the window, they observed that she was pursued by a long dark green snake, which slithered over the windowsill and down onto the floor. Hermione transformed while she was flying, so in the middle of it all it seemed as though she stepped out of the butterfly somehow, ran a couple of steps - she was still on butterfly speed - and then hurriedly slipped into her chair.

The snake, however...

The snake had pooled on to the floor by the window and was hissing continuously. As it transformed, it became Draco Malfoy, lying on the floor, red in the face, muttering under his breath.

"When you're quite finished, Mr Malfoy..." said Professor Dumbledore.

"...flapping at me like that... when I'm quite finished..." He leapt up suddenly and said, very loudly, "Why did you have to fly so fast? You always fly too fast, and I think you forget that I can't always keep up with you..."

"What else is new, Malfoy?" said Hermione unconcernedly. "Come on, sit down. We're late because of you."

Draco, too weary to summon up anything suitably scathing, just dropped into a seat and sent a few dark glares in her direction.

"Right. Now that we're all present," said Dumbledore, "I would like to call to order this week's meeting of the members of the Order of the Phoenix."

"If Miss Bossy Boots down there had her own way, it'd be the Order of the Butterfly," Draco spat half-heartedly. "Or should I say, the Order of the Extremely Overrated Moth?"

"Go blow it out the other one, Malfoy."

"Both of you, shut up, now," said Professor McGonagall.

He settled for making faces at her when no-one else was looking.

"First of all, I'd like to discuss the incident at Old Cavendish Lane last week. It's not clear exactly what happened, but we suspect that a small group of Voldemort's supporters took it upon themselves to ransack the houses of several well-known, well-respected Ministry officials. Ms Tonks, do you have any details?"

Tonks began rattling off a list of facts from her notes, and Draco used the opportunity to lean behind a couple of seats and whisper, just loud enough for Hermione to hear, "I can't believe you just walk- flew in like that! I was naked!"

"So I saw," she muttered in a low voice. "But we can't wait forever, just because it's you, no matter what you think."

He sniffed. "All the same, I think I should get some kind of recompense."

Her disgust was clear. "You'll get nothing of the sort. Now, sod off."

He would have persisted, but McGonagall cleared her throat and glared at him.

So that was that.

Hermione did not know which were more frustrating - days when he was late... or days when he was not.

On this particular day, he was there ahead of her, sitting in his usual seat, smirking at her like the cat that got the cream. Ordinarily she would have sat down, produced a book and held her tongue, but in light of recent events...

"How could you?" she demanded. "I knew you were low, Malfoy, but I didn't think you were that low."

He feigned hurt. "But Granger, it was an accident. How on earth was I to know that you were in that shower?"

She gaped at him, her face flushing deep red just remembering it. "Malfoy, it was the girls' bathroom! You shouldn't have been anywhere near it! You know it was deliberate, and I-"

Tonks and Lupin entered the room, and she abruptly shut up, ignoring their curious glances and Malfoy's eerie, fixed stare. She refused to look at him for a full thirty minutes, even after the meeting began. Eventually she heard him whisper, "Look, Granger, I... well, I wouldn't have done it if I'd known-"

"Mr Malfoy!" Professor McGonagall's stern tones rang out through the room. "If you have something to say, might I suggest that you share it with all of us, instead of just Miss Granger?"

"Um..." For once, he was inarticulate. He shot a desperate, pleading look in Hermione's direction. She turned to look at him; he saw the evil glint in her eye, and knew that he wouldn't get any help from her. Bugger, he thought.

"Well, Mr Malfoy?"

Even Snape could only give a small shake of the head as if to say, 'You're on your own, boy."

"I, um..." he began, tugging at his collar, "I was merely... um... extending my apologies-"

"Oh, is that what you were extending?" Hermione murmured nastily.

"My apologies to Gra- to Miss Granger for... for..." Well, he could hardly tell the truth, could he? He'd get kicked out for sure. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught an almost imperceptible movement. She was tapping her hair with a quill. To anyone else it would look like an absent-minded habit, but to him... She was bailing him out! "For my teasing of her hair," he finished. "Which she obviously didn't deserve, and so I am-" He looked at her, his true meaning clear, "-very sorry."

The corners of her mouth twitched upwards. "Apology accepted, Malfoy."

He smirked, suddenly feeling a lot more light-hearted than before.

Five minutes before the meeting, she caught him wandering down the corridor in the opposite direction. Feeling a little like James Bond - and also completely stupid - she checked that there was no-one else around, and ran after him.

When she caught up with him, she grabbed his arm. "If you are off to take another shower, I will personally ensure that the rest of your life is as miserable as you make me."

"Overwhelmingly happy, then," he said smarmily, turning around and walking alongside her in an almost companionable way. "I wouldn't dream of showering again, anyway, if it means you'll be seeing me naked twice. No-one has that privilege."

"Privilege? Is that what you call it? I prefer 'horrible, vomit-inducing sight that I wouldn't even inflict on Voldemort.'" She glanced sideways at him. "Besides, I suppose we are even."

He suddenly seemed flustered. "Ah... yes, about that."

"What?"

"Well... doesn't it strike you as odd? That we've both seen each other naked, and yet..."

A faint blush crept across her cheeks. "And yet we're not... we haven't..."

"Yeah."

An uncomfortable silence grew between them, still unbroken by the time they reached the meeting room. They slipped in, nodding uneasily at the other members and taking their respective seats.

Nothing, it seemed, could get past Dumbledore. He peered at both of them over the top of his half-moon spectacles, but said nothing on the matter; he merely called the meeting to order as usual.

About halfway through Lupin's diatribe on the importance of attendance of Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons, Draco sneaked a peek at Hermione. At first glance, she seemed to be paying rapt attention to what Lupin was saying, but looking more closely, Draco could see that her eyes were slightly unfocused and she was gnawing on a piece of hair.

He didn't know what to do.

Lately it had been preying on his mind. The more he tried not to think about her, the more often he felt her soft, gentle presence in his mind, not so much invading, but rather settling... soothing.

The shower incidents were mere stepping stones on his path - good God, she was hot - and now he wanted his path to have a real, tangible destination; quite frankly, he wanted her.

When he looked at her again, this time she was staring right at him.

She couldn't believe it.

She was never late for Order meetings! Her watch was always accurate to the second, and besides, she was the most punctual person on the face of the planet.

But today, everything else on the face of the planet had conspired to make her late by the humiliating total of twenty minutes. Draco Malfoy - damn him - would have a field day. She was a little surprised, actually; she'd expected to see him sliding around the corner in his Animagus form at any moment.

She practically threw herself through the door.

And came face-to-face with a furious Draco Malfoy. "Where have you been?" he hissed angrily.

She thought this was a bit right, considering his own history with timekeeping. "God, Malfoy, anyone would think you were a model citizen."

"We have been worried sick - you could have been lying injured or dead somewhere, you might have been kidnapped for all we knew-"

"Or I could have just been running a bit late. What's with your sanctimonious attitude all of a sudden?"

His hands were on his hips now; his face slightly flushed, and thrust close to hers. "Don't make this about me, Gr-"

"Oh, that's funny, Malfoy, because since you're the only one who's even said anything, I sort of thought that it was about you. Clearly, though, I'm the one with the problem."

"Problem? You think I have a problem? Yeah, I do have a problem, as a matter of fact, and her name's Hermione Granger!"

"Interesting," she said in dangerous, sepulchral tones. "Very interesting. I'm a problem for you? To the best of my knowledge, Malfoy, we have nothing to do with each other. So if you have a problem with me, I suggest you find a way to deal with it, because it's nothing to do with me."

She turned around, walked to her seat, and quietly sat down, ignoring the surprised stares of everyone else in the room, and making a point to look anywhere but Draco Malfoy's direction. She was horrified at the way he could get her so worked up, but even more, she was horrified by the way she had reacted to him.

He'd shown obvious concern for her, and she'd just thrown it back in his face. She felt awful. And... strangely excited. What did it mean? Why was he concerned for her? She'd always thought that he barely tolerated her. But recently he'd shown more than a passing interest in her - that strange, awkward half-conversation about being naked was foremost in her mind.

The fact was, Draco Malfoy was a decent person. He'd shown that by joining the Order. So if - if - it transpired that maybe, just maybe he was interested in her... well. She couldn't deny that his interest would almost certainly be returned.

It was only as he stepped into the meeting room and saw all the empty chairs that he remembered - this week's meeting had been cancelled. He sighed. Oh, well. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing. He dreaded seeing Hermione after last week's debacle.

Speak of the devil...

The door swung open, and there she was. She glanced at the empty chairs. "Oh," she muttered. "It was cancelled, wasn't it?"

He nodded mutely, sensing a warm blush stain his cheeks and feeling only mildly gratified to see the same thing happening to her. She turned to leave.

"Wait," he said, before he could stop himself.

She paused in the doorway. "What?"

"I..." Why was it that he was always at a loss for words when it came to saying the important stuff to her? "I just wanted... to say that I'm sorry. For shouting at you last week. I didn't mean to."

To his relief, she seemed pleasantly surprised. She walked back into the room and released her arms from their heavy burden of books by placing them on the table. Then she turned to him. "To be honest, I... I think I should be apologising to you. I mean, you're just being concerned for me, and I-"

"Concerned?" he echoed, suddenly wary. Had he been that obvious about how he felt?

He thought he caught a glimpse of disappointment in her eyes, but then she closed her face, and her expression became inscrutable. "I... I'm sorry, I must have been mistaken," she said coolly. "My point is, I was unnecessarily rude to you. I apologise." She picked up her books again. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to the library."

She turned away, her hair falling across her face, making it impossible for him to analyse her further. As she left, he sagged against the table and frowned. What had just happened? He thought about it. He couldn't be sure, but it seemed like...

Something small and relatively unknown to him unfolded inside his heart. It felt light, and fluttery, like a... like a butterfly. Like hope.

Without a second thought he shot out of the room, almost flying down the corridor like a madman. "Hermione!" he yelled when he caught sight of her.

She whirled around, surprised; her eyes widened and she dropped her books in shock when she saw the wild-eyed boy careening towards her. He skidded to a halt just inches away from her. "I am concerned about you," he panted. "Of course I am. I care about you very much."

Her books lay forgotten on the floor as she stared at him. "You... You do?"

He almost laughed. "How could I not? Someone like you... Someone who never asked any questions when I joined the Order. You never once said I wasn't worth the effort. You always made the effort."

"Well," she conceded, "you are worth the effort. I mean," she added hastily, "everyone's worth the effort."

"And me?" he prodded. "Am I just anyone? What am I?"

"You're..." she trailed off, and grinned. "You're Draco Malfoy. How could you be 'just anyone'?"

He could wait no longer. He kicked her books aside - gently, of course, or she would have killed him - grabbed her by the waist, and kissed her forcefully. Judging by the way her arms curled around his neck and she kissed him back just as fiercely, she didn't have many objections.

"So tell me," she muttered in between kisses, "what am I?"

He chuckled, and pulled her closer to him. "You're Hermione Granger," he replied. "And you're mine."