Chapter Five

Hermione tracked Ginny down at lunch time and dragged her to the court yard, with a great amount of protest from the female Weasley. She pushed Ginny into sitting down on one of the benches and then sat next to her. "Look, we can go get our lunch in a bit, but I needed to talk to you, now and away from prying ears."

"I swear, Hermione if this is about Blaise Zabini and his never ending bonk-a-thon, then I'll be forced to hurt you with sharp implements" said Ginny. "I can only take so much."

"It's not about him," said Hermione. "I had a really vivid sex dream last night and I can't stop thinking about it."

Ginny shoved her fingers in her ears. "LA, LA, LA, LA, LA! I can't hear you! I don't want to know about my brother doing anything, even if it was only in your subconscious."

Hermione pulled Ginny's fingers out of her ears and shook her head. "It wasn't about Ron."

"Why not?" asked Ginny. "Isn't my brother good enough for you anymore?"

"Ginny, for Merlin's sake, will you just listen? I really need to talk to someone about this," said Hermione.

Ginny sighed. "All right, but if it's about Harry…"

"It wasn't about Harry, either," said Hermione. "It was about Malfoy."

"Malfoy? Suddenly I feel like I never need to eat again," said Ginny. "I am intrigued, you may continue."

"Well it wasn't actually a sex dream," said Hermione.

"If you've sold me on a false subconscious occurrence…"

"It was kissing," said Hermione. "A lot of kissing."

Ginny frowned. "Is that it? Bloody hell, Hermione, I've had saucier dreams about Snape. Well, not Snape, exactly, he was there but he wasn't involved; well, he kept making daisy chains and was draping them around the bed…"

"Ginny!"

"Sorry, you were having a dull dream about Malfoy, continue," said Ginny.

Hermione explained, "It was weird, there was something about decorating the Great Hall and Malfoy was helping me and our wands kept making love hearts, then everyone else disappeared and we went back to my common room and started kissing. Then Blaise woke me up."

"Oh, you've got morning wake up calls from Zabini, now?" said Ginny with a grin. "I am both appalled and slightly jealous."

"Ginny, I can't stop thinking about Malfoy," said Hermione. "What should I do? Should I tell Harry? I mean, I know it was only a dream, but I keep thinking I should tell him that I might be interested in Malfoy. I don't know, it would feel like I'm betraying him, otherwise."

Ginny looked at Hermione and pointed in the direction of the Great Hall. "Alright, go and tell Harry."

Hermione nodded her head and stood up. "Yeah, you're right. I'll go talk to him."

"Sit down!" said Ginny. "Are you an idiot? If it's the last thing you do, don't tell Harry that you've been having sexy dreams about his arch enemy."

Hermione left Ginny with the conclusion that the dream was nothing more than the after effects of being stuck underneath a bookcase with the Slytherin and it would wash out of her system in a few days. She would have merrily continued to her Charms lesson with no further thoughts about Draco Malfoy, if she hadn't had her arm almost yanked out of its socket as he grabbed her and pulled her into a curtained alcove.

"What are you…" Hermione began to ask but she was cut off as Draco pushed his mouth against hers and suddenly all thoughts of Charms went out of her head. She felt one of Draco's arms wrap around her waist and the other hand slipped around the back of her neck. Hermione had no time to think about either action, as she was far more concerned about her own arms slipping around his neck, pulling him closer.

After several soft but small kisses, Hermione realised that her lips were parting further and their tongues had begun to push against one another's. She could feel a moan crawling slowly up her throat. She held it back for as long as she could, but eventually, she couldn't hold it back any longer and she moaned into his mouth.

He pulled back and looked at Hermione; his eyes looking for something, but she couldn't tell what. He took a step backwards and Hermione's arms slipped from around his neck. "I have a confession," he said. "Last night, I put something on your pillow."

Hermione felt anger bubble in her stomach and she rested the urge to punch him. "What did you do?"

He pulled a vial of pink coloured liquid from his pocket. Hermione could see swirls of gold in the liquid as he handed it to her. "It's called Lié rêve; it was only a few drops, but that's all you need."

"What does it do?" asked Hermione, digging her nails into the palm of her hand.

"It links dreams, temporarily," he said. "For a brief time, you enter the other person's dream and experience what they experience."

Hermione pursed her lips. "So last night, you were there in my dream."

"Yes," said Draco.

"And that's why I had that dream?" asked Hermione.

"Yes."

"Why?" she said. "Why would you do that? If you wanted to kiss me that badly, you didn't have to invade my subconscious to do it, as you've just proved."

"What are you talking about?" asked Draco. "There wasn't any kissing."

"Don't be an idiot," said Hermione. "The bit in the dream when we went back to the common room."

Draco shook his head. "That didn't happen, I woke up just after we started making those, er, balloons, the ones shaped like, well, you know."

Hermione looked at him with confusion. "Wait, wait, why did you just drag me in here?"

"Well, because of the, um," -he swallowed- "the love hearts. I thought they meant that you had maybe started to like me, like I've started liking you, and I admit I was too much of a coward to just ask you so I used the potion. I didn't think it would come to anything, but when I saw you walking down the corridor, I thought, well, I thought if I didn't kiss you then, I might never have the guts to do it. What happened in the common room?"

"Nothing," said Hermione and she pocketed the potion. "Promise me you'll never do anything like that again."

"I promise," said Draco.

Hermione flung her arms around his neck and began kissing him again.

"Stop it," said Hermione, shuffling away from Draco on the sofa.

Draco shuffled along with her and resumed his previous action of running his fingertips across the back of Hermione's neck. "I'm not doing anything."

"I can't concentrate with you fingering me," said Hermione, rolling her eyes as Draco sniggered at her comment. "I've got to do this Potions homework or Snape will have me chained up in the dungeons."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing," said Draco, arching his eyebrow.

"Draco," Hermione warned.

"Ok, I'll stop," said Draco, shuffling back to his previous seat. "But if I were fingering you, you'd know about it."

Hermione looked at Draco. "You know, just because I don't find kissing you repulsive, it doesn't give you an open access pass to use smutty innuendo every time we're together."

"Well, maybe if you didn't sit there tempting me with your feminine wiles, I would behave myself," said Draco.

Hermione slammed her text book shut and tossed it onto the coffee table. "If I give you five minutes will you behave until I have finished my homework?"

Draco made a cross sign over his heart. "Wizard Scout's honour."

"I don't believe for a second you were a Wizard Scout," said Hermione.

"I could show you my merit badges…" Draco was cut off by Hermione placing a finger to his lips. He grinned and began kissing her.

Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's neck. Since the day Draco had dragged her into that alcove, they had begun a secret relationship, of sorts. It had been going on for a couple of weeks and they had thusfar managed to hide from everyone but Blaise, who had walked into the common room and found them kissing, which had almost made him keel over. Draco had had to give Blaise three glasses of Firewhisky before Blaise was calm enough to listen to their explanation, although Hermione had suspected he hadn't needed three full glasses to actually cope with it. Blaise had said that he'd thought their lack of arguing was due to some sort of truce but had never imagined that they had begun to like each other. He'd drunk another glass of Firewhisky then went to bed and refused to speak to either one of them for two days. Blaise's reaction had been the marker; Hermione had decided against telling her friends that anything was going on with her and Draco until it had become absolutely necessary and Draco had agreed. Thus far, the arrangement was working for them.

Hermione felt Draco's fingertips brush over her stomach at the end of her blouse and she gave the hair at the nape of his neck a sharp tug. His hand seemed to ignore the hair tug, as it soon began travelling up her blouse, making its way to her breast where his fingers cupped her and squeezed. She gasped and began to wriggle free of his hold. "Stop," she said.

Draco's weight suddenly vanished from on top of her and she saw him being dragged off the sofa and thrown to the floor by a murderous looking Ron. Hermione pulled her blouse down and gasped as Ron punched Draco square on the jaw.

"OW!" shouted Draco, grabbing his jaw. "Bloody hell, Granger, do they write the password for this common room on the wall outside?"

Ron shouted at Draco, "Get away from her you… you…. Rapist!"

Hermione leapt off the sofa and put herself in-between Ron and Draco. "Ron, don't hit him."

"Yeah," said Draco, rubbing his jaw. "Bad, Weasley. Piss off and go sniff Potter's arse or something."

Ron tried to reach Draco again but found Hermione pushing him away. "Hermione, why are you defending him? He was trying to rape you!"

"Oi," said Draco, pointing his finger at Ron. "There's a very big difference between trying to cop a feel and trying to rape someone; I'd prefer it if you stopped accusing me of the latter, Weaselbee."

"Shut up," said Hermione, glaring at Draco. "Ron, he wasn't doing anything to me."

"LIES!" shouted Ron. "I saw him, he had his… hands… his slimy Slytherin hands in places… in places where they never should be!"

"Ron, if you'll just calm down for a minute," said Hermione, holding her hands up try and calm down her friend.

"What's going on in here?" asked Harry from the doorway, seconds before he walked into the room. "Hermione, is everything ok?"

"Great!" declared Draco, still holding his jaw. "Potter's here, the trio of do-goodness and extreme reactions is finally complete."

"Hands!" shouted Ron. "His hands, Harry, all over Hermione, doing… awful… unthinkable things to her!"

"What did he do to you, Hermione?" asked Harry, as he drew his wand and began marching straight toward Draco. "I'll hex him into oblivion for you."

"No, Harry, stop!" said Hermione, moving to intercept Harry, which unfortunately left Ron free to leapt on the Slytherin, knocking them both to the ground where they started scuffling with arms and legs flailing everywhere. "Ron, get off him! Harry he didn't do anything, help me, someone!"

"Miss Granger, you aren't supposed to leave your common room door wide open," said Professor Snape from the doorway. "What is going on in here?"

Hermione swore under her breath and threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "An unrelenting display of testosterone, Professor."

Professor Snape marched back and forth across the floor of his office, behind the line of students who were all facing forward. Hermione had tried to explain the situation as the Potions Master had dragged Harry and Ron to his office with Draco traipsing behind and rolling his eyes every time Ron had pointed his finger at him and shouted "HANDS!" at the top of his voice.

"So, let me see if I have a correct grasp of the situation," said Professor Snape. "Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy, for reasons which are unclear to all present, have been impressing their hormonal urges upon one another for a number of weeks. Mr. Weasley walked in and, shall we say, misread the situation and proceeded to overact in a way that is unique to Gryffindor students, whereupon Mr. Potter, hearing the noise, also entered the situation, but did not participate in the physical aspect of things."

"That's about the shape of it, Professor," said Draco.

"And Miss Granger was actually a willing participant in whatever Mr Malfoy was doing to her?" asked Professor Snape.

"She said 'stop,' Sir," said Ron. "I specifically heard her say, 'stop'."

Snape sighed. "Did you actually give Mr. Malfoy a chance to stop, before you decided that Miss Granger needed rescuing, Mr. Weasley?"

"You didn't see where his hands were, Professor," said Ron.

"In places you'll never see, Weasley" muttered Draco.

"Neither will you, if you don't shut up," said Hermione.

"All of you can shut up," said Professor Snape. "Weasley, Potter, do you agree that despite how ill advised you may feel Miss Granger's choice of suitor is, that it is, in fact, her business?"

"No," said Ron and Harry, simultaneously.

Harry continued, "He's a git, sir."

"The king of gits," said Ron.

Snape smacked Ron and Harry on the backs of their heads. "You're both imbeciles."

Ron cringed and rubbed the back of his head. "He's the one that's always going on about blood purity and how poor my family is."

"It's hardly Mr. Malfoy's fault if your family decides to have more children than they can afford," said Professor Snape. "And it seems as though Mr. Malfoy may have come to a different opinion on the matter of blood purity. Perhaps you can learn by his example and consider the situation in the detentions you'll be in for the next week."

"Professor…" began Harry.

"Get out, all of you. I have better things to do with my time," said Snape and he pointed to his office door, which the four students soon filed out of.

Hermione lay on her bed with her face buried in her pillow, as Draco patted her shoulder and tried to comfort her. "They'll come round," he assured her.

Hermione turned her head and frowned at Draco. "They're both more stubborn than you can imagine; I don't think they're going to concede on this one."

"They're your best friends," said Draco. "Once they come to terms with it, they'll realise how stupid they've been and they won't hate you anymore."

"That's easy for you to say," said Hermione. "You're used to them hating you."

"Yes, but if I can win you over with my charm, wit and good looks…"

"And modesty," Hermione interjected.

"Modesty is very important" he said with a smirk. "My point is, that they'll eventually realise that all that's important is making you happy."

"When did you start being so level-headed?" asked Hermione, slipping her hand into his.

Draco squeezed Hermione's fingers. "Oh, about the time you started being so unlevel-headed. It would be scary if we were both level-headed all the time. Scary and unnatural." He brushed some of her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear, then slid down on the bed to lay next to her.

"Are we being just being crazy and selfish?" she asked, as he slipped his arm around her waist.

"Yes," he said and kissed her.

Hermione wasn't sure how long they spent with their arms wrapped around one another, but soon she felt his hands moving to her waist, his fingers slipping just underneath the material of her top, caressing her skin. She didn't feel the panic she had felt in the common room, nor the hesitation; just the urgency and passion in his kisses as his fingers made little circles on her skin.

She shuddered, there was a pause as Draco pulled back and looked into her eyes. After a few moments she nodded and he peeled off his shirt, then hers. He began placing soft butterfly kisses down the column of her neck. Hermione arched her back and gave a small moan of approval. He made a line of kisses from her chest to her navel, each slow and lingering, driving her mad with anticipation as he finally reached the line of her skirt.

"We, er…" he said. "We can keep it at this for now, if you like. We don't have to go any further than you want to."

Hermione gave him a coy smile. "Maybe we could go a little further."

For most of the night, Draco kept Hermione pressed to him. Her bra was removed and tossed to one side and Draco was happy to just experience the feeling of her naked breasts pressed against his flesh. Her small hands slid over his chest and she placed warm kisses across his stomach, he rubbed his thumb across the dense mounds of her breasts, briefly daring to flick his tongue over them as she moaned and writhed beneath him.

Eventually they fell asleep, arms wrapped tightly across one another's naked torsos, legs intertwined and Hermione's head resting against his chest, happily listening to his heart beat.

When Hermione awoke the next morning, sunlight streaming through her windows, it seemed like it would be a good day. Draco lay asleep next to her, his arm still protectively wrapped around her waist, holding her close to him. She closed her eyes again and nuzzled her nose into his neck, taking pleasure in the warmth of his body.

She'd talk to Harry and Ron. She didn't expect them to come around straight away, but she knew they would eventually. The year wasn't half over and there was plenty of time for worrying about her friends learning to get along with Draco. She didn't know how long things would last, she didn't know if he'd make her the happiest she'd ever been or if he'd break her heart, but in that moment, she was content. The sun would shine and she'd go to her lessons. The dinner table would be noisy and Professor Snape would be horrible. Life would continue as normal but for a few more minutes, she wanted to enjoy listening to the sound of a heart she had never thought was there, a heart which she hoped would be hers.

Authors Note:

I know this story is very, very short but it was written for a fix exchange and I didn't have much time. What I might do in the future is come back and do the extended version of this story, imagine this is the highlights version of a novel length fic.

If you enjoyed, or even if you didn't, please consider leaving me a comment and letting me know what you thought.