A Glimpse of the Soul
A one-shot by DizzyDawn007
Hermione flew down the hall, her hair, now much longer, swirling behind her. It was nearing Christmas break, and the castle was cold, but she didn't mind. Her breathing was heavy, and she didn't hear more than her own sneakers, pounding on the stone repeatedly. There was no need to be quiet. The whole school knew why she ran, and the teachers let her have Hogwarts to herself on these nights. She stopped for a moment, catching her breath, and leaned against the wall. Pulling a small flask filled with water from a band on her arm, she drank it down. Letting her heart rate calm itself down, she mentally went over the route she would take to get back to the Head Dorms. Slowly, she raised herself up, getting all ready to go, but stopped suddenly. She could have sworn she heard sneakers. And they were not her own. Grinning to herself, she told herself she was going crazy. No one would be running. No one else was allowed. It just wasn't possible. Starting out again, she rounded a corner and ran smack dab into someone.
Draco knew it was crazy, running all over the damned castle trying run across her by chance. He told himself that he was stupid, that it wouldn't matter if he did, cause she hated him anyway. She loathed him. He infuriated her. But oh, did she love fighting with him. And he knew it too. That's what gave him hope. Hope that maybe, with one of her best friends gone and the other one permanently in St. Mungo's, he might have a chance, if only fate presented him with the opportunity. And when she ran straight into him, he thanked all the gods he knew. Now was his chance. His one hope, right here and now. And so, when she was just two feet away from falling to the floor, he managed to catch her. In his arms. And when Hermione realized just whose face she was looking into and whose arms were around her, she jumped up and away from him. Glaring at him, she spoke in a sharp voice.
"What are you doing out at this time of night?"
"What are you doing out at this time of night?"
"You know exactly why, Malfoy. Don't be cute. Why are you wandering the halls?"
"For no particular reason. You've dropped your wand." He swooped down and picked it up before she could even blink.
"Malfoy, give me my wand."
He ignored her, examining it, twirling it between his fingers. She was practically shouting by now.
"My goodness gracious, we'll just have to stop that racket, won't we Granger?"
He waved her wand and she cringed, her eyes closed involuntarily. When she opened them five seconds later, all she saw was her wand, floating in midair, right next to a piece of parchment. And written on the parchment, was "The wand is a glimpseof the soul." Hermione huffed and stuffed the parchment into her pocket with her wand, turned around, and took a different route to her room.
It was ridiculous. She shouldn't be thinking about him. She shouldn't constantly be looking at her wand, seeing those words over and over in her mind. She should be able to just dismiss it, just like she did everything else. She should be able to look at Draco Malfoy without thinking of that night. It had been four days. She was going crazy. She couldn't concentrate in any of her classes. Every single time she saw a wand, which was practically every five minutes, she thought of it. And finally, one night it just got to be too much for her. And since running was no longer so safe for her, after all that was when it happened, she went to her old sanctuary. The library. However, it didn't do her any good. Because he was there. Why was he there? He shouldn't be there! He was everywhere it seemed.
She was still standing in the doorway, staring at the back of his head, five minutes later. She told herself she was going to turn around, walk out, and go running. Outside. It wasn't that cold. Instead she found herself walking quietly up to him. And just when she was about to say something, he got up and turned towards her. He leaned against the table, not more than three feet away, her subconscious noted. He smirked at her.
"I must say, Granger, you held out longer than I expected. But then again, you always do." Hermione didn't know what to say. So she said the first thing that ran through her head.
"I want to see yours."
"Excuse me?" He raised an eyebrow. "Want to see what of mine?"
"You know damn well what, Malfoy! Your wand!" She hissed.
"Oh…that. Well why didn't you just say so?" He grinned at her, thoroughly enjoying this. He held out his wand to her. She snatched it up and examined it.
"What was the point of that little note?" She wasn't looking at him. She couldn't.
"I knew it would bug you and you'd eventually do just what you're doing now."
"You little ass." He moved toward her. She moved back.
"Maybe…maybe not." He took another step toward her. She stepped back and felt a large bookcase behind her.
"Oh, there's no maybe about it…you are an ass just as surely as I love reading." He took another step toward her.
"Well, we all know about your love of reading. Can I have my wand back?"
"No. You didn't give mine to me, so I'll not give yours to you." He took another step toward her. They were just inches away from each other. He leaned in slightly and spoke softly.
"Did you believe what I wrote?" She made a noncommittal nod. He leaned closer; putting his arms against the bookcase, and caught her gaze. She couldn't look away. "What does my wand show you?"
She couldn't breathe. She felt trapped. Her heart was pounding rapidly, and she felt as if it was about to shatter her ribs. She couldn't look away. His eyes seemed to paralyze her. They were a swirling of blue and gray, and she was so close that she could see the actual pattern in them. The intensity in his eyes made her shiver. She seemed to speak from outside her body, her voice faint and breathy. Barely a whisper, and yet, somehow deeper.
"It's smooth, and simple, and warm, and nothing I'd thought it'd be."
She took a deep breath. He was acting so strange, and being this close to him was affecting her. She finally managed to tear her eyes away from his, only to glance at his lips. And suddenly, those lips were moving closer, and her eyes whipped to his just as Draco's lips brushed against Hermione's. It was a simple kiss, but when he started to pull away, Hermione followed slightly before she got a hold of herself. Upon seeing his smirk, she began to mentally berate herself. Had she forgotten who this was? Who she was? But before she could go any further, his voice interrupted her.
"I just had to be sure you wanted it too." She stared at him in open shock. One of his hands slid down and took a hold of her hand, stepping back. "C'mon." He led her through the library and down the hall a little bit, stopping in front of a door she had never seen before. He kissed her once again. "Are you sure, Hermione?" He was looking into her eyes intently, and Hermione felt that she couldn't have said no, had she even wanted to. "Yes." And that was all it took.
Before she knew what had happened, she was inside a beautiful room. It was elegantly simple. There was a huge, four-poster king-sized bed, a fireplace, and a small table with two chairs. All the visible wall space was covered with bookshelves brimming with hundreds of books. She broke away from him and walked to the largest wall in wonder. Running her hands over all the covers, she realized they were all of her favorite subjects. All of her many interests. She dimly heard Draco light the fire, and she very much felt when he came to stand behind her. Intervening with kisses along her neck and shoulder, he spoke.
"I've been collecting these…since fourth year…all for you…all for you, Hermione…I love you."
Upon hear those words, she gasped sharply and turned to face him, and he pressed ever closer. For the first time, Hermione could feel him shaking…shaking with fear that she would reject him…and she soon put that fear to rest. As she kissed him and felt his arms securely around her, she could think of nothing else. All her energies were focused on him and him alone. She pushed aside all her thoughts that this was hopeless, that it would never work. She pushed aside her fear of what people would say. She pushed aside her worries about everything, and focused solely on him. When Draco softly and carefully laid her down on the bed and held himself over her for a second, still giving her the chance to back out, telling her that she would always have a choice, she finally realized…
"I love you, too."
Later, when it was well into the night and Hermione was just about to fall asleep in Draco's arms, she let herself think. And she asked him something she'd been dying too since he'd first kissed her.
"How long have you loved me?" Draco shifted slightly so that he could look at her.
"I thinkrealized I loved you in our fourth year, when it suddenly hit me that just because we could never be together, that it didn't mean you would always be alone. But I think I might've loved you before."
"Really?"
"Yeah…when did you start to love me?" He wouldn't look her in the eyes, afraid of what the answer might be. That maybe she didn't love him after all. Hermione pulled herself up and leaned on her arm, turned towards him. He let her small hand turn his face towards her.
"I think I loved you even when I hated you." She kissed him and settled down again, pulling up the covers. Draco fell asleep grinning for the first time in years. And it certainly wouldn't be the last time, either.
Well, how was that? I liked it. I actually got the whole idea from this catalogue that had all this replica stuff from the movies. Including wands. And I saw Hermione's and I thought "it's seems much more elegant than we normally picture her as," and when I saw Draco's, I thought, "it's so simple. Rather plain, to be honest. Not at all what I would have pictured for Draco, being a Malfoy and all," and then my hyperactive brain went into spasms and out popped this story. But anyway, tell me what you think. I did enjoy writing it though.
Sorry about the super-long author's note,
DizzyDawn007 aka Sarah