Keeper

Chapter Thirteen

Thanks to Jade2099 and BlackWingedHate.
Dedicated to citrusme16.

Draco turned the final corner into a nearby hallway, relieved to be away from the restrained sniggers and mutters of the passing by students who had heard of his unfortunate incident – well, since nobody was aware of his and Hermione's slowly changing relationship from the sidelines. He regained stature and posture as he patted down the creases in his robe, to remove any traces to show that he spent his whole day hiding behind dusty drapes and running down corridors from his new number one fan. He had to sort of act like he didn't enjoy one bit... not even a little.

Nevertheless, while he remained bemused by the awful turn of events his life had become, he was also quite frantically fearing for his life at the same time. He was becoming a little bit scared of Hermione Granger, dare he say it. Not just because she wasn't her usual, attractive and moody self but because could this be... a glimpse into an alternate universe where the effects of her love for him were really that vast? A glimpse into a horrifying future! He shuddered at the thought and continued down the corridor in the direction of the Great Hall. Though he was not particularly peckish, dinner would be a perfect alternative from having to face or confront the frightening fangirl alone... and who knows what might happen then?

As he approached the Great Hall, the sparse crowds of other students suddenly become thicker and thicker, and as they did the noises that accompanied them too became so loud that the air became thick with it. The humid scent of pumpkin juice and fresh winter carvery dinner did barely anything to wet his appetite, instead it made his stomach churn. Draco tried to ignore everything with the most of his might, the irritating sounds of banter, laughter and joking, for here and there he could place the odd snide comment about Hermione and the bloody love potion directed towards him. Did these people not fear him like they used to? Or had the boundaries broken down a little now that he was the go-to for ultimate entertainment?

He took a typical nonchalant stance as he proudly entered the large archway into the dining hall, placing his hands into his pockets and his robe ruffled and flaying back as he walked with dignity and a blissful ignorance – it was a vision of power... or so he thought. Luckily the noises did not die down nor falter slightly, so without meeting eyes with anyone he felt as though he was safe... for now. With a few last dignified strides he slid gracefully into an empty seat by his typical Slytherin crowd, Blaise, Marcus and Pansy – not that he particularly wanted to bask in their presence, considering their last encounters. Summary: fistfights, abuse, insults and broomstick cupboard. Pansy was the first to react in her amazingly brainless sort of way and cooed at him every time they met, as if she still had him... as if he still wanted her. Draco smirked to himself. The others however, bar Crabbe and Goyle for they were always far too consumed with the likes of eating to socialise during meal times, finally broke their icy silence towards him only to prod fun into his newfound rise to fame... as the new school joke.

As the only other person he had met to match his own mind in a conniving and intelligent sort of way, Blaise was the only person he heard to suggest to take advantage of the situation to make Hermione or to make Gryffindor crumble, rather than just to see it through till it died down. That boy was a menace and his mind never stopped bloody scheming. He should be the image of Slytherin; Draco felt no drive in wanting it anymore.

Draco felt the prickle to look up despite not wanting to at the same time, and after having holed and disfiguring every possible food available on his plate with his fork, deciding to give in. With a touch of mockery and entertainment, Draco joined in the rest of the Slytherin table to rest their eyes on the hopeless figure of Hermione Granger.

By now a majority of the students had finished their meals, so were milling around aimlessly and socialising with one another in clumps often standing, whilst other houses even mixed with one another on other tables. The Slytherin table was the sole set of students to remain to themselves and dare not associate themselves with any other houses... they looked superior, or so to speak.

Draco peered through the crowds of random students into the view of Hermione Granger staring back him on the Gryffindor table. He almost wanted to die, and not in a good way, as he observed her taken expression with him – eyes wide open and gleaming, mouth gaping and hands clasped to her chest as if to contain her frail little heart. The traces of struggle that he had hidden were all clrealy visible on her stature with the wild hair, dust and creased robes. This was the ghost shell of Hermione Granger, possessed by an obsessive monster! He stared back in absolute horror at the unspeakable and decided, he did not like this one bit! Who could take advantage of such a vulnerable state as that...? Perhaps more harm would come to him than would to her!

Upon catching a glimpse of Draco sharing their connecting stare, Hermione squealed uncharacteristically in preposterous delight and stood up from her seat only to lean over the table, knocking a few goblets of drink here and there. She placed a hand cupped to the side of her mouth as if to stage whisper and the only satisfaction Draco gained from this entire moment was picturing Hermione's own self-loathing and morbidity after she should come out of this... spell. It made him smile a little, but this was quickly wiped off his face when Hermione clambered onto the table top (much to the protests of the other students, and very much regardless to the restraints of her friends) to call over across the Great Hall at Draco.

"I love you Draco! I'm so in love with you!" Hermione called out from kneeling on top of the table, to which Draco froze mortified and died a little inside, whilst the rest of the entire school population began to howl in uncontrollable fits of laughter. If ever you could picture Draco Malfoy fearing for his own sole safety, with widening eyes and a stricken expression - this was the perfect time. Only the few people sitting around Draco on the Slytherin table dared not react in fear of his temper, at least they had sense. He felt Pansy squeeze his upper arm protectively as if still proclaiming ownership of him at the same time, that he had to have a battle with her to remove herself from him. How could people handle more than one, let alone two fangirls - it was impossible! Was this how Cedric Diggory felt? Or dare he say it Harry Potter? By the time Draco lifted his curious eyes back to where Hermione last was on the Gryffindor table, she was gone.

A sigh of relief racked through his body at exactly the same time as a wave of possessive emotion, inwardly asking himself where she had gone. Nevertheless like much else today, this was short lived. Draco's body tensed to the most it could possibly tense before his muscles would physically seize up once he realised that every single person in the Hall's eyes were directed in the space just behind him. Draco remained terrified as it clocked in his mind why all their eyes were averted in that space, as he acknowledged the awkward tingle of body heat from nearby. He caught the equally horrified expressions of his companions with a fleeting glance before his eyes were covered by two small, soft hands and so blanketing his vision with a complete black darkness. He only imagined it could go downhill from here...

"Guess who, Malfoy baby?" Whispered a sickeningly sweet voice, so close in proximity that a warm breath hit his right ear. It was so familiar as it was uncharacteristic, it only made his mind a confused mess. This was followed by a silent giggle that could only be felt because the girl's hands shook a little in their place, causing his head to shake in return aswell. The point was, there was no mis-guessing who the perpetrator was, for it could only be one. Only one. But Draco's last thoughts were split indecisively between various methods of suicide from this point on or how to escape this hell alive! Thankfully, he excused methods of suicide and regained both mental and physical composure before he pulled Hermione's hands off his face.

"Alright, Granger. That's enough; you've had your fun..." Draco murmured, only because he was frightened of her reaction. He held tight to both her hands and kept them tugged down to ensure she could not escape. However, this kept them in the awkward position with Draco in the warm, alluring cove of Hermione's arms and leaning on her stomach as she looked down at him with wide, questioning eyes. As he looked back up at her, he thought to himself that he was and would never get used to this. It was like watching the cheesiest magical drama there was on television, only that he was part of the main cast and that the millions of viewers, were standing in the room with him. When Hermione gave him a shy grin, Draco sighed in exasperated defeat before standing up in such a skilful way that he had gracefully manoeuvred into a position where he was standing behind the besotted girl and holding her tight by the upper arms with his strong grip, without so much with a sign of struggle.

"I swear to Merlin, I am going to find a way to get you back to normal even if it kills me!" Draco stated aloud, more for show than for the sake of truth, as he began to push Hermione out towards the exit of the Great Hall. If it was not for the absolute absurdity of the situation already, somebody may have thought funny to turn this into a human congo train. But to his relief, the students let them both pass unharmed and only then when they retreated down the corridor outside toward the staircase did the burst of sound and laughter suddenly erupt from inside the Great Hall once more, echoing in distant mockery of the two as they walked further and further away from the crowds.

There were no feelings to describe how Draco felt at that instant. He had reached an all time low.

"Adamo." Draco whispered breathlessly before it swung open routinely and the pair stepped into the heavenly confinement of safety... or secrecy, so to say. Draco could have sworn that he caught a glimpse of a patronising look from the figure in the portrait or was it just a nonchalant look of approval having witnessed so many odd things from the school Head Boy and Girl already... maybe Draco was in the end, simply overanalysing.

By the time they had reached their corridor anyway, Draco's arms had grown weary and tired so that the distance of an arm's length between the two became more of a close embrace with Draco's arms crossed over Hermione's chest and shoulders as they walked. It would have looked like vision of a protective gesture or a defensive one. Thankfully, she had long quietened from her callings of sweet nothings and had now just learnt to be silent and "enjoy" the moment... or was she just as tired from walking as he was. Maybe the potion was wearing off... already? It had only been a day; maybe that fraction of the potion remained unchanged.

Once in the common room, still so regularly lit by the already open fireplace, did Draco find it safe to place Hermione in her usual seat in the armchair where she sat instinctively cross-legged, whilst he then proceeded to settle on the other sofa – his eyes never once leaving her, for he was still analysing. He was waiting for movement, reaction, a spontaneous sign that she was not yet Hermione... or that she was now the normal Hermione.

"There are two ways you can alleviate the effects of a love potion; you can administer a healthy dose of a hate potion to counter the effects of the previous potion or you can just... wait until the love potion has run its course." Hermione suddenly spoke in her typical know-it-all tone, sounding perfectly normal and back to her usual self. Draco sat up straight on propped elbows to look into her eyes, searching even more deeply for any sign of her return to the normal world and only a little convinced that Hermione Granger had suddenly become normal again.

"How long would I have to wait for, then?" He replied hesitantly.

All his conclusions about salvation disappeared when Hermione swiftly, but more gracefully (perhaps she was learning a thing or two about movement from him) stood from her comfortable place in the armchair to perch on the edge of Draco's sofa. In the process, pinning him down with her hands on his shoulders and if it were not for Draco's amazement in her sudden strength or shock in her actions that he would have instinctively pushed back. Instead, he lay back and let Hermione draw close, with her quizzical wide eyes and her hair falling at all sides to curtain them from the rest of the world. Only then between the closeness did Draco catch sight of the touch of emotion behind Hermione's eyes... a touch of horror or a pleading apologetic look which he understood so well. They flickered so momentarily that it was difficult to distinguish which between the two he actually saw or imagined.

"I love you so much Draco." She said, as if she were begging him to love her back and false emotion thick in her words. Of course maybe the normal Hermione would have the sense to realise that she need not beg, because he was already-

Draco chuckled in the empty quiet of the room, compared to his unquietened mind. Hermione's expression remained blissfully beautiful and unchanged as he reached up to stroke her cheek briefly with the back of his fingers, "No you don't Hermione. This is the potion talking, not you."

Hermione's face changed subtly then, her eyes watering and suddenly spilling a few stranded tears here and there on Draco's sweater and some on his neck. He was struck with a sharp pain in his chest than he concluded as an unspecified emotion, accompanied with the curiosity at seeing a girl's tears up so close and for... him?

"I do love you! This is me talking, it's Hermione!" She pleaded with more tears and banging a weak fist into his chest, that then for a moment almost won Draco over before he realised this was just a dream – a mere illusion to punish him. Or wait; there was no punishment, this was just an illusion. His arms reached up to cradle her slim figure to himself but they dropped limply across his stomach when he restrained the urge to do so.

He waited for her to become a little bit calmer and for her to meet his understanding eyes before he spoke, "Then why do you love me?" The smallest of a smirk appeared as a twitch on the curve of his mouth.

Hermione sniffed and wiped her damp face with a fistful of oversized robe from her sleeves, "Because... you're very attractive. Just because." She managed to finally muster, to which made Draco chuckle so much more. This was so ridiculous! But Draco was still touched because of this nameless girl's words who was playing his heart, because she had Hermione's face.

"Wrong answer, I'm sorry." He spoke in the gentlest way possible, and imagined all the possible ways the real Hermione would have dared to answer that question. He would gladly trick her into it one day or simply just wait around to see for when the real time comes... if it ever would. "I want Hermione Granger to come back now please."

Her expression became confused, obviously still under the influence of affection from the potion and not fully understand what was going on. She looked like a young, innocent girl compared to the girl who looked years wiser than her age, that he was so used to having for company.

"May I kiss you?" Hermione asked, quietly and uncharacteristically, whilst staring at his slightly parted mouth.

"I'm sorry but I don't really kiss any other girls than Hermione." He coaxed, trying in his own way to play the situation so that he was amusing himself and further confusing the girl in front of him. He looked up into her cautious eyes with a look of disapproval. "Make it quick." He stated after giving in.

With little hesitation, love-potion-Hermione bent to consume the distance between her and Draco before placing both arms by the sides of his face. It was a chaste kiss that lasted barely two seconds but even the faux Hermione was content from this. Draco's heart may have stopped beating and for once he wasn't using his mind to ever-scheme, right now it was blank. Thinking of the girl who was using Hermione's face as a mask and playing her role unconvincingly well.

In her embarrassment and considering the deep shade of reds and pinks her cheeks had now burned, Hermione still spellbound or not lay her forehead on Draco's chest. Draco very much wanted to ask her if she could still feel that his heart was there... and if love potions could possibly be transfered by contact with the drinker's lips. It was a astounding thought that he shook from his mind quickly.