What I\'ve Always Known

Disclaimer: I don\'t own anything but the plot.

A/N Thank you for your continued reviews, and for your compliments on last chapter. :D


Making Peace


Some hours later, Hermione awoke with a jolt and a gasp as her leg gave a particularly painful twinge. It was then she noticed someone was mopping her head with a cool cloth in the dark. She groaned, trying to warm her throat up for speech.

“Shh, go back to sleep.” Draco whispered, and Hermione nodded and closed her eyes, not stopping to question why he was here in the middle of the night.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Hermione woke when a blast of golden sun hit her closed eyelids. She felt slightly groggy, but thankfully her leg had stopped throbbing sometime in the night. Shifting slightly, she felt the scratchy sheets of the Hospital Wing beds and opened her eyes a little, squinting in the early morning light.

Uttering a little moan, she planted her hands on either side of her and hoisted herself up into a sitting position against the pillows. Looking down at the outline of her right leg through the sheets, she placed her palms on her thigh and tentatively pulled her toes up towards her shin, flexing her injured calf. She gritted her teeth as it cramped up a little, but most of the pain had evaporated.

Hermione started to stretch, looked at the chair next to her bedside, and froze. She rubbed her eyes hard and blinked them into focus, wondering if she was delirious. But, sure enough, when her eyes cleared, the form of Draco Malfoy remained sleeping in the chair. One of his legs was stretched out, and the other was bent at the knee. His arms were spread wide over the back of the chair and his head was lolling slightly on his right shoulder.

Little butterflies flapped pleasantly in Hermione’s stomach as she noted how Draco’s hair fell so perfectly across his forehead, looking almost golden in the light, Over the years his skin has lost it’s swallow, pale appearance and had taken on a more pearly tone. Her eyes wandered down to his chest, stretched tantalizingly below the tight, black, and now sleeveless T-shirt.

“She lives.” Draco said, without cracking an eye. Hermione blushed, knowing she couldn’t be more busted. She wondered just how long he had been awake, aware that she was studying him. Hermione stuck her chin out defiantly as he opened his eyes and stretched.

Draco laughed at her mock pout and rubbed the back of his neck, a sleepy smile playing on his lips.

“Did you stay here all night?” Hermione asked softly. He merely nodded as though she had asked whether or not it was morning.

“Draco…” She whispered, touched immeasurably by this simple act of kindness. He grinned somewhat sheepishly and stood up.

“How’s your leg?” He asked as he poured two goblets of water from a jug on a near by table. If Hermione had noticed he had instead gone into Madam Pomfreys office for water last night, she might have caught onto his ruse before she had actually swallowed the spiked beverage.

“Loads better.” she said, running a hand through her some-what tame hair. She had had to sleep on her back all night so not shift her leg, and her neck was paying the price. She sighed and ran a hand over her heated collarbone.

Draco handed her a goblet of water and sipped from his own, following the progress of her hand. She took it and smiled appreciatively up at him before drinking it down.

“Do you have any idea how damned sexy you are?” he asked as she dipped a finger into the water and traced it lightly over her collar, lowering its boiling temperature.

She grinned.

“I might. Did you sleep in that chair all night?” she asked softly. Before he answered, Draco reached under the blankets and pulled the pillows out from under her leg. Hermione sighed in ecstasy as the blood rushed back into her foot.

“Better? And yes I did, why?” He said casually. He set the pillows down on the chair and turned to face her.

“Oh, nothing.” She said, setting her empty goblet down next to Draco’s on the bedside table. “That was just really…sweet. I never would have connected something like that to the twitchy little ferret boy of last year.”

“Well, I never!” Draco exclaimed dramatically, placing a hand over his throat in mock indignation. Hermione laughed outright at him and he grinned back, amusement dancing in his Artic-blue eyes. Hermione yawned and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was only seven o’clock and they didn’t have classes today. She ran her hands over her face, already feeling tired again.

“Well, I did sleep in that chair all night, but I must say, I am getting rather stiff.” Draco said playfully, splaying his hands on his hips.

Hermione grinned and threw back the sheets for him, scooting over in the process. Draco kicked off his shoes, and climbed in next to her. He sighed contentedly and drew Hermione into his arms, her cheek pressed up against his warm chest.

Hermione smiled and snuggled closer to Draco, for the first time glad that the hospital beds weren’t all that roomy.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Madam Pomfrey awoke them some hours later with breakfast trays. While Hermione ate, Madam Pomfrey stretched out her leg.

“Does this hurt?” She asked, pushing Hermione’s foot to the side. Hermione shook her head and took a sip of her orange juice. Hermione took a bite of her toast and licked some peanut butter off her thumb, while Draco watched out of the corner of his eye.

“How about this?” Madam Pomfrey demanded, twisting Hermione’s foot around in a vicious circle. Hermione was just about to shake her head, when a white hot stab of pain ran all the way up her leg to her hip, leaving her shaking.

“Yeah, that twinges a bit.” She squeaked, gathering a fistful of sheets. Draco was back in the chair while he ate, but he leaned over to squeeze her arm gently as her eyes swam with tears.

“Well I don’t know how wise it is to let you go dear.” Madam Pomfrey sighed and straightened up. Hermione gaped at Madam Pomfreys back as she went to get more gauze out of a cabinet. All morning she had been hoping for an excuse not to tell Ron about her and Draco today, and here it was. Presented so nicely on a proverbial silver platter.

Hermione frowned and kept fighting the internal battle of morals as Draco stood up.

“Well I hate to go love, but Quidditch in an hour and I have to change.” He said, moving to take Hermione’s hand. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione thought she saw Madam Pomfreys head dart up at the Draco’s now familiar term of endearment for her. She suddenly realized she would have to tell Ron today. She couldn’t miss the Quidditch game; it was Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Both Harry and Draco would want her to come.

“Madam Pomfrey, I have to leave today. There’s a Quidditch Match.” She argued a little half heartedly.

“Potter’s not playing is he?” She asked as she taped the fresh gauze down. Madam Pomfrey snorted when Hermione nodded. “That boy is always getting himself hurt one way or another. Then again, I have seen you a fair bit as well Ms Granger. I remember back in your second year, when you came in looking like a cat, why you had even grown a tai-“She was cut off by Hermione’s sudden coughing fit.

“Well thank you Madam, but I would really like to go to the showers now.” Hermione said unreasonably loudly. Madam Pomfrey nodded and handed her an ordinary muggles garbage bag. Draco looked curiously from Madam Pomfrey to Hermione, while she fought down a blush. She had accidentally turned herself halfway into a cat in her second year, when Harry, Ron and her had taken Polyjuice Potion illegally, but there was no way she was going to tell Draco that.

“Wrap this around your leg while you bathe, don’t you get those bandages wet. Come see me tonight if your leg hurts, alright?” Madam Pomfrey instructed sternly.

“Yes Ma’am.” Hermione said, taking the garbage bag from her. She gathered up her sweater and stepped off the bed, testing
her right leg gingerly. Draco wrapped his arm around her waist and they made their way out of the Hospital Wing together.

Draco patiently helped her all the way down to the Entrance Hall, where he would make his way down to the Quidditch Pitch. Hermione insisted on having a shower and changing before facing the rest of the student body, so he gave her a quick kiss and departed.

Hermione made her way up to the Prefects bathrooms as quickly as she could, stopping only briefly in her dormitory to grab a clean school uniform. As soon as she stepped into the scarlet and cold bathroom, she locked the door behind her, and stripped off her dirt caked clothes. Hermione stepped under the warm spray of water with her right leg sticking out of the curtain, and ran soap over her body, wondering. How would Ron react? Hermione had known him for almost seven years and she couldn’t imagine him getting violent, but then again, hadn’t he left bruises on her left forearm just yesterday?

She tried to shove that thought out of her head as she toweled herself dry and pulled on her uniform. With a simple flick of her wand, her hair was dry and slightly curled under at the ends. She dashed back up to her dormitory and dropped off her dirty clothes and shampoo. She was about to turn to leave, when she spotted her makeup from yesterday lying on her bad. Tapping her bottom lip thoughtfully, she shrugged and picked it up. Applying the same cosmetics as yesterday, she winked jokingly at her reflection and ran back down the stairs, through the portrait hole, down the marble staircase, and through the Entrance Hall out onto the grounds.

From the sounds of it, most of the students were already at the pitch. She quickened her pace a little, and had soon reached the stairs to the Gryffindor section of the stands. Her stomach squirmed unpleasantly as she thought, ‘this is the same place where Ron kissed me…’ She smiled at the familiar faces she passed, and seated herself behind Lavender Brown and Parvarti Patil.

“Hey Hermione!” Lavender greeted her. “Come out to cheer Ron on?” She and Parvarti giggled as Hermione forced herself to smile back, neither confirming nor denying that was why she was here.

“Hardly.” She muttered under her breath as they turned back towards the pitch.

Pretty soon, the whistle to signal the start of the match sounded, but Hermione was too busy mentally planning her speech to Ron to notice. Occasionally she would yell something like “Yeah!” and “Go!” but she avoided cheering for anyone specifically, as she didn’t want to cheer against Draco, but neither did she want to cheer against Harry and her own house.

However she was pulled from her thoughts as Draco went into a spectacular dive. Harry quickly followed, moving to intercept him at a right angle. Hermione’s breath caught in her throat as she realized what was going on. She rose to her feet along with a great deal of other students as Harry made a beeline for Draco and the Snitch. If Harry kept on his path, he was going to knock Draco off his broom, guaranteeing him the Snitch.

Hermione’s hands flew to her mouth as Harry drew ever closer. Draco’s head turned to look at Harry form bearing down on him, and time seemed to slow down. Harry was only a mere foot from Draco when he seemed to change his mind about hurting Draco. He veered his broom to the right, avoiding Draco but pulling even in the race for the Snitch.

The whole pitch held it’s breath as Harry and Draco raced for the snitch, both lying flat on their brooms. Even the rest of their teams remained stationary in the air to watch. As they drew nearer, they stretched out their arms and the tension of the audience raised a notch. Draco’s hand neared the Snitch first, but Hermione then saw something most peculiar. Draco glanced at Harry, drew his hand back the merest of an inch, and Harry’s fingers wrapped around the Snitch first. Harry glanced at Draco while Hermione raised an eyebrow and delivered him a faked elbow in the stomach.

Hermione watched in utter confusion as Harry and Draco both stifled a grin, and Draco went flying dramatically off his broom. He landed some ten feet away, rolled and rose to his feet, quite unharmed.

Hermione couldn’t help but cheer with the rest of the Gryffindors as Harry performed a victory lap of the stadium and the Slytherins chanted Draco’s name. Hermione masked a frown of confusion with a smile. It seemed she was the only one who had noticed their peculiar behavior before Harry had won the game, and Draco had taken a gallant tumble.

And then it hit her like a ton of bricks. As payback for Harry not ramming into him, Draco had allowed Harry to catch the Snitch. Harry had then pretended to knock Draco off his broom so he could have a hero’s way out. Hermione laughed out loud at her boys as she made her way onto the pitch.

“Hermione! We won!” Harry ran over to her and wrapped her up in a bear hug.

“Nice dive Harry!” she congratulated him, and then leaned in closer to whisper in his ear. “And thank you for not, ah, deliberately assaulting my boyfriend.” Harry laughed and gave her one last squeeze before releasing her and joining the rest of his team in a victory dance. Hermione turned to go inside, figuring she would catch up with Draco to congratulate him later.

“Hermione! Get over here and tell me how great I am!” She turned to face a grinning Draco, flanked by a dark haired Slytherin boy she had never met. Without any further thought to the crowd of happy Gryffindors and sullen but impressed Slytherins surrounding them, Hermione leaped into Draco’s arms. He laughed and hugged her back.

Hermione dew back just long enough to plant a solid kiss on his lips, before hugging him again and whispering, “You were amazing.”
“How amazing?” He asked deviously.

“Come by the Room of Requirement tonight at midnight, and you’ll see.” she whispered back, hinting at the obvious. “But I also need to tell you something while we’re there.”

Draco set her down with a smile and ran a finger down her cheek.

“I need to tell you something too love, but not here.” He gave her one last kiss, before taking her back up the castle. Hermione said goodbye to him in the Entrance Hall and went to the Gryffindor Tower to join the celebrations. She knew there she would have to tell Ron, but at least she had midnight to look forward to.