Forbidden Secret

F.S. Chapter 2





“Hermione, why the bloody hell are you so tired lately? I see you nodding off in class all the time, even in Defense Against the Dark Arts!” Ron poked her, whispering as not to alert Snape who patrolled study hall.



She flicked his shoulder, irritated that he even asked. “I told you I have a social life, it’s just a nocturnal one. Why do you care? You were the same way last year when you had that fling with Pavarti. At least I didn’t start snoring in Transfiguration.” She snapped quietly, Harry snickered beside her as Ron’s face turned crimson.



“Told you, mate.” He whispered, earning a flick from Hermione himself.



Ron grumbled and looked back to his notes, stealing glances at Hermione’s neck. “Looks like you got hit with a bludger…” he whispered to no one, causing Hermione to pull her collar up.



~*~*~



Halfway down the Great Hall at another table, Draco was being unusually quiet, according to his friends. He kept fiddling with his quill, staring off into space, earning strange looks from Crabbe, who kept glancing at Pansy as if trying to prove his theory. She was no help, looking at Draco and visibly trying not to cry. Elbowing Goyle, he whispered, “So who do you think it is making him so calm lately? And don’t say what I know you’re going to say because its bollocks.” Goyle shrugged, clearly torn on his own opinion of his friends’ behavior.



“I’m not going to admit anything, so shove off the both of you.” Draco growled after turning back to his homework, trying to look as if he was only debating on what to write next. “You’d better get back on the Potions homework, you’re both near failing as it is.” Earning raised eyebrows from anyone in earshot that Draco actually cared about schoolwork, they shook their heads.



“I hope you\'re discussing better grammar, boys.” Came the silky voice of Snape, who stopped and hovered behind them.



Draco glanced up at his teacher and shrugged. “All I was saying is they needed to get back to work and quit whispering about things, sir.” Snape nodded, and slunk away to surprise a few Ravenclaws passing notes. Draco glared at his friends, and packing up his books, got up and headed out to the grounds.



~*~*~



Later that night, Hermione was dozing off in the Common Room when a small tapping woke her. She looked about, finally pinpointing the noise to the lower window near the stairs. She peeked out, and spotted Draco from the roof across from the tower, enchanting rocks to rise up and hit the glass. He shot her a wicked smile, and motioned for her to meet him in the gardens below, then jumped on his broom and dove down in the air. She smiled to herself, and making sure no one was around, ran to meet him.



He was laying on the edge of the small fountain, arms folded behind his head. She came and sat before him, and he turned and laid his head on her lap. She gave him a queer look, as he only did this when they had a serious discussion.



“I don’t want to stay my last year…” he admitted softly. “All this going on… don’t really want any part of it.” Hermione paused in her stoking his hair. They’d agreed never to speak of these things when their affair first started, for detachment purposes.



“Dee… why are you telling me this? Didn’t we say that…” but he didn’t let her finish. He pulled her down and kissed her deeply, stopping any thought process on what he had said. She groaned, clutching his hair, earning a bite to her lip. Breaking the kiss he sat up and looked her in the eyes.



“I tell you this because I… oh I don’t know… things have gotten hard to stick to lately. You’re all I think about lately and it’s really frustrating me.” He looked away.



She gulped, and took a breath. “Maybe we should end this before it really complicates things…” she whispered, half hoping he didn’t hear her. He went still then, and in a whirl of movement grabbed her by the arms and stared at her. “Never say that again. You want to know why? Because I bloody well love you and I know it’s treason against my family and everything I’m supposed to stand for to love you. I tried not to, I tried to pretend the sex was just sex, but when 4th year was over and I went home, I couldn’t sleep for weeks. I just stayed in my room or went out on my broom for so long my mother thought I’d run away. You drive me insane, and change everyway I’ve ever looked and thought about everything… which drives me even farther up the wall.” He bit his lip, glaring fiercely at her.



Eyes wide and heart pounding, she gulped again. “I… um… well, I have to second that confession…” she replied meekly, cheeks blazing.



He blinked a few times, as if trying to let her admission sink it. He got up and dragged her on his broom with him. “Come on, we’re going for a ride.” He situated her against his back, making sure she had a firm grip on his waist, her legs wound around his, and kicked off the ground, flying high and away from the castle.



High above the gardens looking out from a window, a face half hidden in shadow watched them leave, a face stricken with surprise and somewhat disgust before receeding into the shadows.



~*~*~



Walking through the halls the next morning, Hermione found it hard to hide the small smile that kept creeping on her face. She and Draco didn’t return until just before sunrise, and while her body and mind were exhausted, her heart was high on life. But one small foreboding thought kept her from skipping to her next class. The knowledge of their secret weighed heavy on her, and the fact that it was going to be impossible for her to tell anyone about anything having to do with it. Although Draco said he felt the same way, she knew it was harder for her. If his family and friends found out, they’d probably try to kill her. She snorted when she imagined the look on his parents faces. His mother would probably die of mortification and his father... god only knew the twisted and evil things that man was capable of doing to his own flesh and blood, she thought to herself as she sat down next to Harry in Potions. Although lost in her thoughts, she was fully aware of Draco’s presence across the dungeon classroom.



Harry glanced at her, and elbowed her arm. “Everything ok, Hermione? You’re off in another world again.” he whispered. “You know no matter what it is you can tell me. I know Ron is pissed you’re occupied with someone, but I think it’s about time you found some happiness outside of everything.”



She smiled at him and nodded. “I don’t think I can tell you, but thank you for being such a friend.” She quietly took a deep breath, feeling eyes on her, knowing one pair belonged to Ron, and another to Draco. Unknown to her, a third pair of eyes were on her, curiosity filled as they watched.



Returning to the common room with her fellow Gryffindors after dinner, she collapsed on her bed. She and Draco both agreed to rest tonight, having not slept at all the night before. It wasn’t arguable that they didn’t want to spend the night without one another, but they both had circles under their eyes and needed to sleep. She ran her fingers through her hair, stretching her body out and sighed.



In the boy’s dormitory, Harry sat in the window looking out onto the grounds, thinking hard about Hermione. He wasn’t jealous of whatever she had with whomever, but desperately wanted to know who it was just to make sure she wouldn’t get hurt. He tried to run though his head who it could be, but no one he thought of would be worthy of her keeping so silent about it. The thought of the guy being someone he wouldn’t of thought of made him shiver.



“Bollocks!!! We\'ve been friends for how long and she can’t tell us about it!” Ron shot at him from behind his curtains, somehow reading Harry’s train of thought. “Maybe it’s a teacher… but damn it, I wanna know why she can’t trust her two closest friends and tell us!!” he grumbled.



Harry shook his head, smiling. “Mate, it’s no business of ours if she doesn’t want to say anything. It can’t be a teacher, and you’re jealous.” he said. Tossing a Chocolate Frog wrapper out from behind the curtains at him, he snorted.



“So what, maybe I’m just worried about her, huh? She could have been slipped a love potion and is carrying on with this bloke against her will… maybe she’s under the Imperious Curse, who bloody knows!? It’s just pissing me off!”



Harry tuned him out, trying not to snicker at his best mates ranting. He saw a figure, cloaked and running towards the Forbbidon Forest from the castle gardens, a broom carried alongside. He straightened and looked harder, trying to tell if it was a boy or girl, student or teacher. He noticed the broom was black, and sat back a moment. ‘Nimbus 2001\'s are black… and the Slytherin Quidditch team members are the only ones with those…’ he thought quickly. His automatic thought went to Draco Malfoy, and he leaned his head back against the wall. \'What’s he up to,’ he thought. In the silence he realized Ron had finally shut up and was snoring away. Harry got up and went to his trunk, pulling out the Invisibility cloak. He pulled it over him and left, heading on the path where who he assumed was Draco had headed.