What I\'ve Always Known

Disclaimer: I own nutting but the plot.

A/N:
LiLiL- Thank you so much :):)
Tonya- Hope I didn\'t keep you waiting too long!
rani-thank you rani, I hope you still like it so far :) haha Harry and Ron always find some unusual way of doing a completely normal task...
QuietRabbit- Thank you very, very much. I really appreciate thorough feedback. I tried very hard to keep the characters in this fac true to the characters in the book, because sometimes I find it disturbing when they are completely different haha. And don\'t worry, plenty of fun with Draco to come :)


Chapter Three: Dark Corridors

Hermione could not believe her ears. He had to be kidding. Surely, surely this was some kind of joke. The sight of Harry staring horrified after Ernie seemed in some way to seal her fate; she wasn’t dreaming. She had taken Padma’s shift without knowing it was with the very person she wanted so desperately to avoid. And speaking of which…

“Hark? Is that my name I hear? Well, thank god it wasn’t from mudbloods lips or I may have just fainted.” Malfoy’s voice floated into Hermione’s thoughts and she turned around to find herself face to face with him and Pansy Parkinson.

Pansy shrieked appreciatively and Draco smirked at Hermione.

“Watch your mouth Malfoy, or I’ll change the shape of it for you” Harry said threateningly, fingering his wand.

“No, its OK Harry. He’s not this brave when he’s covered in fur. Professor Moody showed us all about that” Hermione said casually.

“Yeah” Agreed Harry. “I like you much better as a ferret Malfoy.”
This time it was Harry and Ron’s turn to laugh as they walked off towards the Great Hall, thinking Hermione was right behind them. Malfoy sent Pansy off with a flick of his hand and turned back to glare at Hermione. Taking that as her que to leave, Hermione turned to go, but found she was being held back by Draco. Not physically, but by the look in his eyes. The look in his grey eyes was so much different than it usually was. The ice had melted to be replaced by a look of…desire? Was she seeing correctly?

All of a sudden, the rest of Hogwarts dropped into the background, the noise of students was drowned out by a new sound; a heartbeat. Not her own, but Draco’s. Hermione realized they were only inches apart and not only could she hear his heart, she could feel it. Pulsing through her body in infectious waves. His skin seemed less pale at this distance and she found the desire to reach out towards him almost overwhelming. She fought the impulse as hard as she could, and took victory over it. However Draco it seemed could not master the same impulse that was overtaking him. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw his hand slowly rise away from his side, strong fingers extending, reaching for her. Unable to tear her gaze away from his endless grey eyes, she simply awaited the feeling of his flesh against hers. As she watched, the rest of Hogwarts grounds faded away. She could see only Draco’s face; his intoxicating eye, his strong, proud cheekbones, his soft lips…

Hermione felt Draco’s fingertips lightly graze along her cheek, sending a shiver up her spine, to her scalp. Goosebumps rose on her arms as he brought his finger down to her chin and stroked one thumb over her bottom lip.

“Oh hello Hermione!” A voice made both Hermione and Draco jump. A line of fifth years were making their way from Hagrid’s cabin, obviously coming from a Care of Magical Creatures class. The speaker was the eccentric Luna Lovegood of Ravenclaw; nick named Loony Lovegood, with her blonde, straw-like hair and protuberant eyes, she looked permanently stunned.

Luna came from behind Draco and came to stand between the two of them. Draco seemed to come alive and let his hand drop down to his side again. Luna looked from one to the other as if viewing a tennis rally. Hermione found she still couldn’t tear her eyes away from Draco’s as Luna began to speak.

“Oh lovely, a staring contest.” She said happily, and drifted away.

This simple statement seemed to recall both Draco and Hermione back to their senses and Hermione abruptly turned towards the castle, leaving Draco standing on the lawn, looking just as confused as she felt.


~*~*~*~*~*~


“Look Hermione, maybe you should just go find Padma Patil and say sorry but you can’t take her shift tonight.” Harry said to Hermione an hour later in the common room where the three of them were doing their homework.

Hermione sighed and rubbed her forehead. She hadn’t told Harry or Ron what had gone on between Draco and her after they left, but it was apparent how stressed she was; she wasn’t working her homework.

“I can’t just go find her. I know where she is, but its not good going to tell her” Hermione sighed, picking up her quill.

“Why n-?”

“Because she’s already trying out” Hermione answered the unfinished question, pointing out the window at the Quidditch pitch without even looking up. Hermione had seen black figures flying around the goalposts earlier, long before Harry had suggested he go find her.

“Oh, well then I guess you could-“Harry tried again.

“It’s OK Harry, thanks for trying, but I’m sure I’ll live” Hermione smiled up at Harry and wrote a paragraph for her essay before Ron spoke directly to her for the second time since they had arrived at school:

“You know Hermione; I could take your shift for you. I…I wouldn’t mind.” Ron choked, very unconvincingly.

“Ron, you’re sweet but I can’t let him win. If I back out, it will eventually get back to him. I can’t let him think he’s got the best of me after what hap-“ Hermione stopped abruptly. She had almost said “after what happened outside” but remembered at the last second they hadn’t witnessed this incident.

“After he what?” Harry prompted tensely.

Hermione shook her head and bent over her essay, intent on finishing it before she had to leave for her shift. She didn’t want to have to finish it at 6 in the morning.

Time seemed to pass in large chunks and before she really processed what she was getting herself into, Hermione was rolling up
her essay, saying goodnight to Harry and Ron, and making her way through the dark corridors at quarter to nine.

As Ernie told her, she was standing outside McGonagall’s office at ten to nine. Surveying the heavy wooden door, Hermione felt like she was facing her doom. Taking a deep breath, she raised her fist, shut her eyes tight and knocked three times.

The door flew open almost immediately. Hermione opened her eyes to find Professor McGonagall staring at her, one hand on the door, looking at her with a confused expression.

“Miss Granger? I expected to greet Miss Patil, or did I misread the schedule?” Professor McGonagall asked.

“No you read correctly. Padma is at Quidditch try outs this evening and asked me to take her shift. That’s why I’m here.” Hermione answered, trying hard not to think of who was probably already in the room.

“Ah…very well then, in you come” Professor McGonagall opened the door wider and Hermione stepped through after only a minor hesitation.

“Mr. Malfoy, your partner is here.” Professor McGonagall looked over at Draco, who was facing staring out the window. If Draco heard her, he gave no sign of it. In fact, he hadn’t shifted at all since Professor McGonagall had opened the door. After the few seconds in which Hermione shifted uncomfortably and Draco merely continued to peer across the pitch black Hogwarts grounds, Professor McGonagall ploughed on;

“Well, I trust you both are aware as to what is expected of you?” Hermione nodded “Then I will give you this” She paused to hand Hermione a roughly drawn map of Hogwarts.

“This-” Professor McGonagall gestured at the map in Hermione’s hands”-is called a Reflectors Map. It was drawn for Hogwarts and will therefore reflect whichever floor you may be on. Drawn on the map is the route you will take while patrolling. Hogwarts is one of the largest settlements in Britain and I expect it will take you he full nine hours to complete one circuit of the course I have laid out for you two. Now if you will be so kind, it is now nine o’clock and I have things that need to be done” She finished and sat down, dismissing them.

Hermione looked up at Draco, who was now turned around staring down at the floor, his features drawn into a look of deep concentration. Exhaling slightly, Hermione headed for the door, and listened for Draco’s footsteps behind her. He seemed to hesitate a moment, then she heard him following her out into the dark hallway. Shutting the door behind them, Draco faced Hermione for the first time that night.

Not wanting a repeat of the incident by the greenhouses, Hermione turned away and started on their route, tucking the Reflectors Map into her robes. Pretty soon Draco drew even with her, a thick silence settling over them. Draco’s calm ignorance of what had happened was slowly driving Hermione insane. For twenty minutes, they slowly traced a portion of the North wing of Hogwarts, the silence becoming more absolute with every step.

“What did you mean by it?” The words flew out of Hermione’s mouth before she could stop them.

“Mean by what?” Draco asked, the guardedness in his voice obvious. Hermione stopped in her tracks and found herself reaching for the sleeve of Draco’s robes. Responding to the touch, Draco stopped and faced Hermione.

“Don’t. Just don’t Malfoy. I want to know what happened between…between us.” It felt a little strange, even inappropriate to say ‘us’, but Hermione could think of no better way to word it.

Draco stood still, his eyes searching Hermione’s, and Hermione noticed she still had her hand on his arm. As she made to let go, Draco reached up and covered her hand with his own. Twining his fingers in hers, he stepped closer and Hermione had to tilt her chin up an inch or so to see his face.

She couldn’t explain what was happening. Well, yes she could; she was standing in the middle of a dark corridor with her only enemy of six years, holding his hand. When Draco spoke, all the ice had melted from his voice. The whiney sneer she loathed so deeply was now replaced by a honey-sweet tone that flowed through her entire body, reverberating off of every nerve;

“If I knew Hermione, I wouldn’t be so damn scared.” He whispered. With that, he gently let go of her hand, and walked on.

The shock Hermione was feeling was liable to knock her off her feet had someone come along and tapped her. Not only had he opened up to her by admitting he was scared, but he had called her Hermione. In the space of a few seconds, he had become a different person; not the malicious, rich Malfoy, but the real, responsive Draco. With those words, Draco had summoned up such a reaction from Hermione’s body, she was lucky she hadn’t collapsed on the spot.

Trying hard to gather her lost bearings, Hermione sped up and fell into step beside Draco, and chanced a glance at him. One look told her that the wall had been put up behind his eyes again; his features were again stone cold. Not entirely sure she even wanted to understand, Hermione decided she needed to ask one more question;

“Are you just toying with me Draco?” She asked, staring straight ahead.

“No” Even though it was only one word, it spoke volumes in Hermione’s book. Hermione wasn’t sure if she felt relieved or bewildered as she and Draco finished their track of the North Wing and moved on to the East Wing.

The East Wing passed plainly, with nothing more happening than Draco taking a kick at Mrs. Norris. In the South Wing Hermione took points off of two Ravenclaw students for “fraternizing” behind the statue of Helga the Hell-Raiser. Hermione scolded them until she was practically blue in the face while Draco watched calmly from the sidelines.

“And thirty points from Ravenclaw!” Hermione concluded as the third years scampered away as fast as they dared.

Not even bothering with Draco, Hermione started on the route without a word. Following suit, Draco calmly shoved his hands in his pockets and strode next to Hermione, who still wasn’t completely calmed down from yelling.

“So that’s just it? You’re just going to mope the rest of the night?” Hermione finally worked up her courage to demand. She wanted answers, but Draco seemed hell bent on staying silent unless prodded.

“I am not moping. I’m thinking that exact same thing as you; this shouldn’t be happening, it can’t be happening, but it is. You don’t know how to deal with it either, so you’re trying to get straight answers. But you know they won’t come. There are no straight answers in something like this Hermione, and you know it.” Draco let the words roll smoothly off his tongue as though they had always been there and simply needed to be called upon.

Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but was silenced by Draco’s raised eyebrow. The truth was that he was right; that was exactly how she felt. Damn.

Hermione sighed and folded her arms around her, shivering slightly in the drafty corridors.

Her own brain ran around in baffled circles, mulling over one idea, then the next, trying to see what fit and what didn’t where Draco was concerned. The South Wing came and went with Hermione barely noticing, pursued by the West Wing, and before she knew it, Draco was raising his fist to knock on Professor McGonagall’s office door. Hermione reached up and seized Draco’s arm.

“Tomorrow, it will go back to normal wont it?” She asked quietly, still holding Draco’s arm. Draco said nothing. “You’ll be a high and mighty Slytherin pureblood and I’ll be the swotty Gryffindor Mudblood-

“I never meant to call you those things, I ju-“Draco’s words were cut short by the door suddenly whipping open. Professor McGonagall stood dressed in a tartan dressing gown and cap, looking disheveled. Hermione started and dropped Draco’s arm.

“Well do you two plan on whispering outside my door all night, or are you going to give me the Reflectors Map and be on your ways?” Professor McGonagall snapped. Hermione blushed and thrust the map into her hands, bade her a hasty goodnight and almost ran towards the Gryffindor tower.

She needed to escape, to get away. Draco had created more questions than he had answered. And on top of that, knowing him as the slime of Slytherin, he could have been shoving more worthless lies down her throat. However, in spite of her instincts screaming for her to turn away from him and never look back, she couldn’t help but listen to that one small part of her soul that trusted his words.

‘Facing him tomorrow is going to be a chore’ she thought tiredly as she prodded the portrait of the Fat Lady, trying to awaken her. She whispered the password, and climbed through the portrait hole as quietly as she could. Her thoughts buzzed of Draco as she dressed for bed and pulled the covers to her chin.

Hermione sighed and pulled her hand from under the blankets. Silver moonlight seeping in through the window outlined the feminine curves and milky whiteness of her skin. It was the same hand Draco had held. She could still almost feel his entrancing touch on her skin.

‘Double potions in the morning’ she thought crossly.

But…was she really dreading it? Sure she had always hated potions, all the Gryffindors did. But something about Draco called to her.

‘The only problem is’ She thought as she drifted off to sleep ‘I don’t know how to respond. Or even if I should.’