Sleepless Nights

CHAPTER THREE


Hermione sat beside Draco in their advanced potions class, watching as he carefully added drops of Belladonna extract to the cauldron and stirred. His hair kept falling forward and into his face as he leaned over the mixture to watch its reactions to each ingredient. He started when Hermione reached out and tucked it behind his ear.

“Oh….uh…..thanks.” He said as he looked around the room to see if anyone had seen them.

“Don’t worry, no one is looking.” She said, somewhat hurt that he would be embarrassed to be seen being friendly with her. “Your reputation is safe.”

“I wasn’t concerned about me, no one gives a rat’s ass about me around here, I just didn’t want you to have any problems for being….nice to me.”

“Like I care what people think.” She said, shaking her head. “Truth is, half of the people in this school couldn’t put together a decent thought if they combined their efforts.” She said, stirring their cauldron slowly.

“Harsh, but true.” He said. “So you don’t mind if people know we are…friends.”

“Nope, though I’ll wager a guess that it will set tongues wagging.” She said, then leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, “Imagine what they would say if they knew you and I have slept together the last few nights…” Draco burst into fits of laughter, causing everyone in the room to stop what they were doing in order to look at him.

“Yeah, that’ll go over like a lead balloon.” He said ignoring the curious stares of their classmates as he and Hermione leaned into each other to talk. “All I could think of this morning when I was getting dressed is how relieved I was that no one can enter our common room without us escorting them. Things could have gotten ugly if Potter and Weasley had walked in and seen us.”

“Those two are enjoying their status as heroes too much to be concerned with who does and doesn’t share my bed. I wouldn’t worry about them, they sort of have their heads up their asses right now.” She said.

“Ego is a mighty powerful thing, believe me, mine was fed continually from the day I was born.” He said as he set the timer for their potion to finish brewing. “Hurts like hell when it gets deflated.”

“You’ll survive, I promise, and you’ll be a better man for it.” She said, smiling at him. “So, why don’t you join me in the hall this evening for dinner?”

“I can’t, I’m no longer welcome at the Slytherin table.” He said.

“So sit with me then.” She said.

“At Gryffindor?”

“Sure, we’ll just sit at the end, by ourselves if it’s a problem for anyone.” She said with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

“I don’t know quite what to think of you. You are not at all what I thought.” Draco said, looking at her curiously.

“I get that a lot.” She said. The timer rang for their potion and Hermione ladled some into a small vial and carried it to the front, placing it on the professor’s desk while Draco cleaned up their table.

“Want to go for a walk?” He asked. Now that their work was complete they were finished for the day.

“Sure, we should probably do some rounds anyhow.” Hermione gathered her things and shoved them into her bag. Much to her, and everyone watching’s surprise, Draco took her bag and draped it over his shoulder as he gestured for her to proceed him from the classroom, he even held open the door.

After they had dropped off their bags in their common room, they patrolled the school side by side. There really wasn’t much to look for at this time of day, no curfew violations or anything like that, they just had to look for the occasional slacker who had decided to skip class.

“How are things at home Draco?” Hermione asked softly. She hoped that maybe if he began to open up to her, things would begin to ease for him.

“Odd.” He said simply. “Mum fusses over me even worse than before, and father…well he just sits and stares out the window a lot. He’s on house arrest for another year you know.”

“You can not doubt how much they love you Draco, not after what they did in order to get into the castle to get to you.”

“No, I never doubted their love, I just wish that they hadn’t…confused me so much.” He said, his brow furrowing slightly. “I’m too old to use the excuse that I didn’t know any better, but it really is the truth, I lived and believed what I had been taught.”

“Raising children can’t be easy, I’m sure they went by what they knew, what they were taught.” She said.

“How do you do that? How can you always find the good in everyone, everything?” He asked as they descended the stairs from the astronomy tower.

“I have seen so much evil recently Draco, if I couldn’t find the good in things, I would probably go insane.” She said on a sigh. They stepped through a small door and onto the school grounds, taking the path through the woods to the lake.

“What do you think you will do when you leave school?” Draco asked.

“I’m not sure yet. I want to continue living in the wizarding world, so I am thinking I may apply for a ministry job. I have a large inheritance from my grandmother, so I don’t have to make any big decisions right away.” The fall breeze carried a bite to it as she pulled her robes tighter around her. “How about you?”

“I haven’t thought much about it to be honest. I don’t have to work if I chose not to. I could help my father with his business interests I suppose. I imagine my parents will want to arrange a marriage eventually.” Hermione stopped walking and stared at him for a moment, mouth agape.

“Arrange a marriage?” She couldn’t believe it. “That’s totally archaic! Why would you agree to that Draco, don’t you want to fall in love?”

“That’s the way it is done amongst the wealthy purebloods Hermione. A bride is chosen from another high ranking pureblood family and a marriage contract is negotiated.” He said it so nonchalantly that she almost thought he was joking.

“But wouldn’t you rather fall in love? Wouldn’t you rather have passion and desire and all those wonderful feelings that make you think you would die without that person?” She asked.

“Sounds painful actually.” He said.

“Love is painful, but it’s a beautiful pain. If you let your parents pick you a bride from a lineup of eligible girls you’ll never know what its like.” She said softly as they approached the lake’s edge and climbed atop a large boulder.

“I don’t know that it matters Hermione.” He said as he settled next to her. “I think it’s safe to say that I have ruined any chances I have at finding a woman who is willing to overlook my misdeeds. If I want a family, I’ll have to buy it.” He said, sneering slightly as he imagined a future with a cold and frigid bride in his bed, and children who would likely hate him because he had no proper father image to mold himself after.

“Don’t say that Draco.” The wind whipped her hair into her face and she swiped at the strands as they clung to her lips.

“Here, I’ll do it.” Draco said, laughing slightly. He curled his finger under the wispy strands of hair and pulled them free from her lips, pushing her hair back and over her shoulder.

“Everyone deserves to be loved Dragon, even you.” She said softly as she stared into his big silver eyes. Draco smiled, he liked it when she called him Dragon. He gazed back at her, his breath catching slightly when she ran her tongue over her lips. He didn’t think about it really, just gave in to the urge to taste her as he lowered his head and pressed his lips against hers.

She gasped softly at the contact, and Draco thought for certain she would pull away and slap him. He rested his forehead against hers as they sat there for a few moments.

“Again, Dragon, kiss me again.” She said softly. He slid his hands along the sides of her neck and angled her head as he opened his lips over hers. Her lips were so soft, so sweet that he moaned low in his throat as he tasted her. He slid his tongue out to dance lightly along the seam of her lips, silently thanking every god he could think of when her lips parted and allowed him entry. He slid his tongue alongside hers, encouraging her to follow, and taste in return. He nibbled at her plump lower lip before slanting his mouth over hers at a better angle, the kiss progressing into a more demanding and powerful exchange.

Draco pulled away slowly when he heard the sound of students beginning to crowd onto the school grounds. He stared at her for a moment, mesmerized by the soft glow of desire in her amber eyes.

“We probably shouldn’t have done that.” He said quietly.

“I don’t care.” She said, lifting her lips for a light, quick kiss. “No one has ever kissed me like that before….and I hope you will do it again.” She said, shocking them both with her bold admission.

“I don’t think I can stop myself now that I know how sweet you are.” He said low, trying to get his heartbeat and his breathing back under control. “We need to leave Hermione, anyone who walks up on us will see that there is something going on here….and if you keep looking at me like that I’m going to kiss you again.”

“Does it matter Draco?” She asked, sliding her hand under his robe to rest over his heart. “I want you to kiss me again, I want your arms around me.” She said breathlessly.

“We don’t know what this is Hermione, until we do, I would rather not deal with the other idiots in this school…and you have no idea how much I want to hold you.” He said before swooping in to kiss her again, just a quick, hard buss on her soft pink lips.

“Alright…just….go, if you don’t walk away I’m going to crawl into your lap and the people in this school can go to hell if they don’t like it….” She said as she jerked her hand away from him and shoved them into the pockets of her school skirt.

“Damn…” Draco said, his eyes wide as he stared at her for a moment. “Thanks for the image, love…..cruel as it is to say things like that to a man as you tell him to go away.” He smiled as he slid from his perch on the boulder, giving her a sly wink as he turned and walked up the hill, shouldering his way through the students who refused to make way.


Hermione looked out over the still waters and stroked her fingers over her lips softly. She hadn’t expected him to kiss her, but as soon as his lips had touched hers it felt as though he stomach had turned inside out. She tingled from the top of her head to the tips of her toes and knew that she had to have more. He had proceeded to kiss her senseless, to the point that the only thing she could think about was getting closer to him and feeling his arms around her. Things were going to get complicated, but then again, when had things not been complicated at Hogwarts.