Quicksilver

Quicksilver
(title subject to change)
story rating NC-17
pairing: DM/HG

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, etc. are the sole property and copyright of the lovely J.K. Rowling. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is in no way affiliated with the original Harry Potter novel series or the Warner Bros. films.

This story contains minor violence, some adult language, and overt sexuality.

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Chapter Four
As the Situation Develops

Draco had realized a long time ago that he didn\'t intend to be a Death Eater, despite what he knew to be his father\'s wishes for him. However, he\'d never seen himself as really becoming an outwardly \"good\" sort. He still reaped a great deal of pleasure from watching Potter and Weasley squirm and saw general courtesies as sort of cheesy and trite.

He now sat and tried to weigh out the details of his purist biases. Did it really matter to him that
Hermione Granger was a muggle-born witch? Or had he simply played out his father\'s beliefs as
a convenient weapon against her in the past? There was certainly not much more about her that
he could have insulted...she was brilliant beyond belief, hardworking, friendly and compassionate.
Sure, she was a bit competitive and arrogant at times, but those were traits that weren\'t exactly
prone to turning off a Malfoy.

There truly was nothing about her that would put her beneath him on any level except for his long
family history. However, it wasn\'t as if one could pick his or her ascendants. And her parents were,
he supposed, a respectable sort of muggle. Dentists, both of them. A profession that required a great
deal of education and hard work. Draco wondered what they thought of their offspring being born
so very different from them. He\'d seen them in Diagon Alley with her at times and they\'d seemed
thrilled and supportive. But they couldn\'t possibly understand half the things that went on in her
life. She was, after all, becoming an incredibly adept witch, one who would probably be doing great
things her entire life.

Draco realized that he\'d already long since decided his opinions on muggle-borns, or at least this
particular one. There was no way that she was a shame to the magical world. He had most definitely
been mistaken those many years ago when he\'d called her a mudblood.

He was amazed by his own line of thought, wondering how this all could have changed so fast. Was
he rationalizing his feelings, which had grown exponentially since that day in class? No matter what
he had decided, he was uneasy at best.

***

\"Are you okay?? No one could find you when the professors sent us to House common rooms
while they chased the troll...which was actually a boggart. The poor girl who found the boggart is deathly afraid of trolls, obviously, and since she was only first year, she didn\'t know how to ward it off,\" Ginny Weasley said as Hermione entered through the portrait hole. \"Ron and Harry were losing their bloody minds, saying that you had been right with them.\"

\"Oh, I had been right with them when we left the Potions classroom. I was pulled aside by Ma...some
boy so he could ask a question about homework,\" the older witch lied uneasily, not knowing what
else to say.

Ginny pulled her into an empty corner of the room and said exasperatedly, \"You are such a bad liar and I
hate that you even try it with me. If you don\'t want everyone to know, that\'s fine, but don\'t tell stories.\"

\"It\'s amazing that you\'re the younger of the two of us. Yes, I was lying and that was the second time
today that I\'ve been told I\'m bad at it.\" Hermione tugged at a curl and tried to think of what to say next.

\"Who told you the first time?\" Ginny prodded.

\"Malfoy. He\'s the one who pulled me aside after Potions. He wanted to ask me a question about the
day he got hurt, but before he could say anything, someone causediot iot by annoucing the troll\'s
presence. He pulled me into a maintenance closet and we had been stuck in there since.\" She touched
her waistline, where she could have sworn his hand had left an invisible mark just by having been
there.

\"Really?? Did anything...happen?\" Ginny raised an eyebrow.

\"As in...no! No! Nothing happened except for the fact that he was actually semi-civil to me,\"
Hermione replied, a blush creeping up her face as she said it.

\"Did you want anything to happen?\"

\"Ginny! Of course not...he\'s...Malfoy, for Merlin\'s sake! Snotnosed, bratty, prejudiced Draco Malfoy,
son of Lucius the Death Eater.\" Hermione wondered silently if she was protesting too hard.

\"Yes, but snotnosed, bratty, prejudiced Draco Malfoy has grown into debonair, refined and quite
handsome and extremely intelligent Draco Malfoy, and not all sons are exactly like their fathers. I have six brothers, Hermione. If all of them was exactly like Father, we\'d have quite the boring family. And I can tell you this much, my family is far from boring.\" Ginny grinned.

\"Indeed!\" Hermione agreed with a giggle. Each Weasley boy had part of their quirky but brilliant
father shining through them, but each was also quite different from him and each other, including the twins.

\"So what had you tried lying to Malfoy about? You\'re not getting away that easily.\"

\"Oh, he asked me why I\'d said \'blast\' at some random point, and I told him it was because my imagination
had run away with me.\" Hermione tried to leave it at that, hoping she\'d satisfied Ginny.

No such luck. \"And...?\"

\"And...he asked where my mind had actually gone, and I tried to blow it off and not answer him. I found
out rather quickly that he isn\'t that easily deterred.\"

\"Neither am I, Ms. Granger. And I would like to know where your mind had been as well, though I could
probably muster a good guess,\" the younger witch said playfully.

Hermione muffled an exasperated groan in her robes, then looked up. \"Why is it that all of my friends are
so bloody good at picking my brain? Is there some sort of marquee on my forehead that says \'Hermione
Granger is thinking too hard about something other than classwork--interrogate her!\' I\'ve barely had
time to sort my own thoughts before they\'re put to press!\"

Ginny nearly looked stunned. \"Whoa...are you okay? I was only teasing you, love.\"

\"I\'m terribly confused,\" came the response from behind a pair of hands. She took a deep breath, looked
up at her friend and continued. \"I suppose you heard about Harry\'s false spell, yes?\"

\"Oh, indeed. That was a riot. Fred and George will love that story.\"

\"Yes, well...that same day, I ran quite literally headfirst inalfoalfoy in the hallway near the main stair-
cases. The expected verbal assault came and went, but he didn\'t exactly sound sure of himself. Lo and
behold, I caught him staring straight down my blouse. That single break in the norm was enough to make
me think he\'d gone mad. Later that day, however, was the notorious Hufflepuff/Slytherin quidditch match
during which Malfoy took his nasty fall.\"

\"Oh, yes, I saw that! My stomach did a sympathetic flip-flop. I haven\'t ever seen a mishap like that one.\"

\"I don\'t know what it was that made it happen, but I was watching him chase the snitch, and suddenly he
looked straight up into my eyes. I wanted to be embarassed that he\'d caught me staring, but I hadn\'t time.
The bludger smashed his broom and that was it. I\'ve spent the whole time since wondering if that bloody
accident would never have occurred if I hadn\'t have been there.\" Hermione looked wistful and guilty.

\"I see...these things happen, \'Mione. That wasn\'t the first and and I doubt it shall be the last that
Malfoy will be injured during a quidditch match. Think of it this way, if his concentration had remained
set on the snitch, he still wouldn\'t have seen the bludger,\" Ginny said, hoping to cheer her friend a bit.

\"I \'spose you\'re right. It was just quite weird. One second his eyes are on mine, the next he\'s lying on the
pitch like a broken doll. Ugh, it was terrible. Even Harry and Ron said so. Then, of course you know that
Malfoy burst into Potions ready to hex Harry into floo powder because he thought Harry\'s false spell had
actually been a broom curse. Snape took his wand and reassured him otherwise, but he still seemed to act
odd for the rest of class. Spacy, even, and Potions is his favorite class.\" Hermione paused for a moment,
remembering that unusual look in those steely eyes. \"He got my attention after class, and that\'s where
the story leaves off.\"

\"So what had you been thinking about when you attempted lying to Malfoy?\" Ginny was back to grinning.

\"Sod it all, you still remembered! I was wondering why he was acting like a human being instead of a monster, and what that could possibly mean. Including the inane idea that he may be interested in me, which was what caused me to blush and make my random remark. Naturally, I wasn\'t going to say \'Oh, I was just wondering what it would be like if you suddenly took it into your head to fancy a muggle-born witch like myself. You know, the goody-goody best friend of your archnemesis.\' Even though the idea wasn\'t all that appealing to me, either, I wasn\'t prepared to have him laugh in my face about that sort of thing.\"

\"I think that family heritage nonsense was beaten into his head by his father.\" Ginny made a face. \"I certainly hope he\'s matured more than that. Ridiculous prejudices aside, why would that be such an inane idea? You are an outstanding student who will make an unbelievable witch, and you aren\'t exactly a hag, either. I think he\'d be one lucky bastard.\"

Hermione blushed furiously at the compliments, then smiled gratefully at her friend. \"I\'m not sure why we\'re discussing Malfoy and me as if we\'re an item...it\'s highly unlikely to happen.\"

\"Do you like him, Hermione?\"

\"If you\'d have asked me a week ago, I\'d have looked at you like you\'d suddenly transfigured into a Cornish pixie. Now...I don\'t know anymore.\"

***

The door burst open suddenly and loudly at around 3AM.

She sat bolt upright in bed, then removed the sleep mask from her face.

\"Cissy?\" The voice came unsteadily as if it hadn\'t been used in a long time. The tall figure, hunched over and shaking, coughed before looking up to face the woman in her bed.

\"Is it really you?\" she asked, half excitedly and half cautiously.

\"It only took me sixteen years.\" He smiled weakly at her, then lifted her off the floor into his arms as she ran from her bed to greet him.


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Author\'s Note: This chapter\'s title is a phrase I hear way too often on the local news. That is all. :P

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