Dream

~*~

"Charms. Charms. Charms. I knew I should have taken Charms in addition to the other subjects," Hermione groaned, feeling a tension headache coming on, as she picked up another book - Magical Artefacts: A Charming Perspective by Omar Bin Ahazar, from the pile of books blanketing the library table.

As much as Hermione had a natural giftedness in the magical arts, she knew that her study of Charms was not up to par as the students in Professor Flitwick's S-paper Charms class. If only she had opted to do Charms with Harry, instead of Transfiguration... or Ancient Runes... or Arithmancy... or Potions.

No, not Potions, she thought, frowning. Potions was a subject that appealed to her greatly - for didn't she opt to do Potions despite knowing that as a Gryffindor, she would undoubtedly face antagonism from the taciturn Potions Professor?

She grimaced in frustration. This internal musing will not help her solve her current problem. Charms - hmm... she could go to Harry with this problem, but he was not taking Charms at S-paper level, now was he? But who was? She would have to find out from Harry about this, then.

Hermione looked around Hogwarts' vast library, but found that apart from herself, there were barely a handful of other students silently doing their own reading. It was an unusually warm Sunday afternoon for the autumn after all, and surely most of the student population would be found outdoors on Hogwarts' grounds while the weather remained warm; rather than be cooped up in the castle, much less studying obscure Charms texts.

Perhaps she ought to abandon this futile research and seek Ron or Harry out for some company. Perhaps they could spend some time flying around the Quidditch pitch or over the lake - flying with the wind in her face and hair was a physical exercise that sometimes helped clear her mind. It would be good to relief the tension headache she felt mounting. Who knows? A spot of flying in the fresh Scottish air might even enable her to overcome this impediment in her research.

Picking up her wand, she banished the books on the table back to their places on the shelves and put away her belongings into her school bag. She then shrunk the bag and put it into her jeans pocket. It being the weekend with no official school activities, the dress code allowed both staff and students to dispense with the Hogwarts uniform and robe. Most of the students at Hogwarts - Muggleborn and otherwise, were glad for this, and were decked out comfortably in the simple muggle fashion of jeans and jumpers.

Hermione headed towards the Quidditch pitch, where the broom shed was located and took out one of the ubiquitous school brooms. She tied her hair up into a ponytail, and took out her wand to do a simple locating charm for Harry and Ron. Her wand pointed Harry out quite a distance away, on the other side of the lake, south of her. However, Harry's location was moving quickly further south, and she knew that it would be impossible to catch up with him, even if she had the best broom on the market. Her location spell for Ron showed that her friend was somewhere much nearer her. Hands over her eyes, she searched the western sky expectantly and easily spotted an unmistakable Weasley jumper getting smaller by the second.

Ron, then, she thought to herself, I'll be able to hit him with an alert charm when I get nearer him so that he knows I'm on his tail. Mounting her broom, she was just about to take off after Ron, when she heard someone calling her name.

"Hey Hermione! Wait up!"

She turned towards the voice and was pleasantly surprised to see Draco Malfoy jogging up to her with his Comet Stream over his right shoulder.

"Hi Draco! Oh, and congrats on yesterday's Quidditch match!" she grinned.

"Thanks," he replied, "but it really wasn't much of a challenge against Cho's 3^rd Year replacement," he smirked. "Even Harry and myself played better at our first matches than Jemina. She was obviously overwhelmed by the whole experience. The Eagles' Chasers were good though and managed to score some points, but Ackerley still has far to go in his skills as Keeper. It was fortunate that I ended the game rather quickly, otherwise Slytherin would have totally humiliated them."

Hermione snorted, "I'm sure you kind-hearted Slytherins would have been just devastated to allow that to happen," she rolled her eyes, mockingly.

Draco merely grinned back at her, shaking his head.

Hermione looked west, but could not see Ron anywhere in the cloudless sky.

Oh well, and looks like I'm flying solo today...unless -, she turned to Draco with an inviting smile and asked, "want to fly with me?"

"Sure, lead on," was his reply, as he mounted the fastest broom his galleons could buy. "I'll try my best to keep up with you," he teased.

"Oh, honestly!" the girl smirked and flew off south, towards the lake.

~*~

"Well done on yesterday's Quidditch match, Draco. It was an excellent game," the Housemaster lifted up his wine glass and toasted his godson, with an upturned pull on the corner of his lips and glint of pride in his eyes.

The young man returned the compliment with an immodest smile and a tip of his own wine glass. "Actually, Severus," he said, after taking a sip of the red wine, "as I told Hermione this afternoon, the match was already in Slytherin's favour. With Ravenclaw's inexperienced Seeker and Keeper, it was a simple win for us."

The older man paused for a very slight moment, but Draco, who was surreptitiously watching for his reaction took careful note of it.

"True, true," Severus recovered quickly, "but I know you better than for you to underestimate your opponents."

"You are right as usual," the blonde smiled. "Whilst the Eagles have an inexperienced Seeker and Keeper, they do have the best Chasers in Hogwarts, apart from the Weasley siblings. Which was why I still fielded our senior Beaters and Keeper in our first match. Psychologically, it'll give our younger team members a boost, as well as put the fear of the Snakes into the hearts of the other Houses." He paused and turned thoughtful. "I do intend to try the younger lot out against the Hufflepuffs in our next match - at least for the position of Keeper and for one of the Beaters. I know for certain that Gryffindor is trying out their new Seeker soon - Childe, if I'm not mistaken, to give her some field experience, no doubt in a match with Hufflepuff too. I would need to have a Seeker replace me by March next year, as well as train a new Captain to take over."

Severus smiled and nodded in approval of Draco's long-term strategy. It was not often that young men of Draco's age considered the long-term effects of their decisions. They tend to be shortsighted and impulsive in their decision-making.

Draco continued with a slight frown, "Before that takes place, our Quidditch training will not only have to intensify, but our current lot of 6^th and 7^th Years will have to mentor and work more closely with the potential younger ones. Otherwise, like Hermione pointed out this afternoon," he looked up at his godfather with a shake of his head, "the level of Hogwarts' Quidditch games would deteriorate in the next few years, especially with the graduation of the current 6^th and 7^th Years - though I doubt that her prediction of a Hufflepuff team winning the Quidditch Cup in the new millennium will ever come to pass," he snorted. "I totally agree with her that without a systematic team renewal, the chances of maintaining whatever lead we've got will not hold out. Presently, Gryffindors and Slytherins are strong because our teams are led by more experienced members. However, if we don't put a system of identifying potential young players and training them in place, but base the Slytherin Quidditch training on the whims of whoever captains it, then we might end up bottom of the Quidditch table like in the mid-80s when Patrick Blood captained the team. Or like the Gryffindors when five of their members graduated from Hogwarts, and we won the cup last school year. Hermione says it was inevitable to lose the cup then, and insisted that the Weasley siblings would make up for it this year. Of course I did not tell her so, but I think she's right - it will be very tough to mark the Weasleys - they're almost telepathic, the way they play."

Draco turned his attention back to his dinner as his godfather made a suitable comment about Draco's effective captaining of the Snake's team. Then, the two men ate in a comfortable, yet thoughtful silence for a time.

Their thoughts, however, were not at all on Quidditch, although they were not so dissimilar to each other's.

Severus' highly attuned Slytherin senses were on the alert when Draco mentioned Hermio- ...Miss Granger's name not once, not twice, but three times; and it was especially significant when he considered that Miss Granger need not be mentioned at all to get Draco's point across.

Since the death of Draco's parents, Severus had taken upon himself to be responsible for the boy's upbringing and welfare, and thus instituted the weekly meal as a means of allowing Draco a space where he could be himself away from the prying eyes and gossiping tongues at the Great Hall and the Common Room. During this 3-hour session with his godfather, Draco was allowed to share his thoughts, concerns and growing pains and be a boy - a luxury that most Slytherins do not get in the Snake's Den. Naturally, the concerns of the boy included the antics of his peers, especially that of his "nemeses" - the Gryffindor Trio, as well as his peers in Slytherin and the other Houses. Their past years' dinner conversation topics ranged from the usual Quidditch decisions Draco had to endure when he was merely a Seeker, to his own plans for the team when he became team Captain, and brought home the Quidditch Cup the year before. Other topics of discussion included school ground prattles of pranks, amusing accounts of classroom tomfoolery, what the student body thought of their Professors and their teaching (which was a very interesting topic of discussion where Severus was concern), and lately, the relationship pairings of the older students at Hogwarts.

It was inevitable - Draco is growing up, he thought with a glance at the young man sitting across him.

Severus remembered the start of Draco's 6^th Year when he came to dinner complaining about Miss Granger's almost tit-for-tat animosity against his baiting of the Gryffindors. The conflict got so bad that Draco, in typical Slytherin fashion, manipulated the situation such that both Draco and Miss Granger were able to overcome that situation, and allowed both to come out of it smelling like roses.

Memorandum of Understanding, indeed!

Since then, without their usual acrimony, Draco and Miss Granger maintained a healthy rivalry in their shared classes, and met each other out of classes in an entirely civil manner. Therefore, it would not be far off the mark if Draco were to somehow develop feelings for the inestimable Miss Granger.

Well, Draco could certainly do worse, he contemplated.

Miss Granger had, after her 6^th Year, translated her brilliant mind into a confident demeanour and bright, quick eyes. Where she used to offend all and sundry with her know-it-all attitude, she had transformed that need to let everyone know of her intelligence, into tutoring that bunch of Gryffindor 3^rd Year dunderheads. Then again, it could be a reflection of her innate Gryffindor altruism to look after creatures less fortunate than herself.

In looks, she was no beauty queen material, typified by some of the breath-taking 7^th Year beauties residing within Hogwarts' walls - awkward young girls who seem to have blossomed overnight into long-limbed, curvaceous, poised young ladies, with alluring girlish giggles and smiling secretive eyes. She did not have the exotic Eastern dark looks of the Patil twins, with their shiny sleek jet-black hair, so long that they fell far below their waists, their dusky skin and large deep-set eyes. She had not Miss Cortez's statuesque, lust-inducing figure so common among her Latin American countrywomen, or her large sparkling, playful eyes and cascading chestnut brown hair that fell in soft waves. She could not compare to the willowy Miss Brown's (she of the mix-matched colour name) perky blonde-hair-and-blue-eyed cheerleader look, or the Hufflepuff's Miss Jones with her dark coffee-coloured skin, intriguing dark eyes and luscious lips, or her elfishly cropped hair and sensually languid movements.

No. She was a plain-Jane-Bookworm in the shadows of some of her better-featured peers. All she was missing was perhaps a thick pair of reading glasses. And as he had discovered personally two nights ago, Miss Granger's height was a turn-off to half the boys her age, who had to literally look up to her - not a problem for his towering godson though, Draco was almost as tall as himself. Her untameable strawberry-scented hair remained a riotous mass of brown curls that fell just below her shoulder, which she often wore in a severe bun like McGonagall or in French braids, to keep them out of the way whenever she brewed her potions or ate in the Great Hall. Also, unlike many Hogwarts' girls past and present (and future, no doubt), Miss Granger chose to hide behind her frumpy student's robes and modest knee-length skirts, with nary a flattering alteration Charm in terms of length or cutting in either articles of clothing. She still wore her garish Gryffindor tie buttoned to the top button like a Victorian prude; never askewed, and certainly never hanging from the second or third button like some of the students were wont to do. Her figure, if his Dream somehow got it right, was well-proportioned, but her studious façade masked all her lovely qualities.

But trust Draco to see that her overall package was far worthier than that of her better looking peers, he mulled. That boy is certainly a Malfoy - and would be able to see a gem where others could not.

Severus was sorely tempted to ask Draco more about his apparently intriguing conversation he had had with Miss Granger. He would like to know if his conjecture on Draco's behalf was true. It would certainly be in his position as mentor and godfather to watch out for the welfare of his godson; and he would render his services as best he could for Draco's happiness. But he would have to be subtle - Draco would not appreciate it if Severus overstepped his boundaries in this matter.

But if truth were known, he had mixed feeling about the situation. It would certainly be awkward hoping to reprise his Dream about a girl his godson was interested in.

Draco, too, was considering Miss Granger, although not in the way his godfather thought he was.

When Hermione asked him to fly with her that afternoon, he saw it as a great opportunity to find out more about what caused his godfather's discomfort. He knew that short of Voldemort disrupting his Potions class, there was little that could throw Severus off his firm grasp of his control. And to witness Severus' outburst and very uncharacteristic issuing of Hermione's detention in class on Friday, was a window to a part of Severus he had yet seen. Ironically, using the spying techniques his godfather had taught him, he had put his mentor under surveillance the past two days with amusing results. Unknown to the older man, who would be mortified to know that the nuances of his gestures were so easily read by the young man before him, Draco had come to the conclusion that Hermione intrigued his erstwhile taciturn godfather.

It had not occurred to Severus that building a bond with young Draco meant that as much as Severus could read Draco's subtext in his words and gestures, Draco could also do likewise to his godfather; and was in fact better at reading Severus than the very perceptive Dumbledore.

Therefore, when Draco felt certain that something was afoot with regards to Hermione, he decided that for his godfather's sake, he would privately investigate the matter. Draco loved his godfather dearly, for the man had in essence, saved his life. Severus had helped him overcome his grief and guilt when he was left as an orphan, and had given him a new purpose in life, beyond expecting servitude to an evil Overlord, which was all he looked forward to while his father was alive. In his time with Severus, he grew to understand his godfather better, and with understanding, love and respect for him grew. Severus was a true Slytherin hero in Draco's eyes, and he modelled many of his boyish behaviour and thought processes on his godfather's.

However, their relationship was marred by that dark burden and loneliness that Severus wore like a heavy cloak. Try as he might, Draco was never able to lift his godfather's melancholic spirit, which plagued him when he thought that no one was looking. Also, some Sunday evening meals were taken under such a heavy atmosphere that Draco knew that Severus probably had endured such severe punishment during his Death Eater meeting the night before that he could hardly enjoy a simple meal with his godson. In the light of his love for his godfather, Draco promised himself that he would move heaven and earth for him, who was more a father to him than his own, just to lift that dark cloud that hung about his unhappy godfather.

If anyone deserves a modicum of happiness--, he thought.

Therefore, short of bring down Voldemort down himself, Draco looked for every opportunity to bring some amusement or joy to his godfather.

Thus, in the light of his godfather's apparent interest in Hermione, he sought to keep tabs on her to see if he could find any interesting thing to report to Severus. Due to the Quidditch match yesterday, he was unable to find out what had transpired during the detention on Friday night, or her thoughts about it. He needed to focus on the match, and after catching the Snitch that put his team 350-40 ahead of the other team, he was caught up in his House celebration of that overwhelming win. The opportunity he was looking for to converse with Hermione only presented itself that afternoon out at the Quidditch pitch, when he chanced upon her at the school broom shed.

Then, what started out as his reconnaissance mission, took a surreal turn.

They had flown over to a secluded spot by the Lake, where Draco had asked her about the detention. Hermione had related to Draco just how the detention went - nothing unusual (not that she had had many experiences with detention), just making a dreamless sleep potion for the Infirmary. And then Hermione had asked him if he knew anyone who was taking Charms at S-paper level.

Hermione knew that Draco's subject combination was similar to hers, but he did not take S-papers for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. In addition, Draco had deviated from Hermione's combination in that he had not taken Transfiguration, but Charms instead. When she had quizzed him about students who were taking Charms at S-paper level, Draco had told her that apart from himself, the other two taking the S-paper were Ravenclaw students Hermione was not familiar with.

"How fortuitous, indeed!" she had remarked with raised eyebrows and an impish grin.

"Indeed," he had replied, feeling somewhat wary of her intentions.

And then, the bombshell - she was working on a private project incorporating a multi-Magical Arts approach and would Draco be interested in helping her with the Charms aspect? Intrigued, Draco had tentatively agreed to help her, as it provided more opportunities for him to get near her.

They made arrangements to meet in an unused Charm classroom on the 2^nd floor the next evening after classes, where Hermione promised to fill him in on more details about what she needed him to do. From the way Hermione briefly sketched her project, Draco was sure that her project had something to do with war. However, it was also obvious that she was careful about giving away too many details about the work, as she did not fully trust him.

Clever witch, he had thought. He was impressed with her discretions, especially in the light of Voldemort's spies within Hogwarts - even Severus had said that he did not know who else could be spying within Hogwarts' hallowed halls, since they all use number codes to identify each other.

Draco's musings were broken into when Severus suddenly spoke up.

"So," he drawled, "how did the Slytherins celebrate the win yesterday?"

~*~