Only In Dreams

This story was for an LJ Draco/Hermione Valentine's Day Challenge/Exchange. This was my end result. My fic had to include the following: Draco singing "You are My Sunshine", Lucius has to make an appearance, and they can't like each other at the start of the fic. My fic also couldn't include this: No sharing a room, even if you have them as head boy/girl; slash; Ron or Harry liking Hermione; Blaise being a girl (if you include him); overly- nice Draco. I also had to keep it at a PG rating. Enjoy!

Staring deeply into his eyes, Hermione gave a small, happy sigh. She smiled as he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, pulling her closely against him. He kissed her softly on her cheek as he held her there. Slowly, he leaned in to kiss her more tenderly on the lips. The closer he got, the more Hermione suddenly realized how wrong the situation was.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!" she screamed as she shot up in bed, covered in sticky sweat. She gave a small shudder at both her dream and the chill she received when her blankets fell to her lap. Her eyes ran around the room, pulling in the familiar objects and colours. Her eyes soon swept over her roommates quiet figures as they continued to sleep. Finally sure she was still in her room, she sighed and climbed slowly out of bed. She padded to the little washroom next to her dorm room and shut the door with a small click. She snapped her fingers and a few candles around the room came to life with a pop, emitting a soft glow throughout the room. She made her way to the basin and mirror set on top of a small countertop and leaned heavily over the basin. Preparing herself for the sudden jolt to wake herself up, she splashed her hands into the basin and threw some cold water over her sleepy face. Groping to her sides for a clean towel, her hands finally found one and she patted her face dry. After she placed the towel back down, she stared into the mirror, wondering where her dream had come from. She had no idea who the boy was, never saw his face, and she couldn't figure out why she had liked him so much. Shrugging her shoulders at it, she quickly extinguished the candles with another snap of her fingers and opened the door before she made her way back to her room and changed for the day. Glancing at the magical clock on the wall, she saw students would begin getting up soon anyways so she made her way to the common room to read as she awaited her friends. She grabbed the small stack of books she had pulled out of the library on the previous night for homework and climbed down the stairs to the empty common room. She put her books down on a table and made herself comfortable in a large, over-stuffed chair in front of the fireplace. She curled up into a small ball and reached for the top book in her pile. She flipped through the pages of the book until she came to the chapter she needed for Potions class and began to read as she waited.

She sat there for what seemed like hours, before anyone joined her.
"Morning 'Mione," Harry mumbled as he attempted to stifle a yawn. Ron just grunted in greeting. She smiled at her friends and greeted them both with a cheerful hello. Both boys looked at her suspiciously.
"What are you up to?" Harry asked.
"Nothing," she said innocently. They continued to eye her suspiciously. Hermione rolled her eyes at her friends and closed her book.
"Breakfast then?" Ron asked immediately after the book was closed. She chuckled slightly to herself and gathered some of her books for class. The three friends made their way from the common room to the Great Hall, chatting as the walked through the halls. Taking a seat at the usual end of the Gryffindor table, the boys' conversation quickly turned to the upcoming Quidditch game versus Slytherin. Bored with the continuous talk of Quidditch, Hermione pulled open her Potions book again, flipping carelessly through the pages. As she stared at the pages, her eyes slowly began to flutter. Shaking herself awake, she flipped to the next page and something caught her eye. She focused in on the name of a potion. Vision Recall Draught. She quickly scanned the ingredients before making her way down the page to its summary. Will allow the drinker to relive dreams from the past from start to finish vividly. Side effects of drowsiness, headache and disorientation may occur. Hermione read intently, then quickly surveyed the ingredients list again.
"Hermione?" She looked up to find Harry and Ron both looking at her.

"What?" she asked them.
"You were mumbling to yourself," Harry told her, Ron nodding in silent agreement.
"I was?" she asked them. The both nodded this time. Hermione formed an 'O' with her mouth and tapped her fingers on the table, in thought.
"Sorry about that then," she told them as if it was nothing important at all. The boys continued to look at her for another minute before turning back to their Quidditch conversation. She stared at the book blankly for a few more minutes before deciding she couldn't sit around any longer. She placed a loose leaf of parchment in the book to mark her page and stood up, gathering all of her other books at the same time.
"I'm going ahead to class," she told the boys who barely noticed she had said a word. Ron nodded absentmindedly while Harry just waved his hand in her general direction, instead confusing Neville by making him think he was waving at him. She grabbed the last of her things and quickly made her way out of the Great Hall, throwing a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure Snape was still at the High Table. Taking the stairs two at a time down to the dungeons, she was soon standing in front of the door to the Potions classroom. Breathing quite quickly, Hermione silently let herself into the room, careful to leave the door open a crack to hear approaching footsteps. She placed her books and other things down on a desk near the Potions supply cupboard and slowly opened the cupboard doors. She stood in awe for a brief second and the vast amounts of potions ingredients lining the shelves before her. Shaking herself slightly, she turned around to consult her Potions book for the ingredients she needed, filling flask after flask of the necessary items. Just as she was reaching for the armadillo bile, she heard the sounds of shuffling behind her. She quickly shut the cupboard doors and pushed her books onto the floor as quietly as possible, carefully placing her bag on top of her books. Before she was able to conceal herself, however, Draco Malfoy poked his head into the classroom.
"Granger?" he said when he saw her standing in the middle of the Potions classroom, alone. She almost snorted aloud when she saw his unkempt appearance. His hair was messy and standing at awkward angles, like Harry's, and his robes were wrinkled. She also noted that it looked like he'd just woken up.
"What did you do Malfoy, have a romp in the bushes with your cronies before breakfast?" she asked him in a dry tone. Draco frowned at her for a fraction of a second, before replacing it with his usual smirk.
"What's this I see? Hogwarts top student, nicking things from the Potions classroom. Tsk, tsk, I'd have thought better of you Granger," he said in an almost teasing voice. Hermione, too embarrassed to say anything, just stood there in dead silence.
"I'll have you know, I was not nicking things. I was simply... taking inventory," she told him. He laughed at her.
"Right, and I'm Dumbledore's favourite student," he told her. Hermione rolled her eyes at him. He was being his usual obnoxious self, but she was still surprised by him sometimes.
"So, if you're not nicking things from Snape's cupboard, then why are you really here?" he asked her after a small moment of silence.
"I told you," she said, "I'm taking inventory." He snorted this time, which really didn't suit him at all.
"Fine, suit yourself," he said. He opened his mouth to say more, but he never got the chance. They both heard the thumping of footsteps walking quickly down the stairs.
"Pray that's not Snape," he hissed at her as they both crouched behind separate desks. Hermione shot him a quick dirty look before turning her head back to the door. She watched tensely as the footsteps drew closer and closer to the door. But they continued to walk, right past the classroom. She breathed a silent sigh of relief and stood back up, straightening her robes in the process.
"Damn lucky, aren't you?" Draco said, looking right at her. Trying hard not to appear bothered by Draco in the least, Hermione turned and gathered her things quickly.
"Where are you going?" he demanded as she made her way to the door.
"To class Draco. If you had bothered to take a look at the time, you'd notice breakfast is just about over and class is starting soon. All that you still haven't made a trip to the washroom to appear irritable, snaky, greasy-haired and oh so Malfoy," she said confidently, before stepping through the door and making her way up the stairs. Hermione heard Draco curse as she rounded the corner at the top of the stairs. She glanced back at the door once more and caught Draco stomping up the stairs now. She picked up her pace as she climbed the stairs to her Charms class, trying to make it there before Draco.

Running breathlessly into the Charms classroom, Hermione quickly took her seat in between Harry and Ron, who hadn't even noticed she'd been gone from breakfast. She took out her Charms work and placed the rest of her books on the floor next to her feet with her bag when she saw Draco pause outside of the room. His hair and robes were still messy. In the next moment he had his wand out and his mouth was moving. Quite suddenly, he looked like his usual greasy self. As he entered the classroom, he and Hermione glared menacingly at each other.
"What's he want?" Ron asked, motioning with a jerk of his head at Draco.
"Ron, what does Malfoy love above all else?" Hermione asked him.
"Himself," Ron answered.
"Besides himself," she told him, impressed by his answer.
"Bothering us," Ron answered this time.
"Exactly," Hermione said, as she opened her book to the chapter they were working on in class. She saw Ron shrug his shoulders lazily out of the corner of her eye as Professor Flitwick climbed onto his pile of books in front of the class. As he began instructing the class on the latest charm they were learning, Hermione pretended to drop her quill on the ground. As she searched the floor for it, she quickly went over the potions ingredients in her bag.
'Damn!' she thought to herself, 'Malfoy made me forget the armadillo bile and the dried spider grass seeds.' She grabbed her quill and sat back up. All through Charms class, her mind seemed to be elsewhere. She continuously thought back to her dream and was anxious to discover who was kissing her. She only saw his mouth, nothing more. Just when Hermione thought she couldn't take it anymore, Charms class was finally over.
"Finally," Hermione said out loud as the class was packing up their books for the day.
"What did you say?" Harry asked.
"Uh, um, nothing," Hermione managed quickly. Harry gave her a funny look and went back to trying to stuff his books into his bag. She shot a cautious look at Ron, but realized he hadn't heard anything. Breathing easier, she finished packing her bag and stood up.
"Well, I'm off to Arithmancy," Hermione told them hurriedly. She grabbed her bag and joined the flow of students in the hallway. As she glanced back, she caught Harry and Ron looking at her with confused looks on their faces. As the sea of students carried her down the hall, she couldn't help but feel guilty for leaving her friends so quickly without an explanation.

As Hermione left Arithmancy later that day, she realized her plans to make the Vision Recall Draught during lunch would have to wait until she'd collected the last two ingredients. As she dragged herself to the Great Hall for lunch, all she could think about was her dream again. Her head was in such a fog that she didn't realize she was walking into someone until it was too late.
"Watch where you're going next time!" she heard the voice growl. She rolled her eyes.
"Why should I, Malfoy?" she asked him. He looked at who he knocked over.
"Granger? I know you find me irresistible, but you really need to remember, I don't like Mudbloods," he told her calmly. She narrowed her eyes at him.
You'll want to watch what you call me Malfoy," she spat out. Draco laughed at her.
"Is that the best you can come up with Mudblood?" he asked.
"I'm warning you Malfoy," she said angrily. Draco laughed again, harder this time, and rolled his eyes at her.
"I'm warning you Malfoy," he mimicked her, "Really Granger, I thought Mudbloods at least had a sense of humour." He stooped to pick up the books he'd dropped in the collision with Hermione. When he stood up, a fist collided with his right eye. Draco just stood there in a daze as his eye stung and pulsed with pain.
"Next time I tell you to stop, maybe you'll listen," Hermione said as she grabbed her books at her feet and continued on her way to the Great Hall. Draco just stood there in stunned silence for a moment longer, before gingerly touching various spots around his eye. Wincing each time, he eventually gave up and made his way to the stairs leading into the dungeons. As he passed the entrance to the Great Hall, he paused and caught sight of Hermione.
"Stupid Mudblood, I'll make her pay," he thought before he continued on his way.

"YOU DID WHAT?" Ron yelled at Hermione. He soon noticed that most of the students in the Great Hall were now staring at him with perplexed looks on their faces. Turning a deep shade of red, he leaned in closer to Harry and Hermione, who were seated across from him.
"You did what?" he asked just above a whisper this time.
"I punched Malfoy," she told him with the least bit of concern. Harry covered his mouth with his sleeve in attempt to stop his laughing while Ron just stared at Hermione in awe.
"The slap was one thing, but a punch?" Ron said. Hermione just shrugged.
"I did warn him," she explained. Ron shook his head at how calm Hermione was handling this. Hermione chuckled to herself at Ron. She then stood up and grabbed a sandwich off the plate in front of her.
"I have some work to do before class. I'm going to go to the library. I'll just see you both in class," Hermione told them before leaving. Ron called a good-bye while Harry was still trying to control his laughing. She ate the sandwich as she made her way up to Gryffindor Tower, where she quickly exchanged her Charms and Arithmancy books for her Care of Magical Creatures book. Once she had everything she needed for her next class, she walked as fast her legs could carry her back down to the dungeons and into the Potions classroom. She slid quietly inside the Potions room, checking twice over both her shoulders to make sure she was the only one still in the hallway. She pushed the door closed behind her this time and placed her book on the nearest desk. She pulled two small flasks out of her robe pocket and walked to the ingredients cupboard, where she filled the flasks as quickly as possible. She thought she heard a noise outside the door, so she quickly shut the cupboard doors and ducked behind the row of desks in front of her. Right after she was behind the desks, Draco walked in.
"Damn it!" she thought to herself as he poked his head back out the door to check and make sure the coast was clear. While he did that, Hermione crawled across the floor behind the desks closer to the door. Draco pulled his head back in and made his way to the ingredients cupboard where Hermione had been moments ago. While he walked, she continued to crawl towards the door. He stopped in front of the cupboard for an unapparent reason and Hermione almost gave herself away as he'd stopped so abruptly and she wasn't prepared for it. She was only a few feet from the door when he pulled open the cupboard doors. Bracing herself to get caught, she jumped up and ran while Draco's full attention was still on the Potions ingredients in front of him. Hermione brushed the door as she left making it creak. It startled Draco, who jumped about a foot to the left of the cupboard. Once he'd normalized is heart rate again, something on a desk near the door caught his eye. He moved closer to the door again and realized it was a book sitting on the desk. He picked it up and thumbed through the book until he reached the ledger at the back of the book. Dragging his fore finger down the page to the last name, he saw who owned the book.
"Now now Granger, you're just getting sloppy. I'll just take this," he said to himself. He tucked the book under his arm and quickly left himself out of the Potions room, making sure to shut the door behind himself. He smirked to himself as he made his way up the stairs and out onto the Hogwarts grounds for Care of Magical Creatures class.

"Now if you'll just turn to page 476 in your books, we can read up on Knarls some more," Hagrid told the class. Hermione looked up at Hagrid's swollen face and managed a smile when he looked her way. Reaching to her side where she normally found her book, she discovered nothing was there. Looking to her other side and even behind her, she soon found out her book wasn't with her.
'Where on Earth has my book gone?' Hermione thought to herself. Then, her heart suddenly sank to the pit of her stomach as she remembered she'd left it on the desk in the Potions classroom. Her eyes darted around at her classmates in a worried fashion. She knew no one could really help her, but she couldn't maintain her calm. She became even more agitated when she realized Snape had a class at that very moment. Hermione panicked for the remainder of Care of Magical Creatures, sharing books with Ron and Harry. They both questioned her many times on her uneasy state and she just told them she was nervous about their big upcoming Potions test. Once Hagrid dismissed the class, Hermione ran for the castle while the boys stayed back to talk with Hagrid. She ran through the front oak doors, past the Great Hall and down the stairs to the Potions classroom. When she arrived at the door it was closed, and locked. She paced outside the classroom while trying to come up with any excuse in case Snape questioned her on it. Eventually, she felt a presence behind her. She turned to find Draco sitting at the bottom of the stairs, watching her.
"What do you want?" she asked him hurriedly. Draco gave a sly smile and rolled his eyes, unimpressed by Hermione's tone.
"I find it just fascinating that I'm bumping into you again, at the Potions room. Do you always think things through clearly? Most criminals don't return to the scene of their crimes," Draco told her. She let out a frustrated sigh.
"That's it? That's all you have to say?" she asked him.
"As a matter of fact, no," he said. He jumped up and reached Hermione's side in less than three strides. Draco grabbed onto her wrist tightly. He pushed his fingertips into her arm, slowly bruising it. In her panic, Hermione forgot she had a wand, that she was a witch and that a few choice words could solve her problems at that very moment.
"Malfoy, you're hurting me. Let go!" she told him in an urgent tone. He sneered, tightening his grip a little.
"Malfoy, let go!" she said again. He didn't listen as he continued to tighten his grip on her wrist. Tears slowly began to well up in Hermione's eyes.
"Draco..." she said just above a whisper, her bottom lip trembling slightly. He tightened just a little more, and when he saw she was going to ask him once more, he let go completely. He glared at her for a brief moment before turning and walking away. Grabbing her wrist carefully, Hermione pulled it closer to her face, examining the five round bruises already appearing on her inner forearm, just above her wrist. As she let the tears slide down her cheeks, she sank to her knees and leaned against the cold wall to clear her head. Hearing students approaching a few minutes later, she quickly wiped the tears off her face and stood up just as they appeared at the top of the stairs. She sniffed once more before making her own way up the stairs to retrieve her books for her next class.

At dinner that night, Hermione joined Harry and Ron in the Great Hall only long enough to decide she wasn't hungry and to tell her friends she'd be in the library if they needed her. She chose a small table at the back of the library where she had the privacy she needed. She pulled her hair back with an elastic band she borrowed from Ginny and pulled her sleeves up before she set to working on her homework set to he that day. She worked for an hour or so in silence and privacy before she thought she felt someone's hot breath on the back of her neck. Shrugging it off as a draft of some sort, she continued to write her essay. She felt the same draft twice more before she turned to find the source of it and came face to face with grey eyes and white blonde hair.
"What do you want this time Malfoy?" she asked him in an irritated voice. He had his hand behind his back and it was making Hermione nervous. Draco gave a careless shrug of his shoulders and made his way around the table so he was seated across from Hermione.
"Just thought I'd come and say hello," he said in a teasing tome.
"What? You only come in the library when you're forced to and you only do things that are in your best interests. So I ask again, what do you want Malfoy?" she said. He pulled his hand from behind his back to reveal Hermione's Care of Magical Creatures book. Her eyes widened.
"Where'd you get that?" she asked him. He placed it on the table in front of him, out of Hermione's reach.
"I found it in the Potions classroom, of all places," he said. Noticing Draco admitted to being there again and trying to turn the tables on him, Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"What were you doing in the Potions room?" she asked. He obviously wasn't expecting her to ask because he squirmed slightly in his seat.
"That's none of your business. We're discussing why your book was in there, remember?" he continued. Hermione tried to hold back a smile as he squirmed a little more. Bored already, Draco pushed it across the table to her.
"If I find you or any of your belongings in the Potions classroom again, I'm going to report you to Snape," he said with a hiss.
"I'll do the same then if I find you there," she told him, though she knew it was no use reporting any Slytherin to Snape. He turned then and left the library, Hermione's eyes following him the whole way. As soon as he was out of sight, she reached into her bag and pulled out her Potions book, examining the Vision Recall Draught again. After re-reading the directions several times, she slammed her book shut, causing several students to jump and Madam Pince to throw Hermione a nasty look, and she made her way quickly as possible from the library to Gryffindor Tower. Once there, she grabbed her necessary supplies and pulled it all inside the little bathroom she shares with the rest of the 5th year girls. Making sure the door was locked, Hermione made the potion easily and quickly. Once she'd finished, she held up a small test tube of the draught and took a deep breath.
"Well, here goes nothing," she said to herself before downing the entire contents. She coughed a little before falling slowly to her side and into a deep trance. She relived every moment of her dream. Every kiss, every embrace. Just before the boy tried kissing her lips again, she shot out of her trance, but not before she saw a small shock of white hair curling in towards his nose from his forehead.
"Damn it," she thought to herself. "Why him?" She cleaned her things quickly and opened the door to find two of her roommates standing with their ears pressed to where the door had been.
"Can I help you?" Hermione asked them. They both flashed her big smiles."What were you doing in there?" Parvati asked.
"None of your business, now leave me alone," she told them. She stashed her potions supplies in her trunk and headed for the common room in hopes that she could sit in peace to come up with a solution as to why she was dreaming of Draco Malfoy kissing her.