When the Stars Fall

TEN: Moment of Weakness

Hermione's second detention wasn't as bad as her first, but it was still served with Snape. She went to the Potions classroom at eight o'clock that Thursday, as she had the previous week. He walked out of his office trailed by Draco. Hermione looked from Snape to Draco suspiciously and a chill ran up her back. What did Snape have in mind this time?

"On time I see, Granger. Are you ever late to anything?" Snape's voice was filled with annoyance.

"No, Professor, I'm a firm believer in promptness," Hermione answered stiffly.

Snape snorted. "Yes, well, I've decided not to waste your intellectual talent on tedious tasks, so I'll be teaching you how to make Veritaserum. You two are my best students, but don't take that as a compliment, because it is most certainly not."

"Of course, Professor," Draco said with a smirk.

"Do I detect humor in your voice Mr. Malfoy? You know your detention might better be served with McGonagall if you find my detention so humorous," Snape suggested.

Draco's face drained of color. "No, I'm sure your detention will be most dreadful indeed, sir."

"Honestly, Draco, you're such a suck up," Hermione sighed.

Snape's eyebrows rose in amusement. "Why, Granger, one of the more sensible things I've heard out of your mouth in a long time. I'm impressed."

Hermione hardly believed her luck. By the end of the detention, Snape was being civil toward her. It was ten thirty before Draco and Hermione finished their brew of Veritaserum. Both students were surprised at the short amount of time it had taken to brew a truth potion as powerful as Veritaserum, the only complicated thing about making the potion was measuring the ingredients exactly and adding them to the potion in order and at the appropriate time. Snape was even impressed by their work, although he didn't show it. Snape quickly bottled the Veritaserum they had brewed and then dismissed them. Hermione's eyes widened, "That's all? Detention is over?"

Snape sneered. "Of course, if you insist, I have some newts if you want to disembowel them and pluck out their eyes."

"That's all right, really, we can save that for next detention. Is it the same time next week?" She asked, while making a face at the thought of disemboweling and removing the eyes from hundreds of newts.

"Yes, Mrs. Malfoy, the same time next week," Snape replied and then added as an after thought, "Goodnight."

Hermione's eyes widened and she blushed. He was the first person to call her Mrs. Malfoy. She looked up at him and smiled. "Goodnight to you as well, Professor."

Snape turned around, a look of surprise on his face. He watched as the couple left his office, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He shook his head and sighed, knowing they had a long road ahead of them. He hoped they wouldn't end up like Lily and James Potter had, or the way he had ended up, and then Snape made himself a promise, he would protect Draco and Hermione at all costs. He felt he owed the Potters and himself that much, and he still felt so guilty for having worked for the very wizard responsible for the Potters' murders. He also found that he admired Draco for running away from Lucius.

Snape noticed the whispers in his classroom. He went to his door, opened it, and saw them standing by the classroom door. He watched as they talked quietly. After a minute or so they kissed, and then they dispersed into the corridor. A whimsical expression passed over Snape's face, his lips softened and curled, his hooked nosed didn't seem quite as severe, and warmth filled his usually cold black eyes.

Draco opened the door that led out to the corridor. He took Hermione's hand, pulled her into the corridor, then pressed her back against the wall, and kissed her. She put her hands on his chest and pushed him back a little. He looked down at her, an expression of surprise bordering on hurt on his face.

"What if Filch or someone saw us? We should be careful. In fact, you should insult me, Harry, and Ron more often. We can't have anyone getting suspicious," Hermione whispered and looked down either side of the corridor.

Draco tilted his head down and caught her lips in a soft kiss, then whispered, "Let them catch us. I don't care anymore. I have not woken up with you in my arms in a while. The nightmares are starting to come back. I need you with me so I know that you're safe, and when I'm with you I feel real, I feel alive."

"I can't very well go to the boys' dormitory in Slytherin Tower! If a Slytherin girl caught me in the Slytherin common room I would be ripped apart limb from limb! Not to mention the fact that my reputation would be in shreds," she hissed.

"Have you forgotten about your marriage so quickly? Should I remind you of your wifely duties?" he asked playfully.

"Oh, honestly! Can't you be serious for once?"

He gently stroked her left cheek. "You're serious enough for the both of us."

Suddenly the sound of footsteps echoed in the corridor. They both headed for the stairs, dashed up the stairs, and out of the dungeon. The both leaned with their backs against the wall breathing hard; then Draco turned toward her. He took a deep breath and then spoke.

"What if there is a way that I could sneak into Gryffindor Tower and into your dormitory?"

"What? There are four other girls in my dormitory and I can't give you the password! Besides, what if someone were in the common room when you tried to get in? It would be breaking a ton of rules and I'm sure Professor McGonagall would be none to pleased!"

"I wouldn't be seen," he said.

"You have an invisibility cloak?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, father never got around to getting me one, but I have a way... Remember when we were fourth years, and Moody..." He paused and shuddered, "...transfigured me into a ferret? Well, it had lasting effects. The spell that he used on me was so powerful that it made me an animagus. I found out about the after effects a short time after Moody's spell. My father was coming to scold me for calling Moody's attention to me and at the news I transformed, probably because I was afraid of my father at the time."

"That's how you escaped your home over the summer in the first place! So, I married Draco Malfoy the amazing bouncing ferret! Oh, if only Ron and Harry knew!" she chortled.

Malfoy's face darkened a moment. "That was a very painful and embarrassing moment in my life. I'd rather you not bring it up again."

He noticed the look on her face, knew her next question, and he answered it before she even asked, "All right, go tell Scar Head and Weasel. Now it's getting rather late. Care to take your new pet to his new bed?"

With that he transformed and within seconds a snow white ferret was on the floor where Draco had just stood. She looked at the ferret in surprise, then bent down, and gathered it into her arms. He climbed out of her arms and took perch on her shoulder, wrapping his silky tail gently around her throat, swishing it against her pulse. She climbed the stairs and went down various corridors until she faced the portrait of the fat lady in the pink dress. She gave the password and then crawled through the hole and into the Gryffindor common room. It was crowded with Gryffindors; then Hermione noticed Harry and Ron over in a secluded corner working on predictions for Professor Trelawney's Divination class. Hermione looked down at their predictions with a sigh. Both boys looked up and their eyes wandered up to the animal perched on Hermione's shoulder.

"Is that a ferret? I didn't think you were serious about giving Crookshanks to Ginny," Ron said.

Hermione smiled, "This is the amazing bouncing ferret, Ron."

At that, the ferret made an angry twittering noise and swatted Hermione's cheek haughtily with its silky tail.

Ron look confused for a moment, but Harry looked at Hermione with wide eyes and said, "Are you mad? Bringing him in here? And how long as he been an animagus?"

Realization finally dawned on Ron. "You mean that's Mal..."

"Lower your voice!" Hermione hissed.

"Yes, its Draco. Now, don't stay up too long coming up with various disasters, tragedies, and predictions of your own death. I'm tired, and going up to bed. See you two in the morning," Hermione continued crossly, and then went upstairs to the seventh your girls' dormitory.

Once in the empty girls' dormitory, Draco jumped from his perch and changed back. He pulled off his robes, asked Hermione which bed was hers, and then climbed into the one she pointed to. Hermione noticed that Draco was going to sleep in his boxers, which she didn't mind. She quickly changed from her dress robes to her nightgown and then got into bed beside him. She sighed and curled herself up against him. So this was what she'd been missing for the past two weeks. She'd been having trouble sleeping ever since returning to Hogwarts.

She shifted and then looked up at Draco. "I never thought I could miss you so much. I've had trouble sleeping too. You do know this is a lapse in my better judgment?"

"You aren't going to lecture me on being a bad influence are you? Because look at the riff raff you call your friends. I'm surprised that Potter and Weasley haven't gotten you killed yet."

She poked him playfully in the ribs. "They aren't so bad you know."

He nodded. "You might have a point, but I'm still not taking any chances. Weasley is rather short tempered, isn't he? If you hadn't put him in that body bind last week, well I don't want to think about the jinx I was going to put on him."

"Let me guess, it would have been enough to get you detention for the rest of the year?"

He nodded sleepily. "Something like that, and knowing McGonagall it would have involved that oaf... Sorry, Hagrid, and the Forbidden Forest. I'm surprised that she turned my detentions over to Snape."

"So am I," Hermione said and then sat up. "It's strange, but have you noticed how Snape and McGonagall have been acting towards each other? And it seems as though McGonagall doesn't want to punish you, so she handed you over to Snape. It's almost as if McGonagall is afraid of you for some reason."

"Funny, I hadn't noticed that, but you do have a point. I mean Snape didn't hand you over to McGonagall. It's strange how she assigned you two additional detentions with Snape, too."

Hermione blushed. "Not really. She'd heard the rumors of my disagreement with Snape and thought I would be most uncomfortable facing him with two additional detentions. I don't think she counted on Snape warming up to me. It's strange, but he does seem more pleasant now. It might have something to do with this mysterious son of his."

"You heard it the first day too?" Draco asked.

"Well, he was thinking it rather loudly wasn't he? Extreme emotions such as anger and fear tend to magnify our thoughts, and makes them more receptive to thought-readers," Hermione stated matter of factly.

"Now you've gone back to being the walking dictionary? This is a phase, isn't it?"

Hermione smiled and then stiffened at the sound of the doorknob turning. She looked down at Draco and hissed, "This one lapse of judgment, this one moment of weakness, is going to be our ruin."

He pulled her down against him and whispered against her ear, "I love you, too. Now how about calling it a night? No more thoughts, we both need our sleep. Wake me up early so we don't get caught. I need to sneak out of here before the others wake up."

"You expect me to be your alarm clock?" she whispered back indignantly, but her anger soon faded as he leaned up slightly till their lips met.

"That's very sneaky and Slytherin of you, using your charm and my weaknesses against me. Goodnight," she sighed softly.

He smiled and let his head drop back on the pillow. He stroked her curly head of hair, and watched the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. He liked how she slept with her head resting against his shoulder. He also liked being able to hold her as she slept. Soon sleep began to consume him as darkness and exhaustion caved in around him...