Hermione Granger and The Secret Fire

Chapter 22-I Have A Secret (in my pocket)

Hermione awoke in Draco's bed to the sun shining on her face. She smiled as she remembered her evening with her boyfriend. She recalled the conversation they had as they resolved their differences.

"Draco, do you know why I was angry?" Hermione asked, leery to bring the subject up, but not willing to fall back into their relationship without clearing the matter up.

He looked uncomfortable at what she was saying, but answered, "Yes. I called you names."

"And blamed me for your father's appearance in Hogsmeade," Hermione added. "You hurt my feelings when you talked to me that way."

"I did not mean to hurt your feelings. I just wanted you to understand how much danger you were in by my father being there," Draco explained.

"I knew how much danger I was in! Why do you think I was so scared?" Hermione protested, her voice rising in anger.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and whispered, "I...I was scared, too."

His tone and facial expressions took all the wind out of Hermione's sails. Her voice lowered greatly as she said, "You were scared too? But it is your father! Surely you don't have to be afraid of him!"

The force in Draco's eyes opening and his pained expression told Hermione everything she needed to know. Draco was afraid of his father. He had forced him to take the Dark Mark, he had threatened him in front of the Headmaster and Professor Snape and that was just the things she knew! He probably had done countless other things when Draco was a child as well.

Hermione grabbed Draco and hugged him tightly. She almost missed him whisper, "I was scared for you, too."

"You were scared for me? You seemed so angry with me! You called me all those names and made it seem like it was my fault that I was cornered by him," she cried, realizing how wrong she had been to jump at conclusions about his feelings.

Draco pulled out of the hug and looked at Hermione before saying, "My father is a dangerous man. He really would have killed you given the chance and I couldn't have lived with that."

Draco cared about her! She felt as if she was on top of the world!

Hermione rolled over to face Draco and found herself in an empty bed. She reached out and touched the cold spot next to her on the bed, as if he could have been hiding under an invisibility cloak and she just couldn't see him. Feeling that the spot was cold convinced her that he had been gone a while.

'Where did he go this early in the morning?' Hermione thought as she got up and wandered into her room to get dressed. 'Oh bullocks. I hope the balloons and streamers didn't upset him. I thought it'd be a nice reminder of happier times!'

Walking down the stairs to the common room, Hermione was surprised to find a full fire raging in the fireplace. Normally she and Draco didn't light the fire until later in the day, even in the winter.

She wandered out into the hallway and was greeted with the sight of Draco whistling as he walked up the hallway. He was carrying a knapsack and smiling like a loon.

"What's the story, Morning Glory?" he asked, smiling with a twinkle in his eyes.

His words and actions caused Hermione's eyes to widen in wonder and she felt her mouth drop open in surprise. 'Who is this creature in front of me? Did he just rhyme?'

"Isn't that a Muggle rhyme?" Hermione asked as he reached her and pecked her lips with a kiss.

"What? You mean someone has said that before? I thought I had just made it up," he answered sarcastically, winking obviously.

He brushed past her and said the password to the Mime Priestess. As they entered the common room Draco said, "I filched these from the Great Hall. It isn't much, but I wanted to have breakfast with just you this morning."

Draco had brought back an array of muffins and fruit. He spread the items onto one of the desks and turned to smile at Hermione. She couldn't help but giggle over the fact that he seemed so proud of 'filching' items from the Great Hall. She briefly wondered if he saw the irony in calling a theft 'filching' when the caretaker of Hogwarts, who's job it was to enforce the rules, was called Mr. Filch. However, the thought of carrying them back up to his bed was more pressing. This thought reminded her of the previous night's activities when she decorated his room.

"Um...Draco? Did you like your room? I know it's not as extravagant as what your Mum may have done and I am not trying to step on any toes or take the place of..." Hermione rattled on until Draco mashed his lips onto hers, stopping her.

The kiss started innocently enough, but soon progressed to something almost out of control. Hermione pulled back, not wanting it to progress further when she heard Draco's stomach growl in angry protest of waiting so long for food.

"Mmm. I hate when you pull away like that. My room is great, Hermione," he said grabbing an apple and dusting it off on his shirt, "but I really am hungry. Let's eat and then you can tell me how you did that while I was sleeping.

~*~

The week went by rather quickly and all too soon in was Friday. It was the last day of classes before Winter break and the feast tonight promised to be something wonderful.

Hermione had three classes that day, two without Draco. It did not seem to matter, though, because she spent the entire day alternating between thinking about him and berating herself for not paying attention in class. The one class she did have with him, Potions, would be busy due to the planned test.

All week, in between classes, she and Draco found ways to sneak snogging sessions without being caught. A couple of third year Ravenclaws walked down the hall during one of their 'breaks' between lunch and class, but Draco yelled and scared them so bad, they were sure to have not seen anything. Besides, who would have believed that the Head Boy and Head Girl, who had been enemies for seven years, would be kissing in public!

Hermione was shocked by Draco's brazenness, as he had been so careful to not let the other Slytherins find out anything about their relationship. It was imperative that the word did not get back to the senior Mr. Malfoy, especially with Draco heading home for two weeks. His behavior so astonished Hermione, that she found herself talking to Misten about it as they did revision in the library before dinner on their last Friday.

"He kissed you in the hallway?" Misten asked flabbergasted, the volume of her voice rising with each word. "Draco Malfoy, the king of privacy, stealth and secrecy, kissed you in the hallway?"

"Shh!" Hermione whispered as she looked around frantically hoping no one was listening, "I know it's shocking, but keep your voice down."

"Okay," Misten said, rubbing her hands over her face and obviously trying to make heads or tails of what she had been told, "not only did you two make up Monday night, you also have performed...oral pleasure...on him this week, he has finally declared his love for you and now you two are snogging in public?"

Hermione nodded her assent.

And as she finally had a moment of truth that caused her to scrunch her face up in disbelief, Misten whispered, "Are you sure that he is actually Draco? I mean this could be his father or someone on Polyjuice trying to sneak off with your secrets!"

"I love how you whispered that part as if it were a secret but practically yelled the private, personal things we already know to be true!" Hermione whispered back, exasperated. "And what secrets? That I love him? That I hang out with you and spend an ungodly amount of hours preparing for my N.E.W.T.S.? And before you go all 'Ron' on me, I don't even spend that much time with Harry anymore so it can't be someone trying to get close to me to get information on him.

"Go all 'Ron' on you?" Misten asked laughing at Hermione's spoken description of their overprotective, sometimes-paranoid friend. "Don't let him hear you say that! I know that Draco is himself, but even you have to admit it is awful weird. Yesterday at this time you were miserable and never going to speak to him again."

Hermione sighed as she thought through the words.

Misten continued, "As it is, you still aren't speaking to Harry or Ron, or is it that they are not speaking to you? And we're going to be two of the very few students who actually remain here over break..."

"Which is all the more reason that it is good that I am with Draco. I can use all the friends I can get!" Hermione interrupted. "Hey, we'll be two of the very few students who actually remain here over break?' How come you aren't going home with Seamus any more? I thought your plans were set?"

Misten visibly shrank into her seat as if she wished no one would notice her sitting there. "Um, they were and I was going to go home with him. But, um, things changed and I thought it'd be better if I were here. Besides, you didn't want to be all alone, did you?"

Hermione knew Misten was hiding something but let it drop. "No, I didn't want to be alone. I'm glad you'll be around."

~*~

Dinner was fantastic, as all feasts are at Hogwarts. The students had plenty of yummy food and warm pumpkin juice to make them all feel good. Harry, Ron and the other boys had seemed more open to Hermione's presence at the table. They weren't friendly, but at least they were not overly rude, either. Hermione was still angry with her two supposed best friends but was also very curious to know how their plans were taking shape. Ginny seemed overly protective and needy at the thought of leaving her beau for the holiday. Hermione felt sad for her friend because she knew Harry had lied to her when he told her he was staying behind.

All throughout dinner she watched Draco interact with his housemates. She observed his change in facial expressions as different people came to talk to him. She noted how he held himself differently while talking to the younger students in the house and how easily he laughed when he thought no one was watching him save his friends.

As dinner ended, Hermione had to laugh at the number of students yawning as they left the Great Hall on their way to their common rooms. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that the teachers had conned the house elves into putting sleeping draught in the pumpkin juice to ensure a quiet night before the train left in the morning.

"Hey Misten," Hermione asked, grabbing her friends arm as she headed back with the other Gryffindors, "what are you doing tonight? Do you want to come back to my room for a while? Draco has some super secret Slytherin meeting he has to attend and I thought it'd be fun to have some girl talk and relax."

Hermione had tried all day not to be envious of the fact that Draco had to spend his last night with the Slytherins. She was all too aware that he had to leave in the morning and she had hoped he'd spend the evening with her. He had promised to leave the company of the Slytherins as soon as he could, but he warned her it might not be until late.

Misten's eyes widened in panic and she answered, "Um, not tonight Hermione. I, um, need to, um, talk to Lavender about something and I, um, am going to go to bed early. How about we do it tomorrow?"

Hermione nodded, silent out of respect for her friend's obvious nervousness at the question. As she returned to her own dorm, she was quite curious as to Misten's reaction. 'What was that about? Misten got very uncomfortable when I asked her about her plans for the evening? I wonder what that could mean?'

Saying the password to the Mime Priestess, Hermione held back a huge yawn. Although it was early in the evening, she felt quite sleepy and decided a nice bath was in order. She changed into a towel, grabbed her favorite charms textbook and began the task of gathering up her oils, salts and candles. She set off to the lavatory for a warm soak.

Entering the room she was shocked to see Draco. He was leaning over the bathtub clad in only a towel, muttering at the taps as they filled the barrel and emitted steam.

"Draco?" Hermione asked as a million questions ran through her head. 'Is he making this for me? Was he expecting someone else? What happened to the meeting with the Slytherins? Why does he have to look so good in that towel?'

He spun around so quickly at the sound of her voice, she was quite surprised he didn't fall. He smiled at her obvious shock and started walking toward her like a mountain lion approaches its prey. "Hey, Hermione. What are you planning on doing in here?"

It took all of Hermione's self control to not answer 'Well, I have my bath salts and oils, so I must be getting ready to play Quidditch.'

'Gods, I am turning into him!' she thought, snorting at her own snarkiness.

Instead she answered, "A bath seemed like a good idea. Apparently I wasn't the only one with that idea. What happened to the meeting with the Slytherins?"

"It was just a ruse to get you to think I wouldn't be here. I had planned on getting a nice bath ready for you and to surprise you with it, but the damn taps are giving me trouble. I can't get the water to stay inside the tub," Draco explained as he emptied her hands of her products.

Hermione had a fleeting thought that Misten must have known and that was why she was so uncomfortable with her question. She walked over to the tub and noticed he had not put the stopper in the drain. Giggling she said, "You have to plug it. Have you ever made a bath for anyone before?"

To her great surprise, Draco got angry. "Well, no, obviously not. I am a pure blood and we have house elves for menial chores like that. Look, I was just trying to do something nice for you and..."

Hermione closed her lips onto his as he answered her. She knew that a kiss would dissolve his anger and while she didn't like his elitist answer to her question, she knew that it was just Draco being Draco. She'd probably never cure him of his snobby ways. It was one of the things she enjoyed disagreeing with him the most.

Draco reached and entangled his hands into her hair, grabbing her neck to deepen the kiss. The two stood for a long time, dressed only in towels, kissing as if it was their last night to do so.

"Care to join me for a long soak?" Hermione asked in a sultry voice when they finally came up for air.

Draco's own voice was filled with hormones when he answered, "I'd be a fool to turn down such a wonderful offer."

Hermione set to work adding the salts and the oils as Draco lit the remaining candles. They each undressed the other and slid into the now filled tub, Hermione nestling herself between Draco's legs so that her head rested on his shoulder just near the crook of his neck. From her position, she could feel his excitement, but her thoughts were erased as he slowly washed her back.

The two lay in the tub for better than an hour as they talked and laughed and even snogged. Finally, after Hermione yawned for the umpteenth time, Draco convinced her to get out of the bath with a promise of a backrub.

After toweling off, they returned to his room and Hermione realized that Draco had been treating her like she was a princess. She also decided she liked it. As she lay on his bed, she could help but think about one of the many 'sex' conversations she had had with her Mum that summer.

"There's no such thing as a free back rub, Hermione. You must remember that men are different than women. It's not that they mean to be selfish or act like pigs, but men do things with a prize in mind. I don't mean to sound unromantic, but they're inconsiderate by nature and keeping that in mind will save you hours of heartache," her Mom had said after one of her parents' legendary fights. Lying there Hermione wondered if she would ever become that disparaging in her relationship with Draco. Hell, she knew they'd never get that way, if she could help it.

Turning over swiftly, she grabbed Draco and pulled him into a kiss. She parted his lips with her tongue and as soon as he opened her lips, she teased his tongue with hers. She kissed his chin, and as he closed his eyes as she dropped little kisses on them. Her lips moved on to his brow, his nose... first one ear, then the other. She couldn't seem to stop kissing him.

As they broke apart, Hermione just sat there, her lips a bit swollen from the kisses and he started whispering things like he could help himself from thinking how beautiful she looked.

Draco's hands slipped around her waist, just underneath her towel as his lips trailed down the side of her neck. She felt herself slide her arms around his neck as she wove her fingers in his hair.

He raised his head and she looked at him. Was she ready for this? Was she ready to let this go to the next level? Yes, she was. As she stared at him his eyes had changed to a darker shade of stormy gray. 'Gods, he's sexy,' she thought breathlessly.

Then she couldn't see his eyes anymore, as he slid down her body. She could only react to all she felt. It was like being dragged into a mindless state of seduction, to react this much, to feel this much heat washing over her.

She cupped her hand behind his head, tugging him upwards to her lips and kissed him passionately, opening her mouth as his tongue swept in and he flicked it against the inside of her lips. Hermione met his tongue with hers, engaging in a teasing, torturous game of plunge and vacate. She felt his hands as they wandered upwards again, stopping to tease the sensitive skin beside her breasts and then wander downwards again. She thought she would go crazy over the sheer torture of expectation.

Needing to have him feel how he was making her feel, she sucked at his bottom lip while her hands made contact with the smooth skin of his back. He almost jumped at her cool, light touch. Soon she was lost again in a haze of desire as he traced his tongue along the side of her neck.

Hermione's hands started roaming his skin, a little more forcefully. Her fingers brushed lightly against his thighs, caressing them. She was rewarded with an indrawn gasp of breath. She smiled against his lips and ran her hands back up across his chest, trying to tease him as he had her.

She ran her hands across his chest, amazed at the fact that his skin was as firm as hers was soft. As she explored his chest, she grazed his nipples and was tickled when he shuddered at the touch.

'His nipples are as sensitive as mine!' she thought, loving his reaction to her caresses.

"Are you cold?" she whispered softly, knowing fully that he wasn't but desperate to tease him for his uncontrollable reactions.

Growling in a seductive voice she had never heard he said, "I feel like I'm burning up. Get these towels out of here." He ripped off her towel and his own and Hermione gasped at the sight of his amazing body. Draco leaned back over the bed and gathered Hermione in his arms, picking her up off his bed. He murmured an incantation and the bed linens were quickly pulled back.

He laid them both back on the bed and he looked deep into her eyes, as if searching for some long lost treasure. He never broke eye contact as he asked her, "Are you sure?"

"More than anything," she whispered back, all the emotion seeping into her quiet voice.

He kissed her tenderly on the lips once, twice...and then desire took over.

Their tongues mated as they writhed against one another. His hands roamed over her arms and then gently cupped her breasts. His thumbs brushed teasingly against her nipples while her legs wrapped themselves around his waist. She felt his arousal press against her leg as he kissed his way downwards; pressing his lips the soft skin on her stomach.

Once again, she pulled him to her mouth, nearly dizzy with desire to taste him, to touch him, to feel him. He rolled next to her so they were facing each other on the bed. She felt him react like the air had been sucked out of the room when she closed her hand over his erection. Hermione watched as well as felt him twitch and grow even harder, which she wasn't sure was even possible. She looked at him as his eyes fluttered closed and she felt a little bit alarmed that he might have passed out.

"Draco? Are you okay? Did I do something wrong? Did you faint?" she asked, her insecurity and worry returning full force.

He opened his eyes, smiling and kissed her sweetly on the nose. "No, love, I'm okay. But if you keep on doing that, I won't last for much longer," he warned.

Hermione giggled at her own naivety, removed her hand, and laid her head on his chest as she fought for some measure of control.

"I didn't say I wanted you to stop," he said, the need and want apparent in his voice, "I just have a better idea."

Draco smiled as he sat up, turning toward her, using his hands to flip her under him. As soon as he got her where he wanted her, he kissed his way up her legs, along her knees, to the inside of her thighs. He touched her with his lips and she felt like she was taking her last breaths.

'What a glorious way to die,' she thought as he continued his assault on her legs and lower abdomen.

She shuddered as his fingers disappeared, teasing the brown curls preparing her for what came next. She moved unconsciously against his hand, pushing at his palm. He smirked and covered her lips with his as she wrapped her legs around his waist, pushing at him, not knowing what she wanted him to do but nearly dying with anticipation, especially with how good she felt when his hand was on her. She couldn't wait.

He rolled onto his back and she ended up on top of him as he kissed and licked her neck. She started rubbing against him and she felt herself growing hotter and more needy. She could feel the tension rising within her, uncoiling like a knot inside her belly.

He lifted her by the waist and he slowly plunged her downwards. She gasped at the surprise of the pain as he took her, although she was grateful for being stretched ahead of time.

She knew she was tight. She had read enough books to know that it would be hard for Draco at this moment, as it was a new experience for both of them.

As she watched his face as he fought for control, he stilled her by keeping his hands on her waist. Her eyes were wide in shock, which gradually faded away as he started moving her again by holding her hips and wiggling them slightly, controlling the tempo. She braced herself by clutching his shoulders, as the feeling of losing all control escalated. She tried hard to restrain and manipulate her own body, but it was no use. The world shattered around her as they both went over the edge.

She trembled a little in the aftermath as she removed herself to lie on the bed. He propped himself on his elbows, his chin resting on her shoulder as he looked at her with those exquisite gray eyes. He whispered, " I love you, Hermione."

"I love you, Draco," she whispered back content to lie next to him as they drifted off to sleep.

~*~

As dawn arose, Hermione was awakened by a soft voice calling her name.

"Hermione? Hermione? Wake up love!" Draco called from the spot he was kneeling on the floor.

As her eyes opened the amazing sight of his smile greeted her. "Get up, love. I got some food from the house elves and I want to take you on a picnic by the lake."

"Now?" she asked confused as the earliness of the hour. "Where do you want to go this early?"

Draco lifted her arm to draw her up and he said, "Get dressed in something warm. I want to take you to one of my favorite places. I'll meet you in the common room."

Dressing in all the warm clothing she had, Hermione traipsed down the stairs and followed Draco as he whispered, teasingly, "I am going to take you though the secret dungeon exit. Only Slytherins know of this exit so forget where it is as soon as we go through it."

Climbing out the doorway into the cold, Hermione was faced with a long tree lined tunnel running the length of the castle. As she observed how long it was, she noticed a cloaked figure running though the field towards them.

"Draco! There is the person who's been sneaking around Hogsmeade when they're supposed to be here! Remember we saw them a few weeks ago? Quick, lets hide behind these trees and grab them as they enter the castle."

'Must be a Slytherin,' she thought as they squatted down, 'otherwise they wouldn't know this entrance.

Just as the figure reached the hidden door, Hermione grabbed the cloak, revealing the person hidden beneath it.

"You?" both Hermione and Draco yelled.

"You're the mystery person?" Hermione asked, shocked and disbelieving.