Born The Day You Kissed Me

Falling

The intense sensation of the world spinning around them thankfully subsided when they were hurled into Hermione's backyard. For some reason the travel experience this time around had been torture for Hermione because Malfoy had somehow kicked her hard in the stomach causing her to become short of breath. Although that was not the only reason she was having difficulty breathing because at the moment, she was face first in a foot of snow with Malfoy sprawled across her backside.

"Geroff!" Hermione tried to yell, her body crying out for oxygen. She had no strength left in her and she twisted around, freeing her mouth from some of the snow. Gasping for air, she tried again. "Malfoy! Get off of me! I can't breath!"

Malfoy's head was spinning too, and he rolled off of her, finally coming back to earth and realizing her distress. "Whoops," was all he said.

Hermione turned over onto her back, and began to spit snow out of her mouth. She slowly sat up and narrowed her eyes at him. "You could have killed me!"

Draco looked at her as he sat up beside her, amusement in his eyes. He bent is head down, shaking it back and forth, with a smile on his face.

"What could possibly be funny at a time like this?" Hermione fumed.

"Granger," he said reaching his hand up to get some snow out of her wild brown curls, "you are entirely too dramatic. Even for a girl. That−" he paused, shaking snow off of his hand and looking back into her cinnamon eyes, "and you're gorgeous when you're angry."

Hermione blushed red. She had not expected that. She then remembered that not long ago they had shared a kiss in his bedroom. The memory of his hands on her caused her to shiver, and he noticed.

"You're shaking," he said softly. "Lets get out of this mess," he said standing up and lending her a hand.

"Thank you," she whispered as she took it. Her body still felt weak from its previous lapse of oxygen, and she swayed a little when she got to her feet.

"Whoa, are you okay?" he asked, steadying her body as he placed his hands around her waist.

"Yes," Hermione said while leaning into him. She lost her vision for a moment, and all light seemed to disappear from around her. After blinking wildly to gain back her sight, she could finally see clearly again. She assumed she had gotten up too fast, and she took a few calming breaths to gather her wits.

"You don't seem fine. C'mon, which way do we go? You know these woods better than me."

She tilted her head and looked around a bit. "That way," she weakly motioned for the right.

He let go of her to let her lead the way. She managed the first few steps fine but then suddenly fainted.

Draco held his arms out and caught her at the last moment, as his heart began to pound furiously in his chest. He frantically searched her face for signs of life, but her eyes were closed. Oh shit, he thought. He leaned his face closer to hers to make sure she was still breathing. She is, thank Merlin. Thinking quickly about what to do, he picked up her small body, hooking his arms beneath her knees and behind her back, he headed to the right like she had said. Hopefully he would come upon her house sooner or later.

A couple of minutes went by when her house came into view, but then it dawned on him that he couldn't exactly stroll up to her parents' house carrying their unconscious daughter. Thinking that that would definitely cause suspicion, he remembered her little tree house. He found it hidden in some trees to his left, and as he came up to it he set her down on her feet to free a hand as he opened up the small door. Climbing inside, he gently laid her down on the small arm chair. He took out his wand, said some heating spells to make the place warmer, then conjured candles to give them some light.

Kneeling down next to the fragile girl, he took off his cloak to drape across her delicate body. She looked pale, and Draco instinctively leaned his head close to her mouth to make sure she was still breathing. She was, but they were in short gasps. He put his hand on her arm, and tried to shake her awake.

"Granger," he said in a clear voice.

Her eyelids fluttered for a brief moment.

He put his hand on her warm forehead, and tried again. "Granger, wake up. Open your eyes."

Wrinkling her brow in confusion, the witch did as he instructed and lazily opened her eyes. She glanced up at him, pain evident in her expression.

"Good. Now, can you sit up?"

She shook her head the slightest bit. Draco was hovering over her, his face close to hers as he could feel her short breaths against his cheek. "Do you need anything?"

"No," she managed to whisper, staring into his gray orbs.

"What happened to you?"

"I-I guess, I don't know. Perhaps I just got winded from the portkey," she said tugging Draco's cloak tighter around herself. "You kicked me in the stomach," she said abruptly.

"How did I manage that?" Draco asked, humor in his eyes.

Hermione smiled widely. "I have no idea, I was about to ask you the same question."

Draco still had his hand on her forehead, and he let it slip into her hair. He suddenly realized that when she had fainted, she had hit some sort of emotional nerve in him, if there were such a thing. He couldn't recall many times in his life when he was truly scared, but today when she had fainted it had really shook him up.

Without knowing he was, his hand began to trace the outlines of her face, and he was not even aware of two big brown eyes growing increasingly large.

How did I not notice how soft her mouth is? Or how freckles of cinnamon sprinkle across her nose and cheeks? How did I not notice how beautifully the candlelight plays over her creamy skin, turning those freckles to gold dust?

Draco's hand stilled as his eyes opened wide at his own realization.

He was falling for Hermione Granger.

Hard.

"Granger," , she heard. "Granger, wake up. Open your eyes."

The spinning in her head subsided slightly when she felt Malfoy's cool hand rest upon her forehead, and she recognized his calm voice speaking to her, telling her to open her eyes.

She did as he asked, and slowly slid them open. She was a bit startled at first, for Malfoy's face was inches away from hers. He asked if she could sit up, but she shook her head as she knew that would hurt.

He continued to ask her more questions, but Hermione's voice was caught in her throat at the look in his eyes. There was compassion there, matched with a sweet tenderness in his voice that she had never heard before. His breath smells like chocolate mints, she thought to herself as she unconsciously licked her lips while memorizing the shape of his mouth.

"What happened to you?" Draco asked her.

Hermione was brought out of her reverie as she noticed he had asked her a question and expected a response. "I-I guess, I don't know. Perhaps I just got winded from the portkey," she said quickly. She felt embarrassed for what she'd been thinking, and she pulled the robe that was covering her up tighter around her body shyly. However the movement caused her insides to twinge. "You kicked me in the stomach," she remembered. How he had managed to do that was beyond her.

"How did I manage that?" he asked, laughter in his voice.

Hermione smiled widely, giggling to herself. "I have no idea, I was about to ask you the same question."

That's when Malfoy's hand began to stroke her hair. His long acute fingers scraped her skull every once in a while and would send wild shivers throughout her body. She watched his face as she relaxed under his ministrations, and realized that he was staring at her in a way he never had before...and her heart fluttered oddly.

Her eyes grew wider yet when his hand began to trace the lines of her face. The cool touches of his fingers were effecting her more than he knew, and for the first time in Hermione Granger's life she felt...beautiful.

When Malfoy's fingers abruptly halted above her lips, she feared that he might have heard how loudly her heart was pounding, or how her breath had become somewhat uneven. His pensive look was now gone and was replaced by an expression of astonishment.

Whether the astonishment was good or bad...she didn't know.

"Malfoy," she whispered, her stomach lurking when his eyes instantly flew to hers.

Draco reveled in the way her hot breath bathed his fingertips, and he deliberately began to outline her lips, while glancing from her eyes to her mouth. He wanted to kiss her so badly that he was beginning to become dizzy. He wanted her; he could finally admit that to himself.

He was falling for the girl he was forbidden to love.

Without taking another moment to think, Draco crashed his lips down to meet hers. She moaned into his mouth, and instantly gave into his dominance.

Hermione arched her body upwards, groaning, as the kiss grew even more passionate than their previous kiss had been. Now that she thought about it, there had always been an enormous amount of sexual tension between the two of them, and it was relieving to finally give in and admit the desire they shared for each other.

Draco's adrenaline caused him to act in frantic motions as his hormones took over his brain. One of his hands was behind her neck, making sure that it was impossible for her to escape, not that it seemed like she wanted to. His other hand was roaming over her body, attempting to memorize every womanly curve that she possessed.

"Draco," she murmured breathlessly. She reached a hand and curled it around his neck as another fisted into his hair.

When Draco heard her say his name in passion, his palms began to sweat. She never called him Draco...it was always Malfoy. Her bravery encouraged him to leave her lips and trail them down her neck.

Hermione sighed out loud, inviting him to continue as she leaned her neck away to give him more room. She pressed her hands harder on his head to let him know she definitely liked what he was doing, while unconsciously sighing in pleasure.

As much as it pained Draco to pull away from her, he had to. If this continued any further, Draco knew he would not be able to stop himself. He could feel his lower regions springing to life, and knew he needed to back off before it became impossible.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked when he turned around, sitting with his back against the couch. "Why did you stop?"

He looked at her over his shoulder. Her eyes were dark with desire and her lips were red from kissing. "We had to stop," Draco said motioning to his now tented trousers.

Hermione's mouth formed a small 'o' as she realized what he meant.

"I think we need to take this one step at a time."

Hermione nodded her head in agreement. She swung her legs over so that she was now sitting up right on the couch. She took a few calming breaths to try and relax her racing heart.

That kiss had been... amazing. She had only shared a few kisses with boys so far in her life, but this was the first one that had left her dizzy and gasping for air. During the other kisses it seemed as though she was always preoccupied with something...Where should I put my hands? Does my breath smell okay? Am I doing this right? Should I open or close my eyes? That was Hermione though...always analyzing every situation to make sure that the correct choices were always made.

But not this time. This time rules didn't matter. This time she had completely forgotten that the world around them even existed, and the imaginary line that separated right from wrong vanished. All that mattered was him, and all that her brain could focus on was how his tongue felt in her hot mouth, and how his hair felt like silk between her fingertips, and how the simple touches of her fingertips seemed to set her skin on fire. No, this was no ordinary kiss. This was different.

She had never felt so desired. She had never felt so needy.

She had never felt so...alive.

. . . .I was born the day you kissed me . . . .