Stormy Weather

As Hermione fell, McGonagall snatched her wand from a pocket quickly and pointed. "Leviosa!" Her eyes tracked the student carefully as Hermione rose up, her hair a mess and her clothes ripped from her unexpected journey, but otherwise she seemed unharmed. I'd better get her to the hospital wing. Poppy knows more about this than I do.

It didn't take very long for her to get the girl to the Infirmary, and soon Pomfrey was inspecting the Head Girl once more. Hermione winced lightly as she reached for her left leg. "I think I jammed it on something while I was falling," she murmured, clinical as always.

"I'll take care of it," the mediwitch promised her. Hermione nodded, leaning back. Students learned quite swiftly to either trust or fear Pomfrey. Hermione had always opted for trust.

One more time release spell to go. She closed her eyes lightly, nodding as Pomfrey advised her to rest. It was the usual sort of thing she or Draco had been told during their far too recent visits here.

McGonagall touched her arm lightly. "Would you like Mr. Malfoy informed of your whereabouts?" Hermione just shook her head, and the teacher nodded, a worried look to her eyes. "What was it you wished to speak with me about?"

"It's not important anymore." Hermione didn't bother opening her eyes at all. I'm going to play whether Draco wants me to or not. These things are going to hit no matter what. Nothing can stop that, so we might as well just get it over with.

Draco headed down the corridor carefully, touching one wall with a careful hand. I don't think I need to tell Pomfrey I still can't see that well in the dark. She'll keep me locked up in there until I'm ninety! Peeves had amused himself by putting out all the lights in this part of the castle, and Filch hadn't yet gotten around to fixing them. Draco paused for a moment to get his bearings, then groaned, recognizing a quiet step behind him.

"Malfoy." Harry Potter stopped and looked at him. "I'm kind of surprised you're not with Hermione in the Hospital Wing."

Draco's head snapped around and he stared at the scarhead. "What did you say?"

"I said, Hermione got hurt at the Quidditch pitch. She was talking to McGonagall about something in the stands, and they just vanished under her."

The white-haired Slytherin frowned ever so slightly, then nodded and headed for the Hospital Wing, not bothering to bid Potter anything like a proper farewell.

Hermione curled up tightly on the bed, trembling ever so slightly. She looked up at a very familiar voice. "So what happened to you?" Draco asked. She wanted to growl at him, but she just wasn't in the mood.

"How did you find out I was here?"

He shrugged casually. "I have connections."

"Harry or Ron?"

Draco didn't even bother answering. That wasn't her concern, really. What had happened to her was. "So what was it this time?" He held his next threat in for the moment: going to McGonagall for more information.

"The floor vanished under me," she told him with a sigh, then her eyes turned steely. "And I am playing. I am not going to let him rule my life, and I am not going to let you either!"

He stared at her for a few moments, then, "Hermione." He looked at her, not quite certain just how to frame what he was thinking, then shook his head. Her eyes hadn't lost their strength and steeliness in the slightest.

"If something happens, it happens whether I play or not." She told him. He knew she was right, and it was that galling knowledge that led to what he said next.

"Of course. When you'd care to extend me the same courtesy, please inform me." He stalked out gracefully, not letting anything but chill arrogance drape all over him. He was a Malfoy, a Slytherin, and he wasn't letting this get to him at all.

Once he was back in the Slytherin dungeons, he stalked to his room and threw himself on the bed, closing his eyes. I knew this was some kind of a mistake.

He had no idea how long he'd been laying there like that, but all too soon he heard someone tapping at the door. He didn't move an inch, but that had never bothered Pansy Parkinson. "Hermione's outside," she told him. "She wants to talk to you."

"Not available." Draco didn't really want to look at or talk to her right now. Who the heck does she think she is? He wasn't all that certain if he was thinking about Hermione or Pansy just then. He also wasn't sure it really mattered.

Pansy looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. "All right. It's your funeral." The female Slytherin wasn't very thrilled about Draco dating Hermione, but she also knew Draco wasn't exactly showing his brains right now.

She headed back outside and looked at the Gryffindor. "He said that he's not available."

Hermione looked away. "Oh. I'm not surprised. Thanks." She was about to start away when Pansy asked something.

"So what's going on?"

Hermione sighed. "Our first major blowout, and probably our last."

Pansy shrugged. "Well, you didn't really expect it to last, did you?" That was just sense. Slytherin and Gryffindor couldn't make it work. They were just too different. Anyone could tell that, and Hermione was supposed to be a brain.

Hermione shook her head slowly. "I don't know what I thought. Maybe I was fooling myself to think that he liked me as much as I've liked him for a while."

"He's a hard guy to like." Pansy recalled the fourth year Yule Ball. Draco had been keeping an eye on Hermione all that night, and mostly ignoring her. Idiot.

The Head Girl smiled ever so faintly. "It's easy to lose your heart to him, though. Isn't it?"

"Yeah." Pansy turned as the wall that led to the dungeons slid aside, and Draco stood there. Hermione looked up and frowned even as she started to move back.

"Hermione." Draco looked at her. "What do you want?" His voice was colder and frostier than she'd ever heard it before.

She closed her eyes for a moment, then looked at him. "I'm not going to your parents this weekend. The way we're feeling towards each other right now, I don't think it's a good idea. I don't want to fight in front of your mother." Or your father. The thought of what could happen if Lucius saw all of this was not a good one. If she broke up with Draco, it was going to be on her terms, not because Lucius thought it was the most wonderful idea since the return of Voldemort.

"Very well." Draco's voice lost nothing of its chill and she clenched her fists.

Maybe we should break up...maybe this really isn't working out. She wasn't going to say it, though. If she said it, it would be real, and that was the last thing she wanted. She nodded ever so slightly to him. "Good-bye." That sounded final. Very final.

She knew exactly how much like an ending it sounded like as she heard Pansy asking, "Did she just dump you?" as she walked away. She couldn't hear Draco's reply, and she wasn't all that certain she wanted to, either.

Hermione didn't really bother to think about where she was going. She just walked, realizing only after she was up there that she was in the Astronomy Tower. This was off-limits except for classes officially, but she didn't really care right now. She just needed a place to be alone. She curled up out of the way, wrapping her arms around her legs, and cried her soul out.

Wuh... Her eyes opened some time later. Stars glittered overhead, and a chilly wind had picked up. I must've fallen asleep... She sniffled a little and wiped her eyes, then stiffened as she realized why she'd woken up.

Draco was standing there, looking up at the glistening stars. Did he hear me? She sniffled again, then shoved herself farther back into the shadows, hoping he didn't see her. He glanced towards her, a frown between his eyebrows, then looked away, muttering something about having imagined it. She started to relax...until something tickled her nose and she sneezed twice in quick succession.

"Hermione?" Draco came closer, leaning in until he saw her there. "What are you doing out here?" He almost sounded concerned.

She stepped out, rubbing at her bloodshot eyes. I didn't think I'd miss him calling me 'mione so fast. "I was crying, without my cousin and friends coming in on me. What does it look like?" He said nothing and she glared at him a little. "What about you?"

He shrugged. "I wanted to be alone."

"Oh." She shifted a bit, then looked away. "I'll go then." He even kicks me out of here.

"You don't have to." His tone wasn't really one of a peace offering, but it was slightly warmer than she'd been hearing from him. She just shook her head.

"If I'm here, you won't be alone." She wanted to move, but couldn't seem to get her feet to work, and stood there staring at him.

He glanced at her for a moment. "Did you want to break up with me?"

"A little." She told him honestly. "But not really. I just wanted some time apart. To think things through." She watched him stare up at the stars, then suddenly darted over and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Something in the hug made everything all right again, as his arms came around her. She leaned her head on his chest briefly, then looked up, something irrelevant occurring to her. "You're tall."

"Growth spurt." He grinned briefly. "I think I'm up to about six feet tall by now." She smiled as she leaned in and kissed him, moaning as his hands went through her hair. They kissed again, more and more deeply, and Draco's hands caressed her gently, igniting her heart and her passions far more swiftly and deeply than she'd ever felt for anyone in her life. They moved even closer together, and the night hid all that they did with each other.

Some time later, Hermione glanced briefly at the stars, thinking back to her Astronemy lessons to figure out the time. "It's almost curfew! We have to go."

"You know how to spoil the mood." Draco muttered, not moving from where he was with her. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You might want to straighten yourself up. You don't want people asking what you were up to here 'being alone'." She adjusted her own clothes and hair, then kissed him once more before moving away. "We can't do that very often, or we're going to be doing an encore."

Draco grinned impishly at her. "Would that be so bad?"

"If we got caught out of our rooms after curfew? Yes!" She kissed him once more, then quickly darted back to Gryffindor Tower. Draco watched her go, then headed back to the dungeons, a satisfied grin on his face.

"Out past curfew, Mr. Malfoy?" Snape loomed up out of the shadows, and looked down his hooked nose at him. Draco nodded innocently.

"I was just getting some fresh air, Professor." Snape nodded ever so slightly.

"I suggest getting some rest."

Draco nodded once more, keeping the satisfied cat-got-the-cream look off his face by effort. "I was just on my way to do that." He strolled along towards the dungeons, feeling on top of the whole world.