Dragon's Kiss

Okay, here is the second chapter of Dragon’s Kiss. Enjoy! (And please remember, I own nothing, I have no money…you don’t want to come after little old me do you???? Of course notJ ) Oh yeah...please review!!!!)

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Hermione sped along the upper hallways; not paying attention to the things around her, such was her haste to get to Gryfinndor tower. Reaching the Fat Lady, she hurriedly said the password, and found herself panting and out of breath inside of the Gryfinndor common.

"Hermione!" Oh no, not Ginny. I don’t have the strength to talk to anyone…oh, crap! She’s with Harry!

Hermione forced herself to smile and turn around. "Ginny! Harry! How…nice! Have you been waiting for me?" Hermione asked, weaving through the students milling in the commons over to Harry and Ginny.

"No, not really. Have you heard how Ron is?" Harry asked. Hermione felt a brief stab of annoyance. Always Ron. That had been the case when they were dating too…which probably explained the short-lived romance.

"No…I take it you haven’t either?" Hermione asked anxiously. The two shook their heads.

"Madame Pomfrey won’t let anyone in…Fred and George take this to mean that he’s in pretty bad shape," said Ginny gloomily. "I was just about to ask Harry if we could use his map and cloak and see if we can sneak in there…" She nudged Harry, who was looking out the window. He looked up.

"Er…okay then. It’s upstairs. I’ll go get it." He stood up and stretched, yawning widely. "On second thought Gin, can we wait until tomorrow? My head is aching," He rubbed his temples. Ginny looked disappointed.

"Okay then." She replied, slumping back against the cushions of the window seat. Harry patted her shoulder.

"Thanks Gin," Harry said, beginning to walk away. "Madame Pomfrey might actually let us in tomorrow," he called over his shoulder. Ginny flashed a quick smile, and then turned to Hermione.

"Hey, want to sit down?" Hermione was about to refuse when she saw the look on Ginny’s face.

"Sure Gin." The two sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Hermione?"

"Hm?" Hermione replied, tearing her gaze away from the starry outside sky.

"D’you reckon Ron is all right?" she asked in a small voice.

"I’m sure he is," Hermione said, trying to be comforting, her mind flashing back to what Draco had said earlier. Ah, but down worry Granger, your ickle-Ronniekins will be fine…in about a month. She shook her head, trying to clear the thought of the silver-haired Slytherin from her mind. They sat in silence for another few moments.

"Well…" Ginny said, standing up. "I’d better head up...I have homework…and it’s-"

"Getting late," Hermione finished, picking her bag up. "I hear you Gin. See you tomorrow at breakfast."

"Are you coming up too?"

"No, I think I’ll stay a moment or too more…" Hermione trailed off. Ginny nodded.

"I’m quite sure he’s alright," Ginny said, mistaking Hermione’s thoughtfulness for anxiety. "Well…Good night, Hermione," Ginny called, disappearing up the spiral staircase. Hermione sighed. The common room was nearly empty, with the exception of a few rowdy fifth years.

Hermione made her way to the couches nearer the fireplace and flopped down, intending to finish off Professor Vector’s homework. However, the work soon bored her, and her thoughts found their way to a certain gray-eyed, stonehearted Slytherin. Maybe not that stonehearted, Hermione thought, pausing, her quill resting over one ear. He did kiss me after all…and what was that kiss REALLY about anyway? He’s a Slytherin…they don’t go around kissing Gryfinndors for no reason…I doubt that they go about kissing anyone for no reason. So why did he do it?

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"Draco?" A feminine voice snapped Draco out of his reverie. He turned and found himself face to face with the pug faced Pansy Parkinson. He groaned inwardly.

"What?" he snapped, turning back to his breakfast.

"Well…first off, you had this really bad look on your face," Pansy began. Draco struggled not to roll his eyes. "And second of all…" Pansy’s voice changed dramatically. "The first Hogsmeade visit is on Saturday!!! What do you say we go together?" Her face sported a very large smile. She had thought they were a couple ever since the Yule Ball oh so very long ago. It mattered not at all to her that he’d been dating Blaise Zabini for the past four months now…Ever since Granger started dating Weasley, Draco realized with a start.

"I don’t know if I want to go at all." Draco replied. Let alone with you. Pansy’s face fell.

"Oh…okay then. See you later." She shuffled off. Draco poked at his cold oatmeal- his thoughts elsewhere as his gaze tuned unintentionally to the Gryfinndor table.

Hermione was sitting in between Potter and the Weasley girl, reading a textbook and twirling a curl around her finger…something Draco had noticed she did when she was bored or upset. Probably misses Weasel, Draco thought, his face darkening. He viciously stabbed his oatmeal, which did absolutely nothing at all except make the other Slytherins stare at him. Glowering, he pushed back his chair and stood up, dropping his spoon into his bowl and stalking out of the Great Hall.

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"Wonder what bee got in Malfoy’s bonnet," Harry observed, watching the other boy storm out of the Great Hall, his robes swirling in a likeness of the greasy-haired Potions Master. Hermione didn’t look up, but Harry could swear she was blushing.

"No idea," she murmured, hurriedly flipping through the pages of her Ancient Runes text. I’m such a liar, Hermione thought. I know exactly what he was thinking about…the same thing I’m thinking about.

"Hermione?" Ginny’s voice sounded alarmed. Hermione’s head snapped up.

"Is something wrong?" Harry asked, concern evident in his voice.

"No…" Hermione replied slowly. "Why?"

"You’ve been really quiet all of breakfast, you didn’t berate Harry for not finishing his Charms work, and when Neville looked upset because of something Snape said to him…you didn’t comfort him." Ginny listed.

Hermione sighed. She was beginning to get a headache. "Listen Gin. Do I have to do everything around here? I mean, I am not a goddess, or some kind of miracle worker. Maybe I am just having a bad morning! So bug off!" Hermione snapped, grabbing her bag and heading out, in the same direction Draco had taken only seconds before.

"Well," said Ginny, leaning back in her chair. "I’d say the same thing that’s eating Malfoy is eating her…but what is it?"

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Draco slumped outside on the stone steps, leading up to the Entrance Hall. The cold, crisp air felt good on his heated face, and he lifted his head to catch some of the growing sun, his eyes closing with contentment. He didn’t look up when the heavy outer Hogwarts door flew open and slammed again, knowing precisely who it would be.

" Hello Granger," he said, not bothering to turn around. He heard her footsteps approach him, and a moment later, she sat down a few feet away.

"Malfoy," she replied. Now he turned to look at her. The wind was blowing her curly hair across her face, her cheeks red from the biting cold.

"So…" he said, scooting towards her a bit. "What’s bothering you?"

"Why do you care," she asked, setting her gloved hands underneath her chin, and turning her blue-eyed stare to meet his gray one.

"Damn good question Granger." Draco replied. "Maybe because I have a hunch that it has to do with last night," he suggested.

She flushed slightly. "What about last night?" she asked, somewhat coldly.

"Ouch," came the amicable reply. "Well…if you can recall. In the Potions dungeon, locked in, my eyes meeting yours…rather like they are now," Hermione turned away, surprised when Draco’s long fingers caught her chin and turned it slowly back to face him.

"Why?" she whispered.

"Did I kiss you? I think it was that cleaning potion that Snape gave me…overwhelmed my senses and…" Wait a second? Why am I making u a story? To protect her from the truth? That I was really in fact using her to get to her boyfriend? "Uh…Took over?" Draco finished lamely. Hermione looked questioningly at him, and he shrugged, dropping his hand from her face. "Or that’s what I think."

"Oh," Hermione was shocked to hear how disappointed her voice sounded, and she turned away. Of course he didn’t MEAN to kiss you, stupid. And you shouldn’t have expected him to. You’re dating Ron remember? But the image of Ron was suddenly very hard to call to mind, and the image her brain presented her with when she said dating was silver-haired man in front of her. " I have to go," she stood up suddenly, her bag tumbling from her lap down about ten stairs. Oh, shit.

She turned around, hastening to get as far from the gray gaze as she possibly could. The stone steps were narrow and crooked, and when you were in a hurry, even when it was close to summer, they were extremely hard to conquer. The ice on the stairs now, in mid-December made them even more trecherous. Halfway down the stairs, she slipped and fell, her head striking the hard stairs with no mercy. Dimly she heard the fringhtened call of the dragon, ten stairs above her. She remembered nothing after that.