From Dreams to Reality

Chapter 8_______________________________________________________________

Hermione woke to the sound of footsteps approaching behind her. She brought her head out of Love Potions and their Properties and looked around to see Draco a few metres away, wearing his green Quidditch robes.

"Hello," he said, taking the seat beside her and looking around at the eerily silent library. "I had a feeling I'd find you here."

"And why did you want to find me, Draco?" Hermione asked, rubbing her tired eyes.

"I wanted to talk to you about the other day in Potions," Draco replied.

Hermione shook her head. "There's no need, Draco. I know you were acting under the potion."

Draco took a deep breath. "I know that, but -"

"Draco, there's no need to say anything more," Hermione said. "You were acting under the potion and there's no need for you to say sorry or anything. Now, if you have nothing more to say, I'll be going." She stood up, picked up her book and began to walk away. Draco watched her retreat, wondering what to do or say - he hadn't even gotten to what he had wanted to say.

Coming to a decision, he stood up. "Hermione?" he said, causing her to stop and turn around. He stepped up to her. "I think I'm jealous of Potter." Hermione frowned, unsure of what he was trying to say. He looked at her impatiently and took one final step towards her so they were less than a foot apart. Hermione looked up at him nervously, only to be greeted by his lips crashing down on hers in a sweet kiss.

Surprised, Hermione pulled away quickly, looking him up and down, unsure of what to do or say.

Hermione moaned softly as she woke and opened her eyes, the scarlet canopy of her bed coming into view. She slowly sat up and drew back the curtains surrounding her to check the time. It wasn't even seven o'clock yet, but she had a Head meeting with Harry and Professor McGonagall at seven-thirty, so she threw the covers off herself and climbed out of bed, only to have her foot make contact with the hard surface of a think book. Looking down, she saw When Seeing is Believing: a Guide to Visions and Premonitions on the floor next to another, thinner book with the boring title of Love Potions and their Properties. Picking up the Love Potions book, she sat back down on her bed and randomly opened it, coming to a page with the heading: The Single Kiss Potion.

Staring at the page, Hermione absently raised her fingers to her lips, which tingled as she remembered the feel of Draco's soft lips against them. She couldn't help but allow her thoughts to travel back to the dream she had just woken from. Had it been another vision? Was she going to wake up in the library at some time and find Draco standing there, wanting to talk to her about what happened in Potions - yesterday in Potions? A few of Draco's words came back to her: "I wanted to talk to you about the other day in Potions." Evidently, if this was a vision, then it would truly happen in the next day or so, but what was with him wearing his Quidditch uniform? Judging by Harry and Ron's routine, most of the school Quidditch teams didn't start training until late September/early October. It seemed too early to start now ... unless he wasn't training...

"It was just a dream," Hermione muttered to herself, but she didn't believe her own words. It felt as though the dream had really happened. She had felt the touch of his lips on hers, she had felt the pleasure sweep through her, she had felt the confusion and thoughts that had run through her mind after his kiss...

Standing up, she decided that she would leave her thoughts until later and in the meantime, try to stay clear of the library at all times when she was tired. She had enough complications in her life as it was; she didn't need Draco to add even more...

*

Draco sat in his Charms class without a clue as to what he was supposed to be doing. He hadn't really been paying attention when tiny Professor Flitwick had told them about advanced Defense Charms. His mind was on another thing as he stared out the window, where the lake was clearly in view. Hermione had barely left his thoughts for the past day, and yet, he was seeing much less of her. He didn't know why, but he had a strong suspicion that she was avoiding him.

Some of the Slytherins were also becoming suspicious, not only because he always seemed to be away in his own little world of thoughts, but because, at the times he had seen her, he hadn't thrown any of his usual insults and comments at her. He just remained to himself, watching her closely as she passed.

He knew now that he was developing feelings for her, but tried his hardest to conceal them. He spent a lot of his time just thinking about the kiss they'd shared in Potions. The way her lips felt against his, and the feeling of her so close. Inwardly he cursed himself, more than once, for allowing her to get to him this way, but he knew that was no hope. She'd hardly even done anything to get him to like her this way, minus the fact that she'd basically saved his life. She was a Gryffindor and he was a Slytherin and they usually weren't two that mixed.

He forced himself to believe that the feelings he had were only temporary, that they would be gone in a very short time...

The bell to signal end of class sounded from somewhere inside the large castle and Draco headed out with his bag over his shoulder, feeling he needed a good, long fly around the Quidditch pitch.

> * <

Hermione sat at a table in the library, a book set out in front of her. She took a long draught from a mug of coffee, before turning the page of Love Potions and their Properties. It was getting quite late and as much as she wanted to go to bed, she knew that she shouldn't, as she was only halfway through writing a report on Love Potions that Snape had given them.

She stopped suddenly as she came to the page dedicated to the Single Kiss Potion and sighed. Just reading about the potion made her thoughts go straight to Draco. It was all too hard to understand. She couldn't like Draco, she just couldn't. They had been enemies for years and then, out of the blue, she was suddenly having dreams about him kissing her and all these new, unexpected feelings for him appear. It just didn't seem to be right.

Her thoughts didn't move away from him, though. Just sitting there and thinking about him caused her to just want the dream to be true. To have him walk into the library right now and have him kiss her. Her lips tingled at the thought and she reminisced, once more on how it had felt to have his lips on them. The way they just softly brushed against them, not allowing her enough time to respond, the way his grey eyes shined as they looked down into her own afterwards...

Hermione's thoughts were so caught up that she didn't even notice that her eyes were drooping as sleep began to overcome her. She unknowingly rested her head on the book in front of her, darkness taking her over as her thoughts continued to circle her head...

*

Hermione sat up abruptly as the sound of footsteps engulfed her mind. She looked around her to find that she was still in the library and realised she must not have been asleep all that long as it was still brightly lit and the windows were filled with darkness.

Looking down at the book she was using as a pillow, she yawned and closed it, not wanting to look at the page on the Single Kiss Potion any longer. She looked behind her and felt her heart skip a beat as she noticed Draco standing there, in his green Quidditch robes. This was all too familiar for her liking.

"Hello," Draco said, walking over and taking the seat beside her. He looked around at the close-to-empty library before back at her. "I had a feeling I'd find you here."

"And why did you want to -" Hermione started, but she stopped, the dialogue from her dream coming back to her. Draco frowned at her as she bit her lip. "You wanted to find me?"

Draco, still frowning, nodded. "I wanted to talk about the other day in Potions."

Hermione felt a lump form in her throat. She tried to form some sensible words before replying. "Draco, there's really nothing to talk about," she said. "The kiss only happened because you took that potion -"

"I know that," Draco said. He looked straight into her eyes and Hermione felt suddenly very nervous. "I need to know whether you truly like Potter, because he just confronted me in the corridor, and -"

"Why'd he confront you?" Hermione asked suddenly. This had not been in her dream.

"Answer my question, Hermione, do you truly like Potter?" He had a serious kind of look on his face.

Hermione looked down at the table and shook her head. "No," she said, looking up at him. "I don't like him in that way anymore. Why?"

Draco's expression changed to one of blankness as he looked down at her. Hermione felt awkward under his gaze, and yet her heart pace quickened. She absently licked her lips and looked up at Draco, as he slowly lent towards her, a determined look on his face. Hermione swallowed thickly and closed her eyes as his lips came in contact with hers.

The kiss was soft and rather short. His lips rested on hers for a mere five seconds at the most, before he pulled away to look at her face closely, as she opened her eyes. Hermione felt an odd pang in her chest and became unsure as to what to do. She had a strong feeling that she was being watched.

Draco, who was watching her for some type of clue as to how she felt, smiled as she absently licked her lips. She straightened her posture and looked into his eyes. She didn't know what to do or say. It was wrong, yet it felt so good to have his lips on hers again. What was she to do?

Movement to her left caused her to turn her head in that direction, only to see Harry standing there with a painful look on his face. He stared back at Hermione, who felt her heart fall into the pit of her stomach. She looked from Harry to Draco and back again, her thoughts becoming more confused.

Not able to take the tension any longer, she stood up and picked up her book from the table. She looked down at Draco and bit her lip with an apologetic expression on her face. Draco gave a slight sneer and nodded rather reluctantly in reply.

Hermione turned to Harry, who was standing there, still looking mentally hurt. "Harry, I think we need to have a bit of a talk to sort everything out..."

Author Notes: Hope that was OK!!! Bit short, I know and I'm highly sorry for that!!! Please review!!!

Big thanks to my beta-readers Samantha and stephanie - this fic wouldn't be the same without you!! Also a big thank to Orla-Destiny, for bringing me into the world of D/Hr with her fic When Enemies Interact - read it if you haven't already!!! It's brilliant!!! She has also been very kind and puts up my review forums for me!

> Fiery Punk Princess <