On Storm Tossed Seas

In a matching tone of voice, she answered him. "Draco, I understand, completely. I feel the same. I'm terrified of what I am feeling." She shifted a bit and looked up at him, waiting until his gray eyes were looking into her amber ones. "I know I'm falling in love with you. I think I started to fall in love with you when I slapped you back in our third year. Now I am terrified of what this will do, to you, to me, to our friends." She broke her eye contact with him as she thought about Harry and Ron. They would never understand this. She still didn't understand this. After a month, she still couldn't grapple with how she went from hating to loving this wizard.

Draco captured Hermione's chin with his hand as she looked away and gently forced her to look back into his eyes. "I will do my best to make this easy for you. I can't promise to become friends with Potter and Weasley, but I will try to at least be civil."

She gave a slow nod and then reached up a hand to cup his cheek. "That's all I ask."

He nodded and then swallowed, preparing to speak again. "Hermione, I guess--I've been--" He abruptly stood and began to pace a bit under the swaying branches of the tree. He stopped and turned to look down at her, reaching a hand out to her. She reached up and gripped it, allowing him to pull her up. He cupped her cheek with his hand and gazed for a long time into her eyes again.

The voice screamed at him as he searched her eyes. This witch in front of him was exactly what he needed. This witch in front of him could be his entrance to a normal life. He could get out of the world of darkness that surrounded him on all sides. She could be the ray of light that would lead him. If his father didn't kill her. He pushed the thought away. No, he wouldn't allow his father to touch her. The Malfoy in him scoffed at that thought. Like he could do anything to prevent his father's actions. Yet the annoying voice insisted that she was the key. The key to what it wouldn't say. Taking a deep breath he finally gave into the voice in complete abandonment.

"Hermione, will you be my girlfriend?" His eyes darted briefly away from hers as he spoke. He couldn't make sense of why he was so unbelievably nervous, but he was. He reconnected his eyes with hers and suddenly realized what he'd asked. Before she could speak he stopped her.

"Hermione, wait. Before you answer that, I must make sure you understand the full impact of what I'm asking." He awaited her hesitant nod. "If your answer is no, fine. If you answer yes," here he swallowed hard, "you could be in danger. You are what I have been taught to think of and call a Mudblood. My father hates Muggles and Muggle-born. He will despise you. When word gets to him, and it will, I don't know what his reaction will be. He could laugh it off, or he could seek to harm you. It wouldn't be fair of me to put you into that type of harm without you being fully aware."

She swallowed nervously and kept her eyes locked onto his as he spoke. A huge part of her wanted this in an unbelievable way, but another part of her, the logical part, took the words he spoke and argued that getting involved with Draco would be the most unwise decision of her young life. She tore her gaze from his and stepped back a bit, turning to look out across the lake. She could feel his eyes still on her as she stood. Her thoughts chased each other in her mind as she thought of all the good and bad that could result from this. With a final swallow, she turned and looked back at him.

"Yes."

A smile grew on Draco's face as she answered him. He quickly covered the distance between them, wrapping his arms around her.

"I will protect you. I don't know how, but I will," he spoke and then lowered his lips to brush gently against hers. Her arms came up around his neck and she increased the pressure of her lips on his. A groan of pain escaped his throat and he stumbled, falling back against the tree.

"Draco! What is it?" Her brow furrowed.

He reached his hands up to hold his head, squeezing his eyes shut, and slumped to the ground. "I-I don't know."

"Is it the same pain, as in the library?" Hermione questioned, kneeling by his side, her hand brushing his hair back.

He took a deep breath, trying to bite back the pain as it slowly ebbed. He gave a nod, and opened his eyes looking up into Hermione's.

She studied his face and thought back to the other two times he had collapsed in pain. Her eyes widened as she made connections. She maneuvered herself into a sitting position, carefully placing Draco's head in her lap. She looked away from his face and quietly asked her question.

"Draco, have you kissed other girls?"

His brow furrowed a bit as she spoke and he answered her in a manner just as quiet. "Yes. Why does that matter, right now?"

She kept her eyes focused on the distance. "It was just a thought. Never mind." She choked back a small sob, silently reprimanding herself. Why did it matter that he'd kissed others? She should have guessed that, at the very least, he'd kissed Pansy what with the way she hung all over him.

"Hermione." He pushed himself into a sitting position and gripped her face, gently turning it to once again face him. "Yes, I have kissed others, but--Hermione, I never fell in love with any of them. Now, what are you thinking?"

She reached up a hand and took his hand from her face, bringing it down to hold between both of hers. "Like I said, never mind. It was a silly idea."

"Hermione, I know I've made fun of you relentlessly in the past, but I always knew that you never had a silly idea. Now, tell me."

She swallowed a bit and looked carefully at him. "Well, I just was thinking. When was the first time you felt this pain?"

"Last week, in the library."

"You are sure that was the very first time you ever felt that pain?"

"Positive."

"Okay. And you experienced this pain how many times including the times in the library?"

"Three."

"And each of these times, Draco, what were you doing?"

His eyes widened the slightest bit as he whispered, "I was kissing you."

She whispered back, "Exactly."

"But, what does that have to do with anything?"

"Draco, I don't know. But, maybe we--we shouldn't kiss until we find out?"

After a moment of hesitation, he gave a small nod. "Yeah, okay. I suppose you're probably right. So, now what?"

"Well, we will have to see if we can't figure this out. But, Draco," she turned to face him, "we will both have to completely honest with each other if we are to do this." She waited for his nod. "Good. Well, let's go and do some research." She moved to stand, but Draco gripped her arm and pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her.

"The research can wait. Right now, I want to be with you." He gave a smile and brushed his fingers into her hair. She gave him a nod and wrapped her arms around him, leaning her head against his shoulder. His arms tightened about her, the feeling of them divine. A light sigh escaped her.

"Now what? I mean, do we announce to the school that we are together, or," she hesitated, "keep it secret? I don't want to cause you difficulties with your housemates, or your father."

He looked down at her, furrowing his brow. "I'm not sure. Personally, I would rather not keep it a secret. I could care less about what my housemates think. I'm a Malfoy, I can do whatever the hell I want. And, I'd prefer to not think about my father's reaction, just yet. Though I don't expect his reaction to be," he searched for a word, "pleasant."

She nodded and pulled from Draco's arms before standing up and breaking a long whip-like branch from the willow tree. Absently she plucked the small leaves from it.

"When you say that your father may seek to harm me," she turned to look down into his eyes, "you don't think he'd kill me, do you?" As much as she tried she couldn't keep the tremble out of her voice.

Draco pushed himself up from the ground and pulled her into a hug. He stood silently, breathing deeply of her scent. Would his father try to kill her? He could. More likely he'd go after her family first, simply to bring her to ruin. The torture of knowing that she'd been the cause of her family's death would serve his father's demented sense of joy in a sickly twisted way. He couldn't tell that to Hermione, though. Knowing that was a possibility would most likely sap all her joy from her.

With all the conviction he could muster, he spoke in a quiet voice. "No. I don't think he'd go that far. He might attempt to perform a curse on you, but, kill you? I don't think so."

Hermione looked up at him as she spoke. She sensed that hesitation in his answer, but pushed it away. After all, she reasoned, Harry's had Voldemort after him since his birth. And he was still alive. Lucius Malfoy, though dangerous, was not as powerful as Voldemort. She would survive.

~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~

"Where have you been all afternoon, Hermione?" Ron asked as she entered the common room that evening. "We haven't seen you since lunch."

"Oh, I was in the library."

"No, you weren't. We checked," Ron admonished, as his knight moved across the board to confound Harry's next move.

"Well, let me finish. I was in the library, and then I went to the lake."

Harry carefully watched her face. "You're leaving something out. What's going on, Herm?"

She gave a shake of her head. "Nothing. You two have fun playing your game. I'm gonna head upstairs and--do some stuff." She made her way to the steps, but was stopped by a hand gripping her arm.

Harry spoke in a quiet voice. "Herm, you've been avoiding this since you got out of the infirmary. You can't tell me you have any homework to do, because I know you've finished it. We don't have any exams coming up that you need to study for at this moment. Now is the time to talk."

Her eyes slid closed as he spoke and she gave a quiet sigh. "I know." She turned and walked over to a couch in the corner, sinking into it as Harry and Ron each took a seat on either side of her.

"Herm, what's going on with Malfoy?"

She looked over at Harry and gave a short laugh. "No warming up to it? Just tell you, right off the top?"

"I figured it was the best idea."

"Herm, look, I promise to keep my cool, okay?" Ron said, giving her arm a squeeze.

She looked over at him and gave a curt nod. "I hope you'll say the same after what I tell you, Ron. I know how you are about--about Draco."

"Well, then, we're waiting," he replied.

Hermione took a deep breath and looked across the room as the two boys shared a look and then focused on her.

"Okay, it's like this. At the beginning of the year, I was mortified when Sinistra paired me with Draco, you remember that. Well, I don't exactly know when it happened, but I began to not find him so annoying."

Ron snorted a laugh. "Malfoy, not annoying?"

Hermione leveled a glare at him. "Do you want me to tell you or shall I head up to my room?"

"Herm, please, continue," Harry encouraged, giving Ron a look.

"No more interruptions. This is hard enough as it is." She looked at both boys and waited for their nods before continuing. "Well, as I said, he's not as annoying as I thought. That night I borrowed your Cloak, Harry, Draco found me in the library. He'd come in there to look for more info about the ship as well. We decided to help each other, and found that book I told you about. We were looking through it, when we heard Mrs. Norris." She paused a took a deep breath, steeling herself to tell him the next part.

"I threw the Cloak around me without thinking. Draco ended up under the cloak with me and we managed to escape from Filch." She looked over at Draco, her eyes pleading. "I'm so sorry. He knows you have an Invisibility Cloak. He swears he won't say a word to anyone."

Harry looked at her for a moment and then turned his gaze to look at the fire across the room. "Go on."

She took another deep breath and continued. "Well, we fought, and I left to come back here. I was at the portrait when I pulled out the Map again and noticed that Draco hadn't gone to his room. He was in a classroom. For some reason, I went to the room. We talked, he made a comment, I slapped him and then left. That's when I stepped through the false step.

"When I awoke in the infirmary, I remembered I had left your Cloak in the classroom. I got up to go and get it, but Draco was there. He had brought it back. We talked a little that night before he left. Then we had another fight, I suppose you could call it. That's when we were given the navigation assignment.

"You guys remember that star necklace I had gotten for my birthday?" The boys both said they did. "The night that Draco--cursed--you, Ron I think that he was about to tell me that he got it for me, when, well, when you two showed up. And then, well you guys know what happened. I ignored him pretty much after that. Until the night I went to the library last week with the Cloak again.

"He showed up and well, I kissed him."

Ron bolted from the couch and turned to face her, his face deep red. "You what?" he bellowed. "Hermione! No wonder you're acting so strange. He must have hexed you or--" Harry grabbed him and forced him to sit.

"Ron! We promised to hear her out. Now, sit down and shut up!" He waited for Ron to give a nod and then sat back down. "Herm, please, continue."

She gave Harry a grateful smile and picked up her monologue. "We talked that night; for a long time. Most of the night, actually. We talked some more today and he asked me to be his girlfriend." She stopped talking, leaned back against the couch and waited.

Harry was the first to break the silence. "Herm, did you say girlfriend?"

She gave a nod.

"And what did you tell him?"

"I said yes," she whispered.

"Well, that proves it, then!" Ron rose his voice. "Come on Harry, let's go take care of that prat this second. He's obviously done something to Hermione." He was already halfway to the door as he finished speaking, Hermione right behind him. She grabbed his arm.

"Ron! He did nothing to me. I want to be with him."

Ron stared at her in disbelief. "You what?"

Hermione stood as tall as possible and looked Ron in the eye. "I want to be with him."

Ron shook his head in disbelief, glared at Hermione, and left the common room. Hermione turned to look at Harry. He was standing by the couch. Hermione slowly walked back over to him.

"Harry?"

"Hermione, if this is what you want, I can't say anything. I'm gonna go practice for Quidditch." Harry stepped around her and left. Hermione stood alone, staring at the fire.

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

Ron stalked down the corridor, fuming. Draco Malfoy was up to something and Ron fully intended to find out what. Without thought, he pulled his wand from his robe pocket and was gripping it with white knuckles. Of all the insufferable prats, why was Malfoy the one Hermione was with. Heck, if she'd chosen Bletchley or even Flint, but no, she chose Malfoy. He turned a corner and tromped down the stairs on his way to the dungeons. He had one hour before curfew. One hour in which he could cause severe bodily harm to the prat.

"Ron?"

He halted at the sound of his name and turned, a smile lighting up his face, though his death grip on his wand remained unchanged. His could feel his face heat up and tried to hide his blush.

"Hannah, hello. Um, how, what are you doing out here?"

She hid a smile as his face turned red, though she found his nervousness quite endearing. Glancing at this hand, she noticed his grip on his wand and drew her brows together.

"I'm heading to the library to check out a book I need. Ron? Why are you holding your wand so tightly?"

His gaze flickered to his wand and he forced himself to loosen his grip on it.

"Um, oh, I don't really know. I just, I was--" he stammered. What was he going to do again? Oh yeah, he was going to go and hex Malfoy. But, if he continued on that plan, he'd have to leave Hannah. He forced a cheerful smile.

"You were what, Ron?" Hannah looked thoroughly confused by now.

"Nothing. I was doing nothing. You want me to walk you to the library?"

She studied him for a moment and then smiled as he held out his arm. Taking it she grinned and the two began to walk to the library. "What have you been up to, oh and how is Hermione?"

"She's doing well, I suppose." He faltered, not wanting to ruin the unexpected encounter with Hannah. They reached the library and he held open the door for her, ushering her in.

"You suppose? Don't you know?" She led him to the back of the library and began to hunt for the book she needed.

Leaning against a bookcase, he crossed his arms and studied the floor for a moment. "She's decided to date Malfoy."

Hannah paused in her search to look over at Ron. "What's so wrong with that? I know he's a Slytherin, but really, is he that bad?"

Ron looked up at her, his eyes clearly showing that he thought her nuts for suggesting that Malfoy wasn't as bad as all that. He shook his head. "You just don't know him very well. He's complete evil. And Hermione, I can't believe she's falling for him!"

Ron glared at Hannah when she had the audacity to laugh. At him. He pushed off from the bookshelf and began to stalk off when her hand touched his arm.

"Ron, I'm sorry. This is obviously upsetting you. But, you know Hermione really well, right?" She waited for his nod before continuing. "Would Hermione knowingly do something that unwise?"

Ron ran a hand through his hair and shook his head after a moment. "No. I trust her judgment, but, Malfoy? I still can't understand. Hannah, he's caused nothing but problems for Harry, Hermione and I since first year. How could she suddenly be falling for him?"

"Didn't you tell me that she was partnered with him for sailing class and for the navigator position? Maybe she saw something in him when he wasn't trying to impress others." Smiling lightly, she took his hand into hers and cupped her other hand over his cheek. "Sort of like how I saw past your red-hair and fiery temper once I spent some time with you."

He could feel his ears turning red at Hannah's words and pulled her into a hug so she couldn't watch his face follow the example of his ears. "Yeah, okay. Point made. But I still don't trust Malfoy." Hannah simply smiled and melted into Ron's embrace.