One Person Two Many

One Person Two Many

Chapter Two

Hermione floated down the stairs to the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning. She was still on a high from the wonderful night before. As she entered the hall she spotted Harry straight away. He was eating quietly by himself, and she made a beeline towards him.

"Hi," she said leaning towards him for a good morning kiss. "How are you?"

Harry sighed, "I could be better."

Hermione was instantly concerned. "What is it?"

"I have to go and spend my Saturday doing Quidditch tryouts." He paused and looked at Hermione with a slightly embarrassed smile, "I'd rather be with you."

Hermione blushed then said, "Harry, you've always wanted to be Quidditch captain, and like it or lump it, this is a big part of it."

"I know. It's just, well, after last night I, er, just want to spend time with you, that's all."

"Harry, I feel the same way," Hermione said quietly, "you know that. Anyway, I have a lot of homework to catch up on that I didn't do last night."

"Oh well then," Harry got up, "I suppose I'd better get down to the pitch. I'll see you later."

Hermione him watched as he left the hall. Her thoughts drifted back to last night, how wonderful it had been to be really alone with Harry, something that didn't happen often. She was only snapped out of her reverie when a loud thud announced Ron's presence.

"Earth to Hermione? Houston, we have a problem."

Hermione looked at him, "Ron, you really need to get over your fascination with Muggle movies."

Sticking his tongue out at her, Ron turned and helped himself to some porridge.

"Really mature, Ron," she said.

"Aren't you going to eat?" he asked, ignoring her comment.

"What? I, oh." Hermione stuttered, realising she had been sitting at the table for at least ten minutes without so much as a piece of toast in front of her.

Ron laughed through his mouthful of food.

Turning on him to cover her embarrassment, she said, "Aren't you supposed to be at Quidditch tryouts with Harry?"

"What?" he said. "Oh bugger. See you later, Hermione," he called as he ran out of the hall, mouth still full of porridge.

*******

"Homework, always homework, study, assignments, essays, it never ends," Hermione muttered to herself as she wandered through the dungeon complex towards the seventh-years' study room that afternoon. "It just will never ever end for me. Ouch!" she exclaimed as she dropped a large book on her toe. "Well that's what I get for not paying attention," she muttered, picking the book up and leaning against the dungeon wall in a mixture of frustration at herself and exhaustion from her heavy school workload.

Crr-ack!

All of a sudden, she found herself sliding headfirst on her back down a hole that had opened in the wall. Panicking, she covered her face with her hands and screamed. With a muffled sort of thud, she landed on a surprisingly soft surface. Opening her eyes, she glanced around, at what appeared to be a bedroom. She had landed on someone's bed. Confused, she got off the bed and crept over to the door. Just as she was about to open the door, it swung back so hard it rebounded off the wall. In shock for the second time in only a few minutes, Hermione fell to the floor. She was too busy picking herself off the floor to notice that someone had come though the door and then closed it behind them. It was only when she stood up, and faced the door that she realised she was not alone.

"Well, well, well," said a soft voice, faking incredulousness. "Look at what we have here. An itty-bitty Gryffindor all on her lonesome."

Hermione spun around at the sound of Draco's voice. Glancing up onto his face, she gasped at the look of malice she found. She turned quickly again, eager to leave, when she heard him whisper something she couldn't quite pick up. She grabbed the door handle, but alas, it was locked. Starting to feel scared, she looked at Draco.

He smiled, "A little charm I invented. No-one gets in, or out, without my permission."

Hermione backed herself up against the door. Draco had changed a lot over the past year. He used to just be an annoying little git who called her names such as 'mudblood', but these days there were all sorts of rumors about him beating people up because he decided he didn't like the way they looked at him. Seeing his face now left no doubt in Hermione's mind about the truth of the rumors. She was terrified of him.

"What, nothing to say, Granger? That surprises me. I thought you had something to say about everything." He took a step closer, visibly delighted at the look on her face when he saw Hermione cowering against the door.

"Lo-look," she began, "I-I fell through a wall, and ju-just landed here," she stuttered. "I-I'll just..." her voice trailed off.

"Go? No, I don't think so."

Hermione took in a sharp, very audible breath of air.

Draco slowly walked forward.

Hermione looked frantically to her left and right, trying to think of what she could do. There was nowhere to go. She froze, looking straight ahead as Draco slowly, deliberately walked towards her.

He stopped with mere inches separating them. Hermione couldn't bring herself to care about appearing brave. She closed her eyes as he put his hands on the door above her shoulders. She could feel his breath on her.

"Well, little mudblood, it seems we are in a bit of a bind, aren't we?" Draco said tantalizingly.

Hermione was scared out of her tree. She opened her eyes just as she saw Draco leaning in towards her, and a split second later, she felt his warm, soft lips on hers. She was stunned for a second, and then she began to respond to his kiss. Draco dropped his arms from the door and put them around Hermione, holding her close to him as they kissed.

Hermione suddenly realised what she was doing, and violently pushed Draco away. "What are you doing?" she shrieked, frantically wiping her mouth.

Glaring at her, Draco replied, "What was I doing? Don't you mean what were we doing?"

Hermione started shaking, "No, I-I can't have ju-just done tha... wh-what would Har-" she stopped herself, and looked at Draco, who was still glaring at her.

"What would your poor little Harry Potter say if he knew what you had just done? Tut tut Hermione, you should think more about the consequences of your actions. Never mind, I'm willing to forget this ever happened, if-"

"What? Really? I, well," Hermione started.

"If," Draco repeated, "we can agree to a suitable arrangement," he stated calmly.

"A what?" Hermione exploded. "What on earth does that mean?"

Draco didn't answer her immediately; instead, he turned and sat on the edge of his bed. He patted the bed, indicating that he wanted her to sit there, next to him. She just looked at him as if he were insane.

"Oh for God's sake, Granger, I'm not going to bite you," he paused, thinking. "Unless of course you want me to. Hey, hey, I was joking," he added hastily, seeing a look of anger come over her face.

Taken aback by the sudden change in his attitude, Hermione, against her instincts, walked over and sat on the bed next to him.

"So - erm - what arrangement did you have in mind?" Hermione asked cautiously.

To her surprise, she thought Draco looked rather embarrassed, momentarily at least.

"Haven't you even guessed yet, Granger? I like you. A lot. And I want to-"

"Er- Malfoy," Hermione interrupted him, "Surely you can't have missed the fact that I've been with Harry for over a year now."

"No, I've completely missed the fact that you two snog in public places everyday," he said scathingly.

"Are you jealous?" asked Hermione, absolutely stunned.

"Well, to be honest, Granger, yes, I am jealous that you've spent the last year snogging your famous little do-gooder boyfriend."

"How do you know he's lit... whoops," she said, blushing.

Draco raised his eyebrows at her, but let the comment pass.

"Look, Granger, I'm not asking you to marry me. All I want is the chance to see what you're like to," he paused, thinking, "hang out with. Are you going to let me find out?"

Hermione felt a thrill go through her body. She was a logical girl, she had been brought up with morals and she knew right from wrong. She put all of this out of her mind as she answered his question.