One Person Two Many

One Person Two Many

Chapter Six

Hermione stood facing the door of the small supply closet that they'd agreed to meet in. As soon as he had made sure the door was closed and locked, Draco launched himself towards Hermione, and she happily wrapped her arms around him. After a few anxious minutes of passionate kissing, Hermione drew back from him slightly, and he could see that she had a worried expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked.

"I think Harry's starting to suspect something's going on," she said.

"With me?" he asked.

"No, I don't think that he'd ever believe that I am seeing someone else, but I do think he knows that it's not just schoolwork that's been distracting me lately - he just can't figure out what else it could be."

Draco snorted. "Gryffindors," he stated. "Always so naive."

Hermione glared at him. "Oh, well if that's how you feel..."

He looked at her, shocked. "No, not at all, well, maybe about Potter and the Weasel, but not about you." She still didn't look satisfied, so he said, "Anyway, why are we talking about those two? We have another few minutes together, then we won't be seeing each other until tomorrow night."

This brought a smile to Hermione's face. "Mmm, tomorrow night," she said.

Draco smiled. "Are you looking forward to it then?" he asked.

Hermione looked thoughtful. "There are two ways to answer that," she said, "this is my favorite way." And with that she held Draco so tight that he couldn't move as she traced kisses all up and down his face, finally landing on his lips, where their tongues fought a brief battle.

A distant bell rang. "Damn it," she said. "We'd better go."

Draco nodded, in shock from the passion behind the kiss she'd just given him. She smiled. "See you tomorrow night." With that, she turned and left.

*******

Getting away from the Gryffindor common room was always something that Hermione knew was going to be difficult. She had originally planned to stay up late, under the pretext of studying, until the common room was empty, then she would be free to leave. It was a tactic that she, Harry and Ron had used many times before. This time, she knew as soon as she came back from dinner that it would not work. There were simply too many people around, and someone had managed to smuggle a keg of butterbeer into the common room. How they had managed this, she could not be bothered to figure out, she was much too intent on planning her escape to meet Draco. Finally, she had to admit that she had only one option. She walked over to Harry and Ron, who were playing chess, and said, "I'll just be off to the library for awhile now."

They stopped their game, stared at each other, then at her.

"Hermione," Harry said, "I don't know if you realise this, but it's Saturday night. That means it's time to take a break from studying."

She shook her head. "I have too much work to do, Harry."

He just turned back to his game, pointedly ignoring her.

She turned and started to walk towards the portrait door.

"Uh, Hermione?" Ron called. "Aren't you going to need your books?"

She stopped dead. Shit, she thought. Pretending Ron hadn't spoken, she grabbed her bag from the table that she'd dumped it on earlier and left the common room.

As soon as the door had closed behind her, she started running. Down seven floors, she took the turning that led her to the secret entrance of the Slytherin rooms. Panting heavily, she knocked on his door.

It swung open. "Hermione?" he said, surprised to see her earlier than they had agreed to meet, but opening the door and letting her in. "What are you doing here?"

"I had to sneak out when I could," she replied, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him hello.

Draco shrugged. "Oh well, now we can start our little anniversary celebrations early," he paused, thinking. "Wait here for me until I come back. I won't be long."

He swept out of his room without further explanation. Hermione sat down on his bed, cross-legged, and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, savoring the scent that was always in the air of Draco's room. After all the time she had spent in here, she was still unable to put her finger on what the smell was; as soon as she thought she'd narrowed it down, it seemed to change. For once in her life, not being able to figure something out, even something as trivial as this, didn't worry her. She was far too relaxed here for it to bother her; this room had become her second home over the last two weeks.

The door creaked open, and Draco poked his head in. "This way," he said, reaching for her hand and pulling her gently off the bed.

She let him lead her out of the dungeons, and out into the silent main hallway. They walked up the many flights of stairs, some seeming to creak more than others, until she found herself at the top of the Astronomy Tower. For once, it was deserted. She turned to Draco, "How did you-"

He put a finger on her lips, "Shh."

She looked around. Behind a low balustrade that divided the Astronomy Tower into two sections a basket of food had been laid, which lay open next to the blanket that was spread out on the floor. Around the blanket lay dozens of flowers, all sparkling and changing color every few seconds. Her mouth literally dropped open. It was all so simple, so kind, and yet she was unbelievably touched.

Draco took in her expression, and guided her to sit down next to him on the blanket, where he made a show of pouring her a butterbeer into a glass and handing it to her with a flourish. She took the glass from him, and clinked it with his, still unsure of what to say to him.

They sat for a while, not speaking, just leaning against each other, as they drank butterbeer side-by-side and gazed out over the forest. Hermione finished her last sip of butterbeer and put down the glass next to the basket of food, then turned to Draco. He put down his glass with a scrape just as she gently pushed him backwards and lent over his body, kissing him gently. There was a thud as she knocked her foot against the floor, leaning over him. Draco's arms came up and encircled her neck, pulling her closer. Hermione heard a low gurgling sound, as if someone was being choked. Worried that Draco was suffocating slightly, but not wanting to complain, she eased off him a little, and looked down at him.

"Why'd ya stop for?" he asked, still slightly intoxicated by her.

Hermione shook her head. "No reason," she said.

"Are you ok?" Draco asked, sitting up, lifting a finger and placing it on her furrowed brow, smoothing out the creases.

Hermione stared at him for a moment before answering. She had a knot in her stomach, as though something wasn't right. She pushed away the thought of it-she didn't want to be consumed by guilt, not when they had the whole night ahead of them. "I'm fine."

"Good," replied Draco, lying back down.

Hermione smiled wryly, and decided to take the hint. She wrapped her arms around him, comfortably nestling herself to the curves of his body as she kissed him passionately.

There was a loud thud that this time Hermione knew hadn't come from her or Draco. Detaching herself from Draco, she sat up, looking dead ahead. Draco was gazing up at her, thinking about how it felt when she kissed him, when he saw her face drain of all visible color. He sat up, and saw what she did.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK ARE YOU DOING, HERMIONE?"