“Sugar Quills,” Draco said to the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore’s office. It sprang to life, allowing him to access the revolving staircase. When he reached the doors, he didn’t even knock; he just opened them and walked right in. He stopped dead in his tracks.
“Mr. Malfoy, it is rude not to knock,” Professor McGonagall said. She was sitting in the chair behind Dumbledore’s desk.
“I’m sorry, Professor. Where’s Professor Dumbledore? I need to speak with him.”
“He isn’t here at the moment.”
“Well, do you know when he’s going to be back? It’s really important that I talk to him.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know,” McGonagall said. “Would I be able to offer any help?”
“No,” Draco said. “No, thanks anyway, Professor.”
Draco turned and left the headmaster’s office.
‘Damnit, I hope he gets back with enough time for me to talk to him.’
*~*~*~*~
“So,” Hermione looked up from her Ancient Runes homework. “Do either of you know what potion Draco is making for Slughorn’s class?”
The three of them had been sitting in silence in the Gryffindor common room working on their homework, trying to get as much done before Ron joined Hermione in her patrol that night.
“No idea,” Harry answered distractedly, as he scratched out a few lines of the essay he was working on.
‘I wonder what it is.’
“Maybe he’s making it for you,” Ron spoke, looking over at her.
“What on earth would he be making for me?”
“I dunno,” Ron answered, shrugging. “Just tossing out ideas…it’s what I would have done.” Ron’s face turned slightly red, and he quickly looked back down at his paper.
Hermione frowned slightly. “Ron, I’m-”
Ron shook his head. “Please, don’t say that, Hermione. Just don’t.”
They all sat there in a tense silence. After a few minutes Harry put down his quill.
“Oook, awkward,” he said.
Ron’s face turned an even deeper shade of red, and Hermione grimaced.
“Come on, let’s go,” Harry said, standing up and beckoning them to follow him.
“Where are we going?” Hermione asked.
“We are going to the Room of Requirement. The three of us are really stressed out, and we can’t concentrate anyway. So let’s go, maybe have a Butterbeer, and get some rest.”
Hermione looked down at her paper. She would normally have been finished by now, but all her thoughts kept drifting back to Draco.
‘Harry’s right,’ she thought, rubbing her eyes. ‘We do need to relax for a bit.’
“Yeah, let’s go,” she said, and looked at Ron. “We can begin patrolling from there.”
Ron just nodded, and the three of them left the common room and headed for the Room of Requirement.
*~*~*~*~
After he left the headmaster’s office, Draco had gone down to the Potions classroom to work on his potion. When Slughorn asked about his other classes, he had been able to convince the Potions Master that his other Professors had given him permission to skip, saying that there wasn’t such a demanding assignment in any of his other classes.
Draco leaned over the now light blue contents of his cauldron. He had just added a Dragon claw which he had infused with a Day Dream inducing charm. He was supposed to wait exactly two minutes, then he needed to stir the potion counterclockwise seven times and it was supposed to become transparent.
Draco waited, then stirred after the two minutes had passed, and as expected the potion became clear as glass.
“Well done, Mr. Malfoy,” Slughorn said, coming up behind him and inspecting his potion.
“Thank you, sir,” Draco answered, scanning his potion book for the next step.
“At this rate, you may have it finished tomorrow in class. If I remember correctly, you have one more ingredient to add, then you need to let it simmer for sixteen hours.”
“Yes, sir, and that would allow me to add the last ingredient tomorrow during class.”
“I say,” Slughorn said, beaming. “I’ve never seen anyone work so hard on a potion before, especially one this difficult, and to make up for all the time you’ve lost in one day is remarkable.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“It’s almost nine. I’ll leave you to add that last ingredient, good night, Mr. Malfoy.”
“Good night, sir,” Draco said, and watched the Potions Master pack up his things and leave the classroom.
Draco looked at his watch; it was 8:30 P.M.
‘8:30 P.M.…I could still patrol with Hermione,’ Draco thought, then sighed. ‘She was going to ask Weasley to patrol with her.’
Draco went to the class store of ingredients to get the Lace Wing Flies that was required before he needed to let it simmer.
He walked back over to the potion, and stared at himself reflected on its surface.
‘Maybe I can catch her leaving their common room, and maybe she’ll let me patrol with her.’
“Yeah, I’ll do that,” he said out loud to himself, and he added the flies, and began to stir the potion as his book indicated.
*~*~*~*~
Hermione checked her watch.
“Ron, its 8:45 P.M., we should probably get started patrolling, we can do this floor first,” she said.
They had spent the past few hours laughing and trying to keep the mood as light as possible; the Room of Requirement helping by keeping a steady supply of Butterbeer and little deserts at arms reach.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Ron said, getting up and looking at Harry. “You going back to the common room?”
“Might as well,” Harry said. “No point hanging out here alone, plus, I should really try to focus on those homework assignments.”
Hermione laughed, “Harry, you know that Ginny is not going to be able to let you concentrate.”
Harry winked at her.
“Watch it,” Ron said, in the mock warning tone he used when they talked about Harry and Ginny’s relationship.
They were all chuckling as they exited the Room of Requirement.
“Alright, well, we’ll see you later, Harry,” Hermione said.
“See you,” Harry said, and he headed back to the Gryffindor common room.
Once Harry had rounded the corner, Hermione looked at Ron.
“Let’s go down the corridor, and then we can double back and finish the other floors,” she said, and began walking down the hall.
Ron grabbed her hand.
“Hermione, wait.”
*~*~
Harry, humming a made up tune, turned the corner on the corridor in which the portrait of the Fat Lady hung, and immediately noticed the presence of Draco Malfoy waiting just outside.
“What are you doing?” he asked, as he walked up to him.
“I’m waiting for Hermione to leave on patrol, to see if she’ll let me join her,” Draco answered.
“I thought you told her you couldn’t patrol with her tonight,” Harry said, eyebrows drawing closer together in confusion.
“Well, yeah, I did, but I skipped class to work on the potion and got done with enough time, so I thought I’d come and see if she’d let me patrol.”
“Oh,” Harry said. “Well, she’s already patrolling.”
“But, I’ve been out here for ten minutes, and she hasn’t-”
“We were up at the Room of Requirement, we just left and she was going to start patrolling from there with Ron.”
“Ah, I see,” Draco said, disappointment settling in on him. “Alright, well, bye then, Potter.”
Draco started walking down the hall, intent on heading back to the Slytherin common room.
“Go catch up with them,” Harry called after him.
Draco waved a goodbye in response to Harry without turning back around to look at him.
‘Maybe I should,’ Draco thought. ‘Nah, it was uncomfortable just talking to her earlier, I’m not in the mood for that again.’
But as he was about to go through the hidden passage that lead to the Dungeons, he changed course and headed towards the Room of Requirement.
*~*~
Hermione looked inquisitively at Ron.
“Hermione, I need to tell you something, and I need to do it before I lose my nerve.”
Hermione just stood there looking at Ron. Ron swallowed and his face turned slightly red, but he looked determined.
“I know how you said you feel about Draco,”
‘Oh God,’ Hermione thought.
“And what with you kissing him…but-”
“Ron, I don’t think-”
Ron shook his head. “Let me say this.”
Hermione was uncomfortably aware that Ron was still holding her hand.
“No matter…no matter how hard I try,” Ron said. “I still don’t understand why you like him. And I still don’t understand how even though I’m the nice guy, you still don’t even look my way.”
“Ron,” Hermione didn’t know what she should say.
“Will you let me have just one chance?” he blurted out suddenly. “Just one, Hermione, you, you said you kissed him and he told you to leave, that has to mean something.”
Hermione just stood staring open mouthed at him.
“Hermione, just one chance for me to prove…I just think you deserve better, and I want a chance to see if that means me.”
Now she was acutely aware that they were still holding hands. She could feel Ron’s trembling slightly, and she was in such shock with Ron’s bluntness, that she couldn’t even move her hand.
“Ron, I can’t,” she said in a whisper.
Ron let go of her hand, and he gave her a nod.
“Ron, please don’t…look I just don’t want to hurt you anymore than I already have, and if I said yes, I know that’s what I would wind up doing.”
Ron nodded.
“Yeah, ok…I get it…I just needed to say it.”
Hermione didn’t know what to do. The silence was driving her crazy. She looked down the hall behind her and froze.
“Draco.”
At hearing her whisper, Ron turned.
“Is, everything alright?” Draco asked tentatively; the tension in this hallway smacked him in the face the moment Hermione and Ron had come into sight.
“Ha, perfect,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m gunna go, Hermione. Malfoy, you finish patrolling with her, she doesn’t want me.”
“Ron, no,” she said, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.
Ron just shook his head, and walked away.
Hermione just stood there. Draco looked at her, and slowly walked over to her. He stopped two feet from her. She had her hands drawn up to her face, as if shielding it. He reached out his hand towards her shoulder, but drew it back. He glanced around nervously; he wasn’t sure how to handle this.
“Hermione,” he said slowly.
She breathed in deeply, put her hands down, and looked at him.
“You don’t have to patrol,” he said quietly. “I’ll finish up; you don’t have to go with me.”
Hermione took another deep breath. “No, I’ll patrol. I can’t let you do it alone, it’s my job too.”
Draco nodded, and they began walking down the hall; tears were still there on verge of falling down Hermione’s face, but she fought to control them. Draco was nervously messing with a hang nail on his left thumb. Hermione broke the silence.
“Why did you tell me to leave?”
Draco stopped and looked at her.
“What?”
“In the Hospital Wing, when I…why did you tell me to leave?”
Draco hesitated.
“Please, tell me, I need to know…it’s important.”
“I had to.”
“Why?”
‘It’s now or never,’ he thought. ‘I can’t keep causing her so much pain. She deserves more…she deserves better.’
“Hermione, you aren’t safe with me, and I can’t let anything happen to you…I have to protect you.”
“But…that’s so…stupid,” Hermione said, stuttering on each word as she fought to keep herself from crying. “I don’t know why you have to…I love you. I want to be with you…” Her words ended as she lost her battle, and the tears began to slide down her cheeks.
Draco’s heart felt like it was being ripped from his chest as he looked into her eyes. He reached out and pulled Hermione into his arms, where she buried her face in his chest and cried.
“I’m sorry,” Draco said. “It has to be this way.”
Hermione cried harder, wrapping her arms around him. Draco held her closer.
“I’m sorry,” he said, again, when he felt her crying slow down.
Hermione looked up at him; he was still holding her in his arms. Draco brought his right hand up to gently cup the left side of her face. He wiped away a few of her tears with his thumb. Then, without thinking, he leaned down and returned the kiss she had given him in the Hospital Wing.
“I love you,” he said, fighting the voice in his head that was telling him he was making a big mistake. “But, it has to be this way…I want you to have better than me.”
He kissed her one more time, and then Draco Malfoy walked away.
Your Eyes: The Beginning by GryffindorsHeir
Chapter Notes: announcement: this story is only part one of a three part series. so as soon as i can get these last few chapters to you guys, i will be continuing.