Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Through Her ❯ What Happens Now? ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: Well, last time I checked I still didn't own HP... I could be wrong, but that doesn't happen very often...

Chapter 6: What Happens Now?

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Hermione had spent the remainder of her Hogsmeade visit in the bookstore reading, trying to clear her mind. By the time she arrived back at Hogwarts, most of the students were already back. She made her way up to the Gryffindor common room, whispering the password to the Fat Lady, walking in and spotting who she was looking for.

"Ginny!" she called, rushing over to her and dragging her over to the stairs to their dormitory.

"Nice to see you too, aren't in any rush now, are you?" Ginny asked sarcastically.

"I just need to talk to you, and yes, it's a bit important, no more questions `til we're in my room." Hermione said quickly, as they reached the top of the stairs.

"Alright, but I'll expect some answers," Ginny told her, as she let herself be dragged down the hall to Hermione's room.

Once inside, Hermione shut and locked the door and made sure Lavender and Parvati weren't there.

"Okay, best friend to best friend and girl to girl, this goes nowhere outside this room," Hermione told her seriously, looking her straight in the eye.

"Ooh, I love these kinds of secrets!" Ginny squealed, "Are you going to tell Harry and Ron?"

"NO! They can't know, this stays between us, I'll tell them when I think the time is right," she told her.

"Okay, enough of this, spill!" Ginny prompted.

"Alright," Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "When I was upset with Ron today, I needed to go for a walk and I didn't really realize where I was going, but I ended up at the Shrieking Shack, and I guess Malfoy had followed me, and we talked for a little while and... and...andthenhekissedme..." She finished in one breath, saying the last five words together and almost inaudibly.

Her eyes were still shut, but hearing no response, she slowly opened them to see Ginny looking at her with her mouth hanging open and a shocked expression on her face.

"Ginny... please say something?" she said with a pleading look in her eyes.

"You..." Ginny stuttered, "Malfoy..." She tried again, "did you say kissed?!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah," Hermione said, looking down, her cheeks starting to blush.

"Oh... my... gosh! Tell me everything!" Ginny squealed again.

"Well, there's just something different about him, and we had real conversation, and he asked me something that I guess he liked to answer to because he walked closer to me and then he just... kissed me, I didn't really know what to do!" Hermione tried to explain.

"Did you kiss him back?" She asked.

"I guess so, I mean, I didn't really know what was going on; it was so unexpected that I fell into it, but I stopped it to, and I left, I don't know what to do!" Hermione confessed.

"I always thought you liked my brother, but Malfoy?" Ginny asked, confused.

"I did, I mean, do, like Ron, well, I don't know, this is all happening so fast that I don't even know what's going on!" she said frantically.

"Calm down, Hermione, it's going to be okay, have you ever even talked to him before today?" Ginny asked.

"Well, yeah, once," Hermione proceeded to tell her about the night she saw him stumble into the empty classroom.

"Maybe he really does want to get to know you," Ginny suggested.

"But it's Malfoy, Ginny, the Malfoy! What am I supposed to do?" Hermione pleaded.

"Maybe you should just stay away from him for a few days, if he's just going to complicate things, then it'll be better that way," Ginny said.

"Yes, you're right, I'll just do that, no problem, I hardly see him anyways," she agreed.

"Let's go back downstairs, you should probably go talk to Ron," Ginny suggested.

"Right," she said, taking a deep breath before they left the room and headed back to the common room, "Where were they when I came in, anyways?"

"Oh, they were out practicing, Quidditch try-outs are coming up soon and they both want to be in shape, even though they're already on the team, they still want to practice before tryouts," Ginny informed her.

When they reached the common room, they found that Ron and Harry were engrossed in a game of Wizard's Chess, and that, unsurprisingly, Ron was winning. After Ron's queen crushed Harry's king, Hermione straightened things out with Ron and everything went well for the rest of the night. After a while, everyone retired to their rooms.

When Hermione reached her bed to climb in and go to sleep, she found a letter sitting on her pillow. She figured an owl had flown in the open window and left it for her. She opened it up and read it in case it was important.

G-

Please meet me in the Astronomy Tower at 12:00 tonight, I'd like to talk to you.

Hermione's heart was racing; M couldn't possibly stand for Malfoy! She didn't know what to do, she was supposed to be staying away from him, but she couldn't just ignore his letter and make him wait up in the Astronomy Tower for her to not show up. She sighed, it was a quarter to twelve. Throwing on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with her cloak, she left the dormitory. She quietly made her way up to the Tower, watching out for teachers.

She stood in front of the door leading to it for a few minutes, still debating what she wanted to do. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and found that Malfoy was already there waiting. He was sitting on a ledge looking out onto the grounds.

"You came," he said, turning his head. He looked mildly surprised.

"I wasn't just going to ignore your letter," She answered.

"I guess you're not the type to do that, huh?" he said, hopping off the ledge and walking closer to her. "Well, I just wanted to talk to you, about earlier," he said, looking at her for any sign of reaction. He noticed her cheeks turn a bit red and she looked away, "I don't want you to feel uncomfortable talking to me about it," he turned her chin so she was facing him.

"I don't really know what to say, Malfoy, what happened?" she said, looking him in the eye.

"We kissed," he said simply, his lips curling up into a smirk.

"Yes, I know, but what kind of kiss was it?" she asked.

"I don't know," he started, "But I do know that I'd like to find out."

"What do you mean? What are we supposed to do from here?" Hermione said, her eyes burning into his, searching for answers.

"I don't know," he smirked again, "But that's the beauty of it. Look, Granger, I'd really like to get to know you, and I'd really like to hang out with you some time, just to talk. There's just something about you that makes me want to be around you. What do you say?" he was close enough to her that he grabbed her hand gently with his.

With him so close to her, she felt it was harder to think straight. 'Say no, Hermione, it's not going to work, you can't let this happen' was what her voice of reason was telling her, but there was another voice that was saying 'Oh come on, he just wants to talk!' That voice was winning.

"Well, I guess we could hang out, just to talk. I guess I'd like to get to know you too, but I don't want anything serious, just friends, it's going to be hard enough just trying to be that," she said.

"I'll take what I can get," he said, "So where do you suppose we get together without drawing attention, since I'm sure you haven't told your body guards, and for our safety, I haven't told my friends?"

"I suppose you're right, there. And I think I know a good place," she said, a thought popping into her head.

"Where and when and I'll see you there," he said.

"The Room of Requirements, 8:00 tomorrow night." she said. He knew where she was talking about because he had figured it out during fifth year when he got inside information on the DA.

"I'll see you tomorrow night then," he smiled, lifting her hand to his lips and giving it a light kiss. With that, he swept out of the room, waving goodbye over his shoulder at the door.

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Damnit! she thought, What have I gotten myself into! She really hadn't expected it to go like that, she was going to come up here to tell him that they could just forget about the kiss, since she figured that's what he would want, but his reaction had been the opposite of what she expected, and she had found herself unable to say no, she wanted to resist, but she couldn't. She stayed up there for a while longer before heading back to her dorm. She had a restless sleep that night, nervous with anticipation of what the next night would hold.

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Ha! Nicely done, self! Draco congratulated himself, smirking all the way back to the dungeons. From here on out it was going to be cake, he would just work his charm and all would be set. Draco's sleep was peaceful that night, he was finally getting somewhere with Granger. She even had a personality, she was someone he could talk to, this would be no problem at all. He was excited, tomorrow he would see her again, that thought made him smile in his sleep, his mind telling him it was because he had made a breakthrough on his task, but the little reoccurring voice was telling him 'It's because you want to see her, because you want to be with her.' But once again, that voice was shoved to the back of his mind and disregarded.

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A/N: Hey again! Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing so far, it puts me in a good mood, and good moods make me write faster ;)! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, let me know what you think:)

Jenny