Stillness

Chapter 18

The sounds of the others stirring woke her up a few hours later. She sighed, burying her face into Draco's chest. She could tell he was awake, his breathing was too controlled and his grip on the back of her shirt was tight. The air around them lit up and Draco spun around, glaring at Pansy who held a camera.

"Never thought I'd see the day Draco actually spent the night with a conquest. I had to document it." She said simply, tossing him a vial.

He sat up, Hermione pulling herself up beside him. Draco rolled the hangover cure between his hands as Pansy handed one to Hermione. She felt fine but she uncorked it and drank it to avoid meeting Draco's eye. Draco tossed his vial to Ginny as she sat up from the other couch, Harry groaning and feeling around on the floor for his glasses. Ron was staring at her and it was only then that she remembered she was wearing Draco's clothes.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Ron asked.

"Looks good on her, doesn't it." Draco said, leaning back with a smirk.

"Can you two hold off on the house rivalry until I've had some coffee?" Ginny asked, tiredly.

"Wow, he actually branded you." Blaise said, his eyes running down her.

"What?" Hermione asked, her hand flying up to her neck.

"He's talking about your clothes, Granger." Draco said with a soft chuckle.

"Right." She mumbled, feeling her cheeks burn.

Draco pulled her against his side, rubbing a lazy circle against her shoulder.

"Relax, people will think we did something." He whispered to her.

She looked up at him, meeting his eye for the first time and smiled. She let her head fall against his shoulder.

"Can I go back to bed?" Hermione groaned.

"Of course, let's go." Draco said, nudging her.

"My own bed. Alone." She said and he pouted at her.

"You're no fun." He grumbled.

The Gryffindor's gathered their stuff and said their goodbyes. Blaise and Draco lingering with Parvati and Hermione before they made their way back to their own common room. She knew Ginny was watching her but Hermione refused to look at her. She watched the ground as they walked through the halls, her mind on Draco. The morning replayed through her mind, Draco's soft voice and gentle touch, how concerned he had been afterwards, the fact that he had thought to give her a change of clothes. The way his eyes glowed when he was watching her the night before, after the fire whiskey settled in and his guard fell away. 'If I can help it nothing's ever going to hurt you again'. Her stomach flipped as she remembered how he had kissed the top of her head while holding her against him. She loved..

She stopped in her tracks, her heart skipping a beat. No. She couldn't do that. Under no circumstances could she allow herself to even entertain that thought. Yes, he was handsome, smart, snarky. He could keep up with her, in wit and grades. He pushed every single button she had and she actually enjoyed it. She could like him but she absolutely could not love him.

"Hermione, are you ok?" Ginny asked.

"I just thought I forgot something." She muttered as she started walking again.

Draco was good with people, his emotions sometimes took control and his guard dropped but he could sweet talk anyone. He knew how to turn on his charm, flash his smile, and shove the proper emotion into his eyes and get whatever he wanted, his hand down Hermione's pants included. He had been trained from birth to charm people, how could she believe anything he said? Hermione shook her head to clear the thoughts from her mind.