Time Spent In Eternal Endings

Bad Dreams and Bedsheets

Hermione had made her rounds through the school to talk to the professors about her absence. She just had to go see Professor Slughorn as her last stop. The castle was cold, unlike her dorm. It felt like she'd been away for so long. Almost like it was a break, except there was no vacation, or memories she could look back on and laugh about. The only thing "warm" about her "vacation," if you would, was being in the company of another person who didn't make her feel utterly incapable.

Draco came to her under the impression that she was sick and still he stood in her presence willingly and gave her everything she needed. And when he found out about McLaggen he didn't pry any further than what she gave him, but she would've given him everything had he asked. She didn't know what Draco was to her, but he was more than heavy breathing tangled in between sheets. Draco's touch was warm in a way that reminded her of home; something she had long lost and wanted to forget. Hermione didn't want to forget him though. She wanted her mind and body to be enveloped in him in every way possible.

Hermione walked into Slughorn's class. Slughorn was in the middle of looking through some sort of dusty old journal. He quickly closed the journal and set it in his drawer. She thought his panicked pace was odd, but he was also an odd man.

"Hermione! To what do I owe the pleasure?" He folded his hands and leaned on his desk as he smiled welcomingly.

"I just wanted to inform you that I'll be resuming my schedule in school starting tomorrow. I completed the work for class as well." She fumbled with the papers in her hands slightly because of the thought of why she was absent in the first place. She placed them on his desk neatly.

"Brilliant. Glad to hear it! No worries though Hermione, you're still top of the class." He sent her a congratulating wink.

Hermione turned to walk out of the classroom as their discussion seemed to come to an end.

"Although, I must say you might want to watch out for your competition."

Hermione turned back around to see him glancing through some papers. Competition? Who else could be beating her to the top of the class in potions?

"Competition?" She tilted her head in curiosity.

He looked up from his work. "We both know Draco's one of our finest students here don't we?" Slughorn chuckled to himself and started working on grading papers.

"Of course. I don't know how he slipped my mind." Hermione smiled with tight lips and made her way out of the classroom and towards Pansy's dorm.

It clearly slipped her mind because Draco was "struggling" with his potions work. There's no way he could be ranked high along with her in that class and be struggling with something so simple as veritaserum ingredients. Hermione smiled down at her shoes as she walked through the halls.

That clever bloke.

He had just wanted to spend more time around her it seemed. The thought brought a smile to her face that she tried to conceal as she walked through the halls.

Hermione reached Pansy's door and suddenly she was nervous to knock. Pansy had tried to see her during everything, but Pansy had left with no reply from Hermione. She was probably worried sick. Hermione lifted her hand to knock, but before her hand reached the wood the door swung open.

"Oh, Hermione!" Pansy sighed and pulled Hermione into a tight embrace. Hermione stood with her hands by her side from shock for a second and then wrapped her hands around Pansy. Pansy loosened her death grip and took Hermione's shoulders to look at her. Pansy's eyes were furrowed in worry.

"Come on." Pansy nudged her head to the inside of her room and they walked in.

Hermione told her everything. Well, everything except for how long Draco stayed. She knew she could tell Pansy anything, but she didn't want to make a spectacle of it. Hermione felt like it was something intimate that was just for her and Draco to know and no one else. It was her happening anyway, so it was nobody else's story to tell but her own.