Legilimens [Dramione]

Intoxicated

He was strangely nervous and excited to see her. She had asked him to go to her house for no apparent reason, and he had literally jumped off the sofa, sprinting to the fireplace with a velocity he didn't thought

himself capable of.

What did she want to talk to him about?

What a stupid question, he told himself as the flames engulfed him.

Obviously they were going to discuss her secret, the news that had been reported in the papers, how to clear Hermione's name and convince the world that no, she was not under the effect of an Imperious curse. Nor was there a romantic relationship of any kind between them...

He only hoped that she had forgotten what she had probably read in his mind the day of the trial, that he found her scent invitingly sweet and her body so small and fragile in his arms.

More importantly, he would have to keep his barriers up.

Hermione didn't have to know that he had done nothing but think about that embrace for the days that followed the trial, stopping only for the occasional arguments with his father.

As soon as his eyes focused on her a disruptive force assaulted his mind before he had the slightest chance to prepare himself.

Hermione raced through his thoughts and memories, quickly glossing over the events of the last few days and pointing directly to those concerning how he had found out about her secret.

He saw himself again that day at her house, when he had peeked through her mail and discovered the letter from that strange doctor. He sensed Hermione's anxiety and nervousness inside his own mind, and the speed with which she dug through his memories threatened to make his skull explode.

She followed the entire thread of his research into Dr. Friedrich and finally arrived at the day of the trial.

She saw what intense meditation he did that morning to prepare himself for her presence, lingering a few seconds on that moment before sprinting forward again, until now.

When she slipped out they both stood still, staring at each other with heavy breaths.

"Sorry," Hermione said in a trembling voice. "It-it wasn't you. But I needed to know."

He kept staring at her as he tried to figure out what had just happened.

She had been reading his mind looking for something specific, but what?

As he caught his breath, with Hermione's hands inviting him to take a seat on the couch, he managed to stammer, "It wasn't me doing what, exactly?"

Hermione took a deep breath, but Draco could see that her hand was still shaking as she grabbed one of the letters on the coffee table and handed it to him.

For a moment he thought it was the letter he himself had sent earlier that evening. However the paper was worn and frayed and it was not his handwriting.

He read it very slowly, not understanding much of what was written.

It was signed by Dr Friedrich, the same doctor he had been prying into for the last few weeks.