Red Roses and Silver Rings

Chapter Seventeen - I Knew You Did

Draco blinks awake. His body feeling stiff from the horrible position he had fallen asleep in. He was internally groaning at the back pain he knew was going to be fighting off for the next couple of weeks.

Rubbing his eyes he looks at the clock on the wall. Trying his best to make sense of what the analog clock blinks.

3:40am

He rolls his eyes at the stupid time. Wishing he could have a normal sleep schedule. He looks down and almost jumps when he sees his lap full of curly hair. Strawberry scented curly hair. A smell he was certainly used to by now.

He takes a deep breath and runs his hand through her hair. Admiring the beauty of it. He drops the curl when he realised he found it beautiful, his back straightening up. It meant the he found her beautiful. The muggleborn he hated for years was now beautiful to him, so unbelievably beautiful he had to look away from her at times. It was like she had blinding beauty.

He sits in the dark what feels like hours with his hand running through her hair. It smelt divine. It felt divine. All of it. This was new to him. He had never looked at a girls head of hair before and thought it had looked divine. But ever since they had been assigned a dorm, everything had changed.

He falters and freezes when she shuffles. A soft noise leaving her mouth and going straight to his chest. He watches as she slowly moves her head around, looking at her surroundings. He holds his breath when she finally looks at him. Her eyes scanning his face as they stare at each other, Dracos heart pounding.

"I- I must have fallen asleep."

The wind seemed to have picked up since they fell asleep. Hermione almost screams when the wind slams one of her windows. She begins to shake in his arms. He slowly brings his arms around her shoulders and brings her up to his chest.

"It's okay. It's just the wind." He speaks softly. Brushing his hands through her hair again.

"S-sorry, I just don't like the wind. Bad memories." She tells him, unsure of where to put her head.

"Do you want to go to bed?" He whispers.

She thinks for a moment, her body still in thought. Then she nods. He takes her hand and brings them up together, making sure she doesn't fall. He places a hand on her back and begins to guide her to her room. It was hard in the dark but he had subconsciously memorised the dorm.

He whispers Lumos in the air and all of her candles alight as well as her lamps. It was the first time he really paid attention to what she did to the room and who she really was. The calmness and the warmth of the room was something Draco wasn't prepared for.

There was such a drastic difference in their living ways. His room didn't feel like a room, it was just a place he stayed when he needed rest and quiet. Whereas Hermione's room felt calm and lived in. And the best part was, Draco liked it.

When he came down to look at her again, she was sat on her bed, her eyes beginning to droop.

"You need to put on pyjamas, Granger. You can't go to sleep like that." He bends down and tells her. Looking right into her eyes. He notices the brown flecks in them.

"I can do whatever I want." She whines.

Draco laughs at her. "So you're saying you would like to sleep in you jeans?"

"Mhm." Her eyes close properly and she falls back onto the bed.

He doesn't chase her up on it, knowing how tired she is. He just sighs and pulls her cover open. Trying to coax her to lay in her bed. Laughing when she tries to fight with him when he picks her up. Placing her in the bed, he tucks her in carefully, making sure her hair is out of her face and that the cover is warming her up properly. He stands back up and looks to her, smiling softly and subconsciously.

"Draco?" She murmurs, he responds with a simple hum. "I have a question."

"And what is that?" He smiles as he tucks some hair behind her ear.

"Do- do you regret what happened the other night?" She whispers, as if even though she was in her sleepy state, she was embarrassed.

It's like his breath left his chest and flew away out of the window. He doesn't reply for a couple of seconds. Thrown off guard at her ask. He still hadn't processed what had happened that night. He sees one of her eyes open and internally shrinks. He doesn't know what to say. His heart sinks when she sighs and closes her eyes.

"I knew you did."

He stood and stared at for her a couple of minutes. Trying to decipher what to say. He knew he liked it. The amount of times since that took place that he had gotten a hard-on because he couldn't stop thinking about it. Yesterday he needed to go back to his dorm from class because he needed a moment. His heart going cold when she turns her back from him.

These are all new feelings for him. Two months ago he hated Hermione Grangers guts. He didn't care whether she lived or died but it's different now. He cares. Before he heads off back to his room. He decides to cover up her whole body with the duvet, really making sure she that she is warm.

He strokes her hair and feels when his heart stumbles over her little snores. "Of course I don't regret it."