Winds of Desire

The Visit

knock, knock, knock


Hermione scrambles from the sitting room to the front door to see Malfoy standing at the other side of the door and opens it. She can't figure out why she is so nervous just to see Malfoy but all she knows is that she is. There stands Draco Malfoy in faded blue jeans and a light blue Henley. It still shocks Hermione to see him wearing anything other than black robes, black pants, and shirt. Hermione can't deny that he looks quite handsome.

"Well, hello Hermione. You look very pretty." He compliments as Hermione stands back to let him through the large doorway into the entryway.

"Hi Malfoy, you look great yourself. By all means, come in!" She tries her best to act confident and normal but it really feels like her insides are leaping around. She wonders if she should have trusted him to just come to one of his worst enemy's house but so far he doesn't seem threatening.

Draco looks briefly around the first floor of the beautiful country home and then sits on the white leather living room couch to gaze into the blazing fireplace across the room, not quite knowing what to say next.

"Where are the Potters today?" He asks curiously, looking around as though Harry would pop out from a room at any moment.

"Ginny is with her mum and Harry at work." Hermione answers, sitting right next to him on Harry and Ginny's couch as well.

Draco can't stop looking at Hermione. She looks so beautiful, he thinks to himself. He gazes at her long eyelashes, chocolate brown eyes, and her slender ivory body. Hermione doesn't notice because she is awkwardly staring out the window at the pasture of corn, wondering what to say next like he is. Then a crying interrupts their silence and Hermione jumps at the sudden sound.

"Oh, James! I've nearly forgotten!" She exclaims, jumping up and running into a room in the back of the house. She is gone for about five minutes as she quickly changes James' diaper with a flick of her wand and throws the soiled diaper away into the rubbish bin.

Soon she returns to where Draco is sitting but this time with a little baby that looks just like Harry but with eyes like Ginny.

"This must be your son?" Draco asks in complete shock, not expecting Hermione to already have a child of her own. He always thought her to be respectable of religion, therefore not having a child until wed.

"Oh no, he isn't mine! This is Harry and Ginny's son and I am babysitting him. That's why you had to come here," explains Hermione. She then puts the tiny babbling human in his infant swing that magically rocks back and forth by itself after Hermione mutters a spell at it and returns to her seat next to Malfoy. 

"A little young to start having children isn't it? I don't want a child until I am at least thirty," comments Draco.

"So why did you want to see me again so soon?" Hermione asks, ignoring his last question smiling. 

Draco's heart skips a beat at that smile, he isn't sure why, he has seen her smile before, but never at him.

"I'm not sure, I just did. I want to get to know you better because all I have ever known is your know-it-all side. Something just made me want to get to know you," explains Draco shrugging.

Hermione nods to acknowledge she understands and gazes briefly at Draco, she has never noticed how his eyes shine like a stormy ocean, or how he smells like spearmint toothpaste.

Draco feels rather awkward as he notices Hermione staring at him and he decides to smile at her, making her blush a deep fuchsia. He looks deep into Hermione's eyes. "Hermione- can I tell you something?"

"Yes." She whispers as though it is hard to breathe. She feels butterflies in her stomach and this is the first time she ever got butterflies for someone other than Ron.

"I think you are beautiful despite you being a mudblood," says Draco quietly.

Hermione felt anger rising but realizes just in time that this is his way of complimenting her, maybe the only way he knows how. "Well th-thank you Draco. I guess if that is a compliment?"

Draco turns red. "Sorry for calling you that. Yes, it was meant to be a compliment."

"Don't worry about it," dismisses Hermione, waving his comment away from her brain.

There is a hushed silence that only little James brakes with his cooing. "But Astoria is way prettier than me, obviously," states Hermione of out nowhere, surprised at herself by letting herself sound insecure.

Draco shakes his head in disagreement. "Not compared to you, you have the whole package."

Then the air feels very thin all of a sudden and before he knows what is happening, Draco leans into Hermione and their lips meet. A minute passes after he tenderly starts to kiss her lips and she pushes him away.

"I can't right now, Malfoy. Not yet," panics Hermione. She can't believe Malfoy of all people just tried snogging her two days after her break-up with Ron!

Hermione's thoughts rush a million per minute as she awkwardly looks out the window and pulls up the straps of her shirt which are now revealing her cleavage very much, which Draco notices. "We mustn't do that in front of the baby and I just ended my relationship two days ago." She realizes how mad that sounds but she is so flustered her brain isn't functioning right.

"James is a baby; I hardly think he will tell anyone," he chuckles. "And your relationship ended with Weasley cheating on you so there's no reason for you to be upset that I kissed you." Draco mentions coolly, disappointed that they have to stop because he was really into it; he stares at her chest not being able to help himself. Hermione rolls her eyes noticing this and crosses her arms over her chest. 

Draco just watches her body language closely in thought. Is she regretting kissing him? Should he try again or will she possibly slap him? Did he make a move on her too fast?

A sound of a door closing echoes throughout the sitting room, causing Hermione and Draco to jump on the far ends of the couch from one another and their minds to clear for a moment.

"Oh damn, Harry's home for lunch-" whispers Hermione and Draco gets up quickly to ask to use the toilet, disappearing from the room.

Harry has no clue about Hermione talking to Draco at all since the war and it would not be the most wonderful thing to Harry since the two of them are still not on friendly terms.

"Hey Hermione, wow you look quite nice. What are you dressing up for?" Harry inquires of her, smiling and sitting in an armchair after dropping his brief case and coat off in the entryway. Hermione just smiles and doesn't answer as she hears Malfoy's footsteps entering the living room again. Just as fast as he smiles, Harry's smile turns into a glare.

This is going to be interesting.

"Malfoy, what the ruddy hell do you think you are doing here?" Harry sneers at Draco and stands to take a step toward him. His hand flies to the wand pocket in his Ministry robes and he points it straight at Draco's chest as soon as he has it out. Draco lunges to grab the wand out of Harry's hands but misses and Harry jumps back and starts to say a spell. 

"He's with me Harry. Please! We have been talking and we are friends now! Ginny gave me permission for him to come over today," beckons Hermione without a breath, stepping in between the two with a hand on their broad chests.

Harry disapproves, Hermione can tell by his face, but he calms down at the fact Draco is here on Hermione's invitation but not on his own terms. "Malfoy, this is odd- thought you were against us completely. What about your mum and daddy? They wouldn't like you being here now would they?"

Draco shakes his head and smirks. "No Potter, I am not against all of you as you can clearly see as I have just been snogging your best friend and talking to her."

Harry's eyes widen and look at Hermione in disbelief as though he really wants to say something, she can see disgust in his eyes and she starts to feel completely humiliated.

Hermione can just feel Harry's thoughts pulsing through her through his anger. It is something probably like: What about Ron, her fiance of a whole year? What about working on her like she said just yesterday? Was Hermione even capable of thinking clearly after so much hurt from Ron? Probably not, and that's probably why she even thought to talk to Malfoy.

Luckily James breaks the tension with crying and Harry goes to greet him and change his diaper again instead of saying what he feels like saying to Hermione, which is not pretty.

Hermione and Draco continue to sit on the couch as Hermione awkwardly tries to keep her distance from Malfoy in front of Harry's watching eyes, making the tension even thicker in the air. But Harry can't help but feel so disgusted and gazes with an angry look at them together. He just can't believe what he just heard, Hermione and Draco... snogging? Friends? They hated each other just two years ago.

"I guess time really does change people," boasts Harry, half way smirking at Draco and Hermione in a mix of disbelief and disgust. 

Draco clears his throat and speaks. "Potter, I have changed in many ways that you could never imagine. The war changed me as it did everyone else, but I was never a bad person. I just did bad things influenced by my family. That's no longer me; I have grown up and learned who I really want to be and I happen to possibly like Granger now. Does that not prove how much I've changed?"

Harry sits down across from them in the armchair with James. "I believe it Malfoy, just don't hurt my best friend or you will pay. That's all I have to say! And you make your own choices in life," he says snidely, looking at Hermione and then glaring back at Malfoy.

Hermione can't believe this is all happening within a couple of days of Ron's and her split. It makes her feel guilty, but why should she feel bad? He cheated on her! She has every right to be with another man after they aren't together anymore, even if it is Ron's worst enemy, which kind of makes it more enjoyable to be honest.

After Harry leaves for work again when his lunch break was over, James is being entertained on the floor with his magic broomstick toy, so Draco and Hermione can have some more time to talk. Hermione looks to Draco with questionable eyes. "Why would you like me Draco? Aren't you afraid of what your family would think?"

"No, I am not at all because I don't care about the whole "blood-traitors" or "muggleborns" prejudice anymore. That judgment of mine died with Voldemort," states Draco, looking seriously at Hermione.

"Good, I like you better that way!" Hermione says seriously.

"Blimey, I hope so-" breathes Draco as he grins.

Draco then starts to describe how he felt when he watched Voldemort or a fellow Death Eater kill or hurt someone he knew, or anyone for that matter. How much pain he felt when he saw their lifeless, crying faces after they were killed, or a person in so much pain they couldn't even speak but looked to him as they begged for help.

"I never belonged as a Death Eater Hermione, I was just so afraid that I would be killed or disowned by my family if I left. There is no going back once you join, they made me join," said Draco, shaking his head in horror at the past.

"Well that was the past Draco, this is the present. None of us ever thought you had it in you to kill, and we appreciate you for that. We know your father and how harsh he can be," Hermione says, taking Malfoy's hand.

Hermione decides to talk about her side of the war and all the pain that they felt too, and how she can sort of forgive Draco, but not the rest of his side. She tells him every detail about how she found out about Ron and how much hurt Ron has caused her. And they both ended up laughing about happier things in the end of the conversation. Draco discovers that he loves Hermione's laughter and smile.

After things go silent again, Draco has to think. Did this really just happen? Did he have a whole conversation with Hermione Granger without insulting her?

Astoria never would have sat here and listen to him like Hermione just did. She would always come up with some reason to stop talking about his problems by turning the conversation about her.

It is time for Draco to leave and Hermione doesn't want to see him go, she likes talking to Draco. It is nice talking to a guy without fighting about something like she used to do with Ron at the end of their relationship. She used to talk to Harry like this but since he married Ginny he hasn't been quite there to talk to Hermione much anymore. Ginny is the girl he talks to now, which honestly saddens Hermione since he is like a brother to her. 

Draco hugs Hermione tightly and she hugs him back and kisses him on the cheek. He says his fare wells and he goes to leave and Hermione waves him off on the wooden front porch, he then apparates home, leaving her alone with baby James once again.

After he is gone for good, Hermione walks into the living room in a daze and lies on the couch next to where James is still lying on his back playing with his baby toys. Did Draco Malfoy and I just share this intense talking session and I kissed him too? My enemy? What am I doing?

Does she like Draco Malfoy?