Silver and Gold (A Dramione Fanfic)

Chapter 22

   Draco was in what one could call a tight situation.

   Heaving a great sigh, he looked at Blaise in careful consideration.

   "I think you need to take a break, Draco." said Blaise, looking as though he were on the brink of losing his temper.

   "A break from what?" He asked. They were currently in the back of the library, where Blaise had asked to meet. Of course, Draco had declined, but Blaise hadn't taken no for an answer. He had ended up petrifying Draco and levitating him to the library. Draco had been cursing a blue streak inside his head the whole way, and it was when Blaise muttered the countercurse that he made his thoughts heard.

   "The mudblood-" Blaise paused as Draco grimaced at the slur- "has been around you way too long. You need to get away from her."

   "I thought we agreed," Draco growled, "that blood-status meant didn't mean anything anymore?"

   "Come off it, Draco, you know I only said that to get Daphne off our backs." Blaise replied.

   "I was under the impression that you meant it."

   "What, and you did?" Blaise asked in disbelief. His brows grew together in a scowl. "You can't be serious."

   "I can and I am, Blaise." Draco replied solemnly, thinking of Hermione.

   "You- but- what?" Blaise stuttered, "You're a pureblood, for Merlin's sake!"

   "And?" Draco asked insolently, picking at a nonexistent spot on his robes.

   "And? And?" Blaise looked entirely flabbergasted.

   "If I had wanted everything I said repeated back to me, Blaise, I would have gotten a parrot. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late to class." He said, and with that, he stood and strode from the library.

   He only just caught Blaise's stunned, "Who are you and what have you done with the real Draco Malfoy?"

   He grinned and left the library.

   He wandered the corridors for a bit, then finally started towards the dungeon for potions. He checked his watch- the one Hermione had given to him- to find that he was already ten minutes late. He quickened his pace, not wanting to be any later.

   Then he stopped.

   Merlin, he thought. Hermione's rubbing off on me.

   So he continued, at a slower pace than before.

   When he finally did reach the classroom, he paused outside the door to look inside. Hermione sat at a cauldron near the front, biting her lip and looking worried. She was twisting a piece of hair that had escaped her bun as she read a page of her textbook, and only when he pushed open the door did she look up.

   Her golden brown eyes met his, and she gave him a look of immense relief. Draco was suddenly struck with how pretty she looked. Her cheeks were slightly pink, and with the low lighting and fumes from the brewing potions floating around her, she looked almost ethereal. Her eyelashes were thick and dark, caressing her cheeks each time she blinked.

   "Mr. Malfoy?" Slughorn's voice snapped him out of his reverie. He looked away from Hermione and to the walrus-like man standing mere feet from him. He only then noticed he was still standing in the doorway.

   "Yes... sir?" He added, catching Slughorn's eye.

   "You do realize you're nearly a quarter hour late?" Slughorn asked in a slightly sharp voice.

   "Well, it's pretty evident that I'm not on time, isn't it?" He shot back.

   "Ten points from Slytherin." Slughorn said coldly, "Sit down, Mr. Malfoy."

   He slowly pushed off the doorframe and loped over to his seat beside Hermione. She looked at him with annoyance as he dropped into the chair. He almost laughed.

   "Where were you?" She hissed as Slughorn turned away.

   "Hunting kelpies." He replied dryly, sarcasm dripping. She didn't appreciate his wit.

   "I was worried!" She whisper-shouted, though she sounded a little defensive. "I thought you might have been attacked. It's not like in second year. Purebloods are in danger too."

   "Don't worry. I'm rather good at magic, if you remember."

   "But you-"

   "Drop it, Hermione." He warned her.

   To his surprise, she let the topic rest. Rolling her eyes, she chose a knew topic. "I finished the potion already, so we've got a bit of a free period."

   "Did I miss anything important?" He asked, hoping she wouldn't snap at him.

   Once again to his surprise, she answered genuinely- if a little frostily. "Just a quick lecture about our N.E.W.T's."

   Right. N.E.W.T's. He hadn't thought of them since... sixth year.

   He shrugged. "That would not fall under my list of 'important.'"

   She rolled her eyes again. "Of course not." With that, she slapped her textbook closed and pulled a notebook out from under it. He watched as she flipped to the back page, which he saw was full of notes.

   "Studying?" He asked, though he knew these were no Arithmancy notes.

   "Something like that." She said, proceeding to pull out her quill and scribble something else on the paper.

   He leaned closer to examine her notes. They contained every single bit of information known on the Silver Snake. They were hardly half a page long.

   He caught a whiff of her perfume- lavender and vanilla mixed with the smell of new parchment- and took a deep breath. They were slightly closer than was necessary, and Draco was getting distracted.

   Not that he was doing any work.

   Win some, lose some.

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Hey!

Bit of a wait on this chappie. Sorry about that.

So, I was listening to 'If You Could Be Anywhere' by Tom Felton while I was writing this, and I was so tempted to use a reference... But no. No one would get it anyway. A lot of Tom Felton fans don't really like his music. (me: how dare you?!) This greatly saddens me.

His music is indie, so I don't know if you guys will like it or not, but I suggest you take a listen. It's really good.

Anyway, my birthday (read: day of false hope that I might finally get a laptop) is coming up soon, so I'll be kinda busy, but I'll try to get another chapter up as soon as possible.

Hugs and butterfly kisses,

Your Kk

(If you caught that reference I will love you forever.)