Don't Act Like You Know Me

Year 3 - Thunder and Lightning

Hermione hesitated. "Hermione?" Draco asked again.

"I thought you'd never ask," Hermione said after the silence.

"Granger, you can't do that to me!" Draco wrapped Hermione in his arms.

"Sorry," she laughed as her cheek was pressed up against his broad chest. 

"I thought you were going to say no for a second."

"What reason would I have to say no?" Draco released Hermione and took her by the waist instead. He laid a kiss on her lips. Hermione kissed him back, sweetly.

"I don't know," Draco said with a dopey grin on his face before kissing her hand and opening the door for her. She curtsied and laughed before exiting. Now, that was a good first kiss, she thougt to herself. If only that had been my first kiss. She had thought about telling Draco about her unplanned kiss with Ronald, but she figured it would only upset him further. She went back to her sleeping bag. Her and Draco's sleeping bags were placed in a way that the top of their heads would be adjacent to each other. Hermione came back in smiling.

"Alright, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Alright. You?" Hermione asked back.

"Fine. I'm just a little-"

"Nervous. I know. Don't worry," Hermione put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Hogwarts will protect you," Hermione gave him a gentle smile before crawling into her sleeping bag. Not too much later, Draco got into his. He gave her a wink as he did. Hermione could feel the hairs on her scalp stand up as they briefly touched his. A couple minutes later, Hermione felt a gentle kiss from Draco on the top of her head. She smiled as she looked to Harry and Ron, both asleep on either side of her in their own sleeping bags. She heard footsteps and quickly shut her eyes. 

"I've done the dungeons, Headmaster. No sign of Black. Nor anywhere else in the castle," Snape's iconic sneered voice said.

"I didn't really expect him to linger," the hushed voice of Dumbledore said.

"Remarkable feat, don't you think? To enter Hogwarts castle on one's own, completely undetected." Snape paused. "You may recall, prior to the start of term, I did express my concerns when you appointed Professor-"

"I do not believe a single Professor inside this castle would have helped Sirius Black enter it, Severus." Dumbledore paused. "I feel quite confident the castle is safe and I'm more than willing to let the students return to their Houses, but tomorrow. For now, let them sleep. It's astonishing what the body can endure when the mind allows itself to rest," Dumbledore said, standing over Harry. He was probably awake. Dumbledore always knows.

When Hermione woke up in the morning, Draco was already up and about. His sleeping bag was still on the floor, but it was empty. Hermione wriggled out of hers and made her way to the Gryffindor common room. She met Ron, Harry, Dean, Neville, and Seamus on the stairs. In the place of the Fat Lady's torn painting was a new one. A picture of a painted knight stood proud and tall with silver armor. "What villains are these that trespass upon my private lands?" the painting chirped. The painting was that of Sir Cadogan, a rather senile looking knight. "Who dares challenge Sit Cadogan? Back, you scurvy braggarts! You rogues!" Sir Cadogan waved his sword recklessly in the painting. 

"He's barking mad," Seamus rolled his eyes.

"What do you expect?" Dean said. "After what happened to the Fat Lady, none of the other pictures would take the job."

"But he keeps changing the password," Neville said. "Twice just this morning! I've taken to keeping a list." Neville held up a piece of parchment to Hermione's face with a lot of silly words written on it. Hermione looked at the latest one.