After several more days of feeding Buckbeak, exam week arrived swiftly.
Draco Malfoy strolled leisurely into the Arithmancy classroom, which still stood empty.
These days, students busy with revision often rushed in at the very last moment.
Perhaps only he and Hermione still made a point of arriving early to prepare.
He glanced round the empty desks, an uncommon look of mischief crossing his lips. He turned and sat down in the seat beside his usual one.
He set his pocket watch on the desk before him, counting off the hands on its face, waiting quietly for that particular moment to arrive.
Thump! The brown-haired girl appeared out of nowhere, landing suddenly in his lap, in his arms.
She seemed startled and bewildered by the whole business, and instinctively flung her arms round his neck.
Then, she turned and said, disbelieving, "Draco!"
"Mm." He smiled and wrapped his arms about her, with no intention whatsoever of letting go.
"What are you doing? Have I sat in the wrong seat?" Hermione was thoroughly astonished, her lips parted in confusion.
"No, I sat in the wrong seat," Draco said, raising his eyelids slightly, holding her contentedly.
She smells lovely.
"We never sit in the wrong seats, Draco! It has been you on the left and me on the right, for a whole year now..." Hermione said, frowning.
"I did it on purpose," he said casually.
"Why?" she asked, her eyes wide.
A smug gleam flashed in Draco's grey eyes. "To give you a fright, Hermione, of course."
"What do you mean?" Hermione snapped out of her daze. "You mean to say you went to all that trouble, sitting to my left in every lesson for an entire year, simply to give me a fright on the very last day of term?"
"Yes... I have wanted to do this for a whole year, just to see that look of surprise on your face right now." He said, suppressing a laugh, and held her tightly, as though she were some lost treasure recovered at last. "...It was entirely worth it."
He watched Hermione's cheeks begin to colour.
"Draco Malfoy! You are utterly ridiculous!" she said sharply.
"Yes," he said, quite solemnly, still suppressing a laugh.
"Wait!" Hermione managed to gather her wits somewhat, amid her pounding heart. "When did you find out about the Time-Turner?"
"Rather... a good while ago," Draco said, quietly toying with a strand of her hair.
"You really are ridiculous!" Hermione said, both embarrassed and cross, batting his hand away. "Have you been especially pleased with yourself, pretending to know nothing all this while, watching me carefully guard my secret?"
"I did not want to add to your burdens." His expression was the very picture of innocence.
"You looked so tired then, never getting enough sleep, always carrying a great stack of books about... whenever I wanted to raise the subject with you, you were like a startled rabbit... or a cat with its claws out, ready to scratch someone at any moment... I could only choose to keep quiet about it."
And now, rabbit or cat, she was in his arms, with nowhere left to run, Draco thought happily. Her bright eyes sparkled as she looked at him, catching the warmth of the afternoon sun.
The noise outside the classroom was growing steadily louder.
Draco knew that, before too long, professors and students alike would be walking in to find them in precisely this position.
"Draco, let me go," she whispered, glancing nervously towards the door.
"No." He held her firmly, stubbornly. "Not until you tell me what that kiss was really about."
He had been thoroughly preoccupied with the matter, but however many times he asked her, she kept a perfectly straight face and refused to answer.
She kept dodging the subject. He had no other choice left but this rather drastic measure.
There were only a few days left before the holidays. He could not let this misunderstanding drag on through the whole of the break.
"It really was nothing," she said hastily, not wishing to dwell on the kiss that had left such a bitter taste behind.
"Very well, then you may simply sit here like this," he said casually, drawing her closer still.
Hermione was on the verge of losing her mind entirely.
This position was rather suggestive! She was completely wrapped in his embrace, sitting in his very lap!
His face was so close to hers, his mesmerising grey eyes fixed upon her, and he coaxed that heart-pounding admission about the kiss out of her with remarkably little effort.
That wicked boy, he had gone much too far!
It was his own carelessness that had always caused her to misunderstand things in the first place!
"You are always like this, you always make people..." she muttered softly, unable to finish.
"What?" He leant closer to her, trying to catch her words more clearly.
"Please," Hermione said, her voice trembling, feeling her heart race all over again.
His nearness only made her feel more flustered still; she felt rather like some bewildered insect caught in a Venus flytrap, unsure whether to struggle free or simply stay put.
She stopped complaining, and merely pushed gently at his lapel, hoping he would release her from this intoxicatingly tender hold. "I..."
"Tell me. At the very least, let me know what I have done. I do not want things left unclear, causing any more misunderstanding." He looked at her seriously, his brow slightly furrowed, his tone resolute.
"All right." She was quite disarmed by his rather melancholy expression, and found herself saying, almost without meaning to, "That morning, the morning you missed all your classes, I ran into you in the corridor. You had just come out of the Headmaster's office... and then... and then... you kissed my forehead."
She looked away, her voice growing softer and softer.
"Oh." His expression shifted from surprise to understanding, and his ears slowly reddened. "I... it seems there really was something of the sort. I... I thought I was dreaming... I had been up all night and was rather dazed... I never thought it was real... how could you possibly have been in a place like that, at that hour..."
I see.
Hermione suddenly understood.
Harry had mentioned that they had destroyed some Dark artefact in the Headmaster's office that very day; up on the Astronomy Tower, he had gone on to confess to her that it had been one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
That business had taken up so much of his energy; he had not forgotten it deliberately, nor had he been teasing her.
He had simply been utterly exhausted.
"I am sorry. I should never have forgotten something so important. I... I thought I was dreaming... I... I truly am sorry." Draco stammered, his ears burning red as he pressed a hand to his forehead.
Merlin, this is really rather dreadful.
He certainly deserved that punch; he had had it coming.
How could he possibly have failed to tell reality from illusion, in a moment like that?
How could he have simply assumed, out of habit, that every moment shared with her was nothing more than a dream or a fancy?
"All right, I am done talking about it," she said softly. Hearing some noise at the door, her face grew flustered by degrees. "Let me go. I have decided I shall not be angry with you any more."
He released her almost involuntarily, startled to realise he truly had kissed her forehead that morning.
She blushed and hopped down from his lap, hurriedly settling into his usual seat, pretending great interest in a lark preening its feathers outside the window.
Students trickled into the classroom in twos and threes, looking exhausted, grumbling about the heavy workload.
Amid the general noise, Hermione recovered some of her composure and decided to change the subject in a casual tone. "Draco, I have decided to give back the Time-Turner."
"Really?" He flushed slightly, his eyes fixed intently on her.
"You were quite right, there is no such thing as perfection in this world. I used to be such a perfectionist, wanting to do everything flawlessly; but now, I am willing to admit I am not perfect, that I am simply a mortal with limited time and energy. I have made my choice. I have decided to spend what limited time I have on the things that matter most."
Hermione gazed at him, a happy smile on her lips.
Draco, he was doing something extraordinary, and she was willing to help him do it.
"Do not rush yourself, take it slowly." He assumed she was still thinking of her lessons, and gently reassured her, "One step at a time, and one day you will finish the path you wish to walk."
"You too." She sat in the increasingly noisy classroom, watching him intently.
His expression turned rather grave. He knew she meant something else entirely... destroying the Dark Lord and his Horcruxes could not be rushed, nor accomplished overnight.
He knew she was right.
And, besides, he no longer had to carry all this unbearable weight alone, as he once had.
He had friends now, allies, and her.
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