CHAPTER 15: HERMIONE'S HEART LEARNS TO TAP-DANCE

He thought she would push him away, punch him, or maybe even hex him to next Sunday, but no, she kissed him back, just as passionately, just as tenderly, like she'd been waiting for this as long as he had wanted to kiss her.

Her arms circled his neck, pulling him closer. Her eyes fluttered close, her fingers teased the hair at the back of his head as she stood on tip toes to reach the curve of his lip as he smiled into the kiss.

He put his arms around her waist, pulling her closer, so close that her scent, fresh oranges and fiery cinnamon, filled his nose and overpowered his senses. She gasped suddenly, and pulled away, staring at him with her brilliant gold eyes like she couldn't believe what she was doing, before groaning and cursing under her breath as she threw caution to the wind and pulled him close once more, deepening their kiss.

Her left arm was around his neck, right hand in his hair, tussling it up. His hands were running through her beautiful locks, he himself was savouring every moment he was with her.

Hermione didn't know how long she'd been kissing her once arch-nemesis for and neither did she really care. His lips were addictive and the moment she stopped to breathe, he'd started trailing kisses along her jaw and down her neck, leaving her gasping for air.

They broke apart suddenly, breathing heavily and staring at each other in shock, only a breath apart. Hermione's face flushed bright red as her heart beat loudly in her chest and her body craved more, she hid her face in her hair, not wanting him to see her so flustered, but he tilted her face up to his and stared at her for a long time; the storm grey of his eyes meeting the warmth of her brown, cupping her face in his palms, holding her tenderly, like she was a porcelain doll.

"What the hell are you doing to me?"

She almost didn't hear his words, her ears ringing with the beating of her heart, but when he kissed her lips again, softly this time, lovingly, like he was afraid of breaking her, she blushed and snuggled her head into his chest in embarrassment, hugging him around his waist.

"What the hell are we doing, Draco?" she whispered, listening as his heart began to match the rhythm of her own, a symphony of sounds to her ears as he hugged her back, placing his chin atop her head and he laughed quietly at the absurdity of this situation.

"I have no idea, and I don't care."

And they were still standing there, just holding onto each other, neither brave enough to look each other in the eyes, when a cough interrupted the silence and they both jumped apart, like they'd been struck by lightning and stared sheepishly at the smirking face of Narcissa Malfoy.

"Well, well, what do we have here then?" she asked, her tone teasing as she stared down at the two before her, both turning varying shades of scarlet as they stared up at her portrait in horror.

"Um...right. Okay. I should...go do that thing now. Yep." Hermione muttered more to herself and she glanced at Draco nervously before biting her bottom lip and running out of the room.

"What do you want Mother?" Draco wanted to sound annoyed, but the smile on his face made his voice come out far more breathless than usual.

For the first time in his life, a kiss had left him gasping. When was the last time that he'd kissed someone and it had left him feeling like an addict? Never, this had never happened before. He scowled at his mother, he'd been about to ask her something very important, but his mother had interrupted them.

Mothers, even when they were dead, they managed to intervene in your love life somehow.

"Well, you can't blame a mother for being curious about her son kissing a very pretty blond girl and wondering where the lovely Miss Granger is." His mother stated, deliberately smiling.

Draco rubbed his forehead in irritation, something bugging him in the back of his mind. Like he was forgetting something.

"Well? Do you have an answer for me?" she prompted.

Draco rolled his eyes, "don't act coy with me mother. This is why I placed you in my office! You know that was Hermione," he rolled his eyes and walked out, thinking furiously about why he was feeling a dreadful feeling in his stomach.

He closed the door just in time to hear his mother calling out, "your father tells you to at least dress appropriately next time, Draco!" Followed by the joint laughter of both his parents.

Draco flushed, but he couldn't help but notice that that had been the first time that he'd heard his parents ever laugh like that. It appeared as though death suited them better than life ever had.

Draco had already forgotten about it, as had Hermione.

Narcissa hadn't even known it was there.

The little brass button that had sat there innocently beeped quietly to itself, and then disappeared, going back to where it belonged, to an eager Rita Skeeter who would inevitably and unknowingly bring about the conclusion to the two-year hunt for Hermione Granger.

.*.

Hermione leaned against to door of the kitchen, her face still warm from the immense embarrassment of being caught kissing Draco. What on earth had she been thinking? Kissing Draco Malfoy?

Sure, he'd kissed her first, but she's kissed him back. She'd definitely kissed him back and made no move to suggest that she wasn't content with what he was doing either. She put a hand to her cheek, not surprised when it came back warm.

The only excuses she could come up with to defend the part of her that totally loved his kisses, were quite weak. Somehow the fact that he was a good kisser didn't make her feel better, though it did make her blush more brightly.

Had it been a mistake? Would he reconsider it, had they just been caught in the moment? But there was no part of her mind that regretted it at all, even kissing Ron back during the war, she'd regretted it, but kissing Draco Malfoy...

Nothing but the rushing of her blood the overbearing thought that she couldn't wait to kiss him again.

Who would have thought? Granger and Malfoy, kissing? Then again, who would have thought she would be wanted for murder? That she would be living with him?

She took a deep breath and composed herself. Wanting to distract herself, she rolled up the sleeves of her and faced the dishes piled high. Apparently, the fact that Draco had tons of china and no house elves, made him think that there was no point in cleaning up, there had to be at least three months' worth of dishes in there.

She turned her blond hair and green eyes back to normal and the tied up her still damp hair into a loose ponytail, casting her cleaning spell again and watching as the dishes began to clean themselves once again. The bubbles were still present in the air; she blew them away from her face, smiling at how carefree she felt at the moment.

She was still staring off into space, thinking about Draco, when she heard two voices right outside the door. Panicking, she quickly turned herself back to the blond and green eyed girl from moments ago, wondering what was going on.

The door crashed open and Draco walked in, looking quite angry. He was followed in by Percy Weasley.

Hermione froze, and tried to not to show recognition on her face. What was Percy Weasley doing here?

Percy stopped when he saw her, and looked smugly at Draco, who just scowled in return. She frowned, what was going on?

Draco wanted to punch the Weasel in the face. He had just begun to walk back to Hermione, when he heard the door being knocked on loudly. Opening it, he'd found himself facing the brightest red hair he'd seen in a while.

"I'm Percy Weasley from the Department of S.T.O.P. I have been given permission to search your house for any unusual things. Move aside."

Percy pushed past Draco and into the house, observing the surroundings. Draco wondered what the man was doing here, only a day after the murder of his brother. Was he that obsessed with his work?

"Who else is here?" Percy asked. Draco shook his head clear of his thoughts and looked the man over and sighed.

Not obsessed with his work, then, just desperate to find someone to blame for the loss he was suffering. "No one else is here, just me." Draco muttered.

Percy raised a tired eyebrow, "oh really? Yet I know there is someone else here, there is a witch present in the kitchen. Please direct me to the kitchens immediately." Percy waited tolerantly.

Draco sighed and walked towards the kitchens, making sure to talk loudly, so that anyone inside could hear. He walked in, just in time to see Hermione's brown hair turn light blond, her eyes were already green. She was clutching her wand in her hand, washing the dishes once again. There were still bubbles in the air and she looked quite startled to see them.

She raised her eyebrows, questioning him non-verbally.

"Um...this is Percy Weasley from the Ministry, he wants to search the house for something or other, don't mind him." Draco frowned at the red-headed man.

She smiled at them both and hopped down from the counter, though Draco saw her smile waver a bit, when she saw Percy. But she got a hold of herself and nodded. "Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Weasley."

Percy glared at Draco and nodded at her. "You said there was no one else here, Mr. Malfoy." Percy stressed.

Draco smirked, "that's because there is no one else here. She is my girlfriend, and I consider her a part of me, and there is only one of me, so there is no one else in the house." He scowled in the general direction of the red-headed Weasel.

His scowl disappeared as soon as he saw the dazzling smile that was gracing Hermione's features, and he for some reason, he felt his heart skip a beat when she smiled. If only the red head wasn't here, he would have kissed her right there.

Hermione couldn't help the dazzling smile that lit up her face; he called her his, told Percy that she was part of him. Oh, she could kiss him right now! Her heart started tap-dancing. She wondered briefly if anyone else could hear it, it was quite loud.

Tap, tap, tappidy- tap.

Great now she was going mental. She smiled again at Draco who tried hard not to smile back in front of someone else, but failed, gave up and gave Hermione a brilliant smile back.

Percy looked between them in sad amusement. He was quite good at reading people. But being around people so in love made him think about poor Ron. Though Percy had never been very close to his younger brother, it was still evident that he was distressed. He watched the girl closely, there was something familiar about her, but after a few seconds, he gave up, too tired to really think.

Draco turned and faced Percy, "go and search the house, if you want, this brat and I have some unfinished business to deal with!" Draco grabbed his wand and causally waved it at her. The next thing she knew, all the water that had dried off during the time that she'd been watching the dishes being washed, had found itself somehow back to her body.

Hermione cried out as the cold water made contact with her skin, she grabbed her wand and made it rain, this time making it thunder as well as rain heavily just on him. She laughed as he grabbed a plate and used it to cover his head as he filled a pot with water and emptied it on top of her head.

Percy watched them for a few more moments, as they emptied contents of water on top of each other, laughing merrily while at it. Water was spilling everywhere. Without so much as a good bye to either of them, Percy Weasley walked out of the Manor and apparated back to the Ministry.

As soon as Percy disappeared, Hermione's hair went back to brown, and her eyes went back to their usual bright hue as well.

"Granger, that was a close call." Draco whispered, stepping close to her as she tried to wring out the water from her hair. Hermione looked up in time to see him standing close enough for her to see the darker specs of grey in his eyes.

"Um...yes." She whispered.

"You're dangerous, huh?" he murmured, leaning in close. Hermione leaned away, her back resting against the counter of the kitchen.

"Um...yes?" she whispered again, she bit her bottom lip and his eyes watched the motion before he leaned in and kissed her again.

The only thing that Hermione could coherently think was that she couldn't get enough of him. His sudden hugs that held her together, the subtly of his scent that lingered whenever he was near her and now his kisses... she was totally addicted.

He held her face so gently while he kissed her; it melted Hermione's heart, which scared her more than the fact that she was already so dependent on him. Her heart was impossible to melt, anyone who'd known her had told her so, but all Draco had to do was trace her cheeks like that, and her knees went completely weak.

"Granger..." He pulled away and narrowed his eye at her, his hands running through her dampened hair. "You're going to catch a cold if you don't dry your hair."

Hermione stared at her hair and noticed that it was starting to curl around the tips. A few strands fell into her eyes and he smiled as he leaned forward to push it away so that he could stare at her deeply. "What a gentleman you are, Mr Malfoy. You care so much for me?" she asked, shivering slightly.

"Ah, the mysteries of the world, Granger. But seriously, you're going to catch a cold." He stated calmly.

Before she could react, he swept her off her feet and held her up bridal style, carrying her easily to her room. "You don't have to carry me, I can walk, you know?" she said, nevertheless wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I know you can walk, that doesn't mean that I can't carry you anyway."

He dropped her off at her room, and gave her a kiss and left her to tidy herself up. She'd called after him that he was such a "gentleman", and he'd called back something along the lines of "I knew you couldn't resist my good looks Granger."

She dried off, changed into dry clothing and feeling suddenly tired, as if all the energy from before had been sucked out from her, she stumbled to her bed and fell asleep.

And it was then that the nightmares began.

She was seated on a small sand hill beach, her bare feet buried in the sand. There was someone standing behind her, but she couldn't turn around. His shadow loomed over her but her body was frozen facing forward. But just as suddenly as she was aware that there was someone behind her, whoever it was disappeared and abruptly, it was Susan Bones sitting next to her.

"I'm glad to see that you're still alive. I thought for sure you'd have done something stupid after I met you last time. And I'm glad to see that Draco knows how to put some sense into your head too!" Susan said, staring out to the sea. Hermione's body released from the frozen spell and she scuttled away from her dead friend in shock.

"Susan? What's going on?" she asked.

Susan sighed and smiled easily at her friend. "Hermione, I probably won't be able to come for another visit. Adrian's already been sealed away, and he is getting far too close to figuring out where you are." Susan said.

"He? You're talking about the psychopath that's blaming all the murders on me?" Hermione butted in.

Susan snorted, "you know, you're taking the fact that I am present in your dreams very calmly."

"Yes well, I've just kissed Draco Malfoy, I think I can believe you coming to visit me in my dreams." She turned to face her friend. "Is there something you can tell me about him that will help me? Anything at all?"

"This kind of magic is really hard to do Hermione, its only because I had a closer connection to you and I was murdered that I can come to you. Adrian wasn't careful enough and got his soul sealed away, which is why he isn't here right now. The others too, I haven't even been able to see Ron, meaning he was sealed almost immediately after he died. And my soul is fading fast too, it's been too long since my death."

Hermione licked her lips, "okay...what can you tell me then?"

"What I meant, Hermione, is that this magic is limited. I can't tell you anything explicit to help you. Only that you know him. He went to school with us, he was in the war, and he's doing this because of who you are. That's all I can say."

Susan smiled one last time as Hermione tried to keep her tears away. "Susan, I'm so sorry. The fact that you are gone...the fact that your soul can't rest in peace..."

"Hermione, none of us blame you. We know it's not really your fault. You didn't kill us." She smiled brightly, "don't worry about anything but your survival. You and Draco, promise me that you'll live."

Hermione nodded.

And then Susan was gone and Hermione fell into deeper sleep.