PROMPT: Landfill by Daughter

"Yes." A breathy sigh escaped the bed of Hermione Granger.

She could only see the blonde locks of the stranger who lay beside her under the covers, nothing else. Not that she needed to see anything else, she had already explored every inch of his body...

The sun shone through the curtains of her four-poster bed, hitting her closed eyelids. With a moan of annoyance, Hermione opened her eyes. She didn't want to be wrenched from her dream but daybreak was fast approaching.

Turning on her side, she attempted to close her eyes and slip back into the sweet solitude of her steamy dream. The sun felt unforgivably hot on her neck and no matter how hard Hermione tried, she couldn't slip back into the comfort of the strangers arms.

"Damn," Hermione mumbled under her breath, "I didn't even get to see his face."

She was fifteen, and spent every waking minute in Hogwarts being painfully overshadowed by her best friend Harry Potter. Even though Hermione loved Harry to bits, it was hard to live in the shadow of the Boy-Who-Lived, especially when people believed there was a secret relationship between them two. Hermione was in a castle full of potential suitors, but none of them dared to talk to her in fear of the famous Harry Potter's wrath.

Night after night, she was being tortured with the same dream. It seemed that every night she would get a little further along, a little closer to knowing who her mysterious lover was. Morning after morning, the unforgiving sun shone down on her as if it disapproved of her sub conscious thoughts. It woke her up, always a second too early.

"Hermione?" Ron called from the bottom of the stairs. She was currently situated on her bed, half in her robes, lost in thought about this mysterious boy. "Harry and I want to go to breakfast. You coming?"
"Yeah, one second." She called out, hastily pulling her left arm into the cold robe. Taking a quick peak in the mirror, she descended the stairs of the Gryffindor girls dormitory.

It only ever took Hermione five minutes to get ready. Quite honestly it could take less, as three of those minutes were spent in bed and one of those minutes was spent looking for a set of clean robes. She was never one to get hung up on her appearance. not like the other witches in their year. Pansy was known to take at least half an hour slathering makeup on her face. Hermione didn't understand makeup, why would one work so hard putting it on in the morning if only to take it off the very same night?

"You're a little slow today Hermione." The familiar deep voice of Ron Weasly greeted her as she reached the bottom.

"Actually, you boys are early." She said, motioning to the clock that hung on the wall of the common room. "Precisely two minutes early."

"Okay Herm, whatever you say." Harry drawled, a grin pulling at the corner of his lips. His eyes followed a red-headed girl laughing amongst her friends, oblivious to the green eyes watching her.

"Now Harry," Hermione spoke sharply, bringing Harry's attention back to the two people standing in front of him, "You know I don't like it when you call me 'Herm'."

"Sorry H," Harry said, "Let's go to breakfast."

"I don't call you Herm." Ron piped up, his eyes gazing longingly at the witch standing in front of him. But his words were lost in the sudden movement of Harry, who had jerked in the direction of Ginny Weasly and her friends.

"We should go eat." Harry nudged them, his eyes following the girl as she exited the common room.

Once entering the Great Hall, Harry seemed to forget his infatuation with Ginny. Instead, he was staring with the same expression at the pastries piled high in front of him.

"Gross dude, you look at pastries the same way you look at my sister."
"Hey, I can't help it. They both look delicious."
Harry ducked in a feeble attempt to avoid the swinging hand of Ron. As the two boys quarreled, Hermione looked around at the sea of witches and wizards seated in the Great Hall. She wasn't exactly sure who she was looking for, but she knew the blonde haired boy she had been dreaming about for the past few weeks was sitting in this very room with her.

"Herm," Harry's voice carried her back to her seat. "Eat. Do you want some coffee? I can get one of the house elves to fetch it for you."

"No, no, that's alright." Hermione replied, her face twisting at the mention of house elves. "If I want coffee, I can get it myself. I don't need a house elf to help me with..."

Her voice trailed off as she spotted a blonde hair emerge from the crowd. She craned her neck for the source of the locks, for anything that would identify the stranger she had seen in her dreams. Hermione stood up, disregarding the strange look from Ron Weasly, and a flash of grey caught her eye. She promptly sat down. Slytherin? She was crushing on a boy from Slytherin? The blonde head got up and made a move towards the exit.
"What is it?" Ron asked, worried. "Did Dumbledore signal for harry or something?"
"No, nothing of that sort." Hermione retorted. Ron was really starting to get on her nerves these days. "I've got to go. Library. The potions essay. I need to do more research for it."
"Potions essay?" The boys chorused in alarm, looking wide eyed at her.

"Extra credit. I wanted to learn more about potions so I sought out Snape after class for extra lessons. I'll explain later."

Hermione was running along the corridor to the entrance of the Slytherin common room, desperate to catch the mysterious blonde stranger before he entered.

"...So I told her to back off, I saw it first. Of course she did after taking a proper look at me, she knew who I was." The voice of Draco Malfoy drifted along the corridor, along with the heavy thumps of Draco's goons: Crabbe and Goyle.

"What would you have done if she didn't move, Malfoy?"

The approaching footsteps seemed to stop, as if Draco was formulating an answer. Hermione swore she could hear Draco's brain whirl as it came up with an answer, a rare sound.

"She would have dropped it if she knew what was good for her."

The footsteps continued, approaching the door to the common room. Hermione hurriedly jumped behind a suit of arms and hoped the sudden screech of metal on metal was not heard by the three boys. Fortunately, they continued walking as if nothing had happened, and Hermione held her breath. She just had to wait for Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle to go to the common room so she could see who the owner of the blonde locks were. Hermione held her breath as the boys rounded the corner, but let out a yelp of surprise as they became visible.

"What...?" She had just managed to murmur before Draco pulled his wand out and pointed it in her direction, Crabbe and Goyle following suit. A familiar blonde strand of hair fell into Draco's eyes but he didn't bother moving it.

"What are you doing here, Granger." Draco sneered at Hermione, now crouched on the ground in front of him.

"Just exploring." She whispered, her voice barely audible. She, Hermione Granger, had been dreaming of Draco Malfoy all this time? The two stared at each other, Draco sizing her up and Hermione too shocked to move.

"Draco." Goyle's voice broke the feverish stare between the two. "She's obviously confused, let's just go. Class starts in ten minutes anyway."

"You go on," Draco directed at the two boys standing behind him, "I still need to question Granger."

Slowly, the two boys tucked away their wands in their robes and retreated into the Slytherin common room. Draco dropped his defensive stance, but didn't stow his wand.

"Draco..." Hermione felt her mouth utter the name she so desperately wanted to know for the past two weeks.

"Granger." His voice remained cold. "Is there a reason you were spying in front of the Slytherin common room? Trying to find a way in?"

"No." Hermione retorted, standing up at last. "I was just looking for someone." Her mind raced. How could it be possible that the stranger who visited her bed each night was none other than Draco Malfoy, her number one enemy?

"Well? Find who you're looking for?" Draco prodded after Hermione failed to answer him.

"Yeah," She replied, "I think I did."

"Where were you? Ron was freaking out when you didn't come back to breakfast after your little trip to the library." Harry asked her once she had sat down in the Potions classroom, their first class of the day.
"Was not." Ron scowled at Harry, infuriated at his best friend.

"Why aren't your caldrons out," The sharp voice of Professor Snape cut the silence between Hermione and Ron. "It's been five minutes since class has started and you two are still oogling at each other."
Blushing, Ron fumbled for his caldron and his potions textbook.

"Mr Weasly, don't bother pulling out any more of your things. I think I will have arranged seating from now on. It's clear that your potions are messing up because of Ms Granger here, so a new table would do you good. Actually, it would do all of you good. Quick, stow away your things. Here's the new seating chart." With a flick of his wand, a seating chart appeared on the blackboard.

"Great Herm, you're sitting next to Malfoy. Have fun with that, and make sure he doesn't mess up your potions." Harry whispered to her.

Hermione looked up from the table and saw her name, Hermione Granger, etched alongside of 'Draco Malfoy'. Had the world suddenly given her a golden opportunity, as if it knew she was as confused about Draco as she?

"Hermione," Snape whispered in her ear. "Everyone else is moving to where they're suppose to be but you. You have brains, but they seem to be no use right now."

She broke the stare of Professor Snape long enough to see Draco Malfoy drop his bag onto an empty table at the back of the classroom. "I'm going."

"Jesus Granger, it's like fate wanted me to torture you today." Draco whispered in her ear once she sat down next to him. The feeling of his warm breath on her neck was enough to make her shiver.

"Shut up Draco." She said with all the energy she could muster.

"Malfoy, Granger, if you two are finished with your conversation, I would love to continue with today's lesson. I've decided that instead of teaching you the effects of this potion and the correct way to make it, you all should attempt for yourself. Turn your textbooks to page 85 and begin. A labeled flask is due on my desk at the end of this class."

"Draco, I need to tell you something." Hermione's brain failed her as his grey eyes pierced hers.

"Anything for you, my love." He replied, his face inches from hers. HIs eyes seemed to be filled with a desire as he looked her up and down. She had never been looked at like this before, but she could get use to this. "Oh Hermione.... Hermione..."

"Hermione." Draco yelled, pinching her arm. "I asked if I could borrow a bamboo leaf, I'm all out."

"Of course," She replied, composing herself. "Here." She passed him a leaf, and their fingers touched.

"Thanks." He replied, his voice gruff. He then craned his neck to read the fine print on the board, the list of ingredients. There was something about the way he said 'thanks' that was throwing Hermione off. It may be her new found obsession with Draco, or something about it may actually be off.

"Meet me in the library after potions." Draco said, his grey eyes looking straight at her. Hermione swore his eyes were piercing her heart and reading her uttermost desires. She held his stare for a little too long, and her next breath caught in her throat. Could it be that he felt the same way she did about him? But that was silly, they had never seen eye to eye before. Her only interactions with him before this day was under the watchful guard of Harry and Ron. He and Harry were publicly sworn enemies, he could never see her in that way. But there was something knowing in the way he phrased that question. He didn't seem at all like his usual smug self. Maybe it was because his usual goons, Crabbe and Goyle, were sitting across the classroom. Or maybe it's because he really likes me... but maybe not. Regardless of what it was, there was something off about the situation. If Draco wanted to discuss potions or any sort of class materials with her, he would surely do it in the classroom right now. There was no purpose of asking Hermione to meet him in the classroom, unless it actually meant something different. Was Draco Malfoy nervous? Beads of sweat seemed to form on his brow as he waited Hermione to give him an answer. Is he afraid I'll say no?

"Uh..." She stammered, going over the pros and cons in her mind. Pro: She got to spend time with Draco and see what it was about him that made him a reoccurring person in her dreams. Con: Harry and Ron would be pissed at her for agreeing to and actually meeting one of their enemies, in the library no less. Pro: She would get to be alone with Draco. Con: well, there was only one con. Mustering all the courage she required, she let out an exhale and replied.

"Sure."

He was already seated when she entered the library an hour later. At the first ring of the bell, Draco had run out of the classroom, not bothering to wait for his goons. It had taken Hermione a few minutes to shake off Harry and Ron, making up some story about needing to go to the library again for extra credit History of Magic. These lies were only believable because she, Hermione Granger, was a particularly bright wizard.

"Sit." He motioned to the empty seat beside him. She looked at him for a split second before sitting in the chair next to him. This was torturous, she wanted him so bad, especially if he could do the things he had done to her in her dreams.

"What did you want to talk about?" Hermione asked, as a perplexed look crossed Draco's face.

"For starters, I needed to get you away from Harry and Ron. I can't be seen fraternizing with the enemy, you know."

Hermione nodded like she understood, but in reality she was dumbfounded. Why did he need to speak to her so badly, especially if she knew the whole school would be talking if they were seen together? Everyone knew the rivalry that existed between the two houses, and even further between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. The muggle term for the rivalry between the two wizards was a 'prank war', but it was so much more than that. Harry had almost fallen off the Astronomy tower due to one of Draco's full-body binding curses, a stunt Dumbledore had called "severely inappropriate for someone your age and very childish." Not that Draco or Harry cared, the war seemed to rage on. Just las week, Harry had slipped a sleeping potion into Draco's goblet that made him sleep through the Christmas dinner and almost miss his ride home for Christmas. To be fair, Harry's "pranks" were more tame than Draco's, but both boys were vicious when it came to each other and the rival's friends.

The sounds of Draco fidgeting brought Hermione back to the present. A nervous looking Malfoy sat in front of her, something she would have never believed was possible if she had not been looking at him with her own eyes.

"Secondly, this is dangerous. I want you so much but I hate your guts."

a/n: 

this was written on a plane from NYC to LA just after finishing book seven of the harry potter series. apologize for this crappy attempt at fan fiction, but the wizarding world of harry potter is currently consuming my brain. I'm thinking about turning this story into an actual work of fiction (but I've never attempted a long piece of fan fiction before, and certainly not one involving harry potter characters). by the way, the last line (draco) is song lyrics (lol). let me know if you're interested in reading more, I think it would be fun to write.