Hey guys! Sorry about the long wait—but I'm back and kickin'…or at least I hope so! Enjoy and review!
Disclaimer: Not mine, how many times do I have to say it? Dang!
Hermione stood there, speechless. The precious kitten Draco cradled in his arms with a kindness and gentle touch unlike anything she'd ever seen was adorable. It's mystic blue eyes were large and enchanting, absorbing every bit of Hermione there was to absorb. It's gray fur was short and looked as if it had once belonged among stormy clouds. It meowed and leapt from Draco's arms and slowly pawed it's way to Hermione, it's tail floating along behind it.
"Oh my gosh…it's beautiful."
Draco smirked, but a gentle one. "It's a she, Hermione. No boy could be that pretty without being gay."
Hermione smirked. "I've heard people call you'pretty boy' on more than one occasion..."
"And I can prove to you right this moment that I'm not gay if you'd like me to," Draco said, waggling his eyebrows in a provacative manner.
Hermione glared at him as she stooped to pick up the kitten. "Shanks, you're adorable, although your name isn't very…fitting." She said, glancing at Draco through her lashes. "What kind of powers do you have little girl?" She asked putting her forefinger under Shanks' chin and rubbed gently.
"She can sense when something, or someone, is intruding. She apparently transforms into something resembling a beast and become a guard-cat type thing," And informs me of trouble He added as an afterthought to himself. "Now, if you'll put her down we can be on our way. Our lunner reservations are at 3:30 and if we leave now we can stop by Diagon Ally and purchase some accessories for Shanks."
Hermione's head snapped towards Draco. "You can't even be serious about me leaving this poor, defenseless kitten in my apartment all by herself! And what on earth is lunner? I'm positive, 110 percent sure,in fact, that lunner isn't a word in any of the languages I know."
Draco crossed his arms. "First off, Shanks isn't a poor, defenseless kitten. I've been a good host the past week while she's lived in my house and she's been fine. Second, lunner is a term, and it's a minor detail I've only made it up right now. It's like brunch, only lunner—lunch and dinner."
Hermione opened her mouth, then closed it again, only to do the same thing twice more.
"You look like a fish out of water, Granger."
Hermione glared but said nothing.
"Put down the cat, Granger, and back slowly away, preferably towards me so we may leave."
Hermione huffed and clutched the kitten to her chest.
I'll be fine. A voice said in Hermione's mind. It was a high-pitched voice, one she'd never heard before. She jerked her head towards Draco.
"Did you hear that?" Hermione shouted at Draco as the cat leapt from her arms and seemed to wink at her.
"Hear what?" He asked, slightly bored as he stuck a pinky finger in his ear and proceeded to twist it vigorously before withdrawing it and studying the contents (or lack there of) on it.
Hermione put a hand to her forehead and watched at the kitten sauntered down the call to Hermione's bedroom as if she already owned the place. "Nothing. Let's go."
Hermione laughed as she pulled her coat around her against the crisp, cold night in November. "Malfoy, I never knew you were such an entertaining person."
Draco glared at the cobbled walkway beneath him. "Yeah, well, me neither."
Hermione turned to look at him, the cool wind blowing a few curls in her face. "Draco, honestly, you of all people should've enjoyed the publicity! They were only taking a few shots of me for the Daily Prophet so they could write some rubbish about my amazing love life with the Draco Malfoy."
"Yes, but did they have to take the picture as the waitress clumsily fell into my lap, knocking me in the no-no zone while you laughed hysterically?"
Hermione tried to stifle her laughter, but to no avail. Instead she snorted, a rather unfeminine and unpleasant sound. "whoops…"
"Well I guess Miss Perfect isn't so perfect after all."
Hermione scoffed. "Draco Malfoy, you of all people should know that. After all, you are the one who teased me about my bucked teeth and frizz-ball hair most of my Hogwarts life."
Draco had the decency to look ashamed. "Didn't I apologize for that already?"
"Yes, but I thought I'd bring it up again, mainly to prove a point."
They walked a little further in silence, Draco with his hands in his pockets, looking at the stars, Hermione with her arms wrapped tightly around her, trying to preserve any warmth she could.
"Are you cold?" Draco asked, startling Hermione out of her thoughts.
"Erm, yes, actually, quite cold."
Draco took a step nearer to her and draped her arm around her shoulders, pulling the curve of body next to his as their footsteps matched. Without thinking Hermione slipped her arm through his coat and around his waist.
"Better?" He asked, gently rubbing her arm in hopes of providing some extra warmth.
"Mmm, much." She said, pulling herself closer as the wind blew again. Her breath caught as the scent of Draco's cologne suddenly became more potent, indulging her senses. Soon she started coughing after she realized she had held her breath for too long.
"Are you all right?" Draco asked, stopping to allow her to catch her breath. She turned glistening eyes to him, coughing again as she nodded. It was then she realized how the pale moonlight caressed his features to make them more angel-like. His hair seemed to glow and his eyes seemed more of a pewter gray, rich and enchanting. Her coughing subsided as she lost herself in the depths of his soulful eyes.
Draco looked at Hermione; her hair slightly more disheveled than before due to her horrendous coughing fit, her eyes watering and her face red from exertion. Not the epitome of sexy, but never before had he wanted to kiss her, to be near her, to feel her lips on his. He gently pushed back a few curls that seemed so soft they must be made of…well, something soft. His hand trailed down her cheek until he was gently cupping it, his thumb caressing her face until he rubbed it over her lips. Her eyes fluttered shut, giving him the cue to dive in and indulge himself. He bent down, his right arm grasping Hermione's waist and pulling her nearer, and then it happened.
There's trouble.
Draco immediately pulled back from Hermione and closed his eyes in concentration.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, extremely embarrassed at what she almost experienced. Did her breath smell? Did she have a booger in her nose, or a massive pimple on her chin that caused him to back off so suddenly?
"We have to get back to your flat immediately," Draco said, quickly enveloping Hermione in a hug. Hermione's face was buried in his chest and heard her heart pounding so loud in her ears she didn't even realize they had apparated.
"What on ear-" She started, but Draco's hand immediately attached itself to her mouth, preventing her from any further conversation.
"They're here," Draco breathed into Hermione's ear. Draco instantly felt Hermione go rigid against his chest.
"Blast this stupid cat! Think she would learn a lesson when we killed her last one!" A female voice came from Hermione's living room.
"Parkinson," She grumbled, quickly finding her wand and grasping it tight.
"Keep it down you wench! I'm sure she has neighbors!" Came another voice, clearly belonging to Zabini.
"Those insufferable prats!" Hermione said, quickly shedding her shoes and coat while muttering a silencing charm on her feet. With the agility of a cat she leapt up and had her back against her bedroom wall. Draco quickly followed suit, although keeping his shoes on so the putrid smell that would escape wouldn't warn the enemies of his presence. That's right. The perfect Draco Malfoy had a horrible case of the stinky feet.
Hermione pulled her face close to Draco's as her eyes tried searching his in the dark. "We're coming out of this alive and victorious I hope you know." She whispered.
"Keep quite! We have to hide before the slut returns!" A third male voice came, one Hermione didn't recognize.
"That's Crabbe. Goyle must be here too." Draco said, his eyes trying to adjust to the darkness. He felt Hermione's breath on his chin. "We're out numbered, you know."
"It's never stopped me before."
Draco didn't know what over came him. One second he was plotting on how to surprise them, the next his lips were seeking Hermione's forehead. "Be careful," He breathed.
Hermione was shocked. And not a bad shocked either. Her forehead was warm and tingling where Draco's lips had just been. "I will." She said, grasping his hand for a moment before releasing it and slinking out the door to her living room.
"LUMOS!" She screamed, and all the lights in her house flashed on. Seven hooded figures all turned to her. Her legs were shoulder-width apart, and her hair was billowing in the wake of her power. Her eyes sought out the little puff of gray that was in the corner. "Shanks, come here!" She shouted at it as the other people began hurdling curses at her. Hermione dove behind her couch as the little gray kitten leapt in the air towards the people, her body mass multiplying until she was roughly the size of a Siberian tiger.
"Holy cow," Hermione said, standing up and facing her offenders. "Leave now and never mess with me again, or die." Hermione said, her voice dangerously low.
Pansy pulled down her hood and let out a horrifying cackle. "You little slut. You think we're afraid of you? You must be joking!" She, along with three other, then started firing off curses at her. Hermione threw out every counter she knew (and that was a lot). Where on all of earth is Draco? She thought as she began to grow tired as two more people began firing curses at her.
"Stop!" a male voice roared. Hermione and the others didn't listen of course, and continued. Draco threw a killing curse at one of the men, who immediately fell to his death. Shanks growled low and threatening. Everyone's eyes turned to Draco. He has his wand in a tight grip pointing at Pansy's forehead. "I said stop. That is enough."
"You think that by killing one person you'll have stopped us? Ha!" Pansy said, tearing at the cloth covering her arm, revealing Voldemort's insignia, and pressed her wand to it firmly. "We have at least fourteen others ready to come to this battle, Draco Malfoy, and we shall be victorious!"
Hermione gasped as one, two…eight, nine, ten pops followed and her living room was filled with Deatheaters.
"What in the devil's name…" Draco said, utterly shocked to see that this many had survived. That puts them two against 14, three if you include the cat.
"Let the games begin!" Pansy hissed evilly, throwing her arms into the air. Shanks immediately jumped into the middle of the crowd, taking on five people herself. Hermione jumped and rolled around, casting curses and avoiding them. One struck her in the nose and it began to pour out blood, soaking her hardwood floors.
"You idiot, I just had these waxed!" She yelled, and the hooded man fell to the ground, dead. Hermione quickly cleaned herself up before diving behind her love seat, peaking over the edge. Six men lay fallen. Shanks was taking on four while three more were making their way towards Draco, who was now hunched over in the corner. Simultaneously they all raised their hands above their heads, and Hermione felt killing curse on the tips of their tongues. She heard Pansy's evil cackling as she watched what she thought was Draco's demise.
"No!" Hermione screamed, thrusting her hand towards the group. Instantly they were all frozen. "No! This was is done and over and innocent blood shant be shed!" She said, her voice deeper than normal. Her eyes glazed over as a magic aura enveloped her, causing her to elevate off the ground, her dress billowing around her knees and her hair whipping around her. "Let this day be known as the one where evil died in the hands of a Muggle-born, Hermione Jane Granger!" She threw her head back and her arms rose to become parallel with the floor. Draco shielded his eyes as she began to glow brighter and brighter, rising in the air until she was almost hitting the ceiling. Then suddenly, it was gone. Everything was gone. The light, the people, the mess…and Hermione.
"Granger? Oh Merlin, Granger?" Draco said, ignoring the stabbing pain in his thigh, as he leapt over the couch and other obstacles in his way.
"Malfoy?" Came a weak whisper from the floor.
"I'm here, don't worry. Are you ok?" He said, pulling her into his arms.
"I—I can't feel my legs. I can't feel my arms. I—"
Draco pulled her out and stared intently at her face. Her eyes had closed, and there was a trail of blood making it's way from the corner of her mouth.
"Shanks, we've got to get her out of here. Now."
Yeah so, sorry for the long wait! I hope this chapter makes it up to y'all! I'm not very good with "fight scenes" or anything, but I tried…I hope y'all can imagine it. And incase y'all are wondering: Hermione's "light" killed everyone except Shanks and Draco, and well, we'll see if it killed Hermione or not…
REVIEW!