Falling For You ✘ Draco & Hermione *COMPLETED*

#19 New Experiences

It was a fairly sunny afternoon; Draco and Hermione sat under the willow tree by the lake, enjoying the warming rays of sunshine.

Draco glanced at the girl, smiling. Finally talking to her again felt refreshing after such a dull week. Although a weight had been lifted, a reoccurring thought kept popping into the back of his mind.

"Hermione, can I ask you something?" Draco found himself asking.

The girl turned from the scenery and nodded, a hint of worry in her voice. "Yeah, sure."

With all the unnecessary drama that had occurred that week, any sign of a possible conflict had her weary.

Draco frowned a little. He didn't want to come across too full on, but the uncertainty was driving him mad.

"What even are we?"

He had to know. They'd kissed twice now; there was no hiding that there was something going on between them.

It was bizarre to the boy having to ask this; he'd never really stayed with a girl long enough to know. The empathy and compassion he'd once lacked was suddenly very apparent with Granger.

Hermione looked a little startled. Knowing full well that Draco was known for playing games, this question was particularly unexpected. After a moment of silence, she let out a long sigh.

"I don't know, Draco."

She bit her lip anxiously when the boy's eyes narrowed. They looked out the the water once more, a slight awkwardness brewing in the air.

Draco was kicking himself for asking, knowing Hermione probably felt just as lost in the situation as he did. But if they didn't talk about it soon things were just going to escalate.

Draco turned his head once more.

"Alright, how do you feel?" he asked.

Hermione looked at the ground uncertainty, her eyes slightly misted.

"I don't know what I'm feeling half the time when I'm around you." she shrugged hopelessly. "You make me feel things I've never really felt before, and if I'm honest, it scares me."

Draco nodded in mutual understanding. He tried not to think about his feelings too often, but bottling them up sure wasn't easy.

Hermione Granger was dangerous territory; the list of reasons he couldn't pursue her was endless. But when he kissed her everything seemed so simple. No worries, no boundaries, just a few minutes of perfection.

"Look, I know this is difficult." Hermione sighed. "We both knew from the start this was never going to be easy, that's why we denied it for so long. But we're here now and that's all that matters."

Draco nodded, feeling more confident. "Yeah, ok."

Before another word could be spoken, a large owl swooped down and dropped a letter in Hermione's lap. She blinked at it, glancing at Draco uncertainly before reaching down to pick it up. It was enclosed in a deep creamy white envelope, and looked as so it'd come from somewhere very important.

     Hermione Jean Granger
     Private and Confidential

Very rarely did Hermione receive owls; the ones she did were only from friends in the holidays. The confusing thing was that owl mail was usually received at meal times, unless from a friend or teacher during school hours.