For @enselius. <3 I stopped breathing for a medically inadvisable time when i saw this and just had to write something for it. Thank you to the always lovely @ifyouwereamelodymegā for the beta read!
āI even triple checked my essay!ā Granger had been fuming the entire time as they walked down to the Quidditch pitch, her shoulders shaking from the cold as she wrapped her arms around herself. Draco often found himself to be an exclusive member of the Hermione Granger Is Mad About Things club, and this was no exception, except for the fact that this time the HGIMAT topic was focused on him.
āI still canāt believe you scored higher than me,ā she continued, likely unaware that he was, once again, having his Daily Existential Crisis About Granger (DECAB; Draco had many acronyms). āWell done, you, but I must know how it happened or Iāll go spare.ā
āIāll give it to you tomorrow and you can salivate over my parchment to your heartās content,ā he offered.
āEw,ā she said, dismayed.
He couldnāt help the smile that lifted the corners of his mouth. āYouāre the one that gets off on well-written essays.ā
She didnāt object, to his continued amusement.
Held awkwardly in Dracoās clumsy hands was his jumperāthe Slytherin one he usually wore during colder days when heād flyāand while heād been fumbling over how best to chastise this impossible witch for failing at the art of Not Freezing Your Arse Off whilst she was also on act III of her tirade, he found that the only thing he could do was smile. Like an idiot.
āThere is just no way thatāwould you stop grinning?ā Granger said, rounding on him as they stopped a few feet from the pitch.
Draco could not stop grinning, because Granger was going off in her customary Granger way: her swotty voice raising itself a decibel each time she lifted her haughty chin, accompanied by her windswept mass of dark curly hair.
She was looking at his broom as if it were some great harbinger of doom; it was altogether a hilarious sight for someone whoād withstood the machinations of war.Ā
Eyes narrowed, she pulled out a note.
āMy obituary, should I fall to my mortal peril,ā she explained when he gave her a questioning look.
He snorted. āAnd you say Iām dramatic.ā
He laughed, then kept laughing even as she sent fire at him with her eyes. Her glare wasā¦combustive? Radioactive? Something science, whatever that was.
āI would never let you fall.ā Though his words were simple enough, her eyes widened, and, for once, she seemed lost for words.
They stared at each other for one long moment.
Oh, he thought, then dismissed the idea entirely.
Surely Granger didnātāno, quite impossible. It was Granger, after all, and she would never even considerāhe looked at her again. Her rather adorable mouth had stopped gaping, but she was studying him now, arms crossed as she narrowed her eyes at him.
Thinking. Deliberating. A dial on a safe anticipating the satisfying click.
Iām an open book, he thought, though didnāt say. Instead, he smirked and said, āReady?ā
āMalfoy,ā pleaded Granger, and oh, she was good. That pout was doing something ruinous to his insides, but he denied her.
āCome on, up-up, Grangerāā
āMalfoy,ā a whisper, a second attempt at pleading.
āMalfoy,ā a warning, as she took hold of his offered hand and he hoisted her to sit behind him on the broom. She was disconcertingly close.
āMalfoy,ā a squeal, when he readied his broom to take flight.
āDraco fucking Malfoy,ā a scream, as they took to the sky.
āA potty mouth on this one,ā Draco said and was rewarded with a death grip around his waist.
A slicing hex had nothing on the brute force of her arms around his middle.
āI wouldnāt scream if you knew how to fly this thingāā
āIāve been flying since around the time I could walk, actuallyāā
āOh my god, will you shut up and stop laughingāā
āIām not even going that fastāā
āOh my god, I canāt even look. How you could possibly ride this death trap is beyond meāā
āPress tighter to me, Granger. Iām sure if you asphyxiate me in mid-air, youāll improve your chances of death exponentially.āĀ
A gasping laugh. āYouāre incorrigible.ā
āI donāt disagree.ā
āJustāā He dropped his hands to hers for a moment and squeezed in what he hoped was reassurance. āYouāre doing great,ā he said. āJust breathe, I have you.ā
Her fingers spasmed against his. They were cold and he had to resist the urge to bring her small fingers up to his mouth and blow hot air to warm them.
After a few long moments, Granger seemed to relax, her hands less tensive around his waist and her body behind his less stone-like. The softness of her was suddenly distracting. He felt her warm breath against his back as she sighed, trying and failing to ignore the way the fine hairs on his neck shivered at the sensation. The area around his abdomen where she was clutching him felt reminiscent of a chocolate frog wanting to take flight.
They were high in the air now, enough that they were level with the ramparts of the castle.
Hogwarts, clothed in darkness and stars, constellations glinting in welcome as the pair glided through the sky, left Draco feeling wondrous.Ā
āLook at thatā a whole new world,ā he said, looking at the familiar starlight, feeling that same rush of freedom heād always felt while flying.
āItās beautiful,ā Granger agreed. āIāve been in the air before, though it was usually spoiled by a life some life or death affair.ā A pause. āI suppose Iāve never really taken in the view.ā
He chuckled. āI suppose itās a good thing I beat your potions score.ā
She pinched his side, and he gasped, feeling the intermingling of pain and nerves at the intimacy of her touch. āDirty play.ā
She hummed in feigned annoyance, then pressed her face into his back again.
āYouāre warm,ā she said, and it was unhelpful, really. His nerves fluttered like delicate butterfly wings. He could feel her smile against his back.
āShall I take you up to your tower?ā Draco asked, not wanting to make her stay up here long enough that she might faint from the stress of it.
āWhy, thank you, chauffeur,ā Granger said, and he was happy for the teasing tone to her voice.
They turned towards the tower, and suddenly Draco wished it wasnāt already about to be over. He half-contemplated re-routing, but it was getting colder outside and so, with a sigh, he came to a stop outside Grangerās window.
If watching Granger climb onto his broom was amusing, then watching her try to get off was enough to send him into a tizzy.Ā
āI can do it,ā he heard her say under her breath, and, taking pity on her, he deposited her like one would a small child over the window ledge, delighting in the feel of her waist as he put an arm around her and guided her to step into the tower.
Once she stepped down, she didnāt face him for a moment, only leaned down with her hands on her knees.
āMmmhmmm,ā she answered, then turned around and glared at him. āI am never doing that again,ā she proclaimed vengefully.Ā
Draco laughed, raising his hands up in mock surrender.
āDonātāā she started, reaching a hand towards him worriedly, blushing when he glanced at her with surprise.Ā
āI just meanā¦ā She wrung her hands together. āYou should be more careful.ā
Draco felt his cheeks go painfully red. āAre you afraid Iām going to fall?ā
āNo,ā the beautiful, lying Granger said, and when she smiled at him he knew he could never win against her.
He pushed his broom down slightly until Granger was out of sight, and then got to his feet, balancing his weight on the middle of the handle in a way heād done so many times before.
His broom started lifting himāhe felt the buzz of its magic through his veins as he came up to Hermioneās eye level again.
She gave him a look of warning. āThis is so dangerousāā
He feigned falling off, tipping his feet just so that it would seem as if he were about to fall off the edge.
It was stupid. He was stupid. Granger let out a strangled yelp and grabbed him by the shoulders, and he winced when the blunt edges of her nails clung to him for dear life.Ā
He couldnāt help but court the worried expression on her face, couldnāt help but savour the incandescent rage set upon him when she levelled him with her perfect brown eyes: dark and lovely, never the mud heād so foolishly thought of them as before.
āYouāve always been a pernicious, pestering ponce,ā she said breathily.
āI shouldāve known your love language was alliteration, you swot.ā
She was rankled; he was delighted.
Her dark eyelashes and flushed cheeks were unbearable.
āI find it funny that you even know what alliteration is.ā
āI do listen to you, you know,ā he said, taking in her flushed face. Heād always thought her prettiest when she was angry.
She made a doubtful noise but smiled, seemingly less angry now.
He felt like he was floating, in more than one way.
āWill you tell me, then?ā he asked after a moment.
Her cheeks were a ruddy red, freckles standing out like stars in the moonlight.
āAbout what you wouldāve made me do if youād beaten my score.ā
āI shanāt,ā she said, but then she looked down at his mouth, and Draco felt his own cheeks colour at the thought that Hermione Granger might be more salacious than heād even thought himself to be.
He looked up at her, meeting her doe-eyes, the warm glow of the fireplace behind her framing her curls and pretty face.Ā
He couldnāt look away if he tried.
āMy intentions were quite innocent,ā he declared.
āInnocent?ā she demanded, brows knitted together in comical disbelief. āI rather thought you might be trying to kill me when you suggested we go flying.ā
āFair is fair when one thinks no one can surpass her in a single academic subjectāā
āWell, I did think I was better than you, I admit,ā she interjected teasingly, placing her hands over the ledge, crossed, her expression more inviting now.
āI concede, you are. I just wanted it really badly.ā
āAnd why is that?ā she asked, her expression a mix of curiosity andā¦ was it longing? Her gaze travelled from his eyes to his lips, lingering.
āBecause,ā he said dumbly. He wasnāt really paying attention anymore. Granger staring at his lips meant that he was now looking at hers, and did she want to kiss him as much as he wanted to kiss her? He would have thought himself absurd, but then she was leaning closer, and he was tipping his broom up so he could meet her andā
Funny, that feeling that permeates one's insides when kissing someone: the tentative brush of their lips, innocent in the first few swipes; the way he could feel Granger tremble against him as she fitted her fingers in his jumper. His nerves were galvanic as the taste of her mouth filled him up to bursting.Ā Ā
He hadnāt even noticed his hair falling forward in his face until she lifted a hand up and brushed it away. Somehow that felt even more intimate, but that didnāt mean he refused the second kiss as she leaned forward again.Ā
They smiled against each otherās lips, and he savoured the hitch in her breath when he kissed across her jaw and down the slim line of her neck before she impatiently pulled him by his hair back to her lips. Sheād become fast and firm with her mouth; her hands were lightning against his skin, his shoulders. He thought he could stay there forever.
Eventually, due to lack of air or something else equally ridiculous, they parted from each other.
There was a long moment of awkwardness, an obvious crossing of a boundary Draco thinks neither of them was really aware of being there before.
āI am positive that I will never go on a broom ride again,ā she said after a moment.
He felt himself deflate, wondering if this was all down to some post-flight rush, but then he looked up at her again and saw the shy smile she sent his way. Something inviting and promising. Her lips were red and bruised and he had to stop himself from reaching for her again.
āNever again,ā he smiled, then cracked a full grin when she beamed at him.Ā Ā
āI should go to bed,ā she said after another few moments.
āYou should,ā he agreed, his words dumb and heavy on his tongue. His brain had flat-lined; there was nothing for him now except for the taste of her mouth and the memory of her fingers on his ruffled jumper.
He supposed that even if she didnāt end up wearing it, he wouldnāt complain over the alternative.
As he left the tower with the taste of her on his lips, it crossed his mind that he couldnāt remember the last time he felt dizzy flying.
