Sparks (A Dramione One Shot)

"Ah, Miss Honeywell what is it?" He muttered, looking up from his papers.

The timid first year slowly walked up to Slughorn's desk, handing him a note. A look of concern passed over the professor's face as he meekly turned to Hermione and Draco.

"It seems an... Incident has arisen... I'll just be a moment..." He chirped, rising from his desk. 

"Is-" Hermione began. 

"Granger, you wouldn't mind watching Malfoy while I am gone would you?" the professor said cutting her off and straightening his hat. 

"Well.." Hermione started, uncertainly. 

"I knew I could count on you, Granger," Slughorn smiled as he slipped out of the door and practically sprinted down the dungeon corridor, his hand holding his hat tightly on his head.

Silence was restored once more to the almost empty dungeon.

Hermione busied herself tidying away her cauldron then perched nervously on the edge of one of the back desks. She didn't want to be there, Slughorn hadn't even given her a chance. In frustration she kicked the desk in front of her, a dull thud that resonated through the room.

Draco lifted his head, staring at her with an amused smirk plastered on his face. Wordlessly he raised an eyebrow in a questioning way.

"Why don't you just leave?" He mumbled, staring in the opposite direction. 

"Because," Hermione sighed, knowing that he could never-would never- understand her; he cared little for school yet she refused to endorse Harry's exaggerated beliefs that he was somehow a Death Eater. Sure he was rude, cruel and a complete git, but a Death Eater? No. She didn't believe he was capable of such a thing.

With a heavy sigh she pulled out her copy of Anna Karenina and began to read; she had taken her time over the book, already knowing the ending and wanting to delay the tragedy for as long as possible. She had tried to imagine that it was a fairy tale where everyone lives happily ever after. A naive idea; one that was always overpowered by reality. Hermione read silently, the words slowly turning over in her brain but after a few pages she realised that she had taken nothing in. Annoyed, she placed the book back into her bag and slid off of the desk, resorting instead to pacing about the back of the room.

As though an ethereal force controlled her, Hermione felt her eyes drawn to the slumped figure of Draco Malfoy. As he lifted his head his icy blue eyes stared into her warm brown ones; the two were like fire and ice, so different.

Slowly Draco rose from his seat and made his way towards her; she could not look away and found herself following his every move until he came to stand beside her. His eyes were sparkling with an emotion that Hermione could not quite place, amusement perhaps?  

"What do you want?" Hermione snapped, a little more harshly than intended. 

She recoiled slightly seeing the hurt flicker across Draco's pale face and her usually clear mind filled with inky confusion. 

"Contrary to your belief Granger, my life isn't as perfect as you deluded people think," he spat, startling her. 

"Oh, ran out of servants have you?" She retorted bitterly. 

"You have no idea," Draco growled, pushing her up against the wall. Trapped between him and the cold stone of the potions room wall, Hermione felt completely helpless. She wriggled against his grasp, trying to get loose but it was no use, he was far stronger than her.

She felt the warmth of his breath as he leaned close to her ear, gently brushing a strand of hair away with one hand.  

"My life is far from perfect; there is nothing I want more than to escape it all..." He hissed "but I can't... I..." he trailed off, releasing her and running his hands through his short blond hair. For a moment Hermione watched him as he stared sadly at the floor, his pale eyes swimming with emotion. She wanted to comfort him, to help him but something held her back; a wary, timid edge. She was a gazelle and he an injured lion.

"I'm sorry,"

The alien sound passed from Draco's lips, his eyes still cast towards the floor. Hermione could bear it no more, she moved silently, placing a hand on his arm in support. His wide eyes met hers. 

"Let me help," she whispered, her voice so quiet that Draco could barely hear her. 

He shook his head sadly, "you can't help me, no one can help me" 

"Please, just let me try?" she suggested, her emotions lay bare, standing alone with a boy who she had formerly considered a heartless git. Did she still think he was a heartless git? The answer was more complicated than her tired brain could comprehend.

In her moment of thought she did not realise that Draco had moved and now stood less than a metre away from her. 

"Please," she repeated.

Wordlessly Draco stepped forward, the pair now stood so close they were practically touching. Hermione felt his body heat between them and she leant forwards. Their lips hesitated a centimetre apart, as though the gap between them represented years of difference and rivalries. An age that was eclipsed by the moment their lips met; tentatively they kissed, wrapping their arms around one another. The outside world was insignificant. Only they existed, their souls as one but separate also. He needed her and she needed him.

When they finally broke apart both were breathless staring at each other with a new light; an open, pure emotion that had seized their hearts and held it in its iron grip. An emotion that sent shivers down Hermione's spine, and to feel such an emotion for Malfoy? Malfoy, the word seemed alien, silly even. He was Draco and would be forever more.

Draco smiled, many things had changed in that one moment, mere seconds that had more significance than a thousand hours. 

"Let me help you," Hermione breathed. 

"You already have," he grinned, pulling her into him once more, "thank you Hermione" he whispered, his face buried in her brunnette hair. 

Hermione smiled. Not Granger, not that terrible word but Hermione. He had called her Hermione. Her heart fluttered with joy. Sparks flew as they kissed and Hermione knew that she would never be jealous of Lavender again because she had something far better. She had Draco.