Draco wore a mask that covered half his face. What could be seen of his features seemed at the very best polite, but otherwise empty of emotion. His grey eyes though, were intensely fixated on Hermione's face, devouring her every feature.
"Sure. If the lady concedes." McKinley said.
When she saw Draco, Hermione had let out a soft gasp and was now unable to look away from him. She slowly released McKinley's hand and nodded.
"I will take that as my que to leave, then." The red-haired man said with a sheepish smile and left the dancefloor. He turned to give the couple one last glance, an expression of triumph flashing across his face for a short instant. It was gone as soon as it appeared, and no one seemed to have noticed it.
Hermione and Draco remained still for a moment, looking at each other. She took in his appearance and felt another shiver coursing through her body. He was handsome, so handsome. His dark green suit highlighted his pale complexion, making his eyes seem brighter. Draco soon snapped out of his daze and held out his hand. Hermione took it, visibly startled out of her thoughts. She felt a tremor when her fingers touched his skin. He felt so cold, yet so comfortable. They started dancing, swaying and twirling without saying anything, at first. Then the silence grew too heavy for Hermione, so she said the first thing that crossed her mind.
"I'm glad to see you here." she said, giving him a small, rather timid smile.
"Are you?" he drawled, his voice cold. He avoided her eyes. Instead, he gripped her more firmly around the waist.
"As a matter of fact, I am." She said, starting to become more confident.
His cold manner always made her lose her girlish and timid attitude. She was now staring up into his eyes and saw something flicker inside them, but it was gone before she could understand it.
"I thought you were rather enjoying yourself with your partner." He added soon afterwards, dipping her slowly and pulling her back up in one swift and elegant move.
"You are right to think so. I really did enjoy his company." Hermione said simply.
Because she avoided to look at him, she did not see the way his jaw clenched, but instead felt a hot raspy breath across her shoulder. She looked up and noticed Draco looming over her. His body was tensed up and he was holding her rather stiffly. His eyes were boring holes into her face, making her feel rather uncomfortable.
"Perhaps I shouldn't have interrupted then." Draco said coolly, suddenly releasing her hand and waist. "I apologize for my rudeness." He bowed and left Hermione standing on the dancefloor.
Hermione remained there, looking after him dumbfounded. No matter how much she thought of it, she could not understand what had just happened.
What in Merlin's name is wrong with him?
After leaving Hermione like that, Draco retreated into a salon, right across the ballroom. He felt his entire body shaking from anger and nerves. It had taken everything he had to control himself in front of her, but now all his emotions seemed to have exploded inside him. Seeing her dancing so gracefully with that Robert McKinley gave him physical pain. He thought it would be easy. 'Just stay away from her and everything will be alright.' he had told himself.
What a load of crap. He cursed inwardly, brushing a shaky hand through his neatly styled hair. It wasn't all right. Nothing was alright as long as Hermione was with someone else.
With a groan he leaned back against a wall, closing his eyes with a deep sigh. He was fighting off a turmoil of feelings and emotions.
***
After Draco had left her so suddenly, Hermione didn't feel herself ready to talk to anybody. She fled the dancefloor before any of her friends noticed. Little did she know that a pair of green eyes had watched Draco and Hermione's interaction and were now following Hermione's figure as she was leaving the ballroom.
Just as she was about to climb down the grand staircase, Hermione noticed the entrance to a dark spacious room. She took a step closer, peering inside. A chilling sensation settled all over her body. The room seemed eerily familiar, as if she'd seen it in a dream.
A long mahogany table sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by black wooden chairs. Two great fireplaces occupied most of the two walls Hermione could see from her spot and a crystal chandelier fell graciously from the ceiling.
Suddenly, a dreading sensation took hold of Hermione. Her breathing became shallower and she felt a suffocating sensation. There was something about this place that made her feel on the verge of faint. Flashes of images and sounds filled her mind. She heard whimpers and sobs, followed by a piercing scream. It sounded like someone was in pain. Instinctively, she looked around, trying to identify the source of the sounds, but there was no one there. The room was dark and quiet. She turned her back at it and left.
Five minutes later she found her way to the vast gardens that surrounded the Manor.
It seems Narcissa Malfoy is really fond of flowers, seeing how beautiful they look. She thought, smiling despite herself. She never would have imagined a woman such as Narcissa bent down over a row of flowers, doing gardening.
After a short walk, Hermione soon found a small clearing surrounded by white rose bushes. The flowers were in full bloom and enveloped Hermione in their sweet fragrance. There she saw a stone bench, placed right in the middle of the clearing. Without wasting another second, Hermione took a sit on the cold stone and closed her eyes. She breathed out slowly, trying to push the image of the sinister looking room out of her mind. The sweet smell of roses assaulted her senses and was making her head spin slightly. A smile started to form on her lips. For the first time in the last half an hour she felt relaxed as her feverish mind became slightly calmer. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times trying to focus. That's when she heard it, a voice calling her name.
"Hermione." The voice said softly.
It was followed by a rustling sound. Someone was walking on the grass, getting closer and closer to her secluded space. With a jolt of panic, Hermione sprang to her feet, fumbling in her small bag looking for her wand. Before she could find it, she saw a shadow appearing in the space between the roses. A tall man wearing a dark green suit, his white-blond hair ruffled from the wind.
Draco Malfoy stopped two feet away from Hermione, who at the sight of him let out an audible gasp, forgetting all about her wand. He was wearing the same boney white mask from before. For a second the image overlapped with another one in Hermione's head, a mysterious hooded face, covered by a mask. She shook her head slightly, trying to empty it from every other thought, while a more pressing question popped inside her head. Why was he here, looking for her?
"Draco." Hermione whispered.
She hoped she looked calmer than she felt. His sudden appearance made all her emotions rush back like a wave hitting the shore. His mere presence so close to her made her blood run hotter.
With a swish of his wand, Draco made his mask disappear, revealing his pale face. His stormy grey eyes set themselves on Hermione's questioning brown ones. He took a step closer and she backed away slightly, her legs hitting the stone bench.
"Hermione..." he started, then stopped gazing at her intensely.
"Why have you come, Draco? What do you want?" she said, a tinge of coolness in her voice.
"I wanted... I wanted to talk to you." He said quietly.
"Really? You made it clear before that you didn't want to have anything to do with me." she said frowning at him. Despite her rapidly beating heart she just couldn't simply forget how he had treated her.
"That's not... " Draco said hastily, taking another step towards her. "I mean... that's not how I feel."
"Then how do you feel?" Hermione said.
Hearing his words, a sudden flicker of hope kindled inside her heart. She could not dare think about it, but her heart was hoping for it, for him to come back to her. It was useless to pretend she felt otherwise, but she had to hear it from him first.
"All this time... this entire time..." Draco said slowly all the while staring intensely at Hermione. "I tried to stay away from you, Hermione, I really tried my best to disentangle myself from my own feelings."
"Why? Why would you do that?"
"Because I care about you. I wanted to protect you." He said quietly.
"From what?" Hermione asked quietly.
"From me." he said in a low whisper. "I wanted to protect you from me, from my past and all the things that I have done."
"Draco, but that's all in the past." She said softly, moving slightly closer to him.
He surprised her by letting out a small bitter laugh.
"Hermione, the past has a sick way of coming back to haunt you. Even when you think it's gone, it comes back, staring you in the face, mocking you and all your attempts at forgetting it. I can never escape my past. It's engraved in my very skin." He said bitterly and Hermione noticed his left arm twitching slightly.
She took a step forward. They were now face to face, close enough to touch. Their eyes stared at each other, filled with passion and unspoken feelings. Not able to bear it any longer, Draco opened his mouth and uttered the most beautiful words Hermione could hope for.
"I love you, Hermione! I love you more than I ever thought I could. If something were to happen to you because of me, I couldn't handle it. That is why I stayed away, that's why I denied my feelings."
At his words, Hermione let out a raspy breath, her eyes widening but not from surprise. Hearing the confirmation of her own feelings, made something burst inside her chest. Her heart stopped for a split second, before starting to beat faster than it ever had before. Without thinking, without wanting to hear anything else, she raised her arms, snaking them around Draco's neck and pulled him into a passionate kiss.
At first Draco simply stood there, stunned by her sudden movement. Then slowly, as if his brain was starting to work properly, he raised his own arms and pulled her closer. He kissed her back, returning her passion twofold. All his repressed feelings burst forth like an explosion. He pressed her tightly against his body, encircling her waist in an iron grip. He needed to feel her close, to know she was there, returning his feelings. He felt afraid she would disappear at any moment and all this would turn out to be a dream.
Hermione instantly melted into his tight embrace, her body feeling hot where his arms where holding her. When she felt him respond to the kiss her own breathing quickened, her heart pounding in her ears. She couldn't think or feel anything else besides him, the flutter of emotions making her head spin. All around them, the flowers and smells made everything seem surreal, like a fantasy.
Then suddenly something happened that broke the spell. A clapping noise reached them, followed by a rustle.
"My, my. I see you've finally decided to be true to yourself, Draco Malfoy." A voice said from behind, making them both spin, shock plastered on their faces.
Another rustle and someone appeared in the shadowy entrance of the clearing.
Thank you all for reading this story! I hope you enjoyed the Dramione moment and that you approve of Draco's confession, as belated as it may be. Curious to know who interrupted them? If so, stay tuned for the next chapter. Until then, have a wonderful day! ^_^ <333
Found another funny manga style Dramione shipped 😂