Ah well, read and enjoy! :o)

Oops…I forgot the disclaimer last time round :o( sorry J.K! Well anyway, I own nothing but the plot. All the
characters are J.K Rowling’s.

The Ice Dragon and the Fiery Queen

by Silver Willow
 
 

Chapter 2
Opposites Attract
 

Hermione gazed nervously into the mirror, hoping she looked somewhat presentable. She
ran a comb through the silky strands of chestnut hair that lapsed softly over her shoulders,
and sighed at the mirror.

"I must be stupid," she whispered.

"Not really, my dear," said the mirror sleepily. "Reason often abandons us in our time of
need. Just follow your heart."

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione. A gentle snore came from the mirror, and Hermione
clicked in exasperation.

"Some mirror you are," she scowled angrily, throwing her dressing gown over it.

She wrapped her black velvet cloak around herself and hurried quietly out of the dormitory,
hoping not to wake the rest of the girls.

If anybody had seen Hermione out that night, they would have been surprised for two reasons.
One was that Hermione very rarely sneaked around the corridors on a night, and the other
reason was that Hermione looked particularly stunning that night. She had dressed in her plain
black school robes and her black cloak, but despite the plain, drab colours she wore, she still
managed to look dignified and beautiful.

She tiptoed delicately across the entrance hall, and then through the Great Hall. It looked so
gently romantic, with the candles still burning brightly in places. The golden plates lay ready
for breakfast on each House’s tables, glimmering from the gentle flames of the candles. She
could still hear her shoes making the slightest noise as she walked, and it made her feel uneasy.
She hoped that nobody would see her and realise what she was up to.

Gladly slipping out of the Great Hall, she crept along the walls in the dusky velvet shadows
towards the Astronomy Tower. She finally reached the tiny door, and opened it gingerly,
stepping as quietly as she could up the stairs that spiralled upwards for what seemed like an
eternity to Hermione. At last, she arrived at the door that stood between her and her admirer.
She stared at it with mixed feelings, of excitement and fright. What if it was all a big joke at
her expense? What if the person on the other end of that door was someone disgustingly
repulsive, like Crabbe or Goyle? She dismissed the thought immediately out of her head.
Crabbe and Goyle simply wouldn’t do anything like that. Hermione would have been
surprised if either of the two were able to write, let alone spell properly.

She swallowed hard, and grasped the door handle. The door swung open, and Hermione
cursed under her breath as she saw the empty room. The door closed behind her as she
stared wildly around.

"Nice language," said a voice that Hermione recognised immediately. She spun round to face
him, and gasped as her thoughts were confirmed.

Draco Malfoy stood behind the door, looking as calm and as casual as he always did.

"You!" she exclaimed, feeling her heart thump strongly against her chest.

"Whom did you expect?" he said, softly.

"I…" began Hermione, then broke off. Malfoy wouldn’t be too pleased if she told him that
she thought he might have been Derrick or Bole, or even worse, Crabbe or Goyle. She was
relieved in a way that it was Draco Malfoy. In fact, she was ecstatic. "Nobody in particular."

"Am I what you expected?" came the whispered reply. His whisper sent chills skating down
Hermione’s spine and up towards her neck, making the hair there prickle in delight, and partly
fear. Fear at the effect that this person had on her, the same person who had tormented her
for over four years.

"I didn’t know what to expect," replied Hermione quietly. "I didn’t know you even liked me,
Malfoy."

"Please, call me Draco," he said. "I did call you Hermione today."

"I noticed," answered Hermione, blushing. She sat on a nearby windowsill and leant her head
against the cold panes of glass. "Draco, why have you suddenly decided to like me?"

"I’ve always liked you," he replied. "It’s been really hard what with parents and all. My father
would kill me if he knew I was even talking to you. Malfoy family pride and all that."

"Oh, sod the family pride," said Hermione, in exasperation. "Mal…sorry, Draco…" she
corrected herself on receiving a glare from Draco, "You can’t carry on being bullied by
that…that…goose!"

Draco began to laugh. "Goose?" he repeated, laughing. Hermione blushed.

"Well, he’s not nice!" she said, trying to hide her embarrassment. "Look, you shouldn’t have
to obey your father’s every word."

Draco looked up at her with fire in his grey eyes.

"You don’t have to live with him," he said, softly. "You don’t have to watch him in his sick
little rituals…he thinks rape is an excuse to show power."

Hermione stared at him in horror.

"No," she breathed, hoping she had misheard Draco. "He doesn’t…"

Draco turned to the opposite window, and gazed miserably out of it. He turned back to
Hermione, avoiding her eyes.

"He and those other Death Eaters, they don’t care," he sighed. "Many times he’s brought
young girls back to the Manor, under the Imperius curse. My mother doesn’t ask any more…
nobody does."

He looked into Hermione’s eyes for a brief moment, and Hermione felt the same feeling she
had felt when their gazes had first connected. That rush of euphoria flooding her veins…every
feeling in her body was magnified. She stood up and took his hands that were strangely warm.

"Draco, you can’t let this happen!" she exclaimed. "All those girls…it’s not right, it’s sick!"

"I can’t stop him," said Draco, sadly. There was a brief silence, until Draco broke it again.
"Anyway, enough of my family. I’m meant to be here for you." He took hold of her wrists
gently and gazed into her deep brown eyes. "You’re very pretty, you know."

"You’ve changed your attitude," she said. "I thought I was that ‘long-molared Mudblood’
you love to hate?"

"Yeah, well we all have to eat our words once in a while," replied Draco.

There was an awkward silence, which Hermione broke.

"I dreamt about you once," she said, smiling.

"Did you?" asked Draco, intrigued. "What happened?"

"Well, we were in the Forbidden Forest," explained Hermione. "And we were walking along,
and then this black figure came out of the undergrowth, and began to chase us. You blasted
something at him from your wand and he fell, and that was pretty much it."

"I don’t dream much," said Draco. "I don’t know why, I just don’t really dream."

Yet another awkward silence filled the air.

"Hermione?" said Draco.

"Yes?"

"Do you…do you like me, then?"

"Well I wouldn’t be sat here now if I didn’t," replied Hermione sarcastically.

"Oh, you know what I mean," he sighed. Hermione laughed softly.

"Yes, Draco," she answered. "I do like you, a lot."

He sat beside her on the broad windowsill, still holding her wrists and staring intently into
the dark pools of brown that formed her eyes. They seemed to be alight with some kind of
fire that Draco never realised she had.

Hermione let her gaze focus on Draco’s face. She took in every single detail of his face,
until she could have drawn a picture of him. She felt him shiver as she raised her hand to
touch his blond hair that shone silver in the pale moonlight that sliced the darkness inside
the room. His eyes, she noticed, appeared bluer than ever. They seemed to dance with
fire, which she found strange. His eyes were icy, yet they burned with an intense passion.

He moved closer to her until his lips were touching hers, and held her closely to him,
breathing hard. Hermione had never been kissed so gently before, with so much love…
she felt as if she was in a dream, one that she never wanted to wake up from. She felt
him running his fingers softly through her hair, and she shivered with delight as his fingertips
stroked her neck. He was still kissing her softly, his lips pressing softly against hers, his
tongue touching her bottom lip gently. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him
closer to her, and stroked his hair. The kisses became more passionate, more desperate…
It was like having a hunger that only this could prevent. Draco broke away, breathing
hard, still holding Hermione around her waist. Hermione gazed back into Draco’s grey
eyes, which now danced with happiness.

"We can’t stay here forever," she sighed regretfully. "If Filch finds us, we’ll be in big trouble."

"Well, we’ll go somewhere where he can’t find us, then," replied Draco. He took hold of
her hand and led her down the stairs and out of the Tower. Hermione closed the door and
was about to emerge from the shadows, but Draco held her back with his arm.

"What is it?" she breathed. Draco looked paler than usual.

"It’s Filch," he gasped. "Run…c’mon…"

They fled along the corridors of the school that were bathed in pale moonlight, lighting up
their figures and shadows as they raced up a staircase. Hermione pulled Draco behind a
thick velvet curtain and they stayed there for a while. Draco bent down, trying to rid himself
of the painful stitch in his ribs. Hermione leant her head against the wall, gasping for breath.

"You’ll have to excuse me, Draco," she said, "but I’m not used to high-speed chases like this."

Draco grinned and pushed her hair back from her damp forehead.

"All part of my thrill-seeking lifestyle," he said, laughingly. He stared at Hermione again and
pressed his lips onto hers, still breathing hard from running. She clasped her arms around his
waist and kissed him back. Draco was taken by surprise by Hermione; he never realised
she had such a passionate streak inside her. She pulled away, looking panic-stricken.

"Oh no," she moaned softly. She peered outside the curtain to see Filch sneaking up the
staircase, and with a frightened squeak, she shot back behind the curtain.

"What is it?" whispered Draco.

"Filch is coming," hissed Hermione.

"What can we do?" asked Draco, his face drained of colour. Hermione thought for a while,
then her face brightened and she pulled a glass vial out of her pocket.

"Drink some of this," she whispered to Draco, handing him the bottle filled with an iridescent
pink fluid. He looked in amazement at her.

"Didn’t you throw this away?" he asked. "Snape said we…"

"As if I’m going to do what he says," replied Hermione, scornfully. "Quick, drink it!"

Draco raised the vial to his lips and let some of the fluid flow out of the neck of the vial like
some sort of shimmering pink river and down his throat. He gasped at the coldness of the
potion, and swallowed hard. He handed the bottle to Hermione, shaking slightly. She downed
the rest of the potion and replaced the bottle inside her robes. Draco looked down at himself,
and saw nothing. He looked at Hermione with a start.

"Hermione, you’re not invisible!" he hissed.

"That’s because we’re both invisible," she whispered back. "Trust me, it’s worked."

They both leant against the wall quickly as Filch passed by, with Mrs Norris, hardly daring
to breathe.

"I know they’re around here somewhere, my pretty," he said, smirking. He searched
frantically around the staircase, hoping to find somebody.

Behind the curtain, Draco held Hermione tightly around her waist, for fear Filch should see
them. He leant his head on her shoulder and kissed her neck almost silently, and Hermione
closed her eyes, trying to keep quiet. It was incredibly hard when somebody who you liked
a lot was kissing you. She bit her lip and stayed silent, until Filch had passed, still muttering
away to Mrs Norris.

"I hate you," she hissed at Draco. He merely smiled his mischievous smile at her and carried
on kissing her. "We could really be in trouble, you know…"

Draco didn’t care at that moment in time. He didn’t care whether Filch caught them, or even
if McGonagall or Snape found them. However, a loud shout disturbed him.

"PEEVES!" hollered Filch. "Peeves, you pesky poltergeist! You wait ‘til I get Dumbledore
on you, you’ve had it now!"

There was a loud crash from the landing at the top of the staircase, and Peeves came shooting
down from the landing, cackling in delight.

"Filthy Filch!" screeched Peeves in delight. "Filthy, dirty filthy Filch!"

"Get back here, you little…" shouted Filch, but broke off as he saw a figure descending the
stairs. "Oh, hello there, Severus!"

Hermione’s heart almost stopped. She peered from behind the curtain, willing it not to be true,
but her heart sank as she saw a tall figure with black hair, swathed in black robes and a black
cloak.

"Oh…good morning, Argus," stammered Snape. "What…what are you doing up at this time?"

"Trying to catch that pilfering Peeves," grumbled Filch. "I don’t suppose you saw anything out
of the ordinary tonight?"

"N-nothing, Argus," replied Snape. Draco turned to Hermione behind the curtain, looking
puzzled.

"How come Snape sounds so nervous all of a sudden?" he whispered. Hermione shrugged
and shrank back to the wall as Snape and Filch swept past and went their separate ways at
the bottom of the staircase. They both breathed freely and Draco sat on the windowsill
behind him.

"That was close," he said. "Hermione, I never knew you had it in you!"

"I’m full of surprises," she grinned, and pulled him against her. Draco ran his fingers through
her hair and down her neck, making her breathe in sharply. As she moved her head slightly
to kiss his neck, a faint fragrance drifted over her. It was the same fragrance that Draco had
worn since the first year. She couldn’t describe it, but there was something about that fragrance;
it was exciting, yet comforting. She breathed deeply, trying to find traces of it on his robes.

Draco closed his eyes as he felt Hermione’s lips touch his skin, trying not to moan; however
much he wanted to. Hermione could tell Draco was turned on; she could tell by the way that
he closed his eyes and bit the edge of his tongue. She grinned to herself, knowing she was
the only one who could drive him wild. She let her tongue wander around to his throat, and
despite biting his tongue; he could not help but moan softly. He grasped hold of Hermione,
as if he was scared of losing her. They broke apart, both flushed and breathing hard.

"We should go," whispered Hermione, regretfully. She stroked his forehead, letting her fingers
tousle the silvery strands of hair. He stared back into her deep brown eyes and clasped hold
of her hand.

"I know we should, but I don’t want to," he replied. "Can’t we just stay here?"

Hermione giggled, knowing that Draco was joking. "I wish we could, but we both know
there’s no way we can."

There was a silence, in which Draco raised his hand to Hermione’s cheek and stroked it,
gazing into her eyes.

"I promise you, Hermione," he breathed. "One day, I promise you, nothing will stand in our
way. Not my father, not Voldemort, not anybody."

Hermione stared doubtfully at Draco.

"How can you be sure?" she said, after a slight pause.

"I don’t know," he sighed. "I can hope and dream that one day we can be together." He
kissed her hand softly, not taking his eyes away from Hermione’s. "When can I see you
again?"

"Tomorrow," breathed Hermione. "I can get Harry to lend me his Invisibility Cloak."

"And if he won’t?" asked Draco, sounding uncertain.

"I can easily make up that Invisibility Potion again," she replied. " I wrote down the recipe
for it."

"So there is something to be said for intelligence," he grinned. Hermione slapped him playfully.

"You’re very cheeky, Draco Malfoy," she smiled. Another loud crash sounded from several
floors up, and Hermione stared at Draco in fright.

"Go!" she mouthed, pulling him from out of the curtain and running along the corridors. She
knew there would be at least one teacher that would come to investigate, and she sensed
that the Invisibility Potion was wearing off.

They fled through hallways, along landings and down stairs until they reached the Main Hall,
and Draco turned to Hermione.

"Tomorrow night, midnight, the Trophy Room," he breathed. Hermione nodded and pulled
Draco to her for one last kiss before they went back to their respective dormitories. Draco
blew Hermione a kiss as he turned into the corridor to his dormitory. He stopped, pulled
something from over his head and ran back to Hermione, pressing it into her hand.

"Think of me," he whispered, and with that, he disappeared down the corridor to the Slytherin
common room.

Hermione looked at the small thing that Draco had given her, and gasped as she saw it. It was
a tiny silver dragon on a fine silver chain, and it opened its mouth, breathing a tiny puff of smoke.

"I will," she whispered after Draco, and hurried along to the Gryffindor common room, still
clutching the tiny dragon necklace in her hand.
 
 
 

A/N- told you things would get a lot more exciting in the second chapter! Thank you to all those who
reviewed- and thank you to those who congratulated me on how realistic Snape was :o) *grins happily*
I know Draco is not really in character either and that Hermione sometimes slips out of character, but
hey! It’s only a fanfic, after all! But thank you 2 everyone who reviewed-much appreciated!
 

Back to Chapter 1
Chapter 3