Note: Thanks to Gary to pointing some things out to me.

Make Some Real Magic

by GameGirl
 
 

Chapter 3
Buy Me Love
 

Hermione tried to fight it; tried to forget it, but all the while, she started to become more
interested in Draco Malfoy.   He sometimes sent her gifts and notes.  She got used to him
being her partner in potions but she hoped Ron and Harry didn't notice.  They did, but
only because they thought she didn't want to upset the class or Snape.

Then September 19th, Hermione Granger's 15th birthday, came around. She woke up
hearing Hedwig, Harry's owl, tapping at the window.

"Hermione, you have a letter," Parvati said, opening the window. She recognized Hedwig
and scratched the owl in the middle of her head and took the envelope. "Hey, it's from
Harry!"  She dropped it on Hermione's bed and she sat up.  "Probably a love note!"  She
and Lavender laughed.

"Come on, from Harry?" Lavender said.  "Oh, Ginny will be jealous!"

Ginny blushed and held her pillow over her face.  "Am not."

"It's my birthday," Hermione groaned, opening the card.  It was a short little sweet happy
birthday message.  She smiled grimly, "that's all."

"Hey, I'd be happy for at least a card from Harry."  Lavender said.

Ginny cleared her throat, "Here, Happy Birthday, Hermione."

"Yeah, thanks," she said, crawling out of her bed.

"I made this for you," she handed her a handmade card.  "Made it myself!"

'I noticed,' Hermione thought grimly.  She had received 2 cards just to wish happy birthday.
It was thoughtful, but she thought she deserved more.  Did her friends think they were too
good to give her something more for her birthday?

Hermione dressed and met Harry and Ron in the common room. Ginny, Lavender, Pavarti
and some of the other Gryffindor girls came down with her.  There were some students
already in the common room.  "Happy Birthday, Hermione!" Harry shouted, "Did you get--"

"Yes, I did," she said quickly. "Thank you."  She looked at Ron, wondering where her
present was.  Then she realized she didn't have to wonder long.  Ron didn't have enough
money to get her a decent enough present.  But then she was surprised when he pulled
out something wrapped in paper.

"Here, Hermione," he said with a smile.  "This is for you."

"Oh, you shouldn't have," she pulled the paper off and found an empty inkbottle.  She
raised an eyebrow.  "You really shouldn't have…"

"Why is it empty?" Parvati asked.

"It's invisible ink!" he exclaimed.  "You can write something with the invisible ink and then
you use ordinary ink to see the message.  Here--uh," he looked around the common room.
A Gryffindor student he didn't recognize was doing his homework. "Can I borrow that
quill and ink for a second?"

"Sure."

"I'll write my name," he instructed.  Ron dipped the quill inside the invisible inkbottle and
then used the paper that was wrapped around Hermione's present.  He wrote out his name
with the invisible ink and used the real ink. What he really wanted to do was write a love
letter to Hermione and ask her to the Yule ball--but he knew it was too late for that. He
scribbled where he just wrote his message, but he didn't see his name.  "Wait a second
here…" he kept scribbling, "why won't my name show up!"

"Uh, Ron," said Ginny, "did you get this invisible ink from Fred and George?"

"Yes, why?" he asked.

She laughed, "Well, there's your explanation!  They told you it was real invisible ink and
you believed them?"

Ron groaned, "When I see them--" he shook his head and looked at Hermione, "I'm so
sorry, Hermione."

"Don't worry about it, Ron," she said.

Ginny rubbed her head, "honestly, why do all my brothers have to be complete idiots?"

"Ginny!" Ron yelled.

The room erupted with laughter.

****

"I hear today's your birthday," Draco whispered to Hermione in potions.

"How?" she asked, "I didn't tell you."

Draco grinned, "I have my ways."

Hermione blushed.  That was enough.

"I have a present for you," said Draco.

"Oh, Draco, you don--"

"It's your birthday, isn't it?" he asked, "I wanted to get you a gift.  But it's too big for an owl
to send it.  Why don't you come to the Slytherin house so I can give it to you?"

"But Draco, I'm not aloud there!" she muttered, trying to get the ingredients for the potion in
order.

"No one will know," he said.  "Come on, it's your birthday."

"What is Draco whispering to Hermione about?" Ron demanded to Harry.

"I'm not sure," Harry said, "but I've got the feeling it has nothing to do about the experiment."

"Draco's up to something," said Ron.  "We should--"

"Potter! Weasley!" Snape shouted, "stop talking!"

"We were talking about the experiment," Ron said quickly.

"I doubt that," Snape said.  "Ten points from Gryffindor!"

Hermione was so into her conversation with Draco that she didn't even notice Snape take
away points from her house.

"It's risky," Hermione whispered to him.  "What if Filch of Mrs--"

"No one will know," he said firmly. "Have you noticed what kind of potion we're making today?"

"Invisibility," she said.

"Exactly.  You won't have to worry about asking Potter for his invisibility cloak." He explained.
"And don't worry about my Slytherin housemates.  They're going to sleep heavy tonight."

"Huh?"

He opened the potions book to unit of different sleeping potions.  "Nobody will know."

"You're brilliant," Hermione said, taken back.

"Not as brilliant as you," he said.  "Meet me right outside the dungeon and I'll lead you to
the Slytherin at midnight."  He gave her an alluring look.  "I'll be waiting."

*****

Hermione waited until all her classmates were asleep.  She tiptoed to the stairs and drank
half of the potion then stuck it underneath her robes for later.  Her insides felt light--her
head--her whole body.  She looked at her hands and notice them disappear from sight.
Only the lining of them remained.  Even though she was invisible, she walked with caution
until she got to the dungeons.

Malfoy was waiting for her.  She walked up five feet in front of him and drank half of the
potion to make her visible again.

"Welcome to Slytherin Dungeon," said Draco.  He lent her his arm and helped her through
the trapdoor.  "Careful," he warned.

When they got inside, Hermione shivered, "it's so cold here.  How can you stand it?"

Draco grinned as he handed her a nicely wrapped package.  "I think there's something in
her to keep you warm."

Hermione pulled off the ribbon and unwrapped the package carefully.  "Oh, Draco," she
sighed.  "It's so--" she pulled out an expensive-looking green velvet cloak with fur around
the hood and an emerald button.  "It's beautiful!"

"It goes with this," he said and handed her broom wrapped in paper.

"A broomstick?" she asked.

"Go on," he said, more excited than she was, "open it."

She took off the ropes holding the paper together.  The broom had a silver tip on it and it
had her name engraved on it in silver.

"It has my name on it!" she gasped.

"Now you can prove to everyone that it's yours," he explained.  "It's a Silver Head.  They're
really new."

"Here, try the cloak on," he said, taking the cloak and putting it around her.  "It's perfect for
you, Hermione.  Let's give your new broom a try too."

"But it's nearly midnight," she said.  "We could lose points; be expelled."

Draco got really close to her, slow close, she could smell his sweat, or cologne, or whatever
that scent lingering on him that smelt so divine.  This made her eyes heavy, her lips part.

"Not if you don't get caught," he huskily.  "Besides, it is your birthday."

She smiled, "I see you've done this before."

"Trust me," he said, "we won't get caught.  Filch's not the only person in Hogwarts that knows
all the secret passages."  He outlined her face with a finger.  It made her shiver. "A moonlight
flight sounds like fun, don't you think?"

Hermione swallowed hard.  Her heart began to beat faster, her breathing increased.

"Just you and me, Hermione," he murmured, "flying together in the middle of the night,
under the light of the moon.  Come on, Granger.  I'm not taking no for an answer. There's
something out there I want you to see.  It's incredible.  It's just a ride. When was the last
time you had some real fun?"

She stood without answer.  Draco Malfoy.  He was just so…so bad.  He broke more
rules and poked fun at others than any other Slytherin at school.  Sneaking around at
night was something she certainly wouldn't do.  But for some reason, it seemed so
exciting.  Okay, it was bad, it was dangerous, and it was stupid and dirty.  But it was
exciting and cool.  So was Draco Malfoy.   Her first years at Hogwarts were kind of
boring.  She suddenly felt tired of playing 'Miss Good Li'l 2 Shoes' and spend all her
free time studying and being a 'good girl.'  She had to do something crazy and fun right
now or her years will go by just as boring as they always had been.  Now all that was
going to change.  Hermione was going to expand her horizons and do things that she
wouldn’t do.  All she needed was a little push, some lessons and Draco was just the
teacher to show her what it's like to 'live on the edge.'  Now was her chance to live a
little.  Okay, so maybe Draco Malfoy was the creep he was, but he was just so sexy
and charming…Hermione couldn't help herself.

"I'd love to, Draco," she said.

"Then let's fly," he said, picking up his own broom.

*****

Draco was right about knowing all the secret passageways.  They got lucky with being
able to get outside without being noticed.  Then they ran into Peeves.

"Oh no," Hermione moaned.

"Let me handle this," Draco said. "Today is my friend's birthday?"

"Is that right?" Peeves demanded, trying to sound high and mighty.

"We're just going outside for a little ride.  I've talked to the Bloody Baron," he explained.
"He said I could go.  You wouldn’t want to make him angry, would you?"

Peeves suddenly looked uncomfortable.  Even the mention of the Bloody Baron's name
unnerved him.  "Oh, he said it was all right?  All right, all right.  Anything that's all right with
the Baron, is all right with me."  He winked at them, "Have fun, you two."

Hermione was astounded.  'Being a Slytherin does have its advantages,' she thought.

"Come on, Hermione," Draco said making the glass window disappear.  "Let's go."  They
flew through the open space and it appeared as soon as they were out.

"Draco, you're amazing!" she exclaimed.

"It's not hard," he said, "you just have to mention the Bloody Baron and he'll do anything
for you."

"This is a fast broom," Hermione said.  "Faster than a Firebolt?"

"Not exactly," he said, "but the cool thing is that the broom does more than just fly.  You
can go through walls and destroy things with it.  Like a wand."  He nodded to the silver tip
of her new broomstick, "that's what the silver tip is for."

"Amazing," she said.

"There's something I want to--"

"Let's have a race!" Hermione said suddenly.

"But--"

"Come and catch me if you can!" she laughed and zoomed away from him.

"Hey!" he shouted after her. He groaned and went after her.  "Hermione!"

"Come on, Malfoy," she teased over her shoulder, "is that the best you can do?"

"Wait a second!  There's something I want to show you!"

"You can show me later!"  She cried, "This is fun!"

Malfoy went on after her, but not because he felt like playing.   Then seconds later as he was
chasing Hermione, he forgot the reason why he asked her to come outside with him in the first
place.  Soon he started to laugh and all he wanted to do was just fly around the dark sky with
her. After around thirty minute of flying around he flew beside her, grabbed her broomstick
and they crash landed on the ground.  She got up, pushed him back and ran off.

"Hermione!" Draco yelled playfully, "you can run and ride but you can't hide!"

"Oooh, I've been a bad girl, haven't I, Draco?" she questioned.  "I'd better not let you catch me!"

Draco stood up and once again took chase, this time on foot.  This was even more exciting
than chasing her in the air.  It was almost as though their hearts beat as one.  Everything seemed
to move in slow motion.  Neither of them wanted the night to end.  They ran around, close to
the forbidden forest but neither of them seemed to care at the moment.

Hermione looked over her shoulder to see how far away Draco was behind her--not far.
She giggled and looked ahead but didn't quicken or slow her pace.  He was going to get
to her eventually.  She could hear his hurried footsteps, his heavy breathing.

"Gotcha!" he yelled.

"Oh!"

She felt his arms locate around her waist and pull her to the ground.  He turned her so her
back was on the grass and she was looking up at him. They didn't speak.  Their chests heaved
with deep breaths as they stared at each other.

"Well, you've finally caught me, Draco," she said finally.  She smiled, "so, what was it you
wanted to show me?"

Draco grinned and laughed, as if what he was about to say would sound incredibly absurd.
"You know, I don't even remember.  It probably wasn't very important.  I can show you later."

"We're pretty close to the forbidden forest," she said.  "There's werewolves and things out
here, you know.  Remember 1st year?"

"Yeah," he said. "But don't worry.  We're safe tonight."  He nodded to the sky, "the moon's
not full."

She took a full, deep breath.  "Beautiful.  This is the best birthday I ever had. Thanks, Draco."

"You're welcome," he said, admiring the way her hair glinted under the moonlight.  "Happy
Birthday, Hermione."  He moved closer to her, one hand cupping her face and the other
pressing against her back.  "Hermione…" he kissed her as they lay down together on the
grass.  She reached her arms around him.

"Draco…" she kissed him fully on the lips.  "I can't believe…"

"Shh," he silenced her with another kiss, deeper.

Her hand traveled up his back to his neck and blond hair. She just wanted to kiss Draco all
night.

"Do you have the feeling we're being watched?" she asked suddenly.

"Watched?"

She nodded.

"No," and he continued to kiss her.

But they were being watched.  There were soft footsteps just a few feet away from them a
nd a low growl.

"What was that?" Draco demanded, jumping up.

"Maybe we should be getting back now, Draco," she said, trying to hide her fear.  "I think
getting expelled is better than becoming some creature's dinner."

"Yeah, I agree."  He wrapped his arm around her.  "I'll fly with you to your window."

The creature that saw them peaked through some bushes.  It was the snout of a dog.

"Goodnight, Draco," Hermione said as they reached the window.  "I had a great time."

"Yeah, me too," he kissed her and flew to a window at the lowest floor.

Hermione smiled as she went inside.  Everyone was fast asleep.  She took off her cloak
and folded it neatly with her new broom at the bottom her trunk.  Then she put on her
pajamas and crawled into bed.  Pulling the covers up to her chin, she realized that she
was a new girl now.  And it felt so good.  But what she didn't know was that there was
someone that knew her secret.
 
 
 

Ooh, can you guess who the someone is?
Next Chapter: Win Me Over
 

Back to Chapter 2
Chapter 4