60Music to My Ears
Disclaimer: Characters, actions, words etc... taken from JKR's Harry Potter © and used in this fanfiction do not belong to me.
A/N: (June 11/2012) Hey everyone, so this was the first story I ever published on FFN, and I'm now updating it so it's more detailed and easier to read. I hope my old readers fall in love with it again, and that new readers find the magic between Hermione and Draco. Read and review as you like. xoxo TBG
Chapter 1: The Voice
Draco awoke after another dream. He had a cold sweat on his brow and he grabbed his green satin robes and slipped out of bed. He walked to his window and took a deep breath. His dreams were becoming a problem. Every night, Draco would dream of a beautiful singing voice, which he would follow until he walked right off a balcony in the Astronomy tower. He always awoke right before he hit the ground. It was unnecessary torture, because he continued to follow the voice even though he knew it would lead to his doom. The flash of creamy skin and soft hair kept Draco following.
He scowled because some part of him felt like he'd heard the voice before but as a normal speaking voice but he couldn't think of who it was. He slid his hand across his brow in frustration because he'd fallen in love with the voice and he'd even began to hear it while in the library and on the grounds. He was going crazy. And he didn't know how to stop it.
Later that day, when Draco walked into Potions, everyone noticed how haggard he looked, and many of the students stared at him. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, his hair was a mess, his skin was gray and clammy and he had huge bags under his eyes. He walked and sat down at his desk as Harry, Ron and Hermione observed him.
"Hey what's going on with Malfoy? He looks bloody horrible, not that he doesn't always but more than usual," Ron whispered as Malfoy took out his wand and cauldron.
"I know, but who cares about him, we should be focusing on the potion we'll be working on," Hermione whispered back.
"Oh. Right," Ron said gloomily.
But Hermione herself was worried about Draco. She'd always had a soft spot for him after he saved her from an Unforgivable curse that was thrown at her in the previous year. He had always denied stopping it for her but she didn't believe him. Hermione knew she had to help him with whatever was bothering him, so she wrote him a note to meet her later that night near the Astronomy tower.
A small piece of parchment crawled onto Draco's desk and stopped. Draco looked around but didn't notice anyone doing anything out of the ordinary so he opened the note cautiously. It didn't do anything strange so Draco unfolded it.
He read:
If you want some free help for whatever is bothering you, meet me near the Astronomy Tower at midnight tonight. I kind of owe you.
M.
What the….? Draco thought. How could this person help me? They don't even know what my problem is. I don't need their help. So Draco crumpled the note and poofed it away. But as the day went by, the stress of classes were really wearing Draco down. The note continued to pop into the forefront of Draco's mind.
That night again, Draco woke up in a cold sweat. This was getting ridiculous. He glanced at his clock it said 12:30 am. Maybe M was still waiting for him. Draco hurriedly put on his robes and left for the Astronomy Tower.
Hermione had been waiting for half an hour for Draco and had gotten bored. She guessed he didn't want her help. But she didn't leave. She thought she'd wait ten more minutes. In the silence, she began to sing. Quietly she sung, but her sweet voice slowly drifted down the spiral staircase down to the main hall. As Draco reached the tower the sound reached his ears and caused him to freeze. Was he still dreaming or was this real? Draco stood there a moment, listening before he began to go up the stairs.
How could he be hearing this? He slowly walked up the steps getting closer and closer and finally reached the top. There he peeked over and saw the voice was coming from a girl. She had long brown hair that in the flickering candlelight highlighted the blond hues intermingling in the curls, she was curvaceous with a small waist that flared into soft luscious hips. Draco's eyes drifted down to her legs which were long and shapely. The skin looked smooth in the light and Draco had a sudden urge to want to run his hands across that skin to feel the softness.
Draco took a deep breath and willed the girl with his eyes to turn around. And as though she had heard him she did. And to his surprise it was Hermione Granger. She was his dream girl, the voice that haunted him day and night relentlessly belonged to her. But at that moment Draco saw Hermione for the first time Draco really looked at Hermione, noticing her simple yet elegant facial features, her clear honest eyes and her full pink lips. A blush was on her cheeks since she'd been standing against the wind on the balcony of the tower and her hair was slightly tousled. Draco stepped into the Astronomy Tower as Hermione turned toward the entrance.
"I don't think Hermione starts with M, Granger" he said as he walked over to her.
Hermione smiled lightly and said, "My nickname is Mione, so I wrote that initial instead of my own, because I didn't want you to know it was me," she said as she moved toward him.
"So, what is this? Why did you call me up here and offer me 'help' when you're supposed to hate me?" Draco asked coldly.
"Well you looked kind of umm…ruffled today, so I thought I'd offer some help, but if you don't want it that's fine. I'm good enough to offer but I can't force it on you, "Hermione replied lightly as she moved toward the exit.
Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her close. "I never said I didn't want it. I'm here aren't I?" he whispered in her ear.
Hermione shivered. She didn't know why but as she felt Draco's breath lightly fan her ear, his strong hand on her arm and the side of her body pressed up against him, she felt a tingling running through her. She moved away quickly but easily. Hermione had never been affected by a guy like that before, not even with Ron. And for once Hermione started to really look at Draco. She saw the soft hair that tumbled across his brow since it was no longer slicked back, the chiseled features in his face, from his dark eyes which almost looked stormy grey to his sensual mouth which was still grinning at her. His strong arms were against his side, and Hermione could see the defined muscles there. And she could see his long sinewy legs which were muscled nicely, underneath his robes since he was only in boxer shorts. She turned away.
Draco noticed this action and didn't understand. Had he hurt her? Wait…why did he care if he hurt a mud blood? That's all she was a dirty, stinking mud blood. But why had when he'd grabbed her, he'd wanted so much to just kiss her? Why had talking to her in those moments seem so easy in comparison to the quarrels he picked with her?
He walked over to her and turned her around. She looked up into his eyes and noticed the stormy grey had lightened. And there saw something she'd never seen before in Draco: kindness. She also saw something else flicker in his grey depths, but she didn't wish to examine it further.
Draco looked at Hermione as she stared at him. He noticed that her eyes were a startling shade of hazel that he'd never noticed before. It looked like bark on a young tree which had been warmed in the sun. Draco felt that she could see his soul, and something inside of him ached to delve into the depths of those eyes and happily drown. Why was she having this affect on him? He had never really noticed Hermione, she had always just been an annoying know it all. Always getting the top marks, always hanging around with the popular boys, first Potter, then Krum. She wasn't anything special…even though Draco always saw her in the library and was always trying to see what book she was reading, so he could make fun of her for it. No she was nothing important…but as his eyes flickered to her lips, he couldn't help but retract that last thought.
Hermione stared at Draco as his eyes darkened again as he stared at Hermione. His hands held her lightly at the shoulder but she seemed to be unable to move. Something about how intensely he stared at her, trapped her. Why had she wanted to help him in the first place? She couldn't believe that she'd let his haggard look bother her. But as Hermione thought back to that afternoon, she felt her heart constrict in pain at seeing Draco like that. Her eyes flickered back to his and they locked. Hermione's lips parted slightly as she took a breath.
Draco's eyes flickered to Hermione's lips when they parted. All he knew was that he needed to kiss her. That small, innocent action set Draco on fire. He'd never felt so aware of his body, and over something so small and over someone like Hermione.
Draco couldn't wait any longer, so he slowly leaned in, never taking his eyes off her lips and surprisingly she met his lips halfway and kissed him with a fierceness and passion he never knew existed. This was like no other kiss he'd ever experienced, and as the barrage of feelings overwhelmed him, he soon began to take control of it.
Hermione sighed as Draco slid his tongue into her mouth and deepened the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck, as his hands slid from her shoulder and wrapped around her waist. He pulled her up against his harder body, holding her close. No one had ever kissed her like this, not Viktor, not Ron, not even Harry when they had secretly gone out. This kiss was shaking her to her very core and a deep and powerful ache in her body was beginning to run through her limbs, making her want more of Draco's kisses and everything and anything else he could give.
Hermione struggled to muddle through her thoughts at what was happening. The exquisite feeling of Draco's lips and his tongue caressing hers made it hard for her to think, but one thought came through finally. This is Draco Malfoy, this is wrong. Hermione struggled but she was able to pull away. Draco let her go, finally registering her hands pushing against him. He had a moment to take in her bruised lips and her slightly dishevelled uniform. She couldn't look at him as she fixed her robes.
"I'm sorry. I have to go." She said. She staggered out of the tower almost drunkenly, having to catch herself on the handle so as not to tumble down the stairs. Draco watched her go. He needed to get back to his own room. He never knew he would kiss Hermione Granger and like it. Let alone wish for more of those kisses …and now her very delicious body…