Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Daylight	By : pepperdoc Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 13120 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter Universe, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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He released her hand from his elbow and kissed her gently on the forehead. Even his lips felt tense. She was trying desperately to not look behind them to see if Anthony was behind them. She was certain it was him. They went down.
Luis was in the process of entering the staircase from the cafeteria and paused at the landing when he saw them coming, smiling in greeting. It faltered when he saw Draco’s face. “Rose was wondering if you were still coming to dinner tonight, Draco,” He asked hesitatingly. Hermione stopped just past Luis and clutched her elbows trying to not look worried.
Draco’s face must have changed, because she could see Luis’ confusion wavering. He seemed to be thinking he had mistaken the original expression. “No, not with all of the goings on around here. I’ll have to make plans for another night. Give Rose my love, I’ll come and see you both tomorrow I hope.” He said, pausing on the first stair to answer. His voice still sounded a little off to Hermione, but Luis didn’t seem to notice it.
“Well, that I can understand. No problem. We’ll send along a pumpkin bread loaf the next time we see you, then,” He said with his laidback smile.
Draco started walking again, passing Hermione, and told Luis as he passed him, “It’ll be sooner then, if pumpkin bread is coming my way,” He turned to finish his sentence and Hermione almost believed there was nothing wrong, even though she knew otherwise.
“Hi Luis. Bye Luis,” Hermione said as she followed him.
She heard him chuckling behind her as they continued to a different staircase. There was a group of teachers idly chatting as they passed the cafeteria. Draco waved at them, but didn’t call out. He pulled Hermione in front of him before starting the next stairwell. “No good way to protect you when you’re behind me.” He told her gruffly. “Luis probably stopped Anthony to talk, but still, just in case.”
Her thighs were burning as she went down each step. She really must go to the gym more often, she told herself. She could feel her worry increasing as she began to hear faint echoes of boots coming down the same stairs they had just left.
She reached the landing and Draco pointed to the next stairwell over her shoulder. She ran down the last set, feeling like her doom was behind her. Draco directed her to his private quarters again by taking her hand and nearly running to the safety the door offered.
He slammed the door behind them and leaned against it. His face was flushed but he seemed much less out of breath than she. She put her palms on the desk in the middle of the room and allowed herself to pant. She heard him whispering and recognized his spells putting even more wards up. “I have to go to my office and get those reports. You should be safe,” He said hurriedly. He glanced at her and she nearly forgot to breathe. He looked incredibly anxious, but somehow, even with his silky hair mussed and his cheeks still flushed, his shirt coming untucked and sweat on his brow, he was by far the most handsome she had ever seen him.
She cursed her attraction to him, she had barely heard what he had said because of that damned sexiness he exuded. Damn him, she caught herself thinking. She forced herself to nod. He raced back out of the door and she lifted herself to sit on the desk. She was still trying to catch her breath and trying desperately not to think of how much danger she was in.
The amount of protections around her should make her feel more comfortable, but somehow it made her feel slightly claustrophobic. In addition to that, she realized in a moment of wild clarity she had no idea what the sleeping arrangements were for the evening. She would ask him as soon as he got back, but in the meantime, she stared at the door anxiously waiting for him.
The door was flung open and she jumped even though she was staring straight at it. Draco came into the room holding a thick stack of papers and shut the door with his foot. He leaned against it, closed his eyes in relief and slid to the floor with a sigh, his legs sticking out in front of him. He looked so boyish in that moment, she wanted to comfort him.
She stood from her perch and padded over to him. His eyes were still closed and she slid onto the ground next to him. Slowly, she reached her hand out to him and brushed the fringe of hair off of his forehead. He opened his eyes and looked at her steadily, his grey eyes captivating her for a moment. She stroked his hair again without thinking and his eyes slipped half shut as he leaned into her hand. He sighed softly and seemed to relax.
“You’ll be the death of me I’ll bet,” He said quietly.
“Probably. I’m sorry if I am,” She answered in a low voice.
He opened his eyes and sat up, “Here, read these,” He said, giving her about half the stack. “I want to figure out- if we can- how long he has not been Anthony.”
She lifted the stack and took it to one of the armchairs. He stood with a grunt and sat in the chair next to her with his own stack. They spent the next hour reading dry reports detailing little more than who was on duty and who had come and gone. There were about thirty reports all told since the Aurors had arrived and begun their protection.
She read the early ones which were full of comings and goings of people. There had been no corresponding attacks which they could cross reference aside from the original one, so they focused instead on where their five suspects had been, if available, during the reports.
Only one really stuck out to her, ‘Anthony Drilb leaving temp. camp 12:05 approx, return at 13:30. Purpose: check animals at school. Unaccompanied at his insistence.’
She put it to the side to show to Draco when they compared notes. He had about five papers set aside to show her. She finished just after he did and they compared their six papers. One of his was about Avery, two were about his assistant and the last two were about Anthony. The times of what the purpose reported didn’t add up.
But, before they had even left, Anthony was registered as coming to the meeting place twice, from two different Aurors. Anthony had been standing right next to Draco, he was certain, during the second. Anthony had already returned and was listening to Rose and Luis give their explanations of what happened. Yet the report told them that he entered from the east and noted that it was him entering camp for the first time.
The first he was accompanied by Rose and Luis.
Avery’s assistant had left from a post in the woods, according to the report at 15:28 and come back less than an hour later to a different post. A scant few minutes after she left, Avery had left from yet another post and had not returned. Hermione and Draco had seen them leave by Apparition around noon and Draco assured her that they had not returned. Rowle was the only one who could have been impersonating them.
They could not figure out his movements precisely. But it was certain he had taken one of the three’s faces during their time in the woods, and was still wearing it. The information was just not enough for them to decide.
They discussed it until around 5:30, when Draco told her to come with him to his office so they could eat. She asked him why they couldn’t eat in his quarters. He answered, “No food can pass that door.”
He held his hand out and led her to the office cautiously. Rowle probably knew they were onto him by now. If he was Anthony, he had seen them acting suspiciously. If it were Avery or the Assistant, he would have given up the potion containing their essence by now.
She settled on the floor as the food appeared before her. “Shouldn’t the identification potion be done by now?” She asked, trying to decide which piece of cornbread she wanted.
“It should. They would have alerted us if they had any positive result,” He sounded tired.
“Did Anthony get tested along with everyone else?” She asked looking at him, worriedly.
“No, at the time he gave me a coded message we had set up for the highest ranking officials in the school. That was sufficient proof that it wasn’t Rowle. So I immediately took him out of the suspicious group. But now that we have taken a closer look, the identification process we are currently using is going to be inconclusive. It’s one of the three and I guess we won’t know for sure who he is until he chooses to make his move.”
She thought for a moment and remembered her earlier worry, “Draco, how are we going to do the sleeping arrangements?”
He smirked, “Well, I can imagine a scenario which would please us both physically… but maybe not morally.”
Her mouth opened in shock, “Tell me you didn’t just say that.”
He looked at her seriously, “I did. And I meant it. I don’t want a once off, but,” His eyes raked over her once again, “I’ll take what you will give.”
She mimicked his smirk and told him haughtily, “Perhaps a once off won’t be enough for me either, I suppose it depends on what you give.”
He grinned, “Oh, my dear, the things I would give to you.” He sighed and sipped his iced tea. “Are not really pleasant dinner topics.” He finished.
She lay down on her side with her arm bent to support her head. She wanted to know if he was bluffing, so she felt the need to play with him a bit. She could see his eyes slowly taking in her curves. When his eyes finally met hers she told him in a low voice, “Please, humor me.”
He smirked once more. She saw he was about to speak when she heard the door open behind her.
“Finally I have the two of you alone. Now I can kill you together.” Said a voice behind her.
Things happened so fast afterward that she often would have to imagine herself observing from above rather than with her own eyes. She had jumped at the voice, and began to turn. She had seen Anthony, but his accent was gone, and so was the carefree look on his face she had seen when she first met him. Draco flew over her. He must have jumped across the office, but to Hermione’s adrenaline-powered slowed-down time he simply flew across it.
Anthony had a wand in his hand and had cast some spell. Draco had crumpled to the floor. It was so strange, his momentum should have carried him across the room to tackle the man wearing Anthony’s face, but when the spell had been cast, he stopped midair and fallen straight down.
Hermione did not allow herself to stay still, her survival instincts which had been honed in war took over. She rolled to the side, not caring what her clothing was revealing in the face of danger. Springing up, she had cast a strong protection charm around her body and another around Draco without even thinking about either one. Her magic seemed to have its own version of muscle memory.
‘Anthony’ began to turn to her with the killing curse on his lips in a strangely high-pitched voice and she let out a feral scream as Moody had taught her so very long ago. Scream and surprise your attacker his gruff voice echoed in her mind, that half second for them to get over the shock could mean your life. He was right, ‘Anthony’s wand jerked and the green jet coming from it missed her wildly. Books flew off the shelves and crashed all around her. Her protection spell told her she would have been hit several times had she not cast it.
She let her instincts take over, casting spells to disarm, wound, restrain, whatever her magic demanded she try next. ‘Anthony’ really was an excellent duelist, he blocked or deflected all of them.
From the corner of her eye, she saw white-blonde hair moving. She did not allow her eyes nor her head to turn in that direction. She barely even registered that she had seen it in her focus on her enemy. A brief flash from Draco’s wand nearly distracted her, but she forced her mind to remain focused on Rowle.
His form was beginning to waver, and she realized his Polyjuice was wearing off. He was becoming smaller, more broad and lighter skinned as she continued trying to hit him with hexes she still had stored in her memory from her teenage years. His clothes were becoming too long and too tight at the same time, and she absently noted that she now had more of an advantage.
She started moving, running around the desk, forcing him to turn in order to keep her in his sight while he turned his back to Draco. His attention was on her only. He stumbled slightly over his too large boots and she successfully hit him with a stinging hex. While his attention was diverted she cast an immobilizing spell, but he blocked it. “Adava-” He started to hiss.
From behind him, ropes started wrapping around his body, stopping the spell. From behind the door, came many voices from the corridor. Rowle screamed in fury and tried to Apparate, not knowing that no one was able to inside the building. He fell to his side, wrapped in tight ropes as the Aurors burst into the room. He screamed in an oddly high voice, “Criminals! They are the criminals! Arrest them!”
Hermione’s adrenaline had not yet receded, and she was having what could be described as a flashback, she barely managed to stop herself from casting spells at the Aurors. She forced her hand to release her wand, dropping it on the floor. Her eyes seemed to be picking up every movement in the area and she was trying to calm down desperately. The Auror’s came closer to her after silencing Rowle and she flinched backwards, raising her hands defensively without thinking about it.
The Auror saw the reaction and put away his wand, nodding to his partner to do the same. They held up their hands and the first one told her, “The threat is restrained Miss Granger. Take a deep breath. Do you remember me? We met earlier.”
She felt like she desperately needed one, so she took a lungful of air. She could smell the cologne and books, she felt a switch in her mind flip. Time sped up to its normal pace and she felt less like she was about to injure everyone around her if they came too close. Hesitantly, she said, “You are… Lieutenant… Benjamin Ptyalin. I met you in the courtyard. You called me a peach.”
The Lieutenant smiled. His partner looked back and forth, confused. She looked down at her dress and saw it was ripped up the front to just below her crotch. Draco was waving the other two Aurors off of him and he walked over to her. “You’re bleeding,” He said as he came closer.
“I ripped your shirt,” She told him, feeling stupid.
He touched her hair gently and smiled thinly. “It’s ok, I can fix it.” She allowed him to tend to the small cut on her leg while she wearily kept an eye on the restrained young man on the floor. He finished and waved his wand to fix the rip in the shirt.
“We need to get reports.” One of the Aurors said, next to Hermione.
She sighed and looked at Draco as he stood. She felt more normal now that her adrenaline was receding. His face clearly showed he was thinking the same thing as her, Seriously?
She had to tell the story twice and Draco had to say it three times before they were through. Head Auror Avery made them tell it again when he got there. His assistant was taking notes with her astonished face looking up at Draco as he spoke. Hermione felt something close to jealousy when she noticed the young woman checking him out when he turned to get something off his desk. She itched for her wand.
The Aurors had taken hers and Draco’s for brief examination of the spells they had cast. For ‘Supporting evidence’ as they had put it. She settled for crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the bespectacled young woman. She seemed to feel the anger and cast a glance at Hermione. She blushed and kept her eyes on the paper she was writing on after that. When she glanced at Draco again, he was smirking down at her as he spoke and she wondered if he had seen the interaction. She shrugged at him and walked over to Rowle.
They were going to put him on trial, but for the moment were satisfied with having him restrained and silenced on the floor. Hermione stared at him, trying to figure out his motives. He was blonde and seemed to not even have his beard yet on his young face. She wondered about his age, he seemed like he might be 15 if he was lucky. Blue eyes filled with hatred stared out of his young face. He was writhing on the floor as she approached and had a wild expression, a mixture of rage and fear. Surely he must know I wouldn’t hurt him… She thought to herself as he flinched. The Auror standing next to the prisoner watched her closely.
“He seems to have a strong reaction to you,” The man said. “Do you know who he is?”
“I don’t,” She answered, her voice feeling sore. “But he knows me from the war, I think.”
“What war?” The Auror asked, curiously.
She looked up at him, seeing he was also very young. Maybe it was his first assignment, at the very least he was not old enough to have learned much about the war in Britain during his childhood. “There was a war in Britain when I was young, I was a major player in it. So was he,” She gestured to Draco absently. She sighed, “I’d honestly thought it was finally over with. That people would stop hunting me down for their own purposes. Clearly it isn’t.”
She realized suddenly that she understood why Draco had stayed. These people only had a vague knowledge of the war. They had no idea who either of them were. It was honestly a relief for the young Auror to be looking at her with merely polite interest. It was what she had always craved. Even in Ireland, people in the Wizarding community still approached her and asked for her autograph, children told her constantly that she was their second hero- after Harry of course.
Reporters had found her flat in Ireland and began trying to convince her to do a ‘War Hero- 10 Years Later’ interview for the upcoming anniversary. Ron had already done his, and Harry was supposed to be doing one in the next couple of weeks. That was the whole reason for her vacation. So she could escape the barrage of people trying to give her gifts constantly in celebration of the anniversary.
She felt free suddenly in this young man’s ignorance of who she was. Free from what she had never even thought of as a prison. She laughed suddenly and everyone looked at her. She ignored them and looked at Draco with a smile. He gave her a wink as though he knew what was going on in her head. He probably did, she thought. He probably had the exact same realization before deciding to stay in America. The talking in the room recommenced and she looked back at Rowle who was looking at her and writhing still on the ground.
“Thank you.” She whispered forcefully and walked away as his face turned red from screaming. He had tried to kill her and ended up freeing her. She stood next to Draco and gently took his hand in both of hers. He raised an eyebrow when he looked down at her, but continued telling the Head Auror and his assistant about how Rowle had tried to kill Hermione.
Finally, the Aurors took their prisoner and bid them a pleasant rest of their day. Draco had seen them out to the stairs and when he returned, Hermione was curled in a corner having a cry.
He sat on the floor next to her and touched her arm softly. She wiped off her face with her hand quickly and looked at him. He opened his arms and she allowed herself to rest awkwardly against his chest. He didn’t ask what was wrong, he didn’t try and comfort her, he simply tucked her under his chin and held her. She breathed in the spicy cologne hovering around him and tried to settle her emotions.
When her breathing became more normal and not full of hitches, he said, “Figured it out have you?” His voice rumbled in his chest and against her head.
She sighed, “As cliché as it is to say, I can see why this is the ‘land of the free’.”
He chuckled, “That really is corny, as they say here.”
She lifted herself to be sitting closer to his warmth. “Maybe I should stay. Not to be with you, mind. But for me.”
She felt him rest his cheek on the top of her head, “I should hope you would never have considered coming to stay just for me. I was just giving you some incentive. Some amazing incentive.”
She slapped his chest as she backed away to be able to look at him, “You’re so full of yourself.”
He smirked, “How could I not be? You saw the way that assistant of Avery’s was looking at me. I get that all the time,” He puffed his chest out proudly as he said it.
She rolled her eyes.
“Well, anyway. Let’s get to the surface if you’re still up for it,” He said, slipping his fingers through his hair. “I have few clues to where Rowle hid Anthony, but I have an idea where we could find him.”
“The Aurors didn’t even mention him! And I hadn’t even spared a thought!” She got up quickly.
He led her to the stairs and then looked at her seriously. “Are you sure you have the strength to make it up all these stairs?”
She smiled up at him, feeling particularly fit at the moment. “I just battled a boy who destroyed the Mission when he first entered. And I won. I can do anything.” She answered.
He smirked, “Would have never won if it weren’t for me.”
“Hey, I was doing fine without your pig-headed self. You were just laying around on the floor letting me do all the dirty work!” She answered, putting her hands on her hips.
“Uh, excuse me, lying on the floor is the dirty work, thank you very much,” He turned to the stairs and preceded her while she stood there indignant.
“You are seriously going to take the credit for this aren’t you?” She asked as she climbed the stairs two at a time to catch up to him.
“Well, if you go back to Ireland, who will say otherwise?” He said smugly.
“Oh, you and your damn manipulations,” She muttered to herself, already regretting making the trip up the stairs as her legs screamed in agony. By the second flight of stairs, she was puffing. By the end of the third, she just wanted to sit. The last two she felt like she was just learning to walk all over again. Her joints wanted nothing more than to collapse. Draco turned at the top of the stairs and looked down at what must be a red and sweaty face in the gathering twilight.
“Well come on. Sun’s already setting.”
She felt the overwhelming need to throttle him and that urge was what gave her the strength to make those last few steps. But when she got to the landing, she found she did not have the energy to snuff out his life, so she laughed at him instead. “Is this your version of encouragement?”
“If I have to, I will carry you. Come on, I’m so sure I know where he is.” He seemed really excited to be off, he was bouncing on the balls of his feet and snapping his fingers to an imaginary beat. She had never seen him like this and wondered about it for a moment while she followed him around the building. He did seem friendlier with Anthony than even with Luis or Rose. They turned the corner toward the stable and she remembered coming here the first time fondly. The sisters were waiting around the corner and some light flirting with Draco from Anthony. She felt herself smiling faintly at the memory.
Draco came and took her hand, “A little further, come on we have to get to the stables.” She huffed tiredly and followed him. He had so much energy and she had so little left. Of course he hadn’t been in a life-or-death fight. He had gotten knocked to the ground in the first few seconds and left the battle to her. His magic wasn’t exhausted.
She felt a tingle in her hand and looked down. There was energy flowing from Draco’s clasped hand and into hers, she tried to stop him. He looked over his shoulder and grinned. He was doing it on purpose. Git. Prat.
The stables were hot and stuffy. There were no horses left inside to nicker a welcome. But the lights overhead were lit to give the stables some warm light. She looked around curiously while Draco listened intently. To her right was a large enclosure with bars containing several of the ugliest creatures she had ever seen. They looked a bit like furless dogs, but they walked on two legs. Their eyes shone in the dark and they were eyeing Hermione and Draco. She was tapping Draco on the shoulder frantically before she even realized she was frightened.
He looked at her, she saw out of the corner of her eye. She was frozen looking at the monsters in the cage. He covered her eyes for a second, she felt her terror stop nearly completely. He grasped her head forcing her to turn before uncovering her eyes. She opened them and his face was right in front of her. He pecked her on the lips and laughed when she jumped.
“Don’t look at them. Chupacabras can mesmerize before you even know it,” He whispered.
She nodded and listened for movement. She heard a small rustling noise coming from above them in the loft. She got Draco’s attention pointed to her ear and then to the loft. As she followed the path of her finger, she saw a single piece of hay floating from the loft toward the ground. Draco saw it too and grinned at her. He ran to the ladder which he quickly ascended. There was more rustling and she heard a fearful shout, but not from Draco, he was grinning like a lunatic.
“What? Did you expect someone else to rescue you? I’m your knight in shining armor, handsome.” Draco said, Hermione started smiling too, knowing he had found his friend. The hay moved in a lump and Anthony stood, there was a faint clinking noise as he did so. He was naked, Hermione saw with a blush. There were chains on his hands and another around his neck which Draco removed after trying a few different spells. Anthony remained silent until the chains were removed.
“Could I borrow a few pieces of said armor? It’s been awful itchy without clothes up here,” Anthony drawled, his voice raspy, when he was able. She could see he was covering his front while he spoke to Draco. With a shrug, Draco took off his shirt and handed it to Anthony. Anthony asked, “What’m I supposed to do with this? M’naughty bits are a bit lower.”
Draco pulled out his wand and transfigured the shirt into a pair of pants. Anthony made to turn toward the front of the loft to put them on and Hermione turned quickly to walk outside. She could hear their voices as they spoke briefly, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. She wandered forward seeing the Greenhouses for the first time.
There were four massive buildings she had completely missed the first time she had been back here. They were colored to blend in with the landscape, but in the dying light of the day, she could see their outline clearly. She heard footsteps exiting the stable and turned with a smile on her face. It faltered and she froze when she saw that both men were shirtless.
Draco’s pale body all but glowed in the light of dusk. His chest appeared hairless but was perfectly sculpted. He flexed an impressive bicep while looking at Anthony, making the shorter man laugh at whatever he was saying. Anthony’s hairy abdominal muscles flexed as he laughed and Hermione was momentarily stunned as she realized how utterly gorgeous the two men were walking toward her. She had a mental image of the two of them wrestling and had an uncomfortable attraction to it. Anthony was thin and had narrower shoulders than Draco’s broad ones. Anthony was hairy where Draco was not. Dark and light. Without his hat, Anthony had shorter hair than Draco’s. Hermione tried shaking herself out of her stupor as they came closer.
Anthony wrapped her in a bear hug. Even though he smelled sweaty and dirty from being trapped in the hot stable for the time that Rowle had taken his place, Hermione could definitely still feel a minor attraction to the man. He kissed her on the forehead and apologized for his state of undress.
“Well, I’m not sorry for it,” Came out of her mouth before she had time to stop herself speaking.
“Barkin’ up the wrong tree, Miss.” Anthony said with a laugh and an affectionate look at Draco.
“A girl can dream, Anthony. A girl can dream,” She said playfully. She was so happy to see him uninjured she felt a little goofy.
“Come on you two, I thought I was the object of your affections, and I rather enjoyed it,” Draco said with a pout. They laughed and decided Anthony needed a shower and clothes so they went back inside the Mission.

A/N: Woo, that was some intense writing. I hope it was intense from the reader’s viewpoint also. I was especially interested in the sense of freedom Hermione experienced. She seems like such a quiet person at heart, but she always got thrust into the spotlight. I always wondered if she liked the spotlight. In this story, obviously she has hated it from the start, and found America to be the place to get out of it. Thoughts? Comments? Reviews? Ratings?
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Daylight