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tamingthemuse2007-01-06 09:05 pm
dedra.livejournal.com) wrote in tamingthemuse2007-01-06 09:05 pm
Entry tags:
Know Thine Enemy
Title: Know Thine Enemy
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spikespetslayer
Pairing: Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger
Rating: G
Summary: Sometimes a simple conversation can reveal so much...
Know Thine Enemy
Her quiet footsteps pattered through the stone hallways as she drifted down hallways and staircases to the side door that opened onto the orchards surrounding the school.
She walked silently through the line of trees; her feet barely making a sound on the ground as she moved with remembered footsteps. She always headed to one tree in particular; it reminded her of home and family and things too far removed from her world that she missed more than she ever believed.
When she reached the crabapple tree she spread the blanket beneath the flowering branches, content in her own mind. It had been a long day, filled with lessons and laughter, sometimes with misery that she couldn’t share with her two best friends. How do you explain prejudicial behavior to one who cannot understand it? She was at a loss and it hurt to the core that Ron and Harry couldn’t empathize with the pain she felt every time that she heard that word come out of a Slytherin mouth.
Settling back, she charmed her wand to stay lit while she wrote in her diary. Surrounded by the scent of the blossoms above her head, it soothed her heart in ways that she didn’t even understand. Sometimes, she nearly forgot that she was part of a new world, strange and beautiful in its own way, and believed that she was home, under her own crabapple tree in the back yard.
When she was done writing her notes for the day, she closed the book and shrunk it to fit into her pocket before leaning back against the trunk of the tree. The full moon played hide and seek among the foliage of the taller apple trees, casting shadows all around her and sending a frisson of fear down her spine when she realized how utterly alone she was at that moment.
She wasn’t alone for long. She heard the crack of a twig behind her and turned to see her greatest tormenter emerging from the trees with a broomstick in his hand. His wand was lit and he was looking at the ground, obviously following her footprints. When he nearly stepped on her, he let out a yelp and stepped backward, his foot tangling in a root and propelling him awkwardly to the ground.
“Malfoy! Are you all right?” she said, jumping to her feet when she saw him unmoving on the ground nearby.
The wind had been knocked out of him, but he was conscious. His wand had tumbled from his hand and into the darkness where it extinguished itself and his broom handle was cracked where it had been caught against the back of his leg when he fell. He wanted to growl, yell, and curse her, but her reaction to his fall confused and perplexed him instead.
Although he tortured her mercilessly and made her days a living hell, she had still jumped to his aid. There was no rhyme or reason to it; it was just the person that she was and he knew that. Still, it amazed him to think that her forgiveness was so easily won, her help so easily given.
When he was finally able to catch his breath he searched for her face in the dark. “Why even help me, Granger? And what are you doing out here in the dark anyway?”
She sat back on her haunches, far enough away that he couldn’t reach her with his bare hands and wouldn’t be able to snatch his wand. “I like sitting out here, Malfoy. It reminds me of home.”
She expected something other than the soft sigh that wisped over her eardrums. “Home.” She waited, willing him to go on with his thoughts and nearly to the point of giving up when he turned to her, his silver eyes bright in a shaft of flickering moonlight. “What’s it like, Granger? I mean, your home. I’ve never been anywhere in the muggle world, so I have no idea what their houses are like.”
She began to tell him.
She told him about large families and holidays filled with love, laughter, and fun. She told him about her mother and father and their dental practice. She commiserated with him over the trials of being an only child and their families’ expectations for them.
At some point during the conversation, their first in five years that wasn’t in a raised voice or filled with invectives, she scooted over and offered him a corner of her blanket, which he readily accepted. They sat with their backs against the bark of the tree behind them, shoulder to shoulder and peaceful.
Their conversation drifted from family to school, remaining on safer subjects and avoiding allegiances and friendships altogether. He liked potions, she liked transfiguration, and they both liked the structured and preciseness of arithmancy. They agreed to disagree on the brilliance of Quidditch and Care of Magical Creatures. They were amazed at how alike they were in many ways, from study habits to the books they read.
The moon passed overhead and set silently behind the mountaintops surrounding the castle before they realized how much time had passed. The first fingers of dawn were slipping over the edge of the Black Lake to their back before they were aware that they had been up all night, talking like friends instead of enemies.
In the early hour of gray light he searched for and found his wand not two meters away from them. He picked it up and tucked it into the pocket of his robes, then extended his hand to her, assisting her to her feet.
“You know, we won’t be able to do this again,” he said abruptly, his mouth turned down at the corners and eyes filled with a strange light.
“I know. Who would believe it anyway? Certainly not my friends or yours. They would pitch a fit if they knew.” She looked down at the ground and scuffed her feet in the dirt.
He hit the trunk of the tree with his fist, frustrated with the chasm that separated him from someone that was so completely unsuitable for his station that suited him just fine. A shower of crabapple blossoms rained down on them, covering them both in fine white fragments of delicately scented petals.
He stepped forward and she caught her breath, wondering what he would do. He raised his hand to her hair and brushed the petals aside, then caressed a curl that caught his eye. “It’s so soft,” he said, marveling at the texture under his callused fingertips. “I thought it would be wiry.”
She ignored his whispered comment, raising her own hand to his hair and brushing the flower fragments free. “Thank you for your company tonight, Malfoy. It was…nice.”
Her fingers brushed against his ear and he shivered, taken aback by sudden longing. “I wish…things were different, Granger.”
She couldn’t meet his eyes again. Tonight, she had discovered that her enemy was human and it was almost more than she could handle. “So do I, Draco. So do I.”
He stood there and watched her walk back to the castle, pondering the new feelings inside him. He knew that he could treat her no differently, but somehow he felt that she understood him a little better than before and he understood her. It was something that he never expected when he set out to follow her, but it was a nice surprise.
Author:
spikespetslayerPairing: Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger
Rating: G
Summary: Sometimes a simple conversation can reveal so much...
Know Thine Enemy
Her quiet footsteps pattered through the stone hallways as she drifted down hallways and staircases to the side door that opened onto the orchards surrounding the school.
She walked silently through the line of trees; her feet barely making a sound on the ground as she moved with remembered footsteps. She always headed to one tree in particular; it reminded her of home and family and things too far removed from her world that she missed more than she ever believed.
When she reached the crabapple tree she spread the blanket beneath the flowering branches, content in her own mind. It had been a long day, filled with lessons and laughter, sometimes with misery that she couldn’t share with her two best friends. How do you explain prejudicial behavior to one who cannot understand it? She was at a loss and it hurt to the core that Ron and Harry couldn’t empathize with the pain she felt every time that she heard that word come out of a Slytherin mouth.
Settling back, she charmed her wand to stay lit while she wrote in her diary. Surrounded by the scent of the blossoms above her head, it soothed her heart in ways that she didn’t even understand. Sometimes, she nearly forgot that she was part of a new world, strange and beautiful in its own way, and believed that she was home, under her own crabapple tree in the back yard.
When she was done writing her notes for the day, she closed the book and shrunk it to fit into her pocket before leaning back against the trunk of the tree. The full moon played hide and seek among the foliage of the taller apple trees, casting shadows all around her and sending a frisson of fear down her spine when she realized how utterly alone she was at that moment.
She wasn’t alone for long. She heard the crack of a twig behind her and turned to see her greatest tormenter emerging from the trees with a broomstick in his hand. His wand was lit and he was looking at the ground, obviously following her footprints. When he nearly stepped on her, he let out a yelp and stepped backward, his foot tangling in a root and propelling him awkwardly to the ground.
“Malfoy! Are you all right?” she said, jumping to her feet when she saw him unmoving on the ground nearby.
The wind had been knocked out of him, but he was conscious. His wand had tumbled from his hand and into the darkness where it extinguished itself and his broom handle was cracked where it had been caught against the back of his leg when he fell. He wanted to growl, yell, and curse her, but her reaction to his fall confused and perplexed him instead.
Although he tortured her mercilessly and made her days a living hell, she had still jumped to his aid. There was no rhyme or reason to it; it was just the person that she was and he knew that. Still, it amazed him to think that her forgiveness was so easily won, her help so easily given.
When he was finally able to catch his breath he searched for her face in the dark. “Why even help me, Granger? And what are you doing out here in the dark anyway?”
She sat back on her haunches, far enough away that he couldn’t reach her with his bare hands and wouldn’t be able to snatch his wand. “I like sitting out here, Malfoy. It reminds me of home.”
She expected something other than the soft sigh that wisped over her eardrums. “Home.” She waited, willing him to go on with his thoughts and nearly to the point of giving up when he turned to her, his silver eyes bright in a shaft of flickering moonlight. “What’s it like, Granger? I mean, your home. I’ve never been anywhere in the muggle world, so I have no idea what their houses are like.”
She began to tell him.
She told him about large families and holidays filled with love, laughter, and fun. She told him about her mother and father and their dental practice. She commiserated with him over the trials of being an only child and their families’ expectations for them.
At some point during the conversation, their first in five years that wasn’t in a raised voice or filled with invectives, she scooted over and offered him a corner of her blanket, which he readily accepted. They sat with their backs against the bark of the tree behind them, shoulder to shoulder and peaceful.
Their conversation drifted from family to school, remaining on safer subjects and avoiding allegiances and friendships altogether. He liked potions, she liked transfiguration, and they both liked the structured and preciseness of arithmancy. They agreed to disagree on the brilliance of Quidditch and Care of Magical Creatures. They were amazed at how alike they were in many ways, from study habits to the books they read.
The moon passed overhead and set silently behind the mountaintops surrounding the castle before they realized how much time had passed. The first fingers of dawn were slipping over the edge of the Black Lake to their back before they were aware that they had been up all night, talking like friends instead of enemies.
In the early hour of gray light he searched for and found his wand not two meters away from them. He picked it up and tucked it into the pocket of his robes, then extended his hand to her, assisting her to her feet.
“You know, we won’t be able to do this again,” he said abruptly, his mouth turned down at the corners and eyes filled with a strange light.
“I know. Who would believe it anyway? Certainly not my friends or yours. They would pitch a fit if they knew.” She looked down at the ground and scuffed her feet in the dirt.
He hit the trunk of the tree with his fist, frustrated with the chasm that separated him from someone that was so completely unsuitable for his station that suited him just fine. A shower of crabapple blossoms rained down on them, covering them both in fine white fragments of delicately scented petals.
He stepped forward and she caught her breath, wondering what he would do. He raised his hand to her hair and brushed the petals aside, then caressed a curl that caught his eye. “It’s so soft,” he said, marveling at the texture under his callused fingertips. “I thought it would be wiry.”
She ignored his whispered comment, raising her own hand to his hair and brushing the flower fragments free. “Thank you for your company tonight, Malfoy. It was…nice.”
Her fingers brushed against his ear and he shivered, taken aback by sudden longing. “I wish…things were different, Granger.”
She couldn’t meet his eyes again. Tonight, she had discovered that her enemy was human and it was almost more than she could handle. “So do I, Draco. So do I.”
He stood there and watched her walk back to the castle, pondering the new feelings inside him. He knew that he could treat her no differently, but somehow he felt that she understood him a little better than before and he understood her. It was something that he never expected when he set out to follow her, but it was a nice surprise.
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~Nebula
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Love you, Nebs...thanks! I'm glad that you liked it!
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I can't help wondering, why was he tracking her? What was he planning to do when he found her?
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Glad you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!
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I'm so glad that you feel that way! Thank you, thank you for your kind words and your heartlifting review!
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I always hope...
Hope... is what this ship is all about...
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Thank you for R&R!