Blood Bound

Chapter 24 - Sola Tempore

A/N

I know i've been updating really infrequently lately im sorry guys! I'm at the end of my school semester so assignments and exam studying are piling up. Updates will probably be irregular as I'm just writing whenever I have some free time or need a break.

Enjoy!

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They were sitting in their common room together late Friday evening, taking advantage of some time alone before Harry and Ron were due to arrive early the next morning. Draco had his head in her lap and Hermione absentmindedly ran her fingers through his hair while she levitated a book in front of her. She looked down at the wizard below her, his eyebrows were slightly scrunched in concentration as he followed the small snitch that was flitting around the room with his eyes.

There were these moments, she noticed when she would watch Draco. For the most part, he would appear cold and restrained, with his mask so firmly in place that even his words would sound detached. Every once in a while, though, his eyes would light up just the tiniest bit, and he'd smile more than his cocky smirk, or he'd say something, and his voice would sound less hollow.

Hermione knew that this coldness was his occlumency shields. Kaa said as much. The little imaginary snake in her head had taken to talking to her since she wouldn't let him out of his cage. But that was an entirely different issue. Whenever Draco was around, Kaa would get more subdued and just curl up on one of his branches as opposed to how he would slither in circles around the walls when she was with others. According to the little menace taking up residence in her sanity, Draco's occlumency walls omitted a 'stay the fuck away' aura.

It would make sense if he kept his walls up around her, but it was actually the other way around. When it was the two of them, a bit of warmth would sometimes seep through, but when she observed him in classes and during prefect duties his walls would be so strong that he radiated cold.

"I know I'm handsome love, but you haven't turned the page in over 5 minutes. Am I distracting you?" His voice broke her away from her thoughts. She felt her cheeks heat up at being caught staring, and he smirked knowingly.

"I was just thinking..." she answered, trying her best to sound nonchalant. He raised an eyebrow at her questioningly.

"What were you thinking about so intensely that it interrupted your fascinating reading of" he craned his neck off her lap to read the cover of the book levitating in front of her "Domestic versus wild potion ingredients... really? This is what you read in your free time? Do you own a fiction book?" he teased her, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"Don't even try" she half-heartedly shoved him, prompting him to sit up and settle on the other end of the sofa facing her. "We both know you're going to ask me to tell you all about it when I'm done reading."

"Fair enough," he conceded "but seriously what were you thinking about? I could hear the gears turning in that big brain of yours." Hermione wrung her hands in her lap and fidgeted nervously, causing Draco to cock his head and raise an eyebrow at her expectantly. She wanted to ask him more about his occlumency, but in the past when they'd talked about it, he'd been less than pleased about the topic of discussion. After half a minute of internal conflict, her curiosity won out.

"I was actually thinking about you." She hedged tentatively.

"Well yes, I gathered that by your staring, care to elaborate?"

"I mean I was just wondering -and we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to- but I was curious because I've noticed in the last little while that you well, you-" He cut off her nervous rambling.