Love Is The Darkest Art

part 14.1 Greenhouse (Insert)

Note: I knew when I started this project I would eventually reach a point where I  would need to make edits so the story could flow alongside J K Rowlings original novels and storyline. So here we go with the first. And instead of reposting the chapter with the edits included, i decided to just post the new addition as a seperate post, which is why i call this post an "insert."  To help you with the context i have bookended this new entry with two paragraphs from my original post to show where this insert falls in place. These bookends are marked with parentheses to set it apart. Anyway, blah, blah, blah, lol.... I hope you enjoy this piece of dialogue which will tie in to some upcoming events. I'm not sure how this is going to work, but here goes...

Scene 19 insert:

(If she could have seen inside his thoughts, Hermione might have been gripped by an infinite nervousness, an invasion of butterflies that would flutter so madly she'd be unable to stop herself. For in his mind, they were already older, seasoned lovers who knew each other in the most intimate fashion. They ran across fields unashamed of their romance, to climb a far away hill where they'd exchange vows to forever love no matter what would come. His kiss, loving and tender upon her soft lips, almost seemed to be a vow unto itself.)

"I could get used to this," Draco finally said, looking into Hermione's eyes. He traced his fingers across her moist just kissed lips. 

"What? You on top of me?" she asked.

"Well, yes, this is nice. But no, I meant just being with you, no one around, being able to let my heart fly free next to yours."

"I have a hard time seeing you as a poet.. "

He cleared his throat.

"I think that I shall never see,
A poem as lovely as Hermione .."

She giggled. "That's not the way the poem goes..."

Thinking of the Joyce Kilmer poem he just bastardized, Draco smirked playfully. "I never was one much for finding beauty in trees. You're all the beautiful I see."

She kissed him lightly on the nose, then the lips. "You amaze me these days," she said. "You know it wouldn't hurt you to be nice to everyone. Not just me."

"You want me to flirt with everybody? That's  awkward."

"No, silly. Just be kind."

"I'm different when we're alone."

"I noticed."

"Speaking of alone," he said with some hesitation, "Would you like to spend the weekend with me?"

She didn't say anything for a moment, but just bit her lip wondering what he was asking.

"At my family's estate," he continued. "My parents will be away for a...meeting. I know we couldn't stay overnight, but we could apply for day passes and spend the whole morning and afternoon without any intrusion."

She smiled, but there was a sadness there. Draco saw it.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Draco, I'm sorry, but I can't."

He nodded. "It's not like you think," he replied.  "Nothing funny. I'll behave myself. I just want us to have a day together. A whole day without worrying about  .."

"I really can't," she interrupted. "I'd love to, but I have other plans."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes. I am meeting friends. We're going to a....club meeting."

"That's cool. Maybe I could come and afterward..."

"It's a girls club. No boys. I'm sorry."

He looked at her suspiciously. "No Harry? No Weasley?"

"Maybe Ginny Weasley. But no Ron," she lied.

She knew, as several others knew as well, that the meeting was to get Harry to teach them defense against the dark arts in secret. But she couldn't tell Draco that. He'd really want to come then and no one trusted him to be quiet about anything. No one but Hermione that is. She knew he could keep a secret, but still something within told her, "not this time." She could trust him enough to kiss, to make out, to even share her heart, and yet there was still a barrier between them that she couldn't quite tear down. And in that moment Draco realized it.

"Fine. Go to your meeting. I'll see you when you get back?"

"Of course, Draco. It's not like..."

"Good," he interrupted. "I love you Hermione."

Her eyes went wide in surprise. "What? I...Draco...I..."

His lips pressed against hers and she couldn't answer. She wasn't even sure what to answer. A thousand thoughts and dreams went through her head, some wonderful, others broken, and his kiss, hungry and desperate, told her his dreams as well.

Her fantasies, the ones she chose to admit, flitted among his, and they touched and kissed and breathed each others breath as if the weekend visit he'd offered was now being celebrated in these dreamy minutes on the greenhouse floor.

(A door slammed. Both their dreams escaped into the great big emptiness of youthful longings. They lay there still, frozen, waiting for the intrusion. A voice boomed out loudly , "Is anyone here? Professor Sprout?")