Love Is The Darkest Art

Part 32: Astronomy Tower

Scene 53:

The Astronomy Tower was the tallest at Hogwarts. Beginning at the ground floor not far from the entrance foyer, it rose upwards past every floor and into the night above the school's gabled roofs. For Hermione, the most exciting times in the tower had been during midnight astronomy classes with Aurora Sinistra. The professor had shown her and other students the many constellations and stars that could only been seen from the top of the tower.

But she wasn't thinking of those things as Draco's lips touched her cheek, his warm breath exhaling his apology. Instead, she was thinking if they could just reach the parapet of the tower, she and Draco could step off and waltz across the stars to lie in the bed of clouds. And when his lips laid softly against her own, she could hardly feel the stairs under her feet as they slowly rose upward, winding around the staircase.

"Draco," she managed to breathe, realizing he had swooped her up under the invisibility cloak and was now carrying her. His eyes met hers and she could see an overwhelming loneliness there, as if the last few days had been just as miserable for him as it had been for her. She had felt abandoned by him, but perhaps he had felt the same. Maybe the kiss she had given Ron was in innocence, but for him was like abandonment. A sign she was ougrowing his affections and wanted something more. And now, reunited with her dark love Draco, she did want more.

A sound coming down the stairs above them made them both stop. Draco set Hermione down, and pulled her close. "Shhh," he whispered, and as if to guarantee her silence he kissed her passionately, opening his mouth against hers, their lips formed over each other perfectly, tongues touching in soft explorations.

Hermione heard the person on the stairs as they drew close. She couldn't see who it was as her eyes were drowning in the depths of Draco's own. And when her love playfully sucked at the tip of her tongue, she didn't even see that, for her eyes closed and rolled up in her head beneath the eyelids.

When the person passed by wordlessly, oblivious to the invisible teenage couple, and descended the stairs, Draco finally released her. "Wow," she whispered, while trying to catch her breath. "I think we need to have disagreements more often."

"I agree. I  just hope you don't kiss another boy again. We can find other ways to argue if need be."

Though it seemed he was making light of it, she could hear the fear of losing her in his voice as if she was looking for a way out.

"Are there other boys," he asked, his voice quiet and shaking, as he took her by the hand and continued up the long narrow stairs. She didn't answer him right away. In fact, it wasn't until they reached the top of the tower that either of them said another word. Part of of it was because the climb robbed them both of even breaths, yet for Hermione it was also the glorious feeling of Draco's hand holding hers that made her revel it in silence. But when they came onto the top landing, Draco broke the quiet and asked her again. "Is there anyone else?"

This time she smiled. "I am yours, Draco. If you cant see by now that I love you..."

"I want to see," he interrupted her. "I want to trust and believe. I love you so much, Hermione. When you kissed Ron it destroyed me. I just crumbled. That's how I love you." Draco enveloped her in his arms. "I wish there was just you and me and no one else in the world. I wish we could run away and just make love everyday."

Hermioned looked up in his face. "Make love?"

"Um, well...uh yes. I think about you all the time. And that, too. You know, sharing that kind of...oh forget it."

Hermione put her hand on his chest to calm his nervous awkwardness. She could feel his racing heartbeat beneath his shirt. "Its okay,  Draco. I want you that way, too. I'm just... scared. Things are changing very fast. Part of me wants to run, the other just wants your hands on me. I guess I shouldn't say that."

A shooting star, trailing blue and pink, lit up the sky, illuminating them in the tower's heights. "Then I shouldnt say I have dreamed of your hands on me, too," Draco admitted.

"And I shouldn't say I want to feel you pressed against me."

He didn't smile, but his eyes were dancing. His lips parted, moist and inviting. "And I shouldn't say I want your kisses to rain on me like heaven and all the..."

"No, you shouldn't say it," she agreed.

"Right."

There was a moment that seemed like eternity. A silence. A hesitation. An unclaimed longing. Hermione's heart sped to catch up to Draco's. She could still feel his heart beating against her palm. To her it was like music, a seductive drumming she could feel in her whole frame.

"I shouldn't say this but..."

Draco didn't wait for her to finish, but kissed her passionately, deeply, without restraint. She fell into his hunger, his desire, and welcomed his mouth upon hers as if it were the last kiss in the universe.

She felt his hand on her waist. His other rested against her stomach. She wondered if he could feel the thousand butterflies that seemed to be fluttering there. She put her arms around his neck and pushed the invisibility cloak off, exposing them to the stars and nightime clouds. She couldn't let her friends see them, but she welcomed the moon's gaze upon she and Draco, as she laced her fingers behind his head and pulled him maddeningly close. So close that his breath was hers. His touch was her touch. She fell dreamingly into the thought that they could make love right here in the tower, their heads in the clouds far above Hogwarts, where they hadn't been allowed to be themselves or do the things they'd longed to do.

His kiss moved from her mouth onto her neck and she tilted her head back. She closed her eyes, truly wishing they were far away where no one knew them. "I love you, Draco," she whispered. Far above the clouds, and into forever, she thought.

Draco stopped kissing her long enough to murmur, "If love is the darkest art, I never want to step into the light without you again. I love you more than anything, Hermione. And I want you in every way that lovers crave."

She looked into his face and saw his silver grey eyes held a trace of tears. She started to say something, perhaps to ask why he was crying, but he put his finger to her lips.

"Can we just bathe in these stars? Feel the waters everytime we kiss? There is time enough to make love someday, but tonight, as much as I want you like that, I want to know that you'll love me forever more."

"I will love you forever," she whispered and gently urged him to kiss her again. The stars. The night. The clouds. The moon. All these things watched them and sighed. As did the Malfoy family owl perched in the rafters of the tower.