Love Is The Darkest Art

Part 37: How to make Hermione blush

Scene 61:

Hermione was crying on the ice, her tears dripping from her face to fall upon the frozen lake and still body of her lover, Draco Malfoy. She clutched him to her, crying into his ear, "You can't leave me, you can't.  I need you to stay. I love you so much. We still have our whole life ahead of us. Please my love, wake up."

She knew she had to do something. She could feel his heartbeat fading, slowing down to a crawl. She was alone out here, but she had to get him off the ice. There were only two choices. Get him back to Hogwarts and the infirmary, or to the warmth of Hagrid's hut. Hagrid's was closer, but there was no doctor there. Only big old Hagrid. That was going to have to be enough.

She lay Draco's head back on the ice, kissed his brow, and stood up. Producing her wand, she pointed it at him and commanded, "Wingardium Leviosa!" This had always been her favorite spell, and she mastered it in so many ways, that not only did it levitate his body but it also made it follow her. Unfortunately, the spell's modification fed off of her own energy, so if she grew tired, Draco's body would no longer follow her but just hang there in the air. Lucky for her, desperation and love gave her the energy she needed to get them off the ice and headed for Hagrid's hut.

By the time she reached his door, Hermione was freezing. Teeth  chattering and shivering uncontrollably,  she banged on the huge wooden frame with her foot. They too were cold and starting to ache from trudging through the snow.

The door opened and Hagrid stood there looking at her in surprise. "Why Hermione, this is a pleasant..." He stopped. The bearded giant looked beyond her to the floating, unconscious Draco. "What in Gribbit's stench are you doing with Malfoy, girl? What did you do to him? Was he being an arse again?"

"He fell through the ice," she replied. "On the lake."

"Oh dear me, get him inside. Quick!" He moved his considerable bulk out of the way, so Hermione could get herself and the levitated Draco indoors. As soon as Hagrid shut the door, she released the spell and Malfoy's body settled onto the floor. Exhausted, Hermione nearly collapsed, reaching out a hand to steady herself on Hagrid's arm.

Hagrid looked at her "You okay?'

She nodded and knelt beside Draco. "I don't know how long he was in the water, but I couldn't rouse him."

"Of course, you couldn't. He's missing a piece of his soul, I imagine."

"What?"

"Here, let's move him close to the fire. We can do that at least." The big man lifted Draco and carried him across the room to the fireplace. He set him down as close as he could to the heat. "Now, " he said, turning to Hermione, "How in Scalamander's suitcase did he fall through the ice?"

"I...I don't know. There was a hole and I guess he fell through."

"A hole, you say. Hmmmm, not good. Nope, no good at all." He went to an open closet, bringing out a huge fur parka and handed it to her. "You're freezing girl. Put this on and get closer to the fire. You know, I'm going to have to go get help. This is way beyond me, missing souls and all "

"Missing souls? What are you talking about?"

"The lake's surface is enchanted to never break. Dumbledore does it every year to prevent these kind of things. Draco, or anybody for that matter, shouldn't fall through. Very strong magic did this. Dark stuff, girl."

"I did see a man walking from the ice. I thought he'd been ice fishing or something. Could he have done it?"

"If he's a powerful enough wizard. But he's not important at the moment. Neither is the magic he used. What's important lies at the bottom of the lake. Or I assume it's still at the bottom."

"What is it?"

"It's not a what, but more like a whom. Several of them to be exact. Dead boys really. But we don't have time for tales and history lessons right now, we got to to get Malfoy some help." He looked down at the body by the fire. "Not that he'll appreciate it or anything."

"You never know," Hermione said quietly, trying to hide the fact her eyes were welling up with tears again.

Hagrid grabbed another huge fur from his closet. "In any case, I need to go for help. You stay here, keep him warm. His body is losing it fast. I'm not sure the fire will help for long, but I will be as fast I can, I promise. If by some chance he wakes up and gives you a hard time, hit him over the head with my teapot. It's cast iron."

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at that mental image, but she was worried. "Why can't you just carry him back to Hogwarts?"

"Normally I would. But I'm not sure he should be moved. You can't take a body too far from it's soul, you know, without causing...well, he needs to stay by the fire. Do what you can to keep him warm."

"Okay Hagrid. Thank you." She looked up at him. "Please hurry." A tear trickled down onto her cheek.

"Well, that's something I've never seen before. Somebody crying over a Malfoy." A tear started to form in the corner of his own eye. "Oh, darn it all, now you got me doing it..."

Scene 62:
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Hermione sat by the fireplace, the warmth from the hearth easing the chill of having been out in the snow without a coat. But it wasn't helping Draco. He was still shivering uncontrollably. Like Hagrid had said, the fire just wasn't enough. He was losing all his body heat, fire be damned. She knew what she had to do, but she was a little reluctant to do it. At least in this somewhat intrusive way. She was going to have to get him out of his clothes.

Hermione had always imagined... no,  fantasized...about disrobing Draco. Thoughts of admiring his naked frame invaded her mind almost every night here lately. But not like this. This wasn't very romantic. It was desperation to save a life. So wih that in mind, she set about the task of removing his wet garments. Parts of it had been caked with ice when she'd pulled him from the lake, but the fire had melted that to create an even wetter set of clothes.

She unbuttoned his shirt and quickly removed it, though the palm of her hand lingered a bit on his chest. It was muscular and hairless, and though she had seen it before at the Malfoy Mansion, it was almost as if she were staring at it for the first time. She moved her hand over his heart, waiting for it to race at her touch. But it didn't. His heartbeat was slow, quiet, keeping time to a song that sounded more like a funeral dirge than the beat of life. "Please," she muttered. "Beat for me. I'll do anything for you, Draco. Just please come back."

There was no answer, just more cold shudders that shook his unmoving body. Quickly, she moved to the task of removing his trousers. At one point she closed her eyes and turned her head in embarrassment. Again, this was a moment she'd thought of on occasions, but she never thought it would feel so awkward and invasive. Only when she'd pulled his pants past his feet did she dare look. Then she flushed red. "Oh my," she whispered and jumped to her feet, not daring to look at his naked body more than a few seconds.

From the top of Hagrid's closet she pulled down a huge fur quilt and dragged it over to where Draco lay. With some effort she wrapped him in it, but not before taking another admiring look at his nakedness. She couldn't help herself. Her eyes were drawn to his manly chest, taut abs, fit thighs..."Oh my God girl," she suddenly thought, "stop looking." She didn't really mean it. Still, she wrapped the remainder of the fur around him, effectively covering up all the body parts that made her blush and think impure things. She sat down beside him and waited, still shivering in her own wet clothes.