If there was one thing Hermione hated about the "Brightest Witch of her Age" label that she'd earned for herself over the years, it was the extra assignments that her teachers tended to set her because they knew she'd be up for it.
That propensity for extra work earned her a cold night at the top of the Astronomy Tower, alone, waiting for the meteor shower that was supposed to happen. Until it did, she just had to wait in the freezing wind that whipped through the open space, cursing herself for not bringing a blanket as well as her woolly jumper.
'Didn't expect to find anyone up here this late.' said a voice behind her. Despite the numbness in her ears from the cold, she knew it was Draco.
'Extra Astronomy homework.' Hermione said, not turning around to look him in the eye. They hadn't spoken since Hermione had followed Draco to the Room of Requirement back in September.
'Sounds riveting.' He said, sitting next to her and looping his legs through the railings so that his feet dangled off the edge of the tower.
'I wondered if I'd ever speak to you again.' Hermione mumbled, playfully nudging his shoulder.
'I'm only speaking to you because you've appeared in my usual hiding spot.' He replied, shifting his body closer. They were millimetres apart and Hermione was glad for the warmth as the wind picked up. 'Did you not think to bring a blanket? It's freezing.'
Before Hermione could reply, Draco removed his cloak and wordlessly transfigured it into a fur blanket, big enough to wrap around both of their shoulders. Hermione shifted close enough for their arms to touch and snuggled into the warmth of the blanket and the warmth of his body.
'Do you want to talk about something?' Hermione asked quietly. 'Or nothing?'
Draco looked over to her, his grey eyes memorising the freckles on her nose.
'I don't want to talk about anything.' He murmured.
Hermione took his hand in hers, earning a surprised look from Draco. 'We can do that.'
They sat in silence for almost an hour, watching the skies as it began to fill with shooting stars. At some point Hermione rest her head on Draco's shoulder and a little while later she felt his head rest on hers.
'Did you make a wish?' Draco asked.
'I thought wishing on shooting stars was a muggle thing?' Hermione asked, laughing slightly.
'Everyone needs something to wish on.' Draco replied, his voice conveying so much emotion that Hermione lifted her head to look into his eyes. She didn't comment about the wet tracks running down his face but knew that he wasn't simply making a comment about the meteor shower.
She cupped his cheek with her hand, now warm after being under the blanket for so long, and rubbed her thumb along his cheekbone.
'I did make a wish.' She whispered. 'But if I told you, it wouldn't come true.'
'I made a wish, too.' He admitted, closing his eyes at the gentleness of her touch.
'Don't tell me. I want your wish to come true, too.'
'Hermione,' he whispered, his voice catching in his throat. 'I need to ask something of you. You can't ask me why, or question it, I just need you to do it. I need you to trust me.'
'Anything, Draco.'
'I need you to stay away from me. I need you to forget me and I need you to think of me as just another guy who you went to school with, nothing more.'
'Draco,' Hermione started, her brow furrowing. 'I never speak a word of what happens between us. No one knows and no one will know, if you don't want them to.'
'That's not what I mean. I need you to keep as much distance between us, for your own sake.' He pleaded, his eyes boring into hers.
'I don't understand. Is something going on?' She muttered.
'Yes. That's all I can tell you. After we leave this tower, I'm nothing to you. It's for your own safety.'
'Draco, you're scaring me.' She said, tears filling her eyes. At the sight of her getting upset, Draco cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her quickly.
'Good.' He said with a harsh tone. 'I need you to take this seriously. Dark things are happening and you're the first person who's going to get hurt if you pay me any attention.'
'Okay.' She whispered, tears spilling over and running down into Draco's hands.
'You have to be safe.' He whispered, pulling her into a hug. 'I can't live with myself if you're not safe.'
'What about you?' She asked, crying into his chest.
'I'll be okay.' He assured her, running his hands through her hair and down her back in an effort to calm her.
After Hermione's crying ceased, she tilted her head up for one last kiss from Draco. He was expecting it and reciprocated, building them up to the same pace they would usually get to in the broom cupboard.
Hermione paused them. 'I-' she started.
'I know.' Draco muttered against her lips.
'I want you.' She whispered back. He pulled back a little further so that he could look into her eyes. Though this shouldn't have felt like the time, or the place, the feeling that must have been running through Hermione's veins was running through Draco's too.
'Are you sure?' Draco asked, running a hand across Hermione's shoulder.
'We could go to the broom cupboard if you'd be more comfortable there?' She joked, clearing the tension slightly. Draco smirked and gave her a light shake of the head.
'Are you sure you want this with me?' He asked again.
'If I need to forget you after tonight, I want you to be something worth forgetting.' She whispered, a glint in her eye. Draco kissed her once more before taking the blanket from their shoulders and laying it on the ground and duplicating it to put over the top of them.
Slowly they undressed themselves. Taking off their shoes and outer layers first, before slipping between the blankets and shedding the rest of their clothes. When Hermione reached behind her to unclasp her bra, Draco took her hands away and asked if he could do it for her. She nodded and with painstakingly slow fingers, he unclasped it and let the material fall away from her body.
'You're so beautiful.' He whispered as he dipped his head and kissed the taught skin of her collarbone. Hermione's fingers traced over the smooth muscles of his chest, tracing the lines from his shoulders to his stomach.
'So are you.' She said as she brought his head up from her chest to kiss him. Draco wrapped his arms around her waist and rolled her so that she was lying on top of him and kissed her deeply, pouring all of his emotions into it. There wasn't much he had done right in the past nine months, but this wasn't going to be another one of his failures. Tonight, with Hermione, was going to be perfect and then she would keep her distance from him for her own safety. He couldn't deny her this after she'd asked, he was asking a lot of her from now on, she deserved this.
'I've never done this before.' She admitted as they sat up together, her legs wrapped around his waist and the top blanket wrapped around both of their shoulders.
'Neither have I.' He replied, placing a kiss on each of her cheeks and her nose. She smiled and moved her hips against his, feeling his physical desire.
He talked her through everything that they did, slowly easing her into it and being as gentle as he could. As they moved together, still in their seated position, the blanket fell from their shoulders but they hardly noticed. When Draco heard a few moans pass Hermione's lips, he carefully flipped them over and hooked her heels around his waist. Making sure that she was enjoying this as much as he was, he moved his hips against hers and brought them both to the edge, savouring every sound that slipped from her lips and the taste of her tongue against his own.
After, they got dressed in silence. The only sound was the wind that howled through the tower and the occasional hoot of an owl. Hermione vanished the duplicate blanket and handed the original back to Draco so he could transfigure it back in to his cloak.
'You keep it.' He said. 'It's cold.'
Hermione gave him a small smile and wrapped it around her shoulders. 'I should get going, it's late.'
'Remember what I told you?' He asked, pulling her into his chest for one last hug.
'I remember. Goodnight Draco.'
'Goodnight Hermione.' He said, giving her one last kiss before she walked down the stairs and towards the Gryffindor common room.
Two months later, when Harry hit Draco with Sectumsempra, Hermione kept her promise and stayed away from Draco. But until she knew he was alive and back on his feet, she cried silent tears into the blanket.