heya

so here is the 6th chapter...I just sort of realized while I was writing this chapter that this can't be afull story really and that the next chapter will prolly be that last...sad, I know!
but remember - that means I'll have time to start another fic (yayyy!) and it'll prolly be another h/dr so get glad :cheerpyr: not mad ! lol

anyway....just wanted to warn y'all...I think you'll like this chapter, though!

Chapter Six: Surprise Visits and Guilty Kisses



“Draco?”

Draco Malfoy opened his eyes at the sound of his name and glanced around the room. He saw Hermione’s face come into focus on the other side of the table he had been sleeping on. His head lay on his arm, which was folded across the cold, hard desk they had come accustomed to during their meetings about his case. Draco lifted his head and rubbed his eyes.

“How long was I out?” he asked, an apologetic tone in his voice.

“Only about a minute, I think. I was sorting these papers for a little while, though, so maybe a little more. Why are you so tired?” Hermione watched him carefully.

Draco swallowed hard and took a sip of the coffee she had brought him. He shrugged his shoulders and replied nonchalantly, “You know…prison conditions don’t really cater to the comforts of the inmates.” He forced a smile and raised his eyebrows.

“I know. But hopefully we’ll get a good lead soon and you’ll be out of here before you know it!” Hermione replied in her usual chipper tone. He smiled, knowing that it would still be months before he would have the possibility of rejoining the outside world.



Draco couldn’t tell Hermione why he had really fallen asleep in the middle of their trying to save his bum-bum from being thrown in a permanent life of solitude.

Hermione’s visits were becoming more frequent as the case moved forward; no less than three times a week were they together in that room, looking over documents with witness’ recollections of the night of Camilla’s murder and other important documents to do with Draco’s trial.

Whenever he wasn’t actually with her, Draco was thinking about Hermione, and at night she continued to haunt his dreams. Most nights he couldn’t even get to sleep with the knowledge that she might be visiting him the next day. He constantly worried about what she thought of him and if he looked as bad as he felt in his required orange jumpsuit. He lay awake for hours, watching the moon rise and fall through the tiny window at the top of his cell, always wishing that she was there with him, lying in his arms and listening to the soft beat of his heart as it called out to her.

Screamed is more like it, Draco thought as he recalled the sleepless nights and sipped his coffee quietly while Hermione shifts through stacks of paper.



“Well, I think that’s all we can get done today,” Hermione said, packing her things away in her briefcase and clicking it shut.

“Huh?” Draco said, looking up at her from the daydream that had grabbed hold of his consciousness for the last 10 minutes.

“Draco, are you sure that you’re ok?” Hermione asked him, worry shining through her eyes as she surveyed him carefully.

“What? I mean, yeah…yeah, I’m fine. I’m…fine…” his voice drifted off as his head screamed at him. No you’re not! You’re in love…real love and you’re dying keeping it all inside! You’re dying!

He smiled at her. “Fine,” he said once more, as if to prove his words.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He forced a grin and stood up.

“Ok, well I’m bringing a blanket for you the next time I come,” Hermione replied.

Draco blushed slightly. “No, you don’t-“

Hermione cut him off. “I’m bringing one. No arguments, Mister. It’s getting cold out at night and you clearly aren’t getting the sleep you need to win this case.”

“Fiiiiine,” he pretend groaned and she smiled.

“Good.”

I don’t think that’ll help the problem, though…Draco though to himself as they walked out of the room.



- - - -



A few days later, Draco was lying on the floor of his cell, the soft blanket wrapped around him and his arm around the back of his head, leaning against the pillow Hermione had dropped off a few weeks ago. He was munching on one of the green apples she had left in his last “gift basket” and was nearly done when he heard the familiar clip-clop of eels on the hall floor.

He lifted his head and smiled before he realized something. That’s odd…Hermione isn’t supposed to be visiting me today…

He shrugged his shoulders and sat up, leaning against the wall as he finished his snack. The footsteps picked up speed as they hurried towards his cell and Draco wondered what she might be moving so fast for. Hermione stopped at the hall security desk; Draco could see her moving by watching the small crack between his sliding door and the cold floor.

“Ma’am, you’re not on list as a visitor today,” the man told her. Draco rolled his eyes; the security guard was obviously new to this part of the prison and had never met Hermione Granger before. He didn’t give up without a fight.

“Yes, I realize, but it is very important –imperative even- that I speak with my client right now!” she replied quickly, a note of urgency in her usually calm and steady voice. Draco’s interest was peaked as he watched her feet move uneasily on the other side of the door. He put the core of his apple on the floor and listened carefully to the conversation.

“I’m sorry – I can’t let you through. Prison rules,” the guard told her, and Draco could hear the rustling of his newspaper as he clearly thought the conversation was over. Draco smiled and waited to see what Hermione’s next plan of action would be.

“Fine,” she told him, the steadiness back in her voice as she continued, “if you won’t let me in to see my client, I’ll just have to talk to him from here.”

“Ma’am?” the guard questioned.

Draco wrinkled his forehead What is she up to?

He didn’t have long to wonder, however, because Hermione’s voice was calling to him from where she stood in the hallway.

“Draco? DRACO MALFOY, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!” she called.

“Excuse me, what do you think you’re do-“

“DRACO?” she continued to yell and he cleared his throat.

“Uhhh, yeah?” he replied, loud enough for her to hear but not shouting like Hermione was.

“Good. Ok, I have great news to tell you, are you ready?” she started, and he was imagining the glowing smile on her beautiful face, even as she stood in the hall, unable to actually see his reaction.

“Jesus Christ,” Draco heard the guard mutter as he stood up, his keys jangling at his hip.

“Yeah…I think I’m ready,” he replied anyway.

“Ok, well. Um, wait...excuse me, sir what are you…oh, ok…um, just hold on a second, Draco,” he heard her step back from the door as the guard jingled is keys, searching for the right one to fit his lock. A second later, there was a scarping of metal on metal and then Draco saw his door slide back to reveal Hermione, who was grinning broadly, and the guard, who was shaking his head at her as he removed his key from the lock.

“Leave this door open, ya hear?” he said, exerting the last drop of his authority over Hermione.

She nodded and her smiled grew wider. “Thank-you, sir.”

He raised his eyebrows at her and slumped off back to his desk whispering something about ‘crazy psycho...’ under his breath.



Hermione turned back to Draco and almost squealed; she looked to be bursting at the seams with the news she had for him.

He leaned forward, waiting for her to say something. “So…what’s this big news?” he asked.

“Oh, right! Ok, so remember how I couldn’t find the guy who you talked to behind the ticket booth at the movies that night?” she started, her breathing rapid, her face excited.

“Yeah…” he couldn’t see how this was helping him.

“Well, I finally tracked him down and got him to do an interview with me. The police already confirmed that Camilla had been dead for at least an hour before you were found with her, and he told me that he had seen you only 20 minutes before you were arrested! Not only that, but we have the woman in the bathroom as a witness that she saw you at the same time; she’s willing to testify and I have his interview on tape, along with a signed release of the information he told me! These along with the other witnesses I’ve managed to talk to should leave no question in the judge’s or the jury’s mind that you 100% innocent!” she stopped to take a well-needed breath and beamed at Draco. The information slowly sank in and he was soon grinning goofily back at her.

“Oh my God!” he cried.

“I know!” she squealed. Draco walked towards her, still not believing what he was hearing. This was the witness they had needed for the past three months, this was his ticket to the truth, his ticket out of this Shazblaaah-hole and back to a perfectly clean record.

“And,” Hermione started.

Draco cut her off. “There’s more good news?!”

She nodded and licked her lips before continuing. “I just heard from the judge that will be presiding over the trial and he has a date for us at the end of August, which means…”

“That I hardly have…what, two weeks left in here?” he said, finishing her sentence for her.

She nodded.

“Oh my GOD!” he screamed and ran over to Hermione, swiftly pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. She laughed as he lifted her off the ground and swung her around through the air a few times before letting her down.

“You’re amazing,” he told her, his smiled beaming just inches from her face as he held onto her tightly.

“Well, for the money you’re paying me-“ but she didn’t get to finish this thought because Draco had kissed her hard on the mouth.

Hermione made a small squeak and looked frantically around the room, but slowly she closed her eyes and, despite her better judgment and everything her head had been telling her for the past 3 months, kissed him back. The vigor went out of the kiss, but he still held her face firmly against his as he moved his calloused hands up to caress her cheek.

Finally, after hat seemed like ages, Hermione broke the embrace and opened her eyes and stared at him, horror in her face as she realized she what she had done. She pulled away from him and stumbled backwards towards the door. Draco frowned at her.

“I uhh, I have to…” she murmured, her chest heaving slightly as her eyes glanced worriedly around the cell.

“Hermione..” he tried, but she shook her head.

“No, I’m your lawyer, and you are my client. No..I just, I can’t. I have to go…” she turned and hurried down the hallway. The inmates in the cells on Draco’s side of the hall had quickly realized what had happened and were catcalling and whistling at Hermione as she clicked away in her black heels.

“Hey, baby…wanna represent me?!” one called at her as she hurried past.

Draco stumbled back and fell down the wall, his face in his hands. He heard the chuckle of the prison guard as he slid Draco’s door shut and locked it.

“Idiot…” Draco whispered to himself, and as he lay back down onto the ground, he hugged his pillow to his chest. A single tear rolled down his pale cheek as the last hint of Hermione’s heels disappeared down the hallway.