Round 2 Challenge #7: Voting
Autumn is here! And so is the voting for week 7!
A couple of things to remember when deciding which drabbles to vote for (most and least favorite):
Guidelines:
Which drabble best incorporates the prompt?
2. Is the drabble clever, different, fresh? Does it evoke an emotional response (good or bad)?
3. Does the drabble contain grammar, canon or spelling errors?
The “feedback” option.
As a voter, you have the option of leaving a brief statement about why you voted the way you did, for both most and least favorite. Your feedback will then be given to the drabble writer (if they want the feedback) ANONYMOUSLY.
Example: Most - #40: the ending was brilliant - OR - Least - #57: the ending fell flat
Here we go for week 6!
Choose your favorite and least favorite drabbles. Favorites will receive +1 point per vote, and least favorites -1 point per vote.
Since we had so many people drop this week, we’re down to eight participants, and therefore we’re only eliminating one authors this week and from here on out.
Participants using a skip:
inadaze22 :: okay, because we didn’t know we’d be down to so few participants.
Participants dropping:
snowe
delayed_poet
imogen_penn
Voting ends at 11:59pm, Friday, October 17, 2008.
Turning Leaves and Hard Cider: Four Hundred Words About Fall
1
Title: Autumn
Author: ravenswing34
Rating: G
Warnings: fluff
Word Count: 400 exactly - not counting pesky em dash
It was autumn when he came to her. Not the summer with its heat and bright colors, not the spring with its tentative pastels, or even the winter with its cold white. He came in the fall when Nature was at her most brilliant, when orange, yellow, and red fought to be seen in every turn of the leaf.
It had started in the spring. Working the same office had required them to grow up and leave the past behind them. The fact that he had helped the Order in the War made it easier to look past the hate of youth and move on. The first tentative overtures on both of their parts must have looked comical to outsiders but it was a start.
It deepened in the summer. The bantering began again but without the bite and sting of their youth. She began to look forward to seeing him and she loved the discussions and debates over a myriad of topics. By midsummer, she realized she thought of him as a true friend.
Autumn arrived with a blaze of colors and he stood in her office door. She noticed he had a tentativeness she hadn’t seen since the spring. He mumbled something she couldn’t quite catch and asked her on a date. A slow grin spread across her face as she responded affirmatively to his question and a large grin upon his face matched hers.
He surprised her with a picnic. There was something about sitting in the middle of a forest, sipping hot cider and quietly watching the leaves fall that appealed to her. He sat against a tree and pulled her to him, settling her against his chest. There they sat and contemplated the quietness of the dark tree limbs reaching heavenwards while their brilliant canopies slowly dropped to the ground. She turned to him with a tremendous smile and proceeded to dump handfuls of leaves all over him. Tackling her quickly, he returned the favor. As he lay over her, her brown eyes sparkling, her hair covered in a crown of color and her soft lips smiling up at him, he was stunned by her beauty. With a quiet determination, he captured her lips for his own.
It was autumn when they became a couple. A perfect time, for they finally harvested what they had been growing all year - a love to last a lifetime.
2
Title: Kaleidoscope of Pulsing Shades
Author: kate0404
Rating: G
Warnings: Nada
Word Count: 400 (der!)
It was the kind of day- the kind of scene- an artist can only dream about.
In a small, nearly-deserted park in the middle of London, autumn had finally presented itself. The rain had stopped the day before, but the sky was still slightly overcast; it caused the late afternoon rays of sunshine to spread softly across the changing trees, giving off a kaleidoscope of pulsing shades. The cool breeze blew gently against the fallen leaves littering the walkway, pushing them into the open air and carrying them towards the north end of the park. It was there, nestled beneath a large painted oak tree, that they stood. In that sea of colour- vibrant red, burnt orange, crisp yellow, fading green- the couple stood; their fingers were entwined and their bodies close.
The contrast between them was striking- her eyes as dark as his light; his hair as blond as hers brown; she as short as he tall. Yet, the way they looked at each other was one and the same. They were in love- so completely, so truly- and the intensity of their gaze could warm the brisk, autumn air.
Leaves swirled at their feet as he pushed a stray curl behind her ear and kept his bare hand against her reddened cheek. She rubbed that cheek against his hand before turning her lips to press them against his palm.
“I’ll only be gone until December.” His words were hoarse, laced with emotion, but he smiled at her warmly, trying to allay both of their fears.
A single tear slipped from her eye and, as if the wind knew her pain, it pressed against them colder than before. “I wish it were here already.” Her voice quivered with unshed tears and she took a small step closer to him.
Instinctively, his arms wrapped around her thin shoulders draped in a much too lightweight coat and pulled her against his chest. He buried his face into her dishevelled curls and sighed. “I know,” he murmured. “I know.”
She nodded; the tears fell harder.
The clouds broke just as the sun was setting below the horizon. The couple stood, arms wrapped around each other, and watched the reds and purples of the sky mix together with the russets and auburns of fall, each wondering what the next season would bring.
And an artist looked on with a sigh of content satisfaction.
3
Title: Comfort Me With Apples
Author: greenschist
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Word Count: 400, per Word
“What do you think?” Hermione laces her fingers through Draco's and hugs his arm, gently rubbing her cheek over the soft, gray wool covering his bicep.
“It's beautiful,” he says. They have Apparated to a leaf-covered hill top. In the shallow valley below, Draco can see gold-tipped trees heavy with fruit. “Are we in an orchard?”
“That's right. Mum, Dad, and I came apple picking here every autumn until I went to Hogwarts.”
“Oh.” The way her cheeks are pinking in the breeze momentarily distracts him. “Um, are they here yet?”
“Not yet.” She squeezes his hand. “Come on, let's go down.”
***
Under the tree she calls her favorite, they spread a thick blanket over yellowed grass and curl up together.
“This was the first place I did magic,” she tells him, touching the trunk reverently. “I was too little to climb the ladder, but I saw the most perfect apple high in this tree. Since I couldn't climb up to it, I made the tree bend down to me.” She accios an apple into her waiting hand and looks almost sheepish. “My parents were mystified, of course. It's not as if trees are supposed to do that.”
Draco knows just how the tree felt. He would bend the laws of nature to please her, too.
“Did they want someone else for you?” It almost kills him to ask. “Someone like Weasley?”
Hermione brings the apple to his mouth and watches him take a bite. “They want someone who makes me happy.” She kisses the tart juice from his lips. “You qualify.”
Cross-legged, he pulls her onto his lap, and she wraps arms and legs around him. His hands slip under her bulky jumper to rest on the warm skin of her back. He presses his face into the hollow of her shoulder and closes his eyes.
***
Cries of “Hermione?” and “Hermione, sweetheart!” pull them apart, and they see her parents, with a picnic hamper between them, climbing over the fence.
He lags behind as Hermione runs to greet them, not wanting to intrude, but when she turns back and holds out her hand to him, he takes his place by her side. He finds the solitaire she wears on her ring finger and traces the band with his fingertip for courage.
“Mum, Dad,” she says, her smile as beautiful as the October sky, “this is Draco.”
4
Title: Leaves of Light and Dark
Author: emm718
Rating: G
Warnings: none.
Word Count: 400
It had rained the night before and despite the eerie chill of the impending winter, the Maple trees burned with a brilliancy of reds, oranges and yellows. The black bark was a stark contrast of the wondrous fire bursting from its limbs that twisted heavenward in a desperation that Draco felt in the stoicism of his despair.
It was the bleakness of the grey tombstone that reminded him why he loathed autumn and its radiant pretentiousness. The season in which his mother had grown too weary of the world and decided to lay down for a reprieve, only to never awaken again. He had buried her on a blustery day only three years prior and he had never returned to her grave. Instead he had fallen into a stygian melancholia that destroyed his consciousness with the aid of liquor and debauchery. His grief had been frightening and just when he had thought his depression was endless, he had hit the bottom where he found the glowing compassion of a sympathetic hand.
The dainty hand that was now clutched desperately within his. Warm, supportive and soft. His mouth thinned as the lump settled in his throat, he could feel the sting of saline. It wasn’t grief pulling at his chest, but gratitude that he wasn’t alone anymore. He was grateful to this hand for staying his frustration, for soothing his pain, for leading him back into the brightness and showing him that life did go on. That even without his mother, he could still smile at life’s pleasures, laugh at its absurdities until his sides ached, and love with every molecule of his being. That lovely alabaster hand had shown him how to live again. And he cherished every day since it had touched his heart.
“Do you think she would have liked me?” A sweet voice rose from beside him.
Draco turned to acknowledge it and there in the grimness of the cemetery, on that crisp autumn afternoon, Hermione Granger stood with faithful curiousness that brightened her brown eyes and a sincere hopefulness that pinked her cheeks. As the sunshine broke from the dreary clouds and the red, orange, and yellow Maple leaves kicked up around them, he thought that perhaps autumn wasn’t so terrible after all.
As he pulled a rogue leaf from her curls, a smile softened the line of his mouth. “She would have adored you. Immensely.”
5
Title: Walking Home
Author: ilkee
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Word Count: 400
Draco waits for her here.
Everyday, leaning against the brick wall of the Ministry, until her jumble of curls appear around the corner.
Today, he pulls his collar tighter and turns his face into the wind, looking for her again.
There is a faint smell of wood smoke in the air, and he thinks of fireplaces and blankets, and tries to imagine her face warm in firelight.
But then she is there, and her eyes are bright and a smile grows on her face and his imagination has failed.
***
They have discovered that they both prefer to walk. And that Draco’s flat is two blocks past hers.
And in the days and months they’ve carved this route, they have unearthed a rich and satisfying comfort in each other.
Tentative at first, but now they can talk about anything, and nothing. And sometimes they can not talk at all. Like they are doing today, walking slowly as the wind rushes past their ears, turning them pink.
Draco thinks he can remember every time he has walked Hermione Granger home.
He also thinks that maybe he is in love with her, because his chest swells the moment she appears and the feeling doesn’t leave him for many hours after he has left her.
***
He watches her swipe at the mischievous curls around her mouth.
He thinks she belongs to this season, with her honey and cinnamon eyes and the soft blush on her cheeks, like certain kinds of apples. And her hair like curled brown leaves being kicked up into the air.
As they’ve been walking, she’s pulled the flurry into a tight twist at the back of her head, skewered with a long pin.
It bothers him.
For four blocks it bothers him and he casts disapproving glances at it.
But she doesn’t notice. Today she is quiet. Preoccupied. Like she has been trying to solve a puzzle in her head.
When they reach her gate, she turns to look at him, and he understands that maybe he is the puzzle, and his heart thumps hard in his chest.
She is fixing him with her doe eyes, and the time has finally come to tell her.
He pulls the pin and her curls tumble out and fly around her face.
Draco sinks his long fingers into the frantic, tangled mess, and her head tilts back as he leans in.
“Beautiful.”
6
Title: Knowing
Author: bookishwench
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Word Count: 400
“I don’t really know you,” Hermione said, shattering the silence.
Draco smiled lazily, and she was reminded of a tiger, lithe and beautiful, but ultimately dangerous if he chose to be. The comparison made her uneasy, and he seemed to sense her discomfort, his features becoming less smug.
“What do you want to know?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, staring down at her hands, embarrassed and desperate to avoid the temptation of looking at him. “We’ve been meeting here for over a month, but I still don’t know anything about you.”
“Such as?” he said, leaning against the tree at the edge of the Forbidden Forest that had become their rendezvous point.
Neither could explain why they came here, only that the time spent in one another’s company was necessary in the insanity of their slowly dissolving world. Usually, they simply sat, silently watching the lake, content in knowing they weren’t alone. It was strange, she thought, depending on his presence so much but not being able to define it or the change that had crept over them since the beginning of autumn.
“I don’t know,” she repeated, sounding frustrated. “Silly things. Whether you like mornings, if you have a pet, what your favorite color is, just… things.”
He sat beside her, and she let herself look at him again.
“I loathe mornings, Mother has a Persian cat named Hebe, and my favorite color is brown,” he said.
Hermione couldn’t help laughing.
“What?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No one’s favorite color is brown,” she said, still giggling.
“Mine is,” he said firmly. “It’s the color of autumn leaves.”
“But they’re… dead,” she said, confused.
“I prefer to think of them as completed,” he explained. “They change the world around them. They can’t stay forever, but before they’re gone, they have a chance to fly.”
“I suppose,” she said, glancing at the canopy of brown above them, but suddenly his face blocked her view.
He’d never touched her before, and the single finger he drew down her cheek sent shockwaves through her. Draco rested his hand gently under her chin, turning her face towards him and looking into her eyes with an expression that was less like a predator and more like prey.
“As brown as leaves in autumn,” he said, holding her gaze. “Always my favorite.”
And when he kissed her, Hermione felt like she was flying.
ooo
REMEMBER: Vote for the NUMBER of the drabble, NOT THE NAME. It just makes it easier on the mods!
Please leave both a MOST favorite and a LEAST favorite vote. We must have both in order for your votes to count.
Poll
A couple of things to remember when deciding which drabbles to vote for (most and least favorite):
Guidelines:
The “feedback” option.
As a voter, you have the option of leaving a brief statement about why you voted the way you did, for both most and least favorite. Your feedback will then be given to the drabble writer (if they want the feedback) ANONYMOUSLY.
Example: Most - #40: the ending was brilliant - OR - Least - #57: the ending fell flat
Here we go for week 6!
Choose your favorite and least favorite drabbles. Favorites will receive +1 point per vote, and least favorites -1 point per vote.
Since we had so many people drop this week, we’re down to eight participants, and therefore we’re only eliminating one authors this week and from here on out.
Participants using a skip:
inadaze22 :: okay, because we didn’t know we’d be down to so few participants.
Participants dropping:
snowe
delayed_poet
imogen_penn
Voting ends at 11:59pm, Friday, October 17, 2008.
Turning Leaves and Hard Cider: Four Hundred Words About Fall
1
Title: Autumn
Author: ravenswing34
Rating: G
Warnings: fluff
Word Count: 400 exactly - not counting pesky em dash
It was autumn when he came to her. Not the summer with its heat and bright colors, not the spring with its tentative pastels, or even the winter with its cold white. He came in the fall when Nature was at her most brilliant, when orange, yellow, and red fought to be seen in every turn of the leaf.
It had started in the spring. Working the same office had required them to grow up and leave the past behind them. The fact that he had helped the Order in the War made it easier to look past the hate of youth and move on. The first tentative overtures on both of their parts must have looked comical to outsiders but it was a start.
It deepened in the summer. The bantering began again but without the bite and sting of their youth. She began to look forward to seeing him and she loved the discussions and debates over a myriad of topics. By midsummer, she realized she thought of him as a true friend.
Autumn arrived with a blaze of colors and he stood in her office door. She noticed he had a tentativeness she hadn’t seen since the spring. He mumbled something she couldn’t quite catch and asked her on a date. A slow grin spread across her face as she responded affirmatively to his question and a large grin upon his face matched hers.
He surprised her with a picnic. There was something about sitting in the middle of a forest, sipping hot cider and quietly watching the leaves fall that appealed to her. He sat against a tree and pulled her to him, settling her against his chest. There they sat and contemplated the quietness of the dark tree limbs reaching heavenwards while their brilliant canopies slowly dropped to the ground. She turned to him with a tremendous smile and proceeded to dump handfuls of leaves all over him. Tackling her quickly, he returned the favor. As he lay over her, her brown eyes sparkling, her hair covered in a crown of color and her soft lips smiling up at him, he was stunned by her beauty. With a quiet determination, he captured her lips for his own.
It was autumn when they became a couple. A perfect time, for they finally harvested what they had been growing all year - a love to last a lifetime.
2
Title: Kaleidoscope of Pulsing Shades
Author: kate0404
Rating: G
Warnings: Nada
Word Count: 400 (der!)
It was the kind of day- the kind of scene- an artist can only dream about.
In a small, nearly-deserted park in the middle of London, autumn had finally presented itself. The rain had stopped the day before, but the sky was still slightly overcast; it caused the late afternoon rays of sunshine to spread softly across the changing trees, giving off a kaleidoscope of pulsing shades. The cool breeze blew gently against the fallen leaves littering the walkway, pushing them into the open air and carrying them towards the north end of the park. It was there, nestled beneath a large painted oak tree, that they stood. In that sea of colour- vibrant red, burnt orange, crisp yellow, fading green- the couple stood; their fingers were entwined and their bodies close.
The contrast between them was striking- her eyes as dark as his light; his hair as blond as hers brown; she as short as he tall. Yet, the way they looked at each other was one and the same. They were in love- so completely, so truly- and the intensity of their gaze could warm the brisk, autumn air.
Leaves swirled at their feet as he pushed a stray curl behind her ear and kept his bare hand against her reddened cheek. She rubbed that cheek against his hand before turning her lips to press them against his palm.
“I’ll only be gone until December.” His words were hoarse, laced with emotion, but he smiled at her warmly, trying to allay both of their fears.
A single tear slipped from her eye and, as if the wind knew her pain, it pressed against them colder than before. “I wish it were here already.” Her voice quivered with unshed tears and she took a small step closer to him.
Instinctively, his arms wrapped around her thin shoulders draped in a much too lightweight coat and pulled her against his chest. He buried his face into her dishevelled curls and sighed. “I know,” he murmured. “I know.”
She nodded; the tears fell harder.
The clouds broke just as the sun was setting below the horizon. The couple stood, arms wrapped around each other, and watched the reds and purples of the sky mix together with the russets and auburns of fall, each wondering what the next season would bring.
And an artist looked on with a sigh of content satisfaction.
3
Title: Comfort Me With Apples
Author: greenschist
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Word Count: 400, per Word
“What do you think?” Hermione laces her fingers through Draco's and hugs his arm, gently rubbing her cheek over the soft, gray wool covering his bicep.
“It's beautiful,” he says. They have Apparated to a leaf-covered hill top. In the shallow valley below, Draco can see gold-tipped trees heavy with fruit. “Are we in an orchard?”
“That's right. Mum, Dad, and I came apple picking here every autumn until I went to Hogwarts.”
“Oh.” The way her cheeks are pinking in the breeze momentarily distracts him. “Um, are they here yet?”
“Not yet.” She squeezes his hand. “Come on, let's go down.”
***
Under the tree she calls her favorite, they spread a thick blanket over yellowed grass and curl up together.
“This was the first place I did magic,” she tells him, touching the trunk reverently. “I was too little to climb the ladder, but I saw the most perfect apple high in this tree. Since I couldn't climb up to it, I made the tree bend down to me.” She accios an apple into her waiting hand and looks almost sheepish. “My parents were mystified, of course. It's not as if trees are supposed to do that.”
Draco knows just how the tree felt. He would bend the laws of nature to please her, too.
“Did they want someone else for you?” It almost kills him to ask. “Someone like Weasley?”
Hermione brings the apple to his mouth and watches him take a bite. “They want someone who makes me happy.” She kisses the tart juice from his lips. “You qualify.”
Cross-legged, he pulls her onto his lap, and she wraps arms and legs around him. His hands slip under her bulky jumper to rest on the warm skin of her back. He presses his face into the hollow of her shoulder and closes his eyes.
***
Cries of “Hermione?” and “Hermione, sweetheart!” pull them apart, and they see her parents, with a picnic hamper between them, climbing over the fence.
He lags behind as Hermione runs to greet them, not wanting to intrude, but when she turns back and holds out her hand to him, he takes his place by her side. He finds the solitaire she wears on her ring finger and traces the band with his fingertip for courage.
“Mum, Dad,” she says, her smile as beautiful as the October sky, “this is Draco.”
4
Title: Leaves of Light and Dark
Author: emm718
Rating: G
Warnings: none.
Word Count: 400
It had rained the night before and despite the eerie chill of the impending winter, the Maple trees burned with a brilliancy of reds, oranges and yellows. The black bark was a stark contrast of the wondrous fire bursting from its limbs that twisted heavenward in a desperation that Draco felt in the stoicism of his despair.
It was the bleakness of the grey tombstone that reminded him why he loathed autumn and its radiant pretentiousness. The season in which his mother had grown too weary of the world and decided to lay down for a reprieve, only to never awaken again. He had buried her on a blustery day only three years prior and he had never returned to her grave. Instead he had fallen into a stygian melancholia that destroyed his consciousness with the aid of liquor and debauchery. His grief had been frightening and just when he had thought his depression was endless, he had hit the bottom where he found the glowing compassion of a sympathetic hand.
The dainty hand that was now clutched desperately within his. Warm, supportive and soft. His mouth thinned as the lump settled in his throat, he could feel the sting of saline. It wasn’t grief pulling at his chest, but gratitude that he wasn’t alone anymore. He was grateful to this hand for staying his frustration, for soothing his pain, for leading him back into the brightness and showing him that life did go on. That even without his mother, he could still smile at life’s pleasures, laugh at its absurdities until his sides ached, and love with every molecule of his being. That lovely alabaster hand had shown him how to live again. And he cherished every day since it had touched his heart.
“Do you think she would have liked me?” A sweet voice rose from beside him.
Draco turned to acknowledge it and there in the grimness of the cemetery, on that crisp autumn afternoon, Hermione Granger stood with faithful curiousness that brightened her brown eyes and a sincere hopefulness that pinked her cheeks. As the sunshine broke from the dreary clouds and the red, orange, and yellow Maple leaves kicked up around them, he thought that perhaps autumn wasn’t so terrible after all.
As he pulled a rogue leaf from her curls, a smile softened the line of his mouth. “She would have adored you. Immensely.”
5
Title: Walking Home
Author: ilkee
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Word Count: 400
Draco waits for her here.
Everyday, leaning against the brick wall of the Ministry, until her jumble of curls appear around the corner.
Today, he pulls his collar tighter and turns his face into the wind, looking for her again.
There is a faint smell of wood smoke in the air, and he thinks of fireplaces and blankets, and tries to imagine her face warm in firelight.
But then she is there, and her eyes are bright and a smile grows on her face and his imagination has failed.
***
They have discovered that they both prefer to walk. And that Draco’s flat is two blocks past hers.
And in the days and months they’ve carved this route, they have unearthed a rich and satisfying comfort in each other.
Tentative at first, but now they can talk about anything, and nothing. And sometimes they can not talk at all. Like they are doing today, walking slowly as the wind rushes past their ears, turning them pink.
Draco thinks he can remember every time he has walked Hermione Granger home.
He also thinks that maybe he is in love with her, because his chest swells the moment she appears and the feeling doesn’t leave him for many hours after he has left her.
***
He watches her swipe at the mischievous curls around her mouth.
He thinks she belongs to this season, with her honey and cinnamon eyes and the soft blush on her cheeks, like certain kinds of apples. And her hair like curled brown leaves being kicked up into the air.
As they’ve been walking, she’s pulled the flurry into a tight twist at the back of her head, skewered with a long pin.
It bothers him.
For four blocks it bothers him and he casts disapproving glances at it.
But she doesn’t notice. Today she is quiet. Preoccupied. Like she has been trying to solve a puzzle in her head.
When they reach her gate, she turns to look at him, and he understands that maybe he is the puzzle, and his heart thumps hard in his chest.
She is fixing him with her doe eyes, and the time has finally come to tell her.
He pulls the pin and her curls tumble out and fly around her face.
Draco sinks his long fingers into the frantic, tangled mess, and her head tilts back as he leans in.
“Beautiful.”
6
Title: Knowing
Author: bookishwench
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Word Count: 400
“I don’t really know you,” Hermione said, shattering the silence.
Draco smiled lazily, and she was reminded of a tiger, lithe and beautiful, but ultimately dangerous if he chose to be. The comparison made her uneasy, and he seemed to sense her discomfort, his features becoming less smug.
“What do you want to know?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, staring down at her hands, embarrassed and desperate to avoid the temptation of looking at him. “We’ve been meeting here for over a month, but I still don’t know anything about you.”
“Such as?” he said, leaning against the tree at the edge of the Forbidden Forest that had become their rendezvous point.
Neither could explain why they came here, only that the time spent in one another’s company was necessary in the insanity of their slowly dissolving world. Usually, they simply sat, silently watching the lake, content in knowing they weren’t alone. It was strange, she thought, depending on his presence so much but not being able to define it or the change that had crept over them since the beginning of autumn.
“I don’t know,” she repeated, sounding frustrated. “Silly things. Whether you like mornings, if you have a pet, what your favorite color is, just… things.”
He sat beside her, and she let herself look at him again.
“I loathe mornings, Mother has a Persian cat named Hebe, and my favorite color is brown,” he said.
Hermione couldn’t help laughing.
“What?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No one’s favorite color is brown,” she said, still giggling.
“Mine is,” he said firmly. “It’s the color of autumn leaves.”
“But they’re… dead,” she said, confused.
“I prefer to think of them as completed,” he explained. “They change the world around them. They can’t stay forever, but before they’re gone, they have a chance to fly.”
“I suppose,” she said, glancing at the canopy of brown above them, but suddenly his face blocked her view.
He’d never touched her before, and the single finger he drew down her cheek sent shockwaves through her. Draco rested his hand gently under her chin, turning her face towards him and looking into her eyes with an expression that was less like a predator and more like prey.
“As brown as leaves in autumn,” he said, holding her gaze. “Always my favorite.”
And when he kissed her, Hermione felt like she was flying.
ooo
REMEMBER: Vote for the NUMBER of the drabble, NOT THE NAME. It just makes it easier on the mods!
Please leave both a MOST favorite and a LEAST favorite vote. We must have both in order for your votes to count.
Poll