Quarantine

"Damn it, Granger!" Draco growled in frustration as he fell onto his backside on the floor. "What did you do?"

Hermione stopped laughing for a moment and approached the doorway he sat in front of. She reached a hand up into the entrance and jumped back, startled.

A great jolt of energy had penetrated her entire body from the tips of her outstretched fingers.

"It must be some sort of enchantment…" Hermione murmured, looking carefully at the entrance and the invisible shield that trapped them.

"Well you should know," Draco sneered, standing up and smoothing down his trousers. "You were the one who put it there."

"Actually," Hermione stately plainly, sticking her nose into the air, "I didn't."

Draco looked at her incredulously for a moment.

"Who do you suppose did it then, Granger?" He made a show of looking wildly around the large library. "There's no one else here…"

Hermione folded her arms across her chest defiantly. "It could be a quarantine procedure…" she suggested scathingly. "The castle is charmed to respond to such situations. I think it prudent that we stay in here until the threat has been neutralized…"

"Threat?" Draco suddenly sounded slightly panicked. Hermione tried to hide a smirk.

"Yes," she said offhandedly. "You know – contagion, disease, plague… But never fear, Malfoy, Madam Pomfrey is highly trained for these sorts of situations. We'll be out of here by dinnertime."

Draco watched her through narrowed eyes for a moment, contemplating what she had said. A smirk slowly formed on his lips and he leaned lazily against the wall nearby.

"You've never been that good at lying, Granger," he drawled. "I can see right through your little quarantine lie to the underlying truth that you want me, that you enjoy the idea of being stuck in your favourite place of leisure with only me for company…"

Hermione flushed a bright red before composing herself and grinning in his direction and flicking her wand at the library's entrance.

"You're free to leave at any time, Malfoy..."

Draco didn't go anywhere.