She had rushed out of the Transfiguration classroom and quickly weaved her way through passages and hallways in an effort to be alone. Malfoy had infuriated her enough that she had embarrassed herself in front of the entire class. She huffed angrily as she entered the passage that held one portrait of Helga the Passionate. She came here sometimes when she needed to cool off, alone. There was a solitary window here, where she could perch on the ledge and peer down at the lake below. Watching the water always seemed to calm her.
She dropped her satchel of books at the base of the window and was just bending forward to climb onto the ledge, when she heard forceful steps approaching. She glanced toward the sound and felt the anger swell anew. Malfoy was stalking down the passage with a sneer on his thin face.
Hermione growled and pulled back from the ledge. "What do you want you revolting slug?"
"How can such a know-it-all be so brainless at the same time, Granger?" He snarled back.
"You're such an arrogant loathsome little cockroach. I have more intellect in one brain-cell than you have in that entire horrible little mind of yours." She stepped toward him, determined to stand her ground during the barrage of insults that they were likely to throw at each other. Her body was rising with fury, still out of breath from the rush of her hasty journey to the passage.
In an instant Draco forced her against the wall, his smooth hawthorn wand pressed into the notch at the base of her throat. His eyes pierced hers and his breath fanned her face in harsh angry puffs. Her own breaths came in heavy pants, her chest rising and falling rapidly, her nostrils flared with fury.
"You've no idea how you get under my skin, witch," he said, voice quietly forceful. He pressed harder against her, venom pouring into his gaze.
She could smell his very essence and it occurred to her that she never knew his scent before. It was pleasant in an oddly intoxicating way, sharp cologne that held a softer undertone. She distantly registered that it was akin to Angelica or Tea Tree. Hermione quickly forgot what they had been arguing over as her focus shifted to his proximity and the heat of his body. All thought dissipated and the only things in existence were his mercury eyes and the pressure of that hawthorn wand against her skin. She could feel the hum and warmth of magic at the tip.
Her cheeks warmed into blush, a slow burn that crept across her skin. Draco dropped his gaze to her cheeks, then to the open collar of her shirt. She glanced down, remembering that she had opened the top few buttons in the warmth of the Transfiguration classroom. She had also forgone her sweater vest this morning, knowing that the summer heat of the castle could be stifling.
Her breasts were just visible as they rapidly rose and fell. Hermione's blush grew fiery with the realization that he was focused on this intimate part of her. Draco slowly trailed the tip of his wand up her neck, raising her chin to him.
Their eyes connected with a magnetic pull. The anger was gone from his mercury gaze, replaced by the heady look of desire. His cheeks, normally devoid of color, held a slight rosy hew. Hermione inhaled sharply, her mouth falling open.
Draco bit his plump bottom lip and suddenly she could feel the tip of his wand trailing back down her neck, running along the sharp bones of her clavicle and dipping into the valley between her breasts. Her own vine wood wand hung limply at her side, nearly falling from her loose grasp.
She whimpered as the magic in his wand seemed to pulse against her in a staccato beat. Its warmth skimmed over the round tops of her breasts, pulling the shirt collar open further. She closed her eyes and unceremoniously dropped her wand, which had sent a sharp jolt of heated magic into her palm as goosebumps had arisen across her entire body. The clatter of her wand reverberated against the stone walls of the empty corridor. A second later Draco's wand rattled to the floor alongside hers.
He closed the small gap between their bodies. His cool hands roughly grasped her cheeks, sliding along her scorching skin. Their lips melded together with a flowing give and take of pressure and warmth, as his long chilly fingers framed her face. Hermione's hands betrayed her, grasping at his robes to pull him flush against her.
He moaned softly and she took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, sliding her tongue along his bottom lip and stroking into his hot mouth. One of her traitorous hands slid up his back and into the nape of his soft hair. His palms smoothed down her neck, over her shoulders and around to the small of her back.
Draco pulled away from her mouth, moving his lips in heated kisses across her right cheek and down the slope of her neck, to the crook of her shoulder. Hermione released another gasp, letting her head fall back heavily against the wall to give him access to more skin. She breathed in his scent Tea Tree, Angelica, and Mint. It made her sigh.
Her eyes opened and she took in the dim light of the corridor, particles of dust floating around the only window nearby. Draco's lips trailed down to her right breast, kissing the mound softly as one of his hands rose to her left breast. He cupped her through the fabric, kneading the flesh beneath in a way that sent a jolt to Hermione's core.
"Draco – what are we doing?" Hermione whimpered as he devoured every bit of flesh within reach of his lips. He glanced up at her words, an expression of heavy-lidded satisfaction on his face. Hermione shivered as the air met the damp skin of her chest.
"I've - no – idea," Draco responded, pressing three quick pecks against her lips to punctuate each word.
She nipped at his lips with her teeth. "I hate you Malfoy. This is insane."
He smirked in response, settling her bottom lip sharply between his own teeth before soothing the bite with his tongue. He pressed his lips against her ear, as his hands trailed almost gentle fingers down her sides. "Hate me harder Granger. It's not working."
She released a shaky breath, capturing his lips in a bruising kiss and digging her nails into his silky hair. It was so fine; it almost reminded her of downy feathers. She wondered how someone could be so hard and soft at the same time. Everything about him was juxtaposed.
They moaned in unison as he pressed her even more sharply into the stones at her back, their warmth combining deliciously in the sticky heat of empty spaces beyond. As he moved his lips along her hairline and dipped them behind her ear, she struggled to remember just why this was wrong.
"I hate you Malfoy," she reiterated in a vehement whisper.
Draco's harsh breath caused a shiver to spring up her back as he responded, "If you hate me more, I'll only want you more and we'll be right back here fighting and snogging against the wall in an empty passageway."
His words held an edge of sobering truth and she shook her head before forcing her palms to press against his chest. She felt the buzz of reality creeping into her foggy brain. She quickly stepped to the side, knees quaking as she bent to recover her wand. She stood, leaning heavily on the stone beside her. His eyes pierced hers and she felt weak under his gaze.
"You don't want a mudblood like me," she hissed accusingly. "You don't know what you're saying. Hormones talking. Vicious tempers flaring. This won't happen again, Malfoy."
He bit out a laugh at her words, bending down to grasp his own forgotten wand. She noted that his lips were roughly red and swollen and wondered at the appearance of her own. A strange feeling jolted in her stomach, would everyone know what she had just been doing with her biggest rival? For a moment he just stared at her and his gaze was so impenetrable she had to look away. She focused on the scuffed toe of her right Mary-Jane.
In the near silence of the deserted corridor she could hear him swallow heavily. "Keep lying to yourself Granger. I know what I just felt and you can deny 'til pigs fly. I always get what I want in the end," he drawled before turning to saunter down the hall and out of sight.
Hermione slid to the floor, bracing her arms against her knees. Her hands were shaking slightly and there was a tingling in her chest. What had she been thinking? She reprimanded herself for her own stupidity and tried to replay how they had found themselves in this situation. She couldn't even explain it to herself. Nor could she explain the way her blood pulsed with need at the thought of his burning lips and icy fingers. She sighed and ran a hand over her face in disbelief.
A/N: Originally this was a one shot that was written to work through a bit of writer's block. It now has a second chapter and will likely have a third.