She ran for ten miles, had three cartons of ice cream (offsetting the running), and sent sixty-seven texts to Draco today.

D: Pansy

D: Pan

D: You gotta admit you're obsessed with Granger

P: Shut the fuck up

D: You're the one who just won't shut up

She was standing in front of the campus cafe when Viktor hit on her. She didn't know why he'd hit on a lesbian. Maybe school soccer team boys are all like this. They think they can get whatever they want 24/7 as long as they put their mind to it, since their mind's so precious that they have to put it on a pedestal and never use it.

"Not interested, mate." She said.

"Come on. You won't know if you don't open your mind." He wore this charming-good-rainbow-and-sunshine smile on his face. It was disgusting.

"I'll open your abdomen if you don't fuck off." She deadpanned.

His hand touched her arm. "I like your sass."

"I like vagina."

His touch was making her uncomfortable. Not exactly afraid, but uneasy nonetheless. She didn't see Granger walking towards them. She was focusing on getting his hand off her.

And then soft lips covered hers. Time paused. The wind paused. The sound of distant people paused. There was the taste of mint toothpaste. The lips moved against hers. Tiny friction. Electricity. She thought of years ago, when she was a little girl, she'd spent every summer day on a beach. The toxic illusion of freedom.

"Hi Vik." Granger waved a little, smiling.

"Hermione! Hey! I didn't know you two are a thing!" Viktor laughed and stepped up to hug Granger.

She stood there, dumbfounded, and watched the two friends chat for over ten minutes.

P: It's not like she's beautiful. Or warm. Or so fucking soft.

D: Oh she is

P: How the fuck would you know?

P: I'm gonna kill you

P: You bloody albino ferret

D: I'm not in the country

D: Bite me

She knew Granger's schedule. She followed her. She saw her face every time she closed her eyes. Her face in a lecture. Contemplating whatever the professor was talking about. Her face when she talked to her friends. The tiny crease between her eyebrows. Her face when Pansy called her names. Hard and cold. Contempt. Hostility. Her face when she came. Flushed. Fragile. Imaginative. Unreal. Never happened. Never happened before her eyes.

Her fingers moved faster, harder. Granger's lips on hers. Granger's hard eyes on her. "You're not even a bully." Granger's calm voice. "You're just childish. Grow up." She inserted another finger into herself. Give it to me. You condescending little bitch. Insult me. Do your best. Hit me, if you have the nerve. "You're not better than me." You liar. You vixen. Touch me with your poisonous tongue. Give me your sweet hatred. Again. Again! Again! Yes!

She was lying on her floor. Her back hurt. A horn blared down the street. The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature: Enlightenment, Britain and Empire was staring at her from her bed, ever so judgmental.

D: You're pathetic

P: You think I don't know that?

D: Just hook up, okay?

P: You say that like it's easy

D: It is what you want it to be

P: That's unusually deep for you

P: Blaise?

P: Are you using Draco's phone?

"Do you like it?" Granger asked her.

She couldn't speak. She was trembling and it was hard to catch breath. She didn't want to talk to Granger. She didn't want to know her in a more insightful way. All she had to know is the warmth of her chest, the passion in her words, and the feather light touch of her fingers and lips and tongue. She was being played like a violin. To hell with Paganini. He's fucking responsible for this.

A whine ripped itself out of her throat. She punched the desk under her body.

"I. Asked. Do you. Like it?" Granger's face appeared above her. Her hair was slightly messed up. Face flushed and lips glistening, she looked like a perfect wet dream.

"Get the fuck down." She gritted out.

"Answer me or you won't get any."

"Are you fucking threatening me?"

"Choose your reaction wisely, Parkinson. I've read books about this."

She snorted a laugh. "Of course."

Then pleasure covered her like ocean wave. It drowned her. Devoured her. Digested her so she's not there anymore. She's just a part of something much grander. More beautiful.

"Wow." She said quietly, after all was over.

Granger sat on the floor, grinning like a cat. "Do you like it?"

She shook her head unbelievably. "Why didn't you carry out your threat?"

Granger sighed with great annoyance and suffering. "Of course."

She watched her stand up, shoulder her backpack, and walk out of the abandoned classroom.

D: Wow

P: I know

D: Would it kill you to pay that girl a compliment

P: As a matter of fact, it will

D: Yeah I don't even know why i asked

She saw Granger kiss a boy in front of the school stadium one afternoon when she was trying to walk back home and mind her own business.

Well.

"Never took you as a slut, Granger."

Granger rolled her eyes. She rolled her eyes so hard it's almost cute. "I'm not gonna wait for you indefinitely, okay?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I think you know what I'm talking about."

"Could you even be more condescending?"

"You and I both know that I can."

She suppressed her smile. It was an unsettling feeling. She sent the boy a look. She didn't try to be intimidating. The boy looked like he wouldn't be able to make it.

"I'll see you around, Dany." Granger stood on her toes and gave the boy another kiss on his lips.

She almost vomited. "What are you playing at?"

Brown eyes shined with mischief. "Are you jealous?" A hand flew to her chest. "Awwwww. Pansy! I'm touched."

She used all her bitchiness to control her blush. "I'm not opposed to your service."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

She tried harder. "Do you offer it to the whole school?"

Granger moved incredibly close to her, but not touching. She could feel her warm breath on the skin behind her ear. "I'm not getting angry, Parkinson. Take your time. Think it through. You have to ask for it if you want something." She heard a strange tilt in her voice. "It's okay if it's not me, but you have to learn to do that someday."

There was a sinking feeling in her stomach. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Granger touched their foreheads for a second. "Oh you stupid, stupid girl."

D: I'll ask her for you, alright?

P: Wtf?

P: STOP!

P: Don't you dare!

P: Draco!

D: You're too annoying

D: I'm ending this text marathon

D: I'm asking

D: Just get it over with

P: I'm gonna kill you

P: I'm gonna cut your dick off and kill you

P: You stop it this instant!

D: What does carpe diem mean?

D: What kind of answer is that?

D: Pans?

"The doctor said two months, but I intend to live a little longer than that." Granger was saying. "I need to beat you losers one more time on final exam."

She couldn't breathe. She was frozen outside the door. She could hear Potter shouting, Weasley stuttering something unintelligible, and Granger's soft voice comforting them. Her stomach hurt. Her legs felt like jelly. Suddenly it's not a door. It's a wall between two countries. She could never break it down to bricks. It's too heavy. Too hard. Too much.

All she had to do was to raise her hand and knock. Or just push it open. Either way. All she had to do was to ask for something she wanted.

She didn't move.