Draco's head was pounding.
He had been sitting in Professor Trelawney's stuffy classroom for nearly two hours listening to her blather on about crystal balls and tea leaves, and he had had just about enough of it. Every crackle from the fire in the hearth, every scratch of a quill on parchment, every squeak of a chair, every flip of a page, every snore escaping from Ronald Weasley's gaping mouth was igniting a feeling in his skull somewhat akin to what Draco felt was a hundred times worse than having someone whittling away at his brain with a cheese grater.
Of course, the smell wasn't exactly helping. He had taken the only seat even remotely close to the tiny open window of the tower, but the air was heavy with the smells of incense and perfume and candles and- was that lip gloss? Draco's dark grey eyes swept the room and rested on the source of the disgustingly-thick, sickly sweet scent. There sat Pansy puckering her slimy, freshly glossed lips at some poor little Ravenclaw boy who was blushing from the roots of his hair down to his toes. He was dealing with this newfound attention by tapping his quill nervously- and loudly- on his desk.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Pansy sent an overly obvious wink in the boy's direction, and proceeded to bite her lower lip (still freshly, slimily, disgustingly glossed…)
TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP.
Draco clenched his fists to prevent himself from wrapping his hands around both of their throats and squeezing until their heads popped off and rolled right out of the tower; hopefully landing with a satisfying splat more than a few stories below. He rubbed his temples and leaned toward the open window, hunching away from his fellow classmates with his elbows on his desk. He and the other students selected for The Project had been warned of some of the side effects they were to expect during this phase.
Hermione Granger had already had four emotional melt-downs; three of which were on display in the Great Hall during breakfast, much to Draco and most of Hogwarts' amusement. One of the Patil sisters - whichever was in Ravenclaw, but who could possibly keep track, really- was confined to the hospital wing and had to wear several blindfolds at all times because her eyes were so sensitive to light. And some boy from Hufflepuff was rumored to have been having a bit of sensitivity to touch- much to his girlfriend's dismay; but that would have easily been a load of rubbish… Besides, he thought to himself, no one in their right mind would allow a Hufflepuff even remotely close to a dragon, Project or no Project.
"- I thank you ALL for being here today. Although I already knew you would be…"
Professor Trelawney's speech sliced through Draco's reverie violently and started a fresh jolt of agony to begin bouncing around in his skull. He grit his teeth, thankful only that this signaled the end of class.
"- and remember! You MUST fill OUT your DREAMBOOKS every morning or your palm readings next week won't make an ounce of sense to you!"
"Like they would anyway…" came the mumbled retort from the back of the room.
The resulting giggles and snorts from his peers caused Draco to purse his lips at the scent of bodies and breath the movement of the students had caused; he couldn't stand much more of this. Thankfully, the anonymous comment had flustered Trelawney enough that the students were able to gather their things and start heading for the door whilst she was still busy readjusting her shawls and beads in embarrassment. Draco decided to wait until most of the stench- rather; students- had passed before making his way out of the class through the trap door, down the winding staircase that would no doubt be filled with even more noisy, overpoweringly smelly students.
He turned in his seat and rested his forehead on the smooth, cold panes of the window. Closing his eyes to the world around him, he tried doing what Hagrid had instructed- focus on something simple, and immerse yourself in it entirely. Well, that wasn't exactly how the half-giant had put it; there were quite a few more 'er' and 'ar's thrown in, but that had been the gist of the lesson.
Taking deep soothing breaths, Draco began trying to find something to think about that would allow him to calm down. The cool, fresh breeze coming in through the window was helping; it smelled like trees and water and mud and damp and-
Draco opened his eyes and scowled to himself.
This was not going to be as easy as the hairy oaf had made it seem.
He looked around the room noticing that everyone had left and could just faintly hear the professor in the back room fiddling with something. Sighing to himself, Draco stood up and gathered his things. He slung his book bag over his shoulder and descended the few steps leading toward the front of the class. As he bent to crouch through the doorway leading to the stairs, however, he caught a slight whiff of something. Thinking nothing of it, he continued on thinking only of if taking a trip to the Hospital Wing would be worth the inevitable sounds and smells and stupid questions from the nurse-
He stopped dead in his tracks; back ram-rod straight, nostrils flared, every single muscle and tendon in his body tensed. He took one deep, burning breath and held it. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced in his life. Whatever subtle, simple scent had drifted up into his nose was making his head spin a thousand miles an hour. His limbs were tingling, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and his lungs were burning-
Oh. Right. That was probably because he hadn't begun to breathe again.
He let go of his breath in one great whoosh and took in another quick one to test the air. It smelled of- snow, almost. Or pine… Some fresh, cold, almost prickly scent was overwhelming his senses and taking over his brain. He took another step forward, raising his nose to the air in an attempt to locate the source of this blissful smell.
He heard a tiny 'eep!' as his head snapped to the left to reveal the girl standing next to a cracked window like the one he had been sitting next to in Divination.
"Weasley?" He ground out incredulously.
Ginny Weasley was staring at him like he had a thestral growing out of the side of his head or something of the like.
"What is wrong with you Malfoy? You scared me half to death! I thought everybody had left already and I was just coming up to grab a book I forgot earlier and then you storm out of the class like- what are you doing?"
Draco's grey eyes smoldered as he took in the petit frame of the youngest Weasley. He couldn't focus on anything other than where that divine essence was coming from. He took a step towards her and took a breath. Definitely stronger.
"Malfoy really, why are you looking at me like that? If this has something to do with the Project just tell me and I'll go get Madam Pomfrey and -"
He took another step. It was driving him mental! The minty, cold, piney smell was wrapping around his brain and taking over his motor control; he had to be closer to it. Draco's lack of a verbal response caused Ginny to take a nervous half step backwards- and that was his undoing.
He immediately launched himself toward her and grabbed the now shrieking Gryffindor. Before his book bag even had time to hit the floor, he had her pushed up against the cold, stone wall of the tower; one hand at her hip, one hand tangled in her fiery mane, with his face buried deep in her neck trying to inhale as much as he physically could.
"Bloody hell Malfoy! What are you doing? Malfoy? Draco! Draco get off!" Ginny made a move to push him off of her, but the instant her hands touched his hard chest, she froze.
Was he- did he just…GROWL?
Ginny's eyes widened as she felt the deep, low rumble reverberate from Malfoy's large body through her own. The low hum made her toes curl and give her the irresistible urge to squirm, but when she tried to move-
"Don't…" Malfoy hissed.
Ginny knew better than to argue with that tone. Hagrid had warned them about how the bond between student and hatchling could become blurred and as a result, the student could lose some of their- common sense, and instead act in a more animalistic or instinctual way. Such as right now… She decided her best bet was to just stay as still as possible, for fear of Malfoy tearing off her head or flinging her down the stairs in a moment of uncontrolled behaviour. So Ginny stood there with her hands resting on Malfoy's heaving chest, silently praying that he would come to his senses soon. She was pushed almost painfully up against the cold stone blocks behind her, and could feel nearly every inch of Draco's taut, lithe body pressing up against her- chest to chest, hip to hip… She shivered, but wasn't exactly sure why. Every breath he took forced the air out of her lungs and she could smell the most enticing, slightly spicy smell coming off his skin. She could feel the hand Draco had tangled in her hair gently massaging her scalp, sending little jolts of what felt like electricity up and down her spine. Her pulse quickened at an alarming rate and she could feel the tell-tale Weasley flush spreading across her chest, up her neck and over her freckled face. Draco continued to press against her, inhaling deeply into her collar bone. Ginny felt her knees begin to give out, and for a moment she was grateful of Draco's closeness; she was certain she would have slid to the ground if he hadn't been holding her so firmly. Her skin burned deliciously wherever it touched his...
After what seemed like hours, but realistically was probably just a few minutes, Malfoy's grip on her hair seemed to loosen, and his shoulders started to relax. Ginny could feel him curving into her, forcing their bodies even closer, if possible. Finally, he took one final deep break, almost lifting her feet off the ground in the process, and took a step back.
Ginny immediately dropped to the floor, a hand on her chest and started taking long, deep breaths, thankful for the ability to breathe without a man pushing on her chest in the process. Once she had calmed down some she looked up, ready to confront the culprit responsible for the total invasion of her personal space. Her brow softened in confusion when she saw Draco wasn't in front of her, she was alone in the tower. Ginny scowled to herself as she got up and dusted herself off indignantly, making her way towards the stairs.
"Well, there definitely won't be any more of that happening ever again. No sir…"