I'd like to start by thanking everyone who reviewed. YOU. ARE. AWESOME. So here it is. I got my lazy ass in gear and made another chapter. It's not quite as good as the first, but I did my best.
Oh, and special thanks to Silvanesti, whose message caused me to not get my Math homework done in favor of finishing this chapter. (:
xxx
The next morning was definitely not one of Hermione's better ones. She'd been woken up a minute prior by Lavender Brown as she snuck into the dorm still in her dress from last night, her hair mussed. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she'd been doing.
Lavender had promptly shaken Parvati awake and the two had begun giggle conferencing in earnest. Hermione was debating if a unforgivable curse would be appropriate for the situation.
After about five minutes of such torture, Hermione'd had enough. Throwing off the covers she went to to her dresser, throwing on the first pair of sweatpants she could find. Parvati and Lavender, realizing she was awake, abruptly stopped talking. Hermione flashed them the biggest, brightest smile she could, before fleeing to the bathroom. She was going to have to ask Ginny if she could move into the 5th year dorm. She wasn't sure she could survive much longer in hers.
Alone in the bathroom, Hermione tried to make sense of last night. To be honest, she wasn't even positive it had even happened. Draco Malfoy, holding her, telling her she was beautiful? It must have been something she drank.
Pulling the bobby pins from her bun she let her hair fall down her bare neck. It had held up fairly well from the night before, it seemed that Sleekeasy's 48 Hour Hair Formula was holding up to its name.
Her makeup seemed equally untouchable and no matter how much she scrubbed it didn't seem to want to come off. Perhaps she'd been a bit too enthusiastic in charming it onto her face. Shrugging, she left the bathroom and entered the common room. She was about to sit on the couch with a book when her stomach growled.
Oh right, food. Food was good.
The Great Hall, when she got there, was bustling with students in various states of undress. The morning after the Yule Ball was generally a dress code optional day. The Slytherins all took advantage of this and wore the sluttiest outfits they owned. Pansy appeared to be in nothing more than a tight lacy camisole and booty shorts. It was almost enough to make Hermione run all the way back to the Gryffindor common room screaming.
She tried not to look at the Slytherin table. No one wanted to see Crabbe and Goyle shirtless. She had almost made it to a safe zone when a drawling voice caught her attention. "Granger."
It was Malfoy, looking impeccable and untouchable as always. She didn't know what she'd been expected. After last night shouldn't he have been different somehow? That boy she'd hugged, he had been different.
Hermione put on her best glare, turning to face him. "What do you want Malfoy?"
"I need to talk to you."
"Well I'm listening."
He looked at her as if she'd been dropped as a child. "In private, obviously."
"No. I'm not going anywhere private with you, Malfoy."
"Afraid you'll finally break down, unable to resist my charms and devastating good looks?" He smirked, raising a single eyebrow, causing the entire female population of the Slytherin table to sigh.
"Not even close."
Draco let out a grievous sigh, striding over to where Hermione stood, grabbing her by the wrist. "Come on Granger. Hallway. Now." And suddenly Hermione found herself being dragged into the empty corridor by the Slytherin Prince Himself.
"What are you doing?" She asked him, pulling her wrist out of his grasp. "What do you want?"
"Last night." He said simply. He looked down at his feet, sticking his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Hermione could barely believe her eyes, was Draco Malfoy nervous?
"What about it?"
"I don't know. I was hoping you did."
"Can't we just forget about it?" Hermione asked. She felt oddly self conscious about being alone in a hallway with Malfoy. It was like being in a cage with a lion, or rather, a snake.
"No. Obviously not." Draco replied, sounding a bit peeved.
"Draco I'm starving. Can't we talk about this later?"
Draco took a few steps closer to her, and Hermione realized that sometime during the last minute she'd ended up pressed against a wall. "No. We can't."
"Leave me alone." She tried to dart away from him, but he caught her by the wrist.
"I won't." Moving like a viper he pulled her closer, pressing his muscled body against her softer one.
"What are you doing?" She whispered, her face pressed against his neck. When had he gotten so tall?
"I don't know." He whispered, his breathing ragged. Hermione felt terrified, and knew her heart was pounding much harder than it should have been. "I have no idea what I'm doing anymore."
"Draco please-"
"What the devil is going on in here?" Hermione jumped about a foot in the air, and shoved herself away from Draco. Draco turned to
Severus Snape, his face cold and cordial, expression giving away none of his feelings.
"Nothing, professor. Granger was just asking me about her arithmacy homework. The poor girl just can't seem to understand calculus charms." He drawled, an easy smile on his angelic face.
Snape nodded. "Of course. Carry on. Mrs. Granger, try not to bother Mr. Malfoy." And he strode off in a whirl of black robes, leaving the two alone in the hall once more.
Hermione was a bit affronted. "You know very well that I understand calculus charms perfectly well. And I wasn't the one being bothered!" She said, crossing her arms over his chest.
"Well Snape doesn't know that does he?" He replied, leaning up against the stony wall. He reached out suddenly, grabbing her by the hand before she could think of a witty riposte. "Come on, I want to show you something."
"Draco I still haven't had breakfast!"
He pretended not to hear her. "Come on."
Seven flights of stairs later, they emerged in a seventh floor corridor. Hermione was pondering if there was any way she could possibly summon some of the scrambled eggs off of the Gryffindor table seven floors below.
"Draco where are we going?" She asked exasperatedly a minute later as they turned down another empty corridor. She wished desperately he wasn't holding her hand. It made everything so much more difficult.
"One second." He relinquished his grip and began pacing back and forth, muttering under his breath.
Just as Hermione was about to ask him what exactly he thought he was doing, there was a metallic scraping sound and a pair of thick metal doors appeared in the concrete. He turned to her, a small, hopeful smile on his face.
"What's that?" She asked, stepped up to get a closer look.
He put a hand on the handle, swinging the door open. "Hermione Granger, welcome to the Room of Hidden Things."
xxx
TADAA! Reviews make me want to write more. Mull that one over.
