Summary: DM/HG. No serious plot, really. A secret affair is conducted behind the walls of Hogwarts. There might be some snogging, some sneaking and some jealousy. And throw in Ginny Weasley and Blaise Zabini for good fun.
Chapter II - Of Jealousy & Books
"They're relentless!" Ginevra Weasley said and looked back at the 16-year-old Slytherin - her new partner in crime.
"I know". He nodded.
"Well I can't watch anymore". She said shaking her head disapprovingly and backed away from the door.
"Who said you had to in the first place"? And there was that smirk again. Ginny now resented that smirk.
"Slytherin creep" She muttered and glared at him.
"What was that now?" Blaise smiled and winked at her." Me, a creep? Miss Weasley, I am most certainly not the one stalking outside a room, in hope of a glimpse at something she's yet to experience". wink, wink.
"How dare you!" Ginny shrieked over-dramatically in a very high-pitched voice at him only to instantly silence herself with a hand.
"Oops?" He laughed.
Inside, Draco was just about to get rid of the last irritating button to Hermiones white blouse when a shrieking sound broke his ecstasy. Well almost ecstasy, one more button. He couldn't care less about the intrusion but the frightened expression on Hermione's face told him that playtime was over.
"Oh no" She said covering her cheeks with her hands. She gave Draco a desperate look. But he seemed annoyingly unstirred. He smirked and shifted his gaze to the door behind her.
"Zabini, Get in here." He called.
Hermione whipped her head around and saw Blaise Zabini entering the room, dragging an all red Ginny Weasley by the arm.
"Ginny" Hermione squealed " I... I was just helping Malfoy here with some..."
"Don't bother, pet" Draco interrupted her.
"They've been standing outside for a good fifteen minutes now" smirking, Draco looked at Blaise who simply smirked back. "Besides, your bra is showing". He suggested and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before she had time to react.
Hermione squealed and started franticly to button up her shirt. Draco offered his help but was immediately slapped away.
He grinned.
All finished and proper again she turned to Ginny with a serious face.
"Were you spying on me?"
"No, I... " Ginny looked ever more embarrassed than before.
"She was just concerned..." Blaise said and looked at Ginny. "...That's all".
"Oh, well thanks… I suppose" Hermione gave Ginny a forgiving smile, hoped off the desk and walked to the door. Draco followed suit.
When the couple where out of sight, Ginny turned to Blaise with a smile and said "Thank you".
"Don't mention it" He smiled back at her before heading out the door.
Hermiones found the library to be her personal haven. Sure, it was dusty and the chairs gave her bum bruises if she sat on them to long, but of all the rooms and halls in this castle, here is where she preferred to be.
Looking up from her book she noticed that the place was nearly empty now, except for the grouchy excuse for a librarian and a three Ravenclaws she'd vaguely remember seeing before. 'Must be first years' She thought and turned her gaze toward the window.
It was a lovely afternoon - sun, birds, quidditch – everything really, set for a perfect day outside. Still, she loved the indoors with a good book and only herself for company. 'Ah, heaven' She giggled to herself and returned to '1000 fungus and where to find them'.
Mere moments later she was interrupted by a pair of shoes connected to a pair of feet walking her way. "Hello Gin". She kept her voice perfectly normal, showing no trace of the previous events.
"Mione, I have to talk to you". Ginny almost spoke as it was some matter of great importance.
'Really? Even if the sun is shining and sweaty boys are flying?' Hermione thought and turned her head towards the window once more in a weak attempt to lure the redhead outside.
Ginny neither followed her gaze out the window nor changed her mind about interrogating Hermione; she simply folded her arms across her chest and stubbornly waited.
"About what?" Hermione bit back. "And please stop referring to me as 'Mione', you know how much I despise that awful nickname". She surrendered but held her gaze firmly glued to the table.
Ginny sat down. "About you and Malfoy of course!" she whispered.
Hermione looked up in panic. "Shh!" She said and felt even her cheeks redden.
"I mean, what's going on? Are you really in love with him? Ginny inquired impatiently. "Cause if you are..."
"No! err... I mean". Blush "No! ...We just snogged, that's all" more blush.
"Hermione…" Ginny said, looking confused"…that's very uncharacteristic of you." She added with a hint of giggle.
"Yes, I know... " Hermione sighed. "...But I couldn't help myself" She added with a grin. Ginny gasped and looked around making sure nobody, 'absolutely nobody', heard that.
They sat in silence. Ginny seemed to be in a deep inner conflict as she smiled dreamingly one second then shook her head in distress the next. Hermione got tired after a while, so she returned to the world of Herbology.
"Is he as good as they say he is?" Ginny's eyes were shining with excitement now. She'd obviously settled for half-full…
"Who says?" Hermione looked up with a look on her face that could be described as a mixture of disgust and jealousy.
Mostly jealousy.
At dinner that evening Hermione wasn't hungry. Well, hungry - that she was when she entered the Great Hall, now she wasn't so sure. And there were two reasons for that.
Firstly; Draco, currently seated at the Slytherin table, had his arm draped around Pansy Parkinson and still seemed to enjoy his food. 'I would have some reaction involving vomit and the obliviate spell' Hermione thought, now repulsed. He seemed very at ease as he and the rest of the junior Death Eater bunch were having a lighthearted conversation. 'Light hearted my arse'. She shook her head and several 'hmmpf' sounds followed.
Secondly, Pansy Parkinson had seated herself right next to Draco and had somehow managed to sneak her shoulders under is arm. She looked like Crookshanks stretched out on his favourite spot in front of the fireplace. Hermione could almost hear her purr 'Oh, yes Draco' purr. She 'hmmpf'-ed once more and gave up hope of ever finishing her meal that night.
"'Mione, what's the difference between a thong and regular knickers? A voice asked, belonging to a Ronald Weasley.
"Well, it's that ...Ron! I'm eating for Merlin's sake!" She shrieked.
"Gotcha!" He smiled "And no, you're not eating, you're stabbing your knife at the poor chicken". He continued "What's it ever done to you?" Annoying smile.
"The chicken is already dead Ron, get over it". A calm voice said from across the table. Hermione mouthed a thank you to him.
"Besides" He added. "Who could eat with Malfoy and his Parkinson still in the room"? Harry Potter half turned and gave the Slytherin table a good glare.
"They're not an item". Ginny snapped from Harry's left and Hermione quickly sent her a warning glare. "Or so, I've heard" she mumbled and sipped on her pumpkin juice.
Leaving the Great Hall without Harry or Ron, all by herself, was risky business these days but Hermione really wasn't up to another game of 20 questions.
Halfway up the stairs she heard him, behind her. First with steps, then words.
"Leaving so soon?" 'Damn'
She could already picturing him smirking at is 'oh so clichéd' comment. Just to spare herself from that she didn't turn around.
"What's the matter?" He asked.
"Lost my appetite for some reason". She faced him with a good glare.
Two steps up and he was glaring back at her from the same height. She glared back and was ready to turn around and walk up the stairs when his facial features turned soft.
"Not jealous then?" He arched his eyebrows and moved to place his hands on her waist.
"N... No, silly" She stuttered.
'Focus Hermione, Focus!"
"Well then" He said and drew small circles on her hip with his thumbs. "Were you headed to the library?"
'That could work...' "Yes! Yes, I was" She smiled victoriously and released herself from his grasp and started up the remaining steps.
If she planned on going there alone, she was wrong.
The library was quiet, just as one would expect it to be on a Saturday evening. Occupants - two. First there was a student, a third year Hufflepuff named Kenneth Darling and then Madame Pince of course. 'Doesn't this woman have anything better to do on a weekend?' Hermione thought - obviously not aware that she'd just burned herself. She heard Draco chuckle behind her, almost as if he'd heard her. And there he was, by the entrance, leaning casually, arms folded.
"What are you doing here anyway? Hermione hissed over her shoulder and mumbled "It's not like you come in here often."
The corner of his lips twitched.
"Well, it just so happens that I've been dying to read a book about this famous muggle" He said in a dead-serious tone and walked past her in to her haven.
Hermione had a hard time believing that Draco would actually die in pursuit of something as simple as that, or anything else for that matter. He was just too much in love with himself for that. She sighed and greeted the grouchy librarian with a nod and an 'evening Madam'.
She got the usual snarl in return.
"Madame Pince, how lovely it is to see you this evening..." She heard him start as she sneaked further into the library, possibly to hide.
"...No, Mr. Malfoy, I told you" snarl "I've only got one copy of that book and young master Darling is reading it" double snarl "You'll have to wait for your turn."
About thirty seconds later he approached her with a lazy walk and with a book in his hand. Hermione read the title 'Einstein – too smart to be a muggle' and she saw Kenneth leave the library in such a hurry that the poor bloke stumbled over a chair.
"What did you do to him!" She slammed her book on the desk and tried to kick one of his legs as he took the seat opposite her.
"Don't worry, I explained that it would be in all best interests if I was given the book". Hermione shook her head "The poor thing, you really didn't have to do that". He chuckled and licked the tip of his thumb and turned the first page.
Thirty minutes later and Hermione had a difficult time reading.
' Add the pupil from a cross-eyed frog and– Is he looking at me? Stir it clockwise three times before– He can't actually be reading? …adding pumpkin seeds, exposed to moonlight, and then stir it– why is he here?
That's it - She couldn't take it anymore.
"Malfoy, what are you really doing here?"
He slammed his hand hard on the desk and looked at her in a way that made the room feel like the North Pole on a particularly could day.
"It's Draco" He bit back and pushed his book aside. She swallowed twice before reframing her question.
"Um... Draco, by what reason do you linger here?" She had to know. He smirked and folded his arms across the chest. Hermione held her breath and stared at her fingers, drawing silly patterns on the surface.
Then he unfolded his arms and reached out to take her hands. "It's y-"
"You..." interrupted a voice so utterly creepy that Hermione almost answered 'yes, Voldemort?'
"Out" She turned and saw Madame Pince hovering over them like a, ...well a librarian wanting to close for the night.
Hermione snatched back her hands, grabbed her things and fled the scene.
She made it as far as around the corner when she felt her upper arm being held captive combined with a motion turning her around.
"In a hurry, are we?" He smirked for the umpteenth time that day and grunted "Come" He grasped her hand and headed down the corridor before she had time to say 'Peeves panties'.
Speaking of Peeves, the little poltergeist made a startling appearance, just when Draco guided Hermione in to the third floor corridor.
"Witty wizards, sneak like lizards" He mocked, clutching his stomach and kicked his little legs.
'I'm doomed' Hermione, terrified, hid behind Draco as the word expelled glowed on her forehead.
"Shh" the little terror said, lifting a dead finger to his matching dead lips "I think I hear Mrs. Norris, she's lost the poor dear, maybe I should call out to her" His transparent eyes narrowed " So that she finds her way back!" A smile from ear to ear was plastered on his face.
"Listen vermin" Draco obviously was not fond of like threats, unless he was making them. He took a step forward, leaving Hermione to her doom. "You are as ever a bloody thorn in my bloody eye!" He glared at the ghost.
Then he smiled.
"And speaking of 'bloody', is that the Bloody Baron I hear, heading this way?" He said placing a hand behind his ear.
"B..b..bloody B..baron!" Peeves eyes widened. Then his legs started kicking and ran, fast through the air, away from a chuckling Draco and a stunned Hermione.
Being pushed up against the wall like this was a whole new experience for Hermione.
The word 'push' was normally not a word she used to describe something good.
This time it most certainly was. She couldn't imagine ever being this close to a person before. It was simply blissful.
So far nothing had really happened, he just held her close, face buried in her neck inhaling her scent. So, ok, that was something. 'Really something' she held her breath at what was to come.
Nothing.
Draco took a step back and regarded her with those eyes; the same eyes that made Hermione do things she most certainly couldn't tell her mother about. Hell, she didn't even have the nerve to tell Ginny yet.
He seemed to be studying her. Up and down his gaze swept, absorbing her features.
This made her feel a little self-conscious. Her eyes pleaded for an answer. Then it came.
"You, Hermione Granger, are not so plain as they say you are" He simply stated.
'And that was suppose to make me feel what? Desirable?' She lowered her gaze to the floor.
Two fingers under her chin forced her gently to look up and his lips met hers in a gentle kiss. Then she turned her head to the side, still upset. The fingers that lifted her chin forced her back and he held a firm grasp around it. Another kiss followed, not so gentle this time. Struggling was no use and she couldn't help but shed a tear.
"What's wrong?" He asked in an uncharacteristic gentle tone.
Feeling his fingers leave her chin, she was now free to turn her head to the side and close her eyes. Two more tears escaped her. 'He doesn't even know' She turned back to him.
"What do I know? I'm just plain old Hermione" she snapped.
He smiled. "I thought I said that you're NOT plain, silly" Then he crossed his brows to think.
"Stupid Draco! Daft prick" he said to himself and smacked his forehead lightly with the palm of his hand. "First FINISH conversation - then snog" "stupid git" He chuckled and shook his head.
His hands warmed her cheeks " You, Hermione-" He paused "What's your middle name again?"
Now it was her time to chuckle "I've never told you that" smile "It's Jane".
"Jane? How plain" He grinned. She gasped and started to wriggle out of his grasp.
"Relax drama queen, it was a joke" He said and added "thought you of all people would comprehend that sort of thing"
"What's that suppose to mean? And why..." "Shh!" he snapped. "Be quiet and don't interrupt" He once more stroked her cheeks and said:
"You, Hermione Jane Granger, are beautiful"
"Thank you". She melted and gave him a coy smile.
He continued to rub his thumbs on her cheeks "Now, where were we?" He said and slowly pulled away but only to creep his arms around her waist instead. "Ah, yes" He said in a clichéd manner and pulled her closer as his lips connected with hers. And now that Hermiones self-esteem was restored she boldly sneaked her hands up his hair and kissed him back.
Chapter 2 - whew! Already longer than chapter 1. I actually wrote this 3 years ago, just never had the urge to "publish" it.
- F a i r i e s