Hermione had avoided Malfoy since the Hogsmeade-incident, focusing instead on schoolwork and S.P.E.W. The meeting with Mr. Blakely had gone well and after further correspondence, the Ministry had agreed to give her an internship at the Department of Magical Creatures once she was done with school. It had been almost a week since she'd last had a proper conversation with Draco and she'd made excuses when he'd asked to see her, mumbling something about having a heavy workload. Truth was, she was confused about what had happened between them and needed time to let the situation sink in. When the initial emotions had subsided, she'd snapped back to her usual rational self. All things considered, she knew it wasn't reasonable for them to date, there were too many things working against them and she doubted he'd meant what he'd said about not caring what other people thought.
I just want you.
She sighed, irritably looking up from the book she was trying to read, studying the raindrops trickling down the library window. These days doing her homework took twice as long as it had used too, and she was certain Malfoy was the reason for it. She couldn't keep her concentration, distracted by images of his pale face and the memory of them kissing at the Hogshead blurring her vision. She didn't know how strong her feelings for him were, but she couldn't deny being drawn to him. Watching last night's game between Slytherin and Gryffindor, she'd caught herself gawking at Malfoy - dressed in quidditch gear and looking insanely sexy. It didn't help that he'd become quite the flyer, almost catching the snitch several times before Harry finally caught it. Frustrated with her disobedient thoughts she tossed the book aside and began pacing the length of the library, absentmindedly running her fingers over the spines of books collecting dust on the library shelves. Hermione usually found comfort in the library but now not even the sight of hundreds of books helped her shake the feeling that she'd left something unfinished, painfully aware the feeling had nothing to do with next week's homework.
Draco was in the Room of Requirement, working furiously to rid her from his mind, casting jinx after jinx into the wall before him. She was avoiding him, he was sure of it, coming up with excuses whenever he'd plucked the courage to approach her. He'd expected to feel devastated being ignored by her, but instead he felt angry. Hadn't they agreed to date?
As far as he was aware, dating didn't constitute of not talking to each other – he believed that was the very opposite of dating. He felt like such an idiot, convinced he'd made a mistake in confessing his feelings for her. Deciding to stop practising, he conjured a towel and wiped the sweat from his face. It was late and he thought he'd better get to bed, although his head was still swimming with angry thoughts about Granger. However, pushing the door open, he found himself eye to eye with her. She stood by the window opposite to the Room of Requirement.
"Hi," she said with a small smile which he didn't return.
"What are you doing here, Granger? I thought you were busy," he said, trying to appear indifferent to her presence.
"I've been avoiding you," she confessed, taking a step towards him.
"Oh, you don't say?" he said in mock surprise, pulling the door shut behind him.
"I haven't been fair to you. I should have told you I needed some time to process things," she apologized. Draco noticed dark shadows under her eyes and that her hair was in more of a mess than usual.
"Great, well, just let me know when you're done processing things" he said with a cold laugh, starting to walk away from her.
"Come on Draco, what do you want me to do?" she said irritably.
He stopped walking and held her gaze, considering what she'd just said.
"I want you to fucking show me," he said and meeting her bewildered expression, he added "show me that you give a damn, Granger".
She just stood there unmoving, and he began walking again.
"Just what I thought," he said disappointed, when suddenly he felt her crash into his strong body with such ferocity the impact caused him to stagger into the wall. She was kissing him like there was no tomorrow, grabbing his hair and wrapping her legs around his waist as he lifted her up. He spun her around, pushing her up against the wall, ripping her shirt and unclasping her bra. Then his lips were on her chest, kissing the crevice between them, and he smiled when she moaned with pleasure.
"Draco," she panted "I don't think. We can. Do this. Here."
Craving nothing more than to take her right then and there, he reluctantly lowered her to the ground, and pushed open the door to The Room of Requirement.
"After you," he said roughly as his eyes moved greedily over her body. She looked sexy as hell in her torn attire and unable to take his eyes off her, he didn't notice the bed that had appeared in the midst of the room until she threw herself onto it. In a heartbeat he was on top of her, pulling his shirt over his head before tearing off her clothes. Blinking, he stared down at her naked body.
She's fucking perfect.
He felt her fingers on his belt buckle and in one swift move she'd hiked down his pants, and he groaned as she touched him there. Pulling himself closer to her, he pushed inside her, watching her whimper. He was gentle at first, but watching her come undone as he moved inside her while simultaneously touching that sensitive spot between her legs, he became increasingly more ferocious. Biting her bottom lip and slamming into her forcefully, he felt himself starting to shake and with a groan he collapsed on top of her.
"For fuck's sake Granger," he laughed, resting his head on her chest.
"Sorry," she said jokingly, running her fingers through his hair "I guess I got carried away."
"You got carried away?" he said looking up at her "seriously though, did I hurt you?"
"Not too bad," she answered him smiling and he saw that her bottom lip had a gash in it. Next time he'd be more careful, he promised himself, relieved to be rid of his sexual frustration at last.
"We should get back to our dorms, it must be after curfew," Hermione said, making Draco roll over and bury his face in a pillow.
"Do we have to?" he said in a muffled voice.
"Yes, I'm Head Girl and I can't just.."she started.
"Alright, alright, spare me the lecture," he groaned, getting up from the bed before walking her back to Gryffindor tower.
Hermione had to drag herself from bed next morning, exhausted from last night's adventures, she threw on the first items of clothing she could find and left the dormitory without as much as a glance at her hairbrush. Sitting down next to her two best friends in the Great Hall, she longed for a cup of coffee knowing full well there was no such thing as coffee at Hogwarts.
"I can't believe this!" Harry exclaimed, putting down The Daily Prophet with a thud and added in explanation, "More disappearances. And the ministry is doing nothing per usual"
Hermione swallowed hard, sharing in his frustration. There had been an upswing in the number of disappearances of muggleborn wizards and witches in the past few months and despite the Ministry's protests to them being related in any way, she was convinced they were. There were rumours that the scattered anti-muggle groups that had formed after the war had united in one strong entity, calling themselves Nightshade. However, Hermione was careful not to put much stock into rumours.
"It's terrible," she said, rubbing her temples.
"Yeah," Ron agreed before digging into his buttered toast.
Harry continued to read the article, muttering under his breath, and Hermione thought she caught the words useless and do something.
"Hey, Granger, you look tired. Rough night?" Draco sniggered, brushing past their table and Hermione snapped her head in his direction. That smug bastard, she thought throwing him a look of disgust before catching Harry and Ron's bewildered expressions.
"What was that about?" Ron asked incredulous.
"I dunno. It's Malfoy – who knows what's going in that miniscule brain of his," she said in what she hoped was a casual voice, although she could feel her face redden.
"True, he is an idiot," Harry said unconcernedly and Hermione felt a twinge of annoyance as he'd said it, fully aware that she, just the moment before, had accused Draco of having a miniscule brain . But that wasn't true, she thought, sure he could be an insensitive jerk at times, but he wasn't stupid.
"Hermione, what did you do to your lip?" Ron asked suddenly, eyeing her with concern.
"Oh, I accidentally chewed it," she said, sure she was blushing now, recalling Draco biting her lip hard the previous night. And once again, Ron reached over to stroke it with his thumb.
Draco glared at the red haired moron, watching him touch her lips, experiencing Deja-vu. This had been the scene just a few weeks ago, but the tables had turned since then. Granger was his now. That gash on her lip was proof of that. And that fuck-wit had no right touching her, he thought feeling his temper rise. He would have to talk to Granger about implementing some new boundaries between her and Ginger.
