A/N: Keep up the reviews, guys! They are the source of all of my inspiration! I hope you enjoy the chapter - it was a really fun one to write.
Draco wasn't in the common room when Hermione returned late that evening after joining in the pity party in the Gryffindor common room. She had just spent an exhausting couple hours trying to cheer up Ron, Harry, and Ginny from their loss, but all three refused to really hear her attempts. They knew that they had let down their house, and so they all just stared vacantly at the fireplace along with the rest of the Gryffindor house. At least she had managed to get Harry and Ron to agree to study with her tomorrow night - not for her sake, but for theirs. They desperately needed the help if they were going to pass the term.
Finally, she had decided that she wasn't accomplishing much of anything, and had left in frustration after telling them to grow up and realize it was just a game. She regretted her outburst now - these were her friends, and she was just taking out her anger at Draco on them.
She had really been looking forward to yelling at Draco, to working through their stupid fight, to convincing him that she couldn't do this in secret anymore because the guilt at hiding something like this from her friends was too much. They had their problems - so many problems - but the secrecy of their relationship was the biggest one. It was frustrating to her that he didn't bother to show up for the talk she had planned - had rehearsed on the way from the Gryffindor common room to her Head Girl common room - and it just fueled her anger at him.
She stormed to the closed door of his room, feeling her frustration at the blonde Slytherin grow with each step she took. Pulling out her wand, she muttered a couple quick spells to undo the enchantments she was sure were protecting his door from any unwelcome visitors, and then slammed the door open.
The room was empty.
"Git," Hermione snapped, whether at her irrational actions or at the absent Draco, she wasn't sure. She paused for a moment, taking in his green and silver decorated room - surprisingly immaculate. Everything was pristine, like he barely lived there at all. It was a stark contrast to the homey, lived in look of her bedroom.
"Enjoying the invasion of my privacy?" a voice drawled from directly behind her.
Hermione jumped and spun around, right into Draco's chest. His arms wrapped around her tightly, preventing her from fleeing. She felt her cheeks flaming red. This was not how she had imagined the conversation starting. No, she had envisaged her coming down on him in righteous rage and them him apologizing and admitting how right she was…
"We need to talk."
"You say that a lot." Draco's voice was amused, but slightly aloof. "But I like it much better when your lips are engaged in...other pursuits." He eyes her mouth meaningful, a slow, sensual smile spreading across his handsome features.
Hermione shivered at the look, her anger quickly changing into desire. "I...Draco," she breathed, trying to keep a clear head as his predatory gaze rested on her, "we need to talk." She made a half-hearted attempt to pull away, but Draco held her firmly in his embrace. "Now."
"About?" Draco backed her up against the doorframe and rested his arms on either side of her head. His eyes gleamed, his gaze intent on every moment of her lips.
"Your...your…" Hermione closed her eyes, blocking out the sight of him staring at her, "your prejudices. Our...relationship?"
"I don't want to fight," Draco countered. Hermione trembled as his lips grazed against hers, slowly, teasingly.
"So let's talk," she countered, summoning her failing willpower and pushing him away despite what she really wanted. She headed out of his bedroom, breathing a sigh of both relief and disappointment as she settled on the couch and saw Draco headed to join her. His hands were clenched - not in anger, but in pent-up desire. She couldn't help a small, satisfied smile at that.
"What do you want me to say, Hermione?" Draco asked, lounging on the opposite side of the couch from her. "That I'm going to change? That everything will magically be exactly the way you want it and our friends and family will be happy for us?"
"Is that so impossible?" Hermione demanded, feeling her temper start to rise at his aloof attitude. "Do you ever care about trying to make this work?"
"Do you think I would risk so much if I didn't care?" Draco leaned forward, his words intense. "I care."
"Then...then why? Why does it matter if I'm not a pureblood? Or if I tell my friends?"
Draco hesitated, and then glanced down. "Maybe it doesn't," he muttered reluctantly.
"What?"
He looked up at her, his eyes looking haunted. "Maybe it doesn't matter if you're not a pureblood," he repeated slowly, looking like every word was tortured out of him.
A smile spread across Hermione's face. "Really?"
"Don't go looking so happy," Draco admonished, but there was a hint of a smile in his eyes. "My father would kill me if he knew I had ever thought that. And," he continued, emphatically, "do not tell anyone about us. Not yet."
"Why not?" Hermione asked, frustrated, her smile falling from her lips. Every time she felt like they were making progress, Draco would resist and they would be back at square one.
Draco shrugged. "Just don't." A slow smile spread across his face, and he scooted closer to her on the couch. "I can convince you, if you need." He brushed his thumb across the corner of her mouth.
"Draco…"
"We talked," he cut her off, "and so now we get to snog."
Despite herself, Hermione giggled slightly, until Draco's lips changed the sound into moans of pleasure and desire.
…
Draco scowled all around, warding off anyone from bothering him. He wasn't in the mood to deal with fawning first-years or his idiot friends. No, since last night spent snogging with Hermione, he had been in a foul mood, and he was sure it was all her fault. Somehow.
He just felt like...like he was a bad person, for the first time in his life. Despite how much he hated to admit it, he had real feelings for Hermione, but he was about to break her heart. Soon - the plan was going into motion tonight, and then everything would all be over. That's why he didn't want her telling her friends. The last thing he needed was all the Gryffindorks out for his blood for breaking their beloved Golden Girl's heart.
Before Hermione, Draco had been content with his life. He had been looked up to by all of Slytherin, pursued by half the women at Hogwarts, and was on the path to becoming a powerful, rich, and successful wizard. Now, for the first time ever, it wasn't enough for Draco. For once, all he thought about was someone else, and how he could spare her from what was coming without losing his future.
It was hopeless.
Draco squared his shoulders, shoving past some Hufflepuffs and into the library. He had some research to do on advanced Transfiguration for his essay due tomorrow, and he'd been postponing it as long as he possibly could. He made his way through the stacks of books, familiar enough with the library that he didn't need to concentrate to find where he wanted to go.
There was no way around it - Hermione was part of the bet, and that's how it was. By the end of the night, everything would go back to how it used to be. Draco would be the unchallenged king of Slytherin, Hermione would return to her friends to lick her wounds, and their animosity would return just the way it had been before. There would be no more confusion, no more treasonous feelings that would incur his father's wrath...it was better this way. Really. Draco just wished it sounded less like he was trying to convince himself.
A flash of bushy hair and swirling robes at the end of the aisle caught his glance.
His adrenaline started pumping, and he glanced around to see if anyone was around. The library seemed deserted - it was still a couple weeks before exams, so there was a lull before the cramming began. With a smirk on his face, he approached the end of the aisle, and spied Hermione reaching up to replace a book on the second highest shelf of the bookshelf. The movement accentuated her figure, curved in all the right places and just begging to be held.
Silently, he prowled up behind her, darting another quick glance to make sure they were really alone. If everything had to end tonight, at least they could have one last moment together, right? That shouldn't be too much to ask…
Draco slid his arms around her slim waist, and breathed into her ear, "Guess who?" Before she could respond, his lips found his ear and he nibbled gently. He felt her breath speed up in his embrace, and he smiled in satisfaction at the effect his touch had on her. Under the cowl of her robe, he caught a glimpse of silver and green - his scarf. It gave him a rush of masculine pride to see it around her slender neck, to know that she had chosen to wear it, even in secret.
"Draco, wha…?" Hermione breathed, spinning in his embrace to face him. She was tantalizing with her face flushed, her lips slightly parted, and her breathing erratic against him. "What are you doing?" she asked nervously, her voice barely a whisper.
"If you have to ask, I'm not doing a very good job," Draco growled quietly, leaning in and skimming his lips gently along the side of her neck. He felt her pulse flutter shallowly under his touch, and let his lips linger at the spot.
"We're in the library!" Hermione hissed, although she didn't try to push him away. "Someone will see!"
"We're in the depths of the Transfiguration section and the library's deserted," Draco returned, flicking his tongue out against her neck and enjoying her involuntary moan of pleasure. "No one will see."
"Draco…"
The sound of his name on her lips caught his attention, and he shifted his attention to the temptation of her soft lips. The kiss started out slow, as he teased her into responding and to forgetting about her worries and anything else, but then eventually morphed into something much more passionate that him them pulling closer to each other in a desperate need to be as close as possible.
Finally, though, Hermione pulled away, her eyes slightly glazed. "Draco, we need to stop," she murmured, her gaze darting around the empty aisle. "Someone will…"
Draco rolled his eyes dramatically and gave her a satisfied smirk. "Fine, your highness," he teased, making a reference to their original bet and their first kiss. He ran a hand along the side of her face, and she leaned into his touch despite herself. "If you're so worried about it, I'll just leave. Let you get to your studying, preparing for finals, all by yourself...lonely…"
Hermione snorted, but her full lips turned up in a smile. "I think you might have ruined my productivity," she admitted with a giggle.
"What a shame," Draco replied, his eyebrows arching suggestively as he leaned in towards her again.
Her tongue darted out, moistening her lips, and he took the invitation before she changed her mind.
If everything was going to explode anyway, he could at least enjoy this perfect moment. However, he couldn't help the twinge of guilt he felt deep inside.
…
After her unprofitable - though extremely enjoyable - attempt at studying in the library for the upcoming final exams, Hermione headed back to the the Gryffindor common room. She had her study date with Harry and Ron that evening, and she couldn't put that off if her two friends were going to have any chance of passing. With how absorbed they had been in the big Quidditch game, she suspected that they were extremely behind in their studies. As usual.
She gave the password and entered the common room to a cacophony of yelling - angry yelling. She blinked a couple times, then sighed, wondering what had set everyone off this time. Probably something to do with Slytherin, judging by how mad everyone sounded.
She stepped fully into the common room, and the shouting died down as everyone stared at her for a couple seconds. Harry looked upset, Ron's face was as angry red as his hair, Ginny was crying, Lavender looked close to tears, Neville looked like someone had hit him in the face with a nasty hex, and the other Gryffindors in the room looked a mixture of upset, intrigued, and trapped.
"Ask her!" Lavender blurted out into the silence, pointing at Hermione accusingly.
A fresh outbreak of shouts broke out. Hermione just stood there, shocked, a feeling of dread spreading slowly through her entire body. She knew she should leave, or say something, but she just stood there, slowly feeling more and more numb as the shouting continued all around her.
"I saw them!" Lavender claimed loudly. "Snogging in the library!"
"She would never snog him," Ron screamed back. "Not the ferret!"
"Why don't we ask her?" Harry bellowed, obviously trying to play peacekeeper, but still sounding too upset. He stroked Ginny's hair as the youngest Weasley continued to cry miserably.
Finally, the yelling calmed down at Harry's suggestion, slowly, until there was just the sound of furious, uneven breathing filling the common room. After all the noise, the silence just felt...oppressive.
"Hermione?" Harry asked calmly, "were you...with Malfoy?"
All eye turned again to Hermione, and she felt herself panic, unable to say anything. "I…" she started, glancing at the sea of faces - some hostile, some confused, some encouraging. "I…"
"I can prove it," Lavender interrupted, stalking over to Hermione. Before Hermione could do anything, the other girl yanked down the side of her robe, revealing a glimpse of Draco's scarf wrapped carefully around her neck. Lavender grabbed the scarf, pulling it off, and held it up triumphantly, her eyes on Ron. "See?"
Ron's face somehow managed to become even redder as he glared between the scarf and Hermione. "No. It's...it can't… Say something!" This last comment was addressed to Hermione.
She swallowed hard, blinking back tears. "It's...he's different," she forced out lamely into the tense silence. "Draco's…"
"Draco?" Ron hissed. "You call him Draco? After everything he's done? How could you, Hermione?"
Harry just stood there, pain and betrayal chasing each other across his face.
"Ron, Harry," Hermione said desperately, "please, let me explain!"
"What could you possibly say to make this better?"
"Shut up, Ron," Ginny spoke for the first time. "Let her speak."
Hermione shot her best friend a grateful look, but the redhead wouldn't meet her gaze. "It's just...it's all an act," she started, unsure about how to explain how the real Draco was so different from Malfoy. "When we're together…"
"I can't listen to this," Ron growled. "Get out. Go run to your ferret lover."
Hermione stopped, shocked at the cruel words from her friend, and looked beseechingly around the common room. Nobody met her eyes, not even Ginny or Harry.
"We just need some time," Harry added as calmly as he could, despite how upset he looked. "To understand...why him...why you didn't tell us..."
"I...I was happy," Hermione choked out, "and scared…"
Ron just shook his head in anger and disgust, and stormed back towards the boys dormitories.
The tears filling Hermione's eyes began to spill over, and she snatched the scarf from Lavender's hands, holding it close to her body.
"Hermione," Ginny began, placatingly, meeting her gaze for the first time with both pain and empathy, "can we…"
Hermione didn't hear what Ginny was about to say as the tears increased and she spun, racing out of the Gryffindor common room with Draco's scarf clutched in her arms before the tears blinded her completely.
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