I'll Just Hurt You
My life, you electrify my life. Let's conspire to reunite
All the souls that would die just to feel alive
- Muse
"Hate leads to lust. And lust always leads to love."
Sirius' words continued to ring in Hermione's head. She hated just how wise he sounded when the words were uttered from his lips; perhaps because he knew completely what it was like to get strange feelings about people you hate? Hermione wondered who this mystery girl of Sirius' was. They way he spoke about her, it was like he was a man talking about how devoted he was to his religion.
She had never even though about that side to Sirius. He had always been Harry's reckless Godfather, a convicted mass murderer. Never a good looking man who once upon a time, fell blindly in love with a girl who's name was even unknown to Harry or her.
She sighed and shook her head, tracing the books on the shelf of the library with her finger. She loved the smell of the library; of old and new books. People found her quite odd when she said this - but then again, who ever really though that Hermione Granger was normal? Even Draco used to comment on her abnormal personality.
Again with Draco.
It wasn't until she was scolding herself that she realized that Hermione had started calling him 'Draco' instead of 'Malfoy.' Was she overreacting by thinking that it cemented Sirius' theory of hate to lust to love? After all, in Hogwarts, even people she was friends with would get called by their last name. The first name was always reserved for friends and well …
Lovers.
Hermione shuddered and continued walking through the library randomly. For her, this was a great place to think; among books written by extraordinary wizards and witches and some muggles even. She had now gone quite far away from the exit, at the few shelves placed at the back of the library. That part was abandoned, a thin film of dust covering all the books.
So you can understand why she didn't expect Draco to be sitting on the floor, with his back against a book shelf, reading with a firm look of concentration on his face. Again, his good looks hit her with a slam but she preferred not to dwell on that.
She was going to turn around and go back but his voice came, "I know you're there, Granger."
She turned around, smiling sheepishly, "You were the last person I expected to see here. I didn't even know you could read?"
He snapped his book shut, looking up at her, "And before the pact, I didn't even know you could kiss."
She raised her eyebrow, "Did I surpass your expectations?"
"By quite a mile," Draco smirked, looking back at his book.
Hermione peered at it, her jaw falling and her eyes popping when she read the title, "Great Expectations? Charles Dickens?"
Draco immediately tried to hide the book, "What?"
"You're reading a muggle novel?" Hermione asked, walking forward and facing him.
He sighed, "I know. I'm so embarrassed of this but this Dickens guy is just … so good."
Hermione pressed her back to the book shelf and then slid down to the floor, her eyes still wide and a small smile playing at her parted lips, "You continue to surprise me, Malfoy."
"Oh, shut up, Granger," Draco actually chuckled, grabbing a book from a nearby shelf and throwing it at her.
She caught it. "Oh," she said when she read the title, smirking, "Interestingly enough, you grabbed my favorite muggle classic. Wuthering Heights."
"Show," he commanded, holding out his hand for it. She threw it to him and he caught it easily with his seeker reflexes. He gazed at the cover and then turned it over to read the short summary. He nodded once and stuffed it into the bag thrown on the floor, beside him, "I'll give it a read."
"You must," Hermione said, "It's … simply beautiful."
"I shudder to think what would happen if my father found out about my liking for old, muggle classics," Draco chuckled, "You know, I think I'm going through a rather rebellious stage; not joining the Death Eaters, developing a fondness for muggle literature, going completely against my family's wishes -"
"What you're doing, Draco, is opening your eyes to the world and letting go of your narrow mind," Hermione said, a small bubble of hope popping in her brain and tainting all her views. What if Draco chose to become good again and fought against the dark side? What if that happened? Would Hermione consider the option of a future with him …?
She mentally shook her head and wondered what was going wrong with her.
"Oh, no," Draco said, shaking his head, "I still think the Dark Lord's goals should be followed."
Hermione sighed deeply, running a hand through her bushy hair, "Let's not talk about this because I don't fancy a fight right now."
Draco raised his eyebrow, smirking, "Granger doesn't want to fight with me? Well, that's certainly a first."
Hermione smiled, "Wouldn't be horrible to have one day of peace."
"I'm not the best person to come looking for if you want peace, Granger," Draco burst out laughing and Hermione was startled by the sight. She had seen Mafloy laugh before but always in a very mocking manner; he had always been jeering someone, making fun of them. Now he was laughing at something she had said, and the sound was innocent and naive.
"True," Hermione said, "But you're not the worst, either."
He gave one nod and then started fiddling with his wand, staring at it. "Granger, I don't get you."
"What?"
"I don't get you at all."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean … why are you here?"
She looked dumbfounded, baffled that he was asking such a question. He sighed and attempted to explain, "Let's face it, you and I can't stand each other. You're best friends with Harry Potter and you've got some sort of weird history with Weasley. I've got … well, had Pansy and my best friends are Crabbe and Goyle. We're like black and white -" he sighed, "So why are you here?"
Hermione stared at him, "Are you serious?"
"What, do you think I'm joking?"
"Malfoy, I've had you physically inside my body around fifty times. That's bound to lessen my hate for you."
He stared at her, his gray eyes inquisitive, "Did it?"
Hermione sighed, falling back against the bookshelf and staring up at the ceiling, "Malfoy, why do you think I'm here?" She took a deep breath and said, "I'm a girl. I tend to get emotionally attached to people, especially the ones I share a bed with. So the question is, why are you here?"
Draco chuckled, his lips curving into that lopsided smile. But unlike all other times, that small curve was not dark. It was warm, "Like I said, Granger." He leaned forward so that he was only a few inches away from her face, "You surpassed all my expectations."
And then he was kissing her.
It was so soft and so gentle that for the first two seconds, Hermione was frozen. Then she melted like ice and began to move her lips with his. They moved together at a slow pace and in a way, it was like their very first kiss. Or, well - their very first kiss with emotions, you could say.
He moved his hand up to her face, throwing back her bushy hair and then holding the nape of her neck, tilting her face up so he could kiss her better. She obliged, her hands tracing the side of his face eagerly. If anyone had seen them from far away, they would not doubt the fact that they were a couple who truly cared for one another. But that was the view of people who didn't know how they were. Like Draco said, they were black and white - not mixable.
"Mmm," Draco protested, pulling away from her. He had a pained look on his face, "God, I have to stop doing that."
"Why?" Hermione asked breathlessly, not bothering to hide her desire.
"Because," Draco whispered, " … I'm just going to end up hurting you."
Guysss! I have good news! Wait - two good news! :D
Well, first of all, the chapters will soon get long because the debating thing is ending in two weeks! WOOHOO! Until then, please bear with me and the shortness of my pathetic excuses for chapters :P
And second, I can NOT believe this happened but my story - yes, THIS story - has been nominated for an award for Best story with dark elements! Whoever nominated me, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! WTSGB also got nominated for best romance and Iris Hewson for best OC. :') I am crying tears of joy. :D Oh, and the website is thesweetquillawards[dot]webs[com]. When the polls are put up, please vote for me :D
Oh and by the way, I was reading your awesome reviews and I noticed that a lot of you people are interested in Sirius' life. Do you want me to write a conversation in which details of that are revealed or should I just continue to focus on the awesome couple this story is about?
And just to clarify, Sirius is NOT there for romantic reasons.
Please review. Only 15 for the last chapter? :'( I work hard to update every other day. Thank me with a review? No? NO? You suck. Yes? You rock my world. :D