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Chapter 10

A dark figure moved forward in the shadows. It stopped right in front of Draco's bed. For a while, it just stood there, watching. It leaned closer to Draco and lightly grazed his face with a claw. He flinched in his sleep and the figure withdrew. It moved back against the wall and disappeared into the shadows.

The next morning, Draco woke from a strange dream. He couldn't remember most of it, but he did remember the life-like feeling of a sharp object grazing his cheek. He got dressed and glanced in the mirror. He did a double-take when he saw something on his face.

There was a long red scratch on his cheek extending back towards his ear, like he barely dodged a claw or something. Suddenly his dream didn't seem like such a dream. But what could've…

Draco sighed, fixed his hair, and walked downstairs for breakfast. As soon as he sat down, everyone started asking him what happened, and some threw out ideas about what happened. And some of those ideas were very…perverted. He ignored them all and focused on eating and getting out of there.

Draco's day seemed to go at a crawl. For the entire first class, everyone was throwing notes at him. He refused to read a single one, but he had a feeling he knew what they were about anyway. By a stroke of luck, everyone lost interest by second period. Or at least they stopped asking him about it. By last period, Draco felt like he had been there for years. Why was it going so slow?

At last, the day was over! The students were dismissed and the blonde Slytherin started the walk to Hermione's house. If nothing else, at least he would be free of the idiots who were obsessing over a stupid scratch. He couldn't believe everyone was freaking out about a freaking SCRATCH! Had they all gone completely mental? He had considered covering it with a bandage, but that would have just drawn MORE attention. As he stood at the bottom of the stairs leading to Hermione's front door, he realized he could've used a charm to hide it. He should've done that! Why did only come to him now that the day was over? Never in his life had Draco Malfoy wanted to bang his head on something hard more than he did right now. He could've avoided all the stares, questions, and rumors. STUPID!

"She's not here," Elvira said from the top of the stairs.

"That's fine. I can wait for her," Draco said as he walked up the stairs.

"What a gentleman. Unfortunately, Aldon-sama won't allow you to stay inside. He might allow you to wait here, if you're good," the vampire girl said with a teasing smile wide enough to show her fangs.

"Eh forget it. I'll go look for her," he said as he dropped his backpack.

"You're not going to take it?" she asked as she nudged said backpack with her foot.

"Nah, I'll pick it up later. It'd just slow me down anyway," he said as he walked back down the stairs.

"Good hunting then," Elvira said with a light laugh.

"Hn," was Draco's response.

"She was heading towards the school last I saw," she called after him.

Draco waved in response as he jogged back to the school. If he knew she was there, he would've just waited for her there. His day just kept getting better and better. (Insert scoff/eye roll here.)

He walked around for at least half an hour before he finally spotted her. He got closer and saw who she was with. Harry Potter. Draco froze. Why was she with HIM of all people? He knew they were friends before, but they were rarely seen together anymore. And even when they were together, the Weasels were with them. This time, Harry and Hermione were alone. Why? The blonde inched closer and closer until he could hear them, but still stay hidden.

"They've been bothering you about that?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Yeah, it's a real pain," Hermione responded with an annoyed sigh.

"Did you tell them?"

"No."

"I wonder how they'd react…"

"They'd probably overreact and freak out. They always do when it comes to other guys."

"Yeah probably…how would Malfoy react?"

"EH?" Hermione asked as she choked on air.

"You know Malfoy better than I do. How do you think he'd react?"

"….I honestly don't know…sometimes he gets upset about other boys…and sometimes he says he doesn't care at all what I do…and sometimes he's just silent and impossible to read,"

"Draco Malfoy? Silent? I don't believe it!" Harry said with feigned surprise.

"O shut up," Hermione said as she elbowed Harry. The pair laughed and Draco felt his rage double, no triple. He couldn't stand seeing her sitting alone with Harry and laughing like that. He couldn't explain it but they just…looked…like a couple. They looked like they were on a date. Were they?

Before Draco could do anything, Hermione started to stand, but fell forwards. Harry caught her and leaned over her.

"Mione? What's wrong?" he asked on the brink of panic.

"I-I'm fine. I just haven't had any…" she trailed off

"Blood?" Harry finished for her.

"Y-yeah…" Hermione said with a slight blush.

"Go ahead," he said as he brought his neck down to her mouth.

"I-I can't!"

"Please…just do it…you've done it before."

"B-But…"

"Mione…please."

Hermione caved. How could she resist? She carefully bit his neck. She heard the small gasp of pain that escaped Harry's lips. She felt him relax and put his hand on the back of her neck. He pulled her closer. She heard the quiet moan of pleasure that Harry couldn't stop. She smiled slightly against his neck.

She slowly pulled out, careful not to open the wounds further. She licked up the blood and watched the bite marks fade. "Thank you," she whispered to him. She jumped when she heard something behind her. She span around, but saw nothing. Did she imagine it?

"Always a pleasure," Harry said with a grin. "But now I think I'm gonna go to bed."

"I'll help you," Hermione said as she pulled him to his feet.

"Nah, I'll be fine," he said as he stumbled towards the stairs.

"It's the least I can do. Come on," she said as she put his arm around her shoulder and helped him walk. She helped him to the common room where she handed him off to one of the boys who happened to be sitting in the common room then. "See ya tomorrow," Hermione said as she left. He waved in response.

(OVER TO DRACO!)

Draco ran when he saw Hermione bite Harry. He didn't know why it bothered him so much, but it did. He was shocked, upset, and mad as hell. Seeing her talking and laughing with Harry, a friend, was annoying, but tolerable. He wouldn't mention it, dwell on it, anything. But when she bit him…

Draco stopped in front of the painting to the Slytherin common room. He calmed his breathing and fixed his hair and clothes to look like he HADN'T just run all the way there. He entered and looked around. No one was there. That was even better. He quietly walked to his room and collapsed on his bed.

He didn't cry, but he felt like crap. Why did it upset him so much? She nearly fainted from lack of blood, her friend let her have his blood, and she accepted. No big deal…but it was to him. But the most annoying thing was that he couldn't really explain WHY he felt this way. Was he jealous? No, why would he be? For once, he didn't have to give her his blood…or maybe that was the problem…that it wasn't his blood. She had someone else's blood.

But she is a vampire. She has to drink blood. And most vampires had multiple victims, and those victims rarely survived. When Draco thought of it that way, he felt lucky and a little calmer. But when he thought of the feeling that followed the bite, he felt his anger build up again. And it wasn't just the pleasure that filled his body, it was the feeling of…what was it? Being closer than close to Hermione.

It took hours for Draco to fall asleep that night. And he didn't sleep well. He tried to look at least passable before he gave up and went down for breakfast. He realized that everyone was going to talk today. Yesterday he showed up with a big red scratch on his face, and today he looked like he hadn't slept at all. But he just didn't care enough to do something about it.

The day seemed to go faster than yesterday, but not fast enough. When school was finally over, Draco started to walk over to Hermione's house. Then he remembered what happened yesterday. He stood frozen for several minutes. What should he do? He didn't think he could act like he hadn't seen anything. He didn't think he could stay calm around her. He finally decided not to go. She probably wouldn't care anyway. She'd probably be with Harry. Thinking of that made him even more pissed.

(Over to Hermione)

"Nee-san, have you seen Draco?" Hermione asked.

"Not today," Elvira answered.

'Where is he?' Hermione wondered. She waited for him all day, but he never came. 'Why didn't he come? Did something happen to him? Is he hurt? Where is he?'

End of chapter 10! Hope ya like it! *Sigh* So much drama! Please R&R cuz the more reviews I get, the sooner I update! Luv ya! Bye~! =^^=