Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, the characters; blah blah (I'm pretty sure you all know that anyway...and if you don't...well...) there is most definitely sex, violence, and language. If you don't like that sorta stuff, you're weird-but be sure to get the hell away.
Summary: ( Post-Hogwarts) Hermione Granger's life turned around the day she got fired. An unexpected picture brought her back to her old friend's she once loved. At an engagement party she makes a deal with the devil. Can this wreck of a woman find happiness...or maybe...even love?
A Story of a Girl
Chapter XI
Circles
Nobody said it was easy,
It's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy,
No one ever said it would be this hard.
Oh take me back to the start.
They walked down the stairs, where Narcissa was waiting, her back towards them, tapping her shoe against the marble floors, "Draco what-"
"Mother, this is my fiance."
"Your fiance is Hermione Granger!?"
Draco grabbed her hand and Hermione gasped. She was trying not to look Narcissa in the eye, because if she did, she was afraid that Narciss would figure out that this was all a lie.
"You're joking, right?" Narcissa put her hand up to her chest and let out an unsettling laugh, "That mudblood."
Draco nodded, "Yes, this is my fiance."
Hermione stood there awkwardly and smiled at his mom, no matter how stupid this sounded, she wanted to please his mother. She was just pretending, but she did feel the need to at least make a good impression. So far, though, it seemed there wasn't room for that now.
Narcissa walked up to her, and with a smack she slapped Hermione so hard on her cheek that her head jerked to the right, "Get out!"
Hermione clutched her cheek, her eyes began to sting with tears. She looked down and before she even move, she felt Draco jerk her back beside him.
"Mother, even if you can't accept it. I'm marrying her."
Narcissa glared at Hermione, "You are not marrying her!"
"It's my life mother!"
Whatever Draco was doing, he was doing it very well, whether he was acting or...really meaning what he said, he was doing a pretty damn good job at it. Hermione waited for Narcissa to say something back, but instead she buttoned up the last buttons of her jacket.
"Your father didn't deserve this," Her heels clicked on the floors as she walked towards Draco, threateningly, "I-I can't believe you've done this to him," Hermione noticed that Narcissa was actually crying, real tears were streaming down her cheeks. Draco wouldn't step down because of this though, Hermione knew that.
Hermione could feel Draco tense when she said this. He was so hard to figure out. Why would he defend their "love"? She thought that maybe she'd just have to act like Pansy Parkinson for a few days and then it would be over with, but she should've known better, since ever since she lost her job she knew that everything was unexpected so...if she just expected everything to happen, then maybe nothing like this would be so unexpected.
Narcissa turned on her heels, "I won't let this happen, Draco." With that, she left the room.
Hermione let got of his hand and stood directly in front of him, "What ARE YOU DOING?!"
Draco looked down at her with his typical calm look, "I told you, you'll see."
"I'd rather know what I'm getting it to, now!" Hermione pushed him, "Why didn't you tell me she knew me?"
"Of course she knows you!" He pushed her back, "What are you stupid?"
"You said you were positive."
Draco smirked, "Well, now I'm positive that you're the most gullible person alive."
"What are planning to do? Ruin my life even more?" Hermione crossed her arms and lowered her gaze to the floor, "Like that's possible..." She muttered softly.
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Harry opened the window and let Hedwig in. She flapped her white wings and hooted at him when he petted her feathers, "Good girl."
He took the Daily Prophet and sat down at the table, he was sorting through it to find the Sports section, when his eyes caught something- something very, very displeasing.
"What?" He screamed a whisper, "What the hell is this?"
A large picture of Draco flying through a Qudditch field was plastered on the front page, and at the bottom was Hermione's school photo. In big, horrible, red letters read:
WELL-KNOW PUREBLOOD WIZARD AND HEIR TO THE MALFOY FORTUNE IS MARRYING THE FAMOUS MUGGLE-BORN HERMIONE GRANGER. IS THIS THE END OF THE PUREST FAMILY IN THE WIZARDING WORLD?
"This can't be..." Harry put his hand to forehead like just seeing this gave him a massive headache and clenched his fist and slammed it on the table, "What are you doing?" He stared at the picture of her smiling face. It was taken when they were in their last year, right before the war. Her hair was a bit messy, but her cheeks were as rosy as ever and she looked so hopeful and happy. It wasn't like now, where she cried to him, begging him to help her, but all he could do was turn her away. If only...he could go back and change what he had done.
"What was I...thinking..."
-The Beginning of 7th Year-
"Hermione, I told you I can't figure this out!" Ron let out a loud sigh and flopped down onto the couch, "It's too hard."
"Well if you keep acting like this, you'll never become anything!" She sat down at the desk where Harry sat across from her, watching her flare with frustration. As sick as it sounded, he loved seeing her frustrated, with her hair a mess from staying up the night before studying, and her shirt a bit tousled as well as her skirt. A smile spread across his face and he let out a soft chuckle.
Hermione looked up at him, with her dark amber eyes, "What's so funny?" Her mouth quirked slightly into a smile, "I thought you were used to Ronald acting like a circus freak, at least I am, I don't laugh at it anymore...it's more annoying now." She looked back at Ron who was snoring soundly.
"It's nothing," Harry straightened up in his chair, "It's just..." He trailed off and lowered his eyes.
"What?" She asked urgently.
Harry looked up at her, "I-I reallylikeyou Hermione." He said it fast so all his words blended into one big ball of a word. He remembered that he had been spending one or two days deciding if he should really go through with it and just flat out tell her. Because lately, they had been sitting a little closer and brushing their hands together a little longer, and staring at each other a little deeper. It felt like the line had been crossed between friends and lovers. Yes, felt like, but he remembered wondering if he was the only one that felt it.
Hermione blushed, "Um," She said, "I uh...really like you too."
Now Harry couldn't keep his eyes off of her. With those words it opened up a new world to him. Now, he could try to kiss her or touch her and with those words...he had the key. She liked him-no- really liked him.
"Well...I better be heading off to-book-I mean-uh-bed." She grabbed her textbooks on Arithimetics and stood up.
Harry shot up from his chair and caught her before she went up to the girl's dormitories. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer, "Can-can I kiss you?"
Hermione gulped and felt herself nodding yes to him, even though the fact that Harry Potter, her best friend since ever was now leaning down to kiss her felt so frightening, more frightening than failing all of her OWLs. When their lips touched, Hermione felt herself nearly faint with a sense of relief that it was better than she had expected. She always expected kissing Harry would end up badly, like Ginny would come walking through the door or he would be drunk and forget about it the next day.
But, on this night, he didn't seem drunk at all, and Ginny was nowhere in sight.
Harry rested his shaky hand on her back and slid it down until it reached the top of her skirt. Hermione wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed harder, more confident now. In her heart she knew she truly loved him. He had been with her through everything and she couldn't believe that he could love her back like she did. It wasn't like it was before. They were older and she didn't know what he wanted or really what she wanted. Where they going to date? Where they going to tell people that they kissed, or did he want to keep this a secret? What did he want?
Harry felt his heart beating faster once she slid her hands down lower as well. He took a daring step and reached his hand under her shirt, and felt his hand touch her skin. Her skin felt soft and hot against his hands. She didn't feel like Ginny, she felt like Hermione...beautiful Hermione. The love of his life. He didn't know how she felt or what she wanted with him, but he sure he wanted to keep going, keep touching.
"Harry? What are you doing?" Ginny walked behind him and wrapped her arms around her neck, "Good for them," She said when she saw the newspaper, "She deserves him."
Harry studied the newspaper, feeling his heart beat faster at the thought of them kissing like that again, "Yeah..." He responded, when his heart screamed no.
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Hermione followed Draco downstairs, dressed in a plain white T and her pink pajama bottoms. Of course Draco wore a black suit and they looked completely out of place, even though she was sure they did even if their outfits matched. Narcissa was nowhere in sight when dinner was served and Draco made no mention of her.
"Where's your mom?" Hermione asked and took a bite of her chicken fillet, and with her full mouth she asked, "Does she eat?"
Draco ignored her and began cutting his meat, the knife scraped against his plate, "Just shut up and eat."
Hermione sighed. It wasn't even worth her breath to get anything out of him. Why was he acting so strangely? Not that he never acted particularly normal, but he used to have a flare about him, now he was just gloomy and...boring. She took a big bite and nearly choked.
"We're going to Paris this weekend, Blaise has invited us."
"I can't. I'm busy."
"What do you have to do? You're just a freeloader in my house."
"Freeloader? I clean and do things, plus I'm helping you out. I'm very busy okay? You're the freeloader."
"What? I'm certainly not a free loader." He said, and threw her a disgusting look, "Stop stuffing your face."
"When you think unnecessary random thoughts, eating is the best way to get rid of them."
"What thoughts? Thoughts about other men?" He asked.
"What?!"
"Why are you so surprised?" He asked, "You're really thinking about a guy aren't you?" He accused.
"Why am I supposed to be thinking about someone?" She said, cursing under her breath at his assumptions, even though they were spot on.
"You are." Draco said. "Me." He smirked, "You can always think a lot about me."
Hermione looked at him through her eyelashes, a blush crept up her cheeks. Draco continued eating, knowing that what he had said had thrown her off course. That was exactly what it was supposed to do.
After a long, pregnant pause, Hermione spoke, "I'm still not going," She said, wiping her mouth with her napkin.
"Then you can leave."
"You are very manipulative you know that?"
"So are you." He retorted.
Hermione noted that in every situation Draco had something to say back and for once she wished she could say something that would make him speechless and not have anything clever to say back to it. The only thing that made him do that was silence. So, she didn't say a word back.
"What are you deaf?" Draco said forcefully and stared intently at her from across the table. The table was filled with fine foods and a bouquet in the middle. Candles floated centimeters above that table top and reflected against it. Draco watched as Hermione's delicate features were illuminated by the flame of the candle that seperated them.
"Are you finished?" He asked again, but still she didn't answer, instead she got up, pushed her chair in, and folded her napkin on the table.
"I guess that's a yes. Granger has officially become deaf and dumb."
Hermione glared back at him, then swiftly turned her head back, her hair bouncing behind her, a smirked plastered on her face.
"Where are you going?" He was now following behind her like a puppy dog, "Why are being so annoying, Granger."
Still, no answer. She had finally gained some control.
"Don't disobey me." His pace quickened before she was able to reach the first step on the stairs. He grabbed her arm and yanked her back towards him.
"Ow!" Hermione yelped.
"What are you doing?"
Hermione glared up at him, her eyes flashing with anger.
"I really never should have helped you. But... I guess that day I was bored and feeling a bit generous."
Hermione stared at him more intently now...he was talking about the engagement party. He was trying to get her to talk.
"...and you looked so pathetic trying to please your little friends." He smirked, "I thought, what the hell."
She felt his grip loosen a little and she tried to move away, but as soon as she did he yanked her closer, "Your life is mine, Granger, no matter if you like it or not, and if you don't stop this silent treatment crap, I'll have to go a bit further to make you speak."
Hermione yanked herself free and ran up the stairs, him following close behind. She reached her door, but he was quick enough and grabbed onto the handle before she could even touch it.
She was trapped again, trapped between the door and him. His body pressed against hers felt so good right now. She felt like she was in a movie or a book, fighting her feelings for a man she could not love. It was true though, she was fighting feelings for him. She loved watching him fight back with her or getting frustrated by her. It made this, the hot feeling between them happen.
"Will you speak if I do this," Draco pressed his lips against the skin on her neck. His lips felt like velvet, yet slick and sensual. Her heart beat quickened, if she didn't want this, she would've said something back. It wasn't like her lips were sealed shut or anything. She gripped the his hand that was still resting on the doorknob and helped him turn it.
He closed the door, without taking his eyes off of her. It shut with a soft click. She stood, mesmerized by his figure. When they had had sex at his apartment, she didn't really remember him it all that much. But, in his suit, with the lustful look in his eyes, and the way his blond hair was parted to the side. Some strands were stuck to the sweat that was building on his forehead.
He almost looked animalistic, ready to pounce, ravish, devour. Hermione felt self-conscious, she wasn't wearing a bra, and her pajamas were suddenly feeling itchy.
Draco took two large steps towards her and bent down to kiss her. The pressure against his lips, felt hard, but soft at the same time. He bit her bottom lip, hard and sucked gently on it, before sliding his tongue into her mouth. He touched the roof of her mouth and tangled her tongue with his. This was like a fight, testing each other's strength, who would buckle under the pleasure or who would dominant. Draco dominated, Hermione buckled under the pleasure.
She didn't care though, because she liked being submissive and letting him take control for once, so she could just let go and roll with it. As he lay her down, he kissed her wear the neckline of her shirt was, and then the waistband of her pjs.
"I can get you to talk, Granger." He moved on top of her.
He smirked and grinded against her.
"More like I'll make you scream." He said.
Hermione didn't utter a word and stared back up at him. Pieces of his blond hair tickled her face, his grey eyes searched her like she was keeping this enormous secret. He didn't know it, but he could read her like a book. It was like she really didn't have to say anything and he just knew that she was falling deeply in love with him.
He also knew that she was trying everything in her power not to.
But...so was he.
"I can't do this Harry, I want to wait."
"Wait for who?"
Hermione searched him, trying to ignore what he had just said. She loved him, yes, but she was still in school and this didn't seem right.
"You love me Hermione, I love you. How is that wrong?"
"I-I just can't I want to wait until marriage."
"No one is going to wait for you, Hermione."
Hermione sat up on her bed and Harry lay on his side, studying her, waiting for her to answer.
"I just don't want to, okay?" Hermione glared at him, "Why don't you just go back to Ginny? She'll give it to you." She lay back down on her pillow and turned her back to him, "Just go, okay?"
Harry sighed and rested his hand on her side, "How long do I have to wait?"
"There's not a time, Harry, I don't want to have a deadline."
Harry sat up and watched her lying there all angry with him, "I'm sorry, okay. It's just I love you, a lot. And I don't want to go back to Ginny."
Hermione stared at the wall nearest her bed, "It's fine."
The next morning Harry got up and waited for Hermione to come downstairs, but she didn't until later and he didn't see her in Potions or DADA. He searched the corridors until he ran into Ginny, who was rushing up to him, holding a box of chocolates.
"Hey, Harry!" She grabbed onto him, "What are you doing?"
"I'm looking for Hermione."
"It's Valentine's Day and you haven't even found your girlfriend?" Ginny slapped him playfully, "But I got you something."
Harry took the box of chocolates. They were his favorite kind, chocolate frogs, "Thanks Ginny."
"No problem, I thought maybe since..."
"Since what?"
"Well you don't really seem to be with Hermione right at the second so maybe you could just have lunch with me, you know, just because we're friends. We can have lunch."
Harry looked behind him, checking to see if Hermione had found him, but she was nowhere in sight.
"So," Ginny said as they sat down, "How is Harry Potter doing?"
Harry smiled weakly, "I can't find my girlfriend, not so good obviously."
Ginny ignored that and continued on, "Here, try this it's dark chocolate instead of the regular milk chocolate."
Ginny plopped it into his mouth, "Good huh?"
"Yeah," Harry smiled, "Wow...that is good."
"So..." Ginny bit her lip, "Did you get her anything."
"Uh-No not yet..."
Why was she suddenly so interested? Harry thought.
Over Harry's shoulder, Ginny saw Hermione come walking towards them, looking gloomy and holding her usual textbooks. She seemed unaware of the fact that Ginny was feeding Harry chocolates and of the decision Ginny would make that would change Hermione's life as she's knows it.
Just as Hermione reached their table, Ginny leaned over the table and pressed her lips against Harry's.
"Happy Valentine's Day Harry." She said.
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Author's Note: Alrighty! Another chapter down! I've reached 107 reviews!!! yay!! Thank you oh so much! Well, I love all the comments, but this time I would really really like to know how my WRITING is improving or getting worse or how it is...because I get really discouraged by my writing sometimes, which is bad because you should never be too self-critical because it gets you nowhere, but I would like some feedback about my writing. I'm interested in what you people who are reading my story think of it. Because I would really like to improve. Well with that said...I am getting more into how Harry/Hermione ended up breaking up and stuff. Sex is in the next chapter so for you sex-loving fiends you will get lucky pretty soon: ) I just don't want them to have sex like every second, even though that would be a blast to write, but I want to keep the sex more meaningful I guess lol!(I guess this is my way of controlling myself lol) I have another idea for a fanfic, but I'm refraining from writing it because then I'll stop writing this and it gets annoying writing two or three stories at a time!! AH!! They will also be vacationing soon to Paris. Typical I guess...I dunno. I wanted somewhere where they could stay in a hotel -nudge nudge-
OK! Enough of my rambles! REVIEW REVIEW! now. DO IT.
I've been listening to JoJo, Akon, Coldplay, and One republic. Rap really gets me in the mood for writing Draco/ Hermione. lol (spontaneous random note!)
Love all who have reviewed. The mosquito on steriods got smashed by a newspaper...so no need to worry about him anymore!!
tehe
--teh lyn--- : )