Chapter 14: Honey

Snape quickly loosened his grasp of Luna's wrist. He was visibly pale, looking more furious than embarrassed. Hermione quickly retracted her hands and reached for her blouse on the closet floor while Draco hastily buckled his belt, his face red. Luna meanwhile did not bother to cover herself up, staring at the two in the closet in childlike wonder.

"Friends!" Luna chirped happily. She turned to Snape. "Is this going to be a foursome?"

"Quiet, Miss Lovegood," Snape spat. "All of you, to my office, now."

"Actually, professor, we need to get to Dumbledore's office," said Hermione, suddenly remembering where they had been heading before Draco had dragged her away on a detour.

Snape scowled. "Doesn't seem like you were on your way there when I found you now, does it? My office, now."

"With all due respect, sir," said Draco as they took seats in Snape's office. "We are adults now, and we were...er, in an enclosed space. There was really no indecency going on until you opened the door on us."

"You think I didn't hear about the ridiculous program Professor Dumbledore is running with you two?" snapped Snape. "He was getting oddly specific about you two not getting together, and then I thought he was being ridiculous!"

Shit, thought Draco.

Snape turned to Hermione. "I expected better of you, Miss Granger. And with your father in these very halls!"

"I'm right here, sir!" said Draco angrily. "And how about you?"

"What about me?" asked Snape in an almost whisper, as if daring Draco to go on.

Draco pointed at Luna, who was playing with her own nipples as if she had never seen them before.

"What about Miss Lovegood?" Snape asked in the same tone. It was however Hermione who piped up at once.

"Oh, come on, professor," she said, annoyed. "It's clear what is going on here."

"You are mistaken, Miss Granger," Snape said curtly. "There is nothing inappropriate going on between myself and Miss Lovegood, and I am offended that you would suggest such."

Hermione and Draco both stared at Snape incredulously.

"Tell us, Luna," said Draco, who after all was closer to her than Hermione was. "What were you going to do in the broom closet with Professor Snape?"

Snape looked irritated. "I'm the one asking questions here-"

"-I don't know," chirped Luna. "I mean, once he opened the door it looked a lot like we'd be having a foursome."

"But normally?" asked Draco.

"It's regrettably just the two of us, normally," said Luna. For a split second Snape looked hurt at the word "regrettably," and Hermione rolled her eyes. Luna seemed to have caught his expression too. "Oh, no, professor," she said quickly. "I do enjoy it, I just meant it might be more fun with more."

"And what do you do with Professor Snape normally?"

Snape did an almost audible groan. "You don't have to answer-"

"Hot, sweaty sex," said Luna dreamily. "We are in love."

This time Hermione caught Snape's expression brighten for a split second. He caught himself in time and cleared his throat, looking up at the ceiling.

"The sex is usually from the back," Luna continued. "But I do enjoy a good deal of cleaning his penis."

There was a bit of silence.

"With my mouth," said Luna happily. Snape coughed.

"-and there's always way too much honey involved-"

"-all right, that's enough," said Snape quickly.

Hermione finally stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Let's go, Malfoy. Doesn't look like he'll squeal."

Snape pursed his lips. "Are you threatening me, Miss Granger?"

"Oh, absolutely," Hermione responded at once. Draco got up as well. As they marched out of Snape's office they heard him call after them.

"For the record, she came onto me-"

When they got to Dumbledore's office it was good half hour later than when they were supposed to be there. Hermione knocked on the door and Dumbledore's sprightly voice came at once: "Come in!"

"Sorry we are late, professor," Hermione said as they took their seats.

"No worries!" said Dumbledore goodheartedly. "How was your fall break in Rayne Heights?"

It all seemed so long ago. They had had their first kiss there...they had been quite handsy there...and soon their minds went to just moments ago when they were getting even handsier in the broom closet. Draco felt his ears get hot at the thought and worried that Dumbledore could see.

"It was fine, professor," came Hermione's cool and collected voice.

"And I trust no inappropriate behavior?" asked Dumbledore, his eyes sparkling.

"Never, sir," said Hermione. Draco thought of how he had touched her between her legs on her sofa and admired her ability to speak so indifferently.

"Good, because it distracts from the Program," Dumbledore continued, but he did look considerably disappointed. "No strong sexual tensions of any kind?"

Almost instinctively, the two turned to each other. Draco almost jumped as their eyes met.

"Uh, no, sir," Draco stammered.

"Uh, no, sir," Hermione said mockingly. Draco rolled his eyes. They were walking back from Dumbledore's office after receiving their next task, which was to lead a group of first years on a guided field trip with Professor Sprout.

As they walked they came in front of a broom closet. Not the one they had been in, but a broom closet nevertheless. Draco began to feel warm all over again. Hermione caught the unease in him and smirked.

"The closet does remind me," she said slowly. "I have come to a decision."

"Yes?"

She looked at him in the eyes. "I decided not to try and get out of the Program," she said firmly. "He said there aren't too many tasks left anyway, and...you're not too bad. Might as well make some gold and an O."

He stared at her. The first emotion that really came to him was that of disappointment rather than relief, and he hated himself for it. It was definitely a good news, but he had so enjoyed her teasing and "freebies." He told himself that it was just reckless, fun romping around that he enjoyed, but he did feel a pang of something painful as he stood there.

"I take it you know what this means," she said carefully.

He did. He was disappointed because it meant that she would no longer try to seduce him. He bit his lower lip. It had just begun to be irresistibly fun...but perhaps it was for the best...and they would at least spend time finishing the Program...

"That you won't be trying to get me to come onto you all the time," said Draco, not caring enough to mask the bitterness in his voice.

Hermione laughed. "No, Malfoy," she said.

He looked up in surprise.

"It means," she said slowly with a smirk. "That we are going to have to be very careful not to get caught."

Hermione felt incredibly giddy. She knew it wasn't as if they decided to start going out, but she couldn't control how she felt. She had run off to the Slytherin dorms after giving him a long, sultry kiss on the lips, and she was still feeling out of breath as she lay on her bed. Once in a while she would let out a squeal and bury her face in her pillow. Her roommate Tania McEntee gave her a curious look.

"Everything okay?" Tania asked.

"Yeah," Hermione said into her pillow. "Yep. Everything's great."

It took Draco quite a bit of time to explain everything that had happened - excluding some of the rather explicit details - to his friend Harry. Draco had decided he had to tell someone, just to give a bit of realness to a situation that would have seemed absolutely insane just a month or so ago. The boy with the scar sat silently in his chair, taking everything in as Draco told his story and got up when he was finished.

"Well," said Harry at last, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "So to summarize...you are in some sort of a twisted, sexual, secret relationship with none other than Hermione Granger."

Draco pondered this for a bit and almost laughed at how that sounded despite being pretty accurate. "I guess you could say that," he muttered.

"And you did take into account that she's evil?"

Draco opened his mouth to contest this and then stopped. She was pretty evil. But right now, he loved that about her. That conniving witch.

"You're letting your teenage hormones get the better of you, Draco," said Harry darkly. "At least that's what I think. She's been nothing but snotty and pretty bitchy to us this whole time and all of a sudden you're what, fuck buddies?" Harry gave Draco a knowing look. "I know how it can be with the sexual urges and all."

"You sound like a kid who just touched his first boob," said Draco jokingly, knowing all too well how close he was hitting it home. Harry scowled and sat down.

"Oh, that reminds me," said Harry, reaching for his bag next to his chair. "I was told to give you this." He pulled out a little jar with a note attached to it with a string. He tossed it to Draco, who caught the jar in his hands and picked up the note.

From Luna, in case we get another chance, it read. He groaned and opened the jar. A sweet, sticky smell wafted up.

Honey.