Chapter 20

The Swivenhodge tournament went on for some time. They ate lunch out on one of the patios. Hermione wasn't hungry and she didn't want to be there.

"Make an effort, Granger." Malfoy said as he sat beside her. He look relaxed and casual as always. "You don't have to look like I just killed your cat."

"I'm sorry." She said out of manners more than anything. She wasn't making an effort to pretend that she was into him. Then she smiled, in an attempt to play her part. He leaned closer.

"Remember what I have to do if you don't behave." He said and lightly touched his tongue to the dip of his upper lip.

Hermione's eyes widened. She couldn't believe that he was threatening to kiss her if she didn't behave, like she was some kind of innocent who would be intimidated by a kiss. The worst thing was, that she was for some irrational reason. She wanted to roll her eyes at her own pathetic-ness, but it wouldn't be in line with the image she was trying to portray.

She looked away to make sure she combated any potential blushing that tended to arise whenever kissing was the subject between them. Which also wasn't a good idea, because Blaise was in that direction and he had obviously been watching the exchange. Although she was pretty sure he hadn't heard anything they said.

She didn't want to deal with Blaise, so she turned her attention back to Malfoy. He had a whiskey on the table in front of his and his long fingers were stroking the contours of the crystal glass.

"Do you exist in a constant state of inebriation?" She asked.

"Are you concerned for my welfare?"

No, she wanted to say, but it would sound childish.

"Believe me," he continued, "I am not inebriated." There was a warning in the statement, but she wasn't sure what it was in relation to. She certainly couldn't claim to understand him, and the more she got to know him, the less she did.

He was watching her again, in that way that always bothered her. But she wasn't going to back down this time. She regarded him as he regarded her.

"We should do something the two of us this afternoon." He said. Hermione was confused and a little gobsmacked. "It would be expected." He continued.

"Oh." She said, feeling silly because for a second she'd thought he'd wanted to spend time with her on his own. Although thinking back, it was quite normal for her and Blaise to go off in the afternoon for a bit of cuddles and more.

"We could either spend the afternoon holed up in our room, or we could do something else." He said and took a sip of the whiskey.

"Something else, I think." She said.

"We'll go hunting then."

"Hunting?" She spat.

"You know, walk around the forest and hunt things." He said. "Although everyone will assume it will involve stalking of a whole different sort."

"So your idea is that we go sit in the forest for the afternoon. Might as well go sit in our room."

"I am not spending the afternoon watching you read."

"So what are you suggesting?"

"We actually go hunting."

"I don't kill things."

"Well, you can watch me then."

"I don't want to." She said as hunting was pretty far down on the list of things she wanted to spend her time doing.

"I only spend an afternoon in a bedroom for one reason, Granger." He said. "So unless you are willing to oblige me, we're going hunting."

Hermione ground her teeth because he kind of had her in a corner. If she fought back, he would take it as admission that she wanted to sleep with him, no matter how much she protested. He tended to ignore such things.

"Unless you want to go shopping." He added.

"Not particularly."

"Then hunting it is." He said and got up from the table. "I'll go change. I'll get you a jacket. Stay here."

"So what are your plans for this afternoon?" Pansy-bitch purred.

"We're going hunting." Hermione answered her as cheery as she could.

"How dull." Pansy said, obviously not a fan. "We're going for a picnic to the lake house in the flying carriage. The lake is stunningly beautiful this time of year. The girls used to have birthday parties there every year."

Suddenly Hermione was grateful to be going hunting. She did not want to spend the afternoon with Pansy and her hanger-ons.

"Much more fun than hunting." Pansy said. "You should come, leave the boys to their baser hobbies."

"Actually Pansy," Hermione said, "I think Draco just wants to spend some time the two of us. Somewhere a little more secluded."

The expression on Pansy's face showed that she was less than impressed. Draco returned wearing dark green pants and sweater, and a cross bow.

"Watch your back." Pansy said with a raised eyebrow.

Pansy was just being bitchy, but maybe she should feel a bit of caution walking into the forest with Malfoy carrying a weapon. Harry would have a fit if he knew about this.

"Let's go. Take this." He said handing her a small backpack. He held out his hand to her with the other arm holding the crossbow. She took it and he led her towards the edge of the property. It took no more than a few minutes walking before the forest became dark and quite. The bright shiny Greengrass' house faded away behind them.

"Are all pureblood houses surrounded by forests?" She asked knowing that his manor was.

"We like our privacy."

They walked a bit further. "I can't believe I let you talk me into going into the forest with you, with a crossbow no less."

"You worried that my dark mark is getting a bit itchy." He said with a grin.

"Well, I wasn't until you brought it up."

"I'm not going to hurt you, Granger." He said. "As much as I like watching you squirm."

"Do you hunt then, as a regular course?" She said, not sorry to be changing the subject. She did believe him. She'd never gotten a vibe of him that she had not worry about her immediate well being, well not for a long time anyway. Things had been very different back in school. There had always been this edge of malice under the surface with all his dealings with her. Although she wasn't sure malice entirely summed it up. It had definitely evolved over time. From pure malice when they were young to something a bit more complex as they got older. Culminating in the time he had his wand at her throat when they had been caught practicing for DA.

It had been a weird moment. Umbridge was grilling Harry, while Malfoy had her pinned. She'd had his full and complete attention then. She could feel it. Feel his excitement. She could practically feel him vibrating behind her, feel his breath on the skin of her neck and she knew in her bones that she needed to stay away from him. But it had been fun and games then, when things got serious, he'd lost interest in her.

She had her little moment of reminiscing while she walked behind him through the dark and quite forest.

"What exactly do you hunt anyway?" She asked.

"Nogtails, sometimes pixies and fairies. Kneazles if I can find them. Maybe the odd fox. Wolves and manticores are obviously not targets for limited parties."

"So I take it that hunting is another activity on the list of approved pureblood recreational activities."

"You're catching on."

"You're not seriously going to kill anything, are you?"

"Not with you trampling around like a barn animal." He said.

"Run animals!" She yelled.

"Spoil sport." He said and kept walking. "If we get lost, there will be no dinner for you." They eventually found an outcrop of large rocks, that he proceeded to climb up. Sun reached the top of the stones and he sat down.

"I'm not dressed for climbing up rocks." She said.

"Well, stay down there then."

Hermione tightened her lips. Gentlemanhood certainly wasn't in the pureblood requirements, she thought and finally scrambled up the rocks. By the time she got there he had a bottle of wine open and some cheese nibbles.

Now that they were seated, she found she had nothing to say. And he wasn't pressing for conversation either, so she didn't bother starting any. Instead she just sat and listened to the sounds of the forest, which were much more noticeable when they stopped moving and talking. After a while she lay back in the sunny spot and closed her eyes.

"Its time to go." He said waking her up from a half slumber. She had gotten lost in her thoughts and had forgotten all about him and the fact that they were deep in a forest on their own.

Getting down in a skirt proved much harder than getting up. Particularly if she wanted to avoid showing off unintended parts of herself. Being the gentleman that he was, he didn't bother trying to help, he just stood and watched as she tried to navigate a way down the large rocks.

"Quiet." He whispered as she was getting close to the ground and she froze. There were some strange noises over to the left. "Someone is here."

"Who?"

"I don't know." He said with an edge of annoyance. "Does it matter?"

He came towards her and lifted her down.

"What?" She asked, not knowing what's going on. If there was danger.

"If they stumble across us, we should be doing something worth noting." He said and pulled her down to kiss her. She didn't have time to react, he still held her too high off the ground for her to reach. It all hit her at the same time, the scent, the feel, the taste, and then the electricity. He had her thighs wrapped around his legs and his whole body was flush up against her. She could feel everything. Not to mention a sense of panic.

And it wasn't a chaste kiss, it was a full on, no holds barred meeting of tongues. It started hard, but it softened as she kind of accepted that they were in an embrace. Admittedly, he tasted just lovely. She'd tasted him a few times now, but never quite this deeply. Sensation ran up and down her spine. Her entire skin prickled and heated.

She couldn't breath and pulled away. She drew a big ragged breath and he continued to run his mouth down the column of her neck. His hand snuck around her backside and they were grinding together. There was a mortifying amount of heat in her body, and the grinding was flaring a full on fire in her core.

Her arms were automatically drawing him closer and his mouth returned to hers, and she got completely lost in the sensation. After an indeterminate amount of time, he drew away slightly and she couldn't help a groan as he did. She looked up at him. He looked completely dishevelled. His lips were bruised and flushed. He stepped back and brushed his lips with the pad of this thumb.

"They're gone." She managed and he nodded.

"We should head back." He said and bent down to pick up the crossbow.

"You think they bought it?"

"I am pretty sure they bought it." He said and turned.

Hermione straightened her dishevelled clothes. She was so hot she felt like she would be heating up the whole forest. Actually the cool air was lovely on her skin. She was pretty sure she looked an absolute mess.

They walked back in silence. Hermione hoped that her full body flush was settled down by the time they got back to the house. The sun was quite low in the sky and the patio they had been sitting at before was in cool shade now.

"There you two are." Daphne said. "We were starting to worry."

"Nothing to worry about. Made it back in one piece." Malfoy said and reached over and picked a leaf out of Hermione's hair. Hermione watched in horror as Daphne followed the whole movement. She couldn't help the sense of horror even though they were supposed to let people know they had been 'doing things'. Because she felt embarrassed as to her it felt a little like maybe they had been a little too diligent in pretending to be doing the things they were pretending to.

Daphne smiled tightly. "Pre dinner drinks in half an hour. I'm sure you need to …freshen up. I see you didn't manage to catch anything."

"No, the beasties kept on getting lucky today."

He better not have just referred to her as a beasty, Hermione thought.