Never Lose Strength

Chapter 21

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Hermione growled and yanked her brush harder through her hair. "Who do you think you are?" She muttered to her reflection, her words really directed at the infuriating man—boy—that was threatening to break down the bathroom door. "WAIT YOUR TURN!" She screamed at him.

"Let me in!" He yelled in reply.

"No, you git! Why would I do that?" She bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain as her brush ripped through her hair almost violently. She abruptly put the brush down.

"Because I'm on a busy schedule!"

"So you're the only one that counts?" Trusting herself to not accidentally pull her own head off, she picked up the brush again and continued grooming her hair, this time in a more gentle fashion.

"That's how it's always been, Granger, and that's how it'll stay!"

She let out her breath. "Listen here, you insufferable ferret. I don't care about you and your ridiculous point of view, and I certainly don't care that you need something from the bathroom. I'll take as long as I very well want."

Pause. "Who said I needed something?" He finally said.

She couldn't decipher his tone. "Pardon?"

"I don't need anything, Granger. I need to tell you something."

She rolled her eyes. "And you can't wait till I come out?"

"I was, but you're taking so bloody long! Fine, maybe I won't tell you. You can grow old and die in the bloody bathroom and forever wonder what I was going to say to you, what the great Draco Malfoy was going to say to you that—"

Unbeknownst to him, she had been creeping closer to the door as he ranted. Finally, sighing heavily, she pulled it open.

He stopped talking abruptly, and looked down at her.

"Well? Get on with it. I haven't got all day." Hermione prompted, arms folded stubbornly across her chest.

He continued to stare for a minute, and then suddenly leaned down and made to touch his lips to hers.

But she was too quick. She moved backwards, anticipating the move, and left him hanging. He attempted to straighten up in a dignified manner—Hermione had to admit, he did a pretty good job—as she spoke: "Do you honestly think that that was all right? After you've been nothing but horrible to me…calling me names, stabbing me in the back, not even a simple thank you for saving you from the Forest…I wasn't going to say anything, because Merlin knows that I don't need your gratitude, but this is too far. You can't seriously expect me to let you kiss me."

He looked bewildered; apparently a girl not wanting to kiss him was mind-boggling. "Excuse me?"

She tapped her foot, frustrated. "You can't just come and kiss me when all you are is a git to me! It doesn't work like that! The world doesn't work like that!"

"No?" Now he sounded almost amused, but Hermione knew him well enough that she knew he was only covering up for his utter confusion at how to handle the situation.

Was this really his first time getting rejected? Hermione laughed inwardly—who would have thought that she would have been the first person to reject him? "No."

"Would you like me to apologize?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Are you making a joke out of this?"

"Not quite."

"So what, exactly, are you doing?" Her tone was completely suspicious, and she wanted him to know that without any doubt in his mind.

"Offering to apologize. If you are who you claim you are, this has happened loads of times before—people accepting that they're wrong and moving on."

"How can you sound so pompous when you're apologizing?" Hermione asked incredulously.

He shrugged. "It's an art. A skill, if you will. And anyway, I haven't apologized yet. You haven't said if you're taking me up on my offer or not."

"What offer?" Hermione asked, completely confused and a little irritated.

"The offer to apologize, obviously." He sounded bored, now. He was picking imaginary lint off of his sweater, not even looking at her.

She rolled her eyes. "And obviously, I want you to apologize. It's the least you could do. I don't understand why you need to ask me if I want you to apologize. A bit unnecessary, don't you think?"

A shadow passed over his face. "Some people find it a weakness to apologize. I am, clearly, a selfish being, and protect my own interests before anyone else's."

She half-grinned, suddenly feeling fully terrible for him and trying to lighten the mood. "Glad to know I come in a close second."

He snorted. "Close? Your interests, my dear Granger, are kilometers away from my interests, in my book."

"Is this how you normally go about apologizing?" She raised an eyebrow.

He smirked. "I don't apologize often. Sorry. How's that?"

"That's it? That's your apology?"

He snarled. "What did you expect, a bloody serenade?"

"No, but a girl can dream." As soon as the words left her mouth, she froze. Was she actually flirting with him? Oh, Merlin, no. Was she attracted to him?

A smirk fixed upon his face. "You dream about me singing to you, do you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, trying to fight the blush off her cheeks. "Yes, obviously. Can't you tell I'm madly in love with you?"

He pretended to look thoughtful. "I've suspected for some time now, but I've never had any evidence to back it up."

A bewildered laugh exploded from her throat. "We're being civil to each other. Are you noticing this?"

He shrugged. "Consider it my extended apology, since my previous one clearly wasn't sufficient."

She laughed, a genuine, amused laugh. And then, before she could think about what she was doing, she leaned in and gave him a hug.

He pulled back quickly, as if he had been burned. "I wasn't aware that apologies led to, ahem, hands-on procedures. I wouldn't have bothered, then."

She laughed again. "Honestly, Malfoy, I'm not the one who tried to kiss me before the apologies flew."

He narrowed his eyes at her, as if debating on something, the answer to which he would find in her face. And then he leaned in for the second time, and attempted to kiss her. And this time, she let him.

When they broke apart, both out of breath and a little amazed by how much feeling the kiss evoked in them (he had a lot of experience to compare it with, while she didn't), they stepped back, a little awkwardly, and looked at each other.

"Well," Hermione finally said, when it was clear that he wasn't going to say anything. "I guess I had better start calling you Draco now."

"That's it?" He asked, folding his arms across his chest. "No, 'oh, Draco, you are so amazing! I wish I could snog you all day!'" He made his voice high-pitched, imitating a fawning girl. "Just 'I should call you Draco'. Thank you, Granger."

"Hermione." She corrected. "And no, I didn't say that, because I generally try to avoid lying."

"I like Granger better." He told her. "And ouch."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, King Malfoy. I don't lose opportunities to one-up you, in case that little fact hadn't passed through your thick skull before."

"What happened to Good Girl Granger, the one who only spreads kindness and giving through the whole bloody world?"

"Except in your case." She added. "I enjoy besting you."

"So how about you best my kiss." He smirked—because before everything, he was a hormonal teenage boy, and they had shared a damn good kiss.

To his utter surprise, she stood on tiptoe and proceeded to kiss him quite thoroughly. When she was stepped back, the look of surprise was still frozen on his face. "What?" She asked, this time smirking herself. "Didn't think I had it in me?"

He shrugged.

Hermione opened her mouth then to ask where this left them, but then closed it again. Her relationship with him couldn't be labeled by anything traditionally acceptable. They hated each other one minute, tolerated each other the next, and were kissing a breath later. She couldn't doubt the attraction between them, but also didn't doubt that by the end of the day they would have a major fight along one of the lines that had divided them for so long—blood, friends, houses. Still, if one were to get into huge trouble, she knew the other would do everything in their power to help.

Basically, it was complicated.

So she opted for an easier question—"Will you go the dance with me?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Did we suddenly switch genders?"

"Merlin!" She looked up at the ceiling in exasperation. "You conservative bigot. Why shouldn't girls be allowed to ask boys out?"

"So you're asking me out?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

She threw her hands up in annoyance. "I'll be in my room." She growled, then turned on her heel and made to stalk off.

He caught her arm, forcing her to stop right in the middle of her dramatic exit. "If you keep kissing me like that, Granger, I'll gladly accompany you to the ball."

She snorted, yanked her wrist out of his grip, and instead of going to her room, headed out of the Heads' dorm to find Angylin or Ginny.

Angylin was practically floating on a cloud. Just after Malfoy had headed off to go find Hermione, Blaise had grabbed her hand and led her into a secluded niche off the hallway they had been in—and he had sure made her dealing with Malfoy worth it. She knew he must be smooth with the ladies, because he came off as overbearingly confident; but she didn't know that it was because he was such an amazing kisser!

Now she tucked her hair behind her ear as she headed towards the Heads' dorm. She had to go tell Hermione straightaway; she knew she would want to know. From what she could gather, Hermione and Blaise were tolerant of each other.

She was running so fast and thinking so little that she crashed right into Hermione outside the Heads' dorm. It appeared that she had been leaving.

Angylin scrambled up from the ground. "Hermione!" She breathed. "Guess what!"

"I have something to tell you too." Hermione replied, smiling a little. "On the count of three?"

They counted, and then Hermione blurted, "I kissed Malfoy!" at the same time as Angylin yelled, "I kissed Blaise!"

They stared at each other a moment, and then burst out laughing.

"I'm so happy for you." Hermione hugged her friend. "You must like him a lot."

"He's kind of arrogant, but I do." Angylin confirmed. "But you and Malfoy? What happened? I just yelled at him a while ago for being an ungrateful brat."

"And then he came and apologized. And then…well, I don't know, really. It just happened."

"And?" Angylin prompted.

"And we'll probably never stop fighting, we're at odds about everything, there are times I wouldn't mind tying him to a rock at the bottom of the lake, but he's a bloody good kisser for the few moments we can bear each other."

Angylin laughed.

"Honestly, we entertain each other. Once the actual mean-spiritedness goes away, I like fighting with him—to see what he can come up with to say. And he's not a dull person. All in all, it's not bad." She paused. "We're going to the dance together."

Angylin's mouth fell open. "Herms!" She screamed then, and threw her arms around Hermione. "That's awesome! I knew you would get a date."

Hermione grinned. "Yeah, I was getting pretty doubtful for a while there." She sighed. "Now, my only problem is, how will Ron and Harry react?"

Angylin winced. "Ooh, Ron. I hope he still doesn't hate me. He thought something was going on between Harry and I! How ridiculous is that? I can't handle that kind of jealousy. Anyway, I saw him with that Lavender girl a little earlier. He hasn't been around for meals and such."

Hermione shrugged. "He's a big boy. He'll figure it out. I just hope he doesn't kill me. And Harry. Oh, Merlin. What are they going to say?"