Sooo….one abysmally failed relationship later I return to you. Happily I have moved on to greener pastures but the really exciting part is that I finally managed to get another chapter up! Yes yes yes I am aware that I did not give you the everything that you desired but I hated my last chapter and could not for the life of me figure out how the hell to fix it…
Until of course a very lovely and very concerned SilviaLace messaged me to check whether I was alive or had been abducted by pirates and taken to their secret research laboratory under a volcano. Needless to say she is to thank for this latest installment. She isn't a beta-er per se. More just the buoy to which I cling when the elusiveness of my muse proves fatal. (Aren't metaphors fun).
So I leave you to enjoy this next chapter. It is later than I generally like to post this because I like seeing the millions of hits all in one day. However, I feel you all have waited enough and thus I post this two hours before midnight. Please read and comment. I don't know when I'll be able to write again but I'm so sick of this semester that I'll likely need to find release in the realm of fanfiction. So enjoy my lovies!
Disclaimer: tinparrot: "WHYYYY! Why is my life so miserable? I cannot write anything and none of my characters actually belong to me. I am a waste of a human being." *sobs and throws temper tantrum on floor*
SilviaLace: "Awwww it's ok tinparrot. Wanna go get a cupcake?"
tinparrot: "Ok…"
XXX
"I love you, Granger. I love you as selfishly as my own life. I want you with me. I want to be around you. I want you deliberately, rationally, and entirely. I want you as mine, to belong to me – no one else. I – love – you." He spoke each syllable as one would a profanity, throwing it at her. Forcing her to absorb each dagger that pierced her mind, tearing at her and pulling at her heart.
As silently as her tears she turned around, leaving him standing in an empty common room, alone and silent.
Hermione's eyes flew open as a sharp breath rushed into her lungs, intoxicating her on oxygen. She shifted slightly, a sharp pain running clear down the length of her right shoulder ending at her left hip as the muscle curled in protest to the sudden movement. Her brain churned sluggishly as she attempted to process her surroundings. Only then did she become aware of a smooth plane resting on her cheek. She pulled her head up, skin peeling away from the slick page of a book she had been using as a headrest. She'd fallen asleep on the tome, perhaps in vain hopes that in unconsciousness its contents would permeate her mind.
She looked around slowly. She was in the library. She could see no one in her immediate field of vision. The stained glass windows glowed with a faint purple light indicating the time to be somewhere around nine o'clock in the evening. Hermione tried to catch her breath, forcing her inhalations to an even tempo.
She looked down at her hands. She had them clenched firmly around the arms of her chair, all the blood gone leaving them completely white and cold. She pried her fingers away with an immense force of will, wresting each joint free of its locked position only to find her hands shaking uncontrollably.
It had been a dream. A vivid, visceral, carnal, erotic dream about him. But still – it was just a dream. She slumped forward, arms coming up to provide a support for her head as she tried to calm her nerves. It was just a dream she told herself. Nothing more than an aggravating and meaningless dream.
She stood up suddenly, her chair sliding choppily across the carpet. She began throwing book after book into her bag. She didn't even see the world in front of her, so deep had she fallen in her own mind.
She swung her bag up over her shoulder and hurried out of the vaulted room. The halls were silent. Not even a ghost was around to give the impression of life to the castle. She wasn't particularly surprised. Every year at midterms and finals they did their best to keep out of the corridors for the sake of students studying. Hermione had been given to understand that because of this courtesy, every ghost new the inner walls of the castle extremely well and as such could move about the castle undetected.
She flashed by the suits of armor, barely registering their existence. She was pushing her body to its physical limit of walking, as if by moving quickly she could leave the memory of the dream behind her in the library – and everything it implied.
Far sooner than she would have liked, she was outside the common room. The bird was asleep, elegant head tucked under one bright blue wing. She glared at it silently. It wasn't so much the bird she couldn't stand. It was what lay behind the painting that was the object of her distaste.
She straightened her back, adjusting her bag higher up on her shoulder, and rapped sharply on the frame.
The bird let out a shrill squawk, feathers puffing out to display his distaste.
"What, pray tell, is your problem?" His voice was gruff and aggravated from lack of use.
"Copious," Hermione said clearly.
"What?" The bird looked wholly confused.
"The password. I would like to get into my common room. The password is copious. Please let me in."
The bird eyed her amusedly then said in a sneering voice, "I'm sorry. The password has been changed. It was time, you know. Please try again."
What? She couldn't understand it. "I'm sorry. But that simply isn't possible. It is my duty to ensure that the password rotations are kept in line. I haven't changed it this month. Thus the password must still be what I set it at last month. Now I appreciate your humor, but as it is late would you please let me into my common room."
"I'm sorry miss. You know I can't do that – not without the password."
"But I haven't changed the password! Not – " Hermione stopped short. She hadn't changed the password. But she wasn't the only one who could.
"Malfoy!" She shrilled at the top of her voice. "Godammit! Let me in this room right now! How dare you change the password without my knowledge! You do know you aren't the only one living here you know. Dammit let me in or I swear I'll – "
The portrait swung inward. In her anger she'd completely forgotten about the dream. As such, she was wholly unprepared for his presence. He stood before her, weight hanging lightly on one hip allowing the other leg to be slack. He wore a tight white t-shirt that hugged his torso and effectively drowned out all speech. His pants hung loosely on him, accenting both the slenderness of his waist and the angle of his hips. But the most entirely incapacitating item was a black half cloak. It was a fitted number that hung to his hips. He had pulled the hood up, adjusting it so that all but the blue of his eyes and the structure of his mouth and jaw were doused in shadows.
Hermione hitched her breath as the memory of the dream engulfed her again and for several long moments she couldn't speak, but allowed him to smirk at her.
"Hello Granger." His voice was a low purr, shuddering the air between them. "Would you care to come in?"
Even by the minimal light on his face she saw the joy there, the thrill of a fight. She set her mouth sternly, attempting to show him that he had not won, that she was entering of her own free will.
She heard him chuckled darkly as she brushed by him, intentionally avoiding his gaze. She attempted to make a bee-line for her room, cutting around by the couch without stopping. No such luck.
"Oh come on. I don't even get a thank you for that little trick? Or a well done? Maybe a few sickles as a tip?"
Hermione stopped but didn't turn around. She remained silent, refusing to look at him but not precisely acknowledging him either.
"Wonderful. Something's jumped up your ass and has made you all bitter." She could hear the laughter in his voice. He was toying with her, tossing her from paw to paw before he pinned her down for the kill. She heard him walk into the kitchenette adjacent to her. She turned to find him reclined against the counter, both elegant hands wrapped around the counter top.
He cocked his head at her. "What is it? You only got a hundred and six on your last exam?"
She glared at him, still not speaking.
"It isn't academic is it?" His eyes threw laughter at her, making no effort to conceal his entertainment. "What's got you all bothered Granger? Is it a bloke?"
She tossed her head, staring resolutely ahead of her, about to keep moving.
"It is a bloke." She saw him grinning out of the corner of her eye. "Let me guess. Some poor, twisted chap has decided he wants to make a pastime of devouring and as such declared to you his undying love and wish to sweep you off into the sunset." He stood forward. "How'd I do?"
Hermione let out a savage cry and whirled to face him. "You know what Malfoy? I have HAD it with you and your superiority complex. You have no idea who the hell I am. What if some guy had asked me out huh? What if he had?"
Malfoy made a move like he was going to respond.
"Save it! I don't giving a flying shit what you have to say to me. I'm a single, young, desirable female who can stand on her own without any declarations of love from you – " her eyes flew wide and she stumbled back a bit. What the hell did I just say? She groped desperately for a cover. "F-from you – or – anyone else. Or anybody. So – so just take your arrogance and…drop it somewhere. Because I don't care!"
She spun back to her room and rushed through the door, slamming it behind her.
Hermione's heart was racing. Her legs would no longer support her and she fell to the foot of her bed.
What was happening to her? First she has a painfully vivid dream about him. Now she literally flew off the handle for no reason and likely left him as confused as she felt. She knew how he felt about her – or at least she knew what he'd been giving off. The kissing, the groping, the eyes all leant themselves to an air of complete and utter interest on his part. The fact of his affection toward her was clear.
But what of her opinion toward him? Well that one was easy. She – what did she think of him? She'd unfortunately let her hormones run a little far in that direction and as such clouded her rational thinking. Hate. I hate him. Yes. That's right. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I –
A sudden knock broke through her train of thought. She opened her eyes and looked toward the door from her position lying prone on the carpet.
"Hey Granger." His voice was deep and clear, even through the solid oak.
She scrunched her eyes closed and curled her face back down into the thick fibers. Why now? Why? Why? WHY?
"Granger I know you can hear me. Answer me."
"No," she said into the carpet. She heard him laugh and couldn't help smile knowing she brought him amusement.
"Ha ha. Very funny. Can I come in or would you prefer to conduct this exchange from two opposite sides of this slab of fire kindling?"
Hermione rolled herself onto her back, hand pinching the bridge of her nose to afford herself some other sensation than that of complete disgust. She said nothing.
"Is that a no?" She could almost hear the smirk in his voice.
Slowly and with great effort she expelled her answer. "No."
The door swung open before she had time to register she'd said anything. The abruptness of his response alarmed her and afforded her no time to adjust herself from her spot on the rug.
"Bed a bit too far for you?" She glared up at him, her angry brown eyes meeting the humor in his blue ones. He waved his hand noncommittally to one side. "Unimportant. Now I don't know what the hell happened back there, but, besides the fact that it clearly got your panties in knots, I really couldn't care. What I needed to ask you is if you are staying here for the Christmas holiday or if you are going home."
She studied him, puzzled. "How is that any concern of yours?"
He frowned slightly at her. "It's not." Her heart twisted mildly. "Dumbledore caught me in the hall the other day and told me if we are both leaving for the holiday, one of us should lock up and check the room for any hazardous issues." He raised his hands as if to show a lack of knowledge. "I have no idea why it isn't something that is built in to the castle but there it is. That's all I wanted to know."
She continued to look up at him, silently observing his face.
He tossed his head to one side, bangs sweeping across the arc of his forehead. "You know what. Forget it. I'll deal with the old and senile one." He spun around abruptly, elegant legs propelling him toward the door. The sound of her voice behind him slowed Draco's pace.
"I am going home – to my parents. My last exam is at four so I'll be packing up and heading out after that. I know your exam is at the same time so – " he cut her off.
"I'll take care of it."
He could feel her eyes on his back as he shut the door behind him, a slow, powerful smirk stretching his face into a look of utter contentment as he did so.
"I'll take care of all of it."
XXX
He he he he. What is Draco concocting? More importantly what is Hermione's head doing to her? Shame on head, making her dream such naughty, naughty things about sir Draco. Lol. Review loves. Review lots and lots.