A/N: The story isn't explicit but there is some swearing. Thanks to Mamacita for her beta skills and thank you to you for reading. Dx

Draco pointed his wand at a rat that was making its way along the corridor.

'Avada Kedavra!'

The rat stopped in its tracks. Draco went forward to peer at the rodent. It was dead.

'Sorry, Ratty,' he said, sounding apologetic. He waved his wand once more. 'Evanesco!'

The rat vanished, leaving no sign that it had ever been there.

Draco sighed loudly. He knew what he had to do, even though it weighed so heavily on his heart that he thought it would burst, but he still had no clue when he was going to do it.

All his previous attempts to kill the Headmaster through a third party had backfired in one way or another, so now he had no choice. He would have to deal the killing blow himself, even though it was the last thing in the world he wanted to do. Draco had no other option, though. He was well aware that if he didn't succeed, both he and his parents would be killed by the Dark Lord as a punishment for his failure.

His work to restore the Vanishing Cabinet in the secret storage room had finally paid off and it was now working, a connection between Hogwarts and Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley that no one in the school knew about apart from him and which broke through the many wards placed on the school to ensure no one could intrude without the Headmaster's knowledge.

All Draco had to do was get word to his Aunt Bellatrix that the cabinet was ready and she and an army of Death Eaters could walk into the school as freely as if they were students, and then what damage they could do to the interfering Mudblood-loving Headmaster and his associates. With any luck they would get Potter and his friends at the same time, the so-called 'Chosen One' felled before he had a chance to build an army against Lord Voldemort.

With Dumbledore dead, his band of degenerates that called themselves the Order of the Phoenix would be in disarray and the Dark Lord could return to full power, taking over the Ministry of Magic and the whole wizarding world. Then his faithful servants, of which Draco was now one thanks to his aunt, would be rewarded. And if he were the one to rid the world of Dumbledore, then he would be lauded for his magnificent achievement.

There was only one problem. Draco really didn't want Professor Dumbledore to die.

He knew deep in his heart of hearts that this was the reason the previous attempts on the Headmaster's life had failed; they were more a show for the Dark Lord to prove that he was doing something rather than actual attempts to end Dumbledore's life. But now the time for pretence was over and he had no choice but to step up and put his plan into action.

Draco needed to be sure that when the moment came he could say the words. He knew there was a big difference between killing a rat and killing a human, and that the ability to slay one didn't necessarily mean he could do the same with the other, especially when he already knew his guilt over today's rat would be added to the tally of the others he had felled over the last couple of weeks.

Just then there was a noise, pulling Draco from his mournful reverie. He stared around him warily. He had picked this particular area of the castle because very few people came this way, so he was pretty much guaranteed to get some privacy. Tonight was the first time in the almost two weeks he had been coming here that anyone had intruded upon him.

As the person came into view, Draco raised his wand, pointing it directly at Hermione Granger, who hadn't yet noticed him as she had her nose buried in a book. Of course she did. The bloody Mudblood swot was always studying, and it drove Draco wild.

It seemed his looming presence had finally broken through Hermione's concentration as she lowered the book, now staring at him in surprise over the top of it.

Draco felt his heart pounding like a drum as he realised that an opportunity had just presented itself. He needed to be sure that he could kill Dumbledore, and in order to prove that he could do it he could kill the witch now standing in front of him.

She deserved it, after all. The fact she was a Mudblood was more than enough reason. Everyone knew the wizarding world was better off without them — they stole magic that they weren't entitled to from Purebloods, or so his father had told him throughout his entire life.

But this one was also a friend of the 'Chosen One' and was so sharp she could cut herself. Without her, Potter and his idiot mate Weasley would be utterly useless and wouldn't stand a chance against Draco's new master. As if that wasn't enough, the little upstart actually had the audacity to be better than Draco in lessons, her incessant studying pushing her to the top of every class even though she wasn't worthy of being at Hogwarts in the first place.

If there was anyone who deserved to die, Draco thought maliciously, it was definitely Hermione Granger.

Hermione was surprised to see Draco Malfoy lurking in this corridor. It wasn't well-used as it wasn't easy to find, and she had never seen anyone when she had used it as a shortcut to get back to Gryffindor Tower from the Library previously, usually on those evenings when she was cutting it a bit fine for curfew and Professor Snape was doing hall patrol.

She had found it by accident one day when she was looking at Harry's map, which showed the location of everyone in the school and every passageway and tunnel, however secret or well-hidden they were. As far as she was aware, the only place that didn't show up was the strange room that she and her friends called the Room of Requirement; it seemed to exist outside of Hogwarts, although Hermione still wasn't entirely sure how that worked.

When Hermione first spotted the corridor her friends had been watching the Slytherin now standing before her and his mates because Harry was convinced, against all sensible reason, that Draco was a Death Eater.

It was patently ridiculous that the Dark wizard who styled himself Lord Voldemort would draft a sixteen-year-old boy into his band of terrorists, but Harry stubbornly refused to give up the idea, however hard she and Ron tried to refute it. It had turned into an obsession that had lasted all year and was threatening to derail the work Harry was supposed to be doing with Professor Dumbledore to prepare against an attack by the evil wizard.

But Draco being in this corridor alone at this time of night was undoubtedly suspicious. It was also a big problem for Hermione, as he had his wand pointed at her and hers was currently somewhere in the depths of her bag.

Although there were strict rules about the use of magic within Hogwarts by students, Hermione wasn't stupid enough to believe that the boy who had detested her since they had started school, at first because of her blood status — she was Muggle-born not a so-called Pureblood like Draco was — and then because she had proven herself to be better at both magic and studying than him, would release her unharmed when there was no one around to stop him if he chose to attack her, and more importantly, no one who knew where the two of them were or that they were together.

Hermione knew that Draco could seriously injure or even kill her before anyone could stop him; he was certainly sufficiently well-versed in magic to do both easily. But although he came from a well-known Death Eater family she still harboured hopes that unlike his father, Draco retained a shred of decency somewhere deep inside him that would be enough to stop him from going too far.

Perhaps it was just because he was so good looking, but although Hermione knew she was supposed to dislike Draco as much as he detested her — if for no other reason than he was her and her best friends' greatest enemy at Hogwarts — Hermione had begun to realise over the last year or so that she actually rather fancied the handsome blond boy and had been somewhat disconcerted when he had increasingly appeared in her fantasies and dreams over the last few months.

'What are you doing here, Draco?' Hermione asked, deliberately using the boy's first name in an attempt to put him on the back foot and stave off irritation.

Draco stared at her imperiously, a sneer crossing his face as she spoke. 'It's none of your business what I'm doing here, Granger. What are you doing here?'

'It's a shortcut back to Gryffindor Tower,' Hermione explained. 'Do you think you could put your wand down? I'm not going to attack you. My wand is in my bag.'

'Are those idiots you hang around with here somewhere?' Draco asked, looking suspiciously around him. He didn't think they were or the three of them would have been together, but it always paid to check.

'No. Harry and Ron are probably in the common room as it's almost curfew,' Hermione said, reminding Draco that they needed to move before they ended up in trouble for being late.

'Good. That makes things much easier,' Draco said. He was still pointing his wand at Hermione.

'Please lower your wand, Draco,' Hermione said again.

As she said it a cold spike of fear ran up her spine and there was a tight feeling in her stomach, making her feel sick. Draco wouldn't really hurt her, surely he wouldn't . . . would he?

Draco was now grinning like a maniac as he saw the flicker of fear in Hermione's eyes. It made his heart race with a surge of excitement. In some ways it was a shame that the Mudblood had to die. She was a pretty girl, and if it wasn't for her blood status he might even have been interested in having a relationship with her. Instead, he was going to kill Granger and prove he wasn't the weak, pathetic coward he knew some of the Dark Lord's supporters thought he was.

And then he would kill Professor Dumbledore.

'I'm not going to lower my wand because I'm going to kill you,' Draco said.

Hermione stared at Draco for a moment, trying to quell the terror that was rising inside her. She could see from the cold look in his eyes that he was telling the truth. He really was going to kill her and there was absolutely nothing she could do to stop him. She wished she hadn't told him that her wand was in her bag, but it wasn't really going to make much of a difference anyway. In the time it took her to open it and rummage around inside to find her wand, Draco would have already said the Unforgiveable curse that only one person, her best friend Harry, had ever survived.

Hermione could feel tears welling up at the thought that her end was going to come in this dusty, disused corridor without anyone even knowing it was happening apart from Draco. She had often suspected that her life might not be a long one, considering who her best friend was and that she had sworn to assist him in his fight against Voldemort in any way possible, but Hermione had always assumed she would die fighting; battling against the Death Eaters, not expunged like a piece of rubbish at the hands of an enemy she had never considered particularly worthy.

Determined not to give Draco the satisfaction of seeing her break down or beg for her life, Hermione blinked to get rid of the tears, took a deep breath, then raised herself to her full height and stared the blond boy down.

'Why are you going to kill me?' she asked, pleased to hear that her voice wasn't shaking anywhere near as much as she had expected. Her body was, though, and she was having trouble trying to hide it, not helped when she dropped the book she was carrying because her hands were trembling so much.

'This is my chance to finally get you out of the way once and for all because I've always hated you and it's something I've imagined ever since I first met you.' Draco's voice was cold, as was his glare. 'You never deserved to be in the wizarding world, you filthy little Mudblood. You only got in by stealing better wizards' magic.'

Hermione frowned. 'You don't honestly believe all that rubbish about us stealing magic, do you, Draco? You must know it's not possible.'

'And yet you have magic that you don't deserve to have,' Draco said.

He waved his wand at her again, seemingly gearing himself up to act.

'Okay, so you're going to kill me, and obviously I can't stop you. But will you grant me one last request before you do it?' Hermione asked.

Draco surveyed her for a moment as if suspecting a trap, then realised there wasn't anything Hermione could do as she wasn't holding her wand. His expression turned to a sneer once more.

'A last request,' he crowed. 'What do you want? Are you going to ask me to wait until you've taken your exams because you're worried about not getting top marks and dying before you get to use all that swotting you've done all year? Or maybe you want me to hold off until the end of the year because you're not ready to die just yet. Is that it?

'No,' Hermione said quietly.

'Are you going to weep and wail and beg me to change my mind; to grant you clemency and save your life? 'Cos it's not going to happen, you know. I hate you, and I want you to die!'

'I just want a last request,' Hermione's voice was still low and measured.

'Yeah, I don't think that's happening,' Draco sneered.

'But it's traditional for the condemned to get a last request, Draco. You should at least consider it.'

Hermione hadn't stopped looking directly at him and she knew it was making the Slytherin boy feel uncomfortable.

'All right. So let's say just for the sake of argument that I'm willing to consider this last request of yours. What is it that you want?

Hermione took a deep breath before she answered, 'I want you to kiss me.'

Draco stared at her, his mouth slack with surprise. Then he wrinkled his nose. 'Kiss you? You have got to be bloody joking. Don't be so fucking disgusting!'

'Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realise you were gay.'

The response was out automatically before Hermione realised what she had said. Then it hit her. She cringed inwardly, knowing it really wasn't going to help her cause. Any second now Draco would kill her and it would be her own stupid fault for winding him up.

But it seemed that Draco wasn't ready to commit murder just yet. His expression now furious, he rounded on Hermione.

'I'm not gay, you stupid fucking Mudblood.'

Hermione observed him carefully, debating whether she should reply or if it would just make things worse. But things couldn't get much worse than being killed by Draco, and she was never going to change his mind about doing that if she didn't talk to him.

She nodded sadly. 'Oh, right. You don't want to do it because I'm Muggle-born.' She paused for ten seconds, clenching her fists as she counted, trying to force herself to be calm and accept whatever was going to happen. 'Okay, then. Well, if you're not willing to grant my request, then you may as well kill me now.'

'You're not going to make me feel guilty about doing it, you know. You deserve to be dead,' Draco said, waving his wand again.

'But why do I deserve it?' Hermione asked.

Draco scowled. 'Because you're a Mudblood, that's why.'

'And that's all bullshit, Draco. You know it is.'

Hermione could see Draco twitching and knew he was running out of patience. She only had a few seconds left to find the boy she was sure was in there somewhere.

She opened her arms, presenting a clear target and looking straight into Draco's eyes and revealing the hurt in hers said, 'I'm just a girl. Nothing more, nothing less.'

Draco gripped the back of his neck, turning on the spot as he tried to calm and ready himself. Gods, why was this was so bloody difficult to do? Especially when he already wanted to kill the Mudblood. How the hell was he going to manage when it was Dumbledore?

Although Draco really didn't want to admit it, his heart had beat a little faster when Hermione had revealed her last request. Immediately, an image had sprung to his mind of him grabbing and kissing her with an intensity that took her breath away and left the pretty Gryffindor girl gazing at him with adoration, but he shook his head to remove the thought.

He didn't like Hermione Granger, and he definitely didn't want to kiss her, even if she was looking more winsome and vulnerable than he had ever seen her. Again, the urge to grab her and hold her tight, to apologise for being an idiot flashed into his brain. But Draco knew he had to be strong. His life and that of his parents depended on him being able to kill Dumbledore and if he couldn't even get rid of the Mudblood—

'Why do you want me to kiss you, anyway?' he asked, realising he needed to know.

Hermione shrugged. 'I just wanted to know what it would be like to kiss someone so handsome.'

'You think I'm handsome?' Draco asked. He felt his chest swell with pride at the compliment.

'You're very handsome . . . and clever. Yet you understand nothing,' Hermione said. 'Just kill me, Draco. Stop playing with me.'

Draco grinned, the malicious expression back on his face. 'I know what you're doing,' he said smugly. 'You were hoping that if you could convince me to kiss you, it would make me feel sorry for you and I wouldn't kill you. Well, sorry, Mudblood. It didn't work. You're still going to die.'

Hermione shook her head. 'That wasn't what I was doing. I was just hoping for a moment of connection between us—

'—but it's too late now,' she concluded sadly.

Draco raised his wand again, looking at Hermione.

She stared back defiantly although the tears had returned to her eyes, making them glisten like stars.

Draco took a step towards Hermione, then a second and a third.

Hermione's heart was pounding so hard now that she was half-convinced she was going to die of a heart attack before Draco had a chance to finish her off. She had no idea why he was coming towards her when the obvious and most straightforward thing to do was to kill from a distance and keep the whole thing impersonal. He didn't need to get close to her, he just needed to point his wand in the same way he had been doing ever since she had accidentally stumbled upon him.

For a moment her heart lifted at the thought that Draco might be having trouble following through on his threat and this was his way of stalling. After all, there was a considerable amount of difference between disliking someone and hating them enough to murder them, and while he might well have considered killing her over the years, that wasn't the same as actually taking a life. Had what she had said given him pause to reconsider?

Hermione hoped so because she really didn't want to die . . . and it was surely almost time for curfew by now.

As that thought went through her mind, Draco moved the final step between them. Without pausing or saying a word he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.

The kiss was tender yet somehow extraordinarily intense, the sensation heightened by the situation in which it had occurred, and Hermione thought she had just died and gone to heaven. She gasped as the kiss finished, her heart fluttering like the wings of a butterfly as Draco's mouth swooped again, capturing her lips for a second equally blistering kiss, his arms now crushing her body to trap her close to his.

Then it was over and Draco was roughly pushing Hermione away from him, his expression as stunned as hers as he once again raised his wand and pointed it at her.

'Wow!' Hermione whispered, fighting the urge to run her fingers over her still tingling lips. She stared at Draco and said quietly, 'Thank you, Draco. You can kill me now.'

Draco felt as if he had just been clubbed on the head by a large, blunt object. Surprisingly to him, his heart was racing even faster than before, the blood coursing through his veins causing a tingling sensation that matched the one still on his lips.

He gazed at Hermione, knowing he should kill her before she had a chance to say anything that would make him pause, or worse still would completely stop him in his tracks. But he already knew it was too late. As much as he had professed to want to kill her, Draco realised that deep down in his soul it simply wasn't true and hadn't been for quite some time, although it had taken this encounter to bring the realisation to the surface.

There were a lot of things he wanted to do to Hermione, although as a Pureblood he knew the thoughts shouldn't even be crossing his mind. Kissing her again was just the tip of an enormous iceberg. For a moment a vision of a far more intimate nature assailed him, but before it had a chance to get interesting he was pulled back by Hermione's words, spoken quietly and with such sad regret that it tugged at his heartstrings.

Draco lowered his wand again and sighed loudly.

'Of course I'm not going to kill you,' he said, his voice gruff and almost as quiet as Hermione's. Accusingly, he continued, 'You knew this would happen, didn't you?'

Hermione stared back at Draco, seemingly unable to respond as confirmation of his release of her overwhelmed her senses and she struggled to stay in control. She would not break down in front of him whatever happened, no matter how grateful she suddenly felt towards the blond boy.

But now she had to get away from her captor and return to Gryffindor Tower. Quite apart from the impending curfew, Hermione had a horrible feeling that shock was going to set in shortly. She could already feel the trembling in her body as adrenaline created with the truth of Draco's words flooded through her, and she had to fight down the urge to scream.

Hermione suddenly realised that Draco had been speaking, but she had missed the entire diatribe. The threat in his voice made her focus although she had no idea what he had actually said.

'Sorry, what did you say?' she asked, her voice still small and scared-sounding.

'I said you owe me.' Draco sounded mulish.

Hermione looked at him in surprise.

'I don't have any money, and I don't believe I have anything else you want, Draco,' she said honestly.

Draco appraised her for a moment. 'Actually, that's not true. You have quite a lot to interest me,' he admitted, moving towards her again.

Hermione felt the urge to run but knew it would be a grave and possibly even fatal mistake to do so. Although Draco appeared to have changed his mind about killing her, his decision could soon reverse if she attempted to run away.

Draco stroked Hermione's cheek, enjoying the softness of it. He could see from her anxious expression that he had disconcerted her, that she had no idea of what to expect from him now . . . or how to react to him.

'I want you,' he told her quietly.

Hermione tried to process what was happening, suddenly realising that she was still going to be in trouble whatever happened next. She was still in danger of being killed too if she upset Draco. But she honestly didn't know what to say.

'That's not possible. You know it isn't. I'm a Muggle-born, remember?' She spoke softly, trying not to anger the blond boy.

Draco's expression turned sour for a moment, knowing Hermione was right. Whatever stupid and fanciful thoughts he'd had didn't change the truth that her blood status wasn't compatible with his.

'How can I forget something like that?' he asked snidely. Then, 'That was a nasty trick you pulled on me, Granger.'

Hermione stared at him reproachfully and shook her head. 'It wasn't meant to be a trick, Draco. I was merely hoping for some compassion from you if you realised that I'm just a girl, not a label, so I'm sorry you feel that way.' Knowing she was probably being stupid, but also that it was the only way to convince Draco that she hadn't been trying to trick him, she added, 'If you really feel that way, perhaps you should just kill me.'

A haunted look crossed Draco's face at her words but disappeared as quickly as it had come.

'I can't do that now,' he admitted, feeling slightly ashamed of himself even as he said the words.

Hermione considered for a moment. 'Well, if that's true then I don't think you could ever have done it.' When Draco didn't respond she continued, 'You're not that sort of person, Draco. There's a goodness in you whether you want to acknowledge it or not.'

Draco looked annoyed. 'Are you saying that I'm weak? Because I'm not. Stop trying to distract and confuse me.' His wand was up again, waving wildly now.

Hermione sighed and raised her hands in supplication. 'I'm not saying you're weak, nor am I trying to distract or confuse. I'm just trying to show you that you're better than you think you are.'

'I already know how good I am. I'm far better than you,' Draco hissed.

'You might be richer than me, but I don't believe that you're better. We're just different, that's all.'

Draco glared at Hermione, clearly not happy with her response.

Hermione took a deep breath, then asked, 'Are you going to kill me?'

Draco shook his head. 'No. But I'm not going to let you go either.'

'I don't think you have much choice. If we don't get back to our common rooms soon we're going to get into trouble for missing curfew,' Hermione pointed out.

'I don't really care about curfew, and I'm not going to let you go,' Draco said.

Draco took Hermione in his arms again to reiterate his comment, sensing that the gesture both scared and excited her. It excited him too, he realised. He hesitated only for a moment before kissing Hermione once more. It was hard and possessive, meant to display his desire every bit as much as his erection now pressed against her.

A second kiss followed, then when it became clear that Hermione wasn't going to stop him Draco turned her, pushing her up against the wall of the corridor as his mouth continued to attack hers, bruising her beautiful soft lips with the ferocity of his kiss.

Hermione, her heart pounding both from the wonderful kisses Draco was bestowing and the terror she suddenly felt at being trapped against the wall, tried to remind her captor about curfew once again, but it seemed he still wasn't listening.

'I want more than kisses,' Draco told her, his hands now moving to explore as his body continued to press against her, keeping her trapped. 'You could give me more, Hermione.'

'This isn't right,' Hermione said. 'A few minutes ago you wanted to kill me and now you're trying to make love to me. You need to stop this.'

'No.' Draco's tone was colder again. 'This is your fault, so you owe me. And you're going to pay.'

'How is this my fault?' Hermione asked, sounding confused.

'You made me feel like this. You made me kiss you and it set off all these feelings—' Draco sounded tortured. 'You have to let me do this.'

His hand was trying to work its way under Hermione's skirt, fingers brushing her legs. Panicking almost as much as she had when she thought Draco was going to kill her, Hermione tried to push him away.

'No, stop it. Please let go of me, Draco.'

But Draco had no intention of releasing Hermione, nor of stopping what he was doing. Inflamed and needing release, he refused her once more.

'That's not going to happen. I want you and you owe me, so just stop fighting and let it happen. You've made me so hard and horny that it's not going to take long.'

For the third time that night Hermione felt tears welling in her eyes. This time she made no effort to stop them. Being defiant wasn't going to help in this situation, but tears might at least give Draco pause for long enough that she could convince him to stop.

'I don't know why you're crying,' Draco said, sounding almost contemptuous. 'Surely this is better than me killing you, isn't it? We both get pleasure and you get to live.'

'But I don't want to do it,' Hermione said unhappily. After a brief embarrassed pause she admitted, 'I'm a virgin. I've never done anything like this before and I can't just. . . .' Her voice trailed off as she ran out of words.

'You're a virgin.' Draco grinned. 'Good.'

'What does that mean?' Hermione asked, fearfully.

'It means that you're all mine, that no one else has touched you but me,' Draco said. Then his eyes narrowed as he stared at Hermione, suspecting she was playing him. 'I think you're lying to me. You went out with Krum. I don't believe you didn't do anything with him.'

'I didn't, I swear,' Hermione insisted. 'We kissed a couple of times, but that was all.'

She could see Draco didn't believe her and knew it meant that he would renew his assault on her at any moment, but she couldn't let it happen.

'I don't understand why you're doing this, Draco. You don't even want me, not really. It's just the heat of the moment, and I'm sure you'll regret it after—'

Draco moved to capture her lips to stop Hermione speaking.

Afterwards, he said, 'You're wrong, you know. I do want you. I just hadn't realised before. You must be able to feel how much I want you.'

Draco pressed himself against Hermione once again.

Hermione stared at him unhappily. 'Please, Draco, don't do this. I'm not ready.'

'That's bullshit.' Draco's response was curt as he gripped Hermione tighter, making her hiss with pain.

'No, it isn't. I swear. I'm not ready.' Hermione's tears were falling steadily now.

'But you owe me,' Draco said, not hiding the anger and frustration he was feeling. 'I gave you your life, Hermione, so you have to give me something in return.'

'But not tonight,' Hermione pleaded. 'I acknowledge that I owe you my life, but please give me time.'

Draco considered for a moment, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. 'How much time do you need?'

Hermione was perplexed by the question. 'I don't know how long it will take – how long is a piece of string?'

Draco studied her upset face, understanding that Hermione had no intention of capitulating and that anything they did would only be because he had forced her to do it. He could feel the anger rising, but the desire to kill was long gone and weariness was overtaking him instead.

'All right, I'll give you some time,' Draco said magnanimously.

Hermione looked relieved. 'Thank you, Draco.'

'This isn't over,' Draco warned. 'You still owe me.'

Hermione nodded, thinking it better to remain silent rather than start another argument. Hopefully, despite what he had just said, once a few days had passed and things went back to normal Draco would forget all about the two of them getting together. Even if it meant that he went back to hating her for being Muggle-born it would be better than being forced into doing something she really didn't feel ready for, although Hermione couldn't stop the twinge of disappointment she felt at the thought of Draco despising her again.

'I'll give you until my birthday but not a moment longer,' Draco said.

Hermione felt a ripple of dismay at the imposition of a deadline, her stomach roiling as she realised the Slytherin boy was waiting for her to agree to his terms. She could refuse to accept it but suspected that would just lead to Draco changing his mind about waiting. She tried to school her expression into something less morose as she nodded her agreement, all the while trying to remind herself that it could be so much worse – she could have been dead.

'Thank you, Draco,' she said in a small voice. 'We really do need to go, though, or we're going to be late for curfew.'

'I told you, I don't care about that,' Draco snapped.

'But I do, so I'm going to leave now.'

Draco stayed pressed against her for a few seconds longer, but then moved back, giving Hermione space to move.

'What were you doing in this corridor? You never did tell me,' Hermione said.

Draco scowled. That's because it's none of your business. I told you, it's not important.'

'Okay, I'm sorry. I was just offering an ear in case you wanted to talk,' Hermione said.

'Well I don't, and even if I did, I definitely don't want to talk to you,' Draco replied coldly.

And yet apparently you want to have sex with me, Hermione thought, still not completely understanding how this had come about when Draco still appeared to despise her.

She walked past Draco and went to pick up her book. As she stood up she realised the Slytherin boy was next to her again and Hermione tensed, waiting for him to grab her once more.

'Goodnight, Draco,' she said.

'My birthday,' Draco reminded her, somewhat unnecessarily, Hermione thought.

'I haven't forgotten.'

As Hermione walked back to Gryffindor Tower she wondered when Draco's birthday was. She supposed she should have asked him really, but at the time she hadn't been all that bothered about the actual date. She had just wanted to stop him from groping her and get away and back to her common room unharmed.

She couldn't remember seeing him celebrate his birthday recently, and she knew Draco hadn't taken his Apparition test when she and Ron had taken theirs because he and Harry hadn't yet turned seventeen at the time. Considering this and the fact that Hermione didn't think Draco would pursue her outside of school, it meant his birthday had to be sometime between now and the end of the term. She just hoped that it would be later rather than sooner.

But at least she was still alive.