Hermione walked slowly over to the still writhing wizard, trying to process all that had happened within the last few minutes.
She was with Draco Malfoy. By some horrible twist of fate she was with Malfoy, and he had just tried to kill her. But she had stopped him. And now here she was, walking towards him, with no idea of what to do next.
He was still thrashing against the thick black chords that held his body in place when he finally looked at her, his movements becoming less extreme as their eyes locked and they stared at one another, both speechless once again. Though he had seemed to compose himself slightly, he continued to violently adjust his shoulders now and then against the curse, scowling with a blinding sort of hatred that made her take a step back. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then slowly let it close again, watching as his whole upper body constricted and expanded with each breath he took.
The pair were at a loss for words, looking at each-other for what was a long and tense moment; him with hatred, and her with pure shock.
Then, Hermione felt an overwhelming wave of heat rise to her face; she promptly turned, took one step, and stumbled down to her knees, vomiting the contents of her stomach into the grass.
She spat and heaved through the bile, choking out what she felt was the last of it, and wiping the sides of her mouth with her sleeve. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she felt the wave of nausea begin to pass, a cool sweat forming on her forehead.
"Jesus Granger." A voice drawled over her shoulder, and her body went rigid as she slowly turned back to glare at Malfoy.
He was still staring at her, but his body seemed more relaxed now, despite his face, which was the perfect image of disgust as he took in her unfortunate display. She turned to face him, still slumped on the ground and shaking slightly.
"What the fuck Malfoy" was all she managed to breath out, holding eye-contact again with the wizard even though the intense clarity of his eyes made her feel slightly nauseous again.
Another long pause of silence settled between them, in which all that could be heard was their equally heavy breathing, and the pounding of their chests, as they both recovered from the physical exertion. Then his features darkened and he gave another ineffective jerk of his shoulders, spitting out his next words:
"I swear Granger if you don't get these damned things off of me i'll-"
"You'll what- try to kill me again?" She interjected, a humorless and breathy laugh escaping her lips, one that verged on hysteric.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered the foreign quality of her own voice, which she felt had a lilting cadence to it that diverged from the tone of her inner thoughts.
He refused to reply, just looking at her with the same glare, before giving her a barely there shrug.
She stared back and shook her head slowly, reflexively, at the surreal quality of the moment. They were both collapsed on the ground, panting a few feet away from each-other, and she couldn't help the sense that all of her rational feelings were being overridden by the simple fact that she was actually looking at someone she recognized, that she was talking to someone she knew. It made her self conscious in a way she hadn't expected, to feel the hot gaze of his stare on her, and also because she was aware of the fact that all she really wanted to do was look at him, like she was doing now, and let the thousands of questions that were swirling in her mind fall into place.
She spoke again, her brows weaving together in a deep frown. "How- how did-" She panted out before pausing once more. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to think. After a second she seemed to compose herself a bit and looked back into his eyes.
"How long have you been pursuing me? And don't lie, or I'll jinx it out of you."
Now her face had begun to reflect a furiously determined anger, and Draco was almost relieved; he knew how to address her like this. After-all, he was familiar with her rage. He stared at her for another silent moment, which he could tell was only making her more frustrated. Then, when he finally began to speak, he found himself telling her the truth, which he hadn't entirely intended, and he stocked it up to her convincing threat.
"I hadn't really being looking for you Granger." He growled out, and she gauged his reaction, deciding after a moment that he most likely wasn't lying.
She sat back and chewed at her bottom lip a moment, her face all twisted up in contemplation.
If possible, her brows knotted even more firmly together and her face became shrouded with a look of worry that hadn't been there before. She looked back at him, her eyes flickering between his, and opened her mouth to speak.
"But you were looking for someone." She stated. "And, you tried to kill me."
He glared harder at her, once more refusing to respond as he watched the gears still spinning in her head.
Despite his silence, she began to nod slowly to herself as something clicked. "Yes, yes of course, you're looking for Harry aren't you?"
His eyes blazed as he silently cursed the intelligent witch. He wasn't surprised that she had come to the right conclusion, he only wished that the revelation hadn't been so instant.
Once she realized he wasn't going to answer, the anger returned to her in full force and she stood up, balling her fists.
"Well sorry to disappoint you but he's not here, and I'll be damned if I let you go off to try and kill him too!"
She saw the look of surprise flash over his face before he could stifle it, and his mouth parted slightly as he shifted his gaze towards the edge of the clearing, as if searching for some evidence of her friend.
"Potter, he isn't-"
"No." Hermione said through gritted teeth, her eyes gleaming with emotion. "No, he isn't."
She saw his face drop in quiet contemplation. Then, after a moment of ignoring her enraged presence, the crease between his brow subsided and he seemed to slump further in his restraints.
He looked back up at her, suddenly apathetic, and said with the hint of a scowl: "Well get on with it then, you've got your shot."
Hermione blanked. "What?"
His eyebrows shot up, mocking her confusion.
"Don't be thick Granger, you said it yourself; You can't let me go after your beloved Potter, can you?"
His eyes bore into hers, the glimmer of a challenge there, his lip curving into that signature sneer she remembered so well.
"Malfoy- I, I wasn't-" She was stumbling over her words, too surprised and confused to be coherent.
He interrupted her, his features growing darker. "I'd rather you didn't drag this out, I don't quite fancy the thought of your face as the last thing I see."
Oh.
So thats what he meant.
She was utterly baffled, staring at him with her mouth agape, unable to answer despite his frustrated glare.
When she found her voice again it came out as whisper from somewhere in the back of her throat. For some reason, his assumption had choked her up.
"I'm not going to kill you Draco."
Now it was his turn to become completely still, the scowl on his face morphing into surprise as he took in the seriousness of her expression. For a passing second that strange and surreal feeling between them returned with a force, as they both quietly stared at one another, trying to understand something.
Malfoy broke the spell, his voice lacking the aggressive edge it had before. "So- so what are you going to do with me?"
Hermione paused, she hadn't entirely gotten there yet. Draco noticed, and scoffed, the odd tension that had passed over them lifting slightly.
"So much for brightest witch in our year, you haven't got a clue, have you?"
"Well give me a bloody minute, I'm thinking about it." She snapped back, though she couldn't help but briefly notice that he had called her a witch.
She ignored it for now, thinking about the pressing issue at hand; the boy that she had bound up at her feet.
She definitely couldn't just let him go on good merit, and even if she were to stun him and then leave, he would still be out there searching for Harry, which she couldn't let happen. And, she couldn't turn him in anywhere that wouldn't arrest her first, which left her most definitely between a rock and a hard place.
But Hermione was good at thinking on her feet, and it only took another moment before something flashed into her head, an idea she wasn't all that fond of, but one that might possibly work.
No, she said to herself, pushing it from her mind; if she thought harder, surely she would be able to come up with something better, she couldn't have Malfoy slowing her down. She paced away from him, all thoughts of his anger becoming more and more distant as she thought through the predicament.
She began to set up a couple of enchantments as she did, absentmindedly having realized that she never once checked to see if anyone else had been around during their little scuffle, and she silently scolded herself for the lapse in focus.
Her wand was raised and steady, emitting the soft cloak of the muffling spell she was hastily muttering under her breath. She could faintly hear her Malfoy complaining over her shoulder, but once agin she didn't pay any mind to it. She was still mulling over that same thought in her head, the one she didn't like very much, and it forced her into a state of rationality that she was somewhat grateful for; at least she wasn't still vomiting in shock.
Just as she was finishing up, she heard his voice again, which was raised now in order to get her attention, and it did, effectively piercing the bubble of her thoughts.
"Granger? Hello? What the fuck are we doing?"
She threw a harsh scowl at him, flicking her wand as the last of her enchantments settled into place.
"Right now I'm making sure neither of us get killed while I try to figure things out, so if you wouldn't mind just shutting up-"
Draco rolled his eyes dramatically. "Right, thats brilliant, let's just pretend that we aren't both royally fucked by this. I mean seriously, you can't possibly think-"
With another flick of her wand she silenced him, watching with satisfaction as his mouth closed forcibly over his remaining words. His eyes widened angrily and he twisted in the ropes that held him, as if to relay some non verbal threat to her.
She couldn't help but let out a cruel laugh. "I told you to shut up, didn't I? Or did you forget that I'm the one with the wand? Maybe next time I wont bother to ask." She said, finishing with a sneer of her own.
Actually, that reminded her of something. She quickly dropped her satisfied stare and began scouring the ground. When she saw it, she let out a breathy 'Ha', bending over and grasping it between her fingers, turning back to Malfoy with a gleam in her eye.
His eyes snapped to the wand in her hands and he shifted forcefully again, his stare fixed and cold, trying to convey all the angry words that were undoubtedly getting stuck in his throat.
Hermione looked back down at it. It really was a fine wand; 10" of elegant hawthorn wood, and a dark handle that bowed out slightly, giving it the appearance of what could have been a very thin dirk.
She couldn't help but blush a bit, realizing she had been studying it, and shoved the thing into a pocket that rested neatly on the inside of her rain coat, just to the side of her breast. A wizards wand was his most prized possession, and it was a deeply personal, intimate object. She could feel the heat practically radiating off of Malfoy as he silently cringed, watching her fondle it.
She pushed the twinge of embarrassment from her mind and tried again to think. She began to pace about, biting her lip in concentration once more as she went, ignoring Malfoy's searing and ever present gaze.
She thought through every angle of the situation again and again. She certainly knew of all the things that she couldn't do, and after assessing these once more she reconfirmed that this left her with a very slim amount of possibilities.
Then, there was that quiet thought again, that idea that had flickered across her mind, the one that she had really hoped it wouldn't have to come to. But the more and more she let herself consider it, though the mere thought made her grimace, the more Hermione came to the conclusion that it might just be her only option.
She wracked her brain for a moment more, unconsciously stopping in her tracks to mull the logistics over.
Draco could tell that she was battling with some conflicting thought, and it made him nervous. He wasn't sure what she had in mind for him, but he hated that she was the one in control, that she was the one with all of the answers in her head. He wanted to lash out at her, to demand that she stop waisting time and tell him something; anything, about what was going to happen.
Most of all though, he wished solemnly that he had reacted faster in the clearing, that he hadn't paused to watch her like some starry eyed git. Because, he had had his moment, and he hadn't taken it. And now here he was, at her complete mercy, and he hated both himself and her for it.
Unexpectedly, she began to pick up her knapsack, which had been lying on the ground ever since she had gotten sick. She opened it and removed a little beaded bag, muttering the word 'lumos' under her breath. She stuck the tip of her wand into the opening and scanned the contents for what seemed an excessively long time, her brow still creased in concentration. He saw her lips move slightly to herself, and he wondered if she was counting something.
Then she gave a tight nod and withdrew her wand, closing the bag and fitting the knapsack back onto her shoulders.
She turned back to face him, looking uneasy, but also a little triumphant.
"Alright Malfoy, here's what were going to do."
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Hey guys! Sorry this chapter's kind of short, I thought about including more to beef up the word count but felt that it would compromise the ~flow~ if you know what I mean. Plus, I'm hoping that I'll be able to upload at least 2 chapters a week as a standard, so if you're a little disappointed by the length then don't despair, its likely that more is coming!
Anyways, someone else commented on my story but idk how to give them a s/o for it bc it was a guest user- so to whoever you are if you're seeing this, thank you! It seriously makes my day when someone comments, and I do a little happy dance whenever it happens (which has been twice so far, woohoo!)
All right I'll bugger off, stay groovy!
-triliark