Chapter 8: Date the Girl Who Wants You to Want Her
Draco rolled his sore neck, eager to get inside and get a hot shower before settling in to study. "Serpensortius," he mumbled, and the mortar and stone began to separate to create a passage to the common room.
The shared Heads common was occupied by the Head Girl. Her mop of flyaway curls was poking up over the back of the couch from where she sat in front of the fire.. "Hey," he said by way of greeting, dropping his Quidditch bag by the door.
"How was practice?" she asked, and he heard her sniffle.
Coming to sit on the coffee table in front of her, his eyes roved over her unsettled features and narrowed, his lips turning downward into a frown. "What's happened? Who do I need to hex?"
They were nearly halfway through their eighth year by this point, and Draco considered himself endlessly fortunate that she accepted his apologies. That she accepted him. Despite their differences, and because of their striking similarities, they'd forged a tight bond in the time they spent acting as Heads and sharing a living space.
Granger rolled her eyes and looked anywhere but at him. "Always so vengeful."
"When it comes to you, yeah. So who will it be this time? Weasley? Bullstrode? Macmillan?"
She huffed a small laugh and snapped the book in her lap shut. "It's nothing, really. How was your day? Nott said he showed no mercy."
Wincing at a pain in his neck, Draco stretched his neck from side to side with an answering grunt. A sly grin began to spread over his face and she seemed to let out a sigh of relief that the conversation turned away from her. He wouldn't let her off that easily—that pretty blush across her cheeks piqued his interest. "Don't think I didn't see you watching our practice as you made your way down to the greenhouses this afternoon."
Even he detected the mischief in his tone, the coquettish lilt in his voice that always made her squirm. The blush crept up her neck once more as a tiny smile played at her lips. "I may have seen you pull off a perfectly executed wonky faint."
Draco grinned at her incorrect verbiage, though warmth touched his cheeks at her admission. "I think we may have won this match against the Gryffindors already. Especially since Weasley has been so bad at Keeping lately. Must be because his head is so far up Lavender Brown's arse."
Draco winced when he realized his error. Granger's smile fell and she pursed her lips at the mention of the two idiotic Gryffindors. "It's insufferable," she conceded, waving her hand as though to wipe away the memory of them.
Looking her over, he searched for any indication of her heartbreak. Her shoulders remained set and her features stoic as she looked into the flames once more. Their afternoon in the library played over in his mind, his jaw clicking as he fought to remain calm. Weasley, the bloody prat, had been hell bent on making sure Granger knew he considered her alliance with Draco a betrayal. He used Lavender Brown to toy with her emotions, showing off his relationship and harping on her lack thereof. And Draco had been ready to hex or bludgeon the prick. "I'm going to annihilate that little Weasel."
"I'm not really concerned with the opinions of such simple individuals." Pulling the blanket closer around her shoulders, Granger stood to head toward the girls' dorm. "I'll see you in the morning."
As she turned to go, Draco reached out and took her free hand in his. Granger was no stranger to his touch—how many times had he been unable to resist swiping a curl away during potions or plucking the bowtruckles from her robes in the greenhouse? But something in her silence, a subtle downturn of her lips, made him pause. "Hey," his voice was tender as he took in the sadness that haunted her so often anymore, "why are you trying to run away instead of talking to me? I was there, I heard what they said."
She angled her head downward to peer at him where he sat. "What do you want me to say, Draco? That he's right? I'm an incorrigible prude who's never allowed a man to touch me?"
He would murder Ronald Weasley. Azkaban would surely be worth it. "You're not."
"It's silly and inconsequential. I feel ridiculous for even giving them a second thought."
"If it is something you care about enough to give it a second thought, then it's not ridiculous," he chided lightly, tugging her hand until she sat next to him.
Reluctantly, she sat on the edge of the table at his side. "I'm being shallow—"
"Hush," he reprimanded, raising an eyebrow as she tucked her chin into her chest. "You're the toughest witch I've ever met. Resilient and fierce. You aren't shallow for caring about anything."
"It's embarrassing," she began, her voice quiet as she shot a look toward the common room door, as though their classmates would be listening just on the other side. "And there's more than you realize."
His head tilted to the side, but he waited patiently, listening as she took a few deep breaths to steady her nerves. "I had an...altercation of sorts with them after my rounds. I was going to slip into the Prefects' bathroom for a bath, but it was already occupied. By both of them."
He blinked a few times, trying to remain stoic though the conversation was taking a turn he didn't expect. Willing away the image of her in the Prefects' bath, he cleared his throat. His hands fidgeted in his lap as he ran his sweaty palms over his trousers. "Well, that is certainly unfortunate. You gave them detention and took away House points, I hope."
Granger shrugged one shoulder noncommittally, her face completely aflame as she continued. "I did, but that only fueled the fire, so to speak. Once they, er—disengaged, Lavender proceeded to yell at me about minding my own business and being a prude while Ronald threw a few select insults my way, including, and I quote, 'This is why no one will ever see you as more than the smart freak.' Oh, and that I shouldn't try to destroy their good time, just because I'll never get any."
Draco's teeth ground loudly as he mulled over the incident in his head, picturing all of the ways he could make Weasley suffer for such crude and cruel accusations. He turned her lack of hatred for Draco into a personal attack, and his personal vendetta had extended to her by proxy. "You shouldn't let that knob's words affect you. You know what he said isn't true."
As the silence between them stretched far too long for his comfort, he turned toward her, bending one leg between them and dangling his foot from the edge of the table. "You know that, right?" he asked, his tone far more gentle as he put thoughts of maiming the ginger-headed bastard aside.
"I am so frustrated that I even care about such trivialities as wizards and virginities," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I've never let anything they said get to me like this before."
"But you know that they're just saying that to get a rise out of you, right? None of it's true."
"Isn't it though?" she asked as he stared at her profile. "I've never been approached for anything more than help with an assignment. Except by Ron himself, and well, I'm sure you've heard how that turned out."
"You're beautiful, and—look at me," his voice remained steady as he commanded her, "and the wizards in this school aren't worthy of you."
"Be realistic, Draco. Would you ever think of me...that way?"
As soon as the words left her lips in a whoosh, the air left Draco's lungs just as swiftly. How many nights had he lied awake thinking of doing just that? More than that? Her face was on fire and her hands shook before she clutched at the blanket around her. Mortified, she snuck a sidelong glance in his direction. His gaze was steady, calm, though his lips parted in disbelief. Was she really so blind she couldn't see what stared back at her in the mirror each day?
Draco was silent a beat too long. Granger stood and pushed past his knees. "That's what I thought."
Springing to his feet, he thrust his hand out to grasp her arm. "I didn't mean to ignore your question for so long. It's just...I was momentarily speechless."
She took her bottom lip between her teeth. "You still haven't answered my question."
"I did, though. You're bloody gorgeous and have the brains to accompany such beauty. I think the better question is why wouldn't someone find you attractive?"
He stood so close, he could smell the fresh scent of her hair potion. His eyes flickered over her lips before reaching hers and he felt the bob of his Adam's apple as he swallowed down his desire.
"So, if I were to kiss you right now, you wouldn't push me away?"
"Hermione," he lifted his hands to rest on either of her arms, "don't waste this experience on someone like me. Someone will come along, someone who deserves you."
Removing the blanket from her shoulders, she glared up at him as she tossed it aside and backed up to glower at him. "It's only sex, isn't it? Why does everyone have to make such a big deal out of something so ridiculously basic? It's nothing more than hormones and carnal urges."
"It's so much more than that."
She scoffed. "It wasn't more than that when you were having one offs with the seventh year Ravenclaws."
"You're more than someone's one off!" His voice was fierce before he placed his hands along her pulse points and crashed his lips to hers with that same intensity. She let out a tiny squeak of surprise and dipped as her knees weakened. Her hands landed on his shoulders in an attempt to brace herself, and his head swam as her breath ghosted over him. Her body was all soft curves and delicate features and she trembled when his hand traced over the bend of her hip.
His tongue traced along her bottom lip before he pulled away a measure to nuzzle his nose along hers, refusing to open his eyes and be rid of the dream he'd fallen into. "Does this answer your question?" he asked, his voice quivering with unrestrained lust. He brushed his lips to hers a final time, lingering for a moment. She'd come to her senses soon and he needed this final taste.
When he pulled away, his hands rested safely on either side of him. She shakily murmured, "You kissed me." It sounded oddly accusatory, though she was still flustered and appeared to be fighting a smile. "That came out all wrong." Sitting on the arm of the couch, she pushed the curls away from her face. "I just meant, you actually kissed me."
She wasn't running away. No. She was looking at him, an almost hopeful glint in her eye. Draco gave her a coy smile. "So I did," he agreed, looking away from her and gathering every ounce of courage he held before he spoke once more. "But I'll let you in on a little secret."
Granger's breath seemed to hitch and when he looked up, he saw her bracing herself for rejection. Steeling her features and smoothing her skirt. "What's that?"
"I'd like to do it again."
He could feel every beat of his heart pulsing under his skin as her mouth dropped open. "Wh-what?"
Draco lifted his chin and took a deep breath. "I'd like to do it again. And again. And again."
"So do it then."
"I meant what I said, Granger. You aren't someone's one off, and you won't be mine. You deserve more—you deserve everything I could never give you—"
She silenced him as she stepped between his knees and kissed him firmly, sealing his lips to the conviction with which he spoke.
How would he ever live another day without this?
Fuck it all. He was going to date the girl.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed. This story is now complete.