Author's notes:
This chapter is fairly uneventful, but it really sets the scene for the next chapter, when we get to see some more graphic stuff. I STILL haven't decided whether to make chapter 6 NC-17 or R. What do you think? Will you still read it if I up the rating? Do you WANT me to up the rating? I aim to please. I've started back at university now, so I might get a bit slower at posting, but it really does only take me a few hours to write a chapter - I won't beg for reviews, but they really do help motivate me! I checked ff.n today and I had two new reviews which REALLY gave me the boost I needed to get this next chapter written. So thanks especially to Person and Maria. But thanks really needs to go to EVERYONE who reviewed - I won't list you all by name because if I do then I won't get this chapter written tonight - the encouragement you've given me has been incredible. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 4:
Draco knew his bet with Hermione wasn't going as well as he let on. He decided it was time to pay Harry another visit - this time arriving through the right chimney.
As it happened, Harry happened to be reading in the living room when Draco appeared. He was so engrossed in his book that he didn't even notice Draco was in the room.
"Harry!" Draco exclaimed, walking forwards.
"Aahh!" Harry visibly jumped and threw his book up in the hair. Glaring at Draco, he tried to look as though he hadn't been startled. "Uh, I mean, hi. What are you doing here?"
Draco smirked and retrieved the book. "Thought I'd visit you." He handed the book back to Harry, who blushed slightly.
"Oh. Right. Of course."
Draco sat down on the couch beside Harry. "So, I was thinking. Do you want to go on a picnic the day after tomorrow?"
"What?"
"You know. A picnic. Food. Trees. Wasps. Fun for the whole family."
"Wasps?" Harry tried to look serious, but he couldn't resist smiling.
Draco shrugged. "Can't have a good picnic without them. Oh, and ants. You have to have lots of ants."
"My, you're making it sound so appealing," Harry said sarcastically.
Draco merely grinned. "Part of my charm." He noted with some satisfaction that Harry seemed much more relaxed around him this time. "Look Harry, I'd really like to prove to you that I'm NOT some kind of evil mastermind." He paused for a moment. "Well, okay I am... but I'd like to prove to you that I'm not crazy." Another pause. "Well, at least let me prove to you that I don't want to hurt you, okay?"
It was with some surprise that Draco realised he DIDN'T want to hurt Harry. If it hadn't been for the bet then he probably would have left the dark haired boy alone. Harry's innocent added to his charm, it made him more attractive. Harry was sort of cute and Draco didn't feel the same about him as he did about his other 'conquests'. With the others, he didn't care. He even took pleasure in their pain. Draco knew he wouldn't take any pleasure in pain he might inflict on Harry, but he DID have a bet with Hermione and he couldn't let her win.
Against his better judgement, Harry was smiling. "You're a self proclaimed crazy evil mastermind and you expect me to say yes?"
"You know you want to," Draco said, looking seductively at Harry.
"I, ah..." Harry was flustered. Ron had given him several warnings, but Draco seemed like such a trustworthy person. Of course, he could be lying... but he was funny. And friendly. And Harry was bored and didn't have anyone else to talk to. 'Great, now I'm trying to justify my attraction to him. Wait a second, attraction? Since when am I attracted to him?'
Draco was still looking at Harry, waiting for an answer. "Well?"
"Um, can you give me a moment?" Harry practically bolted from the room, leaving a bemused Draco behind him.
He took the stairs to his room two at a time and didn't relax till he was safely in his room with the door shut behind him.
"Okay. So I'm attracted to Draco. Why am I attracted to Draco?"
"Well, look at him! He's fucking sexy! How can you not be attracted to that?"
"Fair enough, but in case you haven't noticed, he's a guy! With a reputation! You know what they say about guys with reputations!"
"No Harry, what DO they say? Is it as bad as what they say about people who have conversations with themselves?"
"Oh, shut up."
Harry realised he was arguing with himself and started to laugh. "This is insane." He sighed and collapsed on his bed. "Okay, so I'm attracted to Draco and he's asked me to go on a picnic with him. That doesn't mean anything, right? And I'll be fine so long as I'm careful, right? It's not like it's a date or anything... is it?"
"Don't look at me," 'bad' Harry replied. "If you want to delude yourself, that's fine. We both know it's a date."
Harry sat silently for a few more moments before reaching a decision.
Draco, meanwhile, had started leafing through Harry's book. "Hogwarts: A History? Why on EARTH would anyone read this voluntarily?"
"I wanted to see what sort of school I was going to," Harry said, entering the room.
Draco put the book down carefully beside him. "An excellent book. I've read it myself. Five times. Oh yes, every wizard and witch should read this book. I highly recommend it."
"Oh, shut up," Harry said, grinning.
"And do we have an answer? Will the wonderful Harry Potter favour me with his presence in two days' time?"
Harry debated acting coy but decided he couldn't really pull it off. "I'll be there."
"You will?"
"I just said so, didn't I?"
Draco nodded. "I knew you'd come around." 'And I bet I can make you come,' he added to himself with a secret grin. "None can resist my charm."
Harry laughed and pushed Draco towards the fireplace. "I don't want to be rude, but can you please go away? I want to keep reading."
Draco merely winked before stepping into the fireplace, disappearing within seconds.
* * *
"Hello, may I speak with Mrs Reilly?" Hermione's voice was warm and concerned as she waited for Sarah's mother to come to the phone. With her free hand she started sketching idly on a notepad lying on the table next to her. "Hello, Mrs Reilly? Hermione Granger here."
"Hermione? Is something wrong? What has Sarah done?"
Hermione finished writing the words 'suffer, bitch' on the notepad before replying. "Oh, nothing yet, Mrs Reilly. I just thought as her mother you ought to be, well... AWARE of some of the things that have been going on. Frankly, I wasn't at all sure you'd approve and naturally I wanted to seek your opinion before allowing things to continue any further."
Mrs Reilly's voice sounded panicked. "What's going on Hermione? Seek my opinion about what?"
"Well, of course, it's nothing to worry about," Hermione went on in soothing tones. "It's such a silly thing, really... Sarah seems to have formed an attraction for one of the Hogwart's boys. Believe me, I had no IDEA anything like this would happen, I simply wanted to take her to see what a real wizarding family was like. And he's a perfectly well respected boy, I'm just not sure he's the sort of person you'd really WANT Sarah to be spending too much time with."
The next five minutes were spent with Mrs Reilly screaming hysterically at Hermione, with the girl nodded and occasionally adding a comment such as "Yes, I quite agree," and, "Oh, without a doubt," when she thought they were necessary. She began drawing on the next page in the notepad. A small stick figure in the bottom corner represented her. The rest of the page was covered by the word 'ha' written over and over again. "Oh yes, Mrs Reilly, I assure you that won't be a problem. Yes, I'll tell her you said so. Yes, I'll have her call you if she disagrees. Yes. Yes, I will. Okay. Yes, I'll speak to you soon. Goodbye." She moved to put the phone down and rolled her eyes as the voice on the other end of the line continued. "Yes, I PROMISE. Right. Yes. Yes. YES! No, that's understandable. Right. Good. Yes, I will. Goodbye. Yes, goodbye!" Quickly hanging up the phone, Hermione allowed herself a smile. "Mission accomplished."
"You're looking pleased with yourself."
Hermione spun around at the sound of Draco's voice. "Perfect timing. You're just about to help me break little Sarah's heart."
"Great."
"How'd it go with little lover boy?"
Draco merely smirked. "He was reading Hogwarts: A History. Maybe you should be the one going after him. You're practically married to that book, after all."
"Bite me."
"Oh, I would LOVE to, my dear."
Hermione made a face at Draco and walked over to the stairs. "Sarah? Can you come down here for a second, please?" She walked back over to Draco and sat down. "This is going to be so much fun!"
"Any chance of a quick fuck before she comes down here?" Draco straddled Hermione and put his face inches from hers.
Hermione moved slightly closer, so that their noses were almost touching. She looked seriously at Draco for a moment, before pushing him away from her. "Afraid not," she commented as he tumbled ungraciously onto the floor. "Nice try, anyway."
"Bitch," Draco muttered under his breath, only half joking.
"And damn proud of it."
Sarah entered the room at that moment. "Proud of what?"
"Never mind."
"What did you want me for?"
Hermione patted the seat next to her, glaring at Draco as he sat, smirking at Sarah. She pointed to the door. "Leave, if you can't behave," she told him.
Draco smiled innocently, staying where he was.
Hermione looked at Sarah. The young girl was smiling at Hermione in a way that made the wicked witch's teeth ache. It was so sickly sweet and cute. "Sarah. I'm afraid I have some bad news..."
Fifteen minutes later, not much had changed. Draco was still sitting in the same spot and was, in fact, still smirking. Hermione had also not moved. Sarah, however, was pacing the floor, tears streaming down her face.
"What am I going to do? She can't do that! She can't make me stop seeing him!"
Hermione took a very deep breath and tried to sound calm. "Sarah, we've been over this. She CAN do this, but she's not going to, remember? Draco and I are going to help you. Remember us saying that FIVE MINUTES AGO?"
"Right, help," Sarah said vaguely. "How?"
Draco mouthed the words 'can I kill her?' at Hermione, who fought to keep a straight face. "Well, we're going to make sure you and Ron can still communicate by owl. And Draco ESPECIALLY wants to help you..."
"How?" Sarah asked again.
"Do you think guys like virgins?" Draco asked bluntly.
"Oh, I... um... hadn't really thought about it," Sarah said, blushing.
Hermione glared at Draco again. "What Draco's TRYING to say, hon, is that guys prefer girls to have some experience. And Draco's willing to help you in that department... if you'd like."
"It'll be fun," Draco said. "And I guarantee, Ron will be very impressed."
"Really?"
"Definitely."
"Trust me. He won't know what hit him," Hermione said to the girl. "But it's up to you. What do you want to do?"
Sarah thought about it for all of two seconds. "When do we start?"
This chapter is fairly uneventful, but it really sets the scene for the next chapter, when we get to see some more graphic stuff. I STILL haven't decided whether to make chapter 6 NC-17 or R. What do you think? Will you still read it if I up the rating? Do you WANT me to up the rating? I aim to please. I've started back at university now, so I might get a bit slower at posting, but it really does only take me a few hours to write a chapter - I won't beg for reviews, but they really do help motivate me! I checked ff.n today and I had two new reviews which REALLY gave me the boost I needed to get this next chapter written. So thanks especially to Person and Maria. But thanks really needs to go to EVERYONE who reviewed - I won't list you all by name because if I do then I won't get this chapter written tonight - the encouragement you've given me has been incredible. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 4:
Draco knew his bet with Hermione wasn't going as well as he let on. He decided it was time to pay Harry another visit - this time arriving through the right chimney.
As it happened, Harry happened to be reading in the living room when Draco appeared. He was so engrossed in his book that he didn't even notice Draco was in the room.
"Harry!" Draco exclaimed, walking forwards.
"Aahh!" Harry visibly jumped and threw his book up in the hair. Glaring at Draco, he tried to look as though he hadn't been startled. "Uh, I mean, hi. What are you doing here?"
Draco smirked and retrieved the book. "Thought I'd visit you." He handed the book back to Harry, who blushed slightly.
"Oh. Right. Of course."
Draco sat down on the couch beside Harry. "So, I was thinking. Do you want to go on a picnic the day after tomorrow?"
"What?"
"You know. A picnic. Food. Trees. Wasps. Fun for the whole family."
"Wasps?" Harry tried to look serious, but he couldn't resist smiling.
Draco shrugged. "Can't have a good picnic without them. Oh, and ants. You have to have lots of ants."
"My, you're making it sound so appealing," Harry said sarcastically.
Draco merely grinned. "Part of my charm." He noted with some satisfaction that Harry seemed much more relaxed around him this time. "Look Harry, I'd really like to prove to you that I'm NOT some kind of evil mastermind." He paused for a moment. "Well, okay I am... but I'd like to prove to you that I'm not crazy." Another pause. "Well, at least let me prove to you that I don't want to hurt you, okay?"
It was with some surprise that Draco realised he DIDN'T want to hurt Harry. If it hadn't been for the bet then he probably would have left the dark haired boy alone. Harry's innocent added to his charm, it made him more attractive. Harry was sort of cute and Draco didn't feel the same about him as he did about his other 'conquests'. With the others, he didn't care. He even took pleasure in their pain. Draco knew he wouldn't take any pleasure in pain he might inflict on Harry, but he DID have a bet with Hermione and he couldn't let her win.
Against his better judgement, Harry was smiling. "You're a self proclaimed crazy evil mastermind and you expect me to say yes?"
"You know you want to," Draco said, looking seductively at Harry.
"I, ah..." Harry was flustered. Ron had given him several warnings, but Draco seemed like such a trustworthy person. Of course, he could be lying... but he was funny. And friendly. And Harry was bored and didn't have anyone else to talk to. 'Great, now I'm trying to justify my attraction to him. Wait a second, attraction? Since when am I attracted to him?'
Draco was still looking at Harry, waiting for an answer. "Well?"
"Um, can you give me a moment?" Harry practically bolted from the room, leaving a bemused Draco behind him.
He took the stairs to his room two at a time and didn't relax till he was safely in his room with the door shut behind him.
"Okay. So I'm attracted to Draco. Why am I attracted to Draco?"
"Well, look at him! He's fucking sexy! How can you not be attracted to that?"
"Fair enough, but in case you haven't noticed, he's a guy! With a reputation! You know what they say about guys with reputations!"
"No Harry, what DO they say? Is it as bad as what they say about people who have conversations with themselves?"
"Oh, shut up."
Harry realised he was arguing with himself and started to laugh. "This is insane." He sighed and collapsed on his bed. "Okay, so I'm attracted to Draco and he's asked me to go on a picnic with him. That doesn't mean anything, right? And I'll be fine so long as I'm careful, right? It's not like it's a date or anything... is it?"
"Don't look at me," 'bad' Harry replied. "If you want to delude yourself, that's fine. We both know it's a date."
Harry sat silently for a few more moments before reaching a decision.
Draco, meanwhile, had started leafing through Harry's book. "Hogwarts: A History? Why on EARTH would anyone read this voluntarily?"
"I wanted to see what sort of school I was going to," Harry said, entering the room.
Draco put the book down carefully beside him. "An excellent book. I've read it myself. Five times. Oh yes, every wizard and witch should read this book. I highly recommend it."
"Oh, shut up," Harry said, grinning.
"And do we have an answer? Will the wonderful Harry Potter favour me with his presence in two days' time?"
Harry debated acting coy but decided he couldn't really pull it off. "I'll be there."
"You will?"
"I just said so, didn't I?"
Draco nodded. "I knew you'd come around." 'And I bet I can make you come,' he added to himself with a secret grin. "None can resist my charm."
Harry laughed and pushed Draco towards the fireplace. "I don't want to be rude, but can you please go away? I want to keep reading."
Draco merely winked before stepping into the fireplace, disappearing within seconds.
* * *
"Hello, may I speak with Mrs Reilly?" Hermione's voice was warm and concerned as she waited for Sarah's mother to come to the phone. With her free hand she started sketching idly on a notepad lying on the table next to her. "Hello, Mrs Reilly? Hermione Granger here."
"Hermione? Is something wrong? What has Sarah done?"
Hermione finished writing the words 'suffer, bitch' on the notepad before replying. "Oh, nothing yet, Mrs Reilly. I just thought as her mother you ought to be, well... AWARE of some of the things that have been going on. Frankly, I wasn't at all sure you'd approve and naturally I wanted to seek your opinion before allowing things to continue any further."
Mrs Reilly's voice sounded panicked. "What's going on Hermione? Seek my opinion about what?"
"Well, of course, it's nothing to worry about," Hermione went on in soothing tones. "It's such a silly thing, really... Sarah seems to have formed an attraction for one of the Hogwart's boys. Believe me, I had no IDEA anything like this would happen, I simply wanted to take her to see what a real wizarding family was like. And he's a perfectly well respected boy, I'm just not sure he's the sort of person you'd really WANT Sarah to be spending too much time with."
The next five minutes were spent with Mrs Reilly screaming hysterically at Hermione, with the girl nodded and occasionally adding a comment such as "Yes, I quite agree," and, "Oh, without a doubt," when she thought they were necessary. She began drawing on the next page in the notepad. A small stick figure in the bottom corner represented her. The rest of the page was covered by the word 'ha' written over and over again. "Oh yes, Mrs Reilly, I assure you that won't be a problem. Yes, I'll tell her you said so. Yes, I'll have her call you if she disagrees. Yes. Yes, I will. Okay. Yes, I'll speak to you soon. Goodbye." She moved to put the phone down and rolled her eyes as the voice on the other end of the line continued. "Yes, I PROMISE. Right. Yes. Yes. YES! No, that's understandable. Right. Good. Yes, I will. Goodbye. Yes, goodbye!" Quickly hanging up the phone, Hermione allowed herself a smile. "Mission accomplished."
"You're looking pleased with yourself."
Hermione spun around at the sound of Draco's voice. "Perfect timing. You're just about to help me break little Sarah's heart."
"Great."
"How'd it go with little lover boy?"
Draco merely smirked. "He was reading Hogwarts: A History. Maybe you should be the one going after him. You're practically married to that book, after all."
"Bite me."
"Oh, I would LOVE to, my dear."
Hermione made a face at Draco and walked over to the stairs. "Sarah? Can you come down here for a second, please?" She walked back over to Draco and sat down. "This is going to be so much fun!"
"Any chance of a quick fuck before she comes down here?" Draco straddled Hermione and put his face inches from hers.
Hermione moved slightly closer, so that their noses were almost touching. She looked seriously at Draco for a moment, before pushing him away from her. "Afraid not," she commented as he tumbled ungraciously onto the floor. "Nice try, anyway."
"Bitch," Draco muttered under his breath, only half joking.
"And damn proud of it."
Sarah entered the room at that moment. "Proud of what?"
"Never mind."
"What did you want me for?"
Hermione patted the seat next to her, glaring at Draco as he sat, smirking at Sarah. She pointed to the door. "Leave, if you can't behave," she told him.
Draco smiled innocently, staying where he was.
Hermione looked at Sarah. The young girl was smiling at Hermione in a way that made the wicked witch's teeth ache. It was so sickly sweet and cute. "Sarah. I'm afraid I have some bad news..."
Fifteen minutes later, not much had changed. Draco was still sitting in the same spot and was, in fact, still smirking. Hermione had also not moved. Sarah, however, was pacing the floor, tears streaming down her face.
"What am I going to do? She can't do that! She can't make me stop seeing him!"
Hermione took a very deep breath and tried to sound calm. "Sarah, we've been over this. She CAN do this, but she's not going to, remember? Draco and I are going to help you. Remember us saying that FIVE MINUTES AGO?"
"Right, help," Sarah said vaguely. "How?"
Draco mouthed the words 'can I kill her?' at Hermione, who fought to keep a straight face. "Well, we're going to make sure you and Ron can still communicate by owl. And Draco ESPECIALLY wants to help you..."
"How?" Sarah asked again.
"Do you think guys like virgins?" Draco asked bluntly.
"Oh, I... um... hadn't really thought about it," Sarah said, blushing.
Hermione glared at Draco again. "What Draco's TRYING to say, hon, is that guys prefer girls to have some experience. And Draco's willing to help you in that department... if you'd like."
"It'll be fun," Draco said. "And I guarantee, Ron will be very impressed."
"Really?"
"Definitely."
"Trust me. He won't know what hit him," Hermione said to the girl. "But it's up to you. What do you want to do?"
Sarah thought about it for all of two seconds. "When do we start?"