AN: I'm going bloody frantic trying to finish this story for a fanfic challenge… eek! Must write furiously, must write furiously, must write furiously…

Chapter 14- [O Obsessive Overemotional One]

Last Time:

"Hermione, are you still mad at me? Why are you pulling over? What's wrong? Are you…" Draco asked nervously, but was cut off mid-sentence by Hermione.

"Shut up Draco." Hermione said, undoing her seatbelt and turning towards him. For an insane moment Draco thought she was really going to kill him, she had a dark look on her face. But then he realized it wasn't murderously dark, it was…

Hermione lunged at him, planting her lips firmly on his and trying to devour him. Draco smiled against her lips. 'I knew I was irresistible, but not this irresistible…' was Draco's last thought before he got lost in his sensations.

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An hour later.

"Ready to go in?" Hermione said, looking over at Draco, who was trying to wipe her lip balm off his face. Draco held up a finger and continued rubbing. Hermione rolled her eyes and licked her thumb, then wiped the last remaining smudge off.

"Eew!" Draco exclaimed. "That was your saliva… gross!"

"The same saliva that we've been sharing for the past…"

"UGH! Don't be vulgar, darling." Hermione rolled her eyes (again) and said,

"Ok, are you ready to go in?"

"I don't think this is such a good idea…"

"Well where else are we going to go?"

"Um…"

"Exactly. " Hermione said confidently, then began to walk towards the dilapidated shack that was their refuge. The car had broken down a mile back. Stupid muggle invention. Hermione didn't have her wand with her, and she had given up on teaching Draco the charm to fix the car, "he was too bloody dense". Little did Hermione know that he had been purposely mispronouncing the words because he hated that car, he really did. It was a hideous color and was a loathsome tax on humanity. Draco had convinced himself that it wasn't inanimate, it was out to get him. Ignorant fool of a car. Like it would ever defeat a Malfoy. Then, of course, it had done just that.

They had been walking (with many rest breaks) for 15 minutes when they had come across the place. It was Victorian-styled and Hermione had never set her eyes on it before. Draco grumbled something inaudible and walked beside her. Hermione knocked on the ripped screen door, peering into the darkness behind. Draco tugged at her hand nervously.

"You're like a little child." Hermione muttered. Draco drew himself taller and ignored her, letting go of her hand. Hermione sighed and grabbed his hand back. She knocked again. No answer.

"Do you think we should just go in?" Draco asked.

"I guess." They pushed in the door and Draco poked his head in.

"All clear." He said, and they went inside. The place was cobwebby and dusty and overall abandoned. Hermione sneezed and Draco looked her disapprovingly before handing her a crisp white folded handkerchief that had D.A.M. embroidered in fancy red letters on it. Hermione laughed.

"Dam?"

"It's my initials."

"I know that, but… Dam?"

"Piss off, Hermione." Draco said before going deeper into the house. They searched it from top to bottom and found nothing. Until at the very last moment, Hermione said,

"Hey Draco, what's that?" They both looked up at the ceiling of the upstairs bedroom at the square door.

"Must be an attic." Draco said. Hermione reached upward and jumped, grabbing at the handle.

"Get it, will you?" She asked Draco, who laughed condescendingly.

"Say 'please'!"

"Please?" Hermione said.

"We-ell…"

"Open the goddamn door or I'll make it so you don't have a height advantage… what are you more attached to, your head or your legs?" Draco held up his hands.

"Alright, don't get your red panties in a twist!" He said as he reached up and pulled the handle. Hermione kicked him in the shin just as a staircase descended from the ceiling. He glared at her and began to climb the staircase. Hermione, in a rush of excitement, ran past him, shoving him off the staircase to land squarely on his arse on the floor, a cloud of dust rising around him.

"Sorry!" Hermione called from the attic.

"Yeah, sure you're sorry." Draco sneered, picking himself up and beginning to climb up the stairs. He wasn't able to get to the top however, something barreled out of the darkness and smacked into him, causing to tumble sideways off of the staircase and onto his back. He groaned and looked up at Hermione, who was anxiously trying to untangle herself from him ,an excited glint in her eye and a distracted expression on her face. Draco grabbed her shoulders and practically flung her off of him, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head, then smoothing his hair. "Are you trying to kill me?" He asked, actually serious.

"What? Oh. N-no. But… come here will you, it's a…. Draco! Just look at this it's amazing…COME HERE!" Hermione said, still sitting on the floor, occasionally sneezing from the dust and picking at something curiously. Draco shook his head and crawled over towards her, looking over her shoulder."

"An ugly old box! Woohoo! Can we go now?" He asked. Hermione shot him an angry look.

"This isn't ugly! It's just dirty, see?" She demonstrated, wiping a thick layer of dust off the cover of the small chest and causing Draco to have a coughing fit. "SEE?" She demanded.

"Hmmph. Nice carving, nice wood, but still… there's something… not nice about it. Why haven't you opened it yet?"

"I was waiting for you."

"Really? I'm honoured."

"As you should be."

"I am, quite. But go ahead and open it."

"Oh, you do it yourself."

"Are you sure? It is your find…"

"No, no. Go ahead."

"But, Hermione, I wouldn't want to…"

"Don't be silly Draco. Open the trunk." Hermione said, pointing to the box. It was about 10 x 5 inches, with a depth of maybe 4 inches, a lovely cherrywood, with intricate carving covering it. Draco traced the carving with a finger.

"Hmm… interesting…"

"What?"

"Well, it seems to have a pattern, a very spastic one, but a pattern nonetheless…"

"Let me see?"

"Sure." Draco said, handing the chest to her. Hermione held it up to her face, examining it in the waning light. Draco held up his wand and muttered, "Lumos" the flash of light that followed was blinding, but it slowly turned into a gentle glow that lit the entire room without being too intrusive. Hermione looked up from the trunk.

"That was a fascinating Lumos, you must be a brilliant wizard…"

"I do excel, but I'm nothing special really." Draco said matter-of-factly.

"What did you get on your O.W.L.S.? I don't think I ever asked… "

"I got a 12."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"Well, I sort of wasn't thinking of it, Hermione. I mean, I went mad and all that…" Draco said, fiddling with the box and looking slightly embarrassed. "Do you have a problem?" He asked after a moment of silence. He seemed so… self-conscious? Hermione smiled amusedly.

"Why are you so embarrassed? That's the top score! I'm just confused. I would have thought you would be bragging by now…" Draco turned red.

"I don't just go around bragging all the time, Hermione!" He said, avoiding her eyes. "It's not like all I have to do is brag."

"Oh, so you've had other things on your mind then?" Hermione teased.

"I'm not just some stupid dumb blonde who'll follow you around and be some kind of… of… lackey, you know!" Draco said and then got up, shoving the box at her and striding out of the room. Hermione's smile faded. 'Touchy', was the first thought that entered her head, but she dismissed it immediately. She was the one who was touchy, she realized with a start. She looked back over the past month. She had so many mood swings Draco must've thought she was in perpetual PMS. She shook her head, angry at herself with being so… dismissive of him.

He was right, she had been taking forgranted that he wasn't just some stupid manservant placed on earth for the sole purpose of entertaining her. It was the attitude she had always had, with Harry and Ron, with all the Gryffindor boys… she played them like cards. It was fun to toy with boys… she loved Harry and Ron and all that, but it could be so fun to play them off against each other. 'But would you ever treat Ginny or Lavi or Pavi like that? Or any girl' Hermione asked herself. She had been a bit caught up in the whole modern woman ideal, be a feminist, be witty and burn the boys, be strong and don't care about anybody except your 'sisters'. She sighed, and picking up the box, walked after Draco. It was going to be looooong day.

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Draco stormed outside into the semi-dark, slamming the door behind him.

"Who does she think she is?" He asked a nearby tree. "Some kind of God, or what? All her mood swings, and her 'kill me Draco', and her witty little jokes at my expense… like I'm some kind of caveman in a cage at the circus, to be pitied and ridiculed and toyed with! Some stupid, stupid caveman. Look at all the shit I've had to put up with! I fucking saved her when she tried to kill herself, I fucking told her that I 'trusted her' when she started cutting again, I supported her, I was there for her, and she hasn't even fucking thanked me! Not once, has she said those fucking words… "Thank-you Draco". Jesus. No, I'm the bad one because I made that one little insult by the lake! It was a fucking mistake! I said I was sorry! Hermione's made enough mistakes herself, hasn't she? It's not like she's some sort of perfect little angel. Yet still she acts like she's all pure and good and superior… goddamn!" He yelled into the air, by now he was kicking the tree. Kicking always felt good… if only Dumbledore was here, Draco thought before he realized that he actually sort of respected the old bugger. This only made him kick harder. The poor tree was getting quite a beating when he heard faintly a scream, and it sounded quite familiar…

"Hermione!" Draco yelled, spinning around and running toward the house.

TBC

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AN: Dun dun dun! Sorry it was another short chapter, but it felt like a good place to end it… a nice cliffhanger for y'all. Did you like it? I haven't quite decided on the villain yet. I think I'll ask the almighty Creator… and maybe Moon Walker, and Terra Rei… I used the nicknames! Ha! *does victory dance* I'll ask all my friends, actually. I'll try and post the next chapter as soon as possible too… but now I'm

Off to see the beta, the wonderful beta of Oz!