Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah! You people already know what THIS stands for :-/

Author's Note: Sorry for the somewhat delayed update--work is driving me nuts! Hopefully I can get to upload a couple or more chappies soon...thanks for all the reviews!!! I'll sure update ASAP since I'm off tomorrow-yippee!!!

Summary: Hermione & Draco received a nasty blow to the head when an out of control bludger careened towards where they stood bickering during a Quidditch practice. They woke up in the hospital wing not knowing each other--but they know everyone else--and an instant attraction towards each other soon formed.

Setting: 6th year

Pairings: Draco & Hermione obviously with a love triangle thrown-in to spice things up a bit

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

IX. Can't Get You Out of My Head

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Draco beat the shower wall as he let cold, harsh sprays of water blast on his back. He leaned his forehead against the wall and closed his eyes. This has got to be his fifth shower today since lunch. Hell he even skipped lunch earlier to drown himself under the cold spray of the shower.

He shouldn't have kissed Hermione like that. He didn't know what he was thinking about, but as soon as Weasley and Potter left them alone and she faced him once again all he could think about was how her lips would taste like.

And he found out how they tasted.

She tasted like sweet, succulent strawberry dipped in creamy, milky chocolate. God, he can't get enough of her. One taste. Just one stupid, lousy taste and he was hooked for life!

He turned and faced the onslaught of bone-chilling water and lifted his face up to the shower. He has got to stop thinking about Hermione Granger and her luscious body if he doesn't want to starve. Dinner will be served in the Great Hall in half an hour and he was still in the shower, cooling off his body.

~*~

"Hermione, are you alright?" Harry whispered to his distracted friend during dinner. He was close to finishing his meal and Hermione hasn't even started hers. Well, she did start hers but hasn't even finished half of it yet.

Hermione blinked away from her sudden trance and turned to frown at Harry.

"What did you say?"

Harry gave her a disapproving look and shook his mop of unruly dark hair.

"You've been staring off into space since we sat down for dinner. Ron's finished wolfing down half of what's served and you're still on your first serving." he pointed out.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just...I just got lots on my mind, that's all." she gave a careless shrug and started playing with her food again, twirling the long, flat pasta with white sauce over and over her plate (a/n: I'm trying to be fancy here since I am not really sure what they often have for dinner, and since I like pasta a lot--fettuccini alfredo or tortellini with alfredo sauce--Hermione might as well have some for dinner! *lol*).

Once again she stared at her food blankly. God she couldn't seem to concentrate much since this afternoon's incident with Draco. At first she was fuming mad at him for acting like a total prick to her friends, then the next thing she knew she was thrown in a lip-lock with none other than the guy who has plagued her thoughts for weeks.

And a helluva kiss that was! Hermione has never been kissed with such passion like the one Draco just showed earlier nor has she wanted to do more than just kiss him afterwards.

Stop that, Hermione Granger! a small voice at the back of her head scolded, Don't be thinking things like that. Draco's a good friend and all, but you don't really know him that well to even think about jumping into bed with him!

Hermione frowned at her pasta. True. She doesn't know Draco Malfoy that well and yet there was this nagging feeling deep inside, more like a small voice whispering to her, telling her that she knew Draco Malfoy quite a lot about Draco Malfoy than she let on.

Oh Hermione, stop. Please stop right there, woman! You're obsessing yourself with the school playboy for goodness' sake! the same nagging voice told her.

Playboy? Hermione frowned at the word. Sure a lot of girls had their knickers tied up in a knot whenever he passed by, but from what she could tell none of those so-called girls were his. He even said it so himself that he was a free agent. But aside from what she already know about him, she knew nothing else concerning Draco--and that was what's scaring her.

~*~

Draco tried his damnedest not to look at the Gryffindor table. He knew that it would only take one glance and he would be up and bothered once again. It would be terribly embarrassing if he stood up from the Slytherin table with a damn hard-on!

His cold showers helped him quite a lot, although in the end he looked like a prune with wrinkly skin, but he couldn't possibly take another one soon after dinner or his housemates would think he has suddenly become hygiene-conscious! Already his housemates thought it weird that he has visited the bathroom numerous times and took a very long shower since after the morning classes ended, he doesn't want to fuel their curiosities even more by high-tailing it to the bathroom once again after dinner.

See what that nasty Mudblood has done to you? that same irritating voice that has been bothering him since Transfiguration managed to sneak in to his head once again.

Hermione has done nothing to him. In fact if truth be told she has done him some good. Since meeting her and spending some time with her he has never looked at any other girl in school the same way again. He soon started comparing them to Hermione and instantly know that they were all no much for Hermione Granger--whether by intellect or by beauty. With Hermione he learned to be more careful in selecting all his female companions (which became harder and harder as he started analyzing each and every girl at Hogwarts).

None of them stirred him the way Hermione did.

Sure he'd want to take her, but he knew he couldn't just be his usual love-'em-and-leave-'em self with her. She deserved more than what he could give to her. Hell, maybe she would be better off with either Weasley or Potter since both of those goofs had so much to offer her.

A movement from the Gryffindor table caught Draco's attention and against his will he turned to see who it was that moved. It was Hermione--with Potter.

Draco couldn't help the green-eyed monster from leaping in his eyes as soon as he saw Potter out of the Great Hall. He offered her his arm and together they walked out side-by-side, Hermione's arms wrapped around Harry's, and from his vantage point of view he noticed that the two friends walking out were deep in thought.

~*~

Hermione needed to talk to somebody about what has been bothering her. And who better to talk to than her good friend Harry Potter, right?

Wrong!

She asked Harry to escort her out of the Great Hall as soon as he was done and she left her hardly eaten dinner behind. On their way back to Gryffindor tower she started to open up to him a little about what has been troubling her. She told him that she has been thinking about Draco quite a lot lately--and most recently today. She hardly paid attention in any of her classes because she kept on replaying that kiss she shared with Draco in the deserted hallway after Ron and Harry left them together.

She shouldn't have mentioned to Harry that Draco kissed her--and that she kissed him back too. As soon as she did that was when all hell broke loose!

"What the hell are you thinking about snogging with him? And in public nevertheless!" he was fuming mad, pacing the empty Gryffindor common room. Everyone was still enjoying their dinner in the Great Hall while the others are in the library doing some research. They had the whole Tower to themselves hence why Harry was screaming to the top of his lungs--or practically screaming anyway.

"It was unexpected, Harry." she insisted, "I already told you I was fuming mad at him for doing what he did to Ron--and saying what he said to him too--that I was ready to bite his head off when he just kissed me!"

"Apparently now it wasn't his head propped on his shoulders that you wanted to bite." Harry scoffed.

Hermione glared at him.

"Watch your mouth, Potter. I don't think I'm liking what you're implying." she warned.

"But it's true though."

"True or not, you have no right to imply such thing!"

"Yeah, right." Harry stopped his pacing and sat down on the chair opposite from where Hermione sat. He was having a hard time dealing with what she just told him. The 'kissing passionately' kinda put a slight curve into what was once just a simple 'guy likes girl, girl likes guy' scenario. He took a couple of deep breaths and took Hermione's hands in his, placing them on top of his upturned ones and weighed them.

"I know what you're thinking, Harry, and it's not going to happen." she assured him, seeking his eyes to meet his gaze.

Harry took a deep breath and allowed himself to look into his best friend's eyes, "I'm just worried about you, Herm. I don't know why you and Draco suddenly had this certain liking for one another, but obviously you don't really know Draco and his damn reputation if you're being this naive about this whole thing. But you used to know it before. I mean, before the bludger hit you and knocked you unconscious."

"What are you talking about?" she frowned, confused at what he just told her.

"Draco only appears interested in girls 'coz he only wants to get them between the sheets with him. Once he got what he wanted the girl was history. He'd move on to another conquest." he replied bluntly.

~*~*~*~*~

to be continued...

A/N: Okay, I know I have to stop it here because...well, because I just felt like it, that's why! *lol* But don't worry, I'll be able to post the next chappie ASAP--I hope. And to those of you who hates cliffies, I'm so-so-so sorry! I deliberately do it, *mischievous grin* actually sometimes the cliffies are deliberate and sometimes they're not. Just be patient with me, okay?

Natylie, Maxzoid, Happy little Rin-chan: thanks for leaving your marks, I hope you enjoy this chapter

Rebecca: no showcasing of the love-triangle here. I figured this chapter needed to explore the effect of their first kiss--whaddya think? BTW, I don't mean to make my chapters short...it just ends up that way and I try to update as soon as possible...hopefully this one isn't a short chappie, but it looks like it, doesn't it? :-/

Sucker for Romance: sorry for ending each chapter with cliffhangers, but sometimes that's just the beauty of keeping your readers entertained, right? that'll ensure that they'll be anticipating the next posting of the following chapter! hehehe, nevertheless enjoy this chappie

Draco'sGal13: thanks for liking the fic so far

Starrynights13: I know what you feel for hating cliffies--I hate them too, but hey, it just makes me excited to see another chapter posted up! *lol* So cliffies works to the advantage of some

Kara-Malfoy: thanks for your input...I'll mull over it and figure out how I'll interject your idea into the story. THANKS!

Kiyoko: thanks for pointing out that crucial fact. I often forget (and hardly pay attention) to tenses when I type and is on a roll. *lol* But don't worry, I'll watch out for it and make sure to stick with just one tense! Did I do a good job of the tenses in this chappie? hehehe