The New Invention

"Hey, want to play wizard's chess with me?" Harry asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Why do you like that game so much? It's so … violent," she responded without looking up from her arithmancy homework.

"Is that a no then?" Harry said as he set the box down on the table in the Gryffindor common room. He lifted the lid off and set it aside. Some pieces rustled anxiously in the box as if they wanted to tear each other apart before being set up. Others cowered in the corners keeping as much distance as possible between themselves and the more aggressive pieces. One white pawn was trembling vigorously.

"Yes, that's a no," Hermione replied. Harry looked disappointed. "I'm sorry; it's just that I have a ton of Arithmancy homework. Besides, Ron should be back any minute now. He just went to the owlery to send the letter he wrote during History of Magic to his mum." The last part of her response was spoken in a disapproving tone. Didn't her friends care about their grades in that class? Sure, professor Binns was unbelievably boring and monotonous, but certainly they could put up with him for one hour every Monday and Wednesday. Besides today's topic was interesting. Sixth years were now studying legends concerning ancient magical artifacts. This afternoon's lesson focused on the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

Hermione rubbed her eyes.  This homework was hard and she kept losing her train of thought. Fred and George were in the corner talking in hushed voices and giggling uncontrollably. No doubt they had invented another prank that would torment students and teachers alike.

Weasley's Wizards' Wheezes was doing extraordinarily well. The twins only agreed to come back and finish school to make their mum and dad happy, but they weren't really interested in their schoolwork anymore. They did what was needed to pass and devoted the rest of their time to inventing and marketing.

George was laughing hysterically while Fred tried to calm him down. It seemed as if he didn't want to attract too much attention, but he was giggling too.

"Crabbe and…he he he…Millicent Bulstrode?!" George whispered between fits of laughter.

Fred shushed him but nodded his head. Hermione knew that they were talking about their latest victims.

"That must have been UGLY!" George chuckled.

As long as it was Millicent Bulstrode and Crabbe, Hermione really didn't care what the prank was. They deserved whatever they got. She just hoped none of her friends fell into the Weasley brothers' trap.

"We have to be careful where we put them though. We don't want a student and teacher to get caught together. That would be awful. Can you imagine what McGonagle would do if she

got—"

Hermione stood up abruptly and slammed her book shut. She needed to go somewhere she could concentrate, somewhere quiet, and there was still plenty of time, about an hour and a half until the sixth years were required to be in their dormitories…

She turned to leave. "Oh, hi Ron." He was just stepping through the portrait hole.

"'lo 'mione. Where are you off to?"

"The library. I really need to finish this homework"

"It's not for professor Binns is it? He didn't give us any homework, did he?

"Well, yes he did as a matter of fact. You ought to know that Ron. You were there, weren't you?" Hermione asked sarcastically.

Ron frowned. This was an old and worn out argument. "Look 'mione, I just don't have the attention span that you do."

"But you don't even try!"

"That's because you are one of my best friends! Why do I need to? It would just be wasted effort."

Hermione smiled but didn't reply. There was really no point in dragging this argument out.

 "So do we really have homework for Binns?" Ron asked gently.

"No," replied Hermione in a friendly voice.

Ron smiled. He looked at Harry, who had finished setting up for wizards' chess. "Hey, wizards' chess! Great!" exclaimed Ron as he made his way to the table. The black queen was touching her weapon menacingly and a white pawn was nervously twitching on its square six spaces in front of her. "Later 'mione."

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Hermione sighed and looked at the clock in the library. She needed to be back in the dorm in five minutes. The arithmancy homework had taken a lot longer than she had planned, but she finally finished and was satisfied with her work. She put her homework, book, quill and ink back in her book bag and glanced at the clock again. If she hurried, she would have enough time to get a book to read for fun. She quickly found a book on the Egyptian Book of the Dead, signed it out, and headed back to the dormitory.

The corridors were decorated lavishly for Christmas. Suits of armor sang carols as Hermione passed, but she took no notice. She was supposed to be in the dorm NOW! If Filch caught her….what would happen? She was a prefect, if she got into trouble, what kind of example would that set for the other students? She picked up her pace and started jogging down the corridor, around the corner of the Great Hall and—

BAM!

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Draco Malfoy walked lazily down the deserted corridors towards the Slytherin dormitories. After an exhausting Quiddich practice in the icy rain, he had taken a long hot bath in the prefects' bathroom. He was training a lot harder this year and it was starting to have an effect on his physique. He admired his reflection as he walked past a mirror. No way was Gryffindor going to win this year. He turned down the corridor to the Slytherin common room to find a suit of armor blaring a cheery Christmas carol at the top of its metallic lungs. It was really annoying. He reached into his robes for his wand so he could put a silencing charm on the armor but….

"Damn it, where is it?" he said out loud quickly checking the other pockets of his robes. He hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.  He remembered where it was. Still in his Quiddich robes in the hamper in the prefects' bathroom. How could he be so careless? He cursed again under his breath and looked at the grandfather clock at the end of the hall. He was already supposed to be in the dorm, but he couldn't leave his wand. If that filthy squib caretaker caught him, he would probably end up in detention. He turned around, his Nimbus two-thousand and one still in his hand, and started running back towards the prefects' bathroom.

It made him angry that an ignorant squib had the authority to punish him, a pureblood wizard and a prefect…

He ran past the entrance of the great hall and turned the corner and—

BAM!

Books went flying and Draco lost hold of his broom as he collided with another student. He hit the wall and sunk to the stone floor with an audible "oof."

"Ouch!" exclaimed a familiar voice from the floor not far away from him. In fact, it was an annoyingly familiar voice. His temper flared.

Hermione had fallen hard on her right side and something had hit her head. She picked it up. It was a broom. A black broom. "Oh no," she thought. Only the Slytherins had these brooms…

"Are you blind, GRANGER?" Malfoy roared as he picked himself up off the floor. He couldn't believe the filthy mudblood had touched him.

Hermione clenched her fists. "This is not my fault, Malfoy," she retorted as she got to her feet. How dare he accuse her!

He clenched his teeth as he rolled his eyes. "GIVE ME BACK MY BROOM!" he bellowed as he stepped forward and reached for it, but something stopped him and was now pulling him back to the corner of the Great Hall. His eyes widened in shock, "What the hell—"

Hermione was caught off guard. Suddenly something wrapped itself tightly around her wrist and she let go of Malfoy's broom, which fell to the floor with a loud whack. The thing around her wrist looked like a vine, was pulling her over towards Malfoy, and was pulling hard. She resisted, but it was to no avail. She slammed straight into Malfoy, whose wrists were each wrapped with vine and were in the air above his shoulders. As a result, Hermione hit him full force in the chest.

"GRANGER!!" he yelled as he continued to struggle with the vines. The vine around his left wrist suddenly looped over Hermione's head and pulled his hand across her back and onto her ass. Hermione screamed and thrashed harder against the vines which had now bound her right leg to Malfoy's left and had taken both her wrists and pulled them in opposite directions around Malfoy's neck so that it seemed as if she were hugging him. Malfoy began to shoot out cuss words as another vine wound itself tightly around his right leg and her left and continued to wrap itself twice around their torsos. Meanwhile, the vine around his right wrist had looped over Hermione's head and pulled his arm around her shoulders and then wrapped itself once around their backs.

And then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped, leaving them confused, speechless, and pressed tightly together face to face, or rather face to neck, as Hermione wasn't as tall as Draco.

Hermione looked up. Hovering not far above them was a bough of mistletoe that bustled happily as she glared at it. The vines that were binding her to Malfoy all draped up to it. Suddenly she had a sickening feeling in her stomach.

"FUCK!!" screamed Malfoy, who had also noticed the mistletoe, "and Crabbe warned me!" He clenched his teeth and avoided looking at Hermione, which was a very difficult task. "SHIT!" he spat.

"What is it?" asked Hermione, fearing that she already knew the answer. Her nose was at Malfoy's neck and she had to crane hers to keep from touching him.  She couldn't help but notice how good he smelled.

He glared down at her. "What's this? Know-it-all Granger doesn't know?" Their faces were only an inch apart. He was amazingly close to those chocolate-brown eyes that stared defiantly back at him.

"Just tell me you slimy little bastard or I'll—"

"Or you'll what?" Malfoy interrupted. There was nothing she could do in this position. They were pressed so tightly together that they couldn't move. He could feel her rib cage expand and contract with every breath, could feel her breasts against his chest, could feel her firm ass under his hand…

Hermione stared straight back into his icy eyes but didn't respond. She couldn't move and he knew it. She could feel how hard his body was against hers. Quidditch must have made him muscular over the last few years. It seemed like she could feel all of his muscles pressed against her. And muscles weren't the only thing she could feel…

The silence seemed to last for an eternity. Neither Draco nor Hermione broke eye contact; it was a battle of wills and neither wanted to loose.

Hermione's neck ached terribly. She wanted to end this staring contest and rest her forehead on his neck…

The silence was broken by a distant humming that was gradually growing louder. Draco felt Hermione tighten against him as if she was bracing herself and she lowered her head so that her forehead was against his neck.  His faced flushed and he knew that it was only partially from anger.

"For Merlin's sake," she whispered. Draco felt her breath on his throat as she spoke.

The humming grew louder yet…

"What do you think you're doing?" Draco asked as he tried to move his neck and chin to get her to stop touching him.

"My neck hurts." Hermione replied bitterly.

"I don't care. Get your mangy head off of me!"

"Believe me, I take no pleasure in it being on you," Hermione retorted, but she wasn't sure of the truth of that statement. His neck was warm and soft…

The humming stopped. Hermione bit her lip. She knew what was coming.

"Oooooooohh! What's this?" said a cool and menacing voice from the air above them and to the right.

"Peeves…," growled Draco. He glared at the poltergeist who had a malicious smile on his face.

Peeves snickered. "The Weasely brothers strike again!" he exclaimed happily as he whirled around in the air and did a back flip in excitement. Peeves had a special affinity towards Fred and George ever since the incident in which they turned part of the school into a swamp, undermined Professor Umbridge's authority, and rode defiantly away on their brooms, leaving Peeves in charge of tormenting the infuriating toad-like teacher.

Hermione looked up at Peeves. He hadn't realized it was her until that moment.

"And with Granger! Oh, this is sooooooo good!!"

"What is it exactly, Peeves?" Hermione asked, hoping to get the information that she couldn't get from Malfoy from Peeves.

"Don't you know?" said Peeves with excitement in his transparent eyes. "It's body-binding mistletoe. The Weasleys' new invention. It holds its victims captive until they kiss!" Peeves did another flip. Hermione's worst fear was confirmed. "And get this! The longer you refuse to kiss, the longer you have to kiss to get out!!"

Malfoy obviously hadn't known this part. The muscle in his jaw twitched. "I am going to KILL those red-haired weasels when I get out of this!!" he fumed.

He had angered Peeves with this statement. The ghost swirled around to look at Malfoy face to face. "Now that wasn't very nice at all. Now, let's see…What could I possibly do to make this situation worse?.. hmmmm…Yes, why don't I alert Filch that two prefects are out of their rooms and that they are snogging by the Great Hall….How many detentions do you think that would land you?"

Hermione felt Draco's muscles tense. She knew his blood was boiling. Suddenly she had an idea. If Filch came, maybe he could get another teacher to get them out of this. After all, it wasn't like they wanted to be in this situation. All she had to do was challenge Peeves, egg him on.

"You wouldn't dare," Hermione said slowly as she looked the ghost fearlessly in the eyes.

He smiled and said, "watch me," then started to drift away.

"What do you think you're doing, Granger! Do you want him to…" Draco stopped himself mid sentence because of the look on her face. He had realized what she was thinking, but it was too late. Peeves had heard.

He drifted back. "So the know-it-all wants me to get Filch, eh? I see her game plan. She is smart isn't she? To bad he's just a little slow," peeves said, looking at Malfoy. "In that case, I think it would be better if I just left you two well enough alone…"

With that he turned away and started to sing a new tune. "Malfoy and Granger sitting in a tree…" He turned back to face them for a second to say, "and you do look like you are in a tree," then he resumed singing, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love…" He had drifted out of earshot.

"You blundering IDIOT," Hermione screamed. "There went our only chance to get out of this without—"

"I AM NOT KISSING YOU, GRANGER!" Draco blurted out. He stared icily at her. "In-your-dreams," he said punctuating each word as he said it.

"More like my nightmares," she responded. "I would rather kiss the creature at the bottom of the lake than you. It probably wouldn't be as slimy."

"You know, the giant squid may live in mud, but I don't think he'd kiss it." Draco knew that hurt. She didn't know what to say.

"Do you want the whole school to find us here tomorrow like this?" she asked.

Draco saw that she had a point. That would be absolutely humiliating. But he didn't want to concede.  "I refuse to kiss a mudblood. You know, I had just taken a bath and now I'm covered again in dirt!"

"You arrogant little ferret—"

The vines around them tightened and the leaves rustled angrily. It seemed that the body-binding mistletoe didn't take kindly to them insulting each other.

"Now look, you've upset it," Draco drawled.

"I DON'T CARE!" Hermione yelled. She struggled hopelessly against the vines, then looked up at the angry mistletoe and shouted, "I HATE HIM!"

"That's it, keep provoking it," Draco snapped at her. "With any luck it will squeeze us so hard that we'll die of suffocation. Death has to be better than this after all, just as long as you don't burst from the pressure and cover my robes with your filthy blood!"

Hermione's eyes spewed daggers of hatred at him and her voice shook with anger as she spoke again. "You really are a heartless, self-centered, conceited, back stabbing, cowardly—"

But exactly what he was in Hermione's opinion, he never found out. At that moment he did exactly what he would have sworn on his life he would never ever do—he kissed her. Passionately. On her luscious lips. His blood surged through his veins in fury and excitement while his arms tightened around her body with strength he didn't know he had. His mind screamed reason at him, "This is Hermione Granger you are kissing! A mudblood!" but his body didn't care. He wanted this, he wanted her…

When he kissed her, Hermione screamed in frustration, but the sound was muffled by his mouth over hers. She squirmed against him, but his arms tightened around her, restricting her movement and crushing her against him. She had no idea that he was so physically powerful. Heat spread through her body and her heart pounded vigorously against her ribs. She tried to convince herself that these effects were only from their earlier argument, but she knew better. This felt really good. Malfoy certainly knew what he was doing. And besides, they needed to get out of this, didn't they? She shut off the rational side of her mind, the side that told her that this was wrong, and started returning his kisses.

Draco couldn't believe his luck. He thought he had gone mad when he had started kissing her. He had expected her to scream and struggle, and she had, which only made him want her more. He never imagined that she would return his kisses with a passion that matched his own. Her scent was overloading his senses and his lungs were on fire from lack of air. The vines loosened around his arms, giving him the freedom to move his hands across her back and around her thin waist. The vines restraining Hermione had obviously loosened as well. One of her hands was now moving through his freshly washed, blond locks. The other arm was around his neck, her hand gripping his clothes, trying to pull him closer.

Hermione thought her lungs were going to burst. She broke their kiss, but pulled Malfoy's head to her neck, keeping her fingers buried in his soft silvery blond hair. She could feel his breath on her sensitive skin. He was breathing almost as hard as she was but kept kissing her while struggling for air. When he kissed her over her madly beating pulse, she gasped.

Malfoy could feel himself loosing control. He had been with plenty of girls before this, but he had always been in control and had somehow always remained emotionally detached. He could hear her shallow breathing as he kissed her neck hungrily. He had never needed someone so much! Her taste was intoxicating. He let out a low groan and quickly kissed her lips before continuing to claim the other side of her neck with his mouth.  

Suddenly Hermione's mind sprang into action. The vines had completely receded back into the mistletoe but Malfoy showed no signs of slowing down. In fact, it seemed like he hadn't even noticed. His hands had pulled her shirt out from where it was tucked into her skirt and were now on her back inside it. She had to stop this before it got out of hand.

"Th-the vines are gone now, you can stop," she said shakily.

Malfoy moaned in response and kissed her passionately on the lips again to quiet her.

She turned her head in an attempt to avoid his mouth. "I said stop, Malfoy," she repeated as she pressed against his chest with her hands. He was starting to scare her. His hands were fumbling with the clasp to her bra and he was kissing her so intensely that it seemed like he wanted to devour her.

"Malfoy!" she said louder, her voiced laced with a tinge of panic. It was like he couldn't hear her at all. She tried to struggle against him but his arms were now crushing them together again but this time they were inside her clothes and her bra was unclasped.

"DRACO, STOP! PLEASE!" she screamed. Her voice cracked on the last word and a tear was sliding down her cheek.

Something clicked inside Draco and he stopped. She had never called him by his first name before. His hands were still under her shirt and he still had not caught his breath. Her head was against his chest and he knew that she was crying. He closed his eyes as he tried to calm himself down and a feeling of shame and regret washed over him. How could he let himself loose it like that? She was afraid of him now. Her teary eyes told him so.

Hermione backed away from him, visibly shaking, and wiped her eyes with a trembling hand.

Draco felt awful. He wanted to go wrap his arms around her and tell her how sorry he was. He stepped towards her, reaching out to touch her shoulder, "Hermione, I'm—"

"DON'T TOUCH ME!!" She yelled as she backed away. She turned and headed towards her backpack, which was still on the floor where she had fallen. Malfoy just stood there staring at her and looking stunned. She was going to prevent this from happening to other students. She quickly found her wand and stood up.

Malfoy took a step back. "Hermione—"

"Finite Incantatem," she yelled as she swished her wand up in the direction of the mistletoe. It bustled in surprise before exploding into a thousand pieces.

She turned back to Draco, her wand out and now pointing at him. "Malfoy, if you ever tell anyone about what happened here, I swear I'll hex you to the moon and back," she said in a quiet but threatening voice. She turned to leave, but Malfoy grabbed her wrist.

"Wait—"

"Let me GO!" She shouted, trying to free herself from his solid grip.

She wouldn't let him finish—wouldn't let him apologize—and it was making him angry. "Fine! Be like that!" he yelled as he let go of her wrist. She started to run away again. "I don't want this to get around school either you know!" he shouted after her.

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Hermione ran towards the Gryffindor common room as fast as she could. The last thing she needed right now was to be caught roaming the halls after curfew. That would only add to her misery and confusion. Her mind was still spinning uncontrollably. Images and sensations kept flashing inside her head; His cool blue eyes burning into hers, his hard body and soft hair, his hand on her ass then roaming across her back on her bare skin, his hungry kisses, the low groan from the back of his throat that had scared her back into the reality of the situation…

But other things ran through her mind as she was recalling their kiss. His insults were as bitter and cutting as ever. Some of them were so hateful. "The giant squid may live in mud, but I don't think he'd kiss it…" "…I had just taken a shower and now I'm covered again in dirt…" But he had also been the one to start kissing her. What the hell was he playing at? She wondered if the mistletoe even had an effect on his decision to kiss her at that moment. After all, he hadn't wanted to stop even after they were free. And then she also had to wonder at his strength. He definitely had had the power to physically force himself on her, but he did stop when he heard her plea, even if it was reluctantly. Besides he's a male, right? Being slave to sexual desire came with that territory. And damn was he masculine. Everything about him, his stature, his scent, his taste… She licked her lips. Yes she could still taste his lips. They were just ever-so-slightly salty.

She quickly gave herself a mental slap. She was thinking about him in a pleasurable way again. He was confusing her, reeking havoc on her emotions.

"Bouncing ferret," Hermione said out loud. The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open, allowing her to the Gryffindor common room. She had to smile at the password each time she used it. Ron had come up with it and the rest of the Gryffindors thought it was pure genius. The memory of Mad Eye Moody (or rather Barty Crouch in the form of Mad Eye Moody) bouncing Malfoy the ferret off the stone floor during their fourth year was ranked as one of the Gryffindors' top Hogwarts memories.

Malfoy. She was thinking about him again. She was now in her dorm room getting ready for bed as Lavender and Pavarti slept. She had to admit to herself that despite her hatred of him he was undeniably hot. She knew a ton of girls who openly gawked at him and there was good reason. He had changed over the summer. He was taller and not so scrawny anymore. In fact he was starting to develop defined muscles. His facial features were angular and masculine and she knew that he was smart even though he didn't show it off as much as he showed off his money and connections.

As she slid into bed she decided that whatever enjoyment she had gotten from the mistletoe fiasco was on a purely physical level. She still hated him, maybe even a little more now. She would treat him no differently. She would not say a word about this to anyone, not even to Harry or Ron. She would just pretend that it never happened.

As she drifted off to sleep, another disturbing thought entered her mind. When she was leaving him by the great hall, he was trying to get her to stay, he wanted to tell her something, but she kept cutting him off. But what stood out most was that he had called her by her first name…

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Draco was going to the Slytherin common room from the prefects' bathroom for the second time that evening but this time he had his wand.

"Silencio!" he commanded as he waved his wand at the suit of armor that had been blaring Christmas carols. Peeves had somehow reprogrammed it to sing its own version of Malfoy and Granger Sitting in a Tree. Now it was completely silent although the mouthpiece on the helmet continued to move up and down.

His mind was a jumbled mess of confused thoughts. What had he been thinking kissing Granger? He couldn't believe he had done it. And afterwards, had he really considered apologizing? He was a Malfoy after all. Malfoys never apologized to mudbloods. A feeling of embarrassment suddenly washed over him. But Malfoys also didn't act like starving dogs devouring raw steak. And that's exactly the way he had acted. He had wanted to tear her clothes off and—

He stopped himself from completing that thought. "Filthy mudblood," he said out loud. The entrance to the Slytherin common room slowly opened. He smirked as he said the password. He was glad he had thought of it. The rest of the Slytherins all loved it too.

And that's what she was too. A filthy mudblood who didn't deserve a second glance from him. Not that she wanted his second glance anyways. She annoyed him in more ways then even she knew. So many of the other girls in the school would kill to get the chance to be with him, but she had always hated him, always intrigued him, always challenged him. She neither fawned over him (which he found extremely annoying and he really wished Pansy would stop it) nor backed down from. No, she always used that incredibly sharp wit that she was so proud of to hold her own in their arguments. She was so unafraid of him that it was quite unnerving. He remembered a time in third year where she outright slapped him across the face. It totally caught him off guard and it had (as much as he hated to admit it to himself) impressed him. No other girl had the guts. No other girl had an ego that matched his in size.

And most definitely no other girl had a body like that. She had filled out in all the right places over the summer and had tanned a little. He knew that he could name a long list of guys in school that would give anything to be in the position that he was in not to long ago, pressed firmly against her slender body, her fingers running through his hair, her sweet lips (which he could still taste when he licked his), her soft skin…

But then she had had to scream and struggle to get him to stop. That hurt his pride somehow and infuriated him at the same time. It made him realize that even he could loose control. And then she had to get all upset even after he had stopped. But she was female and being overly emotional came with that territory, right?

As he slid between the sheets of his four-post bed he decided that any attraction he felt for the mudblood was just from hormones and the fact that she was so off limits. He hated her after all.

He reached over and pulled open the top drawer to his night stand and placed his wand carefully inside. There was no way he was going to lose it again. There was only one other object in the drawer. It was a necklace his father had given him over that summer. He had said that it was a family heirloom. Draco had thought that he could feel magical power radiating from it, but his father told him that he had had it examined over and over again but no one could find anything. It still intrigued him though and so he kept it in his nightstand. He had always thought that it looked sort of feminine. As he drifted off to sleep, he wondered what Hermione would look like wearing it. A smirk played at the corners of his mouth. He wondered what she looked like wearing only his necklace…