Rating: R
Disclaimer: Nothing concerning HP, Escaflowne, or Cruel Intentions is mine, except a soundtrack and various paraphernalia.
A/N: Ahhhhhh! I am such a bad person. I know! It's been FOUR months! I'm so sorry. I really feel so bad, especially since you guys are all so great and leave me so many reviews. I almost cried when I saw that I had over 500!
Just two quick things: My spacebar has issues, so I'm really sorry if there are a bunch of words stuck together. I tried to go through and get rid of them all, but I think I probably missed some. Also, I realized that when I try to do ellipses, it only comes up as one dot. So instead of "I (dot dot dot) love you", it comes up as "I (dot) love you." Grrrrr.
~
Hermione groaned as she woke up on Saturday morning. Her arms were stiff from scrubbing bottles for Snape during her detention the previous night.
She started to sit up, and gave a yelp as she toppled off the edge of her queen-sized bed.
"Jesus Christ." She mumbled, pushing back her hair, which was currently incognito as a bird's nest.
"Ow." She stood up and climbed back into bed, giving a yelp as her leg brushed someone else's. Hermione quickly pushed back the covers.
"Gin?!" she cried, shaking her friend awake. "What are you doing here? You scared me half to death!"
"Huh?" Ginny asked, opening her eyes halfway. "What are you doing in my bed?"
"You're in my bed!" Hermione said, just a little bit angry. "Why are you in my bed?"
"I don't know." Ginny giggled. Then her eyes got wide. "Have you talked to Harry yet?" she yawned.
"Of course not. I just woke up, for crying out loud."
"Oh. Well he looooooves me." She said sleepily, rolling over. "He told me last night."
"That's great, Gin." Hermione was still completely puzzled. "When?"
"Maybe it was more like this morning. I just remember that it was dark."
"That's great." She repeated, sinking back into the covers herself. There would be time to figure everything out later. Right now it was five forty three A.M. and she needed some more sleep quite desperately.
"So what did he say?" Hermione mumbled.
"I don't remember." Ginny said. "He woke me up and I was in bed, and I told him I had a really bad headache, which I think I still do, and then he just- I don't know." She smiled.
"We can figure it out later. There's no need to worry about it." Hermione was half asleep already.
"Right." Ginny was drifting off herself. "Later. I'm so happy though, Mione. It's like my dreams have come true."
"Mmm." Hermione said, rolling her head close to Ginny's. "That's great."
"What the hell is going on here!?" Someone suddenly yelped from the other edge of the bed.
Hermione and Ginny both started screaming and managed to fall off the bed, toppling on top of each other.
"There. Is. Someone. Else. In. the. Bed." Ginny whispered very seriously from her position on Hermione's stomach. "That. Could. Be. A. Problem."
"Hey. What's going on?" Harry's groggy face suddenly appeared over both girls.
"Harry?" Hermione said. "What the hell are you doing here?"
He shrugged. "I don't know." Hermione wriggled from underneath Ginny and stood up.
"Is there anybody else in there? She asked, crawling onto the bed and scavenging through the sheets.
"I think it's just us." Harry said.
"Great." Hermione replied, sitting back. Ginny hoisted herself up to join them on the mattress.
"I have such a bad headache." She said, yawning and pushing her red hair away from her face.
"What happened last night?" asked Hermione.
"I was at a party." Ginny said. "I think. I was just really mad that they had postponed the dance." She sounded as though everything was just rushing back to her.
"The dance is postponed?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah." Harry said, getting a bit of a rush himself. "Dumbledore made this announcement at dinner. I think you were already at detention."
"Oh." Hermione blinked.
"And then Harry was going to be away at that Dark Magic Convention that weekend, so I kind of got really sad when I realized that we wouldn't be able to go together."
"I see."
"So then I went to this party up at someone's dorm room that Lavender told me about. And I guess I got really drunk, but all I remember is having jell-o so I really don't know how that happened."
Hermione made a mental note to explain later.
"Okay." She said. "That still doesn't explain why you guys are here."
"Um." They exchanged a look. "I guess we don't know." Ginny said.
"Wait, I remember." Harry picked up the story. "I came to look for Ginny because I had been talking to Ron and I just finally wanted to tell her how I felt." He shared a little look with the read-headed girl next to him. "And she wasn't in her room so I came to ask you if you knew where I could find her."
"Oh." Hermione said again.
"And you were asleep but Ginny was in your bed, so I laid down and we talked for a while. I just wanted to make sure she fell asleep okay."
"But you fell asleep yourself?" Hermione finished.
"I guess so." Harry said.
"How come you were in my bed at all?" Hermione asked Ginny.
"I think I sort of remember Parvati taking me back here. I guess I was really out of it. She probably didn't know where my room was."
"And she couldn't just take you back to hers." Hermione mumbled.
Harry shrugged.
"Sounds right to me." He said.
Hermione rubbed her temples. "This is so weird."
The other two nodded in agreement.
"So..." Ginny said. "Back to sleep?"
"Great." Hermione said, relieved that she could get some more rest.
"Sounds good." Harry nodded.
The all slid back underneath the covers, but Hermione woke up only twenty minutes later to the sound of her two bunkmates making out.
"You guys!" she said. "Get a room! Preferably one that's not mine."
"Sorry." They mumbled, but it was apparent neither had any intention of moving. Hermione groaned and rolled out of bed. She looked around the room briefly, but there was no other place that appealed to her sense of sleep.
Hermione yawned and pulled on her bathrobe, and then left the room for the only other place she was guaranteed a bed.
~
"Hey Parvati? Lavender? You guys in here?" she opened the door to her old room and peered in. All the curtains were shut and the room was dark. Hermione figured they wouldn't mind if she visited her old bed, so she crept over to it and pulled back the curtains. She smiled in relief at the sight of a completely other-people-free bed and wasted no time climbing in.
~
Nine fifty two. Less than four hours of sleep later, Hermione was up again to the sound of the shower running. She'd always hated the fact that her bed was right in front of the bathroom.
Hermione sighed as she sat up, feeling admittedly more refreshed but still a bit groggy. She figured she ought to go and thank Parvati for her semi-selfless actions last night.
Hermione tiptoed over to her bed and pulled back the curtains. Parvati was completely covered from head to toe by her sheets.
"Hey Parvati? You awake?"
"Grgg." Came the reply.
"I just wanted to thank you for last night." Hermione said on the edge of the bed. "For helping out Ginny. She never thinks straight when she gets emotional."
"Hmm."
"You know, I woke up with her in my bed and I just about had a heart attack. And then it turned out that Harry was in my bed, too. There was quite a bit of explaining going on in there this morning."
"Nnng."
"And now Harry and Ginny are going out, which is really sweet and they're so perfect for each other and all, but it just sort of makes me feel, I don't know, jealous maybe. Of what they have. I thought about what you said to me that one day about doing what you want, and I've been trying, you know? But the only thing is that I can't seem to figure out exactly what it is that I want."
Parvati was silent.
"I know you're half asleep and all, but I really just don't know what to do."
Hermione paused. "Hey Pav? You awake?"
Parvati rolled over. "I was, but your talking has practically put me to sleep."
Hermione screamed.
"Malfoy?" she asked, scrambling away from him.
"The one and only." He sat up, letting the sheets fall as far down his body as they could get without being scandalous. She immediately clapped a hand over her eyes.
"It's nothing you've never seen before." He said. "Parvati's in the shower."
"Hrmmm." She said, uncovering her eyes.
"I thought that you were Parvati." She said dazedly. "Did I say anything really stupid just now?" she asked.
"I wasn't really listening." He said.
"Good." She said, blinking. "I should go. Because I'm lying in sheets that you just had sex in. And I should go."
"Not so fast, Granger." He grabbed her wrist.
"Oh, as fast as I possibly can." She said.
"Ah ah ah." He grabbed her other wrist and pinned her hands down on the bed. She bit her lip.
"I though you weren't allowed to have sex with the same girl more than once." She said.
"When did I say that?" he replied, fixing her with an innocent stare.
"I figured it was in the handbook or something."
"There's set rules for being irresistibly sexy."
"Too bad." She replied, chastising herself for loving the way his hair looked, absolutely unkempt.
"Parvati was all over me last night. Drunk, no doubt." He shrugged. "But, whatever, right?"
"Sure." She said, a nagging feeling spreading through her stomach. "Let me go?"
He shook his head. "Not before I hear whatever you have on your mind."
"Why the hell do you care?" she asked, eager to get far, far away from this bed.
"Because I know it has something to do with me."
"It has nothing to do with you." She said. "Not everyone thinks solely of you."
"I never said they did."
"Of course you didn't." she said quietly.
"Then what are you thinking of?"
She blinked. "Escaflowne." Hermione herself was surprised to hear what she'd been thinking of.
He released her hands and rolled onto his side. "I don't speak French."
"It's not French." She sat up and rested on the edge of the bed, her back to him. "It's a TV show. My cousin Anna loves it." Hermione rubbed her wrists.
Draco stood up and pulled on his leather pants, then sat on the other edge, his back to her.
"The Zaibach empire was trying to destroy the planet Gaea, and the only way they could do it was to separate this girl Hitomi and this guy Van, because her love for him, plus her psychic powers, were the only thing that could give him enough power to operate his guymelef, Escaflowne, and defeat the Zaibachs."
"So?" Draco asked.
"So the Zaibach leader Dornkirk invented this machine that would change people's fates. It literally changed people's fates. And then all this other stuff happened, and Zaibach came and took Hitomi back with them."
Draco shrugged. "So how did it end?"
Hermione paused. "I never saw the ending."
She looked over at him, and then closed her eyes. "This morning everyone woke up in someone else's bed." She said slowly. "Except me."
"That's your own fault." He said.
Hermione ignored him. "I used to watch Escaflowne with Chuck, and after that episode where everyone's fates got fucked up, I looked over at him and he told me he loved me." She paused. "He said that maybe we were never even supposed to meet, but it didn't matter because we had."
Draco abstained from comment.
"The morning I woke up in his bed, I had a few seconds of this perfect feeling. That maybe this wasn't my fate. That maybe it was so wonderful because it wasn't supposed to happen."
"And?"
"And it wasn't supposed to happen." She said, laughing sadly. "And I kept think about how he'd said that maybe we weren't supposed to meet. And how I would've been much better off if we hadn't."
He shrugged. "It was just a line, Granger."
"I know." She said. "I know he never meant it. But when Ron broke up with me, I got that same feeling. What if I had never met him and Harry? What if I hadn't come into their compartment on the train to Hogwarts the first year looking for Neville's toad? What if Ron and I were supposed to get married and have a million kids? Or just stay friends?"
"You can bore yourself to death all you want with what ifs." Malfoy said.
"But you can only see how one road ends." She said. "And most of the time you're just as unsure as when you started. Maybe the Zaibachs could change fate, but at least they knew what they wanted. Fate is fate for a reason." She closed her eyes. "That's why I never wanted to see the end of Escaflowne. I was afraid it would end just the way I wanted, with Van and Hitomi in love. Because that would have meant that no matter how much you fuck things up, they always end up making sense."
Draco stood up and walked around to Hermione's side of the bed, then rested one hand on either side of her body.
"So whose bed did you want to wake up in?" he asked, smiling slyly.
Hermione tried to calm her slightly fluttering heart before mumbling that she didn't know.
"Then what the fuck are you complaining about?" he asked, standing upright once more.
Hermione leapt up in indignation.
"I'm not complaining!" she said, folding her arms. "And you are the world's worst listener."
"I didn't ask to hear all that." He said.
"Well. Fine." Hermione said. "I don't know why I told you."
"Hmm." Draco said, standing up and folding his own arms over his bare chest. "People spend half their lives talking and the other half wondering why nothing ever happens."
"How witty of you." Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
"Well, then tell me you disagree with me." He said.
"I disagree with you." She said.
"Why?"
"Because that's not necessarily true." She said.
"Prove to me it's not." He smiled and took a step closer to her.
"Fine." She said indignantly. "Just tell me how I can prove it to you."
He pondered for a moment.
"What's the one thing you want most in the world?" Draco asked.
"I wish they'd stop cutting down the rainforests-"
"Fuck the rainforests." He said, cutting her off.
"No, thanks." She said, raising her eyebrow.
"Get him back." Draco said.
"What?" she asked.
"Get Weasley back within the next two weeks until the ball. And then you'll have proved to me that people aren't all talk."
"That's ridiculous." Hermione said as her stomach dropped just a little.
"No. No it isn't." he smiled. "I know he's all you think about."
"He's not." Hermione said, blushing at the amount of time she'd spent not thinking about Ron lately.
"If you don't want to do this..." he said. "Then don't."
"What, and let you prove your superiority? I don't think so."
"Then you're going to do it?" he said.
"How do you know what you've taught me will even work?" she asked. "Ron could be totally uninterested in all of it."
"So take the risk." He said. "Unless you don't think he's worth it."
"He's worth it!" she said, a bit too loudly.
"Then what's the problem?" he asked, looking down on her.
"There isn't one." She said remorsefully. "But I can't do that to him." She said, shaking her head.
"What do you mean?" Draco asked.
"I can't force myself back together with him just to prove something to you."
"Why would you have to 'force' yourself back together with him?" Malfoy asked.
"I wouldn't." Hermione's head was spinning. "But when it does happen, I want it to be the right time. I want to let it happen naturally."
Draco stepped closer to her. "Your fucking clock is ticking." He said. "The time we all have left at Hogwarts is running out."
"Look, Malfoy, I don't care about forcing this. There's no one at Hogwarts or anywhere that I'd rather be with that Ron."
"You just said a minute ago that you'd do anything to prove it to me."
"Well, I guess I won't." she said quietly. "I don't..."
"What?" he asked, folding his arms.
"I don't think we should do this anymore."
"Fine." Malfoy said. "Take the easy road."
"I'm not taking the easy road." She said. "All I'm saying is that I think it was a bad idea that we ever started these lessons."
"Why?" he asked, smirking. "Am I just too much for you?"
Hermione shook her head, biting back tears. Maybe she'd grown ten years in the last two minutes, or maybe her conscience was just finally kicking in.
"Because whenever I say that I love Ron, I don't feel it anymore." She said.
"But you just said..." Draco said.
"I know what I just said!" she yelled. The tears finally escaped her eyes. "I can't stop contradicting myself."
"So what the fuck do you want!" he finally yelled. "I don't care about your feelings or your life, Granger. But I think that if you leave this room right now, and I never see you again..." he stopped.
"Then what?" Hermione asked.
"I'll regret it." He said, turning away from her.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"There's something about you." He said. "Something I can't stand about you. Something that makes me think that I could talk to you forever and never run out of things to say."
"So?" she replied.
"So nothing." Malfoy replied. "So maybe you're different. But you have to know that you're different."
"I don't know anything about myself." She said.
"I've hated you for so long. There were times when all I thought about was how much better things would be if only you could just go away."
"I could never forgive all the things you've done to me. Or my friends." She said.
"And you do love Weasley." He said. "You do. Weather or not you know it."
"When I woke up with Harry and Ginny in my bed this morning, the first thing I thought about was Ron." Hermione began. "But the second thing I thought about was freedom."
"How interesting." He said icily.
"I though about how much happier I would be if I didn't have to chase after Ron anymore. When we first fell in love I though that was it for me. But that wasn't it."
"The world is set out to fuck you up, Granger, what can I say? You want me to sympathize with you? Fine, life is shit, okay? We can pretend it's all going to work out for us, but it won't."
Hermione moved to stand behind him and whispered in his ear.
"I think that you've never looked sexier, just the way you are when you wake up." She said.
"Well, I try." He answered automatically.
"And I think that I've never wanted you more than I do right now." She leaned her head down and slowly kissed his bare shoulder.
"And I just think that all I want to do right now is kiss you."
He turned his head to the side.
"Why?"
"I don't know." She replied, smiling.
Hermione let her eyes drop closed and leaned down to touch her lips to his. She'd kissed him before, but this was by far the most wonderful thing she'd ever felt.
Hermione readily opened her mouth to his tongue, and let her hands wander along his soft skin.
Before she knew it, they had collapsed onto the bed and were kissing with a desirous vigor Hermione had never before experienced. She wanted him, quite desperately, in fact.
"Mmm." She said as he kissed her neck and began to lift up her shirt. She knew he wasn't wearing anything under his pants and refrained from taking them of just yet.
"Is there anyone here?" she mumbled.
"All of Parvati's roommates are gone, and she must still be in the bathroom."
Hermione was suddenly grateful that her old roommate always took hours in the bathroom every morning.
Her pajama pants had since been discarded, and Draco was concentrating on kissing her all the way down her body. He stopped tantalizingly at the top of her panties, then repositioned himself to kiss her mouth.
"You didn't have to stop." She said. "I could've handled it."
He only smiled. "I somehow disagree." Draco slid his hands up her back and removed her bra in record time. "How do you feel right now?" he asked.
She laughed. "I can't describe it."
"Have you wanted me for a long time?" he whispered into her neck.
"Yes." She moaned slightly.
"Are you absolutely burning with desire for me?" he asked, running a lazy hand up her thigh.
"Yes." She breathed.
"And you're sure you want to do this?" he asked.
"Of course." She replied. Draco smiled.
"You're positive?" He said. "You know that once you sleep with me, we can't go back."
She paused, biting her lip. "I'm not positive I won't regret it someday. But it won't be anytime soon."
Draco smiled again.
"Then there's just one thing I'm going to need." He slid backwards towards Parvati's nightstand and grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill.
"What's that for?" she asked.
He tore of an unused corner of the parchment and scribbled something on it.
"What?" Hermione asked again. He folded the paper, dropped it on her stomach and slid off the bed.
Her stomach turning over suddenly, she sat up and unfolded the parchment.
"F. Signed, Draco Malfoy." She read out loud.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart, but you failed." He leaned over the half-naked girl and kissed her loudly and coldly one last time.
"What?" she asked, absolutely frozen in place.
"My lessons. You failed."
Hermione's drew in a sharp breath.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"All that shit I fed you about how you were 'different?' How could you betray your one true love for someone like me?" he mused sarcastically.
"You-" Hermione's world suddenly began to disintegrate as she realized what had just happened.
He looked at her. "I told you never to fall for me." He said, and then leaned in closer. "The mere thought of having sex with you is not only revolting, it's disappointing."
"How could you-"
"If you recall." He cut her off. "I did absolutely nothing except follow your own lead. I can't believe that after everything I taught you, you were still so easily swayed by a few kind words."
"You asshole." Hermione whispered. She had never before in her life felt the urge to curl up and die more than she did right now. No words would ever be able to hurt him badly enough.
She began pulling on her clothes as fast as she could.
"Oh, don't go." He said mockingly. "I think that if you leave this room and I never see you again, I'll always regret it."
He smiled sickeningly at her.
"I knew what I was doing, Granger. I knew you'd inevitably fall for me. I've been prepared for a long time now."
Hermione was shaking uncontrollably.
"Don't start crying, now." He said. "After all, judging from the way you were so ready to let me fuck you, I do believe that Weasley will love everything you have to offer."
Hermione was already smashing his face before he even finished the sentence.
Malfoy reeled back slightly, but ignored the trail of blood running down his face.
"Violence is never the answer." He said preachingly, touching his fingers to the wound. "Ouch."
"I can't believe that someone as horrible as you can even exist." She said in a trembling voice. "I can't imagine how you can live with yourself."
"People like you make it so very easy." He replied. "And don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this. You've been through enough." He smiled understandingly.
Hermione stumbled out of the bed and headed for the door.
"Even after everything you knew about my past, you could still do that to me?" she asked.
"Your past, my dear, inspired me to do this in the first place."
"I thought that-" she began, but was unable to finish.
"What, you really thought I needed the money?" he asked. "You honestly believed that? Because from the beginning I only thought it would be a good way to humiliate you one last time."
Hermione let her face sink into her hands.
"And I guess it worked." She could practically feel his smile burning into her back.
Hermione had been defeated. And she knew it. And she knew that he knew it, too.
"Oh, don't forget you report card. I'm sure your parents would love to know what you've been up to at school." He dropped the parchment into her hand.
"Someday." She began, but could only shake her head and exit the room, closing the door to the very worst moment of her life.
*
Okay, that was really a horrible ending. Once again I am so sorry about the wait, but I just have so much shit to do that I can't stand it. But I solemnly vow never to go this long again because I know that's how you lose readers. I love all of you for being such awesome people!
I honestly don't know if I'll ever write for ff.net after this story because I really think it's sort of heading on a downward spiral... But I most likely will. I just hate how they're so restrictive now and they try to make up for it by adding all those fancy tools and buttons. I remember years ago when I used to read Roswell stories and it was so simple but cool.
Anyways, mad thanks to...
Lil' Miss Me, jepa, Crystalline Lily, Amanda, BlacKat, Oriencor, Sora Ketsueki, mary, wajeena, bad gal, Danny, novasenshi, A.K Veralidaine, blur-X-angel, casper, Nysa, LinZ, snapegirl, Obi-Lass, Alie, Crystal Words, Dreaming One, DracosSugar, Eternal Senshi Alexiel, TzAmZ, sakure1287, sailorscully, Elisha, Sammie, muffy, joyce, katiegirl, Me, Rina, Becky468, froggi, Amora-Ryuko, Blackstar, moonlight siren, surfer-girl131, blueberry girl, j.j. alan, Kathrynvalmont, Lilie Blaze, Courtney, DracoLegolasOliver r sexy, me, Paradise in Slytherin, cutie, Evil Snake, unknown, Slytherin Slut, Zelur-Em, mendie, Bisquik, Elitea LeFay, Brandi, Skyla Malfoy, potter-reader, pCt, Goldenberry, Author of Darkness, Athena Tudor, GrrBabyYea, Kay, ~KC~, Coffee, grr argh, DracoDew17, rubberducks, jilly, the brilliant dream, marebear166, jazzyjellybean, err!!!, Glossy, Mistress Desdemona, Katarina Evanla, LadyJenn, MsLessa, daniel's love, Bumblebee-Queen, me, harrypottermagic32, Emma, ambe, Stellar Snape, Wicked-Willow, Ruby Red Gem, Kat, Christine, Dragon Eyes, Beatrix Tribal, Fiery Slut, Mystical Mole, Claudia, Lil' Lily In A Pond, pookie bear, Lizzie-star08, alexandergranger, mimi, Mrs. Wood-Felton, ju, Joanna, Herbie, goldenstar555, Alanna Roseguard, DeStInYvsFaTe, zee, HarryPotter5626, MiaMaria, Rebecca, sk8er gurl, SophieBabe, Snow-Queen, and eight people who didn't leave names… which is weird because I didn't think you could do that.
Hey, I was wondering if any of you reviewers are guys. I thought some of you might be, but I couldn't tell. Anyways, it's a bit of a turn-on, so I'd just like to know (*_~).
YOU ALL ROCK MY WORLD!!!!!!!!!!! SEE YOU IN CHAPTER 11!