Chapter 7
"It's nearly September 1st and you've yet to pay a visit!"
"I know love. I'm sorry. I didn't expect this job would be so time consuming." Ron's head pleaded from the flames in Hermione's fireplace. "I'll have a holiday soon, I swear."
"Ron! I've only a week before students arrive! Besides, you promised!"
"Don't be mad honey, I'll make it up to you I swear."
"I'm not mad, I'm just - I miss you."
"I miss you too, something terrible."
Ron's head faded from the fire. Hermione sighed and sat back on her chaise. It was a Friday night. Harry had gone to Hogsmeade to have a few drinks at the Three Broomsticks. She had been much too depressed to go. He promised to bring her some chocolate frogs to lift her mood. Snape and his wife were doing what they were always doing. They behaved like googly-eyed teenagers. She couldn't understand it. Snape tried to convince her that's what it's like to be truly in love - puh! That's what it's like to be a pair of idiots more like it. She was in love, and it certainly wasn't like that. No, what they had was fleeting; what she and Ron had was love.
She couldn't think about it anymore. She hopped up. Parvati said she wasn't going anywhere tonight; they weren't the greatest friends, but she was someone to talk to. During their seventh year Professor Trelawney "predicted" she would be needing an apprentice for her Divination class. Her cosmic connections told her Parvati possessed the gifts needed to fill the job. Hermione figured she was just pissed that Snape got an assistant and wanted one of her own to prove the importance of her work.
Hermione paused a few feet from Parvati's door. She listened in closely and heard her arguing with someone.
"Come on Parvati, just do it!"
"Absolutely not."
"So you're just going to lie there then?"
"And what's wrong with that?"
"Look, I didn't come over here for some mediocre sex."
Hermione heard a slap. The door flew open. A naked man came flying into the hallway, followed by his robes. He scrambled to his feet and used the robes to cover his sensitive areas. Hermione tried to look away but she was like a deer caught in headlights.
"What? Would you like a piece too, Mudblood? Plenty to go around." Draco Malfoy moved his hand as though he were about to reveal himself.
Hermione turned and ran with an utter look of disgust plastered on her face. She ran all the way back to her room and flung herself onto the sofa. She had just seen Malfoy naked. EW! Well, actually, it wasn't that bad . . . No, no, no, GROSS! He looked so different without his hair slicked back, and his lean . . . muscular . . . build . . . NO, Hermione! Disgusting! A bath! A bath would clear her mind right up! A nice, hot, relaxing, lavender bath would calm her down.
Hermione disrobed and climbed into the tub. She sank back and let her head rest on the bath pillow. She breathed in the scents of chamomile and lavender. It was perfectly natural for her to think that way. Maybe Malfoy wasn't her first choice for that visual, but it wasn't her fault. It just happened. She had been lonely for so long. She was a deprived woman! She yearned for Ron to come visit. Her body missed his touch. She slid her hand down her neck, across her chest, over her stomach, then between her legs. The twinge of pleasure put a smile on her face. If Ron couldn't be there in the flesh, he could be there in her fantasy.
*~*
His feet mingled in between hers. Their legs moved easily across the satin sheets. Their movements were slow and deep. The whole weight of him spread across her body. Her fingernails clawed carelessly up and down his back. His body was perfect. He was a smooth, pale, muscular Adonis. She felt herself near climax. She reached her hands up to pull his hair back so she could look into his eyes. Those ice blue eyes. Her body shuddered.
*~*
Hermione's eyes shot open. Had she just fantasized about Malfoy? Oh dear God, what had she -
"Enjoy yourself?"
Hermione leapt out of her skin.
"Surprise . . . "
"Ron!" She scrambled out of the tub soaking wet and ran into his arms.
"Miss me that much eh?"
She swept the smug look from his face with a deep kiss.
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Harry's eyes were going crossed. He couldn't read another line. Honestly, did he have to really cover all of these useless facts? Defense Against the Dark Arts should be strictly practical. But no, the O.W.L.s and the N.E.W.T.s both had written and practical tests. He heaved a heavy sigh and slammed the book closed.
His mind wandered again to Hermione. She had been so depressed these days. That prat Ron had yet to pop in. Good, perhaps she would see that she and Ron were never mean to be. Perhaps she would notice just how much HE really cared for her. He couldn't understand how she could forget his confession of love for her so quickly. Besides, her torrid affair with Snape proved she didn't really love Ron. Why was she going to marry him?
Harry looked up and realized it was time to meet Hermione for dinner. He snatched up the satchel of chocolate frogs and headed for the Great Hall. He hurried without paying much attention to anything. Something made him stop and back up to the last corridor he had just passed. He peered down the length of the hallway. His eyes widened. There was absolutely no way he could be seeing what she was seeing . . .