The Enemy Chapter 5

I whipped around suddenly, withdrawing my foot from the caresses of the fire. Blaise was standing there, hands on her perfect hips.

"What were you doing?" she yelled angrily. I looked at her, dazed. In all reality, I had no idea what I was doing myself. I had never lost it like that before. I had been completely unaware that I was about to feed my body to the flames. But I could not give her the impression that I, for once, did not know what to do next. So I regained my cool and composed nature, and stared her right in her dark eyes.

"What did it look like, Blaise?" I said nonchalantly. Hopefully her answer would give me a clue as to what to say next.

"Like you were about to jump into the fire. What, you want to commit suicide?"

I opened and closed my mouth furiously. Although the idea was appealing, Malfoys do not commit suicide. They stay and take what is given to them, and this is what I was always taught.

"Of course not, Blaise. That's stupid. Do I look like a little, depressed weakling?" She stared at me harshly, almost inquisitively. I had to strain my ears to hear her next words.

"Are you?"

I scowled. "I'm not," I told her as I stomped off to my dormitory, thoughts swarming in my head like bees. You're not an idiot, I told myself, never lose it like that again. If Blaise hadn't come in then…I shuddered to think what would have happened.

As soon as I entered my dormitory, I took out a piece of parchment and began to scribble a letter.

Father—

Although I am spending most of my time trying to clasp Granger in my clutches, I have noticed a slight slip in my grades because of this. I was wondering if you could give me a little extra time so I may pull my grades up and hopefully come first. As you know, the mud blood usually comes first, and I was hoping that I could have a go before I dispose of her filthy body.

—Draco

That ought to do it, I thought angrily. My father would never refuse school after all, and he would love the fact that I'd insulted Granger so much in that bloody letter. How many times had he complained that I was second to a mudblood? Although I knew that I would never top her in grades, my father had to believe so. Perhaps it would help redeem his low opinion of her. Perhaps it would save her…. No, it wouldn't. Nothing would save her now. Nobody except me, and I was bound to the life of a death eater.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I couldn't believe he occupied my thoughts. He, the last person that I should care about, was invading my thoughts. Why? What had I done to deserve this? Why had we become friends? Why had he kissed me? Was he really changing, or was it just my overactive imagination? It was bloody midnight and I couldn't sleep; my brain was foolishly wasting time deciphering his actions. I knew perfectly well it was not logical for me to obsess over a boy, but here I was, doing exactly that. And I couldn't stop myself. It was like an addiction, almost. I had to think about him. I needed to think about him. If I didn't, my mind would automatically delve into a state of complete insomnia. And if I did, I stayed awake anyway. I was doomed.

Suddenly I heard a knock at my door. I glanced at the clock. 11:53 p.m. Who in the bloody hell would come knocking on the girls' dormitory at 11:53 p.m.? I

knew perfectly well that girls and boys did 'get together' after hours, but nobody bloody knocked on the door. They planned it in advance. Sighing, I rolled over in my bed, trying to ignore it. But the knock came once again, louder this time. I gave up. It wasn't like I could sleep anyway. Shuffling towards the door, I was overcome with sleepiness, but I threw off the feeling and opened up. To my surprise, a disheveled looking Malfoy stood there.

I yawned, although in reality, I was suddenly wide awake. "What do you want?" I asked roughly.

"Please, look…we really need to talk. No shit…just come down to the common room."

"How did you get into the Gryffindor house anyway? And how'd you get to the girls dorms?"

He smiled mischievously. Very cute, I found myself thinking, until I realized what I was really saying and told myself what a bastard. "I've got my ways, Hermione."

I shrugged off the fact that he'd called me Hermione.

"Why do you want me to come?" I said, trying to act as if I didn't care. Yeah bloody right.

"Because. We need to talk."

"Since when did you want to talk to a mud blood?" It didn't hurt anymore. I'd heard the word so much it had lost all of its powerful meaning.

"Since now. Are you going to haul your arse down or will I have to do it for you?" He said it so domineeringly that I felt compelled to 'haul my arse' down. I followed him into the familiar Gryffindor common room. I couldn't help wondering how he felt about this new territory. Was the Gryffindor common room nicer than that of the Slytherins? I imagined theirs to be cold and dark, very much like Snape's dungeons. He plopped down onto one of the burgundy sofas, tinted with a lovely gold border, the beauty completely lost on him, and stared at me. A little intimidated, I sat down across from him.

"Well?" I said, expectantly.

"Well…look. I know that…we've got some stuff between us."

"Tell me something I don't know, Malfoy."

"I see you're getting a little cocky, Miss Know-it-all."

I felt ecstatic. The thrill of arguing heatedly with Draco Malfoy was one of the best feelings in the world. It was almost a high for me. I felt a rush of air behind my ears although the air in the common room was still and hot like summer. "So what if I am? What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know. I might just have to…" To my shock, he leaned in and before I could protest I felt Slytherin lips upon me. And I kissed him back, being the bloody idiot I was. Why? It felt so good…why did he kiss so nicely?

"What was that for?" I asked quietly when he finally pulled away. He shrugged. Then with a beautiful smile, he turned around and left the common room, his forest green cloak billowing behind him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Smugly, I entered my dorm. Perfect. It had been beautifully executed. I could not have done it any better. The adrenaline from my nightly escapade was still going strong as I clambered into bed. Ten minutes later, I was still wound up. I tried to shrug it off. The kiss wasn't anything, was it? In all honesty, I hadn't gone down there in order to kiss her. I'd only gone down to talk to her, hopefully to make her realize that well…she could trust me. But the kiss, it had been the clincher! I knew now that she was going to obsess over me. I knew she liked me. But…why did I want her to like me, besides the obvious reason? Why had her kiss felt so good? What? What was I thinking? This was mud blood Granger! No need to fall for her, she wasn't going to be around anyway.

A few weeks after exchanging stares with Hermione and making her even more excited to see me (oh was I good, or was I good?), I received yet another letter from my father. Perfect, perfect, perfect. I had even longer to draw Hermione into a world of deceit and trickery and lies and treachery and…I sighed, feeling a little numb. She was pretty nice, although I hated to admit it. And she kissed…well…pretty good. I didn't want to kill her.

Draco--

You obviously don't understand that no matter what, the Dark Lord is always first. I expect you and the mud blood to arrive in one week. No arguments. I expected better of you. We shall all be waiting in the Lord's lair.

-- Your father

I stared at the letter for a few seconds, my heart beating rapidly. Then calmly, I ripped it into tiny shreds and threw it in the dustbin. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down, but my eyes scrunched up in immense anger anyway. Damn that man! He was such a bastard! "The Lord comes first" my arse! Bloody bastard! I was good with girls, but I could not get her in a week!! And I didn't even want to get her anymore! Why should I deliver her to the Lord? What had she done anyway? And what was I going to get out of it? A Dark Mark? Some reward! My arse! I was not going to take her, I decided.

Of course, I changed my mind rather quickly. I had to take her, otherwise my father and his cronies would not hesitate to dismember me. I was really not worth that much to my father. Of course, he wanted to be proud of me, but say I rebelled--he'd kill me before he let me ruin his reputation. Oh, damn him and his reputation. I hated that man so much, but not as much as I hated my "lord". Lord my arse. Nobody was Draco Malfoy's lord!

The next day, I woke up almost in a cold sweat. Only six more days. I raced to get dressed, and didn't gel my hair--I knew it would suit her fancy. I walked down to breakfast very casually--no, almost sauntered in--and sent her a sexy glance. She turned beet red. I wanted to laugh, but only smiled at her, because I had to remember--give her necklace, make her accept, six more days--oh, did my life suck or did it suck. Luckily for me, double potions was that morning. Hermione and I were doing extremely well, thanks to the Firehorn potion's top grades. I still couldn't remember where I'd heard that before, but I knew I had.

Snape was assigning an easy potion today that had to be worked on in pairs. "Pick your partner," Snape grumbled. I could tell he was pissed. This was the best opportunity yet to talk, flirt, with her. "Granger," I called out, making her spin on her toes.

"What?"

"Partners?" The entire class swiveled their heads in my business. Nosy bastards.

"Uh…sure," she said shrugging, shooting a puzzled look in Potter's direction. Ah, Potter, I thought grimly, I've ousted you. You thought you were Granger's little boy toy…ah, look at me, she's going to be my partner. Enjoying the disgusted look on Potter's face, I turned to face Hermione.

"What's up?" I asked, trying to be nonchalant.

"Not too much. And you?"

"Staring at a beautiful girl," I said, smiling at her. I was shocked. Had I just said that! How cheesy! How incredibly corny! No way was she going to swallow that bull! I never used lines like that. Ever. What had gotten into me? Those would never work on her. Oh Jesus, I prayed. Please bloody accept that.

To my surprise, she only giggled. "Idiot," she said, playfully swatting at me with a book. Oh wow, my line had actually worked. I sighed, relieved.

"So…the potion. We're experts at potions, aren't we?" She said brightly.

"I don't know, are we? I know we're experts at…" I leaned in to whisper in her ear, her bushy hair tickling my face. It felt sort of nice, actually.

The week passed in much the same way. We flirted a hell of a lot, and ended up kissing just once more. The morning I had to get her finally arrived. I woke up feeling shaky. I really did not want to do this, but what choice did I have? What could I do? If I didn't go, Voldemort would kill both her and me. And if I did go, he'd only kill her. One less death, right? I tried to reason it out, trying to convince myself.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up feeling light and airy. As I stretched I realized the day outside was beautiful. Immediately Draco sprang to my mind. I no longer fought it off, but I was quite surprised that he of all people could have this effect on me. I fancied him, I admitted to myself. He was edgy and sexy, and daring, and…just, I couldn't describe it. He was…well…I wouldn't mind being with him.

All day long I looked for him but to my surprise he seemed to be avoiding me. I asked Harry and Ron if they'd seen him, and both replied, disgruntled, "Thank god I haven't seen that ferret today." I sighed. "You know," I told them, "He's really not that bad."

"Only because he flirts with you."

"No! We're just friends!"

"My arse. Be careful, Hermione. I don't trust him," Harry said beseechingly.

"I don't know," I said, a little seed of doubt sowing dirt in my mind. "I think he just may be alright."

Later that day, he proved it. He sent me a note to meet him outside at 10:00 p.m. I was so excited! I stared longingly at the tree he'd assigned as a meeting place, fantasizing about what would happen at 10:00. Maybe he'd ask me out. I wondered if I would say yes. Wouldn't it be so strange…Draco Malfoy as my boyfriend?

Ten finally arrived. I stepped out, and then immediately began to worry. I should've put some make-up on or something, I thought. After all, this is the guy I fancy. I walked out at precisely ten, and to my disappointment, he was not there. I decided to wait for ten minutes and no more, or otherwise I'd seem desperate. He came at 10:04, looking rather worried actually. Perhaps he was scared that someone would see us.

"Hey," he said. He sounded really nervous. Maybe he was going to ask me out!

"Hey! What's up?" I said, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.

"Listen, Hermione…I want you to know…um…whatever happens, I…fancy you." It was almost a whisper.

"I fancy you too," I said softly.

"I'm so sorry," He whispered, pulling out a gorgeous necklace with a beautiful pink gem as a pendant, and unclasping it. I smiled happily. He was going to put it on my neck. I was so enraptured by the necklace I didn't even notice what he was saying.

"Sorry about what?"

"This." He leaned in to kiss me, and as I felt his lips on mine, I heard him fastening the necklace on. And before I understood it, in a swirl of emotions, I could feel his lips and the cool touch of the necklace…and a jerk below my navel?

A/N: Well, Fanfiction has been screwing up my format. Hopefully it isn't too bad. Anyway, please review…or he's going to KILL HER!!! Muahaha! Lol, well, maybe, maybe not. Read and review, and I shall post quickly.