Chapter Eight: Shaking Things Up a Bit

Draco sighed a deep sigh of boredom and discontent. He was sick and tired of being in this bloody library!

Sure, it had been fun at first. He had decided to seduce the Weasley girl, and had a good run with that. Then he had poured his heart out to her, that had certainly been interesting too.

But just as the first two days were jam packed with excitement, these last two days had been as dull as imaginable. He hadn't had any chance to fool around with the Weasley girl, as she was always sitting in with her unconscious brother. He couldn't taunt the mudblood, because she ways always with Ron, too. And he had lost all joy in bothering Potter since they were initially stranded.

So here sat Draco Malfoy, on day five of his library adventure, reading a book. Yes, that's right: reading a book. There was literally nothing else to do. He couldn't recall the last time he had actually spoken to someone, or someone had spoken to him.

He remembered being in this position before, just four days ago: stranded with nothing to do but read. But he had found a solution, oh yes, his male hormones never failed to find him something to do. And they were starting to kick in again, as he saw the Weasley girl emerge from behind the bookcase.

Draco hopped to his feet and started walking over to her. Ginny had picked up the red bag and pulled out a handful of miscellaneous objects. Draco grinned in anticipation: he was almost there! But then, just as quick as she had come out, the Weasley girl went back behind the bookcase. Draco stopped in the middle of the library, frowning.

Harry soon came over and also pulled something out of the bag. Draco decided that he might have to deal with talking to him. It was better than reading, at least. Telling his hormones they would have to wait, he started walking again.

But then Hermione emerged from the bookcase, and started talking to Harry. They exchanged a few words, then Harry shrugged and disappeared into the room behind the bookcase. Hermione smiled and sat down at a table, rummaging through the red bag.

Draco sighed. He would have to settle on talking with the mudblood. He walked over to her. Hermione smiled up at him. "Hi Draco," she said.

Draco looked at her but said nothing. An idea was filling his head. A wonderful, brilliant (albeit a bit repulsive) idea. Hermione Granger was a girl. And not a bad looking one either.

"Uh, Draco?" she questioned, waving her hand in front of his face. Draco snapped back to reality.

"Yeah, hi Granger." He sat down on the other side of the table, blindly reached for the food bag, and stared at her.

Yes, not bad-not bad at all. She would do, if for no other purpose than to occupy his time.

"SHE'S A MUDBLOOD!" The built in pure-blood alarm went off in his head, reminding him that wizards of his caliber did not associate with such scum.

Draco shook his head, taking in her wavy brown hair, dark eyes, and creamy skin. He intently watched her lips as they took a bite of the shape she was eating. Blood obligations be damned. "Shut up," he muttered to his brain, which was still screaming about her bloodline, "and let me have some fun."

"What's that?" asked Hermione, looking at him in confusion.

"Oh nothing," Draco said silkily, leaning in, "Hermione."

Ginny sat on the floor, buried in Madame Pince's wretched dresses. She listened to the soft sound of Ron's steady breathing as she lifted up a maroon gown to examine.

"Uh, Ginny?"

Ginny quickly turned her head, seeing Harry standing in the door. "Oh, hi Harry," she said softly. He walked over to her.

"How's Ron?" he asked.

"Just the same," Ginny set down the dress, "out cold, but alive."

Harry looked down at her and cocked his head. "What are you doing?"

Ginny let out a small, nervous laugh. "Well these clothes," she indicated the school uniform she was wearing, "are getting dirty again. I've been wearing them for two straight days. So I'm trying to find a halfway decent dress to wear."

Harry laughed. Judging from the gowns surrounding her, there were no viable candidates to fulfill the standard of "halfway decent." He slowly walked to the other side of the room.

"Can I help?" he asked. There was nothing else to do. He had been sitting out in the library, bored for the past two days, avoiding Malfoy and occasionally exchanging a word with Hermione.

"Sure," said Ginny eagerly, pushing aside a pile of dresses to make room for him to sit.

Harry took his place next to her, and picked up the nearest gown, which was puke-green. He raised it to his face. "What do you think, is it my color?"

Ginny giggled. "Oh yes, it brings out your eyes." Both teenagers laughed, but then abruptly stopped.

It was all too familiar: sitting on the ground, sorting through clothes, laughing. It was the exact same situation in which they had been in that past summer, when they had the fight. Their eyes met, both thinking the same thing.

Ginny swallowed hard and looked down, her eyes filling with tears. She wanted to say so much, but she had already apologized countless times, it was useless.

Harry cleared his throat. "Déjà vu," he muttered with a forced smile.

Ginny looked up at him with watery eyes. "Harry..." she began.

Harry didn't give her an opportunity to speak. He held a finger to her lips to silence her, and gently brushed the tears from her eyelashes. He softly ran his hand down her cheek, and locked his green eyes with her brown. "Ginny, it's okay," he whispered before leaning in and covering her lips with his.

"Malfoy!" Hermione screeched, running across the library. She heard his footsteps right behind her. What was happening?

"Oh, c'mon Hermione," came his drawl. She frowned, coming around the curve of a standing book shelf. She ran down the row, sensing that he was gaining on her. This was too much. Not only was Draco Malfoy calling her "Hermione," but if she wasn't mistaken, he had made a pass at her.

Hermione reached the end of the row, running as fast as her legs would allow. She saw the bookcase that was the door to the secret room partially open. Just a little farther...she sped up, hearing Draco's steps falling farther back. "I'm going to make it!" she thought with triumph, turning her head to grin back at Draco. Big mistake.

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed as she ran full-force into a table. Her feet were swept out from underneath and she landed on the floor with a hard thump.

Hermione groaned as she stared up at the ceiling. She lay on the floor immobile, listening to Draco's footsteps draw near until they were upon her. His grinning face filled her line of vision.

"Go away Malfoy," she moaned. He said nothing, but extended his hand down to her. Having no other choice, she accepted, and he pulled her to her feet.

Hermione tried to jerk away, but he wouldn't let go of her hand. Draco's devious grin grew and he pulled her towards him.

"Draco Malfoy, stop this instant!" Hermione insisted, "what the bloody hell are you doing? You're not yourself. You hate me, remember? You're a Malfoy and I'm just a lowly mudblood."

Draco smiled down at her. "Say it again."

"What?"

"Mudblood. Say it again, it's sexy."

"I can't believe..." Hermione never had an opportunity to finish her sentence, as Draco forced his mouth down on hers.

She froze, unable to move. Draco released her hand and wrapped his arms around her waist, but Hermione stayed still as he pressed his lips harder.

It was her first kiss. Her very fist kiss. Her knees buckled, her breath caught in her throat, her heart pounded. She-Hermione Granger-was being kissed!

Draco smiled to himself and tightened his grip on her. Finally. This was sure better than reading.

Hermione continued in her state of euphoria for a moment, but then something snapped in her head. It was her first kiss- her very first kiss was being stolen! And by Draco Malfoy of all people! This wasn't how it was supposed to be!

Her arms snapped into action, bracing themselves against his chest and pushing him away as hard as possible. Draco stumbled backwards, frowning at her. Then he grinned, "I'm not done with you, Granger," he said, taking a step forward.

"Oh no you don't." As quick as lighting Hermione's hand shot into the folds of her monstrous dress and pulled out Ginny's wand. She pointed it at Draco's heart.

"Granger! Where the bloody hell did you get that from?"

Oops. "I...uhh..."

Draco laughed. "No matter, just get us out of here."

Hermione dropped her arm and pondered for a moment. Maybe the danger outside was gone. They hadn't heard a noise from beyond the walls since they had become trapped. It could be perfectly safe to finally get out of this place. She could sleep in her own bed, shower in her own bathroom, wear her own clothes...things might just be back to normal.

"Okay," she muttered, turning around. "Okay, Malfoy, that sounds like a good idea. I'll try to blast through the wall. She walked over to the wall, and he followed. Her mind was still racing.

Harry and Ron would stop doing silly things like chase her around and make unreasonable bets. Ron could be taken to the hospital wing and completely cured. Draco would stop hitting on Ginny, and even better, leave Hermione herself alone. Normal. That's all she wanted.

Laughter interrupted her thoughts, and Hermione turned to see that it was coming from behind the partially-opened bookcase. Ginny and Harry were sitting on the floor of the room, throwing Madame Pince's dresses at each other. Ginny took a monstrosity of pink and shoved it in Harry's face, squealing with delight. Harry laughed and pushed it away, then advanced on her. Ginny giggled, stood, and started to run across the room, only to be caught by Harry. He pulled her into an embrace and Ginny hugged back, burying her head into his chest.

Harry and Ginny. They had finally made up. Hermione smiled.

But then her smile disappeared. She remembered how people act differently under extreme circumstances, and how Harry and Ginny had hated each other before being stranded in the library. And now that they were friends for five minutes it didn't mean that it would last. Hermione was willing to bet that they would go back to despising each other the minute they got out. They needed time, at least a couple more days, to affirm that they really didn't mind each other; that quite the opposite, they immensely enjoyed each other's company. They needed to be in this extreme circumstance a little while longer to be forced to spend every minute of every day together, to regain the friendship they had lost, to form something that would last outside these walls.

"Well..." came Draco's expectant voice. "What are you waiting for?"

Hermione took a deep breath, and turned to him, once again raising her wand.

"Granger, what the..."

"I'm sorry Malfoy," muttered Hermione. She couldn't help the small smile that played at her lips as she yelled, "Oblivate!"