Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, I swear! And I'm not paying anyone royalties either, 'kay?
A/N: Okay people, I'm back! I've eaten a lot of chocolate –especially of the Easter egg variety- and have done a lot of talking & crying and all that and I think I'm okay enough to write some more of this story. Yay. Oh, and thank you to all the people who "reviewed" and said they hoped I was okay. So…here goes Chapter 7!
Chapter 7
Previously on OTT:
Okay, so lets review what happened last chapter cos that was pretty exciting & stuff happened. Basically, Draco accidentally stumbled on Hermione's bedroom at an indecent hour of the morning when he definitely should have been in bed, but he couldn't sleep & so had decided to explore the house. When he opened Hermione's door (he used a hairpin on the step to unlock the door) he found Hermione fast asleep on her bed…naked. Responding to some inner driving force that he could not stop, Draco approached Hermione, and started to place gentle kisses on her exposed hip. Hermione woke up because she hadn't shut the window last night and there was a cold breeze blowing in, and responded to Draco's actions with:
"Draco Malfoy, you Slytherin scum! What the hell are you doing?"
and that was the end of the chapter. So here we go with what happens next.
* * * * *
Draco froze looking up at Hermione, unable to think of a single plausible excuse for why he was in her room, making love to her hipbone with his mouth. Hermione was sitting up and glaring at him, the covers on her bed pulled up under her chin so that not one millimeter of skin below her neck was exposed to Draco's eyes. And she looked pissed. Really pissed.
Suddenly, Draco remembered their bet from the afternoon before. Perfect.
"I'm making you want me, remember? No time like the present to start working on winning our little bet."
As Draco watched her eyes to see if she believed him, he saw something indefinable flicker through her eyes when he lied and said that he was only trying to win their bet. What was it? It couldn't be hurt could it? No. She didn't care about him, and she certainly didn't want him. Well, not yet anyway, he thought with a smirk.
But just as quickly as it had appeared in her eyes, it disappeared, and it was as if shutters had covered Hermione's eyes, and he couldn't see any of what she was feeling. And as she opened her mouth to speak, he wondered if maybe he'd just done damage to his cause, rather than helping it.
"I don't care about the stupid bet! Why the hell did you come here? It's," Hermione glanced at the clock on her bedside table, "only 7 in the morning. I should be asleep!" Another thought passed through Hermione's head as she remembered that she'd locked her door last night. "How'd you get in here anyway?"
Draco at least had the decency to blush as he held up the rogue hairpin.
"You own hairpins? And you carry them about with you?" Hermione looked a bit weirded out at that thought.
"Of course I don't own hairpins!" Draco spouted indignantly. " I found it on the top step, it was just sitting there. And I was curious. So I opened the door with it. And when I saw you lying there naked as the day you were born I just couldn't waste the opportunity to put my plan into action."
When Draco mentioned the bit about her being nude, Hermione flushed. After having to sleep in pyjamas the whole time she was at Hogwarts, Hermione relished being able to sleep without any pjs on in the warmer months she spent at home. Now however… But it was only one summer. She could cope. But if the spoiled Draco was trying to seduce her, there were a couple of things he needed to know.
"Draco. Much as I'm loath to help you win, there's something you need to know about girls. Although the first thought that pops into a girls head when she sees you may be about how good you kiss, or what you'd be like to date, before she acts on it, she's going to want to know she can trust you. That she can be friends with you. Believe it or not, you can't spend your whole life in bed. Once you get out, if there's nothing to talk about & you don't get along with each other, what's the point? So, what I'm trying to say, is if you're trying to get a girl to like you…want you…whatever…you've got to be her friend first. And make her trust you. Not just so's you can betray her, but because you're a good person. Now, I seriously doubt you are a good person, so maybe you could work on that too while you're at it. Oh, and just so you know, sneaking in here when I didn't invite you in and had the door locked doesn't inspire my trust."
Draco watched in wonder as Hermione spoke. So he had to be her friend, eh? Well, he could do that. No one had to know. It'd only be until he had her begging for him. Then he could tell everyone how he'd tricked the Gryffindor Head Girl into falling for a Slytherin. How he'd laugh then. But he couldn't let her know his plan.
"Be just friends with a girl?" Draco questioned. "Is that even possible?"
Hermione looked at him in contempt. "Yes, it's possible Malfoy, even for you. Look at Harry and Ron and I. We've been friends since First Year."
Draco nearly laughed out loud as he looked directly into Hermione's eyes. "You're telling me that neither Potter nor Weasley have ever tried to come on to you, and you've never felt anything other than friendship for either of then? Come off it Granger. You may think I'm evil, but at least credit me with a little intelligence."
"Why should I? And no," Hermione blushed a little as she lied, "we've only ever been friends.
"What about that hissy fit Weasley threw after the Yule Ball in Fourth Year? Remember, when you went with Krum?"
"You know about that?"
"Hermione, everyone knew about that. It was around the school before breakfast the next morning. Anyway, before you're imprinted in my mind forever as a liar, are you sure nothing ever happened between you and Weasley?"
"Well, okay, maybe a little something, but not for very long after I came to my senses."
"And Weasley was okay with that?" Draco couldn't believe what he was hearing. Surely Weasley wasn't a complete and utter lunatic, despite all the other things Draco'd thought about him over the past six years.
"Of course he was! It was a mutual decision," Hermione said firmly.
"If you say so," replied Draco. "And Potter?"
"Never." Hermione suddenly noticed that as they'd spoken Malfoy had moved from kneeling beside the bed to sitting on it in front of her. "And now, it's time for you to go. And remember what I told you on the train? I never want you on my bed again."
Draco grinned as he too realised where he was sitting. He reached out and grasped Hermione's hand from where it rested on her knee. He pulled it to his lips and kissed the fingertips gently, provoking Hermione into withdrawing it quickly. He knew he was playing with fire, but he couldn't for the life of him stop.
"I tell you what, Miss Hermione," Draco stated with a knowing smile, "I promise that the next time I'm on your bed it will be because you want me there…you've invited me there."
Hermione flushed at the implication, and lifted her head with dignity to look Malfoy directly in the eyes. She stretched out her arm and pointed to the door.
"Out. Now"
Draco good-naturedly rose and strolled leisurely, but with purpose, across the room. When he paused at the door, Hermione busied herself rummaging through the drawer in her bedside table in an attempt to dismiss him, both from the room and her mind.
When he called her name though, she had to look up at him. What she didn't realise was that the position of leaning over the bedside table pushed her breasts up, and Draco could just see the cleavage-forming tops of the rounded mounds. He waited until she was looking into his eyes. He paused for a moment as they just stared at each other, invisible threads connecting them across the room. Then he spoke.
"Trust me, you will invite me."
A/N: Well, wasn't that fun! J And longer than usual too! I'm not sure about that chapter. I might change it, but in the meantime I'll put it up for y'all. If I do decide to change it I'll let you know.
Meantime, below is a list of the songs I listened to while writing this, just in case you're interested.
Let Go, by Avril Lavigne, especially-I'm With You
-Unwanted
-Anything But Ordinary
-Things I'll Never Say
-Nobody's Fool
Golden Years, by David Bowie (you know, that song in A Knight's tale where Heath Ledger makes up the dance at that dinner thing) Laundry Service, by Shakira, especially-Objection (Tango)
-Underneath Your Clothes
-Rules
-Fool