A/N: oy. I have no idea what to write!!! AAAHHHH!!!!!!

Disclaimer: well… I DO own the first two movies. But… yeah… no… I really don't own the characters at all. Mayhaps, they'd be happier with their current owner. Although… I must say… they're very very cute. Too bad they're so young. =(

^_~

Strip Down

By Kristina Chang

Sorry to Disappoint…

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Last time:

"What?! You don't have an owl." Ron countered.

"Yes I do. Damien here." Hermione gestured to the owl on her shoulder. Everyone stared at the beautiful gray owl.

"When did you get him?!" Ginny asked, astonished.

"Someone gave him to me." Hermione answered simply.

"Who would give you such a beautiful owl? AND an Aenyra?" Lavender asked.

"And I forgot to mention the necklace too." Hermione added.

"NeCkLaCe?!!" Everyone said at once.

'Yeah. I'm wearing it now."

"I really want to who is giving me these things. And especially Damien. He's amazing. For an owl."

"Oh 'Mione!! You have an admirer!!" Ginny squealed with excitement.

"A WHAT?!" Harry and Ron exclaimed at once.

"Well, Ginny… I suppose you're right." Hermione said with a smile.

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A little over a week had passed and Hermione was still receiving letters and presents, as well as flowers. Just yesterday, she received four roses. One in the morning, one in lunch, one in dinner, and one right before she went to bed. All were delivered by Damien.

Hermione was in peaceful bliss, dreaming about a certain tall, blonde-haired, frosty-eyed Slytherin. Just as he was about to lean in and fulfill her desire to taste his luscious lips, a soft hoot brought her out of her reverie.

Hermione sat up abruptly in her bed, looking to her left and seeing Damien perched on her nightstand, carrying a deep crimson rose in its beak. She reached to stroke his head gently after taking the rose from his beak. Then she reached her arms above her head to stretch out and she got out of bed, walking over to her window.

Damien flew over to Hermione and sat upon her shoulder. Hermione had tried to follow Damien one day to see if she could follow him to her secret admirer. But Damien was instructed to take a most devious course and flew in and around many trees and the plains and once even going through the Forbidden Forest. Hermione lost him in there, she couldn't keep up on her broom.

Ah, now you're wondering why she, of all people, would be on a broom. Well, last year, she decided to give flying another chance and managed to, eventually, get over her fear of heights and flying with help from her dedicated friends. And now, well, she had one of the best brooms around, a Nebulon, even better than the Firebolt. And Harry and Ron even managed to rope her onto the Quidditch team after seeing her playing soccer one day.

Well now, back to the topic at hand.

Hermione stepped away from the window and walked over to her dresser, placing the crimson flower in a vase that she kept the other flowers she got. There were over two dozen different types of flowers in there but the rose seemed to stand out the most after she placed it in with the others. Hermione looked over at the clock by her bed and noticed that it was already 7:45 AM. Breakfast was going to start in 15 minutes. She quickly went to the bathroom to take a shower and go down to breakfast afterwards. Damien left her shoulder and flew out the open window.

Walking in the corridor down to the Great Hall, Hermione never noticed the appreciative glances many of the guys gave her. She'd learned to filter out everyone else's stare a long time ago, even if it was good, so she didn't notice anyone looking at her longer than necessary after she walked by them.

The doors to the Great Hall were open and Hermione strode in like a queen. The Gryffindor Queen. Everyone turned to look at her.

'What the hell is everyone looking at me for? Am I looking weird or something? They sure are acting stranger than their normal weird…ness. What happened while I was sleeping?' Hermione tried her best to ignore the piercing gazes of her classmates and everyone else got bored and resumed their eating.

"Hermione. Oy, Mione. Come on, I have something to tell you."

Ginny called out to Hermione, somewhat frantically.

"What is it, Gin? And why is everyone being weird… well, weirder than they normally are?"

"That's just it. Your act is done. It's gone. You're not very innocent anymore. Someone found out that we had that party and… well… you see."

"Oh. I do see…… is that all?"

"Is that ALL?!? I thought you cared about your image!"

"Well, yeah. But… I mean, I did. Well, it just seems like I don't care anymore. The only image I care about projecting is the image to hi… me. Why should I care what they think? I haven't really all those times. It's not like I'm going to start caring now, Gin. I mean, what's important is if I feel comfortable, right?"

"Hermione!! They're calling you a slut and more!"

"Oh, rEaLlY? Who's saying that? I'll hex them into next year, if they manage to avoid their next lifetime. Tell me, Ginny, who?"

Ginny didn't speak but raised an eyebrow and looked over at the Slytherin table, eyes fixated on one particular individual.

Hermione looked over and just couldn't help herself. She tried holding it in, but she couldn't. She let out a huge guffaw and started laughing.

"Pansy Parkinson, Ruler of All Whores, calling ME a slut. Imagine that. Oh wait, I don't have to. Now THAT is genuinely hilarious."

Ginny laughed along with Hermione.

"Oh. There IS one more thing…" Ginny trailed off and stopped laughing, baiting Hermione purposely.

"What is it NOW?"

Ginny smirked and half-laughed before answering her.

"As of yesterday, you have a boyfriend. And you didn't tell me…" Ginny teased. "You two, were seen snogging, in the dungeon corridors, the transfiguration room, almost having sex in the library, and someone actually swears that they saw you two actually having sex in the lake. With the giant squid. What an imagination, eh?"

Hermione raised her eyebrow as a sign to say, "yeah yeah, keep going". Ginny rolled her eyes at Hermione and continued.

"Well, since you're so anxious to know. Your boyfriend's name is……" Ginny trailed off purposely to leave Hermione hanging. "Oh, I seem to have forgotten. Oh well, it's not important, is it?" Ginny shook her head and began to eat, as the food had appeared on the plates.

"Virginia Weasley. If you don't finish that sentence, I will make sure that you never remember even hearing of Harry Potter."

"OoOo… is that a threat??" Ginny teased.

Hermione raised her wand to point it at Ginny's head.

"Alright, alright. Your boyfriend is Draco Malfoy. Happy now?? Ruined my fun." Ginny pouted and went back to eating.

Hermione was frozen for a total of 12 seconds. Ginny counted while eating. Then, the reaction came.

Hermione burst out laughing even harder than before.

"Scratch that Parkinson thing. THAT is the funniest thing I've ever heard in my entire life."

"Er… Mione… I thought you liked him." Ginny said, uncertain.

"Oh… yeah. I do. Well, it's still funny." Hermione replied to Ginny. Ginny was confused so she just kept eating as Hermione kept laughing every now and then between bites.

Then, suddenly, Hermione got an idea. A deliciously devious idea. I colossal, a grand idea. (from Swan Princess, or is it the Grinch Who Stole Christmas? Both, most likely.)

"So… I'm his girlfriend, eh?? This should be fun." Hermione smiled evilly and stood up.

"Oh no. Hermione, what are you thinking? Don't do it, Hermione. Drugs are bad for you. Don't do it. Er… I mean, don't think of these things. You're going to hurt someone."

"No I won't. Well… not much." Hermione's smile got wider, if possible. She took a final bite of her toast and started to leave.

"What are you doing, Mione?" Parvati looked up and asked when Hermione started to leave.

But Hermione didn't answer her directly.

"I'll see you in class, Ti." Hermione smiled angelically and walked away. Towards the Slytherin table.

Draco was talking to Ron and Harry about, what else, Quidditch, of course, while Pansy hung all over his right arm.

"Hey Mione. What are you doing over here?" Ron asked, when he noticed that Hermione was walking over to the table.

"Hello Ronald. Seems like I've been walking over here a lot nowadays, doesn't it?" Hermione asked with a husky voice. Pansy turned to look at her and Hermione shot her a glare that promised many painful things. Pansy squeaked something out to Draco about homework or something or other and left in a panic. Hermione smirked as she fled the Great Hall.

Draco could feel her standing behind him, but he didn't turn around. That is, until Hermione pulled on the back of his shirt to swing him around to face her. She switched her hand to the front of his shirt and pulled him up so that he was eye-level with her with him bending over to face her, giving him a nasty crick in his lower back.

Without preamble, Hermione kissed Draco to the surprise of everyone in the Great Hall. There was silence within two seconds as they all watched them in shock.

Draco didn't know what to do when Hermione started kissing him so he did the only thing any normal person would do. He kissed her back. Five seconds passed before Hermione pushed him away and he fell back into his spot at the table. Draco hadn't gotten that familiar feeling out of his head and it had returned when Hermione kissed him. He'd had his suppositions, but now he just needed one more confirmation.

Hermione looked at Draco's dazed face and giggled lightly. When he finally realized that he was looking out of the ordinary, he quickly put on a stone face. Hermione winked at him slyly, seemingly promising many more things in the future. Then she started walking away. A whiles away, Hermione turned back around and blew Draco a kiss, yelled out a "bye" to Harry and Ron, who were wide-eyed, staring at Draco and Hermione. Then she laughed loudly and walked out of the Great Hall, leaving a stunned Draco and a shocked Great Hall behind her.

Immediately, Harry and Ron stood up and turned Draco around to face them, throwing him 200 questions per minute while the Great Hall readjusted and went back to their loud voices.

"What the hell did she do THAT for?"

"Are you and she together?"

"What is going on between you two?"

"Are the rumors true?"

"What rumors?"
"Have you heard the rumors?"

"Some of them are just hilarious."
"Do you love her?"

"What about Alexial?"

Draco held up his hand to stop them, but they hadn't seen the gesture. So naturally, they kept asking questions… until Draco screamed in frustration.

"Would you two twits SHUT UP?! I'm trying to rally my thoughts."

"Sure." Ron said plainly.

"Of course." Harry said with a semi-serious face but mocking tone.

Draco thought for a couple minutes before looking a light spread across his face. But it was quickly squelched and he resumed the thoughtful face. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it, shaking his head. Finally, he spoke up.

"Yeah. I don't think… yeah. I have no idea about anything. Yeah. I have no idea what I'm talking about. Yeah." Draco concluded lamely.

Harry and Ron looked at him weirdly and nodded in affirmation sarcastically.

"You sure don't have any idea what you're talking about. I don't think you even made sense there." Ron said to Draco, shaking his head slightly.

"I know. It's just this thing is really… confusing. First there's Alexial. And well, I've neither seen nor heard of her. Ever. And now she's disappeared again. And then Her-Granger's acting weird. If weird is the right word to put her behavior lately." Draco said.

"I know. I noticed that as well. She turned into a totally different person since we came back this year." Harry added in his two cents while nodding to himself.

"Oy. Come on. Let's get out of here. We're going to be late for Sprout's class. She'd probably plant flowers in our brains if we're late." Ron suggested and they all got up to leave, laughing along the way.

Hermione laughed to herself as she walked in the corridor that led to the Gryffindor tower and thought aloud to herself.

"Boy, the looks on their faces, priceless." She grinned as she mused to herself.

"And now I'm talking to myself. I MUST be loony." She chuckled softly to herself.

Seemingly stopping in the middle of a random hall, Hermione looked around and made sure everybody was in class and no one loitered in the halls. She was finished with classes for the day, since she studied Advanced Sixth Year Herbology and not regular (kinda like Honors or AP classes). Hermione turned to the big red tapestry with the Gryffindor crest on it that hung on the wall to her left and lifted up the bottom corner of it to reveal a small door. Hermione looked behind her one last time and ducked under the tapestry and into the door.

Draco walked with Ron and Harry to the greenhouses outside and said a small farewell. It just so happened that he took the same classes as Hermione and managed to have the same timetable as well. Now, he headed towards the Gryffindor tower to retrieve the book Harry had told him about. He managed to see Hermione look around and duck into the tapestry, her backside wiggling after her.

Now, in such a situation, what would a person such as Draco do? Pretend her never saw her and continue to the common room?…

Or follow her mischievous rear… er… body… er… her?

Of course, it would be obvious. Follow her.

He crept up to the tapestry, silent like a predator, and lifted it up to reveal that small hidden door. Draco carefully unlocked it with a spell and opened it slowly, hoping Hermione would not be directly behind the door, staring at him as he crept in. Looking up, he sighed in relief to see an empty room. But he was surprised when he saw the room.

There were three windows on the wall across from him and two on the wall to his left. There were no paintings, but almost all the free space was filled with bookshelves filled to the brim with, what else but books, of course. But what really clinched him was the fact that there was a bed that jutted toward him near the far wall, in between two windows. The curtains which were pulled back were an emerald color, the comforter black and the sheets and pillows so silver it looked like liquid mercury. At the end of the bed was a desk littered with parchments of all kinds and opened books. There was a couch in the middle of the room, also an emerald color with a gold lining and an armchair across from it of the same dressing. A small coffee table sat between the couch and armchair that was littered with papers as well as an occasional empty cup.

Draco looked up, startled, to his right where Hermione appeared from behind a door, steam billowing from behind her, she herself was wrapped in a small black towel, her golden brown hair trailing wet down her back.

"How long was I standing here if she took a shower AND washed her hair without me knowing it?" Draco mumbled to himself.

Hermione looked at him with question on her face, but smiling a bit. She spoke to him.

"Considering I've been in there for about fifteen minutes, and when I came in, there was no one here. But also considering there being NO way you would know where this place is without following me, I'd say you've been standing there about oh… ten to twelve minutes." Hermione nodded to herself as she figured out the calculations.

"Now tell me, WHAT the hell are you doing in my room?!" Hermione said to Draco. Without waiting for a direct response, she started walking to the bookcase to the right of her. She opened it by grasping the right side of it and it swung open on the hinges on its left side. In the secret compartment was her clothes and undergarments.

Draco watched as she bent over slightly, her rump sticking out to entice him more than he already was, and pulled out a matching set of black bra and panties. Then Hermione turned around, holding them in her right hand, twirling her underwear on her finger.

"What do you want, a show? Turn around." She ordered and he obeyed, flushing a light pink.

Draco heard the towel drop to the floor with the sound that all clothes make when they drop and knew she was naked. He heard her put on her underclothes, taking her time and he grew hard just hearing it. He cursed himself in his head and hoped that his pants and black robes would shield himself from her sight.

After putting on her underwear, she dried her hair and fished a silk green night robe from her closet and tied it close lightly. She closed the bookcase gently, not making a noise and stalked over to where Draco was standing. She could tell he was uncomfortable by his posture, so horrible, and she imagined that he would be hard as a rock after her loud dressing.

Hermione laid a light hand on Draco's shoulder and he spun around abruptly, surprised at her touch. Hermione cocked her head to one side innocently.

Draco looked at her in her attire. The silk green night robe she was wearing did little to cover up her chest as it was tied so loosely and it was very short. About mid-thigh, maybe less, but not more. Her hair looked drier, he'd heard her run it through the towel.

"Why are you in here, Draco? You've never been curious about me. Little ol' mudblood Granger." Hermione stated plainly, tiredly.

"Maybe I did get curious." Draco answered mysteriously.

"Maybe you can get out of my room."

"What if I don't want to?" Draco whispered.

"Maybe I'd invite you in another time if you didn't look at me like you do."

"Oh? I still look at you in the same light? Even after that little show of yours?"

"Maybe I just want you to stop looking at me like I was a mudblood."

"I don't know, kid. You still look like a mudblood to me."

"Even with all the decorations, which were NOT for your benefit, and the spells… and the magic… and the… attraction?" Hermione had walked up to Draco with each word and whispered the last in his ear, her two hands on his shoulders, steadying herself as she stood on tiptoe. Her hands trailed to the silver dragon clasp of his robe and undid it, pushing it off his shoulders to pool on the floor in a black amorphous heap. Her hands still trailed slowly down his chest to the edge of his pants as she spoke to him in whispers.

"I know I'm breaking down those walls you've erected to keep me out. It's taken a while, but there's a hole big enough so I can crawl through now. And you can't keep me out." Hermione threatened in a whisper, but smiled at him.

Her hands flitted up the front of the black dress shirt that contrasted sharply with his pale skin and began to lower as she unbuttoned the shirt, leaving it open. Then she lowered her hands more to finger the edge of his boxers, which were above his black pants. Her lips lightly touched his, teasing him. Her hands left light butterfly touches along his skin and shivered involuntarily.

'No doubt his boxers are the same color.' Hermione thought off-handedly and sneaked a peek down to confirm her suspicions.

"What do you want… from me?" he asked hesitantly, distractedly.

She smiled and kissed him thoroughly on his mouth. Then her hands went around to his back and played with the boxers again. Suddenly she grabbed the edge of them and pulled, successfully giving him a wedgie.

Draco cried out in surprise, yelling at the same time.

"Oy. Geez. Fuck! Hermione! What the hell did you do that for?" Draco half-yelled with a look of pain on his face.

Hermione's face was passive, playing the innocent but a devilish grin broke through her façade.

"I wanted to. And besides… I know something you don't know…" she taunted in a sing-song voice while retreating to her bed.

"If you'd, so kindly, get out. I want a nap before dinner. Bye bye, pup." She slid into the mercurious bed and the emerald comforter, snuggling deeply into the warmth.

Instead of listening to Hermione this time, Draco walked over to the bed, after fixing his underwear first, of course, and climbed into the bed after Hermione.

Hermione immediately turned around, but found herself trapped on her back. Two muscled arms barred her on both sides. Draco was held over her, on his knees and hands, his shirt fell around Hermione and the blanket was on top of him, forming a tent over him and Hermione.

"Draco, what the hell are you doing? Get out of my bed." Hermione said to him and put her hands on his chest, trying to push him off her but to no avail.

Draco felt Hermione's cool hands on his chest and almost forgot how to breathe. But he didn't know why.

"No. I followed you because I wanted to know something." He managed to say in an even tone, despite his breathlessness.

"Fine, whatever. But get off me, at least." Hermione reasoned, still trying to push him off.

"No. this way you HAVE to look at me when I ask you."

"Well, ask then. I don't want you hovering over me."

'How wrong that statement is.' Hermione thought. In this position, Hermione was looking at the muscles in his arms tense as he moved and felt the toned chest under her palms.

Hermione was waiting for a question as she stared at his chest, but it didn't come. She looked up at his face and saw that he was looking at her shoulder. Her BARE shoulder. The robe must have slipped down her shoulder and exposed it when she was turning.

Draco looked at the creamy white flesh of her shoulder and had a sudden urge to taste her skin. To see if it was sweet like honey or bitter from her soap. He licked his lips unconsciously.

Hermione was about to replace her robe on her shoulder when Draco started lowering himself with his arms like a push up nearer to her.

His lips neared closer to the bare flesh. He pressed his lips gently against her flesh, feeling the smoothness upon his lips. Then he reached out tentatively with his tongue. He felt more than heard Hermione gasp in surprise, shock wonder, who cares; he was tasting her, that's all that mattered. And she tasted like honey. He kissed along her collarbone to her neck and started licking and sucking at it like she'd done to him a week ago and she closed her eyes.

Hermione let out a small moan and Draco broke out of his slight trance. He pushed back up with his arms. A small spot on her neck where he'd licked and sucked at had turned red. He felt strangely pleased in knowing that he'd marked her. Possessive, even, but he shook off the feeling and returned to the beautifully flushed woman beneath him.

"Are you Alexial?" Draco asked suddenly, serious, but in a whisper.

Hermione's eyes flew open and stared at him, surprised. She didn't think he would have figured it out to soon.

Draco watched as Hermione's eyes seemed to bleed pale blue into her normally plain brown eyes. She opened her mouth to speak with a frown on her face.

"Yes. I'm Alexial. Sorry to disappoint. I guess… you know the something too."

~*To Be Continued…*~

Authoress's Notes: wow! I finally finished the next chapter. I'm hoping to be finished with this super long and tedious story soon. I'm just getting… I don't know, not sick of it, but I'm just anxious to finish it. Yupyup. ^_^

Til next time!! Hopefully soon. Toodles.

Kristina Chang