Chapter 8

Hermione had never felt so alone in her life.

One minute, he was kissing her, and the next, he was gone.

She sat weakly onto the bench.

Hermione was a thinker above all. She had to rationalize her feelings. She didn't know why, but in a few simple kisses with Malfoy she had felt more emotion than in her entire relationship with Harry, and they had…well, let's say they had more than kissed.

She blushed as she recollected the feeling of Malfoy's lips upon hers, the feeling of his tongue doing magical things to her mouth. A shiver went down her spine as she recalled the burning heat that flushed through her when he touched her.

But even more than that, she recalled the felling of utter contentment in his arms. She had always that the saying "drowning in someone's eyes" was cliché. Now, however, she understood.

She couldn't let him go. Not without a fight.

Hermione stood up straight, brushed off her robes, and walked back inside, head high.

Draco ran.

He felt like a coward, but he ran inside and down the stairs until he collapsed in a dark, abandoned passage.

He pressed his cheek to the cold stone and drew in several ragged breaths.

Draco knew without having to analyze it that he ran because he was scared. He knew that he was falling for her.

He knew that one look from her chocolate eyes or one of her sweet, yet cynical smiles would melt him.

And he was deathly afraid.

Draco was a Malfoy, and being a Malfoy meant being in control. He controlled his own destiny when he refused to become a Death Eater. Even though his father was in Azkaban and could not harm him, his mother had known more hexes than he had previously given her credit for.

But when he was around Hermione, he knew that she completely and utterly controlled him. He had never known that feeling before, the feeling of knowing that if they wanted you to leap off a cliff, he would do so without question.

The fear threatened to devour him.

But Malfoy nature prevailed. Draco had always gotten what he wanted, since he was a little baby.

And he had never wanted anything more than he wanted her.

He'd be damned if he was going to let her go so easily.

He stood up, and with a smirk playing around his lips, walked back to the Hall.

A/N: Only one more chapter to go! Finally I have it all done! Thanks to all the wonderful reviews, you really made my day and got me motivated to finish this story.

About my other works, What's in a Name is on permanent hiatus. I really meant it as a one shot anyway.

As for Echoing Seduction, yes it was, as always, Draco and Hermione. That one was a little darker.

Just one more chapter on this one, which will be posted in about five minutes. I swear.

Thanks once again to all my reviewers.