**DISCLAIMER** I do not own Harry, Hermione, Draco, etc etc...I'm just a university student who likes to write about them.
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Chapter 11
"Well for one thing, we could make sure that we aren't seen next time," Draco drawled.
Now that he knew that Granger hadn't been the one to set up this little plot, he was much more relaxed, and even finding it a bit funny. She was obviously very uncomfortable, and probably very nervous at the idea that someone had seen them. It was nice to see her lose control, for once.
"What makes you think there's going to be a next time, Malfoy?" she snapped, an angry flush rising in her pale cheeks.
"Oh, I don't think that, Granger," Draco said softly. "I know it."
"You are unbelievable!" she said, staring at him in disbelief. "How can you think about sex at a time like this?"
"Very easily," he said softly, as he walked towards her with slow, deliberate steps, enjoying the way her brown eyes widened as he drew closer.
Hermione eyed Malfoy warily. As they had been talking, they had walked on down the corridor, and had just now turned into one of the smaller passages. It wasn't well travelled, and she and Malfoy were a ways down it now, out of sight of the main hall.
Too out of sight for her liking.
She recognized that hungry, intent look he had in his eyes - it was the same one he had had the night before. It was quite obvious that he was finding it quite easy, indeed, to think about sex.
She stepped backwards, seeking to find her way around him so that she could turn his attention back to their conversation. To her dismay, she was stopped short by an obstacle blocking her way, and felt the cool stone of the wall against her back.
How did she always find herself trapped like this when she was around him, she thought with dismay. She sought to move around him, but he placed his hands on the wall on either side of her, blocking her escape. She glared furiously at him, then brought her knee up in a quick movement. He was too quick for that, however. To her horror, she found her knee imprisoned between his two legs in a vice like grasp. He smirked at her furious expression.
"Unlike most of the male population, I was actually taught on how to avoid that particular move," Malfoy drawled. "I also have quick reflexes, so I suggest you find some other way of defense if you intend on keeping me away from you."
"Well, I wouldn't need a way of defense if you would just leave me alone," she snapped angrily.
She wrenched her knee free of the grip he had on it, then flattened herself back against the wall as he moved forward quickly, pinning her to the wall with his body. She swallowed as she felt the hardness of his body pressed up against her even through the thickness of her robes.
You can do this, Hermione, she told herself quietly. Its just sexual attraction, don't let it get to you. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then opened them and looked up at him, trying to appear calm.
"Look, just let me go so that we can talk about this, ok?" she asked quietly.
"In a minute," he said.
Before she could protest, his head was lowering and his mouth was on hers. It wasn't a gentle kiss, but a fierce, determined one that took her breath away.
Well well, Draco thought to himself in the back of his mind. He'd finally found a way to get Hermione Granger to shut up. As he moved his lips over hers, kissing her thoroughly, he felt her hands come up to rest on his arms, which were braced against the wall beside her. He moved them to rest on her shoulders, then slid them down to rest at her waist before reaching around to cup her ass and pull her close to him.
Her arms brushed against him as they came up to link around his neck and he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue through her lips to twine with her own. He molded her body to his, stroking one hand up to rest on her back as he nipped her bottom lip gently. Then he let go of her abruptly, stepping back and putting his hands in the pockets of his robe.
"As much as I'd like to continue this, Granger," he said with amusement as he looked down into her slightly dazed brown eyes, "We really should talk about how we're going to handle this little blackmailer of ours."
He saw the anger rising in her eyes and had to restrain himself from laughing out loud. It had always been fun to get under her skin and annoy her, but it was even better now that he could tease her with his body as well. She opened her mouth to speak, snapped it shut again, then finally spoke.
"Listen, Malfoy," she hissed. "Keep your hands off of me if you enjoy having them attached to the rest of you."
He arched a brow. She really was persistent in denying her own feelings, he thought amusedly to himself.
"Granger," he said slowly. "If you like, I can take you up to my room and show you just exactly how much you want my hands on you. Unfortunately, that would keep us away from class. We'd probably get more detention.." Here he paused and shrugged. "But I'm willing to risk that."
He saw her eyes widen and continued. "So you have two choices. You can stand there and deny that you like me touching you all you like, and then I'll just proceed to show you how wrong you are. Or you can accept the inevitable and we can talk about dealing with our little problem."
Hermione was seething inside. She'd never been so angry in her life - not only at herself for falling prey to Malfoy so easily, but also at Malfoy himself because she knew in the pit of her stomach that he was right. There was no way she was going to admit that, however.
"Lets talk about this," she said finally, after taking a deep breath to calm her raging pulse.
From the skeptical, smug look that he gave her, she knew that he was aware that she was avoiding the question. She waited tensly, and to her relief Malfoy didn't push the point about her wanting him any further, just raised an eyebrow before speaking.
"The way I see it," he said, idly taking the scroll out of his pocket and tossing it from hand to hand, "We don't really have anything to worry about."
"What makes you think that?" she asked in frustration. "They have a picture of us, Malfoy - its kind of hard to deny that kind of evidence."
"Well, for one thing," Malfoy said as he leaned up against the wall and regarded her intently. "Its going to be someone that either you or I can handle."
"What do you mean?" she asked with a frown.
"Well, if its one half of the students in the school," he said with a tinge of amusement in his voice, "You can scare them out of their pants with stories of what they do to students who not only rat on each other, but were in the Library late at night. We had an excuse to be there - they didn't."
"And not only that," he continued. "But your relationship with Potter is going to help you out, he's got a regular little fan club going here at the school I'm sure if you mention his name a couple of times they'll be bound to rethink their little plan."
"As for the other half of the school..." Here Malfoy shrugged. "I can scare them with stories of what my father would do to them if he ever found out that they had gotten me into trouble."
"Of course, Daddy would come to the rescue," Hermione said with a snort.
He didn't rise to the jibe, merely shrugged. "Don't forget, its not just my ass "Daddy" will be saving, Granger."
She glared at him for a moment, then sighed. He was right, and what was even more infuriating, she was sure that he knew that. But he did have a point - the half of the school that didn't have a healthy fear and respect for the Professors and Harry would be terrified of what Lucius Malfoy might do to them.
"I just hope you're right, Malfoy," she said.
They were interrupted by the sound of voices coming from the direction of the Great Hall. Hermione looked at Malfoy in a panic, not wanting Harry and Ron or any of the others to see her still with him.
"Go ahead, Granger," he said, rolling his eyes. "I won't put any more stress on you...for now."
The last two words were added on a rather smug tone, but Hermione ignored them as she ducked out of the small corridor and hurried in the direction that the voices were coming from. Sure enough, Harry and Ron were striding down the hall with determined looks on their faces that lightened a bit when they caught sight of her.
"Malfoy just wanted to talk to me about detention tonight," she said hurriedly, before either of them could say anything.
"Now come on, we're going to be late for class if we don't hurry."
She linked arms with her two friends and hurried away with them, knowing without looking back that Malfoy was watching them go with amusement.
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The day seemed to drag on and on for Hermione. She honestly couldn't remember a time in her life when she had been in more turmoil. How had she managed to get herself into this situation? It was only three days into school and already she had huge amounts of stress.
She really didn't need this, Hermione thought. No, she didn't need it at all. She had had enough to deal with before Draco came along - school, grades, her future, worrying about Harry and Ron.
Seeing Malfoy again had thrown her for a loop, thats for sure. Well - not seeing him, but her reaction to him upon seeing him. Wanting to have wild passionate sex with her enemy wasn't exactly what she had expected to be on her mind this year. And then there was the fact that she had actually gone ahead and done it - purely of her own free will, too!
Oh yes, that alone would have kept her thinking for quite a long time. But no, of course, something else had to come along to make it more interesting. Even though she knew that Malfoy had a good point about who had written that letter to her, she had a weird feeling about the whole thing. Something was telling her that the writer of the letter wasn't going to be as easy to deal with as what Malfoy thought.
Her worries must have shown on her face throughout the day, although she tried to act as though everything was normal. Harry and Ron noticed, of course, and kept nagging her as to why she was so quiet and why she kept acting funny. Even the professors seemed to be able to see that something was bothering her, for both Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick asked her concernedly if she was feeling alright.
By the end of the day she was testy and on edge from all the questions that kept being thrown at her. Since when had her feelings become everybody's business, she wondered furiously to herself after she overheard a third year Hufflepuff student commenting to one of her friends on how pale Hermione Granger was looking, and that she had heard that she and Harry Potter had gotten into a fight. And they'd only been back for three days!
"Why don't you keep your nose in your own business for once, instead of in mine," she snapped, causing the younger girl to jump and turn around nervously to see Hermione standing right behind her.
"Hermione..I - "
Hermione didn't give the other girl time to reply, just stalked off towards the Hall for supper. She noticed some of her fellow Gryffindors giving her funny looks as she sat down at the table, and knew that it was because she had snapped at more than a few of them during the day. But for once, she just really didn't care.
At least Harry and Ron seemed to have gotten the idea, they were actually leaving her alone, although how long that was going to last she wasn't sure.
After supper she returned to Gryffindor and at once went up to the room that she shared with Lavendar and Parvati. The two girls had remained down in the Common Room, so Hermione was left alone with her thoughts. Inevitably she found them turning towards Malfoy again, and with a sigh of frustration she opened up her History of Magic textbook, and spent the next hour or so miserably trying to keep her thoughts focused.
At last the hand on her watch pointed to the small D that stood for detention, and Hermione gave a sigh as she closed the thick, heavy textbook. The man on the front of it was snoring away, and Hermione couldn't help but smile. If she was on the cover of that book she'd probably snore too, she thought to herself.
As she passed through the Common Room Harry and Ron caught sight of her and each of them waved tentatively, and she felt guilty as she waved back with a small smile. She really had been too hard on them today, she thought to herself. They were her best friends, after all, it was only natural for them to be concerned about her. She decided that she would talk to them that night when she returned, or at least first thing at breakfast the next day.
The halls of Hogwarts were eerily silent as she made her way towards the Library. The sounds of her shoes tapping on the stone floor seemed to bounce and echo off of the thick walls, and although many of the people in the portraits were already sleeping in their frames, she still felt as though eyes were watching her with scorn.
Just as she was wishing that someone would come along - anyone, even that annoying Hufflepuff girl or Peeves, the prank loving ghost, she felt a pair of hands close about her waist.
She shrieked and then whirled around, her wand out and ready in her hand reflexively.
"Careful where you point that, Granger," Malfoy drawled in amusement as he eyed her wand, which was quivering only inches from his nose. "If McGonagall were to happen along right now, we'll both be in for another two weeks in detention."
"Don't...DO that," she finally hissed, as she struggled to calm her pounding heart.
Seeing the corners of his lips quirking up as he struggled to contain his laughter, she grumbled to herself and then turned back in the direction she had been going.
"You'd better hurry up, Malfoy," she threw over her shoulder. "I don't think Professor McGonagall will be to happy if we're late, either."
She smirked as she heard his foot steps quicken behind her. His long strides made sure that he quickly caught up to her, just as they came to the doors to the Library. He reached out and pulled one open, then smiled at her mockingly.
"Ladies first," he said smoothly.
"Going to stare at my ass as I walk through, Malfoy?" she asked him.
She felt a thrill of triumph when she saw the surprise in his eyes - obviously he hadn't expected her to say something like that at all. Relishing her small triumph, she didn't say anything more, merely walked on past into the library. She smiled to herself, knowing full well that his eyes would definitely be fixed on her.
Draco shook his head as he stepped in onto the carpeted floor of the quiet Library. Granger was walking just slightly ahead of him, and he knew that she had added that little sway of her hips especially for his benefit. He had never seen her walk that way before in his life. But then again, she had done alot of things over the last couple of days that he never would have expected from her, he thought to himself.
The little bitch was too smart for her own good, he thought to himself. He'd have to remember that - obviously she was intelligent enough to realize the real reason behind why some guys held doors open for girls.
McGonagall was already there, standing directly behind the large checkout desk near the front of the room. She looked like she had something rammed up her ass, Draco thought idly as he followed Granger towards the Professor. Whenever he saw her she was always standing perfectly, rigidly, straight.
"We're here, Professor McGonagall," Granger said, and Draco rolled his eyes as he heard her tone of voice.
It was the annoying eager to please, goody goody tone of voice that she used so frequently, and that irritated him to no end. If she was a dog, she'd be wagging her tail right now, he thought in disgust.
"Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall said with a curt nod. "You are to continue on with your work tonight. I trust I don't need to repeat the instructions?."
She paused for a moment until first Hermione, and then Draco, nodded their heads, before continuing. "Good. You didn't get as far as I hoped you would last night - I can't imagine what you could have been doing that would cause you to take so long. Its only dusting and organizing, after all!! But I trust the two of you will rectify that situation tonight."
With those words, the elderly professor swept out of the Library.
As the large wooden door fell closed with a slight thud behind Professor McGonagall Draco chuckled softly to himself.
Granger turned to face him, an angry look on her face. "Whats so funny?" she asked impatiently.
"I was just thinking that I doubt that McGonagall was ever able to imagine just what we were doing last night that would make us take so long," Draco drawled, his voice filled with amusement.
Hermione rolled her eyes. It was just like him to think of something like that, she thought to herself. She couldn't help smiling to herself, however. She couldn't imagine Professor McGonagall having those kind of thoughts, either - the elderly Professor looked as though she had never had such thoughts in her life.
Not that she was going to tell Draco that. It wouldn't do for him to think that she actually agreed with him.
She pondered saying something about how is mind was always on such topics, but then as she remembered where their earlier conversation had gotten her, she blushed and decided against it.
"Looks like they left our lovely cleaning supplies here for us," Draco spoke up, interrupting her from her thoughts with a start.
She turned around to see him holding up a handful of cloths, an expresion of distate on his face. It was almost worth having detention to see him looking like that, she thought to herself with a small smile.
"They aren't going to bite you," she told him, amusement clear in her voice.
His eyes narrowed and he scowled at her. "I know that," he snapped.
"From the look on your face you'd think that they had a deadly poison on them or something," she told him, taking them from his hands.
"Who knows what those dirty elves put on them," Draco said with distaste.
She spun around to glare at him angrily. Although her "S.P.E.W" project hadn't had much success in fourth year, she still had a soft spot for the little creatures who did so much of the work around Hogwarts.
"You should be greatful to them, Malfoy," she snapped at him, her cheeks flushed with anger.
"Why should I be grateful?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrows. "They're doing what they were meant to do - there's nothing to be grateful for."
"I can't believe how selfish and self-centered you are," Hermione began her tirade angrily, but then she was cut off when a noise turned her attention away from her Slytherin enemy.
Draco must have heard it too, for he was looking over in the direction of the rows upon rows of bookshelves, where the small noise had come from. The stacks were blanketed in darkness, and Hermione had to strain her eyes as she struggled to see if there was anyone standing in the shadows. She couldn't see anyone, but somehow she knew that there was someone there, however, and she kept staring in that direction.
Then the silence was broken by the sound of a low chuckle emmanating from deep within the stacks of books.
"Whoever's there, come out now," Draco said, his voice filled with arrogance. "Instead of spying on us like you did last night."
The chuckle grew into a laugh, and the soft rustle of robes brushing against the carpeted floor of the Library reached Hermione's ears. As she continued to look into the darkness, she was able to make out the faint outline of a dark figure, slowly moving towards them from the depth of the Library.
She couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive as the person moved forward. Stop worrying, Hermione, she scolded herself. After all the things you've faced since you came here to Hogwarts, surely you can handle a mere person. She snuck a glance at Draco, but to her chagrin she saw that he was standing with his hands on his hips, staring scornfully into the shadows, without a trace of apprehension or worry on his handsome face.
Pausing just out of reach of the lights that illuminated the main entrance area of th Library, the figure stood still for a moment and then spoke.
"I must thank the two of you." it said. The voice was filled with gleeful amusement."I never would have expected Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy to be caught letting their hormones get the better of themselves...at least not with each other. But I really am grateful that the two of you gave in to your baser instincts."
Hermione knew that she was blushing, but she felt her anger rising. Why wouldn't the person come forward, she thought.
Draco must have had the same thought, for he spoke up, anger evident in his voice.
"Why don't you just come forward so that we can see you? Or are you too frightened? You don't honestly expect that your little blackmailing plan will work, do - "
Draco's voice trailed off as the figure moved forward, and he and Hermione found themselves staring at a figure that was very familiar to both of them - very familiar indeed.
She and Draco both spoke at the same time, their disbelief filling their voices.
"Argus Filch?!?"
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Chapter 11
"Well for one thing, we could make sure that we aren't seen next time," Draco drawled.
Now that he knew that Granger hadn't been the one to set up this little plot, he was much more relaxed, and even finding it a bit funny. She was obviously very uncomfortable, and probably very nervous at the idea that someone had seen them. It was nice to see her lose control, for once.
"What makes you think there's going to be a next time, Malfoy?" she snapped, an angry flush rising in her pale cheeks.
"Oh, I don't think that, Granger," Draco said softly. "I know it."
"You are unbelievable!" she said, staring at him in disbelief. "How can you think about sex at a time like this?"
"Very easily," he said softly, as he walked towards her with slow, deliberate steps, enjoying the way her brown eyes widened as he drew closer.
Hermione eyed Malfoy warily. As they had been talking, they had walked on down the corridor, and had just now turned into one of the smaller passages. It wasn't well travelled, and she and Malfoy were a ways down it now, out of sight of the main hall.
Too out of sight for her liking.
She recognized that hungry, intent look he had in his eyes - it was the same one he had had the night before. It was quite obvious that he was finding it quite easy, indeed, to think about sex.
She stepped backwards, seeking to find her way around him so that she could turn his attention back to their conversation. To her dismay, she was stopped short by an obstacle blocking her way, and felt the cool stone of the wall against her back.
How did she always find herself trapped like this when she was around him, she thought with dismay. She sought to move around him, but he placed his hands on the wall on either side of her, blocking her escape. She glared furiously at him, then brought her knee up in a quick movement. He was too quick for that, however. To her horror, she found her knee imprisoned between his two legs in a vice like grasp. He smirked at her furious expression.
"Unlike most of the male population, I was actually taught on how to avoid that particular move," Malfoy drawled. "I also have quick reflexes, so I suggest you find some other way of defense if you intend on keeping me away from you."
"Well, I wouldn't need a way of defense if you would just leave me alone," she snapped angrily.
She wrenched her knee free of the grip he had on it, then flattened herself back against the wall as he moved forward quickly, pinning her to the wall with his body. She swallowed as she felt the hardness of his body pressed up against her even through the thickness of her robes.
You can do this, Hermione, she told herself quietly. Its just sexual attraction, don't let it get to you. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then opened them and looked up at him, trying to appear calm.
"Look, just let me go so that we can talk about this, ok?" she asked quietly.
"In a minute," he said.
Before she could protest, his head was lowering and his mouth was on hers. It wasn't a gentle kiss, but a fierce, determined one that took her breath away.
Well well, Draco thought to himself in the back of his mind. He'd finally found a way to get Hermione Granger to shut up. As he moved his lips over hers, kissing her thoroughly, he felt her hands come up to rest on his arms, which were braced against the wall beside her. He moved them to rest on her shoulders, then slid them down to rest at her waist before reaching around to cup her ass and pull her close to him.
Her arms brushed against him as they came up to link around his neck and he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue through her lips to twine with her own. He molded her body to his, stroking one hand up to rest on her back as he nipped her bottom lip gently. Then he let go of her abruptly, stepping back and putting his hands in the pockets of his robe.
"As much as I'd like to continue this, Granger," he said with amusement as he looked down into her slightly dazed brown eyes, "We really should talk about how we're going to handle this little blackmailer of ours."
He saw the anger rising in her eyes and had to restrain himself from laughing out loud. It had always been fun to get under her skin and annoy her, but it was even better now that he could tease her with his body as well. She opened her mouth to speak, snapped it shut again, then finally spoke.
"Listen, Malfoy," she hissed. "Keep your hands off of me if you enjoy having them attached to the rest of you."
He arched a brow. She really was persistent in denying her own feelings, he thought amusedly to himself.
"Granger," he said slowly. "If you like, I can take you up to my room and show you just exactly how much you want my hands on you. Unfortunately, that would keep us away from class. We'd probably get more detention.." Here he paused and shrugged. "But I'm willing to risk that."
He saw her eyes widen and continued. "So you have two choices. You can stand there and deny that you like me touching you all you like, and then I'll just proceed to show you how wrong you are. Or you can accept the inevitable and we can talk about dealing with our little problem."
Hermione was seething inside. She'd never been so angry in her life - not only at herself for falling prey to Malfoy so easily, but also at Malfoy himself because she knew in the pit of her stomach that he was right. There was no way she was going to admit that, however.
"Lets talk about this," she said finally, after taking a deep breath to calm her raging pulse.
From the skeptical, smug look that he gave her, she knew that he was aware that she was avoiding the question. She waited tensly, and to her relief Malfoy didn't push the point about her wanting him any further, just raised an eyebrow before speaking.
"The way I see it," he said, idly taking the scroll out of his pocket and tossing it from hand to hand, "We don't really have anything to worry about."
"What makes you think that?" she asked in frustration. "They have a picture of us, Malfoy - its kind of hard to deny that kind of evidence."
"Well, for one thing," Malfoy said as he leaned up against the wall and regarded her intently. "Its going to be someone that either you or I can handle."
"What do you mean?" she asked with a frown.
"Well, if its one half of the students in the school," he said with a tinge of amusement in his voice, "You can scare them out of their pants with stories of what they do to students who not only rat on each other, but were in the Library late at night. We had an excuse to be there - they didn't."
"And not only that," he continued. "But your relationship with Potter is going to help you out, he's got a regular little fan club going here at the school I'm sure if you mention his name a couple of times they'll be bound to rethink their little plan."
"As for the other half of the school..." Here Malfoy shrugged. "I can scare them with stories of what my father would do to them if he ever found out that they had gotten me into trouble."
"Of course, Daddy would come to the rescue," Hermione said with a snort.
He didn't rise to the jibe, merely shrugged. "Don't forget, its not just my ass "Daddy" will be saving, Granger."
She glared at him for a moment, then sighed. He was right, and what was even more infuriating, she was sure that he knew that. But he did have a point - the half of the school that didn't have a healthy fear and respect for the Professors and Harry would be terrified of what Lucius Malfoy might do to them.
"I just hope you're right, Malfoy," she said.
They were interrupted by the sound of voices coming from the direction of the Great Hall. Hermione looked at Malfoy in a panic, not wanting Harry and Ron or any of the others to see her still with him.
"Go ahead, Granger," he said, rolling his eyes. "I won't put any more stress on you...for now."
The last two words were added on a rather smug tone, but Hermione ignored them as she ducked out of the small corridor and hurried in the direction that the voices were coming from. Sure enough, Harry and Ron were striding down the hall with determined looks on their faces that lightened a bit when they caught sight of her.
"Malfoy just wanted to talk to me about detention tonight," she said hurriedly, before either of them could say anything.
"Now come on, we're going to be late for class if we don't hurry."
She linked arms with her two friends and hurried away with them, knowing without looking back that Malfoy was watching them go with amusement.
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The day seemed to drag on and on for Hermione. She honestly couldn't remember a time in her life when she had been in more turmoil. How had she managed to get herself into this situation? It was only three days into school and already she had huge amounts of stress.
She really didn't need this, Hermione thought. No, she didn't need it at all. She had had enough to deal with before Draco came along - school, grades, her future, worrying about Harry and Ron.
Seeing Malfoy again had thrown her for a loop, thats for sure. Well - not seeing him, but her reaction to him upon seeing him. Wanting to have wild passionate sex with her enemy wasn't exactly what she had expected to be on her mind this year. And then there was the fact that she had actually gone ahead and done it - purely of her own free will, too!
Oh yes, that alone would have kept her thinking for quite a long time. But no, of course, something else had to come along to make it more interesting. Even though she knew that Malfoy had a good point about who had written that letter to her, she had a weird feeling about the whole thing. Something was telling her that the writer of the letter wasn't going to be as easy to deal with as what Malfoy thought.
Her worries must have shown on her face throughout the day, although she tried to act as though everything was normal. Harry and Ron noticed, of course, and kept nagging her as to why she was so quiet and why she kept acting funny. Even the professors seemed to be able to see that something was bothering her, for both Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick asked her concernedly if she was feeling alright.
By the end of the day she was testy and on edge from all the questions that kept being thrown at her. Since when had her feelings become everybody's business, she wondered furiously to herself after she overheard a third year Hufflepuff student commenting to one of her friends on how pale Hermione Granger was looking, and that she had heard that she and Harry Potter had gotten into a fight. And they'd only been back for three days!
"Why don't you keep your nose in your own business for once, instead of in mine," she snapped, causing the younger girl to jump and turn around nervously to see Hermione standing right behind her.
"Hermione..I - "
Hermione didn't give the other girl time to reply, just stalked off towards the Hall for supper. She noticed some of her fellow Gryffindors giving her funny looks as she sat down at the table, and knew that it was because she had snapped at more than a few of them during the day. But for once, she just really didn't care.
At least Harry and Ron seemed to have gotten the idea, they were actually leaving her alone, although how long that was going to last she wasn't sure.
After supper she returned to Gryffindor and at once went up to the room that she shared with Lavendar and Parvati. The two girls had remained down in the Common Room, so Hermione was left alone with her thoughts. Inevitably she found them turning towards Malfoy again, and with a sigh of frustration she opened up her History of Magic textbook, and spent the next hour or so miserably trying to keep her thoughts focused.
At last the hand on her watch pointed to the small D that stood for detention, and Hermione gave a sigh as she closed the thick, heavy textbook. The man on the front of it was snoring away, and Hermione couldn't help but smile. If she was on the cover of that book she'd probably snore too, she thought to herself.
As she passed through the Common Room Harry and Ron caught sight of her and each of them waved tentatively, and she felt guilty as she waved back with a small smile. She really had been too hard on them today, she thought to herself. They were her best friends, after all, it was only natural for them to be concerned about her. She decided that she would talk to them that night when she returned, or at least first thing at breakfast the next day.
The halls of Hogwarts were eerily silent as she made her way towards the Library. The sounds of her shoes tapping on the stone floor seemed to bounce and echo off of the thick walls, and although many of the people in the portraits were already sleeping in their frames, she still felt as though eyes were watching her with scorn.
Just as she was wishing that someone would come along - anyone, even that annoying Hufflepuff girl or Peeves, the prank loving ghost, she felt a pair of hands close about her waist.
She shrieked and then whirled around, her wand out and ready in her hand reflexively.
"Careful where you point that, Granger," Malfoy drawled in amusement as he eyed her wand, which was quivering only inches from his nose. "If McGonagall were to happen along right now, we'll both be in for another two weeks in detention."
"Don't...DO that," she finally hissed, as she struggled to calm her pounding heart.
Seeing the corners of his lips quirking up as he struggled to contain his laughter, she grumbled to herself and then turned back in the direction she had been going.
"You'd better hurry up, Malfoy," she threw over her shoulder. "I don't think Professor McGonagall will be to happy if we're late, either."
She smirked as she heard his foot steps quicken behind her. His long strides made sure that he quickly caught up to her, just as they came to the doors to the Library. He reached out and pulled one open, then smiled at her mockingly.
"Ladies first," he said smoothly.
"Going to stare at my ass as I walk through, Malfoy?" she asked him.
She felt a thrill of triumph when she saw the surprise in his eyes - obviously he hadn't expected her to say something like that at all. Relishing her small triumph, she didn't say anything more, merely walked on past into the library. She smiled to herself, knowing full well that his eyes would definitely be fixed on her.
Draco shook his head as he stepped in onto the carpeted floor of the quiet Library. Granger was walking just slightly ahead of him, and he knew that she had added that little sway of her hips especially for his benefit. He had never seen her walk that way before in his life. But then again, she had done alot of things over the last couple of days that he never would have expected from her, he thought to himself.
The little bitch was too smart for her own good, he thought to himself. He'd have to remember that - obviously she was intelligent enough to realize the real reason behind why some guys held doors open for girls.
McGonagall was already there, standing directly behind the large checkout desk near the front of the room. She looked like she had something rammed up her ass, Draco thought idly as he followed Granger towards the Professor. Whenever he saw her she was always standing perfectly, rigidly, straight.
"We're here, Professor McGonagall," Granger said, and Draco rolled his eyes as he heard her tone of voice.
It was the annoying eager to please, goody goody tone of voice that she used so frequently, and that irritated him to no end. If she was a dog, she'd be wagging her tail right now, he thought in disgust.
"Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall said with a curt nod. "You are to continue on with your work tonight. I trust I don't need to repeat the instructions?."
She paused for a moment until first Hermione, and then Draco, nodded their heads, before continuing. "Good. You didn't get as far as I hoped you would last night - I can't imagine what you could have been doing that would cause you to take so long. Its only dusting and organizing, after all!! But I trust the two of you will rectify that situation tonight."
With those words, the elderly professor swept out of the Library.
As the large wooden door fell closed with a slight thud behind Professor McGonagall Draco chuckled softly to himself.
Granger turned to face him, an angry look on her face. "Whats so funny?" she asked impatiently.
"I was just thinking that I doubt that McGonagall was ever able to imagine just what we were doing last night that would make us take so long," Draco drawled, his voice filled with amusement.
Hermione rolled her eyes. It was just like him to think of something like that, she thought to herself. She couldn't help smiling to herself, however. She couldn't imagine Professor McGonagall having those kind of thoughts, either - the elderly Professor looked as though she had never had such thoughts in her life.
Not that she was going to tell Draco that. It wouldn't do for him to think that she actually agreed with him.
She pondered saying something about how is mind was always on such topics, but then as she remembered where their earlier conversation had gotten her, she blushed and decided against it.
"Looks like they left our lovely cleaning supplies here for us," Draco spoke up, interrupting her from her thoughts with a start.
She turned around to see him holding up a handful of cloths, an expresion of distate on his face. It was almost worth having detention to see him looking like that, she thought to herself with a small smile.
"They aren't going to bite you," she told him, amusement clear in her voice.
His eyes narrowed and he scowled at her. "I know that," he snapped.
"From the look on your face you'd think that they had a deadly poison on them or something," she told him, taking them from his hands.
"Who knows what those dirty elves put on them," Draco said with distaste.
She spun around to glare at him angrily. Although her "S.P.E.W" project hadn't had much success in fourth year, she still had a soft spot for the little creatures who did so much of the work around Hogwarts.
"You should be greatful to them, Malfoy," she snapped at him, her cheeks flushed with anger.
"Why should I be grateful?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrows. "They're doing what they were meant to do - there's nothing to be grateful for."
"I can't believe how selfish and self-centered you are," Hermione began her tirade angrily, but then she was cut off when a noise turned her attention away from her Slytherin enemy.
Draco must have heard it too, for he was looking over in the direction of the rows upon rows of bookshelves, where the small noise had come from. The stacks were blanketed in darkness, and Hermione had to strain her eyes as she struggled to see if there was anyone standing in the shadows. She couldn't see anyone, but somehow she knew that there was someone there, however, and she kept staring in that direction.
Then the silence was broken by the sound of a low chuckle emmanating from deep within the stacks of books.
"Whoever's there, come out now," Draco said, his voice filled with arrogance. "Instead of spying on us like you did last night."
The chuckle grew into a laugh, and the soft rustle of robes brushing against the carpeted floor of the Library reached Hermione's ears. As she continued to look into the darkness, she was able to make out the faint outline of a dark figure, slowly moving towards them from the depth of the Library.
She couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive as the person moved forward. Stop worrying, Hermione, she scolded herself. After all the things you've faced since you came here to Hogwarts, surely you can handle a mere person. She snuck a glance at Draco, but to her chagrin she saw that he was standing with his hands on his hips, staring scornfully into the shadows, without a trace of apprehension or worry on his handsome face.
Pausing just out of reach of the lights that illuminated the main entrance area of th Library, the figure stood still for a moment and then spoke.
"I must thank the two of you." it said. The voice was filled with gleeful amusement."I never would have expected Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy to be caught letting their hormones get the better of themselves...at least not with each other. But I really am grateful that the two of you gave in to your baser instincts."
Hermione knew that she was blushing, but she felt her anger rising. Why wouldn't the person come forward, she thought.
Draco must have had the same thought, for he spoke up, anger evident in his voice.
"Why don't you just come forward so that we can see you? Or are you too frightened? You don't honestly expect that your little blackmailing plan will work, do - "
Draco's voice trailed off as the figure moved forward, and he and Hermione found themselves staring at a figure that was very familiar to both of them - very familiar indeed.
She and Draco both spoke at the same time, their disbelief filling their voices.
"Argus Filch?!?"