A/N: Howdy doody! I'm trying to update more often, now that it's the end of school and finals are almost over. I hope you enjoyed chappies 6 and enjoy this one. If any updates are delayed it is because I had my wisdom teeth pulled, and I am currently recuperating.
Nelly22: Hey! I swear the cliffie was entirely accidental! But, hey, it's in a good place right? Thanks for the tip on turning my anonymous review block off. I have my moments…but I've been a little bit downcast about my number of reviews, hopefully this will up 'em a bit! Not that I don't enjoy the one's I do get as it is…But, ya know, my very first review was anonymous and it wasn't that nice, so I was kinda upset with posting my story on here period. Now, I know I have people like you to keep me goin'. Thanks!
Without further ado, Chapter Seven…
Chapter Seven: Interesting Knowledge
Draco woke up with a small start as his alarm clock started screaming at him at 5:30a.m. He stretched out and rolled over and off his bed with a practiced grace.
'Merlin, I feel like I've been beaten with a broom!" he thought as he walked to the bathroom door drowsily.
Draco slid into a hot shower with ease. The steamy vapor woke him up, and started his brain up in no time. Almost instantly, Hermione became the topic of his thought processes of the morning.
He still didn't know why she irked him so, nor did he know whether she knew about her bloodline or not. 'And what the hell was last night about?' his conscience popped in annoyingly.
Draco ignored the nagging voice and started inspecting the buttons on the shower wall. From his closer prospective he could see words engraved finely across each. They all had to do with different scents, such as strawberry, Phoenix, vanilla, et cetera. He pushed one labeled Kilo without a thought; he just hoped it wasn't something a girl would wear.
A small stand appeared magically in front of him, underneath the shower's head. It held a small black bottle with a green cap. The contents smelt like a warm mixture of spices and nature. He quickly washed his hair and body, nearly on automatic pilot.
Draco stepped out of the steamy chamber with a simple grace. He wrapped a black towel -that had magically appeared on the rack- around his pale waist.
He strode to the sink to go through his early morning rituals.
After wiping the foggy mirror clear, he could see his slight build still dripping with water. He ran a hand through his damp, silvery hair.
Draco started brushing his teeth. But suddenly he wasn't alone in the reflection of the mirror.
Hermione too woke up at 5:30 she just laid in bed getting her thoughts organized. She stared up at the sparkling heavenly bodies that still hung in the sky. They look so peaceful and simple. Why couldn't her life be like that? Instead, hers was complicated, confusing, and still messed up.
Her thoughts soon drifted to the Head Boy. 'Does he know about my parents and the Prophecy?' she asked herself in uncertainty.
'You seem to think he does know about your parents, at least,' her conscience commented idly.
'Yes, but I do have some reason to…He hasn't called me a mudblood, yet,' she retorted back ignoring the scoff her she received in reply.
Hermione stood up deciding a bath was what she needed to calm her nerves. She pulled her clothes off down to her underwear and grabbed a clean outfit from her dresser.
A quick glance in the mirror revealed the lithe and curvaceous form of a young woman. Her generous breasts were held firmly by a dark green bra, and the matching boy cut panties hugged her hips. Freckles lightly dusted her slender body. Her hair hung in tousled waves down her back and over her shoulders.
Hermione shrugged; she saw nothing special in her reflection.
The door was still there, so Hermione figured that either Malfoy wasn't up or he had already taken a shower. Boy, was she wrong… The sight that she came to made her mouth go slack.
Draco Malfoy was standing in front of the large mirror over the sink brushing his teeth. But that wasn't the problem. He was also completely naked except for a dark towel tied around his waist.
She watched every muscle in his back move with his arm. His chiseled but lean body was the exact creation of Greek art. His pale body moved seamlessly and with a grace most males couldn't master. His silvery blonde hair hung damp around his neck.
Hermione forgot completely about the current state of undress she was in. All she could do was marvel at the exquisite being in front of her.
He hadn't even noticed the girl's intrusion, yet.
Her brain automatically hooked his open door to the reason she was currently standing in the same room as this naked male. She couldn't be anything but grateful.
Suddenly, silver eyes met amber ones. He had seen her in the mirror.
Hermione just stood where she was still entranced by the one person she could curse without a second thought. Her brain just wouldn't connect the body with the evil mind.
Draco finished brushing his teeth languorously. Finishing, he spat the foamy white paste from his mouth and took a swig of water to rinse his mouth. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand before turning around to her.
The sight of her set him back. He hadn't looked at her body, when he realized she was in the bathroom in her, but he looked at her face. The beauty before him was startling. He had convinced his mind that she wasn't worth looking at or speaking to, but now part of him started to disagree.
He smirked as he caught the look in the young woman's eyes. Was it curiosity or pure lust? Draco couldn't tell, at the moment, nor did he care.
The woman held a hidden beauty that she didn't even claim. Her full breast heaved with each breath she took. His eyes traveled on down her pleasing form. Wide hips were wrapped in a most interesting pair of green panties. Her shapely legs entranced him further.
Draco started walking towards Hermione with a smooth motion. His brain wasn't functioning right; he couldn't stop his legs from their purposeful movement.
Hermione watched him approaching her with wide eyes. Panic signals started flashing through her; her brain turned to action quickly.
'This is Draco Malfoy,' it told her quickly, 'your long time nemesis. Just turn away and run. Don't say anything at all.'
She could see each individual bead of water running slowly down his toned chest. Her pink tongue darted out moistening her lips.
"It's not nice to walk in on people, Granger," Draco whispered almost huskily to her.
"You left your door open, Dra-Malfoy, so it's mostly your fault…" Hermione squeaked softly. 'Shut up, you moron!' her brain fired off angrily.
He ran his hands slowly up her arms to her shoulders. The rough calluses on his hands contrasted electrically with the smoothness of her skin. "Thanks for pointing out the obvious," he purred closer to her earlobe.
"No problem," she said, her voice coming high. And before he knew what had happened she slipped out of his grasp and ran out of the bathroom full speed.
Her bedroom door slammed closed and he could her a dull thud come from the door as something hit it.
Draco shook his head in confusion. What the hell was he doing? And who was that delicious creature he had just encountered? It couldn't have been Granger at all…
'Did she about say my name?' he asked himself uncertainly. She had never so much as called him by his last name without a cruel, hate-filled hiss, so to nearly call him by his first name was irregular and surprising.
He left the bathroom confused and with an uncomfortable stride.
Hermione slammed her door as if something worse than Fluffy was after her. Her heart beat a dangerous tattoo in her chest. She leaned heavily on her door to catch her breath.
'What was I thinking? What was he thinking? What was he going to do?' her mind kept screaming determinedly for an answer she knew she didn't have.
The spell hadn't made her door disappear, so she had walked in. It was his fault…He hadn't closed his door.
The stubborn Gryffindor pride settled back into her heart. She wanted her bath this morning. Hermione peeked out her door cautiously.
The room was empty. Gloriously empty… She shut her door carefully behind her.
Hermione shed her underwear quickly and started to fill the two-person tub. She slid in the hot water with a small shriek and started turning a couple of the taps around the edges. The tub was quickly filled with a coconut and lime scented oil. Large bubbles poured slowly from another. She slid deeper into her bath. All stress seemed to melt away. Hermione washed her long locks with a coconut-scented shampoo and hopped out of her steaming pool.
She wrapped a large black towel around her torso, before padding delicately over to her claimed vanity. She flopped heavily into the small chair in front of it without grace.
Her hair hung in damp curls down her back. She heaved a small sigh of contempt of her reflection. It never would be right, in her perfectionist eyes.
Hermione used a quick spell to dry her long hair. She was so thankful that after this year she would never have to use a muggle dryer again. A quick application of mascara was all she put on her face. What did it matter? To her no one ever noticed or looked even.
Without much care, she slid into black panties and a matching bra. She pulled the clover green, racer-backed tank over her dark head, and tugged a pair of light blue jeans over her hips.
Maybe the boys would comment on her choice of shirt color, but she didn't really care anymore. It was her favorite color after all! In her younger years, she wouldn't wear anything green for fear of her friends' and housemates' reaction to the enemy's colors. But that didn't matter any more, did it? She didn't even live in the Gryffindor commons anymore, so she didn't really care.
After slipping her socked feet into a pair of Birkenstocks, she left the bathroom in a sluggish mood. She just didn't feel like putting up with anything for the day.
Trying to cheer herself before breakfast, she hummed a little tune to herself, while dancing down her staircase. She skipped to the portrait hole in an improving mood.
But before she could open the door, all hopes of a good morning drained away. "Won't you fellow Gryffindors disown you, Granger?" came a cool voice from the couch.
Hermione turned to see Draco lying stretched out across his claimed couch in a well fitting black shirt and whitewashed jeans. His arms propped his head up against the armrest. He was looking at her with a weird glint in his cold silver eyes.
"Sod off, Malfoy," she spat uneasily. Unknown to even herself, she was still a bit giddy about their earlier bathroom encounter.
"Running out of comebacks, Granger?" he asked with a mocking laughter in his eyes, "Or has your sharp tongue finally been detached?"
"Neither, I simply don't feel like wasting my time in your presence any longer than necessary."
"Fine by me," Draco retorted, "So long as your filthy friends don't follow you in here like they do everywhere else you go."
"Shut up, Malfoy! They don't follow me anywhere. And even if they did, at least I have someone that wants to be in my company." And with that, she spun on here heel and slammed a startled couple behind her.
"Now there's the Granger I understand," Draco muttered to the air with his arrogant smirk.
Outside the common room, Hermione was fuming. 'That stupid git does it on purpose! He just pushes me for fun,' she grumbled inwardly.
'At least he hasn't called you a mudblood, right?' her conscience prodded knowing that it was just making things worse.
Finally, she came to a decision…She was going to ask him.
"Here goes nothing," she muttered foully to the hallway.
Draco was still lying on the couch, when he heard the portrait being flung aside forcefully again and hitting the outside wall with a loud smack. He lay there pretending he was interested in the ceiling; all the while, he was listening to the girl.
He heard her let out a deep breath before saying, "Malfoy, why haven't you called me a mudblood this year?"
His body froze. 'What a clever witch! She knows I know.' He could tell because of the confident knowing ring she held when answering questions in class.
"It hasn't been a year," Draco stalled lamely, "So sorry I had to disappoint you. I still have time."
"Quit avoiding the question, you prat! Just answer it so I can leave."
He watched her features carefully. "Because it would be a lie," he answered with a shrug to make her think it was nothing. He watched her countenance pale faintly.
"Who told you?" she asked quietly as if the walls had ears.
"My mother," was his flat reply. But her next question surprised him.
"So you know about the Prophecy, then?" she asked sounding almost hopeful.
"What Prophecy, Granger?" he asked sitting up to look at her straight.
Hermione mentally slapped herself.
Draco watched as her cheeks paled even more. He could nearly see the wheels turning behind her eyes. "I said I'm a pureblood progeny…"
He raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You're a bad liar, Granger," he stated frankly, "What Prophecy?"
Hermione suddenly looked very tired. She sighed and ran a small hand through her chestnut hair.
"My mother prophesized a relationship between us, Malfoy," she gave in with her eyes grim set. Her eyebrows only unknotted when she looked him in the eye.
Draco was in silent surprise, before he exploded. "Is she off her rocker?" he suddenly yelled, "We can't stand each other, and she believes we'll be a couple? This whole thing is a joke!"
Hermione jumped in surprise at his random tirade, but once his words sank in, she snapped.
Draco blinked in shock, when a pair of amber eyes appeared inches from his. The orbs danced with a flame waiting to consume him.
"Do you think I don't know that, Malfoy? No, my mother is not crazy, and she is a Seer. You know damn well I don't have any patience with the art, but at least I have a respect for people," Hermione said deadly quiet. She had literally jumped on him in anger.
"Alright, alright. Calm down, Granger."
She slid off of his legs quickly.
"What does the Prophecy have to do with?" he asked.
"The destruction of the Dark Lord," she replied almost too calmly.
'So there is a way to kill the mudblood bastard. But why the hell does it have to involve Granger?' he thought.
"I'm going to breakfast, now," Hermione called over her shoulder. Before she stepped out of the open hole, she turned to him again, "I suggest you keep that to yourself, Malfoy. You wouldn't want to wind up dead, now would you?"
And then she was gone.
A.N.: Please review!! I need feedback, dislikes, likes, anything your mind can come up with that's wrong or right with my fic. Pretty, pleas. J