Books and Things
It wasn't exactly late, but Hermione was pretty exhausted from just living through the day. She decided to change into her night clothes and go read by the common room fire until she became sleepy. After changing out of her uniform, she wandered down to the common room and over to the packed bookshelf. Luckily for Hermione, it contained the book she'd been briefly reading on the train before Draco had interrupted her. She pulled it out and settled onto the couch.
Apparently Hermione hadn't gone to sleep as Draco had thought. Instead she was sitting, in front of their fire, reading. After a shower he'd come to the common room hoping she was there. Lucky him. Now maybe he could put his plan in action, or at least figure out why she'd resisted in the first place.
"Is reading the only thing you do?" he asked.
"Would you believe me if I said yes?" Hermione looked up to see Draco hovering over her, an amused expression on his face. He was contemplating her question.
"Yes," he answered after a moment, then took a seat next to her. "I know you're trying to keep up the appearance of a bookworm, but you don't have to read when other people aren't around."
"Maybe I like reading."
"Maybe you do."
Once again, he was there interrupting her reading by staring at her. The worst thing was that she knew why he was looking at her. I'll just ignore him, she thought, and maybe he'll go away.
Draco also didn't know why he was sitting here, silently staring at this girl, instead of just making his move. He was particularly captivated by the way the flames brought out the different colors in her hair. First a little red, then a lighter strand here and there. Maybe it was her lips, which at the moment were curved down into a pout. Her eyelashes gave her the appearance of sleeping, but he knew she was just intently focused on her book. Finally she put it down and sighed.
"Is there something you want, Draco?"
"What? Oh no, nothing."
"Umm, ok." She turned to look at him. He said nothing, just kept looking at her until she turned away and reached for her book. Draco grabbed it instead and began flipping through the pages.
"Give it back."
"Well, since you asked so nicely…no."
She reached for the book again and he held it up above her head. She got up on her knees and attempted to grab it, but Draco simply pulled his arm behind his back. She reached around his back and couldn't find it with one hand, so she tried two.
"Draco, just give it back."
I could get used to this kind of flirting, he thought, appreciating how her hands had wrapped around his midsection. Draco stopped struggling under her weight and sat up. Hermione was sent off-balance by this sudden movement and went tumbling off the couch.
"Now that was just plain mean, Malfoy."
She sat up on the floor, pouting and glaring at the same time. He simply laughed and picked up the book from where it lay on the couch, and began to peruse its pages again.
"Don't you want your book?" he teased.
"Yes, so give it to me," she said, still glaring.
"Alright, I will—if you kiss me first." Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's an even exchange in my opinion."
Hermione sighed. What was with him? Her mind was still reeling with its attempts to process this sudden shift in his behavior, and she was only becoming more disturbed as time passed.
"Ok," she said suddenly, causing him to blink in surprise. He hadn't expected her to give in so easily. "But you will give it to me, promise?"
"I am a man of my word."
Hermione stood and looked at him. She, of course, had no intentions of making it anything lengthy, just a distraction so she could leave as quickly as possible. He wiggled his lips at her teasingly and she held out her hand.
"Book first."
His gaze still hadn't left her face. "Are you a woman of your word?"
"Of course, and a lot more than you'll ever be." He frowned suddenly, looking strangely hurt, but handed her the book anyway. "Oh, I was just kidding, Malfoy; don't be so sensitive." She looked at the book he had placed in her hand, then at her staircase. He seemed to be expecting her to leave.
Hermione sighed and leaned down to quickly place his lips on her. In a flash, he had grabbed her arm with one hand, her waist with the other, and was pulling her to him. She landed squarely on his lap and he grasped her tightly to his body, and began to probe her mouth with his tongue.
Hermione instinctively grabbed his shirt, as she was awkwardly perched atop his lap and leaning over the floor. He took this as a sign of consent, and twisting her body, laid her on the couch without breaking the kiss.
His kisses and her sudden changes in position had taken the breath out of her. She put up no resistance against the onslaught of kisses that Draco was placing all over her face. Hermione leaned back into the couch and waited for her breath to come back. And he was only making it harder with the persistent action of his mouth. Truth be told, his lips were starting to feel quite wonderful on her skin. Draco took his time in kissing every part of her face, stopping every so often to taste her skin as if she were some kind of heavenly food.
Draco slowed in his kisses and momentarily lifted his lips away from her skin. Hermione's breath was still hitched in her throat, and her eyes were closed. As her breathing finally returned to normal, she slowly she opened her eyes and looked at him.
It was a rather unexpected vision, seeing Draco there straddling her legs with his own, gazing intently into her face and at her mouth. Then, just as quickly, he was back again, and his lips were on her cheek, her neck, her collar, slowly making their way down her body. He kissed her again, and this time Hermione responded, parting her lips in expectance of his waiting tongue. His hands began to explore her body; he ran a hand through her hair, then arched her body into his and began running his hands up and down her back. She supported herself by continuing to cling to his shirt as his hands went back to her torso, now sliding under her shirt and covering her breast. She gasped as he gave her a particularly sharp squeeze and let go of his shirt, falling back onto the couch.
"Draco."
He had already stopped, though, and, hands still poised underneath her shirt, was looking at her. She removed his hands from her shirt and opened her eyes. A puzzled expression appeared on his face as she pulled her shirt back down and pulled herself out from underneath him.
"Why are you leaving?" he asked.
"Because this is…I just can't do this."
She turned away, disregarded the book that she'd wanted in the first place and quickly walked up her staircase.
What the hell? Draco thought.
I can't believe I just let that happen, Hermione thought as she lay back on the bed. He probably thinks I want to shag now…
But you didn't stop him, did you? a little voice asked.
"No, of course not! I barely had time to think! What did you expect me to do?"
Not kiss him back, maybe?
"Ugh. There's something wrong with me."
Well, it might be the fact that you're talking to yourself.
"Shut up."
Suit yourself, the voice said.
Hermione was baffled at the events that had just taken place. She didn't know what to make of them. Why had Draco done that? she asked herself. So maybe it was her fault for letting things go that far, but still…Hermione was now having more than a bit of trouble grasping the idea that he had actually been serious about all this shagging business. And she couldn't believe that she had not only kissed him, but had kissed him like that. It was like her body was operating on an entirely different set of rules than her mind, which had conveniently shut off for their interaction. Thank the gods she didn't take to people groping her chest…
And he was Draco Malfoy! He was cruel and evil, wasn't he? Didn't he hate her guts with a passion? And didn't she return the sentiment? Yet she had been snogging him just minutes ago and letting him touch her body in a way no one ever had before.
"I need a shower." But Hermione didn't move, just laid there for a while. She eventually pushed all confusing thoughts out of her head, and finally crawled underneath her covers in hopes of drifting into sleep as quickly as possible.
Draco, however, was not doing the same. He lay face up on his bed, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. He'd had Hermione right where he wanted her, and then suddenly she'd stopped and left.
She definitely wanted it, Draco thought. In spite of her painfully obvious virginity, she had responded just as quickly as someone—say Pansy—would have when Draco placed his lips on hers. So then what went wrong? He'd been seconds from getting her to personally pull off her knickers and place them in his hand.
Maybe you were pushing it, a voice said.
"Maybe I wasn't."
She did say after all that she wasn't interested, the voice continued.
"And yet she kissed me back."
It's a bit hard to resist when you've got another person lying on top of you, the voice returned
"She must have known that I was baiting her. And she could've stopped any time before I was…ready."
You'd be upset no matter what time she'd stopped.
"Whatever. She's just a tease anyway."
Hermione the bookworm? A tease? Don't kid yourself, Draco.
"What do you know? You're just a voice. In my head, I might add."
Which means I know everything that goes on inside of you. Just admit that you want her…
"Of course I do, but she is making it difficult."
It had been the perfect plan, and even more so with her consenting to it. But he'd expected that she would. And surprisingly she'd kept going once he'd had her in his arms and underneath him. Hermione had proved what Draco suspected all along—she wanted him like all the other girls at Hogwarts. And he would have her. Getting her, however, might prove more difficult than he'd previously thought. He knew he wouldn't trust himself if were in Hermione's place. Her good sense was obviously going to fight this the entire way, just as it had a few minutes ago. But as long as that sense didn't cause her to run away again, he'd have her soon enough.
This is ridiculous, Draco thought, standing up to clear his head. I need a hot shower…