A/N: Thanks for the three reviews! I'm trying to update all my stories more steadily now.
Alenor: You'll see what happens ;) Thanks for your faithful reviews! Lol.
xxlei: Yay you read! Haha. Thanks for your reviews. I always review yours:P
Chocolatebrowneyes: Of course I don't mind if you read on! You aren't going to see this for at least 8 weeks because you're away at camp right now… But I'm writing this anyway. Thanks for reviewing!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the translation from Cruel Intentions to Harry Potter, and Cruel Intentions has been adapted from the novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses (sorry if that's spelled wrong…).
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Chapter Four
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It was just Ron's luck; when he reached the Common Room that night after the little extravaganza with Ernie and Draco in the Hufflepuff dormitories, the only person left in there was Hermione sitting all alone and reading a book by the fire.
"Hey, Hermione," he greeted, sitting down next to her on the couch she was sitting at.
She looked up from her book. "Oh, hi, Ron," she said. She closed her book. "What brings you down here so late?"
He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep," was his answer.
"Maybe it's because you're still in your clothes."
He looked down, his ears turning slightly red. "Could be." Then he remembered what he had to tell her. "Listen, Hermione, remember that… um… story about Draco – er- taking advantage of Lavender?"
Hermione nodded, looking slightly suspicious and concerned.
"Well," his eyes shifted around the room, "it's not true. I made it up. I spread the rumor."
"What? Why are you telling me this?" she asked.
"Because, Draco's not a bad guy anymore," Ron explained, making up lies by the second. "He used to be the biggest bloody bitch on the planet, but now he… He's changed. He's breaking away from his father, he has his own opinions, and the Slytherin-everyone else boundaries are breaking. He's realizing that we're not such bad people anymore, and I do think he's changing, Hermione, I do."
She licked her lips and looked down at her hands. "Maybe you're right."
He tilted her chin so her eyes were looking into his. "I am," he spoke solidly.
She managed a small smile. "Okay," she said. She got up. "I'm going to get some sleep. Good night, Ron."
"Good night, Hermione." He watched her leave the Common Room and ascend the stairs up to the girls' dormitories. Less than a minute later he heard a distinct knock coming from near the portrait hole.
What?
He got up and warily pushed open the fat lady's painting, half afraid that a giant monster was waiting on the other side to attack him.
It was Draco. Close enough.
"Did she buy it?" was his question.
"I think so."
Draco frowned at Ron. "You think so and these pictures are all over the school in ten minutes."
"I know so. She bought it." He didn't know so. In fact, she probably didn't buy his lame speech, but Ron hoped to baby Jesus that those pictures would never, ever be seen by anyone. Ever again. Ever.
"Good." He was gone.
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Draco was walking through a second floor corridor after classes the next day when he caught a glimpse of Hermione tromping across the grounds outside. She was by herself. She seemed to be by herself a lot lately. Well, it was good; Draco needed to talk to her. He made his way down to the Entrance Hall and glanced through a window for what felt like decades before he saw her walking up to the castle once again. He stepped outside.
"Hermione, what are you doing out here on such a cold afternoon?" he asked, the wind whisking by them.
"I needed to- I was talking to Hagrid," she admitted.
"Hagrid, interesting. You're very close to him, aren't you?" He had to be friendly and nice and charming to win her over and act like he really was a changed man.
She shrugged.
"Um, about the other day…" he started. "I'm sorry about asking you out. I guess it was out of line. I haven't spent much time with you and you haven't gotten to know me past the asshole who made fun of you at every chance I got a few years ago, and for that I apologize. It was stupid of me."
"No. No, it wasn't," she blurted out, barely aware of what she was saying. "I shouldn't be so narrow-minded. I should have trusted you when you told me that story was a lie, and I should be more understanding to the fact that you've changed. For that I have a lot of respect for you."
"Thanks," Draco said, excited with her remark. "I have to go, so, I'll see you later." He started to walk past her and off onto the grounds, shivering insanely all the way.
"Wait, Draco," Hermione finally said.
He turned around.
"Um… Where are you going?" she asked, thinking on her feet.
"Oh, I just left something… in the Forbidden Forest." He cursed himself for giving such a stupid excuse.
She nodded. "See you later."
He smiled and turned around, heading off toward the Forest. He would probably just walk there and back again, just incase someone happened to be watching. He couldn't help thinking to himself, though, that she looked so pretty standing out there in the cold, with her cheeks turning red, all wrapped up in sweaters and coats and scarves –
What? Hermione looked pretty? What was Draco thinking?
But deep down inside he knew that was the truth. He was physically attracted to her, and that was something he couldn't help.
"Draco!"
He turned around. She was running toward him, down the steps, holding out a coat.
"You looked freezing," she said.
He took it from her. "Thanks." He meant it.
"Uh… Mind if I walk with you? To the Forest?" she asked hesitantly.
"Of course! Yeah, sure." He was taken aback by her change of heart. But at the same time almost genuinely happy.
She licked her chapped lips. "So, what did you leave over there?"
"My coat," he answered. "I hope it's there. I mean, I'm pretty sure I left it there…" He knew perfectly well that it wouldn't be there, so he was trying to give Hermione the idea that there was a possibility of the coat not being there.
She giggled and then tentatively asked, "Since you now know the secrets of my sex life, will you tell me something in exchange?"
"Depends on what it is," he said.
"How old were you when you lost your virginity?" was her question.
He stopped walking in the middle of the grounds. "No, I'm not answering that."
"Oh, come on," she urged. "I told you that I'm a virgin," she explained, whispering the last word. "That's more than a lot of people closer to me than you are know."
He frowned and started walking again. "No. Seriously, I'm not telling. Anything else, maybe I'll tell you, but not that."
"Why not? Was it in your first year to a seventh year who forced you to?" she guessed sarcastically. "Or maybe you're a virgin, too!" She then fake gasped, "Or maybe- maybe you lost your virginity to a man!"
He shook his head, almost smiling now. He rarely smiled, and when he did it was usually because he was forcing it.
"Please tell me," she begged. "Oh, please, pretty please." She had no idea why she was being so desperate. "Am I flirting with Draco Malfoy? – God that is the most RIDICULOUS idea I've ever heard-" But before she knew it, she was down on her knees, her hands pointed up to the sky, staring up at him, downright begging for the information. "Please tell me." She pouted.
He laughed. He didn't realize that he was actually, truly, really laughing at her. No, worse – laughing with her. He was laughing with Hermione Granger and it was completely out of his own free will and not forced one bit. In fact, he wouldn't be able to hide it if he tried.
She jumped up and covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh my goodness you're laughing!" she cried. "I made you laugh!"
He blushed and tried to stop himself. It was rather hard. "Alright, do you care or not?" He continued walking to the forest; they were almost there.
"You're going to finally tell me?"
"Yes."
"What is it?" There was a pause. "How old were you when you lost your virginity? I don't even know why I care so much…" She laughed.
"Okay," he started. "It was my fifth year, to a sixth year Slytherin, Veruca von Michelson."
"Veruca… Veruca…" Hermione mumbled under her breath, trying to recall the name. "Oh, Veruca, with the giant tits?"
Draco frowned and nodded vaguely.
Hermione shrugged. "Why are you so embarrassed about it?"
"Because that's who everyone thinks I am. The guy who shags everyone," he told her truthfully. "I want to change my image. I'm sick of everyone thinking, 'Draco, oh, that's the guy who fucks everyone.' It's like when you knew Veruca as the girl with the big tits, I'm the guy who wants to get into your pants and then break your heart. I've grown up and I won't to do that anymore. I'm different." He paused. "I have a heart…" He paused again and mumbled under his breath. "Sort of…"
Hermione was silent and surprised at his sudden outburst. For some reason she had this deep feeling that it was completely real. She didn't get any vibe about it being made up, or that he just bullshat his way through that whole explanation. She was starting to see what Ron had been talking about.
Draco, on the other hand, was starting to get pissed at himself. If that was how he really felt, then why did he just want to fuck Hermione so he could then go fuck Pansy, and fuck Ginny along the way to piss her brother off? How was that following anything of what he just confessed to Hermione? What he said was the truth; he didn't just want to be the guy who banged girls. He stopped a little ways into the Forest, glanced about, and then turned around again. "It's not here," he stated quietly, walking back to the school grounds.
Hermione caught up with him and grabbed his hand as they walked back to the castle.
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Pansy was waiting for him in the Slytherin Common Room. She grabbed his arm and pulled him back out again, showing him a sealed piece of parchment.
"Come on, we have to deliver this to Harry," she explained, walking quickly toward the stairs that lead upstairs to the Entrance Hall. "We have a paper due tomorrow in History of Magic; my bet is that he's in the library."
"What is it?" Draco questioned.
"A love letter," was Pansy's answer, "from Ginny." She winked at him.
Sure enough Harry was hunched over a stack of books and parchment, attempting to write an essay.
"Hello, Harry." Pansy sat herself down across from him at the table.
He looked up. "What do you want?"
She handed him the letter. "From Ginny," she said with a smile.
He looked confused as he opened it up and read. Soon his expression began to soften. "I had no idea she felt this way about me," he said. "Why did you two have this?"
"I helped her write it," Pansy said in her sweetest voice, the smile plastered on her face. "Why don't you write a response? I know you're so good at love letters."
Harry chuckled. "Okay." He took a piece of parchment and started writing much more fluidly than when he was trying out his essay. After a minute he looked up at the two suspiciously smiling individuals. "Why are you still here?"
"Oh, I thought I could deliver it to her," said Pansy happily. "I'm going to see her in a few minutes, anyway. I'm helping her out with some stuff."
Harry's thick skull was too dense to compute that.
Pansy winked – she liked doing that – and added, "Girl stuff."
Harry nodded and continued writing. When he was finished in a few minutes, Pansy snatched the letter out of his hand and disappeared with Draco to go find Ginny. Things were working out great for them; they bumped into her talking loudly to another sixth year Gryffindor on a staircase from the second to third floors.
Pansy grabbed her wrist as she walked by. "Ginny, we have something you might want. Be outside the statue of the Great Wizard of Wellington on the fourth floor at ten o'clock tonight."
Ginny nodded officially and continued down the stairs.
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Draco waited next to the statue for fifteen minutes before Ginny arrived. And he had already been late.
"Sorry," she said, out of breath. "I forgot where you guys told me to meet you."
"It's fine," said Draco. He turned around, recited a password and the wizard statue stepped forward, dragging a portion of the wall with it. Inside was a dormitory reserved completely for Head Boy and Head Girl. Fortunately for him, Hannah Abbot, the Head Girl (she beat out Hermione by one point) never got any, so she never used this room. Because that's what it was used for; sex.
"Oh my God, this place is so nice!" Ginny gushed throwing herself on the bed and gazing around.
Draco nodded and then handed Ginny the letter from Harry. She read it quickly and excitedly.
"Oh, he's so sweet!" she cooed.
"Mmhmm…" She was starting to annoy him. "Write a response." He tossed a piece of parchment and a quill in her direction. As she was writing, Draco asked, "So what's going on with you and Blaise?"
She chewed the inside of her lip. "I don't know."
"Well do you like him?"
She sighed. "Sort of. But I like Harry too."
"Hmm…" Draco said thoughtfully before shrugging. He didn't really feel like helping Ginny out with her little crush dilemmas. He had his own to worry about.
Several minutes later, the silence was broken by Ginny announcing she was done, sitting up, and giving Draco the parchment. He took it from her, folded it up, and set it on the desk he was sitting at.
"Well that was fun, thanks for helping me out," said Ginny smiling. She started toward the door.
"Where are you going?" questioned Draco.
"Back to my dorm," she answered. "Duh."
"Well it's a little late now, don't you think?" Draco said. "You'll get in trouble if you're found wandering around the castle at this hour."
Ginny chewed on her lip for a second. "I guess your right." She remembered Pansy's advice about sleeping with people. "Do you think we should have sex?"
"Excuse me?" Draco was extremely taken aback.
"Pansy says that I should have sex with lots of people for practice," Ginny explained. "Everyone does it, they just told talk about it. So should we sleep together?"
"Sure," responded Draco enthusiastically. He threw her on the bed, jumped on top of her, and shoved his tongue down her throat.
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A/N: I can't write sex scenes. If someone else wants to write one for me or something, you can, but otherwise there isn't going to be one. Sorry. This chapter is a bit longer anyways. Please review! Thanks.
