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Chapter 6

Hermione yelped in surprise as Malfoy grabbed her arm and dragged her back into the library.

"What is the meaning of this Malfoy? Let go of me! Where are you taking me? Let go of me, you prat!"

Throwing a threatening glare over the back of his shoulder, Draco tightened his grip on her arm, thereby effectively silencing her.

Seeing as Malfoy was not in the mood to talk, Hermione had no choice but to drag her feet and follow him. Hermione winced and scowled at the back of Malfoy's head. She was going to have bruises tomorrow, she knew it. She was still glaring daggers at Malfoy's head and mumbling incoherent obscenities when she tripped on something and stumbled into Malfoy. After righting herself, Hermione grinned sheepishly at Malfoy, embarrassed. However, her grin immediately melted into a scowl that mirrored the one on Malfoy's face. Running out of insults, they continued on in silence, each left to the privacy of their thoughts.

Hermione didn't know why she was following the prat anyways. The grip on her arm had lessened to a bearable degree, and she was sure she could break free if she tried hard enough. Obviously, Malfoy wanted to take her somewhere private before she told him what happened in the Great Hall. Whereas Hermione was reluctant to do so, she felt like she owed it to Malfoy. After all, it was her fault. Taking in her surroundings for the first time since they began their journey, Hermione was shocked to discover they were in a part of the library she had never visited before. And that was saying much. She had thought she had examined every inch of the Hogwarts Library by the time she had finished first year, but apparently, she was wrong. Hermione's eyes widened when she noted with fascination that the books lining the shelves were ancient. Their pages were almost black with age, the spines were lined with wrinkles, and the covers were so worn, most of the titles had faded. Hermione inhaled deeply, delighted to encounter the unique scent only musty books could produce. Her eyebrows heightened slightly as she inadvertently caught a whiff of Malfoy's subtle cologne—just as unique and enchanting as the smell of old books.

Draco's cheek was still burning. Although, disturbingly, it was no longer burning due to Pansy's slap; it was tingling in the most pleasant manner from Granger's cool touch. His face twisted into a familiar scowl. He didn't know why he had let that mudblood touch him in the first place. He had been too stunned from her kind gesture to immediately remove her hand as his instincts had screamed at him to. Suddenly, he stopped. They had arrived.

Hermione was too busy ogling her surroundings to notice Malfoy had stopped walking, which caused her to walk right into him. They had been walking quite quickly, so the impact of her head hitting his muscular back knocked her out.

Draco turned around just in time to catch Granger as she fell.

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Surprised, Draco easily lifted Granger in his arms and carried her to the sofa. He couldn't help but appreciate the way her body curved perfectly into his. He couldn't help but inhale the delicious aroma of apples that filled his nostrils due to their proximity. Draco raised an eyebrow; who knew the mudblood could smell this good? When she was settled, he pulled out his wand. Pointing it at the unconscious young woman in front of him, he yelled, "Enervate!"

Granger opened her eyes to see Malfoy pointing his wand straight at her. She opened her mouth to scream, but Malfoy was faster. Sprinting swifter than humanly possible, Malfoy was at her side and covering her mouth with his empty hand before she had taken in half a breath since waking.

"Granger," he hissed dangerously, "I know this looks bad, but you ran into me and fainted."

Hermione's large eyes widened fractionally when she realized Draco's cologne clung to her like an invisible cloak. Thinking the worst, she bit Draco's fingers, knocked his wand from his hand, and slipped from his grasp.

"Ow!" Draco yelped. Granger had bit him! Attempting to soothe the pain, he brought his injured fingers to his hand and sucked on the bite.

This was the perfect opportunity to escape, but the sight in front of her made her freeze in her tracks. Hermione felt something clench inside her. It was incredibly wrong for Draco to put his mouth where hers had just been, yet she was spellbound and couldn't look away.

Draco raised his eyes to hers, startled to see her watching him avidly, unmistakable lust radiating from her big brown eyes. Regaining his composure in record time, he drawled, "Why Granger, I always took you for a non-practicing heterosexual, but if you want to have a go, hey, I'm all yours!"

Draco watched as Granger blushed a fetching red, the lust in her eyes quickly dissipating into thin air. Damn. He had just wasted a perfect opportunity. But a perfect opportunity for what?

The ferret had caught her staring! She shifted uncomfortably under his scrutinizing gaze. Determined not to show just how hot and bothered his words had made her, Hermione pointedly ignored his rude suggestion and took her time to inspect her surroundings. She knew they were still in the library, but other than that, Hermione had no inkling of her present location. The walls of the room they were in were lined with bookshelves sporting thick leather-bound books. The comfortable two-seater she had woken up on was tastefully covered in black velvet. A barren fireplace faced the loveseat, no fire cheerily crackling away. An elegant desk flanked by two comfortable armchairs sat in the middle of the room, books of all sorts haphazardly scattered across its scratched surface.

She turned to look at Malfoy quizzically. He languidly shrugged in response.

He had taken her to his lair.

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