Disclaimer: I do not own Harry potter. I do not own Harry Potter. I do not own Harry Potter.
Sunday afternoon was the first Quidditch practice for Harry, Ron, and Ginny. Hermione did not have much to do seeing as her best friends were all occupied. As much as she loved to see her friends doing what they loved, she wished that the sport allowed them more time on the ground.
Instead of sitting in the stands and watching them, as she knew that would bore her out of her mind, she spent the final day of her weekend strolling the grounds on the edge of the Forbidden Forest trying to clear her mind.
She wished she didn't think of Malfoy as often as she did, but alas, not all wishes can come true. Her plan was coming together with many loose ends, and she hadn't seen Malfoy enough in the past few days to start observing his weaknesses. Aside from Pansy, whom he seemed quite attached to, he was pretty secluded from the outside world.
Hermione wasn't a fan of one night stands. An encounter in the summer with a boy had pretty much made her thoughts on sex and relationships well defined, unfavorably. She didn't really see men as loving creatures, but as horny beasts.
So she wouldn't give into him. She would not sleep with him, under no circumstances; only hold a relationship until he begged. She would have him under her control, like a dog on a leash. And she had managed to convince herself she could accomplish this.
And oh, what a coincidence, Malfoy strode up beside her at that moment. Thank God she had not been thinking out loud or it would have meant the end of the world to her. She sighed dramatically and glared at him.
"What?" She snapped in frustration. He only smirked in return. "Stop smirking at me!" She whined like a little child.
"You are just too becoming when you are angry, Granger. Though not very graceful." He said with another amused smirk, and slipped a hand around her waist.
She squirmed out of him grasp and shot him a look that could kill. "Oh, give it up, Malfoy, I'm not stupid. You just contradicted yourself!" Hermione growled, her frustration growing.
Malfoy shrugged. "You know you love it, Granger." He said surely, before he quickened his pace and walked away from her. Hermione only stood there, flabbergasted. Shoving her hands onto her pockets, she began to walk away.
Scowling, she trod back up to the castle, fiddling with something in her pocket. She was so sick of Malfoy … doing that! She didn't even have a name for it, except being an arrogant ass!
Biting the inside of her cheek, once again she contemplated her plan. It was failing! She just allowed him to get to her! Oh, she could not stand for this. She quickened her pace toward the Gryffindor common room. It was time for a heart to heart with her young sister.
She was still twirling the piece of paper in her pocket when she reached the Fat Lady's portrait. Realizing it hadn't been there earlier; she pulled it out and inspected the scribbled writing.
'Meet me in the third floor corridor 12:00pm. –DM'
He couldn't be serious! With an angry huff, she snapped the password to the portrait and climbed into the Common Room.
Isabel was in her own world when Hermione entered her room. Humming to herself, she was smirking at something only she understood. You see, earlier on she had run into Blaise Zabini in the corridors. He had been looking for Draco, and she had been looking for Hermione. After Blaise made a comment about Draco not being around much lately, she added a few behavior changes that seemed uncharacteristic to Hermione – and they quickly realized the changes had been made to adapt to each other.
So, that launched a new conversation, discussing just why the two were being so attentive to each other. When Isabel suggested they liked each other, Blaise laughed it off, but Isabel persisted. The two talked for about half an hour in the middle of the hallway, with several portraits looking on, before they realized they had places to be. Isabel had blushed when she realized she had been holding him up, and for once in her life she had felt foolish and young. Normally being a very bold person, she had run back to her room and collapsed on her bed, confused. Thoughts of Blaise had only followed her back there, and this was the state Hermione found her in.
"Who is it?" Hermione sighed in frustration. She could instantly recognize the signs – her little sister was way into one of her classmates.
"I beg your pardon?" Isabel said, bolting up on her bed. She kicked her school shoes off because she had left them on earlier and quirked an eyebrow at her sister.
"Who are you so caught up with?" Hermione prodded. She was used to Isabel being quite direct with boys, no matter what feelings she had for them.
"Ugh, no one! Why are you so fascinated with love lately?" Isabel snapped, a blush creeping across her face. Damn her fair complexion.
"I have to protect my little sister, remember?" Hermione reminded her of what her mother said, smiling softly. Her mother was terrified of the war that could engulf the wizarding world at any moment. Even though the two sisters had told her The Evil Dark Lord Voldemort was suffering memory loss and had about a mere dozen Death Eaters at his service, she did not relent.
Isabel sighed dramatically. "What do you want?" She prodded with a smirk.
"Draco fucking Malfoy is what I want." She said, tossing herself face first into the pillows of Isabel's bed.
"Oh!" Isabel explained, her mouth forming a giant 'O'.
"How can you be so direct with boys?" she asked her little sister with a wail.
"Umm … I just am?"
"But how? I need to learn from you! I gotta resist Draco … especially tonight!"
Wordlessly, Isabel pulled a bag of cosmetics from her side table. Her mom did not let her wear make-up, deciding she was too young, so she had gone and bought the essentials from a drug store in muggle London without her mum knowing.
And then she turned to Hermione and worked her magic.
-
Fifteen minutes before curfew, and one and a quarter hours before he was hoping to meet Granger in the forbidden hallway, Draco Malfoy was in his common room with Pansy curled up at his side and Blaise chatting away with Crabbe and Goyle, who were both eagerly lapping up every bit of information he gave them.
He chuckled at his situation. It was not like he didn't like Pansy, in fact, he found her quite enjoyable company, but he just wasn't into her romantically. She wasn't as pretty as Granger, but she presented herself nicely and she had confidence unlike any other girl he had ever met. She wasn't skinny, but she had curves, and the pug nose people had teased her about years ago actually suited her face in his point of view.
Draco had witnessed Little Granger talking with Blaise, and the fact that he had carried out a conversation with someone so young bothered him. She was immature, brainless and annoying, and he was positive she was spying for her older sister.
He had yet to confront him about it, and he knew when he did Blaise would only shrug him off and continue doing whatever he had originally be doing. Draco knew that sometimes he took Blaise for granted. He was the only other male Slytherin Draco could really hold up a conversation with. Their grades were above average, making them the top in scoring for the Slytherins, but Blaise was an attention seeker, and Draco was an attention receiver. The difference between the two was like night and day.
As the night wound down, Draco and Hermione both made there way through the hallways, intent on getting to the third floor corridor. The passed each other a couple of times on the staircases, but they were too busty trying to get off on the right place to notice each other. Hermione made it to the destination first, Draco following a few minutes later.
"Make it quick, Malfoy." Hermione snapped, tiredly. She covered a yawn with her hand and wiped her sleepy eyes awake.
"Well, you're rather impatient, Granger." Malfoy snarled in the dark.
"Yes, well, I'd like to get back to bed. So tell me why I'm here and don't try to kiss me again."
"Very well. Let's play a game."
"Malfoy, I said I don't …"
"Ten questions." This shut her up and she looked at him, at least as much as he could in the dark. "Until I can find out why you are resisting me so well."
She growled but didn't protest.
"One, what is your relationship with Pothead and the Weasel?"
"They're my friends, Draco; don't even go down that road." She spat.
"Okay, two, why did you call me Draco just then?"
Oh, shit. She thought. I did, too. I'm slipping. "Slip of the tongue."
"Well then, you must see something in me, no?" He hinted.
She saw no point in lying. "You're attractive, Draco, and you're taboo. You're a guy; you should know the meaning of wanting what you can't have."
"Then how come you rejected me that time in your common room?"
"Because I'm not desperate."
Draco frowned. Was she saying he was?
"Just how many boyfriends have you had in the past? Muggle men, maybe?"
He was not expecting the answer he got. Hermione started counting on her fingers. He was surpised when she had to use two hands. "Hmm … (mumble mumble) … umm, about seven since I was fourteen, after Krum."
"What did you do with them?"
"Not much, for the most part … except for one time …"
"What did you do that time?" Draco pressed, annoyed that she was stalling.
"We went to parties, did some things my parents wouldn't like. I spent some time in a muggle school in America … things are much more raunchy there."
"What kind of things?"
"Drinking…" She did not sound regretful. "Smoking … sometimes illegal stuff, too. Only once, though …" She trailed off, wiping memories from her head.
"Wow, who got you to do that?"
"My last boyfriend. He was a college freshman … big mistake."
"Why? And why aren't you with him any more?"
"College boys have short attention spans, I guess. He was here from America," she said, as if that explained it all. "I'm not with him … because I made the mistake of sleeping with him. He said … he would break up with me if I didn't. After that night, I didn't want to do it anymore. He got angry, and broke it off anyway." She said with her breath shaking. Why oh why was she telling this all to Draco Malfoy? Harry and Ron didn't even know about this …
"Hey." Draco said to get her attention. She could see him now that her yes were well adjusted to the darkness. "You're could be turned inside out and backwards, but you'd get through it. Extraordinary. Now, let's get out of here, because it is all too normal for you to get caught."
"Yes, lets." And they walked back together.
A/N: Please review, no matter what you say and even if you've never commented before, I love response!