1Warnings: Crappy writing, nudity, sex but NO blasphemy (that I noticed).
Chapter 10: Montage and Sweet-ish Love
Draco returned to his dorm dazed with both happiness and confusion. May had kissed him. Clearly she liked him too; else she wouldn't have jumped offstage to run after him. But then she had run back to the club without any explanation, so maybe she didn't really like him that much after all.
Collapsing onto his bed Draco sighed and gazed at the portrait of May he had drawn in chalk on his wall. It really did look a lot like her, only… Draco couldn't help but think, at first glance, that the portrait also sort of resembled Granger. Well, if it did, it must just be a coincidence, Draco told himself. After all, seen one broad seen 'em all. But he didn't really believe that, not about May at least. And Granger did not have what anyone would call common looks. She didn't do things the way most girls seemed to; she never tried to be anything more than what she was. She didn't wear a lot of make-up, he thought that she probably rarely wore any, and she didn't bother to dress especially nicely. Draco even had the sneaking suspicion that she was not, in fact, as dumpy as she looked but rather wore a uniform that was unattractively loose. That intrigued him for some reason.
"What is wrong with you Draco," he muttered to himself. "Why the hell are you thinking about Granger when May just kissed you! Idiot."
Draco remembered quite clearly how soft May's lips had been, and the way her body had felt pressed up against his, every curve and angle of their two bodies fitting together perfectly, like a puzzle or something. She too was not a common beauty and definitely not a classic one. May did not look stick thin and starving like most "beautiful" girls, but rather had beautiful, soft curves. When the fashion seemed to be dictating straight-haired blondes as the norm May was a curly-haired brunette. And it had been so much more fun to get his hands tangled in that mess of black curls.
Damn, now that Draco was thinking over May's looks and the sensations of the kiss they had shared he didn't think he could sleep. In fact he was in desperate need of a cold shower. Cursing, Draco jumped up and stalked angrily into his bathroom for what would most likely be a very long shower.
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The second set was over and Hermione had never felt so wonderful in her entire life. Confused, yes, but wonderful nonetheless. Malfoy liked her, and oddly enough she liked him too. The audience had loved her and Tom seemed happy to stay friends. Everything looked perfect. So was it?
Hermione still couldn't understand her odd attraction to Malfoy. He hated her, and she thought that she hated him too, but now she wasn't so sure. When he thought that she was May he had let his guard down and seemed vulnerable and almost…sweet. Could it be true? Hermione hoped it was; sweet, vulnerable Malfoy seemed much preferable to asshole Malfoy.
Jule flew Hermione back to her room without pressing her with too many questions. In fact Jule seemed oddly silent, considering she was Jule, but Hermione was too distracted by Malfoy to notice or care. Jule left the head's common room almost as soon as they arrived and marched up to her own bed in Gryffindor tower. Hermione cleaned herself up and fell into blissfully thoughtless, uncomplicated sleep.
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Time went by, the band performed well and the club seemed to be getting even more popular. Malfoy was at almost every performance and Hermione found herself spending a little time with him after every set that he attended, talking and kissing. She found herself liking him more and more. Once, she told him that she was muggle-born and asked him what he thought of that, considering his reputation as a probable future-Death Eater. He had responded simply:
"It's not true. I don't want to be a Death Eater. And I don't hate mud--, I mean muggle-borns. Just one in particular, the Head Girl at Hogwarts, Hermione Granger. I first called her mudblood because I was angry and I'd heard my father use that insult before. Then I just kept doing it out of habit really. I don't care about blood much one way or the other; my Dad's pureblood and he's still a bastard. I just hassle Granger about it because she's a raving bitch."
Hermione had elbowed him in the ribs and pretended it was an accident and when she pressed him he refused to exaggerate on how his father was a bastard, but Hermione didn't care. Even if his explanation involved hating the real her, at least he wasn't really a prejudiced pig.
For her part Hermione lied as little as possible. Since it was obvious that "May" did not attend Hogwarts Hermione explained that she had studied at Beauxbatons instead and that she was eighteen and had graduated the year before. Technically she was eighteen, thanks to her time-turner, and (since her mother was French) she was fairly fluent in French anyway. When he demanded she tell him her last name Hermione gave in and told him that it was Claremont.
Hermione found herself liking Draco more and more as a person, and she even worked hard to get along with him during their long, tedious hours of working on their Potions assignment when (knowing who she was) he hated her. Even though Hermione almost seriously damaged her tongue by biting it so much, she eventually seemed to reach some kind of peace with Draco and he got the picture and started to be semi-polite to her during Potions. The hardest part about spending time with Draco as herself for Hermione was not using his first name, as she had started to when she was May. She had to watch herself constantly.
Hermione grew closer to Jule as well. Even though she had only known her for two months, by Halloween Hermione found herself feeling closer to Jule than she ever had to Harry and Ron. After all, Jule knew things that Hermione would never tell the boys.
Yes, by Halloween Hermione thought that she had her life under control. That is, until a few days before Halloween when it was announced that there would be a Halloween ball for the seventh years.
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It was Saturday, three days before Halloween, and Hermione and the band had finished playing for the night. Now she was backstage in her dressing room making out with Draco. He was lying on top of her on the couch placed next to the make-up table and it seemed that he was very busy trying to untie the lace at the front of the black corset she was wearing.
"Draco, calm down," she murmured into his ear. "If you try too hard you'll never get it untied." She laughed softly at him.
Pulling back Draco looked down at her and grinned. "You know, dating you Goth-rocker chicks does have its drawbacks after all."
Hermione pulled back in shock. "We're dating?"
"Well, for the past month and a half or so we've been meeting after your shows several times a week. What would you call it?"
"I don't know," Hermione responded slowly. "It's just; we've never actually been on a date."
"That's just a formality."
Hermione shrugged. "I've never been in any kind of real relationship before; I guess I'll have to take your word for it."
"Really?" Draco seemed taken aback. "But you're so…hot."
Hermione giggled. "You're cute." She pulled him down for a kiss.
Several minutes and half the strings on Hermione's top later Draco pulled back again. "Hey, there's a Halloween dance-thing at Hogwarts on Halloween. You wouldn't want to come or anything, would you?" He asked.
"And end our streak of dating without going on any real dates, really?" Hermione responded slightly sarcastically. Then she laughed, to show she didn't mean it. "Um, I guess so. Are you actually allowed to bring someone who doesn't go to the school though?" She asked.
"Yeah, of course." Draco answered immediately. "I already asked the headmaster and he said it would be fine if you came, since you live so close and everything."
"Did he really?" Hermione answered slowly, pulling herself up so that they were sitting on the couch facing each other instead of lying down. "Exactly how much have you told him about me?"
"Not much," Draco replied absent-mindedly, leaning in to kiss Hermione's neck.
Hermione pushed him off. "No, seriously, I want to know what Dumbledore knows. I don't know if I want somebody so…all-knowing to know that much about me."
"May, come on, I just told him that you sing at the club and live in Hogsmeade. He asked me where, but since I've never been to your flat…"
"And you won't be going to my flat," Hermione cut him off. "I've told you, I live with my parents and they don't like me bringing guys around."
"You're eighteen May!"
"So what, they're still my parents!" Hermione snapped, angry at herself for having to lie to him. She changed the subject. "Alright, I'll go to your stupid dance!"
"You will?" Draco smiled happily at her.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Hermione shrugged in feigned nonchalance.
Draco kissed her.
Thirty minutes later Hermione glanced at her watch. It was two in the morning. Shoving Draco off of her she jumped up and hurriedly tried to retie her strings. "It's really late; you should probably go back to school." She muttered distractedly.
"May, it's a Saturday, I can sleep in tomorrow. In fact no one will think anything of it if they don't see me at all…"
"Draco, don't start with me, because it's definitely not happening. There is no way that we are having sex tonight in some dingy dressing room, so don't even try!" Hermione snapped, not really that mad.
"Fine, fine, I'm going," Draco knew she wasn't really angry; they had the same exchange all the time. "Look, come to the castle on Halloween at eight, I'll meet you at the front doors to the Entrance Hall, okay?"
"Sure," Hermione finished tying her corset and pulled Draco in for a kiss before running out of the door, casting a brief "See you then!" behind her.
Draco smiled and left the club, flying back to his room and peaceful sleep.
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Despite the fact that Hermione had not gotten back to her room until 2:30 and had not gone to sleep until 3:00, she still awoke bright and early at eight the next morning. Throwing on a tee-shirt and jeans (casual clothing since it was a Sunday) Hermione marched through the mostly empty halls of Hogwarts and straight to the gargoyle that marked the headmaster's office.
"Root-beer," Hermione announced calmly and the gargoyle jumped aside to reveal a winding stair-case. As soon as Hermione set foot on the first step the stairs started to move up like an escalator, but Hermione walked as well to get to the top faster. The door at the top of the stairs was closed so Hermione knocked on it and entered when Dumbledore invited her to.
"Ah, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said fondly. "What brings you here this morning?"
"Headmaster, I was wondering how much you knew about a girl named May Claremont," Hermione said carefully.
"Ah, Mister Malfoy's friend. I know that she is an eighteen year old girl who sings at that club the students think that I don't know about and that she also sometimes goes by the name Hermione, am I right?" Dumbledore twinkled at Hermione.
"Sir, if you know what I'm up to, why aren't you stopping me?" Hermione couldn't help but ask. "I mean, I must be breaking at least twenty school rules, but you're actually helping me lie to Draco? It doesn't make sense."
"Oh, you're just having a bit of fun, and it hasn't interfered with your school-work or any of your duties as Head Girl, so I don't think that it should matter that you've broken a few silly rules," Dumbledore's twinkle was now even more pronounced and it was obvious that he was not saying something.
Hermione was not stupid. In fact she had often been called quite brilliant, so it hit her suddenly and obviously why Dumbledore didn't care: "It's suiting your plans." She murmured. Dumbledore's smile grew even wider.
"If Draco and I get close enough for him to know who I am and not care, then the Houses will be brought closer together."
"Quite right, Miss Granger," Dumbledore was still smiling happily. "And don't forget that you may be keeping Mister Malfoy from joining forces with Lord Voldemort."
Hermione shrugged. "He never wanted that anyway."
"You know that and I know that, but most people do not know that including Draco's father," Dumbledore explained. "And I am certain that he will try to force Draco to join the Death Eaters once you have all graduated. But it is my belief that if you and Mister Malfoy fall in love…"
"Then he'll care more about me than he will about doing what his father wants." Hermione finished. "Well thought out, sir. So, I guess I'll be going to the ball as May then, huh?"
"Unless you decide to tell Draco who you really are before then, I guess so," Dumbledore agreed. "But you should know, Miss Granger, that although I respect your choice to live a double life I find it rather unnecessary. I see nothing in you that warrants hiding behind an assumed identity."
Hermione blushed at his compliment. "Thank you, Professor, but it's something that I feel I have to do. I'm not ready to be myself yet, not in front of everyone."
"Very well, Miss Granger," Dumbledore nodded. "Remember that you may speak with me anytime."
"Thank you again, Professor." Hermione left.
She would never get over how truly mad and brilliant Dumbledore really was. What he did seemed, at times, so reckless and foolish, but there was always a plan to it. She just hoped that this plan of his would work out, for her sake as much as for Dumbledore's.
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The day of the ball dawned overcast and cold. Halloween, it seemed, would not be peaceful this year. Hermione got up normally and attended all of her classes as usual, but she didn't really pay a lot of attention to any of them. Tonight she and Draco would go to the ball and she couldn't wait.
Classes ended early that day so that everyone could prepare for the Halloween Feast and so that the seventh years could get ready for their ball after the feast. Hermione attended dinner at six along with everyone, but ate little out of nervousness. Pleading illness, Hermione pretended to retire early to bed, even putting up a bit of a show of regret about missing the party. No one really noticed or cared.
Hermione and Jule raced up to Hermione's room to get ready. After talking to Dumbledore on Sunday morning Hermione had woken Jule and the two had gone shopping in Hogsmeade for the party. Normally Jule would have preferred to make the clothing, but Hermione felt like wasting some of the money she was making from the band. She didn't need it, really; she was only singing for fun.
Jule had only bought a pair of plain black high heeled shoes, but Hermione had bought an entire outfit. She bought a long, tight, black gown that accentuated her figure and displayed her bust to advantage. To wear with the gown she had bought dark burgundy dress robes in the most stylish cut available and black pumps with cute, rounded toes.
"That's not a very May thing to wear," Jule observed lazily when Hermione showed her.
"Well, maybe I'm not just trying to be May," Hermione replied defensively. "Maybe I'm trying to be myself too."
Jule had shrugged. "I'm not saying I don't like it, I'm just saying it's not in character."
"I'm sick of living my life in character," Hermione had snapped. "I finally have a boyfriend and I can't even be myself with him. I'm going to wear this dress and he's going to like it, or else."
"No need to throw a bitch-fit," Jule remained calm and unfazed by Hermione's outbursts. "What, are you on the rag or something?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
Hermione had bought the outfit anyway and now she was dressed and inspecting herself in the mirror in her room before the ball.
"You were right, I don't look like May," she sighed to Jule's reflection behind her own.
"Don't worry, as long as we do your makeup like May it won't matter what you're wearing. Besides, you still look damn sexy," Jule announced cheerfully.
"Thanks."
"Now sit down and let me beautify you," Jule commanded grandly, shoving Hermione into a chair.
When Jule was finished Hermione had May's long black hair curling down her back with elegant black eye makeup and red lipstick.
"There, simple, but still May and with enough Hermione in there to keep anyone satisfied," Jule decided. "Now I'm going up to my room to get myself ready, you go down and meet your lover."
"He's not my lover!"
"Whatever."
It was only a quarter past seven, so Hermione decided that it was a safe time to go downstairs and pretend to be arriving from Hogsmeade. The trick was to get there without anyone seeing her first. Casting an illusion on herself Hermione proudly made her way down to the Entrance Hall in the guise of a rather angry looking Professor Snape. The illusion was pretty damn good, in Hermione's opinion, and the few people she met on her way kept a safe distance away from her and avoided eye contact, which was lucky because direct eye contact would allow a determined viewer to see the truth behind any illusion.
Hermione arrived at the Entrance Hall without incident and slipped out the front doors before removing the illusion and looking like May once more. As she stood under the shelter of the small foyer in front of the front doors the gloomy sky broke and rain finally started to fall. Hermione watched fat raindrops smack into the earth as she waited for Draco to meet her. It was beautiful to just watch the rain fall.
Hermione was so absorbed in the rain that she didn't hear the doors open behind her as Draco came out to meet May. For a moment Draco kept his presence a secret, happy simply to watch May watch the rain. But eventually he cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly and watched in amusement as May whipped around in surprise.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi," she smiled warmly at him.
"You look really beautiful." Draco said honestly.
"Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself," Hermione replied just as honestly. In a black suit and dark green dress robes Draco looked positively gorgeous. She leaned forward and kissed him. "Should we go inside?" She asked. He nodded and, taking her by the hand, led her into the ball.
The Great Hall was decorated pretty well. Although there was not a live band there was popular music playing from some hidden source and there were festive Halloween decorations everywhere. The walls were hung with orange banners and lined with black chairs for those who chose not to dance. A table of refreshments stood at the far end of the hall and the house tables seemed to have vanished, leaving lots of space for dancing.
"Do you want a drink?" Draco asked devotedly.
"Sure, why don't you go get us something and I'll wait here?" Hermione suggested.
"Okay, be right back." Draco made his way towards the refreshments table. The hall now held most of the seventh years, but a few more were still entering. It really was going to be a small party with only the graduating class in attendance.
Hermione waited awkwardly next to a giant jack-o-lantern for Draco to return. She saw Jule walk into the Great Hall and waved discreetly at her. Jule looked nice in a knee-length, clingy, low-cut black dress and pale lavender dress-robes. Just to contrast her generally classy appearance she had a fake Mohawk with the hair from the center of her head pulled upwards and stuck that way and the hair on the sides hanging down in pretty brown curls. She got a few strange looks but she didn't seem to notice.
As she stood there many people cast curious glances in her direction. At first a few had thought she really was Hermione, but on closer inspection they decided that she couldn't be and everyone was curious about who this strange girl could be. Much to her surprise Harry was the first to approach Hermione.
"Hi, I'm Harry, have we met, you look familiar?"
"Um, not that I know of," Hermione lied. "My names May. I don't really go here."
"No? Then why are you here?" Harry asked politely.
"My boyfriend goes here," Hermione responded wanting to smirk at her best-friend and also feeling a bit annoyed that he was so easily fooled by her disguise. "Maybe you know him, Draco Malfoy?"
"Oh, you're here with him?" Harry seemed surprised.
"Yes, why?"
"Well, I don't know, you seem a little nice to be here with a jerk like him," Harry blurted out.
"I don't think he's a jerk." Hermione was enjoying messing with Harry; it was more fun than she had expected it to be.
"You can't have known him that long then. Believe me, we've known each other since first year; he's not a nice guy."
"You can't have dated him, because then you would know him the way that I do and I think that your opinion would be pretty different. Unless you two had a rough break-up, of course?" Hermione was laughing on the inside.
"What! No! Of course not!"
"Oh, alright then," Hermione nodded agreeably. "Draco!"
Draco had in fact returned with the drinks. As soon as he was close enough Hermione threw her arms around him and planted a big sloppy kiss on his cheek. She was pleased to notice that her lipstick had left a large red set of lips on his face. Harry watched the exchange in something verging on horror.
"Potter," Draco drawled. "What are you doing talking to my date?"
"Um, nothing, she's all yours," Harry backed away slowly.
Once Harry was gone Hermione full out laughed. "What, did you have fun teasing Pothead?" Draco asked, amused.
"Yeah," Hermione giggled. "But you probably shouldn't call him that; after all, he is the savior." At this they both chuckled.
Hermione and Draco spent the night dancing and drinking glowing, orange punch that someone spiked about halfway through the party. Shortly before discovering the new alcoholic content of the punch Hermione thought she spotted Jule near the bowl holding something silver and shiny, but she kept her suspicions to herself and enjoyed the alcohol.
One of the best parts of the night was probably when Draco introduced Hermione and Jule. They pretended never to have met before and both struggled very hard not to laugh, especially considering that all three of them (Draco, Hermione and Jule) were kind of drunk.
"May," Draco slurred slightly. "This is Jule. She's teaching me to be an animagus."
"Really, that's absolutely fascinating!" Hermione exclaimed in false excitement. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Jule."
"Right back at you, May was it?"
"Yes."
"Quite."
When they walked away Draco whispered into Hermione's ear, "Best watch out, she and Hermione Granger are lezzies. Wonder where Granger is?"
Hermione elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Don't talk that way about people. I don't care if they're gay, I don't like those kinds of insults."
"Sorry," Draco drawled, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
Eventually, when they were even more drunk, Hermione and Draco stopped dancing altogether and sat in a dark corner making out. Then, glancing about and giggling nervously, the two exited the Great Hall and made their way up to the Head's common room.
"SHHHHHHHH!" Draco said loudly when they entered. "I don't want to wake Granger!" He pointed towards Hermione's closed door; the light was clearly out. "Come on." Holding hands, Draco led Hermione to his room.
She had never been there before. It was mostly as she might have expected it to be, dark and classy, but one part of the room surprised her, even in her drunken state. One of the walls appeared to be a blackboard and on that blackboard, among other things, was a chalk drawing of what appeared to be her.
"What is that?" Hermione whispered.
"I don't have any photographs of you, so I drew it," Draco seemed almost embarrassed.
Seeing a camera on his desk Hermione grabbed it and shot a picture of herself. She then grabbed Draco and, pulling him into a kiss, snapped another photo, this one of the two of them. "There," she slurred. "Now you do." She then tossed the camera carelessly back onto the desk and grabbed Draco by the front of his shirt and pulled him towards her. The two collapsed onto the bed kissing with Draco on top.
They kissed for a while and then Hermione started to remove Draco's robes as he removed hers. Then Hermione unbuttoned Draco's shirt. He kicked off his shoes and sat up so that she could pull the shirt off all the way. He stood and unzipped his pants, letting them fall to the floor carelessly. He was now only in his boxers. Hermione stood up too and he pulled her dress off over her head so that she stood in front of him wearing only a bra, panties, and her cute pumps. She stepped out of the shoes and unclipped her bra, boldly exposing herself. Draco drank in the sight of her. Both taking a deep breath they both removed their underwear and stood completely naked in front of each other.
For a moment all they could do was stare and drink each other in. Then they both moved at once to kiss and they collapsed back onto the bed.
They were both pretty drunk, so the sex was sloppy and fast, not what Hermione had really expected. For one thing it was painful, and not particularly fun, at least at first. After a few minutes though the sharp pain dulled and it started to feel kind of nice, and then great. Then it was over. Hermione couldn't help but feel disappointed, but she was also drunk, so she was too busy passing out to dwell on her disappointment.
A/N: Ok, I know that was probably the most upsetting sex description ever, aside from anything about rape of course, but I was trying to be accurate and that's probably what would have happened their first time, especially if they were drunk. Hermione's lucky Draco could even get an erection, let alone have sex, drunk as they are. Anyway, the sex in later chapters will be vastly superior, believe me. Other than the ending, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It included what I fondly think of as the literary version of a film montage. If this were a movie then the music for the montage would have been A.D.I.D.A.S by Korn, hehe. Anyway, review.
Also, people have been asking where Harry and Ron are and I think someone asked about Ginny too. The answer is this: Harry and Ron aren't really important parts of this story. It's about Hermione's road to self discovery and such. And I never much liked Ginny. I don't dislike her; she just never seemed very interesting. Now that J.K. Rowling wrote her in as Harry's girlfriend I might incorporate that, but like Harry and Ron she isn't an important character in this story. At any rate, like I said already, REVIEW!
Preview:
"Well, she probably won't be my girlfriend for much longer, so mudblood, mudblood, MUDBLOOD!" He yelled, storming into his room.