Hermione's back pressed into the wall, her head slammed back into the stone but she was too busy to notice. She strained her neck forward as her lips sought to meet his. Draco curled his fingers through her hair and held her head in place, intentionally keeping a full inch between them, teasing her. She let out a slight moan of frustration as she pulled against his grip. He was pulling her hair, the pain increased as she struggled but she didn't care, she had to reach him, to taste him again. She moaned again causing a smile to spread across his lips. He continued to tease her for a moment more until his self control gave out. His face rushed forward and his mouth trapped her hers. Finally the contact she had yearned. She let herself drift as she the taste of him filled her senses. His body pressed against her, crushing her into the wall. Her arms wrapped around his waist, her fingers started to explore the contours of his back.
Draco deepened the kiss, his tongue pressed into her mouth, forcing her teeth open. Not that she resisted in the slightest, she pressed her tongue into his with equal force. Both their tongues began a rapid feverish dance, first in her mouth then in his, back and forth they went. Hermione was glad to be pressed into the cold stone of the wall, her legs felt like they were made of jelly, she doubted if they would be able to sustain her anymore. She felt dizzy, her heart pounded, her mind was awash with passion and blissful non thoughts. They kissed for what seemed like hours until the need for oxygen forced them to separate. Draco didn't go far however, his face drew back only slightly, she felt him take a quick breath then he closed in again. He planted his lips on hers briefly before he broke the contact again. On instinct, she moved forward, her mouth open, trying to hold the kiss. She felt a sharp pain as her movement caused him to tug on her hair again. Draco paused for a second then darted forward, his teeth caught her lower lip and squeezed. He bit down on her and held on. The pressure remained until a second soft moan escaped from her mouth, then he let her go. His mouth moved down, grazing her chin with his teeth before kissing her again. He continued along the line of her jaw kissing and nibbling as he went.
Hermione inhaled deeply, drinking in the scent of him before she let out another moan as he sank his teeth into the sensitive skin below her ear. He pulled back, the air felt cold on her neck as they parted. His eyes were shining in the moonlight as she gazed up into them. Slowly he untangled the fingers of his left hand from her hair. She felt them gently trickle down her face across her eyes and past her nose. She opened her mouth and caught the tip of his index finger in her teeth. Draco smiled at her as she bit down hard. He tried to pull free of her teeth but she held on. She smiled around his finger, he had been in charge long enough. She traced her fingers down his spine to his waist and then brought them round to the stroke his abdomen. Draco shivered as her fingers brushed over his hips. Hermione laughed slightly, he was ticklish. She would have to remember that. She brought her hands up to his chest, undoing the buttons of his shirt as they went. She felt his heart racing she ran her hands across his bare chest. He tried to free his finger again but she held on. Shaking her head slightly, she lifted her leg, slowly raising her knee in between his thighs until it brushed against his crotch. Draco's eyes widened at the contact, Hermione began to slowly rub her thigh against him. She felt her smile widen as she watched his reaction to what she was doing to him. His eyes fluttered closed and he groaned.
Draco brought his head forward, Hermione released his bruised fingertip only now that she could replace it with his lips. Their mouths began their passionate dance again. She let it go on for several moments before she pushed him away, prompting him to groan again. He pushed back, overpowering her by sheer force, but she had expected this reaction. She ducked her head to the side and buried her face into his collar. The scent of him filled her nostrils and she hesitated, lost in the sensation. Draco started to pull back to try and trap her again, but that wasn't what she wanted. He had teased her, now it was his turn. Before he could pull back far enough to kiss her, she turned her face into his neck. She opened her mouth and pressed her teeth into his skin. She let him feel them, but she didn't bite down, she didn't need to, she got the reaction she wanted. Draco paused, bracing himself for her bite. She grinned into his neck and started to lick him, moving her tongue in small, rapid circles rising up until her mouth was just below his ear. She could hear his breath quicken as she aroused him. Now she was ready to bite him, her teeth closed on his earlobe and she started to tug.
"Hermione…" his voice was a stuttered whisper, she could barely hear him even though his mouth could only be inches from her ear.
"Hmmm?" her mind was far too gone to form words, but she knew she was enjoying herself. Why was he talking? She released his earlobe and licked the top of his jaw line playfully.
"Hermione!" he repeated, his voice sounded funny, it was too high pitched. It almost sounded like…
"Hermione, wake up!" Hermione opened her eyes and looked up. Lavender was standing over her, she looked annoyed.
"Mwhaa…" words were still just about beyond her. She shook her head and tried to wake herself up.
"It's time to get up. You slept right through your alarm, and mine. Get up!" Lavender scoffed and turned away. Hermione rubbed her eyes and sat up. She was in her bed, in Gryffindor tower…alone.
"What…" Lavender turned at the door and looked at her, "What time is it?"
"It's quarter past eight. I'm going down to get some breakfast. You'd better get a move on if you don't want to be late for class." She opened the door and left, Hermione was alone in the bedroom. She sat in her bed with her head in her hands. 'It was a dream,' she laughed quietly to herself, 'I was dreaming about Malfoy.' She shook her head again and got up, grabbed her towel and headed to the shower. Inside the bathroom she turned the taps until the shower water steamed from the nozzle. Hermione hung her towel on the rack and stripped off her nightie. She stepped under the jet of water and shut her eyes. In her mind, she played the dream over again. She took a deep breath and bit her lip for a moment before she smiled. It was…an interesting dream.
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Draco looked up as Hermione entered the classroom. Her arms were laden with books as she bustled into the room and sat down in an empty seat near the front, dumping her burden onto the desk. Draco couldn't help himself staring at her as she shuffled and sorted the pile of parchment and books and started shoving them into her bag. She had just about finished when Professor Vector came in. The Professor entered and shut the door behind her with a quiet, precise click. Everyone snapped to attention automatically as she marched up to the lectern and turned to face the class.
"Good morning and welcome to your first sixth year Arithmancy class," her tone bordered on the severe, but that was nothing unusual for her, it was just her way.
"Good morning Professor," the class droned in response. Professor Vector nodded,
"Yes, indeed. Now I know that you may believe that our timetable for this year is rather unusual. You have no doubt noticed that instead of the normal three one hour periods we have spent together each week during the last four years that we have instead been issued a single three hour class on Fridays, i.e. today." There was a general murmur of agreement throughout the room. Draco had noticed the change but he hadn't had time to really think about it. Vector carried on,
"The reason that I prefer to have the classes arranged in this fashion during the N.E.W.T. course is simple. In place of our previous classes we will during this year be dividing our time between standard lessons and personal assignment work." The class groaned, they knew all about Professor Vector's project assignments, the very though gave them cramps in their fingers. "These assignments form the basis of our curriculum for the year and will be designed to promote some real thinking on your parts. You will have to use all of the techniques and proofs you have learned in the past, and those you will continue to learn this year, to devise and support your own solutions to the problems I set you. Our somewhat lengthy sessions will be divided roughly in half. The format will be as follows, first I will present detailed lectures on new material for your consideration. After my lectures, the remainder of our time will be devoted to your project work. In addition, you will occasionally be required to prepare presentations for the class to demonstrate your work.
"And so to begin," she stepped back from the lectern to the blackboard behind her and tapped it once with her wand. A series of complicated graphs and equations appeared on the board. Draco recognised some of them. They reminded him of some of the transference relations that governed animal transfigurations. A similar set of equations had formed the basis of their O.W.L. exam last summer. Those were tough enough, but these equations seemed far more complex. Vector turned back to the class,
"These equations represent the reactions that govern Animagus transformations. They were first thoroughly explored and proved by our own Professor Dumbledore some seventy years ago. For your first task this year, you will prepare a substantial dissertation detailing precisely how the good Professor proved these equations and also to investigate the benefits of the proof to the wizarding world. This project shall last for two weeks, at the end of which, you will be required to prepare a verbal presentation to support your points." The noise level rose as the class heard the details of the project, it seemed to be exactly what they had expected. It did not sound easy, and certainly not fun. Draco's eyes left the Professor and returned to Hermione. From her expression, she didn't seem to have a problem with the assignment, no surprises there. He continued to watch her as the Professor kept talking.
"Now, I realise that this seems like a substantial and most difficult project, and indeed it is," she smiled, "So, rather than for us to begin with a terrible ordeal. I have decided to ease your burden. This project shall be conducted in pairs." She reached out and touched the board again, "I have assigned you all partners, and I will entertain no arguments for altering these pairings." She gathered her robes about her and returned to the lectern, "So, to begin with, I have prepared a lecture on the history of the core equations that you will need to cover in the course of this project…" Professor Vector kept talking, Draco tuned her out. Hermione had turned to look at him, her expression was blank. When he didn't look away, she raised an eyebrow. He frowned, 'What?' he mouthed at her. Her eyes darted back to the board, he followed her gaze to look at the list of assigned pairs. There it was, his name, third from the top right beside…He turned back to her and raised his own eyebrow. She held his gaze for a minute, then shrugged and turned back to the Professor. Draco looked at her for a moment longer before he too turned back to Vector.
"…the first recorded Animagus was Heinrich Van Leicht in 1753. He developed the process by which all subsequent Animagii have mastered their transformations, though he lacked a true understanding of the complex magical forces he was harnessing…"
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Hermione tapped her foot as she stood outside the library doors waiting for Malfoy. He was ten minutes late and she was getting impatient. She bit her lip and looked up and down the corridor but there was still no sign of him. She shut her eyes and leaned against the wall. As her shoulders hit the stone her mind flashed back to last night, and the dream. She bit down on her lip harder, relishing the way the sensation reminded her of the dream…he had bitten her. Thinking about it made the skin on her neck tingle…'Oh snap out of it Hermione. It was just a fucking dream.' She growled to herself and looked down the corridor again, still no sign of him. 'Fuck this!' She hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and stomped into the library. She nodded once to Madame Prince and headed back to the study area.
As she turned the corner of the bookshelves, she scowled. Someone had been using her table. She didn't mind that so much, it wasn't really hers, just the one she usually sat at. But she did get annoyed when people used it and didn't clear up after themselves. She dumped her bag and sighed as she started to clear away the random scraps of parchment that littered the tabletop. As she shoved them aside, she noticed a magazine underneath. She picked it up – it was an old copy of witch weekly, nearly a year and a half old judging by the date. She laughed and shook her head, 'Why do they hoard theses stupid…' her mind stopped mid thought as one of the headlines on the cover caught her eye – 'Robert Etean – a Lord in the Making'.
Hermione sat down and flipped to the inside story. She had never gotten over the feeling that there was something not right about Etean, though she could find nothing odd about him in any of the more reputable sources she had researched. She found the story, it was a two page spread devoted to a party, Etean's sixteenth birthday party according to the caption. A large portion of the left hand page was missing. Someone, whomever had left the magazine here she guessed, had cut out a picture, probably an image of Etean himself. Hermione sighed again, someone had a crush on Etean? She shook her head and turned her attention to the text of the story. She frowned as she scanned the paragraphs, 'Held on the evening of the summer solstice, the annual summer ball held each year at Chateau D'Etean, marks the beginning and, for some, the highlight of the summer social calendar.' She shook her head, 'People actually read this stuff?' It went on to mention Etean himself, 'This years party promised to be an extra special affair. The guest of honour, Robert Etean, who recently celebrated his sixteenth birthday with a month long holiday in Africa, returned looking fit and tanned for this formal celebration of his presentation to the world.' She shook her head again, 'presentation to the world?' She read on but despite the fact that the article was supposedly devoted to him, there was scarcely a mention of Etean in the rest of the story. It was just the normal gutter reporting she expected to find in this kind of magazine, full of boring details about the guests' designer dresses and who had become engaged to whom recently. She was about to put the magazine down when her eyes fixed on a picture of the large crowd dancing at the party. Smiling faces whizzed past in static, practiced poses as they danced. One face in particular caught her attention, Lucius Malfoy! 'What was he doing there?'
Hermione frowned. Malfoy's father was at that party? What was his connection to Etean? He flashed past in the picture again, it was definitely him. Well if all the elite of Europe were there, why not him? Was Draco there too? He did seem to know Etean fairly well, better than anyone else in Hogwarts in any case. Maybe she should ask him about it. She frowned and shut the magazine, 'You have better things to be doing Hermione!' She piled the magazine and all the other scraps of parchment on the edge of the table, out of her way, before she took out her books and started reading up on Animagii. She was busy reading when the seat opposite her was pulled out and Malfoy sat down. She looked up at him and scowled. He took off his bag and looked back at her, seemingly confused.
"What?"
"You're late! You were supposed to meet me," she looked at her watch, "forty five minutes ago." Draco shut his eyes and nodded,
"I know, I know. I got…caught up. Sorry."
"What do you mean 'caught up'?" Draco sighed.
"I was with Madam Pomfrey. She collared me on my way here. She wanted to go through some exercises to help," he held up his arm, "with this." Hermione blushed, she felt the anger fade away.
"Oh, right then," she wanted to change the subject, "Well, I suppose we should get to work."
"Ok then, where do you think we should start?"
"Well…I think it's best if we both get a decent grounding in the background. Say chapters five and six," she tapped the book she was reading, "Then we can start to plan our approach properly." Her tone had changed, she sounded very proper and official. Draco scowled,
"Yes Professor," she blushed again.
"Sorry."
"Apology accepted," he grinned, then snapped his fingers, "That's it!" Hermione jumped at the sound,
"That's what?"
"I just figured out who you sound like, when you go off into teacher mode…McGonagall, without the accent of course," his grin grew wider as she felt a look of shock come to her face.
"I do not!" Draco shrugged, she opened her mouth to argue the point some more. He raised his hand and put his finger on her lips to stop her.
"Don't bother, I was only teasing," he took his hand away and bent down to dig his book out of his bag. He dropped it on the table and started looking for the correct page. After a few seconds, he found it. Draco bent his head and started to read for a minute before he looked up to see her still looking at him, his eyebrow shot up.
"Erm, aren't we supposed to be working here?" Hermione realised she was staring. She blushed and snapped out of it,
"Oh, right sorry."
"That's better…professor." She looked up to see him smirking at her again. She scowled,
"Don't call me professor, Malfoy!" She growled, he held his hand up in mock surrender.
"Fine, fine whatever you say," He lowered his head again. There was a moments silence before he added, "Sir!" Hermione reached over and slapped him on the top of his head, not hard, but it made quite a noise. Draco winced and rubbed his head, "Ouch, sorry, sorry." Hermione scowled,
"I seem to remember, Malfoy that we had this conversation before. If I recall correctly we agreed that my name is Hermione," she stressed her name and forced her tone to sound angrier than she really was.
"Ok then…Hermione," he glanced back down at his book, "now can we please get back to work?" Hermione forced the scowl to remain on her face,
"Ok then," she lowered her eyes to her book again, then raised them when she realised he was still looking at her. He looked her in the eye for a second, and then grinned. She found herself grinning back at him as she lowered her eyes.
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Draco shook his head and continued reading. This page looked familiar. He checked the number – 'It should, I've read this about ten bloody times already.' He shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was no good, he just couldn't concentrate on anything with her sitting so close to him. He was fighting a losing battle of willpower to keep himself from staring at her. They had been sitting here reading for hours but he didn't remember one thing from the text. He turned to look out of the window, it was still cloudy from yesterday's rain. The sky was dark and heavy, not at all pleasant to look at, but at least it was a distraction. Hermione clicked her tongue and he looked back at her to see her scribble something out on the parchment in front of her and add a correction over it. The desk around Hermione was covered in piles of notes, charts and general scribblings. 'Holy shit! How many notes can one person make?' Draco looked over, trying to decipher some of what she had written. It wasn't easy to read her tiny writing upside down. He reached over and picked up a pile of her notes. Her hand slammed down on top of his.
"Don't," her tone sounded very severe, it surprised him.
"I'm not trying to steal them." He stared at her, she shook her head,
"I know you're not, but it's just…"
"What? They private or something?"
"No…it's just…just they aren't very well organised. They are a mess, just stupid ideas and things I thought up while I was reading. I doubt they'd make much sense to anyone else."
"How about you let me decide what I can and can't understand," he tried again to pull the parchment to him, but she still resisted. He sighed, "Fine then, keep them to yourself if they are so important to you." He released the parchment, she was still pulling it back to her, her hand flew back, sending the parchment flying in all directions.
"Shit!" she said loudly, prompting a severe shushing from Madame Prince. She stood up and looked at the mess. "Cheers Malfoy! Thanks a lot." Draco stood up,
"Sorry, I didn't mean for it to happen," he started to help her clear the mess up, piling the parchment as best he could with one hand. She moved forward and got in his way,
"Don't, I need to organise them, I need them in order, you won't do it right," she pushed him from the table with her shoulder.
"Fine…fine, if you say so." He shook his head and stood back, watching over her shoulder as she pulled and gathered up all the parchment into a rough pile and shoved it into her bag. She certainly didn't seem to be sorting them much at all. Then his eyes caught sight of a red magazine amongst the junk. Too quick for her to stop him, he reached round her and grabbed it. He stepped back and looked at it as she rounded on him. 'Witch Weekly? She reads this?' he grinned at her.
"So…this is what you were hiding is it? You're ashamed to be seen reading this?" He waved the magazine at her.
"What? Oh grow up Malfoy. I don't read that nonsense." He smiled even wider as she blushed.
"Really? It doesn't look that way from here," he laughed, "So…the fabulous, intellectual Hermione Granger is a real girly girl underneath it all. Who would have thought? You'll be arguing with the rest of the airheads about new fashion trends next." Hermione just scowled and turned back to the table. She finished packing her bag and lifted it onto her shoulder before turning back him,
"That is not mine Malfoy, I found it on the table earlier,"
"Yeah…sure." She scowled and shook her head,
"Think what you want, bye." She turned to leave, Draco stopped her,
"Wait, where are you going?"
"Gryffindor, I want to dump my stuff."
"Why?"
"We have the Duelling Club after dinner Malfoy, remember?"
"Oh…yeah, I guess I forgot," he had, that surprised him. She turned without another word and was gone,
"Bye," he said to the empty air.
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Hermione shut the door of the library and leaned against it. 'That was too close!' Her hand fell into her bag and felt its contents, the absolutely useless notes. What had she been playing at? That was not studying! She didn't remember a single word of the book she had been reading. She shook her head and headed off to Gryffindor. 'At least he didn't see them.'
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Draco paused in silence for at least a minute before he tossed the magazine onto the table and dropped into the chair.
"Well done Malfoy that was just perfect." He shut his eyes and got himself together. He stood up and picked up his book. His eyes fell on the magazine. 'Why did I make such a big deal about it?' he frowned as he noticed a scrap of parchment sticking out from between the pages. He reached over and pulled it out. It was a page from Hermione's notes, it must have gotten mixed into the magazine in all the chaos. His mouth hung open as he looked at it. There were a few attempts at what he could call notes, surrounded by scribbles and doodles. His eyes were drawn to the centre of the page where, amidst the dozens of flowers and hearts was written in a heavily decorated script:
"Kiss me Draco!"
He couldn't force his eyes to look at anything but the words. Those three words made his heart soar. His fingers traced over the ink, she had written and re-written it again and again, adding little decorative curls and embellishments all over. He folded it up and put it inside his robes, he realised he was grinning like some stupid idiot but he didn't care. He packed his bag and headed to his dorm, fighting the urge to skip with every step.
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A/N: Ok guys, here we are at chapter 18. I was kinda surprised when I saw the number, because I know all that I still have to do. Thinking about it, id say that if I do it the way I had planned, it'll take me at least ANOTHER 18 chaps to finish this monster!
Oh well, I'll make you a deal, you keep reading and I'll keep writing.
Bye for now, more to follow.