Hi Everyone! Thank you so much to everyone who left kudos and reviews :)
Chapter 1 has now had the beta treatment and it is SO much better, so I highly recommend giving that a re-read before this chapter, in fact, it's kind of necessary for plot point reasons.
Thank you so much to my beta Lun27, this story wouldn't be what it is becoming without you!
Enjoy :) Let me know your thoughts.
Chapter 2
For the second time of that week, they shared a bench in their Potions classroom. It had been two days since the last time Hermione and Draco had been in close quarters and they both were acting like they were on opposite poles of a magnetic force. Business as usual really.
"You'll find in front of you the weekly schedule for the Potions Lab," Snape gestured with his wand to desks in front of them.
Her eyes quickly scanned the parchment for their names.
Malfoy/Granger: Wednesday and Friday – 8:00pm to 10:00pm.
Wednesday. That's tonight.
Hermione heard Harry and Ron mumbling irately behind her.
"10:00! On a Friday night? Sir, why are we stuck with the graveyard shift?" Ron called out, braver than he should have been.
"Mr Weasley. History tells us that the lab likely won't be in any condition for other groups once you're done with it. Hence, the graveyard shift," Snape replied in a slow, monotonous tone.
Ron knew better than to argue back, instead he settled for grumbling under his breath with his gaze firmly down on his textbook.
"I found a book in the library," Malfoy said from next to her. She jumped slightly from the shock and the shiver of delight that the sound of his whisper sent down her spine.
"For the project or the… other matter," Hermione finished lamely.
"The other matter," Malfoy grit out, clearly as uncomfortable as her.
"Bring it to the Potions Lab tonight, I came across a few things as well that I'll bring."
He nodded in agreement, his expression stony.
Once Snape dismissed them, Hermione made a dash for the door. She had agreed to meet Ginny again in the library before lunch, and with their potions project imminent she really did need to express her trepidation out loud lest it cause her to implode.
"Hermione!" She heard from behind her. She half thought about ignoring Harry's call, but she knew she had been distancing herself lately and she didn't need two of her best friends getting suspicious about her withdrawn behaviour. Usually, the three of them were attached at the hip from when she woke up to the time she went to bed, with the exception of some classes.
"Hi boys!" she said, summoning as much pep into her voice as she could muster.
"Where are you running off to?" Ron asked.
"Oh," she tried to summon a casual, breathy tone, "Ginny and I were just going to catch up before lunch."
Not a lie. She could not lie. She could omit some of the truth. What was that old saying? Lying by omission. Yeah. She was going to do that.
"Brilliant, I need to borrow her cauldron for this bloody assignment. Fancy a trip to the library, Harry?"
Harry shrugged in a non-committal manner, though Hermione suspected he wouldn't mind an unscheduled visit to the youngest Weasley one bit.
Hermione groaned inwardly, how was she going to shake them so her and Ginny could speak freely?
The golden trio found Ginny at a table in the stacks at the back of the library. When she looked up from the book she was reading, her brow furrowed slightly in confusion at the unexpected appearance of the boys trailing behind her.
"Harry. Ronald." Ginny nodded quickly to each of the boys.
"Oh really, it's like that?" Ron quipped, feigning offence.
The four of them chatted idly for a while about what Hermione deemed in that moment to be very inconsequential and time-wasting topics — Quidditch and Snape being an unfair slimy Slytherin. All the while, Hermione was contemplating how to get rid of Harry and Ron.
"Boys, would you mind going ahead to lunch without us? I have something I'd like Ginny's advice on."
Their eyebrows shot up in tandem, apparently indignant that whatever she wanted to discuss with Ginny they couldn't be privy to. It wasn't often, if ever, that she would ask them to leave a conversation.
"And what would that be?" Ron challenged.
"Know any good tonics for relieving menstrual cramps, Ron?" Hermione replied with as much sincerity as she could muster.
That was enough for Harry to concede, "Ah. Right. Well. That is indeed our queue, see you both at lunch."
Ron couldn't quite look her in the eye as he grabbed his bag, red faced and contrite.
"Excellent strategy," Ginny complimented.
Without waiting for Hermione to accept her praise, she pressed on to the matter at hand.
Casting a quick muffliato, she said, "Right, any developments? Encore performance?"
"No, thank Merlin, but we are scheduled to meet tonight at eight in the potions lab. I was hoping you could assist with…. supervision," Hermione implored of her red-headed friend, unsure how else to put that she essentially needed a chaperone to make sure there were no unsanctioned potion brewing activities.
"Wait, you couldn't get out of doing the project with him?" Ginny questioned, crossing her legs and leaning closer to Hermione.
Hermione sighed in disappointment, "No, he spouted some nonsense about there being a distinct lack of trust between us and wanting to be involved in what we discover about why this is happening."
"I see. Well, this may be a situation where a policy of keeping your enemies close may be the way to go. Under strict conditions." Ginny pointed her finger at Hermione with a pointed look.
The girls spent their remaining time in the library discussing strategy on how they were going to go about keeping Hermione and Draco from having another magically charged sexual encounter this evening.
XXX
Hermione tried to drag out dinner as long as she could, pushing food around her plate and cutting it into tiny pieces.
"Hermione, do you want Ron and I to come and do our potions assignment with you and Malfoy tonight? I can't understand why he insists on being a part of it. You being alone with him just really doesn't sit right with me." Harry's face was full of concern, ever the gallant Gryffindor.
Ginny mumbled, "Little late for that…" her mouth full of chicken.
Hermione pushed her knee into Ginny's leg, shooting her a withering look.
"What does that mean?" Ron asked, his voice high pitched and raised a few more decibels than what would be considered good manners at a dinner table.
"Sheesh, down boy. I only mean that Snape already made it very clear that the pairings were final and if you think that the presence of you and Harry is going to calm the situation in any way, you're kidding yourselves." Ginny recovered convincingly from her slip up.
Hermione nodded in fierce agreement, feeling very grateful to have a friend that could respond so quickly under pressure. "She has a point, the three of you there together will only guarantee outbursts and dangerous wand waving. If tonight goes badly, I promise to go to McGonagall. I'm sure she can help me with getting Snape to relent on letting us switch partners."
Keeping Harry and Ron as far away from this mess as possible was going to be a full-time job in itself.
This is exhausting already.
She saw a distinct blond head rise up from his seat across the hall. She met his gaze and he gestured with his head ever so slightly that she should follow him out. It was almost eight.
Right then. Here we go.
Hermione shot one final desperate look at Ginny before taking her leave towards the Potions Lab.
She found Malfoy in there, free of his outer robes, tie loosened, and sleeves pushed up above his elbows. He was seated crossed legged at the front of the lab and he had his nose in a book, a few strands of hair had come loose of its slick styling, giving him a much softer look than she was used to. He licked his finger to turn a page and she felt her body betray her again as she recalled what else he could do with that tongue and those fingers.
"Should we have a code word?" he said, not looking up from the book he was reading.
"For what?" she responded, not following his line of thought.
"In case we start feeling randy again and christen the bloody lab."
Oh.
Hermione felt her face growing warmer. "Must you be so vulgar?"
"Yes." Draco shrugged, not the least bit embarrassed about his choice of words.
"I suppose technically you're right… what about 'Polyjuice'?" she asked.
Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever."
Hermione started to walk towards him with her bag full of books and potion ingredients.
"Ah, that's close enough don't you think, Granger?" He had looked up from his book now, an expression of slight trepidation settling on his face. "We don't know how this thing is triggered. Proximity might be a factor."
He had a point.
She walked to the back of the room, collected their cauldron and started emptying out the contents of her bag. Whilst she organised her working space, she asked him, "Have you found any leads?"
"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," he drawled with a smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth.
Hermione turned toward the bubbling cauldron looking heavenward, wondering for the umpteenth time what she had done to land herself at the mercy of one Draco Malfoy.
"Fine, so far I have only been able to determine what it's not. It can't be that someone slipped us Amortentia. What we experienced wasn't an obsessive, blinding love for one another and I don't recall eating or drinking anything before we —-"
"Rutted like rabbits? Go on," Malfoy interjected.
"Did what we did. I've never heard of a spell that could do this either."
"What about a cursed object?"
"Oh yes, you would know all about those – "
"Granger," Draco growled.
"Fine… a cursed object…" she tapped her finger to her chin, considering the likelihood, "Again, I find it improbable as the person would have had to make sure that both of us — and only us — touched the same cursed object. Even then, I've never heard of a cursed object having this effect."
"Right. So, you have nothing," he surmised, much to her chagrin.
"No, I have narrowed down the possibilities. Your turn."
Malfoy put the book he was reading onto the floor in front of him and sighed.
"What about the imperius curse?" he offered, though she could tell from his tone that she knew he was grasping at straws.
"Hmm… I don't think it's that either. People under the imperius curse have reported feeling like they were in a trance-like state, free of anxiety and responsibility. That's not how I felt. I was fighting it for a while. It felt more like…"
"Your blood was on fire?" he finished for her.
She nodded in agreement. It relieved her slightly to know he had had the same experience.
Hermione broke eye contact first, turning back to the steaming cauldron and giving it a brisk stir.
"Anything else?" she asked, a slight waver to her voice.
Malfoy sighed again. "No. Honestly, I was relying on your great swottiness to come in here with all the answers," he admitted bitterly.
"Well, despite your childish name calling, I do believe that we can find the answer. We have to. I'll have some more ideas before we meet Friday and I suggest you do the same. In the meantime, we have an actual project to work on, so could you make yourself useful and stir while I add the ingredients?"
Having apparently forgotten his objections to being in her immediate vicinity, Draco stood up and joined Hermione next to the cauldron, yanking the spoon out of her grip and mumbling under his breath about, "bushy, bossy bints."
They had been working together for the better part of an hour, chopping, stirring and pouring. They worked surprisingly well together when there weren't words involved. Hermione and Draco fell into a strange harmonious rhythm – unconsciously moving closer and closer together until their shoulders were basically touching.
Hermione broke the productive trance they were in. "Could you pass the Wormwood?"
Malfoy held his hand out with the item in question, she went to grab it from his palm and he gently closed his fingers around hers.
Hermione looked up at him and was taken aback by what she saw. She hadn't yanked her hand from his grip like either of them expected her to. His expression was indiscernible, but eerily similar to how he looked the only other night they had touched like this. Hermione was only now fully aware of how close they were standing. She could feel his quick breaths on her forehead.
"Six feet!" came a sharp voice from behind them.
They sprung a part faster than a pair of electrified flobberworms.
Hermione saw Ginny stood in the potion's lab doorway donning a red fluffy robe, bed hair and a wand pointed at Malfoy's lower regions.
Ah. The don't-have-sex-with-Malfoy pop in strategy.
"What are you doing here, littlest Weasel? Coming to check I haven't poisoned or hexed your precious golden girl?"
"More like checking to see you two weren't shagging over every available surface of the lab," Ginny quipped.
Draco turned to Hermione sharply, eyes narrowed. She recoiled and steeled herself for his wrath.
"You told her?" he demanded.
"I didn't have a choice! She saw me in your clothes and honestly, I was freaking out and needed to talk to someone about what had happened."
"Six feet, Malfoy," Ginny reminded him sternly.
"Oh, push off Weaselette, I'm not going to ravage your precious little Mudblood at your bloody feet," he spat.
Hermione tried to ignore the pang that came with him calling her that awful slur. She took a step back from him, cold awareness pouring over her like a bucket of ice water.
Draco continued, not noticing her change in demeanour. "A Weasley, Granger? Really? Even Potter would have been preferable. At least I told someone who knows how to keep a secret."
"I'm not going to tell – "
Hermione interrupted Ginny. "Who did you tell?" she asked Malfoy.
"Nott. Theo," he replied coolly.
Hermione supposed it could be worse. He could have told Crabbe, or Goyle. Those two couldn't keep their mouths shut if they were glued. From what she knew of Theodore Nott he was the quiet, brooding sort. He was one of the rare Slytherins that chose to ignore her completely, rather than harass her on a daily basis.
"Well, I can't take it back now so you're just going to have to deal with it. I think it's time we call it a night."
Hermione quickly packed away her things and said, "Come on Ginny, let's go to bed."
"Wait," Draco said from behind her.
"What is it, Malfoy?" The magic connecting them pulled heavily at her feet, willing her not to leave.
He dug around in his bag and pulled out a neatly folded pile of school uniform and underwear.
"Thought you might like these back."
Hermione felt the all too familiar warmth rising up her neck to her face, mortified that they were having this exchange in front of Ginny.
"I have yours too." She took her pile from him and offered him his clothing from her own bag.
"Till Friday then, I suppose."
Hermione nodded curtly and the three of them exited the classroom with Draco abruptly walking down the corridor in the opposite direction.
Just as well, Harry and Ron were coming down the hallway towards Hermione and Ginny for their shift in the lab.
"Ginny? What are you doing here?" Ron looked at the folded pile of uniform in her hands with curiosity. "Hermione, what's with the clothes?"
This was what her immediate future looked like — Lying regularly to two of her best friends to cover up her most shameful secret.
"I asked Ginny to bring them. In case we had a mishap with the brewing," she said with what she hoped was confidence.
"Oh, right. Good thinking." Ron gave Harry a friendly nudge. "We should have thought of that."
"How was the ferrety git?" Harry asked.
"Oh, fine. A few terse words were exchanged, but I think we'll get through it. We're off to bed, happy brewing!" Hermione hooked arms with Ginny and continued down the hallway towards the Gryffindor dormitory.
When they were far enough away, Ginny whispered, "How long do you think you're going to be able to keep this from them?"
"Preferably until I'm dead, then I'll let them read it in my will."
Ginny rolled her eyes at her best friend's denial.
XXX
Friday came around far too quickly for Hermione's liking. She had spent most of her evening on Thursday scouring the library for anything she could bring to Malfoy as some way of explanation for what had happened to them and she was turning up empty again and again.
Hopefully he'd had more luck, but she doubted it.
Hermione was first to the potion's lab this time. She was checking on the brew in their cauldron when he walked in.
"Anything?" he queried, not even bothering with any hollow greetings or forced niceties.
Hermione shook her head, keeping her gaze firmly on the swirling concoction before her. She could feel her hair start to frizz from the heat coming off the cauldron, but she didn't really care what she looked like to him at this point. Hermione was still stinging from his most recent insult towards her and she admonished herself again for feeling a spark of something she didn't want to analyse at the sight of him coming through the door.
"Me neither," he groused.
An idea suddenly occurred to Hermione.
"Perhaps we need to refocus our efforts. If we can determine who did this to us, we can then find out how. That's probably the more important question actually, who would want to do this to us?"
"Who the hell benefits from a muggle-born and a pure-blood shagging?"
Hermione flinched at his crassness but didn't bite back this time. At least he hadn't used the other M-word.
"It doesn't make any sense, does it? I can't see the end game here. I think we need to keep an eye on anyone taking an interest in us."
Malfoy nodded in agreement.
They moved on to tending to their potion, on opposite sides of the bench,. pPushing ingredients across it if needed, no chance of any pesky hand touching.
"Granger, can I ask you a question?"
"I suppose," Hermione replied, concentrating on doing some ingredient quantity conversions.
"That time we… was that your first time?" He looked at her, one eyebrow cocked expectantly for her reaction.
Hermione paused her quill on the parchment, taken aback by the question. "I'm not discussing this with you Malfoy."
"Look, I'm only asking because if you were a virgin it could narrow our search down dramatically. There is powerful magic involved with virgins."
It occurred to Hermione that he could be right. There was historical precedence.
"Suppose I was, were you?" she probed.
There were a few seconds of weighty pause before Draco replied.
"As a matter of fact, I was. I mean, don't get me wrong. I've had plenty of pleasurable encounters with a few of the witches around here but hadn't gone so far as to shag any of them."
His honesty surprised her. "Well, that could narrow down our list of suspects and what they were hoping to achieve." Hermione had decided not to give him grief over being a virgin, despite his man slag reputation. That would be mighty hypocritical of her.
Malfoy had been slowly making his way to her side of the bench throughout this conversation.
"It didn't really feel like a couple of virgins having it off for the first time though, did it? It felt like we knew exactly what we were doing." Malfoy continued taking slow and deliberate steps closer to her.
"Perhaps it was all part of the magic," Hermione offered weakly, acutely aware of the distance closing between them.
Why aren't you moving away from him?
"Makes you wonder…" Malfoy was inches from her now,. hHis eyes were raking over her. H, he lifted a hand to her face and twirled an errant curl around his finger. He seemed completely oblivious to what he was doing, entranced by the strand of hair he was playing with.
Oh shit, this was definitely a time for the code word.
"Poly -"
Hermione didn't get to finish the word. He cradled her face in his hands and leant down to kiss her. The rest of the word died on her lips.
She could stop him. She could turn her head away. She could step back. She could punch him right in the nose again. But Hermione Granger wasn't going to do any of those things. She was going to let him kiss her.
When his lips met hers, they were warm and yielding. She let her eyes flutter shut. He was being tender, slowly moving his mouth over hers again and again. She felt a tingling sensation start to brew in the pit of her stomach. He moved his hands to her back and pulled her against him. Hermione pressed her mouth more firmly to his, emboldened by his actions.
Their mouths wrenched apart as the zap of a propulsion spell forced them to opposite sides of the room.
Hermione looked at Draco with his lips swollen, hair mussed and senses returning. He released an audible growl, grabbed his bag and pushed past a stunned Ginny who was still pointing her wand at him.
Hermione and Ginny stood there, looking at each other.
"I think you two need a full-time chaperone," her read-headed saviour declared.
Bugger.
XXX
"If I hadn't walked in when I did, would you have let him take you right there on the filthy lab floor?" Ginny grilled her without any remorse or tact. At least they were alone in the common room.
"No!" Hermione cried, looking around furtively to ensure that no one was walking down the stairs from the dormitories.
Ginny fixed wide eyes on her, unblinking, and let the silence stretch on until Hermione cracked.
"Fine! There's a slight possibility that I… might have," Hermione relented.
The fiery redhead shook her head with a Slytherin worthy smirk forming on her mouth when she replied, "You naughty minx."
Hermione groaned in shame and bowed her head down, holding it in her hands.
Ginny was having way too much fun with this. Couldn't she understand how horrible the situation was for her? Ever since it had started, Hermione had been trying and failing to reconcile her mind with her treacherous body. Her head knew what kind of man Draco Malfoy was. The things he had done were abhorrent to her and went against everything she believed was right and good. Her body, on the other hand, betrayed her every time and was apparently able to temporarily obliviate her traumatic memories of years of being bullied by him.
"Ginny, I can see how this is entertaining because it isn't you experiencing it, but I am dying inside." The impact of the past week was all coming to a head for Hermione. "What will Harry and Ron think of me when they find out? All the horrible, evil things that Malfoy has done to us over the years will make it borderline unforgivable." Her voice faltered ever so slightly at the end.
Ginny's expression softened into one of contrition. She reached out a comforting hand towards her. "Hermione, I believe you when you say that it wasn't in your control. Sure, they'll be disgusted," Hermione winced at her brutal honesty, "and maybe even feel betrayed, but when they've had some time to process, they will understand. I'll make sure of it."
Hermione released a small sigh, feeling some of the panic ebb away. "I suppose you're right. I'm just not ready to tell them yet, is that okay? I feel like I need to find out why this is happening instead of spilling the beans with vague proclamations like 'I couldn't help it'."
Ginny nodded, understanding where she was coming from. "I don't think we should wait too much longer though. These things have a habit of ripping their way out into the open. They might not forgive so easily if they find out from someone who isn't you."
"That's fair. We have narrowed it down a bit." Hermione hesitated briefly before revealing the next bit of information. "We think someone targeted us because we were virgins – "
"Draco Malfoy. Prince of Slytherin – was a virgin?" Ginny cut in.
"I am as stunned as you. We think someone could be using us as energy to weave dark magic. It could still be feeding off us, pushing us together like a charging battery."
Ginny paused in thought, mulling over Hermione's new theory. "Well, if that's the case and whoever is doing this isn't done with you yet, then I think I had better be with you when you are alone together."
Hermione's face relaxed even further into a soft smile, relieved that they at least had a temporary measure to prevent further incidents. She grabbed her friend's hand in gratitude.
"Thank you, Ginny. I don't know what would have happened if you weren't helping me with this."
Without missing a beat Ginny drily surmised, "Probably have loads of excellent sex, followed by periods of intense self-loathing I imagine."
XXX
Hermione cornered Malfoy when he was walking between classes on his lonesome the next day. She silently thanked the Marauders for their propensity to be sneaky and mischievous.
At first, he balked at seeing her coming down the hallway and he made a truly pitiful attempt at avoiding her, turning around swiftly in the opposite direction. She was a little insulted. Eventually, she blocked his escape route by getting in front of him and placing her hand on his chest. She immediately berated herself for touching him but she couldn't find the will or reason to drop her hand. He felt so warm and taut under her touch.
Hermione made haste to tell him about Ginny's plan to be their buffer.
She thought she heard him mutter "Polyjuice" under his breath but couldn't be sure because when she enquired all he did was swat her hand off his chest and begrudgingly agree to the 'She Weasel' attending their twice weekly meetings as long as she 'kept her wand clear of his manhood'.
They quickly went their separate ways after that, neither wanting to risk a prolonged interaction without their aforementioned buffer.
On her way back to the lLibrary, Hermione tried to squash the rapidly intensifying feeling of foreboding that this was going to be a long final year.
She shouldn't really be surprised — when had they ever had a year at Hogwarts without the threat of imminent danger and a few mysteries to solve? She just didn't really appreciate being at the centre of this one.