Chapter Eight
Maybe she should have been embarrassed or worried over the fact that she had just lost her virginity not to someone she cared about and loved but someone who made her blood boil, but all Hermione could think of was the wonderful light feeling inside of her that was stemming from deep down and bursting up like rays of sunlight.
There was an unusual bounce to her step as she made her way to the Great Hall the next morning for breakfast and she felt childish that she couldn't stop her lips from curving up and turning into a bright smile every five seconds. Her loose curls moved with each step she took, tossing back and forth on her shoulders as she skipped down the stairs from the Gryffindor common room.
Even Lavender's stony glare had not defeated the warmth Hermione had woken up with. Her blonde dorm mate had watched her with careful eyes as Hermione stretched and offered a cherry, "Good morning!"
Lavender was looking at her like she had done something personally wrong to her, but Hermione was used to ignoring her and easily fell back on that habit, too busy with other thoughts to give many to the cold expression on Lavender's face.
"What's on your arms?" She finally sneered as Hermione slipped out of her sleep shirt, pulling a crisp white button down from her dresser drawer.
It was then that Hermione noticed the dark purpling around her wrists. Flashbacks of Malfoy's rough grip on them, squeezing tighter as his mouth hungrily sucked on her neck… his teeth biting into her, making her gasp-
"Devil's Snare," Hermione said quickly. "I was helping Professor Sprout replant some of them and-" She stopped as she saw Lavender share a bored look with Parvati. It wasn't uncommon for her to help professors for extra credit and for the first time, she was glad that they just thought of her as a boring little bookworm. Hermione quickly slipped her shirt on and checked herself in the small mirror on the dresser.
Her eyes widened slightly. It wasn't just her arms, it was her neck too. Malfoy's marks were scattered across her skin; undeniable proof that she was not the good girl everyone thought her to be anymore. And deep down, maybe she never really was. Hermione quickly buttoned her shirt up and slid her tie in place. Along with her bushy hair, the marks were covered fairly well. Anyways, who would suspect there was anything underneath her clean appearance?
There wasn't much she could do about the slight swell and redness to her lip though. She ran the pad of her finger over it. The delicate pink skin had been obviously been treated roughly, but as Hermione pulled it into her mouth and sucked on it she thought of those few soft kisses Malfoy had placed on it after and her lip slipped out of her mouth as it pulled into a smile.
She slowed as she neared the large double doors to the Great Hall and suddenly the thought occurred to her that she was going to have to see Malfoy in just a few seconds. How should she act? Should she look over at him? They certainly exchanged many glances over the past few weeks so would it be odd if she didn't seek him out? She took a deep breath, remembering those eyes boring into her as he plunged himself inside of her and Hermione paused before entering.
She just had to act normal, like everything was fine. It was fine. It was more than fine. The smile crept back onto her face and she bit her lip to stop it before she felt the tenderness there as well. Had he done that on purpose? Marked her up so he would be in her thoughts? Well, little did he know, he was already in her thoughts enough. Hermione breathed out. But of course, he did know that.
She ran her fingers through her hair, making sure that it was pulled around her neck inconspicuously before holding her head high and marching into the Great Hall.
She made it all the way to Ginny's side and sat down, greeting her friend brightly as she started pouring herself some pumpkin juice before her eyes instinctively moved over to the Slytherin table. He was easy enough to pick out among the crowd with his white blonde head inches higher than those around it. But this morning it was bent low, leaning down towards…. Pansy.
Hermione's heart skipped a beat. Pansy was smiling and giggling with Malfoy's arm around her as he whispered something in her ear with a grin on his face.
How had she forgotten? How had she not remembered?! Malfoy had a girlfriend. A heavy stone of guilt fell inside of her and made her stomach churn unpleasantly.
"Hermione!" Ginny called out.
Pumpkin juice was overflowing from her goblet as she continued to pour more into it. Ginny grabbed the pitcher from her quickly and Hermione grabbed a napkin, trying to mop up the mess on her plate and table.
"Sorry!" She whined. "Oh my goodness…" She pulled out her wand and waved it over the spilled juice and it evaporated instantly.
Hermione took a deep breath and made sure that everything was back in order, as much as it could be. The rack of toast was soaked through though and Harry frowned at it as he took a seat across from her.
"What's happened here?" He asked.
"Hermione decided the toast was too dry for her liking," Ginny grumbled and Harry laughed, a little too loud and long causing both Hermione and Ginny to stare at him until he quieted.
"What? It was funny…" He muttered and prodded a soggy piece of toast with his fork.
"What were you thinking about so hard that you poured out the entire pitcher of pumpkin juice?" Harry asked, turning the empty vessel upside down and letting a few drops fall into his goblet.
Hermione quickly poured half of her over-filled goblet into his. "Nothing. I mean, just-" She huffed. "Overthinking."
"That's it then." Ginny announced and Hermione and Harry both looked at her. "We're going to do something fun. You've got to turn this-" Ginny poked Hermione's forehead, "off once in a while."
The blush was in her cheeks before she could stop it. "I…"
"We could both use a night off," Ginny continued. "Dean has been driving me up the wall."
Harry's green eyes lit up as his head shot in Ginny's direction.
"Just a night to hang out and not worry about boys or school-" Ginny grabbed the book that Hermione was pulling out of her bag from her hands. "Just us. You're hardly around anymore."
Hermione knew she was right. After her and Ron's conversation last night she needed to make sure that she wasn't neglecting her friendships and also make sure that no one knew what she was doing. What she had done, she corrected herself. Hermione glanced across the Hall again. Pansy's hand was on his leg under the table and Malfoy's silver eyes were shining as he listened to her talk, his lips pulled back to expose straight white teeth. The same teeth that had bit her lip just last night…
"Ginny that actually sounds like exactly what I need," Hermione stated and Ginny beamed. Hermione noticed that Harry smiled too, staring at Ginny and blinking slowly in her direction.
"Perfect. Tonight then," Ginny went on. "We don't have practice tonight, do we Harry?"
Harry seemed pulled from his thoughts. "Hmm? What?" He asked. "Oh, no. Did you want to? I can call one!"
Hermione tried not to laugh at her friend's apparent lack of understanding and noticed a small flush of color in Ginny's cheeks.
But her relief was short-lived. Her mind was spinning with deep thoughts as Ginny and Harry began to discuss Quidditch. She hadn't felt any sort of remorse over what she had done until now, until she realized that maybe Malfoy's insistence that no one find out wasn't just because she was Muggleborn, but because he had a girlfriend and didn't want her to know that he had cheated on her.
Suddenly Hermione felt dirty, used, and… a little abandoned. It wasn't like she thought that there was anything between her and Malfoy, quite the opposite in fact, but these feelings didn't make sense. Ideas, thoughts, and concepts she knew what to do with. She could puzzle them out and come to a logical conclusion, but feelings… emotions… These things she was less adept in and oftentimes they were confusing, clouding up her organized mind with unexplained notions she didn't know how to work through.
This was not her area of expertise and the person she would normally go to for help was… Ron. He might not understand emotions all that well, but he was a great sounding board for them and more than once she had found relief in talking through things with him. He saw things from a very different perspective than her and it was interesting and refreshing to discuss things with him when she couldn't figure them out on her own. But he wasn't an option anymore. He wasn't hers anymore.
Maybe she could try and find some relief with Ginny tonight. They had grown close over the years when she visited the Burrow and plus, she needed to catch up with her. Hermione hadn't exactly been around a lot over the past couple of weeks and Ginny was clearly going through something herself.
Hermione took a sip of her pumpkin juice and set the goblet carefully back down on the table, not wanting to cause any more of a mess than she already had. And this was a mess. It had been simple, just a hookup between two people who were mutually attracted to each other until this morning. Now the cloud she had been floating on this morning had turned into a storm and she felt like she was falling down, down, down…
His eyes were the color of storm clouds when he turned them to meet hers. She wanted to look away. She wanted to turn her head to the side and laugh at something to show him that she was happier there with her friends than she had been pressed against him last night. She wanted him to take his arm from around Pansy.
His eyes narrowed and he pressed his lips together. He was watching her, studying her for her reaction. The corner of his mouth twitched; threatening her with that playful smirk he so often gave her these days.
She glared back at him. He had cheated on his girlfriend with her. He had made her an accomplice in his deceit and now she was tarnished with it. With him. His marks were scattered across her neck and arms. She pursed her lips, ignoring the small pain it caused in her tender bottom lip.
The smirk carved its way onto his marble face and his storm grey eyes turned mischievous. He liked the reaction he was getting from her. He liked that he was able to cause a reaction in her at all, she realized. He wasn't ashamed or apologetic for what they had done together. He was sitting there with Pansy and staring right at her…
Pansy reached up and turned his face back to hers. Malfoy's mouth moved and she let out a bark like laugh. Hermione was disgusted. Disgusted with him, with herself… With having to watch him run his hand down her arm and back up again-
She stood up suddenly, knocking her goblet of pumpkin juice over in the process of grabbing her overstuffed bag and quickly made her way out of the Great Hall.
Disgusting was what it was. Draco lounged on the large black leather sofa in the Slytherin common room. Downright revolting that when he should have fucked her right out of his system, she had only dug her claws in deeper and now he could barely focus on anything that wasn't Granger and her soft skin, her gasping breath, her sweet, warm-
"Mate, you really need to take it easy," Blaise commented as Draco turned the bottle of fire whisky up again, drinking down a mouthful. "That's your third bottle this week."
"What of it?" Draco snapped. "When I want your opinion, Blaise," He paused. "Wait, no. I'll never want your opinion."
Blaise shifted unhappily in his seat as Draco took another drink.
"Are you at least going to go?" The darker wizard asked, motioning down to the game of wizard's chess between them.
Draco sighed and hauled himself forward. It was late and the common room was almost empty save for a few students still burning the midnight oil over some essay. He glanced down at the board. He wasn't sure who was winning. He had started this bottle three games ago and it was getting increasingly lighter and his attention for the game had lessened with each swallow.
He picked up his Queen and stared at it. The white crown sat atop a perfect oval, stretching smoothly down a long curve to a heavy base. Granger had curved like this. Under her large sweaters she was hiding a surprisingly slender and smooth body. Her legs were long for her height and he wanted to run his hands all the way up them until he reached her warm center again. It probably tasted like vanilla and cinnamon…
"Draco!" Blaise said loudly.
Draco glared at him and slammed his Queen down where she shattered his dark Knight into pieces that went tumbling off the side of the board.
"Fuck," Blaise muttered and ran his hand over his head. "Give me that." He reached out for the bottle and Draco smirked as he handed it over. Blaise took a long drink and passed it back before turning his dark eyes to stare at the board in front of him again.
He felt like that black Knight right about now, scattered in broken bits. She was supposed to have been just another notch in his bedpost so why was he still thinking about how much he wanted to tie her to it and have his way with her again and again and again?
As soon as they had finished in the Library he expected to feel his normal sense of accomplishment and pride, but instead he found himself… disappointed. Disappointed that she was headed back to her common room and her completely separate life with her friends like Potter and… Weasley. The Weasel might have a girlfriend now, but that didn't stop him from casting ever increasingly longer looks over to his Mudblood.
Draco's lip curled and he drank down another swallow letting it burn inside him like the way she burned in his mind. She should be out of it by now; no other girl had taken up this much of his attention, especially after he'd had them. There were some, of course, that had deserved a repeat performance or two, but none of them had captured his interest like she was currently doing.
Pansy threw herself onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Draco, won't you come to bed? It's cold," She pouted, sticking out her bottom lip.
"Not now, Pans," Draco said in a bored voice, pulled his head away from her. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
He pushed her to the side and she landed on the sofa next to him with a small huff. Blaise reached forward and moved his Rook up, blocking one of Draco's Pawns from its progression.
"You're always busy these days," Pansy whined. "Don't you miss me, Draco?" She leaned in close to him, running her hand up his leg. "Because I miss you," She whispered in his ear, bringing her hand to rest in between his legs.
Draco pushed her hand off of him. "I said," He growled. "I'm busy."
Pansy sat back, pouting again, and then glared at him. "Maybe I should find someone else to keep me warm, then."
"Theo's free," Draco commented, nodding across the room to where Theodore Nott sat at a table with Crabbe and Goyle. Pansy scoffed loudly as Draco leaned forward, grabbing his Queen again.
"You're mean when you drink," She finally said, a little hurt.
Draco didn't even bother to look at her. "I'm mean all the time."
Blaise snorted into his hand and Draco smirked at him. Pansy heaved herself up, shaking her head, but Draco noticed that she did in fact walk over to Theo, plopping down in the chair next to him. He rolled his eyes, not caring that she would probably be tossing in the other man's sheets when Draco finally descended the stairs down to their shared dormitory. Hell, Theo's first time had been when Draco shared Pansy with him so the fact that she thought she could make him jealous was simply laughable.
Jealousy was not a common emotion for Draco. He had to care about something in order to be jealous over it and none of the girls he had he could really say he cared about. But he had felt the sharp prick of jealousy a few times, in Quidditch mostly, but more recently in the Library when he saw McLaggen sitting there with Granger and then today in Defensive Against the Dark Arts when Snape had reprimanded Weasley for not paying attention. She hadn't noticed, too engrossed in the lesson, but Draco had- Weasley had been watching her.
She was a good shag, an amazing fuck actually, and that's all this was. He was just wanted to get his dick wet so the fact that he kept thinking about how fucking good she had felt around him meant nothing more than just that. He'd give her a second go, and this time, he would purge her from his brain. Then he could get back to his work with a clear head and no more thoughts about her pink little nipples and the way her brows pulled together when he played with them.
He'd give it to her good and hard and then be done with her. He'd accomplish that goal and then he could finish his task in peace without hearing her little moans replaying over and over in his head. But the way his name sounded coming out of her mouth… Draco felt his pulse quicken and shoved his Queen forward across the board.
"Checkmate."
"No research!" Ginny slammed her hand down on the open book in Hermione's hand. "No studying, no school work," She commanded. "Tonight is for fun." Ginny pulled out a few bottles of Butterbeer and replaced the book with one of them.
Hermione smiled at her antics. Ginny bounced a little as she threw herself on Hermione's bed and cracked open her Butterbeer, taking a long drink from it.
"Ah, that's better," She said. "Okay so let me tell you what happened in Divination the other day…" Ginny started in on a story and Hermione leaned back against her pillow, sipping her Butterbeer as Ginny went into greater detail about Trelawney's prediction that she should be on the lookout for falls and she would be taking a big one sometime before the end of the year.
"Ridiculous," Ginny shook her long copper hair as she cracked open another Butterbeer. "What a complete bat she is. Do you want another?" She offered Hermione another bottle and she shook her head.
"I'm still working on mine, thanks," Hermione said looking at her half full bottle.
"Okay, but don't fall too far behind!" Ginny grinned and tucked her legs underneath her. Hermione took a long sip and held up her bottle to show her progress. "Keep it up," Ginny laughed and drank deeply herself.
They chatted for a while about different things, classes, teachers, and other students. Hermione felt herself relaxing and after another bottle of Butterbeer her laughter came easier. Lavender came in at one point and Ginny obviously rolled her eyes at her Brother's girlfriend as she grabbed her bag from the foot of her bed.
"What are you two doing?" Lavender asked, wrinkling her nose a little.
"Just hanging-" Hermione started but Ginny cut her off.
"None of your business." She snapped and Lavender's brows shot up.
"You don't need to be so rude!"
"I know that." Ginny said easily and took a drink, staring straight at her.
Lavender glanced between them and pulled her bag further onto her shoulder. "I'm going to tell Ron you were mean to me."
Ginny laughed loudly. "Okay? And? What, you think he's going to come down all big Brother on me?"
Lavender made a high pitched angry noise, glared at Hermione and then turned out of the room, stomping down the stairs out of the dormitory.
Hermione and Ginny's eyes met and they burst out into laughter.
"I don't know what Ron sees in her other than a willing partner," Ginny shook her head, her long red hair falling around her shoulders. "But I suppose it's my fault he's with her."
Hermione paused with the bottle halfway up to her lips. "What do you mean by that?"
Ginny took a breath and started. "He caught me and Dean snogging, right, and got all upset. Dean, of course, just stood there but I wasn't going to let him boss me around so I said he was only upset because he's the only one who hasn't snogged anyone out of all of us. I mean, even you had your thing with Krum and-"
"That was hardly a… thing," Hermione said.
"Well it was more than Ron had," Ginny continued. "Anyways he got even more upset once I said that-"
"Wait," Hermione stopped her. "You said that? You mentioned me and Viktor?" Could this have been why he was so cold to her? Why he didn't speak to her and then suddenly was all over Lavender?
"Yeah, and he deserved it for calling me out like that! Dean's my boyfriend, well, for now at least-"
"Wait, what?!" Hermione's head was spinning and the third bottle of Butterbeer was catching up to her.
"Yeah, that's another reason why I wanted to have this little night," Ginny admitted. "I'm thinking of calling it off with Dean."
Hermione stared at her. She seemed to have missed quite a bit the last few weeks when she had been distracted by Malfoy.
"He doesn't give me any air to breath," Ginny went on. "Like take tonight, for instance, I told him I was hanging out with you and he gets in a mood because I'm doing something without him. I know we've been going out for a while, but I feel like he wants to act like we're married sometimes and… I guess I'm just not that serious about him."
Hermione tried to put all this new information into different compartments in her head. Everything with Ron and Viktor she could sort through when she had more time. Right now she needed to be there for Ginny who clearly needed to talk about what was going on with her and Dean. And it wasn't like Hermione had been available to her much lately.
"I've sort of noticed you two a little," Hermione admitted. "You seem a little annoyed by him sometimes."
"That's an understatement," Ginny rolled her eyes and took the last sip of her Butterbeer. "He gets weirdly jealous at Quidditch practice too. I don't think he likes that Harry and I are friends." She frowned.
Hermione bit her lip to keep her words from coming forth and bit down on the exact spot that Malfoy had latched onto the previous night. She winced and let it go, quickly bringing the Butterbeer up and taking a deep drink in hopes to hide the pained expression that crossed her face for a second.
"You think so?" Was all she offered the youngest Weasley as she sighed. She didn't want to mention the things she'd noticed about Harry recently, unsure if he was ready to disclose his feelings or not. She and Ginny had a conversation the previous year about Harry where Hermione told her to try and move on from him when she knew that Harry's attention was on Cho.
"It feels that way," Ginny muttered, pulling at the label on her bottle. "But Harry's just being friendly, right?" She looked up at Hermione, her brown flecked eyes clear and searching for an answer. "He doesn't see me that way; to him I'm just Ron's little sister," She said a little dejectedly.
Hermione fought with herself for a moment over the right thing to say. "Maybe you should ask him."
"Ha, yeah," Ginny rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that will make practices even better- Hey, Harry, do you like me or is Dean just being a twat?" She gave a small laugh. "We're sure to win the Cup after that."
Hermione couldn't help but laugh. Maybe it was the absurdity of her comment or the Butterbeer or the fact that for just a moment, Ginny had reminded her so much of Ron the way she had said that, but Hermione lost herself in the fit of laughter to which Ginny couldn't help but join in.
"That'll be our winning strategy," Ginny giggled. "Distracting the other team with our personal issues! Slytherin won't stand a chance."
Hermione's laughter slowly died away. Quidditch. Slytherin. Malfoy. How did it always come back to Malfoy? She looked over at Ginny. Maybe she should share this with her. She had certainly opened up about her relationship and now seemed to feel a little bit better. Maybe Hermione would too if she shared what was going on between her and Malfoy?
"Are you hungry? I'm hungry." Ginny stood up, using the bedpost to balance herself. She pulled Hermione up after her. "Let's go down to the kitchens."
They were giggling a little too loudly to try and fool anyone as they made their way down the last flight of stairs to the basement level of the castle. Hermione leaned on Ginny who was pulling her along saying, "Come on! We aren't far now!" Between hiccups and laughs.
"Okay! Okay!" Hermione tried to keep up with her. "But my feet keep getting in my way," She tried to steady herself and made it a few feet before Ginny let out a yelp and tumbled to the stone floor. Hermione was bent over in laughter as she asked, "Gin, are you okay?"
Ginny pushed herself up and blew a long lock of red hair out of her face. "Trelawney got lucky with that one," She muttered and Hermione almost fell down beside her from laughing so hard.
"I guess there's a first time for everything!" Hermione took a few steps forward clinging to the wall for support.
Ginny was struggling to get to her feet as Hermione rounded the corner and then… he was standing in front of her, silver grey eyes widened a little, surprised to see her there.
Hermione stopped laughing, stopped moving, stopped breathing and just stared up at him.
"Granger," His mouth began to curve smugly. "Come for round two?"
His face fell suddenly and Hermione glanced behind her to see Ginny who had made it upright and was at her shoulder.
"Malfoy." She said coldly, her laughter gone now too.
Malfoy's expression turned nasty. "Well if it isn't the Weaselette and the Mudblood, out for a nighttime stroll." He sneered. "Now get out of my way." He snapped.
Ginny crossed her arms, teetering a little as she did so. "I don't see your name on this hallway," She glared at him.
Hermione looked quickly between them and bit her lip again. The Butterbeer had numbed the pain a little, making it just sensitive now. Malfoy's eyes cut from Ginny right to where her teeth were pressed in on it and she saw them gleam for a moment before she released it and cast her eyes down.
"Oh I've left my mark alright," He said in a low voice and Hermione felt herself blush furiously under his gaze that she couldn't meet.
"Gross." Ginny wrinkled her nose. "But what more should I expect from a slimy Slytherin like you?"
Hermione's heart was hammering in her chest. She wished that she had not drank that last Butterbeer, maybe she would be able to think of something else to do or say than just stand here feeling Malfoy's eyes on her.
"Oh, the things I've done would shock you."
Hermione's head shot up and she saw that Malfoy was smirking down at her. She took in a shaky breath and Malfoy held her gaze for a moment before glancing at Ginny, quickly raising his eyebrows and in one step he was past them, moving down the hallway towards the stairs.
"Bellend." Ginny said darkly as he disappeared up the stairs and out of sight. Hermione looked quickly over to her and saw her expression was full of loathing. "Our boys might get on our nerves but at least they're not like him. Such an asshole." She muttered and took Hermione's hand in hers. "Come on, it's just up here."
Hermione let herself be led forward by Ginny deciding there was no way she could tell her about what she had done. Ginny might be understanding and willing to help if it was anyone else but Malfoy. She could imagine the look in Ginny's light brown eyes if she told her that she had slept with none other than the person who had seemed to make his life's mission to make fun of her family every chance that he got. No matter how Hermione would try and explain, there was no possible way she could ever make Ginny understand why she did what she had done.
Hermione glanced behind her at the dark empty hallway. She would have to deal with this on her own.
Draco flicked his wand and the curtain fell back over the Vanishing Cabinet. His eyes burned with exhaustion and he rubbed his forehead, trying to ease some of the pain that had built up in his skull after hours of toiling away and mending the miniscule broken parts of the Cabinet.
He swore once he was done with his task he was going to smash this thing, and its Sister, into twigs. Then he was going to set them on fire and dance on the ashes. Well, maybe not dance. Draco didn't dance. Maybe piss on them instead.
He had made little progress tonight though and the reason was the same one it had been for too long- Granger. But that was soon to be remedied. If she would fucking look at him again, that is. He had wanted to get a rise out of her, something to let him know that she was feeling something too since he couldn't shut off whatever she had started in him. So he had flirted with Pansy, making sure that she saw.
Whatever. He liked to see her squirm. He thought about it often. Granger squirming, writhing, twisting underneath him. Her soft thighs up around him, her hands clinging onto him, her mouth open, gasping, moaning. And those eyes… Fuck he wanted to look right into them, into her soul as she came. For him. Around him.
Did Mudbloods have souls?
Draco tucked his wand back into his pocket and shrugged. It didn't matter.
But his display in the Great Hall had clearly upset her. He had known that as soon as she had run out of there, skirt flying around her thighs, and away from him. And other than the other night outside of the kitchens she had acted like nothing had happened between them.
It's not like she hadn't enjoyed herself, he had made sure of that. And he had taken it easy on her. Virgins… Draco shook his head as he made his way through the labyrinth that was the Room of Hidden Things. Normally he was a little annoyed by them and their hanging on after it was over, but Granger was an exception to the rule. Wasn't she always…
She might have been a virgin, but not anymore. Now she was his.
And he had decided that he wasn't quite done with her yet. No amount of ignoring him was going to change that fact. He slipped out of the door and into the seventh floor corridor where Goyle was standing there, wearing a second year's body as disguise. He had to stop himself from laughing as he dismissed him with a wave.
"Skip along back, Goyle," He smirked. "I've got a little more business to attend to."
Goyle glared back at him from the little girl's eyes before turning and heading in the opposite direction. Draco shook his head, pushed his hand through his hair, and headed for the Library.
He had checked here every night since that night, waiting for her to return and each night he had left a little angrier than the night before.
Where the fuck was she?
Did she… think she was too good for him? Somehow better? Is that why she hadn't come back? How could that bitch possibly think she was better than him? Was she waiting on him to come crawling to her? He'd show her crawling. He'd show her how it felt to crawl across the floor on her hands and knees, looking up at him with those bedroom eyes…
Draco grit his teeth and breathed in and out slowly until his pulse returned to a normal rate and the throbbing in his groin lessened. He pushed open the iron gate to the Restricted Section and strode in.
His feet carried him to the same small aisle that he had shoved Granger up against. He ran his hand over the bindings, the leather rougher than her skin and smelled thick and musty, nothing like her cinnamon and vanilla. Merlin, he had gotten drunk off of it when he pushed his face in her hair and himself in her cunt.
He leaned his back against the shelves, resting his head and closing his eyes. It was late, he was beyond tired, and Granger wasn't coming again tonight. Deep down he thought he knew this, but had come here anyways. He sunk down to the floor, long legs stretched out in front of him as he took a long, deep breath. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the pair of white knickers he had taken from her, holding them tightly in his hand.
She was wrong if she thought ignoring him would just make him go away. Dead wrong. She could run, she could hide, but he would find her. Because he knew her now. He knew who she was, on the inside, because he'd been there.
Draco's fist shook around the little white knickers and he allowed himself three seconds to let the tremors pass through his body, uninhibited before he brought a cold calmness over himself again. He brought them up to his face and breathed in deeply, but not shaky like the others had been. No, this one was even and controlled. Then he tucked them carefully back into his pocket, leaned his head back against the old books and let sleep finally sink over him.
Hermione had never let anyone stop her from researching before and she wasn't about to let Malfoy be the first. Instead of spending late nights in the Library, she went there during her lunch break instead. She took as many books as Madam Pince would let her and holed up in the common room in the evenings, making sure she did not wander out for any reason.
She had come to the conclusion that she couldn't change what she had done with Malfoy, but she could make sure it didn't happen again. No matter how much she might want it to.
Ginny's reaction to him had been appropriate. Malfoy had shown time and time again that he was nothing more than a despicable wretch who didn't care about anyone or anything that wasn't himself. The fact that he seemed not to have any qualms about cheating on his girlfriend was only further proof of his contemptible nature.
She ran her fingers over the back of another book and pulled it from the shelf, adding it to the large stack that was hovering behind her. Sun streamed in through the large windows and although she knew it was bitterly cold outside, the castle was surprisingly warm on the inside and Hermione turned, counting the books up to twelve before she headed for the desk at the far end of the Library to check them out.
But she never made it there.
The stack of books tumbled to the floor loudly and Hermione spun around, curls flying and saw the stormy grey eyes of Draco Malfoy. She was surprised at the dark anger she found there and even more surprised when he took a step over the spilled books and shoved her roughly back into a study desk against the wall.
"What do you think you're-" She started.
"Me? What the fuck are you doing?" He asked in a dark voice.
Hermione looked up at him in outrage, trying to stand up straight again and Malfoy pushed her back once more.
"Don't touch me again," Hermione snapped, her hand dropping down to her waist where she could easily reach her wand if she needed to.
"Why not?" Malfoy looked down at her. "You know you want me to."
"No I don't." Hermione tried to keep her voice even. She hadn't let herself think of him in days and having him here in front of her again was making all of those thoughts come into sharp relief.
Malfoy tutted a few times and grazed his fingers over her wrist. "And why not?" He said in a softer voice. "Don't try and tell me you didn't like it, Granger," He leaned in close to her. "I can still hear you moaning."
Hermione shoved him away from her and he chuckled as he took a few steps back. "Because you have a girlfriend, Malfoy," She glared at him.
He tilted his head and his brows pulled together. The confusion on his face was almost… cute. The way his lips pulled ever so slightly to the side, his eyes tightened and sparked deep inside their grey haze. No. This was exactly why she was avoiding him. She pushed these thoughts from her head and glared at him, hating the way he made her feel.
"Girlfriend?" Malfoy gave a little laugh. "Well, I think we've finally found something you don't know." Hermione stared up at him. "I don't do girlfriends." Malfoy said as if it was something obvious.
"I saw you with her."
"Who?"
Hermione paused. "Pansy."
Malfoy laughed.
Hermione felt the warmth of embarrassment creep up her neck and into her cheeks.
"Don't try to deny it." She hissed.
Malfoy let the last of his laughter fade before saying, "Pansy is not my girlfriend."
Hermione blinked. "She's… She's not?"
Malfoy took a step back towards her. "No."
She bit her lip, no longer tender after having a few days to heal. "Well are you sleeping with her?"
"Jealous?" Malfoy raised an eyebrow.
"No." Hermione snapped. "I just…" She let out a short breath.
"Want me all to yourself?" Malfoy took another step and stopped a few inches in front of her.
"I…" She looked up at him.
Malfoy reached up and pushed her curls back from her face. "Because that's what I want," He said in a low voice. "All of you, just for me."
Hermione's heart was pounding in her chest and she was worried that he would be able to hear it. His hand slowly drifted down her arm.
If he didn't have a girlfriend then was this as bad as she had tried to convince herself that it was? It's not like this was anything more than… what it was. And it never would be; like he said, he didn't do girlfriends and she certainly had no desire to ever date Draco Malfoy.
And she'd done it once already… what more could a second time do?
"Yeah," Malfoy smirked. "That is what you want, isn't it?"
Hermione's chest was rising and falling fast, trying to keep up with her racing heart. His hand trailed down to her wrist where he wrapped his long fingers around it then suddenly pulled it up, jerking her forward and into him.
She breathed in the smell of mint along with something deeper as well. Her stomach clenched and not at all in a bad way. She swallowed, trying to get her mind to stop spinning but she knew the only way it would was if she leaned into him, right now, and did what her body was begging her to do.
"Another rule," She said in the firmest voice she could muster and felt a low growl deep in Malfoy's chest. "For both of us." She clarified and Malfoy quieted, listening to her. "I wont… do anything with anyone else, if you don't either."
Malfoy was very still for a few moments. Her chocolaty brown eyes searched his face over, looking for some inclination to the thoughts that lay beyond his misty grey eyes.
"Done." He said simply.
Hermione blinked in surprise. She had expected him to scoff or laugh at her or flat out refuse. She absolutely had not expected him to wrap his other arm around her middle and slam his lips down on hers, making her gasp and he took the opportunity between her open lips to slide his tongue in, moving it over hers smoothly before pulling back quickly, leaving Hermione, lips still parted and wet, trying to balance herself on unsteady legs.
"Tonight." Malfoy commanded.
"I can't tonight," Hermione said, finding that she was actually disappointed herself by this. "I promised Harry that I would help him with-"
"Potter?" He snarled. "I thought you just said you weren't fuc-"
"Harry is my friend," She cut him off.
"And I suppose Weasley is just a friend too?" Malfoy sneered.
Hermione opened her mouth then closed it. What was Ron to her now? "No." She finally said. "Ron's not my friend. Not anymore."
Malfoy's mouth twitched a little. "Seems like some of my good taste is rubbing off on you." Then added in a low voice, "Let's see what else I can rub off on you."
Her mouth felt very dry which was strange because she also felt like she might be drooling as she stared up at Malfoy. "This weekend?" She asked in a small voice.
"Meet me on the seventh floor landing," Malfoy said quickly. "And this time, no knickers."
Draco was distracted during their Apparition lesson so much that he didn't even notice Potter sneaking up behind him as he argued with Crabbe about guarding the Room of Hidden Things again tonight. Both he and Goyle were unhappy that they had to drink Polyjuice potion so they wouldn't be recognized and each time they complained more.
He accomplished very little as far as the lesson went, but knew that with the promise of Granger tonight nothing else really seemed to matter much. He had kept his promise to her, strangely enough, and not invited Pansy or anyone else back to his bed in the last two days and he felt himself near bursting because of it.
Well, she had wanted all of him for herself and tonight she was going to get him. He was going to sate himself of her, finally, and dig out her claws one by one until he was done and she was shaking. Then he would leave her and continue on just as he had before she had wandered into the Restricted Section and into his life months ago.
He spent the afternoon trying to distract himself by paging through his Father's copy of The Sacred Twenty-Eight while Theo and Blaise argued about who were contenders for the next Quidditch World Cup. Crabbe and Goyle weren't happy that he was making them work for him on a Saturday night, but he snapped at them sharply and they both slumped back, silent and sullen.
He flipped the page and landed on the Gaunt family. There weren't any of them left, having died out a few generations before. Every year there were less and less Purebloods, even with new ones being born. It was hard to keep the bloodlines alive, not inter-bred, and above all, Pure.
The entry on the Gaunts went on for a surprisingly long time for not having any living members and Draco took a break once he reached the Greengrass line. This was a family he was more familiar with and intimately familiar with Daphne, Pansy's best friend. Pansy had thrown a fit, and quite a few other items too, when she found Daphne in bed with him.
She had screeched like an owl until Draco had gotten up, took a hold of her and ordered her to be quiet. She obeyed and then fell into his arms like a rag doll. It was not the first or the last time Pansy had fallen prey to her jealousy. Recently she had latched herself onto Theo, who was always pleased with her attention, in order to try and teach him a lesson in ignoring her. Draco rolled his eyes as she climbed onto Theo's lap across from him and wiggled her ass in his direction.
"Theo," She cooed as she rubbed her hands over his chest.
"Yeah, baby?" Theo grinned up at her.
"I'm lonely," She drew out the words. "Come keep me company."
Theo's grin spread and he threw Blaise an apologetic look and a shrug before lifting her with him as he stood up.
Pansy squealed and threw her arms around him, tossing her head back and laughing.
Theo took a few steps towards the stairs that led down to their dorm then paused and turned towards Draco.
"Care to join?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.
Draco looked between Theo and Pansy. It would hardly be the first time that he and Theo had shared her. Pansy leaned back and her dark eyes locked onto his.
"Yeah, Draco," She gave him a sly smile. "Come down with us," She offered.
Draco turned back to the book in front of him. "Maybe next time," He said in a bored tone.
"Draco…" Pansy sounded disappointed.
"Oh don't worry, Pans," Theo hefted her up farther on him and started down to their dorm. "I can take care of you all on my own."
But Draco felt Pansy's eyes on the back of his head until Theo's footsteps faded down the stairs.
"You're torturing the poor girl," Blaise commented, throwing his feet up on the spot that Theo had abandoned.
"She's not the one I'm going to be torturing tonight though," Draco said as he flipped another page.
"What's that mean?" Blaise asked, confused.
Draco looked up quickly. "Nothing." He snapped. "Just that I'm not fucking her after Theo done with her, that's all." He tried to play it off but did not like that Granger was distracting him to the point of almost slipping up.
"Right," Blaise said and watched Draco for a moment longer so he made sure to act extremely interested in the Lestrange family tree.
It was well into the evening and neither Pansy nor Theo had surfaced when Draco finally closed up the book and stood up, stretching out his long arms.
"Drink up, Crabbe," He said and pulled out a small vial of lumpy brownish-grey potion from his robes and tossed it to the large boy. "Time to go."
A/N: Working on the next chapter as we speak so you might have it up earlier than usual. Your reviews are amazing, really, and I love hearing your feedback and opinions! Every time I get a notification letting me know someone has favorited or followed this story I smile and when I get a review I do a little weird dance, like, with my hands? I don't even know what to call it.
I do my best to edit and re-read a few times before I post the chapters but I know sometimes I miss grammer and spelling mistakes. Feel free to message me if you find any and let me know; I am working on going back through and trying to edit some of them from the previous chapters.
And Shamlessly Reckless, fuck yeah, all aboard the hormone and Draco train!
