Hermione's legs wobbled as she made her way outside the classroom. Her head was spinning and it seemed like she was going to pass out any moment now, right here on the stone flooring. She put a hand to her head and tried her best to keep her feet steady on the ground. She was the last one to walk out of the room considering that she had taken extra time to recheck her exam, everyone had already left; considering by the long faces they all had when they walked out, she figured they all had a shitty exam.
Even the teachers had gone. Hermione took a few moments to gather her tired self.
Ten minutes in extra time had been granted to them because of a minor distraction— Ron had caused a mayhem when he had seen Draco sit right next to him, pouncing on him even before he had taken a seat, apparently, he was still mad about him kissing Hermione that day at the Quidditch game.
What was surprising was that Draco hadn't punched him back, he had only sneered at the redhead.
As shocking as it was, it was all true. Hermione made a mental note to talk to Ron about him being a nuisance after the exam was over.
Not only had he lost Gryffindor fifty points, thanks to McGonagall, but also made her lose focus momentarily.
Now, as she shakily made her way out the large room, she felt extremely lightheaded. These were her finals, she hadn't gotten the chance to study properly like before in all her previous exams. This time, she had Draco to get distracted when she was studying; the way he'd pepper kisses down her neck from back and loop his arms around her waist while she was engrossed in a textbook was only one of the many things he had done to her in their time studying together.
She had merely stepped outside when a firm tug on her wrist dragged her back inside. A hand covered her mouth as she was pressed against the wall. It all happened so quickly— Hermione gasped, the door was slammed shut to the room and a familiar cold pair of lips was pressed against her jaw.
Hermione's eyes fluttered close.
"Draco, not now—" not only her arms failed to push him away but her voice too, breaking ever so slightly when his lips latched onto her own ones. Draco's fingers wrapped around her wrists and pinned them above her head, and captured her lips with his; starting soft at first and then slowly increasing his pace. He went from soft to passionate to sensual; he teased her by pushing his tongue inside her mouth and retreating just when she gave in. He kissed her like she wanted to be kissed, like any girl would fantasize about, like she was his only lifeline and kissing her was the only medium to breathe for the both of them. Draco held both her wrists by one hand and cupped her hot face in the other one, drawing her closer and closer with every stroke to her cheek. They'd part their lips ever so little to collect their precious oxygen, still brushing their lips together before teasing her again with his tongue again.
"If you do that one more time Dra—" but he was smiling at her and then, he was kissing her senseless, their mouths working together in perfect synchronization, their tongues pushing for union but not dominance, no, they danced a teasing waltz against each other's, it was fervent, intoxicating, zealous and passionate, it made her dizzy but she loved every second of it.
"Do you want me to take you here on Flitwick's desk or would your dorm do?" Draco smirked, pulling away after kissing the corner of her mouth. Heat rose to Hermione's cheeks, her stomach was doing somersaults at the sight of Draco's face; his pale cheeks were tainted a light pink and his lips looks bruised, but it wasn't just because they had been kissing moments ago. Hermione traced her fingers on his lips, he closed his eyes at the familiar calming touch.
"I'll talk to Ron about that," she produced her wand from her robes and muttered a quick episkey at his split lip, "There, all good to kiss again." she smiled at his shocked state and kissed his lips briefly again.
She felt Draco sigh against her mouth. He pulled back to gaze into her warm brown eyes, a ghost of smile playing on his face. "How was your exam?" At that, he felt Hermione slump further into his arms. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and inhaled his deep masculine scent. Draco instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her from slumping any further and quite possibly, landing face first on the floor.
"Horrible. I have no idea how I did," he breath fanned his skin. Draco took grasp of her hand and laced their fingers together, he pushed their fingers up against the wall and steadied her on her feet. The sight of their tangled fingers brought a smile on her face, just weeks ago they had been bickering nonstop, shouting at each other and making the other's life a living hell and now, here they were, kissing and talking about their day like they were some sort of couple. If someone had told her that she would be kissing, let alone conversing about their exams in total harmony without any involvement of snarky comments from either sides, she would have laughed her lungs out.
Things played out how they were supposed to, she was only glad that they had played out in her favor; for the time being at least. Hermione felt like she had to relish all these little moments they had together in the dark before a storm invaded, which, she was sure, would come— sooner or later. It was just the consequence she had to endure is she wanted to keep seeing the boy before her eyes.
"That's impossible," Draco drawled in an irritated voice, Hermione blinked. "You're Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of our age. I'm pretty sure you know more than the daft idiots who teach us," He rolled his eyes at her giggling self, "And don't you dare tell me that's not the case. It's simply impossible for you to not know anything on our exams."
"Well, I know I got all my answers correct—" Hermione said in a small voice just when Draco threw his hands up, "But in Arithmancy you can never be quite sure," she added guiltily, true to her words; she knew everything on the exam, well, except one small thing but hey, that wasn't a big thing, she wasn't worried about her exam, she realized, only tired.
"Enough about me," Hermione shook her head. She used her other hand to stroke Draco's hair away from his eyes. It had grown quite long over time, she noted dully. She saw him close his eyes before opening them again, "How did you do? Did you get that part right about—"
"As much as I love kissing your pretty little mouth, fellow head," Draco interrupted, kissing her again to prove his point and leaving the girl in front of him bewildered, "I'd like to go to our dorm so not only can I kiss you without the fear of anyone looking but talk to you about whatever you were going to say." Before she could answer, he was already pulling her out the door but seeing upon a train of students lingering around, he immediately pulled his hand out of hers.
Separately, they made their way back to the head dorm.
Hermione couldn't help but feel embarrassed at Draco's earlier stunt. She felt used, as odd as it sounded. Like she was all he could have behind the hidden curtains of their head dorm, and not openly in the middle of everyone. Her mind plagued her with several other similar thoughts until she closed her eyes and took a calming breath.
No, she reminded herself. This was probably for the best, no strings attached, she pressed further.
People like Draco Malfoy were not made for people like herself, they weren't meant to be together, she reminded herself.
Suddenly, she stopped dead on her tracks, realization hit her like a bag of bricks.
This was exactly the kind of prejudice that had turned Draco the way he was now. Exactly the kind of bullshit his parents, his father in particular had fed him that had led him to be this way, exactly the same thing Hermione had always discouraged— how hypocritical of her to think the same way, let herself be led on by prejudiced thoughts like the youngest Malfoy had been.
She was better than this and she was going to show this to him.
--
"Potions exam is in three days," Hermione reminded Draco, he let out a groan and dropped the lock of her hair he was twirling in between his fingers. He flicked her forehead on his chest softly making her sit up.
"Hey!" Hermione smacked his chest, earning little to no protest. She rubbed her forehead in irritation. "That hurt! What the hell Draco!"
Draco sighed before sitting up on her bed, he raked a hand through his blond hair and set his eyes on the Gryffindor witch in front of him who kept on throwing a fit on the smallest of things. "How can I not do that when you keep on reminding me of stupid stuff like exams?" He retorted, "We literally just got back from a fucking exam, the least you can do is not remind me about the next one."
"You're impossible," Hermione got up but was pulled down the next moment, her back flat against the soft bed as Draco hovered over her body much similar to the time when they had first kissed, when he had broken her picture frame. But this time, he did not have that sadistic glint in his eyes. Dare she say it, it actually looked like the glint in one's eye when they were infatuated with someone. Draco passed her a sly smirk, brushing his lips over hers but not kissing her, the little tingle was driving her mad, she pulled him by the collar and looked at him in the eye. "Either you kiss me or you don't, don't be such a wuss."
Draco chuckled at her words, he brushed away untamed curls from her face before deciding to speak. "But I like teasing you, seeing how desperate you are for me to touch you." Hermione blushed but didn't say anything. She had merely turned her head the other way to avoid the intensity in his silver pools when he grabbed her chin and forced to look at him softly. "I like it when you squirm under me," sentence after sentence of pure seduction rolled off his tongue while he kept his gaze intact with the witch beneath him. "I like when you beg me to kiss you, that's the second time happening today, too." Draco's gaze was dark when he looked at Hermione's neck, he dipped his head and flicked his tongue over the point where here shoulder met her skin— she was the softest there, he'd come to realize after all their moments together. "And I absolutely love it when we kiss, so why deny that, hmm?" he hadn't moved from her skin, head still dipped and mouth still breathing on her skin, fanning the sensitive spot ever so repeatedly.
"You're such a prick," Hermione commented closing her eyes when Draco moved up to north her body, pressing feather-like kisses up her throat.
"Don't act like you don't love it." his voice was cocky, as per usual. Hermione didn't want to give him the satisfaction of the admitting it but she gave herself away the next moment when a throaty moan escaped from the back of her mouth just when Draco bit her earlobe.
They laid there, on her bed, talking about their lives as if they had been fast friends all their lives. With their fingers laced together, Hermione's curls sprawled wildly across the silk pillowcases and Draco's heart thumping loudly with every passing minute as to what he was doing with someone like Granger, kissing her and having an actual genuine conversations with her without being at each other's throats; forgetting little by little about his prejudices day by day, he couldn't help but think two things: one, how good it felt to be confided in and to confide in someone— telling them their burdens for the day and what was on their mind, to be simply talked to, to vent out his emotions to someone, to be simply accepted for who he was, was a bigger blessing than he had believed in the past.
And two, how long would it last. How long will the pretend to ignore the chemistry between them, playing dumb or just simply refusing to talk about it.
This was all so new to him— Draco wasn't the type of person who stuck around for the aftermath, much referred to as the walk of shame, once he had used a girl for his sexual desires, no, that just wasn't him. He loved a good shag, of course he did, but being around in the morning when the girl would wake up and confront her about her own feelings was something he didn't like; but Granger, dear lord, made him think everything about his life again. In only roughly two months, she had made him question everything in his life— all that he had done, why he had done and the consequences of all his actions. She hadn't talked to him about it no, her mere presence was enough of a reminder for the boy to think everything in his life over. That was Hermione Granger for everyone, making people second guess themselves for the better just by her mere presence.
Draco shook his head clear when he made out Hermione's mouth was moving. "Sorry what?" his cheeks were pink, slightly embarrassed.
Hermione laughed as she loved from positioning her head on his bicep to his chest, tracing mindless patterns on the fabric of his white school shirt, neither of them had the time to wait when they had walked into the dorm hours ago. It looked like as if all they wanted to do was lie down and hold hands like a sappy teenage couple. "I said what are you thinking? You seem lost."
Draco contemplated the reaction she'd give off his words in his head. Deciding against telling her, he simply shifted the topic to her, oh how smooth it was for him, actual child's play. "You never told me about the stupid kiss cam, now seems like a good time." If Hermione had wanted to say something, she didn't. Instead, she hid her face in her hands, seemingly embarrassed.
"Oh come on Granger, I'm sure we are past the stages of embarrassment." Draco rolled his eyes, failing to keep the smile from invading his features. Thank Merlin Hermione still had her eyes covered, he wouldn't want to be pegged lovey dovey, after all.
"Well," Hermione started, much to his surprise. He hadn't thought she'd answer him, in all honesty. It was merely a ploy for him to get out of the current situation he was in, as to what he was thinking. "Ginny came up with the idea to have a kiss cam that day during the game," she waited for his response, looking up at him and then, softly thumping back her head against his chest, Draco's arm came automatically around her waist, pulling her closer as he pressed his nose in her toffee curls, inhaling the deep smell of cinnamon and roses, all at once and then, little by little.
Heavenly, Draco wondered.
"Weaselette came up with the idea to seal my fate in Azkaban for this? How dare she give me a reason to kill her? This is ridiculous, if I had wanted to kill her I'd have long ago, I simply refuse to touch something ginger and poor." Hermione gave him a straight face, she looked made, even.
Shit, Draco thought, maybe I shouldn't have said that, the truth always does hurt, though.
"First of all," Fuck, she had a whole list, Draco sighed. "Her name is Ginny. Second of all—"
"She Weasel?" Draco interrupted, genuinely confused. "Potter's side chick?"
Wrong move, Draco registered in his mind, the witch before him looked about ready to throw a punch at his pretty face, mind you, again.
"For the last time," she hissed at him, banging his chest with a small fist, "Her name is Ginny and I'd appreciate it if you could call her that. She is my friend. How would you feel if I called your friends with snarky names?" Hermione realized her mistake the moment the words flew out of her mouth. She waited for the blow; for him to yell at her and throw a fit for crossing a boundary he had isolated himself to. For a moment or two, neither one of them spoke. After the silence reached the epitome of being awkward, Hermione felt Draco brush his fingertips against her cheek, lightly grazing the soft skin with the pad of his thumb, Hermione sighed, "I called you many names before—" He paused, cupped her face in his hands, "All this," was all he supplied. "Besides, you are the closest thing I have to a friend."
His words left Hermione's throat in a knot. She decided to get an answer for the last part of his statement rather than both, "Why not a friend? Why the closest thing to a friend?" She pushed her luck with her words, "Why don't you consider me your friend, Draco? I will happily listen to all your troubles and make sure that—"
"How naïve are you, Hermione? I know you, being the nice Gryffindor you are, will always listen to my bullshit and push me towards the light. That much I have always known, since our first year, really. No matter what I have put you through, the bullying, tormenting, name calling, watching you get tortured by my crazy aunt," His fingers grazed the scrawny skin on her left arm, the insult carved right into her skin. Hermione didn't realize when she had inhaled a sharp breath causing the pale boy by her body to shudder. "I know you would still be here when I wake up in the morning, ready to welcome me with a bright annoying smile that makes me want to throw up, I mean, only a Gryffindor would do that; grinning like an annoying person at five in the fucking morning," His pathetic attempt to lighten the mood didn't go in vain, Hermione chuckled a little, her mind a little at ease now, "Sounds like something I'd do." She admitted before welcoming the inevitable silence. The odd pair switched their eyes from each other to the ceiling, as if there was nothing more interesting than looking at some stones nestled up above their heads.
"I don't consider you my friend, Granger." Hermione resisted the urge to tell him how they had settled on first name basis for her just a few days back when they had shared a bed. The statement, however, made her feel like crap. One would think he would start considering her his friend after the time they had spent together but no, she reminded herself that Draco had walls built around him, like a chamber he had isolated himself to, it was going to be harder than this, it would take longer than this to break them and pull the kid inside from the darkness and into the brilliant lights the world had to offer.
"Granger, stop overthinking things," Draco spoke, twirling a long lock of her hair in between his fingers. He had grown the love the soft texture of her hair when he took his time playing with it. He'd do it when they'd study together, lie down like this next to each other or just simply converse. "If I don't consider you my friend, there must be a reason to it," He didn't meet her gaze, simply stretching his limbs and getting up. He yawned, lifting his hand to cover his mouth. Hermione couldn't help but look at the exposed skin on his stomach when his wrinkled shirt slightly lifted. Upon looking at Draco, she realized that he was smirking at her— he had caught her red-handed. Draco walked up to her embarrassed figure, he bent down ever so little and gently grasped her chin in his hand; meeting her warm eyes with his silver ones.
"Now you realize why I don't consider you my friend, Hermione?" She opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out. So she just sat there, her hands folded in her lap as she looked at the Slytherin Prince with big doe-like eyes. "And they call you the brightest witch of our age," He teased her when her cheeks flushed a little redder.
When Hermione didn't retort, he crouched down to meet her at eye level, still not letting go of her chin. "I can't seem to stay away from you, Granger." Hermione looked at him in bafflement. "You and I can either be friends," He leaned forward, capturing her lips in a heated kiss to which, she instantly responded, biting his bottom lip to earn a groan from him. Draco's hand traveled up under her shirt, softly grazing her skin before touching her breast just a little. Hermione groaned at the action, further even when he pulled his hand out of her shirt.
"Or we can be lovers. There is no in between." He gestured to her shirt and then his hand. Hermione got it in a second. The urgency she had responded with was not what friends did, friends didn't kiss each other and certainly didn't let each other touch their skin under their clothes. "And this is exactly why we can't be friends, baby." He shocked her not only by saying that nickname but kissing her forehead softly before walking out her door.
He had left her with a cold bed and a lot to think about, but then again, this was Draco Malfoy she was talking about. Of course he would have an ultimatum, Hermione had thought of that at some point, too.
Friends or lovers huh, she wondered, touching two fingers to her lips where he had kissed her moments ago.
The answer was pretty clear to her.
For the moment, she did not want to worry about what anyone would say or what her friends would say. This was about her and her feelings, she reminded herself. Hermione closed her eyes and murmured a faint lovers, testing the word on her lips and enjoying the way it rolled off her tongue. It was foreign and exquisite, something she had never felt in her brief time together with Ron.
But she was also afraid that things were moving too fast and that someone would find out about them and their secret relationship. Several similar things haunted her until she gave up and ran outside the room, her heart even more of a mess than her panting self. She threw herself at Draco who was intently immersed in a thick book on Transfigurations.
Bastard, he tells me to not worry for the exam and himself is studying. Hermione huffed but ignored it.
Upon seeing her walk in, Draco tried to hide the book but she beat him to it, throwing her arms around him and causing the book to drop to their feet. Draco was startled, even lost his footing but steadied himself against the Gryffindor witch who clung to him for dear life. "Hermione, are you alright?" She didn't answer, burying her face in the crook of his neck as she stood on her tiptoes to match his height even a bit. The last thing she remembered before kissing his swollen lips was muttering, "Yes to the lovers bit."
A/N: So basically this is a lot of talking and heart to heart because I wanted to show that their relationship is not based off only on physical intimacy and that emotional vulnerability is equally important here, maybe even more. I wanted to show them opening up to each other so yeah, 4k words for all that because hey, it's important. Please tell me how you liked this chapter, I have been neglecting my summer homework because of this. (cut me some slack)
If you have any questions, feel free to private message me or comment here. Leave a vote if you liked it and a review if you well, read this. There is always room for improvement! I am not setting a vote goal for this chapter because I don't know how it turned out for everyone, just vote if you think it deserves one.