Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the lyrics I quote in each chapter.

Chapter Seventeen

Stomping the Roses

"Did you feel like stomping the roses,
Smashing out all the feeling inside of them,
It's bad business,
The way you're stomping the roses…"

Stomping the Roses by David Archuleta

Saturday October 12th, 1996

Inside the Library- Almost one in the afternoon

With a heavy sigh, Hermione watched the windowpane closely while raindrops rolled down one after another upon the glass from the pouring rain as she sat inside a singular study desk near the back of the library. It was where she liked to think when she had a lot on her mind, which seemed like all the time lately, but really, it almost completely had to do with how much she had been thinking about Malfoy.

Lifting her right arm upon the table, Hermione rested her chin upon the palm of her hand with her lips pursed in thought as she remembered their last encounter. Scoffing she recalled the rather presumptuous Zabini who most likely knew about their tryst, or at least that was what Malfoy probably told him (which it was most definitely not). It was most likely only a matter of time before everyone here at Hogwarts knew that she and Malfoy were snogging up against some wall, which yes, happened, no matter how much she suddenly wished it did not.

As if it were possible, Hermione noticed the downpour of rain coming down even harder and with a grimace, understanding why professor Dumbledore canceled the Quidditch game for today. Looking downwards towards the windowsill where a small leak from the window started forming a pool of water. Thinking about how the rain felt against her skin just as the memory of having Draco's lips upon hers intruded her thoughts causing her exhale softly.

In all honesty, it had been her first real kiss since she hardly counted a peck upon the lips she had gotten back in fourth year, but she then shook her head deciding that no matter how good the kiss had been, in the end, Hermione was still unsure about it since it had been with, him. Tilting her head to her left, she dropped her hand to rest it upon her opened charms book as she then looked towards a vase that held two red roses that were starting to wilt and beginning to lose their scarlet coloring.

Glancing over her shoulder as a soft padding sound of shoes digging into the carpet, Hermione's brows frowned as someone stopped just an aisle from where she was sitting. Standing up from her chair, she walked over to the bookshelf looking between a small opening at her eye level where all she could see was someone wearing familiar a black suit and tie who seemed to be walking around towards the back.

Once the boy rounded the shelf she almost scoffed aloud as Draco Malfoy looked up from the ground towards her while he swallowed loudly. Shaking her head, she quickly thought about the pros and cons of talking about what happened deciding that since he was here she might as well get some answers. When she was about to start talking he turned almost right around as if he were about to leave, but was stopped by her voice.

"Wait just a minute, I need to talk to you." she whispered sharply while he paused to look at her over his shoulder while wearing his usual sneer mixed with a uneasy stillness that made her shake her head and then look at him directly. Other than the obvious lines of stress along with how tired he looked, while she could almost read the signs of a right troubled mess he was becoming, and he seemed rather hollow which was concerning to her. Taking a few steps towards him with a sigh, she watched him turn to face her, while she wondered about what was getting to him so badly because it seemed as if it was starting to eat away at him.

"There's nothing to talk about Granger, and you said it yourself last night, that I need to stay away from you. Which is rather hard to do considering the simple fact you cannot seem to leave me alone. A bit hypocritical if you ask me…," he drawled raising his left brow while she forced a smile to stop by pursing her lips while he sighed looking around the library before turning back to her with a hard expression. Even if it what he had just said was true, there was no way she could stay away without an answer as to why he just outright kissed her for some unbeknownst reason and pretend that it didn't happen.

"Nothing to talk about? Oh, I don't know, I mean we could talk about your lack of effort in potions class as of lately or maybe we could talk about just how we're going to find the person who attacked us that night… Oh, wait, the best for last, we could talk about the fact you pinned to me a wall yesterday and snogged me senseless… There is that." Hermione stated almost contemptuously but in more of a playful manner, while she realized just what she had said as her cheeks started to burn from the thought.

Looking towards his face, he raised his brows forcing his forehead to crinkle slightly in what she knew was shock, most likely because of how blatantly she had said 'snogged'. Clearing her throat, Hermione knew that her cheeks were rosy from loss of composure as she then turned to watch him roll his eyes with a small smirk.

"Senseless Granger, really, that good? If you thought that was, enjoyable then you obviously haven't been pl-" he teased her and started to say something but with the direction of his statement was going she stopped him before he could finish. Reaching up to feel her cheeks hot with embarrassment knowing her face was an even darker shade of crimson from this. With a chuckle, Hermione saw him grin widely while shaking his head slowly before reaching to rub his chin in what appeared to be deep thought.

'He has such a beautiful smile… If only he smiled a little more…' she smiled too looking over at him noticing a small glint in his eyes she hadn't see before as she thought to herself with a sigh, but then realized it was a rather loud sigh. The both of them looked away awkwardly, while she wanted to hit him, a few right times with her book brazenly for making her blush let alone smile. This was Malfoy, he was never amusing or charming, because he normally was too busy being uncouth and antagonistic. Clearing her throat once again, in order to clear the tension in the air, she looked back towards him with her lips pursed in her normal way before she spoke.

"Right, well, I'm still rather puzzled as to why it happened in the first place, I mean one minute you were acting rather odd, and then-" she stopped talking as she recalled what happened before the kiss whilst chewing upon her bottom lip with her brows scrunched together in confusion. Then everything clicked, as Hermione recalled what had angered him that lead to their kiss, when she questioned him about having that package which he didn't have a moment later, which was most likely the same one Katie Bell ended up with. Turing her eyes to look him the face she shook her head taking a step backwards so that her leg came in contact with a small love seat sofa behind her.

"You- It was you sending that package to professor Dumbledore wasn't it? And- and you snogged me in order to get me to stop thinking about that stupid package you had!" she shook her head in mistrust with a shaky exhale just as she pushed her tongue into the side of her cheek while he just stood still, expressionless. Reaching to push some stray hairs behind her ear that came loose from her messy bun, Hermione took a step towards him so that he was only a foot away from her as she continued talking.

"I guess I forgot that the great Malfoy only uses people to get what he wants. I don't know why I thought this was different, because you're not going to change, isn't that right?" she fumed, panting heavily from the ire that she felt while Malfoy just started down at her, everything about him was unreadable nothing like her books and that frustrated her.

Scoffing she walked back towards her table behind her before collecting her things, but other than the soft scuffling sounds from her books, the silence was almost deafening as she half expected to see him already gone. Turning around as she saw him still standing there looking as if he was a little hurt for some reason while she stared for a second before she attempted to make her way around him, but was stopped when he stepped in her way. Almost stumbling backwards from the abrupt intrusion of his musky cologne, Hermione looked up at him, while she then tried walking around him the other way but was yet again, stopped.

"Would you please, just… move aside so I can-" she gestured as if he would let her go, but he looked her up and down before tilting his head to his left as if he wasn't moving. Finally having enough, Hermione literally grabbed his upper arm in order to stop him from moving as she tried to get past him, but then he moved forward causing her to almost fall backwards and dropping her bag in the process. Confused as to what stopped her from falling, she realized that Malfoy had casually slipped his arm around her waist so that she was pressing against him, which then caused her to flush almost violently. Shoving him away, she ended up landing upon the love seat with her head upon the arm of the sofa where he briskly leaned forward, hovering above her with one hand upon the arm and the other upon the back.

"Believe what you want about the package, Granger, believe in your assumption that I had some ulterior motive but there was only one reason I snogged you was because I wanted to, and I'll only say this once, I'd do it again if I were given the chance." He growled hotly right before her face while not only his words but also everything about him caused her head to spin in an unruly way. In that moment, she felt as if she were back outside in the rain with the stonewall from the Three Broomsticks pressing into her back, while he looked towards her lips in a rather unchaste like way.

The sound of someone coming from the aisle way caused him to back away efficiently before fixing his suit with a singular nod and twitch of his brows. In a huff, she could hardly believe that he caused her to practically fall to pieces once again without trying too much, upset her as she stood up quickly, snatching her bag before storm right past him without so much as another word or glance. She was tired of him having the upper hand on what seemed like everything, and decided that he was going to get a taste of his medicine for once, she just needed to figure out how to do it.

"Keep on running,
And you'll never get to feel the moment,
It's like you're sleeping,
Cause you don't take the time to take it in,

Like a train wreck you're on a mission,
Tunnel vision got you blinded,
Better slow down before you lose ground,
It will happen anyway,
Paint it over if your world is grey,

When you close your eyes to see the view,
You'll miss everything surrounding you,
Stop and just look around…"

Look around By David Archuleta

Saturday October 12th, 1996

Inside the Library- One in the afternoon

Reaching inside his pocket for his watch, Draco glanced one time at Granger before she turned around the last bookshelf out of his view. Still unsure as to why but taking the Mickey out her has always been rather entertaining, therefore he liked doing it, he thought with a huff while looking at the time. Knowing that he needed to impede her newfound curiosity in talking with him somehow, Draco rolled his because he didn't have time to deal with whatever it was going on between the two of them right now, or ever.

With everything he had found out yesterday from Blaise, Draco was officially confused as ever with whatever was really going on, and that worried him. When he told his friend about the note he found just last week, and the look on his face was one of outright concern, which there was no way to fake that. Shoving his watch back inside his pocket he walked towards the entrance of the library but stopped when heard distinctive venomous whispers coming from what a few aisles away from him, which sounded rather familiar.

Walking in the direction of the whispers, Draco stopped as a vibrant redhead stormed out of the aisle from where they were coming from, running right into him with a soft bump. 'Ah, the Weaslette, should've known… And she sounds a bit testy from whoever she had been talking with for some reason.' He thought, as he looked her over with an annoyed sneer that caused her to glare with distain.

"Some advice, even if you're in a bit of a hurry Weaslette, you and your other Gryffindors need to watch where you're going." He spoke lowly while rolling his eyes at her while she grit her teeth in what he could tell was anger, but noticed a little late she was far from in the mood to be messed with today.

"Shove off, Malfoy, you disgusting lowly… prat." She spat vituperatively almost causing Draco to flinch from how angry she was, and he could see her twitching with the anger. Looking her over, he watched her just shove her way past him running her shoulder into his before she walked away. Scoffing at her brassy way of dealing with him today, he saw her storm away as if she were some sort of a squall while he turned to see whom she had been speaking to, but no one was there, just gone.

With one last look around the library, Draco made his way into the hallway where he saw Blaise talking with Theo about something that seemed rather important. The way they talked seemed as if Theo was angry, while Blaise was slightly worried, but didn't know how to respond to what Theo was saying. Walking towards them, Draco stopped just beside them with a curious eyebrow raised while Blaise looked over towards him with a sigh.

"Mate, I didn't see the note until just a few moments ago, it got swept from under the door to in front of my side table. It's from Pansy to you…" Blaise explained as he reached inside his pocket where he pulled out a small slip of paper folded in half neatly. Taking the note in hand Draco opened it to see Pansy's naturally mess handwriting sprawled across the page as he read it.

'Draco,

I've been thinking about how I was going to tell you about, well what really happened the night you and Granger were patrolling. It's harder to write than one would think, and I hope you forgive me, but I was the one who attacked you both. No one was supposed to get hurt, I swear, just make Granger back off a bit. I promise…I know you'll be angry with me and that was why I decided a note would be better. I also need to talk to you about something… that I cannot write down.

Pansy (Not Parkinson)'

Reading over the note twice, Draco huffed with a mix of annoyance and disbelief while he scoffed reaching upwards to rub a hand over his mouth. Shaking his head, he looked up to Zabini and Nott who currently were waiting for his reaction to the note causing him to sigh in annoyance.

"Do either of you know where Pansy is at, I need to have a talk with her…" he said softly as he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose in irritation just before taking a deep breath while wondering just why she would do it. When he listened to the silence, he then turned to see the both of them look at each other before Blaise then looked back towards Draco with a worried expression.

"No has seen Pansy since yesterday when she left early from dinner, I've asked around, and the girls in her dormitory said she wasn't even in her bed last night… They went to Professor Snape who said he was going to talk with the headmaster about it." Blaise stated evenly while glancing towards Theo for a second time, and for some reason Nott seemed unaffected by what he said, which Draco found somewhat odd.

"Are you telling me that Pansy's missing?" Draco rephrased what his friend just said while not taking his eyes off of Theo who looked from the two of them with ease. Thumbing his Malfoy ring upon his left hand, Draco cautiously watched him before turning his attention back towards Blaise who just nodded before Theo spoke.

"More or less, which reminds me I promised I would meet up with Daphne right about now. I'll ask if she's heard anything about Pans. Let me know if you hear anything…" He quipped almost as if he were amused about some inside joke he wasn't sharing and with a singular nod, Theo then turned to leave quickly without so much as another word. Draco watched the other Slytherin boy walk down to corridor, waiting until he was gone before speaking.

"So, Zabini, out of mere curiosity, why were the two of you just standing outside the library talking?" he wondered before looking towards Blaise who was wearing his usual stoic expression with a singular raised eyebrow, similar to the one Draco found himself wearing a lot. With a shrug, his friend looked around the hallway before answering in a somewhat hushed tone.

"Actually, I honestly donno, I was looking for you when he came out of the library asking about what I was tense about just after that one Gryffindor, uh… What's her name? You know, Weasley's younger sister- Oh, Ginny I believe and might I add she was looking right cross as she did." Blaise answered as he crossed his arms while Draco looked over his shoulder in order to make sure no one was listening into their conversation.

"You don't suppose Theo could've had a rather heated chat with Weaslette just before he came out do you? While I was in the library, I overheard her arguing with someone and before I could see who it was, they were gone, which I don't blame them. From what I've seen, getting on her bad side doesn't seem, in truth rather pleasant…" Draco said softly as the two of them started walking in the opposite direction of Theo towards the dungeons while Blaise nodded his head in agreement.

"Now that you mention it, he did seem a little off today, I mean, I just assumed that it had to do with Pansy missing because I think he sort of has a thing for her, but it makes a whole lot more sense that if you think about it. What do you think they were talking about, I mean other than toying around with girls, Theo doesn't talk to them much, let alone with a Gryffindor that is also a known blood traitor- I mean-" Blaise stopped talking as Draco turned to glare towards his friend allowing a sneer to follow in suit choosing to ignore that statement. Without exchanging a few more words for the next ten or so minutes, the two of them walked down a long set of stairs that led to the Slytherin common rooms, before Blaise finally spoke.

"So, how's potions class with Granger?" he wondered causing Draco to stop walking upon the stairs before doing a full spin around in his spot while glaring intensely up at his mocha friend that had been following behind him. Examining Blaise facial expression, Draco decided that it was rather easy to tell he was attempting to hide the knowing smile behind his pursed lips and that curious glint in his eyes. "I mean what exactly happened before that awkward encounter I witnessed yesterday, if I may ask?" Blaise add before his smile broke though over his teeth while Draco scoffed and shook his head in somewhat of an disbelief kind of way.

"I thought I said not a word Zabini, and no, you may not ask." Draco snapped with an annoyed sneer before he continued walking down the stairs and over towards the common rooms. With a sigh, he walked inside the room past some of the other Slytherin's trying to ignore the wave of things that had to do with Granger that was sure to come now that his friend had gone and brought her up.

'Any other witch and I would've snogged her senseless upon that loveseat without a second's hesitation… Any other witch and I would've probably had a nice shag by now, but no. It had to her, it had to the stupid 'Golden Trio's' witch… stupid Granger.' Draco paused at that thought turning to look around the almost empty common room with a huff before he continued walking. ' You know what, I am done with caring. If she wants to bother me, follow me, I'll make sure she gets just what she's asking for, I'll show her what it's like to be the prey of a Malfoy…' he thought to himself as he walked towards the stairs.