Update: Sept. 21, 2010
To my Wonderful Readers, as promised, here is the next chapter. Please enjoy! To the reviewer who wished me a happy birthday, thank you for the wishes and sorry for being a dimwit! I completely forgot I had written that at the beginning of the last chapter. So sorry!
AM
'Overall it was a good day.' Hermione thought, as she crept into bed. She remembered her present for Malfoy, and resolved to start it the following day.
A dim and muted sky filled Hermione's room with pre-dawn light and she woke up to the gentle vibration of her wand's alarm going off. Deciding to spend the day in her pajamas, she pulled on an oversized, hooded sweatshirt and conjured up a complex breakfast.
She'd wanted to try it outside of class for the past week. A tray with a plate of fresh fruit, a hot scone with butter, two sausages and bacon, a glass of orange juice and a mug of hot chocolate appeared in front of her and she eagerly began working while munching on her food.
Knowing that she wanted to make a pendant with special properties, she summoned her Advanced Charms and Advanced Transfiguration books. She knew there was a book in the library for creating pendants of all kinds, as well as a few books about creating magical images.
Reading through her texts, she realized that everything should work, theoretically, but she needed to prep her materials, and to do that she needed some texts from the library. She pulled her hoodie off and shrugged into her school robe.
"Finally! I have everything I need, and unless it is absolutely needed to complete my project, I shall not leave this room!"
She had changed back into the oversized hoodie and was perched, cross-legged on her bed. A section of her comforter had been transfigured into a slightly raised desk. Essentially a very large podium, though at a lesser angle and it was just the surface.
Skimming through the book on pendants she found the section on protective-pendants and began reading and copying notes. Once finished, she browsed through the magical images book. It had an impossibly small section on tattoos, though the information was well-related and Hermione had gleaned enough information from various other chapters to feel comfortable in what she wanted to do.
First she copied the lump of coal and then enlarged the original. Taking the copy, Hermione set about mixing the coal and silver into a malleable form. The silver would keep the form, while the coal would allow it to be shaped and eventually blend into the ink.
Once the two compounds were combined to make a dark, metallic grey lump, Hermione set it aside and turned to the larger piece of coal. She wanted to turn it into a diamond.
Knowing this would take the longest amount of time, but unable to really progress without it, she checked her enthusiasm for a week. Using a fancy bit of conjugation and transfiguration, she created a box. Using her Ancient Runes knowledge, Hermione engraved series upon series of runes along the edges, inside, and outside of the box's faces. She also inscribed twelve very specific runes, two on each face.
Four hours later, Hermione sat back on her heels and admired the box. Quickly walking to her trunk, she pulled out a vial and duplicated it before going back to the box. Chanting a spell, Hermione upended the first vial and watched the liquid drift lazily down to cover the entire box.
Not wanting to get large quantities of potion soaking the carpet, Hermione levitated the cube about three feet in the air and muttered a second charm to keep it there.
While she waited for the first potion to soak into the wood, she pulled out her cauldron, potions text and ingredients and set to work. The cube would require much more of the potion she'd already used for it to truly work.
After all the ingredients had been added and the potion was gently simmering, Hermione turned back to her bed and began preparation work on her other items.
The string was really just there to hold the pendant until it became a tattoo, but Hermione wondered if the magic involved would consider the leather thong as part of the pendant and thus it would turn into the tattoo as well, or if Malfoy would just be left with a random piece of leather hanging around his neck.
And if he took that cord off, would that have a negative effect on the protective measures in the tattoo…Not really feeling up to trying an experiment on herself (besides her lack of viable ingredients) she decided it was just better to include it somehow and hope for the best.
Taking the bottles of ink, she poured each one into separate dishes she had transfigured and began laying down the foundational charms for what the ink would eventually be.
The dark, almost shadowed, silver would be the underbelly of the animal; and the dark forest green and shadowy brown-black would make a crisscross pattern similar to the Inland Taipan.
As there was no evidence of this ever having been done before, Hermione was almost at a loss and had only her mind to depend on. That and improvisation…Which wasn't always the best thing when doing spell creation.
Hermione frowned. 'Technically it's not spell creation, but I have to devise some, previously unknown, way of aligning, though really it's more like joining, the ink and rock together in one form that will be solid and then be able to transform itself into an image.
And it can only transform into an image for a certain person, and then it will become a tattoo. I don't want it to randomly transform against a wall or something and imprint itself there. Oh lord, I'm talking about it as if it's a sentient thing.'
She paused. 'Well…it kind of is… sort of… Like those guardians that old families have to keep intruders away.'
A light bulb turned on above her head. Sending a stasis charm to the cauldron and pouring the second vial over the floating box, she raced out the room and barged into Malfoy's.
And promptly froze. He was lying on his bed, eyes closed, one hand gently stroking his throbbing erection. Hermione's faced turned a permanent red and she backed out of the room as quietly as she could. Unfortunately, her foot thumped against the door and she found herself pinned to the wall by a very naked Malfoy, with a wand pressed to her throat before she could gasp in pain.
"What are you doing here Granger?"
"Ow." She winced as he forced her against the wall and her heel made contact, again. "I came in to ask you something, saw you were…occupied and tried to leave quietly."
One of his perfectly arched eyebrows rose up into his hair. "And it never occurred to you to knock before you entered someone's room? I thought you had basic manners Granger. Apparently I was wrong."
"I made a discovery and was excited. I knew you had some knowledge about a similar topic and was hoping I could use your knowledge to further my own endeavors. And if you'll kindly let me go, I'll leave you to your business and find my information elsewhere."
She made a move to leave and Draco's arm shot out to stop her. "I don't think so Granger. You've made me curious. Again. And I want to know what you're planning."
She glared at him. "It's really none of your business Malfoy. I can find the information from a variety of sources, you just happened to be the closest. Now let me leave."
"No." And she was suddenly sitting on his bed, facing a -still- naked Head Boy.
She averted her eyes. "Could you please put some clothes on!"
He was smirking, she just knew it!
"Hmmm, no. I'm quite comfortable how I am. Besides, I'd have thought that at 17 year old girl would have seen a naked male before." He looked her up and down. "Well, maybe not you."
Hermione stood in an angry huff. She didn't even have her wand. In her haste to grab parchment and pen, she'd left it on her bed.
"I am in the middle of something that is quite important to me, so if you don't mind I'm going to get back to it. Play your games with someone else Malfoy."
She strode to the door and almost made it through before she was pulled against a larger body. 'A wonderfully muscled and very naked body.' Her mind supplied. Hermione blushed.
Draco leaned down to whisper in the ear of the dainty witch pulled against him.
"You are in no position to make demands Hermione." She shivered as her name rolled off his tongue in a purr. "Nor do you have your wand with you. In fact, I think I can consider you my captive."
Hermione licked her suddenly dry lips. This was not a good position to be in. Malfoy was up to something, she was sure; and she still had her project in her room. It was out in the open for anyone to waltz in and look at. Or take. And she really needed to take her cauldron off the fire and put the potion into vials.
Draco bit back a groan at the sight of Hermione's small pink tongue snaking out and wetting her lips. This had the potential to be a bad situation. He was naked as the day he was born, and she was tempting him, however unknowingly.
She had been his mental fantasy when she had barged in. When he had pinned her to the wall, it hadn't really helped matters any. Then he magicked her to his bed, her eyes sparking in anger, her hair a tumbled mess from the bun it was in. And finally, he just had to pull her flush against his body when she moved to leave.
Her voice had a slight tremble in it as she spoke. "You can't hold me captive Malfoy. I'm the Head Girl. Someone would notice."
"No they won't. It's a Sunday, the day you take to relax and finish any last bit of homework. Pothead, Weaslette, and Longbottom all know that. In fact the majority of the school knows that. The only ones who could possibly want to speak with you are the professors. And they can easily send you an owl."
He smirked into her hair, his hands still pinning her arms at her sides, his fingertips just brushing her hip through the bulky material of the hoodie. He could've slipped his fingers under the hoodie, but he figured there was no point in scaring her.
"As a matter of fact, I can magically lock you inside this room for the rest of today, and use a variety of, let's say, not entirely-legal, spells and no one will notice."
She struggled against him and a strangled gasp fell through his lips and his head dropped to her shoulder. Hermione stilled. "They can use priori incantatem."
A dark chuckle sounded against her hooded shoulder.
"Interesting fact about priori incantatem, it only shows the last 15-20 spells, depending on their strength. So I can use a variety of spells pertaining to homework or simple household charms and no one would be the wiser."
"Unless I told them, and I'd think they're more inclined to believe me than you." Hermione struggled again. Draco let her go and flopped onto his bed, one leg bent at the knee.
"Give it up Granger, I've magically locked it and even if you do happen to get hold of my wand, there is no way you can get out of here."
She ignored his words and tried anyway. Draco shook his head at her idiocy and thought about how he could tease her into kissing him or more. Images of her dancing at Hallowe'en made him groan; definitely something more.
Hermione barely paid him attention and decided that since she was stuck here, she may as well snoop. Looking over at the bed, Malfoy seemed to have his eyes shut. He was touching himself again. She rolled her eyes, disgusted.
"Exhibitionist."
She found his trunk and dug and poked through that, finding school texts, class materials, a few non-essential articles of clothing and a curious black box.
It only had a basic locking charm, but even that was far beyond her right now. 'Though…' She looked at Malfoy again. He had left his wand on his dresser. She snuck over and gently picked it up. Silently moving back to his trunk she whispered the unlocking charm.
The box expanded as she opened it and inside she found a stack of photos and letters tied in a bundle. Untying the knot she opened the first letter. It was from an eleven year Malfoy writing to his father about how the Boy-Who-Lived had rejected his friendship and how it hurt. He'd written about his first week at school and how irritating Crabbe and Goyle were.
They don't do anything except follow me around. I know they aren't as stupid as people seem to think they are, but can they do nothing else? I need my privacy!
None of the other Slytherins seem interested in being friends, though they do defer to my leadership. Pansy is always hanging around talking about our engagement. I told her we have no such thing.
Hermione paused in her reading to glance up at the young man on the bed. She pulled out the next letter; it was a scathing reply from his father.
In it, he was told that he no longer had such a thing as privacy, get used to it. Malfoy's were always in sight, if only to have a cover up story. Crabbe and Goyle would become his men-at-arms and there was nothing he could do to about it otherwise. And yes, talk was being made about his and Pansy's arranged marriage.
And so Hermione spent the next several hours reading letters that Draco, not Malfoy, had written home to his father, and sometimes his mother, and their replies. A lot of it made her want to cry.
She saw a young boy wanting something everyone else had, something intangible, just out of reach. But was told that such a thing was beyond his grasp and then shut up inside thick glass walls where he could forever see what he could not have.
Draco woke up from his nap to hear soft sobs from somewhere in his room. Sitting up he saw the mess on his sheets and reached over to his dresser for his wand to clean it up. His wand wasn't there. His eyes snapped to the offending piece of furniture, still not there. He stood up.
Hermione heard a rustle of fabric and a muffled moan beyond her sobs and looked up. Draco had obviously woken up. She stood and ran over to him, throwing her arms around his shoulders in a desperate hug.
Draco stumbled backwards onto his bed when a blurred form crashed into his. Instinctively his arms went around the body that landed on top of him. Hair tickled his mouth so he lifted his head a tad higher. Muffled cries of sorry fell against his skin.
He determined the thing on top of him was female and then, having resolved that, remembered what had taken place prior to his nap. The crying female was Granger. He sighed. She was lying perfectly in his arms, her face cradled against his shoulder. He liked the way she felt against him. He froze after the thought passed across his mind.
Eventually her sobs subsided and she made to pull back. Draco tightened his hold and she slowly relaxed back onto him.
"Now, what exactly was all that about?"
Hermione propped herself up on her elbows so she could look Draco in the face.
He looked serene enough but she knew the moment she told him she went through his personal belongings, he would flip.
"I read your letters." No one said she couldn't be vague about it.
A blank look crossed his face. "You read my what?"
"Your letters. I read them. The ones you wrote throughout your schooling, you keep them in a, pitifully locked if I may add, black box in your trunk."
Recognition slowly made its way across his face and his once serene features were now clouding with rage.
He flipped her over and pinned her beneath him. Hermione was sure there was some sexual quip that could be made. This was the second time he'd done this!
"What the hell do you think you were doing looking through my stuff?" He was practically snarling at her, and despite the fact that she knew she should be feeling fear at the moment, all she could grasp at was the righteous fury of a scorned woman.
"What the hell do you think Malfoy! You lock me up in here, threaten me, and then fall off into beddy-bye land! As your enemy, don't you think I would take this golden opportunity to skunk through your stuff? And don't pretend that you wouldn't do the exact same thing!"
Anger was lighting her eyes and flushing her face again and Draco was finding it hard to keep his mind on the task at hand. Which did not involve kissing and stripping down the witch beneath him. Oh Merlin, he shouldn't have mentioned that she was beneath him.
Wonderful images floated across his mind; Hermione writhing against him; screaming and moaning his name at her climax; her supple chest pressed against his own; her long legs wrapped around his waist. Fuck.
Hermione narrowed her gaze on the wizard above her. He seemed to be struggling with something though she couldn't imagine what. It certainly wasn't guilt over the fact that he would have done it too.
"Besides, if they're so damn personal, I suggest you keep them better protected next time!"
"They are in my trunk. No one, barring me, can get it that trunk! I didn't really think I needed to keep those protections up when the only person in my room is my own fucking self!"
"And quite obviously, in your stupidity you failed to realize that people do come and go in these dorms and rooms and anyone really could have seen those. We both bring people up all the time!"
"Who would I bring Granger?"
"Your girlfriend for one? I don't know!"
"Why the bloody hell would I bring another girl up here? You are my girlfriend Granger! Or so everyone thinks! So unless I feel like 'cheating' on you, which wouldn't help me, or making our plan known to a third party, which again wouldn't benefit me, no one would come up here!"
"Well that's your bloody pro-" Draco leaned down and smashed his mouth against hers. An effective way to shut someone up to be sure. However it usually worked better if the second person didn't bite your lip soon after.
"What the hell was that for bitch?"
"What the hell was it for! Gee I dunno, maybe the fact that you were kissing me?"
"Well you didn't mind last time Hermione!"
"Yeah? Well last time, and trust me it will be the last time, you were acting like a gentleman, not some rabid man who has to force himself on a woman to get some action!"
They struggled against each other, Draco mainly prevailing, using his strength. But Hermione was nothing if not smart and she managed to maneuver them until they fell off the bed. Pulling one arm free she reached back to grab his wand.
Draco sat up and made a grab for her wrist; Hermione brought the wand to his face, the tip glowing. It was a stalemate. Hermione could use his wand, but he limited her wrist movement. Draco could flip her over and pin her again, but she had his wand and after seven years of seeing her with spells, he knew that she could be wicked fast when she wanted to be. Now would probably be one of those times.
Their faces were close together and Hermione was straddling Draco's hips, while his hands were holding her arms, one pinned to her side, his fingers brushing the flimsy tee she wore as bed clothing.
Molten silver looked into sparking cinnamon. Draco thought he moved first but really it could have been either of them. His hand let go of her wrist; Hermione dropped the wand.
Hands were suddenly tangling in hair, bodies pressing up against each other, trying to get closer, closer. Hermione stood on her knees and pulled Draco forward so they were even closer.
Draco slipped one hand from her neck down to the small of her back and began to stand. Hermione half stumbled and their lips separated. Draco caught her head and pulled her mouth to his so he could taste her again. Gently moving her hands around his head and shoulders, he picked her up.
Hermione wrapped her legs around Draco's waist in an effort to stay up as he stood and moved them over to the large bed. Gently placing the beautiful witch on the bed, Draco crawled up and onto her and began kissing her neck.
"Merlin, you are so addictive."
Hermione moaned as he found a particularly sensitive spot.
"And you, sir, are very good with your mouth!"
Draco lifted his head to grin at her, she grinned deviously back and they both moved in for a hungry kiss.
Again, hope you enjoyed! Please be aware that with two updates so close together, there won't be a third update for a bit of time. Just FYI.
AM