Oi, Granger!

AUTHORS SAY: GASP! No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you! I have indeed updated once again, oh my beluga whale! I just saw all the overwhelming comments and thought how precious you guys are to me. HOWEVER—here's the trick (downfall) this chapter is ridiculously short. So don't freak, just enjoy, okay? Please review. Show me you care. It helps me update sooner!

Just as a warning, this chapter is definitely rated R, and is very dramatic. 2/3rds of chapter eight was meant to be light and sort of laid back, to show some "fun" in their relationship. But as we can see, nothing lasts forever. So don't be upset or confused if you see things fall out of place in this chapter. You should understand it all. Thanks!

PS—Do you guys ever read the little lyrics I sometimes have above my story? Just wanted to know! On with the show!

Of Fallen Kings and Queens

Don't ever let me see those words on your lips,
it's just me, it's just me.
So yeah, yeah well now its peace in the form of a dove.
And yeah, yeah its peace and love or just whatever goes down,
easily, consuming our bodies; it's your fight this night.

The window behind her cracked, and the glass fell to the stone floor in a deafening clatter. She didn't move however, but continued to cry as a deep, humiliating blush crept up her neck and spill onto her cheeks. She hadn't caught her breath back since dashing from out of the Great Hall. She took several, broken gasps and pushed her hair from out of her wet face. She began to pull her dress up to yank off the glass heels she had worn to the dance, not feeling like an Ice Queen anymore, but a ruddy fool. She was so angry, so humiliated and so sad her magic was defying her and acting out in accident, thus resulting in the broken window. A gush of winter air pelted through the corridor, and Hermione shivered as tiny flecks of snow fell onto her bare shoulders. She was hardly aware of the soft footsteps behind her approach.

"Hermione," said the voice. She closed her eyes. Her breath was back. "Hermione, love…" She looked up, finally opening her eyes and peered into the glassy molten-silver eyes of Draco.

Only minutes ago, she would have looked into those eyes with love, happiness, even desire.

But those feelings were gone, now placed with humiliation and pain. Hermione Granger was a laughing stock. She opened her mouth, her throat cracking as it woke itself. "Are you satisfied, Malfoy?" she said hollowly. Her tone made Draco flinch, and he took a fearful step back. "What is it you wanted from me? Sex?" she laughed. "It makes me happy to know you failed horribly."

"Hermione, please let me explain myself…" he said softly. She nodded, wrapping her arms around her body.

"Go, go…explain yourself."

"It was never supposed to be like this—"

"I want nothing but facts!" she snapped. "I don't want an excuse, I want the bloody truth!"

Draco paused, pursing his lips briefly before speaking up again, "Hermione, I've dreamt about loving you since…since the war. When this year started, and we began to spend time together, even become friends, I loved it." He cautiously sat in front of her, fearful if she would lash out due to his close proximity, but she stayed silent. He took this as a good sign and continued. "You're everything I wasn't, and I realized this. When Blaise offered the bet…I tried to get out of it, but I soon found myself anticipating it, but not in the sense that I would hurt you, never did I think about hurting you, just falling in love with you." He was interrupted by Hermione's laughter.

"You wanted to fall in love with me? But because of the bet, right?" She shot him an icy glare. "That was part of the bet, wasn't it? To make me fall in love with you, and for you to be my 'boyfriend' of sorts, wasn't it?" she spat. Draco swallowed a lump and nodded. "And the bet, tell me about it."

"I was supposed to take your virginity."

"For the sole purpose of humiliating me?" she asked. Draco nodded. "And?" Draco moved his eyes elsewhere from Hermione's tearstained face and opened his mouth.

"And to break up the three of you…you, Potter and Weasley…" Hermione released a cry and Draco reached out for her, but she violently pushed his hands away from her. He reached for her again, this time with more force and yanked her to him. She punched him in his chest and began to cry again.

"You vile, selfish prick!" she howled. She gasped, remembering all the times Draco had suggested they have sex, all the times he had kissed her and touch her, making her think, just a little bit, making her feel, so much, that she should take the next step with him. He continued to cling on to her, not wanting to give up on her. He loved her too much to.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, trying to calm her. "I'm so sorry Hermione; I never wanted to hurt you."

"But you did!" she shot back, finally yanking herself free. "You did because you wanted to hurt me. You hurt me so much, Malfoy."

"Hermione, I didn't…I mean…please."

"Don't call me Hermione anymore."

"Please—"

"Please, what? Please forgive you and love you once again? Love is not something to be played with! I'm not something to be played with!" she said angrily. "I was supposed to mean something to you, because I know in my heart you meant something to me!" This time, Hermione reached out for him, pulling him against her so hard he fell on top of her, making her fall onto her back. She attacked him with her lips, and he gasped against her mouth. Soon, they were kissing passionately, Draco taken aback but yearning her touch, believing it to be forgiveness.

But Hermione had her own plan. She took his hand and placed it over her breast, moaning when he squeezed it. She removed her hand from his, and instead moved to unzip the dress from the side. Draco's eyes widened as he looked down at Hermione shrugging her dress off.

"What are you doing?" he asked, pulling away from her.

"I want you to sleep with me," she said, meeting his eyes. "I want you to touch me, and make love to me," she continued in a deadpanned voice. Draco shook his head.

"You don't know what you're saying!" he snapped, moving from on top of her and standing onto his feet. Hermione stood with him, and Draco struggled for breath as the dress she was wearing fell to pool around her bare feet. He had never seen her naked. Her breasts were naked to the coldness of the corridor and Draco's stare, the moonlight bathing her in its soft light. He cursed himself as he felt his body react. "Stop it Hermione!" he whimpered. She stepped out of the dress and walked towards him, where she then pressed herself against his shaking body. She placed her hands on his shoulders and lifted herself up enough to begin kissing his neck. He groaned.

"If you ever loved me, you'll do this for me," she said softly, closing her eyes and releasing a breath. Draco was trembling so horribly, Hermione flinched when he had grasped her hips, making her shake as well in reverberation. Draco brought his lips down to hers and kissed her softly. He couldn't help but sob into her mouth at the sacrifice she was giving him. "You don't have to prove anything to me…" she continued. "That's for me to do." She had shrugged his tux's jacket off, and began to unbutton his silver shirt. When he was naked from the waist up, Hermione removed his belt, and dipped her hand down his pants. She had never felt a penis before, and the thought of knowing that she was touching Draco's made tears prickle behind her eyelids. In any other circumstance, she would have known that this brash act of sexuality was out of love, not revenge. He growled at the contact, and it made her want to vomit.

Soon, his trousers were off, and he stood in the corridor with nothing but his boxers on. He vaguely recalled that they were in the middle of an abandoned corridor as he pulled her to the ground, her naked body pressing against their discarded clothes to ward off the coldness of the corridors' ground. He kissed his way down her chest, messaging her breasts lightly. Suddenly, her hand darted out and stopped him. "I don't want that Malfoy. Just get it over and done." Her tone was cold and curt, and all Draco could do was swallow down his pride and nod. He removed her stockings and knickers, his nostrils filled with the scent of her sex, hitting him so strong he groaned in anticipation. "I don't…" Hermione said unsurely and defeated, "I don't want to get pregnant." She was angry at herself because she didn't know any contraceptive spells. Draco nodded, and placing his hand over her flat stomach, he whispered a protection spell. He opened the slit in front of his boxers and released himself from its constraints.

"We…we don't have to do this Hermione."

"Don't be stupid, Malfoy!" she shouted, looking up at him. "I didn't come this far for you to say such a thick comment. Just get it over with, and don't ask any more questions about my wellbeing! I don't want you to pause for me, I don't want you to wait for me to 'adjust' I just want it over!" she instructed. Draco began to tremble as he nodded. Without any warning, he pushed into her, making her bite her lip in pain. Draco turned away as he saw a dribble of blood run down from her mouth to her chin. He pushed in again, feeling as if he could barely move in this tight space that was Hermione. She released a strangled sob, crying aloud as he moved inside of her. Guilt consumed Draco as he continued with his whole body on fire through humiliation and fear. She had pressed her face into his shoulder, wetting it with her tears. He stopped moving inside of her, not following her earlier instructions. She bit down hard on his shoulder.

"Don't stop this…damn it," she hissed around his shoulder. The pain was brief in Draco's shoulder, and he was soon again pushing into her. She cried out, and overwhelmed, Draco began to silently cry himself. He could feel the familiar pressure building up inside of him, shouting that he was close to climax.

"I love you," he whispered through his tears and gritted teeth. "I love you, and I'm sorry." He came, she along with him. They lay together, and when Hermione ceased in her crying, she pushed him off of her, swallowing upcoming vomit as a noise pierced the corridor of his member leaving her body. Draco removed himself and lay beside her and Hermione looked down at herself. She had trickles of blood running down her thighs, and was vaguely aware of Draco cleaning her off of him with his discarded shirt. She was in so much pain; she had to take several deep breaths before standing up.

"I'm the one who decides," she whispered. Draco looked up.

"What?"

"I DECIDE!" she screamed. "I decide when, where and how I give it up!" she pulled her knickers back on tenderly, and then stepped into her dress, pulling it up. She realized that blood stains littered the dress from where she had laid on it. "You must've had things planned…how we would shag…but I make them, I tell you when and how!"

"Hermione, my God…how could you…"

"Shut up!" she growled. "I did this for me. I'm not the humiliated one—you are! You're the fool, Malfoy. You're the bloody monster! I will never be weak again. I proved to you that you could not defeat me…When you saved me so long ago during the war; I dreamt about you too…I dreamt about you over the summer. And here I was, living a dream." She turned to him, her brown eyes black with rage. "Thank you for waking me up."

Some say that, kings fall from grace.
So now we sit like kings amongst this,
crowd, is gone so speak to me.

"Hermione, please don't do this…how could you…how could you hurt me like this?"

"HURT YOU?" Hermione asked with an incredulous look. "You bastard! You selfish bastard!"

"Hermione, what the hell is wrong with you? You just…gave yourself to me with so much coldness and cruelty…for revenge?" Draco asked his voice breaking up as he bit back sobs.

"Just see it as a last act of kindness from me, Malfoy. I used you! I used you for my own needs…as you can see, we're through."

With that, she turned around and walked stiffly down the corridor, leaving a naked Draco on the floor. He curled up into himself and cried, ashamed.

She had left him.

"Hermione, I just want to know if you're okay," Ginny said through the door. Hermione was sleeping in her old dorm in the Gryffindor Tower, having not gone back to the Heads tower in the last five days. Christmas break was only two weeks more, and Ginny was afraid Hermione would spend them locked away in her room, seeing that Parvati and Lavender had went back home after the ball.

"Leave me alone," came Hermione's shaky voice through the door, and then a blow of her nose.

"Please, Hermione. We need to talk," said another voice. Hermione recognized it as Harry's. How he was able to disable the charms was a mystery to her, but she continued to reject them entry.

"Damn it, what did she put on this door?" Harry whispered to Ginny, believing he could not be heard.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, we're not getting through this door."

"I don't want her to do something rash, Gin. We have to get this door open!" he snapped quietly. Hermione rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Just go away!" Hermione screamed. "Leave me the hell alone!"

"Hermione, if this has anything to do with Draco, please talk to us!"

"It has nothing to do with him!"

After what had happened in the corridor, Hermione had fled to the Room of Requirement, where she took a long shower and cleaned herself, having not had her wand on her. She washed all traces of her and Draco from off and out of her body. She had then washed her hair, combing out her hair in front of a small vanity in the room. She broke into tears soon after. She then found herself falling onto her old bed in Gryffindor, her bloodstained dress from earlier was safely disposed of in the Room of Requirement. She had come to the tower clad in nothing but a bathing robe. She fell asleep like that.

Now, five days later, Harry and Ginny were at her door. Ron had been with them the first couple of days, but after hearing her scream and shout, he had changed his mind about coming back.

"Fuck off!" she screamed. She heard Ginny's noise of disapproval.

"Fine! We're leaving, but please don't shy away from coming to talk to us, we're here for you Hermione!" Harry cried through the door. "Let's go..." she heard Harry hiss. Soon, Hermione was alone once again. She snuggled into her comforter and fell into a deep sleep, dreaming of Draco.

-----

Draco hadn't slept in five days. He had black shadows under his eyes.

"You look like shite, mate," Blaise said tenderly. Draco's eyes glazed over.

"Thanks, Blaise…you sure do know how to make a person feel better."

Blaise sighed. "Just being 'the best friend,' you know?" he laughed at his own comment, but stopped when he saw the death glare Draco was sending his way. "Yeah…so she just shagged you and left you?" he commented quickly.

"She…she fucking broke me Blaise! I've never been so guilty, or so humiliated before in my life."

"She turned the tables on you."

"I want her back Blaise…I have to get her back. I'm in love with her," Draco whimpered. He was sitting in the Head's common room on the floor. He had a steaming cup of tea in his pale hands, taking slow sips. After Hermione had left him, he had disposed of his shirt, and slipped on just his jacket and trousers and made his way back to his dorm. He knew Hermione wouldn't be there. "I want her back, Blaise…" Draco repeated. "What am I going to do?" he asked softly.

"Well, first off, I want you to finish that tea…it's supposed to be relaxing, or some bollocks like that…at least that's what the box said…" Blaise said seeing that he had been with Draco since the day after the Ball, and had helped Draco through it, even going as far as to make sure the weak, broken boy bathe and combed his hair. "Do you feel relaxed?" Blaise asked in a misty voice. His blonde friend grunted. Draco was a mess if he was grunting ungracefully now, Blaise thought in horror Watching his friend like this, and knowing that it was his entire fault killed him. It was then, that Blaise had an idea.

"Draco…I have an idea as to how to get her back!"

Draco gave a hopeful smile and looked up at Blaise, "You lie…" he said simply. Blaise scowled.

"I do to have a plan!"

"Does it consist of more painful shagging?" Draco asked. Blaise bit his lower lip.

"Well…sorta…"

"She HATES me Blaise. The last thing she wants to do is shag me. The experience was not only humiliating to me, but…somewhat…emotionally earth shattering as well. I can't repeat that act."

"Stop acting like a twat, Draco! Be a man!"

"BE A MAN?" Draco repeated dramatically. "The love of my fucking miniscule life has left me. I am being REALISTIC! This HURTS like a WICKED BITCH!" Draco broke into fits of wailing, throwing his teacup into the blazing fire. Blaise smirked.

"Okay…well, 'be a woman…' you're doing so well at that."

"Piss off, Blaise!" Draco shouted.

"At least let me tell you the bloody plan!"

Draco groaned, suddenly conjuring a bottle of whiskey and a glass. "Tell me everything…"

"Good, but you have to give me a glass of that stuff, okay? This is going to be…complex…and to tell you the truth, the only way you're going to be able to follow me, or agree with me for that matter, is if you're pissed off your arse drunk, all right?" Blaise asked with a twisted smile. Draco chuckled sadly and nodded, passing the drink to him.

Some nights she still charms her way out
and hopes to leave with a morning of sleep…

Song is called "Smile, You've Won," by Lydia.

Explanation to Why Hermione Did IT: Hermione is a strong-minded woman. When she learned that Draco was "betting" against her virginity, and was nearly tricked into doing it with him, she became angry, nearly determined to prove that she was not a fool. She had to prove that Draco was not the one to decide things, or play with her feelings. So, she turned the tables on him, and left him in the same predicament as she (was almost in). She gave him her virginity to break him and make him into the monster she believes him to be. I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Draco is so bent on making things right, he'll do anything to get her back. PLEASE REVIEW! IF you don't, Hermione will fall in love with Ron (who we all knows really wants her) and forget about Draco forever!