PART III

The tears fell from his eyes even before he had reached the second floor. This time had been much more frustrating than others before it.

Snape had, once more, attempted to interfere before Draco had returned to the Room on Hidden Things to once more sit before the broken Vanishing Cabinet for four unsuccessful hours. He had spent the whole night in there the night before and had thought he had come one step closer to fixing the horrid thing. However, in his excitement, Draco had come very close to initiating the Avada Kedavra curse on himself to save the Dark Lord the hassle.

Reaching the corridor with the bathroom that he was seeking, he felt a rush of pleasure at the sound of loud and hopeless sobbing coming from the lavatory. He knew those sobs; they most certainly weren't those on Moaning Myrtle.

Swinging the door open, he saw her petite figure bent over a basin; her hands were bright red in the areas they weren't white from clenching the sink and he could see in the reflection of the mirror that her face was glistening with tears. Yes, this was exactly how he had hoped to find her.

Rushing forward, Draco grabbed her arm and turned her violently around to face him. She let out a gasp as he lifted her and rested her backside on the edge of the basin, staring into her face desperately and feeling some liberation from just knowing she was there.

He let her examine his face a moment before he leant forward and captured her lips with his. Grazing her lips with his teeth, he gripped her tightly when she let out a growl and responded feverishly.

Deepening the kiss, Draco kissed her slightly harder, his tongue entering her mouth and licked at her own, feeling her nibble at it at the same time. As he continued to assault her mouth, his body became aware of a meowing that could only possibly be coming from the girl he was currently taking his frustration out on.

Drawing back, he looked at her and took in her features with questioning. A part of him told him that his body should not be reacting to her in the way it was.

Hermione let out another brutal growl and clawed at his chest, drawing him into her once more. Draco obeyed and continued to kiss her, his hand pulling on her mane of hair and elicited wonderful sounds from her that sent his next actions into chaos.

Drawing closer to her, Draco blindly maneuvered her legs to straddle his sides and he relished in the harsh cry that came from Hermione when he sat his right hand on her ankle and slowly moved it upwards to sit just beneath the hem of her school skirt.

Hermione pulled away. "This shouldn't feel this good," she rasped out before drawing Draco into another harsh kiss that consisted of tongue, lips and teeth, causing Draco to let out a couple of growls of his own.

Draco saw this as a challenge. He Moved his hand under her skirt and groped at the glorious piece of leg that he found there. Hermione let out a gasp and kissed him harder in punishment.

"Merlin, Granger," Draco gasped, when she scooted forward on the basin and rubbed slightly against his growing erection. "Do that again and you'll end up doing more than making Weasley jealous."

Hermione hissed at the sound of Ron's name and pulled on Draco's hair with her right hand as her left pushed at Draco's hand under her skirt. Draco chuckled and did not move it.

"Are you challenging me, Malfoy?" Hermione asked, narrowing her eyes.

"This is all a game, Granger," Draco drawled in response. "I intend to win it."

"Suddenly we're competing?" Hermione questioned venomously. "I thought we were doing this to find relief?"

Draco ignored this and merely smirked. "The game has to end at some point, Granger."

Hermione drew his face forward and kissed him harshly. Draco responded, his tongue challenging hers brutally, stepping closer still and he rubbing against her. At her meow, he grinned. This was his to win.

"This might go too far for your liking, Granger," Draco warned, his hand against her thigh which clenched beneath his touch.

"Just do it, Malfoy," she demanded, blindly playing with the fly of his pants.

Draco examined her fiery features for a moment she let out a growl and pulled him against her.

"You call this a game," Hermione said lightly, shifting on the basin and adjusting her knickers accordingly. "I call this war."

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Draco smirked and he plunged into her, eliciting a great cry from Hermione as her virginity was broken.

Draco faltered a moment, staring at her. "Granger, I didn't –"

"Just do it, Malfoy!" Hermione exclaimed.

As pain and pleasure mixed together, Hermione felt a burden lift from her and as she looked into Draco's face, she clenched her teeth, commanding her mind to forget that it was supposed to be Ron taking this innocence from her. Leaning forward, Hermione rested her forehead on Draco's shoulder, feeling guilt and mental pain overwhelm her.

She let out a sob as she climaxed, knowing that she shouldn't have, knowing that she hadn't wanted this, knowing that despite her will to seek revenge and find some relief she had only brought herself deeper into misery.

Numbly she registered that Draco had also finished and was breathing hard against her. Pulling away, she looked at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. Draco examined her for a moment before righting himself.

Silently, he left the bathroom and Hermione. Her feet finding the floor once more, Hermione turned and looked at herself in the mirror. Pain and anguish overwhelmed her and she collapsed to the damp floor. She wanted Ron; she needed him. And yet her entire being told her she couldn't forgive and forget so easily. He had brought this misery upon her; he was the reason she had just consented to Draco Malfoy.

Her body was already starting to ache. Clenching her thighs together, she wished only for the past hour to have never happened but she knew that even with a timeturner she wouldn't be able to achieve such a feat.

Not wanting to head back to the common room, she let the gloom overtake her and hoped that if anyone passed by the second floor girl's lavatory at such a late hour they would believe the breathless sobbing was coming from the ghost that normally haunted it.

o

That night in the bathroom was still haunting Hermione three weeks later and she did not return. Concentrating on classes and Harry kept her going during the day and she tried firmly not to let Ron get to her. When he did, she turned to reading or, if she felt the need to cry, she would do so in the privacy of the Gryffindor Tower girl's bathroom.

It was late one Friday afternoon and for the tenth time, she looked up to see Ron entering the common room without Lavender in tow. This pleased her but she had not heard word that the two were having difficulties so it only caused many questions to rise in Hermione's head, causing her to once more fall into gloom.

Earlier that day she had passed Malfoy in the halls. She met his eyes and then averted them straight away. She did not want to fall on him for support again, she was smart enough to know that the moments spent with him were a mistake, even if he couldn't quite come to understand that.

A week later Hermione had found herself standing outside the second floor bathroom, wanting to completely put an end to whatever her and Malfoy had been doing. However, Hermione could not summon the courage to enter; she was terrified that if she did she might fall into her old habit and become once more caught in a situation she preferred not to be in.

Continuing down the hall, she considered just avoiding the Slytherin from then on, though she knew it would be of little use; she would not be sure that it was over until she said it was.

Hermione went on another two weeks contemplating how would be best to let him know; she considered saying it one day after Potions but he was always one of the first out the door when the bell rang. She considered owling him but knew that if anyone else saw the letter they would grow suspicious. It seemed that revisiting Moaning Myrtle's bathroom was the only option.

One Friday afternoon, she saw him dart in there while on her rounds and she decided that this time was better than any other; there was no-one in the halls and it was guaranteed that he would either be in there alone or in there with Moaning Myrtle. Either way, she knew she was safe to say what she pleased.

Standing outside the door for over two minutes, Hermione gathered her words in her head, ready to speak them. She chose them wisely and made sure that she could let him know quickly and clearly and be out of the room by the time he had a chance to respond.

Taking a deep breath, Hermione pushed open the door slowly and headed in. Draco was, as always, before his usual basin, staring at himself in a cracked mirror.

Trying hard to concentrate on the words she was about to say and not the actions that had taken place in this bathroom and on that basin, she met his eyes in the mirror.

And felt the words vanish.

"You've been avoiding me, Granger," Draco said calmly, blinking lazily as she stood stock still behind him. "I was starting to think I may never see you in here again."

Hermione paused, gathering her courage and wishing she had left the door open. "You won't," she whispered.

"What was that, Granger?"

"You won't." Hermione's voice betrayed her; it showed her uneasiness of being around him again. She cleared her voice, hoping as she used it again that her words would come out firmer and clearer. "You win."

She stood there for a moment as Draco stared at her reflection. His gaze was calculating and Hermione demanded that her legs move.

Turning on her heel, she pulled open the door and in two quick strides she was gone.

AUTHOR NOTE: I hope that the beginning of this chapter is not too explicit. I dulled it down greatly to post on here as I did not realise that MA was not an available rating. Please feel free to inform me if it is of a much too explicit nature for the M rating! And I am sorry if it is of a much too explicit nature!