Disclaimer: I've always wanted to be JK Rowling, but first I need to perfect the British accent.

Chapter 12

Reversal

Breathe.

Breathe.

Just breathe.

Hermione Granger had absolutely no cause for worry. Her life was just as normal and as carefree as always.

Sure, everything was exactly the same... more or less.

So maybe within the expanse of one weekend everything about her world had reversed so violently that she was left slightly dizzy and possibly a little nauseated, but that didn't mean that everything was bad.

Who was she kidding?

She was screwed—absolutely, positively, past the point of no return screwed.

Exhibit A:

Harry loved her.

Harry loved her and took her to dinner to tell her.

Harry loved her and took her to dinner to tell her, but she ended up running out and leaving him all alone to go to work without a reply to his confessions of ardor.

Exhibit B:

She left him for Draco Malfoy.

She left him for Draco Malfoy, who was insane, only not really.

She left him for Draco Malfoy, who was insane, only not really, and ended the night by touching and hugging AND kissing said person.

Exhibit C

Lucius Malfoy escaped from prison.

Lucius Malfoy escaped from prison and no one could find him.

Lucius Malfoy escaped from prison and no one could find him, and he was probably the reason for Draco's insanity.

Exhibit D (and this was the real kicker, ladies and gentlemen)

This all happened in one night.

Now, Hermione was familiar with odd happenings. Odd was more than her middle name; it really should have been her entire name.

Her life was strange enough when she was eleven and she received a letter from an owl telling her she was a witch.

It was stranger still when she acquired her two best friends by way of a troll attack.

Not to mention the fact that she'd had numerous run-ins with the most evil person to ever walk this earth and still lived to tell the tale.

The truly funny thing is that she had never considered her life odd until she kissed Draco Malfoy.

She could handle wizards, trolls, Dark Lords, Dementors, and whatever else the world threw at her, but one kiss from Draco Malfoy and her entire world was off its hinges.

It might seem odd to some that she was currently lying flat on her back in the middle of the Ministry's atrium, but again, odd was normal for her.

She was feeling... strange. She wasn't exactly sure how to describe the sensation that was gripping her, but she didn't like it.

She felt... wobbly. She felt wobbly, on edge, terrified, and... odd.

But this was odd for her, which was beyond odd. If odd was normal for her, perhaps this feeling was normalcy.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and focused instead on her strange encounter with Luna.

Luna was pregnant. Hermione was a little disconcerted that she hadn't picked up on it sooner. Normally, she was keenly observant about things like that. All this stuff with Draco was throwing her off track.

She groaned. Draco. Draco fucking Malfoy was ruining her life, and he wasn't even trying.

The look on Luna's face when she had mentioned work was slightly scary, and Hermione shivered when she recalled it. She'd always thought that Luna was sharper than most people thought, but she sincerely hoped that Luna hadn't seen through her lies.

A shiver ran up her back, and she remembered that she was lying on the cold floor in the Ministry. She had come here intending to check in on Harry. She was worried about him. He'd been so excited about starting over. She'd blanched, knowing that he wanted to start over with her. And now Lucius Malfoy had managed to rip that hope right out from beneath him. If she knew Harry, losing that hope would anger him more than anything else ever had.

Voldemort had taken away hope and love before Harry had ever really had the chance to know it. But Harry had been given a taste of normalcy—well, as normal as you could call his date with Hermione—and Lucius had stripped him of that. Harry would be angry, very angry, indeed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rage.

It had taken up residence in his chest and seemed to radiate off his very skin. Fire was pumping through his veins, increasing in intensity with every beat of his heart. He'd been here for fifteen hours straight, and not a single fucking thing had changed.

How could all those people who called themselves Aurors be lounging about at home, when Lucius Malfoy roamed free? He itched with the desire to yell at every one of them, to yell at everyone.

With a growl, he sent his ink bottle flying across the room. The light reflecting off the delicate pieces of glass as they tumbled to the ground only infuriated him more. He watched as the ink seemed to soak into the wall and slowly navigate its way down the wall to the carpet. It dripped at an agonizingly slow pace that only reminded him of the ridiculous snail's pace of advancement in this case.

He felt as though every fiber of his being were wrapped tightly around something deep inside of him—wrapped tight and squeezing. With every breath the pressure grew and the feeling of constriction increased. His eyes followed a glinting black drop as it spread to the floor, and something inside him snapped.

In one movement, he'd shoved everything on his desk to the floor.

Hermione, who had been standing just outside his door, closed her eyes in recognition of this rage that had been so familiar during the war.

But something was different this time; something slightly dangerous flashed in his eyes.

She watched in horror as the air around him seemed to crackle with raw, magical energy.

The temperature surrounding him took a sudden, exponential surge and Hermione could feel the sweat forming on her brow.

With a hiss, the parchment on his desk began to smoke and soon his entire desk was ablaze with fire.

Something akin to a smile crossed his face as the paint began to peel from the walls and shrivel into ash.

Hermione's heartbeat began to slow and it felt almost as if a hand were inside her chest, clenching her heart every few seconds. The hand seemed to squeeze tighter and a fleeting feeling in her gut told her to run.

She had known Harry for a very long time, but she had no idea who this man in front of her was. It wasn't the first time that she'd seen things explode when Harry was angry, but now there was this wicked gleam in his eye.

He licked his lips and the slow pace of her heart was abandoned: it began thudding so quickly and fiercely that she feared her heart might fail from the pressure. It was pounding so heavily behind her ears that she couldn't hear the hiss and crackle of everything burning inside Harry's office, but she heard one thing for certain.

Harry smiled and maniacal laughter spilled from his mouth. Her heart skipped a beat and she knew that she wouldn't be speaking to Harry tonight, and perhaps not for a very long time.

She tucked an unruly curl behind her ear and ran. She didn't stop to see Harry's eyes pop open. She didn't slow to see him peek around his office door. She didn't turn around to see the flames around him double as he took in her retreating form.

She just ran. She ran because in that moment Harry had scared her more than Voldemort ever had. She wasn't sure where she was going, but she knew she wouldn't stop running until the fear had subsided and she felt safe.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Draco prided himself on being calm, cool, and collected. It was the way he was raised. From his days in nappies, he had been taught to move with poise and grace. But right now, he was frazzled.

It could be that he'd spent four solid days withstanding the taunting in his head and watching as he quite literally kicked his own ass.

It could be that Lucius's voice had dominated his insanity for the weekend.

Or it could be that he'd kissed Hermione Granger, and part of him had liked it.

Yeah. It was definitely that last one.

He had known from the very beginning that part of the spell's aim was to make him truly insane, and he was beginning to think it had succeeded.

It had started out as completely the spell's doing. With a shudder, he recalled his repulsion as he had found himself crying into her neck. He could recall that she'd smelled faintly of raspberries with a splash of vanilla.

Not a blasted cell in his entire body had desired to touch her, much less kiss her. When their lips had first touched, he had been so focused on ceasing all contact that he hadn't really registered the feel of her against him.

But when her hot breath fanned across his face as she opened her mouth in invitation... well, that had managed to draw away his attention.

Their tongues had met for the briefest of moments and everything had changed. He'd realized that her lips felt like silk against his own, and their bodies had fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

She'd tasted like raspberries and chocolate and something unique that made him think of warm fires and good books.

He'd found that he was no longer commanding his body to stop its explorations. Instead, he'd wished it would speed up. He had wanted to be able to control his own hands, his own lips, if only so that he could have felt and tasted more of her.

But in the mere seconds that he had realized this, their mouths had stopped touching and the inches between them had suddenly felt like miles. Her lips were pink and wet and swollen from their kissing and his hands had itched to touch her, but his body was moving farther away.

He shook himself from his reverie, determined not to let Granger or her intoxicating kisses get to him. He was ashamed of himself.

He couldn't deny that he had enjoyed the contact, but it had been a very long time since he'd been with a woman, so he would have probably enjoyed a kiss from Eloise Midgen. Okay, so maybe that was going a bit far.

He felt a renewed spark of hatred burn in his chest at the thought of Granger. Not only was she everything he despised, but she had managed to make him nearly go insane— really insane.

She was so infuriating. He hated everything about her. He hated how with one look she could break down what he'd spent his entire life building up. He hated that she affected him.

He hated her. He just hoped it would stay that way.

click

If he hadn't known better, he would have said that fate had a personal vendetta against him, because Hermione Granger had just walked through the door.

He must have been one egotistical bastard in a past life, because fate didn't just give him Granger, but Granger in a delectable little sundress.

Okay, so maybe he was an egotistical bastard in this life too, but did he really deserve this?

He tried to be cruel and fix her with a cold glare, but all he managed to do was rock back and forth in the same stupor he'd been in for the last few hours.

She was breathing heavily and he could see a faint glisten of tears on her cheeks. She covered her eyes with her hands and sank to the floor beside him.

He should have found it odd that they sat there together for minutes on end, rocking back and forth together.

He told himself to make use of her psychotic behavior by teasing her later, but at the moment he didn't care.

After a few moments, her breathing calmed, but the flow of tears remained steady as ever.

Words started to pour from her mouth in a jumbled order that made about as much sense as the ranting that usually went on in his head.

At first she managed to whisper things about Harry and rage and Voldemort through her sobbing, but eventually the entire story leaked from her lips.

She quietly recounted her witnessing of Harry's rampant and intimidating anger. She explained the feeling inside her chest as she had watched him destroy the office around him with a a disturbingly joyful smile on his face.

She mentioned how scared she had been of Harry, so scared that she'd run all the way here, not even thinking to Apparate. She leaned towards him slowly and sobbed into his chest about how everything was so damn complicated.

His body continued its slow rocking motion, and he could feel her rocking with him. Their bodies were rocking as one, and he was disgusted.

This stupid wench and her golden trio problems fueled his anger. She was stupid for crying on him and stupid for being friends with Potter. He hated her for being so emotional and weak.

She whispered softly that Harry loved her, and she was going to try to make it work. Or at least she had been before this.

Those words only angered him more, and spurred his body into action.

In a complete antithesis to the fury bubbling inside of him, he lifted her face with his hands ever so gently.

He wanted to scream and berate her and shake her for being so bloody stupid, but instead his thumbs softly rubbed away the stains of her tears. She hiccupped slightly and he noticed a peculiar look in her eyes.

Fear was prominent, but there was something else, too. There was a look of longing. He wouldn't quite call it lust. He was struck with the thought that she probably looked at Potter like this. Longing for comfort... that's what it was. She was afraid of what he might do, but wanted his comfort all the same.

He wanted to snap at her and tell her to go to her stupid golden trio if she wanted comfort, but the inches between them started to become scarce.

She took a slight shuddering breath and their lips met harshly. It was like she was using her lips to suck the compassion out of him.

He wanted to scream for her to stop, but he couldn't. He tried to draw his mind elsewhere and ignore the passion with which she clung to him.

He wanted it to stop, but he knew the only way for that to happen was to allow himself to enjoy it. If he wanted it to happen, it wouldn't.

He tried to think of some other way to end it, some other way to control his body, but there was none.

Resigned to his fate, he took in her closed eyes and the sweat gathering around her hairline.

He watched as she gripped him tightly, and realized that she was truly frightened. And for some reason, kissing him helped.

He allowed himself to revel in the feeling of her breath mingling with his. Her kisses were hungry and passionate and it was easy to get swept away. He caught her lower lip between his and sucked.

A moan floated from her lips and caressed his face. Some of his anger floated back to the surface and he bit down on the lip between his teeth.

The hands gripping his shoulders tightened and her fingernails dug into his skin. But he could tell she liked it. She needed the pain, it released her fear.

His hand traveled to her thigh and with a sharp pull, she was straddling his lap. Their kisses didn't stop, and their tongues danced back and forth in a natural rhythm that fueled the heat coursing between them.

It was Draco who won dominance, because let's face it, he always did. And his tongue explored her mouth with vigor. He traced the roof of her mouth with the tip of his tongue and she hissed. She sucked on his tongue as hard as she could and he groaned into her mouth.

He broke away from her, intending to lavish his attentions on her neck, but something suddenly occurred to him.

He had given in to her kisses, but had yet to move away.

It was then that he realized that the spell was gone. Who knows how long he had been kissing Granger of his own volition. His eyes opened and he watched as she whimpered at the loss of touch.

She looked at him through lidded eyes, panting heavily. He could feel her breasts pushing against his chest and they rose and fell with each breath she took.

Hermione stared at him for a moment and then her eyes widened in recognition.

She realized with horror that the eyes before her sparkled silver and danced with lust and something else. These eyes were not dull, but very much alive. He wasn't under the spell.

With a small "oh," her cheeks were flooded with a vibrant red as she climbed off his lap.

She felt slightly dizzy as she stood, almost as though her entire world was off its axis. Because quite frankly, it was.

Everything about today had been just as screwed up as the rest of her weekend. It was odd that an encounter with Harry Potter had sent her running to Draco Malfoy, when her entire life it had been the reverse.

A/N: Oh my! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I cannot express how utterly excited I am! and I know you all are too!

So this is my gift to everyone for Christmas! I hope everyone has a marvelous holiday!

And last, but certainly not least, a HUGE thanks my beta Renee, aka Eilonwy. If you haven't already checked out her Baby Days stories, you should!