An Honest Face – Chapter Two
Disclaimer: You all know I don't own this, so on with the story!
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A week later, and nothing had changed. Okay, now this is just getting creepy, thought Hermione. What is his problem? Has somebody hexed him or something?
It had been weird enough that Malfoy was looking at her that one Potions lesson, but for his glances and smirks to continue unabated for the duration of the week was even weirder. He was forever looking at her, catching her eye, putting her on edge whenever he had the chance. Too strange, thought the bewildered object of the Slytherin's stares. So why hasn't anyone else noticed?
She had talked to Harry and Ron about it, albeit very briefly, but their reactions had been less than satisfying. After the typical grunts of "Huh?" and "What?" and various other monosyllables, she had managed to extract the following intelligence from her two best friends:
"Malfoy's staring at you? Why?" I have no idea Ron, that's why I asked, she thought, but he'd already turned back to his plate, piled high with bangers and mash.
"He's probably not staring at you, he might just be looking at someone else. You know he's been ignoring all of us. Anyway, don't worry about it. I'm sure it's nothing." Thank you, Harry dear, like I hadn't thought of all that myself. Now that I've picked your brain for that valuable information you can go back to snogging your girlfriend… oh, never mind! she railed in her head – he was already doing just that.
Oh, trust her to have two male best friends – incapable of thinking of more than one thing at a time. Out of Ginny she later got a slightly better reaction, possibly due to the fact that they were in the girls' bathrooms where the chief object of the redhead's interest could not tread.
"Is he really? Maybe someone's jinxed him? I don't know why else he'd be staring at you… you'd better be careful, Hermione, maybe he's up to something. But of course you can look after yourself – just keep me posted – now I've got to go, sorry, Harry'll be waiting for me! Bye!"
It was with difficulty that Hermione restrained herself from bashing her head against the wall in frustration. Harry was never far from the girl's mind… or body, for that matter. By now Hermione knew more than she'd ever wanted to about Harry, courtesy of Ginny's ranting about him.
Although ever so slightly mollified by Ginny's concern, Hermione was singularly unimpressed by the lack of… lack of what, exactly? Focus? Yes, but she supposed it had something to do with the fact that usually – as in, back in the good old days – whenever one of the Golden Trio came up with a suspicious or otherwise interesting piece of information, they'd sit around discussing it, dissecting it and coming up with some (risky) scheme to get to the bottom of it. So maybe she was just reacting to the lack of scheming…?
No, she argued with herself, it's more than that. It's like… everyone's too wrapped up in their love lives – it can't be denied that Ron practically has an affair with food – to be worried about what Malfoy's up to. And that's just wrong. If this goes on for much longer, I'm getting to the bottom of it myself!
It never crossed her mind that Malfoy might be after something other than revenge – his father had been killed by one of their party during the war, after all – or something equally nasty or dark. She was in for a surprise.
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Well, if this isn't an interesting turn of events, thought Draco. He was standing in a cold, otherwise deserted corridor near the dungeons, having just come out of Potions class. None of this would have been too unusual if it weren't for a couple of other things:
Granger had followed him there, alone.
And she was yelling at him.
He stood by quite casually, with his hands in his pockets, fighting to keep the smirk off his face as she assaulted his eardrums.
"I demand to know what in Merlin's name you're up to! What are you planning? Why do you keep staring at me in class, at meals, whenever you see me? Don't think I haven't noticed you're scheming about something! It's almost like you want me to know what with all the looks you're giving me. Spit it out! What are you hiding?"
When he was sure she was done with her tirade, he calmly replied, "I'm surprised Potty and Weasel aren't with you, Granger. Didn't think you'd confront me, terrifying as I am, without your bodyguards." She opened her mouth to retort, but he cut her off. "I don't mind, though. It would have been amusing to see their faces… But it's probably for the better that you left your minions behind when you came looking for me."
"Harry and Ron are not my minions, or my bodyguards for that matter," she said angrily through gritted teeth. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. But you haven't answered any of my questions – I want to know what your intentions are!"
"Yes, I'm glad you came looking for me. So much more fun this way." He took a step closer.
"Malfoy—"
"And as for my intentions… they'll soon become very clear."
"What—"
And then before she knew it, too swiftly for her to see it coming, he'd put his hands either side of her face and kissed her soundly on the lips.
Her eyes flew open wide as he pulled her face closer and sought entrance to her mouth with his tongue. It barely lasted two seconds before she gave him an almighty shove into the wall, breaking the kiss and putting him off balance. She gave him no chance to recover – the moment he turned his head to look at her she slapped him hard across the face, putting the momentum of her whole body behind the blow. There was a thud as his head hit stone, drawing a muffled, "Fuck!" from him, but in the short time it took for him to get to his feet, she was already out of sight.
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Author's note: OMG I love you guys! 155 hits and 11 story alerts in just the first day, and loads more since then – all I can say is WOW! Thanks for all the support and encouragement! Especially thank you to those people who left reviews – I LOVE feedback. Anyway enjoy the chapter... :D