Chapter two

Hermione flung the window open and a bedraggled brown owl swooped in, not Hedwig or Pig in case the owls were recognised, but it carried a letter from one of the boys nonetheless. Hermione untied the letter from the owl's leg and offered it the crust of the slice of toast she had been eating. While the owl wearily lowered its head and began to eat, Hermione unrolled the parchment and began to read.

All it gave her was the latest details of what Ron had been doing (useful considering that Snape had banned wizarding radios from the school), and how Harry was helping the Order. Apparently there had been small skirmishes but obviously nothing major. Hermione smiled as her eyes ran over the scribbled words, reading like a train of thought straight from Harry's head. She pulled out her quill so she could write a response, but stopped straight away. What was she meant to tell them? They hadn't asked for any help, so she couldn't give them that. She was just going to her lessons, listening to the students who were aware of what was going on moaning. She wasn't doing anything helpful, and she couldn't see them being fascinated by the latest details of her Transfiguration class given what they were doing.

She heard Malfoy slamming the door to their common room as he came in and shivered slightly. Closing the window again, she tried to tell herself that she was cold because she had left the window open with the rain and the wind coming in. But there was no denying it, Malfoy scared her. He was so different to the Gryffindor boys that she had grown up. Even though Ron and Harry were now taller than her, and able to hold a conversation over her head, she still sometimes felt that they were still the eleven year old boys that she had made friends with. But Malfoy was so unbelievably different to the arrogant little boy that had told Harry that he didn't want to get involved with certain types of wizarding families. Even though his mentality was exactly the same: bullying and superior, he had a completely different way of getting what he wanted. Instead of barging straight into any situation, he insinuated himself and his thoughts in, making the person want exactly the same as he wanted. It was more dangerous, thought Hermione, because you could end up entirely unaware of what he was doing. At least when he barrelled in, you knew exactly what he was up to.

That was the other thing that worried her. She had slapped Draco, hard. And he hadn't done anything back. Not even any jibes. It didn't make any sense. After she had punched him in the third year, the level of violence in his speech towards her had risen almost unbearably. But now, whenever, he saw her, his eyes met hers until they passed each other. And she couldn't look away – his eyes were hypnotising. They were cruel, cold and a grey that she resolutely told herself was horrible, but knowing deep down that it was a colour so different to what she knew it was attractive. Harry's bright green eyes, Ron's deep blue ones, neither of them had the same depth as Malfoy's. Different shades clustered in his iris, creating a beautiful stormy effect…Hermione shook her head. Time to focus.

She quickly dashed off a reply to her friends, trying to make her work sound interesting, begging them to stay safe, telling them how much she wished she was with them. Sending the reluctant owl back out into the gale, she flicked through a copy of the Daily Prophet. The prophecies about the weather were getting worse and worse. Now the weather was expected to go on for over three weeks. Hermione had no doubt that it was somehow being augmented by Voldemort relentlessly massing dementors.

Feeling her stomach rumbling, she walked towards the door and pressed her ear against the solid oak. She couldn't hear anything and opened it, promptly letting out a short scream. Draco had been standing, perfectly quietly in front of her door.

''What are you doing?'' She gasped at him.

''Waiting to speak to you.'' He sounded perfectly calm, as though it wasn't unusual for him to be waiting outside girls' bedrooms. No, thought Hermione bitchily, he was usually inside them by now.

''What could you possibly have to say to a dirty little Mudblood like me?'' she asked sarcastically, beginning to edge towards the corridor. Draco immediately stepped forward, blocking her way forward.

''Come on Granger, don't be like that.''

''Like what Malfoy? You've been absolutely vile to me since we've met! And now you've taken to lurking outside my bedroom? Give me a break!'' Hermione tried to move past him again.

Draco's hands shot out and landed on the wall either side of his head. Hermione's eyes widened and she gasped as Draco leaned in closer to her, his animal grace more apparent now than it ever had been. ''What if I don't want to give you a break? And people act differently when they're trying to cover up their true feelings.''

Draco's voice had dropped to a pitch that was so sexy Hermione was almost forgetting who he was. Her nerve endings were twitching in a way that wasn't entirely unpleasant, and the soft puffs of air that accompanied his speech were gently caressing her cheek as he murmured in her ear. She closed her eyes for a second and pulled herself together enough to laugh at him.

''So you've been absolutely bloody to me because you've fancied me since first year? Whatever Malfoy. Get your hands away from me and stop polluting my air space.''

But Draco just leaned in even closer so that she could feel his lips moving against her neck as he spoke. ''I don't think you mean that Granger.''

''You'll be the last person to know what I mean Malfoy. You don't know me well enough to make those kind of judgements about me.'' But Hermione's voice was beginning to lose all the fire in it, and it was lacking conviction.

''But I bet you'd love me to know all about you? You here, all alone. Come on Hermione, what could be so bad about us just being friends?'' Her name rippled off his tongue into the air, and the fog that was Hermione's brain thought that her name had never been said so seductively.

''My friends don't treat me like this.'' Her voice was low and she was staring fixedly at the wall over his shoulder. The idea of reaching for her wand didn't even occur to her – her spine was tingling far too sensually for her to think of the most normal thing.

''Well, we could have a friendship with…'benefits'.'' Draco's head dropped a little closer to her, and she could feel his soft hair against her cheek.

Draco for his part was delighted. Hermione was just standing between his arms, and while he was of course just doing this for a bet, he could smell the coconut scent of her shampoo, and her skin was smooth…well, to be general, it wasn't as bad an experience as he thought it would have been. He dropped a little kiss against her neck, feeling her blood beating quickly through her neck.

He nipped her skin between his teeth gently and heard her suck in air, desperately trying to retain some sense of equilibrium. He smiled into her neck and begin to kiss along her jaw. He drew closer to her mouth and suddenly her hands shot up against his chest and tried to push him away. He smiled – he was a quidditch player, she was a relatively short girl. But then…the last thing he needed was to be accused of sexual assault. He gently put one hand around the back of her neck, curling it gently around the nape and leaving his thumb up by her ear. The pressure didn't release and she kept pushing at him. He looked down at her.

''Hey.''

''Go away.'' She looked up at him, her eyes wide but no longer angry. She was scared, Draco realised. ''Just leave me alone.''

''You don't need to be scared.'' Draco sounded as though he was talking to a small child or animal. ''I'm not going to hurt you.''

''You've already done that, I'm not going to let you compound the damage.''

''Hermione, shush.'' With the thumb that was resting on her face, he gently smoothed her cheek. ''I'm sorry.''

''That was utterly insincere. Go away.''

Draco decided that it was pointless trying to talk to her and bent down, dropping a gentle kiss on her mouth as she was trying to formulate another protest. She froze.

''Don't.'' He looked at her. ''Stop analysing Hermione.''

''Why do you keep calling me that?''

''It's your name, isn't it?''

''You've never called me that before.'' She still wasn't able to glare at him, too unnerved by this turn of events.

''Well, I'd rather call you that than Mudblood. If that's ok with you.'' He didn't wait for a response, just dropped another kiss on her mouth, lingering slightly longer this time.

When he pulled away, Hermione pressed her fingers to her mouth in puzzlement. ''You shouldn't do that.''

''You can't stop what's natural. This has been coming for a long time.'' Draco blithely lied to her, more preoccupied with stroking her face and watching as she bit her plump lower lip. He tightened his grip slightly on her neck and pressed a kiss onto her mouth. For a moment, the hands pushed at his chest again, but he ignored them and kept moving his mouth against hers. Then, the hands stopped pushing and instead gripped handfuls of his shirt and pulled him closer. Draco grinned against her mouth – it had been almost too easy – sorry Blaise, you've lost your money. He tipped her head back, deepening the angle of the kiss. His mouth opened and closed against hers, soft lips pressing against each other, as though they were whispering secrets to each other.

After what seemed like a lifetime and at the same time a single second, Hermione realised that the man whose body was entwined with hers, pressing her against a wall was Draco Malfoy, and she quickly pushed him away.

''Come on Hermione.'' His eyes were dilated with lust, and his normally perfect blond hair was ruffled where her hands had been raking through it as she tried to get closer to him.

''No.'' She shook her head, trying to get away from the mist of lust that was covering her rational thought process. ''It was only a kiss. Kisses don't mean anything.''

Before Draco could respond with anything, she was gone, running down the halls to dinner. He rested his back against the wall. Now this was a challenge. Family mottoes could be overcome easily, but a girl who didn't want something to do with Draco…that was new.

AN: Not an amazingly long chapter, I know, but I thought we could do a little and often response! So please leave me a review, let me know where you think this story could go, any feedback at all is appreciated. If you're logged in and my account will let me, I will respond to your reviews, just to make you feel appreciated – so go on, have a blast! Kisses, Petitesorciere