Hermione picked the letter to Harry and Ron off of her dressing table and walked towards the door. Glancing round her room quickly before she left to check that everything was in order, she shut the door firmly behind her and pattered down the stairs. She hadn't been expecting Draco to be in the common room, so was understandably shocked when he sat up suddenly and smirked at her.
''Granger.''
Hermione dropped her letter in surprise and stared at him. ''What are you doing here?''
''Lounging with bad intentions. What are you doing?''
''Nothing.''
''Not cut out for a life of subterfuge, are you Granger?''
''What are you talking about?''
''Who's the letter to?''
''No one.'' Hermione cursed herself as soon as the words left her mouth.
''You've written a letter to No-one? Tell me, does he or she enjoy receiving these letters?'' Draco stood up and walked towards her.
''What I meant was that...'' Hermione stammered, willing her brain to tell her what the hell it had meant. While she stood there, wondering what had happened to the smartest witch of her generation, Draco snatched the letter out of her hands.
''Hey! Give it back Malfoy!''
''An un-addressed envelope? The intrigue's just thick around you today.'' Draco held it out of her reach, in the time honoured game of 'Jump for it'. ''I may have to open this Granger.''
''Don't you dare Malfoy.'' Hermione pulled her wand out of her pocket. ''Accio letter!'' It jumped out of Malfoy's hand and into hers. Thrusting it deep into her pocket, she glared at him. ''Don't patronise me, don't steal my belongings, and don't talk to me.''
''This is just getting repetitive now.''
''You don't want anything to do with me, and I don't want to play your mind games!''
''But you want something to do with me?''
''I didn't say that!''
''You didn't say that you didn't want anything to do with me.'' Hermione fought her way through the maze of negatives and stared coldly at him.
''I would have thought that was obvious''
''Nah. You're just acting tough to cover up your deep affection for me.'' Draco smirked again and flung himself onto the sofa. Lounging with one arm across his eyes, he listened as Hermione breathed in deeply, trying to mask her growing irritation.
''Your ego really is out of control Malfoy.''
Draco removed his arm from his face and smiled winningly at her. ''Look at me Granger. Wouldn't your ego be out of control if you were me?''
''No, I think I'd be living under a rock if I looked anything like you.'' Hermione lied, trying to ignore the fact that the familiar argument was beginning to sound more like friendly banter.
''Really? Then how come you get off with me so much?''
''Pity.'' Much to her surprise, Draco actually laughed. ''What? I didn't say anything funny!''
''You're so cute.''
''You didn't just say that.'' Hermione took a decisive step towards the door, made the serious mistake of looking back at him, and stopped dead in her tracks. He was so gorgeous, just wearing jeans and a t-shirt, his hair freshly washed and shining. He stood up again and looked at her.
''Why didn't I just say it?'' He raised his arm to scratch the back of his head, giving Hermione a sneaky flash of his abs as his t-shirt lifted. Hermione's eyes widened briefly and then she looked away.
''Because you're Malfoy and I'm Granger. We call each other horrible names and fight.''
''We also have amazing kissing sessions. I particularly liked the one on this sofa, for example.''
''Shut up! Don't talk about it, it was a mistake!''
''Then you've made a lot of mistakes. And I didn't think Granger made mistakes.''
''I don't... I mean...''
''So you don't make mistakes, and yet you said that kissing me was a mistake. Somewhat contradictory.''
''I...''
''Shush.'' Draco moved towards her, and reached out a hand to the side of her face.
''Please don't.'' Hermione stepped back, clutching her wand.
''I'm not going to hurt you. I haven't hurt you at all, have I?''
''No...but...''
''Hermione for Merlin's sake! I'm getting so fucking fed up, I really am!'' Hermione's eyes widened as his voice rose. ''You keep acting like you don't want me to kiss you, when last night you were begging me to kiss you! You start kisses, you don't pull away for ages, and then you treat me like this!''
''Don't you dare act like you're actually hurt by this! I know you, and I am so sure that you have some ulterior motive here, and I know that I'm going to come off worse!''
''What the hell makes you think that?''
''You're a Slytherin, and you aren't to be trusted!''
''So that's it, I'm a Slytherin, therefore you don't want to trust me? You won't kiss me?''
''No!''
''Really?'' Draco lunged at her, grabbed her upper arms and pressed his lips to hers. Almost immediately, all the tension went out of Hermione's body. And then entered it again.
''Stop bloody doing that!''
''You want it!''
''You don't want anything to do with me, you're just using me! And I am not that kind of girl!''
''It isn't like that. You're my dirty little secret.'' Draco smirked at her.
''Oh piss off.'' Hermione pulled herself away.
''I'm serious. And I'm yours. We both enjoy what we have here, but there isn't a hope in hell that either of us is telling anyone else. So it's a secret. It's dirty because...well, you know why. And it's little, because it isn't doing anyone any harm.''
''Except me.''
''Where have you got this idea? I haven't hurt you and you don't have any proof that I'm planning to hurt you. You're just being a coward.''
''I am not a coward!''
''Then prove it!''
''I am not falling for that!'' Hermione glared at him. Draco backed down for a second.
''Of course not. That was far too crude. Seriously though, why not?''
''Because...''
''Don't spout off all the crap that you've been doing. I don't care about that. All I know is that your closest friends aren't here, you're living here with someone that you aren't particularly close to, and the weather's shitty. Why not have some fun?''
''I...''
''I know that you must be lonely. I want to make things better for you.''
''Well, I don't want your pity.'' Hermione left the room quickly, running to the Owlery, slamming every door behind her angrily. Brusquely tying the letter to the unfortunate owl's leg, she pointed at the window and watched as the bird flew out into the gale, buffeted by the strong winds and rains.
''Honestly, what a complete idiot. Like I want his pity, like I want him to use me. What a completely egotistical, conceited, arrogant, superior, overly-confident idiot.'' She murmured the words to herself as she wandered back to the common room, glaring at everyone unfortunate enough to cross her path.
Pushing the door to the shared common room open cautiously, she looked around. She couldn't see Draco anywhere, so she stepped into the room. Immediately, hands slid around her waist from behind her. She opened her mouth to scream, but lips met her neck, and she stopped.
''Draco, get the hell off me!''
''Shush...we're just kissing.'' Draco's voice sounded deep in her ear as he kissed her ear lobe.
''No, you're kissing. I'm standing here.'' Hermione stiffened as she felt a hand slide into her pocket, but it was swiftly withdrawn, along with her wand, which was then thrown to the other side of the room.
''Really? Just standing there?'' Draco kissed the part of neck where he knew she was extra-sensitive. She gasped and arched back into him.
''Oh Merlin, please don't.''
''Because you can't resist me?''
''Shut up.'' Hermione swung around and buried her lips on his. He pushed her back against the wall, and kissed her harder and harder. Soon Hermione was clutching at him like she was drowning and he was the inflatable keeping her up. Draco could feel his brain fogging over and made a concerted effort to do what he had decided to do.
He pulled away.
Hermione stared at him. ''What are you doing?'' She reached for him again, but he wouldn't kiss her, despite how she nuzzled his neck.
''Beg me. I want you to kiss me, but I won't do it till you beg me to.''
''Why not?''
''Personal kink. Go on, do it.''
Hermione's eyes were glazing over as she stared into his eyes. ''I'm begging you to kiss me. Please, Draco, please, please, please just kiss me back.''
''You're begging me?''
''Merlin, yes! Please!''
''Excellent.'' Draco kissed her, nibbling gently on her lower lip.
Hermione pressed against him and lost herself in him. Suddenly, Draco moved away from her again.
''What now?'' she mewled.
''Go up to my room.''
''What?''
''You heard me.''
''Why?''
''Why do you think? For Merlin's sake, Hermione, trust me, just this once.''
''Stop treating me like I belong to you.''
''Hermione. Please. You know you want to.'' Hermione debated for a minute. On the one hand, could it seem any cheaper? On the other hand, it had definitely been coming for a while. And...well, she did want to. ''Fine. But don't you dare treat me like that again.'' She turned her back and walked up the stairs to his room.
''I'll be up in a minute.'' Draco called after her. As soon as he heard the bedroom door shut, he turned to one of the cupboards in the common room. ''Come on, let's make this quick.''
Blaise pushed the door open and tumbled out. ''Now, if only you'd let me watch. It sounded bloody good.''
''You heard her beg.'' It wasn't a question.
''Yeah, but I also then heard her fight back against you.''
''And then do what I was telling her. Anyway, that doesn't matter, because you didn't tell me the begging had to be sustained. Pay up.''
Blaise grinned and handed over the money. ''I take it you aren't going to leave the poor girl in suspense.''
''That would just be rude. You can show yourself out.'' Draco smirked and made his way up the stairs.
Hermione was standing by his window, looking out at the rain soaked grounds. She turned around as he entered the room, her eyes wide in the dim light.
''Hi.'' Her voice was shaking slightly.
''You nervous?''
''A little. It's...''
''Your first time? Figured. Don't worry, I'll be gentle.'' He moved towards her and stroked the side of her face. ''I haven't hurt you yet, I'm not going to start just now.'' She pressed his fingers to the side of her face and kissed him, losing herself in the sensations that she had had before. Draco began loosening her t-shirt, kissing the smooth skin of her shoulder, working his way down.
A while later, Draco looked at Hermione as she dozed, her eyelashes resting on her cheekbones. He wondered how he would tell her that he didn't want anything to do with her. But then again...surely it couldn't hurt to keep on with this for a little longer? She was surprisingly passionate and it was good to be with a girl that wasn't continually simpering. Draco brushed a strand off her face, pulled the sheet up so that it covered her and got out of bed, pulling on his boxers. Looking out of the windows, he stared at the rain. He would carry on until the weather changed. Just to make sure that he won the bet, he told himself, and then climbed back into bed, smiling as Hermione curled herself into him. Just to make sure that he won the bet.
AN: so that's chapter seven my lovelies. Hope you enjoyed writing it, and I'm sorry it took me a little while to upload, I've been quite busy. But anyway, there it is now, and I'm hoping that you'll be able to take the time to review, because I absolutely love reading them! To my reviewers: HarryGinny4eva, dracosblondiegirl, slytherinqueen555, pauloca, WinneThaPoo92, Amester, Hanna28, Tennessee Sweetheart, The Accountant's Daughter, pirateluver, S3v3rusIsMin3, Fnicks-Gurlz, breezie, Hopeless4NonExistentLove and mhaj78, thanks so much for reviewing chapter 6! So hopefully, chapter 8 will be up pretty soon (as soon as I've worked out what's going to happen lol), and if you review me, you'll get one of my lovely comments back! Kisses etc Petitesorciere x