Stay Away From Me

By: the enchanted kneazle

Wow, I'm so excited to continue this story. I have all kinds of great ideas, and let me tell you what, they are gooood. This story is going to get steamy! But with all good things, one must build the groundwork. That's not to say you won't see a very sexy Draco rear his head, there just won't be any sexytimes for at least a few chapters. I'll try to update as fast as I can write and I appreciate any and all reviews or ideas for the story.

Oh, I forgot to mention in the last chapter that I don't own Harry Potter and am not making money off of this story. I get paid in reviews!

Chapter 2

That evening, after getting back from her dreadful visit to the Snape's classroom to redo her potion, Hermione went to the Gryffindor common room instead of the Head dorm. Harry and Ron were playing wizard's chess at a table in the corner, and by the looks of it, Harry was winning for once.

Hermione silently thanked Merlin for both the distraction of the chess game and the good mood his defeat of Ron was putting him in. She approached the table and gingerly sat down next to Harry.

"Uh, Harry, there's something I wanted to ask you…" Hermione trailed off, wishing she could just ask him and stop acting all nervous and guilty like she was doing something wrong. No, she was doing this to help someone who genuinely needed her help. The fact that that person was Draco Malfoy didn't bother her anymore. Furthermore, the fact that his so-called friends obviously had no clue about what was going on with him just made her realize how much he needed someone. And that someone would be her, no matter how intimidating he thought his little performance in the bathroom was.

She had realized that the best way to help him without a repeat performance of today's ambush would be to secretly keep an eye on him. And to do that, she needed Harry's map. She would have to tell a couple little white lies to get it from Harry though. She couldn't very well tell Harry, Oh, I need it to follow Malfoy around, because I think he really needs me. Yeah, that would go over really well.

"Sure, Hermione, what is it?" He asked, preoccupied with his game.

"I was wondering if I could borrow the Maurader's Map for a few weeks to make some….observations about some of Voldemort's minions within the school." There, that was technically not a lie. She would be watching Malfoy, and he was one of the Dark Lord's minions.

"Of course you can use it; it's as much yours as it is mine. It's upstairs in my trunk, I'll go and get it for you." He looked longingly at the board in front of him, hesitant to leave in the middle of a game, especially one he was winning.

"Oh, that's okay, don't get up, I can get it." She hurried to say, already halfway to the stairs leading up to the boys' bedrooms. There was a second part to her plan, the part that she felt really guity about, and she needed to be alone with Harry's stuff to do it.

When she had realized that she would not only need the map but the invisibility cloak as well to carry out her plan to watch over Malfoy, she knew she wouldn't be able to just come right out and ask Harry for it. He may have handed over the map without a second thought, but asking for the cloak would have led to questions she didn't want to make up answers to.

He would want to know what she was doing that necessitated use of the cloak. She couldn't use the excuse that she was researching Voldemort's minions because then he would think she would be doing something dangerous and want to come with her for protection. No, as far as Harry was concerned, she would just be watching the map and making observations.

When Hermione opened Harry's trunk, she groaned in dismay at the messy state of it. She dug around until she located the map and laid it on the bed. Back in she went until she triumphantly pulled out the invisibility cloak. She then proceeded to shove it up under her robes, running a hand over them afterwards to smooth out any bumps while checking in a mirror that she didn't look too obvious.

She scooped up the map and headed downstairs to say goodnight to Harry and Ron while trying to hide the guilty blush on her cheeks. "Well, I'm gonna head back to my common room. I was hoping to get a head start on the Charms essay due next week. You should both do the same." They waved her off with groans of alarm that she would force them to do homework. Hah! I knew that would do the trick! She thought to herself as she ducked through the portrait hole.

When she got back to her common room, she muttered some excuse about homework to Blaise who was reading in the common room and quickly went up to her bedroom. She stashed the invisibility cloak in her own trunk and opened up the map.

"I sollemnly swear that I am up to no good." She stated to the map, thinking to herself that that was the understatement of the century. Magical footprints appeared all over it and Hermione scanned the dungeons for Malfoy's name. She let out a breath of relief when she realized he was right where he was supposed to be in the Slytherin dorms. Surrounded by his followers, as usual, she thought with a roll of her eyes. She may have decided that she had a duty to help him but that didn't mean he would annoy her any less.

Hermione figured Malfoy had been using one of the school's many secret passageways to get in and out of the grounds. She took note of each one so that the next time he went missing she would know where on the map to watch for him. She also scoped out all the areas for vantage points from which she could watch him without being noticed.

Over the next few days she kept a sharp eye on the map, checking it every half hour or so. She would stay up late into the night, only collapsing into sleep when she was assured that Malfoy was asleep in his bed. Throughout the day she would covertly watch him whenever she could. Hermione found herself staring at the back of his head in class or over her orange juice at breakfast.

It had been a week now, and nothing out of the ordinary had happened to him. Hermione was mulling over the possibility that the whole ordeal had been a one time event as she walked back to her common room. As she rounded the corner to a particularly deserted corridor, she was grabbed from behind and roughly pulled up against someone.

This situtation was all too familiar and Hermione had a very good idea of who it was. Her suspicions were confirmed when his hand softly wrapped around her neck as the other pulled her hair aside so he could whisper in her ear.

"See something you like, Granger?"