Stay Away From Me

By: the enchanted kneazle

Oh, my gosh! I love the response I get for every chapter! You guys are great!

In reply to a review:

From Allen-holic: Could I make the slightest request please? Could you include-somewhere in the story- a part in which Draco gets jealous? I think it's the cutest thing. Thank you!

-I'm way ahead of you! I too love a jealous Draco and I already have a very hot chapter in mind. It will, of course, be very very steamy, but it will also be a very important moment in their relationship. If you haven't noticed, Draco hasn't kissed Hermione yet and there is a very important reason for that. And that's all I'm going to tell you! Thanks for reading! I loved hearing a request and I would love to hear more! Not that I don't love hearing exclamations of praise too! Hahah

Thank everyone for each review! I value each and every one! Enjoy!

Chapter 10

"I'm sorry."

Hermione couldn't believe what she had just heard come out of his mouth. She would be willing to bet that Malfoy had never said those words to anyone in his entire life. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do.

So she just continued to rub his back until he pulled away. He looked away, but he stayed where he was, almost if he wanted to say something but didn't know how to begin. So, Hermione figured she could help him along a bit.

"What did the letter say?" She asked in a gentle voice.

His eyes immediately met hers, wide with surprise. Hermione could sense that this was an important moment. All the sexual confrontations and teasing came naturally to him, but would he be able to ask her for help? Or would he push her away?

Hermione sensed that he wouldn't have apologized if he didn't need something from her, so she was pretty sure he wouldn't push her away. His eyes were cast downward as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Will you help me again tonight?" It was said so quickly and so quietly, that she barely understood what he said. His eyes met hers for the second time and they held emotions she had never before seen in their depths: insecurity, doubt, and just a little bit of hope.

"What changed your mind?" He certainly hadn't expected that question, judging by the look of incredulity on his face. He had obviously just expected her to acquiesce like the meek girl he thought she was. He had gone from wanting her as far away from him as possible to actually asking her, Mudblood Granger as he so charmingly called her, to help him and she wanted to know why.

He knew this would be embarrassing for him and he had already come this far so he decided to just say it.

"I…" he hesitated for a second, then took a deep breath and looked her straight in the eye. "I liked it when you rubbed my back." He let it hang there, unsure of how she would react.

She couldn't help herself and cracked a smile at his admission, effectively ruining her charade at still being angry with him. Her smile turned into full-blown laughter at the irony of it all. He leveled her with an angry look and started to walk away.

"Wait, Malfoy, wait! I'm sorry for laughing. It's just that I seem to remember you saying you wouldn't touch me with a ten foot pole and now you're asking me to actually massage you?!" She inwardly gloated at the guilty look that crossed his face.

"I said I was sorry for that. I started out with good intentions of throwing people off the fact that you and I were meeting. Then you just made me so angry that I guess I wanted to hurt you. I think you and I both know that I would touch you with a lot more than a ten foot pole." He said with the old Malfoy smirk in place.

She decided to tease him right back and she pressed her body up into his as she stood on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear, "Oh, I'm well aware of that…Draco." She kissed the skin behind his ear, lightly sucking the sensitive flesh.

He jerked against her with a low groan as the combination of her whispering his first name and teasing him with her tongue caused a bolt of lust to shoot straight to his cock. She stood back with a mischevious glint in her eyes and a satisfied smile on her lips.

"Okay, you made your point, you little prick-tease. I'll make sure to get you back for that when you're least expecting it." He was shockingly refreshed by how hot this little sexual war he had been having with Granger was and didn't see any reason for it to stop.

A little bit of uncertaintly entered his cocky voice when he brought her attention back to the reason why he had cornered her here. "So…will you wait for me? He's summoned me and it's been awhile, so it's going to be bad. "

"I would do it myself, but I figured you would probably show up anyway because you always have to stick your nose where it's not needed." He said the last part in a teasing way, so Hermione wasn't really offended. It was the truth, wasn't it? She probably would have showed up to help him and it would be a lot easier if they both went into it knowing that.

"Okay," she said, "I'll come."

A small look of relief crossed his face and a genuine smile graced his lips. "Okay, Granger, I'll see you tonight then."

Hermione almost smiled as he walked away, but then she remembered the circumstances under which she would be seeing him. His body would be turtured and bruised beyond belief and she would be there to soothe him until he was well enough to make it to bed.

She wondered how he could smile with the knowledge that he would soon be under the merciless torment of his own father's wand. And then she realized that he had probably been going through the same motions for much longer than she had been aware of.

Sorry, for the short chapter, but it's better than nothing right? Thanks for reading!