Chapter 2 –The Vanishing Act

By the time Hermione and Draco left the restroom, it was well past midnight and only a few of the die-hard dancers and drinkers had stayed behind. The couple walked up to the bar and ordered two shots of firewhisky. The satisfied gaze of the Gryffindor girl landed on one very drunk, very large gamekeeper sitting almost passed out in the corner. "Oh shit, Malfoy, I have to go." She downed her shot and hopped off the stool, heading for the door immediately.

Throwing his tip down on the bar, Draco raced out the doors after Hermione who was already half-way down the street. When he finally caught up to her he grabbed her arm, his hand curling possessively around her toned bicep, trying to stay calm, just barely succeeding. "You know, it's not really all that safe to be running around the streets in the middle of the night by yourself."

She wretched her arm out of his grasp and poked him in his muscular chest. Her gaze was one of ice crystals, dangerous and focused, and completely on him, yet at the same time, on the brink of being extremely hysterical. The eyes of icy hate shimmered with melting tears for a second before Hermione leapt forward into his arms, fervently devouring his very essence before stepping away coolly, aloof. "I can take care of myself Draco. You, of all people, should know that." Then she put her fingers to her rosy lips and let out a shrill whistle.

A slim triple-decker bus halted in front of her abruptly and opened its doors. Without as much as a word or look of good-bye, she was gone.

Draco Malfoy stood baffled by what had just happened. When he'd first walked into that club, he hadn't been able to keep his eyes off Hermione long enough to understand what she was trying to say to him. So after a while she'd pulled him towards the bathrooms to ask him what was wrong, knowing all to well what the answer would have been had he had time to tell her. Instead, he'd jumped her, backing her into the men's room, holding her against the wall with the length of his body. He was aware only that he would not be able to survive without touching those luscious lips and glowing skin of hers. In truth, they had been apart for too long.

But this was something different from his normal raging hormones, his usual need of a warm, nameless body next to his. Both of them knew that. They could feel it when they simply looked at each other; the air crackled with lightning and thunder, sparks emitted in each of their eyes, unlocking the very depths of their souls in a small glance. As dangerous as it was to get involved at the moment, there was nothing they could possibly do to stop it. Fate had chosen and was not to be swayed.

Their first meeting during the summer break was on a lazy little street in London that went by the name of Cherry Lane. When she had spotted his now dyed black hair, long and choppy, Hermione had instantaneously drew out her wand and was just about to cast a binding curse when Draco dove at her, pulling her into the empty field, lying on top of her to keep her down, keep her stagnant.

"Let me go! You filthy little…" he silenced her by covering her mouth with his large, rough hands.

"Shh, Granger, please. Do you really want to be caught up in the middle of a thousand Death Eaters at the moment?" Her auburn eyes widened but not in fear, more in question, as she shook her head. "Okay, I'm going to take my hand from your mouth, if you yell we'll be dead before you can say Harry Potter. Is that understood?" She nodded and he slowly removed his hand.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Hermione asked, her voice cold as a winter's day in Hogsmeade.

"I want exactly the same thing as you do." Her jade eyes glared up at him expectantly. "Protection."

"I DON'T NEED PROTECTION FROM YOU! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself!" Again, his hand clamped down hard over her lips as she struggled violently with him.

"Will you please be quiet!?" He hissed into her ear, flattening her even more with the entire length of his muscular body. "Of course you need protection Granger. I mean look at what you just did. If I hadn't been here to shut you up who knows what would have come running."

Struggling out from under his hand she growled back softly, "I wouldn't have shouted if you hadn't been here in the first place. Have you thought of that one?" The way she was moving underneath him, rubbing up against his deprived body caused a stirring inside that he had come to live without for the past year. It'd been far too long since he'd had any contact with people, let alone the female population, and he was being reminded of that torture even now.

"Don't." Draco just barely kept himself from shouting at her. "Don't do that." He'd never been attracted to Hermione Granger not in that way, yet his body began to respond to her movements. "Granger."

Angry and frustrated about being held in place like an animal, she narrowed her eyes at Draco until they were just glowering slits of coffee colored pools. "Do what?" She squirmed again. "That?"

Malfoy's voice caught in his throat and he closed his eyes, concentrating on anything but her, anything but the warmth stirring beneath him. When he finally got his voice back, he snarled somewhat huskily to her, "Granger. Granger, you can't do that. I haven't…It's been a year. Please…"

As a low groan of frustration slipped out, she realized he wasn't fooling with her. She was really provoking him. She almost laughed at that fact but thought better of it. "Granger…" Jesus, he really was in agony.

"Okay, sorry. I didn't know…" Her voice had softened a little, trailing off as she looked up into his cobalt blue eyes. "Malfoy…" The whisper, one that was supposed to be of comfort, but turned into seduction, escaped her mouth before she could stop it and, as though unable to control himself, Draco quickly took her lips in his.

That was the first time they had….run into each other, you might say. The other seven times after that had been made much more deliberately. A quick owl here; a coin message there. It made no difference where they were to meet, when they scheduled to come together. Everything seemed to work. Everything except the end of each meeting.

Hermione had repeatedly disappeared whenever one of them brought up Hogwarts. Obviously there was something she was not telling him, but he thought that was just as well for he too kept his secrets safe, hidden from everyone, especially Granger.