Fact 1: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling
Fact 2: I am not her.
Conclusion: It isn't mine
A/N: Pretty quick update, huh? I'm pretty impressed with myself, lol. I want to take a minute to thank all of you who have added this story to your alert of favorite list, and those of you who have reviewed- not just on the last chapter, but through the entire story. I know I don't always say thank you, but I do always appreciate it, and its much easier to get motivated to write the next chapter when I know people want me to continue. I also want to say a special thank you to gwennygrail because the reviews she left a few days ago made me smile :) Thank you!
So, on a different note- I thought I would let you all know where we are at in the "grand scheme of things" so to speak. In the original outline, I planned for this story to be about 20 Chapters, but as you can see- thats where we are, and I would be hard pressed to wrap it up in 4,000 or so words. SOO... I reworked the outline, and as of now, I figure there will be about 4 more chapters after this one... maybe 5, just depending on how things go. Sometimes, certain aspects of the story take more/less space than I set aside for, and even though this story started out and will end the way I had planned, the middle turned out to be quite different than I had in mind. But, at least you know I do have a plan, right?
Thank you all, again, for reading, and for those that review- thank you twice :)
"How is he doing?" Draco asked as I sat back down across from him at the Three Broomsticks.
"Good." I replied smiling. "She said all the test results look good and that he should be going home tomorrow morning."
"That's good to hear." He leaned over the table and kissed me lightly on the lips.
"Are we ready to go then?" He asked, already rising from his seat. I nodded and stood with him.
I had wondered how we would get back to the school, as I had only ever arrived at Hogwarts by train. Draco, on the other hand, didn't seem at all surprised to be told we would floo to The Three Broomsticks and then make our way to the castle. Franklin had said someone would be expecting us and would come to let us in as the doors were all closed over the break, and I hoped it would be Hagrid rather than Filch.
That hoping was in vain, I soon learned, as I saw the sunken face of the disgruntled man standing at the door.
"Took you long enough." He complained as he let us in and then he hurried on ahead of us without bothering to wait on a reply.
I looked at Draco who just shrugged with an amused look on his face. He had been the one to insist that we stay at the Three Broomsticks long enough to have drinks. I had simply wanted to duck into the bathroom long enough to call my parents from the cell phone they insisted I keep with me, despite the fact that it stayed untouched in the bottom of my trunk all year.
"Miserable old man." Draco muttered as we walked down the hallway.
"Where are we going?" I asked in surprise when I realized he was going down the stairs instead of up them, toward the Room of Requirement.
"To my room." He said, easily, as if that had been the plan all along.
"But… the Room of Requirement?" I said as a question, pretty sure we had said we would start working on our plan right away.
"I thought we could take a nap first." He replied with a grin.
So, apparently to Draco, 'right away' meant right after we took a nap…knowing him, probably a naked nap.
"Can't we go up there first?" I asked, a hint of a whine in my voice. "I will feel so much better once we just go up there and try to get a plan together."
"Fine." He said, his shoulders falling in defeat. "But afterwards, we take a nap."
"Deal." I said with a smile and stood on my tip toes to kiss him lightly on the lips before pulling him reluctantly up the stairs.
Once we got to the third door corridor we knew so well from the beginning part of our relationship- the hidden part, as I liked to think of it, I wasn't sure what to do. We were there… we knew the room was there- or at least that it would be once we required it to be- but I wasn't sure what exactly we needed to require of it.
"So…." Draco said, looking down at me expectantly.
"So… what? I don't know what I'm doing, either."
"But- you… well, then- why did we have to come up here?" He asked, confusion written all over his smooth features.
"It just makes sense." I shrugged. "This way, as we brainstorm, the room is right here. We can try out our ideas as we get them, rather than just hoping they will work, or planning to try later."
He nodded and looked pointedly at the wall where the door would be. I bit my lip and leaned my body against him; his arm went around my waist easily as we stood staring at a seemingly ordinary wall.
After a few minutes, he finally spoke.
"Hermione?"
"Yeah?"
"If we are going to talk this out… shouldn't we actually- I don't know, talk?"
I elbowed him in the ribs and sat down in the floor beside where he stood. He did the same, turning himself so that we were facing one another.
"Well, what I'm thinking is that we just have to reverse the control on them." I started, wanting to make sure we were on the same page. We hadn't talked much about the subject since talking with his father, and I had to admit that it was pretty much my fault. I hadn't realized it before then, with all the adrenaline of everything going on, but I was absolutely exhausted. Having finally known what we were expected to do, and after the relief of realizing we actually could get out of it and do the right thing, as long as we played our cards right, I had barely been able to keep my eyes open. We had finally gotten our thought spinners "animated" as Draco called it, on the third try, and after testing them out a couple of times, I had fallen asleep in Draco's bed before we even had a chance to talk.
Draco didn't say anything, so I continued.
"They want us- or, me- to get Dumbledore out of his office and into a room of our choosing- any room, as long as they know its exact location ahead of time. They just want to control the situation, something they know they could never accomplish in his office. It doesn't matter where, because in their eyes, he will be like a sitting duck- talking to a trusted student while they burst in and attack."
Draco nodded, his brow furrowed in thought. "So, what is it that we require?" He asked, motioning toward the wall with his left hand.
"I'm not sure." I admitted, biting down hard on my bottom lip.
"We need it to protect us, but I'm not sure it can actually do that." I said after a few moments, shrugging.
"Okay." He said, his face still marked with concentration, "What if it didn't protect us- but it hid us? Would that work- if they couldn't see us, but we could see them? That would give us the upper hand, and we could warn Dumbledore ahead of time?"
"I don't know." I said honestly "And, unfortunately, we really don't have any way of testing it out."
"Besides," I continued after a pause, "I don't even know that we will be together. Your father said you would have to contact him when we get Dumbledore to the room, but how is he going to want you to do that? What if you aren't able to stay with me? That will certainly change things."
Draco nodded but didn't respond. Even after we had gotten so many answers, we seemed to have no fewer questions.
After sitting in the hallway for around an hour, Draco finally insisted we call it quits and leave before we drove ourselves crazy. It had seemed like it was going to be so simple when we thought about the Room of Requirement. We had a magic room on our side, a room that could be anything we needed it to be- how could it not work? But, what we hadn't thought about was that what the room required of us was detailed instructions. We had to be specific. It would only give us exactly what we asked for, and everything we really needed seemed to be way too much to ask of a vanishing room.
"I just wish we knew exactly how much time we have." I said as we made our way down the stairs.
"Well, school won't even be starting back for over a week. We have at least that long. We'll have it figure out before then. We just need to rest… take a break from it." Draco said, and then he turned in a direction I wasn't expecting.
"Where are we going?" I asked for the second time
"To Gryffindor Tower." He said, as he turned to go up a separate staircase.
"And whatever do you plan on doing up there you naughty Slytherin?" I asked playfully, "An act of vandalism, perhaps?"
"Oh, no." He said earnestly. "Actually, I've been having rather naughty dreams about a particular Gryffindor lately. I was wanting to see if she might let me have a go."
I smacked him on the arm and looked up at him crossly.
"Oh, you want to have a go, do you?" I asked, hotly.
He laughed loudly, his shoulders shaking as he looked down at me- my arms crossed over my chest and my lips pursed tightly.
He leaned in and nibbled lightly on my ear, causing me to shudder despite my anger, and whispered "Very, very much."
"Well come on then" I said, turning away from him and continuing down the long corridor. "But- I am not some kind of Ferris Wheel and it will do you well to remember that, Draco Malfoy!"
He chuckled and followed me through the portrait of the fat lady who gave me a long look of disapproval but, to my surprise, said nothing.
"Look at that-we're all alone." He said, smirking at me as he pushed me against the wall and nuzzled my neck.
"Oh, and how surprising, as it's only two days after Christmas." I said, giggling.
He kissed along my neck, sucking and biting lightly at the sensitive flesh, causing me to shiver. He pressed himself closer to me, so that his long lean body was flush against mine, pinning me against the wall.
I wrapped both my arms around his neck and turned my mouth to meet his, kissing him hard on the lips. He groaned into my mouth and plunged his tongue between my lips, which opened easily.
He pulled my feet up off the floor and I quickly wrapped both legs around his waist. I pulled my mouth away from his and gasped for breath. He walked across the room, and finally sat me down beside one of the overstuffed arm chairs. No sooner were my feet on the floor than he was lifting at the hem of my shirt.
"Draco, we can't. Someone could come in… I doubt we are seriously all alone." I protested, but my heart wasn't in it. Even as I said the words, I allowed him to lift the long sleeved Henley shirt over my head. He groaned when he saw that I had a tank top underneath it and reached for it.
I took his hands in mine, pulling them away from my shirt and stood on my tiptoes to kiss him. I pushed both my hands up his sweater and looked up at him through my lashes.
"Please." I said simply as I tried to pull him toward the staircase. "All I'll be able to think about is getting caught."
"Fine" He said, following behind me "But only because I want you completely focused."
I giggled as he slapped me lightly on the ass and pulled him into my room , shutting the door behind us.
I pulled my tank top over my head quickly just as Draco's arms wrapped tightly around my waist pulling me to him. I lifted my head up so that my mouth could meet his and kissed him firmly while pulling him backwards to my bed.
I collapsed on the soft mattress when my knees hit the bed and Draco stood in front of me, unzipping his jeans and stepping out of them revealing a pair of black silk boxers. I licked my lips and grinned at him. God, did I love to watch that boy undress. My eyes raked down his body from his wide shoulders, down his perfect chest and toned stomach.
He saw me staring and smirked at me as he walked the few steps separating us. He leaned over me and brought his lips to mine, parting them and plunging his tongue into my mouth. I kissed him back with everything I had- pressing my body against his and wrapping my legs around his waist. One of his hands was at the small of my back, supporting me as I leaned up toward him, while the other was working on the buttons of my jeans. He groaned in frustration as the last one resisted but finally they were all undone and he tugged gently on the waist band. I dropped my legs from his waist and he whipped my jeans off of me so quickly that I squealed in surprise.
Draco grinned down at me and wrapped one of his arms around my waist and pushed me further onto the bed. He then hovered above me, reattaching his mouth to mine and allowing his hands to roam over my body.
He kissed down my neck, sucking 0n my sensitive skin, causing me to shudder. He kissed down my chest and when he reached my bra, unsnapped the center clasp and pushed the two pieces of fabric to the sides, revealing my breasts and hardened nipples. He wrapped his warm lips around one of the sensitive peaks and sucked hard, eliciting a moan from me.
I could feel his hardness against my leg and tried to slide my hand down his body and into his boxers, but he stopped me just as it was inside the elastic. He took my wrist in his hand and held it above my head. With his other hand, he did the same to my other wrist, finally holding both of them in one of his hands, up above my head. Then, the next thing I knew, he muttered something under his breath and removed his hand- yet my wrists remained in place- somehow bound together.
Damn him and his annoying wandless magic.
"No fair." I whined, squirming underneath him. I could feel myself getting wetter, and my knickers were already quite damp.
As if he could read my mind, one of his hands dipped down inside the thin cloth and ran along my moist folds. I bit down on my lip and moaned out loud, spreading my legs further apart.
His soft lips started kissing all along my jaw line and neck, then down to my breasts where he kissed all along the sensitive tips, teasing me. I wiggled underneath him, trying to cause friction between myself and his almost stationary hand, which was making only the slightest movements between my thighs.
Briefly, one of his fingers brushed against my clit, just as he bit down lightly on my nipple. The two actions together caused me to jerk involuntarily and groan in frustration.
"Draaacooo." I whined, drawing his name out into several syllables.
He moaned and pulled his mouth away from my breast "God, you are sexy." He said with his mouth still against my skin.
I shivered and between my ragged breaths, managed to say "Draco, please. Just…please."
He dipped one of his fingers inside me and thrust it in and out a few times before responded, and I bucked against his hand, desperate for some kind of release.
"You promise you'll scream my name?" He asked, coyly, looking up at me.
If I wasn't so damn turned on, I probably would have been angry. He was playing his favorite game- toy with Hermione until she begs for sex. Sometimes I wondered what he enjoyed more- actually shagging me, or hearing me beg him to do it.
I nodded and bit down harder on my lip. He pulled his hand out of my knickers, leaving them much wetter than he had found them, and suddenly my hands were free.
I grabbed for him, desperately reaching for every part of him I could get my hands on. I ran my hand down his chest and stomach and finally to his boxers. I pulled at the elastic band impatiently, but only managed to move it a couple of centimeters. He was not being helpful.
He chuckled at me and then pulled them off himself. His hard erection sprung free and I reached for it, wrapping my hand around the base and tugging gently.
He moaned as his lips crashed into mine and kissed them with bruising force. His hands groped at my breast and then pulled at my knickers. I lifted myself up so that he could pull them off and then gladly spread my legs so he could settle himself between them.
He hooked one of my legs on top of his shoulder and then he was inside me, so quickly that it surprised me. I moaned as he thrust into me the first time, causing the burning sensation spreading all over my body to fully ignite.
Draco pumped into me over and over, pushing in to the hilt and then almost pulling out before slamming in again. I moaned with each thrust and bucked my hips against his. I could feel my walls begin to contract against him and I moaned out loud, knowing my release was finally coming.
He reached between us with one of his hands and pinched my clit hard one time, sending me completely over the edge.
He continued to thrust into me with just as much force, as my walls contracted against him. I scream out his name, just as he had known I would, and threw my head back in ecstasy. Draco groaned and then he came inside me.
I moaned out loud again, as I started to come down from my climax, but before pulling out of me pinched my clit again and started rubbing tiny little circles around it. I cried out, louder than before. It felt like he had set my on fire as he continued to play with the oversensitive and swollen piece of flesh.
I came again harder than the first time and he collapsed on top of me just as I called his name out again.
----------------
I shivered and snuggled further down in the covers, resting my head on Draco's chest.
"I can hear your heart beat." I said, smiling.
"Surprised I have one?" He asked sarcastically. I rolled my eyes, but knew he couldn't see, so I bit him.
"What, ready for round two?" He asked, teasingly.
I shook my head and decided to just let it go. He was impossible to deal with when he got like this, still, I would take playful and incourigable over moody and anxious any day.
My eyes drifted around the room, actually noticing all the things I had gotten used to after seeing them every day. I didn't spend nearly as much time in my room since I had it to myself, and I spent even less since I had been spending all my time with Draco and my friends all hated me. I quickly reminded myself that that wasn't entirely true…. Ginny was still my friend, as much as she could be with me keeping such big secrets lately.
I sighed loudly, not entirely pleased with where my thoughts had taken me and closed my eyes, trying to conjure up something better to think about. Draco shifted underneath me and draped his arm across me.
"What's wrong?" He asked, stifling a yawn.
"Nothing." I said, and propped myself up so that I could see his face. "Why do you think something's wrong?"
He cocked an eyebrow, but didn't bother to open his eyes. "You got quiet and then you heavy sighed." He shrugged, as if he had just offered up undeniable proof.
I settled back down, lying my head against his chest and pulling the cover up to my chin.
"I was just thinking." I said, not entirely sure I wanted to tell him what I was thinking about. He always felt guilty when I talked about Harry and Ron, no matter how many times I swore to him I didn't see our lack of friendship as being at all his fault.
"Do you think that…" I started, and then trailed off, afraid that if I said it out loud I would jinx it.
"Yes…?"
"Do you think that maybe, if after all this is finished, and we actually stop the death eaters from taking over Hogwarts, that Harry and Ron will see that you aren't actually the spawn of Satan and maybe we can be friends again?" I braced myself for his response, hoping that he wouldn't laugh and say it was an absurd idea or get angry that I would even want to be their friend again.
He brushed his hand through my hair and I instantly felt guilty for every thinking those things. Of course he wouldn't laugh at me, or be angry for wanting my friends back. He had been nothing but supportive of me.
"I don't know… but we can keep our fingers crossed."
"And our toes." I replied, smiling, remembering that time in the room of requirement when I had been unable to cross my toes… that seemed like forever ago.
Draco sat up slowly, as not to topple me off of him I assumed, and I shifted myself so that I was lying beside him, propped up on my elbow.
"I'm hungry." He declared, as if he was shocked to feel such a thing.
I smiled and buried my face in the pillow before I started giggling.
"What is so funny about that?" He asked, sounding offended.
I shook my head and finally lifted myself up to look at him, and seeing the look on his face caused me to start laughing again.
"Nothing." I finally managed. "It's nothing… just that, you sounded so shocked. Like you've never been hungry before. I don't know…. And the look on your face. And it's funny because, you're always hungry. Well, I don't mean always always, but always after we do--- that." I motioned toward the bed and then collapsed, breathing heavily from my fit of laughter.
"I think you've gone mad." Draco said as he pulled his pants on and started looking around for his shirt.
I shook my head and sat up, wrapping the sheet tightly around me. I scooted over to the edge of the bed and reached down to get my knickers. I shimmied them up my legs and then grabbed my bra off the end of the bed and pulled it on. When I was done I saw that Draco was looking under my bed.
I fell back on the bed laughing again.
"WHAT NOW?" He demanded, standing up and crossing his arms across his chest.
"Nothing, I'm sorry." I said, sitting up.
He still looked angry so I stood up and wrapped my arms around his waist. I kissed him on the chest and his arms reluctantly went around me.
"I'm sorry…. I guess I'm delirious or something." I tilted my head up and puckered my lips at him. He bent down and kissed me lightly.
"Your shirt is in the common room." I said, picking my pants up off the floor and turning my tank top right side out.
"Oh yeah." He said, grinning. "Hope no one found it."
We found our discarded shirts just as we had left them, and while I was extremely relieved, I could have sworn Draco actually looked a little disappointed.
"Food?" I asked, reminding him of where we were headed.
"Oh, right." He said, adjusting his sweater. He ran his fingers through his hair and then reached for my hand.
"We will work on a plan tomorrow, though, right?" I asked as we stepped out of the doorway.
"I'm afraid we don't have much of a choice." He said, and I could hear the worry creeping back into his voice.
A/N: Me again :) I've been thinking about giving the chapters actual names- Not that I don't think "Chapter 20" is lovely, I just think maybe I should be a tad more creative ;) Any ideas for this chapter, or any previous ones would be very greatly appreciated, and quite possibly used. Of course, if you do name a chapter- I will give you credit :)