Just a tiny quick reminder that each chapter isn't written on the spur of the moment just before release. So when I said I was icky when going over last chapter, I wasn't really writing it, just doing final editing and rewriting before publication. It had actually been written and betaed a month ago. This is also why I say you are powerless to influence me. Having this buffer is nice because I can still update even when Uni is crazy and I don't get to write nearly enough. But it also allows me to go over the chapters again at a time when I have had time to put some distance between myself and my writing and then polish it and, hopefully, make it better.
Dramione awards on LiveJournal ( http (colon slash slash) community (dot) livejournal (dot) com (slash) dramioneawards ) are starting up again! Yay, fun! This time I actually want to vote for things! Nominations begin Saturday, March 1st, 2008. I know some of you are avid Dramione readers and I implore you to go make some good nominations (you can do so without having an account). Sometimes these LJ communities can become a bit... well... inbred (such an ugly word, sorry) and it would be awesome if some fics that were otherwise missed by this crowd were to be nominated. Not that those ON LJ don't deserve it (heck, I post there too) but we want the best of ALL fics, don't we? So even if you don't normally use LJ... get moving! (Note: You cannot nominate yourself and someone needs to second the nomination for it to be in.)
So much ranting. On to the fic.
Hermione woke very slowly. She didn't want to let go of the warm, fuzzy feeling of sleep, but eventually she had to. Her head was hurting a bit and she felt dehydrated. She supposed she had been sleeping in an awkward position, and she had probably let her room get too hot. She yawned and stretched, wincing slightly as her head began pounding worse and she felt a vague nausea.
This was odd, she never got sick.
Then it hit her. Last night. She had been drinking. Her eyes widened in horror as all the images of what had happened came rushing back to her, and then she groaned and pulled her duvet up over her head. This was a nightmare. There was no better way to describe it.
There was no way she could really have kissed Draco Malfoy and… enjoyed it!?
She pulled a face and groaned again.
She really didn't want to revisit that memory, she really, really,really didn't, but she knew she had to figure out just what the hell had happened. She could always beg him to obliviate her later. Or possibly she could ask Zabini. Or… oh, God… Nott had seen. She had hurt Nott and there was no way for her to explain to him, because she couldn't seek him out or talk to him.
She bet that was all part of Malfoy's plan.
Even as she thought it, she had to discard that theory. It might have been a part of his plan to make it seem like they really were sleeping together, but it seemed like he genuinely cared about his friendship with Nott, and he wouldn't deliberately do anything that might ruin it, would he?
Of course, he probably didn't think that anybody would care enough about a Mudblood to let it ruin anything. She wasn't exactly sure how Nott had felt, but she had a strong feeling he had been hurt. And why wouldn't he be? He had kissed her in their office just a few days earlier and then, just like that, she had forgotten herself and had…
Her stomach heaved again and she had to take a few deep breaths.
If you could do it, you can think about it!
… She had forgotten herself, while she had been snogging Malfoy. The nausea grew stronger and her heart started pounding as panic began to set in. She had really done it, hadn't she? She remembered the feel of his hair sliding through her fingers as he was pressing her close to him and massaging her tongue with his.
She made a face. His tongue. In her mouth. Gross!
She knew she was being juvenile, but she just couldn't help it. Malfoy simply inspired these immature feelings in her.
She vowed never to drink again.
It hadn't felt gross at the time, though… She blushed when she recalled exactly how it had felt. Well, one thing was for certain – she certainly liked kissing. She had yet to receive a kiss that she didn't like, and just since Monday she had received three kisses from three different boys, and she had responded to all of them. Even the one given by the worst prat this side of existence.
She preferred not to go into detail in her reminiscing. She had been drunk last night; she was sure that if she had snogged a yeti, she would have liked it. She would probably actually have loved kissing a yeti, based on her reaction to Malfoy. He was the lowest she could ever go – far, far beneath the yeti – and yet her reaction had been… explosive.
She couldn't believe how it had felt. How she had liked it. Fortunately, she knew she didn't want it to ever happen again, because right now, she wasn't feeling anything but embarrassment that she would kiss him of all people and so publicly, too!
Although, in a way, she was rather glad that it had been public. Who knew what might have happened if they had been alone? He had certainly shown no signs of stopping and she had not been thinking clearly. If kissing him had been a bad idea then whatever else might have happened would be… She shuddered. It was simply unthinkable.
Looking on the bright side, this was a clear violation of the contract, and as soon as she could find Malfoy and get him to take off the bracelet, she would be free.
Draco stared at his own reflection in his mirror. The reflection scowled back at him.
Everything was falling apart.
He had tried to get a word with Pansy all morning, to make sure she was ok, but Daphne had been guarding their dormitory like a bloody griffin. He could just barge past her, but he really doubted that would be constructive. Theo also hadn't answered when Draco had knocked on the door to his room, but he wasn't at his office, either. He supposed he could see why he was mad, but… it wasn't as if Draco was into Granger. It had just been one of those things. Theo had to understand that.
In his endeavors to patch up things, Draco had also briefly come across Blaise, but even though the other boy didn't seem mad anymore, he was too preoccupied with his own problems for a decent conversation.
Things were falling apart and he had her to blame for it.
He pushed away any voices claiming that he hadn't been without blame and that Granger couldn't have been sober enough to know what she was doing.
Given her track record, he'd say she'd known exactly what she was doing, seducing him into kissing her.
Why would she do that?
He'd know soon enough. Perhaps she was going for some sort of record. Or she was simply seeing if she could do it. Maybe she got off on unlikely conquests. Or maybe she had known that Pansy had been in the room and had seen Theo come in, and she had taken that opportunity to mess everything up for him.
Bitch.
He deliberately ignored the shame and disgust that was pouring at him from the ring.
"Malfoy, could I see you for a second?"
Draco managed to fight back a groan, but he wasn't able to stop himself from wincing. The way Granger was raising an eyebrow, she had noticed. She had actually approached him in the hall after lunch.
What was wrong with her?
"I gave you the day off," he bit out. "Or can't you stay away from me anymore?"
A bit of pink tinged her cheeks to his great satisfaction, but she didn't back down. "It will only take a second."
He didn't want to follow her to an empty classroom, and he didn't want her in his room, either. He would really prefer not to talk to her at all, but he sensed her determination and knew that he'd never get peace if she didn't get her say. Best to get it over with.
"I was heading outside," he said, half-hoping the cold would deter her.
She just nodded and followed. Blast. Well, at least she didn't have her cloak, so the autumn weather would make her go inside soon enough.
"What is it, then?" he asked, once they had reached a spot where they could talk in private – without being too secluded. He really didn't want to be alone with her, and he really didn't want to explore why that was.
"I thought that would be obvious?"
He was aware that she was going to address last night, but it wasn't as if there was a whole lot he could do about it, so he just shrugged, not sure what she wanted. "Spell it out for me."
"You were in breach," she said. "Free me."
He gaped at her as everything fell into place.
Of course. She did it because she wanted to be free.
For some reason that made him extremely angry.
He had to take a few moments to calm himself.
He should have expected that all her words about integrity and honoring her word were only good until the going got rough. Last night, she had made her play to get out of the bet.
He didn't plan on letting her get away with it.
"Forget it," he growled. "It stays on."
Her eyes widened slightly, before she narrowed them. "You violated the contract," she hissed. "The conditions were clear."
"I didn't do a damn thing!" he snarled, fighting hard to keep his voice down.
This time her eyes visibly widened. "How can you say that?" The incredulity was visible in every line of her body. "You know what you did!"
"Yeah?" he asked. "Then how come I'm not cursed. I don't seem to have any boils or missing bits. Tell me what your curse was supposed to have done, and I'll check to see if it happened, because I'm feeling rather normal."
Hermione stared at him. He was right. He hadn't been hit by her curse. "How can that be?" she whispered.
"Because," he said in a low and angry voice, "your little plan didn't work. I didn't coerce you. I didn't use the ring for anything last night except nearly drowning you, which, I'm beginning to regret, didn't work."
She frowned. "What plan? You can't actually think I planned that!"
"I'm hard pressed to think of any other reason for it," he snarled, feeling sick with her and himself.
"I was drunk and exhausted! I would never…"
"But you did, didn't you?"
"It was you, who—who…" She couldn't even say it. "You did it!"
He smirked coldly. "You offered me a very blatant opportunity to further my scheme, of course I took it."
She sniffed and angrily looked away. "You would do that." She shuddered at the thought at just how far he might go in furthering his schemes. She had to be careful around him.
"Don't give me that pristine virgin act," he growled. "You forget – I know exactly how much fun you had!"
In spite of Hermione trying to fight it, color crept into her cheeks and she cringed. When she noticed Draco's smirk at her reaction, however, she found it in herself to retaliate. "I was also in a position to know what kind of fun you had!"
He blanched slightly but then shrugged. "Girl wriggling around on my lap for hours in spite of me telling her to stop – it was bound to happen. You must have known this, given your kind of experience."
She glanced at him, wondering just what he meant with her experience, but quickly decided that didn't matter. "I was drunk," she repeated. "And exhausted. If anything, you took advantage of me."
There was another flash of anger in his eyes, but then he just raised his eyebrows at her. "I'm a Slytherin. You should know that I will use any means to achieve my ends. Besides, I had already warned you that getting pissed would be a bad idea."
They seemed to be at an impasse, neither of them willing to back down.
Hermione swallowed and looked away again.
She wasn't going to be released from the bet.
She would have argued that point from now until doomsday if it wasn't for the very obvious fact that Draco was not cursed. The contract didn't recognize it as a breach, because she had been a willing participant. It didn't matter why she had been a willing participant, as long as it had nothing to do with the magic of the ring and bracelet.
She looked back at him as something occurred to her. "But you did use the ring," she accused him. "You used it to seduce me. Without it you wouldn't have known what..." She cleared her throat as her voice failed her. "What to do. How can it be you're not in violation?"
He shot her a haughty glance. "I didn't date Pansy for three years without discovering how to kiss a girl, Granger."
She couldn't keep from blushing. "You know what I mean," she muttered.
He sighed wearily. "You wrote no ordering. I didn't order you to melt into a puddle, you just did."
Her blush deepened. "Did not!" she muttered, ignoring his unconvinced look. "Is there any chance that I can get you to not use this against me?"
"No."
She sighed. "Can you at least allow me to talk to Theo?"
Draco flinched at the mention of his friend's name. "No, I don't want you to fill his head with false notions of me taking advantage of you."
"I won't, I promise," Hermione all but begged. "But I have to talk to him. I have to explain—"
"I said no!" Draco angrily interrupted. "Stop wasting my time and stay the hell away from Theo! He deserves better than some Gryffindor tart, who will snog anyone in sight."
With that, he stalked off, leaving her to stare blindly ahead, oblivious to the cold.
The day didn't improve for Hermione. When she made it back to her common room, Ginny demanded to have a word with her. With a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach, Hermione led the other girl up to her room.
"You lied to me," Ginny hissed as soon as the door closed after her.
The sinking sensation got worse. "No, I didn't," Hermione muttered.
"I overheard a couple of Slytherin girls in my year talking about what you did last night. How could you! And after what you did at the game?" Ginny shook her head. "You're a lousy friend and a blemish on our House!"
Hermione gaped. Those were rough words, even for Ginny. "Wait a minute," she sputtered. "So, that's it, is it? I kiss one boy that you don't approve of and suddenly I'm… what you said?"
"It's not so sudden is it?" Ginny retorted. "You've really been sleeping around with Draco Malfoy for a while now, haven't you?"
Hermione crossed her arms, unwilling to just accept this onslaught. "I did not lie to you about that stupid sock," she said. "But what if I have? It's my business, isn't it?"
"Do I have to remind you what his father did to me?" the other girl hissed.
"That was his father," Hermione pointed out. "Who he happens to not be in contact with anymore, not since he and his mother fled Voldemort."
"Says he!" Ginny crossed her arm as well.
"No, I know it for a fact to be true," Hermione returned.
"It doesn't even bloody matter," Ginny fairly shouted. "He's a Malfoy and a Slytherin and do I have to mention all the things he's done over the years? Or the fact that Ron loves you?"
"No," Hermione quietly said. "But Ron knows about… about what's going on, he's taken his stand. If you want us to butt out of your relationship with Harry, then you need to do the same for us."
Ginny made visible efforts to calm herself. "On that point you might be right," she surprised Hermione by saying. "But have you even considered how Ron might react when he hears about this?"
Pain stabbed in Hermione's chest. She really hadn't. She had been so busy trying to figure out all the ramifications for her own person that she had failed to think about how others would be hurt.
"Ron will be hurt," she whispered. "As I was when he dated Lavender. There's even a good chance that anything we might have will be over, but you have to leave that for us to figure out."
"You don't love him," Ginny bluntly stated. "If you did, then you wouldn't be kissing other boys – not now, not after everything you've shared." She turned and yanked Hermione's door open and slammed it behind her as she left.
Hermione stared at the closed door. There was some truth ringing to Ginny's words. She shouldn't have enjoyed kissing Nott so much just two days after kissing Ron and she definitely shouldn't have enjoyed kissing Malfoy three days after that.
But if she wasn't really in love with Ron… then what?
Hmmm... A preview? Ok, then. But only because everyone was nice enough to call me evil last time, hehe.
No fucking kidding. He sighed, pocketed her wand and took off the ring. "This is going to hurt," he said and yanked her to her feet.
She screamed. He didn't really blame her. She also nearly fell down again, but he steadied her, forcing her to lean on her good leg. After a few seconds her screaming was replaced by miserable little sobs.
"The Hospital Wing is not far," he said. "Any way you could… jump there or something?"
