Someone promised me all their Christmas presents if I posted before New Year's Eve... I hope they got a Playstation 3. ;P
And those commenting on the chapters being shorter. They are still not shorter, lol. They may feel it, but they aren't. :)
For several hours after this newest incident, Hermione waited in her room for those… feelings to disappear. She even debated taking off the ring, but ended up supposing that was technically cheating and if Draco somehow found out, he'd probably make her wear it longer. It was just hard to endure this. The lust ebbed and flowed for quite a while after she left the library, a clear indication that Malfoy was struggling to keep his libido in check.
No wonder he'd put a ban on her snogging when he'd worn the ring because this really was unbearable. She was flushed and restless and… well, yeah!
It was very impractical since she could hardly go anywhere or do anything while it persisted.
It was also quite embarrassing to be so worked up from so little. He'd done this to both of them with just looks! She'd never truly believed that boys were hormone-driven, but now she did. She really, truly did. And apparently they could do it by just looking at anybody? Perverts! At least he was a pervert.
After it finally cooled down—quite literally, because he finally resorted to an ice-cold shower—she took a deep, relieved breath and went to sleep.
The next morning Hermione was not amused. She liked her sleep. She really, really liked her sleep. She loved it, even. She did not need to be woken several times by Draco's inability to keep his lecherousness out of his dreams. Really, did he never think of anything else? She did not need to wake up all hot and bothered, not to mention disoriented, just because he couldn't keep his mind off… things. She supposed it was fortunate she didn't know exactly what things, but given the feedback of the ring, she had a pretty good idea.
It was awkward to say the least. Was she really going to spend four days like this? This didn't strike her as one of those instances where she could just tell him to stop. He was hardly doing it on purpose… was he? No, somehow she didn't think he was.
Still… she couldn't go on like this.
Fortunately, by morning he seemed to have gotten himself in check and fortunately there were no incidents at either breakfast or in class. Wouldn't that have been embarrassing?
By the time lunch came around, Hermione was sufficiently sure that it wasn't going to happen again to begin to pay attention to other signals from the ring. It was really rather intriguing. Small things like hunger or the momentary amusement at something one of his friends said even registered. Yet beneath it all there was a dull, constant sadness—a feeling that Hermione was sure would keep her in bed curled up if she ever had it, not walking around and acting so… normal.
That was just yet another thing that she didn't understand about him—how he could so easily pretend. She couldn't help feeling a bit sad herself that anyone should have to feel like that, but at the same time she was confused about how he didn't seem the least affected by it. He was usually so expressive.
"You're not even listening, are you?"
Hermione blinked and then felt her cheeks grow hot. She and Ron were finally talking somewhat normally again and then she wasn't paying any attention. "I'm sorry," she said. "Go on."
He looked a bit put out and waved a hand. "No, it's not important…"
She began to insist, but then changed tactics. "How's Lavender?"
The question seemed to startle him. "How would I know? You see her as much as I do."
"Oh. I thought you were…"
"We aren't."
"But weren't you?"
"Briefly."
"What happened?"
"Nothing happened. It was just something to take the sting out of being rejected by my best friend."
"Oh." She was feeling really eloquent today, but she just didn't know what to say to this.
"But I'm thinking that with you hogging all the males in Slytherin, they must have some really lonely girls by now."
Now it was Hermione's turn to be startled. For just a second her mind was blank, but then she began sputtering objections to that outrageous statement.
It took her a minute to notice the twitching of Ron's lips.
He was teasing her.
Feeling rather silly, she stopped and scowled at him, her scowl deepening as he began openly sniggering.
Still, through her annoyance, it was nice to know that some things were going to be all right.
Later in the day, Hermione resolved that she'd better seek out Theo and make a few explanations. He'd probably heard something about her going to see Draco even if he hadn't mentioned anything, and, well, then there was the thing with the bracelet being in use again.
This might not be a very pleasant conversation at all.
She decided to check the office first and if he wasn't there, she'd go to his room. She knew where it was. Sort of. If she remembered correctly.
Maybe he'd be at the office.
Ten minutes later Hermione found that, naturally, Theo wasn't at the office.
She bit her lip, reconsidering her plan. Maybe waiting wouldn't hurt? He could be told in the morning just as well as now. He was probably busy studying.
She gave herself a mental scolding. This was no time to be a coward. She would just go down there and then… well, if it was a bad time for him, she'd just leave again. She would understand if he needed to study or whatever he needed to do. It was no big deal. But she should definitely make an effort to talk to him today.
With that in mind, she marched down to the dungeons.
She felt oddly self-conscious as she went through the Slytherin common room. She hadn't felt self-conscious going here for months. It wasn't that people didn't notice her, because they most certainly usually did and some even scowled, it was just… her presence wasn't even questioned anymore. So why feel self-conscious about it now?
"What are you doing here?"
Ok, so maybe someone was questioning her presence. She turned towards Zabini. "I didn't know I had to answer to you."
He was looking extremely hostile and she flinched, not really blaming him. "Why can't you just leave him alone?" he demanded. "Do you get some sort of sick pleasure from tormenting him?"
He was assuming that she was here to see Draco? "I'm… not here to see him," she quietly replied.
Zabini looked slightly taken aback. "Then why are you here?"
Hermione flushed, feeling embarrassed that it wasn't obvious. "I was looking for Theo," she muttered.
"Oh. Right. I had blissfully forgotten about that particular perversion you call a relationship." He made a disgusted face.
She stared at him. Perversion?
"He's in his room," he said, turning his back on her and returning to his seat.
Right. In his room. Which should be two doors down from Draco's room if she remembered correctly. If she didn't, then this might get a little awkward. Putting Zabini out of her mind, she slowly walked into the boys' dormitories.
Walking up to the door she assumed was the right one she swallowed and then hesitantly knocked. Oh, this could be bad in so many ways. When the door opened, however, she was relieved to find that at least it seemed to have been the right one. Theo's gaze, however, made her cheeks burn and had her feet urging her to run away.
She wondered at that reaction.
"Is something the matter?" he asked, a decided coolness to his tone.
He heard something, all right. Blast it.
"Um, no," she replied, feeling her stomach flip over with nerves. "I just hoped I could talk to you about something?"
He opened the door wider and she entered his room. It was an unremarkable room, really. A functional room. It had the mandatory bed and desk et cetera, but nothing to really show anyone lived there except for the chest that no doubt held his clothes. There were no personal artifacts anywhere that she could see. Theo hadn't bothered to make it a home away from home.
He closed the door behind her. "It must be important. You never came down here before."
Hermione fought down a blush at that. She'd been down here plenty of times, just not in his room. "I, um, need to explain something."
"Ah," he said. "You finally figured I heard you visited Draco the other night, I take it?" He shoved his hands into his pockets.
Damn it. He was back to the knowing routine, but then again, it seemed everyone knew. "Yes. But you know that it wasn't…" She made a helpless gesture with her hands.
"I know."
"Do you know what it was, then?" she couldn't help but ask.
"No, not exactly. But I figured that if it was relevant, you'd tell me. Apparently, it's relevant."
"I just didn't want you to think…" She shrugged and looked away.
"I don't think that, Hermione. I know you wouldn't do something like that to me."
He was right. She wouldn't. Not on purpose. But considering what had happened in the past and what Theo knew had happened, she found it hard to believe he would trust her so unconditionally. Besides, while his demeanor wasn't exactly cold, it also lacked the warmth that was usually there when they were alone.
He was withdrawn.
"Was that why you came down here?" he softly asked. "You could have told me that in class, you know."
She shrugged again, feeling unsure and unbalanced. She couldn't figure out whether he was fishing for answers he already knew or just off-handedly asking. "I've never seen your room. I'm sorry if I intruded…"
"You didn't intrude. But that's not why you came here. Not really."
Ok, fishing, then. Or bluffing. "Then why did I come here?" she asked, folding her arms in a defensive challenge.
He watched her for a minute. "I'm not quite sure I really want to know," he then murmured.
"Maybe I just wanted to spend some time with you?" she suggested, feeling extra defensive.
"Do you?" he asked.
"Never mind," she muttered, completely losing her nerve and taking a step towards the door.
He smoothly sidestepped to block her. "I'd like it if you did," he murmured. "More than you know. But why don't you just tell me what it is that brings you here?"
An unrelated thrill went through Hermione. She'd thought it had passed for now, but it would seem that Malfoy was having problems not being a bloke. He'd probably seen something in skirts. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as strong as what she'd experienced earlier.
"Hermione?" Theo asked with a slight frown when she shivered.
"Um…" What had he been saying? Oh, right. "Why do you always have to question me?" she asked. "Maybe I did just want to see you!" Another small shiver went through her.
"Maybe you did," he said, not looking very convinced. "Is that the only reason you came here, then?"
"Yes."
"I see." If anything, his eyes now seemed even more dead. "Anything else you had in mind?"
As a third shiver went through her, and she could suddenly think of something she very much wanted to do. Her gaze felt to his lips and she began worrying her own lower lip. She knew he'd caught on to her thoughts as he went very, very still.
She lifted her gaze to meet his again and said, "Well? Are you going to do anything about it?"
Suddenly, there was no distance between them and his lips covered hers, leaving her instantly breathless. Her pulse was already racing and she knew that a big part of this was because of the occasional now vague feedback from the ring, but that didn't keep her from thoroughly enjoying what was happening.
She threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss and feeling his pulse speed up as well. Oh, he wasn't indifferent. In fact, he got more demanding as well, his hands gripping her waist and pulling her even closer.
No matter how it sometimes seemed, Theo definitely still wanted her.
She wanted him too, didn't she? And they were dating, weren't they?
He was obviously trying to be a gentleman, though his hands never leaving her waist. Why did she have to end up with the one eighteen-year-old gentleman in existence when she so didn't want him to be one right now? It was annoying.
Suddenly feeling like a bit of a devil, she bit his lip a little harder than was nice and smirked as he hissed and jerked. Suddenly, however, the tables turned, as she found herself slammed against the door, also a little harder than was nice. Her eyes widened in surprise.
This time Theo coldly smirked, looking more Slytherin than she recalled ever seeing him. "If you wanted to play games, all you had to do was ask," he said in a silky voice, before kissing her again, hard.
Almost punishing.
There was something a little bit scary about this Theo, who was almost, but not quite, hurting her. Something thrilling. It seemed like the barriers he'd carefully been holding in place before had now melted away and she could feel a burning passion in him. For her. There was a need to touch, to kiss, to feel… a thinly veiled desperation, even, a frustration.
Pain.
She was soft against him, responding to his kisses and returning his caresses, trying to soothe him, but it didn't seem to help. His frustration only seemed to grow, his touches growing to be near bruising, until he abruptly pushed away from her.
"Maybe you should go," he quietly said, turning away.
She took a deep breath, trying to stop her head from spinning. "Maybe I want to stay?" She hadn't truly considered this before she said the words, but when they were out, she found that they were true.
His back stiffened. "I don't think you thought this through."
"What's to think through?" she asked, confusion muddling her thoughts even further. "I want to stay."
"But I don't want you to," he said in a voice almost too soft to hear.
Hermione felt like she'd just been slapped. She blinked a few times, trying to keep the hurt from materializing. "Oh." She didn't think she'd ever felt this humiliated before, not even when wearing the bracelet. She hadn't actually thought he'd reject her.
"Did you really think I hadn't noticed? Or heard about what happened at the library?" he asked, turning back around. "You're wearing that thing, playing his games again. I don't know why and I don't think I want to know anymore, but I can't… I can't be with you like this."
"Oh." Hermione felt both relieved and more embarrassed. As a result, she began babbling. "It's just for a couple of days, it was the only way I could get him to do something for me. I'm not going to do anything with it and he can't feel me like this so it's not—"
"I don't think you understand," he interrupted. "You agreed to wear it in the first place, in spite of everything that happened. You're willing to continue to allow him to manipulate you, even when you know that he has an agenda. And you had every chance to tell me about it, to explain yourself, but you didn't. Not for two days. I can't be with you, Hermione, not anymore."
When the words registered, Hermione felt all air leave her lungs, making it hard to breathe. "W-what?"
He was looking away. "I'm sorry."
After everything he'd said about him wanting to make it work and her not wanting it enough, he was breaking up with her? Because of something she had ultimately done to help him? She opened her mouth, but found that she couldn't make any sound come out.
It didn't matter because she didn't know what she was supposed to say. She could try to explain, tell him she wanted this relationship, ask for his forgiveness.
But she was still reeling from being turned down and the thought of making herself open to more rejection was unbearable right now.
Without another word, she turned around and left.
The action gave Draco a much better look at her face and for a moment he didn't know what to say. He had the strangest urge to find out what was wrong, but he knew she wasn't going to tell him if he asked. "So that's your way of getting back at me?" he finally managed to say. "Waking me up? Lame, Granger. Really lame. Want some pointers on some more interesting ways to get back at someone? Tormenting people is my forte, as you may very well know, while yours is… What is it you do, again, apart from memorizing books and snogging people?"
