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Ch. 15

Talk? He had shoved me into some abandoned cranny just to talk? I'm sure there could've been a better way to do this, for example, calmly coming up to me and asking? I scoffed. He heard it, and his eyes narrowed.

"I sure do hope you don't think this is funny, because it isn't. It's not like I wanted to talk to you anyways, but I have to!"

"You could've asked nicely!" I replied. "One doesn't usually think things will end well when they're being pinned against a hard wooden bookshelf in the school library! – "

"Do you want to raise your voice even louder or get this over with? I would choose the latter!" He retorted.

I sighed, and frowned, crossing my arms bossily. "Well what is it? What do you want?"

He paused for a moment. He was obviously unsure about what he was going to say.

"Are you playing mind games on me?"

I choked internally. Did I really just hear that come out of his mouth? I wanted to scoff, laugh, and snort all at the same time. I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to hold in my laughter.

"I'm sorry?"

He saw my urge to laugh, and as I struggled to hold it in, he looked at me again, but this time all I saw in his eyes was hurt. He stepped away from me.

"Just forget it. Forget I mentioned anything." He went to leave, but before he could I grabbed his arm. He looked at me, slightly incredulous at the fact that I had dared to touch him. I knew I was wrong. He had obviously been serious, and even if I wouldn't believe what he was saying, I could at least give him a chance to explain to me.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have laughed. Please try and explain to me?" I said to him, my fingers still lingering on the fabric of his robes.

He looked right about ready to hex me, but he remained silent.

"Draco?" I quipped.

He sighed, and turned back to me. It hadn't really occurred to me before, but whenever I said his name, he seemed to become so much more relaxed.

"You already think this is hilarious, but I was wondering what type of game you're playing? It really isn't funny and I'd love to get back to my life now."

I stared at him wordlessly.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about!" He warned me sternly. I honestly didn't.

"Who said I was acting?" I replied. He groaned tiredly.

"This is why I didn't want to talk to you about it! You always think everything is so funny and easy to work out. This isn't easy for me, alright?"

"Excuse me?" I heard myself reply. I had the strongest urge to punch him. Who the hell did he think he was? If anything he was the one that always took everything as a joke. He had no idea how much I was struggling because of him right now, and if he had the audacity to –

"You heard me! I bet you're simply rolling in happiness at the fact that you get to control my thoughts Granger? Well I'm on to you, and I'm not going to let you control me anymore! Whatever love potion or spell you've put on me to lust for you isn't working, and you better give me the antidote right now or I'll force it out of you!" He slammed his hand against the shelf, trapping me in my spot. I fought the urge to whimper. He could be quite frightening when he wanted to.

Love potion? Lust? Why was he telling me all of these things?

"I didn't give you anything!" I almost screamed back. He scoffed.

"Oh really? Then how do you explain all of these dreams I've been having about you? What about all of the times I've tried to think about other things when all I could focus on is you? What are you playing at Granger?"

I stared in disbelief, and for a moment, my eyes went through him, into my thoughts, where I replayed the dreams I had been having about him.

"Dreams?" I whispered my eyes unable to focus. Everything was a dull buzz. I wanted to tell him, to tell him everything I had felt in the past few weeks, to tell him that I ….

That I knew exactly how he felt.

"Yes. Dreams." he replied quietly. "Multiple ones, every night for the past few weeks and I need them to stop.

"Dreams of what?" I heard myself asked dazedly.

He bit his lip and looked at me. He cleared his throat.

"I…...I can't quite say….."

I stayed quiet for a very long time, still staring outwards at nothing. A few times I felt him look over his shoulder to find out why I had been staring. He was about to leave when I opened my mouth again. My eyes regained focus and I looked at him brazenly.

"I know how you feel. I don't know why. All I can say is that I've been having them too."

I took him by surprise, and his eyes widened slightly.

"You're lying. This is all part of your silly little game."

"You have my word. I promise you that what I'm telling you is the truth."

For once, there was an awkward silence between us. He looked deranged.

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know."

"For once the brightest witch of the age doesn't have an answer." He smirked.

I looked up at him defiantly, ignoring his comment.

"Are you going to tease me or are you going to help me figure this out? I don't want to be stuck in your head forever you know."

"I never said I wouldn't, nor did I say I wanted you to be. Although we all know I'm in every girl's head anyways…among other places." He winked at me.

"You're disgusting." I retorted, wiping that smirk right off of his face. I leant down to pick up the books that he had made me drop.

"Damn." I heard him say. If I caught if staring at my butt I would punch him just like in third year. I looked up, only to see him leaning down next to me. Having him this close to me was actually a bit overwhelming. His hair was a blinding white with a few golden strands, and his stormy grey blue eyes bored into mine. He made me quite insecure sometimes.

"What now?"

He smiled slightly. "You must be an insomniac. That would be the only way you would have time to read all of these books.

I couldn't help but smile a little too.

"Actually, I am, but just a bit."

He looked pleasantly surprised.

"What?" I asked him curiously, for the second time.

"Looks like I can do other things to your thoughts besides have you dreaming of me." He responded devilishly.

I shook my head and stood up, books stacked neatly beside my feet. To my surprise, he held one out to me.

"'The Whisper of the Night by Gredaculus Scrunch'?" He asked, while he began to flip through the large, heavy book. "Well this doesn't seem like a very good read. 'The Barings plant of the southeast Asia has the power to put not only humans to sleep, but animals as well' ", he mimicked in a deep gravelly voice.

I couldn't help but laugh and as I tried to stifle it, he raised one eyebrow at me, but chuckled as well. We quieted down, not wanting Madam Pince to barge in here and discover us. Knowing her, she would probably get the wrong idea and send us to Professor Dumbledore.

"Well I'm sure it wouldn't be that bad, but I was actually going to look into it for –"

Malfoy interrupted me, a serious look on his face as he looked into the book.

"If two beings of the same species are being plagued by inexpressible thoughts, feelings and or reactions towards one another, especially through sleep, then to exercise the connection and possibly gain more insight on it, they must connect on an emotional level brought through physical contact." He finished reading and looked up to stare at me.

I felt a twinge of intuition creep into my system. That was exactly what I was planning on looking for. How on earth he had found it by simply scanning through a book that was a thousand and two pages, I would never know. It was almost as if the book itself knew exactly what we both wanted.

"This is it." I heard Draco say, as I stared at the book in his hand in complete shock. I bit my lip worriedly.

"What are we going to do?" I had so many questions I had wanted to ask him besides that, it was strange.

"Well you heard the book. We have to engage in….physical activity. "

I looked at him stubbornly. "We are not going to do what you're insinuating!"

He looked at me innocently, but I could see the deviance in his eyes. "Who said I was insinuating anything Granger? You're obviously the one with your mind in the gutter. Of course we won't sleep together! Not to worry, my little virgin." He said while patting my head.

I blushed a bright red, and I could feel the heat spread from my forehead to my chest.

"I am not –!", but before I could finish my sentence, his finger was lightly resting against my lips.

"If we have time for anything, we certainly don't have time for your rabid blabber, Granger. Now are we going to do this or not?" he asked me, raising his brows and smirking. He could be so annoying at times. I decided that it would be better if I just cursed him in my head instead of out loud. He would only twist my words anyways.

"Fine. The book says that depending on the two individuals, even the slightest touch of hands could give us what we're looking for. If not, then we have to keep trying until we get it. Let's start with the fingers." I said grumpily, wanting to get this over with.

Malfoy shrugged nonchalantly and held up his finger for a moment, so that it touched the tip of mine. We waited.

"How long is this supposed to take, anyways?" He asked impatiently. Typical Malfoy, impatient and ungrateful.

"It says it should work in no longer than ten seconds. If it doesn't then –"

"Then it obviously doesn't work!" He interrupted again, removing his finger from mine. It was like dealing with a bratty six year old.

'With startlingly blue eyes and gorgeous hair'

I frowned. "Next one then."

So far we had tried holding hands, intertwining our fingers, shaking hands, holding on to each other's robes, touching hairs, stepping on his foot (which I thoroughly enjoyed) , and even hugging.

After I stepped on his foot, harder than I should have, Draco became excessively cranky, becoming even rougher with each thing we tried.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed as he yanked on one of my curls. He smiled grimly.

"Payback is a bitch, isn't she?" was all he said, smug as ever.

"Get off of your fucking high horse", I muttered as I rubbed my sore scalp. Ignoring me, he grabbed my hand and kissed it. My eyes widened in surprise as his lips remained on my hand. It tickled slightly.

"What are you doing?"

"We're not done yet."

I went to protest, but he closed in on me, his body pressing me back against the hard familiar shelf. I paused for a moment. I still wanted to go on with experiment, but I was nervous. Having him this close to me made me hold my breath, and I didn't want him getting the wrong idea. I was still shocked that he had initiated this portion and was willingly pressed up against me. This felt oddly familiar, and the nostalgia gave me an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. I shut my eyes. I heard robes shift, and not to soon after, Malfoy's lips were against my pulse. I felt him breathe in against me, and when he exhaled, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. There was no sound except the sound of our breathing. He began kissing the ridge of my ear. I had to do this. There were obviously other ways to conduct this experiment, but my brain was really working at the moment.

"Feel anything yet?" He said, his voice going straight into my ear. It startled me, and I felt myself jump slightly. Draco's firm hand was on my waist.

"A bit." I whispered back. I didn't know where my voice had gone.

By the time he had reached my cheek, the feeling of nostalgia had been turned up by three hundred notches. I opened my eyes. His shoulder was right in my view and I focused my eyes there. It gave me the stability that closing my eyes had not. After a few moments by my cheek, he pulled back and stared at me. My eyes automatically shot up to meet his just as a licked his lips. I knew what was going to happen next, the familiarity of it was strong. Should I have stopped it? I don't know. Could I have? I still didn't know.

By the time Draco had lightly pressed his lips against mine, my thoughts had already stopped working on their own accord, and there was a slight, sharp feeling in my body. His shoulder shifted and he pulled back, his eyes worried.

"Did you feel that?" He breathed.

I couldn't reply. All I could do to bring it back was nod and grab his face, pressing his lips harder against mine. He made a sound of surprise, and brought a hand over my head on the wood to balance us. A wave of something frighteningly real and magical hit me with such a force that I couldn't help but cry out. It was like when you were little and you fell, and there was that slight moment that felt like eternity, where you didn't know whether you were hurt or not, but something hurt and you cried anyways. This hurt. It hurt, and it was familiar and comforting all at the same time. It was dull, and it was bright, and it blinded my senses into oblivion. It was like that short moment when you're at the top of a roller coaster, and your stomach drops as you go down.

I realized that Draco was holding me so hard that it hurt, but I didn't blame him. The feel of the sensation between us was overwhelming, and he could only do so much to control it. Before I could finish my thought, I was being propped up in Draco's arms and I could do nothing but wrap my legs around his waist. He groaned, and I gripped his soft hair, caressing his face. It felt too good to kiss him, but I couldn't be bothered to feel guilty. I didn't know when he decided to let me go, but eventually he did. Slowly, he slid me down, making sure I landed on my feet. His breaths were labored, and I'm sure mine were too.

"That was…. –"

"I know", I breathed. I looked down to see that my fingers were still gripping fistfuls of his robes. I tried my best to smooth them out. "Sorry", I added.

He shook his head slightly. "No need."

I stared at him for a moment.

"So did you figure it out?"

"Well –"

There was a sudden sharp rapping at the door, and I jumped. Draco slid into the corner, and hid.

"Miss Granger?" Madam Pince's sharp voice called out.

"Yes?" I called out. Had she been watching this whole time? My stomach churned in fear.

"Your time is up!" She scolded. Draco and I both let out a breath of relief.

"Coming!" I leant down to pick up my books when Malfoy grabbed my arm. "Wednesday, after dinner, the tree." I whispered, gathering my things. He would know which tree I was talking about. He let me go, and I hurried to the door. I took the keys with me because I knew that Draco knew a secret way to get back to the Slytherin dungeons from here, all of them did. I looked back, and I could've sworn I saw the swish of a black and green robe. Pince had already walked back to her desk.

"Don't forget!" I whispered, before shutting the door and locking it.

I finally felt like I was in control. I didn't have to cry and worry and feel guilty. Draco and I were going to figure this out, and then I would have my life back. Happier than I had ever been this whole month, I walked to the checkout desk and released my books, holding 'The Whisper of the Night by Gredaculus Scrunch 'particularly close.

VVVVV

Hey Guys! So it's been a bit of a wait hasn't it? School has started and whatnot, but I'm going to try and update as much as I can! Reviews, Constructive criticism and ideas are welcome! Love to all!