A/N: I'm sorry for the delay, life sort of got in the way. Enjoy!

OOOOO

Monday morning came far too soon for Draco's liking. The musty smell of last night's shag hung in the air and in the bed sheets wrapped around him. He groaned as he extricated himself from Pansy's vice like grip and headed for the shower where he could wash away her scent. He couldn't help but feel somewhat disgusted at his continued relationship with her. He knew that he was expected to carry on with this ridiculous facade but he was finding it more and more difficult to do. She had been waiting for him in his bed when he returned the night before and she pounced the moment he walked into room, kissing him insistently, her hands everywhere. In his exhaustion it had been easier to simply give in than to try to put her off as he had been. Mercifully, she was gone when he was finished showering, leaving him a few moments of peace until he would be forced to endure her company through breakfast. Unexpectedly, he found himself longing for Ancient Runes, which made him groan because he knew it was Hermione and not the class that he couldn't wait to get to.

He yawned as he grabbed his satchel and then climbed the stairs, heading towards the Great Hall for breakfast, dressed in his school robes and tie. He had been up far too late the night before, scouring the shelves in the room of requirement, working on his task. Things were not going well. His efforts thus far to find any information either in the school library or through the room of requirement had not proved fruitful. He was no farther along in solving his task than he had been at the start and it was beginning to become harder to hide that fact from his father, which in turn meant it was harder to hide that fact from the Dark Lord. He knew that the Dark Lord would not continue to tolerate his inability to take care of Dumbledore and it honestly frightened him.

He was capable of a lot of things, not all of them nice, but he wasn't capable of murder, not really, and when he failed, the Dark Lord would kill him and his mother. The threat of his mother's demise was the only thing that kept him working on this futile task. It wasn't right that she had been thrown into this life by his father. Neither he nor his mother had been given a choice, his father had made it for them. His father had followed the Dark Lord in the assumption that it would lead him and his family to further power and wealth. His father was an idiot and now he and his mother would pay the price for that idiocy. Which is why he had to try, murderer or not. He would have to produce some sort of result soon to prove that he was, at the very least, attempting to kill Dumbledore and he was dreading it.

He didn't want to kill anyone, not even his barmy headmaster, and he didn't particularly want to hurt anyone either. Unfortunately what he wanted didn't really matter and it had never mattered, not to his father anyway. Lucius was used to getting what he wanted and his wife and son were no exception. His father had always expected them to do exactly as they were told with no regard for whether it was what they wanted or not. Although it was not his father who gave the order to kill Dumbledore, he would be expected to behave just as he always had, as the dutiful son.

He tried to stifle a yawn as he reached for his tea, his eyes subconsciously began to scan the Great Hall until they found her, as had become his habit. He spotted her almost instantly amongst her friends, the dappled morning light glinting off her honey brown curls as her head shook with laughter. He found himself wanting her to be that carefree with him, laughing and enjoying herself. He wanted her to casually touch him the way she did her friends, truly enjoying his company. As he continued to stare his eyes focused in on her lips. He longed to taste those lips again, feel their satiny smoothness as they molded to his. He wanted to feel her beneath his fingertips as they explored every luscious inch of her skin.

Next to him he could hear the whining drone of Pansy's voice, but he could not seem to find the will to pay attention to her vapid drivel. He was far too lost in thoughts of satin smooth lips pressed against his, long legs wrapped around his waist as he fucked her. It had been two weeks, which had seemed an eternity, since he had kissed Hermione in that empty classroom. In that time he had he had replayed those few stolen moments a thousand times and yet she seemed utterly unaffected, which was his own fault for telling her to pretend it had never happened. It had become increasingly difficult to be near her in classes but never able to touch her and it was becoming increasingly difficult to pretend with Pansy. He was finding it harder to allow her in his bed when every time that he did he wished that it was Hermione instead. Every time he kissed her he was imagining those few moments he shared with Hermione. Every touch had him picturing Hermione in his arms and every time they fucked he would feel a little more hollow.

There was a part of him that knew how wrong it was to allow his desire for Hermione to continue and then there was a part of him that simply didn't care. She had felt so perfect in his arms that night and a few kisses were just not enough to satiate his desire for her. If anything those kisses had only served to inflame his desire for her. He knew he was being foolish. It would be absolutely reckless to give in to his desire for her again. He also knew that his restraint was beginning to crumble. He wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to continue to be around her without acting on his desire to have her.

"I bet she'd be a good fuck, probably likes to take it like a slag." Draco smirked as Theo's observation broke through his wayward thoughts. He wondered which girl had the misfortune of capturing Theo's attention. Theo was known to be relentless once he decided he wanted a girl.

"Ugh, Theo that's disgusting. She's a dirty, slaggy mudblood. What would your father say?" Pansy replied , a look of loathing and disgust on her face. Draco's fists clenched as he realized that they were discussing Hermione. He tried not to let his anger show on his face, but he wasn't entirely sure of how successful he was being. He knew for a fact that she liked to take it like a slag, he had seen it with his own eyes, but to hear his friends discuss her with such disrespect was intolerable. He wished that he was allowed some claim over her, some reason to object to the way they were talking about her, but he had no claim over her and wasn't allowed to have any claim on her, not with him around.

"He'd tell me to take what I want and to fuck that mudblood whore like the slag she is." Theo almost growled. Draco was growing angrier by the moment though he didn't dare show it. In the past he hadn't cared how they had spoken about Hermione or any other muggleborn for that matter. It was different now, though. It was different because now he cared about her, now he wanted her. Draco could feel his control slipping as Theo continued to go on about all the ways he planned to defile her and knew that he had to leave before he did something foolish.

"Well then, your father is disgusting too." Pansy retorted, scrunching her nose as though she had just smelled something terrible.

"I'm heading to class." Draco ground out in the most even voice he could manage. With clenched fists he grabbed his satchel and was about to leave when he felt Pansy grab his arm. He did his best to keep his disgust off of his face as he looked down at her fingers which were clutching the sleeve of his robes.

"I thought you were going to walk me to class." Her voice, whiny as always, grate on his nerves and caused his control to slip even further.

"I can't today. I need to speak to professor Babbling before class." He gave her a kiss on the cheek, hoping to appease her and be on his way, but her grip remained tight on his sleeve, her fingers twisting in the fabric of his robes.

"But Draco," she whined, unaccustomed to not getting what she wanted,"I want you to walk me to class." Draco knew that if he didn't leave soon he would do something really stupid, like hex his friend's tongue off or glue it to the roof of his mouth just to shut him up.

"Not today Pansy. I've got to go." Draco rather forcefully removed his sleeve from Pansy's grasp and rushed from the Great Hall as fast as his legs would carry him without running. With his back to her, Draco couldn't see the look of puzzled fury on Pansy's face.

OOOOO

Pansy was livid. She wasn't accustomed to getting less than exactly what she wanted, but lately that was all she was getting, at least where Draco was concerned. She didn't understand the sudden change in his behavior. At first, she simply assumed it had something to do with the supposed task he had been assigned, however, as time passed it became clear that his task was not the only reason for his distraction. He was colder towards her than usual and harder to take to bed. He was always distracted, lost in thought, or just lost. Sometimes she found him in the library, other times she couldn't find him at all. It was as if he had simply vanished from the school.

A part of her was beginning to wonder if he was seeing someone else. She didn't think he would be stupid enough to do something as daft as to cheat on her, but she wasn't sure anymore. As she watched him walk away she decided enough was enough. She grabbed her bag and set off after him, determined to find out what was going on.

She followed behind him silently as he ascended the stairs, clearly set on getting to his destination. As he reached the sixth floor she expected him to turn right and head towards Ancient Runes, but instead he continued around the corner and up towards the seventh floor. Confused, Pansy followed, silent as a ghost, behind him as he climbed the stairs and then took a right. He walked down the corridor and made two more turns before arriving at the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. She knew now that he planned to go into the room of requirement. She hid around the corner, silently watching as he slipped inside the room. She waited, certain that a girl would be coming to meet him in the room, but as the minutes passed and no one else arrived, she became less certain. After a half hour of watching, and coming dangerously close to being late to class, Pansy abandoned her post to head towards Divination, vowing to watch him closely and to figure out just what exactly was going on with Draco.

OOOOO

Hermione had a very difficult time concentrating on her translations in Ancient Runes. She had been surreptitiously watching Draco all morning. She had tried not to, but inevitably her eyes would wander back towards him. They had raked over him more than once in the Great Hall that morning until he had stalked out of the room, clearly upset by something. When they arrived for class a half hour before, she had promised herself that she would stay focused on the work and not him. So far, however, she had been rather unsuccessful. She tried very hard not to say anything. It had been two weeks since Draco had kissed her. Two weeks since he had pulled her into that empty classroom, snogged her senseless, and then told her to pretend as though it hadn't happened. To her credit she had done just that. She shared shallow and polite conversation with him in Ancient Runes, completed assignments with him, and utterly ignored his existence everywhere else. Or, at least, she had pretended to ignore him. She had devoted an intolerable amount of time to thinking about him and, when the opportunity to go undiscovered presented itself, studying him. She was beyond perplexed by his actions and couldn't fathom what had caused him to kiss her or why she had allowed him. She hated how much she was aching for him to do it again. She wanted to feel his hands, firm on her flesh, his lips soft on hers and she loathed how much she longed for it. So she did her best to keep her observations to herself. It didn't matter why he looked pale or as though he hadn't slept.

"Are you all right?" She found herself asking anyway, unable to hold the words in any longer. She bit her lip as she looked at him, trying to stop herself from saying anything else.

"I'm fine," His lips quirked down in a small frown and he ran his hand through his hair in mild aggravation.

"It's just, you're looking somewhat pale." She continued to chew her lip as she looked him over. Her eyes darting from the circles under his eyes to his pale cheeks.

"Leave it alone Granger. It's none of your business." His reply was short and his tone was harsh as he looked away from her. She noticed his hair had fallen back into his eyes and hated how much she thought it made him look sexy.

"Right. Fine." She bit back. Her eyes widened slightly and she frowned as she turned back to her work.

"Nothing happened, remember?" He said without looking up. She was stung by his tone and the reminder of just how little that kiss meant to him.

"Look, I don't actually care, just thought you would want to know." She forced her tone to be callous and couldn't remember why she had said anything in the first place. He was right, it wasn't any of her business and she would certainly be better off if she simply stopped worrying about him. She had enough to worry about as it was, what with helping Harry defeat Voldemort and her seemingly endless work load.

"Oh yes, thank you for telling me I look terrible." Draco rolled his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he continued working on his part of the translation.

"You're welcome." She quipped and turned her attention back to her work, frustrated with herself for bothering with him in the first place.

OOOOO

"Things are complicated." He found himself saying several minutes later. What was he doing?

"So you said." He noticed that she shifted, almost imperceptibly, towards him, her eyes glancing towards him for the briefest of moments.

"They've become even more complicated, if you can imagine." He didn't know why he was telling her this, they couldn't talk about it, not really and certainly not here, in the middle of Ancient Runes, but there was a part of him which suddenly wanted her to know everything. He wanted to tell her that he had been forced into becoming a Death Eater, that he was supposed to kill Dumbledore, but instead would probably just wind up dead himself because he didn't actually want to kill anyone. He wanted her to know that he was terrified and that he didn't want any of it. He just wanted to live his life free of the megalomaniac, free of his father, free to do what he wanted for a change. He wanted to tell her that those few kisses they had shared had meant something to him and that he had played those moments over and over in his mind, wanting to be able to do it again.

"I probably have some idea." She still hadn't looked at him properly, though she had shifted ever so slightly more towards him. He noticed her biting her lip again and couldn't help but stare at her lips, biting back a groan. Did the witch have any clue what she did to him?

"I'm going to leave her." This time she did look up at him. He saw her eyebrows knit together in confusion and felt like smacking himself. Why had he said that? Why was he even talking to her?

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Pansy. I'm going to leave her." Had she slipped him veritaserum? Why couldn't he stop talking? He was being such an idiot.

"Ok...why are you telling me this?" She looked as confused as he felt and couldn't blame her.

"Why indeed?" He muttered under his breath. He wasn't sure what had compelled him to tell her that he planned to leave Pansy. It wasn't something he had planned to do and he knew I that if he did leave her there would be hell to pay, not only from Pansy but from his parents as well. The more he thought about it though, he simply didn't care, he just wanted to be shot of her. He wanted one area of his life that wasn't being controlled by his father or the Dark Lord.

"What?" Bugger she had heard him.

"Honestly, Granger, I don't know."

"Right, well maybe we should just focus on our translations then." He nodded stiffly and returned his attention to their assignment. His concentration was lost though and he couldn't focus on the task at hand, not with her sitting no more than half a foot away, not now that he had decided he was going to leave Pansy, the sooner the better.

Later, that evening, Draco found himself alone in a corner of the common room with Pansy. They had been studying with a few of their friends who had, one by one, left the table, leaving him alone with Pansy. He decided that now was as good of a time as any to break things off with her.

"Look, Pansy, I can't do this anymore." He blurted out. He hadn't intended to just blurt it out that way, but there it was.

"It is getting late. We can work on this tomorrow." Pansy said, gathering her things.

"No, Pansy, us. I can't do us anymore. I don't want to be with you anymore." He was not handling this well, but at least it would be over soon and he would be free of her.

"But our par-" He could see a look of confusion on Pansy's face as she realized he was serious.

"I don't care. I can't do this anymore." His voice was firm. He had to make sure that she understood that they were really done.

"Is there someone else?"

"No," He answered too quickly, "no, I just don't want to be together any longer. I can't keep pretending."

"Pretending?! What do you mean pretending?"

"I don't love you Pansy and you don't love me. I'm tired of acting otherwise."

"Draco you can't do this." He could see tears forming in her eyes, but he felt little remorse for his actions.

"No Pansy, I can't do us anymore. We're done. I've already told my father." The last part was a lie, but he had a feeling it was the only thing that would make her believe him.

"I hate you and we're not done! Just wait until my father hears about this!" She had angry tears in her eyes as she grabbed her bag and stormed away. A few people had turned to see what the commotion was about but a glowering look from him had them quickly turning back around. He let a small smirk grace his features as he headed out of the common room. It felt good to be free.

A/N: Thoughts? I'd love to hear them! The next chapter should be on the way soon!