Sooo, I kinda want to apologize for the last chapter (and maybe a little for this one too), I felt like it was a little rushed because I just wanted to get something out there to you guys. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed it and enjoy this one regardless. Let me know what you think!
Hermione walked through the empty potions classroom to the closet at the back of the room where at least a hundred cauldrons were stacked up on shelves. The room had only a bench and a utility sink, the perfect place for the most perfectly agonizing punishment.
Scrubbing cauldrons! She couldn't believe it. But Hermione supposed she should be happy that she hadn't gotten expelled, she cringed at the memory of her indiscretion. How could she be so childish? How could she of let her emotions get so out of hand?
Well at least she could suffer through her punishment alone. She might've died from embarrassment if she were stuck in this tiny room with Malfoy.
Hermione set to work. Placing the cauldrons on the floor, filling them with hot water and soap and letting them soak, she attempted to find a sponge she thought was going to be suitable enough to scrape the layers of grime that had been baked onto the cast iron.
She sighed deeply as she sat down, legs sprawled with a cauldron in between them and set to work scrubbing, she could hear the sound of foot steps traveling across the classroom in her direction.
Perfect, she thought to herself, probably Professor Snape coming to make my life even more miserable.
The door to the closet opened and closed as Hermione was focusing on a particularly stubborn gritty substances that refused to give way to its hold on the cauldron. She was trying not to over analyze what said substance might've been when an all to familiar voice broke the silence.
"Just lovely."
She froze as her heart sunk. Why couldn't it of been Snape?
Blood rushed to her cheeks and she could feel the burn from it. She looked up into the icy blue eyes of one Draco Malfoy.
This day could not possibly get any worse…
He tossed a pack he had been carrying on his shoulder onto the table. "Glad to see you've finally got some sense and started representing the best house at Hogwarts." He motioned with his chin to her shirt, the color of Slytherin.
Hermione hadn't thought too hard on her choice in clothes. She had thrown on a pair of old jeans and a dark green tee that had white paint splattered here and there from when her and her parents had repainted their living room. She regretted her choice in clothing instantly.
Her tongue burned with a comeback, but instead she gritted her teeth and turned her attention back to the task at hand. She was not going to feed into him. She was not going to cause yet another disastrous scene.
Malfoy stood for a minute with his arms crossed. Towering over the Gryffindor, waiting, hoping for a retort. When none came he chortled, moving across the room to the sink where he plucked a sponge from the rim, sat down at one of the cauldron across from Hermione, and began to slosh the bubbly soapy water around. He just wanted to get this over with.
They moved pretty quickly for a haphazard team. With the two of them scrubbing, rinsing and putting the cauldrons up within 2 hours they were down to the last ten.
They had sat in silence, working. Luckily, as it turns out the scrubbing took more attention than one would think, so there wasn't much time for either to really attempt to annoy the other. And hadn't they sat in silence most nights like this anyway?
Hermione stopped then, using her forearm to wipe her brow where some water had splashed. She hadn't gone to their room last night, not after their little incident. She wondered if he had.
She glanced at Draco through her lashes. His brow was furrowed in concentration and his tongue was sticking out between his teeth slightly.
Hermione noticed that he did that often when he seemed to be deep in thought. She knew if he was enjoying a particular book because the tell-tale tip of his tongue would just peek out past his teeth.
The dark circles under his eyes were still there, she wanted to smooth them away. She wanted to run her fingertips across all the worried lines on his face, until they were smooth and relaxed.
He was wearing his normal Hogwarts uniform. He had his sleeves rolled up, with his forearms elbow deep in the cauldron he was working on. She looked down at her fingertips then.
My fingers are all pruned…
"Don't worry, I'm sure your boyfriend the Weasel won't mind." Draco said vaguely, still scrubbing enthusiastically. Hermione hadn't even realized she spoke out loud.
She looked up again and this time she met the blue eyes that made her squirm. She should've been cross with him for acting like an arse, but she was far to use to it by now. They sat like that, just looking at each other, until the tension in the room felt suffocating.
"I'm sorry for what happened." Was all that she could think to say to break through the rigidity of the situation.
Draco's eyes dropped from hers to her bottom lip, which she was suddenly aware that she was chewing on.
All Draco could look at was the bottom lip. He wanted to steal it away from her teeth and taste it between his own.
He shifted uncomfortable as his cock twitched at the sight of her shirt, just slightly wet in certain places, clinging to just the right parts of her. It made his mouth water when he could just make out her nipples, beginning to harden beneath the moist material.
He wanted to devour her. It was too much for him to bare, he had lost all restraint when he reached forward and grabbed her by the ankle. The jean fabric was rough against his skin, he wanted to feel her flesh between his fingers instead.
Hermione's eyes grew wide as Malfoy suddenly stretched across the space between them and took ahold of her. He was so strong, it took no effort at all for him to slide her across the floor.
She couldn't bite back the yelp of surprise that escaped from between her lips.
She swung her other leg just in time so that she didn't knock the half full cauldron over, and drag it with her.
Everything was in slow motion. She knew she would practically be on top of Malfoy in just a second, but it was taking forever.
It was terrifying. She was trying to figure out what Malfoy was playing at. But the only expression on his face was a devilish grin and a fierce determination in his eyes. He reminded her faintly of a wolf getting ready to consume a sheep.
And for some reason this caused an intense heat to pool in her belly.
"Do I make you nervous, Granger?" His voice like velvet and his eye half lidded. He was all predator and she would be lying if she said it didn't fill her chest heavy with need.
And then she panicked.
She twisted her body around, grabbing at her wand, whirled back to face a Malfoy who had a cocked brow and sported a challenging grin. She didn't even stop to think about what she was doing as she pointed to the cauldron next to Malfoy and barely squeaked out "Ebublio!" before she was inches from his face.
Draco stopped pulling Granger towards him as he turned to look at the cauldron, just as a giant bubble was inflating and floating out from the top of the soapy water. He turned back to look at Gryffindor's princess, she had wide eyes and her mouth was agape, but before Draco could think to move away, the bubble exploded with a distinguished pop.
Draco sat back in surprise as a billion tiny, shiny, wet bubbles covered his entire body. Hermione had rolled onto her back, gripping at her stomach, which no doubt ached from the amount of giggles and laughter she was exuding at the site before her.
He stood up then, trying to swipe and shake the bubbles away, but his efforts proved useless except to cause Hermione laughing fit to worsen. She was gasping from laughing so hard and clutching at her stomach. He was flailing and waddling.
Somewhere in the back of Hermione's thoughts, she decided he looked like a penguin that had been put through the washing machine.
The bubbles slowly began to disperse, with each minuscule wet plop, another inch of Malfoy was uncovered. As the last of the bubble dissolved back into the universe, Hermione had managed to compose herself enough to sit up, though she was still racked with a giggle here or there, brought on by the horrified look on Malfoys face.
"Very funny, Granger." He half chuckled himself. He flashed her a toothy grin before turning and walking towards the table where his bag lay.
At least he was in good humor she thought to herself.
Draco was soaked. His shirt and slacks clung to him uncomfortably.
Hermione was still trying to stifle a chuckle when Draco slid his wet shirt over his head and splatted it down on the table.
She swallowed down the laugh that was building in her throat. Heat flooded her cheeks and turned them a violent red.
Draco hadn't even thought twice. He was ruffling through his sack, he always kept a change of clothes with him during quidditch season so he could switch after practice.
The sudsy water that had soaked through his shirt left his skin looking slick. It accentuated the ropey muscles that lined his body. Muscles Hermione couldn't help but appreciate. Her mouth watered at the sight of his shoulders and forearms flexing here and there as he continued the pursuit through his belongings.
It was if Hermione wasn't even in the room.
His pants were hanging low enough that she could make out small dimples in his lower back. His muscles stretched taught and strong, made a hot coil burn even lower in her belly. He was beautiful…
But this is Draco Malfoy, her head screamed. He wasn't supposed to be beautiful.
Her mind was fighting hopelessly against her body. She stood up, every fiber of her being telling her to sit back down. She took slow careful steps towards Malfoy, trying to will her legs to stop with every step.
When she got so close to him that he could feel her hot breath fan across the nape of his neck, he froze.
Draco could hear the faint rustling of her clothes as Granger moved behind him. For a second, he panicked, thinking maybe she had been given orders to get rid of him. The Dark Lord had been giving his followers similar orders, after all.
But instead of feeling a curse or jinx intrude his flesh, the warmth of her soft pants invaded every nerve across his exposed back.
He strained to listen to the sound of her breathing. He closed his eyes, focusing on nothing but the deep lulling of her breath and attempting to gain control of his racing heart.
Hermione raised a hand up so tentatively that the voice inside her head screaming that this was not right, nearly won out.
Her soft fingers reached out and stroked so lightly against his shoulder blade as it made its decent down his spin that electricity shot through Draco, making him shiver and groan deep in his throat.
The sound that Hermione evoked struck her hard, making her legs quiver and the heat in her core intensify. She nearly had to grab at his hip to keep herself from falling down.
Draco slowly crooned his head, just so he could get a glimpse at Granger, he dare not move anymore. She was biting her lip and it drove him mad. His cock was already tight against the uncomfortable wet fabric of his pants.
He felt as if he were trying to get a look at a trapped animal, he was too afraid he would scare her away. But Hermione was so transfixed on the muscles jumping under her fingertips, she hadn't noticed his blazing eyes searching for her.
She traced along the curve of the muscles along his lower back, mesmerized on the tiny hairs that stood on edge covering his skin. Then without thinking, she closed the small gap between them and, with such tenderness that made Malfoy hiss, placed a kiss between his shoulder blades.
It seared him. It felt as though embers grew from her lips and burned his skin, creating a wild fire in his veins. A growl rumbled deep in his chest, it was so primal that it startled her.
Hermione jumped back as the door to the classroom was opened and footsteps began heading towards the cauldron closet. She turned on her heals and quickly busied herself with the remaining cauldrons.
Malfoy was gripping so tightly to the fabric of his pack that his knuckles had gone white. Blood was pounding in his ears. He took a deep breath in an attempt to clear his head. He just managed to get his top button done and turn around to see Hermione messily putting up the remaining cauldrons before Snape opened the door and stepped in the room.
Hermione whirled around the room finishing up what needed to be done. She glanced at Malfoy, his face void of expression as she rushed past Professor Snape, avoiding his deadly glare.
Draco thought he heard her murmur "All done." As the Granger, in true Gryffindor form, hastily slipped past the head of Slytherin house without so much as a second look as Snape was boring his gaze into her.
He turned his stare on Draco then, a quizzical line to his brow. The blonde could only muster a shrug of his shoulders in response. Malfoy knew by the look in Snape's eyes that he was in for a very long, agonizing discussion about matters he wished he knew nothing about.
Draco nodded and agreed and grunted on occasions he felt called for it as he focused in and out on their conversation. But his mind was still on the cindering of his skin that he was sure was burning a scar into his soul.
The prodigal son of Slytherin lay in bed that night, wishing he had, had the guts to use the wild haired know it all as target practice instead of letting her walk away from their spat unscathed. Then maybe she would be in as much pain as he was.
She was torturing him. Creeping into his head, crumbling everything he thought he knew. She was killing him. Figuratively of course, but killing him all the same.
Hermione hadn't noticed that her hands kept fluttering to her lips until Ron had said something to her later the next morning in the Great Hall.