Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: Thank you for guys the reviews, favourites and follows! They encouraged me to upload the next chapter today! Here is chapter 2:
Chapter 2
Hermione woke up the next morning, groaning in slight pain as she stretched on her bed before rubbing her aching back. Malfoy's tossing around of her body as if she were a rag doll the day before had left her muscles aching. Gritting her teeth, she pulled herself out of bed and gathered her toothbrush, towel and toiletries before heading towards the bathrooms. Turning on the shower, she stepped into the hot water, revelling in the way it seemed to sooth her aching body. As she began lathering her shampoo through her curls, she let her mind wander to the events of the previous night.
She was still in shock at the fact that she had caught Draco Malfoy of all people having a full on break down in the boy's bathroom. The boy who acted as if he were above humanly emotions such as crying and well… feeling. This entire school year Hermione had noticed a certain coldness about him, almost as if something had happened to him over the summer that had gotten rid of the childish, cowardly boy who cried to his father after any minor inconvenience. He now seemed like a much more private, quiet and determined man who was fighting some sort of invisible battle that no one knew of but him. Gone was the well put together, aristocratic persona that Draco Malfoy was known for. Nowadays, Malfoy looked constantly tired, the purplish circles under his eyes telling her that he was sleeping restlessly. His usually slicked back platinum hair was now messy and carelessly sitting atop his head. She had also noticed yesterday that he seemed to be a bit more aggressive than he had been in their previous years. Sure he had bullied her and her friends, calling them names and such, but he had never really laid a physical hand on her before.
Finishing up her shower, Hermione wrapped her towel around herself and stepped out in front of the mirror. She wiped away the steam from the mirror with her hand and inspected herself. Her lips had teeth marks in them from her constant gnawing of them the night before. Her eyes had the slightest bags under them due to her lack of sleep. As she raised her hand to push her hair from her face, her eyes fell onto her wrist. A dark, ugly bruise was evident on the otherwise pale skin of her wrist. Her head whipped down to inspect the bruise. She could make out the shapes of long fingers with the bruise and she gasped as she raised her other hand, inspecting the opposite wrist. Both wrists sported identical, purple hand shaped bruises circled around her small wrist. Hermione felt herself choke up slightly as she lightly touched each bruise with the opposite hand, wincing in slight pain at the contact. Had Malfoy really grabbed her that hard yesterday? Shaking her head she turned back to the mirror, inspecting herself further. She let her towel drop and pool around her feet as she inspected her body. She had a slightly petite hourglass frame, not nearly as well endowed as Pansy Parkinson or Lavender Brown but she didn't think her body was horrible. Her waist dipped in just above her belly button and swelled out slightly into her hips. Her breasts were a decent size, or so Ginny loved to praise her. C cups sat on her chest, more than enough for her hands, though she wasn't sure if they'd be enough to fill out the hands of the opposite gender. Hermione immediately flushed and pulled her towel back up over herself. What was she thinking? Why did that matter?
Although she would never admit to it aloud, Hermione did wonder what it would be like to be with a man. Sure, her and Viktor Krum had shared a kiss in her fourth year when he had left back to Durmstrang, but that was just that once and it had lasted all but five seconds. She wondered what it would be like to be wanted by someone. Loved by someone in a way more than just a sister. She wondered what it felt like to be Ginny, constantly being pursued by someone and being able to snag any bloke she liked. Hermione didn't consider herself ugly or repulsive, but at times it seemed as though all anyone saw from her were her grades. She sighed, pushing her thoughts away as she dressed, making sure to pull the sleeve of her long sleeve down and over her bruised wrists, concealing them from the public eye.
As she headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast, her mind once again drifted back to Malfoy. She needed to find out what it was he was so upset about the night before. What had gotten him so beaten down that he ended up crying on the shoulder of his school enemy? Hermione glanced up as she neared the Great Hall, stopping in her tracks as she saw Ron and Lavender enter the hall ahead of her, hands interlocked. Suddenly feeling her appetite diminish, Hermione turned on her heel and headed towards the library instead, completely unaware of the silver haired Slytherin following behind her.
Draco followed a good distance behind her, noting the way that she had seemed repulsed by the sight of the Weasel and that Gryffindor bint. So Granger did have the hots for Weasley, after all. Pathetic. He followed silently behind her, realising without surprise that she was headed towards the library.
Good. he thought. I'll need her somewhere private if I want to corner her into keeping her mouth shut about last night.
She had told him last night that she wouldn't tell anyone about what had happened, but Draco couldn't be sure. He had no reason to trust her. Sure, she had offered him some sort of… comfort… when he had needed it, but for all he knew that could have been a part of her plan all along. To give him a false sense of security so she could lure him into her arms. A part of him knew that this wasn't true. Hermione Granger was pure. She was genuine in her actions, she was kind to those who needed kindness, she was warm spirited and strong willed and she was everything Draco was not. She was everything that Draco didn't know he had needed until he had gotten a fix of it last night. She was like a drug, a drug that injected some light into his dark, pathetic life and he found himself itching for more. So here he was, on his way to pretend that he was following Granger to ensure she kept her mouth shut when in reality he knew it was simply to interact with her some more. He didn't like her -in fact he pretty much despised her, but he needed a fix of her. He needed to feel that flicker of hope that accompanied her once more.
As he entered the library, he looked around at the deserted area. No one came here before breakfast except Granger. Typical. He followed her into an aisle of books in the back of the library, watching as she analyzed the shelves above her, back to him and completely unaware of his presence. He took the opportunity to analyze her body from the back. She wore her muggle clothing today, a pair of faded blue jeans which hugged the curves of her hips perfectly and a fitted navy blue long sleeve. Draco unconsciously licked his lips as he eyed her bum appreciatively before his eyes drifted up, skimming over her chocolate curls which she had pulled up and off her neck into a clip at the nape of her neck. Taking a step forward, Draco raised an arm, pulling a book from the shelf just beside her head and effectively sandwiching her between him and the bookshelves. He smirked in satisfaction as she jumped, whipping around to face him, only to find herself face to face with his chest.
"Granger," he drawled, not looking down at her as he skimmed the cover of the book he had pulled from the shelf in feigned interest.
"Did you… follow me?" she asked in a hushed tone, glancing down the aisle as if afraid Madam Pince would come and scold them.
"Are you the only one allowed in the library, Mudblood?" he asked, brow raised as he stared down at her. He frowned at the slight shadows under her eyes and the raw skin of her lips. That wasn't right. These physical signs of stress were not meant for her innocent face.
"What do you want?" she asked, noticeably uncomfortable as she realized their close proximity. She raised a hand to his chest, attempting to push him back and out of her personal space.
"I just came by to make sure you hadn't opened that fat mouth of yours about what you saw yesterday." he said, rooted in his spot as he ignored her feeble attempts at pushing him away.
She glared up at him before she dropped her hands, knowing her attempts at pushing him away were useless. He had proved yesterday that he was stronger than he looked. "I haven't. I won't." she said, shaking her head in disbelief at his insult before she turned around again, combing through the shelves once more.
Draco stifled a groan as her lower body rubbed against his crotch when she whipped back around, her back to him. What the fuck? Was Granger turning him on? He gritted his teeth and grabbed her wrist that was raised to the shelf, forcing her to turn around to face him again. "Don't you know it's rude to turn your back on someone speaking to you?" he hissed in irritation.
Hermione cried out as his grip on her already injured wrist tightened and she felt her eyes water as she glared up at him. "Malfoy, you're hurting me!" she whispered, ripping her wrist free from his hand and rubbing the tender skin.
Draco faltered, staring down at her in confusion. What was she talking about? He watched as she rubbed at her wrist before he snatched her hand back and pushed the sleeve of her shirt up. He stared in disbelief at the angry purple bruises on her wrist in a clear shape of his hand. He raised his other hand to lightly trace the bruise and he felt a fucked up twinge of satisfaction as he analyzed the mark. So he had marked her.
"I'm surprised you haven't reported those." he said, voice calm as he dropped her wrist watching as she scrambled to pull her sleeves back over the marks.
"I don't know how I'd explain them," she admitted quietly. "Look, Malfoy. I won't tell anyone. I wasn't going to tell anyone even before you came today. Just… leave me alone, okay?" she pleaded, nervously looking down the aisle. He supposed the position he had forced her into did look compromising if anyone were to walk by.
He wasn't done getting his fix though. "Why?" He asked, raising a hand to twirl a loose curl around his finger.
"Why what?" she asked, eyes darting nervously between his finger and his face.
"Why haven't you told anyone, Granger?" He said, rolling his eyes.
"I don't know! I just didn't, okay? Forget it ever happened!" she said sharply, looking away.
Draco's eyes narrowed and he felt his stomach lurch in irritation. Forget about it? He wished he could forget about it but her stupid fucking act of kindness would not stop replaying in his head. Suddenly upset by her words, Draco snarled and raised a hand to tightly grip her jaw in his fingers. He forced her head up to look at him and bent his head slightly until their noses nearly touched.
"I can't." he said through gritted teeth. "I can't fucking forget about it. Perhaps you should've kept walking instead of stopping to inspect that bathroom last night if you're so desperate to forget it." he glared down at her for a few seconds, revelling in the slight panic in her eyes before he released her face from his hand and stepped back, dusting off his clothes.
"What the hell Malfoy!" Hermione hissed once he stepped back, reaching her arms out and roughly shoving him. "Stop doing things like that!"
"Things like what?" he asked in an innocent tone, lip curling into a smirk as she shoved him. She was a fiesty one.
Before she could respond, he turned on his heel and headed off. Although tormenting Granger was fun, he had to check on the vanishing cabinet.
Up on the seventh floor in the Room of Requirement, Draco stood, staring in frustration at the cabinet. Once again it had returned a mangled bird, proving that the cabinet was still ineffective. He raised his hands to roughly scrape through his hair and down his face. What the fuck was he going to do? Nothing he was trying was working with this fucking cabinet!
He began pacing back and forth in front of the cabinet, his mind reeling for ideas. If only he could get someone's help… a second opinion if you will. Someone who knew what he was doing wrong and how he might be able to fix it. Someone who was smart enough to know about repairing magical objects. But of course he couldn't. He couldn't tell anyone. This was his task. The Dark Lord had given it to him. Besides, who was smart enough to know more than Draco himself about repairments? He began to scoff at the thought when he faltered in his step.
Granger. If anyone was, she was smart enough to know how to fix the cabinet. She spent all her time with her nose stuffed in those fucking books and she was top of their class. But how would he enlist her help without letting her know that he was using the cabinet to sneak Death Eaters into the castle? She would never help him once she realized she was dealing with the Dark Side.
Figure it out, Draco. he thought as he stared at the cabinet. Figure it out or you fucking die.
A/N: What do you guys think about Draco using Hermione to help him fix the cabinet? Please review and let me know what you think about this chapter! Reviews help me write faster!
No smut in this chapter since I didn't see anywhere it would've fit in nicely, but the next few chapters will definitely have some.
