Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: Thank you for 15 reviews! Here is chapter 5 as promised!
Chapter 5
Hermione sat in the common room, staring down at the notes she had gathered for the week. Despite what had happened between her and Malfoy she had still done her research on the Vanishing Cabinet and possible spells she and Malfoy could perform to repair it. It had been a few days since their kiss, and now that it was Tuesday night, Hermione was unsure as to whether or not she should head down to the Room of Requirement for her and Malfoy's agreed upon meeting time.
As she thought back to their kiss, Hermione felt her face heat up. Once again, Malfoy had pushed her away from him and left her embarrassed, confused and hurt on the ground below him. She cursed herself for not having learned her lesson the first time he had pushed her away in the boy's bathroom a few weeks ago. No, instead of taking the hint she had once again forced herself onto Malfoy only for him to horribly reject her. She quite honestly didn't even know why she had initiated that kiss. It was certainly a spur of the moment decision that she had not thought through at all. The rational part of her brain seemed to disappear in that moment and her impulsive, reckless side took over. She didn't actually like Malfoy... did she? She shook her head. No. That wasn't possible. He had tormented her for the last six years and he hated her and every other muggleborn like her. No, liking him was out of the question.
The worst part of it all was that she had actually really enjoyed the kiss. The only other person she had kissed in her life was Viktor Krum back in 4th year and that had just been a short couple of pecks on the lips. The kiss with Malfoy was entirely different. It was fiery, it was passionate, it was exciting and it was something straight out of the romance muggle movies she watched sometimes with her mum back at home. It made her feel feminine, it made her feel wanted and Malfoy knew just how to encourage her to keep going. For the first time in her life, Hermione had felt desirable during that kiss. She had felt Malfoy's arousal under her and rather than grossing her out like she thought it would, it had made her feel a surge of confidence and a rush of excitement that she had had that effect on someone. It was everything a girl would have wanted out of her first kiss.
Too bad it meant nothing. she thought, slightly bitterly.
Although she wanted nothing more than to abandon the deal she had made with Malfoy and leave him in her past, Hermione told herself that she would help him repair the cabinet and then never speak to him again. She knew the punishments he endured as a child for coming second to best to her were not her fault, but she told herself that helping him complete this one task that his family expected him to complete would make up for all the pain he had endured from her success. It would help lift the guilty weight on her chest after he had told her about his childhood. So she would show up to their meetings every Tuesday and Friday night, she would share her notes she had made with him, she would practice any spells they had to learn together and she would repair the cabinet with him by the end of the year. She would no longer continue her questions about his life and she would keep their interactions strictly about repairing the cabinet. Or at least she would try.
Draco stood in front of the Vanishing Cabinet, staring at it in silence. This was getting repetitive. He was tired of getting his hopes up regarding the repairment of the cabinet only for those hopes to come crashing down the next second.
It's your own fault. he thought angrily.
He had been the one to push Granger away. He had been the one to throw away her help before she could even offer him anything useful to go on. And he cursed himself horribly because of it. Not only had he lost any help with the cabinet, but he had actually enjoyed the kiss. Kissing Granger was different from kissing other girls. It was unlike anything he'd experienced. She was… hesitant and unsure of herself. She was innocent and unaware of the effect she could have on someone. So unlike Pansy, who knew she could sleep with any man she wanted.
When he and Granger had kissed, Draco had actually felt something. A spark of something buried deep within him that roared to life when their lips met. He has wanted nothing more than to throw her onto the carpet in front of him and have his way with her just so he could fully unleash that spark within himself. So why the fuck had he pushed her away? Because he was a paranoid fucking idiot who couldn't fathom putting his trust in anyone but himself. It had seemed too convenient, the way she had gotten him to open up to her and forced him to be vulnerable before she swooped in to kiss him. Granger threatened the boundaries of the wall he had worked so hard to build up around himself and Draco couldn't bear that.
"Fuck!" he yelled, lashing out at a nearby table piled high with random objects and grabbing the first thing he saw before chucking it as far off as he could. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" he repeatedly smashed his fist into the table next to him.
"What are you doing?" he heard a familiar feminine voice behind him. He froze in his actions before turning around to face her.
Her curly hair was once again tied up into a bun at the top of her head, much to Draco's disappointment. She sported her usual muggles jeans and a knitted navy jumper with a large 'H' on it. He felt his stomach knot in a mixture of jealousy and annoyance as he noticed the jumper to be a classic homemade Weasley jumper. His lip unconsciously curled up at the thought. He continued his inspection of her, smirking in slight satisfaction as he noticed the uncomfortable look on her face as she realized he was analyzing her. Good. His silver eyes lingered on her pouty lips and his mind flashed back to the kiss they had shared the other night. The combination of her effortlessly pretty look, the insufferable Weasley sweater and the nervous look on her face made Draco want nothing more than to reach out and grab her before shoving her back against the cabinet and snogging her senseless.
"You came." he stated, eyes trailing up her form and locking on her own.
"Well, yes. We had a deal." she said, lifting her chin up a bit higher. So she was a woman of her word. Adorable.
"I assumed after the other night-" he began, only to be cut off.
"Nothing happened the other night." she rushed out, cheeks red in clear embarrassment. "Let's just get started on this, okay?" she gestured to the cabinet behind him.
So she was taking the 'it never happened' route. "Fine." he agreed, staring at her expectantly.
She reached into her bag and began pulling out two textbooks and a stack of parchments with her notes scribbled across the pages. Draco's brow raised in slight amusement at the amount of research she had accumulated in just a few short days. Impressive.
"So I spent the last few days doing some research on possible repair routes we could take." she began to explain, summoning an empty table in front of them with her wand and laying out all of her research on it. "Here I've listed the basic mending charms we know, you know Reparo, Oculus Reparo, Papyrus Reparo. I know they probably won't be much use with a cabinet of this magical significance but I find it important to make sure I'm not ruling out the simple spells right away. Sometimes they can be very useful." she rushed to explain herself, glancing up at him as if she were expecting him to tease her for it. He didn't. He simply nodded, raising a hand and gesturing for her to continue.
She stared at him for a few more seconds before nodding and turning back to her next piece of parchment, moving it so it was in front of her before pulling one of the textbooks closer to her and flipping through the pages. "Next I thought we'd try this spell." she stopped at a page in the book, turning the book to face him and pushing it across the table to him. He reached down, picking up the unfamiliar book and inspecting the open pages. "The spell is Restituere Contritum. It's an ancient spell that supposedly works on most damaged magical artifacts… but it will take some practice getting it right." she explained as he read. "This spell isn't used very often anymore so we'll need to perfect the wand movements and the incantation before we perform it. I think if we start now, we should be able to try it out for next Tuesday." she finished.
"Okay." he simply said as he finished reading the pages which confirmed what she had said. The spell didn't look too difficult and between him and Granger he was sure one of them would be able to perfect it by the following week. "Let's begin then."
He watched as she nodded, picking up her wand and walking around the table until she stood next to him. He noticed that she stood a fair distance from him, ensuring they weren't touching. "Okay so I stayed up nearly all of last night studying the spell so just follow after me and pay attention to my movements, okay?" she said, glancing up at him before quickly averting her gaze.
He raised a brow at her obvious discomfort with being in such close proximity to him. It annoyed him quite a bit, though he pushed his annoyance to the side, nodding in agreement.
They spent the next hour and a half studying the properties of the spell, reenacting the wand movements when performing the spell and practicing the wand movements associated with the spell. Draco made sure to imitate her exactly as she demonstrated, knowing the slightest difference could render the spell useless. As they worked Draco couldn't help but appreciate her effort. She had really spent hours of her own time researching spells and practicing them so that she could have something to show for when they met up. The spell they were working on now was not one he had heard of before and he was sure she had somehow managed to sneak into the Restricted Section to access it. He felt an unfamiliar surge of pride as he admired her intelligence.
It was odd. Draco had grown up believing muggleborn witches and wizards were not as magically inclined as purebloods due to their muggle heritage. It was what his father had always taught him. He had always believed that blood purity determined magical ability, but the witch standing before him with her pile of notes and her teaching him a spell he didn't know certainly begged to differ. She was smarter and better at performing magic than most purebloods he knew; Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy just being a few.
As they finished up their preparation for the night, Hermione began packing away her research notes and books silently. Draco really did not like the cold shoulder she was giving him and although he knew he had been the one to push her away, he felt angry with her for acting like this.
"What, no kiss goodnight?" he asked sourly as she began heading for the exit without uttering a single word to him. He watched in satisfaction as she froze midstep, slowly turning her head to face him.
"Very funny, Malfoy." she hissed angrily, clutching her wand tightly in her hands.
He took a few steps towards her until they stood across each other. "I wasn't joking."
She flushed, shooting him a dirty look and stamping her foot in frustration. "You're insufferable, you know that?" she asked, voice rising slightly. "One day you're calling me a Mudblood and shoving me back on my arse and the next you're asking me for goodnight kisses? Merlin, Malfoy! You-"
He cut her off, reaching out to place a long finger under her chin and tilt her head up so he could capture her lips in a kiss. He wasn't sure if he had done it to shut her up or because he just really wanted the kiss, but either way he didn't really care. He just wanted to feel the high only Hermione Granger's body could provide. He internally smirked in satisfaction as he heard her wand clatter to the floor and felt her lips begin to move against his own, slowly and shyly but moving nonetheless. He deepened the kiss, snaking his tongue out to trace the seam of her lips and sliding his hand to the back of her neck. His free hand snaked up her waist and rested just under her breast, his thumb swiping back and forth across the underside. In this moment, he didn't give a fuck about the cabinet behind them or their snog session a few days before.
Suddenly, he felt a sharp stinging pain on his cheek as she reached up, slapping him hard across the face. His head snapped to the side at the impact and he furiously turned his head back to face her. What the fuck?
"Doesn't feel so good, does it?" she asked, her eyes brimming with unshed tears as she spoke slightly breathlessly. "How dare you, Malfoy? You think you can use me whenever you feel you want to but treat me horribly whenever you think I'm working up some plan to trick you?"
Draco clenched his jaw in anger as he glared down at her, ignoring the dull pain in his cheek from where she had slapped him. So she was doing this to get back at him then. Who the fuck did she think she was? "Fuck you, Granger." he hissed, reached out and wrapping his hand around her throat, pulling her forward until her front was flush against his. Her small hands reached up, clawing furiously at his hand wrapped around her neck. "I'll kiss you whenever I fucking please." he said before tilting his head down and capturing her lips in a bruising kiss.
He didn't care if she wasn't responding to his advances and he ignored the feeling of his skin peeling under her clawing of his hand. He continued his assault of her mouth until he felt her hands cease and her lips slowly part, allowing his tongue access to her mouth. The spark deep within him roared to life as his tongue explored the inside of her mouth, his fingers tightening around her throat as he relished in the feeling of her breasts pressed flush against him. She whimpered against him and Draco groaned into her mouth, biting down on her bottom lip before he pulled back, resting his forehead on her own as his icy eyes locked on her warm ones.
"You're mine, Granger." he said possessively before he could stop himself.
He had no idea what made him speak the words aloud. Perhaps it was her intelligence, or maybe her obliviousness of the effect she could have on a man. Perhaps it was the fact that she represented everything good in the cold, dark world that Draco lived in. Maybe it was the fact that she was so forbidden to him, being a Mudblood and Potter's best friend. Or maybe it was the fact that despite everything that he had done to her, she had still shown up, sticking to her promise to help him. She had seen the cruel, broken and battered side of him and she had still come back. She was trustworthy. She was reliable. She was kind, and she was pure. Whatever it was, he didn't give a damn. All he knew was that he desperately wanted Hermione Granger and he would have her.
She stared at him in shock before turning her head away from him, effectively breaking their eye contact. His hand dropped from her throat and fell lamely to his side. She reached down to pick up her bag and wand before turning on her heel and speeding out of the room.
He cursed loudly, moving to throw the sheet back over the cabinet before he too gathered his things and headed out of the room and back to the dungeons.
Hermione ran all the way back to Gryffindor tower, hurriedly muttering the password to the portrait before speeding inside. She sighed in relief as the portrait shut behind her and she was glad that it was late, meaning everyone had already gone up to their beds. She didn't know how she would have explained her absence and her frazzled appearance to Harry, Ginny or even Ron, who seemed to have been recently distancing himself from Lavender and drifting back to their trio.
She dashed up to her dorm, dropping her things onto her trunk and tucking herself into bed, not bothering to change as she closed the curtains around herself. She laid on her back, staring straight up as she replayed what had just happened over in her head. Malfoy was insufferable! She couldn't believe him! How dare he kiss her after what he had done to her the last time they had met up? How dare he think he could do with her as he pleased but not allow her to kiss him when she pleased? How dare he! He was spoiled, entitled, confusing and completely out of line. But a part of her, the one that was intrigued by him, the one that enjoyed the way he made her feel when they kissed, had still kissed him back. That part of her had thrown aside her self respect and responded to his kiss despite his forcefully aggressive approach. Although she knew his rough advances were unhealthy and maybe even a little cruel, the small insecure part of herself sort of liked it.
She groaned aloud, raising her hands to cover her face. She wasn't like this. She wasn't like Lavender or Parvati, who were boy crazy and allowed males to treat them in any way they pleased. She was Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of her age! She didn't allow boys to walk all over her or treat her badly and still let them have their way with her, especially not if those boys were Draco Malfoy. As she thought about this and repeatedly told herself she would not allow it to happen again, she knew she was lying to herself. She knew that she could say all of this now and prepare herself as best as she could, but when she actually faced him she would melt like butter in his hands.
"You're mine." his words replayed in her head and she felt a rush of butterflies erupt in her stomach. He had sounded so sure of himself, as if she really were his.
He's your enemy. she reminded herself, hands fiddling with the end of her jumper. But was he still her enemy?
People could change… she liked to think of herself as someone who was always willing to give someone a chance to redeem themselves. It was true, Malfoy had tormented her throughout her years at Hogwarts. He had been the first person to call her Mudblood and he still did call her it when he was upset. But after what he had told her when they had met last… about his childhood… she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He had been raised on the mentality that muggleborns were beneath him. He had been hurt and abused and uncared for growing up and he had simply been repeating what he was taught when he regarded her. His ideologies were all he had known for his entire life and Hermione felt that was something to consider when regarding him as an enemy.
But he's not a little boy who's following in his fathers footsteps anymore… she thought to herself. He was growing up now, and he was able to change his mind about his prejudiced ways if he pleased.
She sighed, turning over onto her side and curling into herself. She would have to figure out what she was to do about this whole Malfoy situation by Friday when they were scheduled to meet up again.
A/N: Please read and review! I love hearing what you guys think so far!
