Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 7
The weekend passed by painfully slowly as Hermione was forced by Madam Pomfrey to stay in the Hospital Wing until at least Monday. Her days consisted of Harry and Ron bringing her meals and sitting by her side while they repeatedly apologized for what had happened on Friday evening. She knew Harry especially felt terrible about the whole situation and she could see the guilty look on his face every time he looked at her. She had repeatedly told him it was alright, that it was an accident and that he needn't beat himself up over what had happened. She was getting better and she would be out of the Hospital Wing and back to her regular schedule soon enough.
Before she knew it it was Monday and she was finally allowed to head back to Gryffindor tower where she had showered and gotten ready for her classes for the day. As she made her way down to the dungeons for her Potions lesson she was abruptly pulled into an empty classroom and she opened her mouth to let out a panicked scream only for it to be covered by a large, cool hand. Her eyes flicked up and she relaxed slightly when she realized it was Malfoy. He shot her a devilishly handsome smirk before he dropped his hand from her mouth and took a step back from her, inspecting her form up.
"Malfoy!" she stared up at him in surprise. "I have Potions to get to! You do too, as a matter of fact." she pointed out, knowing they shared Potions together this year.
"I wanted to see you." he explained as if it were obvious, reaching out to the buttons of her white school shirt before he began unbuttoning the top few.
Hermione blushed, smacking his hands away and crossing her arms protectively over her chest. "What are you doing?" she asked hesitantly.
He rolled his eyes. "I want to see it." he demanded, gesturing to her torso. "Let me see how it's healing."
"W-what!" she exclaimed in shock at his boldness. "You can't just unbutton my shirt, Malfoy! I-"
He cut her off, easily pulling her arms away from her chest. "Please, Granger. It's nothing I haven't seen." he reminded her and Hermione felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her as she recalled him ripping open her shirt on Friday to inspect her wounds.
"That was different," she said meekly, averting her gaze.
He ignored her, continuing in his mission to unbutton her blouse. He brushed aside her half hearted attempts to stop him and stepped back when her shirt was unbuttoned fully. "Sit." he demanded, pointing to the desk beside them.
She glared at him in annoyance. Who did he think he was ordering her around like that? Before she could open her mouth to tell him off he placed his cool hands on either side of her waist and lifted her. He propped her up on the desk and without another word he pushed her shirt off her shoulders. She shyly crossed her arms over her bra covered chest. She had never been so exposed in front of a boy before and she wasn't sure what he would think of her plain, lightly laced baby blue bra. He let out a huff of annoyance, once again forcing her arms down.
"Enough, Granger. Stop acting like such a prude." he rolled his eyes before he bent slightly, inspecting her stomach. The scars had now completely faded and there was nothing left, the pale skin of her stomach once again smooth and clean.
Hermione glared down at his platinum head as he inspected her and she resisted the urge to hit him across the back of his head. How dare he call her a prude! She wasn't a prude! She was just… inexperienced. She didn't know how to react to Malfoy seeing her topless and his lack of attention to the fact that she was half naked in front of him hurt her feelings a bit. Was he unimpressed? Were her breasts too small?
Her thoughts were interrupted when he reached out to touch the skin. "It doesn't hurt anymore?" he asked, glancing up at her.
She clenched her jaw and shook her head, looking away. She knew she was being childish, but she couldn't help it. She was annoyed.
"What's wrong?" he asked in an exasperated tone, standing straight and staring down at her. "Are you upset I took your shirt off? I'm sorry," he said half-heartedly and Hermione knew he didn't mean it.
"I have to go to class, Malfoy." she muttered, reached down to grab her shirt only to be stopped when he grabbed her wrists.
"Come on, Granger. We said we'd be civil. What's wrong?" he squeezed her wrists a bit harder than necessary.
She huffed, averting her gaze as she mustered up the courage to admit what was bothering her. "It's just… Why did you call me a prude?" she felt childish as soon as the words left her mouth. "Was that some sort of a jab at me? Trying to say I'm the ugly bookworm who's never touched a guy?" she rushed out, letting her insecurities flow from her lips. "I've never been shirtless in front of a boy before so I don't really have anything to base this off but I'm pretty sure when a girl who you seem to enjoy snogging is sitting in front of you topless you don't just brush off the fact that she's topless! I mean, do you even find me attractive? Do you not like that I'm inexperienced? Do you like your women with bigger chests? Is that it because I-".
She was cut off when he stepped forward, standing between her thighs and capturing her lips in a kiss. She froze, trying to decide whether she should push him away or not. He seemed to have read her mind because he raised a hand to loosely wrap around her throat to keep her from pulling back as he probed her lips apart with his tongue. She sighed, granting him access to her mouth and his warm tongue slipped in. His free hand trailed up her stomach until it reached her breast and he cupped it in his hand, his other hand releasing her throat so it too could join the other. She let out a soft moan into his mouth as he massaged her breasts. He bit her bottom lip a bit painfully before he pulled away, trailing kisses down her throat. Hermione let out a breathy moan as she shut her eyes and let her head fall back, granting him better access to her.
His head trailed down her neck until he was peppering kisses along her cleavage just over the cups of her bra. He reached up, pulling down the cups before he took a nipple in his mouth, his hand reaching up to pinch and pull gently at the other one. Hermione felt butterflies flutter in her lower stomach as she let out another moan, her hands raising up to tangle themselves in his platinum hair. His tongue circled her hardened nipple a few times before he sucked gently on it. He pulled away, turning to her other breast and doing the same to the other. She felt her panties dampen when he gently bit down on her nipple, not enough to hurt but just enough to make her gasp.
He raised his head from her chest and captured her lips in a rough, sloppy kiss. He reached up and grabbed one of her hands, guiding it down in between their bodies until it reached his covered crotch. She blushed as she felt his hardened cock under her hand.
"Ask me again if I'm not attracted to you." he said in a low, husky voice. He tightened his grip on her hand and used it to rub himself through his trousers.
Feeling encouraged, she began to move her hand on her own, rubbing the tented fabric with her small hand. She felt a rush of excitement when she heard him let out a groan, dropping his forehead to rest against hers as if he couldn't hold it up any longer.
"Fuck, Granger. You're more than enough." he hissed as he raised a hand to palm her naked breast again. "The fact that you're so inexperienced makes this all the better." he whispered, pinching one of her nipples with enough pressure to make her squeak in surprise. "I love the fact that I'm the only one to have touched these," he breathed, raising his other hand to pinch her other nipple.
She felt the wetness in her panties increase at his words as she palmed him through his pants. She was relieved, excited and giddy at his reassurance.
"And for the record," he moved to whisper in her ear, his hand kneading her breasts. "I like my women to be a handful." he nipped her earlobe before pulling down to look at her breasts in his hands. "And yours fit perfectly." he tilted his head down, suckling on her nipple once more.
She blushed, offering him a timid smile just as they heard commotion outside of the classroom door. Hermione frowned, reaching out to grab his wrist and check the time on his wristwatch. She gasped, pushing him away from her so she could hop off the desk before she grabbed her shirt, frantically rebuttoning it.
"We missed class!" she exclaimed, hastily grabbing her school bag off the stone floor.
He rolled his eyes, shrugging. "Who cares. You probably already know what Slughorn was planning on teaching today." he said, watching as she fixed herself up.
"That's not the point, Malfoy!" she hissed before nervously glancing at the door. She could hear students bustling around just outside of it. "Well… how do I look? Presentable?" she asked, smoothening down her skirt as she faced him.
"You look freshly snogged," he drawled, smirk on his lips as she blushed.
"Argh!" she crossed her arms over her chest. "Just… leave five minutes after me or something, okay?" she asked, not bothering to wait for a response before she sped out of the classroom.
She couldn't believe she had just done that! During class time nonetheless! Hermione sped down the corridor to her next class, her mind racing. Was she wrong to let Malfoy touch her so intimately without them even being official? They were barely even friends! She sighed, pushing aside her doubts. She had nearly died just a few days ago… dwelling on this wasn't worth it. She liked how Malfoy made her feel when they were together. And for now, that was reason enough to keep their little arrangement going.
Draco sat in the Slytherin common room after dinner on Tuesday, half heartedly listening to Pansy drone off about something or another next to him. He had been slacking off lately and last Friday's situation had kept him from working on the cabinet with Granger during their scheduled time. He was beginning to lose focus and he needed to refocus his attention on the most important thing in his life right now; fixing the cabinet. His life quite literally depended on it. Although his secret snog sessions with Granger were fun, he couldn't let himself fall too deep in. Granger getting hurt so badly had distracted him terribly and in his moments of worry he had allowed himself to grow too affectionate for her. He had to stick to the plan. Use Granger to fix the cabinet so he could allow his aunt and the other Death Eaters in and kill Albus Dumbledore.
She's going to fucking hate you when she finds out what you're doing. he told himself mentally. So don't get too comfortable.
Draco glanced down at his watch. It was nearly time to head up to the Room of Requirement and meet Granger so that they could attempt the spell on the cabinet. He had spent all weekend while Granger was recovering to practice the spell on various smaller magical artifacts. He had officially mastered it and he was ready to perform it on the cabinet. If things went according to plan… Dumbledore would be dead by the mid May -just a few weeks away.
"What do you say, Draco?" he heard Pansy's voice in his ear before her tongue swiped the skin of his ear lobe. "You haven't paid attention to me in forever!" she complained and her hand trailed down his stomach until it rested on his cock through his pants.
Draco glanced sideways at her, debating whether or not he should take her up on her offer and fuck her quickly before he met up with Granger. He didn't owe the Gryffindor anything… it wasn't like they were dating. He felt his cock twitch as Pansy continued massaging it and Draco gritted his teeth, reaching out to shove her hand away.
"Not today, Pansy." he muttered, standing and gathering his things before he headed up to the Room of Requirement.
He didn't know why he had rejected her, but he did. It was probably because he wasn't in the mood to hear Pansy's nagging voice in his ear any longer. Or at least that was what he told himself.
Once he entered the Room of Requirement, he headed over to their usual spot nearby the cabinet. Granger was already there, skimming the pages of a textbook as she sat on a table waiting for him. Draco cleared his throat as he approached her and she snapped her head up, her eyes falling on him. She offered him a smile as she hopped off the desk, standing before him.
"Ready to do this?" she asked, her voice a bit giddy.
He nodded, turning to face the cabinet as he pulled out his wand. "I've pretty much perfected the spell while you were recovering." he said, his mind racing.
If the spell worked and he ended up allowing the Death Eater into the castle… would he be able to keep that from Granger? Would he be able to complete his mission in secrecy so her opinion of him wouldn't change? He didn't know why he gave a damn about what she thought but for some reason he did. He knew Potter suspected him of some sort of dark activities; the wanker was terrible at hiding it. But he also knew that Granger did not believe it. She wouldn't be standing here next to him, offering him her help if she believed for a second that he was a part of the dark side.
"Okay." she nodded. "You've practiced on real broken objects?" she asked to which he nodded. "Alright then… go ahead." she gestured to the cabinet and stepped back, giving him some space.
Draco took a deep breath, pushing aside his hesitation before he lifted his wand. "Restituere Contritum." he recited the spell, his wand imitating the correct movements perfectly.
The cabinet glowed pink for a few seconds before it dimmed. He glanced over at Granger, who handed him a small bird she had transfigured. They would know whether or not the cabinet had been repaired if the bird came back alive after being placed in the cabinet. Pulling open the cabinet door, Draco placed the bird down on the open space and shut it closed. Now they would wait.
"It shouldn't take more than a few minutes." he said, turning to face her.
Granger nodded, nervously wringing her hands in front of her as she eyed the cabinet. He watched her, wondering what was going through her head. Was she hoping for the cabinet to work so she would no longer have to meet with him? Was she hoping it wouldn't work so she could continue meeting with him? Would she forgive him if she saw the tattooed Dark Mark on his forearm? Would she forgive him after what he was planning to do to the headmaster?
They turned back to the cabinet as they heard a noise from within. Draco held her breath as he pulled open the door and he felt his stomach plummet when he saw the bird he had placed in the cabinet just a few minutes ago. It was now laying dead. Although a small part of him was relieved; he wasn't sure that he was ready to complete the task yet, the larger part of him was furious. How many times was he going to fail this? He reached out, scooping the bird up into his hands and turned to hurl it across the room. He ignored the feminine gasp next to him as he slammed the cabinet door shut.
"Fuck!" he yelled, turning to the table Granger had been sitting on when he arrived. "How many fucking times am I going to go through this?" he continued, mostly to himself as he smashed his fist into the table. He felt a sharp sting of pain in his knuckles as he felt the skin split open.
He didn't care. He didn't care about any of it anymore. The Dark Lord had clearly given him the task of killing Dumbledore knowing full well that he would fail. He was probably laughing at him for even trying this hard. Draco had spent the entire school year -the last 7 months working on a plan and he had seen zero results. He had let his grades drop horribly, he had distanced himself from his house mates, he had stopped eating, stopped laughing, stopped living just to make this work. He had even put his pride aside and asked Hermione Granger for her help, only for that to have been futile.
He was distracted from his thoughts when he felt a warm hand wrap around his bleeding one. He turned to Granger, watching as she analyzed his knuckles. She raised her wand, about to mutter a simple healing charm before he ripped his hand from hers.
"I don't need your fucking help, Granger." he hissed, glaring at her. He knew this wasn't her fault, but he was angry and he needed to lash out at someone.
He ignored the hurt expression on her face as she attempted to grab his hand again. "Come on, Malfoy. Let me heal you." she said quietly.
"Fuck this." he muttered, shoving her hand aside as he headed for the exit of the Room of Requirement.
He was done for the night. He was going to seek out Pansy, fuck the shit out of her to let off some steam and come back to this fucking cabinet in a few days. He would find a way on his own. Like he always did.
"Malfoy, stop!" he heard her call after him as they exited the room. He ignored her.
She ran forward, stopping in front of him and blocking him from continuing down the corridor. "Look. It's alright, okay? We still have two months to work this out before the end of the year. I told you I would help you, and I will. Just give me some more time and I promise I'll find another way." she insisted, hands on his chest to hold him in place.
He began to push her away but she wasn't having it. "I promise, Malfoy!" she insisted, applying more pressure to his chest. "I promise I'll find another solution… just give me a week, two at the most!" she pleaded.
Draco looked down at her. He wanted nothing more than to shove her back on her arse as he had so many times before, but she sounded so sure of herself. Like she truly believed she could help him. He gritted his teeth in defeat, giving her the slightest nod. "Fine." he muttered.
He watched as a small smile spread across her face. "Come on… I haven't forgotten about 21 questions." she said, grabbing his non-injured hand and pulling him back towards the Room of Requirement. "I told everyone I had rounds for at least another two hours and I can't do much research now so we may as well." she explained before he could protest.
He sighed, not bothering to fight her. He was much too drained. Without another word they stepped back into the Room of Requirement, only this version took on the small cozy sitting area Granger loved so much. He rolled his eyes before collapsing onto the chair in front of the fire.
"Ask away." he said, leaning back in his chair as he faced her.
She promised she would find another solution and Draco was too tired to deny her help. He was desperate and he needed her. If he stepped another toe out of line, she would abandon him as she so firmly told him in the Hospital Wing last week. So he would control his angry tendencies and trust her. For now.
The pair sat in the Room of Requirement an hour later. Hermione had been asking him many surface level questions in an attempt to get him out of his foul mood. They had already gone over each other's favourite colours, favourite foods, favourite books, favourite subjects, first kisses and biggest pet peeves. She had discovered that his favourite colour was green, his favourite food was surprisingly chocolate chip cookies, his favourite subject was Potions, his first kiss was Astoria Greengrass and his biggest pet peeve was well… Harry. She had thrown a pillow at him for that one.
"Hmm.." she tapped her chin as she thought of another question.
She felt horrible that the spell she had recommended and been so sure about hadn't worked and she was determined to come up with a new spell that would work. She would just have to look a bit harder. She would ask Harry for his cloak tomorrow and head down to the Restricted Section of the library in search of more powerful mending spells she hadn't looked at yet.
"My turn." she glanced over at him in surprise as he spoke. "Why are you helping me?" he asked, elbows resting on his knees as he leaned forward in his chair.
"I… I don't know for sure." she admitted. "At first it was because I saw how worried you were about fixing it and I couldn't turn you down. Then… after what you told me about your childhood," she glanced nervously over at him. "I felt like I sort of owed it to you. But now… I want to." she finished.
She noticed his mask of indifference falter for a split second and she recognized the expression on his face. Was that… guilt? She shook her head. No, that didn't make sense. "My turn. Once the cabinet is repaired and you've secured your inheritance… do we go back to hating each other?" she asked the question that had been eating her up inside for the last few days.
He shrugged, averting his gaze. "I don't know." he said simply, and Hermione felt disappointed in his response. "I barely even know what we've got going on right now, let alone what we'll have going on then." he said, a muscle in his jaw twitching as he finished his sentence. Something about him seemed off today.
He seemed to notice her suspicion for her quickly changed the topic. "Tell me about your childhood… your parents." he said, just as she had previously.
"Um…" she twiddled her fingers in front of her, not wanting to make him feel badly about his own childhood in her response.
"Come on, Granger. I'm not going to run off crying." he rolled his eyes at her hesitation.
"My childhood was nice." she said, forcing herself to stop feeling so guilty. "My parents… they're dentists. Er, basically doctors for your teeth." she explained quickly, knowing many purebloods did not know what dentists were. "They worked a lot but they still always had time for me. We've had a lot of fun together, me and my parents. They've always done their best to provide me with everything I needed. I spent a lot of my childhood reading and my mum used to read to me every night just because she knew how much I loved books. I remember some days she would come home exhausted from work but she would never miss a bedtime story. And my dad, well he would always bring home flowers whenever he worked later than mum. A bouquet for her and a single rose for me." she thought back fondly to her parents. "They really love each other. I've never once seen them fight. They made sure to protect me from those kinds of things as a child and I really love them for it." she pulled herself back to the present and looked up at Malfoy.
She noticed that he was listening to her story in interest, his brows furrowed. "Impossible." he said, shaking his head. "Your family can't be that perfect. No one's is."
Hermione smiled. "No, they really are just as I described. I love them to death. When I got my Hogwarts letter they gave me their full support and told me over and over how proud they were of me and how they always knew I was special." she continued until she noticed the look of slight jealousy on his face. "I'm sorry… I-".
He shook his head, cutting her off. "It's fine, Ganger. Just because my family is fucked up doesn't mean you have to pretend yours is too." he rolled his eyes, schooling his face into a mask of indifference once more.
Hermione shrugged, looking down at her hands. She didn't want to seem like she was rubbing anything in his face.
"Come here." she heard Malfoy say and she looked up to see him patting his thigh.
She blushed slightly before slowly standing. She knew Malfoy was still upset about their cabinet failure and she didn't want to upset him further. She shyly lowered herself onto his lap. His hand rested on her hip as he leaned back in his chair.
"So… you and Weasley." he began. "That's never going to happen now, is it?" he asked, changing the topic of their conversation.
She looked at him in surprise. "No. Of course not." she shook her head. She didn't think she could ever get together with Ron after the whole Lavender fiasco.
"Good." he nodded in approval. "You're too good for him."
"Was that a compliment?" she asked, brow raised as she turned slightly in his lap to face him. His hands slid down her thighs and he used his grip on them to reposition her so she was straddling his lap like she had during their first kiss.
"Yes. It was." he confirmed, nodding as his hands moved up and down her thighs. "He's an idiot. I'd be surprised if he knew his left hand from his right." he said, smirk on his lips. "You can't be with someone so daft."
Hermione smacked his arm. "Hey! Don't talk about him like that, he's still my friend!".
He scowled at her defensive response. "You can't be friends with someone you used to fancy." he said, glaring at her. "I told you you're mine, Granger. I don't share." his grip on her thighs tightened almost painfully.
She winced, frowning at him. "I told you me and Ron are never going to happen. Don't try to tell me who I can and can't be friends with!" she protested, reaching down and enclosing her hands around his forearms as she attempted to loosen his grip on her thighs.
He glared at her, tightening his hold on her impossibly more. "Don't think I haven't seen you two snuggled up around school." he said, voice dripping with annoyance. What was he talking about?
Surely he didn't mean the innocent way Ron would sometimes drape his arm over her shoulder or the way she leaned her head on his shoulders when she was tired. Those were completely friendly interactions! Her and Harry did the same!
"What's it to you, Malfoy?" she shot back in response, growing annoyed. Who did he think he was? "I'm not your girlfriend. We've barely just become civil towards one another. What I do with my friends is none of your business." she finished firmly.
"And yet you sit here in my lap. Do you do that with all of your friends?" he asked, condescending.
They both glared at one another for a few seconds and Hermione ignored the aching pain in her thighs at his tight grip on her. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing he was hurting her. After a few minutes of their glaring match, Hermione grit her teeth and sighed.
"I'm not interested in anyone else, okay Malfoy?" she said at last. "I'm not going to be seeing anyone else while we're… doing what we do." she finished lamely. "And I hope you're doing the same for me." she added quickly.
She watched as he eyed her hesitantly before shrugging. "Fine." he muttered, glancing down at his watch.
"We should head back." she said, following his gaze to his watch. It was nearly midnight.
He nodded before releasing his grip on her thighs and sliding his hands up to her bum. "Goodnight's kiss is our tradition." he stated, looking at her expectantly.
She felt her face heat up at his words before she leaned down, pecking him quickly on the lips. He raised a brow, unimpressed. She sighed, leaning down again to press her lips to his in a longer kiss. Before she could pull back he caught her bottom lip between her teeth, deepening the kiss. She sighed into his mouth and they kissed for a few seconds before he pulled back, lightly slapping her bum.
"Let's go." he said, and she smiled slightly as she got up, gathering her things before they headed for the exit.
A/N: Just a little filler chapter following the Sectumsempra attack in the last chap!
