"Would have been blamed," she finished in disappointed tone. "Except you wouldn't. You have no magic, Malfoy. Do you honestly believe they would have pinned a bee sting on you-
"I think you and your precious Order would do anything to get rid of me-
"Well, you're wrong," she bit back quickly. "They wouldn't-
"I don't care!" he spat, dipping his head a little closer. "I'm telling you here and now that I don't give a flying fuck if you live or die."
It shouldn't have hurt her, but it did. She felt something in her chest shrink and shrivel like burning parchment, but she did everything she could not to let it show.
"You helped me, and I helped you," Draco continued crisply. "We're even, so let's just leave it at that and return to hating each other."
"Then we're back where we started," she sighed, hating the edge of sadness to her whisper.
Draco blinked at her odd comment as a heavy and humid silence settled between them. Her little puffs of air were brushing across the skin of his face, and it was taking every stitch of his self-control not to glance down at her mouth. She felt so charmingly vulnerable and petite against him, and he blamed it yet again on this claustrophobic hell and the remains of her blood still waltzing in his veins. He needed to sever this discussion with her; he could feel that incessant and unwelcome hunger for a lick of her beginning to cloud his sanity again. He needed to get away from her...
"We are done here," he snarled, releasing her wrists and striding towards his room. "And as I said, Granger; don't let that overworked brain of yours read too much into this."
Hermione felt the cold wrap around her quickly as he headed away, and something niggled in her head as she watched the fine muscles across his shoulders flex. She wasn't satisfied with the way he had ended their discussion, and that Gryffindor bravery combined with her own curiosity was a dangerous mixture at times like these. The question jumped past her teeth before she could help it.
"And what about what happened after you helped me?"
She knew her voice had wavered, but she didn't care as he stalled abruptly before he could reach his door. The air in the room instantly grew thicker and uneasy, and her fawny eyes were glued to him as he slowly turned to shoot her a fierce glare that took her breath away. Looking somewhere between incensed and disturbed, she found herself yet again noting his aristocratic and infuriatingly striking features. He really was so...
"Nothing happened," Draco growled slowly, taking steps back towards her and pointing a rage-trembling finger at her. "Do you hear me, Granger? Nothing fucking happened-
"Then I must remember things differently," she fired back, lifting her chin defiantly. "Because I recall-
"Shut the hell-
"That you and I-
"Don't," he barked, close enough now that his senses were once again overpowered by her. "Nothing happened! And nothing ever will happen! So, you just shut your filthy Mud-
"Mudblood mouth?" she finished evenly, tilting her head boldly to the side and folding her arms over her chest. "I know I've struck a nerve with your prejudices against Muggles, Malfoy, so you can use that silly little word all you like, because I know you are starting doubt yourself-
"You are so bloody stupid!" he countered, but there was a hint of hesitation there that he hoped she couldn't hear. "I loathe you and your kind, and you and your Mudblood mouth have only proved to me how vile you all are-
"Well, you kissed this Mudblood's mouth!"
"NO, I FUCKING DIDN'T!"
The flushed and agitated pair froze when their noses brushed softly; gold and silver eyes going round and confused. Hermione didn't dare move as his delectable little breaths fell into her mouth again, and that warm throb in her chest returned. Draco looked horrified and perhaps a little...fearful as the silence stretched around them, as he did everything he could to smother that almost instinctive urge to steal another taste.
He closed his eyes.
Yes; he had definitely gone mad.
Praise Salazar for the little spark in his brain that jolted him back to reality, and reminded him who and what she was.
Mudblood. Mudblood. Mudblood.
He ripped himself too quickly and stumbled on clumsy feet, shooting her a look a pure contempt and bewilderment as his head spun. Granger looked a little too...inviting then; mouth slightly parted and a rosy blush staining her cheeks and the skin across her collarbone. Too human. Too normal. Fuck, he needed to get to his room.
"Nothing happened," he repeated between the panicked heaves of his chest. "You understand, Granger? And if you ever need help again, I swear to you on my name as a Malfoy that I will watch you suffer and enjoy every second of it."
His dark and steady words stabbed her like ice-cold darts. "Draco, I-
"Just stay away from me," he threatened in a low whisper, retreating back towards his room. "Stay the fuck away from me!"
And Hermione was left alone, guiltily wondering if she'd have let him kiss her again.
On the other side of the door, Draco sank to his knees and cradled his aching head in his palms, cursing her to Merlin's grave and back for reducing him to this pathetic excuse for a wizard. With no magic and his sanity in a fragile state, he determined that this was lowest point of his life, and the worst thing was, only she seemed to ease the tempest in his brain.
With that disconcerting notion misting his mind and another migraine coming along, he would have surrendered the flimsy crumbs of his pride for another taste of her; if only to chase away the demons that would make sleep impossible.
What the fuck is she doing to me?
And why did he have a feeling that things would only get worse from here?
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