"Intruders"
Draco watched, immobilized, as tears pooled in Granger’s eyes. The overwhelming sense of shame that washed over him threatened to suffocate him, his breaths growing shallow and erratic as his facade came tumbling down around him.
Granger looked up at him in shock. “Malfoy, what--?”
But she did not finish her question, for instantly he had made his decision. Summoning the courage of a house to which he did not belong, Draco closed the distance between them in three strides, taking Granger’s face into his hands. His eyes hungrily searched hers, which remained shocked into a confused expression, her mouth agape and eyebrows threaded together in concern. Draco could feel the seconds drag on, unsure of how to ask permission.
Daintily, he ran the pad of his thumb along the soft caramel skin of her bottom lip, his eyes trained to watch the movement he made there. He could feel the air shift between them, silent, yet the thundering of his crazed heartbeat hammering loudly in his ears. Granger tilted her chin up toward him, the movement so slight that he could have mistaken it for a stray shiver from the tension that wove its way across her skin through his hands. In that moment, his eyes found hers again. This time, he knew he was sure.
His lips crashed into hers, and the moment they met, Draco felt Granger’s mouth open to him in a sigh of relief. She had been waiting for him.
He kissed her greedily, like he was starving. She kissed him back, her fingers weaving into his hair and the rise and fall of her chest pressed against his own in tandem. The fire that burned in his navel grew hotter, and Draco found himself pulling Granger up into his arms, hoisting her up against him, and her thighs sought his middle, encasing him in the embrace that lifted her from the ground where she had been rooted.
Draco stepped backwards, throwing himself down onto the table top, their table top, the ingredients that had been so carefully laid out and measured before them scattering to the floor. Granger remained glued to him as he quickly pulled his lips away from hers, his hands in her hair pulling her head to one side, exposing her long neck to him. He quickly peppered the skin there with hot, opened mouthed kisses until sucking harshly on the dip where her neck and shoulder met above her clavicle.
He continued his hungry attack on her neck as she whimpered against him, making sounds he had neither heard, nor ever expected to hear, her make. Granger rocked her hips into him gently, subconsciously, as he made her mewl and moan on her neck. Draco pulled his mouth away from the deep bruise he had left on her skin, further kissing her across her collarbone and across her shoulders, once he had popped the buttons undone at the top of her blouse and snaked the fabric down over her, exposing her skin to him.
“Draco,” she mumbled against him, the sound sending pure pleasure down his spine as it curled around him. He pulled away from her to search her eyes. She smiled back at him, her pupils wide and excited. She brought her mouth close to him again, letting her lips brush across his own as she closed her eyes and relished in the feeling. She hummed, the sound like music to his lovesick ears.
If pure euphoria could be bottled and sold, it would taste like Hermione Granger.
Draco held her to him with both hands as he shifted, pulling her closer to him as he turned to place her gently against the table in his place. He watched Granger’s eyes grow at the change, holding her still. He pushed his lips against her once again, slowly this time. As his tongue swirled in her mouth, he towered over her, her back pressing against the firm table. He had her laid out flat, her legs still glued to him, as he rubbed slow circles into her thighs, which lay open to him under his hands. Pulling away from the kiss to glance down adoringly at her sprawled out form, Draco was gobsmacked to find her gaze lovingly flitting over his body as well.
Abruptly, the sound of voices echoed behind the door of the Potions classroom, causing both Draco and Granger to jump from their respective spots on the table. Swiftly, clamping a strong hand down over her mouth, Draco tugged Granger against him as he sank to the floor, sliding down to crouch under the table and out of sight.
Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger watched one another, silent and wide-eyed as two adult bodies crashed into the other side of the room. After a look passed between the two hiding below the table, Draco withdrew his hand from her mouth, instead cradling her cheek in his hand while the two remained alert, straining to remain silent as their heavy breathing threatened to reveal their hiding space. Granger took hold of his other hand in both of hers.
The two intruders continued their conversation.
“Am I to understand that you have known about the consequences for some time? Without telling me or simply requesting my assistance?” The heated voice said, full of incredulity.
Draco’s eyes furrowed as he stared into an unmarked space just over Granger’s shoulder, listening to the words of the man who was none other than his Godfather and former Potions Master, Severus Snape. Granger’s eyes closed as if she were trying to picture the scene playing out above them.
“Severus, am I to understand that you are truly of the belief that your prompt actions could have prevented the unfortunate marring of my hand?” said the light and bemused voice of Albus Dumbledore. Draco’s heartbeat quickened, thudding, impossibly, harder and louder than it had moments prior, when he had had his mouth against his witch in an unthinkable moment of likely foolish self indulgence.
“Albus! This is not a game, you foolish old man. You will die from this erroneous exclusion.” Snape spat back, a mirthless laugh falling from his hysterical lips.
“My dear Severus,” Dumbledore began, “this minor bump in the road does little to change the plans we have agreed upon. For now, I would rather think that a simple isolation charm would be beneficial, merely to prevent the spread of the curse, wouldn’t you agree?” Though neither Draco nor Granger could physically see the headmaster’s face, both could hear the telltale smile in his voice.
Snape grumbled under his breath as the sound of cabinets opening and slamming shut all across the room crowded out the quieter sounds of his protest. After a moment that sounded like Snape gathering all of the ingredients he had come to the classroom to collect after hours, the pair of them continued speaking of the curse that had evidently begun to spread from somewhere on Albus Dumbledore’s body, their voices retreating before disappearing out of the classroom and back out into the corridor.
A few quiet moments after the door had thudded closed behind the two men, Granger let out a long breath between her pinched lips.
Together, Draco and Granger crawled out from under the table, and stood to face one another. Granger shifted nervously, and Draco realized with a mild panic that she was likely waiting for some kind of verbal explanation about the heated moment the two of them had shared before being interrupted by Snape and the Headmaster. He thought for a moment, raising one finger as Granger opened her mouth to speak, silencing her momentarily.
After his pause, rather than attempt to foolishly put into words what the moment had meant to him, Draco held out a hand to her with a small smile. Granger grinned deeply, taking his hand into her own and letting him lead the way out of the Potions classroom. Suddenly, her hand dropped from his, and he glanced back to question why she had faltered.
Granger faced away from him, looking down at another table in the empty Potions’ classroom.
“Granger?” Draco asked timidly, taking in the stiff posture her shoulders had crept up into.
Granger reached out in front of her to grab something from the table. Turning back to him, she opened her hands with a look of confusion; behind that confusion, her eyes shone a golden shade of mischief. He looked down at her hands, expecting to find the source of her stall.
Incredulous, he plucked one of the two small candies from Granger’s hands, rolling the stick between his fingers and glancing up at her with an unspoken understanding.
Acid pops.