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Lessons and Obsessions	By : LennaNightrunner Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 84546 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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CHAPTER FOURTEEN: DENSITY

He was a prize idiot.

Draco ran his fingers through his hair in nervous annoyance
as he sat at the edge of his bed the next morning, blinking sleep out of his
eyes. Perfect, it was Saturday. An entire day to try to force himself not to go anywhere near her with no lessons to keep
him occupied. And Quidditch was over until after the
holidays. Brilliant.

What the hell had he been thinking? Sure, the sex had been
spectacular, but he couldn�t just leave it at that, could he? Not only had he
shown up a day earlier than he planned to and given himself away as being
completely addicted to her, but then when it was all over he�d actually stayed
and had a conversation with her. They�d joked,
for Merlin�s sake. Honestly, witches were meant to be felt up, not chatted up!

And as if that weren�t bad enough, he�d stayed. He�d never
forgive himself for that indulgence. He�d stayed until she fell asleep. And
even when she had, he�d watched her for what seemed like hours until he was
able to tear himself away. That had been no mean feat, either.

The worst part was that now he knew. He knew that there was
no way he could survive all of the Christmas holidays without seeing her. It
would be maddening, and his mother would sense his agitation before he�d been
there a single day. It would be impossible to keep this from her. So if he was
going to be humiliated no matter what, then perhaps he might as well not be
deprived as well.

It was a horrible idea. But it wouldn�t leave his mind. It
didn�t feel real even as he wrote to his mother explaining the situation and
asking her permission. Now the only question was whether or not Granger would
ever agree to such a plan.

*****

The last week of the term arrived and Hermione was kept busy
enough studying not to notice that Malfoy hadn�t so
much as glared at her in three days. They had hardly crossed paths since the previous Friday night, when he�d come to her room
unannounced. She found that it was easy not to worry about what he was up to,
not only because she was so distracted by schoolwork, but also because she was
finally confident that he wasn�t getting tired of her, and would show up
eventually. She just hoped that it wouldn�t be at a time when she desperately
needed to study: she was already more worried about her exams than usual
because of all the time she had spent with him instead of on her schoolwork.

As she left Transfiguration on Monday afternoon, she was
almost surprised when Malfoy motioned for her to hang
back in the hallway. He had been so quiet and almost well-behaved during the
lesson that she had hardly noticed his presence. Quickly thinking up the most
plausible excuse�that she wanted to get some studying in before dinner�she sent
Ron on ahead and cautiously moved toward Malfoy after
all of the other students had gone.

�Have you been hiding?� Hermione teased, feeling much bolder
around him with the newfound confidence she�d gained on Friday.

He seemed as if he was trying to act aloof, and merely gave
her a slightly annoyed look rather than rising to her jibe. It was so strange
to be standing there alone in the hallway like that, without him pressed up
against her, trying to get them both caught. Her body was tense, as if waiting
for him to pounce. And a strong part of her wanted him to.

But instead he spoke. �Visit me during the holiday.�

His voice was low and demanding, and he watched her response
carefully. He couldn�t be serious.� Hermione
nearly laughed before swallowing that reaction.

�W-what?�

�After Christmas,� he continued, as if this were the most
natural request in the world. �I mean, go and see your family, but after
Christmas, come to my home, and we can come back to school together.�

This was about as close to a polite request as could be
expected from Malfoy, and Hermione was taken aback. Why would he want her to
come and visit? Didn�t his family hate muggle-borns?
Her mind reeled trying to comprehend the implications of such a visit.

�But people will see us if we come back together,� Hermione
protested, her eyes darting up and down the corridor worriedly.

�I can make sure we won�t be seen together,� Malfoy rolled his eyes, �and then when we get to King�s
Cross you can go off on your own as if you�ve come from your parents� house. No
one will know.�

Hermione considered this. It actually seemed like a
reasonable plan. That worried her. �But why do you want me to come? I don�t
mean to be rude, but I didn�t think muggle-borns were
welcome in your family�s house.�

Malfoy visibly bristled, but continued
as if she�d never asked the question. �If you can get to King�s Cross the day after
New Year�s, I can meet you and we can floo. Is that
enough time with your family?�

�Yes, but�� Hermione was bewildered and suspicious, but Malfoy cut her off by grabbing the front of her robes and
kissing her roughly and possessively. Before Hermione had a chance to react, he
broke the kiss just as forcefully and shoved her away from him to where she�d
been standing before.

�I�m not asking,� he said, and his voice was almost a growl.

Hermione swallowed, realizing quickly that she had been a
fool to think that they were now on equal ground. He still had a power over her
she couldn�t explain. So what else could she do? There were hundreds of excuses
she would use to justify her decision later, but the only reason she needed in
that moment was that he�d told her to.

�All right.�

It sounded as if the words hadn�t come from her own mouth. Later she would be frantic over what she
would tell her parents and how on earth Narciassa Malfoy would react when she showed up at the Manor. But her
mind was strangely blank as Malfoy�s stern expression
shifted into a self-satisfied smirk.

And then it was as if the conversation had never happened.
He looked her up and down once unabashedly, then
became almost pleasant.

�Good luck with your exams, Granger. Happy
Christmas.�

Hermione stared at him for a moment in confusion, and by the
time the answering words �Erm, Happy Christmas, Malfoy� escaped her lips, he was halfway down the hall and
only waved in answer without turning back. It took her several minutes to
deconstruct what had just happened.

She was a prize idiot.

*****

It had been quite a feat, protecting the manor from Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Most of them had known roughly
or even exactly where it was, and many had visited more than once, so it was
pointless trying to conceal its location. The majority of the Order of the
Phoenix had spent the better part of a month boosting the standard charms that
made the manor unplottable and invisible to muggles so that its security rivaled that of No. 12 Grimmauld Place, but many of those precautions would not
work on the Death Eaters.

An Order member unknown even to Draco and his parents had
been chosen to control the wards surrounding the manor, so that they themselves
could not compromise their own security, and therefore that of the Order. Narcissa Malfoy was less than
pleased with this arrangement, but there really had been no other option since Lucius was in Azkaban and Draco had failed to kill
Dumbledore.

Only a few hours after arriving at Malfoy
Manor, Hermione stood alone in the youngest Malfoy�s
bedroom, waiting for him to return from downstairs. He had met her as promised
at King�s Cross after supper (Malfoy wanted to avoid
the crowds of muggles on their way home) and they had
floo�d to the manor together, so she had not yet even
met anyone else in the house.

Draco�s bedroom really did look a lot like the way the Room
of Requirement looked when they used it for their �lessons.� It did not look much
like her vision of a young boy�s or a teenager�s room. Most of the furniture
was made of a very dark brown wood, and all of the draperies, sheets, blankets,
carpets, and tapestries were primarily shades of green, silver, and black.

There were large paintings on the walls: portraits of the Malfoy family�s ancestors and other distant relatives,
presumably. There were also some landscapes, and even a few pictures of famous Quidditch players, which gave the room a slightly younger
feel than the rest of the ancient manor house. It was still more than a little
intimidating, however.

When it seemed like she had been waiting for at least half
an hour, Hermione began to get impatient and a bit tired. There were a few
bookshelves on the wall opposite the bed, and she perused the volumes with
interest. The houses of ancient wizarding families
were no doubt full of rare and fascinating texts. This had been one of the
excuses Hermione had used to rationalize her decision to visit Malfoy after the fact: there was so much to be learned by
being in an ancient wizarding house.

The fact that her parents thought she was staying with the Weasleys weighed on her, but how could she have explained
to them that not only was she staying with the young man whom they had only
ever heard of as being a bully, but that his family were dark wizards who hated
muggle-borns? The whole situation was ludicrous, and
her parents would have told her so at once before forbidding the visit.

She�d also let Ron, Ginny, and everyone else assume that she�d
be staying at home for the entirety of the holidays. Conveniently, Ron and
Ginny had been planning to go home for Christmas because of the recent state of
the wizarding world and because Harry was gone. They
had invited Hermione even before Malfoy had asked her
to visit him, but she�d decided that it would be a good idea to spend some time
with her parents. All of that had made arranging to visit Malfoy
a surprisingly easy endeavor.

Hermione felt guilty, but she also felt slightly liberated
by the transgression. As much as she hated to admit it, there was something
intoxicating about breaking the rules, and Malfoy
only encouraged that kind of behavior in her.

After a few minutes of perusing the volumes (she got sidetracked
by examining a spell that kept them from becoming dusty), she selected a book
on wandmaking and took it with her over to the bed.
It seemed like the most comfortable place to read, so she carefully climbed up
onto it, arranging herself on top of the covers and against the many pillows.
As she lay back, a familiar scent enveloped her, and she realized that the sheets,
blankets, and pillows all smelled like Malfoy. The
smell made her feel at ease and giddy at the same time, and recalled a dozen
different snippets of memory at once.

Hermione had just turned the first page of the book when the
door of the room opened, and the owner of that spicy clean smell finally
entered. Malfoy looked surprised to see her in his
bed, but when he saw that she was reading, the corner of his mouth turned up in
a smirk.

�At it again? Isn�t your curiosity
ever sated?� Draco scoffed, inwardly amused.

Hermione blushed and closed the book automatically. �I hope
you don�t mind��

Draco ignored her embarrassment and continued with a wicked
grin, �No, I suppose no part of you is ever sated.�

Hermione�s blush deepened and she quietly set the book on
one of the bedside tables, trying not to look at Malfoy.
She didn�t know why it affected her so much when he talked about sex. It wasn�t
as if it was anything new to her now.

�Honestly, Granger, I think we�re past embarrassment,� Draco
scolded, rolled his eyes.

Hermione opened her mouth to explain, but Malfoy smoothly changed the subject.

�Mother is here, but you won�t have to spend much time
around her if you don�t want to. She stays in her rooms, mostly, and the house
elves see to her�Don�t start on about rights for house
elves, Granger; I�m in no mood for an ethical discussion,� he preempted
Hermione before she could protest. Hermione swallowed and remained silent.

�As I was saying, Mother is here, and she knows you�re here,
but I doubt she has an overwhelming desire to see you. I assume you won�t be
offended.�

Hermione scoffed. Narcissa Malfoy was not high on the list of people she wanted to
meet, whether she was under the protection of the Order or not.

�Good. Then that�s taken care of. Now,� Draco moved to sit
on the edge of the bed next to Granger, �you�re the first muggle-born
to be invited into this house in over two centuries. You�re also the only witch
who�s ever been invited to this room, and this bed, for as long as they�ve been
mine. Don�t you feel special?�

His voice was low and suggestive and even a bit playful, and
Hermione�s cheeks pinked again. She felt very out of place in his home, in his
room, in his territory, and it diminished a lot of her confidence. She nodded
slowly.

�Why so silent, Granger?� Draco
teased like a cat playing with a particularly delicious looking mouse. �Aren�t
you going to show your gratitude for this honor?�

Thinking she knew what Malfoy was
after, Hermione began to protest. �Right now? We�ve
only just arrived��

Draco chuckled at the expression on Granger�s face and shook
his head. She was much too fun to play with. �Relax. A simple �thank you� will
suffice for now.� The rest can wait until
later.�

He winked and Hermione almost laughed, struggling to become
less flustered. He seemed so much more playful now than she�d seen him in a
long time, and definitely less malicious. �Oh. Well, thank you. For inviting
me, I mean. And thank your mother as well for me, please.�

�She�d say you have excellent manners for a mudblood,� Draco said nonchalantly, but with an inward
grimace, �but all right, I�ll tell her.�

Granger smiled at him, and Draco thought that he�d better
make conversation, because as much fun as it was to consider the prospect of
staying in bed and shagging the girl for the entirety of her visit, it wasn�t
really feasible.

�What are you reading, then?� Malfoy
motioned for Hermione to move over on the bed, and he sat next to her, so that
they were both propped up on the pillows.

Hermione was pleasantly surprised that Malfoy
was so casually sitting next to her like that, as if they were friends. The
last time they�d lain together in a bed had been that last Friday before term
ended after they�d had sex in her bedroom. This wasn�t at all like that.

�Oh, it�s one of your books on wandmaking.�
Granger picked up the book from the bedside table and showed it to Draco. He
inwardly approved of her choice: he had always found the topic interesting. �I
hadn�t really had a chance to start it before you came back, but it looks
fascinating.�

Malfoy took the book from Hermione
and looked over the cover. �European Wandcraft. I don�t
remember exactly, but I think this one focuses on the debate about which wand
cores are the most effective. There�s another good one somewhere over there,�
he pointed to the shelf next to the one the book had been on, �that discusses
the possibility of using magical cores in other objects. Besides wands, I mean.
Though that idea isn�t very popular.�

When he was done talking, she looked up at him and smiled as
if she had never really seen him before. Which, of course,
unnerved him.

Hermione could hardly believe that she was having an
academic discussion, albeit a short one, with Malfoy
without any sniping or teasing. She decided to take it as a good sign and be
gracious. �Thank you. I�ll read those tomorrow, if that�s all right.�

Draco shrugged, trying to recover a semblance of distance
between them. �It�s not as if anyone else reads them.�

�Well� thank you anyway. I�d love to have my own library of
books like these. They don�t even have most of these in the library at
Hogwarts.� Hermione�s eyes gleamed with excitement at the prospect of having
access to the entire Malfoy library.

�Don�t tell me you�ve memorized the titles of every book in
the Hogwarts library,� Draco said with some of his usual acerbity.

�I have spent quite a lot of time there�� Hermione
looked sheepish, but she could see that Malfoy was
just teasing her. It was strange for him to be ridiculing her and not really
meaning it. He�d said so many horrible things to her in the past, and even
lately he was never really nice to her, even though she enjoyed her time with
him for other reasons.

Draco handed the book back to Granger and watched her
intently as her eyes raked over its cover as if it were an extremely valuable
piece of jewelry. He had to keep his own eyes from doing the same to her body.
She had not had a chance to change into robes since they got back from King�s
Cross, and her muggle denims and jumper highlighted
the parts of her he�d been missing over the holiday.

�So� where do I sleep tonight?� Hermione asked tentatively
after setting the book back down. She fought the urge to yawn. It had been dark
for hours, and it was now getting quite late. As comfortable as Malfoy�s bed was, Hermione didn�t want to fall asleep there
accidentally.

Draco stretched and brushed his hair back out of his eyes
with his fingers absently. It felt good having her there in his room, but that
was precisely the reason that he shouldn�t encourage her to stay. He either had
to seduce her or show her to her room, and she looked too tired for the former.
�One of the guest rooms is made up for you down the hall. If you�re tired, I�ll
show you where it is.�

Hermione stifled a yawn and nodded, forcing herself to get off
of the down duvet. Malfoy got up and followed her to
the door, leading her down the hall to the guest room that had been prepared
for her. She smiled when she entered the room. It was a bit smaller than Malfoy�s, but still had plenty of room for a large bed, a
wardrobe, some bookshelves, and sitting chairs. A fire was already lit for her,
and that combined with the warm tones of the draperies and bedding made the
room very inviting.

When he saw her smile in approval, Draco had to keep himself
from following her example. It was just a bedroom, and he was glad she liked
it, but it wasn�t anything to grin about. He closed the door behind them and
was pleased to note that she barely noticed. In the past she would�ve become as
alert as a rabbit cornered by a dog.

�It�s wonderful. Thank you,� Hermione said as she noticed
that the things she had packed in a small travel case had already been put away
in their proper places. She went over to grab her nightgown and debated about
whether or not the fact that Malfoy was there
bothered her.

Draco suppressed a grumble of disappointment as Granger turned
away from him to change into her nightclothes. It was probably a good thing
that she did, however, because just seeing her exposed back and the black
knickers that did nothing to expose her ass made him painfully wish he hadn�t
resolved not to take her tonight.

When her nightgown was on. Hermione
turned back towards Malfoy and tried to pretend that
she didn�t notice the dark look in his eyes and the flush in his skin. She
turned back the heavy blankets of the bed and crawled in, sinking slightly into
the mattress in a way that made her wish she could stay in bed forever.

He couldn�t decide if she was cute or sexy in that moment,
and decided he didn�t care. He was enjoying it either way. Draco decided he
needed to say goodnight and get to bed before he gave in and allowed himself to
have what his body was screaming for no matter how tired Granger was. He walked
over to the edge of the bed and looked at her. �Good night.�

Hermione smirked and, reassured by how playful Malfoy had been all evening, grabbed the front of his robes
and tried to pull him down for a goodnight kiss.

Draco was unprepared, and his hand went out automatically to
brace himself on her stomach, stopping his face so close to Granger�s that he
could feel her breath on his cheek.

�Don�t,� he said shakily, his hand on her stomach rising and
falling gently with her breathing, which made the skin of his face tingle.

Hermione felt foolish, as if she�d made a mistake. �I�m not
allowed to kiss you?�

�You�re not allowed to kiss me and still go to sleep,� Draco
said warningly, frozen awkwardly.

There was a challenge in Hermione�s eyes. �Is that a fact?�

�Don�t tempt me, Granger,� Draco�s voice was low and he felt
shaky with desire. No, he�d waited over a week, he
could wait one more day. �A witch as intelligent as yourself
ought to know better.�

�A wizard with a reputation such as yours ought not to
argue,� Hermione countered as a feeling in the pit of her stomach begged for
him to kiss her.

Draco smirked. �You wouldn�t last five minutes.�

�I have before.�

�Before I wasn�t trying to wear you out.�

�Kiss me,� Hermione practically pleaded in a voice as
tempting as she could muster.

Draco debated for a moment, then
sighed. Slowly, he bridged the gap between their lips, until they were an inch
apart. Then, as he could feel her subtly move towards him to seal their lips
together, he swerved to the side and kissed her neck teasingly before getting
up and walking towards the door.

Hermione grumbled in disappointment. �Git.�

A chuckle escaped Draco�s lips as he opened the door. It
would be worth it, just to make her want it more the next day. And she was so
fun to play with.

�Good night, Granger.�

A mumbled sounds of frustration was
all he heard as he closed the door behind him.

*****

A/N: I want to thank you all for your patience during my
hiatus. I did manage to reach my NaNoWriMo goal of
writing a 50,000 word story in November, so the hope is that now I�ll have more
time to update this!

My amazing beta, Twist Shimmy, gets full credit for the
line, �Witches were meant to be felt up, not chatted up!� Damn, I wish I�d
thought of that one! She�s also responsible for the fact that this got posted
amidst an onslaught of family and friends wishing to see me before Christmas.

I also want to thank everyone who voted in the Smustastic Awards on LJ. Thanks to you, chapter five of Lessons and Obsessions won Best Solo
Act! I�m quite honored.

passionlotus420�Thanks so much! I know this chapter wasn�t
mind-blowing, but I hope it was still enjoyable to read. I just love my
character development and I can�t let myself have smut in every chapter, no
matter how much I want to.

Dreamweaver�Thanks! I had a lot of fun with NaNoWriMo, but I�m glad it�s over and I can get back to
other things, like my fic! I�m not surprised the
chapter made you kind of sad. It�s a difficult thing when lust and love get
conflated and it�s hard for that to end well. Hermione is definitely struggling
with how she feels about Draco, but we also mustn�t forget the difficulties of
his situation as well. That�s what makes it interesting for me, even if it can
be upsetting at times. I�m also very glad you liked the smut, of course ;).

goddessaisha�Thanks! I shall!

Ella�Thanks! That�s the kind of Malfoy
I�ve been going for, so I�m glad it�s working for you. I understand why some
people portray Draco as coldhearted. He�s very cruel for a lot of the books and
not all of that is just adolescent nonsense. He has a lot of issues and that�s
what makes him so fascinating for me to write. I enjoy trying to get into his
head and figuring out what motivates him and how he�d react to certain
situations. It would be stupid and simplistic to just say that he�s �evil� and
leave it at that. We know that�s not how J.K. wrote him. So I�m glad you like
where my interpretation of Draco is going so far and I hope you continue to do
so!
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Lessons and Obsessions