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Lessons and Obsessions	By : LennaNightrunner Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 85098 -:- 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.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: GRAVITY

Draco was furious. He had sent a letter to his mother all
but proclaiming protection of Granger. He had defended her against Weasley. And
now she was angry with him?! It was predictable, really. She always was a
stubborn, selfish, ungrateful little�

The pain of his foot connecting with the frame of his bed
interrupted the flow of Draco�s thoughts, and the silence of the empty
dormitory room was broken by a magnificent stream of colorful and imaginative swear
words.

It was going to be a lovely
day.

*****

Hermione and Ron sat in the grass near a tree that they had
often studied together under in happier times. It was one of the only places
they could talk privately. They were several feet apart, not looking at each
other. The sun was warm on Hermione�s skin, but it did not ease the chill
within her as she waited, heart in her throat, for Ron to speak.

Ron shifted awkwardly. When he finally spoke, he was still
staring at the grass near his feet rather than at her. It was too hard to look
at her and not think about him.

�How long?�

Hermione hesitated for a moment, but resolved to tell him
the truth about everything, no matter how painful it was or how angry he would
be. The thread that held their relationship together might snap under the
weight of an additional lie. Her voice quavered slightly when she spoke.

�Since just after first term started�.�

Ron felt a sharp pang in his chest. If he had been standing
he might have staggered. Nearly six months. She had kept this from him for
nearly six months and he hadn�t
realized that she was seeing someone until after Christmas. He might never have
guessed that it was Malfoy if he hadn�t caught them together. Her betrayal was momentarily
overshadowed by his devastation at his own obliviousness. How could he claim to
be her friend and not have noticed this?

They were silent again for a few minutes. Then Ron
swallowed, steeling himself to ask his next question.

�Why him?�

Hermione was in agony. Anything she said would hurt Ron, but
she would not lie. So she explained as simply and honestly as she could, her
cheeks burning with embarrassment and shame as the words left her lips.

�He� he wanted me.�

Ron experienced another pang in his chest. He shook his head
in disbelief. None of this made any sense. The Malfoy he knew liked nothing
better than to torment Hermione. He wouldn�t be caught dead with a Muggle-born
witch. And the Hermione he knew would never let that ferret touch her. She
would know that he must be using her. She would never�.

Except that she had. The way she had smiled when Malfoy tucked
her hair behind her ear in the owlery�. That told Ron more than finding them
shagging would have. It was the smile she used to reserve only for him. It was
devastating enough to be able to assume that Hermione and that git had been
shagging�It was Malfoy, after
all�when Ron had been certain that he and Hermione would have their first time
together. But the smile she had given Malfoy cut him even more deeply. Because
that smile meant that it wasn�t just sex for her.

�I� wanted�� Ron said awkwardly. �I still want�.�

Hermione smiled sadly, though Ron still wasn�t looking at
her, so he couldn�t see. �I know. It just took so long for you to show it that
I doubted�.�

Ron groaned guiltily. If only he hadn�t been such a coward
about telling her how he felt, none of this might have happened. They could
have been together now. They could have been happy. He wasn�t ready to go so
far as to say she was blameless, or to forgive her, but he couldn�t ignore the
fact that he ought to have made it clearer to her how much she meant to him.

As it was, all he could do now was figure out what they were
going to do from here. He still cared about her. He didn�t want to lose her as
a friend. He was angry with her, and hurt, and he didn�t understand what she
was doing with Malfoy� but she was still Hermione.

�I�� Ron finally looked up at Hermione, whose eyes were red
with unshed tears. She bit her lip worriedly as she waited for him to continue.
�I�m going to need some time to think about this.�

Her tears spilled onto her cheeks and Ron had to fight the
instinct to wrap his arms around her. He wasn�t ready to touch her yet, knowing
that Malfoy had had his way with her body for months. He wondered if he would
ever be able to separate her from him
in his mind again.

�O-okay,� Hermione said softly, wiping her eyes on her
sleeve. Ron got to his feet, hesitated, gave her one last glance, then headed
back to the castle.

Hermione sat beneath the tree, her arms wrapped around her
legs, her chin on her knee. She bit back her sobs. Part of her wanted to run to
Draco, to hide with him in the Room of Requirement until all of her pain and
guilt was consumed by his passion. But she was still so angry with him for
showing off in front of Ron that her pride wouldn�t let her go to him.

She spent the remainder of the morning under the tree, her
mind playing over everything that had happened with Draco, everything Ron had
said, and every possibility of what might happen next in a loop. When the shade
the tree provided and the stillness with which she sat finally caused her to be
cold despite the warm spring air, she returned to the castle and spent the rest
of the day in bed. Thankfully she did not run into Ron in the Common Room. She
told Ginny she was too ill to go to dinner, and while her friend did not seem
the least bit deceived by her lie, she left Hermione alone.

*****

He scowled his way through breakfast. The casualties of his
dining lay strewn across the table like fallen soldiers on a battlefield:
decimated sausages, toppled glasses of pumpkin juice, toast that had been torn
into a dozen pieces.

He spent the majority of the morning taking house points
from every student that had been unlucky enough to cross his path. He had to
stop himself from accidentally punishing a first-year Slytherin in the process.
By lunch time even his housemates sat a safe distance away and kept their eyes
carefully trained away from him.

The afternoon found him surreptitiously ripping random pages
out of library books.

During dinner he did little more than glare at his potatoes
while imagining Granger and Weasley suffering a diverse array of excruciating
tortures. The few students who had been brave enough to chance a glance his way
left swearing that he had made a pat of butter melt through sheer force of
will.

The dormitory was empty again when he returned after dinner.
It was quiet. Too quiet. The quiet made him think. He didn�t want to think. Thinking
meant visions of Granger and Weasley �salvaging their relationship.�

A cloud of feathers exploded into the air surrounding
Draco�s four-poster, and he looked down to find that his hand was tightly
clenched around his wand. There would be little chance of mending his pillow. He
scowled and kicked the bed frame with his already injured foot, causing him to
create entirely new swear words in a fit of enraged genius.

He couldn�t take it anymore. Viciously swatting the feathers
away from his face, he grabbed the handle of his broomstick and stormed to the
window.

*****

Hermione awoke well after dark. Her eyes hurt from crying
and it took her several minutes to remember the events of the day. It was not
until she rolled over that she realized what had woken her: Malfoy was standing
next to her bed.

Though she ached to be near him, Hermione remembered the way
he had acted around Ron, and instead she glared at him. �What do you want?�

Draco forced down a surge of rage and kept his voice even.
�You weren�t at dinner.�

Hermione sat up and scowled, folding her arms across her
chest. �And why should you care?�

Draco�s eyes narrowed and he shrugged. �Just making an
observation.�

�I don�t want to see you right now,� said Hermione, incensed
by his nonchalance. Clearly she would get no apology from him. �Please leave.�

�When have I ever listened to you, Granger?�

Malfoy�s cocky smirk only served to anger Hermione further.

�Get. Out.� She pointed toward the window, where Draco�s
broomstick was propped against the sill.

�I don�t feel like leaving yet,� said Draco stubbornly.

Furious, Hermione got out of her bed, still fully clothed
from earlier in the day, and stood before him in one swift movement. She
intended to unleash the full force of her anger on him, but instead she was
overcome by lightheadedness. If Draco hadn�t had a Seeker�s reflexes, she might
have dashed her head on the stone floor.

Draco caught her in his arms just after her knees buckled.
She seemed to lose consciousness for a split second before the jolt of him
catching her revived her. She weakly tried to push him away, but he lifted her
up and laid her on the bed despite her protests. He certainly wasn�t going to
leave now that she had nearly fainted in front of him.

�When did you last eat?�

She couldn�t discern a note of concern in his voice or see
any in his expression. She hated how cold he was. She hated how she could never
tell how he felt, or if he felt anything at all. It took her a moment to figure
out when her last meal had been.

�Dinner yesterday.� The answer surprised her as much as it
did him. Hermione knew she ought to feel hungry, but she was so tired,
physically and emotionally, that all she wanted was to slip back into
unconsciousness.

The last thing she saw before her eyes drifted shut again
was Draco scowling down at her. She smiled dreamily and whispered, �There�s a
feather in your hair.�

Draco muttered several additional curse words under his
breath for good measure and stalked off toward the window.

*****

When she woke for the second time, he was sitting at the
edge of her bed, holding out a loaf of bread with an irritated look on his
face.

�Eat this before you pass out again.�

Hermione�s stomach seemed to come to life at the thought of
food and she blushed as it rumbled audibly. She took the bread gratefully and
began to tear off small pieces, knowing that she would have to eat slowly after
going over a full day between meals.

�Aguamenti,� Draco
said as he pointed his wand at an empty glass on her bedside table. She took
the water and drank carefully, soothing her dry mouth and throat and
replenishing the moisture she had lost in tears.

They sat in silence while she ate her fill of the bread and
drank several glasses of water, which Draco refilled for her. When she had
finished, she lay back down and pulled the covers over herself. She was chilled
with fatigue even though the room was relatively warm, and she was still very
weak.

�Are you going to tell me to leave again?� Draco asked
wryly.

Hermione shook her head. She was too tired to be angry with
him anymore, and she was grateful that he had been thoughtful enough to bring
her food. She cherished the rare moments when he seemed almost tender.

Draco chuckled and kicked off his shoes, crawling into the
familiar bed without permission or objection from Hermione. She was shivering
though the bed was warm, and as he had done months before in his own bed, he
pulled her to him and held her against his chest until her shaking subsided.
They were both fully clothed, which was very strange after all the time they
had spent naked together in that bed.

Their secret was crumbling, and she was going to be hit with
the full force of it, Draco knew. The worst that he might endure if their
relationship became public would be some teasing from his estranged friends.
His family had already all but disowned him. She, on the other hand, could lose
her closest friends, and face the ridicule of the entire school.

She began shaking again and Draco realized that she was
crying. He hated when she cried. He never knew how to handle it. He had no
words of comfort to give her. He wouldn�t lie and tell her that things would be
all right, because they wouldn�t. They were in a bind, and things were probably
going to get worse before they got better, especially for her.

�You�re an idiot,� he teased gently.

Hermione smiled ever so slightly and pressed her face into
Draco�s upper arm, which served as a makeshift pillow as she lay with her back
against his chest. Her tears dampened the fabric of his shirt sleeve, but he
didn�t pull away. His other arm was warm and heavy draped across her waist.

�You don�t have to stay,� she murmured tiredly against his
arm.

�Of course I don�t have to,� he said irritably, and she
could feel his voice rumbling against her back.

They lay quietly together until Draco was half asleep,
convinced that Hermione had long passed into unconsciousness until her soft
voice sounded.

�Draco?�

�Hm?�

Hermione hesitated and turned her body so that she faced him.
�What�ll you do once we leave school?�

Draco thought for a moment, trying to figure out where this
conversation was going. �Probably manage the family affairs.� If I still have a family, he thought
bitterly. �What about you? Professor? Minister of Magic?�

Hermione smiled and shrugged. �I don�t know, actually.�

Draco propped himself up on his elbow and stared down at her
in disbelief. �How can you not know? You�re Head Girl! You could have any job
you want.�

Her eyes evaded his as she answered seriously, �Only if we
win.�

It took Draco a moment for the meaning of her answer to sink
in. The reality of the roles they played in an epic struggle hit him
unexpectedly hard. Both their gazes flitted toward his left forearm for a split
second before he forced his expression and voice to convey nonchalance.

�Potter always wins,� Draco said dismissively, as much to
assuage his own fears about what might happen to her if Potter lost as to
reassure her on the subject.

Hermione nodded, as unconvinced as Draco was that things
would turn out all right. �You� You could help us, Draco. You know things.
You��

�No.� His answer was abrupt and firm.

�But��

�I�m tired of being used,� Draco said seriously, looking
Hermione in the eyes to reinforce his point. �And I won�t do that to my family.
I�ve done enough as it is.�

Hermione wasn�t known as the brightest witch of her age for
nothing. She could sense that there was something about Draco�s relationship
with his parents that he had been concealing from her. She had suspected as
much since soon after the Christmas holidays. But to ask him about it would be
pointless, and might anger him.

�I�m sorry,� she said genuinely. �I wasn�t thinking.�

In the fervent wish that he could be able to say the same,
Draco pinned his beautiful, infuriating, brilliant witch to the bed and crushed
his lips against hers with a passion that carried the full force of the anger
he had been fueled by since leaving the owlery that morning.

She didn�t have the strength to return his fervor, but her
fingers found purchase in his hair in a sign of affectionate encouragement. As
his hands roamed her clothed body with firm possessiveness, she answered his
kisses and touches with a gentle acceptance that soothed the anger out of him.

They undressed each other beneath the sheets until they were
skin to skin and it seemed as if they had regained a sense of normalcy. With
every touch he reminded her why it was worthwhile to endure Ron�s hurt and
disappointment, and she made him understand why she had the power to make him
angrier than anyone else could.

When his fingers trailed down her stomach to part the lips
of her pussy he found her wet and wanting. She shivered as his middle finger
flicked over her clit and he watched her face by what little light there was.
Without hesitation she brought her hands to her chest to tease her pebbled
nipples. He smirked with pride as he thought about how much she had changed
since she had first agreed to take �lessons� from him. She was at home in her
body now, and she had nearly as much mastery of her sexuality as any of the
magic she had learned. What capped this realization was the fact that she
shared this part of herself only with him. And he never tired of accepting it.

Hermione gasped her pleasure in breathy sighs as Draco�s
finger stroked over her clit in a way that teased her into blissful sensation
without giving her release. Her fingers tugged at her nipples as she arched her
hips into his hand insistently in a silent plea.

�Pinch them,� Draco whispered roughly into her ear, and Hermione
complied without hesitation. The slight pain magnified her pleasure just as
Draco stopped teasing and stroked his finger firmly over her clit, and she groaned
his name unabashedly as her orgasm overtook her.

Draco nibbled at her neck and collarbone as her trembling
subsided. He knew that she must be exhausted. Getting her off had left him
harder than he cared to admit, but he wasn�t going to force himself on a witch
who had nearly fainted only a few hours previously. He had just decided to
ignore his own needs and let her sleep when she parted her legs in silent
invitation.

�Sure you won�t faint?� he teased hopefully.

�I�m stronger than you think,� she said with a playful
challenge in her voice.

That was all the reassurance he needed. As wet as she was,
he entered her with relative ease. She contracted around him reflexively and he
shivered in pleasure. How could he even have considered letting her go to
sleep?

Hermione began to move against Draco in an attempt to fill
the need to ride out her orgasm. Every nerve seemed to be hypersensitive, and
she wanted him as deep and as hard as he could go until it was more than she
could take.

Draco quickly obliged. He matched her movements until she
stilled and allowed him to set the rhythm. With each thrust she gasped or
moaned, words flowing from her lips without thought. His name, �fuck,� �good,�
�yes,� and �more� were among the most common, but she employed an extensive
vocabulary.

Her hands were braced against his chest and her legs were
splayed on either side of him. Her body absorbed the force of each thrust as if
it were made to do nothing else, sending tingles to the tips of her fingers and
toes. And just when she felt as if she had reached her limit, he gripped her
legs roughly and gave one final thrust.

His fingers dug into her thighs as he came, her scream of pleasure
echoing his shout, as if she somehow shared in his orgasm. He held her to him
as he slowly let his muscles relax, heedless of the sweat that covered both
their skin. When their gasping had subsided into heavy breathing, he pulled
away to lie on his back beside her.

She giggled and made a mock disgusted noise at the mess they
had made of each other and her sheets. He rolled his eyes and reached for his
wand, muttering a quick Scourgify
before letting his arm fall limp against the bed, his wand rolling out of his
relaxed hand. It was forgotten before it even hit the carpeted floor.

With a cautiousness she had learned from encountering his
volatile moods, Hermione slid herself closer to him until she was resting against
his side. Wordlessly, he threw his arm around her waist. She sighed in relieved
contentment and nuzzled her face against his shoulder. Neither had the strength
to be guarded against such signs of affection. The strength of their mutual
anger with each other and the force of their reconciliation spoke more loudly
than any tender touch could.

*****

A/N: It�s so nice to post again! It feels like it�s been
forever! First I was on vacation, and then I was sick, and then I was sick
again with something else right after that, so I�m glad to be back and getting
the fic updated. Thanks to my beta, twist_shimmy, for the quick turnaround she
gave me. I thank all of you, also, for sticking with me thus far and letting me
know what you think about the story�s progress. We still have a few chapters to
go, but I feel like I�m definitely getting close to the conclusion, so I�m
trying to keep updating regularly to keep the momentum going and so that I won�t
keep you guys in suspense for too long. Thanks again!

kazfeist�Thanks! Yes, I really want Ron to be a complex,
believable, and at least partially sympathetic character. I wouldn�t be
surprised if I messed up the affect/effect at some point. I�m usually pretty
good about that, but when I�m trying to get a chapter posted quickly sometimes
something like that can slip through both myself and my beta. Hope you liked
this chapter!

MegNutz�Haha, thanks! Yes, things are definitely falling
apart now and it�s intense waiting to see how things will end up! I�m glad you�re
liking it, though :)

cazeyjarryn�Oh yes, he�s very good at that. I think it�ll be
hard for Draco to change, and for Ron to accept the relationship, but I don�t
think that either is impossible. I guess we�ll just have to wait and see!

Luthien�Thank you! That is very high praise indeed. I strive
for realism in my portrayal of these characters, so that�s a wonderful
compliment for me. So the make-up sex wasn�t as rough as it could have been in
this chapter, but I hope it sufficed ;)

Draco_Lover�Yeah, sometimes Draco really doesn�t know what�s
good for him, does he? It�s all very complicated with Ron trying to remain
friends with Hermione and Draco�s rift with his family, but I�m hoping I can
get everyone where they need to be in the end!

WeasleyY7�Oh yes, Draco always has to make things worse. He
can�t help it! And I�m glad you liked Ron�s �I could never hate you� line,
because it�s one of my favorites. I felt that it was very important for Ron to
show us that even though he�s incredibly hurt by what�s going on, that doesn�t
mean that he�s going to hate Hermione. They�re too close of friends for that,
in my opinion. Plus, he�s in love with her. As for Draco�s dark thoughts, for
me it�s not so much about suspense as it is just an example of how difficult it
is for Draco to change, how hard the decision is, and how much he stands to
lose by choosing her.

Tjeila�My chapters are almost always about the same length,
no matter how many reviews I get.

malfoys_mistress2�Thanks! It�s always a compliment when
someone sits down and reads what I have so far from start to finish in one go.
I do intend to see this through to the end at a fairly steady pace, so I hope
that you continue to enjoy the story as it progresses toward its end.

Starr�Haha, thank you! I�m very glad that you like all those
aspects of my story and my writing, and I hope that you�ll keep liking it!
Thanks again!

silver&black�Aww, that�s adorable. Thanks! I had chapter
15 planned a long time before I wrote it, and it�s still one of my favorites. I
think it�s a pivotal moment in their relationship and it was wonderful and
heartbreaking to write it.

Itsbeenvery�Thanks! I hope that this fic was satisfying as
an obsessed!Draco fic. He becomes less obsesses as time goes on, but I still
think that plays a major role in the story. I really hope you continue to like
the story as you continue reading!

Kate�Thanks! It�s always wonderful to hear that someone
liked my fic so much that they read it in one sitting. I hope you continue to
like it!

Bella love�Wow, that�s an incredible compliment! I�m so glad
you like it so much :). I promise I�m trying my best to update as often as I
can, especially now that the end is in sight and I don�t want to leave anyone
hanging. Thanks for the praise!

flamingmoth�Thank you! I strive to deliver all of those
things! :)
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Lessons and Obsessions