The Adult World

Chapter 10: Jealousy


Draco woke at the manor with a splitting headache. He couldn’t remember the last time he had drank so much, and groaned at the thought of all the whisky he had consumed. Clamoring out of bed, he stumbled into the bathroom to grab a hang-over potion. After downing the vial in one gulp, he closed his eyes and waited on the relief the potion would provide.

As the aches and pains slowly went away, he began to remember bits and pieces of what had happened the night before. Opening his eyes, he looked at his haggard reflection and cursed out loud. The memories flooded his mind, and he truly hoped that the incident with Hermione had been a drunken man’s fabrication. Shaking his head, he quickly splashed some cold water on his face, and prepared to floo Pansy for a more detailed account of what had happened.

********

Hermione snuck quietly down a narrow hall, attempting to leave before she woke up the occupants of the flat that she had apparated to, in her rage.

“Trying to sneak away without even a goodbye?” Came a familiar tone.

Hermione cursed slightly under her breath, then turned around to find Harry leaning against the door frame that lead to his and Ginny’s bedroom. “Well, I didn’t want to wake the both of you up just to say bye. I have to get to Hogwarts today to finish grading the mid-terms. I’m terribly behind.”

Harry smiled and rolled his eyes. “I doubt that. You’ve never fallen behind in you’re work. I think that you’re trying to sneak away so you won’t have to tell us what happened last night.”

“Yeah, I think the same thing!” Ginny said as she leaned around Harry, and gently pushed him into the hall. “Harry, will you put the tea on? I’m terribly thirsty.” She asked as she rubbed his arm.

“Of course.” He said, and made his way past Hermione with a nod. “But don’t let her leave until she explains herself!” He called over his shoulder.

Ginny smiled broadly, and put her hands on her hips. “Now that he’s gone, you can tell the TRUTH about what happened last night. Was it Malfoy? Cause you seemed really pissed when you showed up last night.” She whispered.

Hermione sighed and grabbed Ginny by the arm and led her into the spare room that they had let her sleep in the night before. “Of course it was. Who else has the ability to make someone that angry?” Hermione quickly recounted the tale, constantly looking toward the door to make sure Harry hadn’t returned to get the scoop.

After she was finished, she looked at the strange expression on Ginny’s face. “What? Is it the baby?” She asked, reaching out to her with a worried expression.

“No!” Ginny laughed. “The baby’s fine. I was just thinking that… I don’t know Hermione… Do you think you overreacted a little? I mean, I’m not the best person to judge in that department, considering that we ran out of bread the other day and I burst into tears, but really. I think you should take a step back from the whole thing and look at it again. He was drunk. He tried to save you from the psycho pervert. And you do know that Pansy is married right?”

Hermione scowled. “I know. But married people have affairs. And maybe I did overreact. But who cares? He was stinking drunk and wondering around Diagon Alley with that whore. Who knows what they were really up to.”

“Okay, so here’s another thought. Why do you care?” Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows.

Hermione stood there for a moment trying to think of an answer. She was saved, however, when Harry stuck his head in the room.

“Tea’s ready.”

********

Draco leaned back from the fireplace and brushed the ashes off of this shirt. He had just finished having a chat with Pansy, who helped recount the tale from the night before. The longer she explained what she had seen, the more angry he got. He vaguely remember attempting to explain himself to Hermione more than once, but she hadn’t given him the chance. She just left without hearing his side of things.

Pansy had repeatedly questioned him about what was going on between him and the “Mudblood”, but Draco refused to answer her questions. After her third attempt at prying more information out of him, Draco simply ended the conversation. What disturbed him was the fact that he didn’t know the answer to her question. He didn’t know what was going on between them. But he did know that Pansy calling her a ’Mudblood’ had made him uncomfortable. He didn’t correct her, but he felt the nagging feeling to put her in her place.

Getting off of the floor, he stalked around the room in a rage. How dare she just leave without giving him a chance to explain! How dare she not even have the manners to thank him for handling the prat that attacked her! And how dare she not even write to him all holiday!

The rest of the week passed slowly, leaving Draco alone with his thoughts. He considered going back to Hogwarts early to settle things, but decided against it. He was tired of making the first move. If she wanted to resolve things with him, she was just going to have to come to him first.

********

Hermione flipped the last paper over, and leaned back in her chair with a contented sigh. She had just finished grading the last mid-term, and was happy with the results. Most of the students had gotten their potions correct, and only a small handful had not followed the directions properly. She felt like that was an achievement in itself, considering that she figured that most of them would fail the assignment completely.

After stacking the papers together, she left her office and headed back to her quarters. The minute she walked into the common area she felt his presence. She knew that it would only be a matter of time before he returned, but she still didn’t feel ready. She had only just finished grading the last exam because she had spent most of the week deciding what to say to him. She didn’t like not having a plan, and whatever was going on between them was too unstable for her. She needed to rationalize things.

Peering through his open door, she caught sight of him as he was methodically hanging his clothes in his wardrobe. His hands stopped mid-air, and he looked over at her. Their eyes met, and Hermione instantly felt self-conscious. All the words that she had planned on saying were lost with just a simple look She quickly cleared her throat, nodded at him, then entered her room, and shut the door swiftly behind her.

Draco smirked at her retreating form and shook his head. He wondered how long it would take her to talk to him. He figured that she had a script already worked out, and it was only a matter of time before she dropped a monologue on him.

********

A few more days passed, spring term began, and they quickly fell back into their old routines. Hermione still hadn’t said a word to him, and had decided that if he needed to explain himself to her, then he should come to her and do it already. When they happened to be in the common room at the same time, it felt strained and awkward. It was getting difficult to remain passive around him, and Hermione had half a mind to just jump on him and snog him till it felt right again.

Those thoughts were swirling through her mind as she made her way down the hall and past the DADA classroom. She glance in as she walked by, and came to a halt on the other side. Furrowing her brow, she turned around and looked back into the room. What she saw caused her to see red. Stomping into the room, she marched her way up toward the front of the room, where Draco was leaning against his desk.

“I need to speak with you.” She stated, looking pointedly at him.

He smirked at her and gestured to the student in front of him. “As you can see, I’m a little busy at the moment.”

The student that he was referring to, turned around and cocked an eyebrow at her. Hermione narrowed her eyes at the young girl. She was tall, thin, and had long straight black hair that flowed down her back. She had on way too much make up, and had her school robes folded over her arm to show off her altered school uniform. The skirt was about three inches too short, and she had loosened the tie so that she could unbutton the top two buttons to show off her cleavage. When Hermione had walked by, she only had to glance at the two of them to see that this girl was clearly flirting with him. And he appeared to be enjoying it.

“I’ll wait while you finish up.” She said, punctuating each word as she stared back at the girl who was boring holes into her with her eyes.

“Oh, Professor Malfoy and I have some school work to discuss. This could take awhile.” The girl said, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her eyes at Hermione.

“I’m sure you do.” Hermione retorted, mimicking the other girl by folding her arms over her chest.

Draco looked from one to the other with an amused expression. Clearing his throat, he stood up and decided to put a stop to the interaction before his student got hurt. She was definitely no match for Hermione, even on a bad day.

“Giselle, we’ll finish this later. I do have some things I need to discuss with Professor Granger.” He said, motioning toward the door.

Giselle, huffed, and stalked toward the door. Hermione turned on her heel, “Oh Giselle is it?” Pulling out her wand she waited for the girl to turn around again. When she did, Hermione flicked her wrist, causing the girl’s skirt to extend to her knees and her shirt to button itself up to the highest button. “Don’t forget to follow the dress code.” She said, giving her a sweet smile. The girl cried out in rage, and ran from the room.

Taking a deep breath, Hermione turned around to see Draco smiling widely. “That was despicable.” She stated, still brandishing her wand.

“What are you talking about?” He asked, trying to suppress his laughter.

“Oh don’t act stupid. That girl was throwing herself at you! What I can’t believe is that you were flirting back! What kind of man whore are you!?” She cried out, swinging her wand with each word.

The smile fell from his face and he narrowed his eyes at her. “I was not flirting. That girl tries to throw herself at every male professor she has. Even flaming Longbottom would have a chance if he went for that sort of thing.” He advanced on her, the anger radiating from him. “Let me make myself clear. I have never, nor will I ever, have sex with one of my students.”

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, only to have his wand pointed at her face. “If you say another word, I will hex you before you get the last syllable out. I have some things to say, and you will not interrupt me again.” He reached out and snatched her wand from her grasp, and put it in his pocket. “That’s so you don’t get any ideas.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she set her jaw, and narrowed her eyes at him. When Draco was certain that she wasn’t going to say anything, he continued. “I don’t understand how you made top of the class when you jump to conclusions so readily. First with Pansy, now with a student. For your information, Pansy is married, and was doing my mother a favor by bring me home from the bar.”

Seeing her open her mouth, he shook his wand in her face. “I didn’t say I was done yet. I was so spectacularly drunk that night because I had just come from seeing my father in Azkaban. I had taken an idea YOU gave me, and decided to do something selfless for once.” He reached around his neck and pulled the pendent from under his shirt. “I was finally able to create a timortectum successfully, and took it to him.”

The anger in Hermione’s eyes vanished, and she opened her mouth and reached her hand out to him. He shook his head and pointed his wand at her again. “Almost done. Now, seeing as this is twice now that you’ve managed to jump to conclusions without all the facts, sloppy by the way, I want to know why you care so much about who I spend my time with. Seeing as I didn’t get an owl the whole holiday, I figured that our little… rendezvous, didn’t mean anything to you.”

Hermione stood with her hands on her hips, and raised her eyebrows in question. Draco smirked, and nodded at her. “Now you may speak.” He said, dropping his wand down, and placing it back in his pocket. He decided to hold onto hers a little while longer. At least until he found out what her reaction was going to be.

Sighing, she shook her head. “I know that I overreacted the other night. I don’t know why I did. And I don’t know why I didn’t write either! But honestly, I couldn’t just walk by and watch that student throw herself at you. It was…” She stopped talking and looked down at her feet.

Draco waited a few seconds, then stepped toward her again. “It was what Hermione?”

Exasperated, she threw her hands in the air. “I don’t know okay! I hate this! I’ve never acted so irrationally in my life, and it’s terrible! I don’t understand it at all!”

“You want to know what I think?” He asked, and waited till she looked him in the eye. “I think you do know.” He took slow, predatory steps toward her with each word. Hermione stood her ground, and kept eye contact, but she bit her lip, and felt her heart begin to race. When he was standing directly in front of her, he leaned over and whispered, “You just don’t want to admit it.”

Swallowing, she broke eye contact and looked at his shoulder. She saw his hand come up, and felt him cup her cheek in his palm. She closed her eyes as he gently ran his thumb across her lips. Opening her eyes, she met his stormy gaze. His gaze was so intense, it drew a whimper from her throat.

Time felt like it had stopped, as he leaned slowly toward her. Hermione held her breath, and let her eyes drift close as his lips brushed against hers. His kiss was so soft, that she leaned forward to get more contact. She was breathless as he gently kissed her once, twice, and a third time, before running his hands into her hair, and pulling her head back to deepen the kiss.

She gasped into his mouth, and he took the opportunity to slide his tongue against hers, as he pulled her against his body. The kiss ended abruptly when he tore his lips from hers and took a step back. Hermione was shocked from the loss of contact, and stumbled forward. Draco grabbed her shoulders to steady her, and nodded toward the small group of students that were standing in the doorway with their mouths hanging open.

“I have a class.” He said, reaching in his pocket and retrieving her wand.

“I can see that.” She squeaked, blushing deeply as she took her wand from his grasp.

As she turned to leave, he reached out and grabbed her arm. “We’ll finish this later.” He whispered in her ear, then released her arm and turned toward his students. “Well, don’t just stand there with your mouths hanging open, get in here and get to work.” He snapped, turning around to quickly adjust himself.

Hermione kept her head down as she fled the room. Her face felt like it was on fire from the embarrassment, and she avoided eye contact with the students. She made her way to her classroom, and pulled the door open to find that she wasn’t alone like she had hoped. A seventh year student was working on a potion at one of the work tables, and looked up at Hermione when she entered the room.

“Hi Professor Granger.” The girl said as she looked her up and down. “Are you alright? You look a little flushed.”

Hermione gave her a weak smile. “I’m fine Amanda. Thank you for asking.“ She stated simply, and quickly made her way to her office.

Amanda reminded Hermione of herself from when she was a student. She was almost the top of her class, and spent a great deal of time on her school work. She also had a passion for potions, and spent a lot of time trying out different experiments. Hermione often had to shoo her from the room at the end of the night so she could lock the doors.

Noticing a clump of wolfsbane clutched in the girls hand as she walked by, Hermione casually called over her shoulder, “Be careful with that, it can be highly volatile.”

********

The explosion knocked Draco and his students off their feet. Picking himself back up, he felt a strange feeling in his stomach. His mouth went dry when he remembered that Hermione didn’t have a class at this time.

An anguished scream broke him out of his daze, and he rushed from the room. Rounding the corner, the sight that met him made his blood run cold.



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A/N: Sorry for the delay! I was having a little problem trying to figure out how to get them to work out their shit without making it seem too OOC. lol. Hope this works. Which reminds me! I just started to reread the HP series, and came across something that had me laughing hysterically. Do you all remember the name of Neville's frog in book one? It's name is Trevor. Which also happens to be the name I chose for Neville's BF... so. My subconscious must have paired the two names together. I hadn't read the first book in years! Now, I'll put it to a vote. Should I go back and change the name of Neville's BF (I don't want people to think he's in love with his frog... that would be disturbing), or should I leave it the way it is? Let me know what you think!

PS- Big thanks to all you who reviewed! I love you guys!