Curse of a Kiss

Chapter 13

 

The Poor Thing

 

She felt the room spin but was pretty sure something was off when she opened her eyes and everything was still dark. The only things grounding her were their arms around each other and the floor at her feet - but that had changed too. Like she had been hovering and then landing back on the floor, the sound of dishes and glass and the heavy candelabras crashing around them. It was loud and she felt him grip her tighter as they stumbled and landed on a sloped floor. "Draco?" She clung to his arms and felt his chest rumble. 

"I'm here. Is everything dark for you?" She felt him take a deep breath and he returned to her lips for another kiss. She can tell he was smiling when he pulled away and added, "simply trying to see if another kiss fixed it." 

"Hmm," she pondered him being this way, cute in crisis, and decided it felt more genuine that she had ever felt him with her. "Tilly can come to us, right? I'm afraid to move, honestly." 

Draco leaned away. She could feel his heat fade slightly, "Tilly! Bea! Either of you?" There is a pop and a cold chill blows past them before they hear both voices speaking over one another. 

"What on earth have you done to my rooms?!"

"Yes Mister Malfoy? I am here - why is it dark?"

"Can you tell what's happened? We can't see anything!" 

Bea's voice comes closer. "My er..failsafe has been triggered. The room blacks out when someone comes in and is -erm. Interrupting."

"And the crashing sounds? The floor moving out from under our feet?" 

"That is Peeves' addition. He thinks it's funny to flip the room upside down. He's done it to all the rooms on this floor at random but my room...Let's say Peeves didn't like me much in life." Bea's voice faded away again as she moved around the room. Hermione feels Draco's hands slip a little lower, resting on the back of her thighs and is so glad it's dark. 

"Tilly. Can you clean up the glass? I don't want anyone to get hurt." He says and she steps a little closer to him, not having thought of that being a problem. She made sure to grab his hand before it moved under her skirt and glared at him - of course he can't see it.

"Yes Mister. I will clear away everything I brought from dinner."  

"Wait-" Draco tried to say but Tilly snapped her fingers and there's a faint tinkling sound as all the dishes disappeared. "Bullocks." His voice is down against her ear. "I had plans for that last dessert plate." 

"The candles!" Hermione remembers. 

"It's alright, dear. The flames have all gone off. Just hot wax on the floor...erm. Ceiling. Bugger, Tilly dear? Can you find Peeves for me? I'll get these two situated safely."

There's a squeak and a pop and then the chilly presence next to them again. "I'd say it is safe to sit down, you two. There's a slight slope but you'll be safe. Draco, take two steps back and you'll reach one of the tall pillars to ground you. Thankfully whoever was alive after I left nailed down the larger furniture.

"We are lucky the fireplace didn't fall out when it flipped." Hermione says. "Wait, Bea? Can you see everything?"  

She could hear Bea's smile "I can. My failsafe was made to keep my partner from - shall we say, being exposed? She wasn't exactly comfortable being public about our relationship and the ghosts of Hogwarts are quite terrible gossips. The vision of everyone but me go out when someone pops their nosey head into my quarters and in a few minutes, it would end. It gave me plenty of time so I could get myself and her...straightened up, so to speak."

There's a long pause before Draco snickered and spluttered out. "Bea - did you poke your head in to check on us??"

Hermione can practically hear the blush on the ghost as she realized what had set off this trap in the first place and she stammered. "I didn't think - I wanted to make sure it was okay! It was so quiet!!" Draco laughed and slid his hand back around her waist, guiding her as he stepped back to the pillar.  

"Just get it fixed, yeah, Bea?" Draco tugged Hermione down onto the floor with him, shifting to sit with his legs out. He sat her on his lap and nuzzled his nose into her neck. 

Is this where they were now? Affectionate half motions and protective hands sliding against her arse cheeks and making her squirm. "Easy, love. Before you start a fire you can't put out." his voice is husky against her neck as he kissed her skin ever so softly, sending the sparks all over her body. 

Bea cleared her throat, "You're both quite lucky. I mean- you were- are in the safest place to have been when it went topsy-turvy. When I find out how to flip it back I promise not to be a bother again." It's obvious that Bea feels incredibly uncomfortable.

Draco must have forgotten Bea was perfectly capable of seeing his wandering hands - or he just didn't care anymore, which was irritating but there was another pop back into the room as Tilly reappeared. "Peeves is in the library, Professor Bea!" the tiny voice squeaked out and then another pop of her leaving. Can house elves apparate with a ghost? Is that possible?

Either way it was suddenly quite still in the room and Draco's featherlight kisses became teeth and tongue and gently sucking on her skin, making her light headed. "Draco-"

"You know what I wanted to do with that last dessert, Granger?" He said in a hushed tone. She swallowed hard and made a small hum of questioning, her tongue too thick to speak but she shifted to put her knees on either side of his waist, letting her hands run through his hair. "I wanted you to eat it while I ate you." He runs his tongue up her throat to nibble her earlobe and she whimpers. The thought of that delicious cake in her mouth with his mouth against her cunt made her thighs tremble. He laced his fingers back into her hair and pulled her head back roughly, meeting her lips with his and kissing her deeply.  

He pulled back gasping, another idea coming to his mind as he said in a single breath, "Or you could sit on my cock and I can feed it to you." Excitement rushed through her at the idea and he crushed their lips together again, absorbing everything about her with his kiss and she practically melts.

This felt so different but somehow still the same. The same pulsing drive for more of him clouds her judgement as she shifts and grinds down onto him. Something about not being able to see anything has made every slip of his hand, every squeeze and nip of his mouth ten times as exciting as before. She vaguely remembered blindfolds being part of a handcuff and feather teaser set from a shop she visited that summer with her muggle friend back home. At the time, she rolled her eyes but currently, she filed that away for something to play with later. Maybe with Draco. Maybe with Ron. Maybe with someone else. But those are thoughts for later too.

She bites into his lower lip and tugs, pulling his wandering hands out from under her skirt and blouse. "Now, Draco-" 

He groaned and dropped his head against her shoulder. "Uugh, Granger. Don't start with that teacher voice. Things were finally going my way." 

"I think we've a small problem." 

He mumbled, peppering kisses along her shoulder over her top. "Definitely not small."

"It's not working-"

"Oh, love, it's absolutely working."

"Draco!" She tried to shove him by his shoulders but her hand smooshed into his face and his muffled "oomf" made her laugh lightly. "The repellant potion. It's clearly not working past, what, 7 hours?" 

She tried to shift up and off his lap, intent on putting distance between them somehow but his hands snaked around and grabbed her arse, holding her down against him again. "Just about seven, I reckon." He put his forehead on hers and she let her fingers slip to touch his bowtie, it felt twisted and she straightened it. He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "But to be honest," another gentle kiss and he pulled her flush against him so she could feel him pressing into her thigh, straining in his trousers. "I couldn't give a fuck if it's stopped working."

He took her mouth again, breathing her in, his tongue cutting off any ability for her to think or protest, his hand kneading her arse cheek and the other sliding up to cup her cheek and tilt her face, snogging her until suddenly the lights came back on and they flew from the ceiling to the floor with a -thump- and groans. 

"Bloody hell," he groaned loudly, blinking his eyes quickly and rubbing his nose. It was bleeding now and Hermione clenched her eyes tightly, a horrific pain in her wrist, the sight making her sick. It was broken. "That will kill the mood, damn." He pulled himself up off of her, his nose must have smacked into her head when they were flipped because it ached something terrible and his nose poured blood like a spout.

He pinched it in his fingers and fumbled to get his bowtie off, making it a handkerchief again and pressing it against the flow. "Draco-" her voice felt thin as she tried to not look at her own arm, using the wooden pillar to stand herself up. "My wrist. I think it's broken." He stopped his search for his wand and whirled to her, gently taking her arm and frowning deeply. 

"I'm sorry, Granger. It was probably my fault." He glanced around the floor around them and swore, the ground was littered in candles and books and various items that were dumped on the ceiling and flipped back around, his wand lost somewhere. "Tilly!" He called out as he took Hermione's other hand and pulled her toward the door. The little elf popped in as he pushed at the exit and it didn't open. Hermione weakly tried but it was sealed. "Let us out! She needs to see Pomfrey!" 

"I know healing magic, you know." Hermione said weakly and Tilly wrung her hands together again. 

"Misters Malfoy is not to leave for Miss Granger's safety." She looked nervously between the two, her big eyes lingering on Hermione's arm and pale face. Hermione decided to search for her wand while Draco steamed, face cool but anger simmering. 

"Bullocks! She broke her wrist, so she needs the infirmary." She found her robes and pulled her wand but he took it from her. "I'm not letting you cast with your non-dominant hand to heal your casting hand. Don't be daft, you look like you're about to faint," He cut her off before she could protest, a cold sweat gathering on the back of her neck. She did feel a little lightheaded. 

"Miss can go. But you must stay, Sir. Tilly must stay in control of Mister Malfoy until his ailments are gone." Tilly was shaking now and Hermione had to grab his shoulder to stay upright. She wanted to talk but was spending her energy focusing on standing and staying conscious. 

"Then take us both straight there! I'm not leaving her alone. I'll come right back once I know she's okay." He actually sounded desperate. He didn't want to just push her out the door and let her struggle herself to the hospital wing and it was sort of nice, to know he was insistent on being with her until she was in better hands. 

Tilly seemed to contemplate the demand for a few moments before reaching out to them both. She placed her little hands on Hermione's knee and Draco put his hand on her shoulder while she snapped her fingers. The swirl of the world would have been fascinating if she hadn't felt like expelling her dinner everywhere. 

Moving through apparition wards in Hogwarts was a complicated type of magic. Only the house elves seemed to be able to do it, so the level of power that accompanied them from his room to the Infirmary doors was so strong it made everything in her body ache like she had ran a marathon. Draco wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her grounded as everything kept spinning, even after they landed and she wondered if it was equally dizzying for him.

"Pomfrey!" As if she popped into existence at her name, she was suddenly there and Draco shared the weight of her body as the two moved her to a bed. "It's complicated how but her wrist is broken and now she's just-" He gestured at Hermione and she felt things fade slightly as she laid back on the pillow, her hand all the way to her elbow feeling cold and she tried to wrap her other hand around it to warm it up. The horrific pain brought her back to herself for a moment. 

"It might be my whole arm." She said weakly as Madame Pomfrey lifted her hand gently with her wand and moved it gently about. Hermione winced and sighed when her nurse aid handed her a potion. 

"Take this for the pain, dear." She said softly and Hermione welcomed the gentle taste of it on her tongue. 

"Time to go back, Mister Malfoy." Tilly said, tugging on his robes but he didn't move from the end of her bed, staring hard at her and making her flinch at the intensity and all the blood still drying on his face. He noticed and looked to the side and down at Tilly.

"Not yet. She's-"

"It's fine, honestly. I can pop by tomorrow." Hermione tried, focusing on Madam Pomfrey as she started to cast her complicated bone healing magic. It's a spell she hadn't heard and she's suddenly glad he didn't let her try to heal herself. His lips curled into a sneer at the house elf but he changes to a small smile at her when he meets her gaze. He stiffened as there is a bone cracking sound and she felt the magic below her skin but the pain is numbed thanks to the potion. Her body still breaks into a sweat and Madam Pomfrey pats her hand. 

"I need you to rest. I can examine you again in a little while to see the damage to your wrist better, dearie." She was warm to Hermione but cold when she turned to Draco. "You need to leave. I don't know what you did to her but she doesn't want you here." He looked pale now, like the idea of having hurt her made him sick. Is this how it would be? Would everyone be suspicious of him any time she was hurt or upset? It's understandable after all they had gone through but it didn't make it any easier to digest as she started to drift to sleep. 

"He didn't- It's not like that-" She whispered but Draco was gritting his teeth and starting to argue with Madam Pomfrey and Tilly when she felt everything go black. Rest was good, the river of sleep took her without hesitation but she still hated that she left him to explain on his own. Poor Draco. 

 

"Poor Draco," Snape sneered at him hours later, standing at the edge of his bed and throwing his robes at the boy. Draco glared, sat up in his bed, glowering at his Professor as he shuffled around for his trousers and shirt. "Is that the general consensus? Poor me? Because that isn't something I allow in my house, boy." 

After having lost the argument with Tilly and Madame Pomfrey and being sent back to his room with a snap, Draco stewed in his rage and worry by pacing until dawn came. He sent several owls out to Snape, to Blaise (threatening to castrate the boy personally) and Theo and even a desperate one to Potter to ask him to check on Granger in the infirmary. He felt he had gone mad, the potion not working, his emotions- his feelings getting the better of him in the dark of the room and then, she was hurt. She was hurt and he blamed himself and he couldn't even help her. Trapped in his cage as he was, Tilly tried to explain to him, it was just orders, she physically could not break them again. She already bent them, getting them both to the hospital quickly. 

It was like he had been stabbed when Pomfrey accused him so quickly of hurting her. His gut wretched from his body when she didn't meet his eyes, asking him to leave her. He figured it wasn't really intentional but the implication infuriated him. He had a nose bleed! Common sense could extrapolate that she punched him and broke her wrist, like she had only a few years ago. But 'Poor Draco' wasn't something he let himself feel too often. He was fine - just emotionally exhausted. So when he finally got to sleep and Snape woke him by slamming his portrait entry open and kicking about the candles on the floor that he hadn't yet picked back up, he was irate to say the least. 

"Locked in a cage because I can't control myself - yes. I'd say poor me is accurate. I didn't cause or ask for any of this." Draco snatched his wand and brushed his hands through his hair quickly to slick it down from his bedhead. "What do you need, Professor?" 

Snape narrowed his eyes at him before his jaw twitched. "I've been thinking of solutions to what's happened. In case you forgot, there is a task that must be completed by the end of the year. And Miss Granger would be a very large issue if she was the reason it wasn't completed." 

"So what, should we just kill her too? I'm sure I won't have any issue killing two powerful people in one fail swoop." Draco dug the heels of his palm into his eyes and groaned, his nose was still aching and his eyes bruised. "Gods her head must be like stone." he muttered, tapping the yellowing bruises and looking in the mirror of the washroom through the open door.

"Nothing so drastic. Your affliction should be cured when the potion is finished, it's going to clear the board so to speak. And I'll need a sample of your blood to test before administering. As for Granger," Snape pulled the chair from the floor upright and sat in it, arms crossed as he tracked each movement of Draco's face. He moved to sit in the other chair and put an ankle over his knee, letting Snape drag out the drama of what he was going to say. "We need to wipe her memory." 

Draco's foot slid off his knee to the floor with a thump. "What?" 

"I've got a memory modifier, we can carefully extract all the memories of you and her the past few months. Tell her she ruined a concoction in Slughorn's class that makes her memories altered and blurry. Her hairbrained friends ruin enough of her assignments, it wouldn't be too far off the map. Did she tell Weasley about everything, do you know?"

His mouth was twitching into a deeper and deeper frown, "What, no? We aren't doing that?" 

"It's your mothers idea. We need to remove yours, for your safety, Draco." 

"I'm not letting you do that! Are you mad?!" Draco tapped his fingers on the table in a nervous habit. Things surely weren't so serious they needed to alter memories? Snogging Granger was one of the few things he felt he could hold over her head for the next couple of years, making her cream under his tongue was practically heaven and he'd be damned if he even let Snape get a whiff of those memories, nevermind his mother. "There is no way-"

"What do you think will happen, Draco?! What will happen when the Dark Lord digs into your mind and sees you with her? Because I know exactly what will happen." Snape's gaze looked clouded suddenly, remissive and miles away as he said. "It's already happened to me..."

Draco tried not to scoff loudly at his bleeding heart mentor's moment of weakness. "It's not like I'm in love with her or anything. He'd see that, I'm sure of it." He crossed his arms and scowled but felt his mind going a mile a minute. Would it even matter? He seemed the sort to order Draco to kill her just for the sake of loyalty. He seemed like he would make Draco follow a line of seducing and 'changing sides' for the sake of a sneak attack. He buried the ache in his ribcage at the thought of betraying her so blatantly- he could just imagine her face. 

"He wouldn't care. He didn't and he won't this time. Removing memories is the best option we have. Until the war is over, this is how I can keep you safe, even if I'm not around to distract any line of questioning that could be compromising."

"Where is Blaise? I need to speak with him." 

"Draco-" Snape was frustrated, looking to the side but scowling and answered him anyways. "We've still not seen him since he supposedly left to see his family. We think he is hiding in the castle somewhere. The reasoning isn't clear but-"

"It's plenty ruddy clear to me! He knows I'm going to kill him on sight! He has effectively ruined my life and reputation in one swoop!" 

"Pansy Parkinson has admitted to collaborating with him to make a stronger love potion to give to you. She wept when she came clean, a pathetic attempt to stop the punishment but we at least know the basis of what's happened - what your friends had done to you."

"Between her, Blaise and Theo - I have no bloody friends." Draco snarled, standing to pace. "What's the final word, then?"

"Zabini and Parkinson worked together to blend a complex and obsessive love potion, adding extra potent ingredients to make it last as long as possible. Pansy, I've gathered since you weren't interested in courting her, thought she could 'win you back', disgusting to hear her manipulations before becoming desperate enough to try this." Snape stood and put his hand on Draco's shoulder, an understanding of how frustrating this all had been to him. "The combination of the potion, which, I think you knew, needed contact to become effective and, the longing hex Theodore Nott hit you with - there was a compounding of the two. They altered each other in your system leaving you roaming about like a mating monster, looking for something you weren't supposed to want. Spare me the details of how you ended up settling on Granger." 

"That's only half of it." Draco snorted and buffeted Snape's arm off of him. "You'll get a front row seat poking through our memories anyways. Pansy must have realized the potion didn't work and started spiking me with muggle medication. It only made my need triple fold - fucking ingrates." 

Snape looked pensive for a moment, seeing past the rage and frustration Draco was putting out and hearing the deeply unsettled response to his only solution. "I can- I can always save

your memories. If you feel it might be something you'd want back someday. If the Dark Lord does fall, it wouldn't be a problem to-"

"I don't need to remember her or any of this. I hate the idea of losing chunks of my life but-! You're right, it's better if it isn't even there anymore. Better for her too, ruddy Weasley was more gentleman than I was." The words cause him pain and he is dragged under his self loathing, left only to bury his emotions by hand. The imaginary hole he's been digging subconsciously was crucial to keep the fantasy his thoughts created in-line. A world with Granger and her crazy hair and prissy attitude being something he looked forward to seeing. A fever dream of her wrapping her arms around him in the kitchen in the early morning, placing a kiss to her head, her happy and comfortable in his home. Speaking excitedly over something womanly with his mother - all of these dangerous taunts in his mind that he effectively wanted dead and gone. 

"So Weasley is aware? We can take his memory too." 

"Not that I'm aware of. I had the displeasure of hearing her breaking his heart the other day. Some sob story of her mother being unwell and all that. He shouldn't be a problem but- shit." He suddenly remembers one of her friends had been under the cloak the night he stole the truth serum and the dreamless sleep. "I'll need to ask her who it was but someone might have seen us together. And you know women and their gossip." 

"Figure it out and let me know. We should do it the same night the potion is repaired. It's the last feasible time to have you both together so it would make sense to reset everything together." Snape turned toward the door as there was a knock and he looked over his shoulder. "I've worked out a way to handle your task. I'm still working the last details out but I'll tell you another time." 

Draco flicked his wand to start cleaning the mess over the room, expecting it to be Granger at the door. "Yeah, alright then. Talk later."