The Price Of Knowledge

The Price of Knowledge



Chapter Fifteen

I couldn’t get enough.

Draco pushed me against the bookshelves and I didn’t relent. Books flew in all directions and I actually didn’t care. I began to open my shirt, watching him watching me. His eyes were hungry as he began to unbuckle his belt.

“I’ve been wet for you all day,” I said, jerking my skirt up.

“Fuck,” he swore, pressing up against me, his mouth claiming mine. His mouth fucked my mouth as his hips jerked into mine. I wrapped one leg around his waist, bringing my center in contact with his. He was hot and hard for me, and he slid right into my slippery heat.

My eyes closed momentarily. I loved the feeling of being filled. One hand fisted in his hair, the other held onto his shoulder for leverage as I braced myself for what I expected to be very rough sex.

Draco pushed me into the bookshelves, bringing my other leg up and around his waist. He brought his hand up, grabbing the shelf above my head and thrusting into me. Again and again, the friction of his pelvis against my clit was unbelievably delicious. It hurt to be shoved repeatedly into the wood, but everything else felt so good I just didn’t want it to end.

He suckled each of my breasts and I squealed. I squeezed my pelvic muscles as if I were doing a Kegel and he groaned loudly, biting my neck. I growled like a wild animal and dug my nails into his back. Somehow, this only increased the ferocity of our movements.

“Open your eyes and look at me.”

This wasn’t new. Turned out Draco liked to watch me come. Turned out I liked it. I liked it just as much as I liked the way he said my name in the throes of his climax.

Silver eyes burned into mine and the world fell apart. I cried out as I came, the blood pulsating through my veins like a runaway train. His body buckled into mine twice before I heard it: “Hermione.”

He said it like it was a bad habit and if anything, it turned me on even more.

I didn’t realize it, but when I finally came down from my climax, we were literally down on the floor. Draco’s face was burrowed into my shoulder and my legs were still wrapped around his torso. Although uncomfortable – the library floor was not only cold marble but covered with books – I didn’t move right away.

“I still can’t believe Madame Pince just lets you come and go as you please at night,” Draco chuckled.

I ignored the innuendo. “Being so studious and respectful towards her books helps. She does regard them as her children.”

Draco shifted and pulled out a rather thick tomb from under us. “Well,” he said, casting the book aside with distaste. “Let us just hope no one intends to use ‘Goblin Wars: Volume III’ anytime soon. It’s rather…damp.”

“That’s just…” I trailed off. I was about to state how dirty that was, when I thought twice. I was, after all, the one who had suggested coming here.

Draco pulled me up onto my feet with a gentle tug. I felt boneless, sated and content. I imagined I was awash in post coital glow because I felt absolutely fabulous.

Draco cast me an off look and pulled up his pants. “Well, I don’t believe I will ever look at the History of Magic section the same way again.”

“That was better than I fantasized.” I couldn’t wipe the giddy grin off my face. I must have looked like an idiot, but I didn’t care. I felt tipsy, like I do after one of my Aunt Regina’s toddies during Christmas hols.

Draco began to button my blouse, and I barely noticed. “I have something for you,” he stated softly.

I straightened. If anything could sober you up quickly it was those words.

Draco chuckled. “Relax! I’m not going to hex you out of your knickers – you already take them off for me so easily.” He winked, and then continued. “I have a gift for you. Something that will make it easier for us to meet. No use being able to fuck you whenever I want when we have homework, Quidditch, head duties and detentions.”

“Only that one, and I did say I was sorry.”

“I remember, but I might forget later, so you’ll have to do it again. And you won’t use words to apologize…but your mouth will be involved.”

“Do you have to make everything dirty?”

“No, but it’s just so easy with you because you’re already there.”

I rolled my eyes. “What sort of gift?” I returned to matters if he didn’t.

“Here.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver box. I snorted at the Slytherin colors.

I took it from him gingerly, as I was hesitant to open any gift from him – but inside was not what I expected. Inside was a pair of dazzling diamond studs. Or at least I expected them to be diamonds by the way they shone even in the dim light, and him being a Malfoy.

“Draco…” I was speechless. It seemed so extravagant, so intimate. Not an ordinary gift between shag buddies…but something much more meaningful. I was ready to give them back when he spoke again.

“I told you to relax. They are charmed so you can hear my voice even though we are far apart. I just mutter the incantation and we can speak.” He removed the earrings from the box and began to put them on me. I shivered when his fingers grazed my neck.

“How can I contact you?”

“You can’t.” He smirked, and moved onto the other ear.

“That’s not very convenient for me.”

“It wasn’t intended to be.” Smug prat. Now I understood the gift.

His hands dropped to my waist, and we stood there, staring into each other’s eyes momentarily. I occurred to me that I had no idea what he was thinking when he looked at me like that – and it was disarming. Everything about him stood apart from what I was used to, but the change wasn’t as harsh than most people would have believed. Somehow…it made me feel more alive than I ever had before.

“We should go,” he said finally. “Big day tomorrow.”

I nodded, and began to gather my things. “Good night, Draco.”

He smirked softly and grabbed his books. “’Nighty night, Granger.” He winked at me before he headed for the door.

I stood there momentarily, recalling the events of the last twenty minutes, recalling that how even though earlier I had scored the top grade on my Charms test and watched Gryffindor whoop Ravenclaw at Quidditch, this, right now was the best part of my day.

“Why, Hermione?”

I had a heart attack. I turned sharply, my breath caught in the back of my throat – I knew that voice.

Oh Holy Jesus.

Harry removed his Invisibility Cloak, his emerald eyes filled with anguish. His mouth was drawn into thin, severe line. He was very, very angry.

How long had he been there? How much did he see, how much did he know? It was my entire fault! I should have given him back the cloak right away – he knew something was going on; he had to have known…why else would he be here?

I swallowed hard and stepped forward. “Harry, I can explain.”

“You had better. And no lies this time, claiming research.” Harry’s arms folded across his chest stiffly and his stare bore into me like arrows. “Because that certainly was not fucking research!”

I flinched at his words.

“How long, Hermione?” Harry stepped forward. “How long have you been fucking him?”

“Three weeks.”

“Liar!” Harry shouted.

“No!” I cried back. “It’s true. The day I heard you all in the Great Hall, the day I hexed Ron…That night I had been with him for the first time.” Somehow, by saying it aloud, I felt validated. I could prove them all wrong. “Funny, isn’t it? The morning I overhear my friends referring to me as a sexless bookworm, I was up most of the night shagging. It’s so ironic I could laugh.”

This quieted Harry for only a moment. In that moment, I knew he saw the error of his ways…but what I didn’t know was to what extent. “No…you’ve been changing…”

“Two months ago…something did change,” I admitted. “I discovered something about myself that changed me. Something that made the whole world just a little bit bigger. Can’t you be happy for me to have discovered myself, Harry? This change is good.”

Harry’s face was blank as his eyes stared back into mine. “Shagging Malfoy is what you consider discovering yourself?” His face began to darken and his hand extended. “Those are nice earrings, Hermione.”

I didn’t like his tone. It was icy, too icy. “Harry-”

“How convenient to be shagging Malfoy, of all blokes. He must give his whores all sorts of shiny baubles.”

“Shut it,” I warned. I’m not surprised by his reaction, only angered by it.

“Did you enjoy earning those earrings? Did you enjoy every minute?” Harry’s arms folded across his chest and his eyes narrowed into slits…drawn as tight as his mouth in fact. Harry wasn’t attractive when he was angry. Actually, he was slightly frightening. “He’s using you, and you’re letting him.”

“Did it ever occur to you that I was using him back?” I retorted. “I wanted to learn more about sex, so I went to someone who was good at it. Turns out he likes it with me as much as I like it with him. We aren’t children anymore, Harry. I’ve grown up, and guess what? I am a woman with the same desires and needs as any other mortal being. Did you think I was just some frigid ice queen? Would you be giving Ron such a hard time if you caught him shagging some girl? Hardly! You’d congratulate him. You would both compare notes and laugh your arses off at his good fortune.” I cried out, slamming my hands against the cold wooden bench. “Damn it, this idea you all have of me…it’s just not fair! I can’t live up to it. No one can live up to such strict labels. You should just leave it alone, Harry. You don’t understand. You couldn’t possibly understand.”

“I understand that you are sleeping with the enemy,” Harry stepped forward and grabbed my wrist. He jerked me forward with strength I wasn’t prepared for. I didn’t expect aggression…he was that angry. I still played the fool – knowing what Harry was like in one of his moods, I still raised my chin to a defiant notch. I refused to be coerced by him. “You play with fire and you will be burned, Hermione. Draco Malfoy is not a good person. You can try to idealize him in your lust-filled brain, but he is no romantic, misunderstood hero. He is the same arrogant, malicious git who makes our lives hell. He’s a snake, and he is just using you, playing on your naïveté for his own purposes. He has blinded you with his empty promises and terrible lies. He hates you, hates everything you love, and will never sink so low as to fall for a Mudblood like you.” I gasp as the word escapes his mouth, but he continues. “He may not have shown his true colors yet, but he will. You are nothing to him, Hermione. The pieces will fall, and you will realize who your real friends are when no one helps you pick them up. Gryffindors are brave, honest, and loyal. You would do well to remember the last part.”

I jerked my wrist free and stared at him incredulously. Harry stared me down for a long moment and then stormed out of the library.

I rubbed at the newly forming bruise and stared back at the empty doorway. He was wrong. I knew this. He just didn’t understand.




Tbc.