What I\'ve Always Known

Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot.


It Can’t Be


“Harry honestly, where have you been putting your head for the last five years of Potions?” Hermione gasped, exasperated. She had been trying to teach him the basic idea of transformation potions for the last two hours and so far, they had made very little progress. Harry had still not let Hermione in on why she had to help him, but it was becoming more and more apparent.

“’Mione, this is exactly the reason I want your help,” Harry mumbled distractedly, scanning the index of one of the many books piled on one of the Gryffindor common room tables. Hermione frowned and pulled a large, red volume towards her.

“The work would be quicker if you told me why transformation potions. You haven’t even been specific about which potion.” Harry remained silent. Hermione sighed angrily and dropped the book in front of his face.

“That’s the story of Darlonion, the wizard who brewed the first known batch of Polyjuice Potion.” She said, and pulled a random book out of the pile onto her lap. She crossed her legs underneath the book and her skirt hitched a little higher on her thigh. Glancing down, she went to pull it back down, when she giggled. She covered her exposed thigh with her hand and avoided Harry’s quizzical eyes. She put her skirt back in order and hoisted the book up in front of her burning face. On inside of her right thigh was
a bright purple hickey, a souvenir of last night with Draco. After allowing her to sleep for some time, he woke her up and took her again and again, stopping to leave that mark on her thigh.

“Now everyone will know that you’re mine.” He had whispered. Hermione smiled to herself as she remembered all last night’s details, Draco’s tenderness, possessiveness, and his tendency to explore new ways to pleasure her…

“’Mione…Mione? Good god girl, where is your head?” Harry finally hit the back of the book she was “reading”, causing her to jump. She snapped the book shut with a yelp and apologized.

“Sorry Harry, what were you saying?” She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to bring her thoughts back out of last night.

“I said, I think I figured out this little theory of mine.”

Hermione was immediately all ears, “And what is it?”

“Let’s go to Hogsmeade” Harry stood up and wrapped his cloak around his shoulders. Hermione stood up and grabbed his shoulders.

“Are you trying to get me to kill you, because believe me, I am very close.” She raised an eyebrow. A grin bloomed across Harry’s face.

“You’re starting to resemble Draco you know.” He said. Hermione flashed him a sneer and let go of his shoulders. Harry laughed and held out her cloak for her to slip her arms into. Hermione shrugged it onto her shoulders and slipped her arm through Harry’s. Talking about casual nothings, they made their way down to the Entrance Hall, where they bumped into Seamus.

“Hey guys.” He said, slipping his arm into Hermione’s vacant one.

“Going to Hogsmeade Seamus?” Hermione asked, curling her arm around his.

“Yeah, can I go with you?”

“Sure, but I’m planning to leave early so I can meet up with Draco later.” Hermione said, assuming they would rather give up Quidditch rather than accompany her to such a meeting.

“Good. I’ve been meaning to have a talk with him about my ‘Mione.” Seamus grinned.

“Allow me to assist you.” Harry leaned around Hermione to return Seamus’s grin. Hermione groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. Harry and Seamus laughed as the three of them passed the limits of Hogsmeade.

“Ergh,” Harry suddenly grimaced. “There’s Parkinson with the usual hoard of twits.” Harry nodded at a group of Slytherins some fifty feet down the road in front of them.

“And there’s Mal…Draco.” Seamus nodded to the opposite side of the street. Hermione turned to where Seamus had directed them and sure enough, Draco was leaning against a doorway of one of the shops, his back to them.

Hermione frowned. Something was different with Draco. He wasn’t holding himself the same as he usually did, and he was fidgeting. The frown spread to Harry and Seamus’s face when he made his way across the street towards Pansy’s group. His walk was so different, if it hadn’t been for the blonde hair, Hermione wouldn’t have known it was Draco. In fact, his walk to so unlike his own that it almost resembled…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


The culprit watched from a safe distance. The potion had burned down their throat half an hour ago, and they were worried time would run out, but finally she had arrived, accompanied by Harry and Seamus. Now was the time. Time to put their month’s hard work to use. This would be the end of their problems.

‘From this day, you would see me differently.’ They murmured to themselves.

A smirk bloomed across their face as the irony of their statement struck them.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



“What is he doing?” Hermione muttered, watching Draco approach Pansy. Suddenly he glanced directly at her. Their eyes met and he smirked.

“Even his bloody smirk is different!” Seamus exclaimed. Harry and Hermione both mumbled their concurrence.

“Harry…Harry this doesn’t look right…” Seamus said very quietly. Harry nodded and tried to pull Hermione into a store on his right, but Hermione dug her heels and kept her eyes on Draco.

“This can’t be right.” She whispered. Draco turned to give her one last unfamiliar smirk, and then laid one on Pansy, right on the lips. Hermione blinked her eyes hard and opened them again, peering at Draco and Pansy. His kissing habits seemed to have gotten shabby, as Pansy wiped some spittle off one of her cheeks before slinging her arm around Draco’s waist.

Hermione slowly shook her head, as though scaring off a fly.

“This can’t be right.” She said.

“Hermione…” Harry turned towards her, clearly intent on giving her a wake-up speech.

“No Harry, I’m sorry, but this just can’t be right. Draco told me he was working on a Charms essay today in the library. I’m going to the library to…I don’t really know, I’m just going.” With that, she kissed Seamus’s cheek goodbye and set off at a jog towards the castle.

She arrived several minutes later in the quiet, musty library, towering shelves of books muffling her pants of exertion. She held her breath and listened to the gentle hum of voices coming from somewhere near her right, behind several shelves.

She followed them some twenty feet down a row, and then three rows over.

“Good, and the Confundus Charm is usually used in…?”

“Wizard duels?”

“Told you you’d get it.”

Hermione’s eyes nearly fell out of her head when she realized whom it was. Draco was teaching Neville about the Confundus Charm. She shook her head slightly and turned a corner, coming into view of a grouping of five tables. In the farthest table from her, sat Neville and Draco facing each other across the table. Draco had a textbook open in his lap and Neville was scribbling something on a long scroll of parchment in front of him.

“Ok,” Neville said thoughtfully, looking up from his notes.” I still don’t get how it can-Hermione!”

Hermione smiled at him, “Hey Neville. How are you?”

“Oh I’m alright, Malfoy was just help-“Draco cleared his throat”Oh right, sorry. Draco was helping me understand the Confundus Charm. I didn’t quite get it when you tried last week. But I think I’m actually getting it now.”

Draco grinned childishly up at Hermione and she stuck her chin out in mock indignation.

“So Neville, maybe you should find a book on basic dueling charms; that might help you by giving you an idea of the general background of the charm.” Draco suggested.

Neville nodded and promptly trotted off between the nearest shelves, his eyes flicking from title to title. Hermione leaned back on a table, and tucked her hair nervously behind her ear. Draco pulled Neville’s quill and parchment towards him and made several corrections near the beginning.

“So, um, what have you been doing all afternoon?” Hermione asked, trying to sound nonchalant. Draco looked up at her, frowned slightly and set down his quill.

“Alright,” he said, lacing his fingers together on the table in front of him. “What’s wrong?”

“Wrong? Nothing. I just, um…” Draco shook his head slightly, communicating he wasn’t buying it. “Oh alright, I saw you at…well yes I guess you, at the village this afternoon. Acting all…all….” Hermione hesitated. She didn’t want to drag up their previous fight this early. “chummy with Parkinson, and I just wondered what was happening.”

“At the village? I haven’t even been out of the school today.” Draco glanced wistfully out the window.

“I know, but it was either you, or your identical twin.”

“And what do you mean by chummy?”

“Oh you know…”

“No I don’t. Tell me.”

“Just…just chummy ok?” Hermione could feel herself getting talked into a corner.

“No, not OK.”

“Draco, it was just a little weird. I don’t understand it. You say you were here, yet Harry, Seamus and I all saw you at the village not ten minutes ago.”

“Hermione, Neville will tell you when he comes back; I really have been here all day.”

Hermione couldn’t quite explain why she believed him, she just knew she did.

“I don’t doubt that, I’m just confused. It looked like…it seemed like it was you, only you had forgotten your normal walk, posture and even bloody sneer.”

Draco sighed and leaned back in his chair, looking thoughtfully at Hermione. Hermione gazed back at him in silence, wanting to let him think things over.

“God you are beautiful.” Draco said quietly after a few seconds. Hermione blushed.

“So, um, do you have any ideas?” Hermione stuttered and Draco beamed smugly.

“Who would have thought Granger would be unsettled by a simple comment on the obvious.” Draco commented casually, flipping through a textbook.

“I am not unsettled Mr. Malfoy! I am just-“

“How about this one Draco?” Neville came around the corner, textbook in arms. Draco took it from Neville and glanced at the cover.

“Basic Charms and Their History, perfect. Alright, well if you read up on the Confundus Charm tonight, and copy this out with the corrections I’ve made, you should get at least an ‘E’.” Draco handed Neville his parchment.

“Look, thanks a lot Draco. I would have definitely failed without your help.” Neville smiled at Draco.

“Are you two still in here?” Hermione recognized the voice of Madam Pince before she came around a bookshelf, feather duster in hand. “Oh, Ms Granger, I thought you had forgotten where we were.”

“Not likely.” Draco said, his words weighed down with false innocence. Hermione crossed her eyes at him before smiling at Madam Pince.

“Seems I’ve set a trend then.”

“Oh yes. Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Longbottom have been here all morning. Very quiet the both of them.” Madam Pince glared at all of them with stern approval before bustling off to wipe offending dust off of her precious books several rows over.

“Well, see you Draco. Hermione.”

“See you,”

“Bye Neville!” Hermione waited until Neville had signed the book out at the front desk and exited the library before turning to Draco. “Well I never thought I would see the day when Draco Malfoy would be tutoring Neville Longbottom.”

“And I never thought I would see the day where Hermione Granger would shag her boyfriend senseless on a library table.”

Hermione blinked, “I-what?”

“You heard.”

Hermione felt herself grow moist in anticipation, but kept her voice cool. “So you think I’m that easy?”

“No. I think you turn me on that much. I’m surprised you hadn’t noticed how sexy you are.”

Hermione snorted, “Oh yes, please hand me a stick so I can commence beating away the hoards of randy males pounding down my door.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Draco just shifted his shoulders and settled a book in his lap.

“Well it seems I may have to return to my chambers and do this on my own then. If you would kindly turn around, I could leave the library with some dignity intact.”

Hermione glanced at the book on his legs and understood what he meant. Draco had an erection. Hermione fought down the urge to laugh out loud at his sticky situation and stepped closer to him. Taking off her cloak, she dropped her robe next to it, and undid the top three buttons of her shirt. Leaning down she took the books from his fingers, and laid it back on the table, making sure he got a good, long look down her open shirt. She stepped in front of him and slipped her underwear off, dropping it on the floor and flicking it right into his bag while he was distracted.

Not wasting any time, Hermione opened Draco’s zipper and boxer buttons, and exposed him, running her fingers over his hard member while she straddled his thighs. Lifting her skirt, she dropped it near his hips, concealing their activities underneath.

“You make me so hot Draco.” She whispered into his ear, and promptly slid him into her, savoring every inch. Draco seized her hips with a moan and buried his face in her breasts. Hermione bit her lip and focused on keeping quiet, while she slowly raised her hips and dropped them. Draco started moving her hips with his hands, but Hermione took them off her sides and rested them, palm down, on her breasts.

Uttering a deep, throaty moan, Hermione rested her hands on Draco’s shoulders and used the leverage to start riding him harder. Draco buried his face in her cleavage again and moaned loudly as Hermione started to milk him with her muscles.

“’Mione…. Oh god….” Draco whispered, as Hermione pushed her hips down towards his and he spilled his seed into her. Hermione thrust downwards once more and threw her head back as she came explosively.