Claiming Hermione

Regret. That’s what Hermione felt as she stopped outside the HRC Tuesday night. She reached out slowly and ran her fingers over the bumps and curls of the portrait’s frame, her eyes unfocused on the uneven texture.

A failed experiment.

Lifting her chin, she took a restorative breath and continued on to the Main Entrance. Ron. Another failed experiment. Lavender. Maybe she could get that one right. The girl in question was waiting by the oak doors, slipping into her heavy cloak and wrapping her Gold and Scarlet scarf around her neck. She smiled brightly when she saw Hermione.

“Hi ‘Mione. Ready? It’s going to be freezing out there.”

“Yup. Let’s do it.” She replied taking out her wand.

The two girls grimaced in the biting night air. At least it wasn’t raining. They made their way quickly to the greenhouses, scanning the nooks half-heartedly. Any student that would endure this cold was welcome to stay here, as far as Hermione was concerned.

On the way back, Lavender thanked Hermione again for doing the patrol with her. Neville, she said, would dally around the plants no matter how cold it was – concerned for their health and well being, or course. The girls laughed at their classmate’s endearing, if sometimes frustrating, qualities.

They walked up to the seventh floor, deciding to start from the top and work their way down, Lavender supplying conversation while Hermione tried to think of what she wanted to say to her best friend’s fiancé.

On the fourth floor they stopped to drop their cloaks off in their rooms.

When they were shutting the last door of the classrooms on the third floor, Lavender solved the problem.

“Hermione….” Hermione’s attention was sparked by the unusually serious tone of the tall girl’s voice, as well as the return to using her full name.

“I’m glad you came tonight…I’ve been wanting to talk to you” Lavender looked sideways at her, wringing her hands.

“Me too” Hermione said quietly, looking at the ground. Lavender seemed relieved.

“It’s just that, I know you’re Ron’s best friend, and he loves you, like…like…like his arm, or Quidditch broom.” Lavender waved her arms in the air and Hermione made a funny face at the analogy. “And, well, I want you to know that I would never come between you.”

“Thank you, Lavender. That mean’s a lot to me.” Hermione said and meant it.

Lavender’s voice got softer as she timidly approached the unspoken problem, “It’s just that…I know you may have once had feelings for him…” she paused and glanced at Hermione, looking for confirmation. Hermione just stared ahead of her, uncomfortable with the intimate topic of emotions.

“…and I know you and I haven’t really ever been friends…and I know Ron had feelings for you…”

Hermione stopped and turned and placed her hand on Lavender’s arm, “Lavender,” she said reassuringly, “that was a long time ago. And it was just an idea, a very stupid idea. I’m not even sure it was our idea. Sometimes, I think it was just because everyone kept saying that someday we’d end up together. We would have ended up hating each other. And I wouldn’t risk our friendship in that way. Ron is like family to me, like a brother.”

Hermione paused and dropped her hand. She looked at the ground, nervousness and guilt making her shift her weight. “As for you and me, I’ve been rather unfair and I owe you an apology. I’ve never really given you a chance, and I’m sorry for that.” Hermione looked up into watery hazel eyes and felt ashamed at the way she had treated her. She dropped her gaze again.

“I’m really am happy for Ron. I’ve never seen him so relaxed and… in love! I just want him to be happy, and he is, and I am so grateful that he has you. I think, maybe, that I was a little jealous that you’d take away my friend, but that was stupid. And, maybe…you and I…we could be friends too?”

Hermione looked up in time to see a teary face rush towards her as Lavender threw her arms around her. “Oh, thank you, Hermione, thank you! I don’t know what I’d do if you’d told me to fuck off! Thank you!”

“I really am sorry, Lav.” Hermione said as the blonde let her go and wiped at her wet face. They walked silently, making their way through the second floor, processing the new relationship. As they started down the staircase to the first floor, a small smile quirked on Hermione’s face and she glanced sideways.

“Did you really think I’d tell you fuck off?” she asked mischievously.

Lavender let out a sharp, gurgly chuckle and scrunched her eyebrows together. “I don’t know. Yes? Maybe.”

“It’s not really my style.” She informed playfully. “I’d be much more likely to cast a subtle, and untraceable, curse of some kind. Maybe an itching hex that activated when ever you got within a foot of Ron.”

Lavender laughed. “I’ll try to remember that. It would be just horrible to have to rub myself all over Ron to relieve the itch!” she said dramatically and then smirked at Hermione.

“Ewwwwww! Scratch that off my list of curses!”

The girls laughed at ran through a list of most harmless, but effective curses that could be used if the need ever arose.

**************************************************

“Hey, Brown!”

Both girls whipped around to see a tall, dark Slytherin sauntering towards them. Zabini. Hermione narrowed her eyes and fingered her wand.

“You should be in your dorm, Blaise. It’s past curfew.” Lavender said boldly. Oh yeah, Gryffindor.

“Calm down Brown, I’m on my way. Just came from the infirmary. Thought you might like to know that your little Patil sidekick is in there.” He said, shrugging with a smug, evil smile as he walked past them and down the staircase leading to the Slytherin dorms. Hermione glared at his disappearing back. Self-satisfied prick.

When she turned back, Lavender’s eyes were wide with worry. “Go ahead. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” she looked both relieved and anxious.

“Yes. Go on. I’m really okay. I doubt there are any snakes inside the castle. We’re almost done anyway.”

Lavender threw her arms around Hermione again and thanked her before running off in the direction of the infirmary. Hermione opened the large door to the Great Hall and stepped inside.

**************************************************

Lavender’s long legs took her quickly through the empty halls. She was overcome with worry. She couldn’t remember a single time that her best friend had been in the infirmary. Parvati never got sick, had never been injured with anything more than a paper cut. Did Padma know? Was she there already?

The thought of Padma generated an image of a gruff and mean Malfoy yelling at her. The HCR was just at the top of the stairs on the second floor. It was a shot in the dark, being so late, but on the off chance he was there she turned back, bounding through the hall and up the stairs.

She knocked hard on the frame of the portrait and waited, breathing fast. She’d only a wait a moment. She knocked again. Nothing. Oh well, it was a slim chance anyway. She turned and was three steps down the stairs when the door opened.

“Brown!” She halted and turned to a tired and aggravated looking, but still stunningly handsome, Malfoy. When she didn’t explain herself right away, he raised his eyebrow. “Well?”

“I was doing patrol with Hermione – Parvati’s in the infirmary – I’ve got to go there – Didn’t want to leave Hermione alone.” Came her jumbled explanation between pants.

Malfoy sighed raggedly in exasperation. “Fine. I’ll take care of it.”

He was still angry. Still bitter. Still confused. What was he looking for? What could he have? But he would see her. Maybe he would lecture her this time.

“Thanks!” Lavender said and turned to bounce down the stairs.

“Brown! Where did you leave her?”

“We were just finishing up at the Great Hall. All we had left was the dungeons.” She answered over her shoulder as she sped away.

Draco stomach squirmed oddly at the word dungeons and he frowned. “Brown!” he called out again. She skidded to a stop before rounding the corner. “How did you find out about Patil?”

“Blaise Zabini told us”

Oh. God.

**************************************************

Hermione hurried through the castle, hastily peeking in the dungeon rooms and giving them negligent once-overs. But, she was okay. She was fine. She’d be done in fifteen minutes.

She smiled to herself, gloating in her defiance of Malfoy’s overbearing edict about patrolling with a partner. The smile as quickly gone though, as she passed through the corridor before the kitchens. It was especially dark here, and she figured that it was kept that way to discourage hungry students from infiltrating the kitchens and preying on the house elves.

**************************************************

In a shadowed nook of the corridor, he watched her poke her head into the kitchens. He could hear her asking the night-elf if everything was all right, the squeaky response, and her friendly “good night.”

I was going to be a good night. As soon as he heard about Bulstrode’s accident, he could see the whole thing in his mind, and now it was all playing out exactly as he’d imagined it. No one ever came down here. There was nothing beyond the kitchens except a long twisting corridor with one room at the end of the last bend. Not a classroom, smaller, dusty and filled with broken bookshelves, rickety wooden chairs, and a beat up four-poster missing its canopy. It looked like it had been burned.

It seemed fitting to him that he’d found the room late one night while hiding from a prefect pair as he emerged from a late-night snack. It was how he knew that her route would take her down that long hall next. His body thrummed in excitement.

**************************************************

Hermione was a girl who trusted her instincts. Something was off. She could feel it. She was regretting telling Lavender to go. But she was so close. Just one more turn, then the storage room and she’d be done. The dungeons were cold and dank and smelled slightly of wet dust. The air moving across her neck felt strange. She felt exposed.

Finally, the door came into view. She reached for the handle, gripping her wand tightly. She thrust her lit wand into the room, deciding not to step inside, and waved it around. The tension left her body seeing everything in order. She dropped her hand and shook her head, scolding herself for being silly and letting her imagination get the best of her.

**************************************************

Before Hermione could turn around she was suddenly jolted by a large heavy thud against her back. Her arms shot out to the doorframe to keep herself from being pushed into the abandoned room. She tried to turn around and see her attacker, but he’d thrown one impossibly strong arm around her, pinning her arms to her side. Thank God she still had her wand. A sharp point was jabbed painfully into her throat. “Silencio” he whispered in her ear as her eyes grew wider. Real, true panic set in and her heart thumped so hard that it hurt as she tried to scream.

“Hello Mudblood. What? No tender greeting?” Zabini. She struggled violently in his grasp but couldn’t budge. Anger flared through her and she twisted her wrist in painfully so it was pointing at his hip. She could only cast a few spells silently, but it just might give her the upper hand. ‘Expelliarmus’ she said in her mind. Blaise’s wand tip scraped against her neck as it flew out his hand and clattered onto the floor. She could feel a line of heat pulsing on her neck.

“You little bitch!” he ground out angrily. With his now free hand he dug into the collar of her robe and yanked down hard. Tears pooled in her eyes at the pain of the strong fabric resisting and digging into her neck until it ripped with a harsh, loud tearing noise.

“You’re going to pay for that Mudblood!” he said, pushing her chest into the doorframe as he bit her neck hard. She tried to stab him with her wand, but her angle was to extreme and he reached down to grab the stick of useless wood, throwing it across the hall and then twisting her arm behind her back.

The pain shooting up her arm was intense and Hermione felt the tears start to stream down her face. Every move she made to free herself sent excruciating jolts right into her brain.

His large hand clasped onto her throat and he turned her, pressing her back into the wall roughly with both of her arms pinned behind her. The twisting pain was lessened, but uneven stone felt like it was shattering her bones as he held her there with his body slammed into her.

“It’s time someone took you off your high-horse Mudblood!” he spat. “You walk around here like you are more pure than a pureblood, and I have news for you…” he pulled harshly down on her ripped robe, bringing the edge of her t-shirt with it and making her neck jerk forward. He looked down at the plain white bra covering her one exposed breast and grinned evilly. His thigh was pushing harder between her legs and forcing them apart. She could feel him grinding his arousal into her.

The fingers around her throat tightened and Hermione felt like her head was swelling as she tried to swallow and breath.

Oh, God. This was not happening.

“You’re worthless, Mudblood. You’re nothing! There is only one thing Mudbloods are good for.” He brought one large hand to her chest and grabbed hard. Hermione grit her teeth and glared at him in warning. “And you, you sanctimonious little bitch are about to find out what!” He squeezed her breast tightly and she winced. That was it. She wasn’t going down like this.

Without hesitation she slammed her head forward as hard as she could, connecting severely with Zabini’s nose. For a second she was blinded, not from the throb in her forehead like she thought at first, but from blood.

Zabini stumbled backwards clutching his face. Hermione breathed a huge gulping breath, feeling a little dizzy, but willing herself not to pass out from the rush of oxygen. She lunged towards her wand and was nearly there when a tremendous yank on her ponytail ripped her head backwards, sending her to her knees and being dragged backwards by her hair.

Faster than she could have imagined she was right back where she’d been a second ago with Zabini slammed into her, her wrists bruising in a blood covered hand. Before she saw it coming, his palm made contact with the side of her face. Light blossomed behind her eyes like beautiful flowers.

**************************************************

The first thing Draco saw was Hermione’s head turned at an odd, sharp angle. Then he registered the blood on Hermione’s face and splattered over her chest. In that moment of stasis he thought he might loose his mind.

Three things happened at once. An image of his mother that he’d not allowed into his conscious mind, on her back, covered in blood, her blue eyes open and glassy, flashed through his mind, an overwhelming, suffocating flood of guilt and responsibility surged through him, and a rage unlike anything he’d ever experienced rushed into his blood, obliterating his thought process.

He felt like he was watching from outside his body. In one motion, he clamped a powerful hand around the front of Zabini’s throat and threw him by the neck into the opposite wall. There was a horrid cracking noise. The pain and surprise on Zabini’s face warred with confusion as he gasped for air. Draco squeezed harder and Zabini scrambled in panic at Draco’s arm. Draco’s entire body shook and he brought his face two inched from his one-time friend’s.

Draco tensed his jaw hard as ground his teeth together, trying to control the rage that was coursing through him. He was dimly aware of Hermione sliding down to the floor. His fingers dug into the sides of the Slytherin’s neck. He wanted to dig in harder and rip the man’s throat right out of his body.

Draco’s voice was low and deadly. “If you ever touch her, or even come near her again, I will hunt you and rip you apart piece…By tiny. Piece. You sick. Pathetic. fuck!

He released Zabini’s throat to pull his arm back and let it fly into the scum’s face. The crack of knuckles on bone was followed by the crack of Zabini’s skull on the wall. The dark Slytherin still seemed to be in shock over his friend turning on him, he did not even try to fight back or protest.

Draco pulled his wand on him and cast an incarcerous just as a small figure appeared at his side. Without fanfare her small fist pummeled into her attacker’s stomach. She was okay. All the tension drained out of his body and he stepped back to retrieve the fallen wands.

Draco watched with pride as Hermione took her revenge, though the expression on her face, of hurt, of betrayal, made Draco wince. He suddenly noticed that she had been silent the whole time and he cast a finite incantatem at her, while her fist flew in fury. Zabini looked nearly ready to pass out.

“…evil, disgusting excuse for a human being!” her voice appeared mid-punch and mid-scream. “You think I’m worthless because my blood isn’t pure? But you’re still willing to stick your pathetic prick in me? You’re can’t get any on your own, so you have to…to… steal it?” her pitch rose sharply as she punctuated each sentence with a blow to his stomach.

She gritted her teeth and ground out, “You’re the worthless one Zabini! At least I don’t have pure vileness running through me! Here, you wanted a little Mudblood that badly…” She wiped her fingers over the throbbing gash that he’d opened on her cheek, scooping as much of her own blood as she could and then smearing her bloody hand over his cheek and mouth.

“Here you go, Zabini, you pureblooded ass, how’s it taste to lick Mudblood!” Figuring she was too short to do an effective job, Hermione sent her final punch directly into Zabini’s crotch. He grunted and fell on his side. She looked like she was about to send her foot into his face when Draco pulled her back, and held her around her waist, her back against his body. She struggled for a moment, still wanting to make Zabini hurt, but Draco’s just held her firmly and finally she collapsed into a puddle of tears.

“Shhhh, shhhh, shhhhh, shhhhh, okay, okay.” He said softly in her ear. When her tears calmed, he said, “I’ll have Dobby take him to the Headmaster. Do you want to go to the infirmary?” She shook her head and held the torn fabric at her chest closed. Draco reached around her and handed her the wand he’d picked up, providing her with a little privacy. She flushed a little realizing that Draco must have seen and quickly repaired her torn shirt. “Let’s get out of here.” He said with one hand at the small of her back.

**************************************************

Draco sat in the large leather chair with his face in his hands. Dobby had been called and came back twice. Once to tell him that the Headmaster would be stopping by in a moment, and again carrying a tray with two mugs of hot chocolate and one mug of tea.

When Dumbledore knocked on the frame of the portrait door, Hermione was still in the bathroom cleaning herself up. Dumbledore didn’t stay long, but eyed the tray of mugs and smiled a little, then asked Draco tell Hermione that she would be excused from her classes the next day (as would Draco) and that he’d like to see her when she felt ready.

Draco paced across the room a few times and finally came to rest at the window, staring in to the blackness. He was shaken up. He’d never seen anything like that and he didn’t know what to say to her.

He was disgusted with himself, with men, with purebloods. Somehow being all three made him feel directly responsible. It made his skin crawl.

When Granger walked out of the bathroom he forced himself to look at her. The blood was gone, but the gash on her right cheek was raw and red. She had red marks and bruises on her face, throat, and wrists, and a small purple-reddish lump on her forehead. Her hair was free and electric.

“What happened to your forehead?”

She looked down, but was smiling a little proudly, “I head-butted him.”

He held in the little laugh that threatened to break out at the picture of the tiny girl ramming her head into the Zabini’s face. He watched her sit on the couch and pick up a mug of chocolate, and then joined her, sinking into the chair again.

“What did Dumbledore want?”

“He wants to see you when you’re up to it, and you don’t have to go to classes tomorrow.” He said staring into his mug.

She made a scoffing/snorting noise. “As if I’d miss classes because of a low-life like Zabini.”

Draco quirked an eyebrow. “You have a twisted sense of priorities, Granger.”

“You know, Ron has said the exact same thing, many times.” The corner of her mouth twitched.

The silence filling the room was nothing like the thick, heady, but soothing silence they had grown used to with each other. This was awkward and uncomfortable.

Hermione set her cup down and folded her hands in her lap. “Thank you, Malfoy. That’s twice now. It seems that I’m the one who owes you, after all.”

It was a reference to the first note and he knew it. His eyes shot up to hers finally and he couldn’t hide the guilt he felt.

“You shouldn’t thank me, Granger.” He said with a hint of bitterness and remorse as he set his mug down too. “It was my fault. I should have warned you.”

“About what? That Zabini was going to go off the deep end and try to deflower me?”

“He’s been going on for months about how much he hates you. I didn’t know if he would do anything, and he hasn’t said anything for weeks. So, I thought he was over it. The last time was when you walked in on…Granger, I was only trying to get him to shut up… I actually thought he’d set up the snake thing, but he was in detention that night. But then I realized that he didn’t want to kill you. Damn it! I should have reported him! I just didn’t think he’d actually do anything.”

“Oh, Malfoy… you didn’t need to warm me. I knew. He’s had it out for me since fourth year. He tried to kiss me at the Yule Ball. He saw Viktor and me outside, um…kissing, and when Viktor went in to grab his cloak for me, Zabini thought he should have his turn too. I hexed him rather spectacularly, and he’s never really gotten over it.” She let out an exhausted sigh. “He’s been threatening my purity every year since.”

Draco stood up suddenly and began to pace agitatedly. How had he not known? Before this year, Blaise had never said anything to indicate anything more than casual dislike. He wanted to throw something. Hermione stood up and took her empty mug to the kitchenette, filling it with water.

Draco turned his back to her, so she wouldn’t see the war of feelings battling on his face. He leaned on the desk with the cubbies and a crumpled up note in his cubby caught his eye. He pulled it out, and unfolded it.

You’re wrong.
We are friends.
-Hermione

The water stopped running, and Draco turned around, the note held up in his hand, and they stared at each other.

Up until this moment, her next words had only lived in a dark recess of her mind, with no plans to ever see the light of day. And why now? Perhaps it was the adrenaline still coursing through her body. Or perhaps, the look on Malfoy’s face as he held the note she’d written days ago, that he’d proven to be true tonight. Maybe it was the way he’d said that he’d rip Zabini to pieces if he ever touched her again. But most likely, it was nothing more exciting than an idea whose time had come.

“Malfoy…Draco…I want you to be my first.”




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Okay, I'm totally dying to hear your reactions. Please share!

Dreamweaver
- Yes, I totally want to bang their heads together. I think Draco wouldn’t mind too much..
- LOL @ Me thinks the lad doth protest too much. TOTALLY.
- Daphne is just a cool ass chick. She’s not in love with a Gryff, but she’d in love with someone who has already graduated, so her perspective is a little different then most.
- Don’t worry, I’ll stick to my guns. I wouldn’t post anything I didn’t believe in.

gabby1234
- Don’t be sad sweetheart. It’ll be alright. All in it’s own good time, and maybe sooner than expected…


chickacherrycola
-Oh my GOD! You’re cheating on me? Who are these Jonas Brothers? Do they know the meaning of defenestration? Seriously, though, we can see other people, just don’t break up with for good.

kazfeist
- Its so good to see back. Thanks for reviewing. I’m glad you like the pace and direction. Yes, they just might have a lovely holiday.

JKRsunkmyship
Curse broken computers!

jessysgirl
awwww, shucks. Thanks!

Baybeetricia
Yeah! Glad that you are hooked. Hope you enjoy the rest too!

Mrs.Malfoy
Thank you so much. I hope you liked it.

tootsie
I really like, “I touch his feeling”. Thanks!

crescentmoon
Thanks darling!

BeautifullyMalicious
Wow! Thank you.

The Cat 2008-06-29 id # 3001208402
Good, I was concerned when I first read your review. Though I might have to go back. But, so yeah, Draco is/was upset because he finally admitted that he wanted her, but just doesn’t see the likely hood of that.
gloria
Thank you so much!