Forbidden Paths

Chapter 3

The next morniermiermione ran into Malfoy and his cronies and he thought he’d poke a little fun at her in retaliation of last night. And the best part was her friends were nowhere in sight to protect poor defenseless Hermione, or so Malfoy thought.

Harry and Ron had just turned the corner where they found Malfoy and his too thuggish friends cornering Hermione and by the way Hermione’s face looked Harry was pretty sure that Malfoy was insulting her.

With a well-placed Furnuculus Curse, from Ron and a well-placed Jelly-Legs Jinx from Harry’s wand Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were all on their backs unconscious.
“Thanks you guys,” Hermione said brushing off her robes they had gotten a little dusty when the two curses had past by her.

“No problem, what are friends for?” Ron asked his ears turning a little red as they usually did when a girl was being nice to him.

Harry’s startlingly green eyes crinkled at the edges as he smiled partly because he was laughing at Ron’s boyishness and partly because he was happy that Hermione was okay. “What exactly was Malfoy telling you?” skedsked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“The usual buck-toothed Mudblood nonsense. Oh and me being in love with the Boy-Who-Lived but him not paying me any attention because he was to busy snogging his new girlfriend Cho. A lot of rubbish like that. But I didn’t let it get to me because I know none of it was true,” She said finishing with a sigh.

“What! We should of done more than knock them unconscious and given them tentacle like things sprouting out of their heads,” Harry said with an outraged tone.

Hermione giggled a little at her friends protective nature. They looped their arms I hers and walked into the Great Hall together. As they strolled in Cho gave Harry a look and she quietly rose from the table and caught Harry’s eyes again and left. Harry’s eyes brightened with delight and he muttered something about leaving his quill in the common room and he quickly dropped Hermione’s arm and hurriedly left the Great Hall.

Ron stifled a snigger and Hermione blushed a pinkish color. They both knew he was lying unless his quill was hidden in Cho’s mouth. They took their usual seats by Seamus Finnagan and Dean Thomas. Just as they sat down Malfoy walked in with his friends covered in hex marks acting like nothing was wrong.

As soon as Ron started to laugh everyone started to laugh even some of the Slytherins. Malfoy glared at Ron and Ron mouthed something that he would of never said in front of his mother. Malfoy started toward him but Ron just dishdished his wand in front of Malfoy and shook his head. Malfoy took one look at Ron’s wand and decided to sit down and eat.

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Draco found himself dreading the next day in Potions. Hermione had gotten the best of him two times in a row. He was a Malfoy, a pureblood. No one, especially a Mudblood like Hermione, should talk to him like that. He planned to get her back during Potions class. But then he realized that since they worked right in front of Professor Snape and he would notice if Draco did something to provoke Hermione. Not that Snape would care he hated Hermione because of her close friendship with Potter and also because she was so smart that he never had to criticize her like he did all Gryffindors

So Malfoy decided to get her back by suggesting a study session tonight in the library and them saying something that would really pushed her buttons. Something about Weasley. He saw how she looked at him. He had been fixed with that stare many times before by Pansy Parkinson a pretty Slytherin girl who was always trying to get Draco do a little more than hug her as a friend.

He picked up his Potions book and made his way to class. As he passed the Charms classroom he saw Potter and Cho wrapped up in each other again. It was truly a disgusting sight with Potter gyrating on Chang like they were on the Titanic and it was sinking fast. Draco gave them one more disgusted look and turned away heading to Potions class.

As he got there and walked into the door Granger stepped up to him and said, “ I think we need to have another study session tonight so we can get a bit further into our project.”

This was exactly what Draco wanted he nodded his head once and took his seat next to Hermione.

At the end of dinner Draco traipsed up to the Library nodded his head toward Madam Pince and walked to the end of the Library where Hermione said she’d meet him. He walked over to her and inclined his head acknowledging her and turned to his chair and sat down.

“How’s Weasley doing?” He asked. He was ready to get this study session over with as quick as he could. He knew he had pushed the right button when her cheeks reddened and he was sure he saw a slight grin flash across her face.

“He’s fine why do you ask Malfoy?” She shot back.

“Oh just wondering. You two seemed mighty chummy this morning at breakfast. I thought that you were more Potter’s type but I have seen the way you look at him Granger. You want him and you can’t have him. And that’s whaaresares you most. I have seen the way he looks when you hug him. I used to look at my old house like that and I‘ll tell you one thing that isn’t love,” he finished with a flourish. He sneered and by the look on Hermione’s face he knew he had hit a nerve.

Hermione’s eyes filled with tears. She choked out, “You have no idea what you tal talking about Malfoy.”

“I don’t do I? May I tell you who I saw snogging some Hufflepuff girl about an hour ago in the Astronomy tower. That’s right Weasley and I was pretty sure it wasn’t you considering where his hands were. You’re too much of a prude to let someone touch you there,” Malfoy said loving every minute of making Hermione squirm.

Hermione was hurt but something deep inside her made her think that Malfoy wasn’t lying at all. So deciding to turn the tables she said, “Well, why don’t you show me exactly where Ron was touching this ‘girl’,” as Draco made his hands go towards his chest Hermione said, “No, no sno show me on me.”

Draco’s face dropped but he knew that she would move away before he could even get a foot away from her. So he slowly stood up not believing what he was about to do. He slowly made his way toward Hermione and he raised his hands in front of him. He was getting a little scared because Hermione wasn’t looking like she was going anywhere anytime soon. He was about an inch away from her when his hands moved forward straight onto her breasts.

Hermione’s breath caught in her chest as she felt Malfoy’s hands cupping her breast through her robes. She quickly moved backward after she got her breath back, which seemed to take a surprisingly long time. She blushed a furious shade of magenta and looked up at him. She was surprised when she noticed that he too was out of breath.

“Well, um… I better go,” she said gathering her things.

“Oh okay,” Draco said with his hands covering his lap as if he were trying to hide somethingE