CH-26

When he breaks the kiss, both of us are breathing heavily, and I hear him say one word under his breath.

"Fuck."

I haven't even opened my eyes to look at him. Looking at him will end the moment. And I don't want to admit to myself that I was just snogging Draco Malfoy like my life depended on it.

"You got that right," I manage to whisper as I try to catch my breath.

Then he tugs at my hair, and I cry out to get him to stop. He stops moving his hands—they're tangled in my hair. I open my eyes, and the first thing I see is that pair of quicksilver eyes. I immediately drop my gaze away from them, but the next thing my eyes rest on are his lips, slightly swollen from our kissing.

Feeling my cheeks beginning to burn, I reach behind my head to try to untangle his fingers from my hair. I'm thankful for the distraction—my mind is still reeling from that kiss. I have no idea why it happened, why he did it. If he asked me why I responded the way I did, I wouldn't know what to say. I just know that we seem to have crossed a line.

"Maybe you should do something about that ridiculous hair of yours," he says.

I glare at him for a moment before looking back down at his neck. "I like your mouth better when it's not making any noise," I retort.

"Likewise," he says.

Maybe we haven't crossed a line. He's reacting completely normally. How can he pretend that that didn't just happen?

Finally, I undo the knots around his fingers. "There."

He pulls his hands out of my hair and backs up a step.

I can't bring myself to look back up at his face; I'm afraid that I'll lose control if I see his eyes again. I resist the urge to lick my lips. Maybe that would make me seem eager to kiss him again, and I definitely do not want to give him that impression.

He still doesn't say anything, and I feel compelled to break the silence. What can I say? I think back and remember why I was standing in front of him with my eyes closed in the first place.

"Well… I'm not scared of you."

He smirks, and the familiarity of that expression comforts me. I can handle this Malfoy.

"Are you sure about that?" he says. "Maybe we should try it again, just to make sure."

I shake my head. "You lost."

"All right, then," he says readily enough.

I'm surprised that he doesn't argue for another chance to scare me.

"What do you want me to do?" he asks.

"I don't have anything in mind yet. I'll tell you when I think of something," I say.

I walk around him to get to the table. I have to get out of here, before I do another insane thing that I'll regret even more than that kiss. I pick up the map and my wand, but I can't seem to leave just yet. I have to get some sort of explanation from that… that intolerable ferret.

He turns around and sees me watching him. "Did you need something else, Granger?" he asks.

I decide on asking him directly. I'm a straightforward person, and I don't think he's so keen on beating around the bush either.

"Malfoy… what was that supposed to mean?" I ask.

"Oh but Granger, I thought you would know," he says with a grin.

Ugh, I want to wipe that look off his face. A nice, good slap would do.

"It means," he continues, "that I am deeply and irrevocably in love with you."

"I can't stand you. I couldn't back when we were at school, and I still can't now," I say truthfully.

He's still smirking when he replies, "That may be true." He steps closer, leans toward me, and says in an intimate voice, "but you have to admit you liked kissing me."

The nerve!

"I did not," I say through gritted teeth.

He leans farther down to get his wand off the coffee table, and I try unsuccessfully to back away—my calves are already right against the table. I glare at him. He'd better not try anything else with me.

"Liar," he whispers.

Then he's leaning toward me, and I feel his lips press lightly against mine for one dizzying moment before he twists away and vanishes.

Oh, that bloody ferret. The next time he's within reach, I'm going to wring his neck!

My lips are still buzzing from that last bit of contact, and fury threatens to overcome me. I can't believe that I let him kiss me, twice! I suppose the second kiss I couldn't really have prevented, but I definitely didn't fight as hard as I could have on the first one.

Oh god, but it was so perfect… I feel that same jolt of warmth surge through me at the mere memory of how his lips and tongue felt and tasted. Malfoy tastes of apples… apples and rich, creamy caramel.

I shake my head, as if to shake the thoughts right out of my brain.

I start to pace back and forth in front of the couch.

"No, girl," I mutter. "You can't lose your head over a kiss. It was just a kiss. He's clearly doing this just to throw you off. You just have to figure out why."

I sit down on the couch.

Why the hell would Malfoy kiss me? Why would he kiss me?Groaning, I let my face fall into my hands. Blaise yesterday, Malfoy today. I'm just such a guy magnet, aren't I? I moan into my hands.

I don't really mind the kiss with Blaise. Besides, he told me earlier today that he understands. And now, in comparison to what just happened between me and Malfoy, that kiss seems completely harmless. I just wish I could use a Time Turner to go back and tell myself not to let Malfoy provoke me into taking up his stupid bet.

After calming down considerably, I Apparate back to Grimmauld Place and knock on the door. The door swings open promptly, but instead of Ginny, Blaise appears in the doorway. After getting the right answers to the required questions, he steps back to let me in.

"What's wrong?" he asks me as he shuts the door.

I head toward the kitchen instead of the stairs. "What makes you think something's wrong?"

He doesn't reply until we're both in the kitchen. As he shuts the door, he says, "Don't lie to me, Hermione. I know you better than that."

I sigh and sit down at the table. Changing the subject, I ask, "What are you doing out of bed?"

"You can't keep the Great Zabini in bed longer than two days. You should know that, Hermione," he says, grinning. "Seriously though, what did Draco tell you?"

His words remind me that there's still something left undone. I place the map on the table in front of him and get up to go to the fireplace. I grab a fistful of Floo Powder and throw it into the fire.

"The Tonks' home," I say.

Then I place my head in the fire and wait. The small living room is empty, and I give a shout for Lupin. A few minutes later, I hear footsteps, and then he enters the room, fully dressed.

"Hermione," he says, seeing my face. "Is there an emergency?"

"I just got some information from Malfoy. Come to Grimmauld Place as soon as possible. Bring Tonks, if you can. There's going to be a Death Eater attack on Nottingham—that's a Muggle city."

Lupin nods. "Notify McGonagall. Shacklebolt left for Eastern Europe last night to contact our allies, so he'll be out of reach for a while. Tonks and I will arrive at Grimmauld Place within two minutes."

"See you soon."

I sit nervously in the kitchen, waiting. I hate being left here, twiddling my thumbs and feeling absolutely useless while others are out there, fighting.

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