When Enemies Interact

Chapter 7: Feelings.

* - ~ * ~ - * - ~ * ~ - * - ~ * ~ - * - ~ * ~ - * - ~ * ~ - * - ~ * ~ - * - ~ * ~ - * - ~ * ~ - *

Hermione didn't know why she had run away like that, not caring if someone caught her. When she had broken the kiss, she had become suddenly aware of what was happening to him ... and herself. The way he kissed her made her just want to rip his clothes off and be the closest to him she could get, but the small part of her brain that had kept telling her how wrong it was had, smartly and thankfully, stopped her from doing such a thing. It didn't stop the feelings she had for him from appearing, though, and she knew that these feelings would be very hard to get rid of.

It had all happened so quickly. A couple of days before, she hated him, now, she had strong feelings for him. The moment he had gotten on top of her under that table was the moment these feelings had appeared, or at least, she had become aware of them and now, she couldn't get the thought of him or the kiss out of her head.

She was walking toward the portrait of the Fat Lady now and she was quite surprised at her luck of not being caught. She woke the Fat Lady up, gave the password and entered Gryffindor Tower. She went up to her dormitory and silently put on her nightgown in the dark. As she climbed into bed, she pushed all of her thoughts of Draco to the back of her head and told herself that she would worry about these feelings later.

*

Draco stood in the silent and almost empty library for what felt like hours, when, at the maximum, only thirty minutes had passed. He just stood there and, lost in thought. He thought about the kiss he had shared with Hermione, he thought about the feelings he now had for Hermione, he thought about what he was going to do or say to Hermione when he saw her next... Everything he thought about had something to do with Hermione and he couldn't help but want her back here, in the library, with him.

But she wasn't there, because he'd gone and kissed her when it was wrong. She had ran away, upset and scared, because the contact of her lips on his aroused him unintentionally and she had become aware and shy of it. He couldn't do anything about it, for it was his body's natural response to her skin.

When he'd first gotten under that table and on top of her soft body, his thoughts had trailed. That had been the exact moment when he truly realised what he really wanted and these feelings for Hermione had surfaced. He just looked down at her beautiful face and knew. He knew he wanted her as something more than an enemy. What? He didn't know. All he knew was that she was the one person he had true feelings for, and it was wrong.

Draco sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his hair. He had kissed her and suddenly all he could think about was her and he couldn't deny that he was indeed falling for her. She, on the other hand, would most likely never want to have contact with him again.

Draco sighed heavily again before heading towards his dormitory, thoughts still wondering. He had kissed her, completely lost control of himself, while she had been the sensible one, the smart one that had pulled away, so abruptly it seemed she had come to a very disturbing thought. And that had been like a bucket of cold water being dumped on his head, reminding him just how wrong it was to be kissing her due to their past of hatred towards one another.

He reached his dormitory and climbed into bed, still in his clothes, but he didn't go to sleep, not that he didn't want to. He just couldn't push his thoughts and feelings to the back of his head and leave him the opportunity to sleep. So he lay there, glad that the next day was Sunday, with no classes, because it took a long while for sleep to finally take him over.

* - ~ * ~ - *

It was almost midday the next morning when Draco woke and the memories of the night before came flooding back and he wished that he hadn't woken up at all and that he could just sleep forever, with no thought of Hermione whatsoever in his head.

He got out of bed, dressed and headed down to the common room, which was unsurprisingly empty as it was most likely a nice autumn day outside in the grounds (A/N. Does Britain have nice autumn days, cos I'm not sure?). People had better things to do than sit around in the common room, when they could easily go out onto the grounds and have a little fun. But Draco had a feeling the common room was going to be where he was to be all day, as he didn't want to see Hermione and watch her run away from him again, which she would probably do.

He felt his stomach growl with hunger and as he massaged it, he realised breakfast would've finished in the Great Hall by now and lunch was still about an hour or so away, so he decided to go and find the kitchens and get some food from there. He had never been in the kitchens before, but he had a fair idea where they were and how to get in there.

About five minutes later, he had found his way down into the narrow passageway with the pictures of food and found the painting of the bowl of fruit Crabbe and Goyle had told him about and reached up to tickle the pear, just as he remembered them telling him. The pear squirmed and giggled, making Draco smile slightly as he turned the large green doorknob that had appeared. The smile vanished immediately, however, when he saw who else was in there, sitting at one of the four long tables opposite his old house-elf Dobby, drinking tea and evidently very close to tears. It was none other than the girl that had hunted his thoughts for most of the night: Hermione.

"... It all happened so quickly, Dobby," she was saying. "One minute we were near the shelves, looking in a book, the next, we were lying underneath the table, him on top of me, kissing." She let out a sob and wiped her eyes, which were brimming with tears. "I just don't understand it." They obviously hadn't noticed Draco standing in the doorway.

"Don't be upset," Dobby said, "Dobby will not let Miss be upset." A tiny smile came to Hermione's lips at this.

"My life is just hard at the moment," she said. "I caught Harry cheating on me the other night, and then Draco goes and kisses me, gets very turned on by it and scares me. Not that I wasn't turned on myself," she added. She sighed heavily. I don't know what to do, Dobby, Draco and I were the worst of enemies a week ago, but now ... well, I'm not sure what we are now, but we're definitely not enemies. How could that have changed so suddenly?"

"Dobby does not know, Miss," Dobby squeaked. He slowly turned his gaze to the doorway and saw Draco and let out a terrified squeak. "Dobby is sorry, Miss, but he must go now." He ran from the room as fast as his little legs could carry him. Hermione watched Dobby leave with a frown before turning to see what had frightened him and caused him to leave and saw Draco.

She stared at him for a moment with wide eyes, not sure of what to do or say. She was rather shocked to see him standing there, but she wished he wasn't, as she had hoped that she wouldn't have to see him at all that day.

Draco just stood there for a moment, looking at her with an impassive expression. "I think we should talk," he said finally, walking over to the table and taking Dobby's vacant chair. "First, I want you to understand that I had no intention to kiss you whatsoever when I first got under that table. It just sort of happened and I'm sorry about it. Second, I'm not sure if I meant anything by it and I'm not sure of my feelings for you either. I don't know how this could've happened so soon when we were enemies such a short time before hand. Third, I didn't mean to get as turned on as I did." He said all this rather calmly, as he looked her in the eye, but Hermione could distinguish some sort of plead in his voice to have her forgive him. She wasn't sure if she could do this so easily, though.

Hermione took a deep breath, avoiding his eyes. "It scared me, Draco," she said quietly. "And it happened too quickly. I'm not even sure if I can call you a friend. All my memories of you are you being a sneering, snarling bastard who makes fun of me for being Muggle-born or insulting my friends, and then, suddenly, I'm talking to you instead of Harry and Ron and we're lying underneath a table together, kissing. It wasn't just some simple kiss, either, it was one of the best kisses I've ever experienced." She went a bit pink in the cheeks. "Tell me, Draco, how could an action like that come of two people who were sworn enemies some five days ago? Tell me, Draco, is it possible that we're now friends, but last night was a showing of different sorts of feelings for each other, because I'm honestly not sure myself?" She looked up at him finally with an expression of question and plead, looking on the verge of tears once more.

Draco blinked. He hadn't expected her to turn around and say all that and it took him a long moment to answer. "I'm honestly not sure, either, Hermione. I don't know why it happened or whether we're friends and as I said before, I'm not sure of my feelings for you either. The kiss just ... happened and I seemed to have no control to stop it from doing that." He sighed. "I know that I care about you and I think that we've been acting a bit friendly towards each other, but I think that's mainly because we've been working together a lot and with me as Head Boy now, so really don't know if we are friends or not."

"I guess you're right," Hermione said. "The thing that seemed to start this was you getting Head Boy and then there was Harry ... You seemed to be the only person who was even close to being comforting towards me about the whole issue. Almost everyone took Harry's side, even when it was him that was in the wrong. The news about our break up definitely traveled far in this very short time, I mean, I dumped him just yesterday morning and most of the school already knows."

Draco was about to say something, but was interrupted by a tiny house-elf approaching them. "Would you like something to eat or drink, sir?" the elf asked politely.

"Yes, I'm just have a sandwich and a drink, thanks," Draco replied. The tiny elf bowed and hurried off back into the kitchen. Draco turned back to Hermione, but she didn't seem to want to hear what he was going to say and stood up.

Even though they had had this small talk, she still felt a bit uneasy to be around Draco and felt she needed some time to get her thoughts about the whole issue straight and she wanted to get away from him for a little while to do that.

"I have to go, Draco," she said, heading to the exit. "I just need some time alone to think." She left, leaving Draco frowning slightly at the closed portrait door.

Over the next few days, Draco seemed to get the idea she didn't want to have anything to do with him. He noticed her dodging him in the corridors and she hardly even talked to him in classes. Even in the library, when they worked on their Polyjuice Potion project, she never said a single word in the way of conversation. He found it very awkward and he realised, that even though they had talked in the kitchens, she was still extremely uncomfortable around him. He couldn't help but wonder whether she would always feel this way, just because of a little kiss and the appearance of these feelings that had for each other.

Not that you could call that kiss little ...