Shifting Perspectives

"Shifting Perspectives"

by Professor Mary

Chapter 12 "Temptation"

*****

Draco glanced at Granger's wristwatch and grimaced. He had missed the Slytherin Quidditch practice. Though he'd already warned Granger that he probably wouldn't be able to make it, he still wanted to at least debrief with her before dinner.

Dinner. That thought made him smile now that he knew that his plans were falling into place. He had full confidence in his powers of manipulation. And he'd made up his mind to trick Potter and Ginny Weasley into getting together. He smirked to himself, those two don't stand a chance. He'd just have to make sure that Granger didn't get in his way--her sloppy kiss on Ginny's face this morning had easily worked into his plan... but he didn't want her to ruin anything, after all. He decided he'd just tell her to back off when he got back to the dorms.

He hurried along the corridor, on his way to their Common Room.

"Hermione?" came a rich deep voice from behind Draco.

Draco stopped and turned around to see Blaise moving quickly towards him. Draco bit his lip to keep from snapping at the other boy. Damn. He didn't have time for this right now- he wanted to meet with Granger. He sighed, wishing he had some more of Potter's chocolate.

"Hermione, thanks for waiting. Are you headed to your Common Room? I'll walk you there," he said quickly before Draco could do more than nod his head.

"So, Pansy said you're joining us at the Slytherin table tonight for dinner."

Draco nodded again and wondered if he still had some chocolates back in his room.

"Well I was hoping to convince you to sit with me," Blaise said with calculated nervousness.

Draco slowed his walking and turned to look at the other boy. Ambitious git. Then the image of Granger kissing Ginny Weasley's cheek this morning flashed in his mind again. He pursed his lips together.

"That'd be very nice, Blaise," he said and as an afterthought, added what he knew to be a dazzling smile.

He felt a strange surge of power when Blaise suddenly stumbled and seemed unable to respond. It was quite satisfying.

"Gr-great," Blaise finally stuttered before lapsing into an awkward silence.

Draco shifted Granger's heavy bookbag from one shoulder to the other. It didn't seem to make any difference to his aching lower back. He groaned. In an instant, he felt the bag being lifted off his small frame altogether, which nearly sent him stumbling.

"Sorry, Hermione. I should have taken this right away," Blaise smiled as he hoisted the bookbag onto his shoulder.

Draco was at a loss to explain why that action made him want to snap at the boy again. He settled for scowling.

"Hermione? Is everything okay?" Blaise asked in a concerned voice.

"Of course. Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Draco hissed.

The boy's stunned expression immediately made him feel guilty. He had long ago decided that Granger's ability to feel responsible for other people's feelings was not something he was going to miss...

"Oh, I'm sorry, Blaise," he muttered. "You don't happen have any chocolate on you, do you?"

To Draco's surprise, Blaise chuckled and nodded to himself before reaching into his own bookbag.

"My mum told me to start carrying chocolate just last year. It's some of the best advice she's ever given me," he said with a grin. He handed Draco a Chocolate Frog.

Draco snatched the Frog, unwrapping it and shoving it in his mouth before the piece of candy could even try to jump. Mmmmm ... instant gratification.

"There's nothing like chocolate," Draco sighed blissfully.

He wasn't even annoyed to see a teasing smirk on Blaise's face.

"You're right about that," the other boy agreed.

They stopped in front of the Head Common Room entrance. Draco was only half-way aware that he was smiling at the boy in what felt like a drug-induced stupor. Blaise set down Granger's bookbag at his feet.

"Er... Hermione," he said. "You've got just a spot of chocolate... um... right here," Blaise said, gesturing to Draco's bottom lip.

Draco wasn't about to waste good chocolate and immediately ran his tongue across his bottom lip a few times. Again, he felt that unanticipated satisfaction when he saw Blaise begin to blush.

Flushed cheeks go well with all that dark hair, he thought distractedly. He also thought that the boy was generally looking pretty decent these days. He'd have to make it a point to find out what hair products Blaise was using as soon as he returned to his own body. Of course, he grinned to himself, with Granger's wild hair, perhaps I should find out now.

He chuckled to himself and then realized that he and Blaise had been standing outside the Common room door for several minutes now. Blaise was shuffling his feet. Something about his friend's awkwardness kept him giggling. Must be the chocolate, he thought, licking his bottom lip one more time.

"Did I get it all?" he asked, tilting his face up to the other boy.

"Oh, Hermione!" Blaise breathed before Draco felt strong hands encircle his shoulders, pulling him forward. Then Blaise's lips were pressing up against his own very surprised ones.

"Umph," Draco managed.

Blaise seemed to take this as encouragement and pressed his lips even harder against Draco's.

Draco didn't really want to think about it too much but he was aware that the whole thing felt rather nice... not unlike the kiss with Ginny Weasley. Nice. But not terribly exciting. But still... nice. And nice was not what he'd ever expect if someone told him he'd be kissing Blaise Zabini.

Curious, Draco opened his lips just a little and then was a bit staggered by the invasion of a hot wet tongue. He kept his own tongue in his mouth but made no move to stop the other boy from using his.

Still nice, he thought. Though he felt fairly comfortable with his sexuality (despite currently having breasts and a vagina) and genuinely liked Blaise about as much as he was ever going to like another boy, Draco was having a hard time denying the burning sensation that was beginning to spread out from his belly. Feeling a bit reckless, Draco moved his tongue against Blaise's.

This elicited a low moan from the other boy which startled Draco out of his blurry thoughts. He pulled back his tongue and leaned away from Blaise's grasp.

"Oh," was all he could say. "Er..."

Blaise seemed to be as tongue-tied as Draco. He was still flushed which Draco found to be oddly cute. He shook his head as if that would keep him from thinking such thoughts.

"Oh, Blaise..." he started guiltily. He knew he shouldn't have let this happen.

"I'm sorry, Hermione... I just..." Blaise mumbled, his cheeks now a bright red. But Draco held up his hand to stop any other words.

"Listen, Blaise, it's not your fault. I'm not myself right now," Draco tried to explain.

"Oh... I think I understand now. I shouldn't have pushed you... we can take this more slowly, Hermione," Blaise responded.

Yes, Draco thought wryly, infinitely more slowly.

Picking up Granger's bookbag, he gave the speechless boy a nervous smile, "See you at dinner."

Then he turned and walked into the Common room without waiting for a response. He collapsed on the couch, dropping his bag of books haphazardly on the floor, and immediately felt a panic attack coming on.

"What the hell was that?" he sputtered.

Now that he was out of range from what he remembered Pansy referring to as the "Zabini charms," Draco felt more than a little bit anxious about that kiss.

Sighing, he looked around the room and noticed that Granger must have already come in from practice when he spied his elegant book satchel next to the other couch. Faintly, he heard the sounds of her shower.

Draco tried to banish the thoughts of his illicit kiss from his mind. He had no explanation. What he did have, however, was a strong physical sense of frustration and a rather painful backache. He stretched out on the couch, arching his lower back and tried to stretch his sore muscles.

That's when he noticed that something was amiss.

With trembling fingers, he slowly lowered his hand down below the waistband of his skirt and then into his knickers. As his hand trickled across wiry hair, he was already aware of what he'd find. So, when he felt the wetness and then saw the blood on his fingertips, the last thing that he should have done was to scream.

But that's what he did, anyway.

His fear, panic, and disgust, were all short-lived as his mind raced to put everything together. The muscle-aches, the annoyance with everyone else's stupidity, the desperate cravings for chocolate- he even decided that the kiss must now be placed in its proper context. Rather than being shamed, he felt like the world suddenly made sense again. He didn't even mind admitting that his frustration was in large part due to being completely turned on only minutes before by another male.

He smiled to himself and got up and headed towards Granger's room. He figured that she'd probably have... er... the supplies he'd need. And another pair of underwear.

He could still hear the shower running so he didn't bother knocking on her bedroom door. He let himself in, slipped out of his soiled knickers, and stood in the middle of her room.

"Where would she keep... the... things?" he muttered aloud.

Her room was painfully neat. He didn't even know where to begin. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have had a problem going through someone else's things... but for some reason he couldn't quite identify, he didn't want to just rifle through her drawers.

Suddenly, he recalled an old memory from the year he started Hogwarts. His mother had told him to fetch her hairbrush from her own private bathroom. He'd opened a few drawers before he'd found it. And now, he remembered what else had been in one of those drawers.

"Of course," he said triumphantly and marched towards Granger's private bathroom.

He hesitated when he reached the closed door. He knew that he should knock. But would she let him in? She'd undoubtedly demand to know what he needed. Could he tell her? He stood there debating with himself, feeling his cheeks reddening at just the thought of discussing something so... private. Argh... I'll just sneak in. She'll never know. She's a girl. She's got to have that stuff lying around...

Very quietly he let himself into Granger's bathroom. He immediately noticed two things at once, followed by one rather problematic reaction on his part.

One, there was a potion brewing on the counter.

Two, Granger was moaning from behind the shower curtain.

Three, he was instantly and incredibly turned on ... again.

He blinked his eyes a few times and tried to quell the rush of dizziness he felt. Silently, he walked closer to her counter. Low moans and deep breathing punctuated the air. He looked into the mirror. His face and neck were already glistening with a thin shiny layer of wetness from the mist of her shower. His lips were a bit red--no doubt from that damn kiss. But it was his eyes that really got his attention. Well, her eyes...

He leaned over the counter, resting his forehead up against the mirror as if he was drawn to it. He looked directly into those eyes - eyes betraying his desire with huge black pupils surrounded by the thinnest hint of brown irises.

Irrationally, he thought Pansy must be blind to think that the female image staring back at him from the mirror was anything other than extremely sexy.

Then he realized that his own breathing was becoming as deep as Granger's. He listened to her closely. He recognized that pattern. It was his body, after all.

It wouldn't be long now, he thought, as he became aware of a heated pulsing originating in a place that he still hadn't dared to touch.

Silence. Was she holding her breath?

As if in response to his unspoken question, he heard a loud release of breath and a raspy guttural moan, shortly followed by a sigh.

He had to get out of here.

Now.

His eyes quickly scanned the countertop before resting on a small opened box of cottony-looking things. This has to be it, he thought. He grabbed the box and quietly fled the room.

He didn't realize his hands were shaking until he was locked behind his own bathroom door. Standing at his bathroom counter this time, he raised his eyes to the mirror again. His pupils were still dilated and his breathing was still a bit hitched. He took a few deep breaths and willed himself to calm down.

Immediately, he felt a wave of something like anger wash over him. Right then and there, he decided that girls, with their tumultuous mood swings and crazed libidos, had a rougher time of it than boys. If he didn't get a hold of himself soon, there was no telling what might happen.

Turning back to the task at hand, he picked up the box and took out a cellophane wrapped piece of cotton. While he understood it theoretically, he was a bit nervous about its practical application. He looked back into the box and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw printed directions.

Well, there's nothing for it, he thought. I'm going to have to touch down there...

*****

15 minutes later...

Draco was certain that that shouldn't have felt as good as it did. Really, if he could find something to alleviate his back pain and maintain access to a steady supply of chocolate, he'd be just fine with this whole... er... period thing.

*****

Greenhouse #5

Neville desperately hoped that whatever spell was currently making Pansy Parkinson pay attention to him wouldn't wear off anytime soon. But he didn't consider himself to be a very lucky person - well, aside from surviving that fight in the Department of Mysteries... Neville shuddered at the memory.

Nope, now that he thought about it, his luck was surely all used up. Pansy had sent him an owl saying she'd come by for a visit... so Neville figured that she was undoubtedly just stopping in to tell him off or something...

Though he really hoped he was wrong.

He shifted the mask on his face, so he could better see to replant the Fanged Geranium. He still wasn't used to wearing protective face covers around the more rambunctious plants. He'd learned the hard way that he had to always keep an eye out for moody plants. But now that the Tentacled Alihotsy lived in Greenhouse #5, the masks were a necessity. He supposed he could have cast an Imperturbable Charm on himself ... and he probably would have if he'd known how. Maybe Hermione wouldn't mind showing him the charm one more time...

Sighing, he moved the mask again so he could keep the largest of the Geraniums in his peripheral vision. Too bad that both the nose and eyes were susceptible to the Alihotsy spores. His ears, mouth, and skin would be fine, though.

He turned back to the last Geranium to be repotted. He had hoped to be finished before Pansy came by... if she was still coming by, that is. It wouldn't do to have Pansy show up when the plants were fighting back. And they would fight back. All the Geraniums were very petulant and resentful about being moved from the other Greenhouse. They were still prone to venting their frustrations out on Neville.

Neville whipped a gloved hand out of the path of one particularly territorial Geranium's spiky vines just as Pansy walked into the Greenhouse. She immediately gave an appreciative whistle and walked a bit closer to him. Her half-face mask magnified her dark eyes and cute nose in a manner that Neville found completely endearing. He was glad to see that she'd remembered to put it on. The dreaded Tentacled Alihotsy was right behind them both now.

"My, my, Neville... may I call you Neville? You don't mind do you?" Pansy asked with a grin. She was still coming closer when Neville suddenly realized that the Geraniums were poised to strike.

"Wait- stop right there!" he commanded, in what was probably the strongest tone he'd ever mustered in his entire life. Pansy froze and her eyes widened in fear. Three Geraniums had turned towards her, their spiky vines waving threateningly.

It was now or never.

Neville decided on Now.

With a battle cry, he whipped out his wand, rushing over the potting bench, leaping across several bags of Hagrid's special blend of manure, and charged the three Geraniums.

"Stupefy!" he shouted and was absolutely shocked when his curse took out all three of the plants at once.

He turned to Pansy then, pocketing his wand, and gently placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Are you all right?" he whispered.

Suddenly, Pansy's wide eyes narrowed and her grin returned in an almost predatory fashion.

"I never realized ... You're so big!" she swooned.

Then she grabbed Neville around the waist, startling him more than the Geraniums had, stood on her tip-toes and firmly planted her lips onto his.

Masks and teeth clanked together. Gloves came off. Pots were knocked over. Moans could be heard all the way outside. But nothing, not even some of the more ferocious plants, dared to interrupt this kiss.

Well, that wasn't completely true. There was someone else in Greenhouse #5. But he was the epitome of stealth as he snuck by the two engrossed lovers.

As quietly as possible, a masked figure crept behind the stunned Geraniums over to the Tentacled Alihotsy specimens. He checked the security of his mask and gloves one final time before he pulled a stoppered vial out of his robes. Then he meticulously shook one of the giant Alihotsy flower heads until he had a few centimeters of the precious spores in the vial. He stoppered it and muttered a quick clean-up spill to be rid of any remaining plant material. After all, he needed the magic dust for his plan.

As quietly as he came in, the masked figure left. The two lovers were none the wiser.

*****

Hermione dressed quickly to the loud rumblings of her belly. Quidditch practices gave her quite an appetite. She figured she could even give Ron a run for his money at dinner.

She quickly ran a comb through her short blond locks, smiling ruefully once again at how easy such a task was with Malfoy's hair. Then she grabbed the pile of dirty Quidditch robes and headed out into the Common Room.

"Malfoy? Didn't see you at practice," she said, when she saw the familiar brown-haired head bent over his strategy notebook.

"Shall I leave these here or put them in your room?" she asked when he didn't look up at her.

At this, Malfoy's head snapped up and Hermione thought he must have been too close to fireplace because his cheeks were totally flushed.

"Er..." he squeaked. Was it her imagination or did Draco Malfoy appear to be embarrassed about something? she wondered. She surreptitiously checked her fly- just in case.

"It's okay, I'll just throw the robes in your room," she said as she opened the door.

She stepped inside his room, and couldn't help but note how clean and orderly and masculine everything seemed to be. Spying his clothes hamper she crossed the room and disposed of his robes.

"Oh... um..." She heard from behind her. "I could have done that," Malfoy said quickly from the doorway.

"It's nothing," she said, turning back towards the wall.

Without really meaning to, she let her eyes wander appraisingly over the gleaming wood furniture, the neatly organized desk, the dark colors of a full bookcase, and... a box of tampons?

She stopped in her tracks and picked up the box, noticing immediately that it was the same one she kept in her bathroom.

"Oh, that's right. Malfoy, I apologize. I should have warned you... I've just been so caught up with everything... Quiddtich, homework, patrols... I forgot that it would be coming right about now..." she babbled nervously.

Malfoy, whose cheeks were bright pink, grabbed the box and placed it back down on his desk before turning to her and leading her by the arm out of his room.

She was still jabbering and she knew it. Plus, she could feel her own reddening cheeks. Wasn't he going to say something? Did he know how everything ... worked? She gulped.

She followed him over to the couches, taking the one opposite to him.

"I figured everything out, Granger," he said quietly. "Now let's talk Quidditch."

"All right," she said.

After about half and hour of discussing the team's performance and her own strategies for catching the Snitch, Hermione noticed that Malfoy seemed to be acting restless. Since he was usually completely focused when they talked sports, she was a bit surprised.

"Are you feeling okay, Malfoy?" she asked.

"You're the fourth person to ask me that today," he spat, twisting his full red lips together into a grimace. Well, a grimace that made for a fairly adorable pout, she thought.

Then he stretched from his position on the couch.

"It's just my back, that's all. I feel like I must have lifted something heavy, though I don't know when I might have done that. Maybe I slept wrong," he muttered as he rubbed his small hands across his lower back.

"Ah," she said. "Hold on just a second."

Hermione jumped up and ran into her room. She grabbed her "special supplies kit" basket and returned to the Common Room.

"Lie down. Do it, Malfoy. I know what I'm talking about here. No, not like that. Lie on your stomach," she commanded as she stood over him. "That's it."

"Oh, first, take these," and she handed him two reddish pills and a small glass of water.

She supposed that he was feeling desperate because he didn't even question her Muggle remedies with anything other than a brief sneer.

She rummaged through her basket and pulled out a hot water bottle. That did get his attention.

"What on earth...?" he asked incredulously.

"Lie back down," she said. With an incantation she'd modified from Madame Valentina's Guide to Hygiene and Puberty: A Personal Curriculum for Young Witches, she filled the bottle with steaming water, specially charmed to stay hot. She placed this on his lower back and smiled broadly when she heard a loud deep sigh of relief.

"Oh... yes..." he murmured.

"Better? Anything else I can do?" she asked, still smiling.

"Do you have any chocolate?" he asked quietly, pouting again.

She smirked at this. Did she have chocolate, indeed. What kind of question was that? What kind of girl didn't have chocolate? She dug into her basket and pulled out her absolute favorite "period fix," a Snickers bar.

Though she was pretty sure that Malfoy had never seen a Snickers bar before (the horror!), she was also not surprised when he said nothing, but proceeded to quickly rip off the wrapper, and immediately began eating.

"This... is... sooo... mmmm... good," he moaned between bites.

Is it wrong to think that Malfoy is utterly charming right this minute? she thought to herself. She recalled thinking that Malfoy was rather cute after she'd waxed his legs. He'd been so smug when he was looking at himself in her mirror that morning. No, there was no mistaking these feelings now. She did think that a satiated Malfoy - albeit in her body- was a rather attractive thing.

Malfoy had finished his chocolate. "How long before the pain goes away?" he asked pitifully.

"Oh, Malfoy," she huffed. "You're such a girl," she said teasingly.

But there was something there in that moment - something that Hermione wanted to give into. She sank to her knees next to the couch.

Suddenly feeling nervous, she bit her bottom lip. Malfoy turned his head to her, his gaze questioning.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Keep your head down... and close your eyes," she directed.

Astonishingly, he obeyed.

She knew exactly where he was hurting. She knew how sore it could be. Slowly, she ran her hands underneath the hot water bottle. She began applying pressure through her long fingers, digging into the sore muscles.

Any surprise that Malfoy might have had about such an intimate touch was overshadowed by the most sensuous moans Hermione had ever heard in her life.

She keep rubbing, firmly pressing her fingers and then her palms into his lower back. She pulled up the Gryffindor jumper, and then, feeling like she might as well do the thing properly, she untucked his white shirt and rolled it about half-way up his back.

Then she guided her hands all along smooth creamy skin, noting every line of muscle, every vertebrae, and every curve. She was almost overwhelmed by how pretty he was.

Well, really, she thought, it's my body. I'm the one with a pretty backside. She almost giggled at the absurdity of her thoughts. Why had she never noticed herself before? After waxing Malfoy, she had come to realize that her body's legs were quite nice. And then, of course, there was that whole incident with the towel- and she'd noticed, in a spectacular way, that she did, indeed, have nice breasts. And now, as she rubbed Malfoy, she decided that she had a nice back, too.

She pushed the hot water bottle to the side and leaned forward, using her arms and elbows to kneed Malfoy's back.

Despite what she'd already taken care of in the shower, she was starting to become aware of a surge of desire. Ughh... what is it with all these hormones? she thought to herself.

She fell back on her tried-and-true strategy of listing the steps of the Polyjuice Potion. She was really getting to know that one inside and out. Not only did she call it up whenever she was trying to avoid ... an... erection - there, she admitted it! - not only did she use it then, but she had the Polyjuice Potion currently brewing in her bathroom. Or parts of it. She had been stewing the lacewings for the requisite 21 days. By her calculations, the potion would ready just in time for the next Hogsmeade weekend.

Malfoy's moans had become soft, barely audible, whimpers. Hermione thought that the pain relievers had probably kicked in by now. The chocolate should have worked its magic, too. Malfoy ought be in pretty good form, she thought.

Forgetting potions, she let her eyes return to the smooth suppleness of her body's skin. Whenever she got her body back, she was really going to spend some quality time with the mirror. She thought she knew her body - but seeing it through Malfoy's eyes had forced her to see herself differently. She wondered what she'd see through her own brown eyes...

There was something about touching that warm skin... something that was lulling them both, Hermione reasoned. She felt like she was drowning ... not in an unpleasant sense... more like, she felt as though she and this body under her fingertips were the only things in the world at the moment.

This time, when she felt the heated stirrings under her skin, she didn't force herself to go through the Polyjuice Potion steps.

She was no longer massaging, really - now she was touching... caressing... lightly exploring with her fingers - fingers that were excellent for catching the Snitch, for quickly chopping up stubborn roots, for whipping a wand through the air--and now she discovered that these fingers were quite adept at touching someone else's skin.

She was almost mesmerized watching her fingers as they danced across the contours of the back. Malfoy's back, she tried to remind herself.

As if she was watching from a remote location, she saw those pale fingers dip just below the waistband of his skirt. Still pressing and touching and soothing, it seemed as though the fingers' journey might go unnoticed.

She let them go just a little bit further. She could feel the subtle changes in musculature as her fingers stroked the very top of supple round flesh...

Somewhere deep in her mind, her brain was trying to make an observation through all the hazy fog of lust.

"Oh!" she gasped, pulling her fingers back as though they'd been burned.

Malfoy languorously lifted his head to look back at her.

"What?" he yawned indolently.

"Malfoy, why aren't you wearing any underwear?" she asked, as calmly as she could - which was not all that calm, considering she had already been quite turned on and now was leaning against the couch, in an effort to hide her "reaction."

His eyes snapped open at her question and his cheeks flushed instantaneously.

"I - they got ruined," he said quickly, and turned his head away from her.

"Oh."

"So, I had to take them off ... they're in your room... and then... then I had to find some... er... you know... things. And you weren't around to... um..." Malfoy prattled embarrassedly.

"Oh, you got it when I was at Quidditch, then, I guess? But I thought you had class... you didn't go to class without knickers, did you?"

"Well, no... um... you were in the... and I didn't want to ask- and anyway, I saw the box on the counter and - and what potion are you brewing in your bathroom?" he said in a rush.

"That's the Polyjuice Potion. I'm doing it so we'll have it for Hogsmeade and emergencies... and you came into my bathroom after Quidditch practice?" she asked as she tried to decipher what he'd said.

He nodded but seemed to be avoiding looking her in the face.

"I didn't see you," Hermione said.

"You were in the shower," he said very quietly. "You were... busy."

"Oh... oh, my."

Hermione stood up then, figuring she could no longer ever be embarrassed around Malfoy again. Not after that. Why should she care if he saw the remains of her current predicament now?

"Well then," she said, "looks like I'd better get you another pair of knickers."

Hermione returned a few minutes later with the garment, a particularly comfortable choice. She handed it to him wordlessly and was somewhat amused that he was still unable to look her in the eye.

She chuckled to herself before collecting the pieces of her "special supplies kit."

"What?" he asked.

"That's not why I heard you scream, is it?" she smirked.

"What? ... Oh, no. I was just surprised by ... something... you know," he said uncomfortably.

"I see," she said, still smirking.

"Well, I think we're finished here. Can you think of any other painfully embarrassing things for us to share, Malfoy?" she asked resignedly.

Malfoy looked at her then. His blush had returned in full force.

Hermione sat down.

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to."

He sat there silently, his hands wringing and twisting her panties in his lap.

"I kissed Blaise--or rather, I got kissed by Blaise. I didn't stop him and for a few seconds, I kissed him back," he admitted.

Hermione sighed and tried to squelch the sudden surge of jealousy. Briefly, she considered breaking something but settled for asking, "And?"

"What do you mean 'and'? Isn't that enough?" he snapped.

"I mean, did you like it? Will you do it again? What do you want from Blaise?" she responded.

"It was nice, I suppose. I don't want to do it again... well, not with Blaise, anyway," he said, just a bit sheepishly.

"Good," she said.

Knocking on the outer door startled them both. Malfoy tucked in his white shirt and pulled down his jumper and slipped into his underwear. Hermione forced her attention elsewhere by returning her supplies basket to her room. She was just walking out of her room when she saw Malfoy open the door to greet Harry and Ron.

Harry and Ron.

Hermione gave into a moment of self-pity as she wished fervently for the normalcy of her pre-body swap life. Then she closed her door, walked out of the Common Room, and followed the other three towards the Great Hall for dinner.