Threat of Love

As soon as there was no one in sight, Hermione slapped Draco, hard, across the face. "What the hell was that for?" he asked, rubbing his cheek vigorously.

"What do you think it was for?" she almost screamed. Draco just looked confused. "You bloody kissed me!"

"That's what I'm supposed to do." Now it was Hermione's turn to look confused. He decided to explain. "I said I wanted you. The way you were acting back there, I take it you accepted the deal. Besides," he laughed, "you liked it."

Hermione blushed furiously and denied it. "I did no such thing! Where would you get such a foolish, impossible idea?"

"Well, it was a guess, but you're such a terrible liar, I know I'm right. If I was wrong, you wouldn't be blushing right now."

That made her blush even harder. But her embarrassment was joined by anger. How dare he make such a presumption about her! And he accused her of being bad at something! The only other time anyone had accused Hermione Granger of being less than perfect was her third year, and she walked out on the class. "First of all, I am not lying! I hated every second of it. Second, I happen to be an excellent liar! And thirdly, if you try something like that ever again, I'll be forced to - "

"You do not make the rules here." Malfoy interrupted her. "Unless, of course, you want the entire school to know that you -"

"Shh! Okay. I'll play along. But if you ever say that out loud, ever, the deal is off, and I will personally ensure that the entire student body knows that our little 'relationship' was based strictly off of blackmail."

"I didn't know you could be so aggressive." He smiled. "You're sexy when you get angry." She blushed again.

"Let's not talk about that."

"Why not? You embarrassed or something?" Her face was beet red by now.

"There are several reasons why I don't want to talk about that right now, and the one you gave was by far the least important."

"Oh no, don't get all formal again. It sounds like you don't really like me! Why don't you go ahead and tell me why you don't want to talk about it." He was mocking her, trying to provoke her, to get her mad. She knew it, and she wasn't going to let it work.

"There are more important things we need to discuss. I don't care whether or not you think I am, as you put it, 'sexy'. I don't want to have to slap you again. And, yes, there is the one you brought up."

"I told you to lose the formality, mudblood!" He was getting angry. Hermione could see real pain and anger in his eyes. The kind of anger that could quickly escalate into something physical. She didn't want that.

So she let herself get emotional, like he wanted. "I thought you liked me! You said that I was what you wanted!" she said through tears. "Why do you treat me like I'm nothing, like I don't matter? You know how much that name hurts me!" She was really acting now. The name had no meaning to her. She was trying to calm him down, to make him feel guilty. She stopped the tears and wiped them from her face in one quick, angry motion. "You're a real jerk, you know? You made me cry! And now you just stand there, staring. I'm not going to do a trick!"

His face and voice showed regret and guilt. "I'm sorry. I do like you, really, and there's nothing I want more than you." He looked her straight in the eyes as he said that, and they showed surprising depth and warmth, so different from the cold emptiness they usually housed. Hermione could tell that he wasn't lying.

She put her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "It's okay. I forgive you." He was calmed down now. She told him that she had to get to class, and that she would go outside Gryffindor tower at nine o'clock and wait exactly nine minutes for him, to discuss the specifics. He laughed at the preciseness of her proposal, but agreed. For some reason, a voice in the back of her mind kept thinking Our first date, and she couldn't silence it.