Manipulation Of The Finest

A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction.


   He’s the most popular guy in his house, the most attractive too. Most would follow him to the ends of the earth, he is simply magnetic. Some people may clash with him and his ideas, but nearly everyone in Slytherin House recognises him as the Leader. His success may chiefly be his fathers doing, but he has held his own in this prestigious school for five years, what’s two more?
   It’s been heard that some Ravenclaws and even the odd Gryffindor have preferred him over their precious Harry Potter. Like I said, he’s flawless. He’s Draco Malfoy.
The only problem with his perfection, is he knows about it.
No one recognised this more than Hermione Granger, she loathed him. Nevertheless, he seemed to have become fascinated with her. Over the past month or two he had been polite to her, smiled at her when they met and even begun talking to her. On occasion she had caught him looking at her in lessons, gazing even. He appeared to be infatuated with her, she couldn’t understand it.
It scared her.
***
   Pulling his wand from his sleeve Draco muttered, accio, then set off in pursuit of Hermione Granger, the elusive Gryffindor.
By the time he caught up with her she had already reached the Castle entrance.
He reached forward and tugged at her shoulder.
“Hey… you dropped this.”
Swinging round, she scowled and shoved his hand away.
Her voice filled with venom, she spat.
“Maybe I dropped it on purpose Malfoy.”
Ignoring the malice in her voice, he smiled, and shaking his head, passed the book over.
“You probably need that for our Potions assignment. It’s due in on Thursday.”
“I know that, I don’t need you to remind me. Thank you for returning my book. Good day.”
With that, the bushy-haired youth stalked off through the Castle doors and into a nearby classroom, slamming the door behind her.
“Nice talking to you.” He smirked.
***
   With the gentle waves breaking on the shore and the wind softly swaying the branches of the trees above them, Harry and Ron were simply talking the afternoon away. Their conversation was meaningless banter filled with witty remarks and jokes, mainly aimed at their innocent tutors. Hermione however, was stood at the shoreline staring across the lake to the forest opposite. Her eyes were glassy and empty, her conscious and unconscious thoughts dominated by the arrogant Mr Malfoy. She simply couldn’t understand him.
Why would he deliberately steal her book, just to return it again, and not even make a crack at her?
Thinking back, she realised that most of the bad luck she had had in the past few weeks had been in the presence of Draco. It seems he enjoys taunting her. But why? Why her when there were so many others he could have chosen?
“You coming Herm?” Harry called. “We’re going to dinner.”
Snapping back, Hermione replied with a nod and jogged up to them. Together they sauntered up to the Castle and into the Great Hall.


*********
“Don’t be shy…” Draco murmured as he gently stroked her neck, his hair falling across his pale, grey eyes. He moved to kiss her.
“But I…” She jerked away. “I can’t do this. You’re… It‘s just not right.”
Slowly moving his arms to her shoulders, he smiled. He soothingly drew her close.
“There’s nothing wrong with this. No one needs to know… It’ll be our little secret.” With these quiet words, he began to kiss her neck, lightly at first, then with more and more fervour.
“What if… someone… comes?” Her breath caught at each word. Shivers ran down her spine at the heat of his breath on her skin.
She was hesitant, unsure, but soon she was breathing quicker and returning his kisses with quiet whimpers. He moved to her mouth, if only to hush her in this public place. His tongue dipped into her mouth, tasting it, calling for a response. She replied. She replied as though to end a deep desire, a burning need.
   He seized her waist and pulled her closer, their bodies pressed against one another. Her heart was hammering in her chest, she struggled to breathe calmly. Shooting a quick glance around, Draco began to step backwards, drawing her into a hidden passage.
He slid her robes off her shoulders and dropped them to the floor. Pushing her to the wall, he kissed down her neck, across her shoulders.
   Minutes passed and one hand slipped into her shirt, his cool fingers stroked her stomach, her back, reaching for her, wanting her. The other hand cautiously moved down to her hip and settled there, his thumb resting in the waistband of her skirt. At first she clutched at his wrist to stop him, then her hands in turn found his hair and gripped, she held him there. She never wanted this to end, he was just so…
*********



“MALFOY?!?! You had a sex dream about MALFOY?!”
“Shhhh!!! No! Not exactly…” Hermione waved her arms frantically at Ginny as she looked around to see if anyone had heard. The only other occupants of the library were deep in their books and had heard nothing.
“Well then what was it exactly?” Ginny whispered.
“I don’t know. We only kissed!” Hermione hissed back.
“Only huh? Yeah I bet.”
“No… It wasn’t like that… It was as though he was… I don’t know… Nervous or something. He seemed genuinely anxious..”
“Yea-huh. In your dream.” Ginny grinned. “Falling for him are you? Christ, if Ron and Harry ever heard about this they’d have a field day!”
“Well they’re not going to. Are they?” She looked at her pointedly. “No one is. Right?”
Following a large, theatrical sigh, Ginny replied with a resigned nod. This punctuated the end of the conversation so Hermione and Ginny went back to studying. Half an hour later, Ron and Harry appeared from their Quidditch training.
As they ambled into the library, Ron eyed Hermione and Ginny suspiciously.
“They’re too quiet…” He muttered to Harry.
“Come off it. Hermione probably just asked Ginny to be quiet so she could study.” Harry replied with a small smile. Ron shrugged and let it go.
   Arriving at the table, Ron and Harry each took a seat and pulled a book or two towards them. Looking up, Ginny smiled.
“Hey guys, how was Quidditch practise?”
Harry answered with an exasperated expression. “Ron missed every save. I had no hope of finding the snitch. Our chasers put in no effort. And on top of that, George whacked a bludger into Fred. So overall, we did quite well. Oh, and don’t worry, Fred’s fine.”
The trio grimaced, while Hermione continued to leaf through a large aged looking book.
Glancing over at her, Harry asked. “Hey, there’s a Hogsmeade trip next weekend, you coming? Hermione?”
Looking up and frowning, Hermione replied. “Yeah, probably. I should have finished all of my homework by then.” When she smiled, it lit up her entire face, highlighting that otherwise hidden beauty.
***
“Shut up Parkinson.” He snapped at the young woman standing in his doorway.
“But Draco…” She whined.
“No. I said NO. Got it?”
Turning on her heel, Pansy tottered out of the room, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she went.
“Christ. They shouldn’t put alcohol in the pumpkin juice.” Draco frowned and shook his head, wishing he could blame her behaviour on that. As he shut the door, his thoughts turned once again to his pursuit of Miss Granger. He knew of course, that she would be going on the Hogsmeade trip at the weekend with Potter and Weasley. She always did. That would be a good time for his next move.
   His dream plan had worked, as far as he knew. She had been avoiding his gaze for the past week and seemed to be day-dreaming rather more than usual. Who knew that his amateur spell would actually work?
Smirking, Draco moved across his room to the chest of drawers. Inside was a small black book. He stood staring at the dishevelled tome; his mind wandered.


*********
He was a child again, watching from his door as his parents donned sinister black robes. He watched as they revealed their dark marks glowing white hot in the fire lit drawing room. He shook as he heard their voices, such cold, malicious words, such venom in their tone. He had never heard them speak in that way before, they had always been sweet, caring. He saw the skull-like faces as they turned to leave, those bleak and shadowy holes where their eyes should have been.
“Mummy… Daddy… Where are you going?”
*********

   Shaking himself awake from his daze, Draco returned the book to it’s home, locking the drawer after it.
After careful consideration, He decided to leave Hermione to continue sleeping as normal for now. If she dreamt of him often, she would suspect foul play. She could easily detect his spells if she tried. Despite all of his risk taking, Draco simply could not gamble with the outcome of his carefully laid plans.
***
   By nine thirty, all of the sixth year students were up and getting ready for the Hogsmeade trip that day. They left the castle in groups, after being checked by Mr. Filch of course. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny took a carriage together as usual, preferring to keep to their own group rather than mingle with others.
   Upon arrival at Hogsmeade, the students all parted ways, heading off in their own directions, doing as they wished. Harry and the others headed straight for HoneyDukes, the best part of the village in their opinion. As usual, Harry was plagued by suspicion, sure that someone was going to attack them while they were away from the relative protection of the school. He sighed heavily as he walked into the sweetshop, grinning as he watched Ginny run off in the direction of sherbet sweets - she had become fond of them lately, Harry suspected that it had something to do with the influence of her older brothers. Hermione, of course, started straight for the sugar quills, a favourite of hers, while Ron stayed with Harry, simply perusing.

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Unfinished ~ Everything on this page is (C) to me, [Duke Devlin], except the characters. The characters used are copyright to JKRowling and Scholastic Books.

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