Blissful Oblivion

Chapter 13 - Unwillingly

Hermione's POV

Hermione woke up to an empty room that was not her own. The sheets she slept on smelled like Draco. She opened and closed her eyes repeatedly until the blur of her vision resided. She remembered that she had helped Draco to his room and figured that she must have fallen asleep. Draco, however was nowhere to be seen. She had never been in his room alone before.

Hermione got up and wandered around the room, resisting the temptation to rifle through his things. On top of his bedside cabinet, she noticed an opened letter. Picking it up, she read one simple word, written in elegant handwriting on the front of the envelope. Draco.

She suddenly realised that she was invading his privacy, and placed the letter in the exact place that she found it. Before she left, she compellingly made his bed and went into her own room to get dressed. After half an hour of wasting time, doing nothing in particular, she remembered her charms assignment that was due in next week, and headed off to the library.

Hermione loved the library, it was one of her favourite places. Being surrounded by books was comforting to her. She walked through rows upon rows of books until she came across what she was looking for. She pulled a dusty, old book from the shelf that was titled 'Apparition/Disapparition – A method of magical transportation'. She opened it to the first page and began to read all about things she already knew. Hermione had apparated many times herself, she was just trying to pass time.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow flicker across the wall in the aisle next to her. She watched for a moment and realised that she was being watched. She took out her wand and walked slowly around to the other side to find an awkward looking Blaise.

'Whoa!' He said as she raised her wand to his throat.

'What are you doing?' She interrogated.

'I was just... umm, looking.' He said, holding his hands in the air in a surrender. He seemed inconspicuous and so she lowered her wand.

'May I ask what at?' She questioned sarcastically.

'Well... um... you.' She suddenly felt extremely self-conscious. He must have seen the expression on her face because he immediately began to try and explain himself. 'It's just, I don't know if you have noticed, but I am in your charms class and I was hoping that you could maybe help with the assignment. I haven't a clue what I'm doing.'

Now, Hermione was even more confused. Why would Blaise, of all people, be asking for her help?

'I guess that would be okay?' She said it as more of a question than a definite answer. They talked for a while, about the ins and outs of apparition, until Blaise began to understand what she was talking about.

'So, you've done this before?' He asked as she talked.

'Yes.' She replied, without explaining and Blaise started talking about nothing in particular. The way he looked at her was odd. As she spoke, he stared at her, almost fascinated. His gaze never left her eyes the whole time. Lost in her train of thought, Hermione tried to lean against the shelf, and misjudged how far away she was from it. She stumbled backwards, flailing her arms around, and Blaise quickly caught her elbow, and pulled her towards him. When she regained her composition she looked up and there his face was, inches away from hers.

'That was close.' He stated as she awkwardly stared at him. He was so close that Hermione could smell the hint of spearmint on his breath. He grabbed the back of her hair and pulled her face towards his, and kissed her. She pulled away immediately, shocked.

'Get off!' She shouted.

Blaise's expression turned dark. He pushed her against the shelf so that her back was against it, and kissed her again, this time forcibly. She tried to turn her head away but he held her in place. She couldn't move. 

Suddenly, he disappeared.

'She said let go!'