Liberty - A Harry Potter fan fiction

Chapter 10 - Back to School

Malfoy and I were the first two students to arrive at the platform after the New Year. We both rushed into a compartment before the waves of students and parents came to prevent that. Malfoy shoved me in one at the very end of the train and locked the door behind him. He shut the blinds so no one could see in and sat across from me.

We heard laughter and shouts of hello and goodbye from our classmates. Neither of us budged the whole journey. I read ahead in my muggle studies book as he simply looked out the window. Finally, we came up upon a long, dark tunnel and I stood to change. I was wearing a simple purple dress and needed to change into a sweater and jeans before we reached the school. The tunnel was dark enough that I knew Malfoy wouldn't be able to see what I was doing, even if he were to look straight at me.

Still, just in case, I slipped my robe on first and turned my back to him. A bit juvenile but I didn't want to take any chances. I slipped off the dress and had my jeans half way up my thighs when the train lurched to a sudden stop. I yelled in surprise as I felt myself falling sideways towards the outside window. My shoulder hit full force and I bounced off and fell flat on my face. But it wasn't the floor my face came into contact with. It was Malfoy. My whole body had fallen on top of his and we were facing each other. He felt so... warm. My breath caught in my throat as I realized his arms were around me, one on my waist and the other playing with a lock of my hair that had fallen over his shoulder. He broke my fall.

"What happened?" I asked him.

I could hear the same question echoing down the train. Both of us became tangled in our thoughts and didn't move from our position. The emergency lights were lit. It was actually quite comfortable. The train started to move slowly, picking up the pace after a minute. I started to get up, then realized that I was just in a bra and a half on/ half off pair of jeans. I gasped and splayed my body back over his.

"What are you trying to do?" He asked, shock mixed with something else in his voice. It was lower than his usual tone and it gave me that feeling I hated. The muggle phrase was "butterflies in the stomach".

"Close your eyes," I demanded.

He laughed cruelly before pushing me off of him and standing up. I rushed to cover myself as he stared. 

"Relax Brown... If I wanted you, I would have already had you." He said cockily.

I scoffed and turned around. He didn't need to know that I was a little hurt over his words. I pulled my pants up and pulled from my trunk the first sweater my hands grasped. Pulling it over my head, I felt cold hands on the sides of my stomach. Malfoy's breath was on my neck and I turned to face him. I was thankful that he couldn't see how red my face had become.

Snap out of it! I told myself. You hate Malfoy!

That was just it. I did hate him, loathed him with everything in me. And yet... Looking into his smoldering eyes, I wanted more than just his touch. Malfoy's lips grazed mine and my heartbeat quickened when I would have much rather had it shrivel with disgust. He pressed his lips to mine again, firm and demanding. I permitted myself to reciprocate his kiss, enjoying it much to my own disgust.

As suddenly as he'd began it, it was over. He stood inches from me, hands on either side of my head and smirked. He bent down to nibble on my ear before standing again to his full height.

"Told you." He said.

"Eat dung Malfoy." I spat out to try and cover my embarrassment.

The train whizzed into the station and he was gone before I could even cross the tiny compartment. I pondered his actions. I hadn't minded them one bit. Yes, I was still sure I hated him, but I liked it. And I wanted it to happen again.

***

The next few days were relatively uneventful. Malfoy briefed me on his plan to fix a vanishing cabinet and use it to get the death eaters into Hogwarts. I could tell he was scared but spoke nothing of it. I made innuendos, ones that he encouraged, if not returned sly comments. But he hadn't yet approached me again as he'd had on the train. I craved his touch like a good craving for a certain food dish or dessert. 

He began to attend classes again, though still rarely appeared at mealtimes. I still kept to myself more than ever, not even taking notice to Lavender's cruelty. Ginny and Dean seemed to be flaunting their new relationship in front of Seamus and I. I was delighted with knowing that Ron was still refusing to speak to her or Dean as well.

The best part of having my own room was that I could walk around freely in my underwear if I chose to do so. And I'm not ashamed to say that I often did. It was a welcome change after wearing nothing but long sleeves around school, forced to hide that damned dark mark. 

Malfoy and I tried to avoid speaking in public. He usually came to my room if he needed something. On a few occasions where I'd craved his touch the most, I'd even gone to his room. But never did I get an answer. Finally, I came to the conclusion that the less amount of contact I had with him, the better. He'd made no move to bring up what happened on the train and I was more than happy to oblige by the silent set of rules between us.