manacled by senlinyu

Chapter 29 : Flashback 4

April 2002

The next time she arrived at the shack, she had barely gotten through the door before Malfoy abruptly apparated in, nearly on top of her.

He grabbed her firmly, and backed her up against a wall as his lips crashed into hers.

Hermione barely had time to think or react. Her eyes widened in astonishment and as they did, his eyes met hers and he abruptly invaded her mind.

She had been so startled, her occlumency walls had fallen. The terrifying distraction of his body pressed against hers while he kissed her made it difficult to focus solely on the sensation of his mind tearing its way through her consciousness.

He skimmed through her recent memories; brewing an invisibility potion for the ring he'd given her, taking Lee Jordan and dropping him at St Mungo's. He found her memory of their previous meeting.

She could feel him experiencing it, even while she was also keenly aware of his lips moving away from hers and kissing along her jaw, while his hands slid along her body.

He started moving toward the memory of her conversation with Snape. No. She didn't want him to see that one. Even though she was confident he would know what she was trying to do, she didn't want him to have confirmation of it.

She forced herself not to pull the memory away or hide it. Instead she grabbed onto the first thing she could think of and jerked it forcefully back further into her memories. Malfoy had to have known it was a feint, but he gamely chased after it. After keeping it away from him for a few seconds, she let him catch it.

Third year Malfoy stood in front of her, sneering.

"Have you ever seen anything quite as pathetic?" said Malfoy. "And he's supposed to be our teacher!"

Harry and Ron moved angrily toward him, but Hermione was the quickest—SMACK!

She slapped Malfoy across the face with all the strength she could muster. Her hand felt aflame from the force, and his pale skin immediately bloomed scarlet where she struck him. He staggered, looking at her with a mixture of pain and astonishment.

"Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you foul—you evil—" she roared.

Malfoy abruptly jerked out of her mind and stepped away, shaking.

Hermione stared at him, expecting him to be enraged that she'd tricked him with that memory. Then she realized after a moment that he was laughing.

That felt more terrifying.

"Well done," he said, still chuckling after a minute. "I expected it would take you longer before you'd be able to do it."

Hermione was slumped against the wall, trying to recover herself from his combined mental and physical assault. A migraine was already steadily beginning to creep up on her.

"Is this the way you usually teach occlumency?" she said after a moment.

His lips quirked faintly.

"Only with you," he said with a thin smile. "I can't have you doubting my sincerity, now can I? I needed to do something to catch you off guard. So—" he shrugged. "Two gnomes, one kneazle. I'm sure you didn't expect me to keep my hands entirely to myself."

Hermione fought back the urge to sneer at him.

"Should I wear stockings the next time I come?" she asked, her voice caustic.

His eyes seemed to darken.

"Hmm. No. I rather like you like this. Being dirty and bedraggled in muggle clothing suits you. And I intend to savour you. You needn't start wearing them—yet."