Baton Rouge

- 8 -

Draco stood up and moved purposefully towards the exit. The sight of Granger on stage had ruined all his plans of humiliating her tonight as she indeed had caught him off guard.

Fuck, he had to get out of here - and as soon as possible. He didn't have the feeling that things would be better for him at home, because he probably wouldn't forget the scene so quickly, but at least there she wouldn't cross his path again and trigger that rigidity he had never felt before. Whatever that had been, he hadn't felt comfortable with it.

He was just crossing the foyer with long, quick strides when someone grabbed him vigorously by the collar of his robes and pulled him behind a ledge. He looked straight into Granger's dark brown eyes and winced.

"Everything all right?" He tried a casual and downright lascivious look that required an unexpected amount of strength. "You can't seem to wait to touch me." He smirked smugly, although Granger looked so angry that if they had still gone to school together, he probably would have bolted.

But she didn't have a wand anymore, so there was no reason to be careful. Though... he had felt her fist before and it definitely hadn't been a pleasure.

"What are you doing here?" She growled the words without even thinking about answering his question, and Draco felt goosebumps run down his spine. Merlin, it kind of affected him when she was so upset. "You can't just hang around here and-"

"And what?" He raised his eyebrows. „Embarrass you? Make you horny? Seduce you?" Almost immediately his chest was jarred by a hard punch and the wide grin vanished from his face. She hit him. Fucking again.

„Observe me, annoy me and disrupt my work!" was her version of things, and Draco rolled his eyes at that.

"I can go wherever I want whenever I want. Are you really trying to kick a guest out of the brothel you work at? I'd rather think that exceeds your authority, Granger. If I wanted to, I could book you on the spot, and you would have to do whatever I please." Now he noticed a flicker of fear in her eyes, and that's what he had been trying to achieve. He held the upper hand again.

"I would never obey you," she said bravely, putting as much distance between them as possible. For some reason Draco couldn't fathom, it annoyed him. But he didn't let show, just gave her a disdainful look.

He knew that there was nothing she could do about it if he really acted on his threats, and he found himself admiring that she still dared to quarrel with him. If anyone eavesdropped, there would definitely be a lot of trouble waiting for her.

„You better do that. After all, I'm at the top of the pedestal and you're at the bottom. We're not at Hogwarts anymore, Granger, and I'm a renowned man, while you're the scum of this country. I would have expected a little more respect."

He trailed off triumphantly without taking his eyes off her. Granger tried to keep her gaze neutral, but emotions were swirling around inside her and her whole posture gave it away. He just knew her too well, even after all this time.

"If you expect respect, you bark up the wrong tree. You're pathetic!" she hissed and his stomach clenched.

Now he didn't know whether to be angry or amused. He could kill her right now, or throw her into Azkaban, or do worse to her. But it was indeed the old Granger, flashing through the eyes of this total stranger in front of him. She held her head proud and high. And he was sure that all she saw in him was Draco the traitor - nothing else.

"That's a shame, because I already had plans for us," he whispered icily, without really thinking about what he was actually saying. It was the anger. It kept making him blurt out things that could have untold consequences for him, and many times Draco had paid dearly for such ill-considered blunders.