Broom Cupboard Etiquette 101

Chapter Three

Draco was losing sleep.
It had been a little over two weeks now, and yet he still continued to let his eye-opening experience in the broom cupboard haunt him. On many occasions he had attempted to block it out, tried to see reason with himself.

It was just not very bloody fair.
He had flitted between so many different emotions over the last few weeks that he felt drained – the main ones remaining were mainly denial and anger. Denial over the fact that the idea of being anywhere near Granger sexually was appealing to him. Anger over the fact that she had made him feel this strange pull towards her, the force of it causing him to steal second glances at her as he walked by her, or linger just a few seconds longer after a lesson they shared together finished, watching her pack away her things and throw on her robe.

Draco had done his best to ignore it.
He never made any form of eye contact with her these days anyway, but he suddenly found himself looking away from her general direction on purpose if she was too close to him, as if half afraid that she would catch him staring if she did ever look his way. He could have sworn that he felt her eyes on him a few times from across the room in The Great Hall, but he put it down to his imagination.

He eventually decided that he had to make a different girl up inside of his head, if only to save his own sanity. That was the only logical explanation for the way he could currently control his mixed bag of feelings about her.

The broom cupboard had been dark, therefore there was no possible way that he would be able to close his eyes and imagine what her thighs looked like from memory – although they felt firm yet soft – or whether her hair would be thick enough to pull – it was thick, long and curly enough for him to get a good grip, though – which only added to his stress. He could not get the idea of Hermione Granger with her head thrown back and her eyes closed in rapture out of his head. Or the girl that he tried to unsuccessfully imagine that she was, anyway,

All this bloody mither, going over the scenario in his head, and he had not even fucked her.
Good God, he was losing his fucking mind.

"Wonder what's piqued her interest." Draco heard Theo ask quietly from beside him as they ate breakfast. "She's barely given this table a sideways glance all year but can't seem to stop herself from looking over in the last few days."

Draco frowned and looked up from his breakfast bowl.

"She can look over in my direction any day." Blaise answered with a small grin, his eyes looking over in the same direction as Nott's.

"Are you implying what I think you're implying?" Theo cocked an eyebrow up at his friend, who only waggled his back in return.

"She's fit." Blaise shrugged, finally answering before shoving a piece of bacon into his mouth. "She's been a looker for a few years now, if we're being honest."

"You've got Pansy, you can't have them all." Theo tutted with a smirk.

"A boy can dream, can't he?" Was Blaise's reply, causing Nott to chuckle under his breath.

Draco's frown was still up on his face, but curiosity finally got the better of him. His eyes looked up and over in the direction in which Nott was still looking in, only to be met with a pair of hazel eyes viewing him for a split second from the Gryffindor table before they were gone.

So, she was watching. His instincts had been correct from the first few times he had felt her stare on him.

And his friends suddenly found her attractive? Why had this never been brought up in conversation before?

"Curious..." And when Draco turned to look at his friend, he found Theo already studying him carefully.

"What's curious?" Blaise asked, missing the small exchange completely as he continued to consume the contents of his breakfast plate.