Chapter 10

Harry Potter is not mine. Taking that into consideration, none of the characters belong to me. Only the plot does.

Hermione never wanted the kiss to end. Her lungs disagreed. She broke away to take a breath, only to have him capture her lips again.

It was funny… When she was with Viktor, she'd always been the leader over their trysts. She always had to be the one who led the kisses, who took their relationship to a new level. She'd expected it to be like that with Draco, too.

It was exactly the opposite.

She found herself overwhelmed by his quiet intensity, and the fervent need underneath that calm exterior. Hermione had only seen him come out of his shell two or three times, and every time, it was a little easier to get him out. She found herself relaxing under his grip, only to squeeze him closer. One of the buttons from his shirt was pressing on her lower neck, but she didn't care. She'd just say the indentation was from one of her shirts.

Of course, now that she thought of it, his shirt was probably designer wear, and no one would believe she owned designer items… especially men's designer clothing.

She took a deep breath, her eyes on his flushed lips. Her head was flooded with questions. How often had he done this? Did he usually seduce girls around him? Was she just a fling? Did this mean they were… going out? It was altogether quite confusing, but she managed to slip those questions to the back of her mind… for now.

"Draco," she sighed. She traced his bottom lip with her finger, admiring the feel of it. He gently bit down on the digit, drawing a shiver from deep within Hermione's belly. How could he be so bloody sexy? Did he practice? She supposed he did. Of course, it could be in his genes. That was downright unfair.

"Hermione," he replied softly. She met his eyes hesitantly, unsure of what she would find. They were lighter than she'd ever seen them, no longer troubled skies, but the gray of the sky after the storm has passed… the gray of a new hope.

He reached out to touch her hair, stroking it with reverence. Then, to her surprise -and delight- he buried his head in her neck, planting a chaste kiss on the side of it.

Hermione tried to breathe evenly, but it was no use. He'd probably already felt her pulse jump when he put his face down there, anyway. No use hiding her reaction to his presence.

He sighed, and she fought the urge to jump when his warm breath met her sensitive skin. "I hate to say it," he said ruefully, "but it's getting late."

Hermione's eyes widened. What was this? Draco Malfoy, the epitome of a gentleman? This was new.

"Is it, now," she said dryly, meeting his eyes again when he pulled back.

"I'm afraid so." She smiled at the familiar smirk, and fought the urge to kiss it away. Best not to get carried away, what with all the schoolwork tomorrow… Schoolwork! Her homework!

Hermione winced. She hadn't done a thing for the next day… She had been so caught up, planning with Ginny and all that. Oh well, it could wait. She smiled at Draco again. She was… improving inter-House relations. Yes, that was it. That would be her excuse. Of course, she'd have to work on saying it without a smirk or a blush, so it wouldn't be misconstrued.

She yawned, and found herself slipping forward to rest her head on his chest. It had been a big night, and a tiring one. Draco, saying he thought she was beautiful. Their kiss. Well, kisses. She let her eyes flutter close for a moment, and then pulled back to look him in the eye.

"Sleep with me?" she said, her smile changing to a sincere expression. She was still feeling a bit weird, what with all the fast-paced changes in her emotions.

"Our first kiss, and you already want me in your bed? Blimey, Granger, you move faster than I do."

Hermione rolled her eyes, and deftly poked him on the forehead. "You and that mind of yours. We're going to have to clean that up."

Draco smirked, and winked at her. "I like the sound of that…"

"Cleaning?"

"No…" He cleared his throat self-consciously, and continued, "Well, that too, but mostly the ' we' part."

"Oh," she said, glancing over at him, "I like it, too." She then proceeded to grab his hand, causing his smirk to widen.

"What I meant by my previous comment was for you to literally 'sleep' with me. As in, sleeping... in the same bed."

Hermione looked up at Draco, waiting for his reaction. He met her eyes, and bent down to kiss her chastely on the lips. "Anything for the Head Girl."

She smiled, and found herself appreciating his humor. "So…" She trailed off, and glanced at her bedroom, and then the door to his. "My room or yours?"

Draco winced, and she found herself blushing. Could she have picked a more sexual cliché?

"How about my room? You haven't seen it yet, I don't believe."

He was right. She hadn't seen his room. Suddenly, she was overcome with curiosity. Was it going to be all done up in shades of green and silver? Or drab and dark, like he pretended he was? She nodded quickly, and impatiently tugged him along for the foray.

She opened the door, and inside, it was as she had imagined, and more…

The king size bed was to be expected. Well, it was Draco Malfoy, after all. Hermione wouldn't have thought of anything less for his type of people… However, a framed certificate was a surprise. Who knew he really cared about stuff like that? He had a few photos on the wall, some of him with his mother, and a few others with his father in it.

His room did not have too much green in it, though it did have quite a bit of silver. All in all, it was a very nice room. A bit too clean for her taste, though. She was an organized girl, after all, but her room was messier than this.

Draco let go of her hand to go sit on the bed. He promptly began to unbutton his jeans, which made Hermione turn a violent shade of pink. She turned around, and busied herself with his dresser. She opened the top drawer, but it was only underwear and socks. She was tickled to see that most of his socks were embossed with the Slytherin logo.

His second drawer had the uniform staples in it; that was boring. The third drawer held more regular clothes. She pulled out a large button up shirt, and held it out. It was blue-striped, and probably the closest thing she could find that was non-Slytherin. To her dismay, she even found a little Slytherin logo on the inside of the sleeve of the shirt. Did he label everything? Maybe it was some insecurity thing.

Still holding the shirt, she turned around, only to find Draco already under the plush covers of his bed. Hermione could see that his shirt was off, but since the covers were up, she could only hope he had his boxers on. He was actually reading a book, and her heart nearly stopped when she saw the glasses he had on. They weren't like Harry's, au contraire, these glasses amplified one's sex appeal, not diminished it. Or maybe it only worked that way on Draco. She recognized the book he was reading as one of the many Potions books that were on the recommended reading list. She'd read it before, and had found it quite interesting.

He was so engrossed in his book that she decided it would be okay to change in front of him, just as long as she kept her back to him. Quickly, before she could change her mind, she took off her dress, and slid the shirt over her head. It was unbuttoned, and her mind was so tired that when she finished doing them up, they were off by one slot. She thought of fixing it, but she was too tired to act on it.

When she turned around, Draco was watching her from above his glasses. Apparently his book had been less fascinating than her undressing. He had a slight smile on his face, which was enough to make her blush four different shades of red.

Hermione plopped into bed next to him, careful to keep the shirt pulled down. It was short -of course- so it barely covered her upper thigh. She tucked herself in, and lied down so she was facing Draco. He read for another minute, then tucked a bookmark in and put it away. He looked at her, and took off his glasses very slowly.

"You look like any young man's wildest dream come true."

Hermione blushed, and poked her tongue out at him. "The question is, am I your dream come true?"

He answered her with a long kiss that left her breathless and wanting more. However, he pulled away afterwards, and turned the light off with a flick of his wand.

"I'd continue, but I don't think you'd get too much sleep," he said dryly. She could just make out his face by the light from the corridor, but it was hard.

"I understand," she said, yawning, "There'll be time for that later."

She could see what little light there was reflect off his teeth when he grinned. "True."

She had a strong desire to press up against him, but she settled with holding his hand underneath the covers. With the warm clench of his fingers and his solid presence beside her, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Hermione blinked when a ray of light shot in and hit her directly in the eye. Ouch. Normally, she remembered to close her shades. She lifted an arm to stretch, but it was pinned down. Startled, she took a moment to assess her surroundings, and remembered what had happened.

Color rushed into her cheeks, and darkened when she felt the position she and Draco had ended up in. She was curled up against his chest, her arm around his waist. His hand was on her back, and their legs were so mixed up she couldn't tell one from the other. Her head was settled right in the crook of his neck, her forehead flush against the underside of his jaw.

And, to top that off, the shirt she was wearing had hiked up. A lot. She was thankful that she'd woken up first, to say the least. She began to pull away, but when she did, he moved and his other arm around her waist to pull her back. Now they were on their side, her hand pressed against his warm chest. Hermione's face was on fire, and she had never felt more grateful that Draco could not see her.

"Bad idea, bad idea," she whispered to herself frantically. What had she been thinking, sleeping with Draco? Harry and Ron were going to murder her.

"Don't over-analyze this, Hermione," Draco drawled, his eyes still closed.

Hermione blanched. "You're not asleep?"

A smile grew on his face, and his eyes opened halfway. When she saw his eyes flicker down to where the shirt she'd borrowed had ridden up, she blushed furiously and tugged the shirt down further. What kind of girl was she, wearing Draco's shirt to bed?

Oh, and now he was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Great. She was glad this was so amusing for him. Hermione carefully extricated herself from him, making sure to let as little of her heated skin touch his as possible.

She stood up and stretched. " Draco, it's late," she said, throwing his own words back at him. " Breakfast has already started." He grunted, and kept his eyes on her. "Get up, get dressed," she said, hands on hips.

"All right, mum," he said, yawning. She gulped when he stretched like a cat, wanting nothing more than to press her lips to that spot underneath his jaw. He caught her gaze, and gave her a look that made her feel he knew what she was thinking. She waved at him, embarrassed, and walked out of his room.

It was hard to think of school-related things when she was… fooling around with Draco. Was it going to be like this forever, this confusion with daily thoughts? She hoped not.

Once she had her uniform on, she grabbed her tie and walked back to Draco's room. He was buttoning up his dress shirt, his sweater vest still on the dresser. She had hers over her arm, but she dropped it on the ground -along with the tie- when she walked up to him.

"Need help?" she murmured in his ear, snaking her arms around his waist. He laughed, and she felt it rumble through her body.

"I don't know, Granger, do I look incapacitated?" She looked him up and down, and, all in all, he looked good enough to eat. "I don't know about that," she whispered, reaching for his tie to toss it where her clothes lay.

He gently propped up her chin, and bent down to kiss her. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she cherished the feel of his smooth lips on hers.

His tongue passed over her lips, seeking entrance. She opened her mouth, and they shared a deep, hot kiss.

When they parted, they were both breathing a bit heavier. "Well," said Hermione, "I do believe it's breakfast time."

He nodded, and reached blindly to grab his tie. She reached to grab hers as well, not really looking at it. She quickly tied it, and pulled the sweater vest over her head, and re-fastened the robe. She checked behind her for Draco, and smiled at him. She headed out the door in front of him, and grabbed her bag on the way out.

The portrait opened easily, letting the both of them crawl out. Hermione stepped out, and dusted off her robes easily. "Ready to-"

She was cut off by the sight of some fourth years that had turned the corner, and were late to the meal, as well. They were standing there, their mouths open. Hermione glanced back at Draco, who seemed perplexed as well. Then, with dawning horror, she noticed the color of the tie around his neck.

She and Draco had accidentally switched ties.

Hermione blanched white, and looked back at the fourth years. "No," she sputtered, moving quickly to remove the Slytherin tie, "It's not what you think!" The fourth years, as one, turned and ran towards the Great Hall, screaming as they went:

"The Head Boy and Girl are sleeping together!"

"They got dressed in the dark!"

"Finally, Draco's gone Gryffindor! I can finally have him in my house!"

Hermione rubbed the heels of her palms against her eyes. Maybe she'd wake up, and this would all be a really weird dream. When she opened her eyes, she was dismayed to find the world still there. She had wanted their relationship to be revealed by them, not by fourth years!

She turned towards Draco, who looked distraught, as well. "Guess we'll have to come out of the closet before we wanted to, huh?" she said weakly.

His only answer was to envelop her in the exact hug that she needed.

A/N: Wow. Talk about a long wait. Well, I fail at life, and I hope this kind of made up for it. R+R, as always!

Su-Su