Quick Author's Note:

The story is set after the Hermione and Draco's 7th year. They are living in Hogwarts during their apprenticeship. Harry killed Voldemort at some point (not going to be relevant to the story, so you the reader can decide how the dark lord perished.) Dumbledore did not die. Snape did not die. And that's all you need to know, happy reading!

oo0oo

Hermione threw her pillow at the door when she couldn't ignore the knocking any longer. Knock. Knock! Knock Knock KNOCK! "I'm coming!" Hermione screamed at the door. She glanced at the clock by her bed. It was two in the morning. Hermione wanted to scream at whoever was disrupting her desperately needed sleep. "I'm up, stop knocking!" Hermione rolled out of bed and opened her door. It was dark out and she couldn't see anything so she poked her head out into the cold corridor only to find more darkness. "Hello?" Hermione called out. When no one answered she turned back into her room, mind fuzzy from sleep and silent fury.

Before she could close the door and crawl back into bed Hermione lurched forward as something fell on her back.

Draco managed to stumble to an unsteady standing position leaving Hermione agape on the floor. "Malfoy?" She finally sputtered out, still confused but quickly sobering up. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Hermione stayed on the floor, trying to remember where she had put her wand before going to sleep.

"What'dya mean what am I doin' 'ere." Draco slurred heavily. "I should be askin' what a'ya doin' in mah chambers!" Fire whisky vapor clouds formed at each word. Even from the floor Hermione cringed at the offensive smell. "Well Grangah? What'dya have ta say for youself?" Draco stumbled but managed to catch himself before falling.

Hermione's grogginess was quickly fading. After listening to Draco's drunken mumbles Hermione knew she had to get him out of her chambers before she strangled the drunk ferret. "Malfoy," Hermione ground out through gritted teeth. "I'm sure that in your drunken state you are unable to determine which your proper chambers are but I am quite certain that this is my room, your room is unfortunately just across the hall. I would appreciate it if you could remove your offensive person from my private room."

"Huh?" Draco looked at Hermione, confused. "Could ya repeat that? Small words Grangah, smaaaaall." He fell back and managed to lean against a sturdy wall for support.

Hermione wanted to scream at him. It was still very dark and all she could see was his blond hair shinning from the dim moonlight. Instead of violence Hermione walked over to her bed and started patting her nightstand. She continued fumbling around until she managed to find her wand which was tucked into a book she had been reading, as an impromptu bookmark. "Lumos." The tip of her wand glowed with magical light, illuminating the small but tidy room.

With the light Hermione was able to see how plastered Draco was. He was missing his robes and was only wearing black trousers, a rumpled white button down, and that he only had one shoe on. He shivered as a draft of cold air hit him. "What happened to you?" Hermione asked, not expecting a lucid reply. He had obviously been drinking, but even she was surprised to see Malfoy this inebriated and so... exposed. Hermione had never seen Malfoy drunk, not even tipsy even after several shots of hard alcohol. She sighed, cursing who ever decided that she would have to room next to Malfoy. "Come on, let's get you to bed." She said dejectedly.

Malfoy hiccupped in response, hitting Hermione with another blast of fire whisky vapor.

"Ew, you're a nasty drunk." Hermione gingerly took Draco by the arm and began leading him across the hall. He was surprisingly docile and followed her. She tried turning the knob but it was locked. "Would you happen to have the key to your room?"

Draco grunted.

"Key. Shiny. Shiny key?" Hermione tried to dumb it down.

Draco grunted.

Hermione could tell this wasn't going anywhere. To her eternal horror Hermione found herself actually patting Draco Malfoy's trouser pockets to check if there was a key, there was not. She looked back at the door. She could sense the powerful wards that would prevent her from trying any magic on the door. She tried anyway. "Alohamora." The magic backfired on her and shocked her hand. Hermione yelped and nearly dropped her wand. "Ugh, you stupid git and your freakish paranoia." She kicked the door but ended up just stubbing her toe. "Not only do you rudely awaken me but your stuff has to try and hurt me too, bloody hell Malfoy." She was about to curse him off some more but when she saw his heavy lidded eyes Hermione stopped. Draco was about to fall over from exhaustion and drunkenness. He was barely standing, mostly just leaning against the wall. "You know if Harry or Ron were in my position they would have left you to sleep on the cold hard floor till you woke up tomorrow morning with a hangover and a cold." She cringed inside. "I really should you know. You've been a right prat to me all seven years, barely even talked nice to me after the war; I see no reason why I should do any favors for you." She knew he couldn't understand her, but it felt better than just trying to reason it out in her head.

Draco's head slumped forward, rousing him awake. He yelped which reminded Hermione of a lost puppy she had taken care of as a child. She sighed again, refusing to believe what she was going to do next. "Come on then, I can't leave you out here in good conscience. And I'm in no mood to escort a drunk man to Madam Pomfrey in the middle of the night." She led him back to her room, propping him up against her closed door. She rummaged around in her dresser until she found what she had been looking for.

Hermione pulled out some extra blankets she kept for cold nights and an extra pillow that she found too fluffy for her taste. She set everything up by the fire place, not too close to risk him falling into the hearth but close enough that he wouldn't be too cold on her floor. She had to lead Draco to his improvised bed and she basically forced him to lie down. She even performed a quick cleansing charm for his teeth. Years of living with her muggle dentist parents wouldn't let her just let him sleep without at least a simple cleansing charm, who knows what kind of cavities he could amass in one reckless night.

When Draco was properly situated Hermione crawled back into bed. It was almost three by then. She set up some simple wards around her bed that would tell her if Draco awoke before her. "Goodnight Malfoy. Not that you care what I say. I'll deal with you tomorrow, tonight I need some sleep." Hermione knew he was already fast asleep when she called out to him, his light snores barely audible next to the crackling of the fire.