A/N: Two chapters in one night (for those of you reading my Next Gen fic)! Aren't you guys lucky? So, I have no self control and stayed up until 2am a couple nights ago just slamming this story out 'cause I couldn't shut down my mind until I got all my ideas out. So this one is going to get updated at random times but pretty often. Please keep the reviews coming guys! They make my day.
Tallyho!
Chapter 7:
The next few days hadn't allowed them to go exploring as it poured rain nonstop. Hermione had been a bit crestfallen as her vacation time was cut short by the weather but it didn't stop Draco from trying to make it fun. He usually went over to her flat since Benji was with her but one night he had invited her to his place to cook her dinner.
It hadn't looked anything like Hermione had imagined: she had imagined it to be grand with elegant furnishings everywhere. Instead, it was cozy and small (well, smaller than what she had imagined but it was still rather large). Unlike her flat, Draco's apartment was a one story with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a decent sized living room with a grand fireplace and a large kitchen that would make any professional chef jealous. Although the flat was relatively large, Hermione didn't feel threatened by the size of the place. With Draco there, it felt very homey. She then chastised herself for thinking such a thing but was quickly distracted by the beautiful plate of food that Draco placed in front of her.
He had made rosemary chicken with pasta and a pesto sauce on the side. It was absolutely heavenly. Hermione hadn't ever pictured Draco to be one for such domesticities and when she brought it up, he shrugged and smiled mischievously saying that he was full of surprises. Hermione merely smirked and shook her head. The conversation had remained light and comfortable and they shared many laughs as the night continued. The rain hadn't lightened up, however, and Draco hadn't been comfortable with letting Hermione walk back to her flat in this weather but she insisted, saying that she couldn't leave Benji alone for the whole night. He nodded in understanding and made her take one of his heavier cloaks to better shield her from the rain. She smiled at him and nearly kissed him on the cheek again but thought better of it and turned on her heels and left after thanking him again.
She got home in record time and was only slightly wet from the rain. Draco's cloak did the trick. She hung it up in her shower, unsure if a drying spell would damage it or not. As she curled up in bed that night, she smiled to herself as she thought about how her friendship with Draco had grown in a matter of just a few days. It felt great to have someone who cared about the same things she did and to have someone who would challenge her on certain topics of interest. She frowned, though, as she realized something: she was attracted to Draco. She was attracted to his smile, the way his eyes lit up when they talked, his voice. Everything about him was attractive. Hell, she'd be an idiot not to see that he was good looking, but that wasn't all that she found attractive. She found his thought process fascinating; he thought of things differently than she did which always led to interesting conversation and there was something about his personality that drew him to her.
She determined that she had always been drawn to him but due to school rivalries and the war, she had never been able to get to know him. That last year at school and the past few days had remedied that, however, and now all she found was that she wanted to get to know him more and more. Maybe even as more than just a friend. With that final thought, she drifted off to sleep with the sound of the rain beating against the window.
Hermione woke the next morning to the sound of more rain. She groaned as she stretched and looked out her window. Well, another day at home it is, she thought to herself. She showered and dressed for the day before going downstairs to feed Benji. As she nibbled on some toast, her cell phone began to ring. She looked at the caller ID and smiled as she saw Mum.
"Hi mum," she said smiling as she answered the phone.
"Hi honey!" her mother replied happily. "Happy Birthday!"
Hermione froze for a second then laughed. "Thank you, mum!"
"You forgot again, didn't you?" Helen asked, laughing.
Hermione shrugged. "Guilty as charged."
Helen sighed and chuckled. "You always did manage to forget your birthday at times. I hope that you forgot this time because you're having fun and not because you're focusing on work."
"It is, mum, I promise," Hermione said. "Sadly, it's been raining for the past few days though so I haven't been able to do a lot."
Her mother sounded disappointed. "I'm sorry, honey. I hope it clears up so that you can actually explore the city. Have you considered extending your leave?"
Hermione paused. "Kind of. I still have a couple weeks though so if the rain clears up, I may not need to."
She laughed as she heard her mother sigh. As Helen continued to tell her daughter what good it could do if she decided to stay on vacation a while longer, there was a knock at Hermione's door. Hermione continued to listen to her mother with interjecting a few times in between while she answered her door. What she saw made her freeze in place.
Draco was standing on her doorstep soaking wet from the rain and smiling. Immediately she came back to life and pulled him inside. "Hey, mum, I have to go. I'll call you later, okay?" she said as she closed the door quickly after getting him through the threshold.
"Okay, honey, have a great day. Happy birthday again. Oh, and dad sends his love!"
"Thanks mum. Love you both," she said quickly before hanging up the phone and putting it in her back pocket while turning to Draco. She was surprised when she was faced with a bouquet of roses that she hadn't noticed when he first arrived. "Happy birthday, Granger," he said, smiling.
A small smile grew on her face. "Draco, t-this is so thoughtful of you. How'd you know it was my birthday?"
He shrugged. "I remembered from back in school."
She raised an eyebrow. "You remembered my birthday back from when we were in school?"
"I have a very impressive memory," he smirked.
She returned the smirk before taking in his appearance. "Oh my God, you've got to be freezing! Come in here before you get sick!" She ushered him into the living room and lit a fire in the fireplace then sat him down on a blanket that she conjured for him in front of it. She took his wet cloak and replaced it with another blanket, then took the flowers and put them in a vase with water before coming back out with a hot cup of coffee to help warm him up. He chuckled as she fussed over him but said nothing. As she went back into the kitchen to get her own mug, Benji came up to Draco and curled up next to him. Draco smiled and pet the dog while waiting for Hermione.
As she walked back into the living room, she cocked her head to the side as she watched her furry companion curl up with the former Slytherin. "He seems to really like you," she remarked as she sat down next to him on the blanket in front of the fireplace.
"He must have good taste in character then," Draco joked.
Hermione rolled her eyes and tucked the blanket a little closer around him. "What the hell were you thinking? Walking around in this weather without an umbrella at least? Are you insane?"
He shrugged. "I wasn't really thinking about the weather. I just…" he trailed off.
"You what?" Hermione encouraged.
"I- I didn't want you to be alone on your birthday," he said quietly, looking into the fire.
Hermione's heart swelled and she smiled. "Thank you," she said quietly. "For thinking of me, I mean. And for the flowers. They're beautiful."
The corner of his lips perked up but he didn't look at her. "I wanted to surprise you and take you to a show or something but the weather kind of screwed me over."
She chuckled. "Well, I appreciate the thought but you don't have to do that."
He shrugged. "I wanted to."
"Why?"
He finally looked at her. As he looked into her eyes, he could feel his stomach clench. She looked so beautiful with that small smile on her face and her hair falling loose over her shoulders. His eyes flashed to her lips for a quick second before looking back to her eyes. He realized she was still waiting for an answer and cleared his throat. "No one should be alone on their birthday. And…" Just say it! he told himself, "I like spending time with you."
The small smile she had on her lips transformed into a grin that only made him find her more beautiful than ever. "I like spending time with you too," she said quietly. His eyes lit up at that. They continued to smile to each other for a moment before they started to lean in. Understanding his cue to move, Benji walked out of the room as Draco scooted closer to her. They were inches apart, both of their breathing shallow. He hesitated before raising his hand to caress her cheek. She leaned into his caress and that gave the last bit of confidence that he needed to close the distance between them.
His lips were soft and fit with hers like a puzzle piece. At first, the kiss was tender and reserved but as Hermione began to run her fingers through his still wet hair, Draco deepened the kiss and wrapped his free arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She sighed contentedly as she opened her mouth wider and let their tongues meet. Never breaking the kiss, Draco slowly laid her down on the blanket beneath them. Once they lied down, he began to leave a trail of kisses down her neck only to be interrupted by a very annoying buzzing sound.
Hermione groaned as she pulled her phone out from her back pocket. She looked at the caller ID and frowned when she saw the name Harry. "You're not going to answer that are you?" Draco half growled. She smirked at him and threw her phone off to the side. "Hell no," she replied mischievously before taking his face in her hands and continuing their snogging session. He chuckled into the kiss and tightened his grip on her. They continued to snog on and off in the same spot as the fire slowly died. The rain didn't lighten up.
Hermione laid her head on Draco's chest only to sit back up and feel his clothes with her hand. "What?" he asked, still lying down.
"Your clothes are still soaked. I think the only reason why you haven't gotten sick yet is because of the fire."
"And the snogging," he muttered.
She rolled her eyes and conjured some fresh and dry clothes for him with her wand. "Here," she said handing them to him. "Take these, go upstairs and take a shower. The hot water will warm you up. Leave your wet clothes hanging when you're done."
"Why can't I just use a drying charm?" he asked, sitting up to take the clothes.
She shook her head. "You've been in them too long. Even if we used a drying spell, your body temperature would still be cooler than normal which could still make you sick. Go shower."
"Join me?" he teased.
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "In your dreams, Malfoy." He chuckled and leaned in for another chaste kiss before she ushered him off the floor and upstairs to go warm up. As he took a shower, she relit the fire, and vanished the blankets while grabbing her tossed aside phone and moving the two cups into the sink. She looked out the window and watched the rain fall down before turning around and leaning against the counter and sighing.
Well, that was one way to spend her birthday.
She definitely hadn't intended for the snogging session to happen but when he kissed her, she didn't want him to stop. She could kiss him for eternity. Something about kissing him and being with him just felt right. She liked how easy it was to be comfortable around him and how they could talk for hours about everything and nothing. And then that kiss: she had butterflies just thinking about how perfect that kiss had been.
Just before she got lost in thought about the kiss, however, her phone buzzed again. She looked at it and saw Harry on the caller ID. "Hello," she said, answering the phone.
"Happy birthday!" she heard two people yell. She had to pull the phone away from her ear for a quick second before being able to listen to the line again.
"Thank you, guys," she said smiling.
"We tried to call you earlier but you didn't answer so then we tried the floo but it was blocked," Harry explained.
"Oh yeah, sorry about that. It's raining and a little cold here so I lit a fire and accidentally blocked the floo in the process. I've just been too lazy to fix," Hermione explained.
"No problem!" Ginny exclaimed. "What are you doing for your birthday?"
"Well, I can't exactly do much right now since it's pouring rain outside. I was just going to stay inside until the rain lightens up."
Just then, Draco walked back downstairs, dressed in the fresh clothes she had conjured for him and looking much warmer than when he had walked in. She smiled at him while listening to Ginny chatter away on the phone. He returned the smile and walked up to her. He brushed a curl behind her ear and she instinctively leaned into his touch. His smile grew and he leaned into her. She closed her eyes and let their lips meet. He chuckled into the kiss as he heard Ginny still talking on the phone. Suddenly, the other line went silent. "Gin?" Hermione asked, noticing the silence as Draco left a trail of kisses down her neck.
"Is there someone there with you?" she asked.
Hermione and Draco froze. She put a finger to his lips before responding. "No, why?"
"I swear I thought I heard a man laugh."
"Well, unless there's one hiding in my closet, there's no man here." Draco smirked and she rolled her eyes at him.
"Oh," Ginny sounded disappointed. "Alright, well I'll let you get back to reading a book on your birthday, you boring person!" Hermione laughed. "Please! I don't care if it's raining, go find some hot Frenchman and make him take you out for your birthday."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Goodbye, Ginny," she said before hanging up the phone and putting it on the counter. She wrapped both arms around Draco's neck and he leaned his forehead against hers. "Now," she said, "where were we?"
He chuckled again. "Still don't want a hot Frenchman?"
"Still not my type."
"Well thank Merlin for that," he replied before crashing his lips against hers again.
She ran his fingers through his hair and he ran his fingers up and down her spine as their mouths fit together. When they broke the kiss for air, he leaned his forehead against hers again and she nudged her nose with his causing him to chuckle. She smirked at him but then pulled away to look at him.
"What?" he asked, furrowing his brows.
She sighed and rested her hands on his chest. "Should we really be doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"This," she gestured to both of them. "Us. What we've been doing all day."
"What's wrong with what we're doing?"
"Well, I mean you got divorced less than a week ago and yet we've snogged twice already and-" Draco cut her off with a soft kiss. She almost got lost in his lips but refused to be deterred. She parted their lips and looked down. "I just don't want whatever this is between us to be a mistake that we later regret," she said quietly.
He placed a finger underneath her chin and lifted it so she could look at him. He had a small smile on his face and his eyes were sparkling with something she couldn't quite place. "Nothing with you could ever be a mistake," he said softly. Her lips quirked up slightly. He moved his hand to caress her cheek. "As for the divorce, it only finalized something that no longer existed. I haven't been in love with Astoria for a very long time and I can promise you that she is the last thing on my mind right now. What is on my mind is you and how I feel when I'm around you. I've had more fun spending time with you this past week than I've had since… well, I don't know when. I like you, Hermione and whatever it is that we have going on here… I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. Do you?"
She shook her head. "No, I don't."
He shrugged. "Then let's just take whatever this is day by day, okay? I don't know what this is but I'm willing to find out."
She smiled. "Me too."
"Good," he smiled at her before capturing her lips in a passionate kiss.
