They didn't turn on the lights when they reached the flat again, stumbling into darkness, finding their footing as they marched toward Draco's room. He muttered a quick spell to turn on the lights as he plopped down on the bed.

She was staring at him from where she stood in the doorway, with those large, expressive eyes of hers. "I do love you, Draco, you know that right?"

The air had grown tangible with silence, and then he looked at her and parted his lips, drawing in a long breath before he replied. "I know."

One hand on resting on the door-frame, she turned to leave. A hand on her wrist stopped her, she faced Draco to see that he gotten off of the bed and grabbed her to halt her leaving.

"Don't," Draco murmured, "Stay here."

The fact that Draco-the-Great had just poured out his feelings to her and he was now asking her to sleep here with him would have seemed impossible if she hadn't heard it all. Hermione was nearly tempted to interrogate him to make sure he was not just taunting her. But no; not when he was looking like this—brittle—and not when he had hated the solitude of sleeping without her there, and not when he was looking at her like that. There was something dark in his look—something not for public eyes-and in the base of her stomach, something stirred.

"I'll stay," She replied.

"Good."

His thumb moved in a circle against her wrist, slipping beneath the sleeve. "I'm glad we finally discussed things tonight."

"There's one thing we didn't talk about."

"What?"

"Weasel."

She sighed. "Draco, don't be silly, he's just my friend."

"Just...curious."

He trailed a finger up her arm, across her shoulder and up her neck until he reached the curve of her cheek.

His other hand skimmed her collarbone and Hermione shivered at the sensation. Draco leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips—something stronger than a mere peck, lips lingering near after he had pulled back a bit.

He had tilted her face to closer to his, his lips in the air hover just before hers for a maddening moment before she sealed the space between them. Pushing aside all other thought but him, the tender pressure of fleeting kisses slowly giving way to something much more wet, much headier. His hands were expansive and eager against her torso, teasing at the hem of the shirt before pulling the article of clothing off of her body. He lifted her up into his arms and she wrapped her legs around his waist, they collapsed onto the bed, and she braced a hand against his neck, his knee parting her thighs.

His mouth traced down the line of her jaw, the soft curve of her neck. Her bra was discarded quickly and Draco's hands found her breasts. His fingers traced an impossibly light path over the exposed skin on her chest. Finding her inner balance, she drew herself up toward his touch.

She watched him carefully, as if to assure herself that he wanted this too. But there was no regret or hatred in his face, in his eyes. Only a deep and swallowing hungriness that matched her own.

Her hands tugged his shirt off, nails raked their way down his bared muscles. His deft fingers quickly undid her pants and in one swift move, he removed them and her panties.

She conquered the zipper and button to his breeches, pulling them off before Draco took over and removed his boxers. Her cheeks flushed, eyes went half-lidded, and she swayed against him. He felt her warm, curved body writhing beneath him and slowly, excruciatingly slowly, he pressed into her, hearing the gaspy moans she emitted when he did so.

He moved tortuously slowly and she bit back a whimper, tucked her head into the side of his neck. He was taunting her, she could tell.

She rocked her hips and used her legs to draw him deeper. Draco gave a sharp intake of breath and pressed her knees to his hips. Her lean fingers played gently his shoulders and chest, softly at first, until she realized the faster her hands moved, the faster her moved, building a rhythm within her. His body moved over hers, she could feel a primal desire rise from within her chest and the sound she made was trembling with need. Each of their indrawn breaths punctuated with a thrust.

She could hear him as he murmured words guttural and unchosen, and she clenched her fingers into the sheets beneath her. She felt him breathe against her neck, his hands strong and heated against her body.

It was as if she was programmed to respond to whatever moves he made. To kiss him, to feel his weight bearing her down, and his hand guiding the touch on her skin, it felt as if she was made to reciprocate them.

"Hermione," Her name tumbling from his lips, half out of breath.

She knew that no other man could ever give her this, this perfection of two halves coming together like a zipper into a whole. And to Hermione, in this moment, the world wasn't her friends, or books, or school, or the war; the world was thousand little lights flickering in the distance. The world was Draco and his hands.

They moved together, eyes locking as they fell over the edge, Draco with a soft moan and Hermione with a sharp keen cry. She came back to herself, drifting down into her body again, her hair tousled, her eyes dulled with pleasure she focused on him, her body slack and satisfied in his arms.

For all that they held on their shoulders, the shared weight of loss and guilt—she looked at him and knew that he loved her back-none of that mattered to her, and she swallowed her heart from where it had jumped up in her throat.

Draco awoke, pulling up from where he was drowning in pillows and soft sheets. He hesitated a moment before looking beside him, sure that last night was a dream, but Hermione was there. Draco could feel astonishment coming off of himself like heat.

He could hear the rain strike the pavement outside with a clash, filtering through the haze of last night. Dazed, he drew a hand up to his face to wipe away any remnants of sleep before looking back over to the witch sleeping next to him.

He could see Hermione more clearly now, for all she had given and those she had saved, and he knew didn't deserve her love. She would give herself-and had-without hesitation but with a fervency to the causes of others, and as much as that contributed to what he felt for her, he found himself feeling sick at the fact that he wasn't worth any of piece of her.

And in this moment, he wished, sincerely, that he were a better person. If Draco were anything like her, the only thing he felt he would be guilty of was having too much cleverness, being selfless, being too amiable, and too brave. He wished that he could pick apart at Hermione's flaws, he knew that the mean streak in him would even take pleasure in doing so but the fact of the matter was—Hermione was a perfectly lovely person. And as Draco had come to realize, he was not.

Ginny and Hermione met up for lunch, the silence hanging in the air between them before Ginny broke it, rambling on about how things between Pansy and Ron had gotten slightly better, and that things with her and Harry were brilliant.

But when Ginny asked about things with her and Draco, she found all of her insecurities tumbling out. "What if our differences outweigh our love? What if this is all wrong? What if we're moving too fast? What if I'm just infatuated? What if he's not serious about this?—"

This unending stream of questions poured from her lips and Ginny was momentarily frozen, caught in the headlights of this new Hermione, the woman who was now seeking advice instead of giving it, and her eyes took a moment to meet her friend's.

"Hermione, listen, he said he loved you didn't he?"

"Yes, but-"

"Do you love him?"

The doubt lifted from Hermione's eyes and was replaced by blinding adoration she had never expressed before while talking about the Slytherin. But Hermione thought of him and what they share, and she replied almost without thought, "Of course."

Ginny smiled, lifting her eyebrows at the other witch. "See? There's your answer." Ginny had never seen a love like Draco and Hermione's, never seen the hatred and difference that each contributed to, blossom into something it with affectionate and strong.

A/N: This was a short one but I promise the next one will be longer :) Thanks for the reviews, keep 'em coming please :)