Hermione sat listening to Draco speak while accepting his award, her heart beating rapidly. For the first time that night she finally had a good excuse to look at him. She had tried desperately not to stare at him throughout dinner and exercised a massive amount of self-control not following him out to the balcony earlier to talk. She had known that if she looked at him, she wouldn't be able to stop.

Right now, he was beaming as he thanked everyone from his mother to the Minister of Magic for the award. Hermione glanced at Jennifer who looked like she was practically in-heat watching him. Would Draco sleep with her tonight? Certainly she wasn't likely to say no by the looks of it. She briefly sneered at the thought, a look that Harry caught before she quickly smiled instead. Harry tilted his head and raised his eyebrow in question. She shook her head and turned back to Draco.

Hermione could barely register what Draco was saying. She was watching him move. Draco had a graceful quality about him. Every movement he made was confident and fluid, as if he were born to be watched. She supposed he probably had been, being the only Malfoy heir and all. Watching him made her think of Ron and she smiled. He had always been endearingly gangly and awkward. If he'd had to make a speech, it'd be packed with "ers" and "ums." As she continued imagining Ron fumbling through a public appearance, she was roused from her thoughts.

"And finally, I have to thank Hermione Granger," Hermione's eyes went wide and her face flushed as she looked around at the crowd, all of whom appeared to be staring at her. She turned her face back to the stage. Draco was looking directly at her now. "Her unfailing persistence with helping magical creatures and the less fortunate has always inspired me. Even when, in her fourth year, she started the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare." He smirked and added, "Although admittedly, at the time, I may have been too immature to fully appreciate her efforts." There were some chuckles in the crowd as former classmates remembered the badges she attempted to get people to wear. "Thank you everyone." He ended, taking his award and waving.

As Draco made his way back to the table, he made eye contact with Hermione. She bit her lip and looked away as Jake whispered something to her. His eyes moved to Ginny who was smiling knowingly at him. He half-heartedly rolled his eyes and she beamed brighter and winked.

"That was very sweet, Draco." Hermione reached out and placed her hand on his forearm affectionately. They looked at each other for a few seconds before she removed her hand.

Draco cleared his throat, swallowing all of the sappy things he wanted to say, and responded, "I didn't say anything that wasn't true." He looked at the table and picked up an invisible crumb. "Those badges were annoying though."

"You didn't even have to wear them!" Harry complained loudly causing Hermione to frown.

"Yes, we are all very proud of our Hermione." Jennifer insincerely, scowling. Clearly, she did not enjoy Draco's attentions being elsewhere. "Draco, would you like to get out of here? I think I owe you a celebratory drink." That was the last thing that Draco was interested in doing but he did think this would be an easy way to rid himself of Jennifer. All he had to do was make it through one more drink and take her home.

"Does she know the drinks are free here?" Hermione heard Harry whisper to Ginny.

"I could go for one, sure." He stood up and pushed his seat in, "Everyone, thanks for coming." This was the moment Hermione had been dreading. She couldn't slow her thoughts down. She felt sick thinking about what Draco and Jennifer would get up to tonight. Images of his kissing her and taking her to his bed flooded her mind.

"Jake. Would you like to leave as well? I'm getting pretty tired." Hermione asked. She couldn't bear the thought of just sitting there and watching them leave.

"Of course! I'll go grab our coats." Jake eagerly got up and went to retrieve them. Draco felt like punching the eagerness out of him. Did that fucking git think he was going to get lucky tonight? Hermione wouldn't sleep with him right away, right? She did with you. The voice in his head taunted. He felt like vomiting and his chest tightened.

"Have fun!" Jennifer waved at them as her and Draco took their leave. Draco glanced at Hermione. She looked pale and was avoiding his eye.

When Draco and Jennifer reached the hall, Draco couldn't bare the thought of actually spending one more minute with Jennifer. Draco turned to her. "Jennifer, thank you for accompanying me tonight but I think I need a rain check on that drink. I'm not really feeling that well."

"Oh no! Are you sure? I could come over and take care of you?" She smiled coyly. "I can be a very good nurse," she winked.

"Thank you but no, I'm just going to go home and rest." He said politely, but firmly.

"Alright, if you're sure." Jennifer looked disappointed. "Well I'll be off then." Jennifer apparated after giving him a brief hug. Draco walked outside and felt the cool air on his face. He didn't want to stick around to watch Jake and Hermione leave so he did the only thing he could think of, and started running. He didn't know what else to do. The thought of spending more time with Jennifer had been daunting but spending the night alone with his thoughts sounded just as bad. Maybe if he ran long enough, he'd outrun the image that kept playing in his head of Hermione underneath Jake.

Draco ran for fifteen minutes straight before stopping abruptly when he saw where he was heading. He hadn't paid attention to where his feet were leading him, but he knew he was running towards Hermione's house.

"Fuck!" He yelled, startling an elderly couple walking near him. "Sorry," he mumbled. He was being stupid again. He heard Blaise in his head. Just talk to her. He patted his pockets for his wand and took it out. He thought of Hermione's street and apparated.

His feet landed with a thud a block away from her house. He walked quickly hoping he wouldn't lose his nerve when he saw something that made him stop dead in his tracks. Hermione was standing a house down, kissing Jake. His heart sank. He couldn't move. He was too late. He watched helplessly as Hermione put her hand on Jake's chest, lower her head and say something. They were only talking now and he still couldn't move. Even as Hermione turned to go inside and Jake approached him his feet remained rooted to the pavement.

"Draco?" Jake's voice startled him from his paralyzed state.

"Um, hi. I was-" Draco shook his head. He was normally so good at lying. Jake smirked at him sadly.

"Good luck, mate." Jake bowed his head and patted Draco's shoulder, walking away. Stunned, Draco turned back to see Jake apparate. At that moment, Draco's mind sped into overdrive. He needed to see her. His feet moved involuntarily as he jogged up to her front door. He raised his hand to knock and cleared his throat. Just talk to her. He barely heard himself knocking over the thud of his heart.

"Coming!" He heard Hermione call from the other side of the door. He heard her behind the door as she checked her peephole. Draco almost lost his nerve when Hermione opened the door still wearing her dress. Her hair was already pulled up in a bun and she was barefoot. She stared at him for a moment, not saying anything.

"Come inside." She turned into her apartment. Draco followed her into her dining room. Hermione poured herself some wine and went to the cabinet to grab a glass and bottle. "Brandy?" She asked already pouring him a glass. She handed it to him not waiting for a response. Draco eyed her suspiciously. He wasn't going to complain about her getting him a drink but she did seem a bit off.

"Hermione. Are you drunk?" He asked, setting his glass down.

"Trying to get there." She plopped down in a chair at the table. "Come on then, I bought your favorite. Drink up." He hesitated, "It's not poisoned." She continued.

"Very impressive." Draco said tilting the bottle to examine the label. "This is my favorite." He sipped.

"Why are you here, Draco?" Hermione asked abruptly, looking a bit bored which amused Draco. He rarely saw Hermione tipsy and she could be a bit surly when she was. He set his glass down.

"Maybe I should come back tomorrow?" He wasn't sure he had enough confidence in himself to talk to her about this more than once. He only didn't run away because of Jake's reaction but just because Jake clearly thought something was going on, didn't mean Hermione did.

"Why? You're already here." She looked at him, annoyed.

"I want you to remember what I have to say."

"Sounds very serious." She said sarcastically sipping her wine and rolling her eyes. Draco didn't know it but she was trying very hard to act like this didn't matter to her. She was waiting for the him to tell her that they were just friends and that was it.

"It is."

"Where's Jennifer?"

"Where's Jake?" He retorted. She didn't answer.

"We kissed." She admitted abruptly, shifting in her seat uncomfortably as she did.

"I know." Draco clenched his jaw before continuing, "I saw it," he said calmly, trying to keep his voice from rising in anger at the thought.

"So, I suppose that means we are back to being just friends?" Hermione was setting herself up for disappointment.

"Is that what you want?" Draco arched his eyebrow.

"Is that what you want?" She looked down at the table, her finger tracing circles on it. He was getting nowhere with Hermione and he supposed that was fair. She had made a move on him last and he had thrown her out.

"Fuck no." Hermione looked up at him.

"What?" Not sure she heard him correctly.

"Fuck. No." Hermione looked like she might cry. "Look, Hermione, I know I was an asshole this week. All of my behavior was completely unacceptable. I won't try to make excuses although, I have them if you want them. Not speaking to you this week? I hated it. I hated not getting your opinion on the new international transportation policies," Hermione gave a slight chuckle at this, "I hated seeing you with Jake, and I hate not being the one that got to kiss you out there." He pointed toward her front door.

"Draco, I-" He held up a hand.

"Let me finish. I know that I don't deserve you but I am a selfish man. I want you desperately, Hermione. Honestly, I have for as long as I could remember but I never knew how to express it, and clearly, I still don't because all I did was misbehave when confronted with possible rejection. I will respect your decision if this isn't what you want but I'm here to ask you to choose me. Choose me, Hermione and I'll spend the rest of my life trying to be the man you deserve." Hermione's chest felt like it was going to explode. She burst into tears.

"Oh, Draco!" She put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry too. When you asked me not to go with Jake, I didn't know what to do. I-" Draco's mouth was on hers, silencing her rambling. She grabbed him back, desperate to feel him against her.

"Gods Hermione, I've been wanting to do that all night," he leaned back.

"Is that all you wanted?" Hermione asked innocently. Draco smirked and lifted her onto her table, kicking her chair out of the way and moving to stand between her legs.

"Are you asking me to show you what I wanted, Miss Granger?" She nodded slowly as his fingers slid up her thighs. He looked up as he realized she wasn't wearing anything underneath her dress. "Well, this is a nice surprise." Hermione flushed and grabbed his collar. She felt braver than she ever had before.

"Shut up and fuck me, Draco." He shivered at her words and took a deep breath before he pulled her forcefully toward him crushing her lips to his and his. She responded amorously letting herself lose control and not think for the first time all week. She tore at his shirt trying to feel the skin of his chest against her as Draco drug the straps of her dress down revealing the top of her breasts. He lowered his lips to kiss every exposed inch. Hermione pressed against him desperate for more.

His hands dug in her thighs as her hand slid down the front of his pants, all the while making quick work of his belt and pushing his pants to the ground. She reached between them stroking him and Draco bit her neck. She continued as he moved his hand to her most sensitive spot.

"No." She said, pushing his hand away. "I need you now." She stroked him again and he groaned.

"I just wanted to make sure you were ready for me." She didn't respond. She pulled his hand back to where it had just been and rubbed it against her. He felt the silky fluid in her folds and felt her arousal. "I'm ready." She stated as she looked him directly in the eyes. He kept eye contact with her as he lifted her hips to meet him. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt him begin to move inside her. She bucked her hips meeting him thrust for thrust. She felt the wood scraping against her bare legs but she barely registered anything but the feeling of Draco.

His thrusts continued until he felt her coming undone. She was clinging to him for dear life and her legs were gripping his waist so tightly that he knew her release was imminent. Her mouth formed a silent "O" as her muscles spasmed around him. He kissed her forcefully as he continued his movements, groaning into her mouth until he reached his own release. "God, Hermione" he whispered as he leaned his forehead on hers.

"I know, I can't wait to do that again." She sighed and he chuckled into her hair.

"Good news for you, I have a short refractory period and the whole weekend free." Hermione pulled back and looked at him.

"Bedroom?" She asked. "Come on, I'll race you!" She hopped off the table and sprinted toward her room.

"Hey, that's not fair! My pants!" Draco yelled as he struggled to pull them up as he ran to the room. Hermione giggled and flung herself onto the bed. She didn't leave it again for the next three hours.