Hermione

Hermione wasn't in the mood for anybody's shit that night, particularly Draco Malfoy's. Astoria had still been crying when she dismissed the older girl. If it weren't for the feeling of the clock ticking away in the back of her brain all the time, she wouldn't be here. But as she knocked on Draco's door, there was one thought on her mind. She had to get this done now.

"Funny seeing you here." He teased; she rolled her eyes as she stepped into his inner sanctum. Draco's sitting room was ornate and luxurious, the whole space draped with black and green and mahogany. As if he need more of an announcement of the fact that he was rich.

"Listen, I'm knackered and I'm irritated. Can we just get this done?" She snapped, dropping down onto the couch with a thud, he poured them both a glass of Firewhiskey, apparently sensing that they'd both need it.

"If you're too tired, go to bed. This is for your benefit, remember?" He shrugged. The reminder pissed her off. She was only here to get this over with. She'd get control of her hormones again and then run off into the sunset to happily manage the estate.

"Sorry, it's been a tough evening." She lifted her the corners of her mouth without really smiling. He chuckled, more amused than he should be, in her opinion. She took a sip of firewhiskey to console herself. The burn hurt, but settled into a pleasant warmth as it eased.

"Yes, I will probably never get wine out of my favorite trousers." He grumbled, raising an eyebrow at what she's sure was an affronted expression on her part.

"And I'll never get the tear stains out of that dress." She volleyed back. As far as she was concerned, holding Astoria as she cried was harder than handing trousers off to be washed by a servant.

"She cried?" Draco queried, more startled than he should've been by her reckoning.

"What do you think happens to ladies who embarrass their families in front of their suitors?" She demanded, half considering the question rhetorical and half really wanting to know what he actually knew. He couldn't be as oblivious as he seemed. Could he?

"What do you think happens to me if I admit that I don't want to marry her?" He demanded in response before angstily drinking from his glass. She balked.

"You don't? Why wouldn't you?" She pressed, surprised. Why would anyone not want to be with Astoria? She was sweet and delicate and lovely and pure and would make a perfect wife for anyone. Malfoy was the one lacking, not Astoria.

"Should I answer chronologically or by degree of horror?" He snarled, taking a huge swig of firewhiskey to prove his point.

"Don't be an arse. She's more traumatized than you could possibly be." She rebuked him, needing a hearty gulp herself at the memory of how long Astoria had cried for after her mother left.

"I think Blaise wins that prize actually." Draco laughed, swirling his glass. She tried to feign a lack of amusement, and failed. It was just too funny.

"Is he okay?" She snickered, and Draco tried to keep a grave face for a beat before smirking.

"As far as I'm aware, the Zabini jewels are all safe." He promised, grinning ear to ear at his best friend's misfortune.

"Are you typically aware of the state of your friends' bollocks or is Blaise a special case?" She prodded, smirking at him and making no effort to class up the question.

"Oh, Fuck off," He laughed, no heat behind the words.

"Such crass language around a lady." She joked, adopting her best Lady Greengrass impression as she slumped into her seat on the couch.

"You are so not a lady." He snorted actually spilling his drink in his mirth.

"Excuse me?" She demanded, only half joking. Eh, maybe a quarter.

"You are the least ladylike bird I have ever met." He announced.

"Haven't met a lot of birds then, have you?" She mocked caustically, drinking heartily to ease her wounded pride. She was very lady like! "C'mon, you cuss, you drink like a bloke, and you don't flutter." He rattled off, clearly full of it.

"Flutter?" She asked skeptically.

"Birds like Astoria flutter everywhere they go, as if they have to think about each step. You just walk like a normal person." He explained, clearly having drank too much. if he's being this honest.

"That's because my corset isn't as tight as hers, and my skirt isn't as big. It's not easy to walk in those thing you know." She clarified, taking another swig even as she felt a wave of dizziness hit her. Maybe she drank too much.

"How would I know?" He asked, defending his manly manhood of manliness. Yup, definitely too much to drink. Or maybe just enough, who knew? This was kind of fun. Like talking to Harry or Gin, except not.

"I don't judge what you do in your free time." She smirked, hiding her mouth behind her glass as she teased.

"Very funny." He rolled his eyes, but she knew he was amused. He was just hiding it, in his broody little face. Okay so the firewhiskey was a smidge more potent than she thought. "Weren't you here for a reason? I'm pretty sure it wasn't to mock me."

"Hmm yeah, lessons. What do you have in mind professor?" She asked whimsically batting her eyes at him. He paused.

"A massage." He decided, a brief flicker of surprise as if even he hadn't been expecting that to come out of his mouth. "Since you're so knackered, makes sense."

"Sounds good to me." She shifted, spinning so her back faced him on the couch, one leg tucked in while the other stayed planted on the floor. He cleared his throat, tucking one leg in as he placed one foot by her left hip and put his other foot just behind hers on the floor. She felt the heat radiating off of him as they kept that distance, the inch she'd have to lean back to be up against him, the inch he'd have to shift forward before she'd be fully nestled between his thighs, wrapped in him. He cleared his throat again before delicately resting his hands on her shoulders over her blouse. She shifted into it, arching her back to press into his hands. She was at that good stage of drunk, where everything was floaty and pleasant. He dug his thumbs in first, focusing on the knots around her shoulder blades. His touch was hesitant, clearly this wasn't something Draco did often, but deliberate, it clearly wasn't his first time rubbing a bird down. Bad Hermione, clean thoughts, focused thoughts.

"Still with me?" Draco asked quietly, his breath brushing across her ear and the side of her neck.

"Of course." She said haughtily. Her mind had never wandered, not even for a moment. He huffed a breath that could've been a soft chuckle, she more felt it than heard it.

His hands moved on, pressing and circling on high parts of her back, very, very deliberately not touching her neck, despite how much her inner omega begged for it to be touched. Her neck wasn't the only place the desperately needed to be touched and she had a hunch that Draco's superior alpha senses could probably smell her spiking arousal. He kept working, digging into the tense muscles until she felt more like a very happy wet noodle than a perpetually stressed out maid.

"You good?" He asked quietly. She straightened again, tilting her hips back as she stretched her neck.

"Soo good." She drawled, too relaxed and happy to stop herself from drawing out the words.

"Okay, I think it's time for you to head back." Draco said, voice hard starting to pull himself away slowly.

"No." She turned sharply, her left hand going back on reflex to steady herself. And there her hand was, dropped right on Draco Malfoy's lap. And there it was, rock hard and throbbing against her hand. "Oh," She cleared her throat while Draco was still caught in a stupor, staring at her hand in shock. It took her an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize she should take her hand off of Draco Malfoy's dick unless she planned on doing something with it. It took her an even more embarrassingly long time to actually move her hand, turning back around quickly and slowly standing up. She didn't face him for a moment, carefully putting her empty glass on his bar first, taking the sound of him clearing his throat as her cue to turn around. She did so slowly, very deliberately keeping her eyes on Draco's face as he sat with his legs crossed on the sofa.

"I'm just going to head out." She offered, shrugging as she moved to the door.

"Sounds good." Draco muttered, voice tight. She nodded once before slipping out the door. She wasn't sure if she should be laughing or turning around and jumping him. Neither was a great option here. Leaving was probably her best bet here, until she figured out what the hell she's doing with her life, and when everything went absolutely insane.

…

Draco

Well, that was a shit show, he thought the moment the door closed. He was supposed to be in control. This wasn't supposed to be sexual. That wasn't the point, yet the girl was literally inches from his cock, shifting and twisting and wriggling and arching and moaning. Fucking moaning. It wasn't difficult to imagine shifting that position to a much more lewd image. Fuck, could you blame a guy?

But still, he had a significant hunch that the omega was innocent. Whiskey and pheromone driven reactions aside, they weren't pursuing anything, not a simple shag or some sort of affair. He was trying to be chivalrous. He was trying to just have a normal human relationship with a female. Why was that such a challenge? He groaned, finishing off the last of his firewhiskey as he waited for his erection to flag. He went into that lesson thinking that his day could not get any more uncomfortable, he had been wrong.

…

Hermione

She slipped into the servants quarters easily, the temporary quarters were way more run down than their rooms at home, clearly not in an area that the Malfoy's put much effort into maintaining. Hermione followed the hallway towards the last room, where the other female slaves were housed. She always believed that Lady Greengrass never looked at her differently even though she was a slave. But there were still some shitty conventions the Greengrasses maintained. The slaves were housed at the end of the hallway, in the most drafty, uncomfortable room, despite the fact that none of them could conjure warming spells that would solve the problem. There were twelve other girls, some low ranking maids, others kitchen aides and infirmary assistant. Hermione was the highest ranked, the one who would normally get to share a much more comfortable room with just Katie, if it weren't for the goddamn gold band. She sighed, making her way to the back of the room as quietly as she could, flopping onto her thin cot and staring out at the drafty window beside her. The moon was bright that night, almost full, and the light pouring in seemed determined to keep Hermione awake. Well, it could've been worse. She could've accidentally groped multiple alphas that day or just Ron Weasely. Yup, definitely could've been more awkward. At least Draco was attractive.

Shit, she was attracted to her best friend's fiancé and she had accidentally felt him up. That's great, just lovely. She had known that before, but not like, consciously. Shit, now she had something to feel guilty about.

…

The next morning came way too soon. Thankfully a mild headache and a twisting stomach were the only remnants from last night's alcohol. She wouldn't have been able to handle a full on hangover with everything else she had to do. She was up after her roommates had left, probably to get breakfast, something she was utterly disgusted by at the moment. She shimmied her way into her dress for the day, a pretty sage green garment with cap sleeves and a white ruffled bottom. It was a favorite of hers, particularly because it was that simple and easy to move in. She had things to get done today.

….

Draco

The quick knocks were a surprise. He was still dealing with a touch of a hangover from the night before, and a severe case of awkward embarrassment. He hadn't been expected anyone that morning, had very deliberately owled his attendant to keep everyone away, and yet, here it was a visitor at eight in the morning. He opened the door with a sharp yank, doing nothing to mask his irritation.

"What?" He snapped before he realized who was standing in front of him. Hermione was waiting with her arms crossed, her mouth pursed pointedly.

"May I come in?" She asked, deliberately stepping forward so that saying no wasn't really an option here. He nodded, stepping back to let her while acutely aware that he was still in his silk pajamas. She was dressed primly, though appropriately for the warm weather. He always felt like a fool around her these days. And entirely not in control of his body but that was a different matter.

She didn't sit down, shooting a brief glare at her couch as if all of the problems were its fault. She cleared her throat, rounding on him with her arms crossed. He was impressed, she had effectively boxed him in, an impressive power play that was much more alpha than omega. She sighed.

"Spit it out." She demanded without blinking.

"We shouldn't have done that after drinking." He voiced his excuse first, knowing a few power plays himself. This was a conversation that he needed to be a part of.

"No probably not." She offered, her arms dropping as the tension seemed to drop out of her body. She rolled her neck and shoulders, smiling at him just a little bit.

"You're not mad." He realized aloud, he had been expecting some sort of rebuke for compromising her virtue with his salaciousness.

"Nothing happened, what's to be mad about?" She shrugged, raising an eyebrow pointedly. Clearly she was trying to make a point here, even if he wasn't sure what it was.

"So did you not notice?" He couldn't help himself, and the nerdy little part of him that no one had to know about that wouldn't let him leave the answer floating in limbo. How could she have not noticed? She just shrugged, seemingly unimpressed. Which was offensive in and of itself, he didn't have anything to be embarrassed about in that department.

"Biology, Draco. Can't hold you at fault for it. I'd probably be madder if it hadn't happened." She offered, smirking, apparently at his offense.

"Huh?" He didn't get it, wasn't this a chivalry issue?

"You sent me into O Space by touching my neck," She reminded him. "Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be if you weren't biologically attracted to me, at all? She quirked her eyebrow pointedly, pride in her eyes even as she assured him. He got that, in a way, he'd fancied a bird or two in his life that hadn't returned the sentiment, wasn't pleasant. It as only when he was twelve and hadn't hit his growth sport of course, not an issue he had to deal with now a days.

"So, if we're all good…." He wasn't sure what the point of this was.

"That's it, we're not all good." She snapped, crossing her arms again. He was getting whiplash.

"What?" He demanded. This goddamn bird needed to calm the hell down.

"I'm clearly attracted to you, and you're apparently attracted to me for some reason." She announced, a part of him wanted to correct her self-deprecation but she continued. "Nothing is going to happen; neither of us will be acting on this because you're engaged to my best friend."

"Not engaged yet." He corrected, for some reason that seemed important right now.

"Not the point. Agreed?"' She snapped. He could do that, keep things kosher between them, it had been his original plan after all. Just because his prick didn't always make good life choices didn't mean Draco couldn't be normal friends with a bird. He nodded, but she waited, continuing to stare at him pointedly.

"Agreed." He offered. She nodded, dropped her shoulders and gestured for him to move.

"Good." She answered as he stepped out of the way of the door.

"Great." He said, shaking his head as he nudged it open.

"Perfect." She continued, pausing in the entry way.

"Brilliant." He added.

"Splendid. Goodbye." She finished, taking strides down the hallway.

"Goodbye Hermione." He muttered, closing the door just before he burst into laughter. Far be it from him to ever believe another omega stereotype, Hermione had balls.

...

Hermione

Managing Astoria's life was not an easy task. It was an endless process of making flashcards and running baths with oils and planning make up and hairstyles and fetching laundry and delivering messages, on top of all of the work Minerva tasked her with. So it really shouldn't have been considered her fault when she missed one measly little appointment.

She was supposed to be there to escort Astoria back to her room after tea with her tutor, and to free her from the dreary teacher's endless monotone lectures. She ended up trapped on the other side of the castle managing a linen problem and by the time she made it back, someone else had rescued Astoria and was chatting her up outside of her room. Even from a distance she could spot Astoria's lit up smile as she touched the blokes arm and leaned into him. She was happy for a moment, before her eyes traveled up to the bright shock of orange hair on top of her companion's head. No, no, no, no. Ron laughed, apparently not realizing he was about to die. Because she was about to murder him.

"Astoria! Don't you need to start getting ready for dinner? Start your face, I'll be in a minute." Hermione interrupted without hesitation, widening her eyes and tilting her head to let Astoria know that 'no' was not an option right now. Astoria nodded demurely before dashing into her room. Then Hermione rounded on Ron.

"Ronald Weasley! You will not go anywhere near that girl ever again." She snapped, poking his shoulder and pushing him back for emphasis. She would not put up with this. Astoria was screwed if anyone even thought that something was going.

"Don't tell me what to do, Hermione." Ron snarled back, looking away pointedly as if she was suddenly beneath him, after years of panting after her. She didn't know when that had changed, and while she didn't mind, she didn't particularly like this Ron either.

"Do you have a death wish or are you just more of an idiot than I originally thought?" She hissed, glancing around the hallway nervously. It wouldn't do well to be interrupted.

"Drop it." He ordered, starting to walk away, and oh no, that would not do. She followed with determination, this conversation was not over.

"That girl, she's getting engaged Ron!" She reminded him, still at a whisper.

He scoffed in disbelief. She was offended on Astoria's behalf.

"She is, and she has to be pure and perfect when she does, if you do anything to mess up this contract…" She threatened, her voice low. Messed up magic or not, she'd slit his throat if it came to that.

"Isn't that a little hypocritical of you, 'Mione?" He finally snapped, his eyes twisting with malice, as if he actually had a valid point.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She argued. She hadn't done anything wrong, at least not anything he would know about.

"I know you're shagging Malfoy. You were spotted coming out of his room last night." He accused sharply, the disgust plain on his features. She was offended, even if she was hypothetically shagging Malfoy, which she wasn't, it wasn't any of his business.

"I am most certainly not." She argued, even as she felt the blush burn across her cheeks at the memory that not everything was as innocent as she would like him to believe.

"So why were you there?" He demanded, and she didn't have a good answer for that. He smirked in triumph, that arrogant ass expression blooming across his arrogant ass face.

"It's none of your business, official work, way above your pay grade." She lied through her teeth, and he just shook his head in disbelief.

"You're lying, so before you start lecturing me about propriety, you might want to look in the mirror." He accused before storming away in disgusted. God, what a mess.

A/N: Hello my lovelies, I really like this chapter, lots of angst and drama for yall as well as a little awkward progression with our favorite couple. Also, apparently the cats out of the bag among the servants, even though they've jumped the gun a little bit. Additionally, the first Astoria/ Ron interaction (that Hermione knows of!) showed up in this chapter, and some take charge Hermione, which I love to write.

Also, quick note to the reviewer who requested a sneak peek today, your PM capability needs to be turned on in order for me to send it you. (it wasn't in this chapter!) :)

Sneak Peek Offer is still open, though it is the same sneak peek as last chapter.

Leave me a review with your thoughts, they get longer chapters like this one out faster.

How do you feel about the Ron/Astoria possibility?

What did you think of the massage scene?

Will Draco and Hermione be able to live up to their promise of keeping things kosher?