Chapter 14

Hermione woke feeling like she had been sucking on a hairball all night. Her throat was dry and her head was pounding. There was also another taste, a familiar one which made her sit up too quickly for her aching head. She hoped it was a dream but the soreness told her it most definitely wasn't. A wave of nausea almost had her dry reaching brought on either by her hangover and the sudden realisation of what she had done. She didn't want to delve. After the nausea settled, she sunk her face into her hands and cursed herself. Oh god, what was Ginny going to say, and Harry.

She was still wearing her black dress, but she was covered with a blanket that had come from she didn't know where. God knew where her underwear was.

She dragged her aching body into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Another good scrub was in order. She cursed herself again. Last time was bad enough being under the influence of a strong love potion, but it seemed that an amount of alcohol would do the trick just as well. And she wasn't that drunk, she remembered all of it.

She dressed in her white skirt and a light red chiffony top over her bikini. It was her second bikini, a cute little top with matching bottoms that tied at the sides. She was not going to break her promise to swim every day. She was supposed to go to Venice today, but at the moment that was a bit much considering the state of her head, maybe in the afternoon. Hermione guessed it was time to face the music, but wishing that he wasn't in the apartment. Maybe he was still asleep and she could sneak out. Her luck was not that good though, she cursed. He was sitting on the balcony in his black dressing robe and silk pants, reading the Prophet and holding a glass of orange juice. He looked completely fresh and relaxed.

"You took advantage of me," Hermione said. "I was drunk and you took advantage."

He didn't look up from the paper, but slowly turned the page. "If you are going to offer Miss Granger, I am going to take it. Maybe you should take more care not to get yourself into states where you will do things you will regret."

She wanted to protest that he hadn't acted very gentlemanly, but considering who she was dealing with she saved her breath. "Is there anything I need to do today?" she asked instead.

"There is another dinner tonight. You will also have to prepare for the ball tomorrow night."

"Ball, what ball? Oh please god no. I don't have a dress, I can't go. Who travels with a ball gown on their holiday? That's insane. I can't go," she was jabbering and decided to just shut up.

"This isn't a holiday, this is an engagement announcement. You have to go," Lucius said and looked up from the paper. "You will have to buy one. Do you need some money?"

"No, I'm fine. I can buy my own clothes thanks," she said tersely. "I am going for a swim." She finished and made her way to the door with her towel.

She walked down to her swimming spot and waded in. No Draco this time. Thanks for small mercies, she thought to herself. She would have to get her wand back if she was going to go over to Venice, so she decided that she had to find whatever hole he kept himself in.

The water was gorgeous and it washed away any remaining traces of her hangover. She had also managed to calm herself down about what happened the night before. Everyone does things like that when they've had a few, it wasn't the end of the world. Her friends would understand, surely the first time she had sex with him would be more of a shocker, right? He was technically her boyfriend and at this age it was practically expected that you have a bit of action on holiday. Well in the muggle world it was anyway. They were never going to understand, she finalised. Luna might. Perhaps she would just not tell them.

After her swim she walked through the streets, to have a quick scan through the shops for a ball gown. Now she was going to have to spend the day trying to find some stupid gown. Maybe she could buy one in Venice. She did find a gown in the end, it was a shimmery dove gray with a red sash. It cost a couple of weeks of her salary, but at least it was one problem solved. After lunch she would deal with the other problem.

In the afternoon, the rude little elf told her that Draco was in the billiard room. Hermione tried to smile kindly at the elf, but it turned its back on her before she had a chance. Poor brainwashed thing, she thought before marching in the direction of the billiard room.

Sure enough, Draco was there, playing billiards on his own. He had a large glass of fire whiskey balancing on the end of the table while he took his shot.

"If it isn't the little mudblood," he said and took a swig of his drink.

"It's not even four yet and you're drinking," Hermione said disapprovingly.

"You weren't averse to indulging yourself last night," he responded to a blooming flush on Hermione's face. "What do you want?" he demanded, "I'm busy."

"You know why I'm here. I want my wand back. Give it to me."

"You mean this," he said and pulled it out of his back pocket. "You know people like you shouldn't be allowed wands."

"Hankering for the glory days are we. Guess what Draco, you lost. Sorry," she said with an exaggerated shrug.

"You little bitch. You want it, come and get it."

She gave him the most deadly stare she could muster. If he wanted her to wrestle him for it she would. She had managed to punch him in third year, she would go it again if she had to. But as she walked around the table towards her, he threw the wand into the corner of the room and grabbed her wrist. When tugging on her arm wouldn't free her wrist, she slapped him across the face as hard as she could. In return, he twisted her arm painfully up her back and bent her over the billiard table. Hermione was pinned to the table with pain shooting up her arm if she moved. She tried to kick him in the chins, but it only made him pin her legs to the table with his frame.

"Maybe we should see what all the fuss is about. What do you think, hm? You seem to like it from purebloods, so maybe I should give you what you want," he said in a steely, steady voice before pushing up her little skirt to reveal her bikini bottoms. "What have we got here?"

"Draco no, stop," Hermione said in a determined voice. "I said no."

A twist of her wrist made Hermione wince. He ran his fingers along the edge of the bikini bottom until he found the bow on the side. "Now what is this?" he said as he slowly pulled one of the strings.

"Stop," Hermione said again, but her voice was starting to tremble with fear. "Please Draco, stop."

As the knot came undone, the bottom fell down towards her feet. Draco stroked her ass lightly with his fingertips before pressing himself against her behind. His breathing was getting heavy and Hermione was ready to start crying.

A voice outside the room made him pause. It was a girl's voice calling his name. Hermione wanted to cry in relief. "Ha," she said, "Run along, Draco, your fiancé is calling."

"That's Pansy. Not my fiancé," he said, obviously beyond annoyed.

"Whatever."

"You make a sound, I swear I'll tear your shoulder out," he said as he twisted her wrist slightly. The pain was enough to make Hermione bite her lips together.

He waited for what seemed like ages, but when the voice was coming closer he swore and let go of her. "We'll finish this later."

Over my dead body, Hermione thought, but she didn't want to say anything until she was well out of reach. Draco strode towards the door and Hermione let out a small cry when she was alone in the room. Her tears were building up in the back of her eyes as scrambled for her wand in the corner of the room. She ran towards her bedroom and locked the door behind her before crawling into her bed crying.

Hermione stayed in her room until she calmed down, then scrubbed her way through another steaming hot shower. What an idiot she had been, she told herself. She had been treating him like a child, like the boy she knew and hit in third year. He wasn't a boy and he had been a Deatheater for heaven's sake, how could she have been so stupid to underestimate that. God only knew the things he had done to people like her during that time.

She stayed in her room until she heard Lucius' voice.

"Your son attacked me," she said in the steadiest voice she could manage.

Lucius seemed to freeze in his tracks as she said this. Hermione didn't know how he would react, but she was not going to keep this quiet. He searched her eyes for further meaning to her statement.

"Are you injured?" he asked calmly after a moment.

"No, I'm fine. I was just a bit shocked."

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

Hermione told him what happened in the billiard room.

"I am sorry," he said, "I will speak to him."

"Is that all?" she asked.

"As it was interrupted, there is nothing specifically that you can charge him with," Lucius responded, "As his father I could hardly promote such an action, but he will apologize and I promise you that it will never happen again."

"Fine," Hermione said and returned to her room. She heard Lucius leave the apartment.

He returned about half an hour later with Draco in tow.

"Miss Granger," he called, "Draco is ready to apologize."

This should be good, Hermione thought to herself. Opened the door and stepped outside, noting that Lucius was holding the bag Draco had nicked. Draco wasn't looking at her and Lucius moved towards the Balcony to leave Draco to apologize.

"Miss Granger," he started, "My behaviour was atrocious and I apologize. I promise that I will never act in such a manner again and will always treat you with respect."

As he finished his apology which sounded neither insincere nor sincere, he brought his hand up towards his chest fast enough to make Hermione flinch. Draco's surprised expression told her that he had definitely seen her flinch and he progressed to get a cigarette out of his shirt pocket. He looked around to see if Lucius had seen it too, but he was looking out to sea. Once it had been established that the flinch was unobserved, Draco's lips slowly spread into a smile, or something like a mix between his smirk and a full-on smile.

Hermione was pretty sure that was what Draco looked like when he was truly happy. Not something she had ever seen before, but he looked like the cat that got the cream.

"I hate you," she whispered quietly.

"I know," he mouthed without making a noise. His eyes shining as he continued in a loud voice, "Please forgive my ill-conceived actions and accept my deepest apology."

You're a lying sack of shit, Hermione thought, but she didn't say it. Even though his apology didn't come across as heartfelt, it felt like a fragile truce. She certainly had no desire to escalate things with Draco at this point, knowing full well that he probably would if she called for it.

With his apology done, he stared at Hermione for a few seconds before cracking a small version of his typical smirk and leaving.

"He will never accost you again," Lucius said.

Never was a long time, Hermione thought to herself, but maybe.

"I will take you to Venice," Lucius said. "You said you wanted to go. We will have dinner there."

"That is alright, you have a dinner party to go to remember. If it's alright I will skip it. I'm ok, but I am not exactly in the mood for a party."

"No, I will take you. We will have dinner there. They can do without us for a night."

Afraid I'm going to run away, Hermione asked silently. The thought had occurred to her a few times that afternoon. She didn't have a portkey, but she could certainly take the next flight back to London from the nearest airport.

"If you will get ready, we will leave shortly."

"Fine," she said.