Author's Note: I couldn't wait. I know I don't normally post during the week, except my normal Monday-post, but what the hell. I really enjoyed writing this chapter so I hope you enjoy reading it! :) Away we go!

"To chain our hearts

Then tear apart

And come together again

A lover's pain

Forever will remain"

LP- Night Like This

Three Weeks and Two Days Later- Tuesday

He was at my bedroom door, knocking to come in. "Yes?" I asked. He came in and shut the door behind him. I checked my clock. "Draco, what's wrong? It's three in the morning."

"I know," he said quietly. "I couldn't sleep."

I sat up in bed, propping myself up with my arms. "Do you...want to stay here tonight?" I asked hesitantly. Was I really asking him that? Either way he nodded and I shifted over in bed, allowing him room to join me. Draco's warm body came into the bed and moved close to me, his smell overpowering my nose. He smelled amazing, his scent so pure and so, well, Malfoy. I turned away from him, trying to hide my attraction even though my body craved him.

"Hermione?" he asked quietly. I rolled over, doing exactly what I had just wanted not to do.

"Yeah?"

He grimaced into the dark and whispered, "Save me."

I sat up in bed, aware that I was dreaming again but somehow unable to comprehend it. I always remembered my dreams, I had since the war ended. This did not mean that I always knew what they meant, if they even had a meaning. The ending where he said "Save me," left me confused in particular. Hadn't I already done that? I layed back down and looked at the ceiling, thinking about everything that was happening, and it was quite a bit.

My relationship with Draco was rocky. We had gone so far, become so comfortable around each other that now it was as if we had started all over. After he came back to the house he didn't say much. He just drank a cup of tea and went to bed that night. I never asked what happened while I was gone or even if he was ok. It seemed easier to just let him be.

We knew each other then which made everything much more difficult. We knew many things about each other, and more than just our sleeping and eating patterns. I felt like I connected with Draco and I'm sure he felt the same way about me. At least I hope he did.

It was difficult, I'll admit, not yelling at him or making him promise things I knew he couldn't keep. I had learned that. Malfoy didn't keep promises that others gave him. He kept his own. He followed through with what he wanted and believed and everyone else be damned. It was almost inspirational watching him like that. I still cared but apparently he didn't.

But, now that we had a separation between us again, it was difficult to continue on. We had to live together in peace, each of us stepping on eggshells around each other, just to prevent a confrontation. Not that we had anything to fight about, but knowing us I'm sure we could come up with something.

We started out simply. The first day I saw progress was when I came home from work for lunch and found that Draco had left me a lunch premade in the fridge. I blushed furiously at the fact that he had done such a sweet gesture, even if he wasn't there. The next day I brought him a meal, maybe more like breakfast for lunch.

He was working on his house and when I got there he looked in dire need of a break. His shirt and working pants were covered in dirt and whatever other construction materials he had been using. I found it interesting that he was working on his home completely by hand. I remembered when he made fun of me for cleaning my house like a muggle. Who was the muggle now blondie?

"Granger," he said wiping the sweat from his forehead. He analyzed my clothes, maybe lingering a bit too long on them. "Shouldn't you be at work right now?"

I smiled and held out a brown paper bag full of the lunch I had prepared for him. "I thought you could use a break so I brought you lunch." He smirked and opened the bag. It popped open magically to give him a plate with grilled cheese, steaming hot, on the plate.

"You're kidding right?" he said cheekily. "I love grilled cheese."

I grinned and I said, "I know. Now enjoy I have to get back to work." I touched his arm and turned to leave.

"Granger," he said again. I turned back and he said, "Thank you." I blushed and disapparated back to the Ministry.

We were making an effort, both of us, and that's what seemed to count. Not how much we talked, not the confusion over how we felt. Nothing mattered but the fact that we were working on it.

I missed him though. I not because he wasn't around me, he certainly was. I really missed the touches we shared. The soft glances. The kisses. I missed how I felt when he kissed me. I wanted him to be with me again.

The mornings were the best part though. Right before we went our respective ways we had breakfast together and then said goodbye. I had been making it a habit of hugging him goodbye when I left, since I left first.

The best days were when I said, "I have to go."

He'd stand up and walk me to the door quietly. We wrapped his strong arms around me for a few seconds. I took his cheek in my hand then and kissed his cheek. He smelled like a fresh shave and his glorious cologne. The best days were when he blushed softly after I kissed him. He smiled then and let me leave for work. I loved those moments.

We started doing the things that we used to before Draco left, plus more. We went on walks and went to coffee shops on the weekends. He even asked for advice on paint for the Manor, a place I knew would be beautiful with his hands working on it.

Today, Tuesday, I came home from work and found a darkened house. "Draco," I said into the dark hallway. It was almost creepy. The last time I had come home to a house like this, Draco had basically jumped me. I blushed at the memory.

"In the kitchen," he responded. I set down my bags from work and walked to the kitchen, just then smelling the beautiful aroma spilling out from the kitchen. I approached the room and gasped when I saw the sight in front of me. Draco was standing by the stove, an apron draped around his slim waist, holding a spoon and stirring a pot full of something I was sure was delicious.

"Draco," I said, my voice breathy. The room was lit with candles and the table was set for two. I gazed in wonder about the room, my eyes aglow with pure happiness. Everything was perfect, even the imperfect man in the room.

He approached me and wrapped his arm around me, his shirt smelling like spices and, of course, his signature scent. "Hello," I said.

"Hello. Welcome home," he said back. I shivered in his arms from his voice alone, gripping his shirt in my hands before letting him go. "Sit down, dinner's almost ready."

I sat at the table while he went to work, bringing food back to the table and pouring glasses of wine for the both of us. Cabernet for me and Merlot for him, even if it didn't necessarily go with the meal itself. Who honestly gave a damn when a sexy man was pouring it?

We ate an Italian meal that he said his mother taught him how to cook. "The secret ingredient is extra butter in everything. Oh and a splash of red wine here and there," he said. This meal, he said, was the one thing his mother chose to cook, saying the elves never did it exactly right. His mother must have been up to something. Everything was amazing and by the time dessert came around, I couldn't imagine ever eating a meal that lived up to the one Draco prepared. We shared a large piece of chocolate cake, the flavor magical.

"Come on," I said in between bites of glorious chocolate. "You've been hiding this mystical chef inside of you? Why do you deal with my mediocre meals?"

He chuckled and said, "I love your dinners." He left it there and I laughed at him simply because this meal killed everyone I had ever given him and he must have known it.

We stood from the table and I brought the dishes to the sink, despite his wishes, and began washing them.

"You cooked so I'll clean," I defended. I washed the dishes while Draco dried, even when I attempted to hit his hand away from the towel. We cleaned and dried in quiet contentment, with a few moments of Draco humming some sort of tune, until he cleared his throat. I looked over at Draco to see he had put down the towel and was now leaning against the counter, his legs crossed and one arm resting on the stone. I turned back to the sink and kept washing.

His hand met my waist in silence and I tilted my head to look at his smirking face. Just keep washing, I told myself. His other hand took my chin gently in his fingers, forcing me to face him completely. I smiled to myself, loving his tender yet forceful hands.

Draco smirked at my quiet features and tilted his head, lowering it to kiss me gently on the lips. An electric current struck my lips, dazing me. He pulled away after a moment, not even giving me time to close my eyes. I took my hands out of the sink, still covered with soap, and grabbed his face in my hands, bringing his lips back to mine, passion immediately flowing between us. He smiled against my lips and we laughed as the soap from my hands traveled in blotches down his face, making him smell like sweet citrus. Our kiss deepened with our mouths open from laughter, our tongues mingling together in a beautiful array of peace and oneness. I'd forgotten kissing could be such fun until I kissed him. My weakness was him; everything about him. My body yearned for him, wanting to feel more. I pressed into his body, arching my back slowly and released his lips, putting our foreheads together.

"You're beautiful," he said, avoiding my eyes. I turned my head underneath his platinum greys to meet them and smiled before kissing him again, forgetting the running water and the soapy feel of bubbles on our ecstatic features.

Author's Note: So did fluffy Hermione and Draco suit your fancy? Let me know you lovely readers!