Draco almost laughed in relief. The ache that had been strangling his heart since being in Snape's mind loosened immediately.

Hermione had clearly been asleep, and she stood before him in a large t-shirt with the words "Cambridge Uni" across the front and plaid flannel bottoms. Her footwear however, is what made Draco start to laugh.

Large, fuzzy, and hot pink, Draco was sure he had never seen anything quite so un-Hermione as the slippers currently on her feet.

Her expression had been concerned when she walked in but, as Draco started laughing she simply looked confused. Eventually, as his laughing continued, and he had to put a hand against a desk to steady himself, trying to catch his breath, she began to look concerned again.

"Draco?"

"T-Those, those -" He couldn't breathe, let alone speak. He tried again, sobering slightly "Those slippers!" and then he collapsed into his laughter again, this time leaning fully on the desk in front of him, shaking.

"Slippers?" Hermione looked down as though not aware she was wearing the most ridiculous slippers ever created, and apparently she had not been. "Oh, these are Lavender's, I must have grabbed them by mistake. I was half asleep, rushing down here after the ring woke me up."

Hermione's tone indicated that she was trying to scold him, but Draco didn't mind. She was here. And she was wearing absolutely absurd pink slippers.

"Draco, are you… What's wrong?"

Why would she think something was wrong? He was laughing, not yelling. Laughing was generally a good thing, right? But, a glance at Hermione's face showed genuine concern, and Draco began to realize his reaction might be slightly disproportionate...

She walked over, taking him by the shoulders, turning him to face her.

He might be slightly out of control.

Draco gasped suddenly at the realization, and his laughter stopped abruptly as he sunk down to sit on the floor, putting his head in his hands.

Oh god. What was happening with his head?

It had to be a side effect from the occlumency.

Something that Snape had done - Snape had blocked him from his actual thoughts, but entirely surrendered the emotions.

And Draco was still reeling.

He needed to think. Needed to bring back some sort of silence to his thoughts.

With an effort Draco began building up the barriers and walls that were usually second nature to him.

It took longer than it should have, but finally he began to feel like himself again. Snape's emotions were slowly leaving his mind and loosing their potency. It wasn't until his breathing began to slow and calm that he realized it had been racing before.

Hermione had no idea what was going on or why she was here.

She actually wasn't at all convinced that she wasn't still in her four-poster dreaming. But, dreaming or not the person in front of her (who she was not at all convinced was actually Draco) seemed completely unaware of her presence. Well, since the laughter had ended at least.

Unsure and afraid to startle him in his current state, Hermione waited it out. Eventually the gasping slowly turned to semi-regular breaths and Hermione thought it might be ok to move again. She had been standing and watching him for what felt like a very long time.

She thought about saying something, maybe comforting him somehow, but, frankly, she didn't dare. What do you say to a Malfoy having a mental breakdown in front of you?
Over the past few months Hermione had seen a different side of Draco, but she had also confirmed that he was a death eater, that he knew how to perform an unforgivable curse, that he was dangerous. And right now he seemed completely cracked.

She trusted him - but she could tell he wasn't really himself right now.

Finally settling on just sitting in front of him, she was forcefully reminded of an animal in a trap. At her movement his eyes jumped to hers, wide and full of… something. More emotion then Hermione had ever seen in them before, but she couldn't understand what they were trying to say.

Draco was usually so communicative with his face, but all she felt looking at it now was an overwhelming confusion.

Almost immediately after meeting her eyes Draco averted his, looking up and clearing his throat.

"Hermione, I… I apologize; I should not have called you. My mind… I… I was not thinking straight."

His tone was almost painfully polite, formal, like they were in a business meeting, and he was apologizing for being late.

"Draco…" But she had no idea how to finish. Following his lead she cleared her throat and looked over the blackboard to her left. She could faintly see her handwriting, not completely erased.

It seemed like forever ago, writing lists of ingredients at Draco's direction.

Before she really trusted him,
before they were friends,
before they… weren't again.

"Draco."

"Hermione."

"You smell like Whiskey."

He finally met her eyes, clearly not expecting the comment, and she thought she might have seen his lips twitch slightly, as though thinking about smirking before deciding not to.

"Scotch."

"Same thing."

"Excuse me?"

"Scotch and whiskey - they're basically the same thing." He still wasn't smiling, but she thought maybe his eyes were clearing up? Certainly they narrowed at her comment.

"You must be joking? They are nothing...- For the sake of my sanity I am going to try to forget you said that."

"I believe your sanity was in question before I made any such claim" She made the comment before realizing its implications given Draco's erratic behavior.

"Yes. Astute observation."

"No, Draco, I didn't mean… I just meant in like, a general sense, not just barely, I didn't mean -"

"Oh, you meant to imply I regularly give cause for my sanity to be questioned?" His tone was flat, but his eyes twinkled in a rather striking imitation of Dumbledore and Hermione smiled carefully at him.

"Yes. Exactly."

Draco rolled his eyes at her, but didn't say anything. Eventually he took a deep breath, roughly running his hands through his already mussed hair.

Hermione had to force herself to look away. She was pretty sure that mussed Draco was one of her favorite things to see. It was unfortunate that it always coincided with something being wrong. The silence between them now was bordering on awkward, and she had no idea how to breach it.

Hermione still wasn't exactly sure where they stood, but now was not really the time to discuss that. Draco still had that slightly lost expression on his face.

"Yes, well... Is there a reason you called me down here in the middle of the night?"

"Because I needed to see you."

"Um… Ok. Why did you need to see me?"

"He just… He missed her so much, and I needed to…" He stopped talking suddenly, as though he had only just realized he was doing it. The lost look in his eyes faded a little as he straightened his shoulders. "Have you ever heard of legitimency having lingering side effects on the caster?"

"On the caster? No, but I have heard being on the receiving end isn't exactly a pleasant experience." She had actually done quite a bit of reading on the effects of legitimency from the receiving end once they had found out about Harry taking his occlumency lesson. But, she had passed over the parts on legitimency, assuming that breaking into someone's mind was not something she, or her friends, would be tasked with any time soon.

Of all the times for her not to do extra research…

"Have you been doing Legitimency on someone?"

He didn't answer, but he really didn't need to. Hermione racked her brain, trying to remember something of what she had skimmed at the beginning of the school year, finding comfort in the familiarity of knowledge in such a weird experience.

"Occlumency can make you weak, emotionally drained… when you cast legitimens you feel the emotions of the subject as the subject experiences it... There was a case a while ago where a wizard was setting muggles up - making them ridiculously happy - and then putting them in the path of other wizards who would cast legitimens on them, and they would re-live that happiness through them. Rather like a drug… Um, that's all I can remember."

"That's fine. Nothing I did not already know. It just seemed very… extreme. This time."

"Well, I imagine the strength of the emotion would reflect the strength with which it was originally felt. I would also hazard a guess that intoxication amplifies the effects…"

He raised his eyebrow at her but didn't comment. He was obviously getting back to normal. Responding in full sentences, actually making facial expressions. Almost back to human being status.

"Earlier tonight - in Dumbledore's office - did Snape use legitimency on you?"

He looked up at her, startled that she had noticed, but nodded "Not fully. Not then at least. But yes."

"He doesn't trust you?"

"Do any of them? I think Snape was just the only one to say it. Well, Snape and the wolf."

"Lupin," she emphasized his name "would not have agreed if he did not trust you to some degree - none of them would have."

"Oh ya? Harry Potter trusts a Malfoy?"

"Well… I guess he just trusts Dumbledore."

"Yes, I believe that is a much more accurate assessment."

"...I am glad you are going through with it. I mean, with getting your mum out and all."

Draco looked at her fully, and, for the first time all night he seemed actually… present.

"Hermione," He raised a hand, twisting a stray curl around his long finger before lightly tucking it behind her ear.

She felt a moment of embarrassment, remembering that she had practically run here from the dorm, still in her pajamas and her hair hastily shoved into a messy ball, but she was quickly distracted as his now freed finger glided lightly down her neck.

"Hermione. I am going to say something that I actually have no recollection of ever saying before, and hopefully will never say again, so, savor this moment. I am sorry - for what I said. Before."

Gods, he had practically cringed while saying it. And, although she was pretty sure she had managed to keep her eyes from rolling, she was not able to keep the small smile off of her face.

"I'm sorry too. For telling Harry and Ron. I know it wasn't my place."

"Well, what are you going to do to make up for it?"

"Excuse me?"

Make up for it? She had accepted his apology!

Why would he expect her to - Oh.

Her thoughts were quite effectively derailed as Draco's lips found hers.

"A joke, Granger." He mumbled against her, his breath dancing across her mouth.

Hermione's only response was to pull him back into the kiss.

She couldn't count how many times she had thought about kissing him in the last few months - despite her best efforts - but none of it came close to the reality.

His mouth was hot and heavy, searching hers, like he couldn't possibly reach enough. The feel of his hands on her back and in her hair, pulling them even closer together. She could taste the liquor he'd obviously been drinking earlier and it made the whole thing seem even more exciting. She'd never much considered drinking before, it just hadn't interested her. But now she was pretty sure the flavor of scotch, when mixed with the taste of Draco, may be here new favorite thing.

"You taste…. Dangerous."

"Ha! Dangerous?" Draco had actually laughed at her words, a small bark of a laugh, and he was taking small slow steps forward forcing her to walk backwards with him. Hermione hadn't even noticed they were moving at all until she felt the wall behind her back, barely a breath of space separating Draco from her. She reached up to pull him closer, but as soon as she moved she felt a tight grip on both of her wrists as Draco pinned them above her head, just high enough to feel a pull in her shoulders. Draco moved forward even more so that the only part of them not pressed together was their faces.

Hermione's heart raced, her first instinct to being so powerless was an immediate panic. She pulled on her arms, trying to free her hands but Draco held tight, pressing against her even harder with his hips and she gasped - from fear or arousal she couldn't tell. Maybe both. Was that possible?

"Tell me Granger, what does danger taste like?" Draco leaned forward and Hermione couldn't help but respond, reaching out to kiss him, but he did not let her. Instead he deftly took her bottom lip between his teeth pulling gently at first, but with a sharp bite before letting go.

She looked back at him and was surprised to see that he actually seemed to be waiting for an answer. He wanted her to talk right now? With them together like this? She could barely think for the pounding of her heart, the blood rushing through her body. She could feel him pressed against her and all she could think about was feeling more. And he wanted her to talk? She reached forward again with her lips, hands still trapped above her head, trying to kiss him, but he only moved back again, just out of reach.

"Danger tastes like… scotch" She leaned forward quickly, stealing a small peck before he could move back "Like potion." She leaned forward again, this time he pressed into the kiss before moving out of her reach again "like using a dissolutionment charm to sneak out at midnight, like dusty old books in the restricted section - better off not read, old enemies and Slytherin armies… and you."

This time she didn't have to lean forward, Draco's lips found hers.

Immediately she utilized this distraction, pushing back she spun him around against the wall. She had to use both of her hands to hold his up against the wall, but he didn't struggle, only pressed harder into the kiss, their lips bruising against each other, hungrily exploring and tasting what they hadn't been able to for months.

Hermione wasn't sure how long they remained in the abandoned classroom but they were both shocked out of their private world at the sound of a crackling that could only have belonged to Peeves.

She heard Malfoy mutter "shit" under his breath as he noticed his wand on the floor where he had dropped it earlier, but Hermione already had hers out. After summoning his wand to him, she had barely finished casting a dissolutionment on them before the poltergeist raced through the solid wall next to the door.

"I knew I'd - " Peeves paused, confused at the seemingly empty room. Hermione didn't want to think about why Peeves had known there were students in this room, and she couldn't help but blush at the recollection of some of the noises they had been making only moments before. Thankfully they were still dressed, if slightly disheveled, she was sure peeves would never let an abandoned pile of student's clothing go without more 'fun'.

After a quick turn around the room Peeves left, head down, looking more disappointed than Hermione had ever seen him.

Waiting a few minutes to make sure Peeves didn't come back Hermione began giggling as she reversed the dissolutionment charms on them both. She cleared her throat and attempted to straighten her unruly hair. Draco looked back at her, a crooked smile on his face.

"Well, um, I should probably get back… I um, I will see you tomorrow?" Hermione turned to leave, pausing before actually opening the door

"Will you be okay?" He seemed fine now, but not an hour ago Draco had been practically crumbing.

"I'm fine 'mione. Don't worry about earlier."

Hermione's smile didn't quite reach her eyes but she slowly turned to leave.

Just before she had closed the door behind her she heard Draco speaking, "Granger, you're far more dangerous to me than I could ever be to you. "

She turned to ask what he meant, but Draco had already turned his back to the door, straightening his own robes and hair.

Wondering if she had actually heard what he said correctly, she quietly cast her dissolutionment charm again and began the walk back to her dorm.