The air crackled around her. She was furious and the more she thought about how idiotic one person could be the madder she got. She should of seen it all along…having read his journal and spent so much intimate time talking with him. She really should of realized sooner- Harry Potter was not Draco's biggest enemy. Draco was his own worst enemy.
And this proved it.
He was willingly dieing to prove to himself that he had the self control of a saint.
'Shit! -Fine!' She thought, if he wanted a slow and painful death, she would gladly deliver one to him. She knew where to find him. He always worked late on Thursdays.
Clearing her head and focusing her emotions she thought of his dark brown leather office situated behind a thick iron door on the fourth floor of the Ministry, the thought of couldn't, not even registering as she pushed herself forward and Apprated with a 'Pop'.
It was a knee jerk reaction, nothing more. His wand was drawn pointed defensively at the intruder before an identity could possibly be registered. Her long cinnamon curls and small petite figure almost immediately processing, he lowered his wand just as she began to draw hers.
"No need for that." He indicated with a nod before settling himself back down in his chair the cold aloofness successfully hiding how his heart was pounding in his chest. His concentration iterating around how close she stood and what the safest distance between them would be.
This seemed to only add the fuel to her fire as she rounded the desk standing a single step away from him. He read the anger and hurt in her eyes.
"You spineless, brainless, impossible man! I am done playing games with you!" Hermione screeched looking like a mental banshee. "No more lies, no more half truths. Avoiding the problem at hand is a cowardly action and you, Draco Malfoy, no longer have the luxury to be a coward. Not if you're my man." She stated pulling her cloak off and throwing it over a nearby chair.
Draco had maybe heard a fourth of what she had just screamed, which in his own right was a small accomplishment. Especially since every pore of his body was focused solely on her plump red lips and the memory of how they tasted. He swallowed hard trying to concentrate on her words instead of her mouth.
He couldn't help but realize that everything between them was always much more complicated that it really should be. He had tried to take things slow between them. Woo her as it were, but the closer he got to her the harder it became to keep in control, to keep the consciousness knowing he wouldn't in any way hurt or scare her off. Just thinking about the way her soft skin felt against his, in even the most innocent of fashion, such as passing a folder did indescribable things to his head and loins.
He had to remain focused and her standing so close smelling like honeysuckles did nothing to reinforce that focus. So he decided to stand and put some space between them.
Hermione was determined to not let him do what he did best, pull away from her so as soon as she saw him rising from his seat she closed the distance between them pushing him back in his chair with both her hands on his shoulders and straddling his lap.
She could of swore he stopped breathing the moment she settled on his lap. Both of his hands held up in surrender as far away from her as they could possibly be under the circumstances.
"Her-mio-ne. Please-don't." His voice was strained. He was practically panting trying to retain some control.
"Don't what? This?" She asked in a low husky voice brushing her chest against his as she leaned in to whisper in his ear. "I love you, Draco. I forgave you along time ago. It's time you forgave yourself." Her teeth grazed against the lobe of his ear, and he just about came out of his chair.
"I don't know, I don't trust myself, Hermione." He begged admitting his weakness and praying that she could understand how important it was for him to remain in control.
"You don't have to, because I trust you. I know you will never hurt me. And I am done watching you hurt yourself." She told him, catching the hem of her summer dress and pulling it up over her head. "I love and trust you, Draco. I need you to do the same for me."
With those words she slowly leaned in brushing her lips softly over his. It was a fleeting kiss that both felt in the very bottom of their souls. It was the kind of kiss that gave Draco the hope in himself he desperately needed. He nodded more to himself than to her, and carefully he lowered his arms and wrapped them around Hermione's slender bare waist, crushing her to him.
He couldn't remember the last time he had actually hugged someone, held them to him cradling them like they were his whole world. Perhaps that was because the only person that fit that description only recently would allow that of him. Draco held Hermione tighter knowing that because of her he would never be less of a man than what she deserved. And finally he was able to let his self hatred go, knowing that never again would he be that pathetic boy in the tower.
Gently he let his hand graze the bare skin of her back. He had never felt anything so smooth and soft riveting in her willingness to be so careless with him.
His hand found it's way to the back of her neck as she lifted her head and looked into his eyes. It was all there everything he had fantasized about and yearned to see reflected in her honey orbs. Her love and acceptance, Her trust and devotion, She was his heart and at last he was hers.
She kissed him again, this time her lips moved across his in need and want as she slowly penetrated that cloak of self control that even now he wouldn't let go of, but instead of hiding behind, let be his guard and conscious. He felt almost human again the animal buried deep inside and caged. He was the first to deepen the kiss, his tongue slipping in to mate with hers. He felt her smile against his lips and couldn't help but smile in return.
As Hermione unbuttoned his shirt and slipped it down his shoulders she leaned her head to the side nipping at his neck and for the first time he got a clear look at the half moon scare on her neck he had given her what seemed like a lifetime ago. He couldn't help the arrogant smirk that graced his lips.
"Admiring your handiwork?" Hermione asked teasingly a knowing smile on her lips.
"It's pathetic isn't it?" He asked watching as her eyes lingered on his lips. He wondered if she too where admiring the scare she had given him.
She shook her head and looked him in the eyes, "It's pointless to regret the choices we've made, so long as we have learned from our mistakes."
"I've learned, Hermione. I am that man you deserve." He vowed sliding the straps of her bra down the curve of her shoulders.
"I know." She stated unhooking his belt and unbuttoning his slacks.
"Hermione, we shouldn't, not here, not like this." He said the words not really meaning them, he could honestly careless on the where- as long it was what she wanted.
"Oh, but darling I really want to keep up the integrity of your office." She stated pulling off a sexy yet innocent expression.
He couldn't help but chuckle at that as he finished removing her bra. Her breast were the perfection that he remembered full and perk with dusty rose nipples. Leaning in he took the left one in his mouth his left arm snaked around her waist once more crushing her to him. A small moan escaping Hermione as she willingly let him caress and saver each breast in turn.
"Merlin your delicious." He practically growled working his way over her collar bone, her neck, her jaw and then her lips. Their third kiss was anything but gentle as passion swept though them a sense of need and urgency clinging to the atmosphere that surrounded them.
The foreplay was short both needing each other completely. Hermione found a boldness she hadn't known she possesses when she stood up and slipped out of her panties, then pulled Draco up and helped him remove his slacks and boxers, before pushing him slowly back down in the chair and once more startled his hips. The sight of him under her made her burn for more. She felt how much he wanted her, needed her against her thigh, but he let her set the pace let her take and control, following her lead. Reinforcing her trust of him in a way words could never accomplish.
When she finally took him inside of her and set the rhythm of their lovemaking, Draco followed with true wonder and fulfillment knowing that at last Hermione Granger was his.
A/N: There will be an epilogue but I haven't decided how far into the future I will go.