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For all the love and patience ! Hope this is as good as you all envisioned !

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CHAPTER 51.

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"May I come in?"

Hermione stood fixed on her spot. Hands on her doorframe, tight, knuckles straining against the confines of her skin. Her initial state of surprise was replaced by anxiety and she swallowed nervously.

"Draco!" She repeated, still half behind the door that hadn't budged a bit. "You're here."

Draco shrugged casually, although he was fighting hippogriffs in his gut.

Then as if all the nervousness vanished, a questioning look came over her face. "You rang the bell?" She said incredulously.

Draco nodded again. He shouldn't have been surprised that in spite of all the other questions raging in their minds, she chose to ask him about the bloody bell.

"But you hate the contraption." She countered.

"There's always a first time." He said, with deeper meaning than it implied.

She reddened at her cheeks slightly and Draco's heart soared a little in his chest when he saw the colour on her pale, worried face.

Silence ensued for some while. Draco patiently waited while she mentally battled her demons.

"I wanted to come see you." She said finally, still resting on the door as if her life depended on it.

"I know." He said softly. "But I couldn't wait any longer." He paused. "And getting away from Ginny for a bit is always a welcome break."

Hermione stared at him unbelievingly for a fraction of a second before she gave in to a tired, genuine laugh. The heart soared a little more higher in the rib cage this time, threatening to deafen him.

She shook her head as if internally thinking that he was still the same. She finally opened the door wide and invited him in.

He entered purposefully, trying to look like a man with an agenda on the outside but terribly nervous inside.

They stood at almost opposite ends of the living room, like awkward strangers stealing looks at each other uncomfortably.

When it got unbearable Hermione said, "Why don't you sit down? Would you like some water? Or coffee perhaps?"

Draco clenched his jaw and his fists and closed his eyes tightly, silently counting till 5. He spanned the distance between them in a few long strides and held Hermione by her arms, almost ready to shake her. His tall frame towered over her petite one and she was backing the stairway. His torso blocked her completely, she was his prey but her eyes showed no fear.

"What I would really like; Hermione" he said sarcastically "is for us to stop behaving like such pathetic arses and get back to normal. You and me yelling, screaming at each other when we don't see eye to eye; that's normal. You boss over me, without any regard to my thoughts; that's normal. Me finishing your freshly brewn pot of coffee without even telling you; that's normal. You rolling your eyes at every thought of mine that you deem ridiculous; now that's normal. Me disregarding every ounce of your privacy and popping in and out of your flat; that is what is bloody normal, Hermione. Not standing outside your blasted door, ringing that obnoxious little doorbell and waiting for you to open it. And certainly not standing feet apart from you, bathed in stranger anxiety, reeking of awkwardness. And you're offering me a drink Hermione? Really?"

He was panting now, ever so slightly, from his speech. He didn't falter one word nor did he raise his voice above a whisper. Yet, every word cut through her like an icicle.

Her heart was beating as loudly as the words that reverberated in the surroundings. But in such close proximity, she couldn't fathom whether it was the fact that he had left her hardly any room to manoeuvre or the fact that he was so deliciously close to her, just like the last time she was with him that caused her pulse to betray her.

Her usually calm and logical head was swimming in a swirl of thoughtless fog as his woody, quidditch associated scent threatened to overpower her. Usually she managed to disregard its allure but his absence had exponentiated it, causing her to barely be able to string a reply in her defence.

His eyes bored into her confused ones. Little did he know that she was fighting a losing battle against all practicality. What may have seemed like buying time for excuses to Draco, was actually a testing of wills.

She raised her eyes to look into his fiery mercurial ones, jet black, stormy pupils dilated to only allow his silver rings to radiate his anger. Mistake. Big mistake.

She shouldn't have looked up. She really shouldn't have. Because she may have been the brightest witch of her age. She may have been known as the epitome of reason to many. But when her eyes met his, all the accolades flew right out.

All her carefully thought out strategies of estranging herself from him, left her conscience. Her mind blank, a fierce look encroached her features as she forced her arms out of his grasp.

His angry eyes registered a modicum of surprise at her force. But not for long. For she had used that split advantage to close the small finite distance between them as she fisted his hair roughly; the hair she had longed to touch intimately; she brought his face down to hers till she reached his unassuming lips and consumed him in a lip lock that radiated yearning and passion unknown to them both.

They both realised a long time after, that oxygen or the need for it was a major liability.

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I know, I know its a short one.

And there is more don't worry.

More words will ensue.

More doubts will surface.

I was going to add it all in this chapter itself but this just seemed like a really good place to end.. and for once its not a complete cliffhanger; don't you just love me? ;) Lol!

Plus I thought you all would appreciate an update, even though its a short one, versus no update for a few more days.

So let me know what you think.. while I work on the dialogues for the next update.

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also ive forgotten the password to my ff account, luckily its on auto open on my browser so i can still access the account but im pretty sure my password was correct..anyhow now i cant even change my password without typing my old password.. so im kinda lost without email alerts etc.. if any of you can help me out with this please let me know what to do.. thanks :)

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