Hermione was stomping down the hallway, leaving Severus office as Draco sauntered behind her...silently enjoying her flustered self as he watched her arse sashay in those blasted Muggle trousers she favored.
And although she didn't wear them often anymore...he couldn't help but notice it when she did.
As did many of his other fellow wizards.
His little vixen and grown into a shapely witch this past summer and her arse was a thing of beauty.
"Princess?"
Hermione huffed again, hearing his amused, self-satisfied drawl. She didn't even need to turn around to know he was smirking smugly at her.
"Get your eyes off my arse, Malfoy!"
"Oh, I'm Malfoy again, am I?"
She whirled around quickly, her eyes ablaze as she lifted her pointer finger at him in warning.
"You just couldn't ask me? No! Not Draco, Slytherin snake extraordinaire Malfoy!"
His laughter was starting to piss her off.
Sensing his impending doom, Draco grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her into the nearest broom closet and shut the door, not giving her a moment to collect herself before his lips were on hers.
Her immediate response had him happily growling as he pushed her further against the wall and deepened the kiss, his tongue silently demanding permission and receiving it instantaneously.
It was a few moments before he felt her ire abate enough to pull back slightly and soften the kiss into something more languorous, but just as needy. He groaned when her hands gripped into his hair and tugged slightly as he moved his lips from her mouth and traveled down her neck in earnest—her breathy moans doing wonders for his libido, which was already rock hard and ready.
His body fell into the softness of his witch and instinctively, his thigh pushed open Hermione's legs, holding her aloft as she rubbed brazenly against him, seeking her own measure of relief.
When his lips melded against hers once again with more force, Hermione's breathy moan of his given name nearly had him coming in trousers right then and there.
"Draco..."
"Hmmm..."
He bit her lower lip and pushed his tongue back into her mouth: playing...cajoling...tempting a more passionate response...
...which he got.
It was hard to know how much time had passed since he'd pulled her with him inside the closet, but he frankly couldn't be bothered with such trivial semantics when Hermione's right hand was currently grabbing his arse as she rocked against his thigh more forcefully.
Oh fuck...
With what amounted to a Herculean effort on his part, he pulled away ever so slightly and tried desperately to pull in copious amounts of air in a last ditch bid to get his desire under control.
"Love...we need to stop..."
He really fucking hated formal Pureblood courtship etiquette right about now.
"What?"
Sighing in resignation, Draco cupped Hermione's cheeks and placed a swift kiss on her lips before trying to soothe her.
"We need to get you back to Gryffindor."
It was a good thing he couldn't make out her expression, because he'd probably just say fuck it and Theo would kill him.
Potter too.
Fuck!
"Did I do something wrong?"
Draco groaned and tipped his head back, silently counting to ten and pleading for the fates to give him strength.
"No love, you are perfect. However, as much as I'd like to stay here with you? I'm fairly certain if I don't get you back to your dorm before curfew—Potter and Theo will hex first and ask questions later."
There was a beat of silence, before he felt Hermione's body shaking within his embrace.
"Are you laughing?" He asked incredulously.
Her giggles lifted in volume and Draco rolled his eyes, as he felt his trademark smirk settle into place.
"Well, it is ridiculous." She sniffed with irony, "Who'd have thought that Draco Malfoy and Hermione Prewett would be in a broom closet snogging."
Now that comment did cause Draco to chuckle.
"A year ago, if we'd been caught together?" He shivered at the thought.
Hermione sobered and he felt her body deflate at the words, so he decided it might be a good time for a confession of sorts.
"Did you know, fourth year that I tired to warn Krum off from you?"
He could feel her shock, and he wished he could see her expression a bit better in the darkness.
"Why?"
"Well, if you'd have asked me prior to this year? I would've given you some pumped up answer that would've been more about protecting my dubious reputation than admitting the truth."
"Which was?"
Draco sighed and pulled her lips to his for another swift kiss before he admitted, "I was jealous."
"Really?" Her voice cracked, causing Draco to snort.
"Yes, really." He pulled out his wand and cast several spells to readjust them to rights, before gazing down into blue eyes that were staring up at him in wonder as his lumos, lit the small space between them. "I was a git. We both know this but I wasn't a blind git, despite what you might have thought. Everyone at the Yule Ball noticed you. I spent the entire night watching you, much to Pansy's displeasure. I tried to warn Krum off and then you were chosen to be his treasure. I know much of what I said that year was very unkind...but I didn't know what to do at that point. I'd noticed you, and didn't know what to do with it so I did what any teenaged boy does when confronted with the one thing he wants but can't have."
"You acted like a bully."
"Got it in one."
"Draco..."
He shook his head and shushed her. "Don't make excuses for my behavior love...there is none to be made I'm afraid. However, I don't intend to muck this up either. The problem is you're too tempting, especially when you wear those bloody Muggle trousers. Do you even have any idea how good your arse looks in those things? Every wizard in this infernal place has his eyes glued to your backside when you strut around school wearing those things."
"I do not strut."
Draco grinned lecherously. "Yes you do."
His smiled widened at Hermione's blush.
"You like my arse?"
Draco groaned as he wagged a finger at her. "Playing with Fire..."
Her laughter stopped him. "Nice turn of phrase.."
"I do my best," he snickered before setting her down and opening the door...checking the hallway for any signs of life.
"No one is out there."
His eyebrow lifted with interest. "You can sense that?"
Hermione nodded. "Enough to know where people are."
Draco watched her for a second as he asked, "can you just sense people in general, or can you sense specific people?"
There was a pause, as Hermione considered his question...but ultimately she said, "I don't know if I've ever specifically sensed certain people. When Pansy and her cronies attacked me, I could sense they were witches, and I knew what spells they'd cast but I don't think I knew it was them until I faced them directly."
Draco nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe that might be something to work on?"
"Maybe."
He moved them down the corridor and over to the stairs, checking the time. There was fifteen minutes until curfew.
"I don't have time to walk you back to Gryffindor and it's not my night to patrol."
"It's okay," she winked before giving him a kiss goodnight. When she stepped back, Draco watched in awe as flames erupted along her body and in a flash, she was gone.
"Bloody hell!" He whispered in awe. He'd never get used to the fact that his little minx could apparate within the schools wards.
When he entered Slytherin, the common room was empty save a few of the older students and he strode over to where Theo, Blaise and Daphne were sitting—setting up a few privacy wards.
"Hey mate," Blaise quipped with a grin, "How was detention?"
"It was fine."
"Hermione get back to Gryffindor okay?" Theo inquired and Draco nodded.
"Safe and sound."
"Good."
Daphne just shook her head in amusement. "Theodore, you are worse than Harry Potter when it comes to being an overprotective brother."
Theo blushed but didn't deny it and they all were smiling at his embarrassment.
"Do you ever wonder what might've happened had the Dark Lord fallen sooner?" Theo asked quietly, and the rest of his friends just sat there staring at him in horror.
"Where the fuck did that come from?" Draco blurted.
Theo shrugged. "I just keep thinking about what our lives would've looked like had there been no Dark Lord. Hermione would've had her parents, and we would've grown up together..."
"True," Blaise interjected, "but sometimes I think things happen the way they're supposed to. For good or bad, and we can't second guess it. Hermione's heritage being revealed has taught me one valuable lesson.."
"Which is?" Daphne asked, intrigued.
"That we can't judge a book by its cover." Blaise replied sheepishly. "We all misjudged her based on what we thought she was...not who she was. We never gave her a chance to show us whom Hermione Granger was, because we were all so obsessed over her blood status—which turned out to be untrue. So we based our dislike on a false premise. I for one, feel like an idiot."
The rest of their small group was quiet, thinking seriously about Blaise's words.
"I think that's why it's been so good this year, trying to be more accepting of those outside of our House. I know we can't change small minds overnight," Daphne lamented with a heavy sigh, "but at least it gives those like my sister, a chance to be friends with whomever she wishes. She won't be held to the same ludicrous standards we were, and maybe in time things will change for the better."
"You truly believe that?" Draco asked wearily
"I want to believe it," Daphne replied, "isn't it enough?"
"I think it's a start." Theo agreed with a nod.
"You know Theo," Draco said after a few moments of silence, "sometimes I wish I could go back and do things differently, and maybe if there had been no Dark Lord I might've had more freedom to do so. But our parents are all still fairly prejudiced in their views, so who knows."
"But we don't have to be." Daphne stated firmly, a hard glint in her eye. "Draco made a good point back at the beginning of the school year. We here in Slytherin House hold a lot of sway within Magical Britain. Draco—you and Theo will inherit your ancestral seats on the Wizengamot when the time comes. I will inherent my family's. Hermione will have the Prewett seat. The Black seat is vacant, but it might be a good idea to persuade Potter to take it. He's only a half-blood, but many view him as the Savior of the Wizarding World twice over. Longbottom, Weasley, Shacklebolt, Abbott, MacMillan, Slughorn, Fawley, Ollivander and Shafiq would all be fairly easy to get onside. The Gaunt, Lestrange, and Crouch lines are gone. That only leaves..."
"Avery, Burke, Bulstrode, Carrow, Flint, Parkinson, Rosier, Rowle, Selwyn, Travers and Yaxley."
"Well—Yaxley, Travers and Avery are in Azkaban. Two of them will die there with no heirs. Avery had a nephew. He starts Hogwarts next year." Theo's eyes lit up with the possibilities.
"Parkinson, Bulstrode and Rowle are likely losses." Daphne moued with distaste. "Selwyn possibly too. The Rosier Heir is in his fourth year? Flint?"
They all shook their head at the thought except Draco.
"Adrian and Flint are still fairly close. Marcus plays Quidditch, but I don't think he'd care one way or the other. Besides, once Adrian finishes his Magical Law Apprenticeship, my guess is he's going to be a gifted solicitor."
"So that just leaves the Burke family and the Carrows, right?" Theo eyed his Slytherin mates, and they all nodded.
"Flora and Hestia and fairly level-headed but their Father and Aunt were staunch followers of the Dark Lord."
"And Burke and Borgin are both heavy purveyors of Dark Artifacts, so it's unlikely they'll be easy to persuade."
"But still," Daphne sat back with a slightly pleased expression, "That's only four families against the majority of the Sacred 28?"
Draco nodded. "We would have to play the long game, but I'm thinking by the time we are our parents age?"
"We could have control of the Wizengamot." Theo grinned.
"It's an intriguing idea." Draco agreed, with a predatory gleam in his eye. "Just one thought though?"
"And that is?" Blaise queried flippantly.
"Who would be our erstwhile Minister for Magic?"
Three heads turned simultaneously towards the fourth and Zabini grinned as he bowed his head in silent agreement.
It seemed as if they had a tentative plan.
