Chapter 11

She was on fire. She had to be. What other explanation could be given for the heat that was burning through her body. It would also explain the pain her head was experiencing. Although if she were truly on fire wouldn't more than just her head feel pain?

Hermione slowly regained consciousness from her otherwise dreamless, and thankfully terror free sleep. With her mind coming back to life, she realized her brain had slightly exaggerated the heat that her body was feeling, although it was still quite warm.

She looked around to gather her surroundings, noticing the green and black palette throughout the room. Her eyes drifted to the green comforter and silk sheets under her head.

Coming to full consciousness, her brain finally registered that she was woken up in Malfoy's room, with the boy draped completely over her body in his sleep. He had an arm around her waist, his other arm behind her head and under her pillow, and his legs tangled in hers. Not only was he snuggly in his sleep, he was also incredibly warm. Almost too warm for Hermione's liking right now.

She hardly lifted her head before it exploded in pain, causing her to see stars. She had to blink back the tears that were forming in the corner of her eye.

She felt Malfoy shift behind her as he started to wake up as well.

"Good morning," he whispered in her ear.

Hermione immediately winced in pain.

"Please stop shouting," she grumbled.

He chuckled softly in response. "I told you to go easy on the game, Granger. The hangovers afterward are brutal."

"Yes well, brutal might be too understated."

She tried to move again but her head roared in disapproval.

This was it. She was going to die here. She was going to die encompassed by Malfoy. There was no way she was going to be able to get up, let alone continue living. She wasn't going to be able to finish her Transfiguration essay that was due Monday. She wasn't going to be able to shower or have a proper meal ever again. Her life was over; she was doomed. Never again would she indulge in a drinking game. Or alcohol. No alcohol again for the rest of her life. Or parties. Or hell, friends! No friends meant no parties, which meant no alcohol, which meant no drinking games. That's the only way she was going to live through this; to swear off friends for the rest of her life.

The mattress groaned and shifted, cold air hitting her back as Malfoy slipped out of the bed. The sound of running water could be heard from somewhere that sounded like it was right next to her head.

Oh good was Malfoy going to drown her? He must be, because she would be a vegetable from now on. He was such a good friend.

A glass of water appeared in her eye line as Malfoy sat on the edge of the bed beside her.

"Here, drink this it'll help. I know you don't want to, but it will really help," he assured her when she groaned unwillingly.

Ignoring the pain shooting through her skull and resisting the urge to vomit in Malfoy's lap, Hermione slowly raised herself off the pillows enough to sip some of the water.

"Good girl," Malfoy nodded with approval. "Drink the whole thing. I'll get you a potion."

She chugged the rest of the water still fighting the urge to vomit.

"Fuck. I'm going to kill that prick," Malfoy hollered as he stomped out of the bathroom. "I'll be right back. Blaise took my goddamn hangover potions again. Just wait here."

Hermione slowly nodded her head as he left the room, not even bothering to put a shirt on.

Laying her head back on the pillows, Hermione's eyes roamed her surroundings. There didn't seem to be an item out of place, no undergarments strewn across the room, and she was still in her dress from last night, just her heels were off. Nothing seemed too suspicious.

Malfoy had been in a pair of pajama bottoms with no top. Surely if they had crazy drunken sex last night, he would've been naked, as would she. She was surprised to have woken up in Malfoy's bed, but she was happy to see that nothing had apparently happened between the two of them last night.

She had remembered being mesmerized by the drinking game she had gotten caught up in. She remembered laughing with the other Slytherins and sharing drinks with them. She remembered having to take a drink after only getting through three students in the circle before she hesitated with her descriptions. She remembered watching Malfoy laughing with Blaise across the room and meeting his gaze for a split second before she quickly looked away. She also remembered getting sleepy and sitting out a round.

What she did not remember, however, was how she had ended up in bed with Malfoy. How drunk had she been that she completely blacked out and forgot the last half of the evening? The last time she had gotten that drunk she had ended up on Harry's couch with Ron, so she knew she made bad choices when she drank too much. She couldn't believe that she let herself get swept up in a game and get that wasted with a room full of Slytherins.

She put her head in her hands and groaned out of pain and humiliation. She could only think of the ridiculous things that came out of her mouth last night. The filter between her brain and her mouth tended to malfunction when she was intoxicated.

Her retreating to Malfoy's room at the end of the night was also bound to have raised a few eyebrows as well. Although she had been in the presence of Slytherins, so maybe she wouldn't be judged too harshly. But then again, Slytherins were known to be the school gossips, so the whole school probably knew by then that she had spent the night with the blond.

Maybe this wouldn't be too bad. She had wanted to convince the school that they were a couple, and what better way than to get drunk at a party together and retire in the same bed at the end of the evening. She would have to just move past the embarrassment she was bound to feel when people asked her about it.

There was a slight commotion outside the door before it burst open. Hermione flinched from the pain her brain responded with from the noise of the heavy door hitting the wall.

"Theo, go away."

"Are you sure you don't want some coffee? Orange juice? It's truly a celebratory morning, wouldn't you say? Morning, Granger," Theo shouted from the doorway, toasting his glass of juice to her.

Hermione moaned in pain and sunk further down into the pillows, covering her ears in the same motion.

"Piss off, mate," Malfoy said as he shut the door directly in Theo's face, possibly hitting his nose in the process, as she heard a loud "ow" from outside the room. "Merlin, he is annoying. Him and Blaise took all my potions forcing me to talk with them about my night. Wankers," he huffed rolling his eyes.

"And how did your night go?" She asked, gulping down the potion he had handed to her.

"Entertaining enough for a Slytherin party," he shrugged, avoiding her eye.

Maybe she had been wrong and they did have sex. Now things would be all weird and complicated. They had just started becoming friends too, great.

He must have noticed the look on her face, because he quickly added, "No, don't worry we didn't do anything. You passed out on my lap and I brought you back here. We just slept."

Hermione let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Thank Merlin.

"Wait? I passed out on your lap?" She asked, finally fully sitting up against the headboard.

"How's your head feeling?" He asked completely ignoring her question.

The fogginess was dissipating and the pain was slowly subsiding. Her urge to vomit had also completely gone away, very quickly replaced with hunger.

"Better. I didn't give you like a lap dance or anything did I?" she asked slightly horrified.

Malfoy just snorted. "As entertaining as that would have been, no you did not, Granger."

He opened his top chest drawer and grabbed two shirts. He pulled one on and tossed the other in her direction. She didn't hesitate to put it on. She had been cold in her spaghetti strap dress and was feeling slightly vulnerable in last night's outfit. The sweater she pulled on was one of his Quidditch jerseys, big and baggy, falling mid thigh. She wasn't sure how she should feel wearing one of his shirts back to her room, but it was comfortable and warm. She just couldn't decide if wearing that or her dress back to her room was more mortifying.

"I'm heading to breakfast soon, if you want to meet there. After you, uh-" he gestured flippantly to her with a wave of his hand.

"Sure. Say about a half hour?" She quickly searched out for her heels, ready to be rid of this awkward situation.

"Alright see you then," he called over his shoulder, already heading to the bathroom.

After nearly sprinting to her room, trying to avoid any prying eyes, Hermione was relieved to be in the privacy of her room once again.

Almost too soon there was a knock on her door. Suppressing a groan, she opened the door to find Ginny on the other side.

Taking in Hermione's outfit, Ginny quickly pushed Hermione inside the room and shut the door behind her.

"So it's true then?" Ginny asked with wide eyes.

"What exactly are people saying?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"That you got plastered, mounted Malfoy at the party and practically dragged him to his room where you engaged in crazy monkey sex."

Hermione snorted while she turned and began to get undressed. She could not wait to get out of the dress that reeked of Firewhisky.

"People really are inventive aren't they?" She gazed into her drawers trying to decide what would be appropriate to wear for the day. She almost considered on putting Malfoy's jumper back on, just to see the shocked faces of everyone at breakfast. In the end she settled on jeans and one of the sweaters Molly had knitted her for Christmas.

Ginny was sitting at Hermione's desk casually flipping through a potions textbook. "Oh so none of that happened?"

Hermione looked in the mirror at the birds nest she called hair. After a few disagreements with her brush, she decided to just pull it into a messy bun since today was just a study day.

"Well the plastered part did. I got trapped in a drinking game and had a few too many. But Malfoy and I did not have sex last night," she responded, looking under her bed for her shoes.

"So what was with the outfit this morning? Come back here and just immediately pass out?" Ginny really did have quite the tendency to launch an interrogation, always under the guise of friendly conversation.

"Well, I did stay in his room. But nothing happened," she added quickly when Ginny raised her brow.

Ginny studied her as if she was unsure if Hermione's story was true or not. She could feel her face start to redden under Ginny's stare. Finally Ginny shrugged and stood up.

"Alright, fine. Let's head to breakfast. I'm starved!"

…..

Draco had expected the stares and whispers when he first entered the Great Hall. He even knew they would start back up again when Granger joined him, but it had been over a half hour and the attention did not die down. It was really starting to annoy him.

After Granger had ran from his room, Theo and Blaise had immediately barged in demanding answers. When Draco denied that they had been physical, Theo looked personally offended.

"You know Granger has gotten quite good looking lately, and while I don't find myself directly attracted to her, I'm starting to believe you aren't either."

"Theo, you've been here for a week. What the hell do you know?" Draco challenged as he sat down to lace up his shoes.

"Well, honestly not much. But I spent a good chunk of the evening with Granger and she is quite the catch. I mean, those legs," he emphasized this by fanning himself with a piece of parchment.

"It's none of your business, nosey," Draco retorted.

"Well excuse me for taking a personal interest in my friends sex life. I haven't seen you, or really anyone in 5 months! You have to give me something!" Theo looked completely put out draped across Draco's bed.

"I tried talking to him weeks ago about it, but he won't give anything up. He's taking it slow," Blaise informed Theo with a smirk on his lips.

"Slow? What are you a middle aged widow?"

Draco sighed as he stood up. "Granger and I decided that we are going to keep private things… private. Not everyone needs to know what's going on."

He was still unsure where they had stood with telling their friends about their 'relationship'. They had initially decided to keep their friends in the dark so as to make their ruse more believable, but now he was unsure what to do since his feelings were getting tangled and complicated. She had said before that he would have to do the story telling about their sex life, but for some reason it didn't feel right to tell his friends that him and Granger had done anything while she was completely inebriated. He felt like people would think he had just taken advantage of her, which he was sure was a quick way to start a fight with her.

Draco sighed again once he realized he would have to play into their hands. "Once we do anything, I will be sure to fill you in on the details. Some details," he stressed knowing that Theo will demand every single detail Draco could give.

Blaise's smile grew as Draco had just practically confirmed his thoughts. "So you are taking it slow. This is quite interesting, Draco."

"It just hasn't come up. We just… It's not… shut up!" He finally settled on.

Thankfully after a proper laugh, Theo and Blaise had dropped his sex life from their conversation for the rest of the morning.

Theo and Blaise seemed to have been the only ones, however, as the rest of the school seemed to be captivated with what happened when Draco took Granger to his room last night.

Granger was taking the whole thing in stride and was practically ignoring everyone else entirely. She was currently moderating a debate between Ginny and Blaise about illegal maneuvers in Quidditch, not that Granger even knew that much about Quidditch.

Draco, however, had a harder time blocking people out. As much as he tried to participate in the conversation, he would hear a quip from someone at the next table and get swept up in the whispers.

"I heard she practically forced herself on him in the common room," one person whispered.

"I heard she kept slipping love potion into his drinks all night," another speculated.

People were really desperate for drama. Ever since the war ended, it seemed like the students were practically demanding someone start some sort of excitement for their entertainment.

Draco shook his head and tried to block them out again.

"Zabini, you can't just go elbowing people willy nilly. That's a sure way to get taken out," Ginny reprimanded.

"What if they're being a complete twat and try to get past me?" Blaise questioned as if he hadn't played a game of Quidditch in his life.

Granger giggled. "Blaise, it's not like rugby. Plus you're nearly 10 meters in the sky, it's not completely safe."

Blaise and Draco stared at her bewildered.

"What in the fuck is rugby?" Blaise asked, completely puzzled.

"You know," Theo started as if Blaise hadn't spoken. "I caught the Snitch once. Wasn't even playing Seeker! Can you believe it?" He chuckled to himself, taking a sip of his pumpkin juice.

"Oh really?" Draco asked fully interested in the statement. "What happened after you caught it?"

"Oh they kicked me out of the game and banned me from ever returning. How exciting though, right?"

The group threw their heads back in laughter.

"Theo, you completely twit," Blaise gasped while clutching his side.

"What did you expect to happen, you dummy?" Ginny asked still laughing.

Theo, who seemed completely unaffected his stupidity, shrugged while he responded, "Not entirely sure. I've never seen it done before. It flew right in my face and I thought, 'hell, why not'?"

"There are specific positions for a reason, nitwit," Draco said joining in, thoroughly enjoying the badgering of Theo.

"I know practically nothing about Quidditch and I know you can't just do that," Granger supplied, also clearly enjoying this.

"Yes, well I can never return, so my lesson has been learned. In truth I was quite bored up there playing Keeper and wanted to head home for lunch. Which is precisely what happened. I had a B.L.T.," Theo stated matter of factly, returning to his oatmeal.

The group collectively cracked up again.

Not long after, everyone started to break off to head to their respective activities for the day.

It was when they were collecting their bags that Draco was unable to shut out the whispers again.

"They say they're dating, but without her two sidekicks I'm sure she's just crazed for male attention and is making it all up."

"Why would she want to date him anyway? He sided with You-Know-Who, didn't he?"

"I hear that he's desperate to get off and she's the only one he could get to agree to fuck him."

"I heard that about her!"

Before he could hear anymore, Draco grabbed Granger's face and pulled her to him, his lips colliding with hers. Her initial shock wore off quickly, her lips softening under his.

What meant to be a quick firm kiss, slowly started to change form. The second her lips touched his, he threw out all his intentions and decided to linger in the kiss. He took his time with the kiss, moving his lips slowly over hers. Her hands came to rest on his hips as he lightly slid his tongue across her bottom lip.

Just as quickly as it had happened, he pulled back, ending the kiss. His eyes, however, stayed connected with hers for a few moments longer.

Someone cleared their throat, reminding Draco that they were in a room full of other people, although it had felt like they were alone behind that tapestry again. Draco had better move before he did something he would regret, in front of the whole school no doubt.

His lips turned up in his signature smirk as he gazed down at Granger. She looked just as confused as he felt, albeit even more confused since he had kissed her out of nowhere after he had insisted on no PDA.

He gave her a quick peck on the tip of her nose and gave her temples a tiny scratch with his index fingers before letting go.

"Have a pleasant time in the library, darling. I'll see you later." He threw a wink over his shoulder for good measure before flinging his bag over his shoulder and sauntering out of the room.

The silence in the room behind him was deafening.

a/n: Two chapters in a week? Who am I?

This chapter is dedicated to Ihateronhestheworst. Although I don't share in your hate of Ron, your constant reviews make me giggle.

As always reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!