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Chapter 27 –

Draco never meant for it to happen. How did it happen? He looked around the unfamiliar room, at first completely unaware of his surroundings, and when realization hit him, he cursed himself under his breath. Damn, he had never meant to fall asleep. It was apparent, with the bright sunlight imposing itself in the room and on its inhabitants, that it was morning. He fell asleep, wasting precious time with Granger, and now it was morning. Where was the justice? There was one good thing about falling asleep, and that was waking up with her in his arms. He looked at her as she slept in his arms, and he felt at peace. He brought his free hand up to touch her face. Yes, she was real. He just wanted reassurance that he had not dreamt everything that happened yesterday.

She shifted slightly, and threw her leg and arm over his body. He smiled, biting his bottom lip. He could get used to waking up with her in his arms. She shifted again, and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes quickly.

Hermione opened her eyes, and the awareness of what happened yesterday hit her like a ton of bricks. He was real. He was there with her, in Ginny's childhood bed, and everything that happened yesterday and last night, was real. She moved her leg from across his body, and looked at his sleeping face. He was so handsome, even in the morning. She reached over and touched his hair. Why was it he looked so perfect?

She wondered what time it was. She did not want anyone to discover that he and she shared a bed last night, even though the reality was something much more. No one ever need know Draco and Hermione made love together last night. It was really nobody's business. Should she wake him, or should she just let him sleep?

He rolled to his side, trapping her body between him and the wall. He put his hand on her stomach, and his leg went completely over hers. Now what should she do? What if Harry took that moment to walk in and wake her? Draco pulled her body closer, and nuzzled his face in her neck. He was so sweet, at least when he was asleep. The hand on her stomach moved slightly to rest under her breasts. She turned to watch his face. It was still completely relaxed. She shut her eyes. Maybe she could get a few more minutes of sleep.

"Oh," he said. She opened her eyes again. With his eyes still shut, he pulled her even closer, if possible. His body was almost resting on top of hers, and he was softly kissing her neck, with his eyes closed. "That's good, sweetheart," he said. Hermione grinned. He must be dreaming about her. He said, "Yes, you taste so good in the morning, Daphne." Hermione frowned. Who the hell was Daphne? He was kissing her cheek and he muttered, "No one compares to you, my love, my sweet, darling Daphne."

Hermione sat up abruptly, hitting and kicking him so hard, that he fell out of bed. He started to laugh, as she asked, "Who is Daphne? Daphne Greengrass?" She climbed out of bed, and tried to step over his body. He grabbed her ankle. She tried to pull it from him, as he continued to laugh. "Let me go, Draco! Go back to your pleasant dreams of Daphne!"

He got up on his knees, and he tackled her, careful to pull her over on top of him, instead of having her hit the floor. She landed on top of him, on the floor, in a heap. He moved to his back, holding her tight against his chest. He had an evil smile pasted on his face and he said, "You're so gullible. I woke up before you. I was only feigning sleep. I was actually going to pretend to be sleeping, and see how far you would let me get before you found me out, but then I thought of this little joke, and I couldn't help myself. Forgive me, Granger." He reached his face to hers and kissed her gently. She pushed against his chest.

"Let me go, you evil creature!" she said.

"Tell me you love me first," he said.

"I don't even like you anymore!" she said. She hit him on his face, but it was more of a love slap than an affliction of pain.

"Tell me you can't live without me," he said. He tried to kiss her again.

She pushed even harder against him and said, "No, for that's not the truth. I can live fine without you, you idiot!" As they tossed, turned, and rolled around on the floor, someone came into the room.

"Did you fall out of bed? We heard a thump," Ginny said, closing the door behind her and snickering.

"Lord, let me go, Draco," Hermione said. He was more determined than ever to hold her tight.

"Granger likes it rough in the morning, and I was just obliging her," Draco told Ginny.

Ginny grinned and said, "Yeah, right. Whatever, none of the rest of the family is awake yet, since it's just a wee bit after seven, just Harry and I, but Mum will probably be awake any minute, so either go back to your room, Draco, or both of you come on downstairs." Ginny flitted from the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Let me go," Hermione said, with no conviction. She laid her head on his chest, having already given up the fight.

He rolled over, so he was on top, and she was on the ground. "I thought you already knew, I'm never letting you go, Granger," he said. He leaned over her, and kissed her jaw line. He kissed down one side, up the other, ending at her lips. He played with her lips for a moment, before his true intentions were clear. He intended to kiss her all morning, if that was possible. He started kissing her, and she started responding, her hands coming up around his neck, to play with the back of his hair. Only when another knock came to the door, did they stop.

"I hate this family. Must they always interrupt?" he whispered.

"I love this family, and that's what happens in a big family," she whispered back. She kissed him once more, and then extradited her body from underneath his long, lithe frame.

"Coming," she said to the person on the other side of the door. She opened the door to reveal Mrs. Weasley standing in the hall. Unfortunately, she opened the door wide enough so that Draco could be seen on the floor of the room.

"Good morning, Hermione dear," she said. She looked around Hermione's body and said, "Good morning, Draco, sweetheart. I wanted to know what you two would like to have for breakfast."

Draco stood up and said, "I love waffles."

"Waffles for Draco," Mrs. Weasley smiled. "Any fruit, dear?"

"Blueberries?" Draco asked, standing behind Hermione at the door.

"Blueberries it is," Mrs. Weasley said as she smiled, cupping Draco's cheek. Draco turned toward Hermione, gave her a satisfied look, as if to say, 'all mothers love me,' and he walked over to the bathroom, to get his shower.

Hermione said, "Mrs. Weasley, I want you to know, while Draco did technically sleep in this room with me last night, we didn't have sex in here, or anything." She did not need to know about what happened in the twin's old room.

Mrs. Weasley smiled and said, "Goodness, dear, I hardly think that matters at this stage of the game, and frankly, I think you were crazy not to take advantage of him last night. If I were you, I would have. He is quite the looker. He has a very fit body, too. Now, what do you want for breakfast?"

Hermione stood there, mouth opened, in utter shock and astonishment. Mrs. Weasley thought Draco had a nice body! She thought they SHOULD have had sex! Hermione finally said, "Oatmeal's fine."

Mrs. Weasley smiled at her, said, "Oatmeal for Hermione," and walked downstairs. Hermione stayed in the doorway, mouth still agape, still stunned.

Harry walked toward the bathroom and cursed. "Damn, I never get the bathroom first around here, even when I wake up early!" He turned to look at Hermione. "Hermione, are you okay?" he asked.

She acted as if she didn't hear him. He walked up to her and asked again, "Tell me, Hermione, is something wrong?"

She looked at Harry, and then grabbed his arm and pulled him in the room. She shut the door and said, "Oh my goodness, Harry, Draco and I had sex last night!"

"Yuck! Why?" he asked, pushing her slightly with both hands. She came back and pushed him.

"Harry!" she said.

He actually pushed her for a second time and said, "Why did you have to tell me that? You don't understand! I don't want to imagine you two doing things like that! I never, ever would let Ron talk about you like that, and you never tried to talk about Ron, so I was living in a very comfortable place, and now you have ruined it by telling me you slept with Malfoy!"

"It's not like I gave you a play by play!" she said.

"But why did you tell me?" he asked. He made a disgusted face, stuck out his tongue, and sat on the bed. Then he jumped off the bed, turning to look at it, and said, "Is that the scene of the crime? Gross! I sat on it!"

"Harry, it happened in George's old room," she said. She sat on the bed and he came to join her, looking at the bed once more, almost as if he did not believe her.

Sitting down beside her finally, he put his arm around her and said, "Why did you tell me? I'm sure Ginny would have been a better person to tell."

"It's like I just realized it, when Mrs. Weasley said that she thought Draco was quite shaggable. That was when it hit me," Hermione wailed.

Harry jumped from the bed and said, "What the bloody hell are you talking about now? Molly said she wanted to shag Malfoy?"

"Harry!" Hermione said, standing beside him, "Keep your voice down, and she didn't say she wanted to, she said she thought he was desirable, and she more or less said she could see why I would want to, and that's when it hit me that we did, we did, Harry, we really did." She started shaking Harry's shoulders, and she kept saying, "We had sex! Harry, Malfoy and I had sex!"

Finally, Harry removed her hands from his shoulders, and put his on hers. "Calm, down Hermione. You can take a nice long shower, and get all the Malfoy germs off you, and maybe then I can modify your memory, and everything will go back to normal, and we can all once again live in a Malfoy free zone."

Hermione frowned at Harry and said, "I don't want to forget, you stupid idiot!" She walked out to the hall, as Draco was walking out of the bathroom. She passed him without a glance, and slammed the bathroom door. Draco turned to look at Harry, accusing him with his glare.

"What did you do to make her angry, Potter?" Draco asked.

Harry merely gave Draco a dirty look and went to bang on the bathroom door, and said, "First, Hermione, this conversation isn't over with! Second, I am not an idiot! Third, I was next in line for the shower!"

Draco turned in the doorway, towel around his hips, and he said, "What has your wand in a knot, Potter?"

Harry gave Malfoy a death glare and said, "I don't see what Mrs. Weasley sees in you!" and he stormed back downstairs.

Draco stood perplexed in the doorway, wondering what that was about, and then he shrugged and went to get dressed. On his bed was a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt. Freshly washed, and just his size. He smiled. Mrs. Weasley must have put them there. Potter must be jealous that Mrs. Weasley liked Draco better than him.

He got dressed, and went to wait for Hermione in her room. She came sauntering in, towel around her body, another one in her hands, rubbing her hair. She had yet to see him sitting on the bed. She was humming. She looked up and said, "I could have been naked, Malfoy."

"I was counting on that." He grinned. He stood up and said, "One little movement of my hand, and we could even arrange that."

"Funny, but get out while I find something to wear. I hope Ginny has something for me," Hermione said, opening a couple of drawers.

"If Mrs. Weasley liked you as much as she did me, she would have put out freshly washed clothes for you. See, these were waiting for me," Draco said, holding the t-shirt away from his chest.

"She loves you, alright," Hermione said under her breath. She went over to the closet. Draco stood behind her. He held out a light pink cotton summer sundress.

"Wear this. It's very pretty."

She took it from his hand. It was very pretty. She saw it still had a tag on it and she said, "No, I already wore her new pajamas last night. I will not wear her new sundress. There are some jean shorts in the drawer, although she's smaller than me, so I don't know if they'll fit."

Draco took the dress from her hand, and walked out in the hall. Ginny was starting toward the bathroom. "Little Red, can Granger wear this today?"

"Sure, it'll look pretty on her. It is not really my colour, anyway. My sister-in-law bought it for me, that's why it's in this closet, and not at my house. Tell her she can keep it," Ginny said, shutting the bathroom door.

Harry ran up the stairs, and said, "Damn! Who's in the bathroom now?"

"Your wife," Draco said, rolling his eyes. He turned to walk back in Hermione's bedroom and Harry took a hold of his arm. Draco looked back at him.

"Listen, Malfoy, in all seriousness, please don't hurt Hermione in anyway. Please, be kind to her, treat her right, and love her the way she deserves to be loved."

Draco smiled. "I will, Potter. Hey, if I were you, I would stake my claim at the bathroom, by standing right where you are, by the door. That way, you're sure to be next," Draco said. He smiled and walked back in Hermione's room.

Hermione was sitting on the bed, combing her hair, when Draco handed her the dress. "Here, Ginny said to keep it, she doesn't even like it. Apparently, it was a gift from Fleur, oh, and Potter just gave us his blessing, in his own way."

Hermione stood up beside him and said, "Really?"

"Yes, she said she hated the colour," Draco said.

"No, I mean, about Harry? How do you know?" Hermione inquired.

He put his arms around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. His hand went flat on the skin of her upper back, above the towel, which was still damp from her wet hair. He said, "He just told me to treat you right, and I told him, in my own way, that I would."

"Thank you," she said. She kissed his cheek.

He started to kiss her, but he stopped when Mrs. Weasley yelled up the stairs one word: "BREAKFAST!!"

He let her go and said, "Hurry, Granger! Blueberry waffles!" He ran downstairs, and she stood in the middle of the room, holding the pink sundress, laughing at his retreating figure.

She said to herself, "I hope he's picking the waffles over me and not Mrs. Weasley over me." She shut the bedroom door to dress and said, "I'm jealous of waffles!"

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