June 1999

The soft snores of Pansy Parkinson brought a grin to his lips. She drooled like a teething puppy when she was completely out of it; one of the many reasons why he hardly ever shared her bed once they'd been at it.

Draco left her sleeping peacefully, intent on seeking out his friends to carry on the celebrations; there was much to congratulate themselves on this year. Staying out of Azkaban being one of the main causes for euphoria.

It came at a price, of course.

A price tag of a big, dramatic thank you and a handshake aimed at none other than the famous Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. The pair of them had only gone and defended half of the Slytherin population of the school, deeming them to have taken the wrong side under duress.

That was half true, of course.

Fear and knowing no better were the main reasons.

None of his friends had headed back to the dungeons, so he made his way up the drafty, winding staircase and managed to get close to the entrance to the Great Hall before he felt it. It was odd, really. A small, tingling sensation that manifested itself in the middle of his stomach, making him feel like something was a-miss. Like something was coming.

He could feel the sensation starting to burn away at him, like he needed to do something drastic, but he was not sure what. He could feel the burning taking over him, the tingling sensations starting to work their way into his fingers, his toes.

"Honestly Ronald, I am quite capable of walking by myself-"

"You don't know what was in that punch – it could have been anything –"

A blast of red hair and curls bombarded Draco's eyeline and he stopped automatically at the door to the Hall as the students behind the hair came walking through the opening.

He stopped.

She stopped.

She was wearing teal.

He had noticed that earlier on; noticed it made the colour of her hair look a little lighter than her usual tawny colour. The long curls only accentuated this.

Not that he paid much attention to her.

Her outline had just caught his gaze.

And his body continued to tingle.

"Oh, hello Malfoy." Granger's greeting was present, but her body language looked uncomfortable, like she was suffering with a stomach ache. She rubbed across her ribs and frowned.

"Been a decent evening." He replied with a curt nod towards them both.

Thank fuck, the sensations were starting to die away again. Slowly, but they were definitely starting to recede.

"Yeah, not been bad," Weasley scratched his nose and threw an arm around Granger's shoulders. "Glad I stayed away from the punch though, I think someone spiked it."

And as Weasley pulled the girl away with a casual nod and a 'goodbye', Draco narrowed his eyes. Pretty sure who the 'someone' who spiked the punch might have been.

June 2010 – Present Day

What the fuck was that?

Draco sat in his office chair, taking large gulps of water from his flask, and tried to calm himself down. His stomach had felt like it was doing flip-flops as soon as he recognised the form of Hermione Granger walking towards him down the corridor. It was like his body was on autopilot as soon as he got close; his eyes felt like they were practically devouring her as she got closer to him.

And fuck, she smelled so good. She always smelled good, but his senses seemed to heighten as they came within a foot of each other, and he could smell nothing but mangoes and coconuts. He fucking loved the smell of mangoes and coconuts.

Her eyes met his and he could feel his temperature catapult. Those hypnotising hazel colours of hers making him see nothing but the flecks of gold that swirled into the black. She smiled and offered him a 'Happy Birthday' – he had felt his palms sweat.

Draco could hold his own.

He could always hold his own.

He could play the cool part and simply sit back and watch without a woman even realising that they were being watched. Granger must have wondered what the fuck was up with him to react like that around her.

And the worst part? Even he didn't fucking know.

Never in his whole fucking life had he ever heard his voice soundthatdeep before. It was fucking embarrassing. He was a (now) thirty-year-old man; not a horny seventeen-year-old boy that could not control his hormones.

Not that he would have thought that not half an hour ago, as he practically salivated over a woman that he had no right to be salivating over in the middle of a Ministry corridor.

Fuck.

He was fucked.

And worse of all, he would have to see her at tea tonight with his friends and family there to witness his absolute humiliation when she told them all that he practically growled at her like a fucking grizzly bear.

Shit.

He was never going to get over this.

Ever.

"Nothing's wrong, I just didn't sleep very well." Hermione sniped at Blaise and Theo during dinner as they commented on her being extra tetchy that day. "Must have been something I ate last night."

"David from HR's cock, by any chance?" Blaise sniggered into his salad.

Theodore giggled like a little girl.

Hermione blanched. "Good god, no." She shook her head and gave both men a disapproving look. "Thanks to Malfoy for pointing out some rather shallow genetic traits, I found myself unable to continue with our evening."

Blaise gave a small snort and then looked at Theo. "Speaking of that annoying little prick, what did he say he was doing for dinner today?" He shoved a portion of egg salad into his mouth. "Not like him to miss dinner, especially on a day like today."

Hermione gave an exceedingly small involuntary shiver, but it did not go un-noticed.

She felt Theodore's eyes on her with curiosity as he spoke. "He said he had some work to catch up on before tonight – he doesn't want to be taking work home with him on his birthday, apparently."

"Work?" Blaise asked. "Draco? Work? Fuck off, he does fuck all except sit under that permanent black cloud of his all day and sulk until it's time to go home."

Another shudder, the tiniest of movements.

She could feel both men now glancing over at her.

"Cold, Hermione?" Blaise asked her curiously.

Oh, good excuse. "Yes." She nodded and threw a cardigan over her shoulders. Far less noticeable.

What she had not counted on however, was the way her body seemed to react in small outbursts whenever the name Draco Malfoy was mentioned today.

Her brain had yet to fully process what had happened to her this morning. It was like a small surge of electricity had gripped her; she felt compelled to look at him, to keep her eyes on him. It was something she could not explain; something she did not feel that she could explain, even if she wanted to.

She just hoped that her lack of control over her own body had not been obvious. Could only hope that he did not realise the type of affect his presence seemed to have on her this morning.

She would die if the reason he had chosen not to come to dinner was because of her ridiculous behaviour. She had half hoped that he had not even noticed that small state that she had gotten herself into.

She was hoping it was his aftershave. It was new. It must have been his aftershave… maybe it had some sort of natural aphrodisiac component to it? Or maybe it was just through lack of sleep and her mind was working overtime and this was all just in her head.

She could only hope.

A Friday night dinner at the Malfoy residence was a rare occasion of late, but no less extravagant when Narcissa Malfoy pulled out all of the stops.

The place was spotless, the cutlery was top notch, and the food was something to behold. The large fountain of never-ending Champagne out on the Balcony to the dining hall was also sight to behold, changing colour every few seconds in spectacular fashion.

His friends were all in their Sunday best's, fitting in with the lush surroundings of the Manor. Draco was only thankful that he was able to opt for the casual look these days where he resided in his little crooked little Cottage in Bibury, The Cotswolds. There were no fancy airs or graces or shows that he had to put on for anyone; he could just be himself.

Everyone was nearly there now.

Weasley was stood near the Champagne fountain, drooling over his mother from a distance. Draco had pre-warned him that he would cut his bollocks off if he even hinted at any sexualised banter towards Narcissa – Pansy found it fucking hilarious.

Potter had turned up with the Weaslette. She was heavily pregnant and had done nothing but complain about her feet since she had got there, forcing Narcissa to make a fuss over her and give her the comfy seat at the dining table.

Draco's comfy seat.

He was not happy.

"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time." He had grumbled. Which had then promptly earned him a smack over the back of the head from the now Mrs Potter.

Blaise and Luna were stood talking to his father, who had been telling them about the enchanted ceiling above them, and how it was an almost replica of the one from Hogwarts. It had cost his father a small fortune for someone to re-create it and it was his most prized possession to date.

Theodore was sat at the dining table already, twiddling his thumbs and downing his fourth-no, fifth glass of champagne.

He was clearly on edge and kept glancing in Draco's direction every now and again. Draco had not asked, but he did half wonder if Theo's behaviour had anything at all to do with Draco's previous behaviour from this morning.

Behaviour that he had most definitely put behind him.

There would be no repeat. It left him feeling out of sorts and completely unlike himself. He did not like it one bit.

The doors to the dining room swung open behind Draco then, and without even looking behind him he immediately knew who had entered.

He didn't know how, but it was like he could feel her. He just knew she was there. His neck hairs were on end again, forcing him to take deep breaths and gain control of himself before he let the feeling attack him from the inside out like it had that morning.

His father was suddenly in front of him, a mischievous smile plastered to his face and his eyes were looking right in what Draco could only have assumed what would have been Granger's direction.

"Oh, look who just turned up." Lucius said in a low voice.

"Don't you even bloody dare." Draco shot him a pointed look, meanwhile trying to get his body temperature under control.

"What do you take me for?" Lucius asked him with a quirk of his eyebrow. "Do you think I'd be that desperate to embarrass myonlychild? Myonlyson who is still an eligibly single Batchelor and now thirty and probably looking to settle down and have lots of babies-"

"I swear-" Draco gritted out quietly, his eyes warning.

"-think of theirhair, Draco." Lucius said rather wistfully for a second with a coy grin on his lips. "Blonde curls…justimagine."

"I don't want to imagine." His tone was deadpan. He had been over this so many bloody times it was becoming a joke. "If you even say one syllable to her tonight about-"

"Miss Granger!" Lucius shouted loudly over the top of his son, completely ignoring him. "Lovely to see you!"

And then he was off in a billow of black robes and Draco could only assume that handshakes and French air kisses were exchanged between the pair.

He could only assume, because he could not bring himself to turn around and look for fear that he embarrassed himself again like he did this morning.

He just had to get through this dinner unscathed. If he could do that, he could get back to his quiet little cottage and get his head on right. For some reason, being around Granger twice in less than twenty-four hours seemed to be having a larger impact on him than usual.

Just fucking breathe…

That's all he had to do.

Just make it through the next few hours with his dignity intact.

She could not do this.

Even from this distance, she could still smell his aftershave.

He had yet to even acknowledge her presence. He had not turned around to welcome her or even just give her a friendly smile. Shit … had she really let herself go so overboard this morning that he could no longer look at her without feeling disgusted by her presence?

Surely, she did not make that big of a fool of herself?

After all, he had told her that he would see her tonight. He had made that prolonged eye contact with her that sent shivers down her spine.

Maybe he was just being polite?

Oh, this was just an embarrassing and overly thought-about situation that she did not need to be in.

Especially when she had Lucius Malfoy currently in her ear and leading her to the dinner table as he talked to her about her holiday plans and whether she was ever partial to visiting Athens in the Summer.

"Draco has a little Villa there, tucked away in a quiet spot, don't you son?"

Annoyed grey eyes and a grunt were all Lucius Malfoy was going to get out of his Son as everybody started to take their seats at the dinner table. Hermione somehow found herself being manoeuvred around the table, closer and closer to Draco until –

He looked up at her with an unreadable expression and Lucius pulled out the chair and practically pushed her own onto it.

As the chair was pushed in, she spotted Malfoy's body tensing next to her, like this was the worst thing that could possibly happen to him. His right hand clenched into a fist next to her on the table before he flexed it again.

"Granger." He sounded annoyed. His voice was low, and she tried not to let it do things to her.

God, this was so fucking embarrassing.

"Malfoy." What else could she say? It did not seem like he wanted her to say anything more.

Instead, she concentrated on the champagne glass that had been placed in front of her, swallowing half of the contents in order to right herself.

This was absolutely ridiculous. She had never been like this around Draco Malfoy, and she was not about to start now.

Maybe it was the aftershave.

From here, it overpowered her senses and seemed to be sending her into overdrive.

She looked over the dinner table to find Theodore already watching her intently.

Oh God… had Draco mentioned something to him about this morning? Had he mocked her for the way she tripped over her words when she spoke to him? Had he been laughing at her?

His eyes flitted for a second from herself and over to Draco. Then he shook his head and held his champagne glass up into the air, just as Lucius Malfoy announced-

"To Draco!"

"To Draco!" Everyone chorused.

Hermione took another sip and swallowed before leaning forward slightly to put her glass on the table. "To you." She said quietly without looking at him. "Many happy returns."

As she leaned back, she stretched her neck to one side slightly, needing to free a knot that had worked its way there with the anxiety of coming to his party that night and having to see him again; having to face him after this morning.

"Don't do that."

She held in the gasp that was stuck in her throat.

Thatvoice.

That deep hum that she had heard this morning that had made her insides turn to molten lava. Low and dark and intoxicating.

Not the tone she usually associated with Malfoy at all.

And she still could not look at him.

"Your neck." He emphasized; voice still low. "You need to stop. Now."

Hermione blew out a small breath, unaware that little things like that could annoy him. It was rude almost, but she did not dare to berate him in his own Manor in front of his own parents.

There was a time and place, and this most certainly was not it.

She eventually did it, then.

She chanced a quick glance to her side. She needed to look at him; needed to read the expression on his face.

It had been a long time since Malfoy had held any sort of contempt for her. If she had offended him this morning, then she certainly had not meant it; she would apologise in private later if that was indeed the case for his current hostility towards her.

His jaw was tense. His eyes appeared to be looking ahead of him, looking past Theodore on the other side of them. He appeared to be in deep concentration as his breathing was just a little heavier than normal. And he was wearing a navy waistcoat with a navy tie and a white shirt. A look she could not deny that she favourited on him when he wore it.

It sent her spiralling.

She looked ahead again, attempting to gain control of herself. No idea why such little things seemed to be effecting her so badly. This was getting ridiculous.

She missed the look of utter panic on Theodore Nott's face.

It took Draco a fair amount of restraint to compose himself over the hour and a half that everyone was sat at the Manor's dinner table.

When the starters had arrived – Lucius adding that the oysters were a nice aphrodisiac, giving Draco a small wink – Draco had just about enough will power left to eat his food in silence, able to keep his eye direction on his plate.

When the main course was brought out, his distraction became apparent every time Granger moved about in her seat.

He caught flashes of her thigh in that little black dress she just so happened to be wearing. The one that showed off her best assets. The one he had admitted to himself that she looked half decent in. Those small flashes appeared to set off small ripples of emotion; arousal being the main one.

Caught completely off guard by the onslaught of emotion that attacked him, he could do nothing more than sit slouched over his dinner plate and try to ignore the smell of mangoes. A fucking hard task when all he wanted to do was inhale the smell of her that lingered in the air around him.

Fuck, when she had been forced to sit down next to him earlier, he thought she would be able to see right through him straight away. He did not have his head on straight and he certainly did not build up his walls high enough for the tidal wave of hormones that seemed to barrel towards him. He knew if he looked at her or spoke to her then she would know. She was a clever witch, after all.

And it was nothing short of embarrassing.

As soon as she exposed her neck inthatway though, he had to do something. He had to put her off before he gave into the urge of leaning into her and nipping at that exposed collarbone of hers.

It set his fucking body on fire and all he could do was look at her and try to process the fact that she was sat next to him, innocently easing the pressure in her neck. And all he could think about was fuck-

Ah, shit…

That was when it had all gone wrong.

He had opened his mouth and low and behold,thattone of voice had come out of him. It had taken him by surprise as much as her.

He could tell by the way she tensed herself that she had not expected him to speak like that in that tone twice in one day. Had he scared her? He could not tell; only knew that she had ceased her activity almost immediately and had then proceeded to sit next to him like a deer caught in headlights for the remainder of the meal.

He had not meant to sound so forceful but fuck, if she had continued then he did not know what he would have ended up doing or saying. He just knew that she needed to stop.

They were halfway through desert when Draco felt the need to sit on his hands. His fingers had been shaking his spoon as he happened to chance a glance in her direction and watched as she sucked on a strawberry from her Sundae ice-cream.

Again, a seemingly innocent gesture.

But all that whizzed through Draco's mind was how many different parts of his body would havelovedto have been that particular strawberry at that particular moment in time. And so, he sat on his hands and kept his eyes directly in front of him.

To where Theodore seemed to be put off his dinner by something.

Probably Draco's leering at Granger as she innocently tucked into her food.

God, he was turning into a fucking loser.

He needed to get shagged.

That would sort him right out.

Unfortunately, the word shag, the thought of that fucking strawberry and Granger's presence next to him suddenly bombarded his senses, leading him to let out a small groan.

Shiiiiit.

He coughed, trying his best to conceal the small outburst.

It appeared to have worked.

No one appeared to have noticed.

Apart from Theo.

He looked like he was about to keel over and die.

This was absurd and it had to end.

Everyone appeared to be talking quietly and having a good time. Ronald had followed poor Narcissa around for half the evening, much to the watchful eyes of Draco.

Daggers were given more than once in his direction, especially after Ronald complimented her on her evening gown. Pansy however thought it was brilliant, if only to annoy Malfoy all the more.

Hermione was not sure things could get worse; until about twenty minutes previous when Lucius had taken her into the drawing room and proceeded to show her all the old family pictures; a young Draco included.

"Just look at that hair-" He had mused with a smile. "We're all blondes with pin straight hair in this family, Miss Granger." Hermione did not miss the way his eyes glanced towards her unruly curls. "Would make a nice change-"

"Father," Came the stern voice of the other Malfoy. "Mother wants you in the dining hall – something about after dinner mints?"

"Oh!" Lucius' face lit up. "I do love anAfter Eight-" And off he swept, leaving the pictures that he was showing Hermione on full view.

Hermione watched with a bite of her bottom lip as Draco glanced once at her before turning to head out of the door.

"I'm sorry." She blurted out before he could leave. He was her friend, after all. Regardless of what she was feeling, he was still her friend. "If I've offended you in some way with my behaviour then-"

He span around on the spot to look at her. His eyes were wide, like he had no idea what she was talking about. "Yourbehaviour?"

She took a deep breath, intent on explaining herself away. She was an adult. Adults talked about their problems instead of bottling them up.

Apparently…

"If I acted out of turn-"

"-You've not acted out of anything, Granger."

His voice was stern, and he took a few steps towards her. Every step he took made her feel less out of control of herself. "I'm sorry if-" And then he went quiet as he looked over her shoulder curiously. "-are those my family pictures?"

Taken aback, Hermione flushed. "Your father got them out. Started showing them to me."

Draco rolled his eyes, hands in his pockets. "I'll bet he bloody did…"

Hermione turned to look at a small portrait that Lucius had stood up of the family of three. Draco in the middle on his father's knee. He could have only been around six or seven at the most.

"Can't imagine that such a cute little boy like that could turn into…well…" Her hand gestured towards him. "That."

"A six foot six stud of a man?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

Well… at least he was talking to her now. She did not think that she would ever not like the silent treatment from Draco Malfoy.

And then her brain caught on. "Six footsix?" She whistled with a laugh. "A whole foot and two inches taller than me."

"What I lack in brains, I make up for in brawn." He shrugged his shoulders at her. "Although I am sure my father would have preferred that it were the other way around."

Hermione tutted. "Come off it, your father idolises you."

Draco snorted. "Not half as much as he idolises you though, apparently."

Hermione shook her head with a small laugh. "Oh he clearly favours me, but Lucius worships the ground you walk on." She told him pointedly. "He was proudly showing you off to me not five minutes ago. He has quite the catalogue of all of your accomplishments over the years."

She turned to see a small smile appearing on his lips that almost set her nerve endings alight. "He might not seem it, but he's quite nostalgic at times, my father." Malfoy said in a quiet voice as she finally felt his presence coming to stand beside her.

"Aren't we all?" She asked, her quiet tone matching his. Her shoulder was almost touching his arm now.

"I don't like to get nostalgic." Draco told her with an expression she could not quite place.

"Too many bad memories of bad times for that."

The room was quiet for a few minutes as they both viewed the pictures on the desk in front of them. The atmosphere changed like the flick of a switch on her.

Everything suddenly seemed to charge with electric as he stood close to her, yet apart. Hermione noticed that the strange static she felt being next to him was different to the almost empty, niggling way she felt when she was away from him – like polar opposites. It felt like an odd sort of attraction to his frame; to him.

No. Not attraction.

It could not be attraction.

Another minute or so in silence. Breathing was the only sound from the two of them in the room. She hoped he could not hear the heart beating in her chest. It appeared to get louder and louder the more she thought about it.

Malfoy seemed to be on the edge of something. Like he was thinking deeply about something around him, the question on the tip of his tongue to ask her. He was holding back, she could tell.

But then-

"Do you feel that?"

Hermione swallowed as his voice reached a low whisper. She knew he could not help it. She could tell by the change in his body language that he had not meant to ask it but had felt compelled to.

She knew exactly what he meant, but she did not know whether they were talking about the same thing. She could not give out mixed signals – not when he had just started speaking to her again.

"I'm not sure." She answered biting her lip again. How did she answer that question without blowing herself up? She could make a fool of herself all over again.

He looked down at her then.

She found herself almost getting lost in his eyes as her pulse sped up with new emotion.

"Me neither." He told her, his eyes taking in her face and his large hand went to the back of his neck. "But it's there… I think."

Hermione's mouth went dry from the sensations trickling through her nervous system as she looked at him. How could she feel this much tension just from making eye contact with him? It was unfathomable.

There was a small shuffle behind them and a muffled bang.

Both Hermione and Draco's heads whipped around to see Theodore on his hands and knees, cleaning up a wet patch on the floor from where he seemed to have dropped his champagne glass onto the floor

"Alright there, mate?" Draco asked him with a smirk on his lips.

"No." Theo announced, still on his hands and knees."No, no, no." he uttered to himself, clearly intoxicated.

And then he started laughing to himself, patting his thighs as he knelt on the floor, giggling to himself.

Hermione had seen Theodore drunk, but she had never seen him delirious.

"Is everything okay, Theo?" She asked him, taking a few steps towards the man on the floor.

Theo sat back and finally looked up at the pair after vanishing the stain. He shook his head again, mumbling something about needing another drink and got to his feet just as Blaise walked into the room behind his friend.

"I told you." Theo wagged his finger in Blaise's direction. "I told you I'd find them together, didn't I?"

Blaise was tight lipped and eyes wide. "Yeah mate. Look, you've had a skin full so let's get you home, yeah?"

Blaise put his arm around Theodore's shoulders and the man fell into the hug.

"I need your couch." He told Blaise over a hiccough.

Blaise shook his head. "You always need my couch."

"Or mine." Draco piped up.

"Or mine." Hermione shrugged.

"You are all blessed with good upholstery."

Theodore slurred, giving Blaise a small slap on the cheek and Blaise walked them out of the drawing room door. "Now get me back to yours before I go and find that book – think Draco has a copy in his library-"

Blaise shushed his friend loudly as they rounded a corner, but Hermione could not help that her ears had pricked up to the muffled conversation.

What were they up to? And why did Theo look at her like he might throw up every time she was anywhere near Malfoy, never mind within two feet of him?

"Suck- no, sudsinc-fuck…too drunk to pronounce it-"

"Subcinctus Sermo." Hermione repeated under her breath.

And a flurry of small but suddenly significant memories hit her all at once.