Please note - all mistakes are my own. I do not currently have a Beta/Alpha to help me correct my horrible grammar.

I do not own the characters created by JK Rowling, nor do I make any profit from this fanfiction.

This is all just fun for me.

Chapter Thirty - Four -

The shop was quiet for a Friday evening, but she found that she didn't mind. The last lingerer had left about an hour before closing. Hermione found herself picking up shop earlier than normal. She went about picking up the books that hadn't quite made it back on their shelves or had been left elsewhere, giving them back to their true homes.

She ran the till, making sure her orders matched up with the total income that she had received for the day. It helped too that she managed to get the next day's orders prepped and ready to go first thing in the morning post. Atop her desk, in various arrays of disarray, lay the week's request for special finds. With the chaos of the past week, she'd hardly had time to even glance at them. Huffing slightly to herself, she picked up the letters and decided to bring them home with her so she'd be able to start her search from her own library and pen responses from the comfort of some warm pajamas with a hot cup of tea.

Grabbing her jacket and the last of her things, she went about the space casting her necessary protection charms and spells. Gently, she twisted the open sign to close and made her way out the front door, locking it up behind her. A few more complex spells to protect her shop, and she was heading down the dimly lit pavement. While the days were lasting longer with the spring, the chill was still rather biting. So more often than not, she found herself wishing she'd just Floo'd home rather than taking her typical walkabout. Pulling her jacket tighter against her neck, she attempted to chase off the cold as she let her mind wander over all that she needed to accomplish over the coming week.

Beltane was coming and she needed to reach out to Harry to see what he needed in preparation because there was no way that Harry Potter would be prepared properly. She'd bet her favorite copy of Hogwarts: A History. There was also the matter of Malfoy and if she needed to try to spend time the day before with him, to help take the edge off of the effects of Beltane or perhaps that was too much. Rubbing her brow, she found a headache forming as the list of things grew longer and longer, but every thought returned back to Draco and Beltane.

Well aware she was overthinking the whole thing, especially without having the chance to talk with Draco, she shook her head. Her curls flying about her in a whirl of dark curls, she forced herself to take a night off from everything. A break from reality was definitely necessary if she were being truly honest with herself. While the events with Draco had a pleasant outcome, it definitely had taxed her mental capabilities for the week. Worrying was getting her nowhere, either. A good movie, a cup of tea with some popcorn sounded so perfect for her night in.

Finding her way to her flat, she opened up her door to find her lights already on. With a frown, she pulled her wand from her sleeve and tiptoed forward. Crookshanks didn't come to greet her which also had her on edge, but as she turned a corner she found her furry companion seated atop a chair watching Draco in the kitchen. Pausing midstep, she watched as he set about heating the kettle. Two mugs lay to the side of her stove, and the tea behind them waiting to be steeped. She found herself eyeing the man himself next though while his back was turned. Dressed in a long sleeve thermal, dark green because he couldn't be anything but a Slytherin, sleeves rolled up part way up his forearm and a pair of slacks that seemed to have tugged in all the appropriate places.

"It's not nice to stare, Granger." She bit her lip to keep from laughing, realizing her foolhardiness in attempting to sneak up on a Veela with supersonic senses.

"Sorry, just shocking to see Draco Malfoy in my kitchen, making tea is all," she replied with a quip while she went back to her front entryway to hang up her jacket and bag. Locking the door on her way, she went back to the kitchen to sit herself on the opposite counter. With legs dangling down the front of her cabinets, she smiled at Draco who turned to look at her over his shoulder. "I wasn't expecting you tonight."

He paused, his shoulders tightening under his form fitting shirt. "Did you have plans?"

"Oh yes," she teased, watching him turn slowly to look at her, a frown on his features. As he opened his mouth, she cut him off. "I've got big plans with the sofa tonight, a bowl of popcorn and a glass of wine. But tea will do for now - especially when it's already being made for me."

His frown tilted upward. "Those are big plans. I suppose I should leave you to it, then?"

She shook her hair. It tickled her face though and losing her patience with the long locks, she pulled her ponytail off her wrist. Throwing the untamable beast atop her head, she offered him an invite to her spectacular evening. "You're welcome to join me - I'll be watching a film too."

"I suppose I could free up my evening for you," he returned with a smirk.

She spit her tongue out at him in jest, her eyes scrunching close. It was quite a shock to see him inches from her face when she opened them again. His eyes were hooded, dark and beneath their surface she could feel the heat lingering like a hotbed of coals. "It's not polite to tease, Granger."

"Oh," was all she was able to manage at the close proximity. Her mind was mush, unable to form any clever response to his comment. Inside of her, she felt the once cooled ashes turning to embers as she looked at this man before her. Hers, she reminded herself. Leaning forward, her hands now clenching the edge of her counters she placed a gentle kiss against his lips. "Hello," she murmured with a gentle smile as she pulled back just slightly, taking in his hooded eyes and stained cheeks.

"Hello," he responded though his voice had gone down an octave. "How was your day?" He wondered as he brushed a gentle kiss against the tip of her nose.

"Mellow, thankfully." She started to ask him in turn, but the kettle whistled loudly interrupting her line of questioning. In quiet contemplativeness, she found herself watching him when he turned away to finish with the tea. Her eyes trailed down his back - his shirt tugging tightly across his shoulder blades hinting at the lean muscle beneath - down his arm to his fingers wrapped around the Kettle handle. With gentle care, he poured the steaming hot liquid into each mug not once spilling a drop of water. He grabbed each tea bag and placed them into the mug before taking the one on the left and handing it to her.

"Thank you," she murmured as she took it into her still chilled hands. When they brushed against Malfoy's fingers, he halted.

"Granger, why are you so cold?"

"Because I walked home?" She wondered from over the top of her mug, her lips hesitating to dive into her tea if the heat coming off was anything to go by.

"Granger - you're a witch." He said it so plainly but her thoughts were on the hot tea.

"I am in fact a witch," she responded cheekily as she slipped from the counter. Her eyes trained on the water so it wouldn't slip over the edge. Heading toward the living room, she heard Draco let out a frustrated noise which only made her smile but she couldn't take her eyes off her mug.

"Why in Merlin's name did you not cast a warming charm?" He questioned, hot on her heels.

She paused, tilting her head as she pondered. "Hmm, didn't think of it I guess." She found a spot on one corner of the sofa while Draco sat himself opposite. She couldn't be sure, but she was rather confident that she heard him mumbling under his breath. Her name had slipped through - of that she was confident about.

Turning on a film, she found a blanket to tuck around her but Draco had dragged her legs into his lap as he found himself scooting closer. At one point in time during the film, she'd also brought out the popcorn and a bottle of wine. It didn't take long before she felt the alcohol taking effect in her system as she had hardly eaten most of the day and was considered a light weight as she didn't partake very often.

It didn't help that he had moved the blanket from her legs and found the slight piece of skin exposed between her jeans and her socks and was rubbing his fingertips across it ever so gently leaving a trail of goosebump in its place. Between his touch and the liquid courage, she had definitely warmed up rather quickly.

Before long, she found herself curling up close to him, tucked in under his arm as they leaned back at angle to the point they were almost lying down on the couch. Her head rested against his chest and she could hear the steady beat of his heart beneath his ribcage. His fingers continued their gentle exploration wherever he could find a sliver of skin. The goosebumps following behind had her shifting slightly - sometimes away, but more often than not shifting into his touch. Pressing into him, her whole body felt on fire.

The heat spread through her with each pass of his touch, the need to touch him in turn rising with it. A neediness rising higher and higher. With liquid courage running through her veins, she found her hand slipping up his chest to the collar of his shirt. Her fingertips passed over the edge of the material to the heated skin beneath. The smell of him filled her senses and the need built once more causing her fingers to drift higher and higher, trailing along his jawline where a little stubble was starting to form. Against her finger tips, she bit her lip to keep from moaning at the sensation of the roughness against her skin.

"Granger," he warned - his voice all gravel causing shivers to cascade down her spine but it only encouraged her further. She leaned up, kissing his jaw, and grinned slightly when she felt him tense beneath her.

He turned to face her, to comment or say something, but she seized the moment to pull him in for a kiss. One hand holding him steady as she explored his lips - the softness of them as they kissed her back, the urgency that built between them as he pressed closer. The tip of his tongue coming out to encourage her to open for him, which she did without another thought. An eagerness for more making her more than compliant. One of his hands came up to kneed at the back of her neck, pulling her impossibly closer so not even a breath could escape between the two of them. A whimper of pleasure escaped though when she felt his fingers make their way up to her hairline, intertwining there and tugging ever so softly.

Pushing up into him, she slowly wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Her fingers lingered along the back of his neck as she pushed herself almost on top of him. She could feel his hand sliding along her hip along to her back where his fingers slipped just so under her shirt to linger along the exposed skin of her lower back. Eyes closed, she still felt dizzy from the feelings he was pulling from inside of her. He was intoxicating and she found herself longing for more, despite her rational brain attempting to slow her down. She was drunk on the feeling - not just the wine.

How had she not realized what a perfect specimen of a being she held in her hands. They could have been doing this long ago. All that lost time arguing, fighting it, she thought as she tried to kiss him back but she felt him pulling away, his kisses slowing and his hand moving from her skin to rest back on her hip. With a gentle urging, he pushed her to sit down beside him but his hands never left her body. Confusion wrinkled her brow as she looked at him and he was clearly as affected as her if the look in his eye was anything to go by. His pupils were blown and the slow perusal of her body had her squirming in her seat. She bit her lip as she glanced back down at his lips.

He groaned then, his hands coming to rub down his face as he stood and put distance between the two of them.

She gnawed on her lip as she squirmed in her seat, worry trickling up her spine. "Did-did I do something wrong?"

He shook his head. "No, nothing. But I'm afraid that the wine may be twisting your mental faculties and I don't want you to regret anything just because you were under the influence." he turned to face her. Crossing his arms over his chest, his sleeves pulled up to his elbows and tight against his skin, she could only watch in fascination at the strain in his muscles. "Is there a reason you need alcohol to touch me?'

She froze. Her eyes dropped to the floor and she sat up right, turning to look back at the movie. The words stuck in her throat and embarrassment stained her cheeks. Pulling the blanket back over her lap, she stuck her fingers into the open holes fiddling with the material as she tried to concentrate back on the film.

Draco felt the Veela rising to the surface as the question lingered between him and Hermione. His eyes narrowed on the woman before him, plainly ignoring him for the movie. Pressing against the creature, he found himself running a hand through his hair as he tried to calm his racing heart. He felt the nerves in her in his own body. If he hadn't such control of his body, he was sure he'd be vibrating with the nerves taking over his system.

Sucking in a shallow breath, he dropped his hands to his side and found himself walking back toward her. The Veela was quiet but he felt him in the back of his mind, watching for the slightest of movements. Draco was sure if he hesitated for even one second, the Veela would be erupting through to take the poor girl into his arms without so much as a warning. He didn't know why, but something told him that would have them taking ten steps back rather than the baby steps forward they'd been taking.

Gently, he sat down beside her, letting his thigh brush against her. Having watched her enough times, he grabbed the remote off the table with confidence and pushed the power button. The sound of it hitting the table echoed between the silence, but he watched her, waiting.

When she stubbornly refused to look at him, or speak, he felt the Veela grow impatient. "Hermione, I need you to tell me if I've done something wrong. I can't read minds and I don't want to mess this up before we've even started."

He watched as she dropped her head back against the couch. A low groan escaped out of her. "It's not you, Draco. It's me - I've. Ugh. Why is this so hard?" She shook her head, tendrils of her hair falling from the bun making him want to reach out and tug them behind her ear, but he feared moving when she was obviously struggling to voice her thoughts. He remained unmoving as he waited. "I just have never been really intimate with someone."

Shocked, he didn't stop the words spilling from his mouth before his brain caught up with her admission. "You and Ron - never?"

Her eyes flickered over to his with a dark shadow lingering in her honey gaze making the Veela grumble deep in the recesses of his mind. "No. He wanted to - pressured me about it - but I never gave in. Part out of sheer stubbornness." Draco chuckled gently as he took a hand from her lap and placed a gentle kiss against her fingertips. Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her gently. Quietly, he heard her murmur, "I guess I never felt as comfortable as I do with you."

"For which I am extremely glad," he smirked before placing another kiss. He felt the Veela shoving forward, the magic pushing at him to encourage more but Draco shut him out as he tugged them to lay down on the sofa. The remote was close enough for his long arms that he was able to turn the power back on. Very quietly, to keep the world from hearing his admission, he whispered against the shell of her ear, "I like cuddling too."

A/N: Unbeta'd as always. Take it or leave it.
For those asking, my family and I have recovered from the COVID :) Thank you all for caring. I appreciate it so much.