"Oh, don't give me that look," she said crossly, though her flush gave away her own awkwardness. "It's a normal sort of arrangement, isn't it? I know you have casual sex, how many time have I found women in your flat?"

He rubbed a hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. Thinking logically was rather hard when he was distracted by extensive fantasies of what it would be like if he said yes

soft skin and her sweet voice wrecked, throaty gasps and half moans, her perfect peaches and cream skin colored pink and glowing with sweat, her freckled cheeks flush with need, with her perfect curves plush in his hands, the scent and taste of her in his mouth, the way she would move on top of him while he...nope

this was a bad idea

"...Why?" he asked looking down at her.

She tilted her head, that soft mouth pursing slightly. "Why what?"

"Why did you—" He stopped , he didn't want to sound as if he was rejecting her . picking his words carefully he watched her as he spoke "—decided that you wanted me to show you? "

She flushed deeper , and somewhat defensively muttered, "it's normal, isn't it?"

He sighed. "Depends on who you ask, and also who you are. It also depends on your partner, and your relationship to them."

She looked dissatisfied. A particularly dirty corner of his mind was all too eager to point out that the best way to fix that was to satisfy her.

"Which brings us to 'why me'?" Somehow, the years of working with her and all the effort put into making her his friend, all the lonely nights he had completed himself to thoughts of her, had never prepared him to be the one propositioned.

She looked at him in a way that made him question whether or not she knew something he didn't, like he was missing something very obvious. "Why not you?"

he kneaded a palm against his forehead. "Someone who makes you desire sex for its own sake, not..."

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught her looking him over, her bottom lip between her teeth, looking almost needy, all of his blood suddenly rushed south.

"...Not because it's the done thing," he finished, suddenly very, very much not caring what his logical mind had to say "Hermione."

Her eyes wide and hair wild she turned away from him to look at the wall

"Hermione," he said again, asking before his brain could tell him not too

"do I make you 'desire sex'?"

He regretted the words as soon as he had said then, he knew instantly that her answer was going to break him, no matter which direction she chose to go with it. His heart was threating to burst as he noticed her flush even deeper.

"well,…i… uh.. If we're being blunt about it," she mumbled . "I might have , uhh, thought about it…maybe….a little." Her collarbones and ears were flushing too, she looked very , vulnerable "it might have been a fantasy When I was... younger. One of my first. I thought… maybe "

What was he supposed to do with that information. It was incredibly hot knowing that while she was running around with Potter and Weasley that she had thought about him. Had she only thought like this since they began working together? Longer. He was going to cause himself physical harm if he got any harder, if he could get any harder, but he had to know—"How long, now...?"

She looked everywhere but at him "Since I was fifteen, maybe? Sixteen? I don't remember." She took a breath, as if to gather her courage, and he couldn't have kept his gaze off her if his life depended on it "It was a...you and harry had gotten into it, and I tried to defuse the tension, I accidently knocked your wand from your hand" fifth year, right before holiday, he remembered,

Potter had said something rude about his father and Draco had gotten mad, hexes were thrown and names were called and Hermione had stepped in to keep everyone out of trouble, in an attempt to push Harry away she had knocked his wand hand, without a thought about he had... "You pinned me to the wall, and pressed your knee between my legs, it all happened very quickly Harry and Ron pulled you off me before you had a chance to notice what you were doing, and I couldn't stop thinking about it no matter what I did, afterwards." She laughed, barely more than a sharp exhale. "it was, confusing. I'd never felt quite like that before, and the fact that it was you…. "

"oh, yeah, I … I remember that. " he said faintly. "And now you'd, like me to pin you down again."

"maybe with less clothing, and no one around to pull you off ." she said with a smirk

"Right," he croaked, then swallowed hard. What was it that made this a bad idea, why should he being saying no? he sure as hell couldn't remember now.

"So... ?" she looked up at him anxiously.

"yeah," he nodded slightly "who could say no to that"