A/N: This chapter is rather short. Sorry. It just worked better when separated from chapter 8 (which is longer!).

Chapter 7

The next few days went by without much complication. It wasn't perfect, but at least Malfoy hadn't forced Hermione to jump him again. But Hermione noted that Malfoy's supersensitive smell was becoming increasingly bothersome. Several times a day she would see his head suddenly snap up while having this strange awareness in his eyes. That was Hermione's cue to drag him out of there, for Harry was coming near. She had also been forced to distract several people so they would not approach Malfoy and consequentially would be influenced by his seduction charms. Luckily not many did. The ones who had already been subjected to Malfoy's seduction powers were safely avoiding him, since they probably were as confused by their own emotions as Harry was.

Hermione did have a very hard time in trying to find different subjects to change conversations with. Whenever people started asking her on why exactly she had jumped Malfoy in the middle of the Great Hall, she had to find a way to draw them away from the topic.

People were probably thinking that she wanted to become a meteorologist, because whenever they saw her Hermione would promptly redirect the conversation towards the weather.

And it was also becoming rather clear that Malfoy was truly starting to suffer through this whole thing.

His body was overheated.

Literally.

He was burning up as if it was a heat wave, which it really was not. It was still rather chilly for May and this meant something when a person who lived in England made that statement. While everyone was wearing jumpers and woollen socks, Malfoy was strutting about in light T-shirts and still was complaining that it was too hot.

Which he did, to Hermione's annoyance.

A lot.

When exactly had Malfoy transformed into a chatterbox? If it had not been for his good looks Hermione reckoned that she would not be able to sit this out. They were a nice distraction when he was ranting again and she did not care enough to listen. Moreover, the T-shirts that tightly hugged Malfoy's muscular upper body were a vast improvement to the vests and pullovers. He also had this constant sweaty sheen covering his pale flesh and had a small blush layering his cheeks. Hermione had never seen his skin showing any form of colour before, so she couldn't help but openly gaze at him from time to time. He would actually look adorable if it was not for the predatorily lusty look that seemed to be permanently lodged into his eyes. His facial expression was still as cold and stoical as ever, but his stormy grey eyes told a different tale.

Like when someone's stomach would start to growl when it needed nourishment, Malfoy's body needed his mate and uttered its annoyance. Not in growling, but in sleep deprivation. For the past couple of nights Malfoy had been suffering from insomnia and got quite restless during the nights. During the days, he was also getting increasingly touchy due to sleep deprivation.

Hermione had to figure out a way to get him to sleep.

The sooner the better, because Malfoy was not very thoughtful when it came to being quiet so other people could sleep. Hermione had been forced to confiscate that annoying tennis ball of his, which he insisted on bouncing up against the wall with a loud 'thud' for hours on end!

Why would he do that? Why?

Boys!

Hermione actually had an idea, but it was quite risky and she would need Harry's help with its execution. When she had first presented her idea to Harry, he had not been for it. But Hermione then pushed, pushed, pushed... begged, pleaded, and nagged.

And got her way.

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Draco was lying in his bed, desperately trying to sleep. He knew it was useless, but he was so tired that he just couldn't help but to try and let his mind drift off. He just couldn't help but think about what his father would say about all this. His son was not only actively pursuing a sexual relation with a boy, but with The-Boy-Who-Lived. Draco reckoned that this would be any Death Eater's worst nightmare.

Draco had always worshipped his father and had wanted to be like him when he grew up, to be feared and respected. Since he was a small boy Draco had actively tried to follow his father's example and had consequentially adopted his belief system. When Lucius had been sent to prison, Draco fell into a preverbal black hole. He had always regarded his father as infallible. Voldemort had been proven fallible, but his father hadn't. He had always been able to get away with anything.

With Lucius gone to prison, that theory had been shattered and Draco had lost the example of what he wanted to be later in life. Suddenly he had to figure out for himself who he wanted to be and what he believed in. He had bordered on suffering from an actual depression when the thought came to him that he might want different things than he had always thought he wanted. He wasn't the miniature version of his father, something most people and even he himself had believed. Being his own person had been a very scary thing for Draco, yet he doubted that anyone noticed it. He never actively made any changes. He just stopped talking about things he felt different about. Not that he minded if anyone knew, but he just didn't care for sharing his inner turmoil with anyone. Draco had quickly concluded that he didn't give a shit about the war. He wasn't against Voldemort, he just wasn't for him. And neither was he suddenly rooting for Potty and Dumbledore.

He just couldn't give a rats ass.

He didn't give a rats ass about a lot of things.

Turns out Draco didn't have all that many outspoken opinions as he thought he had.

He even used the term 'Mudblood' with far less contempt in his voice than it used to possess. And having been forced to spend this much time with Granger, who turned out not to be all that bad, had him even contemplating on dropping the term all together. These days Draco's reality wasn't as black and white as it used to be, it was a nice stonewash colour of grey.

A knock on his bedroom door caught Draco's attention and he slightly turned his head to see what Granger wanted. He was more than surprised to see that it wasn't Granger who was coming to pester him about being too noisy (which for once he wasn't), but that it was in fact the very person she had been trying to keep him away from for the past two weeks.

"Potter?" Draco frowned as he caught sight of the Gryffindor standing in the doorway of his bedroom. Neither Draco nor Hermione had ever invited anyone into their private quarters, so it was more than unusual to have Potter standing in Draco's bedroom. Especially since it was Potter.

"Hermione has let me in," Harry said as he approached Draco's bed.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked worriedly, vividly remembering what had happened last time they had been alone together.

Now there also was a bed involved.

A bed where Potter had now sat himself down upon.

A bed that Draco currently held occupied.

"I'm being a pushover," Harry casually stated as he flopped his shoes off. "Now lay on your side with your back towards me and shut up."

"Don't order me what to do!" Draco spat. Who did he think he was, barging into his bedroom and starting to give him orders? If Potter was thinking that he could treat him like one of his groupies just because he had had the privilege to feel the inside of Draco's mouth, he had another thing coming.

"Do you want to get some sleep?" Harry asked pointedly as he turned his head to glare at Draco. "Then do as I said."

Sleep? Sleep! Precious sleep! Oh... no! No! No! No! He wasn't going to let Potter just order him around like that, even if it were give him a bit of shuteye. Not to mention how? How can Potty-boy possibly know more about his problems than...?

"Oi!" he yelped as Potter suddenly laid himself down next to him and pushed Draco over to his side.

Draco wanted to struggle back.

He really did.

But then Potter spooned up behind him, wrapped his arms around Draco's waist and it felt so damn good!

It felt so good that Draco could just drool all over his pillow like a baby that was falling asleep in it's mother's arms.

Which he did.

The drooling not excluded.

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End of chapter 7

Thanks for reviewing!

Alenor, Soul-Dead-Dragon, tHePuRpLeLuVeR, Undying at Midsummer, mione-xavier, Dizzydragon, savvyfairy, charmed piper, Hermione Double, Emmy says, Makalani Astral, baily89, MagicFairyDuster

Piepiekoh: Sssshhtt!!!!

Munku-JGSPTV: Except for maybe the scene in the morning where Draco woke up with his 'little problem', the R is yet to come. And the absolute worst pairing is Harry/Dumbledore. I mean, Dumbledore might be nice and all, but... just... 'ew'! And don't worry, I think there's still a scene to come that you might like. cough Chapter 9 cough ;-)

Male-chan: About the piano: I was referring to my A/N in the previous chapter. Too many people asking the same damn question! The people on AFF have been threatened to wake up with a horse head in their bed if they asked me again. Mental scarring is so much harder to get rid off. ;-)

tweetygurl88: Disrespectful? Wasn't I the one who was talking about bodily fumes? :-)

mandabella: I wish I could tell you that I'm as 'quick of wit' as I am on paper. Sadly, most of the time I am not. People do tell me that I have a dry sense of humour, but I suppose that that's mostly accidental. Same thing with smut, I can write the raunchiest of sex-scenes, but if you were to make me read them aloud my face would be as red as a tomato. I suppose in that aspect writing is a lot like acting, you can hide behind your characters.

slyswn28: Before COS came out I read this article in a magazine where they described Colin as a 'latent homosexual'. I though that was funny... and rather plausible. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the kid who played Colin, if for instance someone in his class would have read that. :-)

hermyandron4evr: A standing ovation for your cleverness. :-)

o0-ireth-0o: What? You could smell that? Seriously? That's just... how? And about slash... I know how you feel. When I first was acquainted with the world of fanfiction, it hadn't even occurred to me that authors would be pairing up people who obviously didn't belong together. When I stumbled upon a Harry/Draco story, I went like 'What the Hell? That's not pretty!' Lol! In my defence, it was rather unconvincingly written. But then I came across a smutty Remus/Sirius story (I think it was called 'The Christening') and suddenly found myself drooling over the keyboard. All of the sudden, I understood what Slash was all about. :-)

Queen of Serpents: Hadgril? What is that, a kitchen tool? Lol! And Hermione doesn't fancy Draco yet, so kissing him would have been a somewhat odd decision. Tisk tisk! You have a pervy, pervy, mind! And I refuse to see the irony in the fact that this statement came from a person who writes adultfanfiction! I refuse! ;-)