Say No to Sex

Hermione awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and wonderful. The first thing that entered her mind was Ace. She just couldn't stop thinking about him. They didn't make boys like him at Hogwarts.

She pulled on a bathrobe and walked out into the common room. Her spirits were briefly brought down by the sight of him, but then she decided that she would not allow Draco Malfoy to ruin the feeling that she was having.

"Good morning." Malfoy greeted. He looked as though he had just woken up, so Hermione assumed he had slept there all night.

"Good morning to you too." Hermione replied. "Look, I would like to apologize for last night. As much of an asshole as you were, I shouldn't have resorted to violence. So, I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted." Malfoy said. Then, as an afterthought he added, "This time."

"Ha!" Hermione laughed. "I'll make sure that I won't screw up again then next time."

"Great." Malfoy said.

"Um, Malfoy, I was wondering-"

But he butt in. "I'm not going to be here tonight. Pansy and her roommates have invited me to a bit of a party so I expect I'll be out all night."

Perfect! Hermione thought. She was just about to ask him if he could clear off for a while tonight, but seeing as he was already not going to be there she felt no need to tell him that Ace would be coming over.

"What was it that you wanted?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing. I hope you enjoy the party." She smiled.

The first half of the day was exhausting, and Hermione was extremely thankful that lunch had finally arrived. She sat down with Harry and Ron, whom she had both apologized to for freaking out at them and they returned her apology (although they weren't quite sure what they were apologizing for).

Just as Hermione was finishing up her lunch, Ace appeared behind her.

"Hey, Hermione." He smiled.

Harry and Ron glared at him in disgust. Hermione, on the other hand, broke into a smile. "Hey."

"Wanna walk with me?" he asked. "Around the Forbidden Forest?"

Hermione's eyes widened.

"Not in the Forest. Just around it." Ace explained.

"Sorry, we're going to the library." Ron answered for her.

"Yeah, lots of work to do. Bye, Ace." Harry said, icily.

"Shut up!" Hermione hissed, embarrassed. "I'd love to walk with you." She turned to an astonished looking Harry and Ron. "Sorry, guys. I'll make it up to you, I promise!" And with that, she left them looking bewildered and betrayed as she walked hand-in-hand with Ace out of the Great Hall.

They walked along the skirt of the Forbidden Forest, casually talking about pointless things like life and family. Eventually Ace's hand moved from holding Hermione's to grabbing her waist. She was a bit taken aback at the sudden movement, but she smiled nonetheless and continued to walk with his arm around her waist. All of a sudden, he turned to face her and placed his remaining hand on her other hip. They slowly moved to her ass as he whispered, "Hermione, you're really hot."

"You're pretty hot yourself, Ace." She told him, giggling.

"I really want you. Like, really. It's almost unbearable, actually." He continued. Hermione was stunned.

"Um, Ace, I've been meaning to tell you. I'm not quite sure exactly what it is that you want, but I have to tell you that I'm definitely not ready to have sex."

"You're a virgin?" Ace asked. He sounded surprised.

"Um, yeah." Hermione answered. "And I'm just not ready for sex. I've never even had a proper boyfriend before. I just want to take this slow. Is that okay with you?"

Ace looked as though he was thinking it over, but he answered, "Yeah, definitely. You're worth the wait."

He leaned in until both of their foreheads were touching. They looked into each others eyes, and one thought was running through Hermione's mind: Oh my god oh my god this is going to my first kiss! They both stayed in this position for a few seconds, just gazing into each other's eyes with not even five inches separating them from each other. Then, Ace made the move. He brushed his lips against Hermione's. She felt overwhelmed; it was such a beautiful kiss. Light and gentle and sweet…

Then Ace began to kiss her harder. His lips smashed into her own, and before long his tongue was begging for admission into her mouth. Not knowing what to do, she followed her instinct and parted her lips so that Ace's tongue slid into her mouth. Their tongue's wrestled for quite some time before Hermione pulled away. She smiled and said, "We'd better be getting back to the castle. Lessons are due to start any second."

Ace grinned and once again slid his arm around Hermione's waist as they walked back to the Hogwarts castle.

That evening, Hermione raced around her common room fixing things up. She cleaned everything at least twice and lit several candles because they were so beautiful. Tonight she slipped into a hot pink tank top and short-shorts; she decided to dress more casually since she was in her own territory.

At nine o' clock on the dot, a knock came from outside the portrait hole. Smiling, Hermione walked over and opened it up, allowing Ace entrance to her home.

"Wow, so this is how the other half lives." Ace commented, glancing around. "Is your roommate-"

"He's out." Hermione said. "A party or something, so he shouldn't be back any time soon."

"Wonderful." Ace grinned, pulling Hermione into a kiss. This time there was much more force; he pried her lips open and nearly jammed his tongue down her throat. His hands moved up towards her breasts, and she quickly pulled away.

"So, um, what do you want to do?" Hermione asked, trying to cover up the awkward moment.

"Let's talk." Ace smiled. He took a seat on the sofa and patted the cushion next to him, indicating for Hermione to come and sit next to him. Once she took a seat, she turned to face him.

"What do you want to talk about?" She asked.

"Anything. Tell me about your childhood." Ace said.

"Okay." Hermione smiled. She went into the story of her childhood; how she was always smarter than the other kids in her class and no one really liked her for it.

"Aw, that must have been rough." Ace said. Hermione thought his voice sounded sincere, but it was far from it. As she was telling him bad memories, his hand once again slid onto her thigh. He rubbed her gently as she continued with her story, as though hoping she would shut up.

When Hermione was halfway though explaining the story about how she had arrived at Hogwarts, Ace made a move. He turned his body to completely face her and leaned in for a kiss.

Hey, my story! Hermione thought. That was rather rude. But she didn't mind kissing Ace, so she didn't say anything and just went along with it. She had already discussed the sex issue, so the furthest they would go was kissing and she was fine with that.

But then Ace's hand one again slid up her shirt. He massaged her breasts roughly as his tongue thrashed around in her mouth. Then, without warning, he pulled up her shirt so she was only sitting there in her bra.

What's he doing? Hermione asked herself.

Ace began to kiss her down her neck. He leaned into her harder so she fell over onto the couch with him on top of her. He began kissing down past her shoulders until he reached her belly button, where he began licking her.

Okay, that's actually kind of gross. Hermione thought. But she didn't want to stop him; she really liked him, and if this is what he wanted then who was she to stop him? If she did then she felt that he would for sure not like her.

"No sex, remember?" Hermione said.

"We can have fun without it." Ace smiled. He pulled her bra off without warning and kissed his way back up to her breasts. He began to bite at her nipple and lick around it, causing Hermione to moan slightly. This stimulated him to go further, so as he sucked at her nipple he also made to pull down her shorts. Soon Hermione was sitting there in the middle of her common room wearing only her underwear. She had not even been giving a warning that he was going to take off her bra, otherwise she would have said something.

"Okay, Ace, that's far enough. Actually, too far. I want my bra." She made to reach for it, but he moved up and began kissing her passionately while rubbing her breasts at the same time.

"Come on Hermione, please? I really want you. This is the only way I can have you. Just please, don't deny me this." Ace begged.

"I'm sorry, but I'm just not ready." Hermione said.

Ace did not seem to want to take no for an answer. Within seconds he had reached down and began to pull down Hermione's panties while he went back to kissing her breast.

"Ace, please, no-" Hermione began.

"Um, what's going on?" A voice asked behind them.

Malfoy! Hermione thought. Thank god. Oh god I'm naked in front of Malfoy!

"What the hell are you doing?" Malfoy demanded of Ace as Hermione grabbed her shirt to cover herself up with. "Obviously the girl doesn't want to fuck you, so get off of her!"

"You don't know what you're talking about." Ace smirked. "Get the hell out of here, we're busy."

"You're busy?" Malfoy said. "You're busy?" He began laughing, taking Ace and Hermione by surprise. He continued to laugh, clutching his ribs and wiping (fake) tears from his eyes. Then out of nowhere he withdrew his wand, pointed it directly at Ace and cried, "Petrificus Totalus!" Ace became stiff as a board and fell over onto the floor.

Hermione was shaking. She really liked Ace and she thought that he really liked her; after all, they had shared her first kiss. Why would he kiss her if he didn't like her? But then if he liked her, why would he disrespect her wishes like that? She began to cry, confused beyond words. Is this what a relationship was supposed to be like? If it is, then relationships are crap. She thought.

Malfoy stood there awkwardly. "What are you doing?" he asked her. He saw silent tears pouring down her face, making him feel even more awkward. "Don't… don't cry." He saw her bra lying at his feet and he quickly swept it up and threw it at her, turning away as she dressed herself. When he felt sure that the coast was clear, he turned and looked at her, and much to his dismay, she was still crying.

Unaware of what to do, he walked slowly towards Hermione and took a seat on the couch next to her. "I said that you were gonna lose your virginity-"

Hermione began bawling more. Tears streamed down her face. Malfoy's eyes widened in shock and fear; he did not mean to make her cry more. He was just stating that what he said was the truth, even though Hermione and Ace clearly didn't get that far.

He glanced at her and she was bent over, her face in her hands with her elbows resting on her knees. He awkwardly patted her on her back. Please stop crying. He begged to himself. He couldn't stand to see girls' cry, even if it was a filthy little mudblood like Granger.

Hermione looked up and into the mysterious gray eyes of Draco Malfoy. "What are you doing?" She asked him.

"I don't know!" Malfoy cried. He abruptly stopped patting her back. "I figured this is what you were supposed to do in a situation like this."

Hermione actually laughed, which sounded oddly muffled by her tears. "Malfoy, you are such a boy!"

"What the hell does that mean!" Malfoy demanded. "You're sitting here crying like a baby and I just did what I thought I was supposed to do. Excuse me if girls don't always cry in my presence."

Hermione laughed again, then looked down at Ace sprawled on the floor and began crying again. "I really like him." She told Malfoy. "I can't really understand it, though. I've only known him for a few days, but there's this connection that is just totally unreal. But he's really…er… into sex. That's pretty much all he wants from me. But I know he likes me!"

"Okay, this is the first rule in life you need to know if you want to start getting interested in guys." Malfoy explained. "The biggest thing most of us want from a girl is sex, okay? It's fun, entertaining and very, very hot."

Hermione glared at him.

"Well, it is! Anyways, you've waited a bit too late to start dating. I think the only guy you can find in this school who doesn't just want sex is Pothead." Malfoy began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Hermione asked, wiping away a tear.

"The thought of you going out with that idiot!" Malfoy laughed even harder. "I mean, yeah, you're a bit of a square and you're a filthy mudblood, but you can definitely do way better than Potter!"

Hermione didn't know what to say. Malfoy had just insulted her as he always does, but he had also complimented her in a strange, unobtrusive sort of way.

"Can you please get rid of him?" Hermione whispered, indicating Ace.

"Oh, right." Malfoy nodded. He felt odd. He had actually just complimented Granger, something he'd sworn that he would never do. To cover up the discomfort that they were both feeling, he performed a charm that levitated Ace out of the common room.

"Where did you put him?" Hermione asked.

"Just outside the common room." Malfoy answered. "Once Filch sees him he'll be taken care of right away."

Hermione felt a twinge of guilt, though. This part of the castle was exceptionally deserted, so how long would it be before Filch found Ace? Perhaps Ace was hurt, but too unconscious to say anything.

"Um, I think I'm going to go to bed." Malfoy said, trying to cover up the immense amount of awkwardness he was feeling. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yes." Hermione answered automatically. "Goodnight."

"Um, g'nite." Malfoy replied. He got up and walked at a fast pace towards his bedroom. Hermione did not make a move until she could here his door shut. Then, she quickly got up and exited the portrait hole. Lying there a few feet away was Ace. He was stirring, so Hermione knew he was all right. She walked over to where he was lying and knelt down next to him.

"I am so sorry." She whispered.

"What the hell was that?" Ace asked. He lifted himself up into a sitting position and held his head as though he had a major headache.

"Um, I think Malfoy kind of got the wrong impression." Hermione lied. In truth, he was right on the money.

"I don't have to put up with this, Hermione." Ace warned. "I'm almost nineteen, okay? I can probably get any girl at this stupid school, but I really like you. I'm not going to stand around while your junior roommate pushes me around. Understand?"

Hermione nodded obediently. "I'm sorry." She repeated.

"Hey, no sweat." Ace grinned, still holding his head.

"But I'm really not ready for sex." Hermione pushed, feeling this was the right moment. "I've never even had a real relationship. This is my first, and I want it to be perfect. You understand, don't you?" She pleaded.

Ace looked at her skeptically for a moment, then grinned and said, "Sure. Sex can come later."

"But what if it doesn't?" Hermione whispered.

"What?" Ace asked.

"What if it doesn't come?" she repeated. "If I'm not ready now, I'm not sure if I will be ready in a months time or even a years time. These things slowly progress, and I'm not going to do anything that I don't feel ready to do."

"Sex is a natural thing!" Ace cried. "You're seventeen! That's what you're supposed to be doing. It's fun! Come on, Hermione! Never is a long time."

"Ace, please. If you won't accept my wishes then I can't do this-"

"Okay, fine." Ace caved. "What comes will come."

Feeling that this was the best that she was going to get, she decided not to push him anymore. "Okay, then. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye." Ace said. He picked himself up and turned the corner out of sight, leaving Hermione to stew in her own thoughts.