A/N: Just an fyi, this chapter gets little dirty. A warning for some and a relief for others haha.

… … …

For the millionth time Draco flipped over on his side. He beat his pillow down, then fluffed it up again and lay down to sleep. Seconds later he was moving again. It was 3 a.m. and he was still wide awake.

'I've never felt softer lips,' he thought, 'and she tastes so sweet, her mouth is like warm liquid sugar.' Kissing her replayed in his mind over and over, the sweet sensation of her hot pink tongue under his as she turned to putty in his hands. His arms wrapped tightly around her curvaceous waist as they were embraced together. Nothing had ever felt that good before, he recalled how he tingled all over as it was happening. Kissing Hermione was far more pleasurable than he had ever expected, which was amazing since in his imagination all that time she was fantastic. He knew any physical action with Hermione would be hot, he was genuinely surprised how much he liked one kiss.

He longed so achingly for more. All he could think about was the next time he'd get her in private and how difficult arranging that would be. She never went to her room after he put the moves on her in the hall. He hadn't seen her since she kicked him and ran. Silly girl didn't know that Draco Malfoy always got what he wanted; she was just delaying the inevitable. Draco thought of the huge bruise he now had on his tender left leg. 'It was worth it.' he thought fondly of the event. His only regret was he let her get so mad and scared. He wondered if he'd have to take things into his own hands in before Hermione would calm down and let things happen smoothly. It was going to be really hard to get her again, but he'd think of something.

He tossed and turned once more. He laid there for a bit but he didn't even come close to sleep. 'That's it' he said. He wasn't going just lay there if he wasn't even going to get some rest. If he was to be awake, he figured he might as well do something constructive. He got up and turned the lamp on his desk on.

… … …

Hermione told Ginny to go on ahead to breakfast when morning finally arrived.

"I'm having bad cramps," she half lied, "I want to sleep for as long as I can, I don't want food anyways."

Ginny understood completely, "Alright," she said, "I hope you feel better, see you later then."

As soon as everyone had cleared out of the Gryffindor tower and it was safe to assume everyone was at breakfast, even Draco, Hermione headed to her dorm. She quietly opened the door and peered into her commons just to make sure it was empty, and then she darted up to her room.

She took a quick shower and put on some mascara and chap stick. She changed into some fresh clothes and opened her top drawer to put on her favorite charm necklace. It was of a broomstick; Ron got it that summer and sent it to her as an 'I miss you' gift over the holiday. As she dug around for it her hand came across a small brown bottle. She picked it up and looked at it. She took 2 aterals.

It's not as bad as it sounds. Hermione knew enough about prescription dependency to know it was unwise to go cold turkey. The body reacts violently and the person often becomes very ill and doesn't succeed in quitting. One must wean themselves off of them. And today was going to be a very rough day. Her stomach was already in knots and she dreaded seeing Draco on top of getting no sleep whatsoever. She was worried she wouldn't be able to pay attention or get her work done. Yes, today was not a good day to cut down the dosage. She'd take two today and maybe only 1 valium tonight. Then tomorrow, if she was ready, she would only take 1 and ½ aterals. Hermione looked at her reflection in the mirror, trying to ignore the blatant fact that she was making excuses, she looked tired and sullen.

It was only the 2nd day of school and already things were turned upside down. She had tons of homework, extra head duties, no sleep, had been sexually assaulted and to make things even worse she was too messed up in the head to even be honest with her friends about it.

She didn't know why she didn't tell Ginny. Or go straight to Harry or Ron, who already offered to protect her. She just didn't want them to worry about her. Perhaps she was afraid of sounding weak and dramatic. Maybe she wanted to be the type of person who could always take care of themselves. It was like Hermione expected herself to run the whole world, an impossible job for anyone.

She could feel stress and exhaustion settle into her bones and thought about how long the day would be as she anxiously awaited the effects of her pills. "This isn't being strong," she said out loud. "What have you done to yourself?"

… … …

The day was so long and painful for both of them. On top of 4 chapters out of their history text, an herbology vocabulary list, a 3 page potions pre-lab and practice for a transfiguration test, Hermione judged they'd have to get started on their head assessment paper tonight because it would take a few hours of work every day if it was to be done in time. The thought of approaching him, let alone working with him made her sick and she dwelled on it all day.

While Draco really didn't say anything to her all day, nice or mean, she felt his eyes on her constantly. She'd try to sneak glances at him without making it obvious. She found his expression to be placid, not the piercing or menacing look she was expecting. He almost looked emotionless, but with a small touch of warmth to his face. He caught her looking once and made calm eye contact with hers. His eyes seemed deep, almost thoughtful. Hermione looked away. 'He's just messing with me,' she thought, getting angry at him. 'This is so much fun for him, making me so uncomfortable. What an ass! I won't be his plaything!'

She decided she'd stand up to him. She'd tell him after dinner she'd be working on the project in their commons if he wanted to help, otherwise he could just piss off and not distract her.

"Are you okay 'Mione?" Harry asked while they were walking to their next class together, "You seem a bit distracted."

"Oh," Hermione said, trying to force a smile and walk a little taller, "It's just all homework I think, lots from Dumbledore."

"Ouch," Harry replied, "Well I know it's unlikely that I can contribute to advance subjects, but let me know if there's anything even I could do to help."

"Thanks Harry," she said, with a real smile this time, "That's really sweet."

All day she had been giving herself speeches and pep talks on how to be confident and assertive. She avoided her room all day, hiding in the library or in the great hall. She had run out of time, dinner had been over for well over an hour and all of her other homework was completed long ago. She had no choice but to approach him, but when it came time to actually do it she felt terrified. She didn't know how he'd react, so all she could do was hope for the best.

With a deep breath she told the portrait the password and the doors swung open. The commons was dark, with only the light from a large fire lighting the table. Draco was standing by it, looking into the flames. He no longer had on his school robes, but instead his un-tucked blue dress shirt was visible over his khakis pants. The scruffy casual look was extremely attractive on him.

He looked up at the sound of the door. He was glad to see she finally showed up when she did. He guessed she would around this time. In fact he had spent the majority of the afternoon psychologically analyzing her. He was very pleased to see so far he had been correct in guessing her behavior. He hoped he'd be right about a lot more things pertaining to her tonight. He felt confident that he had an accurate understanding of the way she worked.

Hermione poised herself to look confident. She walked towards him with a determined expression, she tossed her bag to the floor and undid her robes on tossed them on her bag too, trying to come off as relaxed and not intimidated. Again Draco was pleased, he thought she might act like this. He didn't, however, expect to find her "serious act" so adorable. She looked so sexy in her gray pleated skirt with a soft pink blouse and her determined stance.

"Listen Malfoy," she began her speech, "I'm going to get started on our project tonight so if you're interesting in working on it with me you're more then welcome as long we're completely…."

"I already did it." He said cutting her off.

"W-What?" she managed to stammer.

"Last night," he explained vaguely. "…couldn't sleep."

Hermione looked at him with suspicion. He gestured to the coffee table as he walked away from the fire, seating himself in the middle of the sofa.

Hermione looked at the papers and books on the table; she picked up a scroll and began skimming through it. She didn't get to read it all but couldn't believe it was there. She looked down at all the books, they seemed like legitimate resources, she even found their names and authors in the bibliography. She looked at Draco in utter amazement.

"This is unreal." She said.

Draco shrugged, "Wasn't that hard."

Hermione looked at him intently, "Did you cheat?" she said firmly, "because if you paid some Slytherin to….

Draco laughed out loud, "Heavens no," he said smiling, "You know very well there's no one in Slytherin who could've wrote that."

Hermione knew he had a point. "It must've been so difficult," she said confused, "Why did you do it? …I mean I would've helped you know, if you think I'm stupid or something and would've screwed it up well then you can just…."

"Hermione just shut up for a sec," Draco said abruptly. "I did it so we could have this chance to talk."

"Talk?" Hermione said in a shaky voice.

"Yeah," he said "You know, when at least two people say things back and forth to each other in order to form a conversation… a conversation is-"

"I know what it is!" Hermione said snidely to his sarcastic comment.

Draco smiled, "Then please sit" he said as he patted next to him. He sensed her hesitation so he quickly added, "Look Hermione I just want to apologize for something, please don't make it harder." His steely blue eyes met her amber ones and they showed only signs of sincerity.

Hermione slowly sunk into the overstuffed leather sofa right next to him. It didn't seem like it from standing up because Draco made it somehow appear like there was more space, but she found herself extremely near him. The proximity made her a little woozy. She got a gentle whiff of his cologne, and an over all sense of his size as he turned towards her. His was lean and athletic with broad shoulders and thick arms. There faces were inches apart as he looked right at her.

"I wish you'd relax," Draco said, "I know I may have freaked you out last night but I promise I mean you know harm."

"I'm relaxed," she lied.

"Okay…" Draco continued, "But I really am sorry about how I acted earlier. There's no excuse for it, I never meant to scare you or hurt you I swear."

"Then what were you trying to do," Hermione asked firmly.

"I don't know," Draco tried to explain, "I don't get it myself. It's just that…. When I'm around you, I go all crazy."

"Crazy?" repeated Hermione, confused.

"Yeah," Draco went on, "I hate it, But when I'm around you…" he said slowly look at her with a hint of nervousness in his eyes. He licked his lips and tried to regain his concentration away from her soft pretty face. Hermione was growing increasingly aware of his body language as he seemed to turn and sink towards her against his own will.

"But when I'm around you I can't help but want to kiss you." He said as he put his hand on her knee.

His touch and his words caused butterflies to explode in her stomach as she looked him right into his dreamy blue eyes. She couldn't explain it, but she didn't want him to stop.

"I want you so bad Hermione," he said, and he leaned in and kissed her.

It was a soft sweet kiss, it only lasted a few seconds, but it proved to be long enough.

Draco pulled his face away little, to see Hermione there with her eyes still closed. She didn't look mad. In fact, she gently put her hand on his cheek and he knew he could move in for another kiss. They softly kissed a few more times until Hermione on her own opened her mouth a little inviting Draco's tongue in. Draco smiled to himself, everything had worked and he was in heaven. He slid his tongue in and said hello to Hermione's, then he slid in as much as he could, pulling their mouths deeply together.

They kissed passionately like that for awhile. Hermione was overcome with a warm intense feeling. When Draco finally slid his tongue out to let her catch his breath he was met with the surprise of Hermione's tongue in his mouth. It felt so amazing as Hermione's tongue rubbed on his. Then to his pleasurable surprise she guided his tongue back into her mouth and then began sucking on it. Draco let out an internal shudder due to how intensely arousing that was. Their mouths peeled apart and Draco soon felt a tiny nibble on his bottom lip and he shivered again at her sensual expert kissing.

Full of his own tricks as well, Hermione didn't even notice the transition between sitting up and laying down until she felt Draco's weight as he sank into her. He laid snuggly on top of her and she felt his arms go around his neck as he gripped her hips.

Hermione let out a quiet moan as Draco began kissing her neck. As it would turn out, having a guy lick and nibble her ear and small of her neck arouses her to the extreme. She shivered as he kept pecking her earlobe. His hands moved up her sides and she felt all tingly as he slid his hands over her chest and cupped the sides of her breasts for a moment. He only wanted to test the waters but touching her there proved to be extremely tempting for him as well. He slid his hands back down and gave her ass a squeeze as he resumed kissing her lips. Hermione's own hands began sliding down his back to his shoulders, almost clawing him whenever he did anything that made her tense up with pleasure.

Now extremely turned-on, Draco was growing very hot and hard. He began kissing her more intensely and squeezed her ass harder. Hermione's moans were a bit louder this time as his hand moved farther down her hip and across her thigh. He lifted up her skirt and he felt Hermione freeze when she felt his hand on her upper inner thigh. He knew he was pushing his luck but he just couldn't resist, nor probably stop, even if he had too.

He lightly stroked the outside crotch of her panties in a long, slow, back and forth motion right between her legs. The sensation of the fabric of her underwear being massaged into her delicate skin caused Hermione's back and legs to tense and her head hung back. Draco could feel heat radiating from her middle and even the outside of her panties growing moist. Now he was now focusing his fingers to a specific spot, tickling lightly where he knew her clit was beneath her knickers. Each of her millions and millions of sensitive nerve endings there were growing more and more stimulated and Hermione began breathing deeper. She was still under Draco weight kissing him deeply as pressure began to grow in her and she became more and more turned on. She found herself yearning intensely for something she couldn't - or didn't want to - pinpoint. Her body wanted things her mind didn't want to admit to.

Draco could feel her breathing deeper and deeper. Being a male, he was more than ready to go on, in fact, quitting now would be painful. He knew she was unsure but he didn't want to stop. He was still subconsciously trying to convince her. He began rubbing her clit in deep hard circles. Hermione's hips involuntarily tensed towards Draco's hand. She was growing wetter and wetter and the sensations were growing more powerful making her want more.

He could sense Hermione starting to question the yearning of her body. She slowed their kissing and her arms went a little limper around him.

"Draco," she whispered

"Hermione," Draco moaned, trying to pretend he didn't here her tone and kissed her more deeply.

"Draco," she said against his mouth, louder this time, making it more obvious she wanted his attention and he needed to stop.

Before she could even get his name out all the way Draco tried one last desperate attempt to persuade Hermione to give into her desire. He slid his hand down her panties letting his actual fingers slip around to her clit. She felt hot and creamy.

Hermione let out a little scream at the shock of his hand. She tired pushing him away but Draco retreated his hand before she had a reason to get violent.

"I need to stop." She said

"No, Hermione…" Draco said with his eyes closed tight, "Why?" he pleaded as he tried to kiss her again.

"No Draco," she uttered as she turned away. She began squirming, trying to get out from underneath him.

"Please Hermione…" he begged, he half way lifted himself off of her as to not anger her, yet he still held onto her like he really didn't want to let go. He tried to softly kiss her neck again, knowing she liked it.

Hermione whimpered as she tried to slide out from under him. He was making it so hard. But she couldn't go back now. She freed herself and tried to get away from the couch.

She let out another little scream when she felt Draco grab her skirt from the couch.

"Don't do this," Draco said earnestly.

Hermione slapped his hand down and ran her upstairs. The last thing Draco heard from her that night was the slam of the door.