Hello faithful readers and newcomers. I am writing this part as an introduction to the upcoming chapter. First of all, thank you very much for all the readers. Now, I know that chapter 19 was a "big" chapter…… so you would think. I know some felt it was a bit "rushed," but it was written in that way for a reason. Yeah, Hermione and Draco did "it," but that's the least of their issues. Honestly, the way I see the scene play out, since Hermione was all weepy and Draco was trying to comfort her, it was less romantic and more spur of the moment, but not the great got-caught-in-the-moment moment.

So they had sex, whoopee, but the reason I ran through that chapter without a very graphic description of the coupling was because 1. I really don't care for a descriptive version (unless you, the reader, would like a play by play of the event). 2. I really want to get to the "morning after."

Chapter 20

She sat up, no longer modest about having the sheet around her waist. She propped herself up on her elbows and turned to the man sleeping next to her. His blond hair was disheveled, just the way she liked it. His face looked neither content nor disturbed; he just looked in limbo. Hermione smiled and ran her hand through her hair, attempting to get rid of the tangles that had formed in the midst of their lovemaking. She turned to Draco who was just lying in her bed staring at the ceiling. She snuggled closer to him and laid her head on his chest.

"Are you comfortable?"

Draco shifted a bit, almost as if he was trying to pull away. "Sure."

Hermione sat up again and pulled her hair back in a ponytail and secured it with a clip on her bedside. Draco watched her slender body move in the moonlight. Her skin looked like polished ivory. He was looking at his best friend, yet he felt as if he was looking at a completely different woman. A woman who was not ashamed of her body, who was not asking for things 'on the side,' a woman who made him feel complete in bed. Yet at the same time, it was his best friend whose naked form he was admiring. It was Hermione who was stretching next to him, smiling at him. She turned to Draco and caught him staring at her. At first she almost instinctively wanted to pull the sheet up over her bare chest, but thought twice about it. "Do you want something to drink?"

"No thanks, I'm alright."

"Really Draco, it's not a big deal, I'm going to get something for myself in a bit." Hermione grabbed her robe and slipped it on. Draco suppressed a small groan from escaping his lips. As much as Hermione was someone he never thought to be in this situation with, he certainly did not want her to cover up!

Draco cleared his throat and turned on the bedside lamp. "Well, a glass of water would be nice." Hermione got out of bed and walked out to the kitchen leaving Draco in her bed. Feeling a bit restless, Draco got up and draped a sheet over himself as he looked at the DVD collection Hermione had in her bedroom. He stifled a laugh as he saw that each movie was arranged in alphabetical order according to genre. Hermione walked in and sat down on the floor next to Draco handing him the glass of water.

"I can't believe you have your DVD's alphabetized and organized by genre." Hermione pretended to ignore his comment as she got up and sat back on her bed. "Well, would you like to watch something?" Draco got up and shook his head. "No thanks, unless of course you want to?"

"Oh," Hermione removed her robe and hurried to snuggle under the covers. Her modesty was kicking in and she was beginning to feel the tension building around them. "No, no I don't really want to watch a movie either. Would you rather just go to bed?"

Draco walked back over to the bed. "Yeah, that would be nice." Hermione turned her back to Draco. She felt the bed sag as he got in and switched off the lamp. Neither said goodnight to one another.

0/0/0/0/0

Hermione felt the bed covers shift around her and she opened her eyes and turned her head to the other side of the bed. She could see the red glare of the digital clock on the other bed side table. It read 4:06 a.m. Draco was no longer asleep beside her either. After a few moments, Hermione's eyes focused and she saw his shadow by the doorway pulling on his pants and jumper.

"Where are you going," she said groggily.

Even in the darkness, Hermione could see his face lit by the faint light of the moon that snuck in between the cracks of her curtains. She couldn't read his face, but deep in her heart she felt a burden weigh down on her.

"I have to go," Draco said, barely above a whisper. "I, uh, I have to go home and change from yesterday's clothes into today's clothes and then I have to go to work and so do you and after work I would like to take you to dinner if you're free." He took a deep breath. He hated being nervous. He knew how stupid he sounded. "Are you free?"

"Yes," said Hermione, now sitting up in her bed.

"Fine, I'll ring you later then."

"Right, fine, that sounds fine." Draco turned towards the door, then stopped before reaching for the doorknob and turned around and leaned over the bed and gave Hermione a small kiss, and before she could say anything, he walked out.

0/0/0/0/0/0/0

Ginny and Blaise were fast asleep. After all, it was only five in the morning. But almost simultaneously, the phones on either side of the bed began to ring. Ginny's played an obnoxious ring tone. The sleeping couple grunted in their sleep, ignoring the incessant ringing.

"That's your phone that keeps ringing you know," mumbled Blaise as he pulled the covers around him.

"Ugh!" Ginny shot up and glared at her fiancé and his phone, which had decided to shut itself up. Hers, however, was frantically ringing.

"Hello?"

"I'm so sorry to call so early..."

Hearing Hermione's voice woke Ginny up immediately. Hermione never called at inappropriate times. It was very anti-Hermione. Having a call from her at the crack of dawn had to be urgent.

"Are you alright?"

Just then, Blaise's phone began to ring. And it didn't stop.

"Damn this thing." Blaise shot up next to his wife and picked up the phone. "No one I know would call at this hour!"

On the other line, Hermione could not stop sobbing, "Ginny, it was so awful!"

"Draco?" Blaise looked at the caller ID on his mobile and shook his head.

"Blaise, look, I think the depth of our friendship implies a call-at-any-hour policy."

Ginny hit Blaise's arm, shushing him as she tried to listen to Hermione on her phone. "Go on, what happened?"

"Ginny, Draco came over last night..."

Blaise ignored his fiancé's conversation and turned to face the other side of the room. "So what's going on Draco?"

"I went over to Hermione's last night..."

"And you know how upset I am about Harry, Ginny, him getting married and all..."

"...well, one thing led to another...man, Blaise...I was just there..."

"..comforting me and before I knew it we were kissing...and then...oh Ginny! I did something terrible."

"Hermione, what did you do?"

"..so to make a long story short..."

"We did it," exclaimed Hermione and Draco over the phone at the same time causing Ginny and Blaise to turn to face each other, as if reading each other's minds.

"They did it," whispered Ginny and Blaise to each other, not quite knowing what expression to have on their faces.

Ginny turned back to her conversation. "That's great, Hermione!"

"Man, we've been hoping this would happen to you two," said Blaise.

"Hermione, you two should have done it in the first place."

"Ginny and I have been talking about the two of you doing it for four months, hoping for it really."

"The two of you belong together!"

"Really, Draco, it's like killing two birds with one stone."

"It's like two wrongs make a right 'Mione."

"That's so great, man."

"So how was it," Ginny and Blaise said at the same time.

"The during part was good..."

"I thought it was good..."

"Blaise, who's that talking?"

"Who?"

"Is that Blaise talking? Ginny?"

"Oh, that, I left the telly on."

"Oh, 'Mione, you know how I always forget to turn the telly off!"

"Tell you what, Draco, why don't you come over for breakfast?" offered Blaise as Ginny said "Hermione, you should come over for breakfast."

Both realizing what they had said, Ginny and Blaise look horrified at the thought of their two friends who had spent the night together showing up on their front steps at the same time.

"I'm not really up to it."

"Thanks Gin, but I feel too awful right now."

"Good," said the couple, breathing a sign of relief.

"It is rather early, isn't it?"

"Call me later if you still need to talk, alright?"

"I'll call you later, darling. I better go before Blaise gets up."

Ginny hung up the phone, her fiancé doing the same. They stared at each other for a moment.

"Merlin..."

"I know," Blaise said, shaking his head.

Ginny laid back down and draped her arm around her fiancé's chest and snuggled up to his warm body. "Tell me I'll never have to be out there again."

Holding Ginny close, Blaise kissed the top of her head, "You'll never have to be out there again."

0/0/0/0/0/0/0

Hermione stared at her reflection in her bathroom mirror as she put on lip gloss and straightened her hair as best as she could.

"I'll just say it was a mistake," she said out loud, as if hearing it would make her morning better.

Across town, Draco was in the shower staring at the steam building up around him.

"Sally," he said to his own reflection in the shower mirror, "it was a mistake."

He slumped against the wall, staring back at his reflection as it fogged back up.

Hermione pulled on her blazer and gathered up her purse. She paused before leaving her bedroom and thought, 'I hope I get to say it first.'

'I hope she says it before I do," mused Draco as he turned off the taps.