Usual Disclaimer - if you recognize it, it's probably not mine unless you plan to give me lost of praise & or money, without any fear of lawsuit or legal problems, lol. To those who've been patiently waiting for updates, I offer my most profuse apologizes, but I've got a really good excuse - I was abducted by aliens . . . lol, no, seriously . . . ;) Actually, I'm in the middle of my semester abroad, in England no less, in the outer suburbs of London & I'm having a great time, the only downside though is between traveling to exotic locale & walking everywhere else, my school work, working on my thesis & the absurdly ridiculous time I have been allotted on computers at my school - I have very little time to work on this fic & I've pretty much been reduced to internet cafes. I haven't stopped work on this story at all, I just have very limited time online, which makes posting new chapters, a challenge at best - add to that the problems my beta has been having with her computer & this all translates into delays. But I am doing the very best I can & I have started work on the new chapter & since I just finished a huge paper that was due today, I will hopefully have more time to get the next one up ASAP. Anyway, here is the newest chapter, so please, read, review & enjoy . . .

Chapter 16 - Harry's Nightmares

Harry sat on his bed, having finally managed to ditch a cloying Pavarti, who was pouting because he was going to have spent at least part of his free time on his project with Ron for Snape. 'God,' he thought to himself, 'Hermione would have never acted like that.' Hermione . . . for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, I mean, ok, in retrospect, maybe making her the person to find him and Ron "dead" wasn't the smartest choice and he supposed that, yeah, maybe they should have told her earlier, but . . . associating and protecting Draco? Their arch- enemy?!? What the hell was up with that? Looking over at the clock, he saw that it was 12 - he was never going to get to sleep at this rate. He knew there was no point to try to talk to Ron, he had passed out earlier in bed with Lavender, who had thankfully, since left. Thinking back over it, he shook his head, because you'd think they'd at least wait until everyone else was asleep or at least pretending to sleep, before they went at it.

Although, he had to admit, when he first got back and saw Pavarti, he had acted no better, but somehow it wasn't as good as he had always expected it would, who knows, maybe he rushed through it too much. A smile briefly slid across his face, when he thought back to Hermione, because he knew that she would NEVER be caught dead making out or anything more in public or otherwise. Although, and his expression turned darker the more he thought about it, she'd have no lack of willing partners, not the way she looked. Which, of course yet another reason why he had to make her be see reason in regards to Draco, who was definitely up to something. Aside from the fact that he *was* Draco Malfoy, or that his father was - no is - a Deatheater, even if he wasn't going to use Hermione against him, Harry had heard things about him and how he treated his women, classic example - look how he treated Pansy.

"I can't believe him, he just gets back, we did it once and now he is ignoring me?!?!" Harry winced, he recognized that voice heading in his direction and she did not sound happy.

"Pavarti, he *is* a man and you know how they are," Lavender tried her best to calm her friend, but couldn't entirely hide her smirk.

"Oh, what? You think that you're better than me? Where is Ron, hmmmm?" Pavarti's voice rose slightly more high pitched as she demanded an answer from her so-called best friend who was *actually* laughing at her.

"Well, actually he is in his bed. I kinda of exhausted him, if you know what I mean," she flashed the other girl a bright smile, "that is actually why I was in the kitchen, he asked to get some food to help 'restore him back to strength' so we could do it a few more times," barely containing her laughter.

"What?!?! You mean you did it more than once and you're going to do it again!!!!" Pavarti's voice jumped a full octave as she shrieked. She stopped to stare at her friend, who tried and failed to look abashed, while ignoring the laughing faces that suddenly began popping out all the way down the corridor of people who obviously overheard her and were hoping for some more good gossip.

Harry stood at the doorway frozen like a deer in headlights, as he saw them 5 feet away in the hallway, obviously coming to his and Ron's room, while everyone else was laughing - he was trapped - this was a NIGHTMARE of epic proportions! Darting back into the room, he quickly locked the door and dove under his bed to get his invisibility clock, which to his horror he discovered was gone! His forehead slumped to the floor, his glasses slid off his ears to prop up between his head and the dirty wood floor. How could he forget? When they set up their plan to convince everyone that they were dead, he had given the cloak to Hermione, so she could play the lookout when they snuck off grounds and while she was scouting the nearby area, he and Ron set up their death scene, so she would come back and find their bodies. Of course, she must still have it.

Hermione, now he had the perfect excuse to talk to her and considering that most of her roommates were otherwise engaged, it was the perfect time. Suddenly, he heard *that* voice again and he knew he had to escape fast because that lock wouldn't hold them for long, his head popped up, hitting the bottom of his bed frame, while his glasses fell, sliding deeper into nether reaches of dust. Reaching out his arm, he fought off the fiendish dust bunnies to find his glasses, slide out on his belly from under the bed, swiped the grime off his glasses and he grabbed his broom. Looking back at the still peacefully sleeping Ron, Harry felt a small twinge of guilt, because he wouldn't be so relaxed very soon, but desperate times called for desperate measures and when it concerned Pavarti and Lavender, it was every man for himself. So broom in hand, he put his glasses back on his face, where they hung at an odd angle, and cast one last look back at the now turning knob. Seeing the bright flash of light from underneath the door, he nodded to Ron as one would to a fallen comrade in arms, before throwing one leg over his broom, his robes waving a salute, as he whispered an incantation and leapt out of the third story window, as the door suddenly swung wide open.

And of course, Harry was taken by surprise when he couldn't find Hermione no matter where he looked, he even searched through her things, looking for the Marauder's map, narrowly missing the note that Draco had sent Hermione by owl that, of course, would have been his clue, which considering what she was doing was just as well.

Draco leaned over Hermione, his fingers tracing the delicately pale skin, still slightly flushed from her first orgasm, noting with satisfaction the occasional bruise left by him, maybe it was primitive of him, but he didn't care, they were marks of possession, his possession of her and this was still just the beginning. She turned slightly as she began to stir in his arms; he favored her with a tender smile, as she gave a little whimper, before burrowing herself more deeply against his warmth.

Opening her eyes, she watched Draco watching her, as his eyes flared with banked desire. And her eyes quickly tilted downward to avoid the emotions she saw in his. "Draco," she whispered, her voice muffled by his chest, "I'm sorry."

Startled, his eyes took on a look of confusion, he looked down at her but she refused to meet his gaze, so moving back slightly he slid one finger beneath her chin tilting her face up to him, while his other arm still held her snugly against him, because of all the things he imagined would have been her first reaction, an apology wasn't one of them. So, keeping his voice gentle, he asked her, "now, what are you talking about, hmm?"

Looking up at him, he saw her eyes well up as her body tensed up against his, as she whispered, "well, I mean," her voice dwindled off into silence, before she looked away from him and continued, "you made sure that I was taken care of and we didn't have sex or anything else. I mean you're still wearing your jeans and -"

"Hey," Draco's voice cut her off as he his fingers found her chin and pulled her back to face him, "look - don't worry about me, ok? I know this was your first time and I wanted to make it all about you, I'm might be a *bit* bossy, but -"

"Ha . . .a bit?"

He just grinned, "ok, maybe a lot, going to make something of it?" Without waiting for her response, he continued, "yeah, I thought so. But seriously, I'm not going be that much of a bastard to rush you into anything, when I know you're not ready, trust me there will be time enough for that."

"Yes, but I didn't do anything . . . I mean I could have done other stuff, but I didn't," her voice wasn't as upset as earlier, but Draco was still not entirely satisfied.

Sighing, he tried again, "Hermione, I did exactly what I wanted to & you let me - that was all I really needed. Watching you & know that I was the one doing those things to you, that you wanted me to and that you were enjoying it - that was all the satisfaction I needed, ok?" He looked down at you, but she still looked not entirely convinced, "Hermione, if I had asked, or told you to do the things you're thinking of now, what do you really think the odds were that you wouldn't?" Watching her blush was all the answer he needed, "yeah, exactly my point," he smirked at her. Looking down at her, he could still see the shadows in her eyes and knew there was something else that she wasn't telling him. "Ok, what else is bothering you?"

Looking up at him in surprise, she paused for a moment, "well, I'm not really sure how to say this, but - "

"But what?"

"Well," she began again, "it's obvious that you have more experience in all of this and - " she stopped briefly, before exclaiming, "damn but this is a bit awkward . . . "

"Hey, " he caressed her face, "you can ask me whatever you want, you don't have to be shy or feel weird about it, considering everything, I'm actually the one at fault here," propping himself up on an elbow, "because this is the type of stuff that maybe we should talked about earlier. So what do you want to know?"

"Umm," Hermione blushed, "well I suppose we should discuss our sexual history - ummm, you know mine, or my lack of one anyway, but I don't know anything about yours and ummm, well, even I know that you have to be at least a little . . . ummm "experienced'?"

Giving her a slightly bitter smile, Draco nodded, "ok, I know what you're talking about, but just to warn you, you might not like what you hear." He paused for a moment, waiting until she acknowledged his statement with a hesitant nod of her head, before continuing, "I've had about 4 partners over 4 years - "

Gasping, Hermione sat up, pulling the sheet up to cover herself and broke in saying, "but that means you had sex at 13?!?!"

Grimly, Draco arched an eyebrow, before shrugging his shoulders in response, "yeah."

"With who?" She demanded to know.

Sitting up himself now, he ran his fingers through his already tousled hair, "no one you would ever know."

"What some friend of your father's deatheater's daughter?!?" Hermione's voice dripped with sarcasm.

Draco visibly flinched under her cold stare, before he turned away from her to light up a cigarette, after taking his first drag, he answered her in a flat and monotone voice, "no, when I was 14, my dad took me to a muggle callgirl to "learn the ropes" as he so delicately put it."

"What?" The anger had drained out of her voice, leaving only shock.

"Yeah," he laughed bitterly. He turned back to see her watching him with a look of concern on her face and his voice gentled. "Now it wasn't as bad as all that, I mean it certainly wasn't my ideal, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been either. She was older, obviously, maybe in her late 20's-early 30's and she knew I was a virgin and did her best to make it as good as possible under the circumstances, but it's not something I'm particularly proud of. The other 3 were unforgettable at best and in the past, you wouldn't know any of them either."

"Oh Draco, I *am* so sorry - " she began, clearly remorseful over her instinctive reaction.

Looking away again, he took another slow drag, before shrugging his shoulders, "don't be, you have no reason to apologize, it's hardly your fault and it happened a long time ago. There was no way you could have known and considering the way I've behaved sometimes, it's wasn't that big a stretch, I suppose. It's just the way things worked out." He paused for a moment, before adding in a satiric and mocking tone, "besides it's "the Malfoy way" and I'm nothing if not a Malfoy."

"Draco, you are nothing like your father." Hermione's voice was emphatically firm.

Put out his cigarette, he turned back to look at her, arching an eyebrow as one corner of his mouth quirked up into a half smile. "And you say that with such conviction," he mused, almost to himself. "I wish I had as much faith as you do."

Hermione looked at him in the awkward silence that fell between them, trying to find the right words to convince him that he wasn't like his father, her fingers worrying the edge of the sheet that she still clung to her body

Watching her in the silence, his attention drawn down as she continued to unconsciously fold & smooth out the hem of material, a slow grin forming on his lips, he moved closer towards, "and besides, why are we talking about my father when we could be talking about so many other interesting things, hmmm?" His hand suddenly reached out to jerk the sheet out of her hands and he couldn't resist smirking as she blushed.

"Ummm and exactly what sort of those things would you be thinking about?" She asked in slightly frustrated voice, as she bit her lower lip in consternation as she tried unsuccessfully to pull the sheet back.

"Fun things . . . things I'm sure you'd enjoy," his voice deepened suggestively.

"Yeah, like what?" She frowned as she continued to lose the tug of war over the stupid sheet that he refused to let go of.

"Things that you will not need this sheet for," he stretched out onto of the sheet, effectively ending that battle, his eyes sliding over her nude body. She gave him a snide look for a moment, before smirking as she reached for his long ago cast off blanket at the far end of the bed. He rolled his eyes at her backside, before reaching over her body and snatching the blanket out of her grasp. "Or that. You are just determined to be difficult tonight, aren't you? Perhaps, you need a bit of discipline?" He held her down by the back of her neck against the bed for a moment, firmly but gently before he loosened his grip and ricocheted back up.

She narrowed her eyes at him, as she rubbed the back of her neck as if it hurt, noting with satisfaction as he looked a bit guilty at the possibility that he might have hurt her, because a little guilt on his part, couldn't possibly hurt her cause. Lowering her arm, she looked at him for a moment, before she began, "and that reminds . . . "

He tilted his head at her, he waited for her to continue.

"If we're going to be involved, I'd like to know exactly how kinky are you?"

Draco snickered, he had expected a conversation around this topic, but he hadn't expected such a blunt question. "What are you going to tell me that you didn't enjoy it?"

Pushing him back so he was laying on the bed, she leaned over him, with as a smile crept across her face, "well, no, I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but I am curious."

"Well, you know what they say about curiosity, don't you?" He laughed again, as he looked up at her face framed by a curtain of her hair. "I'll go about as far as you'll let me."

"Hmmm, well, I'm thing I'm going to have to go and research this thing later on."

"Research? You are kidding me, right?"

Throwing one leg over him, she straddled his body and shook her head, "nope, I'm serious. Research is always a good thing and a little knowledge never hurt, besides, " she said now laying on top of him and dropping her head back to his chest, so she didn't have to look him in the eyes, she said quietly, "I just want to please you, make you feel how you made me feel."

Smoothing her hair, he answered, "& you did, believe me, but hey, next time, you can do whatever you want to me, ok?"

"Anything?" Hermione's head popped up with a wickedly mischievous smile, "you mean like, if I want to chain *you* to a wall naked?"

Arching an eyebrow, Draco quickly flipped them around so she was lying underneath him, his hands holding her wrists like a manacles to the bed, and said, "nope, I believe I said anything 'within reason' my dear, because when we start playing with chains, trust me, I won't be the one in them." Looking down at her still naked body, he felt himself growing hard again, he closed his eyes fiercely for a moment and when he opened them, they were molten silver and heavy with passion. He lowered his head and he laved the area with his tongue before he bit down deeply. Hermione let out a low moan as her arms curled around his back as she angled her neck upwards to give him better access.

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