Songs - Falling by Trevor Daniel, Now I'm In It by HAIM, and One Million Lovers by The Growlers

Chapter Seven: Dealing with Feelings

"Granger," came Draco's booming voice from the other side of the stack, "Your office literally cannot fit any more books."

"Nonsense," Hermione retorted, brushing a rogue curl away from her eyes. "There's plenty of space in there."

"And where do you expect the man you're shagging and sometimes working with to sit once we add these to your collection?" Draco said as he rounded the corner levitating a pile of books in front of him.

It wasn't the Hogwarts library where Madam Pince waited in the shadows to shush anyone for being too loud, but it was still a library, and at least in Hermione's mind, that meant there were rules.

"Ouch!" Draco yelped playfully as Hermione smacked him on the shoulder with the rolled up piece of parchment in her hands.

"This is a library, Malfoy," she whispered, her face red with embarrassment. "Or have you already forgotten where we are?"

Draco laughed, his voice echoing off the ceiling above them.

"Oh, I haven't forgotten." He moved his body closer, stopping just inches away from her, his quicksilver eyes sparkling with mischief. "You know," he began, grabbing hold of her arms and pulling her against him, "You're irresistible when you get this worked up."

Hermione tried to feign disinterest, but her body betrayed her as it shuddered under his touch.

"This isn't fair," she mumbled as he wrapped his hands around the back of her neck. "All you have to do is distract me with your bad boy charms, and I turn into a blithering idiot."

"Bad boy charms? Please. I'm always well behaved," Draco chuckled. "And for the record, you're never a blithering idiot."

"You call this well behaved?" Hermione said, gesturing to their compromising position in the middle of the Ministry library. "We're supposed to be working," she added in a whisper as he moved his lips to the sensitive spot behind her ear.

"Granger," he said in between kisses to her neck, "I am working."

If Hermione hadn't been so frazzled by Draco's position on her neck, she would have been able to think of a snarky retort to get them back on task, but it was too late for that. She was thoroughly distracted.

"Someone. Could. Catch. Us," Hermione said as Draco inched his mouth closer to her lips.

"Shhh," Draco said with a smirk. "We're in the library."

All of the air left her lungs as he crashed his lips into hers. Whatever Hermione had been thinking, whatever she had wanted to say, was lost as she gave in to his touch. He kissed her hungrily, his tongue teasing her lips, and she felt his heartbeat quicken under his chest. Moving his hands down to her waist, he pulled her closer and she settled her hips below the obvious bulge in his pants, grinding against him. A small moan escaped her lips as he deepened their kiss, his tongue clashing elegantly against hers. He tasted like coffee today. She moved her hands up under his shirt, smirking when she felt his own involuntary shudder as she dragged her fingernails up his chest.

Draco's hands found their way under her blouse, moving softly along the flat of her stomach before sneaking under her bra and teasing her nipples. She gasped and bit down on his lip in response as every inch of her body tingled. Without thinking, she hastily undid the button on his pants, lowered the zipper, and slipped her hand in his briefs, closing her fist around his hardened member. He growled into her mouth and pushed her back roughly into the stacks behind them.

Salazar, did she really just–

Godric, are we really–

Oh god, her hands.

Oh GOD, my hands.

"Draco!" Hermione gasped as she pulled away suddenly, her eyes wide and her breathing labored. "We can't do this here. We have to get back to work."

He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, willing himself to calm down as he took a few deep breaths.

"You started it," Draco accused as his eyes blinked open. "But fine, I guess I'll allow it." He readjusted himself and zipped up his pants, reluctantly backing away as he watched her try to steady her breathing.

He didn't know how she did it, compartmentalize things so well that she was able to push aside whatever was happening between the two of them and focus on other things. She was intoxicating, and he was powerless to resist her. Who was she talking about fair?

After smoothing out her blouse, Hermione threw her bag over her shoulder and scooped up a large pile of books, struggling slightly under their combined weight. Despite wanting to do anything other than go back to work, Draco shook his head and chuckled. No matter how many times he had told her to "just give it up already and use your wand," she insisted on carrying books around in her hands. Always so stubborn. He watched as she took a few unbalanced steps away before flicking his wand and levitating the remaining books toward the exit, trying his best to focus his attention on anything but her perfectly plump backside.

But they only made it a few paces before Hermione stopped abruptly, and Draco cocked his head slightly, eyeing her curiously.

"Fuck it," she nearly shouted as she slammed down her pile of books. "You win!" She turned around, closed the distance between them, and threw her hands around Draco's head, burying her fingers in his stupidly perfect hair. "If we get caught, I'm blaming this on you," she said before pulling his lips back into hers.

Draco smiled against her lips as he backed her into a dark corner, ignoring the sound of books falling to the ground. Apparently, her ironclad will wasn't so ironclad after all.

It wasn't so bad, having Draco as a distraction. Sure, he interrupted their work almost constantly, seemingly unable to control his urges in her presence. And sure, she would never look at a stack of books the same way again after what they had just done against one in the Ministry library, but he was good for her, and she wasn't sure she would have been able to handle the stress of the past few weeks without him.

Some days were easier than others, but he was always there. They started each day at St. Mungo's, taking turns working through a list of spells and incantations they had compiled the previous day, fruitlessly hoping that the young boy would respond to something. Anything. And when they failed, Draco would comfort her, his arms wrapping around her body, and remind her that there were always more things to try. More things to learn. By lunchtime, they would be back in the Ministry, pulling more books off the shelves in the library before hunkering down in Hermione's office to begin working on a list of things to try the next day. Draco's hands would find the back of her neck by dinnertime, and before she could find the words to protest, he would lead her from the office and quickly Apparate them to one of their lofts where they would spend the night trying to rid themselves of their daily frustrations.

So, it really wasn't so bad.

Other than work, it was actually pretty damn perfect.

Understanding her newfound feelings toward Draco; however, was more difficult than she anticipated. She knew from the moment that he kissed her in the Ministry's infirmary that this wasn't going to be some forgettable sexual rendezvous, that he wasn't going to be just some man that she used to get over a wave of near-debilitating loneliness. She actually felt something, something that she wasn't quite sure she was willing to admit, and it terrified her. Not in the run away from him and never come back kind of way, but definitely more along the lines of oh god, this is happening so fast but I can't stop. If her feelings toward him weren't overwhelming enough, then there was the sex, Merlin help her, which was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Slow when it needed to be, hard and fast when she wanted it. She was already addicted. To him. To them together.

Hermione's eyes fell on Draco as he scribbled on a piece of parchment, his head bent over a book laying open on top of her desk. Despite his predilection for distractions, especially those that involved making her tremble in his arms, it was obvious that he was dedicated to his work. Perhaps he was still trying to make up for all the things he had done wrong before and during the war, or perhaps he simply enjoyed the challenges of the puzzle they faced in finding Rodolphus, but no matter his reasons, it was clear that their assignment was important to him. He was unapologetically smart and thought quickly on his feet, often beating Hermione to a new idea before it could even cross her mind. Ten years ago, it would have driven her mad that someone could ever best her in the pursuit of knowledge, but now, it only made her that much more interested in him, that much more excited to continue whatever it was they were doing.

She loved watching him work, his brow furrowed in concentration above a pair of adorably cute reading glasses that always seem to slide too far down on his nose. Her heart fluttered every time she caught him biting his lip or running his long fingers through his hair. Her mouth watered when he took his coat off, flexing his muscular arms. Her cheeks flushed when he moved close to her, his musk invading her senses and his body brushing against hers. It was a wonder she got any work done at all. He wasn't an idiot. He had to know what he was doing to her, there was no way he didn't. Right?

Draco was most definitely not an idiot. He knew exactly what he was doing to her.

Most days, he could barely keep his hands to himself, and it seemed only fair that he make it hard for her to do the same. He could feel her eyes on him when he chewed at his lip or when he played with his hair. He knew she loved to stare at his body, even if it was just his arms. He could hear the furious beating of her heart when he leaned in close to her and could feel the shivers his touch sent down her spine. Hell, it was driving him crazy to just think about how she reacted to him.

Even before they began falling into each other's beds, Draco had never met anyone quite like her. She was stubborn, compassionate, and overwhelmingly brilliant. For someone who constantly referred to herself as plain, nothing about her was ordinary. Not the way she avoided the spotlight, not the way she buried herself in her work, and definitely not the way she used her mouth on him when no one was looking. She was perfectly extraordinary, and he couldn't get enough.

If anything about her was flawed it was that she was too easily flustered. Emotions were her obvious weakness, but even he, who had grown up in what was probably the most emotionally sterile environment in all of Britain, had to admit that wasn't much to be concerned about. Sure, she wore her emotions on her sleeves, often letting them get the better of her, but more often than not, she used them as fuel to power her countless endeavors.

Draco looked over at Hermione from beneath his eyelashes and allowed himself a small smile. It was difficult to explain how he had fallen for her so quickly – and he had fallen hard. Yes, being with her was exhilarating, but so was hunting dark wizards and he definitely wasn't harboring any secret romantic feelings about them. Perhaps it was their shared past, both of them broken by the war, but it was hard to see how that alone could have thrust these new feelings on him so spectacularly. More likely, he thought, it was that deep down he had always known that they could be good together. If only he had just been pulled his head out of his arse sooner, if he had just been less of a prat, he could have seen, like he did now, that she was perfect in every way.

"Malfoy." He looked up quickly, blinking away his daydream.

Hermione was standing in front of him, her hands on her hips.

"Do you need something, Granger?" Draco asked, leaning back in his seat as he smirked up at her.

"You've been staring at the same page for an hour," she said matter-of-factly. "And here I thought we were sharing the workload," she added, throwing a piece of parchment on the desk.

"Correction," he replied, holding his own piece of parchment up, his notes scribbled across the page. "I finished my work an hour before you and decided to take a well-deserved break."

Hermione mumbled something that sounded awfully like she was repeating what he said in a mocking manner, and he had to fight the urge to laugh.

Laughing would be such a waste of a moment he had every intention of taking advantage of.

"I'm sorry," Draco said as he got up from his seat and moved behind her on the other side of the desk. "Did you say something?" He moved her curls away from the side of her neck and brought his lips to the skin over her pulse.

"I said..." she began, raising her voice slightly in an attempt to get his attention.

"Yes?" he inquired before moving his lips along her jaw.

"I don't remember what I said," Hermione admitted dreamily as she turned around to look at him.

The effect he was having on her was completely unfair, so she bit down on her lip to give him a taste of his own medicine.

"Granger," Draco growled, his pupils blown wide.

"Oh, does this bother you?" she asked before biting back down on her lip and batting her eyelashes at him.

Before Hermione knew what was happening, Draco lifted her up on the desk and moved in between her legs, his eyes swirling with his need for her. He moved a hand to her chin and tilted her head towards him.

"You are..." he began, looking down at her with a twinkle in his eye.

"Amazing? Brilliant? Distracting?" she offered, breathing heavily between each word.

"Yes." All of the above.

Suddenly, they were kissing again. Hermione wrapped her legs around his waist and ignored the thuds of books falling to the ground as he leaned her back onto the desk. Draco buried his hands in her hair as his tongue danced around in her mouth, and she realized, for the second time that day, that she didn't care that they were at work; she didn't want him to stop.

"I- um... woah," came a voice from the doorway.

Both Draco and Hermione jumped, quickly disentangling themselves from each other before turning to see Harry standing near the door with his hands clamped over his eyes.

"That's rather unnecessary," Hermione said after shifting her body off of the desk. "We're fully clothed, Harry."

"Yes, well…" Harry began, slowly moving his hand from his face. "That was just very… unexpected."

And it explains a whole fucking lot, he thought looking between his two friends.

"You really should learn to knock, Potter," Draco said, his lips curled into a small smile. It was obvious they were caught, but there were definitely far worse things than Harry knowing about them.

"Are you two," Harry began, gesturing between Draco and Hermione, "a thing?"

Hermione wasn't sure what to say, so she looked at Draco with wide eyes, hoping he would be able to conjure some sort of response. Unfortunately, he was just as lost for words as she was, and much to her dismay, chose to remain silent.

"You know what," Harry said, throwing his hands in the air, clearly uncomfortable with their silence. "I'm going to just pretend I didn't see anything."

"It's new!" Hermione blurted out suddenly, surprising even herself.

Smooth, Draco mouthed as he gawked at her.

"What Granger means," Draco said, giving her a look of amusement as he spoke, "is that we haven't really talked about what this is yet."

As if that was better, Hermione thought to herself as she glared back at him.

"I just caught you with your tongues down each other's throats and you don't know if this is a thing or not?" Harry asked looking between the two of them, his mouth gaped open in disbelief.

"Well, we definitely like to-" Draco started, a twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

Harry interrupted before he could finish his thought. "Don't finish that. I don't want to know."

Draco crossed his arms across his chest. "In that case, to what do we owe this pleasure, oh Chosen One?"

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Dinner," Harry mumbled, vigorously rubbing his eyes as if to rid himself of the image of Draco with his tongue down Hermione's throat.

"Harry, it's 3 pm," Hermione said, clearly confused.

"Yes, I know that," Harry sighed, moving his hands from his face. "What I mean is that Ginny is insisting that I have you both over for dinner tomorrow night since you've been too busy to visit the past few weeks." He paused, looking between the couple. "Which is just perfect because she's very obviously not going to be able to figure out what's going on between the two of you," he finished sarcastically.

"Both of us?" Hermione asked, shuffling nervously on her feet.

"Try not to look so disappointed, Granger," Draco said, lifting an eyebrow.

"I didn't mean it like that," Hermione said, looking at him apologetically. "It's just, Harry's right. Ginny will figure it out right away."

"And that would be a bad thing, why?" Draco asked, confused.

"Because she'll make it a thing," Hermione and Harry said at the same time.

It was Draco's turn to roll his eyes. "What are we, eleven?"

"She's bored," Harry explained. "Hasn't had much adult contact the past few months."

Draco opened his mouth to make a snarky remark, but Hermione elbowed him in the stomach.

"Ouch," Draco mouthed to which she responded by sticking her tongue out. Harry, meanwhile, pretended not to see their whole childish exchange by taking a sudden interest in the state of his fingernails.

"Anyways, you're both coming," Harry instructed after he decided it was safe to look over at them again. "You'll just have to find a way to keep it in your pants for one night."

"I think we can handle that, Harry," Hermione responded curtly.

"Are you sure about that?" Harry asked, smirking. "I did just walk in on you using paid Ministry time to attack Malfoy's face."

"That's- we were- it was five minutes," Hermione said, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"And it was definitely her fault," Draco said waving his arm in her general direction. "I'll behave at dinner if she does."

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but Draco stuck his tongue out at her before she could.

"I'm surrounded by children," Harry mumbled to himself. "Dinner is at 7 pm. Just, I don't know, pretend you still want to punch him in the face or something," he said loud enough for them to hear as nearly ran out of the room.

"It's a date!" Draco called after him.

Hermione threw her hands on her hips and turned back toward Draco. "A date? Really?"

a/n: Trying to keep you on your toes with the length of these chapters apparently. I think this should be the shortest (and most filler-esque) of the bunch – that is unless I decide to split up another beastly chapter into multiple parts. Big things are just around the corner, I promise!