Hermione had fallen asleep on the couch by the time Draco emerged from the fireplace, sleeves rolled up and blood splattered on his front. Normally his robes would have kept his shirt clean, but he had discarded them hours ago when they kept preventing him from healing the way he needed to.

It had been a blood bath, something he had only read about and been told during his many classes. A total of fifteen people had been brought into St. Mungo's and they had lost three - two of which were aurors. Apparently they had been serving a warrant for an escaped Death Eater - not one who had escaped prison, but one who had evaded it all together - when an intense battle had broken out. Why they only sent four aurors he had no idea, but it had been stupid and had cost two of them their lives.

The Death Eater, one he vaguely remembered seeing during the war, had been captured along with three accomplices. The accomplices had suffered major injuries and he was pretty sure it was some of their blood that had been splatted all over his front. It had been hard; fighting to save someone who deep down he believed deserved to die. He had glimpsed a faded black mark on one of the men's arms and he knew he had been part of the dark, which in turn made he pause before squeezing his eyes shut and forcing himself to begin healing.

It had taken more than five hours to get everyone stable - and that was with every available personnel called in to help. One of the older healers had said it had been this way a lot during the war, something that had made the man remove his glasses and rub at his temples.

Draco couldn't imagine how hard that must have been, plus wondering when the wrong person would come in and start yelling curses - which had happened. It had resulted in the death of four nurses and one healer and he couldn't even begin to think about how he would react in such a situation.

Once he had stepped out of the fireplace he zeroed in on the woman laying on the couch. It was the first time he had gotten off work and come home to someone and he found it to be a novel experience. Somehow simply seeing another human sharing the same space as he did made the trials of the night start to seep from his bones, making him very aware of how tired he really was.

He tossed his robes on one of the chairs by the fireplace and tugged at his tie. He wished he had taken it off before leaving, but now he looked down in disgust as he saw there was some sort of bodily fluid on it. Typically that sort of thing didn't bother him, but this was one of his good ties.

Sighing he made his way over to the sleeping female. Her hair was sprayed all around her and the glow from the candles turned the spiral curls into a glowing halo. She wasn't what you would consider a standard beauty, but you'd have to be blind to not find Hermione Granger attractive. Why Ron would choose a bimbo like Lavender over her he didn't know, though he counted it as a win for himself.

Deciding to clean up before trying to wake the sleeping woman he made his way down the hall and up the stairs to his room. His bed called his name, though he ignored it in favor of being clean.

There was one thing Draco Malfoy couldn't stand, and that was being dirty.

He glanced at the old clock that hung on his wall and groaned when he saw that it was two in the morning. He had another shift at the hospital that began in less than twelve hours, and he raked a hand through his hair in frustration.

Pulling off his shirt he tugged off his pants and shoes, raising his arms overhead and stretching his back once he was down to his boxers. Part of him just wanted to put some pajamas on and go to bed, but he also wanted to clean off all the blood that had splattered on his arms and he knew that the sink wouldn't do a good enough job.

So that meant it was time for a bath.

Downstairs Hermione opened her eyes once she knew Draco had gone upstairs. She had wanted to see what he looked like, coming home from an emergency, but she found that she really didn't know what to say to him.

Hello?

Glad you're home?

How was it?

Gah, she was useless at this, so she opted to just pretend that she was sleeping and hoped he wouldn't wake her up. Thankfully after he stood in front of her for a few minutes she heard him head down the hall and up the stairs, most likely going to his bedroom. Her room was right next door, as he had shown her earlier, and she pulled herself up to a seated position before popping her back. She felt stiff all over and sighed when she realized she was probably getting too big to be sleeping on the couch. She smoothed a hand down her slightly rounded belly, content to just sit and think.

This was all so new to her and she truly didn't even know where to start. Not only had she gone from a tiny one bedroom flat to a huge house, but now the baby inside her womb carried Malfoy blood.

Her baby would be a Malfoy. What world was she living in?

Deciding that she needed to get to bed after glancing at the clock and seeing how far into the night it was, she pulled herself up and made her way up the stair, pausing at Draco's door. If she listened closely she could hear water running, making her wonder why he would be taking a shower so late into the night.

He did tell me to not hesitate to come and see him.

Gathering her courage she opened the door and made her way inside. She had seen it earlier, when he was giving her the grand tour, but she took her time now. Surprisingly the walls weren't some awful shade of green or silver, but rather a bright shade of beige. He had double doors that led to the balcony - one that she could access from her room as well - and the curtains where simply white. To be completely honest, it was a boring room and she wondered why he hadn't put more character into it.

Not that her bedroom in her flat had been any better.

Hearing the water turn off she decided to have a seat on his bed, sighing as she sank into the plush mattress. She hadn't tried her's out yet, but she sure hoped it was similar to the one she now sat on.

Money may not buy happiness, but it sure did buy some fantastic mattresses.

She was so lost in thoughts of mattresses that she didn't hear the door to the bathroom click open, only glancing over when light spilled into the otherwise dim room.

Draco, of course, was not expecting to see a women sitting on his bed when he emerged from the bathroom. If he had, he would have brought clothes with him and wouldn't be standing in the doorway with nothing more than a towel wrapped around his hips. Shock kept him from jumping back into the bathroom, so he instead stood there dumbly until she looked up.

The red tinge to her cheeks made him feel a tad bit better, but he still had no idea what to say. Should he act normal? Find clothes and disappear back into the bathroom? Strike up a conversation?

"I- uh- I mean..." Her stuttering made him grin and he took a breathe before moving farther into the room.

He felt her eyes on him and couldn't help it when he turned around and said, "If you wanted to see me naked all you had to do was ask."

Her eyes widened and her face got an impossible shade of red. "That's not! I mean, I just wanted to say goodnight and-"

Feeling flirty he moved closer to her and shushed her with a finger to her lips. "I'm just teasing you, Hermione."

Holding back a grin at her flustered look he made to take his finger away when she did the most unexpected thing; she bit his finger. His stomach tensed at the sensation, and his blood heated at the self satisfied look on her face.

Hermione, of course, was so proud of herself. First she caught him off guard by being in his room - the fact that she never expected him to come out in just a towel and how it made her stutter like an adolescent wasn't important - and then when he thought he could fluster her even more she went totally out of her comfort zone and bit his finger.

Of course, she expected him to shake his head at her or simply laugh at her audacity, but instead his hand stilled and his eyes darkened. She had started to grin up at him when she saw how he was looking at her and then for the first time she actually thought about the situation she was in.

First off - She was technically carrying his baby.

Secondly - She was in his house, in his room.

Thirdly - He was naked under that towel.

And then, to top it all off, she had just bit his finger in what she thought was a playful way but what she was coming to realize was actually sexy.

At least, that's how he was looking at her; like she had just done the most sexy thing and he was looking at her like she was the most desirable thing alive.

It was too much and not enough all at the same time and she was at a loss as to what she should do. Part of her wanted to run away but another part of her was telling her to do something even more crazy - like take the finger she just bit into her mouth.

Draco was, on the other hand, trying his best not to ravage the brunette sitting on his bed. Maybe it was the fact that he was exhausted and not completely in his right mind, but all he wanted to do was kiss her. She was staring up at him and he could swear that he saw desire for him in her eyes, but surely he was seeing things? Surely she wasn't actually thinking along the same line that he was, was she?

How long he stood there, finger on her lips, he didn't know. He had actually lost count of the time, only aware of her and how she seemed to completely fill the space. This was stupid, insane, and so unlike him...

And then he replaced his finger with his lips, pressing them into her own and swallowing her tiny gasp of surprise. Maybe it wasn't the most intelligent thing he had ever done, but at this moment it felt like it was the best idea he had ever had. He forgot that he was only in a towel, that it was way too late to be doing anything but sleeping, and that he didn't want to rush her. He had almost convinced himself to pull away when he felt her small hand on his face and her lips moved against his. He groaned before tangling his hand in her unruly hair and kissing her more forcefully, enjoying the small sound she made in the back of her throat.

Hermione was drowning, lost in a sea of feelings that she hadn't ever really felt before. With Ron it had always felt good, but this? A simple kiss was shoving away all memories of the red head and replacing them with soft lips and blonde hair.

And it was way too much.

Gathering her wits she pulled away and shoved at Draco's shoulders before scurrying off the bed and out of the door when he moved away, not even looking back to see his shocked face. She was a coward, a lily livered coward.

And she had just kissed Draco Malfoy and ran away.