A/N: Dear Phoebe, I like to think that I am a frequent updater. Of course, real life comes in the way occasionally. I study sculpture and it's an extremely time-consuming major. But I try my best to update once or twice a week. I hate to keep you guys waiting because I'm always as excited about the next chapter as you are. So I promise to keep my updates as frequent as possible. I'm glad you liked my stories and I hope to never disappoint you. :)
For a fleeting second, Draco wished he hadn't mixed the potion with his drink that night. Maybe he did need that baby to keep Hermione by his side after all. NO! A voice inside his head roared; no ill-gotten gains in this.
He dragged himself out of bed and forced his heavy eyelids open. He groaned in irritation at the assault of light on his pupils. He made his way to his bedroom and poked his head inside. The room was empty and the bed looked ruffled. A blast of air came through the open window and Draco realized he was stark naked.
He walked back to the other room, tripping and almost falling over a carpet on his way.
He put on his boxers and retrieved his wand. Fully awake and alarmed at Hermione's sudden disappearance now. He opened one bedroom after the other but Hermione was nowhere to be found.
Draco skipped down the stairs; the marble stairs too cold under his bare feet. A faint light came from the library room and a wave of relief washed over him as he saw Hermione curled on one of the ridiculously big armchairs. Crouching next to her, he tapped her shoulder lightly and Hermione's eyes flew open. She suddenly sat up in the chair. Her hands clutching its arms and her eyes too wide for somebody who just woke up.
"Light sleeper doesn't even begin to describe you!" Draco mused.
Hermione stared at him silently, her chest rose and fell as she took one deep breath after the other. Her sleeping issues were going to be the death of her, she thought grimly. Years of not having the slightest sense of security left her in a constant state of hyper-vigilance. She had slept in old abandoned houses, shady motels and even forests. Non of them felt safe enough for her to allow herself some hours of decent sleep.
Her survival instincts got sharper over the course of time; the faintest noise woke her up. And then there were the nightmares that kept her company almost every night. The only few times where she actually slept were when she was too tired and had to collapse rather than sleep.
That night, she woke up after a couple of hours of sleep. She hardly muffled a yelp when she realized the comfortable pillow she was curled into was actually Draco. She sneaked out of bed, trying to make as little noise as possible. Picking up her clothes, she went back to the other room. The last thing she needed was for Malfoy to witness one of her nightmares; he had seen enough weak points already.
As she walked back to the bedroom, Hermione felt an ache in muscles she had only discovered recently. For over an hour, she tried persuading herself to sleep. When she finally gave up, she decided to find something to read.
Hermione blinked a couple of times as she heard Draco's voice calling her name. He was saying something she didn't pay attention to.
"So..?" he demanded, looking at her expectantly.
"What?" Hermione asked, her brows drew together in confusion.
"I said, why are you sleeping here?" Draco repeated, studying Hermione intently.
"Oh..I..woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep. I didn't want to wake you up, so..I came down here to read and..just fell asleep." Hermione explained, making up her story as she spoke.
"I find it very hard to believe that you were worried about waking me up." Draco admitted, looking at her suspiciously. "But since I'm already awake anyway, come back to bed" he suggested.
"I think I'll stay here for a while." Hermione objected.
"You're sleeping here?" Draco questioned, raising his eyebrow at her.
"No, I'll read. When I feel like sleeping I'll go back upstairs."
"By upstairs, which room do you mean?"
"The one I've slept in ever since I came here."
"So you want us to have separate rooms?" Draco asked carefully, cocking his head to one side.
"Obviously" Hermione replied simply.
"Don't you think that would be ridiculous? Let alone hardly practical." Draco voiced his rhetorical question.
"I think it's perfectly normal and...what do you mean by impractical?" Hermione replied defensively.
"I mean..what's the point of hopping from one bed to the other?" Draco explained, fighting back a smirk that would only evoke a fight.
"Hopping?" Hermione repeated the word with a frown. It took her some time to register what Draco meant. "Oh..what happened tonight was a one time thing; a means to an end." she declared confidently.
She was dealing with this a lot better than I had expected, Draco thought. There were no tantrums, no flying objects and no high-pitched screams. And if it weren't for the book she was holding defensively against her chest like a shield, he could've said that she was completely unaffected by their encounter.
"I thought we covered that part already. Sooner or later we'd have to share a room." Draco reminded her, "Unless of course, you expect both of us to have..other partners." he raised a questioning eyebrow at her.
Hermione gave an incredulous scoff. He was taking the matter too seriously and too simply at the same time. The way he talked so easily about their future marriage, discussing it as if he was discussing the weather, made her stomach grumble with stress.
"I already told you I'd like it if you don't..plan so far ahead." Hermione said, uncomfortable with where this conversation was heading.
"Your 'Brightest Witch of Her Age' title is fast becoming a legend, Granger." Draco mocked.
"I've planned for too long and it rarely ever worked. " Hermione admitted, "So I think it's better if we just don't." she insisted
"Then maybe you're just terrible at planning." Draco suggested with a careless shrug.
"I don't care, I just want my own room..please." Hermione pleaded exasperatedly.
"Fine, you can have it!" Draco relented, "But that's not what I'm talking about and you know it." he pursued.
"Then I don't know what you're talking about." Hermione replied nonchalantly.
"Sex, I'm talking about sex." Draco said blatantly, "Which seems like the only thing I talk to you about lately." he added thoughtfully, "I'm starting to worry about the sort of impression that gives you about me." an impish grin played at his lips.
"I already have all sorts of bad impressions about you, another one won't hurt." Hermione quipped.
"But you have to admit I did exert a decent amount of effort to improve those impressions." Draco said, his tone more serious.
"Which is over my head since it's something completely against your nature." she admitted, genuinely perplexed by Draco's behavior.
Draco bit out a short harsh laugh, "What do you really know about my nature?" he asked.
"Are you trying to pick up a fight? Because I'm desperately trying to avoid one." Hermione huffed in frustration.
"I had enough fights with you to cover the entire month." Draco smirked, "I'm asking a simple question..out of curiosity." he added.
"Well it's too late in the night or too early in the morning to feed your curiosity." Hermione dismissed as she started to stand up.
It was only when Draco stood up that she realized how very little clothes he had on. At eye level, she could see his slender frame now had broader shoulders. Her eyes traveled down, widening at the blunt bulge in his boxers. She looked up at his face. His pointed features were still as lofty as ever, only his platinum gaze didn't have the cruel shadow that usually laced it. Her lips were slightly parted and her breath hitched in her throat. Whatever that carnal pull meant, she wanted it to fade as soon as possible.
"Changed your mind about sharing a room?" he asked, twisting his mouth mischievously at her.
"In your wildest dreams!" Hermione scoffed, brushing against Draco as she walked out of the room.
"Exactly!" she heard Draco's voice chuckling behind her.
Draco headed back to his room. Something thrown behind the bedside cabinet caught his attention. He picked it up and headed to Hermione's room. After several unanswered knocks, he opened the door. She wasn't in bed. He heard a noise coming from the bathroom. Pressing his ear against the door, he heard the sound of running water.
His hand hovered over the door knob. The temptation urging him to open the door was soon prevailing over the voice of reason. The idea of Hermione losing sleep merely because she woke up to find him next to her, irritated him. If she wanted space, it was only reasonable to let her have it. But Draco found himself reluctant to let her recoil away from him, reconstructing a wall he was already having a hard time demolishing.
He turned the door knob slowly but it was locked from the inside. He pointed his wand at the door and unlocked it with ease. Hermione was standing with her back to him. His eyes followed the water cascading down her back. Water seemed to be the only thing able to tame her hair as it was pushed back into slick locks covering a decent fraction of her back.
She turned around, giving him a good view of her profile. Her eyes were closed and her head was pushed back. Draco cursed himself inwardly when he saw a couple of purple bruises marking her waist and another harsher one marking her arm.
Water ran down her throat, bouncing off her breasts. Draco was intently studying Hermione in the bright lights of the bathroom, he didn't notice her opening her eyes.
"Malfoy! What the fuck do you think you're doing!" Hermione shrieked. Her high-pitched voice echoed in the bathroom. She looked around her and snatched a towel that was hanging next to the shower. Too distracted by Draco's presence, she wrapped the towel around her torso, not caring to stop the water jets.
"Get out!" she bellowed at him.
"If you plan on occupying this room then you shouldn't leave your belongings in mine." Draco advised with a wide grin, seemingly indifferent towards her rage. A familiar pair of white knickers were dangling provocatively from his forefinger.