A/N: Took me forever. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas and switching jobs, I have found some time. D
Well, he was not expecting that. Draco had barely reconnected with his former classmate and here she was, coming on to him. Why had he waited so long to get laid? She was so tempting. Hermione was leaning against her door, her cheeks slightly rosey from the alcohol she had consumed. She was nibbling at her lip, practically begging him to take her right there. Why was she doing this to him? Too many questions without an answer in sight. Like she was in any shape to be answering for her motives. He had to be the gentleman. He took the slightest step to the side. She was safe at home, Kate would be proud that he would not be there when she came by to check on Hermione. Draco was turning to make his way back down the stairs and into the night, hoping to forget the missed connection he had with her. Hermione was quicker.
Hermione grabbed him by his shirt, pulling him into her. Her lips crashed onto his, like she had been deprived of physical contact for way too long. She was forceful, wrapping her hand back up around his neck, the other still tangled in his shirt. Did she really want this? Did he? He didn't want to take advantage of her, but she was making it nearly impossible for him to say no. She ran her tongue along his bottom lip. He couldn't help the tightening of his pants. He stepped closer to her, pushing her back against the door. She nipped at his bottom lip. And with that, he had had enough.
Draco pressed into her, not caring if she could feel how hard he was. He didn't want to keep this up in the hallway of her building. He twisted the door handle to get her inside. She wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him into her flat.
Nearly falling within the first few feet of the door, he couldn't keep his hands off of her. Her hair was tangled in his fingers; her lips hungry for his. Draco pushed her jacket off her shoulders and down her arms. His came off without her help. She took a step back and tripped over one of the many items littering the floor of her flat. Draco tried to grab her but couldn't get to her in time. He would have been concerned if she hadn't bursted out laughing after crashing to the floor.
"Are you alright?" Draco reached out to help her up from the floor. She was nearly in tears laughing so hard when she took his hand and hoisted herself up. She held onto his shoulders and tried to regain her composure. She looked up at him with this look in her eyes that he couldn't quite understand.
"I must freshen up, I'll be right back." Draco watched her stumble towards the bathroom. After the door shut he looked around Hermione's small flat. It wasn't small, just a little barren. It wasn't the flat within a library he was thinking he would find Hermione Granger living in. It was strangely messy, unkempt. Not at all the place he could imagine Granger calling home. Couldn't she stay with her parents? What about Potter and Weasel? Were they aware that one of the golden trio, war heroine Hermione Granger was practically living in squalor? Was Draco missing something? He kicked off his shoes and made himself comfortable taking a seat on her unmade bed.
If someone had told Draco this is where his night would have gone, he would have thought that they were mental. But here he was, sitting on Granger's bed, waiting on her to get out of the bathroom so they could figure out what exactly she wanted to happen. Had she been in there a while? What was taking so long? Draco must have been waiting a while, because the next thing he knew he was shaken awake by Kate.
"What are you still doing here? Where is Hermione?" She was pacing through Hermione's place hoping she would just appear. Draco must have fallen asleep waiting on her to come back to him. "Bathroom" was all he could muster in his groggy and disoriented state. He wiped his eyes a few times before he could make out Kate pounding on the door. Was she locked inside? "Here, let me help" Draco slammed his body into the door, forcing it open. The room began to spin, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Laying on the cold tile floor was Hermione's pale lifeless body. Kate rushed in lifting her up into the tub. Draco could only watch in horror at the series of events. She reached over and turned on the shower and let the cold water wash over her limp body.
"Draco? Right?" Kate was now asking him a question. He needed to reply, help her in any way he could. But he couldn't tear his eyes away from Hermione. Something was not okay. "Can you run and grab the purple vile from the nightstand?" She had raised her voice. Maybe she knew that she had to drown out the racing thoughts inside his head. Draco went back over to her bedside table. The drawer was much like the rest of the flat, unkempt, but the vile stuck out. He quickly brought it back to Kate, hardly breathing as she opened it and poured it into Hermione's mouth. She placed her hand over her mouth and nose, forcing Hermione to swallow.
Draco couldn't watch. What in the hell was going on with her? This is not the girl he went to school with. That girl is not the one here tonight. Draco took a seat on the floor outside the bathroom. All he could do was wait. She must have taken something. This was not just alcohol. Did she have any idea what was going on in the wizarding world as of late. Witches and wizards were dropping left and right from an overdose. Why hadn't he seen the signs in her?
Lost in thought, Draco was relieved to hear the sound of Hermione's vomit. He got up off the floor and rounded the corner to see Kate holding Hermione's hair back as she got sick in the toilet. She was definitely not as pale as she was before but still looked sick.
"Draco, you don't have to stay. I can handle this." Kate assured him. He didn't know why but he wanted to stay. He used to be so terrible to her; he said the worst things imaginable. She was even tortured in his own house. He felt like he owed it to her to make sure that she would be ok.
"I can't leave." Draco admitted to her. At that, Hermione turned to look up at him. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was damp with sweat. They weren't friends, not even close, but she looked so vulnerable. Almost hurt. Kate stood up and stepped towards Draco, forcing him back out of the bathroom, out of Hermione's earshot.
"Listen, Hermione has a problem; she isn't ready to quit just yet, but she will be fine. I have helped her many nights by now and I have this covered. I don't know how well you know her, but we are close. When she comes down, she is a bit of a mess and she needs someone she can rely on. I don't know you at all, so forgive me if I don't believe that you are capable of caring for her the way she needs."
Draco considered Kate's worry. She was right; she doesn't know him at all. He has grown so much from the boy Hermione once knew. He was a man with experience caring for people in every state. But it was more than that. He felt like he needed to be there for her. He glanced back towards the bathroom. Hermione was leaning on the door frame looking back at him. She wasn't saying anything, but the look on her face was nearly pleading for him to stay. Draco looked back at Kate with more determination than he ever had before.
"I'm not going anywhere"