Eros & Psyche Chapter 7F: Draco & Hermione, a harry potter fanfic

CONTEST WINNER THIS CHAPTER: User flybynight088 recommended the song, "Beautiful Disaster" by Kelly Clarkson for Draco & Hermione this go around, and I thought it a perfect complement to Hermione's thoughts here. So, this chapter is dedicated to flybynight088 - congratulations! Lyrics for that song appear at the bottom of this chapter. Hope you'll find this song somehow and give it a listen.

Remember, I'll accept song suggestions for each couple, as well as digitally manipulated images of live people and your original hand-drawn or digitally drawn fanart for this story up until the end of this fic is published. SEND ME YOUR LISTS OR ARTWORK to: rzzmg at yahoo dot com.

P.S. THANK YOU, UNSEENLIBRARIAN, FOR YET ANOTHER FABOO BETA JOB! Couldn't do this without you, my dear!

PLEASE REVIEW! What did you think of this chapter, folks?

CHAPTER SEVEN (#6): Draco & Hermione

Hermione looked from one end of the private suite to the other, considering the room's level of appropriateness for what she had in mind this action round. No, the wide-open dance club set wouldn't do. They needed a bit more intimacy, in her opinion. She'd have to wait to see what Malfoy's card was before changing the décor, of course, but she had definite ideas for what she wanted when he performed her card, and this room was not it.

Brushing aside a stray lock of curly hair from her eyes, she traded off her magically-unique trionfi with Draco's. During the exchange, she accidentally sliced her thumb on the sharp edge of his card. Hissing with surprised pain at the feeling, she quickly pulled her hand away, absently noting that her blood streaked across the waxed surface. "Cripes," she swore, trying not to make a further mess, conjuring a handkerchief and wrapping it about her thumb to help staunch the insignificant cut.

Draco was immediately before her, holding onto her hand. "I didn't think the edges were that sharp," he confessed with some confusion. "Sorry, beautiful." He pressed his lips to the bound finger as if to kiss away the hurt. The gesture melted some of Hermione's lingering reservations, allowing him to burrow closer to her heart.

This was madness. Only eight hours ago, she'd sworn up and down that Malfoy would not get under her skin; that she would beat him at this game and teach him a lesson for the years he'd been cruel and disdainful of her and her friends. Now she was falling into a warm well of confusing, passionate feelings for him that had deep implications for her immediate – and possibly extended - future. "So many misunderstandings," she murmured under her breath as she watched him carefully dab at her slight injury with a tender care that she hadn't thought him capable of emoting before the game.

His eyes met hers, and she was speared upon their intensity again. "Between us?"

She nodded. "Why did it take us so long to get here?"

Malfoy stepped closer and she matched him move for move, magnetically pulled forward by the tether of her craving for him. He bent his head and slid his nose over her cheek, his lips a breath away from claiming hers. She wanted him to do it – to snog her until her mind went blank and her sanity drifted away on currents of desire. She wanted a repeat of last round, and for him to take them higher. She silently begged him in her mind and with her eyes to give it to her hard and without remorse, but he held back from joining them together, almost teasing, but with an edge of tenderness at the same time to take away the sting of rejection. "You weren't ready for me," he murmured, one hand languidly sliding over her hip, the other up the sway of her spine. "Would you have let me touch you like this last year, or even six months ago?"

There was no need to respond because it was true that she wouldn't have, and they both knew it. It took not being afraid of reputational consequences – something only a fast-approaching graduation date could have provided – for her to accept his challenge. She regretted the lost time, but as he'd said, she wouldn't have been ready to deal with her growing feelings for him in the face of practically an entire school against them. The stress of trying to defend her relationship outside of this setting, and under these circumstances would have been too difficult. That Harry, Ron and Ginny were all facing the same thing now made it somehow easier for her to accept that she was slowly but surely falling for Slytherin's Prince. It further set her at ease knowing that she could expect her friends to support her should she decide that she and Draco were good outside of school, too. She doubted that they would have thought so favorably of such a decision even three months ago.

He rubbed his nose up her jaw, the fringe of his soft bangs tickling over her skin. His lips hovered over her ear. "Read my card." The whispered proposal made her shiver with renewed desire. How easily this man could make her want! She willed her uninjured hand to lift his card. It was turned around, but she could read it nonetheless.

DEED: Give this card to your partner for their use. Partner #2 - you get to stare at and lightly explore with your fingers Partner #1's naked private parts. Penetration allowed.

Her mouth went dry.

Pulling back, Malfoy lifted her card and read it.

DEED: Your partner must do a seductive strip tease for you.

His eyes widened and that patented smirk of his slipped up his cheek. Hermione's heart tripled speed. Godric, there didn't seem to be an ounce of hesitation or mortification on his part in performing his action this round. His grey eyes practically sparkled with anticipation, in fact.

"Pans and Davis," he hummed with approval. "Well, well. Got to love Slytherin women, huh?"

She nearly fell over. "Tracey wrote one of those?"

Draco held up the card in his hand. "She and I worked on a potions assignment together last year. Same printing style." He nudged his chin at the card in her hand. "And I know Pansy's handwriting anywhere. Her 'p's' are distinctive."

Hermione had to admit to some small measure of surprise at Harry's new girlfriend. Honestly, she hadn't thought the witch had it in her to write a dare so intriguing.

The Deeds card was taken from her hand and both it and Draco's were tossed casually aside by her partner. In a blink and a blurring of color and motion, the room changed to her partner's silent wishes, and wouldn't you know it: Malfoy had the same idea as she about intimate settings.

It was the bedroom from her fantasy.

A soft, beige carpet covered the Gothic-Victorian floor of the room, matching the wall and ceiling. A single, large bed – the room's main focus - was positioned in the center, its wooden back built into the wall, the top of which touched the ceiling. It was designed in an Italian Renaissance style and draped with thick, crimson-gold-black patterned fabric. The bed was a sleigh style of sturdy, black-lacquered wood, and its sheets were made of sumptuous black satin. At the foot of the bed, where Malfoy was leading her now, a flat chaise lounger upholstered in plush, crimson velveteen sat. She assumed he intended on laying her back against its single raised side, but he didn't, leaving her in a seated position instead. To her right, a hearth was magically lit to give off the only light and heat in the room, creating a romantic ambiance. Draco scooted out of the way a single cozy chair upholstered in the same crimson velveteen, putting its back to the wall and creating a wider space before the bed for movement. A single window – the same she'd looked out of earlier – was to the right and slightly behind her, letting in slivers of moonlight. Its heavy drapes, made of the same fabric as covered the back of the bed canopy, created shadows throughout the room.

Standing before her without shame, Malfoy ran both hands along the side of his head, feathering his hair, throwing his head back and closing his eyes at the same moment. The action caused his chest to thrust forwards, and through his thin, summer shirt, she could see his nipples were tight. By his unspoken command, Muggle music filled the air – Ginuwine's "Tell Me Do U Wanna." He didn't sway or dance, but his actions matched the beat as he removed his fashionable necklaces, dropping them to the ground at his feet. His wrist bracelet was next, and then he kicked off his shoes. Fisting the hem of his shirt, he stared at her with lustful grey eyes, half-lidded, and slightly rouged cheeks.

Oh, God, he was really going to strip down to nothing, wasn't he? She was really going to see every inch of Draco Malfoy without his clothes on!

It was hard to keep her heart from tearing through her skin, especially as his soft, cotton shirt slowly crawled over his solid abs and pecs, revealing his pale, defined torso. As it cleared his head and dropped to the floor, her breathing kicked into high gear. His pink-beige nipples were definitely hard, begging to be suckled. Her nails bit into the edge of the lounger as she clenched her hands to keep her body grounded in place.

With an assured saunter, he closed the distance between them. Stopping less than a foot away, his pelvis level with her face, he slid those long, pale fingers of his over his smoothed abdomen just as the vocals of the song asked a rather provocative question…

"Tell me, do you wanna get wild with me?"

Hermione watched his perfect hands as they unbuckled his belt, leisurely pulling it through each loop. When the light taupe leather was freed, he extended it to her in offering without a word. Her hands lifted of their own volition and took the strap, their fingers brushing in the exchange. A hot flash rolled through her body, making everything inside clench and her limbs tremble.

"Trust me, I'll give you what you want, baby," the singer promised. Malfoy's quicksilver eyes and naughty smile seemed to recite that same vow over and over as he held her stare.

With tantalizing motion, his fingers glided up and then back down his torso, this time straying further south to the button of his trousers. Her gaze couldn't help but track the movement and be captivated by the popping of the metal fastener and the slow unzip that followed. Draco worked the ivory-white cotton unhurriedly over his hips and down his thighs. He let gravity take them to his ankles, allowed her a moment to stare at the rather sizable bulge in his designer white briefs before bending to fully remove the slacks and his socks.

Pale, golden-blond hair decorated his alabaster legs, she noted, growing darker as it approached the apex of his thighs. Gods, he wasn't even fully erect, and he was already stretching the fabric of his pants! Hermione's grip on the belt tightened, until the stiff leather edge bit into her sweating palms.

"Touch me."

His tone was husky, suggestive of wicked pleasure, and utterly compulsory.

Leaving the belt lying across her lap, she gave into the need to do as he bid, lightly sliding her fingertips over his legs. The hairs were crisp, and the skin was soft, and the muscles underneath were hardened by years of climbing the mountains of stairs in this place. Gliding upwards, she encountered the bones of his hips, traced them through the briefs. Familiar already with his chest and abdomen, she concentrated instead on the part of him that she wasn't intimate with, stroking over the hard ridge of his penis through his clothing.

Malfoy's head fell back and he moaned a deep, growling noise in approval. The sound shot straight through her, emboldening her for further exploration. Dipping downward, she cupped the weight of his balls, rolled them once and found them to be hard with the need to ejaculate. "Take them off for me," she requested, sliding her palms over his upper legs and down to the backs of his knees. He jerked forward as she tickled him there, and groaned even as he eagerly reached his thumbs under the band of his pants and yanked them down, letting them drop and kicking them away. Fully naked before her for the first time, Hermione received quite an eyeful.

He was uncircumcised, as pale of tint as the rest of him. The tip was a darkening shade of pink as blood rushed into his cock, filling it and causing it to become fully erect. Jutting upwards in a perfectly straight line, he was long – at least seven to eight inches, and the girth was about the size of her wrist. The sack that hung below was perfectly shaped and drawn up tight. The hair was dark gold, the curls neatly trimmed.

Pansy had been right: Malfoy was exquisite.

Reaching out to feel him for the first time, she paused, unsure and glanced up for approval. Her companion took her hand and guided it to his length. "Your card says you can explore me all you want." He wrapped her fingers about his thick shaft and held them still, letting her come to terms with what they were doing and with what she was touching. "I'm yours, beautiful. Have at."

He was warm and the surrounding flesh was soft, but underneath, he was harder than steel. The weight of him in her palm, the way his hips tilted forward with a tense desperation, the blush that tinged his cheeks and neck, creeping steadily lower… all of it was magnificent. His body, his eyes, his cock anxiously wanted her. They surrendered to her. She had all the power over him she'd ever need.

She'd never been so turned on in her life!

Stroking up and down the mouth-watering length of him, she watched with a fixated fascination the expressions crossing his face as she sped up or slowed down. He was enraptured by her, enslaved to her whim, freely expressing his pleasure with parted lips and heaving chest and bucking muscles. She used his pre-come to lubricate the path of his ecstasy, making him gasp louder and jerk his pelvis in time to the rhythm she'd established. He steadied himself by placing one hand on her shoulder, and when his knees shook and threatened to fold, he straddled her on the lounger instead. Hermione scooted to accommodate him, resting her back against the solid wooden frame of the bed. His arms came up around her, caging her between as he gripped the baseboard for support.

His penis was so close; she could dip her head and take it between her lips if she wanted. Should she wait for that card or jump at the opportunity now? No, she wanted to see him come across his belly and all over her hand. The thought made things deep inside of her burn and constrict from the need.

Her free hand reached underneath and fondled his scrotum, and at the slight pressure, Malfoy exhaled a colorful profanity. "Fuck. Me. Merlin's rod, beautiful - don't stop, please!" The breathy awe in his tone made her realize just how unhinged she'd made him. Slytherin's Prince was truly all hers in that moment.

"Tilt your head up," he begged. "Let me kiss you."

Their mouths met and there was an explosion of feeling between them. Tongues entwined, moans and gasps uttered from both of them, and the pace of her hand sped up, matching their wild need for each other. His grip on the wood behind her tightened, making the frame creak as his hips wrenched forward, matching her pumping fingers. He bit her bottom lip as his breathing became as erratic as his jerking cock. Pressing his forehead to hers, he started talking in a rushed, impulsive release of thoughts and words. "Need you... I've waited so bloody long for you, Granger… fuck, feels so good… you unmake me… every goddamned day, you've unmade me… Oh, gods, I'm close… Faster, yeah, don't stop… almost…" His hand on her head forced her to look down at where her hand was driving over his hot, straining flesh. He shoved through the tight canal of her fingers with such strength. "I've held off for two days just for this… watch me come for you, beautiful…"

Three more swipes over his taut length, and with a shout of her first name, he thrust a final time and burst into climax. Hot jets of creamy, white come shot out of the tip of him to splash upon his abdomen. A second and third and fourth eruption had his life-giving seed dripping all over her hand and down the spasming length of him to the chorus of his gasping cries. By the time he'd finished, Draco had drenched her lap. His legs were shaking from the force of his release and his forehead pressed into the dip of her shoulder as he tried to regain his sanity and strength, his breath a panting animal against her neck.

It seemed natural to invite him to actually sit upon her legs and let his big body relax into her embrace. His half-erect, soaking wet penis pressed into her tummy and she conjured a small, damp towel to quickly clean up her hands. Pressing kisses across his throat to reassure him that what they'd just done was amazing, she waited until his temperature cooled a bit and he'd reestablished equilibrium before applying light pressure to force him to lean away.

The front of them both was a mess, he more so than she. She ran that same cloth over his belly and his now-flaccid manhood, removing the sticky ejaculate, then attempted to wipe off what she could from her clothing.

"Sorry about that," he sheepishly drawled, and hid a yawn behind his hand.

Hermione matched his mischievousness with a smirk. "You don't look very apologetic. In fact, I'd say you look rather smug."

Malfoy chuckled and gently tugged a curly strand of her hair in play. "I just had the hottest witch in the universe wank me off. Smug would be more than an appropriate reaction right about now, I think."

"Did you really wait two days to do that?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Distracted by the sight of his lovely cock, Hermione was taken by surprise when Draco's hands gripped her upper arms with strength and guided her onto her back across the lounger. Her head was propped up by the raised end rest and he leaned over her in a rather sexual pose. They stared at each other across the inches for several heartbeats, and it was then that she realized that the song had ended and there was only their breathing to fill up the silence of the room.

"I did," her almost-lover confessed. "I haven't touched myself for days in the hopes I'd get you for a partner for this game."

She raised an eyebrow with amusement. "Don't tell me you're into the masochist scene?"

His upper body dropped until their noses touched and he proceeded to go all serious on her. "I wanted you to be the one to bring me."

Her heart did the jackhammer trick again behind her ribs. "What if you hadn't gotten me for a partner?"

With all sincerity, he said the one thing she hadn't expected. "I'd have forfeited immediately, and figured out a way to get whoever did claim you for a partner to do the same as quickly as possible." He laid down between her thighs, resting at a mounted position at her core, the dress and her knickers the only barrier between them from engaging in actual penetrative sex. "And since I know you're going to ask: yes, Granger, I did set up this game specifically for us in the hopes of winning your attention… and hopefully, your affections. For that reason, I had no intention of being with anyone else – or letting you fall into the hands of one of the other men in the game."

A dark shadow passed through his face and pierced his gaze at that last, and she realized that Draco Malfoy had a serious jealous streak where she was concerned. "How long?" He blinked and frowned, clearly not understanding the question. "How long have you… um, well, liked me?" she dared.

His eyes narrowed as he contemplated how much to tell her.

How very Slytherin, she couldn't help but think.

"Fourth year," he finally admitted after an indeterminable amount of time had passed. "I told you already that you'd changed me as I watched you dance at the Yule Ball. That night, you made me want things for myself that I'd never thought possible, and forced me to see the world differently. I've doubted everything - my family, my friends and even my traditions – ever since. That night ruined me, and it remade me." He leaned down and kissed her very tentatively, even as he ran the backs of his knuckles against one of her cheeks. "I've wanted you since, my beautiful witch. I…" He clamped his lips together into a tight line, his expression telling that he'd felt he'd gone too far. "So, yes, since then," he stated, exercising great cautious restraint.

Hermione's heart lodged in her throat; she felt trapped not just by the cage of his body, but by the longing in his eyes. "But you had girlfriends-"

His firm shake of the head shut her down. "They weren't girlfriends. It was only sex."

She opened her mouth to refute, but realized that it was quite possible to have relations with another person without having any serious feelings for them; she'd done that with Charlie, hadn't she? Her conversational direction changed on the fly. "So you mean to tell me that you've only had romantic intentions towards me – for three and a half years and after bedding nine women?"

He shrugged. "It wasn't about emotionally investing in them, no."

"Why not?" The question slipped out before she had a chance to filter her big mouth. Now, she'd stepped in it. "Wha-what I mean… that is to say… surely, one of them was… er, nice. You know, likeable for more than just shagging." She tsked at her own ineptness. "Oh, fiddlesticks, you know what I mean!"

He remained quiet as he carefully considered how to respond again, his eyes assessing her mien for the answers to questions that seemed unfathomable to her. What exactly was he hoping to find in the set of her lips or in her eyes? Would what he did see change his reply?

When he eventually settled on an answer, she recognized in his expression that it wouldn't be the whole truth, as the corner of his lip twitched with barely-concealed amusement - which meant he planned to say something smart-arsed. "They were all nice, Granger," he teased with a leer. "But none of them had your charming ability to dive headfirst into trouble – in conversation or otherwise." He lowered his face again until his lips brushed hers. "I adore your reckless bravery, my little Gryffindor Princess. It gets me über hard." To prove his point, he dropped his mouth to hers and kissed her with a spicy passion, while at the same time, he rubbed his renewed erection up the middle of her covered slit.

Her hands dropped from his arms down to his waist, grabbing hold and pulling at the same time as she met his thrusting pelvis with her own. Her knickers were damp with arousal and her body was hungry for satisfaction. Just knowing that he was only two, thin sheets of fabric away from entering her…

"I want to feel you," she murmured between kisses, trying to coerce him into giving her the leverage to flip up her dress. "Against me. In me. Please, Draco."

Pulling his body off hers, he fiercely yanked her dress to her waist and undid one side of her knickers, freeing them. He yanked them to the side and dropped his cock into the cradle of her lower lips just as she bent her knees to give him the right angle. "I won't take you yet," he grit through clenched teeth. "I don't want that rushed and we're almost out of time. But, can you come for me like this?" He rubbed his solid length through her wet seam. "Oh, fuck…" he sighed with bliss.

Disappointed, she considered telling him to forget all about the stupid game and to just -

No, he was right. If they went all the way now, it would be rushed. Besides, they shouldn't go there yet. In the vaults of her heart, she'd vowed up and down to never again be a man's one-off; Charlie had left her with too many regrets and guilt. Still, here she and Malfoy were, rushing headlong into sex because she was pushing for it!

And to tell the truth, she felt strangely disconcerted by the fact that she was feeling… well, disconnected… from her rational self just then, acting primarily on biologic, bestial need. That wasn't usually like her, as she tended to temper passion with logic. True, finally orgasming with a man had done wonders for her sexual confidence and that could account for some of her loss of control, but tonight she felt queerly off, too, as if the floodgates that held her in check were slowly, one by one, eroding away.

But, oh, he was right there, the flared crest of his penis rubbing and stimulating her clit in just the right way. "Oh, God!" she moaned as he thrust with perfect pressure, causing electric shocks through her womb. She was going to come, and it was going to be explosive. Her fingernails dug into his arse as she drew him closer, forced him to push down harder. "I'm so close already," she murmured against the bottom of his jaw. "Please, please, please," she implored, her mouth running away from her.

Draco's lips were positioned right next to her ear as he began whispering sinful enticements. "Your pussy is so soft and wet, my princess. It feels so fucking perfect. I can't wait to taste you, to be up inside you, buried deep, to feel you come around my cock just as I come in you. I've waited forever to be with you like this, my beautiful, beautiful Hermione." He slid against her with increasing fervor. "Will you come for me, love? Come hard and cry my name."

Incapable of speech just then as she was concentrating everything she had on reaching for her ending, Hermione whimpered and nodded. Every muscle in her lower body tensed up and shook, and her heart slammed into her throat. Keening, mewling wails were drawn from her throat with each shove… and in a sudden detonation of sensation she was plummeting over the edge without a safety net. With a scream of Draco's name, she shattered.

Her lover held perfectly still as the warm rush of her orgasm flooded through her, leaving her boneless and fragmented and emotionally defenseless. She was crying and trembling, and she wasn't sure why. "I've got you, beautiful," Draco whispered in her ear, gathering her into his arms. "You're safe with me."

It took her several minutes to calm down, and then she was embarrassed by her outburst. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just… it felt so good and…"

Malfoy chuckled in her ear and pressed a kiss to her throat. "Third time's the charm, princess."

Wiping the tears from her cheeks, it took her fuzzy brain a moment to understand his meaning – that this was the third time she'd orgasmed for him. "Oh," she replied, blushing like some silly virgin for not having gotten the reference immediately. "I suppose so."

The chimes rang out, interrupting whatever conversation they were heading towards. Malfoy sighed. "Don't want to let you go," he murmured against her temple, kissing her.

She bit her lip, considered for one second the ramifications of her answer, and then blurted it out. "Yes."

Slytherin's Prince stiffened, leaned back and looked her in the eye. "Are you answering my question from last round, or was that an agreement to my sentiment of a moment ago?"

Staring up into those captivating grey-white eyes of his, Hermione took a deep breath and grabbed at her lion's courage. "Yes, to dating you after this."

He blinked once, his gaze searching her face again for those tell-tale signs of her intentions, and then he cracked a smile - a genuine one, not a smirk or a leer. The effect was stunning. His entire face positively beamed, as if she'd just given him the winning ticket to the lottery. Nodding once with finality, he sat up on his knees, using the strength in his arms and back to pull her with him. "You can't take it back," he mischievously grinned as he got to his feet and helped her up.

"I know."

Pulling her back into his arms, he leaned down and captured her lips again to seal the deal. The heat bloomed throughout her body – sexual and sensual and something rather close to loving. It melded with her bones, freeing her fears and allowed her to throw herself into the kiss. Against her belly, his still-hard erection rubbed, reminded her that he was partially unfulfilled. She'd brought him once, but clearly, his absentia from sexual release for the last couple of days left him randy and raring to go for round two. Perhaps next session she'd get a card to let her take care of that for him. The thought had her shivering in his embrace. Her nipples hardened and she was sure he could feel them crushed against his chest.

Hands roaming over each other from hips to back to neck, they kissed and kissed, neither wanting to let go. The wet smack of their pulls combined with their light moaning was loud in the silent room. He cupped her cheeks and rubbed his nose against hers to taper them off. He still had to get redressed, after all. "I'm going to spoil you, you know," he promised.

"Mmmm," she hummed with happiness, filled to bursting with sparking, rolling energy. "I heartily approve of that plan."

He laughed and it was a rich sound filled with delight. "Of course you do. You're the brightest witch of our age, I've heard tell." With a light whap on her backside, he stepped away. "Help me get my clothes back on before final chime."

She stretched his shirt back over his head and tugged it into place, but let him slip his trousers and pants back on. As she handed him his leather belt, though, he gave her a wicked smirk, and she felt her cheeks blossom crimson again at his silently implied ideas. There were BDSM cards in the stack, she knew. The thought of tying him up and spanking him, or having him do that to her… She turned away, smoothing down her dress, feeling the wet spots all over it. "We're going to have to Scourgify when we get out there. I'm covered by your… well, um, that is… by you."

Fully dressed again, Draco came around behind her and wrapped her up in a hug. "I could live with that idea."

She couldn't help it – she actually giggled. "Come on, Romeo. Let's not be late."

They held hands all the way out to the couches and as she bent to retrieve her wand. She cast the spell over them both to clean up, and they were good as new. Replacing her wand, she smiled up at him. "Well, time for the next question."

"Hmmm," he hummed with disappointment. "Not quite yet. We've got a little more time."

In a quick move, he cupped her cheeks, bent his head and kissed her a solid one right there in front of everyone, even slipping her tongue! Hermione didn't mind in the least, uncaring whether anyone else was watching, too caught up in the feelings Malfoy made her experience. Man, could this wizard kiss!

As she pulled out of the PDA, she stepped back and turned around to resume her assigned spot on the couch, but wasn't paying close enough attention to her surroundings, and so tumbled head-long into Theo as he was scooting past. As her left heel gave out from under her, the two ended up clinging to each other to prevent a major fall. "Sorry!" she squeaked, and tried to apply pressure to her foot as she regained her balance, only to find it was a tad painful to do so.

Nott held her up with a solid set of hands on her waist, and kept her from an embarrassing collapse. "All right, Granger?" her ex asked.

In an instant, Draco was there, grabbing her away from his best friend and lifting her into his arms, bridal-style. He stepped back with her, putting distance between them, his expression dark. "I've got her," he bit, and it came out rather growly.

Theo's eyebrows shot up in surprise – as did Hermione's. Was Draco really that covetous of her? "It was an accident. I wasn't watching where I was going," she tried to smooth things over, turning her head to address Theo. "Sorry about that." Nott shook his head, hands held up and palms out, as if to say, "no harm, no foul." He moved off, taking his slot on the sofa without further ado, his eyes wary of his friend.

She turned back to her partner, who was watching Theo through narrowed eyes. Turning his cheek, she forced him to meet her gaze and tried to convey silently with her expression that she disapproved of his insecurity. He frowned back.

The second chime rang out, and Seamus and Lavender's door opening broke the moment. Malfoy moved swiftly to the Gryffindor side of the room and gently placed her down on the couch in her designated spot. He bent and checked her ankle, grabbed his wand off the table and cast a healing charm over the bruise. Instantly, the hot throbbing went away. "Thank you," she acknowledged.

He nodded, put his wand back and stood to take his own seat. She reached out and grabbed his hand to delay him, hesitantly smiling up at her new boyfriend, trying to recapture their lightheartedness of earlier. "I meant what I said back in the room."

Draco looked down at her, the tension in his face and body relaxing in an instant, soothed, and he returned her smile. "Good. Me, too."

With that, their strange spat was over and he resumed his place alongside his remaining Slytherin teammates across the aisle. In Hermione's heart, though, she felt a strange sense of foreboding, not liking Malfoy's jealousy issues one bit. They were going to have to talk about this next round, it seemed

TO BE CONTINUED…

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Ginuwine's "Tell Me Do U Wanna" came out in 1996. It's really sexy, and I recommend you give it a listen!

PDA = Public Display of Affection.

Musical Selection for Chapter: "Beautiful Disaster" by Kelly Clarkson. Lyrics are as follows…

He drowns in his dreams.
An exquisite extreme, I know.
He's as damned as he seems,
and more heaven than a heart could hold.

And if I try to save him,
my whole world could cave in.
It just ain't right.
It just ain't right.

Oh, and I don't know…
I don't know what he's after.
But he's so beautiful…
Such a beautiful disaster.
And if I could hold on
through the tears and the laughter,
would it be beautiful?
Or just a beautiful disaster?

He's magic and myth -
as strong as what I believe.
A tragedy with
more damage than a soul should see.
And do I try to change him?
So hard not to blame him.
Hold on tight.
Hold on tight.

I'm longing for love and the logical,
but he's only happy hysterical.
I'm waiting for some kind of miracle.
Waited so long…
So long…

He's soft to the touch,
but frayed - at the end he breaks.
He's never enough,
and still he's more than I can take.

He's beautiful…
Such a beautiful disaster.

Beautiful…