Chapter 6
After collecting himself Draco went back to the party, where he found Blaise at the bar flirting with some witch, whom Draco was pretty sure he knew, but in that moment didn't care to remember. "Fire whiskey" not that the bartender didn't already know who Draco was or what he drank.
"So?" Blaise wiggled his eyebrows, hoping for juicy information.
"So, what?" Draco mumbled in to his glass.
"Granger?" Blaise implied leaning closer to Draco. "I didn't know you had a thing for her."
Draco rolled his eyes. "And?" He growled this time, challenging Blaise to taunt him.
"I quite actually like it, you guys seemed to have some sort of spark, back at Hogwarts. Though back then, it was toxic. Nonetheless, it was there." Blaise explained. "Kinky too, if you ask me." Blaise chortled. "Was it? Kinky?"
Draco glared at Blaise. "First, why would I care if you approved of her? Second, what makes you think you know anything of chemistry? Third, why in the seven hells would I even tell you if we did fuck?"
Blaise raised eyebrows, "You didn't?" He paused. "Damn, the way she chased after you I thought it was inevitable."
Draco took a long drink. "Goes to show what you know." He uttered sharply.
Blaise smirked. "Well, you know what rejection calls for..." Draco looked at him inquisitively. "Have you never been rejected mate?" Blaise asked disbelievingly.
Draco scoffed and finished his drink in a quick swig. "A Malfoy always get what he wants" Blaise laughed and then started to introduce Draco to every attractive female that he found, all the while applying Draco with excessive amounts of booze. Draco deduced that booze and women was Blaise's way of shrugging off rejection, and Draco was not opposed it.
The next morning Draco woke to Nibsy popping to his room. "Nibsy has brought Master some Hangover potion and also to tell Sir, that Madam Malfoy expects Sir's presence at breakfast in an hour." Nibsy looked cautiously over the other lump in the bed. "Madam also made clear, Sir, that she was not expecting guests to attend." Nibsy's wary eyes rolled back to Draco not sure how he would react to guests unwanted presence.
Draco sat up on his forearms, and looked at the blonde in his bed drooling on his Egyptian cotton. Shit.
"Thanks Nibsy, I'll be down for breakfast." Draco sat up and the elf vanished from the room, and Draco downed one of the vials. He stood up, and the blonde started to slowly wake, she yawned and stretched, the sheets slipping form her chest exposing rosy nipples. Draco grabbed what he assumed was her dress from the floor, and tossed it at her. "There's a pot of floo powder on the mantel place" he directed, shrugging to the fire place on the other side of the room. "Bathroom's there," he pointed to the en-suit on across the form fire place, now getting himself dressed for breakfast. "And hangover potion here," he pointed to the other vial on the beside table.
The woman grabbed the sheets and brought them up to her chest to cover herself. "So that's it?" her tone offended and accusatory.
Draco pulled on a button down shirt deftly buttoning it, and nodded as he turned to put on some shoes. "Yeah, pretty much," his tone short, standing to leave the room as she gasped in her fury.
Hermione some how made it out of the manor unnoticed, her mind was so clearly in flight mode she didn't even remember using the floo to go home. Yet there she was standing in her fireplace breathing heavily as if she had just run a marathon. What the hell just happened!? She ran through the events, again and again, each time trying to figure out how she had lost her bloody mind, further yet when Malfoy lost his. She looked at the clock on the wall; she hadn't even been at the ball two hours, Amber had spent more time doing her hair than she spent at the stupid function. What was she thinking? She had to go back, it was extremely rude to leave in such a rush without as much as a goodbye or thank you. But he's still there. How in the world did this happen? She let the back of her head thump against the fire place. He smelled so good, the thought drifted across her mind as if it were caught in a passing breeze. Hermione's eye shot open, she grasped for her wand. Clearly Malfoy slipped some sort of love potion or something in to her drink. She cast a quick diagnosing spell that Madame Pomfrey taught her to help assess people injuries after the battle of Hogwarts. The spell came back clear, so she ran it again just to be sure she had done the incantation correctly, and again the spell showed no ailments. Hermione stepped out of the fire place finally and sank in to her lounge, something was very wrong with her, she had never had any romantic inclinations towards Malfoy. EVER. Hermione's mind drifted at the thought of it, there was a month back in first year when she was into the whole bad boy appeal but that was before she found him to be a complete ass. Well, and then there was that other time during fifth year when Harry was stalking Malfoy, she had felt some defensiveness for him, but he was being accused of being a Death Eater and that made him a victim in some weird way in her eyes. And again in their eighth year she felt pity for him because he was always alone, but she couldn't be blamed for that, that's what nice people just did, right? Hermione leaned back in to her lounge looking up at the ceiling, did she once have feelings for Malfoy? If it was possible for her to harbor some feelings for him over the years was it to far fetched to say he felt the some things too? She wished he hadn't have kissed her. Period. Ever. But fuck, he was a good kisser. She spent rest of her night with a bottle of wine and the internal struggle of the kiss eventually deciding that sleep would help clear her mind. Sleep however did not help, her dreams were filled with Malfoy and his burning lips.
Hermione tired desperately to avoid thinking of him as she went about her morning routine, but her mind seemed to clumsily wander back to the bloody kiss. She sat down in front of the House Elf Decree, work was the one thing she could always consume her every thought. She finished up the rewrite for the decree just before noon and decided to send Ginny an owl inviting Gin to join her at a cafe down the street from her house for lunch. It was creeping up on one in the afternoon and Hermione was growing very peckish before Ginny flooed into her living room. "Ginny! Finally. I was just going to go by myself if I didn't hear form you soon." Ginny had a nasty habit of forgetting to owl responses, James being her reasoning, so she often just showed up or didn't. Hermione had come to terms with it, and decided that if she didn't hear form Ginny by an hour to just continue on without her. She was just about to head out the door when Ginny appeared.
Ginny rolled her eyes "James got into the pantry and pulled everything out, and then Harry was late from his thing with Ron, whatever that was." She walked over to Hermione and gave her a hug, "Sorry, James will drive me to insanity I'm sure."
Hermione chuckled, she knew someday she'd want kids, but hearing Ginny's stories made her very glad she didn't have them yet. "It's fine I get it. Are you ready to go? 'Cause I'm starved." Ginny nodded and then they left. Walking there they mostly caught up, Hermione filling Ginny on work and Ginny telling stories of the stuff that James had done since the last time they spoke.
They were sitting on the patio enjoying their salads and flat breads when Ginny asked how last nights ball went and Hermione just about choked on a cherry tomato. "It was fine." Hermione now debating whether or not she should tell Ginny about Malfoy.
Ginny caught on very quickly. "Really? That tomato you just about inhaled tells me different."
A devious smile inching across her face.
"No, no, really it was fine. Like every other high society function, 'dull' would be the best way to describe it." Hermione was now playing with some onion on her plate avoiding Ginny's eyes at all possible cost, lying was not something Hermione was good at. She wasn't as bad as Ron who couldn't keep a secret to save his life, but secretes were different then lying. Secrets meant simply not speaking of something, lying involved eye contact, stories and guilt. So much guilt. Hermione hated lying.
Ginny watched her fiddle with the onion and olives in her Greek salad. "Oh, come on, Hermione, just tell me, you know I'll find out eventually anyways."
This was also true, Ginny had countless ties through Quidditch, plus plenty of people who knew all the latest gossip and if Malfoy had been bragging then Ginny was sure to find out regardless. So it was better if Hermione fessed up now rather then later after Ginny had told Harry and Ron. "Fine." She breathed. How she should tell Ginny, Hermione was unsure, the simple way would be that Malfoy kissed her, but then she kissed him back and then they kinda snogged. "Draco Malfoy snogged me." Hermione blurted out, her mouth spewing this of its own volition, Ginny gasped. "And then I snogged him back," Hermione whined a little, Ginny yelped in disbelief. "Then there was heavy petting and..." Hermione trailed off.
Ginny mouth just about hit the floor, her eye wide. "And!?" She demanded.
"And I got cold feet before it went any further and ran out!" Hermione snapped at her gaping friend.
"Hermione." Ginny hissed. "Merlin's beard, what were you thinking? What happened?"
Hermione regaled the evenings events telling Ginny about every thing Malfoy said and how desperately he had kissed her, and Ginny gaped, listening intently. "Do you believe him?" Ginny finally asked.
Hermione gave Ginny a serious look. "I don't honestly know. It would be nice if it were true, certainly explains some things." Hermione thoughts lingered. " But how am I suppose to move past everything that it didn't explain? I honestly need way more information than he gave me to make a decision."
"So are you going to see him again?" Ginny nonchalantly asked returning to her salad.
"See him again!?" Hermione questioned shocked. "How am I suppose to even look at him again?"
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "How else do you think you'll get more information?"
Hermione pondered over it for a long time. If she did want more information he was the only person that could give it to her. "I can't see him again, Gin. What if this was all a setup to make look foolish?"
"Looking foolish is never something anyone has ever said about you Hermione. Are you really telling me you're willing to face Voldemort with Harry, but not look Draco Malfoy in the eye after he snogged you?" Ginny taunted.
Hermione pursed her lips. Fuck.