Never Imagined

"Did you want to stay the night here?" Draco asked. Hermione just stood there for a moment unsure of how to answer. Draco, sensing her hesitation, clarified. "I mean you would have your own room and everything. Just that you seem to like it so much here, I thought we could extend our evening. I've brought my chef with me, so he would make us a really good brunch. And we have an assortment of clothes in all different sizes in the closets here, for unexpected guests."

"Well, if that's the case, then I would love to stay here tonight." He grinned when Draco's eyes lit up. "You're right I do like it here. It's beautiful!" Draco nodded and took Hermione's hand leading her up toward the house. He opened the door and led Hermione inside. She was trying hard not to let her eyes wander, and was failing. The house was as beautiful inside as the view was outside. The floors were done in a cream coloured marble that had pinkish veins running through it. The walls were all cream coloured and there were expensive looking paintings hanging all around. There was a grand staircase made of the marble the gracefully led up stairs, halfway up the staircase split so you could continue going either left or right. Hermione felt like she was in a palace. The furnishings were all cream or light pink, and the house was beautifully decorated. "Draco…this place…it's amazing." Hermione smiled, her tone was awestruck.

"I'm glad that you like it. As I've said it is my favourite place. Our nicest property I think."

"I can't imagine a more beautiful place. I bet it's magnificent in the winter too." Hermione tried to compose herself, but her eyes kept roving around, taking in the magnificence of the house she was in.

"Would you like a tour, or we could do that tomorrow, if you are tired. If that's the case I can show you to your room." Hermione glanced at her watch to ascertain the time. It was only eight o'clock, but she would rather see the house in the daylight.

"I would like to see the house, but maybe during the day? I'm not tired though. Maybe we could have a drink or something before bed?" She asked. Draco nodded.

"Certainly, we have a bar in the basement, or a sitting room upstairs, or there is a nice alcove in the library. Which should you prefer?" He asked.

"Well I'm not sure. Whatever room you like best will suit just fine." Hermione answered.

"I think you would really like the library, so that's where I'll take you." Their hands were still clasped so as Draco set off up the stairs Hermione had little choice but to follow. They branched off to the left and Hermione soon found herself in a rather long corridor. Draco strode confidently down it, and stopped about halfway down. He opened a door on the right, and Hermione struggled not to let her jaw drop. It was a fantastic library. All of the shelves were floor to ceiling and covering pretty much all of the wall space. They were done in a light wood and there were ladders in matching wood all along the bookcases. The floor was done in hardwood, in a shade that mirrored the bookshelves, but there were deep burgundy carpets placed throughout the room. There was a giant fireplace on the right wall, with really nice stone work around it, and a portrait of the Malfoy family. It looked to have been painted a while ago, while Draco was still in school. There was a sitting area with two burgundy love seats and a light wood coffee table in front of the fireplace; it was to these couches that Draco led Hermione.

"I know I keep saying this, but, this place is amazing! I wish I had a library like this."

"Well feel free to take a look at the books, you can borrow some of them if you like." Draco let go of Hermione's hand and gestured that she should sit down on one of the couches. She sat on one of the loveseats, but couldn't help herself from glancing around. "Can I get you something to drink?" Draco asked.

"Do you have any wine? I prefer white, but I'll drink red." Draco nodded. He walked off to a corner of the fireplace and there seemed to be a magical contraption there that poured out whatever he asked. He brought Hermione back a glass of white wine. "Thank you." She said. Draco nodded, and then settled on the opposite end of the same couch that she was on with a glass of red wine. They both sat in silence for a while, sipping at their wine. "This is really good." Hermione commented. Draco grinned to himself.

"Father had the wine made especially for the cellars here. It is really good though." He agreed. Hermione was kind of baffled; she couldn't imagine having enough money to get wine made especially for one place or another.

"If I had a place like this, that was so beautiful, and had such good wine, I don't think I would ever leave." She grinned.

"Yeah, it is always hard to leave here. But we have really good wine at Malfoy Manor too." He chuckled. "We can definitely come back here though, maybe in a couple of weeks." Hermione smiled.

"I would love that." She set her wine down on the coffee table and leaned towards Draco. "I want to talk to you about earlier…the kiss." She clarified at Draco's confused look. "I don't understand why it was so awkward." Hermione was not one to sit around and wonder about things, so she just asked.

"I don't either. I think it was maybe just how new it all was. We used to hate each other maybe that had something to do with it." Draco shrugged. "I'm not overly concerned about it. Are you?" He asked.

"I guess not. It was…good though…I thought." She said, she was feeling kind of embarrassed, and hoped it wasn't showing on her face. Draco had a small smile on his face.

"Yes, it was good." He nodded. Hermione drew upon all of her courage and looked into Draco's eyes. He was staring back at her, his eyes holding some unfathomable emotion. Draco leaned forward and set his wineglass down, then leaned more toward Hermione. He held his hands out and she took them, he continued to lean forward and pulled Hermione toward him a bit. "I guess we could try it again?" He asked. Hermione's heart was beating extra fast for some reason. She nodded her head, already finding it hard to breathe.

Draco put a hand on either side of her face and angled her head up slightly, his eyes not leaving hers. Slowly he brought his lips into contact with hers; he sighed into the kiss, and slid his eyes closed. Hermione watched him for a moment more, before giving into herself and closing her eyes. Draco's hands were soon tangled in Hermione's hair. Her arms were around him, and their legs were oddly entwined, trying to get closer to each other. Just when Hermione thought her lungs might burst, Draco pulled away from her lips a bit. They were both breathing heavily for a minute or two.

"I feel like we wasted our time at Hogwarts hating each other." Draco said breathily. They both laughed a bit.

"I think you're right." Hermione replied with a smile. Draco sat back, staying on the same side of the couch as Hermione, with his arm around her. She reached forwards for her wine glass and settled back against Draco's shoulder. She felt him lean forward and grab his wine as well, and then he sat back with a sigh, resettling Hermione on his shoulder. Draco produced his wand from up his sleeve and flicked it at the fireplace, wordlessly bringing a fire to life in the grate. "I never would have imagined this." Hermione said after they had sat in silence for a bit.

"Being curled up on a loveseat with the resident git of Slytherin?" Draco asked, humour evident in his voice. Hermione laughed.

"Well, and you, chasing after the biggest know-it-all annoying Gryffindor." They both laughed. "Things sure do work out in weird ways." The pair sat in silence after that. Hermione finished her wine and put her empty glass on the table; Draco quickly finished his wine as well and sat his glass next to hers. They both sat back Hermione suddenly felt chilled. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine.

"Are you cold?" Draco asked her.

"I guess a little, I only just realized though." Draco stood and pulled Hermione to her feet; he shrugged off his jacket and handed it to her.

"Here, I'll show you to your room so you can change into something a little more comfortable." Draco grasped onto Hermione's hand and started to leave the library. Before they left he flicked his wand at the fire, and the fire died out in an instant. He led them back down the hallway they had come from and towards the staircase, they continued on to the other side of the stairs and into another long hallway. This time they followed it to the end, Draco opened a door on the left side. "This will be your room during your stay. If you go into the closet in this room you can find something to wear I'm sure."

"Okay, thanks." Hermione replied she made to take off the jacket to give it back to Draco.

"No, you can keep that until you get changed, my room is just across the hall. Come and see me when you're done changing, okay?" He asked. Hermione nodded and watched as Draco retreated from the room and closed the door behind him. She turned toward the closet and opened it. She gasped, the closet seemed bigger than her flat. That was an exaggeration, but it was pretty big. There was lettering on the beams. The right side was guys clothes and the left side was girls clothes. And then there were numbers, which Hermione assumed to be sizes, so she walked till she found her size, and again there were two sides, one for daytime and one for nighttime. Hermione pursued the night clothes and picked out a pair of flannel, plaid pants, and a long sleeve V-neck shirt. She quickly changed into the clothes and exited the closet. Her dress and Draco's coat over one of her arms. She draped her dress over a chair in the room and went to go see Draco.

She went across the hall and knocked three times on the door, a voice from within told her to enter. She turned the door handle and walked slowly into the room. Draco was standing by a window in his room, he was wearing black pajama pants, and a grey zip up hoodie, which was half way zipped up, and he was wearing little else. "Hey, found something?" He asked.

"Yes, that closet is humongous! I don't know how you guys acquired so many clothes." She laughed a bit.

"You never know what might come up, being prepared is a key element of good hosting." Draco grinned. Hermione walked a little closer to him and held out his jacket.

"Well then you are pretty close to being the perfect host." She smiled. Draco walked over and took the jacket from Hermione. He walked to another door in his room and placed the jacket inside, Hermione figured it was a closet.

"Well my mother would be quite happy to hear that." Draco walked back towards Hermione and reached out for her hands. She grasped hands with him and they stood for a couple of moments just looking at each other. Hermione was the first one to break eye contact and slid her arms around Draco. He seemed a little baffled at first, but slowly his arms came around her too.

"Thank you for this evening Draco, it was the best date I can recall having." Draco laughed a bit.

"Well I was trying rather hard to impress you." Hermione drew back enough so that she could look at his face.

"It absolutely worked, I am beyond impressed." She grinned.

"I'm glad to hear that." Draco sighed. "I can't really express to you how thankful I am that you were willing to give me a chance. Not many people these days will." Hermione tilted her head to the side regarding Draco carefully.

"I'm not sure you give yourself enough credit. But regardless, I'll help you out, get people to see you how I do." She grinned up at him, and he slid a hand up to her face.

"You're something else." He grinned and leant down, catching Hermione up in a soft, sweet kiss. Hermione hummed into the kiss, and stood on her toes to get closer to Draco, his arms wrapped around her and helped her keep her balance. Their bodies were pulled closely together, and it downed on Hermione for the first time that she felt safe with Draco. Her hands were resting on Draco's upper arms and she used them to push away from him a bit.

"I have kind of weird question for you." She breathed out. Not shifting his position at all Draco raised an eyebrow. "Can I sleep in here tonight? I mean I don't want to sleep with you, yet, anyway. But if we could sleep in the same bed? It would help me sort out some feelings."

"So analytical all the time." Draco laughed. Of course you can stay here. "I won't have people saying I don't go to great lengths to keep my guests happy." He joked. Hermione smiled and leant up again, kissing him once quickly.

"Then I wouldn't mind going to bed, I'm getting pretty tired." Draco nodded and relinquished his hold on Hermione; he held onto her hand and led her to the bed. He slid under the covers and Hermione followed soon after. She cuddled into his side, resting her head on his chest. She felt his arm go around her and smiled to herself. "Goodnight Draco." She whispered. His other hand came up to her chin and tilted her face up. He kissed her once, soundly.

"Goodnight Hermione." His hand slid from her face to the ends of her hair, where he twisted a strand around his fingers. After that their breathing slowly settled and soon they were off to sleep.

AN: I'm not too sure about this chapter. I had a really hard time writing it. I've been spoiled by this story and getting pretty constant reviews on it, but I didn't get any on the last chapter, and I am really unsure of how I'm doing with Hermione/Draco interactions. But I did get some follow and favourites, so that kind of makes up for it. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! My next one will have some quality George time in it, so I'm looking forward to that! :) Anyways please let me know what you guys think!