Happy Friday my wonderful followers!
Allow me to gift you with another chapter - I've had quite a few reviews asking for one and you have inspired me all of you.

My best of wishes for your weekends - I hope they are full of fun and maybe even some naughtiness (Draco type naughtiness!)

Straight

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It was 7pm. The press conference had started at 3pm, ended roughly at 3:45pm and by the time Hermione had gotten home it was 4pm. This had given her three hours to change into a cute black casual dress that she wore around the house that came to mid-thigh, make some pasta for dinner and get herself a drink. She was now sitting out on her balcony, drink in hand, lounging on the outdoor lounge and thinking over the things she'd heard at the press conference. Her first thoughts that came to mind were, who was that balding man? How did he know what he knew? and, was it true? The last question that came to mind was, if it was all true, how did she feel about it?

Hermione was a realist. She knew that Draco had never been perfect - my god she'd gone through school with him. She knew about the mass of girls that got around Hogwarts bragging of the sexual prowess of the Slytherin Prince and she knew he was always a bit of a trouble maker… but drugs? Other occasions of group sex? She'd never heard of these instances but then again she wasn't exactly following the stories on the Slytherin Grapevine during school if she could help it. Realistically, Hermione knew that everyone came with their own baggage, a past and mistakes that perhaps they'd wished they'd never made but was Draco repeating his mistakes?

She'd been in a true state of shock after the conference. Wondering what she'd gotten herself into? Who she'd agreed to allow more intimately into her life? The drink had calmed her some but not enough to dampen her intellect. A lot of Draco's life played out in the media, she knew this. To a degree, so did her own but she really only used the media to market the business. When it came to her personal life, Hermione had always tried to keep that under wraps. It had ultimately cost her Ron - Ron had gone on to become a celebrity. He endorsed products, took part in charity games, had his own brand of cologne - the list went on. He had wanted to be in the spotlight from the beginning and his War Hero status allowed that. Hermione had not been so enthusiastic. Now though, Hermione was facing down the barrel of a potential relationship with someone who drew in just as much, if not more, media attention then Ron and she was left wondering how she felt about that? It had been much easier to not think about it and agree to give Draco a chance before the conference today.

Sighing, Hermione took another sip of her drink and looked out onto the night lights of Wizarding London. She loved her apartment for many reasons but one of those reasons was the view at night. Hermione loved to sit outside sometimes and just watch as the little lights of the apartments and businesses in the area filled the dark night sky - the view in itself was almost magical. The 'ting' of the floo interrupted her thoughts and not a moment later, Hermione watched as Draco climbed out of the fire place dressed in what she could only assume was a training uniform. He glanced around until he found her out on the balcony and smiled, stripping off his shirt before he came outside to join her.

"Was losing the shirt completely necessary?" she asked him.

"If you knew how badly it smelt, you'd agree it was completely necessary"

He took a seat next to her on the couch and watched her a moment,

"You don't look happy" he observed.

"Its not that" she sighed, "I'm just confused"

He flicked his wand to make sure all the right kind of wards were up to ensure people didn't overhear their conversation from above or below apartments before he said,

"It was that man at the press conference wasn't it?"

She shrugged, "That depends… was what he was saying true?"

Draco took the glass from her hand and had a sip of her drink before returning it to her. He was taking his time in responding and that made Hermione infinitely more nervous about what she was going to hear…

"Its not untrue" he finally said, "But somethings were exaggerated slightly"

"Such as?"

"Well the sex workers, for example. Yes, I've purchased hookers before but not for myself… there has been the odd bachelor party or birthday party over the years. I've never paid for a woman's company for myself"

Hermione nodded.

"And the drugs… well yes I've done drugs but that was back when we were in Hogwarts. I haven't touched them since leaving school and deciding I wanted to play Quidditch professionally"

"A-and the other acts of group sex?" Hermione whispered.

She watched as Draco looked at her unsurely and then sighed and nodded,

"Yes there have been other times when I've been involved in a sexual act with more then one person"

That was perhaps the one answer Hermione had been dreading hearing the most and, also, the one answer she was now realising probably meant the most to her. It brought with it a new bunch of concerns and doubts over the chance she'd agreed to give Draco. Hermione didn't date those kinds of guys, she didn't spend time hanging around men who liked the idea of trivialising sex by doing it with more then one person at more then one time. She clutched her drink tighter and didn't answer Draco, afraid of what she might say, instead she kept her focus on the lights of the city.

"Hermione" Draco said cautiously, "You have to understand something…"

"I don't have to do anything" she said, quietly.

"Ok well I'd like you to try and understand something" he said carefully, "I said I wouldn't lie to you and I won't but all of that - the drugs, the orgies - its in my past. I was young and not thinking about the future - I was in school doing the drugs and the other thing… well that was my first year as a young gun for a professional Quidditch team - the adoration of the fans, especially the girls, it really overwhelms you and I wasn't committed to anyone, I didn't have anyone else to consider so I was living a opportunistic life but after a couple of months… well I slowed down. I adjusted and, yes, I've made a stupid mistake this time around getting involved in yet another orgy but I won't do that again - its not worth it for my reputation, its not worth it for my career and its definitely not worth it because it's embarrassed my family and friends and, mostly importantly, its making you doubt me right now"

He gently reached a hand up to turn her face towards him so he could look her in the eyes,

"Hermione I would never purposefully do anything to hurt you or make you doubt me. Please… please believe me when I say that"

She could see the depth of sincerity in his eyes and she could see he meant what he was saying but it didn't stop the sting that was causing her eyes to water.

"How would it make you feel Draco if you'd known I'd slept with 3 guys in the one go before we begun dating? If you knew that so many people had seem me, experienced me, in such an intimate way"

He shook his head, "No baby… its not intimate. Never. Its cold and selfish… it leaves you feeling empty"

"Do you still see any of those girls?"

"No" he said, straight away, "and I will make sure I never do again if it means you'll feel better about me and my past"

She turned towards him slightly and took one of his hands in hers,

"I don't want you to think I feel in any way bad about you but the things in your past are so different to mine and they make me feel nervous about giving you this chance because what if I'm not enough for you? And what if you don't realise that right away and then I get attached and then you leave? God I don't want you to be another Ron to me"

"I've wanted you for so long that I am positive you are everything I need baby… I'm not the Weasal… I've wanted you for too long… so much longer then he's wanted you"

"I can't do those things for you …" she added quietly, "I can't get involved in group sex or drugs or anything even remotely close to those things"

"I'd never ask you to and I don't want that for you Hermione please believe me. Today the worst aspects of my entire past - well Death Eater business aside - were put on display for the entire Wizarding World to hear about and I have to face that but would anyone look so good if all the worst parts of their life were laid out for everyone to see?"

Hermione thought on that for a moment and realised he was probably right. They all had things in their pasts - including her- that they would hate everyone to know about, to have people passing them in the street to be reading about in newspapers. It was very confronting to even think about, let alone experience as Draco was right now. Finally, Hermione nodded.

"You're right" she said slowly, "Your past is in the past. Everything just overwhelmed me for a bit I suppose… I'm not used to this"

"This?" Draco asked her.

Hermione giggled quietly, "My past two boyfriends have been so … undramatic… Even their skeletons in the closet were rather underwhelming and not anything anyone would be terribly interested in and then you come along all high-profile this and media-attention that and your skeletons are so … well I'm just not used to it thats all"

"Well don't get used to it Princess… from now on I'm only going to have boring skeletons locked away in this closet and I'm going to settle down and become a well-behaved committed man"

Using her hand that was still holding onto his, Draco pulled her towards him across the couch and laid his lips on hers, kissing her gently. Hermione smiled and moved herself closer so she wasn't having to lean across to him. Draco Malfoy could kiss - that had never been in any doubt.

"I don't think the words 'well-behaved' and 'Draco Malfoy' are able to mix together…." she giggled.

"Maybe you're right" he replied, huskily, "Especially now"

With a gentle amount of strength, Draco pushed her back until she was lying on the couch and she watched as he adjusted himself, pushing himself onto his knees and arms so that he could crawl up her body and slowly lower himself on top of her. A hand slid along her body and pulled her legs apart so that his body could rest between them and he ground into her roughly before he kissed her once more, this time much harder and with more passion then Hermione had ever been kissed with. She heard herself release a small moan at the feeling and felt Draco's smirk as he continued to kiss her. It was a very different feeling having Draco on top of her, his muscles that Hermione had always quietly admired from afar were now literally in her reach and she could feel them flex and release as she ran her hands down his back - it turned out while topless may not have been necessary it certainly was a bonus. One of Draco's hands had returned to her leg and was hooking in behind her knee, forcing her leg to bend and wrap around his hips as he ground into her again. However, this time Hermione felt a hardness brush against her centre that hadn't before and a second moan was compelled from her as a rush of arousal shot straight through her system.

"Even kissing you gets me hard baby… you're my own personal aphrodisiac"

Despite their two clothed centres, Hermione was surprised at just how hard he felt brushing against her. Surely, he couldn't be that… He ground into her again and Hermione felt her body shudder as he put pressure against a spot that Ron had never seemed to be able to find and that was when she realised this was moving way to quickly. She regretted it, oh how she regretted it, but using every ounce of her self-control, Hermione gently placed a hand on Draco's chest and pushed him back.

"Are you ok?" he asked almost instantly.

She nodded, "To fast…."

She could see the flash of disappointment in his eyes but it was quickly replaced with understanding as he nodded and kissed her gently once more.

"You get me so hot" he offered as way of explanation.

Slowly, he climbed off her and helped her to return to a sitting position on the couch. They each took a couple of deep breaths and stared at each other a moment. Finally, Draco spoke,

"I'm glad you stopped me" he said, "I don't want to push you 'Mione. I want to go at your pace but you affect me so damn much that you might have to stop me again in the future"

She nodded, "Thank you for understanding. Its not that I'm a virgin or anything like that but I do want this to work and, for me, that means that we have to go a little slower"

She saw him nod and then watched as he stood,

"I'm going to go and have a cold shower. I stink from training anyway… Are you going to bed now?"

"Soon" Hermione said, "I'll make us some hot chocolates first"

He smiled and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her cheek, "Sounds great"

As he stepped inside, Hermione allowed herself a moment to take another couple of deep breaths, the man was attractive and even though they'd only kissed and done a light amount of dry humping, his system wasn't the only one going haywire with need. Hermione knew she would have to be some kind of a-sexual being not to be affected by Draco Malfoy and his sculpted body and his hot, dirty words and it had been so hard to stop him when all her body had wanted him to do was to continue to ravage her, take her to levels of pleasure Hermione hadn't experienced before but was beginning to realise he could probably take her to. They'd had to stop tonight, Hermione wasn't ready, but when she was… well that was something to look forward to.