The room fell dark around her as her lids fell low, dampening her usual senses and blacking out the scene of judging eyed housemates and schoolmates alike, leaving Hermione unable to await Malfoy's answer as her lashes fluttered closed. The clanking glasses and chattering noise began falling deaf on her sore ears as the tiny hairs against the back of her neck began to twitch in anticipation to the drifting music swelling against her. She wasn't aware of the soft sway she felt lightly drifting her on her feet to the melody slipping into her veins and pumping its way through her body with the effects of Blaise's drink, but she teetered none the less. Her frantic thoughts slid away from her as the bitter pain in her heart slowed against the thumping bass in the music. Just as she had asked…Hermione was beginning to forget Ron even had a name just as she too was beginning to forget everything and anything at all.

Hermione was loosely latching her arm around Draco's as he stared down at her with a bit of an alarmed expression, holding her steady as she swayed lightly on her heels. Heavily grey tinted hues narrowed in against themselves as he whipped his head up to Blaise, daring a step closer, still holding up the dazing girl on his arm, with a growling tone biting out in the echo of music that filled the bar as he warned his friend with a single use of surname, "Zabini…"

Both Blaise and Pansy stood there taking in the normally so pristine girl in front of them with a detached amusement, sighing heavily as her breath raised her chest high before dropping it low in deflation with a part of her plush lips. For a moment, Blaise only smirked, standing with a cold twist on his lips before he moved his head to the table, quirking a brow as he glanced over the various glasses, tapping his finger a crossed the rims, contemplating, or giving his best effort to before he offered Malfoy a small flick of his head. Midnight black tendrils slid before Blaise's dark hues as he gave a small shake of his head, offering nothing more than a mild shrug as he parted his lips with justification, "Seriously, Malfoy…I thought it was just liquor."

Draco did not look nearly as amused as Blaise did and even Pansy had to stifle a laugh at Draco's sudden concern as she moved her hand to swat Blaise in the center of his chest, her voice barely above a truthful worry, "Fucking liar."

"Zabini!"

"Ok, ok…obviously I gave her the wrong cup. She did say she wanted to forget however…" Blaise wasn't truly trying to rationalize the supposed mistake while he mocked a tint of concern to grace a crossed his heavily shadowed features but Draco still glared at him lowly, shaking his head with a look of disbelief before he surrendered his attention to the unintentionally drugged girl beside him.

"Hermione…"

She could hear her name in the echoing sounds in her head, swimming slowly, drawling inside of her ears as she easily allowed her eyes to drift open to the room. A smile drifted softly at the corners of her mouth, the pale hand drifting through the darkness with an eerie lightness about it as it neared her. She felt her head tilt, watching the hand trail fingers and motions behind it, smoothing over her lace encrusted bicep with an eerie warmth.

"Damnit, Zamibi!" Draco was shouting over his shoulder, clutching Hermione's arms as he leaned his face down from his height to study her in her hazing and lost abyss. "You just got Granger bleeding tweeked out of her gourd." He may have been scolding Blaise but his attention was fully engulfed against the wild locked brunette loosely staring at him beneath his grasp.

If you go chasing rabbits

And you know you're going to fall

"You ok in there, freckles?" It was Draco. That sloppy smile was still plastered along her face as she lifted it up fully to stare up at him with a rather lazy feline grace about her, letting her lips part open to flash him a light grin in her response despite her still physically battered state. The music was still swelling around her, filling her and sliding straight back out through her pores as she stood before the tall blonde, lifting her fingertips of a single hand to brush along the bend of his cheekbone with a nod.

Draco seemed startled at her slow reaction, flinching as she studied her own movements with her eyes, his own locked against her, his face set firm. His skin felt like satin underneath her numbing fingertips, shivering beneath his stare, breathing into the drugs filling her system and begging her to surrender. Hermione wasn't sure at the moment if it was the drugs or the man before her that she was supposed to give in to but she sure could feel her white flag rising.

Tell them a hookah smoking caterpillar

Has given you the call

She drew her breaths in slowly and deliberately as she solidly moved her head round to take in the flickering twilight of the room around them with fresh eyes. Hermione's dark hues watched carefully as the lights twisted into swirling patterns against the floor, climbing eloquently up the legs of the people swirling in motion and filling blurs along the floor circling before them. She hadn't remembered such beautiful lights a minute ago…she hadn't remembered the sparking green flashes shooting through over the ceiling or the vibrant shades encrusting every inch of space she could feast her sight on. For the second time in the night, everything had changed drastically before Hermione but unlike the first train wreck of time, she was enjoying the vacant thoughts filling her entirely and allowing her to escape exactly what she needed to at the present moment.

"Hermione…You alright?" Draco was questioning her again. She'd forgotten about her hand on his face, well, quite frankly she'd forgotten about her hands entirely as she turned her head back to focus her large pupils in against his frantic stare, breathing out as she leaned forward, cupping the dramatic curve of his jaw on her way.

"You hear that bass, Malfoy?"

Draco said nothing. He simply watched her carefully, his hands tightening against her arms when she tilted in against him, holding her steady and within proper breathing distance for his own taste in such a public jamboree. She was far too fucked up and she was far too close for the circumstances, even for Draco's love for scenes, but he cocked his head to the question none the less, his face scrunching with the evident confusion coating around him, "Yeah? What about it, Granger?"

Hermione's lips only curled once again while she drug herself a step closer to him, moving to square herself a few inches before his chest. She could feel him swallow hard when she pressed up against her toes to lean forward, nearly threatening to touch him further than the hand gingerly lying along his cheek when she lowered her mouth a hair spread away from the crescent shell of his ear as she whispered out, "That's how my body feels."

When the men on the chest board

get up and tell you where to go

The warmth of her words slid all too lightly over his skin, his hands unintentionally tightening against her arms as she captured his breath hostage, trapping it behind the press of his tongue along the back of his teeth to keep him from reacting the way any warm blooded male would react.

and you'd just had some kind of mushroom

and your mind is moving low

She was the one tripping out of her natural born mind but Draco was the one looking like a deer in her headlights as Hermione slid her slender arms down against his chest, her hands trailing from his face, down the curve of his shoulders to the broad surface of his chest as she lowered down from her tip toes. Draco couldn't explain the look she was granting him but she honestly seemed unusually content, all things considered. Her hands where resting on the bend on his elbows now, the small space of inches between them as she let her grin sweep a crossed her before she slurred her words out to him to pull him from his careful deliberations.

"Take me where you want to go, Malfoy."

It took a bit of energy, but he managed to force down the groan he was ready to emit as he slid his hand down the back dip of her hip bones to wrap around her entirely, closing her in the distance to slide her in against him. Wobbling on narcotics, strapped up in heels, she still easily maneuvered her weight to lean against him, her chest rising slow against his own. Sobbing mess or not…Hermione Granger was still a woman. Still a woman who was barely dressed in a cling of lace and pressing her body into him willingly, no matter that it was the very woman he was sure he was going to become committed over, as he attempted to bend to her whims.

Draco craned his neck to angle around to Pansy and Blaise, cocking a single blonde brow high as he shrugged out, "Top of Tao?" Draco's usual drawl seemed a bit weak even for him as he questioned the idea to both Blaise and Pansy alike. The normal scowl on his face was washed clean but his features still clenched in against themselves tightly. Half drunk or not, Draco was clearly attempting to appear composed with the somber looking Granger holding tightly against him while she seemed to enjoy the affects of Blaise's drink ringing through her. Pansy was quick to thrust her hand into the air, shouting out in her personal opinion and exclamation to Draco's choice location, "Yes! Lets take her to Tao!"

Blaise's chuckle was low, shaking his head all too unconvinced that Pansy truly cared whether or not Granger was entertained or not through the night but he two nodded to Draco with a small shrug of ambivalence. Whether Pansy honestly gave a damn or not, Hermione did clearly seem to enjoy herself quite thoroughly, laughing softly at nothing and everything at all as she tipped her head forward to Draco's waiting shoulder.

Hermione, indeed, had found her footing enough to enjoy her stupor in the moment and whether she was conveying it properly or not, she was thankful. For months she'd allowed Ron to beat down her self confidence and for months she'd cried over her every fault. She'd allowed herself to be shrunken down to this tiny, insignificant being for far too long in that suffocating relationship but for weeks she'd bit her tongue till near blood with the fear that eventually one of them would have enough. As it turns out, Hermione had quite obviously had enough but apparently, however, Ron had already seen the light almost half a year prior and just never let her in on the secret. For just as many months as her heartache grew, Hermione knew she'd also allowed her brain to run wild over the man laughing and pulling her in to him as he moved to turn around with her clutched in against him. She'd fallen victim in the last twenty four hours to his unnatural, easy demeanor and found herself swimming with the anticipation that, like Ron, she was only putting herself in over her head and simply blinded with her own confusion at the moment.

Slowly, she'd been making her way downhill in that so called relationship for some time. Hermione had found herself walking so carefully plotted in the beginning but somehow she'd forced herself to run, tripped repeatedly over herself and found herself tumbling harder and harder, faster and faster until she finally came crashing to a halt at the bottom. Funny thing was the only thing bracing the fall months in the making was Malfoy. She'd wanted to run for her life tonight and he'd stopped her and just as she begged for his help once again, she only found him bowing his graces to her to give her exactly as she asked.

She'd asked him to forget. It seemed simple enough but such things never were. She'd never suspected when she'd requested such a thing that he would have found a way to give it to her so easily and so quickly. As of right now, Hermione was finding her woes so tedious in such a beautiful environment. The wounds, scrapes, and scars seemed meaningless and lost in her new sight, and the battered emotions and exhausted muscles felt oblivious to their haggard damage. Her brain was slurring away the worried thoughts of Ron, the gawking, gossiping stares surrounding them, and the questioning of the man before her while she slipped her eyes closed, folding her head back into his neck to await the impact of apparation. Wherever he was taking them was fine…as long as she didn't have to remember.

Hermione was so light in Draco's grasp with the scent of her hair swiftly making its way to his nose as she breathed in against the small exposed patch of skin against his neck where she draped in along his chest. His eyes were soft over her, his own alcohol infused sight leaving his smile ever serene when he lifted his gaze up with a brow snapping awareness as he locked eyes with the wide emerald stare of none other than Potter. True, Draco hadn't quite forgotten where exactly he was standing but he could admit that he had been distracted enough by the woman pressing along him that he'd almost been caught by surprise when Potter moved the stand rapidly up from his bar stool with the she weasel quickly climbing to trap herself along his arm with that same look of alarm sweeping them entirely.

Ginny Weasley had her hands wrapped firmly against Potter's single arm, standing side by side a crossed the room with their sights locked against their normally reserved friend clutching Draco's neck without the prejudice they so seemed to be leaking with. Much to Draco's surprise, the pair only stood and stared in their shock as Potter moved to slide the bridge of his glasses up the bend of his nose, his mouth in a silent part in the alarm befalling him.

For a brief moment, Draco rationalized that one of two things could happen here as he kept his arm wrapped along Hermione's petite frame. Potter could make a move, come to Hermione's "rescue", and storm the scene or he could simply watch much like Draco was sure he had the entirety of Granger's violent turning relationship. Blaise and Pansy snapped from the scene with a loud crack, the tell tale noise nearly lost in the blaring sound around them but Draco was more than aware of their departure as it snapped him from his debating on the man standing off with him through the crowded room. With the battle lines being drawn in the sand, Draco raised either brow in the distant challenge, his smirk slipping a dangerous tug against the corner of his mouth while he watched the pair fight the urge to choose their option carefully.

Hermione's touch was ever light along his arms as she raised them once again to encircle his neck, tipping her chin upwards and towards his far off sights. Draco moved his hues down against her, oblivious to the staring pair, that smirk never wavering while it nearly cemented against his lips at the sight of the small pout pressing her own bottom tier out from its hold. With the third member of the golden trio wrapped in beneath his arm, he chuckled low at her impatience to leave, tearing his grin away from her momentarily to offer the watching pair nothing but a deliberate wink of a single cerulean eye before he tore them from their sights entirely with a familiar, echoing crack smoldering heavy smoke round in their absence. Perhaps Potter hadn't intended to choose the latter of options that Draco had anticipated but his time had certainly run out to act otherwise.


Blaise was already moving into the open room, moving his way down the marble tiles leading through the vast expanse of the club when Malfoy popped them into the scene with ease. Hermione let out a small gasp, the air sucking out of her chest as they adjusted to the new surroundings loosely clad in each other arms. Blaise held his arm bent before his waist in quite the diplomatic gesture to Pansy as she moved to drape herself over it, holding her posture high. The tall raven haired man moved so gracefully with the slender woman on his arm, sliding through the moving swarms of people like a shadow in front her while she attempted to follow beneath Malfoy's hold.

Hazy sights opened into the glow around her and she'd nearly jumped straight into Draco's arms when she'd lifted her eyes up to face the humungous large stone statue of some meditating man with sparkling water pouring out from its top and over the rocks that spilled out of his fountain base. The polished tribute stood a good three stories tall, loaming high above them smack dab in the center of the room and it was all Hermione could do but shoot her hand out to snap a grasping hold along Draco's arm for support, laughing so hard she had to tilt over and clutch her stomach to her own reactions to the startling beast of a structure. Draco's own laughter was light in her ears when he slid his arm a crossed her shoulders, feeling him drift her off from her gawking and into the flashing nights of the scene surrounding her.

Her visually impaired eyes did their best to take it all in as the scene flashed by her in a glow of neon lights like a broken movie reel. Vibrant purples and sapphire blues whizzed by her, Draco's hand tight along her hip as she allowed her weight to lean against him in their slow stride, her head lulling to his shoulder with the slow smile gluing softly to her lips. Everything sparkled before her, the music dwelling around them as Hermione drug her hand out along the walls, staring in fascination as it dripped from her fingers like liquid gold, trailing to the floor around them. She had absolutely no idea if it was the drug, the alcohol, or simply the charms of the place that had the wet glitter she'd just freed engulfing the swirling bodies of the figures twirling around the platform they were scraping behind but she certainly loved it either way.

There were so many bodies! People trapped together around them on the bamboo encrusted floor space, her dazing sights lulling to glance over the large pools of water lining the walls, cluttered with deep crimson petals swimming over top the lavishly colored coy mulling around the waters beneath them as they passed, continuing through to wherever they were following Blaise and Pansy to. Hermione's dark eyes were still lost over her shoulder as Draco rounded on her, his hands so ever light along her either hip bone that she had to slur her head back around to accommodate his beckoning touch.

"You got this, freckles?"

It was a simple enough question but it took her a good amount of time of pondering before she could nod her head honestly, laughing as she ran her fingers over top of the crinkle in his forehead, "Do you got this, Malfoy?" She was far too amused by his concern etched into his expressions even as he only frowned further at her answer but the bright noise of Pansy's voice snatched him from his irritation for a moment as she popped round with Blaise numbly carrying a few glasses in his hand.

"Malfoy, she's obviously a big girl or she wouldn't be in the snake pin."

Blaise's voice was much lower than Pansy's as he approached behind her, never far off it seemed from the unnecessarily guarded girl, his tone deeply infused with the masses of alcohol that he'd already managed to down and still stay standing under. "Pansy is going to go…" His bland glance inched tighter in his moment of pause, shrugging his brows before he continued on, "…fix, Granger."

"Fix?" Hermione slid her arms down at her sides, moving to take a small, carefully plotted step backwards before sliding to angle round to tilt her head against the slender brunette who was already reaching down the snatch her wrist and give it a good tug forward.

Draco moved to step closer himself with his own brow inching up but Pansy waved him off dismissively, pulling Hermione to her still until she was properly before her and out of Malfoy's ever protective clutches. "Let's go fix your face, Granger." Hermione's tilted head teetered to slide to the other side much like a light switch, her eyes widening with a rather amused grin even as Pansy pointed between their two escorts of the evening. "Make yourselves useful, huh?"

Hermione had missed the cluck of Draco's tongue as he scoffed at Pansy's snotty superiority sounding out as she whisked Hermione off into the crowd.

"You ever been to a night club in the wizarding world, Granger?" The short haired brunette in front of her was questioning her idly as she stalked them through the small trail of path; her thinly arched brows arched high beneath the short, dark fringe of her bangs. Hermione shook her head, the length of her curls bouncing to slip from her shoulders as she scurried her steps on the end of Pansy's hand to follow closely behind her but Pansy only continuously tossed her head back and forth over her shoulder, trying to hear if she'd actually given her a response.

"No, not like this!" Hermione shouted over the music but Pansy was far too busy now moving into the nearly gold dripping room that was the woman's lavatory and finding her way around the back to the large counter of mirrors and sinks. Hermione slid her fingers slowly from Pansy's as they both rounded the long marble surface, dropping her hands to the counter and cocking her head forward into the mirror to take in, for the first time, her own haggard appearance but Pansy only laughed as she too leaned her hips in against the counter, her hand bracing her weight as she ran a single finger to smooth out the lines of her own eye shadow.

"Damn, Granger! You're like the ultimate virgin."

Truthfully, Hermione felt half drunk standing there, holding her weight up and running her hand cautiously over the large, swollen mark so boldly staring back at her but the wobbling sensation her eyes were giving back to her was about just as much dizzying distraction as she needed to mentally toss her hands in the air and say fuck it.

"I love this place." Pansy commented again, cocking her head to Hermione as she onced over herself weakly. It was an odd thing still, to hear Pansy Parkinson say that she loved anything, but it surely didn't seem to bother her as she swayed along with the beats of the music muffling in through the room.

"What did he give me?" The words fell out of her mouth casually, turning away from the reminder of the sober hours and pressing the back of her hips to the counter while she tilted her hazy vision against the girl beside her but she was moving with a shrug before her body, motioning up with her finger.

"I mean Blaise…" Hermione tried to reiterate her question but Pansy still only motioned up and Hermione could only give in to her by placing her hands flat against the counter and pressing her body up to slide backwards in a seat in front of Pansy who was already reaching up and brushing the wayward strands of hair from her scrutinizing glance.

Pansy once again offered Hermione a numb shrug, straightening her back as she so casually brushed Hermione's knees a part to step between, moving her hand to tip her chin up as she scrunched her features together in thought over where to begin before she'd actually offered her a verbal response.

"I don't have the potion derivatives for you, Granger, but basically I'm pretty sure you're feeling one hell of an altered sense of time and reality right now." Even the once pug faced girl, so normally sneering, had to grin as she gave her wand a dab, working her magic through her own far too open eyed visuals thanks to the amount of alcohol she'd already ingested. Hermione could definitely say she felt as though she was out of her own normal reality, Pansy was right about that, because the girl that she was so accustomed to seeing draped on the man who'd whisked her away tonight was currently still pressed between Hermione's thighs, blasting small cool jets of air against pinpoint spots along the curves of Hermione's haggard appearance, attempting to right the makeup that had been bled along her complexion. Still, as off and odd as the whole thing should have felt, Hermione simply let her head sway softly from either side to side, staring at the ceiling with a half cocked smile loose on the side of her mouth, dangling her legs where they bent over top the counter.

"I just can't believe he actually gave it to you!" Pansy laughed hard, shaking her head and placing her hands against the counter as she leaned back to admire her handiwork.

"I thought…I thought he told Malfoy he didn't know he did it."

"You heard that? Shit, Granger, come on…" Pansy didn't look as embarrassed as Hermione thought she would at the statement. She simply shook her head as she tilted her chin to angle her eyes down to the Gryffindor glancing at her through the lift of her brows. "I guess you can handle drugs better than I thought." Hermione's finger lifted to her lips as she narrowed her eyebrows in against themselves, shushing Pansy's verbal use of the words drugs as a passing girl nearly stopped in her tracks at the sight of them with a rather wide eyed gawk on her face.

"He knew…just like Draco knows Blaise was lying. You did say you wanted to forget." Pansy lifted both of her hands out in earnest at her sides and addressed herself with the title like it was the most insane thing in the world to forget, "Hello, SLYTHERIN'S." Hermione offered Pansy a rather tossed expression before glancing back to the girl standing awkwardly, still staring, as she fidgeted on her feet like a moth trapped in the flame. It took a moment for Pansy to register what it was the Gryffindor was diverting her attention to but as if on cue to demonstrate the statement she'd just made, whether she'd meant to or not, Pansy turned her head over her shoulder to the innocent bystander caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and quickly advanced with a narrowing growl against her. Hermione barely had time to react as Pansy demanded from the girl to tell her just what exactly she was gaping over before crudely shoving her hands against the girl's chest to push her hard a good few feet from their vicinity, telling her to shove off.

With Hermione's wide chocolate hues, and the girl scrambling backwards, Pansy turned on her heel and moved quickly back to her former position at the sink without a second thought, shrugging her shoulder and the irritation like it'd never occurred as she tossed back to Hermione, "So anyways, want to handle some more?" Pansy Parkinson was insane…and for the moment, Hermione was grateful to be on her good graces. She could barely take her eyes off of the girl who couldn't stop glancing over her shoulder as she bolted from the bathroom, her eyes swollen with the threat of tears thanks to the girl so casually addressing her as she moved back to stand before her, completely unconcerned with the act.

"Will it keep you acting like this?" Hermione waved her hand sloppily in front of Pansy's face that was a bit too close to her as she leaned back into the counter with a frown, trying to smooth out Hermione's newly reapplied eye shadow on a particular corner of her eye before she raised a brow up to her, tilting her head only momentarily before moving back to her task.

"What? Acting nice to you?"

"Yes."

Pansy settled her hands down to the small bend of her waist watching Hermione's loose smile, still bright on her face, holding true as she moved to slip forward from her seated rest on the counter, turning her body into her own inspection at her reflection taking up in the mirror as she awaited her response but Pansy, despite her eyeing of Granger's reactions to her newly applied makeup, was too busy moving to toss her purse onto the vacant space of counter beside them so she could search it idly.

"I'm not being nice to you because I'm on drugs, Granger." Pansy tilted her head at the statement she'd just made, her thin lips pursing before she shook it off completely, her grin striding up truly as she pulled the long, thinly rolled stick from the deep confines of her satin clutch. Hermione was watching Pansy questionably while she settled it between her glossed tiers, pulling her wand free to tap the end to spark before her eyes, barely taking the time to huff out the flames before she tossed her wand right back where she'd tugged it free from and moved to lean a crossed Hermione's shoulder as she stared at the woman standing behind her through the glass.

"I mean, I don't hate you." Pansy stated it simply but Hermione had just watched her toss a girl out of the loo in tears for staring too long so truthfully, the statement didn't really make her feel any relief but Pansy continued regardless, "Draco…well, you amuse Draco and I guess currently you're pretty entertaining for me as well. You're…not who I expected you to be?"

Hermione had to laugh as she tilted her head over her shoulder to look at Pansy as she drew a sharp breath inward, dragging the heavy silver smoke down into her lungs and sending the embers burning to scorch back the paper before she nearly shoved the smoking thing before Hermione's face to rid her of it while she puffed her cheeks in a pathetic attempt not to cough. The sweet, unusual smell of whatever Pansy had rolled and lit up, was wafting in against her nostrils even before Hermione had plucked it free of her fingers, eyeing it carefully as Pansy too eyed her with a lift of each slender arched brows but all Hermione could offer her was a small shrug of a single shoulder as she tossed out, "He wasn't who I expected him to be. Expectations are funny like that."

She could have been referring to Draco, Pansy was sure, considering the fact that he'd practically bent over backwards to whisk her away tonight but she had a sinking feeling Granger was making comment more towards the red head she slinked around arm in arm with all these years. Hermione lifted the joint to her mouth and drew in a slow, deliberate breath while she angled to face the mirror, moving her body up once again to marvel at her complete overhaul of her formally battered face while she pursed her lips off to the side the exhale a long line of smoke to waft eerily into the room.

"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…" Hermione trailed off, running her fingertips over the formally swollen cheekbone smoothed down to its original size and shape, dusted in a tint of shimmering bronze. Hermione had accomplished to wave off the dreadful thoughts that harmed her tonight and she was thankfully now able to slip into her dreamy, hazy state and semi clouded thoughts but now, thanks to Pansy's handiwork, Hermione now looked as if the fight had simply never happened. Her cheek had reduced to its normal size, the bitter bruise blended back to the shade of her flesh, and her makeup back in the places it was originally prepared to go. Hazelnut speckled hues lifted against the dark gaze of the girl beside her in the reflective glass, nodding firmly, still half in awe at Parkinson's obvious skills.

"That was pretty low, even for Weasley." Pansy leaned forward to free the thinly rolled paper from Hermione's fingers, moving to take a drag herself as Hermione laughed honestly, cocking her head in the mirror to acknowledge the raven haired girl behind her better, "Which part? The him shagging some bint behind my back part or the part where he's been portraying himself to be an abusive, piece of filth to get me to leave because he said he had no other way out?"

Truthfully, Hermione had never been a girl for gossip, and despite her love to help her friends, and her many former trips to aid their crying eyes in a girls lavatory before, she really had never spent much time in one being comforted herself, not to mention in such a lavish one inside some nightclub in the middle of the night, but that was exactly what was happening. She knew her sense of time had to be off because it felt like they'd already been in there for hours and she was starting to wonder if Draco and Blaise would start thinking Pansy killed her in there but Pansy talked to her none the less, smoking from the long joint she'd rolled without care of consequence, passing it back to Hermione as she folded her arms over her chest.

"He actually said that?" Pansy's thin lips had curled back a crossed the rows of her teeth, her words hissing out a blaze of smoke, much more involved then she had originally intended to be in the conversation, let alone situation, as she hung onto Hermione's every word. Even she was at a loss for words herself however as Hermione nodded her head with an affirmative nod, watching as Pansy shook her head in the shock of it, scoffing while she huffed the remainder of thin smoke through her nostrils.

"Didn't Draco shag like…half of Ravenclaw when you dated him?" A year ago, Hermione could have seen that same sentence coming out of her mouth as she stomped her foot and shouted down a corridor but as it stood, in such a different splay of sound and image, Hermione only moved to take the half smoked stick as she turned to address her, face to face, as she sharply inhaled the burning embers to swell down her chest.

"No." Pansy's statement wasn't as curt and irritable as Hermione had expected it to be as she lifted her single finger in the air as if to add to the dismissal before she pointed it at Hermione's chest, "And he would have never hit me."

"I didn't mean it like…"

"No, it's cool, but don't compare him to Weasley." Hermione found it odd that Pansy wasn't upset that Hermione had questioned their former relationship but that instead, she found it necessary to defend Draco's character. "Draco and I only dated, really, for about six months."

"Liar!" Hermione's voice was a bit to high even for herself and she had to laugh as she clasped her own hand over her mouth, shaking her head as she continued in a more suitable tone, "No way, Parkinson. You two have been locked on each other for years!" Pansy lightly shoved Hermione's shoulder with a small narrow against her dark eyes but she didn't seem too bothered as she motioned with a single hand to take the joint.

"Like I said we only dated for about six months and then it got weird."

"Why?" Hermione had gladly handed the nearly smoked out roach to Pansy as she folded her arms over her chest, quirking a brow and leaning her weight against a single side of her leg as she jutted her hip out in disbelief to the statement.

Pansy looked less than thrilled, stoned or not as Granger nearly called her bluff on her every word about the matter, "Because Draco and I are really good friends and…"

"You and Blaise are really good friends, so what?"

"Yeah well…" Pansy drew her eyes away at the mention of the tall, dark man that was always shadowing beside Draco and herself, moving the take a few short drags from what was left of the joint before she snuffed it coldly down against the stone basin of the sink as Hermione gasped, clapping her hands down against the rim of it behind her.

"Oh! It's because you want Zabini?"

"No! No, I think it's the other way around there…it's complicated." The words were splaying so many emotions around the normally sneering face that Hermione couldn't quite tell which one to pick out and question as she narrowed her gaze on the girl next to her.

"No one would put on such a big display unless they had something really big…I mean Draco has never denied that you two were together that whole time."

"Granger, I'm gay."

"Seriously no one would go through years of…" She was obviously stoned, weighing the thoughts of Pansy and Draco through the years on either hand, quite literally, so animatedly that she'd completely brushed over Pansy's confession but Pansy still tried once again as she raised her voice, waving a hand before her laughing expressions.

"Hello! Granger! I like girls."

Hermione only stood there, her face still locked on her ranting gaze before it washed over her, drawing her chin back to eye Pansy like the statement simply couldn't be true as she stated and questioned all at the same time, "No…No?" Pansy only laughed with a bit of an awkward grin on her face as she shrugged her hands into the air before dropping them at her sides.

"Expectations and all."

"Shut the fuck up, Parkinson!" Hermione was laughing hard, completely at a loss for what she'd just confessed to her in the middle of a bathroom, stoned, and half drugged. Never in her wildest ideas would she have thought that Draco and Pansy's over the top displays of an obnoxiously clingy relationship was some drastic cover for the fact that she was in fact, playing the same field that he was. It literally, was the last thing that Hermione ever thought she'd hear leave Pansy's lips but it was the first thing that Hermione realized she'd ever really been available to hear Pansy say. The two of them laughed and gossiped in the haze of the smoke surrounding them for a time that Hermione was surely unaware of but despite who was allowing her this moment of release, she was thankful once again.

By the time the two of them had shut their mouths enough to decide they should probably fill them with some more alcohol, they nearly had to hang on to each other to avoid the wobbling sensation coursing through them. Pansy had Hermione's fingers laced in between her own by the time they'd stumbled clear of the bathroom door, both turning around defensively only to find nothing but the empty wall behind them. Hermione dropped Pansy's slender grip when the two of them turned their heads to look at each other in their disappointment of proper justification only to laugh hard and outright at the similar look flashing between them. If Hermione had known better, she'd say that in that moment, the Slytherin girl who was turning with her and tossing her arm a crossed her waist while they traipsed on into the crowd, looked just about as close to her as she'd ever truly felt with Ginny and in her hopeful haze of forgetting, she was more than willing to allow Pansy's strange and out of character hints of friendship, false or not, carry her on in her seamless night.

Honestly, the two of them had been off in the loo for no more than a good twenty minutes or so but even Blaise had to chuckle low at the sight of them hanging against each other, strangely opposite in attire, laughing as they made their way back through the crowded hall. Pansy had practically been dragging the Gryffindor just moments prior and now, with their refreshed images, and half hazed eyes, they seemed the best of mates but Draco seemed to ignore the foreign sight completely as he stood upright at the mere sight of them flashing in his vision. Blaise was far more eased in his rising upright, lowering his feet to the ground and stretching his length up as he cradled his glass loosely in his fingers.

The corner of Draco's mouth twitched to tug against that trademark smirk of his as Grangers lulled her head around to Pansy, off in their conversation even as they moved to stand before the two men awaiting their arrival without so much as batting them an eye. Blaise motioned numbly to Pansy with the drink in his hand, allowing her to take it thankfully before he bent to retract another into his touch. Just as easily, Blaise moved to hand it out to Hermione, his smile soft on his lips but it was Hermione's raising brow that had Draco smiling to himself as she tossed her hand up in motion to halt the drink before it reached her.

"You go ahead and keep that one, Zabini. I'm still learning to walk again over here." The normally blunt and callous toned Granger was far more animated and light as she waved her hand to brush it away.

"Come on now, Granger…" Blaise's drawl still bordered against the hint of a chuckle as Pansy moved to switch her glass into Hermione's hand, taking the other resting in Blaise's for herself before she offered everyone a satisfied wink, rewarding herself in a good draining of its contents as Blaise continued on.

"I meant no harm, love. Honestly, you needed the wobble." Blaise had offered her a mild shrug, rather unconcerned with Draco's watchful eye reading over his words and motions all too closely but it seemed the energy that had bounced its way along the formerly sobbing girl before him had still yet to teeter as she returned her features to him with a shake of her head, a light smile on her own lips, "I did need the wooble."

The soft amber glow was beginning to find its way back into Granger's face, Pansy's former drink in her hand as she moved to clank it in against the brunette's empty glass, offering Blaise and Draco alike a single lidded wink one more time as she too moved to drain back her drink.

The platinum blonde rushed his own liquor back, tapping the lowered rim of his glass to Blaise as he shook his head, feeling the liquor burn down his chest, peering up in the squint of his hues as the alcohol eased into his senses, all too ready to reprimand the man in his sights again for half drugging the girl he'd asked out for all intensive purposes but Granger had managed to slip her way out of Pansy's hold and moved to grasp hold of his forearm, lightly slinking her arm into his own and succeeding it stifling his scolding. The simple motion seemed to take hold of Draco's attention quite quickly as he angled to face her, cocking his head at the strange half furrowed and half raised expressions of the woman staring back at him, teetering in the slightest on the weight she rested down on her heels.

"You alright?" Her words too were a bit wobbly but she had every ounce on concern still laced against them as she too eyed him oddly with a tilt of her own head and her arm still loose in his own.

"I'm good, Granger." He stated it numbly, leaving his face blank with an eerie calmness behind the heavily shadowed grey hues but it only made Hermione frown further. He seemed so tense, so…well, Malfoy like. Hermione felt silly for even thinking that way but it seemed that there were two very distinct sides of the man standing tall before her. There was Draco, the man who'd strived for nothing more than being seen as himself and then there was Malfoy, the mask he'd perfected all too well for so many years that be pulled out as his Sunday best. Call her crazy but she was starting to see the faint outline of that disguise suiting up around him but she didn't have much time to decipher what exactly had him feeling the need to armor himself among his own friends.

Hermione's arm slowly slid from Draco's at that thought. If it wasn't his friends then it had to be her, right? Hermione pressed her newly glossed tiers together softly, feeling the slick surface as they parted at her sigh. It was Draco's turn to frown now as his hand reached forward rather quickly to grasp her retreating limb but his efforts went unfulfilled as the waitress dressed in quite a long, nearly sheer, flowing white dress, moved between Hermione and himself to promptly hand forward a bottle of champagne.

"Mr. Malfoy! Mr. Battydorf sends his best wishes." The waitress smiled politely even as Draco stared at her a bit annoyed before he gave a dim sigh and reached forward to take the bottle from her hand, his opposite dipping inside his jacket pocket to pluck free a few bills tucked inside. He handed the bottle to Blaise and the tip to the woman in one swift motion, lifting his pale brows as he moved around the space she stood to round the side of Hermione once again.

"This is what I'm talking about." Hermione's nose scrunched as she pointed her finger dangerously close to the center of his face as she continued, "You're being so…irritable." Draco crossed his arms, his brows raised as she moved to mock him and fold her own along the gentle swell of her chest.

There were so many people buzzing around, running up to say hello so Draco, to say hi to Hermione, Pansy, and Blaise alike already, and they'd nearly been there for less than an hour. Hell, Hermione had barely been out of the bathroom for more than ten minutes! She was already quite drunk and obviously a bit fucked on something and she was standing there, draping herself loose on his arm, not that he was complaining but they stood in the Mecca of reunions it seemed and that was a very unsettling thought in his brain. He was irritable, yes. He was quite irritable actually but it was seemly for the fact that he'd actually attempted to make the right judgment call to help her night be eased and it seemed he was busy fearing she'd pay the consequences far worse for it all in the morning. Draco sighed once again, watching Hermione eye him even as she took a long fluted glass of champagne from Pansy, angling back to face him once again as she set it to her lips, tipping it up, staring him down all the while.

Draco inched his head forward a decimal as he lowered his voice to her, "Why don't we find some place a bit quieter, what do you say, freckles?" The sweet, light airiness of the liquid slid down her throat, feeling the warmth of it and Draco's much more soothing words trailing over her skin. Was that what this was all about? He was irritated with the crowd?

"Malfoy!" And just as Hermione was beginning to question Draco's attitude, Theodore Nott's slurring speech booming loudly as he stumbled his way to the lot of him had completely solidified her thoughts. Draco's jaw tensed as he straightened his posture, glaring his path of sight against the man wavering in his motions while he closed in. He was about the tenth person from Hogwarts alone that they'd run into already or spotted, most who were friends with Malfoy and thinking nothing of any of them missing Harry's bash, but he had to be the twentieth person in general to come sauntering up with the chance to grace up to Malfoy in general and it was obviously taking a toll on the normally so sociable snob of a man she stood with. For someone who claimed to be so out casted, Draco certainly had far too many people nearly jumping at the chance to get close to him.

Theodore clasped a hand down against Malfoy's shoulder, Hermione flinching at the tension forming quickly against Malfoy's face as Nott moved his opposite on to Blaise's to stand between them all where they stood off to the side of the table the Slytherin men had formerly chosen to rest at. Hermione froze instantly, her face paling under Draco's watch even as Theodore turned to Blaise, whispering over to him to comment on Draco to his mate quietly, "This guy over here… This guy's been so quiet tonight!"

"It's called refined." Draco had already consumed a decent amount of alcohol and a fair amount of drugs already in the night but he shrugged Nott's hand off easily, cocking a brow as Hermione moved to finish the contents of the glass in her hand, leaning to place it back on the low table resting before her near the wall.

"You guys want to get blitzed?" Hermione's interactions with Theodore Nott were limited but he seemed to have no problem openly, and quite drunkenly, asking everyone at the table it they'd like to get messed up but with what she really wasn't sure. Hermione's laugh was light, softened around the battered edges now being smoothed with liquor but Draco's mood was not swaying from his sneering scowl flashing up to Theodore at the loud question before he narrowed his expressions down onto Blaise.

"You better give him an etiquette lesson before I am forced to remind him."

Blaise seemed to keep sobering him up on the spot far before Draco had set his sights on him but he shook his head with a dull look at the blond staring bitterly.

"Sorry, Malfoy, you've already promised me the first lesson." Draco's quickly turning vicious scowl swiped from his face as he dropped it round his shoulder to glance at the woman tightly held in silver lace jutting her hip out at him and resting her weight against a single leg with her arms crossed slack over her chest. A wave of thoughts and expressions flashed Draco's aristocratic features in the flashing lights before Hermione but she stood there, watching him watch her, firmly. For a moment he too just stood there, eyeing her but the corners of his lips twitched into a rather amused smirk before he tossed his head back to Theodore in response.

"You heard the lady, sorry mate. You lot have a good time." Draco was shrugging off Theodore's confused expressions as he smoothed back to the scrunching face of the brunette before him as he opened his palm out, "Shall we?"

"Don't forget the handcuffs!" Pansy shouted loudly at the pair as Draco smoothed his arm around Hermione's shoulders, turning her away from Nott, Blaise and herself alike while he swiftly raised his middle finger up behind him in response but Blaise's drawling tone stole everyone's short span of attention while the pair slunk off into the noise.

"Excuse me…just what exactly are hand-coughs?"


Hermione's rather intoxicated state allowed her to move quite easily under Malfoy's arm as he whisked her off into the bar to where she wasn't sure, like most of her experiences venturing with him, but she traveled none the less. He seemed so much more at ease, even now, smiling down at her as he moved to take another bottle from the bar without the raise of a brow or the bat of a lash. They'd slid around the side of the room, dipping out the open drapes and out into the silence of the open night.

Draco had walked them out into the large open lounge resting quietly out on the clubs extravagant patio. It didn't seem to impress Draco much but the glowing candles floating inside the clear water of the huge pool dead center of the space, the large torches, and the unbelievably clear sky had Hermione turning slowly round on her heels to take it all in. No door had closed behind them but the booming bass and heavy flow of music had silenced deafly the moment that they'd fully set foot on the beautiful slabs of stone lining the structures, floors, and walls around her.

"Nice distraction in there, freckles. I fear I may be rubbing off on you." Hermione turned back to face him just as he moved to press his thumb against the cork of the bottle, sending it shooting off beside them with a loud pop. His grin remained still as the liquid burst from the bottles top, foaming to spill out onto the stones at their feet before he leaned forward to press it to his lips, tipping it up to take a few sips of the fizzing champagne, attempting not to let it spill down the front of him.

"So then, are you going to tell me why you're being such a prat tonight now or should we finish the bottle first?" His posture righted up, Hermione moving to take the bottle from his hand, taking a small sip for herself, watching him sigh wearily with a small scrunch on his forehead.

"You haven't really dealt with what happened tonight, Granger." I haven't dealt with what happened tonight, Granger.

"And?" Hermione's tone was a bit cold as she questioned him, moving to take another firm drink before she motioned it off to him, crossly folding her arms once again as she eyed him boldly.

"So, you are going to have to deal with it…and I'm not trying to make it harder to deal with." Draco took the bottle, lowering it at his side with his hues set against her, watching her every move.

"What the hell are you on about, Malfoy?" Hermione tossed her arms up, laughing a bit with a shake of her head, completely confused at his sudden irritation for her issues, or so it seemed.

"You've got a lot to deal with right now and being here is going to give you a lot more to deal with when you do." Those hard sapphire tinted hues turned away from her, his tone soft in the unusually warm air surrounding them as he added, "I shouldn't have taken you here. It was a poor decision."

Hermione quirked a single brow, lowering her own arms from her chest as she cocked her head at his retreated face, beckoning him with her sarcastic notes.

"Are you kidding me right now, Malfoy?" Draco turned back to fully face her, his expressions anything but that of humorous.

"Do I truly seem the type to joke about these types of situations, Granger?"

"Draco…I am drunk…and I'm pretty sure stoned." Hermione paused, thinking with a wiggle of her head before she nodded to him, "Yes, I am stoned. Either way, everything is groovy, pal. Gravy, baby."

"And you are being seen being gravy baby by far too many all knowing eyes right now, my dear."

"Who gives a fuck? Since when do you care, Malfoy?"

"I don't!" His tone rose quite quickly and Hermione flinched her brows up at the sudden outburst. Draco swallowed harshly, adjusting his coat before he cleared his throat, refraining himself into a more dignified manor before he continued on, "Not about what they think of me, anyways."

Hermione moved her hands to the bend of her hips as she stepped to close the distance between them, a small pout pressing from her bottom tier and a light furrow in her brow, "Can't you just stop thinking so much?"

Draco let out small, defeated sigh. The over analyzing queen herself had just told him to stop over thinking…what in the hell was this coming to? Against his better judgment, Draco bent to her ear, leaning down against her as his words breathed against her neck, "Not when it comes to you, Granger." Hermione felt the words tingle through her but she wasn't sure if it was the way Draco nearly breathed his velvety sentence into her as he said them or exactly what he said that had her skin tingling so fiercely but she stood rigid none the less. With a small pause, she nodded her head with understanding, tilting it only in the slightest with her eyes angled up in their stance to him.

"If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong but if I am then tell what it is that will accomplish your fuck it attitude tonight so I can prepare my over active brain now." Draco had leaned a breath or so back, enough to see the light smile on her lips before she answered back.

"For starters, I plan to finish that bottle you're holding hostage and then I'm going to really get drunk. I'm going to dance until I can actually feel my feet again, I might throw up or flash someone, possibly both, and get kicked out of at least three bars but I would prefer to do all of the said above, and countless other nameless things, with the Draco Malfoy who escorted me out the other night."

It was Draco's turn to pause. Her dark lashes were fluttering low over the apple of her cheek, watching his lips as he watched her for awhile before she added, "If he's not available then I suppose you were right, you shouldn't have taken me here. It was a poor decision." This woman would be the death of him by the end of this night.

Her chin was lifted defiantly now, her face raised boldly to him with the bar set as she questioned Draco on his ability to drop his charade once again, even if it meant ignoring his inclinations that it would harm her, or so he was trying to convey. His tone was nearly growling at the back of his throat, his face leaning down dangerously close to her quite suddenly as he ground out, "You know that I'm right here, freckles."

"Well alright then, Draco Malfoy…" She stood still in the stance with him for a moment, either of them watching each other carefully before Draco scrunched his nose in the small defeat, his pale brows inching in together as he turned his head down to the bottle in his hand.

The night quickly moved to dart around Hermione and what she requested be the recipe in her night's disastrous saving graces and she seemed to be checking off her list rather quickly, or so it appeared to her. Just as she said she had every intention of doing, Hermione had accomplished her efforts to finish that rather expensive bottle of champagne with Draco and probably half of the bar before they'd ever even thought about rejoining their group. Her vision so far through the night had been hazy at best and her steps were anything but on cue but it made no difference to the usually prim and proper woman, at least not while she had Draco to hold her upright. She'd stumbled through the club with the tall Prince of Peroxide once they'd somehow managed to find Pansy and Blaise, laughing and partying so hard that she had truly forgotten any pretenses, pains, or any real thoughts at all. Hermione danced to her heart's content for hours on end at the end of Pansy's, Draco's, and even Blaise's hands at one point, frolicking and hanging off each other like they were the best of friends all at the ending work of a bottle or eighty five. To tell you the truth, Hermione couldn't truly remember if she'd managed to check off getting tossed out of a place or two for the evening because her brain eventually was nothing more than a mushy pile of swirling colors being marinated in thumping melodies.


It wasn't until Malfoy had managed to stumble their way back into his loft, at whatever hour that was, that Hermione began to get a bit of wits back about her. Draco's arm was slackly around her waist as he stumbled his way in, kicking the door shut behind him with anything but grace.

"Fucks me, Merlin…aw, aw mah gods, Draco…I'm smashed." Her own voice sounded foreign to her at the moment, her head whirling a bit as she clutched his chest for support where her hand laid. Draco dropped his head to his own hand, his own brain swirling in a wave of liquor, he was sure, as he fought the urge to fall over as Hermione slurred on.

"Oh my god, Draco! Bed…I need bed…"

"Bed…" Draco repeated, swallowing hard as he nodded along with the thought affirmatively. It sounded heavenly but it sounded like so much work at the moment. Hermione let out a squeal, hiccupping as Draco bent to press his shoulder against her stomach, lifting her over top of it with a rather faltering start. Her long legs kicked against him, squirming a bit where she laid along the bend of his shoulder as he plucked her already untangling shoes from her feet all before even managing to find his way into the open blackness of his bedroom without crashing into anything. Well, that is until he kicked the end of his bed with a loud grunt, tossing her forward with a plush flop on the mattress below her.

Hermione sighed as she felt her weight sink into the overstuffed comforter laying a crossed his bed, completely spread out without care or concern. Her body didn't flinch in the slightest as he moved to fall into the space against her arm, the bed dipping under his weight, tossing his arm over her waist. Hermione groaned herself at the warmth of his arm on her waist, curling in against him as her lids slid low, trying to stop the room from spinning to viciously around her.

"Draco…oh my gods…" It was all she could seem to rant on, mumbling about how drunk she was, slurring her head this way and that as she pulled on her dress.

"It's fucking hot, Granger…" Draco may have been referring to the heat in the room, as a matter of fact, Hermione was sure he was since he was crudely removing his shirt without really trying to get up but she laughed none the less.

"It's cause I'm here, duh!" Hermione flopped to her back, growing irritated with her attire but it seemed Draco, sloshed completely or not, read her thoughts as he lifted up to his knees, moving to help her tear down the tight lace he'd purchased for the very curves her was revealing. Seemed that they looked far better without the fabric holding them swiftly…Draco's darkening hues slid among her exposed flesh, sinking onto his knees where he'd resting between her thighs, leaned forward on his hands pressing the mattress to dip at either side of her hips.

"It's always hot in my bed when you're in it…not so hot in the morning though…" His words sounded so low and tired, like he was out of breath just being awake. Hermione moved her slender digits up to slide against the deep curve of his cheek bone, gracing the muscle covering such structured bone as she tilted her body upright in the slightest. Draco's head dropped, sighing hard in the still air until he felt her lips brushing against the plush bend of his own. All at once, his muscles tensed, his hand shooting out to grab hold of her bicep as he breathed in her scent despite his hazy state.

"What are you doing, freckles?"

"I don't really know…" Her hands slid their way to the base of his neck, lifting herself closer as she stroked his jaw softly, never moving her mouth as she breathed on, "…kissing you I suppose." Before she could motion herself, although she'd flinched to begin, Draco used his grip on her to press her back a short space.

"Stop." She seemed to ignore him, moving to press herself back up but his hand held her firm, a small frown on her face as he shook his head. "You're too drunk and you've got shit to deal with."

Hermione laughed beneath him, giving his chest a light shove, "I know what I'm doing! I know…I know that you want me to."

"Doesn't matter," Draco was still shaking his head. He appeared much like a stubborn child, frowning and pouting all at the same time, "I can't."

"Are you telling me no right now, Malfoy?" Hermione had slid her weight back onto her elbows, half propping herself up as he slumped down on his side beside her on the bed, still nodding all the while.

"Yes, Granger. No, Granger. Bad, Granger." Hermione sighed hard and fell back against the sheets, her whizzing thoughts numbing around as he slid his shirtless frame against her own, pulling her taut against him.

"Draco…" Hermione moaned a protest of his name, curling to her side and in against his chest. Hermione arched her chin up, mumbling her words into the crook of his neck, "I'm so drunk…"

"I know, freckles."


Here is my official apology for being MIA. I've had some personal tragedies that I have been stuck recovering from but I am back!

I kept going back and rewriting this chapter. I felt it was important to get a crossed that Hermione was letting go enough to enjoy herself but she was still Hermione after all. I couldn't very well have her buying hookers and blow. XD Jk. As always, I'll proof read it over later butit was nagging on me to get this out.

Next chapter will be up soon. Fair warning, prepare for the consequences of Hermione's free will, the return of Ronald Weasley, and possibly (and finally) some smutty D/H? Muhaha.

Enjoy!