"You did what?"

No. No no no no this couldn't be happening. They already had enough to deal with. Why was it so impossible for him to just lay low?

Draco held his hands up defensively, "He's the one who challenged me."

She shot him that look. "I highly doubt he did so without any provocation."

"If anyone was doing the provoking it was him. He's the one who wanted to talk, Bambi. I had nothing to do with it."

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "You've both gone mental. You could get hurt," she fiddled with her fingers, "Or expelled!"

"Is that really your top concern right now?"

She brought a hand to her temple, "Draco what did you do?"

"What did I do? Are you kidding me?"

"If he gets hurt—"

"Then he'll get what's coming to him."

"Draco—"

"You seem incredibly worried for this guy—"

"He's my friend."

"But I'm your boyfriend."

She stared at him, blinking. It took her a while to respond. "Well…yeah, but…"

He raised an eyebrow, "I am, aren't I?"

Her hands flew up, exasperated, "Obviously!"

Ok, he was losing patience now. "Then what the hell is the problem!"

"The problem Draco," she began, marching towards him, "Is that you just jump head first into everything! You never think about the consequences! I thought you were more collected than this."

"Oh sure, blame me—"

"I will blame you!"

"It's his bloody fault I don't see how—"

"You knew he did this to get under your skin!" she challenged, "You said so yourself! Why did you agree to it?"

"Because I'm not about to back out of a duel to Ron motherfucking Weasley."

She growled. Which was both attractive and terrifying. "Call it off."

"Christ Hermione you're fucking impossible sometimes—"

"Oh, of course. I'm the impossible one. If that's so, then maybe you should think about the fact that you're the one who decided to date me."

"Oh because this whole thing was so one sided." He bit back.

"Forget it," she threw her hands up again, shaking her head, "It's been a long day."

She started to make her way to the door, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her harshly; a bit rougher than he'd intended, but she was seriously pissing him off now. "Like hell," he said, "We're fucking sorting this shit out right now."

"You don't listen anyway!" she countered, "Why would I waste my time?"

"Because we're a couple."

"Are we though?"

He stopped. Suddenly getting the weird feeling that maybe Ron had gotten the chance to talk to her before he did.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

She freed herself from his grasp, jerking his hand away, "I don't know! But we don't act like it, apparently! God, Draco I don't fucking know!"

"According to who? To your so-called friends? To Hogwarts? What the fuck do they know!?"

"They know more than us, that's for sure!"

She fell into bed, elbow on her thigh, hand covering her head. "I've never been in a relationship before. I don't know what I'm doing. And now you're entering a duel for godsakes…"

"You honestly think I have any idea what I'm doing?" he said, a bit soft, a bit bitter, taking a seat next to her.

She glanced at him, "I know you definitely don't."

He leaned back a bit, "I think this is a smaller problem than you're making it out to be."

"I'm not making it out to be anything!" she snapped again, "Don't pin this on me like I'm overreacting or something! If we don't even know where we stand then that's definitely not ok!"

"Christ, Hermione can you take a breath?"

"I'M TRYING TO!"

He jolted, knowing she was fully capable of being that loud but not exactly expecting or enjoying it. She fell back against the mattress, running her fingers through her hair and keeping her eyes closed.

Her features were all crinkled, stress lines claiming her forehead. Her body tense and stiff, despite the fact that her legs were partially hanging off the bed. He didn't…like that. And he got this weird feeling that there was more to it than just the stupid duel. He clambered over her before she could reject him, pinning her arms in place so she couldn't fight back. "Look, you agreed to this, right? So what if it's not typical or whatever the fuck. It's fine like this."

"Draco it's not fine like this."

She wasn't looking at him. Why wasn't she looking at him? Her arms were up over her head so her face was half buried in the crook of her elbow and wait, did she just say it wasn't fine? What wasn't fine? Was she not fine?

"What are you saying?"

There was a pause. Too long of a pause. He didn't like this anxious feeling he was starting to get.

"I don't know." she mumbled.

He'd never heard Hermione Granger say 'I don't know' that many fucking times. Shit, if ever. She knew everything.

But what the hell was the problem now? Was it because of fucking Ron? Was she seriously that concerned for him? So she didn't like what they had going, is that what it was?

Without meaning to, his grip tightened around her wrists. "You don't like…this."

She glanced at him, head tilting slightly. His chest tightened.

"I didn't say that." she said carefully. Calculated, almost.

He blinked a bit too quickly, eyes narrowing slightly, "But you didn't not say it."

"Draco—"

"Dammit," he dropped his forehead on hers, taking in a deep inhale, "Just fucking tell me already."

"Please don't duel him." It came out in one smooth inhale, her eyes closed.

He ground his teeth, letting her go and getting off of her. "I'm not backing out, I already told you—"

"Draco," she sat up quickly, "If anything happened—"

"To me, or him? Who exactly are you worried about here?"

She sat up, crossing her legs, her hands scratching at her ankles, "Both of you obviously."

He stared at her, eyes dead and cold. "You're right," he said, "This isn't fine."

"Don't do that," she said, shooting him a nasty glare, "You're both-"

He didn't bother listening to the rest. All he could manage was clenching and then unclenching his fists. He sure as hell wasn't gonna tell her that he didn't want the bloody Weasel to be important to her, because how bloody whiney would that sound? So instead, the first thing that came to his head was "I'm gonna shower." Before stalking off and slamming the door shut, a bit more loudly than he'd actually intended.

Christ they couldn't even argue normally.

When he got out, he was expecting two things. One, she'd just be flat out gone. Or two, she'd be sitting there, arms crossed, tapping her foot and nagging at him for just leaving it the way he did.

But it wasn't either of those things. She was curled up in his bed, on her usual side with her back towards the bathroom door.

He ruffled his hair with the towel a bit more, not wanting it to be uncomfortably damp when he got in bed. He tossed the towel over the chair before walking around to his side, doing his best to not look at her, lifting the sheets to clamber in. He stayed on his back for all of two seconds, before turning over on his side so that they were looking at each other. He wasn't surprised at all to find her eyes open.

"Hey." He whispered.

"Hi." She whispered back, fingers tugging absently at the fabric of her pillow.

He tucked his arm under his own pillow, propping himself up a bit, voice still hushed when he said, "So…does that count as our first fight?"

She smirked softly, and for a moment he thought maybe his expressions were rubbing off on her. "We've fought plenty before."

"Nah," he told her, "That was like some serious couple shit back there."

She giggled quietly, and he felt his chest relax. She was finally looking him in the eyes. "Be that as it may, Mr. Malfoy," her voice was playfully serious, "It has yet to be resolved."

He had enough confidence to bring his arm over her curves, rubbing circles into her side with his thumb. "Well," he said, "There were two parts."

She nodded.

He pecked her lips because, well, he could. "This, whatever this is, is fine. You know it. I know it. So fuck whatever Hogwarts has to say."

Unless it wasn't fine. But he'd sounded confident enough, so he was just gonna go with that. And it seemed to work for now, since she'd nodded, and was shifting ever so slightly closer to him. Only now he'd have to address the Weasley issue. He took a deep breath, having already prepared what he was going to say back in the shower—

"Ron shouldn't have asked you. That wasn't fair of him. So if you want to go through with it, then I understand."

God. Fucking. Damn this witch.

"Hermione." he said through gritted teeth.

She blinked up at him, chewing her bottom lip, "What is it?"

"I fucking had a goddamn speech. I was going to convince you through flawless logic and clear evidence."

She wouldn't stop chewing her damn lip, "I did some thinking—"

"No, I did some thinking. Christ, allow me that at least."

"Well I wasn't sure—"

He swiped his thumb across her bottom lip, "Stop that. Jesus if you want someone to bite you let me do it."

It was dark. But the blush that dusted her cheeks was very, very obvious to him. And suddenly his hands started to itch. What the hell was with this atmosphere?

"Sorry." She breathed behind heavy lashes.

He let out a shaky breath. "Yeah. Same."

It was…weird. And he pulled her closer, just then, feeling not quite irritated but just…weird because he really didn't ever apologize to anyone about anything. But he'd said it to her. Two times now. Which was…

Weird.

And shit now he was kissing her because she still hadn't stopped biting her lip and it was fucking irritating for some reason and her lips were kind of chapped but still soft—definitely soft— and he just…

Fuck.

Goddamnit it why did she smell so good?

"Draco…"

Goddamn she was doing that thing again. Where she was clutching at his shirt and doing that low kind of whine and just saying his name like that. He pulled her closer, kissed her deeper, inhaled that damned delicious scent and just—

Her small hands nudged at his chest, trying to push him away. His body was on fire, and his thoughts strangely muddled. Nothing other than no no no and mine because she was and why, why was she pushing him away now of all times?

"This…" her voice was too quiet, he didn't like it, "Whatever this is…God we keep saying that…I mean…it's good, right?"

He inhaled before answering, "I think so."

She nodded slowly, taking in an inhale of her own, "Me too."

He got the feeling she wanted to say more, but for now she was quiet. She was thinking, he knew at least that much. Thinking of what, exactly, he wasn't sure. And he felt his chest tighten again.

"So then," her hands had clenched around his shirt again, as though he might leave, "What exactly is this?"

Well shit.

The hell was he supposed to say to that?

"I know you have your pride," she said quickly, looking at the collar of his shirt, "Just as I have mine. But we have each other now too, right? I mean I know that sounds weird. Really bizarre actually. God I mean you're Draco Malfoy…" her mumbling trailed off.

"…and you're Hermione Granger." He offered.

She smiled, "That's true." She buried her face in his chest, garbling something he didn't understand. He tensed up a bit, making a few questioning noises of his own.

"Why is this so hard?" she groaned.

He jolted, shifting slightly to ease the tension in his muscles, "Sorry. Kinda turns me on when you're yelling at me."

She smacked his chest. "Not that you idiot."

He chuckled, rubbing himself against her thigh.

"Wait…you're serious?"

"Kinda." He warned, nipping her ear.

She raised an eyebrow, before shaking her head and then lowering it, nibbling his collarbone, "God you're the literal worst."

"Oh hey," he pushed her down, his smirk boldly plastered on his face, hair hanging over his eyes, "My girlfriend says the same thing."

She scoffed, "Does she now?"

"Oh yeah. But she's the one who's the worst."

She hummed at that, "Sounds horrible."

By now he was lapping at her neck, enjoying the soft vibration of whimpers she was biting back. "Yeah…horrible…" he murmured, sucking at the skin below her jaw, purposely marking her nice and high for everyone to see.

"My boyfriend's always marking in—" her words were cut off by a moan she couldn't keep in, "P-Places I can't hide."

He smirked against her skin, giving her another lick with his tongue. Fuck she tasted so good. And she'd called him her boyfriend. "How unfortunate."

Her breathing hitched. He glanced up at her, wanting to catch her expression. He liked that one.

"Yeah…he's a showoff."

"Your boyfriend sounds like an ass." He groaned, hips grinding slightly, his lower half demanding friction.

Hands snaked around his neck, pulling him closer, his lips forcibly pressed against hers. "He's pretty bad. Hot headed too."

"That so?"

She nodded, eyes flickering as he ground against her once more.

"Well, my girlfriend's a tease," he said in between bites, "And a know-it-all."

The sweetest sound pushed past her lips and onto his, her hips bucking, "I hate people like that."

He gave a low chuckle at that, hands sliding up her shirt, "I bet—"

She pulled his hand away. "Stop, Draco."

"Wait, what?" he stubbornly put his hand back, "Fuck that—"

Again she smacked his hand away, pecking him sweetly on the lips and turning on her side, "Nope."

"No? Fucking," he flipped her over, "Bambi I swear—"

"I'm tired." she said with a bit too much energy.

He growled, but she quickly flipped him over with what he found to be rather surprising strength. "I still think you should've said no to the duel," she said, taking a generous bite out of his neck, "So I'm saying no now, you know, to make up for it. The lack of no's said today I mean."

He clicked his tongue, shaking his head and then shrugging her off. "Alright. Sleep tight Bambi."

She raised an eyebrow, "Not like you to give up that easily."

"Maybe I'm tired too."

"Liar."

He smirked, "It sounds like you don't want me to go to bed Bambi."

He could feel her squirming slightly beneath the sheets. Still, she didn't say anything.

Oh. This was gonna be good.


A/N: I think you all know where this is going ;D Look at me updating on time ^^

Guest: Thank you so much for commenting! I like a sassy Hermione as well ;)