Chapter Four

As soon as Hermione entered her flat, her eyes landed upon her friend who was lying haphazardly on the couch, mobile phone in hand. Her face was contorted in a strange mixture of confusion, fear, and determination. Hermione struggled to withhold her laughter. A snigger escaping her lips much to her dismay. Ginny's head snapped up, her eyes softening in relief.

"Hermione, there you are! I was about to call you, but. . ." She trailed off. This time they both laughed at Ginny's ineptitude.

"But you don't know how to call me?" Hermione offered. Her friend smiled sheepishly.

"Muggle things are confusing. Anyway, what took you so long? I thought you'd be done ages ago." Ginny's eyes narrowed. Uh oh, here comes Ginny the Inquisitor.

"We ran over. Besides, you prepared quite the list of questions, and he was surprisingly forthcoming." Hermione replied, shrugging her shoulders in hopes that Ginny would drop it. She knew it wasn't likely though. This was supposed to be her interview anyway.

"Well that's good. I'll have all the material I need to finally pull all of this together." Ginny muttered, more to herself than Hermione.

"Why didn't you tell me it was Malfoy?" Hermione demanded. She was still pissed her friend had withheld the information.

"Because I knew that if I were to tell you right away, you wouldn't have agreed." Ginny stated matter-of-factly. She opened her mouth to retort, but she cut her off.

"Don't deny it, Hermione. So he was agreeable? No name-calling or other git-like Malfoy things?" Ginny asked. Hermione shook her head, a small smile teasing her lips.

"No, actually. I was shocked myself at first. He was incredibly polite, and nothing but a gentlemen." Well, she threw that last part in for good measure. She wasn't an expert, but she was pretty sure that him blatantly saying he wanted to fuck her was not exactly gentlemen material.

"Why are you blushing, Hermione?" Ginny asked, her eyes narrowed once more. Shit, she hadn't noticed how flushed her cheeks had gotten at the mere memory.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Hermione replied, perhaps a bit too quickly. She distracted her friend by pulling out the record of her interview. The redhead dropped the topic, a smile gracing her features.

"I owe you for this, I know. I really appreciate this Hermione, really. Thank you so much!" Ginny squealed. She took the stack, going through the notes with heated interest. Hermione decided to busy herself by making some tea. She really didn't know much about the editing process, nor did she really care to know. She made the mistake of asking Ginny once, and ended up with a three hour lecture. She grimaced, silently praying that wasn't what she was like. Merlin knows that she could go on forever about subjects she was passionate about. Like books.

"I know. Just be aware that you are forever in my debt." Hermione called to her friend from the kitchen. A smirk lifted the corner of her lips. She missed talking to sane people who weren't sexually charged and domineering. Just the day with Malfoy had proven to be strangely taxing for the young witch. But she couldn't help but relive the memory of some of the more heated points of their conversation. She stared into her tea cup, the sound of his deep voice swirling around her mind until it was all she could think of. She could still feel the ghost of his kiss and his body pressed against her own. She wanted nothing more than to apparate back to his office and beg him to claim her, but she resisted for the sake of her sanity. She really needed to get him out of her system.

"Hey 'Mione?" Ginny called, snapping Hermione out of her reverie.

"Yeah, Gin?" She walked back to the living room, half-amused and half-irritated by the clutter surrounding her friend. Ginny's eyes were filled with laughter, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Would you care to explain to me some of the points of the interview?" Her friend asked. Hermione was now thoroughly confused. She'd asked every question her friend had supplied her. What had she done wrong?

"What are you talking about Ginny?" She wondered what her friend was getting at. And why the hell did she look so amused?

"I'm referring to when Malfoy stated, rather bluntly might I add, that he wanted to shag you. You could have mentioned the 'intense sexual attraction' or the hot dinner date you have tomorrow." Ginny looked like she won the Nobel Peace Prize, her grin nearly stretching from ear to ear. Hermione's cheeks flushed a dark red from embarrassment. Mortification settled into each of her pores, leaving her awkwardly shuffling on her feet. She sipped her tea, attempting to ease her suddenly dry throat.

"I didn't see how any of it was relevant." Hermione fibbed, "How did you know anyway?"

"Apparently you forgot to Finite the quill. It continued to write down every word the two of you exchanged. So I want details. Now." Ginny demanded. Hermione huffed. And people thought she was nosy!

Hermione sighed, settling on the recliner next to the couch. This day had been far too long for her liking. She gave one last look at her friends eager expression before closing her eyes and relenting to her, and told every embarrassing and tempting memory. At the end of her retelling, she peeked one eye open to gauge her friend's reaction. What she saw she was not expecting. Ginny's eyes were as wide as saucers, her mouth hanging rather unattractively. She looked frozen in shock.

"Thoughts?" Hermione asked, feeling rather unnerved by her friend's reaction. Was what transpired really so unfathomable? It did seem rather ridiculous that not only was Malfoy a changed man, but he was an all-encompassing, sexy male who wanted her. If someone were to tell her younger self what happened between her and Malfoy today, she would have laughed then sent them straight to St. Mungos. She would never have thought that Malfoy of all people would become a romantic interest. Hell, a few days ago she wouldn't have thought that. She always perceived him to be a spoiled, pompous git. Sure he was still pompous, but it would be too idealistic to assume he could change that trait as well. And Hermione secretly admitted to herself that his arrogance only made him more desirable. He was so self-assured it would have been ridiculous on anyone else, but with Malfoy, it just worked.

"I'm not going to lie, I feel kind of hot from that story." Her friend wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, as she clamped a hand over her mouth to suppress her giggles.

"Ginny!" Hermione shrieked, exasperated. When had the redhead become so. . .perverse? Was everyone in this world tainted besides her?

"What? You wanted my thoughts didn't you?" Ginny asked. Hermione shot her an incredulous look, wiping the smirk off the redhead's face.

"Okay, well you and I both now he's into you. Why not meet him tomorrow and see how things play out? It could have been a one time thing. Maybe all the animosity between the two of you died, and in its place you're both feeling this tension because you were both too busy hating each other before to notice it."

She did have a point. Was that really all that this was? Just a misunderstanding of pent-up feeling? Hermione sure hoped so. She didn't know what she'd do if she realized she had a thing for Malfoy simply because he was himself.

"I hope you're right, Gin." Hermione muttered. The faster she got over this, the better. She hoped that tomorrow she would meet with Malfoy only to see that the intense feelings died. She needed to know that she didn't feel anything for Malfoy. The insignificant crush she had on him when she was eleven was nothing more than a passing memory. With those last thoughts, Hermione bid her friend goodnight, telling her to keep up with her recovery, and went to her bedroom. Her previous idea of ice cream and wine didn't hold a candle to how enticing sleep sounded to her right now. She collapsed against her pillow, her last thoughts of grey eyes and a shock of white-blond hair.

Hermione jumped awake. She shivered violently as a draft ran against her bare skin. A light sheen of sweat covered her body. Her skin felt hot to the touch, as though she just got done sunbathing for hours. A pool of heat between her thighs caused her great displeasure. She growled in frustration, glancing at the harsh light of her alarm clock. She had woken up like this three times so far. Three! Each time she fell asleep, her mind conjured some fantasy involving Malfoy. A shiver travelled down her spine as she recalled the latest one. Each time she woke her dream Malfoy was seconds away from entering her. She was wanting and needy. How was she supposed to easily get over him if he thrived in her subconscious too? She groaned in frustration. Damn him for being so sinfully tempting! And damn her emotions for dragging her into this mess! Why couldn't she get him out of her head?

Hermione threw the covers back, grumbling something about 'stupid ferrets' all the way to her bathroom. She stripped, turning the shower to a cold setting. She needed to control her raging hormones. This was getting out of hand. If Malfoy knew that she was losing sleep over wet dreams of him, she was sure she would die of utter mortification. Nothing would stroke his overblown ego more.

Nothing helped though. Even when she dressed, even when she distracted herself with her school work, thoughts of Malfoy prevented her from getting her work done. She re-read her favorite passage from her textbook, hoping it would keep her mind distracted, but even that didn't work. She began to acknowledge her body's ache for him, but she pointedly ignored it as much as possible.

Ginny seemed to pick up on her foul mood, and gave Hermione some much needed space. For that, she was grateful. She was sure that if one more thing propelled thoughts of Malfoy to come into her head, she'd use an Unforgivable. Even if it was inanimate. She glared at the weighty text before her, blaming it for not keeping her distracted. She re-read some of her favorite romance novels earlier, hoping the males in those stories would keep her mind off of him. To her horror, she had started picturing Malfoy as the lead and herself as the romantic interest. As if that wasn't bad enough, she even thought some of them paled in comparison. She had only had one decent conversation with him, for Merlin's sake! She was already being reduced to a brainless chit with nothing more than sex on her mind. This left Hermione possibly more irritated and she burned the books with a strange glint in her eyes. Ginny looked at her like she was mental, but didn't say anything. Wise witch.

Seven o'clock. Hermione glanced at the clock with a frown, debating whether to feel excited or depressed. She really wanted to see him again, to feel that electrifying pull of his presence. But she also wanted to hex him into oblivion. Her emotions were becoming too much to handle. Ginny, after much persisting, helped pick out her outfit. She decided to wear a black high-waisted pencil skirt and an off-white silk blouse. She belted the ensemble, draped herself in tasteful yet modest jewelry and makeup, and was putting on silk stockings when she heard a knock at her door. She glanced up curiously. Ginny's practically ran into her room, not waiting for a response from Hermione.

"He's here." She squeaked. Hermione raised a single eyebrow, amused at her friend's expression.

"Why the reaction?" Hermione asked. She was sure Harry wouldn't appreciate this.

"You could have warned me that he looked like an orgasm on legs! You and I both know I'm in love with Harry, but what I wouldn't give to have a good shag with him." Ginny confessed, fanning herself with her hand. Hermione smiled tightly, a flash of jealousy surging through her faster than she could comprehend it. She didn't know why, but she hated the idea of another woman fucking him. She felt nerves erupt in her stomach. Where had that come from? He wasn't hers. He could shag whoever he wanted. She shook her head, pulling on her black heels.

"So you left him. . .by himself. . .in our living room?" Hermione asked slowly. Ginny's glared at her before giving Hermione her final appraisal.

"Well he can manage. He's an adult." She growled. Hermione rolled her eyes, and left her room.

Her nerves were back with a vengeance. Her legs felt like jelly, her pace slowed considerably by the heels. She gave Ginny a scared look. Her friend smiled in encouragement as they reached the living room.

Holy Shit.