Chapter 7: Sleepless in Paris

2:45 am. I groaned and turned over after reading the clock for the 10th time that night. It seemed near impossible for me to fall asleep. It was not because I wasn't tired, no, this was something else. Something I blamed Granger for. I continuously just pictured her face. Her annoyed and agitated face that she often gets when I am around. And the words I hate you were playing over and over again in my head. I believe at one time she did hate me, but now I think she just said that because she was angry. Sure she doesn't like me very much but I doubt she still hates me. Only part of me believed it though. I wonder if Granger is awake.

I threw back the covers and went out onto the balcony, looking down at Grangers to see if I could see a light on.

It was hard to tell, from this angle. I apparated onto her balcony. No, there is no light on. She must be sleeping. I don't know why I apparated down here. It's not as if she would want to see me if she was awake. In fact she might think I am mad and book a consultation at St. Mungo's for me. All of a sudden I heard a noise coming from her room. I pressed my ear against the door. There was a moaning sound, a painful sounding one. "No!" I heard her shout. "Please Stop!"

What if someone is attacking her? I reached for the door handle, it was unlocked. I threw open the door, my wand at the ready. There was no one there but Granger, and she was tangled in her sheets. I breathed a sigh of relief that was short lived as the next thing I know my wand shoots out of my hand. Startled I jump back and crash over a table, falling to the ground.

OOOOOOOO

"Goodnight Gin." I said and hung up the phone. I am happy this day is over. It's given me a killer headache. I look at the sleeping pills next to my bed. My parents thought that a therapy session was a good idea and the doctor thought sleeping pills might help my nightmares. They didn't, but I took them anyway hoping that my nightmares wouldn't be as bad. I climbed into bed, putting my wand under my pillow like I did every night, in case of an emergency.

I opened my eyes in a panic as a loud crash woke me from another nightmare. My eyes focused on a figure in the room and without hesitating I grabbed my wand "Expelliarmus!" I shouted sending their wand across the room. The figure also tripped backwards over a table and landed on the floor. I switched on the bedside lamp to see who the intruder was, making sure I kept my wand at the ready.

"Malfoy?" I asked as I crawled slowly to the edge of the bed to see him.

"Yes Granger, it is me." His voice said grudgingly. He was laying on his back looking up at me. "A little trigger happy don't you think? I'm just glad it wasn't a more painful spell."

"Well I didn't know it was you and I am not accustomed to people charging into my room in the middle of the night. Do you have any idea what time it is? And what in Merlin's name are you even doing here."

"Yes I do know what time it is. It is precisely 3:05 in the morning. And no I actually don't know what possessed me to come here."

I looked at him, quite confused. I sighed, climbed out of bed and went to go retrieve his wand. When I turned around he had stood up and was facing me with his hand outstretched. He was wearing boxers. Just boxers and I couldn't help but noticed that he wasn't wearing anything else, in fact I felt my body instantly heat up at the sight of him. I had never seen him without clothes on. Any man actually. I saw Ron and Harry with their shirts off maybe once or twice but they always had pants on.

"Granger." His voice pulled my out of my trance.

"Yes?" I asked meekly.

"Are you going to give me my wand?"

I looked down at his wand in my hand, "Oh yes." I said handing it to him, "Sorry." I murmured and walked over to my bed to put my wand away.

I turned around to find him staring at me. I looked down to see what I was wearing and flushed with embarrassment. I, too was wearing little. A pair of shorts, that were very short and very thin tank top. I picked up a blanket off the bed and wrapped it around me before sitting down at the edge of my bed.

OOOOOO

I looked up from my spot on the floor, to see Granger leaning over me from her bed, "Malfoy?" she asked.

It was in this moment I really looked at her and what she was wearing. She had on very short shorts and a thin shirt. I felt an instant attraction to this women who I knew as Granger, yet this was a Granger I never saw before or even imagined existed. I had no idea how toned her legs were or her curves. Ok I noticed those perfect curves that first night when she was wearing that dress. But this was different. She looked so different to me, and in that moment everything about our past disappeared and I found myself thinking of how I was going to win this girl over.

The moment was short lived as I saw her flush and grab a blanket to wrap around her. I wish I had a blanket or towel or robe or something. She sat down on the bed and I decided to close the door to the balcony and sit on the chair that was opposite the bed.

"I'm sorry for scaring you." I said

"That's ok." She said and offered a weak smile. I could sense she was uncomfortable.

"Do you have a…"

"Robe? Yes, it is, um, it should be hanging on the washroom door." She said quickly and a little relieved that I asked.

I stood up and walked over to the washroom and reached around the door to grab the robe. I put it on and tied it quickly before sitting back down. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"I heard noises."

"I'm sorry?" she asked unsure of what I meant.

"Before I came in, I heard noises on the other side of the door. I thought you might be in trouble. So I came in. The door was unlocked."

"You thought I was in trouble?"

"Yes I heard you say no and stop and well I wasn't sure if you were alright or not."

"Oh, yes well that was just a dream. I have those sometimes and apparently call things out in my sleep." She told me.

I felt like an utter arse right then and there. Merlin knows she was having a nightmare, probably about a whole myriad of things that are awful to relive. I know I have similar ones. "I have those too. Do those help?" I asked indicating to the pill bottle on her bedside table.

"No, not really. But it is important to my parents that I at least try some form of help. Sometimes I feel that they help make my dreams not so terrifying but other times I think that it is just a coincidence. A dream can go from nice to torturous in seconds." She said offering another weakened smile. "But I'm sure you know all about that."

"Yes. I do."

We sat in silence for 30 minutes, I kept going back and forth between focusing on her and the clock which now read 3:45am.

"I should go. Let you try and get some sleep." I said getting up. I started to take of her robe.

"No." she practically shouted, "I mean, you can just give it back tomorrow." She said getting out of bed, clutching her blanked tightly to her.

"Ok, thank you." I said and made my way to the balcony door.

"Mal…Draco." She called as I reached for the door handle.

"Yes?" I said as I turned around.

"I just wanted to say thank you. I'm sorry for disarming you and it was very kind of you to make sure everything was ok."

"I only hope that when it is a real threat, you'll use something a bit more powerful than a disarming spell."

"Yes well, it was the first thing that came to mind. And if you were a muggle intruder hopefully that would scare you off, having someone yell something in Latin at you."

I chuckled, "I'm sure that would be frightening."

She smiled at me and I turned to leave, "Wait." She said and once more I turned to face her.

"I'm sorry for saying that I hated you. I didn't mean it."

"It's ok. You have reason to hate me."

"Not anymore." She said and stepped closer. She put her arms around me and pulled me into a hug. Someone other than my Mother is hugging me. Granger is hugging me and I am hugging her back. "Thank you." She said before releasing and stepping back, readjusting her blanket.

I nodded, "Try and get some sleep." I said before leaving. I shut the door behind me and apparated back to my room. This time when I laid down in bed, I instantly fell asleep and had a very good dream.

OOOOO

After locking the door behind him, I crawled back into bed and shut off the light. It was hard to fall asleep as I kept picturing his shirtless, pants less body, in my room, right in front of me. It was clear that he worked out, or at least kept up with Quidditch. Merlin was he hot. I mean I knew he was good looking. Even if you didn't like Malfoy, you couldn't deny he had good looks. It was the topic of conversation around the Girls dormitory, even in Gryffindor. I could only imagine what would have been said if any of us had seen him practically naked while at Hogwarts. I didn't bother taking another pill. I was definitely not getting anymore sleep.

Ok this one is shorted than the last one, I know. I hope you like it! I was debating whether or not it was too creepy of Draco to be in her room like that, but I hope I made it no so creepy. Please review!