Hermione was embarrassed and Draco was hurting.
She's canceled dinner the last two times and each day Draco spent the night alone, staring at a bottle of Firewhiskey. He once even sat there crying, wishing he could just put it away, but if he touched the bottle he would drink it.
Draco walked to her door, hesitant to knock. This was the fourth time he had walked up to her door this night. Anytime they had to see each other during the day it was made brief and she always made excuses to leave. His knuckles hit her door once and then twice.
The door swung open slowly and Hermione was there dressed only in pajamas. Her hair was messy and still wet from a shower. His heart ached seeing her so comfortable.
"I just made some garlic butter noodles and garlic bread. It is already on the table" She said slowly and Draco nodded before walking to sit down.
"How was your week?" Draco asked slowly and Hermione let out a short laugh.
"Busy as usual. The students are still hyped from the holidays." Hermione stated. Draco looked at her and noticed she refused to look at him while she ate.
"What about you? Are you okay?" Draco carefully asked and Hermione looked up for a moment. Her eyes still seemed a mix of hurt and anger. "I didn't mean to act-"
"You know what.. It's fine. It doesn't matter" She retorted cutting him off.
"No you canceled-"
"I canceled because I was busy. That is all" Hermione waved her hand to cut the conversation down. She didn't want to talk about that night she made a fool of herself and she didn't want him to admit that he didn't want her. Draco sighed before turning back to his food to finish eating. They were so tense he didn't know if these dinners would ever return back to normal.
Halfway through the dinner, he looked up to just watch her. Hermione's hand was shaking as she twirled the noodles onto her fork. He could faintly feel her foot tapping on the ground. Something was wrong, but he didn't have her trust anymore to hear it from her.
Soon dinner was done and Draco actually grabbed the plates before her to go wash them.
"I'll wash them" Hermione countered and followed him to the sink. She tried to grab at the plates, but her hand covered his. He looked at her and she was taken back at the gentleness in his eyes. "I just have a lot of dishes from being busy." She tried and he placed the plates down and turned his hand so his fingertips were touching hers.
"Just go lay down, I know you're tired." Draco saw her shoulders drop and she nodded before walking over to her bed. Turning back to the sink, he started to scrub the dishes in her sink.
It was a half hour later before he was done and Draco turned to look at Hermione for a second. She had the blanket pulled up to her shoulders and her eyes were closed. Draco wished half a second he could lay down next to her, but she would be pissed if she woke up. He settled to just graze her forehead with his fingers before laying a gentle kiss. She stirred just barely, but stayed sleeping.
Draco was packing his things to be ready to leave later that night. It was the end of a good school year. He even learned a lot from his own studies. Dinners with Hermione was better, but still tense at times. But the last week he was having nightmares again and he canceled their last one.
Hermione was a little worried for him to be going back to his manor and him canceling the last dinner for them both was a little hard, even more so knowing he was avoiding saying goodbye to her.
They stood in front of Hogwarts that last night and shifted nervously.
"So you are going back to your manor?" Hermione asked and Draco nodded.
"I have a lot to clean up. I was thinking about even renovating it since I've learned a lot of the Muggle ways of sprucing up a place. That place could go for some color." Draco chuckled a little before going to rub the back of his neck nervously.
"I know we won't see each other as much, but I hope you know you can always contact me." Draco looked at her and nodded. "I also hope you decide to come back to Hogwarts again to teach, unless of course you find a better position."
"I'm going to miss you" Draco said out loud and he looked down at the ground.
The next thing surprised them both because Hermione went on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly. She went to pull away, but he pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. Draco even took advantage of her surprised moan to run his tongue against hers. Then everything turned warm and he pulled away noticing his arousal was thickening and soon he wouldn't be able to stop kissing her.
"When can I see you next?" He breathed and Hermione looked at him.
"I know how to paint.." Hermione hinted and Draco smiled.
"Next Friday?" Hermione nodded and soon they were both going their separate ways but not for too long.
That Friday she came dressed in overalls that ended in shorts. She also had her hair in a ponytail. Hermione walked into the manor, surprised at how bare it was. Draco definitely got busy when he got home. Bags of trash were in places neatly stacked and paint cans were in another pile.
Draco was dressed extremely comfortably in a tank top and shorts. He smiled when he saw her, but nervous. Shifting from foot to the other foot caused Hermione to grab his hand to reassure him.
"What color did you pick?" Hermione asked and Draco went over to the paint bucket and opened one. It revealed a dark turquoise "Great color. So much better than gray and black, and we got to get to work."
Hours later they were only halfway done with this room. Draco sighed and put down his paint roller. He went over to where Hermione was painting carefully and he tapped on her shoulder. She acknowledged him and looked at Draco.
Draco immediately went to kiss her and Hermione felt him moan against her. His hands cupped her neck and face and she felt paint slide across her jaw. Her hands dropped the roller and it dropped to the ground before she placed a hand to his chest.
The kiss deepened and Draco moved one of his hands to grip her waist and pull her closer to him. Then soon he was grabbing her thigh and encouraging her to wrap her legs around his waist. Hermione pulled away to gaze into his eyes and noticed the look he wanted more, but was willing to drop it at any time she told him no.
"Can we go to… your room?" She asked hesitantly and blushed, feeling the jolt of his arousal that was pressed against her. He nodded and walked them to his room and rest her gently on his bed. Hermione reached for him to kiss her and pulled him closer as her legs wrapped tightly around his waist.
Moans echoed in the room and Draco tested the extent of her wanting by grinding his hips down and her fingernails dug into his shoulders. He nipped gently at her lips and reached to try and undo the stupid buttons on her overalls. He pulled away growling to get a better grip and pull the front cover down. They were hiding the fact that her nipples were already poking through her shirt. Hermione yanked her shirt up to reveal her belly and Draco was immediately bent over to kiss the exposed skin. His hands went up her sides to reveal a pale green lace Bralette. He found her nipple and sucked on it gently through the lace.
Hermione cried out and whimpered as her hips raised up to get closer to him.
A door slammed shut, startling the both of them and Draco stood up fixing his clothes and Hermione pulled her shirt down before buttoning her overalls.
"DRAACO" A voice echoes through the walls and Draco cursed under his breath.
The bedroom door opened just as soon as Hermione stood up quickly. Theo was standing there.
"Oh.. Hello." Theo extended the greeting and Hermione stayed quiet before Draco spoke.
"Where was the owl announcing you were coming?" Draco hissed and Theo shrugged.
"Figured you would want some company, but I see now you have already found some." Theo snickered and Hermione caught a look in the mirror and noticed the paint smears on her neck and then one around her thigh. Draco was clean, but his cheeks were red and his chest was rising up and down faster than usual.
"I should leave." Hermione chirped before walking past Theo quickly. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. Draco chased after her and caught her at the door. She had her wand ready to apparate.
"I didn't know he was going to show up. I sent a message a couple days ago seeing if he wanted to meet up." Draco tried and Hermione nodded her head sharply.
"It's fine, i just need to get home and cleaned up." Hermione hurried and Draco tried to kiss her but she apparated right in front of him
Draco turned around to see that Theo is standing there with a smirk on his face.
"So that is what you were doing at Hogwarts." He said slyly and Draco frowned.
"It's not like that. She was helping me." Draco defended and Theo shrugged. "I mean it. This is a new development. One that is still fragile and probably ruined now because of you."
"A whole year without sex?" Theo gasped and Draco glared at him.
"Two years I spent in Azkaban. Someplace that we both know is not a vacation." Draco hissed. "I thought you would be different, but I bet you still see her as a Mudblood."
"Draco.. That is not what i meant. I know you got dealt an awful hand and the world has changed. I had to change with it. I don't think those things anymore, it's just hard." Theo shifted and looked at him "You look better. I never tried to reach out because I knew you would be different from that place."
"I am different" Draco mumbled and looked at his old friend. "She helps me feel normal, even though inside I am broken."
Hermione could not believe they had almost got walked in like teenagers sneaking around their parents' house. Granted, it was still very embarrassing, but it could have been worse. Plus, if you count how many dinners they had together in the year as teachers at Hogwarts it was bound time for one of them to put out.
She took a shower when she got home and decided to wait and see if Draco sent a message to her later. Honestly, her nerves were acting up because she has been most definitely out of practice since Ron, and then even this was different. What she felt for Draco was raw and not just expected because they 'should' be together.
It was hours later that she sat on her couch with damp hair that was curling, Hermione was reading one of her books and the tv was just running in the background. She looked over to her window and noticed that there still was no messages, frowning, she decided to not let it get to her. He is probably just busy.
Two weeks past and Hermione began to get worried, but she didn't want to reach out first in case he didn't want to see her anymore. She decided to distract herself by visiting Ginny.
"He hasn't messaged you at all?" Ginny asked as she sat up straight and looked at the brunette. Hermione shrugged.
"I shouldn't have figured he was serious about what was going on with us. It's probably just because I helped him, you know."
"Now that's bullshit. He can't just string you along and then drop you like that." Ginny was getting upset and Hermione dreaded where this was going. "You know what we need to do? We need to have a girl's night." The redhead exclaimed and Hermione groaned.
"No Ginny. I always have to babysit someone and it is not fun for me." A whine came from Ginny and Hermione shot a glare.
"I promise I'll stop at two shots and then let you have fun. I pinky promise!" Ginny held out her pinky and Hermione looked at her like she was crazy, but eventually she connected pinkies before Ginny stood up and immediately start talking about what they were going to dress Hermione in.
An hour later Hermione could not recognize herself with smoky eyeshadow and dark lipsticks. She had on a short tight skirt and black Bralette under a black lace long sleeve top, however it ended right above her navel. Ginny promised her that she looked hot but all she could think about was how revealing the outfit was. Ginny was dressed in a gold sequin short dress that actually complimented her hair and her more natural makeup.
"I don't know Ginny. I feel like I should change" Hermione confided and tugged at her skirt to get it to rest a little lower.
"It will be fun. We'll dance and have a good time." Ginny then hooked her arm around her friend's and soon they were in front of a popular wizard underground bar.
Soon Ginny had already met her max for drinks, but Hermione was enjoying this weirdly fruity drink that she knew would probably be her last of the night because her mind was beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol. They were dancing when white blonde hair caught her attention. She let out a short gasp and slapped Ginny lightly.
"That's Draco." Hermione mumbled and Ginny looked over and frowned. He was at the bar next to a witch who was fawning over him.
"Wow, that's low.." Ginny hissed and she was about to stomp over there when Hermione pulled her back.
"Please don't, this is already embarrassing enough without attention being brought to it in a bar of all places. Let's just dance. Please" Hermione pleaded and Ginny nodded as she watched the brunette chug down the rest of her drink and started dancing again.
Hermione got another drink eventually and tried to down it quickly since Draco was still talking to the other woman there. She even hid her face to try and avoid a confrontation, but as she finished the last of her drink, her eyes met his directly. Was that shame? Draco shifted slightly and Hermione rolled her eyes and walked back towards Ginny.
"Let's go. I want to walk" Hermione demanded and Ginny nodded and helped to lead the way out of the bar.
Moments passed in quiet as Hermione bit her own tongue before her emotions caught up.
"I forgave him and put aside our differences and past to help him. I had no obligation to uproot my life to make sure he was okay. And then I swear he started the flirting, not me. I would have happily kept it the way it was." Ranting made her feel a little better but it wasn't enough. "Am I beautiful? I've been complimented that in the past, but then I see other girls and I just get reminded how awkward I am and how frizzy my hair can be. I try so hard yet he notices someone else."
"You can't think like that. There are many reasons why he could have been there" Ginny assured. "Don't place that on yourself."
A shout echoed behind them and Hermione looked back to see Draco is trying to chase after them. Ginny turned and folded her arms across her chest to appear more scary then she looked at the moment all dressed up.
Hermione bit her lip nervously and wondered what he had to say to her.
"Whatever you want to say, you better say quickly" Hermione snapped. Her patience wearing thin.
"Can we talk privately?" Draco mumbled and looked at Ginny and Hermione let out a chuckle.
"No! You can say it in front her." Hermione retorted and crossed her arms too.
"I just needed to see if anyone else made me feel like you do." Draco quickly said, knowing he was not going to get another chance.
Hermione and Ginny was shocked and Ginny decided that she didn't need to stick around to hear the rest. She said a quick goodbye before apparating out of there.
"And how do I make you feel?"
"You make me feel crazy.. But normal. Like usual, I'm seen as Malfoy, or the guy who went to Azkaban, but you see me as Draco."
"Well, you are normal, but you are also all of those things. I like to see people how they are trying to be." Hermione mumbled and rubbed her heel against the ground. Her feet were beginning to hurt from the stupid heels Ginny made her wear.
"Who am I trying to be?" Draco questioned and Hermione looked at him.
"You are trying to be this unbroken person when I know that you are broken. I knew it for a long time. I was the one who had to help you off a bathroom floor remember. But then it's unfair because you push me away and I feel like it's me who is the problem."
Draco grabbed her hands and he was surprised she didn't pull away. "You will never be the problem. You are something that was so unattainable in school that I worry that I don't even deserve you now."
"So what are we going to do?" Hermione wondered and Draco looked at her.
"Can we just spend one night together? Just sleep, of course."
