AN : Sorry, sorry, sorry!  I know I said I'd update Friday, but some stuff came up!  So here we are today, only a few days late.  Sorry.  The poll is on my account page, which you can get to by clicking my name at the top of this page.  Go vote!  Right now!  Okay, after you read this chapter.

 The next two days were difficult, to say the least.

Draco was good at respecting Hermione's wishes. He'd done it before, when he thought she never wanted to see him again. He had managed to stay away for weeks then.

But that was when he thought she didn't love him.

He knew better now. He knew that she loved him, that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. It wasn't her choice to be away from him now.

He had pushed her. This whole thing was his fault. He'd been careless and thoughtless and he'd hurt her.

What he couldn't figure out was how in the world he had managed to forget such an important thing. Hadn't they just talked about it the night before? Hadn't he been thinking of it that morning before breakfast?

It didn't matter now; nothing did. He thought of a million ways to apologize to her, a million words he could say to try and explain. But all of them were useless and flat. He wanted to send flowers; he wanted to rush her apartment building and break down the door.

He waited.

Two days passed, but felt like two weeks to Draco. On the third day, he received an owl.

Draco,

Meet me at the park.

HG

So he showered and dressed and made it to the park in record time. He found her on the bench they usually sat on when they came here together.

He cleared his throat as he approached. She looked up at him and smiled a small smile, then patted the bench next to her. Draco sat.

"So," he began, but Hermione cut across him.

"I understand about the other day," she said quietly. "Well, maybe I don't, but I think I can forgive you for it; after all, everybody makes mistakes, right?" She chuckled wryly. "The thing is, I want us to be okay."

"Me too. And I'm really…sorry…about the other day." It was never easy to say he was sorry, not even when he knew he was wrong. He just hadn't been brought up that way. Hermione's mouth twisted into a grimace, but she seemed to take his apology with a grain of salt and she smiled another small smile. Draco returned it.

"So, we're good now?"

"Are we?"

"Yes, I think so," she said with a smile, a genuine one this time. "Besides, you know you missed me." Draco coughed.

"Oh, yeah?" He paused, pretending to think about it. "You have no idea," he finally said, standing up quickly and scooping her into his arms. Before she could protest, he had turned on the spot and Apparated them straight into the living room of his flat.

Hermione opened her mouth, probably to tell him to put her down, by the look on her face, but he leaned his head down before she could say anything and covered her mouth with his.

She made a little noise of protest, then melted into his arms. So she had missed him, too, he thought smugly. He pulled her a little tighter, kissing her thoroughly. How could he have let her stay away from him this long? Nothing was worth missing the feel of her lips, warm and yielding under his own, or the feel of her arms as they laced themselves around his neck, drawing them closer together.

He growled in the back of his throat and broke the kiss, causing Hermione to protest.

"Draco," she complained, trying to pull him back in for another kiss. But he wasn't to be distracted. This would be so much better on his bed.

He turned to the stairs, crossing to them in three strides, Hermione protesting all the way. Then he took the steps two at a time until he reached the top landing. About this time, Hermione clued in to where they were headed.

"Draco," she said in a completely different tone of voice. "Draco, you know how I feel…what are you doing?"

He kicked the door open to his room and was at his bed in another second. Now he looked her fully in the eyes as he laid her gently back on his pillows.

"I promise you that I won't do anything you don't want," he said solemnly, never looking away from her eyes. "I just thought we might be more comfortable…in here," he added, gesturing around and then patting the soft mattress.

Hermione flushed, then glanced around nervously. "I guess so," she said, and Draco noticed how her voice trembled a little. He smiled his best lopsided smile to reassure her.

Then he leaned down and closed the gap between them again. She resisted a bit at first, then sighed into his mouth and he could feel her relaxing a bit. He settled himself more comfortably beside her on the bed and drew her into his arms, focusing on keeping the kiss as gentle and non-threatening as possible. He wouldn't have her being afraid of him.

After a moment Hermione seemed to relax completely and she allowed herself to bury her hands in his hair, pulling him closer until he was leaning on his elbow and hovering over her. He ran his free hand over her cheek, marveling at how soft and warm her skin was, running his fingers through the tangled mass of hair splayed out over his pillow.

Hermione moaned as he broke away and trailed kisses down her jawline and the smooth white skin of her neck. She tugged at his hair, trying to get him to kiss her again, but Draco chuckled into her collarbone and took her wrists swiftly in his hands and pinned them on either side of her head. She gasped, then glared at him when she saw his playful expression.

"Let me go," she said, obviously intending to sound threatening, but her voice was rough and low and she just ended up sounding incredibly sexy.

He didn't answer, though, not with words. He leaned down again and kissed her fiercely, crushing her mouth with his, running his tongue over her bottom lip until she opened her mouth to him, then darting it inside to meet hers. He groaned when she kissed him back with just as much heat and fervor, her tongue fighting with his for dominance until he was sure he couldn't stand it anymore.

He broke the kiss and returned his attentions to her neck with the added luxury of not being interrupted this time because he still held her wrists steady with his hands. She moaned his name when he hit a particularly sensitive spot.

Draco paused, then tried the spot again. She responded by arching her back and groaning. He brought his lips back to the spot and ran his tongue over the fevered skin. She squirmed beneath him and struggled against his hands.

"You're - making me - crazy," she gasped helplessly, still trying to break free. Draco grinned into her neck, filing away the exact location of that spot for future notice. Then he brought his lips back to hers and released her hands.

She punished him by biting his lower lip, but it only served to spur him on as she grasped at his arms, his back, anything she could reach. Draco was having a difficult time stopping himself from returning the favor; he didn't want this to end anytime soon, and if he crossed any of the unspoken lines that Hermione had in place, this all would be over before he could blink twice.

Suddenly, she was tugging at his robes, whether consciously or not, Draco couldn't tell. He steadied her hand and broke away from her soft, inviting mouth with great difficulty, gasping for air.

"Now, love, none of that," he teased, tracing her jawbone with his index finger, their foreheads touching. What happened next surprised him immensely.

She rolled him over in one smooth motion, pinning him to the mattress; and the next thing he knew, she was on top of him, straddling him and looking just as surprised as he imagined he must have looked.

The next minute her expression turned smug as she took in the look on his face. She leaned down and paused when her face was less than an inch from his own. Her hair hung like a curtain on one side, partially blocking the light from his bedside lamp. He knew his eyes must have been the size of saucers now, and she chuckled, apparently noticing.

Then she was kissing him, and all coherent thought slipped completely out of his mind. If he didn't calm down, and she didn't stop…kissing him…that way…with the way she was sitting, there was no way she wouldn't notice…

And then, suddenly, she did. He knew the exact moment it happened, because she froze and her eyes shot open. He chuckled against her lips.

"Occupational hazard, my sweet; I tried to stop you," he murmured as Hermione blushed a deep crimson. She tried to roll over to lie beside him, but he took her hips and held her fast.

"Draco," she began, looking slightly frightened, but he cut across her.

"I'm not going to bite you, Hermione," he growled as she grabbed at his hands to get him to release her.

"But - I - you - we need to stop, right?" her eyes were wide and innocent, searching his face. He heaved a great sigh. She was probably right; in any case, she wasn't going to relax again.

"If you want to," he said at last, hoping that his face didn't look as frustrated as he felt. She slid sideways off him and curled against him on the bed.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, burying her face in his shoulder. He looked down at her, surprised. She was apologizing to him? It was his bloody hormones that he couldn't keep in check, not hers.

Hermione sneaked a peek up over the side of his robes, eyes wide with concern - concern for him, that she'd hurt his feelings.

"Hermione," he muttered, pulling her fully into his embrace and tilting her chin up carefully. Her eyes fluttered open, now brimming with tears, and his breath caught in his chest. She started talking before he had a chance to breathe again.

"I know that I have this stupid…rule…and it's not your fault…and I'm really sorry that you have to put up with me…you shouldn't have to go through this…especially when you don't have a choice…" she rambled on, making less sense with every statement.

Draco could see that she meant every word, that she probably had been thinking about this for a long time, thinking that he was upset or angry that she didn't want to compromise her personal feelings about this.

"Hermione, Hermione, wait," he interrupted, leaning up on his elbow again and looking her full in the face. "Listen to me. Look at me," he pleaded, when she wouldn't meet his eyes.

When she was looking at him again, he continued. "There's nothing wrong with having morals. I respect that. I respect you. And one day, when you're my wife, we'll lock ourselves in a room for a week and I'll make love to you until you don't remember your name," he added with a growl.

Hermione shivered in his arms and her eyes slid out of focus for a moment, then she smiled up at him.

"Promise?" she said softly.

"Promise."

Draco leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, then he pulled her into his arms and didn't let her go for the rest of the night.

A/N 2 : Okay, NOW go vote!