Chapter 16 - Propositions.

"Draco?" Hermione asked softly as she traced invisible circles and swirls up, down and across his chest, her head sitting nicely on his shoulder as he twiddled ends of her curly hair between his fingers and stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.

"Hmm?"

"What are we doing? We never do this after we have sex, why now?"

He sighed arrogantly and looked down at her, "Because..." he started completely confident but then lost it straight away, also unsure of WHY they were doing this, "maybe because it's... nice?" uncertain with his answer.

"Nice?"

"Nice."

"Maybe..." Hermione got lost in thought again, "But what are we? We can't be together because of -"

"Everyone. Everything." He said depressingly.

"Yeah, that." She sighed and nuzzled her nose into the nook of his neck.

Draco broke the moment of silence, "How about... I have a proposition."

This caused Hermione to sit up, a raised eyebrow at him, "What is it?" She asked cautiously, sure she loved him but he's Draco Malfoy for god's sake! THE SLYTHERIN PRICE! You never know what he has in mind and you DEFINALTLY never know if it's good or not.

He slightly smirked at her caution, "How about, we continue this. Sex but more than that, maybe not dates and holding hands in the corridors and saying that we're boyfriend and girlfriend but being civil or nice to each other when we are around others. Also sleep in the same bed after we have sex, cuddle as I recall you put it."

"But what happens after, after we graduate?"

"... Well... it ends, we stop and go our separate ways I guess..." He didn't sound happy with this part but they both knew it was probably for the best.

"So, no telling friends, this stays a secret."

"Yes."

"Sex is still happening."

"Yes."

"But we get to do this, cuddle or what ever."

"Yes."

"But at the end we go our separate ways, never see each other unless we accidently bump into each other."

"...Yes."

Hermione sat and thought for a second before shrugging, "Ok."

Draco slightly smiled and so did Hermione. She lay back down, resting her head on his shoulder once again, retracing the invisible circles and swirls across his chest.

"Draco?"

"Hmm?"

"What's this scar on your arm?" She asked as she ran her fingers across the long, thin white scar on his forearm.

He slightly chuckled, "Do you remember in 3rd year when Hagrid was the teacher for Mystical Creatures."

"Yeah."

"Do you remember that blastered bird that picked Potter?"
"If you mean the hippogriff, than yes."

"Do you remember when it attacked me?"

"If you mean you irritated it so it decided to shut you up, than yes?"

"Hey!"

"What?! Its true, if you hadn't annoyed it would have never attacked you!"

"Yeah well, if I didn't want to show off to you so badly I wouldn't have annoyed it."

"So you put your life in danger trying to impress a girl?"

"Not just any girl... you."

"Ahh, your sweet, stupid, but sweet." She said giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, well, that's what I'm left with after that stupid bird attacked me."

Hermione slightly laughed, "Don't laugh at me, it was a very traumatic experience!" He said over dramatically.

"Yeah, yeah, now shut up and lets sleep, I'm pretty sure our Potions teacher is going to spring a pop-quiz in us tomorrow so I need to get some sleep."

"How do you know he's going to give us a pop-quiz?"

"I saw him writing it up the other day."

"You're brilliant, you know that?"

"Yes." She answered with a grin, "Now shut up and go to sleep!"

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