A/N: I'm going to throw a cheeky warning at the start of this chapter. Remember: it's M for a reason ;)

Three glasses of wine and an empty cheese platter later, Draco stood in Hermione's kitchen, leaning back against one of the counters with his hands in his pockets and watched as she dried off the plate she'd put the cheese and crackers on after insisting on washing it as soon as they'd finished. Her kitchen was just as normal as any other person's but with little touches that Draco picked up on that made it hers. The tea towels hanging from the oven door handle had small illustrated books on them, there was a watering can by the window with a few flowers coming from the top which he'd found curious at first — "I think you're confused as to what a watering can's purpose is, Granger." — and there were an assortment of pictures, magnets and notes stuck on the fridge. "You could have a gallery with the amount of pictures you have all over the place," he commented and walked to the fridge to look at the different pictures.

She picked up one of her book covered tea towels to wash her hands and laughed at his comment. "I could, actually."

Draco looked at one picture of her with who he knew to be her parents (what other middle aged man and woman would she pose for a photo with?) and he looked back at her, "How are your parents?" He asked.

"They're going well," Hermione nodded with a smile. "I don't get to see them as often as I would like but whenever I do, everything's always good news," she said.

"Where was this picture taken?" He asked since it was on the end of what seemed to be a pier looking out at the ocean.

"On the Brighton Pier," Hermione answered. "That was taken…" She thought for a second, "Five years ago, I believe. Mid-July for my mum's birthday."

"That's nice," he said and realised that he had no pictures of him and his mother from the last ten years. "Is Brighton a place you visit often?"

"No, that was my first and only time being there," Hermione said. "It was really a lovely place, I want to go back sometime in the future."

"I've never been," he commented and then looked at another picture. "Bringing in the new century?" He asked with a chuckle as in the picture, Hermione was wearing novelty 'year 2000' glasses, grinning and with her arm around Ron and Harry, both of them with their own novelty glasses on.

"Yeah… I don't remember much of that night, I'll admit," she laughed. "Although it was eight years ago."

"Stick with that excuse, Granger," Draco snorted.

She laughed and rolled her eyes. "What did you do that night, if you remember," she teased.

"Ah, that night myself and Blaise drank ourselves into a stupor, wholly believing the world would end and that we should make the most of it."

"You weren't one of those people, were you?"

"I sure was, Granger," Draco chuckled. "Ever the pessimist you see."

"I do see. Weren't you disappointed when you woke up the next morning," she joked.

"Of course I was. Though it may have been attributed by the extreme hangover," he laughed and she did too. He really liked making her laugh and he liked even more watching her laugh; he only wished he was humorous enough to stir that sort of reaction in her often. "So, are you going to show me any more of your photo gallery?" He asked.

"You want to see them?" She asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Granger, they seem to be a big part of your life. Of course I want to see them," he said and didn't add the fact that he was quite a nosy person as well as the fact he wanted to know more about her from the years he almost forgot of her existence.

"Follow me then," she said and he did as he was told and followed her out of the kitchen and down the hall. "My parents got these taken when I was four and they insisted on making me have a copy to hang up in here," she smiled at the larger picture frame she stopped in front of. The photo was visibly dated but professionally taken and featured Hermione's parents sitting down smiling at the camera, while a very small Hermione stood between them with a grin of crooked buck-toothedness wearing a white sundress with her wild hair held back with a bright yellow headband.

"You haven't changed a bit," he teased her which made her scoff and he looked at her parents in the picture too. Comparing them in his mind with the picture of them in the kitchen, he saw they'd aged easily and still had the same smiles in each photograph. "It's nice," he said of the picture and followed her again down to the next door and he realised it was the bedroom. He reserved a teasing comment and followed her into the room. He didn't know what he had expected her bedroom to look like, but it wasn't what he would have pictured it if he'd ever thought of it. Her bed stood beneath a window with garish purple curtains and two mismatched side tables were at either side, both with various picture frames on. There was a door to the left which he assumed was the ensuite and next to that was another sliding door that was partially open for him to see it was a small wardrobe. Her bedroom was very lived-in and it was the small things that made him know it was hers — the stack of books on the floor that were sitting next to the already filled bookcase against the wall, a large painting of a sunflower on one wall, and a small vanity table with a number of different products on top of it in front of its mirror.

"There's some more photos here," Hermione said and walked to her bed and perched on the side and gestured her hand to the picture frames on the side table closest to her.

He walked over and picked one up. "I'm guessing these photographs mean the most to you," he mused as he looked at the photo of her holding a small newborn in her arms in a sterile white room of St. Mungo's.

"Yes, they do," she nodded. "That's James a couple of hours after he was born," she smiled.

"It's a nice picture," he complimented and looked once more at the smile on her face in the picture then placed it back in its spot. He looked at the other one on that side table and saw it was one from their younger years of Hogwarts and had her with her arms around Harry and Ron. He didn't feel the need to pick that up, and wandered around the other side of her bed. He did feel slightly hesitant but it wasn't as if he was rummaging through her things without her permission. The first picture he picked up from the new side table he was at, rendered him speechless. His lips parted slightly and he vaguely heard her laugh softly. "Granger…" He said and looked at her real-life form and saw her turn to face him on the other side of the bed. She had an embarrassed blush on her cheeks and she crawled across the bed that did nothing to dampen the desire that had spiked for her after seeing the picture. He looked back down at it again to look at every feature on her. She must have been at a formal event and had an arm around her dad's waist but he completely ignored him from the picture. She was wearing a long black dress, fitted at the waist and that hugged every curve of her body. His eyes paid particular attention to her breasts in the picture too and he placed the frame down and looked at her kneeling on the bed.

"I take it you like that picture then?" She said with a nervous smile.

"I more than bloody like that picture," Draco said and stepped forward so his legs hit the bed and he gathered her face in his hands and pulled her lips to his to kiss her. She knelt up and wrapped her arms around his waist and their fronts pressed together as he kissed her. The soft noises she made was enough to drive him mad and their lips parted when she sat back on her thighs and looked up at him, leaving her hands on his waist. He felt like his eyes would burn a hole in hers from the intensity he was looking at her and watched her pupils dilate before she reached her hand up to grab the front of his shirt and pull him forwards. His lips met hers again as he pressed his hands against the bed beside her and kissed her hungrily. She'd curled her fingers in the fabric of his shirt and stroked her tongue against his bottom lip and he eagerly reciprocated the advance.

He felt her fingers pull at his shirt and he didn't realise she'd been unbuttoning it until he felt her cool palm against his chest and his eyes opened in surprise. She'd sensed the pause in the kiss and opened her eyes too to look up at him and he could have moaned at the look she gave him. "It's alright, Draco," she murmured to him and leaned up to kiss the corner of his mouth. He didn't need much persuasion and he got his arms out of the sleeves of his shirt and let it fall to the ground. He lifted one knee up onto the bed then and his own hands went to the bottom of her blouse and lifted it up. He didn't kiss her straight away once he let her top fall from his hands and he looked her straight in the eye. He'd never have anticipated this happening even though he may have hoped something along the lines of this would have happened sooner rather than later for them. He felt her hand up on his cheek and for once, he didn't feel the need to avert his eyesight somewhere else in the room. "Just…" She said quietly and he watched her cheeks flush. "Not all the way, okay?" She asked shyly.

"Anything you want," Draco nodded and kissed her once more. It was softer than before and he felt her try to harden the kiss, but his tongue and his lips coaxed her into a slower rhythm while his hands slid up from her waist, to her ribs, to the clasp of her bra on her back. He parted their lips and looked down at her as he unclipped her bra and slowly pulled the garment off her so it could join their tops on the floor. His jaw slackened at the sight of her bare torso to him and he put his hands on her arms to help move her towards the middle of the bed so she could lay more comfortably. As he knelt above her, his hands wandered down again and he straddled her thighs; his hands started at her waist and moved towards her belly button, over her soft flesh to rest just underneath her breasts. He couldn't avert his eyes and he ran his hand over her stomach again, noticing how it was softer than Astoria's had been all those years ago, but he didn't mind at all, in fact, he liked that Hermione had a slight curve to her front.

"Draco…" She mumbled and he looked up at her to see her expression of embarrassment as she put her hands on his. "I d—"

"You're beautiful," he told her honestly and as he looked her in the eyes, he could see her believe him. He ducked his head down and shuffled back a bit on her thighs so he could press his lips to her stomach and kiss where she'd been embarrassed for him to look at. Her soft moan was music to his ears and all the encouragement he needed as he trailed his lips up to her breasts which he cupped in his hands and had a hard time forming coherent thought over. It had been years since he'd touched a woman so intimately and he was glad that he could with Hermione — looking at her face was all the confirmation he needed on that front. Her lips were parted and her eyes fluttered shut as he cupped the weight of her breasts in his hands and let his thumbs brush across her nipples which had hardened from his touch. He lowered his head once more and acted on his desire to kiss her there, and ghosted his lips around one nipple before taking the peak into his mouth and letting his tongue do more work. That work seemed to be good as her hands immediately came up to his head to thread her fingers in his hair. He opened his eyes and just managed to look up and see her head tilt back against the mattress as she gave a breathy moan and he switched his mouth's attention to her other breast.

The pull on his hair was the confirmation he desired from her and with every shaky breath she intake and every quiet moan she let out, he knew he was doing the right thing. His hand resumed its fondling on her now neglected breast and he used his thumb to spread the moisture his mouth had left on her nipple. A sharp tug on his hair made him take his lips off of her and look at her face for a split second before she pulled him up to kiss him properly. She kissed him eagerly and it turned desperate between them both until she slowed down and he let himself settle against her. Her breasts pressed to his chest and his hips were against hers too and it took all his willpower not to rock against her. "That's amazing," she murmured when he put his hand between them to squeeze her breast again and stimulate her nipple. "You're amazing."

"Look who's talking…" Draco murmured and kissed her lips again, coaxing his tongue against hers. He didn't know how long they lay like that — pressed against each other, lips barely parting, his hands alternating on her breasts with her moans and their breathing being the only noise in the room. He was in complete bliss and when she placed her hands on his cheeks and gently pushed him back from their kiss, he knew it was coming to an end. That didn't keep the grins off of their faces however, and when he rolled onto his side next to her on the bed he let out a satisfied sigh. He was still incredibly turned on but he turned his head to look at her and his need didn't even matter anymore as she seemed to be the most important thing to him at that moment.

He rest his arm out on the bed and she moved closer to his side. He had never been one to cuddle but he didn't mind just then and even pulled her closer. His arm wrapped around her and his hand rest on her bare breast and he lazily ran his finger around her still hardened nipple. "Draco, that…" She breathed and looked up at him. "Thank you," she told him genuinely.

"Any time, Hermione," he told her and his lips curved into a smile and then he gently pressed a kiss to her lips. "Any time."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Reviews are always welcome :)