A/N: I know! It's been too long!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot

It had been quite a while since Hermione had felt such addicting swoops in her stomach brought on by the touch of another person. It had been almost two years since she'd last been in a relationship, and recovering from that, she had convinced herself that there wasn't too much to miss about being close — physically close that is — with another, despite the inevitable yearning she had for it; she was human after all. Her job had been a large determinant in keeping her mind off the occasional memories and fantasies her mind took her on, but being here now, being seated on Draco's thighs, was enough to mentally chastise herself for ever thinking that she could go long periods of time without this. This being a hungry mouth against hers, a delving tongue to tangle with her own, and large hands roaming all over her body, from her shoulder blades, to the backs of her thighs, to rest on her waist underneath her shirt.

She shivered and let out a soft, involuntary moan when Draco's fingers brushed lightly along the side of her ribs, which was always a sensitive spot for her. While she very much enjoyed kissing Draco, and thought frequently of the week before when he'd lain her on the bed and practically worshipped her breasts, she hadn't expected to wind up on his lap in such a frenzied kiss when he'd came to her house earlier in the afternoon. She wouldn't complain though, not at all. It was the weekend after all, and she had been doing nothing at all except tidying her house when he'd arrived unannounced half an hour earlier. They'd chatted on the couch for some time and while he spoke to her, her attention had drifted from the words coming out of his mouth, to solely his mouth. And then his hands. And then the way his finger had scratched the corner of his mouth. It had been that movement that broke her as she moved forward and pressed her lips to his and ran her fingers through his hair.

She could have put money on the fact that he immediately responded to the kiss and put his hands on her hips, twisting as he tried to face her on the couch to kiss her properly. When her torso ached, she decided it was best to remedy their awkward seating position by sitting herself down onto his lap. The surprised, but deep moan that he made shot straight through her. That's where she was at present; seated on his lap, now with his hands cradling her bum over the rather unflattering tracksuit pants she'd been wearing (it was Saturday in her defence, who wore proper clothes on the weekend?), and with her hands threading through his hair, tugging him closer to her. His hot breath mingled with hers when they pulled their lips apart, just as breathless as each other. She moved her hands from his hair down to his cheeks, and rubbed her thumbs across the dash of red colour on his cheekbones.

Try as she may, she couldn't stop herself from taking his bottom lip between her teeth and biting gently, and when he groaned in satisfaction, his hips rose slightly from the couch just as she rocked herself down. A soft noise sounded from the back of her throat from feeling the hardness she'd pushed against. All because of her. Her hands dropped from his hair to his shoulders and their lips parted as she took in a shaky breath, overwhelmed by the feelings and heat between them. 'Too long…' she thought to herself as she pushed her hips back down against his and felt the delicious curl in her insides and warmth between her legs. His fingers, long and firm, gripped her hips tighter as he lifted his backside from the couch and pushed himself against her and clumsily pressed his lips to her cheek after missing her lips. She could tell it had been too long for him too and turned her head to kiss him back.

"Hermione…" He said breathlessly and the sound of his deep voice, husky from desire and their kiss, made her lower stomach curl in excitement. She kissed the corner of his mouth to still allow him to speak, but as she flicked her tongue out against his lip, his hands dropped to curl into the backs of her thighs and he let his head fall against the back of the couch. "If you keep going…" He trailed off and she knew what he meant. If they kept going like this it wouldn't be longer before shirts came off, followed by pants, followed by underwear. As much as she would love to continue, to feel him, she knew that if their first time together was on a couch, it wouldn't be as special as she wanted and thought it should be. Maybe she was being unrealistic… She pulled her lips back from the corner of his mouth and let out a soft sheepish laugh as he looked back at her in a state of complete disarray. Dark, dilated pupils stared back at her, a flush adorned his cheekbones and his hair was more messy than he would ever allow himself to be seen in public with. He smiled back at her though, and she felt his hands drop from her thighs and the welcoming heat of his large palms was instantly lost. It didn't take her long to decide that she definitely wanted those hands on her again. Properly. With no barriers of clothing between them.

"I don't know what came over me just then," she admitted with a soft laugh and her smile grew when his did too.

"I have no clue either, Granger, but feel free to do that more often," Draco chuckled and ran a hand through his hair then down the side of his face. He looked down between them and she noticed that she was still sitting on his lap, quite firmly against a certain part of him.

Hermione realised and quickly got off, "Sorry! I'm sure that's not the best place for me to be right now," she laughed and he agreed with a smile and shifted on the couch.

"Where's the bathroom?" He asked and got up and she had to focus very hard on keeping her eyes firmly on his own.

"Down the hall at the end. Or you can use the one in my bedroom. No funny business," she warned.

"Just splashing some cold water on myself," he assured her with a smirk and strode off out of the living room. When he left, Hermione leant back against the couch and let out a long breath, willing her heart to calm down from its erratic pace, and closed her eyes and breathed steadily. She did so for a minute or so before the noise of her fireplace startled her to open her eyes and sit forward.

"Ginny!" She said in surprise when she saw her friend step out from the fireplace and dust off her jeans.

"Hi stranger," Ginny smiled and walked over to her and Hermione stood up and tried to brush down her hair, hoping it wasn't sticking out more wildly than usual after Draco's fingers' exploration a few minutes earlier. "What have you been doing?" She asked.

"Oh, you know, not a lot…Not a lot at all. Just some housework and the likes," Hermione said, trying to sound flippant and not like she'd practically been grinding quite carelessly against Draco Malfoy on her couch not five minutes ago. Although Ginny knew that they'd been on a date together, Hermione hadn't told her of any of the progress they'd made, or that they were officially a couple.

"Uh-huh…" Ginny said with an unusual smile as she noticed her odd behaviour. "I just came around to ask you—"

"Granger?" A shout came from the hallway. "There's no bloody towels in your bathroom, I'm wet."

"Just a moment!" Hermione called back with wide eyes and ignored Ginny's widened eyes.

"Malfoy's showering here now?" Ginny asked quietly and laughed at Hermione's horrified expression.

"No!" She was quick to deny. "He was cooling himself off, we—" She cut herself off, not wanting to dig herself a hole. "Be quiet," she warned Ginny and quickly walked out of the living room and straight to the linen cupboard. When she closed the cupboard, she almost went into cardiac arrest seeing Draco right in front of her with a soaking wet hands, face and shirt-neck. "Here," Hermione said and thrust the towel at him and as he covered his face she leaned in close. "You need to go, Ginny's here and she's not going to leave unless I give her—"

By this time, Draco had lowered the towel and smirked when he looked over Hermione's shoulder. "I hardly recognised you by yourself without Potter by your side," he drawled.

"And I hardly recognised you without a sour expression on your face, so there we go," Ginny retorted and laughed at the look of mortification on Hermione's face. "This makes my job a lot easier — I came over to ask if you'd like to come for dinner tonight and invite Malfoy along too, but I can hit two birds with one stone here and ask you both."

There was a silence between the three before Draco broke it. "I don't know whether to be more shocked over the fact you've invited me for dinner, or the fact that Granger's jaw may hit the floor in a few seconds," he joked and received a hit in the side from Hermione.

"We'd love to," Hermione said, straightening up and fully facing Ginny.

"I wouldn't."

"Shut up, Draco."

—

Draco had left Hermione's shortly after Ginny's invitation for dinner. The redhead hadn't stayed long after giving the invite, and he could tell from the look on Hermione's face that she was glad at that. He wasn't fussed about the whole issue as he knew there was no reason for Potter — both Potters, really — to be angry at the fact that he and Hermione were now dating. He was a different man and Harry and his wife knew that, just as Hermione did, and he knew that his past was not an issue between them. He knew that there was going to be an awkwardness between them all though, there was no denying that. He had no doubt in his mind that Potter was skeptical, as was his wife, but he also knew that they both trusted Granger's' judgement.

Although he knew the dinner would be casual and laid back, he didn't dress any differently to any other dinner he would attend, and ironed a white shirt and some trousers to wear, and sought out a tie and some cufflinks too. Just after six, Draco exited Hermione's fireplace into her living room, expecting to see her waiting, but all that was there to greet him was her cat sitting on the coffee table. "Taurus," he murmured to the animal as he walked past and scratched its ear. He waited a few minutes, then announced his presence by calling out her name. He barely heard her response and curiosity got the better of him and he walked out of the living room and down the hall to her bedroom where the light was on.

He pushed open the door the rest of the way and saw Hermione sitting on the edge of her bed, dressed for the evening, but with her elbows resting on her knees and her face in her hands. His stomach dropped as it was an all too familiar position he found his mother in during her more difficult times. He had no difficulty in walking to Hermione's side and sitting next to her, placing his hand between her shoulder blades, as he had done more times than he could count with his mother. "Granger, what's wrong?" He asked in concern

"I'm sorry," Hermione responded, her voice shaking slightly as she raised her head from her hands. He noticed that her hands were trembling in a much more noticeable way than they had been when he'd first noticed it in her office days ago, and he reached down and took them both within his own hands. He knew that even if they weren't in a relationship, and if he had found her in this state, say, months previous, he wouldn't have had any hardship in doing what he was doing now. From his experiences with Narcissa, he had no problem with trying to remedy this type of situation.

"You don't need to explain," he said to her softly and rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand, trying to contain her trembling. "Deep breaths…"

Hermione nodded and followed his instruction and he watched as her eyelids fluttered close and she breathed in deeply through her nose and out through her mouth. "I really am sorry," she apologised moments later and looked at him. "I-I don't know why I've gotten like this, it doesn't normally happen over things like this… I was just thinking about tonight and then it started making me think of other things and I-I didn't want to, I didn't—" She fumbled over her words and he squeezed her hand gently.

"You don't need to say," he told her, and understood that she'd just had a spike in anxiety over the impending dinner they'd be having which almost acted as a chain reaction for panic. He didn't blame her as he understood why she would feel nervous. Anyone with the power of sight could see how much the Potters meant to Granger, and Draco was mature enough to know that they mattered a great deal to her, and that it might not be as easy as she'd wanted it to be to admit that they were in fact dating. "Come on, stand up," he said gently, and stood up from the bed and she followed suit. He tugged on her hand softly and walked her out of her bedroom and down the hall.

"What are we doing?" She asked in confusion.

"Walking."

Hermione furrowed her brows. "Why?"

"Because it'll help you calm down," he told her and turned to walk back down the hallway again. He thought back to the more difficult days his mother experienced, and how there had been many nights that he'd walked her through the Manor, back and forth, to let her gather her bearings enough to deal with her pain. He'd also taken her outside to walk through the garden, even if it was the middle of the night, or if it was close to freezing. He knew fresh air did wonders for clearing the mind, no matter the time and that getting one's heart rate up in a way that wasn't from panic or anxiety, helped the body cope and calm down. Five laps of Hermione's hallway later, she came to a stop besides him and let out a long sigh. "Better?" He asked her.

She nodded and her cheeks were red. "I try not to let people see me when I get like that…" She admitted. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"It's alright," Draco assured her and put his hands in his pockets. "You're fine now," he said it almost as a question and looked at her. She appeared much calmer and nodded in response to his unspoken question and he looked down at the floor between them and noticed she lacked shoes. "I'll go wait in the living room," he said to give her some time to freshen up and finish getting ready. She seemed to appreciate that and nodded before turning to go back to her room while he split off to the living room. Draco sat down on the couch and pushed the cat away when it tried to climb on his lap; the last thing he needed was cat fur all over his clothes. He scratched behind its ear at a reasonable distance and waited patiently for Hermione to return. He was almost positive that the time she spent in her room to finish getting ready was also for persuading herself not to show her embarrassment over what had happened. It was just a rather unfortunate thing that Draco had to deal with both personally, and with his mother, over the years for many reasons. The war took pieces from them all and it was no surprise that even Hermione, no matter how confidently she stood or how calm she appeared, was just as fragile as anyone else after what she experienced.

Five minutes later, she appeared in the living room archway and he stood up and fully took in what she was wearing. It wasn't anything special or over the top, as the dinner they were going to truly was just a spur of the moment, informal event, but she still looked lovely in her jeans and jumper that sat over a royal blue polo shirt, its collar poking out from the neck of the jumper. "Looking good," he said with a small smile and was glad to see that she reciprocated it. He knew that those attacks were exhausting — physically and mentally — and she was keeping up a good front.

"You look like you're ready to go into a meeting," Hermione humoured and walked forward, lifting Taurus off the coffee table and setting him on the floor. "Actually, it is like that, isn't it?" She laughed softly.

"I'm not worried," he shrugged. "Actually, what time do Potter's kids go to bed?"

"Not at this time!" She smiled wider.

"Okay, I retract my earlier statement. I am worried," he joked and her genuine laugh was like music to his ears.

A/N: Next chapter is coming quicker, I promise! I'm halfway through writing it; it was meant to carry on in this chapter, but I owe you guys an update, and both work singularly (I hope). Please review, means the world to me, hope you enjoyed!