Note: I'm very grateful for the lovely feedback I've had so far! I was considering just making this a one shot but ideas keep coming so I decided to just keep writing and see how it goes… If it's rubbish I'll just delete this and go back to a one shot haha.

xxx

As soon as Hermione closed the door behind her, Draco locked it again. He turned around, leaning with his back against the door, and slowly slid down it until he was sitting on the floor. He held his wand tightly in his hands, trying to dull the fact that he had started to shake. He'd managed to put on an act until Granger had left, but now he was truly panicking.

How had that even happened? One minute she was trying to hex him, and the next she was on top of him - and he hadn't pushed her off and cursed her, like he should have done. It was like someone else had taken over his body when the mudblood had kissed him. Someone who didn't hate muggleborns. Someone who didn't come from a family of blood purists. Someone who wasn't a fucking Death Eater! What would his friends say if they knew what had just happened? He would be the laughing stock of Slytherin. Hell, they'd probably throw him out and force him into Hufflepuff! What would his father do if he found out? He would disown him for sure. He'd lose his home, his inheritance and his status. He might have been in Azkaban, but he was still head of the household. And the Dark Lord… If the Dark Lord even suspected that Draco had been fraternising with mudbloods, he would kill him on the spot. The Dark Lord - basically the most powerful legilimens ever.

"FUCK!" he screamed, picking up a nearby chair and hurling it across the room. He didn't know what he was going to do now. It was hard enough having the pressures of being a newly appointed Death Eater, being stuck with the task of killing Albus Dumbledore, trying to fix the vanishing cabinet, and now he had this to hide, too. His life becoming like an onion - layer after layer of lies.

He figured that this was the only explanation for what had just happened. The pressure building up on him had simply become too much, and he'd finally snapped, taking back control the only way he could - by sleeping with a mudblood. What a foolish decision that had been. He was surely going to pay dearly for his fifteen minutes of fun.

But it was fun…

He shook his head, trying to forget what had just happened. Perhaps he could master memory charms and obliviate himself before the next Death Eater meeting. He half hoped that it'd go wrong and he could spend the rest of his life playing exploding snap with Professor Lockhart in St. Mungo's, completely oblivious to all of the shit that he'd been put through since the Dark Lord had returned.

He unlocked the door and left the classroom, praying that the mudblood was nowhere in sight.

xxx

Straight after closing the classroom door, Hermione took off in the opposite direction of the Slytherin common room, and hid herself around a corner so she could sit down and think.

What the hell had she just done? She had thrown herself at someone, lost her virginity on a whim, and not to just anybody - to Draco Malfoy! Cruel, bullying, hateful, blood-purist, son-of-a-Death-Eater Draco Malfoy! What on Earth would Harry and Ron do if they found out?

Ron.

Hermione let out an almost hysterical laugh as she realised that Malfoy had managed to distract her from Ron and how infuriated she was with him. She hadn't thought about him for even a second since she had pounced on Malfoy and demanded that he - what was the phrase? - 'take me right now, Draco Malfoy!'

"Oh fuck!" she groaned, heat creeping into her face. How could she expect to sit in the same classroom as him ever again after he had seen her completely and utterly lose her mind like that? She didn't know what had came over her - that wasn't the type of girl she was, she was a virgin for Merlin's sake. Past tense. Was a virgin. The utter humiliation of having to face Draco Malfoy again after tonight was enough to make her want to run back to her dormitory, pack all her things, and get the Hogwarts Express straight back home and never return to the wizarding world again.

She made the decision to get up and head back to the common room, before she decided to simply hide around this corner for the rest of her life. She dragged herself up, noticing for the first time that she was sore. Everywhere.

Great, she thought. A physical reminder is just what I need.

She headed back towards the common room, stopping only to peer into the reflective glass of a cabinet to make sure that she didn't look too dishevelled. Perhaps I could take a leaf out of Parvati's book and start carrying a compact mirror, she thought to herself. That is, if I plan on getting into the habit of having random sexual encounters in empty classrooms. She laughed out loud at the very thought. Preposterous!

It was at that moment that Harry appeared.

"Hermione!" he sighed, looking visibly relieved, "I've been looking for you everywhere, you weren't even in the library. Are you okay?"

Hermione figured that her best bet was to pretend that Ron and Lavender getting together hadn't bothered her one bit.

"I'm fine, Harry," she reassured him, "I just needed a little time to calm down after our little disagreement in the changing rooms."

Harry looked visibly surprised by that, as if expecting her to break down on his shoulder about how her one true love was in the arms of another girl, but she hadn't even mentioned seeing Ron and Lavender.

"I'm sorry for doubting you, Harry," she told him earnestly, "I should have known that you wouldn't really cheat at Quidditch. You have way too much respect for the sport to do that. I was out of line, and I'm sorry."

"It's alright Hermione. It was my plan for you to think that so that Ron would believe I'd given him the potion and hopefully be a bit more confident. It backfired a bit though, huh?" he grinned, testing the waters with a joke. Hermione genuinely smiled back at him - the whole Felix Felicis situation seemed like it had happened a lifetime ago for Hermione, and in retrospect, it all seemed foolish and, quite frankly, juvenile.

"He seems happy anyway, it can't have gotten him down that much," she said, trying to sound genuinely pleased for Ron.

"So you're fine with it then?" Harry dared to ask, disbelief in his green eyes.

"Of course. It might make him more pleasant to be around, and stop him moping about quite so much. That's a win for everyone, don't you agree?"

Harry let out a genuine laugh, seeming to finally relax for the first time since he'd found her.

"Yes, I can definitely agree with that," he grinned.

They headed back to the common room together. Thankfully Ron and Lavender were nowhere in sight. Harry tried to get her to stay for the party but she made an excuse that she wanted to go up to her room and study. He tried to change her mind, but he didn't try very hard - he obviously knew better than to try to keep Hermione away from her books.

But she didn't study. She went up to the girls dormitory, pulled the curtains around her four poster bed so that nobody would bother her, and lost herself in thought.

xxx

The next morning, Hermione woke up in her bed with the curtains still drawn. At first, it felt like just any average Sunday morning - the sun was up, which, in November, meant she had had a decent lie in, and she could hear the light breathing of one or two of her roommates. There was a sharp corner of a book poking her in the spine; she had obviously fallen asleep reading - again.

But then, slowly, the events of the previous day started to come back to her. The ridiculous argument over the Felix Felicis. Ron turning on her for doubting him even though he had doubted himself just as much. Her crying and running away before finding him snogging Lavender Brown's face off in front of everyone. Her crying and running away - again. Hiding in a quiet corridor and being found by…

She sat bolt upright. Malfoy! It was a dream, surely it had to have been a dream? Malfoy wouldn't touch her with a ten foot broomstick, nevermind press her against a door and - oh my. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she remembered the way he had kissed her gently, groaned into her neck, licked her breasts…

She jumped up, not bothering to make her bed before running into the shared bathroom. She locked the door behind her, before switching on the shower. She pulled off her pyjamas and underwear, noticing the smears of blood on her underwear. Definitely not a dream. She climbed into the shower, letting the hot water wash over her as she contemplated her next move. Running away from Hogwarts and never coming back was still pretty high on the list of preferred options. Maybe she could ask McGonagall if she could switch potions classes and learn with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw instead. Also she could ask to have her breakfast, lunch and dinner brought up to her room so that she didn't have to see Malfoy in the great hall. And she could borrow Harry's invisibility cloak whenever she had to wander the corridors or go to the library so that Draco wouldn't see her if he walked past.

She laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of her thoughts, and wondered how much he would sneer when he realised she was going to such lengths to avoid him. The one thing she did know for sure is that what happened last night could never ever happen again. Malfoy was probably regretting it already. In fact, she'd have bet any amount of galleons that, as soon as she had left and he'd realised the gravity of what he'd done, he'd ran straight back to the Slytherin common room and into the shower to scrub her 'muddy' blood off his dick. Possibly casting a scourgify for good measure.

Hermione groaned again. Why why why why why did it have to be Draco. Bloody. Malfoy.

xxx

By the time Draco had gone to sleep the previous night, he had already come up with a plan. Ignore the mudblood from now on - that was a given. Insult her if the need arose. But he needed to work on his occlumency if he had any desire whatsoever to stay alive - and he knew just the man to ask.

Professor Snape, who also happened to be his Godfather, had been hounding him since the start of term, trying to 'help' him on his assignment to kill Dumbledore. Snape just also happened to be the most accomplished occlumens he'd ever known, so if he was so desperate to help, he could start right now, by helping him to become a master of occlumency.

Draco got up relatively early, before any of his dorm mates. He knew that Severus was an early riser, and if he hoped to catch him at breakfast, he would have to make a move.

He hopped out of bed, wearing only his boxers, and quickly got dressed. He headed out of the common room and up to the great hall, praying to Salazar that Granger wouldn't be there. Perhaps she wouldn't notice him even if she was - she usually had her back to the Slytherin table, her nose buried in what could only be the world's biggest book. Stupid mudblood. He supposed you'd have to do a lot of reading to even begin to dream of competing on the same intellectual level as actual witches and wizards.

Fortunately she wasn't there and he breathed a sigh of relief as he entered the great hall. There were very few students present, thankfully, and not very many teachers either. Professor Snape sat at the staff table, an empty plate and a mug of coffee in front of him, reading an article in the Daily Prophet.

He walked up the centre of the great hall, trying to stifle his usual swagger as to not draw attention to himself.

"Severus," he said as he approached his Godfather.

"Mister Malfoy, I believe we have had this discussion before. Whilst we are within this castle, you are to refer to me as 'Professor' or 'Professor Snape' at all times," Snape drawled with disinterest, not even looking up at him, "What has brought you out of your common room at such an unsociable hour? Please do not tell me that Mr. Goyle has managed to set fire to his bedsheets again, I would very much like to avoid starting off my Sunday with that level of stupidity."

Draco smirked in spite of himself.

"No it's nothing like that - Professor. I, erm. Well, I need your help." He swallowed with difficulty as Snape's eyes finally left the newspaper to survey him. To Draco, asking for help was a big deal, and he usually avoided it at all costs. But he knew that he was in over his head this time. He needed help.

"Is this about what I think it is?" Snape asked ambiguously, being careful now not to be overheard.

"Erm, sort of," he said, cringing. Was it technically a lie?

"Leave here now and meet me in my office in ten minutes. I will try my very best to assist you."

xxx

Draco headed straight to Snape's office, his brain whirring with thoughts of how he was going to explain his situation to his head of house. He wondered whether he could get away with not telling him the reason he suddenly desperately wanted help to improve his occlumency skills, but Snape wasn't stupid, nor was he easily fooled. He would want the whole story, and if he felt like Draco was lying to him, he would simply invade his mind and see it all for himself. His Godfather actually seeing Draco's memory of his run-in with the Mudblood last night was the last thing he wanted, so he decided it was better to just be honest from the start, and hope that Snape didn't crucio him for his damn stupidity. Draco knew that he would have deserved it.

He was sat on the floor by Snape's office door when the professor swept down the corridor. He didn't look at Draco, he simply held his wand to the door, unlocking it, before opening it and disappearing inside. Draco jumped up from the floor, and silently followed him in, closing the door behind him.

He wondered whether he had ever been so scared in his entire life. Sure, facing the Dark Lord and taking the Dark Mark over the summer had been… Mind numbingly terrifying. But confessing to a fellow Death Eater that he had slept with a mudblood was in a whole league it's own.

Severus swept behind his desk and sat down, gesturing for Draco to do the same. He shook his head, opting to stand - he was far too nervous to sit.

"Well?" Snape enquired, surveying him with narrowed eyes. Draco knew that he was suspicious - the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher had been trying to help him for the past two months, and Draco had done nothing but avoid him and push him away. He knew something drastic must have happened to incite such a sudden change in Draco's attitude. He held his wand in his hand, fiddling with it as he often did when he was nervous.

"I need you to help me improve my occlumency skills," he said, and then he added as an afterthought; "Please."

"I thought you said your occlumency skills were proficient?" Snape wasn't going to make this easy for him, it seemed. For all he appeared to want to help Draco, he knew he was planning to drag this out.

"Not against… Him." He almost whispered the last word, shivering slightly. He tried to avoid thinking about the Dark Lord as much as possible. The pale skin, the snake-like eyes, the fact that Draco had personally seen him revel in torturing unarmed victims - mudbloods and Death Eaters alike.

"Draco… What have you done?" Severus asked simply. He didn't say any more, but he didn't need to. His tone said everything Draco knew he was thinking: You're a fool if you think you can hide anything from the Dark Lord. A dead fool.

Draco was staring at the floor. He could feel his pulse pounding in his head. What was the best way to say this? He didn't think anything would lessen the blow of what he was about to say. Perhaps it would be less painful if he just came out with it - like ripping off a plaster. Draco squeezed his eyes shut.

"I slept with a mudblood."

Silence. In his peripheral vision, he saw Snape lower his face into his hands, making no sound whatsoever. Snape said nothing for a good minute.

"Who?" he demanded eventually.

"Granger," Draco replied instantly. There was no point in lying. Not if he wanted Snape's help. There was another long silence before Snape replied.

"Draco, if you were suicidal, you might have just asked me to brew you a draught of living death, simply to save yourself the trouble," he stated, "It would have been a lot less painful."

"Will you help me or not?" Draco demanded. He'd came to ask for occlumency lessons, not to have jokes made at his expense! "Look, I know I fucked up, alright? I don't even know how it happened! But it did, and now no one can find out. Especially not him."

"Draco, you are a fool if you think you can hide this from the Dark Lord!" Snape sneered, "Yes, I am an incredibly accomplished occlumens, but that took decades of training, practice and discipline. What, did you think you could just walk in here and become a master of occlumency within a week? It doesn't work like that!'

"WELL I HAVE TO TRY!" Draco screamed, finally snapping, "I have to try! Or he is going to kill me! Do you even understand that?"

Severed glowered at him darkly.

"I understand that better than anyone, Draco. I have served the Dark Lord for longer than you've been alive," he paused for a few seconds. "You have to understand what you're asking of me, Draco. If I attempt to teach you occlumency and you fail, and the Dark Lord invades your mind, he will see that I have been helping you keep this little secret, and then he will kill us both."

Draco's heart felt like it had stopped. He hadn't thought of it that way. But what would Snape do now? He already knew Draco's secret. Would be risk his life to help him, or turn him over to the Dark Lord? It had to be one or the other.

"However…" he continued, "I have recently made something of a vow to protect you and keep you safe at all costs. I'd say that includes helping you to cover up your little… secret." Draco swallowed, not daring to breathe. "So yes, Draco, I will help you." He let out a sigh of relief. "But failure is not an option. If you fail, we both die."