A/n Hi everyone. I hope you are enjoying this story as much as I am. I will be posting a new chapter for 'How to survive' very soon. So keep an eye out for it. Happy reading and don't forget to review.

Guilt

Hermione's birthday had started off bad from the moment she woke up and fought with Ron. She got to work and found a note from Harry that he wanted to talk to her as well.

'Great.' she thought tossing the note away. She put her bag away and decided to go and see the minister instead of waiting for him to come to her. She hoped Draco had sounded angry enough in his letter. She smoothed out her clothing and headed out her office door. The halls were still mostly empty as she walked. She said hi to a few colleagues on the way. And when she finally reached her destination she hesitated before knocking.

"Come in." a familiar booming voice called.

"Hello Minister." she said shyly.

"Kingsley, please Hermione." he said motioning for her to sit down.

"Thank you Kingsley. I expect you know why I am here?" she asked.

"No…but I suspect it has something to do with the Malfoy project." he said.

"Yes…it does. Look Kingsley…"

"Say no more." he told her. "I should have known it would be too hard for you to work with him. It was unfair to put you in this position. I'm so sorry."

"No…wait…that's not it!" she protested.

"It's not?"

"No. I was coming to apologize. I accidentally missed a meeting with Mister Malfoy last night. I'm sure he has owled you already to let you know of my unprofessionalism."

"No, as a matter of fact he hasn't. But missing one meeting isn't the end of the world Hermione. It happens."

"I'm so embarrassed. I fell asleep; I was up all night and I took a potion to help and it just happened."

"Has this project put undue stress on you?" he asked with concern.

"No, no…it's a lot of things. But I got enough rest now and I will be back on top of my game from now on."

"Are you sure it's not working with Mister Malfoy?" he asked, eyeing her response carefully.

"I'm positive. He has been a perfect gentleman and very pleasant to work with." she told him.

"Well, if you are sure Hermione…" he replied uneasily. "If you have any problems please come and see me. And if you need a day off, just take it."

He smiled warmly at her.

"Thank you Kingsley. I will keep that in mind." she said, extending her hand to him. He took it and shook it softly.

"You are welcome. Oh…and happy birthday." he said chuckling.

"Thanks…" Hermione replied uncomfortably.

Hermione left the office in wonder. Why hadn't Draco sent the letter about her behavior? That was what she was counting on for her alibi. When she got back to her office a letter was sitting on her desk. She recognized the handwriting. It was from Draco.

I decided to speak to the Minister in person before our afternoon meeting so don't go to him until then. See you after lunch.

Happy Birthday

DM

She penned a quick note back to him.

Too late…I went to the minister first thing this morning. He's not too upset but try to make it sound reasonable.

Hermione

She flopped back down on her desk and looked around. Her mind had been reeling since her encounter with him last night and she hadn't even had time to think about what she had done. And even worse she didn't know how she was going to react to seeing him again today.

'You're screwed Hermione.' she said to herself. The morning passed so slowly she checked to make sure the clock hadn't stopped at 10:45. When she was sure it hadn't she paced around her office. The fire and passion she had felt for him last night wouldn't leave her mind. She kept seeing him kissing her, touching her…making her mind fall into fantasies that involved him, and a deserted beach somewhere. By the time Harry showed up she hadn't touched any of her paperwork and she was sitting at her desk wearing a glazed expression.

"Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Oh, Harry!" she jumped. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I knocked." he said dumbfounded at her expression.

"Oh, well what can I do for you?"

"Have you talked to the minister?" he asked.

"I have. He said it wasn't a big deal." she told him.

"I knew he wouldn't be upset. You are a wonderful employee Hermione. One slip up in 17 years is nothing."

"Did Malfoy talk to him?"

"No, not yet."

"Do you think he will?"

"Yes."

"Do you think he will ask to work with someone else?"

"No."

"Is there something you're not telling me?" Harry asked, his green eyes watching her carefully.

"Ron told you didn't he?" she said, her voice fuming.

"He might have mentioned something." he replied.

"I told him to shut up about it!" she yelled. "I wasn't even going to tell him about it. I didn't want anyone to know anything about it."

"Why? Do you know how good that would have made Malfoy look? He could have spared his family a lot of the grief they went through." Harry told her.

"He asked me not to tell anyone. Ever. I tried to bring it up to him the first day we were working together and he didn't want to talk about it then either. He didn't do it for the glory, or to help the cause or anything like that. He did it because he didn't want to watch anyone else die. It was a purely selfish thing to do."

"I agree with that." Harry said bitterly.

"But if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be alive!" she said defensively. "Ron would be alone and we wouldn't have Rose or Hugo. So if I'm polite to him, and don't mind working with him, it's merely saying thanks for saving me, alright?"

"Alright."

"And don't say anything to Draco either. He didn't want me to tell anyone." she added.

"Okay.

"Is there anything else?"

"No. Are you coming to lunch?"

"No, I might strangle Ron. I'll eat later."

"Give him a break Hermione. He was just worried; you know how protective he is."

"Yes, well…I'm an adult. Thirty eight years old today as a matter of fact. And I have a lot of work to do." she said motioning to the ever growing pile of papers on her desk.

"Oh, yeah happy birthday Hermione." he said turning a deep shade of red.

"Thanks, now if you will excuse me." she replied turning to her desk.

Harry shook his head, defeated as always by Hermione. He left the room glancing backwards at her before shutting the door.

Hermione sighed. She hated fighting with her friends but she was also tired of defending her actions to them. And she knew part of the reason she had been so short with Harry and Ron was that she was feeling guilty about her actions. Sitting there alone was making her feel even worse. She needed some fresh air so she headed out of her office and left via the visitor's entrance onto the streets of London. The cool autumn air filled her lungs and she breathed in deeply. It felt good to be out of the stuffy office and away from accusations and impending arguments. She walked a little way down the crowded streets and towards the new take away place Ron had purchased dinner from the other night. There was a line outside so she assumed the food must be good. Hermione got in line behind a family with two small children and waited patiently. She slipped back into her fantasies about Draco when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Hi." Draco smiled at her.

"Oh…hello." Hermione said flustered, she tried to hide the flush of her cheeks.

"Getting lunch?" he asked.

"Yes, I had to get out of the office…" she said leaving more to be said.

"Is it the Minister?" he asked.

"No."

"Weasley and Potter?"

Hermione said nothing but pursed her lips tightly.

"It is." he replied. "Are they giving you a hard time about being late last night?"

She blushed again.

"Yes, something like that." she told him, taking one step ahead in line.

"I put you in a bad position, I'm sorry." he said following behind her in line.

"You didn't do anything." she said. "I'll handle it. You don't have anything to be sorry about."

"You know that's not true." he said softly.

"It is true!" she said firmly. "I knew what I was doing and I don't have any regrets."

"You were drunk. I took advantage." he muttered.

"I knew what I was doing! Why does everyone treat me like I'm some innocent little girl? Like I don't have thoughts and fantasies?" she said rather loudly. The woman in front of her covered her daughter's ears.

"Let's go talk somewhere else." he said pulling her out of line. They walked down the streets until they spotted a park that was nearly empty. Hermione sat down on the bench and put her face in her hands trying to stop the tears that were coming.

"I'm the worst person ever." she stated.

"No you're not, I am." he said hanging his head. "I should have known that you would not have wanted to…"

"Please!" she cried. "I did want to! I needed to!" she said. Her eyes looked a little wild.

"You are a happily married woman." he said gravely. "I corrupted you."

"Stop! Just stop it!" she yelled. "I'm so sick of everyone acting like they have to treat me with kid gloves. Last night was one of the best of my life. I wanted it, I wanted you." she said a little more softly. She looked into his eyes, they were racked with guilt.

"Then why…"

"It's not guilt for what I did." she told him. "It's guilt for what I want to do." She looked down at the grass.

"I don't…" he said in a confused voice.

She buried her face into her hands once again, not wanting him to see her face. A sudden realization came across his face.

"You…"

"Don't say it." she said. "It's all I've been able to think about all day."

Draco didn't know what to say. It was the last thing he had expected of her. He thought last night was a result of alcohol and nothing more. He took her hands and pulled them off of her face.

"Look at me." he said pulling her chin gently up so that her eyes met his once again. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about."

She shifted her eyes downward again.

"All I could think of all day is what I would do or say when you came by this afternoon. Whether or not I would be able to control myself around you. It's so terrible."

"I don't know what to say." he said honestly. "I thought maybe you wouldn't even want to see me today."

"Why?"

"Like I said, I thought you would regret what happened. And I hated myself for it."

"I'm sorry." she said.

"Don't be. And I'm going to apologize ahead of time for what I'm about to say…"

"What?"

"I know this is totally inappropriate; but I think I need to say it."

Her brown eyes looked into his grey ones. She didn't know what to expect.

"I don't know what you want out of this or what to expect…but if you want me, I'm here. All you need to do is ask."

Hermione's mouth dropped. Was he saying what she thought he was?

"I…" she started to say, but his soft mouth was on hers in that instant. He was warm and comforting and Hermione relaxed into it. He pulled back from her and waited for her response.

All Hermione could do was nod and take him by the hand leading him down the streets of London in search of a place to be alone.