"Hey, Granger," he whispered in her ear and Hermione shivered in pleasure.
Draco had snuck up on her as she waited in the darkened corridor, his hands had found her waist and she could feel him towering over her, his head bent to rest on her shoulder and she sighed in relief, "I was beginning to think you weren't coming."
"I… got caught up leaving my Dorm, no one saw you did they?"
"No, I was careful." She turned and looked up at him with a small smile, "So is your idea of a date just us meeting in a freezing corridor or did you have something better planned."
His returning smile was brilliant, "Wait and see."

They ended up on the Astronomy Tower, and she was floored by his efforts; when they arrived at the top only slightly out of breath, her jaw dropped. He had acquired a large, comfortable picnic blanket which he had spread on the flagstones for them to lie on, and there were two candles next to a large assortment of food and a flask of butterbeer, she now understood why he had been late, "Draco…"
He pulled her by the hand towards the blanket and they settled themselves below the stars, "I wanted to surprise you."
"Well you certainly succeeded," she wasn't watching him, she was looking up at the sky which was inky black and dotted with too many stars to count. She didn't see the way he was gazing at her, memorising the details of her smile, each freckle across her nose, and when she looked back at him with shining eyes he silently offered her a butterbeer, too afraid to speak.
They settled themselves back on the blankets, their elbows just touching, and Draco began to question her about the muggles interpretation of the stars. They talked for so long that soon the hour chimed midnight and Hermione's head rolled to rest on Draco's shoulder, "Are you tired?"
"Yes, but I also don't want to leave yet."
His heart soared and he stretched his arm underneath her so that she was more comfortable, there was a moment of silence before she whispered, "We still need to talk, Draco, about what I heard before Christmas."
When he didn't answer she looked up and saw that he was lightly dozing, the dark circles under his eyes seemed so much more prominent this close up and she reached out to touch the side of his face, his eyelids fluttered open and he mumbled, "I'm so comfortable around you, it makes it easier to relax, I'm not sleeping well on my own."
"That wouldn't have anything to do with your so-called mission would it?" she asked boldly and he went cold.
"I-I can't talk about that, I wish that it was different, I wish that so much was different."
His gaze was so intense that she momentarily forgot what she was asking him, but when he moved to embrace her she pushed him back, "Draco you can't just keep distracting me every time I try and get close to you. You have to let me in at some point."
"At some point yes, but not tonight," he murmured and closed the gap between them, rolling her over so that she was lying in the folds of the blanket, his full weight on top of her. His tiredness had apparently vanished as he ran his hands from her waist, following the curves of her body, down her arms until he had both of her wrists in his grasp which he then pinned above her head. With her hands out of the way he gently pressed even closer, and Hermione, despite being annoyed that he still wouldn't open up to her, gave in. She had never, ever, been kissed like this before. It was obvious in his posture, in each whispered compliment how much he had been thinking about this, and despite being immobilised beneath him, she arched her back in an attempt to get closer, gasping in relief when he finally moved his lips to her neck and opening her eyes to take in the full scope of the sky above them. She would never have pegged Draco as the romantic type, but a candle-lit picnic on the tower really was a perfect first date; the heat between them had built so high she was starting to feel a little dizzy, time seemed to have lost all meaning, for example, when had she wrapped her leg around his hip? At what moment had he undone the top two buttons on her blouse, in fact how had he undone them? His hands were still holding on to hers above her head.
As if sensing that they were pushing the boundaries of her comfort zone, he untangled his fingers from hers and rolled them carefully so she was curled into his side, his kisses becoming less urgent and sweeter. She felt her heartrate begin to slow and she caressed the side of his face with her fingertips, tracing the outline of his lips when he finally, finally broke away, lying back breathless but smiling.
After a moment of comfortable silence he mumbled against her hair, "I'm sorry, what were you asking me?"
"Mmh?" she was listening to the sound of his heart through his chest, her fingers playing with the collar of his shirt and she was struggling to form a coherent thought.
Draco chuckled and nuzzled her hair, "I've finally succeeded in properly distracting you I see."
"It's not fair," she murmured, "but I'll forgive you this time."
He admired their joined hands and brought hers up to kiss, "Why's that?"
She sat up a little, so she was perched on his chest rather than curled into it and he could see the full extent of her smile, "Because this really is the perfect first date, no one has ever done anything like this for me before."
"I recall you saying that one should make genuine effort when trying to get the girl he likes," he joked.
"That's not all you've remembered, you remembered I love to star-gaze, you remembered my favourite snacks though I'm not sure how?"
"They happen to be my favourite snacks," he said honestly, "I just got lucky."
She burst out laughing, "Okay so we have more in common than we first thought."
He returned her smile, "I'm happy that you're happy, Granger, that was kind of the point."
It was so difficult, to be with him like this knowing how much he was keeping from her, that what he had to say may very well put her off him- though she struggled to imagine it. Hermione never thought she'd ever be the kind of girl to fall for the bad guy, and Draco might not just be some shaggy-haired biker kid she'd always thought all stereotypical bad boys were, he might be something seriously worse, but she didn't want to destroy this moment while they had it just by asking him directly. He seemed to share her thoughts because his grin faded and he traced her bottom lip solemnly, like he was trying to memorise the shape, "I wish we could stay up here," he whispered, "I wish I could be the kind of guy you deserve."
"You are that person, sometimes," she told him.
"We've got to work on those percentages huh?"
She almost smiled, "I'd say you've done pretty well so far- you're a solid 60-40 right now."
"Ah but which is the higher percent?"
She stretched up to touch her lips to his, "The right one."

As much as I'd love to write "and they lived happily ever after" there is a lot more to come in the story still... would love to hear your thoughts.

-H