While Hermione could no longer keep her eyes open in the living room, she found herself lying wide awake in her bed. Draco without Occlumency would be the death of her. First, he had kissed her, then he had asked for a kiss goodnight, right in front of Malfoy! Normally, she fought with all her might to elicit a reaction from Malfoy. Suddenly confronted with Draco's advances, she felt overwhelmed. It was like her fantasies coming true, but all at once and way too quickly for her liking. Hermione had always imagined him to be very passionate once she rippled his surface, but somehow with Malfoy present, it felt so strange.

Draco looked at her with those stormy grey eyes, he joked with her, he called her Hermione. Draco had kissed her.

Malfoy was the same as before; when he looked at her, she feared he would see right through her. She felt transparent. She was concerned that Malfoy might find out what Draco had done.

How could it feel like cheating when they were both the same person? But then again, how could they be the same person and so fundamentally different? Did they think and feel the same things but just act differently on them?

It was a lot for Hermione to wrap her head around. All the new information that poured in made her doubt everything she had believed so far. She had believed Malfoy to be indifferent towards her. She had believed her attraction to be completely one-sided.

And then Draco had sown doubt. The kiss replayed over and over again in her mind. He had not stopped at the kiss, though. He had continued to smile at her, had called her by her name, had winked at her, had asked for a goodnight kiss...

At his words, heat had coursed through her. Hermione was not certain how she had made it out of the room. The way he had looked at her over his shoulder, his eyes ablaze, had made her knees go weak. It had probably been Malfoy's cool and observing stare that had let her regain any semblance of control. Otherwise, she could have melted in the other's hot gaze and just given in.

Giving in to his request opened dangerous paths to various what-ifs in her mind. Her thoughts went astray. Of course, she thought about what would have happened had she kissed him goodnight.

Hermione closed her eyes and indulged in her fantasy, her fingers wandering into her pyjama bottoms.

She would have taken all her Gryffindor bravery and walked back to Draco, kissing him goodnight. On the lips, of course. Not a peck but also not lingering. He would have never seen it coming and she would have relished in his pleasantly surprised face.

Her fingers traced slowly up and down over her slit.

"What about me?" At the thought of Malfoy's deep voice, Hermione's breathing hitched. She dipped her finger into her entrance and drew some moisture up to her clit.

When she would have looked over to him, he would have met her with a hungry stare. Gone would have been the calm lake, not just a small ripple on the surface. Instead she would have been faced with turbulent waters. Hermione would have wanted to plunge headfirst into those troubled waters. She would have taken slow deliberate steps, her eyes never leaving his, until she stood in front of him. It would have been like standing at a precipice, the point of no return. Taking a leap of faith, Hermione would have kissed Malfoy just like she had kissed Draco.

Imagining him kissing her back for the short time their lips touched made her throb. Hermione's breath picked up as she circled her clit slowly.

Just like with Draco she would have pulled back and studied his reaction. His eyes would have turned into a maelstrom of want, trying to pull her in.

"Good night, Malfoy," she would have whispered before licking her lips, her thoughts screaming for him to stop her from going to bed. Just when she would have almost given up and would have turned to leave, Malfoy would have gotten up to tower over her.

She bit her lip and pressed down harder, stroking faster.

"Not so fast." At his command she would have gone completely still, her shallow pants filling the space between them. Inch by painstaking inch, he would have let his fingers caress her skin, starting from her hand, up her arm, over her clavicle, and past the column of her throat until he would have buried his fingers in her hair. His hands would have tangled at the nape of her neck, forcing her head back to look up at him.

"The night is still young," he would have breathed against her lips before pressing his onto hers in a searing kiss.

Hermione slowly pushed one finger inside her, then a second. Her other hand pulled up her top, tweaking and plucking her nipples.

She would have lost herself in that kiss, eagerly granting his tongue entrance into her mouth where hers would have twisted around his.

"No fair. Don't forget about me, Hermione," the husky growl of Draco against her ear would have made her shiver. She would have found herself wedged between Malfoy and Draco, both radiating heat that would have burned her alive.

Hermione easily found her sweet spot and massaged it in a steady rhythm. She had to bite her lip in fear a loud moan might escape her lips.

Draco would have placed a finger under her chin and guided her head to the side so she could kiss him. While Draco plundered her mouth, Malfoy would have continued his ministrations, placing open-mouthed kisses down her throat and cleavage.

Close. So close. Adding another version of Malfoy into her fantasy brought her nearly to orgasm before even imagining having sex with either of them. Or even both? The mere thought of them both fucking her made her throb, her fingers pushing frantically into her while she pressed down on her clit with the heel of her hand.

She could feel herself clench tighter around her fingers - just a little more and she would come undone. Hermione was panting, her head thrown back, when a timid knock on her door put a shrieking halt to her fantasy and she yanked her hand out of her pajama bottoms.

"Y-yes?" Hermione quickly pulled her top down and smeared her fingers on her bedsheet. Her door opened to reveal Draco, rubbing the back of his neck, his eyes searching for hers in the dark.

"Something wrong?" Her voice came out higher than she would have liked, betraying her nervousness at almost being caught. She switched on the light on her nightstand and smiled at him.

"Sorry to disturb you. Do you have some Dreamless Sleep Potion by any chance?" The mention of Dreamless Sleep Potion made her forget her embarrassment. Neither Dreamless Sleep Potion nor Calming Draught could be found in her flat. It had been an easy and accessible solace for her after the war, but in the end, it did not address the cause of her nightmares. It had taken Hermione quite some time to come to that conclusion but when she did, she had purged those particular potions from her home.

"No, I don't." She saw him press his lips into a thin line, swallowing hard. His shoulders slumped in resignation and he was about to leave when Hermione grabbed her red dressing gown. "But- I can make you some tea."

A heavy silence hung between them as he followed her into the kitchen, as they waited for the water to boil, as they sat down to drink their tea. If the silence was drawn out any longer, Hermione would lose it, so she said the first thing that came to mind.

"Why did you agree to the sessions?" Hermione had expected him to refuse when she had asked him. Why he had agreed without even asking for specifics had been a recurring question she had never dared to ask in fear he would change his mind.

Draco slowly put his mug down and studied her before answering, "Because you asked me to." He made it sound like it was an absolute no-brainer. Hermione just could not accept that as his reason.

"You didn't even ask for specifics, Draco. You just agreed!" she shot back at him, in utter disbelief that he could make it sound so simple.

Draco shrugged and took another sip from his cup of tea.

"I figured if the smartest witch of her generation thought it was worth her time, who was I to decline?" Hermione spluttered and was close to asking whether he would jump out of a window if she thought it a smart idea.

"You could have just said no."

Draco chuckled. He bloody chuckled and it made Hermione want to chastise him even more for not properly thinking over her request to be a proband.

"It's really hard to deny you anything when you have that sparkle in your eyes." A smile tugged at the corner of his lips and he looked at her the same way he had just before he had kissed her. Hermione felt her heart beating furiously in her chest, her cheeks turning a deep red. His gaze was too intense, she had to avert her eyes, and then silence settled over them once more. For Hermione, though, it was interrupted by the drum of her heartbeat. She held her mug in both hands in front of her, as though it could shield her from him. Thinking back to when he had kissed her-just to leave her standing there!-was dangerous. Taking one little sip after the other, Hermione steered her thoughts away from the kiss. Something else popped into her mind, something about him she was curious about. Fidgeting with her mug, Hermione contemplated how to best approach the topic. She opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, never finding the right words.

"Just spit it out, Hermione." There was no malice in his voice; instead, there was a slight gleam of amusement in his eyes as he watched her.

Having decided how to approach it, Hermione asked, "A couple of weeks ago, when Anthony interrupted our session, were you angry ?"

Draco leaned his head slightly to the side and raised one of his brows at her.

"What makes you think that?"

At a loss for words on how to verbalise the gut feeling she had, Hermione merely shrugged.

"When he left, you stared after him and there seemed to be a shadow on your face. It's hard to explain."

"You are very perceptive. But no, I wasn't angry. Something similar, though." He smirked like he had a secret that she would love to know. It was unlike the smirk that had taunted her for so many years. This smirk combined with the mischievous glint in his eyes made her mouth go dry, forcing her to swallow.

As he leaned in closer, Hermione forgot to breathe.

"Thank you for the tea, Hermione," he purred her name as his face inched closer to hers. Feeling his breath brush her face, her lashes fluttered shut, anticipating another kiss. Instead, his lips grazed her cheeks in a barely-there peck.

Hermione was in trouble. She had wanted a kiss, she would have kissed him back. With the way he stood and looked at her, Draco could read her like an open book. Her mind was already putting together another what-if, where instead of closing her eyes, she would have closed the gap between them, initiating the kiss. She felt a tingle between her thighs.

"It's getting late," he commented and yawned.

The moment was over.

All she could do was nod and follow him into the hallway. Yet again, her Gryffindor courage had let her down.

While she trailed behind him, Hermione was lost in the paradox that was Draco Malfoy. Or rather Draco and Malfoy. How could they be so different and still the same person? If Draco kept flirting with her, did that mean that Malfoy wanted to do the same? Hermione was so busy trying to reconcile the behaviour of one with that of the other, that she did not notice that Draco had stopped and turned around. She walked straight into his chest.

"Oh-sor-" She mumbled half an apology before the sight of his bare chest cut off any thoughts she might have had. Criss-crossing scars ran all over his upper body, but again, he merely chuckled at the sight of her shocked face.

"Potter got me good there. I don't blame him; I deserved it."

"Don't say that! I was livid with Harry!" she reprimanded him and could not stop her fingers from running over the silver scars, her fingers starkly contrasting his fair skin.

Draco hissed at the contact and took her hand, guiding it towards his face to kiss her fingertips. As he pulled away, he held her hand in place while his eyebrows knit in confusion. Bending his head a little, he sniffed her fingers and realization struck Hermione what he must be smelling: the evident smell of her getting herself off-or very close to doing so as he had interrupted her. She tried to draw her hand back, but he did not let go. His eyes darkened.

" Hermione ," he groaned. His tongue darted out and gave her fingers a broad lick, from the bottom to the top. A shiver ran through Hermione and she gasped. Arriving at her fingertips, he sucked her digits into his mouth, moaning sinfully around her fingers; she felt it vibrate down her arm. His eyes were liquid silver as he released her fingers with an audible pop , before licking his lips.

"Little heads up: I'm going to kiss you now so turn away if you don't want me to." His breath ghosted her damp fingers before he let go of her hand and Hermione whimpered. This time, when Draco leaned down to kiss her, she was ready. She met him halfway, unwilling to let him get away with an almost-not-there touch or a peck to the cheek again. It earned her an appreciative hum. Hermione balled her fists in his bathrobe while he buried his hands in her hair, both of them trying to hold each other close.

How often had Hermione imagined kissing Draco Malfoy over the last couple of months? Countless times. Until yesterday, she had been sure that that was all it could ever be: a fantasy. The real deal eclipsed all her fantasies. Draco managed to be both gentle and persistent.

Then it happened all at once. Draco brushed his tongue over the seam of her lips, a request for admittance which she would gladly have granted him, had the turn of a key to her right not disrupted the silence. Realizing that any second now, Malfoy would undoubtedly exit her bathroom and walk in on them, Hermione pushed Draco away. If there ever was a time in her life, she wished the earth would just open up and swallow her, it would be exactly at this moment.

Malfoy froze mid-step, his eyes quickly darting between them. Hermione could see his knuckles turn white on the door handle, his nostrils flared wide. Although Malfoy had not caught them red-handed per se, Hermione was sure that he must have an idea of what he had stumbled upon. It felt like cheating. The thought that, in theory, Draco and Malfoy were the same person did not help. This was wrong. Wrong on so many levels.

When Malfoy's gaze landed on her, she witnessed a succession of emotions: surprise, shock, disbelief, hurt, then nothing. Malfoy's eyes reverted to their smooth grey. It was too much. The revelation that Draco was interested in her was already enough to send Hermione's brain into overdrive without Malfoy barging in on them. She could not face this right now, so she did the only thing she could, she fled to her room.

Draco had a fitful sleep. He had woken up to a lurking feeling of being too late. Too late for what, he did not know. Tormented by this unknown inner turmoil, he sighed and gave up on the prospect of a restful slumber. He rose and crossed the hallway into the bathroom. Seeing his tired eyes reflected in the mirror, he was reminded of his sixth year in Hogwarts and all the time he had spent in the boys' lavatory, agonizing about his mission. He had been just as much of a coward then as he was in his current situation. Unlike the mission of killing Dumbledore, his pursuit of Granger should have made him joyful. After all, while watching his doppelgänger with Granger, he had realized that he did indeed stand a chance with her. Instead, Draco grabbed at all the reasons he had laid out so many times before, why they would never happen.

The reasons were all too readily available, as he sought them out often when occluding anything related to Hermione Granger. It always started with it being just a crush, that would soon be over. That one had lost its usefulness a long time ago, as Draco was acutely aware that it was no crush. Next up came her apparent dislike for him. Having gotten one of her charming smiles for himself, Draco had to forget about this reasoning. The smile had been genuine. It had felt like the sun was rising, chasing away his shadows. He would do anything to earn one again. Anything to be worthy of her smile.

Worthy.

There it was, the more convincing reason. No matter what he did, Draco would never feel worthy. He had changed after the war. He had gladly rid his mind of any pureblood rhetoric and mindset. Having witnessed the machinations of the Dark Lord in a front-row seat, had taught him as much. Draco had even gone through the process of becoming an Auror, which had quickly turned into a never-ending test of his convictions. Even after years of working as an Auror, he still had to face the prejudice that came with the Dark Mark on his forearm.

Draco pressed his eyes closed, taking slow, deep breaths. He grabbed onto the sink and tried to chase away the memories of all the glares he had to face, knowing that they were justified. He had changed. He was a better man. Still, the longing for Hermione Granger, the woman who had forgiven him, made him feel like it would never be enough. Without disengaging all his bottled-up emotions, Draco could have just gone on like he used to. He could have just occluded. As things stood, he felt compelled to keep his feelings from confronting him. Having the doppelgänger make such obvious advances on Granger right in front of him was like karma for locking it all away.

The cold feeling of the porcelain sink beneath his hands helped Draco to focus. Row by row he went through his filing cabinets, pushing back the periwinkle blue files that tried to burst free. He worked his way from most recent memories back.

A memory from his final year at Hogwarts made him hesitate. Draco had replayed this scene countless times. It was his apology to Granger. One day after a Potions lesson, he had hung back and waited for her to exit the classroom. The words had been rehearsed in his mind over and over ever since she had spoken at his trial. He had chickened out of facing her on countless occasions. Even the slightest inconvenience or obstacle had made him postpone it. In the end, it had all become a blur until the moment she had peered up at him with those big doe eyes and said, "I forgive you".

If Draco had to put a finger on it, he would choose that moment as the start of the rekindling of his infatuation with her. This time without the cruel tinge of blood prejudice. Her words echoing in his mind, Draco sighed. Drawers he had already shut reopened, her "I forgive you," joined by the sparkle in her eyes when she had asked him to take part in her experiment and her silly spaghetti joke from just earlier that day.

Whatever had happened to him was messing with his Occlumency and at this moment he was sure that until the problem was resolved, he would have a hard time occluding about Granger. Hermione . Draco wished he could speak her name as easily as his double.

Relaxing his grip on the sink, he opened his eyes. The resolve to take his doppelgänger's advice and make his move took root in his mind. One long inhale and he had drawn every periwinkle blue folder that gave him hope of a chance with Granger. On the exhale, "Hermione," left his lips in a whisper. Rolling his shoulders, Draco began to make his plan on how to approach her, how to get her alone. Tomorrow, he would put his plan into motion, he would make sure of it.

However what he saw upon opening the bathroom door tore any plan he could think of to shreds. Granger and his double stood in the hallway. Draco's eyes darted between the two to take in the situation. They stood too close. A smug smile spread on his insufferable doppelgänger's lips. Granger donned a deep scarlet flush on her cheeks. Her eyes were blown wide in panic at being caught. Although Draco had not seen what had been going on between her and his double just moments before he opened the door, he was certain that his doppelgänger had been true to his word.

He had beaten Draco to make a move on Granger. Too little, too late. Draco had missed out. It felt like a knife in his back. Betrayed by himself. Draco felt helpless. He had set his mind on wooing Granger, to finally act upon his desire for her, only to be outdone by his double. The hurt spreading throughout his whole body was the worst he had felt in a long time. With this reminder of why he usually shut off his feelings, Draco resorted to Occlumency.

Tucking Granger back into his drawers spared him from further heartache. The hurt dissipated into nothingness. Her apologetic and ashamed look meant nothing to him. Everything connected to her was shoved into drawers immediately and locked away. When she ran for her bedroom, Draco did not spare it a second thought. He merely walked past his double and went back to bed.

Lying in the bed, Draco focused on his breathing. The silence of the room would soon lull him to sleep. Except it did not stay quiet.

"I know what you are doing," said the doppelgänger, upon entering the room and lying down as well on his own bed.

"Shutting it off won't change anything." Draco tried to ignore him, fighting with his wavering Occlumency.

"Hermione likes us, both of us," the double continued his intrusion into Draco's silence. "You must have noticed that."

The doppelgänger left room for Draco to speak, but Draco did not.

"I kissed her." Those three words broke down Draco's Occlumency once and for all. His hands were balled into fists, his jaw was clenched. The pain of his nails biting into his hand helped very little to distract Draco from the hurt he felt at having his suspicions confirmed.

"I won't apologize for it," his doppelgänger continued his monologue. "I could not hold back. You lock me away and I feel like utter shite." This was never meant to happen. The things Draco occluded were meant to stay neatly put away in their drawers and files, they were not meant to be used as weapons against him. With the disengagement thought, it was like having someone point out all his wrong choices. Draco bit down on his tongue until he tasted blood. Anything would be better than the bitter taste of failure. Any effort he put into occluding further would be in vain. There was no ignoring it any longer; Draco would have to suffer through this.

"Her lips are so soft," sighed the double dreamily and Draco was left with only the option of imagining it.

"I swear, I only meant to do it once." A dark chuckle. "Even then it nearly scared me shitless. I just left her standing there afterwards." A heavy sigh. "We are such cowards." It pained Draco to admit that the other was right; he simply could not object to it. They were cowards. He heard his double shift on his bed.

"She doesn't mind our scars. Hermione touched them, so carefully." Once more the doppelgänger chuckled. "She said she was livid with Potter for cursing us. Righteous little Lioness, she is." Draco unclenched his fists and his hand slowly traced the scars left by the Sectumsempra curse. He warred with himself to engage with the other's narratives. In the end, the need for clarity won.

"How often?" asked Draco and mentally prepared himself for the answer.

"Just twice." Twice might seem very little but compared to the zero times that Draco could count for himself, it was a lot.

"I warned her the second time, though. She kissed me back." If it was possible to hear a smile then this was one of the times you could.

"You alright?" Draco did not need the other's concern. He did not answer. The question was stupid anyway. They were the same person; they should have a similar train of thought. The doppelgänger had to know that Draco was far from okay. He just wanted sleep to take him.

The wet sound of a mouth opening to say something penetrated the silence repeatedly. Draco sighed heavily. He was losing patience with his double.

"What?" he snorted irritably.

"You should kiss Hermione." That was not what Draco had expected. What was his doppelgänger thinking? Just because Granger had let the other kiss her and even kissed him back, it did not mean that the same would apply to him. While Granger embraced this other version of himself, she would most likely reject him. The thought alone made Draco feel sick.

"She wants you, not me," Draco snapped back and turned onto his side, his back now facing the other – not that he would notice in the dark.

"Hermione wants us ."

Could Granger really want both of them?