Three weeks later, the school year had drawn to a close and Hermione found herself alone outside of the castle more often, spending long afternoons on the lawn by the Black Lake and throwing toast into it for the giant squid while basking in the shade to avoid the sweltering sun.

Just a few days earlier, the Professors and Headmistress McGonagall had sent the students off on the Hogwarts Express to go home for the summer holiday. The castle always felt a little strange without the hustle and bustle of the kids, but there was also a peace that came with it; there was time to come up with lessons and curriculum for the next wave of students and time to relax and take a beat after an always-chaotic school year. Things at Hogwarts were never boring but it was nice to be able to not have to worry about getting up to teach almost every morning.

Hermione had also been spending a lot of her spare time brewing prenatal elixirs for Ginny, who had still not told Harry about the pregnancy, though she had found a midwife with Hermione's help and support. Although she didn't approve of Ginny's choice to keep things quiet, she liked having her friend back too much to say anything yet.

As the end of June approached, Draco had set another date up with Hermione. He'd been traveling around the country all month, giving lectures on Dark artefacts and looking to add more things to his constantly-growing collection, which made seeing each other difficult. Hermione had been anxiously counting down the days in one of her favorite planners, her stomach knotting up with more and more anxiety and excitement as the date grew closer.

On the day that Malfoy was to come collect her from Hogwarts, Hermione had been busy working through some of her lesson plans for the coming school year. She had wanted something to keep her mind occupied and off of the evening to come and was hoping to finish the plans early enough in the summer that she might be able to go home and visit her parents as well; they wouldn't be back from their travels until August, so she had plenty of time to work with.

As the evening dawned, Hermione found it more and more difficult to focus and therefore spent her time picking out an outfit of black pants and her favorite royal purple button-down blouse. She thought about trying to tame her hair with Sleekeazy's, but gave it up since it would take too long to get it to exactly how she would want it. When the time arrived, Hermione took a deep breath, steeled herself, and made her way down to the Entrance Hall, enjoying the warm golden light of the sun as it bounced through the stained-glass windows in the castle and colored the floor she walked on.

"Hello," a smooth voice called out to Hermione, making her head snap up so fast that it put a crick in her neck. A blush bled its way up her neck, coloring her cheeks, and a smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.

"Hi."

When she reached him, Draco pulled her in by the waist, crushing her against his chest and pulling her face up to meet his. His lips were on hers before she could even think – not that she cared to. She allowed herself to get lost in the moment, her heart taking off and butterflies erupting in her stomach. She forgot where they were and that she was nervous and still insecure. This was exactly what she needed.

They broke apart after ages, though their faces stayed mere centimeters apart. Hermione could smell his fresh, toothpasty breath and she giggled slightly.

"I've missed you," she admitted. Draco grinned, sending another thrill through her.

"And I, you."

Another heartbeat passed. Draco placed another gentle kiss on her lips and slid his hand over to take hers. It felt warm, comfortable, and easy. Like this was exactly how things should be.

"How were your travels?" Hermione asked. Draco began to lead her out of the Entrance Hall and towards the grounds of the castle where they would be able to Apparate away.

"We'll get to that," Draco said mysteriously. Hermione furrowed her brow, but didn't push further. "There are more pressing matters at hand."

"Like what – " Hermione began, but Draco pressed his finger to her lips. They were now far enough away that the windows on the castle looked like candlelight in the coming darkness. The two were now facing each other, their hands locked together as they stepped into the darkness and disappeared.

When Malfoy Manor popped into view, Hermione's heart gave a start. Every time she saw it, the giant house had felt less and less foreign and more like it was welcoming her back. She smiled.

They entered the large home and Hermione barely had time to look around before Draco was pulling her along the maze of hallways. There were too many for her to remember which way they came from and there was plenty of art and magical photographs on the walls for her to look at as they went.

"Draco – where are we going?" Hermione asked him, laughing as they went.

"Here."

Draco opened an opulent, decorated set of maple double doors and Hermione actually gasped when she saw what was inside.

It was the biggest, most beautiful library Hermione had ever seen. She let go of Malfoy's hand and began to walk around the outside of it in wonder, her eyes scanning each and every one of the books on the towering shelves. The tall, haunting form of the last living Malfoy followed behind her, allowing her time to look around and soak everything in. She caught the flick of his wand out of the corner of her eye and suddenly the fireplace in the conversation pit sprang to life.

"This is…" she muttered, now running her fingers gently along the spines. She was battling the overwhelming urge to pull out all the books she could find and curl up next to the fire, reading until she turned into a skeleton and was forever entombed in the room.

"I take it you like what you see?" Draco's voice in her ear made Hermione jump. She hadn't realized how close he had gotten… or how her skin was now tingling with the close proximity of their bodies. She shivered slightly.

"This is incredible," Hermione whispered. She froze, her hand still extended in front of her. Draco's fingers ran along her arm, winding through hers and then pulling the hand back so it met her chest and her body pressed firmly against his. "There must be centuries worth of books here. This is comparable to the Hogwarts library, easily."

"It's better," Draco said, his mouth against the nape of Hermione's neck. Electricity danced across her skin where he touched her and her breath hitched. "There aren't any… restrictions… here."

Draco surprised Hermione by twisting her around and crushing his lips to hers. The shock melted into heat in Hermione's belly as their mouths moved together; his hands made their way up to cup her face and grip her jaw in a possessive way, making Hermione give in even further to him.

Soon, Hermione's hands began to wander, pulling at the buttons on Draco's shirt, searching for the skin beneath it. Draco's strong hand was still holding Hermione's jaw and he pushed her just far enough away so he could use his lips to speak.

"Not here," he whispered against her lips. "There's one more place I want to show you."

He picked her up like she weighed nothing, carrying her down corridors she couldn't care to pay attention to, kissing her face, her lips, her neck; everywhere his mouth could reach.

When he kicked a large door open, the noise jolted Hermione out of her feelings and she looked around in surprise. They were now in one of the most opulent bedrooms she had ever seen. It was a little intimidating.

The first thing that drew the eye was an enormous four-poster bed smack-dab in the middle of the room, complete with thick black velvet curtains. The frame was gold and seemed to glow in the dim light. The furniture around was also gold and black, though the walls were painted so that they resembled being underneath the Black Lake. Hermione remembered Ron and Harry telling her about what the Slytherin Common Room had looked like when they were back in Second Year: this was almost exactly how she had imagined it.

"This must be your room," Hermione said, her attention now turned back to Draco's face. There was a smirk adorning it and he pulled her back in for a kiss before making his way to the giant bed and allowing them both to fall onto it.

Draco's hands traced the small patch of Hermione's skin where her shirt met the waistline of her pants, sliding underneath the waistband and stroking her hip gently. Hermione stopped breathing and froze, unsure for a moment, but not wanting him to stop at the same time. This was uncharted territory: she had never gone this far with anyone except for Ron.

"Is this okay?" Draco asked, his mouth still on her neck. He nibbled at her slightly and sent a delicious shiver all over her body, eliciting a smile while it did so.

"Yes," she said. All her uncertainly melted away at his touch and she lost herself in the sharp, clean smell and feel of him.

She was home.

Warmth was spreading over Hermione's skin and she woke to realize that she's not in her bedroom at Hogwarts. She's not even close – she's still in Draco Malfoy's bed.

And he's still in it, sleeping right next to her.

She blinks and tries to understand why she's so warm when she's in the Slytherin Common Room, shaking her head when she realizes they're still in Malfoy Manor and, while the walls and windows look like the Black Lake, there's sunlight streaming through and lighting the room in an eerily beautiful sort of way. There was an overwhelming sense of peace surrounding her, though there was also a weight in her heart that she couldn't quite understand.

Suddenly, the room seemed very far away and it was difficult to draw breath into her lungs. She sat bolt upright as sweat broke out along her forehead, her breaths sounding short and thin and only exacerbating the tunnel vision that was currently assaulting her. She went to stand up, but found her body heavy and difficult to move; she was shaking so hard that the bedsheets in her hand were trembling.

"Hermione?"

She couldn't respond; everything was closing in on her, the world was becoming too much –

"Hermione, you're okay." Draco's hand gently reached out and touched her. She jumped slightly, but couldn't pull herself out of her panic. "Find five things you can see…"

She latched onto his words and allowed her eyes to scan the room. The unfamiliarity of it all compounded until she began to shudder with sobs. Draco pulled her into a tight hug and allowed her to cry into him, stroking her hair lightly.

It seemed to take ages for Hermione's breathing to steady and for her to feel calm enough to speak again.

"I'm – I'm sorry," she stumbled over the two words and looked down at her hands. "I don't know… it came out of nowhere…"

"Are you okay?"

"I think so."

Draco slid a hand under Hermione's chin and pulled her face up to look at him. His silver eyes bored into her brown ones and she squirmed slightly at the concern behind his expression.

"Did I do something wrong?" He asked her.

The question took her by such surprise that her mouth dropped open and she simply stared at him for a moment.

"No, of course not," she whispered. Guilt flooded through her, making her body too hot and bringing a deep blush to her face. Tears once again filled her eyes and she chewed on the inside of her cheek to try and prevent them from falling. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean – "

"That's all right," Draco said soothingly. His thumb rubbed her cheek and he smiled. "What do you need?"

"I don't… I'm sorry…" Hermione stuttered. "I don't know why I feel this way."

"Let me make you some breakfast. Food might help you feel better."

Hermione nodded in agreement and shakily stood up from the bed. She and Draco dressed in silence, Hermione's heart beating a steady, painful rhythm against her rib cage the entire time. She was painfully aware of where he was and suddenly felt self-conscious about her body.

Why on earth am I feeling this way? She asked herself, suddenly angry with her own behavior. I'm being ridiculous. Get it together, Hermione.

She took several deep breaths before following Draco out into the maze of hallways, allowing him to direct her to what ended up being the kitchen. He pulled out a stool for her and then set about cooking, pulling out pans and ingredients from the fridge and spice cupboard.

"How do you like your eggs?" He asked, his back turned towards Hermione. There was an obvious tension in his muscles and another stab of guilt ran through her. She swallowed hard, trying to push her anxiety as far down as possible.

"Scrambled, thanks."

There was a strange something in the silence that expanded between her and Malfoy and Hermione immediately began to fret that she had screwed things up with her panic attack.

You're acting like this because you just cheated on Ron, a nasty little voice came from somewhere deep inside of her head. As soon as the thought hit her, it turned her mouth dry and her palms slick.

No, she argued with herself. We're divorced. He's in jail. I'm free to do whatever I like now.

Until he finds out…

Hermione shook her head violently, trying to erase the thoughts from her mind.

"What's going on with you?" Draco asked. He placed a plate full of eggs in front of Hermione and turned to grab some bacon from the refrigerator.

"Well, you're – the first… since the divorce," Hermione said slowly.

Draco stopped and looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time.

"I didn't realize…" he said. His voice trailed off and he took a deep breath. Hermione watched his shoulders move as he did, seeing some of the tension leave his body. Although there was still a knot of guilt deep in her stomach, it loosened slightly as he softened. Hermione even found herself smiling, and her appetite returning.

"I don't exactly get around," she said, chuckling to herself and digging back into her eggs. She swore she heard Draco snicker too as he turned back and began frying the bacon. Hermione once again took note that he was doing things in a very Muggle way. It made her feel even more at home.

Draco piled bacon onto her plate, watching her out of the corner of his eye as they ate. The silence was more comfortable now, but there was a new undertone that Hermione wasn't sure she understood. A small part of her felt out of place, like she had never done this before.

Though, if she thought about it, she really hadn't. She swallowed hard, her stomach suddenly feeling tight again.

"So…" she began, nerves setting in once more. "What does this mean for us?"

Draco now stared at her with an intensity that gave her a swooping sensation deep inside of her.

"What do you want it to mean?"

His answering question took her by surprise.

"I like you," she blurted out. His mouth twitched into a smile. "I want to see where things go, I suppose. Unless – "

"I would like that, too," Draco said in a calm, even voice. The smile had become genuine and Hermione couldn't help but respond with one of her own.

As the two finished their breakfasts, a thought occurred to Hermione.

"Draco," she began, "why were you in the Hog's Head before Christmas?"

"What brought that on?"

"I've been thinking about it since it happened," she admitted, blushing. A smile flitted across Draco's face.

"I was in town and the Three Broomsticks was far too packed to enjoy."

"What brought you to Hogsmeade anyway? That 'personal project' you mentioned ages ago?"

"I should have known you'd remember I said that," Draco said. Hermione could hear the smile in his voice. "Yes, it was about that. I was preparing a lecture on Dark Artefacts for Professor Thomas. When I saw you… that was just a bonus."

Hermione couldn't help but smile. "Who would have ever thought," she said, "the two of us together."

"Sometimes surprises aren't so bad." Draco walked over and kissed her. She responded in kind and they made their way back to his bedroom, where they spent the rest of the day.

This was the best way Hermione had ever welcomed the summer.