A/N: and of course, the delicious side dish that you all love. More on the sugar and less on the sin this time ;)
Epilogue
A few months later …
Draco was thrown against the door the second he stepped into the threshold. The flowers and chocolates fell to the floor.
"Whoa!" Draco immediately grabbed his wand to defend himself, but the familiar smell of oranges invaded his senses.
"Hermione?" he called out warily.
"Yes?" she answered breathily, voice completely hidden in the dark.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to ambush you. I was planning to toss you up against the wall and have my way with you," Hermione answered, voice shaking.
"My, my, my. How lascivious," Draco clucked his tongue and smirked, "You remind me of someone I knew."
"I … I know," came the quiet reply and a heavy sigh.
"What? What's wrong?"
Draco took out his wand and whispered a spell to light up the whole of Hermione's house.
"No, don't!" Hermione ran for the sofa, grabbing a shawl to cover up her otherwise naked body. She wrapped the stray red shawl around herself and tried to hold herself together.
Draco's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline.
"Why … why are you naked?" he asked.
Hermione's face turned as red as a telephone box and she remained quiet.
"Hermione?" Draco called out cautiously.
"I can't do it!" she threw a hand up in the air, surrendering. Her face was the epitome of embarrassment and defeat and Draco was confused.
"Do what, exactly?"
"This!" she gestured between the both of them, "I can't bring myself to do it!"
Draco's eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms.
"What do you mean? You can't bring yourself to date me anymore?"
"No, not that, Draco," she murmured.
Draco was impatient, as he started to tap his foot.
"It's been months, and I realize that I'm too shy," Hermione blurted, "I can't be as forward as you and I will die of embarrassment before I even initiate anything between us. And I thought today, for a change, instead of going for one of our dates where I would feel like a failure at the end, I would maybe … switch it up a bit. Try a different strategy – be a little bold and … thought that today would be the day that we get … intimate – oh Merlin, I can't even fucking say the word!" she tossed both hands up into the air and then into her bushy hair, completely lost and a mess.
Draco's smile was slow, and fond.
"And you thought you'd take your cues from someone we both are glad is gone? Someone I completely loathed and found repulsive, by the way?"
Hermione looked up at him with shining eyes and thinned lips.
"You're so very wrong, Hermione Granger," Draco informed her, marched up to her, grabbed her face and kissed her hard.
"Don't try to be somebody else," Draco whispered, bumping noses with her, "I prefer this version of Hermione Granger so much more."
"Really?" Hermione asked, eyes open and so honest.
"Yes, I like the fact that … this Hermione Granger would pretend to bump knees or hands with me during dinners, when she just wants me to read her mind and hold her hands," Draco pushed a curl behind her ear and kissed her pulse point.
"And then … she'd delay my leaving every time we say goodnight because again, she wants me to read her mind and kiss her goodnight when I don't," Draco said and kissed the other side of her neck, "Which is part of my scheme, by the way."
"Arse," Hermione muttered, but her eyes shut in bliss.
"Too many shameless and bold girls out there, and frankly, I'm tired of them. I want a shy, sweet Hermione Granger – who sometimes, surprises me with her willfulness and guts. And I especially like the fact that said willfulness and guts will dissipate around me. It flatters me."
"Yes, and we all know that we all exist to flatter you," Hermione rolled her eyes.
Draco ignored her.
"And I like …" he murmured, his hands caressing her sides through the shawl that barely covered anything, "A Hermione Granger that would turn red – as red as this shawl – when I take this off," he tugged at the shawl and with Hermione's flimsy wrapping, it fell apart at the slightest pressure and Hermione was naked as the day she was born, bared for Draco Malfoy to see.
True enough, Hermione did turn red – redder, maybe and she stood there, not knowing what to do.
"I like this clueless Hermione Granger who thinks so much about messing up or ruining the mood or what to do. It shows that she cares enough about what I think of her," Draco smiled and kissed her collarbone, hands caressing her bare hips, "That's adorable."
His hands wandered lower and lower and Hermione threw her arms around his shoulders as she hummed in surprise.
"I like a Hermione Granger that wants me so much that she doesn't know what to do," he grinned and his fingers slipped between her legs and started stroking.
Draco kissed her sweetly for long moments while stroking, and then with a sudden bout of strength, he carried her towards her dining table, used an arm to throw everything else onto the floor and placed Hermione on top of the table. The plates and tea cups landed on the floor with deafening crashes but they both paid no mind to them.
He pressed against her, crushing her nicely between the table and his own body.
"And I like the Hermione Granger that's with me right now," he confessed, staring into her chocolate eyes. "I truly do."
Hermione smiled and stroked his hair.
"Even my psychotic bits?"
"Even your psychotic bits," Draco nodded fervently.
Hermione began undressing Draco and they both learned each others' bodies slowly. Savouring, searching and worshipping.
In the throes of passion and blinding pleasure and an inundation of emotion, Hermione blurted, "You may like me, but I think I love you already."
"Yeah?" Draco laughed a little as he continued to move his hips in a way that made Hermione want to lose everything. "There's that sudden brazenness, but I think I love you too. We drive each other crazy, Hermione. I think that's love."
Hermione agreed, and they held each other the whole night.
So they say love is patient, love is kind, love is slowly losing your mind.
And Hermione's been there, but this type of craziness was so much better.
FIN.
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