Title: Being Love's Bitch
Author: vegetasbubble

Summary: Two years after the War, Hermione Granger has made peace with the events that unfolded in her young life. She even went as far to become friends with Draco Malfoy. But being friends led to something more and that something more is starting to become something very powerful. EWE.

Quote/ Inspiration: "You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, its blood; blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it." – Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 3

Rating: M, contains coarse language, sexual references and scenes.

Authors Notes: Okay, so its raining like cats and dogs here at the moment and I decided to search the Internet for some romantic quotes from TV and remembered this one from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and thought it fit with these two quite well. Just a one-shot. Enjoy.

\ Being Love's Bitch /

Sweaty bodies, exhausted from their hour-long activity, stretched in the large, silken sheet bed. One arm of the man lay across his eyes as he breathed heavily, his breath coming in quick gasps, while the other lay under the woman, clutching her to his side as she breathed heavily also.

"Wow," Hermione Granger exclaimed, laughing slightly at the intensity she felt not only between her legs but also under her skin. Beads of sweat prickled up from her breasts and began to drip onto her chest. "That… That was really good."

"Glad you approve," her bed partner mocked, a smile gracing his lips as he continued to hide beneath his arm. Hermione turned slightly and watched as chest heaved up and down with each breath. Draco Malfoy chuckled as he ran a hand through his platinum blonde hair rested it above his head on the large pillow.

"Its almost noon," Hermione mentioned, nodding her head towards the large grandfather clock situated near the door of his bedroom. He followed her eyes and groaned heavily, hugging her to him and hiding his face in her post coital hair.

"No its not, the clock is lying," he replied, though Hermione could feel the smile on her skin. She ran a hand down his back, loving how he felt so warm after they had sex, especially in the middle of winter.

"Come on, your roommates will be home soon and I don't want to do the walk of shame again."

"Theo and Blaise would never say anything to anyone, Granger, you know that." She rolled her eyes at his use of her surname and turned away from his hold, reaching for her discarded underwear. Standing up in a matching pair of black lace, she placed her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"Well if you were smart enough to lock the door, or charm it or something! I can't believe they walked in on us."

"With you riding the dragon," he chuckled and in that moment she hated him. Two years of secrecy had gone to hell the previous week when they had been caught on Draco's bed, Hermione riding him as he had said, by Draco's fellow Slytherins and roommates. Though they had promised they wouldn't say anything, the fact that Blaise and Theo saw them still irked her. "Oh come on, Granger, it was a joke."

"Not a very funny one," she mentioned, grabbing her dress and tights and getting dressed. Pulling on her knee high leather boots and grabbing her warm coat, Hermione made for the door when Draco shot out of bed, completely naked and grabbed her hand, pulling her back against his warm, naked flesh.

"Hey," he whispered, kissing her neck, "It'll be fine. The guys know what this is. Purely physical." She stiffened at his words. Sure their relationship had started that way – a drunken one night stand with Draco encouraging them to meet a least twice a week to work off their annoyances and emotions – but over the course of two years, Hermione had begun to feel differently. She had begun to look forward to their weekly visits and even began flirting with him when they were around their friends. A kiss on the cheek here, a hug there. Surely he didn't still think that this was all just for the sex. Noticing her stiffness, Draco squeezed her again. "You okay?"

"No…no I'm not. Now let me go. I'm meeting Harry for lunch," she snapped, pulling out of his hold and wrenching the bedroom door open. Draco stood dumbfounded, naked and confused in his bedroom as he watched the woman he had only moments ago, been kissing and hugging and loving.

"Uh…mate," came the startled and slightly embarrassed voice of his housemate, "want to possibly put some pants on?" Blaise Zabini, one of Draco's best friends and roommates, stood with his arms crossed and eyebrow quirked. Though the two had shared many things together – girls, drinks and maybe even the occasional Muggle drug here and there – seeing his best friend naked was not on the list of sharing. Glaring at his Italian friend, Draco strode forward and slammed the door closed, more angry and pissed off than he had felt in a long time.

\*/

Hermione slumped down in the seat at the café, surprising Harry as he took a sip of his coffee. "Bad day?" he asked, eyebrow raised and looking confused.

"Urgh, don't even get me started," Hermione complained, "do you think they'll get me some wine?"

"You want wine? At one in the afternoon?" he asked her, watching as she placed her head in her hands and breathed heavily, "Hermione, want to tell me what's been going on?"

"Just busy is all. Being the Head Researcher for the Minister is a trying profession you know," she joked, aiming the statement to her friend across from her. The youngest Ministry in history fixed his glasses and cleared his throat.

"Yes well," he started. "Honestly, I think its something else and if you can't tell me, maybe I should guess."

"You would never be able to," she muttered under her breath, which Harry only to clearly heard.

"Hermione, I know about you and Malfoy," Harry stated, making her eyes widen.

"What? How?" she asked, flustered and annoyed and promising vengeance on whoever had spilled the beans.

"Please, two years and you thought no one noticed. You don't think anyone noticed the subtle looks you two share, the fact that you're both always away at the same time, that you seem to dress up more when Malfoy is going to be at an event."

"I dress up for every Ministry event," Hermione piped up, knowing she was just digging herself further in.

"Your dresses were shorter and more revealing at events that Malfoy attended. Trust me Hermione, everyone knows about you and Malfoy. We were all just waiting for you to admit it yourself."

"We're just friends." Harry rolled his eyes and took his friend's hand.

"Hermione, you and I are friends. You and Ron and Ginny and Luna are friends. You and Draco Malfoy, are not friends. Now, I may know about your… whatever it is, but you may see if differently. Maybe you're dating, maybe not. Maybe you're just shagging buddies or maybe you're both desperately in love with each other but just can't admit it."

"I do not love Draco Malfoy," Hermione responded, taking her hand back and straightening up, a tell tale sign that she was lying and one Harry knew quite well.

"Hermione, you're not friends with Draco Malfoy. You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, its blood; blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it." Hermione watched, with eyebrow raised and confusion on her face, as Harry took one last sip of his coffee and placed some money on the table. He stood up, kissed her forehead and made to leave. "Just remember that," he mentioned as he walked off, clock blowing around his frame.

Hermione Granger had just gained a new respect level for her best friend.

\*/

Throwing the keys to her flat on the table, Hermione sighed heavily. It had been almost a week since she had seen Draco and Harry's words were still affecting her in some way or another. She knew she missed him, that much was evident by the way her body wanted his but she knew she also missed him, his voice, his face, the way he spooned her in the middle of the night without meaning to.

Sitting on her couch, Hermione looked around her. She hadn't really been home that much in two years, spending more time at work and at Draco's flat. Usually she just popped in to feed Crookshanks or asked her neighbour to but more often than not she wasn't home. Her ability to charm her clothes into anything she wished allowed for quick wardrobe changes at work before events and spending time at Draco's flat was usually overnight.

In just a week, Hermione was sick of her flat. She was sick of fighting her feelings. She missed him.

She loved him.

Knocking on her door snapped her from her thoughts. Love, she thought, standing and making her way to the front door, yeah right. Like he would ever love me. All we do is fight and have sex.

Smiling to herself, she opened the door, expecting anyone else…

… but him.

Draco Malfoy was standing on her doorstep, looking tired and unshaven and like absolute crap. While he was still dressed relatively nicely, in Muggle jeans and a warm coat, the stubble on his cheeks and the lines under his eyes were apparent to her and made her want to cry.

"Hey," he said, stuffing his hands into his jeans pockets.

"Hi," she replied, leaning against the doorframe for support. She wanted to faint. She wanted to hug him. Hermione didn't know what to do.

"Can we talk?" he asked, mentioning to her couch. She nodded and he stepped inside, watching as she closed the door behind him and locked it. He grinned at that.

"Please," she said, pointing to the couch. He sat down, stroked Crookshanks before the cat ran off to hide in Hermione's bedroom and looked around. This was the first time he had ever been in her flat. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Uh…just water please," he answered, watching as she moved around the small kitchen, "How do you even live here? It's so small."

"I haven't really been here…" Hermione trailed off pouring his a glass of cold water. He heard her sigh and turned and saw her leaning over the sink. Jumping up from the couch, Draco joined her in the kitchen and wrapped his arms around her middle. She dropped the glass in the sink; ignoring the glass breaking and feeling the tears fall down her face.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered in her ear, "Hermione please… please listen to me. I should have said that, I know that now. What we have… what this is… Oh for gods sake… I want this Hermione, I want you… no one else. I want to kiss you whenever I want to, shag you without the fear of getting caught and casing a scandal. I want to hold your hand in public and take you out to dates and show the whole bloody world that you are mine."

"I've missed you, so much Draco," she whispered back to him. He turned her in his arms and took in her tear stained face and red eyes. " I want all those things as well."

"Then lets have them."

"But our friends – "

"Fuck 'em," Draco stated, cupping her face in his hands and wiping away the stray tears on her cheeks, "Hermione I don't care about anyone anymore. My father is dead, Mother is off gods know where spending her money and the only people I care about in this whole fucked up world are you, Blaise and Theo."

"Harry knows. Supposably everyone does, really. They've just been waiting for us to admit it ourselves."

"Then lets do that," he said, "Lets share our love with the world because that's what it is. Love. I love you Hermione Jean Granger and have for two years. Physical relationship my arse. Had you banned me from sex I would have still hung around because I love you. I love everything about you. And I don't want it to end."

"Me either," she whispered back as he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her hard. Hermione had missed this, his touch and his kiss and his smell. He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her against him and tightened his hold on her. Releasing his lips, she smiled gently. "I love you Draco. I do. I'm sorry it's taken this long to say it."

"Its okay," he whispered back, kissing her forehead, "I love you." Hermione leaned her forehead against his.

"So," he whispered to her, taking her hand gently, "did you want to show me the rest of your flat?"

"Really?" she asked him, eyebrow quirked and pulling him towards the bedroom. "My bed is smaller than yours."

"That's okay," he replied, kicking the door closed behind them and falling onto the bed on top of her, "we'll just have to stay extra close then." Hermione smiled before his lips overtook hers. Maybe they would fight and fuck and then feel wonderful but she was okay with that. She was okay with being love's bitch.

FIN

So this story took a long time and so many different roads and I don't know if I like the way it ended. I've felt horrible that I haven't written anything in a long while and while this isn't a continuation of the many other stories I have up, at least I have written something. Maybe I have gotten over my writers block. Hopefully I have. Leave a review if you enjoyed the story. Thanks all.