A/N: Okay, so I kind of started this on a whim, but I really like how this turned out. This is going to be one of my few fics where I don't kill my main characters in the end, so I must really like it... but anyway, PLEASE remember to review, and if you feel like bugging me or you want to read misc. drabbles that won't end up here (or advanced chapter/spoilers) visit my LJ. The links in my profile. Enjoy! Updates coming soon!

It's not at all what I had expected, waking up next to someone. Waking up next to Draco Malfoy, of all people, was even more disturbing. I made a mental note to refrain from any further consumption of alcohol as I sat up in bed, my arms folded across my chest and my face distorted in an ugly mixture of confusion, anger, and reluctant curiosity. I know my face looked like this because whatever inn in Hogsmeade I woke up, they had the gall to place the large funhouse style mirror directly across from my position in the bed. Well, after I untangled myself from the sheets and the pale body beside me that was practically a corpse, anyway.

No, waking up next to someone was not at all what I expected. It was supposed to be the meeting of two lovers after a long night of making love under the stars, and, if I was ever pressed by my parents, after you've been married. At the very least, it should've been after a sleepless night of having wild, hot, sweaty sex with each other that, drunk or not, neither of them would soon forget. Instead, I got Draco Malfoy.

I, Hermione Granger, got Draco Malfoy – the biggest, slimiest, most heartless git in all of Hogwarts. I would say 'in the entire wizarding world', but there is one person who's worse than he is. Until Draco Malfoy turns to genocide, that is.

I growled, glaring at myself angrily in the mirror. Way to go, Hermione. Well done. My snide mental remarks at myself only made me angrier. I threw some of my hair over my shoulder, turning to look at the sleeping ferret. It wasn't fair. Why couldn't I have woken up next to someone fun? Like Oliver Wood, or one of the Weasley twins? I sighed.

Well, whatever the case, time had certainly changed Draco Malfoy. Oh, he was still pale, with that sneer that made you want to hit him, and a personality that made you want to know the best way to hide a body, but he wasn't the same skinny kid that he was when he arrived at Hogwarts. He'd grown up, albeit slightly awkwardly and much to the dismay of others – particularly Harry, Ron, and I. He'd grown tall, over six feet I thought, and lean. He wasn't particularly well muscled, but the curves of his arms and his chest suggested a hidden strength. Besides, I thought, whatever he lacked in muscle, he made up for, well... down there. Even as my face flushed and I felt a sudden rush in my stomach, I couldn't look away. Not too quickly...

I closed my eyes and shook my head. "This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This isn't happening." I whispered to myself. "It's all... just... a bad dream." Even as I said it, the loud groan beside me didn't sound like a bad dream. The bright blue, deeply mischievous eyes that slowly opened and looked my sheet clad body up and down as a large, lecherous grin swept across the ferret's face didn't feel like a bad dream. As a matter of fact, if it had been anybody but Malfoy (and I suppose one of the Professors), it would probably have been a very good dream. Bonus points would be awarded for being able to remember.

"What was that, pet?" he asked, propping his head up on his arm and facing me, nude and unashamed. It was a foreboding and endearing kind of quality at the same time and I didn't know why I thought it so. "Did you say something?" Those hidden muscles did not appear so well hidden now, and I desperately wished he was wearing some pants.

It took me a couple minutes to find my words, or to remember how to speak, but when I did, he was going to get it! "Umm... why are we here?" That's it, Hermione! Really give it to him! His right eyebrow rose in amusement as he gave me that obnoxious smirk of his. Stupid prat.

"The great Hermione Granger needs me to tell her that?" Draco asked. Then he let out a loud laugh. "Don't tell me your filthy muggle parents didn't fill you in on the act." I scowled, and before I knew what I was doing, I had grabbed the first thing I could and gave his head a good whack. He didn't take my creative uses of his shoe too kindly. In fact, he grabbed my wrist roughly and squeezed it until I dropped said shoe. Oh, he definitely had strength, even if it wasn't immediately noticeable. In one swift motion, I dropped the shoe and dragged underneath him, my hands held above my head.

"Get off me, you prat!" I growled, struggling against him. He just sat there, delicately balanced on my waist so he didn't place too much pressure, grinning and laughing like the weasel that he was. It was embarrassing and infuriating. I was completely helpless, and I wouldn't stand for it. I just had to find the right way to move to kick him...

"Will you stop!" he snarled. It was growing harder for him to keep balanced with my legs shifting every few seconds, until finally, I found the right position and his back a good shove with my knee. Of course, it didn't work quite the way I'd planned. Instead, he fell forward on top of me, and for a brief moment the only thing between us was the thin cotton sheet, which did basically nothing. I felt my face flush again as the warmth of his body crept through the sheet and met with mine. I could say with full certainty that just because you couldn't see his muscle doesn't mean it wasn't there, and if it had been a different situation, I probably would've savored every moment that I could sit there, tracing my hands over every inch of him and drinking it in like an alcoholic after a long dry spell for as long as I possibly could. I probably already had.

Faces a mere inch apart, we lay there for a long moment, the longest moment. I could feel his heart pounding in his chest; feel his warm breath as it brushed against my forehead. I almost envied him, being able to breathe so easily. My breath wouldn't come to me. All I could do was stare up at him, into pools of a deep blue that seemed to hide so many things. I gulped, trying to make my brain work and failing miserably. It wasn't until I felt the soft brush of lips against mine, or the hand sliding down my arm and caressing my chin, that I realized exactly what was happening. My wits beginning to return, I gave him a good shove and jumped out of bed, tying the sheet around myself. Draco groaned and rolled his eyes as he watched my every move.

I gathered up my clothes, which had been haphazardly tossed around the room the previous night. I found my skirt by the door, my bra hanging off one of the bed posts, my shirt was in the tub in the bathroom, and my sweater was by the mirror. My panties were nowhere to be seen. "Where are my panties?" I heard a howl of laughter and shot up from my position by the bed, letting whatever blankets and sheets hadn't been tossed or tangled about fall to the floor. Draco sat on the bed, his pale face almost red with laughter. "WHERE. ARE. MY PANTIES."

"You mean you don't remember?" he asked after a long moment. I jumped up and shot across the room, heading for Draco's things. I grabbed his pants and started searching the pockets. "Hey!" He ran over to me and pulled them from my grasp. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm looking for whatever you gave me!" I snapped. That eyebrow rose once again.

"Whatever I gave you?" he asked, appearing shocked that I'd even considered the possibility. I stood as tall as I could, which really wasn't very impressive at 5'2 and a half, and glared up at him as murderously as I could.

"What was it?" I snapped. "GHB? Rohypnol?" He looked confused and offended at my interrogation.

"Rohipwhat?" he asked. I snarled and pointed an accusatory finger at him.

"YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE OF ME!" I screamed at him. His expression changed from confusion to anger, and for a moment, I was almost scared. Then I remembered my indignation, and I got over it. He shoved my finger out of the way.

"I. DID. NOT." he growled at me through gritted teeth. "Why do my women say that?" His women? Why that son of a...

"I AM NOT A WOMAN!"I yelled. Wait, that didn't come out right. He laughed and I reached up to give him one good slap across the face. He caught my arm mid-air and sneered down at me.

"Will you stop hitting me!" Annoyed that I'd been caught, I ripped my arm from his grasp and glared up at him.

"No!" I yelled, before turning around and grabbing my clothes, heading to the bathroom to dress. There was no way that I would be caught dead dropping my sheet in front of Malfoy. I slammed the door and set my clothes down on the counter by the sink, determined not to look at myself in the mirror and being unable to stop myself.

Untamable brown hair was brushed away from my face and the sheet that I had been clinging to as my lifeline was useless; I may as well have been wearing nothing. I grimaced. If time had good to Draco Malfoy, it had been detrimental to me. I had grown as tall as my mother and stopped. I wasn't a health food nut or an exercise addict like Lavender or Pavarti, and even though I was thin, I wasn't some kind of stick figure – at least, not the kind that Harry and Ron seemed to admire. I hadn't even grown in the bust department; actually, I was pretty sure that I had gotten smaller. On most days, I couldn't even stand to look at myself for very long.

I sighed, turning away from the mirror and looking at my clothes, wrinkled and lying in a heap. I sorted them out, pulling out my bra and struggling for a moment with the hooks in the back, then sliding on my shirt. I slid on my skirt, thankful that I'd chosen a longer and thicker one than usual for the cooler weather. I pulled on my sweater despite the warmth of the room, wanting as much there between myself and Draco as possible. After a few minutes of mentally preparing myself, I closed my eyes, grabbed the doorknob, and swung the door open, scowling when I found Draco still sitting on the bed, proud of his nudity. "Where are my shoes?" I asked. He shrugged, watching me as I stomped out of the bathroom and quickly surveyed the room. Spying my shoes, I quickly slid them on.

"You're sure you want to do this?" Draco asked suddenly. I placed my hands on my hips as I turned to face him.

"Do what?"

"Leave. We had a pretty good time last night." he answered. "You're very flexible." His face twisted into another one of his knowing, evil smirks. Infuriated, I opened my mouth to respond, hoping to come up with something very sharp and nasty that would completely level him and knock that obnoxious smirk off his face, but for the life of me, I couldn't come up with one. Growling, I turned and charged out of the room, slamming the door behind me. I could his laughter all the way down the hall as I left the inn.

The streets of Hogsmeade were quiet as I paced, trying to figure out where I was and what to do. The only people out were middle aged wizards heading to lunch. There wasn't a Hogwarts student or professor among them, and they all walked right past me, pushing me to the side as they made their way through the lunch rush. I had tried to ask one or two of them a question, like what the time was, or if they had seen one of the professors, or even if they'd seen Harry – of my two best friends, Harry was the more recognizable. No one listened, and in fact, they got angry at me for interrupting their day or their conversations. Finally, I gave up and chose the front stoop of an old, boarded up store to sit on, holding my head in my hands. It was wrong. It was all so very, very wrong.

"They've all left by now." I glanced up at the sound of Draco's voice. He was leaning against the wall of the store, arms crossed over his chest. "They left hours ago."

"Why won't you go away?" I whined. He chuckled, enjoying himself.

"So, what are you going to do now?" he sneered. I'm going to find a very convincing reason for beating you senseless with my shoe.

"I'm going to find a way back to Hogwarts." I said. Yeah, that sounded good. I'll go with that.

"With no money and no panties?" he asked. I shot him a look and he turned, examining his perfectly manicured nails. "I happen to have a bag of floo powder back in my room." My eyes narrowed. Fat chance I'm going back with you!

"I can find my own way back, thank you." I hugged my knees to my chest. He sighed.

"I tried." he muttered, turning and walking away. I closed my eyes, trying to think. I could fly back, except that I didn't know where to go, and I didn't have a broom. I could take a train back, but I didn't have any money. I could always send an owl to a professor, but then... I didn't have an owl. I sighed. Floo powder would definitely come in handy about now. Stupid ferret.

"Malfoy!" I yelled, hoping to catch him before he left. I stood up and ran, stopping at the side of the building. There was Draco, practically posing, with a wide grin. "Fine." I spat. "But only this once, and only because I'm desperate." He held out a hand for me to lead the way.

"Funny." he mused. "All my women say that too."