This was not what Hermione had planned for her evening of patrol with the person she had least expected to get the Head Boy position. After all, what had Draco Malfoy done to earn that title? It was better to give it to Ernie or Harry or Neville or someone, anyone, who wasn't Draco Malfoy. But there was nothing she could do about it, she thought as she trudged down to the entrance hall where they were to meet.

McGonagall had had the sudden idea the week before to let the two patrol the corridors together instead of doing it separately as they had done all year.

Running a hand through her hair, Hermione made her way down the stairs and found that she was in the entrance hall before Malfoy. It wasn't like she was surprised, however. She had suspected as much.

Fixing the clip in her hair, Hermione stared around the hall, bored. If he was more than ten minutes late, she was starting without him.

She began tapping her foot impatiently, her arms folded across her chest in agitation.

It was just like the stupid Slytherin to have respect for time tables, especially when the times table collided with her, the Gryffindor Know-It-All Mudblood.

She snorted in disgust.

"Don't get your knickers in a wad, Granger," came Draco's cold voice.

Turning, she saw Draco leaning against a column, his ankles crossed casually, his eyes glinting in the firelight. He was smirking and Hermione suddenly felt uneasy.

This would be the first time she was alone with Malfoy and she wasn't sure she was okay with it.

"Well, let's get this over with," he said, striding forward.

Hermione cleared her throat and said, "Right. I was thinking we start up on the seventh floor and work our way down."

"That'll take all night!" he whined.

"Shove it," she snapped before stalking ahead of him, mounting the stairs.

"Sorry," he muttered under his breath as he followed her.

She took a seat passage concealed behind a tapestry and didn't bother to wait for Malfoy. He would catch up sooner or later and she was hoping for the later. She preferred patrolling alone. It gave her time to think.

"What's up with you tonight, Granger?" Malfoy asked as he shoved aside the tapestry. "Did the Weasel get under your skin?"

"Even if that were the case," Hermione said airily, "it's none of you business, Malfoy, so I suggest you keep that pointy nose out of it."

She heard him snarl and grinned with satisfaction. If she could get under his skin for once, she thought, then maybe tonight wouldn't be so bad.

Hermione cried out, however, when she felt his hand take her arm in a vice like grip.

"What the hell, Malfoy?" she cried, looking at him indignantly.

"Watch your mouth, Granger, or else I'll curse you into oblivion," Malfoy warned.

He released her arm and she wrenched it out his reach, her eyes blazing.

"Don't touch me again, Malfoy, or I'll hex you into oblivion," she retorted, rubbing the spot where his hand had clamped down on her arm. She was sure it would bruise later.

He chuckled humorlessly.

"Are we going to start a duel, then, Mudblood?"

Her lip curled in disgust.

"You haven't changed at all," she spat. "I thought that after Voldemort was killed and you and your family were forgiven, you might have changed your outlook on things. But I can see now that that was stupid of me to think. You're just the same as ever. You're a disgusting, bullying pig, Malfoy."

She turned on her heel and stalked off, fuming.

Sure, his mother was right to have been forgiven. It was she, after, who had saved the Wizarding world by lying to Voldemort about Harry being dead, even if it was only a ploy to find and save her bastard of a son.

"I think I've gotten under your skin, Granger," Malfoy said cheerfully as he caught up to her.

"You always get under my skin, Malfoy," Hermione admitted darkly.

He laughed openly.

"Which was, naturally, my goal in life, Granger. Getting under your skin and irritating the hell out of you."

"It wouldn't surprise me."

She caught his eye and was surprised to find that he was actually, really laughing. He was enjoying himself.

"Oh, God, what now, Malfoy?" she asked wearily.

"Nothing," he said innocently, walking past her.

She narrowed her eyes at him and said, "I don't believe you. You're up to something."

"Not everyone is up to something, Granger, as you seem to think I am," Malfoy said lightly, turning the corner.

"Shove it," Hermione snapped.

"Out of word choices, Granger?" he laughed.

She rolled her eyes at him.

"You're acting like a child, Malfoy," she pointed out. "I'm not used to it."

"What do you mean?" he asked, still grinning.

"You're actually laughing, and not your usual cruel laughing," she explained, slowing to a stop. Malfoy stopped too and watched her closely. "In the whole eight years I've had the misfortune of knowing you, you've always made jokes about me and you've never actually looked happy while you did it. But now? Now, you're laughing and actually having a jolly good time while doing it."

He smirked. "You're too paranoid, Granger, has anyone ever told you that?"

"If you think I ought to skip around while patrolling the school halls with you, then you've gone mental."

His face turned serious.

"You know, Granger, I've never actually hated you," he said suddenly.

Hermione was taken aback and not convinced at all.

"Then why did you always torment me? And don't you think I'll ever forget that you hexed my teeth," she added warningly.

He chuckled again, but then he turned serious again.

"What you don't understand, Granger – Hermione – is that I was doing what was expected of me," he explained slowly. "My whole life, I was told that Muggleborns weren't true wizards and witches and that they were dirty somehow. For a while, I believed my father. But then I met you and you, well, you excelled in class. You were this Muggleborn girl who was better at magic than most Pureblood wizards I knew – and I was jealous. My father was angry, of course, that I did worse than you, so I struck out at you. I hated you because you were better than I was. But then there was also the expectation of my family. I couldn't very well get chummy with a Mudblood Gryffindor. It would give me a bad reputation, see?"

He looked at her, his gray eyes pleading for her to understand and, miraculously, Hermione did understand.

Without thinking, she reached out and touched Malfoy's arm gently, her mind still reeling with the fact that he had actually used her first name.

"I am sorry," he said sincerely. "Can you forgive me, Hermione?"

She hesitated and then smiled.

"I'll think about it."

He let out a breath of relief. "I'll take that over a flat-out no."

"Come on, we've still got to get up to the seventh floor so we can – "

Her words were cut short by Draco Malfoy's mouth covering hers in a heated kiss.

Struggling away, she managed to slip out of his grasp and slammed into the opposite wall, her eyes wide, her breathing heavy.

"Malfoy, what the hell is wrong with you?" Hermione demanded.

Instead of looking sheepish, he looked unfazed.

"You just kissed me!" she cried. "You kissed me! What the -? I thought you hated me!"

"I never hated you, Hermione," he said evenly.

"But-but you always made fun of me!"

He shrugged noncommittally and walked towards her slowly until she could feel his breath on her cheek. She was frozen on to spot, unable to move, not daring to breathe.

"What would you do if you loved someone you were supposed to hate?" he whispered, his breath tickling her ear.

Her mind went blank as he pulled back to look at her, his gaze intense.

Slowly, his hand reached up and stroked her cheek and she shivered under his touch. Her eyes closed of their own accord and she suddenly felt an unfamiliar ache to be touched by him.

Opening her eyes again, they flicked down to his lips and then back to his eyes that were darkening with some unknown emotion.

"You loved me?" she managed to gasp out before his mouth crashed down on hers.

On their own volition, her arms wound around his neck, her hands twisting in his white-blonde hair. She struggled to pull him closer and she felt her body arch as his hands moved from her face to her shoulders and down to her waist.

He began pulling her back and she was vaguely aware that they were in a classroom.

She pulled one hand away to get her wand. Breaking the kiss, she muttered, "Muffliato" and then dropped her wand on the floor before bringing her lips back to his.

Her back hit a desk and, suddenly, Malfoy was nearly on top of her, his mouth leaving hers to roam over her jaw and neck. His hands untucked her shirt and she felt his hands on her skin. Gooseflesh erupted all over as his hands skimmed over her.

"We really shouldn't be doing this," she gasped as his hands left her skin to unbutton her shirt.

She felt the bite of cold air on her exposed flesh and let out a gasp when Draco's mouth touched between her breasts.

His hands moved to her bra and, suddenly, his mouth was on one of her hardening mounds.

Hermione moaned, pulling his face closer. She was vaguely aware that one hand was roaming lower and lower, but she wasn't bothered with it until she felt her panties get pulled down.

Her eyes fluttered open and she saw that his eyes were a storm gray as he stood over her.

Without another thought, her hands fumbled for the clasp of his pants and she wrenched them over his hips.

He grinned as he lowered his mouth back to her stomach, his hands pulling her skirt down.

Hermione was suddenly aware that she was naked with Draco Malfoy doing the undressing.

"It's not fair," she mumbled.

"What's not?" Draco asked, his voice muffled against her flesh.

"That I'm naked and you aren't."

He looked up, flashing a grin, before he unbuttoned his own shirt and then tossed it aside.

"I'll let you do the rest," he said with a wicked grin.

Her hands deftly pulled silky green boxers down and she had to suppress a gasp.

She wasn't a virgin, she thought as Draco pushed her back further on the desk so that she was lying flat against the cool surface, but nor was Krum's, well, that big.

He kept teasing her with his mouth and she was beginning to get impatient when, suddenly, his fingers plunged into her wet core.

She cried out, her hands grasping the edges of the desk, her back arching, as he stroked her slowly, tauntingly.

Moving her hips against his hand, her eyes opened slowly to watch him, his own eyes on hers.

She reached the first peak and was rewarded with him plunging himself into her.

Pulling his mouth to hers, they began moving in sync, wave after wave, hitting her. He took her higher and higher until, together, they rode up and over the top.

With a final grunt, he emptied himself into her and then collapsed on top her.

She stroked back his hair, his forehead slick from their shared passion, and let his head rest against her chest before lifting it to kiss his lips.

"I can say that I have dreamt about that for nearly eight years," Draco whispered against her lips.

She merely grinned and kissed him again.

After what felt like ages, Draco finally moved off her and began pulling his clothes back on while Hermione watched him, still lying relaxed on the desk.

"You'll want to get dressed," he advised as he pulled on his pants.

"I really don't," she replied.

He arched a look at her, a grinning playing on his lips.

"What are you saying, Granger?"

"That I want another dose of whatever that was, Malfoy."

Grinning, he moved back over to her and, with renewed vigor, Hermione took control this time.

Later that night, when Hermione was back in her room, she sat on her bed, grinning like a fool.

Admittedly, she had never thought about Draco that way but, maybe, once when he looked like he could use a good night's sleep in their sixth year. She hadn't thought of having sex with him, no that had never occurred to her. But she had wanted to help him relax and forget his troubles.

Hermione felt a flush creep into her cheeks when she thought about what they had done, but she didn't regret it. But she was surprised at how gentle he had been the last time.

Maybe he did love her, she thought giddily, and maybe he didn't. But whatever that was, she would happy to have that again, even if it wasn't what she had had planned for the night.

The last thought she had before falling asleep was that she wouldn't mind having another unplanned patrol with Draco Malfoy again.

This is my first ever fanfic like this and I hope it's good. So give me some criticism , good or bad. It's all welcome.