AN/: Hey again! LONG time no see and I apologise for that, I've talked to some of you but I'll just reiterate...I'm so unbelievably busy and unfortunately I'm frequently ill and that's basically all I'm able to say...but just know that I will never abandon this story even though it may be a long process, I'm just so incredibly grateful to those of you who have been so patient...I hope to aim to prove to you people that patience is indeed a virtue :)

So I've revamped all the chapters, finding grammar mistakes and making it flow more and also Hermione's mum is no longer dying and if you want to catch up quickly without having to read all the previous chapters again just take a look at the short flashback in chapter 8, it's pretty easy to find x

I've missed you all :)

Chapter 23: The Kisses & Confessions of Alcoves

Sadly, the reality outside of Draco's devilishly expensive bed sheets was calling, plus, after all the recent, strenuous activity, their stomachs were growling. It was time for dinner...

"Noooo, don't go." Draco pleaded from among the mass of tousled bed sheets, whilst clinging onto Hermione's wrists. He sat up making puppy dog eyes at Hermione as she attempted to go to the bathroom to clean up.

"Ha. Draco, I don't know about you but I really have to eat!" She smiled. "I think it is safe to say we worked up quite the appetite." Draco smiled at this.

"Fine." He sighed, agreeing reluctantly at the same time as making a pout with his lips. Well, Hermione could barely resist that now, could she? So, whilst still tangled among the warmth of the bed sheets, she quickly leant forward to capture that delightful lower lip between her teeth and delicately sucked on it. Hermione's mouth tingled as Draco hummed into the kiss and for a while they both just revelled in the peacefulness and the sensations of the sweet and simple act.

"Come on, I'm in desperate need of a shower..." Hermione said as she leapt out of the bed, making her way to the bathroom. Draco made a move to follow and ended up smiling as his gaze fell upon her tattoo and leisurely he shuffled towards the edge of the mattress only to swing his feet round to rest them on the wooden floor. He made an 'I've just woken up' grumble, ran his strong hands through his rugged bed head and abruptly grinned with untamed eyes...he's a Slytherin after all, remember?

"So is it true, what you said the other day?" He asked with almost too much indifference.

"Is what true?" Hermione asked, turning around in all her glory.

"You know." He smiled. "That you, er, like to be dirty?" Draco dragged his eyes up and down Hermione's body in a purposefully non discreet way, all before smirking like a mad man possessed, not in a creepy way of course...Draco doesn't do creepy.

This is his idea of semi-pillow talk? Hermione found his way of trying to entice her back to bed thoroughly amusing and incredibly adorable. Yes, Draco Abraxas Malfoy is adorable.

Hermione's mouth fell open to say something else but it was very likely something about his existing expression that made Hermione change her mind and instead she said...

"On occasion..." Hermione said with a seductive smile topped off with a wink.

"What?!" Draco gawked.

"You know, from time to time..." Draco wasn't grinning anymore, but Hermione was and she was finally able to walk away into the bathroom.

"That's when she chooses to walk away from me?!" Draco was a bit peeved, complaining to no one in particular but he was still amused. How could I have ever thought her, that seductress, to be a virgin? Merlin, help me! I think I love her...

Draco was knocked out of his stoop when he heard a voice calling from the bathroom...

"DOES THAT OFFER STILL STAND, DRACO?! YOU KNOW, THE ONE ABOUT THE SHOWER..." He was up and off the bed in a flash, faster than Madam Hooch could say the word snitch.

"Gaaaah Draco!" Laughter along with running water could be heard coming from the head's bathroom and needless to say their shower took up much more time than what was strictly necessary to clean one's self.

Roughly 45 minutes later...

"So it's called a bellybutton ring?" Hermione nodded her head, stepping out from behind the portrait of the cranky old woman. "Well I guess that's logical." Draco smiled, falling into step beside her.

"Yes and I believe we have established that you are a very logical person, haven't we Draco?" Hermione smiled.

"We have, love." He approved happily.

Hermione and Draco were finding out more about each other as they ambled along down to the Great Hall for Sunday dinner at around quarter past six that evening. Hermione's right arm was now slung comfortably around Draco's waist and his left arm was draped tenderly across her shoulders.

"Tell me about your piercing." She said, reaching up to gently tug on Draco's ear lobe with her free hand.

"My father took me to get it done." Hermione was shocked at this.

"Wh...really?" She asked perplexed.

"Really." Draco smiled, nodding. "I take it from you're expression you were expecting something else."

"Well yes." Hermione said, smiling. "If anything I thought it was going to be the result of some sort of teenage rebellion or perhaps Blaise made you do it. I never thought that you father would take you." Draco shrugged. "Sorry Draco, I'm being judgemental again. It's just for such a long time we've all had...I've had this preconceived idea of your father and I'll admit that it didn't involve much male bonding. Sorry."

"Hermione, it's fine. You're not the only one who has judged a book too harshly and hastily by its cover. I'm pretty sure that most people are guilty in that respect...I know I am. It's fine, really." She stopped him for a moment so that she was able to kiss his cheek.

"Continue." She smiled encouragingly.

"My father took me because when he was 15 years old he got his ear pierced as well...now I believe that actually was an act of teenage rebellion."

"What happened?"

"I think that it went something along the lines of my great-grandfather saying something insulting to my grandmother, his daughter in law, and my father wasn't very happy about his grandfather being rude to his mother so my father ultimately wanted to piss off great-grandaddy Septimus and apparently the horrible old coot firmly believed in men not wearing jewellery." Draco summed up rather nicely. "My father never went into much more detail than that and he only told me because when I was about eight I asked if I could have one just like him and he told me that if I still wanted one when I was 15 he'd take me."

"That's incredibly sweet, Draco. Though I've never noticed that your father has one..."

"Not many people do. I think it's because of all of his hair; it does a good job of hiding it. I think that's probably why he has it long...I can imagine that Septimus would have become extremely angry and when he was alive I've heard that he still had quite the hold over my grandfather Abraxas, luckily I never had the misfortune of meeting him and if my father wasn't going to take the piercing out the least he could've been told to do was grow his hair long enough to hide it and I guess that gradually the style just grew on him." Draco smiled, reminiscing.

"Your family is so interesting." Hermione stated after Draco had finished speaking.

"We have our moments." Draco laughed as they continued down yet another moving staircase.

"I can't speak for the rest of your family but I know that you certainly do and...I find the piercing incredibly sexy by the way." She smiled as Draco prevented her from walking any further so that he could lean down with the intent of kissing her but Hermione beat him to it.

"In case it wasn't clear, thank you Bookworm. You know, you always seem to come up with the best answers...in and out of class, don't you?" He said once he'd pulled away, Hermione grinned as they carried on walking.

"Speaking of your father though, how are you feeling...about his release?" She asked after a moment or two.

"I'm very pleased but I honestly don't know much other than what you showed me in the Profit so I had intended to owl my mother this evening to try and find out some more of what's going on."

"I think that sounds like a plan." Hermione smiled.

Draco nodded. "I'll do it after my patrols this evening."

"Oh...Who's are you patrolling with?" Hermione questioned, suddenly sounding worried.

"Don't worry, it's not Weasley. Besides I'm sure the fool is still in the hospital wing...I'm patrolling with Longbottom."

"Phew...Neville should be fine." Hermione sighed in relief. "Actually, I'm glad you have patrols tonight anyway." Draco laughed.

"Sick of me already, are we?"

"No, don't be silly." She said kindly, stroking the side of his face. "It's just you and your delicious behind have basically distracted me all weekend and I've done no work at all."

Draco laughed outright at this. "I think I understand...all sex and no homework makes Hermione no longer a bookworm, correct?" Draco smiled.

"Ding. Ding. Ding." Hermione smiled. "People don't give you enough credit Draco darling." Hermione mocked as they reached the doors of the Great Hall. Both of his hands suddenly shot to her waist and pulled her flush against him just outside of the entrance.

"Mmmm. I like it when you call me darling." Draco spoke quietly to her and Hermione smiled, her arm coming up to wrap around his neck.

"Mmmm. I like it when you give me reason to darling...take now for instance." Hermione replied standing up on her tiptoes and biting her lip in a way that Draco once again found breathtakingly beautiful.

Out of the sight of the oblivious crowd which was presently eating what smelt like roast beef in just the next room, Hermione and Draco contentedly leant towards each other and when their mouths met it was the purest of magics.

The two unlikely souls both truly believed with all their hearts that the emotion that they were experiencing right then could have easily blown them away. Yet, remarkably, at the same time it was those tremendous emotions that were just about the only things keeping the two of them firmly grounded to the world as they knew it at that very moment in time.

Their breaths caught in their throats as they held each other even closer. The warmth of Draco's strong muscles made Hermione's skin tingle all over and without even realising it her tongue snuck out only to wet his lips. Both teens' eyelids had fluttered closed by this point as the heavy haze of the kiss was truly overwhelming.

The power of attraction was phenomenal.

The kiss...the kiss was intoxicating.

Just as Draco had guided Hermione backwards and into a small alcove, a clatter of cutlery and plates from the adjacent room brought the pair zooming back down to earth. They gasped in the shadows, breathing heavily when they parted.

"I umm...that was..." Draco tried to say, licking his lips but he was finding it hard to speak.

"Yeah...I umm..." Hermione smiled, trying to catch her breath; they both soon found the humour in the situation and began to laugh.

"I think you're right about the distractions, Hermione. If we carry on like this, you and I will do no more homework for the rest of the year." He laughed as he rested his forehead against hers, panting, Hermione smiled.

"Listen Draco...that...I've never felt...I..." She audibly swallowed and Draco understood that she wanted to say something serious so he encouraged her by rubbing her arms before making those small, enticing circles with the pads of his thumbs on the small of her back and just under the hem of her shirt.

"Go on."

"It's just...even when you kiss me; I have never felt anything like that before. You...you make me want to do inexplicable things and my tattoo...oh my god Draco...just now I thought my tattoo was going to take off and fly away and I swear I have never felt more beautiful. You make me feel beautiful." She said in a final whisper.

Draco's hand that was home to his family ring came up to lightly brush a curl off of Hermione's cheek before coming to rest at the nape of her neck; his fingers wound into her hair, gently massaging and soothing her.

"Firstly, you have never looked more beautiful than you do right now; and Hermione...Merlin! When I kiss you...it's like nothing I have ever even imagined feeling before. I didn't know it was humanly possible to feel like this." Draco said in a hoarse voice, his lips still buzzing from their earlier embrace. "You make me dizzy and in these past few days I have physically felt my inner self falling apart and falling from sanity more and more each time I kiss you...or touch you." Draco whispered as his nose ran up and down the length of hers and his thumb ghosted over the outline of her swollen and rosy lips.

Hermione gasped at Draco's confession and she couldn't help but let a tear escape her but Draco caught it before it could even stain her cheek, swiftly kissing it away.

"I feel the same." Hermione smiled, as did Draco. "I feel the same."

They were both brought back from their own little world by the sound of Hermione's stomach growling...they both looked down and laughed.

"Can I meet you in there? I need a moment to cool off." Draco said as he gestured to his nether regions, smiling.

"Yeah, of course. You know, if my stomach hadn't growled, I'm almost certain I would have forgotten about food again." Hermione joked.

"Go eat." Draco said. "Seeing your sexy arse is making it no easier for my...me...to settle down." Draco grinned.

"I'll see you in there." Hermione winked and took a well need breath as she stepped out of the alcove before steeping into the Great Hall.

Oh my god...I'm so in trouble...thought Hermione as she went and found Harry in the midst of pouring mint sauce onto a slice of lamb. Oh lamb, it's not beef, I was wrong...

Meanwhile, back in the alcove, Draco was finding it very hard to picture a naked McGonagall when all he could think was...

I didn't know the true meaning of happiness until Her...Her and her exhilarating kisses.

Xx

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AN/: Wow! Well, it's safe to say this has been a long time coming. I felt quite emotional writing this chapter and I can't explain why but I'm begging you for some feedback. Right now I feel like I'm in the twilight zone or something and I have mixed views and opinions about this chapter, I can't tell if I like or not but I know you'll tell me the truth so PLEASE REVIEW and let me know what you think, I'm very interested in hearing your opinion