Amber

Hey guys reposted due to all the changes. Hope you still enjoy. Don\'t forget to feed the author. Happy reading!! ~Ivy

The portrait swung shut behind her. Draco barley spared her a courtesy glance. She stormed across the common room and threw her bag across her desk. He was fairly comfortable with this situation. She was, after all, coming from her weekly study session with Potter and Weasley.

“What did they do this time Princess?” Draco asked good-naturedly. He had in fact been calling her Princess since shortly before the final battle.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Three Months Ago~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Draco Malfoy if you so much as look at me I will hex off your favorite body part!” Hermione shouted.

“Merlin Granger, it’s not like Harry got that mad. He saw it for what it was a little bit of fun to break the ice.”

Hermione knew that Draco had thrown a spoonful of Molly’s mashed potatoes to break the ice. It was the first time he had been to headquarters since they all found out he was a spy. The tension around the table had been thick, so Draco did what he did best. He started a fight.

He beaned Harry right in the face with said spoonful of mashed potatoes. Harry looked at the boy in disbelief until Draco blew him a kiss across the table. Harry took a handful of potatoes and responded in kind to the attack. Hermione knew she couldn’t really be mad at anyone. Draco had done what needed to be done. However, she was still covered from head to toe in what would have been dinner.

“Yes, but I got covered with most of what you were flinging.”

“Do you see the pudding in my hair? I believe it started out the night on your plate,” Draco stated.

Hermione blushed, “well, you hit Harry. You didn’t honestly think I would sit back and allow that did you?”

“Gryffindor Princess protecting her pride, I wouldn’t have expected any less.”

“You Malfoys seem to think you are pretty royal.”

“We are but that’s because we always have been. You Princess were picked by society. Not out of fear or money, but heart. That’s the difference.”

“Prince or not Draco, watch yourself. It’s going to take me all night to wash all this food out of my hair.” Hermione stepped into one of the bedrooms. With so many people in and out of headquarters these days you put your stuff in one room and went to sleep wherever you landed. Draco followed her in leaning against the door frame.

“It would be a pleasure to help you with your dilemma Princess. Let’s finish this in the shower.” With a flick of her wrist she slammed the door on Draco. He never saw the blush deepen on her face.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Let’s over look the fact that they expect me to do their work for them. Not that that wouldn’t be bad enough mind you.” Hermione was pacing in front of the fireplace. “Then they have the nerve to talk about girls as if I wasn’t even there!”

“Heavens no Princess, not seventeen year old boys talking about girls! When will the madness end?” Draco questioned marking the page in his book and placing it on the low table.

Hermione stopped pacing, calmly walked over to her desk, picked up her things and headed to her room. She passed by Draco head down, hair covering her face, and closed and locked her bedroom door.

The Prince sat puzzled in the common room for a few minutes playing the scene over in his head again. He hadn’t said anything she would have considered out of line. Normally when she came back in a foul mood he could just joke her out of it. He wondered what they had done to upset her so much.

Hermione heard a soft knock on her door and ignored it. She would apologize tomorrow for being so rude. A silent tear trickled down her cheek. They hadn’t said she was ugly, but in case they hadn’t noticed she was a girl. If they didn’t even notice how could she expect anyone else to? She knew they would never think of her as anything more then a sister. That was fine she didn’t want to be attracted to her. She thought of them as brothers but still knew they were boys with out it having to need it pointed out to her. The tears were falling freely now.

Her mother and she had gone out over the summer, before the war. They had gone to a spa and done girly things. The women at the spa showed Hermione how to tame her hair into soft ringlets instead of crazy knots. After the spa Hermione’s mother took her to get new clothes, including a rather lengthy visit to the underwear section. You’d think they were buying for Hermione’s wedding night the way they were spending. ‘when it happens you’ll want o be ready.” Was all her mother kept saying. Well, she was ready; too bad there was no one to be ready for.

Draco found her sitting cross-legged on her bed, tears spilling down her cheeks. She always forgot to close the door leading to their bathroom. “What did they say to hurt you Princess?”

Hermione looked up, wiping away the tears. “Oh, nothing Draco, I am just being silly.” Hermione looked to the window when he stepped in. suddenly her room felt much too small.

“They made you cry. Tell me what happened Princess; you know I’ll just go ask them. I bet they don’t even know what they did to make you cry.”

“They don’t even know they made me cry. Really Draco, it’s fine, my own brain making more out of something then I should.”

“Tell me what happened.”

Hermione looked up meeting his gaze. “Am I attractive?” she blurted out before dropping her head to look at her mattress.

“Excuse me? One more time, I don’t think I caught that one.”

“You caught it. Its fine if the answer is no. I just wanted a guy’s opinion that hadn’t always known me as a sister.”

Draco sat down on her bed and leaned against one of its four posts. He seemed to be thinking about the question. “Attractive how?”

“Oh bloody hell! Would you sleep with me?”

“Is this hypothetical or an actual request?”

Hermione had lost the butterflies the conversation had put in her stomach. She decided to give him a little of the lip he was so fond of throwing her way. “Oh, it’s a request Draco. I’m just sitting here begging for it.”

“In that case…” Draco crouched down and crawled up her bed. Before he could move an inch Hermione had sprung up and was standing on her bed screaming at him.

“Draco I was only kidding. I don’t really want to shag you; I’m not your type. I’m nobody’s type. I will die a virgin because I am just that girl that hangs out with Harry. Even if a boy did fancy me that way there is no way he would get near me with my two guard dogs.”

Draco had stopped listening after ‘I’m nobody’s type’. He reached out and grabbed her ankles, pulling them forward. She effectively landed on her ass; he crawled up her body till his eyes met hers. “I’m near you.”

She couldn’t think. She had never been this close to a boy. She had kissed Ron once before the final battle, just in case. But she was pinned between her mattress and an unmoving Draco. Something was poking her in the leg. “That’s because we live together, you don’t fancy me. I’m too inexperienced for you.”

Draco couldn’t help but groan. He had been living with her since the beginning of the summer and she still didn’t get it. He moved his hips ever so gently along her thighs. When the shock registered on her face he got up and walked to his door. “Princess, don’t ever presume to tell me who I do and do not fancy.”