Redemption.

Chapter 9

Sleepless nights. Three weeks of sleepless nights. Draco was in a horrible state. Ever since that hell of a kiss, Draco had lost his sleep. He wanted to sleep, but he couldn't because every night, without doubt, he could here Granger in her room, making those sounds that drove him utterly insane. Now that he'd gotten a taste, he had become addicted. And it was slowly killing him from the inside. His resolve to stay away from her was slowly dissolving, no matter what he told himself.

When Granger finally stopped her little audio charade, Draco would have acquired a hard on, which no cold shower could diminish. So he'd jerk himself off, trying to picture Granger's hot mouth on his dick, and try to sleep, until the sound of her moans and the sight of her naked skin, came back to him and he was hard again. It was fucking torture, seeing her everyday, and to be alone with her during most of their lessons together and not do anything about it. 

Sin. Lust. Sex. That was all that went through Draco's mind these days. He felt sorry for himself. He was fine, before she came strutting into his life with talks about how he should crawl out of his shell! More like he should crawl into her bed and...STOP IT DRACO.

"Draco?" Blaise said, tugging at his arm in Potions class, Friday afternoon. It was the last lesson of the day, and Draco couldn't wait to get back to his room, and shut himself up.

"Yeah?" he asked, copying down the notes that were on the board.

"Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"You know what."

"Stop fucking with me Blaise."

"All right. All right. I'm just saying, it's the weekend, and maybe we should go down to Hogsmead for a drink or two, and hook up with some-"

"No." Draco interrupted.

"No?" Blaise asked, eyebrows raised.

"No." Draco repeated.

"No for the entire plan? Or only a part of it?" Blaise said.

Draco sighed, letting down his quill. "Look, I won't mind a drink Blaise, but I'm not going to go and 'hook up' with some random girl at the bar, all right?"

Blaise studied his friend for a moment. "You've changed." he said at last.

Draco snorted. "Good to know."

"All right, a drink then?" Draco really didn't want to go for a drink either but he didn't want to upset Blaise. They were starting to build their friendship again, and he didn't want to fuck everything up.

"Okay." he said tightly. All he wanted to do was go and sit on his bed, in the dark.

"Mate." Blaise said seriously. Draco looked at him. "You don't have to come if you don't want to. We'll go some other time."

"No really-" Draco started but Blaise waved his hand in the air.

"It's cool, man. I just wanted you to relax a bit. I know it's been hard. It's fine though. Take your time."

Draco nodded, relieved. When the bell signaled the end of the lesson, Draco packed his things away and was the last to leave. Blaise left early muttering something about "Got to see the nargles." He noticed Granger talking to Professor Slughorn at the front of the class.

He didn't want to take his chances with her. He really didn't. It was risky. But he thought there wasn't any harm in having a casual conversation. Right? How very wrong he was.
He waited until she was done, and when she turned, her eyes fell immediately on him. She looked away quickly, which he thought wasn't a good sign. But he advanced on her anyway.

"Umm.. Can I know who's patrolling tonight?"

"All the prefects. We're off today." she mumbled, not meeting his eyes.

"Right. Thanks."

There was a slightly awkward pause when she collected her things, and the two left the dungeons together, Slughorn humming merrily behind them.

"So.." Draco started, trying to clutch at raw straws for a topic to start on. "What was the..um..Herbology homework, again?"

"We didn't have one." As she walked, Draco glanced down at her neck, which looked smooth and inviting. This was a very, very bad idea. He gulped.

"Transfiguration?"

"Nope."

"Defense?"

"No..." she looked at him curiously through those long lashes, and he'd be damned if he didn't want to count every one of them.

"Potions?" he asked, a bit desperately.

"We just had Potions, Malfoy." He could see she was starting to get a little worried now.

"Oh yes, of course. How has your week been?" He winced at how it sounded. What was wrong with him? Casual conversation had never been his thing. That was one thing that hadn't changed. Why was he trying now then?

Granger stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. He had to resist the urge to look down and check her out. "What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously

"What?" he asked, confused.

"I said, what are you doing?"

"I..uh..don't know what you mean, Granger."

"You know very well what I mean!" she said loudly, flaring up at once. "What's your problem?"

"Nothing Granger. Although you seem to be having one." 

"Yes of course!" she cried and started babbling on rapidly. "Three weeks ago you kiss me in the Prefect's bathroom. In the fucking bathroom! And then you just behave like nothing happened, and I feel like this complete fool and it's all your fault! I haven't been able to sleep peacefully, even once! Now you come by asking how my week's been? What are you up to? Stop playing games with me!" She was breathing hard now, and Draco's eyes immediately fell on the rise and fall of her breasts, imagining them in his hands.

Draco didn't know what to say. The way she was throwing all the things on him, you'd think it was all his fault. Well, he knew it was his fault, most of it at least, but she'd asked him to kiss her, hadn't she? And he hated that even after the bloody war, he was being blamed for everything. Was everything his bloody fault? Sure, he'd instigated it! But she could have stopped him anytime, given him a kick in the balls. And who was she complaining about lack of sleep? He was the one who had to stay awake and listen to all her moans, and breathy audio tracks.

He took a step towards her, anger emerging again after weeks and weeks of keeping it in. He saw her shrink back in surprise and immediately regretted his action. This had been a very bad idea. Why the fuck couldn't he have marched out of class as soon as the bell rung. Well, if he hadn't done it then, he was going to do it now. And so he turned around and strode off along the long corridors, not bothering to look back when she called his name.