Timeline: Sixth Year, the day of the night in which Draco leads the Death Eaters into Hogwarts
Disclaimer: I hold no claim to any characters or elements in this story that belong to, or are the intellectual property of JK Rowling, her publishers, or Warner Bros.
They spent that last day together. Romping about Hogwarts grounds without a care in the world all while everyone was off at Hogsmeade.
In reality they couldn't care less if everyone else was off fighting a dragon.
It only mattered about the two of them on this day.
The last day before they must be pushed apart.
The last day before all hell breaks loose.
"It's beautiful, the forest in the daytime, isn't it love?" she asked leaning to smell a patch of wildflowers as they stood in a clearing.
"Yes, my love," he murmured wrapping his arms around her waist. "But not as beautiful as you."
She blushed lightly. Spying this he then said, "Oh but it's true, darling. Why you are the most beautiful flower in this forest! The whole world! Why the whole universe and all the worlds in it!" he added spinning in a circle his arms spread wide.
She giggled at her lovers antics, "You are so silly, pet."
"Ahh, but you love me silly, do you not?" he grinned cheekily at her.
"I love you anyway," she said stepping up to him, resting on her hands his chest.
He reached around her gently plucking a flower then offering it to her, "For you my love, in hope that it's beauty can show how beautiful you are."
She blushed again and turned her head away not meeting his eyes. He wrapped his free hand tightly around her and leaned down to kiss her brow. She shuddered as he moved his head to kiss her other brow, both cheeks, and then soft heart shaped lips. She turned herself to melt into the kiss, her hands sat curled on his chest while the hand holding the flower came to cup her cheek.
This kiss was unlike the others; rushed, in alcoves in empty corridors between classes or in cupboards during breaks, before either were missed. Sometimes, if they were daring and Madam Pince taking tea in her private parlour adjacent to the library, behind old tomes when very few people were about. This kiss was slow, loving, the way they truly preferred it.
But alas, this type of kiss was very rare between them. With the oncoming war, as of late, their respective friends sought to keep them close, almost never giving them time to themselves. Or rather... each other.
There were times when the two did not interact for a week at a time, with their own busy schedules and constant invitations to do this and that with their friends.
These were the worst times for them. Him not being able to touch his flower and her, her pet.
He pulled back gently, mercury pools looking into mahogany ones. She sighed in pleasure, feeling his rough knuckles run down her face.
"My love?" he ventured carefully.
"Yes?" she replied quietly.
"You know I brought you here so we could discuss things."
"I don't want to discuss things!" she cried abruptly. "I am tired of planning and hoping for the worst! All I want is to have just a quiet moment. A quiet moment of us, pet! Just us two, in the now. Not worrying about the future- about the war!"
She stalked away from him, out of his arms, to sit on an abandoned wooden bench that sat in the clearing. She crossed her arms and pouted at him, "Just can't it be us? For once can't it be about us?"
He sighed and walked across the clearing sitting on the bench close behind her (they were in a newer part of the forest only grown in a decade or so ago), "Love, you know how important it is we talk. We won't be together again for a very long time from now. If we're even alive by that point."
"Don't say that," she snapped.
"But it's true love, we may not survive this!"
"I don't care," she whispered, then said, much louder, "Oh my love, if you die, I don't know what I'll do with myself! I love you so much, if you leave me, I won't be able to live- I won't!"
He took her face in between his hands and kissed away the single tear that had begun it's path down her face, "And you won't have to think of that, because you will go into hiding and you will be safe, my flower. And I'll be smart, I'll be safe too! And we'll make it through this, we'll make it through this war and afterwards, oh afterwards my love, we can be together for the rest of our days."
"Yes.. yes I suppose we can," she said tears still running down her face.
"That's right isn't it love, now come sit in this forest with me!" he said brightly. "Not on this old bench either, but out on the ground! In this beautiful jungle of a place! Come on now, up! Up!"
She giggled and let herself get pulled into the blond's arms as they walked away from the clearing, down an overgrown path and deeper into the forest.
They found another clearing this one a darker green than before. He laid his robe on the forest floor and sat on it, patting his lap with a raised eyebrow, signalling her to sit on his lap.
She giggled and sat, pulling a newspaper out of her bag, which she read. He could only watch her as she read the newspaper, biting the inside of her cheek as the way she did when she concentrated very hard.
"What are you reading, my love?" he asked gently pushing a stray curl from her face.
"It's about the Blake family, you know Adelaide Blake, she's a 4th year. Her family was murdered this past Saturday. Her two brothers, they were killed instantly, but her youngest sister was tortured as was her parents."
He sighed, "Why must you read such morbid things, flower?"
"Because pet," she said exasperatedly. "I need to know what's happening! What they're doing!"
"Even if it hurts me?" he asked quietly.
She gasped, "Oh no my love! I didn't mean- I didn't mean to-"
"No, no it's not your fault. You can't control the things my father and his men do as much as I can."
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. He nuzzled into her head, smelling the faint strawberry scent of her shampoo.
He breathed it in, as if he could remember the scent forever.
Then suddenly, he took the paper and threw it away to the side and turned Hermione around, engulfing her in a ferocious kiss. She reciprocated, just as fierce dragging her fingers through his blond locks as his hands wrapped tightly around her waist.
The kisses, they soon became more as she found herself on her back, blouse open, skirt high on her torso, and panties & tie cast to the side. Her lover was crouched above her, panting hard, trousers and boxers pulled down to his knees, his own shirt and tie in a pile with her own.
"Do you want me to- can I?" he asked hesitantly, waiting for the witch's consent.
"Oh yes, my love! Yes!" she cried arching into him.
Taking that as all the consent he needed he entered her, and together, the two lost all innocence they had left.
As they basked in the afterglow of their lovemaking, an afternoon sun settling over the sky, he said to her, "I must begin to leave you now."
"Why?" she said into his chest.
"It's time for me to start the final phase of my mission, my darling. I must leave to meet my aunt and her... friends," he said unpleasantly.
She cried softly into his chest. His arms tightened around her, "Now don't cry, there's a good girl. Now you know I have to. If I don't they'll kill me, and then where would we be?"
"Nowhere good," she whispered.
"Exactly, so let's get dressed, and we'll go to dinner, and you? You'll go to your nice warm bed, and me? Me, I will kill an innocent man who did nothing but tried to help me."
He smiled ruefully as he moved her out of his warm embrace and made moves to redress.
Together they walked hand in hand to edge of the forest, where it met the grounds and they could be seen clearly by anyone.
"I love you, Draco." she said for the first time into their last fleeting kiss as they stood at the edge of the forest.
"And I love you too, Hermione," he said plainly.
And this is where they parted.
Parted for many months.
Parted for more than a year.
You see, it wasn't until long after the war that they were together again.
Yes and they had to fight hard be together.
But the succeeded,
As love tends to do.
And what a marvelous togetherness it was.
Here are the links to each cosplay pic, they are all by Praskovya Pelmeshkina who goes by SALT in her cosplays and her DeviantArt user is ~Pelmeshkina-SALT. She's really good in terms of all of her cosplays. Also each of the links down below are in order of which picture would appear first in the fic.
pelmeshkina - salt . deviantart art / Hermione - and - Draco - 260499314
pelmeshkina - salt . deviantart art / Hermione - Granger - 259796736
pelmeshkina - salt . deviantart art / Hermione - and - Draco - 259797546
pelmeshkina - salt . deviantart art / Hermione - x - Draco - 273605080
(Don't forget to remove the spaces)
