The Straw that Broke Them

This story is in response to THE TITLE challenge, where you were given a title and had to write a story around it.

Summary: Draco and Hermione have been together for six years, but their relationship is falling apart. What must they do to get back on the right track?

Disclaimer: Harry Potter will always belong to J.K. Rowling, even though I wish it were mine.

Hermione and Draco had been falling apart for six years, ever since they left their eighth year at Hogwarts. Almost every day was full of arguments, usually about something petty; clothes, habits, saying something at the wrong time, which always escalated into something bigger. Hermione always refused to talk, she just sat there with a sullen look on her face while Draco stood in front of her, creating an argument on the spot, every time bringing up the fact that he didn't have to be with her, he didn't have to stay, and why wouldn't she talk.

The reason Hermione wouldn't speak and retaliate was that she knew that is was only anger coming from his mouth, not how he actually felt about his life. But there was still the odd moment, when she couldn't hold back and would say what she was thinking. She would always regret these instances. They made the matters go from bad to worse.

Hermione sat at the dining room table of Draco and her home. It was a small cottage, with roses around the front door and a charming garden out the back. She had always wanted a house like this, ever since she was five. She had read every single book by the muggle fairy-tale author, Enid Blyton, her favourite being The Enchanted Forest, where the three children live in a cottage that hers was very much similar to.

Hermione had spent the last three hours, while Draco was in a work meeting, trying to figure out what was wrong and not working in their relationship. She couldn't understand where the lovey-dovey words or the hidden kisses from their Hogwarts time had gone. She looked up at the clock and saw that there was still another hour before Draco got home. Perfect. She picked up the small china bowl from the mantle above the small fireplace and took a pinch of floo powder from it.

"Diagon Alley" she said, after chucking the powder into the fire and stepping into it. She felt the familiar sensation that came with travelling through the floo network and then stepped out of the fireplace set aside specially for floo travellers. Hermione walked directly to Flourish and Bott's, and went up to the wizard at the counter.

"Hi there Barney, I'm here to see Luna." She said brightly, trying to hide the tension that she really felt.

"Sure Hermione. Here's the key; just don't tell the boss I gave it to you." Barney replied nervously, looking around the store.

Hermione laughed, before heading out of the store to the small locked door next to it. Barney had become close friends to Hermione, but after a while of long chats in the shop, and holding up customers, Barney's boss banned them from speaking, otherwise Barney would lose his job.

Finally making her way through the door, she knocked on the first door to the left.

"Coming, hold on a sec., just getting rid of a few pests!" came the reply to the knock. Typical Luna response, thought Hermione, laughing silently.

After hearing a loud crash and a lot of muttered, and sometimes yelled, swearing from the other side of the door, Hermione muttered

"Alohamora" and burst into the room to see Luna running around the small living room with a butterfly net chasing…nothing?

"LUNA! What are you doing?" Hermione shrieked, when she saw the very expensive television, that Draco and she had bought her for Christmas, about to fall off its perch.

"Oh, hey Hermione! I was just spring cleaning when I was interrupted by some flying Sniggleworms." She stood still on the spot of a few moments, with her head slightly tilted to one side as if listening for something. "But I think they're gone now."

Luna quickly ran across the room and gave Hermione a hug.

"Now, what can I do for you?" She asked, leading Hermione to a very cluttered couch.

"Luna…I need help" Hermione replied. "It's to do with Draco.

"I knew you were having problems! So much tension between you!" Luna exclaimed excitedly. "For how long?"

"Six years."

"SIX YEARS? And I'm only hearing about this now?" Luna looked upset about the trust her friend apparently lacked in her.

"No, Luna. I didn't tell you because it was humiliating not because I didn't trust you! I trust you with my life!"

"Ok, I know how to fix this: all guys love sex, but different, not the same stuff you do every time you have it!"

"But Luna, we haven't had sex for 3 years." Hermione muttered hesitantly.

"WOW, whoa, omg. 3 years? I'm not even in a relationship, and I had sex last week."

"I know, what do I do?"

"Well, that is your problem right there. No sex. To fix this, I think the answer is quite self-explanatory." Luna said. She couldn't believe how her best friend couldn't see it. It would make everything better, sex=connection=better relationship. For the brightest witch of her age, sometimes Hermione was so slow.

"Oh. Oh. Luna, you are a genius. Thank you!" Hermione said hurriedly, while standing up and giving Luna a quick hug.

"I have to go" she yelled while running towards the door and out to the alley. Luna watched her go,

"That's ma girl." She said, grinning.

Draco stepped out of the office with a grin on his face. The past meeting had given him the time he needed to figure out a plan to get Hermione back. He missed the days of their first year together. The passion, lust and love. He missed the blushing, the kissing, and the amazing sex. Sure, they had sex after that year, but it was not even close to being as great. And then they had a three year drought. There were times that Draco had thought of getting a mistress, just for that part of life, but he knew he couldn't hurt Hermione like that. But now he had his plan. Just before he apparated home, he popped into the jewellery shop down the street and bought his weapon of attack.

When he got to his house, he stood for a while to just look at the small cottage that Hermione had been so insistent on buying. He had been hesitant at first. He didn't like the thought of inviting his work colleagues over for dinner to a house with roses around the front door, but seeing how the place made Hermione look happy, he bought it.

He walked up the narrow, winding footpath and entered the house to fine Hermione standing there in a short, tight black dress, showing off her incredible curves and a lot of cleavage. Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun and her lips painted with red lipstick, the same shade as her nail polish. She looked sexy.

"Welcome home Draco" Hermione said, her voice lower and huskier than usual, but Draco could see it in her eyes that she was nervous.

Draco took off his suit jacket and strode over to where his girlfriend was standing and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"Hello Hermione…you look great!" He said.

"Thanks, I thought tonight we could have some fun. I bought some firewhisky, and have selected some great music." She replied. Hermione mentally shook herself…selected some great music? Who says that?

Draco grinned. This was the Hermione of old…how he had missed her. The two of the walked into the lounge room and sat on the two armchairs facing each other. There were three crates of firewhisky between them.

"Merlin Hermione! How much did you expect us to drink?" Draco exclaimed.

Hermione glanced at the amount of alcohol on the table. She realised she may have gone a little overboard, but no way was she going to let him know that.

"Enough to do what I want to do tonight" She replied.

Draco felt a twinge in his pants. Tonight was the night, he decided, for the plan to go down.

'Ok, let's do it!" He said.

Hermione opened the first bottle, took out two shot glasses and poured the whisky into them.

Draco lifted up his glass and quickly swallowed it, the same time as Hermione, feeling the drink slide down his throat, burning everything it touched. They both slammed their glasses onto the table and Hermione poured them another. This repeated for twenty minutes until the first bottle had been finished.

Hermione had avoided alcohol since a particular nasty instance in year seven at Hogwarts, so Draco had never seen her drunk. Now he couldn't wait. Hermione had gone to the bathroom for a few minutes, so Draco took out his wand and used an enlarging charm to make the shot glasses just that bit bigger on the inside, but the changes were invisible from the outside. Draco knew that since Hermione hadn't drunk for ages, she would have a really low alcohol tolerance, unlike the one he had built up over the years, so he would be able to enjoy her drunk while he would only be slightly tipsy.

Unfortunately for Draco, Hermione was thinking the same thing. On the way back from the bathroom, where she had removed her bra and underwear, she had stopped in the doorway to the living room and muttered the same spell, but only to Draco's glass. In effect, this would make him consume more alcohol than her, but would remain the same as her, either tipsy or drunk.

Draco looked up when he heard Hermione approaching.

"Ah, there she is…ready for more shots?" He asked, noticing the slight red flush in her cheeks.

Hermione knew that she was close to tipsy. She could feel her cheeks getting hotter and she felt more comfortable than before, not as tense.

"Sure, pour them Draco!" She replied.

Draco grinned to himself and opened the second and a third bottle of firewhisky.

He poured the alcohol in the invisibly larger glasses which emptied three quarters of the bottle. Hopefully Hermione wouldn't notice, he thought. He handed Hermione's glass to her and watched her drink it, wanting to see how it affected her, before he took his own.

Just moments after that drink, Hermione could feel a wave wash over her and she felt like giggling. But she didn't know why. Nothing was that funny. She looked over at Draco and started to laugh, but only faintly. But she wanted to laugh more…she liked to laugh, she missed it.

"Pour me another one, will you Dray?" She said, with a slight drawl on the nickname.

Draco felt another twinge from his area. She hadn't called him Dray for ages. He quickly poured the remainder of the second bottle and the beginning of the third into her glass, and handed it to her, enjoying watching how she processed the alcohol. He still hadn't touched his second glass. Hermione hadn't noticed yet.

She downed the third glass and started to sway from side to side, with a contemplating look on her face. She looked from Draco to his glass and back, and realisation dawned. He hadn't drunk it yet.

She stood up, lost her balance and fell backwards, back onto her chair and started to laugh, louder this time.

"Dray, Dray, Dray, drink, drink…you need to drink, this is so much fun." Hermione slurred, giggling and swaying more than before.

Draco watched her for a few more moments, before he decided he wanted to join her in her tipsy little world. He poured his glasses contents down his throat, before picking up a new bottle and drinking half the contents of that.

Hermione watched him and cheered him on

"Scull, scull, scull!" clapping her hands together.

Draco could feel the alcohol affecting him. He stood up, and slowly made his way over to the chair where Hermione was singing to herself and drinking another bottle of firewhisky causing her to stand up and meet Draco half way. She sagged against him and whispered in his ear,

"I'm not wearing anything beneath this dress."

Draco's twinges were becoming more and more regular, and he could feel his dick slowly become erect. He leant down to place a kiss on Hermione's lips. She giggled. He giggled. Hermione felt like she could do anything, she felt like nothing could ever bring her down and that this was the best she had ever felt.

"Draco…I love you" She said.

"I love you too."

Draco thought this was the time to do it, his plan. The alcohol was clouding his judgement, but not enough to know that this was what he wanted and, now he thought that Hermione wanted it too.

He knelt down on one knee, and then fell sideways onto the carpet. Damn, he wanted it to be perfect. Hermione started to laugh so much that she fell down beside him. He fumbled to get the small box from his pocket. When he managed the small feat, he opened the box to reveal a simple engagement ring, silver with a perfect amethyst in the centre, shaped like a lotus flower.

All the laughter disappeared out of Hermione's eyes when she saw the ring. She knew what it meant and what Draco was sacrificing; his freedom, his right to leave when he wanted.

Draco held the box out to her and said,

"Hermione Jean Granger, will you do me the honour of marrying me and becoming Mrs Malfoy? Will you love me as much as I have loved you and will you promise me that you will be the mother of my children?"

Hermione was astounded. Then she realised that this was his way of fixing the problem, of mending the relationship. She whispered

"Yes."

Fumbling now from nervousness instead of intoxication, Draco pulled the ring from the box and placed it onto her ring finger. He leant over and kissed her, softly and gently at first but deepening it into a hurried frantic kiss, desperate to feel the passion he hadn't felt for three years. He felt that if he didn't feel it, he would break.

Hermione was thinking the same thing. She stood up, grasped Draco's hand and pulled him, both stumbling, towards the bedroom. Once there, Hermione pushed Draco onto the bed and straddled his chest kissing him fiercely while reaching down to undo the buttons of his shirt. Considering how drunk she was, she couldn't get past the first button, so she gave up and ripped the shirt open. She could feel his erection pressing up against her leg, and she could feel a slight, longing ache in her belly, from where his left erection was starting to push onto her clit. Moaning, she let Draco slip the dress off her to reveal her naked form. Draco looked up at her with wanting, more than he had felt ever before. He flipped her over, so he was on top of her. She moaned again, but louder this time, when he had captured her nipple from her left breast, and started to tug and nip it gently, while sucking it and swishing his tongue around it. While he was working on her nipple, his hand made its way down to her sweet spot and stared to rub it gently in a circular motion. She bucked her hips from the sensation and started to breathe deeply and moan louder. He removed his mouth from her nipple causing Hermione to sigh from the loss, but she began to moan again when he placed his tongue on the clit where his hand had been. She could feel the beginnings of an orgasm approaching, especially when she felt his fingers being pushed into her wet pussy. Finally, her climax hit her. It had been so long since having one that it hit her that much harder and she rode the orgasm for longer then she had ever done.

Draco grinned when he heard her yell his name. God, it had been a long time since we last had sex, he thought.

As soon as Hermione came down from her high, she reached down to his pants and unbuckled the belt and slid off his pants, and underwear. When he was as naked as Hermione was, Draco pushed his throbbing erection into Hermione and paused till she adjusted to his size. Hermione moaned from the intrusion, but was soon quickly rocking her hips to encourage Draco to start. Their hips rocked together as they reached their climax together, it was the last straw. They both broke. They both felt like their entire beings had been shattered. But then, when they looked at each other, they knew it would be ok. For being broken isn't too bad. Because you can be fixed, put back together, but without the bad parts.

Hermione Malfoy sat at the dining table of her husband's and her home. She was looking out the back window, watching her three children, two girls and one boy, run around pretending to curse each other with fake wands. She smiled and thought back to the night that had made all of this happen. How Draco and she had been broken, and how they had pieced together a new life without the bad parts, just the good.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading. This is my first Harry Potter Fan fiction and I must say that I am proud of it.

I would like to thank Maddie is superawesomemegahot for the prompt title.

Also, please review, I would really appreciate it.