In Private

by acro acro

A short story about a Pureblood boy who falls in love with a Muggleborn girl, then throws over family traditions to woo the witch of his dreams. Sounds familiar, yes? Thow in some oblivious best friends and the possibility of a fainting goat, and we're bound for happily ever after, right?

Author's Note: I own no person, no place, no thing – except the plot! If you recognize it, it probably belongs to Ms. Rowling or some other awesome super-human.

In Private

First Day of School, Seventh Year

Hermione Granger stood in front of the large mirror she shared with her roommates, Parvati and Lavender, and carefully coaxed her mane of curls into order. It was the first official day of classes of her Seventh year, and she was determined to make this year count – not just academically, naturally that would always be a priority – but this year Hermione had an actual honest to goodness boyfriend.

Not just any boyfriend, but the boy who'd been indubitably voted the hottest wizard in Hogwarts for the past three years – in secret of course. The young witches of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry had enough to contend with, fighting to get the attentions of the best males, without said males actually being made aware of whom they might be. Egos in this caliber of school ran notoriously high.

Take Blaise Zabini and Theo Nott, for example. They'd stumbled into a girl's loo on the fifth floor one day back in Fourth year and found a score card chalked onto the wall of the sexiest wizards in each house. Finding their names close to the top of the list for Slytherin House had been disastrous for the female population. Before the school year had been out, Nott and Zabini had deflowered half the Fourth year girls, and some of the Fifth year girls as well.

As for the other half of the Fourth year girls back then, and Hermione had definitely been one of the half that had not succumbed to Nott and Zabini, they were all waiting and hoping for the wizard at the top of the list. He was a Slytherin too, and just as slippery and manipulative as his other housemates, but one of Draco Malfoy's most appealing aspects – at least in Hermione's private opinion – was how deeply conservative he was. It wasn't often that a wizard like Draco came along: thigh-clenchingly dreamy, smart as a whip, and as old-fashioned as licorice wands and pumpkin juice.

And he was now the undisputed property of Miss Hermione Granger! Ha! 'Take that, Romilda Vane, Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass, oh, and her sister too, cripes what a family of slags…' Hermione grinned wickedly to herself as she used her wand to deliberately coax a couple of curls down the side of her face to rest at her neck, just the way Draco liked them.

She reflected back on the day before, when she and her parents had met Draco and his mum at the train station in Norwich so that they could all ride into Charing Cross together, and he'd finally – finally – kissed her and asked her to be his girlfriend. He'd even given her his ring to wear – a huge and ornate creation with an M emblazoned across the top in emeralds and encrusted with inlaid emeralds along the sides.

She and Draco had been dancing around the idea of dating each other since late last winter when they'd been partnered up by Professor Sprout on a long-term Herbology project. The two Sixth year students had bent over their dirt filled worktables and mixed trowels full of compost with sprinkles of seeds and potions, and discovered a camaraderie they hadn't realized was possible with a person of the opposite gender. And that was saying a lot, considering that Hermione's two best friends were boys as well. They realized as they worked closely together that all of their early-childhood dislike had apparently been caused by outside forces – namely Hermione's best mate Harry Potter, his volatile but lovable sidekick Ron Weasley, and of course Draco's unbelievably nasty, racist father, Lucius. Hermione and Draco had remarkably similar minds, and soon found themselves spending more and more time together outside of their Herbology project as their common interests led them to the library so they could study together, to Black Lake to swim after especially hot and grimy afternoons in the greenhouse, or across the grounds to edge of the Forbidden Forest where they collected potions ingredients for extra credit with Professor Snape.

Lucius was in prison now, and had been since the end of their Fifth year and the surprise attack at the Ministry that had finished off old Moldy Shorts for good. The Dark Lord was a force to be reckoned with, but he'd fallen quickly and easily to the combined forces of Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore. Lucius and his Death Eater cronies had fallen just as quickly to the combined forces of Hermione, Ron, their friends, and the Order, and all was right in the world.

As for Harry and Ron and their attitudes towards Draco – well, Hermione was working on that. Forcibly. She'd put Ron in a headlock yesterday immediately after boarding the Hogwarts Express and told him that he was to get along with Draco – or else.

/…../

First of September Sixth Year

Draco Malfoy slid open the compartment door that held the famous trio and slipped inside. Before any of the Gryffindors could even so much as leap up to disarm him, he held out his wand, sideways, in the goodwill gesture of peace.

"I'm not here to fight, or even argue, I'm just here to…well," Draco sighed and tossed his wand onto the seat next to Ron. He straightened his tie and cleared his throat, then spoke.

"I know I've been a pompous, bigoted arse for the past five years, but I want to let you know that all has come to an end. I was a boy then, but my mother needs me to be a man now, and I can't continue to behave that way. I don't have time to be a little shit for no reason, especially since the lot of you never did a thing to me. I especially apologize to you, Granger. You never deserved anything I said or did to you. I could make the excuses that I was a product of my father's brainwashing, but like I said, it's time for me to grow up and accept responsibility for my actions. Potter, you freed my father's house-elf years ago. I want to thank you all for freeing Mother and I, so that we can live our lives in peace. Mother has even gotten in touch with her sister, Andromeda. So now, Potter, for the sake of our extended families, will you accept my offer of friendship?"

Then he leaned down and extended his hand, first to Hermione, then to Ron, and last of all to Harry. It had been an awkward, but otherwise transcendent moment for the four of them, and news had spread across the train like wildfire. Harry Potter had shaken hands with Draco Malfoy, as had Potter's two best mates.

As for Hermione, when she'd grasped Draco's outstretched hand, a frisson of sheer pleasurable electricity had raced through her when their skin had connected for the first time. It had been titillating, and her secret longing for the horrible git who'd made her so unhappy for so many years had suddenly seemed so much less unsavory.

/…../

Last Day of School, Sixth Year

"Sooo, do you have any plans for this summer?" Draco stuffed his hands in his pockets as he watched Hermione gather her books into a pile so that she could return them to the library for the last time.

Hermione shook her head. Draco had asked her this several times already within the last week. The boy obviously had something on his mind, but if there was one thing her experience with Ron and Harry had taught her, was to let them work it out in their own time.

"Not really, Draco. My dad's promised to teach me to drive, and I'm planning to buy a car." Hermione shrugged one shoulder casually. "Maybe I'll make a few road trips, go see a few outdoor concerts or plays…"

Surely that would be enough of an opening, wouldn't it? How much more of an obvious opening could she make for the boy to simply ask her out?

Draco nodded his head dumbly, and reached up to push his sleek blond hair back into place behind his ear. "Oh, all right. That sounds nice…" he drifted off as he stared pensively at the stack of books hovering next to Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione sighed and gestured that they should start walking.

"Sooo…" Draco began.

"Draco, I swear if you ask me what my plans are for this summer one more time I'm going to hex you," Hermione sang as they rounded the corner and headed down the stairwell that led towards the library.

Draco flushed slightly, and said, "I wasn't! I was wondering if you didn't mind, if maybe I could ask you for your address, if you wouldn't mind, so I could owl you, if you didn't mind? This summer, I mean. If you don't mind." His cheeks flushed darker as his babbling phrases repeated themselves over and over again.

Hermione stopped walking, and turned to face Draco. He was nervously running his hands up and down his perfectly pressed oxford and tie.

"Why would I mind? We pass notes in class, we send each other inter-house owls nearly every night, and we spend the majority of our free-time together. What, did you think I'd slap you and cry 'stalker!' for asking me for my address? Come on, Malfoy. I'd be insulted if you didn't owl me this summer."

"Oh, right, sure. It's just, Mother owled me last week to tell me she's hired a crew of curse breakers and antiquarians to clean out the Manor, so she's packed our things and moved us into her family's Abraxan farm in Norfolk. And I thought maybe, since I remember you had said that you and your parents live in Norfolk, that we might be, somewhat, neighbors? I don't really know much about Muggle maps, but Mother said that the property is near Norwich? Do you know where that is?" Draco had finally finished straightening his already razor-edge straight tie, and had taken to shuffling his highly polished leather shoes like a naughty boy with his hand in the cookie jar.

Hermione's grin turned into a huge beaming smile, then with a shout of laughter, she shocked herself and Draco when she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.

"I should know where Norwich is; I've lived there my whole life!" she crowed. She released him from her strangle-hold and stood back, still beaming, to see that her friend looked rather gob-smacked. Hermione rolled her eyes. "Come on, Draco. It's just a hug. Friends can hug. I hug Harry and Ron all the time," she pointed out.

Draco nodded, and relaxed his stiff posture. He locked eyes with Hermione, and deliberately reached out to loop one of her curls around his index finger. "Well," he said as he curled his finger over and over, until it hovered next to her cheek. "Well, I guess I could get used to it this summer, seeing as we'll be neighbors." Then he smiled crookedly and poked her cheek with the tip of his finger. "Come on, Granger, let's get those books of yours back to the stacks, then I want to go see what's for dinner. I'm starving."

Hermione nodded in agreement, and her inner princess did a happy dance as her friend, and admittedly, her long-burning secret crush, touched her cheek for the first time. He'd never deliberately touched her before, aside from shaking her hand at the very start of the school year. Suddenly the summer, with Draco Malfoy living just around the corner from her family, seemed a lot more exciting than she could have possibly imagined.

"Speaking of dinner," he said. "Are you eating on my side or am I eating on your side tonight?"

Hermione shrugged as Draco led the way down the stairwell and finally opened the library doors so that she could enter ahead of him. "I don't really care. How about we see where the star-crossed lovers are sitting? They at least don't give us a bunch of rubbish about not sitting at our own house tables."

Draco groaned dramatically. "I loathe sitting with them! Longbottom and Bulstrode have got to be the vilest of couples that have ever walked through these halls. I have a better idea. Let's just nick some food from the kitchens and go down to the lake!"

"Draco! You really want to miss the end of year feast? House points and all that nonsense?"

"Oh, bugger. Fine, Hermione, we'll sit with the star-crossed lovers. Again. But you're going to owe me for this."

/…../

Draco smoothed his hair into place and adjusted his tie until it lay perfectly flat underneath his woolen pullover vest. He checked his teeth a final time, waved an extra charm on his shoes to polish them to a mirror gloss, and finally reached over to pull on his school robes over his shoulders. With one last look in the mirror, he declared himself to be ready for the first day of his final year at Hogwarts.

This day was a first in another way too. Hermione Granger, undisputed princess of the entire school, and his closest friend, had actually agreed to be his girlfriend. She was even wearing his ring! Draco's chest puffed with pride. They'd spent an amazing summer together, and they got along famously, even when they were embroiled in the most heated debates, but he really didn't honestly think she'd actually go out with him. The deeply conservative Malfoy family had always managed to maintain the highest of standards when selecting spouses, but with Lucius's madness and the shame he'd brought on the family, Draco had been more than a little worried about his ability to attract the kind of caliber of mate that he truly desired.

Malfoys didn't shag their way through the female populace to make their decision of perfect partner, unlike Nott and Zabini were apparently hell-bent on doing. Draco had spent many months during the early days of his Sixth year in careful consideration of the type of woman who could potentially fulfill the role of this generation's Malfoy bride, as he would be expected to marry immediately after graduation. It had been with more than a little surprise that he'd realized that Hermione was bloody perfect.

Especially her hair. All of those lovely, lovely, brown masses of fat ringlets that tempted and teased him with every turn of her head… Draco's mouth watered a little as he thought of Hermione's mane. He'd become, over the summer, a bit… obsessed… with Hermione's hair.

Orally fixated, Hermione had called him.

"You're going to get a hairball if you keep doing that!" she'd chided more than once, but he just couldn't help himself. He'd never be able to get enough of her hair. Draco could curl one ringlet around his finger for hours as they sat together, but what had been his undoing was when he'd stuck one end of a curl in his mouth and sucked on it while they were reading in her parents' library.

Instant addiction. Her hair tasted like strawberries and sunshine, and it tickled his teeth and gums to no end, but it had been irresistibly delicious and sooo enticing…

Draco Malfoy was no fool. He knew he was in love. Now he just needed to get that ring of his off that chain around her neck and onto her finger.

/…../

Last Day of Summer Before Start of Seventh Year

Draco and Hermione sat in the conservatory of his mother's family's summer house, sipping cold pumpkin juice and lounging against the comfortable cushions they'd charmed from the stiff outdoor pillows that had graced the benches around the tea table. Draco scooted a little closer to Hermione and reached out to grab his favorite section of curls so he could stuff the end of it in his mouth before she could snatch it away. That was the key, getting the curl into his mouth before she noticed. If she caught him in the act, she'd always protest and pull her hair out of his reach. But if her hair made it into Draco's mouth, she'd relax and allow it.

"Draco, darling, Andromeda and I are going to take the new foal and his mother out for a fly-around this after- oh for Salazar's sake, Draco, spit her hair out at once!" Narcissa Malfoy called as she spotted her son with a mouthful of his friend's hair.

Hermione jumped guiltily, but Draco clamped his hand on her arm as he shook his head adamantly.

"Draco Abraxas Malfoy, you spit that out now!" Narcissa demanded. She stood with her hands on her hips as she scolded her seventeen year-old son, just as she had when he was four and she'd found him in the kitchens with nicked candy in his mouth. When Draco had been a young boy, it had only been sugar quills and honey sticks that could captivate him to the point of this kind of obstinacy. But as Narcissa stared down her stubborn son, who currently was sucking on a section of the Granger girl's hair, for Salazar's sake, she could see that this was not a fight that she could win by simply snapping the contraband treasure away.

"Draco, give me my hair back," Hermione said quietly. Draco narrowed his eyes at his mother, then very deliberately opened his mouth and let the wet curl drop out. Hermione immediately claimed the soggy curl and tapped her wand on it to dry it out, then tucked it in with the rest of her hair.

Narcissa smiled and thanked Hermione, and apologized for her son's mistreatment of her curls.

"It's really no bother, Narcissa. I imagine it's just a phase. Like babies with their thumbs, I suppose. It's not like he can keep it up when we go back to school!" Hermione had laughed.

Draco's eyes narrowed further. How indeed would he be able to continue his curl chewing obsession once they went back to Hogwarts? Or after?

/…../

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley stumbled out of their beds, stumbled through dressing and rudimentary personal hygiene, stumbled down the stairs into the Gryffindor common room, and stumbled their way out the portrait hole towards the Great Hall. Somewhere along the way, they managed to pick up a gaggle of giggling, skirted followers.

"Reckon it's going to be a good year, mate?" Ron asked quietly.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Judging by the size of the crowd behind us, I'd say we're at least in for a good start, my friend. Try not to bugger it up like you did last year when you hooked up with that twit Brown, eh Won Won?"

"Piss off, Hairball."

"Oi, it was your sister that gave me that nickname, you know. Throwing that name at me just throws equal shame and blame at her."

"Cripes, you're right. Damn it, if you lot hadn't split up I'd be able to get away with it, but now…"

"Oh, come off it, Won Won. Now we're both free agents. Bachelors in a sea of blushing maidens. And now that ol' starched shirt Malfoy has wrapped himself around 'Mione's little finger, he's left an awful lot of broken hearts in his wake…"

"Too true. You know, we really should thank 'Mione for that one. Send her some flowers or some such shite."

"Actually, yes, you should," Hermione said brightly as she looped an arm through each of her best friend's available arms and tugged them closer towards the Great Hall.

"You know, Won Won, there's no need to wait for a reason to send me flowers. I think you could probably just go ahead and start sending me a bouquet every week for the rest of the school year, and I promise to do my part to keep Draco's attention fixed on me, so you two can swim about in your sea of blushing maidens to your hearts' content," Hermione said archly, then leaned in and sniffed her ginger-haired friend. "Godric's ghost, Ronald! Aren't you even wearing clean clothing? On the first day of school? You smell like an old sock!"

Then she leaned over and sniffed Harry, who had the decency to flush with embarrassment. "Harry James Potter, I rather expect this sort of thing from Ronald, but you? Good heavens! Jump in that sea of maidens like this and all you'll attract is bottom-feeders! Now, hold still you two, or else I'll make you smell girly." With that, Hermione waved her wand, cleaning, de-wrinkling, tucking, and deodorizing their clothing with a few simple flicks of her wrist.

Rather indolent and sarcastic clapping began somewhere off to Hermione's right, and she turned her head to see her new boyfriend approaching. Hermione smirked and curtsied. She rose back to her full height just as Draco made his way to her side.

"Very nice, Granger," he said as he leaned down to kiss her ripe pink lips. Mmmm, strawberry…. Then he looked up to see his girlfriend's troll-like best pals, now looking much less like something the kneazle had dragged in after Hermione's generous application of the handy cleaning spells he'd taught her over the summer.

"Oh, and good job improving them, too. At least now they won't shame your house, eh?" he asked her sardonically as his hand automatically reached up to snag his favorite section of curls. So bloody tempting…. How was he going to avoid his little – what did Hermione call it? Oral fixation? How was he going to avoid his little oral fixation with Hermione's hair whilst they were in school, surrounded by other students?

Hell, he'd even spent the entire train ride here chewing on her hair, but then they'd been in a compartment with Blaise and Ginny, who'd started seeing each other after pick-up Quidditch matches during the summer. Ginny and Blaise found Draco's habit amusing, but otherwise hadn't seemed to care, so caught up in their own new relationship that they hadn't minded Draco and Hermione's blossoming one.

Blaise, after shagging his way through enough of the Hogwarts witches, had finally met a girl who wouldn't jump in the sack with him, but who he wanted to spend time with anyway. Draco was rather pleased to see his friend was settling down. It would have been rather lonely to be the only Seventh year from Slytherin House to run through the gauntlet of contract season.

Contract season started officially on Valentine's Day, but everyone knew it unofficially started over the Christmas hols. Pureblood traditions had changed over the years, to be sure, but there were still dates and deadlines that must be met in order to get married immediately after graduation. That Draco had been allowed time and opportunity to make his own choice for a spouse, within reason, was testament to those changes.

This luxury would not have been afforded to him if Lucius had still been head of the family. But Narcissa wanted to see her son happy, and so the betrothal contract that Lucius had dictated when Draco was five had been torn up. Narcissa contacted the Greengrass family within two weeks after Lucius arrived in Azkaban to dissolve Draco's betrothal to the youngest and wildest of the Greengrass sisters, Astoria, and then she'd given Draco his timeline and requirements.

"Draco, don't start now. The boys are watching," Hermione said quietly. Draco suddenly realized that he'd been inching the end of her lock of hair towards his mouth, and snapped to attention.

"There's nothing wrong with the way we looked before, you stodgy old man. I swear, you wouldn't know modern fashion if it bit you in the arse," Ron said snidely, and loosened his newly tightened tie.

Harry nodded as he un-tucked his shirt and ruffled his hair back into place. "Yeah, love you, 'Mione, but we don't want to look like Professor Binns, if you don't mind. Thanks for the clean-up though. You're a life-saver, really!"

The boys both kissed Hermione on the cheek and ducked into the Great Hall, where breakfast was just starting to appear on the tables. Hermione just rolled her eyes, and turned to Draco.

"Hey, sorry about that with the hair. I knew the boys would give us a hard time if I let you, you know? And I didn't want to embarrass you," Hermione said as she straightened his tie.

Draco nodded absently as he fought down the urge to tug at the bit of curl that had been tempting him for so long. His fingers twitched at his sides. "Oh, that. Right. Well, the way I see it, you can either cut if off and make me a chew toy out of it, in which case I probably will get a hairball because Merlin knows I'd never put it down, or I can grow up and stop putting your damnably delicious hair in my mouth." He smiled ruefully at her, and she rolled her eyes again.

"I'm all for the growing up bit, because there's no way I'm cutting off my hair to make you a chew toy. You'll ruin your teeth, and then my parents won't let me see you anymore!" Hermione quipped.

"Well, we can't have that, now can we?" Draco said bracingly as he caught sight of Blaise Zabini heading into the Great Hall. He lifted his chin in acknowledgement to his housemate, and then turned his attention back to his girlfriend, who'd just released his tie.

"So, Mr. Malfoy, your table or mine this morning?" Hermione asked. She was standing so close to him that her springy curls were brushing against the lapels of his robes.

"Why don't we see where the star-crossed lovers are sitting today? There's far more of them now that Blaise and Ginny have joined the rebellion," Draco noted as he tugged on Hermione's curls again, and then looked at his hand in askance. "Damn it, I didn't even notice my hand reaching up. It's acting completely independently now," he groused, at which Hermione giggled.

"You know, we could go nick food from the kitchens if you'd rather just go sit alone somewhere, but you are right about Blaise and Ginny. They'll add tremendously to the quality of conversation in the star-crossed lovers section. Come on, let's take a look," Hermione said, then reached out her hand and tangled her fingers with Draco's.

"Is that what we are, do you think?" Draco asked suddenly as they entered the Great Hall and stood in the entrance, trying to identify their comrades.

"What? Star-crossed lovers?" Hermione asked. Draco nodded, even as all eyes in the room zeroed in on their clasped hands. Hermione shook her head in the negative. "I don't think so, Draco. I think we're more, inevitable. Look around. Not many shocked faces, you know?" Hermione said quietly.

Inevitable. Hermione had called them inevitable. Draco wholeheartedly agreed.

/…../

Ron nudged Harry as Hermione and Draco walked into the Great Hall.

"They look like Hogwarts poster-children, don't they? Models for how to properly look, dress, and behave. I tell you, mate, I about had heart failure when he kissed 'Mione. Didn't think either of them even knew about that kind of carnal activity yet," Ron chortled.

Harry snorted. "I've got to agree with you there, mate. He's a stuffy bloke, but then again, 'Mione's a stuffy bird. They're bloody perfect for each other. And I'm happy to see her happy, you know?"

"Amen, my brother, amen. A happy Hermione is a helping Hermione, and I have a feeling I'm going to take her up on that proposal of hers to send her flowers every week. Did you see my schedule? What in Merlin's name was I thinking signing up for so many classes?" Ron groaned as his schedule rolled out between the two boys, showing off his double load of Ridiculously Advanced Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, Veterinary Healing, and naturally, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Ron wanted to join his brother Charlie in Romania in the dragon sanctuary, and had finally buckled down and selected the required courses.

To say that he was petrified of putting himself out there on his own path was an understatement. Harry was planning to be an Auror, and Hermione's path was veering steadily towards early wizarding childhood education. But Ron was truly excited about his future with the dragons. His best mates had encouraged him to follow his heart for once and choose what he wanted, and not just go with what was expected of him.

It was bloody terrifying. And empowering. And terrifying.

"Hullo Harry, Ronald. The sausages look especially tempting this morning, do they not? I was thinking of taking some to feed the thestrals later, if you'd like to join me. Oh, is that your schedule?" Luna Lovegood drifted into the seat across from Ron and Harry, and started dumping fistfuls of sausage directly into her robe pockets. Then she plucked up the schedule and looked over it, and smiled widely.

"Well, it looks like you and I have most of the same classes, Ronald Weasley. Won't that be lovely, to spend every day together? I expect I'll be seeing you after breakfast. Watch out for those apples, they're full of nargles," Luna said happily, then stood and drifted away towards the Ravenclaw table.

"Bloody hell, most of my classes are with Loony? How'd she even get in Seventh year classes?" Ron groaned.

Harry patted him on the shoulder. "Don't know mate, but look at it this way. No, seriously, look." Harry was discreetly pointing out Luna's slim but curvy figure as she wandered down the aisle between the tables. "She might be a bit strange, but you have to admit she's a fine sight to behold these days."

The two boys sighed appreciatively. The girls around here were certainly improving with age.

/…../

Draco and Hermione managed to make it through breakfast and halfway through their first class of the day together in Double Potions before Draco succumbed to the temptation that was Hermione's hair. Once again, he didn't even realize he'd done it, but he certainly was made aware of it when Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass had loudly, and rudely, demanded that Professor Snape address the fact that Draco Malfoy had Hermione Granger's hair in his mouth during Potions class – surely highly dangerous and incredibly unsanitary.

"Not to mention he'll get your filthy Mudblood germs, Granger. What'd you do, dip your hair in love potion?" Pansy hissed.

Daphne giggled nastily. "Yeah, Granger, how'd you manage to cover up the mud flavor? I can't even see any dirt stains on his teeth!" Daphne stage-whispered loud enough for half of the class to easily overhear.

Hermione flushed a dark pink, but it was Draco who'd whipped around to the two Slytherin girls who'd been nearly stalking him since Fourth year.

"I think you're misinterpreting the facts, ladies. Or maybe it's the flavors. You see, Hermione doesn't taste or smell like I wouldn't expect her to. She's entirely clean and unsullied, unlike each of you, whom I can clearly smell from here since you carry the distinct odor of low tide. Or is that rotting fish? Either way, it seems to me that the two of you are far, far too well-used to be anything that I would stick anywhere near my mouth. I might catch something nasty," he said with a sneer, leaving the two Slytherin girls so shocked and embarrassed that they couldn't continue their taunts.

Hermione was shocked as well. She'd never heard anything so completely filthy come out of Draco's mouth before. If she had any doubts as to his conservative nature, as well as his expectations in a girlfriend, they'd been eradicated when he publicly humiliated his housemates.

Harry and Ron, who sat in the seats directly in front of Hermione and Draco, had perked up as the Slytherin girls started insulting their best friend, and had been about to rise to her defense when they heard Draco's sneering rebuttal. Their guffaws of laughter followed by their outstretched palms to offer Draco slaps of approval upon his shoulders set the classroom into complete disruption, and it took Professor Snape several minutes to settle the class back to their original task.

Once the class had settled back down, the professor launched back into his summary of the course's syllabus for the Seventh Years, and Draco's fingers wound around a lock of Hermione's hair. Within thirty seconds, the curl was between his teeth, Hermione was rolling her eyes, and no one else dared say a word against Draco and Hermione's odd arrangement.

As the class ended and Hermione stuffed her Potions book back into her bag, Draco leaned into her side and whispered in her ear, "It seems I won't be requiring you to cut your hair to make me a chew toy after all, my dear."

Hermione looked up at her boyfriend sharply. "You did that on purpose didn't you? Deliberately antagonized those girls, and humiliated them too, just so you wouldn't have to give up your bad habit?"

Draco smirked and tapped his chest. "Slytherin," he said simply. "First rule we learned on our first night in Hogwarts: we protect our own. Those two slags seem to have forgotten their place, and needed to be reminded that there are consequences to their betrayal of our code. The shame they feel now is their own fault. Everyone in Slytherin knows my ring is on that chain around your neck, and to everyone in Slytherin, it's a clear sign that you are of utmost importance to me. Of course," here Draco reached out and tugged at the gold chain that rested neatly against Hermione's Gryffindor tie, and pulled the heavy gold ring up and out of its hiding place under Hermione's jumper.

"Of course," he repeated, "no one can see it, hidden away under your shirt. You know Hermione, the ring is goblin-made. I gave it to you with the intention that you would wear it on your finger, where everyone can see it."

Hermione flushed in flustered happiness. She didn't quite know one hundred percent for certain how traditional teenage wizarding practices placed importance of wearing another person's ring on their finger, but in the Muggle world, Draco's family ring would be considered a promise ring, but with much more than the typical teenaged level of promise. In the Muggle world, she knew that wearing a boy's family ring on her hand was as good as a declaration of intent to marry. When she thought further on the matter, she realized that Draco probably had to get permission from his mother to give the ring to Hermione. Which meant…

Oh my.

Hermione's face bloomed from flushed pink to overwhelmed vermillion.

She needed to speak to Ginny Weasley right away, before she gave voice to her presumptions and embarrassed herself. Ginny was a Pureblood, she'd know what Draco's gentle insistence on her wearing his ring really meant. In the meantime, Hermione pulled up her hair and spun around so that the clasp of her necklace was available for Draco to reach and unhook.

"Go right ahead, Mr. Malfoy. It's your ring, after all," Hermione said carefully as she willed her heated face to regain its normal colour while she was facing away from her boyfriend. She felt Draco's fingers graze the thin stretch of skin on the back of her neck between her collar and her hairline, and couldn't help the shiver that rolled down her spine at the contact. She shuddered again as Draco's breath huffed against her neck as he spoke in a low whisper, meant for only her ears to hear.

"Au contraire ma chère, this ring belongs to you now."

Draco unhooked the clasp with one hand, and reached around Hermione's body to catch the ring in his other hand, then turned his girlfriend around to face him. His heart pounded in his chest as he picked up Hermione's right hand and slid the Malfoy ring onto her ring finger. It remained large and loose for two heartbeats, then glowed brightly and sized down to fit Hermione's slender finger. Draco's hesitant grin turned to a wide, beaming smile as the center emeralds in the shape of the Malfoy M shifted to become diamonds.

"Looks like we're a match," he said simply, then lifted her hand to his mouth to kiss her knuckles.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked as Draco's lips caressed her skin. "Why did the stones change?"

"Hmm," Draco mused cryptically as his eyes swept the nearly empty classroom. Only Potter and Weasley remained, and they were standing in the doorway, obviously waiting for their best friend but wanting to give her a modicum of privacy in this otherwise public place. Draco reached into his robes and extracted his wand, then flicked it at their bags to shrink them, and then pocketed the lot before tucking Hermione's arm into his own.

"Well, I could tell you, or you could go find out for yourself. It's been an awfully long time since you've been in the Hogwarts stacks, my dear Miss Granger, and I have a few errands that I would like to tend to before lunch. Would you do me the honour of meeting me in the Great Hall in the star-crossed lovers section in approximately one and one quarter hour?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes in defiance at her obvious dismissal, especially when she had so many questions – but then she remembered that Ginny would be getting out of Transfiguration at this moment as well, and would have a free period before lunch.

"Yes, well, I think that sounds perfectly reasonable. I haven't had a chance to say hello yet to Madam Pince since we've returned," Hermione said with a smile, then closed her eyes just as Draco's lips met hers in a chaste farewell kiss.

Hermione patted Harry and Ron on the shoulders as she passed between them, and promised to meet up with them in the Gryffindor common room later in the afternoon before supper. She was halfway up the steps that led out of the dungeons before she realized that she'd left her boyfriend alone with her best friends. She mentally shrugged a shoulder. After her lecture and manhandling of Ron's neck on the train, she didn't expect any negative behavior from her boys, and the three seemed to have found common ground in the area of what lengths they would each go to in order to publicly defend Hermione's honour. Those manly shoulder slaps of congratulation spoke volumes of tolerance, especially from the youngest Weasley son.

But, boys aside, the Weasley that she needed was currently walking down the corridor with Luna Lovegood, and they indeed seemed to be heading towards the library! Hermione wondered if it was possible for the day to become any more perfect.

/…../

"I saw what you did back there, Malfoy," Ron began right away. Harry looked up in surprise at his best mate.

"I expect you did, Weasley, and I expect that since you are technically a Pureblood you understand what has happened, and will not interfere. Hermione's choice and her family's acceptance have been clearly stated," Draco said cryptically.

Well, it was cryptic to Harry. He was about to ask what the bloody hell Malfoy was going on about with Hermione's 'choice and acceptance', when he saw Ron abruptly nod his head in agreement, then reach out an extended hand in a gesture of goodwill towards their former arch-rival.

Malfoy's eyebrow lifted as he speculated on the potential outcomes of accepting or refusing Weasley's hand. On one hand, Hermione wasn't around, so technically he wouldn't even get any points from her for good behavior; on the other hand, her rough-and-tumble Gryffindor lapdogs would probably tattle on him straight-away if he didn't appear willing to tolerate them. In the end, because it was the Weasel who had initiated the handshake, Draco accepted it.

As soon as Draco released the Weas- er, Ron's hand, he said, "you should know, I'll be writing to my mother this evening," and was rewarded by the sight of the ginger-haired boy's jaw hitting the floor.

"Bloody hell," Ron swore. "You're really serious? The season doesn't even start for three months! What's the hurry, Malfoy?"

Harry's eyebrows pulled together. He wasn't altogether sure what was going on between his best mate and his former rival, but they seemed to be having an entirely different conversation than the one he was experiencing.

"What are you-" he began, but Malfoy ignored him in favor of dropping a second bomb.

"Her parents are Muggles, Weaselbee. You realize that's rather unprecedented with my family. Mother and I have to start from scratch. As it stands, I did ask her father before I presented her with the Malfoy ring, but there are still traditions to be upheld, even if the contracts do need to be completely re-written." Draco nodded at the two Gryffindors, then pushed his way past them so that he could make his way to the Slytherin common room.

"What in Godric's name is going on?" Harry asked.

"Feel free to explain to Potter, since he clearly has no idea what is going on, but I expect you lot to keep this to yourselves. This is between Hermione and myself," Draco called back to Ron, then disappeared down a stairwell at the far end of the corridor.

/…./

"He did what?!" Ginny Weasley's voice screeched through several octaves that were absolutely forbidden by Madam Pince, and consequently got the girls immediately and forcibly removed from the library.

Luna, also a Pureblood, took one look at Hermione's right hand and covered her mouth with her free hand. Her occupied hand held a copy of the Hogwarts school calendar for the year, and she flipped it open and laid it out on the desk in the empty classroom they'd ducked into.

"Oh, Hermione, look at the date," Luna said dreamily as she tapped a few different points on the calendar. "This really is auspicious, you know. See, the wrackspurt breeding season doesn't start for another two weeks, so you can be sure his head is quite clear. And if you look at your eighteenth birthday, when ideally a promise ring would be given, would be in high breeding season, so he must have really meant it when he gave you his ring," Luna said with a sigh.

Hermione looked at her friend with a small frown. "Er, how romantic?" she guessed.

"Oh, to be sure," Luna agreed.

"But, Hermione, contract season doesn't even unofficially begin until Christmas!" Ginny shrieked as the younger girl grabbed Hermione's hand to inspect her new and very ornate ring.

"What's contract season?" Hermione asked doubtfully. She didn't want to count her chickens before they'd hatched, so to speak, but…

"Hermione, Malfoy's a very traditional bloke. Of course his family's going to expect him to, well, you know, marry – pretty much as soon as he graduates. All the traditional Purebloods do. Especially so for Malfoy, what with Lucius in Azkaban, his mother will need him to step into his role as head of his house as soon as he's done with school. In order to do that properly, Malfoy will be expected to have a wife by his side."

Hermione gaped at her friend, and then looked hesitantly at her hand as Ginny waved Hermione's hand in the air. Hermione gulped, and started to shake her head in incredulity, but Ginny cut her off with a huff.

"Come on look at the facts! This is how it works in the wizarding world! You know how old my parents were when they married. Harry's parents were the same! Percy and Penelope did it too, you know."

"Really?" Hermione asked. "I didn't know that –"

"It's not for the younger students' eyes, Hermione, and besides, were you really paying attention to Percy and Penelope in their Seventh year?" Ginny asked as she rolled her eyes.

"This ring – well, bloody hell, Hermione, he's basically asked you to marry him, or at least to consider thinking about the idea of discussing the idea of marrying him. It probably means he's talked to your parents already, because you said the stones changed colours, which means both families are in favour of the match! Oh! Please say I can be a bridesmaid! What do you think your colours will be?" Ginny rambled as Hermione first blushed dark pink, then paled.

Marriage, directly after graduation? He'd already asked her parents? Bloody hell indeed!

"I need to sit down," Hermione gasped, and Luna helpfully Transfigured her calendar into a squashy pillow just as Hermione's legs gave out under her.

Would things change? All Hermione had really thought of so far was how deliciously blissful it was to be close to someone who she was so utterly compatible with. Draco was a perfect match for her, intellectually, spiritually, and – er, hopefully, physically…. But marriage?

She imagined the way his mouth looked as his lips tucked strands of her curls between his teeth, and imagined his lips on other areas of her body, bound to her in marriage, sacred and special and devoted to her alone.

She imagined their combined characteristics on the faces and figures of tiny children, and the sweetness nearly took her breath away. It was far too early in her life to think of those sorts of things!

She instead imagined their myriad arguments over household decorating, or holiday destinations, or what restaurant to dine at, or what to get their mums for their birthdays…

Life as the bride of Draco Malfoy was not for the faint of heart. It would take a strong minded, strong-willed woman to keep him happy. Hermione didn't know of one so-called traditional Pureblood girl that fell into that sort of category. But she surely did. Her heart stirred. Absolutely without a doubt, marriage immediately after school had never been on her list of things to do, but it wasn't like Draco was going to tie her to their home and force her to breed little Malfoys until the end of their days. Narcissa had a very full and engaging life, and certainly wasn't bound to her husband's side, even when he had been free.

"My parents married after graduation as well. It was a lovely story; Daddy presented Mummy's family with an entire farm of gulping plimpies as his first gift of honourable intentions. It was so romantic," Luna sighed and put her hand over her heart wistfully.

Hermione and Ginny looked at their friend awkwardly for a moment, and then broke off into giggles. "That does indeed sound nice, Luna," Hermione said as she patted her friend's arm. "You're lucky to know the story of your parent's courtship."

Luna hummed in happy agreement.

Hermione gazed up at her friends, both of whom were very non-traditional Purebloods. "Well," she said, "I guess I'm in need of some guidance on the etiquette of contract season. I wouldn't want to slip into some faux pas and cause gossip fodder for Parkinson and the Greengrass sisters, now would I?"

Luna and Ginny smiled and leaned in to hug their friend. "It will be so very nice," Luna said suddenly, "to have another friend to join Ginny and I in contract season, even though we will be under-age until this summer."

Ginny and Hermione drew up quickly. "I didn't know you were seeing someone, Luna, let alone so seriously as to be involved in an arranged marriage. And I didn't know I was either," Ginny said.

"Oh, I'm not yet," Luna said. "But you certainly are. Blaise Zabini is as traditional as Draco Malfoy, after all. I expect, if I have read him correctly, that he has begun correspondence with your father already. Do you think Blaise would offer him a fainting goat, or a honey badger as a first gift of honourable intentions?"

/…../

Draco Malfoy slipped his hand over the exposed knee of his girlfriend, and nearly keeled over with delight when he saw her shudder at his touch. They were sitting near the back of the classroom in Transfiguration, at the end of their first day, and he looked up to meet her gaze to see what she thought of his bold move.

Salazar's backside, but she was bug-eyed and blushing, and Draco could tell that she'd liked very much the feeling of his hand on her skin. He did too. He was further shocked when her right hand covered his hand on her knee, and slowly, hesitantly, pushed it further up her leg, just slightly under her pleated skirt. He stared down at his glittering ring on her hand as it pushed his hand against the satiny skin of her thigh, and he suddenly jerked in his chair. Hermione's eyes got impossibly wide, and she released his hand with a whispered, "sorry!", and she quickly clasped her hands together and looked down at her knees. Draco shook his head in a tiny motion, picked up her right hand and kissed her knuckles, then tangled their fingers together and pulled them into his lap – well away from the hidden bulge in his trousers.

As soon as the class had ended, Draco pulled his girlfriend to her feet. "We need to talk, right now, yes?" he said in a low voice that only she could hear. Hermione nodded at him and bit her lip pensively, then gasped as Draco unceremoniously tugged her out the door of the Transfiguration classroom and all the way up to the Seventh floor, where he placed his free hand on a slim door she'd never seen before. It was in an alcove directly adjacent to the Room of Requirement, and inside the room was a couch, two desks and chairs, a large window, and a fireplace.

"What is this place?" Hermione asked.

"Ah, well this is the errand I needed to attend to earlier today, isn't it? I wanted to find a decent and completely private study room for the two of us that we could use this year. I asked the Room of Requirement, and instead of it opening its usual door, I got this. The door seems to always be here, but I think it will only open to either the touch of your hand or mine. Works out quite nicely, if you ask me."

"That's amazing, Draco. I've never known the Room of Requirement to make an additional room," Hermione said.

"Neither have I, but I'm grateful for it, since it allows me the privacy to do this without an audience," Draco said. He released her hand and pushed her down onto the couch, and kept pushing until she was lying on her back. Then he clambered on top of her. He settled himself in place hovering directly over her, and then slowly lowered himself until his hips lay directly in contact on top of hers, his stomach rested against hers, and his shoulders rose above her as he held himself up.

Hermione gasped, even as Draco closed his eyes and bit his lip. "I shouldn't be doing this," he muttered when he released his lip with a groan, but then he threw his hips forward sharply when Hermione opened her knees to get more comfortable and rocked her pelvis – and then they were kissing, kissing passionately – snogging, really – and Hermione's hands were un-tucking his oxford, and Draco was tugging on her hair, oh her luscious hair…

Hermione wrenched herself away from Draco's kiss when the need for oxygen overwhelmed her. She panted for a second with Draco's forehead resting against the side of hers, then she started whispering, "Draco, I – I've never done this sort of thing before. I didn't mean to tease you earlier; that wasn't my intention-"

"Please, Hermione, stop. I didn't bring you here for…well, you know. Anyway, I've never done this either. I would have thought that was bloody obvious earlier when I almost…well, embarrassed myself thoroughly…" Draco drifted off as his cheeks darkened to a dull red.

Hermione tilted her head quizzically, and then remembered Draco's quick shifting in his seat when she'd moved his hand up her thigh – oh!

Draco pulled himself off of his girlfriend and shifted back onto the couch into a position that hid his discomfort behind his school robes, and allowed Hermione a moment to scrabble up into a more dignified position herself. Her mad curls were bloody everywhere. Draco's mouth watered. He wanted to taste her everywhere.

Contract season couldn't start soon enough. Technically, according to his family's traditions, he shouldn't even be doing what he'd been doing with her, but by Merlin, how was he to be expected to able to resist someone so tempting? And look at what Zabini and Nott had been up to for the past several years.

He gave his head a quick mental shake. Enough, Draco.

"Right, so I expect you've spoken to the Weaselette by now, and she's explained to you the significance of the ring," Draco began in a no-nonsense voice that startled Hermione out of her own private reverie. At her quick blush and nod, he primly adjusted his tie and straightened his trousers against his knees until they hung just so, then continued. "So, I spoke to my mother, and to your father, before we returned to school. They are both in agreement that I may pursue you for the purpose of marriage, if you are agreeable, and our families will formally sit down over the winter hols and discuss the legal contracts and binding before a formal affiancement would be announced in February. Valentine's Day is traditional, but as I am already breaking tradition by pursuing you, I really don't care a whit about anything aside from securing your happiness – er, with me," Draco finished somewhat lamely as he straightened his tie again.

Hermione gaped. Draco looked up at her, as he'd been examining his hands as he'd been talking, to keep from stuttering or babbling excessively. Hermione was just staring at him.

"Um, the colour change of the stones indicates that our families are agreeable that we are well matched, but even so, that wouldn't have happened if you hadn't accepted it. You're not obligated to this, Hermione, but we have begun a magical binding. I gave you my ring and asked you-"

"You asked me to be your girlfriend," Hermione said, and her forehead wrinkled in confusion. "I don't understand, Draco. Why does this seem so much more serious, then? Why does it seem like, I don't know, you asked me to be your fiancée without me knowing it? I don't like surprises. I'm not sure whether I'm excited or terrified. You just asked me to be your girlfriend yesterday. Now, you're sitting here talking to me about marriage…" Hermione drifted off with a blush. "Draco, I really like you. But – well, of course you understand who I am and where I'm from, but do you understand that I don't want to be a, well, to put it bluntly, a society wife?"

Draco tilted his head sideways as his brain heard "don't want, don't want, don't want" over and over again. "You don't want this," he repeated blankly. His chest collapsed inwards on itself as his heart evaporated.

Hermione saw Draco misinterpret her 'attempt at independence' speech, and quickly grabbed his hands. "Oi, Draco, I didn't say that, you idiot! I was trying to tell you that I want to be able to get a job or continue my education after we graduate! I don't want to get roped into any insane high-society politics or get lost in baby-making – bloody hell, Draco, we're really young! Come on, look at me! My parents were nearly thirty when they married, and my mum was thirty-three when she had me! This whole thing is utterly bizarre and entirely foreign!" Desperately, she leaned in and pressed her lips against his, and was suddenly overwhelmed when Draco suddenly ripped his hands away from hears and wrapped his arms around her to drag her into his lap.

Draco pulled his mouth away from Hermione's. "Gods above, you're so unbelievably perfect, Hermione. Of course I won't stop you from doing what you want with your life; you're a juggernaut, I'd probably die if I tried." He shuddered, and ran his hands down her sides to her hips, then rested them against her legs. "I'm so sorry, I know I'm not supposed to be doing this yet. Just, uh, just stop me when it's too much, all right?" Then he reached around each of her legs to pull them apart and situated himself between her thighs, and ground the apex of their pelvises together as he poured himself into a burning kiss.

It was too much, and then, it wasn't enough. Hermione thought smugly of all the girls that had been following Draco around with stars in their eyes since their Second year, especially Parkinson and the Greengrass sisters. Hermione thought of the chalked scoreboard on the wall of the girl's loo that declared Draco Malfoy as the single hottest of the eligible boys of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Then Draco reached forward and touched her, under her pleated skirt, and both of their eyes flew open. They stared at each other, panting, and Draco hesitantly nudged against the cotton of her knickers. Hermione's mouth opened in a small cry of, "ah!" and she gripped his shoulders and rocked against his fingers.

Draco shuddered. "Merlin, Hermione, can I – I mean, I shouldn't…but I want to, I really want to touch you here. I want to touch you everywhere. We can wait, I don't mind. We're supposed to wait. It's all right-"

Hermione cut him off as she kissed him hard and nearly broke his wrist as she ground against him. "Don't want to wait. I swear I've never done this. Just feels so bloody good – more, please – yes," she hissed as her eyes rolled up in her head when Draco applied further pressure to the ache between her legs.

Suddenly she opened her eyes. "Draco, are we – I mean, do you want to, you know –" she reached down for the first time and hesitantly touched the hardened length of him that she'd pressed against with her pelvis only moments before for the first time.

Draco was nodding his head madly before she even finished her awkward sentence, but before they could so much as make a move towards opening the first button, the enormous booming bell sounded that signaled the dinner hour had started. Their eyes met, and the cloud of lust that had descended over them like so much fog fled the room.

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, and scrambled off Draco's lap. She scooted to the far end of the couch, and the two sat and stared at each other for several heartbeats. Draco's hair stood on end, presumably, Hermione figured, from her own hands' weaving through it. She chewed on her lip for a moment, then leaned down and pulled her wand from her school bag. She waved it at a blank stretch of wall, and a mirror appeared. She waved her wand again, and a hairbrush appeared in her lap, which she handed to Draco.

He looked at it blankly for a moment, and then narrowed his eyes at her. "Are you trying to tell me something, Miss Granger?" he asked. Hermione grinned mischievously. Draco rolled his eyes, and, just to punish his girlfriend – or fiancée, however one wanted to look at it – stood and very obviously shifted his male parts into order before he walked to the mirror to set his appearance properly.

Hermione, for her part, blushed furiously as she watched Draco handle himself, and her hands burned and itched to – 'oh, for Godric's sake, Hermione!' She closed her eyes and mentally re-ordered her thoughts, then waved her wand over her hair to re-organize her curls, and pulled the few tendrils forward that Draco liked. She pulled herself up from the couch and focused on arranging her clothing so that it didn't look like she'd been snogging her boyfriend for the past hour.

"How do I look?" Hermione asked moments later as they were readying themselves to leave the tiny room they'd occupied.

"Like a goddess," Draco supplied, and kissed her knuckles, then opened the door. Hermione blushed mightily as he waved her through the door, then shrunk their school bags and pocketed them, as was his habit when they were walking together.

"Thank you, Draco. I meant though, do I look like I've been studying or do I look like I've been, you know…" Hermione drifted off as they came upon the stairwell to the sixth floor, which was populated with other students.

"Snogging?" Draco asked in a low voice next to her ear. His left hand circled her right hand with his heavy ring and its glittering diamonds. "Mmm, possibly, but only to those that know you incredibly well. For example, your lips are swollen from my kisses, and your eyes are very wide and a little glassy. Your cheeks are pink, as if you've been running, or thinking of highly inappropriate things, or possibly doing very inappropriate things with someone that you want very, very badly." Draco smirked as Hermione gasped and pulled him to a stop.

"Draco," she hissed. He raised an eyebrow. Hermione slapped his chest. "I am not a Slytherin. I am a rubbish actress. You cannot say that sort of stuff to me and expect me to be able to behave normally. Please!" she begged. "Please, don't embarrass me. You know me. Our private life isn't something I can bear to have on display for others. Please, Draco."

Draco held up his hands, as Hermione prepared to bat at him again, then he wrapped his hands around her elbows and tugged her close to him. "My dear, conservative girl. You are wonderfully, exactly the way I want you. Keep in mind that I am very private and a pretty conservative bloke myself. The only reason things got out of hand in our new private study is – well, because it's you, and I love-" Draco broke off as Hermione's eyes grew as wide as saucers.

He cleared his throat, and flushed a little. "Well, look, you're already wearing my ring, I've already so much as asked you to marry me. I do, you know. I. Love. You," Draco stated slowly and bravely, then closed his eyes and blew out a huge breath. He opened his eyes back up.

Hermione Granger was beaming at him. He grinned back at her, slowly and shyly, and his heart beat, small and fast, inside his chest as he hoped against hope for some kind of response from her.

Hermione watched her boyfriend watching her with hope in his eyes. She wondered if she did, but she knew she did. She wondered if she should tease him a little, but she wasn't the type to play games with a boy. Especially a boy who was so determined to devote himself for the rest of his life exclusively to her.

She leaned forward until their chests were very close together, so close, indeed, that her curls brushed against the lapels of his school robes. She saw his eyes grow unfocused and chuckled as his right hand reached up to tug at his favorite section of curls. Hermione reached up and wrapped her arm around his neck, and pulled their bodies together fully.

"I must admit, I love you too, Draco," Hermione whispered against his mouth, then squealed as he suddenly pulled her fully into his arms and shoved her into the nearest wall to snog her thoroughly.

When they came up for air a few minutes later, flushed and laughing at the mess they'd made of each other's orderly appearance, Draco ran his hands through Hermione's mane and collected his favorite strands to stuff into his mouth. Hermione batted his attempt away, and giggled as he pouted. They joined hands and made for the nearest mirror, then finally, more than half of an hour late, made their way down to the Great Hall for the dinner hour.

On their way in, they saw something wholly new and fairly astonishing. Ronald Weasley, determined bachelor that he'd claimed to be just earlier that morning, dashed past them down the grand staircase with Luna Lovegood on his back, howling like a banshee and acting like a complete buffoon as she giggled madly and held on for dear life. He raced into the Great Hall at full speed and stopped just at the Ravenclaw table, and deposited her at an open spot near the end. Luna gracefully hopped off his back and onto the seat, and then surprised everyone by kissing Ron on the cheek. It was a long and lingering kiss, complete with a hair tousle and jaw line graze.

Hermione and Draco watched with open-mouthed surprise.

"Well," Hermione said after a moment, "I guess I know now who Luna is anticipating to be contacting her father during contract season."

Draco lifted an eyebrow and gazed down at his soon-to-be fiancée. "Does this mean that we should extend an invite to the star-crossed lovers section this evening?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, not this evening. Let's watch the events unfold naturally first. I want to see what Harry will do. I imagine it won't be long though, before the entire Sixth and Seventh years are all mixed. We simply don't have a large enough population to stay segregated during something like contract season now that inter-house prejudices have started to disintegrate, disregarding all the normal teenage hormones that have taken over." She smiled up at her boyfriend, and waved at a few of her Gryffindor mates before they settled down at the end of the Slytherin table with Blaise, Ginny, Millicent, and Neville.

"My dearest, we are trend-setters!" Draco declared smugly as he kissed her ring and led her into her seat.

Hermione sniffed disdainfully. "Of course we are, Draco, darling. We're the most inevitable couple Hogwarts has seen in centuries."

/…../

Harry rubbed his hand over Ron's ginger hair as his best mate blushed furiously under the catcalls and innuendos after his grand entrance with Luna.

"Godric's furry balls, Ron! What's 'Mione going to say? We've been back in school all of one day and you've already gone batty over a bird you've known for years?" Harry groused as he slapped a thick slice of roast beef between two pieces of bread.

Ron shrugged his shoulders. "Oi, you said yourself this morning that she'd turned into quite the site. It just got me looking, and then it got me thinking. Then while I was thinking, she was there in all of my classes. Then there was Malfoy, defending 'Mione's virtue in Double Potions and giving her his bloody ring, for Merlin's sake. Contract season's coming up, mate. It's something to consider."

Harry looked at his best mate. "You're bloody serious about this whole arranged marriage shite, aren't you?"

Ron bristled. "It isn't shite, Harry, its tradition. And I'd be a fool not to notice that Zabini, a traditional Pureblood if there ever was one, is hell-bent on courting my little sister. Malfoy's nearly got our best mate in a wedding gown. Even Neville's courting! What do you think is going on here?"

Harry looked at his best mate, and said, straight-faced, "randy teenagers looking to get laid."

Ron snorted through a mouthful of mashed potato. He swallowed and said, "funny, Harry. Really, have you met your best friend Hermione Granger, or her brand-new-as-of-yesterday-morning boyfriend Draco Malfoy? I don't know for sure if they even know what shagging is, let alone have aspirations to get up to that kind of activity. Just look at them." Ron gestured with his head in the general direction towards the end of the Slytherin table that Hermione and Draco sat at. There was nearly a foot of space between the two's shoulders, and their bodies were composed and prim, as always. The couple could not have seemed less sexual if they had been ten years old or a hundred.

Harry nodded his head in acceptance, and chuckled. "You're right about them. Even if they do marry immediately after we graduate, it will probably be years before they get around to actual sex. Even then it will probably only be for the purpose of creating children, and only after Hermione has successfully established a fulfilling career within the Ministry."

The two boys laughed at their cleverness, and commiserated with each other over the sad state of the diminishing population of attractive, blushing maidens for Harry to swim with for the remainder of the year.

/…../

September Nineteenth, Seventh Year

Hermione and Draco raced up the steps to the seventh floor, and Draco placed his palm on the wood of the slim door of the tiny room next to the Room of Requirement. He'd unofficially titled it their study room, but they did very little studying in it. As soon as the door was closed behind Hermione, Draco had latched onto her neck and was pushing her school robes off of her shoulders. Hermione similarly was unfastening Draco's belt and pulling it away from his trousers. Their mouths met as they stumbled to the couch, and Hermione settled herself on top of her boyfriend's lap even as their fingers wove into each other's house ties to unravel them. Buttons soon fell away from shirts, and Draco's shaking fingers hesitantly touched the white cotton fabric covering Hermione's breasts.

Hermione hummed and pushed her chest forward into his hands, even as she reached behind her back and confidently unsnapped her brassiere. She locked her eyes with Draco's wide, staring gaze, then pushed her oxford off her shoulders and let her bra fall away.

Draco gasped sharply, and let his head drop backwards as his senses were overwhelmed. Hermione had picked up his hands and placed them against her heated skin. Draco jerked into action, pulling his girlfriend roughly against him and rubbed the bare skin of their chests together as he kissed her thoroughly. It was very nearly too much for both of them. Hermione moaned into his mouth, and rubbed her entire body against him.

Draco shifted, and shifted again, and shuddered, and with a hiss of, "no!" he pulled Hermione hard against his flexing hips and groaned loudly.

Hermione's eyes flew open as she realized what had just happened. Then she started giggling.

Draco's cheeks were flushed a deep red, and he was trembling against her.

"Draco, it's all right, I don't mind," Hermione whispered as he dropped his head to her chest.

She wiggled against him, and he hissed and pulled her tightly to him to hold her still. "Hermione," he began, but Hermione cut him off.

"You know, Draco, it really wouldn't be fair to leave me unsatisfied, being as it's my birthday. Perhaps you'd be interested in continuing?" Hermione asked archly, and raised an eyebrow as his head snapped up to stare at her incredulously. Hope, lust and wonder flitted across Draco's face in quick succession, then a wide, shark-like grin overcame his countenance.

"Oh, Miss Granger, what a delightful suggestion," he murmured, and then he hurriedly pushed her on her back and flipped her pleated skirt up to expose her white knickers.

Hermione gasped as Draco palmed her – oh my Godric – then he quickly divested her of her knickers and delicately touched the curls he'd uncovered.

"Oh," Draco said quietly. His mouth watered. More curling hair. More Hermione for his mouth to savor – without another thought he dove in.

For Hermione's part, there was a moment of panic. This was new! This was too much! This was forbidden! But Draco's lips pressed against the aching parts of her, and he, in typical Draco fashion, nibbled and sucked at the curls between her legs. Then his tongue flicked out and the world flashed brilliant gold-green-white, and Hermione gripped the edge of the couch with one hand and Draco's hair with her other hand and wailed as chaos and wonder overtook her senses.

/…../

"Where do you suppose Hermione and Draco have gotten off to tonight? It's her birthday for Godric's sake! Mum even sent her a cake!" Ron groused as he nudged an owl-post package disgustedly with his thumb.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Studying, most likely. I'd like to go ahead and nominate those two for the most boring, non-interesting couple award. Do you suppose that they are actually in their late one-hundreds, hiding in the bodies of teenagers?"

The two boys sniggered, and decided to leave their gifts for Hermione next to Ron's mum's package in the common room. Then they grabbed their brooms and ran out to the Quidditch pitch to join Ginny, Blaise and a few others for a pick-up game of Quidditch, as Luna and a gaggle of girls from several different houses watched from the stands.

/…../

"Draco?"

"Mmmm.."

"My birthday card from my parents had a very unusual letter in it. They said they'd been gifted an Abraxan colt from you and your mother."

"Yes, I expect they would have received him two weeks ago. Technically he'll still live on the family farm, but legally he belongs to your parents now."

"Oh. Draco?"

"Yes, Hermione?"

"Why did you give my parents a flying horse?"

"It was my first gift of honourable intentions, Hermione, and those gifts are always magical creatures or other exotic animals. Being as we live on an Abraxan farm, what did you expect Mother and I to give your parents, a fainting goat?"

/…../

Mid-October, Seventh Year

"What do you think those two get up to all the time when they disappear on the seventh floor? You don't think they're…you know?" Ron made a crude gesture with his two hands, and Harry spat pumpkin juice all over his breakfast plate.

Hermione and Draco, the Hogwarts poster-children for proper behavior and appearance, had just made their entrance into the Great Hall for the day. In typical Draco and Hermione fashion, he led her to the ever-expanding section of mixed-house couples, and kissed her knuckles before helping her into her seat. The two sat with their shoulders and hips a safe and wholly non-sexual distance away from each other, and nothing about their posture indicated that they were in the least bit driven by any of the hormones that overwhelmed their companions at random times in utterly bizarre and public places throughout the castle.

Harry shook his head. "They've got to be studying for their NEWT's. Godric knows, they've got the best grades in our year, better than the Head Boy and Girl. You've got to admit, Won Won, Hermione would never allow Malfoy into her knickers. Even Lav Lav and Parvati have never seen her in her underthings."

Ron quirked an eyebrow as he swallowed a particularly large piece of sausage. "How exactly do you know that, Hairball? And why are we using the horrid nicknames this morning?"

"Oi, Lavender bent my ear for nearly an hour last night in the common room. She misses you, Won Won. It's killing her the way you and Luna are getting on. She divulged all sorts of information as she went on and on about the inevitability of failure of mixed-house couples." Harry rolled his eyes.

Ron fidgeted. "I sent my mum and dad an owl. I've asked them to gather up as many garden gnomes as they can and deliver them to Luna's dad. It's to be my, erm, first gift of honourable intentions. Luna said he adores gnomes," Ron said with a shrug.

Harry looked incredulously at his best mate. "You're still bloody serious about this arranged marriage shite?"

Ron shook his head. "It isn't shite, Harry. I've told you. It's tradition. Mum will be bloody thrilled. Percy's the only one of us who's run the gauntlet of contract season. It's bloody difficult, and a bit of a nightmare if you're not wealthy or don't know your match well. But Luna – well, for all her battiness, it's actually a bit of fun reading her. I like her oddities, mate. And the idea of making her happy - blimey this sounds so sappy – well, it makes me happy."

Harry gaped. Ron glowered at him.

Finally Ron batted Harry across the back of his head. "Leave off, Hairball. If you don't want any part of this, don't go for a Pureblood girl. Or at least, don't go the ultra-traditional, super-romantic route of contract season with the rest of us gits. And if you'll excuse me, there's my Luna now," Ron groused and pointed over at Luna, who'd approached the star-crossed lovers section, and was waving happily at Ron. He stood up, and patted Harry on the shoulder. "See you later, mate."

/…../

Halloween Night, Seventh Year

Naked and straining against each other, Hermione and Draco pushed and pulled themselves into a position that would surely lead them into the loss of their virginity within a matter of moments –

"Ah, Hermione, are we…do you want to?" Draco gasped as he nudged against her heat. He was so close to her he could actually feel her pulse overlapping his own.

"Yesss…" Hermione moaned, and tossed her head back as Draco groaned and started shifting backwards. "No! What? Where are you going?" Hermione wailed.

Draco winced, and dragged his hand over his eyes to clear his head. "Um, Blaise, sort of gave me some advice – not that he knew I was listening," he said hurriedly as Hermione's eyes went wide in shock. "He was talking to another bloke about the easiest, kindest way to, well, you know. It's supposedly not terribly pleasant for a girl, the first time and…I don't want to hurt you, Hermione. I love you," he said quietly. He waited as Hermione analyzed what he said, and watched her chest heaving with measured breaths. She was fighting panic at the idea of pain, so he continued to wait.

Slowly Hermione relaxed, and the tension left her face as she leaned up and reached for him. "All right," she murmured. "All right, I'm ready." She pulled him into a blazing kiss, and by the time they separated to catch their breaths, Hermione's legs were shaking with need. She nodded her head hurriedly at Draco's quirked eyebrow. She watched in awe as her boyfriend hesitantly drew Hermione's legs up so that her knees were nearly pressed out towards her elbows, and he whispered that he wanted her to brace herself against him. He lay back down on top of her, and Hermione flinched as he lined their bodies up with shaking fingers.

He looked up at her, and Hermione laid her right hand against his flushed cheek. He pressed into her, and they both moaned at the incredible new feeling – but then Draco felt the stop, barely more than an inch or so inside, and Hermione tensed against him before he withdrew.

"Okay," he panted. "Okay, I want you to rock with me back and forth, that's all, and we'll see how it goes, yeah?"

Hermione deliberately willed her body to relax, and pulled Draco back down close to her. "Yes, it's all right, that sounds lovely, just-" and she kissed him hard, and wiggled against him until he was slipping inside of her again, and then they were rocking, slowly, as Draco pressed continuously against that tiny insistent bit of flesh that verified Hermione's virginity.

It was no good though, the slow pace of rocking, and Hermione wriggled against Draco and pushed against him to encourage him to speed up. It felt so bloody good, and that damned pinch of Draco's heat against her hymen was more of a distraction from the tension of the delicious ache of his pubic bone hitting her right there…

"Mmmm…" Hermione bit her lip and pulled at Draco's shoulders, encouraging more, more, more as they rocked harder, faster together.

And suddenly it was enough. "Drac-oh!" Hermione arched her back and pushed against him hard as a delicious, toe-curling orgasm swept over her.

And with each pulse of her body, Draco was sucked in further, deeper, tighter, and suddenly he was through – Draco gasped in shock as he sank fully into Hermione even as she still shook around him. He shuddered as every mental faculty left him – so hot…so wet…so wonderful – and immediately fell apart. Two frantic twists of his hips was all it took to follow Hermione into bliss, and he squeezed his eyes shut as he came forcefully inside of her.

Panting, wincing, and shifting, the young lovers pulled their sweat-slicked bodies apart just enough to collapse together on the couch.

Draco curled his limbs around Hermione and pushed her hair away from her face. "Are you all right?" he asked cautiously. He hadn't meant to finish so embarrassingly quickly, but holy bugger, no wonder why all the blokes in school were running about looking for a girl to get a leg over. He just hoped that her orgasm had overcome any pain-

Hermione nodded her head lazily and puckered her lips for a kiss. Draco quickly complied, and she sighed against his lips. "I'm lovely, Draco. It was lovely. I'm a bit sore, probably couldn't have gone in for a marathon round, so don't go whinging about not lasting long. It was perfect." She smiled beatifically at him, and Draco's heart thumped wildly in his chest.

"All right, good. I'm glad, then. I love you," Draco whispered, and pulled her hand up to kiss her knuckles.

Hermione drifted into a doze even as she whispered in return, "I love you, Draco…"

/…./

First Day of Winter Holidays, Seventh Year

"I swear sometimes I think Malfoy just does the shit he does to make the rest of us blokes look bad," Ron grumbled to Harry as they watched the Slytherin first hold out his hand to help Hermione down from their carriage, then immediately walk her straight to the nearest car on the Hogwarts Express and hand her up into the train. Hermione, always a strong and independent girl, didn't seem to mind Malfoy's chivalry at all, which shocked Harry and Ron more than anything else. Where had the Hermione Granger gone that could do everything herself?

"I don't know, mate. I guess it's just what old people do," Harry quipped.

"Could be. I see Dumbledore helping McGonagall and Pomfrey about like that," Ron mused.

"Of course it could also be some bullshit for you Pureblood contract season wankers," Harry noted, as he pointed out Neville behaving in much the same way that Malfoy had toward his intended.

Ron narrowed his eyes and glared at Harry. "Fine, you want to play it that way? Come along, my Luna," he said as he bounced out of their carriage and held his hand out in equal chivalrous attendance towards his blonde girlfriend. Luna looked up from her copy of The Quibbler for the first time since they'd left the school grounds. Ron made eye contact with her, and waved his hand politely to show it waiting to grasp hers. He expected her to take his hand, but what he hadn't expected was her to beam at him like he'd just saved her life.

"Thank you, Ron!" Luna exclaimed as she grasped his fingers. "This is so nice of you!" She hopped down from the carriage and landed at Ron's feet, and Ron could swear he saw actual stars in the girl's eyes as she smiled at him. He gulped. Bloody hell. No wonder why Malfoy and Neville played this game. He'd gladly play along to if it meant Luna would smile at him like that every day.

Ron gently tugged Luna forward to the Hogwarts Express and their holiday with their families and their contract negotiations. As he handed Luna up into the train car, he was rewarded with another starry-eyed smile and tremendous thank you. 'Don't thank me,' Ron thought. 'Thank Malfoy.' But of course he didn't say that out loud.

/…../

Mid-December, Seventh Year

Draco and Hermione surveyed the various rolls of parchments and stacks of photographs scattered across Narcissa's workroom, and sighed in harmony. The past two days of negotiations, Hermione thought, were something out of a corporate merger nightmare, not a simple family alignment.

There were many aspects to go over. Some things were simpler than others. It was very nearly the twenty-first century, after all, and it shouldn't matter, in Hermione's eyes, where she and Draco chose to live. They were able to travel using magic, for Merlin's sake; there was no reason for either of their families to dictate such matters.

And obviously, it was nobody's damned business whether she and Draco were virgins or not – before the wedding, after the wedding, or whenever! If they were going to go through with this whole arranged marriage nonsense for the sake of tradition, there were some hoops Hermione was willing to jump through, but there was no bloody way she was divulging that sort of private information to their parents, let alone any legal binders they might need to employ to attest the veracity of the documents.

Absolutely out of the question.

/…./

"I saw her ring, Draco. You know the ring doesn't lie."

Draco turned to look at his mother, who had closed the door to separate them from the Grangers, who were looking over some photos of homes across different areas of Norfolk and surrounding counties.

"I don't really know what you're on about, Mother. Is there something wrong with Hermione's ring?" Draco asked in some confusion. His mother looked disappointed.

"Your reluctance to discuss the purity and chastity clause and the rubies along the sides of the ring indicate that Hermione is no longer pure and chaste, and neither are you," Narcissa said sadly.

Draco flushed. "Mother, that's hardly any of your concern!"

"Of course it is, Draco! There was a reason for that clause! You've lost your security, and any advantage in this contract. How can you ensure that she doesn't have a one-off with some other boy while you two are still in school, or try to pass another man's child off as yours before you two are bound?" Narcissa asked.

Draco scoffed. "Mother, before you become too insulting, please keep in mind that this is Hermione that you are talking about. The scenarios that you're painting are so out of character for her that I assure you I would be able to spot the problem and deal with it accordingly. In any case, it will never happen. Hermione playing me false is about as likely as my tearing up these contracts and begging you to contact the Greengrass family again."

Narcissa snorted in a very unladylike manner, which made her son chuckle.

"Mother," Draco continued, "is the whole purity and chastity clause issue really just to ensure I don't get cuckolded?"

"Well no, of course not, Draco. It's to ensure the purity of the Malfoy bloodline, to keep any unwanted – oh my…. Well, I think between you and I, we should probably just eliminate this clause altogether, don't you agree, dear?" Narcissa blinked rapidly as she realized the enormity of their near-massive faux pas with Hermione's family.

Draco clenched his hands into fists, and his face blossomed through several shades of pink and red before he was able to finally nod his head. Finally he closed his eyes and whistled out a slow breath. "Merlin's balls, Mother. It's a damned good thing we discussed this in private. Hermione would have had me skinned alive if she'd seen that, and this whole thing would have been over! Please, if you love me at all, eliminate all clauses that pertain to any of that blood purity rubbish. Every last bit of it. Or anything like it! To hell with Lucius and all the other Malfoys that thought any of that was appropriate! I. Just. Want. Hermione."

Narcissa reached out to her son and placed a comforting hand against his cheek. "I can see that, Draco. I've seen that for some time. And you're absolutely right, I haven't been looking at these clauses closely enough to read what they're really trying to prevent. Well, this may get a lot simpler from here on out."

"Are you going to eliminate all of the bullshit and get down to the tangible stuff, like my property and responsibilities?" Draco asked hopefully. "Because honestly, Mother, that's all we really care about; where will we live and what will I be doing for the family? Hermione will most definitely be attending a Muggle university next autumn."

"I'll see to it, dear. It will be a bit more than that, but not much, really now that I think of it."

"Thank you, Mother. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to Hermione and her parents before they think anything odd is going on," Draco said as he kissed his mother's cheek and made for the door.

"That's fine, Draco. Oh, and Draco?"

"Yes, Mother?"

Narcissa smirked wickedly at her son and pointed at him with her wand. "Please do not get that girl pregnant. There has never been a Malfoy born out of wedlock in recorded history. If you do, I will render you incapable of having any further children. Do you understand me?"

"Mother!"

/…../

In the end, Hermione had been right. The Sixth and Seventh years had dissolved into chaos during mealtimes once contract season unofficially began in December, and by the time February hit and the formal engagements were being announced in the Prophet, there were five tables in the Great Hall for students, laid out parallel to the teachers table. Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and the star-crossed lovers, as everyone called the residents of the fifth table, all settled into a more peaceable mealtime now that they were able to sit with whom they chose.

Draco and Hermione's engagement, being the most non-traditional of the traditional arranged marriages, was announced the earliest, on New Years. Neville and Millicent announced their engagement immediately after, however, for the simple and expedient reason of Millicent's pregnancy and their haste to marry before school was even over. The gossip over their scandalous behavior was over-shadowed, however, by Pansy Parkinson's contract from a member of Viktor Krum's family – a much older member of his family. She was bound to be married to a man more than twice her age who spoke less English than his famous cousin, and Pansy wasn't in the least bit happy. She had been propositioning Sixth and Seventh year Pureblood boys from all houses in hopes of gaining a better allegiance, but by the time of Neville and Millicent's wedding over the spring hols, Pansy was well and truly affianced and stuck to Zoroaster Krum.

Ron Weasley and Blaise Zabini would be the last of the group to announce any engagements, because their intendeds had not reached their majority yet. Luna's and Ginny's birthdays were determined to be the time that their engagements would be announced, however, and the various families couldn't be happier with the arrangements.

/…../

Last day of Seventh Year

Hermione Granger stood in front of her bathroom mirror for the final time and checked her reflection. She waved her wand to arrange her curls, and gave her wand a twirl to sweep her hair up into a chignon. She carefully smoothed a bit of strawberry lip gloss on, and then waved her wand a last time to de-wrinkle and settle her outfit a final time. She scrutinized her appearance closely, especially around her midsection – no, nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever. No one that didn't know her better than Draco would be able to tell – and honestly no one knew her better than Draco, outside of her parents, and naturally, her parents already knew. Draco had yet to tell his mum, but even so, there was no way she and Draco could have kept this kind of information from their parents for very long.

Hermione sighed wistfully. Those tiny children with her and Draco's combined characteristics were, because of too many frantic, thoughtless, frenzied moments in their private study room next to the Room of Requirement, coming much sooner than Hermione had anticipated. But fortunately for Hermione, it wasn't the end of all things.

/…../

Draco greeted his mother formally, kissing her on both cheeks before he led her out onto the grounds where she could find a seat next to the Grangers. He and Hermione had already told the Grangers about the baby, but this moment was his chance to tell his own mother, in private, about their news. He pulled Narcissa to a stop just before they were about to enter the crowd of parents and students.

"Mother, Hermione and I have some news, and I wanted to share it with you before the graduation ceremony started," Draco began.

Narcissa raised an eyebrow. "You got her pregnant, didn't you?" she sighed.

Draco drew up sharply and blinked a few times. Finally he nodded slowly, and shoved his hands into his pockets. He shuffled his feet for a moment; then he realized he looked like a naughty child and stood up straight, pulled his hands out of his pockets, and twined his fingers together behind his back.

"Well, the wedding is in two weeks. How far along is she?" Narcissa asked in a no-nonsense voice as she cast her gaze across the grounds.

Draco cleared his throat. "She's, ahem, about six weeks gone, according to Madam Pomfrey. Mother, I'm terribly sorry, both of us are. It was truly careless of-" he was cut off as his mother held her hand up in front of him.

"Do not apologize to me for the existence of your child, Draco. That does not bode well for your relationship if you start out by feeling sorry about its existence. Never apologize for the life you've created. Well, since you made it until this close to the wedding I suppose I won't hex away your ability to give me more grandchildren, but I do wish you'd waited until you were older. What about Hermione's schooling? Will she still be enrolling in her Muggle university in September, but cutting out half-way through the year?"

"That's correct," Hermione's clear voice said from somewhere off to the right, and both Draco and Narcissa looked over to see her walking up briskly with her parents in tow. Greetings were exchanged all around, and it was decided that the thing to do was go sit out in the sun to privately discuss matters in the time they had available.

It was quite simple, really. Hermione outlined her plan to take a lighter load of courses in her first term at university, and then she'd take a break to wait for the baby to arrive. Once the baby was weaned, she'd return to school part-time, and Draco would take over full-time parenting.

"I have no plans to do anything career-wise anyway, outside of managing the family's holdings. That's a full-time job that I can pursue from the comfort of home, and I'll be able to care for the baby as well as anyone," Draco drawled with a casual wave of his hand, and smirked when his elders all laughed at him.

"You all laugh now, but you forget, Hermione will be teaching me everything I need to know about how to care for the baby. We'll be perfectly fine."

Hermione nodded her head sagely, and Draco leaned over to kiss her on the cheek and pat her belly. The parents laughed at their children's antics. The two were, without a doubt, incredibly well matched. Hermione's engagement ring, a large sapphire surrounded by a band encrusted with diamonds, glittered on her left hand as it rested on top of Draco's, which still perched on Hermione's stomach.

"Hullo, you two! It's time to line up! Get your lazy bums off the grass and up to the seats – oh, not you, Mrs. Malfoy, Dr's Granger. I mean, yes, it's time for everyone to come up, but, oh well, come on now!" Ron Weasley called down from higher up on the lawn, and Hermione laughed to see her best friend flush and stutter after accidentally telling her and Draco's parents to get their lazy bums off the grass.

Luna Lovegood stood next to him, and once Draco had helped first Hermione, then his mother up from the lawn, they all ventured up to greet Luna and Ron – and Luna's odd and stunning new headgear.

"Isn't it lovely?" Luna asked. "Ronald got it for me. You see, he'd noticed Daddy and I talking with Mrs. Longbottom about her lovely hat, the one with the large vulture she wore at Neville's wedding? Well, Ron knew how much I admired Mrs. Longbottom's hat, and he remembered my Gryffindor lion hat, and naturally thought it was high time I have my own Ravenclaw chapeau! Isn't he just the most insightful person you've ever met?" Luna declared dreamily as she ran her hands lovingly across the brim of her brilliant blue hat. It was simply enormous, and it was definitively a Ravenclaw hat, as a huge blue-black Raven perched atop it, mounted as if it had been frozen in mid-flight and mid-caw. It was simply hideous, simply horrendous, simply Loony.

Ron grinned sheepishly at Hermione and Draco. "It sort of suits her, I thought."

"Oh, yes," they said in unison.

"Oh! And he gave me this!" Luna held out her right hand, and showed off a cloudy white rock set in a simple wide gold band that had been inlaid with a strange purple wood-grain. "It's an agate. Isn't it pretty? It fell out of my shoe after our first visit to the dragon sanctuary over the winter holiday. And the purple heartwood is actually from shavings Ron got from Daddy from Mum's wand – isn't that just utterly perfect?"

"Oh, yes," Hermione and Draco repeated, and they looked up at a blushing Ron. He had stuffed his hands in his pockets and was shuffling his feet, but Luna wound her arm through his and smiled merrily.

"That was very clever of you, Ron," Hermione said kindly as she patted her friend's shoulder.

Ron grunted in acceptance of her praise, but then his eyes narrowed in shock as Malfoy wound his arm around Hermione and protectively rested a hand against her stomach before murmuring in her ear that they needed to get her to her seat.

No bloody way.

But then Hermione blushed and covered his hand with hers, and tried to push it discreetly to her waist as she looked up at Ron and Luna in a bit of a panic.

"'Mione-" Ron began, but was cut off by Luna's gasp of joy and her hand flapped over his mouth.

"GRADUATES TO YOUR SEATS, PLEASE!" Professor McGonagall's magically amplified voice cut off any further attempt at conversation, and the parties immediately broke up as Draco pulled his fiancée away from her best friend and his rapidly purpling complexion.

"Bugger, that was poor timing, Draco. I just wanted to wait until after we were married, or at least until after graduation was over before word got out," Hermione complained as they walked towards the middle rows with the graduating G section.

"I am sorry about that, my dear, but you know how my hands are. They barely follow my will when it comes to your body, and apparently giving up on pulling your hair in public only means that I'm going to be constantly touching your bump-"

"I don't have a bump!" Hermione hissed frantically as she smoothed her graduation robes.

"Yes you do, dearest. It's tiny, but it's a hard little thing. That's my son in there, and you can't deny he's already big, strong and incredibly handsome, just like his father," Draco drawled as Hermione rolled her eyes.

"It could just as well be a girl – oh never mind, we can discuss this later, here's my aisle. Oh, good afternoon Greengrass, lovely day isn't it?" Hermione suddenly changed her voice to her super-sweet, all-manners, public-evisceration voice she used with any of Draco's lingering fan-girls that continued to give her a hard time, despite their year-long courtship and very public engagement.

Daphne Greengrass curled her lip but otherwise said nothing as Hermione turned to accept a chaste kiss from Draco. Once Draco had gone to find his own seat, however, and Hermione turned to make her way into the G aisle, Daphne made sure to sweep her rival's feet out from under her as she tried to make her careful way past the Slytherin girl.

Draco turned as he heard his fiancée's squawk of dismay, followed by the sound of bodies and chairs crashing against each other amidst titters of amusement and barks of outrage. He dashed back up the middle aisle between his classmates to see his housemate, Daphne Greengrass, cackling and pointing at Hermione, who was being pulled up from a heap on the grass by Anthony Goldstein.

"What happened here?" he spat, and was relieved to see Hermione's eyes fly up to meet his. They weren't injured or even frightened, even though her hands rested against her stomach. His fiancée looked one-hundred percent furious. Her eyes darted down to Greengrass, and Draco's presumptions were confirmed when Goldstein piped up.

"Greengrass over there thought it would be a lark to trip your fiancée, Malfoy. I think she's all right though; I saw what was happening and Cushioned the ground just before she hit," the Ravenclaw boy said as he passed Hermione over to Draco's outstretched hands.

"Thanks, Anthony, really," Hermione murmured, and Draco reaffirmed her thanks with an outstretched right hand as he held her against him with his left hand. Goldstein shook his hand, and then nodded his head towards Daphne.

"Are you going to be taking care of that, or shall I collect a professor?" he asked.

"Oh, I'll be taking care of it," Draco said quietly. "I've already begun, haven't I, Greengrass?" Surprisingly, Daphne hadn't moved or spoken at all since Hermione had confirmed her treachery.

"Is she Petrified?" Goldstein asked.

"Why yes, yes she is," Draco said smoothly. Then he knelt down next to Daphne as Goldstein smirked and returned to his seat.

"Greengrass, you might not realize this, but you just committed an act of attempted murder against a Malfoy. That isn't going to go well for you, now is it, going to jail for trying to kill my son?" Draco hissed next to Daphne's frozen form.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Or daughter. Honestly Draco, you're so sexist."

Draco looked up at his soon-to-be wife, and quirked an eyebrow. "There hasn't been a female firstborn Malfoy in centuries, dearest. Why do you think our child will be any different?"

Hermione tapped her chest smugly. "New blood, and far superior female genetics. My mitochondrial DNA will trump your Malfoy chauvinism into dust. Just you wait."

"Your mito-what?" Draco asked as he rose to his feet and peered down at Hermione.

"My mitochondrial…oh you know what, we just need to enroll you in some classes at university with me, Draco. You'll like it. You love Potions, after all, and Muggle science would really enhance that interest for you," Hermione explained.

Draco looked exasperated. "Hermione, I've already told you I'll be busy enough getting the new house ready for the baby and managing the family businesses. And look, graduation is about to start. Let's get through this first, and we'll discuss your supposed superior blood later – not that I believe you'll be able to break Malfoy tradition. That's a boy, mark my words."

"Oh ho-ho, Mr. Malfoy, I cannot wait until we get to Oxford. You will be so overwhelmed with envy you will be following me to classes like a mentally starved dog. I do love our new home, by the way. I can't wait to move in!"

"Well we're not going anywhere while we're standing here in this aisle, dearest. Go sit down, I think McGonagall and Dumbledore are getting antsy up there," Draco nodded his head towards the stage where their collective professors were waiting to begin the ceremony.

Hermione nodded, and pecked Draco on the cheek, all the while blatantly ignoring their substantial audience, who had heard every single word the two had said back and forth to each other. Then she patted the frozen Daphne Greengrass on top of her head, and said, "I don't envy you," before she turned and took her seat.

Draco shook his head at his fiancée's smug behavior, and pulled his wand from the interior pocket of his graduation robes. He twirled it between his fingers as he contemplated his housemate. "You know," he began slowly, "you and your friends have been nothing but a disgrace to our house this year, but more than anything you've been an irritation to me personally for most of my time here in school. I don't like you, Greengrass. You're disgusting to me. Why can't you see that?" He flicked his wand and un-Petrified her, and the girl immediately turned vermillion with humiliation and started spitting in rage at her public shame.

Draco cut her off with another casual flick of his wand. "Enough, you're going to soak everyone around you if you keep slobbering like an animal. But I always did say you reek of sea-life. Isn't that the case, though? Hmm…" Draco stroked his chin even as the Headmaster called for everyone to be seated so they could begin.

Draco held up one hand and called, "Headmaster, one moment." Then he waved his wand at his angry housemate, and Transfigured her into a large, slimy, green fish. Then with another grand overhead sweep of his wand, the Daphne-fish soared over everyone's heads and sailed hundreds of meters in the air to land loudly in the Black Lake.

Myriad gasps and shouts of protest denoted the Slytherin house and Greengrass family's disapproval of Daphne's ejection from the graduation ceremony.

"SILENCE!" Professor Dumbledore's Sonorous amplified voice blasted over the crowd, and everyone settled back in their seats immediately. Draco slipped into the seat next to Hermione, now that it was vacant.

"Mr. Malfoy, I'm afraid Miss Greengrass simply cannot stay in Black Lake. If you would, please return her to dry land and her correct form," Professor Dumbledore sighed regretfully as he stood at the podium.

"Certainly, Headmaster, but if I may defend my actions-" Draco stood and tried to protest, but Dumbledore held up his hand.

"Quite all right, Mr. Malfoy, I think we all saw quite accurately and heard what occurred between Miss Granger and Miss Greengrass to incur your wrath. And I quite agree that her attempt to murder your unborn child-" Here the entire audience gasped and cried out in shock. "-left you angry enough to need to take some form of retaliation. But I cannot allow you to introduce an invasive species into the delicate ecosystem of the Black Lake. She must come out before she can disrupt the harmony therein. I think her family will be willing to take her home directly."

With a few waves of some wands, Daphne Greengrass was returned to land in her human form and standing next to her parents, who looked wholly embarrassed. Clutching her diploma between shaking hands, Daphne stalked away from the school grounds in her parents wake, followed by her younger sister, Astoria.

/…../

Later in that evening, Hermione and Draco hosted a private party at their new home near Hermione's new university at Oxford. It was a good chance to rehearse for future events as well, since they were also hosting their own wedding on the grounds of the new Malfoy Mansion.

Draco lifted his fiancée's curls from her shoulder and tucked his favorite strand into his mouth while she chatted with Ginny and Luna, and was greeted with Hermione's incredulous face as she turned to gape at him.

"Draco Malfoy, I thought you agreed that we are adults now and you're giving this particular habit up?" Hermione asked archly as Ginny and Luna snickered.

Draco shrugged casually, then held up his wand and indicated he could always cut off a section to chew in private, if she'd prefer. Hermione's eyes widened in horror, and she screeched and pulled away from her fiancé, then tore off towards the other end of the house with her hands over her hair, giggling madly as Draco chased her.

Harry nudged Ron as they watched stuffy old Malfoy, who they'd never thought even knew what his prick was for, let alone have the nerve to use it on their best mate, grab said best mate and toss her over his shoulder. Hermione shrieked and laughed as Draco smacked her bottom and then launched her onto an empty couch. As soon as she'd landed, he dove on top of her before she could catch her breath or scramble upright.

"Avert your eyes, ladies and gentlemen! Hermione is much less inhibited in the privacy of her home, and this could get graphic before she lets me g-mmpph!" Draco's laughing courtesy call was cut off by Hermione's mouth on his as she wrapped her denim-clad legs around him.

Ron nudged Harry in return. "Harry m'boy, they're snogging!" Ron said in a disbelieving whisper. Hermione's giggles began again suddenly as Draco rose up and claimed her hand.

"Excuse us for a moment, everyone. Hermione and I have some matters to attend to-"

"Things to discuss!" Hermione cut in as she smacked her fiance's shoulder.

"Yes, things to attend, and we'll be back in a moment-"

"Or two," Hermione cut in again, rather smugly as she pulled Draco towards a staircase that took them quickly out of sight.

Harry went pale. "Oh for Merlin's sake, they're going to… go…" he groaned and folded over on himself. "Oh I think I'm going to be sick," he rasped.

"Here, Harry, if you really are, have at the rubbish bin, right?" a girl's voice said as an ornate bin was thrust under his nose. Harry looked up to see Romilda Vane, determined flirt and fellow Gryffindor, wrinkling her nose and shaking her head in mock disgust. His nausea fled as chagrin tugged at him.

Ron crowed in glee and gave Vane a high-five for her quick thinking. "You're a good woman, Vane. Way to watch out for Harry's well-being," Ron chortled.

"Ugh," Harry moaned. "All my preconceived notions have been shattered. I'm pretty sure the earth has tilted on its axis."

Romilda patted Harry awkwardly on his shoulder. "Harry, they're adults. Surely you didn't think they weren't shagging? What did you think they've been doing all year long up in their little private study room? Studying?" she guffawed as she dropped the bin to the floor.

Harry and Ron glared at Romilda in revulsion. "Of course," Harry said simply. "She's Hermione Granger, vestal virgin of Gryffindor. She even chose a nearly sexless male as her future spouse, for Godric's sake!"

Romilda rolled her eyes. "Draco Malfoy, sexless? Dear Merlin, the girls in our school have been after him like a pack of hippogriffs after a wounded ferret, trying to snare his attention! He'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to know that he was the single hottest bloke in the school. Hermione's a lucky, lucky girl, and the entire female population of Gryffindor house has raised her status to Princess for snagging the Slytherin Prince. She won him, entirely untouched and unmolested by any other girl. One-hundred percent guilt-free on both their parts. I say, lucky on both of them, you know?"

Luna drifted over and patted Ron's hand. "I was wondering when you'd figure it out. They were awfully blatant about it in school, if you looked hard enough," Luna murmured.

Romilda snorted. "No kidding, Lovegood. Those two were vibrating with barely restrained lust all year long. It was starting to get a little disgusting."

Ron and Harry looked at each other blankly. "How did we not see that?" Harry asked his best mate.

Ron shook his head. "I have no idea, Hairball-"

"Won Won."

"Shut up, you miserable wanker," Ron sniped. "Everyone makes mistakes in their first relationships. At least I'm happily moving on with my life. Luna doesn't call me ridiculous names."

"Oh, but I could if you'd like me to, Ronald. Something like Dragon Hugger or Ridgeback Washer, or-" Luna's dreamy but enthusiastic imaginings were cut off by Romilda's and Harry's burst of uproarious laughter.

Ron sighed and patted his girlfriend's hand. "Thank you, Luna, but I'd appreciate if you just call me Ron."

"Not everyone makes mistakes with their first relationships," Romilda mused a few moments later as Neville and Millicent waddled by. She was very nearly due, and their expected baby girl was all their families could talk about.

Neville beamed and waved at his fellow Gryffindors and Luna as they walked past, and mouthed 'loo' to his mates. The couple disappeared around a corner as Harry and his cohorts chuckled.

Harry shook his head remorsefully. "I suppose you're right, Vane. They're certainly arse over heels for each other, and there's no denying that Hermione and Malfoy feel the same way about their relationship. It's just rather revolting to think that there was that much…er…action going on in the school. All this love and forever and courtship business is kind of foreign and strange to me, being Muggle-raised and all."

Romilda Vane punched Harry in the shoulder. "Potter, your own parents married right after Hogwarts. Your dad was a Pureblood just as traditional as Malfoy. Honestly, duh!"

Harry drew up and stared at the Sixth year Gryffindor as if he'd never seen her before. "What?" he asked.

Romilda took pity on Harry and patted his hand. "You Gryffindor boys might not keep scrapbooks and pass down stories, but us girls do. If you really didn't know, and want to learn, I could tell you about it. It's a lovely story," Romilda said. "Traditional Pureblood boy with his head stuck up his arse falls in love with a Muggleborn girl, and throws over family traditions to run the gauntlet of contract season to woo and marry the witch of his dreams. Sound like anyone else you know?"

Ron and Luna drifted away from Harry as he gazed in wide-eyed wonder at Romilda. "You know, Ronald, I think Harry's met his match," Luna murmured to her intended.

Ron looked back at his best mate, and nodded with a measure of surprise. "I think you might be right, my Luna. But you called that weeks ago. How did you know?"

Luna smiled patiently up at her love, and explained carefully. "It's all the wrackspurts, darling Ronald. If you'd just look closely, you'd be able to see them, swirling chaotically all around their heads. They're in nearly perfect formation now. If you tilt your head just so, and squint your left eye, surely you'll be able to see…"she reached up and pulled Ron's head down near hers, and tilted it.

Ron obediently closed his left eye until it was at half-mast, and gazed speculatively at his fellow housemates, now out of ear-shot with their heads together in heated whispered conversation. And there, just for a moment in the ambient lamp-light, Ron thought he could see what Luna had been trying to explain to their many friends for years.

"You see?" Luna said helpfully. "With some people, you can just look at them and know that they are meant to be together. Like you and I, or Ginny and Blaise, or Hermione and Draco. Wrackspurts don't lie," she said. "Oh, I hope he offers her family a fainting goat as his first gift of honourable intentions. They're so valuable, and very good luck for the family!"

The End

Author's Note: This myriad collection of plot bunnies and chaos wouldn't leave my head, and I had to dump it all so I could continue on with my other writings. Mega huge thanks to Phnxgirl for her beta-read for boring-sections, mistakes, or faux-pas. Any that she didn't catch are my shame alone. I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave me a review!

Happy Holidays all the way from Atlanta to wherever you are!

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