I was inspired by a Facebook meme about Draco + apples (Drapple) so here's my take on it.
Big thanks to TriDogMom, my amazing beta.
Also I wish I owned Draco Malfoy's ass and Hermione's all-round awesomeness. But I don't. JK Rowling does.
Rations
Mission – Day 1
The worst thing about the job as an Auror in Draco's opinion were the stake-out missions. Being holed up in a confined space with a person you're assigned to was psychologically and sometimes olfactorily challenging.
He was thankful when some missions were short and the shortest he's ever had was two hours. However, he had drawn the proverbial short straw this time, a three-week stake-out with the only other Auror who hadn't threatened to kill him yet. That person was none other than bossy, self-righteous, frizz-haired war heroine Hermione Granger. From what he gathered, this was her first ever stake-out as a full-fledged Auror. Why she chose this career path after five years as an illustrious bureaucrat in the Ministry, he didn't know nor did he care.
All that he cared about was to try and make the best out of a tight situation. And the situation was definitely tight, for their hideout area was nothing more than an inconspicuous beige and brown motorhome in the midst of a muggle campsite on the sweeping valleys of the Lake District. He wished there was an undetectable extension charm on the thing but his boss mentioned that the muggles who choose to travel in these are also very nosy about how other muggles with motorhomes live. It would draw too much attention if the motorhome was too spacious.
He unpacked his things into small cupboards above the small booth table, like plenty of muggle clothes, waterproofs and surveillance items. Most importantly he packed enough of his favourite breakfast to last him for the whole mission. Twenty perfect, home-grown apples. One apple for each day as his breakfast and his only indulgence.
Draco glared at Granger as he carefully placed his apples into a fruit bowl which he had also packed. They sat gleaming and proudly next to the muggle kettle. These were his apples and this is where they shall stay.
"Malfoy, I don't want this to be more intense than it already is. So, let's agree on a shift routine, ok?" She offered, in a forced way.
"Sure Granger. 6 hours night shifts, change at 3am? Therefore, we don't have to share that bed." He said as he glared at the old double bed at the end of the motorhome.
"That's fine with me. Then alternating hour shifts between solo and paired?"
"Not much else needs to be said then."
They set up their binoculars and camera equipment from inside the caravan towards a small hut across the lake view and on a remote slope. It looked like an abandoned shepherd's hut but sources believed this was a possible location for a runaway Death Eater. They had also brought a few books on bird-watching, incase a Muggle asked them about their equipment. They had been briefed on a few bird-watching facts to help them with their cover story.
For the first day, they barely spoke to each other and it suited Draco just fine. Nothing much happened at all in the little hut. They took turns to familiarise themselves around the campsite and the neighbouring area while the other stayed on watch. Soon it was almost time for the night shift.
Granger changed into pyjamas in the small bathroom of the motorhome. He noted that while she usually wore a bushy ponytail in the day, it was now resembled a large nest of free-flowing curls.
"Really Granger? Teeth on pyjamas?" He sneered at her attire.
"These were a present. Not like I have anyone to impress anyway."
"Don't worry, you never did."
She glared at him before she climbed into the double bed and drew the curtain. Things were peaceful and Draco could idly read a book as he frequently glanced through the binoculars. Until he heard the soft purring that came from behind the curtain around midnight. He smirked, Granger was a snorer. It was soft and breathy. He counted his blessings that it could have been much worse.
Soon it was about three in the morning, his eyes are watery from tiredness. He heard the alarm clock and a soft moaning of protest from the bed. It was silent again. Then a huff and the ruffle of the duvet. The curtains clinked as they slid across the curtain rail.
Draco looked over and almost quashed the snigger at the very dishevelled Granger as she sat up, bleary eyed and glared at him. There was hair in her face and facing all directions. It was much worse than normal.
"If you say a word, I'll hex you." She threatened as she shuffled into the bathroom. She came out minutes later with her hair tied back into a bushy tail and wearing a large jumper with jeans. She also waved her wand and started to make coffee.
Draco leapt out of the booth and got changed into his satin-rich pyjamas in the tiny bathroom. He did notice that the bathroom walls expanded whenever he moved so that he never hit his elbows on the wall. It was very clever and almost unnoticeable. As his head hit the pillow, he was enveloped by the scent of Granger's shampoo. A nuisance but at least the bed was delightfully warmed up by her already. With that thought, he was fast asleep.
Mission – Day 2 09:00
When he opened the curtains at nine in the morning, he woke up to see Granger cooking porridge on the single stove.
"Want some?" She offered kindly.
"I'll never eat peasant gruel thank you."
He slipped out of the nice warm bed and strode up towards the kitchen. He picked up one of his beautiful apples, rubbed it on his shirt before taking a big bite out of it. He sighed as its juicy flesh filled his mouth with delight. Hermione raised an eyebrow at him but continued cooking her porridge.
He stretched himself out on the booth seat whilst savouring his perfectly sweet and flavourful apple. There's nothing he doesn't love about it, the satisfying crunch, the shiny skin in contrast to its flesh. He really loved everything about it. He sneered at Granger as she ate her bowl of slop she called breakfast. His breakfast was far better than hers.
Mission – Day 3, 09:00
He woke up from his six hours sleep feeling refreshed and famished. He tossed about an apple as he sat down opposite Granger, who was already eating her bowl of muck. He rubbed the apple on his pyjamas and took a bite.
"You know rubbing an apple on your shirt doesn't actually clean it?" She critiqued.
He shrugged her off. "It's more of a habit."
He could barely suppress the growl deep in his chest as he enjoyed his perfect orb of deliciousness. Hermione scoffed at him as she sighed into her beige sloppy porridge. Then their day of dull waiting went by the same as the day before. Including the horrendous orange jumper which Granger had brought with her to knit.
Mission – Day 5, 09:00
The alarm went off and Draco wished he could sleep just half an hour longer. He took a deep breath and some fluff went in his mouth. He spluttered and pulled out a strand of long brown curls from his mouth.
"For fuck sake, Granger! You moult worse than my crups!"
"At least I don't leave shaving stubble in the bathroom sink." Her self-righteous voice replied from behind the bed curtain. They glared at each other as soon as he pulled back the curtains. He stomped the few steps to his trusty fruit bowl and popped an apple in his mouth. It was far more inviting than Granger's hair.
Mission – Day 7, 09:00
Nothing had happened at the hut. Not even a tile had fallen off the damn roof and Draco hoped their boss would owl them and ask them to come back from this pointless mission.
Granger was still quietly knitting the ghastly jumper, which he could now see it will spell out Chudley Cannons on the front of it when it was done. He pitied the future wearer and he pitied their choice in Quidditch teams more. He picked up one of his apples, rubbed it on his shirt before he took a hearty bite.
"Should we send a message back to HQ that we should withdraw from this mission?" He asked. Brown eyes glared back at him.
"Only if you don't have the stomach for it." She quipped.
"Are you accusing me of not being tough enough for a simple stake out mission?" His hackles had been raised.
"Clearly if you're suggesting it, you don't have the aptitude for hunting down Death Eaters."
"I've caught a lot of Death Eaters, I'll have you know." He was angry and he ripped a piece of his apple with his teeth. He chewed harshly as they glared at each other. Then he swallowed his mouthful.
"Fine! Let's continue to waste our time and stay until the end of the mission." He got up, and took his half-eaten apple with him out of the motorhome.
Mission – Day 11, 14:00
They never mentioned leaving the mission again and now it was the second week of their confined living arrangements. When he woke up in the morning, he has noticed the brunette had placed a fresh bowl of water next to his bowl of prized possessions. He obliged by using it to wash an apple before eating. Anything to keep the fragile peace.
They were watching the hut together from inside the caravan, it was harder to see it with the rain pelting down. It didn't matter too much because nothing had happened at all. It had gotten to the point where Draco could point out the exact location of the hut even in the dark. That was how long they had been staring at it.
Draco glanced at his partner, he was relieved that the know-it-all had finished knitting that ghastly orange jumper. But she moved on to knitting a red jumper which was just as bad.
"Have I ever told you that not only do you have poor taste in food but also in knitwear?"
"Excuse me?"
"You've made a Chudley Cannons jumper, who are the worst team in the league. Now I'm guessing from the colour you've chosen, you're also knitting a Harpies jumper."
"Malfoy, they're not for me, they're for my friends!"
"Well your friends have poor taste in quidditch teams and you have poor tastes in friends."
"At least I have plenty of them." She grumbled. Draco stood up, that was a below the belt swipe at him.
"I'm going out for some air." He stormed out with the almost empty water tank. The cheek of the woman!
Mission – Day 11, 14:30
Draco took his time with walking around the grounds before he went to the water taps to refill the large water tank. By this point, he had almost calmed down. He rationalised that being in close quarters with another person would cause some tension. The fact that Hermione had only insulted him once in the last two weeks was already testament that he could almostwork well with her. In many ways it was a blessing they hadn't killed each other yet.
He lugged the heavy tank into the caravan where his partner was peeking through her binoculars. She stood up and walked close to him.
"Malfoy I'm sorry for what I said. I shouldn't be quick to judge like that. I hope you can forgive me and we can continue to work amicably on this mission."
He sighed and offered his hand. "Let's keep this professional until the end of the week." She grinned at him as she shook his hand. It's funny, it's probably the first time she'd smiled at him during the whole assignment.
Mission – Day 13, 15:00
"Who in the department is the loudest snorer?"she asked him one afternoon.
"It's got to be Ron Weasley. I was unfortunate to be on a 24-hour shift with him. I pinched him to stop him snoring in fear it was loud enough to give away our position." He shuddered at the memory.
She laughed wholeheartedly to his response. "I remember he was a loud snorer. Thank goodness I don't have to work with him."
Draco wondered whether she was referring to the fact that he changed careers three years ago or something different.
"Aren't you two together? Surely his snores are much more unbearable for you."
"We broke up two years ago. We wanted different things in life." She sounded despondent.
"How could a man object to his lady with getting ear plugs to handle his snoring? That's unfortunate! Sometimes I wished I had earplugs too." She grinned as she acknowledged he was trying to make light of her confession. He grinned back.
Mission – Day 14, 11:45
"Can you cook something that's not sausages and bacon, served with salad?" Granger's whiny voice asked him.
"What's wrong with sausages and bacon?" He responded defensively.
"There's nothing wrong with it. It's just… basic."
"It's the ideal stake-out food. You can buy in bulk, requires only one stove and easy to make." He replied stoically. The truth was he didn't know how to cook anything else. All other foods took too many steps. At least with bacon & sausages you just turn them over and watch them until they don't burn! It's also why he loved apples so much, no cooking required!
"But we have a kitchen with a small, yet fully-functioning oven. Couldn't we cook something else? Like shepherd's pie? A quick curry? My goodness, I would kill for a curry with some naan right now." She confessed. Draco watched her as she closed her eyes and sighed at the thought of the curry. He had a weird fluttery feeling in his stomach so he checked his sausages again. Perhaps he has gained sausages intuition.
"Granger if you want those things, you're welcome to cook them this evening. But you'll just have to put up with my bacon and sausages for another week as lunch." She smiled as she reached for a quill to write a quick shopping list.
Mission – Day 15, 18:30
Draco tried to focus on his binoculars but was distracted to the performance in the kitchen area. Hermione had her hair tied up in a bushy tail, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt while her hands moved at rapid speed while she cooked. From what she had told him, they were going to have lamb with salsa verde. He's clueless on what exactly salsa verde is, although he guessed it involved a lot of fresh herbs and olive oil.
He was amazed how fast she could cut the herbs with her fingers so close to the blade and without cutting them off. She dipped her finger in the oily mixture and scooped it into her mouth. The most inaudible moan left her mouth and Draco moved his gaze back to his binoculars. He was here on the job, and not to enjoy someone cooking. Someone's cooking; he corrected.
Mission – Day 16, 19:15
The knife and fork were placed carefully together, facing four o'clock on the empty plate and the napkin was neatly folded before being placed on next to the said plate.
"Granger, that shepherd's pie was incredible." Draco said as he stretched himself out in the booth.
She gave him a smug smile. "It's a rather straight forward recipe."
"I'm not sure if I can cook like that." He replied.
His partner tilted her head, a dip formed as her eyebrows pushed together in a frown. "But cooking from a recipe is like making a potion." He scoffed at her.
"How so?"
"Well there's multiple ingredients, that could be crushed, sliced or diced. Then it's added into a pot or whatever cooking equipment you need. You have to control the heat so nothing burns. Potion making is exactly like cooking."
He looked at her, she wasn't being condescending as she said it. Which he enjoyed very much.
"Also – " she interjected, "cooking makes basic ingredients, like apples, taste so much better." She smiled at him. Now he thought she was cracked in the head.
"I think you're wrong Granger. Sometimes the food in its original form is perfection in itself. Cooking only adulterates it." Especially apples, he thought.
Mission – Day 18, 18:00
Soon that glorious mountain of green apples was down to the last three. Only three more days left in the mission. He was looking forward to sleeping in a room that was triple the size of the whole caravan. But he felt reluctant to say that he would miss the surprising and sumptuous dinners that Hermione made for them.
Draco went to shower as Hermione busied herself with cooking dinner and when he came out of the bathroom, he smelt something delicious. Like cinnamon and apples. His heart quickened and his eyes darted over to his fruit bowl instead of three apples, there were none. The oven was on and in the glass of the oven door, he could see something baking in there. His apples.
"Granger, what have you done to my apples?!" He shouted.
"I thought we can treat ourselves tonight with apple crumble and ice cream."
"But… but those are my apples." He whined. Granger sighed and placed her hands in the tiny pockets of her shorts.
"They're just apples Malfoy, if you want, I'll go buy you some more tomorrow morning."
"They're not the same." He protested.
"I'm sorry your royal highness. Are they some special apples grown with unicorn tears and sang to by song birds?" She retorted sarcastically.
"They're just mine. They're from my orchard."
"Well, you can enjoy them in the form of a dessert later. Go put some clothes on and have dinner." She has dismissed him while she finished making their dinner.
He was fuming, if he wasn't wrapped in a towel he would have stormed out of the caravan. So he huffed, pulled on some clothes without drying himself. Sat down at the table, he glanced at the hut across the meadows. Even though was dark now, he knew that nothing had changed at that hut.
A plate of perfectly cooked steak with grilled vegetables was placed before him. Hermione slid a sauce jug on the table as she sat down with her food. He peered into the jug, it was béarnaise sauce. His favourite. Still trying to keep a stern face, he helped himself to some sauce and took a large mouthful of steak. There was an explosion of flavours in his mouth, rich in umami and dense from the creaminess of the sauce. He tried so hard to keep that feeling of resentment towards the brunette opposite him, but damn her cooking skills because it has been resilient to his resistance.
Finally he managed to keep it together until the mains were finished. He moved their plates to the sink and sat down. Hermione pulled on a pair of floral oven gloves on as she opened the oven before carrying a hot tray of apple crumple to the table.
He could see his beloved apples, all butchered into chunks and covered in sugary crumble mix. His heart wretched at the thought of them sweltering to a flavour-death from the intense heat. This was a sad end for them. Hermione placed a spoon next to him and used the second spoon to ladle a big scoop of ice cream on top of the crumble. It started to melt and ooze through the cracks.
"Come on Malfoy, you should at least try some of it." Her spoon dipped into the tray and lifted a generous serving of hacked fruit flesh and brittle crumble. Her lips pursed into an 'o' shape as she blew on it gently to cool it down.
Draco could only glare at her and watched her mouth intently. Hoping his apples would seek revenge and burn her full lips. A pink tongue darted out to test the temperature but then she swallowed the whole spoonful. He watched as she leant back in the seat, head tilted backwards as she sighed. He swallowed hard as something stirred deep within him.
"It's so delicious Malfoy. Are you sure you don't want to try some?" She had a twinkle in her eye, he knew she was teasing but it was far, far too seductive.
"I'm not in the mood." He said through gritted teeth.
"Fine. I'll just eat all of it." Hermione took a second spoonful and returned to eating the dessert with gusto. Draco wondered if she was trying to torture him, as she emphasised how much she enjoyed each bite of his fucking apples. He held tightly to the edge of the table, trying to contain a growing semi in his trousers.
He watched as a few crumbs escaped her spoon and fell down the valley of her neckline. Merlin save him! She served herself the largest spoonful of crumble and ice cream. A small drop of ice cream was on the corner of her mouth.
"It's like watching a child eat." He retorted as his hand rested on her jaw so that his thumb could swipe away the ice cream. Hermione stopped eating, her eyes wide in shock. Her mouth was open as she inhaled sharply.
Draco could feel how warm her skin felt under his hand. His eyes darted between her eyes and her mouth. In that moment, he leant forward and gently licked that drop of ice cream. Before he could pull away, Hermione leant in and captured his lips in a searing kiss. His tongue invaded her mouth, she tasted like his divine sweet apples.
They kissed each other frantically as they stood up and shuffled backwards towards the bed. Hands palmed each other all over, her hands rubbed across his firm torso and round to his ass. She moaned when his hands went under her t-shirt to cup her breasts. His thumbs tweaked and tugged at her hard nipples. Her breathy sighs drove him wild with hunger.
Draco pushed her back onto the bed and pulled her t-shirt off over her head. He was rid of his own clothes as she shimmied out of her shorts. He looked at her for a second, a woman with all the right curves with wild hair to match the wild passion within her.
"I change my mind." He said breathily.
"What?" Hermione looked so confused at him. He knelt down and grabbed his clean spoon.
"I actually do want some dessert." With some wandless magic, he had her hands bound to the corners of the bed, which meant she was lying down, her legs open to him. Then he dipped his spoon in the cold ice cream before smearing it onto her nipples. Her nipples hardened with the contact.
"Fuck that's cold!" She protested but she quickly changed her tune as Draco latched his lips onto each nipple. His tongue licked those stiff pebbles clean. He gave her another deep searing kiss, before he moved away with his spoon. She gasped in shock, and yelped as a warm spoonful of apple crumble dripped down her pussy. Draco could see how her eyes filled with lust, her chest flushed with excitement.
Draco lapped up the fruit and its juices in broad strokes of his tongue. He could feel her quiver and hear her moan deeply with each caress. He spooned more fruit onto her and continued to devour her as if he was famished. Her screams and breathing became more frantic.
"Please, make me come." She begged him. She squirmed tightly around the two fingers that were pushed inside of her. He was amazed by her reaction to his ministrations, his cock ached to be deep within her, to feel her around him.
"How do you want me to make you come?" He asked. His fingers pumped her slowly as he gently sucked on her clit.
She screamed at the increased pace. "Any way you want! You can fuck me right now, but just make me come!" She begged so desperately. He curled his fingers to rub her in the right spots as her throaty moans became desperate. Slowly Draco pushed himself up until he was standing. His knees were sore from kneeling but it wasn't an issue as he leant forward and thrusted his cock inside of her.
They groaned at the contact. Draco had never felt such intense heat grasping his cock so tightly before.
"As I was saying. Move and make me come!" Hermione pleaded with him again. Draco gave in to her request and started to thrust at an unrelenting pace. He was sure her lust-hooded eyes matched his own. Her legs wrapped around his hips, angling him to thrust deeper. He groaned at the change which was drawing him closer to the edge. He focused on the creaking of the caravan as it rocked with their fucking. It worked in prolonging his endurance as he felt Hermione tremble around him as she was about to reach her own orgasm.
He took a nipple in his mouth and sucked hard on it.
"Fuck me Malfoy!" She screamed as she fell into her little death. Draco couldn't hold out much longer with her vice grip around him. He roared as he shuddered deep into her.
He rolled over and they laid on the bed side by side, trying to catch their ragged breath. The whole event weighed on him. He just fucked the Hermione Granger and it was one of the best shags he had ever had in his life.
"You really have a thing for apples." She gasped next to him. It broke the tension and he laughed. He really did and Merlin forgive the poor soul who came between him and his apples.