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Their Destiny
by lookimacloud
Chapter
Unexplained Emotional Discharges
Draco woke to the heat of the sun across his face. Somewhere internally, he realized that that meant he'd slept in too late. Somewhere inside him, he also knew that he was late for something. Something that he needed to be at. He wasn't sure what day it was but even the pounding sound in the back of his mind seemed out of place. Draco was in a state of bliss.
He reached across the bed searching for the cause of such happiness and latched onto mountains of silky comforter instead. Hugging it close for that momentary waft of Hermione's scent to fill his nose, he out a sigh for the new day.
"Hermione?" he questioned the sheets. No reply. Draco had grown used to waking with her as a weight upon his chest. He realized that he didn't like, that on this particular morning, she was not there. Faced with the realities of the night before, Draco sat up in bed and glanced around the room. All of her things were still in place. It didn't seem like she was moving out of what had become their home. Still, the pounding sound. Draco's sleep-filled mind could not comprehend.
"I'm coming." He heard Hermione shout in exasperation.
At least that was promising. She couldn't be leaving him she was still in the other room.
"Ron! What do you want?" Draco pulled his robe over his chilled body and slowly made his way to the door to get a better hearing range.
He saw Hermione step away from the portrait hole and Weasley storm inside. Hermione looked at a loss. Keeping to the shadows of the bedroom, Draco just watched.
"I want you out of here Hermione. I don't like this and I don't like what Malfoy has to do with this. We should just go and see McGonagall and have all this fixed."
"What do you mean Ron? What fixed? And lower your voice, Draco is still sleeping. We had kind of a long night."
"Draco's sleeping…" Ron mocked in a childish like tone. "Well let me tell you something Hermione, I think you have lost it. I think you have gone bonkers." Ron started to pace up and down the length of the fireplace. Hermione watched the way he moved and realized that this frustrated pacing was a trait she, Harry and Ron all shared. Hermione wondered then if Draco had ever paced in such a way. She doubted it. She was sure she would have noticed.
"Ronald I do not need this from you. I need your support." She sighed, remembering why Ron was here in the first place.
Draco did not like this at all. Hermione looked just a little too pale. He watched her sit down in the very chair Weasley had found them in last night. But that made Weasley freeze.
Hermione watched her friend work off his steam. When Ron was angry or upset he acted very much how she did in ways other then pacing as well. She figured she hit her equal in tempers with Ron. He always got emotional, wanted to hit something, and complained endlessly regardless of whether it would help or not.
When Ron stopped pacing Hermione just waited. She knew he had to get all the whining done before she could make sense to him.
"And you let that bastard bite you!" he shouted. "How could you."
"Now Ron I will have none of this. If you just want to tell me I'm wrong about everything and that I have made more mistakes than Neville then just go ahead. But you will do it outside my living quarters and where I cannot hear them. If you don't let me talk with you reasonably then you can just forget about talking to me ever again. I love you but if you are going to put me down then I don't want you to be around me."
"I love you. I would have married you Hermione. If you are in some kind of trouble…" he gave a meaningful glance at her midsection, at which Hermione covered with the afghan she'd laid across the arm of the chair that very morn.
"And I love you Ron. But, it is too late for us. We had our chance. Please just drop it. It wasn't meant to be."
"I still can't believe how stupid you became last night Hermione. I keep thinking, if I had just told you before how much I still love you, then would things have been different?"
"I don't know Ron. Maybe, but not anymore. I love Draco." Hermione stood and gave her friend a tight hug before releasing him. "Now please go get some rest. You look like road kill."
"What is that?"
"A Muggle term meaning not well at all." Hermione lead Ron to the portrait hole. "I'll see you later? Maybe not today because it is Draco's birthday, but later. Please try to calm Harry down. And try to keep things as quiet as possible. I don't want the whole school to know that I died you know." she gave a stale laugh at her own attempt to be funny but Ron didn't even crack a smile.
"See you."
By the time Hermione managed to get her friend out of the room, Draco was already back in bed under the comforter. Right that moment, he needed all the comfort he could get. He had made the biggest mistake of her life last night in turning her. And now she was stuck. But he would make it up to her somehow. If there was a way, he would make sure she didn't have to suffer too much through eternity as his mate.
A few moments later Hermione bounced upon the bed and wrapped her arms around Draco's waist trying to tickle him awake. "Wake up sleepyhead." Frustrated at her fruitless efforts, Hermione pulled the covers off the bed and started kissing his face until he opened his eyes and kissed her back.
"Hey," he mumbled in a soft voice. "What are you doing up so early?"
"Well, we missed the Heads' meeting we were supposed to have this morning with McGonagal so she woke me up knocking on the portrait. I decided to let you sleep in, since it's your biirrthdaayy." She smiled at him.
Despite all that had occurred that morning, Hermione's smile was very genuine. It gave him a very strange feeling throughout his body and all he wanted to do was latch onto her and never let go. All the hurt that her earlier conversation had caused seemed to have the importance of a bath to a troll.
"I made you breakfast." She announced with such pride.
"Now Hermione, you know you are the second best student at potions after me right?" she scowled.
"I am the best you great oaf."
"We will talk about that later. Anyway, despite your far from mediocre scores in potions, do you remember the last time you tried to make me anything to eat?"
Her scowl turned darker. "That was very eatable. You just don't like pancakes is all."
"I love pancakes. I have eaten them every morning since I was able. I just can't eat your pancakes. They almost killed me."
"Now Draco that is just not funny."
"I don't think so either, I had to eat them remember?"
Hermione did remember. Her poor husband had gagged at first but tried anyway to eat all of the meal she'd surprised him with one morning. The male couldn't even stay at he table and talk with her for five minutes before he was in the lavatory throwing it all up again. It really wasn't her fault that he put the sugar in the salt shakers and otherwise. But, the look on his face now was just too delightful to hold the scowling pose long.
"Strawberries and whipped crème with waffles and choice of beverage sounds nice to me but if you would prefer to starve then be my guest. It's your birthday after all. You can cry if you want to."
"I am not crying."
"It is a muggle saying."
"You are just full of those this morning aren't you." at her look of confusion, Draco quickly leaned forward to distract her.
Hermione was defiantly distracted all right. Almost too distracted if truth be known. The instant she was sure they would end up in bed again, she pushed Draco away and shoved a strawberry in his face. "Eat it. I didn't cook the strawberry."
"Hermione, I think we need to talk."
"Yes we do. But I don't want to now. I know what you want to talk about and I would much rather save it all for McGonagal's lecture about how stupid we are later. And anything we don't cover there, we can cover afterward. But right now, it's your birthday. So after we eat, what do you want to do?"
"Love you, Kill Voldemort, my father, my grandfather, my great grandfather, beat Potter at Quidditch, and just plain beat Weasley."
"Wow, you really have the whole day planned don't you?"
"I guess I do. Is there anything you had in mind?"
"Well, let me think on this one." Hermione placed a hand to her temple and pretended to ponder her options. Then, as if it were too hard a concept, she flopped backward and burrowed herself in the pillows. "It is all just so challenging. You try Draco. Try to think of something we could do together. Something that you have always wanted as a boy maybe."
"How about this, we will eat your breakfast and then go and see McGonagal about the Head's meeting we missed this morning. Then we can also tell her about us. After that, we can come back here and spend the rest of the day in bed. Tomorrow, I will go and find some decent food for you and then I will make up a birthday activities list. How does that sound?"
"Very planned out."
"Good."
Their meeting with the Headmistress went exactly as expected. They were yelled at, lectured to, chastised, and then thanked. Although, the good Mistress thought that the two taking matters into their own hands instead of seeking counseling from one older and wiser then themselves was wrong, she also came to the conclusion that there was no better immediate option and Hermione just did not have the time to think of a better solution.
Draco on the other hand, received four months detention for trapping Mrs. Malfoy into marriage and for turning her. And though the Headmistress thought that he deserved more then that, she didn't want Draco's punishment to be too harsh so that the student body noticed. She also didn't want him away from Hermione that often, claiming they had to both suffer one another's company now that they had entered this situation together. She also suggested Hermione go for weekly checkups at the hospital wing and that her diet be monitored due to her "special condition".
Afterward, both Draco and Hermione went for her checkup and found that everything so far was alright with the baby and that Hermione was very healthy considering all she'd been through.
That late afternoon turned out exactly as Draco had not pictured it. He had planned on a quiet evening in with his wife. He had just not remembered the Quiddich practice he'd scheduled. Hermione promised to wait up for him.
"Hey Draco wait up!"
Draco turned around just as Blaise reached his side. "Hello. Haven't seen you in a while."
"Yeah. Draco, what was that yesterday with Granger? The whole school is talking about it. They are saying that you are friends with Potter now and sleeping with the mudblood. Now I know you would never be friends with Potter and I don't know why they think you would get with the mudblood. Want to tell me something?"
"Blaise I just want to get to practice. What is between Granger and myself is our business. It is what the Dark Lord wants."
"Okay then. So if it is none of my business do you mind telling me what I can tell the school when they ask me?"
"That it is none of their business either."
"Great. Well after practice come to the common room. I have something I want to show you."
"I might drop by. But right now, I am late. I want to run the team through some new stuff today that will knock the Griffindors off their brooms."
"Cant wait to see it."
After Blaise left, Draco continued down the hall to the Quidditch field. He and Hermione had better talk about what they are going to tell the school. The last thing he wanted was for more rumors to form about her.
As Draco reached the Quidditch field, he was sure the group of students huddled out on that field wasn't his team. The group of people standing in the center of that field were not dressed properly, had no brooms, and were loud and obnoxious. No self respecting Quidditch team would ever behave in such a way where any member from another house could see them. For Merlin's sake, these students were acting as though they were at some sort of party.
"What is going on here." He shouted when he was sure everyone could hear him. Just as he expected, the entire house of Slytherin turned at his voice.
"Draco." Pansy cried, sauntering over to great him. "Happy Birthday baby." she reached around him and Draco had to force himself to stay still enough to receive her hug so as to avoid a bigger scene that would embarrass his House.
"Happy Birthday Draco!" Blaise's voice rang out from behind him. Turning to glare at his friend, Draco eased Pansy away from him.
"You all should know better than to throw a party in the field. What would you do if you drank just a little too much of that spiked butterbeer? Anyone from any house could see you."
We thought so too Draco but you are the one who called for the practice today. We don't even have any more games left in the season. You cannot say that you weren't telling us not to throw you a party either." Blaise reasoned.
Draco conceded on both accounts. He needed a drink.
00000
"So," Pansy continued, "after I made out with Evan, I realized that nobody could compare with you Draco. I don't even know why I bothered with him. Kissing him is like making out with a fish. Not that I would ever make out with a fish or have ever done it…" she blushed before rushing on, "but one of my friends did to practice kissing, you know. I hear that you learn a lot by doing that. I don't know why she used a fish though. She could have practiced with her sister. Guys like that right?"
Draco couldn't take it any more. He was just standing in the Slytherin common room with a cup of whisky. What about standing 'alone' with an alcoholic drink screams 'I want your company and I want you to prattle endlessly about anything you please?' This was the third ex fuck-buddy that decided no other guy could get her off. Pansy was the third girl he had to suffer through after he separated himself from everyone and went to stand 'alone'. Was that just an invitation to all ex's shouting 'I want you back so come and get me?'
"Pansy I think Blase needs me to partner him in cards. I don't have time for this." He stated in as rude a way as possible. He knew being rude to Pansy was a waste of effort but it still made him feel like he was accomplishing something. He strode away from her ceaseless prattle but didn't go to Blaise. Instead, Draco filled his cup to the rim and took a long swallow. Slytherin women are the only acceptable females for a Slytherin to marry. It was no wonder Slytherin men ended up as drunks most of the time.
Draco made small talk with a few of his Quidditch team members and then decided to call it a night. He was tired of being around the people in his house and the only thing he had wanted to do since he was dragged there, was go to his dorm and spend time with his wife.
Hermione Granger was his wife. Who would have thought. Draco played with the idea of making a grand announcement of it right here and now while everyone else was too drunk to remember. He then decided against it. Telling his house that he had married Hermione would be a mistake. It would be better if he let the Dark Lord tell them the night he gives her the Dark Mark. The thought of him even touching Hermione made Draco want to kill him all the faster. He did not want her tattooed with the mark of an evil follower for all eternity. Hermione was everything that was good. To have her branded in that way just might kill his immortality.
"Hey Drake, what do you say you and me tip a few skirts tonight? Just like old times huh?" Blaise raised his cup high before downing the whole of it's contents. He then wrapped his arm around Draco's shoulders and turned to the crowd. Draco almost punched him out right then and there. Maybe he was a little drunk. Punching his best friend was definitely an irrational thought. Setting his cup on the end table where it would stay for the rest of the party, he pretended to ponder the prospect.
That was, until Blaise shouted over the noise of the room. "Hey everyone! Who wants to make Draco 'really' happy tonight?"
Every girl squealed. That was another thing Draco loved about Hermione. She didn't squeal over him. He was not a piece of meat with her. In fact, he could have had his pick of the girls tonight if he had wanted. At least, the ones who were not passed out on the floor. Even the girls sitting on other guy's laps seemed to be eyeing him instead of their former partners.
"I am always just one step ahead of you my friend. I already have entertainment lined up for tonight. Thanks for thinking about me though. I have to go and escort my entertainment to my dorm now. You know how they get lost so easily. But I promise you, if we get caught before we get there, I will be back." Draco heard a few groans of dismay from the girls but laughter from the guys. Had it always been like this? Had he once been a part of this group of people?
He was so glad he had met Hermione.
"Draco what are you doing home so late? Where were you? Don't you realize what time it is? -How long I have been worrying?" Hermione stood at her kitchen counter making herself a little two o'clock in the morning snack, preparing what she would say to her new husband as soon as he entered their apartments.
She had done nothing but pace and worry since dinner in the Great Hall. Her best friends refused to talk to her and kept glaring at her throughout the whole thing, and Draco and all of the Slytherin table were nowhere to be found.
Surprisingly, only she seemed to be concerned about that. Obviously, the Slytherins were not a favored group in the school to begin with, but at least the Professors should have been worried. Shouldn't they?
Hermione took a cold slab of turkey out of the magically modified fridge and slapped it onto her bread. Maybe she was making a big deal out of nothing, she thought. Maybe Draco had told her he would be gone most of his birthday and she just forgot.
Like she would forget something so important.
Maybe he was hurt. He had better be hurt. But then, the teachers most assuredly would have told her, she being his flat mate and the Head Girl to boot. Besides, She was sure all of the teachers by now would know of her new relationship with Draco.
He had better not be getting drunk. He knew she wanted to spend time with him on his birthday. Besides, He had promised her he wouldn't get drunk anymore. The one time he had showed up drunk he had hit her. It wasn't very hard and they hadn't even liked each other back then, but it had hurt. She had said something about him being a worthless nobody who hid behind his father's robes and family money.
Draco hated his father and had been abused when he was younger. Back then, Hermione had not known this and by saying those things to him, Draco saw her as his father and had smacked her.
Although he later regretted it, the reality was not something Hermione wanted to repeat. When they started dating, Draco had promised her never to get drunk again.
Which still begged the question, where in Merlin's name was he? She was really hungry and she had already finished off the animals he'd given her.
On that very thought, Hermione heard the portal open. She turned as Draco came stumbling through it.
"Hello Hermione. I'm sorry I'm late."
After a quick once-over to make sure he was unharmed, Hermione let into him. "How could you do that to me? Didn't you think I would worry something fierce? Where were you?"
"The Slytherin common room. I couldn't get away because they had planned an all-nighter for me. I tried to leave several times but the minute I leave a party for me, it always ends, and nobody wanted it to end tonight."
"You're lying. You expect me to believe that the great Draco Malfoy couldn't tell a group of people who worship him to listen when he says the party's over? Think again Malfoy."
"Hermione listen to me okay, it was just a party. I haven't seen my mates in a while. We were just having fun and it's over now. I am not drunk and everyone is happy."
"Everyone huh. Well what about me. Did it ever occur to you that I still had plans for your birthday? That maybe I love you and wanted to celebrate with you? Did it ever occur to you that maybe it was time to introduce me to your friends? Me, your wife?"
"Never. They would crush you Hermione. You are a Gryffindor and they would not respect that you are my wife over that."
"Then maybe they aren't very good friends." Hermione sat on the sofa with her back to her husband. She didn't feel very much like looking at him now that he was safe and at home. How dare he think that she was not good enough to spend his birthday with.
"I'm here now. Come on Hermione. It is still my time. Can't you make this a happy time for me too? Must we argue?" Hermione hated it when Draco used that ploy. Once he had figured out that begging worked with her about one-hundred percent of the time, he used it often when they argued. She had to admit that it was very un-Draco-like to beg, but she was becoming used to this new development and was building a resistance to his charm.
"We must argue until you see my point Malfoy. As yet, you don't get it. You told me to wait up for you. It is now two thirty in the morning and here I sit, hungry and you are nowhere in site."
"What do you mean hungry. Like thirsty hungry or just hungry." Hermione saw his eyes change from frustrated to concerned in a flash. She new it was wrong but she was feeling a bit selfish and wanted to make him feel guilty for making her stay up this late.
"Thirsty."
Draco was to the window in an instant.
He was pushing it open, frantic to get her food, when Hermione realized what she had done. "Draco," she all but shouted. "Draco it's alright. I'm okay now." she lied.
Hermione stood from her seat, and dropped her sandwich in the process. She rushed to him. "Draco, I finished the animals from the night before. I'm fine now. The child is fine. You know everything will be fine." she placed her hand on Draco's heaving right shoulder and almost wept with relief and shame.
Draco had almost lost his mother to hunger pains when she had been pregnant with his sister. His mother had lost the child but had survived herself. It was yet another sin Draco placed as his father's fault. Hermione knew this but had momentarily forgotten. She grabbed onto the hardened man and refused to let go as she pet his back and soothed all of the tension out of his body. Finally, Draco latched onto her and released all of his worries in one sharp exhale.
"I'm sorry Draco." she whispered, clinging to his barely erect form.
"I'm sorry too. I won't leave you to worry about me again. I really did want to spend my birthday with you. I just got carried away."
"You were entitled to it Draco. I am glad you had fun. I am sad I didn't get to make your day special for you."
"But you did Hermione. You married me on my birthday. Nothing is better than that. Are you sure you are alright? You do not have hunger pains? You do need to feed more often than I do."
Torn, Hermione was not sure what to tell him. No, she was fine, and then lay awake the rest of the night as the pains grew worse, or Yes, she was hungry, and have him feel guilty and panic all over again.
Her silence must have been answer enough however. Draco sighed softly and kissed her brow. "I'll be right back. You hold tight and don't fall asleep on me now. I promise I'll be back soon."
Hermione nodded stiffly and drifted to her fallen sandwich. She placed it on the coffee table and sat once more, thinking about what a bitch she had been and wondering if she was justified or not.
Early the next morning, Hermione decided once and for all, that she was going to make them understand. Her stubborn, black is black and white is white friends would understand that she loved them too. She wanted to make sure that they knew she didn't abandon them by becoming Draco's wife. She wanted her friends to know that neither she nor Draco were ever going to follow Voldemort. She left Draco with a note letting him know where she would be and where she would meet him next, and quietly left their rooms.
Hermione checked the Gryffindor common room first but found no sign of her friends. She then went down to the Great Hall to see if they were eating. It was early in the morning so she was a bit surprised that either of them were awake at all. The last place she could think that they would be was the Quidditch field. Maybe they were working on something with the team.
When she rushed outside however, Hermione found them right away. Harry, Ron, Luna, and Neville were sitting by the Great Lake tossing stones to skim across it. "Ron, Harry!" she called. Both turned at the sound of their names and Hermione started running. She missed them so much. Ron stood and started her way but the others hadn't moved. That was okay with Hermione. She and Ron had been at the most odds lately and it was up to her to set things right. When her pace picked up, so did Ron's and Hermione knew she could not wait to throw herself at him and in his arms. She needed her friends back.
Looking down at the ground to make sure she didn't trip on something, she ran faster. Strong arms wrapped around her and she closed her eyes and latched on, burying her head in his neck.
His arms squeezed her every bit as hard as she squeezed him. "I missed you Ronald. I am sorry."
"I missed you too baby." one arm locked around her while the other groped her from behind.
Author's Note: Please review the story with critiques!