Hello!

Okay, my last update was a little on the short side and I apologise for that. I'm no good at writing long chapters unless I want something BIG to happen…if you know what I'm talking about…

But I'll try to make this one a little bit longer. I have a week off from uni this week so I might make it longer just to procrastinate (No joke, I have a million and one essays to write these days).

It's currently three-thirty in the morning and I've had just a little bit too much coffee. Please forgive any spelling mistakes. I re-read the last chapter and found a few but could not bring myself to fix them (this shows the height of my laziness). I need a beta, any volunteers? I have to warn you though; you'll have to put up with late night emails, very long gaps between chapters and moments of complete insanity. And sever cases of stubborn old me. Be warned.

But if I haven't driven you off with that criterion, please leave a review or PM me.

Enjoy the latest instalment of my diminishing imagination!

Love Starky ;)

Disclaimer: Yes, in fact everything that bears the Harry Potter name belongs to me. Even that poster on your wall…if it weren't for me, it wouldn't even-Oh, Ms. Rowling. Hi.
Umm, I'll just save you the trouble and sue myself.

Chapter Four

Their first morning was spent staring at the rain that threatened to drown them all.

"This is lovely," Draco muttered venomously. "I wanted to get away from the rain in England and the one destination that promised sunshine all year round has forecasted rain for the next two weeks."

Hermione shrugged, not particularly hazed by the storm now that it was daylight. "It's probably your fault."

"How is it my fault?!" he exploded, throwing himself onto the couch, jolting Hermione.

"You saw me that day, before the wedding, in my dress. I told you it was bad luck."

His thin lips curled into a wary smile at the memory. "Oh yes, I remember that."

"What are you smirking about?" Her glare was fierce and demanding.

"If I remember correctly, that was the day you," he paused and chuckled. "Bared all."

Hermione flushed beautifully at that, turning away from his humour riddled expression.

"What a thing to bring up," she muttered. "You never said anything on the day."

Suddenly, he moved so that he was inches from her.

"Do you feel anything for me, Hermione? Besides scorn and contempt, that is."

She gazed into his blue eyes, so unnaturally bright and lively. "I don't feel anything."

"You are a liar," he told her, knowing he'd caught her out.

"I'm not." She told him, as if reprimanding a child. "You just want too much."

"I never asked anything from you."

"You asked everything from me." She knew she was being unreasonable and tried to reel her anger and anxiety back in. The half assed attempt almost worked.

"I saw the way you looked at me during the wedding."

She tried not to be shocked, she really did.

"And the way you kissed me."

She flashed a smile, covering up most of the shock. "Then my talents are wasted in the Ministry-I should definitely pursue acting."

Growling impatiently, he pushed himself of the couch and a hand through his hair.

"Dammit woman, why can't you be serious?!"

She stood and folded her arms. "I am serious. I'm serious everyday. Maybe I'm just tired being serious all the time."

"Can you answer this one question truthfully?" he turned to face her, his expression furious. "I mean really truthfully. None of this answering a question with another question."

"Depending on what the question is."

He needed to know. She could tell. It was all over his face. His sheer desperation and need to know the answer to the insane little question.

He took a deep breath. It's curious how people know when they're about to ask something life shattering, they remember to take a breath, as if saying; No, I need to keep breathing throughout this.

Or to keep their life in tact for just another moment.

"Do you love me?"

Hermione brightened, her eyebrows shooting into her hairline. "I don't know why you would think that." She turned away from him then, knowing that he knew. He knew everything.

"Lucky guess?" he shrugged, slightly apologetic.

"Did someone say something to you?" she turned back to him, her question half answering his.

"No." his eyes darted.

"You are a God awful liar." She gulped and stamped her foot, chastising her own weakness.

"Well you are avoiding the question." He countered, sending her the look.

"The question is stupid; why do you need to know?"

He rolled his eyes. "Perhaps because it concerns me?" The bite in his sarcasm wasn't hard to miss.

She looked everywhere but his expression because she knew exactly what she would see there. Expectation with a little patronisation thrown in just for the hell of it.

Because he was that type of person. He did things just for the hell of it.

Well, forgive her if she wasn't. Everything she's ever done was thought out and prepared in agonising detail and although she didn't have a record for being impulsive, she knew how things worked and that was just fine by her.

"No, I don't love you, who could? You leave your ties everywhere in your room, you treat house-elves like they're feet, you hate anything that's not exactly like you and you have terrible breath in the morning," she scowled.

He frowned prettily. "I do not."

"To what? All of the above?" she was sceptical that he even knew what she was talking about anymore. Hell, she didn't know what she was talking about anymore.

"I don't." she growled again, re-iterating the fact. "What I feel for you Malfoy is acceptance because if Harry, and even Ron, can forgive you then I sure as hell can."

She sighed loudly, exaggerated. "So there; you're forgiven. That should be a load of your conscience."

Her snappy tone didn't go undetected.

"Why so angry, Granger?"

She gritted her teeth, frowning. "Because my last name isn't even Granger anymore!"

He looked taken aback for a moment and held up his hands in peace. "Whoa, calm down. We were going fine before."

"Malfoy, you and I have never been fine." She glared, just to emphasise.

His eyes widened in what, no doubt, he assumed to be an innocent manner. "Sure we have. Remember New Years?"

She pulled a face, something halfway between pain and sheer embarrassment. "I wish I didn't."

"It was a good kiss-better than the wedding one, I have to say."

Huffing and annoyed that he was pushing all the right buttons, she plastered an almost murderous glare to her face. "Malfoy, what is this about? What do you want to know? That I'm completely hating being married right now? Because guess what? I'm completely hating being married!"

Shocked, Draco froze. "What's up with you today? That time of the month?"

She threw her hands into the air, wishing she could just throw him into the air over a high cliff, and smashed her way to her bedroom.

Why was he asking so many questions all of a sudden? Why did he even ask her? Surely there were many other witches he could've proposed to? And most importantly, why did he even KNOW about a woman's cycle?!

The second night of The Worst Honeymoon Ever was spent in silence as the storm roared and pounded outside. She'd glance out the window every few moments while they were eating, trying to determine whether death was imminent.

Finally, after thirty minutes of fearful looks out the large window, Draco placed his cutlery down carefully and took a sip of wine.

"You know, Voldemort's not going to appear at the window."

She sent him a glare, plainly telling him that his humour was not appreciated. "Don't even joke about that."

"He's been dead for more than four years."

"Thanks for that; I had no idea."

"Well then, what's the problem? Willing Harry to come save you?"

She wouldn't tell him; she would not tell him that a small storm was the cause of all her rattled nerves. It wasn't even a small storm. It was fearsome and ferocious and it could rip the branches right off the palm trees outside-she'd seen it happen that very afternoon.

"I can take care of myself." She told him.

He smirked over the rim of the glass as he was about to take another sip. "I get it; you're afraid of a little storm."

She stared at him for a moment, just to try and convince him of his own absurdity.

"It's hardly a little storm." She mumbled after defeat reared its ugly head.

His eyebrows flew into the wisps of hair hanging over his forehead. "So you are!" he laughed gleefully. "To think! The glorious Granger is afraid of something!"

She crossed her arms again, something she seemed to be doing at regular intervals around him. "Everyone is afraid of something." She smirked. "Aren't I right, ferret?"

His face drained of all colour and stared ferociously at her.

Wanting to turn the tables on him, she raised an eyebrow. "Well, what about you? Are you in love with me?" Despite the fact that she had no grounding and no hints to suggest that he showed any romantic interest in her, she asked the question.

He looked uneasy for a moment, not expecting her to reciprocate that morning's topic of conversation. "No, I don't think so."

"You don't think so?"

He shook his head."Don't worry, there's not chance there."

She found extreme insult in that. "Are you saying I'm not attractive?"

He blinked a few times."Not at all," he amended. "It's just that you're Granger and I'm Malfoy."

"Funny how you're still saying that even though I'm legally a Malfoy now."

"Granger, stop saying that. You're never going to be a Malfoy."

It wasn't meant as an insult or a compliment; it was just a fact.

"What, I could never cut it or something?"

He sipped more wine, deciding not to answer that question.

"Let's lay down some rules then." She sighed, understanding that he wouldn't finish that sentence.

"Rules?"

"What we can and can't do." She rolled her eyes at his stupidity.

"Alright," he nodded. "Don't take your anger out on me."

She frowned, hoping she could have been the person to set down the first rule. "Don't talk about my personal monthly issues."

"What issues?" His expression was so genuine for a moment that she almost believed him.

Narrowing her eyes, she glared. "Good work." Sarcasm, sarcasm, sarcasm!

Silence for a moment. "I'll respect you if you respect my cat."

He stared blankly at her for a moment. "Forget it. That fluffy troll is dangerous."

"Crookshanks is not dangerous!" she insisted.

"Oh yeah?" he sneered and rolled up his left sleeve of his forearm. Three long almost healed gashes glinted evilly at her. "Not dangerous?"

She rolled her eyes again. If she continued to do so, she'd bring about a self-inflicted headache. "Of course you must have provoked him!"

He had stepped on its tail but he wasn't about to tell her that.

"Fine," she huffed. "Stay away from my cat. Anything else?"

Her looked serious and mulled for a moment. "No, just the anger issues and that's it."

Frown and glare. "One more thing," she told him in all seriousness. "Don't go falling in love with me."

He laughed at that, loud and boisterous. "Please Granger! If anyone's in danger of that; it'd be you."

She raised her eyebrows. "I'm sure."

One glass of wine turned into three and then the rest of the bottle.

"Malfoy, must you be so shiny?!" she demanded at him, shouting even though he was only a mere metre away from her.

"Shiny?" he asked, not impressed at her drunken-ness at all. "I think you need to go to sleep."

"Yes, maybe I should."

A clap of thunder had her jumping as rain and hail dropped onto the roof. Flinging her shoes off, she tried to find equilibrium. The walls were holding out their arms, trying to catch her.

A hand steadied her as she was about to go crashing into a portrait of something.

She looked up to blink groggily at the blue, blue eyes of Draco Malfoy; Husband of the Year.

His arms swooped down and lifted her easily. "Watch it," he growled at her.

She squinted and hiccupped. "You watch it."

Reaching her lightning illuminated room, he placed her down on the bed and covered her carefully. Looking down at her sleeping (already? It took three seconds to get to the room and she had fallen asleep?) form, he shook his head.

Her and her stupid rules.

Her headache hadn't dispersed itself by midday and she was contemplating self mutilation.

Draco smirked multiple times at her, not helping the situation at all.

She narrowed her eyes at him back, maintaining that all this was his doing.

"How so?" he frowned.

"You were the one who brought out the fancy wine."

"I didn't know you had a miniscule threshold for alcohol."

She groaned loudly, trying to expel her frustration from her body. "Never again." She was telling herself more than him.

"I completely agree; being groped by you the first time is bad enough!" he mocked distress.

She frowned. "I did not grope you."

"My arse says different." He raised an eyebrow and smirked.

She blinked at him, clearly unimpressed. "I did not grope you."

He stood and stretched his arms over his head."Repeating something won't make it true." And he left the room before she could get another word in.

Son of a-

The storm raged on and Hermione felt a giant sense of cabin fever, needing to just get out; out of the house, out of the room. She needed stimulus. The whole house had been searched for stimulus and rendered psychiatric ward safe.

Grabbing a coat and umbrella that afternoon, she made for the front door. It hadn't been used in two days.

"Where are you going?" Malfoy materialised behind her, startling her so much that the umbrella slipped from her grasp.

Her heart jolted at the sudden crash and she spun around, hair flying wildly. "Jesus Malfoy, you sure know how to give somebody a heart attack don't you?"

He ignored her question and raised an eyebrow. "Going somewhere?"

She frowned. "As a matter of fact, I'm going for a walk."

He shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"I think it's a splendid idea."

He made no sign of further argument and Hermione took the chance to open the door. A strong gust of wind barrelled into the room, knocking her coat and hair flying.

She closed the door.

He grinned and raised an eyebrow.

"Don't even say it," she snarled and shoved the umbrella into his chest and took off for her own room.

That night they moved on from wine into whiskey. The liquid burnt a trial down her throat and as her body desperately tried to reject it, her blurry eyes noticed Malfoy's self congratulatory smirk.

When her body stopped convulsing, she glared. "What?"

"I guess Blaise now owes me fifty galleons."

She raised an eyebrow, prompting him on.

"We made a bet."

Her other eyebrow joined the first. "And what did this bet include?"

"You, a shot of whiskey and the amount of time it'd take you to choke on it."

"I was not choking on it."

'Why do you always deny the truth?"

She placed her chin on her knee and stared at the empty glass in her hand. The ring caught her eye, glinting at her evilly.

"It's a nice ring." She told him.

He nodded. "Thanks. I picked it out."

She smiled. "Not a family heirloom then?"

He gingerly leant across and picked up her hand. "It is now." He murmured as he inspected it closer.

She blushed and motioned towards the empty glass. "Time for a refill."

"I think you're right."

A flick of his wrist and the glass magically replenished itself.

His other hand still held hers gently and she felt herself fall deeper into embarrassment. What did he think about her hand? Had the moisturising cream she used worked its charm yet? Where her fingers long enough?

But he didn't seem to care about that and she realised that she shouldn't either.

More and more refill's later, the whiskey was finished and they turned to search for more alcohol.

Hermione was mush at that point. She giggled loudly and stumbled precariously all over the place.

Malfoy, instead of gawking at her unimpressed, laughed more and his hand seemed to be in hers the whole time.

Locating more alcohol in the kitchen, Hermione giggled like a schoolgirl as he pulled the bottle from a cabinet.

"Oh boy, if Harry and Ron could see me now."

Draco stumbled. "Oh?"

"I haven't been this awesome since the party after the war."

He lurched forward and gripped her shoulders. "You haven't been drunk in three years?"

She scrunched her brow. "Your maths is good."

Suddenly, she was painfully aware of how close he was to her.

She could see the flecks of colour in his eyes, feel the warmth from his body and smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Malfoy, you reek."

He raised an arched eyebrow and crushed his lips to hers.

It was nothing like the kiss at the wedding where both parties had been coldly sober. She didn't know what she was doing and neither did he. She didn't really mean it.

She didn't mean to draw him closer by wrapping both arms around his shoulders.

She didn't mean to fling a leg around his hip.

And she certainly didn't mean to help him with his zipper as he pulled her upstairs into their grand honeymoon suite.

Of course in the timeline of these things, neither person used their brains, caring only for the now and the need that seemed to have materialised out of nowhere.

It's the alcohol talking, she told herself over and over again but couldn't seem to stop as Malfoy's lips found that little spot just under her neck. Or when his hands pulled her shirt over her head and she cried out in sheer frustration.

Rationality left her mind as she found herself shamelessly naked. Pushing his towards the bed, the palm trees still waving in the wind, she helped him slide his jeans over his hips.

With a feral growl, he flipped them over so that she was deliciously pressed against him.

His hands rubbed over her nipples and found them hard and ready. They travelled lower, brushing over her curves and skin, to reach the apex of her thighs.

She exhaled loudly and writhed against him and he mumbled something.

His fingers expertly pressed against her bundle of nerves and her eyes fluttered shut, mumbling incoherent promises.

"Draco, Draco," air was hard to find and she she felt her lungs burning.

For Draco, he'd never heard so much emotion from a woman and he panicked, covering her lips with his own as he pressed his sheer need against her thigh.

She gasped into him and he took that chance to shove his tongue into her hot mouth.

Her nails raked over the smooth expanse that was his back and she tore at him, trying to get closer, to get under his skin.

The torturously slow stroking continued until she felt her undoing.

"Malfoy!"

As she shuddered beneath him, he felt his throat constrict.

She was screaming because of him, because he'd made her.

Nails and teeth tore at him, trying to find purchase.

"God, oh God," she kept whimpering.

When they finally joined, as if fitting two pieced together, she cried out in joy. He grunted, never having felt anything like what was tearing at his heart.

They pushed each other towards that brink, knowing that when they reached it, they'd entered a place they could never return from.

His heart raced further ahead, pulling his body, dragging him to that point.

It was near, she could hear it, and he could feel it. It was close. Closer…

With a mighty groan, the found the edge and fell head first over the cliff.

Shouting and groaning, they collapsed, panting.

They lay together afterwards, slightly sobering up.

She giggled and draped a smooth arm over his shoulder. "That shouldn't have happened."

He tried to catch his breath. "Agreed."

And as the storm thundered outside, Hermione found another storm to worry about.

Draco nuzzled her mangy hair, three times its normal size, and a few moments later, his even breathing informed the unsuspecting world that he was asleep.

Too tired and spent to move, to complain and poke him awake, she pulled the covers over the pair and realised that marriage was going to be a hell of a lot harder when they woke up.

Well then! This is the longest chapter I've ever written, no joke.

It turned out a little different than I had imagined. It would have been up a lot earlier but I was being awesome and leaving my major essay to the last minute. But I'm just too cool like that.

I hope you guys enjoyed this longer chapter and that you'll tell me what you think!

Until next time (I promise it'll be soon, I have no essays to leave to the last minute until the 25th)

Love Starky ;)

Mentarisenja: Don't worry; there'll be more Pierre soon! And I wrote this longer just for you, I hope you liked it. Thanks for the reviews.

TheresNothingInside: I'm really glad you like it! Hope you enjoyed this one too.

ladydraco79: Thanks for the review! I hope you keep reading. Dramione FTW ey??

MaLFoyMaiDeN: Thank you so much for your reviews! I know, I know. Potter Parkinson. But she can't be a conniving bitch ALL THE TIME, can she? I'm sure she has a nice side. Until next time ;)