Story: Starting Over

Synopsis: Hermione and Ron's marriage fails after the miscarriage of their first child. Over a year later she is given the chance to try and start over. Will she take it? Can a new love mend the pain of an old one, or are their some scars that never heal.

Rating: M

Pairing: Draco/Hermione

Disclaimer: I am not profiting from this story. Anything you recognize belongs to the great and mighty JKR.

Warnings: Late term pregnancy loss, Scenes of a sexual nature, Mild violence

Chapter Four: Retrieving A Wand

As the first rays of morning light fell across the bed, Hermione Granger was just waking from a deep slumber. After a moment of regaining consciousness, she moaned from the pain beginning to escalate somewhere in her head and stretched her body only to find that her hand came into contact with something hairy. She opened her eyes immediately and sat up, startled to find Draco Malfoy still fast asleep beside her. His hair was shooting off in odd directions, his mouth slightly parted, his body bare against the sheets for the world, or at least for her, to see. With a sharp intake of breath, she realized that she was also without clothing. She pulled the covers up to cover her breasts, which she noticed were covered in small red marks, no doubt from the multiple times that he had sucked, licked, and bit at her the night before. She then realized that, as Malfoy was sleeping, there was no one in the room to actually see her breasts, and let the sheet fall back to her lap as she evaluated the situation.

She remembered her dinner last night, sobbing into Harry's shoulder, and then coming home, longing to not be alone anymore, and being furious with Ron. She then recalled the Firewhiskey and the talking ... and the sex. Oh, Merlin, the sex. The sex with Malfoy had been so random, so hot, so fast, so unlike anything she'd ever experienced. Ron had made wonderful, sensual, slow love to her many times, and each time was new and better than the time before, but never had it been anything like the wild abandon she'd experienced the night before. The simple fact that she shouldn't have even been in his apartment only seemed to make the idea of Malfoy wanting her as badly as she wanted him more erotic. She remembered the final time they had been together in this very bed, just hours before, and the words he had whispered into her ear. They had not been words of love or care, but they were filled with passion and lust. They were things that would have made Ron red with embarrassment. Well, honestly they had made her red with embarrassment, but it had been incredible.

It was a beautiful thing, lust. She had never in her entire life given herself over to it before, and now it seemed that she had been missing out on something she liked very much. She had loved Ron with everything she had, but when Draco had kissed her the night before it had been something new and entirely different. Her body had responded to him with a fervor that seemed to belong to someone else. She was sure it had a lot to do with the wine and the Firewhiskey, but she had wanted him. From the moment he leaned in, she had felt the overwhelming desire to have him inside of her, and that was terrifying.

She looked again at the naked body lying beside her, and he scared her. Two days ago, he was nothing but Malfoy, git extraordinaire and now she couldn't help but think about how much she just wanted to keep lying with him until he woke up, ready for another go. The very thought of staying to let him touch her again gave her a sudden sense of urgency to get the hell away from this place before he awoke.

Hermione climbed out of the bed slowly and walked towards the living room. She felt awkward walking around his apartment naked, but she wasn't about to waste time to grab one of Draco Malfoy's sheets or t-shirts to go find her clothes. That would give him more time to wake and find her there. So, she was quick in her movements to gather and put on her clothes in the kitchen. Her purse was discarded in the living room, and her shoes were by his front door. Without a moment of hesitation, she left him still sleeping and headed for her own apartment, all the while her head pounding to remind her of her idiocy.

It wasn't until she was standing outside of her own door that she realized her mistake. She had left her wand in his room on his bedside table. With a giant groan she walked back to his apartment, willing the door to open for her, but it remained shut as it was made to open for one thing and one thing only; Draco Malfoy's wand, which happened to be in his room right beside hers. She considered knocking for all of a single second before she turned for the lift and took it down to the lobby, opting for a few more hours of Malfoy free time before she was faced with the inevitable confrontation. Grateful that it was still early and no one would see her in her disheveled state, Hermione used the fire to floo to Harry and Ginny's home and prayed that they wouldn't ask too many questions.

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When Hermione arrived that morning, she was greeted with the sounds of her youngest godson crying. "Ginny?" she called out to the house and was surprised when Ginny moved into the room immediately bouncing Al on her hip.

"Hermione? What the bloody hell happened to you?" she asked, shock apparent in her eyes as she observed her friend.

"Is it that bad? I'm locked out of my apartment; you think I can wash up here?" She knew the next question that Ginny was going to ask before it even bridged her lips.

"Where is your wand?"

Hermione crossed the room and shrugged. "I left it somewhere."

Ginny frowned at Hermione. "You left it somewhere?"

"Yes, I left it somewhere!" Hermione looked towards the door when James came running into the room.

"MOMMY! I MADE A WAFFLE ALL BY MYSELF, MOMMY!" he screamed excitedly, and Ginny paled.

"James!" She held Albus out to Hermione and rushed into the kitchen after her son was safely in her friend's arms.

"Hi, James," Hermione said, kneeling to the floor and reaching her free arm out to hug him.

"Auntie Herminny, you look bad," James said scrunching his face, and Hermione couldn't help but laugh.

"I know, and thank you for being honest, James. Let's go help mommy in the kitchen."

She grabbed his hand and took both of the boys through the hall and into the kitchen where Ginny was flicking her wand around in a very Mrs. Weasley manner. "I've got to get them fed and to my mother. Merlin knows why anyone would volunteer to watch my boys all day. If you help, you can use the shower, but I'm not letting this wand thing go," she said in a deflated tone as Hermione set the children in their high chairs.

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An hour later, Hermione climbed out of the shower and dried her body with an oversized towel Ginny had set on the counter for her. She couldn't help but stare at herself and the marks on her skin in the mirror for a full minute before walking away, shaking her head slightly. She couldn't imagine what she was going to say to Ginny about Draco Malfoy and their night together. Perhaps, she could just say that she'd fallen asleep on the couch and nothing happened, but in her haste to leave she left her wand. She almost snorted in laughter at the thought of this scenario compared to the one that actually took place.

As she slipped on jeans and a jumper, Hermione silently thanked Harry for suggesting she keep a few things at their house during the time when she had been a frequent house guest after the divorce. It would be strange to wear muggle clothing to work, but ultimately better than facing Draco Malfoy this early in the morning. Without her wand, Hermione was a bit concerned with her hair, but she dried it the best she could with the towel and tried to use some of Ginny's products to get it to stay in a clip. It was, however, a lost cause from the start, and by the time Ginny returned home Hermione was sipping at coffee through a mass of hair.

"Oh, Hermione!" Ginny squealed, laughing in a manner that made Hermione quite resentful of her friend until, with a flick of her wand, Ginny tamed her locks to curls and she could see again.

"Thanks," Hermione mumbled into her coffee. She watched her friend pour herself a cup and waited until she was seated next to her until she became nervous.

"So?" Ginny asked, making it very clear with that single word that she wanted to know exactly what had happened the night before.

"So, I went home," Hermione told her, the truth if not exactly the whole one.

"And, then?" Ginny asked, her eyes piercing into Hermione's.

"And, then, I didn't want to be alone," Hermione whispered, though she wasn't exactly sure why. There was no one left to hear her but her friend. "I went next door for a drink."

Lines formed around Ginny's eyes and mouth as she figured out exactly what Hermione was telling her. "Oh my … Please tell me you didn't sleep with him." This came out as a harsh whisper that seemed to sting Hermione as if she had been slapped.

"I …" She tried to find the right words, but it wasn't possible. She couldn't seem to string together a logical reason. "I was drunk and mad."

Ginny stood up and started walking out of the kitchen. "Where are you going?" Hermione yelled after her.

"Stay here!" Ginny told her. "I'll be right back." Hermione had no intention of staying there, however, and was at the fireplace as soon as Ginny was gone. She threw in the floo powder, but nothing happened. It was not difficult for Hermione to piece together what had happened. Ginny had gone to get her wand and closed the wards Harry always had around their home. Hermione was stuck until her friend returned, hopefully with her wand. She shuddered to think what Ginny was going to do to Malfoy. She found she was actually a bit worried her friend might lose all sense and murder him if he said the wrong thing. She silently prayed that he would remember the result of a quick flick of Ginny Weasley's wand.

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Draco Malfoy was never really a morning person. He preferred to sleep late and stay up late, and thus was his course of action that very day. Just as Ginny Potter was returning to her kitchen that morning, looking for answers, Draco was waking up in his bed, alone. He stirred and was immediately met with a pounding headache. He reached for his wand lazily hoping to ease his pain, but when he muttered the charm, after feeling the cool wood fall uneasily into his hand, nothing happened. He spoke the words again, but again nothing happened.

He forced his eyes to open slightly and stared at the wand in his hand. It was clearly not his. Instead of investigating this further, he found that his own wand was still sitting on the nightstand. He gripped it with his free hand and this time, after the charm was cast, he felt the fog clearing from his mind and the throbbing died down to a gentle pulse every so often. He then looked at the wand in his other hand and examined it.

He wondered who it belonged to for a few short moments before he saw her face flash before his eyes, remembering how she tossed it on his nightstand and stood beside the bed, her hands on her hips, his shirt falling over her skin loosely. He'd decided that even the simple cotton t-shirt was too much fabric between them. He had pulled her towards him then, and hadn't let her go until he'd had his way with her once again, murmuring things that would have made even his mother blush. They must have fallen asleep together.

"Shit," he said in a tone characteristic of someone who had spent the evening sleeping with an old enemy, but his lips curled into a small smile. He crawled off his bed and grabbed a pair of pants from a drawer. After he'd covered himself, he began the search for Granger, as she would without a doubt need her wand to get into her apartment and get ready for work. Seeing as how there were only four rooms she could be hiding in, it didn't take him longer than a few minutes to realize she'd left the apartment already. He headed for the door, thinking that without her wand, she was most likely waiting in the hall for him to wake up and give it back. He was surprised therefore when he opened it and found Potter's wife looking back at him with a glare that threatened to scare him into slamming the door in her face.

"Give it to me," she told him sharply, and he couldn't help but notice she sounded and looked like a mother chiding her child.

"Where is Granger? She couldn't come get her wand on her own? Had to send Mummy to get it?"

"I came of my own accord after she informed me of its location. Speaking of such, you better keep away from her, Malfoy. I may be a Mummy now, but I haven't lost one ounce of my talent and you'd do well to remember just what I can do." Malfoy needed no explaining to get her point.

"If your brother had done his job right as her husband, there would be no reason to worry about me staying away from her. She's a big girl," he snapped at her, turning Hermione's wand in his left hand all the while.

"You know nothing about Ron and Hermione's marriage!" Ginny barked, her skin tinged a light red now.

"I know much more than you think. Here you are, Weaslette," he said, holding out Hermione's wand to her. "Be sure to extend my gratitude to Granger for last night."

"You have no idea what you are getting yourself into. You have no idea what happened to them or what they went through. It's a story to you, something that happened to other people too long ago for you to understand what it did to her. She doesn't need this crap from you. Why don't you stick to ruining your own life and leave Hermione's alone." Ginny snatched the wand from him. "Ferret." She turned, fuming, towards the lift, anger coursing through her veins. Admittedly, the anger was mostly at herself for falling to his level with petty fighting and name-calling.

A/N: Thank you for sticking around and reading ! Hope you like this chapter … Review review review … I eat them up for breakfast :)

XOXO

Meg