A/N: hello my lovelies I just want to say I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update this fic. I had a hard time finding inspiration for material after finally getting Draco and Hermione back together. Hope you enjoy. ?MP
"Draco… I…. I…. I'm willing to try." she stuttered, staring up into the silver eyes she had always adored.
He wrapped her in his arms and picked her up. He kissed her nose and sat her down gently.
"I'm the happiest bloke in all of Hogwarts right now. I love you Hermione Granger. Hopefully one day I'll make you Hermione Malfoy." he whispered, caressing her cheek as they stared into each other's eyes. She reached her lips up and kissed him gently.
"One day you WILL make me Hermione Malfoy. You've no choice in the matter, since you there's only been you. And that is never going to change, it never has." she whispered. He kissed her again and she pushed him away gently.
"Draco, we have to get to class. Come on." she urged, pulling him towards the portrait door. He followed reluctantly.
They made their way to Potions and as they came down the main staircase, he grabbed for her hand. She smiled and interlocked their fingers. As they walked to their work bench, Pansy watched them intently. She whispered to one of the Carrow sisters. Hermione watched her carefully. She knew Draco probably trusted Pansy but she never would. She was a conniving, manipulative bint.
Potions class continued on wordlessly, with Hermione and Draco touching each other playfully during their potion making. They perfectly brewed their potion of the day and Slughorn could not contain his excitement. He awarded them a day off from his class, to rest their smarts, for the next timetable.
When class ended they walked out, still hand in hand.
"You know we only aced that potion because of you." Draco brought her knuckles to his lips and kissed them gently. She blushed and pushed him away.
"Flattery will get you nowhere." she retorted. He pulled her into him and kissed her nose before whispering,
"Really? I've found with most witches flattery will get me everywhere exciting." she chuckled and pushed away again.
"I'm not most witches Malfoy." she quipped playfully. He walked up to her and picked her up. He kissed her sweetly and then sat her down.
"Don't I know it Granger, and don't I love it. It's my favorite thing about you." he whispered in her ear as his hand roamed down the side of her hip. She hid her face in his neck.
"And why do you love it so much?" she asked, turning away from him.
"It keeps things interesting. At least you're not fawning over my every move like most." he muttered. She chuckled behind her hand at him.
"And I never will, at least not in public." she answered, skipping ahead of him.
As they reached the stairs, Pansy came up behind the couple.
"Draco, I could really use your help on my arithmancy essay." she pouted. Hermione rolled her eyes and looked down at Draco hatefully. He smiled at her and kissed her fingers again.
"Do you mind?" he asked.
She bit back her nasty thought and shrugged.
"No, go ahead. I can lounge with Gin for an hour or so." she volunteered. Draco nodded.
"I shall return to you soon my beloved." his eyes sparkled with adoration as they met hers. She blushed and hid her laugh.
"You're an idiot." she stated openly. He smirked.
"Yes, but I'm your idiot." he retorted as he backed down the stairs. She waved and he returned it before disappearing with Pansy.
She retired to the Gryffindor common room instead of her new home in the heads commons. Ginny looked surprised to see her. She gave Hermione a questioning look as she walked to where the redheaded witch sat.
"What happened?" Ginny asked.
"Pansy asked for his help with her arithmancy essay and instead of being a jealous, controlling girlfriend, I let him go." she said, sitting beside the redhead.
"The words you're looking for are territorial and protective. I wouldn't trust that slag as far as I can drop her from a broom, especially what you found out about my brother…" she told Hermione, who looked into the fire.
"I don't trust her, I never will. But I trust him." she whispered the last part pathetically, willing herself to believe it.
Hours were spent enjoying girl time Quidditch talk, and more background on the Malfoy/Granger romance. Finally around dinner, Hermione began to grow nervous.
"Must be some essay." Ginny retorted unhelpfully as they walked towards the Great Hall. Hermione's stomach became a tangled pile of Devil's Snare.
"I'm going to the heads commons. Maybe he went there to wait for me." she answered, trying to sound confident. Ginny nodded and waved goodbye.
Hermione diverted to the path she now knew well, and all but wailed the word slytherdor to enter her common room. She heard muffled noise in Draco's bedroom. And in that moment, it was deja vu. Just days ago she had been in this exact same scenario in the boys' flat. Her stomach lurched and her heart jumped into her throat. She walked across the sitting room floor carefully until she reached the stairs. Her footsteps creaked up the stairs and she moved along the wall between their rooms.
She moved closer to the door.
"Pansy, I told you…" she heard Draco's voice.
"Oh come on Draco, your precious girlfriend never has to know about how he responds to me. You know he loves my touch…" she replied. Hermione's eyes began to tear.
"Pansy.. oh God Pansy…" he muttered, and images began to flood Hermione's imagination.
"Besides that little mudblood could never service your pristine pureblood rod better than me." she continued, making a sucking sound.
Hermione felt sick.
"Pansy.." then a smack. She couldn't tell by the sound where it had landed but it was hard.
"Ohhh you remember what i like. Yes Draco that felt amazing." came her smooth voice and a girlish chuckle. Tears sprang free and clouded Hermione's vision. She swallowed around her nervousness.
"Draco?" she called. Silence fell inside the Head Boy's dorm.
"Yes love?" He replied after what felt like ages.
"I thought I heard something." she called again, steeling her voice to calm.
"It's nothing Hermione." he called back. Then the crying started.
"Are you saying I mean nothing to you Draco Malfoy?" came Pansy's garbled shriek. Moments later, Draco's door flew open and Pansy charged out of it, clinging her button down to her chest haphazardly.
She smiled faintly when she saw Hermione's emotional state. Hermione wanted to throttle her. But she had one neck she wanted to wring first.
"Sorry you had to find out like this Mudblood." she muttered offhandedly as she made her way down the stairs.
Draco rushed towards the door, leaning against the door frame to pull up his pants and his trousers. He looked at Pansy' s retreating figure and then up at Hermione.
"Hermione, No it's not what it looks like, I promise. Hermione-" she cut him off by turning away from him and retreating to her room.
She locked both her bedroom door and the bathroom door and landed on her bed, sobbing into her pillow. Banging began on her bedroom door seconds later.
"Hermione, I swear to you I did nothing. Not one kiss, nothing." he yelled, the banging growing louder. Hermione snorted.
"Oh no, from the sounds of it, you let her do all the work!" she yelled back, throwing a pillow towards the door for good measure.
"Hermione, love it's not like that! Open the door please." he called. She grunted in response.
"I hate you! I CAN'T BELIEVE I GAVE YOU ANOTHER CHANCE! GO TO HELL AND TAKE THAT SLAG WITH YOU!" she screamed, casting extra locking charms on her doors as Draco nearly broke her handle off trying to get in.
"Hermione, I love you. I would NEVER do that to you. I'm not going to ruin my absolute last chance with you over something so trivial or stupid. Open this door and talk to me." he called. She snorted.
"You can bang on the door til your fists bleed. I want nothing to do with you Draco Malfoy." she called, her voice thick with a cocktail of anger, heartache and outright abandon.
"Hermione, think rationally. Do you really, honestly truthfully in your heart think I'd do that? Especially with her after knowing you caught Ron with her? Merlin Hermione, I may not be as smart as you but I'm not that bloody stupid. Please. I love you with all I have. You know this." he called. She covered her ears to drown him out with the sound of her blood flow.
An hour or more later, the banged finally ended and Hermione snuck into the bathroom. She looked at herself in her mirror and shook her head. Her eyes were red rimmed and nearly swollen from crying. Her hair was standing up at odd angles and her expression was still one of absolute helplessness. She walked out of the bathroom and down into the kitchen, not paying attention to the the time. By the light of the ceiling it was night time. She opened the cupboard and noticed another jug of pumpkin juice. She picked it up and carried it to the dining table. She leaned her head backwards and closed her eyes.
His words haunted her. She knew he wasn't stupid enough to mimic Ron's actions but she wasn't in that room. She didn't know he was telling the truth anymore than she knew whether he was lying. Her head fell forward into her hand and she leaned towards the table. This was exhausting. Everything had been going great until that conniving slime had asked for Draco's help.
She opened her eyes and let them fall to the bottle of pumpkin juice. She opened it and chugged the bottle slowly. She sat in the darkness for over an hour before feeling another presence.
"Go away Draco."she called, not turning around. He sighed heavily.
"Hermione…" he began but she held up a hand and cut him off. He stopped and watched her shadow.
"Look, I don't know whether to believe you did anything with her or not. I mean, I never imagined Ron would do that sort of thing either and sure as Voldemort was evil, he still did. Because I wasn't adventurous enough. I'm not breaking up with you, I'd never hurt either of us by doing that because I do know we love each other. I am just saying I need a bit of space to think. That's it. I told you I would try, and that's exactly what I am doing, trying. I know I'm going to marry you one day and be Mrs. Malfoy, there's no doubt in my mind, but the pain of betrayal on Ron's behalf is still so new this makes it ache even more. Leave me alone for awhile Draco but never leave me. Does that make sense?" she asked, not turning around. Draco stood statue still.
"Not really." he replied. She chuckled.
"Men, they will never truly know what a woman wants. Nice try Mel Gibson." she muttered sardonically.
"What?" he asked. She giggled.
"Nothing. It's a muggle movie." she cut her response short.
"I am willing to wait as long as humanly possible Hermione. Take the time you need. Please." he urged, wanting to reach out and hug her.
"Let's revisit in a week's time." she muttered. Draco nodded.
"I love you Hermione. See you in a week."he whispered. She nodded.
"See you in a week." she repeatedly robotically.
This is going to be a lonnnggg week. She muttered to herself