Story: Starting Over

Synopsis: Hermione and Ron's marriage fails after the miscarriage of their first child. Several months 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

Beta Love: ErisAceso, oblivion . baby, & RooOJoy … I am exceptionally lucky to have each and every one of you. Thank you for your work on this chapter !

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

Trigger Warning: Late term pregnancy loss

Chapter Twelve

When Hermione woke for the second time in the bed of Draco Malfoy, she was much more aware of her surroundings and indeed pleased to be in them. She did not open her eyes at first for fear that once she did she would wake from a dream, but the weight of an arm loosely hanging over her waist and the unfamiliar smell of his pillow made her smile at the realization that it was indeed reality. She opened her eyes, slowly letting them become accustomed to the light streaming in the window. One look to her right told her that Draco still slept, his mouth slightly parted as he breathed, causing his body to rise just enough that she could feel the movement, but not enough to be bothered.

She pushed herself up carefully, sliding from underneath his arm as slowly as possible and left the bed. Instead of gathering her things for a quick exit once again, Hermione decided to make breakfast, because that was what normal people did in the morning when they stayed over. Well, she was sort of guessing that. She had never stayed over with Ron until they were living together.

By searching his kitchen, she found that Draco Malfoy enjoyed food quite a lot, or at least he enjoyed having it around. Between his fridge, cabinets, and pantry she imagined that one might feed Hogwarts for nearly two weeks, and that was no small feat. Deciding not to venture into the extreme that was certainly possible given the various foods hidden inside of his kitchen, Hermione went for the old standby and made pancakes. By the time Draco emerged from his room in naught but his boxers, she had just begun to eat while she read the morning paper. "You look good in my clothes, Hermione," he informed her as he leaned down to kiss her cheek. He moved to get a glass of pumpkin juice from the counter.

"Thank you. Would you like a pancake?" she asked setting down the Daily Prophet to look over at him.

"I would love one." He joined her at the table and forked food onto his plate. "Do you always get up so early?"

She smiled at him then. "Yes, I always get up 'so early'. I always have and I probably always will. It seems a waste of perfectly good daylight to spend it sleeping."

"As long as you make me breakfast, you can get up as early as you like when you are here." He grinned at the implication that he would be having her as a house guest more often, leaving Hermione with a not entirely unpleasant twist in her stomach. "I must admit I was a little surprised to see you still here when I woke."

Hermione raised an eye at him. "Why is that?"

Draco set down his fork and took a drink of his juice before looking at her again. "Part of me thought you might be feeling guilty and leave me here alone to defend myself against Potter's wife again."

"No, I made my choice, and I'm not planning to tell Ginny about being here, so I doubt she will show up on your doorstep this morning."

As Draco opened his mouth to respond, there was a knock at the front door. They both looked out across the kitchen in the general direction of the door and then back at each other. "I guess I'll go get that," Draco said, rising from his seat. "If it is Potter's wife, I'm ratting you out. To be honest, she terrifies me, and I intend on having children one day." He left for the living room to grab the door, leaving Hermione behind to stared at his half eaten breakfast as she bit her lip.

Instead of Ginny yelling, she heard a male voice, one that was responded to by Draco. As they continued to speak, Hermione turned to try and see who it was. Draco had the door nearly all the way shut, but she saw the man outside move a hand into the door frame and she knew who it was. Draco argued with him for a few more minutes, and then, resigned, opened it to allow Blaise Zabini to enter. Unlike Draco, she had seen Zabini all too much for her taste since they had both been working for the Ministry for years. Draco walked back towards her as Blaise followed behind, a smug smile on his face.

"I tried," Draco told her quickly, the apology clear on his face.

"So, it is you." Zabini's eyes traced the shape of her legs beneath the boxers she had stolen from Draco's drawer.

Choosing to ignore their guest, Hermione rose from her chair and took her dishes to the sink. Usually, she would wash her dishes by hand, but as she remembered that Blaise Zabini was just as prejudiced as the next Slytherin pureblood, she flicked her wand and walked towards Draco's room, without a backward glance.

"Not much of a social butterfly, Draco," Blaise told his friend as soon as she had vanished.

"I don't reckon she was very pleased to see you, though I can hardly say the same for you about her. I will indeed cause you harm if you look at her that way again." He retook his place at the table and motioned for Blaise to join him, which he did.

"Well, what else am I supposed to do when I see a half naked woman at your table, who I might remind you is not your wife and happens to be the woman you denied being involved with to the Prophet and, more importantly, to Theo and I."

"My soon to be ex-wife if you please, and you know that I wasn't screwing around on Pansy. She is getting what she deserves." Draco spoke calmly and continued to eat slowly.

"But, Granger? What the bloody hell are you thinking?" Blaise let his hand drop to the table which made a louder noise than he expected, and they both stared at his hand for a second. "She's Potter's Granger. She married into that horrific brood of Weasleys."

Draco decided to ignore the answer Blaise was fishing for and instead supplied, "She doesn't belong to anyone. She's just my neighbor."

"Is this the first time she's stayed over at your flat?" Blaise asked pointedly. Draco did not make eye contact. Blaise switched directions. "So, are you saying this is an arrangement based on convenience? You are a wizard. You could just as easily floo to a pureblood as you can walk to her door." Blaise looked back uneasily as if he was worried that Hermione might be standing behind him. "She's dirty-blood if you will remember, mate. You can't be messing with the likes of her. Leave this alone and move on. Astoria …"

Draco had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "Blaise, leave it with bloody Astoria. Hermione is not dirty and you need to shut the fuck up about it. I know that I can trust you to keep quiet that I was entertaining her this morning." It was not a question, Draco did know that Blaise would take his secrets, no matter how big or small, to the grave, not out of loyalty, but rather because Draco knew too many of his own secrets to risk angering him.

"I'm telling Theo."

"Not Daphne."

"Fine. Merlin knows I don't need that to listen to anyway. Are you coming to the match with me?" he asked then, moving from his chair.

"No," Draco replied with a look at the door of his bedroom.

"You are an idiot, mate. This conversation isn't over."

"It is for now," Draco said pointedly.

And, then Blaise was gone, and Draco was left cleaning the dishes. As he worked, he heard the shower turn on in his bathroom. He sighed heavily and gripped the edge of the sink. He imagined that she was going to be royally pissed off that Blaise Zabini had seen her.

When he reached the bathroom ten minutes later, he had already deposited his boxers on the floor of his bedroom. The door of the shower slid open easily and he found her standing directly under the water, completely still. "Did he really leave?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied, stepping in and shutting the door behind him. "Are you trying to drown yourself?" She turned to face him and shook her head.

"Just washing away the dirt I suppose." She had clearly listened to their conversation. "Thank you for not agreeing with him by the way. I know that he is your friend, and I suspect that must have been difficult."

"No, it wasn't," he said, reaching behind her for the soap, which he rubbed between his hands. She couldn't help but grin appreciatively at this, especially when he began to rub soap into his skin while fully naked before her.

"Do you trust that he won't tell Daphne for sure?"

"Yes. Blaise Zabini is nothing if not looking out for himself, and in this case, looking out for himself means that he keeps his mouth shut about what he witnessed here this morning. I know too many of his secrets." He finished with his soap and reached behind her again for his shampoo.

"What exactly was he witnessing this morning?" she asked, careful to watch his face for any reaction, which was hardly likely to give even the slightest clue as he had moved past her to rinse off his hair and body.

"Breakfast," he said simply, turning back to her.

"Draco …" He moved towards her which resulted in her being pushed against the wall of the shower. His hand took its place on the wall beside her as the other comfortably sat on her waist. Water rolled down his back as he stared into her eyes.

"Hermione…" he responded, dipping down to give her a kiss that she had been waiting for since she woke that morning. "You are so damn sexy in my shower," he growled, his lips brushing hers as he spoke.

"I need to know what this is to you," she told him, trying not to get distracted by him hard against her leg.

He looked around quickly and then back into her eyes. "This is a shower," he told her, his face serious, though they both knew he was just avoiding her question.

"Honestly," she pushed him away, and stepped out of the shower, leaving the door open behind her as the water shut off.

"What's wrong?" he asked, watching her wrap her body in a towel, hiding all of the parts of her that he wanted to touch from view.

"I thought I was okay with this, but I just need to know what you expect from me before I can even let you know if I am capable of giving it to you." Her hair was soaked and dripping all over his bathroom floor, but neither one of them seemed to care.

Draco grabbed a towel from above the rack and began to dry off as well. "What do you mean 'capable of giving it to me'? You are very capable of …"

"Teenagers are capable of sex, Draco. The fact that I can have sex with you doesn't mean that I can give you other things you might desire from a relationship. " She was staring at him, arms across her chest, her barely covered breasts still trying to distract him from the serious tone of her voice.

"Hermione, I just want to see where this goes. I'm not even officially divorced, and I don't plan on getting married again right away, if ever. That would be ridiculous."

She sighed and pushed a piece of wet hair from her face. She covered her face with her hand and then let it fall down to her side. "When you went to answer the door, you said that you intend on having children someday."

"Not today. If that is what has you all hot and bothered, then you need to calm down." He moved towards her and rubbed her shoulders with his hands. "I'm not asking you to have a baby."

"I'm not sure I can go through that again," she said, and it felt strange. It was the first time she had expressed this thought out loud.

He moved his hands down her arms and squeezed softly. "What do you mean?"

"After I lost Rose ... I don't think I can have any more children." She felt like crying then, which really made everything so much better in her opinion. Not only had she already been blubbering on to Draco about them having children, now she was about to start crying about it.

"Hermione," he pulled her in, at a loss for words, and the tears spilled over, falling down her wet face.

"I'm fine, I just ... I need you to know... I'm not planning on having children, and if that is a problem, then I understand." She was sure that he would ask her to leave. That the past three crazy weeks would become a distant memory, and she would revert back to crying in her shower and being so alone once again. She was sure when he moved his lips down the few inches to brush them against hers that it would be for the last time. His hands were firm on her back, holding her tight as he kissed her softly.

When he pulled his lips back, his hands didn't let her go. "I still say we should just see where this goes. It was just something I said, and I didn't think about before it came out."

"Okay," she said.

"I'm sorry that Blaise came by. He knew it was you when I tried not to let him in. He was trying to get me to head to the game with him, but he never comes by this early." He felt her pull back as he finished talking.

"Should I go then?" she asked.

He held her close, moving his hand to pull at the corner of her towel tucked between her breasts. "I was hoping you would stay." Draco's lips found her ear. "I was hoping you were feeling a bit tired still." Electricity rushed through her as her towel fell and her body was flush against his again. "I was hoping," he said again as his hand moved between her legs, one delicious finger sliding inside, "that you were so tired that you were probably going to spend the day in bed."

"I don't know. I think I have some work to do," she teased.

He added a second finger to the first, feeling her breath hitch. "No more work, Granger." Her surname rolled off his lips like a promise. She whimpered as his thumb grazed against her clit for a single moment before he pulled his hand away from her.

"Malfoy," she retorted, annoyed.

"Get in my bed," Draco grinned and kissed the side of her mouth.

"Make me," she smirked as she crossed her arms. Moments later, she was laughing in delight as he tossed her onto his blankets and moved over her. She was still laughing when his mouth found hers. She wrapped her arms up and around his neck, pulling him closer.

He knew that last night he had been with her in this very bed and just minutes ago she had been naked in his shower watching him as he washed his skin, but Draco could still hardly believe that this woman, Hermione Granger, was in his bed. She was writhing beneath him, her skin brushing his, her hips pushing against his, and Draco still felt like he was waiting for her to wake up and realize that she shouldn't be here. He wanted her here. It had been completely unexpected, and it was entirely crazy, but he desired this contact with her more than he could remember wanting anything in his life. She was smart and funny and broken in ways that were so different and so similar at the same time to the ways that he was broken.

"Draco…" she whispered his name against his ear and he realized that he had been lost in his thoughts of her. One hand had moved down his chest and thigh and gripped him as she spoke.

"Fuck, Hermione," he rasped, and he felt her smile against his neck as she brought his tip to her core.

"Precisely," she replied, the smile carried into her voice as Draco pushed his hips against hers again and felt her body welcome him. She moaned as his length filled her, and he dipped down to lick and kiss her neck as nails found his back. He fell into a rhythm as they both began to breathe heavily and his thoughts lost the coherency they had just minutes ago. He didn't care about the reasons or whether or not they made sense. He just needed this rock of his hips and the grip of her fingers on his skin.

And then, she was pushing against him, rolling them to his side and his back and, she was astride him. She pushed up on his chest and grinned, and Draco couldn't remember seeing a sexier, more terrible grin in his entire life. "My turn," she leaned down to kiss his chest as he bucked his hips against her. She had killed the quick, steady rhythm that he had adopted and his body was not happy. "No," she laughed and dug her knees into the mattress on either side of his hips.

"Hermione…" he warned, and she pulled her hands down his chest and then up her own body. He nearly turned her back onto her back as he watched her fingers trail over her own taut nipples, but this was new, and he thought he liked it. She was taking control and intentionally driving him crazy.

"What do you want?" she asked, and he glared at her. What was she playing at?

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What do you want?" she repeated, admonishing. His cock twitched.

Draco growled and placed his hands on her hips, his fingers buried in the flesh there. "You moving. Now." Hermione grinned as the words fell reluctantly from his lips and he felt her thighs pull up against his. She slid up his length torturously slowly and nearly giggled as she watched him squint in agony. "You are awful," he moaned.

"I can stop," she suggested, pulling away as if to move off of him, but he gripped her tightly.

"Don't." He was pleading with her, begging her to move. "Just … faster."

"All you had to do was ask," Hermione teased, and slid her body down his quickly. Her chest fell against his, and he bucked his hips again as she planted her knees again and her body began to move more quickly, bobbing up and down as her teeth gripped his lip and her fingers locked in his hair. He moved to meet her over and over as she released his lip and let him kiss her hard. She had never been sexier to him than in that moment as she breathed heavily into his kiss and her body moved over him.

He felt her pulling him closer and closer to bliss, making him crazy as he slipped a hand down between them. His thumb found that bundle of nerves again, and she shook against him, the tremor disrupting her perfect rhythm for a single moment before he began to swirl his thumb in a perfect circle around her.

"Draco," she sighed softly against his lips and her forehead rested against his. Her eyes closed and he could feel her focus on their joined bodies, on the sensation rocking through her. He did the same, trying as hard as he could to hold back, to resist the feel of her wet and tight around him.

She moaned. Her fingers tightened in his hair and her walls tightened around him as he slid inside of her. "Ohhh…" the noise left her mouth in a long, delicious shaky breath as she let go and Draco moved to flip her back on her back. Hermione wrapped her legs around him as he began to pump into her more quickly. Her eyes were open, watching him, and he took in her features. Her eyes were heavy with satisfaction, her lips parted with the ghost of her moans, her cheeks pink with exertion, and he lost himself inside of her at the sight. After a few final thrusts, Draco collapsed, letting his weight fall onto Hermione and then rolling to the side, reluctantly pulling out of her.

"Definitely tired," she whispered, though he was the only person who could hear her.

"Bed all day," he grinned, looking over to see her smile.

"And night," she agreed.

A/N: Here you are. The last bit hasn't been beta'd so all the flaws are solely my fault. My beta team is magical but I promised to expand this ending for them and then didn't get to it until the last minute due to a rough week. Which is also why this update is coming at you early Friday morning instead of Thursday. We are dealing with family health issues, but hopefully it will all be resolved quickly.

As always, I would love to hear from you if you are reading. Thank you for all of your beautiful words of encouragement. They mean so much to me!

XOXO

Meg