She stood before him in her wedding dress. Her eyes were sparkling as she saw him. He gave her a knowing smile. She blushed and he felt himself falling for her just for this wonderful picture of her right before him.
He stepped closer, one hand lying lightly on her shoulder. She turned her head towards it. Slowly he moved around her, circling her before standing behind her. Her hair was like a sea of brown curls. Wonderfully soft to the touch. He brushed them over her shoulder to the front. She felt his hand lightly on her shoulders as his lips caressed the back of her neck.
"Mmm!" She purred.
He slowly unzipped her dress, unclasped her bra and then pushed both just far enough forward to reveal the skin of her back. His fingers trailed leisurely from her shoulder to the small of her back on either side of her spine. She shuddered.
"I can't believe, I let you talk me into this." She whispered.
"Just enjoy." He breathed into her ear.
Slowly the satin material was pushed from her shoulders. He could only see her back, but... He closed his eyes for a moment.
'Keep cool!' He told himself.
Next he drummed his fingers down her sides making her giggle. Holding onto her hips he kissed his way across her shoulders, before pulling the dress over her hips, letting it pool around her feet.
He let his lips vibrate in a low growl against the sensitive skin of her neck. She moaned quietly, not knowing where to put her own hands.
Circling her again he enjoyed to see her. Her eyes were closed. He gingerly kissed the tip of her nose.
"Hermione?"
"Hm?"
"Look at me."
She opened her eyes and he felt like drowning in them. Seas of endless brown.
"You have the most beautiful eyes."
She blushed.
"Your turn." He whispered.
Her hands were trembling as she reach up to his shoulders.
"I..."
"You are just fine." He re-assured her.
She smiled shyly at him and then slowly took his dress robes of him. Standing behind him she run her fingertips over his shirt, feeling the muscles underneath. He was slender, but years of Quidditch had given him well hidden strength and speed of movement. His shirt was tugged from his trousers.
He leant his head back savouring every moment. Her lips were caressing his left shoulder. Before kissing the skin below his ear.
"You smell wonderful." She whispered into his ear.
When her hands slipped under his shirt to find his warm body he couldn't help but groan. Her arms wound around his midriff and her head rested on his back for a moment.
He was loosing control, fast. How could one woman possibly be so sensual? She set his soul alight and he knew, he would burn tonight. Desire searing through his veins.
Her touch was scorching his chest now. He pulled her against himself. Only to lean back moments later. Her plump lips were inviting him to explore. So he bent down to her and...
Draco sat in his bed covered in sweat, feeling as if his blood was boiling with desire. He tried to slow his out off control heartbeat. Breathing slowly, he felt shortly before passing out.
'Merlin! Why ME!'
"Dear?"
Narcissa Malfoy looked at her son and was wondering, if he was actually conscious. He hadn't moved for the past ten minutes. His elbows were propped onto the table, his head lay on his hands. Normally she wouldn't have let him take a pose like that during meals, but she knew, that he didn't sleep properly any longer and every waking hour was a struggle for him.
She smiled to herself. He was such a stubborn boy at times. Though he had stopped being a boy years ago, he would always stay a boy for her. The boy she loved and wanted to protect, but he hadn't spoken to her. Despite her insisting on him doing so.
It was Monday morning and he had until Friday to finally do it. She had the suspicion, that he would try not to talk to Miss Granger, but if the groans she heard from his room every night were anything to go by, he was reaching the end of line. And fast.
"Mother?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Did you say something?"
"I was just wondering, if you were still awake or not."
He lifted his head and she could see in his eyes, that the last night had been one with not enough sleep yet again.
"I don't know, if I can do this much longer."
"You wont have to. Friday evening everything will come to a head."
He looked at her. It took several minutes before he actually understood, what she was talking about. The lack of sleep was starting to take its toll on him.
"What will happen, if they try to get married and she is still bound?"
"Everybody will know it. The wizard performing the ceremony will have to inform the Ministry and of course there are her friends and family. they will know."
He groaned.
"Draco?"
He looked at her with a wary expression.
"Do you love her?"
He was wide awake the instant his brain registered the question.
"What... what do you mean?"
"I wouldn't have thought, the question is that hard to understand. Do you love Miss Granger?"
He let his head fall back onto his hands and groaned.
"Mother, please! It's bad enough as it is."
"That may be, but it does not answer my question."
"Why do you think, I would feel anything for her?"
"I am not deaf, you know."
He had to think about that for a moment. His brain was too scrambled for him to think straight. He gave up.
"What do you mean, mother?"
"Are you aware, that you have started to talk in your sleep? Or maybe not so much talk as... moan?"
He was horrified. What had been... He didn't want to think about what his mother might have heard. His face become a red tinge.
'Merlin! Just let it be all over!'
Hermione was sitting in her office, reading the report about the latest raid. There had been some rather odd objects. Mr. Weasley had put his best two magical analysts onto them, to find out what exactly they were doing. And under what kind of circumstances.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
"Hi, Hermione."
She looked up.
"Hi, Harry."
"So how are things?"
He perched himself on the edge of her desk.
"Fine."
"Ron told me, you are not going to see him before the ceremony tomorrow night?"
She smiled at him.
"That's right."
He grinned.
"Why do I have the feeling, that that was your idea and not Ron's?"
"Has he said anything?"
"Not directly. He just looks a bit tired."
"Tired?"
"I think, he has difficulty sleeping..." He smirked in a conspicuous manner.
She looked at him.
"Oh."
He laughed.
"I think, it will be worth it, Hermione. If he is willing to not see you for a week, just to make you happy..."
She laughed with him. He saw her getting lost in her thoughts for a moment.
"Everything okay?"
"Hm? Oh, yes."
She looked at her friend of many years.
"Harry? Can I tell you something?"
"You are my best friend. You can tell my anything."
"But you must swear not to tell Ron about this."
"Okay..."
His forehead furrowed.
"What has happened?"
"You know, the day I went to pick up my wedding dress?"
"Last Friday? Yes. What about it?"
"When I was in Diagon Alley, in the bridal shop, I was about to take the dress off..."
"You sure I should here that?"
She looked at him.
"Just listen, will you?"
"Okay."
"I was about to take the dress off again when everything was suddenly plunged into utter darkness. It was magical of course."
"Of course."
"And then Ron was suddenly there and he kissed me."
Harry looked at her. There was this feeling niggling at him with such force, that he couldn't help but wince.
She looked at him somewhat alarmed.
"Is everything okay?"
He nodded.
"My stomach. Happens. Go on."
"Ron has never kissed me like that before. It was just... divine! I can't describe it, but it reminded me of the smoochy descriptions in a Mills & Boons of two folk kissing. I was just like that. I have never felt so alive as in these short moments."
"And...?"
"He suddenly lifted the darkness spell and apparated."
"Just like that? After kissing you like I-don't-know-what?"
"Yes. It was, as if he didn't want me to see, that he had come to kiss me."
"Have you talked to him about it?"
"No. Not yet."
"DON'T"
Hermione was a bit shocked by his sudden outburst.
"Why not?"
"I can't explain it, but these kind of things loose their magic when you talk about them."
"So you think, I should just keep it as a treasured memory of our time courting?"
"Something like that, yeah."
She thought about that for a moment, then she smiled at him and nodded.
"Thanks, Harry."
"What are friends for, eh?"
He hugged her tightly.
Another night in for Ginny and Harry was spent at Grimmauld Place, on the accustomed couch in the drawing room.
"Ginny?"
"Yes, Harry?"
There was a smile in her voice.
"What would happen, if Hermione would not be able to marry Ron tomorrow?"
She looked at him. Shocked.
"What do you mean? Why should she not be able to marry Ron? The Reversal has been performed and the month is nearly up as well."
"I know."
"But?"
"I have spoken to her at work today. She told me something, that has convinced me, that something must have gone wrong during the Reversal."
"Why? What has she told you?"
"You must swear never EVER to tell anybody, Ginny. I mean it! Never!"
She hesitated a moment. What could have possibly happen, that he would ask her for her total silence?
"I swear."
"Hermione has told me, that Ron has kissed her while she was picking up her dress last Friday. That was in the afternoon."
Ginny tried to understand what he tried to say, but seemed to be missing the vital details.
"So what?"
"I would have sworn that Ron did the auror backup for a raid in Knockturn Alley that same afternoon."
"..."
He could see her thinking.
"Yes, Ginny. Do you understand now?"
She nodded. Whom had her best friend been kissing when her fiancé had been working?
"And there is no chance, that he could have slipped up to Diagon Alley after they were finished?"
"He didn't come back to the office before 8 at night. There is no chance, that he has been in that shop with Hermione."
"So, who has been with her then?"
"Have a guess."