Chp. 26- Taking Some Time Off

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There'd be no sleeping together for quite awhile probably, so he'd just have to resort to stroking himself, or taking cold showers often. He was willing to do whatever it took to get Hermione back to her normal, happy self.

If it killed him to get her back to the way she had been, then so be it. Hermione was more important than his well being at this point in time. He cared more about his fiancée than he did about himself. She was the most important thing in his life...

Hermione turned her head around, locking eyes with him, pleading him to get her the heck out of here. He nodded and stood, quickly striding over to where she was sitting. He helped her out of her seat, and took her hand, leading her away from spying eyes and prying minds.

Draco received a thankful smile from Hermione, and he felt himself get warm all over. All it took was one smile, and he was gone.

Now:

Draco lead them out to their first class of the day, his hand never leaving Hermione's. They stood at the outskirts of Hagrid's hut, waiting for class to begin. Draco held Hermione tightly when she started shivering. He was positive it had nothing to do with being cold, but he said nothing about that fact. He just rubbed her upper arms with his hands, hoping to bring some warmth to her body, and also to show her he was willing to do whatever it took till she was okay again.

After a minute, her shivering stopped. She turned around, and thanked him before leaning back against his body. Draco wrapped his arms around her waist, and settled his head on top of hers', content with just holding Hermione.

Draco saw Hagrid approaching them out of the corner of his eye, and instantly Hermione froze. Draco felt his heart tug painfully at how scared Hermione was of men...Even her teachers...

He took a few deep breaths before he was calm enough to the point where he just wanted to kill Nott slowly, in a very painful way. He wrapped his arms tighter around Hermione, reminding her that he was there. While he was there, nothing bad would happen to her. Any man trying to hurt her would have to kill him first from this moment on before they were alone with Hermione. He wasn't about to risk her safety ever again...

Okay well that was a little drastic, but he didn't care...That's how much Hermione mattered to him. Sure he'd let Blaise be alone with her, because he trusted Blaise with his life. And perhaps, later when she wasn't scared of all men, he might even allow Hermione to hang around the two idiots she called her best friends. But not so soon after the incident with Nott. Obviously they understood this, because if they didn't, they were stupider than Draco had originally thought...and somehow he didn't think that was possible.

Hermione flinched in his arms slightly when Hagrid started reaching out for her. He saw the fear, and instead of patting her on the shoulder in consolment, he dropped his hand by his side when Draco glared outright at him.

"'Ow are you 'ermione?"

"I'm okay Hagrid," Hermione said softly, but neither of the two men believed her words.

"Dumbledore has excused you from classes for the rest of the week due to the circumstances. He sends his immense apologizes that he couldn't deliever the news to you in person, but he's very busy at the moment...What with everything going on and all...You're excused too Malfoy."

Draco could feel himself about to grin at this stroke of luck, but it's quickly shot down when Hermione stared at Hagrid with amazement before shaking her head.

"That won't be necessary Hagrid...I can attend classes..."

Draco pinched her arm softly, causing Hermione to jump a bit and cry out. She whipped her head around to glare at Draco, and saw him giving her a meaningful gaze before he looked around as if nothing had gone on between them. Hermione rubbed her arm before turning her attention back to Hagrid.

"I'm on strict orders to send you back to the castle 'ermione...At least for today. If you want to come to class for the rest of the week, then you may. 'owever Dumbledore has spoken to all your professors, and they'll be sending you two your 'omework and notes for your classes this entire week. Perhaps you should take this time to let things calm down a bit. You can catch up on your rest, and if nothing else, it will make you feel better."

Hermione nodded softly before sighing.

"I suppose you're right Hagrid. If you see Dumbledore, thank him for his generosity."

Hagrid nodded his head, and watched as Draco and Hermione walked back to the castle. Hermione pulled her hand out of Draco's reach when they were far enough away from Hagrid for him not to notice. She rubbed her arm before glaring over at her fiancé again.

"What the hell did you pinch me for Draco?"

"Because you were about to throw some vacation time away...Dumbledore gave both of us the week off...You can't ask for anything better than that..."

"But we're missing classes where there will be important information told to the other students, and we'll be missing it all."

"The teachers are more than willing to help you out Hermione given the circumstances. I'm sure they'll give you everything you'll need to know, and even more."

"Yes well I still don't like it Draco..."

Draco grinned over at her before grabbing her hand in his and placing a tender kiss upon her knuckles. This immediately calmed his anger fiancée down to the point where she almost smiled at him.

"You'll enjoy it immensely Hermione...I'll make sure of that."

Hermione blushed a deep red at that, and Draco felt himself harden slightly at the thought of what Hermione had allowed her mind to wander to. She was already thinking about shagging? Even if it was unintentionally, it still got his loins burning. Plus the fact that her face was flush didn't help matters, especially when it made her look absolutely adorable.

He decided that the subject needed to be changed before he'd allow his mind to daydream over taking Hermione in the common room as soon as they entered it. That would so not help him out in the long run, because then she would be terrified of him. He had to control his haywire hormones, otherwise he'd be hard as a rock before long.

"So we have plenty of free time to hang out and talk some more...I know we haven't had much time to just chill and find out more about one another for quite some time what with classes. I'm sure we can sneak out to Hogsmeade as well one day so that we can have some real fun."

"Absolutely not Draco! We're not sneaking out of the castle...How can you even think of doing something like that?"

"Merlin Hermione...Must you always spoil all the fun?"

Hermione looked over at him, annoyed and flabbergasted, but her annoyance disappeared when she saw the teasing smile upon his lips. She rolled her eyes before laying her head against his shoulder.

They were halfway up to the common room already, and she seemed to be tired already. Had she slept well the night before? Sure she had taken the dreamless potion, but that didn't guarantee anything if the person taking the potion was a complete mess, albeit an adorable mess, but still...He hadn't felt her rousing from her sleep, or tossing a lot, so he could only assume she had slept fairly well.

Draco stopped walking, causing Hermione to look over at him curiously. He smiled at her before sweeping her off her feet, and carrying her bridal style. Hermione squealed in protest and astonishment, but gave in when she saw the determined look on Draco's face. She kissed his jaw softly in thanks before cuddling into his warm, muscular chest.

Draco looked down at the top of her head, and smiled when he saw she was asleep with a very small smile upon her lips. Hell he'd take any smile at this point in time, because that meant things were going fairly well under such horrid circumstances. Hermione was a fighter, so he had no worries whatsoever about her recovering from her ordeal in a rapid manner.

Plus he would be by her side the entire time, helping and guiding her along the way, in case she fall or stumble on her path. He wasn't going to let anything happen to her ever again...Hermione was his first priority from here on out...

Hermione groaned softly in her sleep, grabbing the front of his vest in her fist in her restless fit, before calming down at the feel of his warm chest beneath her hand. Draco smiled softly to himself before whispering the password to the portrait, careful not to rouse Hermione from her sleep. He closed the portrait behind him with his foot before walking over to Hermione's room. He deposited her upon his bed, but when he tried to pull away from her, she grabbed a hold of him in her sleep state, conscious of the loss of his body heat.

Draco grinned at her reaction before settling himself down on the bed beside her. He just laid there, staring at her as she slept on, peace in mind that she wasn't alone. He couldn't help himself when he reached over, cupping her soft cheek in his hand.

She leaned into his touch, even when she was deep in slumber, causing Draco to beam down at his sleeping fiancée. She really was the most gorgeous woman he'd ever seen, even when she was sleeping. In fact, she looked even more angelic and innocent when she was asleep.

If only she could feel like this when she was awake, but no of course Nott had seen to that...

Draco clenched his free hand into a fist, wanting to pummel Nott into a pulp. He wanted to kill that man, or at least beat him to within a inch of his life. How dare he go after Hermione, and harm his witch? Nott had to have known Draco was going to hunt him down and exact revenge upon him. No one threatened a Malfoy bride, or a soon-to-be Malfoy bride, and got away with it.

Draco's family had many connections in the wizarding world, many of them Dark. They had always been a very prominent and influential family, even centuries before. For the right amount of money, Draco could have Nott in a body bag by tonight with no fuss.

That's what he would have done, but he knew that Hermione would find out, and instantly hate him for it. That's the last thing he wanted to happen...He could never stand himself if Hermione loathed him again. Now that he'd fallen in love with her, he didn't want anything less than love from his future wife. So for her, he wouldn't kill Nott.

He'd only mess him up really bad, so that he'd never want to mess with any other women...Hermione would have to appreciate that, even if it was only because he was helping tons of women out. She was very understanding with the certain circumstances they were both put under by Nott.

Okay so he probably wouldn't tell her right away, but she was bound to find out sooner or later. He couldn't keep it a secret forever, and he most certainly wouldn't lie right to her face. He'd tell her the truth if he asked her, leaving out the gory details though.

It's not like he was actually going to beat Nott down. No he was going to get someone else to do his handiwork so he didn't get blamed. They would have no proof he'd done it, so there was nothing to worry about it.

It would have felt nice to deliver a solid right hook into Nott's jaw, and heard the crunch of bones as he broke bone after bone in the stupid man's body, but he wasn't going to lower himself to that level for Hermione's sake.

Draco sighed as he thought how far he'd come since he had become close to Hermione. She had made him a much better person, which he was thankful for. Before he wouldn't have hesitated to kill Nott or at least pound him into a puddle, but Hermione was holding him back from doing just that. He sighed as he thought over how many things had changed since Hermione had entered his life.

He was almost a completely new person because of her...

He would continue to grow as Hermione stayed by his side, helping him be the father and husband he wanted to be. He wanted to love his family with every fiber of his being, and he didn't even have a wife or children yet. He wanted to learn how to be a better role model, so his kids would have someone to look up at growing up. He wanted to be free with his emotions, not hiding them as he had done for seventeen long years. It was hard work to hide your pain and regret and every other emotion behind a mask of indifference.

Hermione had no idea what she was getting herself into. Draco was going to take some hard work before he was going to be able to be free with his feelings and able to open up about everything with Hermione. He was stubborn usually, but he wasn't going to push against Hermione when she tried to tear down the walls surrounding his heart.

She would need to do that before he could ever utter his feelings for the woman he loved.

As he stared down at Hermione, sleeping peacefully without a worry in her head at the moment, he felt his heart tug painfully. She was already taking down the walls without even trying to...

What did you all think of that? I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. There's been more chapters lately with Draco's thoughts because I want everyone to see what he's thinking...It's pretty clear what Hermione's feeling, so I thought I'd switch things up a bit. Stayed tuned for future updates to see what they do with their week off. Draco's got some tricks and surprises up his sleeves...Please leave me a review, because I'll love you forever!