Chapter 29 ~ Time & Its Betrayal
"He has given himself over, refusing what he knows to be real
He turns away from every meal, starving himself of goodness
He doesn't think he can heal, but you and I now
We can be alright, just hold on to what we know is true
You and I now, though it's cold inside
Feel the tide turning"
~ Feel the Tide (Turning) by Mumford & Sons
Neither Draco nor Hermione were expecting a drenched, teary-eyed Pansy Parkinson to show up at their camp, but life had a way with proving them wrong recently. The normally held together blonde was a mess; her makeup smeared all across her face, her long, platinum hair in a tangled, wet, matted state. She threw her wet arms around to Hermione, and began to sob the moment she pulled away. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come I just had to tell you" Pansy sniffled. "I just had to".
Draco snorted. "Tell us what, that you're crying? That your little Death Eater pals are out to steal our souls and -
"Draco" Hermione said in a soft but firm tone. "Pansy, what did you need to tell us before Draco so rudely interrupted".
"It's G-Ginny" sobbed Pansy. "It's been her for m-months, even before D-Draco came. She tampered with Ch-Cho's memory so she thought that she did it but she d-didn't. I've only known for a few w-weeks or I would've told you -
"Parkinson you've known for weeks and you've chosen to tell us now?" snapped Draco. "So the Death Eaters could come tomorrow, or in a few minutes, or whenever the hell they want and you decided it would be a good idea to let us know now?"
"She was scared!" defended Hermione.
"Oh how great for her! Now all our fucking lives are on the line because she wouldn't talk".
"I'll fight for you" mumbled Pansy.
Both sets of eyes trailed to her, questioning. It had been odd enough that Pansy Parkinson, a Death Eater and a Slytherin was in the Order camp and hadn't intended harm, but now she wanted to fight for them. Draco was licking his teeth uncomfortably and Hermione was chewing on her lip unsure of what to say, if there was anything to say in the first place. What was there to say in such a startling, and yet so awkward, situation?
Hermione was the first to break the silence. "That's - that's wonderful, Pansy. Thank you so much for fighting for us and... for telling us. It must have taken a lot of bravery to do so".
The still-sobbing blonde ran at Hermione then, latching onto her and crying into her shoulder. Draco became even more uncomfortable and began kicking at the gravel beneath their feet. Once she had composed herself enough, she held her arm out to shake her ex-lover's hand. He stared at it, not taking it, but instead gave a curt nod of acceptance.
"How much time do we have left?" he asked quietly, meeting Hermione's eyes meaningfully.
"Not long" whimpered Pansy. "Not long at all".
"As in?"
"Days at the most. They - they were planning it, but they kicked me out. They didn't trust me enough to tell me; suspected I had gotten too friendly with Hermione. They were right, after all. Well, at least that's a first".
Draco tensed, his lips parting hesitantly. He made a clicking noise with his tongue on the roof of his mouth before speaking. "Get some rest, Parkinson. I expect you're going to need it, after all".
She nodded. "Yeah, I probably will. Well, I don't want to get in the way of you two spending what might be your last moments together".
Hermione winced.
"Don't fucking say that, Parkinson" he snarled. "Don't you dare fucking say it".
"Draco, she has a point" murmured Hermione, gently massaging his tensed muscles soothingly. Once Draco was somewhat relaxed she looked to Pansy. "You'll be in the tent furthest to the right. I need to stay out for a while and talk to Draco, alright?"
Pansy sighed, turning to walk up to her tent. "I hope everything works out for you two, Hermione. I really do" she said as she walked up out of their sight.
::::::::::::::
There had been no sleep that night thus far. Pansy's unsettling words of their last moments together had made something stir within Draco, and he was agitated and quite too worried to fall asleep. He heard Granger tossing and turning, too. She had yet to close her eyes and escape the torment of her own thoughts as well. His efforts of feigning slumber were becoming tiring, and he was starting to think they were unnecessary, since Granger most likely already knew he was awake. Taking note of that, and the fact that he wanted time with Granger, his eyes fluttered open.
She had been staring at him. Her honey eyes met his grey ones instantaneously and she reached out a dainty hand to stroke his cheek. "It won't be our last, Draco. No matter what happens it won't; I won't let it be".
Draco simply studied her for a moment. "How is Harry going to react when he finds out about Weasley? How is her brother going to react?"
"They won't react, Draco" sighed Hermione, pressing her lips to his for a brief, blissful moment. "They know we simply haven't the time for that".
"'Suppose we can't all wallow in self pity. I mean, there is only one me, after all" he pursed his lips slightly, as if contemplating whether or not to do something. He reached his decision eventually and his arms were around her waist. She rested her head in his chest and hummed. "They should have time though. We all should have time. Time's on their side, it seems, rather than ours".
"That could change -
"Things don't change, Granger" he interjected. "We're laying here coddling each other like some married couple when we know that we're just going to end up broken up like everyone else. Nothing can change anything".
She frowned. "You changed".
"I changed" he agreed. "But that doesn't mean the circumstances did".
"You really don't get it, do you?" she chewed at her lip for a few seconds and pulling out of his arms in frustration. "I love you. I love you and I don't want this to be over -
"And neither do I, Granger, but there's no point in lying to ourselves".
"But it will - it will make things easier. I just need to have at least something to be hopeful about. I need to know something will be left after this even if there isn't going to be anything left".
She felt her heart skip a beat when his storm colored eyes met her own again, and repeated doing so when he smiled at her and gestured or her to scoot closer to him. "Come here, Hermione" he murmured, covering her mouth with the warmth of his own. "Come here".
And she did. She wrapped her arms around his neck and positioned her body over him so she was straddling him, allowing herself to be as close to him as she possibly could. She was attacking his mouth then, and though her nips at his bottom lip were soft and gentle, his lips quickly began to tingle and swell. He was moving quicker than he ever had, quickly removing her white tank top and thanking a non-existent deity when he found that she had failed to wear a bra to sleep in that day. His left hand, that was originally resting in her mid-back, was quickly massaging her behind, and his right hand was stroking her with barely there touches everywhere he could reach.
She moaned when he bit at a spot she knew that he knew his lips could get a reaction from, and thought that she indeed would have revenge on him this time. Some sort of excitement came over her when she began trailing her lips and teeth down his torso, feeling his muscles flex as she hit certain areas, but once her lips reached the hemline of his sweatpants, she was unsure of what to do at all and some sort of nerves flooded over her when she knew that he was indeed staring at her. His lips were parted, his eyes dilated, his hair tousled an his lips swollen and bruised, he did indeed have the look of a man that had been kissed thoroughly.
Hermione was apprehensive when she removed his trousers, and even more so when she was aware of what she was about to do. He was hard, and she could tell that this was not helping with his level of arousal. He gave her some sort of reassuring smile, which she would have considered romantic in any other situation, but this was definitely not a situation that one would consider to be romantic.
Draco felt himself grow more and more wanting the longer she simply looked at the length of him, eyeing it as if she were about to devour him, which he reminded himself, she was. He felt her fingers wrap around the base of him then, and he let out a raspy breath at that. He closed his eyes, thinking she would rather it if he didn't watch her. He was right, because the next thing he felt was a wet, humid, blissful heaven engulfing him. The long, low groan that he heard could have easily been someone else's for all he knew, he was far too aroused and anticipating to notice anything than the warmth shooting through his veins.
If it were anyone else, he would have argued that the woman latched onto him had plenty of experience in this area of expertise, but since it was Granger he thought different. He found Granger to be quite a quick learner. He shuddered when she ran her tongue up tantalizingly, her breath teasing him. She had been unaware of how very arousing doing this to him would be. She took him all in her mouth again, and he released a loud groan. He was trying not to give in to the instinctive jerks of his hips, but he was fighting a losing battle. She would gag every now and then when this happened, but continue right from where she left off.
When her lips were at his tip, he whimpered. "Granger, I'm - I'm f-fuck. I'm not d-done with you y-yet I can't f-finish... oh fucking shit".
He was close. It was easy to tell, for with each movement of her mouth, each movement of her tongue, each breath that hit his skin, he became harder, and his breaths more shallow and labored. His face was more flushed than she had ever seen it and the sweat above his brow was reflecting the dim moonlight coming in from outside. She wanted to kiss him then, so she did, removing her mouth from his erection and leaving her hands behind to finish the job she was now so committed too. Eventually, he was too close to his own climax to return any of her kisses, and she found her own breathing shallow and felt her knickers were uncomfortably damp.
With a few more steady tugs with her hands, he let out a final groan, his limbs shaking uncontrollably and his head buried in her bare shoulder. Her hands were sticky then, and she would have gotten her wand to wash them if it wasn't for the words he had said earlier... 'I'm not done with you yet'.
Once his breathing had gotten under control again, he spoke. "What do you want to do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Play cards and be just friends for the night" he drawled sarcastically, letting out a single laugh. "I mean what do you want me to do to you, Granger? I'm going to make you say it, you know. This time I'm making you say it".
"T-touch me" she whispered, resting her forehead on his and rolling over so he was atop her now, hoping he would get the message. "S-soft".
And he listened. He entered her gently, his thrusts were slow and gentle, awaking something inside her that she hadn't known was there at all. God she loved him. She was returning his motions by moving her own hips in the tantalizing pace that he had set, and she was kissing every inch of him that crossed the path of her mouth in the midst of their ministrations. It only took her minutes to climax, and he followed shortly, within a thrust of her. She released a few melodious whimpers, and it felt as though she was floating off somewhere with him. Reality seemed to sink in the moment after their lovemaking had stopped.
An odd wave of a bittersweet sadness washed over her as she lay in his arms with her forehead kissing his, and she began to cry; the kind of crying where only a few tears fall, and you are not sobbing, but still you are somehow broken. She couldn't remember why she was broken in such a beautiful scene, but then she reminded herself that the fact it was beautiful was the predicament.
"What's wrong, Granger?" he kissed her, and he found that he could taste her tears.
"I want to have a son, or a daughter, or a family. I want to marry you and grow old with you and see your damned arrogant smirks every day, infinitely, no matter what. I want to travel the world with you, and I want to celebrate everything that happens with you. I want to argue with you and have screaming matches with you and learn more of your little quirks like the fact that you'll only eat cereal dry, and that you like all types of jam except for blackberry. I want to have a life with you and have us be as normal as we can and fall more and more in love with you but I can't because this damn war is probably going to end up tearing us apart".
His lips parted for a moment before he closed his mouth once more and he released a shaky breath. "I want all that too, Granger".
"If it gets too bad, we'll run away... run off to Italy, have a kid or two".
"Hopefully our children inherit my hair rather than that owl's nest of yours" he teased, wiping away her tears without thought and grinning at her when she smiled at him. "We're both incredibly good looking though, so I think that will be fine".
She chuckled. "And hopefully they inherit my modesty".
"Nah, that won't happen. If you're related to a Malfoy, you'll be anything but modest".
"I love you, you know" she sighed as he kissed the tip of her nose. "I love you".
"I love you too, Granger" he said thoughtlessly as he fell into a deep and peaceful slumber.
::::::::::::::
The meeting was much less angry, but much more somber than Hermione had expected. This was partially good, because shouting would get them no where at all and put an obstacle in front of preparing themselves, but at the same time it made it all so much real. She almost wished someone would scream, or shout, or punch something the way that she wanted to because the unvoiced emotions were worse. They all sat in silence for ten minutes at the beginning of the meeting before anyone spoke at all.
"Ginny Weasley was our turncoat, not Cho. Cho never did anything wrong" said Draco. "She's the spy".
"My sister" spat George grudgingly. "My own sister fucking tried to kill us all. How long?"
"She was with us a month after the death of her mother" replied Pansy. "She said that she wanted to save herself, and that she wanted all her family eliminated so she didn't have to worry about losing them or feel guilty about what she was doing. She wanted to fight for the winning side, I guess".
"I was with her" mumbled Harry, pain visible on his features. "I cared for her, and I loved her, and the whole time she was betraying all of us".
"I know" Hermione murmured, smiling when she noticed Harry and Luna holding hands under the table the way her and Draco did all the time, and were currently doing. "But there are people that love you that would never do that".
"I feel like it was write under my nose and I could have stopped it so easily if I had just -
"There's nothing you can do" Draco objected, his voice very quiet. "Once a person goes bad, you can't help them. They're lost completely. They lose their soul. It's like a Dementor's Kiss, it's irreversible once you're loyal to them".
"Draco and I are special cases" Blaise agreed. "We weren't loyal to them, and we didn't enter their service with open arms. That's the only reason we could manage to redeem ourselves".
Pansy cleared her throat meaningfully, glaring at Blaise.
"You can't expect to do one good thing and be given the grace of redemption after all the evil shit you've done" snapped Draco. "It doesn't work that way. You have to fight for it, you have to want it... to yearn for it. You can't just walk into the Order and expect to be a good person after that".
"So you're implying that I'm a bad person?"
"Pretty much, yeah" answered Draco in a bored tone.
"No, you're right. The only reason you got it that easily was because Hermione opened her legs" said Pansy in a sweet tone.
Draco's jaw tensed and he gritted his teeth. "One more fucking word, Parkinson and I might just spoil my redemption -
"Well it's true! No one here would respect you if you two weren't fucking! Hell, it's not like you two are even going to last past this war! You're so naive for thinking differently. It's just burnt off steam! It's nothing more than that you are just using sex as an escape -
"Don't act like you know us at all" he uttered.
"You two think you're in love but really you're just in love with the other's bodily parts that can be of use to each other in bed and -
Draco glared at her more coldly than Hermione had ever seen him glare at anyone. She squeezed his hand in an attempt to remind him to stay calm. "And I don't think that anyone even loves your bodily parts, even. There is nothing to love. It must be horrible being so mediocre; another blonde slag. Typical. I intend to marry Granger if we get out of this war alive, and I'm going to leave now so I don't take my anger out on any of you".
So he did leave, and Hermione missed the warmth of his large, firm hand around her small and fragile one. She wanted it; maybe she could even go as far as saying she needed it in that moment.
"We'll start training for war tonight. We'll fight against each other in teams to practice. Meet in the clearing at eight o'clock, alright?" Harry declared.
They all nodded, and Hermione was out the door quicker than she ever had been, and she rushed as fast as she could down to see Draco.
She walked up beside him as he smoked, smiling. "It doesn't matter, you know... what she said. I didn't let it bother me. I wouldn't let yourself get tense over something that stupid, either".
His lips twisted upward at the corners, and he met her gaze, his grey eyes reflecting sunlight in a way that made them almost resemble gems. "You say that as if it's easy, Granger" he murmured.
He kissed her then, smiling against her mouth and ignoring the fact that it could all change very soon.
Time had picked the wrong side.
Author's Note
Happy (almost) St. Patrick's Day! I'm Irish, maybe I'll get some kisses. Lol just kidding I'm forever alone. But yeah I'd give it about 5 more chapters on this? :) and then I'll be starting my next fanfiction (another Dramione, of course) which is going to be called 'The Hardest of Hearts', after the Florence and the Machine song c: well xoxo! hope you all have a lovely week c:
