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Chapter 36 –
"Number one, the wife is always right," Hermione said, leaning toward her husband.
"Unfortunately for me, that probably is true," he said. He wrote that down as number one. Next, he wrote and said aloud, "Have lots of sex."
Hermione laughed. She took the pen from him and put three exclamation points. She handed the pen back. "That should be number one," she said.
"Well, you are always right," he said with a hint of a smile. He took his wand and with a tap, the two sentences traded places. He said, "What's number three?"
"Too much crying might drown you," she said.
"Good one." He wrote that down. He said, "Number four, if you are going to be a wanker, be sure the little woman doesn't hear what you say."
"I agree with that one totally," she said.
He put the pen up to his mouth and said, "What else?"
She said, "How about, don't kiss your wife when she has a sharp knife in her hand?"
"Good point, good point," he said. He added that and wrote in parenthesis, (unless she has diabetes, and it helps to diagnose her, in that case in point, it is acceptable.) "Number six, Granger?"
She said, "If your husband hates your Justin Timberlake poster, take it down and hide it somewhere he can't see it." He glared at her and wrote, 'take down pretty boy poster, or risk losing closet door'. She looked at what he wrote and said, "Just change that to 'be sensitive to your spouse's points of view'."
"Number seven is, never eat cake in the rain," he said.
"What?" she laughed.
"It's a good point," he said, "The icing melts and the cake becomes soggy."
"How does that help for a perfect marriage?" she asked.
"It doesn't, it's just words of wisdom," he answered. She took the parchment from him, and with her wand, banished the number seven he had just written. She wrote in its place, "Don't run away without explanations."
"That's slightly better than the cake one," he said. He took the parchment from her and said, "Let's think of at least three more, for an even ten."
They continued to sit and swing and she put her head on his shoulder. She finally said, "Cherish the little moments in life, for they are the ones you will remember the most."
"Nice, somewhat sugar-coated, but definitely greeting card worthy," he said. He wrote it down, adding his own little sentiment next to it. "I have number nine. Think of little games you can play, to keep your marriage fresh and new."
She didn't really like that one, but she gave it to him. She said, "Do you have another, for an even ten?"
"I do," he said. He wrote something down, folded the parchment, and put it in his pocket.
"What does it say?" she asked.
"Oh, I will let you see later," he said. He put his arm around her. "I don't want to go back to work, Hermione, but if you want me to, to save our marriage, I will."
"It's not like our marriage is on tether-hooks, Malfoy. It's not that important. Anyway, I will go back to work, so we will have some time apart. I think I will wait one more week, and then go back."
"Okay, and while we are both off work next week, we can go house hunting. Something small, maybe seven bedrooms, six baths, a five car garage," he said.
She laughed, but he was serious. "How about four bedrooms, three baths?" she asked.
"How will we get by with just three baths? Really, Granger, we aren't poor, there's no reason to live like paupers," he said.
"I was thinking of something like my parent's house," she reasoned.
"Like I said, no reason to live like paupers," he said again, with a grin. "And I will break it to my parents, I think they will understand and come to accept it in time. Besides, they will blame you, not me, so it's all good."
"I'm sure," she said. "Let's also decide something else. We will spend one Friday night dinner a month at your parents, and one at mine, and the other two will be our date nights."
"I plan to date you every day and every night," he explained. "How about this one? Holidays will be hard as well. I say, we spend every other Christmas at one set of parents, and then the other, but Christmas Eve is ours. Boxing day, we will split between the two."
"Sounds reasonable," she said. "This is working out well."
"Now, about children," he said, "We already decided the weekend that we married that we wanted four, but were you serious about that, or were you just in a sex haze?"
She laughed and said, "I was serious, but we may not really have as much control over that as we do other things. What happens will happen."
"When do you want to start?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
"We haven't done anything to make sure it won't happen, so in a way, we have already started, and that's good to me. What do you think?" she asked.
"It's amendable," he said with a grin. "I thought I wanted you all to myself, but I wouldn't mind a little Granger Malfoy running around. As long as they have my hair, I insist on that, Hermione, and I won't give in one bit."
"Fine, fine, your hair, my brains," she said.
"The girls can have your breasts," he laughed.
"Because the boys will look funny with my breasts," she said. She snickered. He stared. She said, "Now come on, laugh at that one at least. That one was funny! I really do have my moments of jocularity!"
"First, people with a good sense of humour don't say uppity words like 'jocularity' and second, that was a good one," he said. He pinched her arm.
"Ouch," she said.
He took her hand and kissed the top of it. "So, new house, divided holidays, children, girls with breast, but not until they are well grown up and out of the house," he added. She rolled her eyes. "What else, Granger?"
"Maybe we could still write our book, but more for us than anything. I think it would be lark, a right fun time, don't you?" she asked.
"Yes, I do." He started to swing them higher.
"If I hadn't come with you to the reception, what would you have done? Would you still have asked me out on a date?" she asked.
He really thought about it. He had thought about it a lot over the last two weeks, and really, well before they married. Even though the weekend of Ron's wedding was the first time he had officially seen her in three years, he had seen her, here and there, at different events, and places, for years. He would sneak looks at her. He just never struck up the nerve to go talk to her. Then, two weeks ago, when he waited for her at the chapel, it took all the courage he had ever had to wait outside that day for her. He didn't even know what he was going to say to her. The only reason he even came to the stupid wedding was with the hope of seeing her, and the hope that he might ask her out on a date.
He knew he would have to tread softly with her. He knew she would be hurting because Weasel married, but he didn't care. He had waited long enough. Draco Malfoy generally always got what he wanted, and usually, with ease. Things just usually happened for him; he bought them, or his father got them for him. He never really ever had to work for anything in his life. However, he knew with Hermione Granger, he would have to work hard to win her over. He had carefully planned everything out in his head long before that day.
Would he have asked her out? Hell, yes. He thought she might stay and talk to him after the wedding, he thought he might have been able to convince her to get some coffee, and a few days after that, he thought he might 'accidentally' get hurt at work, have to visit St. Mungo's, have her for a Healer, and then be endearing and sweet, and ask her out on a date.
He figured the first time she would say 'no', so he would have to go back for a recheck, or heaven forbid, get hurt again, and he would be incredibly witty the second time, ask her out again, she would hem and haw, and then finally she would agree. He thought she might cancel that first time.
In that case, he was prepare to send her flowers and some really rare, antique book, maybe a rare second edition of Hogwarts a History , or something, although something like that might cost a million galleons, he figured she was worth it.
After that, she would agree to go out with him. They would have a lovely first date; he would not even try to kiss her. It would just be a nice, sweet, romantic date. The next day he would call her and ask to pop over. Afraid of 'Draco' overload, he would only spend a few minutes, but he would make a lasting impression. He would wait a few days more, but to let her know he hadn't forgotten her, he would send her a little note or gift each day, nothing outrageous, nothing ostentatious or creepy.
The second date they would do something outside, an all day type of date. He might hold her hand. He would find little excuses to touch her. Take a leaf out of her hair, hit her arm when she made a joke, (how did he know she had no sense of humour?), and perhaps the old, 'you have an eyelash on your cheek', and he would have to pretend to remove it. That one always worked.
He would ask her out again, their third date, and she would offer to cook for them at her house. He would bring a nice bottle of wine. They would kiss, and it would be glorious. They would spend all night on the sofa, talking about their hopes and dreams. They would apologize about their past. It would be well after midnight, and he would finally tell her he had to go. She would walk him to her front door, and he would draw her into his arms and kiss her with incredible skill (ahem, ahem) and passion.
She would call him and initiate the fourth date. She would probably want to go to a show, a museum, or an art exhibition. He would go anywhere with her, no matter how boring. He would take her to his house afterwards, and they would have a heavy snogging session on his couch. He still would not push for sex. Not with her. He wouldn't risk losing her. He would wait…for her.
After that, he would improvise. He thought that after they dated perhaps two weeks, he would invite her to go away for the weekend. If she said yes, she was ready for sex. Their first time would be glorious. Hell, their first time was glorious.
Yes, he had it all planned out in the beginning. He had ulterior motives the second he heard she was going to the wedding, and he sent in his RSVP. Even though it didn't quite work out as he planned, it turned out better than he had hoped, and in a way, he didn't feel cheated, because everything he wanted to happen did, just slightly different and faster, but ten times better.
Therefore, he said, "I really didn't give it much thought, but I might have asked you out on a date. I just might have."
Bill walked out of the house and asked, "Is your date over? We all have a surprise for you inside."
"I love surprises," Hermione said with a smile.
Draco leaned over, kissed her cheek and said, "I have a surprise for you, too, later." She winked at him, and he smiled. He jumped off the swing, reminiscent of how he jumped off last weekend, but instead of letting the swing bounce all around with her this time; he put he hands on the rusted chains, and stopped it immediately.
"Thanks," she said. She stood up and he took her hand.
They walked in the house, and were surprised by what they saw.
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Rules to a Perfect Marriage
By
Draco A. Malfoy and
Hermione J. Granger Malfoy
1- Have lots of great sex!!!
2- The wife (in this case, Hermione) is always right
3 - Too much crying might drown you
4 - If you are going to be a wanker, don't let your spouse overhear you.
5- Don't kiss your wife's neck while she is making a salad, (unless she has diabetes, and it helps to diagnose her, in that case in point, it is acceptable.)
6 - If you there is something that your spouse doesn't like, be sensitive to their point of view. (Or, throw away a pretty boy poster or else be prepared to lose a closet door.)
7 – Don't run away without explanations.
8 - Cherish the little moments in life, for they tend to mean the most (sappy but true)
9 - Think of little games to keep your marriage fresh and new
10 – Just love each other, and never forget it.
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