Becoming Mrs. Malfoy
37
Not once did he move away from her but let her press her face into his shoulder as she sobbed and cried. With his thumb he drew relaxing circles onto her back and caressed her shoulder.
It was so different from the last time she had cried in his presence. This time he did not deny her the attention she needed.
The gentle brush of his fingers against her wet cheeks, the way he patted her hair, how he held her close to him. Never had she thought that Draco Malfoy of all people could make her feel so warm. After her last sniff she became still and just enjoyed his closeness.
She wanted to thank him but she must look like a mess after all the crying so she got up and went into the bathroom to wash her face. The tear strains were gone and her eyes looked less puffy and red. During her stay in the bathroom he had not moved an inch and so she settled back the way she had been before.
The steady drum of his heart was soothing and she ran her fingers up and down his torso. Letting out a content sight she propped herself up on her elbow to look at him. Of course she had always known that he was rather good-looking but the look he gave her just took her breath away. His eyes were a brilliant silver.
Slowly, without really noticing it she leaned in, never breaking the eye contact until their lips met. It was merely a butterfly kiss but still a rush of heat went through her body. Hermione´s cheeks took the color of peaches and she swore her heart wanted to break out of her. Actually she wanted to blurt out a "I´m sorry." but instead she found herself drawn into those silver eyes again.
This time the kiss lasted a little longer and she applied some more pressure. It was like electricity when he returned the gesture. Their lips moved perfectly together and she felt so happy that her lips curled into a tiny smile.
The feeling of lightheadedness took her over for expect for him and her everything seemed to move so fast while the moments their lips made contact felt like sweet eternity. His arms, he had wrapped around her hips, were the only thing that kept her from floating into the room it seemed.
Slowly one of his hands wandered up her back and he tangled his fingers into her hair playfully. The touch of his fingertips against her head felt like small electric shocks and she could not keep the long hum that escaped her lips as he pulled her even closer.
The situation heated up as he deepened the kiss more and softly licked over her lip to beg entrance for his tongue. Unlike Ron had formerly done he did not just plunge it inside her mouth and smother her with it by its dominating her mouth but skillfully danced with hers.
Pulling away slightly to catch her breath she caught the sight of his dilated pupils which made his eyes almost seem black. Although she desired nothing more than to kiss him yet again she felt the urge to touch his face, caress him. With her fingers she traced the lines of his faces – forehead, eyebrow, cheekbone and chin. A smile graced her lips.
It was this simple gesture that snapped Draco out of it and his brows furrowed while he used his agility to swiftly turn her so that she faced away from him. From deep within his throat he growled, his hot breath tickled her ear and she felt the vibration of the sound from his torso against her back. One of his arms lay beneath her head and served as a pillow while the other circled around her waist and held her close.
He was so near that she could hear his heart beat.
It was so much like hers: fast.
Although she knew that it had excited him as well she felt rejected and sadness overcame her once more. His proximity could not keep her from feeling alone and cold. She did not care whether he realized that it were tears that fell upon his arm from her eyes or not.
It hurt – being rejected.
Draco knew very well what his action had caused but their talk about what had happened would come soon enough and he still felt too excited and too tempted to go through with what they had begun.
If he had known that the time for them talking about it would not come the next day or any of the following weeks he sure would have explained how he did not want to take advantage of her right there right then but of course he could not know that.
What occurred the next morning was so horrible that he could have never thought up such a scenario.
The high-pitched scream of Hermione still rung in his ears now that he stood at the lake.
He had already been awake and sitting on one of her comfortable couches when it all happened so fast.
Too fast.
Out of thin air there were Death Eaters in the Manor – to be more precise in Hermione´s bedroom. Only the small sound of them appearing out a cloud of shadow was warning.
Curses were shouted, red and green in color they flew through the room. An enormous amount of fear settled in his stomach and he would swear it twisted into knot.
His body moved on its own, all his thoughts were with her in the bedroom.
The windows broke.
When Draco arrived in the bedroom he could only see her running away from his aunt, only dressed in her pajamas, her feet bare, wand in hand. Bellatrix clearly had the upper hand for she caught up with her fast.
He wanted to come to her aid when a spell hit him hard. All energy seemed to be drained out of his body as he slammed against the floor. Had his head not faced outside he would have been spared the sight. Motionless he had to watch as his crazy aunt hunted Hermione through the garden.
Again and again Hermione turned around to fire curses but her aiming was not good enough. He could not hear which profanities his aunt used to insult his wife but he was sure mudblood was one of them.
A huge explosion was followed by a blinding white light and Draco had to blink several times to see what had happened.
There was no sign of Hermione, just his aunt standing there seemingly shooting curses into nowhere.
Realization struck him as Bellatrix bowed over.
The lake.
Hermione had walked onto the icy surface of the lake. For moments his world stood still. With a swift movement of her wand his aunt had brought the motionless body of Hermione to float in midair.
A dance of joy.
Draco released the breath he had not noticed he had held. It was meant to be a scream but it only came out as a huff.
Dead.
There she lay and although it was over Bellatrix still fixed with some kicks and spitted at her dead body. It was disgusting to watch and nobody took pity on him and at least rolled him over so he was no longer forced to watch.
Of course he could have just press his eyes shut but his lids would not move.
Everything that had happened was his fault and he could not deny it. From the beginning he had known that there was a chance – and not a small one at that – that Death Eaters will attack them.
He had drawn her into this just because he wanted to save his own egoistic ass and this was the result of it. Running away and hiding would have been a better option but he could not do this to his mother.
He had put his well-being over everybody else´s.
Unlike what he had thought when he had come up with his plan he was not indifferent. Back then of course he had only thought of the possibility of her being slightly hurt or injured but never of what was presented to him. All this time he had tried to keep a distance between them but he had failed.
She had not reacted like he had thought she would and neither had he.
Nothing had gone as planned.
Pity should not have been the reason she would help him but because he forced her to. Their relationship should stay the same with the difference of him having the ultimate advantage over her.
A prisoner that was what he had planned for her to be in Malfoy Manor.
Not a guest. So the tear that ran down his face was not only caused by guilt but also by something he had realized way too late.
After all the time he had spent on hating Hermione Granger he had begun to actually like her. The things he had despised about her no longer seemed bad but like a part of her personality, which in its whole made her so likeable.
So here he stood at the lake and looked down through the small round glass of the coffin. Her face was pale, almost white, her lips were some shade of blue and her cheeks had lost their rosy glow. Yet despite all these alterations to her face she was still beautiful.
Although her death had been so cruel he had made sure that her burial would be dignified.
The press was there and he would have thrown them out the moment he saw them but Death Eaters were watching him from the woods and the house.
He was officially a prisoner and forced to do whatever they wanted from him to assure his mother´s safety. So all he could do was to pretend there were no cameras and no threatening Death Eaters – his father among them.
She would be buried right where his aunt had pulled her out of the water. When her coffin was let into the ground a stone plate closed it up. Upon this plate Valy had engraved a rose pattern with her magic, so much like the one she had brought back with her from her home.
The press would later on describe the ceremony as very sad and touching. The cause given in those articles would be accidentally breaking into the snow-covered lake and drowning.
/ please don´t go on hating me just yet. The next chapter will come soon.
Hope you liked the chapter.
Review, please?
btw: tomorrow ( 2nd Septembre) is my birthday