Chapter Twenty-One

They had changed into pajamas the room provided once the decision was made to stay over. Hermione was nervous as they shuffled around on the bed to get comfortable under the sheets and blanket. She wasn't sure what he expected of the night. She still wasn't sure what she expected of the night.

She snuggled down into the bed, placing her head on Draco's chest, her hand just below her cheek. She sighed contentedly as his left hand played with her hair.

"Before you found out you were a witch, what did you dream of doing when you were older?" Draco asked. She could feel his chest vibrate as he spoke and it was a relaxing sound.

"I always assumed I would be a dentist, like my parents. They are essentially Healers for people's teeth. I thought that would be interesting. I had also at one point thought about being a librarian."

Draco snorted. "I know you love books, but I can't picture you as a librarian. You're much too driven and intelligent to be just a librarian."

Hermione tilted her head up to look at him. "What about you? Anything in particular Draco Malfoy wanted to be?"

Draco closed his eyes, not saying anything. She wondered if he wasn't going to answer. "I wasn't allowed to have my own plan. My father had my whole life mapped out for me. I'm to take over the family businesses, get married to a witch of his choosing and produce an heir."

"You're already not following in his path. Why don't you make your own choices for your future?"

"I have made my choice. I defected, joined the Order. I'm dating you," he opened his eyes and smiled at her.

She smiled back. "Yes, but what about further into the future? After the Order, after the war. What will you do?"

Draco flinched and moved his eyes away from hers. His brow was furrowed and Hermione felt a pit in her stomach. "You don't think you need a plan. That's what it is. You think you're going to die." He didn't say anything and didn't look back at her. She sat up. "You won't die, Draco. I will make sure of that."

Draco looked back at her. She noticed his eyes looked watery. "You can't make these guarantees, Hermione. There's no way you can protect me when I will spend so much time in the presence of the Dark Lord. If I slip up-"

"So don't slip up!" Hermione said earnestly. "Practice your Occlumency every day. Complete any task he wants you to complete. Be the best damn Death Eater. Don't let him suspect you. Give the Order the information you can without it causing harm to you."

"There are going to be situations where it's going to put me in danger, Hermione. It's unavoidable."

Hermione shook her head. "No! No, you can't be resigning yourself to death Draco! You can't go into this thinking you will die!" Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes and she wiped them away furiously. "You cannot die!"

Draco sat up at this point and gathered her in his arms. "I'm not going in wanting to die. I do know it is a distinct possibility though. I'll be in a dangerous position, especially once term ends. The Dark Lord is living in my family home."

Hermione was crying openly onto Draco's pajama top. "Just promise me that you won't do anything intentionally that will hurt you. Promise me."

Draco turned her head up to his and kissed her wet cheeks. "I promise you, I will do everything in my power to come back to you. But Hermione… I will most likely stand trial and be placed into Azkaban."

"No! No you won't! You're a spy for the Order! They won't punish you for that. You almost instantly defected."

"We will cross that bridge when the time comes, I supposed," Draco said. She nodded and placed her lips on his.

Draco kissed her back fervently. Hermione felt a fire spread through her stomach and clambered over Draco's lap to straddle her hips. She kissed him more intently when she heard his moan. She wrapped her arms across his shoulders and gripped the hair at the nape of his neck with her left hand.

Hermione felt him wrap his arms around her and pulled her body closer to his, causing her core to graze across the hardening thickness encased in his pajama bottoms. She broke their kiss to moan at the pressure she felt. Draco dropped his kisses to her throat, nibbling softly.

They'd made it this far before, but Hermione normally stopped him not long after this point. This time, she steeled herself as she reached for the bottom of his pajama top and began lifting it over his head. He stopped his ministrations on her neck and looked up at her. She held his gaze and continued to lift his shirt until it was over his head. She dropped it on the floor and he brought his hands to rest on her hips, rubbing slowly in circles.

Hermione leaned down to kiss him softly, while slowly moving her hips to rub against his fully hardened cock. Draco moaned into her mouth and bucked his hips up toward her. His left hand slowly inched up underneath her top and she shivered as his fingers ghosted across her bare breast. He was going slowly and softly and Hermione was feeling herself becoming impatient. She pulled back from him, lifting her shirt over her head and locking eyes with Draco.

His eyes widened as they left hers to gaze down her body. Hermione took a moment to do the same to him, taking in his broad shoulders and sparse white blonde chest hair down to his lightly defined abdominal muscles with thicker, darker hair leading below his bottoms.

Suddenly he wrapped an arm around her back and flipped them, so he was on top of her, nestled between her legs pressing himself onto her. His skin on her bare chest made warmth spread in her nether regions and she gasped softly. She felt his hand caress its way up her thigh and her legs spread further of their own accord so he could get closer to where she so desperately wanted him. He kissed his way up her neck to her mouth.

"Are you sure?" he whispered onto her lips. She nodded and kissed him harder. He kissed back down her neck before grasping her left breast and sucking her nipple into his mouth. Her back arched into him as she felt the swipe of his tongue against her. Draco chuckled lightly and continued kissing his way down her stomach, stopping at the waistband of her bottoms and glancing at her. She nodded again and he swept her shorts and underwear off at the same time, pulling them down her leg and dropping them on the floor near the rest of their discarded clothing.

He leaned back on his knees and looked down at her fully naked body. Hermione suddenly felt very nervous and sat back up, knees drawing to her chest, arms linking across her shins.

Draco cocked his head at her and she bit her lip, avoiding his gaze.

"Hermione," he grabbed her chin and pointed her face at his. "You just say the word and we stop. We don't have to do this."

"No. No, I want to. I just am scared I won't be enough."

He looked as though he wanted to laugh at her but stopped himself. "You are more than enough, with or without sex. I don't need this. I just need you. I… I love you, Hermione."

Hermione's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe he said it first. She launched herself at him in a hug and squeezed him tightly. "I love you too, Draco."