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CHAPTER 16


Draco stepped from the Floo and her scent instantly hit him. But it wasn't the usual sweet scent of her, there was something else. Something off, something sour.

He moved quickly down the hallway, his heart rate picking up, a touch of panic setting in. Was she hurt? Was she in danger? If she was, he would kill whoever it was that was hurting her.

He couldn't stand it. Just the thought of Hermione being in danger, of someone touching her, hurting her, drew a deep anger from within him. She was his. He was hers. They had all but settled that fact. They'd been dancing the same dance since the wedding, and the bonding rituals had begun long before that. The first scent of her in the solarium three months ago had been the start of everything for him.

And now, if she was hurt he would—

He came to an abrupt halt at the library door. The scene before him squeezed his heart. He knew his mother had been spending time with her, answering as many of her questions as she could. And he also knew that they had become quite close — Granger had become the daughter his mother had secretly longed for.

But now, Narcissa was holding her hands, talking quietly, comforting her. Granger was clearly upset, her face blotchy and stained with tears.

Her head snapped up, and she gave him a watery smile. "Hey."

Draco crossed instantly to her, squatting beside her chair and taking one hand from his mother's grasp, lightly touching her wrist. "Hey. What's happened?"

"Nothing. I'm just being stupid."

"It's not nothing," Narcissa interjected. "And you're certainly not being stupid." She glanced at Draco, her mouth drawn in a straight line. "Ms Parkinson, once more, doesn't know when to stop talking."

"I thought she would have learned after everything we said in the interview—"

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, her face even more distraught. "I never thanked her for that."

Draco glanced at his mother. They both shared the same thought: Hermione Granger was everything. Her empathy had just outweighed her anger and she wasn't even aware of it.

"Granger, you don't owe Pansy anything right now." Draco stood and leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. "She's angered you and owes you an apology."

Hermione shifted in her seat, hovering her palm over the soft leather and whispering. The chair shook slightly then extended to the side. She smiled up at him. "Can you sit with me? Do you have time?"

"Of course I have time." Draco sat beside her and she curled into his embrace. He closed his eyes and touched his lips to her head. "There's always time."

"I'll leave you two for a bit." Narcissa moved to stand but Hermione stopped her.

"No, please stay. I have so many questions." She chuckled to herself. "I have so many more questions."

"I'm not sure there's any left to ask." Draco held her tightly, his anger at Pansy simmering just beneath the surface.

Pansy's sharp tongue had brought trouble down on her more times than Draco could count. He loved his friend dearly, but she was also infuriating. Her show of compassion when suggesting the interview was now completely undone.

Draco was sure Pansy's remarks were no worse than anything she might have said prior to Hermione presenting as an Alpha. But they were all well aware of how up and down Hermione's emotions were, and Pansy should have known to keep her comments to herself.

And he could only imagine what those comments were.

He was frustrated that Hermione was holding back. He would never push her. Never. He did understand her reluctance, but he also knew they would be perfect together.

They would always be perfect together.

"What did Pansy say this time?" Draco asked.

"Nothing really," Hermione sighed. "She was just… enquiring as to why we've only talked."

"That's not her business."

"That's what I told her," Narcissa said. "Pansy has been your friend long enough to know when to keep her thoughts to herself."

"She was just teasing." Hermione shrugged. "I think I overreacted."

"Hermione, you didn't overreact," Narcissa replied. "What you did was react to a situation that made you uncomfortable. And if Pansy can't see that what she did was inconsiderate, then she has the issue. Not you."

"I hate this," Hermione complained, huffing out a frustrated breath. "A few months ago I would have just ignored her and not worried about it. But I got pissed and told her when she was ready to tell me exactly what she wanted from me, she should let me know."

"Why do you hate saying that to her?" Draco was dumbfounded. The state Hermione was in, he had expected much worse. "It sounds perfectly reasonable to me."

"But that's not me! I don't rant at people like that."

"You've stood up for yourself before now, I'm sure." Narcissa's expression was as confused as his.

"I have. But sometimes it's just easier to ignore things, especially Pansy."

"It doesn't appear that you did anything wrong," Draco assured her. "And Pansy could do with a few days of worrying whether you're going to rip her a new one or not."

There was a light knock on the doorframe and they all looked up. His father was grinning at him.

"Draco, I wasn't aware you were already here." Lucius smiled and nodded at Hermione. "Ms Granger is quite the distraction, I see."

Draco noticed Hermione avert her eyes, then frowned when his mother began to laugh.

"Darling, please don't be embarrassed," Narcissa said with a reassuring smile.

He glanced between the two women. Granger's cheeks were tinged pink and his mother seemed to be delighting in her discomfort.

"Did we miss something?"

"Hermione might have mentioned that your father is quite the catch." Narcissa was trying — unsuccessfully — to control her laughter.

"Really now?" Lucius sounded amused. He aimed his cane at the armchair across the room and it slid towards him, stopping beside Narcissa, and he sat down. "Does Ms Granger—"

"It's Hermione." Her voice was small and Draco could sense her embarrassment, but he could also sense a hint of something else. Attraction?

"Very well." Lucius smiled and nodded at her. "Does Herm—"

"No! It's not 'very well.'" Draco glared at his father and tightened his arm around Hermione.

"It's okay, Draco." Hermione reached for his free hand, linking their fingers. "At least I think it is."

"It is," Narcissa said and Draco cringed under her glare. "Hermione reacts to your father as she does because she's attracted to you. You are his son, therefore he carries similar scents to you. And in the state she is currently in, the Alpha side of her is finding it difficult to differentiate. But you'll be pleased to know that she is also repulsed by him because of me."

"There's nothing repulsive about you, my darling," Lucius said defensively.

"I agree," Hermione replied. "Narcissa separately from you doesn't even register with me. Well, she almost doesn't. I can scent jasmine and ivy, and something spicy, like pepper. You're also on her, but it's like a ghost — something that's there but at the same time isn't. With you, I can smell similar scents as I do on Draco, but underneath it all is Narcissa. That's what repulses me. Not her, but the scent of her on you. I know you're married to her. I know that you're not who I want to be with, but as Narcissa's explained, the closeness of your genes, along with Draco's, is what's making it difficult."

"I'm making it uncomfortable for you?" Lucius looked apologetic. "I'll leave you be."

"No, it's fine. Honestly. With Draco here, it's not as confusing."

"If you're sure, Ms Grang—Hermione."

"I am, Lucius." She smiled up at Draco. "And you don't have to strangle me."

"She's right, Draco." Lucius was taking no small amount of pleasure in Draco's possessiveness. "I have no intentions of stealing Hermione from you. I have my own force of nature to deal with."

Draco watched as his mother smiled, scrunching her nose at his father and sharing the same look of adoration they always did. After twenty-six years of marriage he'd have assumed the spark would die but with Narcissa and Lucius, it was still well and truly alight.

"Now, you have some more questions, darling?" Narcissa — sensing a long conversation — called for Keely to refresh the tea.

"Yeah, actually I do." Hermione sat up and grinned at Draco. "I wanted to know how this one was when he first changed. He gets very vague when I ask him. All he'll tell me is that Blaise was his anchor, and that he hated not being in control. But he won't tell me what he got up to."

"Oh, does he now?" Lucius leaned his elbows on the arms of the chair and steepled his fingers together. "That's very unlike Draco to not want to brag about his escapades."

"Father, Hermione doesn't need to know about any of that." Draco tensed. His parents had borne the brunt of his behaviour when his Alpha side presented and he didn't need them to share that knowledge with her — it was something akin to showing her his baby pictures.

"She only had to read page six each Sunday to know anything about you," Lucius countered. "Your life has not exactly been a well-kept secret."

Draco shifted uncomfortably beside Hermione. He didn't want to talk about this with his parents involved. He didn't want to talk about it at all, but knew that it would be a conversation they would have to eventually have. So he tried to deflect in the meantime. "My scandalous past is exactly that. My past. If Granger read about it, then you've nothing left to tell her."

"Oh, I didn't read about it. I wasn't particularly interested in your many conquests." Hermione paused and glanced at Lucius, grinning. "How many conquests were there?"

"More than you'd care to know." Lucius tapped his nose conspiratorially.

"Lucius…" Narcissa warned, but Hermione had already pulled away from Draco, arching an eyebrow.

"Maybe I should have read more about you."

"It's no secret there have been other women in my life, though not as many as my father would have you believe, and if it's something you care to know, it's a conversation we can have later." He shot his father a pointed glare.

"Maybe it's a conversation we should have now." Her tone was sharper than he had expected and he sensed her brewing anger.

"You have already asked me about all the women you think I've been with, Granger. I believe it was in your office, while you were hurling insults at me." Draco pursed his lips reigning in his own anger. "And, for the record, I've not enquired about your past."

"That's because my past isn't a sordid mess of names I don't remember." Hermione untangled herself from his arms and stood, her eyes growing darker by the second.

"A sordid mess? How would you know that? You said you didn't read anything about me." Draco stood, looming over her, fighting to keep his voice calm.

"I don't need to read anything." She backed away slowly, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides. "Your father is clearly disgusted with you."

"So my father's word is good, but mine isn't?"

"At least he's being truthful. But, as usual, when you're confronted with something you don't like, you do your best to hide."

Draco's own hand clenched, a surge of magic coursing through him. "If he's so incredibly truthful, maybe you should pursue him then."

"Ah, I'm sitting right here." Lucius said but they both ignored him. Narcissa glanced warily in his direction and her expression couldn't have been clearer: this wasn't the time.

"Maybe I will, he seems to be the more mature choice," Hermione spat, but Draco didn't miss the flash of apology in her eyes as she glanced at his mother. She wasn't serious — he knew that — but her response still stung. "I can't even look at you right now. You told me I could ask you anything about this, but when I ask for some truths, you run and hide like the cowardly schoolboy you once were."

Her eyes held his for a beat, then she spun around and stomped into the Floo. She shook her head in disgust and then she was gone.

"Well done, Father." Draco was furious. "You couldn't help yourself, could you? You just had to do your best to make me look like an arse. She's only just started to truly trust me and you fucked it all up!"

"I've done nothing of the sort." Lucius was smiling smugly at him.

Draco goggled in disbelief. "You've done nothing? You… arrogant piece of… you should have kept your mouth shut. She didn't need to know any of that."

"Firstly, she does in fact need to know. Acknowledging — and admitting to — your past is necessary if you want her to trust you completely." Lucius stood from his chair and stepped in front of his son, not intimidated at all by Draco's solid frame. "And secondly, she needed to be angry."

"Angry?" Narcissa stood beside Draco and glared at Lucius. "You know what happens to her when she's angry. She's still only learning to control herself."

"Have you both forgotten?" Lucius shook his head and replied, "When Draco was driving us to our last tether in those first months, we angered him by asking him to remove himself from our home. It was what he needed to pull himself together. Hermione no longer needs the coddling—"

"We're not coddling her," Draco snapped. "She's struggling and needs help."

"A month ago, I would have agreed with you. But what she actually needs is to feel angry and hurt and upset, and she needs to experience those things without you all stopping her. She is both strong and resilient and what she doesn't need is for everyone to be placating her every mood. She needs to work through them and realise she is capable of feeling all those things and controlling them."

They both stared at him, stunned.

"You both know that I'm right." Lucius touched Draco's chest. "It happened with you, Draco, and our refraining from bending to your every whim was what allowed you to finally stand on your own feet."

"So we should all stop being so careful with her?" Draco looked at his father with doubt. He hated to see Hermione emotional and upset, and his need to comfort her was overwhelming.

"Yes. It's exactly what she needs. And it's what you need. You've said it yourself. She's an Alpha, Draco, not an Omega. She doesn't need to be protected or hidden away from the world. What she needs is to be shown who she truly is, and only you can do that."

"I don't know… how do I show her?"

"You go to her." Lucius nodded towards the Floo. "You tell her that she needs only to be Hermione Granger and that she doesn't need to be the person she thinks everyone wants to see."


"I'm so sorry."

Draco stepped out of the Floo into Hermione's house and, instead of dodging hexes as he assumed he would be, he found himself engulfed in her embrace.

"Draco, I'm so sorry. What I said was uncalled for, you're not a coward and your past doesn't matter and I shouldn't have—"

"Slow down." Draco's hands cupped her jaw, his thumbs lightly caressed her cheeks. "You don't need to be sorry. I was as much to blame as…"

He trailed off, his father's words echoing inside his head.

...what she doesn't need is for everyone to be placating her every mood...

Draco dropped his hands from her face and stepped back. "Actually, you're right. You do owe me an apology. What you said was uncalled for. I'm happy to have a conversation with you regarding my past; I just didn't need to have it with my parents in the room."

She stared at him like she was waiting for the punchline. But when it didn't come, she took her own step back.

"Why are you such an arse?"

Draco shrugged one shoulder. "I'm no more of an arse than you are."

"Wow." Her hand fisted at her side. "And so mature."

Draco smirked. "This thing you have for mature men… maybe my mother should be concerned."

"Fuck you, Malfoy!" She raised her hand, her fingers twitching. "You have three seconds to get out of my house."

"Or you'll what?" Draco goaded. "Put me through a wall? Stupefy me? Make my dick limp so you'll never know how good it feels—" he growled as his back crashed into the wall, his body rigid, his arms locked against his sides. "—inside you?"

"You won't be putting your dick anywhere near me, you foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach."

"Can't come up with anything new, huh?" He laughed, raising an eyebrow as thin ropes began to twist around his arms and torso. "Tying me up already, Granger? A little eager, aren't you?"

He laughed again at the expression of horror on her face. The ropes instantly disappeared and the modified Body-Bind holding him vanished.

"What is wrong with you?" Her voice trembled and he could see she was fighting back tears. "Why are you doing this?"

"There's nothing wrong with me." He moved slowly towards her. "You have the problem here. You need to realise who you are. You need to show the Michael Corners of the world that you won't take their shit. You need to believe in yourself."

"I don't know how."

"You do know how. You just had me shoved against the wall without even thinking about it." He moved closer still. "You are Hermione Granger. It's about time you remembered that."

She stared at him, shaking her head.

"No," he told her. "Do not shake your head. Are you angry? Hurt? Upset? Did you want to Avada me right now?"

She nodded. "All of it."

"Then feel it. Be angry and hurt and upset." He grinned. "I hope you don't Avada me, but you need to be angry at me. I deserve it. I deserve it for everything I've ever said and done to you."

"You've been kind as of late." She gave him a small smile.

"No, try again."

"But you—"

"Granger, don't." Draco gripped her shoulders. "Don't make excuses. Tell me exactly how you feel."

"I don't like you very much right now," she said quietly. "You were always awful to me and that's how this feels... and…"

Draco nodded. "And?"

"And if it wasn't Unforgivable, I'd throw a Cruciatus at you."

"Keep going. Get it all out," Draco encouraged.

"I don't understand any of this. Certainly not why you would even want to be near me, since you didn't want to before." She took a deep breath. "I feel like this is all wrong. The way you treated me — the way your parents treated me — you would deserve to be tortured." She absently touched her forearm, a gesture that made Draco wince. "And I can't help but think that any second you'll realise I'm just a filthy Mudblood and throw me aside. I mean, you weren't even interested in me until my Alpha status developed."

"And you're right, I wasn't," Draco admitted. "I was too busy whoring myself around to take notice of anyone but myself."

"And that's another thing." She shrugged out of his grip and put some distance between them. "I don't care how many other women there have been, but I care that you're trying to hide it from me."

"It hasn't been deliberate."

"After today, it feels deliberate." Her hand balled into a tight fist again. "We can't do this, Draco, if you're going to shut down when I want to know something that makes you uncomfortable."

"What about you?" Draco asked. "You're hiding behind your new-found status to excuse the fact you've forgotten who you are."

"I've not forgotten who I am." Her eyes flashed with another surge of anger.

"Oh, you can tell yourself that, but you have. You've never been afraid of anything. You showed Corner who you are, and I'm sure Pansy needed to be put in her place. And all those people who think they can have a piece of you? You've certainly shown them they're wrong."

"Exactly. So as you can see, I've not lost myself."

"But you always apologise, always say the angry side is not who you are," Draco pointed out. "But it is who you are. I've seen you angry — experienced it first-hand — and it's something you should never apologise for. You're too busy caring about everyone else to see that you've lost who you once were."

"So this is what you went through? The confusion?"

"I did. And I was probably as bad as you were, except I was so focused on myself, I didn't care about anyone else. It was why my parents asked me to leave the Manor. I was incorrigible."

"Nothing's changed there, then."

Draco chuckled. "No, not much at all. But unfortunately, you have changed."

Hermione sighed, all the tension leaving her shoulders, and her head dropped forward. "I don't know how to go back. I've been nothing but Alpha Hermione lately. I don't know how to be anything else anymore."

"You do know how." Draco dared to close the distance between them, touching his fingers to her chin and tilting her face to look at him. "You've always known what you want and you still do. You just have to take charge and believe in yourself again."

"Take charge?"

"Take charge. Be strong and resilient. Be Hermione Granger."

"Strong… resilient," she whispered. "Hermione Granger."

She reached up and grazed her fingers over the gland at his throat, her hand sliding to the back of his neck and pulling him down to her. He went easily, her mouth covering his in a fierce, possessive kiss.

"I am Hermione Granger." She pulled away and stared up at him. "I am strong. I am resilient and I know what I want."

Draco's heart picked up. "And what do you want?"

"You." She gripped his shirt and tore it open, several buttons skittering across the floor.

Draco stared at her for several seconds. A low growl vibrated in his chest, and he took her shirt in his hands and imitated her, ripping it open and shoving it down her arms. His hands immediately went to her breasts, thumbs sliding back and forth over her already tight nipples.

"This is not the couch," Hermione almost growled and pushed into his palms. "I want you naked, and I want you fucking me."

Her hands flew to his belt, making quick work of the buckle and whipping the leather free of the loops.

"Fuck," he swore in surprise, his fingers gripping the cups of her bra and yanking it down. He leaned in close, flicking his tongue across her throat. "Unless you want me to fuck you in your kitchen, you should Apparate us to your bedroom. Now."

They were upstairs in a heartbeat, her hands still working on his zipper, shoving his trousers down his legs and squeezing him through his boxers. Another low growl escaped him, and with a whisper, she was naked.

"Well, if we're cheating…"

His remaining clothes vanished and they stood naked before each other.

Hermione bit her lip and reached her fingers to his chest, tracing the jagged scars that marred his skin. "You didn't have scars in my dream."

"You dreamed of me?"

She nodded, her teeth working her lip in a way that made Draco want to kiss her. He thumbed her lip, following his touch with his mouth, kissing her deeply. He hadn't wanted to slow things down, but his simple kiss did.

Her hands slid around his waist, pulling him close, their naked skin finally pressed together. His hands lifted to cup her jaw, his tongue licking the seam of her lips, seeking entrance. She opened and his tongue found hers, touching, tasting, groaning as the scent of her began to float around him.

He lifted her, carrying her to the bed and lowering her gently. "You're in control here. Whatever you want."

She nodded and pressed a hand to his chest, smiling as she silently asked him to roll to his back. He answered her smile with one of his own, leaning down to kiss her once more before giving in and falling to the mattress.

Hermione lifted herself to straddle him, her eyes never leaving his. "If I said I wanted to stop, would you?"

Draco swallowed. "Of course. I said you're in control and I meant it."

"Thank you." She smiled and leaned down, her taut nipples brushing against his chest, pulling a hiss of breath from him. She ran her nose along his throat, inhaling deeply. "You smell incredible."

"So do you." He gripped her hips. "Are you ready for this?"

In a moment of déjà vu, she lifted off his chest and spread her legs wider, taking his hand and pressing it to the inside of her thigh.

"Get me ready."

"Fucking hell," he groaned, hardly able to believe his dream was actually coming true. She looked incredible above him; her eyes were golden, her face flushed, her hips already moving, wanting his hands to touch her.

His fingers slipped over the sensitive gland and she sighed, her head dropped forward, her eyes fluttering closed.

"How does that feel?"

She nodded slowly, her breath catching as his fingers moved higher and touched her intimate skin. She was warm and wet and ready for him. Her eyes flew open and she looked up at him as he slipped one finger inside the slick warmth.

"Okay?"

She nodded, sucking in a gasp of air when he added another finger and slid them slowly in and out of her.

"Draco… this feels… oh, I didn't know..."

She curled her fingers into his chest, her hips moving with his hand, and Draco watched in awe as words fell from her lips incoherently.

"I need… Draco…"

"Tell me, Darling. What do you need?"

She lifted her hips, her eyes dropping to where his fingers were buried inside her. "I need you inside me."

Draco's fingers dragged over the soft place within her that caused her to shiver, his thumb flicked over her clit and she cried out his name. "My fingers are inside you, is that not enough?"

She cried out again when his fingers curled and his thumb pressed down. "No… you… I need you." She dragged his hand away. "Help me, please?"

Draco reached between them, holding himself up for her. She watched as she lowered her hips, the very tip of him pushing inside her. He thrust his hips up, just as Hermione sank down over him and whispered his name.

She looked up, her golden eyes shining, but he knew his face didn't hold the same expression. She was fucking tight, too tight, and the Alpha in him knew.

She'd not been with anyone else. Ever.

He stared at the place where they were joined, struggling for control. How was it possible? Why had she waited? Why didn't she tell him?

"You're… untouched?" he ground out through gritted teeth.

She nodded, her voice breathy when she told him, "It's not a big deal."

"Granger… it is… oh, fuck!" He choked out her name, sitting up and flipping them over. "Sorry, I'm so sorry."

His mouth went to the gland on her throat, his murmurs of 'sorry' falling like a chant against her skin.

"Draco… what—" Hermione cried out sharply as he thrust hard against her. "Oh fuck!"

"Fuck! Granger, I'm sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry." He felt her body stretch, felt the thick knot at the base of his cock lock inside her. "Sorry, sorry Granger, sorry."

"Draco!" Her back curved into a sharp arc, her fingernails scratching down his back, her slick walls clamping around him.

"It's too… oh fuck! Sorry!"

Draco shuddered, throwing his head back, a feral growl filling the air between them. His cock swelled almost painfully, his balls pulling up tightly, and he came inside her with a force he'd never experienced before. His vision blurred as he spilled, and spilled, and spilled inside her, filling her completely. His body trembled and stars flashed in his vision, and he wondered if the pleasure would ever stop.

He finally collapsed onto her, his head spinning, his breath coming in great gasps. This wasn't happening. It had been… less than a fucking minute?

She would hate him.

But she surprised him. Her arms and legs wrapped around him, and she kissed the side of his neck. Her voice was steady, if a little breathless.

"What just happened?"