**I do not own the rights to any Characters in this Fanfiction, those all solely belong to JK Rowling herself. I just claim the plunnie
Waves
And the freedom of falling
The feeling I thought was set in stone
It slips through my fingers
I'm trying hard to let go
It comes and goes in waves
It comes and goes in waves
And carries us away
I've watched my wild youth
Disappear in front of my eyes
Moments of magic and wonder
It seems so hard to find
Is it ever coming back again?
Is it ever coming back again?
Take me back to the feeling when
Everything was left to find- Dean Lewis
Waves
The day had started out just like any other. Hermione awoke alone, the morning light shining gently through her windows. Today marked precisely twenty-two days since she had moved into the penthouse with Draco and that she had made little to no headway in the time research department.
After breakfast she started her usual routine, well except for anticipating the arrival of Ginny or Pavarti. Draco would be returning today, and neither were comfortable enough yet to get caught in his presence. She performed her morning routine then leaving her room made picked up her cup of tea from the kitchen and went and stood in the doorway to the office. Just looking in.
She found herself every morning, just like this, a cup of tea in hand as she leaned against the door jamb, always on the outside looking in.
There was this niggling suspicion in the back of her head that she had forgotten something or was missing something. Something that was important, or at least could have been.
Now every day, sometimes multiple times a day, she found herself here afraid to enter the room for fear of disturbing its contents. Row by row she visually cataloged each piece of parchment, each book, and each piece of furniture. She knew the inside of this room like the back of her hand, so why was something telling her what she was looking for was most definitely in this room.
With a sigh she finished her first round of visual inventory for the day and proceeded into the study. Grabbing the same handful of books from the previous day she carried her reads back into the living area where she could spread out more comfortably with 'Priscilla Baggins and The Relative Theories to Time Travel and Collapsing Dimensions' and Teddimaur Humphries and his studies on the 'Paradoxes Relative to Space Vortex's and Interdimensional Travels.' Both of which Hermione found had compelling information, but seeing as how she was not quite she where to find a space vortex here on Earth she was not entirely to sure on his relevance, but never the less, she felt it was her duty to leave no page unturned.
She felt Draco's presence through the wards after several hours of reading, long before she heard the beeping on the door panel as he typed in the code. If there was one thing Hermione had been more than grateful for these past few weeks, it was the presence of the wards. On more than one occasion she had felt the probing of an unwanted visitor whilst Draco was away. Luckily, he never seemed to be too far out of reach and was always able to dash back and check on her, testing the wards for any vulnerabilities, before dashing off again.
To be honest she did not mind the solitude anymore, she had adjusted to the peace and quiet and after years and years of going without it she finally really welcomed what it had to offer, but that didn't mean she still didn't get excited when a certain Blonde wizard returned to her.
Hopping up from her perch on the couch she skipped her feet across the plush carpet to greet him. Every time she watched him come back in the door lately, he seemed just a little more worn and beaten than the last time before. It killed Hermione that she was regulated just to strictly doing research inside of the penthouse. But it was not as though she could simply walk out the doors and accompany him on his trips. She was still a prisoner one way or another, even if Draco was doing his best to make her not feel that way.
But what she wouldn't give to finally leave these walls…
However, this time when Draco entered it was different than the others, sure he looked exhausted, but there was still a hint of excitement in his step and a particularly impish gleam in his eyes.
"What have you done?" she asked eying him skeptically.
"Well why do you have to ask it like that?" he approached the other side of the island and laid his outer cloak on the counter. Resting both hands on the space between them he leaned forward resting on his elbows, causing his white button down to bunch up around his biceps.
Pulling her lip between her teeth she appreciatively eyed the way his shirt fit him perfectly and currently strained in all the right places.
How long had he been one this time? Five days was it?
"Granger?"
"Hmm?" she was pulled back up to find Draco looking at her expectantly.
"I asked you a question?" he reminded her with a smirk and her cheeks flamed.
"Oh, well you know, only simply because the last time you returned remotely this happy you had killed someone."
Evan Rosier to be precise.
"Well yes and you agreed that that was just cause for a celebration too if I remembered correctly." He shot her a look, one eyebrow perfectly arched, reminding her exactly just how they had celebrated too.
Clearing her throat, she tried to shake the memories of that nights' celebration. His returned presence had her distracted enough as it was, she really did not need any further assistance with any walks down memory lane full of images of their naked bodies entangled in one another.
"Very well then, what has you so chipper today?" her voice was still a little higher than she would like.
In response he reached into his front trouser pocket and pulled out a small bundled up clothe. There was nothing special about the tiny package in particular, or the specific shape of the bundle, in fact if anything Hermione was certain it contained multiple small things rather than one singular object so she was very unsure of what exactly Draco was so excited to have brought her.
Curiosity thoroughly piqued she watched raptly as he gently unfolded one end of the cloth followed by another until he finally revealed its contents causing her to let out a gasp.
"Draco is that?"
"What's left of one anyway." He huffed out with an aggravated sigh.
Between them on the counter lay the golden broken pieces of one of the three ministry time turners. It was clearly beyond repair, but still surely there was something that could be learned from studying the engravings upon the remaining pieces.
"Still Draco, this is amazing." Hermione was leaned over the seat eyeing the pieces excitedly. She absolutely could not wait to get her hands on them. She looked back up to him. "Have you looked at them yet?"
He shook his head with a yawn.
"No. I figured we would do it together when I got back. Didn't want you to chop my bollocks off."
She smirked. Smart man.
He smirked back turning to make his way down the hall to his room. Typically, when he returned from his trips he would go straight for a shower and wash off his travels, Hermione would curl up with a book on his bed and wait. She followed him out of the kitchen but went back to retrieve a book from her collection on the coffee table when she stopped dead in her tracks.
There on the top of the stack was a book she knew for a fact had not been there before. In fact, she stepped forward taking a closer look and picking up the book to inspect it closer, she knew this book, 'Rudiments in Runes: Bloodstone and Rune Casting.'
She had been reading this when Astoria attacked her weeks ago…so how was it here now when she knew she was reading the book right beneath it, 'Priscilla Baggins and The Relative Theories to Time Travel and Collapsing Dimensions'. She shook her head lifting the book to carry with her for further inspection. Perhaps Pod had simply found the book and brought it back to her and had not wanted to disturb them, even though that was extremely out of character for the little elf.
She flopped down across Draco's bed with the book about runes set on picking up on where she left off when the page instantly opened to a spot that had been folded and dog eared. She felt the tips of her ears burn. She knew for a fact that the last time she had held this book in her hands that there had not been a damaged page to be found. The blatant disregard of care that someone had shown for this book had her raging internally.
She heard the water cut off.
"Draco Malfoy!"
The namesake exited the bathroom with nothing more than a towel wrapped low around his hips, giving Hermione a perfect view of the 'v' shape that led down to his package below.
"You called?" smirking he prowled across the room in her direction, but Hermione was having none of it.
"Is this how you treat all of your books? Folding the pages," she folded the page down and nearly shrieked, "and writing in them!"
Right in the creased triangle three numbers had been scrawled in hasty handwriting.
243 6 3
"What are you on about?" he leaned over to inspect exactly what she was busy shrieking about.
"This Draco," Hermione nearly shoved the book under his nose, "this right here!"
Irritated, he pushed the book out of his face.
"I see it. But I literally just walked back in from being away for almost a week. So please do tell me when I would have had time to disrespect this book so?" he asked sardonically as he moved to begin putting his clothes on.
"But if you did not do it…" she asked perplexed, "then who did?"
"Who knows Princess? Maybe the person I gleaned it from? Maybe the owner before that? The possibilities are endless."
She frowned. "It's just, I could have sworn the pages were not folded before."
"Seems like a small easy thing to forget to me." The blonde wizard shrugged, then threw on a shirt.
Hermione looked down at the book in her hands with a frown. She knew for a fact that this book had not had any of its pages folded before. She also knew she had not forgotten. It was not something she did. Hermione Jean Granger did not damage books, and she also did not forget them.
'Rudiments in Runes: Bloodstone and Rune Casting' became Hermione's obsession. Draco wanted desperately to dissect all the remnants of the time turner and she would indulge him for a time, but every chance she would get she found herself returning back to the book at hand staring at the dog eared page trying to decode its importance. She had devoured the pages contents over five times when Draco finally started getting irritated with her.
"Damn it, Granger hand that blasted book over here." He held his hand out over the strewn about bits of time turner expectantly. Hermione instinctively pulled the book closer to her chest, fearing he was going to toss it away out of frustration. "I'm not going to hurt it. I just want to see it."
Reluctantly she handed it over, quickly following around the corner of the table to watch as he read what she had been staring down for the majority of the day. He quickly scanned the page and scoffed before turning his attention to the little folded flap in the corner.
"You said you didn't do this right?" He fingered the little flap back and forth.
Hermione was absolutely taken aback that he would dare insinuate such a thing. She opened her mouth, but he stopped her before she could even get a word out.
"Calm down there Princess, just double checking to be sure." Very astutely he then picked up a quill and a small piece of scrap paper before copying the numbers on the corner. Then to Hermione's surprise he began rapidly flipping the pages.
"What are you doing?"
"Sometimes, it just takes a fresh set of eyes to see what someone else has been missing." He turned to page two hundred and forty-three.
Oh, my goodness. It was a map. How had she missed that?
She watched with growing anticipation as his finger ran down to find the sixth chapter of the page and then he started reading from the third sentence.
"When using runes to journey back in time, one must also be inclined to make a sacrifice of one's life essence in order to move time back for short durations. It is in the way that the rite is performed that establishes the duration of ones stay backwards in time. The three runes representing Time, the Sun, and the Moon must be drawn in the traveler's blood binding them to the circle prior to any travel that may commence. Bloodstones must be utilized and retained to carry the connection of dynamism throughout the journey. Once that relation is broken the traveler will be forced back to their proper place."
It was then followed by step by step instructions along with a surprisingly reasonable list of ingredients in order to perform the ritual. Draco immediately set about to gathering the things listed without a moment's pause.
"Draco we can't just perform that ritual."
"Why in the blazes not Granger!" He looked at her flabbergasted. "This is the only time travel spell we have encountered this entire time. It may only have been a few months for you, but this has been years of work for me!"
"We don't know what that spell could do!" She threw he hands up and paced in a circle. "For all we know it could destroy life on a scale, hitherto undreamt of."
"Did you seriously just say 'hitherto undreamt of'?" He gave her and amused half grin.
"Are you seriously willing to risk it all on a whim. On this small chance that this could be something?"
"Aren't you?"
The words, spoken so deliberately, so seriously, stopped Hermione in her tracks. Here she was, they were, faced with a potential opportunity to finally do something and she was questioning whether it was worth it.
He was right of course.
Of course, this was worth the risk, for her anyway. She was dead either way, eventually. But for Draco…was it worth risking his life on a spell they knew nothing about?
Her brown eyes sought out his silver ones. She found them set on her with a look of pure determination. It did not matter what she did or said, he was going to perform this ritual with or without her. All she could do was ensure that he did it as properly as possible and with as few risks as possible.
Her curls bounced around her head as she nodded in concession. She would go, they would go, to where…when, she was not quite sure.
The rest of the evening was spent preparing for the ritual. Luckily, it did not call for a specific time or lunar cycle. But the diagram, a massive circle encasing a square crossing over a triangle drawn out of crushed moon stone, required a tone of space. They then had to top each of the seven corners with its own pillar of labradorite. In the center was a stone chalice, where they were meant to make their blood sacrifice to tie themselves to the power of the alchemic diagram filling the majority of the room, the stone pillars, and the blood stones they were to keep on them at all times.
Standing back, they looked at their handy work. Most of the furniture had to be moved to the edges of the room. But even Hermione could not deny they had created a masterpiece. It could not be any more textbook if she tried. She almost did not want to even enter its center for fear of ruining its perfection.
"Still sure about this?" she looked to the blonde wizard next to her as he looked on at the nearly finished circle. They still had one step left before it was completed. The final step officially bound the two of them to the diagram in the floor using old blood magic, and she could tell even he was hesitant to perform that step.
Silver flashed before her eyes and in one swift motion Draco drew the small dagger across the palm of his hand. Red welled in the center and he balled up his fist right as a drop hit the floor.
"It's now or never Princess." He looked to her offering her the knife.
Without giving herself a moment to overthink she took the knife from his hand and slashed her own palm before stepping into the circle. They started at opposite ends, filling in the gaps in the diagram on the floor with the same three alternating runes, each one drawn in their own blood.
With the first and second simultaneous runes the pillars of labradorite began to glow a cool blue. When they drew the next set the swirling runes Hermione felt the air around them shift and the lines in the circle began to glow an iridescent gold as they began to trace and connect. By the time they finished the final pair of runes the entire mandala was alight, with her and Draco standing in the center. The air surrounding them stilled, everything had.
Time had ceased.
"Hermione…" his voice was an awed whisper.
Somehow, they had accomplished the impossible, well this part at least. She let out a slow breath and pulled the two blood stones out of her pocket. She took Draco's cut hand with her own, clasping the stone tightly between them while she clutched her own in the other.
"Now, if my calculations are correct, we should only go back to earlier today. Merlin knows where we will end up." Her heart was racing a mile a minute. She had done many stupid and reckless things I her life before, especially following Harry across the continent, but this… this had to top the list.
This time she was following Draco Malfoy across time. The concept would have been laughable had you told her back when she was in school, now, however, nothing made more sense to her.
He brought their hands up and squeezed their dripping blood into the chalice, the catalytic sacrifice, and instantly the world spun around them. They were frozen in place, but time no longer stood still, it had revved up and was now rolling in reverse. They watched as everything slowly came into focus and the room around them shifted to once again resemble Draco's office in its original, unaltered state. Chalice, runes, diagram, and even the book were gone.
The stop was sudden and seamless, so easy that neither of them even realized it had happened. It was not until they started hearing sounds of life outside the door that they realized that their trip had officially ended. Draco was the first to move, heading straight to the clock on the fireplace mantle.
"Eleven fifteen." His eyes sought hers out in wonderment. "I'm still in Romania right now then?"
"If that's indeed where you were at this time." Hermione walked to the window to look out, still not entirely convinced. "Are we completely sure we are back in time, what if we accidentally went forward?"
"Only one way to find out."
"Draco wait!" Hermione panicked as he started to head for the office door. "If I am out there, it is imperative that I don't see you."
He rolled his eyes at her in annoyance. "Granger, I have been studying this for years. Do you really think I'm not aware of all the paradox warnings?"
With nothing else to say she subtly nodded, and quietly followed him out of the room. They followed along the wall to peek around the corner into the living room. Sure enough, there she was. It was the oddest thing still, watching one's self. She sat there reading the book from earlier, still wearing the gray leggings and white tank top that she was sporting now, her hair barely contained by the hair tie she had carelessly thrown it up in.
She backed up slowly, gently tugging Draco along with her until they were back in the office with the door properly closed.
Draco was just about to cast a locking spell when she stopped him.
"Don't worry, I don't come back in here until you get home today. We are safe as long as we don't draw any attention to ourselves."
"Well?"
With a nod of her head. "That confirms it." Her hands shot to her mouth to stifle her excitement.
They had done it. They had really gone back in time!
With a wild grin Draco scooped her up in his arms and covered her lips with his own.
"And you thought I was barmy witch. I told you we could do it."
Hermione pulled back just enough to look at the wizard currently still holding her aloft. His gorgeously masculine face that she was so used to seeing brooding even from the days of her childhood now finally showed that hidden childlike exuberance that he kept deep inside. His eyes were alight with excitement and pride, for both him and her, at what they both had accomplished. And they both had. Together.
Had it not been for him she would still be on a stage dancing for her next sickle. Draco Malfoy had come into her life like a wrecking ball. Tore down all her walls and barriers, shown her things she never wanted to see, and then…he had saved her. Them.
He had saved them all.
She cupped his face with her hands, ignoring the smear of blood, and brought her lips to his in a kiss that was meant to say everything. It was a kiss that gave him thanks and made promises towards the future. A future that could now be possible because of what they had done, what they had now made possible.
He moaned into her mouth, deepening the kiss and taking control, telling her of his own promises. Promises she was sure he had full intentions of fulfilling sooner rather than later as he carried her over to one of the sofas. He sat allowing her knees to straddle him on either side, neither willing to break their kiss. Both aware that they were rapidly spiraling into something more.
"How much time do we have?" he panted when they finally came up for air.
Hermione rested her forehead on his and closed her eyes trying to focus on the moment at hand and not the man between her thighs.
"Not enough… you should be coming through the wards any time now."
Draco groaned and ran his hand over his face and pulled at his hair in frustration.
"Besides, I don't know if you noticed this…" her own words came out in small breaths. "but we no longer have the book with us."
"I did see that actually." The wizard let out a tempered sigh. "What do you think that means."
She climbed off his lap and got to her hands and knees. Draco arched an eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes at his insinuation.
"Well, if my theory is correct." She ducked her head to glace under the couch before coming up empty handed and moving to the next one. "We have come to a time where another version of the same book already exists. So, two versions could not coexist so the other stayed behind, well ahead I suppose."
"And you are doing what exactly?"
Draco continued to eye her skeptically as she crawled around the room looking under various pieces of furniture. All the while the wards having alerted them to the other Draco's arrival to the penthouse.
"I'm sure that book has to be in this room. I have been staring at this room looking for something I misplaced since Astoria, but I could not remember what I was looking for. But it was this book. It had to be! I was reading it the day she came here and then I know I brought it in here when I locked myself in. But I have not seen it since."
Lazily, almost as if he were bored, Draco pulled out his wand, "Accio 'Rudiments in Runes: Bloodstone and Rune Casting.'."
The book instantly came flying out from under one of the shelves lining the wall. Once in his hands he began to flip through it lazily, with a current feeling of accomplishment.
"Well look at that Princess, you were right. There is not a dog-eared page to be found in this copy."
"Wait, what do you mean?"
Walking over to look at the book in his hands she saw that this version of the book was in fact just as pristine as she remembered.
Then how…?
Draco stood and carried the book over to his desk and grabbed a quill, "What page were you last on?"
"Excuse me?"
"Well it's obvious isn't it? You were right on both accounts. I also mistreated this book by dogearing this page and then desecrated its sanctity by writing in it."
Of course. It was just like third year all over again. They were in a time loop already.
Somehow the two of them had gotten their hands on the book previously and ensured that the other two versions of themselves would find it.
"Come on now princess, we don't have that much time."
An expression of muted horror covered her face as Draco folded the page she directed him to then proceeded to write down the exact same series of numbers they had discovered earlier hidden in the flap. She only made to stop him when he began heading for the door.
"Draco wait, you can't go out there. You are facing the living room the entire time. You can't risk it." She held her hand out expectantly. It had to be her who put the book out for herself to find, besides she was the only one who knew exactly where all her stuff was at the moment so it only stood to reason that she had already done so once before.
Having sequestered the book, she silently snuck down the hall. Draco followed distantly behind her just close enough to keep a watchful eye. She peeked around the corner and waited until the other Draco was distracted looking down to race across and steal behind the couch.
Heart pounding, she pressed her back against the back of the couch and took deep breaths, clutching the book to her chest for dear life. She looked to her Draco as he peeked around the corner and waited for him to signal that was clear for her to move again. After a few agonizing minutes he gave a quick jerk of his head and she quickly hurried to the other side of her barricade. Moving as fast as her legs could carry her in a low crouch she hurried to where the other two books were stacked on the table before her. Crouching behind it she reached up and slid the other book quickly on top of the stack and was just getting ready to turn and scurry back to cover when steel gray eyes met hers from the kitchen.
Frozen to the spot, wide eyed like a deer in headlights, Hermione watched as past Draco quickly took in her presence and with a quirk of his mouth replied to something the other Hermione said.
She remembered this moment from earlier, she also remembered exactly what was said next and at no point did he mention seeing another version of herself sneaking around in the room just behind her.
He shook his head with a yawn.
He was signaling for her to go!
No longer caring if past Draco saw her or not, she quickly rushed out of the living area and back towards the hall, grabbing her Draco's hand and dragging him back to the study with her.
She closed the door right as she heard footsteps enter the hall and she pressed her back against the wood. Eyes shut tight, she breathed in heavily until they passed. She still sat there quietly and waited, knowing that it would only be a few short moments before another set of feet would follow down the hall.
Once the coast was clear she opened her eyes and looked right at Draco, her Draco, who stared back at her with something akin to slight amusement and maybe, just maybe, a small hint of guilt.
"You saw me."
A simple nod of his platinum head, his lips twisting up ever so slightly.
"You knew it would work."
"I presumed."
He shuffled around with his hands in his pockets, tracing the pattern in the rug idly with his shoe. He refused to meet her exhausted glare. Which at this moment was probably for the best, she had mind to tell him exactly what she thought about him keeping such integral information to himself this entire time!
She finally allowed her head to fall back against the door with a huff.
She was so tired of this shite. Of these games.
"I hate you."
He crouched before her pulling both of her hands in his and bringing them to his lips. He brushed his lips tenderly across her knuckles before leaning his face into one of her hands.
"That's a shame, because I adore you."
He pried the bloodied bloodstone out of her hand and let them both drop to the floor, the present rushing back at them at full speed. Her stomach lurched as their bodies were pulled back ahead, the magical bond finally disconnected. The moment they landed in their time, right back in the center of the mandala Hermione fell to her knees gasping for air.
Pain cascaded through her body, causing her to nearly go into convulsions. She could feel the spells aftereffects and the hollowness of what it had left behind, the space from the toll she had paid for her travels.
Going back in time was not the same as coming home to the future. It was rough and painful. She now understood why the spell was only meant for short trips back and nothing more.
"Hermione? Are you ok?" Draco knelt beside her stroking her back. For some reason he did not seem to be quite as affected as she was. Sure, he had a bit of a headache, but nothing more than his first few apparition trips had produced. But Hermione looked like she was about to be feint.
"I… I think I'm going to be sick." The curly haired witch got up and stumbled none to gracefully out of the room and towards her bathroom. The second her knees hit the marble tile her stomach violently upheaved all its contents.
It took Hermione three hours to stop vomiting and finally settle into some level of comfort in Draco's arms for the night. Even then she could not stop thinking about how worth it had been. They had successfully pulled off their first trip back in time, albeit a rather small one, but they went back none the less. Now they just had to test the boundaries of the spell and perform modifications and adjustments. She was already running calculations in her head on the best ways to safely extend how far they were able to go back. She just needed to do more research, but now she had something real to finally build off.
The arms around her tightened. "Hermione, go to sleep." He grumbled into her hair. "It was a long day."
He may not have gotten physically ill like she had but she could clearly tell that the magic had significantly taken something out of him.
The price had been high, higher than either of them had anticipated. Hermione especially considering there had been no such occurrence for her when she'd used the time turner previously.
"I know… its just there are so many possibilities." Mumbling she burrowed deeper into his bare chest seeking the comfort and solace she had come to find there.
"All of which we will start to look at tomorrow… but now, sleep." He commanded, brushing his hand down through her curls and brushing them across her back.
Closing her eyes, she let the sounds of his heartbeat and slow rhythmic breathing lull her to an exhausted, dreamless sleep.
He walked in through the roaring green flames, his nerves already grating at having been summoned in the middle of a workday to hurry back to the manor. He and Hermione had been right in the middle of theorizing a potential way to expand the time limit of the spell when he received yet another owl from Astoria demanding his presence back home.
The last time had just been Astoria trying to stir up some drama between him and Hermione. He was certain this time would not be any different.
Grumbling the entire way, he stormed his was down the marbled corridor from the floo parlor to the tearoom where the letter had requested he meet her. He could not stand this dreadful place, but Astoria insisted on taking up familial residence there. Something about maintaining the family honor she'd claimed.
It was all a bunch of hog wash to him.
He took a deep centering breath before throwing the door open to the room and its awaiting occupant.
"What could possibly be so important this time Astoria, that you deemed it necessary to interrupt…" his words drew up short in his mouth at the sight of his mother's elegant arms wrapped around his wife as the witch cried delicately into a handkerchief.
"Oh, my darling I'm so glad you're here. Astoria just received the most dreadful news this morning." His mother looked at him pointedly warning him that she would accept nothing less than his best behavior. His mother, always the vision of beauty and a model pureblood witch would stand for nothing less of course. Even now her hair was pinned up in an elegant chignon and she wore a set of dress robes that even by his standards were a little too much for someone who had no intentions of leaving their home that day.
At that, Astoria started crying in outright earnest, standing and flinging her arms around an exceedingly surprised Draco. Unsure of what to do with his hands as the witch sobbed uncontrollably into his, chest he tentatively placed them on her back and began rubbing in an awkward up and down motion. His eyes sought out his mother in question as to what in the hell was going on, but the cunning woman was already up and moving towards the doors.
"I am just going to leave you two to some privacy." She gave him one more stern look before shutting the doors and leaving him alone with one of his least favorite witches sobbing hysterically in his arms. Her elegant robes trailing behind her as she left the room.
How long they stood there like that he could not be sure, but it felt like a damned eternity. He had even turned to attempting to whispering assurances to her in an attempt to get it to finally cease but to no avail. It was like everything he said either made it worse or fell on deaf ears. Finally, when it seemed as though she had run out of the current stores of liquid in her body, she slowly pulled away from him, Draco immediately allowed his hands to drop back to his sides.
She went back to her place on the settee she had been occupying with his mother before. She gestured for him to follow and take the seat next to her.
At a complete loss for the situation Draco ran on autopilot and did as his wife bid him. Once he sat, she took both his hands in hers, and to his total abject and complete horror, started crying yet again.
What in this lovely version of hell did I do to deserve this this time?
"For Merlin's sake Astoria, what is it?" it was a wild shot in the dark, but he was determined to not have to sit here for another hour while his wife cried into his arms again. He just simply did not know if he could honestly go through those motions again.
Luckily for him, it seemed to work. She sniffled and looked at him with one of her looks that could curdle poison.
"Draco it's absolutely dreadful." She switched back over to self-pity so fast he found it remarkably laughable.
"Look Story," he used his old pet name for her to try to keep her calm. He wanted this entire ordeal over and done with as soon as possible. "I've already told you, there is nothing I can't take care of."
He watched as she sniffed and nodded acceptingly, but still with a flair of sorrow.
Still her keenness to acquiesce after her large show of tears was almost disturbing.
"I know," she brought the dainty linen up to pat delicately at her eyes, "it just won't quite be the same though."
What was the witch on about?
"I'm not sure I'm following you Astoria." He searched her face for any hint or clue, but she was a Slytherin through and through, and he knew he would only see what she wanted him to. They were practically trained from birth to hold a constant mask.
"I'm barren, Draco." The proclamation crossed the air and hit him like a slap in the face.
He raked his hand through his hair and stood, no longer able to remain seated.
Shite. Getting involved with the offering ritual was the absolute last thing he wanted to do right now, yet alone even think about putting a child of his through.
"The mediwitch informed me this morning. I know it wasn't exactly like we were trying right away, but I wanted everything to be perfect for when we did. And… and then…. This…" the tears started streaming down her face again, but Draco could not stop his pacing across the floor.
Why did she have to be so meddlesome? Like she said they were no where near even close to trying for a child.
They could have gone years without knowing. This information could not have come at an absolute worse time. Especially when he and Hermione had been so close to finally getting somewhere.
He could just let her keep full access to the penthouse so their work could continue. And maybe he could even stop in from time to time and help out when he could. Three witches would be a lot for any wizard to juggle. He mused.
"Draco…did you hear me?"
"Hmm, yes of course." He pulled out of his inner musings to address the witch who was an ever-constant problem in his existence. "We will obtain an offering, of course, and the entire ordeal is settled."
Her dark depths looked at him curiously as she tilted her head studying him, a slight lift to the corner of her mouth was all that she let slip through her broken woman façade.
What? Did he have floo powder on his nose and no one had told him yet?
"Draco, we don't have to obtain an offering."
"What? Of course, we do." He responded very impassive, like this was not a topic up for discussion.
Thank Merlin.
Now all he had to do was not sound too relieved that she did not want to go the offering route and put up just enough fight to not make her suspicious.
Her golden hair cascaded around her shoulders as she shook her head. "Draco, I fear you misunderstand me. We don't have to obtain an offering because you already purchased her."
At this Draco's feet stood frozen to the floor and hie felt his stomach drop to his toes.
Holy. fuck.
Astoria stood and walked over to him, taking his hand once again in hers. It was everything he could do to remain standing as the floor threatened to come up to meet him.
"Oh Draky, you were so right! This could not have come at a more perfect time, not when you just purchased Hermione!" Astoria was nearly giddy with glee as she stood before him, taking in the complete expression of shock that Draco was unable to shield from his face.
How…how had that happened?
"So," Astoria squeezed his hands with just a little more force than necessary pulling his attention back down to her and away from his thoughts of Hermione. "When should we move her into the manor? I was thinking the sooner the better, no sense in wasting time."
Cold dark eyes, almost black, looked back at him as he stared at her in bewilderment, but he didn't even want a child.
A/n: Your getting this update just a few days ahead of schedule, but this is really the turning point for the story, so frequency may change based off my muse. I really hope you like it! Also… always love your feedback 😊 keep those scoobie snacks coming guys!