Chapter 30

"No, not like that!"

Draco jabbed with his cue again, sending the balls clattering madly around the green baize-covered table. Potter was trying to teach him how to play Snooker, which was apparently a 'super fun' muggle game, but Draco somehow couldn't see it.

He and Potter were in one of the upstairs sitting rooms, the one with the tapestry depicting "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black" which Potter had turned into a games room of sorts. Evidently the tapestry had a permanent sticking charm on it, and so far no one had worked out how to get it down. In fact, Draco could see his name embroidered in golden thread at the bottom and rather curiously his father's death date had been added, meaning that it was magically self-updating too.

He idly wondered if Hermione's name might appear on it as some point in the future, connected to him in golden thread and eventually, to the names of their offspring.

"Ha!" cried Potter, knocking a black ball into one of the pockets on the table. "I win again! You really need to concentrate harder, Malfoy!"

"I think that I need to do more than just concentrate in order to beat you, Potty. I'm crap at this, give me a snitch to catch any day!" replied Draco. He had been living with Potter and his weird little house elf for a day and a half now, and he already felt settled. The initial awkwardness had worn off, and Draco found that Potter was a pleasant and easy going host.

The house-elf informed him when meals were ready, and asked him to leave his laundry in the basket provided and it would be returned clean and dry. So far the food had been very nice, and he and Potter had chatted and messed about pleasantly enough.

Hermione was meant to be coming over shortly, and Draco was looking forward to seeing her. He was a little unsure how it would work with Potter there as a third wheel, but they would just have to work round it.

"Play again?" Harry asked, picking up the wooden triangle that set the balls in shape.

"No, I'm alright." He said, placing his cue back on the rack. "I think I'm going to get into the shower before Granger gets here."

"Fair enough, you go and tart yourself up. She'll be here soon." Said Harry, mildly.

Draco gave him a "piss off" look and went down to his bedroom to do exactly what Potter said. Once he was showered and dressed in his decent muggle clothes he went down to the kitchen to wait for Hermione. Apparently she knew how to let herself in without waking Granny Black's irascible portrait, so all he had to do was wait.

He sat at the table whilst the bizarre little elf busied itself around him. It knew exactly who he was, referring to him as Mr Malfoy rather than Draco as he had been introduced, but acted like his sudden guest status was nothing strange. He couldn't recall if it had been here when he had visited with his parents as a small child; even if he had seen an elf here he probably wouldn't have paid it any attention.

"Do you want anything, Mr Malfoy?" it asked politely as it saw him watching it.

"No, thank you Kreacher." He said, still feeling a little strange talking to the elf like an equal. "Although when Hermione arrives could we have some coffee please?"

"Of course," Kreacher scuttled off into the pantry, presumably to find the coffee and french press to make it ready for when Granger appeared. Draco sat twiddling his thumbs for another few minutes before the kitchen door opened to admit Hermione.

She was looking gorgeous and relaxed in her skin-tight jeans and loose knitted jumper, and Draco was crossing the room to kiss her before he even realised what he was doing.

"Hi!" she said breathlessly, after he had released her lips.

"Hello," he said, suddenly feeling embarrassed but not wanting to let her go.

"Coffee Miss Hermione?" came a croaky voice from behind them.

"Yes please, Kreacher," said Hermione, stepping away from Draco to greet the elf.

Draco was dumbfounded; was he being cock-blocked by an elf? The little creature's face gave nothing away, but Draco got the distinct impression that it knew exactly what it had just done!

"How were your parents yesterday?" He asked, wanting to try and get her attention back on to him. "Was it good to be home?"

"Yes, it was lovely to see them but a bit weird to be back home. I'll have to get used to not using any magic throughout the day again, which is going to be tough." She said with a smile.

"Well, maybe you should come here more often. To use your magic of course…" he added with a smile.

"Of course," she said with a smile, and this time there were no interruptions when he kissed her.

After a few blissful minutes, Draco suggested they go upstairs to continue getting reacquainted but Granger insisted on saying hello to Potter first. Almost on cue, Kreacher appeared with a tray of coffee and almond biscotti, which he and Hermione shared before going to search for Potter.

They found that he was still in the games room, fiddling around with a set of Gobstones and listening to the radio, but rose from his seat to give Hermione a brief hug in welcome. Draco felt a little flash of jealousy seeing them embrace, even though he was pretty certain that Hermione had no interest in Potter like that. After all, they had had plenty of opportunity to get together before now.

"Looking forward to the party tomorrow?" Hermione asked him, cheerfully taking a seat and dashing Draco's hopes for a quick tryst before dinner.

"Yeah," he said with a shrug. "Should be good."

"How are things with Ginny?" She asked. Draco's ears pricked up at this; he wanted to know if there was going to be trouble coming his way.

"Alright. She'll come around." Harry looked nonchalant, but it was obvious that he wasn't telling the whole story.

"Yeah?" said Hermione sceptically. "She has accepted that she needs to finish school, and can't just move in here with you?"

So that is what she was so upset about, Draco realised. Not just that he was going to be staying with Potter, but that Potter had told her that she couldn't!

"Not really, she says that she is going to pursue playing quidditch professionally so doesn't need NEWT's. She also cited Fred and George as examples of how successful you can be without NEWT's and despite knowing that Arthur and Molly would feel upset and betrayed by me encouraging their daughter to make a snap decision about her future, is insisting that I'm being unfair to her by trying to make her take some time to think. " The bitterness in Potters voice was plain, and Draco could tell that he was losing patience with the issue.

"She said similar to me as well. She can't understand that you want her to have choices later on when she feels like she has already made her choice to be with you. She thinks it means that you don't see a future for you two as a couple." Hermione told him.

"I don't know why she doesn't get it!" said Potter exasperatedly. "It is just one more year! One more year and she can come and live here if that's what she wants, but it will mean that if the quidditch doesn't work out then she can go and do something else! For all we know she may not even get taken on by a team yet; what is the harm in waiting a year?"

It seemed that neither one of them could understand why Weaslette was so desperate to be with Potter whilst he was potentially going off out into the world, learning new things and meeting new people. It was the same reason that Draco had wanted some sort of commitment from Hermione before school finished; she feared being left behind.

"She's frightened of losing you." He blurted, without really considering if they would appreciate his input to the conversation. "She's worried that you will lose interest in her if you can't see her all year whilst you are off doing exciting things without her. And let's face it 'chosen one'; you won't be short of offers of company from other women…"

"But that's ridiculous!" said Potter. "I'm in love with Ginny. I don't want anyone else…"

"Then I suggest you spend some time making sure she knows that." Draco told him flippantly.

"She already knows that." Harry said in frustration.

"Actually Harry," interjected Hermione, "Draco may have a point. Remember when we were leaving to go and find the horcruxes, Ginny mentioned something about remembering her if you met any Veela's on our travels, and you laughed it off because it was more likely we would end up dead than finding time for dates. Well, now you are going to doing exciting stuff without the threat of death hanging over you and with hero status. That must make her feel at least a little bit insecure."

"You really think that's why she's acting like this?" Potter looked between Draco and Hermione questioningly.

"I can't think of any other explanation." Said Hermione, whilst Draco shrugged in non-committal.

"Ok, I'll work on that then…" Potter confirmed thoughtfully.

Draco was pleased; now that they had played agony aunt maybe he could get some quality time with Granger. However, Granger had other ideas, and started chatting to Potter about what else he needed to do for the party and various other rubbish, only stopping when Kreacher announced that dinner was ready.

By the time they went to bed, Draco was very ready to be alone with her, and was hoping that she would be feeling the same. He was gratified that the notion of her going to her own room wasn't even discussed, even though it was already made up ready for her to use if she wanted.

Instead she followed him down the corridor to his room without comment, like they had done it a thousand times before.

"I'm glad you're here," he told her, once the door was firmly closed.

"Me too," she murmured, closing the space between them.

She twined her arms around his neck and her lips met his mouth. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body against his. He would never get enough of this! With great effort, he pulled away so he could pull his shirt over his head and undo his fly so that he could drop his jeans.

Hermione matched him garment for garment, and he caught his breath watching her curves being revealed in the flickering lamplight.

"You are so beautiful," he told her, reaching for her hand and leading her to the bed. She took the lead, drawing him down to her and entwining their limbs. Draco's heart was pounding, urging him to rush the main event, but he was determined to make sure that Granger had as good a time as he did.

He set to kissing her again, running his hands down her body, stroking her waist and thighs before allowing his mouth to trail a path of kisses along her jaw and down her throat to her breasts. She gasped as he teased her sensitive flesh, and he felt her hand clutch at his bicep.

Knowing that he would not last five minutes if he made love to her now, he continued kissing his way down, nipping at her thighs with his teeth before settling between them.

"Draco, you don't… ohhhh…" Her protest trailed off as he flattened his tongue against her core and started to lick, revelling in the feel and taste of her. He didn't stop until she had cried out his name in bliss and was laying boneless beneath him.

Climbing up her body, he sheathed his engorged cock inside her, groaning as he sank as deep as he could go.

"Impervia concepta," he managed to hiss before letting his lust take over, driving his hips against hers again and again until her joined her in euphoria.

Once their breaths and heartbeats had calmed, Draco rolled to the side and tucked Hermione against him, loving the way she brought up her hand to languidly stroke his cheek. Loving her.

He wanted to tell her that he loved her again, but was fearful of her freaking out again, so he contented himself with placing a kiss against her temple instead. He could scarcely believe it when she nuzzled against him sleepily and murmured "I love you, Draco."

"I love you, Granger," he replied, but she was already asleep. Pulling the duvet up over them, Draco closed his eyes contentedly. He was certain there would be no bad dreams tonight; all was well.