(Present day)
"I just want to know one thing" he began, "how could you look at me the way you do? How can you come down here every day and look into my eyes with such... Such... Indifference?" he continued. She closed her eyes, knowing where this was going. This was the reason why she had agreed to silencio him. To keep him from speaking to her. There was so much that no one else knew. So much that only he knew. So much that she didn't want him to say out loud, because then it made it all real.
"Have you forgotten everything? Don't you remember anything at ALL? How could you forget?" he went on. "How could you just..."
"YES! Yes, yes, ok, yes I remember, Merlin be damned, of course I remember. How could I forget? You were my tormentor for years, Malfoy" She cried out.
"But then?" he asked.
"But then..." she breathed.
"Hermione…" he whispered, gripping the bars with his long fingers.
She looked at his fingers on the bars and her own hands twitched as she held them as still as she could. Her first name on his lips sounded foreign but as soon as he said it, it sent her spiralling back to the year before, when things were very different. When she was different and certainly when he was different too.
"Please don't do this. I can't do this" she said after pulling herself out of a years' worth of memories. She hesitated and took a breath before quickly running from the room.
She slammed the door of the cellar behind her, making sure that she shut both Malfoy and the memories of Malfoy away. She had worked so hard to push it all to the back of her mind, to try and forget everything that had happened between them.
She had barely even reacted when he was initially brought to Grimmauld Place, in hopes that if she kept shutting it all out, then maybe there was a chance that it never actually happened. That it had all been a dream. That he hadn't made her fall for him and then broken her heart to pieces.
The fact that she could barely stand to look at him was evidence enough that she wasn't over it. That, even though she had moved on, even though she tried her hardest to forget him, to forget what he was to her, that he still occupied a place in her mind, and it still affected her.
She tried to go on about her day, but the more time that ticked by, the more she knew that she'd come face to face with him at least 3 times a day until Harry and Ron decided what to do with him. He had been there for weeks, yet it was almost as though Harry and Ron had forgotten.
At lunch time, she levitated a lunch meat sandwich to him from the top of the stairs. It was a feat, given that she couldn't see around corners, however, when she heard his answering whisper of "thanks Granger", she figured the wrapped meal had made it to its destination.
Just to look at him again, to hear his voice, after allowing the memories to flood back in and invade her senses, was too much. Her heart had been shattered. She had admitted to herself and to him that she loved him, that, despite their differences and despite what sides of the war they were destined to sit on, they wanted to be together. That, once it was all over, their intentions were clear; they were supposed to find one another and go.
Of course, through all of his lies, through his inability to tell her the truth, through the daily glamour charm that he kept placing on his dark mark, he had completely broken her. And even on that final night, the night that she saw him, the night he saved her, literally from the clutches of Greyback, she still would have given almost anything to be with him. She had held onto that final kiss, onto the feeling of his lips on hers. It's what had kept her going most nights when she felt hopeless, when Harry and Ron made her feel inferior. She held on to the feeling that someone had once wanted her. That Draco had wanted her. It was enough to make her cry, and cry she did.
She locked herself in her room for days, eager for some solitude. She warded her room and kept to herself, appearing only to satiate her hunger, to levitate food to Draco and to exchange books in the library. It was a week before she came face to face with Harry and another two days after that till she saw Ron.
Her solitude had given her time to think about the relationship she had with him and she often laughed to herself when she thought about how she had allowed herself to become so weak. Ron had hated the swotty, bossy, know it all Hermione from their younger years, but the more she grew through the years of school, the more subdued that part of her personality had become. Yet, it was what had brought Draco's lips to hers, it was what ignited the spark in her life, it was what made her, her. Over the last few months, Ron had all but killed it off. She doubted whether he even realised what he was doing every single time he had silenced her, or every time she had told her 'don't worry about it, Harry and me will take care of it', when they were talking Horcrux business. When that happens, time and time again, when your abilities are questioned, when you mess up one time and get hurt, then your whole sense of self and your confidence in your abilities is thrown into question. She knew instantly that Draco would have pulled her out, brushed her off and guided her back into battle, but not Ron. Ron had all but planted his boot on her head. He had pushed her down, subdued her, demoralised her, potentially without having the sense to even know what he was doing. Ron had taken everything that Hermione had ever been, torn it up into a million pieces and sprinkled it around like pieces of confetti for her to cling to as she tried to hold onto who she once was.
She left her room that night, knowing what it was she had to do. She searched the house for Ron, greeting Tonks, the Creevy's, Fred, George and Charlie, briefly before finding Ron in the meeting room with Harry and Lupin.
"Ron, can I have a minute?" she asked.
"A little busy Hermione" Ron said, not looking up from the book they were looking at.
"I think we can take a 5-minute break" Lupin said, looking to Hermione and seeing the hurt in her eyes.
Ron nodded at this as Harry and Lupin left the room. Harry seemed to head off towards the kitchen and Lupin went upstairs towards where Tonks had been resting with a book on a couch in a hallway.
"You've been pretty quiet all week" he said, shuffling papers on the table n front of him.
"I've had a lot to think about" she said.
Ron laughed at this.
"Like what? What book to read next? What meal to cook? What to put on a sandwich for Malfoy?" he asked.
"That's not fair Ron" she said.
"You're right, it's not" he said, snarky attitude dripping from his words.
"I'm not the same person I once was. I used to be brave, fearless, quick. Now I am everything you just said. I read books, I make food, I tend to our captive. That's all I am now" she said.
"That's great, we can all see that Hermione. You've changed. You aren't coping" he said with a shrug.
"That's just it. I am coping. I was coping. I mean, if I were more involved, I'd cope just fine" she said.
"No, Hermione, the one time you went off to do something, you came back half dead. That's why we don't let you be more involved. You aren't skilled for battle" he said.
"I was alone then Ron. It had been a set up. They watched me get them out and waited for me to return. No one could have survived that. Not me, not you or even Harry. If any of you had gone alone, the same thing, or worse would have happened" she said.
"Yet here you are" he said.
"Because…" she wanted to say that Malfoy was there and he helped her, but she held back. "It doesn't even matter. That's not what I wanted to say. I didn't want us to get to this again" she said.
"So spit it out, I have stuff to be getting on with" he said.
"We got together when I got injured because you wanted to take care of me. I was in a bad place, physically and mentally and against my best judgement, I went along with it. I think it was a mistake. As much as I value our friendship, as much as I care about you Ron, I don't want to be with you anymore. Not when my feelings aren't genuine" she said, sadly.
Ron stared at her for a moment, and she didn't know how he was going to react. She had played this out in her head over and over again, but each time it went different. She hoped that they could go back to how things were, but she knew Ron, she knew his temperament. She predicted exactly what he was going to do.
"So, you just… what? Used me the whole time?" he asked, standing from his chair.
"No, Ron, I thought I loved you the way you said you loved me" she said.
"But your feelings aren't genuine?" he asked.
"It's taken me a long time, but I really think that my feelings for you were mistaken for gratitude for helping me recover. For sitting by my side. For just being there for me. Its something I admire about you, you're loyal and you're caring, but I don't love you, Ron. No the way you want me to" she said.
Ron turned and looked to the wall, grabbing fists full of his hair. She recognised his sign of frustration.
"We can't go back to how it was" he said.
"I don't expect things to go back overnight, but I do want to be friends" she said.
"Ha! That's unlikely. I gave you everything and you're throwing it back in my face" he said.
"I actually thought I was being very civil and kind about this" she said.
"Breaking it off with me is being kind?" he asked.
"I'm being selectively honest Ron. If you want me to, I can tell you so many reasons why I can't be with you anymore" she raised her voice.
"Please, I'm dying to know" he yelled.
"I'm unsatisfied. In every single way, Ron. You don't challenge me mentally, you're not on par with me intellectually, you don't come close, sexually. I can't fake this anymore. I can't pretend like this is all ok when it's not. I'm sorry" she finished. She felt horrible for calling him out for all of his negatives. She was regretting it instantly. She would never allow another girl to speak to one of her friends like that. "I'm sorry" she said finally, before turning and leaving the room.
On the way out, she ran into Harry, who offered her a small smile and carried on to comfort Ron. Her friends were continuing to find new and interesting ways to ensure she felt alone.
And alone she was, for what felt like forever, but in reality, was only a few days. The whole house avoided her like the plague. Perhaps they all sided with Ron? Perhaps Ron had told them that she never really loved him. Perhaps she was the bad guy here? Was she? Was she the one who broke his heart? Was she the liar?
After spending yet another day reading by herself in the library she headed for the kitchen and prepared to levitate Malfoy's food to him.
She stopped suddenly when she realised it was a bowl of stew that she'd have to carry by hand. Her levitation skills were great, but they didn't account for liquids in a bowl and the way they were now having to ration, she couldn't risk a spill. She wouldn't risk a spill if it meant that she was not only holding Malfoy against his will, but she was now tormenting him, waving food in front of his face then spilling it all over the floor.
She placed the bowl on a platter with a can of soft drink from the cooler and at the last minute, she added a bowl and drink of her own. If she had to see him, if she had to feel the pain, she might as well feel it. She may as well punish herself a lot fi she's going to punish herself at all.
She entered the cellar and when she reached the familiar bottom step, she stepped off and walked to the bars. She slid his bowl and drink through without saying a word and sat in the nearby chair to eat her own. If he studied her at all he would see she had been upset. He always seemed to know. He used to, at least. That was all in the past. They were in the past.
"Hermione…" he said quietly.
"I'm just here to eat. You shouldn't eat alone so much, its probably not good for your state of mind" she said, not looking to him.
"You haven't been here in a while" he said.
"I don't really have much to say" she offered.
"You don't think we ought to talk?" he asked
"We don't need to talk about anything. We have nothing to talk about" she said finally looking in his direction. Her regret was instant.
"We need to. We were in love" he said.
"NO! No, Draco, I was in love" she said, placing her food down on the table and standing up. "You were lying to me the whole time" she yelled.
"I was an idiot. I thought I was keeping you safe. Keeping you from having to choose" he said.
"I would never have chosen to fall for a death eater" she snapped quietly, before pacing back and forth past where he stood at the bars.
"Do you regret it?" he asked.
The questions threw her. She often thought back on her memories with Draco as some of the most exciting, some of the most thrilling times of her life. Now, he was asking her if she regretted being with him, regretted loving him, she knew the answer straight away.
"No" she said quietly, coming to a stop in front of him.
The air grew silent, the tension between them almost crackled. Hermione looked to him through her lashes and instantly regretted it. Her memories, her thoughts, her feelings, they were all there. They were screaming at her to touch him. To just take his hand. To see if there was something there.
"You're a mess" he whispered, reaching out.
"Well, thanks. You don't look so great yourself" she said, relenting, leaning forward and resting her head against the bars, caving to his touch.
"You did this to me, Draco. You put us here. I could have…" she began, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "It doesn't matter" she finished.
"I know what I did and I'm sorry" he said.
"It doesn't change anything. You're still you and last time I checked, I'm still me" she said.
"Puts us in a weird predicament then doesn't it" he said.
"Puts you in a cell and me as your minder" she said.
"I still love you. I never stopped" he said quietly.
"Please don't" she responded. She didn't want this. Not now.
"I need to. I have to tell you", he said.
"Tell me what? That you lied to me for months? Made me fall in love with you, the whole time knowing it was only going to end badly?" she asked.
"I didn't want this" he said, pulling his sleeve up and revealing the mark that was swirling around on his skin.
She looked at it with trepidation.
"He's calling me" he said, noticing her confused look.
"Is it painful?" she asked.
"When I got it, it was the most pain I had ever experienced. Now… Its tolerable" he said with a grimace. "I never wanted the damn thing. I never wanted to be part of it. But like I told you, my mother… I had to take it to make them stop. I had to do what I was asked, to help my family" he said.
She stood quiet, just looking at it.
"Is it burnt in or inked in?" she asked, acknowledging only her curiosity and not the intensely fast beating of her heart or the butterflies that were growing restless in her belly.
"Ink. It's a potion imbued with The Dark L… I mean, you-know-who's blood" he said.
"So… There's no way to be rid of it?" she asked.
"Nothing that anyone has ever tried. I suppose when he dies it might fade" he said with a shrug.
"When… so you think Harry will succeed?" she asked.
"He has to" Draco said.
"Now that he's calling you and you're not going to him, he'd know something has gone wrong, right?" she asked.
"Potentially" he said.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, if I wanted to, I could disapparated right out of here and he knows that" he said.
"You could… What?" she asked.
"I don't need a wand or a voice. Even most wards can't stop it. If I wanted to leave, I could have done it as soon as I got here" he said.
"Why don't you?" she asked, wondering why he'd give up his freedom like this.
"Because if it means if I get to be away from all of that… if I get to see you, or at least a glimpse of you a few times a day, I'd give up anything. My freedom, my wand, my voice. I'd give it all. I have given it all. And I don't regret it" he said.
"So you're choosing to be here and he would now that?" She asked, receiving a nod I response. It gave her a lot to think about. He could have left at any time, he could have gone back to his life, back to his master, back to his family and not have thought twice about it.
"What's different now then? Why stay?" she asked.
"My reasons to stay far outweigh my reasons to go back" he said.
"What now then? I can't keep pretending like you're just Malfoy" she said.
"I don't know. I want to be with you, I want to wrap my arms around you and tell you everything will be ok. I want to hold you and kiss you and say how fucking sorry I am for not telling you the truth. I want to bury myself in you and feel bliss, I want to feel you come apart with me like you used to, but most of all, I just want to be this close to you. The rest, well that would be a bonus" he said, reaching out to her through the bars. His honesty both threw her and lit a fire deep inside her.
"None of that is possible though, is it? Harry and Ron, they'd never agree to let you out, they'd never understand. They'd never be ok with it" she said, her hope for happiness fading.
"I know things, I could help. I know about the Horcruxes" he said.
"How can you… I mean, what do you know?" she asked.
"There's one in my family's vault and there's one at Hogwarts in the Room of Requirement" he said with confidence, sparking some hope inside of her.
"How do you know these things Draco?" she asked,
He closed his eyes and sighed.
"I'm sorry, I just… When you say my name, it makes me think… Well, things might be ok" he said.
"I was dating Ron" she blurted out, suddenly feeling the need to let him know. "I… I'm not anymore" she added.
He took a step back and narrowed his eyes at her.
"Why?" he asked. "I mean, you always said that there was nothing there" he said.
"You were gone. You were a death eater. I was alone and injured and Ron was there" she said.
He smiled and she raised an eyebrow.
"You don't love him" he said.
"Was that a question" she asked.
"An observation... You don't love him. You never have. You settled for something in hopes that you could forget about me" he said, puffing out his chest. For the first time since she had seen him here, he seemed confident.
"You know, gloating doesn't work from inside a cell" she said.
"So, let me out then" he said.
"Tell me about the Horcruxes" she said, holding her wand out of reach.
"Let me out and I'll tell you anything" he said.
"How can I trust you?" she asked.
"I'll make an unbreakable vow" he said without hesitation, his face now serious.
"Who will be the binder?" she asked.
"You can" he said.
"I've only ever heard of a third party doing the binding" she said.
"It's possible, I've seen it done. Try. Please. I want to help. You'll know if it doesn't work and if I take off, I'm a dead man" he said.
She placed her left hand through the bars and felt a shiver course through her body when he took it.
"And one day, I'll tell you why you feel that way" he said softly. She looked to him with a questioning glare before looking down at their joined hands.
"What way?"" she asked.
"The same way I do when we touch. Like your whole body comes alive" he said.
She shook her head and tried no to think about how right he was, or about what he meant when she said he'd tell her why.
"Will you, Draco Malfoy, promise to tell me, Hermione Granger, any information that you have, to aid in the downfall and death of Tom Riddle?" She asked, knowing that there was a taboo on the word Voldemort.
"I will"
"And will you remain within 50 feet of me, until such time as Tom Riddle is destroyed?" she asked.
"I will" he declared.
"Do you swear to do everything you can to keep both yourself and me safe, alive and protected?" she asked, adding this one in to ensure he doesn't purposely hurt himself so he can leave.
"I do" he responded without hesitation.
"And do you promise to tell only the truth?" she asked.
"I do" he said, looking up into her eyes.
"You swear these things on your life and your magic?" she asked.
"I do" he answered.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" came Ron's billowing voice from the top of the stairs.
Hermione looked up before continuing and finishing the spell.
"You have sworn on your life and on your magic, Draco Malfoy. You will be released from this vow upon the death of Tom Riddle. If you fail, so shall your magic. If you fail, you will perish" she said loudly above Ron's stomps down the stairs, waving her wand with a golden glow and sealing his fate.
"He has information. He can help" she said as Ron grabbed her arm and yanked her away.
"I don't care if he has the key to killing You-Know-Who himself. He's not coming out of there" Ron yelled.
Hermione looked to Ron and looked back at Malfoy. There was no way that he could leave or escape or betray her at all. She aimed her wand at the lock and muttered the spell to unlock the bars. The door swung open and Ron looked on in anger as Draco stepped out. Despite his scrappy appearance, his months living down here with nothing but a scougify spell from Hermione's wand, he looked formidable.
The empty space between Hermione and Draco was like fire. She wanted to move away from it but desired its warmth just as much.
"You're a traitor Hermione. He knows things. He's going to go and tell all his death eater friends everything" Ron said, trying to stop her as she pulled herself from his grip.
"Ron, would you stop. I made him take an unbreakable vow. You heard it. If he is more than 50 feet away from me, or if he betrays us… me… in any way, he'll die. Now unless he's suicidal…" she said, turning to Draco, "You're not, are you?" she asked Draco who shook his head in a negative response, "…then he's stuck here, even then, he has vowed to keep himself safe" she said.
"I can't believe you'd go behind my back and do this" Ron spat.
"And I can't believe you'd go behind my back and stay out all night when you were going off on a dangerous mission" she shrieked.
"Back to that are we? That mission got us the sword Hermione. That mission is the whole reason why we are able to destroy the…" He said, looking to Draco and stalling.
"Horcruxes? No need to worry, I know about them" Draco said, his voice laced with contempt.
"You told him?" Ron bellowed. The sound of his loud voice was starting to give her a headache.
"No Ron, he already knew. He knows about two more" she said rubbing her temples.
Ron just stood there, looking from Hermione to Draco and back again.
"You betrayed us" he said quietly.
"I would watch your tone if I were you Weasley. This witch here, worked a very interesting instruction into the vow that I just took, and part of me is urging me to protect her right now" Draco said.
"Protect her? From me?" Ron laughed.
"Ron… Stop" she said.
"No, Hermione. Malfoy here thinks he's going to protect you from me. Doesn't he know? Doesn't he know that we were together? Doesn't he know that I'm not going to hurt you?" Ron asked.
Clearly, he had no idea about her and Draco, or he wouldn't be baiting Draco like this. She felt the tension radiate from behind her, Draco was fuming at Ron's outright gloating.
"Now Hermione, leave this Death Eater here and come with me" Ron said reaching for her.
"I don't think so" she said, taking a step away from Ron.
"What? You're ging to throw away everything we had, everything you wanted, the friendship you wanted, to hang out down here with him? He bullied you for years Hermione" Ron said. "He had a hand in killing Dumbledore. He is a death eater" Ron yelled, stepping closer to Hermione.
"That's all true Ron, but he's here trying to help. He's taken a vow. He can help end this" she said. "Now you either figure out a way to work together or stay away from me. Malfoy is tethered to me now so you better get used to it" she yelled, as she stormed past Ron and up the stairs. "Are you coming Malfoy?" she yelled, causing him to jump and run after her like some sort of puppy.
"Bossy little thing" Malfoy said as she led him up the next lot of stairs.
She stopped, causing him to bump into her.
"Don't tell me…" she said.
"What? I can't help it if I'm attracted to that kind of thing" he said, looking down at his pants, which were protruding at to the front at an awkward angle. "It's been a long time" he said. If he stepped any closer to her it would poke her in the leg.
"Well, I wish I could say the same" she muttered, now feeling incredibly guilty for being with Ron. Clearly, there was still something quite strong between her and Draco and she wasn't exactly putting a stop to it.
"I'll take you to a room to... freshen up" she said, looking him up and down, trying to avoid his obvious arousal.
She continued up to the second floor and opened the door to an unused room.
"This is… I know this spell" he said.
"Your aunt is here" she said.
"Andromeda?" he asked.
Hemione nodded, as she walked to the window and pulled the curtains apart.
"Hm" was all he said, as he looked around. "Do I get a wand?" He asked.
She hesitated before pulling his wand from the pocket at the seam of her pants.
"Do not let me down" she said, holding it back from him grabbing it.
"I couldn't, even if I wanted to" he said, holding up the hand that he had made the vow with.
She nodded and looked around, feeling awkward in the silence.
She turned to leave, but he took her by the wrist, pulling her back. Back to him.
"Forgive me" he said.
"Draco…" she muttered.
He lingered close to her face, the proximity, the heat, the tension made her want to close her eyes and leant forward just a little.
"Please…" he murmured; his lips close enough to hers that she could feel his breath on her mouth.
She felt a tear leave her eye as he pressed lips against hers.
The feelings, the emotion, the utter obsession, all of it came flooding back like it never left. She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him closer, pressing herself against him relishing in the feeling of him, of passion, of something that Ron was certainly not capable of.
She considered shutting the door, she considered taking it to his bed, she considered ripping their clothes off, but it was too much, too soon.
She pulled away and pressed her fingers to her buzzing lips.
"I'm sorry" she said, stepping back and walking out of the room, leaving Malfoy to watch her go through the hair that hung over his face.
Hermione didn't see Draco for the rest of the night. She had no idea whether he would interact with the other members of the house, or if he would even want to. If he'd visit the library or know how to access the rest of the house in unison with people who he hadn't gotten along with, ever.
She had gone straight to Harry and told him about what happened. Harry was, understandably suspicious. He checked her for signs of Oblivition and found none. Hermione told him about the Horcruxes that Malfoy know about and recited word for word the vow that she had made with him. Harry had given her a small smile that made her feel like he may have ben proud of her. Like, as if she were a child and she had done something right for the first time. It wasn't what she wanted. Harry may have thought so, but she didn't want to have people be proud of her for having a good idea. She wanted people to recognise all the good ideas she had.
The more she drifted away from the boys, the more she felt like running to Draco. She'd walk past his room and press her ear against the grain of the wood, hoping to hear something, anything. But each time all she heard was silence.
The following day, she gathered up some clothes that had previosuly been dropped off by Andromeda for the boys, and headed for his room. They hadn't been Harry or Ron's style, but Hermione felt like they were probably close to Dracos.
She knocked tentatively on his door and opened it when she heard his voice beckon her in.
He was sitting at the desk with parchment and quill in hand, writing something. He looked like he had freshly showered and the room smelt much better than it had the night before.
"One prison cell for another, hey" he said, getting up. She stepped back when she noticed that he was just wearing his boxers and singlet.
"You can move about the house as much as you want. Beyond that, well… I'd rather stay inside. It's safer" she said.
"And I'm tethered to you" he said.
"Well… That's for the safety of all of us" she said. "I got you some clothes, probably best to…wear something… if you're going to leave your room" she added, setting the folded pile at the end of the bed.
"Right. Well, there goes my plan for naked runs to the kitchen" he said with a smile... "Just how many people stay here?" he asked, sorting through the pile one by one.
"Well, there's Harry, Ron and Me. We live here full time as well as the Creevy's who moved here when their parents went into hiding. Lupin and Tonks come to stay fairly often and your aunt, Andromeda lives here full time with her husband" she said, as he pulled on some relaxed fit trousers and a polo shirt. She tried not to notice the way they fit his body nicely.
He watched her watching him and laughed to himself.
"Sorry, I should have left while you got dressed" she said.
"It's fine" he said.
"I just… I don't know what to do here" she said.
"You know how I feel. What you do next is up to you" he said, turning away from her and heading to the desk. "I made a list of death eaters, known traps, locations of groups of death eater gathering and other bits and pieces of information I thought were relevant" he said, handing her a piece of parchment.
"This will be good, I'll give it to Harry and Ron" she said, feeling awkward.
He nodded once and turned to look out the window.
"The neighbours don't get out much... There isn't a lot to see, sorry" she said, walking over to stand beside him.
"No, its good. It's probably better that way" he said.
"The less you see, the less you want to see?" she asked.
"In some things, yes. Other things, I'll want them no matter what" he said. "Besides, you're just as much a prisoner as I am" he said, turning to look at her.
"I guess I am" she said sadly.
They stood there looking out the window for a while before he put his arm around her shoulder and puller her close.
"I'm not trying to… I just want to stand like this" he said. "The comfort… It's good to be close to you" he said.
She knew the feeling, she knew the urge, the desire to touch him, to be close to him. She turned and nuzzled herself into his chest, wrapping her hands around his body, turning their awkward one-armed hug into a full embrace. It was like she had melted into him. He made her feel so good, she felt her whole body buzz with something she couldn't explain. Something that she hadn't felt in such a long time. Whatever it was, it felt right.
"It just feels right" he said softly.
She couldn't answer because she feared that her words would bring tears, so instead, she just nodded.
As soon as she could bring herself to, she pulled away and strode across the room without looking at him. With a hand on the door, she said "come on I'll take you to the kitchen for breakfast". He followed her in silence, keeping a reasonable distance. She hated that she felt this buzz when she was around him. She hated that she had to hide the way she felt about him, not only from everyone else, but from him. If she thought about it, she had probably forgiven him a long time ago, but the thought of letting him back into her head, back into her heart, was difficult to say the least.
"Wotcher Hermione… Oh, and…Cousin, nice of you to join us" Tonks said, sitting at the table resting a plate on her large belly. She made to get up, but Draco lifted a hand.
"Please, don't get up" he said, as he walked to where she sat and gave her an awkward hug before stepping far back. Hermione noticed the way he was staring at her belly, and it seemed like Tonks didn't miss it either.
"Got a couple of months left, but you'd think I was due tomorrow with the size of it" she said, rubbing the sides of her enormous bump.
"It's glorious, Tonks" Hermione said, moving about the kitchen, fixing some food for herself. "Malfoy, help yourself. There are eggs, bread for toast, cereal… It'll be a nice change from my cooking I suppose" she said.
"You're not wrong. You're smart Granger, but cooking isn't your strong suit" he said, keeping the tone of civility. Tonks watched on as she finished her meal and smiled whenever Hermione looked her way.
"Any idea of a name yet?" Hermione asked, sitting down at the table opposite Tonks. Draco sat at the far end with a bowl of cereal, not wanting to interrupt, Hermione suspected.
"Well I was thinking Lyall after Remus' father, but he insists on Teddy after mine" she said with a shrug.
"You mean…" Draco said from down the end of the table, "our old professor is the father of your baby?" he asked. The outburst made Hermione cringe. Surely he was over his dislike for werewolves as much as he was over his dislikes for muggleborns.
"Well it'd be strange if he wasn't. He is my husband" Tonks said with a smile.
"Right… well, good on you. I didn't know. It was a shock, sorry. He's…" he began.
"A werewolf?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I was going to say, Granger, that he is much older" Draco said.
Hermione wanted to crawl under the table and die.
"Well, yeah that was an issue in the beginning. So was the werewolf thing. For him, not for me. But I'm young enough for the both of us" she said with a wink, getting up with a groan and leaving after depositing her plate in the sink.
Hermione put her forehead on the table and closed her eyes. She wondered if he would say anything. She had basically called him out in front of his cousin. She was surprised when he didn't. When he got up and washed all the dishes in the sink and stacked them to dry, she got up and added hers to the stack after a quick wave of her wand while he looked on.
"I can feel you watching me" she said, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. The tension was bristling with electricity.
"Its funny, when you try and act like you still hate me" he said with a smile. Her relief was instant.
"Well… don't get used to it. Its exhausting" she said.
He walked right past her and headed up the stairs, towards his room. She didn't know whether to follow him or do her own thing. She felt like every interaction between them was… unfinished. Like there was always something left lingering.
She waved her wand so all the clean dishes put themselves away and left the kitchen, making her way to the library. She chose a book at random and sat in her usual comfy chair to read. She was able to escape her current reality for about an hour and a half before her body began to ache and she grew restless.
She got up and made her way towards the meeting room, lingering in the doorway deciding whether to allow Draco to hand the information filled parchment over by himself.
"Hermione, we were just going over some ideas, come in" Harry said.
"Malfoy gave me this" she said straight away, handing the parchment to Harry.
They debated the information for almost two hours, Ron declaring that it had to be fake, that it was all a trap and Hermione constantly reminding them that Malfoy couldn't lie, that he was bound by his magic and by his life to be honest. While Harry was on the way to coming around to the idea of Malfoy, Ron was still no where near.
Hermione left at the end of the discussion with a headache, and a desire to lay down for the afternoon.
When she walked past Draco's open door, she stopped and looked in, seeing that he was at his desk again. This time, he was reading a book so she knocked softly, not wanting to frighten him. He turned and his smile was enough to knock her off her feet.
Why did he have this influence on her?
She wondered if all her debating, all her advocacy for him in the meeting had had an impact on how she felt.
He got up from his chair and walked towards her, stopping when he was too close.
"Can I help you?" he asked in a friendly, almost joking manner.
She pressed a hand against his chest and pushed him backwards, making him step away from her. She needed distance, but her body craved closeness.
"I was just going to say… that if you wanted lunch, you could help yourself in the kitchen" she said.
"You not eating?" he asked.
"No, I have been in the meeting room with Harry and Ron. My head is pounding so I'm going to lay down for a while" she said, massaging her temple.
His look of concern was not missed by her, nor was his instantaneous reaction to her pain. He stepped forward and placed his fingers in her hair, massaging her scalp and providing instant relief for her headache.
"Oh my... that feels so good" she moaned. It was almost sensual.
"Come sit, you have a tension headache, I'll fix it for you" he said.
She knew it wasn't a good idea, she knew she was a glutton for punishment, but she kicked the door shut with her foot before walking to the edge of his bed, where she sat.
He climbed on the bed, situating himself behind her on his knees. He massaged her head, rubbed her neck, kneaded her shoulders. She was like putty in his very skilled hands. She wasn't aware of any amount of time passing by before she opened her eyes and realised she had fallen asleep on his bed. Somehow she had been moved from the edge of the bed and was laying on one side with a thin blanket over her. She looked to the window and saw that it was now dark outside.
"Oh Merlin, I'm sorry, I… I didn't mean to fall asleep. How embarrassing" she said.
"It's a compliment. Really" he said. He was sitting up in the bed beside where she was laying. "How is your head?" he asked.
"Better. In fact, my whole body feels better" she said.
He just smiled to himself and continued reading his book.
"One day I'll explain that to you" he said.
"You keep saying that" she said.
He just shrugged in response.
AN - Sorry for the abrupt ending.