CHAPTER 38
October 17th 2001
Draco Malfoy stood within the manor's library with awe. His mother, and Hermione Granger sat beside each other conversing in a way that he never would have imagined. Peacefully.
"Hermione?" Her name poured out of his mouth.
The two witches spun in their seats, just as shocked to see his presence as he was theirs.
"Draco..." His mother leapt to her feet, determined to reach him first.
Her cold hands wrapped around his jaw, as soft thumbs rubbed against his freshly shaved beard. But Draco couldn't help but forget how to breathe as his eyes locked with Hermione's.
It was as if time had frozen over. Emotions bubbling over within his stomach, boiling with joy and aggravation over her impending escape.
Draco ripped his mother's hands off his face and marched to meet Hermione where she sat.
"You couldn't even give me a week, could you?" He raged. "Not even a fair chance to keep you safe?"
"Don't pretend like you know what is fair or not." She shot up, cheeks red with either embarrassment or frustration.
"I left you at that fucking cottage for a reason. Why couldn't you just stay with Weasley and do what you were told for once in your fucking life?"
Their chests grew closer together. He was forced to look down as she was forced to look up.
"You know why." She hissed.
Draco flicked between looking at each of her eyes. He could read what she was trying to say, but every inch of him begged for her to be lying.
"Well, isn't this nice." His mother snapped their attention away from themselves. "It seems the two of you are not as friendly as I had assumed. Perhaps I should thank your father, Draco, for his selfish ways. It appears that faking his own death has torn you two apart more so than he thought."
"Perhaps you should, mother. By any means, invite him over for dinner, I would love to kill him with my bare hands."
"You do not mean that."
"Try me."
Narcissa scowled at her son. Working overtime to keep her cool in front of a guest.
Stepping slowly away from Hermione, Draco stuffed his hands into his pockets. He assumed that behind the material, the other two wouldn't be able to see his clenched fists.
As if it was perfectly timed, Potter sauntered into the library. A smirk creeping up on his lips at the sight of his long time friend.
"You knew she had run away, didn't you?" Draco spat.
"I may or may not have gotten a visit from Ron late last night." Potter shrugged. "I didn't tell you purely based on wanting to see your reaction when she'd eventually find us. Though it looks like I may have missed the show."
Hermione smirked from where she stood, opening her arms as Potter embraced her in a hug. Draco started to regret giving her the same welcome.
"I don't see how either of you are proud of what's happening right now." He said, pissed off with himself and everyone else. "This is not a grinning matter."
"How did you know we were here?" Potter ignored him, keeping his face turned to Hermione.
"I didn't." She replied. "I had been thinking about everything that we had missed as to why Lucius was so determined to kill us off, and the only person I knew that would have answers was Narcissa."
Draco looked over to his mother, who was idly watching at the side with arms crossed. Her ears perked up to the sound of her own name.
"What are you two doing here?" She asked.
Feeling a sudden wave of humiliation, Draco hung his head low, ashamed to look anyone in the eye. Potter did him a favour by explaining their surprise visit.
"We are trying to get two steps ahead of Lucius and Crawford. The Prophet has been preaching about everywhere we go, so we've thrown them off by thinking we're in Madrid. Looks like we had the same thought in thinking someone knew something we didn't."
"You were right." Hermione's let out a breathy laugh.
"What do you know?"
"I can only assume… But we believe Lucius is under the imperius curse."
Draco's heart stopped. "What?"
He looked up from his gloomy stance to meet sympathy. Her eyes were laced with pity.
"Draco…" She took steady steps toward him. "Your father, he never tried to kill either of us. Someone else is abusing him to do so."
His first name felt unworthy at the sound of her voice. Undeserving to be treated like someone other than an enemy.
"How can you know this?" He looked over at his mother. "How could either of you know this?"
Narcissa rushed across the library to reach him before Hermione had a chance. A clear fight in dominance that was rather one sided. Her cold hands met his face once more, and this time Draco didn't feel like denying them.
"My son, your father has loved you since the day you were born. The man who held you until you both fell asleep would never try to end your life. He is not the one to chase in this battle."
"Lying has always been our family's speciality, mother. You sat there the night he told me that he would kill us if I didn't stop working with Hermione. You sat there and let it happen. How can I trust anything that you say?"
Dropping her hands from his face, Narcissa cowered away in defeat. Draco watched as the light in her eyes dimmed to a hollow emptiness.
"You don't have to trust what she says." Hermione spoke. "But you can trust mine."
Out of instinct alone, Draco held back in showing how much he missed the witch before him. Her curls dropped lower than they had when he last saw them, but her cheeks were just as blushed as they were when he kissed them.
Merely days had passed since their departing, and yet worlds torn apart made it feel like an eternity.
"Do you think Crawford is the one putting a curse on Lucius?" Potter yet again saved the day by speaking first.
Hermione tilted her head as if to beg Draco for him to speak. But words halted at his mouth, unsure of their significance.
"It is a possibility." She finally replied.
"It is our only possibility right now. Lucius may have made an enemy of Crawford, and this is his revenge."
"Revenge?" Narcissa scoffed. "Forcing my husband to kill his son for not paying his galleons in time?"
"Do you have any better theories?" Potter argued.
No one spoke in return. It was the best thing they had right now, no one could deny.
"We are thinking about this the wrong way." Hermione broke the silence. "Draco and I were at Crawford's house, we were the perfect target for both of them to kill us, and yet neither did."
Potter shook his head, "'Mione, Crawford sliced a curse through your back."
"But he did not kill me. And Lucius… he ran away the moment he saw us. He didn't think for even a second to try and attack. Why would he run if he was compelled to kill?"
"They're empty threats." Draco spoke quietly.
Hermione snapped her head in his direction, "I'm sorry?"
"They're empty threats. Neither want to kill us or they would have done so already. All of those men that were sent, could have easily fought harder and thrown harsher curses."
"So what? Someone is just torturing you two?" Potter frowned.
"No us." He corrected. "They're torturing me."
The room fell silent at the breakthrough.
"Why?" Hermioned breathed. "Why would Crawford want to torture you?"
"Why wouldn't he? My family has done nothing but slither our way out of punishment despite two wars that we funded. Justice is not as far-fetched as your heroic heart likes to believe."
"You are not the only one being punished.' Narcissa interrupted. "We all have been. I held my dead husband's body in my arms, Lucius had to become the father he never wanted, and Draco… Draco has had to fight to keep the woman he loves alive, even when she loves someone else."
Hermione Granger stared blankly at the elderly witch that stood across the library. Her mouth opened to say something but failed to speak.
'Unconditionally yours.'
The words she had read before rang in her mind as she turned to face Draco. His face read anger but an unknown truth laid between his glare.
"Right…" Harry awkwardly filled the gap. "I think we have what we came for."
"I think we did." Draco kept his eyes locked with hers.
"Take it, you'll be coming with us then?"
Hermione heard the words but couldn't process them in her mind. All she could do was watch the blond wizard stand across from her.
''Mione?" Harry repeated.
"Yes." She managed to choke out.
His words in the letter described what he felt, and his mother seemed to know as well. But Hermione longed to hear it for herself. She yearned to be able to say it back.
"Where will you be going?" Narcissa asked, fear in her voice.
"To a safe house." Harry revealed. "We will come up with a plan from there."
For the third time that day, Narcissa lifted her hands to her son's face. Kissing his forehead as a farewell.
"Be safe. You are all I have left."
Despite the aggression he had shown earlier, Draco kissed his mother's cheek in goodbye. Leaving her alone with all the books in the words, he walked away to join Hermione once more.
They did not feel the need to speak. Instead, they collectively decided their inevitable fight was put on pause. A time most likely when Harry was not present.
It did not surprise Hermione that the safe house was Neville's grandmothers. It felt suited that even after her passing she was taking care of people.
The kitchen was out-dated and yet quaint. Not as brightly coloured as the cottage, but still just as sweet.
Harry stood by the sink, waiting for the kettle to boil while Hermione and Draco sat in silence across from one another at the dining table. Tension growing thicker at every passing minute.
"Ron told me that you got away by driving a car." Harry eventually spoke.
"I did." Hermione answered.
"You broke his wand, you know? Reckon that's the third wand he's broken by now."
"Yeah... I think so too."
A whistle of the kettle indicated that it was ready, but Harry failed to pick it up.
"Well, I best be off then." He awkwardly rubbed his hands together. "I think our plan can wait until tomorrow."
"Yeah…" Draco whispered. "I think so too."
Giving her a kiss on the cheek, Harry left the two alone in the kitchen. Neither spoke until the front door clicked shut.
"You shaved your beard."
He didn't respond, opting to just stare at her from across the table.
"Don't look at me like that." Hermione begged.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't know what it means."
Draco shoved his chair back with an awful scrape, standing to walk out of the kitchen. Hermione followed, but only reached the bottom of the stairs by the time he reached the top.
"I ended things with Ron." She confessed. His feet stopped at the final step in response.
"Why?" He asked with his back to her.
"Why do you think?"
Turning to meet her gaze, Draco slowly retreated back down the stairs. His palm reached up to meet his thumb at her lips.
"I cannot do what you are asking of me." He breathed.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't trust myself with loving you."
Hermione gripped his wrist by her neck. "You left me there. I was ready to tell you everything and you just left me there."
"You were marrying Weasley."
"Not unless you gave me a reason not to. All I needed was a reason not to."
Draco tucked a curl behind her ear, softly kissing the skin on her neck. Hermione clenched her eyes shut at the touch.
"What do you want, Draco?" She asked.
He brought his mouth to hover over hers. "I want what I can't have."
"You can have me."
"What if I break you?"
"I'm not that fragile… Draco… have me."
Picking her up by the back of her legs, he walked them both up the stairs into a bedroom with nothing but a bed.
As if time was moving in slow motion for them, Hermione ran her hands through his hair as he sat on the edge of the mattress. Draco carefully lifted her shirt over her head, kissing in a line from the middle of her bra all the way up to the tip of her neck.
She lifted his face to meet hers.
Her heart beater faster and faster as Draco's lips crept closer to her own. She knew that the moment they kissed, an unbreakable vow would be sewn between them. A lifetime of togetherness tied up in a single second. So she waited, bathing in the moment before her life would never be the same.
Then he kissed her. At their lip's touch the oath was complete.
Hermione's whole body tingled, the feel of his frame pulling closer to hers felt nearly forbidden. Her hands fell to the bottom of his shirt, lifting it off before claiming his mouth again. Their skin smooth and radiating heat.
His fingers tickled as they wrapped themselves around the clip of her bra. Without a second thought Hermione let it fall to the ground, revealing a part of herself he had never seen. Draco kissed the top of each breast, looking up at her like she was the only beauty he had ever known.
She pushed herself off his lap and stood to unbutton her jeans. Draco moved her hands out of the way, softly but fiercely pulling the remaining clothes down to the ground, kissing every inch of her skin along the way. His clothes did not wait long to lie on the ground with hers.
If there was ever a time to know you were in love, Hermione felt like it couldn't get much closer than this.
There was no shame as they stood before each other. Stripped of their clothes, and stripped of their hidden feelings. She knew him, and he knew her.
Draco's fingertips grazed from the bottom of her wrist to the top of her arms. Hermione stepped closer to him, the top of her head barely meeting his chin. He pulled her face up by the curl of his thumb, kissing her deeply.
They fell onto the bed without letting go. Hands discovering the shape of the other.
Taking a sudden charge, Draco flipped her over so her stomach pressed against the mattress. He pinned her hands above her head and scooped her hair to the side. His breath was hot against the tip of her spine as his mouth left a trail of love along every scar. Hermione relished in the attention of his touch. It meant so much more knowing he wanted her despite the tragedies.
As she leant back on her knees, Draco moved to get a hold of her hips. Planting sensual pecks all the way down until he reached the peak of her tailbone. A nervous flitter danced around her chest at the close proximity to her arse. It didn't settle even when his face met hers to kiss her cheek and she felt the pressing of his thighs.
"Do you want me like this?" She asked quietly.
"No." He insisted. "I want to look at you."
Hermione shifted so that she laid on her back. Draco kept her hands pinned above her head while running his tongue along each nipple, sucking until she arched in pleasure. She could feel how hard he was, begging to be inside.
Draco lowered himself to lay beside her on the bed. His legs tangled between hers as their bodies naturally moved against each other. Hermione was wet, and didn't feel embarrassed to show it.
"Tell me you want me." She whispered.
"I want you, Hermione." He confessed.
Not a word more needed to be spoken. Draco held himself up as he pushed himself into her, breaths caught in their throats at the pleasure.
He was bigger than she was used to, but not enough to hurt. His mouth was kind to her neck while she clawed at his back. Two souls finding each other at last.
There was intimacy in the way he filled her over and over again. Hermione couldn't help but let her jaw drop and forehead crease with how he moved inside her. Every clash of their hips hitting a spot she never knew existed.
She nibbled at the nook on his throat with hopes that it would contain the noises begging to escape. Wrapping one of her arms around his back, she pulled her chest up to meet his, nipples hardening at the closeness. They both cursed under their breath.
"You can do whatever you want to me." Hermione pleaded, locking her eyes with him within the darkness.
The corner of Draco's lip curled, "Not yet." Wanting to cherish this moment for every second it gave them.
He let her lay flat onto the mattress and moved to lift her legs over his shoulders. Never coming out of her and keeping the rhythm at speed. He held onto her calves and kissed each ankle.
Hermione bit down on her lower lip, and was forced to let out a moan as soon as he started to rub her clit. Her hands scrunched at the sheets beside her, straining to not gasp the longer he pushed her to the edge.
She could feel him needing to finish but wanting to do more. He lifted her legs off his shoulder but kept one in his arm as he laid down beside her. His mouth captured her breast, tongue rolling around at the nipple while Draco fucked her from the side.
Her own hand fell to play with herself. She didn't do it as well as he did, but it was a pleasure she had never known until now. Merlin, she never wanted this to end.
The heat of their bodies stuck to the sheets. Each of his strokes had power and authority, making her feel like she was wanted… like she was craved for.
Taking things into her own hands, Hermione slid away to straddle his hips. She lowered herself down, pausing at the brief pain from his size and continuing until he could not fit anymore. Her feet were flat against the mattress as she began rocking herself up and down. The two moaned in harmony, gasping for air at the new sensation.
Draco's hands were big enough to wrap around her waist and for his thumbs to reach the perfect spot on her clit. He pushed down on the sensitive bit of flesh, rubbing in slow motions while Hermione bounced.
"Fuck…" Draco hissed, his veins popping along his neck.
Hermione kept a hand on his torso to fasten the pace. She had never been in any other position apart from lying on her back, but after knowing how good he felt in her like this, she never wanted to stop.
They kept their motion going before Draco sat up to pull her legs under themselves. Her breasts bouncing against his chest with hands messy in each other's hair. Hermione's head fell back, letting his touch heal every ache in her broken body.
Bodies fumbled in close proximity while heavy breaths filled the air. An exchange of 'yes's swimming in between until neither could take it anymore.
Draco's head fell into her shoulder, grunting as he finished inside of her. Hermione ran her hands over his shoulders, finding it hard not to fall in love with the feeling of him cum inside her. A tradition she could get used to.
They sat in the intertwining letting the sweat of their bodies mix as they caught their breaths. Draco kissed her over and over again, refusing to remove himself. Hermione let him. Her fingers trailed the lining of his scar across his back.
"Promise me you will never leave me." She begged.
Draco slowly pecked at each of her collar bones and then back to her mouth.
"I promise."