**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.
Which on a Plunnie note: this fiction was inspired by "If the World was Ending" by JP Saxe & Julia Michaels
Stolen Moments
Hermione ran through the alleyway, the drops of rain weaving around her thanks to the repelling charm she had cast. Having apparated as close as she dared for fear of being tracked, she'd decided to make the rest of the way across town by foot.
An alarming bright flash of light struck across the already electric air, making Hermione's pulse race with dread that she may have waited too late. After all it was so awfully long ago….
Would he remember? And if he had, could he have come even if he wanted?
Taking in a deep breath she let out a sigh, expelling with it all her what-ifs and doubts. She had made her choice. Now she had only to get to the little cottage on the edge of town. Their refuge from the world.
Memories of hands possessively caressing her body and soft touches to her curls danced in her mind urging her to pick up her pace. She moved about as freely as she chose, the total chaos surrounding her by the muggles' confusion caused by the magical panic meant she would hardly be noticed.
A ghost of her finger running through the softest of white hair.
A sigh of hot breath on her lips.
Hermione felt her own breath hitch at the intrusive thought. The pull to get to her destination was only growing the closer she got.
The reprieve from the war had been short lived. Harry and Ron went straight to Auror training. She had chosen to finish her education and take a small break from it all back at Hogwarts. Harry ended up marrying Luna Lovegood after he fizzled out with Ginny. It was a few short years later when Luna first started saying things about Harry's aura changing and getting darker.
She even told Hermione that he was losing once, as a single tear rolled down her cheek.
Hermione wished she had noted that day. Because that was probably the beginning of the end. As it turns out there is only so long that two souls can cohabitate together in a single entity without bleeding together.
As it stands now, Harry and Voldemort are one in the same, though broken and fractured. And yet…he is still the most powerful wizard in the world.
Another flash of light above, and Hermione wonders this time if that was truly lightning or what curse just shot through the air… and did it hit one of the few remaining good guys?
You would be surprised by the amount of people who are unwilling to abandon you even when it is clear you have lost yourself completely. And that has changed the outcome of this world entirely. Two sets of followers united for one leader. One leader who is so mad that all he can lust for is chaos and destruction.
This was never Harry's fault. He knew something was wrong and he fought, which in the end only made it worse.
Her feet sloshed against the pavement as her breaths started coming out in gasps. The gate lining either side of the walk was just coming into sight. She slowed her pace as the entirety of the cottage entered her vision. It was dark and unkempt. Some of the shutters were hanging on their hinges and the grass was swallowing the path before her. The bird bath she'd insisted on sat toppled and abandoned, obviously barren for years.
But she'd already come this far. She stubbornly placed one foot in front of the other as the sky continued its strobing effect behind her.
She held her breath as she tentatively placed her hand on the doorknob. The charms instantly emitted their old welcoming glow, accepting her presence as part of the magic of its occupants. Welcoming her like a long-lost old friend.
She twisted the knob, anticipation making her heart feel like it was going to beat out of her chest.
Please. Please. Please.
She begged to whatever god was still listening.
Let him be here.
Let him not have forgotten me.
Grief struck her heart as the door slowly swung open. Revealing an old abandoned living area encased in dust and darkness.
He didn't come. She warred with the shock at his absence, just as violently as the storm was warring outside the cottage walls.
Or maybe worse, he would never be able to come… the thought struck her with such acridity that a sob ripped itself from her throat.
Hermione couldn't breathe as she realized she had indeed come to late, they both had. She allowed the door to close behind her and she slid along her back to the floor. She stared at bits and pieces of memories of their stolen moments scattered around the room. The little mementos the only evidence that the couple had ever been there. A month here, a weekend there, each a moment to fill a lifetime, a lifetime until the last time. That was the promise.
That final year at Hogwarts had given more than just Hermione the break they needed. Many others had sought out that refuge too, Draco Malfoy being one of them. That was where their stolen moments began…an accidental run in at the library, a lingering touch in the potions supply closet. Until Hermione realized these touches were no longer accidental, neither by Draco nor herself. Once he knew she'd realized this, he stole his first kiss from her in her favorite section of the library. Her life became a whirlwind of stolen moments after that. All because their lives were stolen by their other responsibilities.
He held her as she cried. Rubbing her back in soothing motions. He had known she would take it this way, that's why he'd waited until the very last moment to tell her. He was lucky enough that she never questioned him on their discretion throughout the school year, but then again, that could have easily been for her benefit just as much as his.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she managed to squeak out, her voice small and fragile. Not his Hermione, but the Hermione from right after the war. The Hermione who was scared everyone around her was going to die.
He let out a sigh. His insides twisting in knots. He had done this to her. And he had put it off as long as he could.
He cupped both of her cheeks in his hands and stared into the most glorious pair of honey brown eyes he had ever seen.
"Because I love you, Hermione. And I needed you to have this time with just us. It doesn't officially change anything until we walk out of these doors. And even then…"
He sighed and pressed his forehead into hers. "let anyone try to keep me from you entirely." He gave her his most charming smirk.
"I'd have to die first."
"That's exactly why I'm worried about you…YOU PRICK! Hermione shrieked and slapped at his chest. Draco caught her hands before she could leave, there she was, HIS Hermione.
"Language" He tsked, "Now, come here Granger." He ordered with a tug back on her wrists. He leaned forward parting her mouth with his own…
"Revelio"
Hermione blinked at the sudden intrusion of light to her darkness. The source, the firepit on the far wall of the room was now lit, burning in fact with a graceful burn that had been there for hours. The room no longer appeared dank and abandoned but was in fact cleaned and upkept. It almost looked just like she remembered it if not for the minor signs that someone else had been living there since she had last been there.
She looked around wiping the blur of tears out of her eyes in confusion.
"I don't… I don't understand." She heard herself talking to no one in particular.
Her mind was having a hard time processing with this level of mental whiplash.
"Granger."
She turned her head to the sound of the voice. There, closer to the fireplace but angled toward the door was a chair where sat a man with the face of an angel. She took him in with her eyes, not believing he was really before her. He had remained seated, as not to startle her, but she could see all his little signs that he was anxiously waiting for her. The slow tap of his finger on his knee, the barely there shake of his thigh. Still she took her time. His hair was slightly longer than she remembered it, but aside from that and the darkness under his eyes, he was the same.
He had come. And from the looks of it, had been here for quite some time before her.
"Draco…" she trailed off as he immediately stood to come before her, quickly lifting her into his arms.
Before she knew what had happened, his mouth was on hers, a desperate need driving him forward. Hermione moaned into his mouth and allowed herself to get pulled under with him.
He shifted his hold on her, allowing her to wrap her legs around his waist. He groaned at the feel of her center once again pressed against him. He brought his hands up to cup her delicate face for the first time in years. The muscle memory in his fingertips automatically began tracing the beautiful lines of the only face he could love in this lifetime. He pulled back from their kiss just enough to allow his eyes to do the same. Her eyes were darker than before, having seen too much for too long on the front line of things and yet she breathed him in like a lifeline.
He breathed her in like a prayer. The promise. Our promise. She remembered our promise. He felt overwhelmed at her presence.
She must have noticed the flash of madness in his eyes, causing her to snake her arms around his neck and pull his mouth back to hers. Effectively grounding him back to her and the moment.
"Fuck, Hermione." Draco managed to groan as Hermione none to gently tugged his bottom lip between her teeth.
There would be time for loving, slow and caring. But this was not it. This was a burning: a fire he had to direct or be consumed in its wake. The magic crackling in the air above them was tantalizing.
His hands gripped her hips roughly as he slammed her back into the wall. Hermione felt herself arch into him in response, a trail of fire ripping to her core. Draco leaned into her nipping at her collar bone in response as his hands switch gears and began to work the buttons on her jeans. She worked at his shirt ripping it in the process.
"Sorry." She mumbled over his lips.
He chuckled in return. "I've got dozens." He followed the statement by ripping the rest of the buttons off the shirt as well.
"Prick!"
"Language." He asserted while bringing his hand solidly down her exposed bottom.
She gasped as he smirked in delight. And damn if Hermione wasn't nearly undone by that one look alone.
Draco carried her to the back bedroom, their bedroom, where they made quick work of the rest of each other's clothes.
He backed her toward the bed. Dipping his head to once again capture her lips. She allowed his tongue to sweep past her lips, sealing all the promises that the night would hold. She felt the wetness flood her knickers, the one article of clothing he had yet to remove. She whimpered remembering the sheer number of things he could do with that tongue.
They came crashing to her back when her knees finally hit the bed. If this pained her at all she hardly noticed, what she did notice was the way his hand snuck down to encircle her ankle to lock it back up around his waste as he slid them up the bed, lining his hard length right against her core.
She hissed at the jolt of pleasure that moment of friction had brought her. She ground her hips against him again seeking more. He moaned in appreciation as he moved in time with her. Only the thin, slick bit of fabric still keeping them apart.
She felt him run his hand from her knee and slowly back up her thigh until his fingertips were grazing the underside of her lace thongs. He hooked one finger into her panties slipping between her folds to find her completely ready for him.
"So fucking wet Granger."
Eyes wide and darkening Hermione watched as he brought his finger to his mouth to taste her. He looked back at her, eyes ablaze with molten silver, with lascivious approval.
He pulled he knickers off in one smooth tug before caging her beneath him in his arms. She could feel their magical energy between them racing up her skin, setting her nerves on fire. She could feel his every breath around her as the space grew closer between them. She felt the pressure of him at her entrance. She rolled her hips toying with his size. She arched up to capture his mouth the exact moment that he drove himself inside her.
She cried out at the heavy feel of him inside her. His arms shook as he waited for her, but Hermione needed this too much for him to take it easy on her. She arched up and slid her body back onto his. Hermione watched with satisfied pleasure as his control slipped away.
She grasped onto his shoulders and met him thrust for thrust as he first set a rapid pace. Hermione dug her nails into his back, and he slowed, gripping her hip to guide their motions together. He grasped the back of her neck with his other hand and tilted neck back to the side.
Hermione panted as Draco began his rhythmic assault on the tender flesh behind her ear. She felt the first shoots of excitement curl through her toes and she moaned, nails digging further into his flesh.
"Draco…" she let his name fall from her lips just like she had so very many times before. In this very bed. She allowed her hands to drag up to tighten her grip in his hair.
He responded with a hiss as his hand reflexively tightened on her hip.
"That's right Princess…" he purred at her, "let go for me."
Another small cry left her mouth as another shockwave of pleasure rippled through her at his command. She heard him give a groan of approval as her inner channel began to tighten around him.
"Fuck yes, just like that."
He sped up their pace and Hermione felt that slow heat coil tight in her core until she snapped and wave after wave of pleasure washed over her at Draco's murmured urgings.
"Oh, Merlin yes, Draco!" She screamed as her release overtook her. She felt her world spin and shatter around her.
La petite morte. A million little deaths falling all around her. With them, her wall came crumbling down. Her cries of pleasure quickly morphed into a mix of relief and sadness. Hope and desperation. Relief and despair. All at once yet each of their own accord.
She felt him kiss away her tears as his rough visage faded into gentle caresses. His body now moving in time with their hearts, the love song to the dance of their life.
"Hermione." His breathe was barely a whisper in her ear.
Her fingers were twined above her head in his one hand as his other made a leisurely trail down the side of her, exposing her hidden dragon tattoo. Hermione's back came off the bed, toes digging in beneath her. It was the most glorious feeling, having him reveal the hidden ink, exposing his mark. Hermione moaned as the new position only pulled him in deeper into her body while he continued to trace the outline of the creature encasing her entire left rib down to her hip.
He thrust into her at a maddeningly controlled pace that had Hermione rolling her hips to meet him at each stroke. She pulled one hand free to run her fingers over the left of his chest. Draco hissed and jerked above her as his own dragon appeared coiled protectively over his heart and lounging languidly over his back and shoulder. She watched as his began to shift and move as she knew hers was doing as well. They would seek each other out once activated, just a piece of the bond, two pieces of a whole reuniting again.
"Promise me!"
"What?"
"Promise me that before this is all over, you'll come back to me. Promise me there will always be one last time."
"How is that even fair to ask of me?"
Her fingers found his hair again and she pulled him close, fully entangling herself with this man who was never meant for her but would always be the one. She kissed him fervently, pouring her soul and all that had been unfairly stolen from them. Every hidden kiss, every secret night, every forced goodbye wondering if it would be the last.
Every desperate attempt to hold on a little longer rushed to the surface as she tried to breathe him in and consume every bit of what made him hers.
She felt their magic pull tighter further solidifying their connection.
Draco could feel the feral vibrancy in the air. It was the very thing that had thrown them together in the first place. It was pushing him closer to the edge at the speed of a freight train, and the woman beneath him… his woman.
She'd come back. He had always known she would.
He let his final barrier fall. He let Hermione pull the last of him to her so she could have all of him one last time just as he had demanded of her.
She felt the drop of moisture fall on her face from his that quickly went to mingle with her perspiration. She also felt him kiss her back with the love of a lifetime, a love that was always hers but forever out of reach. And the treasure of that promise, the promise made all those years ago that she laid here to fulfill.
Hermione knew the moment Draco gave himself over to her. She could feel the roil of tension release from his body as he let go of everything that was not her and them in this moment and rolled his hips into her again and again.
Her senses were on overload as their magic replicated each other's every feeling. She felt them climbing closer and closer to the edge and all she could was hold on.
The peak was as blinding as the fire lighting the night ablaze beyond the cottage walls. Wave after wave of pleasure overtook her and she was vaguely aware of Draco's weight above her but was blissfully ignorant to screams of torture and agony of the people in town as Harry's followers drew ever closer. They both lay there relaxed and spent. Content to once again be in each other's arms. Even if it was just one last stolen moment.