AN: I have to admit, I expected more of a reaction from the ch. 21 post on Thursday. Hopefully you all are still with me.
As always, thanks to Bex for beta reading for me. Thanks to all if you for reading. And thanks to JKR for creating these characters and this world that I love to play around in.
Happy Halloween!
Lost Souls of Nott Castle
Chapter 22 - Too Far Gone
"I see the two of you were busy over the weekend," Agent Kimmey said to them Monday morning. She dropped a copy of the Prophet on the desk between them. "I'm embarrassed to admit that I did not know I had the pleasure of spending my Monday's with both a hero and a villain of the latest battle between good and evil."
Hermione and Draco shared a glance.
"I'm curious," Hermione said. "Which does it say I am? With Rita Skeeter you can never be too sure."
Agent Kimmey raised her brow, then picked up the paper.
"Actually, it says you are ' obviously heartbroken by the rejections of both Harry Potter and his sidekick, Ron Weasley, and getting back at them by dating their longtime rival, Draco Malfoy. Of course, if Miss Granger has any illusions to the Malfoy family fortune, she will be disappointed to find that her blood status, unfortunately, disqualifies her from ever receiving a knut from the Malfoy family vault."
"Oh Merlin. Please, stop reading." Hermione groaned. There was a reason she had refused to read the article the day before.
"Very well." She dropped the paper and turned her focus to Draco. "Has anyone attacked you this week, Mr. Malfoy?"
"No. But Granger did receive two more threats. She had to quit her job because he went there and was harassing her. Then on Friday night he confronted me and threatened her again."
"I reported it all to Minister Shacklebolt on Saturday." Hermione assured her.
"Odd that you went to the Minister of Magic himself, but I am glad you reported it. Will you tell me his name now so I have it on file."
Hermione hesitated. Especially after the agent had read that article, she wasn't sure what the reaction would be. Draco looked at her expectantly. He was leaving it up to her, but she knew what he wanted her to do.
"Harry Potter." She said quietly.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" The agent asked.
"I said his name is Harry Potter." She cleared her throat. "I did tell you that it was complicated, yes?"
The older woman appraised her for a long moment.
"That you did, Miss Granger," she replied with a sigh. "That you did."
She made a note in her file. Then she took Draco's wand and checked it.
"Okay. Looks good. I understand you'll be taking your NEWT's next week, so we won't meet next Monday. I'll see you both in two weeks."
They stood to leave, but paused when she cleared her throat.
"I do hope that you are taking precautions to protect yourselves." She stated.
Hermione shared another look with Draco before responding.
"We are, Agent Kimmey. Thank you."
The agent nodded at them and they left her office.
"She is definitely warming up to you," Draco told her as they stepped on the lift.
"No, she isn't," Hermione answered with a laugh. Although, she thought, maybe she was just a little bit.
They returned to Nott Castle for lunch, then Draco headed off to work. Hermione joined Theo and Blaise in the library to study for their NEWT's.
They were working on Defense Against the Dark Arts that day, so instead of staying in the library they moved to the roof where there was plenty of room. Then they proceeded to run down the list of spells that was on their study guide. They took turns attacking each other and defending the attacks. Harmless dueling.
Late in the afternoon, the two wizards decided to take on Hermione at the same time. They didn't realize that Draco had returned home and stood by the staircase watching them.
Hermione stood between the two of them, blocking their curses and returning harmless spells. She was enjoying herself, but she was toying with them.
For several long minutes they parried until she decided to end it. She caught Blaise off guard with an expelliarmus. Then she quickly hit Theo with a stupify. In a span of mere seconds they were both on the ground and she was smiling between them.
He started clapping, a slow mocking sound.
"Well done, Miss Granger," he said in a bored tone.
She looked up at him and rolled her eyes. Then she gave a small bow.
"What happened?" Theo asked after Blaise revived him.
"We lost. Again." He answered with a laugh.
"You know, Granger, you should let them win every now and then. Boost their confidence a little, yeah?" Draco told her as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Confidence is a dangerous thing," she replied. "Too much will get you killed faster than anything else."
"Words to live by." He tilted her chin up and kissed her. The kiss started small. As soon as he pulled back, though, she pulled him right back and deepened the kiss.
"Alright, enough of that," Blaise laughed.
Rain had moved in and was beating down on the domed roof.
"Alright, Malfoy," she said with a smirk. "Let's see what you've got."
She turned and walked ten paces away from him. He did the same. They faced each other and bowed. Theo and Blaise moved out of the way quickly and sat back to enjoy the show.
She came out strong, firing an expelliarmus his direction. He barely deflected it in time. She followed quickly with a stupify. He was quicker to deflect that time. If he thought she was going to go easy on him, he was wrong.
Soon they were in a heated duel, neither showing any mercy for the other, but still firing relatively harmless curses. After a rather long battle, she managed to land a stinging hex on his shoulder. He faltered, grabbing at his arm.
"Are you okay," she yelled across the distance.
"Expelliarmus!" He countered.
She tried to deflect, but she had dropped her guard. Her wand went flying through the air and she was knocked backwards, landing hard on her arse and skidding across the roof.
"Dammit!" She yelled with a slight laugh in her voice when she came to a stop.
"I'm fine, Princess." Draco laughed even as he was walking towards her. "Thanks for asking."
"Such a stupid mistake." She shook her head. He stood over her then, holding his hand out to help her up. She hesitated a moment, then took it. She allowed him to pull her up to her feet and into his arms.
Almost immediately, his lips were on hers. He kissed her deeply, breathing her in as his tongue tangled with hers.
He pulled back and pressed his forehead against hers.
"Is your arse okay? You hit pretty hard." He asked as he ran his hands over her backside.
"A little sore, but I'll survive." Her hands were around his neck and her fingers were running through his hair. "How's your shoulder?"
"Hurts like hell. I can't believe you stopped to see if your opponent was okay." He shook his head. "What were you thinking?"
"I know, right?" She leaned her head against his chest. "You distracted me."
"I can be quite distracting," he agreed with her. "Seriously though, don't ever do that again."
"Don't worry. Lesson learned."
He put his arm around her and they joined Theo and Blaise by the fire pit.
"Draco, you're my hero." Blaise laughed as he clapped him on the back.
"Oh come on," Theo laughed. "She obviously let him win."
He winked at her and she laughed in return, shaking her head.
"I swear, I didn't," she insisted. Truly, she had not let him win. He had won fair and square. She had lost her focus, only for a moment, and that was all it took.
They were sitting at dinner soon after when a small owl flew in and dropped a letter in front of Hermione. The owl perched on her chair, looking quite exhausted.
"That's Ron's owl," she told them as she picked up the letter. It had her name scrawled across it in Ron's sloppy handwriting.
She opened the envelope, then Draco's hand covered hers. She glanced up and met his gaze.
"You didn't even check it for enchantments. Are you feeling alright? Letting your guard down twice in a row?" He scolded her.
She sighed. He was right, of course.
She took out her wand and checked for any kind of curse on the envelope or the parchment inside. She found nothing, so pulled the letter out and read it.
" Mione, Harry got your letter and saw the Prophet. He is not happy. He said if he couldn't find you, he knew when he would see you again and he'd be ready. Figured you would know what he was on about. Take care. You and Malfoy. Watch your backs. -Ron"
The table was silent for a long moment.
"NEWT's," Draco said quietly. "He'll see you next week at Hogwarts for NEWT's."
She sighed and pushed her hair back behind her ears.
"So he will," she replied. There wasn't much she could do about that.
Soon after, she excused herself and left the dining room. Her mind was going a mile a minute and she could not sit still any longer.
Draco had asked her if she was alright. He was right. She had let her guard down. Twice in an hour's time. What the hell was wrong with her?
She had completely let her guard down with him, for that matter. She swore she would never do that again, but here she was, trusting the people around her. She knew where that would lead.
Hurt.
Betrayal.
Emptiness.
She stood in the shower under hot water and found herself gasping for air. What would she do if Draco betrayed her now? She had already given him her heart. It was too late to take it back. It was too late to save herself from the inevitable fall.
She slid to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees. Tears flowed freely while she struggled to breathe through the anxiety attack.
Vaguely, she heard knocking on the door. Then her name being called. She couldn't even answer. She thought maybe he would just go away.
Leave her.
Desert her.
The thoughts made her sob a little harder, the pressure on her chest a little tighter.
Then he was there.
"Hermione? What the hell?" He stepped into the shower with her, fully clothed, and sat next to her, pulling her into his arms. He gently rocked her back and forth as he whispered in her ear, "It's okay. I've got you."
Which only made her cry harder.
Eventually, though, she was able to time her breaths with his. She realized she was gripping his shirt. She forced her fingers to relax. Then she took a deep, shaky breath. Then another.
"I'm sorry," she whispered in a broken voice. She felt broken.
But he was still there.
Still holding her.
"Don't be." He held her a little tighter. His lips brushed against her forehead.
Draco leaned back against the wet tile, taking his first deep breath since he had found her curled in a ball on the floor of the shower.
He had known something was wrong when she left the dining room. He had let her go, though, not wanting to be overbearing. When he knocked on her door twenty minutes later and didn't get a response, a pit had opened in his stomach.
He waited five more minutes before he knocked again and yelled out her name before opening the door. Relief had washed over him when he heard the shower running. He knocked on her bathroom door and still didn't get a response. The pit opened again.
As he held her against him, he realized that underneath her tough exterior was a girl that had been through hell. That was still going through hell.
Slowly she sat and leaned against the tile next to him. Only then did she seem to notice that he had turned the water off and wrapped a towel around her. She tugged the towel around to cover her body, even though he had seen it all already.
Her head fell against the tile and she wiped at her eyes with her hands.
He didn't ask her any questions. Whatever was going on in her mind, she would tell him if she wanted him to know. He just sat there next to her.
She turned her head to look at him.
He turned his head to look at her as well. Their eyes locked. What he saw in her brown depths shook him almost as much as finding her in the midst of her panic attack had done.
Fear.
The fear in her eyes took his breath away. He had seen fear like that once before, months earlier on his drawing room floor.
She blinked several times. With each blink, the fear dulled a little bit until it was gone and he was left to wonder if it had really been there at all.
He helped her out of the shower. She wrapped a dry towel around her body and another around her hair. Then she looked at him and shook her head with a ghost of a smile playing on her lips.
"You are soaking wet," she told him, pointing out the obvious.
"Am I? I hadn't noticed." He winked at her, then with a flick of his wand he dried his clothes off.
She pulled the towel off her hair and started combing through the tangle on top of her head.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Draco asked. He flinched as the words left his mouth. Of course she didn't want to talk about it.
For a long minute she didn't say anything.
"It hit me all of a sudden, that's all." She cleared her throat.
He waited for her to continue.
"When the Weasley's threw me out, I swore I would never trust anyone but myself ever again."
She took a shaky breath and wiped at her eyes.
"I fucked that up, though, didn't I?"
She returned to combing her hair while Draco watched. He was at a loss for words, stunned by her confession. Suddenly, it all made sense to him.
He moved to stand behind her, putting his hands on her waist and pulling her back gently. His eyes met hers in the mirror.
"You can trust me, Hermione." He told her. "I've got you."
Her lips tilted as he repeated his words from earlier. She leaned back against him and kept eye contact.
"You better, Draco. I'm too far gone to back out now."
He rested his head on top of hers. A sudden thought had his breath catching in his throat. What if that article had been right? What if she was only with him to hurt Potter for his betrayal?
He swallowed against the sudden pain that thought caused. She would never do that. He knew she wouldn't. She was far too kind to ever hurt anyone like that.
Right?
"You know, this isn't easy for me either." He told her. "For as long as I can remember, the only person I've been able to trust is myself. Until now."
Her hand found his at her waist and she squeezed. Then she turned around and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. They held each other for a few long moments.
"We're in this together, then?" She asked.
"You and me against the world." He replied.
She looked up at him and he kissed her, a slow, lingering kiss. Then with a deep sigh, he stepped back.
He knew why she had been so frightened. He had already trusted her with his life and his heart. What else was there?
Her hands lingered on his chest. Slowly, one by one, she unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders.
Her eyes flicked up to meet his for a moment, then returned to her hands which were now working on his pants.
He tilted her chin up and kissed her again, this time with more passion just as she pushed his pants down to his knees. He broke away from her long enough to kick them off, then he pressed her back against the sink counter and kissed her again.
He picked her up and put her on the counter. She wrapped her legs around him and let the towel fall off her chest.
Their kisses were almost frantic now as they tried to convey to each other their true feelings. His fingers delved inside her and found that she was ready for him. He couldn't get inside her fast enough.
She seemed to be thinking the same thing. As he moved his hand away, she reached for her wand that was lying on the counter beside her. Their eyes met as they performed the charm, then her wand clattered to the floor as he pulled her in for a searing kiss.
He guided himself to her entrance and pushed in as hard and as far as he could. He pulled her hair to tilt her head backwards, then trailed hot kisses down her neck to her chest.
He drove into her again as his lips wrapped around her nipple. Then again as he focused his attention on her other nipple.
Her hands gripped his hair and guided his mouth back to hers. Each thrust made her gasp or moan, each one a little louder than the last.
"You like that, Princess?" He whispered roughly in her ear. "You feel so good around my cock."
"Again," she told him. "Draco, don't hold back. I want to lose control with you."
He stared into her eyes for a moment, then his lip curled up in a smirk. He kissed her hard, then pulled away. She raised her brows as he pulled her off the counter and turned her around.
"Lean forward," he told her as he pressed down on her back. She complied, her eyes meeting his in the mirror as he stood behind her. He spread her legs out and positioned himself where he needed to be.
He pushed inside and her eyes fluttered shut. He waited until her eyes opened again before driving into her again.
He didn't hold back, and neither did she.
Skin slapped against skin as he fucked her. Together they lost control to a cacophony of moans that echoed off the bathroom tile.
She came first, clamping down on his cock as she convulsed around him. He came right after, ejecting his seed deep inside her.
They stayed like that as their bodies came down from the sexual euphoria. Then slowly they straightened up so they were standing in front of the mirror.
Their eyes stayed glued to each other. Unspoken words hung in the air.
Don't break my heart.
His lips found hers and he kissed her deeply. Then he took her to bed and held her close all night.
AN: We are just about halfway through the story now. Hope you are all still enjoying it!
Until next week. -mezy