Chapter Seven

Hermione awoke the next morning in a disoriented daze. Her eyes fluttered open to take in the deep greens in the room, and then she realized she was lying on a bed. A movement against her back made the memories of the night before come spilling back to her. Her skin grew hot as she felt Draco's body curved along her back. She kept perfectly still, hoping that he might move away from her in his sleep. After several minutes of waiting, it became apparent that Hermione would have no such luck, and decided to take her chances with getting out of the bed.

She tried to gently pull away from him, but found that he was an observant sleeper. As soon as she shifted next to him, his right hand, which had been resting on her side, slipped to her stomach and pulled her tighter against him. Hermione, getting frustrated, tried again to get out of the bed, but only succeeded in rubbing against him in ways that made her skin heat even more. She let out a moan of aggravation, and tried to pull against Draco again. She felt his arm tighten around her again, and, growing suspicious, Hermione turned her head to look at his face on the pillow next to hers.

Draco was smiling, but his eyes were closed, feigning sleep. Feeling her cheeks get hot, Hermione put her face down on the pillow again. After a moment of her lying still in Draco's arms, she felt him move beside her again. His limbs disentangled themselves from hers, and she felt him sit up next to her. She shut her eyes and pretended to be sleeping. This didn't work, and she jumped considerably when she felt Draco placing a wet kiss on her neck.

While holding the silken sheets over her chest, Hermione turned around to yell angrily at him but found that he was laughing. She stared at him angrily until he stopped. Draco rolled his eyes at her irritation and said, "Well good morning to you, too, darling." She watched as he reached towards the end of the bed and pulled on the black robe he had worn the night before. "I'll have some breakfast sent up from the kitchens," he said as he walked over to the door.

"Where is the bathroom?"

He turned to look at her, and then pointed out a door to his left. She waited until he had left before going into the bathroom, where she took a hot bath. Once she had gotten out of the bath and had dried herself with a fluffy white towel, she could hear Draco in the room next to the bathroom. Hermione looked at the two apparent options; she could just wrap herself in a towel and then put some clothes on when she got back to the bedroom, or she could put on one of Draco's black bathrobes.

She heard him call to her from beyond the bathroom door, telling her that breakfast had been brought. She quickly shrugged on the silk bathrobe, which she had to tie very tightly for it to not reveal large sections of her chest. The sleeves were too long, so she rolled them up as she walked back into the bedroom.

When Hermione joined Draco in a parlor off of the bedroom, she could feel his gaze on the bathrobe she was wearing. She became very aware of the way his lips were curved into something that was half smirk, half genuine smile.

Over pancakes topped with strawberries, Draco and Hermione had their first real conversation. It was awkward at first, but then Hermione asked what they would do that day, and Draco told her that they would walk around a nearby Italian city. He asked her, "Do you like shopping?"

Hermione smiled for real for the first time since before the wedding, and said, "Of course! What are we shopping for?"

"Well, your things were sent over, and I think you could use some new clothes."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Hermione's eyes narrowed and the smile left her lips.

Draco smiled at her easily aroused temper. He leaned back onto the chair and said casually, "Nothing, really. If you like the librarian look." He laughed at the way Hermione's face got a splotchy red color. "I suppose they'll do for when you're at home, but when we have to go to parties and events, you're gong to have to wear fancy dresses and designer clothing."

"Fine," said Hermione quickly, feeling her anger sliding away. However, when she tried to find a suitable outfit for going shopping with Draco, she discovered that his observations on her wardrobe were pretty accurate. She finally settled on a knee-length gray skirt and a creamy silk blouse.

When they apparated into the city's shopping district, Hermione instantly fell in love with the old buildings and leafy trees lining the twisting streets. Draco smiled at her obvious delight, and led her from one shop to another. They bought dresses, shoes, purses, and other odds and ends that Draco insisted on getting. Although she hated to admit it, she was having fun with him. He smiled at her enthusiasm and helped her to decide which articles of clothing to get.

On their way back to the alley where they would dissapparate, Hermione suddenly stopped, gazing longingly at a store across the road. She pulled Draco behind her, and only slowed down when she had stepped into the shop. Polished wooden shelves lined the walls, with books of every color and size stacked in piles and rows. She traced her fingertips over the spine of a leather-bound book. Its title was in Italian, and she wished she knew what it said.

She browsed the bookshop for almost an hour before Draco interrupted her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and realized that he was waiting for her. There was laughter dancing in his sharp gray eyes as he asked her, "Ready to go yet?"

Hermione blushed but pulled several books off the shelves to buy. Three of them were about how to learn to speak Italian-something she had decided would be a new hobby. "Can I just buy these?"

"Sure. We'll have to make a trip back here once we buy a house," said Draco. Hermione knew without saying that by 'house' he meant an estate. "When we have to fill our library, maybe your librarian fashion sense will help out."

Hermione ignored his teasing and quickly asked, "We're going to have a library?"

Draco looked at her like she was crazy. "Of course we have to have a library in our home. It might take a while to fill it with books, but it should be fun."

Hermione wore a grin for the rest of their trip, thinking of buying hundreds of books for her own library. As they left the bookstore, Draco started telling her of several estates that they would be looking at over the next week. As he described the manors and grounds, Hermione didn't find it very difficult to imagine living with Draco in one of the estates for the rest of their lives.

[Authors Note: Sorry about not getting this chapter out to you yesterday like I planned, but my weekend turned out to be a lot busier than expected. I hope you enjoyed chapter seven, and chapter eight will be out most likely on Friday. If I get a great response like last time though, I might be forced to give in and post a chapter early. Next chapter has a dinner with Draco's parents that gets a little argumentative. Before I go I want to send a shout-out to Shining Star, who was really nice and told me my story had "class"! That made me so happy because I was worried about how much smut to put into the last chapter, but decided that this fic isn't about smut. I'm not saying that there won't be a bit of steaminess, but I'm going to actually stick to the R rating for now.]