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A/N Okay, I am late posting this sorry. Please after you read the next few chapters don't send hate mail or weapons of mass destruction. Just give me the benifit of the doubt. Oh, and don't throw your computer out the window. I will make it up to you. Happy reading and don't forget to review!

Decisions and excuses

Hermione woke up a few hours later. It was still dark out. She crept silently out of bed and gathered her clothes, dressing as quietly as possible. She looked back at the large bed, his sleeping body still lying there next to where she had just been. He looked so angelic. She walked back to the bed and softly leaned over his body and kissed his forehead.

"Thank you Draco." she smiled at him before leaving the room and showing herself out the door.

She walked out onto the lawn into the chilly night air. Tears were streaming down her face. She loved him, but she had used him. She still loved Ron, but she hated him at this moment. Ron had lied to her. He was with Lavender. She was sure of it because of the veritaserum. She was so confused. She began to run as fast as she could away from his house. Midway across the lawn she tripped and fell landing hard on the soft grass. The tears came harder and faster as she lie there on the ground. Her bag had spilled its contents on the ground. Hermione gathered her things before looking up at the starry night sky. Her thoughts wandered back to a chilly November night nearly six years ago.

They had gone for a walk around Hogwarts grounds. It was nearly midnight and everyone else was in bed. It was the only time they could be out of their common room together without being seen. Draco was holding her hand and she was feeling very nervous about this walk. The moonlight bathed the black lake in sparkling beauty. He led her over to a rock near the lake where they sat in silence for a moment. She looked up at the sky which was gleaming with twinkling stars. He pointed to a specific combination of stars.

"See that constellation?" he asked her. She looked up and nodded.

"That is Draco the Dragon. I was named after that group of stars. My mum loved the story that her grandmother told her of the dragon. Have you ever heard it?"

"No." Hermione said quietly.

"Well when the goddess Hera married Zeus she gave him three golden apples as a wedding gift. Zeus treasured the apples and kept them in the garden of Hesperides for safe keeping. Atlas owned the garden and a fierce dragon named Ladon carefully guarded the golden apples. Meanwhile, Hercules worked hard to accomplish his twelve labors, purging the sins of murdering is family. His eleventh labor involved obtaining the golden apples. Ladon the dragon was a faithful guard allowing only Atlas to approach him. Knowing this, Hercules made a deal with Atlas. You know about Atlas' burden of carrying the world on his shoulders right?"

She nodded.

"Well Atlas grew tired of carrying the world so Hercules offered to carry it for him while Atlas stole the apples. And Atlas was happy to help forgetting about his obligation to Zeus. Ladon was napping when he heard the footsteps of Atlas. He glanced at his master and went back to sleep. Atlas took the apples and realized he no longer had to carry the earth on his shoulders. He told Hercules he would deliver the apples himself. Hercules read Atlas' mind perfectly; he was a bit smarter than Atlas. He told Atlas that he didn't mind carrying the globe but first he would like to get a shoulder pad to rest it on. Atlas took back the globe without suspecting Hercules. Hercules quickly took the golden apples laughed at Atlas and left the garden. It was too late for Atlas to realize he had been deceived. Hera and Zeus were enraged because the dragon failed to protect the golden apples. After all, he was the guardian of the apples, not Atlas. To punish the Dragon Hera placed the creature among the chilly circumpolar constellations to guard the heavens forever, never resting, never setting."

"Wow" Hermione said. "That is a beautiful story. My mum named me after a character in her favorite Shakespeare play 'The Winter's Tale'." she smiled bashfully.

"I think it is a beautiful name." he had told her, looking into her eyes and kissing her softly. She had looked into his sparkling eyes and fell in love with him.

She looked up again and found the dragon staring back at her from the inky black sky. He was still there, just as he always had been, just as he always would be. She took another look back at the darkened manor and thought of him before disappearing home where Ron was waiting for her on the sofa.

She opened the front door to her apartment carefully, trying to make as little noise as possible. Ron's snoring could be heard as soon as she opened the door.

'Damn' she thought. She tiptoed inside and walked past the sofa where he lay sleeping. She thought she had made it past when he woke up.

"Hermione? Is that you?" he called.

"Yes, its me." she said.

"Where have you been?" he said as he stood up. "I have been worried sick. I waited up half the night."

"You never showed up for dinner so I went out. Where were you?" she asked already knowing the answer.

"Quidditch practice. Then I stopped home, showered, changed and stopped to get you these." he pointed to the table where a large bouquet of red roses sat in a vase.

"You were two and a half hours late Ronald." she said. "You couldn't owl?"

"Coach is working us very hard. I didn't have time to owl." he said looking confused at her agitated demeanor.

"Right. And by coach you mean Lavender Brown right?" she said.

"WHAT? Are you on about this again Hermione? Gods I am sick of having this argument." he said throwing his hands up in the air.

"Are you denying you were with her in the Leaky Cauldron all those weeks ago?" she asked.

"Yes. I told you already I was not with Lavender Brown." his blue eyes pleaded with her.

"You are a liar Ronald Weasley. I had and eyewitness." she stated.

"Yeah, some sodding idiot in the tea shop. What proof do you have before you start throwing accusations out in the open?" he asked.

"I questioned this person with veritaserum. He said he saw the two of you coming downstairs from the inn at the Leaky Cauldron. He wasn't lying." she told him. Her fierce eyes glaring at him.

"Jeez Hermione, you just have to know everything don't you." he said hanging his head.

"So you admit it?" she screamed.

"Yes, but it's not the reason you are thinking." he told her.

"Whatever Ron, the wedding is off." she said flatly. "Leave now."

"Hermione, can you shut up for a second and listen?" she stopped talking and folded her arms across her chest.

"Fine, you have one minute to explain." she said.

"Gods Hermione. Yes, I was with Lavender at the inn, but it wasn't for anything sexual. She is a travel agent. She helped me plan our honeymoon. I gave her the final payment that day. We used the private conference room on the second floor of the bar."

"I don't believe you Ron." she said now panicking.

"Here, look for yourself. The whole thing is here. I was planning on surprising you but I guess that's shot to hell." he tossed a large envelope at her. She opened it and saw the plans for her elaborate honeymoon. A cruise around the world. It was very complicated and she saw why he would need a travel agent.

"So you and Lavender never…" she broke off in mid sentence.

"No Hermione. I love you. I have loved you since we were eleven years old. How could you think that I would betray you like that?"

Hermione suddenly felt very foolish and very guilty. Draco had not lied to her, but it was all a misunderstanding. And she had cheated on Ron last night in retaliation. Her face paled.

"So where were you last night?" he asked her.

"A friend's house from my old neighborhood by my mum and dad's. She hadn't seen me for a while and I was upset." she hoped her lie would cover her mistake.

"Oh, alright. Well I was really worried. I thought something might have happened to you on the way home from work." he came to her and hugged her tightly. She hoped he would not smell Draco's expensive cologne on her clothing.

"I'm sorry to have worried you. I'm going to go shower and change real quick. Then you can show me the honeymoon plans if you don't mind." she smiled weakly. He nodded and took his place again on the sofa picking up the envelope and looking through it. Hermione ran to the bathroom and threw up. She had betrayed Ron, and used Draco. She was the lowest of the low in her opinion. She didn't deserve either one of them. She reached inside the shower and turned on the water. Stripping off all of her clothes she looked at her body in the mirror and noticed something shocking. Small red marks on her breasts, stomach and thighs.

"Oh gods!" she said aloud without realizing it.

"You okay Hermione?" Ron yelled from the living room?

"Fine, sorry. Dropped the soap." she yelled back.

'Shit' she thought. 'Ron is bound to see these marks, what am I going to do?'

She quickly showered and dressed in long pajama pants and a t-shirt. She towel dried her hair and stepped into the living room. Her stomach was so upset over this whole thing. And adding to it was an owl pecking at the window begging to come in.

"Whose owl is that?" Ron said not really looking.

"Must be from the hospital." she lied taking the letter off of the raven owl's leg and opening it quickly.

Dear Hermione,

Where did you go this morning? I woke up and you were gone. No note. Nothing. Last night was the most incredible night of my life. You came back to me; you told me you loved me. I have never felt so alive. Have dinner with me at my house tonight. 7pm. I won't take no for an answer.

Love,

Draco

She read the note and her heart sank lower than she thought possible. She remembered last night. She had told him she loved him and would never leave him again. She had never been a user. But then again she had never been a cheater. Last night she did both. She tossed the note into the fireplace and watched it burn before returning to Ron.

"What was that all about?" he asked.

"I have to go to a stupid seminar tonight at work. I should be done by 10 if you want to come over afterwards." she said. She hated lying.

"No, I have to get up early tomorrow for a quidditch match. I will come by tomorrow afterwards. Just think. Only two and a half weeks until you are my wife. I can hardly wait." he smiled and kissed her on the tip of her nose before they fell asleep on the couch together. They woke up at about noon that day. Ron left to go to practice and Hermione stayed home worrying about dinner that night. As soon as Ron left she sent a note back to Draco telling him she would be there at 7. She sat back and looked at herself in her vanity mirror.

"You are a disgusting human being Hermione Jane Granger." Her pale reflection and bloodshot eyes stared back at her. "And you look like shit."

Later that evening she began to get dressed to meet with Draco. She was going to let him down easily. Tell him that last night had been a mistake. Explain about Ron and Lavender and be on her way. She would marry Ron in a few weeks and look back on this as a huge mistake. She dressed carefully, putting on a long off white cashmere sweater with a rounded neckline and a chocolate brown pleated skirt with brown leather boots. She smoothed her mess of curls into a long straight mane and applied light make up. She had no clue what she was going to say, or for that matter what she was feeling at that moment. As seven neared she grabbed her handbag and apperated to Draco's house. Twilight was just peaking; making the sky look like an artist's canvas of colors. The crisp September air blew through her hair giving it a messy look. The wind whipped past her cheeks turning them pink. She got to the door of the manor and he was standing there already, watching her approach.

"Hi." he said smiling from ear to ear.

"Hi" she replied. He motioned for her to come in.

"I thought we would eat on my private veranda if that is okay with you."

"What ever you want." she said looking around.

"Don't say that or we can just skip dinner." he said grabbing her around the waist and kissing the back of her neck. She laughed uncomfortably.

'This is going to be harder than I thought.' she said to herself. He took her hand and led her upstairs to his master suite. There were French doors to the side that she had not noticed before. They were open tonight and he led her out to the most beautiful veranda she had ever seen. It overlooked an expansive garden that seemed to go on for miles and miles. Roses, lilies, and foliage of every sort filled every inch of the grounds. The sky was beginning to darken just a bit more causing tiny twinkling stars to appear in the inky background. The table was set with bone white china with tiny gold flecks. Tall taper candles flickered in the slight breeze. Small vases filled with tiny baby roses filled the table. He pulled out her chair for her and pushed it in. She blushed in the pale light of the candles before he sat down in front of her.

"You look absolutely stunning Hermione." he told her. She looked over at him and her breath caught in her throat. He was wearing a drop dead gorgeous white tux. She suddenly felt underdressed.

"I didn't know you would be so dressed up or I would have put something nicer on." she said embarrassed.

"No, you look beautiful. Perfect." his dazzling smile caught her off guard.

"Thanks." she mumbled. "You look perfect. Like a male model." she then realized he probably didn't know what that was. She giggled.

"What is a…" he started.

"Well, in the muggle world some men make money by having their picture taken wearing certain famous maker's clothing. They model them. That's why they call them models…never mind." she said blushing. He just looked confused.

"Oh, okay. So it was a compliment?"

"Yes, it was." she smiled at him.

"Good." he smiled back. "So why did you leave so quickly this morning?"

"Oh, well. Look Draco it's complicated. I had a wonderful time last night…" he stopped her.

"So did I. I thought it was a dream…like you never would come back to me. And then you did."

"Look, I have to tell you something." her brown eyes looked into his pale silver ones pleading with him to understand.