Draco
Hogwarts
Mid-May 1996
"I think I'm quite right about this actually," Hermione said, squirming slightly on Draco's lap. She looked down to see a bemused smirk radiating up at her.
The two sat in their clearing in the Room of Requirement with a found chalkboard placed in front of them. They shared an overstuffed, over dusty arm chair as they reviewed their work.
Hermione eventually got up from Draco's lap, not without effort by Draco to keep her in place. Once free, she walked up to the board to scribble new thoughts.
The board read: "Possible solutions", and under it was a list of ideas that the two had generated over the course of the past few hours.
It had only been two days since Draco had been discharged from the medical wing. From the established state of their hideout, Hermione had been hard at work preparing a proper space to plan for the two of them.
He watched her at the board, her hand on a hip that was cocked to the side, looking thoughtfully at what they had already written down. Her mouth scrunched up to the side as she thought, and she tapped her lips with her free hand like a metronome.
Watching her in her element made Draco's imagination go in a different direction than scheming to save his life.
Every night that he was in the medical wing, she had been there with him. Worried for her ability to sleep properly, at a certain point he attempted to get her to spend one night away. His attempt was half hearted at best though, seeing as how he wanted her no place other than where he was.
Either way, she didn't take the bait and the stubborn Hermione Granger that she promised him she'd be prevailed. Instead, Draco urged her into bed the moment she arrived, and did his best not to distract her so she would sleep.
Draco's skin warmed watching her. They hadn't done anything very physical together since their reunion, other than kiss. She had worried she'd hurt him, and he was worried he would never have enough of her.
"I'm right, aren't I?" she asked, getting his attention back to the board.
She had written, "Fake Draco's Death"
He considered it and begrudgingly nodded, though in normal circumstances he would fight her just to see her get riled up. But even agreeing with her was not enough. She put her hand on her hip, not satisfied with his half hearted response.
"It's a good idea!" she protested in a very cute way, Draco thought.
How was this his life right now? He was in a secret room at Hogwarts brainstorming a way to stay alive with none other than Hermione Granger. Strangely, it actually all felt very right to him.
"My mother will be quite distraught if I die," Draco reasoned from the armchair, leaning forward in thought over his knees. "She'll likely inspect the body. She may have her doubts."
"There was a book I found the other day on advanced organic transfiguration," Hermione began, walking back over to him, taking a seat in his lap and curling her legs in to regale him on what she read. He sat back, giving her his full attention.
"It would have to be a very convincing duplicate of me," Draco considered, looking up and to the right in thought.
"But do you agree that if we can make a decent..." Hermione began
"Perfect" Draco corrected. "Perfect replica. My mother will know"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Semantics. OK perfect. If we can make a perfect body double of you, and we can make it look like you were killed, then that hits all of the buckets right?"
He thought over the different boxes they were trying to hit in their plan. Hermione continued.
"Your mother and father won't have to flee, which is the safest bet. You said it yourself that your mother can handle herself. I know your father is a wild card once he's out of Azkaban"
"If he gets out of azkaban," Draco said into the void. Hermione nodded.
"If you die in pursuit of Voldemort's task, don't you agree your family will be back in good standing and safe?" Hermione asked, her arm resting on his shoulder, balancing herself against him. He nodded in a grim sort of way.
"It still leaves the caveat of repairing the cabinet," Hermione tapped on her lip again in thought. Draco gazed up at her, wanting to completely abandon this exercise and do something different.
She stood up abruptly, walking to the board.
"Is this what it's like when you're solving all of Potter's problems?" Draco called out to her as she walked away from him. She glanced over her shoulder in a coy way that made him nearly leap to his feet in pursuit of her.
"I can assure you I'm not sitting on Harry's lap while we're brain storming"
"That's the relief of the century," Draco joked, leaning back into the chair, trying to calm himself down.
"No the relief of the century will be when we have this plan figured out. Now focus," she ordered, and he couldn't help but smile up at her.
"Whatever you say," he obliged, still leaning back, measuring his breath, finding her more attractive than ever in that very moment.
"There are many variables but follow me here. If the vanishing cabinet can be repaired, you can bring Death Eaters in, and you can get out. We know that Harry and Dumbledore have been meeting together, and it's likely they'll leave the castle on one of these meetings." Hermione took a breath, glance once more at everything written on the board.
"If we can time it, you can usher in the Death Eaters when we know Harry and Dumbledore have left, then I can then alert the order effectively setting up a trap to apprehend them. Still to be determined, but the crux in getting your name cleared is then transfiguring something to appear to be your body to give the impression you died during the mission. All the while you'll have used the vanishing cabinet to get out, and get somewhere safe."
"Granger it still stands" Draco cut in seriously. "I will make sure your parent's memories are modified and get them to Australia before I go anywhere."
Hermione looked at him, her eyes glittering from the mysterious light that lit the Room of Requirement. "I appreciate that." she looked away from him for a moment, then to the board. "Is it strange to say that I think I should be the one to do it?"
Draco stood and approached her, taking her in his arms. Her eyes found his quickly, searching them for comfort.
"It's not strange at all," he said softly, kissing the ridge of her hair, holding her tightly. "It's only strange that you are put in the position to have to do it in the first place."
"But it's the safest option, right?" Hermione asked anxiously, looking for reassurance.
"Yes," He told her honestly, to which she nodded.
It was an odd sensation for Draco to be this honest and transparent with anyone. If asked, he would describe it as freeing, like the something inside him had been made to be more buoyant.
She sniffled and wiped the back of her hand against her eye. Stepping back, she cast her analytical gaze back to the board.
"So this seems like the right plan?" Granger questioned aloud, taking a gulp of breath to ease her drying tears. Draco reached out and rubbed her arm in support.
"I don't like the idea of me running off and hiding while you stay and fight," he said, and it wasn't the first time he had declared such a thing. Late nights in the medical ward, when brainstorming was only quiet thoughts passed between one another before drifting off, Draco felt inadequate with the thought of him fleeing. More than that, he hated any idea that did not include them remaining together.
She looked sadly up to him, her arms now around his waist.
"Faking your death is the safest way, and if you turn up after being presumed dead, your parents will be in serious danger," she explained to him, though he very well knew all of this.
"And you're sure Potter and King Weasel wouldn't be in favor of me joining your band of idiots into war?" Draco asked callously, to which she elbowed him, but gave him a burning grin all the same.
"No I don't think they would, but aside from that I'm sure word would get out rather quickly that a blonde haired grumpy looking wizard was with us, which would cause problems," She countered back.
He was about to dispute, but she went on.
"And even if you were to polyjuice or transfigure yourself to look like someone else, there's not a personal alive that Harry and Ron would be OK with joining us when we go on the run."
He hated how she said when, and not if they went on the run.
His head dipped. "Alright Granger, you've proved your point"
She kissed the side of his jaw tenderly at his white flag.
"But if this all works out, I'll become an animagus and find you," he threatened, looking down at her jeeringly.
She smiled back up to him. "What would you be?"
"Should I be an otter?" he asked, her brow hitching at his proposal. "So you know it's me?"
"We'd have to be by water for that to work, don't you think?" She reasoned thoughtfully.
"Well then be by water," he instructed in a low tone as he moved his mouth down to hers.
Her hands snaked up around his neck, pulling him down to deepen their embrace. A soft "hmmm" vibrated against his lips as he moved his tongue to meet hers.
His hands found their way from her hip to the edge of her breast with ease. He heard a sharp intake of breath when his thumb grazed against her nipple.
He was hard already, he noticed as he tried to calm himself down.
Even though she knew everything, there was still a question around sex. Obviously, Draco wanted nothing more to abandon reason and if she'd have him, shag her senseless that very second.
But there was a hitch. Being ever pragmatic, Granger strongly suggested the need for a backup plan. And their current back-up plan made the idea of being Granger's first incredibly irresponsible.
So far though, he had been able to control himself with less carnal delights, so he continued to indulge with this surprisingly sultry witch of his.
Hungrily he gripped at her breast, loosing a growl, and she pushed her body into his waist, giving friction to the length of him, making him question all of his good sense.
His hands moved up her breast and to her neck, directing her jaw now so he had full access to the expanse of her neck. He could feel a moan building in her throat as his tongue danced along a very important vein, that also happened to be Granger's weak spot.
With the moan now dancing at Granger's lips, Draco cursed Voldemort for many reasons, but in that very moment, for being a terrible cockblock.
Just behind them, an alarm went off, stilling them both.
Again, ever pragmatic, Granger set an alarm for ten so neither would draw any additional suspicion at being out so late.
Never in his life did Draco ever think a responsible witch with wild curly hair would be his biggest turn on, but as it so happened, it really did it for him.
She smoothed down her shirt and looked up at Draco in a flustered way that drove him to further brinks of insanity.
"We should go," he finally said, sparing her from the burden of always having to be the adult in the room. She bit her lip and nodded.
They lingered at the door for far too long, each stealing a kiss when they thought it was goodbye just for the other to drag out the departure with a comment daring a light spat or a innocent graze of the other's bare skin.
Eventually, Draco left the Room of Requirement, bringing Crabbe and Goyle with him, leaving a clear path for Granger to leave for Gryffindor freely.
It would be a struggle to keep his urges at bay for much longer, but for the first time in his life, something felt more important than whatever it was that he wanted.
It was an appalling, lovely feeling.
It would seem that every new day with Granger resulted in a shocking revelation to the man he could be.