Part V
Have I Told You I Ache?
It'd been over two weeks since their conversation about whether they should go through with the ritual or not, and Hermione still hadn't given him a clear answer on what she wanted to do. Draco, who was caught between the possibility that she might live if they don't do it, but also wanting to be connected to her, had left the decision up to her.
It was her life after all that hung in the balance.
-1 March 1999, Monday-
It was Ron's eighteenth birthday, and as was the new tradition, a cake had been delivered to the common room to commemorate the occasion. Draco watched as Harry, Hermione, and Ginny Weasley (who had received permission to be there) gathered at a table with Ron sitting in the place of honor. Along with the cake were a few presents, no doubt from his friends and the rest of his family.
"I'll light the candles," Hermione said, lifting her wand to cast the spell. "Incendio!"
Draco straightened up from his slouched position against the wall of the bay window, and a few others also stared in her direction, for only a couple of the eighteen candles had lit up.
She tried the spell again, and this time three more managed to ignite.
"Have you been taking your potions?" Harry asked her, concerned.
"Yes, I have, Harry," she replied, annoyed. Once more she cast the spell, and another two candles flared.
"Here, let me finish," Ginny offered, and she flicked her wand to light the remaining eleven candles.
"You need to go see McGonagall," Harry ordered Hermione, and even from across the room Draco could see how hard she rolled her eyes.
"I see her every week."
"But this isn't right, and you know it isn't right, and clearly there is something wro-"
"Harry, please," Hermione stopped him, putting her hand on his arm and glancing around the room to see the eyes that were upon her. Then she whispered something that only he could hear, and he gave a nod. A moment later they were singing "Happy Birthday" as if nothing odd had just occurred.
-2 March 1999, Tuesday-
"I'm assuming you went to see McGonagall after Ron opened his gifts?" Draco asked Hermione the moment she had taken her seat across from him.
"Yes."
"And?"
"She just had Madame Pomfrey prescribe me a stronger potion."
He knew there was more to the story, but he decided not to push her just yet; she was already annoyed with her friends, he didn't want her irritated with him, too.
In the time between seeing her fail at performing simple magic, and now, he had been thinking about things he'd been ignoring: she'd looked paler, and not just when it'd been a while between them seeing each other; she'd been doing many tasks manually, when he'd seen her use magic for them before; and in charms (the only class they had together), he couldn't remember the last time she had offered to perform an example spell for their classmates.
Harry was right, something was clearly wrong with her, and it went beyond using too much advanced magic for a summer.
-5 March 1999, Friday-
Hermione was quiet, but also seemed eager to tell him something. Her pallor had improved exceedingly since that Monday, probably thanks to whatever elixir Pomfrey had her taking. She was even using her magic to turn the pages of the book she was reading, as if to prove to him, and herself, that she could do it.
"I think I'm done with working this morning," Draco proclaimed, rolling up the parchment in front of him and stowing it in his book bag. He then went around to her side of the table to lift her from her seat and lead her to their usual spot in the bay window, kissing her the moment they reached it.
She stopped him a couple minutes later, her hands cradling his face.
"I want to do the ritual," she said, looking straight into his eyes.
So that's what's been on her mind.
Draco cleared his throat. "Even if it means you...?"
"Even if it means I die," Hermione nodded, and then she buried her head in his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.
-13 March 1999, Saturday-
Draco and the rest of the eighth years walked down to the dungeons towards the potion's classroom, having yet another inter-house activity to engage in. They were all murmuring curiously about what they would possibly be doing down in there, for as usual, the note telling them to head there hadn't given any clues.
Seamus and Hannah were already waiting for them in the classroom, and they motioned for their peers to take a seat at any available desk. There were excited whispers as they all found a spot, for on the longest wall in the room, which was usually empty, there were now five doors.
"For today's activity put together graciously by Professor Slughorn," Seamus began, "We will be completing a team task where you will be locked in a room and must use our wits to try and escape the other side. Each room is the same, and based around the theme of one of his favorite novels: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. We don't need to have any knowledge of this book to succeed, but he thought to let us know or else some of the things in the rooms may seem odd. We will have one hour, and the group to exit first will receive a small vial of Felix Felicis. Our assigned groupings are on the board, so let's assemble ourselves and stand in front of the proper doors."
Draco looked up at the board and saw that he was in Group A with Anthony Goldstein of Ravenclaw, Hannah Abbott of Hufflepuff, and... Hermione. He tried to hide his grin as he made his way to Door A where the other three were already lined up.
A moment later all six doors swung open, and everyone began to step over the thresholds. Anthony and Hannah entered first, followed by Hermione and Draco. The door closed shut behind him, and before Hermione could step away from him, or the other two could see, he placed a kiss on the back of her neck. She turned and gave him a playful glare.
"Is this going to be an issue for you?" Anthony said pointedly at Draco. "Working with two half-bloods and a muggleborn?"
"I've been doing it all year, I hardly think it'd be a problem now," Draco drawled.
"Oh come off it, Anthony," Hannah spoke up.
Anthony glowered, but dropped his accusations for the time being.
The space they had entered was no larger than a standard bedroom. To the wall on their left there was a China cabinet with a top cabinet, a counter top, and two drawers; to their right there were four identical paintings, except they were all void of color. On the back wall there a small counter with a single stove burner, and next to that a faucet and sink with a clock mounted above; to the right of that was a tall, stand up mirror. Looking back at the wall where the door they came through was in, there was a number puzzle to the left of the door, and four shelves with different figurines and a hat to the right. In the center of the room was a small table that could probably seat six, but there were no chairs, and it had a piece of parchment and a quill set up on it.
"I'm going to start on this number puzzle," Hermione staked her claim, and Anthony followed suit by choosing to cross the room and examine the counter area. Hannah moved over to the China cabinet, which left Draco to investigate the four shelves.
The first shelf held the figurine of a young blonde girl dressed in blue; the one below, a brown hare with a red bow-tie; beneath that a mouse; and on the bottom shelf there was a tall green hat.
"The girl figurine is Alice," Hermione explained as she moved around the number tiles in the frame in front of her. It was one of those five by five puzzles where you want to get all the numbers in order from one to twenty-five. She already had the first row of sequential numbers completed and was working on the second row. "Then there's the March Hare, the Dormouse, and that hat belongs to the Mad Hatter."
"And this information helps me how?"
"It doesn't," Hermione chuckled. "But you looked confused as to how they were connected. In the story they all attend a tea party."
"Speaking of tea," Hannah said, "This cabinet has a tea set, but it's locked; it needs a key to be opened. This top drawer looks like it has tea ingredients, but it needs a numerical code to be opened, and in this middle one I found this basket of oysters, and in the bottom one I found a couple cinch bags with black and white tiles and this box that I think we have to place them in."
Hannah brought her findings to the table, and Hermione went to take a look.
"It's a nonogram puzzle," she said. "See these numbers on the side? They tell you how many black tiles belong in each row, and its the same with the ones at the top." She continued to instruct Hannah on what was to be done, but it sounded too complicated for Draco, so he decided to ignore it and return to his task.
He picked up the 'Alice' figurine, and turned it over. On its bottom was scribed in ink: 3 T, 2 Sugar, 1 Milk.
Interesting, he thought, as he put it back down, and picked up the hare. Written on its base was 3 T, 3 Sugar, 2 Milk. On the mouse he found the inscription 3 T, 1 Sugar, 3 Milk.
"It appears these figurines tell us how they would like their tea," he announced to the group.
"We'll probably use that information later," Hermione noted, now nearly done with her third row of numbers.
Draco picked up the hat and turned it over and inside out, but didn't find anything like he had on the figurines.
Anthony, who had been inspecting the things on the back wall, had also taken on the mystery of the Oysters. There had been a note in the basket that said "Were Thirsty", so he decided to try to run them under the faucet. When nothing happened he set them back on the table and came to join Draco. "So the mirror back there has four colored divots in each corner that match the colors of these figurines," he said, and Draco looked back toward the mirror to see what he meant. Sure enough, each divot was painted a different color: sky blue, red, brown, and bright green. "So whatever goes in there has to do with these."
Draco nodded, just as Hermione let out an "Aha!" She had successfully completed the number puzzle and it had opened like a locker. She reached in and pulled out two vials, one filled with a blue liquid, the other purple. Both said 'Drink Me'."
"Do you think that's safe?" Anthony asked.
"I don't see why not," Hermione said. "The professor set this all up, I doubt he'd make it dangerous."
"The hat doesn't say anything," Draco told her, continuing to scour it for a clue.
"Maybe you have to wear it," Anthony surmised. "Like the sorting hat."
Draco looked at Hermione and she shrugged. Taking Anthony's advice, he put the hat on, and immediately he heard a jubilant chuckle, followed by "I'll take 3 scoops of tea, 5 scoops of sugar please, and no milk!"
Draco took the hat off quickly, not wanting it to repeat itself as he found the voice quite creepy.
"Well?" Hermione said expectantly, and Draco told her what he had heard, which she transcribed onto the parchment on the table. "I suppose we should drink these now," she said, handing one of the vials to Anthony, and another to Draco.
"Why us?" Anthony questioned.
"Don't be a wuss," Draco smirked, opening his vial, which contained the blue liquid, and taking a swig.
He immediately began to grow taller, and he saw both Hermione's and Anthony's eyes bulge.
"I finished it!" Hannah squealed, placing the nonogram puzzle box she'd been tackling onto the table. "It's a picture of a teapo- oh, wow," she said, finally noticing Draco. He had been worried his head was going to hit the ceiling, but he had stopped growing when he was a couple centimeters from the top.
"I'm guessing there's something only you can see," Hermione called up to him. He took a quick look around the room and noticed that on the top of the China cabinet there was a jar. He reached out to grab it, and then handed it down to her. She immediately took the lid off. "It's red paint," she said, replacing the lid and setting it on the table.
"Does he have to stay like that the rest of the time?" Hannah asked.
"There's probably an antidote or something we have to find," Anthony said. "Or maybe it's this other vial, which I'll say again, I'm not drinking."
Both the girls rolled their eyes, and Hannah picked up the unused vial of the purple liquid. "I'll do it then." She uncorked it and took a drink, and instantly began to shrink, not stopping until she was about a foot tall.
"What do you see?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing yet... oh! There's something under the cabinet." They watched as Hannah got down on her knees, and crawled into the space under the cabinet; she returned a few moments later. "There's four paintbrushes!"
Anthony knelt down to retrieve them.
"So we have paint, and paintbrushes..." Hermione mused, and she and everyone else glanced around the room. "The paintings! We probably have to color the roses."
"Great thinking Granger," Draco drawled. "Before we do that could we figure out how to get Hannah and I back to size?"
Hermione glared at him for his impatience. "Why don't you try drinking from opposite vials," she said, grabbing the purple one and holding it up to him. He took it, the bottle now the size of a matchbox in his hand, and emptied it into his mouth. He let out a sigh of relief when he began to return to his normal size.
Seeing that her theory had worked, Hermione bent down to help Hannah drink some of the blue liquid, and she quickly grew to her usual stature.
"Alright, let's start painting," Hermione said as she handed each of them a paint brush.
"Wait, the nonogram box opened and it had a key," Hannah interjected, taking the piece of metal out. "I'm thinking it goes to the cabinet." Following her own intuition, she went over to the cabinet and put the key in, turning it, and unlocking it with a 'click'. She happily took the tea set off of the shelf and brought it to the table.
"Okay, so we have a tea set, and recipes for how to make the tea; a basket of four oysters we don't know what to do with; and paint, and paintbrushes that we're going to use on these pictures," Hermione said, taking stock of their collected items.
"And we still have to determine the code for that drawer over there to get out the tea ingredients," Anthony pointed out.
"Well, let's first assume that we're going to have to make some tea, so we'll need to boil some water," Hermione said.
"I can do that," Draco offered, grabbing the kettle.
"Let's start painting and see where that leads us," Hermione instructed the other two. Obliging, they each chose a picture to work on and began to paint. Once Draco had the kettle on the stove, he joined them, and began to fill in the fourth painting. Each picture was of a bush containing eight roses, and it became apparent that not all of the roses were going to hold the red tint being applied.
"Mine only has three," Anthony said, showing off the roses he'd colored in the first painting.
"Mine has two," Hermione added from her spot in front of the third.
"I have five," Hannah said at the second painting.
"And I have... eight," Draco said, finishing the final rose on his canvas.
Hannah went back over to the China cabinet and input the numbers in the order that they were on the wall, and gave a little shriek when the drawer burst open. "We did it! And it looks like these are the ingredients for the tea," she said, pulling out three canisters labeled 'Oyster Tea', 'Sugar', and 'Milk', along with three scoopers.
"Do we have to actually make Oyster tea? And drink it?" Anthony gagged.
Hermione clapped her hands. "It's for the oysters!"
Everyone stared at her oddly, until she pulled out the note from the oyster basket that said 'We're Thirsty'. Draco also noticed for the first time that they oysters were lightly hued in the same colors as the four characters figurines and hat.
"We have to brew four cups of tea according to how each character liked it and then pour the cups over the oysters," Hermione explained. "That's how they'll open up."
Anthony gave an audible sigh of relief and then handed out the cups and saucers, while Hermione matched up the figurines and oysters. She gave Draco the green oyster and the piece of parchment she had written the Mad Hatter's recipe on; she gave herself Alice and the blue oyster; to Hannah the March Hare and red oyster; and to Anthony the dormouse and brown oyster. Draco went ahead and opened the three canisters, flinching when he touched the one labeled 'Milk' for it had been colder than the other two. The kettle started to whistle, so Hannah went and grabbed it off the burner, and then she proceeded to fill each cup.
"Alright, just scoop in what it tells you to and we'll let them sit for a couple minutes before pouring them over the oysters," Hermione instructed, and the group did as told.
Hannah let out an "Oooo," as she poured the tea over her oyster and it slowly opened up, revealing a large pearl. Draco, Hermione, and Anthony did the same with theirs and watched as they too opened to show perfectly round pearls.
"The divots!" Anthony exclaimed, and he went to place the pearl from his oyster into its respective brown divot. The rest of them followed suit, with Draco placing his pearl into the green divot in the bottom right corner. As soon as it held in place, the mirror appeared to turn to water.
"What now?" Draco asked, reaching out to touch the previously glass surface. His fingers went through easily, and he proceeded to push in his whole arm.
"We go through," Hannah said, giving him a nudge. Just like with putting on the hat, Draco looked at Hermione for confirmation, and once again she shrugged. Taking a breath, he stepped through the mirror and right into another room.
This one was the same size, but on the floor was grass, and there were eight hoops set up in a diamond shape around it. All the walls were painted to look like a field of flowers, but other than that they were empty, except for the back wall which had a door. The wall which he came through had the mirror and another clock.
No one was coming in behind him, so he walked back through the mirror where they looked at him expectantly. "It's just another room, but there seems to be some game set up."
With the confirmation that there was nothing too weird on the other side, Hannah went through the mirror, followed by Anthony. Hermione was about to walk over when Draco held her back.
"Hey," he said with a smile. "We're alone." He bent his head to kiss her and he could feel her lips grinning against his. She broke away from him, so he moved to kissing down her neck instead.
"Draco," she laughed. "We can't just stay in here, we have to figure out the other room."
"Fine," he huffed, placing one last kiss on her shoulder that he had pulled her sleeve down a little to expose. She put in back in place and pecked him on the lips one last time before stepping through the mirror, and Draco went a moment later.
Once they were through, Anthony raised his eyebrows at them, probably wondering what had taken them so long, but he didn't make any comments.
"So, I think it's supposed to be like croquet," Hannah stated, and she pointed over to four clubs and balls Draco hadn't noticed his first time in the room. The clubs were shaped like flamingos for some reason, and the balls were once again colored to match the same characters from the previous room.
"I suppose we have to play, then," Anthony said.
"And what exactly is this strange muggle game we have to play?" Draco asked, scrutinizing the flamingo club he'd been handed by Hannah.
"Does that bother you?" Anthony derided. "Playing something created by muggles?"
Before Draco could retort, Hermione interjected. "Of course it doesn't, he's just never played before, and honestly, it'd be odd for anyone to have to play a game with flamingoes."
Hermione went on to conclude that they would be playing a simplified version of "croquet", where they just had to take turns hitting the balls through each hoop, or "wickets" as she called them. She further explained to Draco that the clubs were flamingoes because that was how it was in the book.
"I'll start," Anthony said, placing his brown ball in front of the first wicket and hitting it through. As soon as it passed underneath, a 'ding!' sounded in the room, and the left wall turned black. A moment later a pair of glowing, yellow eyes appeared on it, as if they had been drawn on. Hannah took her turn next, and once her red ball successfully rolled under the wicket there was another 'ding!' and this time a cat nose and mouth appeared underneath the eyes.
"It's the Cheshire cat!" She said with delight. Draco had no idea what a 'Cheshire cat' was, but he supposed it didn't really matter if he did.
"Something will probably happen once we complete it," Hermione deduced, setting up her blue ball and striking it with the flamingo. It sailed under the hoop and they heard the ding, but nothing added to the cheshire cat. They were confused for a moment before Draco turned to look at the opposite wall and noticed that something that resembled a tree trunk had materialized.
"I think our balls belong to that picture over there," he pointed out, and he took his turn. Just as he thought, when his ball went through the wicket, a mushroom top emerged above the trunk.
Each pair continued hitting their balls through the wickets, adding to their respective pictures. Soon, the Cheshire cat was nearly formed, with a body made up of pink and purple stripes; the mushroom was topped with a caterpillar with a hookah pipe. There were a few of misfires, but with Hannah's successful shot through the eighth hoop (which had also been the first hoop) the Cheshire cat was completed, and it began to speak.
"Until I am measured I am not known, yet how you miss me when I have flown. What am I?" It said, and as it spoke, each word also appeared on the wall beneath it.
While this was happening, Draco took his final turn, causing smoke to come out of the caterpillar's hookah pipe and form into words onto the wall above it.
"Look in my face, I am somebody; Look in my back, I am nobody. What am I?" The caterpillar recited.
"Riddles," Draco said, setting down his flamingo club.
Hermione had sat down to think, and the rest of the group joined her.
"I got it!" Hannah exclaimed a couple minutes later. "The answer to the second riddle is a mirror: when you look in the front you see your reflection, but not in the back."
Her response must have been correct, for the moment she said the word 'mirror', the actual mirror began to crack and fall apart. Multiple shards of glass fell to the floor, all except one small piece which stayed in place. She went over to see if she could find anything that would lead them forward.
"Now we just need to solve the Cheshire cat's riddle," Hermione sighed, rubbing her head. "...not known... miss me when I've flown..." She continued to recite the riddle as she pondered its meaning.
"Time." Draco said, and there was a loud click as the clock on the wall opened up. Hermione grinned widely at him.
"It's a key!" Anthony told them, holding out what he'd found in the clock. He then went over to the door, and frowned. "There's no keyhole."
"Put the key against the door," Hannah said, still looking at the piece of glass remaining in the mirror. "Move it down more... no, up again just a little... go to the left- wait, sorry, the right..."
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked her.
"There's a keyhole in the door's reflection on this mirror," she answered. "There!"
Anthony pushed the key forcefully into the door, and instead of meeting any resistance, it slid in. He turned it and the door dissolved into nothing, revealing the corridor they had first entered through once again.
"We did it!" Hannah cheered.
"And it looks like we beat the other teams!" Hermione said, and she did a little jump before reaching over to give Draco a hug, which he returned eagerly, and caused both Hannah and Anthony to look at them strangely.
"Sorry," Hermione apologized. "I got a little excited."
"Well I'd like a hug, too if Malfoy's getting one," Anthony said smugly, and Hermione quickly gave him one, and Hannah, while ignoring Draco's scowl. Anthony then held out his hand to Draco. "You're not too bad Malfoy, we worked alright together." Draco accepted the show of good will and shook his hand.
Professor Slughorn then entered into the room. "Great job! And with ten minutes to spare!" He congratulated them and handed them each a vial of the liquid luck potion.
"Straight E's here I come," Anthony said with a smile, and Hannah chuckled.
Five minutes passed before Blaise and Harry's group emerged, followed closely by Pansy's; Daphne's group got out with only a minute to go, and unfortunately the group that didn't have any Slytherins this time escaped two minutes after the time was up.
"Of course Hermione's team won," Ron harrumphed. "She's the most logical person there is!"
"The others figured things out, too, it wasn't just me," she snapped back, slapping him lightly on the arm.
With the activity completed, they all headed out of the dungeons and to their own devices.
Draco brought his bottle of Felix Felicis straight to his bedroom, not wanting it to get lost, or stolen, or anything else. he knew exactly what he was going to use it for, and he wanted it safely put away until that moment.
-19 March 1999, Friday-
"Sunday, it's the first day of spring," Hermione said to him as she sat herself between his legs on the bay window cushions.
"Okay...?" Draco said, not sure why she was telling him this.
"That's when we should do the ritual."
He felt his stomach lurch with excitement, and grinned as she turned her head to kiss him.
"Sunday then," he agreed.
-21 March 1999, Sunday-
Draco didn't know how he got through Saturday, knowing that in a few hours he'd be performing one of the most important rituals of his life. The time had come though, at four in the morning, and before leaving for the common room to meet Hermione, he got out the vial of Felix Felicis, gulping it down. If there was one night he didn't want to be caught after hours, it was definitely this one.
He had gone out the previous day to prepare the spot where they'd perform the ritual; after all, he didn't want to do it in just any old place. He had chosen an area on the banks of the Great Lake that had a bit of tree cover so they wouldn't be seen, while still having a view of the sky so the moon could give them light. There was also space for the final part of the ceremony, the thought of which brought butterflies to his stomach.
"Draco." He heard his name whispered softly in the dark, and he turned to see Hermione, dressed in the same gown she had worn to the Valentine's party, only it was now ivory white instead of its original mauve, and she had lengthened the skirt so that it now touched the floor instead of ending just below her knees. Her bodice was still the same though, lace and off shoulder with a band around her waist.
"You're beautiful," he couldn't help commenting, standing up to kiss her lightly on the lips, before leading her towards the common room doors.
"Astronomy Tower?" She guessed.
"Not quite," Draco smirked, though that was where they were currently headed.
They made it to the top, and Draco went over to the railing where he had hung a rope ladder just before curfew.
"Ladies first," he beckoned to Hermione, and she gave him an incredulous look.
"Are you mad? Someone is bound to catch us!"
"Trust me," Draco calmed her. "We'll be fine. I'll be right behind you."
Hermione still looked unsure, but she hiked up her dress and climbed over the railing and lowered herself onto the ladder.
They both reached the ground, and Draco took her hand again, bringing them across the field of grass and into the trees surrounding the lake.
He led her through a small grouping of trees and to his chosen spot at the edge of the water. Exhaling, he pulled out from his pocket the piece of parchment he'd written the ritual instructions on, and perused it once more, though he was sure he had it perfectly memorized already.
"Alright," he said gruffly as Hermione stood anxiously. "We start by slicing diagonally across each of our palms from the base of our index finger down to our wrist while saying 'imhi gewdi ninnacin'."
Hermione bit her lip. "What if my magic doesn't work again?" She whispered.
"Hey, it'll be fine. If it doesn't work then we'll find another way."
Taking a breath of courage, she nodded and then pulled out her wand.
They both proceeded to carefully cast a slicing spell while repeating the enchantment, and Hermione winced at the sting.
"Now we place our hands together," Draco said, and he held up his hand for Hermione to meet with hers, then closed their fingers together.
"Now for the vows," Draco said nervously, and then he cleared his throat. "I, Draco Lucius Malfoy, take thee, Hermione Jean Granger, as my companion, from now until the end of all worlds. I bind myself to you through our shared magic, and we shall never part nor betray each other. My life and power are yours."
As soon as Draco finished, the space between their hands suddenly cooled, and they watched in awe as a soft blue light appeared to emanate from them in a thin string; it then wove around their fingers and down their arms to their elbows, where it stopped.
They were speechless for a few moments, until Draco bid Hermione to do her part. She repeated what Draco had said, with the exception of switching their names, and once again a string of light spread from their touching palms, though this time it was silver in color. When it finished at their elbows, both strings absorbed into their skin, leaving no trace that they had ever been there.
Draco felt different, like there was a slight tingle moving throughout his body.
"Do you feel that?" He asked Hermione, hoping he hadn't performed the ritual wrong.
"Yes, I do," she smiled. "It's our magic joining together."
Their hands were still pressed against each other, and when he removed his it was only so he could pull her closer and kiss her.
"Was that all there is?" Hermione asked, laying her head on his shoulder.
"Er, no, there's a couple more things," Draco said, taking the wedding band out from his pocket. He placed it on her finger, wanting it to spend at least one night there before she'd have to move it to the chain along with her other ring.
Hermione admired it for a moment before raising her eyebrows expectantly, waiting for him to tell her what the final part was. "You said there were two things?"
Draco let out an awkward chuckle. He knew the custom was the same in both wizard and muggle cultures, so he found it amusing that she wasn't showing any indication of knowing, but after a few seconds where he could see her getting impatient he said it out loud. "Consummation, Granger."
Even in the moonlight he could tell that she was blushing deeply, and he found it so endearing he actually reached out and touched one of her cheeks. "One of these days you're going to stop being flustered around me," he teased.
"I just- I don't know what I was expecting," she began to ramble. "I mean of course that would be the last step in something like this, but I obviously wasn't thinking, and I didn't prepare the proper attire and-"
"Granger," Draco stopped her, bringing her focus back to him. "What you're wearing is fine, unless it really matters to you. We don't have to do this tonight if you don't want to."
"I do," Hermione said after taking a moment to collect herself. "I'm just nervous is all. Also, er- where did you plan on this happening?"
She began looking around her, and Draco knew that all she was seeing was dirt, rocks, and grass. He gently took Hermione by the hand and led her a few feet forward, at which point he reached out and grabbed hold of not air, as it would have appeared to her, but a door flap to a tent. It was one of the things he had set up earlier in the day, magically erecting it and then casting a disillusionment charm so it wouldn't be seen.
"Do you hear something?" She said suddenly, frantically looking around them and into the trees.
"It's probably just some little animals," Draco told her before pulling her inside.
They then entered a space filled with nothing but a queen sized bed in the center. There was no ceiling, so the moon was still visible and shining above them.
Hermione gasped in awe as she she took it in. "I don't know what to say."
"You don't need to say anything," Draco said as he brought her towards bed. He sat down and she stood between his legs, and before he could say anything else, she kissed him, her lips rough and demanding, as if sometime in the passed couple of minutes she had decided to be the one in control. Surprised at first, he returned it in kind, and began to push down the straps of her dress, just as she fumbled with the buttons of his shirt.
There was soon nothing between them, and when Draco pulled her body up against his and felt all of her for the first time, he didn't just feel an electric shock like he had so many times before; there was a simple warmth, one of contentment and elation. He could've reveled in the feeling for the rest of his life.
He lay Hermione on the bed as he continued to kiss her, combing his hands through her hair. It was strange how it felt so familiar to him, what they were about to do. He knew he'd probably undressed her and made love to her hundreds, possibly, thousands of times. But this was their first time. Hermione and Draco's.
"Hermione," he said her name, needing her to know he was there with her, and not anyone else she may have used to be. She opened her eyes to look at him and then said his name back in response, as if she understood. "I love you."
He didn't give her time to say it back. He kissed her softly as he settled himself between her thighs, with the rest of her body trembling beneath him and her hands gripping his face; and with the moonlight illuminating above them, they gave themselves to each other.