Morning (from me anyway)! I know this chapter is a tiny bit delayed, but I think you'll be satisfied anyway. This chapter has not been edited beyond me, but has been lovingly read by mcal. I hope you enjoy it! I'd love to hear what you think.

He'd fucked up.

Granger's anger had softened in the days following the late night conversation, but he made no mistake. She was still cross with him, and he couldn't blame her for it. Every time he thought about it, he'd wince.

He should not have alluded to the belief that maybe now he was enough for her, even though it had crossed Draco's mind several times over the years. In fact, she was the last witch he could imagine taking that statement well. And she hadn't taken it well.

They sat together sometimes in the mornings. She clutched a cup in her hands and read whatever novel she'd landed on that particular day. Two days earlier, he'd stumbled into the kitchen to the scent of coffee and the Daily Prophet had been clutched in her hands.

Today was the same. She lifted her eyes to glance at him, a precursory before returning to the newspaper. Steam wafted from the cup of tea to her right, and Granger didn't look at him again as she spoke. "I started brewing it about ten minutes ago. It should be done soon."

Fuck him, he did not deserve the thougtfulness she willingly gave.

"Thank you."

Her fingers tightened on the paper, crinkling as she laid it down. "Do you think I would enjoy working in an apothecary?"

Sliding into the seat across from her, he threaded his fingers together while bouncing a knee under the table. "I doubt you would ever be bored."

"But that isn't what I asked. Do you think I would enjoy it?"

The sun hadn't broken the horizon yet. He'd always woken early, a habit not often shared with anyone he was close to.

It was the best part of the day since Granger mirrored him in exactly that.

"Would you be brewing?"

With her teeth cutting into her lower lip, she shook her head.

"Then no, I can't imagine it would be interesting enough for you."

She let the paper fall with a sigh. "I know, but nearly every job listing is for some sort of sales witch, and I can't stand the fact that I'm not doing anything at all."

"If you send out inquiries, I'm sure you'll be flooded with offers, Granger. Everyone in the country will be scrambling to snatch you up." He rose from his seat and poured himself a cup.

Granger was still gnawing her lip when he sat back down. "You're overestimating that. Due to my involvement with this law, I'm not quite the" —her lip curled— "commodity I was before."

"There are several private companies that do work similar to Unspeakables. If that was what you enjoyed…" Draco paused. "Theo's inherited a large chunk of one of them actually. If it would interest you, perhaps a meeting with him would open new doors."

"I may owl him, but I'm not sure I want to continue in that field."

"No one could blame you if you didn't."

The corner of her lip twitched. "I have received an offer, however."

Draco's eyebrows lifted.

Running her nail along a line in the wood, she nodded at the words he didn't say. "It's something I wanted to discuss with you, actually, but recently—" Granger cleared her throat. "There hasn't been a good time is all."

"I'm all yours now." He remarked from over the rim of his cup before tipping it backward.

"Lucius asked me to assist in running the orphanage. Organizing books while overseeing daily care alongside others employed there."

His fingers nearly loosened from the handle of his mug. Father certainly hadn't mentioned it to him at any point. "Really." It wasn't a question, just a statement. "Have you given it any thought?"

Granger folded her arms and leaned forward. "I think I'll take his offer, but that's not all of what I'd like to discuss." She waited for him to respond and continued when he didn't. "I've appealed to the Ministry to be exempted from the law on the grounds I may be infertile."

He did drop the mug.

It shattered and she flinched.

"You—Granger, please—" Draco rasped.

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Please let me finish, Draco."

That was a hard thing to do when instantly he wanted to plead with her until she agreed.

"I hadn't calmed down when I submitted a formal request." Granger stood, and pulled her chair to where she could sit next to him. Her hand was warm over his, and he turned his over to join their fingers together. "Admittedly, you didn't know I would be upset over not being able to have children. It's not as though I ever told you and I'm sorry for the overreaction."

He wasn't sure where this was going, but she squeezed his hand.

"I was angry, and now I wish I hadn't submitted it at all. However, it can't be taken back. Since the point of this law is to—"

Draco scowled. "No one is going to make you leave unless you want to."

"You can't possibly promise that."

"I can."

Her eyes widened a fraction. "If you're planning to bribe someone, then I don't think—"

"Tell me you want to leave then."

She couldn't answer him directly. "You've done so much for your family and your reputation."

"I don't care. Tell me, do you want to leave?"

Granger dropped her gaze to the floor and visibly shivered when he curled a finger under her chin, lifting her head. "I don't want to leave."

It was enough for him.

"I know that you said, well you insinuated, but my feelings aren't," I'm not in love with you, she meant to say.

Three words swelled in his chest, and he swallowed hard. "That doesn't matter right now. All that matters is that I'm not going to let anyone take you unless it's what you want."

"I just want to say that I may not feel—" Whether it was conscious or not, she leaned forward. "It's just that it's possible in the future—and I didn't want to accept a post with your family if I wouldn't be here—" She'd always babbled when her nerves set in.

He wondered if the best way to stop it was still the same.

"Granger," he murmured, hand sliding up to cup her cheek as his fingers slid into her hair.

She surged forward, nearly knocking him out of the chair, and slanted her lips to his with a whisper of his name. "I don't know what happens next, you know."

He knew it too. "Shh, we can have this moment."

There was another whimper, but it was wholly unrelated to her argument.

It felt like they were on the same page.

Of course, Draco knew that they certainly weren't. It would be too hard for that shift to occur immediately, but he was a patient man, and if it was for Granger, he could be patient for as long as it took. At the very least, she didn't move away from him anymore as though he might burn her if she came too close.

He'd kissed her a few more times. Once pressed against the wall of the kitchen when he'd come home with a cut peeking out from his collar—it'd been nothing terrible, really, just that Weasley was a fool and Draco had been keen to let her worry over him—and she'd pulled the edge of his shirt back. His hands had slid into her hair while backing her to the wall, and his lips had been skimming her jaw when the floo sounded around the corner. "We invited Harry and Ron for dinner."

Granger wasn't shy. From experience he knew that she would tell him exactly what she wanted, and she might even describe how she wanted it—which could lead to several ideal situations. She snogged him when he was about to leave in the morning.

He snogged her if he had the chance to sneak back to their flat while taking his lunch hour.

"Bloody fucking hell," his voice was ragged against her throat. "I could kiss you like this for the rest of my life." Draco didn't mean to let such a loaded statement slip out, but he was relieved to hear her laugh.

Then her breath met his ear and her nails scraped against his scalp. "Just like this?" Granger whispered, and she climbed to straddle his waist. Her knees bracketed his hips, and whether she meant to roll her hips was unclear. Soft lips trailed down his jaw, and she nipped him when his grip on her waist tightened. "It's just that there are so many ways to kiss me."

She'd be the death of him.

God, she was going to kill him.

"Are there?"

Deep brown eyes grew wicked as she flicked her gaze up to him. "Shall I show you?"

She knew the answer before he replied.

Granger cradled his face lightly and slid her lips against his, tongue flicking out while her thumbs stroked across his cheeks in slow strokes. "You can kiss me like that," she murmured, her lips barely a breath from his. "So soft, and slow until my head spins."

A low groan sounded from his throat.

She wiggled her hips again, looking triumphant when it earned another appreciative sound. Granger gripped his hair roughly then, allowing her nails to meet his scalp because she knew full well how he liked it, and rocked her hips against his while kissing him so hard he thought his lips might be bruised afterward.

His arms came around her, and he sat forward, balancing her in his lap while she whimpered into his mouth.

She broke away, glancing at the floor nervously when she leaned back too far.

"I've got you." Draco flexed his fingers for show and grinned when she leaned forward. "I'm sure there are several more way to snog you,

"Mhmm,"

Allowing his hands to drift up her sides, Draco's fingers brushed against the sides of her breasts through her thin shirt. "But I think this is your favorite way to be kissed."

Hermione looked at him, her lips slightly swollen and her hair a mess. "Sometimes I like slow too."

He remembered kissing her in the Room of Requirement—that hadn't been destroyed by what he could guess was a miracle—so slowly that she'd begun to cry. Draco had believed he might too.

"But not right now." Her hair was a blur of chestnut and she crashed against him again. She slid her hands under his shirt, running her fingertips over the cut lines of his abdomen, eventually gravitating to the waxy surface of a scar that she still knew by heart. "I need—"

"I think they're going to be just fine, Cissy."

Granger shot out of his lap and landed on the other end of the couch, her hand already held up as her wand sailed into it.

He would almost rather it be an intruder, but it was worse.

Shifting awkwardly and grabbing a pillow to hide the obvious bulge in his pants, Draco glared at his mother and father. "Have you ever heard of a floo call?"

The corner of Lucius' mouth twitched and his mother made no effort to hide her smile. "We did call, but you ignored it. I told your mother that it could wait, but she insisted on popping over."

From the corner of his eyes, he could still see Granger's chest rising and falling too quickly to be considered normal. Unsurprisingly, there was a love bite on her neck. "I heard the Floo, but we were," She cut herself short, her cheeks flaming.

"To what do we owe this visit?" Draco sighed.

Granger righted her hair the best she could without a brush, and crossed one leg over the other.

Narcissa offered a pitying smile. "It was only details for the wedding, actually. I see now it could have waited."

Always gracious, Hermione stood—at least she could—and led Narcissa into the kitchen and he could hear her saying they could use the table for catalogues.

"The two of you are doing well." Lucius nodded toward him, amusement evident when his brows lifted. "Your mother saw Pansy a few days ago, and she had quite the story about a fight between the two of you."

Pansy surely hadn't meant anything bad by it, but it really wasn't her business.

Draco gave a clipped nod. "I was an arse and hurt her by not thinking of what I was about to say."

"Ah," his father sat beside him. "That's a mistake wizards have made for centuries."

"Is that meant to make me feel better?"

Lucius snorted. "It should make you feel appropriately terrible considering it was over children. Witches are sensitive to that rather often, Draco."

From the other room, Narcissa squealed and Draco looked at his father.

"It's best we leave them alone," Lucius said. "Do you have firewhisky? I suspect we'll be here for quite a while."

Granger laughed in the next room over.

She knocked on his door two hours after she'd gone to bed, and he didn't bother to pull on a shirt before letting the door swing open. "Were you sleeping?"

"Not yet."

Granger rocked back on her heels. "I was hoping I could talk to you about something. Would you mind?"

He stepped to the side. "Not at all."

She sat at the foot of his bed and glanced over her shoulder at the pillows. It wasn't the first time she'd been in his room, and now that he thought of it, Draco thought it might have been the last time he'd slept well. "Your mother and I talked this evening about a traditional ceremony."

Draco, who had spent the better part of the evening finding his way to the bottle of Ogdens with his father, had no idea. The mattress dipped below his weight as he sat beside her. "Did you come to a decision?"

"I did, actually and I don't think your mother will like it. Narcissa has been so kind to me. I would hate to disappoint her hopes for her son's wedding."

From the little Draco and Hermione had discussed it, he knew a ceremony wasn't what she wanted, and he wasn't going to ask her to do anything she didn't want. "I love my mother, but this isn't about her. I don't have a preference; I'll give you anything you want, Hermione."

Her knee bumped his and she laid her head on his shoulder. "I didn't choose this."

"I know you didn't."

"I'm not upset that it's you."

He laughed. "You mean to say that you're not upset anymore." She pinched his stomach hard. "I was joking!"

"Jokes are meant to be funny. That wasn't funny." She blew out a breath. "Everything Narcissa and I have discussed is gorgeous, but I can't…"

Draco squeezed her hand and waited.

"I don't want to have a wedding if it isn't real. We're figuring things out as we go now, but this wasn't what either of us could have expected, and as silly as it may sound, I don't want to wear a wedding dress if it isn't real."

He traced the veins in the top of her hand "It's not silly."

"You don't think so?"

"Not at all."

She drew a soft, little breath. "I know that we have weeks until the deadline, but they're not going to reverse the law, Draco."

A weight dropped onto his chest. "You don't want to wait?"

Hermione shook her head. "It will happen either way. What's the point in delaying the inevitable?"

"You realize that we'll have to consu—"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm well aware. Do you think your mother will be angry?"

Mother would be upset, absolutely, but not because Hermione didn't want a wedding. She'd understand the reasoning. "No, it will be fine. I'll talk to her tomorrow."

"She's hopeful we'll make a proper go of this. I wasn't sure if you realized that."

He and his mother hoped for the same thing then. "Is that what she told you?"

Granger nodded. "She saw Pansy, apparently. Pansy told her about our row, and my leaving the flat. How embarrassing."

"Not nearly as embarrassing as knowing how badly I fucked up." Draco dragged his fingers through his hair. "No, that's not fair to compare them."

"She asked me if I wanted children."

"Was that the squeal I heard?"

She laughed. "I imagine so. The way I reacted so poorly has bothered me since last week and I want to tell you that whenever we have a fight again, no matter what it is, I won't run out again."

While they were putting everything in the open, Draco supposed he ought to as well. "The Ministry isn't going to exempt you. Official correspondence should arrive in the morning."

Bumping her shoulder against his, she flashed a wide grin and her disapproval didn't reach her eyes. "Of course you would already know, wouldn't you? How did you manage that?"

"I haven't done anything nefarious, if that's what you're asking. Someone in the Ministry owed me a favor. That's all."

"Thank you."

Draco slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, his lips skimming her temple before she turned her head and captured his lips. His groan was muffled and Draco sat her in his lap. "Granger, fuck—"

Her hands slid over his chest, and like on the sofa, she rolled her hips. "Am I doing something wrong?"

She knew she wasn't.

Slipping his hands up and over her thighs, Draco discovered with a start that she'd chosen not to wear shorts to bed, only the long shirt draped over her and a pair of knickers. "Fucking hell," he groaned.

"At least there can't be any interruptions this late." She murmured, wrapping her legs around him. "Then again, with your luck…"

"Why am I the one with the bad luck?" Draco's fingers inched along the elastic of her knickers, and he watched her shudder above him. His touch slid down until his fingers were pressed against her, his fingers moving in a slow circle of her clit.

Granger tensed up, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder. "Draco, I need—"

She was dripping. It could be felt even though her knickers, and she pressed herself against him, her breath ragged against his throat.

"I know." The words were whispered into her hair, and Draco pushed the fabric aside, sliding a finger between her folds. "You're soaked, Granger."

Her teeth met his throat, and there would be a mark in the morning, but he couldn't say he cared. Short whimpers sounded next to his ear when he rubbed her clit. "Draco, please, just—"

He wondered if in the morning she would think they had moved too quickly, but he pushed that away. Granger was a grown witch who could make her own decisions.

"I know, I know," Draco pumped two fingers into her cunt, fingers curling while she gasped. "I'll take such good care of you."

Light flooded the room and over Granger's shoulder, there was a stag. Before he could voice his irritation, his partner's voice spilled from it. "We have orders from Robards for an overnight mission, but it's probably going to take two or three days, honestly. Sightings of Dark Wizards in Sussex. Be at the DMLE Apparition point in thirty minutes."

"About that bad luck…" Granger laughed. "It's alright. Go. I can take care of myself."

The mental picture that brought didn't help any.

"I have thirty minutes," Draco growled, pulling her backward. "Plenty of time to leave you satisfied."

Her eyes shot open. "Draco, you need to pack." She landed against the pillows.

"I always have a bag packed. Potter's notorious for bursting into my life with last minute missions." Draco settled between her thighs, and hooked his fingers in either side of her knickers. "Unless you don't want this, of course."

"Of course I do, but what about you?"

He had no intention of shagging her while on a time limit. "I'd like to take my time." Draco pulled her knickers and tossed them into the floor. "The first time I sleep with you will not be rushed, Granger. Spread your legs."

Red sprung to her cheeks.

Good, she still enjoyed filthy words as much as she ever had.

Hermione parted her thighs, nibbling her lower lip.

"Good girl." He licked a strip up her folds, slowly sliding two fingers into her. "You have the prettiest cunt I've ever seen."

"Oh, God—"

His tongue flicked over the bundle of nerves, slipping against her in lazy ministrations at first before quickening until she cried out his name.

"Draco, oh my God." She sounded as though she might sob as she squeezed her thighs together, his tongue still working against her. "Please, your fingers—" He watched her head fall back when she shrieked. "Harder. Harder."

Still so fucking bossy.

Draco fucked her with his fingers and his tongue until she shuddered a final time and cried out his name.

"Oh, my God." Came the soft, weak voice as her head fell back to the pillows. "I don't want to move."

He chuckled. Draco summoned a wet cloth and wiped the sweat from her forehead before wiping her inner thighs. "Then don't. Sleep in my bed, if you like. It's better than the guest anyway."

She reached up lazily and pulled him down for a soft kiss. "Be careful out there."

Draco promised that he would and when he turned around from changing into his uniform, Granger was fast asleep already. Her hair rested across the pillows and a slow smile curved his lips. Kneeling beside the bed, he reached up to turn off the light, and ran a finger over her cheek.

I love you, did you know that?

On his way out, Crooks brushed past his ankles and trotted into the room before hopping onto the bed and curling in the space beside Granger's face.

I finished chapter seventeen this morning and I think this story will land somewhere around 22-24 chapters long. I'm almost to the end now!