In between binging Bones and devouring the ACOTAR series, I figured I could update too. It's even sooner than normal! It has not been beta read, but has been beta read by mcal, who has also lovingly putting up with me while I text her while also flipping my absolute shit about Rhysand. (No spoilers please, I'm not done yet. Don't even tell me anything.)

Despite the fact that a clerk with the power to join them sat in an office within walking distance, they didn't go. Granger's rationality kicked in, as he knew it would, and he was just glad she hadn't changed her mind altogether.

"I think we should tell your parents before we do anything spontaneously. Both of them have been so kind to me, Draco. I couldn't stand to do it without telling them."

He wondered if part of this was due to the fact that she would never be able to tell her own parents.

He made sure not to voice that outloud.

Granger's hand fit in his, her fingers threaded through his and she lost her footing as they landed in the Apparition point just outside the manor. "Are you nervous?"

"To marry you? Of course not."

It hadn't been what she meant, and he knew that but the pink rising to her cheeks made it worth it. "I meant telling your parents. You don't think they'll be upset?"

"Do you ever stop worrying, Granger?"

"It's warranted and I'm just being considerate—"

The gates swung open. "How about," Draco pulled her through the wards "you stop thinking about what anyone else wants you to do and just think about what you want to do."

She nibbled her lower lip. The path leading toward the large double doors of Malfoy Manor was a long one, positioned in a straight line between decorative hedges.

"I fell off my broom and landed in these bushes when I was a child."

"You did?"

Draco nodded. "Every time I visit, I remember that. Partially because my mum has never let me forget it, even for a moment."

Granger's lips curved upward. "I suppose I'll have to carry on that tradition than. You think of that every time?"

"I used to think of other things," Draco murmured, stroked his thumb across her skin. "That's not the point though."

The memory of Death Eaters on this estate would never fade. At a moment's notice, he recognised a spot where Nagini had slithered through taller grass before coming up over his feet.

Fingers curved around his forearm. "You went somewhere."

Unable to trust his voice not to crack, Draco nodded.

"Did you talk about this when you attended therapy?"

He sucked in a breath.

Granger's bottom lip wobbled. "I shouldn't have asked that. It's an invasion of privacy. Please, just pretend I didn't say anything."

"You are absurd. It doesn't bother me. You only caught me off-guard." Draco chuckled. They had paused halfway along the path, and he was content to stay there. "Yes, I had to talk about it. Having the Dark Lord live in my home for two years was—it—" There weren't words. "I was worried I wouldn't be approved for the Auror training program because of it. Healer Barnes thought it may have caused so much psychological damage that I would be too dangerous in the field."

Tilting her head to the side, Granger's brow furrowed as she appeared to be deep in thought. "That wouldn't have made any sense. Voldemort had been in Harry's head for years, a part of him even, and the DMLE would have never rejected him."

"Right, well." Draco kicked the toe of his boot against the stone. "I'm sure the Ministry would have phrased it differently with it being me."

She shook her head, and bit her lip before she could launch into the unfairness of it all. "I'm happy that you went. When you told me, I was preoccupied with my own anger."

"It was the best thing for me." Draco paused. He didn't know why he feared saying anything more at all. The two of them would likely be married within twenty-four hours anyway, and it had been proven that whatever had pulled them together as teenagers was still in play. "I talked about you too."

Granger had been admiring a rose bush until he said that and her head snapped back to him. "You did?"

Exhaling, Draco slid his hands into his pockets and nodded. "It was immediately after graduation that I began attending sessions. By the end of that summer, I had decided to apply for the Auror program and I entered with Potter and Weasley. That time, it was all digging into any psychological trauma that would prevent me from—"

She inched closer to him, peering up at him through her lashes.

"I told Healer Barnes that I had broken up with my girlfriend because it was the best thing for her."

Her lips flattened.

"I know, I know. There were several things said, but he told me if I was as miserable as I was, then maybe you were too. I told him you'd get better though and I was right."

She frowned. "Perhaps you weren't watching closely enough then."

"We talked about Voldemort and the war and you. It always came back to you." Draco breathed. "Look, I don't expect for it to be okay that I was an arse—"

"Good because I'm not planning on ever letting you live it down."

He snorted "I missed you and I'm not going to stand here while waxing poetic that I've been waiting for you for years for my chance."

Granger was always warm. She radiated heat, and her hand trapped in his was no exception.

"I have made a lot of mistakes. Astoria was…" He swallowed hard. "I got caught up in what I thought I was supposed to do and when I realized it wasn't what I wanted, and then there was the slimmest chance, I dropped everything."

"Draco,"

He spoke over her. "I'm not the best man in the world, but if there is anything I know for certain it's that you make me want to be."

Granger hardly ever cried spontaneously, but her eyes began to water and he cursed. "No," she whispered. "It's good."

"How is crying ever good?"

She grinned. "You can't punish yourself anymore, Draco. Any mistakes we've made are in the past. And you are a good man, never let me hear you say anything to the contrary ever again."

Draco planned to ease his parents into the decision. Light small talk at first before leading them into the actual conversation they had come to have. His mother and father would have noticed the tactic thirty seconds in—having taught it to him themselves—but Granger wasn't having any of it.

One word out of his mouth about how his mother's social life was—something Granger knew he wouldn't care about—and she'd slid in front of him.

Even digging his fingers into her shoulders didn't deter her.

Of course it didn't.

"We've decided to elope."

Lucius' eyes widened a fraction and instead of saying anything at all, he tipped a glass of firewhisky to his mouth. "We saw you at the gates. I assumed I might have needed this if it had anything to do with your suspension."

Narcissa folded her hands in her lap.

Granger continued, her voice high-pitched. The same it always was when she was on the verge of panicking.

That was, of course, wholly inaccurate.

She had already begun panicking.

"I don't want to upset you with all the planning you've already done. I really do appreciate everything we've gone over, but I can't— What I'm trying to say is that I don't have to have a grand wedding because this isn't what either of us had planned—"

His father exchanged a glance with him over Granger's head.

Narcissa's brows drew together.

"And if one day Draco and I decide to—"

No, go back to that. You were going to say something.

"Hermione," his mother interrupted. "You should take a breath, darling. Did you believe we would be angry with you?"

Slowly, clearly not wanting to admit it, Granger nodded. "You were so happy, Narcissa. I know that Draco was meant to be married, and that was a wedding you had already planned. I hate taking this away from you—"

Narcissa tugged Granger to sit beside ehr by grabbing her hand. "You're not taking anything away from me. All a mother can wish for is for her children to be happy."

Granger's shoulders finally deflated. "I'm so relieved."

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like a moment alone with Hermione." Narcissa left no room for objections and Draco cast a look over this shoulder.

There had been details he had chosen not to elaborate on as he'd told Granger about Dolohov, but Draco told his father everything, right down to the images that he thought would haunt him.

His father had gone pale, his fingers tightening around the edge of his glass as they lingered in the kitchen. "This suspension is a bloody joke," Lucius snarled.

"The Minister agrees," Draco shook the ice around in his glass. "Optics are important to him. One word of it in the Daily Prophet and there will still be the ones who insist I'm a Death Eater."

His father, who bore the same terrible mark that he did, clenched his jaw. "As it stands, you were hardly ever one and I should have never allowed him to—"

They didn't discuss the day Draco had been marked. On his birthday, his father had woken him and led him past his mother who hadn't been able to hold in the tears. This is a great honor, his father had said the words as he was supposed to, but there had been no sincerity.

This is a nightmare and I've led you into it.

Avoiding the subject came as an unspoken rule and up to then, he could count on one hand the times they had.

"You've worked hard, Draco. If the Malfoy name is any good now, it's thanks to you." Lucius averted his eyes. "I'm sure the masses will recognize that, even if some of them don't want to. Though, the most important one seems to already realize that."

"Yeah," Draco looked into the sitting room where Granger sat, and heard her faint giggle. "I'm not sure what I'll do if this is repealed and she leaves."

Lucius snorted. "You're such a fool."

At Granger's request, they skipped the magically binding vows. Since they weren't required—and in case she ever wanted it reversed—the wizard who married them didn't blink. He gave a short nod and began to recite vows.

He married Hermione Granger in his Auror uniform, with dress robes thrown over his shoulders by Potter at the last second before stepping onto the pedestal with her. She was in a pair of muggle jeans that he found he liked too much and a shirt that belonged to him with the front hem tucked into her jeans.

She grinned at him and bounced on the balls of her feet while rolling her eyes at the slow tone of the wizard who didn't even look at them.

Potter and Weasley had come. He knew that off to the side, Pansy stood behind Granger with a smile plastered to her face. His parents were there too, because Granger had practically begged them not to care if they weren't dressed for the occassion because in case they had missed it, she was getting married in muggle jeans

He'd thought his mother would faint,

Draco heard himself say, "I do."

None of it had been real, however, until Granger's lips parted and those same words slipped out. Tendrils of magics circled their wrists, overlapping and joining to connect.

"You know," she whispered. "Eventually, everything connects. Maybe we were meant to do the same."

The ceremony concluded, and their friends clapped as the magic evaporated.

"You may kiss—oh, not wasting any time, I see."

Hermione fisted her hands in the front of his robes and pulled him forward, slanting her lips against his and kissed him until her cheeks were flushed and her lips swollen. "Too eager, do you think?"

It didn't matter that anyone was watching.

"I can't believe you're wearing my shirt."

She blushed and he wondered just how far it went. "Well, I'm—"

"If you apologize, I'll scream," he muttered, and kissed her again.

"Two weeks away from work hardly seems like a punishment now." Draco told her after they were seated for dinner in a restaurant that granted private seating.

She laughed. "I don't think it ever felt like a punishment to you. Though, it shouldn't."

He arched a brow. "Granger, I know you don't approve of my actions, no matter how well you see it from my point of view. Come on, out with it."

"We've been married for all of three hours. Is this what you really want to do? Fight?"

"I hear angry sex is phenomenal," he remarked dryly.

She choked on her wine slightly, and glared. "Oh, I think we know all about that already." She swallowed, and dabbed the corner of her mouth with the napkin. 'Fine. I generally disagree with the level of violence the mission ended in, and I don't think those actions will ever be correct."

"That's what I thought,"

"But," she nudged him under the table. "He wasn't fighting fairly. Dolohov is a despicable man and I could give a shit what happens to him. I think of you staring down at my face while in a room with him—I have always known what you're capable of, Draco." Her voice dropped lower and he didn't catch what came after.

"What did you say?"

Granger sighed. "I said, 'especially when it comes to me.'"

He knew what she was referring to immediately.

"He deserved it."

"You hexed his broom during a match." She enjoyed this just as much as he did, arguing, even if it had been had before. "I don't care what you say, Malfoy. You shouldn't have done it. You were on probation!"

Draco rolled his eyes. "And Corner shouldn't have touched my girlfriend's arse, but he did."

"You knew I would handle it."

"By doing what?" He scoffed. "Deducting house points? I made sure he didn't do it again."

Her nails bit into the cloth draped over the table. "You acted like—"

"A teenage boy, Granger. I'm sure you're familiar."

If her plate of food hadn't been there, he thought she would have let her head hit the table. "Unfortunately, I'm plenty familiar. Still, causing him to fall—"

"In case you've forgotten, I did slow his fall because I knew you would harp on me."

She pointed a butter knife in his direction. "Harp? Draco Malfoy, I will show you—"

With a twist of his wand, he pulled her round the circular booth, and smirked down at her. "What were you going to show me, sweetheart?"

Granger huffed. "The least you could do is bring my food with me. It's only polite."

"Oh, how dare I." He laughed. "Allow me."

She stole a buttered roll from his plate.

"Did you just—steal my food?"

With her cheeks puffed out, she shook her head. It was almost believable.

If she'd been calm in the restaurant, and pleased to lean against him while tracing his pulse with her tongue while hidden under a strong Notice-Me-Not that had been his doing, her nerves had returned in full force by the time they stumbled through the sitting room.

"God, elf-wine is the best." She bumped into him and he stiffened, looping an arm around her waist while she bent down to pull her heels off. "I was better dressed for dinner than I was when I married you. Is that terrible?"

When she tried to kiss him, his nose bumped hers. Kneeling down, he could see flecks of gold amidst the brown when she laughed. "It was spur of the moment, Granger. That wizard was furious we caught him just before he went home."

"Draco," she whispers, the two syllables slurred. "Do you think this is weird? The two of us so… We've connected easily, haven't we?"

He nodded.

"Do you think it was too easy? That maybe we've moved too quickly—" Granger squeezed her eyes shut. "I wanted this."

Draco didn't say anything.

Her fingers skimmed his shoulders as she pushed his robes back until they fell to the floor. "I thought I hated you. You must have thought that too."

She was incredibly drunk, Draco realized. Apparently, elf-wine had more of an effect on her than he'd thought.

"Not too long ago, there was a weekend all of us were supposed to meet for a pub weekend. I walked in and only you were there."

Draco gripped her waist and picked her up to carry her into the bedroom. "I'll get you a change of clothes, alright?" But she didn't unlock her legs from where they were wrapped around his waist, so he sat on the bed with her.

"I knew you saw me leave and I wanted to turn around and apologize. It really wasn't your fault. I just—" She groaned, and buried her face in the crook of his neck, hiding away. "I knew if I sat down and talked to you that I would tell you I missed you."

Pulling back to look at her, he was well aware of the incredulous expression on his face. "What?"

He shouldn't ask her these sorts of things when she may not have normally.

"Not romantically—well, not then anyway. We were so close, Draco. Watching you advance as an Auror and believing I could never talk to you—"

"Why would you think I didn't want to talk to you?" He was such a fucking idiot. Maybe he shouldn't be an Auror. Clearly he'd missed a few key things.

She looked down. "You told me you didn't want me. It was humiliating. I tried to talk to you, Draco. Several times, in fact but every time I tried, all I could think of was that, and I just didn't do anything at all."

Curling his fingers in her hair, the signet ring on his right hand caught the light and he pulled her closer into him. "I'm so sorry."

Granger nodded. "I know that now. God, I shouldn't have said any of this. It didn't matter."

"It matters." He smoothed her hair down. "Can you climb off me for a moment while I grab a change of clothes?"

She did just that, and looked over her shoulder at him as she laid on her stomach.

Draco rifled through the wardrobe and pulled a worn shirt from inside, and when he turned around, he found that Granger had fallen fast asleep on his side of the bed. A wide grin forming on his face, Draco carefully unzipped her dress and slipped the shirt over her head.

It was easier said than done.

Granger hadn't worn a bra with her dress. She'd charmed it instead.

"Bloody fucking hell." He muttered as he took the other side of the bed. Within a few minutes, she'd inched across the bed in her sleep and hitched her leg over both of his.

An indignant meow came from the foot of the bed.

"Oh, fuck off." Draco glared at Crooks. "Go to sleep."

Crooks bit him on the toe.

For all his cursing, Granger didn't even stir.

Something pointy pushed into his ribs, digging in, and he groaned. He shifted, but the same thing happened again. Cracking one eye open, Draco peeked down and his irritation melted. Pressed up against him in one of his shirts—his doing, he could admit that—Granger burrowed closer to him in her sleep.

In what he thought was an impossible position to sleep in, she'd managed to jab him with her elbow. It was the first thing he noticed, but the second was that she'd nudged him to the edge of the mattress throughout the night and when he barely propped himself up to look at the rest of the bed, he found the cat curled up in the centre of it.

Crooks opened one eye and hissed.

"You're a tosser," Draco muttered.

A small sound came from his side, and he looked down again. Fingers curled into a fist in his shirt, Granger stared up at him, her lips parting as her eyes widened. "Draco," she whispered. "Why does my head hurt so much?"

He snorted.

"Don't do that."

Lowering his voice, and shooting an obscene gesture at Crooks behind her back, Draco couldn't curb his grin. "Elf-wine is the best, you said."

Her nose scrunched as she looked at him in disgust. "Elf-wine is the worst."

Draco propped his head up in his hand, bracing his bicep against the mattress. He summoned a potion from the loo and dangled it in front of her face. "Sober-Up potion, just for you."

"Don't you need one?"

"Don't offend me, Granger. I can handle my booze."

She blinked. "Malfoy."

"What?"

Granger snatched it from him and swallowed it with a grimace. "No, I mean that—" Her brows furrowed. "Nevermind, it's ridiculous."

"You have to tell me now."

"You called me Granger, but that's not my name anymore."

Draco stilled, his palm still flush against her hip. "Well, you're still—"

"My name is Hermione Malfoy." She shrugged, sliding up the curve of him. "I distinctly remember that I didn't hyphenate. Of course, should I choose to, I hope you wouldn't mind if I used my maiden name in the chance I pursue political—"

"I don't really think you care if I mind—"

She hummed. "You're right. I don't, but I'd appreciate it if it wasn't a sore spot."

"I don't mind. Never. I've called you Granger for years though."

The shirt around her upper thighs rode up, and Draco kept his eyes trained on her face. She pursed her lips together and the edge of her lips lifted. "Actually," Granger glanced around and then down at herself. "Last night, did we…?"

He shook his head. "You were pissed; plus, you passed out in the time it took me to get from the bed to the wardrobe."

Hermione nodded. "Right. Well, there's a certain amount of time the Ministry allots for…consummation, isn't there?"

In all its absurdity, the answer was yes and the answer was twenty-four hours. It wasn't anyone's business when they decided to sleep together, but there was binding magic laced into their rings at the very least.

The ceremony might have skipped binding them together, but the same couldn't be said for their forced agreement to the Ministry.

She pulled the hem of the shirt up, and he pressed her hands down to her sides. "What are you—Malfoy, this isn't negotiable. Unless you don't…"

Draco winced. "There are few things I can think that I would rather do than sleep with you right now, but I'm not going to treat it like a bloody chore and I don't want you to either."

A strangled sound came from her as her lips parted.

He slid out of bed, and immediately wanted to cover her body with his. "Breakfast, Malfoy. Move it."

She didn't bother to put on any pants before padding down the hall, nor did she change out of his shirt. With her lips tugged down into a frown, she sat across from him. "We have to—"

Draco rolled his eyes. "We married at 4:57 in the afternoon, love. Rest assured I will shag you before regular business hours are over."

"I want to talk then." She leaned back in her chair, irritation no longer sweeping across her face. "I think I was going to bring it up last night, but I was drunk—"

"You mentioned some other things, though."

Her tongue poked against the inside of her cheek. "I remember and I'm not going to take them back. What I want to say is that we don't know one another as adults, but I would like to. The past few weeks have been long and at times, trying." She clasped her hands together.

He slumped in his chair, ankles crossed and looked at her. "You're holding something back."

"I'm just going to say what's on my mind. You'll do the same?"

With his tongue tucked against the roof of his mouth, Draco made a sound of agreement.

"I'm terrified." Granger blurted.

"Why?"

She looked away from him, and sighed. "The compatibility charm was never fully tested by Unspeakables. What if it isn't accurate for romantic relationships?"

Draco realized in the breath of a second that he was not the only one hoping for more. She was taking this seriously, so seriously that she appeared she might be sick at any moment. "Considering it was developed by you, it's probably accurate."

"But it could be—"

"I agree that it could possibly measure a platonic relationship" —her face fell— "but then there's the fact that I've never wanted to be platonic with you in my life."

She hiccupped. It was ill-timed and adorable.

"And no matter how we got here, that's still true." Several seconds passed, and he wanted to reach for her, but they weren't quite there, he didn't think.

"Then there's the matter that we're expected to have a child and what if we fall apart? What if this implodes and we create a terrible environment for our child?"

He had to swallow that one. "Hey," Draco murmured, coming round the table and crouching down in front of her. "Those worries are valid, but all we can do is work to make sure it doesn't happen. No matter what, Granger, I swear to you that I will never hurt a child."

"It's so far away, I don't know why I'm worried."

Draco knew why. She was already petrified she might not be able to have children at all.

"Are you sure about this?"

"About you?" he asked. "Of course I am. The question is what you want, Granger."

She licked her lips. "I want to give this a proper go." Granger slid to the floor with him, her thighs bracketing his and kissed him until breakfast burned.

Draco pulled back and asked breathlessly, "Takeaway?"

Nodding, she knotted her fingers in his hair while his hands tightened on her waist.

I promise the smut is coming! Three chapters left for me to write in order to wrap this project up.