Chapter 20 – A seductress
Hermione's hand trailed Draco's jaw towards his chin, where she gently rasped him with her nails. A shiver ran down his spine but he kept his face emotionless.
„What are you trying to prove with that Granger?" he literally spat the words in her face. She didn't answer in words but there was a mischievous smile in her face and she simply look down towards his tight cloth trousers. When she looked at him again she questioningly raised her eyebrow and removed her hand again.
„Nothing." she took the locket out of his hands and moved back to her own chair. She wasn't sure why she had done it herself, but was sure now that the valour potion worked, maybe a bit to well. Again she had to remind herself this wasn't the man she loved and married, even if it was Draco. The reality was harsh and unwelcome, but reality nonetheless. Some deep breaths kept her from spiralling down the path into the misery she knew would be waiting for her once the knowledge really sunk in.
„Tease!" he growled and tried to get comfortable within his now tight trousers. She knew how to turn him on without really touching him and made him rethink everything he knew about the Gryffindor Princess. This woman truly wasn't Weasel's wife and that answered any further questions about how he was able to have a child with her. She was a seductress.
Draco groaned. His old school crush was crashing back over him and he couldn't help remembering how he had kept trying to get her attention with insults. If he was to be honest with himself it wasn't that deceptive that they had ended up in bed after gaining common ground. He was jealous of the man she had come to love. For all his life he wanted his existence to have some meaning. Something more than the pureblood lifeline he was told to live. He had worked hard to overcome most of it and showed his son that he was loved, but he still lacked. He just needed to see the Potter and Weasley's interaction with their own kids to know. The longing in Scorpius eyes, it hurt him deeply, especially now that his wife was dead. But how could he help, with no idea of how to fix it? To see Granger defend his son like she would any of her own had made his heart skip a beat. And to have her admit that she loved a men that was him, even if not quite him, gave him hope.
„You didn't marry me, my husband did. And while there are some characteristics you share, there is no doubt in my mind, you aren't him." Hermione interrupted his thoughts. A small little white lie, since she wasn't beyond hope that he could be. Her voice was not really cold but it wasn't friendly either, a mechanism to keep the longing for him out of it.
„Characteristics I share with him?" He raised an eyebrow and smirked. After that little demonstration he would take any way into her pants he could get. Not while she was legally a Weasley, of course, but afterwards. He just needed to make sure he could stay there once he was successful.
„That smirk. He never lost it." She smiled sadly and her expression got that far away look. Her hands touched the pendant around her neck and suddenly she laughed.
„He would have whipped the floor with you, if he ever got the chance to meet you. You are so full of yourself and look way to much like your father with that long hair. He would have hated it. After everything Lucius did to him he would be unable to even look at you without being disgusted."
„But you aren't disgusted." Draco probed and smirked at her. Cutting his hair short again was just a small price he would gladly pay to get her to pay attention to his sad excuse of a life. His father would hate it, but after all these years maybe he needed to stop caring, to gain what he wanted.
„Like I said. You are alike in as much ways as you are opposed."
She offered another glass of wine to him while saying it. He gladly took it to make his head stop overthinking. Nothing would happen anyway, no matter what his head told him.
There was nothing wrong with just looking at her while she sat right in front of him. The robes she wore were made artfully and hugged her curves. Since he had seen her two weeks ago she had gained weight that was dearly needed. She looked fit now. Little did he know it was a charm she had woven around her.
"Are you wearing runes on your robes?" he suddenly asked out of the blue. There were hand-made embroideries all over her torso he had deemed normal motif at first until he had noticed her hand caressing over them.
"Something close to it yes. It makes me feel safe."
Her answer was cryptic but the longer he stared at them the more he felt like he should know what they meant.
We are finally at a turning point.
For one I made it to the more romantic part, for another I think that the way Hermione acts out her feelings shows how rattled she is after everything she was through.
I get told again and again how out of character she acts, but please always remember what a trauma means. This is my interpretation of it.