"Draco Malfoy you bloody git!" Hermione fumed at Draco the minute he walked through the door.
"This has to be the most passionate 'welcome back home' I've ever received." Draco remarked sardonically.
"You have no idea how tempted I am to strangle you right now." Hermione hissed, glaring at him.
"If you calm down, I could explain." Draco said.
"Explain what exactly? You were away for eleven days when you said you'd be back in two or three days. Do you have any idea what kind of thoughts I was having during those eleven days?"
"No, what kind of thoughts?" Draco asked as he threw himself on a near sofa, too exhausted to stand up.
"Morbid ones! By the fifth day I was convinced that you're dead." Hermione admitted, "And Ginny knew absolutely nothing either."
"Blaise hardly had time to send love letters." Draco quipped, "And, are you implying you were actually worried for me?" he quirked a questioning eyebrow at her.
"Yes!" Hermione hadn't realized the fact until she heard Draco saying it out loud.
Draco studied Hermione intently. As if trying to weigh the truth in her simple yes.
"What happened? What took you so long? " Hermione demanded quickly before he had a chance to dissect her answer.
"Technically speaking, we somehow had to chase a group of insurgents all over Scotland." Draco replied after a pause, seemingly agreeing to let go of what he considered notable progress in their relationship, at least for the moment.
"And you..caught them?" Hermione asked, the shrillness in her voice giving away the fear she was trying to mask.
"Only two, Weasly and Thomas managed to escape along with some girl we couldn't identify but there are two other wizards who we got to capture." Draco informed.
Hermione sighed in relief when she heard the news about George and Dean. Her relief, though, was soon replaced by worry about the other two wizards who got caught.
"Who are those two?"
"I can't recall their names."
"So..um..what happens to the people you capture?"
"Trust me, you don't want to know."
"You..kill them?"
"Will you ever stop sounding so accusative?" Draco waved his hand in a frustrated gesture, "I have nothing to do with whatever happens to them after they're captured. Some of them are killed, some imprisoned, some are smart enough to switch sides at the right time."
Hermione opened her mouth to ask further questions about the identity of those two wizards but Draco raised his hand in a motion to stop her.
"You can postpone your interrogation, I desperately need a decent bath." he dismissed as he walked past her and up to his room.
Hermione studied him as he passed by her. His once elegant robe was ripped. Among the different stains that ruined the expensive fabric, what caught her eyes the most were the blood stains. Was it his own blood? Hermione wondered. She hadn't seen any visible wounds on him. His face was darker than usual and it looked like he was rolling in either mud or fire. His eyes were bloodshot and his cheekbones looked higher than usual. And then there was this beard! Hermione had never seen a hint of facial hair on Draco. He was usually ridiculously clean-shaven. Reluctantly, Hermione admitted to liking the short beard that covered his jawline and the faint mustache above his lips.
She decided to follow him to his room and continue the conversation she had been waiting for for eleven days now. She knocked several times on his door but got no answer. Then she heard some noise from her room and saw light coming through the door.
"What are you doing?" she asked Draco as he was entering the adjoined bathroom.
"Having a bath." Draco replied simply.
"Here?" she asked with an incredulous look.
"No, that would be terribly inconvenient. In the bathroom of course." he quipped.
"That bathroom?" she rephrased her question for the third time.
"Yes! What's wrong with it?" Draco huffed impatiently.
"This is supposed to be my room!" Hermione pointed out.
"Oh.." Draco checked his surroundings briefly, "It used to be mine so I just walked in out of habit." he explained.
"It's alright, I just.." Hermione started to say.
"Of course, if you don't trust me with your bathroom, you could always join me. You know, make sure I don't flood the floor with water...steal bottles of shampoo. All sorts of life-threatening blasphemies that might happen if I was left alone in a bathroom." Draco jested, faking a serious expression.
Hermione fought back a chuckle. "I think I'll take the risk" she said.
"Are you sure you don't want to supervise me in there? Because I don't mind."
"Yes, positive."
"That's disappointing, I think I needed that supervision. "
"Unfortunately, I'll have to pass. "
Draco shrugged with what looked like a 'your loss' kind of expression before closing the bathroom door behind him. Hermione sat on one of the chairs in the corner of the room waiting for Draco to come out. She suddenly dreaded the the conversation she had been planning for ever since he had left. If things went the way she expected, if Draco kept his word and decided to help her leave. She would soon leave the manor forever. She'd be free and maybe even reunited with her friends, fighting like she should. So why wasn't she giddy with anticipation already?
It was the sense of going back to the real world that terrified her the most. Her stay at the manor was a well earned moment of peace. Years of having to live in the shadow and worry about every coming day made her appreciate the air of security the manor had provided her with. There was no more of that, she told herself determinedly. Now she had to go back to the war zone that was her real life.
A loud groan of pain caught Hermione's attention. She pressed her ear to the bathroom door and heard another pained moan.
"What's wrong?" Hermione demanded loudly. A muffled moan came in response.
Without further hesitation, she opened the door and headed towards Draco who had his torso slightly bent down. He was holding his arm tightly.
"What is it? Your arm? Is it your mark again?" Hermione asked quickly, trying to ignore his stark nakedness.
"No.." Draco mumbled, breathing sharply.
"What is it, then!" Hermione repeated in nervous impatience. Draco's agonized expression and unhelpful abrupt reply caused panic to crawl over her, "I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong." she added.
"My arm.." Draco breathed in a barely audible rough voice.
"Let me see it." Hermione moved closer to him, reaching for his arm and inspecting it closely.
"What exactly is wrong with it?" Hermione asked with a frown, unable to find anything looking unusual about said arm.
"Absolutely nothing. " Draco grinned wickedly as he pulled Hermione into the bathtub, trapping her between the wall and himself.
"You filt..." Hermione's rage was about to start.
Draco's lips crashed into Hermione's. He pinned her hands down with one hand while the other one tried to angle her head to allow him better access to her mouth. He spent more time on that kiss than he had on all their previous kisses combined. When he finally pulled away, her hands weren't jerking half as forcefully as they were at first.
"Let go of me." Hermione said breathily.
"You have to sound more convincing" Draco replied, nuzzling the hollow of her collarbone.
"Why the trick?" Hermione mumbled.
"Was there any other way to bring you here?" Draco asked as his fingers started tugging at the hem of her shirt.
"No..probably not." Hermione replied slowly, doing a half-hearted attempt at pushing Draco away.
"Why?" Draco finally raised his head up to look at Hermione, "Why aren't things ever easy where you're concerned?" his distracted eyes gave her the impression that he was asking himself rather than her. "Why do I always have to lure you like I'm hunting a prey? It's not supposed to be like this!" he added desperately.
"I don't even know what it's supposed to be like. This whole situation confounds me!" Hermione admitted.
"Because you think too much. I offered you a chance and you took it. Reluctantly maybe, but at the end of the day, you took it. And you've been punishing yourself and me for that decision ever since!" Draco exhaled sharply, unable to grasp Hermione's logic.
"I'm not punishing you!" Hermione replied defensively
"This could go on forever." Draco groaned in frustration, "I'm not in the mood for talking right now." he laced his fingers in Hermione's hair and pulled her head back.
"Draco.." Hermione never got to finish her sentence as Draco's teeth bit into the hollow of her throat.
She cursed her treacherous body in her mind. A highly logical part of her knew she should be sensible enough to push Draco away and leave. Then there was an absurdly inappropriate part of her that seemed to be growing more powerful every day, that made any attempts she did at pushing him away, completely futile.
"Stop brooding" Draco ordered as he raised a finger to smooth the creases in Hermione's forehead, "Just relax and go with it." he coaxed softly.
Hermione pushed her head back further and let the warm jets of water wash her face. Her wet clothes were starting to irritate her too much that she decided to give into Draco's constant tugging and let him slide her t-shirt over her head. Even before the wet t-shirt reached the floor, Draco's lips and his rough beard were leaving red marks on her soft mounds.
Soon, the rest of Hermione's clothes joined her t-shirt. Draco's warm mouth sucked in one erect nipple while his fingers squeezed the other. His other hand was on her back, his long fingers dug deeply into her behind. Hermione moaned at the painful pressure Draco's fingers were applying on her.
He moved his fingers away from her breast and let his hand glide over her stomach with agonizing laze. Hermione pushed her hips forward, hoping this would urge Draco to be faster. A familiar smirk played on his lips as he pulled his hand back and raised his head up to kiss her.
He slid one finger inside her wet folds. After a few minutes, another finger joined the first one. Hermione's knees felt weak and she threw herself into Draco, resting her hand on his shoulder for support. The short hairs of his beard grazed her cheek. She leaned into him, letting her lips explore his neck leisurely.
Her other hand skimmed over the taut muscles of his stomach. It slid down until it came in contact with his hard length. Hermione tentatively touched him with the tips of her fingers. Draco's slow fingers suddenly pushed deeply into her.
Taken aback by the surprise movement, Hermione's hand closed tightly over him. With a loud almost animalistic growl, Draco pulled his wet fingers out and smeared her lips. His tongue ran over her lips before he sucked in her lower lip. Hermione shivered when Draco pressed her against the cold wall. He raised one of her legs and Hermione instinctively folded it behind his back, clutching his arm tightly. With one decisive move, he entered her.
Every deep thurst brought Hermione closer to her release. She was aware of every bit of her surroundings. The cold marble wall behind her back. The warm water jets. The heat of her body increased by Draco's own heat. The contracted muscles of hi arm, twitching under her hand. The novelty of feeling Draco's beard on her skin. His rhythm becoming faster with every thrust.
When one moment gathered all those sensations together, Hermione arched her back as she experienced her most shattering climax. She was dimly aware of Draco saying her name when he couldn't hold back his own climax any longer. His hold on her loosened and Hermione swayed into him, almost causing him to fall into the hard floor of the bathtub.
"When I said making love to you was almost lethal, I didn't mean for you to take it literally." Draco said with a chuckle, panting for air.
"I didn't mean to." Hermione said when she was able to find her voice. Her mind was busy trying to remember when had he said that.
"It's alright." Draco assured, tucking back several wet tendrils of hair that covered her eye.
He moved his legs carefully, as if testing if they were functioning properly before getting out of the bathtub. He extended his hand to Hermione who took it hesitantly, unable to decide whether her knees were to be trusted to move or not. He scanned the bathroom with narrow eyes until he spotted some neatly folded towels near the sink. He muttered something and two towels floated in the air and hovered next to him.
He wrapped one towel around Hermione's shoulders and she held it tightly around her body, reveling in the warmth it offered. With the tip of the other towel, he patted her hair gently before drying his own hair and throwing the towel at the counter.
"Can you walk?" Draco questioned.
"Of course." Hermione replied instantly.
In an attempt to prove her answer, she walked a couple of steps before slipping in the pool of water their bodies had left on the floor. Draco quickly reached for her, pulling her up before her head fatally collided with the hard floor.
"Your ego will eventually kill us both." Draco muttered under his breath as he scooped Hermione into his arms and strode out of the bathroom.
"I just slipped, accidents like that happen all the time." Hermione defended herself indignantly.
Draco stood in front of the bed and threw Hermione on the soft mattress.
"Oy!" Hermione protested.
"I slipped, accidents like that happen all the time." Draco shrugged at her with a smirk that proved his 'slip' was intentional. Hermione scoffed at him.
He lay down next to her lazily, resting his head on the pillow and closing his eyes. Hermione glanced at him. The way he blatantly lay there without caring to cover his naked body startled her. But that was Draco Malfoy, of course he'd have no trouble flaunting every asset he had. And what an asset! Hermione mused, scolding herself instantly at the crude thought.
Her eyes studied him leisurely for the first time from such a close distance. She noticed a scar running all the way from his shoulder and stopping right above his elbow. His chest rose and fell slowly as he took deep breaths. Her eyes moved further down, shyly looking away from his semi-hard length.
"You really shouldn't look at me like that if you don't plan on acting upon it." Draco advised huskily, looking at Hermione from beneath hooded eyes.
"I wasn't..I was..distracted." Hermione mumbled, bending her head down to let her hair fall over her face.
Draco raised himself up and cupped Hermione's neck, pressing her into the mattress with his weight, "Challenge accepted." he murmured into her ear. The mischief in his voice promising a long night.