MY LAST NAME

Chapter 14

Draco slowly sat up, his head was heavy and his eyes were sore. He looked over to Hermione's small pocket watch like clock, and was shocked to read 4:25pm off it. His rubbed his eyes and slowly swung his legs off the bed. He looked for his shirt, but his head was thumping, he decided it could wait.

Draco walked through the snug, and into the kitchen where Hermione was stood next to a large vat of what smelled like strawberry jam. She wore a light pink apron, and was stirring the pan constantly with a wooden spoon.

"Hello there sleeping beauty" she smiled at him.

"Hello to you too" he paused, still trying to gather his consciousness. "What exactly are you doing?" He leaned against the door frame.

"I'm making a batch of strawberry jam. I'm going to put them I'm some simply adorable jars, stick a bow on and voilà, Christmas presents done all round." she seemed chuffed with herself. "But I must watch it like a hawk, or the bottom will catch and I'll have waisted three pounds of strawberries and four pounds of preserving sugar." She frowned at the thermometer. Draco laughed, and walked over to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and nestled his head into the curve of her shoulder.

"You're a witch, a flick of your wand will fix it" he started to kiss her neck, his hands still wrapped tightly around her.

"Then it is not proper." She tried to ignore him. "I don't want to cheat." She slapped his hand as it started to travel south.

Draco laughed and let go of her. She turned off her cooker and placed the huge vat on a side. She turned to look at him.

"How're you feeling?" She looked concerned.

"Better." He looked away from her temporarily, and then he was walking over to her, gently pulling the knot of her apron before slipping it over her head.

"I want you to stay here for a while. That huge house it just messing with your head,Draco." she cupped his cheek, and watched as he softened under her touch.

"I would love to, but I don't want to intrude and distract you from your work" he took her hands in his, and started to intertwine their fingers.

"I finish work next week, then I'm all yours." She kissed his nose and walked away to check her jam. Draco smiled to himself and followed her. He grabbed her waist and spun her around.

"Why aren't you all mine now?" His voice was low, his breath becoming rather heavy.

"Well, I am" she blushed slightly as his hands wondered. Draco kissed and sucked on her neck until Hermione's breath was rugged, and her nails were digging into his bare back. He stopped and took a step back.

"I'm going to shower, care to join me?" He held out his hand and flashed her a mischievous smile. She smiled back and followed him through into the bathroom.

Draco sat In the snug, his favourite place in Hermione's flat. He flicked through a short novel in one afternoon, and sighed. Hermione had been called into work, and he was alone again. He hated it, even though he was used to being alone since he left Hogwarts, he felt complete with Hermione around. He let his head flop back onto the sofa and held his wand up to the ceiling. He started to examine it, before all of a sudden, he sat up right. He had an idea.

Hermione walked through the door to her home, she was exhausted. Her hair was scruffily tied back, since it had just been getting in the way, and her clothes seemed to weigh her down. She slung her keys onto her desk and sighed. Her house was dark, no sign of Draco anywhere. She frowned slightly, before walking through into her snug and flouncing on her sofa. She sat for a moment, in the dark before she laid down. She tucked her feet up, and laid in the foetal position, watching the flames off her wood burner. Her eyes begs to droop, before there was a huge crash behind her. She abruptly sat up and raised her wand at the sound. Stood in front of her, she could see the faint shadow of Harry Potter. She let her arm drop to her side as she stared at him.

"Hermione!" Harry smiled and walked closer to her. She knew what this was about, and didn't have time for it.

"I'm sorry I apparated here, I was meant to be outside" he trailed off rubbing his head. "I was never any good at it" he laughed then soon hushed when he saw Hermione's expression.

She flicked her wand and lit up the room.

"What do you want Harry?" She placed her wand on her desk, her face expressionless.

"I've come to see how you are, you never responded to my letter" he walked a little closer to her. "I had Ron round the other day, he seemed pretty shell shocked" he paused "And angry."

Hermione rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen.

"Oh for goodness sake he's always been such a drama queen." She flicked on her kettle and rubbed her brow.

"But, Hermione, you have to see it from his point of view. There, stood in your house, was a death eater." He sounded sympathetic, but she couldn't tell as she refused to look at him.

"I'm a bright witch Harry, if I wasn't happy with it, then it wouldn't be happening." She turned around and rested on the work surface.

"I know Hermione, but" he paused, thinking hard, "the guy is bad news."

Hermione saw red.

"You have absolutely no right being here Harry. You have no right coming here and throwing your weight around. He's changed, and he was forced to make the decisions he made. He is a good, and honest person, and I can't see myself being with anyone else other than him." She shouted, trailing off towards the end.

"Wait. What?!" Harry's face was screwed up in disgust "you two are like, together? Have I fucking missed something here?!" He was angry now.

"We have been for a while now" Hermione folded her arms, and tried to compose herself.

"Hermione, he's a fucking death eater. He. Helped. Voldemort. Does that not mean anything to you?!" He was in her face.

"Of course it does, but he didn't have a choice!" She was shouting back. "You're supposed to be my friend Harry, I expected this reaction from Ron, but not you" she felt sad, but she was furious at the same time.

Harry flew his arms into the air in anger, he paced in her kitchen, trying to compose himself.

"Yes I am your friend Hermione, that's why I'm reacting this way. I don't trust the slimy bastard"

"I'm not asking you to trust me, Potter." Draco was stood in the doorway of the kitchen. His thick black coat still buttoned up. He walked in towards Hermione and flashed her half a smile. Harry stood in amazement.

"Oh so you have a key now? What right to you have to waltz in here like that?" Harry spat.

"What is it to you, Potter?"

"If you were clever you'd watch your tongue, Malfoy." His voice was low and intimidating.

"You know" Draco laughed, feeling insulted, "I'm surprised you still act like a fucking child. We're adults, and what's happened, has happened. Quite frankly, there's nothing I can do about it. I hate myself every single fucking day, I sit in my self pity and remorse, but I can't change a thing. You seem to just want to hold on to your five minutes of fame." He walked close to him and stared into his eyes.

"I can't thank you enough for killing Voldemort, it's the best thing your scrawny arse ever did. But it's time to move on Potter, let it fucking go."

Harry swung and punched Draco right square in his face. He staggered back and held his nose as blood poured from it.

"Harry what the fuck?!" Hermione screamed, grabbing a towel for Draco's nose.

"I've always wanted to do that." Harry replied calmly, and then stormed out of the room. He slammed the front door on his exit.

"What a fucking - ouch!" Draco's face was all blood, he held a towel to his nose as he sat at the kitchen table. Hermione had a mop out and was cleaning up the blood that had spilt on her tiled floor.

"I could think of many names to call him. That was despicable behaviour." Hermione was disgusted in Harry. She thought he was more than that.

"You're going to need you to fix this, I'm certain he's broken it." He flinched again as he shifted his hand. He sighed.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione."

"What for?!" Hermione put her mop in the bucket and sat down next to him.

"For causing all this bloody drama."

Hermione half smiled, and removed the towel from his nose to examine the damage.

"They're being unreasonable, Draco, don't listen to them." She dabbed a wet cloth gently on his face to remove the blood that was starting to dry. He winced and tightened his fists.

"Yeah, you've definitely broken it" she laughed as it stuck out, slanting slightly to the right.

"Is it an improvement though?" He tilted his head slightly. "Maybe if I do this" they both laughed. She looked down as her heart felt heavy. Why were her friends being like this? She was finally happy, why couldn't they be happy too?

Draco lifted her head up by cupping her chin and smiled at her, sympathetically.

"Please can you fix my nose, I don't wish to have a wonky one." His voice was a serious whisper, which made Hermione laugh. She walked through to the snug, and brought back her wand. With a quick swish, Draco's nose cracked back to his original position.

"Fucking hell!" He held it gently "that bugger hurt more than Potters punch!" He laughed as Hermione did too.

"I have a surprise for you!" Draco walked dragging Hermione into the snug. He let go of her hand and trotted over to the mirror and started to clean up his face, wincing as he did so. After a quick rinse, he walked over to her and reached into the inside pocket of his coat. He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her.

"What is this?" Hermione's stomach churned.

"Open it" Draco was beaming. Hermione unfolded the piece of paper. It was a picture, a picture of a small cottage, with a thatched roof and which was surrounded with wild flowers, trees and fields. She stared at it, unsure of what to think.

"It's your Christmas present" Draco smiled taking her by the waist. "Well, an early one."

"What do you mean?" Her voice was distant, her eyes still admiring the perfect cottage.

"The cottage is yours Hermione. And I wish to take you there for Christmas and New Years Eve." He was still beaming, the love shining in his eyes.

"You mean, you've just bought this cottage?" She finally looked at him, shocked.

"Yes! It lies in the heart of Ireland and it is fully furnished, well, will be soon anyway. I'm having a team of people go in and design it all just the way you'd like it. They start next week, and it will be finished by time we go" he paused looking at her facial expression. "What's the matter? Don't you like it?" Worry bit Draco like a train. Hermione just looked at him as his heart sank.

"Draco, this is such a beautiful gift, I really don't know what to say" she folded the piece of paper and placed it gently on her desk.

"You don't have to say anything, as long as you like it" he cupped her face "I just want you to be happy" he paused "I want us, to be happy together." He kissed her forehead. She smiled at him, her eyes brimming with happiness. She kissed his lips gently and whispered.

"And that we shall always be."