Drastic measures

Another Thursday, another chapter for you :-)

Fair warning, there's fluff-galore ahead!

M-rating for lemons and language.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and I am making no money off this.


Draco was shaken to his very core. Why had she done this? The glamours were telling, it seemed that it was all for him.

She had done all of this for him.

He thought through the past year or so, when she'd started to approach him more often. Smiling at him sweetly and regaling him with odd little anecdotes from her life. He'd brushed her off rudely every single time simply because he didn't deserve her attention and he knew it.

Now she had in turn claimed his attention in a massive way. There was no way in hell he would be tying the knot with Astoria now. She seemed to pale beside this spectacular electrifying witch.

He smiled faintly at her meticulous planning of the whole thing. Of course she would be able to pull something like this off.

Had he really been so caught in his own wallowing guilt that he hadn't realized that the object of his desire had actually tried to capture his attention?

He felt like a bloody fool.

They were all moving from the booth and towards the lifts. He wasn't really paying much attention to where he was being lead so when the doors opened to a fantastic roof top terrace filled with twinkling fairy lights, cosy corners with plush sofas and a massive bar in the middle of the space. There were different levels and it wasn't too full of people.

It was raining, he could see the rain on the outside of the railings and when he looked up to the sky but none of it reached them. The air was dry, fresh, clean and just the perfect temperature. It was very clever magic. Though he was loathing to admit it to the two owners who were grinning at his gobsmacked expression.

"We're glad you like it Malfoy, we're rather pleased with it ourselves." Finnigan spoke in his characteristic Irish tones. Thomas nodded beside him with a satisfied expression on his face.

Draco rolled his eyes at them but grinned right back. They were alright for Gryffindors. But he didn't really want to say out loud how amazing he really thought the terrace was.

They approached the bar and he only got a firewhiskey to sip, he was rather tipsy already with the way they'd lathered him with drinks earlier so he decided that a few moments of taking it easy might be just what he needed.

Blaise and Harry were out working the terrace. They had a trail of witches following them and they revelled in the attention. Theo stayed at the bar with him but Theo was a rather famous gay wizard due to his status and wealth so he was swarmed quickly by wizards vying for his attention.

That left him alone with his thoughts and it felt a bit perilous because his head was swimming with confusion. He spent a while thinking and chatting with a couple of people who approached him. A witch tried to pull but he made it clear he wasn't interested at all. She was nice enough but she couldn't hold a candle to Hermione.

He would go to her, he would ask her out on a date. Wasn't that what she meant? That he knew what to do? What he wanted to do was claim her as his and then to hell with his mother's wishes and Astoria.

He didn't particularly want to hurt Astoria but he also knew that she wasn't in love with him at all. She would go through with it to please her parents and getting her hands on the millions of galleons in the Malfoy vaults was a nice bonus to the transaction. She knew her duty, produce heirs first and then do whatever you want. He hadn't really wanted to marry her but he hadn't had any other options in his own opinion. Plus, it would serve to get his mother off his back.

Until now.

Deep in thought, he didn't realize that most of the terrace had gone hushed. Only Blaise, Harry and a female voice could be heard. Even Theo was silent which was very unusual.

As the female voice laughed it filtered through his clouded mind and he looked up.

His breath caught.

It was her.

She was here.

She had her back to him but he would know that laugh anywhere. Her hair was loose down her slender back and she wore a shimmering Slytherin green floor length satin dress that hugged her curves perfectly. He gulped. It looked like it was painted onto her.

As if in slow motion, she turned around and her eyes were boring into his soul. All noise around him disappeared.

He felt bared. It was uncomfortable for the normally careful wizard, but for her he would do anything.

She started to walk slowly towards him, stopping every few feet to greet someone who spoke to her but she was steadily moving towards him.

Was she here for him? He bloody well hoped so.

As she neared the bar she turned to Theo and his flirts. "Hello Theo. I am sure you all can find somewhere else to be right now."

Theo chuckled and kissed her cheek. "Anything for you princess." He walked away with a small crowd around him, leaving the two of them alone together.

He felt like his heart was beating out of his chest. He was nervous and uncertain. Feelings he normally didn't have or supressed but she exposed him for who he really was.

He couldn't say anything, he didn't know what to say.

Their eyes were still locked and she quirked a small smile. That jolted him into action and he took one of her hands in both of his with hope blooming in his heart.

"Hermione, was it really you? I mean… Truly?" He was searching her face incessantly for any kind of clue.

She took a deep breath. "Yes Draco. It was really me." She placed her free hand on his chest just over his heart.

He could tell she was waiting for it, waiting for his admission. She had out herself out on a limb for him and now he needed to do the same for her. It was no time for him to be a coward.

"I love you. I've loved you for years Hermione." The words were wrenched from his chest and he rushed them out in an exhale. But he needed to say more. He needed to make her understand. "I've hated seeing you going on dates with other men but I know I don't deserve you, you are so much better than me, I would only hold you back."

During his small rant she smiled at him but when she spoke it was with a fierce expression on her face. "You deserve me because I love you too. All of you. You forget that I actually know you Draco and you belong to me, no one else. Not your mother and certainly not Astoria."

He smiled for the first time, a true smile. "If you'll have me, I'm yours." She was beaming at him and he gathered all his courage and bent to kiss her. He'd dreamt of kissing her for years and he was not disappointed.

Her lips were velvety soft and full, they sparked his long dormant desire into a full blown fiendfyre. The moment their lips met, every single fantasy of his were put to shame. His entire body was roaring with craving for her. His body was pounding like the beat of a drum, urging him to make her his in every sense of the word. He couldn't hold himself back and he didn't want to.

He felt her gasp as he put one hand in her hair and one on her lower back, moulding her to him as he deepened their kiss, their tongues meeting in a battle wills and passion. He could feel her supple mounds pressing against his chest and his body hardened for her.

Before he was ready for it, she started pulling back slightly and he could feel the disappointment coursing through him. Did she not want this? Doubt and fear was paralyzing him and he looked wearily at her as she pulled almost fully away from him but staying in his arms.

She gave him a smile that held the secrets of the entire world rolled into one and the tendrils of fear in him eased. "Are you ready to leave?"

He nodded, but he decided to caution her, just a bit. "You know… Once we do this, I am not letting you go if I can help it. Ever. Even if it is very selfish of me but with you here I don't care anymore. I need you." He ended it with a soft kiss on her forehead, her nose and finally her lips.

She only smiled at him, that secret smile and whispered in his ear. "You are mine, I am not giving you up without a fight either. I have a birthday present waiting at my place for you. Can we go please?"

He couldn't do anything but nod and she took his hand in hers and pulled him towards the lifts. Only then did all of the noise from the terrace enter his consciousness again and he was acutely aware of hoots, shouts and cheers from their friends.

"Go get 'em tiger!" That was Thomas.

"Show her who's the man Drake!" Theo.

"Give him a taste of that Gryffindor bravery Hermione!" Harry of course, he rolled his eyes.

They practically ran to the lifts and as soon as they were alone inside one of them, he placed her in a corner and started kissing her in earnest as he crowded her with his body. By the time they reached the ground floor, they were both panting and flushed.

She gave him a radiant smile and pulled him to the closest apparition point where she dissaparated with his arms around her and flushed up against her back.

They appeared directly into her bedroom and he was elated. He was burning for her. He'd basically had a cockstand since she appeared on the stage earlier that evening.

He stood behind her and immediately started undoing the long zip of her dress, taking care to run a finger down her exposed spine in the process and them following with kisses. Now that he had her here with him, he wasn't going to rush it.

He was going to savour her as if his life depended on it.


I know, I know, it's a cruel place to stop the chapter but it's all wrapping up next week, pre-Christmas-smooches to you all!

Please leave a review and let me know what you think :-)

Thank you!

HBSJ