On the Differences Between Soulmates and Lifemates

disclaimer: Harry Potter and all characters therein belong to J.K. Rowling and are borrowed by the author. Any other, original characters belong to the author. Don't take them they'll run away and come back home to me.

Chapter 11: Later That Night…

Hermione had almost drifted off when she heard Draco's voice softly whispering to her. He obviously must have thought she was asleep, because he'd never say anything like that to her if she were conscious to hear it. His head was resting lightly on her stomach, and she more felt than heard the words he spoke so carefully.

"I think I'm in love with you, my Hermione."

Hermione had fought the urge to say the words back to him, afraid to get caught up in the moment. She liked him, liked his body and how he used it, but she couldn't understand what was happening. Once she heard Draco's breathing regulate and deepen, Hermione cradled her arms around his head, bringing him closer to her, and snuggling his warm body to hers.

Hermione closed her eyes and leaned back into the soft pillows, letting sleep and a dream take her far away and yet closer than before

Hermione's dream

"Auror Granger, if you feel that your objectivity has been compromised, you must let me know. We can not afford a sneak attack by suspected double-agents," Nymphadora Tonks said to Hermione, pacing in the small interrogation room. Hermione was seated at a table, hands resting on the table, eyes downcast.

"I understand, Auror Tonks, but you must also understand what I say: he was given this mission for a reason. You need to look past what had already happened and past mistakes. He will come through for us, I promise you!" Hermione cried, looking to her supervisor and friend.

"Hermione, if Auror Malfoy doesn't show up within the next 48 hours, I will have to declare him and outlaw and double-agent, and we will be forced to hunt him down. We've already lost Snape to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named; Albus Dumbledore is dead. In my personal opinion, Malfoy shouldn't have been allowed back to Hogwart's. You did the right thing, by going back to Ron. In fact, why don't you take some time off to plan that wedding of yours? You don't have much time left," Tonks said in a mock cheerful voice.

"Yes, I gather I don't have much time left," Hermione trailed off. She rose and left the room, and the office, heading for the Burrow instead of the apartment she and Ron shared.

"Why have you left me, my beloved?" Hermione wailed in the emptiness of the forest that surrounded the Burrow.

end Hermione's dream

Hermione's pulse sped up, and she jerked out of her nightmare. Draco was still asleep, his head on her stomach, and as she half-sat up, he was awakened quite rudely.

"Merlin, 'Mione, what's wrong?" Draco said irritably, trying to snuggle back into her neck.

"Draco, before we go back to Hogwart's, I want to make love with you again, to know that you care for me. You're a good person, your mother made sure of that; show me that with your tenderness," Hermione said weakly.

Draco sat up and took her face in his hands. "Did you have a bad dream? Tell me about it; perhaps that will help," he said, trying to calm her down. He certainly didn't want her to ask him to make love to her and then cry foul later, when she was in her right mind. Consent was all the difference, Draco knew.

"Draco, I don't want to talk about my nightmare, I want you. I. Want. You," Hermione said firmly, putting her hands on Draco's wrists.

"What are you doing, Hermione?" Draco asked breathlessly. No girl had ever been like this with him before; he had always been dominant, but it was apparent that Hermione planned to make him fight for it every time.

"I want you to fuck me. If you won't, then I will just have to fuck you. D'you understand now?" Hermione said huskily, wrapping her fingers around his wrists, turning their bodies so Draco's body was near the head of the bed.

"I'm beginning to," Draco said, trying to rear up on her. Hermione was stronger than she looked, and she managed, just barely, to keep him horizontal.

"Oh, no, things won't be that easy for you, darling. I'm going to take my time with you. My turn," Hermione said with a deep, throaty laugh as she charmed his hands to the head of the bed. Draco's eyes widened; Hermione had no wand on her. "Oh, that, Draco? Why, its wandless magic surely you can do it as well?"

Draco smiled and closed his eyes as Hermione began her slow ascent of his body. She let her hair fall over his bare legs, tickling him and as he shivered, she laughed. Beginning at his knees, Hermione began licking and kissing and biting her way up to his groin. She stopped just short of his cock, which had started out quite soft but by that time was more than hard.

Hermione looked straight into Draco's eyes, which had opened in surprise at how forward she was being. She kissed the top of his shaft, and his body jumped.

"You should know by now that I never just submit," Hermione said, encircling his head with her mouth, sweetly suckling her way down his truncheon until she reached his heavy sack. Tightening her hold, Hermione swiftly sucked back up his shaft. Draco hissed a breath, and Hermione just smiled, turning her attention to his nether parts. She kissed his sack and tongued it gently before sucking it into her mouth, eliciting a hiss of desire from Draco. She applied slight pressure before she let his sack slip from her mouth.

Hermione returned her attention to his shaft, which by then was quite rigid and tall. Hermione grasped it in her hand, using gentle pressure as she pumped until the first bead of moisture appeared. Hermione leaned down and licked it off, and she gazed into Draco's eyes as she did.

"Oh, my, now what will I do? I'm so empty and you're so hard," Hermione said in mock innocence. She rose up on her knees, crawling up the bed to Draco's head. She leaned down and kissed him hard on the lips. She forced her tongue into his mouth. He relented and let her wrestle his tongue, and as she pulled her tongue out of his mouth, he bit her tongue.

"You bit me!" Hermione laughed. Draco just smiled.

"Now you know how I felt," Draco said, straining at his invisible bonds. "Would you please do something about this?" he motioned to his cock, which was standing tall and hard and proud. True to form, every time Hermione moved and her breasts swayed near his body, Draco's cock twitched and he groaned.

"Why, yes, I believe I will," Hermione said, throwing a leg over Draco's body and settling her cunt over his cock. She waited for the action to register before she slid down his shaft slowly and firmly, letting the rod slide oh-so-slowly into her core. After he was in completely, Hermione rose up and completed the action before she started working her legs, pumping up and down, groaning as she rode him hard. Draco was rising off the bed to meet her, thrust for thrust.

Suddenly, Hermione was on her back and Draco was pummeling himself into her body. Hermione looked at him in wonderment.

"Its wandless magic. Surely you can too?" Draco smirked as he abruptly pulled out of her. Hermione cried for loss of him, but Draco was smiling down at her. "I want you, and now it's my turn."

Hermione felt the tug of magical restraints at her wrists, and she gave herself over to Draco's brand of pleasure.

He didn't give her time to anticipate what he would do. He put his face just above her cunt, resting on her stomach as he reached his hands up to play with her breasts. He tweaked her nipples with his thumbs and index fingers until they pebbled and peaked for him. He dragged his body up hers until he could tongue her nipples. He lathed each with his tongue until Hermione squirmed under him. He quickly bit each and left them to focus on her quivering cunney.

"What are you doing, Draco?" Hermione whispered huskily. She was squirming and trying to keep her knees together, put all those years of quidditch hadn't been for nothing. He put his elbows, one in front of the other, at the crease her legs created and pushed her knees apart, bearing all of her to him.

Draco reached down and ran a finger up her pink, moist lips. Hermione shivered and bit her lip, turning her face to the pillow to muffle the sighs and moans coming from her mouth. Draco ran another finger up her lips, and Hermione couldn't muffle the sigh that escaped her. Draco laid down on his stomach, facing her channel, using a finger from each hand to gently spread her lips.

He ran his tongue up her channel, settling on her pleasure nub and suckling on it. He pulled back and looked at her before him, and he smiled.

"You are devastatingly beautiful, Hermione," Draco breathed before applying his tongue to her. He used it like a small, muscular cock, teasing her lips and clit before plunging it in and out, and in and out, until Hermione cried his name in her release.

"Now or never," Draco hissed as he plunged into her, pumping hard for a long time before his tempo increased dramatically, and he was slamming into her, repeating her name as if it were a mantra. Hermione was alternately moaning and crying his name, and it was a half-hour later before they both cried out in mutual release.

As Draco collapsed next to Hermione, her bonds disappeared. She rolled over to face him, and he gathered her into his arms. She inhaled deeply, memorizing the scent of their love-making. He held her tight and close, and he was talking gently to her, making all the promises he could think of.

Hermione finally put a finger to his lips. "Hush, now, darling. There'll be time for talk in the morning, but there'll be no morning if we don't get some rest.

Draco slept peacefully snuggled up to Hermione. Her scent, like wild vanilla and honeysuckle, mixed wonderfully with his own musky male aroma. She snored softly as he ran his hands up and down her body, wondering at her perfection.

Surely he could find a witch, a pureblood witch, who looked as beautiful as she did, who reacted the same way. But would a pureblood witch, raised in obedience first to her father, then to her prospective husband, ever be able to match him the way Hermione had? Draco untangled his arms from around Hermione's sleeping form and rolled onto his back , thinking about the question he was really asking himself:

Would he ever be able to anything like this again with anyone other than Hermione-brightest witch of her age-Granger and feel this way ever again?

Hermione spoke in her sleep, rolling onto her side towards him, her arms seeking Draco out on their own, and she was saying his name, asking him to come back , and to not leave. Draco exhaled loudly and gathered her into his arms, dreading the day to come and the lies he would have to tell. He kissed her forehead and fell into a dreamless sleep.

Early the next morning, Hermione woke Draco up by the simple expedient of kissing him until she aroused some interest. Draco kept his eyes closed but kissed her back until they were both breathless.

"There, now that's not too bad a way to wake up, now is it?" Hermione said, her face flushed a pretty pink. Draco smiled and sat up, but Hermione frowned.

"What is it, Pet?" Draco asked, concern lacing his voice as he reached for her.

"It is a stupid thing, really, Draco. It is of no matter," Hermione said as she blushed.

"What is it, Hermione?" Draco asked again, a little more anxious.

"I like your smile, but I love your smirk."

Draco groaned. "This one?" he smirked what he thought of as his favorite smirk, the one reserved for Potty and Weaselby, but Hermione shook her head 'no'.

"NOT that one, you dolt. The other one. The one you've been giving me since you found out I was available," Hermione smiled sweetly, batting her eyelashes at him.

Draco chuckled. "Ah, this one," he said as he gave her his 'I'm hot, I want you, I know you want me,' dirty smirk, which he was going to try to patent for his own personal use on her as soon as they got back to civilization.

"That's it! I love that smirk," Hermione said, blushing.

"And I love that blush," Draco said, smirking at her again, just to see her blush.

"And I love y that you brought me here. It's beautiful," Hermione recovered, covering her rash pronouncement with what she thought was an ultimately insipid collection of words.

Draco caught Hermione's eye and blushed himself, but he managed to get off the bed and get dressed, which Hermione had already done. He threw on his clothes from the night before, and returned his attention to Hermione.

"We need to get back, before anyone notices we're gone," Draco said, a hint of regret in his voice. He took Hermione in his arms and gave her a swift kiss.

"What was that for?" Hermione said, uncertain on her feet for the first time in her life.

"I want to make a deal with you. Ron can try to win you back, or any boy can try to win you from me, but every week, I want one night here with you, just the two of us. We can study, or just be together, make love I don't care. I want the Hermione I have here, and I want her here, at least one night a week. Understood?" Draco asked, catching her chin in his hand, angling her face so he could look directly into her eyes.

"And what do I get out of this, Draco?" Hermione asked breathlessly.

"My complete and utter fidelity. I will touch no other woman while we're together, nor will I ever bring any other woman to the Heir's cottage. Ever," Draco said seriously.

Hermione sucked in a breath before she answered. "Alright. But you're fine with being the other man, whenever I'm out with anyone else? If I choose not to sleep with you, you won't get it anywhere else? I can sleep with anyone else and you won't say a word?"

Draco looked strangled, his face mottling, but he managed to nod.

"Then, no. I won't treat you like that. I couldn't stand being the other woman," Hermione said as she held Draco at arm's length.

Draco let out the breath he'd been holding. Then he frowned. "Then you don't want to be with me? At all?"

"That's not what I said. I said that I didn't like your conditions. I won't sleep around or cheat on you your should know that. If we're going to do this, we'll do it right."

"Hermione, no matter what we'd like to think, the other boys won't let you be unless you're taken. And I don't think either one of us would be served by shouting our relationship from the rooftops."

Hermione frowned. "I hadn't thought of that. Ron, Harry and Ginny have all filled my parents' ears about you and how you treated us. And I'm sure your parents would be beside themselves if you dated a muggle-born witch."

Draco held Hermione close as he outlined a new plan. "You're right, Hermione, I couldn't stand being the other man indefinitely. But I have another idea. You and Ron were taking time off anyway, and you told him he could try to win you back. How about we don't change public opinion? I'll be just another one of your suitors."

"But you and I will know that we really have a relationship."

"Exactly. But I still want at least one night a week here with you. I don't care if all we do is fall asleep in front of the fire. I want my private time with you."

"I would have to agree. Are you going to play your side as well?" Hermione grimaced at the thought of Pansy Parkinson touching Draco, and she shivered.

"Not quite. You're speaking to the king of Slytherin. If need be, I'll speak privately to the girls who had fancied themselves the next lady of Malfoy Manor, and then I'll have my gang of followers deal with the rest. They'll do what I tell them. You know, I am related, if distantly, to Salazar Slytherin himself?" Draco said proudly.

Hermione almost choked. If that was true, Draco and Harry were very distant cousins. And Ron would have kittens. She smiled at Draco as she envisioned what would be the strangest Christmas on record: Draco, Harry and Ron all fighting over who would be Father Christmas while she and Ginny cooked and watched all the children underfoot. Hermione felt a pang in her chest as she recognized her children and Draco's, Harry and Ginny's, but Ron had only one son, a boy with chocolaty brown eyes and red hair that curled with a mind of its own. She shook her head to bring herself back to reality.

"Why are you doing this, Draco?" Hermione asked quietly. She pulled back from his embrace, looking into his eyes intently.

"Because I want to, Hermione. I want you, and more than that, I want to be with you," he said softly, pulling her closer.

"Do you love me, Draco?"

"Do you love me, Hermione? Could you love me, after everything, and after all is said and done?" Draco's train of thought derailed as Hermione nodded her head silently.

"I love you, Draco."

"And I love you."