Already Over - Chapter 5

Draco started running towards his house and was quick to grab the spare key upon arrival as to unlock the door. He locked it before he looked at Hermione on the couch, book in her hand. She smiled at him, but her smile faded as soon as she saw his fierce face.

"Why are they after you?" asked Draco in a demanding voice.

"What?"

"I didn't want to get involved so I didn't ask, but I have to know now. Why are the death eaters after you? What did you do or what do you know?" Hermione's face seemed to crumble from a relaxing demeanor into a fearful expression.

"Why do you suddenly need to know?"

"Answer me!" he barked. He did not intend on yelling at her, but the fear in his own system was rising up. It wasn't so much fear, but paranoia. He couldn't let it happen all over again. She simply shook her head at him.

"I can't. That's information that I can't say."

"Look…" began Draco as he walked to her easing his face towards her so it was a few inches away. There noses were practically touching as he said, "They're after you."

"Do they know where I am?" she asked, her chocolate eyes glistening in front of him.

"I doubt it. Not at the moment, but before I get myself into a bigger mess with them than I already am in, you better tell me why they're after you." She shook her head desperately not wanting to tell him. "Hermione…"

She shook her head and stood up. She ran up the stairs to the guest room. He threw his jacket on the couch and ran back up there after her knowing that unless he kept pushing her then she would not answer him. When he reached the room, he saw that she was changing into her tattered clothes, but he put his hands to hers to get her to stop.

"Hermione stop."

"I can't tell you." she whispered.

"Yes you can. At least tell me what they did to you."

"He…they…" She was starting to cry, her eyes burning with tears that were threatening to fall down. She felt her throat becoming dry to where she couldn't even swallow.

"What did they do?"

"They performed…the Cruciatus Curse."

"Oh Merlin…"

"I was here working on something and you're right, I was caught. I managed to escape, but then another random man tried to…well he tried to hurt me in that alley. You stopped him…" She broke down right then. She sat down on the bed putting her shaking hands up to her crying eyes. She didn't want him to know what they did to her and didn't want anyone to know for that matter. He sat down next to her and put an arm around her, an attempt to comfort her. She leaned her head on his shoulder taking the comfort in to the fullest. He felt odd since it was the first time he'd embraced someone since the funeral. She was certainly the first girl he'd embraced since it happened. She put her other hand to his other shoulder and held him tight. He looked straight forward as she held him close and cried into him.

"It's going to be okay." he whispered to her.

She looked up into his eyes. He said it with such sincerity and conviction that she couldn't believe that this was the Malfoy she once couldn't stand. The Malfoy that she hated. The Malfoy that she didn't like.

They were both staring at each other with their faces extremely close. They could feel each others' hot breath; he on his neck, her on her forehead. Her hand moved around to his neck instantly sending goose bumps all over his body. She was moving towards him and he wasn't pulling back. It was with that movement that their lips met. She kissed him softly and then pulled back to look at him.

She wasn't sure what to expect, but he had this look about him, one which told her that he was thinking very hard and fast trying to comprehend the situation. He then moved back in and kissed her passionately, a kiss more passionate then anything she had ever felt before. She fell back upon the bed as he laid himself on top of her, his left hand grasping her hip as his right snaked around her neck. She liked the feeling of his soft lips on hers.

He sat up fast lifting his body off of hers. He was breathing heavily and he looked away from her with guilt written all over his face. Without muttering a single word to her, he stood up from the bed and left her in the room. He went down the stairs and paced for a moment with his thoughts overtaking his mind. He ran his hands through his silky, baby-fine hair and then sat down in front of the fireplace. There was no fire burning, but he stared at it all the same.

Hermione came down the stairs and looked at him. She knew that he wanted a fire so she used her wand to quickly conjure one. He turned around once he saw the fire burning and looked at her. He sighed before he turned back away from her gaze.

"Taylor. Her name was Taylor."

Hermione walked over and sat down at the couch remaining as quiet as she could. He continued to stare at the fire.

"I met her about four years after I left Hogwarts. I had just done the last thing for the Dark Lord that I said I would do. I was on the run from them. I wanted out. After seeing how it destroyed my father, I didn't want to be a part of it. So I took off since I couldn't turn to people like you. Not after what happened with Dumbledore. So I went to so many various places. I was in Ireland, the U.S., Australia, and finally Germany just to spend time alone. I hated myself. I hated what I had become and I hated who I was about to be. I knew I was going down an even worse path. So…then one of the best things of my life happened."

"What?" asked Hermione.

"I got hit by a muggle car."

"What?" asked Hermione only more confused. He smiled and thought about it for a moment.

"I got hit by a car. I was rushed to a nearby hospital and immediately tossed into the ER. I was pretty banged up and I was taken into intensive care. When I woke up, there was this beautiful med student right next to me. She gave me this smile when she saw I was awake. She started speaking German and I couldn't utter one word. She then started speaking English. She was from London and oh she was beautiful. She had this long blonde hair and these big blue eyes. I was just lost in her. Oh Merlin that smile. Smile could make me do anything."

He smiled again and then looked down. He was starting to get emotional feeling his throat becoming extremely dry all of the sudden.

"I was there for a while and she was the one who took care of me. We started seeing a lot of each other. She was stopping by even when she wasn't working. When I was finally let out, the first thing I did was ask for her number. I didn't know what one was, but I saw that in a muggle movie and I figured that is what one does."

Hermione smiled and laughed lightly.

"I finally figured out what a number was and I called her. She was apparently happy to hear from me and I asked her out on a date. It was disastrous."

He shook his head with a sigh before looking down as Hermione smiled at him.

"I mean I was late and the restaurant had lost our reservations. We ended up skipping dinner. So I remember going for a walk with her. I was so annoyed with how everything went, but she was still all smiley and cheery. Then she tripped and twisted her ankle. So after laughing on the ground, I took her back to the place I was staying at. It was a suite so it had a fireplace. I lit one and we spent the whole night in front of the fire."

He was breathing heavily and his eyes were burning, but he held it all in. Hermione was a different case and already had tears falling.

"We spent a few months together and that's when she told me that she was getting transferred. I was devastated. She, however, was so happy which only made it worse. She then finally stopped me from my babbling and told me that she was transferred to London. I couldn't have been more happy. I picked her up and spun her around. It was all so perfect. Too perfect."

He looked down at his ring.

"We were here in London. For two years were nothing, but together. I had bought this house and she was spending everyday here. I loved that she didn't know about my past. I loved that she didn't know the old me. She only saw me as this guy without any flaws."

Hermione let out a sob, but quickly muffled it with her hand. She didn't want him to stop talking.

"I loved her so much. I had to do it. I told her everything about me. I finally told her the real me. Who I use to be and that I was a wizard. I figured she'd freak out with it and eventually stop seeing me. I figured the phone calls would die down and she would eventually move onto someone else. I showed her the Dark Mark and I figured she'd run away. She didn't though. She grabbed my face and told me that, that guy was dead. She was in love with the man I had become. She didn't care about who I use to be or what I use to do. She already knew about wizards because she had a cousin who went to Durmstrang. She loved me for me. She really was in love with me."

He smiled and Hermione wiped away a tear completely in awe of his story so far.

"It was finally time. I knew she'd been wanting to for a while, but I was too scared to do it. We were walking in that park and I sat her down on our bench. She knew I was nervous and found this amusing. She loved my humiliation. I mean I was bad. I could barely speak and I was red in the face. She finally gave me that smile and that's when I got down on one knee. She started crying and yet she was smiling more than ever. I pulled out that ring and she jumped in my arms before I could even ask the question. I figured that was a yes and I slid that ring on her finger. It was one of the greatest moments of my life."

He let out a deep breath, his voice quavering from all of his emotions, and Hermione wiped away another salty tear.

"She knew that I obviously wouldn't have many friends coming and my family wasn't coming. My father couldn't come anyways since he was in Azkaban. She was a muggle and so they were obviously all upset. Her mother seemed nice, but her father didn't like the idea of her marrying me. He's like everyone else; once evil, always evil. Her friends were mostly all in Germany and I figured she'd be sad through all of this. She wasn't though. She was anything, but that. She had packed bags and I had no idea what was going on, but she just told me to get in the car. I did. We drove for a few hours and then made it to a small house which was also an acting chapel. I had a suit in my bag and I put it on. I waited for her and she came out in the most beautiful white gown."

He smiled as he closed his eyes her images flooding his mind to the fullest.

"I remember everything about it. It hung off her shoulders and went down to her wrists. It had these sprinkly things on it that went down to her tiny waist."

Hermione laughed at his "guy" description.

"It then went down to her feet. She didn't wear shoes since she hated shoes. Plus she was really clumsy so it was probably best that she wasn't wearing them. Her hair was down and she had a silk veil with more sprinkly things on it draped over her face. She was so beautiful."

He opened his eyes back up, but a smile still remained on his face.

"The door man walked her down the aisle and it was a short, but oh so sweet ceremony. We eloped and it was the most romantic moment for us. A moment that I'll never forget."

Hermione was trying to hold back her sobs, but it was hard. She knew that even with all of the beauty and love that the story had, there was obviously an ending that was going to crush her heart.

"She moved into here and she made it what it is. She hung all the pictures and she picked out all the furniture. I didn't have a clue how to decorate so I was grateful that she sure did. Everything about the house was perfect. Especially her."

He wiped his face and then looked back at the fire which was glowing more than ever.

"I got the idea about the hospital. She supported it and it started up. I was running the financial and business side of it while she was working there. It was going good. Until one day…"

He stopped looking down at his ring which was sparkling from the reflection of the firelight. Hermione knew that this was coming. She knew that the bad part would eventually come.

"My past caught up with me. Death Eaters managed to find me…"

He looked forward through everything. All the images were flooding his mind so clearly once again that he could practically watch it happening right before his eyes.

She walked into the room smiling at him. He was sitting on the couch and she sat down in his lap pushing aside the book that he had been reading. He smiled at her as she wrapped her arms around his neck before planting a gentle kiss on his lips.

"What's going on?" he asked with a smile on his face.

"Can't I just love my husband?" she asked placing a hand across her chest as though hurt by his question.

"No. What do you want?"

"Well I want to give you your Christmas gift."

"You already did this morning."

"Well I kind of have something else for you." she said looking down as though she was somewhat shy.

"Well I thought we were going to save that for tonight, but if you want to get started now…" he mumbled before leaning into her neck. He began kissing her heavily spreading love bites all over as her breathing elevated.

"Drake…" she moaned, but he noticed that it was a stop moan.

"You're just so damn sexy. I can't control myself."

"Well you'll need to for a while," she said making Draco lift up to look her in the eyes. She saw that he was slightly worried as he put his hand to her face asking her a silent question with his eyes. She responded with, "Cause you really can't do that kind of thing when a person is pregnant." Draco's mouth dropped at her words before she said, "Draco I'm pregnant."

She started biting her lip suddenly getting a really bad feeling in her stomach from all the silence. She had never really thought about how he would take the news, but had hoped that he would be happy. Suddenly her demeanor changed as his expression did. She loved seeing that smile spread across his face. He put his hand to her face and tucked back some of her hair, in a delicate fashion, which is something only he could do for her. His beautiful wife had just given him the greatest gift anyone had ever given him.

"I'm going to be a father?"

"In about eight months." she said as his hand slid across her belly. He looked down at her stomach as though he was actually able to see the child growing inside of her. She simply smiled at him.

"Thank you." he said looking back up into her eyes.

"I think you did some of the work Drake."

"Yeah. Damn."

"What?" she asked suddenly nervous by his expression.

"With my incredibly good looks, that kid is just going to be so damn good looking that we'll never let him or her out of the house. I've basically cursed this child with beauty."

She smiled at him as she said, "You are forgetting that I'm gorgeous."

"No I could never forget that, but what point are you trying to make right now?"

"That my kid is going to get its good looks from me."

"You think?"

"You want to argue with me?"

"No beautiful and yes, the kid is going to be gorgeous like you." he whispered before kissing her as she leaned her forehead against him. "This is the best gift you could have given me. I guess Draco Jr. is going to be a very attractive boy."

"You mean that little Taylor will be gorgeous."

"Oh goodness. If I get a girl…she will never date."

"But what on the off chance she meets someone like you?" She smiled as he shook his head at her gripping her tighter.

"She's never going out!"

She laughed as he dipped her down on the couch and began to kiss her. She wrapped her arms around him as she let his tongue enter her mouth gently nipping at her bottom lip. She moved her hands down his sides and to his shirt which still sent goose bumps up his back as though it was his first time with her all over again. She began unbuttoning it as his hands moved around her body allowing his body heat to connect with hers. She let her husband slide his hand beneath her shirt to cup her sensitive breast.

The lights suddenly turned off and Draco lifted up. She looked around the room as he smiled down at her.

"Power outage." he said rubbing her cheek gently.

"Well we were going to turn the lights off anyways." He smiled as he was about to kiss her again, but they both heard a noise which stopped Draco. His smile was gone replaced with a grim expression.

"Drake I'm getting nervous."

"Stay here." he said forcefully as he stood up and walked out to the hall. Taylor sat up and remained on the couch like he said, but her nerves were on edge. He walked down the hall not being able to see anything, darkness overrunning his home. He looked down and grabbed the candle on the counter. He lit it and continued walking silently down the hall.

Draco looked around the kitchen and didn't see anything or anyone. He kept going, keeping his back towards the wall. He looked around and still nobody.

"Draco?"

"Stay there Taylor."

He went up the stairs and looked around the second floor. He went into each room and saw nothing. He went back into his own bedroom and saw that the back window was broken. Suddenly he heard Taylor scream; his heart skipped a beat. He jumped across his bed and towards his door not thinking about anything, but Taylor.

He ran across his room and down the stairs.

"Taylor baby…"

He stopped dead as he saw his wife being held by someone in black robes. There were three of them staring at him. He was breathing heavily as he stared into her eyes which were filled with fear. She was shaking as he gripped her.

"So Draco, we finally found you." said the figure in a low growl.

"What do you want?" asked Draco with his eyes still focused on his distressed wife.

"You know what we want. You turned your back on us. You turned your back on everything." said the figure with an almost humorous tone. It confused Draco, but he didn't let on. His main goal was to keep Taylor safe.

"I wanted out. I still want out so just leave. Let go of my wife and just leave."

"What would your father say? What would your father say if he found out that you married a muggle? I mean you act as though you don't care, but you will once he finds out."

"What do you want? I'll do anything you want, just don't hurt her."

"Pathetic. You are so pathetic. You hurt us and now you expect us not to hurt you and her?"

"How the fuck did I hurt you?! I did what he wanted me to do and then I told him I was out. I said I would do that last thing and it was over for me. I did what I said I would do. Now leave my house."

"Or what?"

"Look just deal with me. She wasn't involved. Let her go and we'll discuss this."

"As diplomatic as that was, I think we're all going to discuss this together. You talk with us."

"What do you want? Whatever you want, I'll do."

"You sound like a filthy muggle. So weak and so ready to do anything just to save something so precious." The figure ran his hand across her cheek as she turned the other way. Draco felt rage pour out of him.

"Take your bloody hands off of her! I swear to Merlin, if you hurt her, I will kill you!"

"I'm so scared right now Draco. Maybe the Slytherin Prince is back."

"I'm not the Slytherin Prince anymore."

"Too bad. That's what we wanted from you." said the figure as he walked past Draco and looked at the pictures on the wall. He started laughing as he surveyed them. Draco looked from him to the eyes of his love. He saw a tear slide down her cheek and it shattered his heart into a million pieces which he thought would rip through his chest. He mouthed 'I love you' which she nodded to.

"Amazing. You look as though you actually like living your life like this. So boring."

Draco thought for a moment and then started to nod as he said, "Look, take me and do whatever the hell you want to me, but…just leave her alone. You can't gain anything from her."

"Drake no–" interjected Taylor, but she was cut off by the figure's hand which was covering her mouth.

"You don't need her."

"You're right, we don't. Maybe we should just kill her now."

"No!" screamed Draco in a hoarse voice.

One of the hooded figures walked towards him and began to speak to him a low growl. "Just, on a personal level, I want to know. Why did you give it up? You had everything. You could have ruled right behind him. You were everything that he wanted in a prodigy. Up until that point, you were loyal, you were willing to do everything, and–"

"The son of a failure! I like to be on a winning team. Evil doesn't win. Your team doesn't win."

"Fine. Then I guess we'll talk about why we're here. Where is Harry Potter?"

Draco looked at him as though he was crazy. Did he really just ask me that? He think I know where fucking Potter is? "What?" he asked finally.

"He went missing a few weeks ago. Where is Harry Potter?"

"How the fuck should I know where Potter is? Okay maybe you don't know who I am. I'm Draco Malfoy. Potter hated me more than anyone growing up. On top of that, Dumbledore was his mentor and we all know about my relationship with Dumbledore. I'm not exactly on his favorites list."

"You have connections. Find out where he is."

"I don't know Potter and I don't know or associate myself with anyone who does anymore. Why aren't you interrogating Weasley or Granger or anyone of those people who knew him? Why come after me?"

"Cause you let your guard down. You married a muggle and you live in a muggle area. What the hell did you think was going to happen? Did you honestly think that you'd be safe here? You should have taken your wife and left everything. No, not you. You don't like to be told what to do or how to live your life right?"

"I don't have any affiliation with that life anymore. It's behind me. I don't do magic and I don't associate myself with people who do. So please...just don't hurt my wife."

"We can't be that easy on you after what you did and you keep asking us not to hurt her so I guess you know what is to come."

"My wife was not involved with any of this. She never has been. She doesn't know anything. You want to blame or take someone, then you take me. Deal with me like a man."

The figure laughed at him before he asked, "A man? Is that what you are now? Do men sucker punch other people when they're heads are turned? Do men trip first years?"

"Are you kidding me? You're referring to me as though I'm still a fifth year at Hogwarts. I'm not fifteen anymore! Look I'm not going to stand here all night. Let go of my wife and leave my house!"

"Well we're going to do one of those things. We'll leave your house, can't count on the wife though."

Draco stepped forward and began breathing heavily. He walked towards the figure and looked into the darkness of the hood knowing that an evil face was lurking in the black. He couldn't see the figure's face, but he wanted to speak closely to him so Taylor couldn't hear. "Don't touch my wife. You can have me and kill me, whatever. Don't hurt Taylor."

"Tell us where Potter is and she lives." said the figure in a cruel yet simple voice.

"I don't know where he is." he said honestly.

"You should have lied. Kill her."

"Draco!" screamed Taylor attempting to run towards him.

"No! Taylor!"

A shot of green light shot out from the end of the figure's wand and directly into Taylor's back. Draco watched as she fell to the ground, her face and stomach landing on the floor hard. He slid over on his knees to her losing all rational thought. He flipped her over to look at him and he put his hand to her lifeless face, already pale from death. She was gone.

"No Taylor! Come back to me, love!"

He rocked her back and forth as the rest of his world was pulled out beneath his feet. He lost the only person who had ever really loved him as Draco.

"They killed her cause of me. They killed her cause of who I was and who I use to be. They took away the one person who ever truly loved me. They took my wife!" He banged his fists on the ground and Hermione jumped at that noise. "I don't do magic anymore. I don't celebrate Christmas anymore. I don't do anything anymore. If I could go back, I would have just done what she said. When all this came up, she wanted to leave. To go to Germany until this all died down. I told her no, that it would be okay. That she didn't have anything to worry about and that I was going to be fine. She didn't even see it coming. And me…I never even got to say good-bye."

Hermione was completely red in the face and tears were stained on her cheeks. She finally built up enough nerve to say, "That's why he said them. Your father in law I mean. He said that you killed them and you knew it, meaning the baby."

"Yeah well he'll always blame me. He should. It was my fault." said Draco looking down at his wedding ring.

"You didn't kill her."

"Yeah I did. Hermione people were after me. To hurt me, they killed her. It was my fault. It was all my fucking fault."

"She loved you. She married you. She was happy. She chose that life. You can't blame yourself."

"It doesn't matter what anyone says. It'll always be my fault." he said before wiping his face again. He rubbed over his eyes which were now sore and bloodshot from pushing back all of the tears and swallowing all of his sobs.

Hermione finally broke the silence by saying, "She sounded wonderful."

"She was. Oh, but she could be the biggest pain in the ass. Her and that damn cat. She always loved going to bed with wet hair which in turn made me wet. She never wore shoes yet she owned about a million…" He was smiling as he spoke and trying to hold back all of his emotions. "Whenever I tried to read anything she always had to sit in my lap and keep me from it. You would have thought she was starved for attention, but she was anything but." He started to laugh at himself.

"She sure did know how to cook though. And talk about sexy…"

"Now you sound like a guy." said Hermione with a smile.

"Well come on."

There was silence for a while. Hermione wasn't sure if she should say anything or do anything. She wanted so much to tell him that it wasn't his fault again, but like before she knew that he would simply throw it in her face. He kept looking at that fire.

"Is it wrong that I enjoyed that kiss?" he asked as he looked at her dead in her eyes. She didn't know what to say. "I'll be honest and say that I haven't kissed anyone since her. I haven't been around anyone since her. You're the first person that I've really spoken to since I lost her."

Hermione went over to him knowing that she had to look at him when she said all of this. She sat down next to him and looked intently into his blue eyes. She finally said, "It's not like you're betraying her. It's okay to be happy and to move on."

"I can't move on. She was the love of my life." he said looking away from her.

"And who were you to her?" she asked making him look up at her confused. "You say that she was the love of your life, but who were you to her?"

"Well I was her love."

"No. From what I can tell, that person died with her. You're not the same person that she fell in love with and married. You were once happy. I've barely heard you laugh and the only time you smile is when you envision her," she said in a soft voice making him look away from her, the gentle tone becoming too much for him. "She was a good person. She would have wanted you to live the life you were living with her."

"How would you know?" he asked rather defensively.

"Draco you should tell that story more often and listen to the parts about you. Are you happy? Cause the person in that story was. Do you honestly think she would like the person you've become? The kind that mourns for her. That does nothing, but think about what the two of you use to have. That–"

"Misses her! I miss her Hermione!"

"It is okay to be happy again. She'd want that. I mean did she ever once tell you that she was happy when you were feeling pain? Did she ever once laugh when you were hurt?" He once again looked away from her before she said, "She would have wanted you to be happy. You say that it's been three years and yet you still aren't living your life."

"It's too hard." he croaked in a low voice.

"You let me in. How can you do that for me, a former enemy, and not for others?"

"Because I trust you! It's my former friends that I can't trust anymore! They were the ones that took her from me. They're the ones that answer to this!" he screamed as he lifted up his sleeve and she stared at his dark mark on his wrist. "I wish that this was never a part of my life."

"It lead you to her. You found her because of that." pointed out Hermione.

"And it also killed her!"

"Okay look at it this way. If it were switched, how would you want her to be? Would you want her to be like you and to live a life away from all people? To spend her life dedicated to a job that she no longer cares about? To spend every night blaming herself for your death? Would you want that for her? Or would you want her to have been happy that she got to spend that short time with you? That she got to wake up to your beautiful face? And hope that she gets re-married to someone who could love her just as much as you could? Which road would you have wanted her to take?"

"I…" began Draco, but he couldn't think of anything to follow that simple word. He didn't know how to put into words what he felt.

"You would have wanted her to be happy. You would have wanted her to move on. Why don't you think that she would want that for you?"

"I miss her so much. I miss her so damn much..." he breathed out as his head fell considering he was starting to lose it. Three years of keeping that inside of him was hard. She put her hand to his head and pulled him towards her chest. She held him tight and rubbed his back as she whispered softly to him, "It's okay. Everything will be okay…"

Somehow, her words were comforting to him. He needed her at that moment. He felt so weak and felt better when she spoke to him.

A/N: Okay so I finally introduced you to the character of Taylor. I'm sorry that it took so long, but I couldn't just reveal her to you guys in the first chapter. I hate stories where they just brush upon things. I don't like to do that. I like to build up to various things and then reveal them at the right moment. I hope that I did her character justice. This was a hard chapter to write. I also know that it was a bit long, but I'm sorry, I couldn't break it up. I had to keep all of Taylor's life with Draco in the same chapter. I hope it wasn't too much of a read.

The chapter is titled "Already Over" which is my absolute favorite song! It's by a band called RED which is a kickass rock band. I adore this song and it relates completely to this chapter.

READ AND REVIEW! If you can read it, you can review it.

Iris is a work of fanfiction. The characters belong to J.K. Rowling, but the featured story is mine.