Chapter 9: Hermione's Happiness

Comin down the years turn over

And angels fall without you there

And Ill go and lead you home and

All because im

All because im

After dinner, Draco told Hermione to dress in jeans and long sleeves. He told her to wear her hair up and out of her face. She wondered whether she was going to train or whether she was going into battle.

Hermione did as she was asked, and around eleven that night, they met Harry at the entrance to the Auror training facilities. "Will someone tell me what's going on here?" Hermione begged, getting a little more than agitated at their silence.

"If we do that 'Mione, it might ruin any chance you have of getting your powers back. If you're totally unprepared for anything we might throw at you—then we can know for sure if your magic is up to par." Harry said. He didn't look at her.

"You seriously think that that fight I had yesterday did anything to improve my powers? Have both of you gone barking mad?" Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.

"Hermione, you know we're just trying to help you—we won't let anything bad happen, I promise." Draco said, putting his arm around her and continuing to walk.

"That's not the point, you guys…" Hermione continued feebly, but stopped, when the entered one of the gigantic training rooms.

"They're a bit like the Room of Requirement, really." Harry explained. "More modern, and more controllable, though."

Draco grinned looking around at the arena-like room. "This should give us plenty of room." He nodded.

"I think so." Harry agreed, and then with a wave of his wand, nearly all the light in the room ceased.

"HEY! What's the big idea?!" Hermione said.

"Draw your wand, love." She heard Draco say beside her and she did so, though she felt silly holding the stick in her hand knowing that it was practically useless.

"Hermione, this is a simulation—but it is going to appear and feel real." Harry called from somewhere near the other end of the room. She wondered how he'd gotten that far away from her. "You must be able to defend yourself because even though what you see isn't the real thing, it can hurt you in a similar fashion."

"I understand. But you know my magic's not exactly trustworthy right now!" Hermione called, feeling a bit frantic. She began to look around her trying to focus on the things she could see in the dim lighting. Suddenly, she recognized the room—it was one of the court rooms in the Department of Mysteries. It was clear what Harry was recreating, and she shuddered at the thought of what would come bursting through the doors.

"Get ready you two." Harry said. And there was a thudding noise, Hermione backed up against a wall, she was shaking and doubting herself. "There's no way I can face this Harry!" she screamed. "It's too much!"

Harry yelled to her from across the room, but she didn't hear what he said. She shrank into herself and huddled beneath a desk in the corner shivering in despair.

Harry called an end to the simulation and swished his wand as the lights came back on. He ran to where Hermione was crouched and picked her up from the floor. Draco was hot on his heels.

"'Mione, you're alright. It's ok. You have to trust your powers." Harry said. "You have to believe you can do it."

"But Harry, you've seen how truly terrible I am! If all those Death Eaters came bursting in here, real or not, I'd be totally defenseless against them!" She was shaking her head and crying.

Harry looked helplessly at Draco. "You're wrong Hermione." Harry said. "I'll prove it to you."

With that he took a step or two back from her and took a defensive stance. "Try to disarm me."

Draco stood beside Hermione and looked down at her.

"You know I can't, Harry."

"You were the only one who ever could." Harry replied, smiling a little. "Now disarm me."

"You can do it, Hermione—just focus" Draco said, placing his hand on her back gently and pushing her forward. "Give it a try."

Hermione sniffed and nodded, before taking her wand and holding it at attention. "Are you ready Harry?"

The raven haired boy nodded.

"EXPELIARMUS!" Hermione cried focusing with all her might on making the spell work.

Harry cried out a "Protego!" but his want went flying anyway.

All three of them stood in shock for a moment. Finally, Harry spoke. "I told you!"

Hermione looked at her wand in disbelief. "It was a fluke." She said, "I can't do that more than once.

"Then try it against me." Draco said. And brandished his own wand.

She tried it again, and Draco's want was sent flying.

"Try something else Hermione!" Draco cried picking his wand from the ground and grinning at her."

--

They ran through a myriad of spells—offensive and defensive—and it was as though Hermione had never stopped practicing her magic. Soon, she was able to take both boys on simultaneously, and even though Harry was an Auror, was able to disarm them both. "HAH! I don't believe it!" she cried in pure joy, pumping her fist into the air.

"We told you you just had to trust yourself." Harry said, grinning at her. "Are you ready for the simulation, now?"

Hermione nodded, and swallowed a lump in her throat. "I'm ready." She said.

Harry nodded and doused the lights and soon, the room changed back into a courtroom like place, and the banging began once again. Hermione felt Draco near her, and knew that Harry was on the other side of the room in order to watch how she reacted and to intervene if need be, but she still couldn't help but feel like this was the real thing—she'd faced Death Eaters so many times before and each time she felt she was lucky to walk away with her life.

Finally the doors burst open and several cloaked, masked figures flooded into the room. They began to throw out spells almost immediately, and Hermione threw up her shield as an instinct. Once she found shelter behind a stone barrier, she began to fire at the masked figures. She took down two with a body-bind, three more with banishing curses and reductos. And yet another with Snape's very on 'sectumsempra'. She threw every curse she could think of at them simultaneously fighting for her life and testing the limits of her skills. She felt that some spells were a bit of a struggle for her still—they pulled at her insides when she cast them, but others were easy for her to produce and she didn't feel any negative side effects at all. With each curse she threw she felt the magic course through her veins, she felt more alive and more herself than she had in a long time.

She nearly had all of the Death Eaters bound or destroyed when she felt it. The room grew icy cold. A sense of dread and foreboding filled her. Hermione felt as though she would never be happy again. Turning once more to the door, she felt her heart plummet to her shoes as she watched four large, hooded figures glide past the threshold. Knowing the spell that was required she lifted her wand and stuttered out "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" but nothing happened. Taking a few steps back, she tried again. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" white vapor fizzled out of the end of her wand like mist on the surface of a lake but her otter was no where to be seen.

Harry and Draco saw this at the same time and both shouted the charm at the top of their lungs. Harry's stag, as well as a great white Dragon soared from the tips of their wands and banished the Dementors from the room. Harry called an end to the simulation.

--

"I just don't understand what happened." Hermione said. "It seems I can do everything else—though I admit some of it needs some practice—why can't I perform that charm?"

"The Patronus Charm, as you know requires a deeply happy memory, Hermione. One you draw on for the charm to materialize. Do you have any memories like that now?" Harry asked gently, handing her a cup of hot cocoa. They were back at Harry's and Ginny's Manor and though Ginny was fast asleep and it was well past midnight, they sat in the kitchen discussing what went wrong.

"It doesn't make sense, Harry. I could do it when I was in school. That memory should be enough, shouldn't it?" Though, when she thought about that answer, she knew the truth—the memory couldn't suffice, because the memory had involved Harry and Ron. And now that Ron and she had faced each other again and she knew how hurt he was inside—whether or not he said so—the memory was useless.

"You have to find your happiest memory, Hermione." Harry sighed. "I can't tell you what that is. But it isn't the same as it used to be."

Hermione nodded and finished her cocoa. "I know Harry. I just wish I knew what to do about it.

Draco thought about the situation silently. If it required that she make a new memory—then he wanted to be the one to help her with that. "Hermione, it's late. I think we've done enough for tonight." Draco said, and he looked at Harry with meaning.

"You're right. I have a lot to think about." Hermione said, and set the mug on the kitchen counter. "Thank you Harry—for all your help." She hugged her friend and then she and Draco apparated back to Malfoy Manor.

--

In Draco's bedroom, he undressed down to his boxers and then paced in front of his fireplace deep in thought. He wondered if there was anything he could do to help Hermione with her dilemma.

Hermione dressed in thin cotton pajamas, pale pink with hearts, and wandered down the hall to Draco's room. She didn't want to be alone tonight. She wasn't quite sure what she wanted.

Draco heard a faint knock on his door, and he turned to see Hermione open it and peek in. "Hey. Come in." He whispered to her.

"Sorry—you're not dressed." She blushed, and struggled to look away from him.

Draco smirked and looked down at himself. "Actually—I thought I would sleep this way—I told you I usually sleep in the nude." He said a smile on his face as he watched her blush deepen.

Hermione didn't reply as she came to him, allowed herself to be wrapped up in his arms. Looked into his stormy gray eyes. "Draco, I am happy here." She said, after a long moment of them just looking at one another.

"Are you really?" Draco asked.

"Yes." She replied. "I couldn't think of anywhere else I'd rather be."

"Good." He replied, and leaned his head down to kiss her. Draco had been restraining himself for so long, it was nearly killing him. He wanted Hermione, needed her so badly it hurt him to breathe. But he loved her and would rather die than hurt her…

In that kiss, Draco growled deep in his throat and pulled Hermione to him. Bowing his head to join their lips harder. He pulled away, and brought his face close to her ear and whispered the three words he'd been screaming in his head and heart for over a month to her. "I love you Hermione." It was the first time he'd ever really and truly said it—the passion in his voice made it husky, needy.

He heard her gasp, and he shut his eyes, before pulling away enough to look at her again. In his arms, she was crushed against him, and he could feel her heart beating through her chest. She was so soft, and she curved in all the right places. "You're the very breath that keeps me going Hermione. Please. You must know that." He murmured, before covering her lips with his again.

She sobbed in response, and opened her mouth to him. Her hands, of their own volition, wound themselves around Draco's neck, and she pressed hard against him, aching to fell every inch of the tall man. Draco groaned into her mouth and snatched his lips away fiercely. The look in his eyes, Hermione knew, was feral, and there was a throbbing deep within her that begged him to act on his thoughts.

"Hermione." It was a question, a statement, and a command, all at once. Draco's hands clenched the cloth of her night shirt so hard his knuckles were white.

"Draco…" Hermione breathed back, looking deep into his smoky eyes. They both knew it was too late for her to leave. She leaned into him again, forcing him back into an end-table; her meaning was not missed in her eyes.

Draco's hands found their way under her night shirt, and soon it was lying in a heap at their feat. His calloused fingertips were hot against her skin and they seared every inch of flesh they touched. Her skin was smooth, perfect. Moving his hands up over her, he brought them to her shoulders. He pulled her to him again gently, running his hands slowly up and down her back.

Hermione's hands were shaking when she reached for Draco. She was standing almost naked before him, his hands resting on her hips, and she was nervous for the first time in a long time. Finally, she heard him gasp for air, just as her fingertips touched the skin just above the elastic of his boxers.

"Beautiful." He choked out, and took both of her wrists and scooped her up in his arms. Hermione cried out in surprise, but allowed him to pick her up and carry her to his bed.

Fluidly, Draco laid Hermione down on the bed, and pressed himself hard down on top of her. He felt her hands slide down his chest and sides sending shivers down his spine as once again, they paused at his waistband. Draco kissed Hermione hard, and then pulled himself away from her only long enough to rid her and himself of the rest of their clothing. When he returned to her, they met skin to skin.

Hermione marveled at the sculpted body pressing itself into her. She ran her hands firmly down Draco's back and pressed herself up against him as she approached his waist. She both heard and felt him groan and push back against her. She'd seen Draco without his shirt on many times, but it was somehow different, when his hands were on her, touching her, caressing her. Loving her.

They were both panting when he released her mouth and traced her jaw line in fervent kisses. Taking her earlobe into his mouth briefly, he followed her muscles down her neck, licking and sucking and tasting her. Hermione cried out in pleasure and surprise when his mouth found one of her nipples, and then the other. It had been so long since anyone had taken the time to care about her this way. Even Ron wasn't this sensual. Her hands matted themselves in his fine hair, and yanked his head back up to hers.

Draco looked at her and grinned for a long time, feeling her wriggle with anticipation beneath him. He saw the plea in her eyes, and he kissed her as he parted her thighs with his own. He was in no condition to argue with her and just before he pressed himself into her, he pulled away and gauged her expression as though it were her first time.

"Please—Draco—I've waited long enough…" Her voice was nearly gone, and she was shivering.

It has been too long. Draco thought and pressed himself forward slowly; relishing every inch, she took him in. when he was buried to the hilt, he wrapped an arm around Her, cradling the small of her back, lifting her up so that she could feel him inside her. Her legs, instinctively wrapped themselves around her waist, opening herself up to him, and drawing him in even further. They both groaned, even as they looked at each other in the moonlight.

Desire set their pace, and Draco toyed with her a bit before giving her the ecstasy she begged for. With her cry of completion, Draco relinquished himself within her, collapsing to the bed and drawing her up close against him. Hermione's legs did not surrender their grip on his hips, though, keeping them connected even as they caressed one another into a deep, peaceful sleep.

--

That night, Hermione dreamed of great white dragons. She dreamt of a bright beautiful creature that would come and save her and keep her safe from all harm. She called that creature Draco.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 9!

SO… yeah… M-Rated for a reason!

Up Next—surprise! And moving on… It starts to wind down…

Thanks for all your wonderful reviews! I love you guys!