"Good morning." Hermione opened to door to Lucius and Narcissa. "Glad to see you again, Mr. Malfoy. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy. The rest of us are in the study." She walked them to the room, and sat down on one of the comfortable chairs.
"You wanted to discuss the arrangement, Adam?" Lucius looked at his friend. Narcissa and Natalie were talking quietly in a corner.
"I don't think it's really quite fair to force Hermione into a marriage. Lauren had been prepared all her life to wed Draco. She had known since they were both only three."
"Be that as it may, I don't think it would be forcing her. She has no boyfriend, obviously, or you would have used that argument, and she is your daughter – who my son was promised."
"They weren't extremely friendly in school, remember. If they bickered all the time, that wouldn't make for a good marriage."
Lucius spared a glance at Draco and Hermione. They were talking spiritedly. Hermione had a light in her eyes and a smile on her lips. Draco was also smiling and seemed to be enjoying the conversation immensely. "They don't seem adversaries to me."
Adam looked over. "Well, Hermione was the one who told me to ask you to terminate it. If she's warmed up to him this much…"
"She may only want him as a friend, I know. Let's give them a few days."
Suddenly, Draco looked up. "No. Father, please!"
Hermione also looked up. "Daddy… I…" she whispered, but Adam heard her. It broke his heart. She hadn't called him that before. Not even father.
"Lucius, maybe we—"
"No. We are their parents. We know what is best for them. This is a lot like broccoli. They didn't want to eat it, but we knew that they had to."
Resigned, the others in the room let their shoulders fall.
"I'll be back on Tuesday to speak with you again," Lucius said as he and his wife left.
Draco invited her into his room afterwards… to talk, he said. Their conversation had let them find common ground, and had sparked a small friendship.
"I can't believe your father is forcing you to do this," she told him.
"And you." He looked at her intently. "I'm sorry that you've been put into this."
"What's this, Draco? Do I sense a soft spot? Are you getting weak?"
"No," he replied sharply. "It's you that's getting weak. That is, in the knees."
"You wish." Suddenly she remembered the last time they had had a conversation like this. Her face became serious and she drew back.
"Are you okay?" He looked worried.
"I'm fine." She shook her head. "I just remembered something, that's all."
He leaned his head down a bit to try to get a good look at her downward tilted face. Just as he did that, she attempted to look up at him, and their lips met.
Involuntarily, she pressed her body against his, and he increased the pressure against her mouth. Her fingers ran through his hair, and he wrapped his arms around her. His tongue sought entrance and she opened her mouth to let it in, their tongues dancing and fighting just as they often did, teasing each other, making their pulses skyrocket.
When they both finally pulled away softly, she looked down. They were sitting on the large bed in his room. She was stunned. She had never imagined she could ever feel what she had just felt for Draco Malfoy. She blushed and quietly went to her own room by way of the bathroom.
Draco was just as shocked as Hermione. He'd never thought he'd ever kiss her. He knew that one in her room three days before had just been to make him mad. But this… this was really a kiss. And she'd definitely responded to him. And he sure had responded to her.
Usually someone started a kiss. Usually someone ended a kiss. This time it was completely mutual. Hermione was like no one he had ever been with.
Hermione stared at the ceiling from her bed. This was way too much for her. Three days ago, she hadn't even thought of Draco Malfoy in years. Now she'd kissed him twice and seemed to spend every waking moment either with him or near him. All because she had found out she was adopted. And his stupid controlling father wanted her to marry his stupid son. Just because her father had agreed to it when they were babies. How she wished she could go back in time and warn him not to agree! To tell him that Lauren wasn't his daughter – Hermione was. To tell him at the hospital before they were switched. But then… she would have probably been in Slytherin and never would have met Harry or Ron. Or, rather, she would have been just like Draco. There was no good way of looking at this, was there?
Draco stared at the bathroom door. He stood and went through it. He almost entered her room, but then thought better of it. He stripped his clothes, and turned on the water. He walked in and closed the curtain.
When he came out again, he wrapped his bottom half in a navy towel, and went through the door to his own room, still dripping a little.
Instead of his dark bed, he saw a pretty one with scarlet covers, and Hermione laying on top of it. Too late, he realized his mistake. Just as he turned around to go back, she sat up quickly. "Draco?"
He winced inwardly. "Yes?" He turned around.
Her breath caught. How did the man seem to make a habit to come into her room half-naked? "I thought we'd had this conversation. No entrance without boxers and trousers," she said, recalling what she'd said the other day.
"Yeah, well, I like to break rules." His grip was slipping on the towel as he grinned at her. He didn't notice.
She did. "Better catch that."
"Would you really mind?" His smile became even more mischievous, and his eyes darkened with lust.
"Actually, yes. You're practically a widower."
"How?"
"You were engaged to woman now dead. Lauren Drake."
"And now I seem to be engaged to a woman very much alive. Hermione Drake." He paused. "The real Drake daughter. So, all along, I was engaged to you. Even in school. Which means you cheated on me with every guy you've been with. Including Weasley."
"Which means I'm the most cheated on woman ever – I dated one guy at Hogwarts. You dated the majority of the female population. I've had maybe 2 serious relationships since then. You've most likely had at least fifty."
"Well, that was the terms of the engagement with Lauren – I could date as much as I like, as long as I settled down when we were 21."
"Well, we're still twenty, so I suppose we aren't engaged."
"Pity. I rather liked kissing you."
"Oh, did you?"
"Yes. Both times," he added. He smiled. "You can't tell me you didn't."
"I suppose I can't. But I can say I could have lived without this whole mess. The kisses and the engagement. And the lack of wardrobe. You're making a habit of this."
"I suppose I am. Would you prefer me dressed?"
"Of course."
"So you can rip the clothes off my body with your teeth, right?"
"Only in your fantasies, Draco. Reality is more like the fact that my parents live here. And that we are not lovers."
"Again, only in my fantasies," he said as he disappeared into the bathroom. She heard both doors shut behind him.