Disclaimer: You know the bit about me not owning anything J.K. Rowling wrote or created. All I own is Giselle and this plot. :)
Author's Note: Thank you to those who have reviewed already, inquiring about what comes next! Also, thank you to those who have favorited or followed the story. It makes me want to hurry up and get another chapter out. Lol. This chapter will focus a little more on Hermione and Cormac's relationship, and Cormac's relationship as Giselle's father figure.
Btw, I received a review concerned about Hermione supposedly being a prostitute. Fret not, this could not be further from the truth. She is not a prostitute in any way, she is a professional ballroom dancer that works at Le Toure De France, and in Chapter 2 she was dancing a very sensual (very professional) Tango routine. So don't be concerned, my Hermione is not a harlot :)
P.s. In case you were wondering, I got the inspiration for the story's name from a song called "The Sweetest Taboo" from an artist named Sade. Just in case there were those of you that were wondering. Now, on with the story!
Hermione quickly wiped her tears, and entered the carriage, sitting next to Cormac who held a pouting Giselle on his lap. She had asked Fleur to accompany her back to her flat in London, but Fleur had politely declined, saying that she had some business to attend to at her own home.
All of Hermione's belongings of the night: the flowers, the dresses, and the money were to be sent to her flat by tomorrow morning, and Cormac's belongings were as well. They were taking a trip to diner downtown so that they could give Giselle a nice, warm evening dinner before they headed home for the night. Tomorrow would be a long day of dance training, practicing for next week's show, and preparing for the dance auction. Which she was dreading.. something about strange men putting their hands on her brought back extremely unpleasant memories.
For years now she had been passing Cormac off as Giselle's father, and it had worked. He had the blue eyes, the blonde hair, and the dazzling smile. It might not be the exact same shade of blonde, but genetics were a funny thing, and no one she ran into ever questioned it.
After the war, she'd become romantically involved with Cormac, and he had helped her through many, many years of pain the war had brought her. Losing Ron in the midst of the war had almost been the last straw for Hermione's sanity had Cormac not helped her get through it.
After Hermione had gotten word that Ron had been captured at Malfoy Manor by Bellatrix, she had rushed over to the manor without thinking -or asking for Harry's help- and had gotten trapped as well. Seeing the love between Ron and her, Bellatrix had forced Hermione to watch as she tortured Ron. Hermione cried mercilessly and plead for her to stop hurting him, but this only resulted in Bellatrix "ending his pain". The moment the two words came out of Lestrange's lips, Hermione saw her whole life flash before her eyes. Ron's green eyes lost life as he was hit with a bright green light, and he collapsed to the floor in a lifeless heap. Hermione felt the air get knocked out of her, and she as well fell to the floor, defeated.
Reveling in the defeat on Hermione's face, Bellatrix told a group of death eaters to take the filthy girl's body down to the chambers. She claimed that she knew of some that wanted to have their way with her...
"Hermione love?" Shivering, Hermione was taken out of the overwhelming flashback by Cormac's strong yet gentle hand on her arm. He shook her lightly.
She wiped her eyes one last time, and looked up into Cormac's questioning gaze. "Yes?" The word came out slightly choked.
Frowning slightly, he knew something was wrong with her, but didn't want to confront her in front of Giselle. Instead, he just told her that they arrived at the restaurant, and proceeded to hop out of the carriage, Giselle still in his arms. She let out a loud giggle and clung to his broad shoulders, her eyes shut tightly.
"Papa, ne fais pas ça !" (Father, don't do that!) She laughed, and Cormac smiled down at the girl, pretending to let her slip from his grasp, but pulling her up again. Another giggle escaped the little girl.
Hermione tightened her cloak around her bare shoulders, and grabbed her purse, again with tears threatening to ruin her make-up for the tenth time that night. Cormac was so wonderful to her and Giselle, and sometimes she wondered what she did to deserve him.
"Hermione love, are you coming?" He called from outside, extending his hand to help her down. His other arm was wrapped around Giselle, as it was cold outside.
Furiously dabbing her eyes one last time, Hermione sniffled, and took his hand. Her dress better not be all wrinkly now, she thought. It was a very expensive dress and it had been a gift from Monsieur Delacroix, the owner of Toure De France. It was truly one of her favorites, as it was her favorite color (black), and made out of a soft velvet. Delacroix had gifted her with it when she was promoted to head dancer 2 years ago, and had told her how grateful he was to have such an intelligent, sweet, beautiful woman working for his company. She had graciously accepted, and had worked hard to uphold Delacroix's high opinion of her.
"Is there something on your mind?" He stopped her right before they got to the door. The only thing he could think of was that stupid bloke Malfoy. Hermione had seemed over the entire ordeal, until tonight's run in with the blonde, and ever since then, she had not seemed to leave the inside of her head.
Realizing how selfish she was being, she sucked it up, placed her hand on Cormac's cheek, and smiled.
"Nothing love, let's go eat. I'm sure Rose is starving here." She took his arm, and patted Giselle -who was tiredly toying with Cormac's tie- on the back.
Reaching the door, the bellhop opened the door, took off his hat and bowed his head at the three of them. Cormac smiled and murmured his thank you at the man, and they entered the warm restaurant.
The room was cozy, lit romantically by unscented candles, and relatively private. Just how Hermione liked it. Piano music played softly by a pianist in the far right corner, and she immediately felt herself relax.
"Pardon Monsieur and Mademoiselles, may I take your coats?" A small redheaded woman with a sweet smile on her face gestured towards their outerwear that was still on their backs while they waited to be seated.
"Oh yes, thank you," Hermione slowly unbuttoned her long, white winter cloak and handed it to the woman, while Cormac followed suit. Little Giselle squirmed out of Cormac's embrace and began to take off her own cloak.
"Et mon manteau trop madame." (And my coat too madam.) The little blonde held her coat out and the woman smiled down at her, amusement evident in her eyes.
Hermione cleared her throat and frowned, slightly disapprovingly at her daughter," Rose, do not be rude. Say please."
Giselle looked from her mom to the woman and then up at Cormac who raised his eyebrows expectantly at her, and smiled encouragingly. She looked back up at the woman, all smiles again. "S'il vous plaît." (Please.)
Cormac busted a wide grin at Hermione, who in turn laughed herself, and looked at the woman who was now taking her daughter's coat.
"Merci beaucoup , madame." (Thank you very much, ma'am.) Hermione smiled, and then took her daughter's hand, following the waiter who was now escorting them to a quiet table relatively close to the piano.
"Mum, are we still going to the library tomorrow?" Giselle asked, her blue eyes beginning to look sleepy.
Hermione immediately felt guilty at the fact that she had already forgotten that Giselle had asked her to take them to the library to pick up a few new books. "Darling, I'm sorry but your father and I have to practice especially hard these next few days for next week's show and event. I'll tell you what though, maybe if we wake up a little early, we can quickly go before practice, and you can read them there at the arena. How does that sound?"
Giselle's face went from disappointed, to skeptical, to ultimately satisfied. Hermione laughed. Her daughter was just like her, an open book.
"That's okay, I suppose." Giselle decided, and began fingering the decorative flower petals on the table.
Dinner was a short affair. Shorter than Hermione had thought it would be, as it had been cut short by the fact that little Giselle couldn't keep her eyes open after her first few bites of clam chowder.
"You seemed mildly distracted today, darling." Cormac commented, walking into their bedroom clad in flannel pajama pants, and no shirt. He held a towel in his hands, and was drying his wet, sandy curls.
After taking a second to admire his shirtless form in the mirror of the vanity Hermione sat at, she responded. "I had an off day I suppose."
Cormac quirked an eyebrow, walking over to Hermione who sat at her small, white vanity, brushing through her long, wild curls. She was wearing the short, blue nightdress he adored so very much, and she eyed him through the mirror. He laid his hands gently on her shoulders, leaning down until his face was level with his in the mirror.
"You can talk to me Hermione, you know that."
Her amber eyes softened slightly, and she leaned into his touch.
"I know Cormac, I know…"
"Did this… have anything to do with Malfoy?" He asked tentatively, measuring her face as he said the other man's name.
Her amber pools suddenly hardened to dark chocolate, and he felt her grow stiff. She slowly turned to face him, setting down her hair brush, and turning the light to her vanity off.
"I was surprised to see him there, is all." But she knew he saw right through her facade. He took her hand and lead her to their bed where he sat her down, and took the spot next to her.
"Hermione, darling. Those people, his family, they cannot hurt you. Or Giselle. They have no idea about what has happened, and they won't ever know. You cannot let his presence bother you anymore. You have moved on, remember?"
Hermione nodded and began to scoot back onto her side of the bed. She seemed to have calmed, but Cormac knew her better than that, and knew that there was still something on her mind. Maybe there was something she wasn't telling him… He wasn't going to push it though.
Reaching forward to turn off the bedroom light, Cormac laid down next to girlfriend, and took her hand in his.
"I know you have a hard time with this Hermione. Anyone that went through what you had to go through would have a hard time. It's only natural, you're human. But you can't let this get to you. You are stronger than that, you know you are. So what if Malfoy showed up tonight? He's from your past, Hermione. Your past. And that's where he's supposed to stay."
Hermione felt herself tear up one last time as she listened to Cormac's attempt at encouraging words. He squeezed her hand once more in the dark before turning away from her, and pulling the blanket up over his head to fall asleep like he always did. She rolled over, facing away from him, and stared up at the moon.
She loved Cormac, she truly did. But there were some things that he didn't know, and some things he could never understand. He had been there for her for so long, and he was right, she did seem to be over it, up until tonight. She had accepted what happened in her past, she had accepted what her life was now. She had loved what her life had become. Albeit, there were a couple things she wished she could do, a couple people she wished she could bring back into her life, a couple parts of her she wished she didn't have to keep hidden. But she had accepted it, and had begun to move on from it.
Until those ice blue eyes had met hers. Until those blue orbs, the same silver shade as her daughters, had laid on her, and in an instant, ruined almost 6 years of progress she had made. It wasn't just the terrible memories from the war that Draco reminded her of, but her life before the war. Her friends, her family, her beloved school, her life. Her Draco.
But things were different. They would forever be different, and no amount of longing, no amount of unshed and shed tears would change that. Nothing could change what had happened between the Malfoys and her during the war, nothing could be the same between Draco and her, no matter how much she wished it could be.
As Hermione dozed off that night, staring up at the beautiful grey moon, she was reminded of a pair of silver orbs that haunted her until she fell asleep. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop herself from seeing him.