Out of Hand II: A Matter of Time by relativelypositive
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter related and I make no money from the use of the characters created by J. K. Rowling.
Chapter 6
Hermione had never Scourgified her mouth before, but she was contemplating it now. She had brushed her teeth twice, and that was after Draco had flushed her mouth with an Aguamenti spell.
"I can still feel it wriggling around in there!"
"Can we please stop talking about it? I'm getting queasy!"
It was bad enough that Ron had kissed her. Why had he had to use tongue? If any old fantasies of kissing Ron had remained, they were obliterated now.
"Get my mind off it. How was your conversation with Professor Snape?"
"He won't help me convince my mother to undo her actions. He says they're for my own good. Mumbled something about unintended consequences. Then he got all surly and didn't want to talk about it anymore. So I asked him about the Mandates and he didn't want to talk about them, either. He did warn me, though, that since this one has been reinstated someone else might petition for the others to be brought back. Of course, the Wizengamot would have to agree to it. Not many people have the backing my mother has."
"Ugh. Why would anyone bother? If they were repealed once, maybe I can repeal this one again. I still want to discuss this with Professor Dumbledore."
"Tomorrow. Right now I just want to go the kitchen, get some food, then find a cozy hideaway. If this is the last night we'll be together until the wedding I want to make it count."
Hermione's heart started pounding so hard she was afraid he'd be able to hear it.
"Are you planning…" Hermione started suggestively.
"No! Woman, I will not let you cajole me into relations! I am a delicate flower that needs time to bloom!"
"You didn't let me finish my insinuation!"
"You pressuring me for sex is not without a certain appeal. Some day I will give in and let you deflower me, but not today."
"Is it still called deflowering if it's a guy?"
"I have no idea. I don't know…devirginize?"
"Unvirginify?"
"Unleashing the geyser."
"That's a little presumptuous. What if it isn't that impressive?"
"Give me a little credit."
"Credit must be earned."
"Whatever. What's the male version of a flower?"
"De-cactusing?"
"That just sounds gross."
"Better than if you were a girl. Even though we don't have to worry about it, you could say you were going to pop my cherry!" Hermione laughed to herself for a moment before she realized Draco was looking at her quizzically.
"What does that mean?"
Hermione stopped walking and faced Draco to see if he was serious. He was.
"Wow. Draco, think that through."
She watched his stoic face for a full minute.
"I still don't get it. How could that be a euphemism for your first time?"
"I am not explaining that to you."
Hermione turned back toward the kitchens.
She wondered what Draco knew about the female anatomy. Was she going to have to teach him everything? While that could be fun, she hoped he had enough working knowledge to make their first time enjoyable.
"You do know that I'm not mad that you want to wait, right? I mean, I'm not really ready either, I just want to experiment. You know, play. It's supposed to be fun."
"I've…liked the things we've done," Draco started tentatively. "I never thought I would be with a girl that didn't act like relations weren't scary or sacred. No offense or anything, but Pureblood girls don't act the way you do."
"You talk like there aren't any Pureblood girls with any spirit, and I know that's not true!"
"It's not that they don't have spirit, it's the way they were raised. You're good friends with Ginny Weasley, has she ever talked to you about relations?"
"No." Hermione thought that was odd. "I always thought it was because I was her brother's best friend, but maybe it was because there was nothing to talk about. She hadn't done anything and she wasn't contemplating doing anything because she knew the consequences."
"Exactly. Anyway, tonight I just want to be with you and talk and…whatever else we want to do."
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Draco slowly entered the unused classroom on the first floor. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the grown ups hadn't shown up yet. He made a beeline for Hermione and gave her a swift hug.
"Thought I was going to be late. Blaise is right behind me." He turned to Hannah Abbott and Roger Davies. "Good morning."
He might as well start out courteous. He was going to be living with Davies for the rest of the year.
"Morning," Abbott murmured. She looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep. She kept shooting worried looks at Davies. Every once in a while she would catch his eye and he'd scowl at her.
He turned back to Hermione and gave her a good once over. She looked good. It was going to be torture to be separated from her.
Draco laughed to himself. Been engaged for a week and already couldn't fathom life without her.
"Draco, before they get here I want to get something off my chest. I don't want to get married. I'm sorry! It's not that I don't want to marry you, I don't want to marry anyone."
Draco smiled into her worried face. "You're such a Gryffindor. Fine, you don't want to. But you will. For many reasons. And just for the record…I don't want to get married right away, even though I do want to marry you. I think getting married before we've finished our apprenticeships is needlessly complicated."
Draco turned Hermione away from the others in the room and kissed her lightly, but with feeling.
"I like the way you make me feel, just by being in the same room. And for the next few months I'll have to settle for that. You just keep in mind that I'll always be thinking of you."
"You're such a romantic sap," Hermione smiled.
"Yeah. Shut up. You'll be thinking of me, too."
"That's probably true."
Their moment was interrupted by Blaise sneaking in just before a rather large group of professors and other unknown people entered.
The last to enter was Ron Weasley, much to Draco's chagrin.
"What are you doing here?" Draco asked.
"What are you doing here?" Ron snapped back.
"Don't be daft. Why are you here?"
"I'm here to get my chaperone!" Ron pulled his parchment from his pocket and waved it in Draco's face.
"Who would be desperate enough to get engaged to you?"
"Hermione, of course! I'm going to take her as my wife!"
"The hell you are!" Hermione yelled so loudly everyone stopped their chattering to stare.
"After yesterday afternoon, you know it to be true." Ron turned to Draco with a smirk. "She loves me. She said so. We had relations and there's nothing you can do about it."
Draco laughed in his face. "I don't know who you fucked yesterday, Weasley, but Hermione was in McGonagall's office all afternoon. The first she'd seen of you was outside the library when you assaulted her."
"Bull. You're just mad that she threw you over for me!"
"The hell I am! I'm still engaged to Hermione!"
"Ronald Weasley!" McGonagall beckoned from the other side of the classroom. "Miss Granger was indeed in my classroom all afternoon."
Ron turned a sickly yellowish white and Draco wondered if the arse was going to faint.
"Really?" he asked McGonagall, looking from the professor to Hermione in clear disbelief.
"Really," Hermione answered apologetically, though Draco was at a loss as to what she had to be sorry for.
"Let us start the ceremony! At the end we can figure out who exactly is engaged to who," Dumbledore announced.
All four heads of house were in attendance, as well as the headmaster. Beside them were three women and five men.
"Ahem. Thank you all for joining us this morning for the bonding ceremony between betrothed witch and…betrothed witch or wizard and chaperone. The chaperones are in the master class at Aphrodite's London branch if memory serves. I believe the most expedient way would be to go in alphabetical order. Miss Abbott, if you would?"
Abbott joined Dumbledore at the front of the classroom and was joined by her head of house and a squat woman in her fifties that looked like she wanted to be anywhere but where she was.
Abbott and the unknown woman faced each other at Dumbledore's urging, and clasped each other's forearms as thought preparing to make an Unbreakable Vow.
Draco watched as they repeated after Dumbledore and a pink ghostly chain was layered over their hands.
And it was done.
Davies rolled his eyes throughout his turn, but when the ghostly chain affixed him to his chaperone he got quite quiet and introspective. He remained stoic through the rest of the ceremony.
"Hermione Granger!" Draco watched his fiancée move quickly to Dumbledore and give a tentative smile to the slender woman that met her there. She looked…odd. There was something Draco couldn't put his finger on.
There was no hesitation when Hermione said the words and she watched in obvious fascination as the tether formed on her hand.
She turned away as soon as possible and gave Draco a sad smile.
"Draco Malfoy."
Draco stepped up to the headmaster and faced the middle-aged man next to him.
"Repeat after me, Mr. Malfoy. I, Draco Malfoy, choose Tarquin Tremlett as my chaperone. He will be my constant companion. I will always be truthful with him."
Draco repeated the words with dread. He could feel Hermione being pulled farther and farther away from him.
He stepped back to return to Hermione's side, but was led toward the other wall. He resisted a bit, then felt a slight pain in his chest. That's all he needed to know.
Everyone had settled back, and were frankly getting bored, when Dumbledore continued.
"Severus Snape!"
A/N:
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