Author's Note: I own no person, no place, no thing – except the plot! If you recognize it, it probably belongs to Ms. Rowling or some other awesome super-human.

P.S. Still slightly smutty, but not wide-open smutty goodness like the last chapter.

Chapter 18 Change is Good

The Saturday morning sun rose to shine through the windows of Hermione and Draco's bedroom, falling on Draco's bare shoulders as they flexed in time with his hips as he thrust into Hermione's body. She quaked and moaned underneath him, eager and frenzied and mindless with need in a way that she'd never been before in her entire life. Draco had brought her two more orgasms during the night, and she felt the signs of another one coming over her as he grunted and picked up his pace, adding an extra roll of his hips that hit her right-

"Gah! Ah! Oooohhhhh…." Hermione gasped and broke underneath him, and Draco groaned as he rode her orgasm to his own completion.

/…../

"Draco, please…"

"Ah… soon, Love. I. Promise! Fuck!"

"Oh…my… please…"

"Yeh?"

"Yes! Now!"

"Fuck. Yesssss."

"Ohmyohmyohmy….GOD!"

"There, Love?"

"YEESSSS!"

/…../

"Draco."

"Mmmmm?"

"I'm hungry. Do you want anything?"

"Mmmmm…"

"Draco?"

…..

"Fine, sleepyhead, no sandwich for you."

"Sandwich?"

"Oh, I thought you were asleep, Mister All Shagged Out And Too Sleepy To Talk."

"Am not."

"Not what?"

"Shagged out. Come back here and I'll show you."

"No! Wait, Draco! I'm hungry!"

"Mmmm, me too…"

/…../

"Draco! This is a shag-free shower! Get that thing away from me!"

"Sorry Love, can't help it."

"Good God, Draco, aren't you tired?"

"Hermione. I'm nineteen and I haven't had sex in almost three years. No, I'm not tired. And even if I was, I wouldn't stop."

"Well fine, but aren't you sore? I can barely walk!"

"If you want I could give you a massage…"

"Hands to yourself, Malfoy!"

"Okay…"

"Draco! Keep THAT to yourself too!"

"Hermione…"

"Don't whine, Draco- Ah! Oh, do that again!"

"Oh, Hermione, I thought you'd never ask…"

/…../

Dear Mafalda,

I'm writing to inform you of my change of address. All further correspondence can be referred to my new home address, which coincidentally happens to also be Hermione's home address. I'm also enclosing a copy of my brand new automobile driver's license, and at Hermione's insistence, a photo of us from our friends' wedding we attended a few weeks ago. So as you can see, things are improving for yours truly out here in Muggle-opolis. I'll be hopefully getting licensed soon to drive motorbikes as well. I've been taking lessons from a friend of mine, and I've got to tell you, Mafalda, it's almost as good as flying.

Hermione also asked me to enclose a copy of her Police Report from her attack last week. Not to worry, the wanker was too incapacitated from Hermione's thorough arse-kicking to get away, and he's now in police custody – if he's been released from hospital yet. I'd like to make sure that the man is incapable of coming near her again – I don't know if you can do anything like that, and I don't care what method you use, but Hermione's been through enough, and she doesn't deserve to have to live in fear of this kind of shite anymore.

Sorry this is so short, but I wanted to get all of this information to you as soon as possible. We're hosting a dinner party this evening, and Hermione wanted me to run out to the grocer's to pick up some missing ingredients. It's Tapas Night at the Granger-Malfoy Household! Mmmm... Tapas…

Speaking of dinner parties, we wanted to invite you to come out to meet us one evening soon. I'm sure as my Probation Officer you're probably obligated to see my new living situation anyway, but we'd rather that occur as a dinner party and not some formal visit from the Wizengamot. Please consult your schedule and let us know.

Hermione got me a t-shirt the other day with a cartoon drawing of a motorcycle on it that says "Enjoy the Ride" by some shirt company called Life is Good. Rather clever, don't you think?

So, anyway, yeh, Life is Good.

DAM

P.S. When you do come out to visit, you and I are going to have a long and meaningful discussion about email, because sitting down to write and post a letter in the mail is just a pain in the arse. Time to join the twenty-first century, Mafalda.

P.P.S Have you heard from Blaise or Theo yet?

P.P.P.S. Hermione insists that I write this, ugh. We send our love and hope you are doing well.

Draco

/…../

Draco was sitting in the break room at the Library, eating a sandwich and perusing a Yamaha catalog when his mobile rang.

"Afternoon Mr. Frather," he said.

"Oi, Draco, did I catch you in the middle of something?" Shaun asked.

"No, jutht eating lunch. What can I do for you?"

"All right, well Susie and Hermione wanted to get together tonight to make plans for Winnie's shower, and now it's turned into dinner as well. Six okay for you two?"

"Yeth that'th fine. Can we bring anything?"

"Er, Draco? Isn't it a little early in the day for a nip?"

"I haven't been drinking!"

"Then… did Hermione pop you in the mouth or something?"

"No…" Draco sighed.

"What's up, mate? You sound off," Shaun said in concern.

"Thaun, it'th not… I don't think Hermione would like me to thare… Oh bugger it, my tongue'th thore. Jutht leave it at that," Draco groaned.

"And why is that… Oi, are you talking about-"

"Yeh, I am, all right? Hermione'th dithcovered the joyth of oral thekth. And becauthe I'm an obliging gentleman, my tongue may fall off," Draco muttered as Shaun hooted in laughter.

"Whoa! Too much information, mate! Damn, I've never met a bloke with a sore tongue from THAT! Is that all you two have been doing for the past week?"

"Pretty much. I've thtill managed to come to work, but other than that…" Draco drifted off as Shaun howled his amusement.

"Are you thinking of trying out for the Olympics then, Draco? Going for the gold medal?" Shaun choked out between guffaws of laughter.

"Thaun, at thith rate, I think I'm going for Thainthood. Draco Malfoy, Patron Thaint of Cunnilinguth," Draco drawled as he flipped to a full color page of the new line of 1000cc bikes. Brilliant, bold colors, clean lines. Sexy and fast and sleek… Hmm…

"Lord Allmighty, that's brilliant, mate. Not a bad thing to be remembered for. Just don't let the other girls hear about it, us other blokes don't want to get injured too!"

"Thaun, have you theen or talked to Hermione thith week? Thee can barely remember her own name, and thee keeps bumping into wallth. It'th bloody hilariouth." Draco smirked at the memory. Hermione was a wreck, and Draco was a damned proud man for it.

"Ah, mate, I remember those days fondly. Just enjoy it while you can, Draco. I love my wee fairy girls, but they sure do put a damper on the bedroom fun. Most nights they're tucked right up in between us. Live it up now, mate. You just wait til you and Hermione have kids," Shaun said jokingly.

/…../

Hermione stood in Sue's kitchen, peeling potatoes and watching Draco and the fairy girls playing in Sue and Shaun's back yard as the sun set. It was absurdly cold outside, even for mid November.

"I think it might snow soon. Have you heard any weather reports?" Sue asked slyly as she watched her friend nearly slice her own finger off as she stared, glassy-eyed, out the window at her boyfriend. Draco was holding Rosie upside down, encouraging her to hang her legs over a low branch on the tree in the center of the yard. Ellie was bent in half so she could examine her twin's upside-down visage, and the two girls shrieks of delight could be heard even in the kitchen.

"Hmm? Oh, no, I'm not quite done yet. Three more to go," Hermione replied vacantly as she watched Draco sprint across the back yard after the fairy girls, who'd dumped handfuls of leaves on his head as soon as he'd sat down on the ground to help Rosie flip down from the tree.

"Well, that's very nice, Hermione, but that doesn't really have much to do with the snow report, now does it?" Sue laughed and bumped her hip against Hermione's to get her attention. Hermione blinked, and looked up at Sue in confusion.

"Huh? It's going to snow?"

"I don't know, Hermione, I was just asking you that. But you've been so caught up in ogling your boyfriend out there you haven't heard I word I've said for the past ten minutes, have you?" Sue asked as she took the peeler from Hermione and handed her a towel before she bled all over the potatoes. "Snap out of it, dear, you're bleeding all over dinner," Sue said kindly. Hermione looked down at her finger, yelped, and wrapped it in the towel. "All right, no more sharp instruments for you until you come back from La La Land. Honestly, Hermione, what's up? You were fine last week. Is this about Sutton, or is it about the hunky blond chasing my daughters around the yard?"

Hermione blushed and hung her head. She was in La La Land. For the past week, she'd been drifting in a languid haze of pre- and post-orgasmic euphoria, and she honestly couldn't seem to focus on anything else. Even Draco had noticed. He'd taken over driving for the both of them when she almost ran the car into the curb, he'd taken over all stove top cooking when she'd started a grease fire, and he'd taken over laundry when she accidently dyed all of their white clothing a delicate pink – which he pointed out really only affected her clothing since he almost never wore white. Unfortunately for Draco though, the pale pink reminded him of that insanely erotic corset and stockings she'd worn weeks ago at young Renton and Lindy's wedding. When Hermione walked out of the bedroom wearing a freshly dyed formerly white long sleeved t-shirt, he'd been unable to resist dragging her down onto the sofa, where he ripped her clothes off and applied his tongue in that amazing way that made her toes curl and her legs shake-

"Sue? Can I ask you a female question?" Hermione asked suddenly. She was embarrassed as hell, but damn it, she wanted to know if this… amazing THING that Draco kept doing to her over and over and over again was indeed what all the girls back in school had gone on and on about.

Sue cocked her head at Hermione, then, sensing that her younger friend was slightly embarrassed, nodded her head and closed the door that separated the kitchen from the rest of the house, hoping it would keep any stray men or children from walking in on whatever it was Hermione had to say.

"What is it, Hermione? Are you pregnant?" Sue asked as she gave Hermione her full attention.

"No! No, not that Sue. I got on the Pill, you know. So no, nothing like that. It's just. Well, Sue, is it, um, normal for a woman to have orgasms every time she has sex?" Hermione asked.

"Hermione! Well, goodness! Hmm, well. I guess it's something we all strive for, and if a woman knows her body well and has an open and communicative relationship with her partner, it's certainly possible. But what's going on, Hermione? I've never seen you like this before! Are you sure you're all right?" Sue took Hermione by the shoulders as she encouraged the younger girl to look up.

Hermione blushed. "I'm all right, probably more than all right, I'm just… Sue, I can't think straight! I've never felt like this before! My brain won't work, I can't concentrate on anything or even think about anything else, and all I want to do is just hurry up and get home and rip his clothes off - Oh my gosh, I can't believe I just said that!" Hermione covered her face with her hands as Sue guffawed.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe you just said that either! Hermione Granger, you little tart! So you and Draco finally managed to do the horizontal mambo! Was it your first time? I don't think it's common for a girl to be able to have an orgasm her first time, because of the pain you know – "

"Oh, Sue, no it's not that. It wasn't my first time. I had a boyfriend earlier in the year, and one before that – but that's beside the point. The thing is, I've never… Well, you know. I've never had an orgasm before," Hermione's voice dipped as she whispered the last bit of her confession, and wrung her hands as she looked at her friend. "It's just, it's so different with Draco! I may as well have never had sex before, because I have no point of reference! I've tried to read sex health books, but they're all written by old men, and I've never liked romance novels because they're so unrealistic –" Hermione broke off and her gaze became unfocused as she accessed some literary memory. Sue wondered what kind of books Hermione HAD read, because the girl suddenly blushed bright red, and said, "Ohh, THAT'S what that was!"

Sue laughed again. "So I take it you two have been having a good time?" she asked.

Hermione nodded sheepishly. "Sue, I don't even know if I can explain it right. It's like everything has changed. I've changed. It's like a filter that covered the world around me has been lifted, and I can see things so much more clearly. I just feel so connected to him, it's like a bond, I guess… I think, I mean I know that I love him, but I think maybe that he's the ONE, you know? I just can't see myself feeling this way about anyone else. He's IT for me, and it's just the craziest, most insane feeling I've ever felt in my life. It's like this outside force, bigger than me, has been moving me towards this my entire life, and now that I'm here, it's like all the puzzle pieces are falling into place. I mean, is it just some biological side-effect of the orgasms doing this? I never expected… Does this happen to everyone or am I just turning into a complete sap? Oh, for goodness sake, I'm not making any sense am I?" Hermione cried as she threw her hands up in the air.

"Of course you're making sense, Hermione! You're in love and you're doing what God intended for you to do. Of course it feels like the puzzle pieces are falling into place. What do you think Shaun and I feel about our love? Ambivalence does not make a marriage, dear." Sue took Hermione by the shoulders and steered her back towards the window. Draco was sitting on the grass with the girls, his hands flying through the air as he told them a story.

"What do you see when you look out there, Hermione?" Sue asked.

"You mean besides my boyfriend and your daughters freezing their arses off?"

Sue giggled. "Yes, besides that. What do those people mean to you? What do you see when you look at them?"

"I see two adorable little munchkins that are much beloved by their parents and adored everyone they meet, and I see my best friend," Hermione said with a smile.

"That's good! Those are good answers. Do you want to know what I see?" Sue asked. Hermione nodded.

"I see my two daughters, who are the physical manifestation of the lifelong commitment I've made with my husband, who I love more than anyone on Earth. And I see the father of your children, God willing," Sue said softly.

Hermione's eyes bugged and she gasped at the implication. "Sue, it's not, I mean… I can't even think about something like that right now! I'm only twenty, and Draco's nineteen!"

"Those numbers do change with time, Hermione. I didn't say you've got to have babies now, I just said that's who I see sitting outside. Sex is the creative force that shapes this world Hermione. It's God's gift to us to share with the one we love. You should consider yourself lucky that you found the one you're meant to spend the rest of your life with at such a young age. There are so many sad people in the world that never find the right person. Look at Renny. He had to raise young Renton alone because he mistook lust for love and committed to the wrong woman. You and Draco are well matched, and while you're young, you are both fully mature and capable of making a lifelong commitment with each other. Of course you feel different, of course you feel like everything has changed! It has! Is that so bad?" Sue turned Hermione to face her, and, seeing that the younger girl was shaking, pulled her into a motherly embrace.

"These things are the things that your Mum would have told you, and I'm sorry that she's not able to experience this with you, Hermione. But know that you're heading in the right direction, and that your parents would be proud to see you settling down with someone who suits you as well as Draco does."

Something odd clicked deep inside Hermione's heart, and she sighed in relief as she returned her friend's hug.

"Thank you, Sue. You make a good Mum, you know," she said as her shaking slowed and her heart rate returned to normal. Sue laughed.
"Shaun has always said that I was born to be a Mum. It's nice to get some practice in now for the later years. I have a feeling those two are going to run us spare." Sue handed Hermione a bandage for her cut finger. "Right about now, my Mum-ometer says that within the next ten minutes my girls and your man will turn into popsicles, so I think I'll put on some water for cocoa. You want some, or would you rather wine?"

Hermione opted for the wine, and applauded her friend when, exactly eight minutes later, a laughing Draco suddenly burst through the kitchen door with a small girl tucked under each arm.

"Oh, my silly girls, your lips are turning purple! You're nearly frozen all the way through! Do you think some hot cocoa would warm you up?" Sue asked as she helped her girls out of their coats. Ellie and Rosie jumped up and down and clapped their hands, squealing, "Cocoa! Cocoa! MARSHMALLOWS!" as Draco made his way over to a smiling Hermione.

"Everything all right, Little Girl? You're pale," he whispered as he touched her cheek with one freezing cold hand, then leaned in to nuzzle her neck with the tip of his frozen nose.

Hermione shuddered at the chilly contact, but rested her own hand on top of his as she replied, "No, nothing's wrong. Everything is perfect." She smiled shyly at the man who'd completely and utterly stolen her heart, and thanked God for the gift He'd given her.

/…../

Later that evening, Draco peeled her clothes off and gently settled her onto their bed. Hermione watched with wide eyes as Draco knelt between her legs and brushed against her sex with his tongue, giving her his gift of love before he rose over her to claim his own release. As he pushed inside her, Hermione reached up and grasped his face in her hands.

"I love you," she whispered fiercely, and dragged him down into her kiss.

"I love you," she panted as Draco rolled them over to pull her astride him.

"I love you!" she wailed as he rocked her gently into delicious, mind bending oblivion.

Afterwards, as he tucked her into his side so she could use his bicep as a pillow, she laid her hand over his heart and said, "I love you, Draco."

Draco sighed contentedly, and picked her hand up to kiss her palm before resting their entwined fingers back on his chest. "I know, Love. And I thank God for it every day."

To Be Continued.