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.

Chapter 28 Recompense

"Good evening, Ms. Granger," he slurred. Hermione was surprised to hear that Draco was incredibly drunk. He turned his head back to his task as he said, "So nice of you to join me this evening."

"I didn't know you could play," Hermione blurted. It was really the only thing she could think of in this very odd and surreal moment.

"Hmmm," Draco nodded as his fingers drifted thoughtfully across the keys. "Yes, I suppose that's true. But then, my dear Ms. Granger, there are a great many things you and I do not know about each other. For example, did you know that my first episode of accidental magic occurred when I was five years old and I set my mother's piano on fire? I didn't like it, you see, and I didn't want to sit inside and take lessons whilst Father went out flying with his friends. Ahh, the trials and tribulations of early childhood…" Draco drifted off as his fingers accelerated across the keys.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Is… something the matter, Draco? You seem rather, er, melancholy."

Draco nodded sagely. "Yes, yes, I can see where you'd come to that conclusion, what with me sitting alone in the dark, playing your Mum's piano and drinking very, very fine Scotch. Good deductive reasoning, my dear Ms. Granger." He picked up the pace of his fingers even more, and the tempo of the song became scattered as his agitation and drunkenness finally bled into his hands.

Hermione paced closer to her boyfriend. "Draco?" She reached her hand out and placed it on his shoulder, but drew it back when he stiffened sharply at the contact.

"What on earth has gotten into you?" she asked.

"Hmm, you know, Ms. Granger, there's no need to be so informal. I think in a situation such as you and I have, we can call each other Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy, don't you think?" Draco nodded as he spoke, and his fingers tapped, staccato-style, across a series of discordant notes that sounded nothing like a song.

Hermione hissed in a shocked breath. "What?! Like hell I will! Exactly what kind of situation do you think we're in?"

Draco's fingers stopped suddenly. "No need to play coy, Ms. Granger. This situation, in which you've decided to dismantle our family and move out of our home. So, what have you come for this evening? The remainder of your clothes? The pictures off the walls? No, that can't be it, of course. You're just here for your books, am I right?"

Hermione could not have been more shocked if Draco had stood up and slapped her. She watched with wide and horrified eyes as her boyfriend suddenly turned to peer up at her. His red-rimmed and haunted eyes devastated her, but his overall expression of acceptance truly broke her heart. Draco really thought she was leaving him.

Draco was not one to take rejection well; she knew that more than anyone, and yet she'd been willfully ignoring him and avoiding him for weeks because of her own embarrassment. Hermione's heart tightened and shuddered in her chest as she felt the implications of her neglect. Draco sniffled, and blinked rapidly.

He wasn't… crying… was he?

Horrified, Hermione did the only thing she could think of. She launched herself into his arms and wrapped herself around his unsteady frame.

"Draco, for goodness sake, I'm not leaving you. Please don't cry! I'm sorry I've been gone so long, really I am. Please, Draco, I love you more than anything in the world. Don't cry!" she whispered fiercely against his neck. With her head buried against his shoulder, she didn't see him reach behind himself to the tissue box balanced on top of the piano. But she certainly heard him sneeze. Hermione lifted her head to see her boyfriend mopping at his nose and eyes.

Draco sniffed loudly, and rubbed at his forehead. "Hermione, when have you ever known me to succumb to feminine bouts of weeping? I might be completely pissed and horribly sick, but I'm not a girl," he grumbled. "Now if you don't mind, please get off of me. I'm not altogether sure I know what's been going on with you, but I am aware that I'm not in the proper frame of mind to deal with it right now. Just pack up whatever it is you're here for, and move along. I'll stay out of your way." He then shifted his legs and stood up, effectively dumping her off of his lap and onto the floor. Draco reached out to pick up his half-empty bottle of scotch and his tumbler, and made his rather unsteady way towards the door.

Hermione sat on the wooden floor, stunned and confused, and felt once again how thoroughly she'd abandoned Draco. He had every right to be angry with her. She hadn't even known he was sick! What kind of idiot was she to leave him alone for so long? Draco didn't know how to take care of himself – not in the sense of comfort food and home remedies to cure head colds, anyway. Pepper-Up Potion didn't exist in the Muggle world.

She followed him out into the stairwell, only to find Draco standing with his forehead propped against the door of their flat, trying to punch in the passcode with one shaky finger. Hermione ignored his hiss of surprise when she placed her hand on top of his and entered the code. Then she slipped one arm around his waist as she took his keys to unlock the door and guide him inside. He didn't seem very pleased with her assistance either, as she led him towards their bedroom.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked as she pulled him towards the bed. She sat him on the edge and knelt at his feet to remove his shoes and socks.

"I'm taking care of you, silly. It's my job, you know, as your girlfriend to take care of you when you're sick. If I'd known, I would have been here sooner-"

"I don't need you to come take care of me, just so you can scarper off once I'm better. You have other things to do, Hermione. Just… go do them." Draco sat the bottle and tumbler down on his bedside table, and then rested his head in his hands. "I can't see you right now, all right? I'm kind of having a rough night, and having you here is just making things worse."

Hermione shoved aside her guilt and panic as she took in Draco's defeated posture. He was in terrible shape, and it was really all her fault. He didn't deserve what she'd put him through. She placed her hands over his once again, and leaned in to rest a kiss on his forehead.

"Draco, listen to me, please," she whispered.

Draco shuddered under her touch, which she took for a good sign, but he didn't seem willing to listen to her just yet, as he immediately pulled away from her.

"Why the fuck should I listen to you?" he asked as his body slumped backwards into their pillows. Hermione went back to his shoes as Draco pushed the heels of his hands into his running eyes.

"You haven't listened to a damned word I've said for the past month, Hermione. Now bugger off, okay? I-" Draco's whining rant was cut off by Hermione's mouth pressed firmly against his as she leaned over him. Hermione climbed back onto Draco's lap, but this time she settled herself firmly onto him so he couldn't buck her off. She wriggled against his protesting body as she ran her hands up his sides, over his shoulders, and across the backs of his hands, which still covered his eyes. She kissed him even though he resisted her, even though he was stiff and unresponsive. She'd earned his aloofness, she knew, and Hermione had to repair the damage she'd done immediately before she wrecked their relationship entirely.

She ran her hands down Draco's stomach as he coughed and tried to bat her away from him. Ignoring his protests, she snagged the hem of his jumper and tugged it up his body, and pulled it over his head.

"Girl, what… the hell?" Draco's muffled query drifted from underneath the jumper before his head popped out from the neck opening. Hermione met his confused and wary gaze, and leaned in to press a soft kiss against his lips.

"Draco, I've got to be the daftest idiot in Little Whinging to have left you alone for so long, but I am sorry. I love our family. I love our life we've made together. I love you more than anyone in the world. Please forgive me," Hermione whispered as she rubbed her mouth back and forth across Draco's.

Draco blinked in confusion. He was more than a little drunk, and more than a little sick, but was it possible that he was completely disoriented and hallucinating this Hermione that was wiggling so enticingly against him while declaring the words that he so desperately wanted to hear? He tried to scoot himself up into a sitting position, then Draco hesitantly lifted his hands from their position next to his hips on the bed, and pressed his palms onto the sides of Hermione's face so that he could focus on the green eyes that he'd missed so badly.

His own eyes swam. He blinked rapidly, then shook his head. "Ugh, ugh, get off, Girl. I need a tiss-" he gasped, then clamped his eyes shut and clasped his hands over his nose and mouth. He felt Hermione push a tissue over his hands just as the sneezing started in earnest.

While Draco made his way through his current bout of sneezing, Hermione set out to rid him of the rest of his clothes and get him under the blankets. She clambered off of him and tugged his belt and trousers off even as he protested to her manhandling his deathly sick arse, then she tucked his shaking, feverish body under the pile of quilts he'd previously stacked on the bed.

Draco rubbed his aching face against his pillow as he felt the pull of sleep lap against his senses. It would be so divinely easy to slip away. He'd imbibed two entire glasses of scotch in hope of just this result. He hadn't been sleeping well with Hermione and the pups gone, but once the head cold had hit, insomnia had set in. He ached, he couldn't breathe, he was perpetually cold – something which had never, ever troubled him before – and his damned head leaked like a sieve.

But she was there, and Draco imagined he could almost smell her tantalizing skin as he heard the zip of her trousers opening. He opened his eyes to see her smiling softly at him as she skimmed her jeans down her legs, then she leaned against the bed to strip the fabric off her ankles, as well as tug off her socks. Draco's eyes opened wider as Hermione stood more fully in front of him while she tugged her shirt over her head. She stood still for the briefest moment, to make sure she had Draco's attention, and then she reached behind her back and unhooked her bra. His mouth went dry as the slip of lingerie hit the floor, and he met her eyes in bewilderment.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously. Hermione lifted one eyebrow, then tucked her fingertips under the hem of her knickers and tugged them down her legs.

"Two things, really," she whispered conversationally as she drifted closer to him. Hermione stood inches from Draco's side of the bed, and he couldn't help but notice that the sweet juncture of her thighs was a mere whisper of distance away from his hand.

"What's that?" he whispered distractedly, as his hand, all on its own, snuck out from under the covers to curl against the exposed skin of her hip.

Hermione looked down at her boyfriend's hand as it cautiously touched her leg. It had been weeks since they'd made love properly, and she missed his touch.

"Draco, I've neglected you so badly," she whispered as she leaned over him and pushed the mountain of blankets away from his body. She was beyond relieved to see that, despite the fact that he'd had a lot to drink, his body was already responding to her. She lightly stroked her fingers down the length of his emerging erection as she knelt on the mattress next to him. Draco gasped and twitched, and looked at her distrustfully.

"Yessss… you have. I don't really see why that gives you the right to do to me what you're doing now, Hermione. Is that why you're here, for a shag?" Draco tried to turn away from his persistent girlfriend, but she'd grabbed onto his cock with a grip that kept him firmly in place.

Hermione held Draco down with one hand on his hip and one hand on his length, and then she climbed on top of his lap, resting her seated weight on the tops of his thighs. She gently rocked against his erection as her now free hands drifted up to help him sit up in the bed.

"Draco," she whispered, "I love you, I want to be with you, and I miss you. It feels like you miss me too, at least this much," she said with a gasp as she slid upwards, then she dragged her body down to engulf his erection inside her heat.

Draco grunted as she took him, and fought to keep his anger and self-control, even as his head spun and his senses swirled to the beat of Hermione's hips as she rocked against him.

"For God's… sake, Hermione… I'm half dead. Why are you doing this… now, when I can barely… breathe?"

"Mmm… two reasons, Draco… ahh… I told you," Hermione gasped and sighed as she pulled her chest flush against her boyfriend's, then nuzzled against his jawline.

Draco glowered at his girlfriend, even as her face flushed with desire and her eyes slipped closed. He thought of the way she'd been ignoring him, how she hadn't looked him in the eye in nearly a month, and was suddenly furious.

"I asked you a God-damned question, Hermione! Just what the fuck do you think you're doing to me, now, after all this time?" he ground out as he grabbed the tops of her hips to stop her movements.

Hermione's eyes snapped open to the unfamiliarly angry face of her boyfriend. She was startled by how much he looked like the old Draco in that moment, that boy from school who'd sneered and insulted her at every turn. Shite, maybe she had made a mistake in engaging him like this. Cautiously, she placed her hands on top of his, and rolled her hips while gazing directly into his angry eyes. He hissed, and blinked in confusion before anger came back to the forefront.

"Draco, listen to me," Hermione said as she ground her body down on top of his. His huff of breath gusted across her mouth just as she rose back up. She slipped back down again, and couldn't help moaning a little at the delicious feeling of their bodies coming together after so long apart.

"I'm listening," he grunted.

Hermione nodded, and wrapped her arms back around his neck. "Good. All right, well, see, I was thinking that it might jump-start our reconciliation, you know? I know I've made a mess of things between us, and I'm really sorry. I want to try to make it up to you in any way I can. I have missed this, and I think you have too. And the other thing is that sex is really a great home remedy for colds. You just looked so utterly sad and miserable earlier, I thought maybe if I, er, took care of you tonight, so to speak, you'd feel better by morning-"

"You mean to tell me you're sitting here on top of my cock as some kind of pity shag?" Draco asked furiously. "Fuck you, Hermione," he snapped, and grabbed the tops of her arms to pull her off of him.

Hermione glared defiantly at her angry lover. "Go ahead, Draco," she taunted. Then she ripped his hands off her arms and wrapped herself up close around him so that she could whisper in his ear, "I know you want to."

Draco pulled back sharply and looked at his girlfriend's proud and challenging gaze. Then he reared up and pushed her off of him, throwing her backwards onto the bed. Before Hermione could even catch her breath he was on top of her, with her left leg thrown over his shoulder and his hands pressed down on her shoulders, pinning her to the mattress as he slammed into her…

Hermione screamed.

Draco swore and drove into Hermione's core, harder and harder, even as his ragged breathing hitched and stuttered and stars swirled in front of his eyes. In his drunken, angered haze, words started pouring out of him as he thrust into her.

"Fucking… left me… won't even… look at me… Ahh! Good God, I'd give… Ah, fuck, Hermione… I'd fucking give… I've given you… fucking everything… Shit, ohh, shit that's so… God, I can't fucking breathe… you… ngh… you left me! You left… ngh…" Draco cursed and groaned and closed his eyes against the sight of Hermione, struggling to keep up with him as he used her body. He was so close, and so angry, and so-

Draco gasped as Hermione's small hands gripped his face to pull him down into her kiss. He allowed himself to be dragged down, even as his hips stuttered and his orgasm stole away the last of his breath. Hermione kissed him fiercely as he shuddered into her, then she broke away from him and whispered softly, "I know, baby. And I'm so sorry."

Draco blinked stupidly. His full weight was crushing Hermione flat. He was sweaty, post-orgasmic, one hundred forty percent mucus filled, and still fairly intoxicated, but-

"Did you just call me baby?" he asked as his surprise swept his frustration to the side.

Hermione flushed. "Oh, er, yes I suppose I did. Sorry," she mumbled.

Draco couldn't help but grin down at Hermione's embarrassment. "You know, Ms. Granger, that's got to be just about the silliest nickname one adult could give another adult. It's emasculating and belittling. Are you entirely sure that's what you want to do right now?"

Hermione groaned, and tried to push Draco off of her. "I'm sorry, all right? I couldn't help it. I hear it in my head all the time when I think of you, and it just slipped. I didn't mean it to be emasculating or belittling. I can't help it. You're just… mine," Hermione bit her lip as her cheeks flushed.

"Your baby?" Draco asked incredulously. "That's utterly ridiculous, Hermione. If I were your baby, you'd be the worst mother of the year. You left me alone, took away all of my favorite toys," here he leaned up and dragged his hand across her breasts and down her belly to her sex, "and you kept my pets from me. Worst. Mum. Ever," he enunciated, then rolled off of her and grabbed for his tissue box as the inevitable coughing and sneezing hit.

Hermione sat up and rubbed his back as cough after cough wracked Draco's body. "Draco, I may be the worst Mum ever, but I just shagged the phlegm out of you. So, go on into the bath, baby, and take a hot shower to loosen up your chest, and I'll make you some tea."

"Ugh, are you really going to call me that?" Draco groaned as he stood off the bed to hobble his way towards the shower.

Hermione shrugged one shoulder as she delicately set her feet on the floor. Ouch. Draco had been rather rough with her, and it had been a long while since they'd last been together. She wasn't going to complain though, as long as it led them towards reconciliation. She wouldn't even complain about the lack of orgasm. It was a small price to pay for the neglect she'd paid out towards him.

"You know, baby, if you don't like it, you can tell me," she called out helpfully as the water in the shower turned on. All she heard in return was loud, deep coughing. Hermione smiled. He'd be better in no time at all with her help. She may have made a grievous error in leaving Draco alone for so long, but Hermione Granger was not one to make the same mistake twice.

/…../

Draco stood in the door frame to their bedroom, a glass of orange juice in his hand, and observed the sleeping woman in his bed. Once the morning sun had hit him, his eyes had snapped open, the warm body next to him had shifted, and the night before came to the forefront of his thoughts.

She was back.

There were even two small-ish and wriggling white pups at the foot of the bed. They'd grown since he'd last really gotten to observe them. Artemis was still smaller than Apollo by a good kilogram or two, but they'd both put on weight and height in the past weeks.

Draco's chest tightened in despair at the thought. He'd done nothing wrong, and he'd been pushed to the side. And with that, he'd missed out on Artemis and Apollo's latest growth spurt.

Groaning sounds and shuffling of pillows alerted Draco to the imminent arrival of Hermione's consciousness. He sipped at his juice as he observed the mass of wavy brown hair with some trepidation. Last night had been a surreal experience, but one thing he knew for sure: he'd used her fairly roughly. She would either be sore and angry, or sore and withdrawn…

Dread tugged at him as he considered she'd probably just take off again.

Hermione snuggled deeper into her pillows, which were decadently scented just like her favorite scent: Eau de Malfoy. She wiggled closer to the center of the bed and reached out for Draco's body. She felt warm sheets, but otherwise his space was empty.

Hermione sat up.

"Looking for someone?" Draco asked from the doorway. Hermione brightened at his voice, and then shrank back at the look on his face. Draco had his stoic mask on.

"Draco-" she began, but the puppies had perked up at the sound of Draco's voice, and he knelt down on the floor to greet them when they jumped down from the bed to whine and wag their adoration to their adoptive pseudo-father.

Hermione watched as Draco tousled ears and rubbed bellies as he visited with the puppies. Forget idiocy, she'd been absolutely awful to Draco by keeping the puppies with her and not bringing them home. She owed him far more than an apology, she owed him – she gulped down her pride – an actual honest explanation.

"What time are you leaving?" Draco asked levelly from his position on the floor.

Hermione jerked up from her unhappy thoughts. "What time am I… oh, for church? Well, I don't need to be there for a couple of hours yet. It's quite early," she said.

Draco stood and wiped his hands on his trousers, then nodded, all while still looking at the floor where the puppies played. "Well, you best start getting ready then. I'll take these two out for a walk. Don't suppose you'd consider leaving them with me when you go this time, would you?"

Hermione blinked in confusion. "When I go to church? Are you not coming also?" she asked.

Draco narrowed his eyes and finally looked up at her. "You know that's not what I'm talking about, Hermione."

Hermione sucked in a deep breath. He still thought she had just popped in for a visit; that she planned to leave again. 'Fix this, now Hermione Granger, or lose him forever,' she commanded herself sternly as she twisted her hands together in her lap.

"No," she said forcefully. Draco cocked his head the side. "I'm not leaving, Draco. I mean, yes, I need to go to church this morning, as it's the only day of the week that I actually work, but after that I'm coming home with you. Ginny doesn't need my help as much anymore, and I thought it was high time I came home. Don't you?" She looked at him calmly as she silently begged that he would just happily agree with her reasoning.

Draco stalked over to the bed. "Bullshit," he hissed. "I'm going to get these dogs outside, but when I come back, Little Girl, you surely as hell better have a more decent answer than this to explain yourself. At this point, I have no doubts that as soon as my back is turned, you'll disappear." With that, he turned on his heel and beckoned Artemis and Apollo to follow him to the front door.

Twenty minutes later, Draco stood back inside the Fortress and stared at Hermione. She was freshly showered and dressed for the morning, but her stance indicated she intended to spend her morning fighting, not in religious contemplation.

"Draco Malfoy, you listen to me now. I. Am. Not. Leaving. This is my home. This is OUR home. Get that through your unbelievably thick head right now, because if you don't, so help me I will give you hell on Earth," Hermione snapped.

Draco thought she might look a little more menacing if she were to stamp her foot, or possibly snuggle a kitten. He rolled his eyes and turned away from her so that he could feed the puppies.

"Whatever, Hermione," he called over his shoulder. "You and I both know that the great Hermione Granger makes all the rules, and whatever she says is always right. Well, knowing this, I can at least see that you'll take off as soon as Ginny calls for help. Or someone else who desperately needs your expert aid. Look at what you did when you first stumbled into me at the Library: you devoted all your time and attention to yours truly, but as soon as someone newer and better came along to snare your attention, you were gone. Just admit it and we'll work something out, visitation or some shite, so you can keep on doing whatever the hell you want."

Draco's bitter words dropped like lead weights onto Hermione's shoulders, dragging her down with their long reaching accusation. She screwed up her eyes to fight back the hot tears that threatened – she was not going to break down like a girl now – and blurted out, "I was embarrassed, all right?! Good God, Draco, I've never been so embarrassed in my life! I just didn't know how to talk to you after, and I'm sorry, but I was just so ashamed of what I'd done! Haven't you ever said or done something so stupid, that you just wanted to run, that you'd give anything to take it back?!" Hermione's hands flew up to her face to cover her eyes. 'No, no tears, not now, damn it,' she thought to herself.

Draco turned around slowly at her unexpected rush of words. "Embarrassed? What the bloody hell are you going on about? What the hell is there for you to be embarrassed over? The arrival of the Weasley's in Little Whinging? Because this… whatever the fuck it is that's going on between us, has been going on since the night Jamie was born. And it's driving me mad, Little Girl. I can't live like this." Draco shook his head as Hermione continued to rub her fists into her eyes.

"Look at you," he said sadly. "You don't even look at me anymore when I talk to you."

Hermione gasped and pulled her hands away from her eyes, and Draco was surprised to see that her gaze, while directed at him, was tear-filled. That wasn't what he'd been expecting.

"Draco," she whined, "I practically begged you to ask me to marry you. Ugh, and kids! 'Experimental breeding,'" she said self-mockingly. "God, if that wasn't the most pathetic, inhumane thing I've ever done to another person in my life… For pity's sake Draco! I'm an independent grown woman, not some idiotic, simpering school-girl! I shoved you into a corner with no escape and just stood there like an arse waiting for you to make up your mind! And I'm so bloody sorry, I swear I never would have done that under normal circumstances – what are you doing?" Hermione cut herself off as Draco stalked across the room towards her.

Draco stopped inches in front of his girlfriend's shaking body. He glared down at her as he searched her eyes for the rest of the truth. His shoulders sagged as he took in her pitiful, guilty expression. The stupid bint had been hiding out at Ginny's because she was embarrassed.

That damned conversation about marriage and babies that he'd accidentally started, that he'd miserably stumbled over, had been weighing on her this much. So much that she'd rather not see him than face what she felt like was her own shame.

Draco shook his head. "You've got to be taking a fucking piss, Hermione! You've been avoiding me for a fucking month, because you were embarrassed? You tore our family apart over something so insignificant as your self-bruised ego? You have got to be the most unbelievably stupid cow in Surrey." He turned his back and stalked towards their closet.

Hermione flinched at the insult, and said weakly, "For what it's worth, I didn't mean it, any of it. I feel horrible for backing you into a corner like that. And I know I completely over-reacted, but I just couldn't stop thinking of the way you sat there and said 'fucking horrible'. It just played over and over in my mind, and it was just sort of…easier… to help Ginny out with Jamie than to face you." She wrung her fingers together, and then tried to wipe away the traitorous tears that had escaped.

Draco was rummaging around in the back of their closet.

"What are you doing?" she asked, all curiosity.

"What I would have probably done sometime in the past month if you hadn't been fucking hiding from me," his muffled voice came from the depths of their clothing.

Hermione paced to the bed and sat down cautiously to await Draco's re-entry to their conversation. He suddenly turned and looked at her, and said forcefully, "when I said that was fucking horrible, I wasn't talking about you, Girl. I was talking about myself! For God's sakes, you've got to realize you weren't the only person involved in that conversation! You didn't start it, I did!" He held his hands behind his back, and slid down the wall next to the closet to sit on the floor facing her.

"You should know," he continued quietly, "I never thought you did anything wrong that evening; that was all on me. But what you've done in the aftermath, Hermione… I've never seen you behave so selfishly."

Hermione's face burned as if Draco had smacked her. Her and her damned selfish pride. Shame overwhelmed her, but she struggled to hold her emotions in check for the sake of saving her battered relationship.

"I don't see it like that at all, Draco. Not the selfish part, yes I agree with you entirely on that. I think we can go ahead and agree that this is a major flaw in my character. But that night, I was horrible to you! I had no right to attack you like I did! For heaven's sake look at how young we are! It's not like you're some average bloke that could just happily settle down with the first girl he gets in a committed relationship with. You have obligations and responsibilities to your family, despite your time here in Little Whinging. Ugh, you're Draco bloody Malfoy, and I keep forgetting that you're actually someone to the world!" Hermione wailed and threw herself back on the bed.

Draco considered Hermione's words. He supposed that technically she had a point that he would have some obligations to his family's holdings once his sentence was finished, but other than that –

He shook his head. He'd been fighting for how many years now for his freedom?

"Hermione, after all these months, don't you know me at all?" he asked softly.

Hermione sat up. "Of course, and that's the point, Draco! You're one of the wealthiest, most powerfully connected and eligible bachelors in all of Europe, Wizarding and Muggle! And I'm just…"

Draco lifted an eyebrow. "Don't you think you're one of the wealthiest, most powerfully connected and eligible bachelorettes in Britain, Wizarding and Muggle?"

Hermione scoffed dismissively.

Draco withdrew his hands from behind his back, and rolled the velvet box over and over in his fingertips. "You see, the thing is, I thought we were a brilliant match, Little Girl. I've thought so for ages. A few weeks before Christmas, I asked the jeweler up on the high street to make something for me. It's for you, really. It took him several weeks to get exactly what I wanted, but I picked it up three days before Jamie was born." He looked up at Hermione's white face, and her frozen form, and frowned.

"I'm just a person, Hermione. I'm not Draco the Muggle, or Draco the Wizard. I'm Draco. Just… Draco. Is that enough for you? Is it too much?"

Hermione nodded dumbly. Her jaw was dangerously close to becoming unhinged and dropping to the floor. Was Draco actually holding a… a… "Oh, my God."

Draco sighed, and slid the box into his pocket. "I didn't mean to put you on the spot, Girl. I just wanted you to know that we were on the same page that night. I just couldn't get the words out. You surprised me, and then you gave me no time to recover." He chuckled mirthlessly as he stood up and brushed at his trousers. "It's not like I've ever done it before, you know. And I only want to do it one time. Honestly, I don't think now is the time, do you?"

Hermione fluttered her hands uselessly in front of her, then ran them over her head, down over her eyes, and rested them on the sides of her mouth.

"I very nearly ruined everything for us, didn't I?" she whispered brokenly as she gazed up at him. Draco extended his hands out to her, and she put hers into his so that he could pull her up from the bed. He released her hands and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and Hermione groaned in relief as she melted into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I don't honestly know, Hermione. Maybe not. I really do like the Fortress. You would have had an awfully hard time getting rid of me. I'm sure we'd have found our way back to each other somehow, even if you had carried on with your attempt at the title of Britain's largest chicken." Draco rested his head on top of hers.

"Bok, bok," Hermione quipped ruefully.

"Lovely. But there's that other tiny little issue too," Draco mumbled as he stroked his hands up and down Hermione's back. Holding her in his arms again was utter bliss.

"What's that?" Hermione asked as she nuzzled her nose into his collar. Mmm, Eau de Malfoy. She had missed him so much, and had been so careless with him. How could she carry on calling herself an intelligent woman after making such a huge blunder?

"Well, there is the fact that I'm desperately in love with you. It's quite pathetic, really, the hold you have on me," Draco said lightly.

"Oh, thank God!" Hermione cried. "I was starting to think I'd gone and buggered everything up!" She looked up as Draco started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Mmm, that's supposed to be my line, Love. After all, as the male in this relationship, I should be doing the buggering, not you," he said, tongue-in-cheek, then waggled his eyebrows salaciously at her.

Hermione's nose crinkled. "Oh, just… eeeew, baby! Oh, that's utterly vile! Ugh!"

Draco laughed and released her, only to tangle their fingers together and tug her towards the living room and front door. "Come along, my squeamish Little Girl, we need to get you to the church on time. Now, how would you like to get the esteemed honor of being the first passenger in my new car?"

Hermione paused in her attempt to reach her jacket and bags, and looked at her boyfriend. "Your what?"

Draco smirked. "Oh yes. See, I told you last night, didn't I, that there are a great deal of things we still don't know about each other."

The puppies were cuddled up in their basket as Draco pulled his coat on. Apollo had Artemis's ear tucked into his mouth, and Artemis was lazily licking Apollo's foot. Draco sighed happily. At least some things hadn't changed. He gestured down towards the pups as Hermione tugged her gig-bag across her back.

"I don't want to go out after church, Love. Let's just come home, all right? We've got some catching up to do," Draco said, and then he helped her pull her hair out from the collar of her jacket.

Hermione nodded and gazed up thoughtfully at her wonderfully, beautifully made boyfriend. She sighed. "I love you, baby." Then she blushed as Draco's eyebrow lifted.

"Really," he said.

"Er, yeh, that's sort of embarrassing. I need to stop that immediately," she mumbled.

"I don't mind if you're embarrassed, Love. Just, don't run off. Stay with me," he implored. Then he leaned down, and for the first time in what felt like an eternity, kissed Hermione Granger square on her pink lips.

And all was right. Perfect even. The ring box in his trouser pocket felt lighter than air, and brighter than any neon sign. She knew, and he knew, that they could heal their rift easily, as long as they faced each other with complete honesty.

/…../

Hermione and Draco walked, hand-in-hand as was their nature, across the stairwell and into the storage room. As they passed the still uncovered piano that sat near the center of the room, Hermione asked a question that had been tugging at her since she'd found him the night before.

"Sooo…"

"No."

"What? You didn't even know what I was going to say!"

"Psh, yes I did. Oh, Draco, wouldn't it be ever so much fun to play duets together! Oooh, and just think, if we could get you up on the stage at church!" Draco batted his eyelashes as he spoke in a high falsetto.

Hermione giggled and poked him in the side. "Number one, I do not sound like that, and number two, I'm not an idiot. I have no doubt in my mind that you would much rather hang by your toenails from the ceiling of the church than get up on the stage. Besides, if you've been hiding your piano skills in all this time you've watched me sing and play, it indicates your complete lack of interest in collaborating with me."

"Good Girl," Draco commended, and patted her on the bum. "Now get moving, we're going to be late."

"But, really, I wanted to know: the song you were playing last night. What was it? Did you write it? Where did you learn to play like that?"

Draco eyed her cautiously, and ran a hand over his cropped hair. It was cold, too cold, and he was still too sick to run about hat-less. He dug a woolen hat out of his jacket and tugged it over his ears, then looked back at the piano as Hermione pushed open the gate for the elevator.

"I didn't write it, no. My mother did. She called it 'the children's song', and as far as I know, it took her a few years to compose it. She started before I was born, and had it completed by the time I was five. Made me play it all the bloody time. She was teaching it to me, forcing it on me really, when I set her piano afire."

"That wasn't very nice of you, Draco. It seemed like a lovely song," Hermione said.

"Yes, well I was five, wasn't I? Give a boy a break, eh? I've always thought it was a bit dark to be a children's song, not really nice enough to be a lullaby. But, anyway, yesterday was Mother's birthday, and the one thing that always pleased her more than anything was for me to play her than damnable song. Even when we were at Hogwarts, I'd get special permission to come home for Mother's birthday, and she'd always have me play for her." Draco sighed as the elevator descended to the garage.

"Well that sounds really quite nice, Draco. I'm sure wherever your Mum is now, she was listening," Hermione said quietly, and squeezed his hand.

"Oh, I don't doubt that at all. Very few things made Mother happy, but for some unfathomable reason, she really loved watching me play her composition. I was such a rotten kid. I gave her so few reasons to be happy while she was still alive. So, while I don't particularly care to play the piano, I can't think of any reason to not continue to play for her on her birthday. She was quite possibly the only good part of my childhood," Draco said as he shuffled his feet.

The elevator opened, and the morning sun shone on Draco's new car.

"It's a Porsche!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Mmm, yes it is. I've always said I'd look fantastic driving one, and now you get to see the truth in person. You are truly fortunate, Little Girl," Draco gloated, his temporarily maudlin mood swept aside by materialistic – and narcissistic - glee.

Hermione smirked. Draco looked proud as a peacock next to his new toy. She gestured towards it. "Well, aren't you going to do the honors?" she asked.

"Are you joking?" Draco declared playfully. "You should be opening the door for me, the way I've been treated."

Hermione tilted her head to the side to better observe Draco's expression. He was still sick, and maybe still a bit shattered, but better. Definitely better. The generally calm and buoyant Draco that she'd been sharing her life with was still very much in residence. His smile wasn't as broad as it had been, but it was still genuine, and it was directed towards her.

Hermione walked over and opened the driver's door for her boyfriend. "Go on then, my dear, and allow me to bask in your fantastic-ness. But then we really must hurry," she said as she gestured grandly towards the interior.

Fifteen minutes later they walked hand-in-hand up the steps of the church and into the sanctuary. Just before they opened the door, Draco pulled Hermione to a stop merely by dragging his thumb across the back of her hand. She gasped at the electric current that zipped through her body, and looked sharply up at her boyfriend.

"Did you feel that?" she hissed.

"Mmmhmm. Every time," he replied, and leaned in to kiss her. Then Draco opened the large front door and pulled her inside so they could join their circle of friends.

To Be Continued.

Author's Note: Hello again, everyone! Yes, I am very much still actively writing. Since other writers tend to give reasons for long absences, I thought you all might be interested – or at least relieved – to hear why I took so long away. I got another kid! Well, okay I actually already had this one, but Eldest has been living with her Dad for the past couple years and decided she needed to live with her Mama again while she finishes high school. So we did a big move, and my house got torn apart, and we had multiple vacations pile up on top of each other – none of this was bad, but it was all very busy. If you've been tolerating me on Twitter, you've been aware of some of our antics. Eldest is my partner in crime, and my greatest achievement to date. Geez, she's probably the same age as a lot of you, as I have a sneaking suspicion that a great deal of the people who read this story are under 18. Gasp!

Thanks to you all who chose to hang in and wait out my down-time, and a HUGE thanks to Phnxgirl for beta-reading for me. Seeeeeriously, huge help!

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