Spellbound
Chapter Seven
Hermione woke up the next morning, only to realize she was in bed alone. Her heart sank and she thought that maybe the night before had been too much for Draco and he had bailed in the middle of the night, but when she heard the bathroom door open, she smiled a bit.
"So, I was gonna sneak down to that cafe we met at yesterday and surprise you with something for breakfast, but then I realized I don't know the first thing about muggle money. And even if I did, I figured you wouldn't like me rifling through your things to find some..." Draco said, as he was towel-drying his hair. "So, I decided to take a shower and wait for you to wake up so we could both go."
"I can always show you." Hermione said, as she sat up and pulled her hair into a ponytail.
Draco sat down next to her on the bed. "Did you sleep alright?"
"Yeah, it was okay, I guess. Better since I had someone next to me."
"Good. I'm glad." He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Is it okay if I kiss you? Or is it too soon?"
"No... You can kiss me." Hermione smiled into the kiss, which Draco kept short. "Did you sleep okay? You look tired."
"Mostly I watched you." He chuckled. "I know that's a little creepy, but I was worried about you. You kept tossing and turning and mumbling."
Hermione's cheeks flushed and she bit her lip and scrunched her face up. "I didn't say anything embarrassing, did I?"
"No. I couldn't really make out what you were saying." He seemed sincere enough, so Hermione nodded her head.
"You look really tired, Draco. We don't have to go anywhere if you don't want to."
"Trust me. I've had worse sleepless nights than that. At least I was in the company of someone who can kind of tolerate me this time."
Hermione smiled and playfully pushed at his chest. "I can tolerate you just fine, thanks."
"Go shower. We can go exploring or something and you can teach me about all your weird muggle things."
"My weird muggle things? Like I'm the only muggle left in the world or something." She said, getting up and heading towards the bathroom.
"Something like that." Draco winked as Hermione turned around and looked at him before closing the bathroom door.
Hermione undressed and quickly stepped under the hot water running out of the shower. As the water ran over her, she thought about the previous night. It had definitely gone better than she had thought it would. It surprised her that Draco was willing to change so much of his life for her when her own husband couldn't. And it was still hard to comprehend that Draco really wasn't the same person he had been when they first met. He was the complete and total opposite. He was kind and gentle and smart and- Her thoughs were interrupted by Draco knocking at the bathroom door.
"Sorry to bug you, but there's an annoying little owl flitting around the room with a letter for you and every time I try to take it off, it pecks the shit out of me."
"Just leave it alone, silly, and I'll be out in a minute or two."
Draco couldn't help himself. As she spoke, he let his mind wander. He had already seen her naked, yes. But he wondered what that looked like in the shower. Naked, wet Hermione. He almost thought he could get away with doing something, maybe resorting to a small spell, to make the shower curtain fly open. But he thought twice. She had barely wanted to kiss him, yet she'd be okay with him practically hopping in the shower with her? Not a chance.
"Draco?" Her voice now interrupted him and he jumped.
"Uhmm- Whaa- Yeah?"
"I said I'll be out in a minute. Didn't you hear me?"
"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I, uh, zoned out for a minute. See you when you get out." He edged his way out of the bathroom and shut the door before he got himself into trouble.
When Hermione finally walked out of the bathroom, in a light blue babydoll tee and blue jeans, Draco had gotten himself under control.
"Will you get that bloody owl before I kill it?"
"Are you scared of the big, bad, mean ol' owl, Draco?"
"No. It's annoying and stupid. And it bit me. Not cool."
"You are such a child." Hermione reached for the owl and it landed next to her so that she was able to untie the letter off of its leg. As soon as she untied the owl's burden, it flew off and out the open window. "Damn it." Hermione whispered as she read down the letter.
"What?"
"Ginny. She went to my office and I wasn't there. She wants to meet me in Diagon Alley and 'have a chat with me'."
"That doesn't sound good."
"It probably isn't. I did cheat on her brother, you know."
"True. So, are you going to meet her?"
"I guess I have to... Will you be okay here by yourself?"
Draco thought for a second. "Well, I can go do a few things I needed to do today to waste time while you're gone, I guess."
"Okay, that's good, I guess. I'll only be gone an hour, at the most." Hermione leaned in and kissed Draco. An actual, good kiss this time. One that left them both wanting more. "Keep hold of that for when I get back." She said, smiling. "I might need it again."
Draco grinned. "Alright. I can do that."
And with a pop, Hermione was gone and reappeared in Diagon Alley. She scanned the street and surrounding shops for Ginny's hair to stand out from somewhere. When she finaly saw the flaming red hair of her sister-in-law, her stomach dropped.
"Ginny!" she called out, nervously.
"Hey!" Ginny called back as she turned around and began to walk towards Hermione.
"I guess I'm safe to assume this isn't a social call, is it?" Hermione said as they met up and began to walk together.
"Not really. I just wanted to hear what you had to say about everything."
"Like what?"
"Uhm, like why. We all thought everything was okay between you guys."
Hermione twirled a piece of hair around her finger. "It was... For a while... But then things changed. Things haven't been okay in a while."
"What? With you? With Ron?"
"Ron... Changed. After the kids were born, he stopped trying. We didn't go out anymore. He practically banned anything thing muggle-related from the house. I guess it's a pre-midlife crisis. That's a thing, right?"
"But, seriously, Hermione. Draco Malfoy? He's the one you choose to mess around with?"
"He's... Different. He's not the same as he was. He's wonderful, actually. And a hell of a kisser. Among other things." Hermione chuckled.
"I can't talk about those things with you! It just doesn't feel right!" Ginny laughed. "But I always imagined he was..."
Hermione laughed again, before asking the inevitable question. "So, how's Ron?"
"Mum wants you to get the kids. He dropped them off yesterday after you left. And then, he went home and hasn't gotten out of bed since. I can bring them to you, if you'd like. I'm sure you don't want to face Mum right now."
"No... Not particularly. I can't believe he's being such a stupid git that he can't even hold it together for the kids. It's barely been a day."
"Well, how would you take it?"
"Yeah... I guess you're right..."
"I'll go grab the kids from Mum and meet you back here." Hermione nodded in appreciation as Ginny popped out of sight. When she reappeared, the two small children ran to hug their mother.
"Mummy," said Rose, when she was done with the hug, "I think Daddy is sad because he can't come on vacation with us. Can we go get him?"
"No, sweetie. This isn't a vacation for Daddy's. This is just a Mummy and babies vacation. Do you remember Mr. Malfoy that you met the other day?" Rose nodded. "We're going to stay with him for a bit. He has a little boy your age, remember?"
"Yeah. Is he fun?"
"Who? Mr. Malfoy or his son?"
"Both. We've been with James and Al and Fred all day. If they aren't fun, this is gonna suck." Rose said matter-of-factly.
Hermione and Ginny laughed at the little girl. For an almost 5-year-old, she was definitely wise beyond her years. Even if she was only as wise as a 10-year-old.
Hermione hugged Ginny. "Thank you."
"Do you want me to talk to him? Because I can knock some sense into him, if you know what I mean."
"No. It's fine. I'll do it at some point."
Ginny placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Okay. I still love you. And you're my sister, no matter what."
"Right back at you." Hermione pulled Hugo up onto her hip, grabbed Rose's hand, and was gone.
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