Warning: This chapter contains some mildly sexually explicit content. Do not read if easily offended.
Hermione frowned as she examined the moving picture in the Prophet. It was a photograph of her and Draco standing outside the restaurant they had visited the night before. Their bodies seemed to be glued together as the photograph captured a passionate embrace between the two. The crease between Hermione's brow had been caused by the caption beneath, no doubt written by Lavender Brown or somebody equally as horrible, reading Hermione Granger gets her claws into yet another wizard.
Her claws! She was well aware of the fact that she had been creating quite a stir in the gossip world, first breaking up with Ron, then her brief fling with Charlie, and now her entirely unexpected relationship with Draco, but that hardly made her a harpy of some kind. With a disgruntled sigh she read the rest of the article, which took up four pages, her brow furrowing more and more with each rude phrase and horrid expectation of the paper.
Just as she finished reading, the roar of flames in her lounge room alerted her to the fact that she had a visitor. Looking up from the kitchen table at the noise, she saw Draco standing in the doorway.
"Hey," she said quietly, gesturing for him to take a seat. He reached the table, leaned over and gave her a quick kiss which made her heart pound faster than usual, and sat across from her. "You've seen the paper?"
"It's a nice picture," Draco shrugged and Hermione cracked a smile. "I couldn't really expect anything more from the Daily Prophet, and I was expecting something much more obscene from Brown as it is. Though the claims that I'm still a Death Eater and you're my virgin sacrifice for some ancient ritual to resurrect the Dark Lord is a little...off."
"Particularly seeing as I've been married and all," she chuckled.
"And pregnant," Draco added.
"Yeah, that too," her tone was stiffer now, something she could never avoid when she was talking about her failed pregnancies. "Would you like a cup of tea? I think I would." She stood and turned away from the table, catching Draco's frown from the corner of her eye. Carefully, she prepared the cups of tea the muggle way. Draco remained completely silent during her five minute absence but she could feel his gaze on her back as she moved about the kitchen.
"Have you ever really talked about it?" were the first words out of his mouth when she sat down and she shook her head as she placed the tea down. "You should."
"No, I shouldn't," she shook her head adamantly. "Talking about it only makes it worse. Only makes me see how much I've failed."
"Failed?" Draco asked, gobsmacked. "How in Merlin's name have you failed? You miscarried. It happens to thousands of women."
"Not witches," she turned her eyes to her tea, staring into her cup. "Witches don't miscarry."
"My mother did," he pointed out. "When I was four. It was the worst time of my life. She had been so happy. So entirely carefree. She said I was going to have a baby sister, and that I'd have to look after her. Protect her with my life if I had to. And I promised I would, just like I said I'd never let Mum get hurt. My little sister was the most important in thing in my world, and she wasn't even close to being born.
"And then one day, I was out in the garden with Pansy. We were playing around, and I was telling her that she'd have to help my baby sister with all the girly stuff. Pansy's a couple of months younger than me, so I already treated her like she was my little sister at the time, but Gods, I was so excited to have my own, real little sister. But that day, when we were out in the garden, chasing the peacocks, Mum was inside and my father was at work. Mum was with the elves, up in the library, but even from the very edge of the garden I heard her scream.
"It was horrible. It was a scream which chilled me to the bone and I forgot all about the peacocks and Pansy and the only thing that was on my mind was my mum. I raced back into the house and ran all the way to the library. When I got there, Mum was lying there on a couch, and the fire was green as Healers came running into the room. All I saw was red on her robes and her exhausted and pained face before a Healer grabbed me and tossed me from the room.
"I didn't see her for a week. My father was allowed to see her, but they wouldn't let me go into her room. It was the worst week of my life, which is saying something compared to everything in my past. And then, when I finally was allowed to see her, she was utterly lifeless, like a dummy. She just looked at me with big, sad eyes, her hair all knotted and dirty and her face caked with tears. She was just a shell of herself. She didn't return to normal for months. It was only on my fifth birthday that she really seemed to become herself again, in the midst of my party.
"She was gone for almost a year. She would barely respond to my questions. I was four. Seeing my mum like that was absolute horror. That baby, that little girl, was the most important thing in our world. And she was gone, just like that, and I lost Mum with her too," Draco finished, his eyes cloudy and voice thick.
Hermione felt a huge barrier drop and she realized that she had been crying during Draco's story. She reached out across the table and grasped his hand tightly and his brilliant silver eyes met hers. "They told me I needed to go to a counsellor, to hear other women's stories," she said quietly and he nodded for her to continue. "After the first miscarriage, when I was heartbroken. They said there were support groups for witches who had lost their babies, and that I needed to tell my story. But I went to one, and every witch there had miscarried, but they also had other children. They had either had them before the miscarriage or after, and I was the only one there with nothing.
"Their eyes were so full of pity. I was Hermione Weasley. I was meant to be amazing, perfect at everything, and I couldn't even have a damn baby. I left halfway through the first session and never looked back. Ginny tried to get me to talk, and so did Harry. Ron...he just wanted a child. He didn't seem to understand that I was hurting so much. Nobody seemed to understand just how empty and utterly pathetic I was feeling. But still, I got pregnant again. Ron said that a baby would help me move on, and even though I didn't really believe him, I let him. I got pregnant again.
"It was one of the worst periods of my life. Something inside me, a small part of me, knew that I would miscarry again, but I ignored it. And then I miscarried. Gods, I was ruined. I kept telling myself that I had been right, that I hadn't been ready to have children, but Ron and Molly were so persistent. They were still so adamant about me having kids, but at that time I wanted nothing more than to curl up and die. I felt awful. I was so empty. I couldn't bring myself to smile, but I couldn't even cry. I would just sit in my office and work, but then I couldn't work anymore. I would just sit there, glad to be alone, and think about everything. About my babies.
"But even after all of that, I let Ron do it to me again. I got pregnant again, and for the third time I miscarried, and it was the worst of all because through the whole ordeal, I had been so sure that I would miscarry, and then I did. After that, I realized what Ron had been doing. He had been so desperate for us to have a child that he just didn't even care about what it was doing to me. When he told me that he'd been cheating on me, truthfully, I hadn't been surprised. He had been increasingly absent, saying he was working late and everything," she shrugged.
"And that's why you left?" Draco asked quietly.
"I couldn't cope. I couldn't leave my house without getting pitiful looks from people, or hateful glares from those who actually thought that I'd been the one to cheat on Ron. So I left. My charity had all but disintegrated thanks to the rumours the Prophet were spreading, and I had no reason to stay behind in the wizarding world. I have my parents in the muggle world. They let me stay with them for a while until I got back on my feet. I got my job working for Beedle, bought this place, and got back on my feet. But still, all I could think was that I had failed. I still felt so empty. I still do sometimes. But I go on. I work. I sleep. I eat. I breathe. And now I'm really getting back on my feet," she managed a weak smile and Draco took her hand to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles.
"I don't want you to feel like that," his voice was quiet. "Ever. I want you to feel like the entire world is yours. Like you're invincible and incredible and that you're as perfect as everyone sees you to be."
Hermione's heart was in her throat. Everything that had passed between them that morning made her feel impossibly close to him. She had told him things that she had scarcely even admitted to herself. The wall that had stood between them for so long was finally coming down, and she was truly beginning to see the real Draco.
With slow movements she stood and walked to Draco's side of the table, pulling him up into a standing position. "Thank you," she said quietly and he cocked his head to one side in question. "For telling me what you did. For letting me tell you my story."
"That's what I'm here for," he said with a cocky grin. "Like it or not, I'm staying by you, at least for the time being, and I want to really know who you are. I want to know who you really are. I want to know why you're how you are. Damn it, Granger, I want you."
Hermione bit her bottom lip for a moment before pressing her lips eagerly against his, wrapping her arms around his neck. Shocked at her enthusiasm, Draco took a moment to respond, but when he did his excitement was double her own. He lifted her up so her legs wrapped around his body and walked until she was seated on the countertop of the kitchen bench. Hermione locked her ankles together, forcing Draco impossibly closer against her.
Her hands were tangled in his hair, whilst his were trailing down, slowly pushing the edges of her robe from her shoulders. When she didn't protest, he pushed the delicate garment down to reveal her creamy shoulders. She removed her hands from his hair briefly to slip her arms from the sleeves of the robe and he traced his hands down the sides of her silk nightgown, the hem of which was edging dangerously high on her thighs.
She worked at the buttons of his shirt, deftly unhooking them from their holes until it hung open on his torso. With his aid, the piece of clothing was tossed away in seconds and her hands were running all over the firm planes of his chest, eliciting a small moan from Draco. She realized that her nightgown was bunched up right at the top of her thighs and it was her turn to moan when Draco's hand trailed dangerously close to her centre. He smiled into their kisses at her sound but did not repeat the action.
She let out a gasp as his hand instead brushed across her cloth covered breast and her chest arched towards him. In their lust induced state of fiery kisses and passionate touches, neither of them noticed the sound of the fire roaring as a visitor arrived. Draco had placed his hands on her waist and pulled their bodies flush against each other's, their cores pressed together. The sleeves of Hermione's nightgown had fallen down and her torso was exposed, brushing against Draco's chest. They were entirely deaf to the sound of footsteps approaching as Draco's hips bucked into Hermione's, eliciting deep, loud moans from both parties.
"Herm-holy shit," Ginny's voice interrupted them, and this was a sound they most definitely heard. Draco's head whipped around as Hermione shrieked, tugging her clothing back into place before peering around Draco's frame. She knew her face was as red as a beet, a mixture of embarrassment and intense arousal. "OhmygodI'msosorry," Ginny said in a rush, covering her eyes with her hands and turning around quickly.
"Fuck," Draco muttered, stepping away from Hermione awkwardly. His hands had flown down to cover his crotch and Hermione knew that he had been more than ready for their encounter to proceed to the next level. "Here," he said, handing Hermione her robe as she slid down from the counter. "I...well...I'm going to go."
"Bye," she murmured. He went to leave but she grasped his wrist and pressed their lips together quickly before allowing him to leave. "It's alright, Gin, I'm not naked," Hermione sighed after pulling on her robe. She moved and picked up Draco's discarded shirt which he had left behind.
"Hermione, I'm so sorry," Ginny gushed immediately, her face as red as her hair. "I had no idea. I saw in the paper and wanted to see how you were reacting, but I didn't expect you to be reacting like that."
Hermione allowed herself a smile. "I didn't think I'd react like that either," she said and Ginny's face flushed again as she laughed.
"I take it things are going well?" the redhead waggled her eyebrows suggestively. "You two were, ah, going at it, to say the least."
"Too right we were," Hermione snorted, thinking of Draco's expert touches and talented tongue. "He came over earlier, after the paper arrived this morning, and we got to talking about...things. And after we finished talking, I kind of threw myself at him."
"What on earth were you talking about to get you into a situation like that? Kinky kitchen sex fetishes?"
"No," Hermione chuckled. "We were just talking about some things that we hadn't told each other yet, and it was pretty heavy stuff, and after we finished, he said that he wanted me. Not in a sexual way, but just me as who I am. And then I kissed him, and one thing led to another, and you know the rest."
"I know way more than I ever needed or wanted to, actually," Ginny added. "Was it about your miscarriages?" Hermione nodded once and Ginny's eyebrows flew up. "Seriously? But you've told, what, two other people?"
"Three," Hermione corrected her. "You and Harry and my mother. And now Draco makes four."
"Wow," Ginny breathed. "You must be serious about him if you told him all of that."
"I am, Gin," she said. "He told me really private things about himself. He's lying it all out on the table, so we can be honest from the start, as cheesy at it sounds. I think there's been enough bad in our relationship as it is. We don't need to lie."
"Well, I'm proud of you, Hermione," Ginny said. "You're opening up. Granted, I don't think anyone really expected it to be to Draco, but it's still good that you're letting someone else in. You deserve it."
The conversation turned to lighter topics and Hermione promised Ginny she'd visit with Draco at some point in the near future before the redhead finally dismissed herself. Hermione waved her off before her friend stepped into the fireplace and went to change into something more proper in case she had any more impromptu visits. Just as she finished changing into simple blue jeans, a white top and black cardigan, she heard the roar of the Floo.
Returning to the lounge room, she found Draco reclined on one of the sofas, Altheda perched next to him on the arm of the chair. The blonde was scratching behind the purring cat's ears, the loud vibrations filling the room. "Make yourself comfortable," Hermione laughed as Draco's head snapped up, startled by her silent arrival. He sat up, removing his legs from the couch and patting it softly in invitation to her. "Sorry about the interruption earlier."
"I left my shirt behind," Draco frowned as she sat beside him, lifting her legs up and tucking them beside her. She leaned gently against his body and he wrapped an arm around her. "What did Red want?"
"To see how I was going. I think she saw a little more than she bargained for, though," Hermione grinned and Draco chuckled. "But thanks for the...interesting morning."
"Interesting?" Draco asked, feigning offence. "Good interesting or bad interesting?"
"Brilliant interesting," Hermione amended. "Just not what I was expecting when I woke up this morning."
"We could always pick up where we left off," Draco suggested and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"And risk being walked in on again? Once is enough for me, today," she laughed, pushing away from him. "Besides, between your visit and Gin's, I've hardly had time to eat. I'm starved."
Draco stayed around while Hermione made herself a sandwich and brewed cups of tea for the both of them, and they sat at the kitchen table in a contented silence whilst they eat and drank. While Draco flicked through the paper, Hermione had chosen a muggle novel to keep her entertained. She couldn't help but think that the whole situation was blissfully simple, and she wished that it could all be like this.
Of course, wishes are very rarely answered, and Hermione was well aware of this fact, so when the Floo sounded again and Harry joined them in the kitchen, she knew the peace was gone for the time.
Harry froze at the sight of Draco sitting there glaring at him, but Hermione stood and embraced her best friend quickly. "Harry, sit. Would you like a cup of tea?" she asked as she pushed him forcefully into a chair and he nodded absently, still staring down Draco who had not lowered his gaze. "What brings you here?" Hermione asked, fixing another cup of tea with a flick of her wand. With another flick, the milk had made its way from the refrigerator and added just a splash into the cup and Hermione reached forward to take the cup to her friend.
"Ron's gone mental," Harry finally responded, looking away from Draco's steely gaze to accept the tea. "He read the article in the paper today and came storming over to my place, looking as though he could kill. Saying things like he thought you might've just been kidding around yesterday, and that Mal-...Draco must have put you under a curse."
Draco snorted. "He's still as dumb as he looks."
Hermione flashed him a stern glare but he just shrugged. "What else?"
"Said he'll be paying you a visit," Harry frowned. "He's pretty pissed. Thinks you've lied to him pretty seriously, and you're just doing this to spite him."
"That's fucking ridiculous," Draco muttered, shaking his head as he looked back at the paper. "Harpies beat the Wasps by ninety points," he clarified, jabbing his finger down onto the paper. "But what the Weasel said was pretty ridiculous too. Not to mention stupid."
Hermione would see Harry bristling and noted how his hand flickered beneath the table. She was more than certain he was clutching his wand tightly. "Draco, how about you go and see Pansy, hm? Besides, I'm sure you'll have plenty of guests waiting to see you."
"I'm quite happy here, though I could do with a nap after our morning's activities," Draco threw a roguish wink in her direction and Harry blanched. "I'll go and have a lie down in your bedroom, and you can join me after Potter leaves."
Hermione was powerless to respond as Draco stood and strode from the room quickly. She heard her bedroom door close with a click and sighed.
"Right. Well, that's more than I'll ever want to know about your activities," Harry said hastily and Hermione informed him of what Ginny had said when she had visited earlier. She declined to mention her activities prior to Ginny's visit. "Look, just keep an eye and an ear out for Ron. I doubt he'd get violent, but he's pissed. Really pissed. I'll try and keep him subdued, and tell him what I know. And that I'm certain you're not cursed or poisoned."
"Thanks, Harry," Hermione said, truly grateful towards her friend.
"I, uh, better let you get back to Malfoy," Harry said, averting his eyes. "Have fun."
Hermione's cheeks flushed with pink as Harry took the Floo back home. Her cheeks tinged by a mixture of embarrassment and anger, she wheeled around and stomped up to her bedroom, throwing open the door with a flick of her wand. Draco, true to his word, was lying on her bed, legs crossed at the ankles and head propped up on the pillows, further elevated by his hands.
"Merlin, I love it when you're angry," he smirked, his cocky demeanour quickly fading when her wand turned on him. "Not that angry."
"You are the most painful, irritating, annoying, arrogant, conceited prick that I've ever had the misfortune of knowing," Hermione accused, jabbing her wand towards her wizard with each word said against him, but she did no real damage. "Why is it that you're on my bed, then?"
"Because," he began, reaching out tentatively and prising her wand from her grasp, placing it safely on the end table, "I'm also incredibly handsome, witty, intelligent, and no doubt the most charming being to ever grace the surface of this planet."
His smirk had returned and Hermione smiled despite herself. He reached forward once more, this time to pull her to the bed to join him. She complied, landing on the bed with a very soft thump, and Draco immediately positioned himself atop her. Before she could complain his lips were on hers and she no longer saw any reason to protest, too caught up in the moment as his tongue demanded entry to her mouth. It was only ten minutes later when her cardigan had been discarded and Draco's hand had snuck beneath her top and was trailing close to her breast that she wriggled from his grasp.
"Gods, again?" he groaned in frustration. Hermione was annoyed herself. She had been thoroughly enjoying his touches. She sighed and nodded, kissing his lips one last time before pulling away entirely and righting herself. "Why?" Draco demanded.
"Harry said that Ron will be paying a visit, and I don't think he'd just be embarrassed by our situation as Ginny was," she explained and he nodded in agreement. Hermione moved to stand in front of the mirror, fixing her hair smoothing out her shirts. Draco moved behind her, and she almost protested when he grasped her hips firmly, but he shushed her.
She gasped as Draco pressed the bulge in his trousers against her lower back, pulling her body against his. "I want you to know that this," he emphasized his point by grinding slowly against her, "is how I feel about you. I want you, and what a Malfoy wants, a Malfoy gets." He pressed himself against her once more, rotating his hips softly and this time Hermione responded with force of her own. "Not now. I don't want the Weasel to castrate me before I get the chance to have you, but soon."
"Soon," she agreed, her insides tingling with anticipation and she turned in his grasp to kiss him firmly and passionately. When they broke apart he smirked at her and she heard the Floo roar as he vanished, leaving her wanting in his wake.
A/N: Long break between chapters, I know. School work has consumed much of my time, as well as work on my own fiction and a weeklong vacation to my favourite place in Australia. This chapter was a bit raunchier than what I'm used to writing, but hey, I kind of enjoyed writing it. The next one should have contact between Ron and Hermione, and maybe some more Draco and Hermione if you're lucky. Please review!