"Are you finally going to tell me what in the name of Merlin has been eating away at you for the last two hours?" Hermione threw up a Silencing charm behind her and rounded on Draco the second they tip-toed past the threshold of the master suites. "And don't even try to deny it," she snapped, as Draco opened is mouth and wordlessly closed it again. "Poor Harry is only toad-free when he is sitting behind the Confinement shield, and yet all you did for the last two hours was to pretend to read through the spellbooks with a scowl on your face."
"Are you quite done, Granger?' Draco answered icily, as he sidestepped his wife and began rummaging through the cupboards for his pajamas.
Hermione turned away from him and began to brush her hair with a fervour that matched the fury glittering in her eyes. "I should have known better than to expect any sort of mature behaviour from you, Malfoy. It's my own fault for thinking you could put someone else above yourself for one night."
"Enough," Draco hissed, slamming the cupboard door shut. "Forgive me for my poorly timed freakout. I should've checked the schedule to see if Saint Potter was going to get himself in trouble tonight before I started panicking."
"Panicking?" Hermione looked back at her husband, her brow furrowed in concern. "Why were you panicking?"
Draco scowled as divested himself of his robes. "So now you care," he grumbled.
Hermione got to her feet and crossed over to her husband. "Of course I care," she said, instantly contrite. "I'm sorry Draco, I didn't realise you were worrying over something." She slipped her arms around his neck. "What's wrong?"
"Something Juls said to me earlier made me realise that I'd completely forgotten about using any contraception," Draco mumbled, his voice so low that Hermione had to strain to hear him. "I'm so sorry, Hermione, I can't believe I was so irresponsible."
"Hey," Hermione cupped his face in her small palms. "First of all, contraception is both of our responsibility, not yours alone. Secondly, you don't need to worry about it. I'm already on a semi-annual contraceptive potion."
Draco exhaled, and then frowned. "You're already on a potion? But I thought you said you were celibate after you and Weasley broke up."
Hermione flushed and avoided his eyes. "I took it after we got married."
"Oh really now, Mrs Malfoy?" Draco smirked, his eyes gleaming. "And pray tell, exactly when did you decide to go on it?"
"Right after we returned from being Portkeyed away from the AMB," Hermione muttered, addressing her feet. "After that evening by the brook."
Draco's smirk widened. "You mean after I teased you to within an inch of your life with a rose? Why Mrs Malfoy, if only I'd known, I wouldn't have made you wait so long before I finally ravished you."
"Enough of that," Hermione smacked him lightly on his arm, grinning. "Don't forget, I made you a man."
"Touché," Draco grinned back.
Hermione ran one golden fingernail down her husband's bare chest, enjoying the way his breath hitched. She flicked her eyes up to meet his lust darkened ones, and said huskily, "how about some panic-free make-up sex?"
"Insatiable wench," smirked Draco, as he turned Hermione around and started unbuttoning her robes. He sensually nibbled one deliciously cool earlobe as his hands cupped the weight of her breasts. He moaned loudly as Hermione turned back around to face him and kissed him passionately, lightly nipping his lips.
Draco was vaguely aware of falling back on to the bed as a pleasantly half-naked Hermione straddled him, her lips wreaking a havoc of sensation against his own even as her small hands slipped under the waistband of his silk boxers to tease his growing hardness. Hermione moaned against his lips as Draco's warm hands skimmed up her thighs, igniting fireworks in their wake.
"You're so beautiful," Draco whispered reverently, as his tongue laved one rosy nipple.
"I'm lucky to have you," Hermione murmured into Draco silky hair. "I'm sorry about our fight."
Draco kissed her soundly before flipped her onto her back. "I'm sorry too," he said sincerely, as he linked his fingers through hers, their hands resting on either side of Hermione's head. "I need to be inside you now," he said urgently, grinding his erection against her wetness. "Or I might explode. Literally."
Hermione giggled softly as she disengaged her left hand from his and swiftly pushed his cock inside her slit.
"Merlin Granger…" Draco moaned, as he slammed into her. "You're so perfect."
"Harder," Hermione panted, as she delved her fingers into his slightly damp hair. "Please. "
Draco complied and minutes later, they both gave into their orgasms.
After, as they lay wrapped around each other like vines, Hermione gently nudged her husband. "Malfoy? Still awake?"
"Barely," Draco mumbled sleepily. "What's wrong?"
"I just had a question," Hermione bit her lip. "What did Juls say that got you worried about contraception in the first place?"
Draco stirred. "He wanted to know if he was getting a brother or sister soon," he replied, sounding more alert.
Hermione kept her voice carefully neutral. "Did you change your mind about wanting more children?"
"Of course not," said Draco, taken aback. "I would still love to have more children, but not for a couple of years. I mean, our marriage is still fairly new and we want to be more stable before we bring another child into all this."
"I agree," said Hermione, feeling almost dizzy with relief.
"Good," Draco grinned. "There will be plenty of time for the octuplets later. Right now, I'm happy with panic-free sex."
Hermione gave a tinkling laugh. "The octuplets? Bit ambitious, aren't we? But you're right, I'm enjoying the make-up sex too much to turn it into make-babies sex just yet."
"You know," Draco mused. "If we had just discovered how good we are together back at Hogwarts itself, it probably would've saved us a lot of fighting over the years."
"I don't even want to think about how Harry and Ron would've reacted if we'd launched ourselves at each other in the middle of the Great Hall," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes.
"Kinky Granger," Draco teased, pulling her closer to him. "I never said we'd be fucking publically. Have you accidentally let slip a secret fantasy of yours, my dear?"
"Shut up," Hermione mock-scolded as she closed her eyes and nuzzled deeper into the crook of his arm.
Draco and Hermione were unceremoniously woken up the next morning by Julius and Crookshanks diving into their bed, which made Draco extremely thankful that Hermione had interrupted their post-coital bliss the night before to nag him into wearing his pajamas. Crookshanks' claws were menacing enough even with the added protection of the layer of silk over Draco's genitals.
"Morning little man," Draco said cheerfully, as Julius snuggled up between him and Hermione.
"Morning Daddy, morning Mummy," Julius grinned, as he rested his head on Hermione's lap. "Daddy you have an owl. Crookshanks almost ate your letter but I saved it."
"Ruddy cat," Draco muttered under his breath.
Hermione gave him an admonishing stare. "Language," she reminded him, as she stroked a purring Crookshanks. "Where is the letter, Juls?"
"Here you go," Julius handed the crumpled missive to Hermione, who passed it along to Draco.
That little suck up. There is no way he would've handed the letter over to me without trying to angle for a chocolate bribe, Draco frowned, as he opened the letter. "It's from Blaise," he said to Hermione, as he skimmed through the puzzling contents.
"Is everything okay?" Hermione asked, forcing herself to sound casual.
Draco frowned, rapidly re-reading it. "The good news is that they found a Counter-Jinx for Potter, and he is now officially toad-free."
"And the bad?" prompted Hermione anxiously.
"It would appear that Audrey left Blaise last night," said Draco softly, folding away the letter.
"What?' Hermione was genuinely shocked. "Is Blaise okay?"
"I think so," said Draco, sighing. "He seems more confused than anything else. Apparently when he got home this morning, she was gone and had left him a cryptic letter."
"What did it say?" Hermione questioned.
Draco shrugged. "He didn't mention. He did ask if I wanted to have drinks tonight, so I'll probably find out the details then."
Hermione looked as bemused as he felt. "I wonder if Pansy knows…" she trailed off.
"I guess you'll find out about that tonight," Draco commented, pushing the covers off him. "It's Sunday, so you'll be going out with the girls again, right?"
"Yeah, especially after all the events of last night," Hermione agreed.
"I'm going to quickly send owls to Blaise and Weasley and ask them around for drinks after dinner tonight. Once I'm done, why don't you, me and Juls head out for a little picnic today? I think we can use some normalcy after everything that's been going on," Draco suggested, pulling out a thick scroll of parchment and ink from the bedside table.
"Yay, picnic!" Julius piped up excitedly.
Hermione swung her legs out of bed. "Looks like we have a busy day ahead of us. Let's go find Grandma and get you in a bath young man," she said affectionately, scooping Juls up into her arms. Crookshanks leapt off the bed and followed Hermione and Julius out of the room loyally.
By the time Draco finished sending his owls and getting dressed, Hermione and Julius were already at the breakfast table with Lucius and Narcissa. Draco kissed his mother on the cheek in greeting and nodded stiffly to Lucius as he sat down and helped himself to a croissant. He wrestled over whether to just have the picnic in the back gardens so that his parents could also attend, but eventually decided to stick to his original plan of going out. The three of them spent a lovely day at a small park that Draco had frequented as a child, all of them basking in the spring sunshine. Hermione caught up on her reading while Draco took Julius flying on his broom. Frequently, Hermione would glance up from her book and suppress a smile at the identical expressions of unadulterated excitement on her husband's and stepson's faces.
Every now and again Hermione was reminded of how young they all still were. In the aftermath of a war-torn world where everyone became an adult at seventeen, sometimes all one needed was to be reminded of life's simple pleasures –a fact that was further reinforced as Draco skimmed past Hermione and brushed a kiss against her sun-warmed lips. By the time they returned to the Manor, after a particularly vigorous game of tag that left them all with grass stained robes, it was dinner time. Forced to make do with Cleansing charms instead of a proper bath and change of clothes, the younger Malfoys quickly sat down to dinner with Lucius and Narcissa, who surveyed their robes with identical expressions of disapproval.
"Juls' robes are ripped beyond repair," Narcissa pursed her lips as she passed a steaming plate of potatoes to Hermione. "We shall have to go get him some from Diagon Alley tomorrow itself. Shall Juls and I pick you up from the Ministry during your lunch break, Hermione?"
"Actually, I'm already seeing a friend during lunch," replied Hermione apologetically.
Draco looked to her in surprise. "Who are you meeting?"
Hermione reached past him for the salt. "Just Adrian. We agreed to catch up sometime this week last night. He sent me an owl today making plans for tomorrow."
"And where was I when you received this owl?" Draco scowled, mashing his chicken into an almost unrecognisable lump.
"Taking a bath?" Hermione shrugged.
"Well in that event I'll ask Andy to come with me instead," Narcissa intervened tactfully. "I'm sure she needs to get robes for Teddy too. We could make a day of it."
The rest of the meal passed with Narcissa and Julius planning where they would go the next day, while Draco scowled at his mistreated chicken as though it had also dared to owl his wife while he was in the bath. As soon as the elves appeared to take their plates, Draco excused himself and left the table. Hermione gave her in-laws an apologetic glance before she followed suit and swiftly padded up to the master suites, where Draco was getting ready to take a much-needed bath.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked tentatively, as she entered.
Draco strode across the room and swept her into a deep kiss. "Of course I am. Now, I have got a bath waiting, will you be joining me?"
Hermione blinked in surprise. "Err– sure."
They spent a pleasant hour washing and massaging every inch of each other in the bath. By the time they were drying themselves off, every single limb in Hermione's body felt blissfully sated. As she hurriedly smoothed the vanilla-scented moisturising potion over her legs, her mind raced through all the clean sets of robes in her closet in an attempt to decide on what to wear out. Eventually, she settled on simple powder-blue robes and aimed a few frenzied Drying charms at her hair, while Draco watched her rush around lazily from the bed. She had just enough time to give Draco a peck on the lips before she raced out the door towards the Apparition chamber, leaving Draco alone with his nefarious thoughts.
Feeling a slight prickle of guilt, Draco rummaged through Hermione's bedside table until he found the letter that had soured his mood all evening. He ran his fingers over the slanted script, grudgingly admiring the penmanship. Looking around quickly, he raised his wand and mentally iterated a non-verbal spell over the letter. Locating a fresh scroll of parchment, he tapped it twice with his wand, feeling satisfied when it glowed a faint purple. Once he was certain the spell was accurate, he began writing. By the time he was finished with his ministrations, he found an unused envelope and scrawled 'deliver to Narcissa Malfoy' on the front. He summoned his owl and murmured the initial destination against his feathery head. The owl hooted balefully and took off into the night, the envelope clutched tightly in its beak.
Suddenly, a dark shape lurking in one corner of the bedroom caught Draco's eye. He whirled around wand raised and came face to face with a reproachful Crookshanks, who hissed disapprovingly.
"Don't judge me Crookshanks," Draco muttered defensively, running his hands through his hair. "You've never been married."
Crookshanks gave another imperious hiss and stalked out of the master suites, his bottlebrush tail held disdainfully high.
"You've been unusually quiet tonight, Draco," Blaise slurred, peering at Draco over the rim of his sixth Firewhiskey of the night.
"You can't talk mate," Draco shot back, his own speech only marginally better than Blaise's. "You've all been at the Manor over two hours, and not once have you addressed the gigantic Audrey-shaped elephant in the room."
Blaise scowled deeply. "Are you calling my ex-girlfriend fat?"
"No," Draco sighed. "I'm not."
"What is wrong with you both tonight?" Harry asked, pouring himself another drink. "You both do realise that the brooding bad-boy act is only effective if there are actually witches around to witness it, right?"
"Cheers for that insight, Potter," said Blaise acerbically. "Imagine that, Draco. We were doing our bad-boy act wrong."
"What is the Audrey-shaped elephant?" questioned Harry, ignoring the guffaws around the table.
"Fine," Blaise rolled his eyes. "I'll address the fucking elephant. Audrey left me last night. By the time I got home this morning, the apartment had been de-Audreyfied and all I had as means of explanation was this ridiculously cryptic letter that makes absolutely no sense to anyone with any sort of rational thought."
"Sorry to hear that," said Harry, patting Blaise on the shoulder.
Ron leaned forward interestedly. "What did the letter say?"
Blaise gave a resigned sigh. "Here," he said, pulling out a wrinkled piece of parchment from the inside pocket of his robes. "Read it and weep at the irrationality of women."
The three boys huddled over the letter, burning with curiosity. The letter was surprisingly short:
'B,
Stop fighting your fate with fear. You know what you should do now.
A.'
"That's not cryptic in the slightest," Draco scoffed, tossing the letter back onto the table.
"I'll have to agree with Malfoy on that," Harry nodded, sipping his drink. "That was really brave of Audrey to do. It couldn't have been easy."
Blaise frowned, a deep furrow running between his eyebrows. "For the love of Merlin will one of you tossers explain it to me? For the life of me I cannot fathom what went through her head when she put her quill to parchment and wrote such a ridiculous letter."
Ron shook his head. "Really, Zabini, she's clearly giving you permission to bang Parkinson and get it over with."
Draco looked over at Ron scornfully. "While I wouldn't put it quite as crudely as Weasley has, but essentially yes, she is telling you to stop wasting her time and yours. You and Pans are clearly meant to be together, and the way things have been going lately, everyone but you seems to realise that."
"Pansy and I are just friends," Blaise muttered, looking surly. "And I'm not sure if we're even that after last night. One crazy witch gave me a black eye, the other changed the décor of my house and left me a riddle as some sort of twisted justification. Quite frankly, I don't want anything to do with either of them at the moment."
Harry slammed his fist on the table, surprising everybody. "For the love of Merlin, Zabini! Do you fucking understand how lucky you are? There is nothing standing between you and the witch you love other than your sheer obstinacy. Pansy didn't do anything to break your trust, she didn't lie to you by omission, and she didn't sleep with anyone else while you were out risking your life for people you had no choice but to save. Why are you deliberately being obtuse?"
"I agree," Ron added, looking unusually serious. "So what if Parkinson is mad at you right now? Lav has been mad at me for a week straight, doesn't mean I love her any less."
"Why has Lavender been mad at you?" Blaise questioned, cleverly diverting the topic.
Ron slumped in his chair, cradling his glass. "Same reasons as always. Working too late, not spending enough time with her, being too tired to actually do anything when I do see her…"
A silence fell over the table as the boys commiserated with Ron, especially since it was a situation that they all knew intimately. Draco cleared his throat a few minutes later, taking a sip of his drink for fortification. "Have any of you ever gone through your partner's letters behind their back?"
The three boys hesitated, and then Harry tentatively nodded, followed by Blaise.
"Really, Weasley, you've never checked your partner's mail?" Blaise asked, surprised.
Ron shrugged. "Lav doesn't get much mail, she does most of her work through the Floo."
"And with Granger?" Draco prompted, trying to look innocent.
"No way," Ron shook his head vehemently. "I like my testicles firmly attached to my body, thanks."
Draco tried and failed to keep his face held in a mask of indifference.
"Out with it Draco," said Blaise perceptively. "What did you do?"
"This doesn't leave the table, alright boys?" Draco demanded, lowering his voice to a whisper. "I don't care how close you are to Granger, you absolutely cannot tell her a word. If she finds out, rest assured that whatever she does to me, what I will do to you will be ten times worse."
"Fine, now tell us what you did," said Harry impatiently, topping up everyone's drinks.
"I don't know why, but I just don't like the idea of Granger and Adrian hanging out alone," confessed Draco, downing his drink and pouring himself another. "I found out today that he sent her an owl asking her to meet up for lunch tomorrow."
"But I thought you were friends with him," replied Ron, looking bewildered.
Draco flushed. "I am, it's just, he and Granger have all this stuff in common. They both studied Magical Law at the same place and they always seem to get along so well. Given the circumstances under which Granger and I got married, I can't help but think that if she had ended up with any former Slytherin, it would've been Adrian."
"I can see your point," Blaise agreed, swirling his drink. "They were talking nineteen to a dozen last night while you were at the Manor. I just didn't think anything of it."
"And you remember Adrian's obsession with curly-haired witches?" asked Draco miserably. "He even had a crush on Alecto Carrow."
"That is disgusting," said Harry, looking nauseous.
Blaise waved his hand dismissively. "That was during Hogwarts. I'm fairly certain his tastes would be different now."
"I don't know about that," supplied Ron doubtfully. "Harry and Ginny were together for years after Hogwarts, and Lav and I dated back then too."
"All that is irrelevant," said Harry. "The relevant thing is what Malfoy did about it. Whether his actions were justified or not is secondary to what he actually did."
"Well," Draco cleared his throat guiltily. "I used an advanced Imitation charm to mimic his handwriting and sent Granger an owl supposedly cancelling lunch tomorrow."
Ron whistled under his breath. "It was nice knowing you mate."
"Thanks for the support Weasley," Draco scowled.
"I'm with Ron on this one Malfoy," Harry said tentatively. "It's awfully risky pulling something like that with Hermione."
Draco glared at Harry in a way that was oddly reminiscent of Hermione. "It's your fault that Adrian and Granger got talking in the first place, Potter. If it hadn't been for you, they wouldn't have ended up in Confinement together."
"Yes, clearly I'm the one that cursed myself to have green toads follow me everywhere," Harry shot back sarcastically. "Don't you read the Prophet, Malfoy? I just love animals that much…"
"No matter whose fault this situation is, the bottom line is that Hermione will see through your ploy in about two minutes the very next time she and Adrian talk again," Blaise interjected unhelpfully. "Unless you can somehow get Adrian's owl to deliver the letter, I'm guessing you're going to tell her it arrived for her when she was out, implicating yourself in the process."
"Give me a little more credit than that, Blaise," answered Draco condescendingly. "I sent the letter to the post office through my own owl, and added a list of instructions inside which say that the letter is to be delivered to my mother at seven in the morning tomorrow. My mother will be at the breakfast table at that hour, while I will make sure I detain Granger in the boudoir. When my mother will receive the letter, she will assume Adrian sent it to the Manor instead of directly to Granger, and since she doesn't know what Adrian's owl looks like, she won't suspect any foul play and will hand the letter over to Granger when we finally make it downstairs."
Harry looked to Draco in awe. "You've gone to a lot of effort for this."
"Well, I can't afford to get caught, can I Potter?" Draco sneered. "The envelope I sent it in is also charmed to change the name on the front from my mother's to the general Manor address at three minutes to seven. Since the final destination is the same, there is no way that the owl will get confused or return to the post office."
"But what if Adrian sends her another owl asking her to reschedule?" Blaise asked, impressed in spite of his misgivings.
Draco smirked smugly. "I didn't mention sending Adrian anything, did I?"
Ron's mouth fell open. "So he doesn't know that the lunch is off?"
"Exactly," said Draco haughtily. "He will get stood up by Granger. Half an hour after the agreed time, I will send an owl with a letter that mimics her handwriting, apologising profusely for being unable to make it as she is held up elsewhere, and promising to owl him later to reschedule. This way, I will be sure that he won't owl her first."
"That's genius," Harry mumbled, looking shell-shocked.
"Thanks," Draco smirked, looking self-satisfied. "Just don't give anything away at breakfast, Potter."
"I'll do my best not to," assured Harry.
Draco lounged back on his chair, tipping it backwards on its hind legs. "Speaking of breakfast, just where were you this morning, Potter? Did you get some sympathy sex after the toad debacle?"
Harry sputtered on his Firewhiskey. "Where do you get these stupid ideas from, Malfoy? I was in my office completing parchmentwork."
"Come on," Draco goaded. "Is it so unreasonable to think that you had your wicked way with some infatuated Ministry employee in one of their many broom closets?"
"The only woman I've ever been in a broom closet with is Rita Skeeter," Harry shuddered.
The rest of the table choked on their drinks.
Blaise was the first to recover. "Excuse me?"
"Not like that you filthy minded freaks," Harry flushed, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Besides," he said, hastily changing the topic. "I'm rubbish at picking up witches. I never know what to say."
"How about, I got into You-Know-Who's Chamber of Secrets, wanna let me in to yours?" Ron sniggered, refilling his drink.
Draco raised an eyebrow. "Sometimes, Weasley, I'm really surprised that you have a girlfriend."
"Me too," Ron slurred, causing the table to collapse into laughter.
They fell back into companionable silence, sipping their drinks by the warm fire.
"I really hope everything goes smoothly tomorrow," said Draco nervously, every trace of his previous bravado gone. "Am I just kidding myself into thinking that I can fool the Brightest Witch of Her Age?"
"I don't even know how you get yourself into these situations to begin with," Blaise marvelled.
"Bad karma?" Harry suggested, a wicked gleam in his eyes as Ron and Blaise laughed.
"Well, I did pee on Lucius Malfoy," Draco said moodily, shrugging.
That set the others off laughing again. Blaise was the first to lapse back into brooding silence, as he thoughtfully ran his finger along the rim of his nearly empty glass.
"What's wrong Blaise?" Draco asked, noticing his best friend's change in demeanour.
"Just thinking about what you lot said regarding Pans," admitted Blaise quietly, looking into the flickering flames. "If I'm honest with myself, I've cared about her for a very long time. I just don't know how to go about changing things between us, especially now."
"You just have to show her that your feelings are sincere," said Draco thoughtfully. "Give her some security in the fact that how you feel isn't going to change anytime soon, and that she's the only witch in your life. Once the insecurity goes away, taking your relationship forward will be easy."
There was a moment of shocked silence as the three boys processed Draco's words, amazed that something productive finally came out of that trap of his, while Draco tried to inconspicuously Vanish the latest issue of Witch Weekly–which he'd nicked from Hermione– away from his lap, where it was currently relatively concealed by the table.
"Well, Narcissa, looks like I'll be joining you and Andromeda at Diagon Alley today after all," said Hermione, smoothing down her rumpled morning-sex hair as she perused the letter in front of her. In spite of her attempt at sounding casual, her face betrayed the annoyance that was currently simmering inside her.
Harry choked on his toast and launched into a coughing fit.
Ron studied his croissant with previously unimaginable concentration, his ears red.
Blaise sliced his fruit nonchalantly, as though Hermione's statement had barely registered.
Lucius's face was impassive as he surveyed the selection of jams in front of him, but he had already surmised that one of them was behind Hermione's change of plans.
Gryffindors really are terrible actors mused Draco, aware that his own face was an inscrutable mask of indifference.
"Lovely dear," Narcissa smiled, making a mental note to quiz her son regarding his involvement later. "We'll pick you up at one."
"We should be heading to work," Hermione consulted her wristwatch. "I can't believe I took so long to get ready this morning," she said unconvincingly, once again trying to flatten her sex hair.
Harry gave in to yet another coughing fit.
"Really Harry, what's wrong with you this morning?" asked Hermione, concerned.
"Yes Potter, what's wrong?" echoed Draco, an edge to his words.
"Nothing," Harry sputtered. "Just a bit hungover I think."
"Good thing you all stayed over last night," said Narcissa sweetly, taking the attention away from a rapidly reddening Harry. "Apparating or using the Floo when drunk is just putting yourselves in unnecessary danger."
"Thanks for letting us crash here," said Blaise, as he got to his feet. "We should all be getting to work now. We have a big day ahead of us."
All the Ministry employees stood, quickly gathering their things. Draco helped himself to another croissant as he lounged in his chair. "Another perk of working for myself," he smirked, as he leisurely coated his breakfast with silky butter. "You four should look into it some time."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Thanks for that fantastic pick-me-up Malfoy. I'll see you at dinner."
"See you," Draco replied nonchalantly, biting into his croissant.
Hermione politely gestured to the others to go through the Floo first. Once they had all gone through, she turned around, and after making sure that Lucius and Narcissa were occupied with their breakfasts, blew Draco a kiss. He grinned and discreetly mouthed 'have a good day, beautiful' before he turned his attention back to his food, his face once again impassive. Hermione turned back towards the fireplace, beaming.
"Blimey Hermione, we just had breakfast with Lucius Malfoy and no wands were drawn," said Ron the second Hermione emerged at the Ministry Atrium.
"He's a different person now," said Hermione softly. "He doesn't do much other than write and spend time with Narcissa."
"Write?" Harry frowned. "Letters?"
Hermione hesitated and then, eyes shining, confessed, "poetry. Narcissa showed me a few, they were really beautiful."
Ron's jaw dropped. "Lucius Malfoy writes poetry?"
"Grow up Ron," Hermione snapped, thinking of the pain behind the poems Narcissa had shown her. "This one was my favourite:
"They see us under robes and masks,
cloaked and guarded without any sort of individuality,
and then it becomes easy,
easy to forget that faces go behind these masks,
and that perhaps our choices are not our own." Hermione recited from memory.
"It doesn't even rhyme," Ron harrumphed, breaking the spell.
"Oh forget it," Hermione scowled and stalked off in the direction of her office without another word.
Ron shook his head at her retreating back. "Women," he muttered, exasperated.
Harry, Ron and Blaise made their way to their department where they found their usual teetering stack of parchmentwork awaiting them. Recently they felt as though all they had been doing had been chasing one dead end after another in the hopes of finding a lead. Harry and Ron spent the entire day pouring over all their notes from the murders, trying desperately to find some sort of connection. Apart from the fact that only former Slytherins had been attacked, they hadn't been able to find any other definitive links. Just before lunchtime, an interdepartmental memo from Hermione sailed through, dropping a stack of information on the PCR on their desk. Harry and Ron exchanged simultaneous looks of annoyance and groaned loudly at Hermione's obsessive research tendencies. Resigned to working through lunch, they forced themselves to delve through the information, most of which –in spite of Hermione's ample notes in the columns– went over their heads.
They were interrupted at three o'clock when Blaise burst through the door, looking panicked.
Harry and Ron were instantly on their feet, wands drawn.
"There's been another attack," Blaise panted breathlessly, his face ashen. "Diagon Alley."
"Fuck," Harry swore, feeling nauseous.
"Is Hermione alright?" Ron asked at the same time, the blood draining from his face.
Blaise shook his head regretfully. "She and Narcissa are at St. Mungo's. Draco just told me."
Without wasting another minute, the three Aurors clambered into the fireplace and seconds later were spinning across the different grates. They landed at St Mungo's one after the other, their thumps unusually loud in the relative quiet of the reception. Ignoring the looks they got from the witches and wizards milling around them, the Aurors raced to the front desk.
"We're here to see Hermione Malfoy," Harry practically shouted at the shocked receptionist. "Where is she?"
"Gr– Ground floor –artefact damages," stammered the receptionist. "Room two."
The three of them raced towards the room, throwing the door open. Inside, a deathly white Narcissa lay on one bed, looking panicked. A dark violet bruise marred one of her delicate cheekbones, but apart from that she looked unharmed. Andromeda sat next to her, patting her hand soothingly, while Teddy and Julius looked wide-eyed towards the far corner of the room.
Lying on the second bed was a barely identifiable Hermione. Every inch of her was covered in bruises, cuts and drying blood.
What was more shocking by far was the fact that Draco sat beside her, looking completely distraught and broken as he stared down despondently at his wife.
Harry let out a strangled cry. "Hermione?"
"The Healers have put her in a magical sleep," explained Andromeda softly. "She has extensive internal injuries and the potion they gave her for that works best if she's sleeping."
"What happened?" whispered Blaise, as he sat down next to Andromeda, unable to take his eyes off Hermione's small body.
"We were attacked," Narcissa answered hysterically, her eyes brimming with tears. "We were at Madam Malkin's when a portion of the ceiling fell down. It would've crushed me had Hermione not pushed me out of the way," Narcissa wrung her hands together agitatedly. "It's all my fault," she said, her voice very small.
"It's not your fault, Mother," said Draco flatly, not looking up from Hermione's battered face. "I'm grateful that you're unhurt."
Ron walked up to Hermione's still form, oblivious to everything else around him. "She'll be fine, won't she?" he pleaded, half to himself and half to Harry. "She has to be. There's no way that my last conversation with one of my best friends ended in her storming away."
Harry nodded thickly, his throat constricting. "Of course she will be fine."
Draco ignored the other two and slowly brushed one of Hermione's curls off her face. The gesture was so loving and intimate that Harry felt more awkward than if he'd walked in on them having sex. The raw vulnerability in Draco's eyes mixed with the blazing pain made Harry's heart clench involuntarily.
"She'll be fine," Harry repeated, more firmly this time.
Draco looked up, his eyes hard. "She better be," he said hoarsely, his voice bitter. "I can't lose her too. I won't."
The door swung open after a brief knock and Audrey walked in, followed by three other Healers in lime green robes. She stopped short when she took in the occupants of the room, but, plastering a professional smile on her face, she walked forward to examine Hermione's bruised body carefully.
"Her vitals are stable," said Audrey, with a small reassuring smile. "We should be able to get her out of the magical sleep soon. Who else was involved in the accident?"
"Mrs Narcissa Malfoy and Mrs Tonks," said Blaise formally, forcing himself to act professional even though all he wanted was to take Audrey aside and demand a proper explanation till he was blue in the face. "Along with Juls and Teddy."
Audrey gave him a slight nod and busied herself with examining the others, dictating notes to one of the Healers. Apart from the bruise on Narcissa's face, the others were completely uninjured. Still, Audrey was thorough in recording their vitals and checking them for signs of shock. Finally she sent one of the Healers to get some Bruise salve for Narcissa and gave the others a clean bill of health.
While Audrey was dabbing the salve over Narcissa's cheekbone, the door opened again. Pansy walked in, looking worried, followed closely by Ginny, who was still dressed in her training robes and was carrying her broom.
For a second there was almost unbearable awkwardness.
Ginny realised Harry's presence and stopped in her tracks.
Audrey looked from Pansy to Blaise and started furiously writing in her clipboard, looking strained.
Pansy avoided eye contact with both Blaise and Audrey, electing to study her green velvet flats.
Blaise cursed his bad luck and wondered whether he too had ever peed on Lucius Malfoy.
The moment passed, however, when Pansy and Ginny caught sight of Hermione's damaged body. With identical expressions of shock and fear on their faces, Ginny and Pansy rushed to Hermione's side, wordlessly looking from her bruised face to Draco's pain-filled one. Ginny put a fist to her mouth in a vain attempt to stifle the choking sobs that she couldn't hold back. Harry, who was closest to her, awkwardly patted her on the shoulder. Without warning, she threw her arms around a terrified looking Harry and started to weep into his neck. Recovering, Harry wisely wrapped his arms around her, and began soothingly stroking her flaming hair.
"May I suggest that someone take the little ones home?" said Audrey softly, determinedly avoiding the reconciliation scene playing out to her right.
Andromeda got to her feet. "I'll do it. Cissy, will you come back with me? I'm sure Lucius is out of his mind with worry."
Narcissa numbly shook her head, dislodging tears from her eyes in the process. "Assure him that I'm fine. I'll come home once Hermione wakes up."
"Will mummy be okay?" Julius asked, hiccuping in his effort to hold back his tears.
"Of course she will," Draco momentarily snapped back to life to reassure his son.
Julius solemnly detached his hand from Andromeda's and walked over to Hermione. "When I have an ouchie, mummy kisses it better. Will she get well faster if I kiss her ouchies better?"
Draco nodded, feeling too choked up to speak. He looked away from the sight of his son painstakingly dropping a gentle kiss on every visible bruise and scrape, knowing that if he watched, there would be nothing that would hold him back from bawling next to her body.
Finally, Julius finished his task, and walked over to Draco. "This is for your ouchie," he said seriously, planting a kiss on Draco's chest, right over his heart. "Your ouchie will be fine as soon as mummy is fine."
"Thanks little man," Draco whispered, pulling his son close.
Andromeda whisked the children away, informing Narcissa that she would be waiting for her at the Manor. Audrey took over the task of soothing Narcissa, managing to slip the latter a Calming draught mixed into a cup full of water. Narcissa lay back against her pillows, finally no longer hysterical, and allowed Audrey to re-examine her cheekbone.
"I have another patient to tend to," said Audrey, when she was finished. "I'll be leaving Hermione in the care of Healer Greene, who will take her out of the magical sleep shortly."
"I'm going to have to owl you for your patient notes," said Blaise awkwardly. "They need to go in our case file."
Audrey hesitated and then shook her head. "Agnes will get them to you," she said, gesturing towards Healer Greene. "You don't mind, do you Agnes?"
"Not at all," Agnes smiled, oblivious to the tension.
"Goodbye, and give my best to Hermione when she wakes," said Audrey, addressing no one in particular.
Pansy looked from Audrey to Blaise in apparent curiosity.
"Goodbye Audrey," said Blaise, watching her walk away. As the door shut, he turned back to face Hermione, catching Pansy's eye in the process. Blaise remembered his conversation with Draco from the previous night and gave her a tentative smile. It wasn't earth-shattering progress, but it was a start. Pansy appeared visibly confused and looked away from Blaise quickly.
"I think that it's safe to bring Mrs Malfoy out of her sleep now," Agnes said, as she checked over Hermione's vitals one more time. "Mrs Malfoy has been stable for the past twenty minutes, which is an excellent sign of recovery."
Agnes stepped forward and administered two drops of a potion on Hermione's tongue. Everyone waited anxiously as a few seconds ticked by without any response at all. Then, finally, Hermione stirred feebly.
"Draco?" she managed to croak out, as her eyes fluttered open.
"I'm right here beautiful," Draco whispered, weaving his fingers through hers.
Hermione attempted to look around, and then winced. "Narcissa… is she alright?"
In spite of the Calming draught, Narcissa choked on a sob. "My dear child," she managed, before she broke down. Pansy walked over to her and squeezed her hands reassuringly, rubbing calming circles down Narcissa's back.
"Mother is just fine," Draco assured her, helping Hermione sit up comfortably. "How are you feeling?"
"No pain," said Hermione, testing her limbs. "Except for the bruises and scrapes, I feel absolutely fine."
Agnes stepped forward and cast a Diagnosis spell. "She's in almost good health," she confirmed, as she picked up the Bruise salve and started spreading it over Hermione's face. "The magical sleep is very effective."
Ginny broke away from Harry and gingerly hugged Hermione. "I'm so relieved you're alright," she gasped, wiping her eyes.
One by one, Ron, Blaise, Pansy and Harry gave her careful hugs, all of them extremely grateful that Hermione wasn't further injured. The Bruise salve had already started to work its magic, and the violet patches all over Hermione's face were slowly fading away. Only Draco remained where he was, as if he were carved out of stone.
"Is she really in good health?" he asked Healer Greene.
"Good as new," she confirmed.
Abruptly, Draco got to his feet. "What in the name of Merlin were you playing at woman?" he bellowed, taking everyone by surprise. "How many fucking times have I told you to be more careful of your own fucking safety? Do you even realise what we all just went through, seeing you lay there lifeless?"
"Draco–"
"You foolish Gryffindors with your foolish lack of regard for personal safety," Draco continued screaming, pacing agitatedly.
"I'm sorry–" Hermione tried again.
Draco sneered at her. "Sorry, are you?"
"Please–"
"Don't even try and justify this Hermione," Draco shouted, holding up a hand. "You have no idea how much it hurt me to see you like that. You don't even know how much I fucking love you."
"Then why can't you ever show your emotions like a regular person?" Hermione screeched back. "I love you too and yet I don't go around yelling at you because of it!"
Both of them broke off, panting, as the enormity of their confessions sunk in. Hermione had heard the phrase 'pin-drop' silence many times before, but this was the first time in her life that she could remember actually receiving an example of it. Hermione had lost count of the number of times she'd letter her inner romantic fantasise about him confessing his love for her. Somehow, none of her fantasies had included them screaming at each other at the time.
Though, it did seem oddly appropriate…
…And here it was, the moment where what many of the occupants of the room had known for a while was finallyopenly admitted: Draco and Hermione loved each other.
Blaise had realised it first.
In the following days Blaise would go on to say that he knew it for a while, and as evidence, he would reference a conversation he'd had with Hermione during a lunch break several weeks ago where she'd been ranting about an argument she'd had with Draco that morning.
"There is a fine line between love and hate, Hermione," he'd said.
"I don't hate Draco!" Hermione had protested.
Blaise winked. "I know."
The smarmy git.
Narcissa had been the second to realise it.
One evening at dinner, a few weeks previously, Hermione had been late. In spite of Julius talking about his dreams of becoming the best Quidditch player 'in the whole wide world, just like you Daddy', Draco's answering smile had been –at best– distracted.
Until Hermione raced into the dining room, looking dishevelled and exhausted, mumbling an apology for her tardiness while moaning about cauldron bottom regulations.
The smile that had spread over Draco's face had been nothing short of beatific.
Pansy and Ginny tied for third.
They'd been sitting at their now regular pub in Islington, and Hermione had turned positively umber over Pansy's light-hearted mention of Lavender Brown's infatuation with Draco back in fourth year.
"Good thing she's with Ron now," Hermione had said fiercely, her tongue loosened by the copious amounts of alcohol they had consumed. "I don't know what it says about us that we share the same taste in men."
Pansy and Ginny had shared a look, filing away the information for later.
Harry would claim that he'd known it from the beginning, and that his jaw falling open seconds before him dropping his cup of tea all over the floor at the confessions had been out of happiness for the couple.
Of course.
Ron had been completely ignorant of the growing feelings between the two, but would cheerfully exclaim a few months later that Hermione had loved him first.
To which, Draco would respond. "And she knew you for how many years before she fell in love with you? I got her to fall for me in a few short months."
And now, finally, Hermione and Draco had realised each others feelings too.
A/n: Apologies again for the long wait between chapters. Life has been a little crazy lately, but, for all those who were worried, Known Unknowns is not abandoned and will not be in the near future either. There may be a few weeks between updates, but I will not be abandoning my baby :)
Hope that the revelations in this chapter make up for the long wait. As per usual, I would love to hear what lines you all particularly enjoyed / bits that you didn't like.
Also, I have a slightly narcissistic question. I was wondering if there are any readers out there that have read this story more than once? If yes, how many times? I have a strong belief that a good story can be read many times over without it growing old, and I would love to get some feedback on how to make my writing more so from the people that have read my story more than once.
As always, reviews make me smile and I have a really stressful day ahead of me, so feel free to give me something to grin about. To all the reviewers and regular readers that have stuck by me, thank you so much! You guys are my sole motivation.