Chapter 6
London, 27th November 2003
"Again Hermione. Could you tell me what happened in the cave after the explosion?"
"Kingsley, for Merlin's sake. We've been over this several times already. What do you expect me to say? I'm tired. I'm sore all over, it's nearly two in the morning and I want to go home!"
"I'm sorry, Hermione, but this is necessary. I need to understand how a wanted criminal who was seriously injured and wandless, managed to overpower one of my best operatives and elude capture yet again. You can see my point, can't you?"
"I guess he wasn't as badly hurt as I thought. He grabbed my wand when I was distracted trying to operate the communicator. We struggled, I was still dazed and lost grip on my wand. Then he Disapparated. What can I say. It was stressful; a bomb had just exploded for Circe's sake! Shouldn't you be looking into that instead?"
"When you came out of the cave you were covered in his blood. It was in your hands, arms, face, hair and clothes. That suggests close contact for a prolonged period with a very serious wound. How do you explain that?"
"But of course there was close contact, we were unconscious for nearly twenty minutes! And I told you, he either fell on me or threw himself on top of me, Kingsley. You can't get much closer than that unless you're fucking!"
"Granger! I advise you to mind what comes out of your mouth. I'm your superior, you will speak to me with all the respect I'm due!"
"My apologies, sir. Look, I cast a Healing spell to stem the blood. I'm not heartless; I couldn't just let him bleed to death! I guess the wound was a lot more superficial than I thought. You know head wounds can be very dramatic. They bleed profusely, Kingsley. It doesn't necessarily follow that they are life- threatening in every case!"
"Several people heard you telling Hannah Abbott that you couldn't wake him. How did he go from unconscious to overpowering you in less than half an hour?"
"He must have been faking, mustn't he? Can I go home now?"
"Not yet, Hermione. Now, one more time. Can you show me exactly what you were doing when he took your wand?"
"Aww, fuck me."
London, December 1st 2003
Hermione looked up as Harry entered her office. She had been both afraid and looking forwards to seeing him ever since getting back from the Islands, but he had been away on an assignment and nobody could tell her when he would be back. He looked worried, as was the norm nowadays. It saddened her that her relationship with him was suffering. Where it was once happy and carefree and as close as can be, now it was strained and tense, but then lying can do that to any relationship. Hermione was well aware that she was the one at fault here. But much as she regretted lying to Harry, she felt she had no other choice. He wouldn't understand, hell, she couldn't understand it herself. All she knew for sure is that she was in way over her head and there was nothing she could do except going with it and seeing it through, wherever it may take her.
"Harry, you're back!" She rushed to give him a hug. He held her tight for a minute.
"Are you all right? I know what happened. Were you hurt? Gods, Hermione, this is getting out of hand. "
"I wasn't hurt. A bit bruised and a nasty bump on the head, nothing more."
"Really? Well, you were very lucky. For what I heard, the explosion was quite something. It could have been very serious."
"It could have been, but Malfoy threw himself on me. He may have saved my life, Harry."
"Is that why you let him go?"
"What are you talking about? I didn't let him go. He got away fair and square."
Harry gave her an odd look. "That's not what the rumours say. Are you still under investigation by Internal Affairs?"
"No, I've been cleared. Sort of. They concluded that there is not enough proof of any wrongdoing on my part."
"You are lucky they haven't considered Veritaserum necessary yet."
"Harry! Is that what you think? That I'm lying?"
"What I think is irrelevant, Hermione. You forget that I know you very well. This is going to destroy you in the end. This weakness you have."
"Weakness? Look, you weren't there. I was talking to Dean and Hannah, telling them to come in as the bomb went off. If it hadn't, Malfoy would have been in custody by now! How is that a weakness?"
"How did they know you would be there? Nobody knew, except for the six of you."
"You forget that Dean placed a Floo call to the Ministry, Harry. We needed to charter a ship. He must have logged in the schedule and location of the planned operation, its standard procedure. Any number of people could have overhead, or seen the memos that went around. The Magical Explosives Squad found a quantity of Disillusioned artefacts in some of the other caves around the main grotto. Whoever did it knew exactly what the plan was."
"I see. Well, that complicates things. Any clues? Who's looking into it?"
"Robbards from D.M.L.E. He is in charge of the investigation."
…
"So, it's someone from the Ministry."
"It certainly looks that way."
Croatia, 17th January 2004
Hermione walked down the lovely Riva Promenade, at this time of the evening buzzling with people and nightlife. She had spent most of her day exploring the Marjam, then had gone back to the tiny apartment she was renting in the old town to shower and change before going out for dinner. People in Split still dressed up in the evenings, a quirk that she found endearing, and she was savouring the solace and ease of being an anonymous face in the crowd.
She had to call in a few favours, plead and cajole, remind everyone of the sheer amount of unused holiday time she had accumulated and, in the end, threaten to resign before they agreed to give her a measly week off work. Only Harry and the Portkey Office on Level Six knew where she was. She needed time to herself, to forget about work and the chase, her increasingly confusing feelings, her need, that unexpected hunger that consumed her every minute of every day. And to sleep. She needed to sleep like she needed air.
The last few days had been wonderfully healing, and Hermione patted herself on the back for having chosen to come here.
This is a beautiful city, she thought. She really wouldn't mind moving to a place like this one day, if she ever decided to leave England. She breathed in the salty sea breeze and smiled, feeling relaxed for the first time in ages. Maybe I should consider buying a property here. Even though it was the middle of January the weather was mild. Perfect.
She had dinner in one of the waterfront restaurants that peppered the promenade. She tried a delicious Crni rižot that reminded her of Italy, probably because, like the Italian risottos, it was deliciously creamy and rich, a flavour evocative of sunshine and summers and worry-free holidays. She laughed when she went to the ladies' and saw that her lips and teeth were stained from the squid ink that gave the dish its name and colour. Thank Merlin for wands and Cleansing spells!
It was time to call it a day; she was tired after all the walking she had done and wanted to be rested in the morning to enjoy her final day here. Hermione decided to take a last stroll down the waterfront to work out her meal. And because it was so lovely, really.
She stopped at the far end of the promenade, where half a dozen small yachts were moored, and her heart quivered a little, remembering another boat on another sea. There was no-one here, and she savoured the peace and quiet, after the noise and vibrancy of the evening. She stood behind a concrete bench, resting her hands on its back and, closing her eyes, breathed in the spicy saltiness of the Adriatic.
"Don't turn around."
Hermione almost jumped out of her skin and indeed tried to turn, only to find herself confined by a pair of arms, hands clutching the bench alongside hers, and a body pressing closely against her back. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to get her heart rate under control. She looked back at the water, letting the rolling of the waves calm her.
…
"How did you find me." It sounded loud in all that stillness, her voice slightly hoarse. She cleared her throat.
"I have my ways. It's not important." He was speaking so huskily, she wouldn't have understood him had he not been talking into her ear. "Granger, why did you let me go?"
"What do you want me to say, Malfoy? Isn't it enough that I did?" She felt him tensing behind her and felt a pang of regret at her harshness.
"I…" his voice broke. Hermione could feel his breath coming out in fast little puffs, moistening her ear. She shivered. "I just have to know… Granger, after last time… I don't know if this is Alchemy or if you have me under a curse, I don't know if I matter or if I don't and I don't understand why you should matter, but you do. I don't know anything anymore and it's driving me crazy. I can't endure this any longer, this need … I feel it constantly, all day, every day." She whimpered, shutting her eyes tight. "This is killing me. I haven't been able to sleep properly since that night on the boat, hell, since way before that. I go to bed hard and wake up hard, and more often than not covered in my own fluids. I'm always aching, aching for something I can't reach... I don't understand it, Granger. I'm so damn tense all the time, so aroused and frustrated. I can't think and I can't function and all I want to do is to bury myself in you over and over, and come and come and come inside you a hundred times until these feelings go away, until I'm sated and calm and can think clearly again."
Hermione felt dizzy. Her heart was galloping and her legs wouldn't hold her. She let herself fall back against him, head resting against his collar bone. She could feel his heart beating a mile a minute and the solid length of his erection against her back. He pressed into it slightly and she bit her lip to muffle a moan.
"I know you're on a holiday. We could call it a truce, nobody has to know. The chase can wait. I… please, I'm about to explode, and I can't take it. I need… Aw fuck… just say yes, Granger, give in and mean it, for once. " He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, waiting. His arms encircled her waist and his hands trembled as he pressed her hips back into his while rocking shallowly against her back. She could feel his breath catching in every exhale, and it melted her inside in waves. The need to grind back was overwhelming. She fought a losing battle to steady herself.
But isn't this what I have felt all along, what I've tried so hard to deny… I need him. I have to have him, just this once.
Turning within his arms, she reached up and brought his face down to hers, seeking his mouth with reckless determination. She kissed him clumsily, hungrily, frantically and he responded in kind, drinking of her mouth like he was dying of thirst. He was pressing tightly into her body from head to toe and she pushed him back a bit to make just enough room to run her hand down his chest, letting it come to rest against the front of his trousers. He pressed into it. She squeezed.
"Nuh…no Grn… wait. Hold on tight, Granger."
They Apparated unsteadily and stumbled, falling heavily against a wall and sliding down to the floor, all the while kissing, biting, eating each other like they would burn up and die if they stopped. Hermione didn't know where he had taken her and, quite frankly, didn't care. He was trying to hitch her legs higher up his waist while grinding, thrusting desperately against her crotch. She, to unbutton his trousers, but his belt was in the way.
"Malf…make some room, I can't undo this."
"Oh fuck, fuck hurry, I'm going to explode in my pants."
"Pull back a bit, I can't… now! Get it in, get it in!"
"Fuck's sake you're wearing knick-"
"Course I'm wear… shove them to the side! Fuck, let me!"
…
"Wait, don't touch it, you're making me… "
"I'm guiding you in, I have to touch…yes, there, there!"
"Aah fuck, fuck so hot. Shit, you're too tight, wait, you'll make me come too soon."
"Nnng, I need you all the way inside me, god, deeper, Draco. Deeper, deeper, oh gods I need you…"
"Ah, ah, ah, stop… stop!"
"ALL THE WAY IN, MALFOY! …Yess! God yes."
…
"Slow down, Granger, slow d… Merlin I'm going to explode, ah, this is going to burst out of me, it's gonna burst out if you don't ease off!"
"Let it! I don't care! Just don't stop Draco, don't… Ahh, do that again!"
…
"Oh god, oh god, oh god, yes, like that, like that!"
…
"Nngg wait, wait… I can't… Give me a moment, for fucks sake!"
…
"Fuck, I said give me a mo-"
"Ng ng ng I'm not moving"
"You're squeezing it, Granger!"
"I'm about to come, you dolt! I can't help it!"
…
"I can't hold it, I'm gonna come, Oh fuck, fuck, fuck! Ah, Granger, I'm gonna come!"
"Nuh, nuh, no! Don't stop, don't st, don't st, Ooh I'm com… Draghnnn …"
"Fffuuuckhhh… …, ngh…!
…
…
"Malfh, whah…?"
"I'd…I'v… ohgods."
...
...
"Merlin."
"Yeah."
Draco felt empty, sated and warm still buried inside her, if a little uncomfortable. His backside was getting numb, not to mention the odd angle at which his head was lodged against the wall. He sighed tiredly, trying to ease the kink in his neck and that seemed to spur Granger into action. She started to pull out.
"Ow, ow, ow! Woman, be careful!"
They had lied tangled on that corner for a long time, until their breathing slowed and their heartbeats relented and the chill of the evening seeped into their bones.
She stood up shakily, got her wand, cast a Scourgify on both of them and then extended her hand to help him up. "Come on, Malfoy. Hop on the bed. We are too old to be cavorting on the floor."
He undressed clumsily and laid down, closing his eyes. He felt drained and satisfied and completely boneless.
The bed dipped next to him as Granger sat down. He waited for her to stretch out next to him, but instead he could feel her staring at him, thinking intently. He searched her out with his hand, too tired to open his eyes.
"Come here. Let's sleep awhile, Granger."
"I will in a minute."
She moved between his legs with a caress, then the lightest of touches all over his body, feeling, exploring, teasing. Her lips and tongue followed the path of her fingers, roaming down his chest, over his stomach, dipping in his navel, kissing, licking, nipping, down his thighs, his calves, his feet and then up again, touching and tasting and worshipping him everywhere.
"Granger…"
"Shhh. What we just did was messy and rushed and we both needed it desperately. But this… I've imagined doing this so many times. Please let me."
Then she ran fingertips like silk caresses up and down his shaft, and he inhaled sharply as she robbed him of all thought. He threw an arm across his eyes and felt himself swell up, the pressure mounting again.
Her mouth was everywhere, then she was kissing his thigh, making patterns with her tongue and nibbling, trailing hot open mouthed kisses, getting ever closer to his groin. He held his breath, then felt her tongue on the skin just behind his balls and jolted.
"Shhh," she said again, soothingly.
She kissed and licked her way up to the head of his cock, making him buck up and moan. She smiled and swirled her tongue around the tip. He gasped sharply, clutching at the sheets, feeling her lips slide down his shaft, taking him fully into her mouth and then up again, sucking tightly on the upstroke.
"Nng, Grangr… ah!" She was repeating the motion again and again, her hand now stroking and twisting in keeping with her mouth. She swallowed as she had him deep in her throat and he groaned loudly, his breathing laboured. Then he felt her gently kneading his balls as she kept swirling her tongue, and sucking and stroking. His hips started jolting off the bed, and he was crying out a litany of breathy little sounds, his toes curling.
…
Hermione felt the almost imperceptible swelling and hardening in her mouth. His balls drew up and tightened, and she knew he was very very close. She slid her fingers behind his sac and pressed firmly. And then he was thrusting frantically into her mouth, making her gag and almost choking her. Once, twice more and he held, his back arching high, and he was crying out and coming again, pulsing in her mouth until his thighs trembled and he fell back onto the bed. She continued to hold him, suckling softly, letting the last weak spurts subside and then she kissed it and let go.
With smug little smile she lied down on the pillow next to him while he tried to catch his breath. He was still seeing stars behind his eyelids. Little by little his heart rate slowed down and his breathing steadied.
"Better?"
He smiled. "I was good to start with. But yes, much better. Although I'm sure you knew that already, didn't you?"
She chuckled drowsily, then yawned. "You did say a hundred times."
It took him a moment to work out what she was talking about. He laughed. "Not in one go, though!"
…
"Granger?"
…
He reached to pull the bed covers over them and was asleep before his head touched the pillow.
Croatia, 18th January 2004
Draco woke up to a bright morning light. He had slept soundly for the first time in ages, and felt rested and content. And cold, very cold. He tried to find the duvet by touch, but there was nothing. Annoyed, he opened one eye only to realise he was naked on the bed and the duvet was gone. And so was Granger.
He looked around the empty room and saw the balcony doors open. The curtains were billowing, letting in the frigid January air. And between the curtains, Granger, hair wild and waving in the wind, his lovely warm duvet wrapped around her shoulders and trailing on the floor.
He joined her in the balcony, naked and shivering, trying to wrap himself on the length of duvet left on the floor.
"Why are you in my balcony, Granger?" His teeth chattered.
She turned to him, smiling, and opened her arms, welcoming him in.
"Clearing my head, Malfoy. Here, come and get warmed." She encased him in, bringing the duvet around him and taking him into her warm body. "Merlin, you are freezing!"
"You left me naked and exposed, with the doors open. Is that your new plan to catch me? Wait until I'm down with the flu and then drag me to Azkaban sneezing all the way. Tad undignified."
She laughed, rubbing him up and down all over to warm him up. "There's an idea! But no, I was just thinking while admiring the view. You can see the whole of Split from here. It's stunning." She was rubbing his back now, pressing her body into his, and she could tell he was indeed getting warmer.
…
"Erm, Granger, you are touching me."
"So? What are you going to do about it?"
"Well, for starters I can show you that I don't usually make love like a fumbling teenager." He picked her up and sat her on the balustrade.
"Oh, yeah? And how do you plan to do that?"
He opened her legs wider, stepping between them, then rearranged the duvet to cocoon them again. "Well…" He nuzzled her breasts and she chuckled. "First I'll do this…" He swirled his tongue around one of her nipples and then gave it a sharp little nip. Hermione gasped. "And then this…" he made his way to the other one and closed his lips on the tip, flicking it with his tongue. She moaned and run her fingers through his hair, holding him there. He teased her nipples into hard little peaks, then kissed her deeply, swallowing her moans. His lips trailed softly down her neck to her shoulder and back again to her mouth, smirking briefly on her lips at the needy sigh she breathed. He was rock hard, dripping, aching to be inside her, but damn if he wasn't going to make sure to take her breath away first. He kissed his way down her throat, her chest, her abdomen, then buried his nose in her curls and inhaled deeply. "Gods, Granger."
"Keep going, you're doing fairly well." She sounded needy and out of breath and he laughed.
"Fairly? I'll have to try harder then." His voice was low and husky and did funny, twisty things to her insides. He spread her out and gave her a broad thorough lick. She moaned deeply.
...
Hermione cupped his face and brought his lips to hers for a kiss. Bollocks. Enough with the teasing. She canted her hips while pushing hard on his buttocks with her heels. He slid halfway in with a little gasp.
"Aah, fuck. You have no patience at all, witch." With a long slow thrust he was in her to the hilt. They both moaned.
Out and thrust. Out, thrust, grind. Salazar help me, I'm going to disgrace myself again! Grind. Out, thrust, harder. "Ah, gods Granger..."
"Bed… Now, bed now."
He picked her off the balustrade then, their centre of gravity shifting, changing the angle and sliding him in deeper in the process. She moaned loudly and bit his neck hard.
"Oh, ffffff… Merlin, Granger, you really do mean to kill me!"
She giggled breathlessly and he whimpered, making his way in. Hermione managed to catch the duvet before it slid to the floor and it trailed behind them and into the bedroom.
They had lunch in a little café behind the Diocletian Palace. It was after all her last day there and she insisted on eating out. Draco would have been more than happy to stay in and lounge about in bed some more, but she would have gone by herself anyway.
They were both eating in awkward silence. He cleared his throat, wiped his mouth with his serviette and placed it down on the table with an air of finality.
"So, Granger, tell me why you let me go. You had me fair and square. My memory is a little hazy, but I seem to remember you were calling in your goons when the cave exploded. Why did you do it?"
Hermione looked at him long and hard. Why indeed. "I'm not sure, Malfoy."
"That's not a good enough answer. You'll have to do better."
"What do you want me to say? I didn't have a profound revelation and realise I couldn't possibly hand you over, if that's what you think. But you almost died, and it scared the shit out of me. I had never seen you look so… vulnerable. It threw me off balance. You were never supposed to be vulnerable. Then they were there and I didn't think, just reacted."
"Still a little shaky. Try harder."
"What are you expecting, a declaration of undying love? Is that what you think? Merlin, Malfoy, I'm not in love with you. I may be in lust, but that will not stop me from doing what is right when the time comes. This here? This doesn't change anything. Tomorrow I'll be an Auror again, you a fugitive and the chase will be on."
He was looking at her coldly, a scowl marring his beautiful face. "I see. Well, tomorrow you'll be an Auror, but today you're not. Let's not waste any more time on meaningless conversation and get down to the fucking. At least you can't deny you want that, Granger."
Hermione woke up in the small hours to a feeling of fullness and of a weight pressing down pleasantly on her. They had had hot, angry sex all afternoon, fighting each other to completion again and again until they had fallen asleep in a sweaty tangle out of sheer exhaustion. She was sore, but to her surprise she found her body reacting, tingling, moistening in the right places. Slowly, she opened her eyes.
Malfoy was lying on top of her, flush with her body. His eyes were closed and he was worrying his lip with his teeth, a look of utter abandonment on his face as he slid in and out of her slowly, leisurely, lazily. Her heart beat faster and she felt a strange tightening in her chest and the shadow of a feeling that she couldn't, wouldn't name. She heard herself whimper.
He looked at her and held her gaze silently, without breaking pace. Little by little his thrusts became harder, deeper, sharper, their breathing more laboured. He kissed her deeply, and she kissed him back until she felt him speeding up, her legs going around his hips, holding on tight for the ride, and she knew that she was going to fall over the edge any minute now, and that he was falling with her. She closed her eyes, her head tilting back.
"No." He was cupping her face between his hands. "Look at me, Granger. I want you to see me when you come." Then he was thrusting fast and hard, so close, so close. He was panting and she heard him whimper as she licked his mouth, bit his lip and licked again.
"Tell me I matter." Her eyes widened. He slowed down, bringing her back from the brink.
"Tell me I matter, Granger." His voice was strained, low and gravelly, and Hermione knew how much this was costing him. He thrust hard again, and she whimpered.
"Tell me the truth. Tell me-"
"Yes! Merlin help me, you do!"
He took her mouth on a moan, thrusting frantically, and she gave him her all until the universe exploded in a billion stars.
When Draco next woke up, she was gone. He closed his eyes tight, willing himself to fall asleep again. He couldn't.