CHAPTER 13
Summer turned into fall, the weather becoming cooler as winter waited just around the corner. Hermione surpassed a shiver as she walked inside the restaurant; where she was supposed to meet her brother.
"Hello miss, do you have a reservation?"
Hermione gave the host a hesitant smile, "Bradley Granger."
"Oh. Mr. Granger has been waiting for you. Right this way please."
Hermione followed the waiter through the restaurant toward the VIP rooms. When they finally reached the small secluded area Hermione sighed when she saw Bradley on his phone.
"Mya!" He waved to her; spoke a couple words into his phone before turning it off, then stood up and came to greet her.
"Did you really have to choose this kind of restaurant?"
"What?" What's wrong with is?"
"Nothing." Hermione sighed and took a seat.
"So, how's my little Mya?"
"Tired."
"Jean, what's he doing to you?"
There was no questions as to who the he Bradley referred to.
"It's not him. We've both been busy."
"You haven't come to visit the family, and you even missed the twins' birthday."
"I already told everyone that I was busy that day, and I did drop off the gifts the day after."
"You've changed Hermione."
"No I haven't"
"Yes you have. Being married to Malfoy is taking its toll on you."
"Bradley—"
"I really mean it. You look as if you're about to fall over. Does he even feed you?"
"Bradley, you're really exaggerating things."
"No I'm not. You've lost some weight, there are bags under your eyes, and you're not happy."
"I am happy. You can't just say I'm not happy."
"Mya, are you really in love with him?"
Hermione stared at her brother for a long minute, and then slowly she turned her head to the side and spoke in a small voice.
"I love him, Bradley."
Bradley watched his sister, the hurt reflected in her eyes just before she looked away was answer enough to the questions he had been searching for.
"Why did you marry him Hermione?"
She refused to look at him or answer.
"Jean."
He moved forward to try and see her face and caught a glimpse of tears.
"Hermione."
He caught her to him and hugged her. "What is it? What's wrong?" He asked in a soothing voice as he held her.
"I'm so stupid, Bradley." She sobbed softly onto his chest.
"I'm going to kill him if he's—"
Hermione shook her head, pulling back to wipe away her tears.
"Hermione. Explain to me. We've always shared everything since we were young."
"I—I can't"
"You can't, or you won't?"
"I'm sorry. I've just been really busy with the shop and everything."
"Mya—"
"It's nothing that I can't handle." She said giving him a shaky smile.
He knew that she would talk about it further, so he dropped the subject, but later, he promised himself he would talk to Draco.
Draco looked up from the pile of papers on his desk to see who had walked into his office without his consent. He was surprised to find Hermione's brother, Bradley, walk in, giving his office a look over before his eyes turned to him.
"Granger."
Bradley did not speak as he came to sit across from Draco.
"What are you doing here?"
Bradley leaned forward, so that his elbows came to rest on Draco's desk. "Why did you marry my sister?"
Draco leaned back and lifted an eyebrow up at Bradley.
"It's almost 7 months since your sister and I have been married, and only now you bring up that question?"
"If you remember I did ask, but you avoided my questions and so did Hermione."
"So, what's bringing it up now?"
Bradley glared at Draco, the tension in the room flaring with a silent battle of wills. "I saw Hermione a couple days ago."
"She didn't tell me she saw you." Draco said, the first signs of a frown appearing on his face.
"Maybe you haven't been home enough for her to tell you a lot of things?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Maybe you should ask Hermione herself, but you still haven't answered my question; why did you marry my sister?"
Draco gave no answer, his expression grave with thought.
"You and Mya seem to be doing that a lot; giving everyone the silent shoulder. What are you hiding?"
Draco stood up from his chair and walked to the window, a hand coming up to massage his forehead.
"You can hide it from me and everyone else, but Hermione can't hide it forever. She's not on of those people that can lie and not be affected by it."
The silence in the office stretched for what seemed a lifetime before Draco turned around to face Bradley, his face devoid of any emotion.
"Before the end of April, Hermione and I will not be married."
Bradley stared at Draco, his body still as he tried not to jump at the man standing before him. He took in a deep breath before he stood up to stand toe to toe with Draco. His hands fisted at his side, but he forced himself to relax.
"So you married her, only to divorce her after a year." Bradley chuckled, the laugh not reaching his eyes. "You and Hermione really had me going there. Her saying she was madly in love, the both of you never going out anywhere without one another, I almost believe her, but she kept avoiding me. I knew something was wrong. It all seemed too quick, but I'll be over quick too, won't it? Have you thought about what Hermione would feel after this—this fake marriage?"
Draco's expression did not change.
"Don't worry, I won't say anything, but after the marriage is over, I don't want you to ever come near my sister or my family ever again."
Bradley turned around and began to walk away, then stopped and turned back to throw a punch at Draco. Draco did not avoid it; he staggered back at the force of it and licked the blood from his lip. He watched as Bradley stomped out of the office and slammed the door behind him.
When Hermione heard the door open and close she hurried to welcome Draco home, but stopped when she noticed the bruised cheek.
"Draco?"
He walked past as if he did not see her, leaving her to stand gaping after him.
Hermione looked up from her book when she heard him come down the stairs, the distant look still in his appearance, the bruise a faded purple by his lip.
Slowly she stood and approached him. "What happened?" She asked.
"Nothing." He said and turned away from her.
She reached out and stopped him.
"Why are you mad?"
He stared down at her; his grey eyes were glazed over like a sheet of ice. The phone began to ring befoe either one said anything, Draco moved away from her to answer it. "Malfoy."
There was a pause, and then a slow frown appeared on his forehead.
"No." it was short and firm, and answer to some question from the other side.
There was another long pause before he sighed. "I'll come pick them up." He said and then hung up the phone and looked over at her.
"We're baby-sitting" He said and left her without any other word.
The first snow fall began before they set off to go pick up the kids.
"How many are there?"
"What?"
"How many kids?" She asked quietly as she watched the snowfall.
"Six." He said and then thought for a second, "Seven,"
Hermione nodded, trying not to laugh or giggle at his knowledge of how many kids there were.
It was nearly four when they got to Draco's uncle's house. They stopped the car outside of the house and got out. Waiting for them in front of the house were eight kids ranging from four to sixteen.
"Uncle Drake! Aunt Hermione!"
It was Michelle, she ran and threw herself into Draco's awaiting arms, laughing in glee when he lifted her up high over his head before setting her back down onto the snow covered walkway.
"Jimmy, what are you doing here?" Draco asked the oldest of the group, the teenage boy bundled in a light coat his hair dyed a light brown color, his eyes the same color as Draco's.
"Plans got canceled for the weekend, so I had to stay here with the rest of them." He answered in a low laid-back voice, making Hermione wonder if all of the males in this family had that laid-back attitude.
After that the other children crowded around Draco, and finally got a smile out of him.
"This is Hermione, my—wife." Draco introduced when they had settled down.
"Hermione this is Jimmy, my Uncle's youngest son." Hermione nodded at the older boy who in turn gave her a dashing smile.
"This is Taylor, my Aunt's oldest." He pointed to the tall boy with the glasses, later she found out he was only thirteen.
"Harriet, Taylor's sister." A young girl of ten with short hair and curious eyes.
"Molly, or Mo, is Jimmy's baby sister." Molly, or Mo was about seven years old with curly hair and big brown eyes who looked almost nothing like her brother.
"Kaleb is my cousin Jake's oldest. He's about six." The boy looked like he was about to fall over with exhaustion, he could hardly keep his eyes open, but she could see his blue eyes.
"And you know Michelle, she and Kaleb are twins."
Hermione looked from Kaleb to Michelle and blinked, it was a wonder, they almost looked exactly alike, it was just the Kaleb had blonde hair and blue eyes while Michelle had brown hair and brown eyes.
"And these two belong to cousin Ash; Luc, who is five, and Max who's four." Draco said nodding towards the two boys at the end who looked like they could almost pass for twins.
"Are we staying here Uncle Drake?" Luc asked.
"Yep. I think we have to. The snow is not stopping anything soon." He said and ushered everyone inside.
Once everyone was settled the commotion began.
"We're hungry Uncle Drake!" The younger one complained.
"I'll be in my room." Jimmy said and left them.
"Can we play outside?" Molly asked.
Draco shook his head at Molly, "If the snow stops."
"Jimmy! Leave your door open!" He shouted after the teenage boy. "And I'll order something to eat." He added searching for his phone.
"Pizza!"
"I want noodles!"
Another commotion broke out.
Draco sat down, ignoring the yelling and spoke quietly into the phone before hanging up. "Food will be here in about half an hour. Let's all wash up and set the table."
Hermione helped the younger ones wash up while Draco and the older kids helped to set the table, before they knew it the doorbell rung and the delivery man was there. Draco went to the door, followed by the crowd of kids, and paid for the food. He went back into the dining room with two bags filled with food.
"Did someone go and get Jimmy?" He asked when everyone hurried to claim at seat.
Hermione nodded and was just about to get up again when Jimmy appeared in the doorway, a set of headphones around his neck.
"It the music off?" Draco asked without looking over at Jimmy, who took a seat between his sister Molly and Taylor.
"Yeah."
Dinner was loud with the chattering of plates and laughing of children, making Hermione smile without any effort. When dinner was done everyone was gathered to help clear the table and help with the chores of washing and drying the dishes, and sweeping and wiping the floor and table. By the time all of that was done the sun was slowly beginning to set.
"Can we still go play outside in the snow Uncle Drake? It's stopped snowing now."
"No." He said and headed into the living room.
"Please Uncle Drake?" Michelle begged with Molly.
"Can we Uncle Drake?" Luc and Max asked, each one hanging onto one of Draco's legs.
"No."
"Aww. Please can we Auntie Mione?"
They had all began calling her Auntie Mione before dinner began.
"Uh—" She looked over at Draco for an answer, but he was too busy trying to pry Luc and Max off his legs.
"Please Auntie Mione?" Michelle and Molly pleaded.
"Well, I'm sure we could, but—" But before she could say anything more the two girls were jumping up and down, chattering in loud voices saying that they could go outside to play in the freshly fallen snow.
In what seemed like seconds all the children were dressed in their warmest and ready to go outside, and somehow Jimmy and the older kids were badgered to gout with them too.
"The sleds are in the garage." Jimmy said and with the help of Taylor and Draco, left to retrieve the sleds.
When they reached the hills the sky was already darkening, but the winter lighting was already lit, showering the hills with a shaft of light. The kids raced up the hill, pairing off in partners with the four sleds.
"Uncle Drake, will you go down with us?" Luc asked when they reached the top of the hill.
He and Max were together, and both too small to go down alone together. Draco nodded and turned to look over at Hermione as she watched the first group of kids go down the hill, shrieking in delight as the went.
"We'll all go together."
Hermione looked away from the others and over to where Draco stood with Luc and Max.
"Umm—I don't think—"
Draco raised one eyebrow, questioning her with that mischievous smirk.
"Sure." She said, changing her mind as she walked over to join them.
"Tell me again why we are going up to the bigger hill?" Hermione asked as she helped Max onto the sled.
"Because we'll go faster, Aunt Mione." Luc answered, Max nodding in agreement with his brother, and Draco shrugged as he pointed at the two.
Once the boys were settled onto the sled Hermione followed them with Draco behind her. His arms and legs came around them, wrapping them with his strength and security.
"Ready?" He asked.
Luc and Max nodded, laughing in anticipation.
Hermione nodded, trying not to look down the hill.
"Here we go." He said and with a push of his feet they were off down the hill.
The boys' laughter could be heard over the wind and air blowing at them, she could feel the small bumps of snow and held tighter onto the boys. Her eyes closed as she held her breath; they were only half way down the hill.
"Hold on." Draco said into her ear and then they tumbled over right before they reached the bottom of the hill.
Luc and Max rolled own the rest of the way, still laughing and screaming in glee, but Hermione laid there, her eyes tightly closed as she tried to breath.
When she finally opened her eyes Draco was on top of her, staring down at her with cool-grey eyes. Time seemed to slow to a stop and everyone was forgotten except for her and him. She could swear she heard her heart beating a thousand times per second. She could not feel the cold snow beneath her or the chilling wind blowing around them. All she could see and feel was Draco.
Ever so slowly she waited as he leaned down, his lips gradually descended onto hers. Lightly their lips touched, again and again until his lips grew urgent, pressing harder upon hers, making her open her mouth in a gasp. And that was when her world ended and exploded into a thousand different pieces. The new sensation, the new feel of him and her, it made her reach out blindly for more, but more of what?
Draco broke the contact, quickly getting up and off of her, leaving her to remain lying on the ground. He cursed silently under his breath, running a gloved hand through his hair, keeping his back to her as he called over to the kids.
She vaguely heard him say it was time to head back to the house. Jimmy and Michelle came to help her up; Draco was already heading back with the younger children. He never once looked back at her or spoke of what had happened then and she did not ask him once they got back to the house.
AN: AHHHH! He kissed her!
Anyways hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and PLEASE REVIEW!