Chapter 33
Draco and Hermione left Malfoy Manor shortly after her little tour of the house with Narcissa. They said little, but had sex as soon as they got home, up against the door the second they closed it. It was fast and rough, but it was exactly what she needed after a tense and rather unpleasant lunch with his family.
Afterwards she lay on his lap on the sofa while he read the Daily Prophet. She didn't want to talk about the things that Narcissa said to her but they burned in her brain like incendiaries that wouldn't quench. She didn't want to think about the things that Lucius would have said to Draco, but she could well imagine it might have been an even less pleasant conversation. Maybe to do with the reason why he had sprung her on his parents. He must have had a reason to do that.
She traced the line of his lips while he read, which made him smile and then try to bite her.
"Its my birthday in a couple of weeks," he said still reading.
"Is it now?" she said. "What shall I get you for your birthday then?"
"I'm not so interested in what I can get as I am in what you're going to do with me."
"There is a challenge if I've ever heard one."
"It is pretty standard that we go to Egypt for my birthday. It has become a bit of a tradition."
"We?"
"You know, the gang."
"There is unrest in Egypt at the moment."
"Not where we go. There is a resort town we go to. Its been there for centuries. If there is trouble in the muggle part, it doesn't impact on where we are going."
"Oh," Hermione said. She'd kind of forgotten about the gang and their propensity to celebrate absolutely everything. "For how long?" she asked. She was curious to see Egypt as she'd never been, but she didn't really know much about the magical part other than what Ron and Ginny had told her about. She was also interested in seeing the muggle part of Egypt, she just didn't know if it was a good idea at the moment.
"Usually two weeks."
"I can't take two weeks off work every time someone has a birthday."
He shrugged, "But this is my birthday. They would understand."
"They need me to finish my projects, other departments are waiting on me to do my bit."
"They can find someone else," he said with an edge of annoyance. "They'll just have to make do."
Narcissa's conversation came back to her. She wondered what Draco's expectations were. He didn't seem to place as much importance on her work as she did, which she guessed wasn't completely remarkable considering he placed little value on work in general. None of the Slytherins did, except maybe Blaise, but he also expected his work to be flexible enough to fit around his social life.
As a girlfriend to a Slytherin, she was expected to fit into his life as well. It certainly wasn't a view of the world that her parents promoted. She'd been raised to believe that work came first, everything else came second, except emergencies. The stone cold truth was that there was a true culture difference between them and that he was a product of his culture, not hers. And she wasn't quite sure what his values truly were.
She had thought Ron was quite old fashioned in his views, she'd made fun of his about it throughout school and he'd taken the ribbing quite good heartedly. Draco was even more ingrained in the pureblood wizarding culture and he'd been raised within those values. Even if he didn't believe like some in his ultimate superiority over her due to her background, but he wasn't accepting of muggle culture either.
She didn't quite know how to deal with it. Brushing it under the carpet seemed like the best idea, particularly now that it was just the two of them and the whole messiness of interaction with others wasn't an immediate issue. With just the two of them, they were perfect.
Hermione had been dreading this trip increasingly and it was now coming up all too quickly. She had negotiated one week with Draco. He'd been pretty adamant that she stay the full time at first, but she wasn't sure she wouldn't go completely spare in that company for two whole weeks. In the end they had compromised and agreed that she would stay one week, while he stayed two with the rest of them.
The last time she'd actually gone somewhere with the Slytherins, she'd gone to Blaise's house it Italy and that trip had been an unmitigated disaster. She wasn't entirely scared of this trip turning into a complete disaster, if it did, it did and there was nothing she could do about it. If she tried and it fell apart, then there was nothing to be sorry for.
Draco had left a few days earlier, but he'd ported back to get her. He had already packed her bag, he'd done so before he left. Hermione wasn't sure about his constant insistence of vetting her clothes for all events. His taste was exquisite, but there was part of her that felt that her taste should be accepted no matter what it was. But then again, that was not the crowd of people she was hanging with, they weren't Gryffindors where the only thing that mattered was your heart, you honour and loyalty.
They landed on a beach. She was actually getting better at portkey travel, not that she'd ever like it. Sometimes she wondered if a nice plane ride wasn't prefered, at least you didn't have your insides jerked around. The sun shone brightly in her eyes, the time difference made it midday in Egypt compared to the glum morning back in London.
"Come on," he said with that smile that would get her to agree to just about everything. He pulled her along by her hand. They walked along a row of palm trees and came to an area covered with a huge pagoda, under which sat the Slytherins. Hermione felt her shoulders slump. Another week with the Slytherins. This was the price for the option she'd chosen. It was time to pay the piper.
They were all there, her most favourite persons in the world. Pansy was there, she'd had a hair cut, her sleek bob looked even sleeker if it was possible. Blaise, looking tanned and relaxed as he wore shorts and an open white shirt. Daphne who looked gorgeous and Astoria who ignored her completely. Theo excitement was definitely containable. Adrian was happy to see her, Marcus even more so.
They had all finished what looking like a lovely lunch full of dishes she didn't know. Draco ordered her a Gin and Tonic from someone.
"You know gin used to be chosen drink for the most rudimentary people," Pansy said.
"I like my drinks rudimentary," Hermione said without rising to the jibe. She really was beyond competing with Pansy, or defending her own choices. Actually, she'd probably just let Pansy run riot all over her right now. Whatever.
She sat down at the table and just enjoyed the warm air that flowed off the very blue ocean. The place really was heaven, blue water, pale yellow sand. She looked behind her at the pale sandstone building which comprised the major resort building. It was gorgeous and very old. She wondered how long this resort had been there. A fountain bubbled a little to the side, inscribed with hieroglyphics.
She really was in Egypt, she couldn't quite believe it.
"This is the birthplace of Magic," Theo said quietly beside her.
"I am aware," she said. It wasn't like she missed that day in school.
"Magic started here and it ruled," he continued. "When magic was king and everyone accepted it's dominance."
"In the good old days," she said sarcastically, but Theo only nodded. Hermione realised he was serious, it was the good old days as far as he was concerned. She rubbed her temples. She had a headache, it might have been the sudden brightness when she was used to dark, autumn days.
The only way she was going to survive this week was just to go with it. She wasn't sure there was any point in fighting their more backwards opinions. She suspected they weren't going to change their minds. She always used to think that reason would prevail, but sometimes it just didn't.
"Welcome to Egypt, Granger," Pansy said. "I'm sure there will be lots for you to do here. There some big library for you to get lost in." Only the most premier library in the world, with the bulk of the ancient magical world material in it. It was the most famous magical library in the world. "Maybe you can learn hieroglyphics or something."
"She already knows hieroglyphics," Blaise said and there was a snigger around the table. She remembered she'd had a discussion with Blaise one morning when she'd mentioned she'd learned to read hieroglyphics. It was rich him making fun of it, as he read them too. Anyone with a scholarly background did and it was pretty much a requirement for anyone working in law.
"I'm sure I'll find ways to amuse myself," she said tightly. She was sticking to her strategy of not rising to it, but honestly she was itching to just ripping into Pansy for being dense, vacant and pointless.
"I'll take you to our room," Draco said and got up from the table. She followed him as he walked towards the large building behind them.
"Thanks for standing up for me there," she said with annoyance.
"You didn't need me to," he said with that sly smile that got her to forgive just about anything. It was true, she didn't need him to, but it would have been nice. "You are very good at fighting your own battles, I know, I've been your target often enough. Nice to see you aiming at someone else for a change."
"You just like it when I get all riled up."
"Probably more than anything," he said and opened the door into their room.
"Really?" she said teasingly. "Don't think that you are completely out of the woods because we're sleeping in the same bed. Don't get too comfy there."
"Oh no, you don't," he said and pulled her close. He pushed a stray curl behind her ear. "You're mine now. You might as well take that as a fact, because that is not going to change."
He kissed her. "Merlin, I've missed you. You can't leave me alone for so long. Its cruel." He pulled her shirt over her head and returned to kiss down her neck. She loved his possessiveness, but there was also a part of her that was very uncomfortable with the finality of his sentiments. He knew full well it made her lose her train of thought.
She had missed him too, she searched for him in the bed in the middle of the night and been bitterly disappointed when he wasn't there. She'd gotten so used to him being there, so she could snuggle in or sometimes even demand more. She'd discovered that she liked waking him up in the middle of the night by taking him in her mouth. There was nothing she loved more than when he moaned her name and he was still pretty much asleep. Sooner or later, he would wake up and she loved that moment too. He liked being woken up with sex.
His hands were slowly pulling down her underwear underneath her skirt. Her breath was completely hitched and she told him that he'd better hurry up or she might have to take charge. He slapped her hand away when she tried, instead continuing with his slow and steady disrobing of her. This vacation was very much looking up.