Author's Note:
I didn't get much feedback from last chapter. I figured that would happen, last chapter wasn't so exciting. I hope this makes up for it.
I would love reviews! I am trying to take into account where the readers want the story to go so please make suggestions! You can also check my original pieces on u/967214/p-m-e-black. My tumblr is .com. Feel free to message me. Thanks.
Chapter 14-
Draco was restless. The idea of everything coming to a climax was almost too much to handle.
No sooner had he fallen asleep did he feel like everything was going to go wrong.
In his dream Hermione was on the floor of the manor in the same position he had seen her in when he had witnessed his deranged aunt torture her, carving the disgusting expletive into her pure flesh. Hermione lay, her mutilated arm outstretched but this time he was the one above her. When he looked down at his own scar, it was covered in her blood, a knife glinting dangerously in his hand.
"You have to do it my love." It was his mother's voice next to his ear.
"You have to make the right choice." She added, a cool hand cupping his cheek. Draco couldn't bare to look into his mother's eyes.
"Mother...I just want you to be safe." He practically gagged at the bile that had risen in his throat.
"I know. I know how you feel for the muggleborn." She whispered, her hair brushing past him as she moved behind his body.
"I don't want to choose between you and her. Please…" He cried, large tears brimming in his gray eyes.
"You have to Draco."
Suddenly the scene changed and Hermione was on one side of the room, sitting in a large throne like chair as if nothing was wrong. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders in large sun highlighted ringlets. She wore a white gauzy robe, her hands clasping two large serpentine heads carved in the chairs arms. She was magnificent in her ethereal beauty. She was the sovereign of his heart. His parents were on the opposite side of the massive room, they two in matching throne chairs like two blonde statues encased in ink black robes. The floor beneath Draco's feet was crumbling and he had to choose a side. If he chose one, the other would collapse along with the chairs and their inhabitants. But which side?
Draco woke up clutching his chest, sweat misting over his pale body as a dark entity loomed over his body. He tried to allow his eyes to adjust to the dim light only to see the glint of something metal move swiftly to right under his chin. Draco caught his breath realizing it was a blade. With the waning moon from his window creating a small channel of light, he concluded that it was Hermione. She held fast to the knife as she pushed it against his throat.
"Hermione?" Draco whispered as the young woman stood over him.
"You're going to let me go Draco." She muttered back almost inaudibly, something catching in her voice.
"Put the knife down." Draco answered as his eyes finally fully adjusted to the sight of her above him.
"Let me go Draco." Draco watched as the exquisite young woman pleaded, her eyes large and glassy. She was on the verge of tears.
"Please Draco...please." Her voice was cracking, tears starting to brim in her amber eyes. Her lip was quivering so much that Draco couldn't stop himself from reaching a trembling hand and gliding his thumb over it. With that fat droplets rolled freely onto Hermione's cheeks, her brows scrunching in anguish.
"Please Draco...they'll kill you." She was sobbing, choking on her words as the knife jiggled against his adam's apple.
"I know Hermione." Draco gulped, his throat tightening as his eyes began to sting from emotion. Hermione's eyes shifted back and forth, drops of salty tears leaking from her chin. Now her jaw was clenching as she fought for control over herself. Draco watched as her body tightened, her shoulders hunched from racking sobs.
"I'm begging you." Hermione's voice was now almost broken. Draco's heart ached with each tear that fell from her amber eyes. Draco slowly lifted his hand and cupped her cheek. Now Hermione was broken. She closed her eyes tight allowing the knife to drop from her shaking hand onto the floor with a clinking sound. Draco shot up in bed as she began to collapse. He scooped her petite body into his arms, she making no attempt at struggling. He pulled her into the bed, holding her tight to his bare chest. Hermione allowed the hot tears to stream against his naked skin as she practically howled with emotion. Draco rested his chin against her mass of curls and pulled the blanket over the two of them. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, noticing she was still wearing the blue sweater she had borrowed from the cottage on the beach. He embraced her close as she continued to weep.
"Why...why won't you listen to me?" She said between heaving breaths.
"I...I…" Draco stammered as he closed his eyes, taking in the strawberry smell of her hair. He buried his face into her nest of curls and inhaled deeply.
"I have to do this." He muttered taken in by surprise as she didn't protest but snuggled closer to him. Hermione lay a small hand on his chest right above his heart. Every move she made only caused his heart to pound that much more.
"I wasn't going to kill you." Hermione had finally said after about twenty minutes of blissful silence.
"I...I don't ever want to hurt you." She added. Draco swallowed the lump in his throat.
The blonde was comforting and felt wonderful pressed against her. His disheveled locks made him boy-like and innocent looking. Hermione couldn't get enough of the sight of him. She wasn't sure but in that moment something had shifted. They were more now. It was unspoken but she could feel it in every fiber of her soul. Draco stared into her eyes, his lids seeming heavy with intention. Was he going to kiss her? Would she allow him to? She couldn't deny that every pore screamed for it.
Something pulled at her, made her lean in closer to the slytherin, closing the proximity between the two. If someone breathed wrong their lips would be touching. Draco's hand suddenly was at the nape of her neck, his fingers lightly caressing an incredibly sensitive spot. His palm slowly moved up into her curls, his fingers intertwining within her wavy spirals. She was going to allow him. She could feel it at that moment and she didn't care. She wanted him to claim her lips with his own. His breath tickled her mouth as he looked at her again...and then…
BANG! CRACK!
The two broke apart, Hermione practically falling out of the bed as a cacophony of noise came from the lower levels of the manor. She looked desperately at Draco to see he was already up, clothing appearing magically on his body as he grabbed at her hand, pulling her up with him. Hermione followed as he drug her out of his bedroom door. He pushed her up against a nearby wall, his muscular body pressed hard against hers as they stood in the corridor so as to possibly not be seen by intruders.
"Their here." Hermione whispered. Draco didn't look at her, just kept turning his head back and forth, his grip on her petite hand like a vice.
"Stay low." He whispered back, her wand tight in his hand. Hermione eyed her magical instrument.
"You're going to commit suicide." Hermione was in a panic. She could feel her throat tightening at the thought that she could lose Draco. She had just began to realize she felt something for him.
"Please...just give yourself over…" Hermione begged as Draco drug her to a darker corner of the upstairs level. She didn't have a chance to utter another word…
"STUPEFY!" It was Ron's voice that shocked her more as it came from the staircase. Draco had managed to block the oncoming spell and pushed Hermione behind a column as he ducked out of the way. He threw himself next to Hermione and then shot a tripping jinx at the red head. Ron managed to avoid it and continued his pursuit up the stairs.
"Don't hurt him...please!" Hermione cried as Draco drug her into a bedroom, magically locking the door.
"REDUCTO!" Ron screamed as the door blew into a million pieces. Hermione was suddenly thrown into a closet, Draco magically locking it and casting a silencing charm. Hermione banged on the closet helplessly, tears pouring down her face as she could hear the exchange between the two between the thin layer of wood.
"MALFOY! STOP HIDING LIKE A BLOODY COWARD! FACE ME!" Ron screeched as he blew something up in the room, pieces raining on the door of the closet.
"SECTUMSEMPRA!" He yelled as Hermione could hear Draco's stealthy feet running closer and diving behind another piece of furniture.
"PROTEGO!" Draco replied, shielding the upcoming dark magic. Hermione was shocked that Ron would stoop to using dark magic against someone.
"RON!" It was Harry's voice entering the room.
"HE'S IN HERE! HE HAS HER!" Ron bellowed toward his friend. Hermione desperately ran at the door, slamming her shoulder against the wood. Another blasting sound and a grunt coming from the direction of Draco's voice. Hermione could feel her blood coursing hard in her veins. She slammed her body again as hard as possible against the door.
"Ron! Don't!" Harry shrieked just as Hermione fell out of the broken door. Hermione could see Ron's wand outstretched his mouth open as Draco stood opposite him. As if in slow motion, his gray eyes turned toward Hermione, his mouth silently opening as if to tell her to stay back. Then a jet of green gathered at the tip of Ron's wand. Hermione ran as fast as she could toward Draco, her legs feeling like they had a mind of their own. Harry's arm was outstretched his mouth screaming toward Hermione's body.
Suddenly Hermione landed, her body pressed on top of Draco's. The two were in a heap behind a dresser, her legs intertwined with his as the blond looked up at her, his gray eyes large and blinking.
"Hermione?!" It was Harry's quiet voice. Hermione quickly grabbed her wand from Draco's loose grip. She jumped up from behind the dresser, Draco quickly at her side. Harry and Ron looked at her questioningly as her wand hand was outstretched toward her two friends.
"Hermione?" Ron questioned, a look of agony and betrayal splayed across his freckled face.
"Ronald…Harry…" Hermione breathed out, her body uncontrollably trembling. Draco shifted close to her. Ron's eyes immediately shot to the tall blonde.
"Lower your wand Ronald." Hermione instructed, her wand hand the only part of her body that wasn't shaking, pointed at him. Ron's eyes wavered slightly as his brows scrunched.
"DO IT!" She screamed.
"Hermione...you're under an Imp…" Harry began to say, his hands up defensively.
"No I'm not Harry. I've never been." Hermione said matter of factly.
"NOW LOWER YOUR WAND!" She yelled again, pointing her wand dangerously at Ron.
"You've...you've never…" Ron stammered, his wand slowly descending.
"No…"
"So you did break up with me?" Ron asked, his pale face seeming more gaunt.
"Yes Ron." Hermione stood up taller and sucked in a breath.
"Now...please...drop your wand." She said more gentle this time. Ron just blinked at her, Harry's face matching his red headed friend.
"Are you alright?" Draco whispered, his breath slightly moving the hair near her ear. A slight shiver ran up her spine. She nodded.
"He...he took you…" Ron stuttered again, his body visibly shaking. Hermione couldn't tell if it was from pain, anger or both. At the look at her ex's face she could see his confusion. Harry face seemed dark and pensive. Suddenly, without thought Hermione grabbed Draco's hand. The tall blonde looked at her with shock. His gray eyes became massively large.
"I'm sorry." Hermione whispered at her friends and turned to the elegant slytherin. With Ron and Harry's eyes concreted on to the two of them, Hermione looked at Draco in the eyes. She placed her wand hand gently on his pale face and kissed him gently on the cheek, her mouth lingering a little longer than she had anticipated. Draco's hand instinctively found hers as he relished the feeling of her soft warm lips on his skin. And then they disapparated.