A/N - Thanks for all the great reviews, I appreciate them so much. I've decided to up this story to M due to the scene at the end of this chapter. As I've already said the entire story is written and I judged the rating based on what I could remember writing. However, when I was getting this chapter ready I thought the ending could possibly push the boundaries of a T rated story. I would rather push the rating up, just to be cautious, then lose my story over including a scene that's quite possibly considered M.
Chapter Ten.
Hermione lay curled up on the sofa, trying not to think about what was happening in the kitchen. Just over an hour ago Blaise had shown up with the pensieve, and he and Draco had set it up in the kitchen. Not wanting to relive her wedding day and the morning after Hermione had deposited her memories into the pensieve and left the men to view them without her.
Hermione was still curled up on the sofa a few hours later when Draco and Blaise entered the front room. Draco was carrying two cups of coffee and he handed one to Hermione as he settled down beside her.
"Well. Were they any use to you?" Hermione asked.
"It gave us a good overview of the day." Blaise answered. "That might help us at a later date."
"Do you know if I killed him?" She whispered, not wanting to voice the question but knowing she had to ask.
"You didn't kill him, Hermione." Draco insisted.
"Do you know that for sure or are you just guessing?" Hermione questioned.
"We don't know for sure." Blaise admitted. "Your memories cut off when you passed out. We have no evidence you didn't kill him, but if you did you have absolutely no memory of it."
"I might just be blocking it out." Hermione sighed.
Draco shot Blaise a fierce glare before concentrating on Hermione. "Hermione, you didn't kill him. I don't need evidence to tell me that, I just know. I promise we'll find whoever did kill him to put your mind at rest."
Hermione nodded as she tried to make herself believe Draco's words. She appreciated the faith he was showing in her, but she just couldn't dispel her own nagging doubts. The last few times she'd seen Ron she had genuinely hated him and at least one of those times she had lashed out at him. Deep down she was terrified that they'd had another encounter and he'd pushed her so far she had snapped and done something so terrible she was blocking it out.
"We did find out a couple of things though." Blaise said, feeling bad that he'd placed new doubts in Hermione's mind about her innocence. "Not that they help us much." He added despondently.
"What did you discover?" Hermione asked, pushing her doubts to one side and focusing on the conversation in hand.
"First of all, we think Weasley deliberately staged the conversation about you and me." Draco told his girlfriend. "Why he did it, however isn't as clear."
"What makes you think he staged it?" Hermione frowned.
"Sitting behind you, but hidden by the bushes, were Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan." Blaise explained. "They had to have heard the conversation."
"Why, though?" Hermione asked, still not grasping the logic behind Ron making sure someone overheard them. "It makes no sense."
"No, it doesn't." Draco admitted with a frown. "But I'll bet you anything that Weasley knew Thomas and Finnegan were there. For some reason he wanted people to think we were having an affair."
"Not that we can work out why he wanted them to know." Blaise added. "Why would Weasley want people knowing about the pair of you?"
"Who knows?" Draco shrugged.
"What else did you discover?" Hermione remembered Blaise saying they had discovered a couple of things and she thought it was best they moved away from trying to figure out what Ron had been playing at, they could think about it all day and still have no clue as to what he was thinking.
"We're not sure, but we think we know why you can't remember the events of that night." Draco said. "We think you were drugged."
"What? How?"
"The champagne Weasley brought to the room." Blaise said. "It was already open when he brought it up, that's very suspicious. Then when you started to drink it you slowly got more and more drowsy, until you passed out."
"We think he only meant for you to have a few glasses, just enough so that you wouldn't fight him." Draco said, fury blazing in his grey eyes as he thought about why Weasley wanted Hermione slightly out of it.
Hermione's eyes widened as she understood what Draco was saying. Ron had promised her he would be taking her to bed so it made sense he would try and make it as easy as possible for himself. In her normal state she would have fought him like crazy, but if she was drugged she wouldn't be able to fight back.
"Do you think it worked?" She asked.
"I don't know." Draco replied quietly. He hated thinking that Weasley had touched Hermione, but he knew it was a possibility.
Hermione sat quietly as she tried to remember the morning she woke up next to Ron's body. She certainly couldn't remember feeling sore or sensitive, well apart from her head which was thumping like crazy. The rest of her body had felt fine, not at all like she'd had sex of any sort. However there was the fact that she had woken up wearing a nightgown she hadn't seen before. Whatever had happen, someone had undressed her and redressed her in the nightwear.
"Is it very possible that when you passed out you didn't awaken until morning." Blaise said, deciding to try and alleviate some of Hermione's worries.
"I hope that's the case." Hermione sighed, knowing she couldn't have killed Ron if she was unconscious.
Hermione sat on the edge of the bed, fiddling nervously as she waited for Draco to emerge from the bathroom. Ever since Draco and Blaise had been in the pensieve Hermione had been worrying over the consequences of what might have happened to her. Even though she and Draco had discussed things before her marriage she was still concerned that he might not want her now Ron had possibly touched her. She'd done a pregnancy test, which came back negative, but that wasn't definitive proof that Ron hadn't violated her.
When Draco re-entered the bedroom a few minutes later he gave Hermione a curious look. When he'd headed into the bathroom his girlfriend had been nearly ready for bed and he had expected her to be settled under the silk sheets when he returned.
"Are you okay, Hermione?" He asked.
"Can we talk?" Hermione practically whispered her question, even though she knew they needed to talk she didn't want to actually have the potentially awkward conversation.
"Of course." Draco nodded as he got into bed and pulled back the covers for Hermione to join him. "Get in and we can talk."
Hermione crawled into bed with Draco and let the blond wrap his arm around her. Snuggling into his warm body she closed her eyes briefly, not wanting to bring up the thoughts that had been haunting her since Blaise's departure a few hours earlier.
Draco let Hermione lie in silence for a few minutes, before speaking. "What's on your mind, Hermione?"
"Ron." Hermione whispered.
"What about Weasley?" Draco asked, tensing up at the mention of the redhead.
Bracing herself for the awkward conversation that would follow Hermione sat up and turned so she was facing Draco. "What happens if he did do something to me?"
"You mean, what if he raped you." Draco said, forcing the words from his mouth.
Hermione nodded. "Would it change anything between us?"
"No." Draco replied instantaneously. "It doesn't matter what he did, I love you and nothing will ever change that."
"You say that now, but what happens if we find out he did." Hermione said. "Will you still want to be with me, knowing he's been there?"
"The thought of him touching you makes me feel sick." Draco admitted. "Even more so considering if he did do it, you weren't even awake. But I will not let that bastard ruin what we have based on the possibility of what he might have done."
"I just want to know if he did do it." Hermione whispered in a cracked voice. "I hate not knowing. Something tells me he didn't actually rape me, but someone changed my clothes. If it was him he's seen me naked and in all likelihood had a good feel. And I hate not knowing, because there's always going to be this niggling doubt in the back of my head."
As she finished speaking Hermione broke down in tears. Draco immediately pulled her into his arms, soothing her as he tried to contain his own emotions. Seeing Hermione in such a state was affecting him deeply, but he needed to be strong for his girlfriend.
"I wish I knew how to help you." Draco said, stroking Hermione's hair as he held her. "But we need to accept that we might never know the truth."
"You're helping me by just being here." Hermione whispered as her tears started to dry up.
"And I always will be here for you." Draco reassured his girlfriend. "I love you."
Hermione looked up at Draco with tear filled eyes. "I love you too."
Draco smiled at Hermione as he brushed away a few stray tears from her cheek. Leaning down he gently brushed his lips against Hermione's. When he started to pull away Hermione pulled his back towards her and deepened the kiss.
"I want you, Draco." She whispered as they parted for air.
"Are you sure?" Draco asked, studying Hermione carefully.
Nothing had happened between them the previous night, but Draco didn't want them rushing into anything and Hermione regretting things later on. Hermione had been through so much in the last few days and Draco didn't want to push her into anything.
"I'm sure." Hermione nodded, trailing her hand down Draco's bare chest. "I don't want Ron to ruin things between us."
"He could never do that." Draco said softly. "He was an insignificant worm and nothing he ever did could affect the way we feel about each other."
"Do you promise?" Hermione asked, uncertainty clear in her eyes.
"I promise." Draco said, lowering his lips to Hermione's.
Draco kept the kiss short and sweet and when he moved away from her lips he started placing gentle kisses down Hermione's neck. Hermione sighed contentedly as she lost herself to Draco's touch, letting him slowly undress her from the pyjama's she was wearing.
With every inch of skin he uncovered Draco lavished attention on Hermione's body, kissing and caressing everywhere he could reach. Eventually Hermione was left in just her knickers and Draco eased them down her legs slowly, taking the time to kiss her legs as he did so. Once the silky material was disposed of Draco kissed his way back up Hermione's legs, settling himself at her aching centre.
After being teased for so long Hermione moaned loudly and bucked her hips towards Draco the second he touched her. Draco chuckled at Hermione's actions and used his left hand to hold her hips down as he set about pleasuring the witch he loved. Hermione's moaning and whimpering got gradually louder, until suddenly she arched off the bed as her climax hit her hard.
Draco continued to kiss and caress Hermione through her orgasm, before settling beside her as she finished recovering. After a few minutes Hermione opened her eyes and turned her head to face Draco. Draco smiled at the satisfied expression on her face as he leant over and connected their lips.
As they kissed Hermione's hands travelled down Draco's torso and pushed at his pyjama bottoms. Together the couple wriggled Draco out of his bottoms and the second they were off Hermione had her hand wrapped firmly around his erection. Draco moaned as Hermione's hand stroked him just the way he liked.
"Stop." He gasped after a few minutes, pulling Hermione's hand away from him.
Hermione pouted at the removal of her hand, causing Draco to chuckle softly at her. Reconnecting their lips he rolled them over, pinning Hermione to the bed underneath him.
"I want to be inside you." He said, aligning himself at her entrance.
Hermione's eyes lit up at the confession and she pulled Draco down into a heated kiss. "I want that too." She mumbled against his lips.
Draco smiled into the kiss as he rolled his hips and buried himself deep inside his girlfriend. Simultaneous moans sounded from the couple as they were joined together in the most intimate way. As the pair found their rhythm and began to move effortlessly together, they forgot all about Ron and their problems. They were still in a mess and still had to find a way to clear Hermione's name, but right now all that mattered was each other.