A/N: We are in love with Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift for just about any. Dramione but especially this chapter. We also love your reviews! Let us know what you're thinking! Lastly, for those of you asking about Theo and Draco's mysterious fate: we can't tell you yet but time will reveal all. ;) [Insert evil laugh]
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"You look perfect. Draco is going to be waned to his knees when he sees you." Matti beamed ear to ear. "Oh, and your hair is absolutely gorgeous too." she added.
Hermione laughed, "What?! I thought you just wanted to play dress-up for fun!"
Matti clapped her hands together and Hermione noted the similarities between she and Theo. "Oh, yes," she waved, "of course. But, he still needs to see you! Why waste this dress just sitting up here with me?" Matti said, wiggling her brows suggestively.
Hermione stood in Matti and Theodore's spacious room at the Lounge before an ornate standing mirror, gaping at herself. She hadn't been so done up since fourth year at the Yule Ball. It was a pleasant contrast to the current life she led, spent in hiding.
Her hair was in a loose, low sitting bun—Matti's doing—and she was dressed in a long, black sleeveless dress. Matti had rounded her as she gazed at her reflection and placed an onyx necklace around her neck. The pendant sat largely and beautifully upon her pale chest.
"Merlin, 'Ermione, if I wasn't so taken with Teddy Bear, I'd have to ask for your hand." Matti stared at her handiwork, she was completely in awe.
Hermione couldn't help but smile, "Does Theo really let you call him that? Wait! Don't answer. I don't want to know!" she giggled, covering her face with her hands. "I can't believe you're making me go out there and have everyone laugh at me!" she said with an audible sigh, eager to change the subject.
"No one will laugh! If they do, I'll hex them into oblivion." her friend said menacingly. Hermione sensed Matti wasn't joking.
Hermione slipped on the heels she had previously chosen for the dress. Matti ran ahead of her to the door, "Wait!" she exclaimed, "I have to call out your entrance!"
The brunette witch laughed, "You're truly something, Matti."
Matti winked, opened the door and cleared her throat loudly, "Attention everyone, I now present to you, the lovely, 'Ermione Granger!" she bellowed, holding out her hands as if she were about to deliver a grand prize.
Hermione stepped out of the room, her eyes at the floor, making sure she didn't trip over the ends of her dress or fall out of her shoes.
Once she was fully centered she looked up and saw that Draco now stood before her in his own set of nice clothes; a dress suit, to be exact, and a rather familiar emerald tie. Hermione pursed her lips into a smile as Draco moved forward, holding out his hand for hers. As she moved her own toward his, Draco bent, kissed her fingertips lightly, and swiftly moved to her side in order for her to take the crook of his arm.
Draco led her to their bedroom. Before entering, he looked at Hermione with a fire burning in the pit of stomach. It wasn't so much a sexual desire, no; it was something else. He couldn't quite place a finger on it.
"You look absolutely stunning, Hermione." He cupped her cheek, "So beautiful."
Hermione began to worry her lip, Draco's eyes flickered to them, ceasing the nibbling with a kiss.
The burning in his belly began to ignite higher; his heart was pounding like a drum. "Mm." he groaned before he pulled away, "We will have to pick up on this later."
He opened the door, revealing a darkened room, only to be lit up with enchanted candles hanging from the ceiling—something Hermione had always admired about the Great Hall at Hogwarts. The floor was covered in white rose petals that trailed to the bed which had a heart made of red petals; In the center sat a bottle of Blanc De NoirsChampagne. Another trail of petals led to the balcony. Hermione's mouth faltered and she squeezed Draco's arm tightly, "You…You did this?"
He nodded, taking in her eagerness. His stomach was now roaring. He guided her to the door of the balcony. Hermione hesitated, "What if someone sees?"
"Don't worry, love. Notice-Me-Not is up. We will be fine, trust me." They stepped onto the dimly-lit area, where a bistro table sat with one single white rose lying across it's center.
"Oh, Draco," she gasped, "This is amazing." He drew her chair out and helped her into the seat, then crossed over to the opposite seat to face her. Not liking the small amount of distance between them, he held out his hand for her to take it across the table; she obliged knowingly, because she too didn't want to be without his touch.
It was different. When not in each other's presence, they craved to be together, but could focus on the task at hand. Once together again, everything else didn't matter. They were infectiously drawn to one another.
The flames were now scalding the insides of Draco's stomach, threatening to consume him. He only wondered if she was feeling the same thing.
Moments passed when suddenly a charming Theodore Nott appeared from behind the doors of the bedroom looking the part of a fancy waiter. He had on a tailored suit, a crisp pair of white gloves, and a silky green towel slung over his arm. The look was completed with an ink-smudged French moustache. Hermione nearly fell out of her chair with amusement, "Oh my goodness! Theo!"
He smiled cheerily, "It's only because I love you…Did you say something, mate?" he asked Draco, who seemed to have stifled something under his breath.
Draco glared at the other man and shook his head.
"Well then, on the supper menu tonight we have, Roast Lamb with Spring Herb Crumbs. He flicked his wand, a food trolley appeared at his side, he poured two glasses of wine, and set them before his two friends, "Your food should be done shortly." he winked and headed back inside.
"Oh my word! What did you agree to in order to get him to do this?" Hermione asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow as soon as Theo had disappeared.
"I don't want to talk about it." Draco winced, "Just stop saying his name while we wait for this blasted potion to wear off."
He realized his mistake immediately as a delightfully evil look overtook his witch's features.
"I'll be sure to refrain." she grinned.
It seemed Theo was unhappy with the results of the last time he had entered the room because he very quickly returned with the ridiculous need to 'replace the defective silver'. Still, Draco cockily looked up at him as if he was confident Theodore had been outsmarted.
Then, as if proposing an outlandish theory, Hermione raised one solitary finger in the air. Each man froze; Theo grinned with delight and Draco growled through his teeth, knowing what was to come.
"I just want to thank you so much, Theo." she simpered.
Draco opened his previously clamped lips and the words on his tongue poured out uncontrollably in a loud monotone.
"Theodore Nott is exponentially more funny and attractive than I." he drawled, before locking his jaw shut once more.
Hermione's eyes widened with glee and she broke into a fit of giggles. Draco playfully glared at her as Theo slipped out of the room looking rather pleased with himself.
"You'll pay for that later, cheeky witch." he teased seductively, reaching beneath the table to stroke her exposed knee.
"Oh, is that so?" she proposed coyly, "I believe you promised a friend something in return for this dinner. You ought to give him what he deserves… especially for how I'll be rewarding you later."
Draco's jaw slackened as she looked up at him innocently. Never in a million years would he have expected something so bold to come so casually from her lips over dinner. His body yearned for her right then but alas, he had a plan he had to stick to that evening.
The familiar melody of 'I'll Be Seeing You' began drifting from the bedroom, through the air around them.
Hermione reached for her glass of wine, but before she was able to take a sip, she realized just what song was playing.
"Draco…this song. It's one of my favorites, how did you know?"
"There are quite a lot of things I know about you, Hermione." he replied, smirking shyly.
Draco stood abruptly, excusing himself for a moment back into the bedroom. When he returned, Hermione gazed up at him curiously but he said nothing, lowering himself back into his chair. The smell of steaming-hot roasted lamb violated their senses as the door opened once more. Theo placed two warm plates before them and refilled their glasses, flourishing his toweled arm in the process. He then stood in waiting, stroking the ink smudge on his face, spreading it further over his lip.
Hermione looked up to Theo and Draco cringed, bracing himself.
"Thank you, sir. Tell Matti this looks amazing!" she winked.
"You've got it!" he smiled, "Anything else I can do for you right now, Hermione?"
"No, that's all, The—" she began.
Draco rolled his eyes and groaned.
"—odora" she beamed.
Theo chuckled at his two friends and left them alone once more.
"I think watching you squirm was almost better than whatever could have come out of your mouth." she giggled, cutting into her lamb.
He smiled, watching the way her lips curled as the sweet sound of happiness escaped her lips. There was not one place he would rather be on the entire earth than on this bewitched balcony, staring at the brightest woman he ever had the pleasure of knowing. It was strange to think that just over a year ago he had despised her for so long. Then, one day, everything changed for the better. He silently thanked his future self. He loved her from afar for months and now, for the moment, she was his. She would always be his, but one day when all of this was over, they would be wholly and completely together; one. They would be all of the things Draco had stored in the hidden phial in his top dresser drawer.
"Draco, you're staring." Hermione tittered.
"Oh…right!" he said, snapping from his reverie. He reached for his knife and fork and was just about to tuck in, when he froze, placed the silver back on the table and stood, moving his plate and chair closer to Hermione, reclaiming his seat . Hermione grinned and reached up to graze his jaw tenderly with her fingertips.
"I thought you'd never come over here." she sighed.
"I'm always on your side." he quipped, "Even when it seems I'm far from it, alwaysknow that I am on your side." He hoped she would catch the double-meaning and not forget it through all the horrible things that were to come. She smiled and they each went back to their plates, sharing conversation of such things as favorite books, colors, and childhood memories.
They soon finished their main course and dessert was on it's way. Draco took a deep breath and reached into his pocket, removing a small silver toned velvet box. He clicked it open, revealing a brilliant Black Family heirloom; a moonstone ring.
"Draco…I…" Hermione began, wide-eyed, her breath freezing.
"Relax, Hermione. When I propose to you, it won't be in a glorified brothel where you're hiding away from an evil wizard at eighteen." he chuckled.
Hermione blushed at her misunderstanding, quietly coaxing Draco to go on. He tucked a loose curl behind her ear and continued, lifting her chin up to connect their gaze once more.
"I know we have never been on a real first date. I know I don't know everything about you—not yet. But the things I do know, I'm absolutely in love with. I have loved you every day since a frigid December day in 1996." he removed the ring from its box and slid it on a teary-eyed Hermione's finger, "I'm giving you this ring to show you that when all of this is over, we'll be together and I'll have loved you every day in between. When all of this is over, we'll have a normal relationship where I won't have to bribe Theo into helping give you a date. And I swear on Potter winning this war, I will marry you someday. I know I will."
She stood and quickly closed the small space between them, pouncing into his lap and not wasting a second before crashing her lips into his, her hands caressingly framing his face.
"Some would say we are too young for all of this, but, Draco, I adore and love you; more than you could ever know."
They were suddenly interrupted by enthusiastic clapping and whistling as Theo emerged from the shadowed room behind them.
"That was truly beautiful, mate. If Hermione wasn't such the fierce lioness, I would begin to pursue you myself after seeing you're capable of that. I must say I'm a bit put out though. Over seventeen years of friendship and the sweetest words I've received were 'Nice arse, Nott'. Honestly it's like I'm just a piece of very choice meat." he huffed.
"O Theo, Theo! Wherefore art thou Theo?" Draco cried irrepressibly, "Deny thy father and deny thy name; Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a lazy sod."
Hermione now had tears rolling down her cheeks due to immense laughter and Theo looked as if he was just told his horrible father had chased a Galleon off a high cliff that stood over a very dry lake.
"Would you look at that! I didn't think to say my own name! Shakespeare sounds quite sexy coming from you, Draco. Definitely a romantic choice, but your girlfriend is right there." Theo smirked, "Come on, mate. That's just a tad inappropriate." he ended with a trademark wink.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Well, my girlfriend and I were sort of having a moment, Nott."
"Ah, right!" he realized, and began to clear the table, putting a single plate of chocolate cake down before them. He loaded the cart and placed a hand on each of their shoulders, squeezing them. "My two best friends." he smiled, then went back to the cart and began to push it toward the door, calling out to them on the way. "Now, I won't bug you again, so feel free to move on to whatever rumpy pumpy was coming next… Silencing charms, my friends."
"When he says 'rumpy pumpy', do you sort of lose any urge to have sex for the rest of your life?" Draco asked.
"Honestly, I think that's why he brandishes the term." Hermione chuckled, stroking Dracco tie, "It's like some sort of sick secret weapon."
Draco curled his arm under Hermione's legs to pick her up. She loosely held onto his neck and with his able hand, he grabbed the chocolate cake. They headed inside toward the four-poster bed.
He sat her on the edge, gesturing for her to move onto the middle. He set the plate of cake down on the bedside table.
"Where are the glasses?" she asked curiously, looking around.
"Oh, we won't be needing any of that." he answered in an alluring manner.
She cocked her head to the side with a smile, "You just want to drink straight from the bottle?"
"Oh, now, Missus One-Day-To-Be Malfoy, we are going to have to teach you how to be a proper lady." He was now leaning forward on both palms, whispering into her ear.
She sighed, her own fire blazing inside her belly was entering her chest. Draco drank in her scent, moving his head in a small circular motion, as if he was savoring it.
"Gods, Hermione, you have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?" he kissed beneath her ear lightly. She quivered at the touch and shook her head.
"I'm going to make you understand." he whispered. Pulling away from her, he began to loosen his tie. After he had it hanging loosely over his neck, he removed his sport coat, then began to unbutton his shirt. Hermione openly stared.
"You're staring, Hermione." Draco teased, causing her to blush. He tossed his shirt to the floor next. Reaching over to the chocolate cake, he took in a bite and then maneuvered another piece onto the fork to feed it to his witch.
"Mm." she moaned. After she swallowed, he reunited his lips with hers, both mouths soft as velvet, tasting of rich dark chocolate, allowing them to devour one another's tongue all the more. He pulled her against him, desperate to remove her dress as he fiddled with the zipper. Not leaving her lips he began to tug the dress down to reveal the delicate lace of an emerald bodice. He peered down to stare at her heaving breasts,
"Oh Gods." he whispered, "Oh, Gods, Hermione." He finally had her out of the dress completely, she looked up with her doe eyes, searching his words for acceptance. He nodded knowingly, "Yes, you're per-"
Unexpectedly, an urgent pounding began on the bedroom door, "Mate! Open up!" Theo was yelling frantically. Draco moved away from Hermione hesitantly, thinking that justmaybe, Nott was fucking with them.
"Seriously, open the fuck up!" Theo persisted.
Draco raced from his bed to the door. While Hermione covered up, he swung the door open so fast that a gush of wind blew his hair back.
"What?" he asked with ire.
"Raids..." was all Theo managed, his face white with fear. Hermione ran over, she was now dressed in Draco's button up.
"What is going on?" she asked anxiously.
"Love, there is really no time to explain." Theo said cupping her face, "Just get dressed. Now. You need to leave." He turned and left the couple standing, fearful for what was to come next.
Draco shut the door. Hermione gathered a pair of jeans from the shopping bag, buttoned up Draco's shirt, threw on a jacket and redid her hair magically into a pony tail. Once done, she slid on her trainers and glanced up at the unmoving wizard, watching her.
"What are you doing?" she asked hurriedly as she began to refill her bottomless bag full of her things.
He shook his head, "I just… wasn't expecting this to be over so soon."
Hermione stepped forward holding his cheek in her hand, "I know, but like you said, once this is all over, we'll be together, right?" She searched his face, it was paler than usual, his grey eyes darkened into a storm. "Right?"
"Yes." He managed, feeling the kneading of hot tears pushing through. The fire was now out, only to be replaced with the feeling of ice. She was leaving him.
"Then it will never be over." she whispered, kissing him deeply.
He nodded and with nothing more than a small reassuring smile, she pushed out of the room and on down the stairs to meet the others. Draco stood staring at the blank space before him. Feeling a burning sensation, he glanced down at his arm, his glamour charm was disappearing. The snake began to wiggle free and the feeling of unpleasant heat began to overtake it.
"Shit, shit, shit." he repeated. Thinking fast, he ran to the ragged purple rug on the floor, pushing it aside to reveal a secret compartment nestled in the old floor. Once he opened the hidden door, a cold Death Eater mask stared up at him and his robes sat perfectly folded beneath it. Just as he was about to pull the mask out to blend in with the crowd, he heard Hermione's murderous scream.
The sounds of urgent footsteps pounded outside of his room. Draco edged out and quickly pulled Theo in, stunning him with a well-timed Petrificus Totalus.Matti followed into the room behind them with a look of terror etched into her face as Draco cast Muffliatoover the room.
"He's more use to her if he doesn't get caught. Stay in here, ward the room and don't release Theo until we're gone." he whispered harshly before pointing his gaze at his bound friend, "Quit being so bloody Gryffindor." he said before slipping from the room and closing the door lightly behind him.
Draco drew in his breath, ready to move forward. Honey appeared at his side. Sharing a knowing look, the two grabbed hands and rounded the corner to the top of the spiral staircase. The blonde wizard shot down an icy stare at the captured trio. Hermione was in the grasp of Rabastan Lestrange, his arm possessively strapped over her chest. He was inhaling her from her neck. Draco felt his heart seethe with rage. As best as he could, he cooled down his fury and loudly cleared his throat. The cloaked men looked up, smiling wickedly.
"Well, well, well…If it isn't young Malfoy." Rodolphus said, still pointing his wand in the discombobulated face of Harry Potter, "What are you doing in a place like this?"
Draco pulled Honey closer into him. "What I do in my off time doesn't really concern the likes of you, uncle. Love, go on back to our room and start without me." he said, releasing Honey safely to Theo and Matti.
He glanced at Hermione, who was staring up in confused repulsion. He wanted to so badly run down and hold her close and run them away from this madness. Anywhere; Russia, Spain, Italy...wherever she wanted to go he'd gladly hide-away with her.
"Draco, call the Dark Lord." McNair demanded, who had Ron by the nape of his neck.
The Trio stopped their struggling and gaped at Draco.
Draco leaned forward and held his weight over the railing. "I'm not going to do that, Walden."
Draco's eyes met Hermione's face, her eyes stared at his exposed arm and the Mark that tainted it; he thought that in this moment she would begin screaming, hexing him, blowing shit up. No,instead she stared up at him with pure disgust and disappointment. It killed him inside. He tried as vaguely as possible to silently tell her he didin fact love her and that he was so sorry he lied. He blinked and with a sneer, she looked away.
"And why the hell not?" Walden asked, his temper flaring.
The younger wizard descended the stairs and came face to face with the six individuals.
"Because, we're not even sure if it is in factthe ones we've been looking for. And calling the Dark Lord with false information will only cause him to Crucio us into oblivion and to be quite frank, I'd rather not lose my hard-earned trust." Draco said, looking back to his witch, catching a flicker crossing over her amber eyes.
"You're the one who went to school with the bunch! So you tell us, these them?" Rabastan countered.
Draco stepped in front of Hermione, whose eyes imminently went to his left arm and she turned her face away bearing a fresh sneer. "Feisty, this one is." the Lestrange brother suggested, as he breathed in her hair.
Draco's jaw clenched involuntarily, "Get a hold of yourself, don't you think you're a bit too old for the likes of her?"
"Mm, no, I like them fresh and young. So is she the Granger girl or not?"
"No. I don't recognize her." he moved over to Harry, "What the bloody hell is wrong with your face? What's your name?"
Harry, too, was boiling with vehemence, but played along, "Vernon Dudley."
"See, not Scarhead." Draco clapped, "Are we done here? I've got a lovely lady waiting for me and I'm paying by the quarter-hour. And I expect you to let these people go. From the looks of it they were in for quite the night." Draco crossed his arms leaning back to the heels of his feet.
"No, this one claims to be Stan Shunpike." McNair chuckled as Draco inwardly winced over Ron's stupidity, "I think he's one of Arthur Weasley's sons. We're taking them in."