Worth the Wait
Chapter Fourteen
"Pansy!" Hermione yells as she steps through the floo into her best friend's Hogsmeade townhome.
Hermione looks around Pansy and Neville's sitting room, noting several new additions to the plants lining the shelves around the room that weren't there the last time she was here. She doesn't, however, see Pansy or Neville– not there in the sitting room, nor in the kitchen across the hall.
It's early. Hermione checks the time on a clock on the wall across from the fireplace. 8:45. It's definitely too early for Pansy and Neville to have gone to sleep, but late enough that Hermione knows that they're probably home.
"Pans?" Hermione calls again.
From upstairs, Hermione hears a crash and two distinct muffled voices. A minute later, she hears Pansy's feet trodding down the stairs.
"Hermione? Are you alright?" Pansy asks, her voice pitched in worry, as she pulls a blue silk robe tight around herself and ties the tie to keep it closed.
Before Hermione can respond, Neville bounds down the stairs, shirtless, but wearing flannel pajama bottoms. Hermione can't help but notice the flush of his skin and the unkempt nature of his hair. She winces. Oops. Perhaps she should have floo called prior to just showing up.
"Oh, I'm fine," Hermione cringes, realizing at once that she has clearly interrupted her friends' evening. "I'm sorry. You guys were… busy– I'll just go."
Neville steps more fully into the room, draping his arm over Pansy's shoulders.
"Nonsense," Neville grins, smiling brightly at Hermione. "We're always happy to have you. Tea?"
Hermione's shoulders relax. Leave it to Neville Longbottom to shift immediately from… whatever mood he'd been in five minutes ago before Hermione barged in on his evening, to the mood of the accommodating friend so completely seamlessly.
Neville presses a kiss to his girlfriend's temple before heading off in the direction of the kitchen without waiting for a response, presumably to start work on the tea service.
Pansy walks forward and takes Hermione's hands into her own.
"What's going on, Granger? Are you okay?" Pansy asks, and Hermione notes genuine concern in her eyes.
Hermione sighs, still upset to have interrupted Pansy and Neville's… evening, but responds nonetheless.
"I'm fine, I just– my date with Draco was tonight."
Pansy's eyebrows disappear under her fringe.
"I can't believe I forgot," Pansy responds, leading Hermione over to the kitchen and sitting down in a chair across from her. "How did it go? What happened?!"
Hermione sits and wrings her hands together atop Pansy and Neville's dining table.
Neville joins a moment later, placing cups of tea in front of Pansy, then Hermione, and finally in front of his own spot beside Pansy.
Hermione threads her fingers through her hair at the roots, the need to vent her frustration almost overwhelming.
"Pans…," Hermione whines quietly, her voice wavering uncharacteristically. "I think I'm going to fall for him again."
Hermione lays her arms on the table before leaning her head down against them, resisting the urge to smack her head against the table in frustration.
She really hadn't wanted to, but she had actually enjoyed her date with Draco. It felt right to be sitting across from Draco at dinner– with his stupid, perfect smile and his stupid, perfect smirk and his stupid, perfect Muggle denims.
Of course, Hermione had been skeptical, but much to her chagrin, Draco had said nothing that made her second-guess his commitment to her– and he's not even actually committed to her yet. Spending time with him had felt… easy, if slightly stilted due to time and distance– but easy and natural, nonetheless.
As it turns out, Hermione had been right when she told Pansy and Ginny that she thought she could easily love Draco again. She's not there quite yet, but it seems she had underestimated just how easy it might be.
"I think I'm going to give him a chance, even though every bone in my body is screaming at me not to. Have I gone mad?" Hermione wonders, frowning at her best friend.
It's not Pansy that responds, though.
"I think it's brave," Neville says, his deeper voice cutting through Hermione's spiraling thoughts. "You're opening yourself up to the possibility of getting hurt again– but you're also opening yourself up to the possibility of the kind of ground-shaking love you had with Malfoy once before, too."
Pansy laughs– the kind of laugh that seems completely uncontrollable, like her body just couldn't contain it and it had to escape somehow.
"Only two Gryffindors would think that giving someone an opportunity to hurt you would be brave," she grumbles, her eyes flitting between her boyfriend and best friend. "Sure, it's brave. It's also foolish."
"Well, that's kind of what love is," Neville shrugs, squeezing Pansy's hand. "You're trusting someone to not hurt you, even when they can. Isn't that what being courageous is?"
Hermione lifts her head, and leans back in her chair. She crosses her arms over her chest.
"Wait a minute," Pansy says, looking back to Hermione. "We went from 'I had a date with Draco tonight' to 'being in love is brave'. I think we've skipped a few steps here. How about we fill in the blanks, Granger?"
Hermione laughs lightly. She supposes Pansy is right.
"We went out to dinner," Hermione explains. "It was… awkward, at first. He jumped right in, head first– talking about how he would spend the rest of his life making up for hurting me. He told me about his son. He asked me to watch Muggle television with him again."
Hermione pauses for a moment, biting her lip.
"He played with Crookshanks. He apologized. He was funny, and sexy, and serious, and playful. He seemed completely at ease, even when I felt like I was going to explode."
Hermione's lips twitch, almost forming a smile.
"Yeah, well, he's an Occlumens," Pansy jokes, although Hermione could see it in Draco's eyes that he wasn't Occluding. "Also, don't think I didn't notice that you said 'sexy'. We will absolutely be discussing that."
Hermione grimaces. Unfortunately for Hermione, she believes that. Neville appears to, as well, if the look on his face means anything. He looks almost like he's bitten into an extra sour lemon.
"I'm sorry," Hermione laughs, dropping her head into her hands in embarrassment. "My physical attraction to him was never the problem. Then he showed up for our date looking like that– and seeing him in my flat."
Hermione's thoughts quickly devolve into memories of the more carnal variety. She's not entirely sure that there's a surface or wall in her entire flat that she and Draco hadn't utilized back in the day. They'd been quite randy young adults, if she stops to think about it– and she is decidedly not thinking about it.
"Maybe you just need to shag him– not fall in love with him," Pansy tries, smirking.
Hermione exhales. If only it were that easy.
"Is that… Are those chocolate peanut butter cups?" Hermione asks, her mind trying to catch up to what her eyes are seeing.
Draco nods, a faint pink tinting his cheeks.
"They used to be your favorite. We never had a movie night without them," Draco responds, holding the orange package of Muggle candy out to Hermione.
Hermione accepts the candy, her mind whirling with the information that Draco had remembered her favorite candy, and that he'd thought to bring it to her tonight.
"Oh. Well– thank you," Hermione stutters, stepping back to finally invite Draco into her flat.
She closes and locks the door behind him before turning back around, coming face to face with her ex-boyfriend.
"So, what film have you picked out for us this time?" Draco asks, smiling a crooked smile down at Hermione– a smile which absolutely does not make her body tingle slightly.
Hermione blames Pansy. She's the one who mentioned shagging Draco. To be fair, Ginny had too, after Pansy's party, but Pansy had actually suggested it. It's not like Hermione wasn't already thinking about it, but Godric, now she's really thinking about it. But Hermione also promised herself that she would not– not until things with the aforementioned man are more clear.
"It's an 80s film about a bunch of teenagers stuck in detention together," Hermione responds, laughing lightly when Draco pulls a face. "It sounds boring, but it's not, I promise."
Draco doesn't seem convinced, but Hermione leads him over to the sofa regardless.
Hermione sits down in her usual spot, and rather than sitting on the opposite end as he had the previous time he was here, Draco takes a seat right beside her. Hermione doesn't mind sitting next to him, but now, with him so close, she can smell his cologne– and it smells so good. It's spicy and warm, and it makes Hermione want to bury her nose in his neck to breathe it in more deeply.
Hermione starts the film, hoping against hope that she can make it through this evening without doing something she might regret.
About twenty minutes into the movie, Draco relaxes against the back of the sofa, slinging his arm over the back, behind Hermione. He's not touching her, and he's focusing on the movie, but Hermione can't seem to focus on anything other than him now. If it wouldn't be terribly obvious, Hermione would smack her forehead a few times to clear her mind from the attractive blonde beside her.
Hermione knows that she has to do something– anything– to take her mind off of the thoughts swirling around in her brain.
"Where's Scorpius tonight?" she wonders, turning slightly on the sofa to face him.
Draco's eyebrows raise, as if surprised, but he turns to face Hermione, as well.
"At the Manor with Astoria and Neve."
Hermione is slightly taken aback by that.
"Oh. Astoria is at the Manor?" Hermione asks, slightly confused. Draco and Astoria had divorced, so it surprises her that Astoria is at the Manor.
Draco pauses for a moment, as if wondering how to word his next statement.
"Yes. She is," he responds, his fingers tightening against the back of the sofa. "She's continuing to live at the Manor after the divorce, partially so I can stay close to my son, but also because she is unable to afford a place of her own. Her parents will not allow her to move back in with them."
That surprises Hermione– for a few reasons. First, that Lucius Malfoy would even allow a non-Malfoy to live in the Manor, War-times excepted, and second, that Astoria's family is seemingly unsupportive of her.
"Astoria has given me permission to share this with you, so you're aware. She also has a blood-borne familial curse. Her pregnancy with Scorpius weakened her– her kidney function and blood circulation, and her healer mentioned something about her heart this week. She can't take care of Scorpius on her own, nor can she afford to live on her own, and I was not about to let the mother of my child struggle."
Hermione knows that she should probably feel jealous that Draco is still living with his ex-wife. It should probably bother her– but it doesn't. In fact, Hermione's heart swells. Draco's love and support for Astoria gives Hermione a strange sense of hope for herself.
"I'm sorry to hear about her curse. Is there a cure?" Hermione asks, suddenly worried for a witch she barely knows.
Draco shakes his head.
"No. It will be fatal, eventually," Draco frowns, averting his eyes from Hermione for a moment. "You should know that Astoria was aware of the risks when she chose to conceive. She wanted to give us both a chance to get out of our marriage. She risked her life for me, so that I could have a chance with you again."
Hermione's mind reels. Astoria did what?
"But why would she do that?" Hermione sputters, confused.
Draco laughs lightly, tentatively reaching out and resting the hand that had been on the back of the sofa against Hermione's shoulder.
"She wanted to find someone who would love her the way that I loved you."
A stronger woman would've been able to resist that statement. Hermione is not that strong.
Hermione leans forward, nervously. She's almost positive that Draco won't reject her, but the concern is still there. She places a hand on Draco's thigh to balance herself before finally– finally– pressing her lips to his.
Draco sighs against her lips, and for a moment, Hermione thinks he means to pull back, before he groans low in his chest, snakes his free arm around her waist, and slips the hand currently resting on her shoulder to the back of her neck.
Hermione, almost unconsciously, swipes her tongue against Draco's bottom lip, begging for entry. She wraps her right arm around Draco's neck, as her left hand slides further up his thigh, almost as if she's trying to get as close to him as she possibly can.
Hermione's body is buzzing. Her heart is hammering against her ribcage. She had forgotten what kissing Draco Malfoy felt like– euphoric, delicious, intoxicating. His lips are soft and plush, but slightly rough against hers.
When Hermione pulls back to breathe, Draco diverts his attention to her jaw and neck, pressing hot, open-mouthed kisses with a slight graze of teeth– just how Hermione likes.
Hermione is acutely aware that they are quickly approaching the point of no return– if the desire that she can feel pooling between her legs means anything.
"Tell me to stop," Draco grunts, his hands beginning to roam, down over Hermione's hips and thighs, up toward her ribs.
Hermione knows that she should tell him to stop. She really should.
"Draco," Hermione moans softly, tilting her head back to give him more access, digging her fingernails into his thigh.
Hermione knows that if there's any way for her to spur Draco on, it's to say his name. Possessive little snake.
Draco lifts his head from her throat, his eyes meeting Hermione's for a brief moment. His pupils are blown wide, a physical indication that Draco is not unaffected by this. Hermione knows, too, that if she moved her hand up just a little bit higher, she might find further evidence, but she isn't quite ready to be that bold just yet.
"Fuck, Granger," Draco groans, pulling her toward him, as close as he can get her in the slightly uncomfortable position they're in on the sofa.
Hermione decides to rectify that uncomfortable position by leaning forward even more, enough for Draco to get the hint to lie back.
Hermione sits up, straddling Draco's lap as she leans down and reattaches their lips.
Hermione can't tell if it's intentional or not, but Draco bucks his hips up, grinding against her almost roughly. He breaks away from the kiss to throw his head back against the cushion, an unhinged groan escaping from somewhere deep in his throat.
"Hermione," Draco pants, his fingers clawing at her hips. It's a question, and a plea, and a warning all at once.
Hermione sits up. She should feel more hesitant about this, but she finds, upon reflection, that she isn't. She doesn't hesitate, not even for a moment, to tear her jumper up over her head, leaving her in just a white lace bra, leaving no room for misunderstanding of where she hopes this will lead.
If possible, Draco's eyes darken even more as they meet Hermione's. A moment passes. A silent agreement. Hermione tilts her head slightly– a question. Draco nods his head, slowly and clearly– an answer.
Hermione falls back down, meeting Draco's kiss again– and again, and again, and again.
Can we all just agree that Neville is a gem and a national treasure and that he needs to be protected at all costs?
Also, did anyone guess The Breakfast Club? I love 80s movies, and it was so hard for me to pick which one they'd watch, but The Breakfast Club just felt right.
ALSO. Finally. We're closing in on the end of this fic because like I said previously, the whole point of this fic was to get Draco and Hermione back together, and now they sort of are, so we just have some final pieces to put together and then the epilogue.
Tomorrow, we will be getting the final two chapters of this fic! Well, the final chapter and then the epilogue. I truly hope that y'all have enjoyed reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it. (:
Thank you, as always, so much for reading! Please review if you feel so inclined- it means the world to me.
OH! Also, we've hit over 75 followers for this fic! I still cannot fathom that amount of people enjoying this fic (also, my view count has been broken since like, chapter two, so I have no idea how many people have actually read this fic, lol.) but I thank each and every one of you SO MUCH for taking the time to read my little fic. (: