Taking Advantage

Thanks again, everyone! I\'m going to forget people because I closed the tab I had comments open in, and I appologize for that.



I\'m seeing so many names I\'ve only read and loved until now. I\'m so flattered. Donovan, I\'ve loved your stuff for ages. I can\'t believe you reviewed my very first story!



Nonentity, you flatterer, my beta-within is always on the job, but she\'s frequently distracted by sibling rivalry and pesky responsibility.



Lexy Malfoy, I\'m not done, just busy today. Yesterday was our hang out in the play room day, so I had plenty of stolen 20 minute stretches to type type type, but today we had stuff to do out and about and my sister wanted to give my husband babysitting for his birthday, so I got a real live date. I have the plot percolating, though, so no worries. I\'m trying to decide between two fairly equal directions. Angst or fun magical aspect that is also romantic? Which will it be? I\'ve decided not to decide until I get to point in the plot where a decision can no longer be avoided. This is so much fun!



Kazfeist, thanks for the offer. I may take you up on it if I get more organized, but right now I\'m in a type-it-as-fast-as-it-comes-to-you-spell-check-it-and-send-it-out groove, and I hate to slow down the process even if there would be fewer errors. I\'ve definitely seen a few get by me. I\'m thinking I may do this again some time, so maybe next time I\'ll get mostly finished before I post anything and send it over. :)



Lisa, good call on the Friends thing. It hadn\'t occurred to me until last chapter, but I think I\'ll make a habit of it.





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Hermione\'s thoughts returned to the kiss again and again throughout dinner, and she was thankful that Rita Skeeter was somewhere behind her right shoulder. Thanks to the table arrangements, Skeeter could see Draco\'s face, and Hermione noted more than once over the course of dinner that he had the longing, love-sick look down. Hermione almost bought the act, and she was in on it. The heated looks he kept sending her weren\'t helping her to forget the way her knees had melted when he kissed her earlier, and the constant small touches were causing heat to pool low in her belly. Merlin, he was good at this. At this rate, she\'d be begging him for a pre-wedding preview before she could help herself.



Draco was equally affected by their kiss, but since he wasn\'t the least bit anxious or surprised by his reaction, he parlayed his feelings into making the show they were putting on for Rita Skeeter as realistic as possible. It didn\'t hurt in the least that he knew exactly how he was going to finish the show.



When dinner was finally over, Draco led Hermione toward the apparation point, noting without the least bit of surprise that Skeeter followed at a discreet distance. The hall leading toward their destination was as shadowy as the rest of the restaurant, and Draco took advantage of that fact by drawing Hermione into a corner beside a tall potted plant.



“Skeeter\'s right behind us, Granger,” he whispered. “It\'s show time.” With that, he gently pushed Hermione\'s back into the wall behind her and followed with his own body, pressing himself against her from knee to chest.



“This promises to be a pretty racey show, eh Malfoy?” Hermione questioned with a laugh.



“Just so, Granger,” he answered before leaning down to press a kiss on her jaw line. “My aim is to make her charmed quill spontaneously combust. Do you think we can manage that?”



“I suppose,” she groaned, tilting back her head to allow him greater access to her sensitive neck and crushing the expensive fabric of his designer robes in her fists. “We\'ll be lucky if we don\'t set more than a silly charmed quill ablaze.”



“Now you\'re talking,” he replied. “I suppose we could work on that.” At that point, Draco exhausted his patience and covered her mouth with his own. He groaned when Hermione deepened the kiss and shifted her pelvis into firmer contact with his own. He knew there was no way she couldn\'t feel his arousal against her stomach, just as he knew that the movement hadn\'t been for Skeeter\'s benefit, no matter what Granger was busy telling herself. There was no way Skeeter could see how firmly Hermione was pressing her hips into him, and they both knew it. He and his fiance had just as much chemistry as he had always known they would.



“I think we\'ve given Skeeter enough of a thrill for one night,” Draco whispered. “Let\'s get out of here.” With that, he and Hermione broke apart and hurried into the apparation room hand in hand. He looked into her eyes as they apparated away, and found her gaze again as they reappeared in the hallway outside her flat.



“Granger,” he said, stepping forward once again, but he was interrupted before he could pick up where they had left off at the restaurant.



“Well, well, well,” drawled a laughing Ginny Weasley-Potter from Granger\'s now wide-open door. “What have we here?”



“Ginny!” exclaimed Hermione. “We were just coming in. I didn\'t know you were here already.”



“Obviously,” Ginny laughed again.



Hermione and Draco followed Ginny through the open door and into a tension-filled room. Harry and Ron were there, of course, and they had clearly heard Ginny\'s amused greeting and understood more than Hermione would have wanted them to understand at this point.



In addition to the guests Hermione had invited, Lavender had apparently decided that ittle-Ronnikins wasn\'t strong enough to be around the temptation of his ex-girlfriend without her protection, so she had tagged along. She was staring open-mouthed at Draco and Hermione from the sofa.



“What\'s going on here?” Ron demanded, ignoring the glare Lavender sent him when she heard his tone.



“I... we have an announcement,” Hermione powered through Ron\'s obvious disapproval. “Draco has proposed, and I have accepted. We\'re to be married Thursday at sunset. We wanted you to be the first to know.”



The room would have been silent if Ron, Harry, and Lavender hadn\'t each been sputtering in surprise. Ginny was oddly quiet, nodding thoughtfully for a moment before Hermione thought she heard her friend whisper some question about why in the world people would call Luna Lovegood “loony,” but decided that she had had too many odd experiences in one day and must be imagining things.



“I suppose you\'re all wondering why,” Draco took the opportunity to say. “I know we\'ve all had our differences, but I\'m sure you can all admit that Granger\'s better off with me on her own terms than paired off with whomever the minister draws out of the sorting hat for her on Valentine\'s day. I know Snape\'s going to be on the lists, and Goyle Senior is looking to breed a few more heirs ever since Junior died in the war and Mrs. Goyle didn\'t make it through the last attempt to provide a replacement. Suffice it to say that I\'ve had a look at the lists that the ministry is already putting together and decided to offer for Granger before she or I were married off to someone far less... appealing.”



“Hermione,” Ron growled, red-faced. “Please tell me he\'s joking.”



“Ron,” Lavender cut in. “This is none of your concern any more.



“Be quiet, Lav,” Ron said without breaking his eye contact with Hermione. “We\'re your best friends, and we need you to tell us that you are joking about marrying the ferret.”



“Ron,” Hermione began, “You\'re a bigger idiot than I have ever let myself believe. What would you have me do? I\'m weeks away from being forced into some vile relationship, and all you can think about is that you don\'t like Draco. How selfish can you be? Not everyone was fortunate enough to have someone already picked out to marry when rumors of this law started circulating, you know.



Did you know that the ministry will be mandating weekly consummations of the marriages it forces. Would you feel less uncomfortable if I was busy trying to breed the next little Snape or the next Goyle? At least Draco won\'t make me vomit.



Draco has promised to treat me with respect, and I have accepted his offer. Congratulate us or leave.”



“I think we can all see how much respect Malfoy plans to treat you to, Hermione,” Ron said with a snear. “He\'s wearing more of your lipstick than you are at this point. Come on, Lavender, I think it\'s time we left.”



“Sit down, Ron,” Ginny said sternly. “Malfoy has had his say; Hermione has had hers, and we\'ve all heard what you\'ve had to contribute to the conversation that Hermione called us here for. I think it\'s Harry\'s turn, and you can sit yourself down and listen to your other best friend.”



“Thanks, Gin,” Harry said, staring Ron down until the red-head found his seat again and dragged Lavender down with him. “First, I guess, I\'ll say that I\'m surprised to hear all of this. I can\'t say I ever pictured the two of you ending up together, though I suspect Luna and my wife could show me what I missed.”



Harry shot his wife a look.



“I wish there was something we could do to get you out of this, Hermione, but since we\'ve all already tried to stop the law, I want to thank you, Malfoy. I know we\'ve had our differences, but if Hermione trusts you and whatever arrangements the two of you have made, I can only trust her judgment. I think that what the Ministry is doing is unconscionable, but if the two of you think you can make a go of it, I think it\'s only logical to stay out of the marriage law register.”



At this point Ginny couldn\'t keep quiet anymore, “Oh, Hermione, three days!” she squealed. “How are we ever going to get it done?”



Hermione sighed, knowing the storm had passed with far less turmoil than she had anticipated. “I\'ve taken some time off work, and Draco has set up accounts for me at the relevant merchants. If you, your Mum, and Luna can give me a little help, I think we can just pull it off. You\'ll be too busy with your own preparations, of course, so I would never impose” Hermione added, turning to the uncharacteristically quiet Lavender.



“Of course,” Lavender responded, still processing how she felt about Hermione landing the generation\'s best catch. “You certainly have our congratulations, but if you\'ll excuse us...”



“Certainly, Brown,” Draco cut in, ready to end the charade on that note. “Thank you so much for joining us for the occasion. I quite forgot to open the champagne, but as you pointed out, it is getting a bit late.”



A few minutes later Draco and Hermione were alone again in the small flat. Draco had hoped to pick up where they left off, but Hermione looked so exhausted that he decided that it would be a mistake to push.



“G\'night, Granger,” he said with a wink before apparating back to the manor.



“Good night, indeed,” Hermione thought, dropping into her favorite overstuffed reading chair with a sigh. “Good night, indeed.”