Unknown Love

Chapter 15

Both Aaron and his secretary were away for lunch, and Draco could only wonder, considering the reason for Hermione leaving the man. He slipped into the empty office, sitting in a chair that wouldn't be noticed right away. He sat there for fifteen minutes waiting. By the time Aaron was at his desk, Draco had the room wordlessly spelled silent and locked.

Aaron was sitting behind his desk when he noticed an immaculately groomed wizard sitting in one of his guest chairs. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my office?" he asked rather coldly as he took in the handsome man who was, truth be told, lounging in the chair rather than sitting in it.

"Draco Malfoy. I am here to have a little chat with you, Aaron."

The tone that this uninvited visitor was using sent chills up Aaron's spine and he gave a sideways glance to the door to reassure himself. By the time he looked back to the blond man, he was standing three feet or so away, stock still with an evil smile playing the corners of his mouth, his head slightly tilted as he looked on in amusement. "Don't worry. The door's been heavily locked and silenced. No one will interrupt us, though it's nice of you to care."

Aaron had the sneaking suspicion that the words were not, in fact, to put his mind at rest; and whether the case or not, they were succeeding in adding to his discomfort of being in this man's presence. Deciding to put on a hard front, he puffed out his chest slightly as he spoke. "What is it you would like to 'chat' about, Mister Malfoy?"

"Hermione Granger."

"Why would anyone want to talk about that slag?"

By the time the question was out of his mouth, Draco had him held against the wall of his office with a hand placed around the jugular. "No one speaks of Miss Granger that way, least of all you." Draco's voice was so deadly and threatening, his face mere inches away from the other man's, that one would have thought he was channeling his father's spirit.

Draco dropped him to the floor, where he quickly stood back up. "And who are you? Her pimp?" Aaron asked with a sneer on his face, belying the fear that was creeping through his veins. He realized just how stupid of a move it was as soon as the words left his mouth.

"No. I am the father of her child. I am the man who intends to spend the rest of my life with her. I am the man who she comes home to when you make hurtful and erroneous comments to her, and most importantly, I am the man who will make sure that you never see fit to bother her again."

"Why would you want to marry her?" Aaron asked, trying to hide the jealousy and contempt in his voice with disdian, though rather unsuccessfully.

"Because I love her."

"She's not worthy of any man's love. I'm telling you, make one mistake and she'll act like you never even existed," Aaron said, trying to forge a comradrie with the man who was an obvious threat.

"It would seem to me that you're the one not worthy of her love. But, as I said, you are going to leave her alone. If I ever hear of you harassing her again, you will regret the day you ever met Hermione Granger, never mind myself."

"Are you threatening me?" Aaron asked, indignantly.

"Not in the least. I'm just saying that while I may have reformed many years ago, no Death Eater is an innocent person." Draco then stalked out of the office, dismantling the spells on the room as he moved, giving the other man no time to take in what was just said to him before finding himself alone in his office.

Soon after Aaron left for the day, telling his secretary to reschedule the only appointment he had that afternoon. Upon his arrival home he went straight for the liquor cabinet, which he had been keeping stocked fuller than past years. Sitting down in front of the fire he had stoked up, he sat, staring blankly into the dancing, flickering light.

The more Aaron drank, the more he brooded. How could Hermione Granger, one of the three who helped defeat You-Know-Who, want to be with a Death Eater over him? Sure, he hadn't been faithful to her for even the majority of the three years they were together, but she was the woman he had wanted to marry; not any of his paramours.

It wasn't that she was bad in bed, or was emotionally frigid towards him, because she was neither of those things. But he was Aaron Sampson, dammit. He was a pureblood recorded back for over 20 generations, despite the fact that his parents had decided to emigrate to England and he and his sister had been sent to their childhood school in Finland. He was willing to dilute his family blood for her. Granted it was only because of her accomplishments, and he sure as hell was never going to tell her that, but doesn't that count for something?

His family name may not have the sway in this country that it does in some others, but he was still someone to be respected. Leaving him for something as silly as sleeping with his secretary was not to be tolerated. He had assumed that she would go away for awhile and when she came back, she would realize that it was no big deal, they would get married, though maybe not on schedule, and people in this country would finally start listening to him.

But, no, she just had to come back pregnant. Not only that, but his sister was never willing to say who the father was, so he had assumed that she didn't know. Now, if she had been cheating on him at all, that would have just been unacceptable and he had, of course, decided to think the worst of her. Despite the fact that he was convinced that she was the only one he had yet to meet who was a suitable marraige candidate.

And now she was with a fucking Death Eater. She had had his child. It was just not acceptable. But he did value his life and he didn't doubt at all that Draco Malfoy would carry through with any unspoken threat that had been intimated earlier. There was nothing he could do; there was only one choice left to him. He would see Hermione one last time and try to convince her to come back to him; he was even willing to accept her bastard child. If she said yes, he would take her far away. If she said no, he would go far away on his own so Malfoy couldn't find him.


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So, what will Hermione do when Aaron comes to her??? Will she find out about Draco's visit to him and if so, what will her reaction be??? I'm tempted to go dark in this story for a chapter or two, but I don't think I will just because while this story may be kind of angsty, I've tried to keep it rather light. So I'll just have to think of something else.