Beautiful Disaster

A/N: This is dedicated to the lovely sayyida who I adore!!! We share the same birthday, and while it's not quite Sept. 3, I didn't think she would mind if I posted it a bit early. This is what she asked for, so here it is sweets! :)
A/N2: Thanks to Sarah for betaing this for me.

****

Draco leaned against the arm of the sofa, book propped on his lap. He couldn’t help but be distracted by the girl, no, woman, seated at the other end. She was currently curled against the other side and was pouring over the text spread out on her lap. He wanted to keep up the pretense of studying, but it was impossible. Over the last few days, since they had become a bit more physical in their relationship, he found it more difficult to stay away from her. She already had him bewitched; mind, body, and soul. He found it almost disconcerting that he was becoming so attached to her presence. He knew it was only a matter of time before they would have to go back to life as normal.

He dreaded it.

He felt worse about it each day, and yet he knew it was inevitable. He couldn’t just steal her away somewhere else. His mother would kill him and Hermione wouldn’t go anyway. It was the thought of leaving her which caused him to sigh and Hermione to look up from her book. She furrowed her brow in concern. “Something wrong?”

He closed his book and set it on the table beside him. “Yes and no.”

She glanced back at the page she’d been reading, anxious to continue but wanting to know about the lingering ache she could feel from him. She turned and faced him as she closed her book as well. “What is it?”

He frowned. “I don’t want to leave.”

Her expression went from concern to understanding as she moved closer to him on her knees and took his hand in hers. “I don’t either, really. But we have to. Too many questions would be raised if neither of us showed up at Hogwarts.”

He nodded. “I know. Believe me, I know. I just…I’m reluctant to lose what we have, what we’ve built. I’m afraid that, due to house obligations and loyalty to our friends, that we’ll fall into bad habits again and start fighting.”

She ran her fingers through his soft blond hair and watched as the strands fell between her fingers, mesmerized momentarily by the silky length. “I worry about it, too. But I think if we both make the effort to try and stay out of house squabbles then we should be fine.”

He looked up at her, his expression forlorn. “I don’t think that’s very logical, Granger. You and I have been at each other’s throats since we arrived at that school. If we start…ignoring each other now it might make certain people suspicious.”

She leaned forward and tentatively rested her head against his. “Maybe we can work something out, a few arguments in the corridor or something to keep people guessing. It’s all I can think of at the moment.”

He wrapped both arms around her and inhaled her scent. “I suppose that could work, although I have been trying to be a better Head Boy.”

She smiled. “I noticed. You haven’t been as git-like as you have in the past.”

He poked her in the side as he looked up at her. “Git-like?”

She giggled slightly when he poked her. “You have to admit, Draco, that you can be a nasty piece of work at times.”

He raised an eyebrow at her accusation and decided to turn it on her. “Oh? And I suppose that slapping me is civilized behavior?”

She pulled back and shrugged. “I make no apologies for that as I’m not sorry. You deserved it.”

“You think so?”

She nodded. “You were being deliberately nasty concerning Hagrid, trying to get a response out of Harry and Ron. Instead, you got slapped by me. You actually deserved worse.”

“Granger, you can’t say that you honestly think that Hagrid is a model professor.”

She wrinkled her nose in response; not wanting to express her dislike for Hagrid’s teaching style to someone who really dislikes him. Instead she said. “Like him or not, he deserves respect as do the creatures he brings to teach us. He’s not perfect, but neither is Snape.”

He snorted. “Severus has his faults, but there’s no one I would trust with a potion I needed over him.”

She nodded. “I agree. And there’s no one I would trust with a large creature other than Hagrid. He has a gift with them.”

“A hippogriff attacked me in his class.”

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “You provoked it! Hagrid told you how to behave around them and yet you nearly got yourself killed just to be…git-like.”

He smirked as he pulled her across his lap and had her beneath him on the sofa before she could even comprehend what he was doing. His hand slid over her side and began tickling her. “Git-like?”

She thrashed beneath him, trying to push his hand away. “Stop! Stop! I-I give!” she said, trying to catch her breath.

He stopped tickling her and slid his hand over her rib cage and up to her breast as his lips moved over her jaw. “Still think I’m git-like?”

She ran her fingers through his hair, completely lost in the sensation of his hands sliding over her body. She heard the question, but couldn’t actually form an answer. She had really begun to enjoy their newfound closeness, however, it sometimes seemed to consume her and that was a bit frightening. She found, more often than not, that she could get swept up into him with little notice and before she knew what had happened he had her writhing in ecstasy. Not that she was really complaining about it, but it was alarming that she could lose herself so quickly.

He placed a few lingering kisses along the skin of her jaw before his lips found hers. His tongue sought entrance to her mouth and they both groaned as she granted it. He dipped into her mouth teasingly and caressed hers softly as his hand slipped beneath the t-shirt she was wearing and began to move over her heated skin. She pulled away to gasp as his fingers slipped over the lace of her bra to lightly pinch her nipple.

She caught his wrist and stared into his grey eyes. “Draco, let’s not do this in here.”

“You want to go to my room?” he whispered.

She shook her head. “No. I’m afraid your parents might get the wrong idea about me if we keep sneaking off to your room all hours of the day.”

He furrowed his brow. “My parents understand. They’ve been where we are.”

She caught her lip between her teeth as she turned her eyes from his. “I know, but I don’t want them thinking that we’re doing that under their roof, especially since I’m a guest in their home.”

He buried his face against her neck and groaned. “They don’t care, Granger.”

She sighed. “You’re probably right, but I care.”

He lifted his head and frowned. “So, we are going to avoid one another physically the rest of our time here?”

She shook her head. “Let’s not get crazy,” she said with a slight smile. “Just…maybe we could control ourselves while we’re in public rooms?”

She could see that he was working himself up for a good pout, and she leaned up to kiss him to stop him from saying something he’d regret later. This only seemed to make him more amorous if possible. She popped him on the hand as he cupped her breast once again only for him to groan in response. “You’re not playing fair, Granger.”

She smiled. “Maybe I’ve been around a certain Slytherin too long.”

He smirked at that. “Possibly,” he said as he sat back and pulled her into a sitting position. “So, we have a ‘to be continued’ until later?”

She pulled her shirt down as she noticed the tent in the front of his trousers. She blushed a bit as she looked into his eyes. “Yes.”

He leaned down to kiss her again as he cupped her face in his hands. He pulled away slowly, finding that he was addicted to her kisses. It struck a thought he didn’t want to have, but he decided to ask anyway. “Granger, who was your first kiss?”

She wrinkled her nose at the question, and then tilted her head. “Why?”

“Just curious,” he said softly, and while that was mostly true, he wanted to know who he needed to beat into a bloody pulp.

She raised an eyebrow at him then said, “I thought you would have already guessed by now.”

“It wasn’t Weasley was it?”

She shook her head. “No, you kissed me before I ever kissed Ron.”

He smiled at that. “Okay, then who…Krum? It was Krum?”

She nodded and blushed a bit. “Yes, he was the first boy to ever look at me as anything other than a know-it-all bookworm. Actually,” she said with a tilt of her head, “he saw me as one as well, but it seemed to be a bit of a…turn on for him. I suppose it was because I was the only girl that wasn’t following him around like a love-sick puppy. I was completely ignorant to the fact that his was a huge Quidditch star and I was supposed to be impressed.”

He frowned. “It never went any farther than kissing?”

She shook her head. “No. I was fourteen and the thought of sex terrified me. Actually sex and everything related to it. Still does to some extent.”

He smiled. “You are getting better.”

She blushed bright red and furrowed her brow in confusion. “Better in what way?”

He was unsure of her meaning. “Pardon?”

“You said I’m getting better. Does that mean that I’m getting better at what we’re doing or--?”

He cut her off before she could finish her sentence. “No! I meant better about not being afraid.”

She let out a breath she’d been holding in and gave a shy smile. “I was hoping that’s what you meant.”

He smiled as well. “Thank you for asking and not jumping to the wrong conclusion.”

She shrugged. “I thought I should give you the benefit of the doubt.” She leaned in and kissed him once more before she moved to her side of the sofa and picked up her book. She looked over at him as he stood and walked to the door. “Where are you going?”

He stopped and turned to her. “The loo.”

She turned pink at the implication of why he was going and turned back to her book as he left the room. She sighed as she realized that she wasn’t going to absorb another word as she thought about what he was doing in the bathroom and that she was the cause of it. She didn’t want to say that she felt guilty, as it wasn’t really her fault, but she knew of the pull between them and that they both fell prey to it at times. She, however, was able to stop more easily than he, and when she’d sometimes put the breaks on their passionate little afternoons, she knew that he was left wanting.

He returned only a few minutes later and found her staring at her book, seemingly reading. He had to hand it to her; she managed to get him more wound up than anyone he’d ever been with. Just kissing Hermione could make him harder than he ever thought possible, and he had to wonder if it was from the Veela charm or if he really was that consumed with lust for her. She was beautiful. The charm didn’t have to tell him that. He wanted her like he’d never wanted anything, and when her soft little body wriggled against him he couldn’t help his reaction to her. Her soft little whimpers and sighs sometimes made it worse. As he took his seat beside her and lifted his book in his lap, he could feel her eyes on him. He looked up and winked at her before he turned back to his book, trying not to think of how he could have been spending his afternoon with her in his bed.

* * *

Dinner passed by with the usual conversation. It became obvious to Hermione that Narcissa spent her days with a group of women she didn’t like because it was requested of her by her standing in society. She usually spent the evening retelling the gossip she’d heard that day to Lucius. Hermione wasn’t entirely sure that he even listened to what she said but only pretended to so he didn’t’ upset his wife. However, there were times when she would tell a story and Lucius would add his input about how the woman’s husband was a conceited old fool who felt he was too good to go hunting with him or how one man’s son had caused quite the scandal by running off with an Asian boy he’d met at school. It was in those moments that Hermione thought that he might actually be listening.

Usually the conversation would drift into what Draco and Hermione had done that day, which would cause her to blush and him to smirk. The answer they always gave was ‘read’, but Hermione had the sneaking suspicion that they believed more was going on. In fact, she’d noticed a smile traded between father and son that made her want to slap the both of them. She’d made it a bit harder than evening for Draco to get what he wanted. Instead of waiting five minutes, the usual amount of time it took him to convince her to go to his room with him, it took him ten.

But that evening, things changed. Half way through the meal and in the middle of Narcissa’s sentence, Lucius dropped his spoon and clutched his left arm. He cast a look to his family and Hermione then stood and moved out of the dining room, Narcissa following closely behind him. Draco and Hermione cast worried expressions towards the doors as they could hear them whispering in the hall. Moments later, Lucius passed by the doors, his black cloak wrapped around him and his Death Eater mask clutched in his hand. He didn’t look into the dining room before he Apparated away and Narcissa joined them once more.

Draco could see her nervousness and took his mother’s hand in his. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”

She nodded. “You’re probably right. But I can’t help but worry.”

He looked to Hermione who frowned at the now nervous woman. Narcissa then called a house-elf beside her and asked for it to bestow its own wards over the house, locking it down. She looked to Hermione and Draco. “As a precaution.” She went to take a sip of her wine and found that her hand was shaking so badly that she couldn’t do it without spilling.

“Mother…” Draco said as he stood.

She waved him off. “It’s not just my nervousness I feel, but his as well,” she said with a deep sigh. “It will pass. I’ll be in my study if you need me,” she said softly as she stood and left the room.

Hermione watched her go then looked at Draco. “Is that how she always reacts?”

He shook his head. “No. She never used to bat an eye when he was summoned. She’s scared because of his new stance on everything. They both know that one wrong move and we’re all gone,” he said softly.

She stood and walked around the table to pull him into a hug. He placed a kiss on her temple and frowned. “I’m scared for him, too,” she said softly. She knew that it would crush Draco to lose his father, but she didn’t know what effect it would have on Narcissa to lose him. His mother had been nothing but nice to her since she’d been there. She and Lucius had been married she knew for seventeen years, but it could have been much longer. At just a little over four months she was already attached to Draco. Hermione couldn’t imagine the agony that she would feel if something happened to Draco but the despair at losing Lucius would probably be devastating to Narcissa.

She pushed the thought aside and pulled away from Draco to look up at him. She gave him a soft smile. “If anyone is capable of making this a success, it’s your father, Draco.”

He nodded. “I know. But that doesn’t make the anxiety go away.”

She rested her head against his shoulder, finding for the hundredth time that she fit perfectly in his arms. “Want to go to your room?”

He nodded, wanting anything to make the worry go away. If he could lose himself in her arms for a bit, then he knew he could find a way to deal with this. She led the way to his room and they quickly fell into what was becoming habit. Lips joined as clothes were slowly being removed. Hermione, although she’d lost a lot of her shyness at seeing and doing things with Draco, still felt a bit embarrassed that he was seeing her naked. It didn’t matter to her if he liked what he saw or not, it was just something so intimate that she was nearly afraid to share it with him. However, when he looked at her the way he was then, his eyes going from soft silver to nearly black with lust for her often pushed aside her embarrassment and in its place was left a burning need.

As he stripped off the last of her clothes, a pair of knickers with pink and yellow hearts decorating white cotton, he quickly moved his lips over every spot that could make her sigh or moan. She loved it when he would kiss the back of her knees, finding that not only was she ticklish there but that she seemed to grow wetter with each passing of his lips over the soft skin. And his tongue, that talented muscle that had always done its best to cause her pain in the past, brought her nothing but pleasure as he buried it between her folds and stoke against her opening. She grasped his hair in her hands, as his nose rubbed against her clit with each pass of his tongue inside her.

He couldn’t get enough of her taste. He’d had it nearly every night, sometimes several times a day, but it was as if he was addicted to it. She was his drug and he needed another fix. He didn’t know what he’d do once they got back to school. He delved his tongue deeper inside her, tasting her at the source. She was writhing beneath him and as he removed his tongue from her sheath, he inserted a finger only to take her clit into his mouth. He could happily keep his face buried between her thighs for hours. However, having only had sexual release due to his own hand, he found that he wanted to feel her hands all over his body.

His fingers slid against her upper wall and before either one expected, she was coming, his name falling from her lips in deep gasps. He slid up her body and pressed his still covered erection against her cunt and ground his hips against hers. “Oh, Gods! Draco!” she moaned again, her hands slid down his body to his boxers and shoved them to his knees. She pressed her self against him again thrusting against his hard length. He was nearly mad with desire for her, and when she dug her fingers into his arse as she came, he followed her into the abyss, his hot come covering her abdomen, thighs, and cunt. She reached for her wand and cleaned them up before pulling him to rest on top of her.

She liked the feel of him on her. The weight made her feel loved, wanted, and cherish, especially when he’d start placing kisses along her collar bone and whispered words of adoration in her ear. She smiled as she pulled his lips to hers, finding that he tasted like her. She was still getting used to it as this whole area was still new to her. But the more they ended up like they were now, the more she realized that she could spend a long time in that position, and very happy.

He rolled onto his back and pulled her against him. His fingers moved through her hair as his other hand traced over her arm. He captured her hand in his and brought her palm to his lips to place a kiss on it. He sighed as he once more started worrying about their future. He didn’t want to part from her. It was growing closer day by day, and he realized with a great deal of sadness that the opportunity he had at present might be one of the few times he had to do this before the end of school.

His depression about that was only amplified by his worry for his father. The man was risking his life for him and he felt extremely guilty. He couldn’t help who his mate was, that was just a twist of fate, but he felt responsible that his father was risking his neck by betraying the Dark Lord. His father’s sacrifice and change had only been put into a new light by his being called that night. He frowned as he thought that any wrong move by his father could have disastrous results for his entire family.

He looked down to the brunette in his arms, as contentment warred with dread. Her fingers were tracing light patterns on his chest and her breathing was soft. He was crazy about her. Their time together had only brought them closer, only made him realize that he’d wasted so much time hating her because of who she was born to and never looking at the person she was. She was beautiful, inside and out. Her heart, her compassion for people that he felt didn’t deserve it, made her a wonderful person. He wondered what would have happened had he been sorted anywhere else, or she, for that matter. Would they have still hated one another? If they had been put in the same house, would they still be enemies? He knew it was almost pointless to sit and wonder about things he couldn’t change. He also knew that the only time that really mattered was the here and now. It was with that thought that he rolled to his side and kissed her, once again wanting nothing more than to lose himself inside of her and knowing that it was too soon for that.

* * *

Hermione awoke that same night to the realization that she was hot and her neck itched from where Draco’s breath was blowing her hair against it. She managed to untangle herself from his embrace and slipped on a pair of his pajama bottoms and a t-shirt and made her way to the loo, first, then down to the kitchen for something to eat. They didn’t actually finish dinner and she was hungry. She knew the elves would prepare anything she wanted, but at the moment she was in the mood for something light. She thought that fruit would do the trick.

As she made her way downstairs, she could hear voices coming from Narcissa’s parlor and stopped as she realized that Narcissa was speaking with Lucius.

“What do you mean you don’t know when you’ll be back?” she asked angrily.

Hermione made her way closer to the door to listen. She realized that she was eavesdropping, but she didn’t think Lucius would wake his son to tell him he was going to be gone for a while.

“Darling, please understand that I can’t do anything about this. He’s sent me on a mission. I have to go or risk losing both you and Draco.”

Hermione frowned as she could hear the desperation in Lucius’ tone that Narcissa understand. “At least tell me what you’re going after! Don’t I deserve that much?”

She heard Lucius sigh then he began speaking. “It’s…a weapon that was associated with Merlin. It’s said that the wielder of the…of it can command an army of millions. I’m not sure how it works; only that we have a lead on it and he trusts only Rodolphus and me with the task. He would have sent your sister but he’d rather have her by his side, apparently. We’re to find it and bring it to him immediately, after we figure out what it is, of course.”

The house was filled with silence before Narcissa sighed. “I don’t want to be parted from you.”

Hermione found it odd that at that moment she realized that the same thing would happen to her and Draco very soon. She could hear the sadness in both of their tones and cast a look at the stairs as she realized that all too soon her happy time here would end and it would be back to life as usual.

“My love, I would rather do anything than be away from you,” he said softly. “But I must, for you and Draco.” He sighed. “Tell Draco what I’ve told you so he can inform Dumbledore. They’ll need to get a move on figuring out what it is he’s after in order to stop him.”

It grew quiet again, for several long minutes. Hermione wondered what had happened when suddenly the doors burst open and she leaned back against the wall to hide in the shadows. She watched as Lucius walked to the apparition point, a small bag over his shoulder, and left.

She came out of the shadows and looked into the parlor to find Narcissa seated on the very chair she’d been in when Hermione had tea with her the first day. Her hair, which was usually kept pulled back, was hanging around her face as her head was buried in her hands. She could see that the woman was crying by the movement of her shoulders. She felt the sudden urge to comfort her and stepped forward very carefully.

“Mrs. Malfoy?” Narcissa looked up suddenly, and Hermione was struck with how much Draco favored his mother. She wiped at her eyes and pushed her hair away from her face as she held her head high. “Are you okay?”

The older woman nodded. “As I can be, I suppose. How much of that did you hear, Hermione?”

She chewed on her lip momentarily and frowned. “I know he’s leaving and that he’s looking for some sort of magical object tied to Merlin.”

She rested her hands in his lap. “I thought Lucius going to prison was hard enough to deal with. He was only gone for a few weeks, but it was agony the entire time. I could visit him every other day, actually hear his voice and have him hold me. This though,” she said, her voice shaking. “This is worse. This is indefinite, especially since they don’t know what they’re looking for.”

Hermione moved more into the room. “I hate to say that I hope they don’t find it,” she said softly.

Narcissa looked up at her with a critical eye before her face softened. “I have to say that I agree. But I’m selfish and I want my husband, my mate, back home where he belongs.” She gestured to the chair in front of her. “You have no idea the gift you’ve been given, Hermione. You have the opportunity to know your soul mate, the other part of yourself, and know that he’ll love you until the last breath in his body; that no other woman could ever compare to you in his eyes. There are some people in this world that will never find love, or think they have it only to be disappointed in the end. But you won’t.”

Hermione knew that if she was to ever have anyone to talk to about this, it was Narcissa and she should use the opportunity while she had it. “It scares me. What I feel for him terrifies me, actually. I find myself so caught up in it, sometimes, that I lose focus on reality.”

Narcissa only nodded. “I know. To this day I find myself completely and utterly transfixed by him. When he’s not with me, I want him to be. I don’t want my whole world to exist around him, but you find, sooner or later, that it does, and you’re not bothered by it at all.” She sighed. “Lucius is my match in every way. Yes, he gives in to a few of my greater demands, but there’s this heat that’s between us that has never faded. I want him now just as much as I did when I was eighteen. And believe me, he feels the same way,” she said with a sad smile.

“You should pity those who don’t have mates, Hermione. They’ll never feel this way about anyone. They’ll never know what it’s like to be able to feel what the other is feeling, to know with all certainty that they are loved.”
Hermione frowned. “Aren’t you afraid of something happening to Lucius?”

“Terrified. But I know my husband, and I trust his judgment.”

“Just like that?” she questioned. “You trust him without a second thought?”

She nodded. “Yes. It’s taken a long time for us to get to this point. Our courtship was often fraught with tense arguments and bitter dislike for one another. We got over that, obviously. I don’t think that my real contempt for him died away until after…” she then blushed and Hermione realized without her saying it just when her feelings had changed. “And I’ll be honest with you; that was the scariest night of my life. Several things happened that I wasn’t expecting and they happened all at the same time.” She smiled. “It will happen with you, as well. You just have to realize that Draco is someone you can trust. He’d give up his life to protect you.”

She gave a soft smile to Narcissa then sighed. “I’m not ready to leave. I’ve had such a terrific time here and we’ve grown so close that I’m afraid it might end once we get back to school.”

The older woman nodded. “You’ll have to find a way to make it work. You’re two incredibly bright people. I’m sure you could figure out some way of not allowing your emotions to get the best of you all the time. You have to remember, Hermione that no matter what happens, you’re still part of him as he is you, even if you doubt it at times. But when you begin to lose faith in it, that’s when you search yourself and reach out for him and you have that confirmation. You feel what he feels. That only grows stronger as time goes on.” Narcissa stood. “If you’ll excuse me, Hermione, I’m exhausted.”

Hermione stood and nodded and led the way out of Narcissa’s parlor. She began making her way back to Draco’s room, her hunger forgotten by all that had transpired in the last hour. As she entered his room, she found him sleeping on his stomach, his arm stretched out to her side of the bed, looking for her in his sleep. She smiled and climbed into bed beside him. His arms went around her instantly and his face was once again buried in her hair. “Where?” he mumbled.

She rubbed her hand over his arm and sighed. “I went to get a bite, but got a bit sidetracked.”

He grumbled. “Why?”

She sighed then started telling him about the conversation she’d overheard between Lucius and Narcissa. She rolled towards him; her brow furrowed in thought and noticed that he was awake as well.

“And he has no idea what he’s looking for?” Draco asked softly.

“None. Any thoughts?”

He shook his head. “It could be any number of things. There’s still a lot of mystery surrounding Merlin.”

She nodded. “We could do a bit of research tomorrow morning,” she said softly. She wrapped her arms around him as she felt his concern for his father grow. He kissed the top of her head as he squeezed her a bit tighter.

“Is he still here?”

She shook her head. “No, he’s been gone for a while.”

He looked down at her. “Why where you gone for so long?” he asked curiously.

She placed a kiss at the hollow of his throat and sighed. “I had a long conversation with your mother about being a mate. It was rather enlightening.”

“Was it? How so?”

She frowned. “I was concerned because even though we’ve been having a marvelous time here, there’s still this part of me that just…doesn’t like you.” He pulled back to look at her, his expression a bit hurt. She put her hand over his lips before he could say anything. “It’s nothing you’ve done. I’ve read in the books that it will exist until…we have sex. It’s not even something I can control. It’s just always under the surface.”

He sighed. “And there’s nothing I can do to make it go away?”

She shook her head. “No. It’s all part of the fact that you have to fight for me.”

He rolled her to her back and rested his hand on her hip before he leaned down to kiss her. “I already have,” he said with a slight smile.

She raised an eyebrow. “Don’t be so happy about it. He’s still my friend and you hurt him terribly.”

He shrugged. “I’m not making apologies for it.”

“I know. But you don’t have to be so smug.”

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow. “Have you met me? I have to be smug. It’s part of who I am.”

She smiled. “How could I forget?”

To Be Continued....