The Dragon's Child Bride

Thank you to my lovely beta, who always does a kickass job with my pathetic fumblings at grammar.

CHAPTER 19: Love and Marriage

On February 3rd, Draco finally reached the last page of Laylani’s chilling journal. He managed to decipher her shaky handwriting and read despite the tear streaks.

***

“I never used to cry, but since I came here it seems that’s all I do. And I feel better for it. I think I’m going soft. I cry when I’m happy, I cry when I’m sad, I cry when I’m angry, I cry when I have nightmares, I cry when I get hit with new memories, I cry when Draco tells me he loves me. Even while I write this, I’m crying. Where are all these tears coming from? I don’t know how to stop. I try to hide it, but it’s harder now that I’m at school with everyone. At least at the Manor I didn’t have to explain where I’m going and why. ‘Oh, just going to the bathroom to have a good cry for no reason.’ I’d thought by now they would have beaten and Crucio-ed all the tears out of me. It’s strange to be allowed to cry now. Sometimes I still cry in the corner with my hands over my head, waiting for someone to hit me with the switch. What they would do if they saw me like this... I don’t know why it ever mattered to them, whether I cried while they beat me or not. I swear they would have driven me crazy if they had the chance. I don’t even want to think about them, it’ll only make me cry harder and worry more. I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop and wake up shackled in a basement, finding out this was all some beautiful dream. I wonder what changed, why I cry so often now. Maybe I’m just making up for all the times I should’ve.”

***

That was the end of it. The following hundred pages were blank, waiting to be filled with her thoughts and tears like the others, and Draco could hardly deny them that. Despite his aching muscles from that evening’s particularly grueling Quidditch practice, he got up off the couch and left to return her book.

He was at her portrait hole with an hour left until curfew. He gave the maiden in the painting Laylani’s queer little password , ‘Tinseltown’, and the portrait opened to her sitting in her common room with Ginny, Hermione and Lavender, surrounded by magazines. He was slightly taken aback that she would have guests over, especially them. She’d stopped sitting at the Gryffindor table after the disagreement with Harry, and he’d just assumed she’d pushed them all out of her life. Apparently he had been wrong. He recovered quickly and strode in with his usual Malfoy swagger. She smiled at him.

“Hello, love. How was practice?”

“Well enough. I brought this back.” He held up her notebook. “I’ll just put it in you room.” He went back into her bedroom and dropped it on the bed and turned around to find Laylani standing directly behind him. He started and nearly fell backwards.

“I was just wondering if you’d like to join us for a bit. Dobby’s bringing us up some snacks.”

‘Yeah, because I’m so wanting to have a tea party with The Mouth, She-Weasel, and the Mud- Muggleborn.’ he thought. He had tried to stop referring to Hermione as ‘mudblood’ since she’d saved Laylani from Pansy on the train. It didn’t change his opinion about her kind, but he was willing to concede she was a passable witch… for someone of her unfortunate birth.

“Uh, no thanks.”

“Please? Just for a little while? I’ve hardly seen you all day.” Draco lowered his voice to a whisper.

“I don’t think your guests and I would make good company.” She rolled his eyes.

“Oh, Draco grow up. I’m sure all of you can manage to be civil for half an hour.” She had said that loud enough that it could surely be heard in the next room. He was trapped now and he knew it. Draco frowned.

“Alright. Half an hour, but then I’m leaving.” She grinned.

“Thank you, Dragon.” She walked back into the front room with him and they sat down on the couch. There was a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, filled only by the sounds of shifting in their seats. Laylani would not stand for that, and she knew the best way to fill silence was to prompt Lavender, easily the most talkative person she’d ever had the pleasure of meeting.

“So, Lav, you were saying?” The silence had been killing the loquacious girl and she started right where she\'d left off without delay.

“Well, I was saying that I think that purple and black would look quite nice together and-” Her eyes flickered towards Draco “And rather fitting.”

“You can’t have black at a wedding, Lav.” said Ginny. “Nice or not, that’s just depressing.” Draco had been tuning everything out since he’d sat down, but he turned his head towards the girls at the word ‘wedding.’

“What? Wedding? Who’s getting married?” The girls giggled and Laylani tried to force her face to stay serious.

“Why, the Queen of France. Haven‘t you heard? ” She laughed and elbowed him playfully. “Us, of course.”

It was his own wedding, and Draco figured he should at least try to feign some interest. Frankly, he wouldn’t care if they get married in the alley behind the Leaky Cauldron in potato sacks so long as she said ‘I do.’ Still, he was pretty sure this was one of those girly things that would make her upset if she knew he couldn’t care less about the preparation.

“Oh, of course. What have you been looking at?” Laylani was determined to have her guests involved in polite conversation including all of them. She smiled.

“Actually, the girls and I were discussing flowers before you stopped by. Hermione was just about to give us her opinion. Hermione?”

Hermione moved right in, refusing to be daunted by Draco’s presence. “Well, I’ve been thinking lilacs and baby’s breath, and that’s when Lav came in with the idea of using the black, and while it would look nice, I really don’t think black would be appropriate for a wedding.” Lavander nodded.

“You know, you’re probably right.” Laylani turned to Draco expectantly.

“What do you think, love?”

‘Damn.’ he thought. She’d asked his opinion. He could no longer feign interest but had to actually think and consider what had being said. “About the black or the flowers?”

“Both.”

“Well, I agree the black wouldn’t work, though you know my affinity for the color. Purple\'s fine, but it has to be lilies, not lilacs.” Laylani tilted her head thoughtfully, pleased that he’d made a solid contribution to the conversation without insulting anyone or belittling their ideas. This was a vast improvement in Draco’s social skills when it came to Gryffindors.

“Why lilies?” Ginny asked. Draco didn’t want to give them the sentimental reasons behind it; it wouldn’t do for anyone to know Draco had picked flowers as a boy, even if they were for Laylani. He coolly offered them a plausible reason.

“It’s a tradition.” They could draw whatever conclusions they liked from that.

After a few uncomfortably silent seconds, Dobby appeared in the corner with a tray and Draco had never been so relieved to see a house elf in his entire life.

“Dobby didn’t know what Miss Laylani is liking anymore, so Dobby brought chocolate chip cookies. They were Miss Laylani’s favorite before she went away but Dobby is worried she might be too old for that. Is Miss Laylani still liking cookies and milk?” Laylani grinned. It wouldn’t be the snack that she had chosen for this situation, but cookies were always a good snack as far as she was concerned.

“I absolutely do. Thank you Dobby, that was very thoughtful.” She patted his head and the little elf beamed, obviously pleased with himself. He set them on the coffee table and with a snap of his fingers, he was gone.

The girls helped themselves to some cookies and the conversation resumed, stilted at first but soon the girls were going on as if Draco wasn’t there at all, and for as much as attention he paid, he might as well have not been. After another fifteen minutes of nothing but girls giggling and pouring over silly magazines while Draco occasionally threw in a ‘Mm-hmm’ or ‘Absolutely’ to simulate being aware of the conversation, the three other girls rose to leave. Laylani saw them to the door.

“As always, girls, it was a pleasure to have you over. If you have some free time later this week, you’re welcome to stop by.”

“We certainly will.” said Hermione, pleased that her friend had not shown any odd behavior today. It meant the promise of another day to try to find some sort of lead to get Laylani out of her prophecy. “See you tomorrow.” The girls waved in final parting and Laylani shut the portrait door quietly and turned back to Draco.

“That wasn’t so bad, now was it?” Draco laughed. It hadn’t been as awkward as he’d expected, but that didn’t make it pleasant or enjoyable by any stretch of the imagination.

“Oh, not at all.” he snorted. He held up a random magazine and read a subheading from the cover. “Merlin knows how much I want to talk about ‘coordinating the bouquet with the centerpiece’ with a bunch of giggling Gryffindors.” She picked up a pillow from the couch and threw it at his head then collapsed on the opposite end of the couch.

“Draco, don’t be a jerk.” He smiled to himself and made his way across the couch to gather her in his arms and sit her in his lap. She frowned but made no attempt to pull away.

“I’m sorry, Princess. I had a very nice time.” She relaxed a bit more into his arms.

“Alright.” He raised a hand to stroke it through her smooth hair as she brought her head to rest on his shoulder. He managed to maneuver himself to lie back on the sofa without having to get up or let go of her.

“When’s Mum coming out to start making the arrangements?” he asked once they were settled.

“She said the 20th. She\'d like you to come too.\" Draco frowned. Spending a Saturday afternoon with his mother planning a party had been a nightmarish part of his childhood that he\'d refused to take part in anymore after he\'d left for Hogwarts and had tried to make it clear to both women that he would nevermore be a pawn to any party-planning scheme.

\"Not bloody likely.\" he muttered. Laylani laughed.

\"That\'s what I said.\"

Draco left ten minutes later with five minutes until curfew. He walked down the hallway whistling to himself, completely oblivious to the invisible member of the Order of Phoenix that watched him go.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Valentine’s Day was quickly approaching bringing with it a flurry of pink, white, and red decorations that seemed to adorn every inch of the school. As early as two weeks before the actual day itself, it seemed Cupid’s arrows had struck the hearts of almost all of Hogwarts students. The girls were increasingly more flirtatious and the boys were increasingly more perceptive and receptive to it. And for the first time since he’d started school, this didn’t bother Draco. In fact, he was almost enjoying the entire hubbub.

In years previous, he considered Valentine’s day to be a stupid, insipid holiday that was only an excuse for everyone to let their hormones run rampant. While he still thought the latter part true, he was finding himself more and more drawn to the idea of a day dedicated to showing someone how much you loved them. It might have had something to do with the fact that he was finally with someone he loved.

He devoted almost every free moment of the week before the day to planning what he would do for Laylani, even making a few clandestine trips to Hogsmeade to pick up a few items as well as enlisting his father’s help for things he couldn’t get in the village. At the same time, he’d been giving Laylani the impression that openly celebrating Valentine’s Day would be damaging to his image, and that it was too important to him to risk. She’d frowned constantly when it was brought up but had said nothing. Draco now had the element of complete surprise.

Laylani, however, was determined to get some type of romance out of the day, even if it was only vicariously through a friend. After having to put up with a month of tense latent attraction between Ron and Hermione, she’d decided something needed to be done to help them along. She had tried Ron first, thinking Hermione would be the least likely between the two to go for anything as illogical as a Valentine’s Day romance, but after nearly a week and a half of pestering only to be shut down by weak excuses, she gave up on him. If anything was going to happen, it would be Hermione who would have to make the first move. She had been surprisingly easy to convince. It seemed she too was tired of the awkwardness of unspoken affection between them and was ready to just take a chance and see what happened.

And perhaps Laylani had a trick or two up her sleeve for Draco, as well.

When the day finally came, everything was in place. Laylani sat next to him at the Slytherin table like she always did and he took her hand in his own. She smiled at him. She assumed this would be the closest they would come to celebrating Valentine’s Day publicly. She had already resigned herself to the fact that, as far as everyone else was concerned, their first Valentine’s Day together would pass like every other day. She was sure he would do something sweet for her when they were alone but still, it would’ve been nice to get a card at least.

Breakfast materialized onto the table and it made her smile. That day it was heart-shaped pancakes and French toast. At least she would get one little heart-shaped gesture, even if it was in food form from house elves who’d given the same to everyone else. She couldn’t help herself from giving a small sigh at that depressing thought. She and Draco ate in silence.

‘Don’t be so dramatic,’ she thought. ‘What’s the point of getting worked up over a day when it’s just like all the others? Really, it’s not a big deal.’ She really tried to believe that, too. She put all of her attention into her breakfast in hopes that it would distract her, but when the owls came she couldn’t help thinking about it.

In addition to the everyday owls that came bringing letters, packages from home and the Daily Prophet, there were about two hundred additional owls bringing everything from cards to candy to flowers. Laylani couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy when the surrounding girls, even the cold Slytherin girls, shrieked with delight at receiving even the tiniest token of someone’s affection, rushing to thank the sender and then to compare it with other girls.

She craned her neck to watch the school owl swoop down to the Gryffindor table and deliver the handmade card to Ron that she and Hermione had worked so diligently to craft. She smiled as he read the card, first turning a horrid shade of red and then beaming as he closed it, tucking it into his robes. He and Hermione shared secret smiles.

Her attention was drawn away by two envelopes that dropped down in front of her. One was her usual weekly letter from Malfoy Manor which she would read later; the other one was a large red envelope, the address written in well-known script. She opened the envelope and pulled out the card, which promptly tugged itself out of her hands, folded into the shape of a person and began to dance and sing in a very familiar voice, despite being horribly off-key


*Those fingers in my hair*
*That sly come hither stare*
*That strips my conscience bare*
*It’s witchcraft*

*And I’ve got no defense for it*
*The heat is too intense for it*
*What good would common sense for it do*

*’Cause it’s witchcraft, wicked witchcraft*
*And although, I know, it’s strictly taboo*

*When you arouse the need in me*
*My heart says yes indeed in me*
*Proceed with what your leading me to*

*It’s such an ancient pitch*
*But one I wouldn’t switch*
*‘Cause there’s no nicer witch than you*

She giggled as the card unfolded itself and lay neatly open before her.

***

Dear Laylani,

Happy Valentine’s Day, m’dear.
Hope you enjoyed the serenade.
Yours,

Adrian Pucey

***

She should have known Adrian wouldn’t forget her on Valentine’s Day. They wrote back and forth two or three times a week and he was fast becoming one of her best friends. She had also sent him a Valentine’s Day card, though it hadn’t been nearly as ostentatious.

Soon enough the meal had ended and the students began to make their way to the morning’s first class. In an odd move, Draco held her hand the entire way to their Arithmancy class and then proceeded to pull out her chair for her. Laylani smiled questioningly at him, but his face revealed nothing.

“Thank you.” she said quietly.

“Not at all.”

Professor Vector had barely opened his mouth to begin the lesson when a shrill \'caw\' pierced the room. Through the mysteriously opened window, a blackbird flew in with something in its clutches. The class watched as it swooped down to drop its charge on Laylani’s desk then turned and flew out the window.

It was flowers. A dozen purple lilies to be exact. She glanced at Draco but his attention seemed to be totally dedicated to what Professor Vector was saying. Ignoring the continuing lesson, she pulled out the small card and opened it.

***

Dear Laylani,

Did you really think I wasn’t going to make our first Valentine’s Day special?
This is only the beginning.
All my love,

Draco.

***

She glanced up at Draco, not daring to hope that this was true. He showed only the smallest trace of a smile before giving her one short nod. Laylani bit her lip to keep herself from squealing in delight and she pressed the flowers to her face, slowly inhaling their delicate fragrance and pulling back with a look of pure joy on her face.

Draco watched all of this from the corner of his eye. She looked so happy and he was pleased with himself. If flowers could make her so elated, he could only imagine how she would be by the end of the day.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

By the time they reached the end of classes, Laylani couldn’t get the silly grin off her face. Her smile was so wide it made her face hurt and she loved it. Draco had been sending her gifts all throughout classes. First it had been the flowers, then chocolates, French perfume, a dozen sturdy black raven quills and a green silk scarf. She’d never felt so spoiled in her life and she loved it. She didn’t have a chance to really thank him before he began Quidditch practice that afternoon, but she fully intended to the moment he came back.

She sat in her room writing up the end of a four inch parchment for Charms when there was a tapping on her window. Laylani looked up and was startled to find another blackbird at her window carrying a parcel. She struggled with the latch but managed to open the window and the bird deposited its package on her sill before it flew away.

It was square and thin, not likely to be a book or album, wrapped in soft green paper with a gold bow. It almost looked too good to open. Almost. She undid the ribbon and gently peeled back the paper to reveal the back of a picture frame. She turned it over and pressed a hand to her heart. It was a wizarding picture of her and Draco just before they left for the Yule Ball. They smiled at one another, holding each other close. Her eyes began to water and she knew she couldn’t put off thanking Draco any longer. She threw on a coat and left to the Quidditch pitch.

She stood in the almost ankle-deep snow at the bottom of the pitch, trying to pick out Draco among the seven flying Slytherin team members with their green robes flying behind them. He found her before she saw him. He swooped down in front of her from where he’d been overseeing the other players, looking slightly concerned.

“Something wrong, love?” She didn’t answer, but instead wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into an ardently passionate kiss. When it finally broke, they were both panting for air and had drawn the attention of Draco’s team mates. He smirked.

“What was that for?” Laylani smiled at him.

“Just to say thank you for everything you did today. And I love you.”

“Only what a princess deserves, and the day isn’t over yet.”

“Draco, you really shouldn’t have.”

“Of course I should’ve; only the best for my girl.” She beamed, barely able to contain her happiness. Draco kissed the tip of her nose.

“I have to get back to practice, pet. I’ll pick you up before dinner, okay?” She nodded and went back to her room to finish her essay.

Draco let himself into her room an hour and a half later, showered and changed. He lit the fire and sat on the couch, waiting for her to emerge from the bedroom. She came out a few minutes later wearing her uniform that had finally arrived the week before. It wasn’t very flattering, but it was her very own school uniform and that was good enough for her. She had her hands behind her back. Draco smirked.

“What’ve you got there, Lani?” She smiled.

“I thought we would be celebrating Valentine’s Day privately otherwise I would’ve sent it this morning.” She pulled her hands out from behind her back holding a box and handed it to him.

He unwrapped the plain brown packaging and opened the box. He removed the layer of tissue to reveal a large leather bound copy of ‘The Evolution of Quidditch: History of the Game and its Greatest Players.’ He grinned. He’d wanted this book for awhile and had intended on getting it next time they went to Diagon Alley, but had never actually brought it up to her. He smiled.

“This is great, Princess.” She smiled, jumping from one foot to the other in excitement.

“Open the book!” Draco complied, flipping over the cover. Two tickets fell into his lap.

“Lani, what are these?” She laughed.

“Why don’t you look at them and find out?” He picked one up and turned it over to read it.

***

QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP
AUGUST 20TH
MADRID, SPAIN

Seat 3, Row 2
Box 12

***

“Laylani, are these real?” She rolled her eyes.

“No, I thought it would be funny to get your hopes up. Of course they’re real, idiot!” He grinned, taking her hand and pulling her into his lap.

“I love it. Thank you, Princess.” She smiled.

“If you notice, you have two tickets…which means you can take a friend…” She batted her eyelashes at him, causing Draco to laugh. Subtlety had never been her strong suit.

“Laylani, would you like to come to the Quidditch World Cup with me?” She pretended to look taken aback.

“Me? What an unexpected surprise! Why yes, I’d love to.” Draco kissed her again, reaching into the pocket of his robes to pull out a long jewelry box. She frowned.

“Draco, you really shouldn’t have. Today has been wonderful, but you’re spoiling me.” He shrugged.

“What’s one day? Besides, you could use a little spoiling.” He put the box in her hand and closed her small fingers around it. She relented with a small smile.

“Okay, but only today.” She snapped open the box and nearly dropped it. It was a necklace, composed of three strands of pearls.

“Oh, Draco…” she sighed. He took the necklace out of its box and she lifted her hair and turned her back to him so he could clasp it around her neck.

“It’s a family heirloom, passed down through the Malfoy family for almost three hundred years.” The clasp snapped into place and she dropped her hair and faced him.

“Beautiful.” he said.

Laylani rushed into the bathroom to see it in the mirror. Indeed they were beautiful, looking out of place with the rest of her outfit. She spun around for no real reason, watching her reflection. The pearls made her feel elegant, as if she were a princess in a ball gown as oppose to a former hooker, now student in her school uniform. Draco leaned up against the doorframe, watching her admire herself and admiring her as well. He frowned when her hands went up to take the necklace off.

“Why are you taking it off? Don’t you like it?”

“Of course I do, Dragon. I love it. But we’re going to leave for dinner soon, and these are probably best for a nicer occasion then meatloaf in the Great Hall.” That made sense. He helped her unclasped the necklace and she put it back in the box, then put the box in the drawer of the nightstand by her bed and they left for dinner.

Dinner went smoothly like it always did; the only difference was that there were considerably more couples than there had been this morning. Laylani tried to discreetly watch the interaction between Hermione and Ron. They were sitting much closer together than what was friendly. That had to be a good sign. Ron’s awful beet-red blush had gone down considerable since that morning, but he was still a noticeable shade of pink, and Hermione’s face was plastered with a wide, almost dreamy smile. That was definitely a good sign.

Suddenly Harry’s eyes met hers. He stared for a moment, his face void of any emotion, his eyes completely empty. She tried to smile at him and he dropped his utensils and abruptly got up and left the table, then exited the Great Hall. She breathed a sad sigh. He’d been like that for almost a month now. He refused to talk to her, and when she would stop to talk to him and his friends in the hallway, he would leave, brushing past her as if she didn’t exist. She knew that she’d hurt him and she was sorry she’d had to, but honestly, was he going to hate her forever? It wasn’t like he was without anyone to love him. His friends loved him dearly, his team mates, the members of the staff, and of course Ginny. Perhaps Ginny most of all, if he would only see it.

The meal ended and Laylani pushed Harry from her mind; he would come around eventually. He had to. Besides, Laylani had one last surprise planned for Draco for that night and she would need to put all her concentration in it to carry it out as she wanted to.

She put her plan into effect a half hour before curfew. They’d been at her place, reading over each other’s Charms essays when she’d casually brought up that he would have to leave soon for hallway patrols.

“Lani, I don’t have hall duty tonight.”

“Yes, you do. You mentioned it to me last Friday, and again not three days ago.”

“No, I’m sure I don’t-”

“Yes you do, I swear that’s what you told me.” Draco furrowed his brow and thought back. He was almost positive that he didn’t, but there had been a lot of schedule changes within the last week. Maybe he did. Either way, he decided he would go check the schedule to be sure.

“Alright love, if that’s what I told you, I’ll go check. Are you sure I wasn’t talking about a different day?”

“Positive.” He sighed.

“Okay, I’ll go check the schedule.” He got up and opened the portrait.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes, alright?” She nodded, not looking up from his essay.

“Alright, love.” The instant she heard the portrait close, she got up and gathered the items she would need. She changed quickly and slipped on her black cloak. Just before she left, she changed the password to her portrait to give her a few extra minutes to set up. She hurried down the hall and rushed as fast as her legs would take her to Draco’s quarters.

She whispered the password to the painting of the mother and child and it swung open. Realizing she had very little time she hurried into Draco’s bedroom shutting the door firmly behind her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Draco grumbled all the way to Lani’s room. She had been wrong. He didn’t have patrolling for another three days. He should have just trusted his instinct and continued with his plan. He’d wanted to spend the night at her place, not only because of the day, but quite frankly he slept better with her near. His plan had been to \'lose track of time\' and have it end up being past curfew, thus having an excuse to stay the night. Now his excuse was gone.

‘Well,’ he thought woefully. ‘Might as well go say goodnight then.’ He got to the portrait and whispered the password. Nothing happened. He said it again, louder this time. Still, the portrait hole remained closed. The maiden in the picture giggled.

“She changed the password.” That was curious. Why would she do that? He knocked on the portrait.

“Lani? Laylani are you alright?” No answer. He began to pound on the door.

“Laylani are you okay?” The girl in the portrait was shaken to the point of falling over.

“She’s not here. She left after you did.” She cried. Draco stood still, staring fixedly at the painted girl.

“Where did she go?” The girl shook her head.

“I don’t know. She left in a cloak with a book bag and ran down the hall.” Draco’s brow furrowed and he frowned. Where the hell would she have gone at that time of night? And why would she change the password so he couldn’t wait for her in her quarters? He left without saying another word to the portrait.

Unbeknownst to him, he passed an invisible Snape, who was to watch over *her* door tonight. He watched Draco walk by and assumed she’d turned in already. Excellent, then all he had to do was make sure she stayed put. He watched Draco disappear around the corner and felt a small twinge of guilt. He’d been given instruction to inform the boy of Laylani’s situation almost a month ago, but he hadn’t yet brought himself around to doing it. Talking about the girl meant thinking about her, which undoubtedly would lead to thinking of her mother. Without haste, he’d pushed it all out of his mind. He would tell Malfoy when he needed to know, and until then…things were fine as they were.

Draco stood at the landing of the staircase, trying to think the situation out rationally, but could find none to think with. Where the hell would she have gone, especially at such an hour, alone? The library was closed for the evening. The Astronomy tower, where she often went to look at the stars she claimed that she hadn’t really seen in America, was locked that night to prevent the massing of new couple who wanted to snog. She wasn’t in the kitchen. Where the hell else would she be? The only other place she ever went was to class and his room……

Like a flash of lightning, it all became completely clear to him. She was in his room. And she had been waiting, with whatever plans she had in store for the evening, for the last fifteen minutes that he’d been searching. He felt like an idiot. Not wanting to waste any more time, he ran in the direction of his chambers.

By the time he reached the portrait leading to his room, he was practically panting form the exertion. He was pretty sure he hadn’t touched a single stair on the three flights down. He gasped the password and the child in the painting giggled as it swung open. Laylani sat on the couch still in her cloak, smiling at him like she owned the place.

“I’m glad you made it. I have a surprise for you.” Draco stood there dumbly. Laylani crossed the room and took his hand to lead him to the bedroom door. She stopped and stepped aside. He looked at her curiously.

“Well, go in.” she said. Draco pushed open the door to his bedroom and stepped in. Every flat surface was covered with a multitude of lit candles that, along with the fireplace, cast the room in a delicate, flickering glow. He marveled that she’d manage to set up and light what had to be over two hundred candles in only fifteen minutes. Draco heard the door lock behind him, along with the rustle of material. He turned around slowly, not quite sure what he would see but hoping against hope, if the Gods had any sense of fairness, she would be naked.

She wasn’t, not quite. Instead, she was wearing lingerie. More specifically, the entire silk Slytherin green outfit that she’d tricked him out of seeing at Christmas. His mouth went dry, his jaw dropped, and he felt himself harden. She gave him a cheeky grin, noticing the growing bulge in his trousers.

“Do you like it, Dragon?” He blinked rapidly a few times and closed his mouth.

“I, er…you, you um…” For the first time in his life, Draco found himself completely tongue-tied. “Wow.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She walked towards the bed with a seductive sway in her hips and sat down. He looked her up and down with wide eyes from where he stood. His fantasies had been correct; she did look amazing in it. The silk stockings accented her long legs, and the cling of the silken material showed off her curves. The color of the material matched her eyes exactly, which brought his attention back to her face. She lifted her hand and beckoned for him to join her.

Draco didn’t need to be asked twice. With three swift strides, he was on the bed kissing her fervently, trying to urge her onto her back, and she complied. His hands began to wander freely over the parts of her body he could reach with his lips still pressed firmly on hers. He felt her hand move upwards, one sliding through his hair while the other held him closely at his back. His tongue delved into her mouth and was eagerly met by her own and engaging in a passionate dance.

When the need to breathe finally became greater than the need he felt to kiss her, he pulled away, leaving them both gasping for breath. His lips moved to her jaw, down along the length of her neck, to her collar then over her chest. Suddenly her hands were on his shoulders pushing him away and he leaned back, praying to everything that was holy that she hadn‘t changed her mind.

“What’s wrong?” Her hands flew to the buttons of his shirt that she could reach and began to undo them, and a wave of relief washed over him.

“You’re wearing too many clothes.” she panted. Laylani made short work of the buttons, and he stood up to push the starched white shirt off his shoulders onto the floor, joined shortly after by his belt and trousers.

In a flash of lucidity, he reached down into his pants pocket and grabbed his wand, drawing to point it at her. She shrank back looking frightened.

“Draco, w-what are you doing?” He dropped his wand hand immediately, realizing how it might look to her. He dropped on his knees in front of her, placing a hand on her calf.

“I’m sorry Lani. I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just going to do a contraceptive charm, that’s all. I’m sorry.” She visibly relaxed, relieved that he wasn’t trying to attack her and that he’d remembered contraception. It had completely flown out of her mind. She knew she would love to bear their children someday, but not any day soon.

He whispered the charm, and she saw the skin where the spell had touched her give a warm glow under the material of the corset.

With that done, he placed his wand on the side table, and began to roll the silk stockings down her legs. When they were finally removed, she moved back further onto the bed, resting her head against the pillows. He joined her quickly, resuming their passionate kissing as if they’d never stopped. By now he was feeling an almost tangible ache to have his hands touching all of her heated flesh. Draco moved his hand over the corset, looking for any clips or ties that he could undo to get the damned thing off her. He finally found the long line of hook-and-eye clips running down her torso and as best he could while still kissing her, he began to unhook them one at a time.

He moved his lips downward to the column of her neck as he continued to undo the hooks. She moaned as he increased the suction against the junction of her neck and shoulder, brushing his tongue over the skin tenderly. When he finally had to pull away to undo the troublesome last clip, he was pleased to see a bright red lovebite that marked her as his own. The corset finally fell away and he threw it aside. His right hand snaked up from where it rested at her hip to cup her breast and his thumb ran gentle but determined circles over her nipple while the left had moved down her side, fingers playing at the edge of her knickers. She looked up to him with hooded eyes, speaking in a tone more salacious then Draco thought was possible for any woman to possess.

“Take them off.” Laylani felt more than saw him pull back, hook his fingers at the waistband and pull the material down her long legs. She watched him slide them off her feet and toss them carelessly over his shoulder to land near the rest of their clothes before removing his own undergarment. She saw him slither up between her legs, and with what she knew had to be the sexiest smirk that any man ever wore, spread her thighs further apart and ran a slow tongue up her heated sex, making her breath catch in her throat before it released itself as a small sob. Feeling smug, he continued his torturous teasing, enjoying feeling her become increasingly wetter under his ministrations while she writhed on the bed, twisting at handfuls of the covers and emitting varied sounds of pleasure.

She could feel her impending orgasm begin to tighten low in her stomach, the pleasure becoming greater and greater. With her fingers tangled in Draco’s hair she held him against her, not that he would pull back now. The knot of pleasure became tighter and tighter inside her until all at once it flew apart spreading the fire of this orgasm through every nerve in her body, causing her to arch her back rigidly and cry out his name again and again until her body finally relaxed, and her cries turned into small whimpers. He’d kept his eyes on her the whole time, feeling more aroused than he ever had in his young life.

When her muscles finally calmed and brought her back down onto the bed, he slid further up her body resting his slim hips between her thighs and brushed away the hair that had strewn itself wildly about her face. He watched her lovingly, gently coaxing her to open her eyes again. A tiny smile spread over Laylani’s lips as her green eyes, still dark with passion, flickered half-open.

“Hi.” she whispered. Draco smiled.

“Hullo.” She took a deep breath and twisted her hips about his, causing him to draw a sharp breath. She wet her lips and looked up at him expectantly.

He honestly couldn’t believe it but he hesitated. He’d been going practically mad to have her since she came back that October and now that it was all going to come to fruition, he hesitated.

“Are you sure you’re ready?” The words were foreign to him, and almost felt blasphemous coming out of the mouth of the Slytherin Prince. Before her, he sincerely couldn’t have cared less if the female involved wasn’t sure or ready, only that he got his own gratification. But somehow Laylani had come along and changed that effortlessly. Perhaps she hadn’t transformed him into a better person; he still detested mudbloods and valued himself better then them for his own purity, and for the most part he could probably still be called a selfish, arrogant prick. But it might be fair to say she’d made him a better man, brought out a sort of conscience in him that was speaking out against his typically cruel actions more and more often. And now, at the cusp of making love for the first time with the woman he loved and was to marry, his conscience was telling him to make sure she was positive about the decision she made, to give her the opportunity to back out if she needed it. Above anything else, he wanted her to come away from this without regrets.

Damned conscience.

Laylani looked into his eyes that flashed like molten silver and easily read his concern. She smiled, feeling her heart swell inside her chest. Her knight was ready to protect her, even if it was from himself.

“Absolutely.” Draco dropped his head down to kiss her while she brought a hand down, guiding his shaft into her. He slowly slid deeper and deeper inside of her until his shaft finally hit her maidenhead. He kissed her fiercely as he forced his way through her virginity with one sharp thrust that made her eyes open wide and strangled squeak escape from her throat. Only when his pelvic bone met hers did he pull out of the kiss.

It was unbearable for him to see the single tear rolling down the side of her face while she breathed deep labored breaths. He began raining gentle kisses over her face, whispering to her how sorry he was she was hurting and promising it would pass soon, though of that he couldn’t be sure. He held as still as he could with most of his weight supported on his elbows, even though his painfully aroused body was begging him to move.

As for Laylani, she was thinking. This wasn’t as bad as it had been made out to be. There was not denying it hurt, but it wasn’t the agonizing, blood-curdling pain her street friends had promised her over the years. Maybe it was because she’d spent six years being repeatedly exposed to the Cruciatus curse, but this really wasn’t all that terrible. It had a painful tearing sensation, followed by a minute or two of raw discomfort but now it was just this filled feeling that was not entirely unpleasant, though perhaps a little too stretched, but that was beginning to fade as well.

Laylani reached a hand up to stroke Draco’s platinum hair and he looked to her. She smiled.

“It’s okay now, Dragon.” He returned a gentle smile. Always watching to gauge her reaction, he began to slowly thrust inside of her with an ease and grace that only a Malfoy could possess his first time.

Sweet Merlin, he was in heaven. He had to be. Her body was putting him in the most excruciating ecstasy he’d ever felt, and Gods, if he wasn’t loving every single second of it. It was so unlike anything he’d ever felt before, yet everything he‘d imagined and more; hot, slick and so incredibly tight around his hard cock. He felt her muscles tighten around him and it drew a groan from deep inside him.

Laylani bit her lip and held in a small moan. It had felt strange at first but now Draco was building up some kind of delicious friction inside of her. She watched Draco, his face tense but riddled with pleasure as he exerted himself. Her first movement to add to his pleasure had been an accidental twitch, but seeing his reaction she tried experimenting with the motions of her body to see what other reactions it brought out of him. She watched his face with a gleeful curiosity, finding out what would happen if she tightened now, licked there, bit here. But when she first bucked her hips to meet him, it sent a new, more powerful feeling running through the both of them like an electric surge, awakening something more primal and animalistic inside of them. He managed to wrap one of her legs over his hips and she instinctively brought up the other and began to meet him thrust for thrust, as they established a fast and pounding rhythm together.

Laylani began to place kisses anywhere she could reach, sometimes so hard that she left tiny pink marks, though they soon faded. She met his dark eyes, almost black with lust, as often as she could watching wicked smirks play over his lips, knowing she was returning them with just as much heat and passion. He began add a twist of his hips while driving himself into her and it changed the sensation altogether, hitting different places inside of her that had until now remained untouched. A deep, seductive hum rang out, vibrating through her body.

Draco felt himself getting closer and knew he couldn’t hold off on much longer. In the last coherent thought his mind could form, he wanted Laylani to climax with him, for them to come completely undone together. He shifted his weight to the side and freed up his right hand. Slipping it in between their bodies, he began to rub gentle but rapid circles on her clitoris. Her eyes snapped wide open, only to screw themselves tightly shut again. She cried out for him, shouting incoherently, her mind a total blur of anything other then pleasure and his followed in quick pursuit.

She rocked up again and again against his body as he pounded into her own, both of them having long ago lost all semblance of control, only instinctively chasing their own pleasure as well as wanting to give it to the other. Draco kept watching her and somewhere in the smallest place in the back of his mind and naturally the biggest place in his heart, he marveled at how beautiful and wild she looked, how wonderful it was to be this close to her, practically being a part of one another. How he would never forget this as long as he lived.

Then she began to climax with inarticulate cry and wide open eyes, her walls clenching all around him and drawing out his own orgasm. His world tore apart at the seams into a multitude of stars that clouded his vision, making her look like some God-blessed angel in his eyes, though he didn’t know it yet. Nothing processed other than the wordless bliss that drove his body through wave after wave of unadulterated ecstasy

They came back down to earth, literally collapsing on the bed. Draco dropped his weight onto her. He resolved when he remembered how to breath properly he would move off of her. He could feel her chest strain to bring breath to her body, as they both breathed heavily with ragged exertion. She brought up her hands, running them over his back, damp with perspiration, and he could feel her pressing kisses weakly against his temple.

“I love you.” He breathed.

“I love you, too.”

They were silent for minutes after that, catching their breath. Finally Draco moved off of her and she shivered at the loss of his warmth. He pulled back the covers, slipping them both under them, her body as near to his as he could. She sighed contentedly as she snuggled close to his firm body.

“What time tomorrow, love?” She didn’t even open her eyes.

“What time what?” He yawned.

“What time should I set the alarm for? I’d rather like to be up when you leave.” She grinned.

“Whatever time you usually get up. I brought my stuff so I don’t have to leave until you do.” Draco smiled.

“Good. I‘m glad.” He planted a soft kiss on the top of her head and they both drifted off into a contented sleep wrapped in each others arms.


A/N: Yay! That was so fun to write. It\'s nice to take a break from all this seriousness. I hope I wrote it well enough. As always review with your ideas and opinions. I like to think that SOMEONE is reading my story, and reviews affirm that. Thanks for all the wonderful rev I\' I\'ve gotten so far.