Mistaken Identities

"So... Harry and Ron... are they..." Draco trailed off. He wasn't really sure what he was asking.

"Harry and Ron are... a really good team." Hermione felt a blush rising in her cheeks.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's ok. It's just, I was getting some interesting vibes from them."

"Hmm, well, um..." Hermione shifted. "The safest thing to say is that they're together. I mean, a couple. But, um, I'm not really sure they like boys in any other situation. Does that make sense?"

"Not really." Draco smiled to take any sting out of his comment.

"I can't really explain it. I understand it on a visceral level and trying to use words doesn't really work. It never has. I'll just give you an example. They sit around and talk how hot this or that girl is and then ten seconds later snog each other senseless. They're just... Harry and Ron. Dumbledore calls them shield brothers."

Draco whistled. "I didn't even know that happened anymore."

"I'm not sure it does."

“Snape knows, doesn’t he?” Draco asked, trying to sound casual and failing. Hermione shot him a sharp glance and nodded.

“Why do you ask?”

“Nobody really knows about Vengeance Oaths anymore. They’ve been out of style for centuries and come from a time even older than that. But to bond as Shield Mates comes from a similar time period in Wizard history and I can see all of that stuff being right up Snape’s alley. I’d bet he’s shown them a couple of tricks that haven’t been seen in hundreds of years.”

“I would say Snape has shown all of us a number of useful tricks so I guess I wouldn’t be surprised.” Hermione said, pieces clicking together in her head.

"Leave it to the Boy Wonder and his Trusty Sidekick to come up with something that... unusual." Draco had obviously intended to say something with a little more bitterness and had replaced it at the last second. That, more than anything, showed Hermione how far he had come over the past couple of weeks.

"Watch and you'll see. They're like an extension of one another. They finish each other's sentences. They think of the same things at the same time. And when they fight..." Hermione sucked in her breath, unable to find the words. Ron and Harry were good fighters separately, magically and physically. Together, they were a juggernaut. Those were the rare moments she felt supremely confident they were going to steam roller Voldemort into a flat little pancake.

"Should I be jealous?" The tone was light but she detected a hint or worry underneath it.

"No. The three of us are... more than siblings. We're a team. But there's nothing more to it than that." She reached out and threaded her fingers through his.

"So... you haven't... I mean, with either of them?" Draco lack of eloquence demonstrated his discomfort more clearly than if he had said it and Hermione wondered what, exactly, was Draco worried about.

"No. In fact, you're the only wizard I've ever slept with." Hermione replied.

"You..." Draco paused and wrinkled his brow in thought. "You slept with muggles?" He asked, surprise in his voice.

"Yeah." Hermione was starting to feel a little defensive. "I do spend every summer home. I have other friends." She struggled to keep her voice even.

"I guess I didn't really think about where you went in the summer." Draco murmured with a small smile and then stared over her shoulder for a couple minutes.

"Is there a problem?" Hermione demanded.

"What? No. I'm just adjusting some thoughts in my head. That's all." Draco blinked a couple of times and refocused his eyes on her face.

"Thoughts such as..." She prompted.

"You'll probably be unhappy with me." His tone was carefully neutral.

"I'm going to be more than unhappy with you if I have to guess." She tried to remain calm. The past few weeks had been unsettling to say the least. And they were going into battle with Voldemort within days. She was not prepared to deal with an emotional crisis in her relationship with Draco. If it was a relationship. Were they in a relationship?

"I don't really like Harry. I never have even after I started secretly thinking that following Voldemort was a bad idea. He's... a jackass." Draco paused and frowned in thought.

Hermione blinked. A rant on Harry was not quite what she was expecting and her confusion must have showed on her face.

"It's just that... I'm absurdly pleased that Harry and you were never... intimate the way we are. I know it's crazy but I feel like I've been pitted against Harry from the beginning and it just makes me happy." He trailed off.

"You know, Harry isn't quite as big of a jackass as his public persona would have you believe." Hermione said, mainly stalling for time. She wasn't sure how to respond to his earlier statement.

"I know. Neither am I." At this Draco winked at her and she smiled back involuntarily. "And, I'm going to try. But I don't think Harry and I are ever going to be close. And that pretty much means Weasley and I aren't going to either. Not that I really liked Ron but I didn't dislike him. I guess that’s odd because he’s always been more than clear about how much he disliked me. I just... he's always reminded me of a big, slobbery puppy: fun to play with, hard to be around, and as equally difficult to hate."

Hermione suppressed a giggle at Draco's description of Ron. It was actually pretty accurate. "Just try, please. They're really good people and they're my best friends."

"I know." He squeezed her hand. "So, how long have they... I mean... umm"

"It started sometime before our sixth year."

"That long, huh? I would not have guessed."

Hermione nodded. She would not have either. A long, companionable silence settled over them and Hermione was starting to drift off when Draco spoke.

"I love you."

Hermione started and stared at him. She loved him, she did. But the future was uncertain and she wasn't sure she could afford the luxury of love.

"We could all be dead in days." She said softly, staring down at their hands.

"I know. And I do not want to die without you knowing how I feel. I wasn't sure. I guess I'm still not. But I have never felt this way about anyone before and if we live through this, I'd like to see where this goes."

Hermione smiled and felt her heart constrict and tears pricked her eyes.

“Do you trust me?” She asked. She couldn’t say the words, not yet. But she could show him how she felt with her body.

Now it was Draco’s turn to start. He met her eyes and nodded warily.

“Turn around for me, please.” She whispered, voice low and rough. He did as she asked though she could see the tension in his shoulders. She twisted her hands with a whisper and when she slipped the black, silk blindfold over his eyes, he actually started to shake.

“Hermione, I don’t know if I can...” He choked out.

“I’ll stop right now if you ask but I’m not going to do anything painful or nasty. I just want to try something.”

He nodded and swallowed. She took that as his permission and tied the black piece of cloth securely around his head. She focused her eyes and then drew her finger down his chest. His shirt parted under her finger and he gave a small sound of disapproval.

“That’s an expensive...” His voice trailed off as she dropped her mouth to his chest. She licked and nipped her way as the cloth split wider. When she reached his buckle, she tugged the shirt free just a bit to one side and began to nibble a trail back up the exposed flesh. This time, her tongue traced over his nipple so she sucked sharply and ran her tongue over the sensitive tip. He groaned and reached out to touch her. She pulled back and pushed his hands away.

“Behave yourself.” Her voice was husky with need.

There wasn’t an inch of him she didn’t lick, suck or nibble on. The soft material of his shirt parted magically under her finger and she worked up one arm, sucking on each finger, and back down across his neck to the other arm. Finally, she moved her body lower and began to part the crease of his pants. He bucked his hips up as she moved her warm mouth over his cock so she tsked her disapproval at him and moved to one lean thigh. When she finally made it back up the other leg he was quivering in anticipation and seemed to muttering occasionally in French. It wasn’t a language she had an ear for but hearing Draco speak it in that sexy stutter made the ache between her legs sharpen. She’d never made him mutter in French before. She swiped the leaking tip of his cock with her tongue before snaking back up his body. He yelped his pleasure at the unexpected heat of her tongue.

“Roll over, I need to get the rest of you.” She whispered in his ear. He groaned in dismay.

“’Mya, please.” His voice was hoarse and he sounded a little strangled. She slid one leg over her hip and wriggled her clit against his erection. She almost keened at the intense pleasure of the sensation.

“Oh... you feel so good.” He whispered, quivering, though he didn’t move. Hermione smiled.

She wrapped one arm under his shoulder and the other around his neck. With a roll of her hips she slid him inside her and they both let out matching cries of pleasure. She caught his lips with her own and kissed him with an intensity she couldn’t figure out how to put into words. She rolled her hips against him again and again, building the friction, pumping him in and out of her. He wrapped his arms around her, digging his fingernails into the skin of her back as he matched his rhythm to hers. Her muscles started to quiver in exhaustion and pleasure, drowning out the sounds of their bodies moving together, their harsh breathing as they each neared climax.

Hermione bucked her hips against him one last time before she came with a scream, white hot heat exploding through her body. She bit down on his neck as the pleasure roared through her. Draco came moments later, pulling her close as he heaved into her body one last time before coming. He bit her back just as hard as he did so.

They stayed plastered together as they came down, their bodies twitching as small aftershocks ran through them. The sweat was beginning to cool on her back and her heart beat was closer to normal when Draco finally broke the silence.

“After a sexual experience like that, I think I can die in peace.”

Hermione lifted her head and kissed him softly.

“That’s not funny.” She whispered against his lips.

“I know.” He whispered back.



A/N Sorry for the long delay between updates. Hope it was worth the wait!