Visited Upon the Son

Disclaimer: I live in Texas, not Scotland, so I am obviously not JK Rowling. I’m

just playing with the wonderful characters that she created. I promise that I will put them

back the way I found them when I’m done!

AN: Here’s the next chappie!! Thanks to all who reviewed. As always, please R&R.

My muse loves the attention.

AN #2: First of all, I'd like to apologise for my lack of updating. I was busy

with a spring project (which I finally finished) and then my muse and I had

some...um...creative differences. When I finally soothed her ruffled scales (she is a

dragon, of course) it was so hard to write this chapter! But on the plus side, she seems to

be back in a good mood and I have 23 and 24 completed and am just waiting for my beta to get

them back to me! This one is unbeta'd, so any mistakes are my own (although if you see

anything glaringly wrong, please let me know and I'll fix it!).

Visited Upon the Son

© SparkyCSI

Chapter 22. Apologies and Invitations

When Draco arrived at his quarters, he was surprised to see Hermione standing at his door.

“Mia?” he called out to her.

Hermione spun around at the sound of his voice. She’d been standing in front of his door

for five minutes trying to get the courage to knock. “Um…hi,” she began slowly as he walked

up to her, muttering the password to get into his room.

Draco looked at her as he motioned for her to precede him inside. “What are you doing

here?” he asked neutrally.

Hermione glanced down at her hands clasped in front of her nervously. “I…uh…I wanted to

apologize to you for running out,” she said honestly. “I started to have a flashback and

kind of freaked out.”

Draco nodded and drew her into his arms. “I thought that, but why did you run?”

Hermione sighed as his hands rubbed up and down her back soothingly. “I don’t know,” she

muttered into his chest before drawing away slightly to look him in the eyes. “I think that

it may be because I tried to bury those memories.”

Draco nodded his understanding before guiding her towards the sofa to sit down. “Have you

considered moving those memories into a pensieve?” he asked quietly.

Hermione shrugged. “I’d thought about it, but it seems like the cowards way out,” she

finally admitted.

Draco smirked. “Ever the Gryffindor,” he teased. “It’s not cowardly to want to remove

those memories, Mia. You’re a witch, for Merlin’s sake!”

“I know, but I think I need to face this. I mean, this is part of moving on and it’s made

me, me. If I remove that, then would I still be me?” she responded philosophically.

Draco thought for a bit, surprised that her reasoning matched what he’d thought about when

trying to decide to remove the memories from the war. Finally he nodded before quoting

softly, “If you don’t learn from the past, you are doomed to repeat it.”

Hermione nodded. “Exactly. Whether I like it or not, those events changed me and I don’t

want to forget. But, the question is where do we go from here?”

Draco sighed. “We take this one day at a time,” he replied. “I’ll be honest with you, Mia.

I want to move our relationship forward, but I don’t want to push you. Merlin knows that I

desire you, but unless you’re willing to move forward, I’m not going to take that step,” he

said as he body protested. “I’m not that boy who will just take what he wants any longer.”

Hermione smiled. “Thank you. I want to as well, but it’s just frustrating to not be able

to do that right now.” She leaned into his as she said this and kissed him lightly.

Draco groaned as the banked embers of his desire flared back to life at the soft

kiss.

Hermione moaned as well as his lips caressed her, desire pooling in her lower body again,

the unfamiliar ache causing her to squeeze her legs together. Finally, the pair broke

apart, both gasping for air. “Oh Merlin,” Hermione sighed.

Draco smirked, trying not to focus on his desire. “Mia, I think you should go before I

break my promise,” he said.

Hermione blushed as she looked down and saw the evidence of his desire straining against the

cloth of his slacks. She smiled softly. “All right, but before I go, I wanted to ask you

if you would accompany me to Ginny’s wedding.”

Draco nodded absently. “Of course, if she is okay with that.”

“Thank you,” she said as she kissed him one last time, pouring all of her pent up passion

into the kiss. When she finally broke away, both were panting. “Good night.”

“Good night,” Draco returned, watching her walk out of the room. Merlin, she is going to

be the death of me, he thought.

Draco sat on the sofa after she left, trying to focus on anything but his persistent desire.

After fifteen minutes of trying to focus on images of Snape in a tutu and McGonagall

walking in on them with no relief, he decided to take matters into his own hand, as it

were.

He quickly unfastened his trousers and pulled out his hardness with a sigh of relief. He

grasped himself lightly, his eyes closed as his head tilted back. Slowly, his hand began to

move, stroking himself lightly, the memory of kissing Hermione spurring him once.

As he recalled how her body had felt, pressed up to him, he tightened his grip, his thumb

stroking the mushroomed head of his cock. He quickly imagined that it was her hand that was

stroking him and he began to vary his speed and rhythm, feeling his release coming closer.

He tightened is grip again, stroking himself madly as his other hand reached down and

massaged his balls. That threw him over the edge and calling out “Mia” he felt himself fly

over the pinnacle, his release coating his hand.

As he came down from his bliss, he opened his eyes and sighed. This is going to be a

frustrating time.

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Over the next month, Hermione and Draco let their relationship simmer. Draco didn’t push

her any further, although his body was protesting. Hermione discovered that as long as she

didn’t think about the past, she was having fewer flashbacks and dreams. So when Easter

break came up, Hermione told him that she was going to the Burrow a few days early to try

and keep the peace between Ginny and Molly, who had still not forgiven her for getting

pregnant.

When Hermione arrived, Molly and Ginny were fighting.

“Mum! How many times can I tell you that I didn’t mean to get pregnant?” Ginny yelled as

Hermione stepped out of the Floo.

“You should have been more careful!” Molly retorted.

Hermione shook her head before stepping between the two women. “Both of you stop it!” she

said sternly. “What’s done is done and neither of you can change the past.

Both women looked at her before nodding their agreement. Hermione looked at both before

continuing, “Why don’t I take my bags upstairs? Ginny, do you want to help me with that?”

Ginny nodded her agreement before following Hermione upstairs.

“So, what was that all about?” Hermione asked.

Ginny sighed. “Mum neglected to tell the dressmaker that I was pregnant and my wedding

robes are too small,” she said, her upset clearly showing.

“Did you Owl the seamstress and see if she could alter it?”

Ginny nodded. “She said that because there are so many weddings planned that there is no way

she can see me,” Ginny muttered as tears filled up her eyes.

Hermione reached over and patted her on the arm. “What about another seamstress?”

Ginny sniffed. “I don’t know. Maybe Madam Malkin can see me.”

Hermione nodded firmly and waived her wand to finish unpacking quickly. “All right. Let’s

go,” she said firmly.

Thirty minutes later, they were striding down Diagon Alley; Ginny’s wedding robes in tow.

The girls made their way into Madam Malkin’s shop, both shocked by the sheer number of

witches and wizards in the small space. “Wow,” Ginny muttered softly. “I don’t think I’ve

ever seen this many people here.”

Hermione nodded as a frazzled sales girl walked up to them. “Welcome to Madame Malkin’s.

Are you ladies just browsing today?”

Hermione looked at the girl, who looked no older than herself. “Actually, we’re here to see

if Madame Malkin can alter some wedding robes by Saturday,” she said politely.

The girl shook her head. “I’m sorry, but alterations take a fortnight without an

appointment.”

Ginny looked downtrodden at the girl’s response, but Hermione pressed on. “Please, we need

help. Can you at least ask Madame Malkin if she can help?”

The girl got an exasperated look on her face. “Look,” she said waspishly, “no exceptions.

There’s nothing that I can do.”

Hermione looked at Ginny, whose eyes were welling up with tears and decided to bite the

bullet. “Please, can you tell her that it’s for Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger?”

The girl’s eyes grew round at their names and she began to stammer. “Um…wait one moment and

I’ll check,” she muttered before scurrying to a back room. Within moments she was back.

“Please follow me,” she said with a tinge of awe in her voice.

As they were following her, Ginny looked at Hermione in amazement. “Wow, Mia. I can’t

believe that you did that.”

Hermione grinned. “I hate having to use my name, but there are some benefits to being Harry

Potter’s best friend.”

When they got back to the room, Madame Malkin was waiting for them. “Ms. Granger and Ms.

Weasley. How nice to see you. Jennifer said that you needed some robes altered,” she

stated pleasantly.

Ginny nodded. “Yes, ma’am. It’s my wedding robes and unfortunately they are a bit too

small,” Ginny replied.

Madame Malkin nodded. “Of course. Why don’t you change behind that screen and I’ll see

what I can do.” Once Ginny was changing she turned to Hermione. “Ms. Granger, have you

started to look for your wedding robes yet?”

Hermione shook her head. “Not really. I’m not getting married until August, so I haven’t

put much thought into it.”

“Well you should!” Madame Malkin gushed. “You want to look beautiful on your wedding day,

do you not?” She turned and grabbed some books from a shelf. “Here, look at these and see

if anything catches your eye. I will tell you that Muggle wedding attire is all the rage

right now, so there is a lot of variety.”

Hermione nodded and sat in a seat while Madame Malkin began to look over Ginny. She flipped

through the pages, seeing both moving wizarding photos of robes and still Muggle ones of

wedding dresses. She was so absorbed in the books that she didn’t notice that Ginny was

finished until the younger girl sat next to her. Hermione turned the page and gasped when

she saw the Muggle dress.

“Wow,” Ginny said. “That is gorgeous!”

Hermione nodded as she stared at the dress. It was a simple A-line dress with a fitted

square neck bodice. The sleeves were three-quarters length, longer in the back than in the

front. It was a soft ivory in colour with an overlay of lace embroidered with pearls. “I

don’t believe it,” Hermione said in shock. “When I was a little girl, this is the wedding

dress that I dreamed of.”

Ginny looked at her in shock. “Then that settles it. You are supposed to have this dress,”

she said firmly.

Still in shock, Hermione shook her head. Then she looked up at Ginny, trying to get her

wits about her. “Are you ready to go? Was Madam Malkin able to help?”

The younger girl smiled. “Yes and she altered the robes while you were looking at the

catalogues. She even charmed the robes so that you can’t tell that I’m pregnant,” Ginny

gushed excitedly.

Hermione smiled. “Good. Now, let’s get back to the Burrow so that we can finish

preparations.” She turned to Madam Malkin, “Do you have a catalogue that I can take with me

and discuss with my fiancé?

Madame Malkin nodded and gestured to the books in Hermione’s hands. “Take those, my dear.

I have plenty more.”

“Thank you,” Hermione said as she and Ginny rose to leave.

When they arrived at the Burrow, Molly was waiting on them expectantly. “Well,” she said as

soon as they stepped out of the fireplace.

Ginny grinned triumphantly. “Madame Malkin altered them,” she said. “And she taught me a

charm so that no one will know that I am pregnant.”

Molly sighed in relief. “Thank Merlin,” she uttered. “Now girl, we have a lot to do in

very little time, so let’s get to work,” she said and like a general began to outline the

plan to finish the preparations.

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AN: Okay. So, I will try to post 23 as soon as my beta gets it back to me and

then hopefully, I’ll be back on schedule!

Ucdevil – Thanks! I’m actually not sure on that point. In some ways, I want them to get

together before the wedding, but in other ways, I want them to wait. They will probably get

close to it before the wedding.

Kazfeist – They’re getting closer. Their relationship has deepened somewhat, so I think

they’ll be okay! Thanks!!

Cherry – You were half right! It was actually a little of both. Thanks!!!

Monkeymama – Yeah for lurkers! I’m glad you love it and I can promise that I’m not stopping

until I finish it (I’ve actually stopped writing on all my stories until I get this one

complete. I hoping to have it done by chapter 30. Thanks for the review!