Trials Of Love!

Title: Trials of Love ( 3/ ?)
Author: granger2malfoy
Pairing: D/Hr, B/G
Rating: Teen, unless so marked
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from HP verse.
Genres: Drama, Romance
A/N: Not HBP compliant. This is sequel to The Given Choices. Thanks to my beta, Rosi.
*~*~*~*~ Chapter Three - New Way of Life ~*~*~*~~*

The morning sun shone into the special bedroom for the Head Boy and Head Girl as the two students began to get ready for a the first day of school of their last year at Hogwarts. Hermione, now Hermione Malfoy, softly hummed and pulled up her gray skirt as her equally young husband tied his shoes. Draco rose from the edge of their large bed and stepped up behind her body and moved a section of her long curls out of the way as he began to kiss along the side of her exposed neck. His sweet kisses tracked towards her as he whispered, "I love being able to finally be able to share a bed with you, where I can go to sleep next to you and wake with you tightly in my arms."
"Hm. I most certainly agree. I’m glad that Dumbledore created this room for us to be together at night but still have separate rooms to keep up appearances though," she murmured as began to brush her thick hair and he pulled on his white shirt. "But we do need to get a move on because breakfast will start in about twenty minutes and I am sure Ginny will stop by to grab me, if I don’t get to her first."

Her eyes glanced over to the above the fireplace where two large mirrors reflected their different sitting rooms. She smiled as she felt Draco step up against her body and rested his left arm, which he wrapped around her waist, on her slightly curved stomach. Hermione laid her bare arm on top of his and twined their fingers together. The Dark Mark, which a constant reminder of her dangerous role as spy, stood out against her tanned skin and she could make out his through the thin material of his shirt. A slight lowering of the corners of her mouth caused him to pull tighter against him and Draco spoke softly, "Everything is going to be okay. Besides, there are happier things to think about. Right?"

The tips of his fingered tickled her stomach and caused her to laugh from being tickled. Hermione turned in his arms and started to knot his tie as she said, "You’re right. Come on, handsome. We need to get moving."


"Okay but I’m going to have a hard time concentrating today after that shower. I almost forgot how much fun sharing one can be," Draco commented as he wagged his eyebrows up and down as he lowered his lips to give her a passionate kiss.

"No more of that, you. I need to get out of here. I’m starved."

He chuckled and handed the clean white shirt of hers as he grabbed his wand and robes. With a quick kiss on the cheek, a soft caress of her lace covered breast and a naughty wink, the sexy blond grabbed some of
the green powder from the silver dish on the left side of the mantel and stepped into the large fireplace as he said, "I love you and I’ll see you later, hun."

"Love you too, Draco," she waved and started to grab the remainder of her clothing as she also picked up her wand. Then with a quick scan of the room to ensure nothing of importance was left behind, Hermione grabbed some red powder from the gold dish on the right side and dropped it to the unlit fire grant.

After a few moments, she walked out of the fireplace and into her empty Head Girl bedroom and finished the chore of getting dressed. Just as she finished packing her last item in her heavy bag, the figure of woman who guarded her room called out from inside her sitting room. "Miss Granger, a Miss Weasley, Mister Weasley and Mister Potter are here to see you."

Hermione smiled and said, "I’ll be right there. Thank you."

She gave Crookshanks a quick scratch behind the ear and entered the cozy sitting area to open the door to her rooms for her friends. Ginny’s smiling face appeared first and then the two boys behind her. Hermione moved to the side to let them enter her rooms and stated, "I’ll be ready in a moment. I just need to grab my bag."

Ron made himself comfortable in the arm chair in front of the fire as Ginny walked around the room and looked over the desk in the corner. Hermione grabbed her bag from her bed and took a quick glance in the mirror to make sure no hair was wildly out of place. The sight of Harry against her doorframe with his hands tucked into his pockets reemphasized to her about her still uneasiness around her best friend, who also was her ex-boyfriend that wanted to go back out with her. He gave her a slight smile at catching her watch him in the mirror as he commented, "I’m impressed."

"Impressed about what?"

"You actually made your bed. Really good too. Doesn’t even look slept in," Harry said as he walked around the edge of her bed and closer to her.

She turned to him and he stepped close to her as he opened his mouth to say something but he was stopped by Ginny’s voice as she entered the room. "Oh, let me guess. You’re saving the house elves some work by doing it yourself. I thought you gave up on spew?"

With a shake of her head, Hermione brushed passed Harry and linked arms with the female red-head. "Never you mind. Let’s get to the hall. I’m starved."

"Hermione actually wanting to eat more than get the school year started? We need to document this into the next verison of Hogwarts: A History. But it still sounds good to me," Ron practically bounced onto his feet at her statement and rubbed his stomach.

The two girls walked out of Hermione’s rooms and into the Gryffindor common room. The boys followed right behind them as they had gotten used to over since last July. Over the course of the summer, the two girls spent a lot of time together after as they learned to control their natural powers. Blaise and Ginny had been the other two with ability to control nature. At the end of the school year, Hermione revealed that she had a few incidents with her magic that moved the ground and rocks. Then Draco admitted to have had similar things happen but with air and wind. Snape told them at the beginning of that also Ginny Weasley and Blaise Zabini spoke of events of the same kind over the course of their life. Ginny admitted to having problems causing fires or extinguishing candles without trying. The quiet Slytherin told stories of saving his older sister, who could not swim, by wishing the water level of the river she fell in would lower to where she would be able to stand.

The four students were told to keep their abilities secret as they fine tuned them over the summer. Dumbledore made excuses for them to come to Hogwarts at the beginning of August to continue their training at the school. Professor Snape worked with Hermione and Draco as Remus Lupin worked with Blaise and Ginny. All of the small group got to the point where they could start and stop their abilities on their own but could not start them without any amount of their nature available. Of course, Draco’s ability to control the wind was easy because there was air all around. Hermione’s also tended to be a little easier because as long as she had some dirt, stone or blade of grass. But Blaise and Ginny had problems because fire and water were not always around.
Hermione and her friends entered the Great Hall and took their normal seats at the Gryffindor table. The fact about her powers as well as her relationship with Draco, her husband, was not to be known except for a few members of the Order and Blaise and Ginny. Voldemort knew about her marriage, since he was the one who did the ceremony but they kept their powers over the earth and the air a secret from him. And especially Draco’s father. Narcissa Malfoy knew something was going on but both Severus and her thought it would be safer that she did not know about their powers for her own safety, as well as their own. Hermione glanced over once to the Slytherin table to take a quick look at the young man who stole her heart over the course of last year.

Draco must’ve felt her eyes on him because he turned from his conversation with Blaise and gave her a quick wink before turning back to the curly-haired Slytherin. Her line of thought about her husband was interrupted by the voice of Ron from across from her. "Oy, Hermione. You really must be hungry!"

Her brows furrowed together as she looked down to see she had filled her plate with all sorts of goodies that left no more room on her plate. With a shy look, Hermione replied, "Well, I am planning on packing some of the fruit and muffins for later."

Harry looked up and asked, "Planning on skipping lunch to hit the library already?"

"No, I’ve just been getting hungry around ten," she admitted as she began to eat her eggs and then took a sip of pumpkin juice. "But actually, that is a good idea. But maybe after last class."
Her three friends chuckled and continued to eat their breakfasts as their Head of House began to hand out their class schedules. Hermione rose and approached Professor McGonagal as she asked, "Would you like some help, Professor?"

"That would be very helpful, Miss Granger."

Hermione took half of her stack and worked her way down the opposite side of the table as she handed out the sheets of parchment. Once at the end of the table, she gave the last schedule to a first year and then began to head back to her seat to finish her meal. But she heard her name being called from the Ravenclaw table on her other side and turned to see the girl she meet in the headmaster’s office the night before. "Hello, May. Ready for your first day at Hogwarts?"

The younger girl’s brows furrowed and then relaxed before she smiled and said, "Yes, M-Miss Granger."

Hermione laid her hand on May’s shoulder as she reminded her, "Call me Hermione. Now, enjoy the day. Remember if you need anything, just ask me or Draco."

"Okay," May replied as she looked over towards the Slytherin table. "Do you really think he wouldn’t mind if I asked him questions?"

"If he does, just tell me and I’ll take care of it. I told you last night. His bark is worse than his bite. I need to get back to my meal."

Hermione took her seat back at her table as some of the students were already getting up and leaving the hall. She finished her eggs and quickly shoved a slice of buttered toast into her mouth as she wrapped her fruits and blueberry muffin up into a napkin to eat later on. Ron got up and said, "Come on, Hermione. I saw your first class is with Snape and you don’t want to arrive late for him. Don’t need to lose points for Gryffindor on the first day."

"Right," she muffled from around the corners of her bread and placed her bag on her shoulder as she got up. Quickly she stood and immediately felt light-headed as lowered back down to the bench. Harry was right next to her a moment later and grabbed her arm to ease her way down.

"Hermione, are you alright?" he asked as he took her bag from her shoulder and dropped it on the ground from the mere heaviness of it. With a flick of his wand, the bag appeared very light as he flung it over his shoulder without problem. "Blimey, no wonder you couldn’t stand! That weighed a ton. But are you alright?"
She nodded as she stood and saw Draco headed that way but not too quickly to arouse any suspicion. In his silver eyes, she saw his worry and the same worry on the face of Blaise, who was at his side. Hermione smiled gently as she held out her hand for her bag back. "Yes, I am. Just stood too fast that’s all."

The two Slytherins reached the small group of remaining Gryffindors as Harry stated, "No, I’ll walk you down to your class and I’ll just tell Flitwick after I get back why I was late. No big deal."

Hermione placed her hands on her hips and tapped her foot as she hissed, "No way will I be the reason you are late to class. Now give me my bag, Harry James Potter."

"No, mate, I’ll take it for her. We have the same class and that way you won’t be late to class," Blaise exclaimed and took her shoulder strap from Harry’s body as he continued, "Come on, Hermione. Class is going to start soon. Sure you don’t need to see Madam Pomfrey first?"

Her head shook as she knew that any further debate over her bag would only cause them to be late and probably wouldn’t win anyways. She placed her hand on Harry’s arm as she said, "Thanks for the offer really. But Blaise will be my knight today. I do appreciate the thought."

Bright green eyes went wide and he smiled for the first time in months at her words. Hermione remembered herself and took her hand off his person after a moment. But soon saw some jealousy flash in Draco’s eyes as he stepped behind Harry. "Come on, Granger. Tell Potty good-bye before Snape yells at all of us."
Harry turned to him and snapped, "No one asked for you to stick around, Malfoy."

Hermione stepped in between her husband and her best friend. "Enough! I’ll see you later, Harry."

"Okay, Mione. Later and don’t skip lunch. We don’t need you getting sick."

She followed Draco’s lead out the hall with Blaise at her side and he asked, "Are you sure you’re okay?"

"Yes, I just got up too fast."

A muttering came from in front of her and she asked, "What was that, Draco?"

He stopped his long strides for them to catch up and once they had he leaned to whisper, "I could’ve been your knight today."

Blaise laughed and shook his head as the short, dark curls bounced at the movement. "Why I do believe you’re jealous of me? I’m flattered."

"Oh, don’t let it go to your head, Zabini," Draco quipped as he watched Hermione with concern and was about to open his mouth when she raised her hand.

"So, help me if you ask me if I am alright," she said as they went down to the dungeons with a Slytherin male on either side of her. "I am fine. No, I do not need to go to the infirmary. Yes, I did eat enough for breakfast."
His body stopped in his footsteps at the door to the Potions classroom. "Of all people, I think I have the most right to ask those questions."

Blaise placed her bag by her feet and squeezed her hand before entering the classroom to leave them alone in the hall. With a defeated sigh, Hermione turned and glanced down the deserted corridor as she took his hand. "I’m sorry for snapping at you. You’re right."

He raised her hand to his lips and whispered, "I just worry about you especially with-"

The sound of fast footsteps caught their attention and their bets were on that it was Snape. They hurried into the classroom and took their position at the first table as they were already assigned as Potions partners from last year. Just a minute after they reached their chairs, the door flung open as the Potions master entered with his usual flare and instructed, "Your assignment is on the board. Get to it."

Chairs were scrapped against the floor as the small classroom of the last level Potions class got the necessary equipment from the storage room, which connected to the room on the left side. This year was very important to Hermione and her N.E.W.T.s were on the top of her concerns but was not alone to say the very least.
*~~**~~*~*~* To Be Continued ~*~***~~*~*~*~*
Sorry so long between updates... but I found myself another good beta. :)