The New Minister

A/N: Someone said something about them not thinking that Hermione and Draco would have sex so quickly, and honestly neither did I. The characters ran away from me on that one, I'm sorry, but I like how it turned out.

Chapter 5

‘Hermione! Stop that!’

I looked startled across the table at Ron. ‘What?’ I asked.

‘Stop feeling Malfoy up at the dinner table,’ he said.

‘I wasn’t—’ I started.

‘Your hand was most definitely under the table and in the direction of Malfoy’s body, not yours. And he had that look on his face,’ Ron said. ‘So don’t tell me that you weren’t.’

I put both hands on the table reluctantly. ‘Fine,’ I moaned. But really, how could I help it. Here was this gorgeous creature sitting next to me and it had been over twenty-four hours since I had shagged him. I wanted him again. I wanted to see if it really was as amazing as I remembered, or if it was just my over-active imagination leading me to believe that that was the most incredible sex that I had ever experienced.

‘Thank you,’ Ron said, putting his own hand over Sarah’s on the tabletop.

‘So,’ Malfoy started, clearly disgruntled that I wasn’t allowed to touch his thigh any longer (Ron hadn’t allowed me enough time to get to the higher, more alluring parts of Malfoy’s anatomy), ‘did you two get married because of the baby then?’ We had been talking about how Ron and Sarah’s baby was due within the month.

‘Sarah and I were married for two years before we conceived, actually,’ Ron said, still a bit miffed.

‘We got married because we were very much in love,’ Sarah said with a smile, looking at Ron like he was the last man on earth. She was prettier than me, but still not a total knockout. Her hair was a chestnut colour and was perfectly straight and, sans the roundness of her pregnant belly, she was thinner than I was. She was good for Ron, though. She gave him the adoration that he needed, something that I could never give him. And she wanted to have lots of babies, something that I didn’t want. Two was good for me. But I wouldn’t want to get married just because I was pregnant, as Malfoy had just said.

‘I would hate that,’ I said, finally joining in on the conversation, though late.

The three of them gaped at me, and I realised that I had been talking about the earlier question and not what Sarah had just said. ‘I didn’t mean the being in love,’ I said slowly. ‘I meant to Malfoy’s question earlier. I would hate to be proposed to just because I was pregnant.’

‘Yeah,’ Sarah agreed. ‘It would make you feel worthless, don’t you think?’

‘Exactly!’ I said. ‘I mean, I want a man to marry me for me, not just because I might be giving birth to his bastard child. If I was proposed to because I was pregnant, I would say no because I wouldn’t want a man to think that that’s what I would want, either.’

‘It makes sense,’ Ron said. ‘But if I found out that my girlfriend was pregnant, I would think that she would want that. And even if she did say no, then at least I was man enough to ask her.’

‘He has a point,’ Sarah said.

‘But wouldn’t you feel bad asking her just because she happened to get pregnant?’ I asked him.

‘What if I was going to ask her anyways, and the fact that she was pregnant just speeded up my asking?’

‘Well, in that situation…I don’t know. If you did propose to her, then she would think that you were doing it for the baby. And if you told her you weren’t, then she would think that you really were. So, you would just have to wait it out and ask her at a later date. And this is all assuming that she is anything like me. I know that some women would be ecstatic at getting married, even if it is solely for the reason she got pregnant.’

‘Exactly,’ Malfoy said, joining the conversation at last. ‘Men can never do right by women, so the best thing would be to ask her anyways. Only if you love her, of course. If you don’t, then you wouldn’t want to be stuck with a woman simply because she’s having your child.’

‘True,’ I said. ‘A bastard child is better than a loveless marriage.’

There were murmurs of agreement and we fell into a thoughtful silence. Then Ron said, ‘Well, I think it’s time for port.’

‘In the cupboard,’ I said, pointing to the small glass cupboard next to the table behind Ron and Sarah. Ron turned around and pulled out the decanter of port and three small glasses.

‘There should be a bottle of non-alcoholic wine in there as well,’ I told Ron. ‘For Sarah.’

‘Oh, Hermione, you’re so good to me,’ Sarah said with a smile.

As Ron poured us all small glasses of port, he gestured to us with the decanter still in his hand. ‘So have you two shagged yet, then?’

I gaped. ‘Ron, that’s not something you ask.’

‘Well, from you feeling him up earlier, I say it’s bloody well obvious that you’re at least going to shag in the near future, I was just wondering if you had already?’

‘It’s absolutely none of your business,’ I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

‘And that’s a yes from Hermione,’ Ron said with a smile. Malfoy snickered. Ron caught the snicker and smiled. ‘And a yes from Malfoy!’ He passed over the port and poured a glass of the wine for Sarah.

‘Fine, we shagged, okay?’ I said.

‘You gotta watch out for her,’ Ron told Malfoy in a stage whisper. ‘She may act all shy and coy, but once you get her alone…’

‘Oh, I know,’ Malfoy said with a smirk, rubbing his head where I had pulled his hair yesterday.

‘Hey, you weren’t so considerate yourself,’ I said to him. ‘You bit me.’

He laughed this time. ‘You liked it.’

Fuck. So I did. ‘Can we talk about something else?’ I drank down my port instead of sipping it as I was supposed to. I pushed the glass back over to Ron for a top-up.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Five glasses. Five! I had a bit much, I think. Maybe. Kinda. Sorta. Wow, Malfoy had pretty eyebrows. I giggled as I moved discreetly closer to him, petting his eyebrows.

‘Granger,’ he said with a laugh. ‘You’re drunk.’

‘I’m not drunk, I’m tipsy,’ I explained. ‘You just have such pretty eyebrows.’

‘I love drunk Hermione,’ Ron said with a smile. ‘She does stuff before she thinks about it.’

I didn’t listen to Ron as I admired Malfoy’s gorgeous body. I just wanted to get him alone again. ‘You know,’ I smiled, looking down at Malfoy’s crotch. ‘Malfoy’s got a beautiful cock.’

‘Case in point,’ Ron said with a laugh. Whatever that meant.

‘Okay, I think it’s time to put you to bed, Granger,’ Malfoy said quickly, grabbing my hands to pull me up from my seat.

‘No,’ I said, sitting down on his lap instead. I turned back to Ron and Sarah. ‘That’s the first thing I thought when I saw it, you know. You know that it was in my office, that’s where we…did it.’ I said the last part conspiratorially.

‘Against a wall?’ Ron asked with a smirk.

‘Yes!’ I said happily. Then I cocked my head at him. ‘How did you know?’

He just laughed. So I went on. ‘And after we did it, I had a meeting with your brother! I had to talk to him for an hour with no knickers on.’

Ron was biting his lip now. Sarah looked slightly confused, but still merry. I turned around to look at Malfoy and he was just shaking his head slowly at me in amusement. ‘You’re right, Weasley, she really is a fun drunk.’

‘I’m not drunk!’ I said with a big smile. ‘Can we please have sex again now, Malfoy?’ Fuck it all, why was I saying please again? Why was I giving him the power of sex? Oh well, I was his boss at work, he could be my boss in bed…hmm, I liked that idea.

‘I don’t know. Are you going to fall asleep on me?’ he asked.

I shook my head vehemently. ‘Maybe!’

‘All right,’ he said, grabbing my up into his arms, ‘let’s get you to bed then.’

‘We’ll take the guest bedroom for the night,’ Ron said.

‘We’re shagging tonight, too,’ Sarah told Ron. ‘Don’t think you’re getting out of it.’

Ron smiled. ‘Like I would want to.’

As Ron pulled his wife into my guest bedroom, Malfoy carried me into my bedroom. It was so nice lying in his arms, looking up at his face: The pale skin, the corn silk hair, the sharp lines of his jaw and his nose. He really was a beautiful man…

I yawned. Hmm, I was more tired than I thought.

I felt my head touch my pillow and I was out.