After Midnight

Leading his wife and their children through the crowds at the Quidditch World Cup, Draco Malfoy was elated. He’d successfully made Hermione lean on him emotionally and had been rewarded with an affectionate wife who was grateful for his attentions, rather than being put off by them. As they walked through the crowds she held onto his hand in a slight grip that showed how easy she was with him. The twins were walking in front of them and Hermione had a grip on Troy’s emerald green jacket and Draco held onto Dominick’s. Whenever they would pause to take in the sights, Hermione would squeeze closer to him, leaning her very pregnant belly towards him as if she was looking for protection. He would hold her closer and her head would lean affectionately on his chest.

Immediately after what he now referred to as her ‘indiscretion’, he took her to a Malfoy property in France where he began what he called reeducation. He let her see the twins for only twenty minutes a day for two weeks. The rest of the time she spent in his bed where he reinforced his dominance while he still could without harming the baby. Thinking back on those two weeks made him smile. Although his actions before the veritaserum made him feel ill at times, he was glad he utilized the truth serum. Otherwise he would have been left doubting her.

Learning that she really did mean it when he forced the words ‘I love you,’ out of her mouth had made him very optimistic about their future. He knew that the truth had surprised her as well and they spent part of those two weeks in deep discussion the way that Draco had always dreamed they would. In return for her forced questioning he had allowed her to question him. Mostly it had been questions about their children and how he would react to different scenarios with them, such as if one turned out to be gay or if another suddenly became obsessed with muggle culture. He had honestly answered that he would never harm or turn away any of his children and that he would never force her to choose between him and their offspring. He answered her questions about Ginny and was forced to admit that he thought the chit was a horrid waste of space, however, as long as Hermione begged him, he would make certain that she stayed safe.

She also asked about his intentions for her when he had raped her before pouring the truth serum down her throat. She wondered if he would have sent her away and allowed her to fall into someone else’s hands. He told her that he could never have. Even if she had aborted their child he could never have stood to watch her on the arm of another man. She was his and he worked very hard to ensure that he kept what belonged to him. It wasn’t until after he had felt the effects of the potion wear off that he realized she hadn’t asked the same question of him that had been all-important in his mind.

~~ FLASHBACK~~

“You didn’t ask me if I really loved you,” he stated and for the first time since Hermione had seen him after his father had been imprisoned in sixth year, she saw vulnerability in his eyes.

Reaching out, she touched his face and answered, “I already knew the answer to that one.” Her answer pleased him and he thought to himself about how the potion had revealed to him how much he loved her, and that he wasn’t just obsessed. During her questioning about what he would have done with her if she had aborted their child, he had startled himself with the realization that he could never have allowed her to be taken and that he couldn’t have held true his threat about taking away Dominic and Troy. He still felt horrible for what he’d done. He had a dominant nature in the bedroom, but he liked knowing that she was enjoying herself and that even if he had to force her to like it, she wasn’t physically harmed. Seeing her flinch away from him after years of her accepting his touch had made him feel lower than dirt.

However, it didn’t make him feel so low that he left her alone. Forcing her to kneel in front of him with her back facing him on the bed, he grabbed her hair in his fist and told her to bend over. Trembling, did as he asked and when he used magic to tie her wrists to the bed she stiffened and whimpered and tried to close her legs. He held them apart with his knees and gave her a good smack on the ass.

“I thought you said that you wouldn’t hurt me,” she whimpered.

“I did and that didn’t hurt, it was only to get your attention. Do you remember what I told you when we came here? I told you to do as I say and that everything would be fine. You have to trust me.” He smacked her ass again and watched as it wiggled deliciously in the air as she struggled to move away from his hand.

“I’m scared and I don’t like this,” she protested.

“I didn’t ask you if you liked it and you have no reason to be scared because I won’t actually harm you.” He flicked his wand and she was blindfolded. She was still trembling, but she no longer tried to move away from him.

Stepping back to look at his handiwork, Draco smiled. Her pert little ass was stuck up in the air and with her legs spread while she was on her knees, she looked like an invitation to mate, which is what he was going to do. Picking up a jar from the bedside table, he took out a paintbrush and began to gently paint her exposed sex. When she felt the gentle brush strokes, she relaxed slightly and he saw the beginnings of wet arousal on the pink sensitive skin of her sex. Smirking, he finished the job and then knelt behind her on the bed and slowly began to trace small circles on her back as he waited for the potion to work.

Hermione began to squirm slightly and he knew it was starting work. He slapped her on the ass and told her to hold still. She obeyed, but her flushed skin showed that she was having difficulty obeying him. The potion he had applied would start to tingle as it dried, making her get more and more agitated without any release. He saw her legs beginning to shake with the exertion of not moving.

“What do you want, love?” he asked as he languidly fondled her breast.

“Please,” she whimpered and he took that opportunity to run his fingers along the outer lips of her sex, skirting the area that he needed to touch in order to give her release. He heard her gasp and she wiggled her hips, attempting to get some friction. He leaned over and bit her neck, making her gasp and stop her movements.

“Please, what?” he said, holding her hips firmly in place.

“Please have sex with me,” she moaned and he inserted the tip of his sex in her dripping wet cavern.

“Why should I?” He grinned and moved the head around in small circles, stimulating her even more but never giving her any relief.

“Please! I love you,” she implored.

“Yes, I think I might believe that, but why else?” She was whimpering and moaning and the fluid was leaking out of her hot, wet cavern and onto her thighs.

“I love you, Draco. I’m yours, I belong to you so please make love to me.” Her voice was desperate.

“I might, if you promise me something,” he was getting close himself. Hearing those declarations from her mouth unbidden made his best fantasies come true.

“Oh, gods! Anything!”

“Promise me, that from now on, you’ll do what I say, when I say to do it. Promise me that you’ll have as many children as I want. Promise me that you’ll never try to help Ginny like that ever again.” He slammed forwards into her, but didn’t move. He saw her hesitate and he smacked her thighs again, harder. “Promise me!”

She bit her lip and he could see tears making their way down her face. She had never broken a promise before in her life, so he knew if he could extract the words from her mouth, she would hold to them. The fact that the potion on her sex was making her half-crazy with lust was a great help. He made to withdraw from her, but he heard her reply and faint as it was, it was music to his ears.

“I promise.”

~~~END FLASHBACK~~~

Nearing the box seats he’d purchased, Draco noticed Blaise Zabini. He was excited to see his friend, but gritted his teeth at the willowy red head on his arm. He felt Hermione stiffen next to him and watched as his boys saw the family friends and became excited at seeing familiar faces in the foreign country. Draco had invitedBlaise to sit with them, but he had declined because he had purchased his own tickets. Draco was now very happy for it.

“Draco, it’s so good to see you. Maybe your French team will win this year.” Blaise grasped his hand in a friendly handshake.

“They have just as much as those gits from Germany,” Draco grinned. He kept his arm draped over Hermione’s shoulders and she visibly relaxed. Finally meeting Ginny’s eyes, she gave a small smile and Draco saw the redhead’s face crumple into a mask of false happiness, but he could read the guilt in her eyes. It served her right. She could have killed Hermione or his unborn son with her selfish treachery. Some people really needed to learn when to just give in.

“You look really beautiful, Hermione,” the redhead choked out. “You look positively radiant.” Her eyes misted with tears, but they didn’t fall from her pretty green eyes.

“Thank you, Ginny,” Hermione replied sweetly, gazing at her friend with a smile. “You look lovely, too.” Draco could tell by her tone of voice and facial expression that she was silently giving the redhead forgiveness.

Ginny excused herself to the restroom and gave Hermione a promise to get ahold of her later. Hermione had looked downward and nodded her head. She then asked him if it would be okay to if they could go to their seats because she was feeling tired. Draco escorted her to their seats and Blaise followed. Dominic was content to sit with his mother, but Troy wanted to stay with Daddy. Draco picked him up and carried him on his shoulders, letting the boy watch the flying banners that had been charmed to put on tricks for the milling crowds. He and Blaise talked about business and Quidditch as they walked through the throngs of people. Finally they came to Blaise’s section and Draco told his friend that he had to get back to his pregnant wife.

“I guess I’ll be dealing with that soon enough,” Blaise sighed.

“What do you mean?” Draco asked while keeping an extra hard grip on Troy who was doing his best to catch a flying banner just above their heads.

“She’s pregnant,” Blaise grinned. “It was bound to happen sooner or later considering what family she came from.”

“You’re certain?”

“We saw a medi-witch yesterday morning and she confirmed it. She’s almost two months gone.”

“Watch her, Blaise,” Draco warned. “She’s not like Hermione, she can’t be trusted. If you want to see your child born, don’t leave her alone.” He didn’t want to tell his friend what he knew, but at the same time, he felt he owed it to him to protect his child. If anything happened to Draco, he knew that Blaise would see to his children’s welfare. He was trying to do the same.

“Why should I watch her?” asked Blaise and Draco told him the story of what he knew, about how the two women had tricked them. Blaise listened impassively.

“So that’s why you took her to France and nobody saw you for half a month,” he finally grinned. Draco gave him a look. “Please, Dray, everyone knows about your dominant streak and how you like to make certain that your little trophy knows her place: under you.”

“Say what you want, but at least my wife does what she’s told and I don’t have to worry about her killing one of my children.”

“Sweet Merlin, she terminated a pregnancy, she didn’t hold a baby under the bath water until it turned blue. No matter. This explains why she didn’t get pregnant when I thought she would. At least now I know that she’s not barren like most other pureblood girls. I doubt she’ll terminate this pregnancy since she’s told me about it. Thank you for the information, though. It is something to think about.” Blaise put his hands in his pockets as they continued to walk and talk.

Finally, Troy wanted to know what his mother and brother were doing and so Draco and Blaise parted ways. Draco purchased a large candy floss to take back to Hermione because he knew it was her favorite candy. He bought Dominic and Troy candy apples and shrunk them to fit into his shirt pocket.

Walking back towards their seats, Draco thought about Blaise’s non-chalance and decided it had to be an act. The very thought of losing one of his sons terrified and infuriated him and one of them wasn’t even born yet. He also thought about Blaise’s comments on his marriage. Hermione was more than just a trophy to him. She represented everything he had ever dreamed of in his life. She represented family, acceptance, and most importantly, power. He had wanted her because she was such a powerful witch and because when people recognized her and saw his dominance over her, they respected him more. She was an absolute treasure and he had worked for months to get a taste of her. That one taste had proved what his body had already known; that he could never get enough of her. He would never let her leave. She was the most powerful witch in an age and he had forced her submission. He took care of her, protected her and he would be the only one she would ever need.

The past few months, he had forced her compliance and trained her to obey him. He had also proved himself to her and she trusted him. He had held her hair back through her morning sickness, rubbed her feet at night and done most of the physical activity involved in caring for the twins. He whispered his love to her and at night, when their boys fell asleep in their bed, he would talk with her in a hushed, whispering voice about what kind of men they would be. He coaxed her into telling him her fears and dreams. He knew that she would do almost anything for him and that he could do whatever he wanted with her. He no longer had to use physical force to make her comply; now she willingly participated in whatever activity he requested.

Coming back to her at their seats, he saw her face rumpled in deep thought as she helped Dominic stand in his seat so that he could watch the pre-game shows. When she saw him her face broke into a smile. He knew she had been thinking of Ginny and he began to wonder if seeing her again had opened wounds he thought he had personally sewn shut. She didn’t need reminders of her old life. Ginny needed to be eliminated, but he wasn’t sure how. If he did it, she would go back to the sullen zombie she had been during her first few months as his wife.

Putting thoughts of the red headed thorn in side away, Draco sat down and did what he’d wanted to do since he had first seen the Weasley family at the World Cup when he was fourteen: he enjoyed the festivities, laughing with his family and Hermione Granger at his side.