Pictures

It had been a long and tiring day for Draco. He’d used his resources to track down the man who had purchased the Granger’s home and offered him double for the house. He then used some of his more unsavory contacts to find out who to pay so that Chris Granger didn’t have his unworthy head cut off. Draco had met with the Russian muggle and paid him, along with a warning to never sell or do business with the boy again. He had his contacts hunt down all of Mrs. Granger’s jewelry and returned it to her, also paying off their bank loan and reinstating their savings. It was as if they had never come into contact with the Russian mob. It was an exorbant amount of money for the Grangers, but Malfoy barely noticed it was gone. He would have paid ten times that amount to make sure that he got to keep Hermione.

They had agreed to move in together and slowly introduce their relationship to wizarding society. She wanted to tell scar head and the weaslette first, along with Loony Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. He couldn’t wait for that particular blow-out. However, he would endure their accusations because it would put a stop to the weaslette’s constant attempts at match making and ill-conceived plans to get her brother to dump Lavender and go out with Hermione. The thought that Hermione might have been party to those plans had she not been bound to him made his blood boil. He shouldn’t care what she thought, but he did. She was honest and stood by her promises, but he wanted her to be as happy about their arrangement as he was. Other than Ron she had no real romantic feelings towards anyone as far as he knew, and he was quite certain that her feelings towards the red head were fading.

Draco was currently sitting in the living room of their flat. He smiled when he thought of it as ‘theirs’. Hermione was currently in their bedroom arranging her clothing and personal items. He could have transfigured a separate closet for her things, but she hadn’t thought to ask and he didn’t want to bring it up. He liked looking at their clothing all meshed together. The intimacy he got from her and the sharing of space and their lives made him feel more human and more alive. He didn’t feel as removed from people. He was actually looking forward to getting to complain about her things cluttering up the bathroom sink. It meant he wasn’t so alone.

Finally, Hermione emerged from the bedroom wearing the black dress she’d worn on their first night in Napoli. Her hair was pulled into a French twist and she had on the shoes he’d bought her in Milan. They were going to meet Potter and the youngest Weasley in Diagon Alley for drinks. He could tell she was nervous by the way she kept checking her hand bag to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.

“Are you ready?” He asked the question quietly and stuck his hands into his black tailored pants pockets. The blazer he wore emphasized his broad shoulders and he knew he looked good.

“As I’ll ever be,” she replied. Looking at him for a moment, she hesitated before saying, “Thank you for all you’ve done. You could’ve been much nastier about the situation and for that I thank you.”

“It isn’t as if I’m a bloody saint, Granger. You’re the best bloody shag I’ve ever had in my life and you’re damn good company to boot. I’m getting a lot more out of this than you think.” She smiled shyly at him and there were a few awkward moments before they flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and the waiting judgmental eyes of society.

They entered the pub and Draco saw the unmistakable beacon of Weasley red hair flanked by two heads of messy black hair and one head of frizzy blonde locks. Hermione moved purposely towards the booth they were in at the back of the room while he trailed a few steps behind. When Ginny saw Hermione she immediately got up to hug her friend.

‘Mione! You look terrific! Is this for your new bloke?” All the others at the table shared the sentiment as they all began talking excitedly. Pleasantries were exchanged and Draco noticed that Lovegood and Longbottom were attached at the hip. He couldn’t decide who had drawn the short straw in that relationship. Suddenly, the attention focused back on Hermione who had yet to take a seat.

“So we finally get to meet your new love interest, eh? When is he going to get here?” The she-weasel was practically simmering with excitement and Draco got a perverse thrill at knowing he was going to kill that good mood.

“Well, he’s actually here right now.” Hermione took a nervous breath and reached for his hand pulling him into their view. “I think we all know each other.”

Oh how Draco wished he had a camera. Their faces were shocked, confused, horrified and unsure as if they were waiting on her to grin and shout, ‘Gotcha!’ Taking that as his cue, he dropped her hand and snaked his arm around her waist and placing a kiss to the side of her neck, coolly stated, “Good evening, all.”

“Bloody hell, Hermione,” Potter breathed. “Have you gone mental? If this is a prank you’ve officially outdone Fred and George.”

“It isn’t a prank,” she scowled. Good. If her anger was directed at Potter that meant he could do a little innocent playing around without fear of repercussions.

“You can’t be serious, Hermione! He’s a death eater!” Neville Longbottom found his voice.

“Actually, Longbottom, my father was, but I never joined. I never committed any crimes.”

‘That we know of!” The redhead was talking again. ‘Hermione, he’s called you every offensive name in the book! I think this is definitely the wrong decision. You obviously haven’t thought about this.”

“Out of everyone at this table, Ginny, I think I can safely say that I make the most level headed decisions and that I am the most likely to think EVERYTHING through. I’m intelligent enough to make up my own mind. I know it’s a bit of a shock and that we have a sketchy past, but this is my decision to make. All I’m asking for is your support.”

“Is this because of Ron? Is it to make him jealous?” Harry asked suddenly. “Because trust me, Hermione, he and Lavender are almost through. He already regrets his decision.”

“Believe it or not, not everything I do revolves around Ron. Whether you want to admit it or not I am allowed to date people other than him. Yes, I had feelings for him and yes, I was terribly hurt, but I’m not so stupid that I would date someone I dislike just to get back at him! I’m a young woman and if I want to date someone I will.

“How long has this been going on?” Neville was on top of his game tonight, following the conversation and everything.

Draco answered for her so that she wouldn’t have to lie. “The night she found out about Won-Won and Lav-Lav she came back to our common room crying and we talked about everything. We slowly got closer after that and then I met up with her in Italy, asked her to go some places with me and now we’re an honest to goodness, bonafide couple. This really shouldn’t be that difficult for you people to grasp.”

“Do you even like her, Malfoy?” Harry sneered. “You’re probably just using her to get back in with the Ministry.”

“Yes, there is that perk, Potter, but believe it or not my number one motivation for wanting to be with your friend is that not only is she incredibly fit and gorgeous, she’s intelligent and kind to boot. Why are you with your girlfriend?” Draco studied his nails. He was very proud of himself. He was being civilized and so far he hadn’t lied. This was definitely earning him brownie points for later.

“Why are you with him Hermione?” Ginny’s voice was solem.

“Because of the same reasons he listed and because was there when I needed him. I don’t blame the two of you, but after the thing with Ron I couldn’t stand being in the Gryffindor common room. It was like I was a fifth wheel. I felt very much unwanted and very unpretty. Being with Draco made me feel the opposite.” She caught his eyes as she said this and he knew it was true.

“Bloody hell, Hermione. If you wanted a boyfriend that badly all you would have had to do was wait a few until Dean or Seamus asked you out. Hell, Oliver Wood said he’d always fancied you, you were just always buried in a book. You’ve cleaned yourself up now and lots of other blokes are interested in you, so why Malfoy? He’s a slimy, bratty, selfish, rotten ferret.” Harry looked at her resignedly.

“I am still in the room, you know.” Draco felt indignant, but from the look on Hermione’s face, he wasn’t going to have to suffer their presence for much longer. As she spoke her voice got increasingly louder.

“Why Malfoy? Why Malfoy? I’ll tell you, Harry. I shouldn’t have to sit around and wait until someone else can fit me into his busy dating schedule. I shouldn’t have to 'clean myself up' for someone who says he likes me to make a move. Maybe Oliver Wood thought I was too bookish and found that unattractive, but somebody else didn’t. Why Malfoy? Because Malfoy was the only one asked, that’s why! I didn’t have to change anything for him to be interested in me. He was the only one with guts enough to go after me, no matter what his friends might think. I chose Malfoy because I felt pretty and not like a social liability. I won’t be dating any of those other boys because I’m not now, nor was I something to be embarrassed of or to hide from other people. If the lot of you think that as well, then you can forget seeing me around. I’m actually good for something other than being a walking dictionary and if you can’t see it, too bad. That brings me to my final reason as to why ‘Malfoy’. He’s a damn good shag. That’s right, I have sex and I fucking well enjoy it!”

With that, she turned on her heel and Draco had to run to keep up with her. Hearing her apparate he soon followed, but not before hearing Luna state in a dreamy voice, ‘Well, I thought it was an absolutely romantic story!”


Once back in their flat, Draco searched around for his ‘girlfriend’ before finally finding her in the bathroom, her shoes off and tears streaming down her face as she took off her jewelry. He hated her idiot friends for doing this to her. She had stood by each of them countless times and they wouldn’t stand by her because of a childhood grudge. He would kill to have that loyalty from someone and they took it for granted. Feeling awkward he put one arm around her in a half-hug and to his surprise she launched herself into his arms, crying on his shoulder.

As she sobbed on him, he didn’t care that she was getting his shirt wet. All that mattered was that she was hurting and she had turned to him for comfort. Picking her up, he took them into the bedroom and laid them down on the bed. She curled against him and sniffling, began to stop crying. He stroked her hair and told her that it would be alright, that they would come around. He didn’t believe himself and secretly he hoped they didn’t come around, but for now he tried to make her feel better.

As she drifted off to sleep, Draco thought of how he normally responded when girls cried. They were usually crying because he refused to have anything more to do with them, so he often made a quick retreat. Pansy had once cried on his shoulder when Millicent Bulstrode’s cat had used her trunk as a litter box, ruining all of her designer clothes. He’d been disgusted by her red, puffy eyes, running make-up and sniffly nose. For the first time in a long time, Draco was worried about how another person felt and it had nothing to do with personal gain. He snuggled down next to her and fell asleep as well.
When they awoke around one am it was storming outside and without a word they undressed and had slow, deliberate sex before going back to sleep. As he closed his eyes for the second time that night, he thought to himself that he wouldn’t mind doing this every night for the rest of his life.