Adventurous Hearts Part III: Merlin's Tomb

*A/N: Welcome one and all to the conclusion of Adventurous Hearts. Merlin’s Tomb is more focused on the resolution of relationships, the tying up of the loose ends and less on the adventure. Merlin’s Tomb provides the backdrop for the story and serves in many ways as its own entity in the story, an inanimate antagonist. So sit back and relax, have a read, and I hope you will enjoy it.

WARNING: This, like all my others, is AU/AR. Canon is something to be found in very small doses within this tale. The players have a tendency to be OOC at times, but I find that I have very little control over the men in my head, I would love to tell you that they are my own personal Harem of magical slaves but alas, It is I who am slave to them and the stories they spin within my overactive brain. (I’m not complaining, it is especially entertaining when they dance naked)




Chapter 1: Drowning Sorrows

It was an icy winter’s eve that found Draco Malfoy having a couple of drinks with a business associate near Diagon Alley. He walked the other man to the door, talking casually as they donned their cloaks. He was just about to leave when he saw her, sitting at the bar, her head resting on the polished surface, her hand wrapped around a glass.

He bade his companion farewell, promising to be in touch regarding their business association and found his way to the bar.

“Granger?” Draco tapped her on the shoulder and she lifted her head slowly, her eyes heavy and glazed over as she stared up at him.

“Malfoy…what are you doing there…here?” Her words were slightly slurred and she kept blinking her eyes as she was trying to concentrate on the slightly blurry man in front of her.

“I was having drinks with an associate.” Draco said. “Why are you in this pub all alone and why are you so pissed?”

“I’m not alone…you’re here.” She said, poking him not so gently in the chest. He rubbed at the sore spot and frowned as she tipped back her glass and downed the remainder of the contents. She slammed it on the bar and then snapped her fingers. “Another firewhis…hiccup…ky, please!”

“She’s had enough.” Draco said, tossing some galleons down for the barkeep. “You need to go home, Granger.”

“I don’t want to go home. I want to…hic…stay here and ….hic….feel nothing.” She said, closing her eyes and sighing.

“Did something happen?” He asked.


“Oh…so much happened.” She said, grabbing onto his arm with both hands and tugging him down until he was nose to nose with her. “My life was…hic…perfect. I had the perf….hic….ect job, a lover…hic…and it was fine.” She slapped her hand on his cheek and shook her head. “Then I had to go and…hic…get your father paroled and it…hic…went to shit.” She slid her hand to the back of his head and pressed her forehead against his and began to talk in an exaggerated whisper. “I fell in…hic…love with…hic…your dad and he…hic…chucked me.”

Draco frowned and reached behind his head to loosen her fingers from his hair. She let them slide down and leaned forward, her forehead resting on his shoulder.

“Chucked you? He said you were in love with Severus so he stepped back!” Draco said. She groaned and he prayed she wasn’t about to vomit on his robes.

“No…no that is not true.” She said, shaking her head, rubbing her brow against the wool of his cloak. “I told Sev that I loved Lu..Luc..your dad. I tried to tell him…he…hic…walked away from me.”

Draco scrunched up his face in frustration, his teeth grinding painfully. He had dealt with his father moping about the Manor for two months, pining for the little witch, thinking she had chosen another when all along the witch was doing the same.

“You and my father are bloody idiots, Granger.” Draco sighed, shaking his head.

“Don’t say that.” She said, swaying slightly on the stool. “Your father…hic…is a good man…sort of.”


“How did you two screw this up so damned badly?” Draco asked, gesturing for the barkeep to give him a glass of water so she would stop hiccupping. She wrapped both hands around the glass and drank thirstily.

“Kinky sex.” She said, sleepily, wobbling in her seat.

“I really don’t want to know about your sex life with my father, Granger.” Draco said, taking the glass before she spilled it on her dress.

“Sev was there too.” She said, yawning. Draco’s eyes widened and his cheeks flushed a bit.

“Seriously, Granger, we need to get you home before you say any more.” Draco said.

“In our defense, we were really high.” She laughed as Draco grasped her shoulders and helped her off of the stool. Her legs buckled and she nearly fell but he had the quick reflexes to wrap his arms around her and catch her.

“Easy there!” He said.


“Why did you push me off the stool?” She grouched.

“I didn’t push you.” He sighed. Never in a million years would he have ever thought that he would be tending to a drunken Hermione Granger. “Can you walk?”

“Sure…been doing it for years.” She snorted, stumbling on the stiletto heels of her boots. Draco rolled his eyes and bent down, lifting the intoxicated witch into his arms. She put her arms around his neck, her head resting on his shoulder. “Why are you being nice to me, Malfoy?”

“Because my father is crazy about you, Granger, and the sooner I get you taken care of the sooner you can go see him and get him out of this crap mood he has been in.” He said, thanking the barkeep when he draped her cloak over her and laid her handbag on her stomach.

“He doesn’t want me anymore.” She mumbled.

“Oh yes he does. Where do you live?” Draco asked as he carried her out into the frigid night air.

“At my house.” She slurred, snuggling into him. “You are so warm.” She sighed.

“I know you live at your house, but where is it?” He asked, shifting her in his arms.

“In Salisbury.” She said. Draco squeezed his eyes shut tightly in frustration.

“Where is Severus?” He asked. “Does he stay at the school over the holidays?”

“Spinner’s End…crap house…crap area…shitty shower.” She grumbled.

“Right.” He tightened his hold on her and with a pop he disapparated onto the front steps of the little house at Spinner’s End. “Damn it smells out here.” He said looking at the blinking lights and smoking pillars of the factory in the distance. “Probably get mugged before I can press the doorbell.”

He heard a soft snore from the woman bundled in his arms and he groaned. She was now complete dead weight and while she didn’t weigh much, after awhile it was hard to hold her. He was just about to press the buzzer when he felt the tip of a wand digging into the side of his throat.

“Who are you and what do you want?” The silky soft voice demanded from the darkness.

“It’s me, Sev, Draco.” He turned slowly to face him. “I didn’t know where else to take her.”

“For Merlin’s sake, is she pissed?” Severus asked, pulling back the cloak to look at the sleeping woman curled against Draco.

“I found her in the pub by Gringotts drowning her sorrows.” Draco said. “I didn’t know what to do with her.”

“You could have taken her to her house.” Severus said, pointing his wand at the door so that it swung open.

“I would have if I knew where she lived.” Draco said, carrying her inside. He stopped in the middle of the dingy, dusty room looking for a clean place to lay her down.

“Did you ask her?”

“Yes, she said she lived in her house.” Draco replied irritated. Severus snorted and gestured with his chin towards the stairs.


“Take her upstairs and put her in my bed.” He said.


“She said you weren’t together like that anymore.” Draco said, indignant on his father’s behalf.

“Not that it is any of your business, but we aren’t. However she is my friend and we have shared a bed on numerous occasions platonically. Besides, I don’t engage unconscious women in intercourse…its considered bad form.” Severus said, following the young man as he struggled to carry Hermione up the stairs “First door on the right.”

Draco entered the bedroom and noticed that it was the cleanest room he had seen so far. The bed was rumpled when he laid her down on the bright white sheets. She rolled onto her side and moaned softly, burrowing her head into the pillow.

“Does she do this often?” Draco asked, staring down at her.

“No, never. Your bloody father is at fault here.” Severus sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her feet into his lap, unzipping and removing her boots.

“He thought she chose you.” Draco sad quietly, watching as Snape carefully slid her socks off and dropped them to the floor. “He thought she loved you and he stepped aside.”

“She does love me, but she is in love with him.” Severus said, sliding his hands beneath her shoulders and sitting her upright.

“Sleeping, Sev.” She moaned.

“I know, Minute, just let me get you more comfortable and you can lie back down.” He said. “Draco, hand me a shirt from the top drawer.”

Draco turned to the bureau and took a black cotton shirt from the drawer and handed it to Severus. The older wizard had her dress unzipped and frowned at Draco.

“Turn around for a moment.” He said. Draco turned his back and listened as Severus undressed and redressed the witch her in the t-shirt.

“How did I get here?” She mumbled.

“Draco brought you.”

“He was nice to me.” She said softly.

“I know, lift up, Minute, so I can get the dress out from under you.”

“I miss him…it’s almost New Years and I still haven’t heard from him.”

“I know, he’s a stubborn arse.”

“What would a Slytherin do, Sev? Because the Gryffindor way isn’t helping me.”

“A Slytherin uses whatever means necessary to achieve their goal, Minute.” He said, kissing her forehead as he laid her back on the pillows and tucked her beneath the blankets. “Sleep it off.”

He laid his hand on Draco’s shoulder and led the younger man back out of the bedroom, flipping the light off as he went.


“Why don’t you join me downstairs for a drink?” Severus brushed past the younger man and went downstairs. Draco removed his cloak, draping it over a dust covered chair before taking a seat.


“You could have this place cleaned you know.” Draco said, staring around the ratty little house in disgust.


“Why? I’m very rarely here.” Severus said, handing him a glass.

“You bring women here?” Draco asked. “Into this filth?”

“Only Hermione, and the bedroom and bathroom are always clean and those are the only rooms she is concerned about.” He said, shrugging as he fell into another chair that groaned threateningly. “Now, why don’t we have a little talk about your father and why he broke her heart?”

“I don’t think he realized that he had.” Draco said. “The way he put it to me was that he saw the two of you together and realized that he couldn’t compete, that he couldn’t come between you.”

“I wondered about that.” Severus said thoughtfully. “I wanted to curse him for making her feel so badly. She was devastated when she made the decision to end our intimate relationship and make a go of it with Lucius and he walked away from her.”

“So was he. He has moped around the house for the last couple of months. This was our first Christmas together in years and he was miserable.” Draco sighed into his glass. “So…do we intervene?”

“When she can think straight I will have a little talk with her. She’s going to be working near her home actually, not far from where you live. She finally got the authorization to open Merlin’s Tomb for excavation and documentation.” Severus said.

“Seriously? That’s amazing!” Draco said, truly impressed with what the witch was able to achieve. She seemed to be able to convince people to do anything she wanted, powerful people and he couldn’t help but admire that. She should have been a Slytherin.

“I will see what I can do with my father.” Draco said. “I sort of feel like I am back in school trying to fix people up.” He laughed.

“Well, sometimes you have to slap a man in the face before he sees what is right in front of his nose.”