She is his favorite view in the morning. She wakes up early, pulls on the nearest shirt, usually his from the night before, and runs a hand through her messy bed hair often gathering it into a bun on her head and stabbing her wand through.
After that, she’ll start gathering her things, padding around his room in her bare feet, and get ready to leave to start her day.
And while watching Hermione Granger do all this is one of Draco Malfoy’s favorite morning rituals, it’s also a bittersweet one because while he loves watching her get ready, he hates to see her go.
“Do you have to leave so early?” he whines marveling at the way her hair glows in the sun and how his shirt grazes her thighs and lifts ever so slightly as she bends over and looks for her shoes under the bed.
“I’m sorry,” she replies, stuffing papers back in her satchel. He’d helped her look through them last night over curry takeout in bed. “I have an early meeting today and have to rush back to mine to get ready.”
“Why can’t you get ready here?” He asks petulantly. It’s been getting harder and harder to watch her leave in the mornings when all he wants to do is pull her back into bed. Something he’s already done once this morning.
“I don’t have my things here,” she explains. “My clothes, bags, you know that. I don’t even have a toothbrush here,” she concludes with a big smile.
In that moment, he feels his knees go weak. That gorgeous smile and her beautiful brown eyes with the flecks of gold get him every time. She goes back to packing her bag and even though he doesn’t fully understand what she means, he realizes then and there that he’d do anything to keep her from leaving in the mornings.
“Okay,” he sighs, making a mental note of what she said. “But it’s still really early. Are you sure you don’t have maybe 20 minutes? I’ll make it worth your while.”
As he speaks he strategically pulls the white blanket lower down his torso and tighter against his lower half where he is obviously very aroused.
“It’ll be cutting it close…” she says turning around to face him again. When she sees him, she stops speaking and raises her eyebrows as she takes in his twinkling gray eyes, perfectly sculpted naked torso, and the soft smattering of platinum blonde hair that snakes down to a toned V leading down to one of her absolute favorite places.
Hermione’s mouth goes dry. She’d just had him several hours ago but it seems like she just can’t get enough.
“I guess if I don’t fix my hair, I have twenty minutes,” she agrees. She pulls his shirt over her head with a mischievous grin.
“Would you mind closing the bedroom door?” He asks with a smile. She shuts the door with her foot and jumps on top of him in his large, luxurious bed.
___
“Potter,” Draco starts over lunch trying to act nonchalant. “Why would having something called a toothbrush be necessary to stay over at someone’s flat?”
He had been thinking about Hermione’s comment earlier and while he understood why she’d need her clothes and bags, he hadn’t understood what a toothbrush was and why she’d need it too.
Draco hated to admit he thought about it longer than he should have and he wanted an explanation. He’d do anything if it meant Hermione staying longer in the mornings or just staying altogether.
He figured if anyone would know the answer it would be The Boy Who Lived to Work a 9-to-5 at the Ministry. After all, Potter grew up with muggles. And he and Draco were somewhat friends now. Who saw that coming?
Certainly not Draco. But surprisingly enough, a couple of years working together in the DMLE as Aurors and being partners more than once had made the Chosen One and the former Death Eater begrudgingly respect one another and eventually even become unlikely friends.
And in an even more surprising turn of events, their tentative friendship had led to Draco learning how to tolerate the Weasel too. He figured that Weasley wasn’t so bad since he and Hermione had realized they weren’t right for each other and broken up. He was good for a pint or to talk quidditch with.
Plus, in what may have been an even more shocking turn of events, Ron was now dating one of Draco’s oldest friends, Pansy Parkinson. And Pansy wouldn’t stand for them not getting along.
So that’s how Draco found himself sitting with Harry and Ron in the Ministry cafeteria that day nursing his coffee tentatively. He had never had so much coffee before, it was a bad habit he picked up from Hermione.
Harry looked up from his pasta questioningly. “A toothbrush?” he asks.
“Yeah,” Draco repeats. “What’s the importance of a toothbrush? And why would it matter if you had one or not?”
“You’re asking about something Hermione said aren’t you?” Ron laughs between bites of chicken.
“Yes, why?” Draco answers defensively.
“Nothing, mate,” Ron replies. He waves his drumstick in the air and laughs. “Mione is always going on about muggle things I have no idea about. I find it best to just smile and nod.”
Normally, Draco would agree but he needed to learn about this “toothbrush” if he wanted Hermione to stay over more or just stay period. He turns to Harry and raises a brow.
“A toothbrush is that thing Hermione uses to clean her teeth,” Harry explains. “I’m sure you’ve seen it in her flat near the sink. Small with tiny bristles? She uses it several times a day.” Harry pauses then adds, “I guess you can’t erase years of habit instilled in her from her dentist parents.”
Draco nods in understanding. Oh, that’s what it was called. He had indeed seen Hermione using a purple toothbrush on her teeth more than once.
And he couldn’t mask a happy sigh with the confirmation that a toothbrush had nothing to do with Hermione having hairy teeth, though he would have loved her just the same regardless.
“I see,” Draco says finishing his coffee. “And why would she need one of these toothbrushes to stay somewhere? I mean she can just use the cleansing charm right?”
“I reckon Hermione prefers the muggle way of cleaning her teeth,” Harry supplies. “After all, it’s how she’s always done it.”
Harry’s intuitive nature kicks in and he looks back at Draco cocking his head to the side. It’s his turn to ask a question.
“Why are you asking? Doesn’t Hermione already always spend the night at yours?” he asks.
As much as Harry didn’t want to know about Hermione and Draco’s sleeping arrangements, he had recently made the mistake of flooing to Draco’s unannounced one evening for work just to chance upon the two of them on full display in the living room on the couch.
They had just finished dinner and apparently Draco was “having dessert.” Harry had wanted to rip his eyes out of his head and almost asked them to obliviate him on the spot. Needless to say, he doesn't go to either of their homes unannounced anymore.
“She does sleep over,” Draco admits. “But she’s always in such a rush to head home in the morning to change and apparently brush her teeth. And I wouldn’t mind if she stayed longer.”
Draco shrugs trying to look cool, “or didn’t leave at all,” he finishes.
“Merlin!” Ron exclaims. “You’ve got it bad. You want her to move in?”
Draco realizes at that moment that it was exactly what he wanted. He hated her leaving at all. He wanted them to be together all the time.
“That’s great, mate,” Harry says clapping Draco on the back. “Happy for you.”
“Well, don’t get ahead of yourself,” Draco replies. “I need to get her to say yes first. “Say, where can I buy one of these toothbrushes?”
Draco was too lost in his thoughts to notice the devilish glint that flickered in Harry’s eyes as the black-haired boy glanced at Ron with a slight nod and a smirk.
“Oh, you can get them at any muggle store,” Harry answers calmly. “But be sure you get enough.”
That got Draco’s attention. “Enough?”
“Yeah,” Ron confirms catching on immediately. “Mione uses them every day. She needs heaps if she’s going to be living somewhere new.”
“You only see the one in her place because that’s the one she’s using for the day,” Harry adds. “But she’s got tons. She’s probably too embarrassed to show you. You know, muggle things and all.”
Draco felt a slight tinge of panic. She shouldn’t be ashamed to share anything with him. He made a decision, he was going to show her how much he wanted her in his space every day and in every way.
And he knew just how to do it.
“Thank you, gents,” he says crushing his empty paper coffee cup in one hand. “This has been illuminating but if you’ll excuse me, I have some errands to run.”
“Be sure to grab enough with extras,” Harry calls after Draco as he leaves, his auror robes swishing around his feet.
Harry turns back to Ron with barely contained glee in his eyes. Once Draco is out of earshot, the two burst into side-splitting laughter.
“How many do you reckon he’ll buy?” Ron asks, barely able to keep his food in his mouth as he chuckles.
“It’s Malfoy,” Harry answers. “He’s going to go absolutely overboard in the most Malfoy way possible.”
“Hermione’s going to kill us,” Ron predicts.
“Worth it,” Harry replies, laughing until he almost cries.
___
Draco didn’t leave immediately. He returned to his office to think. He casually rolled up the sleeves of his white Oxford and thought about what he was going to do.
He wasn’t going to half-ass it that’s for sure. As a Malfoy, anything Draco committed to doing, he did with his whole ass.
Plus, Hermione deserved a grand gesture. And he was going to give it to her.
It was the muggle holiday Valentine’s Day in a couple of days and he figured the timing was perfect.
He didn’t normally think much of Muggle holidays but Hermione loved them so that was enough for him. He still remembers the twinkle in her eye and her huge smile when he surprised her with a large bouquet of peonies, and a box of her favorite Belgian chocolates last year. In secret, of course, he hadn't worked up the courage to ask her out yet.
When she found out it was him who surprised her with flowers on Heart’s Day after they began dating, she surprised him too on her knees in his bedroom more than once.
Now all he had to do was make this Valentine’s Day even more special. And he was absolutely up to the task.
___
“You need how many???” the pretty muggle salesgirl with a name tag that read Suzy asks. Her blue eyes were wide with surprise and she needed to be sure she heard him correctly.
“One for every day for a year,” Draco confirms. “And maybe enough for a few years at least.”
Suzy stares at him for a bit longer then shrugs and nods while drumming her fingers on the counter. “Do you need all the same kind?” she asks. “Soft bristles, medium, or hard? Any electric ones?”
Draco was overwhelmed for a second but Potter had prepared him for this. He was ready.
“I don’t mind a bit of variety. Please add a couple electric ones in too and for the regular ones all colors work with medium bristles, please.”
“You got it,” Suzy says. She turns back and calls out, “Ben! I need your help. We’ve got a huge order!”
Suzy disappears into the back of the shop and Theo leans forward on the counter, cocking his head to the side as he watches her walk away in her too-tight light denims.
“Nice,” Theo murmurs. “Jeans are my absolute favorite.” Draco laughs at his friend, completely understanding as he has developed his own appreciation for muggle clothing thanks to Hermione and her shorts and tank tops.
“So, you called me here to help you what, carry boxes and boxes of these toothcombs?” Theo asks. Theo had recommended shrinking any boxes, casting a featherlight charm, and putting them in a bag but Draco said they couldn’t do all that in a muggle shop.
“Toothbrushes,” Draco corrects. “But essentially, yes. I need you to help me carry the boxes to the apparition point at least.”
“Fine,” Theo says lazily. “But you owe me!”
“I always pay my debts,” Draco assures his friend. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it, mate,” Theo replies running a hand through his curls. “We’re happy for you and Granger. Being with her has made you far more tolerable,” he laughs. “And it’s great you’re taking the next step. How are your parents taking the news?”
“As good as can be expected,” Draco answers. “I think they saw this coming. Well, Mother did at least. She must have anticipated it and softened the blow for Lucius. I don’t want to know how.”
Theo laughs and Draco continues shrugging. “It only took them all of six months to get used to the idea of us as a couple, so I reckon by this time next year they should be just fine with all this.”
Theo laughs out loud. “Ahh, Lucius and Narcissa,” he chuckles. “Always ahead of the curve.”
“Mr. Malfoy,” Suzy calls reappearing in front of them. “It’ll take us a bit to pack what we have here. We only have about a fourth available in shop but we can order the rest. We can get them here by tomorrow if that works?”
Draco nods. “Great, thanks,” he confirms. “And please call me Draco. May I please have the store’s contact details to follow up tomorrow? Also, I may be needing more in the future.”
“You may need more???” Suzy asks with raised eyebrows. “Well, sure, we can always help.” She reaches for a small white card behind the cash register and slides it over to Draco across the counter.
Theo snatches it up first and gives Suzy a sexy smirk. “So if I call this number I can reach you?” he asks.
Her eyes widen slightly again then she slowly smiles and pushes her dark hair over one ear. “Well that’s the store number,” she explains. “But….”
She grabs another card and scribbles a number on the back before handing it to Theo. “This is my personal number. You can reach me here any time.”
Draco rolls his eyes as Theo takes the card and gives Suzy a wink. “I’ll hold you to that.”
“Thank you for your help,” Draco repeats as Ben begins bringing in boxes from the back of the store.
Theo glances at the three boxes stacked by the door. “That’s not so bad. Looks like you didn’t need me after all,” he says.
Draco agrees. Perhaps he had miscalculated?
“Do you think I got enough?” he asks.
“You got enough!” Theo answers. “Plus, that’s only a fourth!” He turns around, bends over, and picks up the three boxes, flexing his arms more than necessary as he does so. He then sends one last sexy smile Suzy’s way before walking out the door. She looks appropriately smitten.
Draco follows Theo onto the sidewalk. As soon as they walk several meters from the shop and out of Suzy’s view, Theo gasps, “Okay mate, you need to grab these top two boxes! This shit is heavy!”
Draco laughs. “You are a menace, Nott!” he said grabbing two of the boxes out of Theo’s hands. “Let’s hurry, I wanna pass by Blaise’s to confirm Chef Pierre and the wine.”
___
February 14
Draco was pacing nervously in the kitchen. He was dressed to the nines in a sharp black suit perfectly tailored to his body, crisp white Oxford, and the silver dragon and otter cufflinks Hermione had given him. His platinum hair had been perfectly coiffed earlier but his nervous habit of running his hand through it messed up the longer locks on top making them fall into his face.
He looks around the expansive flat. He didn’t know why he was so nervous. He was ready. He just hoped Hermione was.
The moment the clock chimes seven, the floo roars to life and Hermione walks through dusting soot off her dress.
She looks gorgeous he thinks. She was wearing a tight red dress with a deep cut back that clung to her body and flared into a short skirt swirling around her long tan legs. She paired the dress with high heels and a large velvet ribbon in her hair.
She looked so beautiful he was tempted to just skip dinner and carry her into the bedroom right then and there. But he stopped himself. He had a big question to ask her and he didn’t want to derail his plans.
“Hi love,” he says, wrapping her in his embrace and giving her a deep, long kiss. She melts into his arms and runs her hands up the back of his neck to tangle in his soft blonde strands as she kisses him. When they pull back they are both a little breathless.
“Hi,” she whispers. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Draco. I know the red is a bit on the nose but I thought you’d like it.” She gives him a little spin and the dress twirls around her legs.
“You look beautiful, Hermione,” he answers. “Happy Valentine’s Day, darling.”
She pulls back and looks around the flat, noticing the dozens of pink peonies, her favorite flower, and the box of her favorite chocolates on the table.
“Oh my gods, Draco!” She exclaims. “There are so many flowers here! There must be at least 100!”
“270 actually,” he answers. “One for every day we’ve been together. I’ve charmed them too so they’ll last longer. You can bring some to the office.”
“You are too much,” she murmurs blushing, though she secretly loves it. “I got something for you too.”
Hermione pulls out a box wrapped in pretty silver paper with a green bow from her bag and hands it to him. “Open it.”
Draco takes the box and carefully unwraps it. Inside is a minimalist silver picture frame. Displayed in the frame is a magical photo of the two of them in Italy. It was from when they visited Blaise’s vineyard. In the photo, he was lifting her by her waist and spinning her around before pulling her in for a kiss.
He remembered the moment vividly. It was right after the first time they had both said they loved each other. He remembered being euphorically happy when Pansy took the picture.
“Thank you for this,” he whispers. “I love it. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she smiles. “My other present can be opened later tonight,” she winks at him. “Pansy helped me pick it out.”
Such a tease. “I can’t wait,” he tells her. “But first I have a surprise for you.”
He takes a deep breath. Here goes nothing… or everything. He planned on asking her before dinner because he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything else until he did.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why I wanted to celebrate at home tonight instead of going out;” he starts. “And there’s a good reason. I had Chef Pierre from that restaurant you love make us an incredible meal, and Blaise sent over your favorite wine from the vineyard that last time.”
“Ooh, he did?” Hermione squeals following Draco into the kitchen as he pours her a glass of her favorite Barolo. He hands her a glass and pours one for himself. Liquid courage.
“I love celebrating at home, Draco,” she tells him, drinking her wine and sliding up against him. “The bedroom is so much closer this way.”
He groans. He couldn’t let himself get distracted. He was on a mission. He can feel his heart thumping against his chest like it wanted to escape the anxiety he was carrying in his body. He willed himself to relax and reached for Hermione’s hands turning her to face him.
“Granger…” he says reverting to his favorite nickname for her. “There’s another reason I wanted to have dinner here tonight.
She feels the seriousness in his voice and stands a little straighter as she looks up at him. “What is it, Draco?” she asks tentatively, a little worried if she’s being honest.
“You know that I love every single minute I spend with you,” he declares. “And I always want more. Having you in my bed at night is a dream come true and even after seven months I often have to pinch myself to prove it’s real and that you’re really here.”
She smiles and squeezes his hands.
“While I love watching you rush around in the morning in just my tee-shirt and your bare feet, I always feel sad watching you go,” he admits candidly.
“I’ve realized the nights aren’t enough, Hermione,” he tells her. “I want the days too. I want to go to work together and come home together at the end of the day. I want to spend our weekends lazy in bed deciding what we want to do or even just reading.”
He pauses to see if she understands what he is trying to say.
“I want all of you, and I want to give you all of me,” he confesses. He brings her around to the side of the kitchen where he had set up an elaborate scratching post, litter, and feeding bowls.
“I want your orange beast to be here with us, I want to worry he’s going to suffocate me in my sleep. I want to see you cuddle him while you work.”
Draco pulls Hermione closer to him as he makes his way to his study/mini library. Her eyes were a bit watery but she didn’t look sad so he takes it as a good sign.
“I want you to squeeze your books in this library,” he tells her showing her the many shelves he had emptied. “I want to share space with you.”
He leads her into the bedroom. “A couple of days ago, you mentioned you couldn’t stay because you didn’t have your clothes or bags. But what if you did? What if you had everything you needed here?”
Hermione peeks into Draco’s luxurious walk-in closet and notices half of it is empty with more than enough room for all her clothing.
She feels her heart beating against her chest and her breath speeding up. She turned around to look at him to make sure he was saying what she hoped he was saying. “Draco…” she starts, her eyes glimmering. “Do you mean…?”
He walks over and gathers her in his arms. “I mean, I want you here with me. All the time. Not just some nights. I want you to move in with me. I want us to build a home together here in this space where we shared so many firsts. Where we fell in love. I want to build a future together and hopefully, the days spent together in this new chapter of our lives lead us to the next chapter where I put a ridiculously large ring on your finger.”
He pauses to catch his breath hoping he wasn’t overwhelming her.
She looks happy but he can’t tell for sure because it appears as though he had rendered her speechless. He chuckles inside, there was a first time for everything he supposes.
Before she can overthink her way into saying no, he decides to drop the pièce de résistance.
“And before you answer, don’t think I forgot what else you said that morning,” he tells her.
Hermione racks her brain trying to remember what else she had said in that one morning throwaway comment which apparently Draco has taken to heart.
“You said you don’t even have a toothbrush here,” he supplies.
She nods. Now she remembers. And her heart warms thinking he must have bought her a toothbrush. She loves him even more thinking of going to a muggle shop to do that for her.
He pulls her into the bathroom and shows her how he had rearranged the sink. It now included a glass container holding two wooden toothbrushes and a tube of organic toothpaste just like the one Hermione had at her flat. Beside it was a white woven washcloth.
Hermione’s heart was overflowing. She didn’t think her chest could contain it anymore. She wraps her arms around the man who has proven time and again that love isn’t just a passive state of being but a choice one has to make over and over again. And she knew he would choose her every day. Just like she knew she would choose him.
She had known her answer to his question immediately after he asked it.
“Draco,” she starts, softly kissing his lips. “I would love nothing more than to spend all my days with you. I can’t believe you did all of this. I am so lucky to be the one you love and I can’t wait to show you how much you mean to me every single day. Yes! I’d love to move in with you.”
She gives him another kiss. Deeper this time. More urgent. She pours all her emotions in the kiss hoping he would understand. She feels the familiar heat building in her body as he kisses her back and she begins pulling at the buttons of his shirt.
He tightens his hands around her waist and runs one hand up the silky bodice of the dress to cup her breast through the soft fabric.
But before he could let himself get carried away, he had one last thing to tell her.
“You have no idea how happy you’ve made me,” he says earnestly. “And just so you know how serious I am, I didn’t just get you the one toothbrush for today.”
He gives her that signature lopsided smile and reveals, “I made sure you had one every day for at least several years.”
That made her pause. “What?” she asks.
He leads her to a cabinet beside the linen closet in the bathroom that she had never noticed before. He must have put it in recently. “Open it,” he instructs.
She opens it to find dozens - no hundreds - hundreds and hundreds of toothbrushes. All different kinds, all different colors. Some made of wood, some plastic, some electric. Her eyes widen and she laughs inside knowing her parents would immediately tell her to marry this man on the spot if they saw this.
“What do you mean you have one for every day?” she clarifies. “Do you mean to tell me you bought me one toothbrush per day?”
“Of course,” he says proudly.
She couldn’t believe it. “Uhm, who told you you had to do that?” she asks.
“Potter and Weasel,” he answers. “They told me to make sure I had enough and I am nothing if not fastidious.”
Of course, it was Harry and Ron, Hermione thought. She mentally made a note to deal with them later. For now, she had other more important things she wanted to do with her new flatmate.
“Draco you are the sweetest man I know,” she says. “No one has ever done anything like this for me. I can’t wait to spend my nights and my days with you.”
She moves back and stares up at him through her lashes as she unzips the zipper at the side of her scarlet dress. She pulls down one shoulder to reveal the racy red lingerie underneath.
“I’d love to give you my other present if you don’t mind eating dinner later,” she whispers.
“You know me love,” he says in a deep voice, eyes filled with lust. “I never say no to dessert first.”
She drops the dress on the floor but keeps the heels on. “Then let’s go back to the bedroom,” she says.
He didn’t need to be told twice. He picks her up and slings her over his shoulder lightly spanking her bottom as he walks, “As the lady of the house wishes,” he exclaims as she laughs.
And as he spends the next hour drunk in their combined pleasure, he notices she is even more ravenous than usual.
The muggles had a point about this Valentine’s Day after all.
___
The next afternoon, Harry and Ron are seated in Harry’s office working on a new case when Hermione barges in. She somehow looks both ecstatic and exasperated. And Harry doesn’t need his auror skills to know Draco has asked her to move in.
“So the ferret did it then?” Harry asks with a smile.
“Yes,” Hermione answers, her eyes filled with happiness. “I’m over the moon.”
Her words were filled with joy but there was something about the way she marched over to them that made both boys know they were in trouble.
And just as predicted, the moment she walks around the desk, she smacks them both on the back of the head.
“Ow!” Ron gasps, dropping his blueberry muffin. “What was that for?”
“Which one of you told Draco he needed to buy me one toothbrush per day?” she asks her hands on her hips looking a lot like she did as a child scolding her best friends for their bad behavior at Hogwarts.
They couldn’t even pretend to not know what she was talking about as both boys began laughing so hard they started wheezing.
“Is that what he did?” Harry barely manages to get out. “To be fair, all we said was that he better make sure to get enough.”
“With extras!” Ron adds.
Hermione shakes her head. “Well, he went above and beyond. As you knew he would! We have an entire cabinet full of toothbrushes!”
Ron wipes his eyes with the back of his hand. “How many did he get?”
“One for every day for the next several years,” Hermione answers. “You do the math!”
Harry slaps his desk with his hand so hard the parchments on it jump up. “I knew it! I knew he would go completely overboard!”
“Well I’m glad you are enjoying this,” Hermione tells him, “because the two of you are going to spend this weekend packing all these toothbrushes into dental hygiene kits with me to distribute to underprivileged children and orphans at missions where my parents volunteer.”
When they don’t immediately reply, she smacks the back of their heads again.
“Geez Hermione, you could give Snape a run for his money,” Ron says massaging his head. “We’ll help, we’ll help!”
She smiles, satisfied, and makes her way around the desk again. She wants to get back home. She and Draco had both taken a personal day and she wasn’t done with him yet. Not by a long shot.
“Oh and you two can also help me pack up my flat too,” she whispers with a genuine smile that lights up her whole face.
“We’re happy for you, Hermione,” Harry says sincerely as she makes her way to the door. “And for him too.”
“And for your dental hygiene,” Ron quips with a laugh. Hermione sticks her tongue out at them as she leaves.
Ron picks up his discarded muffin with a chuckle. “I told you she was going to be mad,” he says.
Harry was rubbing the back of his head but hadn’t stopped laughing.
“Worth it,” he replies.