All That You Are

She woke up sore and uncomfortably warm. Draco was tangled around her, his arm pressing her possessively against his chest, his head buried in her neck. She smiled, wincing while she tried to wiggle her way out of his arms. He stirred, releasing her slightly as he turned onto his back, the blanket tangled in his legs. Suddenly, an idea occurred to her, Draco had never been naked in front of her before, he was always carefully clothed. Pansy had given her plenty of clues and she had done a lot of research on the subject; curiosity had gotten the best of her the first time that he had made her cum from between her legs. 

Hermione slipped from under the blanket, shimmying underneath until she was wedged between his legs. He had woken up the moment that she had slipped between his legs, noting the sharp intake of breath he had taken before his chest stilled momentarily as he held it. She wasn’t prepared for the size of him until he was in front of her. This was what was inside of her last night? How was that even possible? Shoving the thoughts from her head, she reached for him, wrapping her fingers around the shaft of his penis. Surprisingly, his skin was soft and smooth and she licked her lips in anticipation. 

Carefully, she leaned forwards, tracing her tongue over the shaft of him testing the taste of him on her tongue. A whisper of something above her had her smiling as she watched him grow harder in her hands. She swallowed, before leaning forward and flicking her tongue over the tip of him. His hands gripped the sheets beside her and she took him into her mouth. Sheathing her teeth, she dropped her head, taking him into her throat. 

“Fucking hell.” Draco growled out above her, thankfully not moving the blanket from around them. Pulling him almost all the way out of her mouth, she swirled her tongue over the tip of him, twisting her hand at the base of him at the same time. “Merlin.” Taking him all the way to the back of her throat. “Granger.” 

It was empowering, the fact that she could make him weak the way that she was, the way that she had control over him. He was completely at her mercy, falling apart underneath her. He moaned and she hummed in acknowledgment, before his fingers hesitated above her head before falling onto the bed beside her. He seemed to be torn on what to do and she tucked the blanket down, letting it slip past her head as she locked eyes with him. He had his hand over his mouth, panting with the heavy rise and fall of his chest. A flush was spread across his pale skin, spread out from cheeks all the way across his chest. A curse slipped from his lips as she slipped her lips around him and took him into the back of her throat, never breaking eye contact. 

“Hermione.” Her name sent a shiver down her spine and she smiled, humming again, while he shook beneath her. His toes curled as he tried to talk to her, his speech broken up between panting. “Gods….Hermione….Her–fuck.” His fingers tapped wildly on her shoulder as she picked up the pace before tangling into her hair, resting his hand on her head without forcing her in any way. “If-if you don’t want me to….down your throat….Granger…need to…need to stop.” She pieced together his broken sentence before smiling, tightening her lips around him before running her teeth gently across him. 

His fingers tightened in her hair and she milked every salty drop that spilled down her throat. She didn’t stop until he was desperately pleading with her, gently tugging on the hair on her scalp and she released him with a pop. Wiping her lips with her hand, she sucked every last drop off of her fingers and opened her mouth to show him before she swallowed what remained before smiling sweetly at him. “Good morning, love.”

Draco reached down, grabbing her underneath the arms as he hauled her softly up the bed, turning to cage her between his arms on the bed. His tongue dipped into her mouth, as he rested his hand at the base of her throat. The weight of it had her wanting to squirm, as she dipped her tongue into his mouth. “Good morning, Hermione.” His lips found their way to her throat and he kissed softly, nipping at her collarbone. “You can wake me up like that any time.”

“Ah, so it was good then?” 

He groaned against her shoulder before pulling back. “Granger, that was….” He trailed off, releasing a breath against her face and she smiled. “You haven’t done that before, have you?”

She laughed, slapping his shoulder as she debated about whether or not to tease him but the vulnerability in his voice when he asked stopped her. “No, no Draco. Everything has been only you.”

Draco leaned forwards, his blonde hair falling into his eyes. “Only you, Hermione.”

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She took a steadying breath before walking into the library. They had finally released each other, Draco insisting on spending the day with her in bed reading and avoiding everything before she finally convinced him that she wanted a change of clothes and a shower. He had swiped her a pain potion, leaving it on her bedside as he snuck down to his own dorm to change and shower. A note from Harry had fluttered under her door as she stepped out from the shower, wrapping her hair in a towel as she read that he requested her to meet him in the library. She swallowed, making her way inside and headed to her table. Harry was sitting quietly, head tipped towards the table before snapping it up in her direction. Awkward limbs scrambled to a standing position and he rubbed his hands on his trousers. 

“Hermione…you came.”

“I came.” She nodded, slipping into the chair across from him as he sat carefully. 

“I uh…I wanted to apologize.” Hermione held up a hand at him, halting his speech immediately. 

“Harry, I am going to tell you something and I need to know if you’re going to change your mind when I do. This information might get me killed. You have to decide whether or not you trust me. Whether you trust my judgment and relationship with Draco. Because if you can’t…then there isn’t any use having this conversation.” Green eyes stared at her for a moment before Harry nodded, pressing his lips together as she cast a silencing spell around them. “Draco was tasked with something this year. You weren’t wrong about that. But, it’s not by choice, Harry. You have no idea the things that we have been through…the things that I have been through. I have almost died more times than I can count. I watched my brother die, the life drained from his eyes even though it wound up not being my brother all just to save me from being beaten to death and killed. By my own father. I was tortured over and over again, beaten near death where I barely escaped. I almost died from a curse to the chest, and still managed to stand up and come up with a cover story to save my family. To save the people that I loved…and that included you. That includes you.” 

Hermione leaned forward, yanking the sleeve of her shirt up as she removed the glamor on her arm, the carved words slowly revealing themselves on her pale skin. Harry’s eyes widened, staring at the jagged tearing of the word in her flesh. “You have no idea the things that the people around you fight in the darkness. You have no idea the things that I have done to keep the people that I love safe. You are one of my people, Harry. You always have been. Regardless of if you walk away now, if you decide that knowing the things that people are doing to survive is too much for your conscience. I will still protect you. You will still always be one of my people.”

Harry stared at her for a moment, as if he was weighing the options that came with his words. Hermione kept his gaze, sliding her sleeve back over the carved word. He cleared his throat, before speaking finally. “Is Malfoy doing something that I might hate him for if I find out what it is?”

Hermione simply nodded. “Possibly.”

“Is he doing it to protect you?”

She was silent for a moment, wondering just how much she should say. Deciding on honesty. “Who do you do everything for, Harry?”

He nodded, his black shaggy hair falling into his eyes. “I trust you, Hermione. More than you would ever think. And if you think that–if you know that Malfoy is on the right side, and is doing whatever he can to survive…I trust you.” Hermione nodded, exhaling a breath of relief that she didn’t realize she had been holding. Harry reached across the table, taking her hand in his. “I’m sorry that all of that happened to you..I’m sorry that I didn’t know. That you didn’t trust me enough to tell me about it all.”

“It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you, Harry. I was trying to keep you safe, trying to keep you out of it all the best that I could.” Harry ran a thumb over wrist, pressing his finger against it before pulling away. 

“I have to tell you something that I found out.” She paused, listening to him as she flicked the drying curls over her shoulder. The pain potion was starting to wear off and the aching feeling from the previous night started to seep back into her. “I uncovered the real memory….” Hermione’s eyes widened, and she gulped. “Tom Riddle had asked Slughorn about Horcruxes. And how many times that somebody would be able to split their soul.”

Hermione paused, turning to look at the stack of books surrounding them when she caught sight of a blonde head approaching them. As he stepped through the silencing charm she smiled, noticing the tension seep into Draco’s body at the sight of Harry. He approached slowly, glaring at the wizard in front of her and she cautiously pulled out the chair next to her. “Draco.”

“I went looking for you in your room…figured you would be here.” He stood next to the table, right next to Hermione’s chair. “Hexing anybody new lately Potter?”

“Nope.” Harry leaned back in his chair, tucking his hands behind his head. “Still going to make me grovel are we? I thought that the lovely apology that Pansy made me do yesterday was enough.”

Hermione almost broke her neck snapping her head towards him. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Malfoy didn’t tell you? Well, it was particularly interesting. Almost broke my damn nose, Pansy had to fix it after a lot of persuasion but, I think we have an understanding now.” Harry gave Draco a crooked smirk and she felt Draco tense beside her, his hand coming to rest on her leg as he slid into the seat beside her. It was a small possessive gesture, that she let slide as she blinked back at Harry. 

“Okay, well I will unpack that later. Do you want to continue this talk another time, Harry?” She was offering an olive branch, an opportunity to have him prove that he trusted her and her judgment. 

Draco stiffened, flexing his fingers on her leg before she felt him relax slightly as she slid her fingers over his hand. “I was saying…that the memory that Slughorn offered showed Tom asking if he knew anything about Horcruxes. Do either of you have any idea what that might be?”

Hermione shook her head, turning to look at Draco who was giving Harry an arrogant smile. “I'm a Malfoy, Potter. I’m sure that whatever book you’re searching for is in my library. If not, I can assure you that it’s in my lovely girlfriend’s ancestral home’s library. The Nott’s always collected the dark things.”

She stifled a flinch, and Draco squeezed his hand on her leg in apology, entwining his fingers with hers. “Well then, I guess if you’re willing to help out the light side then we can take whatever unsavory help we can get.”

Draco snorted, tilting his chin up at Harry. “Are you really the light side, Potter? It is my whole family who happens to be blonde, correct?”

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Harry, Hermione and Draco had been researching everything that they could get their hands on, and yet nothing revealed any information about Horcruxes. She wondered if it was even something that was allowed in the library based on its specific content of murdering and splitting souls. However, the library seemed to hold all sorts of books containing information on things that were questionable; hence the Restricted Section that Hermione knew contained a few strange titles. Hogwarts was anything but safe if her previous years were anything to go by. And Dumbledore was always one to put them in danger without a second thought. 

The three of them had grown increasingly frustrated–Draco especially as he received another letter from his mother inquiring about his task. They had been losing themselves in each other, different nights spent in one another's arms. Escaping to the Room of Requirement for an entirely different reason than the one that Draco was avoiding. He was losing himself in her and she was allowing him to–not wanting to come to the realization that once the Vanishing Cabinet happens, that everything would be different. 

She was waiting for him, a surprise underneath her shirt that she was going to use to her advantage, she had to get him to talk. Regardless of if it was a birthday present or not. The feeling of eyes on her had her tilt her head up, seeing Draco standing near the entrance to the Room of Requirement, gray eyes flitting over her. “Granger.”

“Malfoy.” Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she dropped her book onto the nightstand and smiled at him. “How was your meeting, love?” He narrowed his eyes at her, already seeming to catch onto her strange behavior as he stepped towards her, undoing the links at his wrists. Light gray was turning a dark silver as he curled a brow at her. 

“Did you just ask me how my meeting with Professor Snape went?”

“Yes?” He was smirking at her and she tried desperately to feign nonchalance. “Care to take a bath?”

“Granger…” It was a growl and he started to stalk towards her, while she clung desperately to the hints of persuasion that she was wanting to use against him. He reached for her and she dodged, side-stepping him and smirking. His fingers twitched at his side. “Do you want me to catch you, little bird?” It was the first time that he had ever called her that and it caused her breath to hitch. 

“Hmm…” She dodged him again when he made a grab for her, a giggle breaking from her lips. “Tell me something, Malfoy and maybe you’ll be rewarded if you answer honestly.”

A wicked smirk broke across her face and it definitely did not make her press her thighs together. “What do you want to know, Granger?”

She started with something easy. “Tell me one of your fantasies, Draco.” His eyes widened momentarily, before he stilled, hands twitching at his sides. “Maybe I’ll reward you for your birthday with one.” A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

“Marrying you.” Her heart stuttered, not expecting that answer and she swallowed, before carefully reaching up to undo her tie and let it drop from her fingers onto the floor. 

“It doesn’t seem fair that only one of us is answering questions, Granger.” She shrugged her shoulders, stepping away from him again as he took another step towards her, putting the couch between them earning her a scowl. 

“Ask away. Consider it another present.” 

“Tell me, Granger. Do you like being told that you’re a good girl?” His voice was low and raspy. She wasn’t sure why he had asked, he knew the answer. 

Her cheeks flushed instantly and she swallowed. Breathing a reply. “Yes.”

“Erm. Tell me three places that you want to visit when all of this is over.” A hopeless scramble for distraction.

He thought for a moment, before answering. “Italy, Paris and wherever the Orphanage is where you grew up.”

Hermione stumbled over her two feet. “What?”

“That’s two questions, Granger. But, I will let it slide.” He stepped closer to her. “I have been to Nott Manor so many times, and you have been to my home more times than we can count. Hermione, I want to know everything about you, I want to see the place where you grew up. And then I want to take you everywhere that you’ve never been. I want to take you away from this place…away from the harm that you somehow manage to always find yourself in.” 

Her shoes slip off and so do her socks. Draco tracks the newly exposed flesh, eyes darkening. Her feet shuffled their way towards the bathroom. “Your turn.”

“Do you think that you’re going to get the answer that you want this way?” Hermione inhaled sharply, before lifting her chin. 

“I’ve already told you I can be very persuasive, Malfoy. Besides, do you not like unwrapping your birthday present?” 

“Not persuasive enough for me to tell you something that will put you in danger.” He reached for her again. “Besides, I want to unwrap it myself.”

She knew that it was an attempt at distraction. “Why won’t you tell me?”

“Because I don’t want you to look at me differently, I just want to pretend for a little longer that you won’t view me as the monster that everybody else does.” Her fingers found their way to her buttons, working carefully as she pushed them through the holes. Untucking the fabric, petite hands pushed it from her shoulders and she felt the fabric brush against her legs as it fell to the floor. Draco’s eyes widened, and he swallowed, slowly dragging his gray eyes to look at her. 

“There is never anything that you could do to make me view you differently, Draco.” She stepped towards  him, inhaling his scent. He was frozen. “You got branded by a man that we both hate to protect your family. You killed a man for me. When will you get it through your head that nothing you do will ever make me love you any less, you infuriating man.” 

His resolve broke, and strong hands came to wrap around her waist, pulling her against his chest. A whispered confession into her neck. “Granger…”

“I know. Let me help. Let me in.” His head was shaking against her neck and his breath brushed against her skin. 

“Hermione…” Fingers brushed against her spine, his hands spreading out across her back. “I thought I told you never to use your body as a weapon for information.”

“I resorted to drastic measures to make sure that I could get you to talk.” A breath of a laugh against her shoulder. “You’re telling me that this lovely little thing was a waste?” She stepped back, staring down at the dark green bustier she was wearing. 

“I don’t recall ever saying that–”

“Or the fact that I’m not wearing any knickers? What a shame.” He reached out quickly, grabbing her and she squealed. In the next moment, she was pressed against the wall, Draco’s hand reaching up to tilt her head up, fingers spread across her throat gently. She tilted her chin at him in challenge and his fingers squeezed a little bit just enough for her to feel the weight against her neck. A growl vibrated from him, rumbling against her chest.

“You teasing little witch.” Lips against her collarbone, teeth scraping the strap of her bustier. “I will give you anything, you know that?” A light nip to her neck. “You are going to be the death of me.”

“Where you go, I go.” His head snapped up to hers, gray eyes darkening. 

“I swear on every one of my ancestors Granger–” Her lips slammed onto his shutting him up, and he groaned, nipping at her lip. His tongue swiped into her mouth and hers danced along with his, swallowing his groan. Long fingers threaded into her hair, gripping and tugging to angle her head back as lips worshiped her skin. “You bloody infuriating witch.” Teeth grazed her nipple over the bustier. “Infuriating, brilliant, terrifying bloody witch. Merlin.”

Hermione chuckled, threading her hands through his hair and tugging, loving the growl that broke from his lips as he turned them towards the bed. As they fell into the sheets he pulled back to stare at her, and a smile broke across her face. “I got this as your birthday present, what do you think of the green?”

“If it wasn’t my favorite color, it is now.”

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Like the wood of her wand, Hermione was tangled around him like a vein. An arm wrapped possessively around his waist, leg thrown over his waist, ankle trapped between his legs. Every inch of her hair threatened to choke the life from him as he batted the strands away from his face. His fingers danced up and down her spine, caressing every inch of exposed skin that he could get. The memory of him whispering his secret to her earlier playing in his mind.

“Draco, please tell me. Otherwise I am going to come up with all sorts of strange things. I have a wild imagination as you’re aware.” He chuckled, twisting a stray curl around his fingers. “What, were you assigned to kill Harry?” Although she said it as a joke, he could hear the uncertain hesitation in her voice.

“No. I have a feeling that he is wanting to attempt that feat on his own.” 

“I love you.” She kissed him lightly on his chest, hair tumbling out around her and spread across his shoulder. It was soft as velvet. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, Draco. Just know that I love you, and I trust you.”

The locket pressed against his chest, the metal cold against his skin. A reminder that he had promised her to do this right. That he wouldn’t take any more things from her. “I was told that I had to prove myself…and somehow get Death Eaters into the castle before the end of this year. With my father…and well my mother at the Manor, alone now…I didn’t really have a lot of choices. I remembered a story about Graham Montague getting caught in a Vanishing Cabinet a while back. It reminded me of one that I had seen before. And then I was assumed with the responsibility of fixing them so that the Death Eaters could gain access to the castle. Gain access to kill…so that I could kill Dumbledore.”

He heard her sharp intake of breath, hands tightening around his waist. “Dra–”

“Hold on darling. I promise that I’ll give you a chance to say something, I just want you to have all of the facts before you make a decision. Before you say anything.” She was quiet for a moment, silent before nodding against his shoulder. “I- I was trying to hold off fixing it, I didn’t want to have you in the castle. Or Pansy, Theo, Blaise…I didn’t want any of you in danger when they came. But…the longer that I take, the more time that my mother is unprotected at the Manor…I don’t know what they’re doing to her. I don’t know and I’m not there to protect her. I am left here…in the forced decision of who to protect and I hate it…I hate it…”

Draco trailed off, not saying anything and for a moment he wondered if his confession was going to end in this being the last time that he held her. Then, her voice broke the silence. “Draco.” Light brown eyes peeked up at him as she rested her chin on his chest. “I am sorry that you were met with an unfair and unthinkable choice to make. And I’m sorry that you chose me…you should’ve chosen to protect your mother.”

“Hermione–”

“No. You told me to stay quiet, it’s my turn to talk.” Brown eyes narrowed at him. “I’m sorry that you chose to protect me. Your mother means more to you than anybody else in this world.” Did she not understand how much she meant to him? “I’m sorry that you thought that I would view you differently for having to make the decision of taking somebody’s life in order to protect all of us. You take so much of the world onto your shoulders…you assume the responsibility of everybody around you–and I know that you’re going to say that I do the same thing, but that’s not the point here. You take responsibility for every single person that you love. Draco, there is never a doubt in my mind that you will do what you need to do in order to keep the people that you love safe. I love you. We will figure this out together. You’re not alone.”

The words that she whispered somehow managed to take the weight that was on his chest and throw it into the wind. A soft caress soothing like a balm to his anxiety. 

Somehow, this golden light had told him that she would still love him even if he had to kill somebody. She would still love him even after doing what he needed to do. It wasn’t a reaction that he had expected from her, it wasn’t the response that he thought was going to fall from her lips. Granger was good; she was everything that he had been trying to protect. Hermione was everything. 

“You would be okay with me killing somebody?”

“No. Not really if we’re being honest. I don’t think that there are certain people in this world that deserve to die. I don’t want to be responsible for anybody’s death. But if there is one thing that I have learned over the years is that sometimes you have to be willing to be brutal in order to survive. Monsters are quick to take the things you love from you with no remorse. They are quick to cast a curse without acting as though it steals something from them in return. I’ve read about Dark Magic. I’ve felt the way that the room felt in the Manor, drenched in it so much that you could barely breathe. I have been in the clutches of a Cruciartus more times than I care to admit enough to know only from an outside perspective to be able to imagine the toll that it takes on a wizard to cast one.”

He didn’t think that he was breathing as she continued. 

“I wouldn’t be okay with you just killing somebody, Draco. That’s not what I’m saying, and it wasn’t what you asked. You’re not just killing somebody. You’re not some psychotic murderer going around and Avada’ing whoever you come across. If you don’t do this then everybody around you, everybody that you love will die. You are met with a choice. A choice that will determine the lives of so many more people. I’m not saying that our lives are more important, nor more deserving. But–Dumbledore is a smart wizard, and powerful enough to instill fear in Voldemort. There is a reason that he wants him dead. Dumbledore knows this, he has to. And…if my assumptions are correct…he is already dying anyways.”

“What?!” It came out as a hiss, passing through his teeth. 

“Well…have you noticed his hand? It’s spreading. And, he keeps telling Harry that there are things that they must do before there isn’t time anymore. He had him searching for the memory from Slughorn to reveal the Horcruxes…but I don’t know. It’s almost like Dumbledore knew what they were. What he was making Harry search for. It’s almost as if he enjoys sending Harry on these wild goose chases just to see if he can actually accomplish it or not. That also happened in first year–he was waiting by the door when I came to retrieve help for Ron. The entire second year he was vague and strange. Third year was just horrendous as you know. Then the Department of Ministries–after I almost died. I noticed that he had been nowhere to be found when we were originally going, when all of that went down. We couldn’t find him anywhere the entire damn year. He just let us fight our battles alone and then vanished until suddenly Harry drew Voldemort out of hiding and poof he was there.”

She had sat up at some point in her rambling, hands waving around as she spoke animatedly. Draco realized that she was right. Dumbledore was always letting the trio work through everything themselves–Hermione worked through everything and the other two just dove in like idiots not listening and letting her suffer the consequences.

His hands drifted over her skin, touching every inch available to him. If only they could just stay here, wrapped up in one another without having to worry about the consequences. Without caring about anything or anybody else. But, Draco knew that it had always been bigger than them. The witch wrapped around him like a vine was living proof of that. She carried people with her–the same way that he did. Theo, Pansy, Narcissa, Snape, Lucius, Potter, Weaslette–although any of the Weasleys were questionable for him specifically, they cared for almost the same people. 

Yet Draco knew deep down that none of them mattered to him but her. 

None of them were her. And he would raise hell on anybody who dared to harm her.