Tomorrow
Hermione could hear the low voices of Harry and Draco coming from the hall. She eased her eyes open to see a line of light coming through the barely open door. Slowly the events of the last hours came back to her as she felt a pang of soreness in her ribs. A red ball of fluff sauntered in through the open door and hopped onto Draco's bed just as Hermione heard Harry say "We found him at the Manor, Draco." A moment of silence passed. "How'd he get in?" Draco asked slowly and Hermione heard nothing but the rustling of a cloak. She deduced Harry must have shrugged. "Wards are... were his specialty..He managed a bit of damage but nothing we can't fix. The Manor was empty aside from him." Harry stated. "My Mum's at the beach.." She heard Draco mutter. "I know.. Good thing too" Harry said quietly. "And she hasn't woken up yet?" Harry asked. More silence. Draco must have shook his head. "You look tired mate, Maybe get some sleep. We'll have an auror posted at her door for the foreseeable future if it makes you feel better." Harry said and Hermione heard Draco say "No, I'm fine. I'll sleep when I know she's okay" At this Hermione felt a pang in her heart instead of her ribs. Slowly, she sat up and groaned.
Instantly the door to Draco's bedroom flew open and she flinched at the increase in light. Her head was pounding and she was sore all over. She saw Harry with his Auror face still on and Draco with a look of both panic and happiness. Draco reached her first and sat down beside her, putting a hand to her cheek. She had no idea how horrid she must look but he looked as if he was in as much pain as her and she could see his eyes filling up with tears that would likely never fall. Not in front of her. She leaned into his hand and looked at him. "Ow" She said quietly. Nothing more eloquent came to her mind.
His lips formed a deep frown and he wrapped his arms around her pulling her to his chest. Harry still had his game face on but Hermione could see something else in his eyes. Looking up at him from Draco's chest she asked "So they found him at the Manor?" Harry nodded "He's sleeping it off at the ministry." Hermione drew her eyebrows together "Hermione, before you say anything, I'm going to tell you that he won't get out of this, this time. You're going to tell me to let him off and I can't. Not this time. I can't let this happen again. You are too important. People can't go around beating up the Minister of Magic without retribution. The Wizengamot agree." Hermione scoffed "I wouldn't say he beat me up" She said. She felt Draco's arms tighten around her. "That's just it, Hermione, He did. He did beat you up. You're not impartial enough to make this decision." Harry sighed and drew his fingers through his hair. "Neither am I. The chief Warlock will head up his trial instead of you, I've asked to be taken off his case as well. This is out of our hands. Out of mine." Harry then shared a look with Draco. "We can't go easy on him just because he's our friend." He spat. Hermione winced at the venom in his words. So rarely had she seen this side of Harry in recent years. Harry took a deep breath. "Hermione, we'll speak about this tomorrow," He said in his most authoritative voice. "Take the rest of today to rest" Hermione looked at Draco's bedside clock and saw it was 3 am. She nodded, "We'll talk tomorrow." she said quietly. "Get some good rest, Hermione. I know you're in good hands" He gave Draco a pointed look and Draco just nodded. She found it interesting that her best friend and Boyfriend of only really a day have already acquired the ability to have silent conversations. With that her best friend was gone and she was left with a serious and tired looking Draco.
"So" He said. She knew that meant spill.
Hermione sighed. "Ron has a problem.." She said quietly.
"He's got loads" Draco said coldly.
She sighed again. "He has a drinking problem." She saw him nod and began speaking again. Once started she couldn't seem to stop. "He turned to drinking heavily after the war. I mean.. we all did, really. We'd done so much, we had never had the time to just have fun and we had all seen so much - so many dreadful things. We would go out a lot just to blow off the steam we all had from starting our jobs. Then it turned into him drinking to keep his nightmares away. But he got better after a while. I think being an Auror helped with that. He was busy. Then work became too much for him. He got burnt out so quickly, used up his time off too early in the year and just became more and more despondent with the department. With me too i suppose. Once he left the ministry it started again. Worse than ever. He had gone from high level ministry to a low level, low responsibility job that he could skive off to drink whenever he pleased." She sighed and felt Draco drawing circles on her back. She leaned her head more into his neck. "Then he came home very drunk one night and we had that big row. He told me he wanted a divorce because I was a worthless wife anyway and couldn't ever be the mother he wanted me to be to his children. He.. he blamed me for .. for losing our baby a year or so ago."
She heard Draco suck in a breath but kept going. "He had grabbed me by the arm and threw me down the stairs that night. I don't really remember much but I know that once Harry found out he kicked Ron out of my house, Fixed the wards, although i guess not enough. You were right but i put off modifying them further against him. It felt so.. Wrong. Im sorry. Anyway, Harry wanted me to report it then but I .. I just couldn't." She took a breath and looked over at Draco. His eyebrows were knitted and she could see fury in his eyes. She could feel her lower lip quivering as she looked at him and once he noticed he buried his face in her neck and held her tightly.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry he's done this to you." He sighed heavily. "You should have told me this when he punched me in the face. I wouldn't have let him go so easily. I thought he was mad at me.. not you. "
"He's mad at everything" Hermione said quietly. She looked at him again. "How'd I get here."
"You apparated"
"But my wand.."
He pointed to his bedside table. "It's there now, and Potter brought the cat just now."
"but.."
"You disapparated without your wand Hermione."Her mouth fell open and Draco chuckled softly
"And I didn't splinch myself?"
Draco winced. "I think you did.. He.. Well he broke your arm" At this Hermione stiffened "and I think you made it a bit worse but otherwise.. No, You didn't. Or you'd be at St Mungos." Hermione nodded. "I will say that Potter must have developed a wicked bone healing spell." She nodded then looked out the window and tried to remember everything that happened after Ron knocked on her door. She seemed to remember most of it until she disapparated.
"I can feel you thinking" He said and kissed her temple.
"I can't remember everything. Everything after I left home is fuzzy."
He nodded "Then that arm was definitely splinched. Memory loss often happens along-side a splinch. I wish Potter would have let me take you.." He sighed. "Well, He's gone, Weasels been found, You're awake, the fluffball is here. Can I inspect you now? Please?" He added with a worried tone. She nodded but frowned.
"I must look a fright" She said, trying to cover her face.
He took her hands and held them both. "No you don't but how about a bath? I"ll help you."
She nodded but then looked back at him. "Aren't you tired?"
He shook his head "I'm only worried about you, love" He said looking into her eyes. All at once she felt an intense amount of affection for this man bubble up within her. She raised her hand to his face and he lent into it. She kissed him softly but after a moment he pulled away. "No, first things first. Are you going to be a good patient?" She felt a shiver run down her spine as he whispered in her ear "I'll reward you if you are"
He couldn't help but smirk at how quickly she got up and began making her way to the bathroom. His smirk quickly dissolved when he noticed her wincing and walking tenderly.
He walked up behind her, "Allow me" He said and gently scooped her up into his arms, carrying her bridal style into the palatial bathroom. He waved his hand slightly and Hermione heard the tap start running. He set her down on the padded bench along the wall and bent down to take her socks and shoes off. She began to take her shirt off but she saw now that it was all but torn to bits. She gasped as she caught sight of the bloodstains on her shirt. She gingerly lifted the tattered shirt over her head, wincing. Draco was now working on her pants and leaned back, letting him. She ran her fingers along the Mudblood scar on her arm and whimpered as she remembered Ron stomping on her arm in that same spot. She remembered him calling her a Mudblood with such contempt, such anger. She couldn't help the tears that formed in her eyes. Mostly she was upset at the loss of her friend. It almost felt as if Ron had died years ago. Draco could see the tears bubbling up in her eyes and instantly felt furious. He tried to quell this, however, and took her hand, helping her to stand. He removed her pants and panties the rest of the way, last was her bra which he unhooked quickly. He picked her up again trying to ignore her warm skin touching his now bare chest. He had discarded his bloody shirt hours ago and was glad she didn't see it.
He placed her gently into the warm water and noticed she seemed reluctant to let go of his neck. He maneuvered so she need not let go and dribbled some bubble bath into the water, swirling it with this hand. He poured in a few drops from two other bottles.
"I put some muscle relaxing and peaceful-ness potions in your water. I'm going to give you some of this peacefulness potion after this okay?" She nodded. He kissed her temple. "Relax, love. I've got you. Just lay your head back" And she did, letting both arms fall down into the water. Slowly he began to wash her and inspect her body for any scrapes or other injuries.
"I've never used a peaceful-ness potion.."
"Snape made it." She gave him a shocked look.
He chuckled softly and nodded "Yes, He made it for my mother when I was young. He passed on the recipe to her. It's kind of a mix of simple healing potions and a dreamless sleep potion. I mostly just use it to relax." She nodded again.
"feels nice." She said quietly.
He smiled softly at her and ran his fingers through her hair. "good" He said softly as he looked into her eyes.
"Hermione, where does it hurt most?" He asked. She knitted her eyebrows together. "My ribs, they're really sore and my head." He nodded. My heart she had wanted to say but held back. He was doing his best to mend that already.
He gently ran his fingers along her sides watching for her winces. He frowned and grabbed his wand, doing a few basic diagnostic spells he muttered a few choice words and began healing her ribs, one by one.
"He broke six of your ribs, Hermione. They don't seem too severe and I checked for internal bleeding. I'll be able to heal them now. Ready?"
She nodded and he healed the first one. She cried out and grabbed his wrist.
"Do you want a more powerful pain reliever? It'll make you feel a bit funny though. It'll all go fuzzy again."
She looked at him and tried to smile. "I trust you" He clutched her hand for a moment and just held it, looking into her eyes. He held her gaze for a moment before giving her a small vile he had gotten ready off to the side. She downed it and lay her head back again knowing that Draco would give her nothing but comfort. She was safe with him.
He watched as her breathing began to slow and her eyes blinked slowly. He knew he could continue once she had a silly lopsided smile on her face. He healed her ribs one by one and looked back to her face once he was done. She looked up at him with big doe eyes and a soft smile.
"that potion works fast" She giggled with a slight slur to her speech.
He chuckled. "Mhmm"
"Your skills are impressive. Are you a healer now, too Malfoy?" She asked, looking at him sideways. He laughed and said "No, Granger, It was my mother who taught me most of the healing spells I know and having Snape near me most of my life lead to me learning quite a bit about healing potions." He looked at her vacant yet somewhat happy expression and said "and I have no idea why I'm telling you things you'll just forget" he shook his head and grabbed a soft scrub from the edge of the tub and began to wash her gently, never removing his touch fully. She hummed and leaned into the bit of his chest that was leaning over the tub. He looked down at her and noticed how small she seemed in this position. To so many people she was bigger than life but here she was, just a victim, just a sad person needing comfort. As if on cue he heard her sniffle and he sat on the edge of the tub and cupped her crumpling face.
"Ron is mean.. He's so mean, Draco and you're so nice. All the time. Why didn't we just have this all along?" He hugged her to his chest as she began to sob. He held her for what felt like hours and listened to her ask Merlin why, and repeat "He was my best friend, my best friend" She stopped crying after five minutes or so and took a deep, but shaky, breath. She looked up at Draco. "Thank you. Im sorry for all of this."
He frowned and just kissed her, wiping her tears away at the same time. Once they stopped kissing he helped her out of the tub and dried her off. He slipped one of his white shirts over her body and sat her down in front of the bathroom mirror and began to brush her hair. They were silent this whole time but instead of being awkward it was peaceful. Draco felt as if he himself had taken a dose of what he had given her but he knew he hadn't. Her presence and safety gave him the same calm euphoria. After she was clean, dry and brushed they made their way to his bed and he laid her down gently and tucked her in. He crawled in next to her and placed an arm around her waist, low enough not to disturb her ribs, nuzzling into her neck. He placed a few kisses near her ear and down her neck.
"I was a good girl" She mumbled and he chuckled against the back of her neck. Goosebumps immediately covered her entire body.
"You were, so good baby, and I'll reward you tomorrow. Just sleep, love, Just sleep." He said quietly in her ear. He drew patterns on her back and felt her begin to relax.
"Why are you so nice to me?" She asked softly.
"Shh" He said. "Because I .." too soon "Because I care deeply about you"
She sighed. "A lot of people care about me.. It feels .. different with you.." She trailed off.
She turned in his arms to face him and cuddled into his chest. When he thought she was close to sleep he whispered "Because I love you. I’ve loved you for so long, Hermione." She nuzzled closer and he was terrified she may have actually heard what he just said. He clutched her tighter until he heard a soft snoring.
Sleep still did not come easily to him.
🖤
Hermione woke up feeling sore but warm. The warmness she felt seemed to be emanating from her heart but also her midsection. She peeked open an eye and looked down to see a long fingered hand around her waist. She placed her hand on top of his and hummed happily. She felt him stir and place a few kisses along her neck.
"Mm G'morning" She said softly.
He only hummed in response. While laying in his warm embrace was heavenly, the reality of the last 24 hours came back to her eventually.
"You okay, love?" He asked as if he could feel her thoughts.
"Yes" She said softly "it just all hit me I guess. I suppose it's time I stop hiding here" She said and turned to face him. He cupped her cheek.
"Nope, I spoke to Potter yesterday. You're staying here, with at least one Auror at the door, no negotiation. You should really take a few days off of work."
She made a sound of protest in the back of her throat and he shook his head again but kissed her instead of arguing. He pulled back after a few moments.
"How are you feeling?" he asked
"m'okay. A bit sore but really okay. I wokt go into the office but ill work on some files here." He nodded.
"How 'bout a bit of brecky then?" He asked. She hummed and he could see the wheels turning in her head. She cuddled closer, snaking her own arms around his back and kissed just under his ear before whispering "I thought I had earned a reward" She said, her hot breath tickling his earlobe.
He hummed huskily and wasted no time attacking her neck and lips and face with kisses. He paused after a few moments and looked down at her with both arms braced on either side of her head. She was biting her lip and he growled. She let out a small giggle as he pulled her lip with his thumb. He leaned down to kiss her again. This time slow and purposeful. He didn't want to mention what he had whispered to her late last night and didn't want to know just yet if she had heard him but he was trying to put those words into this kiss. Even if he didn't want to repeat it, he knew it was still true.
Leaving wet, open mouthed kisses down her neck. He reached her chest and smirked at her, noticing the rapid pace of her chest's movements. He unbuttoned the few buttons of the shirt he had slipped over her shoulders the night before. He opened the shirt like she was a present. He ran his hands up her hips and over her stomach, ghosting his fingertips over her breasts. Her breath hitched and he smiled down at her, now straddling her hips.
"You're beautiful Hermione." She began to turn her head to the side. That wouldn't do. He grabbed her chin and made her to look at him.
"You are beautiful." He bent down to kiss her lips gently. "You are perfect" He whispered.
He kissed her neck softly, "You are radiant" He smiled and kissed the other side of her neck. "You are powerful" She let out a whimper and he knew she may be close to tears. He didn't care. He needed her to know. She deserved to know. This was the beginning of his work to repair her.
He kissed between her breasts "You are sexy", He nipped her hip playfully "You are fun" She let out a small soft laugh and he returned to her face. "Hermione you are bloody perfect. Amazing. I promise to never let you forget that, Okay?" She nodded up at him. He could see tears in the corner of her eyes and kissed them away. Returning to his original path he kissed his way back to her breasts. He took one hardened nipple into his mouth and then the other as she squirmed and moaned under him. Careful to avoid her ribs he ran his hands everywhere they could reach. Every tickle, every kiss, every lick gave him some sort of reaction, which he thoroughly enjoyed. Backing off of her he laid between her legs and kissed up and down each thigh. He looked up at her as he ran one finger through her folds.
"Oh love, You're so wet for me" he growled and she whimpered.
He ran another finger through her folds and dipped just inside her. "Oh my" He said and looked up at her until she met his eyes. When he had her attention he took his damp finger, putting it between his lips and sucked it clean, never breaking his gaze. Gods did he want to ravage her but he knew gentleness was a better course for today. He wanted it to be about her pleasure just now anyway.
He placed a hand on either thigh and pushed each to lay flat on the bed. Hermione wasn't sure how to feel about being splayed out for this man in this way but He didn't seem to mind and when his tongue touched her she forgot all about her modesty. He could see it all, have it all if this is what he would do with her. She couldn't help but raise her hips off the bed and let out a loud moan as he sucked gently on her clit. He took the opportunity to slip his hands under her rear and palmed her cheeks as he sucked and licked every bit of her. She was already trembling as he slipped a finger inside and after he twisted in a second she was done for.
He groaned, feeling her clench around his fingers and looked up to watch her face as she came. For him.
He climbed up her again and putting his elbows on either side of her head, caging her in, he kissed her hard. She laced her fingers in his hair and hummed happily into his mouth, Not caring that she could still taste herself on his lips. He pulled back and was about to say something when a knock sounded through the room.
"Hey, I hate to interrupt what sounds like a fun morning romp but someone is here to see you.." Balise said through the door. Draco dropped his head and put his forehead against hers.
"We'll finish this later" He said darkly and rolled off her so they could both get dressed.