Twelve Years

May 1999.

Hermione entered the library and saw Draco sitting alone. As had been their custom, she sat across from him and unloaded her things.

Without speaking a single word, they switched notes and got to work.

They had been reviewing each other's notes for a while, since he had found hers on the floor under the table and corrected them in red ink one day, before returning them.

They barely spoke.

They had addressed their mutual issues through group therapy.

Ministry mandated group therapy.

Everyone had put their pre war demons aside.

He had apologised to her.

She had forgiven him.

It was unconditional.

They studied in silence now.

Her notes slid back to her with a few red marks here and there. Some neat script marked a few places where she could elaborate or crossed out a potion measurement that wasn't quite right.

He was exceptional at potions and she was in awe of it. Towards the end of the year, he had landed so far in the good graces of the teachers, that Slughorn had allowed Draco to be his assistant for the first and second years classes.

Harry and Ron hadn't been at school, Harry having fast tracked to Auror training and Ron staying behind to help George in the shop that had been one Weasley brother down since the loss of Fred.

So here she sat, every night after dinner, sharing study tips with her former enemy.

Sometimes, their feet touched under the table.

Sometimes he'd look up at her.

Sometimes their fingers would brush together as they passed information back and forth.

Everyone knew of their arrangement. Of their wordless bond.

It was shared trauma, she thought.

She had no idea how she knew, but she knew that he felt the same.

Exam week was a flurry of anxiety, calming draughts, late nights perfecting her study notes and panic attacks behind the curtains of her 4 poster bed.

The final exam, potions, turned out to be the most simple. She had to create a simple potion, break it down and discuss the ingredients used, the reasons behind the preparation techniques and the uses. It was a breeze. A breeze because of the nights where Draco had given her his notes on why crush rather than cut certain things and whether slicing with a silver blade was better than stainless steel. He had prlerhaps taught her more than Slughorn had.

She left feeling confident that she would gain all of her NEWTS, with ease.

Instead of celebrating, she had gone to her dorm to pack her trunk for the final time. Having exams in the last week had been an interesting decision but it stopped students from having nothing to do.

After the evening meal, she headed to the library. Just out of habit. Perhaps to peruse the shelves one last time.

To feel the leather, to smell the scent of the parchment and feel the intensity of the room full of knowledge. The place that had almost never failed her.

She sunk into a brown leather couch and let her head fall back.

This could be the last time she would be here. The last night in the castle.

"Are you feeling as conflicted as I am?" came Malfoy's voice from nowhere.

"Conflicted?" she asked.

"Glad it's all finally over, sad to leave?" he asked, sitting down beside her with a small amount of space between them.

"I grew up here, among these shelves, inside these walls" she said.

"A lot happened here... To us all" he agreed.

"Thank you... For the study help... These last few months. You're really great at potions" she said, turning to him. His eyes were bright in the dim abandoned part of the library.

"I should thank you. Perhaps I might stand a chance at top of the class" he said.

"Were even then" she said, smiling at him.

He smiled back.

She took his hand that had been resting in the couch between them, but pulled away quickly when a burst of static shocked her.

"Oh, wow, that was awkward" she said.

She had been going for an appreciative hand grab, perhaps with a smile. A show of friendship on their last day together.

They sat beside each other not speaking, not touching for a while, just looking around at the books.

She thought about not seeing him again, about all the words they hadn't said. About the thing's that had passed between them without words.

"I could use a drink" he said.

"I'll let you go, your house mates would be having a party I'm guessing" she said, standing up.

She went to walk away, but felt his hand grip hers.

"I don’t want to spend my last night with them" he said, his grey eyes staring up at her brown ones as she stood and took in what he had said.

Did he want to spend his final night of Hogwarts sitting alone with her in silence?

"Madam Pince will be extinguishing the lanterns soon" she said, looking at her watch.

It was late.

No one really had any reason to be here.

Except Hermione.

Except Draco.

They had found peace here. They had found mutual trust. They had found each other.

Then, suddenly, she didn't want to be anywhere else either.

"The room of requirement?" she asked. "We could ask it to look like this" she said, gesturing around.

He nodded and stood, not letting go of her hand.

She wondered why.

Was he afraid?

They walked through the school to the fifth floor, to the vacant part of the hall.

He let go of her hand then to pace back and forth along the wall.

She smiled to herself when the door appeared.

He held it opened and she walked through, gasping when it looked almost identical to the library. The couch they had been sitting on just moments ago, sat nearby and a huge fireplace stood before it.

"Good imagination" she said, walking around and noticing some of the identical features to that of the library.

He walked through some shelves, and she heard his footsteps disappear.

She followed him to the main study area, to their desk.

He had seated himself in his usual spot, perhaps a little sideways, and was pouring Amber liquid from a bottle into two glasses.

He drank one at once and proceeded to refill it from the bottle.

"Are you going to save me any?" she asked.

He held up the second glass to her.

She walked over to him and took the glass from his hand. Instead of stepping away, she followed his lead, drank it all at once and held the glass out for another.

He refilled it and looked up at her from where he sat.

His head, suddenly, out of nowhere, fell forward and his forehead pressed into her stomach. His arms came up and held into her.

She didn't know what to make of it.

She placed her hand on his head, stroking his hair as she felt his body begin to tremble.

The longer he held her, sitting before her, as she stood, the fiercer he began shaking.

"Draco" she soothed. "Draco, it's OK" she whispered. He just clung to her tighter and she could feel him gripping the back of her jumper.

She drank her drink down in one before setting her glass down on the table and running both hands through his hair.

She had invisioned him in a similar position, her hands in his hair, but never like this. In fact, she had fantasised about him for months now.

She leant her body closer to him, placing one leg between his thighs and the other to one side.

"Draco, it's OK. It's all over, we're fine. You're OK. I promise" she said.

She felt his hands release and she scraped her nails through his hair.

It was that moment that everything changed.

He pulled her down so she was sitting on his lap, facing him, straddling him.

His face was red and blotchy and his eyes were puffy and wet.

She wiped his tears with her thumbs and looked into his eyes.

"How can you forgive me? For everything? For everything I ever did?" he asked.

"Easily. We were children Draco. I've already forgiven you" she whispered.

He looked from her eyes to her lips and she nodded slightly in response to a question that was not asked.

The space between them closed and his lips were on hers. They kissed with such hunger, passion and desperation, she couldn't let it go. She couldn't just kiss him. And leave it there.

She pulled her jumper and shirt off in one and tossed them to the side and he did the same with his jumper. She tore at his shirt, wanting to run her hands over his chest.

The only sounds in the room were their mingled breaths, their panting, followed by the sounds of kissing.

She slid forward in his lap, now only in her bra and skirt and him wearing his shirt that had been ripped open.

She was searching for friction, seeking a comfort to ease the throbbing that had built up between her aching thighs.

She wasn't a virgin, but her experience with sex was very limited. The loss of her virginity at 15 to Krum had been a stupid act of teenage idiocy and then her short lived relationship with Ron had been purely physical, but never very daring or experimental.

She pulled herself away from Draco and panted.

Now was the moment she could choose to walk away, or choose to stay.

She didn't want to leave this moment. More than needing her desires met, she had been curious about Draco Malfoy for weeks.

She took him by the hand and attempted to lead him back to the couch, however, he took her shoulders in his hands, turned her and laid her back, atop the table before climbing up resting his body atop hers.

It was a lot.

He kissed her, Merlin did he kiss her.

She wondered how long he had been wanting to do this for.

And then...

She wondered how long SHE had been wanting this for.

Her legs wrapped around him, giving her the opportunity to feel him, to feel his arousal pressing against her.

She wanted him.

Merlin did she want him.

She reached between them and hastily unbuckled his belt and trousers, pushing them down with her feet. He bunched her skirt up around her waist and hooked his fingers into her knickers, sliding them down her thighs slowly. So slowly. Too slowly.

"Draco" she panted.

He stopped.

Immediately, he stopped.

"Sorry, I’m... Fuck, I fucked this up" he said, retreating, running his hands through his unkempt hair.

"No" she said, as she pulled him back to her. Back to this moment.

"Can we... This desk..." she said, motioning to her back.

"Oh, sure" he said, turning and facing the wall. "Close your eyes" he whispered, and she obliged. "There" he said, and when she opened them, a 4 poster king sized bed stood where the charms section once stood.

"Clever" she said.

He held her hand while she got down off the desk and they both hesitated.

"We don't have to..." he said.

"I know... but I want to" she said.

Besides, she was down to her bra and her school skirt, and he stood before her wearing only his boxers and his unbuttoned shirt.

He stepped closer to her and stood before her, their height now a glaringly obvious concern.

He leant down and, with almost too much ease, lifted her off the ground.

From the moment he placed her on the bed, she was lost. The time after that was a blur of limbs, flesh and pure and total bliss.

Draco Malfoy was no joke when it came to sex. He knew exactly what to do, when, where and how to touch her to send her soaring over the edge.

She woke with a start the following morning, wrapped in the warm arms of Draco Malfoy with nothing but a sheet covering them both.

"Oh no" she cried out as she looked to the clock on the wall.

Breakfast had come and gone and the students would now be headed for the train.

"Good morning" he said.

"We're late" she said, climbing out of the bed and taking the sheet with her.

She almost got back in when she saw him laying on his back, his glorious morning erection standing at attention.

He turned and looked to the clock he knew would be in its rightful place.

"We can just apparate from outside the gates?" he asked.

"We're both prefects, we need to be on the train" she said, as she ran around collecting her things.

"Should we... Talk? About what happened?" he asked.

She stopped hurrying around and sat on the bed beside him.

"I had a good time" she said.

"As did I" he agreed.

"If we happen to be in the same place at the same time again, well, maybe we can do this again sometime" she said.

She went to get up but he took her by the wrist.

"I mean what I said last night" he said.

She racked her brain trying to remember. They both said so much. Although, she most cried it out into the heavens.

She frowned and shook her head.

"I told you... I said I had liked you for... A while" he said.

She recalled him saying that, and more. In fact, his declaration of "Granger I'm in love with you" suddenly sprung into her mind. At the time it was sexy, sensual, drove her wild.

Having Draco Malfoy admit to her that he'd loved her.

It was a parallel universe.

Now.

She was without words.

"I... I have enjoyed spending time with you but I can't say I feel the same" she said.

Lie.

It was a lie.

She had thought about him in that way for so long.

Too long.

Last night as he worshipped her body she envisioned a life where they worked long hard days and came home to banter and had ferocious sex till early hours of the morning. She had, at some stage, potentially after his declaration, considered what their children might look like. A girl with brown eyes and blonde hair. A boy with his father's features from head to toe but perhaps her intellect and desire for learning.

"We can meet after? Maybe in a few days? Maybe see a movie?" she asked, feeling like a fool. He had poured his heart out and she had taken advantage of him, sexually.

"I would like that" he said with a small smile.

"Hey, it's not the end of the world" she said. "This is the beginning of our lives. We're finally free from the confines of this castle. To do whatever we want" she said.

"I should have... Said something, made a move... Earlier" he said.

"Maybe earlier, I wouldn't have been ready?" she said.

"Hm" he said.

She looked at the clock.

There was time.

She only had to climb 2 flights to retrieve her trunk.

She climbed back up the bed, up over his legs, almost stopping at his incredibly satisfactorily sized, hard as a rock erection, but she kept going, straddled his legs and kissed him.

Being naked, obviously had its advantages.

His smile, Merlin, the way he smiled when she kissed him. It was like magic. Like a direct link to her libido.

She positioned herself and sunk down on him, eliciting a moan from between his lips.

"I'll make this quick" she said as she kissed him.

"If you don't, I will" he said.

She moved her hips and ground herself against him. As if like a button, she was switched on and rushing towards an orgasm she knew was just below the surface.

"Oh gods" she cried out as she threw her head back.

His hand went to her clit and she was done. She gripped his chest with her nails surely leaving marks as she rode out an orgasmic wave. She was lost in it, completely taken away with how quick and easy this was. Then again he filled her just right, hit her just right, touched her just right.

She was vaguely aware of his own release, as his other hand gripped her hip right and he groaned into her neck.

She kissed him again, wondering if she would get the opportunity again. She sure hoped so.

"We need to go" she said.

"I'll owl you?" he asked.

"Yes. Absolutely do owl me" she said with a smile as she dressed.

Aside from the train ride home, where just his gaze made her clench her thighs together, that was the last time she saw him. The last time they spoke. The last time they had been in the same continent.

She waited, of course, for his owl, putting off her trip to Australia to see her parents. She confided in Ginny who thought it was the best, most scandalous thing to ever happen. Ginny and Harry were inseparable and within a couple of weeks, moved into Grimmauld place, where Hermione had been staying with Harry.

It was her queue to leave.

Without word from Malfoy, she sent him an owl and packed her things and flew to Australia the muggle way, in hopes of bringing her parents back.

What did in fact eventuate, was her parents refusal to leave the land down under. Them begging her to stay and her agreeing to do so.

It was a culture shock at first. The things that were different were immense. Harry Ginny and Ron visited all the time, having unlimited access to international port keys and keeping one for their own personal use.

It was a sunny weekend when Hermione began feeling sick. The four of them had plans, they were going to visit Darling Harbour and see the sights, but Hermione couldn't bring herself to get our of bed. She was nauseous, fatigued and just generally unwell and her three friends carried on without her, while her mum fussed over her.

It wasn't till a few days later that Hermione came to a shock realisation.

She was late.

Very late.

She hadn't had her period in quite a while.

Definitely before she and Malfoy had been together.

She made her way to the 24 hour chemist down the road and bought every brand of pregnancy test they had.

Sitting alone in her parents bathroom, she cried to herself when blue lines, little plus signs, and the word 'pregnant' appeared on every single plastic test.

It was too much.

She was under no illusion that the father was anyone but Malfoy. How could he not be?

She thought she had been on the potion, but she realised she didn't take her last dose. Why would she? She hadn't anticipated needing to. Ron was involved with someone else and the idea of shagging Malfoy had been purely fantasy. There had never been anyone else who took her fancy.

There was never any ideas of getting rid of the pregnancy. She eventually told Harry, Ron and Ginny the former two, having been shocked to hear of her one night with Malfoy. The four of them swore they'd never say anything.

Hermione’s parents were equally as supportive, offering to build a granny flat in the back yard to call her own, which she happily accepted.

It had initially been hard, getting back on track with her parents, but once they knew the truth, the cold hard facts about the war, they could understand why thought what she did was right.

She asked Harry to owl Draco and was surprised to hear that any owls sent, returned with letters undelivered. She tried to find a way to post a letter via muggle post. She had Ginny apparate to the gates of Malfoy Manor and attempt to enter, which was useless. Hermione tried. She really tried to get in touch with Draco.

Part of her was devastated. She had thought of him coming to Australia, they could reunite, have a go at a real relationship without the interruptions of the press. That's what she loved most about Australia. While people knew of her, no one stopped her in the street or asked how she was doing or demanded a photo.

She was able to get a job in the Australian ministry in UK relations, where she liaised with the British ministry throughout her pregnancy.

Her new Australian friends were incredible.

Her mum threw her a baby shower and her new and old friends all attended. She brushed off questions about the baby's father, often suggesting it had been an unknown donor or a random one night stand.

Cassiopeia Dora Granger was born in February 2000, the epitome of perfection.

Hermione raised her alone with some help from her parents. Her friends lavished her with gifts, love and care. Harry and Ginny, her godparents, bought her her first broom and Cass was like a duck to water by age 3.

She was showing signs of magic from early on and often unable to control it. For that reason, Hermione enrolled her in the closest magical primary school and watched as her daughter blossomed into an extroverted, friendly, well liked young person.

As time wore on Hermione knew she'd have a decision to make.

Stay in Australia and send Cass to the Australian school of Witchcraft and Wizardry or move back to England and send her to Hogwarts. She knew what she wanted to do. She couldn't imagine Cass going anywhere other than Hogwarts. And knowing that at least Teddy Lupin and Victoire Wesley will be there with her will be a comfort.

It was then that she sat her parents down and had the discussion with them, declaring her intentions to move back.