Turning the Page

Draco takes the refusal of his petition remarkably well.

Probably because he’s got a pretty good life carved out in muggle London.

He still gets up every day and glares at the dodgy flat he lives in while dreading the awkward shape of his shower.

But once he’s outside, the contentment comes.

Work remains a place he enjoys, finding himself with more visitors since the treasure trail. Paige from the bakery brings him day olds and Denny stops by almost every day to try and pry information out about Draco’s delinquent days.

Once he realises that Draco had attended a private school, his interest drops quickly.

Draco has already scheduled another book reading in a couple of weeks and he’s got ideas for the shop windows all planned out for June.

He isn’t sure he wants to work at the bookshop forever, but he is in no rush to find anything else.

It is the middle of May before anything particularly interesting happens.

And Draco doesn’t quite realise how interesting it is until a few minutes in.

He’s putting stickers on a stack of Kite Runner hardcovers when a couple comes into the bookshop.

He greets them from the counter but then puts his head down, assuming they are going to browse for a bit.

“Excuse me,” the woman says, setting her bag on the counter.

“May I help you?” Draco asks.

She’s a rather severe looking woman and Draco thinks immediately of his mother.

“We are looking for the girl who works here,” she says, as though his being here is an inconvenience.

The woman’s partner joins her at the counter. He’s tall with dark brown hair and light features.

Why are they looking for Hermione?

He’s fairly sure that she is next door, but there is nothing about this pair that makes him think they are aware of the existence of magic.

“Hermione’s not in at the moment,” he decides to answer.

The pair share a look and Draco feels a bit like they are having an angry conversation with nothing but their eyebrows.

“She works from one until seven, doesn’t she?” The woman asks, tilting her head towards the clock on the wall.

It is just past four.

“I apologise. I could take down a message, if you would like,” he manages to keep his tone polite.

The woman huffs.

“Well, do you know where she is?” 

Yes. She’s in the room marked storage.

Has been for nearly two hours, working with their magical patrons.

Luckily, the door to the storage closet opens and Hermione’s head pops out.

“Draco, have you got a second to look at a french- Oh, hello,” Hermione freezes when she sees the older couple.

“Hermione,” the man greets.

“You said she wasn’t here,” the woman accuses, and it can’t be mistaken for anything other than an accusal.

“It isn’t his fault, Ada, I asked him not to let anyone disturb me while I was working on translations,” Hermione lies to the woman- Ada. “Why are you here?”

“We came to ask for the key to your flat. For the bed,” the man says.

Draco has finally put together enough context to assume these are Hermione’s in-laws.

It makes him pull at the three quarter sleeves of his shirt and step closer to the wall, wanting to disappear from the awkwardness of the moment.

Hermione shakes her head. “I told you I didn’t want the bed.”

“It is for Levi. He’s getting bigger. It is a gift. A birthday gift,” Ada says as though she just remembered it had been Levi’s birthday a couple weeks earlier.

“He doesn’t need a new bed. The one he’s got now is for two to six year olds.”

“It is already at your flat. The delivery men are just waiting for us to let them in,” the man says.

Draco raises his brow, sure that this will be the moment that Hermione snaps at them.

Instead, she turns around and walks back through the storage door.

“You’re that Darwin fellow, aren’t you. Levi said you were covered in drawings,” Ada says, lifting her nose in the air.

“Draco Malfoy, Ma’am,” he replies, ignoring the disdain. Imagine if they knew everything else about him?

“I’m Kerri Walsh and this is my wife, Ada,” the man steps forward, finally pretending to have manners.

Hermione comes back, keys in hand.

“Please don’t let them take the other bed,” she says, handing them over to Kerri.

“We’d like to take Levi to the house in Kent next weekend,” Ada says, grabbing her purse off the counter.

Hermione looks back at Draco and flashes a half smile.

“We can talk about it later,” she says.

Kerri takes his wife’s elbow and leads her out of the shop without even a wave goodbye.

“God!” Hermione grinds out, running a hand through her hair.

“Are you alright?” Draco asks, worried.

She nods.

Stalks across the floor angrily.

“I just-” she throws her hands up. “And they!”

Draco isn’t sure what he can do to help.

He just waits for her to calm down.

“They offered to buy him a new bed weeks ago and I shut it down. I told them I didn’t want it. We’ve had that exact conversation at least twice before. And they just ignored it and went ahead and did it anyway!”

Draco has an idea of the sort of people the Walshes are and he can’t imagine Granger ever being deserving of them.

“I tried to put my foot down. It didn’t matter,” she is shaking a bit.

Draco can’t help himself.

He rounds the counter and puts his arms around her, pulling her against his chest.

She leans into him and her shoulders shake.

“Shh,” he brings a hand up to the back of her head and cradles it, trying to think of what he can say.

When her breathing slows, he leans back.

She looks up at him and wipes her face dry.

“I’m such an idiot,” she whispers.

“No you’re not,” he is quick to assure her.

“Yes, I am. I keep making the wrong choices. Pushing you away. Letting them have their way. Forcing something that even Mason didn’t want. I’m done trying to please them. I thought I was doing the right thing. Because I am an idiot.”

He’s not sure what to say to her so he just lets her step back and push her hair out of her face.

“And now I’ve messed everything up. The morning after we… slept together- I blew up and ruined the first good thing to happen to me since Mason died. And then even when I realised that I just kept screwing things up. You like me and make me happy and I didn’t even want to let you!”

She sounds exasperated. Like herself.

Draco clears his throat and she stops spiralling to look up at him.

“What?” She asks, a tad bit snappish.

“Just to be clear. I don’t like you. I love you. I know how much you hate to make an uneducated decision. I love you. I don’t need my wand. I’d spend every day of my life making you and Levi happy. And I’ll make kindling of this new bed if you want. So now that you have all of the information,” he sighs. “Make a choice. The right one.”

Her mouth is open as though she wants to say something but can’t quite figure out what it is.

Draco watches as she pulls her wand out.

He nearly asks what she is doing, but she charms the open sign to say closed and casts a silencing charm in half a second.

And then she is pulling the collar of his shirt so that she can reach his lips.

Draco hadn’t forgotten how perfectly they fit together.

The kiss is harsh and Draco needs to brace himself against her, hands on her hips.

She moves a hand to his waist.

He pulls back to look at her and feels elated at the heat behind her eyes that he is certain mirrors his own.

“I love you too,” she promises, reaching for the hem of his shirt, skin brushing skin.

As she pulls his shirt over his head, he inhales her scent. Soft vanilla and brown sugar that makes his sweet tooth come to life.

He drops his shirt and picks her up carrying her to the counter and setting her down on the edge, thumbs digging into her hips.

She tosses her head back and Draco works on the little buttons of her blouse, pressing kisses along her jaw.

Hermione’s low moan makes Draco’s cock harden and he whines against her skin.

“Draco, let me,” Hermione says.

She crosses her arms in front of her and pulls her blouse up and over her head. She’s wearing a blue cotton bra that serves her breasts up like two perfectly ripe apples. Unhooking it, she drops both articles on the ground beside them and pulls him in for another kiss, hands roaming.

He groans when her hands move to his waist, reaching for his belt and making quick work of it.

It would be embarrassing how hard he is for her already if it weren’t for the keening sound he gets as he cups her left tit and brushes the pad of his thumb across the nipple.

She’s got on a skirt and Draco grins like the cat who ate the canary as he lifts her and pushes the fabric up so it bunches around her waist.

Hermione’s matching blue cotton panties are too much, in the way of Draco’s pleasure.

He pulls at them roughly and they both laugh in tandem as she nearly falls from the counter as they slip down her thighs to her knees.

Once they are around her ankles, he spreads her knees and reaches for his cock, pulling it out of his trousers and gazing down at her neatly trimmed cunt, nearly cumming right then.

“I can’t yet,” she tells him, even though he can smell the mix of both of their musks in the air.

Nodding, he shifts, one hand staying on her hip to keep her in place and the other moving to her slick cunt.

It is a crime that he’s only gotten to do this once before. Still, he doesn’t have time to drink her in the way he wants. 

They are in the bookstore, a fantasy that Draco wouldn’t have ever brought up as an option in real life.

Focus, this is real life.

He moves his fingers through the slickness of her skin and listens to her breathing and keening until he figures out what leaves her breathless.

“More,” she says, pressing a hand into the counter and arching her back so her pussy is closer to the edge of the counter.

Draco spits on his hand and strokes his cock, exhaling harshly.

He pushes his cock inside of her and moves slowly to start.

She’s bloody gorgeous. Every inch of her is flushed and flawless and he wants to press his lips to every inch.

“I’m- You, you can move,” she says. Well, it’s more a command than anything else.

Draco pulls out before pushing back in.

As he thrusts, Hermione pulls him in, her calves tightening around his waist.

Their skin slaps together and Draco slips into a rhythm that makes his lungs feel short on air.

“Harder,” Hermione presses her chest to his and rakes her nails across his back, leaving trails of stinging scratches in her wake.

He hisses and she bites at his lip as he pistons his hips.

“Bloody,” he moans into her mouth.

He cums hard and she clenches around him, but he knows she hasn’t made it over the same peak as he has. He pulls out of her and though she moans at the sudden loss, she laughs as he lowers himself to his knees.

Her skin is soft but it is the scent that drives Draco wild. He licks over the dimple of her thigh and then eats her out until she pulls at his hair and cums all over his tongue. She trembles in his hands and it makes his entire body pulse from the knowledge that he can touch her again. In every way he wants to.

He wipes her semi-clean with his shirt and helps her back into her panties, standing and wedging himself back between her knees.

As she catches her breath, he nimbly combs his fingers through her hair, setting it to right gently.

“I’m really going to need to be able to do that again. A lot.” He presses towards her and she leans back before pressing both of her hands to his bare chest.

“That can be arranged, I’m sure,” she giggles into his shoulder.

“What about needing time?”

“Sure, I need time. But we can spend it together.” And then she kisses him again, her left hand moving to tighten in the damp hair at the nape of his neck.

He’s grateful she has her wand, because they have to cast a charm on the air of the store to get rid of the heady smell of sex. Draco breathes in the scent of paper and leather and pulls her back against him, nibbling at her ear.