Author's note at the top of the page (FOR ONCE!!):
I am very happy to have written this much, and to have gathered a small group of fans However, with the release of the new book and the piling on of new information, I think it's time to sum up Compatibility and write another fanfic that is more true to the canon.
Don't worry, it will still be a Dramione, but I have to give JKR's story credit and follow what she has already written.
I already have a plan for the next story – just give me a few days to work everything out and the first installment shall appear.
So now, with very much thanks as always to Big Joe (for introducing me to Harry Potter, and to the world of Fan Fiction, and to the insane world of Dramione and just Draco's amazingness in general, for being my beta, and for writing awesome stories – that you better finish, Kate!!), and individual thank you's to:
Alonia187 – for being my first fan other than Kate! Thanks for my first review from an unknown internet passerby!
Christy86 – for sticking with me from the beginning, thanks for the support!
StarKneazle – for writing awesome reviews and a really great story – looking forward to more!
sxCelestexs – thank you for the great feedback!
Denaiir – thanks for the support and the detailed reviews!
moneemalfoy – for consistently being a great reviewer, and for making me laugh
ayanastar – for the great reviews, and for letting me know that people enjoy my work.
Nikkipotter – thanks for letting me know when I was being confusing, and thanks for the continuing reviews.
pisceandreams – thanks so so much for all of the amazing support and reviews! Hey, don't stop that Dramione now! Keep going, I really like your story!
hgelman – you're great, thank you for all of the support!
thebfsgf – thanks for being funny and for letting me know that I am appreciated! I always laugh when I read your reviews. I love that
Arual – I'm glad we think the same way about things thanks for being a fan
missp0tterxo – thanks for the support, you make me laugh
Rose4Ever – thank you so much for everything! You make me feel so good about myself and my story. I really enjoy reading your reviews.
Inlovewithdraco – I AM TOO. Haha, thanks for the reviews and the support
DracsoHeadGirl – thanks! Glad to have you as a fan.
fromtheashes248 – thanks for all of the nice reviews!
ssssserpents – I'm really glad to have you as a reader, I enjoy your reviews very much.
ilovemalfoy1235 – I love Malfoy, too Thanks for the support.
And thanks to everyone else not mentioned, I really do appreciate every single one of you – seriously.
Here it is.
3 permiablecellwalls
Chapter Thirty: CompatibilityHermione leaned her head back and felt a bead of sweat drip down her jaw and follow the smooth lines of her neck to settle in the crevice between her collar bones. Draco bent his head down and moved his tongue along the very spot, tasting the salty liquid with pleasure.
She gripped his head with her slim hands, feeling her fingers move through his soft blonde hair, and pulled his face up to meet hers. She stared into his eyes fiercely, even though it was all she could do not to collapse in pleasure and never open her eyes again. His metallic gray eyes stared back at hers, and in that second she saw his thin, soft lips part, and he let out a soft gust of breath. His body shuttered on top of hers.
She had seen this beautiful expression before. His eyes were closed now, but his mouth still hung open as he shook in the last seconds of incredible bliss. Then he lowered his full weight on top of her, declining to move himself off of the warm soft pillow she had become. She smiled and breathed deeply, then let her legs snake themselves around his.
She clung to him in delight, elated at the fact that he was laying in her arms and not stopping to think of the repercussions. She was happy, she was comfortable, he was there.
He settled his head in the valley between her breasts and planted a kiss on the side of one. She could feel him smiling.
Her hands moved through his hair again as she closed her eyes and breathed in again, trying to steady her racing heart. She ran her fingers down to his neck and then let her finger nails trail along his shoulders and arms.
He giggled.
Hermione smiled and lifted her head up to look at him. He did the same, and met her gaze with a smirk on his face.
"Are you - ," she asked with a quizzical look, and repeated the motion with her finger nails. "Ticklish?"
He giggled again, but tried to keep his face straight, making him look even cuter.
"Aww, Malfoy is ticklish," she cooed in a baby voice.
"Stop it Granger," he snapped in mock annoyance. "I'm in the most wonderful place in the world, don't ruin it for me," he said with raised eye brows before replacing his head on her chest.
She couldn't argue with that.
His breathing was softer now, and the feel of it moving across her skin was sending shivers down her spine and giving her goose bumps.
Hermione laid her head down again, shut her eyes, and proceeded promptly to fall asleep right underneath him.
Neither of them heard the second tap on the window.
But you couldn't blame them, really. The owl was a tiny thing, and the tapping could hardly have been heard if one had been listening for it. The bird, however, did not think logically about the matter, and found it very insulting that he was unable to deliver his note. Instead, he dropped it outside the window, letting it fall to the ground with a soft flutter and land in the bushes.
It landed right side up, and the envelope read, in scrawling silver ink:
To the son of Lucius and Narcissa MalfoyThe first thing Draco realized that morning was the fantastic smell of honey, surrounding his every cell and anointing it with the sweet scent.
The second thing he noticed was the time: 8:54.
His heart jumped inside of him and he flew out of bed. Consequently, the slumbering woman beside him was rolled to the ground and landed with a substantial thump.
"Merlin! What the hell was that for?" Hermione yelled as she struggled to get to her feet (the sheets were so completely wrapped around her that she appeared to be a gigantic caterpillar).
"Look at the bloody time!" he yelled back before disappearing behind his bathroom door.
Her heart jumped as well, and as soon as she'd finished unraveling the sheets, she sped off to her own room. Seeing as she only had six minutes to make it down to the Great Hall, she decided against a shower. Instead she used all sorts of cleaning and freshening spells to do the trick in under a minute. Then she pulled up her uniform – a white button-up shirt with a Gryffindor striped tie, a plaid skirt, and her school robes – and threw them on in a hurry.
8:58.
She scanned the room for her shoes. Finally seeing one out from under her bed, she jumped at the thing like it might have run away otherwise. She shoved it on, and then the other, and flew up onto her feet.
8:59.
She ran out the door and down the stairs, through the halls and down the three flights of steps, and finally entered through the vast doors of the Great Hall – only about a minute late.
She gulped and found her seat quietly, hoping to attract as little attention as possible.
Hermione saw Malfoy three rows up and to the right. He was lounging in his chair like he'd been there for a year, and her head fumed with the need to know how he got there so bloody fast. He glanced over at her and smirked discreetly, raising his eye brows just slightly. She smiled back, but forced her gaze at the desk. There was no way she could be distracted now.
All through the test her stomach rumbled from not having eaten breakfast, and when she was finally finished, she practically flew from her seat to turn the exam in.
She felt like she'd done horribly, but she tried not to give her feelings much weight. She always felt this way after tests.
She glanced back at Malfoy. He was still working. She smiled in his direction, even though she knew he wasn't looking at her, and then slipped out of the Great Hall and was able to breathe for the first time in four hours.
She headed up to her room, unaware that Draco was rising from his seat just as she was making her way up the first staircase.
"Hold on just one second, Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall whispered as he set his test face-down on the proctor's table and it vanished promptly.
He looked at her questioningly, and she motioned to the door.
"Draco, Mr. Filch found this in the hedges this morning, right below your window," she said once they were in the hallway, and pulled out a small envelope with silver writing. "I think it is addressed to you."
He accepted the note silently, looking and feeling utterly confused.
To the son of Lucius and Narcissa MalfoyHe read the words and nodded to Professor McGonagall. "Yes, I think so too. Thank you," he said curtly before walking down the hall.
He sped up the stairs and finally reached his room. The door shut behind him and he crumpled to the floor immediately, ripping the letter open.
He read it once, twice, three times. It was short, and did not give nearly enough information.
Mister Draco Malfoy,
As you are now of age and fully eligible to receive the financial subjects of your parents' will, we write to inform you that you have inherited the Malfoy vault and all of its holdings as of 11:42 pm last night, when your father passed away and left your as the sole heir to the Malfoy fortune.
We regret your loss, but are looking forward to a long customer/business relationship.
Sincerely,
The staff of Gringotts Wizarding Bank
Draco frowned in concentration at the letter. He had received the Malfoy fortune? His father was dead as of 11:42 last night? How did that happen?
And why had no one notified him sooner?
His mind raced with questions as he struggled to subdue the overwhelming feeling now enveloping him.
He couldn't place it exactly, but someone who was more attentive to their own feelings would have described it as a feeling of utter loneliness and fear.
He read the letter again, searching ever syllable for answers, but none came. He collapsed on his bed instead, wondering what to do now, and who in the world to go to for answers.
Hermione sat in her room, recounting the test and wondering how she would score. But her thoughts kept drifting.
After the night before, the whole universe seemed to have aligned. Her heart skipped a beat just thinking about him, and she was sure that this choice was the best one she'd ever made.
She thought of Ron and Harry, and how she could possibly hide it from them again without going crazy. She decided immediately not to hide it. She would tell them today, and they would have to accept her decisions, whether or not they thought that Draco was, 'a filthy specimen of a human being,' to use his expression.
She was a grown woman, of age in the Wizarding world and very close to it in the Muggle world as well. It was time to live for what she wanted in life, and she was sure that Draco was it.
She breathed deeply and tried not to be afraid, tried to find the Gryffindor courage that she was supposed to have, and then reached for the doorknob.
Here it goes, she thought. Let's hope they're both in a good mood.
Draco opened his eyes and realized that he'd fallen asleep. As he sat up, he decided to go tell Hermione what had happened.
He made his way to the door, but somehow felt like something was wrong.
As he touched the door handle, he felt his body compress and everything go dark. He was being pulled through a black abyss, and then suddenly he was spit out of the darkness forcefully and found himself with a mouthful of carpet.
Wondering who in the hell had turned his doorknob into a portkey, he pushed himself up and stood. As he collected his bearings, he realized just where he was.
He glanced around the room, just to make sure, but there was no need. He was back home, at the manor, in the very room that he'd found his mother dead in. He gasped as he saw her there, still crumpled on the ground pathetically.
He walked over to her and kneeled next to her, examining her corpse. She looked like she hadn't changed at all in the months that she'd been laying there. Her blonde hair still cascaded down her face, covering up the horrified expression.
Draco's stomach flipped over as he sat there and realized fully that his mother was gone. He didn't know how to feel, because while he'd been angry with her before, he was not so much anymore. He gazed down at her and felt his eyes brimming with moisture before he wretched his eyes away.
Then he saw him. His father, Lucius Malfoy, laying a few feet away. He was stretched out on the floor with his arm reaching towards Narcissa and a bloody stain under his abdomen. After a second Draco located his father's second hand, still clutched around the small emerald-gilded knife embedded in his flesh.
Draco wrinkled his nose. He'd just noticed the smell.
He glanced back at his mother, unsure of what to make of the situation, and saw a glinting diamond in the sunlight. He knelt again, seeing the ring still on her left hand, and took it gingerly off of her thin finger.
As he held it up to examine it, he heard a call from down the hall.
"Draco?" a familiar voice was yelling.
He stuffed the ring in his shirt pocket and yelled back, "Hermione! I'm in here!"
He stood and strode to the door before it burst open and she pounced on him.
"Oh, Draco, I'm so glad I've found you!" she was exclaiming into his neck as her arms clutched around his waist tightly.
He smelled her hair and let the wonderful honey scent calm him.
Then she pulled back.
"What's this?" she asked as her hand flew to his pocket and pressed it, feeling the jut of the ring underneath the cotton.
He pulled it out and opened his mouth to explain, but before he could say anything her eyes had opened wide and her mouth dropped open.
He froze there, unable to move at all and holding his mother's heirloom wedding ring towards Hermione, and heard the words, "You know what to do" form clearly in his head.
His mind was sent through another portkey, or so it felt, and within a second he was gasping for breath and jumping out of bed, back in his room at Hogwarts. It seemed to be the middle of the night.
He heard a soft knock on his door and realized that he'd been dreaming the whole thing.
He went to the door, opened it, and saw Hermione smiling shyly.
"Hi," she whispered. "Can I come in?"
His eyes met hers and he sighed, unable to keep himself from smiling as he pulled her into his arms.
When he held her tight, however, his stomach dropped. He felt a small object in the pocket of his shirt.
Pulling away from her, probably too fast to be inconspicuous, his eyes met hers again, this time with her searching him for an answer.
"Sorry," he said quickly. "Just give me a second, okay?"
When she had agreed and disappeared behind the door once again, he pulled the thing out of his pocket and confirmed what he had been guessing. It was his mother's ring.
He remembered the words that had flashed through his mind before he woke up and smiled.
Not right away, but someday, he would give the ring to Hermione and ask her to be his wife. Because as the unknown voice had said to him moments before, he had already known what to do.
He folded it in a washcloth and tucked it into his trunk, then welcomed Hermione back into the room.
"Why are you smiling?" she asked him suspiciously.
"Nothing," he said. "Just thinking about you."
She smiled widely and leaned into him as she brought her mouth to his. He kissed her back passionately, holding her small body in his arms, and the feeling of loneliness washed away immediately.
Because after all, how could he feel alone while holding the one he was meant to be with?