Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

A/N: AHHHHHHHH IT'S THE LAST CHAPTER BEFORE THE EPILOGUE!

I swear to god, sometimes I thought I would never get to this point. I KNOW that a lot of you thought the same thing lol. I'm just so grateful for everyone who has literally been here from the beginning and is STILL here, you guys are the real M.V.P.'s. I'm going to mark the story as completed but, like I said, there WILL be an epilogue because of COURSE we need to see what everyone got up to. I just hope that this is as satisfying to you guys as it was for me because there is a lemon, yes, a LEMON, at the end of the chapter. You already know :p If that's not your thing, I'll have an asterisk where you'll need to stop and mark again when it's safe to read. As a side note, I have been hard at work on my next fic, but it's going to be really out of my comfort zone, and honestly, might not be everyone's cup of tea. If you've heard of omegaverse, well then buckle up, buttercup because we are going down on that ship next lol As always, please let me know your thoughts on this chapter and I hope you enjoy the conclusion of The Lies That Bind Us...

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Choose Me

The days soon began to blur together in motions of recovery and boredom. Draco and Narcissa visited when they could, but their movements were slowed by Ministry monitoring, as part of their sentencing. While all of the Malfoys miraculously managed to evade Azkaban, they had to agree to random wand testing and restrictive travel bans. They also had to pay a ridiculous amount of gold towards the rebuilding of Hogwarts, as well as physically aid in the efforts.

Eventually the pain in her chest lessened and, while the scar was an ever present reminder, she felt almost normal after two months. Nathaniel had turned another year older, and at her mother's insistence, began attending a local preschool to socialize with children his own age. It had taken a stern reminder that he was not to talk about magic in any way, after accidentally letting slip his mummy carried a stick around to his little friends.

Lucius had been invaluable when it came to the settling of the Nott estate. After the shock of sheer amount of zeros after her vault number balance wore off, the financially savvy Slytherin had suggested several investment portfolios that might have been of interest to her, not to mention how now would be a good opportunity to change the perception of the Nott name for her son in the future. He slyly suggested she cash in her new friendships with the Gryffindor war heroes to get her in the public eye positively for a change.

Hermione found herself drawn to foundations benefiting war orphans, and to Draco's horror, werewolf rights and access to wolfsbane. She mused that without the kindness of a werewolf to her, she and her son wouldn't be here today. Privately, she wanted to make sure that Teddy Lupin would be taken care of so Andromeda wouldn't have to struggle so much raising her grandson. She also liked to think that if werewolves had better access to wolfsbane and a steady income, someone else's husband might be saved a grisly fate someday.

St. Mungos had finally given her a clean bill of health a full six months after the Battle of Hogwarts, as the press had taken to calling it. Narcissa had been doing double duty at Hogwarts to make sure she was seen rubbing elbows with war widows and the like, while Draco was often photographed manually putting stones back one by one while attractively brushing hair back from a glistening forehead. She rolled her eyes at the obvious photo op, but had to admit the strategy was working. The press had changed the Malfoy narrative from Death Eaters escaping jail time to reformed blood purists who are a shining example of the future of the wizarding world if we can all work together for the common good.

Damn, Lucius was good.

Hermione folded the Prophet and dropped it next to her brunch. They were still living with her parents, but she was starting to get anxious to return to her own life again. Did she even know what that looked like anymore? Did she even still have a job at the Ministry? Did she even want to move back into the home she shared with her late husband? Sighing, she sipped her tea thoughtfully.

Then, there was the question of Draco.

She loved him, she certainly wasn't going to pretend she didn't, and he loved her. They had been dancing around the idea of a relationship in her convalescence, but romance had sort of fallen to the wayside in the wake of trying to rebuild their lives as best they could. Draco, for his part, did his best to have dinner with the Grangers whenever he could, so her parents could get to know him beyond her school letters over the years. He seemed genuinely interested in her muggle upbringing, asking questions about when they knew Hermione might have been different or any bouts of accidental magic as a child.

He proceeded to tease her for days later about turning a little girl who bullied her into a book 'so she could be more interesting'. Thankfully, the magic didn't last long and the child had no memory of the thirty minutes she spent as a paperback. Draco had the audacity to gift her 'How to Win Friends and Influence People' the next time he saw her, which she proceeded to chuck with all her might at his laughing face. She didn't want to tell him she was impressed he had actually gone to a muggle bookstore for it.

Yes, she decided as she put down her cup, she did want to be with Draco Malfoy. Now, how to go about it was a whole different question. Pursing her lips, she summoned a parchment and quill to jot a quick note to the blonde about dinner out tonight.

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Draco plucked the note from Hermione's owl deftly, ignoring his mother's curious gaze as he opened it. Of course she recognized the owner of that particular brown owl. Flicking his grey eyes over the note, a thrill of excitement ran through him at her words. Hermione Granger was asking him out on a date. Like, an actual date in public where alcohol would be imbibed. Why was it such a turn on that she just asked for what she wanted like a bloody Gryffindor?

"What did dear Hermione have to say, Draco?"

Damn, he must have looked too pleased. Now she would never let it go. He cleared his throat, tucking the parchment into his pocket. "She was just inquiring about my plans for dinner tonight," he commented nonchalantly, standing from the dining table to make a quick escape from any follow up questions. "Oh? Is she well enough to come here? Or will you be joining her at her parents as usual?" Narcissa raised a brow at his retreating figure.

"Actually, she wants to go out for a change…"

"OUT? As in, a date?"

"Mother…."

"Oh, hush son, I'll handle everything. Be ready by seven in those dark blue robes I like and I'll take care of the rest. I know just the spot, you know how your father and I adore Le Petite Chateau and I'm sure I can get a table for tonight. Let Hermione know what time you'll be at her home to escort her."

"Muuuummm….."

"Draco, do we need to go over the fact that you were over nine pounds at birth and had the largest head I'd ever seen on a newborn yet again?"

"...No. Not again. Please not again."

"There's a good boy. Now run along and be ready by seven. Do I need to grab a ring from the vaults? I can think of a few without any curses off the top of my head…."

"For Salazar's SAKE, Mother! It's our first date!"

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Hermione eyed the menu nervously, trying very hard to remember her school girl French in order to read the bloody thing. Draco looking like walking sex across from her in candlelight was doing very little for her concentration. She had chosen a dark red dress with a rather daring neckline that had her father giving her a disapproving glare right before her mother elbowed him. Of course, she had to fight the urge to adjust the neckline higher every few minutes whenever Draco looked at her, but she forced her hands to stay on the menu.

"Have you decided?"

She glanced up nervously at the waiter, who was looking at her expectantly. She opened her mouth to let him know she needed more time when her date smoothly interceded in flawless French. They exchanged words and her menu was taken from her before she could think to object. Draco looked smugly at her, knowing good and well she didn't speak French nearly well enough to follow.

"So am I to expect the cow brain as my entree, then?" she asked sarcastically. He chuckled roguishly and smirked at her. "Come on now, Hermione. I know how partial you are to the sharper taste of tongue," he drawled, leaning slightly forward in his chair. She made a gagging sound in her throat before laughing. "If anything is still moving on my plate when it comes, I'm leaving."

The waiter returned with a large bottle of wine she didn't realize he had ordered, but was grateful for it nonetheless. Smiling into her glass, she eyed him above the rim thanking the waiter before turning his full attention back to her. "So, what is the most brilliant woman in the world going to do now that she's been cleared to work again?" he asked, taking a slow sip of the red wine. She shrugged.

"I've been giving it some thought, but I don't know if I want to go back to working as an Unspeakable. I mean, don't get me wrong, the work was interesting and certainly challenged me….but I just can't see myself locked away in the Department of Mysteries at this point in my life. Honestly, if I have to research one more thing after what I did for the Order, I might go positively mad. Your father has brought some intriguing suggestions to me, though, and some of them aren't completely without merit," she bit her lip in thought.

"Like what, exactly? Cutting ribbons and kissing babies to help the Nott image?"

Hermione snorted into her glass ungracefully. He smirked back. "I'm sorry to inform you that your family hasn't left me a single child to kiss at this point, Draco. I must say, I am rather enjoying my daily picture of your 'rippling biceps' and 'glistening brow' courtesy of Rita Skeeter. I'm sure Parkinson is out there somewhere pinning your pictures to a wall with red hearts around them," she teased, enjoying the red spreading across his nose and cheeks.

"Yea, well, there's only one witch who can have my heart, Granger. Pansy will just have to live with it."

Her breath caught in her lungs as he smiled softly at her.

She smiled back.

The rest of dinner passed inconsequentially, with her filet mignon cooked to perfection and more wine then she could remember drinking in a long time. The conversation flowed, stopping only when he helped her out of her chair and into her robes at the coat check. As they made their way to the apparation point, he leaned into her mouth, kissing her hard. Her hands flew up to his hair and she returned his feverish kisses with everything she had pent up since their last kiss at St. Mungos.

Nimbly taking out his wand, he swept them away into his room.

Draco moved closer to her until he encompassed her petite frame with his sheer presence. She shivered slightly at the dark look he was giving her, mercurial eyes that were promising her something...promising her everything. Never taking his eyes off of her, he slowly raised his arms to cradle her heart shaped face in his large hands. Her lips turned up at one corner in amusement that they still had calluses after all this time from playing Quidditch. His thumb caught the edge of her full bottom lip, his own tongue flicking out to whet his own.

He slid his hands back into her hair, mussing her bun before deliberately pulling the pins that were holding back her curls. Her erratic breathing was making her chest rise and fall unevenly as he pressed his own to her, hard to her softness. "Hermione…" he breathed out, her name a desperate prayer on his lips as he bent his brow to touch hers. Her eyes fluttered shut at their own accord, her arms leaving her sides finally to slide up to his neck and encircle it.

"I've wanted this for so long, love..."

She felt his lips caressing her ear with his words, before moving to cover her mouth hotly. Salazar, it was like she forgot how to breathe because he was taking it from her, leaving her weak and trembling in his embrace. He swallowed her little moans of pleasure, almost growling into her mouth as he moved her back to his bed. His teeth bit her bottom lip playfully, making her clench pleasantly low in her belly. Her fingers curled at the fine blonde hair at his neck before trailing down to his chest to undo a single button on his crisp white oxford shirt.

Pulling himself away from her with a pained groan, he ripped off his shirt without a second thought before moving back to her mouth. She ran exploratory hands over the pale marble presented to her, his body jerked at her touch over his bare flesh. She felt his fingers working the back of her dress before finally pushing it away from her shoulders so he could move his mouth to her neck. She bit her lip and hissed through her teeth as he began work on a love bite, using the time to finish pulling down her dress to her waist. His hands wandered down to her breasts, his mouth not yet leaving her but exploring her nonetheless. She breathed his name as strong hands cupped her firmly, thumbs flicking her hardening peaks teasingly.

Her hands flew to his hair and tugged his scalp almost painfully as he moved his mouth to her breast and lavished his tongue on her. Her head fell back as she whimpered his name, her eyes slamming shut as he chuckled darkly before moving to her unattended breast to do the same. He pressed a hand to her hip and guided her down onto his bed, enjoying the way she looked there for a moment, utterly debauched from his attentions.

He let her watch as he undid his black trousers and stepped out of them, not shy about the visible hardness in his boxers. Hermione watched him through her hooded lashes as he kneeled down at the foot of his bed in front of her and gently lifted her hips to remove her dress, tossing it carelessly next to his discarded clothing. She pushed herself up on her elbows, wanting a better view of Draco Malfoy in between her thighs. She bit back an obscene moan at how good he looked there, hair messed and smouldering silver eyes gazing back at her over her mound.

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Draco didn't realize it was possible to be this fucking hard until the image of Hermione Granger looking at him with those glazed over whiskey colored eyes, those dark wild curls falling becomingly in a curtain behind her, appeared before him. It would almost be painful if it didn't feel so gods damned good. Moving to her left thigh, he watched her tremble as he placed wet kisses with a flick of his tongue….trailing up further and further to the place he wanted to be most, but he wouldn't rush this. Not when it's the only thing he's thought about since seventh year.

Lavishing the same treatment on her other milky thigh, he smirked when she squirmed to rub her legs together. He placed a firm hand on her belly to still her, almost laughing when he heard her huff in annoyance. "Is there something you need, 'Mione?" he teased, his fingers moving to tease the edge of her panties. Fuck, they were wet and he bit his lip hard to ground himself. "Please…." she breathed, her voice unnaturally high and tight. He doesn't know where he got the brain power to flick a questioning brow at her, since all his blood had rushed south.

"Please….Draco….touch me….."

He shuddered in delight as he slid a finger into her slick folds. He could feel his brain shorting out and his body moving on instinct now, shoving the nude colored fabric to the side to accommodate him. Merlins' hell, is this even real? Was she really here with him, naked and arching on his bed as he moved to her bundle of nerves….clutching his sheets tightly and whispering nonsense as she shut her eyes tightly. He watched her closely as he pushed inside of her dripping entrance, curling his finger ever so slightly to a spongy soft spot and playing with it. Her mouth dropped in a silent cry and her thighs pressed tightly against his head as he moved to add his mouth.

"Draco!" she shrieked, falling back from her elbows to the bed, her glorious tits arched up to the ceiling. He could feel her walls fluttering around his fingers, his heated stare never leaving her face as she crumpled and gasped out her orgasam like she was dying a little death. He rode it out, only removing his fingers when the final flutterings had stopped.

His mouth left her with a wet 'pop' and he licked his fingers of her sweet juices. She watched him and let out a little moan at the sight, closing her eyes and trying to catch her breath. He dropped his head on her belly and clutched her hips tightly, groaning heatedly. "Fuck, love, those little sounds you make…."

He moved up alongside her body on the bed and kissed her hard, a hand moving to her glistening brow and smoothing back her curls. He kicked off his last barrier and gave himself a few relieving strokes to ease the pressure or else he was going to burst. He felt her fingers brush against his cock experimentally, moving her thumb to the leaking tip and spreading the moisture she found. He almost choked as she moved her hand to surround him.

HHHHHHHHHHH

Hermione found her hand moving in a slow rhythm up and down his long length, teasing him as he had her. A wicked grin crossed her flushed lips as he hissed out a curse and gripped her hip tightly before literally ripping her underwear off with a growl. She would have let this game go on, but he only lasted a few minutes before hauling her up to his lips and snogging her hard. She could still taste herself on him, a reminder he made her cum on his mouth hard not so long ago. She clenched inside at the thought, more wetness flooding to her center.

He tweaked her breast before moving his hands to her thighs, urging her to straddle him. Gods yes, THIS was what she craved. She acquiesced and threw a leg over his lap, his blunt tip slipping up and hitting her clit in a way that had her seeing stars for a moment. She looked down at him and saw him gritting his jaw tightly, hands ostensibly flat against the sheets in an effort not to touch her. Her brow marred in confusion, gazing into his eyes as he stared at her. His pupils were blown so wide that his gaze looked almost black. She could see something behind them….

'Choose this', his eyes were saying to her. 'Choose ME.'

Her heart cracked and ached at the pleading he was showing her. He was begging her to want him, and he wanted her to do it on her own. She smiled softly down at him, placing her hands on his still chest to steady herself as she rose slightly before sliding back down onto his cock. Her head fell back in divine pleasure as she took him all in, her walls stretching luxuriously as he filled every empty space inside of her. Merlin, it had been so long….

Draco's hands flew up to her hips and gripped her tightly as his mouth fell slack. She rolled her hips in a way that had his pelvic bone hitting her just right and set a steady pace. Taking his hands, she guided them to her breasts and clenched on him when he pinched them into aching peaks. "Shit," he hissed out as she began to move faster, her second orgasm close since her body still remembered the first.

He grabbed her hips again and helped her bounce on his cock as fast as she wanted, his gray eyes rolled back into his head as she fluttered around him. She reached a deft hand down to where they were joined and began rubbing her bud quickly, crying out when she finally cresting moments later. Draco didn't give up his punishing pace, teeth gritting as he worked himself into her, whispering filthy things to her as she leaned over him bonelessly, pressing kisses everywhere she could reach.

"...Wanted this for so long."

"...Knew you would be so tight."

"...So fucking wet for me, 'Mione, just like I imagined."

"...Love making you cum on my cock."

He let out a strangled shout as he pressed her hips down hard on him as far as she could go, holding her tightly as she felt his jerky movements and hot seed spurting deep inside of her. He held her there, kissing her mouth sensually in their afterglow of lovemaking. Gently coaxing her off of him as he slipped out of her, she settled comfortably into his side as they caught their breath together. His fingers ran idly up and down her arm and she curled her hand up to his shoulder to soothe him.

"Marry me."

Her hand stilled along with her breathing. "What?" she asked dumbly, her mind going blank. He shifted on his side to face her incredulous face. He cupped her face and pressed his forehead to hers. "You're the one, Hermione and I'm not letting you leave this bed until you agree to put me out of my misery and say you'll marry me," he gave her a little tender smile, punctuating his statement with a kiss. Her heart gave a treacherous lurch and an ache began in her throat.

"Draco...you know that...you know that I can't just…" she stumbled for the correct words. "Nathaniel," she finally said, taking a calming breath. "What about Theo's son, Draco? Can you accept that I will always put him before there's any us? Can you live with Theo always having a part of me you never will? I'm the only one he has now…"she said thickly, her eyes burning slightly with hot tears. She loved Draco, but she would always love her son more and she would walk away if he refused Nathaniel.

"You're not the only one he has, 'Mione. He has me too. I'll never replace his father but if you marry me, I promise to love him like my own. He would never want for anything, not love or attention. I would never want you to give him up."

She was trembling now, there in his arms, as he held her saying everything she needed to hear. She could hear it in his voice, he meant every word he was saying. Wet trails fell down her cheeks and he wiped them away gently. "You're a wonderful mother to your boy, you know that? It's one of the reasons I can't wait to give you another one," he grinned wickedly as she chuckled weakly. "What's the other reason?" she asked cheekily as she tried to get her emotions under control again. His chest rumbled with his low laughter.

"The practice, of course."

She rolled her eyes.

"Of course."

"We could try every night for the rest of our lives…."

"We could."

"...if you say yes, Hermione. Please say yes."

"...Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes."

"Ok good. No take backs."

Hermione threw back her head in laughter. Gods, he was such a prat and she loved him.