A/N: My days are very busy at the moment, so I am glad I found the time to post this! Thank you all for your continued support!
This is where mcal hopefully finds out what this story has to do with her. And this is also where I want to thank you niffizzle for her awesome support - I would be a mess without her in all things fanfiction!
Hermione hid her grin behind her hand.
"I'll be there."
And she was.
Obviously, Hermione was on time. Though, she spent several minutes pacing in front of Draco's rooms, debating on the dozens of possible ways this could go wrong.
Until the inhabitants of one of the portraits, a very unnerved looking Regency area witch and her three lovers, told her to 'Finally embrace thy adventure,' so they could start today's orgy.
"Come on, Hermione, this can't be more embarrassing than the one time when experimental invisibility charm only made your clothes invisible and you ran around the department practically naked," she empowered herself before she, ultimately, knocked on the door.
The door must have been charmed to let her in because it opened with no Draco standing behind it. Tentatively, she entered and was surprised. The whole flat was so…
"Cozy," she voiced.
"Surprised, are you?" Draco asked, and Hermione then spotted him sitting behind a huge, wooden desk facing the windows.
"Well, yes," she answer without missing a beat and pointed at the interieur. "Knowing you in your childhood and teenage years, I really didn't expect soft looking sofas in plum, window drapings in bordeaux red, all these shelves full of books, and this overall very warm and insanely welcoming atmosphere."
"Alright, I did deserve that," he chuckled. "But this cold-hearted Slytherin has a soft side, even though he needed a tad longer to find it."
Hermione answered with a laugh, as she seemed to do too often around this changed man. Or maybe, she didn't laugh often enough normally?
"So… those pages I handed to you?" She urged herself to get to the point, trying absolutely not to eye him in his casual clothes. Were those… sweatpants and a soft looking blue cotton t-shirt?
As it was, she got the opportunity to take a closer look at them when Draco got up and grabbed what she supposed were her written pages approaching her.
"Salazar, Hermione, they are pure genius." He glanced at her from behind his reading glasses. "Not that I expected anything else."
Preening under his praise, Hermione felt herself relaxing. He wouldn't say something like that about her very much M-rated stuff, so she must have misplaced it somewhere else, right?
"I immediately owled both of my parents for further information concerning the Blacks and Malfoys. I need to cross-check some of your hypotheses, but from what I can remember, I can only verify them when it comes to my legacy."
"You owled your parents for further resources?" Hermione gasped, not quite believing it.
"Yes, I did. I told you I wanted to explore what you wrote, didn't I?" He stopped about two feet in front of her.
"You did. I just didn't expect you to be as excited over it as I am." She wrung her hands, searching for something to focus on that wasn't him.
"Each and every page of your work was excellent. So why are you so nervous?" His voice was gentle and smooth, and Hermione felt a shiver travelling down her spine.
"Nervous?" she asked back, trying to sound brave.
He bridged the gap between them and took her hands in his. Like every time they touched, Hermione revelled at his warmth.
"Mhhm," he hummed in the positive, starting to rub his fingers over her knuckles.
She didn't want to pull back.
"Maybe you are a bit anxious because of the erotic story that I found between the pages?"
He was very close now.
"That was an accident," she defended herself, only to see his lips curl into a smirk that very nearly melted her underwear.
"Was it really? Such a pity." He did sound a bit disappointed at that.
"Totally unintended, I promise. It's part of a novel and not simply an erotic story," she rambled. "I am sorry if I have offended you with this."
A short laugh escaped him, and Hermione felt his breath caressing her skin.
"Offended? Salazar, no.I found it quite inspiring. And would very much like to discuss the finer points of those scenes with you. Maybe starting over dinner next weekend?"
Feeling like a blushing virgin she most definitely wasn't, Hermione nodded. "That would be great."
"Excellent," he breathed before he pressed one, lingering kiss on her cheek. Goosebumps started from where his lips touched her skin and spread over her entire body's surface.
She had no memory how exactly she had reached the door, but he must have bidden her goodbye and released her hands, for the next time Hermione could string some coherent thoughts together, she sat in front of her own fireplace, a honeyed tea in hand.
"Fuck," she muttered, the occasion calling for a curse word again. "I have a crush the size of the Hogwarts library on Draco Malfoy. And there's nothing remotely innocent about it."
Hermione slowly came to terms with the fact that she really felt attraction towards this man. When the two of them were near to each other, her heart was racing, and she felt torn between teasing him and telling him off, touching him and letting him chase her (or her him). In "public", if one could call the boundaries of the castle that, it was a gentle hum in the background that seemed to strengthen whenever he was close.
But the weekend was so far away still. And Hermione never was a patient woman.
Waiting for Polyjuice to finish brewing had been nerve grating, but waiting for this date had her more than edgy. The anticipation was killing her, and, frankly, she was also a bit horny.
Though, she was fully aware that this wasn't just a physical thing for her. Yes, she found Draco attractive, and very much so. And, yes, aside from Neville, he was the only man in this castle she would consider as such.
But given that their date went well, what would come after that? A 'friends with benefits' relationship? A one-night stand? What would happen when she went back to her job in the Ministry? And all those thoughts would be obsolete when he indeed only wanted to discuss what she had written.
Hermione hated to be surprised and loved to be in control of what was happening around her. But how should she prepare for the date with Draco? Should she owl Ginny or Lavender? Should she buy new underwear or wear none at all? Or maybe she just should dress in jeans and a sweatshirt?
All those thoughts circulated in Hermione's brain while she worked in the library day in, day out, much to her annoyance. That led to the faux pas of misplacing a book in an entirely wrong section and having to rewrite a passus about the role of the Hogwarts staff in the Statue of Secrecy.
By Thursday evening, she desperately wished for another time turner so she could fast forward time to Saturday, the law breaking that would come with that be damned. She was about to edit a passage about the portrait of Sir Cadogan when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching her.
A quick look over her shoulder revealed her that it was him.
"Speaking of the devil," she muttered under her breath.
"Pardon?" he asked, not having understood her.
"Nothing."
He approached her, eyeing the stacks of parchment and books on the desk. He wore a simple green, faded Slytherin shirt and jeans under his opened teaching robes.
Stopping next to her, he leaned in to read the books' spines. "How is your research going? Found anything new about these adjustable rooms near the Great Hall? I thought maybe they were used as family rooms back in the days."
He looked fantastic, he smiled at her, and he was interested in her work and actually understanding what she was doing. Being in the mood she was, the following comment tripped her cauldron.
"Though, they could also be the headmaster's private library you referenced-"
With a speed that would've made any Quidditch player jealous, Hermione stood up halfway, grabbed the lapels of Draco's robes, and pulled him towards her for a bruising kiss.
For several heartbeats, he didn't react at all. Just when Hermione was about to pull away and run to hide in a hole, he made an approving sound in the back of his throat.
She smiled against him when he started to respond. And respond he did. Tracing her lips with the tip of his tongue, he caused Hermione to sigh and instinctively part her mouth. Another happy sound, and he explored her mouth fully.
Closer, he needed to be closer, she decided. Her arms blindly reached around his waist, pulling him flush against her, only to have him cradling her head with one of his hands while the other splayed on her shoulder blade, securing her against him.
All in all, it was the kind of kiss she knew was worth to find its way into her novels, but at some point, they had to stop for the sake of oxygen-intake.
"I am not sorry," she started to explain, "but the uncertainty was driving me crazy."
"I am not sorry, either," Draco admitted. "I thought I had been too forward when you came to my rooms and would dump me before I could take you out on a first date." He nervously rubbed his neck with one hand.
"You could probably asked me to stay the night, and I would've been naked before you could have said 'Quidditch'." Laughing, Hermione rolled her eyes, and he joined her laughter.
"What is happening to us? All the years, and now - everything has changed."
"I don't say this very often, but I have no idea, and I don't even care at this point," she confessed, serious and a bit anxious of his reaction.
"Then we're in the same boat, Hermione."
"Good."
Quite a distance away, a book fell to the ground, making a very noticeable noise. That, however, was enough to make them aware of their surroundings.
"We're in the library, Draco." She peeked up to him, finding his grey eyes wide open and expectant. "Maybe we should take this-"
"Quidditch," he cued and just like that, took her hand to lead her away - not without summoning her notes and parchments and books and neatly storing them away in her bag.
Same place, a few years later.
"Hermione!"
"No!" she hissed, her pen scribbling away hastily.
"Hermione, you have to-"
"Not now, Draco! Your mother's cousin twice removed sent me some documents from the Founders' era that really makes some extensive editing of some chapters necessary," she explained, more agitated. But he wouldn't have it.
"Hermione Granger-Malfoy, you better pay attention to what your husband has to say!"
The use of her full name cued her to turn around.
In the middle of the aisle between the restricted section and the History of Magic area, Draco stood, still in his pajamas - who made him look good enough to eat as she noticed again - with absolute glee in his face.
Under his arm, giggling like only children her age could, was their daughter, also still in her pajamas.
After all, it was Saturday morning and the two of them liked to sleep in. Hermione, on the other hand, was an early riser, so she had started the day with a round of research.
The weekends were the only time she could work on writing, even if another revision of her favourite book and her novels had slowed down since she took up McGonagall's offer to work as Charms Professor.
"What happened? You didn't let Carina open one of WWW's 'gift packages' again, did you?"
"No, and if they ever do anything to her hair, I am going to hex them into oblivion." Automatically, he patted the brown curls on his daughter's head.
She, however, had enough of being carried and kicked into the air until Draco set her down. Immediately, she ran towards her mother.
Hermione let her climb into her lap, though she pushed away the historical sources a bit further away for safety reasons.
"Daddy funny," Carina voiced, still smiling, as if that explained all.
"She recognises letters!" it broke out of Draco, the chest swelled with pride.
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Draco, she isn't even two and three-quarters!"
With perfect timing, Carina, ignoring her parents' exchange of words, cried, "H! That's an 'h', Mummy!"
Hermione followed her daughter's finger that pointed at the latest edition of Hogwarts: A History (Editor: Hermione Granger) laying before them on the table.
"Wow! You are right. Such a smart girl you are," she praised, insanely proud.
"She is the smartest little girl on the planet," Draco beamed, and her heart swelled. "We are making smart babies, as it seems. Let's make another one?"
When Hermione Granger had entered the library of Hogwarts years ago, she had had a perfectly well constructed plan. Now she had a different job, a husband she loved endlessly, and the most wonderful daughter in the world. She still had plans, if a bit altered, but she execute would execute them all with her family and friends by her side.
"Neville should be free this afternoon," she winked at Draco. "I bet he would love to explain all the plants in the greenhouses to Carina, don't you agree?"
He grinned and dashed off, most probably to find Neville. Hermione and Carina remained in the library, laughing.
Words and letters could be so powerful. Written on parchment, spoken, acted out. But they were the most powerful when laced with love.
Thank you for reading!