A/N: Hey! Here with another oneshot that could not be helped. I originally planned this as five-ish chapters, but it kept getting out of hand and at the risk of ending up with ANOTHER story on my hands, I shortened it up and here we are! This is my take on a marriage law.

Alpha love to honeysweetcutie

forever unbeta'd

FB group: madrose_writing

Flight Risk

Draco had heard rumors of the new law from disgruntled guards and the headlines from Prophet's sticking out of pockets. He supposed it was the one good thing about being in a cell. Being a prisoner meant he was exempt from tying the knot with a witch. He had always assumed he would have had an arranged marriage anyway, but the idea of everyone having their choices taken away, forced to marry someone at random, was laughable.

At least he wouldn't have to worry about that here.

One day, he had no idea what day of the week or what time of day it was, guards came to inform him he had a visitor. Despite not being able to keep track of time, he knew it was too early for his mother to come back for her allotted visitation hours. The fact that his father was in his own cell somewhere in this godsforsaken place only added to the confusion. As far as he was concerned, there was no one else that would want to visit him.

So he let the guards pull him into the room he usually met his mother in. He sat down on the rickety wooden chair and watched with curiosity as they removed the magical binds on his wrists and ankles. In the few years he had been isolated to this hell, his bonds had never been removed for a visit with his mother. Whoever it was, they seemed to have an awful lot of pull. Not to mention faith that he wouldn't hurt them.

He eyed the door as the guards left, wondering who it could be. He went over a short checklist, knowing that if they hadn't visited him by now, they weren't going to. Unless…

His stomach clenched as a sense of dread made his skin crawl. What if someone was coming to tell him that something happened to his mother? What if…

He was so lost in thought that he didn't immediately recognize the woman that entered the room. He was too busy thinking the worst. It wasn't until she slid into the chair opposite him at the small table that realization hit him like a stampede of hippogriffs.

"What the hell are you doing here, Granger?" he asked, his lips curling into a sneer. As if it wasn't humiliating enough to have had her defend him at his trial, but now she was here to see him covered in filth. He scoffed at the irony of that thought. Of the fact that he had spent so much time complaining that she was filth, but now he was the one covered in it. "Did something happen to my mother?"

She shook her head, her curls flowing over her shoulders. "No, she's fine. I saw her last night."

He stilled in his seat. "Why on earth would you visit my mother?"

"We had some last minute business to attend to," she answered without missing a beat. "Business that brings me here."

"If you're fucking with me, Granger, I swear I'll-"

"Malfoy," she interrupted, her voice soft and her face relaxing. "I promise you, your mother is fine. She's getting your wing of the Manor prepared for when you come home tonight."

He nearly fell out of his chair. "What?" His heart skipped a beat and he thought he had misheard her. "I'm getting out?"

"That depends on how agreeable you are to the terms of your release."

"Anything," he rasped, his eyes burning with tears at the taste of freedom she dangled in front of him. "Whatever it is, I'll do it."

Her smile faded along with the softness in her face. "You might want to hear me out before you say that."

He took a deep breath and swallowed hard. "Fine, get on with it then."

She stared at him for a quite some time before she spoke. "Have you heard about the marriage law the Ministry put into effect as of last week?"

He bristled, not liking where this was headed. "Yes, but not much."

She nodded. "The law states that any unmarried witch or wizard who are still able to bear children must marry. Marriages will become enforced one month after the decree is set. At that time, even if a pair is together, so long as they aren't married, they will be paired randomly. Once a pair is assigned, they have one month to complete the ceremony. Once married, they have a year to consummate and two years to produce a child. Failure to comply will result in imprisonment. Any pairs that are found incapable of producing offspring will be tested to see which party is infertile. Once found, the marriage will be dissolved and the fertile party will be paired with someone else."

His brain might explode with the amount of information she had just dumped on him. "What did you do, memorize the entire decree?"

"Yes," she said, matter-of-factly.

"I fail to see how that has to do with my release," he said after a moment. "I'm sure they aren't going to pair anyone up with those of us in prison."

"Correct," she replied, taking a deep breath. "At least, not for anyone else."

He snorted. "You expect me to believe that they made an exception because of me? I highly doubt even my bloodlines and vault are-"

"The exception wasn't made for you," she interrupted. Almost as an afterthought, she added, "Per se."

His eyes widened as realization dawned on him. "How many strings did you have to pull for this one, Granger?"

"All of them," she replied, her smile long gone. "Even Harry had to the play his cards." She sighed and leaned forward to cross her arms over the table, fingers tapping at her forearms. "We both think that you don't belong here. We wouldn't have testified on your behalf if we didn't. And I know you hate me because I'm Muggleborn, but-"

"That's not why I hate you."

He watched as her face slowly pinched, lips twisting in a scowl. "I'm giving you an out, Malfoy. This is the only one you're getting."

He sneered at her again. "The fact that you aren't even going to ask me why I hate you tells me that you're here for your own selfishness. You don't give a fuck about me, Granger. I think I would rather rot in prison than be hitched to a swot like you for the rest of my life." He shook his head and laughed. "Guess you should have sucked it up and married the Weasel after all."

"Malfoy-"

"Save your speeches, Granger," he said, smirking at her ire. "I'm not interested."

"So that's it then?" she questioned. "You're just going to kiss your freedom goodbye because it's me? I'm giving you a free ticket out of Azkaban!"

"I don't want another reason to feel indebted to the infernal Golden Trio!" he fired back, both of them getting to their feet. "It's bad enough I owe you one already for saving my mother from this place. I deserve to be here."

"No you don't," she argued. "The only thing you're guilty of is loving your family and doing whatever was necessary to protect them. Putting you in prison was absurd." She stepped around the table and he took a step back from her. "Look, I know I'm asking a lot and yes, it's purely selfish, but this is my way of repaying you."

"Repaying me?" he asked. "You're barmy."

"For not identifying us in the Manor. For buying us time." She stepped forward again and he moved back, stopping only when his back hit the wall. "For having to endure what you did and for us being too self-absorbed to realize that you needed help." She smiled sadly at him. "I have a chance to help you now, Malfoy. All you have to do is let me."

"I don't think you fully understand what you're asking of me, Granger," he said, finding a shred of confidence, allowing him to push off the wall and move towards her. To her credit, she held her ground. "Marriage in the wizarding world is more binding than Muggle ceremonies. That agreeing to this means you agree to share my bed and carry my heirs. Do you really think you can do that?"

Her face tilted up defiantly as she gave the slightest of nods. "I considered all of that already, Malfoy. Sex isn't what's going to scare me away. You are not going to scare me away." She reached up and put her hand on his forearm, the one where his mark had begun to fade since the Dark Lord's demise. "I'm here because this is my choice. This is my way of defying the Ministry; by choosing you instead of letting them choose for me."

He eyed her hand on his arm as he spoke. "You say that now, but when you realize that we're not good for each other, there will be nothing you can do about it."

"We won't know if we're not good for each other if we don't try," she said, her voice lighter than before. "I don't hate you. I don't think I ever really did."

Truthfully, he had been over his hatred of her since his father failed the Dark Lord at the end of their Fifth Year. But try as he might, he couldn't find the courage to tell her that. "You deserve far better than me, Granger," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Her lips held the faintest trace of a smirk as she shrugged and turned away from him. "Be that as it may, will you sign?"

His eyes widened again as she produced a giant stack of papers from her far too small bag. "Here and now?" he asked, grinning. "What, no proposal?"

"You just said you don't deserve me," she said. "Besides, traditionally it's not the woman who gets down on-" She stopped and his grin widened exponentially as he watched her face turn a violent shade of red.

"Please finish that sentence, Granger."

She huffed and ignored him as she pulled out what he knew to be a Muggle writing device. "Just sign the contract, Malfoy."

He chuckled under his breath as she moved away, completely flustered. His laughter died upon seeing the official Malfoy contract laid out before him. "Is this why you met with my mother last night?"

"Yes," she replied, her voice curt. "And for the record, she thinks it's a great idea."

"Yes, I'm sure she was extremely grateful at the idea of the Golden Trio coming to my rescue again." He quirked a brow as he looked up at her. "You're not planning on draining my vaults and bolting, are you? Or killing me in my sleep one night?"

She shrugged and gave him a cautious smile. "Only time will tell."

He shook his head as he took hold of the pen and began to sign all the necessary pages; right beneath her own signature that she must have done while with his mother. When he was finished, he looked up to see her holding a ring in her palm. It was a simple white gold band, free of an embellishments. He watched as she slipped a matching, slimmer one on her left ring finger and then did the same on his own digit.

There was an awkward moment of staring at each other before he averted his gaze and ran his dirty fingers through even filthier hair. "You said we have a year to-"

"Yes."

He nodded and cleared his throat. "What now?"

"The guards will escort us to the Ministry. Harry's waiting for us in his office. He'll be the one to take you to the Manor."

"Where will you be?"

"I'm going to file the contract myself and then I'll join you and your mother for dinner. I assumed you would have wanted some time alone with her first." Her eyes raked over him once, pity shining in her eyes. "Maybe some time to yourself as well."

"I've had plenty of time to myself recently," he muttered.

She swallowed hard and nodded. "Right, well, shall we?" she asked, gathering the contract and placing it back inside her bag.

He paused for a second, his eyes locked on the door. "This is real, yeah? Not some cruel trick?"

She reached for his hand and he nearly broke down at the way she laced their fingers together, seemingly unbothered by the layer of grime on his skin. "I promise, Malfoy; there's no trick."

She kept hold of his hand and gently tugged him towards the door. She continued to hold onto him as they left Azkaban behind. She only let go when they arrived in Potter's office, right before she left to file the contract as she promised she would see him that night at the Manor. Alone with Potter, the pair exchanged nods and then stepped onto the grate before he was stepping into his childhood home again.

"My dragon!"

He didn't care if Potter saw, but the moment his mother's arms wound around them, reality hit and he broke down. He sank to his knees with his arms around his mother's waist, sobbing until there wasn't any moisture left in his system. Only then did he get back to his feet and allow his mother to escort him to his quarters. Only as he closed the door to his bedroom did he realize Potter must have left already. As he undressed, setting fire to his prison robes before making way to the shower, it hit him again. How close he had come to letting this slip from his grasp. He almost denied Granger's offer and as he washed years worth of dirt and grime from his body, he realized he owed her far more than he could ever make up for.

Feeling more like his old self after his shower and a haircut from one of the elves, he dressed in his old clothes; clothes he had to shrink to fit. Once he was presentable, he made his way downstairs, eager to be in the presence of his mother again. They sat down for tea and just talked. He loved that she knew he didn't want silence. She spoke of all the topics he would have rolled his eyes at and tuned out when he was younger, but now sounded like music to his ears.

She continued to talk about anything and everything as they moved into the dining room and started dinner when it turned out Granger was running late. She hadn't sent an owl, they just assumed when an hour had passed and she still hadn't turned up. It was when the night bled into the wee hours of the morning and he carried his mother to her bed that he knew something was wrong.

He wasted no time in using the Floo to Potter's residence; the one that should have been his. Not that he planned on staking a claim on it now. His former rival came stumbling down the steps, rubbing sleep from his eyes before shoving his glasses onto his face. "Malfoy? Do you know what time it is?"

"Yes, the Manor has several clocks."

"Did you check any of them before you barged in here, unannounced?"

He shrugged and looked Potter in the eye. "Where's Granger?"

Draco was not keen on Potter's surprise. "Last I saw her was in my office. She didn't show up to the Manor?"

"No," he bit out. "Take me to her flat, please."

Potter nodded and approached the fireplace. Once he joined him on the grate, Potter shouted an address and they arrived in a modest living room, devoid of any light source. After they both lit their wands, they moved about. That feeling of dread was back in the pit of his stomach as they searched. He knew they both came to the same conclusion upon opening her bedroom door to find it as empty as the rest of the place.

"I don't understand," Draco muttered.

"Neither do I. This isn't like her."

The dread gave way to anger as his hand tightened around the hilt of her wand. "She promised me freedom, Potter, and I intend to keep it. I'm not going back to Azkaban. If she was planning on running away, she should have done so before she involved me. Before she involved my mother."

Potter gave a small nod. "I'll help you. We'll find her."

Of that, Draco had no doubt. Granger could run, sure, but she couldn't hide forever. Not when she had helped remind him of everything he stood to lose.

It had taken Draco far too long to find her. Their first anniversary had come and gone. He celebrated alone by drowning himself with a large bottle of Firewhiskey and holing up in his room, terrified that Aurors would show up to take him back to Azkaban. When he woke up the next morning, surrounded by his own sick and an empty bottle, his sense of urgency to find her had renewed.

He tried all methods magical and Muggle before something finally worked. Even with Potter's help, it had taken ages, but they finally found a lead. Once it was confirmed that she was there and had been for some time, Draco made the plan to confront her. He knew he had to act fast before she found out that he was on to her and fled again. He couldn't afford to let her get away; with only three months of their two year fulfillment date, she had to stick around. He was not going back to Azkaban when all of this had been her idea in the first place.

When he arrived in the Spanish Ministry, he paid off the appropriate people to enable him to lay low and then slipped out into the Muggle world to where he knew she would be. He watched her for a few days, tracking her every move to make sure that when he confronted her, he had the upper hand.

She had been alone at first, but she threw him for a loop when she came home on the arm of another man. Draco wasn't jealous, per se, he had never seen Granger as a romantic interest before, but he wouldn't lie and say the sight didn't hurt. She was his wife after all. He never thought Granger would have been the adulterous type.

His mood over the discovery didn't improve when the man never left her flat until it was with her the next morning. And the fact that he had come back later by himself with his own key made it worse. Not only had Granger left him on their wedding night, she was here in another country nearly two years later, shaking up with someone else. He scowled as he twisted the simple white-gold band around his finger.

Whoever he was, he wouldn't be a problem for long. Not after he learned the truth about who he was shacking up with.

Draco would make sure of it.

On the fourth day of being in Barcelona, Draco made his move. He followed Granger and her beau to a bistro in the middle of the afternoon. He waited until they were seated and had ordered their lunch. Once they were truly settled in, he strode onto the patio and sank down into one of the free chairs at their little round table. "Potter owes me a hundred Galleons," he said as the pair looked at him with wide eyes.

"Are you lost?" the man asked.

"On the contrary," Draco said with a smile, eyes glued to Granger as she scowled at him. "I'm exactly where I need to be."

"Sorry, but we don't know you."

"You don't," Draco corrected. "And I have no intentions of changing that, but Granger here," he started, a grin on his face as spots of pink tinged her cheeks. "Actually, I guess it's Malfoy now. Has been for some time. I should know, I signed the same contract."

The other man looked back and forth between his and Granger's staring contest. "Hermione? Do you know him?"

"She better," Draco answered for her as she opened her mouth. "She's my wife, after all." His smile was smug as the other man stared at her, clearly hurt, and she averted her gaze to her hands in her lap.

"Is this true?"

She sighed heavily and then gave a nod. "Yes, but- Sebastian, wait!" she squeaked as he shoved his chair back and got to his feet.

He shied away from her touch when she got up to reach for him. "Just… Don't," he said. After a moment of staring at Granger, he shook his head and took his leave of the bistro.

Granger sank back into her seat and glared at him. "What is your problem?"

"My problem?" he questioned, venom in his voice. "I should be asking you that. You told me you were coming to the Manor for dinner and then poof. You fucking vanished into thin air, Granger."

She huffed at him. "Did you really think I was going to stick around?"

"No, actually, I didn't. However," he said, pausing to thank the waitress when she came to set food in front of them. He inspected what her boyfriend had ordered, and after deeming it worthy of his stomach, took a bite. "There were stipulations to our union; ones that have yet to be fulfilled and if you remember correctly, we're on a tight deadline now."

"Malfoy-"

"We can discuss everything back at my hotel suite, Granger. For now, eat your lunch. Once we get there, neither of us is leaving until we've resolved our issues." He watched as her hand moved for her bag. He reached out and laid his hand over hers. "So fucking help me, if you so much as think about disappearing I will go back to your flat and snap your little boyfriend's neck."

"You wouldn't," she hissed, ripping her hand away from his.

"Normally, no, but extreme circumstances," he said, shrugging. "If I'm to go back to Azkaban because you leave again, I might as well go for something I actually did."

"Fine," she sneered, slamming her fork into her food. "I won't run."

"Thank you," he said through gritted teeth.

Once they were in his hotel suite, he set up wards to make it impossible for her to Apparate through. She scowled at him when he cast them loudly for her to hear, but she didn't argue. He took a seat on one side of the plush couch and held the ankle of the leg propped up on his other knee. His other arm resting on the arm of the couch, his chin in his hand.

"I was perfectly content finishing my sentence before you proposed to me," he started as she perched herself on the edge of a chair across from him. "But now that you got my mother involved and gave me a taste of freedom, I have no intention of going back. Which means we have three months to consummate our union and knock you up."

He saw the way her jaw clenched, but he didn't care. He had asked her about all of this the day it happened. He had believed her when she said she had thought about all aspects of their arrangement before proposing it to him.

"I panicked," she said, her voice quiet. "I went to file the contract and overheard conversation about how unfair it was for some to have to put their lives on hold and pop out kids because a small portion of the community decided they wanted to be racists." She kept her gaze averted, but Draco couldn't look away. "I just stood there and panicked. I had the contract in my hand. I had married one of the racists. I had agreed to take his name, share his bed, and carry his heirs. After everything I fought for-"

"You told me you had considered all of that before," he said, his voice low.

She nodded. "I did. Or at least I thought I had." She sighed and finally looked up to meet his gaze, surprising him when her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. "It just hit me a little harder then. And then I started thinking about our future children and I realized I wasn't ready for that yet. Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever be ready. Children weren't really something I ever saw in my future."

He wet his lips and thought hard about the thoughts forming in his mind before he voiced them. "Just because you give birth to children doesn't mean you have to be part of their lives," he said carefully.

Something akin to surprise and relief flickered in her eyes as she studied him, but it disappeared as she wiped a tear from her lashes. "So…what? I have our children and then I'm free to leave? Come on, Malfoy, I couldn't-"

"I wouldn't poison their minds like my father did with me," he said. "They would know who their mother is and what a formidable witch she is. I would never let them feel anything other than proud about their blood status either. You'd be free to do what you need to and if you're ever ready, we'd be there for you to come back to."

"They would just think I abandoned them."

He stared at her for a moment before lifting his chin. "That's your cross to bear, Granger, but I would do my best not to let them think that."

Her hands wrung in her lap as she worried at her bottom lip. "Why would you suggest that?"

"Because it's better than either of us rotting in Azkaban," he said carefully. "And we both know this world needs you and that brain of yours to do something great. You did me a favor by getting me out and I'll return it by not holding you back. I don't want you to feel trapped with me, Granger."

"I don't know…"

"Look, I know it's a lot to think about, but we only have three months left of our two-year time limit. If you take me up on this offer you can be as involved as you want. Even if it's only for the nine months as their incubator." He raked his fingers through his hair. "If it helps, historically Malfoy's only produce one male heir anyway. It's extremely rare for more offspring to be had."

"Well, it's not like we would be trying for more than one," she muttered under her breath.

He gave a half nod and then swallowed hard at the rest of what he needed to tell her. "Did you read the contract all the way through?"

"Of course I did."

A smirk tugged at his lips. "I'm only asking, because I need you to understand the full nature of what this arrangement implies. To understand what it means for both of us."

The way her eyes widened told Draco she hadn't read it as well as he had hoped. He wasn't sure how she was going to react to this, but he had to tell her. It was only fair.

"You've been sexually intimate with Sebastian, correct?" he asked.

She gave a quick nod and averted her gaze again. "Yes," she rasped out.

"Once we consummate our marriage, you won't be able to be intimate with anyone else. If you try, the binding will make you physically ill. It's a way to ensure that the Malfoy line is kept legitimate. Either you didn't read as well as you thought or you didn't comprehend."

"And I suppose you'll be free to do whatever you want?" she asked, nostrils flaring.

"No," he replied. "It goes both ways. Neither of us will be able to be with anyone else but each other. Until one of us dies, that is."

She stared at him with a newfound sense of awe. "And knowing this, you're still okay with me doing what I have to with my own life? What if I-"

"I know."

"Oh," she said, her gaze softening. "Okay."

There was a long stretch of silence that settled over them before he spoke again. "We don't need to do this tonight, but it does have to be done soon." He got to his feet and came to stand in front of her, offering his hand. When she took it, he pulled her up to stand before him and took her other hand as well. "I'll go along with whatever you need because I have a lifetime of being a right prat to make up for. That being said, I know I have no right to ask you this, but I do ask that you really think about it. Think about giving us a proper shot. You're my wife and I'd like to show you that isn't synonymous with being a prisoner. I would never keep you from your dreams, Granger. I'll give you whatever you ask me for if it means eventually you'll forgive me."

She nodded and pulled away. "I need tonight to talk to Sebastian. I'll come here first thing in the morning."

"No offense, but I really don't trust you."

"I know," she said, her voice filled with regret. "And I'm sorry for that."

He let go of her hand to hold his out. "Give me your ring." When she withdrew her other hand to twist the metal band from her finger, his brow rose. "What'd you do, charm it so no one could see it?"

"No one that didn't know to look for it," she replied, placing it into his palm.

He snorted and summoned his wand. He cast a few spells on it and then slipped it back onto her finger. "Just a few tracking spells. That way, if you decided to run again, I'll be able to track you down faster. And before you decided to take it off and leave it, I've added a sticking charm that only I can remove it."

She scowled at him, but there was less menace behind it. "I'll see you in the morning, Malfoy."

"Feel free to Apparate in," he said as she turned to make way for the door. He fought the urge to run after her and demand that she stay. Instead, he watched as she closed the door behind her. When she was gone, he made his way to the liquor cart and settled in while he waited for the morning and her return.

In anticipation of Granger returning in the morning, Draco had reverted back to his teenaged years of getting off to his own hand too many times to count. He hadn't been with anyone since Pansy in Sixth Year… Or was it Seventh? Either way, if Granger agreed; not that she really had any grounds to disagree, he didn't want it to be over within the first five minutes. Especially if she took him up on his entire offer and left right after giving birth. They were going to fuck like rabbits until he knocked her up and then he was certain she would never touch him again. That being the case, he was going to make sure each encounter was better than the last because he would have nothing but the memories to hold him over until he died.

Room service had barely arrived before Granger Apparated into the living room. He gestured towards the food as invitation for her to dig in. She inclined her head and poured herself some tea before nibbling at a scone. "I told Sebastian the truth."

"And?"

"And he told me to leave so I packed my stuff and spent the night in one of the rooms downstairs."

He frowned at that. "You could have come here. You didn't need to rent another room."

"I needed a night to think."

He shrugged and finished off his eggs. "Suit yourself."

"I'm sorry I left the way I did," she said after a moment. "I'm sorry that I got you out of Azkaban only to almost put you back in."

"Well, you're here now. We can fix this and then move on with our lives."

Her lips parted for a moment to say something and then changed her mind, choosing to nod instead. "You were serious about your offer?"

He rubbed at his chin before he answered her. "I do have a condition."

Granger stared at him for a moment before she rolled her eyes. "Which is…?"

"You come back to England with me tomorrow. I already have the portkey. You'll move into the Manor while we work on getting you with child. You're free to leave anytime after you give birth."

"I'll move back to England, but I'm not living at the Manor," she countered. "I can visit, but…"

He nodded, knowing exactly what her hesitation to go back to his home stemmed from. "I'll secure us a flat for when we return."

"Us?"

He stared at her with a quirked brow. "This will be our first child and, if history is anything to go by, probably my only child. I don't want to miss anything, Granger." He finished off his tea and set it down on the table beside him. "Rest assured, we'll have separate rooms, but we are keeping a House Elf."

"So long as they're free and working for a decent wage."

The corners of his lips twitched into a semblance of a smile. "All of the Malfoy elves were freed long ago. Anything else you'd like to add before we seal the deal?"

She shook her head slowly. "No," she said, clearing her throat. "I think we're good."

He took a deep breath and then got to his feet, summoning his wand in the process. He then used it to summon a little pouch from the side table in the bedroom. He reached into it and produced two of the vials inside; one pink and one blue. He handed her the pink one, kept the blue for himself, and sent the pouch back to the bedroom.

"What is this?" she asked, holding it up before her eyes to study it.

"Fertility potion," he explained, uncorking his own. "It increases the chances of conception to help you get pregnant faster. Yours has an added bonus of cancelling out any type of contraception both Muggle or magical. I made them myself."

"I don't think-"

"We only have three months before our second anniversary, Granger. Two to prove that you're not infertile so they don't dissolve our marriage, send me back to Azkaban, and force you to get hitched to someone that won't afford you the same courtesies that I will." He tipped the potion to his lips and knocked it back. "There is a spell to detect pregnancies that can be performed as early as one week. Drink up, Granger. We have our work cut out for us."

She held his gaze as she raised the vial to her lips and drank it slowly. She placed it on the coffee table in front of her next to the remaining food and took a deep, shaky breath. He walked over to her and reached for her hands. Gently, he pulled her to her feet and cupped her face between his palms. He took his time to study her, to take in the flecks on honey in brown of her irises. Slowly, as to not scare her off, he leaned in and slanted his lips over hers.

She gasped at the contact and pulled away from him. "I need a minute," she whispered.

He nodded and watched as she took off towards the bathroom down the hall. While he waited for her to battle her own inner demons, he made his way towards the bedroom and took a seat on the side of the bed. He placed his knees on his thighs and leaned forward to hang his head in his hands. He went still at the sound of the bathroom door opening again and slowly lifted his head; hands falling to grip the edge of the mattress. He turned, watching her walk towards him with tentative steps.

She came to a stop before him and reached up to slide the straps of her dress down her shoulders. He saw the way her fingers trembled, but he held her gaze as the garment pooled around her feet on the floor. She reached out for him then, taking his hands and guiding them towards her hips.

"Granger-"

"Don't," she hissed, her voice trembling as much as the rest of her.

"We're not doing this if you don't want it. I'm not going to force myself upon you."

"I know that."

"If you're not completely willing, that's what it'll be."

She sighed and moved away from him, stepping out of her dress in the process. "I don't want you to go back to Azkaban because of this. That wouldn't be fair to you."

He slid to his feet and approached her carefully, stopping when he was nearly flush against her back. She shivered from his proximity. "What's the real reason you're so afraid, Granger? It can't just be the sex. Or the thought of carrying a child."

She sighed heavily and turned around. She didn't lift her gaze to his as she spoke, choosing instead to stare at the top button of his shirt. "Ever since I got my Hogwarts letter I've been nothing but a pawn. I'm the face of so many campaigns I've lost count. This," she said, holding out her left arm. He didn't need to glance down to know what he would see. "This just means they will continue to use me. Kingsley offered Ron and Harry any job they wanted, but he only offered me one. And when I saw who he picked for me to marry…" she shook her head and looked at him. "I know we've always been friends, but he took it too far. When I confronted him, he said that by his side, we could accomplish great things."

"Who was it?"

"Kingsley," she replied through gritted teeth. "His exact words were 'this way you don't have to work your way to the top, Hermione, we can do all of this together.' He wanted me to help reshape the wizarding world and then take all the credit because he's the Minister." She took a deep breath and smiled sadly. "Choosing you was my way of getting back at him. To show him that his plan backfired and I'm not a pawn anymore."

Draco couldn't help but let a grin take hold of his lips. When she scowled at the expression, he hurried to explain. "We never got along and I know that's really all my fault, but that doesn't mean we can't start patching things up. You may have chose me as a way to stick it to the government, but you're a Malfoy now, Hermione. We can have any future we want. Hell, you can start a hundred foundations for lost causes and I'll fund every single one of them." He reached up to cup her face, his grin widening when hers began to spread. "You can still do whatever you want to change the world and I'll never hold you back. If you want to spend the rest of your life rubbing it in Kingsley's face how badly he messed up, fine. I'll be right there to keep his eyes open; make sure he sees you."

"Malfoy-"

"I'll never have an agenda when it comes to you, Hermione. You'll be my wife; the mother of my child. I know I said you could leave our kid in my care and do whatever you want, but that's not what I want. If we do this, I want the whole package. I want us to fight only to make up again. I want us to share our highs and our lows no matter how bad. I want to be by your side through it all." He leaned in and brushed his lips over hers, smirking at the way she leaned into him. "Whatever your reasons for picking me, it doesn't matter. We have our whole lives to figure each other out and if it doesn't work, we can go our separate ways like we talked about. Just give me a chance to show you that I'm sorry about the past and that I've changed."

"What if I don't ever love you?"

He shrugged. "You won't know until you try," he said. "And I'm not expecting anything overnight."

She laughed at that, pushing him back as she shook uncontrollably. "Sorry," she said after a moment. "It's just… We were enemies. Then I married you. Now we're about to sleep together in the hopes of knocking me up. Then we'll be building a friendship while I'm pregnant. All hoping that someday we can learn to have a real relationship. We're doing this all backwards."

"They say the best things in life are never easy. I guess that means what we end up with is going to be pretty fucking spectacular."

She smiled at him and reached up to set her hands on his chest. She let her gaze drop to his shirt and he watched her face as she started to thread the buttons through their loops. His breathing slowed as she made her way down. After the last button, her fingers made for his belt and he couldn't hold back any longer. He surged forward, pulling her flush against him. She gasped into his mouth as his crushed hers. He used her parted lips to his advantage and explored the depths of her mouth with his tongue, tasting every part of her he could reach.

He let his hands slide down her body until he reached her thighs. He gripped them tight and lifted. She wrapped her legs around his waist and squeezed as he carried her the short distance to the bed. He set her down and pulled back long enough to remove the rest of their clothing. Completely bare before one another, he crawled over her, intent on getting to know every inch of her before the night was through.

But it seemed she had the same idea and pushed at him until she was sitting atop of him. She leaned down and nipped at his bottom lip before sucking it into her mouth. As she continued to kiss him, she bucked her hips. He groaned into her mouth as his cock brushed through her folds; enthralled by the notion that she was already wet for him.

She broke the kiss and began to trail her lips down his throat. He propped himself up on his elbows as he watched her kiss her way down his chest. His jaw clenched as her tongue darted out to trace his navel and after a few kisses beneath it, repeated the motion to the head of his cock. He resisted the urge to grab hold of her glorious curls and bury himself in the heaven of warmth that was her mouth. Instead, he continued to watch as she pleased him, nearly bringing him to the edge with just her tongue.

He went to reach for her, to bring her back so he could return the favor, but she stole the air from his longs and fogged his mind by taking him into her mouth and hollowing her cheeks. He fell back onto the bed and closed his eyes, moaning into the silence of the room as she worked him over with her mouth and hand in a perfect rhythm.

"Granger…"

She released him with an audible pop and smirked at him as he rolled to put her beneath him. "Malfoy," she corrected.

He captured her lips for a searing kiss before dragging his teeth down the column of her throat. He propped himself on one arm while the other stole down between them to find her even wetter than before. "Tell me, Mrs. Malfoy, how does this feel?" he asked, slipping two fingers inside of her.

Her head ground back against the bedding and she nodded. "D-don't call me t-that," she panted.

"It's your name," he said, swiping his thumb across her clit.

She shook her head and brought one hand up to hold his bicep as her hips ground down on his hand. "Yes, but it- Oh gods." She swallowed hard and moved so that she could kiss him again. "Draco, I need you. I need-"

He withdrew his hand and leaned back, pulling her over him as they had been originally. When he had in the right spot, he held her hips and guided her until he was fully sheathed inside of her. They groaned in unison and she wasted no time in riding him. She was slow with her movements at first while she adjusted, but once she gained her confidence, she tossed her head back and gave in to the pleasure he gave her.

Draco applied more pressure to his hold on one hip to steady her as the other hand slipped between them to play with her clit again. She keened above him and even fell forward a bit, her hands smacking down on his chest. "Y-yes!" she cried.

"Fuck, you're tightening up," he hissed as he began to thrust in time to her movements. "Hermione-"

"Oh gods, Draco, I'm-"

They came at the same time, neither one of them stopping until their bodies gave out on them. She collapsed on top of him and slid off when he slipped out, curling up onto his side. "That was…" he started, at a loss for how exactly it felt.

She hummed in response and then pulled away from him. He watched with curiosity as she stretched her legs up along the headboard and leaned back with her legs in the air. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"This is a Muggle trick. The doctors always say to let gravity help. If I stay like this for a few minutes after each time it'll help increase our chances as well."

"Gravity?"

She cracked a grin and shook her head. "I'll explain that some other time. Can you get me a glass of water?"

"Is your magic gone?"

"No, I just need a minute," she said, smiling softly at him. "Please?"

He nodded and made his way to the kitchen, not bothering to cover up. He took his time, giving her some space and used his wand to clean himself up before he returned. When he entered the room, she was sitting normally with the sheet wrapped around her body.

"Thank you," she said as he handed her the glass and sat in front of her.

"You okay?"

She nodded and reached over to the nightstand to set the glass down. The sheet fell away from her chest and pooled around her waist, but if it bothered her, she didn't let it show. He stole a glance, grinning sheepishly when he looked back up at her face and saw her scolding look.

She surprised him further by getting to her hands and knees and crawling over to him, kissing his lips before sitting back on her heels. "You're right."

"Doubt I'll ever hear that again," he said with a smirk.

She grinned back. "We're officially married now; in every sense of the word. I'd like to continue exploring what that means. I want more out of life than just being known as the Muggleborn war heroine. Just promise me that if another tyrant comes along to take over the world, you won't flock to their side."

"Unless that tyrant is you, consider my days as a lackey officially over," he said, pushing her onto her back and settling himself between her thighs again. "So long as you promise you'll stop being such a flight risk."

"I promise," she said, lifting her hips to draw him in deeper. "Let's see where life takes us, Mister Malfoy."

"As long as it takes us there together, Mrs. Malfoy."

She laughed for a moment before he hit a spot deep within her to make her moan. They continued to explore one another throughout the night, pausing after each session so she could position herself against the headboard. It wasn't until their bodies refused to move that he pulled her back against his chest and placed a hand on her abdomen. One day, he would get to hold his son for the first time; something he never thought he would ever experience. Something he didn't know he was missing out on until Granger had shown up to Azkaban with her proposal.

As she laid her hand over his, he tightened his hold and thanked the gods for whatever it was he had done right in his life to deserve being saved by the likes of Hermione Granger. Hermione Malfoy. And he vowed to them all he would do whatever it took to keep her by his side. That he would spend his every waking moment trying to prove to her that she hadn't made a mistake in choosing him.

And Draco hoped that with time, she would love him the way he loved her. The way he had since she had set him free.