Hey guys, so this is a little oneshot that sprung to mind a few days ago. I know I should be working on 'Love Won't Save You' but honestly I'm at a stump at the moment. I'm not sure if this is similar to any other fanfics out there, but if it is I apologise in advance. It was just an idea and I wanted to get it out.

Corabel

No Regrets

Hermione fidgeted nervously as she sat at the familiar wooden table in the dining room of number 12 Grimmauld Place, the secret location of the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters. She hadn't been here in many years now, in fact she was sure that the last time was probably when she was about the age of eighteen whilst on the run with her two best friends in the midst of a war. Seven years on, and the war still wasn't over much to the Order's chagrin. They were supposed to have won on that early May morning at Hogwarts. Voldemort was supposed to have fallen and Harry would have triumphed, just like they had planned. But like every other one of their plans, this particular plan failed. The Battle of Hogwarts had reached a stalemate and the Order had been forced to retreat once Hagrid walked back from the Forbidden Forest bearing a seemingly dead Harry Potter in his arms.

What they didn't realise was that Harry would be up and ready to go in little under an hour later. By this time, the Order's leaders had issued a full scale retreat since everything seemed impossible without Harry. Of course, it would appear that Voldemort had indeed won, but he had failed in his endeavour to kill Harry, which he had found out shortly afterwards leaving both sides at a stump.

It was during the aftermath of that defeat that Hermione had decided to focus on learning to become a Healer for the Order. It was something that she was passionate about after seeing all of her former schoolmates and friends dying around her with only one fully trained Healer running from bed to bed. One would have thought that the number of injured would decrease following the battle, but they only increased during the excessive raids that the Death Eaters conducted, hurting not only members of the Order, but civilians too which became too much for the staff at St Mungo's.

She had left Harry and Ron to continue in their pursuit of Voldemort. The Horcruxes had all been destroyed and it was just a matter of killing him now that he was mortal once again, but he was about as slippery as a barrel full of eels, commanding his forces from the shadows. Her two boys had not taken to it well and it had been rather odd to not see them every day as she began her training. She promised them that she would visit as often as she could since she was still a member of the Order and so she would have to attend meetings alongside everyone else. At first, this had been easy to manage, but as her training finished and the demand for Healers increased, Hermione found herself stretched very thin in all aspects of her life which had been the reason that she had had to reduce her visits to her two best friends and frequently cancel on Order meetings due to this emergency or that.

"Hermione?" Came a familiar sounding voice from the door. Hermione lifted her head to see two familiar wizards, one with raven hair and the other with red. She felt the corners of her lips twitch into a smile as she stood up from her chair to embrace them both.

"We missed you so much 'Mione." Came Ron's muffled voice from her shoulder.

"I missed you two too. I would visit more often but the patients…" Hermione trailed off as a montage of some of her most memorable and gruesome emergencies flashed through her mind.

"We know 'Mione, they need you more than we do at the moment." Harry smiled, placing an arm around her shoulders, guiding her back to the table.

"So, what's new with the Order?" Hermione asked as the two wizards sat down across from her at the table.

"Things aren't going too well at the moment 'Mione." Ron sighed.

"Well, the thing is we had been doing fairly well with tracking down known Death Eaters and putting them on trial-"

"-Except we had to kill most of them because it's not like they're going to come willingly" Ron snorted, interrupting Harry.

"-yes, that's true. However, it means that there are less of the higher ranking Death Eaters out there meaning that the Death Eaters should have been falling into a state of disorganisation without their leaders." Harry paused.

"Yes, that makes sense." Hermione confirmed. "But you said 'should', indicating that it hasn't happened." She pointed out.

"You really don't miss anything do you?" Harry smirked before continuing. "But no, it hasn't and in fact, they appear strengthened after some of the losses which means that there must be more of them that we haven't identified. So, we did some digging on suspected Death Eaters, some leads proved fruitful and others didn't, however, there's this one and I know that he's a Death Eater."

Hermione's brow furrowed. "So what are you waiting for? Go and arrest him."

"Well 'Mione, when Harry says he knows, he really doesn't. He just thinks that he does." Ron chuckled causing Harry to stare daggers at his red-haired counterpart.

"Well, we need proof if we're going to convict a Death Eater. It hasn't really been too much of a problem before this one came along and I can't get close to him at all. There's only one person that we can confirm spends any time with him at all making it a lot harder." Harry sighed.

"Who is he?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Draco Malfoy." Harry said simply. "Don't look at me like that 'Mione, it's not like all of those times at Hogwarts. I really know that he's a Death Eater, I just need to prove it." He declared. Draco Malfoy, that was a name that Hermione hadn't heard in many years. Her old childhood nemesis, back in the day when life was so much simpler. Hermione found it quite hard to make her mind up about Harry's suspicions because back in school, if something bad had happened then according to Harry it had to be Malfoy, regardless of the situation. He was wrong more often than not which was Hermione's only doubt. Then again, the Malfoys had been known to have connections with Voldemort, most especially Lucius who was still evading the Order. But just because Lucius was a Death Eater, doesn't necessarily make his son a Death Eater.

"When is Moody going to get here? He said he had something rather important to talk to me about." Hermione said suddenly, coming out of her reverie.

"Moody was indisposed, he sent us in his place." Ron said sheepishly.

"Oh? What did he want?" Hermione asked.

"Well, the Order needs…we need you to go on a mission for us." Harry spoke quietly.

"Harry, you know I put my missions behind me when I became a Healer." Hermione said sternly.

"Yes, but we have nowhere else to turn. Moody agrees with me, he thinks that Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater and we need you to get the proof."

"If you're trying to convince me, you're doing a terrible job at it." She muttered, standing up from her chair, causing Harry to grab onto her wrist so that she didn't leave.

"Please Hermione, just hear us out before you make any hasty decisions." Ron interjected. Hermione paused and cautiously sat down opposite the two once again.

"Okay…so what would you have me do?" She asked. Harry reached into his robes and produced several items. On the table before her now sat a small vial of blood, another vial containing a few strands of dark chocolate hair which was unfamiliar to her and then finally, a set of three vials containing a brew that Hermione was all too familiar with; Polyjuice potion.

"The only person that Malfoy really talks to is his wife, Astoria Greengrass-Malfoy. So, if you went along with it, we would have you Polyjuice into Astoria to see if you can get anything out of Malfoy which we can then use to incriminate him."

Hermione placed her fingers on her temples and shook her head frantically. "How would that work? You don't know that he tells his wife everything and it's not like I can ask him if he's a Death Eater. He will suspect something straight away!" She protested.

"Which is why we have a backup plan. This-" Harry paused to pick up the vial of blood. "-is a sample of her blood. To get into Malfoy Manor through the gates, you have to possess the blood of a Malfoy. It's not used very often because they floo or apparate presumably, so you will gain entrance to the Manor by use of this and see what you can find."

"Yeah, surely the bloke must have something in that giant Manor that links him to Voldemort. Then we can finally put that git where he belongs; in Azkaban." Ron finished with a nod of his head.

"I can't do this. I put this work behind me Harry, I can't go back in that Manor." She protested.

"Please Hermione, we need you to do this, you're our only hope. There are no other women in the Order capable of pulling a task of this magnitude off, otherwise I swear I wouldn't be bothering you." He said hastily, taking both of her hands into his own. "I need you to do this, for us Hermione."

Hermione looked into those green pleading eyes and found that she couldn't say no. Her friends needed her to do this and if it meant facing her demons, then she would do it.

"Okay." She whispered. "Okay, but I swear Harry James Potter, if you guilt trip me into anything else like this again then I have every right to kill you." She acquiesced, watching as the grin spread across his face. What had she gotten herself into?

~*:*~

Hermione stood before the mirror toying with the vial containing Astoria's hair in her hand. She had come home from work at the early hour of 7pm which was hours before her shift was supposed to end because Harry had sent her a patronus. Apparently, they had managed to catch Astoria in Diagon Alley and had her safely away from the Manor so that Hermione could make her move. She was still very nervous about going back into that Manor once more, not only because she would be facing the person who had tormented her the most as a child, but because of everything that had happened there causing the tell-tale scar on her forearm.

She had an odd sense of deja-vu, since she, Harry and Ron had been planning on doing something very similar in their Second Year. She of course had never managed to make it as far as the Slytherin Common Room because she had managed to turn into a cat. In that gruelling hour that she had been a feline, her eyes had been opened and she felt sorry for poor Crookshanks every time she looked at him.

Glancing at herself once more in the mirror she bid goodbye to her fairly average looking self before adding one of Astoria's hairs to the pre-prepared Polyjuice potion and watched as it fizzled slightly and began to smell strongly of some expensive brand of perfume that made Hermione's eyes water slightly. She pinched her nose and downed the vile concoction in one gulp before shuddering at the rancid taste. She felt it run down her oesophagus and into her stomach before the nausea set in. She gripped onto the wall beside her to keep her upright as she battled to keep the meagre contents of today's meals in her stomach whilst the Polyjuice potion did its work.

Looking over her shoulder and into the mirror, she watched as her chestnut curls which were currently piled atop her head in a messy updo fell loose. They lengthened and began to darken until she had silky raven coloured tresses that fell down towards her mid-back. Her olive coloured skin paled significantly until settling on an almost translucent porcelain that was without a blemish. Her eyes darkened to the darkest brown, so that they were almost black in colour, losing all of their character in the process. Her curves had receded slightly, and she had grown a few inches taller. She was perfection. The very baseline of what a Pureblooded wife should be, she supposed with a sigh.

During school, she had never associated with Astoria Greengrass. In fact, she only knew her as Daphne's little sister, nothing more because for one, she was a Slytherin and a Pureblooded Slytherin at that and second she was in the year below. Hermione had no reason to talk to her and so didn't know much about her character. Judging by her looks, she could be perceived to be quite cold, much like the majority of the Pureblood Elite but then again, beneath all of this cold beauty and perfection, she could be warm. Hopefully she wouldn't run into anyone who might pick up on a change in behaviour too much.

She had enough Polyjuice potion for three hours. Surely that would be all that she needed? She transfigured her clothes into something which she thought would be deemed acceptable for Astoria Malfoy to be seen in before preparing to apparate. She knew where the Manor was, for it haunted every nightmare and was engraved into her brain. Making sure that she had the vial of blood with her, she disapparated.

~*:*~

She broke out with chills and goose bumps at the moment that she laid eyes upon Malfoy Manor once again. She looked down at the path where Astoria's dainty feet were uncomfortably housed in heels upon the stone. The stone which her knees had been scraped upon numerous times whilst being dragged along by her hair by a Snatcher. At least this time she could see the place clearly without tears blurring her vision, yet the fear from all those years ago still lingered making her blood run cold in her veins. The house looked as taciturn as its owners. It was grand but in a very traditional way and every feature of the house was pointed and angular giving off a rather hostile vibe to her. The colours were dull under the darkening sky and nothing at all screamed home to Hermione like the Burrow would, or her parents' house.

She walked in the centre of the path which was cloaked in the shadows of the two looming hedges that lined the path the whole way up towards the porch and front door, which were barely a spec in comparison to the whole house. She walked until she approached the gate. Looking through the bars of the gate, she gulped. It was the same view that she had had when Narcissa Malfoy had been hissing through the bars of the gate at Scabior. She had smeared her blood on the lock of the gate, causing it to open before Hermione had been dragged inside, along with her two best friends.

Digging into her robes, Hermione produced the vial which contained Astoria's blood. She took the stopper out and gently tipped it, watching as the thick blood spilled all over her outstretched hand. While it was still wet, she pressed her hand to the lock which was central to the gate waiting with her eyes jammed shut in the event that something went wrong. She heard the click of a bolt before the gates silently and slowly swung open before her. Wasting no more time she uttered a Scourgify and watched Astoria's blood vanish from her long slender fingers.

She straightened up and pushed her shoulders back before walking as elegantly as she could muster up towards the front door of the Manor. She tried to push all thoughts out of her mind concerning her last visit here and tried to focus on acting the part of Astoria Malfoy, Pureblood trophy wife.

Once she reached the front door, she took a series of deep breaths before raising her wand and flicking the serpent door knocker before waiting anxiously. Almost immediately the giant doors swung open to reveal a timid little house elf dressed in only a pillow case.

"Mistress Astoria! Blinky being sorry that he not opening the door sooner." The elf whimpered, cowering away from her as if she were going to hit him. "Blinky be shutting his head in the oven door Mistress." The elf declared.

"No!" Hermione protested before remembering who she was. Clearing her throat, she tried again. "Um…no, there will be no need for that. Abstinence can be punishment in itself." She announced in a voice of fake superiority. The elf continued to look at her confusedly through his big beady eyes. "Now Blinky, is Ma…Draco home?" She asked, his first name sounding odd rolling off her tongue for the first time.

"No Mistress Astoria, Master Draco being gone since yesterday evening." The elf clarified.

"That will be all Blinky. Thank you." She replied. At the sound of thanks, the elf's eyes widened to the size of saucers but he shook it off quickly before disapparating. She had the entire Manor mainly to herself and she wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. It would make her mission significantly easier as long as there was actually something to find and she could be out of here before her first dosage of Polyjuice potion ran out. Looking around the soulless grandeur of the empty foyer, she decided on which staircase she would use first. The most logical idea would be to look for a study or a personal library and so that was what she set off in search of.

She wandered through the halls on the first floor, checking each door as she went. It was oddly silent, as the portraits that lined the walls were no longer hissing to her about her inferiority like they had when she had come here as herself. Some of the kinder looking ones smiled at her, others gave a brief nod of the head and the rest just ignored her entirely.

So far, her search of the floor had been fruitless. That is, until she became distracted upon opening the door of the library. Forgetting all about her mission, her hand dropped away from the doorknob and she wandered in over the threshold, all the while looking up and about her at the extensive rows of books. She began walking through the aisles of towering bookshelves, running her fingers along the spines of the books as she observed their titles. Some of the titles were ones that she had been meaning to get a hold of, others were forbidden and probably contained a multitude of secrets about dark magic and there were some that she had never even heard of before.

She was snatched from her daze when she came across a door hidden between the bookshelves at the far end of the library. It was a small door, partly concealed by the drapes adorning the gargantuan window beside it. Nevertheless, she became intrigued and her hand retracted from the bookshelf and reached out to the doorknob of this hidden door.

The door opened up to reveal exactly what she had been looking for. A personal study of some sort, a very cleverly hidden one at that. The owner must have known to hide it here because the library was rarely used, she could tell this by the smatterings of dust on top of the books. She gasped in delight and began hastily ambling inside and heading straight for the mahogany desk that sat in front of the window. Wrenching the drawers open, she tried carefully rummaging through the contents, pulling out all of the files that she came across. When she had the chance to quickly scan these files, they turned out to be documentations of Malfoy's finances, something which she didn't really care for, however she couldn't stop the raising of her eyebrows when she saw just how much money the Malfoys possessed. To say he was rich could probably be classed as an understatement.

When this particular drawer had emptied, Hermione noticed a little hatch at the bottom which could be easily missed if you weren't looking for it. Curiously, she flipped it open to reveal a secret compartment to the drawer. It was only small and contained a few pieces of folded up parchment, some of which were nearly damaged by the looks of them. Curiously, she picked up the first piece and unfolded it carefully since it was very delicate due to overuse and age.

Once the contents of the parchment had been revealed, she gasped and dropped it in shock. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes in disbelief before peering around the desk to see where the parchment had fallen.

WANTED.

HERMIONE GRANGER.

Hermione Granger is associated with the Undesirable No. 1. Known Muggle-Born.

If you have any information concerning the whereabouts of this person, please contact the Ministry of Magic or the Muggle-Born Registration Commission immediately.

Once again, she was greeted by her own wanted poster from when she was Horcrux Hunting seven years ago, the images of her younger self dominating the page with her characteristic bushy hair.

Why was her wanted poster in the hidden compartment of Malfoy's desk? Alongside the poster were a few scattered items from Fourth Year, including the article of her and Harry where Rita Skeeter had slandered them both and finally there was a picture of her and Viktor at the Yule Ball. She shook her head again before shakily replacing each of the items in the desk. She was done with this room, she would continue her search somewhere else before getting the hell out of here. If she had her way, she would abort now and call the mission a failure, but she couldn't do that to Harry and Ron, their hopes were riding on her after all.

She headed back out of the library and felt herself growing shorter again. Hastily, she reached into her robes and yanked out the second vial of Polyjuice potion already containing Astoria's essence before gulping it down quickly. She supported herself against the wall as the expected bout of nausea washed over her, taking deep breaths as she transformed once more. The last of the dizziness was ebbing away when she heard the distinctive 'pop' of apparation downstairs, causing a pit of dread to form in Hermione's stomach.

She pushed away from the wall. She had to get out before she was found, there was no way that she would be able to act like Astoria, never in a million years. She would be caught and killed. She made off down the hall in the opposite direction to which she came and quickly became lost amongst the Manor's extensive and winding corridors. She was close to tears and what started off as a hasty walk quickly became a frantic sprint.

All that she knew was that she was lost somewhere on the ground floor having found a set of stairs when she heard footsteps close by. Panicking, she wrenched open the nearest door and dived inside, quietly closing the door behind her and pressing her back to it. Once she opened her eyes, she wished that she hadn't. Of all the rooms in this godforsaken house, she had picked the one room that she had been tortured in.

Her eyes were wide in recognition and the hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end. She stared blankly at the dark wooden floor, the floor which she had lain upon, the floor which she had cried upon, the floor which she had bled upon. If she stared hard enough, she could've sworn that she still saw the remainder of her blood still staining the boarding. She could still see Bellatrix towering above her, wielding a knife or wand, cackling evilly at her as she enjoyed Hermione's pained screams and cries.

Hermione's heart was beating erratically in her chest and she could feel the cold fear in her blood spiking. She wanted to scream and run but she was trapped in her own nightmare, forced to endure the unrelenting taunts. She looked down at her sleeve and drew back the fabric to reveal the white 'Mudblood' on her arm. If she looked hard enough, she could see the same scar when it was fresh and crying tears of blood which spilled down her arm and stained this very floor.

The door behind her opened and in stepped a figure donned in billowing black robes, accompanied by the familiar silver Death Eater mask. This was all too much for Hermione, it were as though Bellatrix was coming back to finish her and so she fell backwards towards the floor in an effort to scramble away from the figure and screamed. The figure appeared apprehensive at first and reached up to pull off his mask, revealing the perfectly pale and worried face of Draco Malfoy. His brows were furrowed as he stepped towards her.

"Astoria?" He questioned, noticing her shaking limbs and terrified expression. He descended quickly and pulled who he thought was his wife into a crushing hug, stroking the back of her head with a gloved hand. Hermione sat stone still as he hugged her, shaking like a leaf as she tried to organise her thoughts. She was done for now, there was no way that she would get out. Malfoy would notice that she wasn't his wife very quickly and it would be all over.

'Well he would question you if you're not acting like a wife and not hugging your…husband…' She scolded herself inwardly before tentatively raising her arms and wrapping them around his neck. Touching him so lightly that it was barely considered touching at all. This was her childhood nemesis and now confirmed Death Eater considering his attire, she didn't want to show him any affection at all. She didn't understand how Astoria managed it.

"I'm sorry I scared you." He apologised into her hair before starting to plant little kisses down the side of her face, heading towards her lips. Hermione tried to restrain the urge to push him off her and make a dash for it but forced herself to kiss him back as chastely as a nun to conceal her identity. When he finally pulled away, he pulled her to her feet and disapparated so that they both landed in a lavishly furnished drawing room. "Tori, what were you doing in that room? I told you that we don't go in there anymore." He said confusedly.

"I…I thought I heard someone coming…so I hid…" She faltered, cringing at herself at the weak excuse.

"You're really shaken, did I scare you that much?" He whispered, horrified with himself.

She pushed all thoughts out of her mind before trying to settle into Astoria mode. "Of course not, it was just a little fright that's all. I thought you were someone else." She admitted with a small smile.

"You know I'd never let anything happen to you, darling. You're safe here." He reminded her. Hermione was shocked that Malfoy could even show so much affection to a single person, since he had always seemed very aloof back in Hogwarts. But then again, she hadn't seen Malfoy ever since Sixth Year so he could've changed since then, maybe for the better. He reached up and pushed his hood off his head to reveal his face fully.

Hermione gasped in shock. Malfoy's face was completely covered in bruises of different shades ranging from a deep purple to a light blue which were accompanied by several deep gashes that ran across his face.

"What happened?" She found herself asking, standing up to examine his face more carefully. Beneath all of those injuries, Malfoy had actually turned out to be quite the handsome man indeed. He had grown into his pointy features and rugged good looks. She finally had the chance to see his eyes properly for the first time, they were of the lightest blue, in fact they were more silver than anything with flecks of lighter silvers lost in his grey irises. Quite captivating when paired with his unique shade of platinum blond hair.

At her question his face fell along with the shields that he put up around his emotions and he looked tired to say the least. He was miserable, that much Hermione could see because she felt the same from time to time. His eyes met hers and he shook his head.

"What did he make you do?" She whispered, smoothing back his hair to get a better look at the deep gash that ran along his forehead.

"It's getting worse Tori." He sighed. "They kill and torture for no purpose at all but pure amusement. It's sickening. Last night they asked me to participate, they had this little Muggle girl that they wanted me to…I can't even say it…she was only about ten, Tori. Ten years old. Then they wanted me to do away with her when they had finished and I couldn't. I couldn't kill her." He was shaking now and Hermione found herself crying for him as well as the little girl. "I wanted to save her." He choked. "I told them that they were sick and they laughed! I refused to kill her and this is what I got for it." He muttered pointing at his face.

"Who did this to you?" She asked.

"Who else would be able to do something this messed up? Only Aunt Bellatrix of course, she always had a knack for torture. That's where I've been all day." He sighed.

"I can heal them for you." Hermione said. Suddenly she had a lot of respect and sympathy for Malfoy. He was no longer the arrogant, snooty little boy that she once knew. He had done a lot of growing up over the years and it turns out that he actually had a heart. He wasn't a Death Eater by choice, she could tell that much. He didn't belong there.

He nodded his head and she reached into her pocket and pulled out her wand. She started healing the most severe gashes first, watching as the skin reattached itself before applying a spell to try and speed up the healing of the bruises on his face. She put down her wand and then placed her hands on either side of his face, turning it this way and that, looking for anything that she might have missed.

"Is there anywhere else?" She asked quietly. He nodded again and pulled off his robe, leaving him dressed in only a pair of slacks. His chest and back were in the same state as his face, cuts and bruises everywhere. She lay him down on his stomach and began working on his back.

"What are we going to do Tori? Eventually the Dark Lord will find out that I can't kill anyone and he in turn will kill me for my incompetence. That is if I'm lucky. I'll probably be subjected to worse before that. I'm going to have to do it, what if they use you against me?" He faltered. She turned him over to lie on his back and began healing the worst of the cuts on his stomach.

"You could go to the Order." She suggested quietly.

"Of course, because Saint Potter would welcome me with open arms right? They wouldn't trust me, not to mention that the Dark Lord would put a bounty on both of our heads." He muttered miserably.

'I would trust you.' She wanted to scream as she silently finished removing the last of the blemishes on his torso.

"You could provide them with information that they would need. Not to mention that they'd have an extra fighter. Besides, it means that you don't have to subject yourself to this torture every time he calls on you!" She cried.

"I wish it were so simple, Astoria." He said, looking directly into her eyes. She thought for a moment that he might know, but shook it off quickly. She was still Astoria.

"All done." She whispered, still eyeing the sculpted muscles on his now fully healed chest. He had definitely filled out in his adulthood. He caught her gaze and smiled to himself before sitting up next to where she was kneeling on the floor and curling a hand around the back of her neck to bring her head in towards his.

She became a little apprehensive, but realised that she couldn't get out without being caught. So surprisingly, she let herself be guided towards his lips and she found that she wanted to. As soon as their lips touched together, she melted into him like hot butter. For now, she could forget about her mission because as far as she was concerned, it was completed. She could forget that she was Hermione Granger and she could let herself go as Astoria Greengrass-Malfoy.

He slipped her wand out of her hand and placed it on the floor beside him before pulling her to straddle him whilst continuing to kiss her. She was wondering just how something so forbidden to her could feel so good. She was kissing a Death Eater and it felt good. She daringly placed her hands on his chest and started caressing the smooth and now unblemished skin there, moving upwards to gently rake her fingernails through his hair whilst his hands smoothed down her sides, over the curve of her…Astoria's breasts, over her hips before settling onto her behind.

~*:*~

Five minutes later found them both struggling to get each other out of their clothes and throwing them haphazardly across the bedroom floor leaving them both naked. She tried everything to restrain her blush, she was no virgin but she was seeing Draco Malfoy naked and he was seeing Astoria naked yet she still had that feeling of vulnerability and embarrassment whenever eyes roamed.

She knew it was wrong. So, so unbelievably wrong because she was going to make him unknowingly commit adultery against his wife. She felt awful when it was said like that, but if she made any move to get away from him then surely he would find out that it wasn't really her? Why not just enjoy it for now? Besides, it had been a oh-so-long since she had been intimate with anyone because of her demanding profession.

Before she knew it, he had hoisted her up so that her legs were locked around his waist and he was kissing his way up her neck as he made his way towards the bed. She could feel him at her ready and waiting entrance, teasing her with the promise of what was yet to come. She hadn't felt so carefree in such a long time. Was it such a crime to actually go through with this?

Just when she prepared herself for his entrance, he rubbed himself against her little bud of nerves making her shiver with pleasure. He chuckled.

"Do you want me, Astoria?" He asked, looking at her in the eye again as he said her name. It was rather unnerving for her, yet with her mind clouded by sensations she replied.

"Yes." She breathed, allowing him access to her neck.

"How much? Tell me how much you need me." He growled, rubbing himself against her again making her cry out. She was shaking in anticipation and was growing impatient. She manoeuvred her hand in between the two of them and placed him at her entrance again.

"This much." She murmured before impaling herself down on him in one smooth motion. They both cried out at the feeling of being so intimately connected gave them. It had been far too long for Hermione. She tightened her legs around him as he pulled himself back before thrusting back in again, filling her completely. They had barely even started and she was already teetering close to the edge, and by the look in his darkened eyes, so was he. He seemed to sense this and stopped to calm them both down before it was all over.

He rested inside of her whilst swooping down to claim her lips, showering her with gentle kisses and tender touches while she tried to get him to move against her again. She ran her hands down his chest, trying to reach for the place where they were joined, to see if she could inspire him to move again but he was too quick for her, capturing both of her wrists and pinning them on the pillow above her head.

He began kissing and licking every part of her that he could reach, while she writhed in sweet torture. When he could take no more of her encouraging cries, he slowly rolled his hips against hers, brushing against her sensitive nub in the process, reigniting the fire that the impending orgasm has started within the pit of her stomach. He re-joined his lips to hers as he buried himself to the hilt, oh-so-torturously slowly.

This time he didn't stop, but proceeded with a gentle tenderness to allow him to restrain himself. The whole time she protested, trying to encourage him to take her the way that she wanted him to by mashing her lips with his frantically, raking her nails through his hair and down his back or even bucking her hips. It was no use, for everything that she tried, he counteracted with his ghosting kisses and his soothing touches as he slowly moved inside of her.

In. Out. In. Out.

His small whimpers and groans were barely heard over her manic screams as he slowly worked her back up to the edge, not giving her enough to push her over just yet. She could feel the coil in her abdomen tightening as all the pleasure focused itself into one particular spot, pushing her higher and higher but still not quite enough. He sensed this and slammed into her hard pushing her over the edge at full force as she screamed her way through her orgasm, the pleasure radiating from that one sweet spot and rippling out across her body.

But he didn't stop there. Oh no, he continued with his assault until the impossible happened and she found herself ready to combust yet again. He wouldn't give her enough this time, he wouldn't gratify her. He kissed her lips once more as she felt the fire burning away. Reaching up she grabbed a handful of his hair in frustration.

"Fuck me, Draco. God damn it just fuck-" She started to growl before he gave her exactly what she wanted. He didn't stop, possessively slamming himself into her over and over again, his pubic bone brushing against her little pearl in the perfect way. He grabbed her hips roughly to hold her close to him as he pounded into her relentlessly, grunting with each thrust until she was sent spiralling into another orgasm as she cried out his name. This time, he came with her and she felt his hot seed spurting into her with every thrust.

She was shaking by the time they had both calmed down. Their ragged breathing being the only sound to fill the air before he eases himself out of her and rolls over onto the mattress before pulling her against him where they both quickly fell into a satisfied slumber.

~*:*~

It wasn't too long until she awoke again at the feeling of the Polyjuice potion wearing off. That's when reality came back with a vengeance. She had just shared one of the highlights of her miserable life, deceiving someone by disguising herself as his wife so that she could betray him. She had really fucked up this time, yet strangely enough she didn't regret a thing.

She sat up in the bed and gazed upon his sleeping face. He really was beautiful, she didn't quite know how she missed it before. Perhaps her own prejudices had gotten in the way of seeing that there was something in Draco Malfoy, something that made him unlike every other man that she had ever met. Now she, Hermione Granger in her own flesh lay in his own bed beside him as he slept, but not for much longer.

She reluctantly got out of the bed, leaving him sleeping soundly as she hurried silently around the room for her discarded robes. Once dressed, she dug into them to produce the final vial of Polyjuice potion and downed the contents in one sip. Ignoring the nausea this time, she made quickly for the door, shooting one last yearning look back at the wizard that she had left in the bed.

"Thank you Draco and goodbye." She whispered to the empty air before slipping out of the bedroom and closing the door shut quietly behind her. It took her a little while longer but she managed to find the front door once more, and she hastily walked towards the gate, pouring the remainder of the blood onto her hand, the gate opened and shooting one last glance at the Manor she disapparated.

~*:*~

Four years later and the war had officially ended upon the death of Voldemort and the incarceration of the surviving Death Eaters. Hermione Granger stood amongst the crowds of anxious members of the press as they all waited to get a glimpse of the war heroes emerging from the Ministry of Magic. The press went wild as the doors opened and out stepped Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Camera flashes blinded her as the two walked quickly away from the scene.

Shortly behind them, was one Draco Malfoy a defected Death Eater who had turned to the Order four years previous after a suggestion from his wife. He had been a great asset to the Order of the Phoenix and also a key figure in the ending of this war. Hermione hadn't seen him in all of those four years after staying out of Order business upon the day that he came to them. She couldn't bear to see him, knowing that she had deceived him so cruelly.

Upon seeing her in the crowd, a flicker of recognition passed through those silver-grey eyes and she found herself quaking as he walked towards her. She daringly looked up at his face, the face that she had healed, the lips that she had kissed. It all became too much and she knew that she shouldn't feel such things for someone who probably wouldn't have touched her had he known who she really was that night.

He put his lips close to her ear and whispered. "Thank you Hermione and goodbye." He quickly drew away from her and continued to walk away from the Ministry before disapparating from view, leaving her speechless the entire time. Those words were very familiar to her. She found herself smiling and crying at the same time, he had known. He had known and he hadn't told her.

"What's wrong Mamma?" Came the little voice behind her. Shortly before Draco's arrival at the Order of the Phoenix, Hermione had discovered that she was pregnant with his child. She had quit her job and moved away into hiding where she could safely give birth to her daughter; Carina Elise Granger. She never would tell anybody who Carina's father was, but it hadn't taken much for Harry and Ron to piece the puzzle together. After all, the little girl had vanilla blonde ringlets and ice blue eyes and was conceived about the time of Hermione's mission. They had never asked her about it, she would never talk about it in fear of hurting the real Astoria Greengrass-Malfoy who was still happily married.

She had been a good friend to Hermione when she had needed one, but it had taken time to be able to look the woman in the face after what she had done. But never would she regret it, she had never come to regret it ever since she had looked into the icy blue eyes of her baby girl.

"Nothing's wrong, Carina. Mamma's fine." She smiled at her inquisitive little three year old daughter, before picking her up and blowing a raspberry on her cheek.

Astoria was married to Draco and Hermione would never do anything to upset that because it wasn't hard to see that Astoria loved Draco, and Draco loved Astoria. Hermione didn't love Draco, but she cared for him deeply for giving her a small part of him, which resided in the crystal blue eyes of Carina Granger.