Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Match Made In Convenience	By : ErisNight Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 47190 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 9
Disclaimer: The entire universe of Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. I make no profit from writing these stories. I am only borrowing her inventions for my fiction.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
A/N:

Woo! An update one day later?? Bet you didn't see that coming! :)

I reached an amazing milestone because of you wonderful readers! I got 100 ratings and over 10000 hits! It was beyond epic to wake up to and so this weekend we are celebrating with two updates! There will also be a chapter 16 spoiler posted Tuesday to the discussion forum and then the next update on Thursday.

Thank you so much for reading! All your honest reviews and taking the time to hit the ratings button on the bottom of each chapter are the best motivation ever!

Review Replies and Discussion are up at: http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/49940-a-match-made-in-convenience-review-replies-and-discussion/

Chapter warning: Suicide ( I know this is a sensitive topic, we won't linger on it)

Also: This is the last foundational chapter of the entire story! After this the pace will pick up tremendously. So be prepared:)

Without further ado here is Chapter 15: Astraphobia

  For the most part, things went back to normal in the days following Harry’s return. He went back to work Thursday and thankfully the media didn’t catch wind of his hospitalization. It could have had something to do with the fact that Malfoy threatened to get whoever spoke about it, fired. But Hermione preferred to believe it was just out of the goodness of their hearts that none of the hospital staff leaked the story.

  Malfoy ended up post-poning their wandless duel, citing he didn’t want to beat Harry while he wasn’t at 100% and that only seemed to help Harry get better sooner, because he was back to training his wandless magic in no time.

  The days ticked by with not a peep from either Ron or Ginny. Hermione didn’t see hide nor red hair of them and preferred it that way. She was a little bit concerned however, with her apparent emotional disconnect from her breakup.

  But not enough to even bother discussing it.

  She hadn’t really cried once or spared an excessive amount of time thinking about it. Maybe it was because she could suddenly see clear as day, that their relationship had been over long before she came back to England.

  Or maybe it was because Ronald actually thought he was “worth twelve of her.” That alone usually made her break into an uncontrollable fit of giggles. It was so completely irrational of him to think she preferred Harry, when there was a perfectly sexy Draco Malfoy living with her as well. Bet Ronald didn’t see that one coming.

  Hermione sighed out loud and allowed herself to fully accept the fact that she was more than attracted to her Slytherin roommate, she liked him. The more and more she learned about him, the more and more the feeling grew. He had treated her so gently the night at the hospital and had been increasingly pleasant to be around day by day.

  Hermione found herself rushing out of bed every morning to catch him before he went to work. She tried to play it all casual of course as though she “enjoyed” being up an entire 2 hours before her shift. But she knew he saw right through her and liked that he seemed to be leaving the house later and later as the days went by.

  Neither of them ever spoke about anything serious though. Just as Malfoy had said before, they wouldn’t dare speak on something neither of them wanted to admit. But Hermione felt happier than she could remember being in a long while. She had forgotten what it was like to have a genuine crush on someone.

  But as if he were the yin to her yang, she felt terrible every time she saw Harry. He had taken the entire Ginny situation hard. It was as though he still couldn’t believe that she had cursed him and was even angrier with himself for being unable to refute that simple truth.

  He spent most of his days working and his nights trying his best to be an engaging roommate, but he didn’t fool her or Malfoy. They had both noticed the far-away look in his eyes and how he would stiffen every time he saw a woman with red hair.

  She almost felt inhumane in comparison, but still couldn’t find herself caring enough to shed a single tear. It was as though something had just clicked within her, letting her know that everything was absolutely alright.

  Ron had done so many shitty things to her in the past and she had hated herself for allowing it. But no more, she had decided. She was completely free of him.

  Hermione would take this time to branch out and do all the things she wanted to do guiltlessly, and eventually when Ronald had matured, she would be there to pick up the gauntlet as his best friend.

  But ultimately, she knew in her heart that he wasn’t the one for her and she couldn’t wait to meet the man that was.

  Hermione had been up with Malfoy as he prepared breakfast Sunday morning, when she noticed an article in the Daily Prophet “Severe Thunderstorms to Hit London Early in the Upcoming Week”. The article reminded the readers to try their best to stay indoors during the worst of the weather; considering lightning was proven to be attracted to magical kind more so than their muggle counterparts. The lightning tended to create lasting electrical fields that cause all sorts of magical disruptions.

  There also was an official ministry edict declaring the temporary closing of the floo network and a ban on all long term apparition during the worst of the bad weather.

  Thunderstorms in August… just my luck, Hermione thought with a frown. She turned the page to distract herself from that upsetting news but eventually gave up on reading the paper. She tossed it down with a huff and took a sip of her juice. “Everything ok Granger?” She nodded in her roommate’s direction “just fine.”

            Draco arrived to work the next morning in a great mood. Granger and Weasley had broken up and the former was spending every moment she could in his presence. They had begun to prepare meals together and often times discussed some of their favorite literature. It was all unlike anything Draco had ever done with a woman before, but he found he liked getting to know her. Surprisingly enough Granger shared the majority of Draco's passions and often spent her time commending him for his accomplishments.

            It was all turning into the ideal situation and Draco looked forward to the time when they would dispense with the formalities and grow even closer. But for now, he was content with just being the charming, intriguing roommate that Granger could not get enough of.

            Draco stepped into the waiting room outside his office and went to greet his receptionist when an uncomfortable shiver ran down his spine. He dropped the briefcase he had been holding and drew his wand. Casting several spells on the immediate area to see if the outer office had been cursed, Draco frowned when he found nothing. “Is everything alright Mr. Malfoy?”

  Draco turned back to his secretary “everything is …” as soon as he looked back to the woman in the room, the same uncomfortable feeling returned. He lowered his wand slightly but appraised her with a suspicious glare “has anyone been to the office this morning?”

            She rose from the desk at the seriousness in his voice but shook her head. “No one Mr. Malfoy, I arrived on time and everything was in order.” Draco slowly looked away from her for a moment and examined the room with a quick sweep of his eyes. Everything seemed to be in order just as she had said.

Maybe I had imagined the feeling? “Pardon me, I thought I had felt something unusual when I arrived, clearly I was mistaken.” Draco lowered his wand and turned his attention back to his secretary to give her his best apologetic smile.

            The uneasy feeling returned in full force and realization dawned on Draco as he looked to the clearly confused woman. Sighing he put away his wand and picked up his briefcase before going to her desk.

Draco picked up the quill she had been using and wrote a quick note to Blaise before sealing the paper shut with magic and refraining from looking in her direction.

            “Apparently, a friend has played a joke on me. I had a rather unpleasant encounter with a woman recently and whatever prank they managed to pull makes me extremely uncomfortable when I look at red heads.”

  Draco flicked his gaze over her just to be certain and quickly looked away when the needle prick sensation coursed down his back. “Take this to Blaise and have him switch secretaries with me. You will be working for him now.”

  She accepted the paper without a word and immediately began collecting her things. “I understand Mr. Malfoy. Will I be able to return to my original position once the spell has been lifted?”

  Draco felt annoyed at the inconvenience Potter was unknowingly causing him and forced himself to meet his secretaries eyes. “This issue may take a while to resolve but yes you may return once it does.” She simply nodded at this and with a wave of her wand packaged her belongings. “Well as always it’s a pleasure to work for you Mr. Malfoy, I hope that you are released from this bothersome spell quickly.”

  We really need to develop a work around for this. Draco thought to himself as he reassured his receptionist that none of this was a reflection of the work she did. It was no fault on her part, and he gave her a raise to prove it before sending her on her way.

  Once she had left, Draco picked up the messages she had written down for him and entered his office. When Ginny Weasley cursed Potter, Draco hadn’t expected to be privy to any of the repercussions. But with Potter upset about the treacherous Weasley, and their all-encompassing oath, Draco was apparently forced to feel just as bad around redheads as Potter was.

  Draco realized that he should have honestly expected something like this to happen. He had taken off from work last week in order to keep an eye on Potter, and had been feeling on edge, wanting to find some way to retaliate.

  Either way this situation was just one of those ridiculous quirks that came with being forever loyal to Harry Potter. When the golden boy was heartbroken, Draco felt the pain in some way, shape or form as well.

  Harry had just finished sending a reply to one of the Minister’s inquiries, when there was a swift rap at the door. “Come in” he called out, sitting up and straightening his collar. His second-in-command entered the room. “Head Auror Potter, we have a situation that needs your immediate attention.” Harry nodded and was out of his chair without a second thought “fill me in along the way.”

  15 minutes later, Harry was pacing inside the viewing room of the interrogation chambers. He had to make an informed decision and quickly. Every few seconds or so Harry would look at the tall man sitting in shackles on the other side of the viewing glass. He had his head facing down, toward his knees and his long scrubby beard was hitting his chest.

  Harry turned to the team of 3 Aurors that had caught the man and held his hands as fists by his sides. “How long have reports of the eagle been coming in?” The Auror on the left stepped forward “4 months sir.” Harry nodded at this and swiftly turned to the door leading to the other room.

            Taking a step into the small interrogation chamber, Harry closed the door behind himself before turning his attention on the man his team had captured. “Amos Diggory, we hold you under suspicion of being an unregistered Animagus and espionage. How do you plead?”

            Amos raised his head slowly and brought his eyes level with his captor. “Harry Potter, how you’ve grown. The voice is deeper of course but I’d recognize your inflection anywhere.”

  Harry ignored this and pulled out the chair across the table from the much older man and took a seat. “We have reports of an eagle matching the description of the bird that shifted into you, surveilling the ministry main hall for the past 4 months.”

            “The voice of our hero, the savior of the entire world, the voice that gave Cedric justice. How you’ve grown Harry Potter.”

            Harry steeled himself against the memories of Cedric Diggory and studied the deceased’s father unflinchingly for a few moments. Harry could tell that Amos Diggory was in the right state of mind, his words were cryptic but his eyes were clear.

  There was something that the old man wanted to convey, but perhaps needed to be asked the right question first. “This may be your only chance to confess before you’re convicted Mr. Diggory. What was your intent? If you were to explain, you could avoid a term in Az…”

            “Knowledge is power Mr. Potter and the eagle sees and learns all.” Harry leaned back in his chair “and what were you interested in learning Mr. Diggory?” Suddenly Amos fixed him with a smile, a small one but a smile none the less. It made Harry’s hair stand on end. This was not the same man Harry had met all those years ago. His once booming voice had been reduced to an inquisitive hush and his once near manic smile had flattened into a smirk.

            “I’ve watched lives change at the drop of a hat Harry Potter. I’ve seen proud moments slip into disgrace. This world changes unseen, and yet is always altering none the less.”

  “What does that mean Mr. Diggory?” Harry persisted, the man leaned forward. “It means that you’ve been warned Harry Potter, destruction is imminent at elegant nott hill.”

  Harry frowned, a warning? “Elegant nott hill? Where is that located? Destruction of what Mr. Diggory.”

  “A clue for you Mr. Potter, because you brought me back my son’s body. A riddle to level the playing field. Although a riddle, you've seen solved before, you will not be able to save them. Elegant nott hill, a capital H and a capital L.”

  Harry wondered for a moment if his earlier psych assessment may have been wrong when suddenly Amos Diggory smiled the big wide smile Harry remembered from his youth.

  Harry had felt almost relieved for a moment when he noticed something small and leaking from between Amos’ teeth. He swallowed it just as quickly as he displayed it, his smile immediately faltering. "My boy is gone, my wife is newly dead and I'll take these secrets to the grave Harry Potter. They are coming and they will not forgive at elegant not hill."

            Harry sprang into action, rushing across the room but just as he reached the other man, Amos’ head dropped forward, crashing into the table with a sickening thud.

  The door swung open far too late and in the space of seconds Amos Diggory was dead. Harry along with the rest of his team stared at the body in silence.

            There was a sick feeling in the pit of Harry’s stomach but he couldn’t worry about that right now. “How did he manage to get that in here! Wasn’t he searched?”

  The same Auror from earlier stepped forward and examined the body for a moment before replying. “He was searched sir, but it was a non-magical method, a cyanide pill stored in the side of his cheek. The scans we do are for magic and weapons.”

  “Well update out protocols immediately! We need to be searching for all methods, magical and muggle alike!” Harry turned to his second-in-command “the entire interview was recorded correct?”

“Yes sir” Harry nodded and drew his wand “gather the B team; we are going to launch a full investigation of Mr. Diggory’s home tonight. Have the A team listen to the recordings and figure out what he meant by elegant nott hill.” The Auror nodded and left without a word. Harry dismissed the rest of the team before he could take the brunt of his anger out on them and turned back to the body.

  What could have possibly drove him to do something like this?

  On his way back to his office, Harry came to a stop mid step. Something Amos Diggory had said rang clear in his mind. This world changes unseen, and yet is always altering none the less.

  It reminded him of the similar words Elphias had used at the last council meeting. Harry frowned and made it to his office quickly, he threw on his field vest and emergency Portkey before meeting his team out in the hall. There's no way that this could be what Elphias had meant.



            Hermione had been surprised when neither Harry nor Malfoy came home at their usual time that night. She prepared herself a light dinner and then retired to her room to read in her window seat before bed.

  Changing into a thigh length chemise, Hermione decided to ditch her knickers last minute as she settled into the comfortable window side cushion.

Pulling the curtains apart, she looked out to the clear night sky and crescent moon and felt more tired than she could ever remember being. She unlatched the windows and swung them open, enjoying the cool breeze. She brought the book up in level with her eyes, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

  Hermione found herself yawning through the pinnacle of “A Tale of Two Cities” and before she knew it, she was fast asleep.

  She dreamt of a little girl running in a large field of tall red and yellow wild flowers. Her long bushy hair in equally as wild pigtails. “Come inside for dinner Mia!” she heard a familiar voice call out. The girl giggled to herself and ran farther and farther into the flowers before crouching down so that her mother couldn’t see her.

  The little girl stayed perfectly still as her mother repeatedly called for her, until she heard her father's deep voice, “let her play, this entire area is completely fenced in. She’ll come in when she’s ready.”

  She watched as her father led his wife away and grinned. Running further into the field of flowers until she made it to an impossibly tall fence, the little girl looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching her. When she could tell that the coast was clear, she held her hand out in front of her and concentrated on the spot directly on the other side. There was a swift tug deep in the pit of her stomach but suddenly she was exactly where she wanted to be.

  She looked back to the fenced in flowers and smiled to herself for a moment before looking both ways down the road and running through the dense line of trees toward her favorite place in the world.

  Minutes later her small feet hit sand and she was looking at the large expanse of the beach she had come to love. The sand went on seemingly forever, but directly in front of her was deep thrashing waters that would swallow her whole given the chance.

  Hermione knew not to go near the water, her mother had warned her numerous times but she was willing to risk it because she liked to play in the sand. It wasn’t often that she got her beach time when they came to visit grandma and grandpa.

  She had been so excited to learn that she could get to the other side of the fence if she wished hard enough. It was as if the universe had given her a special gift. Pulling out a short stick of wood that she had taken from the back porch Hermione began to play.

  She built castles and drew pictures for hours on end, and when the first few drops of water hit she laughed out loud and began to run down the empty beach. She ran and ran until the rain soaked her through, and when she stopped, she collapsed in a little happy heap on the ground.

  It was then that she noticed that the sky had turned dark, and the clouds covered the sun completely. She noticed a streak of light in the distance and stared at it in wonder but a large boom rang out from all around her. She screamed and was on her feet in an instant.

  Scampering back up the beach, she ran and ran looking for all her drawings from before so that she would know when to turn and go into the trees.

  She ran for much longer than she could ever remember going before and began to cry when she realized she was lost. For a moment she contemplated going through the trees anyway and trying to find her way back to the fence. But the dark line of sky high trees looked like a scarier place to be than on the beach. Suddenly there was another loud boom and she huddled down, with her hands over her ears.

  There was a flash of light a long distance away from her and she watched at the light hit the sand and splintered. She noticed small wisps of smoke and wandered closer to find a jagged looking rock.

  She didn’t dare touch it because she figured it would be hot, but somehow felt comforted by its presence. Hermione stared at it for a long while until another loud boom went off and forced her to jump to her feet.

  There was a flash of light directly in front of her followed by another boom. Hermione flinched away from the sound before looking around the darkened beach and crying. There were only dark swirling waters to her left and the dark scary trees to her right. She couldn’t see far in front of her and she wished more than anything that her daddy would come and help her.

  There was another crash of light directly to her left and then another one in front of her. She cried and cried until she could barely breathe, the booming seemingly getting louder and louder as it rang out in the night. Hermione looked up to the sky and could almost swear that there was light coming directly for her.

  The next moments seemed to happen all so quickly. There was searing pain from head to toe and the sound of waves crashing frantically against each other followed by the terrible loud and all-encompassing booming.

  Hermione screamed as the lightning struck, and shot up from her lying position to find that she was thankfully on her window seat.

  She had just reached to set her book on the ground when the sound of thunder rang out. Hermione shrank away immediately and fell to the floor, striking her knees painfully as she landed. She looked outside the window and saw dark skies, crazy winds and a torrential downpour of rain accompanied by lightning.

  The severe thunderstorms had begun.

  Closing the window quickly, and shutting the curtains. Hermione huddled onto floor near her bed and tried to take deep relaxing breaths. “Astraphobia” she recited “the abnormal fear or thunder and lightning. Symptoms include trembling, crying, sweating, panic attacks, the sudden feeling of using the restroom, nausea, the feeling of dread, and rapid heartbeat. Calm down Hermione, you can beat this.”

Thunder boomed, echoing throughout the room and Hermione cried out. She could feel her hands shaking and she pressed them tight against her body to quell the tremors. Hermione tried taking more deep breaths and telling herself that this fear was irrational. But lightning crackled in the distance and before she could even register her own actions, Hermione had flung herself away from the bed and was out of the room in seconds.

  She quickly made her way to the blue door down the hall and knocked on it frantically. She flinched at the sound of the rolling thunder and began to bang on the blue door all the more. She felt herself descending into despair when she realized that her best friend must not have been home.

  Harry would have never left her to fend for herself on a night like this.

  Hermione pounded on the door a few more times before leaning against it and willing herself not to cry. If only thunderstorms didn’t cancel out silencing spells, she could have closed her windows and been fine.

  Hermione initially had thought she would have been safe in a house that was out of time but clearly the thunderstorm didn’t care about that either. It was disrupting the magic that held Grimmauld’s layer of reality separate and allowing for 2002 to bleed in a bit. Mother Nature is a powerful bitch, Hermione caught herself thinking as she flinched away from what sounded like crashing of drums.

  She looked down the hallway to the lone green door and cursed her luck. There wasn’t any other choice.

  Draco had just returned from a long day at the office. Blaise had a family function to attend and so Draco had offered to cover his meetings for the day.

  Needless to say the majority of the women that came for “meetings” were disappointed but none more so than Blaise’s brunette secretary. She had been completely put out when she realized that she wouldn’t be able to continue her regular 1 pm sharp “meetings” with her former boss.

  Draco had just risen from his piano bench when he heard the knock at his door. Frowning he wondered if Potter needed him for something that late at night.

  He reached the green door by the third knock and swung it open hastily, when there stood Granger dressed in a practically see-through short cotton chemise.

  She looked like a dream, smooth creamy thighs peeking out from her short skirted nightie and heavy breast a thin layer of cloth away from spilling out. She must be trying to kill me. He thought to himself as he stared at her.

  “Malfoy may I please come in there with you? I don’t do so well during thunderstorms.” Draco stared at her unblinking for a moment “you’ve got to be kidding me.”

  He didn’t know what to think or if she was even being serious. The women he knew pulled stunts like this all the time, but this was Granger. She didn’t seem the type to be this bold.

  Plus she was clearly on edge, jumping every time the thunder boomed or the lightning flashed.

  Draco had never dealt with a terrified woman before but he knew that he wouldn’t turn her away. There’s a first time for everything he surmised as he stepped aside to let her in.

  Oh sweet Merlin. The door swung open to reveal Malfoy in his briefs and bare feet. She felt herself stumble through her request and was going to give him another quick glance when the sound of Thunder roared through the house. She flinched away from the noise and all thoughts of Malfoy were lost.

  Hermione panicked for a moment, she didn’t know what she was going to do if Malfoy decided against letting her stay. She would have apparated to her parent's house but traveling long distances during thunderstorms were strictly forbidden by the ministry. The chances of splinching oneself went up exponentially and the floo network was completely out of commission.

  She remained quiet instead of answering his question but was glad when he moved aside.

  As soon as she crossed the threshold, Hermione noticed the complete silence that enveloped the room. “Why can’t you hear it in here? The thunder I mean?” Malfoy just looked around “I have about 4 layers of silencing spells encasing my entire wing. They won’t last but I had planned on being asleep before they broke.”

  Hermione was just glad that he hadn’t developed a method to silence the thunder, along with all the other great magical discoveries he had made. It would have made her felt substandard at best, considering it was HER lifelong phobia.

  “Well what is it that you want Granger?” he asked after a moment. Hermione just sighed, she was tired and stressed out and didn’t even know what she wanted herself. Normally she would have just climbed into bed with Harry at this point.

  “Malfoy I can’t even think straight when there is thunder and lightning. Show me something amazing and take my mind off of it please.” He regarded her thoughtfully for a moment as if to figure out if she was actually serious, but after a time, he seemed to just go with it.

  “What is it about thunder and lightning that you don’t like?” Hermione crossed her arms defensively. “I don’t want to get into it.” Malfoy just shrugged as if that was acceptable “so I can assume that it’s not the rain that bothers you?”

  Hermione simply nodded at this, glad that he didn’t seem irritated with her disrupting his night. For all she knew he probably had some woman in either of his two bedrooms waiting for his return.

  Possibly a woman in each, she surmised. He’s certainly dressed for the part.

"I enjoy the rain; I used to love it even more as a child. Especially when it’s warm.” She added as an afterthought.

  He closed the door behind her and summoned his wand before walking over to the fountain. “Something amazing…” she heard him mumble quietly, more to himself. She followed behind him quietly and stopped just past the piano.

  Suddenly he raised his wand high over his head and pointed it toward the moon “Auguamenti Maxima!” Water shot out of his wand like a cannon and he waved his hand from side to side to send it everywhere.

  Hermione gasped and took a quick step back “what are you doing!?” The water reached its highest point and she watched as it began a speedy descent toward them. She closed her eyes, ready to get thoroughly pelted.

  After a long moment of silence in which she didn’t feel a single thing, Hermione opened her eyes and was amazed by what she saw. All of the water was frozen as droplets in the air, the moonlight shining brightly off of each of them individually.

  She reached up to touch the immobile dewdrops that rested a few feet above her, when suddenly they came rushing down. Hermione flinched and averted her face but after a few seconds of not getting wet, she opened her eyes to find that the water drops were much closer to her now.

  Smiling, she grasped a few in her fingers, watching how the water bubbled into smaller droplets as she brushed them. They conformed to her touch and congealed back into form when she pushed them together. It was amazing.

  Hermione glanced over to her roommate but was shocked by the intensity of his stare. She felt the swift jab of embarrassed for a moment as she remembered just how little she had on. But hindsight was twenty-twenty and there was little she could do about it now. Plus, a small prevailing part of her wanted him to see her just as she was, to drink up the sight of her body, as she was him.

  Through the haze of shining liquid, he looked like a god. His powerful, lithe body almost completely bare for her appraisal. She approved of how his dark green silk briefs hugged his hips and molded to his muscular thighs. They left nothing to the imagination and once again Hermione was presented with the rather clear outline of Malfoy impressive package.

  She felt the pump of longing shoot straight through her core at the thought. Hermione took an unconscious step in his direction, feeling the overwhelming, yet subtle need to be near him almost as strongly as she needed to take her next breath.

  Malfoy crossed his arms expectantly, tracking every step of her slow procession with his eyes. His piercing stare ran up from her bare feet, to her hips and waist, then lingered on her full breasts before resting on her face.

  He met her gaze last and cocked his head to the side as if questioning her intentions. Hermione couldn’t explain the feelings swelling inside her. She had never been an overly sexual creature and had never blatantly desired a man so involuntarily.

  It was as though Draco Malfoy was the perfect combination of brains and brawn. As if his intelligence combined with his incredible physique was her own special aphrodisiac. She could imagine getting equally as turned on by reading on his lap by the fire, as she would if he were to repeat the looped encounter that took place right in this very room.

  More and more Hermione was realizing that she thought Malfoy was spectacular. His command of magic made him the most interesting man she had ever met and inspired her to no end.

  He exuded raw unadulterated ingenuity. She had asked for something amazing and he had given her paradise in the form of a magnificent moon and stars backdrop embellished with droplets seemingly like diamonds floating in the night sky.

  She suddenly had the strangest desire to touch him; her fingers practically begging to run across the exquisite expanse of well-defined muscle that tapered down to his smooth flat abdomen.

  Focus Hermione! She berated herself sharply, refraining from taking a single step more in his direction. She dropped her gaze from him casually, pretending as though he hadn’t held her completely enthralled moments before.

  “Why is it that I never hear you say a single word when you control time Malfoy? Magic of that caliber must require long incantations.” Hermione walked through the frozen drops of water, pushing them aside or twirling in them just to feel the cool moisture against her skin. It went a long way to get her mind on less tempting thoughts.

  Malfoy sat on the ledge of the fountain and crossed his legs at the ankle. “You know the answer to that Granger, time magic is very powerful. I can’t risk others finding out and so I perfected the art silently. I still need my wand for it but I’m working on that as well.”

  She had known that that was the answer. She had just needed to stop him from looking at her as though she were his prey.

  In a bold moment of sporadic instinct, she cut across the distance to where he sat and leaned down to pluck a rose. Hermione thought about putting it behind her ear but decided to hand it to him instead.

  Malfoy looked at her offering but smirked instead of accepting it. “I’d run if I were you.”

  Hermione straightened “why?” Malfoy raised his wand slightly and suddenly it was raining big heavy droplets soaking them through. She shrieked and back peddled out of the falling rain and stopped moving when she was safely standing in the water that was still floating midair.

  Malfoy’s smirk widened into a grin and then it was raining where she stood; a nice and warm but pelting rain. She ran around the room trying to avoid the falling water but Malfoy kept releasing the spell whenever she hit a dry spot.

  Hermione laughed out as she quickly came to understand his intent and maneuvered her way around one of Malfoy’s traps. She jumped from dry spot to dry spot and twirled in the falling water when she got caught. She knew she must’ve looked a sight in her completely soaked through chemise, considering she had remembered when it was far too late that she hadn’t put her knickers back on.

  Malfoy had to have been getting quite the view of her bum through the clingy wet material. But she couldn’t force herself to be self-conscious if she tried; this was the most fun she had had in a long while.

  Hermione dipped and dodged for a few minutes longer, and when she eventually failed; she stopped in the center of the grassy area and just waved at the blonde.

  “Heads up” Malfoy called out and she could hear the laughter in his voice. Suddenly she was under a downpour of warm rain as Malfoy released the spell completely. Hermione shrieked in surprise but laughed and danced none the less.

  It rained for what seemed like forever, drenching the floor, soaking everything through. Hermione was happy to note that the piano and book cases seemed perfectly dry and knew that Malfoy probably placed them in some sort of time lock so that they would be impervious to change. When the rain finally stopped she spun on the spot and faced her equally drenched roommate with a smile.

  “You’re absolutely mental Malfoy. Who makes it rain inside their home?” His hair was dripping water onto his face but Hermione never thought he looked so handsome, standing there in his briefs and just as wet as she was.

  He lifted his wand incrementally before giving it a swish. Suddenly she was dry and back to where she had started by the fountain with a flower in her hand. She looked down to the sitting Malfoy and slowly went to hand him the rose, just as she had done before. “When you control time Granger, you can do anything you want.”

  She nodded thoughtfully at this for a moment, “do you mind if I sleep in here for the night? The grass looks comfortable enough, it’s more than warm enough and looking at the clear night sky will be comforting while I know what’s really going on outside. I promise not to go snooping or to bother you.”

  Malfoy looked around to the two large black doors. “How about one of these rooms? You can have your choice of either since you’re a Muggleborn witch.” He laughed at his own joke as though it were the funniest thing he had ever said and Hermione couldn’t help but crack a smile at how carefree his laughter made him look.

  “Sleep on the same beds that you bring your horde of women to? No thank you Malfoy, the grass will do just fine.” Malfoy took a step toward her and took the flower from her slightly outstretched hand. “How do you know I haven’t made love to my “horde of women” right here on the grass Granger?”

  His deep voice caused her to tremble for an entirely different reason than the thunder. He had stroked his fingers against hers when he had taken the rose and was now standing so close that she could inhale the incredibly masculine aroma that was unique to him.

  Not to mention the fact that he was still practically naked was wreaking havoc on her senses. “Because you’re a Malfoy, there’s no way you’d rut around in the dirt. You need everything nice and clean.”

  Malfoy seemed to like this answer because he suddenly took a step even closer and she was rewarded with his trademark smirk. “You could fill a book with the things you don’t know about me Granger. Sometimes sex is the best when it’s dirty.” She felt herself blush.

  Suddenly there was a vibration in the air as though something was shattering all around them. The sound of thunder echoed through the room, so loud and clear. Hermione couldn’t keep herself from crying out. Malfoy took the remaining steps to her and placed steadying hands on her shoulders. “It’s alright Granger; the silencing spells were just broken, that’s all.”

  She was barely paying attention to a word he was saying. She was just trying to keep herself from losing it. “What do you usually do in situations like these? Surely you’ve been alone during a thunderstorm before.”

            Hermione flinched at the sound of crackling lightning and was ashamed of herself for this weakness. It was ridiculous that she still reacted this badly after 15 years and hearing Malfoy asking her about it brought down her carefully constructed walls. Her eyes swelled with tears and she tried to hide them by averting her face.

  “My parents usually sleep near me and when I was away from them I sleep with Harry.” She waited for him to laugh. This was one of her greatest secrets. The brightest witch of their age still had to sleep with her parents during thunderstorms because she had an irrational lingering fear from a childhood trauma.

  She expected Malfoy to ridicule her, possibly ask if she was serious, but she just felt him reach out and pull her tight against him.

            There was an instantaneous pull deep in her navel and they were in a darkened room. Malfoy took a step away from her and quickly pulled the curtains closed. He figured Potter must not have been home yet hence the reason why she had come to him in the fist place. “There’s no way you won’t hear the thunder Granger but you can spend the night with me. This bed is cleaned daily and so you don’t have to worry.”

            There was the answering call of loud booming in the night and she nodded her head frantically in response to him. Hermione would have climbed in bed with Ronald at this point if she had to. Malfoy was just the clearly better alternative.

  Draco watched as Granger went to his bed without a second thought and climbed under the blanket. He couldn’t believe how the night had turned out. She was apparently going to continue to be the main catalyst of “first times” for Draco. He got in bed with her, putting as much space in between them as he could but was surprised when she cuddled close. Holding his body awkwardly near hers for a moment, he decided to just take a chance and get comfortable. He cradled her body against his and brought an arm around her waist as if spooning with Granger was the most natural thing in the world.

  He couldn’t even remember if he had ever just held a woman in his arms while in bed and so little clothing. But there he was lying with Granger, her body pressed perfectly against his. She was facing away from the window but even half an hour later, she still flinched every time it thundered.

  Draco sighed; he had wanted to get Granger in his bed for months now, but not like this. Not to mention she was in his actual bed and not in one of the beds he reserved for sex. It was another first for Draco. He never allowed women to sleep with him in his actual bedroom.

  But she was trembling and trying to hide it, and he knew it must’ve been a dire situation for her to thoughtlessly climb into bed with him. Granger had been warming up to him the past week but not this much.

  Draco shifted his hips away from her. She was incredibly warm and smelled better than any other woman he had held. But he was determined not to take advantage of this situation even if his cock refused to comply.

  Draco did his best to maneuver to hide that he was aroused, but every inch he moved away from her she moved with him; keeping her ass flush against the part of him that was begging to be inside of her.

  Draco suppressed a groan; as she shifted once more and applied the sweetest kind of pressure to the head of his shaft.

  He had to do something. Get her to go to sleep and then get out of this bed ASAP, because there was no way he would survive the night with Hermione Granger in his arms.

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A Match Made In Convenience