Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Some Kind of Wonderful	By : Dazzlious Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 12061 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from J K Rowling's fantastic books or films, I'm just borrowing and playing with them for a little while and get no monetary reward for doing so.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Draco was filled with frustration. He could feel it simmering away inside and he was having a hard time controlling it. Although Hermione had agreed to talk to him today after she’d had a chance to think over what she had read, they were now back into lessons and he was sure she was unlikely to want to discuss things until the school day was over, even though he couldn’t concentrate on his studies at all until he knew what her feelings for him were. It had been really hard sharing a classroom with her all morning and trying not to pester her about talking to him. She would let him know when she was ready to talk. If he tried to push it he would probably end up annoying her and then any ground he had gained overnight would instantly be lost.
And he had to keep his temper under control, too. The last thing he needed was to stupidly mention the obedience rule when he had assured her their marriage wouldn’t be like that. He had meant it, but sometimes, when Hermione wound him up, as she always seemed to do so effortlessly, he couldn’t help but say something that pissed her off in return. It had always been that way and was so ingrained it wasn’t likely to change any time soon and a lot of work was required on Draco’s part to stop it from happening.
Instead, he sat back, and as he had done so many times over the years he studied her beautiful body, imagining what it would be like to finally touch the breasts he had dreamed about for so long. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to wait forever to find out.
At the end of Arithmancy Draco waited for Hermione, intending to walk to lunch with her. He noticed she didn’t look very pleased about it, but he quickly reassured her.
‘I know you’re not ready to talk to me yet,’ he said raising his hands in supplication, ‘and that’s fine. I can wait until you are. But I’d like to escort you to lunch.’ He held out his arm politely. Hermione took it, a small smile crossing her lips as she did so.
‘I thought perhaps we could go for a walk after Herbology,’ Hermione said as they walked towards the Great Hall. ‘I’m sure we can find somewhere quiet to talk. It’s pretty cold out there, so there won’t be too many people about.’
Draco smiled back. ‘I’m looking forward to it — and I’ll admit a little apprehensive,’ he said honestly.
He was still unable to work out how Hermione was feeling. She really was completely unreadable. He wasn’t sure whether that was a good or bad thing.
‘Would you mind if I walked down to the greenhouses with you later?’ he asked.
Hermione smiled again. ‘Of course not. I’ll meet you here.’ She gestured to the Entrance Hall they were walking through on their way to the Great Hall. ‘I’ve got Ancient Runes just before that, though, so I might be cutting it a bit fine as it’s a bit of a slog from the sixth floor.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ve got Divination,’ Draco said with a grimace. ‘And it’s with Trelawny in the North Tower so it’ll probably take me just as long to get back here.’
‘I don’t know why you took that again,’ Hermione said in amusement. ‘You know it’s all crap.’
‘The stuff Firenze teaches can be quite interesting,’ Draco said. ‘Anyway, I need Divination to become an Auror.’
Hermione looked at Draco interestedly. ‘Is that what you want to do, then?’ she asked. ‘I thought you only needed O.W.L.s for that. That’s what Harry, Ron and Neville are training to do.’
Draco shrugged. ‘I haven’t really decided yet, to be honest. I was debating going to University, hence the need for the N.E.W.T.s, and better qualifications mean I could become an Unspeakable.’
Hermione gave a shiver, remembering her time at the Department of Mysteries and the strange and awful things she had seen there.
‘Rather you than me,’ she said honestly. ‘I definitely wouldn’t want to work in the Department of Mysteries. There’s some freaky old stuff in there.’
‘I think it might be quite interesting,’ Draco said. ‘But as I say, I haven’t really decided yet. I suppose it’ll depend on how well I do in my exams. What about you?’
‘I haven’t decided either,’ Hermione admitted. ‘I keep swinging between training to be a Healer and going to work at the Ministry, doing something to help Magical Creatures or something. But like you, I’m waiting on my exams.’
‘You’ll ace them,’ Draco said, grinning. ‘You always do.’
‘There’s plenty of time for things to go wrong, though,’ Hermione said. ‘There are still almost four months to go before we take them.’
‘Don’t be so pessimistic. We’re both going to do fine,’ Draco replied. They had entered the Great Hall now. ‘Well, lunch awaits. I’ll see you in the Entrance Hall later, my love.’
Before Hermione even had a chance to realise what he was doing, Draco planted a small kiss on her lips before dropping her arm and heading towards the Slytherin table, leaving her free to go to the Gryffindor one. It had been smooth and pretty unobtrusive and Hermione realised she actually didn’t mind.

After Herbology Hermione and Draco left the greenhouses and walked down the hill, eventually finding their way to the Quidditch pitch. As it was currently not being used, they climbed the nearest supporters’ tower and sat in the stands, finally ready for their talk.
‘Are you warm enough?’ Draco asked solicitously. It was absolutely freezing and looked like it might snow, but hopefully, it would hold off, at least until they had finished their discussion and got back to the castle.
Hermione nodded. ‘I’m okay at the moment. It’s not so windy in here and that’s the worst thing, I think.’
There was an awkward silence. Hermione looked at her gloved hands for a moment then back up at Draco. ‘I want to be totally honest with you about my feelings, Draco,’ she told him. ‘After all, you were completely open with yours in everything you wrote in those diaries.’
‘I appreciate that,’ Draco said. He was feeling quite anxious now although he was loath to admit it, even to himself.
Hermione looked at Draco again for a moment, looking at the handsome man as if it was the first time she had ever really seen him. He had grown up so much, even in the last few months, just as they all had, the horror of what they’d had to live through shaping and ageing them, changing them in ways they would never have anticipated. And here before her, for better or for worse, was the man with whom she would spend the rest of her life, the one who would care and provide for her, the one who would help her raise their children. And she now knew, too, without a shadow of a doubt that he would love and cherish her.
The time had come for her to step up to the plate and set in motion the beginning of the rest of their lives. She was a little scared, and she had been surprised to find a little excited at the prospect, but perhaps that, too, was only to be expected — excitement and fear, like love and hate, were two sides of the same coin.
‘I’ll be honest: I was completely shocked and more than a little unhappy when I discovered it was you who had petitioned for the marriage. I had absolutely no idea why you had done it and because of how things have always been between us I automatically assumed you had some nasty reason for doing it, although I’m sure you’re not surprised to hear that,’ Hermione began.
Draco shook his head but didn’t say anything.
‘When I discovered I’d been petitioned rather than just matched, my heart sank because it meant I’d been specifically targeted — and for what, I didn’t know. At first, I was worried that the petitioner, whoever he was, intended to kill me, knowing of the hatred some Pure-bloods still have for Muggle-borns, but that fear lessened a little once I learnt about the life spell. My fear then was that I wouldn’t be allowed to return to school to finish my education.’
‘I assume that’s why you were still wearing your uniform, was it?’ Draco cut in. ‘To remind your partner that you were still at school.’
Hermione nodded. ‘Not wanting to be paired, I hadn’t intended to dress up anyway, which annoyed Mrs Westcote; but as my match could have been anyone from Neville to Merlin, I thought the uniform might focus their mind on the fact that I was really too young to be married and should be at school.’
Draco gave a soft chuckle and shook his head. ‘I don’t think nineteen is considered too young, Hermione, not even these days.’
Hermione ignored the jibe and continued, ‘It was then I discovered you were the petitioner and I was mortified — and very confused. I was so sure of your hatred I just couldn’t believe you would willingly bond yourself to me for life unless there was something in it for you, and some way to get rid of me. After all, there was no way you would want to spend the rest of your life stuck with me, one of the people you hated most in the world and I certainly had no desire to spend my life with you.
‘The whole thing suddenly became a nightmare. I had been forced away from the man I was in love with to be tied, quite literally as it turned out, to someone who had the power to make my life a living hell. It wasn’t even as if we were just acquaintances who had no strong feelings about each other either way — we were sworn enemies and neither of us had ever had anything pleasant to say about the other. It was impossible that this union could ever be anything other than destructive and painful.
‘When you told me you were in love with me, the idea was completely farcical and I couldn’t entertain it even for one moment. It was so clearly a lie that I couldn’t believe you had actually said it out loud. Okay, so the Ministry officials might have been convinced; after all, they didn’t know us or our history and were happy to grab onto any sign that the petition hadn’t been a mistake. But everyone who had ever met us prior to that point knew of the animosity — no, hatred — between us, and this sudden declaration from you didn’t make any sense at all.
‘But I had absolutely no choice but to agree to the ceremony. Although I felt sick to my stomach at the idea of us having to live as a couple, to have to suffer so many years of unhappiness, it was still better than the alternative. Whilst you had told me again and again over the years that I didn’t belong in the wizarding world, I’ve always known it was the only place I’ve ever fitted, the only place I truly felt comfortable. To have to spend the rest of my life in exile, unable to see my friends and to have to live without magic, was unthinkable.
‘Then you told me about the obedience rule and suddenly it all seemed to fall into place. I realised that you had obviously known all about the bonding ceremony and had seen how you could use it to your advantage, by trapping me into a marriage that you could then control. Bound to obey you, I could be forced to do anything — you could hurt, embarrass and degrade me, you could force me to do things I would never do of my own free will, but you couldn’t kill me. That, at least, was out of your power, although once I thought about it I could potentially see a way around that, too.
‘You have no idea how much I cursed myself then for not having realised what I was letting myself in for because you were right: at the time of the ceremony I was unaware of what the words meant. I had assumed that because it was a new law, it was a new ceremony. That was foolish of me.’
‘I don’t understand why you didn’t research it, though,’ Draco said. ‘It was easy enough to do. And I was sure you would have done. After all, that’s what you do — research things. I had been waiting for you to demand a change to the wording before the ceremony started and would have been happy to agree to that, although I’m not sure the Ministry would have changed it, to be honest; but when you didn’t say anything I wasn’t sure what to do. I assumed you weren’t bothered and so I said nothing. It really didn’t matter to me. I had no intention of making you obey me. So why didn’t you research it?’
Hermione shook her head. ‘I was in denial,’ she admitted. ‘Although we had completed those questionnaires, I didn’t honestly think I would get matched with anyone else. I was already in a relationship with a Pure-blood and the Ministry had to be aware of that, considering we had been pretty high-profile over the last few years.’
‘Is that why Weasley didn’t petition for you?’ Draco asked. ‘I couldn’t believe it when they told me I was the only one. It would have been the first thing I would have done if I was in his shoes.’
Hermione sighed. ‘We didn’t really think about it, to be honest. Although we had read about the law in the newspaper it didn’t really strike home that it would apply to us until the questionnaire came through and by then I’d forgotten all about the petitioning, or maybe I just thought it wasn’t valid any more.’ She frowned. ‘We would have got married eventually, you know, Ron and I, but we weren’t even considering it because I was going to come back here first. It was just a sort of unspoken agreement. It never occurred to me that I would get paired while I was still at school.
‘When I got the letter that told me I had been matched I was so shocked I didn’t tell anyone. At first, I couldn’t believe it had happened, but then I began to wonder whether the Ministry had matched me with Ron and were just tying up loose ends. I had wanted to wait a few years before getting married — finish my education and get settled in a job before getting involved in all that — but bringing it forward wasn’t that much of a problem. But when it became clear that Ron hadn’t received a letter too, I withdrew back into denial once more.
‘I still didn’t tell anyone about it. I couldn’t face hearing a lot of sympathetic twaddle and platitudes, and I wasn’t sure how Ron — or Harry, for that matter — would react to the news. But instead of doing the sensible thing and researching the ceremony, I tried instead to pretend that it wasn’t going to happen. Instead of looking at what was actually going to take place during the bonding ritual, I convinced myself there had been a mistake and that once I explained about my relationship with Ron I would be released from the pairing and would be able to marry him instead. It never occurred to me that the Ministry wouldn’t consider him a suitable match for me, or that someone — you — would have petitioned for me.’
Hermione frowned. ‘I was stupid and naive. Although as I said, knowing about the ceremony wouldn’t have made any difference. It probably would just have upset me more to know in advance that I was being trapped, especially once I realised it was you I was going to have to marry. There was just no way I was going to leave the wizarding world.’
‘I am really glad you decided that,’ Draco admitted. He grinned at Hermione. ‘When you didn’t answer immediately I did wonder for a moment whether you had decided to reject me, whether you really hated me so much that you couldn’t even contemplate ever being my wife. You see, I had been counting on your determination to prove me wrong about your place in the wizarding world to seal the deal. I knew that as things stood you would never accept me outside of the petition, but now you either had to accept me as your husband or admit that all along I had been right and you had no place here. You have no idea how relieved I was when you said yes.’
Hermione remembered the sigh Draco had given at her agreement. That, too, made sense now.
‘What would you have done if I had said no?’ she asked curiously.
Draco laughed. ‘You would have given me no choice,’ he said honestly. ‘I would have had to give up my wand, as well.’
Hermione looked at him with a mixture of surprise and scepticism. Even after everything she had read it appeared she was still having problems believing the sincerity of Draco’s feelings for her.
‘Do you really expect me to believe that?’ she asked. ‘You’re a pureblood wizard with a lineage that goes back centuries.’
Draco shrugged. ‘Maybe, but it’s true. When are you going to get it into your pretty head that I wasn’t trying to marry you for some wicked pureblood reason, but because I love you? I wasn’t going to stop loving you just because you refused to marry me. It doesn’t work like that, unfortunately. I would have been devastated if you had said no, but I would just have seen it as another challenge to overcome.’ He took Hermione’s gloved hands in his, holding them loosely as he looked into her eyes and added, ‘Do you think you would have finally got the hint then; if I had given all this up for you?’
Hermione turned her head away and blinked furiously, trying to clear the tears that had sprung into her eyes at Draco’s words. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest. Despite all the journals she had read and everything she now knew to be true about Draco, this one statement more than any other had touched her heart and threatened to break her. She turned back to face him, pulling one of her hands from his to wipe away the tears that had spilt from her eyes.
‘I don’t love you, Draco,’ she told him honestly, although to admit it to him gave her pain.
Draco nodded his head, looking serious. ‘I know that, my love,’ he said quietly. ‘But I think you can. It will just take a bit of time.’ He stroked her hand comfortingly and gave her a small smile. ‘And we have all the time in the world.’
‘How can you be so understanding?’ Hermione asked. ‘You’re never this reasonable.’
Draco shrugged. ‘I can afford to be. It’s not like I’m going to lose you and I’m aware the situation will take a bit of adjusting to for you. I’ve been going through it for the last seven years and I’m not sure I’m completely adjusted to it myself.’
‘So what made you decide to do it?’ Hermione asked. ‘What made you decide to petition for me after all those years of trying to pretend you didn’t like me?’
Draco thought for a moment before replying. When he spoke his voice was low and dark. ‘When you were brought to Malfoy Manor I didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, it was so good to see you and to know you were still alive — we hadn’t been sure you were until that point. But at the same time, I was filled with terror that you had been brought to us and the Dark Lord would finally be in control once he killed Potter. I didn’t know whether he was this mythical ‘Chosen One’ that everyone kept talking about, but whatever he was, it seemed he was our only hope of stopping Voldemort and by that time there really was nothing I wanted more in the world than for that . . . monster to be stopped.
‘From the moment you entered the room I knew who you were. I would have known it was you even if I had been blindfolded: I recognised your scent. I really adore the way you smell, my love, all warm and spicy with just a hint of vanilla. It’s almost intoxicating but not overpowering. You weren’t in disguise, so I got to look at your lovely face — and even then, in the midst of all that despair, it thrilled me: one moment of light in all the darkness.
‘You did a good job on disguising Potter, though. I had to look twice to realise it was him, even though there was no one else it could have been. I racked my brain trying to think of a way to help you all escape. I didn’t want my father to realise who you were, knowing how much he detested you, especially after you had helped send him to Azkaban. Potter would be saved for the Dark Lord, but he would have had no qualms about killing you. But before I could come up with a plan they were asking me to identify Potter.’
Draco broke off and looked into the distance for a moment. He breathed heavily as he thought about what had happened that night. Hermione stroked his hand this time, knowing that reliving the experience was painful for him. She didn’t need to read his diary to know that.
‘It’s all right, Draco,’ she said quietly. ‘I understand.’
Draco shook his head and looked at her again. He had tears in his eyes now. He grimaced. ‘Those months with Voldemort . . . they were terrible.’ His voice, already so low, sounded haunted. ‘I had never realised how bad it could be. When my father wanted me to identify Potter . . . .’ He gave a huge sigh and looked at Hermione, his hands gripping hers tighter. ‘It would have been so easy to say yes, to confirm my father’s suspicions,’ he admitted. ‘But good for us or not, what would that have meant for everyone else?’ He laughed bitterly. ‘Voldemort was a maniac and giving him Potter was the last thing the wizarding world needed. It didn’t matter how much I’d always hated Potter, I needed to help him, but I was too much of a coward to really help so I just told my father I couldn’t be sure.’
‘But you bought us a bit of time, Draco,’ Hermione said gently. ‘If you had just said yes, they would have killed Ron and me immediately and Dobby wouldn’t have had the chance to rescue us. Because of your refusal to tell them who we were, they were worried they had got the wrong people and had to wait for Voldemort’s confirmation. That wait gave us the time we needed to escape.’
Draco looked bleakly at Hermione. ‘But if I had said yes, Aunt Bellatrix wouldn’t have tortured you. She wouldn’t have hurt you.’
Hermione gave a small, bitter laugh. ‘You must know that’s not true. She always intended to hurt me. That’s what she enjoyed doing.’ She leant forward to look deep into Draco’s eyes. ‘There was absolutely nothing you could do to stop that from happening, Draco, so please stop feeling guilty about it. I don’t blame you and you shouldn’t blame yourself.’ She smiled at him, watching until he returned it with a small weak smile of his own. Then, ‘The petition?’ she reminded him gently.
‘Once the Dark Lord was gone, everything changed,’ Draco said, his voice brightening at the change of subject. ‘I had already realised the whole pureblood thing was complete bollocks, that everything my family had taught me was one hundred percent wrong, and I realised I wasn’t stupid or sick for being in love with you, that it was actually quite natural for me to be attracted to the most beautiful and talented witch I had ever met. When I managed to get my brain around that revelation, the way ahead was clear.
‘I knew you had fancied Weasley for years, although I had never been able to work out why. He wasn’t as intelligent as you or as talented and he obviously didn’t fancy you; in fact, I always thought he was gay. But then I saw that had changed at some point during that last year and I discovered you and he had finally become a couple.
‘I will admit I was disappointed at the news, but when I found out you were returning to Hogwarts and he wasn’t, I rallied. Without Weasley there to interfere, I could set about convincing you that you should be with me instead of him; and charming as I can be when the mood takes me, I was sure that once you had seen the other side of me, the side I had kept hidden from you for all those years, you would realise we were made for each other.
‘I, too, had forgotten about the marriage law until the questionnaire arrived, otherwise I might have petitioned you sooner. Having got nowhere with trying to get you to notice me more favourably, once I had been reminded of the petitioning process it seemed obvious it was the way to go. I was sure Weasley would already have petitioned for you, although it seemed strange that if that was the case you hadn’t already been married. I supposed you might have been delaying it until you left school. The Ministry contact I spoke to told me that in the event of multiple petitions being made it would be decided by the screening process and I was convinced I was a better match for you than Weasley. But then I discovered I was the only petitioner.’
‘But aren’t you worried about your parents?’ Hermione asked. ‘They won’t be happy about this, surely?’
‘No, they won’t,’ Draco said blithely. He ran his hands through his hair. ‘But I really don’t care, to be honest. As soon as I realised they had been talking crap for the whole of my life I stopped worrying about what they thought. What are they going to do? If they disown me it’s not going to be a huge problem, is it? I’m not stupid, so I won’t have a problem getting a job. I expect my mother will just be grateful we didn’t decide to go off and live in the Muggle world together — and I don’t really give a toss about what my father thinks any more.’
Hermione shivered. She was getting cold now.
‘Do you want to go back up to the castle?’ Draco asked. ‘It’s bloody freezing out here. We could go and get some hot chocolate from the kitchen if you want.’
Hermione nodded gratefully and stood up, stamping her feet to get some feeling back into them. ‘That sounds like a great idea. I think I’ve got frostbite in my feet.’ They quickly exited the stand and began to make their way back towards the castle.
‘You know, it was very strange reading your diaries,’ Hermione said as they walked rapidly up the hill. ‘They were so descriptive that I could remember you exactly as you were at the time you wrote them. But then there was this whole other dimension to you that you kept hidden. Sometimes it was really hard to reconcile the two.’
‘Did they alter your perception of me at all?’ Draco asked, trying not to sound anxious.
Hermione looked at him musingly. ‘Well, I now know you’re a sex maniac and a pervert.’
Draco was about to retort angrily when he realised Hermione was smiling. She was joking with him. That was hopeful.
‘Not really a pervert,’ he said playfully. ‘I just have an active imagination and a healthy interest in sex.’
Hermione raised her eyebrows archly. ‘I found your obsession with me to be a little disturbing, actually,’ she admitted. ‘I’m not entirely sure which is more worrying, the fact you were so obsessed or the fact you managed to keep it completely hidden for all that time.’
‘Do I scare you, then?’ Draco asked as they arrived in the Entrance Hall of the castle, worried that all the diaries had done was push Hermione further away from him.
Hermione shook her head. She stopped and took his hands.
‘Draco, I honestly want to try to make this marriage work with you, but this whole fancying thing is just really hard for me to get my head round. You need to give me some time to get used to it. I’m trying to forget the past and embrace the future, but it’s difficult. We will get there, I’m sure of it, but I don’t think it’s going to happen overnight.’
‘I’m good at waiting,’ Draco said, ‘and I’m certain you’re worth it.’
‘That’s the other thing that worries me,’ Hermione said. She undid the clasp of her cloak, unwrapped the scarf from around her neck and pulled off her gloves, tucking them into the pocket of her robes.
‘What’s that?’ Draco asked.
‘You have been creating all these hugely unrealistic fantasies about me for years. I’m just worried that you are going to be sorely disappointed when you realise I’m not actually like that in real life.’
Draco smiled. ‘I know full well what you’re like, my love. I’ve lived with you for years, even if it hasn’t been as a lover. I know I got a little carried away with some of my fantasies about you, but I also know there is no artifice in you, so I already know how perfect you are.’
Hermione snorted loudly. ‘Oh, please! You’ve never had any qualms about pointing out my faults and you’ve done so regularly over the years, so don’t give me that perfect crap because I know it’s a lie.’
‘But you are perfect for me,’ Draco argued laughingly, ‘even if you are an annoying know-it-all and have the worst hair ever.’
They had stopped in front of a picture of a bowl of fruit and Draco reached out to tickle the pear, turning the green doorknob that appeared after it had giggled and squirmed for a few seconds. He ushered Hermione into the kitchen ahead of him.
They were immediately surrounded by house-elves, all eager to serve them. Hermione still found this servitude a little distasteful, but she knew the elves were happy. There had been a time when she had tried to free them by leaving hand-knitted hats and socks around the Gryffindor common room, but during one of their heart-to-hearts in the tent after Ron had left them, Harry had told her how Dobby had ended up collecting them all, as he was the only one who would go in there any more because of what she was trying to do. She had been upset at first but had eventually realised that just as Pure-bloods like the Malfoys had been so heavily indoctrinated into their hatred of Muggles, so had the house-elves been enslaved into serving wizards. She was still sure she could help them, but it would take more than a few badly knitted hats.
Draco asked for hot chocolate for them both and they moved deeper into the kitchen, taking the offered seats by the fire. They both removed their robes and cardigans before sitting down; the heat of the kitchen was almost stifling after the cold they had just come in from.
A house-elf came over to them and offered a plate containing a large quantity of cupcakes covered in frosting and glittery stars. Draco took one but Hermione waved them away. As she did so she noticed her wedding ring glinting as the firelight caught it and remembered that she had intended to ask Draco about the runes. She waited until they had received their chocolate and settled back comfortably in their seats by the hearth.
‘Tell me about the rings,’ she said quietly.
Draco’s heart skipped a beat at her words. He had been hoping she would ask him about the rings ever since the wedding. The Ministry official had realised immediately how special they were, but Hermione had not even seemed to notice them. He wondered how she would feel once she knew about their history. He took a sip of his chocolate before answering.
‘They are Goblin-made gold. They were a special commission.’
‘Commissioned by you?’ Hermione asked quietly.
She looked thoughtfully at Draco. She knew from her dealings with Griphook how rare and expensive Goblin-made items were. Expensive enough if Draco had just bought them, but to have them commissioned would have made them prohibitively so, even for someone with Draco’s family’s wealth, and would take his obsession with her to a whole new chilling level.
Draco shook his head. ‘No, I didn’t commission them.’ He didn’t notice Hermione relaxing a little at these words. ‘They were commissioned by the druidess Cliodna, who intended to use them during her wedding to her Muggle lover Ciabhán. Unfortunately, Cliodna died tragically before the wedding could take place, so the Goblins kept the rings safe until a suitable home could be found for them. They had been looking after them for over eight hundred years when I bought them. As soon as I saw them I knew they were perfect for us.’
‘Cliodna?’ Hermione said in amazement. ‘They must have cost you an absolute fortune, Draco.’
Draco shrugged. ‘They were worth it. They embody everything I wanted from our relationship. Cliodna was Pure-blood and she was in love with a Muggle.’
‘But even so—’
Draco grinned. ‘I don’t care about the money, my love. I wanted us to have these rings. Anyway, I paid for them with money from my allowance, so really we have my father to thank for them.’
‘They are stunning,’ Hermione said honestly. ‘They contain runes, don’t they, inside and out?’
Draco nodded. ‘Each of the rings contains two runic spells, one for love and fertility, the other for happiness and prosperity. Cliodna devised the spells herself. Each ring was very specifically designed.’ He looked across at Hermione. ‘I hope the runes work for us just as well as they would have worked for Cliodna and Ciabhán.’
‘I bet your father will be over the moon to discover he’s paid for rings that tie us together even more than we already are,’ Hermione said.
Draco laughed loudly. ‘I think I can safely say my father wouldn’t be all that impressed if he knew where my allowance had gone, but as we’re already bonded for life the rings won’t make that much of a difference to him.’
- 4
- 5
- 6
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Some Kind of Wonderful