Exams were tomorrow — finally — and Hermione, like always, had forced her friends to study day and night for their N.E.W.T.S.
But she wasn't the only one; Daphne had made it her mission to help Ron succeed, and Ron, being the Gryffindor that he was, couldn't say no to the Slytherin.
Exam week was the most stressful thing Hermione had ever had to endure — only this year of course, she endured a war and that was overall at the stop of the list — but with Draco with her, figuratively and literally, it was tolerable.
***
"You got it!" Hermione exclaimed when Draco answered correctly for the last flashcard, and she couldn't help but lean across the bed and give him a quick kiss. He attempted to make the kiss longer, but Hermione pulled back, tutting.
"That was only theory that we finished, we still have to study for the practical portion of DADA."
Draco groaned and collapsed on the bed, his arms went around Hermione's waist as he met her eyes. "Can we take a break?"
Hermione debated this for a second before shaking her head. "No, but I have a feeling that you will like what we have to do next."
He lifted an eyebrow as he asked. "Which is?"
Hermione smiled. "You will know once we get there."
"Get where?"
"Merlin! Stop asking question and get dressed."
She got up, leaving Draco groaning on the bed.
Once she was in the bathroom, Draco whispered to himself.
"You are so fucking lucky that I love you."
***
"Where are we going?" Draco asked, ignoring the glances that the both of them received.
They were public, and they would have to get used to the stares. Whether it be because they were always holding hands or because they were never separated, Draco didn't really care, he had Hermione, why would he care for anything else?
"Can't you be a little patient?"
Woah—
Didn't this happen before?
Draco stopped suddenly, and Hermione turned to glare at him, but he didn't notice; he was caught in the moment of déjà vu.
Hermione and Draco's hands were intertwined together, both not willing to let go of each other's warmth.
The sky was dark blue, a few stars were visible as Hermione and Draco walked across the courtyard.
Well, it was mostly Hermione who dragged Draco behind her.
Draco looked around as Hermione pulled him through the grounds of the courtyard, he saw the black lake from away and thought that maybe she was taking him there, but the second they passed it, his curiosity started to eat at him.
"Where are we going?" He asked.
Hermione huffed and looked at him over her shoulder. "Can't you be a little patient?"
Draco rolled his eyes. "You can't expect to just drag me through the whole castle and still tell me to be patient. At least tell me where we are going."
Hermione rolled her eyes before saying. "The Forbidden Forest."
Draco widened his eyes and shook his head in disbelief when saying. "The what?!"
Fuck, that feels like ages ago. Time with Hermione feels so long but so short at the same time. He can never get enough of her, even if he spends every moment of every day with her.
"Draco! You are slowing us down!" Hermione exclaimed, tugging at his hand.
"We are going to the Forbidden Forest, aren't we?" He asked, lifting an eyebrow as he did so.
She blinked, once, twice, and then answered. "Yeah."
He groaned. "What is it with you and the Forbidden Forest?"
She smiled. "It reminds me of something."
Something?
"What thing?" He asked, now getting really curious.
She huffed before pulling him towards the forest again. "I will tell you once we get there."
"Oh come on! You can't just say that then leave me at the mercy of my curiosity." He complained, and in an effort to make her change her mind, attempted to pout.
Hermione, apparently, found this hilarious, and that ended in her laughing loudly.
His pout became genuine as he asked. "What is so funny?"
"It is just that you are adorable!"
He scrunched his face.
Adorable?
"Granger, I would prefer it if you change that to something more dignified." He stated, pulling his hand away from her grasp and crossing his arms.
She was still laughing, and even though he wanted to listen to her laugh for probably his whole life, he wanted her to tell him about the thing.
"Please, Malfoy, you have lost the right to ask for something like that the second you started dating me. And I don't think you have the heart to threaten that you would break up with me, do you?"
He mumbled something incoherently.
"What did you say?"
"I hate you, and no, I don't." With that, he took a hold of her hand and pulled her with him. The whole time, Hermione was smiling, and Draco, unable to stop himself, smiled at the sight of a smile on Hermione's face.
***
"Isn't that where we first—"
"Kissed? Yeah." Hermione smiled.
She had taken him to that same place, the same place that had the mesmerizing waterfall. The same place where he had pressed her against a tree and ravished her. The same place where the both of them had succumbed to their desires.
The same place where they had both done what they had always wanted to do.
"Why are we here?" He asked, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer to him. Having her closer to him was never going to get old.
She reached for her wand that held her hair in a bun. When she pulled it out, her hair fell on her shoulders, and Draco slowly brushed her hair away from her face.
"We are going to try casting the Patronus Charm." She replied, pulling his wand from his pocket and handing it to him as she pulled away.
"But I can't do it, Hermione. I have tried already."
"So you are telling me that you are going to give up?" She asked, her brows furrowing as she crossed her arms.
She looked almost...disappointed.
He decided that he hated that. He hated that she was looking at him with disappointment.
"I am not...I—"
"So what? You are just going to go back to the castle? Going to act as if you didn't give up on yourself? You are so stupid!" She lost her patience then, and Draco was reminded of what happened last time they were here. He was the one that lost patience, but now, their roles were reversed.
He had wanted her to punish him, and now, she is punishing him by giving him that look; that look that sent something ricocheting through his heart and bruising it.
"Hurt me! You were supposed to hurt me and I was supposed to just let you do it! Because that is how bad I was! I was an intolerable git and you were supposed to hurt and break me as much as you please and want!"
Well, at least he is getting his wish now.
"Malfoy, you can't just— give up! You can do it, I know that you can do it. We— we have created so many memories together! All of us! Use them! Take advantage of them if you will! But don't just give up!" She was standing in front of him now, holding his face in her hands and pleading with him to not give up.
"What if I can't do it?" His voice was a whisper, and Hermione couldn't help but softly smile at his vulnerability. The fact that the softness of him was never seen by anyone but her was...hypnotizing.
"You won't fail, I promise."
He huffed a quiet laugh. "You better be right."
"I am always right." With that, she placed a soft kiss on his lips.
When the both of them were ready to cast the charm, they stood in front of each other. Unspokenly, they both had come to the conclusion that they would be casting it at the same time. When Hermione raised her wand, Draco raised his. When Hermione uttered the two words, Draco uttered the same two words.
"Expecto Patronum."
In Draco's mind, he was capturing every happy moment with his friends and Hermione in one single moment. Adding them together and filling the cavities with other memories. He didn't pick a single memory; he just thought of every good memory that he had ever experienced.
His eyes drifted to her dress and sure enough, the periwinkle dress enchanted him, getting him wide eyed and almost jaw slacked.
The color of her dress was ablaze and delicate, light for the eye and surprisingly extravagant.
"Careful there, Granger, or I will start to think that you like the origins of my name better than yours." He smirked softly at the Draco constellation.
She rolled her eyes, "Just because I drew the constellation of your name doesn't mean I like your name better."
He smirked, "Whatever you say."
Without a second thought, Draco intertwined Hermione's hand and his together, relishing in the feeling of electricity that traveled up his arm.
The blow came as the softest of silk, it came as clear as the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. It came as soft as Hermione's skin against him. And it took him a second to realize that Hermione's lips were pressed against his, not moving.
Hermione Granger's lips were on Draco Malfoy's.
Before he could stop himself, Draco reached forward and secured the curls behind her ear. Hermione's eyes met his and her breath hitched.
Draco didn't retract his hand. He was so lost in her enchanting eyes that he forgot that the universe needed for him to talk, to retract his hand, to resume what he was doing before.
Hermione furrowed her eyebrows slightly and —before she could stop herself— wrapped her hands around his neck and brought his face down. Her lips met his in a magnetizing and captivating crash. Their lips moved slowly, too slowly in Draco's opinion, because in seconds, Draco had Hermione pressed against the stone wall.
Draco shrugged. "This is more fun to me."
"What is this?"
"You laying in my bed, in my arms. That's more fun to me." He spoke softly before kissing her forehead. She smiled and kissed his cheek.
"Those are sky lanterns."
He moved her hands a bit then pressed down on her fingers; making her press the keys. The sounds that were made float through the air in a melodic wave.
"Yeah, just like that." He said in a tone that sounded almost like a whisper.
"Okay," he took a deep breath. "Would you be my girlfriend, Hermione?"
But in Hermione's mind, she was thinking of that one kiss. That first kiss that brought to life what they had now. That first kiss that made everything possible.
She had wanted to give him what he wanted just so that he could shut up. She had wanted to slap him and hex him and do everything that he wanted, just so that he could stop talking about how bad and awful and evil he was. She just wanted him to stop.
But violence was never the answer.
And so, with nothing but what was dwelling in her mind for months, Hermione closed the gap between them, but not to slap him.
But instead to kiss him. Instead to feel the butterflies lift her up in the air and spin her around as her mind tried to grasp the feelings that were swelling in her body.
She had kissed him to shut him up; she had kissed him to punish him for what he was saying about himself.
And he had kissed her back. He had devoured her lips as she devoured his. He had slammed her against a tree and guided her as his tongue slid in between her lips. He had held her tight as their lips danced together, moving together and not missing a beat.
They had closed their eyes when they had both spoken the two words in the softest of voices.
They had also opened them at the same time, only to get blinded by a light so unnatural that it took the both of them a while to actually understand what was happening.
But when they did, tears threatened to fall from both sets of eyes.
Right there, in front of them, were two small animals, both glowing and both floating in the air.
Hermione's eyes had connected with her otter, the otter that she had deeply missed, and she couldn't help but gasp when the otter flew around her head before joining the other patronus.
Draco had still not grasped the situation, and so the only thing that he could mutter was: "Is that a ferret?!"
Hermione shook her head as she looked at Draco's patronus. It wasn't a ferret. It was a—
"A boar, your patronus is a boar."
He furrowed his brows. "And what is that?"
She looked at Draco, and in the softest of voices, said. "A boar is a male otter."
He furrowed his brows further.
"Draco, my patronus is a sow. A sow is a female otter."
His eyes widened, and he couldn't help but glance at both of the animals, memorizing every detail and drawing a picture of them in his brain.
A tear slid down his face. Hermione wiped it.
With their emotions floating around the place, both of their patronuses floated as well, circling the both of them.
When Hermione's eyes connected with Draco's eyes, their lips connected as well.
Everything wouldn't be enough to do their kiss justice.
***
The night for them had ended in a wonderful shag. Painfully slow sex was what they had needed after a day raw with emotion.
But that came with a price.
They had both overslept, meaning that they were late for breakfast.
And it was their first day of exams.
They had both scrambled out of Draco's bed, naked and shameless, and had both stumbled into the shower together. Again, naked and shameless.
Draco had softly washed Hermione's hair, careful not to tug too hard on her curls.
Then, Hermione had slowly washed Draco's chest meanwhile his hands had snaked around her waist and scrubbed her back softly. Their eyes were not separated the whole time.
After the best shower in their whole lives, they had both gotten ready as fast as they could. When they had arrived at breakfast, their friends were already done with their food and were just waiting for them.
Blaise had teased them, and he had locked eyes with both Ginny and Pansy as he spoke. "Looks like you missed all the fun, oh wait, no, maybe we missed all the fun."
Draco had emptied a water cup on his head.
And that was how the first morning of their first exam began.
***
With Draco there, everything was more than tolerable.
***
After exam week, the students had to worry about nothing but the masquerade ball, and considering that Hermione already had her dress, she didn't have to worry about anything, neither did Draco; his mother had sent him a suit that could put the suits of the whole population of seventh years to shame.
Exams had ended on the twenty second, leaving only three days before the ball. In that time, the students were free to do anything that they felt like doing.
Except break the rules, of course.
Draco and Hermione were laying together on their bed (they didn't know which bed was whose anymore, seeing as they resorted to sleeping in the same bed for months now) when Draco suddenly asked.
"You didn't tell me why you like the Forbidden Forest."
"Oh, I forgot all about that," she was playing with the silver rings on Draco's hand, he smiled at the fact that it was becoming a habit of theirs.
"Tell me."
She met his eyes and smiled. "It was the place where you first held my hand."
He furrowed his brows. "But— wasn't it the place where we first kissed?"
"Yeah, but you also held my hand for the first time there."
"When was that?"
She gasped quietly. "I can't believe you don't remember!"
He smiled softly as he kissed the corner of her mouth. "Refresh my memory."
"Okay then. It was in first year—"
"Do you really expect me to remember—"
"Don't interrupt me." She pressed a finger against his lips and he smiled before nodding.
"Okay, so, back to what I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me. It was when you snitched on Harry, Ron, and I when you saw us talking to Hagrid after curfew. You had been sent to detention with us, and you held my hand —accidentally— when a wolf howled. You had pretended that nothing had happened, but I didn't forget."
His eyes widened as he spoke. "I remember now! It was so unfair; I didn't do anything wrong to he sent to detention with a bunch of idiots!"
"Asshole."
"Beautiful."
She narrowed her eyes, but a smile grew on her face when he smiled.
"Kiss me?" She whispered.
"With pleasure."
His lips landed on hers, fulfilling both of their wishes.
***
Follow me on my tiktok for sneak peaks and Dramione videos! Username is mar_writer.
Two more chapters + the epilogue left!
Almost there. Pinch me.
Thank y'all for reading! <3