RP: Cry Foul

[pb_hermione]

Characters: Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy
Date: 31 May 2000
Location: Contego Terrace to an obscure field in Wiltshire
Status: Private
Summary: Hermione decides it's time to play and Draco has slept long enough.
Completion: Complete

Comments

[pb_draco]

He wasn't entirely certain what he'd been dreaming about, but it was pleasant. He knew it was, because he wasn't shuddering on the edge of it, unable to wake up until it had run its course. He felt relaxed, comfortable, and warm, and he murmured under his breath as he hugged the soft shape in his arms closer to him. The edge of the mattress sank, shifting him out of full dream into half-awake, and his lashes fluttered as he recognized his girlfriend's voice. "Mmm. Sleep. More sleep. No Quid-- Quidditch?"

Draco opened his eyes and blinked at the woman grinning at him up close. "Quidditch. You want to play Quidditch." He examined her for a minute, then thumped his head back into the pillows to hide his own grin as he gave his voice the best sulky tone he could manage. "You're not my girlfriend. Whoever you are, I know several Dark curses and a few Unforgivables besides, so go away until the Polyjuice wears off. Hermione doesn't play Quidditch."

[pb_hermione]

"Well, not necessarily. I want to fly," she said happily, spreading her arms out wide and bouncing lightly on the bed. "I also have some questions about Quidditch. I thought we could put them together. Just because we aren't doing our Tuesday and Friday lessons is no reason you shouldn't keep teaching me about Quidditch strategy after all."

Hermione laughed when he accused her of being someone else. "You promised to teach me to play well enough that I wouldn't embarrass myself." Actually he'd promised to teach her to play well enough that she wouldn't embarrass him but she thought that might be too much to hope for. He was very exacting about his Quidditch. Hermione enjoyed playing with him, even so. It was nice to have someone teaching her that didn't assume she knew things she didn't, didn't treat her like she couldn't learn if she applied herself, and most of all demanded excellence but understood excellence took practice. "Don't think I'm letting you out of it. Besides, it's such a beautiful day. I asked Cookoo to put together a

[pb_draco]

Good lord, she really was adorable. She sounded so excited about this idea that he couldn't stand to keep her from it for too long. Draco wriggled his head under the pillow and shoved it back just enough to be able to peek out at her from around the edge of the pillow case. "You're trying to bribe me, woman. I know your vile ways. Play on my need to see you flying well, tempt me with a nap, and then bat those lashes at me? Cruel. Cruel and vicious."

He flung the pillow off one side of the bed and the blankets towards his feet, all in one motion, to immediately pounce on Hermione and drag her down to the bed. "Cruel and vicious," he repeated, "and I love every second of it. I'll teach you some of my moves if you insist. But first!" He bent his head and nipped at her throat, aiming directly for the spot that always made her writhe. When he was satisfied with the noises she made, he lifted up, grinning. "All right, I'll get up. Start me some coffee while I shower."

[pb_hermione]

"Bribe. Persuade. You say toe-may-toe; I say toe-mah-toe. I have another inducement," she sing-songed before stretching her leg out and raising it up so that he could see she was wearing her boots with all the buckles that he liked. "It would only be vicious and cruel if I were mention that if we can find a more out of the way place than Hogsmeade, that I might be induced to let you unbuckle and remove my boots before that nap later."

Hermione shrieked and laughed when he pounced on her, but was moaning a moment later when he found that spot. "I'm way ahead of you. Or rather Cookoo is. I'd offer to soap your back but I've been for my jog and showered already. I'll sort our gear instead."

[pb_draco]

Draco settled his arms around her and kissed her forehead, smiling. With a deep breath of concentration, he turned them in place and Disapparated, re-appearing at the edge of a field in Wiltshire. As he'd done when they'd gone camping, he'd picked a place that was technically on Malfoy lands, a place that he knew they couldn't be disturbed. In the center of the field was a cluster of oaks, so they could have shade for the siesta Hermione had mentioned.

Draco caught himself on their landing, sheer will making certain that they stayed upright and he didn't pull them both into a heap in the dirt. He was getting better at Apparating without that little bobble that was a hallmark of his arrivals, but still usually stumbled a bit. After checking to make certain Hermione had landed safely, he released her and made an expansive gesture across the field. "What do you think? This was one of my favorite places to fly around as a kid. Got stuck in those trees once."

[pb_hermione]

Hermione laughed. "Stuck in the trees? Heavens, how did you manage that?" She sniggered. "Were there peahens involved," Hermione asked full of mirth.

She sat down her satchel and pulled off her long jumper. She wouldn't need it to fly.

[pb_draco]

"No," he said, immediately followed by a wrinkling up of his nose. "Yes. Maybe. They might have chased me. They're horribly vicious birds, don't every let anyone tell you different. They look pretty, but that's it. They are mean. Mean, mean, mean."

He crouched to rummage through the satchel, though it wasn't a very effective rummage since he was watching her strip off her jumper and wasn't really looking for anything specific in the first place. Something brushed his hand and he swore and fell back, almost tipping over into the grass. Only after he caught his breath did he remember that Cookoo had packed a Snitch for them to practice with, and the wings had to be what had touched him.

[pb_hermione]

"I don't doubt it." Hermione knew she didn't want to cross a peacock or a peahen. They weren't as large as the Caladrius birds they faced but Hermione thought they were large enough. "How did you get down and did the nanny or governess take the rap?"

Hermione tugged down her top and folded up her jumper to put in her satchel. She withdrew her chest protector. "Will I need my helmet?" She didn't like wearing it but she knew he'd tell her if it was necessary. "I do want to learn more about fouls and things today while we play. Not all seven hundred, but the most common ones."

[pb_draco]

"No!" He called back to her. "I'm calling you a cheater! And believe me, I know a cheater when I see one. I'm king of the cheaters!" Draco did a loop, partially to show off, partially to give her a chance to catch him, and partially because he was enjoying himself so much that he felt like he needed it. At the top of his loop, he twisted around and spun out upside down, laughing to himself. He was having a great time, and Granger was....

Stopped in the air. Draco hovered for a second, trying to figure out what was up, if she'd decided to try some sort of stalling tactic on him, but that didn't look right. He flew to her and knocked the tip of his broom against hers, not enough to nudge her out of the air. "C'mon, woman, we've a race to finish." He looked at her more closely and really did not like her expression or the way she was biting her lip. Normally that was an attractive look on her; now it just looked pained. "Granger. Hermione. Love, what's wrong? You swallow a bug?"

[pb_hermione]

Hermione made a soft noise when he knocked against her broom but she had her teeth in her lip and managed not to cry out. "Down," she managed to squeak out. He'd help her get down.

After Bellatrix Lestrange had her go at Hermione, she'd suffered a few after effects of the rounds of Cruciatus. The residual muscle and joint pain had mostly disappeared and she'd not had a spasm like this one for well over a year. That didn't reassure her now. Hermione's eyes were watering and she was trying to breathe but each breath she sucked in only made the pain worse. "Down," she repeated.

[pb_draco]

"Down? You're done?" Draco dipped his head to look at her and his broom dropped a couple of feet when he caught her expression properly. He swore under his breath and clawed his way back up to her level. "Down. We'll get down. Right now." He could worry about why after he'd got her back on the ground.

He put his hand on the shaft of her broom and pulled them together, side by side. "Can you fly down, or do you want me to take you?"

[pb_hermione]

Why was he talking and not doing? "Ah!" Hermione tried not to tense up, that always made it worse. Her eye was ticking now too. She hated that but it was annoying enough that it gave her something else to focus on beyond the fact that she could barely breathe and she was starting to have trouble controlling her leg muscles. If he wasn't going to guide her down, she was going to have to try it herself. She doubted he'd let her fall on purpose but Hermione didn't think he was strong enough to catch her if she did. The spasm eased enough that Hermione was able to catch a good breath. "Guide me down," she told him softly.

[pb_draco]

"Well, not that potion, but any others. Sedative, that sort of thing." She could talk in full sentences now, and as he knelt beside her, Draco pressed one hand to his chest while she couldn't see him, sucked in air in relief. His own breathing was none too steady that moment, but it could wait. He had to take care of her. "Could see if Cookoo packed us any wine or brandy or something."

He shifted back and picked up his wand to start the basic diagnostic charm, then hesitated when he heard her. Residual Crucio spasms. Draco bowed his head and closed his eyes as his fingers tightened on his wand. Bella. He wanted to hunt her down and make her pay for this. He'd had to watch it when it had happened the first time, and he was watching the results of it now, and he thought that maybe if his mad aunt hadn't been dead, he'd have been willing to go up against her to show her just what sort of student she'd taught

[pb_hermione]

"It's easing up. I know it's my Muggle-ness showing, but many Muggle medicines -- their potions -- can't be taken with alcohol. I've never been comfortable with the idea of mixing things." In all honesty, she didn't really like to take potions if she could help it. Turning yourself into a part-cat, despite your Polyjuice being correctly brewed, tended to turn a person off to ingesting any more potions than necessary. The only thing Hermione took routinely was her contraceptive potion and she took no Muggle drugs at all.

Hermione smiled. "Good. Someone should. I'd be very proud if it was you." She would be proud of him just for trying. Actually, she was proud of him for wanting to learn and what he was doing now. "I haven't had one of these for over a year." They had tapered off and then disappeared altogether. At least she'd thought they had. "I thought I was done having them, honestly."

[pb_draco]

He canceled the charm and put his wand away, stretching out beside her with one hand resting on the curve of her lower back. "It looked bad, Granger. I thought for a minute you were going to fall right out of the sky. I didn't know what to do." He kneaded gently into the muscles along her spine, listening for any whimper or gasp that might tell him he'd pressed too hard on her. "You were obviously hurting, and I had no clue what was going on, and I remember now you told me that you still have pains from time to time, but I don't think I really understood what you meant. What you really meant."

He closed his eyes, letting his fingers move over her back and probe for the spots that needed the most attention. "Mine never hurt that much after. But I suppose it's ... I never was hit as much as Bella did to you. Harder, maybe, more often, but not as long. I didn't realize...." He swallowed hard and his voice softened. "You scared me, love. Really frightened me."

[pb_hermione]

"It feels bad." An understatement if there ever was one, but the spasms were nothing compared to the actual Cruciatus Curse. Hermione knew she was fortunate to have survived with her faculties intact instead of ending like Neville's poor parents

[pb_draco]

Draco shook his head, giving her a light smile. "Don't be daft, Granger. I was teasing. I'd kneel right beside you and hold your hair back." Probably have to leave a couple of times to sick up his coffee, but he'd be at her side almost the whole time. "Strawberry problems, summer colds, morning sickness - evening, in your case, yeah? I'd be there. Part of the vows cover health as well as illness. I wouldn't abandon you."

He rolled to grab the picnic basket, then sat up facing her with it at his hip. "You may, Cleopatra." He rummaged and fixed her up a cup of juice, handing it to her before he searched further through the basket. She needed to eat, but nothing too heavy, he didn't figure. "Sultana, check. Pirates, check. Egypt and librarians, check. I'll keep those in mind. Now." He raised his head and gave her a look. "What just made you blush, Miss Granger? If you tell me what it is, I might do it." He certainly hadn't refused her anything so far.

[pb_hermione]

I wouldn't abandon you.

Hermione dashed away the tears that sprang up in her eyes at his words. More than anything she wanted that. "I wouldn't abandon you, either." She wouldn't. She couldn't.

"You may call me 'My Queen'," she said with an imperious wave, then ruined the effect by giggling. She sobered when, after passing her juice, he asked about what made her blush. "Draco, not all my fantasies are ... fluffy," she said softly.

[pb_draco]

He leaned in and kissed her cheek, lingering for just a moment. "That's only part of why we're right together. But it's a very important part."

Lifting an eyebrow, he finished arranging the food so that the lightest and easiest to eat fare was on the surface of the basket, then set that very close to her hand so she wouldn't have to move for it. Cookoo had smartly provided him a charmed container for coffee, and he cracked it open as he thought about the hesitation in Hermione's voice. "They don't have to be," he said, watching her sideways. "Didn't we already agree to that? That we could be ... needier with each other? Primal?"

[pb_hermione]

Hermione noticed how he'd arranged the food for her. Malfoy was incredibly thoughtful like that, even though she knew her friends didn't all believe her when she told them. It didn't really matter. She knew.

"We did," she agreed. "I like when simply do what we want and don't worry about anything but each other. Things are going very well so far, don't you think?" Hermione thought they were still a little awkward because it was all so new, but it felt brilliant. She chewed a small tomato and swallowed while she thought. "I like when we let go and things get more primal."

Hermione decided she should probably remind him her cycle would be starting in a couple days. "I'm sorry about your birthday. That I'll be on my period beforehand, I mean. Will you mind having a quiet dinner at home or would you like to go out? I thought if we dined in, I could wear the boots for you."