I'll Fight For You - Fred/Hermione

Chapter Forty-One

The evening of October the first was met with a depressed Hermione holding her head in her hands and feeling like she should join a meeting for pregnant women who love their husband but were forced to kiss their business partners... Hermione sighed and leaned back, quite annoyed at herself.  

Hello, my name is Hermione Granger. I kissed a Malfoy... and I liked it.

Of course there would be no such meeting because no woman would be that stupid to kiss Draco Malfoy... or any Malfoy for that matter. Hermione spent the morning convincing herself that she had to kiss Draco otherwise she would have to face a disheartened Fred every single day until it got to the point where making money seemed like something in the very distant past. A thought emerged in her brain as though it had pushed past the ice of worrying until she could see it.

What if Fred found out that she had kissed Draco?

This ice cold thought had her sitting up straight as though someone had prodded her back. Hermione was glad that Fred had gone to work or else he would have been really worried about the loss of colour on her face. Hermione let out a shaky, nervous breath and played with her fingers. Entwining her fingers together and twisting them. Hermione’s eyes fell onto the bowl of fruit in front of her.

Red juicy apples, almost like the colour of blood, that appeared to look like the apples in that Snow White story. The forbidden apples. The poisoned ones. Maybe Hermione should eat them and then get poisoned so her true love would have to kiss her to wake her up again. Maybe Draco would kiss her, bringing her back to life, she thought bitterly. That would break Fred’s heart and... she didn’t want to know what would happen next.

That was the reason she had invited Draco over today. To clear the palate of every colour except black and white. She didn’t want Fred to find out and she would do everything to make sure he didn’t. Hermione wasn’t sure if he would even come over since he would be helping Fred with moving to the new shop. Hermione stood up and went out to the hall. Her brown eyes glanced at the time and she realised it was five minutes past eleven. She glanced in the mirror hesitantly.

Hermione had done her make up for the first time in a week. Her eyes were lidded with soft black eyeliner, her lips were rosy and light pink. Hermione hated wearing bright lipstick so she had opted for this pink one which suited her incredibly. She hadn’t bothered with blusher or eye shadow but she had applied a little foundation to smooth her skin. Hermione’s hair hung past her chest and stopped on top of her stomach. She wore a light blue tank top, hugging her hips slightly and she realised that she looked really pregnant in it. A white cardigan had been pulled on when she felt cold and she wore blue jeans with white flip flops. Hermione inched closer to the mirror and fixed her eyeliner that had smudged, she nearly jerked upright when she heard the crack behind her.

‘Salazar, help me,’ his voice spoke out in a low, deep and Hermione hated to admit it, husky tone, ‘I couldn’t control myself when you weren’t wearing make up and now that you are... I can’t be held responsible for my actions.’

‘You can’t just apparate in here!’ Hermione exclaimed, turning around to face with and tugging her cardigan over herself as she felt slightly violated with his grey eyes staring at her, ‘I could report this to the Ministry and-’

‘Actually... sweetie... I can just apparate in here since I basically own this apartment,’ Draco said looking around the hall and shrugging before looking back at her.’

‘Don’t call me sweetie,’ Hermione whispered, jaw clenched and eyes hard. Hermione whimpered slightly, kicking herself when Draco smirked, and he advanced forwards. His hand slowly ran down through her hair and Hermione shivered. She noticed with a dull shock that she wanted him... ‘stop...’