The Meeting--Prompt 47, Conclave
Jun. 13th, 2007 10:17 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
dedra.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tamingthemuseTitle: The Meeting
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger
Warnings: Language
Rating: Teen
Summary: Secret meetings sometimes lead to more than the exchange of information.
Their meetings were highly secretive, with multiple apparitions and Portkeys that sent them all over the world before ending in a monastery high in the Andes mountains, abandoned long ago. It was necessary, they both realized; nevertheless, it was inconvenient and irritating and they often took it out on each other instead of the ones that needed to be chastised for their clandestine activities.
He turned when she arrived with a crack of thunder as the night bloomed with lightning and the sparkle of rain. “About time you got here. I’ve been waiting for hours.”
“Not my fault this time. I was followed for about three-quarters of the way by a Death Eater with a hard-on for revenge. What do you have for me this time?”
“Right to business then, I guess. Do you always have to be so goddamn prickly, or is it the rain? I know you hate it when your hair frizzes…”
“Bugger off. It has nothing to do with that. It’s just getting harder to get away. I can’t seem to shake Ron and Harry long enough when I need to, not to mention the assholes that you’re running around with. Why are you still a member of that elitist bunch? I thought that you didn’t believe in their drivel anymore.”
“You know why.”
“Oh, yes, the inevitable excuse. ‘I need to protect you, darling.’ Sorry, it’s getting old. So is the secrecy bullshit. I need…”
She turned away from him and dropped her face into her open palms. He looked at her back impassively, waiting for her to finish with the self-pity and crocodile tears. It shocked him when they didn’t stop, only increased in their velocity until they were dripping off her face like the rain from the windowsills and gutters outside.
He walked up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. “What’s the matter, Granger? Losing your nerve?”
He couldn’t see her face so he couldn’t know that she was chewing her lip to a bloody mess. It wouldn’t take long for him to discover what she had been keeping from him for the last two months and he wouldn’t be happy to find out. It was torturous not to blurt it out loud, but she refrained.
“If my nerve wasn’t gone before, it won’t leave now.” Lightning crashed close by and the smell of ozone lingered in the air. It made her nauseous and she swallowed hard, fighting the urge and losing with remarkable aplomb. She ran to the other side of the room and leaned out the window to be sick, wiping her mouth with her sleeve then using a freshening charm on her breath to clear the taste of vomit from her mouth.
His eyes narrowed in the dim light and he was at her side in three strides, clutching her arm in his hand. “What’s the matter with you?”
She looked up at him, fear in her eyes. “Must’ve been all the apparition and Portkeying. You know it always makes me a little off.”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not.” Her eyes pleaded for him to drop the subject but he held onto it like a bone, gnawing at it until it was slivers and chips.
“It makes you off but I’ve never seen you sick from it. You have a remarkable constitution…” His voice trailed to silence as he added the variables and came to the logical conclusion. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
“Does it matter?”
He practically threw himself across the room, his hands ruffling the perfect strands of hair into a messy nest to rival her own. “Hell yes, it matters. It matters quite a bit. Does anyone know?”
She watched him with hooded eyes, refusing to believe that he cared a bit. “No. I’ll take care of it.”
He was back in front of her before she could blink, his hands a vise on both her upper arms. He wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled out of her head but pulled her toward him instead, wrapping his arms around her back. “You’ll do nothing of the sort.”
She tore herself away from him and looked up at him angrily. “I cannot and will not have this child alone! There will be questions…accusations…and I won’t be ostracized because my husband…”
“You won’t be. I’ll go back and tie up a few loose ends, get all the information that I can and then we’ll come clean to the Order.”
Her anger melted to sadness. “Somehow, I don’t know if I can believe that. You’ve said that so many times before. What makes this time any different?”
The rain was tapering to a slow steady beat that seemed to fill the silence that settled between them. They had become lovers in secret, had been married in secret, and now a secret loomed between them that could solidify their relationship or destroy it. The silence loomed large in the room as questions and suspicions filled their minds.
Malfoy walked slowly toward her as she backed up to the wall, her shoulders colliding painfully with the rough stone. Her mind flashed back to the first kiss they shared in the dungeons of Hogwarts so long ago, before this war took on its desperate plunge into a futile battle of wills between the light and dark sides of magic. It had been so long ago, but seemed like moments as she stood there looking up into the silvery gray eyes that had looked down on her in so many guises, from hateful to passionate and everywhere in between.
“It’s different this time because there is more at stake than just you and I. There’s a child and a future for me there now, not just the possibility. When I married you, it was to protect you in case the Death Eaters won; now there is no reason for me to stay with them because they can’t win.”
“Why can’t they?” she whispered, dreading the answer.
“Because I won’t let them.”
He pressed a sheaf of papers into her hand as he kissed her senseless, then broke away with a small smirk. “Meet me here in a week and prepare your little guerilla group for a new member. I’ll be waiting.”
He rested his hand on her stomach for a moment and the smirk became a smile that softened his features from the harsh angular lines into something more boyish and innocent. “How long?” he said.
“In about six months, give or take. I think that it happened in Prague.”
“Prague.” His smile grew wider as he recalled the night in question when they had been able to steal more than an hour together. A glorious night when they had been able to sleep in each others’ arms and wake to the vibration of their wands to return to their separate factions, sated and happy and in sync in heart and mind. “A fitting place, then. Not just some happy shag against a tree.”
She smiled. “Yes. That’s what I thought too.”
He kissed her again, holding her tight enough she thought she would split apart at the waist. “Next week.”
He walked across the room and Apparated away to the first of many parts unknown, his departure accompanied by thunder that rattled her bones and made her skin pebble with goosebumps. She would be here next week. She hoped in her heart that he would be as well.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger
Warnings: Language
Rating: Teen
Summary: Secret meetings sometimes lead to more than the exchange of information.
Their meetings were highly secretive, with multiple apparitions and Portkeys that sent them all over the world before ending in a monastery high in the Andes mountains, abandoned long ago. It was necessary, they both realized; nevertheless, it was inconvenient and irritating and they often took it out on each other instead of the ones that needed to be chastised for their clandestine activities.
He turned when she arrived with a crack of thunder as the night bloomed with lightning and the sparkle of rain. “About time you got here. I’ve been waiting for hours.”
“Not my fault this time. I was followed for about three-quarters of the way by a Death Eater with a hard-on for revenge. What do you have for me this time?”
“Right to business then, I guess. Do you always have to be so goddamn prickly, or is it the rain? I know you hate it when your hair frizzes…”
“Bugger off. It has nothing to do with that. It’s just getting harder to get away. I can’t seem to shake Ron and Harry long enough when I need to, not to mention the assholes that you’re running around with. Why are you still a member of that elitist bunch? I thought that you didn’t believe in their drivel anymore.”
“You know why.”
“Oh, yes, the inevitable excuse. ‘I need to protect you, darling.’ Sorry, it’s getting old. So is the secrecy bullshit. I need…”
She turned away from him and dropped her face into her open palms. He looked at her back impassively, waiting for her to finish with the self-pity and crocodile tears. It shocked him when they didn’t stop, only increased in their velocity until they were dripping off her face like the rain from the windowsills and gutters outside.
He walked up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. “What’s the matter, Granger? Losing your nerve?”
He couldn’t see her face so he couldn’t know that she was chewing her lip to a bloody mess. It wouldn’t take long for him to discover what she had been keeping from him for the last two months and he wouldn’t be happy to find out. It was torturous not to blurt it out loud, but she refrained.
“If my nerve wasn’t gone before, it won’t leave now.” Lightning crashed close by and the smell of ozone lingered in the air. It made her nauseous and she swallowed hard, fighting the urge and losing with remarkable aplomb. She ran to the other side of the room and leaned out the window to be sick, wiping her mouth with her sleeve then using a freshening charm on her breath to clear the taste of vomit from her mouth.
His eyes narrowed in the dim light and he was at her side in three strides, clutching her arm in his hand. “What’s the matter with you?”
She looked up at him, fear in her eyes. “Must’ve been all the apparition and Portkeying. You know it always makes me a little off.”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not.” Her eyes pleaded for him to drop the subject but he held onto it like a bone, gnawing at it until it was slivers and chips.
“It makes you off but I’ve never seen you sick from it. You have a remarkable constitution…” His voice trailed to silence as he added the variables and came to the logical conclusion. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
“Does it matter?”
He practically threw himself across the room, his hands ruffling the perfect strands of hair into a messy nest to rival her own. “Hell yes, it matters. It matters quite a bit. Does anyone know?”
She watched him with hooded eyes, refusing to believe that he cared a bit. “No. I’ll take care of it.”
He was back in front of her before she could blink, his hands a vise on both her upper arms. He wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled out of her head but pulled her toward him instead, wrapping his arms around her back. “You’ll do nothing of the sort.”
She tore herself away from him and looked up at him angrily. “I cannot and will not have this child alone! There will be questions…accusations…and I won’t be ostracized because my husband…”
“You won’t be. I’ll go back and tie up a few loose ends, get all the information that I can and then we’ll come clean to the Order.”
Her anger melted to sadness. “Somehow, I don’t know if I can believe that. You’ve said that so many times before. What makes this time any different?”
The rain was tapering to a slow steady beat that seemed to fill the silence that settled between them. They had become lovers in secret, had been married in secret, and now a secret loomed between them that could solidify their relationship or destroy it. The silence loomed large in the room as questions and suspicions filled their minds.
Malfoy walked slowly toward her as she backed up to the wall, her shoulders colliding painfully with the rough stone. Her mind flashed back to the first kiss they shared in the dungeons of Hogwarts so long ago, before this war took on its desperate plunge into a futile battle of wills between the light and dark sides of magic. It had been so long ago, but seemed like moments as she stood there looking up into the silvery gray eyes that had looked down on her in so many guises, from hateful to passionate and everywhere in between.
“It’s different this time because there is more at stake than just you and I. There’s a child and a future for me there now, not just the possibility. When I married you, it was to protect you in case the Death Eaters won; now there is no reason for me to stay with them because they can’t win.”
“Why can’t they?” she whispered, dreading the answer.
“Because I won’t let them.”
He pressed a sheaf of papers into her hand as he kissed her senseless, then broke away with a small smirk. “Meet me here in a week and prepare your little guerilla group for a new member. I’ll be waiting.”
He rested his hand on her stomach for a moment and the smirk became a smile that softened his features from the harsh angular lines into something more boyish and innocent. “How long?” he said.
“In about six months, give or take. I think that it happened in Prague.”
“Prague.” His smile grew wider as he recalled the night in question when they had been able to steal more than an hour together. A glorious night when they had been able to sleep in each others’ arms and wake to the vibration of their wands to return to their separate factions, sated and happy and in sync in heart and mind. “A fitting place, then. Not just some happy shag against a tree.”
She smiled. “Yes. That’s what I thought too.”
He kissed her again, holding her tight enough she thought she would split apart at the waist. “Next week.”
He walked across the room and Apparated away to the first of many parts unknown, his departure accompanied by thunder that rattled her bones and made her skin pebble with goosebumps. She would be here next week. She hoped in her heart that he would be as well.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 03:02 pm (UTC)Much as I love it when you do something brilliantly original, I sort of hope for an update on this next week. I'll be standing there, waiting with Hermione. Don't leave us hanging. Please?
I just loved: I know you hate it when your hair frizzes… So typical of someone who knows you well.
And Because I won’t let them. Such fierce determination. I do hope it's enough.
Oh, just... damn.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-19 10:57 pm (UTC)♥