Trials of Love

Chapter One - A Place to Begin

The sun shone on the first day of September as the train pulled into King Cross. A small group of figures stood by a nearby wall and the steam engine came to a full stop. Professor Snape glanced up at the time and saw that they had about an hour before the rest of the students would be arriving. The four students that he had been training over the summer continued to chat over their thought of who was going to be the next Defense Against Arts professor. Of course, he knew but he was sworn to secrecy for that person's safety.

Next to him, Lupin smirked at the sight of Hermione holding Draco's, his son-in-law, hand. Never in a million years would he have guessed he would be the related to a Malfoy. But then he never thought himself blessed enough to have a daughter, especially such a wonderful, brave one at that. Hermione bright eyes shined of happiness as the group laughed at something the other Slytherin said. Snape's voice chimed in shortly after, "Okay, children. It's time to board the train so we can get out of here. Some of us have better things to do than baby-sit."

Hermione, Ginny, Blaise and Draco smiled as they moved towards the empty train. The two men watched as the settled into the Heads compartment. Then the Head Girl, herself, lowered the window as Snape and Lupin walked towards the magical barrier and she called out, "Thanks for bringing us here, dads."

Laughter broke out of the compartment as she and Ginny blew kisses to the older men. Snape turned toward the man he was slowly beginning to befriend and said, "She's getting rather cheeky, lately."

"True, Severus," Remus agreed as he clapped him on the shoulder as he continued, "But I think she is starting to like you. Nothing to worry about, I'm sure. Come on, we do have things to do."

"Indeed," he replied as he stepped through the stone barrier first.

The two girls laughed as they fixed the window and sat next to their loves. Blaise rested his arm around Ginny's shoulders and gently placed a kiss on her cheek, as he spoke, "I can't believe you called Snape 'dad' Yet, I can't believe he didn't give you detention."

His girlfriend held his other hand in his and commented, "Well, if anyone needs a little losing up, it's Snape. I mean I agree with Hermione. I've seen more of Remus and him this summer than my own father. Plus, they are teaching us things to protect ourselves. So in a way, they are our sergeant fathers. Minus all the hard work, it's been fun getting to know them better aside from the Professor and ex-Professor stigmas."

Draco smiled as Hermione laid her head in his lap and he started to play with the wild hair that he loved so much as she replied, "Yeah, the time with Remus meant a lot to me. I mean since I found out he is my father, I haven't had much time to get to know him. Plus, Professor Snape is still my professor in my mind, but somewhere along the line I've become fond of him."

"That's just because you have excellent taste for Slytherins," her husband tutted and watched the love of his life roll her eyes. Then the sound of kisses got his attention and he glanced up to see his best friend snogging his girlfriend again. "Gees you two, give it a rest. I mean we are still newlyweds and you don't see us bond together at the mouth."

Blaise smirked as he tugged at Ginny's hand to pull her up and the charming Slytherin commented, "Now, that's not my problem mate. Come on, Gin. We have about twenty minutes before anyone should start showing up and there are plenty of empty compartments."

"Twenty minutes, no longer!" Hermione called out as the glass door closed behind the two lovebirds. She pushed off the seat a little to raise her head of Draco's lap and turned to face him and she asked, "Kiss me?"

His infamous smirk appeared and he laced his fingers through her long curls as he whispered, "Of course, my love."

Their lips meet in a soft, sweet kiss and the image of Blaise and Ginny holding hands flashed in her mind. Suddenly, she turned the kisses more demanding as she shifted her body to straddle his and felt his body reacting to hers. Her hands worked to tug his shirt out of his dark jeans, unbutton his snug jeans and ran her nails up his chest as he hissed in pleasure. The kisses quickly turned hot and heavy as his hands disappeared under her purple skirt to join them as his lips sucked hard against her exposed neck as she began to rise and fall on his lap.

Both eyes remained closed and their breaths came out in pants till he bent down to nip harshly at her breasts through her tee shirt. Her eyes rolled back as his hips jerked upward twice more before stilling and holding her tight against his chest. The feel of something drip on his cheek and his head turned quickly to see tears rolling down her cheeks. "Oh, Hermione, I didn't think. Are you okay? Is -"

She cut him off as she pulled her wand out of the sheath on her arm and replied, "Yes, yes. Everything is fine."

With a couple flicks are swishes, their clothes became cleaned and straightened but she did not get off his lap as she enjoyed being safe in his strong arms. Draco's fingertips played with the small space on her back between the edge of her shirt and skirt. Sweetly he kissed the top of her head as he asked, "What are the tears for, love, if everything is fine?"

"Sometimes I wish I could have what they have. I mean, they can walk around the school hand-in-hand and no one would make a big deal about it. We can't do that. We have to remain, in the school's eye, just friends. I hate that. I don't want to hide my feelings for you. I am proud to be Mrs. Draco Malfoy. Yet, I can't even were a ring to show that I am happily taken."

"True, as much as I would love keep all the Hogwarts males away from you with your wedding ring, we can't. It not easy or fair that we have to hide this behind closed doors and in dark corridors but it's only until the end of the year.

"And don't think that what they have is so great. He couldn't be alone with her during the weeks that those two were at Grimmauld Place over the summer before you joined them. He also has to keep it clean because of the threat of all those brother weasels," her husband told her as he linked their hands together and brought them in between their chests. He looked in her eyes and whispered, "I've got a surprise for you. Now, I don't know the details but it seems that the Headmaster has allowed our rooms to be connected through Floo. So, Blaise can have all the handholding he wants. I get to sleep in the same bed as my beautiful wife every, single night."

Hermione smiled instantly at that bit of news and hugged him hard as the door of the compartment opened. A male voice stated, "And they talk about us being joined at the lips."

"Well, you missed the other bodily joining," Draco bit out as Hermione chuckled and raised her body off his lap. She then took the window seat across from Draco. It was okay to be seen together in the capacity of co-Heads and friends but nothing more, as per both sides of the war. Only a handful of people knew that they were married and a few less held the secret that they were both spies against Voldemort as marked Death Eaters.

Ginny covered her ears with her hands as they sat across from Blaise and next to her best friend as she hissed, "My virgin ears."

Both girls smiled as Draco then leaned over to Blaise and remarked, "You haven't broken in those yet either?"

Blaise nudged him hard in the ribs, as the small group knew that Ginny wanted to wait till Christmas holidays before losing her maidenhood. Of course, the Slytherin never dreamed of pushing her past her comfortable point but Hermione noticed that the redhead was getting tempted to move up the date, not that she would share that info to warn Blaise. Not that he would complain if she pounced on him sooner than December.

"Looks like the other students are starting to arrive," Hermione commented as she pulled her Charms text out of her bag. It was her second time through it but she wanted to make sure it was fresh in her mind. In the corner of her eyes, she noted that Draco had also pulled a school text out and the other two chatted about Quidditch techniques, again. Ginny had tried to convince him to tryout for the Slytherin team as Draco tried to talk him out of it. It seemed that Blaise had a fear of large crowds much like Ron, though he never admitted it but simply explained to his girlfriend that he needed to focus on his studies because of the N.E.W.T.s that were at the end of the year, which was true because he was closely behind Hermione in points and usually ended up in the top five of their year.

Her own thoughts drifted from Charms to the summer that was coming to a close. At the beginning of the summer Lupin, Draco and herself went to the Grangers' to explain everything that had happened over the past years and to clear up any confusion about the safety of their daughter. Her mother cried and hugged her tightly when she was told that the little girl that she raised and loved was now a married, young woman. They left out the details of their roles as spies for the Grangers' own safety. After cleaning and packing the things she wanted to take with her, Hermione hugged and kissed them as she promised to write more often. Of course, she was surprised when Mr. Granger actually shook Draco's hand with only one threat for bodily harm if the blond ever mistreated his pride and joy.

From there, they moved into Lestrange manor, now named Malfoy Manor deux, and were greeted by his parents, her mother, and, thankfully, Professor Snape. The house was ready for the young couple to take over and the rooms were ready for being lived in after many years of neglect. Bella lived in a smaller house that was part of her dowry when she got married to her belated, unloving husband.

After dinner and a tour, Bellatrix showed Hermione her family lineage and then the master suite. When the couple had stayed there the first time, the few rooms that were livable had been restored to their original condition. But it had seemed that her birth mother and new mother-in-law had quite a fun and tedious task of redesigning every room with new styles and bold colors. But Hermione's favorite room was their new bedroom. It was a beautiful shade of plum but the accents all over the room were in silver, pewter, black and various hues of purple. She had worried on Draco's reaction to the color but became surprised when she was told that he told them her favorite color so they could paint it that color.

The newlyweds had the whole house to themselves for a week as they celebrated their marriage and his birthday by breaking in every room on the large estate. For a week and a day till the end of August, Professor Snape trained them in all the ways to protect themselves from the Dark Arts through Occlumency and various books on the subject. But at the same time he had to train them in what the dark lord expected them to learn. The two also started to learn how to control when and how their natural earthy powers occurred. Draco, the power of the air, and Hermione, the power of the ground, were being taught the basics while Ginny, the power of the fire, and Blaise, power of the water, learned their basics from Remus at Grimmauld Place. Their training was to advance through the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor as soon as the school year started.

The group of four students went to Hogwarts under the cover of apprenticeships and Ginny's newly granted Medwitch training by Pomfrey. A few days ago, Snape and Bellatrix joined them for the one private meeting with Voldemort over the summer as she arrived in as Silver Draconis-Malfoy. Even though the small group and their cloaked master knew her true identity, Hermione remained in disguise just in case a death eater came into the room. Pettigrew had tried to interrupt more than once already. During the meeting, Voldemort made it clear that by the time they left Hogwarts as witch and wizard that they were to have become fully trained Death eaters. The dark lord informed that Draco would be joining Snape on a few 'activities' during the year but Hermione would not be expected to join them until June due to how she was raised. He gave her till summer to study up on the Dark Arts and to fully appreciate her almost pure blood and to be completely rid of her muggle upraising. Bellatrix and Snape both promised to help her in that area and all Dark Art training would be handled by the Potions Master since he was already in charge of Draco's continued training.

The compartment door opened and Draco's foot nudged hers to catch her attention to the new comers. Harry and Ron stood at the door, with not so pleased looks on their faces as they stared at Malfoy. Before the boys could say anything to start a fight, Hermione spoke up, "Hey guys. The Prefects meeting will start in about half an hour. Then I will come sit with you guys in a while after that to catch up. Ron and Ginny, can you get a hold of the new prefects to tell them to meet us here?"

Ron smiled and nodded as Ginny raised her hand to her brow to salute her as Head Girl. Her redheaded friend started down the corridor as Harry stared at her and smiled as he checked out her form-fitting outfit. Then he glanced back over to Draco, who was holding his book to hide his face but his wrists were tightly holding the book. Harry commented, "All right, Mione. Blaise, Ginny."

Ginny let out a sigh of relief as the compartment door closed but she got up right after. "Yeah, that was close. Okay, I'm going to see which Prefects my idiot brother forgot to tell."

"I thought we were allowed to call Ron an idiot?" Blaise asked and pulled out a text as the train whistle blew to signal that it was time to read.

"No, you are not allowed to call my family any names till you are part of the family. But I can call them anything I want. Got it? Good. Be back soon," she stated as she headed out of the small area.

Draco lowered his book as he mumbled; "Bring on male Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, Slytherins and Gryffindors, but I swear I'll hex Potter within an inch of his life if he-"

Blaise hushed him as a giggling group of fifth year girls passed by them and waved at the two cute Slytherins that sat with Hermione. Of course, both shook their heads and started to read again till the compartment door opened again. But it was not Ginny or Harry there, no it was someone that none of them recognized. The guy appeared to be a fourth or fifth year in Durmstrang uniform and held out a sealed scroll to Malfoy.

As the blond read the parchment, Hermione looked over the guy, who had dark black, shoulder length hair and piercing black eyes. Those eyes reminded her of Snape. Actually, his whole facial structure reminded her of the Potions Master minus the youth's normal size nose and clean, shiny hair. Draco rolled up the paper and stood with his hand outreached, "Well, it is good to meet you, Tempest. I shall inform my Head of House, Professor Snape, when we arrive about your sorting and placement. But no doubt, you'll be sorted into glorious house of Slytherin. As you know, I am Draco Malfoy and Head Boy."

Hermione choked back a laugh that caused all three boys to look at her. "Daniel Tempest, this is our Head Girl, Hermione Granger. A Gryffindor"

Tempest nodded at her and then took her hand to kiss it. Then he held it as he replied, "It is wonderful to meet you. Viktor told me a lot about the brilliant, Miss Granger when he heard I was transferring. "

"Yes, well, this is Blaise Zabini, as you can tell, also Slytherin," Draco commented as he stared at Daniel's hand in his secret-wife's hand.

"Nice to meet all three of you. When are Quidditch tryouts and who is the captain?" Tempest asked as he removed the outer brown robes.

Draco smirked and leaned against the window as he replied, "I am the captain and will be holding tryouts this weekend. What position are you thinking of going for?"

"I was planning on Seeker," the dark-haired newcomer commented with a proud smile and continued, "but I heard from my godfather that you held that position. I am also a good Keeper."

"Well, we'll see how good you are Saturday morning. Now, please excuse us. The Prefects meeting is about to start," the blond stated as Ginny tapped on the door closed behind him.

The young man nodded and left with a simple, 'Good day.' Ginny came in as the boy left and Hermione asked, "Did the letter say who was his godfather was?"

Draco sat down with a serious, deep in thought look as he said, "Yeah, this letter is a signed recommendation by his god father, the newly reinstated school governor, Mr. Lucius Malfoy, my father."

"Your father? Did he ever mention a Daniel Tempest or even being a godfather?" Blaise asked as he got up to leave before any of the Prefects came in.

Draco glanced to the three of them before he replied, "No. But I don't know everything about my father. That much is certain."

Hermione leaned forward and whispered, "Do you think we can trust him?"

"No," the blond replied as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Father kept him a secret for a reason. I'll owl mother and ask her."

His wife glanced towards the closed door and then said, "I'll ask her. She gave me a way of talking to her without your father knowing."

He smirked, "It seems other family members are keeping things from me."

Hermione put her robes over her outfit and straightened her Head Girl badge as she said, "Some things are on a need-to-know basis, Mr. Malfoy. And that was something between two women that you didn't, until now, need to know."

Blaise chuckled as he got up and Hermione expanded the compartment to fit the Prefects as Draco muttered, "Women."

To Be Continued