A New Beginning

Hermione Granger stared at the sky with a baleful expression on her pale face. The first Valentine's Day after the defeat of Voldemort and it has to rain, she thought to herself, then smiled with a hint of sadness. Then again, perhaps it is only fitting. For though the war was over, there was still a cloud that hung over most of the Wizarding World, a cloud that took the form of grief, as families mourned for their loss. Hermione had her own loss to mourn. Her two best friends had been claimed by the war, one in death, and the other lost in his own grief, so removed from himself that he may as well be gone. Hermione had tried to talk to him, but to no avail. His once beautifully expressive green eyes now held a blankness that frightened her, and Hermione had found herself spending more and more time in the library, surrounded by the books that were the only things she could understand lately.

The truth was that Hermione could no more communicate with Harry than he could with her. It was as if Ron had brought them together, and now that he was gone, there was no reason for either of them to care anymore. There was no more laughter; only tears and sadness, and suddenly Hermione was suffocated by it. Jumping up from her perch by the window, she ran out of the library as fast as her legs could carry her. Blind to where she was headed, it took her a moment to realize that she had left the castle entirely, and was running outside, the rain wetting her face and hiding her tears, for which she was grateful. She wasn't sure if she was weeping for Harry, Ron, or herself, and she had no desire to explain her tears to anyone who might find her.

As it happened, she found them. Still running from something she couldn't name, eyes blurry from tears and rain, she barely saw the vague black shape in front of her before she was running headlong into it.

Hermione started to fall backwards with the force of the impact, but hands grabbed her and held her upright, and now she blinked back the water in her eyes and peered up at her rescuer. Two grey eyes looked back at her, set deep in a pale, pointed face that for once wasn't smirking or sneering. There was a crop of white-blonde hair on his head, and Hermione knew that she was looking up at none other than Draco Malfoy, the last person that she needed to see right now. Hermione wanted to pull herself away from him and run as far away as possible, but she couldn't. Those eyes held her...their sadness reached into her and tore. They were the eyes of someone who had lost all hope, someone who was merely existing from day to day. Harry's eyes...Hermione could no more turn away from those eyes and their silent pain than she could go back to the bossy know-it-all that she had once been.

Malfoy stared right through her, seeing nothing, and Hermione felt fresh tears well up in her eyes. So much pain...where did it all end? Wasn't the world after Voldemort supposed to be brighter than this? Would it ever turn out all right? Realizing that her arms were still in the blonde boy's grasp, Hermione gave a small tug, but to no avail. "Malfoy?" she said softly, and suddenly, Malfoy's eyes focused on her, as if really seeing her for the first time, and he let go of her arms. Stepping away from her, without a word he turned and walked away, leaving her to stare after him.

Malfoy had also changed after the war. Both of his parents were dead, and no one would take in the son of a Death Eater, even if said son had never received the Dark Mark himself. Just when the situation began to look desperate, Professor Snape had stepped forward to claim the boy, ending the debate on where he should be placed. However, Snape was not the best parent in the world, as he didn't know how to comfort the boy and pretty much left him to his own devices. As such, Malfoy had become more and more secluded, not speaking to any of the other students, and Professors only if he had to. He wandered around the school with a lost expression on his face, and sadly there was no one who really noticed, so wrapped up in their own problems they were.

Hermione herself hadn't noticed until just a few moments ago, but now that she had, she couldn't let him walk away without trying to help. She didn't bother asking herself if she was doing this more for Harry than Malfoy as she ran up to him grabbed the back of his robes. The only thing she was sure of was that he wasn't as far-gone as her best friend, and that maybe she could help him.

Malfoy whirled around when she grabbed his robes, a trapped expression on his face and fear in his eyes. When he realized who it was that had grabbed him, the fear died down, to be replaced with a calm disinterest once again overlaid by sadness. Sighing slightly, he asked, "What do you want?" his voice rusty with disuse, so different from the cold, calm drawl he had used before all this.

Right then Hermione decided that she would make him see her...would help him the way that she could not help Harry.

Looking right up into those cold, dead eyes, she replied, "To help."

Draco laughed humorlessly. "Help what?" he asked, not even looking at her anymore...rather, he was looking at the Quidditch pitch, his eyes detached. He started to walk away, but as Hermione hadn't let go of his robes he was forced to turn back at look at her.

"Let go," he demanded, and Hermione was gratified to hear the slight tinge of anger in his voice.

Shaking her head she replied, "Make me."

He glared at her for an instant and she thought she had reached him, but then he simply shrugged out of his robes and resumed walking towards the pitch. Suddenly furious with his unwillingness to care and her inability to change that, Hermione snapped, "You know what, Malfoy? I'm glad your family's dead." As soon as the words were out she regretted them, and she slapped a hand over her mouth, horrified that she had just said something so awful. Since when had bookworm Hermione Granger been that cruel to anyone?

She had no time to ponder this, as she was suddenly confronted by a sight that both gladdened and frightened her. Malfoy had swung around to face her, his eyes furious, his face twisted in an expression so full of hate that Hermione feared for her life. "Oh, really?" he asked softly, voice filled with as much hate as his voice. He began to stalk towards her slowly, and Hermione turned to run, only to find that Malfoy had pulled out his wand as he immediately put a body-binding jinx on her. When he finally reached Hermione he released her from the spell and grabbed the front of her robes to drag her up, lifting her off her feet so that she was eye to eye with him.

"Don't you ever, ever say anything about my parents, you Mudblood filth," he hissed, and Hermione felt her own eyes widen in anger with the name. Swinging her right foot, she kicked him as hard as she could. With a surprised grunt, he let go of her robes and she tumbled to the ground.

Glaring hatefully up at Malfoy, she snapped, "Fuck you, you disgusting pureblood bastard. All I wanted to do was help you, you arrogant piece of shit. But no, you're the Great Draco Malfoy; just cant let a lousy Mudblood help you. You know what your problem is, Malfoy? You are a--"

"Shut up", Malfoy ground out furiously. "Shut up, shut up, shut up! You don't know anything, you stupid little bint. Who the hell do you think you are?" Grabbing Hermione by the arms he shook her so hard her head snapped back, then he simply held her in his vice like grip, not even seeing her as he screamed. "You thought you could help me, eh? Thought I'd be your good deed for the day or something? Well guess what, Mudblood? I don't want or need your help, so just bugger off!" He glared down at her, and Hermione glared right back.

"Yes you do," she told him defiantly. "You need somebody's help, Malfoy, and I seem to be the only one who can put up with your foul presence!"

Malfoy laughed darkly. "Foul?" he questioned in a soft voice that Hermione didn't like at all. "Well let's see how foul I can be, shall we?"

And suddenly, shockingly, his mouth was on hers, a brutal tongue forcing its way past her lips and into her mouth, plundering savagely. With a small muffled cry Hermione tried to pull away, but Malfoy held her arms and wasn't about to let go. He kept kissing her, not making any attempts to be gentle, and Hermione began to cry again, the tears mingling with the still falling rain on her cheeks as she allowed her body to go slack and motionless against him.

As soon as she did, Malfoy removed his hands from her arms, and before Hermione could react placed them on her waist, pulling her into his body. The kiss changed as well; it became softer, gentler, less a punishment for bothering to care, and more...a thank you perhaps, Hermione thought as Malfoy continued to kiss her. Her eyes were wide open and she stared into his face, noting how his eyes were tightly shut. She now noticed how he was clutching at her waist, how the lips clinging to hers seemed almost desperate, as though he were seeking something he'd lost. Deciding that she would help him, Hermione wrapped her own arms around Malfoy's neck, closed her eyes and began to return the kiss.

Malfoy made a soft sound in the back of his throat like a whimper, and the hands holding her waist tightened convulsively, so that Hermione let out a small hiss of pain. He didn't relax his grip at all, though, and Hermione wondered if he'd even heard it. No matter, though, she decided as she kissed him. What mattered was the Malfoy seemed to be feeling something again...the way he was holding her and kissing her and the hardness resting against her belly all proved that point, and she was glad.

Malfoy's mouth left hers, and Hermione steeled herself for the reaction she was sure to get when he realized whom he'd been kissing so feverishly. Keeping her eyes closed, she waited for it, and was surprised when it never came, and doubly so when she felt hot lips press to the side of her neck. Giving a small gasp at just how good it felt Hermione tilted her head, allowing Malfoy better access to her throat. She felt him smile against her skin before tracing his lips down her neck, stopping to swirl his tongue into the hollow of her throat, biting her collarbone. Hermione gasped again, and her head fell completely back; her hands found their way into Malfoy's hair and held him there. She'd been kissed before of course, and she'd even gotten so far as to have let Viktor fondle her chest, but it had never felt like this, and Hermione realized that she too needed this...she needed to let go for just a little while.

With this in mind, she didn't stop Malfoy when he pushed her robes off of her shoulders and began to unbutton her blouse; rather, she returned the favor. Soon his shirt joined hers on the ground, and her bra followed soon after. The rain was cold as it touched her heated skin, but soon Malfoy's mouth was mapping every inch of said skin, and she could do little more than clutch at his shoulders as combination of hot mouth and cold rain drove her wild. Malfoy sucked a nipple into his mouth; her knees gave out and she fell, pulling him with her to lie on the damp grass, her legs instinctively wrapping around his waist, causing him to grind into her with a moan. She arched up into Malfoy, and pulled his head back up to her mouth for another kiss before starting her own exploration of the heated flesh pressed so tightly to hers. When her lips touched Malfoy's neck, he gave a small gasp and feeling a small sense of empowerment, Hermione flipped him so that she was now straddling his waist and he was lying beneath her, looking at her through eyes nearly black with lust.

He tried to pull her down for a kiss, but Hermione stopped him with a small shake of her head. She bent down and fastened her lips to his neck again, taking a page out of his book as she bit softly, causing Malfoy to give a soft moan and arch his neck up to her mouth. Feeling again the sense of empowerment, Hermione trailed her mouth all along his chest, relishing every sound Malfoy made and determined to hear him make more. Curious, Hermione sucked one of Malfoy's own nipples into her mouth, biting it softly and wondering if Malfoy's reaction would be anything like hers.

It was better. With a low growl, Malfoy flipped Hermione so she was once again lying under him, and crushed his mouth to hers in deep, demanding kiss. Hermione returned the kiss with fervor, hardly noticing when his hands moved down to get rid of the rest of the garments separating them. It was only when she felt his hardness start to slip inside her that she realized what was happening, and fear entered her eyes and body and suddenly she was fully aware of what she was doing and did she really want this? Did she?

Frightened, she pushed at Malfoy's chest frantically, and he opened his eyes slowly to look at her. Reading the fear in her eyes he smiled gently, and brushed her hair out of her eyes, which were blinking furiously against the rain. "Relax," he whispered, and kissed her, his mouth moving gently over hers, calming and coaxing a reply out of Hermione. Sighing, she gave in and lost herself in this kiss that was so much gentler than the others, full of tender understanding. Malfoy broke the kiss and looked down at her, his whole face a question. She gave a small smile and a nod, and Malfoy once again positioned himself over her. "Relax'" he whispered again, and thrust inside.

And it hurt. Oh, how it hurt, the pain slicing through her and making her cry out, the tears once again forming in her eyes and running down her cheeks. Oh, she was torn, torn, and there was no one to mend her, and it hurt, and how on earth could anyone find this pleasurable when there was so much pain, the blinding pain, and there was no way that she'd ever do this again, oh, no, no...

Hermione closed her eyes and curled her hands into the grass, grasping it tightly as the pain tore through her, pain that wasn't as easily fixed as a scrape or even a broken arm. She wasn't sure that she would be able to continue this, but surprisingly the pain started to leave almost as soon as it came, fading into a memory that she knew would eventually leave her, to be replaced with a feeling of slight discomfort, which she figured was only natural, considering that she now had something completely foreign inside her body.

Tentatively, Hermione moved her hips just the tiniest bit, and was surprised to feel a small dart of pleasure go through her when she did. Encouraged, she moved her hips again, and again the pleasure shot through her body. Hermione gave a small gasp and rocked her hips again, and the control Malfoy had been using not to move broke.

Grasping her hips in his hands, Malfoy began to move against her urgently, using his hands to help Hermione match his pace, which she did eagerly. The small shards of pleasure she was feeling joined together and coiled, coiled inside her belly, and as they kept moving and it kept coiling Hermione began to be afraid. Surely that much anticipation wasn't normal...surely it should stop coiling by now. She was so afraid that this would continue forever until she snapped, and then she would just lie there, a broken doll forgotten and withered away. But then she felt it; the coil tensing, ready to spring, and as Malfoy let out and incoherent scream of pleasure and she felt something shoot out of him and into her; hot and wet and somehow perfect, the coil sprang, and Hermione was flying, and oh, Gods, she was never going to come down as pure pleasure shot through every nerve she had and exploded at her toes and fingertips and oh, oh, oh, there was no better feeling in the world and now she got it, she understood what all the fuss was about, oh, yes, the pain was nothing compared to this...

Slowly, Hermione came down, and as she opened bleary eyes she realized with some amazement that the sun had come out; poking through the clouds it spoke of a new day, a new beginning, and she felt more optimistic about the future than she had in a long time. And Malfoy had given that to her. The thought made her realize that the boy was no longer resting on her. She looked over to her left, and there he was, sleeping on the wet grass, his mouth curved into a contented smile. Hermione smiled as well with the knowledge that she had put that expression on Malfoy's face...she had brought feeling back into his eyes, just as she'd intended. Knowing that she really couldn't stay there, Hermione quickly put her clothes back on, acutely aware of the pleasant ache between her legs. When she was finished dressing she covered Malfoy with his robes, wanting to wake him but unsure of the reaction she would receive if she did so. She wanted what had happened to remain a good memory for him, and if he woke and saw her, it might not stay that way. So she simply covered him with his robes and, giving into temptation, kissed the smiling mouth softly and whispered, "Happy Valentine's Day, Draco."

~****~

The next morning Hermione arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast a bit late. She'd been so exhausted the day before that she'd simply gone up to her room and fell asleep, and there she had stayed until an amazed Lavender Brown had woken her up that morning, declaring that she'd never thought she'd see the day when Hermione slept in. Hermione had jumped up, gazed blearily at the clock, and realized that breakfast was nearly half over. That had propelled her out of bed and into the shower quite quickly, and now here she was, robes messy and hair still wet from the shower, sliding into her place with about ten minutes to eat. She looked at what little food was left on the table and gave a small groan, looking up at the ceiling of the Great Hall, which was today decorated with floating candles.

Oh well, she thought, I suppose it's my own fault for sleeping in. Fully prepared to wait until lunch to eat, Hermione started to stand up, but was prevented from doing so by a hand on her arm. Curious, she looked over at the person detaining her, only to be met with shy green eyes. "I saved you a plate'" Harry said softly, pushing it towards her, and Hermione was amazed to see it filled with all of her favorite breakfast foods. Harry was waking up...her eyes filling with tears, Hermione threw her arms around Harry and sobbed into his shoulder, and was happy to feel Harry return the hug slowly. Leaning back, Hermione brushed the tears from her eyes and whispered, "Thanks." Harry shrugged and gave her a small, pained but genuine smile, and Hermione knew that he would be all right.

The thought made Hermione's eyes flicker toward the Slytherin table, and another boy who she hoped would be okay. He was looking at her as well, and when their eyes met Hermione thought he would look away, but he didn't. Instead he smiled, and mouthed something that let her know that yes, things would be better...

"Happy Valentine's Day, Hermione."