Settling In

The sun was barely over the horizon when Bria popped into the bedroom where wizard, witch, and beasts slumbered soundly. She kneaded her hands together, hating to wake them, but her mistress had sent her to retrieve Hermione, since the seamstress was being welcomed into the Manor at that very moment.

"Master Draco," she tried quietly, her voice shaking.

"Bria, for the love of Merlin, what the bloody fuck are you doing in here at this hour?"

"Bria is to bring the young miss to Mistress for the fitting," the little elf said, trembling all over.

Draco let out a few choice swears and gently shook Hermione awake. Hermione on three hours of sleep had never been and would never be a pretty sight, and she grumbled menacingly.

"Sorry, Princess, you have to be fitted. Don't keep Mother waiting. I'll bring Acara in a moment." Draco maneuvered Hermione out of bed and into the grateful hands of Bria, who popped out of sight with Hermione as soon as she got a hold of her.

Thus began what Hermione would recall as the Bridal Fitting from Hell.

Upon arriving back at the Manor, Hermione was plied with several potions, including two doses of Pepper-Up and some that made her skin tingle and her hunger dissipate.

Then she was led into a room where she found Ginny and Luna being handed cups of tea. Acara came in after about half an hour. In the beginning, it seemed pretty standard. However, two hours later, the seamstress and her three assistants...all of whom were French...and Narcissa officially put Hermione on the war-path.

The five women all chatted in French. Only Luna knew any French, but Hermione and Ginny could pick up on the conversations from names they recognised, the gesticulations of the other women, and the general air of disappointment that the others displayed towards Hermione and her friends.

Hermione felt that she got the general complaints down to some very simple, petty things. Ginny was finely shaped enough, but her red hair was difficult. Luna was thin and willowy and couldn't fill out the robes Narcissa had chosen. Hermione was too tan, too rough in her feet, elbows, and hands, and most of all, wasn't pretty with short hair. They kept picking up her ringlets as if they were the most foreign of all things. Sometimes, the seamstress would pull on them none-too-gently to see how long they would go.

Finally, around ten-thirty, Narcissa mercifully summoned tea. When Hermione reached for a sandwich, Narcissa shoved a potion into her hand as they locked eyes. Hermione scowled but took the mysterious potion anyway. She drank it quickly, the little sandwiches teasing her with the promise of food, real food.

Hermione's pleasure in the first sandwich was short lived. It only took three minutes, but Hermione quickly realised that her easy, bouncy bob had turned into nearly five pounds of ringlets cascading down her back. Hermione jumped up, nearly upsetting the tea tray. Hermione roared at Narcissa, so shocked at what had happened that she couldn't even articulate.

Narcissa, on the other hand, merely sipped her tea in response, not even looking at Hermione. Hermione threw her arms up in exasperation and stormed out of the room, mindless of the fact that she was wearing only a sheer linen shift that had to be worn under the robes the seamstress was working on. Acara was all too happy to follow her out the door.

Fifteen minutes later, Hermione finally found Draco. He was in Lodus' addition of the aviary, lying on a hammock with Lodus on his chest. Draco was holding up little pieces of fish for the little hatchling to jump up and catch. If Hermione hadn't been incensed, she would have been charmed by the sight.

"Draco Calpernius Malfoy, I swear upon all things holy, if you don't stop your mother, so help me...!" Hermione stood a few feet away with her hands upon her hips and her hair streaming with little cinders. She had no idea that the light from the windows was hitting her in such a way that made the thin linen she wore totally and completely transparent.

From somewhere in the aviary, the quietly smug voice of Lucius rolled over Hermione's senses. "Ah! The dulcet tones of my son's bride!" Lucius chuckled, and the sound of a newspaper being fanned out followed.

Draco, whose blood had rushed toward his prick upon seeing Hermione storm the aviary, was completely dumbfounded until Lodus bit his finger in addition to the large chunk of fish that dangled from it. Draco groaned and scowled at his beast, who shied away guiltily. Draco, who had never really had a pet before, couldn't stay mad at the little dragon and was soon stroking the blue scales down its back. Lodus arched up into Draco's fingers as though he were a cat.

Having soothed the first wild beast, Draco turned to his fiancée. "What happened now?"

Hermione recounted the events of the morning, finishing off with the hair-growing potion, and then stood with her arms crossed and her toe tapping, silently fuming.

"But your hair is beautiful long," Draco said as he moved to stand in front of Hermione. He had to try his hardest not to leer at her too much. He ran his palm down the new length of her hair, finding that it felt like satin. On his second pass, he put out the cinders with water from his hand, the steam curling Hermione's hair even further as it rose.

Hermione sighed. He'd never get it. "Thank you. Yes, it is lovely. The point is that she didn't have to trick me into taking the potion. She could have simply said, 'Hermione, I think it would be lovely to put your hair up for the wedding, don't you?' 'Oh, yes, Narcissa, I was just debating that myself.' 'Excellent. I'll have Bria bring a potion,'" Hermione explained, moving to act out the roles of both herself and Narcissa. "See? Easy. But no, she couldn't just be straightforward, she had to trick me and make me do it. And there is no reason to belittle my friends. Luna is beautiful, and Gin looks excellent in navy. They both do."

Draco was looking at Hermione carefully. A part of him had been worried that, once she got back to Britain, she would be stubborn about all of these things, but things had really gone along relatively smoothly, apart from yesterday's disappearing act. She wasn't holed up in her room, or constantly off with Potty and the Weasel as he'd feared.

Hermione started to fidget under his gaze, suddenly realising where she was, whom she was with, and what she was wearing. She looked down and was shocked to see her nipples jutting jauntily from her breasts. They made the linen peak out and drop down slightly before the stitches for her robes brought it back in. She took a step away from Draco as she asked, "Will you please just say something to her? There's no need for what she's doing."

Draco looked at the earnest expression on his bride's face. It was too good to be true! However, the few short minutes they'd been together had brought Draco's lust to the forefront. He swiftly lunged forward and pulled her body against him. Hermione struggled a little, but once his lips found her neck, she took his treatment stoically.

"I will, Princess," Draco panted against the wet spot where he'd just marked her neck, "but I want you to do something for me."

Hermione pulled away from him warily. "What?" The next thing she knew, she was swept up and Apparated into her suite. Acara, who knew just what was about to happen, jumped up on the hammock and curled up, making a small nest into which Lodus could also curl.

---

In Hermione's suite, Draco pressed Hermione against the wall. "My father was in the aviary, and I didn't want him to... hear." Draco pulled away from Hermione's body only long enough to strip the linen dress off of her. Immediately after, he lifted her up and pressed her into the wall, wrapping her legs around him.

"Hear what?" Hermione asked, although even she had to admit that it was pretty obvious what was about to happen. Her friends were downstairs having to sit with Narcissa while she let Draco do whatever it was they were about to do, which was bad form on her part, but she'd make it up to them.

"I need to hear you cum again, Princess. Once was not enough, especially considering what happened after." Draco sealed his mouth over hers and palmed her breasts. She was ready for his kiss, though, and kissed him back. Draco moaned. "I could fucking slide my cock into you right now, Hermione," Draco said as he broke the kiss.

In response, Hermione rolled her hips into his, grazing the head of his cock. His hands clenched on her tits a moment. "Do it again, Princess." Hermione did, feeling deliciously empowered by rubbing the head of his cock with her core. Draco dropped his head and pressed his tongue flat against her breasts, laving them until Hermione shivered.

"Do you want me to fuck you?" Draco's hands slid to Hermione's ass.

Hermione nodded, squealing softly when his teeth scraped her nipples.

"Say it."

"I want you to fuck me," Hermione said slowly, letting the words drag out. Draco roared in approval and pulled her against him so they could move to the couch.

Once Hermione was under him, her hair fanned out over the pillow and armrest, and he'd literally ripped her knickers off, Draco began to lick and suck her whole torso. "Do you want to fuck me?" Draco asked again, needing to hear it when she wasn't pissed and hoping she wouldn't run. His hand slid over her pubic mound as he mapped her body by touch alone. What his fingers found was not the neatly trimmed hair from two nights ago, but a totally naked quim. Draco's head snapped to Hermione's crotch and then back to look at her face.

Hermione was shocked when his hand had covered her, and she became embarrassed by what Draco had found. She flushed beet red and closed her eyes tightly.

"No, no, no, Princess." Draco stroked her face gently until her eyes opened. "You shaved your beautiful quim for me, didn't you?" Draco could hardly control his lust-filled excitement. It was at this moment he became completely giddy that he was not marrying a blushing virgin.

"I like... erm, I like to really be able to feel it when there's something... ooh!" Hermione gasped as two of Draco's fingers sunk deep into her and moved immediately to work her skillfully. Hermione's orgasm crested shortly after, her body having been strung out to its limits in the past forty-eight hours. Draco pulled away from Hermione slightly. He enjoyed watching as her body arched upward in ecstasy. Her hair tossed softly and became mussed under her head, and her hands clenched the cushions. Slowing his fingers, he allowed her body to relax into the sofa.

Finally, Draco climbed off of Hermione and adjusted his erection carefully. He watched her the entire time. "It is taking every scrap of control I have to keep from taking you right now, Princess." Draco looked at his fingers; they were glistening with her release. He was in sensory overload. There were too many things he could do with those fingers now.

Hermione turned her head sleepily, her eyes only opening halfway. She lay across the sofa in post-coital glow until finally, rubbing her face with one hand, she tried to sit up. "I have to go rescue Gin and Luna from your mother."

"No... I think you need a nap." Draco was waiting for Hermione to realise that she was sitting in front of him totally naked. She must be at her wits' end to have overlooked such delightful, yet glaring, negligence. "I think we should put you to bed for a few hours."

"But my friends..." Hermione tried to reason, but she couldn't really think clearly enough to argue the point.

Draco Conjured a blanket and, after discreetly drying his fingers, wrapped it around Hermione. He easily lifted her up, and she curled into his body as he carried her from the sitting room to her bed. Once she was settled, he called for Bria.

"Please retrieve Acara and Lodus from the aviary."

Bria's eyes grew large, but she popped away nonetheless. Once she had popped back in with both beasts in tow, Draco looked thoughtfully at her for a moment. Acara had climbed into bed, and Draco thought that Lodus was more than tempted to join them; Draco could whole-heartedly sympathise.

"Please alert Mother that I will be downstairs in five minutes," Draco requested before making the necessary preparations to attend to his mother after bringing Hermione off. Finally, as Hermione was dozing on the bed, Draco sat down gently beside her. He fanned her hair out on the pillow.

Thinking she was already asleep, he caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers. He almost leapt out of his skin when she spoke.

"Is this what it was like the night after the Law passed?"

Draco paused to detect any negative emotions embedded in the query. Mostly, she sounded exhausted.

"Well," Draco swallowed loudly before continuing, "you are more beautiful now."

Hermione snorted before pressing her cheek further into the pillow. "Are you sorry for any of it?"

Draco let out a heaving sigh. "Princess, you ha..."

"Not Princess. Hermione." Hermione rubbed her eye, trying to sit up.

Draco stopped her, batting her hand away from her face and pressing her shoulder gently until she was lying down. "Hermione, I have done, and will do, everything I can think of to have you, and I don't regret a moment of it. I may have been misguided in convention, but I can't think of a better way of starting a life with you than what you have given us at the colony."

"So... no." Hermione turned away from him, curling around Acara instinctively. Her voice was definitely dejected now.

"This is not the time for this conversation," Draco sighed and pressed his fingers through the thick, dark chocolate-coloured curls. "Do you remember what I said at Potter's place this morning?"

"Mmmm..." Hermione mumbled, nearly asleep.

"You won't regret this, remember?"

Hermione nodded softly.

"Do you believe me?"

"I believe that you will try..." Hermione sighed. Draco knew from the hours he'd watched her sleep that she was completely asleep now. Would she remember any of it when she woke?

"I will do better than try." Draco stroked his hand through her hair once more before dimming the light and popping out of the room with Lodus curled in his arm.

---

When Hermione woke up, Acara was not in bed with her. Hermione panicked; she had slept so soundly that she had forgotten where she was, and the dimly lit room didn't register in her sleep-addled mind.

"Acara?" Hermione asked, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.

"She's over here," Draco called quietly. As Hermione's eyes adjusted and her brain caught up, she could make out the profile of what looked to be Draco Malfoy brushing her spirit beast. Apparently, she'd been teleported into an alternative universe.

On the pillow beside her, Lodus screeched softly, and Hermione turned her head. He turned and looked up at her with his head almost upside down. Hermione mimicked back to him, and he hopped three times to land in her lap before curling up.

"I sent Ginny and Luna shopping on my accounts and told them you'd catch up."

"Oh. All right." Hermione rubbed her eyes. Noticing that she was naked under the blanket, she covered herself up as well as she could without disturbing Lodus.

"Getting modest on me now? That's certainly a shift from traipsing through the Manor in, well, a shift." Draco stood up and set the brush on the coffee table.

Hermione's face flamed. It was even worse as Draco brought the lights up. It looked to be about mid-afternoon based on how the sun was beginning to set. The dull grey light was overcome by the warm heat coming off the torches.

Draco was pulling clothes out of her closet, though still paying very close attention to her. "I find it very endearing, Princess, that you'd shave your pretty cunt but then get embarrassed about your bosom being exposed, especially considering the last twenty-four hours."

Hermione scowled at him, but the arse simply smiled back as though they were old friends.

"Bria?" Draco asked as he walked from the closet to Hermione's bed, carrying the dusty blue robes that had caused the second snogging session the prior day. The house-elf popped in.

"Bria is here, Master."

"Are Misses Weasley and Lovegood finished shopping?" The elf popped away, coming back a moment later.

"Yes, sir, they is."

"Excellent. Do something with Miss Hermione's hair, please, while I find shoes. Nothing special, she'll be meeting her friends at the spa."

Bria snapped her fingers, and Hermione's hair was in twin knots low on either side of the back of her head, the knots themselves made up of loose braids. When Draco turned around, he stopped suddenly. Hermione was lovely.

He looked at the lace-up boots in dark blue suede, and Draco couldn't wait to see the ensemble on her. The robes would end just below the knee, fanning out in gentle swirls when she walked. The torso was fitted and was made of fabric spelled to not need any undergarments. Setting her things inside the loo, Draco lifted Lodus from her lap and moved to let her pull the light blanket around her protectively.

"Get ready, and I'll Apparate you." Draco looked her with a smug grin and mirth in his eyes. "Don't worry about being too fresh, you are going in for a full treatment. Same as you were supposed to have yesterday."

Hermione looked at him and then at the floor guiltily. Without a word, she went to the loo to change and get ready to see her friends.

---

"You should have seen her face when Draco quietly threatened to elope!" Ginny squealed from her mud bath. She was recounting the parts of the morning that Hermione had missed. "I thought his mum was going to implode, starting at her pinched lips. Honestly, 'Mione, I have never seen a man stand up to his mother like that before."

"You just mean that your brothers don't stand up to your mum that way. You forget that this is Malfoy." Hermione gently poked the eye mask to keep it in place. "Tell me again about what he said to the seamstress; you got sidetracked."

"Oh! Yes! Right!" Ginny couldn't help but sit forward and pull the mask from her face, setting it atop her hair. "So, Draco comes in, and he motions for her to come over, and they start speaking in French. Draco kept asking questions, and the woman's face got sourer and sourer."

"Sourer? Rerer Erer?" Hermione giggled and teased Ginny.

Ginny pulled a face and continued her story, "Finally, Draco says something about Blaise, and all of a sudden, it's as if he'd threatened to tear her limb from limb, and she couldn't do enough to apologise!"

"Luna...Blaise? Really?" Hermione turned from Ginny to the girl across the room. They were alone in the room despite the fact that it could easily serve twenty.

"Possibly. I've made it very clear to him that I am not going to settle down any time soon, though."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Hermione asked, pulling her mask off as well.

"You had enough on your plate, with the Dragon." Luna giggled and moved to ring the bell for service. "It's really much more casual than Ginny and Malfoy make it sound. We only became exclusive a few days ago. Before that, I was also entertaining two or three other blokes. The Marriage Law has certainly made my blood status much more desirable."

"Just barely a half-blood." Hermione nodded grimly. "I would have loved to know, though, Luna. I feel horrible that you felt like you had to censor things from me. Promise you'll tell me in the future?"

Luna nodded as a witch and three house-elves came and ushered the girls to the next phase of their treatment.