Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Voldemort Free Universe
6 May 1997
(6th Year)
Hermione
Hermione Granger sat bouncing her leg at the Gryffindor breakfast table. She kept glancing at the Slytherin table nervously, waiting for something.
“It’ll be okay, Hermione,” Harry said, passing her some toast and her favorite marmalade to try to distract her.
“What, is that blond prat going to drop her now that Mummy and Daddy know?” Ron asked rather insensitively. Hermione’s knee, which had paused its movement as she considered the toast, began bouncing again.
Harry glared at Ron. “What? That’s what has her in this state, isn’t it?”
“He is not going to ‘drop you,’ Hermione.” Ginny added, also glaring at her brother. “That boy adores you. He’d drop his inheritance for you in a hot minute.”
“I don’t want him to have to give up his inheritance. Or his relationship with his parents. Even if they are bigots.” Hermione said.
Hermione and Draco had been in the midst of a secret relationship for over a year. It just turned out that they weren’t very good at keeping it a secret. Draco’s friends clocked in on it almost immediately.
“He was always looking at you across the Great Hall like he wanted to tear into you with his teeth.” Theo had told her later. “And in class, and in the halls…you get the picture. And let’s not pretend you weren’t checking out his ass in his Quidditch Uni.”
She wouldn’t pretend that she hadn’t been. She used to only attend if Gryffindor played to support her friends. Starting in fifth year, Hermione started tagging along with the others to all of the games except the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw match. She spent that game making use of the mostly empty castle to “study” with Draco.
While Ginny had been suspicious for a while, it wasn’t until November of 6th year that her lot confirmed what was happening. Harry had seen her and Draco’s dot on top of each other in a storage closet on that intrusive map of his. Concerned that she was being intimidated and bullied, he had come running, wrenching open the closet door.
She and Draco had been grinding on each other on the other side, so they came spilling out onto the floor, Draco on his back beneath her. Hermione was topless. Draco reached up and grabbed each breast to preserve her modesty. Hermione had rolled her eyes and pulled him up to shield her with his body while she summoned her shirt.
“What the fuck, Potter?” Draco had growled at Harry while she pulled on her top.
Harry was bright red with embarrassment. “I–I’m sorry, I didn’t think–I didn’t think it would be this.” He exclaimed, gesturing to the two of them.
There had been some arguments in the Gryffindor common room after that, but they had had months to come to terms with their relationship by now. Everything had gone pretty smoothly for them after that. They didn’t have to make excuses to explain away their absence. Anyone who might care where they were knew who they were with and had some idea of what they were doing, even if they would groan about it.
Then, last night at dinner, Draco had received a Howler from his father. Hermione wasn’t sure of the full extent of the Howler because Draco had quickly left the Great Hall with it so as not to further the spectacle. It was clear to everyone in the room what the Howler had been about though.
Everyone in the Great Hall, including the staff, had turned to look at her, some in surprise, some in schadenfreude. Hermione had buried her face in her hands. Harry, the consummate gentleman, had helped escort her away.
Now, Draco entered the Great Hall. His eyes immediately met hers. Instead of crossing left towards the Slytherin table like he normally would, he took a hard right and headed straight for her at the Gryffindor table.
“Scoot, Potter.” He demanded, shoving himself in the space between them. Draco took her hands and held them in his lap. “I am so sorry, Hermione.” he said, ducking his head to make sure she was looking into his eyes. “They will get over it, and if they don’t, I don’t fancy having them in my life anyway. I pick you. I’ll always pick you.” Draco wrapped her in a hug and buried his face in her hair.
There was a collective “awww” from some of the Gryffindor girls. He had won them over pretty fast, Hermione thought with a chuckle.
Draco plated himself some eggs and sausage and pretended that nothing was amiss or different. “Are you ready to go to the Ministry?” Draco asked conversationally.
The two of them had landed an apprenticeship in the Department of Mysteries with the arithmancy project the two had worked on together during the fall term. Professor Septima Vector had advocated hard for them to be allowed to go even though the position was generally reserved for 7th years only and they were only 6th years.
“You are a brilliant team, and I think you can do great things together.” Vector had said.
After an intense background check and a number of strict nondisclosure agreements, the two had been allowed to start working in the DOM every Friday. They were still required to produce work through independent study for Arithmancy and their other elective, Ancient Runes for Hermione and Divination for Draco.
When they finished up breakfast, Draco offered her his hand to help her off the bench. Now that the jig was up, they continued holding hands on the way to Professor Vector’s floo, which had special authorization to connect with the Ministry for their apprenticeship. They received a handful of winks, whistles, and teasing comments as they walked the halls.
The day-to-day of their apprenticeship in the timeroom was less glamorous than one might imagine. They sat at a table and mostly ran equations through a simulator. Hermione had been fascinated by time travel ever since Professor McGonagall had allowed her to use a time turner in third year to be able to accomplish all of her coursework. She had mostly used it only for its intended purpose, with a few minor overreaches. She had used it on multiple occasions to take naps, for instance.
She had also used it to free Buckbeak the Hypogriff from execution. Thinking of this, she sent her workmate a glare.
“What could I have possibly done?” Draco asked, taking in her look.
“Buckbeak,” Hermione said. Draco rolled his eyes.
“I’ve apologized for that enough. Besides, the chicken is off living its best life. No harm, no fowl.” He wiggled his eyebrows to indicate the pun.
Hermione grinned in spite of herself.
“Besides, you got me back with that slap to the face. I’m pretty sure that was my sexual awakening.”
Hermione tipped her head back and laughed. “You liked that, did you?”
Draco’s eyes fixated on the exposed column of her neck. “Yeah, I did.” he said in a dark purr.
Hermione tried to get them focused back on their work, but they were both distracted now. Draco reached his foot under the table and suggestively ran it up her ankle. They made eye contact and he jerked his head to the side. Their current work table was within view of their supervisor who was hard at work on some contraption that was above Draco and Hermione’s paygrade (which was nothing).
Hermione gave a small nod and they casually walked out of view. Draco opened the knob of a room that Hermione had never noticed before and pulled her in by the hand. She was just about to protest that they probably shouldn’t be in here, when Draco’s mouth latched onto her neck. She moaned instead, digging her finger tips into his shoulders.
Draco backed her into something large, and a metal protrusion dug uncomfortably into her back. She shifted slightly to find a more comfortable position. Satisfied, she wrapped her arms around Draco’s neck and played with the silky hair at the base of his neck as they kissed. Draco considerately slid his thigh between her legs so she had something to move against. The friction was mind numbing. Draco’s hands held her low on her hips and helped her roll against him.
Eventually, his hand trailed up over her hip, into the dip of her waist, and back up towards her breast. He lowered the strap of her bra and dipped his hand into Hermione’s top, kneading her breast as he introduced his tongue to her mouth, sliding it firmly against hers. When his thumb brushed over her peaked nipple, Hermione jolted, reaching back for something to support her. Her hand pressed down on the lever behind her and then everything changed.