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Thank you for reading! I don’t own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy!
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Harriet Potter and Draco Malfoy stared at the innkeeper with their mouths open and their eyes wide.
“You have to be joking!” Harriet gasped.
“Are you refusing to rent a room to the son of a Ministry official?!” Draco spat.
Much had changed since the end of the war.
Draco and Harriet had become adults, leaving their Hogwarts days and old rivalry behind.
Mostly, anyway.
Yet never in her Auror training did Harriet think she would find herself traveling on a mission with Draco.
She rolled her eyes at the arrogant sneer that formed on his handsome face.
Some things never changed.
“No, sir. I’m not refusing to rent a room to anyone. I’m merely informing you we only have one left. Really! I’m not sure what the two of you expected! I run the only inn in the village and you show up on Halloween night demanding two rooms! Do you know how many tourists come through to look at the haunted bog near the river?” The innkeeper snapped, “You’re fortunate I have a room left at all!”
Draco clenched his jaw as Harriet nodded, “Sorry for the trouble, we’ll take it.”
The innkeeper nodded as Harriet handed over the coins to pay for the night while Draco glanced over at her with his eyebrows raised.
“If I don’t capture that vampire, I may as well not go back.” She murmured to Draco while she signed her name on the guest registry.
Draco swallowed thickly as he tried to ignore the hypnotizing beguile of her sweet scent.
He had loved Harriet from the moment they had met as children in Madam Malkin’s, twenty years ago.
Draco had never allowed himself to ponder that fact for very long, but once he had presented as an alpha in his fifth year and Harriet as an omega in her sixth, he knew he was doomed.
Lucius and Narcissa had not been pleased that he had refused every suitable girl they had set him up with, but Draco had decided he would rather be alone than to pledge himself falsely to anot-
“We’ll handle our trunks, thanks.” Harriet nodded at the innkeeper.
The subtle way that Harriet’s long, dark, messy hair tumbled over her shoulders as she spoke did not escape Draco’s notice.
Before she could move, he bent down, grabbed both of their trunks, and hurriedly followed the innkeeper up the narrow staircase.
Harriet frowned as she trailed behind them.
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Draco’s heart caught in his chest once he walked into the room and realized just how humble their lodgings were that night.
A single portrait hung on the wall.
A rustic desk and chair waited in one corner, a wooden screen in the other.
……….And against the wall, there was only one bed, cozy and warm-looking, but one all the same.
“Thank you.” Harriet nodded at the innkeeper before the portly woman nodded curtly, turned, and closed the door behind herself as she left.
Harriet said little to Draco as she sat down on the side of the bed and began to rummage through her bag.
If she had paid attention, she may have seen the longing look in his eyes as he walked over and started a fire in the hearth with a simple wave of his wand.
Harriet seemed too preoccupied with the contents of her bag to care.
As Draco sighed, he moved the curtains aside and glanced out the window at the bustling crowds that moved through the village streets below.
Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful Halloween.
Everyone except, it seemed, for him and Harriet.
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The silence became unbearable.
Draco tried once or twice to strike up a conversation but Harriet only gave him quick, one word replies.
When at last it came time to sleep, she went behind the wooden curtain to slip into her nightdress before she briskly walked across the small room and laid down under the covers.
“I want the right side.” She said simply.
Draco blinked.
“…….You’ll allow me in the bed?” He asked in surprise.
“Where else are you meant to sleep?” Harriet snapped.
“Not many unmated omegas let alphas crawl into their nests without purpose.” Draco chuckled as he raised an eyebrow.
“This isn’t my nest and I need you to be rested for tomorrow.” Harriet huffed, “We’ll be going into the catacombs…..I need you to have your wits.”
“I don’t understand why I even have to be here.” Draco grouched as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt, slipped it off, and laid it on the wooden chair next to the desk.
Harriet’s green eyes followed his every move with repressed interest.
He sighed as he revealed his bare torso to her, “Just because my family knew a great-great cousin of this vampire doesn’t mean I’ll be able to find him.”
“Apparently you will according to the Head Auror.” Harriet replied, “If he thinks so, then I agree with him. He’s brilliant, you know.”
Draco didn’t offer any answer as he took off his shoes, walked over, and slipped under the covers next to Harriet.
“If you touch me, I’ll send you flying through the window.” She warned as he put the fire out.
“I’m alot of things, Potter, but I’m not that.” He hissed.
Harriet said nothing else as she rolled over and went to sleep.
Draco stayed awake for some time as he frowned at the ceiling.
His childish dreams of love and happiness aside, he just wanted to take a moment to enjoy it.
It was possible they would capture their target the next evening and then Harriet’s quest would be over.
……….Which meant that singular night may be the only one they ever spent together.
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In his dreams, Draco could feel her.
Soft and wet, vibrating with a constant hum under his fingers and tongue.
He could taste her, sweet and salty as his nails dug into her flesh while his lips teased her to delightful exhaustion.
The deliciousness of her scent threatened to blind him until suddenly she slipped away with the rush of their passion.
Draco blinked as he opened his eyes and found himself still laying in darkness.
Harriet had managed to crawl on top of him.
He let out a quiet gasp as he marveled at her, her head on his chest, her arm over his shoulder, her leg across his.
Her hips so terribly close…..
Draco smiled at the subtle gift she had given him.
He couldn’t wake her, that would have been rude…….but that didn’t mean he couldn’t hold her either.
Determined to enjoy his privilege for as long as it would last, he nuzzled into Harriet’s perfumed, dark hair and wrapped his arms around her in a loving embrace.
His heart pounded with anxiety as he contemplated what her response may be upon finding her position when she woke in the morning.
Draco’s soul soared with the hope that she would finally acknowledge his feelings towards her.
He dared to dream.
Had she been keeping a secret all those years too?
Draco’s heart nearly burst as Harriet sighed in her sleep and cuddled into his grasp, as if she tried to get closer to him.
“I love you too.” He whispered in her ear.
Without any warning at all, Harriet suddenly raised her head to look at him.
Draco’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he stared into her brilliant, green gaze.
There were no more lies between them then, no pretenses, no expectations.
There was only Draco, Harriet, and the deafening quiet of the bedroom they shared.
“………..How did you know?” She asked in a hushed voice.
Draco’s chest heaved with a deep breath before he dove forward and captured her lips in a deep kiss.
Her hand was on his cheek as she pressed herself to him and returned his affection.
In the midst of his joy, he wondered if his darling would keep her job as an Auror much longer.
It seemed unlikely then that they would catch the vampire the next night as Draco had no intention of leaving the bedroom with his beloved he fully intended to claim as his mate.
That would be for the best, really.
Once their first baby was born, Draco knew he would prefer if Harriet spent her time with their little family.