all characters belong to JKR

Chapter 12 – Three Become One – by the Author

WHAT WAS SHE THINKING? This had to be a mistake. She was nervous and full of anxiety. As soon as they arrived at the hotel, Draco insisted that she take a nice, long bubble bath to relax. Instead of relaxing, the long bath only gave her more time to think, which gave her more time to worry, and to doubt her decision.

After she finished bathing, she opened the bathroom door just a crack. She was self-conscious wearing nothing but a red, silk robe that Draco had left for her. She clutched it securely around her waist, cinching the belt so tightly that she winced in pain. Draco wore a black silk robe and Harry midnight blue. She spied the man in the blue robe staring out the window, fiddling with the cord of the window blind. The other man sat in a chair in the corner, one of his bare, long legs wobbling up and down in nervous expectation. Was it possible that they were as anxious, nervous, and worried as she?

Hermione stepped out of the bathroom and looked at the candles burning all around the hotel room and she bit her lip in anticipation. The glow of the candles turned the colour of her skin to a shimming golden hue. Both men stopped what they were doing to look at her. Draco's mouth opened, but no words came out. He was awestruck. Harry's mouth closed in a firm, thin line. He was dumbstruck. Draco hopped hastily off the chair and approached her just as quickly. In fact, she was startled by his sudden movement and took a step backwards. He steadied her with a hand to her arm, then smiled and presented her with a white rose. Instead of merely handing it to her, he brushed the silken petals smoothly along her cheekbone, down her nose, to her lips. Back and forth across her lips the rose moved. The fragrance was heady and exotic. She sighed as the rose moved from her lips down her collarbone, along the outside curve of her silk covered breasts.

Her nipples immediately hardened. She closed her eyes. How was she going to get through this night?

Harry walked up behind her and let the knuckles of his right hand move down the curve of her spine. She shivered. Draco stood in front of her, the rose dropping from his hand, as he moved to loosen the tie of the silk robe around her waist.

All she could think was 'WAIT'! Was it going to happen now, this fast, just like that?

"Wait…" Hermione began. "I want to say something." Harry stepped away, and moved to face her. He sat on the edge of the bed to wait to see what she had to say.

Draco moaned and moved away from her as well and said, "I thought we agreed last night that we weren't going to talk about things too much. I'm a man of action, Granger, not words."

Harry snorted. Draco gave him a dirty look and a two-finger salute.

When they were agreeing to terms last night, they had agreed not to talk excessively. Draco had insisted on that provision. He said it was fine if Hermione wanted to say simple things such as "Yes," and "No," and "My that's big," but he didn't want to have a full-blown discussion before or during sex. He joked that he would be pleased to take a quiz afterwards, especially if it was an 'Oral Quiz'. Harry laughed at that. Hermione was oblivious to his double entendre, and said, "I don't think testing will be necessary." Draco and Harry both laughed after she said that.

Draco also joked that Hermione would probably want to analyze everything they did, and would want a question/answer period after each new thing was introduced. Harry laughed again, and again he agreed to that. Hermione didn't care. If she wanted to talk, she would, Wizard's Oath or not.

They also agreed that Hermione could stop or change her mind at any time, at any point. Harry insisted on this stipulation. Hermione thought that was sweet.

Each man made several more requests last night while Hermione remained mostly quiet. After all talking ceased, Harry lifted his wand and proceeded to 'seal the deal' of their 'Wizard's Oath' when Hermione lifted her hand to stop him. Harry looked at her expectantly, and Draco looked at her guardedly as she said, "Wait, I have something to say."

"Of course you do, love," Draco had said, even as Harry urged, "Go on, Hermione."

"First, I really do think this is right. I'm not ashamed of this, or embarrassed. I don't think it's wrong, and I'm not ever going to regret this, but I have one request."

Both men waited. She finished, "I don't want us to ever forget the fact that I love you both. In different ways, but still, I love you both, and no matter what my choice would have been, this is still how I would have wanted this to happen."

Draco smiled. Harry nodded. She was quick to add, "Oh, and if either of you ever breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll hex your balls off."

"That would indeed be unpleasant, and not something I would relish," Draco teased. "Also, it might be hard to perform tomorrow night if that were to occur. Believe me; I don't intend ever to tell a soul. In fact, you can Oblivate my memory later."

"I insist you Oblivate mine," Harry also kidded.

"Fine," Hermione agreed. They made their promise to each other, sealed it with magic, and then they met the next night here at this Muggle hotel. It was a beautiful room. Draco paid for everything. Harry let him. Harry decided that since Draco had won the girl, he should foot the bill.

Now, tonight, as she announced she had something more to say, the men's attitudes were slightly different. Each man was chagrined, for different reasons. Harry was afraid that she had changed her mind. He had made the rule that she could, if she so wanted, at any time, but he sorely hoped that she would not. If she had, then he might never have this chance again, since she had 'picked' Malfoy as the man with whom she was in love.

Draco was afraid that her famous Gryffindor courage was beginning to waver and that she would want to remain a virgin until marriage, or some such folly. If that were the case, he would get down on bended knee right now and pop the question and they would marry tonight. Seriously. Potter could be the maid of honour.

Hermione looked at both men, sitting side by side on the edge of the bed. She held the robe together with her hand, though it was still tied, and said, "I don't think I adequately explained to either of you last night, or even the night I made my choice, as to why I want this happen this way."

"ARRGGHH!" Draco said in a strangled, sounding moan. He fell back on the bed, looked up at the ceiling, and said to no one in particular, "Why me?"

Harry looked over at Malfoy and said, "So eager to have sex with me, Malfoy, that you can't allow her to have her say?"

"Listen, Scarboy," Draco drawled, "those are the types of insensitive jokes that we all agreed we wouldn't make to one another, remember? If we belittle this, it won't work."

Harry grinned, cocked his head toward Draco while looking at Hermione, and said, "Listen to Mr. Sensitive. Look, in the end, Hermione, either we do this or we don't, and we can talk to death the reasons forever, but the reasons don't really matter to either of us. We'll do this because we want to, and because you want us to do it."

"But in a way, Draco's right, though," Hermione said sadly. She sat between the men and sighed. "This probably won't really work, will it?"

When neither man said anything, Hermione stood back up and said, "Still, I want to explain my thought processes to you both, please? It won't take long, and I really feel compelled to tell you."

"But why does it matter, Hermione?" Draco asked. "Not that I agree with the boy I wish hadn't lived, but the reasons are moot. We both want this, your way, no matter what."

"It's important to me," she explained. "I just want to make a little speech and then we can proceed."

Both men moaned at the mention of the word 'speech', each expecting Hermione to give them a sarcastic look of some sort. When she gave them a 'hurt' expression instead, Harry said, "I'm sorry," while Draco said, "Have at it, love."

The men stared up at her from the bed, both quiet, in rapt attention, and she began. "I had a dream…"

Draco moaned again.

"Stop it, Draco!" Hermione fussed.

"Is this going to take long?" Draco asked. He looked over at Harry and said lightly, "I think she stole this speech from some deceased African American Muggle. He had a dream speech, too, and it was a bloody long speech, though quite eloquent. I doubt it had anything to do with threesomes, however. I thought it had to do with racial inequality." Both men let out loud waves of laughter. Hermione couldn't help but smile as well, even as she stomped her foot and told them to shut up.

"Stop it, both of you! It's not funny! I know you're trying to alleviate some of your pent up stress, but you shouldn't make fun of Dr. King's 'I have a dream speech'! Now please, listen to me," she pleaded, though she still laughed. She walked over to the window and stared outside, as Harry had done before. She placed a hand on the cold glass. Condensation gathered on her palm from the water droplets on the smooth surface. She made patterns in the condensation with the tip of her finger.

Then she resumed speaking. "A long time ago, I had a silly dream when Harry and I were alone, during the Horcrux search. It was a slightly erotic dream. I remember waking up, feeling frustrated and embarrassed, and then when the realization of where we were, and why we were there, and remembering that Ron had left us, and that we were alone, came crashing down on me, I started to cry."

She looked over her shoulder. Harry was looking at the carpet. He recalled the incident clearly. Draco was staring at her. She looked back out at the dark scene before her. She could scarcely make out streetlights and stars. "Harry was keeping watch, but he ran into the tent and without asking me what was wrong, he gathered me into his arms. He asked me if I had a nightmare. Back then, Harry and I didn't keep things from each other, so I told him that I had a dream that Ron and I were making love, but that right in the middle of it, he stopped, and he left me, just like real life."

She turned toward the hotel room. "Harry rubbed the tears from my cheeks. He asked me if Ron and I had ever done more than kissing and I told him no. I asked him if Ginny and he had done more than kissing. He told me yes. Then, without me asking, he told me about his and Ginny's first time. He left out the lurid details, but he was so sweet, and expressive, and he talked about feelings, and emotions, and thoughts, and actions. I knew he made Ginny's first time special, even though it was his first time, too. I also knew that Ron could never do that for me."

"I made a little pact with myself," she said with a slight smile, "that Harry Potter would be my first. I knew it was a lark, and probably wouldn't happen, because we were merely best friends. He loved Ginny, I was with Ron, even though he had left us at that moment, but it was a nice thought. I wanted a first time like the one he gave to Ginny. That thought got me through some rough times. I think that's part of the reason why I began to romanticize thoughts of him and me together. It's why I began to confuse the lines of friendship and romance."

She looked embarrassed for a moment. It was something she and Harry had discussed last night after Draco had left. They had decided that they were NOT truly 'in love' but that they were 'in love' with the thought of being in love with someone like the person they admired most, for her, that was Harry, and for him, that was Hermione.

For she truly loved Draco, and Harry decided that his first love, Ginny, would probably forever be his last love, he merely needed to tell her that.

Draco piped up and said, "I can give you that, Granger. I'm not saying that we can't go through with the whole threesome if you still want, but I could have given you a memorable occasion all on my own."

"Memorable, yes," Hermione said, walking in front of the men. She sat up on the dresser, folded her arms in front of her. "Draco, I've worked in the same office with you for years, you know."

"Yes, I know. I've been there," he said, flippantly.

"And you've openly talked about all your girlfriends, and conquest, and dates," she reminded him.

"And you're going to hold all of that against me?" he asked, defensively.

She shook her head 'no' before words escaped. Finally, she said, "No, I won't hold them against you. Listen, you've talked cavalierly about women, and that's fine, and one day, you and the blokes from the office were all talking about your first times, and I overheard."

Draco looked confused. "When was this? I don't recall this."

"Last year," she reminded him. "I was still with Ron. I was on the floor in the office, under my desk, hiding, when you and Terry and I think Michael Corner walked in the room."

"Under the desk?" Harry asked before Draco could. "Goodness, Hermione, if the men didn't see you, you shouldn't hold what they said against them. They were probably lying anyway. Men always lie about their conquest to each other."

"Yeah, what Scarboy said," Draco huffed. "Wait, why were you hiding under the desk?"

"I wasn't really hiding," she backtracked. "I was under the desk, um, well, um, hmmm, okay, I was hiding from Ron. We had a fight, he was trying to find me for lunch, and I merely wanted to eat in peace, so I was under my desk, eating, and you three walked in, and you were talking about some woman you had sex with the night before. You were saying quite awkward things, so I was too embarrassed to show myself."

"I, I don't recall a thing I said," he admitted. He came to stand beside her. "Granger, she apparently meant nothing, as I don't even recall the retelling of the incident, but please, why is this relevant to my first time?"

"One of the men asked you how many women you'd been with and you said, 'I hardly can recall a number that large' and you all laughed," she revealed.

From his place on the bed, Harry said, "See, I told you, men lie about their conquest all the time, Hermione."

"Shove it, Potter," Draco sneered. He took a long, ragged breath and then took Hermione's hand. "Granger, I didn't lie. I don't recall the number, but what does that matter?"

"Terry asked you what your preference was, and you told them that one woman was much the same as the next," she recalled. "As long as they had all the right body parts."

He dropped her hand.

"You said that as long as they shut their mouths at the right moment, opened it at the right moment, and didn't cost you more than one hundred galleons, you didn't have a preference," she continued.

He took a step backwards.

"One of the men, I don't know who, asked you if you preferred women with a lot of experience, and you laughed and said, 'give me a virgin and by the end of the night she'll have all the experience she needs to please me.' Everyone laughed. Terry said that you must not have had many virgins. You took a long moment to answer, and finally you said that he was right, that you didn't think you had ever had a virgin and that frankly, on second though, you would prefer not to have one, because a virgin probably couldn't handle someone like you, and besides, you would prefer not to have to 'break them in'."

After her long sentence, Draco sat back on the bed. "I recall that now," he whispered.

"I'll never forget it," she said just as softly. "I was already starting to have some feelings for you, but that set them back a bit. For one thing, I was every bit a virgin, and I thought if you ever found that out, it would repulse you."

"But you admitted it so readily to me," Draco responded.

"When I did so, I was temporarily insane from my Marcus episode," she joked. "You even told them that your first time wasn't with a virgin."

"Like Potter said, I lied," Draco said on a sigh. He took her hand again. "My first time was when I was fifteen. Young, perhaps, and I won't say who it was with, for you both know her, but I'm sure she doesn't look back fondly on her first time like Ginny Weasley and Potter does. It was awkward, it was painful for her, and it was over in a flash. I embarrassed myself by finishing too quickly, and by not caring that she didn't enjoy it, because hell, I didn't enjoy it."

He placed a finger under her chin. "I don't want a first time like that for you, Granger. Why do you think I'm agreeing to this madness? This threesome with a man I despise more than I hate peas?"

"You hate peas?" she asked.

He nodded.

"I hate peas," she said, feeling stupid suddenly. "So all of my ranting this evening has been for nothing, right? I mean, it doesn't matter, my reasoning, because you're both still okay with this, and doing this my way?"

"Always have been, though it's nice to know there's a reason behind it," Harry said from his place on the bed.

"Yes, you come off like a bloody prince in her reasoning, and I come off as a bloody evil Lothario," Draco reasoned, stepping back and sitting up on the dresser beside her.

Harry snorted and barked, "Close your robe, Malfoy!"

"Get a good look, Potter, you know you want to do more than look." Draco pulled his robe over his legs and added, "If only Granger hadn't been hiding from the evil red weasel that day, her first time would be with me alone, and you wouldn't even be here."

"And it would be over in five seconds, with you finishing before her, and her in tears, if your last virgin is a testament to your stealth with virgins," Harry mocked.

Hermione smiled as Draco gave Harry yet another hateful glare and another rude hand gesture. However, Harry wasn't looking back. He was looking at Hermione and smiling and she was smiling back. He reached for her hand, brought it to his mouth, and kissed her fingers lightly. Draco was instantly jealous of what they had together. Sure, he won the girl in the end, but nothing would ever change the fact that deep down she really wanted her first time to be with her best friend, not with him, merely because he had misrepresented himself to a bunch of men who meant nothing to him, as he often did. Feigning a casual spirit that he didn't feel, Draco clapped his hands together and said, "So, are we still going to do this thing, or what? If we keep talking, I'm afraid Potter will lose the mood."

Hermione jumped off the dresser almost at the same moment that Draco did. He grasped her hips from behind, his large hands holding her against him. He placed his chin on her shoulder, kissed the side of her neck, and said, "Well?"

Harry stood before her. One of his hands came up to cup the side of her face. She leaned her head toward his grasp. Behind her Draco was stroking his hands up and down her sides, slowly, as he nuzzled her hair and neck. Harry leaned in and kissed her lips. He wanted to be the first to do THAT this evening. It was a quick, brief, but a searing kiss, nonetheless. He nibbled slowly at her lips before his tongue glided in to taste her. After the kiss, he reached for the sash of her robe and unknotted it, but left it lightly tied.

Draco's hand came around to her waist, to hold her, before her knees buckled. Again, to be certain, he said in her ear, "So?"

Hermione nodded and turned to face Draco. He slipped his hands to her shoulders and then down the slopes of her breasts, to the tie of the red robe. He pulled the sash the rest of the way and the gown wafted open.

He peeked down at her body. He saw the gentle swell of her breasts, the slope of her stomach, and beyond. She was more than he ever expected. He leaned forward to lick and suck at her lips, his tongue swiping the bottom one, then the top. He pulled her to him and she had to stand up on her toes. He pressed her body against his. He was rock hard for her. He suspected that Potter was as well.

The scent of her body filled the room. She was soft, round, beautiful. At first, both men paid homage to her body, slowly, reverently. Placing her on the bed, they touched, stroked, kissed and fondled. She closed her eyes and let them. She would reach out and touch them in return, first one, then the other, sometimes both. She liked it best when they were with her at the same time. She was shocked at first, then intrigued.

Lips touched places that she never imagined them touching. She moaned, keened, and cried out so many times in the beginning, that she shocked herself.

They worked in tandem, synchronized, and succinct. One man would kiss across her neck, shoulders and back while the other would suck and caress her breasts with their tongue. One would spread her knees and bury their head between them, while the other kissed her lips languidly.

They shifted positions, moved across the bed, and she climaxed. When it was time to take her fully for the first time, Draco nodded to Harry. She wanted Harry to be her first, so Draco would relent. After all, Draco knew that he would be her last. Harry placed his full weight on her, whispered words of love in her ear, and entered her slowly; all the while Draco stroked her hair and held her hand tightly, grasping it in his own.

There was some pain, but it disappeared quickly. Moments passed and things became hazy, even somewhat lurid, but more highly erotic than she ever would have guessed. Harry continued with an endearing shyness, but one that was sure, calm, and unselfish. When she felt as if she was about to fall off a precipice, Draco lifted her upper body with his arm and he kissed her while the other man fell off the edge with her.

Her eyes opened and her gaze went from the man on top of her to the man beside her. As if it was right, even though he didn't want to give her up, Harry moved from her and lifted her slightly so that she was on her side. Draco fell on his back. Harry helped her to sit upon the other man. Glancing down at Draco, she was aware that Harry was at her side, holding onto her, caressing her, guiding her. Pearls of moisture gleamed off her body, as she became one with the man she loved.

She cried out again, surprised that she could 'feel' again so quickly. Draco cursed, apologized for cursing, and then cursed again, which made Harry want to laugh. Draco reached up for her hair, tangling his hands in her long tresses. She felt as if she was going to fall off him, because her bones had turned to mush. Harry noticed and said something to Draco. She didn't hear him, but suddenly, she was no longer on top of him. Draco moved them so that she was back on the bottom and he finished his climax on top of her.

The three lay together, stroking each other, breathing hard, shuddering in the aftermath. Her dark lashes fell against her ivory cheeks. Draco laughed and said, "She thinks it's over, Potter. She thinks she's going to sleep, when we've only just begun."

"Let her sleep for a while," Harry argued.

"I can hear you," she said, "though I doubt that I can move."

She curled into a small ball and said, "Cold." Harry pulled the cover over her body and lay down to face her. Draco curled up behind her. He threw an arm over her. Harry touched her face.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked.

She shook her head slightly.

"Did I?" Draco asked from behind.

Again, a small head shake.

"We really do have all night, so you sleep a while, love," Draco said.

Harry felt bereft and thought, 'I only have tonight.' He swallowed the lump in his throat. As if sensing his thoughts, Draco looked over Hermione's shoulder at the other man. Harry started to get off the bed, but Draco reached over and held Harry's wrist.

"Where are you going, Pothead?"

"Her first time is over and done," Harry stated. "If I stay any longer, it will only be intrusive. You need to be alone, now. The rest of the night belongs to you two, together, just like the rest of your life will be." He looked down at the other man's hand as it circled his wrist and said, "Now, let go."

Draco mouthed the words, 'Thank you.'

Harry was numb for a moment. He didn't know what to say in return. Merlin knew he didn't do it for Malfoy, but then again, Malfoy probably wasn't thanking him for himself. He was thanking Harry for Hermione, which wasn't necessary. He would do anything for Hermione…even give her to another man.

He smiled at Malfoy and nodded twice, then leaned down and kissed Hermione's cheek. He rolled off the bed, picked up the red robe. He held it to his cheek, the silk soft and full of her scent. He dropped it and picked up the blue robe beside it on the floor, slipping it on before he went into the bathroom to shower and change.

Harry apparated directly from the bathroom back to his house. He walked around his living room for a few moments, aimlessly. He felt lost. He felt as if he lost his best friend, though he knew he hadn't. He also didn't feel like going to bed, but he knew he couldn't even watch telly, for he just destroyed another television the other night. He loathed to look over at the blank space on the wall where his new plasma, flat screen should be. He looked over anyway.

Then he chuckled. On the wall was a new, bigger, plasma, flat screen television, with a big, GREEN bow on it. He walked closer and saw a card dangling from the blasted thing. He grabbed the card, opened it and laughed aloud. It was from Malfoy. It read, "I might have won the girl in the end, but you got a new telly out of the arrangement. Sweet deal if you ask me. Thanks again, Potter. I'll never hurt her, I swear. For one thing, I love her too much. For another thing, I love myself too much, and you would kill me. Malfoy."

At the bottom of the card was a little postscript. It read, "P.S.: I made a date for you with Ginny Weasley for tomorrow night. She's very receptive to getting back together with you, you lucky bastard – Malfoy."

Harry folded the card, threw himself on the couch, and turned on his new television and smiled. Everything turned out the way it should have, so he really was happy, in the end.

And the Author hopes the same can be said for the rest of you.