A/N: This collection is for the Make an Album Into a Story competition on the HPFC forum. My album is A Fine Frenzy's One Cell in the Sea, and each fic is inspired by the title, lyrics, or mood evoked by a track. For an extra challenge, I've decided to include Draco and/or Hermione—not necessarily paired with each other—in each entry.

counting stars and passing cars 01/14

Draco/Hermione, previous Ron/Hermione

Inspiration: "Near to You"

It is still startling to wake up and see a blond head on the pillow beside hers instead of a red one.

After that first gasp, she always burrows against him, warming her nose on the smooth, pale—not freckled—skin between his shoulder blades. Her arm slips around his waist, hand resting in the hollow of his belly. Under the covers, she tucks her feet under his and wishes she could sink right through his skin so they could stay like this.

It is only in these dim, early morning hours, when her subconscious flexes its muscles and dominates her brain, that Draco is weighed against another man.

Blond, not red like him.

Pale, not freckled.

Cologne, soap, and something uniquely Draco that curls her toes, not the sunshine-and-chocolate-frog scent that clung to one she loved first.

She stirs against his back until she can slip one leg between his knees. She feels first guilty then silly for treating her half-asleep musings as if they were adulterous. She hugs Draco tightly. She loves him.

It's just that she fell in love with him—Ron, her Ex, the Ginger-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-or-Draco-Will-Lose-It—when she was thirteen. There was no one else for her after that, not for the next decade. Falling in love with Ron had been inevitable, so falling out of love with him was torture, a bad habit so ingrained, the breaking of it broke her heart.

She does not miss him or want him back. Ron is almost a friend now, someone she can chat with at her godson's birthday party before going home to her husband. She does not miss the arguments that grew less playful as they grew up or the long nights in their flat when every conversation swung back and forth between tension and boredom. The days of playing his substitute mum are long over, as is being made to feel like a shrew every time she complained. She's certain her mind is not resurrecting the ghost of their relationship because she wishes she could have kept them from falling apart; she remembers Ron because she's looking for a way to come to terms with their absolute failure.

She's happier— stronger—with Draco, and part of her marvels that she ended up here in a marriage of equals. The hand she has draped over his stomach moves up to cover his heart, and her lips brush against the hard ridges of his vertebrae when she kisses along his spine. He shifts in her arms, and she adjusts her position until he can roll onto his back.

When he kicks restlessly, she whispers his name, reaching up to smooth his brow. He settles, his hand rising to pull hers back against his chest.

"You a'right?" he slurs.

He is already losing his grip on the edge of wakefulness and sinking again toward sleep, but she considers her words, wondering how to express her thoughts. It doesn't matter, she decides. "I'm better. With you."

"Hmm?" His only movement was the inquiring quirk of an eyebrow.

"Nothing. I love you." She kisses the corner of his mouth, and he sighs in his sleep.

Near to you, I am healing
But it's taking so long
'Cause, though he's gone
And you are wonderful,
It's hard to move on
Yet, I'm better near to you

-Near to You
A Fine Frenzy