After The End.

Dressed in a sweeping, shimmering black and gold gown, Hermione Malfoy wistfully ran her fingers over the dramatic green dress that hung in the corner of her wardrobe. The dress had been the one she'd worn to the masquerade ball almost five years ago. The dress she'd been wearing when she'd grabbed the attention of the wizard who was now her husband. Sadly the dress no longer fit her. Time, and the recent birth of her son, had changed her body shape and Hermione doubted she would ever fit into the dress again. Although she also knew she would never get rid of the dress as it held so many fond memories.

"Let's hope this one does the same," she muttered, closing her wardrobe door and turning to the floor length mirror in the corner of the room.

The gorgeous black and gold dress Hermione was wearing had been designed especially for her. The strapless bodice of the dress was delicately decorated with gold thread and the design ran down one side of the skirt, slowly getting smaller so she only had a smattering of gold on the hem of her skirt. The rest of the dress was plain black, but it had a charm woven into the material that made the dress shimmer slightly when she moved. The dress may not have been as overtly sexy as the one she'd worn at the previous masquerade ball, but it was still stunning and Hermione knew she looked good.

To complete the look, she added an elaborate gold mask over the top half of her face. Now she was ready for her second masquerade ball, this one in honour of her anniversary. Draco had actually suggested they throw a masquerade ball to celebrate their first wedding anniversary the previous year, but Hermione had been pregnant, and even though it had been very early days, she had endured a rough start to her pregnancy. In fact she was pretty sick for the first six months, so the party had ended up being cancelled. However, now there was no reason to cancel the party and waiting downstairs to celebrate with them were all their friends and family.

The party was being held at Malfoy Manor, where Hermione and Draco lived with Draco's parents, and Hermione had to chuckle to herself when she found virtually the same rooms as the previous party had been allocated to play host to their anniversary masquerade. The difference was, she knew more of the guests and no-one had bought their way into the party.

Travelling from room to room, Hermione greeted the guests all while keeping an eye out for her husband. She hadn't seen Draco since earlier that afternoon, but he'd promised to see her at the party. However, she couldn't see any sign of her missing husband. She found friends of both of them, and she even spotted Draco's parents, but her husband was missing in action.

"What's wrong?" a voice asked from behind her and Hermione turned to find her mother-in-law, looking ravishing in a sexy deep red dress and matching mask complete with elaborate feathers.

"I can't find Draco," Hermione replied with a slight sigh.

"I saw him an hour ago," Narcissa said. "He said he was going to get ready."

"He never came back to our room," Hermione frowned. "When he took Scorpius over to my parents, he said he would see me at the party. He must have had his clothes somewhere else."

"He'll be here," Narcissa assured her daughter-in-law. "Maybe he's already here and you just can't find him with all the masks."

"Because that's very likely," Hermione chuckled. At the previous party she'd found Draco easily because of his very distinctive platinum blond hair, but the only person she'd seen with the same distinctive hair this evening was her father-in-law, who stood out even more considering his hair was far longer than his sons.

"I see your point," Narcissa conceded with a laugh as her own eyes caught sight of her husband, who stood out from the crowd despite the fact his face was covered with a deep red mask that perfectly matched her gown. "But keep looking, he will turn up. It was just an hour ago that I saw him, maybe he's still getting dressed."

"Now that I can believe," Hermione said, starting to feel better about the fact her husband was nowhere to be seen as she considered the possibility he was still upstairs somewhere primping in front of a mirror.

Feeling confident that her husband would show his face sooner or later, Hermione vowed to enjoy the party. However, half an hour later there was still no sign of her husband, and she was beginning to get annoyed. It wasn't like Draco to let her down, and she was getting sick of answering questions about where her husband was, and why he hadn't made an appearance at his own party.

"A beautiful woman like you should not be frowning on a glorious evening like this," a silky voice suddenly purred in her ear and an arm appeared in front of her holding a glass of champagne. "Have a drink."

"Thank you, but I don't want a drink," Hermione replied, barely glancing at the wizard who had approached her. The brief look she did flick his way was enough to tell her that it wasn't Draco as he had dark hair above his black and gold mask.

"Then what do you want?" the wizard asked, seemingly determined not to be put off by Hermione's frosty attitude.

"My husband to put in an appearance," Hermione answered, her eyes still scanning the crowds for her missing partner.

"You mean some lucky sod is married to you and he's stupid enough to neglect you?" the wizard laughed, giving Hermione a sinful smirk. "He doesn't deserve you."

"Perhaps not," Hermione replied, finally focusing on the wizard in front of her and spotting a few things she hadn't noticed at first. Like the fact he was exactly Draco's height, had the same sparkling grey eyes as her husband and had the same infuriatingly sexy smirk.

"Champagne?" he offered again, holding out the glass he was still carrying.

"I think I will," Hermione said with a smile as she took the champagne flute offered to her. "Cheers!"

Knocking back the champagne, Hermione returned to the empty glass to the wizard whose identity she was confident she now knew, and promptly spun around to walk away from him.

"Where are you going?" the wizard behind her asked with a pout.

"To enjoy the party," Hermione shot back over her shoulder. "Just because my husband has failed to show up doesn't mean I can't have some fun."

"What sort of fun?"

"I don't know yet, I'll just have to see what comes up," Hermione purred, giving the mysterious wizard a lingering look before sauntering away from him, well aware that his eyes were following her every move.

Traversing her way through the party, occasionally stopping to chat to guests, Hermione was well aware she was being watched. However, not once did she turn and acknowledge the wizard who was following her every move. She merely carried on as though he wasn't there and slowly made her way out of the manor and into the gardens for some fresh air. Once in the gardens she followed the path down to the rose gardens, which were lit with magical firefly's hanging in mid-air inside ornate glass jars.

The light from the jars ended at a couple of benches which marked the entrance to a small maze. Pulling her wand out of the small bag she was carrying, Hermione flicked it towards one of the jars and sent it slowly into the maze. Following the jar, which she'd enchanted to lead her to the middle of the maze, Hermione stepped into the dark maze all the time knowing she was being followed. Once she'd turned several corners and was truly inside the maze, she halted the firefly jar and turned back around, just as the wizard she'd been talking to earlier rounded the corner.

"Are you following me?" Hermione asked in a teasing voice.

"I thought since your husband has neglected you, I should be a gentleman and look out for you," he replied.

"I can assure you I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Hermione returned.

"I'm sure you can," the wizard purred as he advanced closer to Hermione. "But someone as beautiful as you shouldn't have to take care of yourself. You should have someone to cater to your every need."

"I have someone, I have a husband," Hermione countered.

"But where is he?" the wizard returned with another smirk. "I don't see him coming to your rescue."

"And why do I need rescuing?" Hermione asked with an amused smile.

"You might get lost in the maze," the wizard returned seriously.

"I won't," Hermione replied confidently as she unfroze the firefly jar and once again began to follow it deeper into the maze. "Are you coming?" she called over her shoulder.

"That's the general idea," the wizard behind her muttered, causing Hermione to chuckle as for a moment his husky voice had dropped and she clearly heard her husband's familiar drawl.

Hermione expertly led the way into the centre of the maze, where a bench sat beside a small fountain. It was a beautiful place to sit on a warm day, and even in the moonlight it looked inviting. Not to mention very secluded and romantic.

"You never did tell me your name," Hermione remarked as she settled on the bench, her skirt taking up almost the entire seat.

"Neither did you," the wizard countered.

"You mean you're at my party, but don't know my name?" Hermione pouted. "How rude."

"Okay, I know your name," he conceded. "Mrs Malfoy," he said in a low purr that send shivers down Hermione's spine.

"And yours?" Hermione asked.

"You can call me whatever you like," he replied, flashing her a quick smile.

"How about a pleasant distraction," Hermione asked. "I take it you did follow me in order to seduce me."

"What would your husband say?" the wizard asked, moving towards the bench and squatting down in front of where Hermione was sitting.

"If he had anything to say on the matter, he should have been here," Hermione purred, taking hold of the wizard's hand and sliding it under her dress.

Without needing to be prompted, the wizard in front of her slowly slid his hand up her leg. As his hand slid higher, Hermione parted her legs and she couldn't contain a smug smirk when the wizard caressing her let out a surprised hiss and gazed up at her with glittering grey eyes.

"You're not wearing any underwear," he stated, his long fingers sliding through her slick folds.

"Oh dear, I knew I was forgetting something," Hermione teased. "How naughty of me."

"How convenient of you," the wizard chuckled, reaching up to brush his lips against the lower half of her cheek which was exposed underneath her elaborate mask.

"Very," Hermione agreed as she abruptly knocked his hand away from under her skirt and got to her feet.

"What are you doing?" he asked, clearly baffled as he almost toppled over onto the floor.

"Get up," Hermione ordered. "Sit down," she continued when he did exactly what he was told.

Once he was seated, Hermione gave her mysterious wizard a languid kiss as her deft fingers got to work unbuckling his dark trousers. Suddenly realising what she was doing, the wizard helped her out by lifting his hips and sliding his trousers and underwear down the top of his legs.

"Very nice," Hermione whispered, licking her lips at the sight of his very erect manhood.

"It could be better," he pointed out.

"I hope so," Hermione replied with a chuckle as she moved forward and raising her skirts slightly she straddled her mysterious lover.

With her black and gold skirts falling around them, Hermione lowered herself onto her lover. Anyone who saw them wouldn't be able to tell that underneath her dress they were intimately joined, but Hermione knew that if anyone did see them then they would know exactly what they were doing. Not that she cared right now, as she had a sexy wizard buried inside her and all she wanted to do was make love to him.

"I do love a witch who knows what she wants," the wizard below her purred as one of his hands slid under her dress and made its way to where they were joined.

"Good, because right now I want you," Hermione replied, lowering her head to her lovers. "Make me scream," she whispered against his lips.

"With pleasure," the wizard replied, connecting their lips in a searing kiss as together they began to move.

Their years of intimacy belied their act of not knowing each other, and if anyone had been watching, they would have been left in no doubt that the couple making love in the middle of the maze had done so before. Without needing to say anything their bodies moved together in perfect harmony and each knew just what the other liked, and what turned them on. And when they did both reach the peak of their pleasure, they tumbled over the edge within seconds of each other.

"I hope that lived up to expectations," he whispered against Hermione's neck as they recovered, despite the fact she'd made no move to remove herself from his lap.

"There is one thing," Hermione said as she raised her head and gazed into familiar grey eyes.

"What?"

"The hair," Hermione answered with a slight frown. "I don't like it. Turn it back."

With a chuckle, the wizard reached into his pocket and removed his wand. Once quick spell later the dark hair was gone and Hermione was straddling a wizard with very distinctive platinum blond hair.

"Better?" Draco asked with a smirk.

"Much," Hermione replied, gently running her fingers through her husband's soft blond hair.

"Happy Anniversary, sweetheart," Draco said with a smile.

"Happy Anniversary," Hermione returned with a smile of her own. "I guess we should be getting back to the party."

"Not just yet," Draco returned with a smirk. "I think I'm getting my second wind."

"Hmm, sounds good to me," Hermione purred, pressing herself closer to Draco as they prepared to have more fun in the maze.

Of course they would return to the party in good time, but for now they were happy reliving memories of their first night together, and celebrating the fact that they were still as happy as ever after two years of marriage and had many more ahead of them.

The End.