#meredith x cormac

[things-keeping-me-up-at-night]

As someone who watched Grey’s Anatomy for the absolute majority of my life, has rewatched S1-10 countless times and who can literally not remember a world without that show: I might just pretend the show ended after season 17.

Sure, I hate Teddy and Owen together, sure, I wanted Amelia and Link to be endgame, but: I can live with it. I can live assuming Hayes and Meredith had the amazing slow burn romance they deserve and lived happily ever after, I can live pretending Megan Hunt, waste of screen time personified, never came back, I can live pretending Nick Marsh doesn‘t exist. I can be at peace.

Also: S17 was a solid final season. Meredith reuniting with all of her dead loved ones would have been a perfect way to lead up to the ending of the show. (Of course, I would have liked a good version of S18 to be the last season, but still.)

I know TV writers don‘t really owe us anything, but I am honestly so tired of making up my own endings, I wish I didn‘t have to do it with the one show that I had completely committed myself to. I wanted to be there til the end, I really did, but this ‚entertainment‘ is actively making me unhappy, so what‘s the point?

#grey's anatomy #greysanatomy #anti mernick #anti owen hunt #meredith x cormac #cormac x meredith

[unexpected-character]

Hearts and Choices

Pairing: Amelia Shepherd x Reader

Summary: You were offered by Yang a position that will help further your career in Cardiothoracic instead of your old specialty Plastic Surgery. However, this could mean leaving Amelia behind. 

Warning: Abandonment issues (?), (idk if there’s more, but if you think so just tell me so I can add them)

Words: 1.4k

When I was offered to be the Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery in Switzerland, as Yang would be the next Klausmann’s Director of Surgery and Head of Surgical Research, she needed my expertise and helped her manage the load. I wanted to accept it immediately, knowing this would be a big step in my career in Cardiothoracic. However, I need to talk to Amelia. I don’t want to leave her after Meredith is gone, and just last month, Maggie did too. I know how she is when the people close to her are leaving.

I met her when Addie brought me to Seattle Grace. I was with her in Seaside moonlighting. They said she did work at the seaside before, but I hadn’t caught her as she was leaving and going to Seattle to stay with her brother. We weren’t together then, just shameless flirting and almost kissing ‘til Addison interrupted us. We reconnected when Cormac and I transferred with Cristina’s arrangement for him to be Head of Peds and I Head of Cardio but become Head of Plastics instead, as apparently Maggie and Winston are in Cardio now, so I have to find a job. Thankfully, I’m triple certified in plastics before transferring my speciality to become a surgeon in Cardiothoracic. Anyway, before I bore you with my achievements from a young age. Let’s return to my big problem about telling the woman I love about my job offer.

I had just finished my surgery when I saw her about to berate Yasuda as I heard the Kid may have dropped an instrument. I know that intern has been sleeping in on-call rooms, and I wonder what her story is about, but I don’t think the kid needs a lecture. So I had to interrupt.

“Hey, Dr Yasuda and Dr Shepherd. Can I talk to you for a minute?” I said to her and pushed her to a supply room before she could reply. I gave Yasuda a look, and she nodded in appreciation. “Okay, what’s going on, babe? I saw you about to embarrass the intern in front of many nurses and probably her patients.” I asked. She was just looking at the floor and exhausted for the day. “Hey, Amy. Talk to me, babe.” I approached her and raised her head so she could look at me. “I know about the offer,” she said, trying not to look and maintain eye contact. “Oh, okay. Well, first off, why did you look at my emails? That's kinda shitty as my privacy is – “ “I didn't mean to. It was just there in front of me when I asked to use your laptop when you were in the shower,” she interrupted. “Well, you should have just showered with me, you know, and we wouldn’t have this problem,” I said, and I could see that she was hiding a smile. I held her hands and kissed them to get her to calm down. I spoke, “I was going to tell you about it later when we get home, as I don’t want to keep this a secret from you. I love you, Amelia and I want your opinion about it as it would be a huge step for my career.” “Do you want it? Are you planning to take it?” she asked. “Truthfully, it is a very tempting offer and a huge one for me, babe. I was supposed to be here for the head of Cardio, but because Maggie and Winston happened, I had to give that up and become head of Plastics.” I said. “So you are taking it,” she said as she let go of my hand and sat on the floor, trying to settle her feeling and not wanting her tears to fall. I sighed. I followed and sat near her, taking her in my arms and letting her feel me. 

“I love you, Amelia. I have never loved someone so unique and complex that each waking moment I have with you is never dull and always unpredictable. When I came back here, you were with Link and also very pregnant, and I know you were happy, so I never disturbed you even when my feelings for you grew so much in the years that I finally know you. Then did you know how much it was killing me to see you being proposed to by Link on that beach? God, I thought my heart would stop, and that’s coming from a world-class cardiothoracic surgeon who knows it is a rare feat, so I left for three months. I went to see Yang and told her my predicament. I helped her in Klausmann, and I tried and tried to forget about my feelings for you, but I can’t. I told her that I had to go home. Home, even though I’m not sure where that was until I saw you performing that flawless operation on David. You were my home even if I wasn’t yours. It was always the wrong timing for us. I didn’t realise that you met Kai and, I guess, gotten to know them, and maybe you love them, but I just let it be.” “Uhmm, excuse me, but you weren’t so available yourself. You were hooking up with the new Plastics surgeon. I thought you didn’t want to do with me. I never expected that you also have feelings for me.” she said. “I know I wasn’t a saint, Amy. I am human too, and I needed people, and I hooked up with people, but you, on the other hand, were always in a relationship, so I didn’t do anything not until after a few months when I saw you in the backyard when Kai left you. I consoled you but kept my distance because I didn’t want to be your rebound.” “You are not my rebound. How many times do I have to tell you that.” “I know, Amy. I know. I just want to tell you that these past few months of being with you are never enough, Babe. I love you so much a-” “But you’re leaving. That’s what people say before they abandon me.” she interrupted again. “God, woman, let me finish.” I held her closer as if she’d run away and said,” I love you so much, and I love my job too. However, after many relationships on your part and flings from mine, I realised that I want it just to be you, and so I told Cristina that I have to talk to you about this, and here we are.” “You’re going to leave me, aren’t you? Just tell me already. Stop my suffering.” she said and hugged me tight. 

“You don’t listen, huh? I love you, and I will always choose you, Amy. I’m accepting the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery but not in Zurich. I’ll be accepting it here. I will tell Yang she can offer it to Ndugu even though he shouldn’t leave the hospital. That guy is amazing with his techniques, and Maggie taught him well.” I said. “You're not leaving. You are not leaving?” she said, surprised. “I’m not leaving, baby, but I want to explore the options of having Klausmann and Grey Sloan partner, especially with Cardiothoracic research. Cristina owes me some favours. Maybe she and I can talk about it as well as Teddy. Though I have to talk to Winston and maybe persuade him not to leave and instead be my co-chief.” I said out loud. “Thank you, and I love you. I do.” She said, kissing me passionately as if we didn’t need air to breathe.

We got interrupted when someone walked in, “seriously, you two? Not again.” Addison said. Amelia and I laughed, and I said, amused, “Why is it always you, Addie?” “I don’t know, and I hate you two.” She said and left the room. I got up carrying Amelia with me. I settled her down and said, “We’ll be okay, love. I love you, and I’m staying.”

After the missed opportunities of being with the woman I love, I don’t think I’ll ever leave now that I have the taste of it. I love her and Scout and my profession, so I guess I made the right choice.

#amelia shepherd #amelia shepherd x reader #amelia shepherd imagine #greys anatomy #addison montgomery #greys anatomy imagines #caterina scorsone #meredith grey #maggie pierce #cristina fox #amelia shepherd x female reader

[training4theapocalypse]

A Nest of Vipers Ch6. (Cormac McLaggen x Original Female Character - Slytherin)

Rating: Explicit 18+

Word Count: 4.8K

Warnings / Tags: A little bit of smut, pure blood supremacy, tragic romance

Summary: Slughorn's party is tonight and it's time for Una to choose between the Vipers and Cormac McLaggen.

A/N: Una gets worse every chapter I swear to GOD.

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Chapter 6: Slughorn's Party

Una entered the dimly lit common room arm in arm with Meredith and Sabine, their entrance causing a sudden silence among the four Slytherin boys in dress robes. 

“Wow, Sabine, you look… wow,” said the usually aloof Theodore Nott, causing Blaise to give him a haughty look.

“Put your eyes back in, Nott,” said Blaise, rolling his eyes. 

“Now you know how I feel,” grumbled Graham. “Having one of your friends go out with your sister.”

It was the night of Professor Slughorn’s Christmas party, and both Una and Blaise had their own agendas for the evening. They were attending as friends, united by separate pursuits of the heart.

“Una and I are going as friends,” Blaise reminded him. “Better that than fraternising with the enemy.”

“The enemy,” snorted Graham but Una knew Blaise was overcompensating, that he’d slink away and find Ginny Weasley as quickly as he could.

“Well, I think you make a lovely couple,” smiled Sabine, showing off her perfect row of white teeth as she greeted Blaise with a kiss on each cheek before taking Theodore’s extended arm. 

“I dunno, it’s all a bit incest-y for me,” said Graham with a sour look on his face. “You’re going with my sister, your sister’s going with Nott. We’re a hop, skip and a jump away from getting married off to our cousins.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re not my cousin,” said Albie Selwyn, taking Meredith’s hand and kissing it. Una wrinkled her nose. It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet and in her opinion, that was much too early for public displays of affection. 

“Just Sabine’s ex,” muttered Graham to Una who covered a laugh by opening her bag and checking her lip gloss in her little black mirror.

This was exactly how Sabine liked it. Having power over Meredith and Una by persuading them to go to Slughorn’s party with people she thought she had influence over. Albie Selwyn was a perfect match for Meredith - he wasn’t good enough for Sabine so of course Meredith was permitted to have her sloppy seconds.

And Blaise, well, Sabine didn’t know her brother as well as she thought she did. Una had found an unlikely friend in Blaise after her confrontation with Myrtle in the girl’s bathroom. He was alone in the common room when she had returned and she’d confided in him. He was the only person who could understand how she was feeling. Although by Blaise’s account, his and Ginny’s secret was progressing much more discreetly, and successfully, than her’s and Cormac’s. But Blaise didn’t have the same jealous streak as Una and Cormac. In fact, he didn’t even seem to care that Ginny would be there with her boyfriend, Dean Thomas.

Una took Blaise’s arm and the seven of them ascended the stairs, the salty seaweed-tinged air of the Slytherin common room turning to Christmas pine and firewood as they entered the Entrance Hall. 

Cormac McLaggen and Hermione Granger were standing beside Ginny Weasley, Dean Tomas and Katie Bell as the latter awaited the arrival of her date. When Graham saw Katie he practically bounded over, taking her hand and making her do a little spin to show off her dress. It was so sickeningly cute that the other Slytherins rolled their eyes at each other but it made Una’s throat knot in jealousy. Why must her own pursuits be so complicated when Graham could so openly and unashamedly go with Katie?

When Katie stopped her spinning she looked giddy. Graham took her arm and led her towards the direction of the corridor where Slughorn’s office was. Just as Katie and Graham passed between Una and Cormac’s line of sight, they locked eyes.

It was irritating how handsome he looked tonight. Una supposed he must come from money like her, with his perfectly tailored black dress robes. Of course, she knew he was well-connected - he had to have been to receive an invite to Slug Club, but his robes made the other revellers milling around the Entrance Hall look scruffy in comparison. 

Cormac’s curly hair, usually messed up from running his hands through it or playing Quidditch, was elegantly textured. There was a single curl over his forehead that could have been a paid actor. She finally understood what Cormac meant when he said he ‘wanted to make a mess of her’. Una wanted to twist her fingers through those curls and make fun of him for trying so hard, to push that stupid curl out of his face while he was on his knees with his mouth between her legs.

Una snapped out of it when Hermione slinked her arm through Cormac’s and he broke his eye contact. Hermione’s usually frizzy hair was also slicked back, except hers was twisted into an elegant bun. She supposed Cormac and Hermione were well-suited. And as things weren’t working out well between Una and Cormac, maybe he and Hermione would have a flock of wild-haired children one day. She watched as they followed Katie and Graham in the direction of the party.

“You know, you look beautiful,” murmured Blaise as the group of Slytherins followed suit, Una and Blaise lagging behind the others. “Speaking platonically, of course. McLaggen is an idiot.”

“Thanks, Blaise,” she smiled. 

She almost felt guilty about confiding her woes with Cormac McLaggen to him. Especially when even though he didn’t know it, Blaise’s blossoming relationship with Ginny Weasley would be playing right into her plans to get back at the people who had hurt her brother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Try as he might, Cormac McLaggen was having a difficult time getting rid of Hermione Granger. He should have expected this, of course. He knew how he looked when he made an effort and the effect it could have on girls. It just wasn’t having the desired effect on the right girl. And it really wasn’t fair to poor Hermione to lead her on like this.

What was worse was that he thought he might be able to get to the bar by himself. Be seen there alone - then maybe Una would come over and they could discuss tactics. Arrange to meet later, or better yet, sneak away before either Hermione or Blaise noticed they were gone. But Hermione just wanted to accompany him to the bar. Wherever he went she followed. It was like she wanted to be seen with him in every corner of the room.

“And then, I suppose, my eighteenth best save was when I was playing for the Wimbourne Wasps under-14s,” he said and he was actually starting to bore himself now. “Their seeker was Cassius Burke. Or maybe it was Gideon Blackwood. No, wait - it was Cassius Burke. And it was a kick away from the left hoop.”

“You know, this is really fascinating, Cormac,” said Hermione loudly as a few other Gryffindors passed by.

“It - it is?” he asked. Una would have told him to shut his fat mouth and stop talking about himself long ago. Then he’d have wiped the beautiful sneer from her face by letting her know his preferred way of being shut up. 

The thought made him miss her. 

He looked over to where she was still standing with Blaise, Sabine and her date. Blaise rested a hand on the exposed skin of Una’s backless emerald green dress just below where her straight, shiny hair danced across her spine and he said something that made her throw her head back and laugh. Una’s other friend, the red-headed one, Meredith, was some way away looking uncomfortable as her drunk date pressed his mouth to her ear, half kissing her, half whispering something and accidentally spilling some of his drink down the front of her dress.

It inspired Cormac to try a different tack. He remembered how Hermione recoiled at Slughorn’s dinner party back in October when he’d suggestively sucked on his fingers while looking at her from across the table.

“What do you say we get out of here?” he asked, leaning down to whisper to Hermione and purposefully slurring his words. It was perfect, seeing as he couldn’t think of a tactful way to ask her to leave him alone without offending her. 

“I - excuse me?”

“Come on, you just said I was fascinating. Let me show you something really impressive,” he said, putting a hand on her waist. 

“I don’t think so, Cormac,” she blustered. “Excuse me, I need to go to the ladies.” 

Cormac watched as she turned on her heels and ran off. In the opposite direction of the bathroom and towards the tent-like furnishings where Harry Potter was standing with Luna Lovegood from the D.A. in her spangled silver dress robes. 

Well, that was easy, thought Cormac before spotting Katie Bell and Graham Montague over at a secluded table. He didn’t want to be a third-wheel on their date but he didn’t really know anyone else here except Una. 

“Remember the time Potter practically swallowed the snitch?” laughed Katie as Graham almost choked on his drink. 

“Mind if I join you?” asked Cormac and Katie nodded enthusiastically to the chair opposite them. 

“Graham, this is Cormac McLaggen,” said Katie. “I’m not sure if Una has told you about him.”

Cormac stuck out his hand and Graham put down his drink to shake it before Cormac took his seat. “Er, no, she hasn’t,” said Graham with uncertainty. “Are you friends with her then?”

It wasn’t a surprise that Una hadn’t mentioned him to her brother, after all, they were keeping things between them a secret. Although he had sort of hoped that maybe she’d have confided in Graham, especially since he himself was here with a Gryffindor. 

Cormac chose his next words carefully, mindful of Katie’s suspicious look. “Hardly. Well, I mean, we sit next to each other in Transfiguration,” he said casually. “But she talks about you.”

“All complaints, I assume?”

Cormac laughed. Una had told him all about how Graham was their parents' golden child. According to Una, the fact she was Head Girl paled in comparison to their darling, Quidditch Captain son. 

“Well, she’s so sick of me meddling in her love life, I’m not surprised.”

Cormac covered his momentary pause by taking a sip of his drink. Maybe Graham knew more than he was letting on.

“I asked her not to come here tonight with Blaise because he’s my best mate,” explained Graham.

“Oh?” So that explained Una’s sudden change of heart.

“Yeah, well, she wasn’t having it so I’ve backed off now. Especially after the last time my parents tried to force her to go out with someone and she blew -” Graham stopped himself abruptly and shook his head. “I mean she wasn’t happy.” He laughed unconvincingly.

“What happened?” asked Cormac, his curiosity piqued by Graham’s sudden change in tone.

“Where is she anyway?” asked Graham, ignoring Cormac’s question and looking over his shoulder. “I haven’t seen her and that slimy git Blaise in a while.”

Cormac turned around in his chair. None of the Vipers or their dates were anywhere to be seen.

“Slimy git? I thought you said he was your best mate?” laughed Katie.

“Yeah, well, it’s different when he’s got his hands all over my sister,” Graham grumbled.

Cormac turned back around to see Katie observing him. He shook his head warningly. Katie had been suspicious of his relationship with Una for a few weeks now but the last thing he was going to do was confess his feelings in front of her brother. Katie just smirked as if his head shake had confirmed everything.

Graham turned the subject back to Quidditch and while Cormac had more questions than ever, he was relieved to not have to word his answers so carefully now they were no longer talking about Una.

“And remember when your mates got detention for dressing up as dementors during one of our games?” chuckled Katie.

“Oh god, yeah. That was Draco’s idea. He… hang on. Speak of the devil,” said Graham, his brows furrowed in confusion as he looked past Cormac into the middle of the room.

Cormac turned in his seat and watched the Hogwarts caretaker, Argus Filch, dragging in a pale boy with a pointed face into the middle of the room by his ear.

“Alright, I wasn’t invited!” Draco spat angrily. “I was trying to gatecrash. Happy?” And Cormac was surprised when he looked furiously over in the direction of the table that he was currently sitting at.

“That’s alright Argus, that’s alright,” boomed Slughorn. “It’s not a crime to want to come to a party. Just this once we’ll forget any punishment. You may stay, Draco.”

“Oh no,” groaned Graham. 

“What’s wrong?” asked Katie. “I thought he was your friend too?”

“He was trying to convince me not to come tonight so I could help him with a job - I mean, a project. I think that’s why he was trying to sneak in.”

Cormac remained fixed on the commotion as Draco thanked Slughorn for his generosity and couldn’t help but notice that Draco looked a little ill. 

“A project? The day before we go home for the holidays?” asked Katie. Cormac wondered if that was why Draco looked so worse for wear. Maybe he had a deadline he was going to miss?

“Well, I’ve not had much time to work on it. I’ve been preoccupied with something else,” said Graham and Cormac turned back around in his chair just in time to see him wiggling his eyebrows at Katie. “Doesn’t matter anyway - look, Snape’s not having it.”

Sure enough, Draco was being dragged back out of the room at the exact same moment Una was coming back in. Alone. 

Cormac raised a hand in acknowledgement and Una halted on the spot, pursing her lips when she saw he was sitting with Graham and Katie.

“Una!” called Graham and her eyes darted everywhere except their table as if looking for an escape route before reluctantly continuing towards them, her high-heeled stilettos clicking on the dance floor ominously as she did.

Cormac stood up and pulled out the seat next to him and she sat down wordlessly, dumping her clutch bag on the table. “Well, I’ve just had to rescue Meredith from Selwyn. Blaise and I had to put them to bed. Separately. And now I’ve got no idea where anyone else is.”

“You’ll just have to put up with our much worse company then,” said Cormac.

Una huffed a derisive laugh and looked directly at Cormac. “I’ll say.”

Her icy glare was full of annoyance and Cormac was sure he’d soon find out that he was somehow responsible for her mood. But even though she looked irritated at him, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. 

She always looked beautiful. He still got a little flustered now that he was actually allowing himself to look at her in her school uniform but he was unprepared for seeing her dressed to the nines like this. He was glad of the commotion caused by Katie and Graham fawning over each other in the Entrance Hall earlier this evening - it meant that nobody noticed that he had stopped mid-sentence when Una had appeared, arm in arm with Blaise wearing that satin green dress that pooled on the floor like it was molten.

“Ouch, harsh, Una,” chuckled Graham. “Cormac was just telling us you’re in Transfiguration together.”

“And come to think of it, that’s just about as much time in Cormac McLaggen’s presence as I can stand sober. Excuse me.” Una tossed her hair over her shoulder before getting up and walking over to the bar. 

Cormac hesitated as he looked from Una’s abandoned bag to her figure cutting through the crown, a backless silhouette of grace and indignation.

“Just go,” said Katie in exasperation.

Cormac didn’t bother explaining himself. He grabbed Una’s bag and followed her towards the bar.

“So much for hardly knowing each other,” said Graham, raising an eyebrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Una, what’s up?” asked Cormac, leaning on the edge of the bar at the back of Slughorn’s office as Una caught the barman’s eye with practised ease.

“What’ll it be?” asked the young barman absently, dressed in a white tailcoat and cleaning the bar with a towel. He had a pimply face - he couldn’t have been much older than Una or Cormac, she thought. 

“A shot of firewhiskey please,” said Una.

“Make that two,” added Cormac.

“No can do,” said the barman. “Boss said no shots.”

“Oh.” Una pouted and twisted the end of her hair. “Not even just one tiny shot?” she asked, her voice dripping in saccharine sweetness that was anything but innocent.

The barman shook his head as if strengthening his own resolve by denying her request.

Una giggled. “I suppose that makes sense. Who knows what would happen if the students all lost our inhibitions.” She moved her shoulder discreetly so that her strap fell down her arm. 

The barman blinked a few times as his cheeks turned pink. “Well… maybe one. Just don’t tell anyone, alright?”

He poured a shot and Una downed it before placing the glass back on the bar. “Gosh, that’s gone right to my head.” She batted her eyelashes at him. “Could I trouble you for a glass of champagne, please?”

“Two!” Cormac called after him, a hint of irritation in his voice after being plainly ignored by the barman. “And you can stop trying to make me jealous because it isn’t working,” he added to Una.

“I’m doing no such thing,” said Una. “And besides, you’re one to talk. The way you had your hands all over Granger.”

“I was just trying to get rid of her.”

Una snorted derisively. “By doing your best impression of the giant squid?”

“I didn’t think anyone noticed.” 

“Cormac, it’s time you learned that I see everything and I hear everything,” hissed Una, her voice filled with venom. “So don’t expect me to be grateful when you tell Hermione to doll herself up for you so you can spend the evening getting handsy with her.”

“Fuck, Una. It wasn’t like that -”

“Oh yeah? That’s not what Moaning Myrtle overheard in the bathroom. She told me all about how you asked Hermione to wear something sexy tonight. I mean, what the fuck, Cormac? You think I wouldn’t find out? Oh - thank you.” Her expression softened momentarily as she thanked the barman for the drinks with a forced smile.

She tried to walk away from the bar but Cormac caught her wrist discreetly. 

“Let go of me. You can’t just manhandle me any time an argument isn’t going your way,” she snapped.

“And you can’t just storm off every time you’re about to show the tiniest bit of vulnerability,” said Cormac sternly, his tight grip encircling her wrist bones and pulling her close. 

“That’s not what this is, I -”

“I know what you’re like, Una, I can tell you’ve been stewing over this all day. And I’ll be damned if I let you leave for the Christmas holidays without us sorting this out.”

“It’s not for you to let me do anything.”

“It is when it involves me so shut up for a second and listen.”

Una’s nostrils flared as she stared up at him furiously. That stupid, pretty little curl on his head. It tempted her fingers with a desire to yank it out. “Go on then, try and talk your way out of it.”

“Not here,” said Cormac, increasingly aware of the fact that their whispered conversation was likely to be overheard. “Behind that curtain,” he suggested, nodding to the heavy tent-like draping covering the stone walls of Slughorn’s magically expanded office.

“Are you going to let go of me or should I expect an escort?”

Cormac loosened his grip and handed Una her purse. She snatched it from him and followed him to the secluded edge of the room. Cormac checked the coast was clear of onlookers and held open the hanging to let Una walk through.

“I did ask Hermione to dress up,” said Cormac, his voice tinged with embarrassment and regret. “But that was before I knew you and Blaise were going tonight as friends. I was jealous. And I was trying to make you jealous too.”

“Well, it worked. Are you happy?” Una’s words were sharp but her voice wavered - a tiny chink of vulnerability in her armour that she so wished she could hide.

“Obviously not, Unes. I told you before that I’m terrible at playing games. And this attempt has backfired. Spectacularly.”

Una paused, taken aback by his candour. She was adept at weaving intricate plans. It was like playing wizard’s chess to her, while Cormac... he was more like a player of exploding snap - unguarded and impulsive. And maybe, she thought, what he deserved was someone who wasn’t a game player. Someone honest. Someone who didn’t care about being strategic.

He might not have her cunning, but there was a simplicity, a sweetness in his earnestness. A typical Gryffindor, wearing his heart on his sleeve.

“Maybe you should find Hermione again -” started Una softly but Cormac interrupted her with an exasperated groan.

“Una, come on. We’ve just been over this -”

“No, I’m serious, Cormac. I’m not just saying it to start another argument. Aren’t relationships supposed to be fun? Easy? The two of you looked good together.”

Una was starting to think she should have just let her parents betroth her to someone as planned rather than putting up such a fight. It would have avoided this current mess with Cormac if she had. It would have meant that she’d never have made a mess back then either, a mess that strained her relationship with her parents beyond repair.

“I am having fun. And it could be easy if you just stopped caring about what the Vipers think.” Cormac cupped her face with both hands and she could feel her worries melting away, even if only for a moment.

She sighed heavily. “Cormac, please don’t make me choose between you and them.”

Cormac leaned in closer, his green eyes locking onto hers with a sincerity that made her heart flutter. “I’m not asking you to choose, Una. They are. But if you’re really thinking of ending this...” He leaned in, his warm breath fanning against her skin. “I can’t let you go without one last kiss.”

And then he kissed her. Kissed her as if she were the only thing in the world he ever wanted. And Una kissed him back, the sweet champagne on his lips tainted by the smoky, briny firewhiskey on hers. 

This was all it took. A kiss was enough to turn her to putty in his hands.

She succumbed to her intrusive thoughts.

“Fuck what they think. I’ll have my parents buy me new friends if it means you’ll fuck me again,” panted Una in Cormac’s ear as he kissed her neck.

He groaned. “You’re so fucked up for that.”

“And you’re fucked up for wanting me.”

She grabbed the front of his dress robes and pulled him urgently so he pressed her between him and the stone wall. Fuck, she loved feeling his body between her legs. It seemed to block out all the external problems complicating things. It was just she and him.

Cormac’s hands pulled up her floor-length satin dress.

“Fuck, not here, Cormac,” she said as his hand cupped her lacy underwear. But her cunt was throbbing underneath his touch. She couldn’t deny that she wanted him to touch her.

“But you’re so wet for me,” he whispered, slipping his hand into her underwear and tracing two fingers along her slit. “I can’t let you back out there all worked up. What if that barman gets ideas?”

“You said that wasn’t working - flirting with the guy behind the bar to - to make you jealous,” she whimpered.

“I’m not jealous. I’m furious. And I’m about to teach you a lesson,” he told her with an arrogant sort of appraising look.

Suddenly, the curtains behind them rustled and Una and Cormac broke apart. Panic jolted through her as Una yanked down the front of her dress and hastily wrenched the fallen strap back up her shoulder.

“Mister McLaggen,” said a low voice from behind them. 

Shit. Cormac spun around and when Una laid eyes on the person who’d interrupted them, they widened in horror.

“Miss… Montague?” Professor Snape’s voice had a tone of surprise as eyes darted between them. 

Fuck. Una’s stomach dropped as her Head of House eyed them suspiciously.

“I trust, Miss Montague, that you are of sound mind and have not been confunded?”

“Yea, sir,” said Una sheepishly. “I mean, I haven’t been confunded.” Although for a split second, she briefly considered lying and saying she was confunded. Let Cormac take the fall.

“Detention. Both of you. After the holidays.”

“Sir, please, I can’t be seen in detention,” said Una. It was a risk arguing with Snape, even though he was her favourite teacher and Head of House. But she had to at least plead her case. She knew it would look bad for him too if the student he’d put forward for Head Girl was in detention.

Snape paused, looking at their dishevelled, embarrassed appearances, his expression unreadable.

“I’ll do both detentions,” said Cormac. “It was my fault -”

“Your chivalry is very touching, Mister McLaggen, however…” said Snape, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I am the one who will decide a suitable punishment.” Una held her breath waiting for the verdict. “You will both receive detention. Separately. Miss Montague, you are permitted to use the excuse that you are doing remedial Defence Against the Dark Arts.”

“Remedial Defence…” whispered Una, horror-struck. She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her lungs. She couldn’t think of anything more mortifying. That is until Snape held open the curtain.

“Now, I expect you to return to your dormitories. Immediately.”

Una was temporarily rendered speechless. If she and Cormac were to emerge from behind a curtain and frogmarched through the party by Snape… “Sir, I can’t -”

“Miss Montague, I have been exceptionally lenient with you - do not test my patience.”

Resigned, Una muttered a quiet “Yes, sir,” and reluctantly followed Snape and Cormac. The party was thinning out, which only made their conspicuous exit feel like a spotlight. She fought the urge to hide her face, instead lifting her chin with feigned confidence.

“Nice one, McLaggen,” congratulated Marcus Belby, sticking out his fist as they passed. Cormac at least had the decency to ignore him. Or perhaps he knew reciprocating would land him another few weeks of detention.

Una saw Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger huddled together near the doorway as she continued to follow Snape and Cormac.

“I told you he was vile,” said Hermione quietly.

“Yeah, well I didn’t think he’d sink that low,” said Ginny.

Una slowed her pace, just enough to let Snape and Cormac exit the room ahead of her. This was her chance. Her chance to set off her plan for revenge and provoke Ginny Weasley into attacking her. 

“Sorry about your boyfriend…” Una lowered her voice to a barely audible whisper so that only Ginny and Hermione could hear. Then she said a word that she’d never said before. “...Mudblood.”

Hermione’s jaw dropped in shock but Ginny’s eyes narrowed furiously.

“How dare you!” exclaimed Ginny, drawing her wand. A jet of purple light flew towards Una - she made to duck but twisted her ankle in her high stilettos and fell as the bat bogey hex flew over her head and hit Marcus Belby directly in the face, causing pandemonium as everyone dodged the effects of the spell.

“Goodness gracious” exclaimed Slughorn, flapping his arms in panic.

Snape whirled back into the room, quickly followed by Cormac to find Una on the floor, Ginny standing over her with her wand raised and Hermione tugging on Ginny’s arm trying to pull her back. With a lazy flick of his wand, Snape disarmed Ginny and caught her wand in the air with his other hand.

“Sir, I tried to warn you,” said Una, tears welling in her eyes as Cormac helped her to her feet. “She’s jealous, Cormac, and she got her friend to attack me.”

“That is not what happened!” protested Ginny. “She called Hermione a -”

“Oh, spare me the thrilling details of your personal lives,” said Snape, rolling his eyes and handing Ginny her wand back. “Weasley, detention. Granger, ten points from Gryffindor. You two - follow me.”

“Yes, sir,” sniffed Una as she looked down and rubbed her elbow where she had fallen and grazed it. As Cormac and Snape left the room she turned back and looked at Ginny and Hermione, giving them the tiniest smirk as she left.

This was all working out perfectly.

#freddie stroma #cormac mclaggen #slytherin #slytherin fanfiction #harry potter fanfic #harry potter fanfiction #cormac mclaggen x original female character #cormac mclaggen fanfic #slytherin aesthetic #hogwarts au

[arcturusreads]

I Will Wait For You - Merhayes

pairing: meredith grey x cormac hayes word count: 1395 request: yes/no prompt/summary: meredith opens up to some people about her split with cormac and realises that maybe she cared more than she was letting on a.n: still not over them. will never get over them. ao3: saiwriteswords

“Panic attacks?”

“Yes.”

“So, you two are on pause or what?”

“I don’t know! No? I don’t think so. I think we’re just kind of… done… not dating. Not on pause. No expectations of anything else happening. We’re just friends again I guess…” It felt like a stab to her stomach as Meredith admitted the reality of the situation to her sisters.

They were done before they’d even begun and under any other circumstances, Meredith would have been angry. She would have been fuming at the situation. But how could she blame him when he was just trying to look out for his son? Wouldn’t she have done the same thing? She knew she would have. There was no other choice. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt her. That she didn’t wish there was some other way that they could make this work. But there wasn’t and wishful thinking had never gotten her anywhere before. So, what was the point in starting now?

“Are you okay though?” Maggie’s tone was softer than Amelia’s. Less intrusive and that almost made Meredith feel worse. She didn’t want people to pity her. Especially over a guy.

“Yeah. I mean, we never really started anything anyway and his kids should come first.”

And that fact alone didn’t help either. He was a good Dad. A great one. Why wouldn’t she want to be with a guy that wasn’t only good with kids but also had kids himself? She never had to worry about being pulled away when one of hers had a stomach bug or a last-minute dance recital she might have forgotten about because he got it and it had made everything so much easier. Her kids were the most important thing in her life but it also made dating incredibly difficult. Cormac understood that there were always going to be three little people that would come before him because to him there would always be two teenagers that would come before her. And was exactly what this situation was: Cormac needing to make sure his kids were okay before anything else.

--- --- --- --- ---

“Do you want me to come over and kick his ass?”

“You’ve never even met the guy, Alex.”

Alex shrugged through the video call, “Doesn’t matter. When’s that ever stopped me?”

“The last thing me or Izzie need is you in jail… again. It’s like I said, it’s fine. It’s whatever.”

“Sure. That’s why you rang me at 2 am,” he deadpanned, and Meredith didn’t really have an answer to that. “Seriously, Mer, how are you actually feeling about this. Because when Riggs and DeLuca broke up with you, you didn’t care.”

“First of all, they both didn’t break up with me. And second of all, it’s not that I didn’t care.” Meredith tried to argue with him.

Alex just rolled his eyes, “DeLuca definitely broke up with you and Riggs’ ex came back from the dead. Sorry I wasn’t more specific, and you didn’t care. I’m not saying that you didn’t care about them, but you didn’t care when you guys broke up. But you care with this Hayes guy.”

“It doesn’t even matter if I care or not.” Meredith blurted out. “It doesn’t matter because we can’t be together because he has to take care of his kids and you can’t even hate him for a reason like that. And maybe I shouldn’t even be trying to date again because I had my one great love and maybe this in the universe trying to slap me back into place for asking for more.”

A string of unsuccessful dates and relationships had led Meredith to these thoughts in the dark of her bedroom on way too many nights. She knew that she’d never find a love like Derek again. Maybe she’d been stupid to think that she would ever been in another relationship again. It’s not like her life was completely unfulfilled. She had her kids, her career, two sisters that drove her crazy, but she wouldn’t do without them, a nephew, good friends. She had a lot more than most people; a lot more than she had growing up. And there were days Meredith hated herself for wanting more. For wanting someone to wake up next to in the morning again. Derek had been enough. More than enough to last a lifetime but a lifetime with him wasn’t what she ended up getting. And Meredith had eventually gotten her head around that fact. It had taken a while and there were still split second when she woke up in the morning and thought that he would be next to her. 

She had managed to accept the thought of dating again, and as much as she hated to admit it, Alex was right. Hayes was the only guy she had actually cared about when he broke up with her. He was the only guy that she had actually managed to imagine a future with. With DeLuca and Riggs, she’d liked them, she could see herself with them for a few months at a time. But it had been difficult for her to see a long-term future. With Hayes, it seemed so easy. The thought didn’t scare her enough to want to run away.

“The universe isn’t slapping you back into place, Mer.” Alex softened his tone. He knew what Meredith was like when she got like this.

“Then what exactly is it doing?” She glared at him.

“When you met Derek, he was a married man.”

“Yeah and I was the slutty intern, I get it.” Sometimes it felt like she could never get away from that.

“No, I’m not on about that. He was married and then Addison turned up and you fought for him, Mer. You wanted to be with Derek, so you fought for him and it worked out in the end.”

Frustrated, Meredith ran a hand through her hair. “I can’t really fight for Hayes when he’s doing this for his kids, Alex. Even I know that there’s a line there that you don’t cross.”

“Mer, do you like this guy?”

Meredith stayed silent for a minute, making Alex impatient. “Mer?”

“Yes.” She finally admitted stubbornly.

“Enough to wait for him?”

“He doesn’t want me to wait, Alex. Doesn’t that tell you everything?”

“Because he cares about you!”

“You don’t know that!”

Alex felt like hitting his head against a wall. He loved Meredith but she could be so stubborn sometimes that talking to her was like navigating a hostage situation. “Mer, I’m a guy. I know how guys think. And I might not know him, but Hayes doesn’t sound like the type of person that just lets anyone into his life. He sounds like he cares about you. A lot. But do you care about him enough to wait?”

“Alex, he-“

“I’m not asking you what he said, Mer. I’m asking, do you care enough to wait?”

Mer bit her lip. She knew what the answer was. That wasn’t something she needed to think about but the reality of it scared her. It scared her that she cared enough to do. It scared her that she could wait for him, and it might not amount to anything.

“Yes,” her voice was smaller than before, and Alex knew that it wasn’t an easy answer for her to give.

“Then tell him that, Mer. Tell him that you’re willing to wait and give him time with his kids until they’re all ready because you’re gonna end up regretting it if you don’t.”

“And if it doesn’t work? If his kids are never ready?”

“I didn’t know you were someone who gave up before they even tried, Mer.” Alex goaded her slightly. It wasn’t an easy task to get Meredith Grey to do something that she didn’t want to do.

“So, I wait?”

“Only if you want to, Mer.”

And she did want to. She wanted to hold onto hope that there was a chance the two of them could be together. That Liam and Austin might be okay with their dad dating again one day. So, Meredith decided that she was going to wait, and she was going to tell Cormac that because as much as she hated having to be vulnerable in front of anyone, she cared about Cormac a hell of a lot more.

#meredith grey #cormac hayes #merhayes #grey's anatomy fanfic #grey's anatomy #sai writes #excuse me whilst i rearrange the alphabet

[amybennixox]

just curious how many #merhayes fans are there?? i m like a hardcore merhayes fan and still routing for them to be endgame so was just wondering if there’s anyone else hoping this too?

#mermac #cormac hayes #merhayes #meredith x cormac #meredith grey

[chachkayes]

if this is what heaven looks like after death i cannot wait to die

#cormac hayes #merhayes #merwidow #meredith x hayes #grayes #hayes x grey #meredith x cormac #cormac x meredith #hayes x meredith #mcwidows #meredith grey

[shinytics]

i hate grey's writers it's official

#cormac hayes #love #greys anatomy #meredith grey #meredith x cormac #merhayes #krista vernoff #Hell #Angry

[jazy3]

I could watch this video a thousand times! They’re so great together! My heart!

#grey's anatomy #meredith grey #cormac hayes #MerHayes #MerWidow #cormac x meredith #meredith x cormac #meredith x hayes #hayes x grey #hayes x meredith #grey x hayes #17X08 #it's all too much

[romancemedia]

I love Nick’s character and its great to have him back after YEARS of begging, but I’m still a Mermac fan and I am rooting for Hayes and Meredith. Still though it’s great to see Nick again. It’s been Way too long.

#Grey's Anatomy #My Thoughts #Mermac #Meredith x Cormac #Meredith Grey #Cormac Hayes #My Thoughts GA

[hahahawhatalife]

That Facetime between Meredith and Hayes tho

GET THEM TOGETHER ALREADY BEFORE THIS SHOW DIES 😭

#meredith x cormac #Greys anatomy s18

[shamrockwidow]

Please update permanence soon 🥺😭

This is wild! I’ve had a few messages forwarded to me this week about Permanence. I genuinely thought people would forget all about my little labour of love!

I’m three weeks away from completing a master’s course that has taken most of my free time since the New Year. Once I’m graduated, I’ll promise to round off Permanence and provide the long-overdue last chapter...and I was thinking of some added extras. Thank you for investing time in it and I hope this is a little ray of hope for you!

#merhayes #cormac hayes #meredith grey #meredith x cormac

[things-keeping-me-up-at-night]

Done being mature for today, why isn‘t there an ‚anti nick marsh‘ tag yet?

(I would also settle for ‚anti megan hunt‘ because she is the most useless character every created and there is a reason the seasons she‘s in are the absolute worst)

#greys anatomy #greysanatomy #anti nick marsh #anti season 18 #anti megan hunt #i know the actor left but god damnit just end the show and have vormachet and meredith end up together #put me out of my misery already #not over this atrocity of a season #meredith x cormac

[jowwdii]

I need merhayes fics to cope with the amount of merhayes slander on twitter 😭 I need a dose of my merhayes drug or I’m really gonna break😭

#merhayes #cormac hayes #meredith grey #mcwidow #meredith x cormac

[training4theapocalypse]

A Nest of Vipers Ch3. (Cormac McLaggen x Original Female Character - Slytherin)

Rating: Explicit 18+

Word Count: 6.5K

Warnings / Tags: Smut, Oral Sex (F receiving), Secret Relationship

Summary: Cormac McLaggen has some useful information that Una Montague is very grateful for.

A/N: My neck, my back...

Masterlist

Join my tag list: @countlambula, @ratsys, @aweidlich, @navs-bhat, @stainedpomegranatelips, @chiaraanatra, @xxvelvetxxxx, @ohnoitsrosie, @dracosisteer, @daisydark, @intense-sneezing, @lipstickandloveletters, @ichorai (let me know if you want removed at any point btw!)

Chapter 3: Service

The bell rang, signalling the end of Potions. Una looked at Sabine and Meredith. Professor Slughorn was in a very pleasant mood after she’d performed well in class today but nerves still twisted in her stomach. 

“You’ve got this,” said Sabine confidently and extended her pinky finger. Meredith leaned across the desk behind them and the three of them squeezed their pinkies together. “You know how to get what you want. So do it.”

Una nodded. “I’ll meet you in the Great Hall.”

She braced herself, getting ready to ask her favour of Professor Slughorn. Careful flattery of the people who mattered was right in her wheelhouse but when it came to her brother Graham, her fierce protectiveness made her feel like the stakes were incredibly high.

Cormac McLaggen, who usually ignored her in this particular lesson due to her proximity to the rest of the so-called ‘Vipers’, glanced at her suspiciously as he exited the classroom. Una didn’t acknowledge him. She didn’t need Cormac distracting her now as she hovered at her desk, waiting for the Potions room to vacate. 

“Professor Slughorn, sir?” she asked when it was only she and the Potions Master left.

“Miss Montague, I’ve already told you that was an excellent Everlasting Elixir. I hope you’re not looking for more points?” he chuckled.

“No, sir.” She smiled modestly. “I hope it’s not too much to ask but I was hoping to ask you a favour.”

“A favour? Well, I certainly couldn’t refuse at least hearing our Head Girl out, could I?” 

“Thank you, sir. It’s about my brother, Graham Montague. I don’t suppose you heard what happened to him last year?”

“I’ve heard rumours, of course. But I’m not, ah, familiar with the whole story, that is.”

Una launched into a dramatic retelling of what happened to her younger brother last year. She didn’t hold back on the horrific details - her eyes expertly welled up in all the right places while Slughorn ‘ooh’-ed and ‘ahh’-ed. By the end of the story, Slughorn had even conjured up an opulent satin handkerchief for her to dry her eyes on.

“And so you see, sir. He’s only sitting two N.E.W.Ts this year - he didn’t want to fall a year behind his classmates. But Potions is his favourite subject. It’s just that he barely scraped an ‘A’ because he missed so much.”

“I do see, m’dear,” said Slughorn sympathetically. “And your brother, is he half as clever as his older sister?”

Una sniffled into the handkerchief and gave him a watery smile. “Yes, sir.”

“Then it’s settled!” boomed Slughorn. “He’ll have some catching up to do - it’s three weeks into term, you know. But he can certainly join the other sixth-years.”

“Thank you, Professor.” 

Slughorn smiled and walked her out of the classroom.

“Not at all! Not at all!” he said when they were in the corridor and Una had the distinct feeling that Slughorn very much enjoyed being asked for favours that only he could grant. Like a giant, walrus genie. 

Slughorn waddled off into the direction of the Great Hall, as she fixed her mascara, quickly pulling herself together and stuffed the silk handkerchief into her bag. That couldn’t have gone any better if she had tried. She was excited to brag to Sabine and Meredith about how she had masterfully pulled Slughorn’s strings. But she was secretly even more excited that Graham would have another lesson to keep himself busy. Hopefully too busy to help Draco Malfoy with whatever schemes he had planned.

“Masterfully done,” said a voice behind Una as she pulled her gaze from Slughorn and turned to see Cormac McLaggen, leaning one of his broad shoulders against the wall and giving her a slow round of applause.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Una, fixing her hair by tucking it behind her ear.

“Sure,” said Cormac.

“What are you waiting out here for? Are you spying on me?” Una tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Feeling brave enough to push me up against the wall with all these witnesses?” she asked, looking at the sparse groups of students passing the dungeons on their way to dinner.

“Oh, come on. You loved that and you know it.”

Una pursed her lips not deigning to dignify his comment with a response, however true it was. “Why are you waiting out here, Cormac?”

“Well -” he took a deep breath. “Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow and I was wondering if you wanted to come along and watch?”

Una snorted. She hadn’t expected that.

“Don’t laugh,” he said, giving her an offended look.

“I’m sorry,” she said, regaining her composure. “No, honestly, I am. But how do I put this politely?” She looked at the high ceiling thoughtfully. “I simply couldn’t think of a worse way to spend a Saturday.” This was, at least, the truth. She’d spent enough of her childhood and time at Hogwarts watching her brother play and couldn’t think of anything more dull.

“I just wanted to make up for the other night in the library. Call a truce.”

“By asking me to watch you play Quidditch?”

He shrugged and gave her a cocky grin. “Some people say I look really good in my uniform.”

Una laughed again but this time it was in disbelief. He really was arrogant beyond belief. 

“Well, thank you for the exceptionally generous offer but I’ll have to say ‘no’ on this occasion.”

“I just thought you might want an excuse to look at me from a safe distance.”

She couldn’t help her mouth twisting into a reluctant smile. He was nice to look at. And Merlin’s Beard, he was persistent. It was a very strange sort of peace offering.

“Please, Cormac,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

He took a sharp inhale of breath. “Oh, don’t say that. It’s giving me ideas.”

“What, ‘Cormac’?”

“‘Please’”, he corrected her. “You know if you just saw me play, I’d have you begging like that.”

“In your dreams,” said Una, turning to walk away, hiding how much she was enjoying his audacity. 

“Wait, Una. Last chance,” he called to her.

“Are you giving me an ultimatum?” she turned back around and smirked.

“I’m just saying, plenty of other girls in here who are interested,” he lifted up his hands.

“Sure, Cormac. Go ahead and ask one of them to watch you play,” laughed Una, shaking her head at his very transparent attempt to make her jealous. “I’ll see you in Transfiguration next week.”

“Suit yourself.”

And with that, she made her way to the Great Hall, wondering if she might make up some excuse to go and watch. She actually would enjoy seeing what Cormac McLaggen’s shoulders would look like in the Gryffindor Quidditch robes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later, Cormac McLaggen sat in Professor McGonagall’s classroom, determinedly not looking back at the door in anticipation of his deskmate’s arrival.

“So, how did it go?” asked Una, as Cormac looked up to see her slipping into her usual seat as the buzz from the other students filled the classroom.

Cormac hesitated - he wasn’t sure what exactly had happened at the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts. The memory was still hazy. It was probably all the adrenaline, he supposed.

“That bad?” she smirked.

He shrugged nonchalantly as if it didn’t bother him. “Reserve keeper,” he said. “Probably just as well you didn’t turn up.”

Cormac felt Una’s eyes on him, surveying him carefully.

“You know, Cormac, it would have looked weird if I’d have gone. It’s not like anyone else in Slytherin would have been there,” she said quietly.

“I get it.” 

“Everyone knows I hate Quidditch too. It would have been sus-.”

“Honestly, it’s fine.” He looked at her apprehensively. “Look, I’ve been thinking it’s probably for the best anyway.”

Una grinned at him. “Oh no, are you breaking up with me?”

When tryouts were over, he had spent time thinking about this long and hard over the weekend as his thoughts recently so often turned to Una. “I just think - whatever it is we’re playing at - we should cut it out.”

Una gasped playfully. “Oh my god, you are breaking up with me.”

“Well, obviously not. We were never together. But yeah.” He cleared his throat, bracing himself for her reaction.

Una moved in closer to him. “You’re not slick, you know that, right? This is the oldest trick in the book.”

“Una, it’s not a trick. I’m serious,” he said, turning in his chair to face her. Cormac knew the more time he spent in her company, the more he was experiencing feelings for her. Mostly strong feelings of irritation - she really wasn’t an easy person to get along with. But he was starting to realise that maybe the best way to rid himself of those feelings perhaps wasn’t bending her over, and fucking her until she started saying nice things to him. Maybe.

“You can’t resist me, Cormac. You said you think about fucking me all the time,” she hushed as if reading his mind.

“We both know our friends would cut us off if we started dating each other.”

“Who said anything about dating each other?” Una rested her hand on his knee. Her touch felt like a jolt of lightning. Before Cormac could reply, she slinked off of her chair and crawled under the desk. His eyes widened as he looked down at her on the floor between his legs. Una’s hand travelled further up his thigh as she whispered, “Nobody needs to know.”

Cormac felt blood rushing towards his cock as he looked edgily from left to right to see if anyone else had noticed what was happening. They hadn’t. He looked back down at her on her knees with her lips parted. 

He was done for.

“Una,” he murmured. “What are you -”

Her free hand rummaged in her bag and she got up to her seat again.

“Just getting my quill,” she said, putting it on the desk and smoothing her hair as she took her seat again. 

“Books and quills away,” barked Professor McGonagall as she entered the classroom. “Today you’ll be turning toads into toadstools.”

Una made to slide off her chair to return her quill to her bag but Cormac gripped her arm and shook his head. 

Una smirked at him. “What?”

“You know what.”

“Still getting ideas, Cormac?”

This was even more maddening than when Una was pretending she wasn’t interested in him. Cormac opened his mouth to respond but Professor McGonagall continued.

“Might I remind you that you should be working on these spells non-verbally so there will be no need for talking. That goes for you too, Mr McLaggen.”

Cormac turned in his chair abruptly to face the front but Una just smiled innocently at the stern look on McGonagall’s face.

They didn’t speak to one another as their toads were passed out. Una wrinkled her nose when a particularly fat, ugly toad was placed on her desk. As if merely keen to rid herself of its presence she tapped her wand lazily and it turned into a pretty, red toadstool.

Cormac knitted his eyebrows together and pointed his own wand at his toad, repeating the spell over and over again in his head. It did nothing.

“You know, I could help you,” said Una, brushing her hair from her shoulder and lolling back in her chair. 

Cormac sighed. “Go on then.”

“Not so fast. What are you gonna do for me?”

“Are you sexually harassing me, Una?”

“Maybe…” She gave him a flirtatious smile that he almost returned until with a flicker of indignation he remembered why he had resolved to stop flirting back with her.

“Then what?” He whispered. “I admit I want to fuck you so you can pretend you’re not interested and then we start this whole thing again?” He raised an eyebrow. “Una, I can’t keep up. I’m not good with these games.”

“Really? I thought we were having fun.”

He looked at her with a pained expression. “I don’t need this kind of fun.”

Una narrowed her eyes. “Fine. Find someone else. You’d be bored out of your mind.”

“I wouldn’t,” he said.

“Prove it.”

“I will.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Almost a week later, Professor Slughorn had invited them to another one of his dinners, which Una still determinedly refused to refer to as ‘Slug Club’. After promising Sabine and Meredith that she’d find out what she could about the next potions lesson, Una and Blaise made their way to Slughorn’s office.

They entered the room to find Cormac McLaggen and Eddie Carmichael amongst the students already seated. Una ignored the empty seats beside Cormac and instead, she followed Blaise to the opposite side of the table beside Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley. 

Cormac frowned when she took her seat but she paid him no mind which only seemed to annoy him more. So much for not being interested in playing games.

An hour or so later, when desserts had magically appeared on the table, Una watched as Cormac tried to make eye contact with the girl on Una’s right as he sucked chocolate sauce from his finger. The girl he’d been eyeing up, Hermione Granger, caught his eye and Una had to stuff an entire profiterole in her mouth to stop herself laughing when she saw Hermione visibly recoil. 

Cormac cleared his throat and pretended to find another conversation incredibly interesting as she watched his neck turn scarlet as he looked away. Maybe there weren’t ‘plenty of girls who were interested’ as he had claimed. Although, thought Una with satisfaction, if he was looking for a nice, boring girl then Slughorn’s club was probably the the right place

“You know, Miss Montague. I had been meaning to tell you that it’s been a pleasure having your brother, Graham, in Potions,” said Professor Slughorn once the dessert plates had been cleared and the older students’ wine glasses began filling up.

“Thank you, Sir,” beamed Una.

“I was worried about him keeping up after his incident last year but I needn’t have been!”

A few seats down Una heard a snort of laughter. She turned to see Ginny Weasley stifling a snicker with her hand.

“Think it’s funny, do you?” shot Una, glaring at her.

“I mean, sort of, yeah,” said Ginny, far too boldly in Una’s opinion. “He turned up alright in the end. In the U-Bend, mind.”

Una clenched her jaw. Ginny Weasley couldn’t have been the one who’d done it. She was much too small to have shoved Graham anywhere. But still, the little smirk on her face told her that she probably knew who had. 

“He almost died. Thanks to someone in your stupid little club,” said Una bitterly.

“Well, let’s call it even after your Slytherin gang of snitches made sure we all got detention,” Ginny retorted.

“Even? You think that detention -“

“Ladies, ladies. Please. All water under the bridge now, surely?” implored Slughorn.

It certainly wasn’t. Not to her. Nonetheless, she quickly rearranged her face into a smile at Slughorn. She would prefer to have him as an ally, have her think she was the bigger person.

“Certainly, Sir.”

Cormac looked at her with a slightly guilty expression from across the table. She averted her gaze - she had temporarily forgotten he had been part of the D.A. too.

When dinner was finally over and Una had managed to procure information from Slughorn about the next Potions lesson, she and Blaise walked back towards the Slytherin common room together.

“That Ginny Weasley really is a piece of work,” sneered Una. Blaise looked over his shoulder. “She’s good-looking though,” Una added just to see his reaction.

“I wouldn’t touch that little Blood Traitor with a ten-foot broomstick.”

“Blaise, don’t use that kind of language around me or I’ll tell your sister.”

He scoffed. “Fine.”

“And I’ve seen the way you look at her. I know you’re just deflecting.”

“Oh yeah? Gonna tell my sister about that too?”

“No,” said Una carefully and they both came to a standstill. “I wouldn’t tell her... And I wouldn’t tell her if you wanted to use Slughorn’s club as an opportunity to get to know her either.”

Blaise eyed her suspiciously.

“I mean it. I don’t think we can help it if we’re attracted to someone - even if they’re in Gryffindor.”

“Montague!” called a voice from behind them. Cormac McLaggen was on his own, walking towards them. 

“What do you want?” asked Una coolly.

“I was wondering if you had written down the Transfiguration homework?” he asked, giving her a meaningful look that Blaise didn’t fail to notice.

“I’m going to the common room,” said Blaise, walking away. “I’ll see you later.”

“Blaise, wait a minute.” Una caught up and stopped him. “This doesn’t have anything to do with what I was just saying.”

She stared at him for a second, trying to read his cool, dark eyes. 

“Slughorn held you back because he wanted to ask you a question after the party,” he said quietly so Cormac couldn’t hear. “And maybe in future… he’ll have something he wants to ask me.” He raised his eyebrow pointedly.

Una nodded, not daring to say anything else. She wasn’t sure she trusted Blaise. Or he her. But the less either of them said, the more plausible deniability they both had. 

She turned back to Cormac as she heard Blaise walk away.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“Look, it’s about your brother,” said Cormac in a hushed voice. “I just wanted you to know it wasn’t anything to do with me.”

She scanned his face carefully, looking for any signs of deceit. But there were none. “Do you know who it was?”

“I don’t think I can say… I mean, you know Marietta Edgecombe? When she told Umbridge about the D.A. she got horrible acne all over her face spelling the word ‘sneak’. There’s a curse to stop us from saying anything about what went on.”

Una rolled her eyes with all the derision she could muster. “Of course. I wouldn’t want you to ruin your good looks. Those are more important. See you later, Cormac.” She walked away but before she could reach the end of the corridor he called after her.

“It was Fred and George Weasley.” His voice rang out, echoing the names in the deserted hallway.

Una paused. Not quite believing what she had just heard, she turned around slowly to see Cormac squeezing his eyes tight shut, bracing himself for the curse to mark his face “Is it bad? Just tell me,” he said, not daring to open his eyes.

Una walked back towards him to look at his face. It was still stupidly handsome. Even in the dim torchlight of the corridor, she could see he had not been marred by whatever curse he was expecting.

She reached up and brushed her index finger across his cheekbone. Her face was so close to his neck that as she looked up at his face she could smell the expensive, clean scent of his aftershave. 

“What does it say?” He said, opening one eye.

She traced letters across his face as she spelt out. “D… I… C…K-.”

“Oh, ha-ha.” He said opening his green eyes and looking down at her, standing in tiptoe to touch his face. “Is there anything there?”

She shook her head slowly. “You really thought you might get cursed if you told me?” He nodded. “That was very brave considering your looks are mostly all you’ve got going for you.”

“You know what? I just did a decent thing - you are so -”

“Kiss me,” she interrupted.

“You - what?” 

She looked from his raised eyebrows to his lips. “I won’t bite.”

“Sure about that?” he asked sarcastically.

“Not this time, anyway,” she said, smoothing her hands along his jumper. “Unless you want me to.”

He studied her expectant face. For a second she thought he wasn’t going to kiss her. Until, with a resigned sigh, he tilted his head down and pressed his soft lips against hers tentatively. She pulled herself against his body and kissed him back, tasting dark chocolate and red wine on his lips. When her tongue swiped against his lower lip, he seemed to decide it was safe enough to slip his tongue into her mouth. 

He ran his hand through her hair and tugged gently at the nape of her neck, tilting her head back so he could kiss her exposed throat shamelessly. She cupped his head as he did, feeling his dark blonde curls entwined through her fingers. 

A door slammed shut in the distance and they broke apart abruptly when they heard footsteps at the other end of the corridor. Their eyes darted towards the door at the end of the corridor nearest them. They both bolted towards it. Cormac recklessly threw it open and they ran inside, shutting the door behind them and leaning against it catching their breath. 

Una’s chest rose and fell rapidly in anticipation of being caught. They stayed deadly silent as the footsteps passed and breathed a sigh of relief as they went off into the distance.

Una took in her dark surroundings. It was a disused classroom with empty bookcases and some tables and chairs piled up in a corner. They remained quiet for a few seconds, neither of them daring to bring up what had just happened in the corridor. Una knew she had to get back before before Sabine and Meredith had time to be suspicious. 

She turned to look up at him. “We should go. I appreciate you telling me about the Weasley twins. That was really useful information.”

“Useful information?”

“It doesn’t matter. But I mean it, thank you.”

“Happy to have been of service.” Cormac leaned against the door, looking down at her. He curled two fingers under her chin, tilting her head up towards him. “Call it a favour.”

“One I’m expected to return?” she raised her eyebrow. She was well versed enough in getting information to understand the quid-pro-quo involved. “What, you want me to help you with non-verbal spells after all?”

He smirked as his thumb skirted over her bottom lip. “No, the favour I was thinking of involved your mouth. Although you won’t need to be particularly verbal.”

Una’s breath hitched in her throat when she pictured herself sliding her hands down his body and she sank down to the floor and undid his belt. But she quickly turned it into a scornful scoff. “That is very presumptuous of you.”

He gave her an arrogant look that made it clear he had seen the flicker in her eyes as she had briefly considered it. 

“Come on, I bet you’re good at it. You’re good at everything.”

She wasn’t sure how to respond. Honestly, she didn’t know if she’d be good at it. Sure, she’d had plenty of clumsy fumbles in deserted corners of the common room with boys, groping and rubbing each other under layers of clothing. But sucking Cormac McLaggen’s dick as some sort of subservient expression of gratitude?

“I don’t get on my knees for anyone,” she said, finally, pulling back from his touch and screwing up her face.

“Oh yeah, what were you doing on the floor in Transfiguration last week? Or maybe I’m not just anyone?”

“You wish. I was getting my quill out of my bag.”

“You little tease,” he grinned. And for some reason, the cocky way he said it made butterflies erupt in her stomach.

“You’re not going to provoke me into sucking your dick by calling me names. You really think I care if you call me a tease?”

“C’mon, I’ve seen the smirk on your face when everyone stares at you in these little skirts,” he said quietly, his fingers lightly touching the hem of her skirt, skating the front of her thighs. 

“Not everyone,” Una said in a small voice, a little more honestly than she’d intended.

Cormac’s eyelashes lifted from the hem of her skirt to her face. “If I looked at you, I’d be walking around like this all the time.” He took her hand and placed it just below his belt. He was hard. Her instinct was to withdraw her hand and admonish him but she didn’t. Instead, she kept it there, looking up at him and daring him to continue. “You know, when you started dressing like that - way back at the beginning of our third year - I used to think about kissing you… right here.” He moved his hand under her skirt and dragged his finger across the front of her underwear, sending a pleasant shiver down her spine. “It was stupid. I hadn’t even kissed a girl before or anything yet. All I knew was that every time I saw you, I wanted to bury my head between your thighs and taste you.”

“You… you did?” Una took an unsteady breath, running her fingertips over his hard length from base to tip. She could feel him pulsing under her touch.

“I was hardly getting anything else done. So I just stopped looking at you altogether.” The pads of his fingertips rested just over her clit through the fabric. She felt like she was on fire - so hot and throbbing that she was surprised Cormac hadn’t been scalded just by touching her. “Like I said, stupid of me.”

He kissed her again as his fingers rubbed gentle circles over her underwear, barely touching her. Una let out an involuntary whimper against his lips. He kissed along the line of her jaw and pressed his mouth to her ear, the slightest bit of stubble tickled her face. “See? I can be a tease too,” he murmured, a low growl in her ear that made hairs on the back of her neck prickle.

Shit. He was right. And he was good at it. Una gulped, loud enough for him to hear. He drew back and looked her up and down. The way he toyed with her already had her desperate for him to put more pressure on her aching pussy.

“I didn’t know you even knew I existed,” she admitted, her muscles in her core twisting so tightly they were starting to hurt.

“Well, it was easy to pretend since you have such a terrible personality.”

She exhaled an amused laugh of relief when he made fun of her. This was more in her comfort zone - playful sniping, not confessions of secret pining that made her yearn for him in a way she wasn’t ready to admit. “Speaking of which, I thought you didn’t need this ‘kind of fun’?” Una asked, hoping to provoke him into arguing with her again.

“Who said anything about fun?” asked Cormac, his green eyes glittering darkly.

Without warning, he pressed her against the door with his body and pushed his hips between her open legs. Una winced in surprise. God, she’d been thinking about him doing that every night since he did it in the library. He scooped her up with ease, pinning her against the door as she held onto his shoulders, feeling the friction of his hard cock against her throbbing cunt. Una’s breath hitched in her throat when she felt his hips buck against her and he let out a grunt as his cock chased the pleasant stimulation. 

Cormac leaned down and trailed wet, sloppy kisses down the side of her neck again, this time pausing to suck hard on her sensitive skin. Una breathed heavily, tilting her head back against the door and enjoying the feeling of his lips sucking on her neck. Her neck. With a start, her eyes flew open and she tugged his hair, pulling him back.

“Don’t give me a love bite,” she hissed. “Someone will see.” His grin faltered when he saw the serious look on her face. Una loosened her grip on his hair. “Cormac? Maybe this is a bad idea.”

Cormac heaved a sigh and gently let her down until her feet met the floor again. He pressed his forehead against the top of her head for a few moments. The only sound was their laboured breathing as the reasoning part of Una’s brain fought for the blood supply below her waist. 

“Yeah… maybe,” he said solemnly. Una could practically hear her body crying in protest, desperate for his touch below her waist again. She had secretly hoped he’d disagree. Find a way to persuade her. “Can I just… do something? I need to get it out of my system.”

“What - oh.”

Cormac knelt in front of her. “I want to taste you. Just once,” he said and pushed her skirt up. Una felt her cheeks burning as he pressed his face against her underwear and inhaled deeply. Shit, what was he doing? She was so turned on, she knew it must be a hot, sticky mess down there. Cormac groaned as he breathed out, sending a ripple of warm vibration across her clit. 

“Fuck, you smell good.”

“I smell good?” she blurted. 

“What? Nobody ever told you that while they were eating you out?”

She shook her head. Una had never let anyone do this to her before. Not that she’d tell Cormac that.

“Well, they’re idiots,” he said. She was glad that he had misunderstood her meaning. He hooked his fingers over the hem of her underwear. “Can I take these off?”

Una bit her bottom lip. “...I thought it was me who owed you a favour?”

“This is more of a favour from present me to fourteen-year-old me.” He slipped her underwear off and down her legs. She stepped out of them shakily - her legs felt so weak she had to lean against the doorknob for support. 

He traced two fingers between her folds, the flat of his fingers sliding against the slick of her hot, neglected slit. “You’re so fucking wet.” She couldn’t quite believe she was letting Cormac McLaggen do this to her. He sucked his fingers so he could taste her juices.

“Oh my god, Cormac…” Una said, feeling scandalised and blushing furiously as he closed his eyes in a blissful state of enjoyment. Her breathing felt stuttered as she watched him slowly withdraw his fingers from his mouth.

“That doesn’t count as tasting you,” he said firmly as if afraid she’d tell him to stop. Cormac pressed his lips against her and furnace-hot heat enveloped her clit as he started kissing her there like he was kissing her mouth. She could feel the texture of his tongue as he swirled it around her clit, making little circles as he did. His mouth was slick - she’d never experienced anything so warm and so heavenly on her skin before.

“Fuck, you taste so good…” He paused between kissing and nodded decisively, looking up into her eyes before turning his attention back to the task at hand. “Yep, I’m going to make you cum on my tongue.”

Una stifled a whine when his mouth met her cunt again. She couldn’t let him know how easily she was already coming undone. She could already imagine how triumphant he’d be, how smug that he’d managed to make her cum so quickly. She had to fight it.

But fuck, his mouth felt incredible on her. She could at least tell him that, right? That’s what people did during this type of thing, wasn’t it?

“Cormac?” she breathed. “That - that feels nice.”

He pulled back, his eyes flicking up from her wet pussy to her flushed face. “Yeah, you like that?” For a split second, she saw his smiling mouth glistening - whether wet with his saliva, her soaking wet arousal or a combination of both she wasn’t sure. God, he really would be insufferable if he made her cum quickly. He kept his eyes locked on her as he pressed the flat of his tongue against her clit.

Una swallowed against the dryness of her throat, unable to tear her eyes away from his wild, intense stare. She felt the pads of his fingers teasing her entrance. Una had been aching for him - any part of him - to be inside her for so long that she could practically hear how dripping wet she was. He raised his eyebrows and she nodded, feeling two large fingers slip inside her. Her leg muscles tensed when they began pressing intimately against a spot that only she had ever touched before, alone in the confines of her own bed.

“God, you’re so tight around my fingers,” he said, pausing his licking to watch his digits slide in and out of her. “You needed this, right? Been a while since you let someone take care of you like this?”

Fuck, he had no idea that nobody had ever taken care of her like this.

He pushed his body closer to her, encouraging her to hook her leg over his broad, muscular shoulder so he could push his fingers in even deeper. He curled his fingers inside her wet cunt, tapping against her G-spot. She wasn’t sure if it was the size of his own hands compared to hers or if it was the fact she was fixed on his green eyes as he touched her, but it felt better than when she did it on her own. 

“Oh - fuck,” she whined, feeling his hand and mouth working in sync, pushing and swirling as her core tightened around his digits. The sight of him there made her brain feel like it was going into overdrive.

Every movement, pressing deep inside her brought her closer and closer to the brink. It was coming thick and fast. Faster than she had ever managed by herself. She threaded her fingers through his hair, just for something to hold onto as she trembled but he took it as a cue to pick up his pace.

“Mmh,” he moaned sloppily as his renewed pace made her squirm. Her hips moved as if by their own volition, grinding against his tongue and chasing the bliss that was ready to burst from her core. She in equal parts wanted it to happen quickly and for this moment to last forever. She imagined Sabine and Meredith waiting for her in the dormitory, wondering where she was. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, her pussy started contracting around his fingers as they drove mercilessly into her, pressing again and again and again on that sweet spot in her core without reprise. Fuck, it was wrong that she was enjoying this. So fucked up and so fucking wrong. 

“Keep going,” begged Una as the wave pulled back, ready to crash over her. She arched her back and threw her head against the door, tugging on his hair. No wonder he was driven mad by the idea of her being on her knees for him, if this is what it felt like. She wanted him here all the fucking time now. The sound his mouth was making as he kept sucking and licking and fingerfucking her, ignited some deep, primal part of her brain that blocked out all the inner chatter about how they shouldn’t be doing this.

She breathed hard, open-mouthed as she looked down at him again, expecting to meet his gaze once more but instead found his eyes closed in pure, unencumbered pleasure as he devoured her like a starving man. 

“Fuck, I’m - ah - fuck,” she sobbed as ecstasy surged through her core.

The dark room turned so blinding white she was sure for a second that someone must have burst through some unseen door and shone their wand light in their faces. But she didn’t care. All that mattered was the orgasm that was rippling through her entire body, so deep that it seemed to burst through all her extremities. His wet tongue continued its attack on her clit and his fingers kept drilling deep into her, guiding her through it until finally, her legs were twitching from the aftershock.

She let go of his hair and practically collapsed against the door, panting wildly as with a smug grin, Cormac disentangled himself from under her leg. “Maybe you were right about not getting on your knees,” he said, coming up to his feet with a groan.

Una pushed herself from the door and threw her arms around his neck, startling him. “No,” she said, between desperate kisses, tasting herself on his lips. “You were right,” she kissed his neck. “You were right. I want to -”

She slid down his body onto the floor, brushing her fingers along his cock. She panted as she looked up at him with wide eyes. It was more than just quid-pro-quo - she wanted to be of service - to make him see just how good she could make him feel.

“Oh, fuck,” he breathed, watching her fingers work his belt. Just as she had unfastened it, they heard footsteps coming along the corridor and both looked at each other in alarm. “Oh, fuck!” he said again, bitterly through gritted teeth.

They heard the footsteps pause outside the door and Una quickly scrambled to her feet as the doorknob turned. She took one look at Cormac’s panicked face, extracted her wand and pointed it at him, casting a silent disillusionment charm.

His body turned invisible, just as the door opened.

“Miss Montague?” asked Professor Slughorn’s voice. Una squinted into the light cast from the lit tip of his wand on her pink face. “Miss Montague, are you alright? I thought I heard-”

“Yes,” she said, quickly, pretending to wipe a tear from her eye. “Crying. I’m sorry, Professor. I just needed a moment alone after that conversation with Ginny Weasley.”

He pouted sympathetically. “Now, now. You mustn’t let these things bother you.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Come on, then. You wouldn’t want any of the Prefects on corridor duty to catch their Head Girl out of bed after hours, would you?” he chuckled. “A poor example for them!”

Una nodded. Her eyes tried to find Cormac’s faint disillusioned outline but she was glad when she couldn’t see or hear him. She made to follow Professor Slughorn out of the classroom but paused, realising she wasn’t wearing any underwear. Her eyes scanned the floor in a frenzy, looking for them.

Slughorn paused at the door. “Everything alright, m’dear?”

“Yes, I just thought I’d dropped my… handkerchief,” she said pointedly into the darkness.

And so, she followed Professor Slughorn out of the classroom and they parted ways when they reached the end of the corridor so he could return to his office and she could go in the direction of the Slytherin common room. Una could distinctly feel the sensation of wet stickiness coating her inner thighs as she walked. 

When she had sneaked back into the dormitory, she was relieved to find Sabine and Meredith already asleep. She crept into bed, sliding under the duvet and wondering whether Cormac had made it back to Gryffindor Tower undetected - but more importantly, whether he’d had the common sense to find her underwear so as not to leave any evidence of their encounter.

Chapter 4: Skill

#freddie stroma #cormac mclaggen #slytherin #slytherin fanfiction #harry potter fanfic #harry potter fanfiction #cormac mclaggen x original female character #harry potter #slytherin aesthetic #smut #fanfic #hp fanfic #hp fanfiction #fanfiction #cormac mclaggen x reader

[arcturusreads]

Hi there! I hope this prompt finds you well💕: Hayes missing Meredith and calling Her every night while he was away for a weeklong conference.

I'm finally back to writing! This is a nearly 5k fic and I really hope you guys enjoy

These Days Are So Long When I Call You My Home - Merhayes

Day One

Meredith sighed, slopping back into the chair in her office and checked her phone for the 30th time that day. Cormac was leaving for a week-long conference in New York. It was the longest they would have been apart since they’d gotten together, and Meredith hadn’t realised how much she was going to end up missing him. He’d popped down to her house yesterday night to say goodbye but that already felt like weeks ago. Meredith had grown used to having a cup of coffee in the mornings with him, whether that was at the hospital or one of their homes, she was used to him trying to sneak a kiss in whenever he saw her in the corridor. His presence in her life had become a constant that she had looked forward to each morning she woke up.

With some determination, Meredith placed her phone down on her desk, face down. She hadn’t felt like this in a long time. That feeling of longing, of wanting to be around someone, the feeling of safety where you were in their proximity.

Realising that there was no point in fighting against the feeling that continued to well inside of her, Meredith picked up her phone, found Cormac’s number and hit call. She only had to wait for two rings before a smooth, Irish lilt filled the line causing every bit of tension Meredith was holding in her muscles to release.

“Meredith, is everything alright?” Cormac’s concerned tone immediately made Meredith feel guilty and stupid for calling him.

“Hey, no no, everything is good, sorry.”

“It’s okay, I just got a bit worried when I saw your name on the screen. I thought you’d be at work.”

Meredith bit her lip; she was at work and there wasn’t a problem so was she really going to admit to Cormac why she had called? “I am. I finished up in surgery, so I came back to my office and… I miss you.”

There. She had said it. It was out in the open now. There wasn’t any point hiding things from Cormac, he had the knack of knowing exactly what was going on in her head without her even having to say anything.

“You know that I’m still at the airport, right? In Seattle?” From the mirth in his voice, Meredith knew that he was grinning right now. She wasn’t going to hear the end of this from him but right now, she didn’t care.

Sighing, Meredith kicked off her trainers and walked over to the sofa, tucking her feet under her as she took a seat on it. “I know, I know… It just felt weird. Not having you there when I woke up or seeing you at work this morning. I didn’t think I would miss you this much but it’s like losing my right arm or something… It’s stupid.” She mumbled the last part.

“It isn’t stupid, Meredith because I’ve been feeling the same. But it’s seven days and when I get back, you, me and the kids will all go out and do something together. I’m pretty sure Austin was on about a circus that’s coming into town, we can make a proper day of it, the seven of us.”

If anyone had told Meredith Grey that she would be part of a family of seven back in her intern year she probably would have laughed in their face. Now, the thought of the seven of them all bundled together around a dinner table, spending days out together, was enough to make her smile. Finding a way to blend their two families together hadn’t always been easy, but over the course of the past few months, the kids had begun to share a relationship and bond that only siblings could have and they’d more than warmed up to their parent’s other half.

“I like the sound of that.”

“It’s a done deal then.”

In the background of the call, Meredith could hear a cracking female voice as Cormac paused for a moment. “That’s the call to my gate. Sorry, Mer, I’m going to have to go.”

“Have a safe flight and please text when you land.” Flying was something that Meredith was never going to feel comfortable with and there was just as much anxiety coursing through her when someone she loves was boarding a plane. She knew that she wasn’t going to feel completely at ease until Cormac’s plane had landed in JFK and she’d had a text from his as confirmation.

“I promise I will. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Day Two

As she untangled her braids that had been carefully formed on the top of her head, Meredith made herself comfy on an unabandoned gurney pushed against the wall of a deserted corridor. She knew that the surgery would be risky, the patient had gone in knowing exactly what the statistics were but that never really lessened the blow of losing someone on the table. Crossing her legs on the gurney, Meredith let her head fall back against the wall and closed her eyes. All she wanted to do right now was go home and squeeze her kids tight, but she still had another four hours left of her shift.

The feeling of her phone vibrating against her thigh nearly made her groan. She just needed five minutes of being on her own before she had to step back into the shoes of a surgeon again. This job didn't work like that though and Meredith was well aware. Slipping her phone out of her pocket relief immediately washed over her when she realised that it wasn't a page and instead was her boyfriend texting to ask if she was free to call. In a split second, she had hit the facetime button, needing to see his face.

And there he was, soft smile, sleepy eyes, wearing a white shirt.

"Hey, bub," the stupid nickname that had started as a joke to wind Meredith up had now stuck. Whilst she used to yell at him to stop, the endearment now brought a smile to her face.

"Hey, how are you doing?"

"Exhausted and missing you." Meredith couldn't help but laugh at Cormac's small pout.

“Only five more days.”

“Aye but the days are dragging, can’t say that this conference is the most interesting thing in the world.”

“I thought you were looking forward to this one.” Cormac had been ongoing on about the International Conference for Paediatric Brain Injury for weeks in the run-up to this trip.

“I still am but the past two days haven’t given me any new information. Tomorrow should be better though.”

Meredith nodded along as he spoke, trying and failing to stile a yawn. “How’s your day been? Did the surgery go alright?” Concern laced his voice. Meredith had texted him that morning about the surgery and he knew that it was a tricky one/

“It… He didn’t make it…” Meredith squeezed her eyes shut, her voice a whisper.

Cormac winced, he could hear the pain, see the exhaustion in her body. He wished for nothing more than to be able to hold her right now, but a video call was going to have to be what he settled for.

“I’m sorry, Mer, can I do anything?”

Meredith shook her head a tired smile on her lips. “I’ll be fine. My shift is over in a few hours and I’m just gonna head straight home and watch a movie with the kids.”

“Well, there are two new tubs of strawberry ice cream in your freezer for you lot to enjoy.”

“I thought I ran out the other day.”

“You did and you complained to me about it the entire way home from work so I made sure you were stocked up before I left.”

It was things like that, the small day-to-day things that could easily be brushed off that made Meredith fall harder for him.

After another five minutes, their call was interrupted by an emergency page.

“I’m gonna have to go, they need me at the Pit.” Meredith was feeling a little more rejuvenated after being able to see Cormac. Her chest no longer feeling so heavy

“Go and take care. I love you, bub.”

Meredith had slipped off the gurney and had begun to make her way to the Pit, “I love you too, I’ll text after work!”

Day Three

Cormac finally shut the lid of his laptop, laying back against the pillow. The conference had definitely ramped up compared to the past two days and he’d found the day go by much quicker. He’d made note of all the papers he wanted to read into after going to some poster presentations and listening to a few talks. He’d started the on the list after he’d had dinner.

It was 9 PM now and he knew that back in Seattle, Meredith should be done with work and back home. He hadn’t expected to miss her as much as he had over the past three days. He had grown accustomed to getting through life with just himself and his boys and as they had gotten older, he’d grown used to having to do more things by himself. With Meredith entering his life though, Cormac had found that there were now fewer and fewer things that he had to get through by himself. He now had someone that he was able to lean on and he wasn’t sure he could go back to the way things were.

Pulling his phone off charge, Cormac rang Meredith straight away. The disappointment began to well in him as the phone continued to ring.

“Hey!” The sound of Meredith’s voice immediately perked Cormac up.

“Mer, hey. I hope you’re not busy?” He was slightly worried that he’d caught her in the middle of some time with her kids, although he was pretty sure they all had some kind of extra-curricular activity going on tonight. He pretty much knew their schedules off by heart at this point.

“No no, I think the boys are good for a minute.”

“The boys?” Cormac asked slightly confused.

“Austin and Liam came around earlier, they needed some help with homework so we’ve been sat at the dining room table for a little while now, but I think we all need a break. I forgot how much I hate AP World History.”

Cormac chuckled, “Yeah, I’m glad I got out of that one. I hope you don’t mind the boys coming down?” He’d rang them this morning before they’d gone to school and had texted them frequently throughout the day to check up on them, not that he got replies very often.

“No, I told them they could come down while you were away if they needed anything. I just hadn’t expected them to take me up on the offer.” Meredith was still worried that the Hayes’ boys didn’t like her and were just putting up with her for their father’s sake.

Cormac chuckled, “You know, I think there are days where they like you more than me. They definitely think you’re cooler than me.”

Scoffing, Meredith shook her head, “I mean… it’s not like that a high bar to reach…”

“Ooft, you do wonders for my ego, Grey.” He gently teased. “Seriously though, they love hearing about your surgeries and your awards. They think you like some kind of surgical Rockstar.”

Musical laughter filled Cormac's ear as Meredith remembered a time when Christina had said something similar during their residency. Surgical rockstars, surgical royalty, isn’t that what they had all aspired to at the start of their careers? They wanted those accolades from award governing bodies and medical journals but somehow, knowing that two teenage boys thought that of her meant so much more to Meredith.

“Meredith, could you help me with this trig question?”

Cormac could hear the voice of his youngest. He was pretty sure he had taught them not to yell when people were on the phone. He was glad that. His boys had become so comfortable around Meredith though, evident by the fact that they’d gone to her house without him even being there.

“Yeah, be there in a second. Do you guys want to talk to your dad?” Her voice sounded more distant as she pulled the phone away from her ear.

There was a little mumbling before Meredith spoke again, “The boys want to talk so I’m gonna give the phone to them for a bit.”

“Sounds good, I’ll text you after if they don’t give the phone back?” Knowing his kids, they’d be in such a rush to get off the phone that they would end the call before even asking if he wanted to talk to Meredith again.

“Yeah, sounds like a plan to me.”

“I love you, Mer.”

“I love you too.”

Day Four

Cormac made a swift from the ballroom of the hotel. They’d rearranged the furniture, laying out white clothed tables for a dinner organised by the convention. Another networking opportunity and the chance to get a fancy meal that the attendees didn’t have to pay for. It definitely wasn’t something to complain about. Usually, Cormac didn’t mind the dinners. Most of the time, the nights would be filled with mindless chatter and whatever whiskey they had at the bar. Tonight though, he was out of his seat the minute dessert was finished.

The night hadn’t started off badly, just like most of the other conference dinners. But then he saw Felix Cavanaugh in the crowd before coming to sit opposite him. Seeing him had made Cormac’s body go numb, his breath catching in his throat. It was a face he hadn’t seen in a while; one he hadn’t thought he would see anytime soon. Cormac and Felix had been in the same residency class and had grown to be good friends. Whilst Cormac had pursued paediatric surgery, Felix had moved towards neuro. Eventually, their specialities had them moving to opposite coasts after finishing their residency. At first, the two of them had kept in touch but after Abigail’s diagnosis, Cormac had cut off contact with most people, his sole focus on keeping his family afloat and his wife alive.

Both men had been in shock to see each other but whilst Felix had been excited, Cormac had a sense of dread filling him. News about Abi hadn’t exactly been widespread, and Felix had come in asking a whole manner of questions about work and the kids and Abigail. When Cormac had told him what had happened, he saw the look of pity on Felix’s face, and it was too much to handle. The feeling of grief began to overwhelm him, the room suddenly felt too small. For three courses, Cormac had managed to keep a plastic smile on his face, the chats with Felix had basically drawn to a close and Cormac dashed to his room the minute that he was able to.

He tugged the tie off his neck, unbuttoning the top two buttons of his shirt, hoping that he would find it easier to breathe. Sitting on the edge of his bed, Cormac rubbed his hands across his face. His eyes were burning, jaw clenched. The feeling of grief never completely left but it had been a long time it had hit Cormac this hard, like a sucker punch. He reached for his phone in his trouser pocket, calling Meredith without a second thought.

“Hello?” A groggy and confused voice answered the call making Cormac feel guilty.

“Mer, sorry, I didn’t mean to… Did I wake you up?”

“Huh,” Meredith blinked a few times, pushing herself up and leaning on the pillows against the arm of the sofa. “Hey, sorry, I kind of took a nap after work.”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. You go back to sleep; we can talk later.” The apologies feel in quick succession out of Cormac’s mouth.

“No, it’s okay, honestly. I’m awake, if I sleep anymore, there’s no way I’m getting to sleep tonight. Is everything okay?” Fully awake, Meredith was able to register the distress in her boyfriend’s voice.

“I-I don’t know,” hearing the crack in his voice was enough to make Meredith’s heartbreak and panic set in.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Cormac rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm. He didn’t want to cry, not right now. He wasn’t sure he was going to be able to start if he carried on. “There was this guy at dinner, I did my residency with him…” Once Cormac had finished telling Meredith everything he felt as though he had exhausted every energy pool within him. His throat felt dry and scratchy and at some point, tears had begun to stream down his face, and he didn’t even bother wiping them away.

“Cormac…”

“I’m sorry. I feel awful coming to talk to you about this but… I didn’t know how else to go to.”

“Please don’t say sorry. I’m glad you came to me; you should be able to come to me about things like this.” They’d spoken to each other a lot about Abigail and Derek in the early days of getting to know each other and whilst they weren’t brought up in conversation as often these days, the two of them still shared the same kind of loss. “There are still people that come into the hospital asking for Derek and every time it happens it feels like someone had taken all the oxygen out of the room. I know that it can feel like reliving the worst parts of your life.”

“I hate it, Meredith. I hate this feeling and I wish it could stop.” Meredith had never heard his voice sound so small, so childlike and she wished she could do something to protect him from those feelings.

“I know, I know. You know I’d do anything to take this away from you… Can I do anything?”

There were a few moments of silence down the line which made Meredith even more worried.

“I’m just exhausted, Mer. I want to sleep but I can’t… when it’s quiet, everything just plays around in my head. I get it to calm down and it feels like something is crushing my chest.”

The feeling of helplessness was not one that Meredith was akin to. It wasn’t very often that she faced a situation where she had nothing in her arsenal to help with. In the end, there was only one thing that Meredith was able to come up with.

“How about I stay on the phone with you. I can read you a medical journal so it’s not quiet and you can try and get some sleep. And if not, then you know that I’m right there for you.”

“I can’t ask you to do that… the kids…”

“You aren’t asking me to do anything, I’m offering, and the kids are with Maggie and Winston for ice cream.”

“Are you sure?” Cormac had already begun to kick off his shoes and crawl under the covers. He didn’t even have the will to change into pyjamas.

“I’m sure, you comfy?” Meredith reached for a journal on top of the coffee table and flipped to the last dog-eared page. “Because this is a good one.”

“I’m comfy, and Mer?”

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Day Five

A day off on the weekend was like gold dust. 24 hours where Meredith was able to spend time with her kids without having to worry about pages or school drop-offs. The four of them alongside Austin and Liam were sprawled out across Meredith’s living room floor watching Jurassic Park.

It hadn’t taken long for Cormac to eventually fall asleep last night but even then, Meredith stayed on a little while longer to make sure that he wasn’t going to wake up. She’d kept her phone within reach and on loud all night. They’d text since she had woken up and Cormac seemed to be feeling a little better, but Meredith knew that it would take a few days for the sinking feeling of grief to dampen down to a more manageable level again. Not being able to be with his kids probably wasn’t helping either.

With the kids entranced with the film and Liam keeping Bailey entertained with dinosaur facts, Meredith felt the muscles in her body finally relax. Domestic comfort wasn’t something that she had thought would be in her life back when she was young, but she was now lucky enough to experience that kind of love and comfort every day when she got home. A serene smile was placed on her lips as she looked at the five kids under her care.

The ringtone from her phone pulled Meredith out of her thoughts though. Zola swivelled around to give her mum a quick glare. “You said no phones during films!”

“Sorry, Zo-Zo, it’s just Cormac.”

“Da?” Liam looked up from his conversation with Bailey.

“He’s facetiming if you all want to come over here.”

Suddenly a gaggle of kids was upon her. Ellis had clambered onto her lap, Liam and Austin had sat behind her on the sofa and Bailey and Zola were sat on the floor on either side of her. Once they were all in place, Meredith accepted the call.

“He- Oh wow!” Cormac eyes widened and a large grin spread across his face when he saw all of the kids.

“Hey, guys!”

There was a blur of hi’s, hello’s and how are you’s as all of them began to talk at the same time making Meredith and Cormac laugh. In the end, Meredith decided to let each of the kids take the phone to talk to him, passing it to Liam and Austin first. Ellis was the last one, who was happily chatting to Cormac about the new dress her mum had bought her for a talent show.

“Do ya mind if I talk to your mum for a bit, sweetheart?”

Ellis gave it some thought before finally nodding her head. “Okay, bye-bye, Mac!”

“Bye, Ellis!”

Ellis passed back the phone to Meredith and crawled off her lap to join the other kids. All of them were again engrossed in the movie. Meredith got up out of her seat and wandered into the kitchen.

“Hey, how are you feeling today?”

Cormac gave a half-hearted shrug. “Eh, okay, better than last night.” He sighed, “Thank you for everything.”

“You don’t need to say thank you, it’s what I’m here for.”

“Mom, come on! You’re missing the best part!” Bailey’s voice was loud enough to be heard throughout the entire house.

“You’ve been summoned?” Cormac chuckled.

“I should go before he starts a riot.” Meredith had learned to expect the unexpected when it came to her kids and Bailey was sometimes in an entirely different ballpark.

“I’ll leave you to that, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Day Six

“I just can’t believe how well the kids get on.”

After coming back home after a late-night finish, Meredith had text Cormac just to let him know that she got home safely. She hadn’t expected a text back asking if she was up for a phone call. He had stayed up, waiting for her to come home since they hadn’t had a chance to talk that day.

“Would you rather them be at each other’s throat?” Cormac asked.

“Could you imagine? No, thanks.” Meredith rolled onto her stomach on her bed. “I guess I just wasn’t expecting them to slot into everything the way they have. I mean, I know that they have their small arguments but…”

“Feel like it just came too easily?”

Meredith murmured in agreement. Nothing in her life had ever come easily and it had felt strange that something as big as this had been so straightforward. She gnawed on her lip as she thought about all the ways this could go wrong.

“Hey, I can hear your gears turning from here. Please don’t give into to the thought.”

“The thoughts?” Meredith raised a browed, temporarily forgetting all the catastrophic situations that had been playing in her mind.

“The dark, twisty thoughts.” He had taken the phrase that Meredith had used to describe the early days in residency. “Don’t give into them. Let’s just be thankful that for the first time in a long time, something has been easy.”

Processing his words, Meredith slowly agreed with him. “I guess so.”

“Isn’t life a little nicer when you aren’t trying to guess what’s going wrong?”

“I’m sorry but since when did you become a beacon of positivity and sunshine?” Cormac wasn’t exactly known for his positive demeanour in the hospital.

He chuckled lowly, “I guess that’s what love does to you.”

“Oh gosh,” Meredith rolled her eyes. “Please, I don’t think I’m going to cope if you become all lovestruck and mushy.”

“I thought you’d like lovestruck and mushy.”

“Brooding and moody seems more my type these days,” she teased.

“Moody?” Cormac feigned offence.

“Uh, do you not remember the way you were when you first started?”

“Well, there was a certain doctor there than insisted on pushing all of my buttons.”

It was something that they constantly teased each other about. Whilst it had surprised them both when feelings had begun to develop, everyone around them had been waiting with bated breath for them to get together.

“I stopped think about the future after Abigail passed,” Cormac voice had dipped. “Stopped hoping and living. I was just in survival mode. Trying to get through one day at a time and just making sure that the boys were okay. You put everything I knew on its head. Made me feel like it was okay to be happy again. My world stopped crumbing when you entered my life, Meredith Grey, and between the two of us and the kids, we’re rebuilding it again.”

The silence down the end of the phone call had made Cormac think that Meredith had gone to sleep but then he heard quiet sniffling. “Mer?”

“You’re an idiot who makes me cry.”

“An idiot that you love though?”

“Yeah, for some unknown reason…”

Day Seven

Meredith had been praying the entire day that an emergency wouldn’t come into the pit. Usually, she would love the adrenaline rush that came with a full Pit and back-to-back surgeries but not today. Cormac was meant to be landing this evening and she was rallying the kids down to his house so that they could all have dinner together. The day was passing by unbearably slowly though. Even surgeries that flew by seemed to be agonisingly long.

Two surgeries in and lunch done, Meredith had walked back to her office. Her afternoon rounds didn’t start for another twenty minutes so she had some time to collect the files that she needed and update a few charts. Checking the time on her watch, Meredith realised that Cormac should be at the airport by now since his flight would be taking off in an hour.

Entering her office, Meredith slipped out her phone from her lab coat and rang Cormac. Turns out she couldn’t wait until he got back home to talk to him.

“Hey, Mer.” Meredith still couldn’t understand the effect that Cormac’s voice had on her. The way it made her feel calm and safe.

“Hey. Sorry, I know you’re going to be boarding your flight soon, but I just wanted to hear your voice.”

“Missing me?” He teased her, a cockiness in his voice.

Meredith huffed out a breath, “You know, I could just put this phone down?”

“Aw, come on now. You don’t want to do that; I promise I’ll be on my best behaviour.”

Scoffing, Meredith walked over to the window, her free hand in her coat pocket. “Fat chance of that happening.”

“I’ll have you know that I can behave when I want to, you just bring out the worst in me. Always have and always will.”

“So, this is my fault?”

“Oh, completely and utterly.” He chuckled before softening his tone, “What are you up then?”

“Still at work, this day doesn’t want to end.”

“Anything exciting happened?’

“Well, the cafeteria changed the dressing on the salad… not sure if I like it or not though.”

“I’m surprised you even went for the salad.”

Crinkling her nose, Meredith grimaced. “It wasn’t out of choice; it was one of the only things left.”

Laughing, Cormac shook his head. “Of course, don’t know why I expected anything else. What are you up to now then?”

“Hiding away in my office. Rounds don’t start for a little while yet and I just wanted to call you.”

“It won’t be long until I’m back.”

Sighing, Meredith rand a hand through her hair, “It’s long enough and knowing my luck, I’ll be pulled into surgery just before it’s time to go home.”

“Could be sooner than you think.”

Meredith jumped as she felt a kiss placed on her cheek, almost dropping her phone out of her hand. She spun around; a grin painted on her face the minute she saw her boyfriend stood in front of her.

“What are you-? I thought- How are you here?”

Cormac brushed a stay hair out of Meredith’s face, “I got an early flight out. There weren’t any other talks I needed to stay around for, so I didn’t see the point of spending any more time away from my family.”

Meredith would never admit how her heart skipped a beat when he called her and her kids’ part of his family. The momentary shock now gone, Meredith wrapped her arms around Cormac’s neck, inhaling the woodsy scent of his cologne.

“I’ve missed you so much,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

“I’ve missed you too, bub. You have no idea how much I love you.” He squeezed her, holding her close.

“I love you too.”

#grey's anatomy #grey's anatomy fanfic #mermac #i want to write an angsty mutli chapter merhayes fic though #meredith grey #cormac hayes #cormac x meredith #meredith x cormac #hayes x grey #grey x hayes

[amybennixox]

possessive

this is my longest story yet, if you liked it please let me know & if you have any prompts let me know

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The New York medical conference was a 3 day conference that Meredith and Cormac had been sent to by Bailey to represent Grey Sloan.

" Ooh, fancy." Cormac whistled as he and Meredith walked into their hotel that the conference had booked for them. They headed to the front desk and got their room keys.

" Look at that, we're next to each other." Meredith smiled when they got into the elevator.

" Are you going to actually use that room or will you be taking over mine?" Hayes asked with a smirk.

" What do you think?" She laughed as they arrived at their floor. Hayes unlocked to door and they both took a look around.

" Well the bed's comfy. He smiled as he sat on the bed. Meredith smiled back at him and walked to stand between his legs, her hands resting on his shoulders and his running up and down the backs of her thighs.

" I'm glad I'm here with you." Meredith told him softly.

" Me too, baby. Would be a little better if we didn't have conferences to go so we could just be us in this amazing city." He told her, squeezing her thighs gently.

" Well, all the conference finish early afternoons so we can do whatever we want after they've finished. This is the city that never sleeps after all." She suggested, a suggestive smirk adorning her face.

" That sounds so good. I do have an idea of what we could do for the rest of the evening." Hayes told her, tugging her gently to sit on his lap.

" What do you have in mind?" Meredith asked, one hand staying wrapped around his neck and the other stroking his arm.

" We order room service, eat then get in bed and cuddle." Hayes told her then pulled her in for a kiss.

They pulled away and stood. Hayes went and rang room service whilst Meredith got in her pyjamas.

" Food as been ordered." He said as he turned to face her, " that is mine." He pointed to the top she was wearing.

" It's comfier than mine." She shrugged as she sat in the middle of then bed.

" If your wearing that then what am I supposed to wear?" He raised his eyebrow as he slowly crawled onto the bed and up towards her.

" I wouldn't be opposed to you not wearing anything." She smirked as he made his way up to her. She bent her legs and parted them so he could fit in between and cupped his face to pull him in for a kiss. One of his hands found the back of her thigh whilst he used to other to steady himself on the bed. Just as things were about to get heated, a knock on the door broke the moment. Hayes sighed, gave her a kiss on the neck then headed to the door to retrieve their food. As they ate they talked about the conferences that were being held and which ones they were more interested in attending and also talked about what they wanted to do with their free time. When they finished, Meredith placed their tray outside their room so Cormac could get ready for bed. They both got into bed, he turned the lamp off and swung his arm over her waist and pulled her back into his chest.

" Goodnight baby." He placed a kiss on her neck.

" Goodnight." She laced her fingers with his over her stomach and the both drifted off.

Hayes woke up first, a smile on his face when he looked at his sleeping girlfriend. He then began to place delicate kisses along her neck and shoulder, slowing waking her up.

" I could get used to waking up like this." Meredith moaned happily.

" Me too." He smiled down at her when she opened her eyes. They both got up to get ready for the day. Meredith had just stepped into her shoes when she felt his hands take a hold of her hips.

" You just had to wear a skirt didn't you?" His voice husky and quiet in her ear.

" You did say you liked me in a skirt." she smirked as she turned her head to steal a kiss. Hayes laughed lightly and gave a gentle swat to her ass.

" Cheeky. I like it." He gave her another kiss and the both headed out the door. When they got to the ballroom where the first conference was being held they saw quite a number of doctors already in there. As they walked in to find a seat Hayes began to notice a lot of the others staring at them, more specifically at Meredith.

" What's everyone staring at?" she whispered to him as they sat down.

" You. In that skirt." He answered forcefully. Meredith noticed the forceful tone in his voice as laced her fingered with his.

" Hey. It's okay, they can stare as much as they want but I'm yours. You know that, I know that and the rest of the here will be able to see that." She told him softly, giving his hand a squeeze. He was about to answer her when the conference began to start and everyone took their seats. During the conference Cormac noticed some of the male doctors would continuously turn to check Meredith out which made him build up with jealousy and possessiveness; couldn't they see her hand holding his? About halfway through he let go of her hand so he could place it on her thigh.

" are you okay?" she whispered.

" yep, just getting a point across." He whispered back, his hand sliding further up her leg. She smiled and shook her head gently. Meredith knew he was possessive, not in a overbearing way but he liked people to know that she was his and truth be told she loved it. He made it very much known back at Grey Sloan who her boyfriend was and it made her feel amazing. This was something she never experience, Derek wasn't really possessive and DeLuca wasn't at all so when Hayes told her he could get possessive she wasn't sure what he meant but when she finally saw what he meant and how possessive he really could be she loved it and she didn't mind him leaving his mark, both physically and metaphorically. Since getting together, the possessive side of Meredith made its appearance on more than one occasion which has lead to her also leaving her mark both physically and metaphorically. He was hers and she was his.

When the conference was over, the headed to the hallway outside the ballroom to go and mingle with the other doctors. As they made their way through the sea of people, they didn't leave each other's side. They spoke with doctors from both of their fields and when one of them was talking the other would stand next to them, their complete attention on the other. When Hayes was talking to other paediatric doctors Meredith would either be holding his hand or when she noticed some of the female doctors checking Cormac out she would wrap her arm around his waist and curl into him, to show he was not available and when Meredith was talking to other general surgeons Cormac would either wrap an arm around her waist or when he noticed some of the other doctors checking her out he would stand behind her and either hold her hips or on hand would be placed firmly on her ass and the other would be placed on her stomach as her wrapped around him. The conference day was drawing to a close and as they were about to head up to their room one of the event organisers stopped and informed them that there was an open bar mixer for those attending the conference so they could mingle in a more personal environment. They thanked the woman who told them then headed up to their room.

" I don't want to go." Hayes said as they entered their room.

" What? Why?" she asked, taking off her heels.

" Because every guy is gonna be staring at you and I don't like that image, I didn't like it during the conference and they were sober." He explained taking off his suit jacket and undoing a couple of buttons on his shirt.

" You think I liked watching those women checking you out?" she backfired, walking over to him and wrapping her arms around his neck, his instinctively wrapping around her waist, " we could go for a couple of hours then go out after that. Just to show our faces." she suggested placing small kisses on his jaw as she spoke.

" okay, a couple of hours. But I swear to God, if someone so much as flirts with you..." he started until Meredith silence him with a quick kiss.

" If someone tries to flirt with me you have my full permission to do whatever you want to show that I am yours." She told him, " well you can do everything but sex. As much as that would send a clear message to everyone I doubt either of us wants everyone to see us both naked." she chuckled. He laughed and nodded his head in response.

" Okay baby." He kissed her forehead then turned to his bag to get undressed. They decided to have some food before heading to the mixer so they got changed then headed to a restaurant across the road. They ordered and made small talk, her hands playing with one of his as they were waiting for their food.

" Not just me that's getting checked out." Meredith commented as her eyes flicked round the restaurant and noticed many of the women staring at Cormac.

" Now who's getting possessive." Cormac teased, pulling her hand up to his mouth and placing a gentle kiss on her knuckles. Their meals came and they ate in comfortable silence, it was nice, they both thought, to be somewhere just the two of them and be a proper couple with no nosey sisters/sister-in-law, being able to see each other properly instead of only seeing each other for quick kiss and hello every 36 hours because of how hectic they've been recently and also being able to wake up to each other without 5 kids bounding their way into the bedroom at 7 in the morning.

When they had finished their meals and paid they left to go back to the hotel to go to the mixer.

" It'll be fun." she told him, interlocking their fingers.

" I thought I was the optimistic one?" He laughed as they entered the hotel. They headed to the bar to order their drinks and as they were waiting for their drinks they began to notice the glances and the stares directed their way.

" You'd think my hand on your ass would be enough of a hint that were together." Cormac whispered in her ear, squeezing her ass and kissing her neck quickly.

" Clearly they need something bigger than a hint." Meredith winked at him and as she passed him his drink. He was about to make a suggestion when they were approached by 3 general surgeons from Boston General. As Meredith and these 3 were talking Hayes excused himself to the bathroom, as he was about to go in he heard a couple of the conference speakers talking about Meredith.

" Did you see her this morning? In that skirt? No idea what she's doing with that Irish guy." One spoke as he was fixing his tie.

" No idea. Why don't you go over and take a shot? " The other suggested. Hayes didn't stick around any longer as he knew what was gonna happen. Instead, he walked back over to where Meredith was collecting a new drink ad pulled her to him.

" Hey, what's going-" She started but was cut off by him kissing her. She could tell this was him showing the room that she was his so she very quickly responded in kind. Her free arm wrapped around his neck, one of his hands was on her lower back pulling her in and the other cupped her cheek. They both knew everyone was staring but they didn't care.

" I love you." He told her as they pulled apart.

"I love you too." She smiled up at him then pulled him in for a hug, " I think that got the message across."

#cormac hayes #greys anatomy #meredith grey #meredith x cormac #merhayes #mermac