Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

February 21st, 2005

She was so engrossed in her work that Hermione had barely noticed Harry standing in her office doorway until he had coughed to announce his presence, causing her to jump in her seat.

“I was beginning to think you were never going to emerge from your paperwork,” Harry said jokingly as he slowly walked into her office with his hands in his pockets. He looked around the room and added, “I see you’ve brought in another bookcase.”

“I had to,” Hermione said with a heavy sigh as she leaned back in her chair, looking at the bookcase in question. “Not only do I need to learn all of the wizarding laws, but now I need to learn the policies of every department in the Ministry now.”

Harry smiled to himself as he stopped in front of the new bookcase, noticing that she had already assigned each department its own shelf. “Not even two weeks into your new position and you’re overworking yourself.”

“I am not,” She said incredulously, scowling at him.

He turned his head to look at her with a raised eyebrow and she took another deep breath before shaking her head. “Okay, maybe a little, but it’s important I have a basic understanding of everything.”

“That certainly is important,” He said in agreement before turning around fully, giving her a smile. “But it’s also important to take some time for things such as lunch.”

She looked at him in confusion before looking at her watch and groaning exasperatedly. “I nearly worked right through lunch!”

“Well luckily for you,” He started in a lighter tone. “I also am taking a late lunch; care to join me?”

“Yes, please,” She said happily as she stood up, grabbing her coat. “Where are we going?”

“I was thinking curry, but I’m open to anything.”

She smiled. “Curry sounds wonderful. And getting out into muggle London will be a nice break from all this madness.”

She gestured towards her desk as she said this and he laughed. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t complain.”

Not too long after, the two of them landed behind the restaurant with a quiet pop and quickly made their way inside and out of the cold. It had been a little bit since Hermione had been in muggle London; back when she first began in the Ministry, she remembered that Harry would practically have to drag her away from her office to eat. The restaurants in muggle London were much more preferable than the ones in wizarding London as reporters wouldn’t dare follow them there, and now they had a nice list of restaurants that they would visit for lunch every so often.

“Are you doing anything for Ron’s birthday next week?” Harry asked as they sat down at a table in the corner.

Hermione sighed heavily, frowning and looking down at the table. “I wanted to have a big celebration for him but every time I ask what he wants to do, he says that he doesn’t want anything big. I don’t even think he wants a nice dinner with friends and family.”

“That’s rather odd, he’s never been one to turn down a celebration like that.” Harry watched her for a few moments before hesitantly asking, “Are you two alright?”

She grimaced slightly, looking down at the table. “Ever since I took on this new job as the Junior Assistant to the Minister a few weeks ago, he’s been a little distant and our relationship’s felt strained. I’m hoping it’s just while I adjust to the new job but I don’t know…”

“I’m sure he’s just getting used to your new schedule,” Harry said reassuringly. “You are going into work earlier now and getting back later, that’s a large change.”

“But you and Ginny adjusted just fine when you became Head Auror and your schedule changed,” Hermione said, gesturing towards him.

Harry chuckled and admitted, “Actually, that put more strain our relationship than we let show; it took a couple of months before we finally adjusted fully, and unfortunately there were quite a few arguments within that time.”

She gave him an uncertain look but didn’t immediately say anything as their food arrived. They waited until they were left alone again before Harry glanced up at her and asked, “What are you worried about?”

“Unfortunately, a lot.” She grimaced slightly and leaned back in her chair as she continued, “Just thinking about everything that’s happened in our relationship the past few years; anytime I moved positions in the Ministry he’d struggle to adjust and I just felt very unsupported, even if everything turned out just fine. I feel like it hasn’t been that hard for me to adjust whenever his quidditch schedule would change, or when he became the full-time keeper.”

“Ron always has been stubborn and set in his ways,” Harry said with a frown. “I’m surprised though that he’s not wanting to do anything this year; he’s always loved the large birthday celebrations in previous years.”

“I hate to ask, but…” She paused, stirring some of her curry around and glancing up at him. “Do you think you could talk to him? See if there’s anything bothering him that he isn’t wanting to tell me?”

“Yeah, of course,” He said with a nod. “I still think it’s just him trying to adjust to your new routine, but I’ll see if I can get him out for drinks soon and find out what’s going on.”

“I really appreciate that, Harry,” She said, giving him a grateful smile. “I hope you’re right, but it’s just hard to not worry.”

He smiled. “I understand; we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

She smiled in return but couldn’t quite ignore the worry that had settled in the pit of her stomach.

----------

“Ah, Hermione,” Kingsley greeted warmly as she stepped into his office doorway. “Give me just one moment to finish this up and then we can chat.”

He gestured towards the chairs in front of his desk and she nodded, moving to sit down and looking around his office as she waited patiently. It wasn’t the first time she had been in the Minister’s office, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last given her new position as his assistant; the room was decorated nicely, however she noticed that he kept the decorations understated. He also had a number of bookcases lining the backwall that covered a range of subjects, and she eyed the bookcases enviously before his heavy sigh caught her attention.

Leaning back in his desk chair, he smiled at her before saying, “I wanted to check in with you and see how you were adjusting to your new position. I’m sure it’s very different from working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.”

“It is extremely different, but the change is welcome!” She answered brightly. “Not that I don’t miss what I was doing, but I feel that I grew as much as I could in that department and left it in a much better way than I had come into it.”

“I would have to agree with you on that; the amount of changes you had made in a short amount of time bettering the welfare of beings that needed it was extraordinary,” Kingsley said with an approving nod. He then reached across his desk to grab a couple of papers as he said, “Now that you’ve had some time to adjust, I’m going to be giving you more assignments, starting with this one.”

She straightened up in her chair, eyeing the set of papers he had grabbed. He glanced over the papers again before setting them down in front of him and looking across the desk to her, interlacing his fingers together on the desk in front of him.

“There’s going to be a meeting tomorrow that I need you to sit in on and take notes for,” He explained. After seeing her nose scrunch up slightly at this he chuckled and said, “I know, your position shouldn’t be the one taking notes and we have someone else to do that, but this is a high-profile meeting and there’s no one else I trust more to take accurate notes than you.”

Now her interest was piqued. “Could I ask what the meeting is regarding, and who the meeting will be with?”

“Unfortunately I can’t answer that beforehand,” He said after taking in a deep breath. “We have a confidentiality agreement with this particular person and their company. Not sure why, considering the information will get out eventually most likely but they have their reasons.”

She gave him a confused look but nodded again. “What time is this meeting?”

“It’s going to be at nine in the morning,” Kingsley said. “I can honestly say that you probably won’t be taking very many notes; I mainly want you to sit in so that you can see how these kinds of meetings go.”

“How often does this sort of meeting happen?” She asked curiously.

“Not very often, but they do happen,” He shrugged. “Most of the time they are not as confidential, so you won’t be taking notes for the majority of them. Sometimes you will even go in my place.”

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise but she nodded in understanding. He nodded as well and said with a smile, “Alright then, I will see you tomorrow at the meeting; don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.”

Hermione nodded and stood up, leaving the Minister’s office as she wondered briefly about the meeting. Those thoughts were quickly replaced with thoughts of home and talking with Ron as she realized what time it was upon returning to her office. The nervous feeling from earlier had returned as she began to pack up her things but she tried her best to push it aside as she finished gathering her things and locked up her office.

There weren’t as many Ministry employees as usual at this time, but Hermione didn’t mind; she liked that about her new schedule. Instead of being stuck in a crowded lift to get to level eight where the Atrium was, there were now maybe only a couple of people who would join her; sometimes there wouldn’t be any at all and she’d have the lift to herself. Today there was another wizard who joined her, and they exchanged polite nods as the lift took them up to the Atrium.

Another benefit of leaving later was not having to wait as long to floo home; there was almost always a fireplace open for her to use. Her nerves only grew as she approached the fireplace but she swallowed them down as she grabbed a handful of floo powder and stepped into the stone archway.

In a flash of green she landed in the fireplace of her home, hesitating only for a moment before stepping down onto the tile in front of the fireplace. She looked around and saw that Ron was in the kitchen preparing dinner already, and he looked up as she made her way towards the kitchen.

“Have a good day?” He asked, giving her a small smile.

“Relatively good, yes,” She said, setting her purse down on the small table against the wall. “I’m going to start getting assignments now that it’s been nearly two weeks since I’ve moved to this position.”

“That’s good!” He said happily, his smile widening. “What sort of assignments are you going to be doing? I’ve always wondered what the Junior Assistant does.”

“Well, this first one will be me sitting in to take notes on an important meeting,” She shrugged, leaning against the counter. “He’s been giving me time to familiarize myself with all the departments, and there are so many more than I could’ve thought.”

He laughed slightly at this and nodded. “Yeah I don’t think I could keep up with how many departments and divisions there are; you’ve got the brain for remembering all of them though.”

She smiled and then shifted, crossing her arms against her chest as she watched him. “So…have you thought about what you’d like to do for your birthday next week?”

His shoulders dropped slightly and he took in a deep breath as he turned back to the stove. “Not really, no.”

“It’s next Tuesday,” She said, her brow furrowing slightly.

“I know.”

The short answer caught her off guard slightly but she continued, “We could just do a small dinner out with Harry and Ginny, or even just the two of us.”

He didn’t answer, his back to her as he stirred whatever was in the pot on the stove. She shifted her weight again, letting out a frustrated sigh. “I’d just like to make sure that the plans are made; if you want to stay have a night in, that’s perfectly fine too but if you’re wanting to go out then I’d like to get the reservations made.”

“Do we need to talk about this right now?”

She stared at the back of his head. “I mean…I literally just said why I’d like to get the basic plan sorted out.”

It was his turn to let out a sigh as he set the wooden spoon down and looked up. “I just don’t want to discuss it right now.”

“Ron, it’s your birthday,” She said slowly. Then her eyes narrowed as she asked, “Is something wrong? You’ve been acting strange every single time I bring up celebrating your birthday.”

“It’s nothing,” He said shortly with a shrug. “I just feel like we can wait a couple of days to figure out something.”

“If you don’t know what you want to do yet, that’s perfectly fine,” She said, trying to save the conversation. “I’m just worried that there’s something wro—"

“I told you, nothing is wrong!” He snapped, glaring at the wall in front of him.

She stared at him again, watching as he ran a hand through his hair in frustration and then turned around, avoiding her eyes as he gestured towards the couch.

“Okay…look, we should probably talk.”

Chapter Text

She didn’t move from her spot and he didn’t make eye contact. The two of them stood in silence as they waited for the other to move, and after an eternity Ron finally dropped his arm and turned away from her.

“Talk about what?” She asked, her voice cracking.

He didn’t answer immediately, running a hand through his hair and sighing heavily. She waited somewhat impatiently but knew that pressing him for answers wouldn’t do any good.

“I really didn’t want to do this tonight,” He muttered finally, looking up at the ceiling.

Her skin grew cold as he turned around finally, still avoiding looking at her. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms against his stomach, taking in a deep breath.

“Look, Hermione…” He started before pausing again. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, finally shaking his head as words failed him.

“What?” The word was forced out of her throat before it tightened and she stared at him, waiting for a response.

He tilted his head, almost flinching under her gaze before he took in another deep breath and sighed it out. “This is difficult to say…”

“Just say it.”

He looked up at her finally, holding her gaze for a moment and then looking away again. “Hermione, I haven’t been happy for a while now.”

The words cut through her but he continued before she could say anything. “I was hoping that it was only a temporary feeling and that it would go away once everything settled down again. But it hasn’t gone away, and now…I don’t know what to do.”

Her heart dropped into her stomach and she swallowed the new lump in her throat, looking away as well. Her arms were shaking, and she crossed them against her chest.

“How long have you not been happy?” She asked, her voice shaking.

He took in a deep breath, his mouth forming a thin line as he sighed it out through his noise. “About a year now.”

She squeezed her eyes shut before looking up towards the ceiling. “So what are you wanting to do?”

He didn’t answer immediately, and the silence was almost deafening. Her chest tightened as a new thought occurred to her and she looked at him, narrowing her eyes. “Is there someone else?”

“Absolutely not,” He said earnestly, shaking his head. “I can promise you that with all of my heart.”

She watched him for a few moments, looking him up and down. He seemed genuine when he said that, but the skeptical feeling wouldn’t go away.

“Why didn’t you say something sooner about being unhappy?” She asked then.

He shrugged after a few moments of silence and quietly said, “I thought it would get better.”

“Things don’t just get better on their own,” She said in a frustrated tone. “How am I supposed to help fix something if I don’t know there’s a problem? How are we supposed to work as a team and be happy together if you don’t tell me when things aren’t okay?”

He let out a heavy sigh, avoiding her eyes as he pushed off from the wall and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“I’m going to go stay with my parents,” He said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll come get my things tomorrow.”

Panic filled her now as she realized what was happening and she stepped forward. “No, please stay, we can work this out—"

“Hermione, I’m sorry, but I don’t want to cause you any more pain than I already am by dragging this out,” He said in a pained voice, looking at her finally. “I think some space would do us both some good right now.”

She stared at him as tears began to brim her eyes. “Are you really doing this?”

He didn’t move for a moment but then nodded, looking down at the floor. “I’m sorry…maybe we can try again in the future after some time apart but right now, I can’t keep going when I’m not happy. It’s not fair to either of us.”

The words caught in her throat as she stared at him, her body starting to shake. He let out a long breath through his nose, stuffing his hands in his pockets and giving her one last sad look before apparating away, leaving her standing alone in their apartment with tears streaming down her face.

----------

She tried her best to keep herself together as she stepped out of the fireplace that next morning, though she wasn’t sure how long she would be able to go without breaking down. As Hermione walked towards the lift she took in a slow, deep breath to help keep up her composure before joining the other Ministry workers in the lift, the door shutting behind her.

Hermione was so focused on not crying that she didn’t notice at first that they were waiting at her floor; she muttered a quick apology and quickly jumped out, making her way towards her office with her head down. After mumbling a short greeting to the woman behind the desk that monitored who all came into this wing of the floor, she disappeared into the safety of her office, shut the door, leaned back against it and closed her eyes.

Despite her best efforts, a few tears did escape and she let them fall before composing herself again and walking towards her desk, setting her bag down and checking her watch. She had thirty minutes to pull herself together before the meeting, and that was just enough time to make a cup of tea that would cool in time for the meeting.

Twenty-five minutes later with her tea in one hand and an empty binder and notebook in the other, Hermione made her way to the meeting room; she knew that none of the other Ministry people would be waiting, considering they all would arrive just at the start time if not a few minutes later, so she was looking forward to having a few moments to herself in the room to mentally prepare. While taking a drink of her tea, she waved a finger from the hand holding the notebooks and the door opened.

The drink immediately caught in her throat however when she saw just who was waiting in the room, and through her coughing fit she heard, “You’re supposed to drink it, not inhale it, Granger.”

Annoyance filled her as she stepped to the side, coughing out the remaining bits of tea that were caught in her throat and she took a few deep breaths before glaring at him. “What are you doing here, Malfoy?”

The smug grin appeared as his fingers intertwined on the table in front of him and he looked up at her. “It’s nice to see that the Ministry upholds their confidentiality agreements.”

She stared at him. “The meeting is with you?!”

“Well,” He started, leaning back in his chair and propping an ankle up on the opposite knee. “Originally it was supposed to be with my business partner, Blaise, but he had an emergency turn up and I had to step in.”

Her brow furrowed in confusion for a moment before she shook her head and sighed, turning away to set up the small desk that was in the corner of the room for her.

“And what would you happen to be doing in this meeting, Granger?” He asked brightly, watching her as she set everything up.

“I will be taking notes for this meeting,” She answered shortly.

“Really?” He seemed genuinely surprised at this as he continued, “I didn’t realize that the Ministry had an official note-taker; though if anyone was perfect for that job, it’d be you.”

She shot a glare at him that he countered with a smug grin before waving her off playfully. “Come on, Granger, you know I’m not wrong.”

“Technically you are, considering I’m the Junior Assistant to the Minister of Magic,” Hermione answered pointedly.

“Ooh, a promotion from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures,” He replied in an impressed tone. “Can’t say I’m too surprised by the job going to you.”

She gave him a confused look but didn’t say anything; he had known what her previous department was?

The sounds of voices growing closer caught their attention and they both looked towards the door as Kingsley Shacklebolt entered the room with four or five other witches and wizards in tow.

“Ah, good morning, Minister,” Draco greeted pleasantly, standing up from his seat and reaching out a hand.

Kingsley took it and they shook hands briefly as the Minister replied, “You seem to be a good mood this morning, Mister Malfoy.”

“Well, it’s always nice catching up with an old friend,” Draco said, looking over at Hermione with a smile.

Hermione’s jaw was clenched as she bit back a retort, avoiding everyone’s eyes as she looked back to her binder. She had already split two stacks of paper on the desk, and now she had pulled out two quills, one red and one blue, and these were set on either side of the left stack of papers.

When she looked up now she saw that Draco was giving her a curious look while everyone else was giving odd looks, and she simply snapped her fingers at the quills. They jumped to life and readied at the top of the left stack of papers, and she looked up to Kingsley with a nod. “Ready when you are, sir.”

He nodded in return and looked around the room, gesturing towards the table. “Shall we start the meeting?”

The red quill immediately wrote down his words and Draco watched it with fascination, glancing up at Hermione. He smiled at her obvious attempt at ignoring him and turned back towards the group.

“As you all know, my father stepped down from his role at Malfoy Apothecary years ago,” Draco started, glancing over to see that the blue quill was now moving, writing down each word as he spoke it.

“Yes, and the board of directors has been handling business affairs since then,” One of the wizards, Hermione believed to be Saunders, had interrupted as he shuffled through papers.

“That’s correct,” Draco nodded. “However this has recently changed.”

Rolling her eyes, Hermione held back a sigh at the dramatic tone in his voice; of course he hadn’t changed from being an attention-seeking prick.

“Who would be in charge now?” Kingsley asked, raising an eyebrow at the blond.

Draco adjusted in his seat before answering, “It will be my business partner, Blaise Zabini, and I.”

One of the witches quietly huffed in annoyance before asking, “Is this the only reason that the meeting was called? To notify us of a change in leadership?”

“Of course not,” Draco answered curtly, bowing his head slightly. “I understand that this may seem a trivial matter, however with the new leadership comes changes to a business and neither of us want to accidentally break any laws. We also want to make sure that any forms needed for our changes were acquired and submitted in a timely manner.”

“And what changes were you and Mister Zabini considering making for the business?” Another wizard asked.

“Well, sir,” Draco started, dropping his leg down and switching to the other leg propped up, “There will be a name change, and we are looking to expand our business ventures to more than just wine, mainly starting with medicine. We want to help find good quality sources for herbs and other ingredients for potions, salves, etcetera.”

Eyebrows lifted in surprise all around the room but the skeptical witch huffed again. “There already are sources for ingredients.”

“Yes but it never hurts to have multiple sources,” Draco said with a smile before shrugging. “Again, we’re simply looking into it and if we decide it’s not something worth venturing into then we won’t. But another thing we would like to do is help with funding for various Ministry departments and offices, as well as potentially setting up a charity for St. Mungo’s.”

Now Hermione looked at him in surprise and he glanced at her, flashing a smirk in response. This made her roll her eyes and then she noticed Kingsley watching the two of them curiously before he focused on Draco.

“That’s very commendable, Mister Malfoy,” Kingsley said with a surprised tone. “What departments or offices were you wanting to do this for?”

“Preferably all of them,” Draco answered with a smile. “But with more funding towards the smaller departments; the larger ones such as the Department of Magical Law Enforcement most likely don’t need as much funding but other departments, such as the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, the Department of Magical Education, Committee on Experimental Charms, the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures; departments like those are what we’d like to focus our funding towards.”

With her previous department mentioned Hermione looked up and saw a smile on Draco’s face, though he was looking towards the other witches and wizards sat around the table. There was muttering between a few of them and Kingsley was rubbing the scruff on his chin thoughtfully.

“This is something that will most likely need to be discussed further,” He announced, resting his arm on the table. “Though I believe I can speak for the rest of us when I say that is certainly something we are interested in.”

Draco nodded and said, “I’m happy to schedule any further meetings necessary for this, simply let Blaise or I know.”

“Yes, we will be in touch to schedule further meetings,” Kingsley nodded. “Was there anything else you were wanting to discuss here, Mister Malfoy?”

“Not at this time, I believe I’ve brought up everything that Blaise and I wanted to discuss,” Draco said with a smile.

Kingsley nodded again and announced, “Alright, I suppose we can consider this meeting over then?”

He looked to the other Ministry members for confirmation and received nods as well before standing up and facing Draco. Draco stood up as well, holding out a hand to the Minister who took it and returned the handshake with a smile.

“I look forward to discussing more ideas with you, Mister Malfoy,” Kingsley said in a bright tone. “Until next time!”

The other members of the Ministry had stood up as well at this point and were murmuring their goodbyes to Draco, who nodded in return. Hermione snapped her fingers again and the two quills dropped down onto the paper, after which she promptly gathered the quills and placed them back in the binder where they belonged.

As she gathered her papers together, Hermione ignored the fact that Malfoy was walking towards her now, not looking up even when she heard him clear his throat.

“Those are rather ingenious,” He said, gesturing towards her binder where the quills were. “How much could I offer you for a set?”

This caused her to look up and stare at him. “What?”

He grinned at her confusion and repeated, “How much for a set of quills like that? Would you be able to do more than two quills?”

She blinked. “Uh…most likely, yes; how many quills would you need?”

“I’m not quite sure,” He answered, looking up at the ceiling for a moment as he thought about it. “I think maybe up to six or seven quills? Let’s say seven for now as I can always contact you for more if needed.”

“I should be able to do that,” She said, gathering up the rest of her things. “When would you need them by? And what colors?”

“Preferably as soon as possible, but I’m not in a rush,” He shrugged. “And you can decide the colors, I’m not too picky as long as they’re all different. Simply send them to my office once they are ready, and I’ll send payment to your Gringotts account for them before the end of the day today.”

He smiled then and turned around to leave the room before she could say anything, and she stared after him in shock.

Chapter Text

"So wait...he ordered a set of quills from you?"

Ginny gave her an odd look from the large, cushioned chair that she had posted up in with her glass of wine, and Hermione could only shrug and say, "I know, it was so strange."

"But he's paying you for them, right?" Ginny asked curiously. "I mean, he should be considering how much work that would be."

"It's really not that much work," Hermione admitted before taking a quick drink. "It took longer to figure out how to build the spell to control them than it did actually implementing it. And yes, he is paying me. He said the amount would be in my bank account before the end of the day today."

Ginny raised an eyebrow then. "Did he say how much?"

"Um..." Hermione thought back to their conversation and much to her disdain... "No, he didn't."

"Well, just check tomorrow morning," Ginny shrugged. "Don't start on it tonight, especially if he's not expecting them anytime soon."

"I know, but he's potentially a good partner for the Ministry and I don't want to start off on the wrong foot," Hermione sighed.

With a snort, Ginny said, "He already did that for you back at school."

"Fair point." Hermione took a drink from her glass, avoiding looking around the apartment that was obviously less filled with items. Ron had apparently come by the apartment when she was at work to grab his things, and the absence of the missing items was painfully obvious to her.

Ginny picked up on what was happening and she sighed, reaching for the bottle of wine. "I really hope my brother being a bonehead isn't going to affect our friendship; it's going to take me years to find someone else who I'd have to reteach to deal with me again."

Hermione couldn't help but smile at this, shaking her head as she said, "Don't worry, you're not getting rid of me any time soon. No, it's just..." She hesitated for a moment before continuing slowly, "I never caught on that he wasn't happy, and I feel terrible for that."

"He also never told you," Ginny reminded her, reaching forward to refill her friend's glass. "Communication goes both ways, and like you said to him, you can't help fix a problem if you don't know there's a problem to begin with."

"Speaking of, you can tell Harry that he doesn't need to talk to him anymore," Hermione said quietly before grimacing. "I'm sure Molly will be happy to be the one hosting Ron's birthday celebration this year. No offence..."

"None taken," Ginny waved her off. "Mum's definitely a bit overbearing when it comes to Ron and I, especially Ron. He's her baby boy."

She practically gagged the last two words out and Hermione giggled, taking a drink of her wine before sighing again. "I just don't understand how things could fall apart with us within two weeks."

"I hate to say it, but I don't think it was just the past two weeks," Ginny said with a frown. "Typically when it's that level of unhappiness, that's years in the making."

"Not really helping, Gin," Hermione muttered.

Ginny gave her a sheepish look and said, "Sorry, that was definitely not helpful..."

"And he didn't even officially call the relationship off," Hermione continued then, waving off towards nothing in particular. "He just said that 'some space would do us both good'. How long am I supposed to wait for him to decide what he wants to do?!"

"As long as you'd like," Ginny said with a slight shrug. "That could mean a week, that could mean months. But honestly, Hermione, you shouldn't put your life on hold for him."

Hermione gave the redhead an odd look. "What do you mean?"

"Have you ever wondered if you're only with Ron because you're used to him?" Ginny asked curiously. "I mean, you've had feelings for him since your first year; the only other romantic attraction you've told me about was Krum, and that was very short-lived. Maybe you need to explore a bit while Ron comes to his senses."

She stared at Ginny in shock. "I don't want to ruin what I have though..."

"Hermione, I ask this with all the love in my heart..." Ginny reached over to squeeze her friend's arm before asking, "What do you have with Ron right now?"

Opening and closing her mouth, Hermione struggled to come up with an answer. Ginny's mouth formed a thin line at this and she leaned back against the couch. "What my brother is doing isn't part of a healthy relationship. Yeah, sometimes people will keep quiet about their feelings to prevent their significant other from hurting; but just up and leaving like that out of the blue and leaving you waiting for him to decide if he wants to stay or not? That's not fair to you at all."

"You're right about that," Hermione said quietly, running her thumb along the side of her glass. "I guess my question is how will I know when I need to stop waiting?"

"Well, he either comes back or..." Ginny shrugged then, taking a drink herself and leaning back against the chair. "Honestly, I think you should officially break things off with him; that's still giving each other space but you won't be waiting for him to make a decision. And you two can always get back together if that is what you'd like to do."

Hermione didn't say anything at first, quietly thinking her options over. While part of her agreed with Ginny in that waiting for him to figure out what he wanted wasn't fair to her, she was still hesitant to break things off entirely.

"I need to think on it," She said finally, sighing and looking away. "I still love him, and I want to give him the space he needs to think through his own issues. I'll give him a few days, maybe a week, and then will see if he'd like to talk."

Ginny nodded and said, "That sounds like a good plan. Hopefully he actually does some thinking and doesn't just try to distract himself."

"We'll see," Hermione rolled her eyes before grimacing. "I wouldn't put it past him to try and distract himself. That's just what he does."

"Yes but it doesn't help the situation," Ginny sighed unhappily. "If he doesn't do some thinking about the situation, let me know; I'll talk some sense into him."

"Just no hexing, cursing, or jinxing," Hermione said in a playfully warning tone.

Ginny scowled back before muttering, "Why do you have to take the joy out of everything?"

Hermione laughed at this, trying to push back the sadness that was lingering on the edges of the laughter.

-----------

The next morning, Hermione left earlier to make a stop at Gringotts as well as grab some breakfast since she wasn't in the mood to make it herself. Walking down Diagon Alley, she sipped her tea and wandered through the crowd towards the large white building that stood out amongst the small shops.

After the war, it had taken the goblins some convincing for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to be allowed access into the goblins' bank again. They had only agreed to allow the trio back for the return of Godric Gryffindor's sword, which Harry reluctantly agreed to, and they were also required to have a goblin supervising them with every visit until otherwise notified.

Hermione didn't mind this as she knew their reasoning behind it; they had also somewhat warmed up to her after she had helped the goblins get in touch with Ron's brother, Charlie, when they were seeking to change their security back from Sphynxes to dragons again. Hermione had made sure that the dragons would be better taken care of, and the goblins were happy to have their preferred method of security back.

"Good morning," She greeted pleasantly to the goblin behind the desk. "I'd like to visit my vault, please."

The goblin nodded and then turned to call over his shoulder, "Roddock!"

A second goblin made his way towards them and stopped at the desk. "Yes, sir?"

"Escort Miss Granger to her vault," The first goblin ordered.

Roddock nodded and gestured for Hermione to follow, which she did quietly. She learned early on that it was best to not talk to the goblins unless required even if they had somewhat forgiven her for helping them get another dragon.

As they made the short trip to her vault in the goblin cart, Hermione's thoughts wandered to Ron and how he was doing; she hadn't heard from him since he had left their apartment, and she missed him greatly. His jokes, the way he made her laugh, his hugs...

"Ahem."

She jumped at the sound and muttered an apology, quickly getting out of the cart and standing in front of her vault. Roddock moved around her, pulling the key to her vault out of his jacket and unlocking the door.

When it slowly swung open, she stared at the pile of coins that was significantly larger than when she had last seen it.

She stepped back, peeking around the door to make sure that the vault number was correct before looking back at the pile of coins in shock, unsure of what to think.

"Is there a problem?" Roddock asked in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"No, sorry, I just..." She stumbled around her words, looking down at the goblin. "I just wasn't expecting that large of a deposit to have been made. Would you be able to tell me the amount of money that was deposited into my account recently?"

Roddock opened his coat without a word and pulled out a small book, flipping the pages until he found the one he needed. "The most recent deposit was made last night, seven hundred galleons from Mister D. Malfoy."

"Seven hundred?!" She exclaimed, looking back at the large pile of coins.

"Yes," Roddock answered, seemingly annoyed at the sudden exclamation. "Is this not the correct amount that was supposed to be deposited?"

"I had no idea what the amount was supposed to be," She answered, turning back to face the inside of the vault. "If I had known he had planned on sending this much..."

The goblin let out an impatient huff and put the book away. "Any problems that have nothing to do with the deposit will need to be discussed with the person who had deposited the money."

She looked back down at him, raising an eyebrow but not responding. After another look at the coins, she reached in to grab a few sickles and galleons from the stack that she knew was hers before turning back to the cart.

"Could you please send the deposit back?" She asked, looking down at the goblin.

He blinked in surprise. "What do you mean, send the deposit back?"

"I'd like to return the seven hundred galleons back to Draco Malfoy," She said in a firm tone.

"I...uh..." He pulled his book back out and flipped through a few pages. He then looked back up at her with a bewildered look and asked, "Are you sure?"

She nodded fervently, and he sighed, writing down a quick note. After he had finished, he snapped the book shut again and announced, "The seven hundred galleons will be returned shortly to Mister Malfoy."

"Thank you," She nodded. "I'm ready to leave as well."

He gestured towards the cart and she stepped into it, sitting down and looking back as Roddock closed the vault and stepped into the cart next to her. Within a few minutes they were back in the main floor of Gringotts and she thanked him for escorting her before turning around and leaving the bank.

As she stepped to the side of the doors, she disapparated and landed in the Atrium of the Ministry shortly after, making her way to the lifts. She tried to push back the thoughts of returning the deposit (which truthfully she did somewhat regret even though she was doing just fine monetarily) and instead tried to make a plan for her day as she stepped onto level one and made her way to her office.

After waving a hand over the lock of her office door, the handle grew out of the metal lock and she pushed open her door. As she walked towards the desk and pointed a finger at the kettle to start it, she set her bag down and pulled her favorite mug out of her desk.

"You are probably the only person I know who would return seven hundred galleons."

She looked up quickly to see Draco Malfoy standing in her doorway and leaning against the frame, his hands in his coat pockets as he gave her an amused look.

"That was too much money and you know it," She replied, setting her mug down and pulling out a tea bag. "How did you even know I returned it?"

He pushed himself off the doorframe and slowly walked into her office, looking the bookcases up and down. "I have it set to receive notifications instantly if a change is made to my account."

"Probably smart," Hermione muttered to herself.

She heard a chuckle from him and glanced at him, looking him up and down as his back was turned to her. The long coat he wore was very well fitted to him, as were the rest of his clothes. Of course, she wasn't surprised that he could afford that kind of tailoring and she rolled her eyes before sitting down.

"Why did you return the money?" He asked, turning back to look at her curiously.

"Because it was too much money," She replied without looking at him, instead reaching for the kettle that was ready. "I wouldn't even accept half the amount that you sent."

"Why not?" He seemed amused more than anything.

"Because it's just a set of quills." She gave him a confused glance before looking back at the mug she was pouring water into. "I'm not sure why you think they're worth that much."

"You didn't tell me otherwise," He shrugged before gesturing towards a chair in front of her desk. "May I?"

She sighed unhappily. "I suppose you're going to be here for a bit, aren't you?"

"That's all dependent on how stubborn you are about accepting my payment for the order of quills," He smiled as he sat down. "If you're as stubborn as I remember you to be, I may as well become your assistant and move into this office."

She laughed at this which caught her off guard, and after quickly regaining her composure she said, "I'm surprised you'd lower yourself to such a position considering you own your own company."

"Technically I'm partnered in my company with Blaise," He retorted, smiling at her as he brought one leg up to rest it on top of the other. "However, you didn't say no to me becoming your assistant."

"I didn't think I needed to," She shrugged.

"Does that mean you're accepting the money?"

"Absolutely not."

He grinned at this, and she blinked for a moment as he rubbed his hand across his chin. "What amount would you accept?"

She thought briefly before answering, "Two galleons per quill."

He scoffed at this. "Granger, come on; I've bought quills way less valuable for way more."

"Sounds like a terrible financial decision on your part."

He grinned again before counteroffering, "Fifty galleons per quill."

"That's half of what you already tried, and as I stated before, I won't accept that," She said curtly.

"You're right, my apologies." He shifted in his chair, resting his chin in his hand. "Seventy-five galleons per quill."

She rubbed her temple and sighed. "You're going in the opposite direction of what I intended."

His grin only widened at this and he watched her curiously as she started to shuffle through some papers on her desk, settling further into his chair as she seemed to ignore his presence.

When he realized that this was exactly what she was doing, he decided to look around her office. He couldn't say that he was surprised by the sheer amount of books there were; given that she was already a bookworm, he could only imagine just how much her collection expanded with her new position.

He reached out a hand towards the shelf and silently summoned a random book, causing her to finally glance up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Typically one asks for permission before borrowing someone else's property," She said pointedly, returning to her papers.

"Sometimes it's okay to beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission," He countered, smiling slightly as he flipped through the book.

"Yes, however I don't hear you doing either," She replied, jotting down a note on the side of one of the papers.

He only chuckled at this, continuing to flip through the book before saying, "I rarely beg."

"And yet here you are, waiting in my office for me to accept your payment," She said with a smile, looking up at him now.

He blinked a few times before grinning again. "Fair point, I suppose."

"Speaking of offices," She started, returning to her papers. "Don't you have a business to run?"

"Blaise is fully capable of managing the business for one day by himself," Draco answered with a nonchalant shrug.

Her head whipped back up and her eyes narrowed at him. "You are not staying here for a full day."

"All you need to do is accept the payment for my order," He smiled. "And then I'll be gone."

"What in Merlin's name am I going to do with that amount of money?!" She exclaimed. "It's too much!"

"There are a multitude of things you can do with it," He answered amusedly before gesturing towards her. "You could save it for a lovely wedding with Weasley, whenever that will happen. Are you two even engaged yet after all this time of dating?"

Her eyes grew cold and he immediately knew he had crossed a line, though he wasn't sure what line it was exactly. Her entire body shrunk away as she pulled herself back and returned to her paperwork.

"I'll take your bloody money," She muttered angrily before jabbing her pen towards the door. "Get out."

He hesitated for a moment before standing up and lingering in front of her desk. She was ignoring him, but there was now a pronounced furrow in her brow.

"I sincerely apologize if I said something out of line," He said quietly, putting his hands in his pockets.

She refused to look up at him but his apology surprised her; she was expecting him to continue on teasing just as he used to, not for him to stop immediately and apologize. He noticed her pause in her work before picking it back up.

"Thank you for the apology," She said quietly, still refusing to look up at him. "I'll be in touch about your order and it should be finished by the end of next week."

"Again, no rush on it," He said with a shrug. "Thank you for your time, Hermione."

He had already turned his back when she looked up at him in shock, watching him as he left her office without another word.

Chapter Text

She first noticed the stares as soon as she stepped into the Atrium from the fireplace the next morning. At one point in time she was used to hearing whispers as she passed through crowds, but those died off about halfway through her first year working in the Ministry as the novelty of her presence wore off.

Now, witches and wizards around her were whispering to themselves as she passed by, and her annoyance steadily grew. Surely it wasn’t that big of a deal that Malfoy had visited her office the day before.

Thankfully no one spoke to her on the lift as she waited until level one, and eventually she was the last person on the lift. She gratefully exited and made her way to her office, surprised to find both Ginny and Harry standing outside her office door.

“What are you two doing here?” She asked, pausing a few feet away from them.

She noticed they had both glanced towards each other before Ginny looked back at her and said, “We just wanted to check on you and make sure you were alright. With Ron leaving I know you’ve been a little down.”

The way she had said it made Hermione tilt her head, giving her friend an odd look. “I mean, yes, I’m down about it, but I’m doing alright I think.”

Ginny opened and closed her mouth, faltering before looking back at Harry. Harry then asked, “You haven’t seen the Prophet yet, have you?”

“No, I stopped subscribing before, when we were at Hogwarts…” Hermione trailed off as a cold feeling slowly washed over her. “Why do you ask?”

Harry’s mouth formed a thin line and he gestured towards her closed door. “We should probably wait until we’re in your office.”

Hermione stared at him for a moment before stepping past both of them and waving her hand over the doorknob, opening the door quickly. Harry and Ginny followed her inside and she shut the door behind them, looking between the couple.

“You two know something,” She started, not moving from her spot. “What is it?”

Ginny looked towards Harry again and he took in a deep breath before reaching into his coat pocket. He sighed the breath out as he pulled the rolled-up familiar paper out of his coat and then cautiously handed it to her with a grimace.

No one said a word as she unrolled the paper and searched the cover, one headline standing out amongst the rest: Chudley Cannons Keeper Seen With New Flame?

Beneath the headline was a moving picture of Ron, lip-locked with a beautiful woman who was clearly not Hermione. She couldn’t pull her eyes away from the picture, her stomach both flipping and sinking.

It wasn’t until she felt Ginny’s hand on her arm that she realized she was starting to cry and that her hands were shaking.

“I…” The words caught in her throat as it tightened up and she finally looked away from the paper, looking at Ginny. “How could he do this?”

Ginny gave her a sad look and squeezed her friend’s arm as she quietly said, “I don’t know.”

“He said there wasn’t anyone else,” Hermione continued, looking back down at the paper and gripping it tightly. “He said it was just space, just time apart.”

“I don’t think he’d put your relationship at risk like this…” Harry started, sadly grimacing before continuing, “…If he thought there was still a relationship to be had.”

She stared up at him as more tears began to fall, her heart sinking as she slowly realized he was right. All of the sadness she had been holding back since Ron had left was now coming to the surface and she couldn’t even try to hold it down; instead, she allowed herself to finally feel everything, dropping the paper to the floor as she leaned back against her desk and put her face in her hands. She felt Ginny rub her back as she let out quiet sobs and after a few moments she straightened up, looking up at the ceiling.

“I can’t do this today,” She said, wiping away her tears. “I need to work.”

“Why don’t you ask for the day off?” Ginny suggested then. “I’ve already got the day off from quidditch since Gwenog called practice off, we can have a girls’ day.”

Hermione thought about it momentarily before a memo squeezed its way between the door and frame of her office, circling around her head before she grabbed it.

You are free to take the day off, Miss Granger. Simply send back a memo if you do so I can make the proper arrangements. Also please don’t feel pressured to stay; I promise I can make my own appointments some days. -Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt

She couldn’t hold back a slight laugh at the memo and sighed, rubbing her forehead as Ginny took the small bit of parchment from her hand.

“I suppose I’m taking the day off,” Hermione said with a forced light tone. “Kingsley all but told me to.”

Ginny made a small noise, tilting her head back and forth before saying, “I mean, kind of; but realistically, he did leave it up to you. I think it would be the smarter thing to take the day off just so that you can collect your thoughts and start to process what has happened, but the decision is entirely up to you.”

Hermione was quiet for a moment, looking back down at her desk and letting out a breath. “I don’t know how I’ll be able to concentrate today; I might as well take off.”

Ginny nodded and stepped back as Hermione moved around her desk, reaching for a small piece of parchment to write back to Kingsley. After sending the memo off, she grabbed her bag and nodded to Ginny.

“Where do we want to go?” Hermione asked Ginny as she pulled her bag onto her shoulder.

“That’s entirely up to you,” Ginny shrugged. “I’m completely fine hanging out at either one of our places, though I think maybe mine would be better for you mentally.”

“I have to agree with that, honestly.” She sighed and then added, “Let me just go home and change first; this outfit is a little too formal to hang out in.”

Ginny laughed as the three of them exited her office and Harry gave Hermione a tight hug before kissing Ginny goodbye and saying that he would see them later. The two girls walked in silence to the lifts and then to the fireplaces, ignoring the looks they were still receiving from the people around them.

“Boy, news must travel fast,” Ginny muttered as they stopped at the end of one of the lines, looking around to glare at the nearest people who were staring at the two of them.

“It’s been like this all morning,” Hermione sighed, shaking her head. “Makes me want to crawl under a rock somewhere.”

Ginny grimaced and rubbed her friend’s back supportively as she said, “If you want, I could feed the papers some ridiculous rumor to get their attention off you.”

Hermione raised an eyebrow at her. “Like what?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Ginny answered with a shrug. “Something like I caught Malfoy on a date with a muggle girl.”

This made Hermione laugh and she shook her head. “Nah, let’s not ruin his reputation in an attempt to divert attention.”

Hermione then remembered her previous conversation with him and turned quickly, making Ginny jump in surprise. “I’ve got an update on that situation, by the way!”

“Wait, what?” Ginny’s brow furrowed in confusion and then her eyes widened with realization. “Oh! Yes, tell me as soon as we get to your place!”

“My place?” Hermione gave her a confused look. “I thought I was meeting you at your place.”

“Well yes, but now that you have juicy details I don’t want to wait to hear them!”

Hermione shook her head with a small laugh as they stepped forward in line. “They aren’t ‘juicy details’, it’s just new information that I think is interesting.”

“Still, I’m an impatient person,” Ginny shrugged with a grin. She then nodded as the fireplace opened up in front of them and said, “Your turn; I’ll see you there in a second!”

Hermione laughed again as she grabbed a handful of floo powder and stepped into the fireplace. After saying her address and dropping the handful of powder, she was whisked away in a cloud of green dust and landed shortly after in her home fireplace. Setting her bag down on the counter, she made her way into the bedroom only to hear Ginny land a minute after.

“Okay, what’s this about an update on the situation with Malfoy?” Ginny asked immediately from the living room.

Grinning to herself, Hermione opened one of her drawers to pull out a pair of soft, dark grey sleep pants that she loved. As she began to take off her work pants, she loudly started with, “You’ll never believe the amount of money he tried to pay me for the quills.”

The sound of a bottle popping open was quickly followed by, “How much?”

Hermione pulled on her comfy pants and folded up her work pants. “Seven hundred galleons.”

There was silence followed by the quick sound of Ginny’s shoes against the tile floor, and suddenly the red head was standing in the bedroom doorway with a bewildered look on her face.

“I’m sorry…” Ginny started slowly, holding out a hand for emphasis. “…You said, how much?”

Hermione couldn’t help but laugh at Ginny’s confusion and repeated, “Seven hundred galleons. I tried to send it back at first but then he showed up at my office and wouldn’t leave until I accepted it.”

She could practically hear Ginny’s jaw drop at this. “He was in your office?!”

“I was surprised too,” Hermione laughed again, looking through her drawers for a comfy shirt this time. “He said that he was going to stay there until I accepted the money.”

“I’m shocked that you actually accepted it,” Ginny said lightly, sitting down on the bed. “Especially that amount.”

“Oh trust me, I tried to get it lowered,” Hermione rolled her eyes, pulling out a black t-shirt and closing the drawer. “He was adamant though.”

“Apparently.” Ginny waved her hand towards the door and soon after two wine glasses floated through the doorway. She grabbed both and waited for Hermione to change tops before handing one out to her. “What made you finally accept the money? Other than getting him out of your office.”

Hermione took a long drink, thinking back on the conversation as the anger stirred up again. “I really only accepted it to get him to go away because he had pissed me off; he said I could use the money for a wedding, and then asked if Ron and I were even engaged after dating for so long.”

Ginny’s brow furrowed at this. “He doesn’t know what happened, does he?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care.” Hermione took another drink and set her glass down on the dresser before going into her bathroom and pulling her hair out of the ponytail holder and sighing. “Much better. And besides, it’s not like he would care that Ron broke up with me.”

“Fair.” Ginny took a drink and then asked, “What did he do after you accepted the money?”

“He…” Hermione paused and thought back. “I told him to get out and he apologized for saying anything out of line. I just said that his order would be ready by the end of the week and then he left.”

There was silence for a moment before Ginny asked, “He apologized?”

“Weird, right?” Hermione brushed her hair out and then fluffed it, remembering something else. “What’s even weirder is that he thanked me for my time and then called me by my name.”

Ginny appeared in the doorway again, eyes wide with surprise. “What? Like he called you ‘Hermione’?”

“Yeah,” She nodded. “I have no idea why. It wasn’t in a sarcastic tone or anything.”

Ginny made a thoughtful humming noise at this and then took a drink, leaning against the doorway. “Definitely out of character for him, he only ever called you by your last name; are you sure it was really Malfoy?”

“Fairly certain, considering he was still his arrogant self before that,” Hermione said while rolling her eyes.

“And he was nice to you at the meeting when he ordered the quills, right?” Ginny asked, tilting her head slightly.

Hermione thought back but nodded. “I’d say more professional than nice, but that’s still a step up from how he used to treat me.”

“Didn’t you say that he knew what your previous department was?” Ginny asked curiously.

“I completely forgot about that,” Hermione said, her eyebrows shooting upwards briefly. “That’s right, he did know that. I have no idea how, but…”

Ginny let out another hum, eyeing her oblivious friend from over her wine glass. Hermione noticed and gave Ginny a suspicious look through the mirror. “What?”

“Oh nothing!” Ginny answered innocently. “I just think it’s interesting that Mister Malfoy happens to know things about you that you never told him.”

Hermione turned to look at Ginny, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, for him to know what your previous department was, he would’ve had to go looking for that information, wouldn’t he?” Ginny asked, trying to hold back a smile.

“Not unless someone told him,” Hermione answered simply.

“But why would they need to tell him?” Ginny asked.

“I have no idea,” Hermione said exasperatedly. “Are you suggesting that Malfoy is willingly trying to find out information about me? Why would he even do that?”

“You tell me,” Ginny said, now unable to hold back a grin.

Hermione scowled at her and shook her head again before saying, “You’re reaching, Gin.”

Ginny took another drink and then pointed to Hermione. “Ten galleons says he contacts you again within the next week.”

“That’s not fair, because I’m going to be sending his quills to him later this week so obviously I’m going to have to talk with him.”

“Within the next week and it won’t be about the quills,” Ginny added with a grin.

“That’s a lot of money to bet for something that you have no basis for,” Hermione said, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

“True, but I hear you’ve just gotten a nice deposit, so…”

Ginny’s smug look was met with another scowl. Hermione took a drink from her glass and relented, shaking her head. “Fine, but I guarantee you that I won’t hear from him unless it’s about the quills.”

Chapter Text

Hermione stood frozen in her doorway, staring at the arrangement of flowers on her desk. She was not sure what kind of flowers they were and the arrangement appeared to be somewhat simple; only the one kind of flower with stalks of leaves here and there. Simple, but beautiful nonetheless.

After taking in a breath she made her way inside, eyeing the arrangement as she set her bad down on her desk. A small white card caught her attention and she reached out curiously to take it.

Hyacinth – I’m sorry, please forgive me

Her brow furrowed slightly but then her heart jumped as she briefly wondered if they were from Ron, and she quickly turned the card over to see if there was more. A quick scan made it obvious that the beautiful script was not Ron’s handwriting, and this piqued her interest as she read the note.

I wanted to apologize again for my rude comments from our last interaction; in light of new information, I understand how they were extremely inconsiderate and unnecessary. I’d like to make it up to you by taking you to dinner; I’ve made reservations for tonight, six o’clock at Guarnaschelli’s, and I would really like it if you joined me. D.M.

“You’ve got to be bloody kidding me,” She muttered, staring down at the note before looking back up to scowl at the flowers.

“That’s a rather beautiful arrangement.”

She jumped at the voice and put a hand on her chest when she realized it was just Harry. “You gave me a fright, Harry!”

“Sorry,” He grinned sheepishly, leaning against the doorframe. “I just wanted to come check on you to see how you were feeling after taking yesterday off, but it looks like someone else is checking in as well.”

“I think I’d prefer it be just him checking in on me,” Hermione sighed unhappily, setting the note down and leaning back against her desk as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been asked to join someone for dinner tonight.”

She heard a chuckle and then Harry said, “I was wondering when the line of suitors was going to show up. Too bad it’s on your bookstore night; who’s the first to make their move?”

Hermione scowled at him. “I’m fairly confident he is not intending to be a suitor; it’s an apology bouquet and offer of dinner.”

“Doesn’t answer my question.” Harry gave her a smug look. “Who is the offer from?”

She shifted her weight slightly, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she debated whether or not to say. Harry watched her quietly, his eyebrow raising after a while.

“The fact that you’re not answering is really making me wonder,” He chided playfully.

“Only because it’s so ridiculous that you might not believe me,” Hermione answered.

He grinned at this, crossing his arms against his chest and nodding towards her. “Try me.”

She shook her head, looking down at the floor and sighing heavily. After a few moments, she ran a hand through her hair and muttered, “Draco Malfoy.”

There was silence as she felt Harry’s eyes on her and she heard him ask, “I’m sorry, what was that?”

Glancing up at him, she shifted her weight again and said more loudly, “The flowers are from Draco Malfoy. He made a snide comment about my relationship with Ron the last time he was in here, and I guess he must have seen the Daily Prophet’s article about Ron and that woman because he sent these as an apology for his comment.”

Harry blinked and then his face split into a wider grin than before. “You owe Ginny ten galleons.”

Hermione’s stare quickly turned into a scowl accompanied by an exasperated sigh. “You would know about this.”

“Of course I know about it, have you met my wife?” Harry laughed.

“Fair point, I suppose.” As she glanced at the flowers again, her shoulders dropped and she look up towards the ceiling unhappily.

“So, are you going?” Harry asked curiously as he settled into a chair in front of her. “Considering he inconveniently placed it on your bookstore night, it’d be understandable if you didn’t go in my opinion.”

She didn’t answer right away, her eyes wandering the ceiling as if it would tell her the answer for her. The only other plans she had for that evening was going to a muggle bookstore, which was her usual Friday habit, but that could wait until the next day if she was honest with herself. She was surprised that she was even considering going to the dinner in the first place, but the fact that he seemed to genuinely want to apologize and made an effort to show it threw her off.

“I have no idea,” She answered truthfully. “I’d be lying if I said that I wholeheartedly didn’t want to go, but only mostly because I’m interested to know why he feels the need to invite me to dinner to apologize when he had already apologized after making the comment.”

“Malfoy’s always been strange with how he does things,” He shrugged.

“Well you would know, considering how much time you spent stalking him in school,” Hermione teased, looking down to grin at him.

Harry scowled at her. “I did not stalk him.”

“You did, but at the same time you had a somewhat valid reason,” She said with a slight laugh. “You had suspicions he was up to something, and he was.”

She then shifted her weight, pushing herself off the desk and pacing back and forth. “This would be a much easier decision if it anyone else other than Malfoy.”

“If you’d like, Ginny and I can go to the restaurant at the same time and keep an eye on you,” Harry offered in a somewhat joking tone. “I’ve been meaning to take her out on a date anyway.”

Hermione laughed. “I seriously doubt that Ginny would appreciate you using spying on me as an excuse to take her on a date.”

“Are you kidding, she would absolutely love it! Plus, it wouldn’t be spying on you, it would be spying on Malfoy.”

“Yes, however because Malfoy would be with me, it would be spying on me by extension,” Hermione said, pausing her pacing to look at him.

He tilted his head back and forth before sighing. “Yeah, true. But still, the offer does stand if you’re worried about anything happening.”

She looked back towards the flowers briefly. “Honestly…I don’t think he would do anything. He’s been nothing but nice the past two times we talked.”

“Except when he insulted you,” Harry added gently.

“Yeah, but…” She gestured towards the flowers. “He’s trying to make up for it, which he’s never done before.”

“You sound like you’re leaning towards going just because you want to see how it goes,” Harry said, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Can you really blame me considering how weird his behavior is with all this?”

“Of course not, that’s partially why I offered to have Ginny and I stake out the date,” Harry laughed. “I’m curious to see what happens too, and you know Ginny would be.”

Hermione scowled at him. “It’s not a date.”

“Okay, okay, to stake out the dinner,” Harry corrected himself dramatically. After a laugh, he brought his leg up to rest his ankle on his knee and he looked at Hermione in a more serious manner. “Really though, it’s not a bad thing if you go to this dinner; I don’t see anything wrong with it but ultimately it’s up to you.”

She stood there quietly, looking at the bookshelf as she thought about what she wanted to do. Harry checking his watch again and sighing heavily caught her attention though and she looked over as he stood up.

“I need to get to my office,” He said, jutting a thumb over his shoulder at her office door and then nodding to her with a smile. “Let me know what you decide to do regarding the dinner, yeah?”

“I will,” She nodded in return, waving goodbye as he left her office before looking back at the flowers.

She reached for the card again, rereading the small note a few times before muttering unhappily, “Doesn’t give me much time to decide, does he?”

A memo squeezing its way through her doorframe caught her attention and she snatched it before it could circle her head, opening it up and recognizing Kingsley Shacklebolt’s writing.

Miss Granger, I hope you are feeling better after taking a break yesterday, even if it is only a little bit better. I have a task with which I need assistance to complete, please come to my office so that we can discuss it.

Hermione straightened up and folded the memo, shooting one last scowl to the flowers before leaving her office.

__________

“Merlin, only two binders down,” Hermione groaned, rubbing her temples as she sat back in her chair. “’Task’, my ass; this is a whole job.”

As she lowered her hands to the arms of her chair, she tilted her left arm slightly to check the time on her watch. While she was happy that it was nearly time to leave, she still had not decided yet on whether or not she was going to the dinner.

Shaking her head, she decided that she wasn’t going to get any more work done that day and gathered her things. As she made her way to the Atrium, she went back and forth on if she was going, hardly focusing on anything around her.

She was quickly brought out of her thoughts though when she landed in her living room and was met by a grinning Ginny who was holding her hand out in front of her.

“Pay up,” Ginny said smugly. “And you’re definitely going to that dinner tonight.”

“I swear, you and Harry were made for each other,” Hermione muttered, digging through her bag and dropping a small purse into Ginny’s open palm.

“Thank you!” Ginny pocketed the purse and sat on the couch as Hermione went into her bedroom. “So what are you going to wear?”

“Well considering it was just decided for me that I was going, I haven’t the faintest idea,” Hermione answered loudly. Tossing her coat onto her bed, she looked towards her closet and said, “It’s not a date so I won’t be wearing a dress.”

“Why not wear a dress, out of curiosity?” Ginny asked from the living room.

“I want to keep the dinner somewhat professional,” Hermione said. “Plus if any pictures get out, which I’m sure they will, it’ll show that it’s not a date.”

“Show who, exactly?”

She didn’t answer immediately, but deep down she knew it was because she didn’t want Ron to think she had moved on so easily even though he clearly had.

“If you really wanted to get Ron’s attention, you’d wear a dress,” Ginny called out then, interrupting her thoughts. “After all, he seemed to not mind moving on so this might just bother him enough to reach out to you.”

“Are you reading my mind or something?” Hermione asked, scowling at the doorway.

She heard Ginny snicker slightly before answering, “No, but you and I think alike in a lot of ways.”

“It’s quite odd sometimes,” Hermione muttered to herself before making her way to her closet. “Fine, I’ll wear a dress.”

She heard Ginny get up and make her way into the bedroom. “You don’t have to; I just know that you’re still upset about what Ron did and this would in a way get back at him.”

“Of course I’m still upset about what he did!” Hermione exclaimed then, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration before crossing them against her. “I mean, how dare he go out with another girl just days after he broke it off with me! And he told me there wasn’t anyone else!”

“Maybe there wasn’t,” Ginny shrugged. “We don’t know why he did what he did. Maybe she was really just a random girl in a club he got caught snogging.”

“I’m not sure which one I prefer more,” Hermione sighed unhappily. She ran a hand through her hair as she leaned against her bathroom counter, staring at nothing in particular as she thought about all of it. “I just wish I knew why everything happened the way it did.”

“Have you tried reaching out to him?” Ginny asked as she leaned against the closet door.

Hermione shook her head. “I was going to give him a few days after the break to try and get some clarity on where we were, but then after you and Harry showed me the paper, I just…I guess I’m not ready to talk to him yet.”

“That’s okay, give yourself time to sort out your own thoughts on the matter, and give him time to sort out his,” Ginny said before smiling. “And in the meantime, go to dinner with a handsome rich wizard.”

Hermione stared at her in shock, her mouth hanging open. “I’m sorry, you think Malfoy is handsome?”

“And you don’t?” Ginny scowled playfully at her now and went on, “Need I remind you of that night in third year where you admitted to me in secret that if he wasn’t such a prick, you would think he was attractive?”

Hermione sputtered for a moment, her face growing hot with embarrassment before she quickly rebutted with, “That was one time, and I was mad at Ron for blaming me and Crookshanks for Scabbers’ disappearance!"

Ginny was grinning now, clearly enjoying herself. “It’s funny how Malfoy always shows up when you’re mad at Ron, isn’t it?”

“He does not!”

“What about during the Yule Ball when you were mad at Ron for him being mad that you went with Krum, and Malfoy was caught staring at you multiple times? Not to mention him being nice to you when you two met the first time after years of not speaking conveniently after Ron broke things off,” Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow. “Or, even better, what about when he told Harry and Ron to get you to safety during the World Cup when the Death Eaters showed up?”

Hermione didn’t have an answer for this, however she clearly knew what point Ginny was trying to make. She stared at the red head for a moment before wagging her finger at the smug red head and pushing herself off the bathroom counter. “You know what?”

“What?” Ginny countered playfully.

“I’m going to this damn dinner,” Hermione started, disappearing into her closet. “And I’m going to wear a damn dress just to show you and everyone else that this is nothing more than that: dinner!”

Ginny laughed and said, “I look forward to being proven wrong!”

As Hermione rifled unhappily through her clothes, she heard Ginny sigh contentedly before saying, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with my husband tonight spying on you, and I must get ready for it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hermione said, waving her hand behind her. “I’ll see you tonight.”

There was one last snicker before a quiet pop was heard, and Hermione sighed heavily, shaking her head as she continued to sort through her clothes.

Chapter Text

After landing in the foyer of the admittedly beautiful restaurant, Hermione gave herself a moment to look around and take in the beautiful décor.

“Miss?”

She turned to see the maître d’ looking at her curiously, and he gave her a knowing smile as she approached the stand. “Ah, Miss Granger! Mister Malfoy is waiting for you; may I take your coat please?”

The smile he gave her was somewhat unsettling only because she wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact that he knew who she was as soon as she turned around, but she brushed it off as she pulled her coat off and handed it to him. He draped it over his arm and then stepped down from his stand, gesturing towards the dining room.

“If you would follow me, please.”

She did so without a word, and as they entered the dining room she noticed almost immediately that the tables were arranged in such a way that a makeshift walkway was formed, and at the end of it was a table away from others where she saw him.

Even from across the room she could make out the smile that formed on his face when she entered the room, though she couldn’t tell if it was because he was about to make it very clear she was there to join him by forcing her to walk past everyone else that was dining or not.

At least his attempts at embarrassing people have gotten more creative, she thought to herself as she followed the maître d’ through the room.

Sure enough, she could feel eyes on her and an excited buzz steadily grew throughout the room as the other diners realized who she was there to meet. One set of diners in particular caught her eye and she looked to see Harry and Ginny sitting a few tables in, both grinning smugly at her. Rolling her eyes as she shook her head, she ignored the excited snickering from her friends as her attention moved with Malfoy standing up as they neared the table.

She’d be lying if she said that she didn’t think he looked handsome; the thought itself seemed to surprise her and yet she couldn’t find something negative to say about his appearance. The three-piece suit he wore was fitted perfectly, with a black jacket and vest paired with a charcoal-colored shirt and black tie.

The world snapped back into place as the maître d’ stopped in front of her and she stopped as well, blinking a few times.

“Miss Granger, sir,” The maître d’ announced before pulling her chair out. He then nodded to Malfoy and smiled at her as he walked away towards the front room.

“I have to say, I’m a little surprised that you decided to join me.”

She turned to see him smiling at her and he gestured towards her chair as he began to sit back down as well. As she sat down and set her clutch on the table next to her, she admitted, “I am too, if I’m being honest.”

“I believe honesty is a good trait to have these days,” He said with a smile before gesturing towards a bottle between them. “I took the liberty of ordering a bottle early so that it could have time to breath a little; do you mind red?”

“Not at all, I happen to love reds.” She watched as he poured her glass first before pouring his. “I didn’t take you for someone who enjoys wine.”

He raised an eyebrow at this as he sat back in his chair. “Really? What did you think I would drink?”

“Whisky seems a little more appropriate for your stature.”

With a short laugh, he answered, “You’re pictured one time in the Prophet holding a glass of whisky and that’s all people think of.”

She couldn’t help but laugh slightly at this too before saying, “Yes well, the Prophet enjoys misconstruing things and people just eat it up for some reason.”

He didn’t answer immediately, reaching for his glass and taking a drink as if he was trying to hold off on asking something.

The feeling clearly didn’t last long though as he shortly after said, “I wanted to apologize again for the comment I made in your office.”

Hermione shook her head and waved him off. “I’m not upset about it anymore; it’s okay and you don’t need to apologize for it again.”

“A little late for that,” He said with a grin. “I mean, you got my flowers and joined me for dinner.”

“Yes, which is frankly a little overkill for an apology over a comment,” She replied. “Especially after you had already apologized shortly after making the comment.”

Tilting his head back and forth, he said, “True, but I didn’t have the necessary information at the time to make it a truly meaningful apology as I hadn’t realized the extent of how terrible my comment was.”

“It’s fine, you’ve apologized and I’ve accepted it,” She said, reaching for her glass. “You don’t need to continue apologizing.”

He opened his mouth to say something but they were interrupted by a waitress stopping by their table to take their orders. After quickly choosing something that sounded delicious and giving her order after him, Hermione’s menu disappeared and the waitress smiled at them before walking off again.

Hermione took a long drink, avoiding his eyes as she realized he was watching her. As she set her glass back down, she saw him shift in his chair slightly.

“So,” He started brightly, his demeanor changing with a smile. “Junior Assistant to the Minister for Magic, eh?”

“Yes,” She nodded, finding herself smiling in return. “It’s a much different path than I thought I would take, but the opportunity came up and I just couldn’t turn it down.”

“Completely understandable,” He said. “I was always curious why you took the path you did though; what made you go into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures?”

Hermione laughed slightly, noticing his confused look before explaining, “I never realized how much of a mouthful that was until hearing others say it.”

He grinned at this, and she took a quick drink before explaining, “I’ve always wanted to help better the lives of those around me; I found my opportunity in that department, and it just seemed like the right thing to do.”

“I’m a little surprised you didn’t take the Auror route like Potter,” Draco said before taking a drink from his glass.

“I was so incredibly burnt out from chasing dark magic when we were hunting horcruxes,” She sighed, shaking her head and then looking down at the table. “I just wanted a break; I wanted to do more lasting good. Plus the Auror team is doing just fine with Harry being on it.”

“I suppose I can concede to that,” He said, tilting his head back and forth.

She glanced up at him and gave him a curious look before asking, “How did you know what department I was in before this?”

He shrugged. “I would see your name pop up every so often in the Prophet, mostly whenever you would put out a new regulation to help out the werewolves and Skeeter would try to turn the masses against it.”

“Of course she did that,” She rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised?”

Draco laughed at this and she couldn’t help but smile, reaching for her wine glass. She gestured towards him with the glass and then said, “I would have never guessed that your business was wine.”

With a nod, he explained, “It’s my family’s business, or was. Now it’s mine and Blaise’s business, however the business has been around for…a thousand years at least.”

She stared at him in shock which only caused him to laugh. “My family’s very old.”

“Apparently,” She said, blinking. “And they’ve dealt in wine this entire time?”

“I’d like to think so,” He said with a nervous smile. “My ancestors are not very well known for putting their skills to good endeavors, to say the least.”

After she raised an eyebrow at this, he waved her off and said, “I’d rather not bore or disturb you with the things my family has been accused of.”

“See, now I’m all the more curious,” She said, putting her chin in her hand and giving him her full attention.

He simply smiled, shaking his head. “Maybe another time.”

This caught her by surprise but she didn’t say anything as he nodded towards her glass and reached for the bottle. “Care for another?”

“Yes, please.” She finished the remaining amount in her glass and held it out for him.

As he poured her another glass, he glanced up at her before slowly asking, “Do you mind if I ask what happened?”

“What happened with wha—oh.” She realized almost immediately what he had asked and she sucked in a deep breath before breathing it out through her nose. “It’s nothing special, really.”

She pulled the glass away after he finished and he poured his own, glancing at her again as he said, “You can say no, you know.”

Letting out a short laugh, she said, “I know, it’s not a problem though. I’ve had a few days to process it now, I guess.”

Draco watched her quietly as she took a somewhat long drink and then set her glass down, leaning back in her chair.

“He told me he wasn’t happy,” She started. “Apparently, he hadn’t been happy for a while and thought it would just magically fix itself on its own. But when I got home Monday and started talking about his birthday, he just clammed up and then it all came out; he left to go stay with his parents and said that we could maybe try again in the future but that space would be good for both of us at the moment, and that he would grab his things the next day when I was at work.”

She reached for her glass and paused with it in her hand, resting her elbow on the arm of the chair and looking off to the side. “I thought there may have been someone else; he was adamant though that there wasn’t, but after seeing the picture in the Prophet a couple days later, I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

“So he just…left, without really giving an explanation other than he wasn’t happy?” He asked slowly.

Hermione nodded and took a quick drink. “I don’t know what hurts more, the fact that he could just give up everything we had for years without so much as a proper explanation, or the fact that I had to find out we were well and truly over through some bloody paper.”

Draco didn’t say anything at that and silence hung in the air between them as she took another, longer drink this time.

She sat up quickly then and cleared her throat, giving him a forced smile. “It doesn’t matter though; he’s clearly moved on now so I must as well. No use dwelling on the past.”

He raised an eyebrow at her and looked as though he was about to say something when their dinner arrived. Neither of them said anything as the food was set down, however Hermione noticed that he seemed to be lost in thought about something.

“Is everything alright?” She asked, picking up her fork and knife.

He didn’t answer right away, however she could tell something was up and raised an eyebrow at him.

“You sound as though you’re still bitter about the situation, even though you’re putting on a good front about it,” He said then, looking up at her curiously.

She was taken aback but couldn’t deny it. “Well…yes, wouldn’t you be bitter still if you were in my position?”

“Absolutely,” He nodded. “However, if I was in your position I would probably take it a step further.”

This made her pause and she looked at him, confused. “What do you mean?”

He didn’t answer again, only now he was tapping his fingers on the table as he contemplated something, his dinner completely untouched. She noticed the beginnings of a sly smile starting to form at his lips and this quickly turned into a grin.

“Malfoy, if you don’t tell me soon—”

“Weasley just up and leaves without an explanation, and is seen later snogging some random blonde without formally ending your engagement,” He said quickly, locking eyes with her. “Would you like to get back at him for that?”

She stared at him, his words slowly sinking in. “What do you mean, get back at him?”

He scoffed and gestured towards her. “Come on, Granger, you’re smart; don’t you want to annoy your ex-fiancé?”

“I understand what ‘get back at him’ means, Malfoy,” She retorted. “And frankly, yes, I would like to do something to annoy him but I can’t exactly take revenge for something like that.”

“No, no, I don’t mean anything direct.” He reached for his glass, taking a quick drink before looking back at her. She could tell that he was almost relishing in his idea, and it certainly piqued her interest.

“I have a proposition for you,” He said then, leaning back in his chair and looking at her with a smirk. “One that would be beneficial for both of us.”

Hermione raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”

“See, my mother has been trying to set me up with eligible women for a while now, and I, to be quite honest, cannot be bothered with it,” He explained.

“What does that have to do with my situation?” She asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

“Answer me this: out of all the men that you could possibly date, who would annoy Weasley the most?”

“What—” She froze, his words starting to sink in and she stared at him in shock. “You’re not suggesting…”

“Oh, but I am.” He grinned widely, realizing that she was catching on now and he leaned forward to say in a low voice. "It's perfect; I get my mother off my back for the time being, and you can annoy the piss out of your ex-fiancé. Which, frankly, is a benefit for me too.”

She continued to stare at him, her jaw dropping slightly. “Are you really suggesting that we date?”

“Not date,” He shook his head quickly and corrected her, “Fake date.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“A completely fabricated relationship,” He said, smiling widely now. “And it doesn’t even need to be long term. We can fool everyone for a few months, and then call it off amicably with no one the wiser.”

“A fake relationship.” She blinked a few times, really thinking it over now. She would have been lying to herself if she said the idea didn’t sound tempting. And it would truly annoy Ron…

The smile slowly crept onto her face as she realized just how much it would absolutely annoy Ron, her dating Malfoy. Well, ‘dating’.

As she looked up to meet his eyes, she found herself matching his grin. “Alright, let’s do it.”

A sudden shriek was heard and she whirled around to see Ginny staring at her with her hands covering her mouth and a shocked Harry holding something up to his ear.

Hermione’s eyes narrowed as she recognized the item in his hand and she turned to see Draco squinting past her.

“Is that…Potter and Weaslette?” He asked, looking back at her. “What are you doing?”

She had grabbed her purse and was rifling through it, and she scoffed when she found what she was looking for.

“I swear to Merlin…” She held up what looked to be a human ear and he stared at her.

“What the hell is that?” He asked, shocked. “Why do you have a human ear in there?!”

“It’s not real,” She explained quickly, holding up a hand to calm him. “It’s one of George’s items, the newest version of the Extendable Ear. It’s meant to listen in on conversations, and planting one in my purse was incredibly rude!”

This last part was aimed at the ear and she thought she heard a muffled sound of fabric, and she looked over her shoulder to see Ginny closing her own bag with a sheepish expression.

“So…they probably heard everything,” Draco said slowly, an almost disappointed look on his face.

“Yes, but they won’t say anything about it,” Hermione replied with a wave of her hand. “They know better.”

His eyebrows shot up slightly and then he leaned back in his chair, taking another drink before saying, “So, fake dating.”

“How long were you thinking we should do this for?” She asked curiously.

He shrugged. “I was thinking four or five months, half a year at the most.”

She nodded and said, “That sounds good. What about displays of affection?”

He raised an eyebrow before giving her a sly grin. “Don’t tell me you’re eager to kiss me, Granger."

She scowled at him and said, “It has to be believable, Malfoy.”

“Alright, alright,” He held up his hands and thought briefly. “We can do a few kisses here and there for the papers, and sometimes be touchy-feely in public.”

“Touchy-feely?” It was her turn to raise an eyebrow.

“Well, you know; holding hands and the like.” He smiled and added, “I can’t say that I’m not an affectionate person.”

“Those are the last words I would have ever used to describe you,” She retorted, letting out a slight laugh. “I can agree to those terms.”

“Perfect.” He grinned then and held up his glass to her. “To revenge.”

“To revenge.” She held hers up as well and she smiled as she brought the glass to her lips, an excited feeling nestling in her stomach.

Chapter Text

Hermione found herself actually enjoying the rest of the dinner, feeling much more at ease in Malfoy’s presence as well as feeling a bit of excitement at their plan.

He stood up after they had finished their wine, walking over to her and offering his hand. She raised an eyebrow at this and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Helping you out of your chair,” He answered smugly. “Don’t worry, you can take my arm afterwards if you aren’t comfortable with holding hands yet.”

She couldn’t hold back a laugh as she took his hand, standing up from the chair and then readjusting to place her hand on the inside of his forearm.

“If I didn’t know any better, Malfoy,” She started as he led her through the restaurant. “I’d say you’re excited to have some physical affection.”

He chuckled at this and leaned in to say quietly, “You do have the ability to say no, I simply offered a hand. You’re the one who took it.”

Rolling her eyes slightly, she countered, “Of course you would say something along those lines.”

“There’s also another thing we should discuss.”

“And what’s that?” She asked, looking up at him curiously.

He was smiling still as they stopped at the maître d’s stand to retrieve their coats. When she turned around to look at him while pulling on her coat, he began to explain. “For this to actually work, we’ll need to not refer to each other by our last names.”

Hermione paused with her arm mid-sleeve before slowly pulling it all the way on, sighing. “I suppose you’re right. I can’t say I won’t slip up sometimes though.”

“We can chalk that up to old habits,” He smiled. “Can’t say I won’t do the same, your last name rolls off the tongue easier.”

She scrunched her nose up at him and he let out a laugh before gesturing towards the door. When she gave him a questioning look, he nodded behind her and said, “Sebastian is not fond of people apparating and disapparating in his lobby.”

“Oh,” Hermione said with wide eyes. “I did that earlier.”

“It’s okay, you didn’t know,” He chuckled, placing a hand on her lower back and gently pushing her towards the door. “And now you do know. He’s forgiving the first time.”

She nodded, trying to ignore how his hand on her back made her feel; Ron never did that, and she always found the gesture very endearing.

His hand stayed on her back as they walked outside and down the street a little, but then his hand dropped and they paused on the sidewalk.

“Well!” He looked down, smiling at her. “This was a rather enjoyable dinner.”

“Yes, it was,” She replied, returning the smile. “Who would’ve thought that you’d be good company for dinner, Malfoy?”

His eyebrow cocked upwards at this but he grinned. “I suppose I could say the same, Granger.”

“Sorry, old habits,” Hermione said smugly.

He let out a laugh at this before looking down at her again, shaking his head. “Oh, you are going to be a delight during this.”

“I’ll try my best,” She said before checking her watch. “I should get home; Ginny has a game tomorrow that I’m going to with Harry.”

He nodded and straightened up, smiling again. “Thank you again for joining me for dinner tonight.”

She couldn’t help but smile again as she said, “Of course; we should do this again.”

His smile widened and he reached down, taking her hand and bringing it up to his lips. She stared in shock as she felt him press a kiss to the back of her hand and squeezing it, sending a flush of warmth up her arm that she was sure was showing on her cheeks now.

Her suspicions were confirmed when she heard him chuckle as he let her hand go and say, “Goodnight, Hermione.”

He disapparated before she could respond and she stood there, rooted in one place as her hand hovered in front of her.

Nearby chatter caught her attention and she dropped her hand, immediately disapparating herself into her apartment. Her cheeks were still flushed and she took a few deep breaths, reminding herself that it was just an act for the ruse’s sake, and that the only reason she was reacting this way was because she hadn’t received that sort of affection in a while.

As she began to make her way into the bedroom to change, she heard two pops behind her and saw a very frantic-looking Ginny standing next to a concerned Harry.

“A fake relationship?!” Ginny exclaimed. “With Draco Malfoy of all people?!”

“Yes,” Hermione answered with a simple shrug. “What’s wrong with that?”

Ginny’s mouth opened and closed as she fumbled over a few words, looking over to her husband for support. Harry took a deep breath, sighing it out and running a hand through his hair.

“Hermione, is this smart?” He asked. “I know you’re broken up about Ron but…this may be swinging too far in the opposite direction.”

“Merlin, you two are acting like I’m actively seeking to destroy Ron’s life,” Hermione said exasperatedly. “All I’m doing is riling him up a little, annoying him. That’s if he even notices.”

“Oh, he’s going to notice,” Ginny huffed, crossing her arms against her chest. “It’s Malfoy.”

“What exactly are you worried about here?” Hermione asked then, leaning against her bedroom doorframe.

Ginny faltered, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “I’m not sure…I know I was giving you some shit for finding him attractive but—”

“Wait, you found Malfoy attractive?” Harry interrupted, staring at Hermione.

“Not the time, Harry,” Ginny hissed before continuing on to Hermione, giving her an imploring look. “I just want to make sure you’re in the right headspace for this.”

“It’s a fake relationship, Ginny,” Hermione explained with a gentle smile. She shrugged slightly as she went on, “We’ll pretend to be together for a few months to rile up Ron and get Draco’s mother off his back to marry, and then we’ll break it off amicably. No hurt feelings, no strings attached.”

Harry crossed his arms against his chest and raised an eyebrow. “No strings attached?”

“Well, only a few,” Hermione said, tilting her head back and forth. “Have to be affectionate with him in public and call him by his first name moreso than his last, but other than that it’ll be just a ruse.”

“And you said it’s only for a few months?” Ginny asked worriedly.

“Half a year at the most,” Hermione smiled.

Letting out a long sigh, Ginny nodded and said, “I just want to make sure that you know what you’re doing.”

“Everything will be fine, Gin,” She said reassuringly.

“If you say so…”

Hermione laughed slightly and nodded towards the red head. “You’ve got a game tomorrow that you need to prepare for; stop worrying about me.”

“That’s a little hard to do when you decide to do crazy things with the guy who bullies you throughout school,” Ginny retorted before relenting and waving her off. “You’re right though, I’m just worried but you have to admit, this is really crazy.”

“I’m not saying it’s not, but it’s not the craziest thing I’ve done,” Hermione laughed again.

“Merlin, if that isn’t the truth…” Harry muttered under his breath before taking Ginny’s hand. “Just don’t be afraid to reach out to us if things go badly. We’ll see you tomorrow, ‘Mione.”

Hermione waved before the couple disapparated, rolling her eyes to herself as she turned back to head into her bedroom.

----------

There was a steady stream of spectators making their way into the stadium as Hermione stood off to the side, waiting for Harry. She ignored the pointed glances and whispers, smiling to herself as the cause of the attention was not unknown to her.

Somehow, a reporter had caught the last part of her dinner with Malfoy, particularly when he had kissed the back of her hand. The picture was plastered across the front of the Prophet, and when she had gone to retrieve her morning coffee at her favorite shop, she had caught sight of some of the patrons reading the article while casting glances towards her.

The fact that the ruse seemed to already be catching attention after not even a day filled her with an odd satisfaction, and she was unable to stop smiling that morning since.

“Hermione!”

Harry’s voice calling out to her brought her out of her thoughts and she turned to see him waving her over. She accepted the side hug that he gave her before they joined the masses of spectators shortly before trailing off to the upper boxes.

“Your relationship is already catching attention,” He started with a light tone, glancing down at her.

She grinned. “I saw; I was wondering how long it would take for the Prophet to catch on.”

Harry laughed as they began walking up a flight of stairs. “I’m still a little skeptical of this whole thing.”

“I know you are,” Hermione sighed. “But it’s nothing to worry about; it’s not like I’m going to catch feelings for him or anything, and he certainly isn’t going to catch feelings for me.”

She heard Harry mutter something but she didn’t ask about it, instead asking, “Are the rest of the Weasleys here?”

He hesitated before saying, “I know Molly and George are, not sure yet about Arthur. I’d stay clear of them for a bit, at least Molly.”

Hermione sighed, shaking her head. “I can’t imagine why she’d be upset with me over anything, it’s not like I was the one to end the relationship.”

“I know, I know…”

He led her into the box and they sat down, Harry leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “You know how Molly gets though.”

“Yeah…” Hermione trailed off, shaking her head again. “I’m starting to wonder if she ever actually did like me, or if she just tolerated me because of you.”

“I have no idea,” Harry admitted. “I find it hard to believe that Ron would have told her anything negative about you.”

“He wouldn’t have to,” She said somewhat bitterly. “And of course now that the Prophet’s published something about Malfoy and I, it’s just going to probably add fuel to the fire.”

He didn’t respond, his foot tapping slightly against the wood floor of the box. Hermione sighed and leaned back, resting against the seat behind her and staring off to the other side of the stadium.

“So,” Harry started, bringing her out of her thoughts. “What does Malfoy even do?”

She laughed slightly as she explained, “His business is in wine.”

Harry’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as he looked at her. “Wine?”

“I know, I was a little surprised too,” She said. “But it sounds like there are other things they would like to expand the business to.”

“They?”

“He and his business partner, Blaise Zabini,” Hermione said. “I can’t explain much more than that because of a confidentiality agreement that they have with the Ministry regarding the business.”

“That sounds more like Malfoy,” Harry said, rolling his eyes. “Can’t imagine why his family would want a confidentiality agreement regarding their business.”

“I tried to pry but he said he didn’t want to bore me with the details,” She laughed. “At least not right then; he did say that he might tell me another time so there’s hope.”

Harry looked over at her, a curious expression on his face. “So…what’s this about you finding him attractive?”

She cursed under her breath before sighing heavily, looking down at the floorboards. “It’s not like that; during third year after Ron had accused Crookshanks of eating Scabbers, I was just venting to Ginny about everything and I don’t remember how, but the conversation geared towards how I thought Malfoy would be attractive if he wasn’t such a prick that year.”

“Can’t deny the man does know how to dress,” Harry said, earning him a surprised look from Hermione. “Come on, tell me I’m wrong.”

“I’m not going to say anything further that can be used as ammo against me,” Hermione said, holding up her hands. “Ginny’s got enough already, don’t need you having any.”

“I would never do that,” He laughed, giving her a playful nudge.

“No, but you’d tell Ginny who absolutely would,” She laughed.

Harry tilted his head back and forth before giving her a grin that said she was right. “Okay, maybe I would but for right now, any secrets are safe with me.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, waiting to see if he would laugh again before eventually relenting, letting out a sigh. “I mean, he is handsome, I can’t deny that. And he’s matured a lot since Hogwarts.”

“I’m sure him no longer slinging insults at you is definitely a step up.”

“Yes, but it’s not just him no longer slinging insults at me,” Hermione said, looking back towards the other side of the stadium. “He’s actually much nicer now. Of course, he’s still somewhat arrogant but it’s not annoying. And the banter is wonderful.”

“You sound like you enjoy spending time with him.”

She turned to stare at Harry, who was smiling slightly. Her mouth opened but no sound came out, and she forced out a huff as she turned away again.

“It’s nothing to think too deeply on,” She said quickly. “He’s just a nicer person now than he was back then, so obviously the time spent with him is going to be more enjoyable.”

Harry laughed at this and wrapped an arm around her, giving her shoulders a squeeze. “I’m just teasing, ‘Mione.”

He released her and she shot him a playful glare, opening her mouth to say something.

“Ah, finally found the right box!”

They both turned to look towards the entrance and Hermione let out a small noise of shock as she realized that it was Draco Malfoy standing there, smiling at them with a bottle of champagne tucked under his arm.

Chapter Text

“Draco?” Hermione stared at him in shock. “What are you doing here?”

The blond stepped into the box with a grin and a shrug. “I thought I’d come and support my girlfriend while she supports her best friend. You know, normal significant other things.”

Hermione continued to stare at him but Draco’s attention had turned to Harry. “Hello, Potter.”

“Malfoy,” Harry replied with a nod, a grin tugging at the edges of his mouth. “I see you’ve brought a gift.”

“Wouldn’t be a good guest if I didn’t,” Draco grinned, pulling the champagne bottle out from underneath his arm and offering it to Harry. “Gifts also usually help when gate crashing.”

Harry laughed as he accepted the bottle while Hermione stumbled over what to say. Draco seemed to notice this, giving her a smug look as he sat down next to her and leaned back.

“So,” He started. “The Prophet caught our little date last night. Or at least the tail-end of it.”

This made Hermione smile as she said, “That they did; front page too.”

Draco nodded at this, flashing his teeth as he grinned. “Was a rather nice photo, if I do say so myself.”

She laughed then and nodded, looking towards the quidditch pitch. “I would have to agree, it was a nice photo.”

The sound of the champagne cork popping was heard followed by a distant pained shout of, “What the--!”

“Sorry!” Harry called out sheepishly, quickly pouring the glasses and passing them to the other two.

“Did you hit someone with the cork?” Hermione asked with a laugh, grinning up at Harry as she took the glass he offered.

Harry scowled at her without answering, taking a drink from his glass as Draco chuckled next to her.

“They should keep it as a souvenir,” Draco laughed as he took the glass that Harry offered. “Not many people can say that they’ve been hit with a cork popped by the famous Harry Potter.”

“That’s only if they know it was me,” Harry shrugged as he sat down, taking a drink from his glass. He then looked over at Draco with a raised eyebrow and said, “So…this arrangement that you two have…”

Draco eyed Harry over the rim of his champagne glass as he took a drink. “What of it?”

“Not here, Harry,” Hermione said warningly. “You never know who is listening.”

Harry looked back to her and then nodded in understanding as Draco looked to Hermione with a small smile. The three of them sat in silence for only a moment before the crowd immediately began to cheer and yell around them, and they went to stand by the railing as the match started.

“I can honestly say I’ve never been to a Harpies match,” Draco said lightly as he glanced to Hermione. “It seems like a good time so far.”

“Oh, just wait,” Hermione grinned at him. “The fans can be ruthless if there’s even a perceived slight to the team, especially if Gwenog reacts to it.”

Draco raised an eyebrow questioningly and Hermione explained, “Gwenog is the team’s captain, and she is very hotheaded if she doesn’t agree with a call.”

“She’s just hotheaded in general,” Harry added.

“Fair,” Hermione relented, tilting her head back and forth. “I still think she’s a little full of herself though.”

Harry laughed at that and Draco gave her a curious look. “You sound like you’ve met her.”

“I have,” Hermione said somewhat unhappily. “Sixth year at Slughorn’s Christmas party.”

“Ah,” Draco said as he looked away briefly before glancing back at her with a small smile, as if he were remembering something fondly.

Hermione didn’t notice however as the crowd suddenly cheered, though Harry had caught Draco’s expression and raised an eyebrow silently before looking back at the center of the stadium as the match began.

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

The match was still going four hours later, and by that time the three of them were chatting happily together between cheers.

“I forgot how long quidditch matches can run,” Draco said lightly, checking his watch.

Hermione laughed as she looked up at him and asked, “When was the last match you went to?”

Draco thought for a few moments, rubbing the back of his neck before shrugging. “I honestly cannot remember. I think Blaise got tickets a few years ago for a match but I can’t be certain how long ago it actually was.”

“Well, be prepared to go to a lot more matches if you’re going to come and support me supporting Ginny,” Hermione grinned. “I come to nearly all of Ginny’s matches.”

“Oh no, I have to watch more quidditch,” Draco groaned sarcastically, looking up at the sky in feigned frustration. “What ever will I do?”

They both laughed at that as Harry watched from a few feet away, smiling to himself. Hermione caught his look though and raised an eyebrow at him.

“What, Harry?” She asked, turning to face him.

“Nothing,” Harry answered, shaking his head with a grin. “Not a damn thing.”

Hermione hummed skeptically, scowling at him playfully. Harry simply grinned and straightened up from the railing, turning to face both of them while saying, “Well, it looks like this match isn’t going to be over any time soon and I hear that you, Malfoy, are the man who knows about wines.”

“I might be,” Draco said with a nod. “You sound like you had something in mind.”

“Well I figured that since we are unfortunately out of champagne and the match is still going strong,” Harry started with a shrug. “We could make the switch to wine for the rest of the match.”

“I’m fine with that,” Hermione smiled.

“Perfect, I’ll pop out and grab a bottle,” Harry grinned at her before looking back at Draco and nodding. “Any recommendations?”

Draco laughed slightly and then looked down at Hermione. “Red or white?”

She thought quietly for a moment and said, “After champagne, probably white.”

“Dry or sweet?” Draco asked curiously.

Hermione crinkled her nose as she said, “Dry only. Not a sweet person.”

This caused Draco to laugh as he said, “I highly doubt that.”

She opened her mouth to respond but Draco had already looked away to say to Harry, “I’d say probably a sauvignon blanc, from the Marlborough region of New Zealand.”

Harry raised an eyebrow at this and said, “Awfully specific there, Malfoy.”

“You asked,” Draco shrugged.

Standing up then, Harry gave Hermione’s shoulder a squeeze as he said, “I’ll be back in five-ish minutes.”

Hermione nodded and Harry walked out of the box, and Draco looked back down at Hermione with a raised eyebrow.

“You really don’t like sweet wines?” Draco asked curiously.

“Not really,” She answered with a shrug. “I’ve tried a few, both red and white, and just haven’t found one that I really enjoyed.”

“That’s fair I guess,” Draco nodded before grinning at her. “I bet I can find one that you’ll like.”

Hermione laughed at this and grinned back at him. “You are more than welcome to try; just don’t feel bad if you fail at that particular endeavor.”

Draco gave her a faux-offended look before scoffing and saying, “Malfoys never fail.”

She laughed again more loudly this time and raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you really want me to challenge that statement?”

He opened his mouth to retort and then quickly shut it before another grin spread across his face. “Oh, like you’ve never failed at anything.”

“Never said I haven’t,” Hermione said. “It sounds like I just happen to accept failure with more grace than you do.”

Draco laughed now and she couldn’t help but smile, enjoying their back and forth again. “Now that I refuse to believe. I saw you get frustrated when anyone bested you in classes back at Hogwarts.”

Looking out at the match now, Hermione shook her head slightly before saying with a grin, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t.”

“I don’t!”

He laughed again, smirking to himself as he leaned forward against the front rail of the box to watch the match as well. “Whatever you say, Hermione.”

She didn’t respond immediately, caught off guard by the sudden warmth that spread across her face when he called her by her first name. Chalking it up to simply not being used to it, she shook her head and they were both quickly distracted by a foul being called on Holyhead. This quickly resulted in Gwenog shouting obscenities at the ref, and Draco straightening up slightly in shock.

“Merlin, you weren’t kidding about her,” He said in disbelief as the stands cloaked in green and gold erupted around them in support of Holyhead’s captain.

Hermione laughed slightly before sighing. “Yeah, this is her holding back actually.”

He looked down at her with wide eyes now. “You can’t be serious.”

Looking back up at him, Hermione grinned. “Come to more games and you’ll find out.”

“I may have to if this is normal,” Draco laughed as he looked back out at the match. “Possibly one of the most dramatic things I’ve seen.”

“Just wait until you see one of her actual tantrums,” Hermione said as the match quickly resumed.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise when he looked back down at her. “How often does she get thrown out of games?”

“Nearly every other match.”

His mouth hung open at that and she laughed before adding, “I told you, she’s hotheaded.”

Shaking his head, Draco looked back out at the match as he said, “That’s an entirely different level of hotheaded though.”

“Yeah but it makes things interesting,” She shrugged.

“I suppose…”

Draco shifted his weight from one foot to the other, still leaning against the front railing of the box next to Hermione. She noticed that the shift brought him slightly closer to her, his arm lightly touching hers now. He didn’t seem to notice though and she wasn’t about to draw attention to it by pulling away.

“Oh,” Draco started then, looking down at her. “I was thinking we could have dinner again next Friday; another date for the Prophet to get a picture of.”

Hermione laughed at this and said, “I already have plans on Friday that I’m not missing again. What about Saturday?”

He raised an eyebrow at this. “Plans? What’s more important than going on a date with your new boyfriend?”

She heard the light sarcasm in his voice and laughed again. “First of all, you are not so important yet for me to move all of my plans around when you ask. Second of all, it’s none of your business.”

Draco couldn’t help but grin then as he countered with, “I think it is my business as your boyfriend. Regardless of our situation, if you have plans with someone else, I’d like to know about them.”

“Jealous, Malfoy?” She asked, smirking up at him.

He didn’t answer at first, simply smiling when he saw her smirking. “I wouldn’t say jealous; more curious than anything.”

“Well if you must know, I have a standing date every Friday,” She replied, looking back out at the match. “I've already cancelled it once for you, I’d rather not make it a habit.”

“A standing date, huh?” He shifted again, turning slightly to face her while still leaning against the railing. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

She shook her head with a grin. “I doubt you’d know.”

“So there’s a guy?”

“You are jealous!” Hermione laughed.

“Am not!”

“I can tell just by the tone of your voice!”

Draco sighed, dropping his head down slightly before shaking it and looking back up at her with an exasperated smile. “Just trying to figure out who is taking my girlfriend’s attention away from me.”

“Merlin, you’re exhausting already and we just started this relationship,” Hermione laughed before relenting. "Fine, fine.”

She shifted and explained with a smile. “Every Friday, I go to a muggle bookstore for a little while to pick out new books. It’s been a habit of mine for years now.”

He blinked in surprise at this. “Really? Every Friday?”

“Mhmm,” She hummed. “I enjoy it; it’s like a mental reset, almost. Gets me out of the wizarding world’s troubles for a bit.”

Tilting his head back and forth, he replied after a moment, “I can see that. Change of scenery.”

“Exactly.”

They both became distracted when Holyhead made a goal and they cheered along with the rest of the crowd excitedly. When the crowd died down somewhat, Draco leaned in towards her.

“So there’s no guy?” He asked with a grin.

She laughed loudly. “Just admit that you were jealous!”

“I wasn’t jealous!”

They continued to bicker playfully, completely unaware that Harry was leaning in the box’s doorway, grinning as he watched them together.

Chapter Text

When Hermione opened her office door that following Monday, she sighed with a small smile, shaking her head when she saw the bouquet of yellow roses on her desk. She spied another notecard within the arrangement and grabbed it as soon as she was close enough.

Yellow Roses – Friendship

She laughed slightly before turning the card over to read the note.

I had a surprisingly wonderful time at the quidditch match on Saturday; perhaps I could join you for the next one as well? If that’s alright of course. Looking forward to hearing from you- D.M.

She smiled and shook her head again, pushing the roses off to the corner of her desk and setting her bag down. After grabbing a quill and a spare piece of paper, she wrote her own reply.

Hermione sent the note off with her office owl before turning back to her desk and sitting down, getting settled in for the day.

Draco’s POV

He grinned as he read the note, absentmindedly holding out a treat to the waiting owl.

I’m sure you joining for the next one won’t be a problem at all; I surprisingly had fun as well. Also, you don’t need to buy me flowers every time you want to send me a note; I’m going to run out of space on my desk regardless of how pretty they are. H.G.

He set the note down with a chuckle and sighed, keeping his eyes on the note after sliding it off to the side. Despite how well their little ruse had seemed to be going, he was still surprised that she had agreed to it in the first place; he had never thought that Hermione Granger of all people would be one for petty revenge schemes, but at the same time he was starting to realize how little he actually knew about her.

A knock on his door caught his attention and he looked up to see Blaise standing in the doorway, hands in the pockets of his suit pants and a curious look on his face.

“How’d the match go?” Blaise asked lightly, leaning against the doorframe.

“Very well, actually,” Draco answered, straightening up slightly at his desk. “Had a good time with her and Potter. Though I suspect the alcohol may have had something to do with that.”

“Mhmm.” Blaise hummed skeptically, raising an eyebrow but not saying anything.

Draco seemed to catch the smug look his business partner was giving him though and he raised an eyebrow of his own. “What?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Blaise said quickly with a shake of his head before nodding towards Draco with a grin. “Think you can snag some tickets for me?”

With a scoff, Draco retorted, “You say that like you can’t afford them yourself.”

“I can, but if they’re gifted to me, Pansy can’t scold me for going and dragging her along.”

Draco laughed at that, unable to argue that point. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Blaise’s grin widened then and he added, “Maybe the four of us can go together; you, me, Pansy, and Granger. Make it another little date for the Prophet to eat up.”

This made Draco pause and he seemed to contemplate the idea, twirling his quill around his fingers. “I can see if Hermione would be up for that.”

“Ooh, on to first names now?” Blaise asked teasingly.

Draco scowled before gesturing for the other wizard to enter his office. “Close the door behind you.”

Blaise did as requested, stepping into the office and closing the door behind him with a smug grin on his face which Draco sighed exasperatedly at.

“We’ve agreed to limit calling each other by last names for the sake of the ruse,” Draco explained quietly as Blaise approached the desk. “Makes it more realistic.”

“Mm,” Blaise hummed skeptically, still grinning. “Sounds like a valid reason.”

Draco’s brow furrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Blaise waved him off with a sigh as he sat down in one of the chairs in front of Draco’s desk, propping his leg up with an ankle across his other knee. “It’s just odd hearing you call her by her first name.”

“It’s odd saying it, but it’s actually been easier than I thought,” Draco admitted, leaning back in his chair.

“I don’t need to abide by that rule, do I?” Blaise grinned then.

“I doubt you’ll be interacting with her very much, so no,” Draco answered with a roll of his eyes. “It’s only for a few months, half a year at the most; not enough time to really intertwine our lives so much that we really spend time with each other’s friends.”

Blaise nodded then before tilting his head curiously. “And what have your parents said about this?”

Draco didn’t answer immediately, glancing instinctively towards a particular letter on the corner of his desk with a heavy sigh. “They…have questions.”

“Well I would assume so,” Blaise said lightly. “I take it you haven’t spoken to them yet.”

“Not yet,” Draco admitted. “They’ve invited me for tea later to discuss things.”

“Wasn’t part of your motivation for your involvement in this ruse to try and get your mother to stop setting you up with women for a while?”

“Yes.”

Blaise raised an eyebrow then. “And if your parents don’t approve of your relationship?”

Draco was silent for a few moments before shrugging. “They’ll just have to deal with it, I suppose; it’s only for six months at the maximum. They can handle me dating her for that long.”

This seemed to satisfy Blaise’s curiosity before an idea seemed to occur to him, and he gave Draco a sly grin. “And what if they do approve?”

“Oh please,” Draco scoffed. “I’ll be lucky if Father doesn’t admit me immediately to St. Mungo’s for dating her.”

“You never know,” Blaise shrugged, still grinning. “Granger seems nice enough; I’d be willing to bet that she can convince your parents to like her. Your father has to at least respect how intelligent she is.”

Draco rolled his eyes as he said, “You say that as if you’ve never met Father.”

A knock at the door interrupted Blaise just as he had opened his mouth to reply and their receptionist opened the door a few moments later after Draco called out.

“Sirs, your eleven-thirty appointment with the vintner from Alsace is here,” She announced.

Both Draco and Blaise nodded as she closed the door again, and Draco stood from his desk while Blaise adjusted his tie.

“We can continue this later,” Blaise said before smirking. “Or tomorrow, after you find out if your parents approve or not.”

Draco scowled at him while adjusting his cuffs and rolled his eyes.

Draco landed with a quiet pop just inside the gates of Malfoy Manor, pausing briefly to gather his bearings before making the trek up the gravel pathway.

A squawk from the hedges caught his attention and he glared up at one of the white peacocks, scrunching his nose up at it as he muttered, “Stupid bird.”

The peacock was forgotten though as soon as he stopped at the door, composing himself with a deep breath before opening the door.

While the outside of the manor had hardly changed, the inside had undergone significant changes after the war. The portraits lining the front entry were removed to reside in another room (something Draco was relieved about as he was not fond of his ancestors’ critiques whenever he visited), and all of the curtains were drawn back to allow light in, illuminating the once-dark manor.

As he walked further into the manor, he heard the faint murmur of his parents’ voices and followed them to one of the sitting rooms on the upper floor. He was somewhat surprised to find the curtains opened in this room as well, a large fire roaring in the fireplace and casting a warm glow on the room.

Narcissa and Lucius immediately paused their conversation as they noticed Draco lingering in the doorway, and a wide smile spread across Narcissa’s face.

“Draco,” She greeted happily, standing up from her chair and gliding across the room towards her son, her arms stretched out. “It’s so good to see you!”

He smiled as he was pulled into an embrace, sighing quietly and returning the hug. She pulled away a moment later and looked up at him before scowling.

“You’re growing your hair out again?” She asked, disappointment lacing her tone as she reached up to mess with his hair. “I thought we had this discussion before.”

He reached up to fix the hair that she had just moved out of place, returning her scowl. “I rather like it this length.”

“Leave the boy alone, Narcissa,” Lucius interjected as he stood up from his own chair and went to join them. “His appearance is fine.”

Narcissa sighed as she looked towards her husband before looking back at Draco, shaking her head slightly with a fond smile.

“I suppose it suits you,” She relented, squeezing his arm before gesturing towards the couches on the other side of the room. “Tea, dear? Dinner won’t be ready for another forty-five minutes.”

Draco stuffed his hands into his pockets and nodded, glancing towards his father before making his way to the couches as well. “Tea sounds good, Mother.”

Lucius followed as well, a stoic silence about him which Draco had come to notice was his father’s normal demeanor as of late. Draco took a seat on one couch while Narcissa lowered herself onto the opposite couch, followed shortly after by Lucius.

“How is work going, dear?” Narcissa asked politely, a small smile on her face as she poured out tea for the three of them.

“It’s going very well,” Draco answered, accepting the cup she had offered him. “We are in the processing of partnering with a new, promising vineyard out of France.”

He took a sip from the cup before gently setting it down, glancing up at them. “But I’m sure the business isn’t why you’ve asked me for dinner, is it?”

Narcissa faltered before glancing at Lucius, who had sighed heavily, his fingers tapping against his knee.

“Draco, this new…relationship of yours,” Lucius started slowly, very obviously trying to hide his contempt as he clearly chose his words carefully. “We have concerns.”

It was Draco’s turn to sigh heavily, his mouth forming a thin line as he leaned back, pulling his leg up to rest his ankle over his knee.

“What concerns would those be?” He asked casually, though he knew very well what the problem most likely was.

Both Narcissa and Lucius hesitated, before Narcissa hesitantly asked, “Are you really in a relationship with the Granger girl?”

“Yes, I am in a relationship with Hermione,” Draco answered politely.

Lucius’s brow furrowed slightly as he said, “How serious is this relationship?”

Glancing towards his father, Draco shrugged. “We’ve only just started seeing each other recently; she has recently broken off an engagement and we are going at her pace.”

He didn’t miss the slight crinkling of his father’s nose at that and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly in amusement.

“What happened to the other woman you were seeing?” Lucius asked then. “What was her name…Gwenyth?”

“Genevieve,” Draco answered with a smirk; the fact that his father had gotten the poor girl’s name wrong was indicative enough of how little impression she had made on him. Reaching for his cup, Draco said, “She was nice, but was boring. She had no backbone or opinion of her own.”

Lucius nodded at that, seeming to understand while Narcissa shifted slightly in her seat.

“Do you see yourself marrying Miss Granger?” She asked, causing Draco to choke on his drink.

“Mother!” Draco exclaimed between coughs as he tried to clear his throat. “It’s…we’ve only just started seeing each other!”

Narcissa gave him a look that was a mixture of skeptical and exasperated as she explained, “Well, the Prophet’s already printed about you two twice now—”

“Twice?” Draco interrupted, setting the cup back down and looking up at her with a furrowed brow. “We’ve only been on one dinner date.”

“They seemed to have also captured your visit with her at the Holyhead Harpies quidditch match,” Lucius answered this time, sounding very unenthused at that.

Draco paused before grinning at that. “Huh, didn’t see anything about that in the paper. I’ll have to check with her to see if she did.”

Lucius let out a heavy sigh, drumming his fingers on his knee again. After a few moments he broke the brief silence by asking in a concerned voice, “Draco, are you sure this is the woman you want to be seen dating? After all, she’s…”

He trailed off and Draco’s expression hardened.

“She’s what?” Draco asked calmly. Despite their relationship being a ruse, he still respected Hermione and he wasn’t going to allow anyone to insult her, including his own father.

Lucius seemed to notice Draco’s change of expression and his own expression shifted slightly. “She’s not exactly like us, Draco.”

There it is. Draco took in a breath before answering slowly, “Hermione Granger is possibly the most clever and ambitious person I have ever met. Her heritage does not change that.”

“No, but—”

“But nothing,” Draco interrupted firmly. “Hermione and I are dating each other right now; I like her. Whether or not it becomes more serious, I cannot say for certain. But for right now, I am seeing her. She is a good match for me, and I am happy. That is all that should matter right now.”

Lucius and Narcissa looked at him silently before sharing a look with each other, almost as if silently conversing amongst themselves. Draco reached for his cup again to do something while waiting for them to speak, silently seething at his father’s words. After a few moments they turned back to look at him, a shared knowing expression on both of their faces.

“Well,” Narcissa started, her tone surprisingly light. “I think we would like to invite Miss Granger over for dinner.”

Draco froze. “What?”

“It sounds as though you may be serious about her,” Lucius said, a faint hint of amusement in his tone, almost as if he were calling out an unspoken bluff. “And if that is the case, we would like to take this chance to get to know her. Make amends, so to speak.”

“It is long overdue, after all,” Narcissa added with a smile. “If she is going to be in your life in any capacity then we should apologize to her. It’s only right.”

Draco was starting to wonder if he had gone too far in his defense of Hermione as he sat there, dumbfounded and staring at his parents in disbelief. “O-okay. I will have to see if she is available—”

“Tomorrow evening.” Narcissa’s smile widened. “Eight pm. We insist.”

He didn’t move for a moment but then gave a short, jerky nod of agreement, his thoughts racing as he tried not to think about how Hermione might react to his parents inviting her to dinner.

Chapter Text

“Your parents what?!” Hermione stared up at Draco in shock and disbelief, her eyes wide but firm.

“They’ve invited you to join us for dinner tonight,” He repeated as calmly as he could, rubbing the back of his neck. “I didn’t answer for you, I simply said I’d see if you were available.”

She blinked, her mouth opening and then closing as no words came forward for a few moments. But when her thoughts finally caught up, she said in a somewhat panicked voice, “I didn’t think that mingling with families was going to be part of this when we made the agreement, Malfoy.”

He bristled slightly, his mouth forming a line briefly before he sighed and looked away, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “I know; look, this was unexpected for me as well. But they’re insistent.”

“Of course they are,” She murmured, running her hands over her face and through her hair before staring down at her desk as her thoughts raced again.

She had not planned for meeting his parents in any way, especially since this little ruse between them was only supposed to last six months at the most. Introducing family into the mix, regardless of whose it was, would only convolute everything and make the ruse harder to break off depending on the reactions. But at the same time, she reminded herself that this was the Malfoys, and they already didn’t like her, so if anything that might help when it came time for them to ‘break up’.

After a few moments she sighed heavily and straightened up, her hands going to rest on her desk as she stared straight ahead.

“If I’m going to be meeting them for dinner, I’d like it to be in a neutral place,” She said firmly, avoiding looking at him. “I’m not stepping foot in that manor again.”

His demeanor softened and he nodded. “Understood. Would you like me to set the dinner up? Neutral territory?”

This made her look up at him and she was quiet for a few moments as she thought it over. “If you’d like, yes.”

He nodded again with a small smile. “I’ll make the reservations then. They did say eight this evening though; where shall I pick you up?”

She blinked in surprise before stumbling over her words. “No, I can just meet you there—”

“Hermione, we’re trying to convince everyone that we’re together,” He said with a small laugh. “Us arriving together will sell the ruse more.”

“Yes, but your parents aren’t who we were trying to convince,” Hermione replied.

“No, but they’ve decided to insert themselves so now we need to convince them as well,” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I know this isn’t ideal, but we need to just roll with it for now.”

Hermione sighed as well, staring off in thought for a moment. “You’re right.”

Draco raised an eyebrow at that, a grin spreading across his face. “Did the Hermione Granger just say that I, Draco Malfoy, was right?”

She glared up at him, successfully stifling the laugh that was bubbling up inside her chest. “Don’t push it, Malfoy.”

His grin only widened. “I need to start recording our conversations just in case it happens again. No one will believe me otherwise.”

“You would do something like that,” She rolled her eyes before waving him off. “Let me know where the dinner will be, please.”

“Are you dismissing me?” He asked amusedly, raising an eyebrow again.

She raised an eyebrow in return, looking up at him. “Don’t you have a business to run?”

“Yes, and a dinner to plan,” Draco replied smugly. “That doesn’t mean I can’t spend some time with my girlfriend.”

Hermione ignored the odd feeling that settled in her chest at him using that word for her, huffing quietly. “Well unfortunately your girlfriend is busy at work. You will see her tonight though.”

“I know, but she is fun to annoy,” He smirked.

She shot him a glare then and waved him off again. “Shoo, Draco.”

He chuckled as his hands went into his pockets and he turned away from her desk, making his way to her office door. “I’ll pick you up at seven forty-five, Hermione.”

She glanced up at him as he left her office, pushing down that feeling again as she went back to her work, trying to focus despite the new distraction of the pending dinner with two people she thought she would never have to see again.

“How are you not freaking out more?” Ginny asked, sitting on Hermione’s bathroom counter as she watched her friend rifle through her closet.

“Oh trust me, I am freaking out.” Hermione’s voice coming from inside the closet was noticeably higher than usual as the sound of hangers clacking against each other could be heard. “I think I’m just at that stage where I’m freaking out so much that I am calm.”

“Mmm, that’s a fun stage,” Ginny grinned.

“For you,” Hermione retorted, poking her head from around the closet door to scowl at her friend.

Ginny snickered, bringing her legs up to cross them underneath her. “Of course for me; you got yourself into this situation, after all.”

“Don’t remind me,” Hermione muttered as she went back to her clothes. “Merlin, I have no idea what to wear for this.”

“I’m a little surprised by that, actually,” Ginny said lightly. “You usually have an outfit for every occasion.”

“Yes, well, dinner with the Malfoys was not on that list,” Hermione said, going back through her clothes again.

“Do you know where the dinner would be?” Ginny asked.

“Draco made reservations at the Blackthorn.”

“Ooh, Draco?” Ginny’s grin widened.

Hermione shot another scowl at the redhead. “Don’t.”

“Alright, alright,” Ginny said, putting her hands up. “The Blackthorn, huh? That place usually takes a couple months to get a reservation at.”

“I suppose that’s one perk of being a family with reputation, regardless of how terrible that reputation may be,” Hermione sighed, pausing at a dress and considering it quietly.

Ginny hummed at that before thoughtfully saying, “Malfoy seems to be slowly improving his family name though.”

Hermione didn’t answer immediately, though she silently agreed as she pulled the dress out to show Ginny. “What do you think?”

The redhead looked over the charcoal grey dress, her nose crinkling slightly. “What, are we back in the fifties?”

Hermione scoffed defensively, glancing down at the dress. “It’s a classic style!”

“That’s just another word for old,” Ginny retorted, hopping down from the counter and stepping past Hermione to look through the clothes hanging up. “Merlin, I need to take you shopping for more colorful clothes.”

“I have colorful clothes!” Hermione insisted.

Ginny paused only to silently raise an eyebrow skeptically before going back through her search. After a moment she paused before pulling out another shorter a-line dress with modest straps and a sweetheart neckline, letting out a hum of approval.

“This one,” Ginny said, running her hand over the fabric. “This color is gorgeous.”

Hermione blinked in surprise at the dress, having forgotten she even had it. “It really is; I think it’s called Prussian blue?”

“Well whatever it’s called, you need more of it,” Ginny said, pushing the dress into her friend’s hands.

“You really think this one?” Hermione asked hesitantly, holding the dress up again.

“Absolutely!” Ginny sat back up on the counter again with a grin. “The color’s beautiful and isn’t so dark that it’s dreary, and the silhouette is very nice on you.”

Hermione was still skeptical but hung the dress up on the back of the closet door before glancing over her heels and choosing her usual black pumps. “I suppose you’re right."

Ginny hummed again before slyly adding, “A perfect ‘meet the parents’ dress.”

That drew another scowl from Hermione followed by a huff. “You say that like I don’t already know them.”

“True, but maybe they’ve changed,” Ginny shrugged. “It’s been years.”

Hermione stared at her. “It’s the Malfoys, Ginny.”

“Yes, but look at how much Draco’s changed,” Ginny pointed out. “I mean, you’re in a relationship with the man.”

“Fake relationship,” Hermione corrected.

Ginny waved her off, shaking her head. “Minor details; the point is that if Draco was able to change, it’s possible that his parents have at least changed a little. Why not give them the benefit of the doubt?”

“I still can’t believe that you are actually speaking in favor of them,” Hermione said in disbelief as she sorted through her jewelry.

“You’re more than welcome to say that you told me so if they end up being terrible still,” Ginny grinned.

“As if I needed your permission to say that,” Hermione huffed, pulling out a silver necklace and earrings.

Ginny rolled her eyes before watching Hermione for a few moments. “Do you want Harry and I to tag along again?”

This made Hermione pause and look up, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she contemplated that.

“I appreciate that, but…I don’t think it’ll be necessary,” Hermione said slowly. “I mean, his parents seem to have enough decorum to not pull any stunts in public.”

“And Draco will be there to protect you,” Ginny added smugly.

Hermione scowled again, but knew that she was right; Draco was friendly enough with her now that she trusted him to keep his parents in line.

“That and like you said, Blackthorn takes months to get a reservation for,” Hermione said, starting to refresh her makeup. “I doubt you and Harry would be able to get a last-minute reservation this late.”

Ginny scoffed at that, giving her an incredulous look. “Please. If Draco Malfoy can get a last-minute reservation there, I’m fairly certain that Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, can easily get one as well.”

“Alright, fair point,” Hermione laughed. “I mean ultimately it’s up to you if you would like to bring Harry along; you both live for drama and I’m sure this dinner will have plenty of it.”

“Just as long as I can sneak the Extendable Ear into your purse again,” Ginny grinned.

Hermione rolled her eyes at that, muttering, “You’re ridiculous.”

Ginny laughed at that. “Of course, but you love me anyway.”

“You tend to exploit my love for you a lot,” Hermione said, unable to hold back a smile as she fixed her eyeliner.

"What else do friends do?” Ginny asked innocently as she started to leave the bathroom.

Hermione hummed quietly before calling out, “My purse is on the counter!”

“Already got eyes on it, dear!”

Rolling her eyes, Hermione straightened up and asked loudly, “Should I give my love to Harry now or at the restaurant?”

“As if you don’t see him at work every day!”

Hermione couldn’t hold back a laugh at that, rolling her eyes as she heard the familiar pop of her best friend disapparating from her home and she sighed quietly as she tried not to think about the evening that lay ahead of her.