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June 5th, 2015
Hermione sat at a single table at her favourite small bakery in Bath, alone. She always seemed to be alone these days. Though she supposed that she wasn’t fully alone, she had the company of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy.
She sipped on her strong, however, still quite milky coffee. She wasn’t quite sure what she had ended up ordering, as the smell of freshly baked bread engulfed her.
She opened her favourite book, Pride and Prejudice. Welcoming the worlds and the characters to pull her back into their world.
One of her favourite eras, the Victorian era.
She sighed. Neither happy nor sad. Just rather content with her life at that very moment.
She was well off in her job, she had heard a rumour that she was in the lineup for promotion to manager. She had relatively nice living arrangements, which were situated near the river and one of her favourite parks. It was one of her favourite spots to nuzzle down and dive into a book. And she has a secure- oh um, never mind. She did have a pretty secure, long term relationship.
She sighed again, heavily.
On days like today, she really missed him.
Especially, this day.
June 5th.
A special day.
The day that she always enjoyed celebrating but suddenly had to stop celebrating the birthday so expensively about five years ago.
If she remembered correctly, then 2009 was the last June 5th that she had spent with him.
Celebrating it together.
He always hated celebrating his birthday but she always insisted that they should spend his day in style.
Hermione bought herself a slice of cake from their favourite bakery in Bath, a completely different one to the one she was now sat at. She had many favourite bakeries, especially the ones in Bath.
The two of them had completely different tastes. He liked stronger-tasting sweet cakes and she, in all honesty, would have rather had something savoury instead.
Their favourite bakery reminded Hermione too much of him. It was a constant reminder for her and it hurt.
But she had started a new tradition for herself ever since moving to Bath by herself. She would buy herself a slice of cake, something that was always classed as his favourite. She would then take it back to her place where Hermione would stick a candle into it, and sing ‘Happy Birthday’.
For her stranger.
For her friend.
For her lover.
She looked up from her book at the sudden recognition of a familiar smelly cologne.
It couldn’t be, could it?
No.
It couldn’t be him.
February 14th, 2010
Hermione had decided to move to Bath in early January of 2010. She had been relatively newly single for a couple of months at that point and wanted a new start. Somewhere that he possibly couldn’t be.
However, not even a month into living there, she realised what a mistake it was.
It was Valentine’s Day.
Hermione had sat down for a late lunch meeting with her current manager at the time. The restaurant was quite fancy, all of the walls and anything that could be was covered in decorations for the holiday. This was the first mistake box ticked.
The second, Hermione realised, was when three slightly taller than average platinum blondes walked into the restaurant.
She spotted and instantly recognised Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy first.
How could she not?
The Malfoys are one of Britain’s richest families, of course, excluding the Royal Family, but the Malfoys were up there with some of the richest, tax-avoiding families. The Malfoys were an old family, containing generations upon generations of old money.
Hermione was pretty certain that they owned several businesses around Britain, and possibly around the world.
The Malfoys probably owned this very restaurant. It wouldn’t surprise her.
She followed the movement of the two elder Malfoys, looking directly at the person she hadn’t even been expecting to see. Only just a couple of months after their breakup.
But there he literally was.
Was this a dream?
She blinked, clearing her eyesight.
He was still there.
Nope, definitely not a dream right now.
Fuck, he looked fucking incredible. He looked like he hadn’t even aged a day. Even the smattering of grey hair looked fucking fantastic.
He looked exactly like he did the day that they had first met.
Hermione remembered that day so clearly. As though it was only yesterday.
“Draco-?” Her body wanted to say.
No, she wanted to scream out loud to him.
She didn’t care what the other customers in the restaurant would say about her dramatics.
That was her Draco.
Her lover.
He was okay.
He was-
He wasn’t hers anymore.
Hermione felt trapped inside her own head.
What the fuck? Why couldn’t she move? Was this all just a dream, all just happening inside her head?
She knew that she hadn’t been sleeping much as of recent but it couldn’t be this bad that she had started to imagine Draco Malfoy standing on the other side of his restaurant.
August 19th, 1999
The year was 1999.
Hermione had not long been looking for a job.
After finishing college in early 1998, Hermione had decided against university and just started looking for a job in the working world.
The job search hadn’t been the most successful so far.
She was a receptionist for a couple of months for her parents at their dentistry. It wasn’t the best job, but it did pay quite well. It just wasn’t the best decision having her parents be her boss though.
So because of that place and not wanting to work with her parents anymore, she started looking for a new job. Somewhere she’d feel at home. Somewhere that felt warm.
So it was now the middle of the summer, and obviously still the year of 1999.
And now, nineteen-year-old Hermione had just recently received the news that she had earned a job at one of her favourite independent bookshops.
Did it feel like home? Check.
Did it feel warm? Check.
It was the perfect job. Hermione was so excited to start her new job, and the pay was pretty decent. Though that wasn’t really important to her.
When she looks back now, she loved her job.
Surrounded by books all day? It was practically a bookworm’s wet dream.
Hermione spent her days organising customers’ pre-orders, making sure that they are all wrapped up and ready to go when the customer comes for collection. All sorted alphabetically, of course.
She would also restock all of the shelves when needed, and help out with any of the customers’ queries.
Hermione was very content with her life at that moment in time.
She had quite a cute little flat on the outskirts of London, still quite near her mum and dad’s house. She shared the flat with one of her best friends, Ginny.
Living on the outskirts of London meant that Hermione could ride the tube to and from work every day.
Sometimes that travelling part was her favourite part of the day. Suppose that could make her seem quite sad but tube life was interesting. She weirdly found the tube relaxing.
She would just sit, calmly, with her morning coffee and a book. Usually a classic like a Jane Austen or a Charlotte Bronte, or even an Emily Bronte novel. That, before work, was sometimes the highlight of her day.
At the end of her workday, she always got to avoid the rush hour as the book shop usually closed quite late, so that people who were working during the day could come shop or just collect a pre-order if they wanted to.
August 23rd, 1999
Hermione clambered slowly up the ladder, restocking all of the shelves as she went. Her fear of heights screams worries deep into her head. She would always vividly dream and dread the day that all of the books, hardback, from the top shelf would topple down, pushing her down the ladder, and resulting in a terrible injury or other circumstances.
Or maybe, some handsome stranger would catch her.
Or perhaps, no one would help her until it was too late and she’d just then have a broken bone to deal with.
She hated this stupid ladder.
Even though technically, it wasn’t that high off the ground, she still hated heights and would always hate this bloody ladder.
She was also worried about creepers. Even though her work uniform only consisted of just a simple white shirt and a pair of simple dark blue denim jeans, she was still worried about the potential creepers. Anyone could be staring up at her as she was restocking the shelves.
She would never even know.
Though, again, perhaps she hoped that a handsome stranger was potentially ‘creeping’ up at her and admiring the view. Even though she knew it wasn’t much of a view.
Hermione stepped back off the ladder, pushing it back along the pole. The pole, which lined the top and bottom of all of the bookshelves. She pushed until the ladder was back in its rightful place, out of the way so that no customers could trip or hurt themselves on it.
She hummed quietly to herself as she made her way back towards the main till at the front of the store. But as Hermione walked back towards the till she heard the too familiar ding of the bell that was situated on top of the door. Used to signify when customers had entered the store.
Hermione quickly panicked, trying to busy herself as she noticed a platinum blonde head of hair moving around the shelves. He was almost weaving around, navigating the shelves, sort of looking like a snake hunting its prey.
Crap.
Was he looking for something?
Shouldn’t she go over and ask him if he needs any help?
No. You idiot, don’t do that. Wait for him to come over to you. He could just be browsing for all we know. Stop being an idiot, Hermione, and just bloody find something to do. She thought to herself.
Out of the corner of her eye, she continued watching his movements while serving some of her favourite elderly customers until she noticed him sitting down in one of the armchairs, annoyingly one that was in the furthest corner away from the till.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
Had he noticed her watching him? He had, and that’s probably why he has gone all the way over there into the far corner.
FUCK!
A ding of the bell echoed around the bookshop.
“Hello, I am here to collect a pre-order for a Mr Potter and a Mr Nott!” A calming voice, one which she instantly recognised, broke her away from her daydreams and slow fantasies.
Jesus Christ, she needed to stop staring at this handsome blonde stranger. She had noticed him here almost every day since she started working at this bookshop.
Wait-
Hold on.
HANDSOME?
Oh no.
No.
No, no!
FUCK. Has it happened? Already? FUCKKK-
Had she already started falling for that man?
God damn it, Hermione.
She looked back up towards the customer. Had they noticed her daydreaming about the mysterious blonde?
However, now looking up, Hermione was now facing two of her best friends.
“Hermione? Are you, uh, feeling alright? You look a bit-” Harry continued, obviously oblivious to Hermione looking at someone else, as he pointed his fingers towards the dark bags underneath her eyes.
“I believe what Potter meant to say, in the nicest way possible darling, is that you look absolutely awful. Hermione, sweetheart, have you ever tried using a cream or a moisturiser maybe for the eye bags? Or maybe, just a suggestion here, even just tried to get a decent night’s sleep.” Harry’s boyfriend, Theo, spat out at Hermione.
He suddenly reached into his tote bag, clearly digging through for something. Possibly a cream or a moisturiser that he would end up forcing onto her. Though, knowing Theo, he could be searching for anything.
Theo continued to noisily scuffle around in his bag as Hermione turned herself away, starting to bag up Harry and Theo’s pre-ordered books.
She turned back around, ready to hand over the bag to the couple when she noticed that the blonde stranger had left his seat and had started walking over to the three of them.
Hermione, you need to breathe.
In through your nose and then out of your mouth, remember?
Keep calm!
“Well, if it isn’t Potter and Nott. Ha! Nottpott.” The blonde man laughed to himself as he continued on, “what brings you two tossers here then?” He burst out loudly as he slapped Theo, quite hard on the back.
The three men in front of Hermione continued conversing but she found that she had slowly drowned the conversation out as she stared longingly at the blonde man.
There was the quick mention of his name but she was too in the zone of staring just straight at him and so wasn't able to hear it.
It felt as though Hermione had been staring at him for hours before Theo suddenly tapped her on the shoulder. He seemed to be checking in with her, making sure that she was alright.
“Oh, wait, Hermione, you must meet Draco Malfoy,” Theo shouted.
What was he doing right now? Was he putting on a voice? What the fuck-? Hermione thought as she noticed Theo continuing to address her so she zoned back into the conversation.
“We went to private school together. All very pretentious, yes, of course. Anyway, Hermione Granger meet Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy meet Hermione Granger!” Theo smirked as he pushed Draco closer to the till accidentally bumping some of Hermione’s small trinkets off the table and onto the floor.
Draco stood awkwardly opposite Hermione as she noticed Harry and Theo sneakily, or at least trying to be sneaky, leaving the shop, sending her winks and thumbs up.
Those.
Complete.
Utter.
Pricks.
Has she just been set up?
Was she purposely being forced to talk to this blonde stranger?
Oh, wait-
Hold on, a second.
She now knew this name.
Draco.
Draco Malfoy.
Future Husband .
She supposed that was the only bonus coming out of this forced interaction, she now knew his name and she could stop calling him ‘the blonde stranger’.
“Hi-!” They both started at the same time. Both of them awkwardly smiled at each other as he pushed his hand through his platinum blonde locks. She smiled bigger at him, but on the inside, she was basically dying.
Why was this suddenly so awkward?
She’d had boyfriends in the past. A couple of boyfriends. But, of course, none of them lasted very long.
There was Ron Weasley. One of Ginny’s older brothers. Ron and she were in the same year together all throughout school, and they just seemed to think that a romantic relationship, as they entered Year Eleven, was the best idea for them at that time. It wasn’t. It was a terrible idea that the both of them had made, and them being romantically involved with each other fizzled and destroyed their relationship.
Then there was Viktor Krum. A foreign exchange student from Bulgaria. He was also a couple of years older than her. Everyone seemed to just gaze at him, and stop whenever he entered the room. He was the crush of all the girls at Hermione’s school, even Ginny seemed to have a small crush on him. Suppose that should have been the first sign for Hermione that Ginny had a thing for European guys.
Then there was Charlie Weasley. Another Weasley brother, obviously Ginny’s older, older brother. For a couple of months after meeting Charlie, Hermione seemed to notice that she had developed a small, tiny school girl crush on him.
She remembered Ginny’s jokes about Hermione collecting a sample of all of the Weasley brothers, which Hermione heavily cringed at. Maybe, perhaps she DID have a small crush on Fred and George in the past and perhaps had maybe even thought about Bill as well. But there was not a chance in hell that she would ever date Percy. Even though, basically everyone, even Percy himself, said that Percy was the PERFECT match for Hermione.
Anyway, back to Charlie. He was ten times cooler than Ronald was. Though that wasn’t a very easy competition because it definitely wasn’t in Ron’s corner. But after quickly realising that she never had a chance with Charlie, and also he was way older than her, she gave up on pursuing things with him. Charlie had also come out to all of his family and friends as gay and had all the love and support from everyone. Not telling him about her previous crush on him, Hermione and Charlie became really close friends. Basically best friends, but they wouldn’t ever tell Ginny that. So, as Charlie quickly found out, Hermione had ended up becoming the best, most supportive, wing woman ever when it came to finding dates for Charlie.
And none of them, Hermione ever saw a future with.
She didn’t see herself ever having a large family with Ron or Charlie.
She didn’t see herself having a future with a sports star with Viktor.
But again, saying that, did she see herself having a future with Draco? She was hardly even classing herself as his friend and already she was thinking about a future.
Stop bloody looking ahead at the future Hermione and just look forward at the fucking drop-dead handsome guy standing right in front of you!!!
She thought to herself, trying to hide the large smile that was covering her face.
“Sorry. Hi, I’m Hermione. Hermione Granger. I went to school with Harry and I suppose I am the reason that he and Theo got together in the first place.” She brought herself back to reality, quickly realising that she had just been staring at Draco this entire time. Hoping that he hadn’t noticed.
Luckily, he hadn’t.
Hermione tried to busy her hands so that she had something else to focus on.
“Yes, I am aware. Theo likes to speak your praises constantly. I think he is trying to set us up on some sort of date or something. This is probably too much to tell a practical stranger, but you are my close friend’s boyfriend’s best friend, and so I would very much like to get to know you better. But Theo is probably only doing this because he knows that I’ve had the worst track record with girlfriends. The record is awful.” Draco seemed to ramble anxiously on. He looked nervous as well.
Hermione probably looked nervous as well so he had nothing to worry about.
His hands remained behind his back but there was a slight shake to his arms, which Hermione noticed before looking away from his arms. She didn’t want to practically gawp over his tight muscles as he clutched his hands tighter together.
August 31st, 1999
Hermione stood behind the till serving an elderly couple. They walked away, talking to each other about what cafe or bakery they should go to for their lunchtime. Hermione zoned out slightly before another person stepped forward, loudly clearing their throat. She zoned back to reality.
“Draco?!” Hermione’s voice broke as she tried to hide the utter surprise that he was standing right there in front of her. She put her hands flat onto the surface, trying not to fiddle with anything.
“Hello, I am glad to have caught you actually.” He smiled largely at her. “I’m glad that it was you and not the other girl.” He continued.
“What other girl?” She questioned, trying to think about who he could be on about.
“Come on, Granger, Theo said that you were supposed to be smart.” He smirked cheekily.
Fuck how she wanted to wipe that smirk off his face and just kiss him.
“You know the one. She has straight brown hair, kind of looks like you but looks posher if you catch my drift.” He continued spouting on.
“Are you on about Astoria?” She finally guessed, remembering an earlier conversation that she and Astoria had about the gentleman standing in front of her.
The two had gone to the same private school, she was in the year below but her sister was in Draco’s year. And their parents kept trying to set them up with each other but Draco outright refused anyone that his parents suggested as a girlfriend. She had claimed that’s why all his relationships had ended poorly. She had told Hermione that she was flitting between relationships, wanting to stay open just in case Draco changed his mind.
“That’s the one!” He cheered, “honestly you are a lifesaver.” He smiled at her, pushing his hand nervously through his hair.
“Now that the guessing game is finished, what can I do for you today Draco?” She returned his smile, the inside of her jumping and cheering like a performing monkey.
WE ARE A LIFESAVER!
HE CALLED US A FUCKING LIFESAVER!
HE MAY AS WELL HAVE JUST OUTRIGHT ASKED US TO HAVE HIS BABIES AND JUST GET MARRIED RIGHT ON THAT SPOT.
“I was just picking up a pre-order that my mother had put in. She got a letter to say that it was ready for pick up.” He continued smiling at her, staring into her amber eyes, trying to read her more clearly. She didn’t notice the intense stare as she continued smiling back at him.
“Of course, that would be Narcissa Malfoy, right?” She already knew the answer because of course, she knew his mother was Narcissa Malfoy. It just so happened that there weren’t many Malfoys running around picking up pre-orders for their mother. Instead of giving her an answer, he just nodded as he looked over all of the small trinkets on the till.
September 11th, 1999
Hermione stood waiting in the long line at her favourite local coffee shop, growing more and more worried that she was going to be late for work even though she had calculated the amount of time she had before she had to travel into work. She hummed in her head, singing to herself quietly. She counted the number of people in front of her and tried calculating what they would order.
Well, that guy looks like he either drinks just straight-up black coffee or he enjoys pumped up hipster coffee drinks that are just basically pumped up full of sugar. Or perhaps he is getting a whole order for himself and his coworkers, he is wearing a suit which would indicate that he is a businessman.
And then those two teenage girls probably are the type that will say “don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee.” But then will just go ahead and straight up just order a caramel foam iced coffee thing that has hardly any coffee in it.
And then there was a mother carrying her newborn baby, she clearly just wanted to spend some quality time with her newborn baby. That woman needs coffee. She can stay in the queue, she should be at the front, to be honest. She definitely needs coffee because babies can be stressful, everyone knows that. Perhaps, she was meeting her friends, who were perhaps meeting the baby for the first time, that interaction would be cute.
HERMIONE FOR FUCK SAKE. CONCENTRATE ON WHAT WE WANT TO ORDER AND THEN FOCUS ON THE FACT THAT WE ARE GOING TO WORK.
STOP THINKING ABOUT RANDOM PEOPLE’S COFFEE ORDERS.
COME ON HERMIONE.
WHAT.
ARE.
WE.
ORDERING?
RIGHT, GRANGER, OKAY.
WE ARE GOING TO ORDER EITHER AN ICED COFFEE BECAUSE IT IS USUALLY EASIER TO CARRIER BUT THEY DO DO AN AMAZING HOT CHOCOLATE.
OOOO look there’s Draco.
WHAT?
“Good morning, Granger.” Draco smiled as he walked past her, lightly grabbing her arm and hitching his head towards the exit.
She follows him towards the exit of the coffee shop and they step onto the pavement, out of the way of other members of the public. Hermione looked at him awkwardly, utter confusion written over her face.
“Good morning, Draco?” Hermione uttered as she stared at him, then noticed the two takeaway coffee cups in his hands.
One, why has he ordered two coffees? Did he order me one?
Two, if one of these coffees is for me then how the fuck did he know what my coffee order was?
“Theo may have let slip this morning what your coffee order was. He and Potter also told me what your favourite coffee shop was.” He smiled at her, handing over the second coffee cup to her. She smiled at her as she lifted the cup to her lips, taking a long sip, realising that it was actually perfect.
DAMN IT.
“Thank you, but what else have Theo and Harry let slip about my life?” She asked, sort of angry that Theo and Harry were still playing matchmakers but also happy that Theo and Harry were still playing matchmakers.
“Nothing else but I’m sure they will still let slip things about you. I don’t think either of them knows what subtly is.” Draco sipped at his coffee order, smiling at her. “Anyway, should let you get to work.” He continued before nodding his head at her, starting to walk in the opposite direction that Hermione would be heading. She built up the courage
COME ON HERMIONE JUST ASK HIM, YOU IDIOT.
AHHHHHHHHHHH.
She turned towards him, “Draco.” She called out to him.
“Yeah?” He stopped, turning back towards her.
“Would you like to come to my birthday party next week? Just a small gathering with some friends, Harry and Theo will be there.” She smiled, hoping and praying to the gods that he would either say yes and end how awkward this was or just say no and she could run away.
“I’d like that very much, thank you for the invitation, Granger.” He smiled at her, “I’ll get your address from Potter and Theo!” He winked at her before turning away and continuing his walk away from her.
September 19th, 1999
Hermione sat in front of her full-length mirror, staring back at her reflection. She had promised herself that she would be dressed and ready at this point in the early afternoon/evening, but looking at herself now she knew that that was a difficult promise to reach. Hopefully Ginny would be willing to help her because Hermione just felt useless right now.
Fuck sake.
Everything just needs to be perfect.
Can’t have Draco thinking that I am some sort of unprepared idiot.
“Ginny?” Hermione shouted out to her flatmate, slightly pushing the bedroom door ajar.
Just as Hermione was about to shout for Ginny a second time, she suddenly appeared in the doorframe.
Almost appearing out of basically nowhere.
“Hermione, why aren’t you ready? Guests are going to be arriving in less than fifteen minutes!” Ginny exclaimed as she stared at Hermione, who was still wearing the towel, which was from the shower that Hermione had finished having almost four hours ago.
“I need your help, please, Gin.” Hermione practically begged her best friend. “You know how useless I am at dressing up for these things.” She panicked, putting on her best puppy dog eyes as she looked up at Ginny.
“Fine. I’ll help you.” Ginny sighed heavily, rolling her eyes before stepping into Hermione’s bedroom properly. “If I am going to help you then you need to go and get the green dress on,” Ginny told Hermione sternly as she closed the bedroom door.
Hermione sighed as she stood up from the floor, walking over to her wardrobe. She glanced through all of her clothes, trying to avoid the dreaded green dress. She troubled a glance over at Ginny, who was waiting for the dress to be pulled out.
“You’re deadly serious about the green dress, aren’t you?” Hermione painfully asked Ginny as she looked back towards the wardrobe.
Please say no.
Please.
PLEASE.
JUST.
SAY.
NO.
I’ll just wear some denim jeans and a fancy shirt. That should be alright, right?
“Yes, I am deadly serious about the fucking green dress.” Ginny strictly told her. Hermione sighed angrily before grabbing the coathanger that the dress was hanging off. She showed the dress to Ginny before sitting back in front of the mirror. “Now go get it on and then I’ll think about helping you with your hair and your makeup.” Ginny continued before she pulled Hermione back up before pushing Hermione towards the divider she had in her bedroom.
Hermione walked behind the divider and started shuffling herself into the dress. Hermione started overthinking about impressing all of her friends, this is one of the first times they were properly hosting in this flat. More importantly, Hermione was worried about impressing Draco.
“Hermione Jean Granger, stop overthinking. I can practically hear your brain overheating from over here. Now, hurry up and get your pretty arse out here and show me the dress of his dreams.” Ginny giggled at her last comment. “Also I can hear you rolling your eyes at me Hermione. Now get your butt out here before I come to get you myself.” Ginny responded.
Hermione backed herself out from the divider, the back of the dress unzipped as she couldn’t reach. She waited for Ginny to walk over and help her zip it up. Hermione felt the shock of Ginny’s cold hands touch her skin as she reached for the zip.
“Ginny, why and how are your hands so cold?” Hermione screeched.
Ginny didn’t answer as she sat Hermione down at the vanity table. Ginny grabbed onto Hermione’s makeup bag, digging through the bag. She angrily sighed, and suddenly left the bedroom.
Several moments later, Ginny walked back into Hermione’s bedroom, carrying her entire makeup collection and all of the equipment she would possibly need to use to tackle Hermione’s hair.
After over twenty minutes, Ginny left Hermione alone to finish off the final touches to her makeup as Ginny went off to welcome the first few guests who had started arriving. Her movements stopped dead at the sound of his voice. Draco was here. He was here already?
Oh fuck.
Panic.
Wait- no don’t start panicking you, idiot.
DON’T PANIC.
JUST BREATHE, HERMIONE.
GINNY BASICALLY KNOWS YOU LIKE HIM SO THAT’S ANOTHER FUCKING MATCHMAKER THROWN INTO THE MESS.
SHIT.
P
A
N
I
C
“Granger?” His voice got closer to her as he knocked on her bedroom door, “Weasley said that you were still in here, you alright?” He questioned as he pressed on the door, it slightly falling open.
“I’ll be out in just a minute!” She screeched back far too quickly. She heard his feet step away from the door and back away down the corridor, hopefully joining back in with the party.
She stared at herself in the mirror, glaring at the green dress that she’d worn once and swore that she would never wear it again but goddamn Ginny Weasley had made her wear it and wasn’t going to back down. She stared at her long legs, the heels she had in the back of her wardrobe helped to exaggerate her legs.
She actually looked quite pretty.
She took a deep breath, slightly meditating to control herself before she stepped away from the full-length mirror.
Hermione took another deep breath as she left her bedroom, leaving the door slightly ajar in case she needed to escape her birthday party randomly. She could hear the music and conversations grow louder as Hermione reached the living room joint with the kitchen.
She spotted Ginny sitting on the sofa conversing with Harry and Theo, clearly talking about sports because of Theo’s uncomfortable face and looking like he would rather be anywhere but there.
She spotted Draco standing against the doorframe of the door that led out to their small balcony in a conversation with his flatmate and best friend, Blaise. Another one of his friends who had gone to private school with him.
The knock on the door stole Hermione’s attention away from smiling back to Draco as he had quickly spotted her entering the party. Hermione walked over to their front door and opened it, welcoming in their final expected guests: Pansy and her boyfriend, Neville, and Charlie and his new boyfriend, Marcus.
“Hermione! You look dazzling, glad that you’ve finally found an opportunity to get out the dress!” Pansy exclaimed excitedly as she burst into the flat, grabbing Hermione into a tight, warm hug. She pulled out of the hug, handing Hermione a wine bottle-shaped wrapped present as she walked properly into the flat. Hermione turned to watch her gun straight over to Ginny, Harry and Theo.
“Hermione, happy birthday!” She turned back around to greet Neville. She smiled at him as they hugged lovingly. “Here’s a little something from me and Pansy, but she then insisted on buying you some fancy wine as well.” Neville smiled as he passed over the present bag to Hermione.
He smiled bigger one more time at Hermione before walking over to where Pansy was forcing her way onto the sofa between Harry and Theo. Hermione could hear Theo and Pansy practically screaming about something fashion related. She smirked at the sight of Harry rolling his eyes.
Closely behind Neville, walked in Charlie Weasley and his recently new boyfriend, Marcus Flint. Funnily enough, Marcus had also gone to school with the other private school kids but was a couple of years older than them, but he seemed practically praised by all of Draco’s friends. Hermione had yet to properly meet the boyfriend but she remembered hearing loads about him from Charlie after their first date. Hermione thought to herself, as long as Charlie is happy then that makes me happy. But I hope Marcus knows that if he ever hurts him then he has to answer to a lot of fucking people, including her.
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It was later in the evening, the party now in full swing. The majority of their guests were tipsy and swaying along to the music. Hermione stood in the doorway of the balcony door, watching all of her different friends interact with each other, some interacting for the first time and getting along swimmingly.
She smiled over at Ginny as she mouthed, “are you feeling okay?” Ginny checked in with Hermione constantly throughout the night as she knew how overwhelming parties could get at times for Hermione. Hermione would have rather spent her birthday cuddled up on the sofa with a coffee and Pride and Prejudice but Ginny wouldn’t let her.
Hermione turned around, clutching her half-full wine glass and sat on the chair on the flat balcony, soaking in the atmosphere of music and London at night. The balcony door closed quietly behind a figure. She turned around, looking up to come face to face with Draco who had seemed to be avoiding her all night. In reality, she was sort of avoiding him.
“This seat taken?” He asked, pointing to the other white balcony chair. She shook her head and he instantly sat down, placing his glass of whiskey down onto the table.
Hermione sipped at her wine, watching Draco. He hadn’t noticed her watching him yet but her thoughts told her otherwise.
HERMIONE YOU ARE BEING SO OBVIOUS.
LEARN WHAT SUBTLY MEANS.
He can probably feel the heat of your eyes on him because YOU ARE BASICALLY UNDRESSING HIM
HERMIONE
LISTEN TO YOURSELF FOR ONCE PLEASE
JUST STOP WATCHING HIM LIKE SOME CREEP
TALK TO HIM
OH GOD DOES HE KNOW WE ARE STUTTERING ON SOMETHING TO SAY?
OH MY GOD, WHAT IF HE CAN FUCKING READ WHAT OUR MIND IS THINKING.
HERMIONE-!
NOW WAS THE WORST TIME TO THINK OF HIM PUSHING YOU INTO YOUR BED AND FUCKING YOU INTO OBLIVION.
HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER!
DIRTY THOUGHTS?! RIGHT NOW?
NOT WHEN HE COULD BE POTENTIALLY READING OUR MIND LIKE SOME WIZARD.
━━━━━━━━━
Hermione spent the rest of her party conversing with Draco. He seemed slightly pissed off that his best friend had left him quite early on in the night to go off and start talking with Ginny. Hermione was shocked to learn that Blaise and Ginny had been talking in secret with each other and had hit it off with each other. Later in the night, before the night ended, Hermione had noticed Ginny practically sitting on Blaise’s lap, trying to look into his eyes and determine the colour of them.
October 31st, 1999
Hermione kept covering herself up with her arms as they walked towards Draco and Blaise’s central London flat.
“Would you stop doing that!” Ginny slapped Hermione’s arm away from her stomach. “Stop it, you look fine, Hermione.” Ginny scolded her as they continued walking, their heels clacking on their pavement. The sounds of busy bars and clubs are full to the brim on this Halloween evening.
“I feel stupid,” Hermione admitted as they got closer to Blaise and Draco’s flat. “Also, yours is clearly a couples costume with Blaise.” Hermione accused, as Ginny slowed down to walk at Hermione’s slow pace.
“Maybe it is or maybe it isn’t,” Ginny smirked as she snaked her arm with Hermione’s.
Ginny was in an all-white short dress, with angel wings and a golden halo. It was so clear to anyone and everyone that Ginny was an angel. And if Hermione had any knowledge of couple Halloween costumes then Blaise was clearly going to be a devil. They had planned this all out. It slightly annoyed Hermione that Ginny had decided to keep the secret of her relationship with Blaise away from her.
The two girls reach Draco and Blaise’s flat, dinging the bell as they reach up to Charlie and Marcus, both dressed up as a dragon and a dragon handler. Hermione supposed this could be seen as something quite kinky but she assumed that hopefully, that wasn’t the aim of what they wanted to come across.
“Nice costume!” Ginny complimented her brother and his boyfriend as they all climbed into the lift together. “Wait, are those my denim shorts?” She exclaimed as she noticed the familiarity of the shorts that Charlie was wearing to look like a dragon handler. Marcus covered his mouth to hide his laugh as Ginny looked like she was about to kill Charlie.
“Well, mum was helping me and said that you wouldn’t mind me borrowing these. You’d also left them at the house, so what do you expect when you leave all of your things around the house!” Charlie responded. The Weasley house, otherwise known by most as the ‘Burrow’, always had people coming and going constantly. That house was always busy and if it was quiet then there was probably something wrong with it.
The lift dinged as they reached the correct floor for the flat. Charlie and Marcus stepped out together firstly, closely followed by Ginny who then grabbed onto Hermione’s arm after noticing she wouldn’t move. Ginny pulled Hermione out of the lift and practically dragged her down the corridor towards the flat front door. The music was really loud that the walls were basically making the walls bounce.
The door was already ajar for everyone to enter without Draco or Blaise having to dive away from the party to welcome guests and it would have meant that they would have had to constantly be listening out to the doorbell. Ginny held onto Hermione’s hand as they walked into the flat.
DAMN IT GINNY.
This party was way busier than Hermione’s birthday party the other week.
Maybe if she just got Ginny distracted with Blaise then she could just slip out and basically run back to her flat.
Avoid the party.
Avoid Draco.
Avoid basically everyone and everything.
As if on cue, Ginny gripped onto her hand tighter as if reading Hermione’s thoughts about wanting to already escape the party. Ginny shot her a look as she spotted Blaise from across the room. Shooting Hermione another look which read, “just stay here and socialise with people. Everything is going to be fine and you look great.”
FUCKKKKKK ONE LOOK FROM GINNY AND HERMIONE KNEW EVERYTHING THAT SHE WANTED TO SAY.
Taking in a deep breath, Hermione walked over to the drinks table. The selection was huge and luckily included alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Picking up a shot glass of vodka, she took it instantly, discovering that she definitely needed some sort of liquid courage if she was going to survive the whole night. She picked up a cocktail, which from sight she presumed was a sex on the beach. With her cocktail glass in hand, she walked away from the drinks table and decided to walk around the party, hoping to find some familiar faces.
Over in the corner, dancing with each other was Charlie and Marcus. Surprisingly, Marcus’s face makeup that featured scales and other features to make him look like a dragon was still intact and had come sweating off. Perhaps that would change by the end of the night.
She noticed Blaise and Ginny stood together. He was whispering something romantic into her ear because she would not stop giggling to herself. Like Hermione had predicted it, it was a couple’s costume. Blaise was a ‘sexy’ devil and Ginny was, of course, a ‘sexy’ angel.
As Hermione continued making her rounds she caught the costumes of Pansy and Neville, who were standing quietly in the corner just talking to each other. Pansy had come as a nondescript flower, including the pot being represented by her brown boots. Neville had come as a tree, it looked more like a pantomime costume but nevertheless, Hermione nodded at them, smiling. They look cute. She thought to herself as she sipped on her third cocktail, slowly starting to feel the effects of the alcohol.
Moving around to back where she started, she discovered that Theo and Harry had joined onto the makeshift dance floor. Harry had come as some sort of Football player, don’t ask Hermione for specifics because she had no clue. And Theo just looked like he was wearing some nice, tailor-made suit but looking closer she realised that the suit sparkled and when he turned around, he was wearing makeup to make him look like a skeleton. He look really stylish, he really was showing everyone up and making everyone look stupid and ugly.
Hermione walked back to the drinks table, looking for another refill of her sex on the beach cocktail, and was only now properly listening to the song choice that had suddenly started playing. She instantly recognised the song, it fit her costume for fuck sake, she was going to kill Ginny for making her do this. She knew something that Hermione didn’t. Hermione turned around just as the lyrics started picking up and there he stood.
Dressed in black jeans and a simple black top, looking closer at him she noticed the classic ‘T-Birds’ leather jacket hanging off his shoulder. His hair was slicked back and he was a spitting image of Danny Zucko.
Hermione looked down at her outfit. Sandy’s outfit from the end of the film. The skinny leather pants that historically Olivia Newton-John was sewn into and then an off the shoulder blacktop. Ginny had helped Hermione with perfecting the hair.
Fucking Ginny and Blaise had set them up and put them in a fucking couple’s costume.
FUCKKKKKKKKKK!
HERMIONE, A LITTLE REMINDER.
BE CAREFUL WHO YOU TELL WHEN YOU ADMIT YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON SOMEONE.
Draco walked over to her, smirking and just seemed to ooze sex appeal.
UUUUUUUUH WHAT THE FUCK DID SHE JUST THINK?!
━━━━━━━━━
Later on in the evening, Hermione was sitting alone in the kitchen. The music was still thumping through the flat and everyone seemed to be having fun, she just needed a few minutes to herself. Everything had become too much all of a sudden and she excused herself away to the kitchen. She sipped on her water as a tap on her shoulder took her away from her thoughts.
“Happy Halloween, Sandy!” She could practically hear the smirk rolling off his tongue as suddenly something warm was dropped onto her shoulders. Hermione looked to the culprit, already knowing who it was, and noticed that he had dropped his ‘T-Birds’ leather jacket onto her shoulders. “You looked cold and lonely in here, is this seat taken?” Draco asked, not waiting for an answer before he instantly sat down next to her.
“Nice costume,” she drunkenly giggled as she properly pulled back and looked at his costume fully. “Did Blaise give you the idea or something?” She continued to ask him, awkwardly hoping that he would just ignore everything and possibly just walk back into the main part of the party.
“Blaise did help me with the idea.” He smiled at her. He reached up and pushed a stray curl behind her ear.
He leaned in. Neither of them was clearly thinking clearly because Hermione also leaned in. They met in the middle and kissed. Electricity buzzed through them as their lips connected.
I REALLY LOVE YOU. Hermione’s thoughts screamed out loud.
Suddenly it was over before it had even begun because Draco pulled away and rushed away from Hermione. He disappeared without uttering another word to Hermione. She tried to watch for him to see where he had gone but she couldn’t see any more of him.
Before she knew what was fully going on, Hermione pulled herself away from the kitchen and found Ginny. Once she had grabbed onto Ginny’s arm, she was pulling her out of the flat and leaving the Halloween party. Hermione practically was running back to their flat, she needed to get away now!
HERMIONE GRANGER'S DIARY
December 25th, 1999
I AM GOING TO SCREAM!
SOMEONE KILL ME NOW.
I
WANT
TO
ACTUALLY
DIE
ANOTHER FUCKING DRUNKEN KISS
UNDER THE MISTLETOE AS WELL
FUCKING
ROMANTIC
AS
HELL
IS THIS MY YEAR OF JUST FUCKING DRUNKEN KISSES FROM HIM AND THEN HE JUST RUNS AWAY AGAIN
He promised me that he would stop running away from all of this stuff. But I suppose you can't be angry when he was sober when he said that and we were both heavily under the influence when we decided to kiss again.
The electricity was there again.
The last time that we bloody kissed was when we were both dressed as Sandy and Danny from Grease, we were wearing a clear couple's costume even though we weren't a couple.
I will never accept Ginny's apology for purposely setting up the couple's costume with Draco and herself.
December 31st, 1999
HAPPY NEW YEARS DIARY
AND I MAY OR MAY NOT BE SLIGHTLY DRUNKS
I WANT TO CRY AND PLEASE JUST HELP
SO REMEMBER HOW I COMPLAINS ABOUT CHRISTMAS DAY AND DRACO DRUNK KISSING ME, IT HAPPENED AGAIN
I WANT TO CRY
IT'S TECHNICALLY 2000 BUT SHUSHHHHHHH
WE KISSED AT MIDNIGHT
IT WAS REALLY FUCKED ROMANTIC
AGAIN THERE WAS ELECTRICITY
AHHH I REALLY LIKE HIM
June 5th, 2001
RIGHT IT'S GINNY TAKING OVER HERMIONE'S DIARY!
I want to force something to happen between the two of them.
They need to be a thing.
They can literally be described as idiots in love.
They both clearly are in love with each other and won't do anything about it.
GINNY STOP WRITING IN MY DIARY.
RIGHT HERMIONE IS BACK.
But yes, so it is Draco's birthday today and we may have kissed again.
It keeps happening and I want to cry.
I may or may not love him.
HELP ME.
Ginny is going to do something drastic if something doesn't happen between us.
August 19th, 2002
DRACO AND HERMIONE ARE STILL NOT TOGETHER.
GINNY-!!! STOP STEALING MY FUCKING DIARY.
But yes, not saying much but this summer party has been fun but we are still not together.
This summer party has been fun.
It was thrown at Malfoy's parent's manor but they luckily weren't home. Even though they're all adults.
December 25th, 2003
DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY ASKED ME OUT.
WE WERE STOOD UNDER THE MISTLETOE AND DID IT IN FRONT OF MY PARENTS
HE
ASKED
ME
OUT
UNDER
THE
MISTLETOE
AND
DID
IT
IN
FRONT
OF
MUM
AND
DAD
I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO SAY EXCEPT THAT I AM SO HAPPY
WE ARE TOGETHER
WE
ARE
FINALLY
TOGETHER
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
February 14th, 2005
Valentine's day with Draco and he was working.
So I made a decision to go visit Draco in his office.
And I cooked him his favourite dinner and took it with me to his office.
We may have done things in the office but I will not be telling you diary.
BUT YOU CAN PROBABLY FIGURE IT OUT
September 19th, 2006
He took me to Paris for my birthday!
I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS MAN
I
LOVE
HIM
SO
MUCH
December 25th, 2007
I AM ENGAGED.
LET ME REPEAT THAT FOR A MOMENT
I
AM
ENGAGED
I
AM
GOING
TO
BE
THE
FUTURE
MRS
DRACO
LUCIUS
MALFOY
October 3rd, 2009
A heavy knock burst Hermione away from her reading. Her numerous rereads of her favourite book, Pride and Prejudice.
It was her comfort book and she wanted comfort right now, what with Draco still away with work.
She knew in the back of her mind that she wasn’t supposed to be expecting any guests, and of course, Draco wouldn’t have needed to know at the day, he had his own bloody key to the place.
Technically this place was his flat. He always stated and informed her that “actually it was now their flat.
But, also, Draco wasn’t supposed to be back yet. He had promised her he would be back before Halloween but then added that it would be the week of Halloween as things were pretty serious with work.
Hermione stood up from one of her favourite leather wingback chairs in the library, clutching onto her book tightly.
Why was she feeling nervous all of a sudden?
Her stomach turned and knotted itself together, squeezing tightly as she walked out of the library. Her stomach continued squeezing tighter with every step she took.
Panic.
Hermione started slowly walking down the stairs, wanting to run away from the door as she slowly opened it. Dread bubbling and filling more and more of her stomach. Her stomach continued to twist, squeezing tighter.
Panic.
Panic.
Opening the door slowly, Hermione peeked her head around the door.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
She insanity spotted Blaise, but there was no Ginny with him.
Strange.
He was standing there in his usual funky dress shirt and his smart dress trousers.
No Ginny standing with him? That was the first sign that something was wrong.
The second sign that something was wrong was that Blaise had very bloodshot eyes. He had been crying.
Why had he been crying?
What’s happened?
What-?
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
“Granger, it’s- it’s-” Blaise started to stutter. His voice broke as he tried so hard to hold everything together and hold back his tears. She could tell that he almost broke down just at the sight of her. “It’s Draco…” He finally got out before his voice trailed off into nothing.
Hermione felt her world slowly collapse around her.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
“He was in a freak accident. He- he doesn’t remember. He doesn’t remember anyone, no one except his parents. The doctors are assessing him and everything right at this moment.” Blaise stuttered out. Hermione’s knees buckled underneath her but she clutched onto the door frame to remain standing. “Oh, Granger, I am so sorry.” He hugged her close, holding her up so that neither of them would collapse onto the floor.
━━━━━━━━━
Hermione ran into the hospital. She looks at the different directions to all of the different wards there are, the panic rising further up her body.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Hermione could hear Blaise run into the hospital behind her. He already sounded out of breath but she needed him to get it together. She needed Blaise to be able to keep up with her because she wasn’t going to be stopping until she reached Draco. She wouldn’t be stopping until Draco was back in her arms again and she knew that he was safe.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Hermione runs through the corridors of the hospital, panic was continuing to build in her body. She wanted to stop and take a breath. She felt like a panic attack was going to happen at any point if she didn’t find Draco right at that moment. She needed Blaise to keep up.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
“Granger, the other way!” She heard Blaise shouting behind her as she started running down a corridor. “Granger, this way!” He shouted again.
She stopped and ran back towards him and ran in the direction that he told her to go in. Hermione continued running, faster than she had ever run before in her life.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Hermione reached the correct ward, spotting Narcissa and Lucius consoling each other outside of the private room that Hermione could only assume was Draco’s private room, of course, his parents had demanded a private room for their son . She heard Blaise catch up behind her as her thoughts took hold of her panic.
Why hadn’t Lucius or Narcissa rang Hermione to inform her of the news on Draco?
Hermione notices Lucius whispering something to Narcissa before he walks over to Blaise and Hermione. Narcissa walks slowly behind her husband and quickly grabs the attention of Blaise, were they trying to distract her or something? What was going on and why hadn’t Hermione been able to see Draco yet? Distracted by Narcissa and Blaise, Hermione didn’t notice Lucius grabbing her arm until he was pulling her out of the hospital ward, and pulling her further away from Draco. He was basically dragging her out into the donation funded hospital garden.
“Miss Granger, a word, please,” Lucius stated as he sat down onto one of the benches, patting the spot next to him. Hermione hesitated at first but then just decided to accept the offer and sat down next to him.
“How is he? What have the doctors said? Can I go and see my fiancé yet?” Hermione burst out before she had even properly sat down. She could still feel the panic bubbling up in her chest. The panic was starting to hurt. It was as if her body knew that something was wrong and that something bad was going to happen.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
“Miss Granger, please, take a breath. My son is fine but the doctors are still performing tests on him. No one has been able to see him since he arrived at the hospital. When that time comes, Cissa and I will be the first to see him. His fiancée will then be next.” He informed Hermione, the excitement of being second on the list covered her face. Lucius looked up at her and realised the utter excitement on her face, he quickly shot her off the high horse. “Then his close friends like Mr Zabini, Mr Nott, and Miss Parkinson. And then, Miss Granger, you are at the bottom of the list.” Lucius finished informing her. She realised the hidden meaning.
“But-”
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
Panic.
“No, Miss Granger. It’s time for a reality check. Draco has a reputation to uphold and it is finally time for him to stop playing around. He has a proper fiancée now. He is engaged now to Astoria Greengrass, so you aren’t needed on the scene anymore, Miss Granger. It means that you can have a fresh start. A proper start. Move to a new place. Move away from London and forget my son.” Lucius informs Hermione, not letting her say anything and just saying everything that he needed to tell her.
Hermione stands up from the bench, grabbing her handbag. She stares down at Lucius Malfoy, tears threatening to burst from the seams. She shakes her head before storming away, running down the hospital corridors and back out of the hospital.
Hermione runs down the street, running further away from the hospital, and finally, she breaks. Her knees finally buckle beneath her and she falls to the floor, tears bursting out. Hermione curls into a ball in the middle of the pavement, accepting defeat.
February 14th, 2010
She wanted to scream at this blonde man.
Her blonde man.
Scream how she had fought for him.
Scream how she had tried to do anything for him.
She tried to see through all the smoke and dirt to help him.
Bring him back to her.
Her boy.
Her love.
He was her fiancé for crying out loud.
She reached out for him.
Draco come back to me! Please come back to me! She could hear her head shout, screaming out for him, but nothing came out of her mouth.
Silence.
She felt a pull.
Her heart was pulling her forward but something was keeping her back.
Keeping her away from him.
She looked around at the blurring scenery.
She hadn’t realised that she must have stood to run to Draco. Security had been called and was dragging her backwards as she wriggled in the stranger’s grip.
Why were they dragging her away from her fiancé ?
What had she done wrong?
The screaming probably hadn’t helped the situation.
She was dragged through the closing doors.
The last thing she saw was horror, shock and a glimmer of slow recognition flicker over his face.
━━━━━━━━━