A/N – Welcome to my new, short story. It has 5 chapters, and updates will be fairly quick. Enjoy!
Hermione Granger was sitting in the one of the fanciest wizarding restaurants in Paris, supposedly on a romantic date with a French wizard she'd met through work. Since leaving school six years ago, Hermione had briefly lived in several different countries. Her job was actually with the British Ministry but as part of their international co-operation policy she found herself assigned to different ministries around the world. Sometimes her placements were weeks and other times months, this time her contract was for nine months and she still had another four to go in Paris.
Hermione had met Jean-Paul, the wizard she was having dinner with, a few weeks ago and his persistence in asking her out had broken down her defences and she'd agreed to one date. Now however she was wishing she'd stuck to her guns and refused to date the French man. While Jean-Paul was handsome and charming and was great company, Hermione wasn't exactly enjoying the date. Even sitting in the most romantic restaurant in Paris, with a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower lighting up the Parisian skyline, did little to help Hermione's romantic spirits. Then again she knew from experience that it wasn't her surroundings that were the problem, it was the company. No matter how many men she dated they were never what she wanted, they were never him.
Despite vowing she wouldn't dwell on the past again, Hermione found her mind drifting back to her last year at Hogwarts. Hermione's plans for the year had been to pass her exams with flying colours and fulfil her ambition of being Head Girl, both of which she managed to achieve easily. She also managed to embark on a passionate affair with the Head Boy, Draco Malfoy, which had majorly affected her life for the last six years.
Hermione certainly hadn't meant to start anything with Draco, in fact their first few months of sharing living quarters were fraught with tension and they constantly bickered with one another. Slowly their bickering turned to teasing and flirting as they became more comfortable with each other. They also started to talk to each other in a civil way and struck up a friendship when they discovered they had quite a bit in common.
Hermione still wasn't sure what had happened to spark the change in their relationship, but one evening they were debating the right way to do a difficult Arithmancy problem when things got heated. Before Hermione could register what was happening the homework was being discarded and the pair were making better use of the table. Before Draco, Hermione's sexual experience consisted of one night with a muggle boy back home and that paled in comparison to what she experienced with Draco. To be honest everything since had also been a let-down, she'd never had another lover as good as the blond Slytherin.
That one time soon became the first of many encounters between the pair. The entire relationship was conducted in the privacy of the Head Dorms and neither her friends nor his knew what went on behind closed doors. They all knew they had buried the hatchet and got along fine, they just didn't know they couldn't keep their hands off each other and spent as much time as they could having sex.
In amongst all the sex, the pair continued to talk to one another and Hermione ended up getting a real insight in Draco's life. Back then he knew he was heading into the family business, but Hermione got the impression he resented his father for not giving him an option. Another career path just wasn't open to Draco, he was expected to join Lucius in the family business and one day take over. Hermione knew that since school he'd done just that, he went to work with Lucius and a year ago he'd taken the reins completely when Lucius retired.
Despite all their talking, one thing they never discussed was their relationship. Hermione got the distinct impression that sleeping with her was a way in which Draco could silently rebel against his father and what was expected of him. Draco made no secret of the fact Lucius wouldn't approve of their relationship, and from what Hermione saw he seemed to gain some pleasure from doing something his father wouldn't like. For her part, Hermione was finally doing something for herself and putting what she wanted before common sense. There was also a small part on her that got off on the fact she was sleeping with the bad boy.
It wasn't until after they'd left school that Hermione realised she was in love with Draco. Not having him around every day was torture and Hermione missed him like crazy. However, she was still convinced that Draco had just been having a bit of fun in their last year, so she never approached him and told him of her feelings. Instead she accepted the job in the Department on International Co-operation and within six months of leaving Hogwarts she was heading for her first posting in Brazil.
Since then Hermione had returned to Britain sporadically. She had originally kept a flat in London, but since she'd rarely used it she sold it and now when she was home she stayed with either Harry or Ron. Hermione always went home in between postings and she always returned for special occasions, such as Harry and Ginny's wedding. When she was at home she never actually saw Draco in person but he was always in the papers, usually pictured with various beautiful witches.
As Draco had so clearly moved on Hermione tried to do the same. Over the years she had actually met a few guys she really liked, but they just weren't Draco and no matter how hard she tried not to, she ended up comparing them to him and they just didn't measure up. None of her relationships had lasted past a few weeks, and Hermione already knew that this date with Jean-Paul would be their last.
"You're really not having fun, are you?" Jean-Paul remarked, drawing Hermione's attention back to the present.
"I'm sorry, Jean-Paul." Hermione sighed. "It's not you, you're a really nice man."
"But I'm not who you want." Jean-Paul rightly guessed. "Whoever this other guy is, I hope he realises how lucky he is to have a lovely witch like you."
"It's too late." Hermione replied. "We had our chance years ago, and we walked away."
"It's never too late for love." Jean-Paul said. "Unless of course, he's married. He's not, is he?"
"No, he's not married." Hermione answered.
"Is he involved with someone else?" Jean-Paul questioned.
"Not as far as I know." Hermione said.
"Then it's not too late." Jean-Paul told Hermione. "If you really want him Hermione, go and get him. What's the worst that could happen?"
"He could reject me." Hermione retorted.
"At least then you'd have your answer." Jean-Paul replied. "If he's not interested then you'll know and you can begin to move on. Without closure you'll always be wondering what if."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully as she gazed out of the window, not really taking in the spectacular sight of Paris. Jean-Paul made perfect sense, if she was ever going to move on she needed to speak to Draco. The question was, could she face her past knowing she could be rejected and heartbroken?
Deciding enough was enough Draco Malfoy disentangled himself from the blonde witch who was currently pawing at him. Standing up he quickly re-buttoned his shirt and zipped up his trousers, which until he stood up he hadn't even realised were open. Chances were Astoria had been having a good bloody grope and he hadn't even noticed.
"What's wrong?" Astoria Greengrass pouted up at Draco, not happy to be stopped.
"I'm not in the mood." Draco replied. "You should go."
"I can get you in the mood." Astoria promised, shrugging her flimsy strap from her dress down her shoulder and revealing the top of her breasts.
"You really can't." Draco sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Just leave, Astoria."
"Are you embarrassed?" Astoria asked as she stood up and walked over to where Draco was now standing.
"What would I be embarrassed about?" Draco questioned with a puzzled look on his face.
"That you can't get an erection." Astoria whispered loudly. "Don't worry, I carry a potion that will help." She added brightly.
Draco wasn't sure whether to be mad that she thought he needed a potion to perform or whether to be curious as to why she carried the potion on the first place. He dreaded to think what sort of wizards she normally dated if they needed a potion to give them a helping hand rising to the occasion.
"I don't need a potion." He said quickly when Astoria grabbed her bag and started to rummage around in to. "I'm just tired, and I have to be up early in the morning to leave for Paris."
"You did say you had a big meeting taking place." Astoria conceded as she stopped her search for the potion. "I guess I should leave and let you get to bed. Maybe we can meet up again when you're back."
"Maybe." Draco replied, having no intention of repeating their evening together.
He'd only agreed to the date in the first place because she was the sister of one of his oldest friends and Daphne had personally asked him to give Astoria a chance. Because Daphne was his friend he'd given her little sister a chance, but one evening with her was enough to ensure he didn't want to continue on with anything. Astoria was the most mind-numbingly boring person he'd ever had the misfortune to spend time with and her only topics of conversation seemed to be herself and fashion, neither of which interested Draco in the slightest.
After finally ridding himself of Astoria, Draco poured himself a large tumbler of firewhisky and headed out onto the balcony for some fresh air. Draco resided in a penthouse in central London, which belonged to the family company. The balcony offered spectacular views of the capital, but Draco didn't even notice as he stood drinking his firewhisky and wishing he could change the past. More than anything he wished he could go back in time and make sure that Hermione knew how he'd felt about her, how he still felt about her.
Way back in seventh year when they'd been having their fling a part of Draco knew it was something more serious than either of them would admit. Feelings however, were not Draco's strong point and any feeling that threatened to overwhelm him, he managed to supress. Throughout seventh year Draco managed to supress his feelings for Hermione and convince himself that what they had was purely sexual. That worked fine until they left school and without Hermione in his life, Draco realised just how much she meant to him.
By the time Draco had plucked up the courage to speak to Hermione, she'd moved on. She'd gotten herself a fancy job travelling the globe, leaving him behind. Taking Hermione's departure as a sign their relationship had just been a bit of fun to her, Draco threw himself into living his own life. As expected he started working at the family company, but instead of settling down with a nice pureblood like his father wanted him to do, Draco decided to remain single.
As part of the Malfoy Corporation he was obliged to attend plenty of social occasions. Available dates were easy to come by and Draco rarely had to take the same witch to a second function. Occasionally these dates turned into a one night stand, but that was as far as Draco ever went. It soon became public knowledge around the wizarding community that Draco Malfoy wasn't the settling down sort.
Sometimes Draco wondered if things would have been easier for him if he'd settled down with a nice pureblood witch his family approved of, but most of the time the idea appalled him. He'd attended functions with almost all of the girls his family would approve of and not one of them captured his interest. Those that didn't bore him senseless immediately, just ended up disappointing him in bed. No matter how many witch's he dated and slept with, he just couldn't find one that made him feel even a fraction of what he'd felt with Hermione. Simply put, no-one measured up to the muggleborn witch he'd lost his heart to six years ago.
