House: Gryffindor
Year: 4
Category: Standard
Prompt: Meeting Soulmate
Word Count: 1950
"Well damn," Hermione lamented, watching as her neat sheafs of paper were destroyed as they flew through the air.
She had been in such a rush to a meeting with the Minister that she had not noticed the person she's collided with until it was far too late.
"Just my luck," she mumbled, not surprised at what had become the latest disaster in a week full of them them.
On Monday, her most recent boyfriend, Oliver Wood, had told her that they weren't going to work. Of course he had tried to convince her that his Quidditch schedule was the issue, but somehow Hermione didn't believe that was the case.
On Tuesday, Crookshanks had taken out some hidden vengeance all over her shoe rack, effectively ruining all of her "Suitable for the Office" options. Today she settled for her most conservative pair of "going out" shoes, a pair of black patent So Kates that Ginny had insisted she buy.
Wednesday had been going rather smoothly, until the new intern had knocked a tray of hot coffee all over Hermione's desk. She had been able to recover some of the documents, but refused to hand over blurry pages reeking of coffee to the Minister this afternoon. She'd had to stay until nearly midnight to make sure that she had prepared everything she needed, but she was confident that this would be the one triumph this week.
"Sorry, didn't catch that, did you say something?" A man's smooth voice asked, snapping Hermione out of her thoughts.
She thought that it sounded familiar, but without visual confirmation she supposed it could be any number of men who worked or did business at the Ministry.
"Nothing, it was nothing." Hermione smiled, dismissing any further inquiries into her current state of distress as she stood to collect the papers from the man's outstretched hand. "Thank you for your help."
When Hermione finally met the man's eyes, she felt a jolt of shock run through her body, "Malfoy?" she stammered, wondering what on earth she had done to deserve something like this.
"Hello, Granger." He smiled, looking far to casual for her liking. "It seems that I've caused a fair bit of chaos for you this morning."
"Oh, no worries," she replied, trying to make her voice as nonchalant as she could manage, "it's a shame I have a meeting, so if you'll excuse me." She trailed off, angling her body towards the executive wing so that she could make a quick escape.
"Of course, Hermione," Draco apologized, stepping aside and allowing Hermione to hurry past him.
It did not escape Hermione that the sound of his rather expensive looking dragonhide shoes seemed to be following her across the atrium. She debated trying to look over her shoulder, but couldn't think of a good excuse if he caught her looking.
Instead she decided to pick up her pace, hoping that she might hurry to the lift to the Minister's office and lose him. Now was most certainly not the time for a school reunion, especially not with Draco Malfoy.
She felt herself calm as the even click of Draco's footfalls remained unchanged, and as she reached the carpet of the Hall of Ministers which effectively snuffed out any sound of her own.
She hurried past the portraits of former Ministers, giving uncharacteristically dismissive smiles at their greetings. When she finally made her way to the lift in the middle of the hall, she jabbed her finger at the button impatiently.
"Come on, damn thing. Today is absolutely not the day for this," she whined, not allowing herself to glance down the hall to check for any impending doom.
Finally, the cables of the lift began to move and the elevator car made a slow descent. It took all of Hermione's self control to keep from doing an impatient little wiggle as the grates slowly slid open.
"Hermione! Fancy seeing you here," Percy Weasley drawled, standing in the exact center of the doors, effectively blocking her entrance, "how've you been lately? It's been a while since you've come to dinner at Mum and Dad's."
"Absolutely brilliant, Percy." She smiled, hoping it was more gracious than exasperated. "I'm sorry, but I'm in a bit of a hurry for a meeting upstairs."
"Well then, don't let me stop you!" Percy grinned, awkwardly stepping aside and out of the lift. "Hopefully we'll see you soon, then."
Hermione only smiled, hoping that Percy would pick up on the end of the conversation so that she wouldn't have to seem too rude today. She let out a sigh of relief as he stepped away from the lift, feeling triumphant in her avoidance of Malfoy.
She only realized when she heard his voice call out, that she wasn't safe until the lift was actually in motion, cursing herself for wasting so much time with Percy.
"Hold the lift, Granger."
"Shit," she thought to herself, "it's not as if I can pretend that he wasn't speaking directly to me, and I doubt I can convince him that I didn't hear it."
Letting out a small groan, Hermione reluctantly placed her hand in the open door, and felt herself fill with dread for the impending arrival of Draco Malfoy.
"Thank you, Hermione. I suppose it wouldn't be in good form to keep the Minster waiting, even if it was Rodolphus' fault."
"As if this week could get any worse," Hermione thought, wishing that she could dissolve into vapor before the lift reached its destination.
Without a reply from Hermione, an uncomfortable silence fell over the lift. Hermione willed herself not to break it, she refused to show any weaknesses, given the circumstances.
"Those are some nice shoes, Granger, even if they're out of character for you." Draco smirked, crossing his arms casually.
If not for the sudden dryness of her mouth, Hermione would have had no shortage of biting remarks, but decided a simple eye-roll would be best.
"What, Granger?" Draco chuckled. "I'm giving you an honest compliment. Those are, in fact, nice shoes, and they are, in fact, not what I would have expected from you."
Finally, the lift chimed, and the doors opened into the reception room outside of Kingsley's office. Not wanting to let her carefully constructed facade falter now, Hermione knew she needed to end the conversation with the ball in Draco's court rather than her own.
"Just the type of thing to keep you on your toes then, Malfoy," she whispered as she stepped past him.
"Score one for Hermione," she thought, doing a mental victory dance.
She wasted no time in settling herself into her usual chair, one that was isolated on a small wall that featured nothing but a large window that looked out over London.
Clearly though, Malfoy was hell bent on throwing conventions out the window, as he wandlessly shifted another chair so that it came to rest immediately next to her own.
"Ditto, Granger," he drawled as he peeled off his trenchcoat, revealing an expensive, well-tailored suit.
Hermione felt as if she had been thwacked in the stomach with a tennis racket as she tried to think of mundane things to keep the hot blush from rising any further up her chest.
"How about I take you to dinner after our little meeting, to make up for ruining your files?" he asked, raising a perfectly formed eyebrow.
"How about we go our separate ways and pretend that all of this was a bad fever dream?"
"Oh come on, Granger, everyone has to eat."
"It would be inappropriate for us to have dinner together, especially considering that this is a professional meeting."
"Lucky for us, it's a one time thing, then?"
"What are you trying to do, Malfoy? Turn this disaster into some kind of ridiculous meet-cute?" Hermione asked, allowing a frustrated sigh to escape.
"What in the hell is a meet-cute, Granger?"
"Oh, erm..." Hermione blushed, cursing herself for bringing up something so obviously Muggle. "It's when two characters in a love story meet in some kind of subjectively cute way. It doesn't' really matter though, because we've already met and I can assure you that the conditions were in no way cute."
"Huh."
"Go to Hell, Malfoy."
"How about a reunification-cute, then?"
"I refer back to my previous statement."
"What have you got to lose, Granger? You're sure to get at least a free dinner out of it."
"You sure do know how to stun a woman, don't you, Malfoy?"
"Wouldn't you like to know? Besides, Granger, what if we're actually soulmates and you just haven't realized it yet?"
Hermione couldn't help the dry laugh that punctuated the conversation.
"You mean to suggest to me, Hermione Granger, that you, Draco Malfoy, have figured out that we're secretly soulmates? Fat chance."
"Well, considering that none of the other people I've dated have been my soulmate, who's to say that it isn't you? Fate has never been an easy wench to understand, Granger."
"I cannot bring myself to take you seriously, Malfoy," Hermione scoffed, "you have said nothing to convince me to go to dinner with you, and now you're actually theorizing that there is some minute chance that we're soulmates? This week actually could not get any more ridiculous."
"So, what if I told you that via a secret connection in the Department of Mysteries, I've actually discovered that we are soulmates, what then, dear Granger?"
"Good luck trying to convince me that someone let you, of all people, into the Love Chamber? I think that might be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."
"I'll have you know, Granger, that the Malfoy family has always been one of the biggest supporters of the Department, and generously donates funds to keep it functioning every year. There are certain privileges afforded to families like mine."
"Ha. You would have to put them all to very good use to convince me to date you."
"Try me, Granger." Draco countered with a self-assured smirk
"You'd have to have the best table in the best restaurant and buy the most expensive bottle of wine in the cellar for me to even entertain the idea of going to dinner with you."
"In that case, Granger, I see you dinner at a fancy restaurant, and raise you dinner at my place, prepared by yours truly, at the only table in the house, and complete with the finest bottle of wine ever purchased at auction."
Hermione had to hand it to him, Draco was nothing if not persistent, and damn if he wasn't handsome. He had changed completely since they were in school, which had accounted for Hermione's great discomfort around him. Damn her if she hadn't developed a bit of a crush on Draco Malfoy.
"I will give you one chance to impress me, Draco Malfoy. If this date is anything less than utter perfection, you will never speak to me again."
"Those are stiff conditions, Granger, but perfection is something I can do."
"And so, dearly beloved, that is the story of how I ruined Hermione Granger-Malfoy's day in the desperate hopes that she might notice me." Draco laughed, raising a champagne flute in toast.
"Here's to Draco's desperation!" Blaise Zabini toasted, earning additional jeers from the crowd.
"You really aren't going to respond to that, Draco?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows.
"They can say whatever they want, my dear Granger, I've officially won at life as of two hours ago when you put this ring on my finger." Draco grinned, lacing their fingers together.
"You really are desperate, aren't you." Hermione smirked.
With that, Draco captured her lips with his own, silencing any further teasing from his new wife.