AN- So... If you're all wondering where I was, let me honestly tell you that I was in Hogwarts where there are no computers or internet. If you're wondering where my writing and chapter updates have been, then let me lie and say that I accidentally left all my papers on the table by the girls' dormitories in the Slytherin common room. Whoops. I'm sure a house elf will deliver them to me sometime, but you never know, one of my sneaky housemates might have burned them in the fireplace already.
Hi. I'm Amber and I like making up stories about how my life might have been if the universe had any sense and hadn't made me a lowly muggle, but instead a superior witch.
OH, and let me apologize in advance that this story is somewhat... yeah. It was sort of a minimal effort, let's-get-out-some-inspiration! piece of writing. I hardly spent a day on it. I only read over it once. I barely edited. Please, forgive me for such behavior.
"So," Susan began, barging into Hermione's office unannounced, "Draco Malfoy is back from his vacation."
Hermione rolled her eyes, trying incredibly hard not to jump onto her desk and do a fancy jig. Her heart sounded vaguely like stomping giants in her thudding ears. "Oh, Merlin! Whatever would we have done if he'd been gone for another day or two?" Hermione exaggeratedly stated, trying to cover her tracks. What would Susan, the gossipmonger of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, do if she found out about Hermione's secret love of the young Malfoy? "Surely the entire Ministry would collapse for he truly is the foundation that holds us all-"
"Oh, stop rambling about that nonsense!" Susan exclaimed with a smile, plopping herself down on a seat in front of the desk. It had certainly taken a few months to get used to her coworker's...interesting personality, but somehow Hermione seemed to manage. A large part of her wanted to get Susan reacquainted with Lavender and Parvati seeing as they were practically all parts to a whole. "Draco Malfoy is back and he's looking especially gorgeous sporting his new tan."
"A Malfoy? Tan? I didn't know that was possible," Hermione replied in all seriousness.
"Of course not. He's still as pale as a sheet of paper, but there's no denying that he's sexy. He also claims that he learned advanced palm reading from some super talented, highly acclaimed psychic. Isn't it exciting?"
Anyone who knew Hermione Granger understood her contempt for all the sorts of divination. Palm reading was no exception. Whether the love of her life had learned it or not, the entire thing was a scam. Whoever relied on such ridiculous fortunes were utterly dense. Well, there went part of her respect for Draco.
"Is this what you bothered me for? You came in and interrupted my going through important paperwork to tell me about some useless office gossip?"
"Don't pretend as though you don't completely love him. I see through your ruse." So much for covering her tracks. "I already let him know before he left."
"YOU WHAT?" Hermione shouted accusingly, her eyes wide.
"I just said, 'Hermione has a huge crush on you,'" Susan defended. "It's not as though it's a big deal."
Almost afraid to ask, but needing to know, Hermione whispered, "What did he say?"
"He said, 'Granger has a crush on me?' and he laughed and then walked away."
She felt her heart crack in two. A lump formed in Hermione's throat that made her want to claw at her neck. "He laughed at me?" she forced, trying not to let her voice crack.
"Oh, Mione," Susan realized what she said and stared pityingly at the bushy- haired brunette. "That's - I'm sure that's not - Oh, darling."
Taking a deep breath, Hermione just about pleaded for Susan to just leave her alone for a while. Noting that her coworker was distressed, the gossipmonger left without a fight.
Hermione wasn't mad at Susan for telling Draco. No, that feeling had been completely deflated when she found out that he had laughed at the idea of Hermione liking him. Was she so repulsive? Sure, her hair was still an uncontrollable mess, but did it really constitute such ridicule? Her face wasn't hideous or anything. How could Anthony Goldstein have asked her out if she was so ugly? It made her even more incensed knowing that Hermione had only said no to him because she was in love with Draco.
What hurt the most was that it had been five years since the end of their last Hogwarts year. Draco had proved time and time again that he didn't care about blood purity by redeeming himself to almost all the people he'd made fun of previously. As a matter of fact, the exact moment Draco had apologized to her was the exact moment that she'd fallen in love with him. There was such sincerity in his eyes that it had made her feel like jelly. She thought that that had been the end of him making her feel like rubbish. She thought that he'd have stopped after the war - after he apologized. It almost made her want to cry.
Hermione threw herself into work for hours not breaking her concentration until lunch. It was a good distraction from the aching that her chest was going through. Just thinking about it made her want to cry again. She even considered skipping lunch altogether, but decided against it. Why should she give up her health just because some arsehole didn't think that she was worthy of his interest? Hermione had also resolved to move on. She was going to walk straight up to Anthony Goldstein's table, strike up a conversation which would include much flirting on her part, and see if she could get him to ask her out again by the end of their lunch break.
But of course, as it always is with Hermione, things became more difficult than she had first planned. She'd quickly looked over the cafeteria and tried to spot Anthony's blond head, but had seen a certain Malfoy heir's first. He was utterly surrounded by females, trying to get his attention by pleading to him, "Oh, please, read my palm next!" or "Oh, Draco, your psychic ability is so impressive!" Hermione fought not to gag. Or shed a few tears. And Anthony was sitting at the table next to him.
Hermione groaned in frustration. Was the world against her? But her resolve to move on was still strong. It only strengthened when she heard him tell a dark-haired girl, "You're going to live a long life filled with much attention from your lover." The girl had asked who this lover was with that annoying voice of hers and Draco had answered something that hinted so sickeningly close to that lover being him that Hermione just tried to stop listening. With little success.
But she still marched to where Anthony sat with her head high and, smiling, took the seat beside him.
"Hello, Hermione," he grinned, but it seemed somewhat forced. "What are you doing here?"
"I just wanted to spend some time with you, Anthony. Catch up, and all." Vaguely, she could still hear the conversation coming from behind her. The next girl was asking what her child would look like and the stupid wanker had said that it would probably end up with platinum blond hair and gray eyes. Hermione's smile faltered a bit.
With a grimace, Anthony told Hermione, "I'd love to talk with you as just friends, but it's difficult for me to do that. You see, I just - I like you too much for that, Mione."
Feeling slightly guilty, because Anthony was just a rebound for her, Hermione replied, "I like you too, though."
Behind her, Draco had been giving another ridiculously flirty fortune, but had stopped mid-sentence.
"What happened to that bloke you said you had feelings for already?" Anthony asked her, hope shining in his eyes.
"I thought about, and I figured you're a much better choice. Plus, I'm over him." Such lies you tell, Hermione mentally accused herself.
"Is that so?" the old Ravenclaw grinned.
"It is," she smiled back weakly.
"Well then, Miss Granger, would you like to accompany me to the Ministry's annual charity fundraising dinner? Our presence is mandatory anyway," he suggested, thinking that Hermione would be happy about the offer.
But instead it was what had caused Hermione's will to move on with Anthony to crumble. This wasn't her. She didn't use people and pretend to like them. "Oh, Merlin, I can't do this," Hermione muttered softly. "I'm sorry, Anthony. I have no clue why I'm saying all this. It's not true. I still like the guy as much as ever, despite the fact that he crushed my heart to bits and didn't even give a-" And that was when the flood gates opened.
Her companion looked flustered, but tried his best to comfort the weeping girl in front of him. "Come on, Mione. I don't believe that. And if this guy really doesn't like you, then I don't know what's wrong with him. He must be an idiot."
"I'm not going to argue with his being an idiot," Hermione sniffled and raised her head, recovering from the breakdown. "But he's the idiot that I want to be mine...and he's sitting behind me."
His eyebrows furrowing in confusion, he answered Hermione's statement by saying, "There's no male behind you."
And just as he said, when Hermione looked back, there were only a few straggling girls.
Draco had already left.
When Hermione came back to her office thirty minutes later, still red-eyed from her breakdown, she found Susan once again sitting by her desk, but this time holding a muffin. "It's my apology baked good. I'm sorry for telling Draco about you liking him."
"I guess - It will probably save me a lot of time to stop pining for him now anyway," Hermione assured dejectedly.
"If it makes you feel any better, he came to talk to me about you earlier today. Cornered me and started yelling about-"
"Don't utter another word, Bones," a male voice demanded from outside the door.
Hermione froze. She knew that voice much too well.
"Why, hello there, Draco," Susan greeted. Hermione didn't want to open her mouth. She was afraid that if she did, there would be a lot of yelling on her part. "I wanted to ask you earlier, but you seemed a bit angry with me and also I heard that you were giving some really unlucky fortunes out, but could you read my palm?"
Draco drawled, "You went to Hogwarts with me, right, Bones? What house were you in?"
"Hufflepuff," she replied.
"Well," he began, "then you'll be alone forever."
"But," Susan sputtered, "you haven't even looked at my palm."
"No, but your future is written all over your house."
Hermione was trying to fight a grin. She didn't want to start giggling from something that this man said, but then again, Susan really did need some sort of punishment for ratting Hermione out.
"That's exactly what I meant! You've been giving out awful fortunes since the middle of lunch and this is exactly what I meant!" the old Hufflepuff exclaimed angrily.
"Does that mean you'll be leaving?" Draco asked being perfectly polite, which then actually did cause Susan to stomp out the door.
Glaring, Hermione met Draco's eyes. "That was really mean of you, Malfoy."
"So it's back to Malfoy, is it? You haven't called me that in years," Draco smiled knee-weakeningly.
"Well," Hermione took a deep breath, "you deserve it."
"She had it coming. We both know that you can barely tolerate her."
Hermione walked to her desk and took a seat in her chair, swiveling it around so that she didn't have to look at him. It made her chest hurt too much and her cheeks were undoubtedly as bright red as a tomato from the embarrassment that his presence caused her. "What are you even doing here?"
"Have I done something to make you angry, Hermione?" he asked her, striding over to where she sat and spinning her chair so that she faced him once again.
"You didn't answer my question," she said, looking down at the ground.
"I'm sure you've heard that I learned advanced palm reading while on vacation. Well, I came to offer you my services," he grinned.
"I'm sure you know how I feel about divination already. Go offer it to some other female that you'll doubtless end up flirting with." It was all Hermione could do not to let the bitterness she was feeling spill through, although she was sure that some of it had leaked out.
"But I don't want to. I shooed Susan out because I really want to tell you your fortune. Please?" Draco pouted slightly, making Hermione's heart thud even harder. She was genuinely worried that he might hear.
Hermione bit her lip. "It's totally ridiculous. No, I won't," she refused, wanting desperately for him to go away, but at the same time hoping that he would stay and tell her that her future was just as bright as one of those women in the cafeteria.
"If it's so ridiculous, then why won't you just humor me?"
"Will you leave right afterwards?"
Draco's pout was slowly turning into a smirk. "That depends."
"On what?" demanded Hermione, exasperatedly.
"Give me your hand." Draco took it before she could be bothered to raise it. "This," he traced one of her fingers to the tip lightly and back down again, "means that you'll end up with a handsome English man who works in your Ministry Department." He grinned and then drew a line with straight across her palm. "This means that he has blond hair, striking, gorgeous gray-blue eyes, and amazing teeth." Draco traced another one of her fingers and said, "This means that he'll be approximately 186 centimeters tall." He picked up her thumb and started stroking the pad with his own. "That means he's successful and incredibly rich."
With each prediction, Draco seemed to get closer to Hermione. She had no idea what to do, trapped in her seat with no escape. "Y-you just described Anthony Goldstein."
Draco's jaw clenched. "Since when has Goldstein been rich?" He ran his hand through his hair and took an uneven breath. "What's going on between you and him?"
"Nothing's going on." Hermione looked at her dropped hands.
"I know that it's not nothing. I heard you talking during lunch. I know what you said to him and I know what he said to you!"
She glared, so livid with him that she wanted to scream. "Why do you care?"
Draco looked deeply into her eyes with a slight frown in frustration, taking her hands back again and holding them to his chest. "I do care, though. I couldn't even speak when you said those foul words, 'I like you too, though,' to that fool, Goldstein." He was breathing hard now. "It felt like you punched me again, Granger. Only this time, the impact was multiplied a million fold. I couldn't catch my breath. And then when I thought that it couldn't get worse, you told him that you were over me." Hermione opened her mouth to argue - or rather, lie, but Draco cut her off. "I stormed straight away to that Bones chit. I asked her why, if you liked me as much as she claimed, could you suddenly fall so hard for him?" He said 'him' as though it was the most disgusting word that had ever fallen from his lips.
Hermione tried looking away. Why was he saying this when he had laughed only a week before at the thought of the two of them being together? "I assume Susan was no help?"
Draco nudged her head back up again with his finger on her chin. "She wasn't. But I suddenly needed to convince you that I'm better. You don't need anyone but me." His eyes were sincere, but then again, they had been when he apologized for hurting her for all those years through school as well.
"You laughed at me. At the thought of me."
"What? When?"
"When Susan told you about me...liking you."
"Let's both agree that Susan is far too much trouble for us to handle. We should just stop listening to her altogether, pretend she doesn't exist or something." When Hermione didn't smile, he sighed, "I never meant it like that, I just hadn't thought that it was possible for you to. I bullied you so much during school, it seemed only natural that if you didn't hate me, then you must think quite lowly of me."
Though she hated to sound girly and needy, Hermione couldn't help but to ask, "So you really do like me?"
"More than you can imagine," he answered.
"You flirted with all those girls earlier though," she countered.
"To make you jealous, love."
Setting aside her annoyance at his statement for the moment, she bit her lip and flushed deeply. "You already know, but I kind of," she coughed, clearing her throat. "I like you too."
His eyes had lit up when she said those words, and without warning, Hermione found his lips on hers. They were skilled and demanding at the same time, and hers were only happy to oblige to his will. His scent intoxicated her like nothing had before. She was lost in their kiss. Shocked and so excited that he could feel the same way about her as she did, it only seemed to make the experience even better. But before long, he pulled away. "I like you like this. When you're flustered and you don't know what to say. It makes for a nice change."
"Well, it's your fault! Only you make me like this." That fact only seemed to please Draco more.
"So, were you impressed?"
Hermione flushed. "By your kissing? Um, it was great."
"I actually meant by my advanced palm reading, but I guess I should have clarified." He grinned cheekily.
She rolled her eyes and smacked his arm. "Well in that case, your advanced palm reading was the biggest scam I've ever seen. It's so fake."
"I'll have you know," Draco disputed, "that I went to a place with much psychic power over my vacation to learn it. That's where I met Bernesca the Great, my teacher."
"Now, where was this place you went to?"
"I'll never tell."
Hermione planted a quick kiss on his cheek. "Will you tell now?"
"Hermione, that's not how you ki-" She moved her lips to his, shutting him up.
"And now will you?" she asked, slyly.
"Using your womanly wiles to get me to tell you? That's surprisingly Slytherin." Draco raised his eyebrows. "But I'm completely falling for it."
"So tell me."
"I stayed home at the Manor." At Hermione's open jaw, Draco just smirked. "What? It's not my fault everyone thought I went somewhere exotic to learn some ludicrous fortune-telling sham. And honestly, Bernesca? No one's named that. Plus, you said it yourself. Divination is such a fake."
AN-Well, darlings, how did you like it? Please review and forgive me for not updating my other stories and not editing this one. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review. PLEASE. I beg. It motivates me to write more.