10 DAYS TO FIGHT FOR HIM, 10 MINUTES TO LOSE HIM

A/N: I came with up with another pathetic idea. Well...read and see how pathetic it is. Well, to tell you honestly, I have formulated a plan in my head. Nothing evil :D So it goes like this: Since I finished a story with a number '12' as the most significant number (The Legend of the 12 Letters, I'm inviting you to check it out if you haven't read it), I planned on writing stories with 11, 10, 9...so on. My number eleven story is entitled 11:11 but have only finished the first chapter of it. You know, the wish? I'm still working on it. So, anyway, here's the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own HP and even if I will finish thousands and thousands of Dramione fanfics, I still wouldn't have the title.

Summary: It took her 10 days... 10 long days to realize she didn't want to lose him, the person who showed her the world, to one Pansy Parkinson. But when she went after him, he had left exactly 10 minutes ago.

CHAPTER ONE: THE INVITATION CARD

"If I lay here,
If I just lay here,
Would you lie with me And just forget the world...?
Forget what we're told Before we get too old.
Show me a garden,
That's bursting into life...
Let's waste time Chasing cars Around around heads..."

- start -

It was 6:30 in the evening when Hermione Granger decided to go to the Conference Room in Number 12 Grimmauld Place, the Order's Headquarters and the place she currently called her 'home'. Well, it had actually been her home for 2 years now. Since she left Hogwarts to engage herself to a more mature and realistic world (which meant a world with Voldemort in it and fighting him for dear life), she resided in Harry's late godfather's family home, along with few other members of the Order of the Phoenix.

Harry lived in Grimmauld Place since it was rightfully his. His godfather, Sirius Black, left the huge house in his name. The Weasleys didn't officially transfer residency, although, most of the time they were all there (Mr. & Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Ron, Fred & George, Bill and his wife Fleur, Percy and even Charlie). They rarely went back to the burrow; only to get some important possesions and then they were back to the Headquarters again. Luna Lovegood, an old friend of Hermione, Harry, and Ron at school, stayed with them in Grimmauld Place, too. When his father died during the bloody war, and their little home was devastated, she had nowhere to live and nobody to live with. So, Harry offered her to live with them, since she, then, also became a member of the Order.

But, one person was unexpectedly staying with them under one roof. He was their arch nemesis. He made the trio's lives worst as possible when they were yet at school, learning Magic. Truthfully, they all predicted he was going to be a Death Eater just like his father. They thought he was going to serve the Master his father worshiped until the day he died (during the war). But then, the turn of events surprised them all. One night, he came to his enemy's lair without anything to defend himself, not even his wand, to offer them something of his.

And that something was his loyalty.

He vowed to give all of himself to the Order. He said he was sick of being evil. Said he couldn't stomach his father's Master anymore. Said he was a man of many things...

But he would never wish to be a murderer of innocent people.

Of course, nobody believed him at first. How could they possibly just hug him welcome after everything he'd done in the past? Sure, nothing was near to murder. But it was still something dark...something only people from the dark side could even think of doing. He used to follow orders from the Darkest Wizard of All Times.

But then, he proved where his loyalty lied when he selflessly saved Harry's life. The heroic deed almost stole his own life away from him. He was barely an inch to death. And when he opened his eyes again, he was welcomed without doubts anymore.

He did an excellent job; working as an insider for the Order. He gave them the correct details, told them the right instructions and fought for their side during the war.

After the war, he lost both his parents. Lucius Malfoy was killed, and his mother's fate seemed to meet her husband's as well. He was disappointed, mostly at his father. He was not very sad for losing him, he wasn't much of a father back when he was younger. However, it was always a different story when it came to his mother. He was ruined when she died. She was not evil. She was only forced to murder because she loved her husband with all her heart.

He did not want to go to the Manor again. It held so many memories. So many unwanted memories. So, he was offered a room in the Headquarters by Harry. They weren't close still, but they were companions now. He accepted the help and so he stayed with them all. Them, which included Luna, whom he claimed he couldn't stand being in a talking lane with; Remus, whom he loathed as a Professor before; Mr. Weasley, whom he detested for falling in deep love with everything Muggle; Fred and George, whom he despised for being so bloody brilliant for creating so many appealing joke items, yet passing only 3 subjects at school; Ginny, whom he disfavored for being so damn attractive that his friend, Blaise Zabini, found himself fancying her one day; Mrs. Weasley, whom he got annoyed with most of the time for having such a loud mouth; and most especially, THEM. Harry, Ron and Hermione, herself, whom he extremely disliked for having all the attentions he had wanted for himself.

But that was all in the past. He didn't hate them superlatively, anymore. Not much.

They also get visits from other members of the Order for the constant report-meetings. After the war, one year ago, when the Dark Lord fell to Harry Potter, some Death Eaters escaped and the Ministry of Magic appointed the Order to search for the remaining Death Eaters still roaming free around. The members gathered themselves at least 3 times a week to check for some improvements on their mission.

But now, she wasn't sure the meeting she was summoned for had anything to do about Death Eaters at all. She didn't know what made her feel and think that way...but she really had bad feelings about it.

She opened the door and found the members summoned, already there, settled in their own chairs. Then suddenly, her eyes met Malfoy's in a hard and meaningful stare. They held their gazes for a moment before Harry broke it up by speaking.

"Hermione, good, you're here already." Her best friend smiled at her. She closed the door behind her and walked to her seat, between Harry and Luna. "We've been waiting for you. Malfoy refuses to tell us what he wants to say unless you arrive here."

Hermione glanced at Malfoy in that statement. He was not looking back at her, instead, his eyes were fixed on the table. As if he was contemplating on something very carefully. After a minute or two, he finally raised his head and looked around him. He cleared his throat before going on.

"So, uh, I'm sorry I have disturbed you all." he started apologizing. "I know I called you in such a short notice. Well, I've actually been dying to tell you this certain detail but I've only found the will to speak of it just recently." he explained, wandering his eyes to each member, but suspiciously avoiding her's, Hermione's gaze.

"What is it, Draco?" Remus asked. He leaned forward on the table to show Malfoy he was interested to what he was about to inform them.

Malfoy looked at him, "Lupin, it's nothing about Death Eaters, really." he explained, trying to recede everyone's expectations, or those who were expecting news about the mission.

Hermione creased her forehead, 'I knew it...' she thought.

Lupin and several members frowned in confusion. Then, Ginny raised her hand and spoke. "If this meeting isn't about the Death Eaters or the Order, then why did you summon us?"

"Am I to understand that I was robbed from my dinner for one of your boredom pranks, Malfoy?" Ron asked him, annoyed.

Malfoy rolled his eyes at him. "I'm so sorry for taking you away from all the food, Weasley. But I'm sure if you leave them for a couple of minutes, they won't run away." he snapped in equal annoyance. "Oh, and this is not a boredom prank. I seriously want to tell you something but if you aren't in the mood to listen to me, then you can freely go." he pointed at the door.

Ron reddened in mixed irritation and embarrassment. He snorted before looking away, but he stayed in the room. Malfoy lowered his finger and checked his audiences again. They were all looking at him, waiting for him to spill whatever was the thing he had been dying to say to them to even call for a meeting in desperation.

"So, what's this really about, Draco?" Harry asked. He already used Malfoy's first name as a sign of his continuous showing of gratitude for saving his ass once. But Malfoy didn't call anyone of them by their first names. He still stuck to the last name basis.

Malfoy inhaled and exhaled before looking around again, but still failing to meet Hermione's eye. She had been secretly annoyed at his behavior. Why avoid looking at her? It was like he was not only a few feet away from her.

But she knew what triggered his action. They actually had a big, super misunderstanding months ago and since then, he started distancing from her. It didn't bother her at first, since he couldn't completely avoid her when they were on but one place, 24 hours a day. She was also mad at him, so she was not talking to him. But then, weeks later, he started going out of Grimmauld Place. She wondered where he went everytime, but she never asked anyone for details. But then, one day, she couldn't hide the curiosity and the very slight worry she felt. So, she asked Mr. Weasley and Lupin if they had any idea where he would go to when he left.

"No, we didn't give him special missions, Hermione." Lupin shook his head. "Actually, I'm not sure where he's going every time he leaves, but he made it sure that he was loyal to us. He said, he was meeting some old friend and we should not worry. That friend of his was not a Death Eater."

"Actually," Mr. Weasley spoke. Hermione and Lupin turned to him. He continued, "I strongly believe he's meeting a girl."

Hermione was shocked. "A girl?" she echoed indignantly.

Mr. Weasley nodded. "I know a woman's scent when I smell one. He came home one night, carrying this girly, flowery aroma. And well, I noticed some nail scratches on his back neck, and I can only be sure those are female-made scratches." He shrugged. "Maybe, the boy's only being naughty...he's a teenager after all. And single, on top of that." Mr. Weasley grinned.

But Hermione was livid.

Her thoughts were disturbed when he cleared his throat once again. She stared at him hard, hypnotizing him to look at her. But her attempts clearly all failed.

"What I want to say is that..." he paused again and took a deep breath. He examined his surroundings again, finding them all looking up at him. "Well, maybe none of you noticed that I left Grimmauld Place often."

Hermione snorted. Several heads snapped at her direction but Malfoy ignored her and spoke again. "Every time I leave, I meet this certain person."

Hermione's anger was starting to build up again, though she kept on convincing herself that she was still oblivious to the reason why.

"Who?" Fred and George asked together, genuinely interested. Anyone could tell they were thinking of something mischievous by the looks on their faces.

"An old friend..." Draco replied.

"Do we know him?" Harry asked.

He nodded, "Absolutely." he added, "And it's 'her', actually."

Hermione glared at him.

"Your girlfriend?" Fred mused.

"Well..." Draco trailed off. He, then, finally looked at Hermione and met her death glare. He looked straight into her eyes and answered, "Yes, my girlfriend." he said, softly.

The anger swelling in Hermione's chest was gone. To be replaced by something more powerful. More intense. More uncontrollable. More painful.

"Now, am I to understand that you robbed me off my dinner table to tell me you have a girlfriend?" Ron asked in annoyance again.

Malfoy ignored his tone this time. He didn't leave Hermione's eyes when he opened his mouth again. "To be honest, I called for this meeting to hand you all something."

Hermione's forehead creased. He tore his eyes away and reached inside his coat. When he pulled his hands out, he was already clutching numbers of green and silver envelopes.

They all eyed the envelopes in confusion.

Malfoy walked around the table, handing each member an envelope.

Hermione watched as Mrs. Weasley's face fell to the table upon opening the envelope. 'What the hell is that thing?' she mentally thought, worried after seeing wide eyes from the people already given envelopes. Finally, Malfoy reached them and handed her and Harry two identical envelopes.

She eyed it and was almost sure it was an invitation. To a Wedding, particularly.

Hermione, shaken, opened the envelope and when her eyes landed on the letters on the card, her heart, her brain, her soul, all dropped in the floor.

"Why do I see your last name here Malfoy, together with Parkinson's, and with the word 'Nuptials' on one sentence?" Harry asked.

"What you can read there is self-explanatory, Potter. I don't need to expound why there are possibilities of finding my last name hyphenated with someone's last name a-"

Ron cut him off, "Am I to understand," he started, blinking hard at the card he was holding. "That I am being invited to 'your' wedding with Pansy Parkinson?" he asked incredulously, raising his head to look at Malfoy for confirmation.

"There," he said, looking at Harry. "That's the explanation you needed, Potter."

"You're getting married to PANSY?" Ginny shrieked, shaking the poor card.

Malfoy nodded. "Yes..."

"BUT WHY?" Ginny asked, outraged.

"My fate leads me to her." Malfoy whispered.

Then everybody started bombing him questions of when and why and where their relationship started but Hermione could not bring her brain to process all his answers. She was focused to the piece of life detroyer in her hands.

She didn't know why she felt mad, frustrated, and angry at him. All she was sure about, was that she was mad, frustrated and angry at him.

Soon, she couldn't continue sitting in that room anymore. So, she stood up, walked straight to the door, turned the knob and called him.

"Malfoy." she said without turning to face him.

There was silence after that. She was sure he was listening.

"Congratulations..."

And with that, she went out and slammed the door close.

A/N: that's chapter one. What do you think? If there are mistakes, I'm so sorry. Please REVIEW? The lyrics before the chapter begun was from the song "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol.

-theFALLINGauthor