Chapter 1

Hermione swallowed hard as she pushed open the door to Malfoy Mansion. She couldn't believe she was at her best friend's wedding. The same best friend who a mere month or so ago wasn't even engaged. Now he was marrying Astoria Greengrass. She felt sick to her stomach. What was she even doing here? Astoria made sure to tell her she wasn't invited.

"Hermione?" asked Harry as he spotted her, "What are you doing here?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," she said, "It was one of those weird out of body experiences where my body moved but my mind said what the crap are you doing? I just don't understand why he is marrying her. I know he can't possibly be in love with her! She's awful! If anything it should be…"

But then Hermione shut her mouth. She'd already said too much.

"It should be who?" Harry asked raising an eyebrow.

"Oh don't give me that look. I know you know what I almost said," said Hermione.

"Yeah. But have you ever admitted it to yourself out loud or to him?" asked Harry.

"No! Definitely not! Especially not now he's freaking getting married!"

"You should tell him. You never know if he might feel the same and it will spare him from marrying her," said Harry.

"Wait. Does he even love her?"

"Unsure. I doubt it. He spends all of his time with you. He just wants to be married and have a family already."

"What an idiot! Who does that?" asked Hermione getting more frustrated by the minute.

"Well all the more reason to stop it."

"I can't stop it now! It's too late! They would both kill me if I ruined their day."

"Hermione?" asked Harry started to get frustrated with her. She wasn't listening, "Do you love him?"

Hermione sighed.

"I… I don't… know… exactly. This is just happening too fast a month ago we were friends and then he decided to up and get married and then I feel all weird about it. I mean what if he doesn't feel the same way about me or what if I don't feel the same later on and it's just the drama of the wedding or…"

"Hermione!" yelled Harry.

He put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye.

"Well you have about 20 minutes before it's too late. Think about it and just tell him. Trust me. I've never let you down before," said Harry, "Now sorry, but I've gotta go stand up front and play my part before you stop the wedding."

Hermione just nodded and retreated to her corner in hiding.

How had she even gotten to this point? When they were in school they absolutely loathed each other, she even had a very unpleasant moment that still gave her nightmares to this day in this same house no less, but a few years ago when they ran into each other at the ministry he didn't seem all that bad… She took a moment to relive everything to be sure she really did love him enough to stop his wedding… all the way to the beginning.

Hermione walked into the Ministry of Magic with a smile on her face. She loved her job and she loved everything about her life. She worked for the Ministry's department of Education. She worked closely with the Headmasters and Headmistresses of all the wizarding schools – and this was nothing like Umbridge's job. She loved the schools and the students and worried about making sure they all got the best wizarding education. And then there was Ron… her boyfriend of a few years now. Unfortunately they were still dating and not engaged like she wished they were but she still believed her life was perfect.

"Hi, Harry!" greeted Hermione as she ran into him in the hallway on her way to the her office.

"Good morning, Hermione," said Harry sounding a little distracted.

"Everything ok?" asked Hermione.

"Uhh… yeah I guess. I just have a few new aurors to get trained and I'm not sure I like this new batch but I guess I have no choice. If they passed all the tests there's no reason they shouldn't be aurors too I guess," said Harry.

"Well good luck," said Hermione not asking any more questions, "I'll see you at lunch."

Harry just nodded and Hermione kept walking. When she got to her office she saw a mountain load of paperwork and buried herself in it.

About 4 ½ hours later a silver stag floated into Hermione's office. It was Harry's patronus delivering a message.

Hermione, are you still coming to lunch?

"Oh my gosh! I forgot!" said Hermione quickly getting up to get her stuff.

She rushed to the Ministry's only cafeteria to meet up with Harry and Ron.

"Hi guys! Sorry I'm late!" said Hermione quickly as she sat down in her regular spot. Unfortunately for her she wasn't paying any attention to who it was that was sitting next to her. Out of habit she turned to kiss what she thought was Ron.

Hermione screamed and jumped out of her seat, "MALFOY? What in the name of Merlin's beard are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, Granger," said Malfoy raising an eyebrow at her.

"Harry? Explain!" said Hermione still fuming. They could have at least given her a warning that her enemy from Hogwarts was going to be sitting next to them!

"Remember how I said there was a new batch of aurors? Well Malfoy is one of them. Trust me I felt the same way you did until I spent the next few hours with him. He's a lot different than he was back at school," said Harry.

"Right. Well forgive me if I just sit over here instead of next to you until I can validate that one for myself," said Hermione sitting next to Harry instead.

Draco just shrugged his shoulders.

"So where's Ron?" asked Hermione.

"He's… well… I'm not sure exactly. He just left," said Harry glancing at Draco sending him a silent message. Hermione didn't notice it.

"He's been gone a lot lately. Why is he always gone and not you?" asked Hermione.

"Uhh… he just likes his job?" answered Harry.

"Oh. Well that's good I guess," said Hermione.

"So. Granger, what have you been up to all these years?" asked Draco redirecting the conversation.

"It's Hermione if you don't mind and all these years? You make us sound so old! I'm only 24 for Merlin's sake!" said Hermione.

Draco quietly started laughing. Hermione frowned at him.

"What?" asked Hermione.

"Nothing. You're just funny. I guess I never really knew that before," said Draco.

"There's a lot of things you don't know," said Hermione.

"Well I apologize and please continue… Hermione," emphasized Draco.

Hermione smiled at hearing her name and said, "Why thank you. I appreciate that. Anyways I was just going to say I've been working here. As you obviously know education is a big deal to me I started working for the Ministry's Department of Education. I've gradually worked my way up until the point where I now meet with all of the Headmasters or Headmistresses frequently to check up on students and school progress."

"Wow. That's pretty great. I bet you're really good at that," said Draco.

Hermione paused. She hoped that wasn't a sarcastic comment. She was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt because of Harry.

"Thank you… I think. So what about you? What made you want to become an auror now?" asked Hermione.

"Just a change in scenery I guess. I still own all of Malfoy Enterprises and will oversee everything, but it just gets boring sitting in an office all day. But it doesn't hurt that I'm an ex-Death Eater and I'd still like to reinstate the family name and honor," said Draco.

"Well, good for you then," said Hermione. She was doing so well not remembering awful moments of the war but as soon as he said that she couldn't help but be brought back to the Malfoy Manor herself. She shuddered at the memory. Everything still haunted her.

Food was then brought in front of them and the conversation dwindled until it was time to go back to work.

"Well excuse me. I need to finish something before I get back to work. Potter I'll see you in a few minutes and Gr…Hermione it was nice seeing you," said Draco.

"You too," said Hermione.

"So what do you think?" asked Harry after Draco had stepped away.

"I'm really not sure. He seems like he has matured and grown a few needed manners but how can I tell after a short lunch? With him I don't think you could ever be too careful because sometimes it seems like everything is for show," said Hermione.

"Guess we'll see," said Harry," I better get back."

"Yeah me too. See you later, Harry," said Hermione.

Yes this is based off of Taylor Swift's song "Speak Now." Hope you guys enjoy!