A/N: So this fanfict was just for funzies (yeah I know, not a real word...bleh!) I don't really know what to say...normally I have something to say. Oh well! Enjoy! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter...mmm...curly blonde hair with brown eyes...-snaps out of dream- WHYYYY?! ;~;
Hermione panted lightly as she continued to walk through the warm, busy streets of Diagon Alley. She was making her way to the little bookshop at the end of the block when she checked her watch.
"Oh good. The cafe should be open by now," she said to herself and walked into the bookstore.
As soon as she opened the door, a gush of musty old books mixed with fresh parchment danced around her nostrils. She inhaled and smiled, taking in the environment. Although she had been going there for years, each time she entered it was like the time she was getting her books and supplies for her first year at Hogwarts.
She headed towards the medical section, noting the new books on a shelf near the entrance. After passing rows of books, she came to her designated section. She immediately found her books, History on Rare Diseases and Theories on the Incurable Sicknesses. She walked up to the cashier who shook her head and smiled. Hermione paid for the books and walked headed to the cafe.
When she got to the cafe, she took a seat next to the window. She ordered a cup of tea and a couple of scones. She took out her books and was about to start reading when a voice called out to her.
"Well, well if it isn't bookworm Granger. Fancy meeting you here." Hermione's eyes narrowed at the voice. She looked up and glared at a smirking Draco Malfoy. "Malfoy"
"No need to be so cold. We do work together," he said with a smug grin. She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her books. Draco sighed loudly and took the chair in front of her. She glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Can I help you, Malfoy?"
He ignored her question. "I see you've hit the books yet again." She scowled and closed her book. " Yes, go ahead and make fun of me. The one who is trying to figure out how to reverse the incurable sickness and rare diseases. The one who wants to do something good for this world, other than be part of the 'Golden Trio'. Forgive me if I want to help these people." She turned and looked out the window, trying to clear her thoughts.
Draco raised up his hands in surrender. "Relax, Granger. I was just making a keen observation. No need to tear my head off." She continued to ignore him. He sighed again and took one of her books and began to flip through them. "Trying to create the remedies for them. These are quite difficult to do, to be honest. The infection we are examining, that's your reason. Isn't it?" She nodded and continued to look out the window.
Hermione took a small break, bringing the cup to her lips and taking another sip. She put the cup down and shifted her gaze to him. "It's for research, and I'm a bit interested in these theories. I plan to try making the remedies on my own. No funds from the Ministry. Just from my pocket." She flicked her eyes back to the window, taking the cup back into her hands.
Draco was shocked. He was about to open his mouth when he saw her drop the cup. With his fast reflexes, he caught the cup and put it on the table. "What is it Granger?" He followed her widened eyes and his eyebrows furrowed. He spotted Ron Weasley walking with a woman he couldn't recognize, his arm around her waist. Draco looked at Hermione and his look softened. "Granger…"
Hermione snapped out her daze and looked at him with a strained smile. "It's nothing, really. We broke up quite a while ago, did you know?" She turned back and look down, her eyes threatening to spill tears. "You know what's funny? The time he and I were together, not once had he ever done that. He never put his arm around me. He would hold my hand, but I would always have to initiate the first move. He wouldn't even kiss me in public. He told me that he doesn't like displaying affection. He never took me anywhere, either. We would always stay at the Burrow, telling me 'Why should we go out? The food here is way better than the outside.' And when I found them in bed…" she choked out, her tears falling down her cheeks uncontrollably. He continued to look at her with shock and anger. He reached out and touched her cheek, wiping away the tears. "What happened?" he asked softly. She looked at him as more tears fell. "He told me that he just stayed with me out of obligation, that we were friends and that it was the safest thing to do. He told me that he had been seeing her right after him and I got together," she chuckled humorlessly, "You know he took that flat? It was originally mine. And what's even funnier is that he's marrying her. Talk about turn of events, huh?"
What happened next shocked Hermione beyond words. Draco got out of his and moved towards her. He pulled her up and hugged her tightly to him. "I'm so sorry Hermione. I know this is strange beyond words but believe me when I say that no man should hurt a woman like that, let alone you. You don't deserve that kind of treatment. You deserve so much more. In fact," he put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her, "You need to treat yourself to something good." She gave him a confused look. "Like what?" He grinned and pulled out a couple sickles and knuts. He grabbed her wrist lightly and walked out the door.
Hermione was huffing at the speed of his walking. "What are you doing, Malfoy?" she asked as he finally slowed down. "You're going to treat yourself to something good, with my help of course," he said with a smirk. She wrenched her wrist from his hold and stopped walking. He turned and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Why would you want to help me?" she questioned.
He sighed. "Want to know the real reason? To help you get revenge and to amuse me."
She snorted and rolled her eyes. "As if I need help on getting revenge." Draco looked at her with a glare and saw a glint in her eyes. He immediately recalled their third year and held up his hands in surrender. "Okay okay I get it. Just amuse me by letting me do this and I promise you I will tell you the real reason at the end. Deal?"
She hesitated and nodded. "Deal. Now tell me what we are going to do." He smirked. "We're going to make him jealous. Now hear me out. You dress up in something beautiful. He sees you with me. He follows us. He watches us 'pretend' to do something like kissing. He fumes and you score." She saw the wheels turn in his head and smiled deviously. She nodded and he took her hand, leading them to Madam Malkin's.
Once they got in there, they both split up and looked for something more convincing than their normal day clothes. About fifteen minutes later, Draco knocked on the door to the room that Hermione was changing in. "I have some dresses for you." She peeked outside and extended her arm, taking the dresses. Once she closed the door she looked at the dresses. Many of them were little black dresses but one caught her eye. It was a light pink chiffon dress with thin spaghetti straps. It had a sweetheart cut at the bust and flowed freely just before her knees. She immediately changed into it and smiled. Another few minutes later, Draco knocked again and asked to see what she chose. When she stepped out, he felt his heart skip a beat. She looked at him nervously and began to shift uncomfortably.
"It's perfect. Oh! Leave the clothes on, it's already paid for. Just take off the tag." he finally said and she nodded. She went back in to gather her clothes while Draco sat outside waiting for her. Merlin, she is beautiful in that dress, he said internally while fanning himself discreetly. They put their things in her Undetectable Extension Charmed bag and walked out of the store. Hermione turned to him.
"What?" he asked.
"You bought all of this." she said more as a statement than a question. He shrugged nonchalantly. "I already told you that you need to treat yourself to something. And when I mean something, I mean having a boyfriend that spends money on you without noticing it. Well, a pretend boyfriend at least." Without letting her answer, he grabbed her wrist and started walking down the alley. Their walk was cut short when a mop of red hair appeared in front of them. Hermione faltered in her steps and unconsciously moved behind Draco. Noting her discomfort, Draco moved his hand so that her hand were in hers. He gave her hand a small squeezed and smiled at her. She nodded and turned her attention back to Ron. Ron noticed the two in front of him and his eyes widened.
"Hermione? What are you doing here?" he asked, his eyes narrowing at the sight of Draco, "Get away from her, ferret!" He pulled out his wand and pointed it at his throat. Panicking, Hermione got in between the two and shoved Ron, shielding Draco from him. "Stop it Ronald! He. Happens. To. Be. My. Boyfriend!" she punctuated each word with a shove. She drew her wand out before he sent out any hexes and pointed it at his head. "You know what happens when you mess with what is mine!" She jabbed her wand in his cheek. "Hurt him and I will not hesitate to hurt you." She turned and grabbed Draco's hand, stomping away with anger.
Once they were at the end of the block, they rounded the corner and hid from sigh using a Disillusionment Charm and a Muffliato spell. Draco turned to Hermione and asked, "Are you okay?" She looked up at him with fire in her eyes. She opened her mouth and was about to yell, but closed her mouth and huffed in frustration. "I'm fine. I just hate it when he does that. You know he used to steal my homework from my bag and copy down the answers? It was so obvious! He kept leaving food stains on them!" She sighed and pressed her fingers to her temples. "Did it work?" He nodded. "Trust me. Now that he saw that I was with you. He won't let this go. I felt him glaring daggers at my back. Now all we have to do is make him fume." He smiled cheerfully. "I must admit. You are kind of scary when you are truly angry."
She sighed. "Well it was true. Even though you are my 'pretend' boyfriend, I hate it when he picks fights with people. Since he hates you, it just feeds fuel to the fire. I had a feeling he was going to start a fight so I did the most logical thing. Plus I know how his mind works. Although the war is over, he knows what side you were on, which works to his advantage." Draco frowned and nodded. I hope you don't think I'm the same way.
He lifted the spells and they both walked back into the main alleys. "Now we have to make it look convincing," he told her as he held her hand. "Isn't this enough?" Hermione asked as she held up their hands. He shook his head and looked at her. He followed her sad gaze and immediately recognized the place as Magical Menagerie, the place for pets and supplies. He knew her old cat Crookshanks had passed away a couple years ago and decided what he was going to do. He took her hand and guided her inside the store. She immediately went to the half-kneazle section and played played with them, forgetting that Draco was with her.
Draco looked at her and felt his heart warm at the sight. He chuckled at her, causing her to blush heavily. "S-Sorry…"she stammered. He shook his head and looked around. He spotted Ron and cautiously moved closer to Hermione. Once he was close enough, he wrapped his arms around her and rested his chip on her shoulder. He turned so it looked like he was kissing her neck. "I didn't mean to scare you just now," he started as he moved one of his hands to the baby kitten and scratched its head, causing it to purr,"Ron and the woman is in here. He's been watching us for the last few minutes." She nodded as she continued to play with the kitten. She smiled when the kitten nuzzled its head against her. "I think I'm going to buy this little guy. He's so cute. He has a white and gray coat. But what I like most about him is his eyes," she pointed out as she passed him onto Draco, "His eyes are different from the rest." He looked at the kitten's eyes and felt his heart pounding in his chest. They were gray, just like his. Without a second thought, he gave the kitten back to Hermione and walked away.
Hermione sat there confused at what had just happened. She felt her heart tighten a bit and tried to dismiss the thought. A couple minutes later, Draco returned with a small smile on his face. He took the kitten from her hands and turned around. When he turned back, she gave him a confused look. He held out the ball of fur to her and she looked down. She gasped. The kitten had a small silver ribbon tied around its neck. She lunged and crushed him in a strong embrace. "You didn't have to, Draco," she said, noticing his eyes darken when she said his first name,"You seriously have to stop buying me things."
He chuckled. "You're my little princess," he said, loud enough for Ron to hear,"You deserve everything and so much more." Hermione blushed at the nickname and gave him a big smile. She flickered her eyes at Ron and then back to Draco. She stood on her toes and gave him a small peck on the cheek. He looked at her with a faint blush and gave her a warm smile. She felt her stomach do flips when he smiled. They held each others hands, interlacing their fingers together and walked out, passing a fuming looking Ron.
They continued to walk with their hands intertwined in a comfortable silence. After a few minutes, Hermione broke the silence. "I want to thank you for today. It really did help. I swear, when you go on a shopping spree, you don't hold back." He chuckled and then looked at her, letting go of each others hands. They both stopped walking and realized they ended up in the residential area in the outskirts of Diagon Alley. Draco turned towards her and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I'm guessing you want to know why I wanted to do this for you today, right?" She nodded.
He sighed and stared sadly into her eyes "I wanted to know what it would be like, being your boyfriend." She felt her anger rise. "So you used me. For your sick, sadistic pleasure. You wanted to know how it felt being with 'Mudblood Know-it-all Granger', huh? What now? Are you going to tell them how I was just a 'fuck and chuck' to Ron?" Draco felt his anger spill over and he snapped. "NO! I did it because I like you! I like you, okay? I used him as an excuse to get close to you. Sure, I wanted the Weasel to fume and wallow in pity, but I that was just the obvious reason. I wanted him to realize that the best thing that has ever happened to him, is now with me, even though it was for pretend! I wanted you to be treated like how I see you. I wanted to spoil you like a princess, hoping that even though I have no chance to be with you, I could at least give you things." He looked away in embarrassment.
She looked at him with wide eyes. "You like me?" He nodded. She bent down and placed the box that had the kitten next to her. She then took his forearm. She began to trace his palm with her other hand. "How long?"
"The second month of our first year at St. Mungo's" She froze in her movements, her eyes widened completely. "T-That long? Draco, thats more than 3 years ago!" He chuckled. "Why do you think I tease you? Why do you think I switched departments?" She blushed. She continued to trace his palm when he spoke again. "Look, I know this is a lot for you today. I completely understand if you don't want to talk about this ever again. I just…wanted to let you know." He was about to pull away when he felt her hold onto his forearm tightly. He looked confusedly. "You know," she brought his palm up to her lips and gave it a small kiss, "I never kid when I warn people about messing with what is mine." He felt his breath speed up. "That includes," she began to kiss her way up from his forearm to the corner of his mouth, "my books, my homework, my heart, and…"
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the lips. "My blonde git." He kissed her back. pouring all his emotions into it. After a few minutes the two broke the kiss, both panting equally hard. "You know, you look sexy when you're angry," he said with a smirk. "And your possessiveness…" he shivered pleasantly when she arched into him, "completely turns me on."
Hermione blushed and swatted his arm. "Pervert." He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "At least it was a win-win situation. I had got my amusement from the Weasel, and you got yourself a boyfriend."