Author's Note: I decided to do another one shot as a companion fic to The Way It Started. There will be another one following this one as well. So be on the lookout! Also go read Only Fools Rush In by bcain17 and review and urge her to finish it! It's so good! Let's get her back! Also everything in Italics are flashbacks.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Theo's POV

I stayed away from them once I pushed him to her, for all of our sake. I thought that maybe her ending up with him would be something I could stomach but it wasn't. Their friendship started much slower than ours had and developed into something more than friends even slower. It was painful to watch. Watch him get to know her in a way that I didn't, it was ironic really.

Every laugh, every smile, every inside joke turned into a shared whisper, a caress, a kiss. I watched it all from afar, pushing myself to try and form some sort of relationship with Daphne. I hate Daphne, I've always hated Daphne. My friendship with Draco is now non-existent. He tried, I'll give him credit for that, I just couldn't do it.

Hermione reached out to me earlier this week telling me she wanted to sit down and talk. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to be so close to her knowing that I couldn't touch her, couldn't hold her. I should have listened to my gut. Instead I told Daphne I was going out to meet an old friend. Don't all marriages have their secrets?

They're getting married. It's been five years since school and he finally popped the question. I figured it would happen at some point, I just wasn't ready for the news. Their faces are always splashed across the front page, people just can't get enough of them together. They always look so damn happy, and I knew I shouldn't have accepted her invitation to lunch, but I did.

Now I'm sitting here getting drunk out of my mind in my study. I came home and promptly locked Daphne out when she kept asking who I had met for lunch. I put a silencing charm on the room and tore it apart.

None of this was worth it. I should have never let her go. It should be me marrying her not Draco. How did he even convince his parent's to agree to him marrying her?! I down another glass of fire whiskey and think back to lunch today.

I see her sitting at a table, a cup of tea already in front of her. She sees me and waves for me to come over. This is the first time we've been alone together in five years. Apart from a short congratulations she sent via owl on the wedding, we haven't spoken a word since that night.

I walk towards her, taking in her appearance as I get closer. Her hair falls down to the middle of her back and she's started to wear makeup. It's a small amount and done tastefully but it enhances her beauty and makes my breath catch in my throat and other things stir low in my body. She stands as I approach and I lean forward to kiss her cheek in greeting. She's holding her breath and I let my lips linger a moment longer than I should.

"Thank you for coming." She says warmly.

"I will always come to you when you ask me to Hermione." I tell her. A troubled look crosses her eyes and she bites her lip.

"I wanted you to be the first to know. Draco's asked me to marry him and I've accepted." She's straight and to the point. She was never one for bullshit. I chuckle at her but I feel like my insides have been ripped out.

"Well thanks for letting me know although I'm not entirely sure why you care." I snap at her. A hurt look replaces the troubled one and I feel bad momentarily.

"Once upon a time you and Draco used to be best friends Theo. Don't let me ruin that. I know it would mean the world to him if you were there." She pleaded.

"And why is that Princess? Draco is the one who made it very clear to me that being his friend had to be separate from having anything to do with you. I couldn't stand to be around you guys together so I chose to leave you alone and he seemed perfectly fine with that." Her eyes narrow and grow hard and I feel like there's a lump in my throat.

"YOU told him to go to me that night Theo! Or have you forgotten that? The only reason this is happening is because of you!" It's there beneath the surface of her statement, she means me not fighting for her, not her and Draco. If only she knew.

"Yea well I don't want to be there when it happens Hermione. I can't be there when it happens. I'm sorry."

There's tears forming in her eyes and I get up and walk away from the table before they have the chance to fall. She doesn't call out after me and I find myself wishing that she would.

Staring into the fire I curse Merlin's name as I feel tears start to form and a tightness grow in my chest. I wipe them away and unlock the door to the study in search of Daphne. She doesn't really care who I went to lunch with as long as she doesn't look like a fool to the public eye. The very reason I'm sure Hermione had asked me to meet her at a Muggle café in London.

I find Daphne in our bedroom in her bed robe sitting at her vanity and brushing her hair. She turns to look at me for a long moment before standing and dropping the robe. This is all she's good for, making me forget, even if it's only momentarily.

Hermione's POV

I walk into our flat after leaving the café and use our post owl to send a note into work saying I won't be in the remainder of the day. I know it won't be long until Draco catches wind that I took the rest of the day off and I'm sure he will do the same and come home. He was under the impression the lunch didn't happen, he thought he had talked me out of it, but stupid me just had to go and do it anyways.

I realize now that he was absolutely right and it was a horrid idea. I haven't even spoken to Theo since our last year in school and there I went just reopening old wounds like it was nothing. He must hate me. I would hate me.

I draw a bath and pour myself a glass of wine. After adding in some lavender oil I get in and start to soak. He looked good, still as handsome as ever. Still married to Daphne, I'm surprised they don't have a kid or two by now. But from what I hear they aren't exactly physical.

I hear the door open and close and smile to myself. I knew he wouldn't stay away.

"Hermione?" I hear him call out.

"In here." I respond. A few moments later he walks into the bathroom looking at me questioningly. I scoot further down in the tub until the water hits the bottom of my chin.

"You asked him to lunch didn't you?" He asks me, sitting on the edge of the tub. He's dressed in grey slacks and a white button up shirt and he looks so damn good I forget for a moment what he's even talking about. But I nod in confirmation at him and he sighs and looks down at the floor.

"How did it go?" He asks softly.

"Horrible. You were right it was a stupid selfish thing to do, I should have never even bothered. He could have just found out with the rest of the world once it gets splashed across the front page." I say with a pout.

"What did you expect Hermione? He never stopped loving you, you know that."

"He chose to end things Draco. He chose to end things when it got tough, he could have fought for me and he didn't. Besides aren't you happy? I know you had issues with me going." I snap at him.

I watch as a hurt look crosses his face and I feel horrible. I reach up to cup his cheek and slide myself to the edge of the tub.

"I'm sorry that was uncalled for." I whisper.

He covers my hand with his own and looks down at me adoringly. It takes my breath away and I'm reminded of the first time I started to look at him as something other than just a friend.

It was late and we had exams the next day but I just couldn't pull myself away from my book to go to sleep. I rub at my eyes tiredly and check the time before flipping the page. It didn't surprise me when I heard his footsteps coming towards the table. I find myself wishing it was Theo that was going to turn the corner, but I know it's going to be Draco.

I'm impressed with how great a companion he turned out to be. I never would have thought that I would be spending most of my nights having long intelligent conversations with Draco Malfoy. He could hold his own intellectually with me which is something in itself, Theo had been the only male friend I had that could ever keep up or challenge my thoughts.

I smile to myself as he turns the corner holding a large basket. He grins as he comes closer and sets the basket down on the table.

"I was coming in from my walk and I noticed the light was on in the window. So, knowing that you were probably up here studying still, I went to the kitchens and fetched us some snacks." He says, opening up the top of the basket and taking random snacks out.

"I love snacks." I say as I stretch and yawn at the same time.

"I know you do. I got your favorite." He says holding out a green apple and a small tub of caramel dip.

"Mmmm…thank you." I grab it from him and start slicing it with a knife he had unpacked.

"All ready for tomorrow?" He asks me, starting to slice his own apple. I nod at him and close my eyes in delight while savoring my treat. When I open them again he's staring at me.

"What?" I ask consciously, thinking maybe I have something on my face. He shakes his head at me.

"Nothing, just watching you. It's cute." I blush from his words. Draco Malfoy was calling me cute what was the world coming to?

"What?" He asks as I continue to stare at him.

"You just called me cute. Draco Malfoy just called Hermione Granger cute. Alert the Prophet the world is coming to an end." I joke. A smirk crosses his face and he laughs at me.

"Come on now you can't ruin my image. I'll deny every word of it if you tell a soul." He jokes back taking a bite of his apple. He pulls out his own book to study and flips to a random page he had tagged.

I have to do a double take because I realize that he has his book tagged with my colorful sticky notes that I always keep in my bag. I laugh out loud and he looks up at me with a raised eyebrow.

"You stole my sticky notes! Those are muggle inventions you know that right?" I ask him. He smirks at me and laughs.

"I'm well aware Hermione. You were right though they do work wonders if you remember how you coded them." He states simply looking back down at his book.

I study him for a few moments, he has his shirt rolled up to the elbows and his hair has fallen out of its usual gelled style and is falling into his eyes. I would never deny he's handsome, I've always thought so. Handsome as long as he wasn't opening his mouth saying something rude to me or someone I loved. But that smart mouth hasn't uttered a single rude word to me in years and now it's paying me compliments. I smile as I look back down to my book.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Draco asks me. I shake my head and pull him down for a kiss.

"Get in." I command.

He doesn't need to be asked twice, he stands and unbuttons his shirt revealing his hard abs and flawless skin. I feel the warm heat low in my stomach as he then pulls of his slacks, he's already hard. He slips into the tub behind me and he reaches for my face to turn it towards him kissing me hard and deep. All thoughts of the lunch fade from my mind and I lose myself in the moment.

Draco's POV

I watch her as she frets over flowers with Ginny. I'm glad that Harry and Ginny didn't leave her when we broke the news to them that we were dating. Harry has had a tough time with it but Ginny makes it easier on him.

Ron won't talk to her so it makes it awkward with the rest of the Weasley family. But as far as I know he's the only one not coming to the wedding. A stray curl escapes the bun at the nape of her neck and my fingers itch to push it back from her face. Amazing how she still has that affect on me after all these years.

She looks over to me and smiles brightly, eyes sparkling. She holds up a pink flower and raises her eyebrow at me with a smirk on her face. I laugh and shake my head. She's never been much of a girly girl.

I waited nervously at the entrance to the school for Hermione to meet me. It was the first time we were going into Hogsmeade together. I'm not sure she realized I asked her as a date but either way she was going with me and I couldn't make my palms stop sweating. I hear someone clear their throat behind me and I turn, my breath catching in my throat, as I take in the vision before me.

Her hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and tied with a simple blue ribbon. She was wearing a blue summer dress and had on a small amount of makeup. I've never seen her look so beautiful. She had her hands in front of her and she was twirling her thumbs around. She shrugged and grabbed my arm.

"It's not a big deal. Pick up your jaw and take me to Hogsmeade." She said.

"Yes ma'am."

We walked down to the little town arm in arm talking about various things. I took her to an antique bookstore where she found some books she thought were interesting. The shop owner was a friend of my Mother's and a fan of Hermione's so she had been all too thrilled when we had walked in. I sat back and watched them discuss different subjects, Hermione's eyes sparkling the whole time.

I don't think they noticed that I slipped out for at least half an hour, I had ordered a surprise for Hermione and wanted to pick it up before we headed to lunch. When I came back and collected her she was reluctant to leave.

"I promise we will come back next time." I say to her.

"Oh please do! It was such a pleasure Miss Granger." Mrs. Tepperpot said. Hermione smiled at her and shook her hand.

"The pleasure was all mine ma'am. Thank you so much for the books."

We walked to The Three Broomsticks and grabbed a booth in the back of the pub. After ordering a couple of butterbeers and some fish and chips I pulled out the package I had picked up for her. I notice she's fidgety but she freezes when she sees it.

"What is that?" She asks me.

"I wanted to get you a gift. A thank you of sorts. We're going to be leaving the school in a few days and I'm not really sure where we stand. I understand if you don't want to continue our friendship beyond the school walls. So I wanted to get you something that you would remember me by."

She looked at me with a shocked look on her face and pushed the box back towards me.

"Draco I have no intention of ending our friendship after we leave the school. You've become…important to me. You don't have to worry about that and you certainly don't have to go and get me gifts to remember you by. You don't have to buy me gifts at all." She sounded outraged.

"I don't want you to feel like you have to stay friends with me Hermione." I tell her quietly. She reaches over and places a hand on my arm, it's become a habit for her.

"I don't do things I don't want to do Draco. So stop." She started fidgeting again. I look at her oddly and raise an eyebrow. She sighs and shrugs her shoulders.

"I'm not going to lie I'm uncomfortable. I borrowed the dress from Ginny. It's not exactly my thing…dresses."

"You wear a skirt for school every day." I remind her.

"That's different! It's for school! I'm not a girly girl ok? I was never any good at any of that stuff." She whines. I laugh at her and look down to the box sitting on the table between us.

"You probably won't like what's in the box then." I mutter.

It's her turn to raise an eyebrow at me as she picks up the box and opens it. I had purchased a delicate necklace made of rose gold and rubies. I watched her face as she studied it before placing the top back on the box.

"Do you want me to be honest?" She asks. I nod at her, laughing.

"It's horrid. But very thoughtful." She starts to laugh along with me.

I pick the box back up off the table and excuse myself telling her I'll be right back. I'm only gone for about fifteen minutes and she looks irritated when I return. She raises an eyebrow at me as I slide a new box across the table towards her. She picks it up slowly.

"Didn't I just tell you that I didn't need any gifts from you?" She said, obviously annoyed that I left her by herself, but unwrapping the box eagerly.

I smiled as her eyes grew wide and sparkled as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"Draco! This must have cost you a fortune!" She picked up the present from its box and admired it.

"So what? You'll think of me every time you use it." I smiled at her.

She was so excited as she twirled the gift in her hand.

"I love it! Thank you so much!" She leaned over and kissed my cheek.

I don't think she realized it was the first time she kissed me. Even if it was on the cheek it had my head spinning for weeks. I would have bought her a diamond encrusted quill a lot earlier if I had known it was going to earn me a kiss.

She holds up a white flower and points to it smiling. Ginny is nodding eagerly and I nod my head in approval. Why did I have to be here again?

8 months later

Hermione looked at herself in the mirror and frowned. She smoothed the front of her dress and played with her hair until Ginny smacked her hands away.

"You look beautiful Hermione. What's wrong?" Ginny asked her. Hermione shook her head and looked down at the ground before looking at the pretty redhead.

"I don't know Gin...something feels off. I'm doing the right thing…right?" She asked her worriedly. Ginny just laughed and waved her off.

"It's perfectly normal to have these feelings right before you walk down the aisle Mione. Now, I'm going to go check on the boys. I'll be back in a little bit, just breathe." The red head walked out of the room before Hermione could say anything else.

Hermione turned and gently lowered herself into a chair and put her head in her hands. She knew she loved Draco and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She just couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

"You know there's still time to run away with me." A voice came from the doorway. Her head snapped up and her eyes met the very reason she was feeling uneasy.

"Theo…you came." She whispered. He shook his head at her.

"I'm not staying, but I had to see you." He said, walking towards her slowly.

"Why?" She asked him.

"Because I can't get you out of my damn head Hermione. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I've tried I can't quit you." He reached out and placed a hand on her cheek.

"Theo...I'm sorry but-"

"I don't want to hear that you're sorry Hermione. Just leave with me." Theo pleaded.

An angry look crossed Hermione's face and she pulled away from him.

"I love Draco, Theo. Even if I didn't love him enough to stay, we already talked about this years ago. I won't be your mistress, which is what I would be even if we ran away together. But the point is that I love Draco. I've been in love with Draco for years and I'm walking down that aisle today and getting married to Draco."

"It sounds like you're trying to convince yourself more than you are me Princess." Theo said.

"Don't you get it Theo?! There is no more you and me! I wanted us to make amends before today but you proved that wasn't possible the day I asked you to lunch and you know what? It's sad that you used to be so close with Draco yet you can't even find it in your heart to be happy for him! What happened to you? What happened to the Theo-"

"I lost you! That's what happened! I thought I could stand watching you two together but I couldn't. I can't!"

"Well it's too late for that." Hermione said softly, looking down at the ground.

"If you walk down that aisle to him, you won't ever see me again." Theo threatened. Hermione's eyes turned hard and cold.

"Goodbye then, Theo." She said without a moments pause. His face fell and he turned and walked out of the room slamming the door behind him.

Hermione collapsed in the chair and took deep breaths to keep herself from crying. She heard the door open again and she let out a long frustrated noise.

"I told you Theo it's over!" She screamed at the door. When she didn't get a response she turned to look and her breath caught in her throat.

"Draco. What are you doing here? It's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding." She said quickly.

He was looking down at the ground and wasn't saying anything to her. Her heart started beating fast.

"Theo was here." He stated simply. Hermione felt the tears threatening to fall, she nodded at him.

"Draco I-"

"You don't have to say anything Hermione. I heard it all." He still wasn't looking up at her.

"Ginny told me you were feeling nervous so I figured I would come check on you. The door was open and I heard the whole conversation. I almost felt like I was back in school spying on you guys the last night you were together."

"Draco it wasn't like that." Hermione said. He nodded in response then turned back towards the door.

"Draco look at me!" Hermione cried. He stopped and turned his head to the side and smirked.

"It's bad luck to look at the bride before the wedding. I'll see you out there." He said. With that statement Hermione's tears finally fell.

As soon as he left Ginny came back in through the door. She gasped when she saw the state her friend was in.

"Hermione! Oh Merlin. Come on, let's get you fixed up again. Can't go down the aisle looking like a mess." She helped Hermione sit back down and started working on her face again.

Twenty minutes later Hermione was walking down the aisle towards Draco. He was grinning ear to ear and she could have sworn she saw tears in his eyes. She smiled as Harry handed her off to him and they stood in front of the Minister of Magic, who had asked them personally to perform their ceremony.

Hundreds of witches and wizards had gathered to watch their union. In the midst of everyone clapping and cheering when they kissed, no one noticed the tall dark haired man in the back of the room. No one noticed as his eyes grew dark and he stepped back into the shadows to walk away.

But as the newlywed couple turned towards the crowd it was the first thing Hermione noticed and her smile faltered…if only a little.

Author's Note: Please review! One more to go after this. I'm noticing a lot of people follow one shots and stories that are completed. Just a reminder this is a one-shot, but I will be doing one more companion piece to this and The Way It Started.