A/N: This is for QLFC and I'm Chaser #1 of the Wimbourne Wasps. This round is all about forbidden love! My prompt was about two characters with different blood statuses. So, naturally, I chose to Dramione it up.

Additional Prompts:
#6: (word) reach
#9: (word) practically
#10: (dialogue) "What do you want from me?"

Rules of Romance

Hermione had not anticipated the stack of letters that waited for her on her desk. She hadn't meant for the column she wrote to become an advice column in the Daily Prophet. It had started out as merely a relationship bashing message to all future couples because her relationship with Ron had gone awry.

"Do you know how many people you reach on a daily basis?" Rita questioned, popping her unwelcome head into Hermione's new office.

"I don't even want to know," Hermione chuckled.

This wasn't the job she had picked out for herself but after the war things had changed. She wasn't entirely sure it had been for the better. However, she wasn't going to argue with the slight pay raise and her own office.

"Millions, darling!" Rita clapped and pranced down the hall, humming obnoxiously.

The best part was that she did the entire column under a pen name. No one could pick her out of a crowd as being the newly famous column writer. She was Helen Rose to the wizarding world and no one would ever know any different.

Hermione had practically just sat down to open her letters when she heard a soft pecking on the window of her office window. She looked over to see a black owl holding a letter with a familiar, yet unidentifiable, seal that was locking the contents inside it. She took the letter and admired the deep green envelope that the owl dropped in her hand.

"Ow," she hissed, looking down at her hand where the owl had pecked her.

"What do you want from me?" Hermione questioned, realizing that she had not given him a treat yet.

She fished around in her pocket for a little something to give the owl while she studied the handwriting on the letter she just received. It looked painfully familiar but she couldn't figure out where she had seen it. She ignored all the other letters on her desk and hastily tried to open this one. She didn't know why she was in such a rush to find out what this letter said. She wasn't disappointed when she did.

Hello Helen Rose,
It's been awhile since I've seen this particular girl but the last time I saw her, she was sad. She was sad because I had wronged her in some way. My question for you is: How do I tell her that I'm sorry?
Sincerely,
Damian Michaels

Hermione thought carefully about what she should pen back to him because she didn't really know what to say. Just how bad did he wrong this woman? Hermione stared at the blank parchment in front of her next to the small letter that had captured her attention.

Damian Michaels,
It's so good to hear from my readers! I've always heard that chocolates are used to say 'I love you' and that flowers are to say 'I'm sorry.' So, in my case, I would love a big bouquet of flowers. I'm sure she would love them too.
Sincerely,
Helen Rose

She fastened the letter to the owl's foot before giving him another treat. She sent him on his way while she turned back to the hundreds of letters that littered her desk.

-XOX-

Hours had passed and she wasn't even a fourth of the way done with her pile of letters. The pile just seemed to grow and grow.

"Miss Granger, you've got a delivery," Gwen, her secretary, informed her.

By the time Hermione looked up, she saw a big bouquet of bright pink hydrangeas appear on the table closest to the door. She had often admired Hydrangeas and she loved the smell that flooded that room the moment they appeared.

"I wonder who…" she thought out loud, getting up from her chair.

She looked all over the flowers for a note of some kind but she couldn't seem to find it. Then she felt something hit her foot.

"There it is," she said.

When she opened it, she was completely taken back by what was said in the message.

I'm sorry…very sorry.
- DM

Who was DM? Why was he sending her flowers? She couldn't figure out why anyone would send her flowers and then she thought back to the first letter she answered earlier that morning.

But…who was Damian Michaels?

-XOX-

Draco Malfoy sat at his desk while ignoring the growing amounts of paperwork that seemed to just pop up in front of him. He hadn't been able to get Hermione off his mind.
It was absurd for him to be having these thoughts but the war was over. Was the war between blood statuses still going on or had it ended with everything else? He had hoped it was the later.

"Mr. Malfoy, the flowers have been sent," a small voice informed him before turning out of the room suddenly.

He wanted to send something a little vaguer but he couldn't think of anything better. The moment she started doing this column, he found it the perfect opportunity to finally get out his apologies. Granted, he owed her much more than a vase full of beautiful flowers.

It was a start.