Whoo! More stories! I wrote this for the livejournal community, dramionedrabble's, Valentine Challenge Day 3 back in 2009. We had to base our one-shots off at least one quote from the selected romantic film that day and I used all seven quotes from Gone With the Wind, one of my absolute favorite movies. I'll tell you all the quotes at the end. See if you can catch them all!
Warnings: post-DH (six years), but definitely canon compliant, making the ending fairly sad. And I guess you could consider them to be a bit OOC.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters you recognize nor am I making profit off of this. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and I'm just a poor college student.
She still couldn't understand how in the hell she had managed to leave the forces of Ginny, but Hermione had managed to do so. Maybe it was her Muggle hairstylist's impeccable use of a midnight black wig and Lancôme make-up, but whatever it was, it had allowed the future bride to escape from Harry and Ginny's home. Now, she was inside of a wizard pub in London with a fairly revealing red dress and uncomfortable red pumps.
Ginny had wanted to take Hermione to a nightclub and use her friend as bait to see how many men would flock to her. Thankfully, the dress had been very popular with young Muggle women lately so maybe Ginny would be sidetracked by tens of other women for the rest of the night.
She ordered a Firewhisky and drummed her fingers as she waited. Then she heard the clicking noise of a man's tongue. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Draco Malfoy sitting a few stools away from her. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as the bartender handed her the glass.
When Draco slid onto the stool next to Hermione, she simply sipped her drink and ignored him as best she could. "Well, well, well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" he said, grinning.
Hermione slowly put her drink on the table and batted her eyelashes at him. "Whatever do you mean?" she asked in a high-pitched voice, trying to sound like Draco's irritating fiancée Astoria Greengrass.
Draco raised an eyebrow and frowned. "Granger, I've heard you use this voice before when you were insulting Astoria," he said matter-of-factly. "Stop with the charade."
Hermione sighed in a defeated manner and looked around before taking off her wig. Draco avoided touching it as if the item would burn his skin. Hermione rolled her eyes and quickly tried to down her glass.
"Whoa there Granger," Draco said, amazed that she was capable of such a thing.
She finished her drink and signaled the bartender to give her another one. She looked at Malfoy and gave him a sly smile. "I'm very drunk and I intend on getting still drunker before this evening's over," she said.
"Wasn't that your first drink?" he asked, very puzzled now.
Hermione shook her head and sipped from her newly filled glass. "Oh no, I already had three glasses of wine before I came here," she said. "I needed something stronger."
Draco raised an eyebrow as if to say 'Are you insane, Granger?' to which Hermione replied, "Well, tonight was supposed to be my bachelorette party with Ginny and Luna and other girls I know, but I didn't want to go."
"Ah, yes, you're marrying Weasley this weekend aren't you?" Draco said, remembering the information he tried to block out every day at the Ministry; it was the only thing any of Weasel's and Granger's friends could talk about for the past month. "I wish you best of—"
Hermione stopped him with her palm in his face. "Please, I can't think about that right now," she said softly, looking into her glass of Firewhisky. "If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow." She pushed a stray curl behind her ear and took another swag of her Firewhisky.
Draco looked at his untouched glass of butterbeer (he could never hold in more than two glasses of Firewhisky before it would cause him to commit stupid acts) thoughtfully. As he gulped down his drink, he began to think of how his and Granger's relationship had grown while working at the Ministry (both of them in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement).
They couldn't handle being partners together, having to work together to get ahead in the business, but the many late nights they spent at their desks, trying to please their boss had proved to be interesting in many different ways. Their conversations would either be heated and loud or whispered with secrets. Draco knew more about Hermione than even the Weasel sister did and he didn't know whether that was a good thing or not.
Hermione looked at him, thinking about the same thing. She had felt connected to Draco for the past five or so years, but she could never admit that to anyone other than herself. She dated Ron for the longest and when he finally proposed two years ago at Victoire's (Bill and Fleur's daughter) second birthday party, she was slow in her acceptance. She didn't want to cause a rift between herself and her friends so she went along with everything that was happening. In her heart though, she wanted nothing.
When Draco looked up, he and Hermione were gazing at each other, but they couldn't look away now that the other was caught staring. Draco hesitantly lifted his hand and let his fingers examine her newly done up-do for her wedding. In all actually, she looked beautiful tonight even with that hideous wig, but Draco thought she looked beautiful when she came to work with a bedhead and wrinkled clothes.
"Why are you with him? If you don't mind me asking." Draco said softly, scooting closer to her.
Hermione was quickly losing her breath and her breathing was becoming more and more rapid. "He's kind, funny, and quite hard working," she said softly. Gaining a bit of her strength once again, she pulled away from him and stood up. "On the other hand, you're coarse and you're conceited and I think this conversation has gone far enough." She began to walk away, but Draco took a hold of her wrist and pulled her against him.
"This conversation isn't over Granger until I say it is," he said, one arm holding her waist and the other hand cupping her cheek. Hermione's eyes slowly fluttered closed and she began to her lips; it took very little strength for Draco not to laugh at her. He was leaning in, but he stopped just three centimeters away. "No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how."
Hermione groaned. "And you know how?" she asked sarcastically. Draco smirked in reply. "Great, my marriage with Ron is over before it started." She rubbed her temple. "What's worse is that you don't want to kiss me even though I want you to. My life is over. Nothing will ever happen to me again."
Draco rolled his eyes. "Oh stop with the dramatics, Granger," he said, not making any move to let her go. "All what I feel for you is sexual tension. If I said I was madly in love with you, I'd be lying. Besides, Malfoy men take longer than five short years to fall for a woman. Father didn't truly fall for Mother until I was in my second year."
Hermione gave him a curious look but nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I guess two people like us will never have a fairy tale romance," she said, looking at him and stroking his cheek in return.
People were staring, but neither of them noticed. Hermione really did want Draco to kiss her, but he still refused. He was just relieved that she was still allowing him to hold her. When he finally let her go, Hermione could barely walk in a straight line so Draco took hold of her wrist again. She gave him a look of gratitude and kissed his cheek before heading stepping outside.
Draco followed her. "You and I might not have a chance, but you don't have to marry Weasel and live a lie, you know," he said, walking alongside her.
"But I would break Ron's heart," Hermione said, tears welling up in her eyes. "And all of our friends wouldn't look at me the same way."
He held her hand gently and squeezed tightly. "With enough courage, you can do without a reputation," he said softly, not wanting to see her cry and admit defeat. "We can even try for that impossible fairy tale romance."
Hermione shook her head and let go of his hand. She picked up her pace, but turned back for a moment to give him an answer. "I would love to, but it would just end in disaster, Draco," she said. "We'll always have our office affairs, I guess, but a marriage would be lying in a way, too."
He nodded silently after a few moments of hesitation and watched sullenly as she left to get ready for the seemingly happiest day of her life.
As promised, here are the quotes! (Note: they did not appear in the story in this order)
1. With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.
2. I'm very drunk and I intend on getting still drunker before this evening's over.
3. I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.
4. No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.
5. My life is over. Nothing will ever happen to me again.
6. If I said I was madly in love with you you'd know I was lying.
7. You're coarse, and you're conceited. And I think this conversation has gone far enough.
Read and review! The two sequels will be added soon.