Hermione couldn't help herself. The more she tried to ignore him, the more he seemed to be around.
The first time she saw him at the Ministry, she dropped her files in shock and stood there, watching him walk by her, without even sparing her a glance. She watched him enter a conference room and the privacy spells were active by the time she realized that she was staring. Snapping out of her trance, she picked up the scattered papers, stacked them neatly, smoothened her skirt, calmly walked back to her office and promptly flooed home. Her hands hadn't stopped shaking until she found herself pruning in the tub.
He looked tired. His face had hints of his youth, shadowed by the war and the inside of courtrooms. He was dressed to the nines, but when wasn't he? Malfoy meant money. She knew that. He had the same arrogant walk, although he managed to shake off the annoying swagger from their days at Hogwarts.
She didn't mean to overanalyze him. But this was her coping mechanism. Seeing him brought back memories she had tried to suppress. Subconsciously, she traced her scar, remembering how high the ceilings were, how cold the floor was, and my god, was the chandelier shaking a little too much? Hermione closed her eyes, remembering how raw her throat felt, how her ears nearly bled as Harry and Ron screamed for her, how Malfoy's frozen face was forever etched in her brain.
No matter how impossible the world had seemed then, somehow they survived and somehow they've managed to bring themselves to a somewhat normal life. Right? Harry and Ginny got together soon after his victory. They traveled for a few weeks and Harry proposed. They moved in together and were happily engaged for a few months until they got married on a beautiful January evening. Was that only 3 months ago?
Hermione dragged herself to bed, trying to shake off this introspective mood Malfoy had triggered, but she can't stop herself from walking down memory lane. She heard of how the Malfoys switched sides. Harry himself told her the story of how Narcissa saved his life, effectively leading them to victory. She remembers how she and Harry stood in Wizengamot to testify that Malfoy and his mother did not really deserve Azkaban. That was a bit much, wasn't it? It was a scandal when Lucius Malfoy was carted off to Azkaban, but Narcissa and Draco were under house arrest for 6 months. And now he was free. That must be it. He had to get back into the world, find a job maybe, restore the Malfoy name? That would explain why he was in the Ministry. And that brought her in a full circle.
She remembers falling asleep around 1 AM, thinking of how those beautiful grey eyes are wasted on him.
Hermione was at the bookstore the second time she saw him. It was a beautiful sunny day in May and she wore a turquoise dress that stopped at her knees. She remembers because it is her favorite dress. She spent a little more than she would have liked, but the way Ginny's eyes lit up when Hermione tried the dress on in the store confirmed that leaving it behind would only bring regret. So she decided to be brave and reckless and sexy all at the same time, buying this twirly dress that stops above her knees and makes her feel beautiful and smart all at the same time. And she remembers that day in May when the weather finally improved from a gloomy winter to a sunshiney day that let her wear her favorite dress.
He's dressed in black. No matter how normal a color black is, she can't help but stare at him in black. It's rich, harsh and delicate all at the same time. It's perfectly tailored and somehow the black makes his pale skin, his pale hair and his pale grey eyes stand out even more and Hermione cannot look away. He looks at her and she makes eye contact with him, jutting her chin forward, proving that she's not afraid. But as his pretty grey eyes sweep over her pretty dreamy dress, she feels her ears heat up and she knows that if neither of them break this spell they're in, he'll see her blush that's threatening to spill onto her cheeks. She holds the books she's about to purchase closer to her chest and nods at him curtly and nearly flies to the counter to escape the bookstore that has suddenly become too hot for her to bear.
Somehow she manages to avoid him for the next month. She doesn't see him at the Ministry, even though she knows her traitor eyes search for the shock of blond hair. She doesn't see him at Diagon Alley, even though her traitor heart beats louder in the bookstore where she saw him last. She can't help herself. Seeing him triggered a cascade of emotions in her and now she wants to run in to him. She wants to look into those grey eyes. Will she find the same hatred she used to see at Hogwarts? Hermione knows she's forgiven him, he was just a boy and it was for his family. His heart was never in it. But she wonders whether he would apologize. Just out of curiosity.
Hermione resigned herself to the fact that maybe running into Draco Malfoy was a one-off, a two-off at most. She stops herself from looking for him, until she's finally forgotten about him. It is late August and she's out for dinner and drinks with her friends. She was tied up at work and ended up arriving later than the others, so she goes to the bar to order her drink. She looks back at the table with all the happy couples. Harry and Ginny look tired as ever, the sleeplessness of having a new baby apparent. But they share soft smiles and warm looks. They managed to come out tonight, leaving baby James with Molly. Neville whispers something to Hannah and she blushes prettily and Hermione knows they're holding hands under the table. They're relatively new and so in love it makes her heart smile. She looks at Ron. His face is a bit flushed, probably because of the alcohol, but Hermione suspects it's because of the pretty girl next to him. She looks up at Ron adoringly as he tucks a lock of her black hair behind her ear. Ron is in love with Emily. And Emily is very much in love with Ron. A hunch flashes through Hermione's mind as she tries to look at Emily's hand. She suspects it has something to do with tonight's dinner plan, courtesy of Ron and Emily.
Before she can piece together everything, she feels someone standing behind her. Right behind her. She can almost feel the person breathe. And she can definitely smell something so distinctly rich and manly and handsome. So distinctly him. She knows that if she turns around now, they'll be nose-to-nose. She knows that he hasn't seen her and she knows that he's here with his friends because she can hear him ask them what they want him to order. A part of her wants to bump into him and watch his eyes widen in recognition. A part of her wants him to talk to her. A part of her wants to disappear because she is not ready for this. And a smaller part of her, that surprises herself, wants to kiss him.
For all her mental pep talks on forgetting about, she's analyzed him to death. She wonders if his lips are cold or if they're soft. She wonders how his hair feels. It looks softer than she can describe, especially now that it isn't slicked back like it was at Hogwarts. She wonders if his hands are dainty, because everything about Malfoy is crafted to perfection. She wonders if his eyes are really the window to his soul. And she's lost in those musings when she hears a voice say Granger, in the most beautiful way. She'd be lying if she said her heart didn't skip a beat or two.
She turns around and looks him in the eye as she says hello, hoping her cheeks aren't red and hoping she doesn't look as lovelorn as her mind is.
He nods at her and takes his drinks and walks back to his table.
Flustered over nothing and everything all at the same time, she takes her drink which had been waiting for her since forever and she goes back to her table where Ron and Emily announce their engagement.