This was written for Roll-A-Drabble over at Hermione's Haven.
This work has been un-betad so every mistake you find belongs to me.
Besides the mistakes I only own the plot idea. Everything you recognise (characters, settings, etc.) belongs to J.K. Rowling.
It had begun as a way to simultaneously make Ron lose his temper and annoy the hell out of Pansy Parkinson. And to finally be rid of them. The thought had come to them when they both had to hide in the same unused office in the ministry to avoid having very public rows involving their former significant others.
When she had ended her relationship with Ron Weasley she had hoped he would be mature about it. Of course, he was not. Given that he worked in the Ministry, just as she did, he tried to catch her on her way to the office, to the canteen or even once when she was on her way to the lavatory. Consequently she had gotten quite good at avoiding every redheaded wizard in the Ministry, even though she was very aware she could not continue fleeing every time she spotted his orange locks. Especially because she had to work with Percy quite often and he was not happy with her turning on her heel when she spotted him.
When he had ended his relationship with Pansy Parkinson he had known she was going to be the bane of his existence henceforth. He was not disappointed. She did not even work in London, but since their relationship had ended she happened to have business in the Ministry every other day. And of course she thought she should take these completely random business appointments as an excuse to have another talk with him about the future they could have. He had taken to have very peculiarly timed breaks which he spent hiding in unused offices.
When they both hid in the same office on that fateful day they remained silent for all of ten minutes. It was obvious who the other was hiding from, what was there to say?
She did not particularly like silence though, and forced him to acknowledge that they both had a problem and should do something about it.
The solution had been entirely his idea.
"Do you think Weasley would still follow you around like a lost puppy if you managed to find a different suitor?" He had asked.
She had glared at the insinuation that she would have trouble finding a partner.
"Most likely. Competition is not his strongest suit," she conceded.
"I honestly doubt that Pansy could be thrown off so easily. But I know she will go round the bend," he smirked.
Another fifteen minutes later they were – officially speaking – in a relationship. Unofficially though they were still barely on speaking terms.
The gossip mill almost had a melt down when the relationship of the two former foes reached it.
The success of their plan came overnight. Ron stopped trying to talk to Hermione. He actually completely stopped talking to her, which she didn't mind. And Pansy had a nervous meltdown in the middle of the Ministry's foyer, but she had refrained from personally assaulting him. Of course, she still sent him owls, but he was able to have lunch in the canteen again without her jumping him.
Thus, neither of the two ever denied that they were in a relationship, but they did try to make it clear to anyone who asked that they wanted to keep their private lives as quiet as possible.
This continued for several months – months in which both "love birds" never saw each other outside of their workplace and tried to keep their contact to a minimum – when people started to suspect that maybe not all was as it seemed.
The rumours that they were not actually in a relationship were sparked when he had taken a week off to visit Blaise in Italy and she remained in London, working.
When he came back, the rumours were already going strong and Pansy was back in his life. Ron seemed to have been thrown off though, so she was still content.
"We need to do something," he said by way of greeting, when he stormed into her office one day after Pansy had tried to break into his office.
"And what would you have us do?" She barely looked at him while shuffling around papers on her desk.
"Let's have dinner tonight," he stated, eyes intently on her hands.
She stilled her shuffling and slowly looked up at him. His blond hair was mussed and his storm grey eyes had a manic glint to them, he seemed quite serious. She slowly nodded, there was no way she could refuse him politely after they had pretended to be in a relationship for months.
"I will pick you up at seven," he nodded to himself, then turned around and left.
She was quite bewildered, but shrugged and went back to work.
This fateful dinner date had been six months ago.
Now she ran her hands down her midnight blue skirt, trying to smooth the creases out and gave her best at taming a few stray curls that had escaped her bun.
Who would have thought that hiding in an unused office together could actually lead to something more? The dinner had gone surprisingly well, she had enjoyed his wits and his sarcastic nature and he had been pleased by her attentiveness and good humour. They had started going on weekly dinner dates after the first, and the thought of hiding that their relationship was fake was not a thing that motivated either of them.
Weekly dates turned to meeting every other day, and at some point – she could not even say when – she had noticed that she did way more than just like him.
So on this Friday afternoon they were meeting with some of her friends and some of his friends and were about to tell them the whole truth concerning their relationship.
Including the fact that she was to become Misses Draco Malfoy shortly before Christmas.
"Ready?" Draco asked, grinning at her.
"Of course," Hermione replied, taking his offered elbow and stepping into the restaurant with him, towards their waiting friends.