Just A Little Girl
Summary: Hermione is sick of Harry always patronizing her. And in the process of proving she is more than just a little girl, she reveals a big secret that will change everyone's view on her immensely. One-shot DMHG.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Bummer.
AN: Yeah, I know I should be working on a million different stories right now. But this came to me – on my vacation darn it – and I just had to write it. It's based lightly on Amy Studt's Just A Little Girl. It's all fluffy – that creeps me out as much as everyone else, because I mostly write stuff with a little drama/angst. Good luck finding some references. (one of them referenced several times). And please review! Thanks
"You're so patronizing," twenty-three year old Hermione Granger yelled at her best friend, the famous Harry Potter. "I'm not a little girl anymore Harry. I am twenty-three years old for Merlin's sake. And if I want to go out on a date, I should just go."
She had more than enough of his interference in her love life, or any other part of her life for that matter. She was a grown woman, and she was perfectly able to take care of herself.
"At least let me meet the guy before the date Mione," Harry Potter pleaded with his closest female friend, who refused to back down on this issue.
"Don't you Mione me Harry," she yelled, furious once again for his behaviour. "You're not my father, so you don't have to act like him. Merlin, you're even younger than I am Harry!"
His attitude about her love life had always been hypocritical in her opinion. There was the part about him being younger than her, and still being allowed to date. And also, she was 'allowed' to date Ron, but anyone else would have to be interrogated by Harry first.
"Please Mione, I'm worried because I care about you," the interrogator pleaded with her once again, but she wouldn't budge. She had heard his pleading before, and she had given in with any guy she dated, except for her date for this evening. She wouldn't give in this time.
"Is it so hard for you to trust me with these matters Harry," she asked, trying really hard to calm herself down. She always hated this; she really hated this.
"No, it's not that I don't trust you Mione," Harry said, this time speaking to her in a normal tone of voice. "I just don't want you to get hurt."
Why do they always use that stupid excuse when they don't tell you things, or don't want you to do certain things, Hermione couldn't help but wonder. She now officially hated that line. It was used on her far too many times, by everyone but one person.
"I know that Harry," Hermione simply responded, meanwhile trying to find her purse for the date. "But could you please just let me make my own choices and let me go to my date now? I would hate it to keep him waiting for me. Please let me do this Harry."
She looked underneath her favourite chair and found the small purse she had been looking for just now. She slowly took it from under the chair, checked the – all too familiar – contents of it and closed it again. Then, she looked back at Harry.
"Fine Mione, just go already," he said, and she would have done a happy dance if she was that kind of person. "But if the date goes well tonight, then I want to meet this bloke."
It was definitely certain that Harry would meet him then, because Hermione was sure that the date would go well. But these things were of later concern. First, she had to get to her date.
"Okay Harry, I'll see you later," she spoke and sighed deeply before she disapparated to the place where she would meet up with her date. Strangely enough, that place was Hogsmeade.
"Well hello Granger," was the first thing she heard when she arrived at the meeting point. It was spoken by a tall guy with platinum blonde hair, a guy who Hermione recognized at once.
"Right back at ya Malfoy," she spoke at him, sighing inwardly at his almost anonymous greeting. It could be really annoying at times. But she already knew that about him.
"Going on a date, aren't we Granger," he then immediately responded, smirking widely at her smiling face. "Who's the unlucky, or dare I say lucky guy?"
In reward for his comments she showed him her withering stare. Of course, Malfoy being Malfoy, he didn't even flinch. She hated the fact that her most powerful gaze didn't seem to have any effect on him whatsoever. Really a typical Malfoy.
"I think you just might know him," she said, once again trying her absolute best to delay the inevitable end to their bantering. She secretly liked it just a little bit.
"That's interesting," he said in return. "That's very interesting Granger."
And once again, she wanted to sigh at his little annoying antiques. But at the same time, she found it just a tad funny that he still called her Granger.
"Soon you won't be able to call me Granger anymore," she told him, not able to hide a smile at the thought of that moment, which was going to make her the happiest woman in the world.
"I can't wait for that moment," he suddenly blurted out, bringing an even bigger smile to her face. "But what should I call you afterwards? Any suggestions Granger?"
She still smiled at his rather endearing comment. The moments where he really let his guard down for her were still rare, and she was happy with every single one of them. The progress in those moments also made her happier than any other thing could.
"As long as it's not something like girly or something equally childish, I will respond," she said, still very upset about how things were between her and Harry at the moment.
"You still didn't tell him about everything Hermione," he spoke, putting an awful lot of emphasis on her first name. It made her name almost seem like a curse word on his lips.
She hated it when he would act like this. He called her by her first name so rarely, only in very private situations. Her efforts to make him stop calling her by her last name didn't work.
"Merlin, don't be like this Draco," she responded, seemingly returning the favour. She was upset with him, and it was made even worse by the fact that she had to resort to using his first name to even get any kind of effect on him. She sighed loudly as she looked at him.
"Now look at us Mione," he spoke softly, and she knew she would give everything for having him say that again. He never gave her the cutesy nicknames guys usually secretly give their girlfriends. He always called her Granger – or Hermione in private, when he was in a very good mood, but never anything else. She smiled at him, eyes watering just a bit.
"I love you more than anything Granger," he continued to speak to her, and she practically started glowing when he said this. "You know that, right?"
Hermione couldn't believe her luck. She couldn't believe it was really true, no matter how many times he said it. She still couldn't believe that Draco Malfoy of all people was the love of her life. She still couldn't even believe he loved her back. It seemed so impossible.
"I love you too Malfoy," she said, and held him so close that he might have thought she never wanted to let him go. And that might have been true. She really didn't want to let him go anywhere without her. He just meant so much to her.
"Let's continue this at my place, shall we," he responded to her after the hug – and the passionate kiss they had shared afterwards. He was smirking at her, as usual.
"Malfoy, you are such a pervert," she said, smiling as she kissed him once again, fully intending on going home with him. She had done it many times before this time.
"What the hell is going on here," a familiar voice suddenly asked, loaded with surprise and anger. "Hermione Granger, why are you kissing Malfoy? Are you on a date with him?"
It was Harry Potter standing there, wild eyed and looking as if he was about to faint from the surprise. His hair was messy and he held his wand pointed in Malfoy's direction.
"Really feeling the love here Potter," Draco Malfoy responded, not seeming to be afraid of his former archenemy at all. He seemed to take pleasure in annoying him.
"Please Draco, don't do this now," Hermione pleaded with him, wanting to get the both of them out of Hogsmeade alive. He took a look at her, and she immediately knew he had given in to her. She could always tell this by the look he had on his face.
"You're calling him Draco now," Harry asked hotly, with a mocking and sarcastic undertone in his voice. Hermione knew that she had to breathe before she started yelling at him.
"Don't even fucking try to hurt him," Hermione spoke when she saw Harry's wand getting awfully close to the love of her life, and she easily threw all of the calmness out of the window. "If you hurt him, I swear that I will never talk to you ever again!"
She could have sworn that the entire population of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts was watching the scene, looking for a good show perhaps. That was how it seemed. She sent all of them her withering stare. This caused at least some of the people to leave.
"Come on Mione, calm down a bit," Draco spoke softly, causing her to immediately direct her full attention towards him. When he genuinely smiled at her – another of those rare occasions – she slowly took a deep breath and started to calm down.
"I love him so much Harry," Hermione spoke. She turned to the guy who had been her best friend since they were eleven and saw his jaw seemed to be on the floor somewhere.
"Wait just a minute here," Harry then spoke loudly, still slack jawed and still looking very surprised. "Let me get all the facts straight first. You, Hermione Granger, love Draco Malfoy, pureblood elitist, Muggle-hater, the Amazing Bouncing Ferret?"
If someone could drop dead out of shock, Harry would have been very close to dying right that second. Hermione knew she was going to have a tough time to make him believe it.
"Why does the ferret incident always get dragged into things," Draco asked, sighing loudly and blushing profusely at the mentioning of this probably most embarrassing day in his life.
"I don't love you any less for it Draco," Hermione responded, knowing perfectly well how sensitive he was about this subject. So she was really glad when he recovered from it soon and put his strong arm around her. She smiled happily at him, almost forgetting Harry.
"Mione, could you quit the PDA and explain," Harry spoke loudly, perhaps mad that he was being ignored for the time being. He didn't like not getting the attention he wanted.
"We're engaged Harry," Hermione explained, after having decided just to drop the bomb on him. "We have been dating since shortly after the war ended, so it must be for about five years if I am counting correctly. Yeah, I believe it's five years already."
It seemed the room darkened a little at the mention of the War, even though it ended five years ago. People were still a bit scared to talk about it, in fear of jinxing their luck, making some kind of new Dark Lord appear. Hermione still thought it was ridiculous.
"But you hated him Mione," Harry told her, as if explaining to a very small and young child that one and one equals two. Hermione sighed loudly at this.
"I'll admit that I didn't always love him as much as I do now," Hermione said, smiling at Draco, who was listening intently. "And I didn't immediately fall into his arms Harry."
While sharing a look with her fiancé, she thought back to the start of their relationship. She had given Draco a pretty hard time, even though she knew he had been on her side in the war.
"You didn't even take me seriously when I asked you out," Draco spoke, also reminiscing about the past. "You thought it was either a bet or some kind of stupid joke. If I remember correctly, you called me a butt-faced miscreant. I bought you flowers and you still wouldn't budge. I had to publicly humiliate myself in front of everyone in St. Mungo's just to get you to agree to go on one date with me. I never had to work that hard for a girl."
Hermione grinned wickedly at the memory. She thought that it was one of the better moves she made. It definitely made sure that he really wanted to go out with her, and she finally got the apology she always wanted from him, for all the things he did over the years.
"I'm happy with Draco Harry," she said, holding her fiancé close while looking at her best friend. "The only thing keeping me from the whole package is you accepting him."
The roles were reversed; she was pleading with Harry now. Just because Ginny was pregnant and flowing over with hormones, driving him crazy, didn't mean he had to get cranky too.
"If you hurt her, I'll rip your balls off and make you eat them," Harry threatened her fiancé, who didn't even pale at the threat. Hermione really loved using the term fiancé. She could finally introduce Draco as her fiancé, and she was incredibly happy about it.
"Don't worry Potter, I'll keep her happy," her fiancé – yep, she definitely loved this – said, holding out a hand for Harry, who took it. The two men shook hands.
Knowing how hard that simple gesture must have been for him, Hermione decided to make it up to Draco later – keep your minds out of the gutter thank you very much. She was really proud of him for trying to make amends with Harry after all this time.
"Now I'll leave you two to it," Harry spoke. He quickly disapparated, leaving the engaged couple alone. They smiled at each other. Hermione's eyes sparkled.
"Let's go to your place now," Hermione told Draco. With a mischievous grin on his face, he held out his hand to her. They left together, looking very happy.
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When the formal announcement of their engagement hit the papers the next day, and the surprised looks were all around, Hermione just simply smiled at all of the shocked faces. She kept close to Draco a lot. She was simply glad that she wasn't just a little girl in everyone's eyes anymore.
AN: Well, that was it. What do you think? Tell me in a review!
Inge