A/N: Hey guys, I leave you this one-chapter piece. I hope you like it. Please review and let me know what you think.
(The week before)
"We shouldn't be doing this", she affirmed and turned her body, trying to escape the situation.
"So why did you follow me here?", he questioned her, looking into her eyes. His right arm firmly held her left shoulder, but without hurting her.
The anxiety of her actions consumed her. She took a big breath to clear her thoughts. Her back rested against the wall, supporting the world she felt spin beneath her feet.
-8-
Friday night
Those words kept messing with her head since that night. She refused to answer his question, especially to herself. She knew she shouldn't have followed him, but the feeling that had resurfaced in her breast that day clouded whatever judgment she felt.
She was lying in her bad with a wine glass in her hand, red not white, while she watched the lights from the city through the window of her apartment. It was Friday night, but she was left alone with her thoughts. She had refused Ron's invitation to accompany him and his Auror colleagues to a pub. Harry wasn't going to be there anyway.
-8-
(The week before)
"Hello", he simply said. As if they had seen each other hours before.
She faced him. He was different from how she remembered him.
Except for his eyes, always more grey than blue.
His blond hair, almost white, unmistakable, was shorter and combed to the right side. The entries in his front had enlarged and he had wrinkles in his eyelids, remembering her that they hadn't seen each other in 5 years.
-8-
Friday night
Hermione was a successful Ministry employee and had her life all figured out. Yet to turn 30, she was considered a great promise and could easily become the first woman to be Minister of Magic in a couple of years. She was also the proud owner of a top floor penthouse in muggle London that she shared with her fiance. They would get married the following year.
Nevertheless, for a week now her calm demeanor had been shaken. She had dark bags under her eyes as a result of her lack of sleep. Her agitation also didn't let her concentrate on her otherwise flawless job.
She grabbed her wand to contact him but released it above the mattress after thinking twice. She snatched it once again only to leave it a second time. She sighed, shaking her head from one side to the other.
-8-
(The week before)
They were seated at a rectangular table that could accommodate no more than a dozen people. The ex-schoolmates toasted in the air to their 5th graduation anniversary.
After the war, only a few of the 7th years returned to complete their education at Hogwarts. Back then, they weren't divided between the four classical houses, but rather formed a 5th one called "Chamaeleonidae", focusing on the human ability to adapt and change, as a chameleon.
She looked from one side to the other and tried to participate in one of the parallel conversations that took place at the same time.
She didn't know how she had ended up seated right in front of him, but she avoided his stare by paying attention to the others.
"Granger", she heard her name coming from his lips. At that time, she inhaled and moved her head in his direction. Afterward, she assented with her head, as if saying for him to continue with what he wanted.
"I brought you something", he murmured and passed her a piece of paper under the table, away from prying eyes.
She opened the note with care and, looking down, found herself facing her own handwriting.
Feeling her eyes feeling up with tears, Hermione got up and headed to the bathroom before anyone noticed it.
-8-
Friday night
As if he could have read her mind from afar, a gorgeous regal owl tapped on her window. She let the bird in and gave it a treat. The bird left her the letter and flew without waiting for her response.
She read it immediately, knowing full well who was it from.
'I will be in Muggle London until tomorrow morning. I am staying at that little Bed and Breakfast you took me one time. If you still believe there could be an us meet me there tonight. Otherwise, I will not bother you a second time'.
He hadn't even signed it.
-8-
(The week before)
It was almost daybreak and the reunion had been moved to the dance floor. The Butterbeer had been replaced with Firewhisky and everybody laughed while they danced to their youthful hits. A mirror ball on the ceiling reflected the colorful lights, reinforcing the nostalgic feeling that had installed itself in the group.
Passing between the bodies that were gathered together, he moved towards her. His pectoral touched her back and, in a challenging way, he put a hand above her waist.
She stopped moving and turned around to face him.
-8-
Friday night
Hermione refilled her glass up to the top and took all of its content at once. She got out of bed and put on her work shirt and trousers above her nightgown. She also put on her most comfortable sports snickers and headed to the elevator to walk to the nearest apparition point.
-8-
(The week before)
Hermione was in the kitchen with Luna.
They had been close friends since the War and she shared with the blond girl what occurred minutes before with Malfoy.
Luna looked at Hermione with understanding. She had always been able to read her and she knew about the history of the pair.
"I didn't think he should have kept it after all this time", Hermione confided in her.
"Of course he would", Luna affirmed.
Before Hermione could say another thing, he entered the room and grabbed a Butterbeer.
"Everything good?" He asked the two of them.
"Sure", Luna responded and continued, "but I was actually just going back to dancing". She passed through the door and left them alone, not before saying "Have you seen the Blibbering Humdinger near the lights?"
Hermione also turned around to leave, but he grabbed her elbow with care.
"I feel like you are avoiding me", he asseverated.
She shook her head in denial, "Of course not", she guaranteed him.
He grimaced. "You know you could never lie, Granger".
Hermione snorted angrily at him and declared, "I just don't get what you are trying to achieve. That is all".
-8-
Friday night
Before being able to leave the apartment, Ron sent her a Patronus.
'Hey. First of all, don't worry, I just couldn't get an owl. Just letting you know I am going to be late. We are going to Theo's place to play some Wizard Chess. I love you. See you later'.
After walking around the room in circles for 15 minutes, she grabbed her jacket and left.
-8-
(The week before)
She watched him from across the room getting closer to Daphne Greengrass. Hermione couldn't help feeling a lump in her throat or the bile that crept through her mouth.
He found her eyes from a distance, but lowered his head anyway, whispering something in the other's ear. He knew she had always been jealous of the pureblood blond bimbo. Hermione lifted her chin as if she could care less about what she had seen, and went straight to the bar. She asked for a shot of Firewhisky.
He got away from Daphne with a lame excuse and headed in Hermione's direction.
"Having fun?", she couldn't help asking him when he approached her.
He watched her with attention, knowing full well the meaning behind those simple words. However, he preferred to play the fool and ignore them.
"Did you remember what you had written me, Granger?", he rustled the question near her neck, managing for her to hear it even though the music felt really loud.
"You know I did, Draco", she testified.
"And?", he demanded her, enraged by her dismissal.
"And nothing, Malfoy", his last name made him squirm, but she kept going, "That was years ago. It doesn't mean anything anymore".
"I am not so sure of it", he confronted her lifting her chin. After staring at her eyes, he released her and turned back around in Daphne's direction.
She couldn't help grunting at him and asked the bartender for another shot.
-8-
Friday night
She did not know how, but when she regained control of her senses, she found herself standing near the gates of the Dragonfly Bed and Breakfast she knew he was spending the night in. She even ignored the warning voices in her mind that told her she shouldn't apparate after so many glasses of wine. The only thing missing was that she got splinched in the way.
'What the fuck am I doing?', she thought to herself, her hand grabbing her wand, thinking about going back.
-8-
(The week before)
He left the bathroom and she saw him penetrate the hallway.
There wasn't anybody else in the terrace and she observed him through the glass door, without having him notice her.
He grabbed a wizard cigarette from his pocket and she interrupted him before he had the chance to bring it to his lips.
"I thought you had quitted", she told him.
He turned to face her, "I did".
He took a step towards her and she took one back.
They repeated the action another two times. Hermione felt the cement touch her naked skin.
-8-
Friday night
Hermione talked to the receptionist. She didn't know what room he was staying at and decided to ask the lady if she could pay him a visit. Fortunately, the witch remembered her well and let her walk up the stairs without warning him.
-8-
(The week before)
She grabbed the lapel of his black shirt, not knowing if for pushing him off her or bringing him in.
Draco interrogated her another time, "Why did you follow me here, Granger?"
He touched her chick with the back of his hand. His mercury eyes faced her brown ones.
Hermione looked at her feet to break away from his inspection. She did not answer him, but gave him a different question, "Why did you keep the note after so many years?", she inhaled.
Draco didn't hide the truth as she figured he would have. His orbs were unfocused as a result of the alcohol he had taken, but he sustained her glare. "I can't forget what we shared", he revealed to her. "I got the invitation for the party today and afterward a letter from Daphne telling me you got engaged".
She puffed when she hear the other's name.
Draco took a big breath, "I couldn't let this opportunity go to waste."
He put both hands on her face.
"Not after everything", he shared.
"You can not be serious, Malfoy". She got away from his grip. "We haven't spoken one word to each other in five years", she almost yelled at him.
"So what are you doing back here with me?", he asked her another time, aggravated. The same words.
She could not answer him. And just stared at where he stood.
He moved forward and kissed her hard.
She opened her eyes and lifted her brows in surprise.
"I can't do this, Draco", Hermione asserted and ran away from him.
-8-
Friday night
Once again she tried to comprehend why she could not keep away from him. She had promised herself she would not go near him a second time, but here she was once again. Tonight, there was no alcohol or another thing playing with her reasoning.
She knocked on the door and waited.
After a few minutes, he opened a small gap and faced her with astonishment.
"Hi", she said as if the situation they were in was a normal one.
He did not greet her back, just gawked.
"Why did you come here, Hermione?", he questioned her for what felt like the thousandth time, swallowing the lump that formed in his throat.
She could say to him that Ron didn't have his warm lips. Or that nobody could break her serious facade like he was able to. Maybe it was because she had never had arguments so heated after the ones they shared that year. She could also tell him that every year, on his birthday, after they separated, she drank wine until she would forget. And that when Ron asked her to marry him, all she could think about was why they had ended things. And, although she cracked her head, she could not remember a good motive that could have kept them apart for such a long time.
She decided to grab the small piece of paper inside her coat and read him the message she had written him, 5 years ago.
"I know that there are so many things that can get in our way and that the road ahead of us will not be easy. However, even if one day we grow apart, I will always find my way back to your arms.
HG"