A/N: As promised, this chapter is longer than the last one. I think it might be my favourite chapter of the five, so I hope you love it as much as I do. :)
Chapter 3
Over the next couple of months, the occasions on which Hermione and Draco took advantage of their new arrangement became more and more regular and the times at which Draco owled Hermione were becoming ever increasingly inconvenient and embarrassing. One evening she had been having dinner at Harry and Ginny's when an owl had burst through the kitchen door and dropped a letter on her plate. Recognising the writing immediately, Hermione had stuffed the letter into her pocket without opening it. Another time, she had been in a very important meeting when her assistant, Davina, had slipped her a sealed envelope explaining that the sender had said it was urgent. Hermione had opened the envelope to find a hastily scrawled note in an all too familiar cursive:
How about a quickie in the broom cupboard on the 4th floor?
Mortified, she had crumpled up the note and tossed it into her bag.
The worst had been one Friday when Ginny had come to the Ministry to have lunch with Hermione. The two friends were settled in Hermione's office, nibbling on sandwiches and discussing how much they hoped Victoria would come down with a terrible case of Dragon Pox when Draco had barged in without knocking.
"Hey, Granger, do you want to fuuuuu – Weasley. What are you doing here?" He asked, mentally hitting himself on the head.
Ginny scowled at him. "I came to have lunch with my best friend. What the hell are you doing, barging in here?"
Hermione tried to hide her smirk. "Yes, Malfoy. Can't you knock?" she asked, attempting to sound angry.
"I, er," he looked to Hermione for help and when she didn't seem inclined to give any he quickly tried to compose his expression into one of irritation. "I came to ask if, er, Granger could fucking explain to me what that form was doing on my desk this morning. It's not my job to follow up your 'Inhumane Treatment of Magical Creatures' investigations!" Quite pleased with himself for coming up with a cover so quickly, Draco looked at Hermione and raised his eyebrows, waiting to see how she would respond.
"Excuse me?" Hermione said.
"Why the fuck was there a follow up investigation form from your department on my desk this morning?" he spat.
"I don't know…" Hermione said.
Draco stared at her. In his opinion, Hermione was doing a pretty rubbish job of playing along with his story. Just as he was about to walk out and leave her to explain to Ginny, Hermione spoke.
"Oh, it must have been the one meant for David Malloy. I gave it to Davina this morning; she must have delivered it to the wrong desk. Sorry, send it back to me and I'll get it to the right person."
"If your assistant is confusing David Malloy with me, you should probably think about getting a new assistant," Draco said snarkily before stalking out of Hermione's office.
"What an arse!" Ginny exclaimed before Draco had even closed the door behind him, most likely hoping he would hear her.
Hermione tried to stifle a laugh.
"What's so funny?" Ginny asked her friend. "He is a total arse."
Managing to return her expression to one of mild disinterest, Hermione nodded and took a big bite of her sandwich so she wouldn't be required to say anything further.
Once Ginny had left after lunch, Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote Draco a note. It said simply, Tonight. My place. As an afterthought she added, If you can wait that long, idiot. She folded it into an aeroplane and enchanted it to fly to Draco.
She only had to wait fifteen minutes to get a reply.
Be there at 10 ;)was his response.
When Hermione arrived home from work that evening she barely had time to change before there was a knock on the door. Smirking at Draco's impatience, she swung open the door.
"You're early…" She trailed off as she saw who was waiting on the other side.
"Pardon?" Ginny asked confused. "I hadn't realised you were expecting me."
"What? Oh, er, no, I was expecting a, um, delivery," Hermione said, trying to cover up her mistake. She and Draco would have to be more careful if they were going to keep their affair from Ginny. "What are you doing here?" She stood back to let her friend in. It was only six o'clock after all – she still had plenty of time before Draco was due to arrive.
Ginny gave Hermione a piercing look, seeing right through the lie, but decided to let it pass. "I brought pizza!" she said, holding out the box. "Harry's gone out with Ron so I thought it might be nice to have a girls' night. Also, I accidently took your scarf when I left your office today," she added as she handed over Hermione's purple scarf.
"Oh, haha. Thank you! And, yeah, that would be nice." Hermione tried to smile. "But, er, it can't be a late one. I, er, have to get up early tomorrow. I have a report to finish for work."
Yeah, right. Sure you do, Ginny thought to herself. To Hermione, she said, "No problem." She put the pizza on the coffee table, taking a slice and making herself comfortable on the couch. Once Hermione was also settled with a slice of pizza in her hand, Ginny pounced. "So what's his name?"
Hermione choked on her pizza. "Who's name?"
"The guy you are obviously meeting tonight."
Hermione's cheeks reddened. "I'm not meeting anyone tonight. I told you, I have to get - ,"
"– Up early for work. Right." Ginny cut her off with a sceptical look. "You know I'll find out who it is soon enough. Resistance is futile," Ginny said, winking at her friend. "Shall we watch a movie?"
Grateful that Ginny had changed the subject, Hermione agreed to a movie and let Ginny choose the sappiest, girliest movie she owned.
They watched mostly in silence, except for the frequent moments when Ginny screamed at the TV trying to tell the characters what do to. Though she had spent many hours getting used to Hermione's TV, Ginny still had a habit of trying to converse with the actors on screen. Usually Hermione found this hilarious, but tonight she couldn't relax; she kept checking the clock above the TV every ten minutes.
When the movie finished, Ginny insisted that it was Hermione's turn to pick a movie. This was despite the fact that the latter kept dropping big hints that Ginny should leave. Resigning herself to losing the argument, Hermione tried to pick the shortest movie she had. It was already eight thirty – Draco would be there in only ninety minutes. Hermione began to pray he would be late, but she knew it was futile. Draco was never late.
The second movie finished at five minutes to ten and Hermione jumped off the couch, stretching and feigning a huge yawn.
"It's been great seeing you, Gin, but I'm really tired. Sorry."
"Fine, fine, you win," Ginny said, raising her hands in defeat. "I'll leave, but you have to tell me all about him the next time I see you!"
Hermione merely nodded as she ushered Ginny to the door. On the way, Ginny caught sight of a book sitting on the dining table.
"Oh! Can I borrow this, Hermione?" Ginny asked, picking up the copy of Tuesdays with Morrie. "I've been meaning to read it for ages!"
"Sure, take it," Hermione said quickly, desperate to get Ginny out of her apartment as quickly as possible.
Hermione ushered Ginny the rest of the way to the door. After hugging Hermione goodbye, Ginny opened the door and collided with someone who was standing on the other side. Grumbling, she took a step back, looked up and froze, staring at the man in front of her. She was surprised enough to see Draco Malfoy standing on Hermione's Welcome mat, but the pizza box he was currently try to save from falling out of his hands confused her even more.
Hermione felt her stomach drop. Her mortification was enough to prevent any speech. However, she couldn't help but laugh. Draco had decided to bring pizza as well, but being collided with had caused him to drop the top box. His quick reflexes had helped him to save one box, but the other pizza was now splattered all over the ground.
Draco sent a questioning look at the laughing Hermione before smiling at Ginny and greeting her like an old friend. "Fancy seeing you again, Weasley. I see it's true what they say: these past few years have treated you nicely. Tragically, the same cannot be said for this pizza."
Ginny stared, gobsmacked, from Draco to Hermione and back again, before giving a sly smirk that could have given Draco a run for his money.
"Are you a pizza delivery boy now?"
"Actually – " Draco began, but before he could get any further Hermione interrupted.
"I can explain," she said.
"I'm sure you can, but I don't really think there's any need," Ginny said. "Malfoy here brought you some pizza. Unfortunately for you he doesn't make a very good delivery boy, especially because you got your pizza delivery four hours ago. Well I hope you like..." she opened the pizza box that was still resting safely in Draco's hands, "… pineapple," she finished, scrunching up her nose.
Draco shifted the box to one hand so his other hand was free to tap Ginny on the head. "Is your brain still in there?"
"Excuse me?" Ginny asked, taken aback.
"Well, you must have lost your mind if you are questioning Hermione's liking of pineapple," he said seriously.
"What are you on about?" Ginny looked to Hermione for help, but her friend had resumed her laughing.
"Everyone likes pineapple! And those who don't have lost their minds."
"Right… Well in that case I'll be going now." Ginny gave Hermione a quick hug and began to leave. She had only taken a few steps before she stopped and turned around to look at Hermione. "I can't say I blame you for wanting a piece of that."
It was Hermione's turn to look flabbergasted as Ginny winked at her and disapparated.
"You've already eaten?" Draco asked, seeming a little disheartened.
"Yeah, Ginny brought pizza too."
"Ah well, all the more for me," Draco said. Then smirking, added, "What happened to not telling anyone?"
"Oh shut up and get inside," Hermione said, performing a quick cleaning spell on the ground before slamming the door behind them. "And give me the pizza. We wouldn't want you to drop this one as well."
….
That weekend Hermione made excuses not to attend the Weasley Sunday Lunch and during the week did all she could to avoid Ginny. It had been awkward enough for Ginny to have been in her office when Malfoy had come bursting in, and then for her to have found him on her doorstep; Hermione didn't think she could stand answering all the questions Ginny was sure to fire her way next time they met. She had, however, sent Ginny an owl the following morning to beg her not to tell anyone, especially Harry or Ron. Ginny had sent her response by return owl:
Do you really think I'm that stupid? Your secret is safe with me. ;)
P.S. When did Malfoy become so drool-worthy?
Thankfully Draco had left before that note was delivered; Hermione was certain that had he seen it, he would have become insufferable.
When the following weekend rolled around though, Hermione could no longer continue avoiding Ginny. Two weeks earlier, she had invited Ginny and Harry to come over for dinner that Saturday night – something she was very careful to make sure Draco knew.
When Hermione opened her front door that night however, it was to find Ginny alone, and beaming.
"Harry couldn't come," she announced happily.
"Sure he couldn't," grumbled Hermione.
"I don't know why you look so sad," Ginny said. "You used to love our girls' nights."
"Oh, I do!" Hermione assured her. "I just fear this is going to become a try-to-get-as-much-juicy-information-out-of-Hermione-as-possible night."
Ginny laughed. "Starting with: Is his butt really as firm as it looks?"
Hermione tried to keep her face straight as she hit Ginny with a pillow. "Can we please talk about something else?"
"Okay."
"Thank you," Hermione said relieved.
"What are his abbs like?"
This time Hermione pulled out her wand and set three pillows on Ginny.
"Ouch! Oof! Stop! Okay, okay! We won't talk about Malfoy's sexiness!" Hermione set the pillows back on the couch.
"Thank you. Will you at least tell me why you started sleeping with DRACO freaking MALFOY? Apart from his perfect butt and abbs – and don't deny he has them… I know, I walked into them. I think I still have the bruises."
Hermione laughed. "It was kind of an accident," she told Ginny.
"Don't tell me you're going with the 'he tripped and fell into me' story. Come on, Hermione! I need more than that! Where, when, how drunk were you?"
"Fine," Hermione agreed exasperated. "We ran into each other at 'The Lucky Leprechaun'. Right after Ron announced his engagement. And extremely."
"That long? Well done Hermione! So are you going out? Or are you just playing fuck buddies?"
Hermione hit Ginny again. "We are most certainly not going out! And Merlin, Ginny! Could you be less crude?"
"What? It's what you are, isn't it?"
"I prefer to think of it as friends with benefits," Hermione explained primly.
"Same thing, different name. Now tell me: How is he in bed?" Ginny winked.
At this point, Hermione threatened to tell Ron that Harry and Ginny had slept together in his bed, and after that the conversation turned to other things.
….
A month or so later, Hermione woke up feeling very warm and snuggly. It took her a moment to realise why: Draco's torso was pressed against her back and his arm was slung over her. As soon as she realised his, Hermione stiffened. This was definitely not normal. She had only woken up once previously to find Draco still in bed and then he had not been asleep. She hoped he would turn over or take his arm away before he woke up, otherwise it would end up being very awkward. Friends with benefits did not snuggle!
Hermione felt Draco stirring and pretended to be asleep, deepening her breathing. At least she could pretend she didn't know they had been unconsciously spooning. She felt Draco's body tense beside hers as he realised the position he was in, before he quickly got out of bed and headed into the bathroom. Once she heard the water turn on, Hermione climbed out of bed and dressed before going into the kitchen to put on the kettle.
Draco emerged from the bathroom ten minutes later towelling his hair dry. He had a frown on his face which, when he noticed Hermione looking at him, he quickly turned into a smile. "So I watched that movie the other day," he told her.
"What movie?"
"'Friends with Benefits'. It explained a few things," he said, as he grabbed his cup of tea and took his usual place at the bench.
Hermione choked on her tea. "You watched 'Friends with Benefits'?"
"Yeah," Draco said. "Shouldn't I have?"
"You watched a muggle movie?"
"I've been known to enjoy quite a few muggle movies in my time, actually," he informed her.
Hermione opened and closed her mouth several times, unable to form a response.
"Oh, don't be so surprised. It's not like I went and bought it from a muggle shop – I did use magic to get it," he said, adding, "And shut your mouth. You look like a confused Hufflepuff."
Hermione ignored Draco's Hufflepuff jibe. "I just can't imagine you sitting through a movie, especially one made by muggles, staring muggle actors! How do you stop yourself from screaming insults at them?"
For a second, Hermione thought she could see a shadow of hurt on Draco's face. "I'm not as much of an asshole as I used to be, Hermione. And I'm certainly not the huge muggle-hater you think I am."
"I don't believe it," Hermione breathed. She had meant that she believed him, and was surprised that it could actually be true, but Draco took it literally.
"I'll prove it to you," he said. "You have a TV, yes?" Hermione nodded. "Okay. Friday night. You and me are going to watch a muggle movie. Your pick. I'll bring the popcorn. Deal?"
He said this all very fast and Hermione found herself nodding in spite of herself, more from surprise than anything.
"Great. Well, I'd better go. I'm going to be late for work," Draco said. He finished the rest of his tea and got up to let himself out.
Hermione didn't move as she watched him go. Her mouth was hanging open again. She couldn't believe it. She had a date. With Draco Malfoy!
