A/N : Wow. So sorry for the long wait. Hope you can forgive me! I'll post another chapter Friday, as well, just to make it up to you. :D
Hermione spent about ten more minutes waiting outside her apartment, just in case the world had turned upside down and Draco was actually late in meeting her. When he never came, she raced back inside and into the lift. When it finally reached her level two agonizing minutes later, she sprinted down the hall and threw herself through the door and into her flat.
It only took three seconds to cross the room to the fireplace, and to locate the small decorative box where she kept her Floo Powder. She grabbed a pinch and took a deep, steadying breath. After all, he was probably completely fine.
She prodded the ashes with her wand and instantly a fire sprang to life. That done, she sprinkled a small amount of the powder into the flames, which immediately turned a jade green color. Taking another deep breath, she knelt by the flames and stuck just her head into the fireplace.
"Draco's flat!" she shouted, and shut her eyes tightly. Her head seemed to be spinning faster and faster, but she could still feel the thick carpet under her knees where she was still kneeling in front of her own fireplace. Finally, her head stopped spinning, and she opened her eyes.
There was the familiar room, unnaturally tidy and gleaming - exactly how she remembered it, except that she was viewing it from a much lower vantage point than usual, and also that there was no Draco to be seen.
A cold flame of fear spiraled up inside Hermione's stomach.
"Draco? Are you here?"
No answer.
"Draco?" she called again, just to be sure. She waited, a little longer than was necessary, until she finally couldn't stand the sensation of being in two places at once anymore, and she pulled her head back through the fire. She forgot to close her eyes this time and was almost sick as dozens of different fireplaces spun past her vision, but finally she was back in her own flat, kneeling once more before her own fireplace.
Her head had stopped spinning, but she now felt nauseated, and she still wasn't any closer to finding Draco. She was torn between feeling panicked and feeling like an idiot for freaking out. But where was he?
After a moment's hesitation, she made up her mind, and quickly turned on the spot, disappearing into blackness and nothingness. She reappeared a moment later on the front lawn of the Manor.
As she ran across the wide, perfect lawn, she felt an overwhelming surge of déjà vu wash over her. She had run across this very lawn less than a year ago, trying to find Draco when the cursed ring she'd been wearing had suddenly slipped off her finger. She might have smiled at the recollection if it hadn't been for the fact that he had actually been dead in that situation, and that was definitely something she didn't need to be thinking of right now.
She finally reached the door and raised her hand to knock, clutching her side with the other hand as she struggled to catch her breath. The door swung open before she could even touch it to knock.
"Hermione?"
"Draco? What the hell?!"
"Wait, what are you doing here?" he asked, taking her gently by the shoulders to steady her. It took her a moment to realize this was because she probably looked like she was going to pass out. She certainly felt like it.
"What are you doing here? You were supposed to meet me, remember?" she gasped as he led her into the entranceway where their voices echoed too loudly around her ears. Ow. Now I have a headache, too.
"Oh. Oh!" Understanding dawned on Draco's face like the sun coming over a mountain range. He hit himself savagely on the forehead with the heel of his hand, suddenly looking furious. "I can't believe I forgot; I'm such an idiot…"
Suddenly the pieces seem to fall into place all around Hermione and she could think again.
"You…forgot?" she asked softly. Draco's eyes flashed to her face, suddenly wary. He must have heard the anger brewing in her voice. Good.
Suddenly Draco was tugging her into a small room off the entrance hall, probably to get her out of there before she started screaming at him and attracted the attention of the entire house. She glanced around, trying to calm herself, and realized they were in a room that was probably used for when the Manor hosted large parties. It was still bigger than her bedroom.
"So," she said, regaining her composure a bit and folding her arms across her chest.
"Hermione, calm down; you look like you're going to explode."
"It's a good thing I'm not out there in the hallway, then; I wouldn't want to get exploded bits of Hermione all over your mother's floor."
"Be serious," Draco said, his eyebrows drawing together.
"I'm being serious, Draco," she bit out, "it's not me who's been going around forgetting important dates."
His expression changed again, and he dropped down onto one of the benches that lined the room, head in his hands.
"Oh, please," Hermione growled, rolling her eyes. She was not about to fall for his melodramatic nonsense today. He raised his head to look at her, completely crestfallen.
"I don't know how I could have forgotten," he said quietly, not quite meeting her eyes.
"Could you spare me the theatrics, please? I don't really feel like standing around in your mother's coatroom for the rest of the day."
"What is wrong with you? Why are you suddenly channeling Professor McGonagall?"
This was the final straw, in Hermione's opinion. She turned on her heel and marched out of the coatroom, then the entranceway, without a single word. She could hear Draco a step and a half behind her, but she wasn't worried. Once she had made it halfway across the yard, she would Apparate out of here, if only she could just get there in time…
"Hermione, wait!" Draco called. He was practically running to keep up with her. Only a few more feet now…
She stopped and turned, eyebrows raised. Draco stopped, too, about three yards from where she was standing, his arms helplessly hanging at his sides, his expression miserable.
"I think that you should probably not owl me for a couple of days," she said, her voice surprising her by coming out rather shaky and broken. She realized that tears were streaming down her cheeks now without her even knowing when or how they'd begun.
Draco just stared after her as she spun on the spot and vanished.
"Excellent! Excellent news, thank you, Winky," Daphne Greengrass was sitting in her usual chair before the fireplace in her personal study, while a small house elf cowered in front of her, fidgeting and looking as if it wanted very much to leave, but couldn't.
"Please keep me updated on any further progress, then. That will be all."
The house elf squeaked and hurried to escape the room after being dismissed, accidentally upsetting a small table that was laid for tea. The tea set clattered to the floor, cakes flew everywhere, and hot water poured all over the rug.
"You clumsy fool!" the girl gasped, waving her wand so that instantly the entire mess was gone, leaving the house elf rooted to the spot, frozen in the action of trying to pick up the now non-existent tea set. "Out! Get out now and leave me in peace!"
The elf needed no further encouragement; it was gone before the girl could blink again. Daphne settled back into her armchair with a sigh.
"Now, all that remains is to wait…since it was so easy to drive a rift between them already, I don't think our interference will be needed again. They'll drive themselves apart quite nicely without any help, I think."
She smiled and rubbed her thin hands together, a wild exultant expression twisting her pretty face.
"And to think that all we had to do was slip him some forgetfulness potion in his morning coffee! It was almost too easy! Ha!"
She sighed again and closed her eyes, leaning her cheek upon her hand.
"Now we wait."
A/N 2 : So I've combed through the suggestions that you guys have been sending in, and I've narrowed it down to two choices. Thank you for sending in your titles, everyone! Next chapter I post I'll tell you more about how I'm going to let YOU choose between the finalists for the name of this story, yay! See you Friday!