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DPOV
"Hey, wow. You look...wow."
Granger stood up and hugged who I now knew was Micah, and said, "Thank you, you look 'wow' too."
Micah ran a hand through his hair, and finally took his eyes of Granger long enough to address the rest of the table.
"Hey guys."
Blaise and Theo said hello, but I just nodded.
Why the fuck was he even here?
Why the fuck was I mad that he was?
I shook my head and took a deep breath, "Why don't you join us?"
He looked over at Granger, who had sat back down next to me.
She looked up at him and smiled, "Yeah, you should join us. Catch up with everyone."
I fought the urge to laugh. The only person Micah wanted to catch up with was her - not that I blamed him.
He took a seat by Theo - thank god - and turned to talk with them.
"I didn't know Micah would be here." I said, turning towards Granger.
"And I was supposed to know?"
"He's your friend."
"It's your parents house." she countered, glaring at me.
"Why would my parents invite him?"
"Why would I?"
"Because you like him." The words were out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying, but I knew what I said was true, and it pissed me off.
"Are you kidding me?" she snapped, "Last I checked I was allowed to have friends."
I laughed, but it wasn't because I was actually amused, "Right, because you stay out with friends until five in the morning after ditching your friends at the -"
"First of all, I didn't ditch anyone at the club. You guys were all off doing something, so I went off and did something too. As for hanging out until five in the morning, we've stayed out even later. Does that mean that I like you too now?"
I rolled my eyes, "We're friends, Granger -"
"We're friends too." she snapped, obviously trying to keep her voice down.
I took a deep breath, shutting my mouth before I pissed her off even more, because I really didn't want to fight with her.
"Fine." I said, looking back over at her.
She was still glaring at me, her arms crossed in front of her.
I leaned forward and grazed my lips over her ear before saying, "Please don't be mad at me."
She sighed and said, "I'm not mad."
"Promise?" I asked, leaning back far enough to see her face.
She chuckled, "Yes, I promise."
I smiled and sat back in my seat. I don't know why, but hearing her say that she and Micah were just friends made me feel better.
Not that I didn't want her to be happy, but -
"Hey Drakey, I was wondering when I'd find you."
I looked up and saw Pansy standing in front of the table in a dress that I could only assume resembled a peacock.
Not to say it looked bad per say, just...interesting.
The pattern of the skirt - which was one of those really weird poofy tulle things - was that of a peacock's feathers, and the bodice was a darker blue that had jewels along the neckline - which, if I knew Pansy, were there to attract more attention to her cleavage. Her mask was the same darker blue and one side had a peacock feather on it.
I couldn't help but think that Granger looked better. Pansy's was over the top and loud and meant to command attention, but Granger's was...it was her.
And plenty of people had been looking at her when we came in - and still were now.
"Hey Pansy."
The rest of the group, minus Granger, chorused hello's as well.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" she asked, taking a seat next to me.
I looked over at Granger and smirked, "Yeah, we're having a great time."
She rolled her eyes, but a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
Her perfectly pouty red lips...
Fuck.
I shook my head and looked back over at Pansy, who seemed to be trying to figure out what to think of Granger's dress.
She seemed to come to a conclusion and looked back over at me, "Seems you have great taste in dresses."
"She picked it, I just paid." I said with a shrug.
Granger was looking over at Blaise, Theo, and Micah, no doubt wishing to be on that side of the table.
I sighed. I wished that Pansy and Granger could just get along. It would make my life a whole lot easier.
"Well it looks great." said Pansy, looking over at Granger.
Granger seemed to realize that she was talking to her, and her eyes widened slightly before she said, "Thanks." and then turned her attention back to Micah, who was apparently asking her something.
A few seconds later she said, "If you'll excuse me." and stood up.
She took Micah's hand and he led her onto the dance floor, and since he already knew about her lack of dance skill - they did go to prom together - they just swayed back and forth.
I wonder if that's what we had looked like earlier, because they looked like a couple having a private moment, not friends sharing a dance.
"...dance?"
I looked back over at Pansy and shook my head, "What?"
She rolled her eyes, "I asked you if you wanted to dance."
I glanced over at Blaise and Theo who were shaking their heads. All of a sudden my phone vibrated in my pocket once and I pulled it out.
Blaise: You do NOT dance with Pans, you go and interrupt M & H. NOW.
I rolled my eyes and looked back over at Micah and Granger, who looked to be doing just fine without me.
Draco: Doesn't look like she wants to be interrupted.
With that I put my phone back in my pocket and took Pansy's hand, leading her out onto the dance floor.
"Your mom did a great job with this." she said, looking around the dance floor as we danced in step with the music.
This was how dancing was supposed to go, but I took one glance over at Micah and Granger and I knew I'd rather be doing that than this.
Not that I didn't like Pansy's company. She seemed to be having one of her 'good days'.
"Yeah, she worked hard."
"It shows." she said softly.
We danced in silence for a few moments before she spoke up again.
"Can I ask you something, Draco?"
"Sure."
"What is it that you see in Hermione?"
I raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
She rolled her eyes, "I'm not stupid. Anyone with eyes can see the chemistry the two of you -"
"We're friends."
"No," she said, a smirk on her face, "I know what being friends with you is like. We're friends. You and Hermione...you guys...you guys are definitely not friends."
"God, not you too. Everyone has this stupid idea that we like each other and -"
"Theo told me that you guys are sleeping together."
Oh. "So?"
"Look, I like you. You know I like you, but I'm not stupid enough to think that you'd pick me over her -"
"I'm not picking anybody -"
"Would you just shut up and let me talk?" she asked narrowing her eyes.
I sighed, but nodded.
"You guys like each other, and if you keep acting like you don't, she's going to get away. That," she said, nodding over to Micah, "Is your competition. They have history that the two of you don't have. He knows her as a girlfriend, but I still think you have the advantage."
"Advantage?"
"Well for one, you're already sleeping together, and for two you know her better than any of us do. You've been her best friend since day one. That means something." she said.
I was starting to get a headache from this.
Why was Pansy of all people telling me that I needed to go after Granger?
"Why are you telling me this?"
She sighed and looked up at me, "Because, contrary to popular belief, I'm not a bad person. I do care about you, and I want you to be happy. Don't get me wrong, I'm still not a fan of Hermione, but I don't have to be. It's not about me."
Wow. That was unexpected.
"So go. Before you regret it. I know what that's like too." she said, a sad smile on her face as she pushed me in the direction of Granger.
I had no idea what it was that she expected me to do, because I still wasn't sure that I even felt what everyone was telling me that I was feeling, and even if I was I didn't know that I'd want to have a relationship - or that she did.
Granger saw me walking towards her, and stopped 'dancing' with Micah.
"Hey," she said, eyebrow raised.
"Hey," I said, the capacity for speech suddenly leaving me.
Why did she have to look so...so...fucking hell I needed to get a grip. She was still the girl I'd known for most of my life.
"I'm, uh, going to go get a drink." mumbled Micah.
Granger barely glanced at him, before turning back to me.
"Dance with me." I said, for lack of anything to say.
She tilted her head to the side, something she did when something really made her think - apparently me this time - before she stepped over to me.
Her arms went up to my shoulders and mine slid to her waist. Since we already knew actual dancing wasn't going to happen, I just pulled her closer, like we'd been before.
"Pansy looks great tonight." she said softly, her cool breath tickling my neck.
I chuckled, "You look great tonight. Stunning, like Blaise said."
I heard the smile in her voice when she said, "Well you're just full of compliments for me, aren't you? First you call me pretty, then I'm gorgeous, then you love me, then I look great, and now I look stunning. I'm rather liking all this."
I smirked and traced a pattern on her lower back with my thumbs before saying, "I've complimented you before."
She nodded, "Yeah, I suppose that's true."
We swayed in comfortable silence for a while before she lifted her head from my chest and looked up at me with a smirk.
"Anybody ever tell you you're a great dancer?"
I laughed and said, "Oh no, this is all you. I couldn't look this great without you."
She smiled, a slight pink tint coming to her cheeks before she said, "Of course not. I'm amazing."
I looked down at her, finally realizing how close we were - close enough for me to see the little flecks of gold in her toffee colored eyes - and said, "Yeah, you are."
She took in a sharp breath, her eyes never leaving mine.
I don't exactly remember how it happened, just that it did.
We both stopped swaying at one point or another, and I slid my hand to her cheek, the other resting on her waist, and leaned down, pressing my lips to hers.
She sighed, and I felt her hands in the hair at the nape of my neck as she kissed me back. It wasn't like how we usually kissed...more so like the way I'd kissed her earlier after we'd had sex.
It was...nice.
After a moment I pulled away and looked down at her, and she still had a confused look on her face, but her cheeks were tinted pink.
"What was that for?" she asked softly.
"I wanted to."
Her eyes widened and she glanced around, "People are staring."
I shrugged, "Can't really say that I care."
She chuckled and stepped closer to me, resting her head on my chest again and said, "Are you making this complicated, Malfoy?"
I smirked, "Maybe."
I glanced over at our table, and Blaise and Theo were grinning like Cheshire cats - and for some bloody reason I returned the smile.
Actually I knew what the reason was, and she was currently playing with my hair.
"I didn't know your dad knew Micah."
I turned to see where she was looking, and sure enough my father was talking to him over by where the glasses of champagne were.
"I didn't think he did. I mean he knew of him since you guys dated for a while." I said with a shrug.
"Maybe it's because he owns that art gallery in Paris." she said.
I shrugged, "Maybe,"
I knew that probably wasn't the case, because my dad was the last person that would care about art. But he didn't care for construction either, and was still planning on working with Parkinson Construction.
I didn't want to think about it though, because I was perfectly happy right where I was.
HPOV
Confused wasn't even the word.
Dumbstruck. Confounded. Baffled. Befuddled. Bewildered. Perplexed. Discombobulated.
I had absolutely no idea why Malfoy had kissed me like that, but I couldn't exactly say that I didn't like it...
Okay, I loved it. I was willing to admit that I had some feelings for Malfoy that went beyond our casual arrangement - and maybe he did too - but that didn't change what we'd said.
Relationships were complicated and they could ruin our friendship.
Then again, Ginny had said something to me on the phone earlier today that did make some sense.
"You guys already basically act like you're dating, what would be the difference?"
"That we'd actually be dating!" I said, running a hand through my hair.
I heard her laugh on the other end of the line before she said, "Mione, you need to relax. You weren't like this with Micah or Ron or anyone really."
"I know, but they weren't my best friends, Gin. What if putting a label on what we are ruins everything?"
"But what if it makes everything five thousand times better?"
I hadn't known what to say to that, but I had to admit that dating Malfoy didn't sound like a horrible idea.
The problem was that I didn't know what he thought about the whole thing.
Then again, why would he have kissed me, here of all places? We never really did anything like that in public, because everywhere but in our flat we were just friends.
I needed to stop thinking about this before I ended up with a migraine.
"As much as I'd love to continue to grace these lovely people with my amazing dancing, I think I want to sit." I said with a chuckle.
He smirked and nodded, taking my arm and leading me back to the table.
I looked over at Blaise and Theo, who were smirking at Malfoy.
"Anybody ever tell you you're a great dancer, Hermione?" asked Theo, smiling over at me.
I rolled my eyes, "Your sarcasm has been noted."
He laughed, "Then my job here is done. I'm going to go see if that beauty in the green wants to dance."
With that he walked across the dance floor, and did in fact get the girl to dance with him.
Blaise stayed seated, that smirk still in place from earlier.
"You know, your face might get stuck like that."
He looked over at me and laughed, "Indeed. Have either of you seen Micah?"
I pointed over to where he and Lucius were still talking, and Blaise raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't think he'd take my advice now."
"What advice?" I asked, taking a sip of the champagne that Malfoy handed me.
"I told him he should talk to Lucius about working together on an advertising campaign for his business, and since Malfoy Industries is known everywhere, I figured it'd be a good shot."
Malfoy raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
"Well I hope he convinces Lucius to do it. He's worked hard." I said.
Blaise nodded, "Not many people can say they started their own business and ended up turning it into a widely known company by age twenty five."
"Did he tell you where they were advertising to?" asked Malfoy.
"Yeah, China. Most of Europe and the UK have branches of the business there, and there's even a few in America. China's the next logical step."
Malfoy and I both nodded, and then he turned to me.
"Even if my father says no, I'll just say yes in three months when I take over."
My eyes widened out of surprise. I hadn't exactly felt like Malfoy liked Micah too much, but apparently I was wrong.
Or he was just doing it for me.
Either way it was nice.
"Wow, really?"
He nodded, "You guys used to be really close. It's the least I could do."
"Always knew you had a soft spot." said Blaise, "Never thought it'd be towards Micah."
"It's not." said Malfoy, his eyes on me.
Blaise chuckled and said, "Well I'm going to go...somewhere that isn't here, and do something other than...this."
He stood up and walked over to where Micah was now standing without Lucius, and they fell into conversation, leaving Malfoy and I at the table alone.
"When I asked you if you were making things complicated, and you said maybe...what did you mean?" I asked softly.
He sighed and pulled my chair over to him so that we were a mere inches apart and said, "I don't know, Granger. It seems like it's already complicated."
I couldn't help but chuckle, "Yeah, it kinda is."
He ran a hand through his hair and leaned forward as if he was telling me a secret, and asked, "Is it bad that I don't mind?"
My eyes widened and I opened and closed my mouth a few times before I finally managed to ask, "What does that mean...for us?"
"What do you want it to mean?"
I took a deep breath. This was exactly what Ginny had been talking about. Telling him how I felt. Taking a risk.
But I didn't know if I was ready for that.
"I don't know." I said softly, "I just...I care about you, you know that. I just...I don't know how...I mean it's just -"
Instead of letting me continue to ramble, he leaned forward and kissed me again.
I relaxed into the kiss, because this was something I understood with him. This was what we were good at.
Then again, we hung out all the time, knew almost everything about each other, and had sex...Ginny was right, that was a relationship.
Except it wasn't, because titles made things complicated.
But like he'd said, this was already complicated.
I pulled away and looked at him, "What is it that you want?"
Before he could reply Micah, Theo, and Blaise were headed back over to the table.
I sat back in my seat, trying to slow my heartbeat, and a moment later Malfoy sat back too.
He ran a hand through his hair again and sighed, before saying, "How much longer is this thing supposed to last?"
"It's only midnight, mate." said Theo, "Last years ended at what time? Like two?"
Blaise nodded in confirmation and Malfoy just sighed.
I was tired, not that I was going to admit it, but I was more than ready to go home and go to bed.
I put my elbow on the table and rested my head in my hand, trying to focus on what Micah and Theo were talking about, while Blaise and Malfoy spoke about god-knows-what.
I didn't know where Malfoy and I stood as of right now, probably in the same place we stood before we came here to be honest.
I was okay with that, in a way. Things were easier this way - complicated, but not too complicated.
I listened to the soothing sounds of the live violinists, and found myself drifting off, before I managed to catch myself.
Malfoy happened to have been looking over at me and chuckled, "We'll leave soon."
I just nodded, suppressing a yawn, and before I knew it I'd nodded off again. I caught myself in time so that no one - except Malfoy of course - saw.
Malfoy chuckled and pulled my chair so that it was right next to his.
"Lean on me. I'm worried you'll end up falling off the damn chair." he said with a smirk.
I would've had some sarcastic response, but I was too tired to think of one, so instead I rested my head on his shoulder, and he casually wrapped his arm around my waist while he continued his conversation with Blaise.
The violin music mixed with the soothing pattern his thumb was tracing against my side had me quickly falling asleep again.
When I woke up it was to Malfoy gently whispering in my ear.
"Come on Granger, we're going home."
I groaned, but opened my eyes. Blaise, Theo, and Micah were nowhere to be found.
"Micah wanted me to tell you goodbye. He said he'd call you later about the job."
I just nodded, not really paying attention. I just wanted to sleep. I glanced over at the giant grandfather clock and it read half past three.
Oh my god, I needed to be home and in bed.
"Come on," he said, helping me to my feet.
He kept his arm around my waist and I leaned into his side trying to force my eyes to stay open.
When we stepped outside into the cool October air I thought that would wake me up, but it didn't. It just made me scoot closer to Malfoy as we walked towards his car.
He opened the door for me, and I got in, kicking my shoes off and curling up on the seat facing him.
I barely registered Malfoy pushing a stray curl from my face, his fingers lingering on my cheek for a moment, before I fell asleep.
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