Chapter Eight: The Show Must Go On
Vienna Lockwood held her head high as she entered the set to finish filming the fifth episode of Life With Annie. She heard the whispers about her and her baby. About how she'd accused Draco and then it was found out that the baby was really her ex-boyfriend's, who didn't want to have anything to do with her. Luckily, for her, the people who gossiped, their jobs depended on her keeping her job and they couldn't leak her story out because once it hit the news, people wouldn't be very interested in her television character and that could mean no show.
Vienna felt ashamed. Here she was, being coined as the best role model for witches between ages 13 - 25 and she was pregnant with a child she barely had the money to take care of and the father wanted nothing to do with the baby. Plus, the only person that really ever made her feel wanted had turned away from her after he found out he wasn't the father. She could barely contain her tears when they did scenes together, but she'd countered it with rude remarks and such. The characters were best friends, who had grown up together and told each other everything. It was getting harder and harder to act like that when, in real life, Draco barely acknowledged her.
Vienna, sat down in her makeup chair, waiting for her makeup and hair to be done. She noticed Draco sitting in the corner, going over his lines. He'd always done that. Practiced his lines right up until the time he was in front of the camera. She felt the need to say something, but didn't know how to bring up anything with him. She racked her brain.
"The lines seem to get more numerous with every episode, don't they?"
Draco looked up, and then spotted who was talking to him. Not wanting to be completely rude, he replied. "Yeah, I guess."
Vienna could hear the annoyance in his voice, but she went on, anyway. "I heard you were at the Potter's party. I wish I'd been invited, but the exclusive is coming out tomorrow, so I'll just read about it. Did you have a good time?"
"Sure. I had a regular, out-of-my-mind, fun time." Sarcasm was dripping from every word, and a bit of ire, too.
"It was that bad, huh?"
"Listen, Vienna, is there a reason you're talking to me?" Draco asked with a sigh.
"I've been wanting to say I'm sorry for a long time. I sort of knew you weren't the father and I shouldn't have cheated on you. It's not like me, at all."
Draco walked over and gave Vienna his full attention now. "Well, how are you, exactly?"
"I want to tell you, but I have to be able to trust that what I tell you will not leave the privacy of just us."
"It won't and if you value the friendship we had, you might want to try and trust me."
"Okay, I don't even know where to start." Vienna cleared her throat. "I grew up in a house where I was ignored and shunned most of the time. I grew up being insecure and thinking I was worth nothing and I had this boyfriend, we've been together for years, off and on, and he makes me feel like someone ... sometimes. And then you came along, and you made me feel like a princess for the first time in my life. But when my boyfriend, his name is Treve by the way, came back to me he treated me special and I knew it was because of the money, but I bought it anyway. We were together, he borrowed some money, then left. You were the only person I could go back to. Then I figured that I was pregnant and, even though I knew it was Treve's, I knew you'd take care of it if it was yours. That you'd take care of us. So, I told you it was yours and hoped you would just accept it. I feel bad for even having thought about doing that to you. Now, Treve doesn't want anything to do with me and my parents told me I'd better not show up at their door with any babies ... so, I've got nowhere to go and Miss Granger still hasn't told me what's going to happen with the show. If I don't keep this job, I don't know how I'm going to support us." Vienna rubbed her stomach, as tears streaked her cheeks.
"Vienna, not to sound like my character, but you really need to get a better picture of yourself." Draco ran his fingers through his hair. He was never really good at giving advice, but he'd try. "I don't know why you think you're not good enough. You were good enough to get my attention, weren't you?"
"For a few nights of sex. I may be young, but I'm not completely stupid. You were just using me as entertainment until something better came along."
Draco couldn't deny what Vienna just said. It was true.
"And I can tell you're distracted a lot. You have been ever since I met you. It's like you're always thinking. What about?"
Draco was caught off guard by the question. "Well, I do think, you know."
"I mean, even when we were ... you know ... you seemed to be in another place. Not really with me."
Draco knew what she meant. All those times together ... with Vienna and all the other women since he started having the feelings... he was thinking of only one person. Hermione Granger.
Hermione was sitting in her office, it was almost lunch time and Winson couldn't make it to take her out. She was a little let down because Winson was always busy. But, then again, so was she. She knew he was held up in his own office, doing some paperwork that was already a few days late. She felt a bit bad that he was stuck under a pile of papers. She'd done it enough to know how bad it was.
Then an idea came to Hermione's mind. She'd just pick up some lunch and go take it to Winson. He may not be able to leave his office, but he certainly didn't have to go hungry. Hermione smiled. It was nice to be able to do this. She'd seen Ginny do it many times for Harry and she'd always been a little jealous of it. Now, she could do it for once.
Hermione grabbed her cloak and headed out into the unusually cold summer's day.
Hermione stepped into Winson's secretary's office and saw no one. The secretary must have left for lunch. This was just too perfect. No one would be there to disturb her and Winson during lunch. Hermione held the basket of food she'd gotten from Bullets in her hands. She wasn't sure if she should knock on the door or just open it. She heard the desk move, maybe Winson was doing paperwork as she stood there. She gave a dainty knock and heard what she thought was Winson saying come in.
"Oh My Gods!!!"
Hermione dropped the basket in her hand. Food flew from the basket, landing on her feet, legs, and on the floor and desk of the office. She couldn't take her eyes off Winson, who just a second ago, had been pounding his secretary into the desk. Now, the secretary was scrambling around, trying to get her shoes and blouse. Winson was staring at Hermione's stunned face.
"Hermione, it's not what it looks like. Kelli was helping me with my paper work and ..."
"Winson, how could you do something like this?! I - ugh!!!"
Hermione felt rage build up in her heart. It ran up her chest and into her shoulder. Down right her arm, past her elbow and it flew straight into her balled up fist. She swung and Winson fell back against his desk, holding his stinging face. The secretary, who had been watching the scene, quickly exited the room, wanting to escape Hermione's wrath. Hermione advanced on Winson, ignoring the food that crunched and gushed under her feet.
"Draco saw right through you. He didn't like you and I wondered why. Of course he would know a womanizer ... he is one. Why didn't I listen to him and just leave after he left the restaurant that day? He was probably going to tell me, but he didn't want to make me angry. I wouldn't have listened anyway. Ahhhrrrggghhh!!!!" Hermione screamed.
Hermione stepped on Winson's toe, hard, causing him to yell out in pain. She spat onto the floor, even though she usually hated spitting, and stepped out of the office, slamming the door behind her. She looked over to the secretary, who was cowering by her desk.
"Love, if you want him, you can have him. He'll probably just fuck you a few more times and leave you for another cheating whore like yourself. I can't believe you did this, when you knew we were together. And all those times, acting so nice and friendly. Innocent! You two deserve each other."
And with that, Hermione stormed home, not noticing the strange stares she got from the people on the street. She'd completely forgotten that her feet and legs were splattered with food and her shoes were trailing the spilled food she'd ordered for herself and Winson.
"Has anyone seen, Hermione? She should be back by now." Ginny yelled onto the set. She thought Hermione was going to have lunch with Winson, but when she called, Winson wouldn't say a word to her. Just hung up on her.
The only people left on set were Draco and Vienna, and maybe a crew boy, but he was somewhere else, now that the episode was wrapped. They'd been filling each other in on what had been going on while they had been apart. Draco and Vienna looked over to Ginny.
"I haven't seen her since this morning." Vienna offered.
"I saw her a few minutes before lunch, why?" Draco said, wondering where Hermione was. They may not talk very much, but he knew she NEVER left work before six in the evening.
"She went to go see Winson and I haven't seen her since. Samantha said she hasn't returned and I really need her input on the season finale show." Ginny said. She had hoped Draco knew where she was, but now she was getting worried. "I better go to Winson's office to see if they know where she went, and then stop at her house."
"I'll go to her house. That way, you can see if Winson knows where she is ... and not worry about going to see if Hermione is at home. You should get back to your house ... and into bed in your condition." Draco said, not wanting to say that he was worried for Hermione. He'd told Vienna a number of things, but he hadn't told her about Hermione and he certainly wasn't going to tell Ginny. She talked too much.
"Okay. If you really want to." Ginny said. She could tell by Draco's weak excuse that something was going on. What? She didn't know. "Just call me from her fireplace if she's there. Otherwise, I'll come over after I see Winson and we'll figure it out from there."
"Goodbye, Vienna." Both Ginny and Draco called to the form sitting on the couch in front of the break room.
Draco apparated as quickly as possible to Hermione's flat. He'd never actually been there, but he'd heard her give out the address in passing. The color of the flat was a rich coffee colour, detailed with a burgundy/wine colour. He walked up to the door and rang the doorman, since he didn't think Hermione would let him in even if she was there.
After lying to the doorman about being Hermione's brother who hadn't seen her in years, Draco raced up the stairs and to the very top flat. He pulled his wand out, ready to attack if anyone ambushed him, and knocked on the door. He had to wait for a few minutes, but finally Hermione answered. She looked like hell. Mascara ran down her face. Blusher imprinted with tears and fingerprints. Lip gloss was smeared over her mouth, nose, and cheeks. And her hair was even messier than it usually was.
"What the hell happened to you, Granger?"
"You were right about him. I can't believe I didn't see it." Hermione said, simply. She stepped back and walked into the house, falling back onto the couch she'd been crying on since she got home.
Draco walked in, even though she hadn't invited him in. He closed the door, but didn't lock it. He watched as she started crying again. He wasn't sure what to do. He usually stayed away from witches when they cried. It was one reason his relationships never lasted very long. Once a witch started getting emotional, tears would flow, and he'd have to leave.
"Granger- Hermione, what are you talking about? Who was I right about?"
Hermione gave a slight hiccup and brought her face up out of the couch cushion. "Winson. I walked in on him and his secretary at lunch and ... oh, Malfoy, I don't know what's wrong with me. I haven't had a bloke stay with me ... I mean, even Ron and I split up. But then again, we were better friends. Is something wrong with me, Malfoy?"
"No. No. Nothing is wrong with you." Draco said, wondering why today, of all days, he had to have so many run-ins with witches who thought they were nothing. He briefly thought back to what an article said about the show. 'The show Life With Annie really gives witches, especially young witches, reasons to feel good about themselves when most of the time they are told they aren't good enough, not pretty enough, not thin enough. It's about time witches get a role model who is not the perfect girl and she's perfectly fine with herself and doesn't need anyone's approval.' Maybe Hermione had been right back in seventh year when she said that all wizards like him did was give witches reason to hate themselves and become emotional wrecks that no one wants to deal with later. "Hermione, Winson was stupid. He didn't know what a wonderful witch he had. I'm sorry for him because he'll never get the chance to really get to know you. The beautiful person you are ... inside ... and out."
Hermione stopped crying. She couldn't believe her ears. Sure, her and Malfoy had become sort of like buddies over the years, but he'd never said something so ... beautiful and actually sound sincere about it.
"Thanks, Malfoy. I needed that. I just - I'm usually not like this." Hermione gestured to her face and her clothing.
"That's okay. I kind of like it." Draco laughed. "Scary Spice, mixed with a little Broken-Hearted Spice."
"I have no idea how you know about the Spice Girls, and I'm not even going to ask." Hermione laughed. "I'm going to go clean myself up. The kitchen's over there. Help yourself ... unless you want to leave now that you know where I am."
"I wouldn't leave if you paid me to."
"Draco!" Ginny called through the door. It was open, so she'd just come on in. She was relieved when she saw Hermione walk out of the bedroom, but that turned into alarm when she saw a cut on her arm. "Oh, Hermione what happened?"
"Nothing, Gin. I accidentally cut myself when my scissors fell out of the drawer."
"Oh. So, where have you been?" Ginny asked, eyeing Draco, who was sitting at the dining table, chewing on a croissant.
"You will never believe what happened. Winson was cheating on me." Hermione said, sitting down on her living room couch where'd she'd been a while earlier.
"Cheating? Winson? Who knew he had it in him?" Ginny shook her head, getting back to Hermione. "I mean, you must be distraught."
"Not really, anymore. Draco sat here and talked to me a bit and I've already started getting over that bastard."
Ginny gave Hermione a look. She barely ever cursed. "I wish you didn't have to go through that. You've been though so much with wizards. Sometimes, I wish I could kill them all to make you feel better."
"You could if you used the AK unforgivable." Draco said, matter-of-factly.
"I wouldn't want you to do that, Ginny. There are a few good wizards out there ... I just have not been lucky enough to find myself one." Hermione said, sighing and letting her head fall on her best friend's shoulder.
"Don't worry. I'm sure there's one right under your nose." Ginny said, looking at Draco, who was eating the last of his croissant and staring at the stain Hermione's tears and makeup left on the couch cushion. "And like they say, 'The show must go on."
A/N: Uh, yeah. So Winson cheated on Hermione. Well, he was cheating before Hermione actually went out with him, so ... yeah. Anyway, I saw this as a way of getting Hermione to think more. You know, about just because a wizard seems good doesn't mean he is good. And just because a wizard seems bad, doesn't mean he is. You get it?
Did anyone notice Winson's secretary's name? It's Kelli. My friend's name. She wanted to be written into the fic, but not as a big character, just making a small appearance. Just to be able to get on the 'net and know her name is in a story. Of course, Kelli is nothing like her character. She'd never cheat on someone ... I hope.
A Little Something:
Hermione: So, Draco and I got cheated on in this story. What's with you and all this betrayal? Have you been hurt recently?
Author: That's really none of your business if I have been.
Draco: Oh, leave her alone, Hermione. She's only writing what comes to her.
Hermione: You know, Draco, the author told me you're going to get hurt in a chapter very soon...
Draco: Hurt?! By who?!
Author: I can't reveal that right now. You'll have to wait and see.
Draco: I bet you I don't. Now, if I do something for you, will you tell me?
(Author whispers in the Draco's ear and he pales)
Author: And only if you do it twice.
Draco: Hey, I'm not going to watch baby movies with your niece and nephew while you go out on a date ... twice.
Hermione laughs her ass off.
