A/N: Yay, update time! And I'm doing a lot better now, aren't I? It's only been one week. This chapter is longer because I'm in such a happy mood. My favorite band's CD, singularity, just came out today, and I love it! Go listen to MAE.
I love this story so much, and I thought a lot of you guys did, too. What happened since 'Dear Diary' was finished? Everyone loved that story… Only four reviews on my last chapter!! What do I need to do to find more people to read my story? Please anyone give me some ideas.
And please, please review.
Chapter Eight
Draco's Mistake
Draco Malfoy was pacing back and forth in his living room, looking absolutely livid. His arms were crossed roughly across his chest and he took long and forceful steps.
First, he had found out that Hermione was getting attached to another man, very quickly, too. And it didn't help his frustration when he found out what was going on at work. Being around that woman completely frustrated him, and he had no idea as to why that was. The first thing that popped into his mind was that he was still not over the whole New Year's incident.
But deep down he knew there was more to it.
There was an air of impatience around him, but it all disappeared when his best friend emerged through the fireplace.
"Is this really so important that you had to interrupt me and Ginny?" He asked, brushing some soot off of his shirt.
"Humph," he exclaimed, dropping down with a muffled thud on his sofa.
"What is it, Draco?" Blaise asked, soft of annoyed. He'd had enough of his ranting and complaining.
"What do you think it is, you dolt?"
"I'm not going to help you if all you're going to do is insult me and not listen to me!"
"Fine… It's Granger…"
"Let me guess…" Blaise began, tapping his finger on his chin, pretending to think, "you're jealous because Hermione found an honest boyfriend, one you didn't hire to break her heart, and she's happy. Is that it?"
"…In a nutshell, yes." Draco lifted himself off of the sofa and began his maddening pacing again. "She's not supposed to be happy."
"And why not," the dark haired man asked in confusion, "she has just as much of a right as you do to be happy."
"Not when I'm here suffering everyday!"
"Now tell me, why are you suffering dear Draco?" he asked, acting like he was a psychiatrist.
"I don't know… Yes, what she did was stupid, but I think I've also acting foolishly, and I don't know what to do… what to do about these damn feelings, Blaise!"
"Well, first you need to stop calling her Granger, treat her with some respect. All she's trying to do is move on. She's already tried everything she could have to ask for forgiveness, but all you did was brush her away."
"What else was I supposed to? I walked in on her sleeping with some other guy! I was furious!" He threw his hands up in the air, exasperated, tired of fighting.
"I think you still are," Blaise replied wisely.
"Duh! But I don't want to be. All I want is to have her back in my arms again. Blaise, you know what love feels like, what would you feel if Ginny betrayed you, but the feeling of love was stronger than that of disappointment?"
"Of course I would want her back in a heartbeat. But it takes longer than that for things to heal."
They were silent for a moment with Draco still pacing and Blaise tapping his fingers on his knee.
"I know what I need to do." Draco raised his eyebrows in defeat. "I need to talk to her."
XXX
Hermione had just apparated into her apartment after a really long day at work. Madame Derwent held that aforementioned meeting, which in all actuality had taken longer than expected, and then she stayed and worked on reports that she absolutely needed to have finished.
She dropped her bag onto the couch, not giving it a second glace as she began to tug on the hem of her shirt, slipping it off over her head. When she reached her bedroom, she slid her shoes off, leaving them forgotten in the doorway to her closet. After taking the rest of her clothing off and throwing them into her hamper, she walked to the bathroom, eager for a bath.
Leaving the door cracked a bit for her cats to wander in and out, she went to start the water, also pouring some bubbles in, that she had bought from the spa she had visited earlier in the year.
When the tub was full enough, she slipped in, not even flinching from how hot the water was. She needed it and her muscles needed it more.
And just like she had expected, Crookshanks trotted into the bathroom, squeezing his way in, trying hard not to move the door. Then little Ivory followed in. Both cats sat on the small rug by the tub, looking intently at their owner.
It was weird. Hermione felt like her cats always knew when she was stressed, or at least when she wanted to be around someone. She did enjoy their company, even though she would never admit it out loud.
Meow. The older cat pleaded, asking for Hermione to speak up.
"What is it Crookshanks? Are you here to give me some love, too?"
Her soapy arm reached out of the tub and started scratching the orange cat behind the ear. She would never be surprised at the cat, he was never scared of anything, even water and bubbles.
"I met someone, you know?" She now spoke to both cats. "He's quite handsome. You'd like him Ivory."
Meow. The black cat tilted it head to the side, as if interested in hearing about this man.
"His name is Ian. He is quite the gentleman and a very good kisser. I met him last night, and he's taking me out on Friday. Isn't that exciting?"
Meow.
"I knew you would think so."
She turned away, satisfied with their conversation, if you would call it that, and began washing herself with the bubbles. When the bubbles had almost all evaporated, she turned back to her cats with another question.
"Do you think its okay for me to forget?"
No reply.
"I still do truly love him, but how can I linger on him forever if he'll never give me the chance."
Meow, the wise cat said, but really meant, you'll never forget.
Before Hermione could respond, she heard a loud thud coming from her living room. Frightened for her well-being, she quickly took hold of the thick black robe from the hook that it hung off and quickly tied the long rope around her body while getting out of the tub.
She took a good firm grip on her wand before stepping out of the room with her cats in tow.
Hermione instantly lowered her wand when she saw none other than Harry Potter trying to lift himself off the ground, rubbing his behind.
"Harry, what happened?" she asked worried while rushing to him as if he were one of the sick patients at St. Mungo's."
"It would seem obvious that I, the King of all clumsiness, have apparated onto your coffee table, giving my bum a nice sore to remember."
"Awh, you big baby… Want Miss Hermione to kiss it and make it all better?" she asked, playfully, chuckling as well while walking towards her kitchen.
"Here, just let me bend over," Harry joked back.
"So what brings you over tonight?"
Before answering, he sat down on one of the barstools on the other side of the kitchen, watching Hermione scramble through the cabinets and refrigerator.
"Nothing really. I did hear from a rather talkative bird that you finally met someone." Harry, being the rather funny person that he is, wiggled his eyebrows to make his point across.
"Actually," Hermione began, holding her head up high, while opening a box of pasta, "yes I did."
She continued on to explain what had happened the night before, and introducing the idea of Ian to Harry, all while fixing up a nice dinner of pasta and chicken.
"Well, he sounds like quite the catch. I'm happy for you Hermione."
"Yes, it is rather nice," she replied, not being able to rid the smile that took stayed on her features.
And before Hermione could ask Harry if he wanted to join herself and Ginny for dinner, an owl started tapping incessantly on the window. Without even asking, the black haired friend stood up and practically ran over to the window to let the owl in. After giving it a nice treat and some water, Harry let the owl back out.
"Here you go, Hermione," he said, dropping the small envelope on the counter in between the kitchen and the invisible bar he sat at.
Taking one look at it, Hermione turned it over and threw it towards the vases of flowers still on her dining room table.
"Are you not going to read it?"
"No need to," was her simple reply.
"Who's it from, then?"
Taking a minute to answer, she said, "no one who is of any concern to me now. I recognized his handwriting."
After taking the hint, Harry didn't press the subject on anymore. It was still a sore subject with Hermione, and from experience, he knew that old loves take a while to forget about the pain, even if someone new walks in.
"I was going to ask you earlier, but did you want to stay for dinner, Harry? Ginny's coming over and I have plenty. Maybe I might even invite Ron."
"Sounds good. Thanks Hermione. I bet he's probably already had dinner with Lavender, but knowing dear old Ron, he would be happy for another meal."
"Too true, Harry."
"I'll go owl him."
XXX
Friday evening dawned quickly on Hermione and she promised that nothing would take down the smile on her face, not even the though of all the letters she received from Draco throughout the past few days. There was a pile quickly growing on her dining table, and she never bothered replying to them, or even opening them.
She thought that taking a peek at anything he had to say would just ruin the unbelievable high she was on. Even though she hadn't direct contact with Ian since Valentine's Day, she was all the more excited for their date that night. He had owled her that morning at work, though, in order to get her address. Nothing more.
Ian hadn't told her any details, so Hermione had no idea what to expect of their night. She didn't know whether to dress up or not, so she asked Ginny what to do about the situation. Her friend told her to put on a beautiful dress and fix her hair, and if they didn't go anywhere fancy to just change her clothes. It was easier to dress down than dress up.
The clock in her living room indicated that it was now seven o'clock, one hour left, so she stepped out of the bathtub to get ready. And no doubt her cats were following her out of the bathroom. There was no way in hell they wanted to miss this.
After twenty minutes of debating and arguing with her closet, she picked a nice halter dress. It wasn't too long (she wasn't going to a ball you know) but it wasn't too short (and she's not a tramp), it was just perfect with flowing layers of fabric at her knees.
The only thing she didn't like was the color. It was a very light blue, practically a white. She took her wand and muttered a spell right before it turned into a charcoal gray. Not too dark and not too light.
Everything was going perfect, with her choosing everything in the magnitude as to not overdo anything or under-do. At that point, she would have been surprised if the night ended up being less than what she expected.
Her hair was finally done with soft curls cascading down her back and her little amount of makeup was finished. With ten minutes to spare, she walked to her closet to pick out a pair of simple and not-too-high high heels. Just as she slipped the second one on, a knock came from the front door.
At that second, all the butterflies did an encore in her stomach as she flattened out invisible wrinkles in her dress. Right before opening the door, she patted her hair down lightly to make sure it was still there.
Not wanting to wait any longer, Hermione opened the door after receiving a meow of anticipation from Crookshanks.
"Hello, Hermione," Ian greeted with the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers. "These are for you," he said, handing them over.
Hermione gladly took them saying, "Thank you, Ian." She took a wonderful sniff from the middle of them, and loved how the smell lingered in her senses. "Please, come in. I just want to put these in a vase."
While filling up a delicate glass vase with water, she noticed how breath taking he looked dressed in a button down long sleeve shirt, colored in almost the same shade of blue her dress had once been. His black slacks were perfectly pressed and definitely looked expensive, and brand new, too.
"You look beautiful, Hermione," he said after she had walked towards him with a smile. He leaned down to capture her lips with his. "Shall we get going, then?"
Hermione nodded, at a loss for words. She wanted to reach out and pinch herself because she couldn't believe that she could feel that great ever again. But she refrained from doing so. She grabbed her black coat from on top of the sofa where she had laid it, and went to reach for the doorknob.
When she opened the door, her smile instantly disappeared.
"Draco, what are you doing here?" she asked at the broken image of a man standing in front of her apartment.
He didn't answer her, only looking her up and down, taking in how beautiful she looked. "Hermione, we need to talk."
Ian stepped out from behind Hermione, confusion etched into his face. "What's going on? I thought we were leaving."
She turned around and spoke in a whisper to him, "we are, just give me a second, okay?" He nodded and went back into the apartment but not without giving her a kiss on her lips. She stepped out into the cold air, wrapping her coat around her tighter, closing the door behind her.
"Listen, Draco, I can't deal with this right now. I'm leaving to go on a date." Her eyes were saddened by his appearance and noticed it.
"You can't go on this date. This is more important!" He was, in his own way, begging.
"How dare you! How dare you even think about coming over here and act completely selfish! I'm this close," you used her fingers to indicate a small amount, "to finally getting over you. All those letters, and now this. How do you expect me to be civil towards you?"
"I've been thinking lately and I—"
"No," she cut him off. "Don't. Not now. I don't have time for this. I'm finally happy, can't you accept that?"
"I can't."
"Draco… You finally got what you wanted: for me to finally feel guilty about what happened and to stay the hell away from you. And I have delivered in fine fashion. Now all I ask of you is to hold up on your part of the bargain."
"I'm not strong enough…" He couldn't give up, but he knew he wouldn't win.
"I thought the same thing," she replied softly, almost a whisper.
After a few minutes she looked back up into his eyes.
"Do just one thing for me. Let me have my happiness for now. And if later on you find that I'm not happy enough and with all your heart you know, you absolutely know that you can give me more than that then you fight. You fight like hell for it. But not right now." She was begging, pleading him with her eyes. "Okay?"
He didn't answer her. He just put his hands in his pockets and apparated away.
Standing there for a minute or two, Hermione tried with all her might to save that image of him standing there, in her mind.
…
A/N: Credit for a line used goes to One Tree Hill. I just couldn't help it, but I did change a few words.
