"Amelia, I think we are done here. We'll take the lot," said Draco, eyes fixed on Hermione. He only tore them apart to reach for his trousers' pocket and give the older woman his Black Card.
Amelia smiled and nodded, and her helpers rolled the clothing racks out of the room. Draco offered his hand for the gorgeous witch in front of him to sit down. She smiled and sat, side saddled, next to him. She reached over him to get her flute. He stared, unable to rip his eyes from the beautiful pieces she was wearing. She took a sip of her drink and smiled sweetly. He reached and wrapped his fingers on her curls, then asked
"Tell me what I need to do."
"What you need to do for what?"
He pulled her closer, so she leaned her head on his shoulder. He spoke into her hair, breathing the sweet smell of her shampoo.
"Tell me what I need to do to have this every day. To have a life that feels like this. Tell me what I need to do to come home to this. I don't want to go back to yesterday. To feel lost and empty. I don't want to go back to the void where you found me. Please, Hermione, tell me what it will take to make this my life."
She lifted her gaze to find his grey eyes looking at her intently, pleading, begging for something that he did not dare to put into words.
"Well, Draco, this was fun but…"
He felt his breath caught in his throat, and for a second his heart was being ripped off his chest, her words suddenly sounding more distant
"but money can't buy happiness. This was a lot of fun, but can you be this man without having to slide a Black Card?"
"What?" he asked, confused.
"Can we be this, even if is just the two of us? Without having a battalion of people tending to our every need? Can we be this when is not all about fun?"
He shook his head, incredulous.
"Hermione, yesterday I was a mess. You had to cast a privacy charm around me so people wouldn't see me fall to pieces. And you took care of me and sent me home. And the only thing that felt wrong about it was that this morning I desperately wished that instead of sending me home you would have taken me home. Yesterday my pain was all over the place, drowning me. This morning, there was only one deep stab of pain, and it was here," he said, taking her hand and putting it over his heart. "It was the pain of waking up alone, knowing that there was someone out there who made the pain go away just because she existed."
She felt strange like something clicked inside of her and her usually convoluted mind found a way to align her thoughts and opened a path for something new. For once in her life, her logic, her instincts, and her magic got in line and she knew what she had to say next
"Come home with me."
He leaned in and pillowed a soft kiss on her lips, holding her close and pressing her hand tighter against his chest, which she now remembered, was very much bare. They kissed softly and sensually for a while until they heard Amelia walk back in.
Hermione blushed but smiled, and ran back to the dressing room while she heard him speak
"Let's just wear these outfits, shall we love?" he said, buttoning down the shirt. Maybe they could continue this conversation in another, more private couch. Inside the dressing room, Hermione chuckled. Amelia came to sit next to Draco, handing him back the card, while she said in his ear
"She's going to make you very happy. But you better hop to it. Don't give her time to think. Girls like that are very rare and you don't want her getting scooped away by some actor or a famous athlete."
Draco had a flashback of Hermione walking into the Great Hall at Hogwarts escorted by Viktor Krum and his blood boiled.
