The one thing about the whole vacation Draco was looking forward to was swimming with dolphins. Unfortunately the dolphins were scared of him, earning him the nickname Shark from Marco the instructor. Draco didn't like it but Hermione found it funny.
"We'll swim out a bit but you have to let them come to you," Marco instructed. "All that the resort asks is that you do not sit on them. They are not sea ponies. We keep those in the aquarium and charge a high fee for such an excursion. If you would care to add that package, please talk to the front desk upon your return."
They swam out a few meters before Marco pointed out a pod of dolphins heading their way. Thanks to a floating charm, they didn't need to keep swimming in place to hold themselves up. They stopped and waited. The dolphins swam up to Hermione immediately.
She giggled as they nudged into her. "Come here, Draco."
He swam closer to her but the dolphins pushed him away. He tried once more, but again they shoved him away from Hermione. Draco scowled.
"Stupid sea mammals," he muttered.
"They must think you're a shark," Marco chortled. "Mr. Grumpy Shark."
Hermione quietly chuckled as she pet the dolphins. She swam closer to Draco, reaching out and pulling him towards herself. The dolphins didn't try to push him away this time. "They aren't going to harm you," she said quietly and guided his hand towards one.
The other three dolphins swam away but the one stayed. The little dolphin swam even closer to Draco, completely ignoring Hermione. Draco smiled as the dolphin did tricks and swam circles around them.
Draco swam off in one direction, and the dolphin followed. "Hermione!" Draco cheered, "Hermione, I'm swimming with a dolphin!"
He and the dolphin turned back towards her. She had a grin plastered to her face as she cheered. Draco coughed on the little bit of salt water that entered his open mouth from his grin. He could get used to this.
"Why is this necessary?" Draco groaned as Theo fixed his tie.
Theo had put him in wizard robes instead of a muggle suit like Draco had been anticipating. Theo pulled the tie a bit and swivelled Draco so he was now looking at their reflections. "Because it's a fancy restaurant with a dress code," Theo paused, "Draco, how do you feel about Hermione?"
He blinked. He didn't know how to answer the question because he didn't even know how he felt. "I don't know, Theo. I think I actually care for her but—"
Theo interrupted him. "She's not Astoria. Do not let that wrecker ruin this for you. I think Hermione is what you need. You cannot let her escape. If you love her, or even feel that there is a chance you could, keep her and tell her. Something bad might happen before you ever get the chance."
Draco saw his friend's wet eyes. "Theo? Brother?"
Theo put a hand on Draco's shoulder and weakly smile. "Not tonight brother. Tonight is about happiness and new beginnings."
"I think I'm going to tell her."
"That you love her?"
"No, about Astoria."
Theo nodded. "I think you both deserve that."
Draco stood at the entrance of La Mer waiting for Hermione to show up. He shifted the uncomfortable robe around. Draco never expected the day to come when he preferred muggle clothes over wizard robes.
"Draco?" He looked up and saw a smiling Astoria and scowling Cassius standing in front of him. "What are you doing standing out here?"
He didn't want to answer as he felt Cassius's gaze burning into him. "I'm waiting for Hermione. We are having dinner together," he answered curtly.
"Ooh," Astoria squealed. "We should all have dinner together. It's our last night here and it would be wonderful to catch up."
"Oh I don't think so," Draco said quickly.
"Baby, it's just suppose to be us," Cassius whined. "We don't do this much anymore."
"Draco?" Hermione appeared between Draco and the couple. He felt his face heat up. Her hair had been pulled into a bun. She wore a midnight blue knee length dress with a silver tinted shawl and a dragon pendant necklace. She was stunning.
"Hermione," He smiled, "We should get seated. Aren't you famished, love?" He placed a hand on the small of her back.
She flinched but then smiled, quickly catching onto his drift. She placed a hand on his chest. "I am, my dragon," She ran her hand down him. "I have been looking forward to this quiet, romantic evening of just the two of us ever since we arrived."
Astoria scowled and Cassius smirked. "We should go sit, Tori. They also want a romantic night alone, just like us," Cassius said. "Enjoy your night."
He ushered Astoria into the restaurant. "What was that?" Hermione asked as soon as they had disappeared.
"Astoria wanted to have dinner with us," Draco explained bitterly. "Cassius and I were trying to put her against it. Besides Slytherin quidditch for two or three years, I think that's the only time we have ever shared a common goal and worked together to achieve it."
Their fingers intertwined as he guided her into the restaurant. Their table was in a corner. Neither cared since they were able to look directly out onto the ocean and the setting sun. Hermione gasped. "It's beautiful."
Draco only nodded as he watched the awe on her face. He pulled out her chair and pushed it in once she sat down. "You can be quite the gentleman when you want to be, Draco Malfoy," she chuckled. "Where are the menus?"
"There aren't any. The chef chooses specific courses for each night. The glasses automatically fill too. Theo explained that Blaise wanted this restaurant to be focused on dinner conversation."
She seemed impressed by this. "Are you alright?" She asked suddenly.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Your mind seems to be in a completely different place," He saw her eyes flick to a different part of the restaurant. "Is it Astoria?"
Draco gulped and slowly nodded. "I...um...wanted to tell you the truth about that whole situation."
"You don't have to if it will make you uncomfortable. I assume it must be hard for you, considering every reaction you have when she is mentioned. If you want, I'll tell you about my parents, a rough subject for me."
"This sounds wimpy but could you go first?" he asked. "I'm still trying to build up the courage and seeing them outside and knowing they are mere meters away does not help at all."
"My parents live in Australia," she began. "They have for the past eight years. Before all hell broke loose I obliviated their memories of me so they wouldn't be in danger if death eaters found them. To make sure they were even safer, I sent them to Australia under new names. I needed them to be safe just in case."
Draco reached for her. "You did the right thing. Before school started back up and I was still at the Manor, He put out an order for them after you three had been spotted someplace on the run. No one could find them."
She blushed and whipped a tear away. "That's good to know now. Perhaps you can do me the favor and explain that to them without giving too much detail. Two years after the war, with extensive research and help, I was able to give them their memories back. I've had them back for five years and they still won't come back. To them the Grangers are dead. My dad keeps saying they'll make it back sometime but my mum just doesn't understand. My dad was always the one excited about magic and was upset when he learned that legally I cannot perform it outside of school. He is the only one who trusted my decision. Nobody else, except you now, did."
He smiled at her. Draco was starting to learn that their was more to Hermione Granger than being a know-it-all muggleborn and bitchy boss. She had layers that took time to get to know. He watched her eat her food. She stopped suddenly and continued talking. "That's when and why we broke up. Ron and I. I was trying to make advances in my life and get them back. He was always uncomfortable with that."
"This why you were gone for those six months our second year working?" She nodded.
"I believe it is your turn," she said when the main course appeared. "I trust that you have enough manners to talk and eat without being disgusting. It was a horrible habit Ronald had."
He chuckled. "Since when have I never had manners, Granger?"
She stared at him. "Seriously? Need I remind you of the early years of our youth?"
"Touche. Alright, it is common knowledge that Astoria and I dated and then were engaged until it was called off three years ago."
"Three years ago? Isn't that what Theo said about…" she trailed off and looked to Draco for confirmation. Slowly he nodded. "Oh Merlin."
He stopped her from saying anything else. "Let me continue and you can say whatever when I'm finished. Astoria and I were together for four years. They were some pretty good four years and I thought she enjoyed them as much as I did. I proposed on our fourth anniversary and she said yes. During the next three months she seemed to be distant, and that's when she told me she was pregnant."
Hermione's eyes widened, and she dropped her fork. "I got panicky and started to rush plans. What else was I to do? We had had sex before so it wasn't as if I knew right off she was cheating. It was a week before the ceremony that I discovered the truth. Astoria never let me go to any appointment she had. I just figured it was some pregnant woman feeling. I was at St. Mungo's to get permission for mother to go to the wedding and to tell her it was even happening. She was still in a fragile state, and I didn't want such big news to harm her. I entered St. Mungo's as they were leaving. Everything came to light. For a year and a half she had been with Cassius, who was very aware of our relationship. She was having his baby, which they hadn't actually planned, and was never going to actually marry me. They were going to make me look like a fool. It all ended in that lobby, and they married a week later when we were suppose to. I felt like a fool and I was so broken into millions of pieces. It wasn't until recently that I am being put back together."
He stared down at his plate. Tears were sliding down his cheeks. He felt her hand tilt his head up and wipe the tears away. "I'm so sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," He looked into her eyes. "Hermione, this whole thing—"
"I have to go to the restroom," she interrupted and rushed off.
She didn't know what he was about to say, or maybe she did and that's why she ran away. He hated that Theo, Blaise, and his mother had been right. He couldn't believe it was Hermione Granger of all people who kickstarted the process of putting him back together again. Except for his mother, Draco never thought he would truly be able to trust and care for a woman again. He glanced towards the bathroom but didn't see her at all. Ten minutes later Astoria and Cassius said goodbye to him. He had a server check the restrooms after she didn't appear twenty minutes after Cassius and Astoria left. The server came back saying it was empty.
Draco didn't bother to pay the bill as he rushed towards the stairs, since their room was two floors below and it would be quicker. He would have Blaise take care it later. He jammed the key into the door and burst in. She wasn't there. He was about to go check other places when he noticed the note on the table. It read two words: I'm sorry. The words began to blur as tears fell from his eyes.
He thought the day was going well. He thought she had been enjoying this as much as he was. He thought she wanted it to be real like he did. Draco fell onto the bed weeping, clutching the note to his chest.
Narcissa and Theo found him asleep still clutching the tear stained note with tear streaked cheeks an hour later after Blaise had found them and told them what a server had told him. They got to his room as quickly as they could.
Narcissa broke down into tears and held her sleeping son. Theo looked around the room. Her suitcase and clothes were all gone. She must've caught a portkey off the resort. He read the note and threw it away. He knew that they were suppose to "break up", but he didn't think it would happen or if it did it would be pathetic and in front of an audience.
Theo left the Malfoys to find Blaise and do some digging. According to all the staff members, until the final moments of dinner, Draco and Hermione's date had been going as well as the three could've hoped.
Blaise confirmed that Hermione portkeyed back to England. He made notes of what had been discussed throughout the day. It was Theo who found the obvious reason, yet perhaps the most mysterious, for Hermione's abrupt departure that had somehow been overlooked by everyone else, including Draco himself. Three tables from the once happy couple sat Astoria and Cassius Warrington.
Theo saw from security tapes, which Blaise had invested in for security measures and dramatic snooping, that Astoria had left her table mere moments after Hermione had. Anger raged through the boy. He knew Draco wouldn't understand if he found out. Draco was too broken now, and Theo figured Hermione was too after he saw her small frame rush from the restaurant. He watched smirking Astoria waltz back to her table and leave with her beau, but not before saying goodbye to her ex. Astoria Warrington nee Greengrass was a shark out to ruin happiness. Theo only hoped that the whole situation could be fixed.
So that happened. Now most of this story is in Draco's POV except for a few times, like this ending, when we get Theo's view. Some of you would probably love to get Hermione's but you are just going to have to guess what happened. This story is coming to end in about five chapters or so which makes me sad because I've enjoyed this story but I have started a new one called Redemption in the Past. It is also Dramione and I love what is happening. Please check it out and review it. Also review this chapter. I'm looking forward to your thoughts, and I hope, even with this sadness, you enjoyed this chapter.