A/N: Ahh! I was overwhelmed by the response to the last chapter. I'm glad you enjoyed it! Please read and review!
LadiePhoenix007 – your feedback was lovely. Thank you for always reviewing my work – I think you're my most faithful reader!
johnsocz – haha that's for me to know and you to perhaps find out one day!
Dream-Like-State – your review made my day. I'm so glad that you are enjoying my work and that I somehow managed to pull you back into the world of fanfiction. Such an honour!
HallowRain8587 – thank you for that, I feel so much more reassured now :)
HarryPGinnyW4eva – I think Parvati is brilliant too! You may see a little more of her this chapter.
fantasia-49 – thank you for always reviewing. Hopefully I'll continue to keep you entertained!
To everyone else who reviewed, thank you so very much. My heart jumps with joy everytime I get that little email saying I have a new review. Hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 10
Saturday, May 8th 2004 – 10:02am
Apartment of Hermione Granger
"Morning sunshine!"
Hermione grunted as something, or someone rather, landed on top of her. She cursed under her breath at the familiar voice.
"Get up woman! Get up, get up, get u-up!" Ginny pestered, bouncing up and down on the mattress.
"Ginny." She whined, hopelessly trying to pull the quilt over her head. "I'm tired. Let me sleep."
"Pfft. It is 10am…when have you ever slept this late?"
She let out an annoyed groan. "Leave me alone. I came home late last night."
"Oh I know you did." There was something in her voice that piqued Hermione's interest.
She relented and sat up. "Huh?"
Ginny thrust a copy of the Daily Prophet in her face. Splayed across the front was an image of Draco and herself engaged in a rather passionate embrace under the headline 'Granger and Malfoy Heat Up'. She covered her face as a deep blush rose to her cheeks.
"Oh my gosh, Gin! What the hell is that?!"
The redhead's smile widened even further, if it were even possible. "Well that would be Malfoy and you getting it on!"
"Ginny!" Hermione screeched, playfully smacking her with the newspaper.
"Please. Don't try to tell me you didn't get a piece of that. I may be married but Malfoy is positively edible."
She opened her mouth to retort before two thoughts flew into her mind. She couldn't exactly tell Ginny that she hadn't done anything with Draco if they had been apparently dating for the past year and she definitely couldn't deny that he was extremely attractive.
After Apparating to his apartment, they had continued in an almost idyllic manner; meaningful, interesting conversation interspersed with some intimacy. She had been all too reluctant to leave, finally persuading herself after she had nearly fallen asleep on his couch.
As much as she had enjoyed the evening, all it had done was confuse her even more. Whatever was going on between them was so undefined, she had no idea what to expect.
"I can pretty much hear you thinking. You n-"
She was interrupted by tapping at the bedroom window. Before Hermione could move, Ginny jumped up to let the owl in. She gave it a treat before opening the letter and reading it out.
Hermione,
Thank you for a fantastic evening – I had an amazing time with you last night. You were absolutely breathtaking, as always.
I do need to speak with you. I will come by at midday – please let me know if this doesn't suit you.
Draco
Ginny squealed, clapping her hands together in excitement. "How cute is he?"
"Cute?" Hermione scoffed. "Don't let Harry or Ron hear that – they'd have a fit."
She was hit by the letter before it was tossed onto the bed in front of her. "Oh shut up – I still can't believe it. But he's actually…endearing." Ginny squealed again. "Breathtaking! He called you breathtaking! As that Muggle says, be still my beating heart!"
"Ginny…"
"Tell me everything!"
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Saturday, May 8th 2004 – 12:14pm
Apartment of Hermione Granger
Before Ginny had left, she had extended an invitation for Draco and her to join the Potters for dinner that night. 'Can't wait to ask Draco', Hermione thought sarcastically.
She was half-sprawled on the chaise, her eyes on the book in her hands. It felt like a lifetime since she had last sat down and let herself enjoy a good novel – and this time was no different. As much as she tried, her eyes skimmed over the words without really taking them in.
Her fireplace suddenly came to life, flashing green to signal his arrival. Her heart hammered faster, beating against her chest wall. How was it that his mere presence had such an effect on her?
Draco flashed a dazzling smile as he stepped out of the flames. "Afternoon."
She chided herself mentally as she felt her cheeks rouge. "Hey Draco. How are you?" She greeted, unconsciously fiddling with the edge of her book as she set it down beside her.
He sat down beside her, his hand lightly brushing against hers as he did. "Fantastic. A little tired after last night though. I don't think I got to bed until almost two. Yourself?"
"About the same, though I did get woken up Ginny. She was a bit too excited by Parvati's article about us if you ask me."
Draco chuckled. "Ah yes. I did get a rather...interesting wakeup call from Mother after she saw that one. Apparently public displays of affection are 'unbecoming' of a Wizard of my fame. I wouldn't have minded so much if I hadn't just finished showing when she came over."
"Oh Merlin - I would have paid to see that." Hermione giggled before quickly sobering up. "Your face that is...not that! I would have payoff to see your face in that moment..." She trailed off as a deep blush settled over her cheeks.
Draco watched with amusement as her expression morphed from one of embarrassment to seriousness.
"Really though, Draco - what do your parents think of this?" She asked, pointing between the two of them.
"That's actually what I came over for." He almost chuckled as Hermione predictably stiffened beside him. "Don't worry – she didn't have much to say."
"Well, what did she say?"
Her interest was piqued as he bristled beside her. "Well, actually…she invited – or more demanded – that I bring you over for dinner tomorrow."
"What?!" Hermione jumped up from the couch to pace in front of where they had been seated. "Tomorrow? No th-that's not enough time."
"Time for what?"
"Time to prepare, Malfoy!"
He raised a perfect eyebrow at her. "You don't need t-"
"Oh yes I do! Dinner with the freaking Malfoys! Merlin help me now!"
He stood up to meet her, placing both his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "Hermione, I'm sure it will be fine. Trust me – I wouldn't have heard the end of it if she had many obj-if she had objections." He corrected himself at the bewildered expression on her face.
"Draco, I can't!" Her face looked awfully dejected.
"Yes you can, Hermione – for me?" He wasn't beneath guilt-tripping her into it.
What he wasn't prepared for was the flash of relief that flitted across her face, followed by a sly little smile. If he hadn't been worried about what exactly that meant, he may have been proud of her guile.
"Alright, I'll do it. In that case, we're going out for dinner with Harry and Ginny – you know…for me."
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Saturday, May 8th 2004 – 6:15pm
The Argyle Restaurant, Wizarding London
"Table for four for-"
"Mr Potter. Of course – right this way, sir."
Harry tilted his head to the rest of the group, indicating them to follow him and the maître d'. They settled at the table, Draco seating himself beside Hermione, across from Harry. Harry ordered a bottle of fine red wine before they were left alone at the table.
An uncomfortable moment hung between the two couples before it was broken.
"So Malfoy, I'm glad you decided to come."
Draco held back a snort of amusement. "It's not like Hermione would've given me much of a choice."
"You've got that right." Harry chuckled. "So Hermione, Malfoy – we're both dying to know – how did you two end up getting together?"
Hermione nodded at him subtlety. They had thankfully formulated a story after that fated meeting with Goldbloom.
"As you know, we've worked together for a few years now. And I must admit, it didn't do us a lot of good for a while."
Ginny let out a soft scoff as she sipped her water – what she saw as the greatest curse of being pregnant. "Oh trust me, well aware of that. If only you heard the things she said about you."
He turned to Hermione with a raised eyebrow. "Oh really now."
"Come on – I doubt you were singing my praises to your little friends."
He flashed her a smile before turning back to their dinner companions. "I suppose we had become more civil to each other. In the months leading up to the ball last year, we were assigned to another project together for it so we had to be more…tolerable of each other."
The story up until now had been the truth, Hermione thought as she reflected back on the year before. They had been getting along better than usual.
"We had come in on the weekend to get some things done with Mitch, Mitchell Symonds," he clarified. "And he had left to get us lunch. We somehow ended up talking about the shit we had experienced in the war."
He paused uncomfortably. Hermione shot him a reassuring smile before continuing for him. "That conversation helped us understand each other better and I guess, we formed some form of a friendship after that."
"Mitch had a few weeks of leave to visit family overseas so Hermione and I spent a lot of time together with no one else around. I realised how wrong I had been in everything I had done at Hogwarts…especially in my opinion of her. She suddenly wasn't this annoying ex-bucktoothed bookworm to me – she became so much more."
Hermione felt a light blush rise to her cheeks. She knew that this was supposedly 'just' their story but after they had concocted it, Draco had apologised for the way he had treated her and admitted that he had come to respect her – that is, before he added that he was only saying it 'for the sake of saving their jobs'.
"I realised just how amazing Hermione is – how intelligent and resilient she is, how fierce she can be when she needs to, how good-natured and giving she is…how undeniably beautiful she is…" He cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"One night just before the ball, when it was only the two of us again, I don't know what came over me…and I kissed her."
Ginny clasped a hand against her chest as she let out a thrilled squeal. "Oh my gosh, that's so sweet!"
Harry, however, wasn't so convinced. "And what, Mione, you just fell head over heels for him?"
"Christ no!" Hermione laughed, sparing an affectionate smile at Draco. "I mean, I didn't exactly…reject his advances but I definitely freaked out afterwards. Avoided him for as long as I could, which only ended up being a week thanks to Phineas. And because I had put off all our meetings, we had to have a few late nights to make up ground."
"By this time, I was definitely infatuated with her and ridiculously confused about what I was feeling. I hadn't been able to get her out of my mind for the past week…and I knew that I couldn't just ignore it."
"Little did he know, I was just as confused. To be honest, that kiss that sparked something in me that I hadn't felt in a long time – since before Ron and I, and all of that crap. I had already seen the immense changes in Draco and I wanted to know more, to know him better."
"And so I kissed her again. I think you can guess how things went after that."
Ginny let out another squeal, dabbing at the tears that had formed in her eyes. They glanced over at Harry, waiting for his reaction.
His face split into a wide grin. "Wow…well I definitely didn't see this coming. Just don't hurt her, Malfoy."
Hermione let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. She nearly jumped as Draco's hands wrapped around hers and gave it a light squeeze. Harry threw his arm around the back of Ginny's chair, lifting his glass up towards the pair.
"To the two of you, then. Cheers!"
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Saturday, May 8th 2004 – 7:24pm
Outside of the Argyle Restaurant, Wizarding London
Parvarti Patil was very nearly beside herself. She could have sworn that Merlin was on her side - she had had the most incredible luck lately.
She had just stumbled upon a brilliant story and here it was, quite literally sitting right in front of her eyes. The Wizarding world's darling, Harry Potter, and his wife were having dinner with the 'it' couple of the day. And it looked like they were having a brilliant time.
Draco Malfoy had his arm wrapped around Hermione Granger, who had let her body lean against his, and he was laughing, yes laughing, at something that Harry had just said. Stop the presses, she had to be dreaming. She hadn't even been aware that the blonde could smile, let alone laugh! And he was bloody gorgeous with that carefree laugh on his face.
Well if it weren't for his budding romance with Hermione, she wouldn't have hesitated to jump him.
Digging her camera out of her bag, Parvati went to work. Snap, snap! Snap, snap, snap! What she would have given to be a fly on the wall in that restaurant, she thought as she took picture after picture.
Ginny said something, earning a bemused stare from her husband as she stared expectantly at the couple. Hermione turned to face Draco, whispering something into his ear that caused a wide smile to blossom on his face. Oh sweet Circe, he was bloody gorgeous. Snap! He leaned forward, placing a sweetly lingering kiss on her lips. Snap, snap, snap!
Hermione's face quickly rouged, as she turned away from her date and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. What she didn't noticed was the adoring expression on Draco's face as his eyes remained on her. Snap, snap! Gosh, this couple was pure dynamite – Parvati was definitely going to be promoted after this.
To her surprise, Harry didn't look all that disgusted by their display of affection. Snap, snap!
And so her surprise, Parvati knew exactly what she had to do to really enhance what was now Monday's article. She needed to speak to Ron Weasley.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Things have been extremely busy but I promise I'm trying to update as much as possible.
Please review!