1st September 2000
Hermione hunkered down in her bed as someone continued to pound on her door. Apparently going away to Australia where she wasn't so well known hadn't helped; they still managed to find her wherever she ran too. She'd known it was a bad idea when she accepted Draco's offer of marriage, well an affair for publicity's sake only, a couple of strategically planned appearances together in public, and before long the whole world thought she was having an affair with Draco Malfoy. Ron predictably went off the rails, and very publicly broke up with her, and now he was already on the rebound with a glittering new girlfriend. Someone sweet and charming who wouldn't even dream of hurting her precious Won-Won. She'd expected to lose the Weasleys, and quite possibly Harry, but she hadn't expected the backlash that had assailed her. She, Hermione Granger, had broken Ron Weasley's heart and the public wanted their revenge. Hermione's promising career at the Ministry vanished overnight, all her friends except Draco abandoned her, and Hermione was recieving a vast amount of hate mail.
It wasn't like Hermione hadn't had to deal with this before. She'd had hate mail when Rita Skeeter had written all those horrific articles about her during the Triwizard Tournament, but it hadn't been on anywhere near as big a scale as this was. She'd even had people spitting at her in the street, and one or two people had even gone to far to turn up on her doorstep and shout abuse in her face. Hence her holiday to Italy in attempt to escape everything for a bit. Only it seemed that they'd found her here too.
"Hermione, for Merlin's sake, just open the damn door, will you?" Draco shouted, slumping against the door. He was immensely worried about how the fallout was affecting Hermione and he resolved never to act on any of his stupid ideas again.
He heard a slow shuffling coming towards him and he guessed that Hermione was making her way towards him across the hotel room. Knowing her, she'd have her duvet wrapped around her, almost like a barrier protecting her from the rest of the world. He heard a creak as the door opened, and Hermione's chocolate brown eyes peered through the crack at him.
"What was the real reason I turned down Seamus Finnigan at the end of seventh year?" Really? She was going to make him prove who he was? This was beyond ridiculous.
"Because he's madly in love with Dean Thomas and is just in denial," Draco quipped. He had never bought Finnigan's womaniser act, he'd seen the two Gryffindors when they thought they were alone, there was no way that they didn't have a thing going on.
Hermione opened the door fully and Draco gasped in shock. He'd never seen Hermione look so bad or defeated. Here she was, hair greasy and frizzy, skin pale and face drawn with huge bags under her eyes. He wasn't too sure but he thought she might have lost a lot of weight. But what really got him was that she wasn't taking any pride in her appearance anymore. Gone were the smart robes, here she stood in a baggy tshirt and a pair of thick socks.
Draco felt his eyes skimming the hem of her tshirt, wondering for a moment or two what might be under there, before forcing himself back to the matter at hand. "Hermione," he said, moving forward into the room. He pulled her to him, and wrapped her in a tight hug as she broke down on him, sobbing into his shirt. He ran a hand through her hair before pulling away.
He looked her in the eye, and said sternly, "Right I'm going to run you a nice hot bath, and you're going to attempt to relax Granger, while I clean this place up." He gestured around the hotel room which was filled with trays and bowls and plates of half eaten food from room service. Hermione bit her lip and nodded. Oh gosh, I wish she wouldn't do that, Draco thought, it makes me want to grab her and kiss her which is the last thing she needs right now.
He stiffly moved into the bathroom, running a hot bath and adding some scented oils to the water. He then returned to the main room, while Hermione went for her bath. It would never be said that he'd taken advantage of any woman.
About half an hour later Hermione emerged from the steamy bathroom, wrapped in a fluffy towel, her hair sleek and shining. She shot Draco a grateful smile as she considered how well he'd cleaned the room. Since they were in a Muggle environment, he would have had to do all of this by hand. Considering that, he'd done a pretty good job.
Hermione moved towards him, slipping her arms round his neck and up into his hair, pulling his face down to hers. For a moment Draco was too shocked to react. Was Granger kissing him? His arms slipped around her waist, pulling her closer to him as his body responded to her touch. Then as another thought entered his head, he stiffened and pulled away.
"What are you doing, Hermione?" he asked, touching his fingers to his lips.
"Thanking you," she replied simply, moving towards him again. He stepped back deftly, this was wrong. If he was going to have her, then it was going to be because she wanted him, not because she was vulnerable. He saw her pause for a moment, her eyes on him.
Draco shook his head. "I can't Hermione, I'm sorry. You – you don't need this right now," he finished the thought in his head, even though I really want to have you. He saw the anger, hurt and rejection flash in her eyes. "I value our friendship too much, and believe me it would be wrong of me to take advantage of you right now." His eyes flickered over her body in its towel, as he realised that he was going to walk away from the woman of his dreams.
"I'm sorry," he repeated, kissing the top of her head before leaving the room.
A/N: Eeeeek they kissed. And Draco is just so cute. Hope you liked this one.