Chapter 10 – Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too:

Draco Malfoy wanted his cake and he wanted to eat it, too. What was wrong with that? If you have a damn piece of cake in front of you, you might as well eat it. Letting it go to waste was simply not an option. When he woke up, disoriented and confused on the floor, at first he didn't know where he was. When he finally realized where he was and what happened last night, that was the first thought that went through his head. He wanted Hermione Granger as a friend and a lover!

Draco had a pain in his neck. He sat up, with his back against the wall, and it all came rushing toward him. Her bedroom door was open, so she must be awake. He stood up and went to her bathroom to use the facilities. He noticed that the door was fixed. She must have fixed it. He finished his business and went to her bedroom. The sheets were still rumpled. He threw himself face down on her bed. The sheets smelled like her. He turned over and saw pieces of parchment littering the floor. He reached down for one. It was her article for the Daily Prophet, which was an open letter to the other writer.

She wrote, "I am not a woman who hates men. I love men. I love everything about them. My best friends are men. I love how they can fart without fear of retribution. I love how they can state what they want, and actually go for it. I love how they can be aggressive without being thought of as a 'bitch.' I love how basic their needs are: eat, drink, laugh, and repeat. I love how simple their wants are. The one thing I don't love is when they can't clearly say what they want when it comes to women."

Draco shut his eyes briefly, and then read on. "Men are so honest with each other. They don't beat around the bush, or spare feelings. They say it like it is. Why can't they afford women the same courtesy? Why do they say they will call, and they don't? Why do they say they had a nice time, but they didn't? Why do they want their cake, and they want to eat it, too? Why do they kiss you one moment, and then they say they want to just be friends the next?" Draco sat up on her bed, and clutched the article to his chest. That last question was directed totally at him and he knew it.

She ended with, "They want it all and will do whatever they can do to get it. They don't care who they hurt, or what damage they cause, as long as the result is their own happiness. I don't envy that trait. If I did, I myself would be a man, and that is the last thing I want to be." That was the last thing Draco wanted her to be, too. He read the last line, "That is what makes me a woman; the fact that I have empathy, and that I care for others before I care for myself. If that is wrong, then so be it. I am happy with what I am; I just wish men would be happy with what I am, too."

He dropped the article, and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. He fell back on her bed and sighed. He messed everything up, and he had to fix it now, before it was too late. First, he had to write his article, while all the thoughts were fresh in his mind.

It was apparent she was gone. He knew it immediately, when he went to make some coffee and he found a note from her taped to the coffeepot. It said, "Draco, I'm going to my parents house, and I'm spending the night. We'll talk on Monday. Meet me at the Daily Prophet at noon, and we'll go to lunch. Everything will be okay, Love, Hermione."

She wrote, 'Love, Hermione.' She told him everything would be all right. Damn, she was a better person than he was, and it wasn't just because she was a woman and he was a man. He made his coffee, and sat at her table and started to write his article.

He wrote: "Dear friend, you want to know why men confuse you? It is so simple that you will wonder why you didn't figure it out for yourself. Men confuse you because they are confused. Simple, really. Why do men say they will call and they don't? Because they are idiots. Why do men say they want to be friends and then try to kiss you? Because they are stupid. Why do men want their cake and want to eat it, too? Because they are selfish bastards. Far be it for me to criticize my own gender, but that is the simple truth. They are what they are, and usually they are proud of it."

"Why do some men cheat? Because they want it all. Why don't men see a good thing when it is in front of them? Because they are blind. See, with men, there is a simple answer to all these questions. Things truly are black or white. They are men. Forgive them for it, and try to help them with the error of the way, for they can't help who they are." He folded the piece of parchment and slipped it in his pocket. He would see that she got it first thing Monday.

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On Monday morning, Hermione sat at her desk editing her own article. She wondered if she would offend her friend, and men in general, by publishing it, but she really wanted a response, so she decided to go ahead and have it published. She called out to her assistant to have it taken to the pressroom. As her assistant walked in, he said, "You have a visitor." Hermione merely nodded. She went back to her work, when she heard someone walk in her office.

"Hello, Hermione."

She looked up when she heard a familiar voice. It was Michael. She smiled, because he was smiling. "Hi, Michael." He shocked her by walking around the desk, taking her hand, and giving it a light kiss. She couldn't help but maintain her smile, as he leaned against her desk and continued to hold her hand. See, why couldn't Draco be like this?

He said, "I know I said I would call or floo you later, to arrange another date, but I couldn't wait for that. I had to come in person."

She looked at their clasped hands. She didn't want to use Michael and string him along when she was clearly in love with Draco, even though Draco's feelings were less clear. If Michael asked her out again, she would politely say no. After all, she couldn't accuse men of crimes if she was clearly capable of committing them, too.

She stood up and carefully took her hand from his. He didn't seem offended yet. He said, "Did you have a nice time Friday night?"

She did, at least the part spent with him was nice. She said, "Yes, I really did."

"Would you like to go out again?" he asked.

She said, "Michael, I feel I should be honest with you. I really did have a great time with you, but I'm sort of interested in someone else."

"Oh really? Who's my competition?" he asked lightly.

"Draco Malfoy," she answered honestly.

He continued to smile and said, "I think he just considers you a friend. He told me so on the phone. Anyway, I'm not talking marriage here; I'm talking a movie, or a show, or perhaps dinner. You can still be interested in Malfoy and go to dinner with me, can't you? Don't you need to eat just like the rest of us?"

She thought he was being such a dear. She said, "I suppose so."

"Is Wednesday night okay with you?" he asked, "I have to go out of town on business today, but I get back Wednesday. There's a nice Muggle restaurant near your flat. I will call and get a reservation, if that's agreeable. We'll just take things slowly, and see how they pan out, and if you decide you just want to be friends, we can be friends."

There was that word again, friends. She said, "I just wanted to be honest with you. I really do think I have feelings Draco Malfoy. I'm not sure what he feels for me, but I don't want to string you along."

"You can't string me along if I know up front what you feel, can you?" he asked back.

"I think that sounds reasonable," she said. "Fine, I would like to go out Wednesday night."

"I'll pick you up at your flat, okay? Seven?" he asked. He had the nicest smile, and he really was handsome. She felt shallow thinking that, but it was the truth. She only felt sincerity in his words. He wasn't playing games, or being deceitful in any way.

"Seven." It was a date. He leaned over, kissed her cheek and with a wave of his hand, he left her office.

She wouldn't string him along, or use him as a pawn. She would be honest with Draco as well. She would tell him that she was going out with Michael, but as a friend. She really did want to give Draco a chance to redeem himself in the light of day, and while he was cold stone sober.

Around noon, she stopped working, and was waiting for Draco so they could go to lunch, when he ran into her office. At first, he scared her, the way he rushed in and slammed her door shut.

"Granger, hide me!" he said.

"Hello to you, too, Draco Malfoy," she said with a grin. "Are you drunk again this morning? Because if you are, we'll forego lunch."

"I'm not drunk!" he said with a funny look on his face. "But I am in trouble. Stupid Kristen's stupid brother is getting married this weekend, and I promised to be her date, but I forgot that promise, and I just saw her talking to Lavender out there! I told her I was going to Hong Kong for the week, and couldn't go with her, but I think she might have seen me as I crawled to your office."

Hermione laughed. "Why do men lie? Just tell her the truth!"

"Oh, Granger, you silly little thing, I can't tell her the truth, because she would probably hex my balls off. Now, are you going to hide me or not?"

"She surely won't come in here? Who is Kristen, anyway?" she asked.

"We don't have time for a discussion, just hide me," he said, "She's coming this way and she looks angry."

"Is that the red head from New Years?" she asked.

He pulled her chair out from her desk, and hid underneath, pulling her legs toward him so that her chair hid his body. He hissed, "Yes, that's her; don't let her know I'm here!"

Hermione felt flushed. He placed his cheek next to her outer thigh, and his arms wrapped around her legs. The woman came in her office and said, "Excuse me, but have you seen Draco Malfoy?"

"Who?" Hermione asked. Draco still held onto her legs as if he was a scared child.

The woman said slowly, "Draco Malfoy," dragging out each syllable as if Hermione was dense.

Hermione narrowed her gaze and said, "I haven't seen him."

"I thought I saw him come in here," she said.

"Well, do you see him now?" Hermione asked. Draco was stroking her leg with one hand. She couldn't breath.

"Apparently I don't, or I wouldn't ask you if he was here," the woman said with sarcasm.

Hermione didn't like this woman. "You may leave now, unless you want to search my office first. Who knows, maybe I'm hiding him under my desk." Draco pinched her.

"Fine, I will leave. You're that little Mudblood who lives in that flat at his house, right?" the redhead asked.

"Yes, and you're the little red-headed slut from New Years," Hermione said. Normally, she would not even think about using that word aloud, especially not to the woman's face, but this one was getting on her last nerve.

The women huffed and said, "Fine, if you see that bastard, tell him that I found another date to the wedding! I hope he has to show up alone!" The stupid bimbo left Hermione's office and slammed the door shut for good measure.

Hermione kicked Draco under the desk for her own good measure, before pushing her chair away and standing up. "Thanks for bringing trouble into my office, Draco Malfoy!"

He stood up laughing. "You were good. I'm going to get you to solve all my problems from now on, okay? I can't believe she called you that word."

"You've called me that word all my life," she said.

He brushed off his slacks and said, "My defense is that I was young and stupid. I'm not anymore."

"That's true, you aren't young anymore, just stupid," she said, grinning.

"HA!" he said, leaning toward her. "So, I believe we are to go to lunch, so we can discuss our current situation."

"About that," she began.

"No, no, no, you can't worm your way out of things. We have a lot to discuss," he said. He had the article in his pocket, and he wanted to slip it on her desk somehow. He said, "Go to the outer office and make sure Kristen is gone before we leave."

She rolled her eyes, but went to the outer office. He slipped the article on her desk. She walked back in the office, and he walked right up to her and put his arms around her waist. She leaned away the best she could.

"You are a bit close, Malfoy."

"I told you not to call me that, it sounds brash and harsh. I want you to call me nice names, like sweetheart, lover boy, or Draco Malfoy," he said. He leaned in, arms still around her waist, and said, "My, you smell good today."

"This isn't helping matters," she said. "I feel like you're rushing things, and we haven't even talked yet."

"Fine, but I need to warn you that I have a new policy. I'm going to try always to be honest with you. I'm going to say what I think, and feel what I feel and not care about the rest. It will be hard, since I lie so often and so well," he explained, "but I honestly want to hold you in my arms right now, so that's what I'm doing. I also want extra points because I haven't had a lick to drink today."

"Good to know," she said. She placed her hands on his chest. "Are you ready for lunch?"

"Let me hold you a bit longer," he said.

She felt so weak in the knees that she thought she might pass out. She said, "Michael was here this morning."

He frowned and let her go. He sat on the couch and said, "What did the stupid prat want?"

"He's not a stupid prat, and you know it. He's a very nice man and we're going out to dinner Wednesday, but let me be honest, I told him that I thought we should just be friends, because I was interested in someone else," she said. She walked over to the couch. He pulled on her hand and forced her to sit next to him.

He examined her hand, holding it in his left one, and drawing little circles and squiggles on her palm with his right. She sighed audibly, and relaxed against the sofa. My, but that felt good. He smiled again and said, "who's the lucky gent that you find holds your interest?'

"You, you stupid git," she said.

"That's nice to know. Are we going to discuss things before lunch?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said seriously. "I think we both know where we stand, so do we need to discuss things?"

"I think so," he said seriously.

"Fine," she said. She took her hand from his and said, "Frankly, I want to take things slow and see if we should even bother pursuing being more than friends. It might not be a good idea in the long run, that is, if you want to do so." She knew that she seemed unsure of herself, but she had waited so long for this, that she wanted to be sure it was real, and that his feelings were genuine.

He took her hand again and said, "Listen, why don't we go out on a date or something? A real date and see what develops? See what happens? I've discovered that I do still want to be your friend," as soon as he said that, she took her hand from his. He reached over and grabbed it again, and added, "Let me finish, won't you? I want to be your friend, but I want to try for more, too."

"Why?" she asked.

He leaned over, his face so close she could count his eyelashes if she wanted to, and he said, "Because, I like you, so very much."

"I'm still going to dinner on Wednesday with Michael," she said.

"Fine, our date will be Thursday. I will make Michael's date pale in comparison. By the way, you're going to be my date on Saturday for Kristen's brother's wedding, too."

"Oh really?" she asked.

He leaned forward again, in a familiar fashion, and said, "Really." He let go of her hand, and put his thumb and forefinger on her chin. He was going to kiss her, but he didn't want to move too fast, because of his new honesty kick, he really wasn't sure he wanted to be more than friends; so instead, he moved his thumb up to her lips. He moved it back and forth against her lips, until she parted them slightly. Then, he kissed her cheek lightly. Unlike the light kiss to the cheek by Michael, Hermione felt this one in her bones. She wanted to melt into the couch. He stood up, grabbed her hands, and said, "Lunch is waiting for us, Hermione! Shall we?"

"Just a second," she said. He sighed. He didn't want to wait a second. Things seemed to be going good and he didn't want to lose momentum. She stood up and said, "We need to set some ground rules. I think we need to take things slow, and see if something really extends between us besides friendship. I would also like to date Michael a bit, see if what I feel for you is real, or just a crush."

"How will dating Michael make you see if what you feel for me is real? That's nonsense. Tell me the logic in that, Miss Granger!" he spat.

"Draco, don't you see, I've had this major crush on you, but I've felt so out of sorts, and uncomfortable about it, because you kept claiming we should be friends at every turn, and to tell you the truth, you have me half convinced," she said truthfully. "I mean, I have no real reason to think that I feel anything besides friendship for you. My crush was just that, a crush, and it wasn't based on anything real and substantial, because I started feeling this way before I even got to know you very well."

"You say I kept convincing you that we were just friends, right?" he asked.

"Yes," she agreed.

"Then shall I also be granted the chance to convince you otherwise?" he asked.

"Sure," she said.

"Fine, that's all I want, because, hell, Granger, I'm as confused as you are. I want to be sure that having a relationship with you is right, and worth losing you as a friend. I want to make sure that the attraction I felt for you the other night wasn't just some drunken rampage. For that reason, you go on your stupid little date with Corner, and then go on your fantastic date with me. We'll see what happens after that, agreed?" He smiled at her.

"That sounds, reasonable, and somewhat rehearsed," she said with a smile.

She walked over to her desk and he said, "What are you doing?" He didn't want her to see his article until they left for lunch. After all, her article wasn't even published yet, so how could the mystery writer have already issued a response? Damn, he hadn't thought of that.

"I have to get my purse in my desk drawer," she said.

"I'll get it for you," he said. He walked over to her desk, and opened up two drawers until he found it. Then, when she turned to the door, he pocketed his article. He would have to get it to her another way. He handed the purse to her and said, "Let's go."

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Hermione was laughing so hard that she was beginning to hyperventilate. She was sure everyone at the restaurant was watching her. She said, "That must have been so embarrassing! And you didn't know they were twins?"

"No, not until I was banging the one and the other one walked in," he said. She dropped her head to the table and continued to laugh. He loved it when she laughed. Moments like this were why he was cautious about giving up her friendship. He had never had this much fun with a woman that he was dating. Then again, there was the whole 'cake thing'. Why couldn't he have his cake and eat it, too? Why couldn't he date Hermione Granger, and still consider her a friend? Why couldn't they have sex and then a good laugh? Well, maybe not in that order, but weirder things had happened.

He looked at his watch and said, "Goodness, Granger, I have a business meeting in ten minutes."

She took a deep breath and said, "I had a nice lunch. I thought it would be awkward, because I thought that we were going to have to iron out all our problems, but since we ironed them out before hand, it was the complete opposite. It was enjoyable. Thanks, Draco."

She stood up and he threw a bunch of money on the table. He said, "Just a preview of our date on Thursday."

She almost squealed in delight. She had a date with Draco Malfoy. Would wonders never cease? He took her hand and led her outside. He said, "I have to go this direction, and you have to go that direction. I'll see you at home later, okay?"

Home. He would see her at 'home' later. How odd that sounded. She said, "Maybe I could cook something."

"Ah, a pre-date, I like that." He smiled.

"No, you said this was a pre-date. It would just be dinner. Nothing fancy, just friends at first, right?" she said.

"Then, does that mean that I can't kiss you goodbye?" he asked.

She felt all giddy inside. He wanted to kiss her goodbye, and he wasn't even drunk! She looked down and shrugged.

"My, you're so articulate," he laughed. He leaned closer to her, put his hand on the back of her neck under her hair, and pressed his lips gently to hers; letting them linger a bit before he moved them ever so slightly. She felt a jolt from her lips to her midsection. She moved her head slightly the other way and he pressed a bit harder, and his other hand came up to her face. She grasped his shoulders. He moved his lips from hers, but kept her in his embrace. He looked at her, and she was smiling. He kissed her forehead, and then placed his forehead next to hers.

He said, "Wow, that was a nice kiss, do you concur?"

"I concur," she said. She suddenly put her arms around him tightly, and hugged him so hard he thought she would break a rib. He hugged her back.

"Don't go falling in love with Corner before we have our proper date, you hear me? Give me a fair chance," he said, pulling away from her. He took one of her hands in his. He started to walk away, but he still had her hand. Finally, their arms were stretched as far as they could go.

He had to let go of her. He said, "I'll see you, Hermione."

"Bye, Draco Malfoy." She turned to leave, but turned back to watch him jog down the street. She didn't care what he said and she didn't care what she proclaimed to him; she knew they were going to be more than just 'friends'. By golly, that was the best simple kiss that she had ever experienced. He was definitely going to be her husband someday. Yes in deed.

Coming up next chapter:

"I came to your rescue," she said, her hands still over her eyes.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, appalled.

She made a slit in her fingers to peek at him and said, "I thought you were yelling help!" She laughed.

"Well, now you know the difference between someone yelling 'hell' and 'help'!" He looked at the water all over the floor, and then at her smile, and he said, "Stop smiling like an idiot and help me clean this up!" He took one-step toward her, slipped in the water, and landed on his back. In the water. Totally embarrassed, and totally naked!

She looked down at him and said, "Do you want help now?"