"What the hell is going on here?!"
Something was wrong. Draco tried to pull his eyelids up so he could see what it was, but he couldn't get them to cooperate. That was Hermione's voice, somewhere far off, but she was angry or in trouble, he couldn't tell which, and he had to open his eyes so he could help her.
He groaned when he tried to lift his head. It felt like someone had hit him over the head with a club and then run him over with a hippogriff.
"Ow," he managed to say.
He finally managed to drag his eyes open with much effort. His vision blurred and spun, but he focused on Hermione, who was not far away after all, but standing in his doorway. Looking beautiful. And furious.
He figured he must be dreaming, although the pain in his head felt to real to be a dream. How else was Hermione standing in his apartment - at the foot of his bed no less? She never wanted to see him again. She'd made that perfectly clear.
"Ohhh."
Another voice, one which did not belong to either Hermione or himself, groaned from somewhere to his left. He couldn't see who it was, and he tried to twist himself so he could see. His body wasn't cooperating.
"What is this?" Hermione was saying. Draco dragged his attention back to her. His vision was clearing slowly, and he could finally appreciate exactly how angry she looked.
Her eyes were liquid fire, blazing as she glared a hole right through him and into the headboard behind him; her hands were clenching and unclenching at her sides, her right one twitching toward her wand. Draco could almost see sparks coming out of the tips of her hair in her fury. He couldn't take his eyes off her.
"What happened?" the groggy voice from his left drawled slowly. Finally, Draco could see who it was as the owner of the voice propped up on one elbow.
"M-Mandy?" he said, stunned. He had no idea how she ended up here, in his bed of all places. She put a hand to her head and turned slightly to look at Draco.
Then she noticed Hermione, and glanced quickly back and forth between Draco and the angry vision at the door, her eyes growing wider with every second.
"Oh my God," she whispered. "Hermione Granger."
"Oh, yes, let's all go out and have a lovely breakfast, now that we've all been introduced, shall we?"
Draco's eyes snapped back to Hermione, whom he'd almost forgotten in his shock at finding the girl from last night in his bed. Oh no! No, no, no, no, no!
The stupid words rushed from his lips before he could stop them.
"Hermione, no! It isn't what it seems!" he was trying in vain to scramble out of the bed, realizing with belated relief that he was still wearing his boxers, not moving very quickly because his head was stabbing agonizingly with every movement. He hadn't made it out of the entanglement of bedclothes before Hermione was backing towards the door.
"What is it, then? Because it seems as if you've got a naked girl in your bed this morning, Draco," she spat, taking another backwards step towards the door.
"I swear I don't know what happened," he said more slowly, trying to remember the details of last night, and failing miserably. All he could remember was telling the girl all about Hermione.
"Honestly, Draco, I don't think I want to know what happened." Another step. She was almost to the door now.
"Nothing happened!" Mandy was protesting helplessly from the bed. Probably she figured it was best if she didn't get up; Draco wished she would keep her mouth shut as well.
"Oh, please, I don't need to hear your version of the story," Hermione growled. "I only came by to return this," she wrenched her engagement ring off her finger violently and threw it at the bed, "and really, what you do for the rest of your life is none of my business now. I never want to see your face again for as long as I live. Now, please, don't let me interrupt your fun."
She turned on her heel and stormed from the room. Draco tried to follow her down the hall, but she was gone before he reached the living room.
When he returned to his bedroom, Mandy was already dressed and sitting on the end of his bed. She looked exactly the way he felt. Miserable.
"I'm so sorry, Draco," she apologized before he could even open his mouth.
"Did…anything…happen last night?" he asked wretchedly. He hoped she hadn't been lying before. He'd been so drunk last night he honestly couldn't remember.
"No," she replied immediately. "I don't think so. The last thing I remember is you telling me your story, and us talking about fate."
Draco snorted. Fate. Where was fate now?
"Well, fate sure isn't doing us any favors today," he said, kicking the bedpost angrily. "If only I could remember," he groaned. He snatched up his robes and pulled them on roughly. Then he collapsed onto the bed. Something small and hard poked him in the leg.
He reached underneath himself and grabbed it. It was Hermione's engagement ring.
"I guess it's really over, isn't it? She'll never forgive me."
"I'm so sorry, Draco," Mandy said again. "I feel like this is all my fault."
"No," he groaned. "It's definitely my fault. I didn't love her well enough, that's all. If I had, she would never have doubted me in the first place."
"I wish there was something I could do…send me an owl if I can help in any way, okay?" she was saying now. Draco barely heard her.
"The only thing that could help me right now would be a Time-Turner…and even that wouldn't help in the long run. She'd already given up on us, anyway."
With one last small, sad smile, the girl was gone, and Draco was alone.
December
January
February
"Hermione! The best news!"
Hermione turned from her kitchen sink to see the girl with the flaming red hair come rushing through the front door without knocking, as usual.
"What is it?"
"Fleur's pregnant!"
"Wow, really? That's great," Hermione replied, her enthusiasm surprising even herself. She was actually excited for Ginny's sister-in-law; she didn't even have to pretend. "I remember her telling us at Christmas they were going to try."
"Yeah, Mum's over the moon, too," Ginny continued, sitting down at Hermione's table as if she owned it. Hermione laughed and sat down too, bringing her cup of coffee with her.
"I'll bet."
"She's already talking with Fleur about names and decorating the nursery and everything. It's really annoying, actually," she confided. "That's why I'm here."
"Oh, not because you love me or anything," Hermione replied, amused.
"I also thought I'd help you get ready for your big date," Ginny added slyly. Hermione sighed. She'd been afraid of that.
"How many people know?"
"Nobody really. Unless you count me, Dad, Mum, Fred and George, Bill and Fleur," she listed, ticking the names off on her fingers. Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Charlie probably hasn't gotten the owl yet," Ginny added with a sheepish smile.
Hermione growled.
"Well, really, what can you expect? People are a little excited."
"I'm going to kill Ron and Harry."
"Oh, come on. Don't deny me my little fun. You're going to let me help you get ready, right?"
"Actually, I'm not so sure that I'm still going."
"Hermione," Ginny whined. "It's been forever. One little date isn't going to hurt anything. You have to get back out there; to try to move on. He has," she added in an undertone. Hermione felt as if her chest was going to implode.
"Please, I don't want to hear about it," she pleaded, putting her face in her hands.
It was true, though. She'd seen the picture in the paper yesterday. There he was, beautiful blonde Astoria Greengrass at his side. They'd been having dinner at some fancy restaurant or other, and someone had snapped their photo. Laughing. Looking happy.
While Hermione struggled to get through the day without hyperventilating.
Truth be told, that was why she'd accepted this date in the first place. Ernie MacMillan had been pestering her for weeks, and he was really a nice guy, after all. She'd seen the paper and Ernie had walked in her office in the same minute. It had been an impulse decision.
And now she was remembering why she never made those kinds of decisions.
"This will be good for you, trust me," Ginny assured her.
"Whatever you say."
Two hours later, Hermione was ready. Ginny had styled her hair, done her make up, and picked out her outfit. Hermione was exhausted already. She hurriedly pushed Ginny out the door at a quarter till eight.
"He'll be here any minute," she complained as Ginny winked at her. Then the redhead turned on the spot and was gone.
Hermione breathed a momentary sigh of relief. I wonder if it's too late to call Ernie and tell him I'm sick, she thought.
No such luck. A second after she closed the door, there was a knock.
"Here we go," she muttered under her breath.
A/N: Thanks so much to everyone for all your lovely reviews and support! I feel loved. I was very glad to see familiar names attached to the reviews; nice to know you guys are still keeping up with this story, even after all this time! Big hugs to all of you!
Oh, and I do apologize for leaving you on cliffies so much, but they don't call me the "queen of cliffhangers" for nothin. Okay, so that's not an official title or anything, it's something a friend of mine once called me, but it is kind of fitting, ne? Hehehe.